Story: The Opera Continues
Summary: It's been ten years since Shiloh left, and Amber took over GeneCo; many things have changed in that time. Not all for the better. Now, Shiloh returns to the city she was raised in, and moves into the house she was prisoner in for seventeen years. Broke and unable to pay the mortgage on the house, she was left in a bind… Until Amber appeared at the door one day, offering Shiloh a job as GeneCo's new spokeswoman. She took the job without thought. Suddenly, Shiloh finds herself thrown into a contract much like the one Blind Mag was under. The difference? Shiloh hadn't read the fine print before signing, and now she's to be forced to go along with the strangest request the Largo siblings could come up with. It's either go along with it, or be killed by a Repo Man – who now mindlessly killed for more than just organs. Unfortunately, when Shiloh meets Graverobber again and becomes close with him, she could care less about GeneCo…and that could cost her, her life.
Warnings: Language, gore, violence, sexual themes
…
Shiloh sat down on the couch in the front room heavily, her hands running through her long black hair. She was shaking and didn't know why. It couldn't have been the fact that she just signed her life away on a contract for GeneCo…right? She needed the money; otherwise she was going to lose the house. Amber offered her enough money for the mortgage payment, and then some.
"Did I do the…right thing?" She leaned back against the back of the couch and sighed, trying to stop shaking. "Of course I did," she mumbled. "Dad would've been angry if I had lost the house."
"Just come in tomorrow around nine, and we'll get you started," Amber had said. Pavi and Luigi had been there too; Pavi had been laughing, and Luigi had a satisfied smirk on his face. None of it made sense.
Shiloh shook her head and stood back up once the shaking subsided. "What am I worried about?" She turned towards a small table where she had put a small vase of flowers down before welcoming the owners of GeneCo into the house.
She picked up the flowers and turned to the passageway that she had used as a child to go to her mother's grave. She opened the door and went inside, sweeping cobwebs out of her way as she went. It really had been years since anyone had used this passage.
Whenever she was a child, Shiloh had kept the way pretty clear so that she could go see her mother at any time. Now, it was a struggle to get there. After almost twenty minutes, she made it to her mother's grave. She knelt down in front of the grave and smiled. Her father had been buried next to her mother. She hadn't had a say in it, since she left directly after the Genetic Opera ended ten years ago, but she was happy that whoever buried him knew to bury him here.
"I wonder where Mag's buried," Shiloh mumbled. She stood up, leaving the vase there, and went out of the door to the rest of the indoor graveyard.
She looked around to see if there were any patrolmen out. Seeing none, she took off to where the gravestones began. She looked and looked for what seemed like forever, until she found the grave marked Blind Mag. Under her name simply said, Chromaggia – her final song. She knelt down in front of this grave with a small smile.
True, she had been sad to see Mag's death ten years ago, but accepted it as what the celebrity had wanted. The fact that she had said, "I would rather be blind," to Rotti all those years ago just proves she didn't mind death.
"Hey Mag," Shiloh smiled, feeling a little silly, "it's Shiloh. It's been a while…hasn't it?" She paused, trying to think of something to say to a gravestone. "Did I make the right choice, signing up to be—"
"Hey!" A man shrouded in shadow jumped down from a stone wall near the grave where she was.
Shiloh whipped around at the sound of the voice. "Who are you?"
Graverobber walked into the dim light of the indoor graveyard. "I thought I told all of you from outside of the city that this is my supply."
She blinked at him with the feeling of knowing him. "Do I know you?"
He knelt down and looked her in the face, smirking when he recognized her. "Well, well, never thought I'd see you again. You're the daughter of that late Repo Man, right…?"
"Yeah…?"
He continued smirking and stood up, going over to another grave. He opened it and pulled the dead body out. "Haven't seen you for almost ten years." He looked back at her. "Where've you been?"
"Around," she replied hesitantly. As he knelt down with a needle in his hands, the recognition as instantaneous for Shiloh. "You! You're that guy! The one who gave Amber Zydrate the day of the opera."
Graverobber chuckled. "I do that all the time, girl."
"Still?"
He stuffed the needle, full of knock-off Zydrate, in his pocket and readied another one. "Did you think that because she's the head of GeneCo, that Amber would suddenly kick her addiction to surgery?"
She looked to the side. "I guess not…"
Graverobber said nothing, continuing his work silently. Every now and again, he would glance back to see if Shiloh was still there. It wasn't that he was worried that she'd get caught by the patrolmen the same way she did ten years ago, he just seemed to enjoy her company. Even if it was quiet.
After around five minutes, he stood up and stuffed a fifth needle into his pocket. "All done." He turned and looked at her.
She was sitting against Mag's gravestone, looking like she was having an asthma attack. She was muttered something about not being able to breathe and then passed out.
Graverobber sighed and scratched the back of his head. He couldn't just leave her there, the patrolmen would catch her for sure, but he had to get the alley to sell the Zydrate he just collected, otherwise…well, he might miss out on some more money. The money that he obtained from selling Zydrate always went towards his apartment, food, clothing, and better equipment. If he missed out on even one chance to sell, he might have to skip out on better equipment for the month.
He stuffed the rest of his equipment into a pocket on the inside of his jacket and walked over to Shiloh. He knelt down beside her and shook his head. Had the patrolmen been coming at that moment, he probably would've left her, but since they weren't, he grabbed her around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. He stood up and began walking out of the graveyard.
His apartment was only a few blocks away, but it was in the opposite direction he needed to go to meet the addicts at the end of their so-called "support" meeting. Graverobber rolled his eyes and started to walk in the direction of his apartment.
On the way, he was stopped multiple times because of Shiloh. Each time, he said, "She's my girlfriend. She passed out in the graveyard, so I'm taking her home." (He would've said that she was his sister, but they still don't look enough alike to get away with that.) When asked why they were at the graveyard, he'd say, "Her mother died recently. We were visiting her grave."
Nobody asked about the way he was carrying her, or the bulge in his pocket, or about why she passed out. He didn't care; it was less to answer to.
Once at his apartment, he threw open the door and slammed it behind him. He set Shiloh down on his couch and threw a nearby blanket over her. He scribbled out a short note explaining to Shiloh where she was, and where he was going to be, for when she woke up. He left it on the coffee table in front of the couch and left.
…
Shiloh groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. The light was dim, but brighter than the graveyard she had passed out in. Just as slowly, she sat up on the couch she had been laying on.
She looked around at the apartment. It was less than inviting, but she was glad that she hadn't been left in the graveyard.
As she stood up, she happened to look down at the coffee table – mainly to avoid banging her shin on it – and saw a note lying there. She picked it up and read it.
Don't worry about where you are, you're safe. This is my apartment, and you can leave whenever you feel like it. I'll be gone to the place where you first met Amber Sweet to sell what I collected this evening.
Graverobber
Shiloh looked over at the clock on the wall behind her and saw that it read eight-thirty. "Eight-thirty?!" It had been midnight when she went out last night. "Shit!"
She scribbled down two words on the back of the note with a pen she found lying next to it, and then booked it out of the apartment.
After asking directions, she managed to find her way to the GeneCo building across the city with ten minutes to spare.
…
Graverobber yawned and walked into the main room of his apartment when he heard the door slam shut. He had no shirt on, just night pants, and his long brown hair was still in a frizzy mess from the bed head he suffered from.
As he looked over to see if Shiloh was still there, he saw the note moved, and it's contents shortened. He picked it up and saw it only said;
Thanks.
Shiloh
He smiled and put the note down on the bar as he walked into the kitchen for some breakfast.