2D sat by the gaping hole staring down into it, being around the portal always made him feel uneasy. Sometimes he was scared that something would grab him and drag him down with it. Every day he went there though, he would carefully make his way through what remained of Kong Studios and sit in this spot waiting. He had been doing it for over a year and a half now, he hated that he had moved out. They had to leave though, a few months after Murdoc went to Hell the place started to collapse. 2D's room had caved in during the night nearly crushing the vocalist, after that they had to move out, and go somewhere safer. Russel had found a nice place with enough room for all of them, but 2D couldn't stay. He felt guilty being away from Kong and living with his band mates, Russel had told him after about a year of waiting that maybe he should give up. That maybe Murdoc wouldn't be able to escape and quite possibly he was dead; 2D knew all of this, but he didn't want to come to terms with these potential facts. Instead he had gotten his own place hours away from where Russel and Noodle lived; he still kept in contact with his band mates. They would check on him constantly making sure that he was alright, asking if he was still going to Kong and looking for their missing bassist. They worried for his safety almost as much as his sanity; the vocalist didn't understand why he wouldn't wait. Murdoc had waited for him; he had worked to bring him back to life. 2D owed it to him to at least wait for him to come back; he knew that at the two year mark he would stop though. After two years he would stop waiting for the Satanist to come back.

He remembered the day Murdoc went away; when they had gone back to Kong he had went all through the building looking for the bassist. He knew he wouldn't be there, that he was gone, but there was still some part of him that had hoped he would be there. He knew this was what Murdoc had to have felt like all those years ago when 2D had died, this empty hollowed pain that never went away it only got worse. His migraines had started up again, for the first few months he had cried constantly. While they were still at Kong he would sleep in the bassist room, wear his clothes, and do anything to feel like he was still with him. Once they left he had taken what he could of Murdoc's belongings just in case he did manage to find a way back.

He didn't care what Russel and Noodle told him, how nicely, or how many times they tried to get him to understand he never would. He didn't want to understand, he just wanted Murdoc to come back. One of the things that scared him was that maybe he had tried coming back and 2D had missed him. There were a lot of things that scared and worried him; he didn't even know what to expect if he finally did come back. What he would look like or how he would act, would he even be in his right mind?

2D ran his fingers back through his spiked hair and let out a frustrated sigh. The longer he waited the more horrible places his mind managed to go; he had been sitting here for nearly three hours now. He wasn't sure what time it was, he just knew that he had spent about the entire night here. Sometimes he would go into the Satanist room and stay the night; if Russel or Noodle found out about that they would be pissed.

The blue haired man stood to his feet ready to call it a night. He felt that always present disappointment as he began to turn and walk away; the sound of scratching against the wall of the hole caught his attention and caused him to turn back.

He watched closely waiting for whatever was climbing out. A dirt and blood coated hand reached up the fingers curling grabbing at air; through the dirt he could just barely see green tinged skin. 2D got back down on the ground and wrapped his fingers around the wrist of the man climbing out. The other man wrapped his hand around 2D's wrist long nails digging into his skin as the other person held onto him like their life depended on it. The vocalist pulled as hard as he could moving farther away from the hole; he watched as a figure pulled itself out scrambling onto the cracked black top. 2D fell back onto the ground and watched as the figure moved quickly to the corner of the room. The singer moved onto his hands and knees and crawled closer to the person who was curled up their legs pulled up against them and their face hidden.

2D reached out carefully placing his hand over theirs; they visibly tensed and reached out roughly shoving the vocalist back onto the ground. 2D stared up at the older man who was now looking at him through wide scared brown eyes.

His black hair was long and caked with what looked like blood, his skin was dirty, there was a long deep cut over his left eye going down to the middle of his cheek, a cut through his bottom lip, and a few long marks across his right cheek. 2D moved closer to him making sure not to touch the older man; he kneeled before him looking down at the man he hadn't seen for over a year now. Murdoc stared up at him; he looked so horrified and confused like he was still trying to figure out where he was.

"Mu'doc it's alright, it's me Stuart….Remember?"

The bassist stared at him for awhile the fear leaving his eyes; he wrapped his arms around 2D knocking him back onto the ground again. He buried his face against the singer's chest and began crying hysterically; 2D placed a hand on his back shocked at the feeling of deep wounds in his skin.

"It's a'right yer out now, I got yew." The younger man whispered soothingly.

He gently pushed the green skinned man off of him, Murdoc pulled his legs up against himself as he stared up at the singer.

"Can yew talk?"

The shorter man opened his mouth a few sounds came out mostly whimpers. He closed it again and shook his head looking frustrated at this fact.

"It's okay; yew'll get yer voice back eventually."

He hoped so anyways, 2D was still looking at his torso and all of the scars. He couldn't even believe this was the same person, this was somebody completely different. They were scared, vulnerable, and looked like they had endured more physical pain than anybody could handle in one lifetime.

"Do yew know if yew can walk?"

2D stood to his feet; he held his hand out to the older man. Murdoc stared up at him for a while like he was still figuring things out. He took hold of the blue haired man's hand and unsteadily pulled himself to his feet, he fell against 2D. The younger man wrapped an arm around him holding him up, he guided him out into the car lot and over to Stylo. The car was one of the few things he made sure he did take with him especially knowing how much it meant to Murdoc.

He helped the bassist into the passenger side then got in on the driver's side. He looked over at the older man who sat looking at him, studying him. He turned his head looking out the window back towards the place they had just come from.

"Its okay, it's over now t'ey won' come for yew…I'm going to take yew home and everyfink will be okay, I promise." He said as he started the car up and pulled out of the car lot.

The sky was black; he looked at the digital clock and saw that it was nearly four in the morning. He was right he had spent most of the day in Kong waiting for Murdoc to come back, but this time it wasn't for nothing. He glanced over at the bassist who was looking out the window still; he looked less afraid and more exhausted now. 2D returned his attention to the road feeling relieved when they were over an hour away from Kong. It was a long drive to his house, but it never felt that way especially right now considering how much he had to think over.

He knew that when he got home he needed to look over Murdoc to see if anything was broken and how badly he was hurt. His face alone looked really cut up; the wounds he felt on his back were horrible. He didn't get the chance to check anything else out, he didn't want to honestly. 2D had heard the green skinned man talk about Hell numerous times, it always sounded like something out of Grimm's Fairytale. Some horrible place that had something different for everybody, he knew that whatever they put Murdoc through was enough to tear away whatever personality he had. He wondered if the older man would get better, if he would ever be like he used to be.

It scared him thinking that the bassist would forever be this extremely frightened and abused man who looked ready to run at any second. 2D would take care of him though; he had waited so long to finally get him back there was no way he was ever leaving him alone again. He wished he hadn't left in the first place, he wished that Murdoc had just gone back on his deal with that demon. If 2D had known this was what he would go through he never would have let Murdoc go.

It was so strange when he thought about it. How when he had died he had went to Heaven; he hadn't enjoyed it, but it had been a place where pleasure was possible. Murdoc didn't even die; he was dragged to some horrible place all because he did something to give 2D the life he deserved. He didn't understand how Murdoc deserved that, how he got punished for doing something that really wasn't as selfish as he thought it had been.

Those five years had been so incredible; 2D had never figured life could be like that. He used to think that if Murdoc did ever get with him he would hurt him and make him regret ever saying that he was in love with him. He didn't know that the Satanist would actually love him back, take care of him, and do everything that he could to make up for the way he used to hurt him. The blue haired man had wanted to hate him so much when he finally told him about the rest of the deal. He had done his best to hate him, but all he wanted to do was curl up in his arms and pretend it wasn't true. He spent every moment up until that very last second pretending that Murdoc really wasn't going to Hell, that it was some sick joke. He had never cried so hard in his life when he couldn't find the bassist.

2D pulled into the drive way and turned the engine off. He looked over to see Murdoc curled up in the car seat asleep, he considered waking him up, but thought better of it. He had no idea how long the older man had went without sleep, he also remembered how freaked out he had been earlier when 2D touched him.

He got out of the car and went around opening the door and picked the other man up bridal style. He was surprised at just how light he was, the singer kicked the car door shut and went up to the front door. Murdoc wrapped his arms around the taller man's neck and buried his face against his chest whimpering. The pianist managed to grab his house key out of his pocket and unlock the door pushing it open. He kicked the door shut and made his way back to the bedroom feeling more than grateful that he chose to buy the house with only one floor.

He laid the older man down on the bed prying his arms from around his neck. The bassist opened his eyes and looked up at him; 2D felt chills when he looked into his eyes they looked nothing like they used to. They looked so beautiful peeking out through all of the dirt and the scars. Murdoc grabbed 2D's wrist tugging at it; the pianist tilted his head to the side as he stared down at him confused.

"We're at my place, yew can have my bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

The bassist shook his head and gave another tug at the younger man's wrist.

"Yew sure?"

Murdoc nodded finally releasing his grip on 2D's wrist.

The blue haired man crawled onto the bed lying down next to him. He knew he should look over his wounds and clean him off some, but he knew the older man wouldn't be able to stay awake long enough for him to do that. Murdoc wrapped his arms around himself and closed his eyes, 2D had the strongest urge to touch him, but he was scared to. He was more so scared to hurt him than he was that the bassist would freak out again, he laid there for awhile looking at him. Looking at what cuts he could see through all of the dirt and soot, after awhile he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep wondering if this was just the world's craziest nightmare.