Murdoc had officially decided he was one of the undead; or maybe one of those gay sparkly vampires, because he hadn't slept since 2D and Elle had locked him away at the bottom of his boat. Sure he drifted in and out of consciousness occasionally but he always woke up feeling more exhausted than he did before.

Noodle came in to visit him every now and then. She would sit just out of his reach and ask him how he was doing. When he was feeling particularly friendly (which didn't happen often) he would tell her things: what he was feeling, what he was thinking, mostly everything. However, he mostly told her to sod off and ignored her until she got up and left.

She did make him feel better though, and she never gave up. There were times he was certain that he had driven her away for good but, in a few days, she was always back and he was always happy to see her. At the moment what they had wasn't quite a friendship but it wasn't a relationship. He had saved her from Hell after all; you can't save someone from Hell and not have some kind of connection. But he was afraid of being attracted to her. Seriously, she was nineteen (or was it twenty?) and he was almost literally twice her age.

Murdoc decided not thinking about their age difference and focusing more on the fact that he could forget why he was chained up in the bottom of his boat or why the woman he thought he loved was upstairs sleeping in his bed with that disgusting lead singer was a better idea. He just had to admit it; Noodle made his life much more…sane.

Where the hell are we?

This thought, along with other strongly worded thoughts raced through Russel's brain every day the sun rose above the horizon and on until the sun sank back down below it. He thought about the next day's plans and before repeating the same thing to himself over and over.

We've got to run into something eventually.

However, as every day passed, nothing but blue sea, blue sky, and the occasional seagull greeted them and, Russel had to admit, he was getting tired of soggy clothing and the feeling of fish darting in and out of his legs. He wanted to find someone to shrink him back to his original size or maybe a size that was a little bit more manageable.

Whenever he felt like he was going a little bit out of control he just focused on the weight of Noodle on the top of his head and took a deep breath. They had made it to Point Nemo, saved Elle and 2D, and now they were on their way back to land. Everything was going to be ok. He was positive. It was always ok. Things always worked out.

But where the hell is the mainland?

There were few times where I was completely alone. It wasn't a very big ship and if I wasn't with 2D I was usually outside conversing with Russel or Noodle. But occasionally I found a quiet corner and curled up as much as I could without crushing the growing child within me and I thought.

Mostly it was about the future of me, 2D, and little Zeke/Olivia. Sometimes, though, it was about everyone else. Usually Murdoc. Noodle was old enough to take care of herself and, even if she wasn't, she had definitely been through enough to make her mentally old enough. Russel had always been able to look after himself and now more than ever, since he was about 50 feet tall, he didn't need an expecting mother worrying about him. No, I thought about Murdoc. I worried about his recovery or if he would even need one.

I had hoped that, once we got him off the secluded island, he would snap out of his mania and become the old version of Murdoc; the disgusting leech of a bass player that I usually loathed to my very core, but now I really missed that Murdoc. I had hoped he would transform back into that Murdoc. But instead he yelled and screamed until he went hoarse and every time his voice came back he just repeated the cycle. 2D had told me he wasn't eating and I had a feeling that he wasn't sleeping either. Occasionally I would sneak down to see him, feed him some eggs, a chicken leg, some bread, whatever I could find, until 2D would realize I was missing and go into a frenzy of searching. Recently, though, Murdoc wouldn't take anything I offered him. He looked everywhere except at me, and whenever our eyes accidentally locked or if he even looked in the direction of my growing stomach he snarled some kind of swear word only Murdoc would know and tell me to "get the Hell out." And I would because there was nothing left for me to do.

I was seriously worried about him. If we didn't get to land soon and get him some help Murdoc might die and though he had been one of the biggest pigs I'd ever met and the world would probably be better without him I just couldn't imagine a future with 2D without a surly Murdoc in the picture.

Though no one would notice if they glanced, Noodle was worried. She had noticed how the supplies

were running low. Not dangerously low, not yet, but they were close. She noticed how big Elle was getting and she knew how sick Murdoc was getting, whether it was in the head or somewhere else, and yet they still hadn't seen any sign of land. It was like it had all been erased away while they were off in the middle of nowhere.

Every now and then she'd have Elle check her cell phone, to see if there was any cell phone service but Elle's phone hadn't had bars for months and they definitely weren't showing up now. Noodle knew they had to come up on something at some point.

But so far nothing. Not even a floating piece of wood or plastic or anything to show that there was civilization nearby.

Good Lord, how far away was that fucking island? She thought to herself.

She was about to give up hope when Elle gave her the first beacon of light that she had had in a long time.

"Noodle!" she heard Elle cry. "I've got two bars!"

Nimbly jumping from Russel's head down to his shoulder and onto the boat Noodle met Elle on the boat and snatched the phone from Elle's hand. Sure enough there were the two bars winking up at her. Quickly she punched in the first number she thought of; 911. They probably couldn't help very much but perhaps they could alert the coast guard or something.

"Hello?" a gruff voice answered.

"Hello, this is Noodle from the band Gorillaz." Noodle spluttered out, "Me and my friends are literally in the middle of nowhere. Can you help us?"

There was a pause and then the voice came back, sounding more serious than ever.

"Of course. Help is on the way."

Hello my duckies. Como estas? Man, it feels like its been awhile.

So, I had to look up how old Noodle is. Can you believe that she's 20 now? Yeah. I know. I freaked out too. I remember her as that cute little asian girl with the mysterious past and the weird helmet thing. And now she's the big old 2-0. Geez. Next year she can legally drink. Maybe by that year Murdoc can take her out clubbing and drinking. That sounds like something he would do.

Speaking of Noodle and Murdoc, I had a few of you ask if Noodle and Murdoc would be getting together at the end of the story (or in a few chapters or whatever). And honestly, I have no idea. I usually don't support the whole Murdle relationship because, like I said up there, Noodle is 20 and Murdoc is almost literally twice that. And, while she's legal now, it still sounds totally wrong. But, I have no idea where I'm taking this. Perhaps she'll be his guiding light back home and while he rescued her from Hell, she'll rescue him from insanity and then they'll all have fun and go to Candy Mountain Charlie.

Oh wait, wrong animation. Whoops.

Anyhoo, I got midnight tickets to the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Starting my HP marathon at the end of this week.

Stay classy muchacha/os. You know I adore all of you. :)