Ah, s'good t'be 'ere… Whotever.
Thank you all so much, for those of you who have been reading and supporting my story, especially those of you who've been reviewing, including those from chapter 12: Ketsueki beri, Lady STRiPES, ddarkestangel, Shade's Crusnik, -bammie-, Randian Warrior 501, dance-with-passion, Crazy Girl Person, and everyone else. So much wonderful feedback literally made me laugh until my chest hurt and moved me so much my eyes were leaking. Thank you so much for your support and love. I appreciate it.
The next chapter will most likely be Noodle's POV. FYI, Murdoc may seem like a hard-ass in this story, but isn't he always? And I'm trying to keep everyone in character, too, and that's how he is towards 2D. Anyhow, there will be parts later in the plot where Muds has 'I-can-be-a-nice-guy-too' moments, so MOMENTAI!
For now, enjoy your read…
2D had just woken now. The bruising underneath his black eyes was darker than usual, and his hair was in thick, knotted mats. He immediately swallowed a pill dry, and then sat up, preparing for the day ahead. He could feel the bags under his eyes, and looking at them in the mirror above the lavatory's sink didn't help much. He leaned forward, watching as his finger traced the dark patch of skin on his face. He bent his head forward slightly and pulled his hair back to see the shallow gash just below his hairline, on the right side of his forehead. It was just a scrape, really, but the prominent bruising made it look ghastly. With a sigh, he let go of his hair and brushed through his mess of hair quickly, then changed into a shirt and trousers.
He immediately went straight for Russel's room, taking the lift one floor down, but the door was locked, and no snoring or any other noise was to be heard. Figuring Russel might just be cooking again, 2D went to look for him in the kitchen, but upon entering the study, he was met by Murdoc, who was currently reaching underneath the table for something 2D could not see.
"'Ey, Murdoc? Whot yew doin," 2D asked curiously, stopping just past the desk.
He heard a thump as Murdoc jerked up, caught off guard by the voice, "Agh! Fuck!" He got up, rubbing his the top of head with a scowl on his face. He reached down to pick up his fallen cigar, and the other black object that was his earlier target. "Whot the fock do yew want, faceache? Can't yew see I'm busy," Murdoc tossed the gun to the side, where it was caught by his cyborg about seven feet away. 2D had the urge to tell him no, but he held his tongue. The cyborg twitched slightly; her head fell forward, then her arms went slack, and the gun dropped to the floor at her feet. "Fock! Damn fookin android! S'perfectly useless –tha piece o' crap," the Satanist complained.
"Wha's wrong wiff 'er," 2D thought aloud.
"Of all the…! She's bin shortin' out since Stylo! Yew know that-why th'fook wid'y'as'that," Murdoc was becoming more frustrated by the second. He marched up to 2D, who flinched slightly, but it went unnoticed as Murdoc reached to open the drawers beside him. "Where the fock are th' guddamn wrenches?"
"Um… I fink t'ey might be in 'er cupboard," 2D guessed, looking more anxious by the moment.
"Right then," Murdoc humphed, composing himself and standing straight. "Watch that," he gestured to the cyborg lazily then walked to the lift.
2D gulped, then looked at the android from the corner of his eye, "Sure fing." He laughed nervously, then took tentative steps closer to it, hoping to take the gun into his own possession and away from it. Just as he was about to bend down though, he saw something spark in her neck and she blinked, looking up at him. He whimpered in surprise and jerked back. "Oh, er… 'ello... I fink," he choked, his voice breaking. She smiled at him, but it was anything but a pleasant smile. It was menacing and downright scary. It had 2D wide-eyed and frightened.
As she bent down to retrieve her gun, 2D found that he was too terrified to find use in his legs, but he lost his balance slightly, taking a staggering step backwards. She giggled impishly at his fear and smiled even wider. She cocked the gun and held it up, pointing it at his head. Now 2D jumped backwards, and fell on his arse just as she had fired. The bullet had caught a couple of his hairs, but luckily it had missed the tall man, blasting a hole into the wall by the bookshelves.
She grunted, dissatisfied with her shot, and she twitched again, an electric spark was seen from the side of her neck again. The android powered off, and 2D sighed in relief, but yelped when she came on a second later. She lifted her gun back up to her chest and smiled evilly again. 2D shrieked in terror, crawling backwards and trying to get away. Just as he saw her finger wrap around the trigger, he closed his eyes, praying that when he died, it wouldn't hurt too horribly.
What he didn't see though, was someone roughly pushing the gun to the side, where a bullet blasted through the ceiling now. Russel's fist came down hard on the cyborg's head, and an electrical rain of sparks flew about as she crashed to the floor. Russel pried the weapon from her cold hands and dismantled it, throwing it out the window. He rushed over to 2D, who was cowering on the floor, believing that the cyborg was just torturing him now. Russel grabbed him by his collar and pulled him upright, with the tall man squealing all the while until he realized Russel was the one choking him and bringing him to his feet. "You alright, D?"
2D jumped at the man, hugging him tightly, "Oh, fank yew, Russel. I wos so scared she wos gawna kill meh! Yo me bes' mate!" He mumbled hysterically. Russel almost had the urge to laugh, but he kept a stern face.
"Er… No problem,'D," he patted Stu's back. Then pulled the singer away from him. "Whadjew do?"
2D's face went blank now, thinking hard as to what had just occurred. "Nuffink. She just twitched an wen' off on me. I fought I wos done fo'." He rubbed the back of his head nervously. His adrenaline rush had him all wired up now.
"Tha's it? She just shorted out an' attacked you," Russel eyed the android suspiciously.
"Yea, she's neva 'ttacked me 'afore. Not even when Murdoc tried ta make 'er," 2D explained.
Russel cocked an eyebrow in both confusion and curiosity, "Really. I woulda' thought she would…"
"WHOT IN THA BLOODY FOOK DID YEW DO TER ME CYBORG, DULLARD!" Murdoc came marching inTO the room, the object he'd been searching for held tightly in his grip.
"I didn' do nuffink, Murdoc! Honest! She went an' attacked me an' Russ 'it 'er," he defended himself, backing away as Murdoc came closer.
Russel shot his hand out, blocking the raging drunk, "Don' even think about it, Muds. You lay a hand on 'im, yo gonna haff ta deal wit' me." Huffing in frustration, Murdoc abandoned his assault and scooped up his android, throwing it over his shoulder. "You bettah fix dat thin', befo' it gets one of us killed."
"I bloody know that, lards! What do yew think I've bin fockin doin? 'avin a party?" Murdoc bellowed.
"Yeah, well, yew need to get it done, before it realizes Noodle's here," Russel crossed his arms, frowning at the thought of what might happen. 2D gulped, trying not to think of the possibilities.
Murdoc froze, his face flashed a moment of concern, but it disappeared so quickly, neither of the two men knew if they'd really seen it, "I'll be… in my Secret Room." He went over to the bookshelf, pulled out his book and pushed the shelf aside, then descended the steps, leaving his bandmates to their own devices.
Wanting a change of pace, Russel interrupted the short silence. "Come on, 'D. Le's get us some food," Russel turned away, walking to the kitchen. "Ih's a good thin' I came here, huh? Othawise, yeh'd still be eatin' those nasty military rations."
2D chuckled unenthusiastically, "Yeah, I guess so…" He took a seat at the table, and minutes later, Russel placed juice, toast, and fruit on the table for 2D, whilst making himself a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, waffles, and cereal. Grateful, 2D began nipping at his food. After he seemed to have gotten his fill, Russel decided it was time to get down to business.
"So how did it go wit' Noodle las' night," he got right to the point, no small talk.
"Er… well," 2D pushed his food away, looking down at his hands, now in his lap. He held his hands together, and rubbed his thumbs against each other nervously. "Well… not so good… It wos… Bad… not good… not good at awl… I fink… She's so far gone… so gone," his voice was tormented –pained. Tears began dripping onto his lap.
"D, what 'appened?" Russel spoke quickly, trying not to panic. "How bad? Iz she hurt? Did y'find her? Whadduya mean she's lost?"
"I-I-I don' know whot 'appened. She wos 'urt –is hurt," 2D muttered. Russel started struggling to push his seat back so he could get up, but 2D put a hand on his shoulder. "Don' get awl worked up."
"But, D, y'said it yoself. Baby-girl's hurt," he panicked, but somehow kept his voice somewhat calm.
"Yeah, but I dun fink we can do anyfin about ih… I fink us tryin ta help'll only make ih worse," 2D suggested.
Russel sighed, then settled back into his chair, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked at the table blankly for a couple of minutes, while 2D shifted uncomfortably in his seat for the time being. Finally, Russel took a deep breath, "H-how'd she get hurt. How bad wus it?"
"It… she hurt 'erself –"
"Whaddya mean she hurt herself," Russel interrupted.
2D yanked his hair, frustrated. He sighed and groaned loudly at the same time. "Awright fine! Ah'w tehw yew te'ole storeh, but yew nee'te shu'up an' listen 'ere," he growled, his words barely decipherable. Russel cocked his eyebrow at his outburst. "Sorry," 2D said quickly. "Jus' havin' really 'orrid day su'far." Russel nodded for him to continue.
2D sighed again, "Okay, well, I guess I'll start te after I lef' te me room, which I wos only there abou' an hour, like yeh tol' me te be –te give Noodle time te cool down an awl… N' t'en I wen' to 'er room, an' I sawr her. She was awl cut up. She 'ad me flick knife in 'er 'ands… she cut open every single one of 'er scars. I got 'er te stop t'en, buh I fink scared 'er when I caught 'er off guard like, but she didn' let me 'elp 'er. She tol' me te leave, but I stayed, an' tried t'get 'er ta tell me wos wrong –why she did it. She said ih wos cos ih made them go away, an' I don' know whot she meant by tha'. I fink she wos about t'tell me summfink, but t'en she looked at me, an' she wen' awl mad again. She threw 'er suitcase at me 'ead," he rubbed his wound subconsciously, "An' t'en she pointed tha' knife at me, an' I ran away cos I didn' know if she'd 'urt me…"
Russel was speechless for a moment, but he composed himself as quickly and sanely as he could, "She… she cut herself… baby-girl?" 2D nodded. Russel looked down, resting his head against his hand, now propped up by his elbow on the table. "… What do y'mean she's lost… I thoughtchew were sayin she wuz unconscious or you didn' fin'her or sumthin?"
2D sighed, he'd been doing that a lot in the passed few minutes, "I awready tol'yew. She's not 'erself… Er, she's less of 'erself than she normally iz nowadays. An' the looks she gets –her eyes wull be awl glazed ovah an' she gets really scared, like how I am wiff tha' whale. An' when she' firs' got 'ere, I sorta wos able ta get 'er t'calm down, but this time… I don' know whot 'appened…"
"So she really attacked you, 'D," Russel asked, still just as shocked that Noodle had attacked 2D, of all the people in the world.
"NO! We were havin' a fockin' picnic! Guddammit!" 2D stood, pulling at the locks of his hair and pacing back and forth. Russel stood. Normally, he would be offended by 2D's reaction, but the poor man was more confused than he'd ever been in his entire life. This beat the incident with Paula ten times over. Noodle was 2D's closest friend in all of existence, and Russel knew that. He felt for the guy.
2D felt like Noodle had betrayed him, and their friendship, but at the same time, he felt like it was his fault Noodle was like this in the first place. He felt like he needed to be there for her, but also like he needed to give her space. He wanted to be by her side and love on her like the best friend that she was to him, but at the same time, he feared close proximity with her while she was still so far gone. Suddenly, he realized what had just happened, and his face revealed his worry. He looked at Russel, "I'm sorry. I lost ih'there."
"S'alright, 'D," he patted the man's shoulder. "I undastan'. That wuz a dumb question."
"No, ih wosn'. If ih wos me, yew know I wouldah as'ed summfin mo' stoopid than tha'," 2D pointed out, knocking lightly on the side of his head. Russel chuckled, and reached up to ruffle 2D's hair, but he flinched in response and yelped, "Ouch. Don' touch there." He put hand over his bruised scrape.
"Uh, sorry. Whadjew do there," he pointed.
"Er… remember when I said Noodle threw 'er suitcase at me?" Russel nodded. 2D pulled his hair up, revealing the large scrape and badly bruised skin.
"Yikes," he grimaced.
"Yeah, wull it don' feel much bettah," 2D grumbled.
"D'you think she'll come out… t'eat at least," Russel asked.
2D leaned his head sideways, "I dun fink so. I fink she'll be up in there fo' a bit 'ntil she's feels a bit bettah."
"Alright then, you finish yo'food, an I'll make baby-girl sumthin, an you'll take it to'er."
2D sat, "How am I supposed t'do tha' when she wonts t'rip me 'ead off?"
Russel shrugged, "You don't have ta give it to'er, exactly. Just leave it in 'er room, in 'er lounge on the table."
Shoulders now hunched, and munching on a piece of toast, 2D reluctantly agreed, "Right then…"
Not twenty minutes later, 2D found himself with a tray in his hand, face-to-face with the lighthouse door. He shook his head absently, still not quite sure of how he ended up in this position. He tested the handle, grateful that she'd left it unlocked, and twisted the knob until it stuck, then he opened the door slowly, eliciting a moan from the metal. He gave up and opened the door fast, surprised that it made less noise when he opened it quickly. He peeked around inside, relieved that no one was waiting to jump him from on the inside. Carefully, he snuck over to her lounge chair and placed her tray on the table. He smiled at the picture of her on it.
It was just her and Russel –daughter and father –she was looking up at him and smiling, while he was patting her head and smiling down at the ten-year-old. She was so adorable then; she was just carefree, outgoing and outspoken in just about everything. The world was just a giant playground, with her odd family by her side. He thought about how she was now –what she had been reduced to –and it broke his heart. He needed to find a way to fix this. He had to, for his little Noodle. He hadn't seen her smile once in four years, and he was determined to see it again. He would have to find a way to lift the darkness that had been consuming her heart for years, and show her there was nothing to fear. But how was he to do that, when he was without a heart himself?
With a frustrated sigh, he moved to her lavatory, hoping to find evidence of blood, or something that indicated an attempt to clean herself. He was relieved when he saw an opened tube of healing cream and wrapping, though it didn't look as though she'd used the gauze. He rinsed out her sink and put her things away, then rinsed out the pinkish color left by her blood in the shower, leaving it shining and clean. After he was content, he left the room and went upstairs quietly to check on Noodle.
He flinched when she rolled over in her sleep, but let out a breath when she sighed and resumed her dreaming. He walked over to her carefully and grinned emotionally when he gazed upon her sleeping form. She looked so innocent and peaceful in her sleep. Unlike most people 2D knew, Noodle slept with her mouth closed, usually. This morning was no exception. She had one arm under her pillow where her head lay, while the other was around her stomach. Her body was curled up tight, her knees pulled up close to her body. He frowned at the cuts decorating her exposed skin. At least none of them were open any longer. He saw his pack of smokes on her dresser and grimaced, but decided to leave them. She was old enough to make her own decisions, and maybe they helped relieve her stress, like they did for him.
2D crouched down and pulled her blanket over her shoulders, tucking her in. He brushed the hair out of her face and lightly stroked her bruised cheek. He came close so his forehead was rested against hers. She breathed out, the air blowing into his face. His hand still cupping her face, he whispered to her, "I'm sorry, Noodle, for whot's happened ta yew. I jus' wanted yew te kno' I fo'give yew, Noodle-girl. I 'ope yew 'ear me, cos I wont yew t'know tha'. I f'give yew… I'm sorry…" He brushed her hair again, then gazed at her face for a few moments longer.
She had really changed. She was no longer a teenager, and most definitely not a child. Anything but a child. This bruise that marked her, it only seemed to add to her beauty, not take from it. It showed that she'd survived, and she was strong. She had persisted and grown, and she came out on top. Only now, she was being shoved back down into her own personal Hell. But hell if 2D cared whether she had a bruise or not. It didn't even phase him. It might as well not have been there at all because he never even saw it when he looked at her. Instead, looking into her face, he never saw the flaws other people could point out, but only ever saw beauty. She was a young woman, so why was this realization bothering 2D so vigorously? Why should he care that she's grown into such a beautiful young woman –she was back in their lives, wasn't she? That should be all that matters, isn't it… Isn't it? 2D couldn't find the answer. He gazed at her, looking at every detail, memorizing every imperfection as it marked the face of his closest friend. At one moment he found himself staring at her lips when she bit them in her sleep, and he felt an aching in his chest, as if it was trying to set aflame.
He pulled back and stood up. He didn't know what feeling it was that had just washed over him, but he wasn't about to stick around and find out. He looked back down at her, brushed her hair once more, but changed his mind about leaving right then. Instead, he bent over her once more, and sang low into her ear, "…Lift yourself up it's a brand new day… So turn yourself 'round... Don't burn yourself, turn yourself… Turn yourself around to the sun." And those words echoed into her being as 2D left her to her peaceful slumber, quietly exiting her room and carrying on with the rest of his day, lonelier than ever before.
"To the sun… to the sun…"
Twenty years, it's breaking you down
Now that you understand there's no one around
Take a breath, just take a seat
You're falling apart and tearing at the seams
Heaven forbid you end up alone, you don't know why
Hold on tight, wait for tomorrow, you will be alright
It's on your face, is it on your mind?
Would you care to build a house of your own?
How much longer? How long can you wait?
It's like you wanted to go and give yourself away
Heaven forbid you end up alone and you don't know why
Hold on tight, wait for tomorrow, you will be alright
Heaven forbid you end up alone and don't know why
Hold on tight, wait for tomorrow, you will be alright
It feels good (Is that reason enough for you)
It feels good (Is that reason enough for you)
It feels good (Is that reason enough for you)
It feels good (Is that reason enough for you)
Heaven forbid you end up alone, you don't know why
Hold on tight, wait for tomorrow, you'll be alright
Heaven forbid you end up alone, you don't know why
Hold on tight, wait for tomorrow, you'll be alright
Out of this one
I don't know how to get you out of this one
I don't know how to get you out of this one
Don't know how to get you out of this one
I don't know how to get you out of this one
The Fray – Heaven Forbid