Warmth In The Cold

Chapter 5

later that night...

Murdoc was backstage getting ready for his big show in Townsville. He hoped nothing crazy would happen like earlier. but he felt confident enough that he'd be okay. he sat back on a sofa provided by the stadium owners and drank some vodka to relax and get pumped for the show. his mind was at ease after a few sips and he felt confident. he had demanded his bass from whatever backstage attendant was tuning it and grabbed it back.

he looked around at the others that lounged on the couch and stretched out "Are we ready or what?" he groaned through his stretch. Noddle looked up and grinned "I'm ready I'm ready!!" she stood up and grabbed her guitar. Russel snatched a cookie from the coffee table in front of him and chomped it down quickly. he rose from the couch and grabbed his drumsticks. 2-D only had to dust himself off and bring himself to the stage. After all, he is lead vocals. 2-D went off to politely let the stage attendant know they were ready to perform. there person nodded and spoke into the walkie-talkie they had on hand.

"dim the lights, ready now," they mumbled and walked off. As the lights went down, the crowd's volume went up. they raored and cheered knowing the band was about to come up. one by one the members all came on stage, taking their place in the darkness. spotlights started to shine on them one at a time. first Russel, noddle, Murdoc, and 2-D. The crowd went insane at this. everyone was buzzing with excitement and energy.

from afar, a certain someone was lurking and he just so happened to not have a ticket for this concert (that was also covered in bandages and bruises).

Ace had glided himself up to one of the towers where the show was being recorded and sat on the rooftop. he only eyes for Murdoc. he watched his every movement throughout the show, mesmerized by him. he didn't know why he needed this man so badly. Murdoc made his stomach knot up with butterflies in the best way possible. he's older, he's dirty, he's sleazy, he's perfect. he adjusted himself on the rooftop, wincing with pain as he laid on his tummy, getting more comfortable to watch his desired man. he had to come up with a plan to get him back

on the stage, Murdoc wandered around and pulled whatever stunts he could to appeal to the audience. even though when looking out on the waves of people, it's hard to see them, he managed to see something strange on the control tower. he looked up and squinted at it, seeing a faint blue figure, seemingly familiar to the one he dealt with earlier. his pupils shrunk down to the size of a pinpoint as he stared. he continued to play with ease despite the feeling of his safety completely leaving him. he wandered around a little bit more to try and shake it off and appear fine to those who were watching him.

sweat glazed over his forehead and trickled down his face from the heat he worked up during the performance and the stress he was under. his eyes kept darting back to the menacing blue man, trying to predict if he was just here for the show or if he had different intentions. Noodle had somehow picked up on Murdocs uncomfortable state and tried to get his attention subtly. unfortunately, the bassist didn't pick up what his daughter was putting down.

Murdoc strutted across the stage, nearly tripping on a cable halfway. he stumbled, trying to keep himself up but miserably falling flat on his face. the music came to a stop and Murdoc could have sworn he felt his soul leave his body again. he slowly lifted his head and the first thing he looked at was the control tower. he brought himself to his feet, taking his now broken bass off from his shoulders and dropping it. blood trickled from nose which made the crowd gasp with concern.

Ace's eyes widened with concern as he witnessed the fall. he lifted himself, getting ready to come down and see if Murdoc was alright but he didn't have to think twice about that when he saw Murdocs nose start to bleed. he stood up and immediately made a beam of ice to get down to Murdoc.

despite murdoc not having a good reaction time, he bolted off the stage as soon as he saw Ace even get up. murdoc ran as fast as he could, running past his dressing room, past his stuff, past everything. he was only focused on the exit doors he longed to bust out of. he shoved the doors out of his way and looked left and right for an escape but ace wasn't very far to follow. his path of ice was right over murdoc, lucky for murdoc he was out of Ace's view. he took that chance and ran off to the right of the stadium. he tried not to look back, but for his safety, he took a glance behind him to see how far Ace was.

Ace looked around outside of the stadium frantically. worried about his newfound love. he looked at the ground below and saw a path of blood droplets. his eyes followed the dots and low and behold, he saw murdoc running and causing the path. with a face full of concern, he lowered his ice path and followed murdoc along on his wild chase.

murdoc was starting to run out of breath which meant his speed decreased. he felt like he couldn't run anymore. his legs weakly tried to keep up but it was no use, he was cooked now. before he could stop himself from walking, he fell flat on his face again but not because he was clumsy, more so because something had stopped him. he raised his head and held his nose. Yeah it was definitely broken again. he tried to get up but his feet stayed planted to the ground. this made murdoc panic and try to yank his feet up. he looked over to see his feet had been frozen to the ground. he winced in defeat and stopped fighting against it.

Ace came down to murdoc and got off his ice path. seeing the critical shape murdoc was in, made him feel pity. he didn't mean to hurt him again, if anything he was trying to help him. he stood over murdoc and sighed. "I'm sorry but this needs to be done for your own good.." he broke the blocks of ice around Murdocs feet and picked him up. he inspected his nose and cringed "I'll see if I can get you some help." he mumbled.

murdoc winced weakly and lay limp in Ace's arms. he couldn't even fight if he wanted to. he was done for, but hopefully Ace really does mean good...