I noticed a couple of reviews mentioned that Noodle's recovery seemed to have gone too fast, but let me assure you, it hasn't even begun. I know from personal experience that sometimes, if one has gone through an extremely traumatic experience, such as the loss of someone near and dear to you, or constant emotional abuse, and/or physical abuse, etc, it often immediately affects one's personality, thought pattern, or even speech, etc. But a lot of times, even after said experience has stopped, or has been going on for a while, it can take anywhere from a couple of hours to many, many years for the mental strain, depression, and anxiety to actually effect a person's life.

As well, for the most dedicated of Noodle fans, remember: Noodle is a very strong-willed person, so it is in her nature to cope with her surroundings and try to recover as quickly as possible, but the mental strain and abuse of her experiences in Hell haven't quite taken their toll on her yet, until she begins experiencing strong emotions and connections with people again. She didn't have these before she arrived on Plastic Beach and was reunited with 2D. She had to cancel out the existence of most emotion and facial expressions in Hell or risk death and never return. Unfortunately, now she cannot remember how she used to express herself and her emotions, hence having an emotionless face and being hesitant around 2D.

This chapter is just the beginning of how mentally unstable Noodle is becoming, and may get worse if she doesn't find a way to keep herself sane.

It was all around her again. No, it is not possible. They were here, they were angry, and they were thirsty for her suffering. The demons, they had found her hiding just outside of the Hellhole, and they had dragged her back. She tried to get away, but it would not be long before they had beaten her to a bloody puddle. One of them growled, and a gruesomely clawed limb reached out and sunk its talons into her calf, pulling her out from underneath the crevice she had just crawled into. Now, she was surrounded by the silhouetted beasts and their horrid, glowing, bloodthirsty-red eyes. The flames of the lake of fire surrounded her and the heat was licking at her skin, leaving burns and smoldering her flesh.

One of the beasts dug its teeth into her shoulder, emitting a scream from her dry throat. They snickered and began their assault with shattering blows to her sides and back. They were going to devour her alive. She felt the heavy pressure of a large limb across her abdomen, pinning her down while the others began to stalk forward. She tried turning to see the one holding her down, and she was met with a horribly familiar face, his hair was dark when it should have been blue, his face was pale, he was smiling devilishly with his toothless grin, and his eyes were glowing red where normally they would be comforting and black.

Her terror-ridden, ear-piercing scream filled the whole of the underwater room as she jumped up, still screaming, and squeezed herself into a corner of the wall at one of the edges of the bed, wrapping her arms around herself as if she was about to fall apart from the violent convulsions that rocked her body as she sobbed uncontrollably.

Her screams awakened an extremely bewildered and frightened 2D, who yelped in surprise as she pulled away from him. His arm had made itself comfortable around her waist while he had slept, but when she pulled away screaming, he jumped up and fell onto the floor, hitting his head in the process. "Ow," he moaned, grabbing the back of his head, but it didn't concern him for long when he heard the severe sobs emitting from the only other person in the room. He stood up quickly and stepped back onto his small bed, making himself as small as a six-foot-two man possibly could by crawling toward her on his knees. "Noodle? Noodle-girl, are you awright?" He tried to comfort her by placing his hand on her arm, but she shuddered spasmodically and jerked away from his touch, only crying harder than before. "Noodle… ih's okay! It's me, Stuart. Yew know! Your frien', 2D! Please, Noodle," he scooted closer, and tried again to touch her. "Please, ih's awright! I'm here. I won' let nuffink 'urt you, so please Noodle-girl, tell me wos wrong," he pleaded. As soon as he had placed his hand on her shoulder again, she flinched and jumped up to her feet, her eyes glossed over as she towered over him.

"Do not touch me!" She yelled with a sob, her voice cracking with the force of her scream and the pain in her chest. She ran for the door, but 2D took hold of her wrist, trying to calm her down. He pulled her to his chest and held her tightly.

"Noodle! It wos just a nightmare! Yew're fine now! Please, jus' try an' fink rationally," he begged her, but she was too distressed to hear him properly. She jabbed him in his side and kneed him in the stomach, avoiding his most vulnerable of areas, and he fell to the ground with a cut-off grunt. Without even turning to see the damage that had been done, Noodle ran to the lift and scrambled inside, pressing the first button that her hand came into contact with without even bothering to read the location. She backed into the wall, still holding herself around her waist and sobbing so hard she had to suck in a deep breath every couple of seconds or she feared she would pass out from lack of oxygen.

Once the lift had come to a stop, Noodle took as many deep breaths as she could, trying to calm herself down. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened or how she ended up where she was now, but she was not about to turn around and go back down to where those demons attacked; Noodle wasn't exactly in the right mind to determine that the demons had never really been there. She got herself back to an almost normal, steady breathing pattern, but every once in a while, she still shuddered and sucked in a wheezy, painful breath. She wandered without looking through the metal, junk filled space, and stepped down a fleet of steps, looking for a temporary shelter to clear her mind and make them go away. She stopped when she reached a door and looked up, reading the words before her. 'Noodle's cupboard'.

What? This did not make sense. Why would Noodle need a cupboard? What possible reason was there for this when she had only just arrived? She opened the door, flinching when it creaked. The room was just an old storage room filled with useless, unused items at first glance. Noodle stepped in, and flicked the light switch to try and decipher the meaning behind the name of the small room and was met by her answer. Standing before her was… herself. This was the cyborg she had heard of, but as of right now, it was slouched over and had wires all around, pumping electricity into its body. Curiosity took over and Noodle stepped forward to examine the android. She touched the hair atop its head, but it felt somewhat lifeless and dull, and the cyborg did not even respond to Noodle's touch. She carefully stepped around to see its face, but gasped in shock when its eyes were glowing red, because of its charging. Upon seeing the unholy-looking cyborg, the images of her nightmare came flooding back into her mind and she screamed. It was like seeing herself become one of those ghastly creatures.

As fast as she possibly could, Noodle flew out of the room, slamming the door shut, and ran back to the lift, nearly tripping over herself as she did so. Again, she pressed any random button her fingers glided across and crouched onto the floor, breathing deeply to try keeping herself from completely losing all of her sanity, or what was left of it at least. Once the door had opened again, she took in an unsteady breath and began walking silently and slowly through the room. Now in the study, she turned to see a staircase going up and around the lift, as well as hundreds of books taking up the whole of the wall behind her. She continued her tour could see out the large windows on one end of the room that dawn was fast approaching.

She took a seat in one of the large, comfortable chairs and pulled her knees to her chest, holding herself tightly. Knowing she was well and truly alone, she began to weep softly again, oblivious to everything else around her.

Murdoc had just awoken not too long ago and was on his way to his unsecret room. He had just gotten out of the lift into the study when he heard someone sobbing and saw the shadow of part of someone's spiked hair. He swayed on his feet as he stood there, hungover, one of his eyes squinted as he stared at the shadow, and he finally found his voice box. "Dammit, faceache. Whot the 'ell are yeh bloody cryin fer? Dun fookin tell meh ih took all o' this sweet fookin time fer yew ter fin'lly fawl off tha' cliff of totally bein mental, an' all." He stomped forward with a scowl and walked toward the hunched over figure. It was then he noticed it was not the blue-haired singer at all. "Noodle?" He sounded offended and slightly taken aback. "Whot ter 'ell are yeh crying fer? Get yer arse back in yer cupboard where yeh belong," he ordered, but she only sobbed harder.

"Go away," she yelled, growling at him.

"Whot?" His eyes opened widely as he stared at his cyborg. She was defying him? "Nobody bloody tells me whot ter do! Especially not my own fockin robot, damn it," he spat.

She looked up at him and he stopped short, taking in a sharp breath as he took her in. This was not a sight he was expecting. She had a bruise… and scars decorated her neck along with a couple of small cuts on her face. He didn't remember his cyborg having those, and he was pretty well certain that robots don't get bruises. His legs gave out beneath him, and he slumped down into the closest chair beside him, his mouth agape, speechless. Noodle bowed her head against her arms once more and continued her breakdown until Murdoc could finally compose himself.

"Noodle... there ain't no fookin way in 'ell," he muttered below his breath. He looked up to her, his eyes full of confusion. "… li'l love…? I can't… Ih can't really be you, can it? I mean… yew were… I couldn't find yeh…" He spoke –mostly to himself. He got up and sat in the chair next to hers. "I'm… sorry for that. I shouldn've … said anythin ah all… I thought yew were me cyborg," he tried to explain. He studied her carefully, aghast with how she looked. He'd never seen Noodle cry before. "Whot 'appened to yew, love?" He seemed to be asking about everything, instead of just what led her to be crying in this chair at this moment. "Why're yeh so upset?" She shook her head, unable to keep herself together. "If yew don' tell me whot's wrong I can't 'elp yew," he pestered, becoming slightly annoyed. He reached out and tried removing her arm from covering her face.

She pulled away and hissed quietly, "Watashi ni fure nai de kudasai."

He jerked his hand away, sensing her distress, "Er… Sorry, love… I don't speak Asian…"

She whimpered again, and whispered, "The demons."

"Demons? Whot demons? There ain't nothin 'ere but a bunch of fish an' a couple o'goons," he scoffed.

"They were… here… they attacked me… I can't… they won't… leave me alone," her sentences were choppy, but Murdoc tried his best to understand.

"Listen, gurly. There ain't no demons here," he blew her worries away, though maybe not for her. "I checked meself, I tell you. I'm sho yeh were jus' havin a nightmare… wait… were yeh sleepin out 'ere? … When did you yew even get 'ere."

She sniffed, rubbing her eyes against her arms. "Last night."

"Does Two-Dent's know yew're 'ere?" She nodded. "Did 'e do this ter yeh?" He pointed to her face, suddenly becoming angered. She shook her head ferociously.

"Iie… It happened… a long time ago…" Her voice faded as she spoke.

"How?" He pressed, now grimacing. She shook her head again. "Listen, kid. Yer not givin' me much ta work with. I need answers, and I wan'em now, ye hear me?"

She sobbed again and ran away, trying to escape to the lift a third time, but she crashed into a thin obstacle, who caught her before she bounced backwards. She looked up to see his upset face and two-black eyes, then sobbed and ran into the opened doors of the lift. As soon as he saw the doors shut, 2D turned back to Murdoc with a fierce scowl on his face. "Whot the 'ell did yew do ta Noodle, Murdoc?" 2D demanded, enraged.

"Me? I didn't do anythin. Whot did yew do to 'er?" He turned the accusation around on 2D, standing and marching up to the singer.

"I did nuffink," he defended himself, almost shaken with his own confidence toward Murdoc. He shook his head and continued. "She wos 'avin a nightmare an' ran away. So I came looking for 'er n'then I find yew yellin at 'er when she was prolly startin ta calm back down!" He barked, becoming more angered with every word.

"Bullshit," Murdoc scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Then why wos she muttering in Asian an' sayin there were demons after 'er or some crap like tha?" Murdoc fired. 2D stopped for a moment. Wos that whot was botherin 'er? Wos she really in Hell all this time? But Murdoc said she wosn't there… 2D began to feel his eyes becoming hot and tears threatened to spill over onto his cheek. "Leave ih to a moron like yew ter go awl quiet in the middle of an argument. Yer 'opeless, faceache!" 2D felt himself come back to the present and stomped toward Murdoc, rubbing his fist. "Whot the hell do yew think yer goin ter –"

2D cut him off, and yelled, "Yew LIAR!" He punched Murdoc squarely in the face, probably breaking his nose again. Not expecting the blow, Murdoc was caught off guard, and when 2D's fist connected with his face, the pressure of the blow knocked him out cold. While Murdoc was lying on the floor, now unconscious and his nose bleeding, 2D just towered over him, staring at the motionless body. He was surprised he had that in himself; it had probably been bottled up for a very long time. His face was distorted into a scowl that seemed as though it would never go away, so he stared into space and tried to ease himself before going to look for Noodle again, and looking angry would most definitely not be helping the situation.

After an agonizingly slow wait, 2D felt as his heart rate calmed, and his breath steadied, but angry tears still washed down his face. He composed himself, and turned to enter the lift, riding down to his own room first, hoping and praying that was where Noodle would turn up. His hope was rewarded when he saw her sitting at the edge of his bed staring at her feet. He sighed and moved slowly, resting his hand on her shoulder as he sat down next to her. "Do yew want ta talk about ih?" He whispered.

She shook her head, "The demons…"

"It wos jus' a nightmare, Noodle," he tried to explain in a quiet voice. "I promise it wos just a dream." He squeezed her shoulder, trying to show her that he was there for here. She didn't need to be lost in her nightmare anymore.

"But, I was there," she looked to him, her eyes hollow. "…They were mad… I escaped… and they tried to… and you were one of them… and I… and I couldn't… you…" She was becoming less coherent and her sentences less understandable as she relived more of the nightmare.

2D pulled her into his side, not caring if she attacked him again for it. "Shhh. S'over now. Nobody's goin ta 'urt yew 'ere, Noodle," he told her in a soothing voice, resting his head atop hers. She began crying again, and leaned into his side. He hated seeing her like this. He's seen Noodle occasionally let a few tears here and there escape from being a little scared or frustrated, but never since he had known her had he ever seen her in such a state of utter fear. He had never seen her cry this way, nor had he ever felt her body convulse and shudder so uncontrollably. It made his own tears well up and spill over down his face, into her hair. What had become of the girl he once knew? This girl he held to his side was so broken and he could see the confusion in her eyes. In this moment, he felt as though what he'd missed the most about her was her smile… but her face had been empty since the moment she'd gotten back… Was this it then? Would he never really see her again? 2D bit his lip, closing his eyes as wetness built over his eyes, and swam down his face. He would find her again.

His face became determined as he silently vowed to stay by her side and help her. He knew she needed him, or at least someone. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her onto his lap so that she now sat bridal style in his arms. He pulled her face to rest against his chest, and brushed his fingers through her hair, waiting for the time to slowly pass, as it had always been. He rocked her from side to side, silently wishing he knew how to calm her fears, and end her hurt. As she settled down, becoming more quiet, he hugged her tightly again.

"So yew were really in Hell, huh?" He asked when he was sure she was okay.

"Yes," she whispered, shocked that she was now in 2D's arms. She hadn't been paying any attention to anything around her. But she was more astounded that his touch didn't bring her distress; in fact, she felt more relaxed, and safe, but also utterly vulnerable, and she hated that feeling.

He sucked in a breath, trying to hold back his crying. "Hh… H-how long?"

"Two and a half years," she wheezed, her voice threatening to crack. She curled her body, leaning into 2D further.

He hugged her tighter, "I'm sorry, Noodle. I'm sorry I wosn't there fo' yew. An' I'm sowwy I couldn' be there ta stop it. I shoulda neve'left Kong." He hated himself. If he had only stayed… if he had only stayed, then maybe he could've prevented this. Why'd it have to be her?

… "I do not think that…" she mumbled, her chest shaking with her uneven breathing. "No one could have stopped it from happening, 2D-san," she told him, hoping that he would realise that what had happened was none of his fault, and he shouldn't be dwelling on it. It was her pain to bear, never his.

"I…" he looked as though he were about to protest, but he bowed his head, closing his eyes. "I'm still sorry yeh had ta go through tha'… No child, 'specially yew, should eva haff ta go through tha'," he said in broken breaths.

"I am… not a child anymore, 2D-san," she mumbled, her eyes still glistening with tears.

He froze, letting out a deep breath he had been holding, "I know… But yew were." He rested his head against hers again, concentrating on nothing but the sound of them both breathing. It was more amazing than he would have ever believed. It told him she was really there.

"2D-san?" Her voice broke into his thoughts, but he didn't mind. He loved getting to hear her voice pop into his head again.

"Yeah, Noodle," he asked, pulling back a bit so he could see her now tear-stained, red-eyed face.

"I am hungry," she spoke simply, trying her best to be strong for him. She didn't like it when he was upset because she was hurting. He chuckled, glad for the change in topic.

"So I guess that means yo feelin bettah?" He asked, ruffling her hair. She nodded slightly. He scrunched his face, perking his eyebrows. "Yew sho yew're awright?" He asked again. She nodded, and he smirked. "Alright then. Leh's go see whot Russel is up ta." He stood up, still holding Noodle bridal style in his arms, and walked to the lift, making their way to the kitchen.