(2D's POV)

Stuart led Noodle to the large wooden logs that surrounded the fire, passing her the large bottle of whiskey to the woman before heading off to the cart that sat a few feet away from the logs. He hoped that Jack Daniel's whiskey was a suitable first drink for the woman, but he figured she'd need a cup and he'd appreciate some alcohol of his own to celebrate with the group.

His eyes skimmed over the vast selection of bottles, picking out some rum, several packs of beer, another large bottle of whiskey and vodka shots.

2D reached for the beer, popping the cap before grabbing two empty shot glasses to give to Noodle and one for himself. His face grimaced at the sound of Murdoc's slurred grumbling.

"Noodle, I'm glad to see you're alive now that you're back. We missed having both of you guys around; hell, Faceache here was destroyed when he figured you died…," he belched and took another swig from his bottle, "Drink something, for Christ sake! Loosen up!"

Stuart turned to see Murdoc flailing his own large bottle of whiskey in the air, pouring some of it on himself in the act. "Augh fuck…"

Noodle was simply staring the drunken man down, her eyes rolling at Mud's alcoholic shower. She looked down, her back to 2D, inspecting the bottle in her hands before looking over to Russel who was eyeing the bassist with an entertained spark in his eyes.

Once 2D had made his way back to Noodle, he sat down and joined her before the flickering flames that stretched into the darkening sky. He filled the shot for her and set the bottle down, picking up his own glass and filling it for himself. As quickly as he sat down moments before, he stood up and bellowed out, "I'd like to make a toast…for Russewl."

The large man in the sea had a shocked look, but he stayed quiet, listening to 2D's speech.

"In the years thah you've been gone, I know thah your ol' frien', Del, wos taken from yew. You've pushed through an' you've surpassed the mourning of ih all… being haunted by things nobodeh could imagine… I'd like to dedicate this toast to yew for coming back, despite wot happened. To add to this mess, I'd like to wish your five years of absence to have been great birthdays and may many more come to yew in the future. Welcome home, Russewl."

"To Russewl," 2D said finally, the others repeating his words.

2D lifted his filled glass in the air, everyone following up with their own glasses, shooting down the alcohol and letting the fire scorch their throats. Beside him, Noodle coughed down her drink and he could see her cheeks flush from the heat.

2D filled her glass and his own once again, raising his arm in the air and continued, "I've anothah toast to make! This time, it's for Noods here…"

Stuart looked down to the woman who was looking up at him, her eyes glistening from the lights surrounding the site and her hair shone black in the darkness that pooled above.

"After I heard that you'd been dead, I knew some part of me had disappeared. You were my go-to-gal shipped in a Fed-Ex box to our studio many years ago, and you became a part of the band. Not only were yew my band-mate, but yew were my best friend who made everythin' jus' a lil' brighter. We've all missed havin' yew 'round to keep us whole, and we sure as hell don' wanna have yew leave us again… As for the years that've passed, I'd like to wish thah your birthdays were at least tolerable with all the chaos thah's happened. And may your future years to come be worf ev'ry minute yew spend. To Noodle."

"To Noodle," their voices rang out over the crackling of the fire and the waves hitting the shore.

They took another shot, the heat rising in their throats and warming their bodies. This time, however, Noodle seemed to keep down the booze and smiled at 2D who sat beside the woman and set down the small cup.

2D blinked hard at the fire, watching the flames lick at the wood that was feeding the fire. His head began to fog up a little bit and he steadied himself on the log seat. It had been a long time since he had the chance to drink due to Murdoc keeping him away from any form of alcohol. It was always stashed within his bedroom or some place that the cyborg Noodle was kept to guard. The two shots he'd taken had made his breath hot and made his head swirl in a daze.

"Thank's 'D… yeah, Del was exorcised from me when I left for the Americas. Too much bullshit with all the ghosts and demons- I didn't want him to leave. I just wanted the other's to go…," Russel sighed before he pinched the bottle of vodka in-between his fingers and chugged it.

"Demons? I get that everyday, I don' see what your problem is…," Murdoc spoke after he hiccupped.

Russel and Murdoc quibbled between themselves, talking about what happened in the Americas and babbling on about horrifying paranormals. 2D was glad he didn't have to talk much more, just Noodle and himself enjoying the warmth of the fire and the stars that began to show brighter against the nighttime skies.

"Toochie…"

Stuart turned his head toward her voice, but kept his eyes on her feet, listening intently for her voice.

"I don't know what to say; I'm honored to be given a party for returning, but I didn't expect something like this… Not a gorgeous fire under the stars and lights surrounding us… It's very, very kind of you…"

A large, goofy grin spread across his face when he drunk from his beer bottle, resting his elbows on his boney knees and letting his arms slack between his legs, tracing the rim of the glass. His eyes dragged up to Noodle's, peering into her faded jade ones and he spoke quietly, "only for yew, Love. I figured it'd be nice to dedicate a night to welcome yew guys back to the band. Especially since you've been gone all these years…."

The alcohol was beginning to dehydrate him, longing for another drink to quench his thirst. He continued to down the bottle and before he knew it, his eyes grew cross and his vision was starting to wobble.

"Nooodal Love… I thought you'd been dead awl these years…My sweet, sweet Nooodallll...," 2D dragged on.

His thoughts, although foggy and jumbled, traced back to his dream-state, to when he'd visualized his nightmares to be real. The night when he acted out El Manana, to when Noodle morphed into the droid copy that Murdoc had created, to when he was eaten by the whale or when that gas-masked man had appeared at his bedside window. Recalling these dreams kept him in silence, afraid to speak of them, for if he did, he'd believe they'd drop in and rampage his current reality.

Frowning now, 2D dropped the empty bottle on the ground and shoved it with his foot, farthest away from Noodle and himself. His mind was beginning to clog and unclog, prying at the edges of his eye-sockets and throbbing in his head. He was so thirsty…

(Noodle's POV)

Stuart picked himself up, staggering as he tried to get a hold of his footing before he walked easily toward the cart again, grabbing three more beers to share with Noodle.

Already the few shots were beginning to make her throat catch on fire and warm her body. She'd never really given thought to drinking, nor had she'd thought about the consequences that it brought along, like the hangovers and poisonings, for she was used to it when she was still in the band with Murdoc getting shit-faced and intoxicated almost every night.

She eyed her empty glass in her hands, letting the heat scorch her lungs, but she shivered from the bitter taste and questioned the reason why anyone would consider drinking this on a regular basis. It was nasty and down-right inconvenient for anyone who had too much of it.

She flicked her eyes over to watch Murdoc drag on about how he began to worship Satan in his late teens to mid-twenties, mentioning something about how demons are normal to him anyway. This, infuriating as it was, brought back the memory of him mentioning his bargain with the gas-masked demon who was hunting them down this very second. He was out on the prowl, looking for any clues to find their whereabouts, seeking soft spots to attack to make Muds crumble and give in to fulfill his part of the deal.

Still, the drunken bassist waved her phony death away, solving her absence with a mechanical clone that did both her own instruments and Russel's since he was gone temporarily as well. It had no soul; it had no opinion or argument; it only carried out as commanded to do, whether that was to fire on target or follow simple tasks ordered from Murdoc's lazy arse.

Noodle's thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock in the shoulder, hearing a sloshing sound beside her and she looked over to see 2D handing her a beer. She gratefully accepted his offer, but set it down beside her foot, saving it for later if she really wanted to succumb to the mind-numbing pleasure of drunken stupors and slurs.

"You've no idea how hard it's been wifout yew hea'… Sweet Love, when yew were gone, I only ha' Muds to look ou' fo' me. All he's ever done is hide in 'is secret room, working on our new album an' drone on about how I'm a dullard he never intended on keeping in the ban'… but he doesn't say mo' since I'm all he's got…Since we're gonna die sooner or latah from whatever was tryin' to kill yew…"

2D slouched beside her on the log, frowning and drinking from his brown bottle while keeping his eyes on the fire. He seemed lost, as if the words he'd said were telling a secret; as if he was telling her a story that he really didn't intend that anyone hear.

"I thought it was 'bout to kill me, Noods, when I heard the island crash. Your body wasn't evah found… and we assumed yew were dead…," 2D choked on his words and he sniffled, wiping something off his face. "I didn't know what to do since Russewl wasn't wif us anymo', you were dead, and Muds didn't seem to care since he'd started makin' that damn electric piece of shit… I didn't know what to do… Then Muds shipped me here….And that goddamn whale has been watchin' me…"

His lips quivered and he coughed, downing another swallow of his beer and he stayed silent for a few moments before he continued on in a trembling voice, "Mud's silence and these dreams are all I've had for the past five years. Yew kep' comin' back and I swear I fought every time I awoke, yew were goin' to be the end of me… You've changed, Noods…"

2D was quickly finishing off his bottle and it hadn't even been a whole five minutes since he'd returned with some drinks. Noodle gave a worried look to the man, but she quickly pushed this aside when she spotted out tears streaming down the sides of his face.

"You've really grown up. Beau'iful Noodle… I swore I wouldn't let ma'self feel something like tha'…. I swore that I had to push it away… but ever since you died… ever since El Manana…"

2D began to silently sob, his face in his hands and the bottle, empty, dropped to the ground beside him.

Shocked, Noodle shimmied closer to him, wrapping her small arms around his torso and feeling his body heave from the deep breaths he took. She was both confused and heartbroken to see Stuart so broken like this, but he continued one last time, taking his head from his hands and letting his swollen eyes catch her own in an exhausted, silent plea.

"I didn't want to love you like this… I didn't want to give in … I cun' let him hurt you again… won't let this happen to us now…"

(Author's Note)

2D is drunk. Great.

What now?

I don't have much to say. I hope you like it so far. I'll consider revising a lot in the previous chapters, fixing obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Review, critique, whatever you'd like to call it. I really, REALLY appreciate your feedback. You've no idea how helpful it all is.

I don't own Gorillaz.

(PS: To those of you who are tagging along with my story and have given me props to my work so far, you are my dreams. You've helped me fulfill what I thought I could not. You make it so much better as a young writer in my first years of fanfiction and story-writing and I love you all dearly for that. Thank you.)

'Till next chapter!