Hey all! *waves shyly* I know I haven't posted in a while, so I'm making it up to you with a super duper long chapter. ^.^ Hope it pleases you! If it does... then tell me in reviews! Remember, the more reviews, the faster I go! So... enjoy! Also, this is another Star chapter, and her mind has been invaded by the madness of Sun Moon Stars, so, we can go from there.

Gorillaz Fan Fiction
Chapter 12: The Torture Chamber
Told from the perspective of Star.

I woke up in a very dark room. I blinked a couple of times and tried looking again. No, I was right. Complete and utter darkness. It felt like I'd been swallowed by a cloud of black, and I couldn't see anything around me, not even my hand. Speaking of which, where is my hand? I tried moving my hand, and it wouldn't budge.
I was deeply confused. I can't be dead. I'm breathing.
Then a light came on. I blinked a couple of times and squinted at its source.
"Hello, luv," said a familiar voice.
"M-Murdoc?" I stammered. I can talk, at least.
"We heard you didn't learn a lot about Gorillaz," he said, and three more lights flashed on. I saw a silhouette of a small girl and a big man. Who were they? And then an all too familiar shadow stepped into the last light.
"2D? 2D!" I called, still immobile, "2D, what's going on?"
"Let us show her through our timeline, shall we?" Murdoc said, moving his form to gesture to the other shadows, and they all nodded. Even 2D.
"First, my childhood," he said, and there was a venom in his voice that I didn't enjoy. He also had a sinister smile on.
Then, the world spun. A flurry of sudden color flashed before my eyes, and the silhouettes were gone. I closed my eyes, afraid the colors were going to make me sick. I screamed, but eventually gave up. I wasn't getting out of this one.

I opened my eyes and I was in a bar. I was up on a stage, in front of a crowd of expectant people. I looked down at my hands, now able to move my neck, and there was a guitar. The people just stared, so, not knowing what else to do, I played.
It was a short, easy tune, but it pleased the crowd all the same. They threw me some money, and I picked it up. I left the guitar and a couple clapping people and began my way out, hoping I can find some way back to reality, but I was stopped by a firm grip on my arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" said a gruff voice. It was all too familiar.
"Out of here," I said, then did a double take when I realized the voice wasn't mine.
"Not without giving me the dough," he said, holding out his hands.
"Why the hell should I?" I snapped. Where did that come from? It was like half of me was me, and the other half was...
"Murdoc, you'll give me that sodding money NOW!" he screamed, giving me a good hard punch in the nose. I fell back, bleeding like crazy, and landed hard on the floor.
All the other patrons just laugh as the man collected the money from me. "Lousy son you are," said the man.
I then turned my head to look in a shattered piece of glass leaning next to me, and I still saw my face, but my nose was now on an upward angle. How was I Murdoc? Where am I? What is this?
I listened to a couple more seconds of laughter, and Mr. Niccals ordering another drink, then my eyes closed again.

I woke again in a place I didn't quite recognize at first. But then I realized I was in a tree.
I gave a resounding scream and clinged to the branch. It wasn't my scream, either. It sounded a lot like 2D's.
I took deep breaths and slowly relaxed. I then tried to work out what was happening in my mind.
Murdoc said I was going through a timeline. What does that mean? I felt my nose, and it had stopped bleeding, but it had healed in an upward shape that, now that I think about it, feels a lot like the shape of 2D's nose.
Murdoc started with his childhood, or at least that's what he said. So, I was Murdoc, and that was his father? Wow, I didn't know he had it that tough.
But, now, I'm in a tree, and I had to figure a way out of it. Then I got the sudden sense of déjà vu... Hold on, didn't 2D say something about falling out of a tree and then his hair fell out?
I clung to the branch harder. I worked twelve years to get my hair this long and this blonde. It isn't coming out today.
I sat there for what seemed like another hour before giving up and deciding to try and get down from this damn tree.
I first tried letting go of the branch, then freaked out and clung back onto it. This is going to take a while.
I swore and cursed my fear of heights. Out of every fear I would've had; the dark, monsters, small spaces, spiders, strangers. No, I got heights. And now I'm in a tree in the middle of who knows where.
I looked down at the distance from the ground and whimpered. I tried to loosen my grip again, and bit by bit, I was making progress. Eventually, my arms were untangled from the branch, and I was able to just sit on it freely.
Don't look down, I thought, just don't look down...
I wonder if I could just slip to the bottom. Quick and painless. Or maybe the drop would be painful...
No. No thinking of the heights right now. I have to be calm... Be calm...
Suddenly, I slipped, and I quickly grabbed onto the branch. Now, my hands were the only thing holding me to the branch. Or so I thought.
I looked up and saw my hands hanging on, of course, but I also saw my hair entangled in a small snare on the branch.
"No," I said aloud, "Oh, no no no no no!" I guess wherever I am really wants me to ditch my hair.
"How!?" I screamed, "How am I supposed to fall now?!"
My voice was still not my own, and in all the confusion, I looked down: Huge mistake.
There was literally nothing down there. Nothing. Just blackness. Just like when I frist woke up. I could only see this tree and myself. Or the top of the tree, at least. That grew down in the darkness somewhere. Oh, this really doesn't help with conquering my fear of heights.
I then noticed how tired my hands were getting. My grip was loosening by the second. I tried to tighten it, but I had barely any strength left and my hands were getting sweaty. I bit on my lip for concentration, and tried to boost myself up. Despite all my effort, I didn't get anywhere, and my one hand let go. I was now only holding on by my one hand. And my hair, I guess.
I then felt something weigh down my pocket. It was very slight, but just enough that I could feel it. I reached down with my dangling hand and dug into my short's pocket. As soon as I felt it, my hand jumped back, and I let out a small yelp. I looked at my hand to see a large cut on it, but no blood.
Strange, I thought, and then reached for it again, this time trying to avoid the sharp part. I was able to find a smoother surface, but not without a few pricks from the sharper side.
I then pulled out the object and examined it. I then identified what is was: a small pocket knife.
At that moment my other hand gave way, and I let out a resounding screech as I only hung on by my long hair. The scream still didn't belong to me, but I'll have to laugh later about how I'm guessing 2D's scream was incredibly girl like.
The pain was unbearable. If someone has ever pulled your hair before, take that feeling and multiply it by about one hundred, for the fact that almost all of my hair was being yanked down by my body weight. I might be only like 150 pounds, but that's 150 more than what's usually put on it.
My eyes began to tear and I tried to make sense of this. This isn't how 2D lost his hair. But this new nose I had didn't look like Murdoc's either. This must be a cruel way to represent their pain.
I then figured out what I had to do. I took out the pocket knife and reached my arm up to my hair.
By now I was tearing up and my head was screaming out in pain, so I knew what I was doing. It had to be done. I knew it was a long fall to who knows where, but knowing this place, it goes somewhere. I slid the pocket knife against my hair, being careful to leave some on, and finally fell down, my whole being crying out in relief as I fell into the blackness.
Suddenly, my hand holding the knife seemed to have a mind of its own, and it cut my face. I screamed again, thankful to hear my voice again, but the pain was terrible again. I lost my screams and just kept falling, sobbing from the constant pain coming from everywhere, and closed my eyes and let myself go wherever I had to go next.

I opened my eyes to find myself on solid ground, and I touched my face and immediately jumped. My face burned when I touched it, but I had to figure this out, so I followed the pain, and I found a scar and traced it across my right eyelid, then across my nose, then to the left side of my lip. It drew a shaky diagonal line across my face, in a nutshell.
I stood up, glad to be on ground again. I looked down. I was on pavement. A sidewalk by the side of a road. (i)This is a little too peaceful,(i) I thought. It annoys me sometimes when I get that feeling, cause it always is right.
"Ash, Ash! Hey, wake up!"
I looked up to see a familiar face, and I nearly began to cry. "Rachel!" I sobbed, embracing and clinging to her. I wouldn't let her go. I was also relieved to hear my voice.
I finally let go and looked up at her. She'd always been taller than me, but just by a couple of inches. She had beautiful sea green eyes, and her hair was a bleached blonde, but it was completely natural. I've always been jealous of that. It comes down to about her shoulder, but just a little longer. She also had a perfect tan, which she always seemed to keep, no matter what season.
"You've been out for a while," she smiled.
"Why are we on the sidewalk, then?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"Cause you collapsed on the sidewalk, silly!" she teased, "Lindy, Michelle and I aren't strongmen!"
I then looked up to see my other good friends, and started crying again.
Lindy was Rachel's twin, but I had always somewhat got along better with Rachel than her, and she got along with Michelle better. Lindy looked just like Rachel, except Lindy was a little shorter, but still beating me in height. She also had this way of always wearing her hair back, while Rachel varied, but when she put her hair down, they are frickin identical.
Michelle is African-American, and she has beautiful black hair that she grew down to her shoulder, and it forms into thick curls. She had deep brown eyes, and she always seemed to be smiling.
"You've been out for the longest time," said Michelle with a slight French accent. She lived there for five years of her life, studying abroad.
"Yeah. We thought you were dead," smiled Lindy, "I offered burying you, but Rachel kept insisting you were breathing."
I sighed and rolled my eyes. Lindy had always been a bit meaner than her sister. But it made me think, was I really out for that long? The pain could be an illusion, or something from falling on pavement, and I would've done something to my nose falling on the sidewalk as well. Was that all a dream? Not just the tree and the bar, but everything? Plastic Beach, Murdoc, Cyborg Noodle... 2D? Possibly an alcoholic illusion? I could've been out drinking and don't remember it...
"You knew full well she was, too!" Rachel snapped, quickly tearing me away from my trail of thought and into reality...
Lindy held up her hands. "Sorry! Sorry! Don't shoot!"
We all started laughing, but then I heard the soft sound of gunfire. My friends all heard it too, because they turned to look down the street, and there, speeding down the road, was a car, and a man was hanging out the window, firing lead like nobody's business.
Lindy screamed and tried to run, but, cruel irony taking its toll, she was shot.
"Lin-" Rachel never got to finish, because she went down, too.
"What-" Michelle was barely able to say that before she also collapsed. The car then sped away, the men laughing their heads off.
I was still laying on the ground, but salty tears still hit my mouth, and I burst out sobbing, looking at the dead bodies of my friends. It had happened in about two seconds, but those were the worst two seconds of my life.
I couldn't stop. The tears raged uncontrollably, and I could barely breathe. Why couldn't I have died, too? I don't want to be alone!
I kept crying, then things started to get blurry. I blinked a couple more times, the tears starting to fade, but the scene just kept getting blurry. I then got the thought maybe this was all part of an immense illusion. I went for my hair, and it was short. Was this real, or only real for me? I began to weep again, possibly in happiness, because all of this could be fiction.

"How do you feel, luv?" said the gruff voice that sent me into this hellhole.
"Terrible, Murdoc," I said, sitting up and staring him in his green face, "What are you doing to me?"
"Giving you a biography of Gorillaz, what else?" he smiled at me with sharp, yellow teeth. I flinched back from him, his face coming so close to mine.
"Well, I feel like a wreck," I snapped touching my nose to his and poking his chest, trying to make my point, "I've been put through so much shit, I think I've felt all your pain in a tidal wave."
"Oh, have you?" he smirked, "Well then, can I give you a ride out?"
I thought about this, then shook my head vigorously. "Oh, no," I said, "You're the reason 2D's eyes were knocked out."
"I think you'll be okay, luv," he smirked, and grabbed my arm and started dragging me to a jeep.
"No! No! Please stop!" I begged, "I don't wanna see anymore!"

TO BE CONTINUED