<< TW: cutting, attempted suicide >>

It was a quiet day on Plastic Beach... too quiet, almost. Murdoc sat alone in his room, as he often did, and partook in one of his other usual activities on this isolated island: thinking. Regretting. Looking back on what he'd done and wondering if there was some better way. When the band was first starting up, and even during the making of Demon Days, he never did this. But now he had a lot of time alone, and with it, a lot more to regret.

He figured that, since it was getting about the time that normal people woke up, he should bring the band's singer, 2D, his breakfast. Things between the two were... complicated. Murdoc had basically kidnapped the man, then he put him in a room alone with his worst fear to guard him. This was one of the things Murdoc regretted most, and most frequently. He tossed some cold pancakes he found in the back of the fridge onto the small paper plate, walking down the hall to the lift. It wasn't exactly the breakfast of champions, but it would do.

He pressed the button for 2D's isolated floor, and the box shook significantly and started down. He looked down at his feet the whole way. Why did he feel so pathetic?

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Tipping his hat to the large whale out the window, he knocked twice on 2D's door before opening it. The knocks were mostly pointless, since 2D never did much. He often just stayed in bed, staring at the wall. But today... today he was up. Up, with tears in his eyes, red sleeves in stark contrast to the white of his shirt, and an open pill bottle lying on the floor. The mound of pills previously in it was in the singer's hand, no doubt on the way to his mouth. The tray with the food hit the floor with a metal thud, and 2D felt himself being pulled back, the pills hitting the floor.

"'Ey! L-let me go!" But Murdoc's arms were wrapped tightly around his waist, preventing him from going anywhere. 2D just fell back into the embrace a bit, then turned around and clung to Murdoc, sobbing. "I-I wanna go home! I... I-I just wanna go home..."

Murdoc sighed, letting go of 2D and gently easing him down onto the bed. "... let's... let's just get you cleaned up, for now." He walked off briefly, grabbing the tray from the floor, and returning with it covered in bandages, rags, and bottles, with a cup of water in his other hand. He set them on the floor and pulled up one of 2D's sleeves, finding just what he thought would be there. Cuts.

"I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, this is going to hurt." Murdoc dipped a rag in the water, then in one of the bottles, and ran it over 2D's arm, eliciting a small wince and a quiet scream. With his other hand, he picked up the bottle from the floor, looking at the label. "... idiot. Painkillers? Those hurt. Sleeping pills should knock you out before you feel anything, and make people think you're just asleep."

"How would you know?"

Murdoc looked away. "Doesn't matter." He rolled up the other sleeve, doing the same thing. 2D barely reacted this time. He wrapped bandages around the cuts, sighing and sitting on the side of the bed with his head down.

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"... you can leave."

"H-huh?" 2D looked at the man, who seemed to be shaking a bit.

"Yeah. It's obvious you don't want to be here. My trying to get the band together has hurt more than it's helped. It's just us, now, nobody else is ever coming back... I think I'd rather just be alone. And you probably would, too. So, leave. There's the door."

There was a pause, a long silence. Murdoc stood, wiping at his eyes a bit. "Just get some rest." He walked out, leaving the door open, and 2D with a choice.