Murdoc opened the door to appease whoever was banging the hell out of it, only to be hit with a punch to the face. He groaned as he felt all the blood raise to his nose, dripping out of it. His vision was too blurry from the blow that he expected to see boots, jeans, and a tall figure ready to beat him to a pulp. After escaping Plastic Beach, he had also expected the Black Cloud had come to finish him, but as his eyes adjusted, he saw thigh-high socks, thin legs, and knickers that seemed to belong to someone he once knew.
In her hands, she held the head of something that Murdoc had put his heart and soul in to make. But, now it was basically scrap metal, wires that twitched from its neck and a face that held shock. Noodle threw it at Murdoc, letting the wires shock him some as the head painfully hit his ribcage, causing another groan from the bassist.
"Here's your fucking guitarist back."
The words she spat was laced with venom and somewhat hatred for him. He recognized the voice, but it wasn't the same tone that it once held. It matured, but still had the accent. Once his vision wasn't as bad as the lead singer's, he let his eyes wander up at the figure before him. Her arms held scars and bruises that made his throat dry. Along with the mask that was not hiding her matured face anymore, her once soft and innocent face held a burn mark on her eye that made his heart hurt. He could feel the guilt and regret wash over his body as if he was taking a shower.
Holding the android's severed head in his arms, he smiled softly and let out a soft chuckle. "It's great to have you back." He spoke out, reaching up to wipe his blood on his sleeve.
Noodle had pretended that she didn't hear it, quickly walking past him with only a duffle bag and a worn-out guitar case in her hands. This left him in a state of confusion, dizziness, and hurt. Or, maybe it was because he still felt the pain of the blow she left to his nose that continued to bleed.
The Japanese female had been associated with a lot of silly, insignificant things that Murdoc, Russel, and 2D missed. Chocolate chip pancakes, coloring sheets, crayon ruins, stuffed animals, long mid-day naps, and Gameboys. The lonely nights of not being bothered by her to practice guitar or talk about nightmares that she had made alcohol a lot more useful of trying not to remember his mistakes.
But now she was hard liquor drinks, surprise cigarette ashes in coffee, black and blue bruises, long scars, and long nights of no sleep. Noodle was the rock of Gorillaz. Without her, they really couldn't get anything done without fighting. Cyborg gave Murdoc the confidence to write Plastic Beach, even though it wasn't the real Noodle. It helped for a while with numbing the guilt of Murdoc, but now that she was back, his guilt swallowed him whole. Where was she all this time? Why did she just come back? How did she find them? These questions flooded the mind of Murdoc, but he was more than happy that she was back.
All three of them were more than happy that she was back.
But, all three of them were pulled into something ugly when she was gone. They were all too drunk off alcohol, too doped up on pills, too tired from lack of sleep, and they were afraid that they had just pulled Noodle into their ugly habits.
But she didn't make it look ugly. She made it an image. It was awful to romanticize, but she looked beautiful with the smoke of a cigarette curling into the air from her mouth, empty wine bottles at her feet, and empty eyes with dark bags underneath that seemed to stare off into nothingness. Russel noticed how mature Noodle had grown to be during her time away. It somewhat broke his heart to see her catch the dirty habits of the others, but she was grown up now. She could do as she pleases. All of the boys knew that and none of them could stop it.
