Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's been a while gng, sorry if haven't updated my other fics! I have drafts for them but I haven't really worked much on it. I'm really sorry to disappoint you guys, I tried finding motivation from the new seasons but they just didn't hit the same. I feel really guilty for ghosting you guys about my "I missed you but who are you" fic, all your comments are really sweet but at the same time guilt tripping. Who knows maybe if the new movies comes out next year, I might continue them again

...For now I'm going to be writing for this brit-virtual band Gorillaz

Per usual, it's all angsty, this was intended to be a one shot but, I figured it would also work well as a chaptered fic, right now I have 2 chapters done, with one being revised currently

Chapter Text

The past week was rather dull for 2D, he'd been feeling really down lately, while his migraines kept acting up more often than usual.

Because of that, he kept messing up simple instructions, his usual patient band members—except Murdoc, are finally finding it frustrating, as it sometimes compromised the time they're supposed to spend on a song.

2D tried laughed it off with some jokes to try lighten the mood, but it barely works so he just apologize each time. He doesn't know why he's suddenly feeling all glum, his life wasn't exactly great, but it wasn't as bad to not continue living the next day.

Lately, he notices the silent looks his band members are giving him. The kind that shows their Impatient frustration. Of course he didn't mind all of that, he couldn't blame them too, because it was his mistakes that took a toll on their work.

God knows how much he's trying to keep himself grounded with his poor mental state and wavering migraines. His meds aren't as effective as it was before so he's planning on getting a new prescription. For now, he just have to endure it until he had time to go out for the meds.

It was a rainy morning, the studio was chaotic as usual. But this time the chaos was a tad different, unlike the usual loud and messy rambles to finish a single song, everyone was in shambles as they prepared for their impending flight this noon.

Like any family before a trip, Russel the father figure he always was, woke up very early to prep their necessities. Such as cooking their breakfast, prepared things needed for the flight, and getting everyone up 11 hours before the trip.

At that time, 2D was making sure he did everything everyone asked him to do. A small check list was running down his mind, as he tried to recall every task Murdoc had drop loaded on him. "Let's see, the documents, everyone's luggage's in the trunk, the tickets, my meds, unplug every electronic...wha' else?"

As he was busy with his thoughts, he didn't realize that he had absent-mindedly nodded to whatever Noodle was chattering about. Throwing a few "yes" and "ye" to her instructions while trying to focus on his thoughts.

"That's about it, just remember to be careful in putting it inside okay?" She said finally looking up to him, 2D shifted his glance to her and the huge bag on her side. He tossed a few more nods in acknowledgement, before she went back inside.

He then walked over to the bag, and reached out for the strap. He pulled it up with one hand, before realizing the bag weighted more than his skinny arm could support, so he used both of his arms and just barely detached it from the ground. He then hobbled behind the car's trunk, placing the bag back to the ground, "phew, wha' is she putting inside her bag?" He said dramatically wiping off a sweat. Just when he was about to open the trunk's lid, Russel called him out, pausing him from what he was doing.

2D ran up to his friend "wha' is it russ?" Russel looked at him, his glowing eyes met his dark ones "Dee, I think we ran out of aspirin in the kit" Russel said showing him the empty bottle. 

2Ds eyes widened a bit, shifting his gaze at the floor, then placing a hand on his arm. "I just bought those last week, ya didn't happen to take em all up within that span haven't ya?" The drummer said, eyes slightly narrowed.

2D slightly gripped his sleeve, feeling his nails digging into his skin "Sorry, I—I might've taken more than I should...but it's because my usual painkillers had ran out, migraines been pretty frequent this past days" he mumbled, rubbing the lingering sting off his arm.

Russell sighed. He showed no signs of anger, but he can see the disappointment in his eyes "aight, but we need a new bottle, you know how restless you and noodle could be during flights. Could ya get a new one for me down the pharmacy?" "Y-yeah of course, I'll do that right now" "great, be quick 'kay?" 2D nodded and left the stairs.

>>>

After buying the medications, he passed by the old candy shop he used to bring noodle at. Russel's voice tapped into his head, "be quick" it said, as he debated onto making a quick stop on the shop. In the end he walked back with a bag of meds and sweets. He figured noodle would love to chew on something while on the trip, it usually helps her calm her nerves during their flights.

As he walked back to the studio, the familiar wave of pain crept back to his temples. It was faint, but he knew better that it was going to get worse. So without any hesitation, he reached for his painkillers in the bag, and took two from the bottle, swallowing them dry. He then took a deep breath before continuing his way back at the studio.

When he got there, everyone was already getting inside the car. Murdoc, in the driver's seat, honked at him, signaling him to get in. 2D hurriedly made his way to the vehicle and got into the passenger seat.

"Wha' took you so long? We're runnin' late and you're walking like you're on the moon" Murdoc chidded. "Sorry, there was a long line in the pharmacy", murdoc grumbled something under his breath, something about being too sluggish. 2D ignored that, and handed the bag to Russel, "there's some lollies in there too noods" he said pointing at the bag.

Noodle Litten up instantly, "thank you 2D-san!" She chirped, her japanese accent slipping. 2D's lips tugged upward, seeing the young girl contented.

"Right, let's get going" the bassist muttered, stepping on the gas.

After 40 minutes on the road, the band had finally reached the airport. The area was filled with people, some are families saying farewell to their loved ones, while others came to welcome the arrival of their long missed friends and families. Meanwhile, the band got off from the vehicle, and started unloading their luggages from the trunk.

2D had removed the baggages while Russel went out half way, to get a cart for them to place their things. Murdoc didn't moved an inch. He lit a cig instead, as waited for his companions to finish up. Russel would've called on him, but he knew best that arguing will just take up their time, knowing the stubborn bassist will just retort unreasonable nonsense.

As the two went through the stuff, Noodle scanned each bag taken out, finding her blue luggage nowhere in sight. Noodle started to fret, going over through the piles of bags again, but to her dismay, the luggage wasn't there. She ran up to her band members exclaiming how her bag was left behind. "I told 2D to put it inside! I looked all over it's not there!"

2D gasped slightly to himself, and remembered how he forgot it behind the car. "Oh shit, it's probably still in front of the studio. Russ had called me earlier and it slipped me mind" he muttered, rubbing the back of is neck "sorry noods..."

The bassist snickered "of course this bonehead's goin' to forget, he has an attention span of a fruit's fly" he said mockingly, flicking the ash off his cig. 2D could merely shot a brief glare, ignoring the scoff.

"What do we do now? All my things are in there!" Noodle exclaimed. Russel, looked at her, his contemplating silence agitated her further. "Well...we don't really have the time to go back and get it" Russel finally muttered.

"It's fine, we'll work it out on the way, let's get goin' " Murdoc said, brushing it off. "But those are my things" she tried to argue "look luv, sometimes we have to make choices that involves sacrifices, for the greater good, if you're unhappy about it, blame 2D cause he's the one to abandon your bag" he said walking off to the building. 

Noodle stomped her foot angrily, mumbling words under her breath, shooting a glare at the singer. She then walked off to the same direction the bassist went, leaving the two behind. 

2D fidgeted his fingers, rubbing the back of his hand. Noodle had never glared at him like that, she'd been upset before, but to glare like that at him. Her dirty look pierced something in his chest. "I can go get it..."

Russel who just finished tying up their stuff looked up to him "forget it dee, the plane's bouta leave in 30 minutes, even if ya sped it up to a hundred, you'll never get back in time." He went over to the singer, puting his hands over his hips, as they watched the teen march up to the building "The supposedly 20 minute drive doubled from that traffic jam. Don't worry, we'll make it up to her once we get to her town, we'll get her everything she needs" he assured, tapping his shoulder.

2D sighed, Russell was definitely right, with their tight sched, it was impossible to retrieve the bag.

As he was trailing behind the drummer, a familiar throb laid upon his head once again, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Chapter Text

"What do you mean the plane had already fuckin' left!" The bassist's voice echoed throughout the building "I'm really sorry sir, but your flight was scheduled at 7 am, the plane flew hours ago" the lady in the front desk said, trying her best to explain the mishap.

Then another voice chimed in "Woah, mudz chill, what's goin' on?" Russel interjects, setting their luggages aside. "Our plane had already left" noodle said coldly, as she sat on the nearby bench, chin resting over her fists. "What?"  russel said marching over to the counter. "There's gotta be a mistake ma'am, our flight is supposed to be for this 7pm" 

"I'm really sorry sir, but we don't have a plane to Japan leaving at this hour, if you don't mind, can you please move aside, for the other passengers" the receptionist asked politely, Russel turned and saw the long line, he quickly moved aside, finding how futile it is to argue further.

Russel walked up to murdoc, who's now pacing back and forth by the bench. "Our flight was 7am ya dumbass" Russel spoke, sitting beside the young girl, causing a slight jolt across the bench. 

"So it was 7am.." the singer suddenly muttered. They all shifted their eyes at him "what'd ya mean? You knew the whole time??" Murdoc questioned sharply, "Not really, when we went to get the tickets I overheard the lady saying 7am, but you told me it was 7pm so I thought I misheard.."

"You daft pillock, why didn't you say anything!" The bassist fumed. "I was gonna but...I was a little further behind you when you were talking to the receptionist, so I wasn't sure about what I've heard" Russel facepalmed while noode sighed impatiently

"Well nice going ya muppet, that information really checks out you're dense brain doesn't it? We've missed the flight 12 hours ago!" Murdoc exclaimed crossing his arms over his chest.

The singer bit his lip, finding the right words to say, suddenly sounds of gunshots can be heard around the building. The huge man and the girl got up from their seats, as the people began to scatter and run in frantic.

2D looked around and found two gunmen in the distance, "look there!" 2D pointed out. The two turned and saw the two men. Murdoc felt a dread in his stomach at the sight of the two. "they're armed, we have to get outta here!" Russel reached for noodle's hand, but grabbed air instead, he looked down to see the girl nowhere in sight. "Where's noodle?!?" Russel's blood went cold, "we need to find her!" He said clutching the cap on his head. "Let's split up, we'll meet outside" Murdoc directed.

In the panicking crowd, 2D urgently searched for noodle. His eyes scattered across the horde. He bumped into a few people, Until something hard collided with him. He felt an intense cold but sudden pressure against his abdomen, he jerked slightly from the impact. He looked down to see the person that he bumped into, before he could even process everything, the man dashed away vanishing into the crowd.

2D patted his black top where he felt the sharp pressure, but the adrenaline from the chaos and extreme worry for the girl numbed the sensation, Noodle had to come first, so he moved on.

"Noodle! Where are you!" He called out, frantically searching through the people. Then suddenly a small hand grasped onto his arm "2D!" A voice called out, the tall man looked down, relief washing over him at the sight of the young girl. 

2D didn't waste a second and dragged her towards the exit. But seeing the gun men just behind them, his panic welled up, and carried the girl in his arms, squeezing their selves out from the crowd.

Outside the building, 2D held noodle tight, as the blaring sirens from the police cars triggered a throb in his head. Noodle looked frantically for their other band members, until she finally saw their drummer running towards them, their bassist just trailing behind. Russel reached for the young girl, which 2D carefully handed over "oh baby girl, I was so worried, did you get hurt?" Russel said inspecting her, whilst cradling her in his arms.

"I'm fine russel-san..." she mumbled, her cheeks tinted with red, embarrassed from all the carrying. seeing that she's okay, he finally sets her down.

"We gotta ditch this place! The area's surrounded with cops! Those gunmen are definitely after us, we can't get involved!" Murdoc exclaimed, hiding behind Russel, cautiously looking around for the police.

Meanwhile, 2D felt a warm sensation on his lower abdomen where the man collided with earlier, he placed a hand over it, confused.

"What'd ya did this time mudz??" Russell accused furiously "I didn't, those are the bloody Russians I had run in with in the past, it wasn't me who started it I fucking swear!" "Was it really?—" Russel retorted. 

During this, 2Ds head began to throb again, his vision slightly swayed, as he tried to make out what the two was arguing about

"Can we please get out of here now" noodle chimed in tugging the drummer's shirt, seeing the tension growing. The two shifted their gaze on the young girl, before finally deciding to move out.

As they ran back to the car, noodle noticed their missing member, and looked back to see her friend unmoving in his spot.

Noodle pause and called him out "2D-san!", it took some time before the singer turned to her, she then ran back and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards their other friends. "Let's go, oni-chan, we not safe yet" she reminded him.

In the distance, Murdoc was waving out his hand to the duo "hurry up you two!" He grumbled, glaring at the singer. "Come on in, noods" Russel said standing by the car's door.

During the drive home, Murdoc had gone non-stop about how everything was the singer's fault, blaming him for all of the unexpected events. "We could've definitely avoided all that malarkey if this twat had done his bloody job and told us the flight was 7am and not fucking pm!"

2D shrunked in his seat, clutching his sore abdomen. "Now hang on a sec, mudz, you're being a lil unfair. Sure, he was wrong for ain't clarifyin' the plane's departure, but he'd got nothin' to do with those fuckers" Russel differed.

"That's exactly my fuckin' point mate, if we'd left much earlier then those goons wouldn't have found us there"

At the passenger seat, the singer sat still, his vision started to sway harder, as the warm sensation on his abdomen slowly turned into a sharp painful burn. At this point his his head was already spinning and Murdoc's rough driving wasn't helping a lot. The voices at the background started to muffle, replaced by a ringing sound in his ear.

Something was really wrong with him, the warm sensation earlier started to feel wet. He slid his hand inside his jacket and felt the sticky fluid seeping through his skin. He froze, and slowly looked at his hand, his eyes widened as the crimson liquid sent a chill up his spine.

He shook his head, trying to rid of the daze, he looked back to his bandmates, who's still bickering about the same incident. Tossing curses and blames at each other. And then the bssist shifted his eyes from the rear mirror to him.

Looks like the old git was bad mouthing him again, he didn't make out any of the word he said though. Maybe it wasn't the best time to mention his predicament. So he wiped offed the stain from his hand, and focused on stabling himself from the bumpy ride.

Chapter Text

Finally after another 20 minutes on the road, the band finally got back home, and as expected noodle's bag was still outside the studio, drench from the rain.

Everyone got off immediately, slamming the doors of the car shut. Murdoc was mumbling something under his breath again, when the drummer overheard him, this quickly escalated into a new argument.

As the two finally entered the studio, Noodle, fed up from the constant bicker today, sighed and rolled her eyes. She headed over to the bag and lifted it up, some of the rain water dripping over her shoes. She groaned in annoyance, nonetheless she placed the bag over her shoulder clearly done with everything that day. Then her eyes laid on 2D, she's still quite upset about the bag, but after what happened earlier, she decided to let it go.

2D leaned against the car, seemingly contemplating. Should he tell his friends about it? He thought to himself. He hates going to the hospital, and with the heating arguments, he knew it'll fuel their frustrations further specially that he didn't told them much sooner.

He sighed, debating on bringing himself to the hospital or not. Suddenly the young guitarist appeared on his side. "2D? Are you alright?" The girl spoke, her voice much more gentler than when they were at the airport. 2D's gaze tendered, "kinda, somethin's been bugging me" his yes drifted at her soaking bag "sorry about your bag Noods"

"It's okay, but what is bothering you?" Noodle adjusted the bag on her shoulder, reassuring the singer, bringing the question back up. 2D hesitant—made his hand slowly hover over his stomach, "your stomach hurts?" She asked, her optics trailing his hand. He looked at her, "I bumped into someone earlier..." Noodle listened intently, his lip faltered a few times before he spoke again "I think he hit me pretty hard"

Noodle looked at him and his solar plexus, she leaned in and reached for his dark  denim jacket "can I see, maybe you have a bruise?" She spoke before 2D backed away just a little, there was a brief awkward silence before the other spoke "it probably is...shall we go in? I don't think the rain's gonna let up anytime soon" He muttered patting her back to go inside.

Noodle narrowed her eyes at him, 2D smiled sheepishly as her eyes go over his face and his stomach, her gaze lingering for a good minute until she finally spoke up "if you say so" she shrugged "I will be in my room then" she said tossing a wave over her shoulder, stepping inside the building.

As she entered the building, 2D's smile faltered, he sighed before deciding to follow behind her, but then suddenly he froze mid-step when a sharp pain surged through his abdomen again. He placed a hand against the wall, in attempt to support his weight.

By that time, noodle had already took a turn to her room. He sat down, his back leaning against the wall, focusing on his breathing. Every breath came out sharp, like something was tearing his flesh. He looked out the door, seeing the rain pouring heavily, then back inside the studio. He pondered for a second, he needs to get himself some help, but he can't bring himself to tell the others. He had no choice.

He then reached for the painkillers inside his pocket, propping a few in his mouth, before gathering the strength to stand back up. He slowly went down the stairs and walked limply towards the car. He opened the car's door for the driver's seat and set himself inside. He then wrung the excess water from his clothes revealing the crimson taint liquid from the dark shirt. He then reached for the ignition until he realized he didn't have the keys.

He dragged a hand over his face, peering outside the window. His eyes began to sting, as the thought of death slipped through his mind.

It's such a nice weather to just disappear.

2D perked up realizing what he had just thought, "No, I don't want to die!" He exclaimed to himself, but then again he couldn't deny the fact that he's in here dying and all he could do is sit and watch the rain fall, all because he forgot to get the keys, all because he was too much of coward.

He slammed his head against the steering wheel, causing the car horn to go off a few times. The rain muffled the sound. His head rested over his arms, finding himself chuckling at his situation. He just can't do anything right, can't he? 

He then raised his head from the wheel, wiping away the remaining tears from his eyes. He placed a hand over his face, his fingers reaching for his temples, massaging them in a circular motion.

While he was at that, his other hand reached for his phone in his pocket only to realize that it wasn't there, he then checked his other pockets but to his disappointment the phone was nowhere to be found. He scrubbed another hand over his face realizing it might've fallen off him from the airport. He then looked back at the studio, remembering that their land line was also cut off last week.

He sighed to himself, feeling hopeless of his situation. Then when he thought the pain had subdued down on his stomach, a wave of pain came rushing back in his head. His vision started to become fuzzy, and his body felt heavier.

He thought for a moment before finally having the courage to go back inside, left with no other options, he'll just have to tell them. So he pulled himself together and dragged himself out of the car. He headed towards the door and slowly made his way to the kitchen. Inside he found a familiar huge figure, It was the drummer, busy fixing something in the sink.

He went to the table and rested his hand on the surface. It took him a minute but he finally opened his mouth "Russ?" He mumbled. Russel sighed and paused what he was doing "what is it now?" He muttered, not turning to face him.

"Are ya busy..?" Russel didn't responded right away, continuing what he was doing, after half a minute he finally responded "pretty much, flight's cancelled so there's a lot of things to get done" he muttered coldly

"Actually maybe we can talk about it again later, when I'm not doing anything" he added trying to sound kind, but 2D saw right through it, and didn't push further.

"O-oh yeah, o-okay later then" he said, voice tinted with disappointment, then he looked up again "is noodle up?" "No, I just checked up on her earlier, she's sacked out, probably from all the runnin' earlier"

"oh I see, I'll be... going then" the singer replied his voice slightly dejected. As he steps out the kitchen a familiar voice echoed across the hall. It was the bassist, from the way he talked, he knew he was on the phone.

He can definitely try and ask for the bassist's phone, but god, there's no way in hell will he ever let him borrow that.

It didn't matter he doesn't need it, or anyone for that matter—he lied

>>>

2D soon proceeded to the hall, making his way to the elevator. He steps inside and pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator's quick descend, added another layer of heaviness on his already spinning head. By the time he reached his floor, his vision began to double. He then continued to the stairwell leading him to the dimly lit parking lot, this did not help his hazy vision. He staggered to get to his room, bumping into the wall a few times

After some time of walking he finally reached his room. With trembling hands he twisted the door knob and creaked the door open. His messy room welcomed him, the scent of of cigarettes and wet carpet lingered in the air.

He panted, his breathing becoming more labored, while his muscles begged for rest. He shuts the door behind him, and weakly walked up to his bed, but his knees buckled before he had the chance to get on the flat. His head and arms laid on the edge of it, seeking comfort from the cold soft sheets.

Then his abdomen started to hurt again, this time he could feel more warm fluid seeping through his skin. He curled up feeling the pain intensify, he soon fixed his position and leaned against the bed's frame. He pressed lightly on his viscera and felt the warm fluid through his already soaked clothes.

He stared at the red stain on his hand, as another tear streamed down from his hollow black eyes. Then a small smile tugged up his lip, as a slight chuckle escaped his mouth. A wave of shame washing over him.

Why is he even crying? From the soreness of his wound? The dissapointment of his friends? Or the ugly truth that all of this was caused by his own cowardice. 

Then the earlier events began to replay in his mind. Noodle's bag being left behind, their missed flight, that man stabbing him with whatever. Russel's blameful tone, Murdoc's sharp but factual statements, and Noodle's dirty look. It tortured him, everyone clearly finds him difficult.

He should've spoke about their actual departure, he should've spoke about...this. He could've told them at the airport, he could've told them in car, he could've told noodle... someone was finally noticing him and he chose to push her away! Everything, all the setbacks today was his fault, he knew it...they knew it.

By the minute he can feel the wound's soreness getting worse, his head pounded and his vision began to spin harder. With trembling hands, he took out the painkillers from his pocket again. He took 3 pills this time and popped it up his mouth.

He swallowed them down, and placed the bottle beside him. For the first time, the pills was a lot harder to swallow. He can still taste the slightly melted capsules in his tongue.

Moments later, the left over pieces of the capsule got caught on his throat—or what he thought was piece of the capsule, causing him to gag. He then clutched his mouth, as the nausea transitioned to a sharp cough, it made his head throb in pain.

Once he had calmed down, he gazed at his hand only to see another red liquid staining his skin.

He pulled his legs towards him and rested his head on his knees. He can feel his wound pulsate against the pressure. God, he's so tired, maybe he could just... Just close his eyes for a bit...maybe this is all just a dream, a nightmare for sure.

Maybe when he wakes up everything will be fine again, everyone's happy, no fighting, no mean words, not burdening.

eventually he felt the rhythm in his chest get deeper and heavier, growing farther apart each beat

This tapped another thought in his mind, And what if you don't wake up...? The singer paused and pondered. It's been a week since everything happened, since he felt more pathetic than he already was, each day drained him like a battery. Right now slumber had never been inviting. Finally, he lets his eyes rest, allowing the darkness to swallow his vision "I'm sure it'll be alright..." He said, replying to no one.

And with that, slumber won over him, enveloping his mind with relief and numbness.

Chapter Text

When Noodle was first brought to the band, her first instincts was to examine their appearances. For her it was a significant step to determine if any of them were safe to trust

Each individual held an eerie physique. One of them was huge and had glowing white eyes, while the other one had a broken nose with one red eye, and then lastly the other one was tall, had blue hair and dark hallow eyes. 

Their odd appearances got her on edge, strangely though despite their scary faces, they accepted her in and gave her food and water. She was grateful for that, after six whole days inside a crate with nothing to eat but the left over candy in her pocket and bits of her hair, anything tastes like luxury, despite it only being bread, a bag of chips, and water.

She felt a slight ease in her chest at that moment, However she knew that that wasn't enough to trust them.

Aside from the raven-haired who prattled about something out of her vocabulary, the two men seemed to be very happy to take her in. However it was difficult communicating, they spat words she couldn't make sense of, and whenever she tried talking, the boys would look as confused as her.

Eventually her skeptism began to fade, and gradually developed trust in them. But among the three, she became the closest to the blue haired the most. While the other two treated her like a helpless child sometimes, the singer would let her do her own things, but still stepped up when she needed him. 

She became good friends with the singer, and treated her like his own younger sister. She used to avoid eye contacts with him, as the pitch black sockets used to scare her. So whenever they would have a conversation, she would look at anything on him but his eyes.

He taught her many things, like making breakfast for herself and how the appliances worked in their place in general. It's not until they temporarily stayed at someone else's place, that she found out that a regular washing machine didn't need kicking to be used or that they didn't need to press the toaster's lever twice for the bread to slid in.

When the first time 2D attempted teaching her English, he noticed that she had troubles remembering the words he just taught her. 

So he came up with an idea of making a song that both taught her how to pronounce the words and their meanings. Surprisingly it worked! The song was fun and was easy for her to catch on. It was their first song together.

Russel found that very clever. Occasionally singing a long. Murdoc initially found it stupid but hearing it everyday had it subconsciously embarked at the back of his head. He hated it, but now every time noodle was singing the tune, the older man would instinctively hum with her.

When she was smaller she remembers singer, bringing her to her favorite candy shop whenever she's feeling down. One time Russel got mad at her, because she snuck into his room without permission, she took his radio and accidentally broke it. She remembered getting really scared when Russel saw her with the broken radio remains in her hands. 

She described it as Russel yelling at her, while his eyes glowed so bright it slightly illuminated his dark room. However according to the Drummer, he did raised his voice a little, but did not remember yelling at her. After he asked "what happened" the little girl ran off the room leaving him to clean up the mess. He wasn't mad at her for breaking his radio, rather upset, that the young guitarist didn't apologized for what she'd done.

She went straight to the singer soon right after. At that moment 2D was with Murdoc, discussing how their new song would play out, when suddenly something wrapped his leg, with sounds of small whimpers. The singer and the bassist looked down to see the girl filled with tears, and slightly shaken. The two looked at each other and decided to continue the session later.

After the three men discussed what happened, 2D brought the young girl to a candy shop and let her pick out her favourite sweets to calm her down. Later he explained to her how her actions had really upset Russel "he's not angry Noods, just a bit sad because you didn't say sorry. He just don't want ya growing up rude that's all"

Later that day she went to the drummer and apologized, she was very nervous walking up to him, with a child's wild imagination, her brain somehow told her, that the huge man could gobble her up in seconds. Behind her was the singer, gesturing her some thumbs up, when she looked at him with hesitant. To her surprised though, it wasn't as she anticipated, instead the drummer took her in and gave her a warm bear hug. From that day on she learned to say sorry when she made a mistake.

Chapter Text

The sky was dark as the moon hid behind the clouds. Flashes of lightning illuminated through the room's window, as its railings casted an elongated shadow against the bed.

At the flat, young noodle agitatedly moved around her bed. A cold sweat prickling down her skin. And with a loud bang, the girl shot up from the bed and shrieked in fear.

She stumbled to get off the bed as she dashed away from her room. She ran through the halls until she reached the elevator. She quickly got on and stayed at the corner by the buttons until it reached the ground floor.

Her hands trembled as she clutched the end of her shirt, as a few tears slipped through the corner of her eyes. 

Finally the elevator stopped, she steps out immediately, and continued to the stairwell. She quickly but carefully made her way down, stepping on a few trash and liquid, causing her socks to get wet and dirty. Nonetheless she proceeded. When she reached the last step, she went for the door knob, and opened the door to a dimly lit parking lot. She got out and ran towards the door on her right. She knocked frantically.

A few seconds later, a tall figure peeked behind the door, she looked up and saw the singer rubbing his eyes, as he looked over for the person who knocked. "2D!" The young guitarist called out, the singer then looked down, finally finding her.

"Noodle! you okay luv?" He said, as he opened the door for her, the young one burst into tears, as she slowly reached her arms for him. The singer quickly knelt down and welcomed her into his arms.

"There there, it's okay, I'm here" the young man said caressing her hair, trying to soothe her. Noodle wrapped her arms over the singer's shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably. 2D tried to hush her, rubbing her back as he picked her up, from the floor, before closing the door behind him.

He then walked  over to the flat, where her tried to place her down on the bedside, however the girl gripped on his shirt like her life depended on it, so eventually he ended up sitting on the bed with her still clinging onto him. He patted her back, as her tears and snot soaked the back of his shirt. 

After a few minutes the young guitarist finally calmed down, 2D chuckled a little before he whispered "so are ya gonna tell me what's happened?" Noodle wiped her nose with her sleeve and began to open her mouth to speak "me had—hic—dream—hic—terrible dream" 

"Ah a nightmare, I can relate to that, do you want to talk about it?" He said slightly pulling her away to meet her face. She hesitated but soon nodded.

He then removed her off him and placed her on the bed beside him. He waited for her to open up, as he watched her feet dangle over the edge of the flat, moments later she began to mumble words out. To get a proper listen, the singer leaned his ear towards her a bit.

"There was many children, they running everywhere, and then a huge monster chased us, he eat my friends alive, he was very loud and scary" she said in a sniffle, wiping her nose once more.

"That sounds terrifyin', I get why you're so scared, I had a similar dream once, but instead of a monster it was a bloody whale!" His arms stretched shaping out a whale in the air.

"You're very brave Noods, I would've totally shit me pants if I were you" Noodle smiled, wiping her eyes.

His gaze softened as his attempt to comfort her sort of work with the evident upward tug on the corner of her lips "you know, I used to do a little something whenever I get nightmares when I was a kid"

The singer stood up and went over to a shelf across the bed, he then took his melodica and turned back to the young girl "when my mum and dad are off to work for a nightshift, I didn't have anyone to tell my nightmares to" he then walks back to the young girl "So to rid off the scare, I'd hop to my melodica and play a tune"

Noodle watched him curiously, as he played a little tune to her. Nothing too special, just a three note song that somehow lightened the atmosphere "it doesn't have be a specific song, you can make one up everytime you feel alone or scared" he then handed her the melodica.

"This was my very first real melodica, my actual first ones are handcrafted by my old man" Noodle scanned the instrument, it was obviously worn out, with all the scratches and peeled off paint on its surface, "you can have that if you want, I could give you a better one, but for me this specific melodica helped me through those nights the most, I think she'd help you out the same way as well"

Noodle rubbed her thumb against its edge, as she listened to the singer "well, what'd ya think?" The young guitarist smiled, looking up to him "I take it" she muttered, hugging the singer by the waist, which he quickly returned.

After that the two had both decided to go back to bed, except Noodle refused to go back to her room. So 2D lets her sleep in his room for the night. 

Since then, Noodle began to use the coping method the singer taught her, it took her a few attempts before she finally stopped coming at everyone's room.

Now at age 14 she didn't need to use it as often, but it never left her nightstand just in case.

Chapter Text

There was a soft hum in the air, the orange and pink sky contrasted the dusky city beneath. Up in the clouds was a small island with a windmill, it flew above the cityscape. On the edge of the island sat the young guitarist, Noodle. She admired the view, as the warm breeze curtained her skin.

In the distance she saw a tall tower sitting at the center of the city, it reached the clouds like no other. She turned to look through the window, and felt a sense of melancholy in her chest, like something is suppose to be there.

Soon her island had to pass the tower, with one final look, she turned and move on, continuing her journey with the island.

A few minutes later, as she was enjoying the view, two helicopters suddenly showed up and started firing bullets towards her. Noodle ran for her life, and hid inside the windmill. As when she thought the attacks had stopped, the copters fired more bullets nearly hitting her arm. Eventually the island began to sway and descent, Noodle held on the door frame for her dear life. 

It wasn't too long before the windmill fell apart causing her to fly off, her trembling grip sliping off from the frames. She watched the island fall to the ground, causing a huge smoke of dust to spread across the area. Noodle covered her self with her arms, bracing herself for the impact, ready to face the same fate her island received.

But suddenly something grabbed her stopping her fall, she looked up to see what happened, only to see a hand firmly griping her arm, preventing her crash. Before she could see who it was, her eyes suddenly snapped open to her room.

She shot up from the bed, as cold sweat prickled on her skin, her heart pounded from adrenaline. She looked at her hands, they trembled uncontrollably. On her nightstand laid the old melodica 2D gave her when she was 11, she hasn't touched it for a quite some time.

She reached for it, looking at it for a good second before finally deciding to play the instrument. She pressed the keys to the first song that popped up on her mind, it was messy and some notes were off key, but she didn't care, she played until her nerves calmed down. 

After five minutes, she finally stopped to catch her breath. She sighed, relief to ease the tense off her nerves. Her eyes shifted back on the instrument on her blanket. She smiled warmly, remembering the first time she received the instrument.

This exact situation was the reason it was given to her. Then her thoughts shifted back to her dream, the fear surging back as the images of that moment played in her mind. The gun fires, the island falling to it's destruction while she followed behind, facing the same fate. Everything felt so real, she'd never felt so helpless.

Her eyes laid upon the picture on her nightstand where the melodica sat earlier. It was her 3 years ago with her dad, uncle, and older brother. It's been a long time since she'd talk to them about her nightmares, among the three, she told her dreams to the singer the most, she loved talking to Russel, and to think that his room was closer, you'd think she'd share her dreams to him more, but Russel and 2D were different when it comes to this things.

Russel was gentle and comforting, but most of the time he'd fall asleep whenever she tells him about her dreams. sometimes, he does listen, then throws in a couple of comforting words before sending her back to bed, tucking her tightly under the sheets.

2D on the other hand, listens intently to her dreams no matter how weird it sounded. He refuses to sleep until she finishes sharing, after that they would talk about how those certain dreams shouldn't scare her. They'd think of silly alterations to the dreams, helping her cope with the nightmares. Like drawing the monster's head with flowers, or re-visualizing them as ballerinas. 

Sometimes they'd also do the tune method, no matter what time, the two would either blast out music or play tunes with their instruments in his/her room, just to release the tense off her nerves. After that he'd tuck her back into her bed.

She loved both of them, but sometimes she preferred being around the other for different reasons and situations.

She then looked at the clock on the wall, seeing it's been 3 hours since she'd fallen asleep. She shifted her legs on the edge of the bed, her bear feet touching the wooden floorboards. she was skeptical at first but decided she was heading over to the singer's room

>>>

Noodle shuts the door behind her, proceeding to walk through hallway as she pondered about the dream. Something twisted in her guts, as she couldn't shake off the feeling it left her. Her heart raced every time the scenes played, she closed her eyes and hummed, fighting off the nausea.

Eventually, she had manage her way out of the halls and reached the elevator. She press the button and waited for a few minutes before it opened the door for her. When it arrived, she steps in and thumbed the button for the ground floor.

As the elevator descends, her thoughts shifted to the singer, she rarely visits him in his room now, back then they would always play video games and watched horror movies together. While they still hang out, it wasn't as often as before, they've been too occupied with their new album, she forgot the last time they truly had fun.

She was a lot younger when she last shared her nightmare with him. It's a little embarrassing to open up again, she hopes he won't laugh at her. Unlike when she was little, she didn't need to cry, but she still needs to get it off her chest. Soon the elevator arrived at the said floor, she steps out and headed for the stairwell.

She'd live here far too long to learn where to step safely, avoiding each crack and chipped off edges. When she finally reached the last step, she quickly twisted the door knob opening the door to the carpark. She then turns to her right and spotted the familiar threshold, she walked up to it. She raised her fist and made contact to the door, the knocking sounds echoed throughout the carpark.

She leaned her lips slightly to the door's edge "2D?" She called out, "Are you there? Can we...talk?" No one replied, so she knocked again, a minute passed and still nothing.

After the several failed attempts, she figured he might be sleeping, so she turns back towards the stairwell.

As she walked back, something bothered her, unlike Russel or murdoc who turns off their lights before going to sleep. 2D keeps on a small nightlight, and it's usually tinted orange, but when she saw the lights seeping under the door, it was instead the florescent white that he has on when he's up.

Noodle turned and ran back to the singer's room, her eyes fixed on the knob, she hesitated before finally deciding to push the the door open.

Chapter Text

A scene of mess greeted her, as faint scents of cigarettes and bleach hung in the air. Noodle pushed the door open, revealing the entirety of the room. It didn't took her too long to notice the singer on the floor.

There he sat huddled against the bed frame. She stepped in, scanning the bluenette. He sat still in his spot, not even acknowledging her entry. She decided to sit beside him, she tilted her head a little, as she studied his frame. He's head rested on his arms that also laid upon his knees, while his blue hair draped over them like a bluebird's feathers.

She then pulled her knees towards her, imitating the singer. She rubbed her thumbs against her skin, building up the courage to speak.

"2D?" She began, "are you sleeping?" She mumbled twiddling her her fingers, "I had a terrible dream earlier..." 

"Aw that sounds terrible, do you want to talk about it?" She turned to the the singer, expecting to hear the words, but to her dismay, it settled in her thoughts as the singer remained silent. Noodle sighed "are you still upset about earlier? Ignore them, I know you didn't mean to"

Then she noticed the small bottle between them, she curiously picked it up, finding the weight too light. She shook it a little, lifting it against the light, and there she saw the half consumed pills. She turned to him, a slight frown forming on her lips. "Your bottle is half empty already...does your headache hurt a lot?" Again she recieved no response.

She placed the bottle back down "Do you hate me? You're not answering, I know you're awake so stop ignoring me" The singer did not answer back. Not a single acknowledgement from when she first entered to her previous question. Soon the guitarist grew worried, and pulled his arm away from him, urging him to get up "you shouldn't really sleep on the floor" but as she she does so, the rest of his limbs fell limply on his side, with his head lolling forward.

Noodle furrowed her brows "2D...?" She knelt back down, his arm remained in her grasp. Her heart raced from his oddly limped body, She then drops his arm and reached for his face, it was cold. She gently lifted his head a little, his eyes was half lidded and his jaw was slightly slacked. 

Her eyes widened, not waisting a second, she instinctively placed two fingers on his neck, there was nothing, she tried on on his wrist, raising the sleeve just above the appendage. She waited, repositioning her fingers wishing she just missed the first time, but she felt nothing. Then she moved on to his nose, she placed a hand under it and hoped for even little air, and still... nothing.

She backed away placing a hand over her mouth, leaving his head fall limply again. "No...no" she moved back to reach him, she place both of her hands on his shoulder and jolted him violently, her eyes was starting to sting. She cupped his cheek and lifted it to face her "hey wake up! Okite yo! Onii-chan please open your eyes!" She exclaimed hoping he'd stir. Soon tears began to stream down her cheeks. 

She used to avoid eye contacts with him when she was little, as the pitch black sockets used to scare her. And then now she's here desperately looking for him inside the hollow voids.

She gritted her teeth, as her palm clenched tightly, she slowly raised her hand and slapped his cheek. It left a red mark on his skin, and still, the singer stayed unmoving.

For a minute she stayed in that position, before she immediately regrets the harsh gesture. She pulled the singer towards her, wrapping her hands around him. She began sobbing uncontrollably, burying her face on his shoulder, as her tears soaked the back of his clothes.

She embraced him tightly, seeking for his comfort, but unlike when she was little, the warm arms didn't hugged back.