I own nothing, not even the DVD of Repo! The Genetic Opera. I watch it online for free and then I'll beg somone to get it for me as a birthday present.

Enjoy and R&R, no flames.


Chapter 1: In The Beginning

It had only been a week since Shilo lost everyone who loved her and a lot of changes had happened in her life, Graverobber wasn't surprised, however, to be included. She only really knew four people in the entire world. Her father, a repo-man named Nathan Wallace, who loved her but poisoned her, was gentle but a killer. Blind Mag, her godmother, a woman whose only crime was wanting to quit her job because of what the company she worked for had become over the years. There was also Rotti Largo, he'd wanted to give GeneCo to Shilo but only if she killed her own father, whom he ultimately killed and he had also killed Blind Mag only an short time beforehand which was all right before he died of a terminal illness... right in front of the kid. Graverobber, the fourth person in the world she knew and one of the only two people who had never lied to her, wasn't sure where he stood on his feelings for her. He only knew he got three warm meals a day, a roof over his head, a comfortable bed, and an escape route any other Z dealer would kill for right through Marni Wallace's tomb, the only downside was that his… roommate…ward, maybe?…whatever… was currently an emotional train wreck that was still in the process of wrecking. Shilo would refuse to eat for almost the entire day then maybe she'd come down for a slice of cheese and a couple of carrots but that was about it. She spent most of her time sleeping or crying and it was becoming an obvious pattern. She hadn't taken a shower for six days out of the week that was a day from passing and he had to be frank it was getting to be pretty bad. Graverobber was planning on throwing her into the shower clothes and all and even if that would probably just upset her more it was exactly what he needed to do for her.

She'd been stumbling down the alleyway he did his dealing out of not long after the evening addition of the papers had come out, the opera had been on the front page, and the poor kid would be making headline news for at least a month. She was covered in blood, disoriented, and wailing her lungs out. The junkie he was just shy of shooting up with Z probably would've protested if she and the others surrounding him had not also been distracted by the screaming kid.

"Kid!" He'd called, "Kid, come here!"

She had stumbled up to him, had nearly fallen once or twice but he knew the further into the alley she was the safer she was from any GENcops that might be coming for her to bring her to Amber. He'd put his zydrate gun back in the hilt and pushed the people in her way aside. She had immediately buried her head into the crook of his neck when she'd gotten to him, the heels she was wearing had given her height enough to do so, and he placed his hands on her shaking and, he quickly noticed, blood covered shoulders.

"Kid, are you hurt?"

"No."

"Then whose blood is this?"

Upon further inspection he had noticed blood covered her arms and hair as well.

"Blind Mag's and… and my dad's."

"You sure you aren't hurt?"

"Yes."

"You got anyplace you can go?"

"Home."

"Then let's go there."

There of course had been immense protest from his clients but he was a good business man and knew just how to handle them.

"I realize all of you are only thinking of yourselves, which I understand cause it's something I do every day, but I'll tell you what, the first five customers that are here when it get back get the first hit free," then he whispered to Shilo, "I gathered a lot of zydrate the last time I went out."

The idea had of course appealed to them and he had twice the clients than before when he returned after getting Shilo home. He made her to take a shower and change into some fresh clothes, but she wasn't asleep when he left her. When he got back to Shilo's house at around five in the morning she made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Stay with her, keep her company, keep her from doing anything rash to herself, keep her safe, and he could take up residence in her home where he'd have everything he needed. He didn't think it over too long before he agreed.

They got along well enough considering the immese difference between them but her emotional state was often difficult for him to deal with and more than once Graverobber had to remind himself that it'd be a bad idea to lose his temper around her. He couldn't help how he felt sometimes, he'd come home so riled up by the GENcops interference or the fact that a good portion of the junkie's who got zydrate from him that night had made getting pay from them something similar to pulling teeth from someone who only has gums and he'd be likely to explode at the most minor of things, including poor Shilo. She didn't deserve that kind of treatment, not after all she'd been through.

The argument had started with the execution of his shower plan and a conversation. A few times a day he'd go up to her bedroom to check on her and usually when he did she'd distract him from what he'd be trying to get her to do, like eat or sleep or take a shower, and start on another subject.

"So, kid, you wanna come down and I'll make lunch for you. I'm pretty good with anything I can throw in the microwave."

She gave him the faintest of smiles but it immediately melted back into a frown. Her train was still wrecking, he had to remind himself.

"Graverobber, can I ask you something?"

He sighed, "Sure, kid, what is it?"

"Why do most repo-men do what they do?"

"Kid," he began gently, "I don't think your dad had the same motivations as other repo-men."

"Humor me," she replied.

"Okay. It's the thrill. They never get over the thrill of hunting and killing. Repo-men may be trained as surgeons but most are born killers."

"That's it?"

"Well, I don't know the first thing about psychology kid, but most repo-men are pretty messed up. I knew this one guy wh- Never mind."

"What is it?"

"Nothing kid."

She looked a little disappointed that he wasn't planning on continuing but he couldn't go… there.

"So, lunch?" he edged a little closer to her as he asked.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," she looked down sadly at the floor. Graverobber took seven steps toward her bed where she was sitting.

"You sure, I think we got some leftover Chinese we can nuke."

She giggled a little, "Nuke? How old are you anyway, Graverobber?"

"Hmm? Oh, thirty."

"Holy… you're lying."

"Kid, you are the last person I'd ever lie to," he took another five steps and he was right next to her. She got quiet at his last statement though, he hadn't meant to remind her.

"Kid?" he asked quietly.

"I'm okay and I'm not hungry."

Her answer was a lie but he didn't like tension and decided then and there it was time for a shower, a large grin split his face, "That's okay kid, you're taking a shower anyway."

"Excuse m-"

Before she could question what he'd said he scooped her up into his arms and headed straight for her bathroom.

"Put me down! What are you doing? It better not be anything perverted 'cause that one junkie, Cara, she told me how Amber was paying you that night you saved me from Rotti!"

"Are you even sure what it was she was talking about?"

"Vaguely!"

He couldn't help but laugh, even after he'd introduced her rather abruptly to the seedier side of life she was still so naïve.

"Okay, kid, you've got a choice her. I drop you into this shower onto your sorry butt and start the cold water or you agree to shower and I'll leave you alone."

She seemed to think his offer over then asked, "Do I really smell that bad?"

"Kid, it ain't easy to lose anyone, I been there and done that but I know your dad wouldn't want you letting yourself go just 'cause he died. In short, yes it is that bad and not letting yourself go includes keeping up with bathing."

"Ugh, alright," she conceded, "but would you really have dropped me into the shower and started the cold water?"

"You do realize you're asking me this question, right?"

"In other words, 'Yeah, kid, I definitely would have'," she imitated him, "By the way, you may or may not be aware of the fact that I do have a name."

"I know, kid."

"Now you're just teasing me. Get out! I can't take a shower with you in here."

"I'm gone," he said as he backed out of the bathroom and shut the door. He really hoped she wouldn't want to pick up on the repo-man conversation again. He couldn't bear to go into that, "So what about lunch?"

Her voice was muffled by the door but echoed because of the shower, the depression's return was clear, "Just get me a little something to snack on."

"Kid, you gotta eat an actual meal sometime."

"And I will… eventually."

"I'm warning you, if I find your emaciated corpse lying around here one of these days I will take the zydrate from it and sell it to Amber."

"You wouldn't!"

"Maybe or maybe not, but you know with me there's no telling."

"Just go get your lunch and my snack."

"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted," he said with mock hurt in his voice.

He left her bedroom after making sure there was nothing else she wanted and made his way downstairs. Most people would think it was great to live in a big house like Shilo's but for Graverobber it only took a couple of days for the novelty to wear off. His biggest complaint was he'd get lost trying to find the bathroom and more than once had just up and went to Shilo's bathroom, her room and the kitchen were the only two rooms in the house he could find on his own, most of the time Shilo had to take him to his room so he could go to bed then she went back to bed. Of course none of the guest bedrooms had bathrooms, just bathrooms that were supposedly nearby. Then there was the whole issue with waking Shilo up in the middle of the night to use her bathroom because it was starting to make her mad, he really needed to stop drinking a glass of water before he went to bed. A person's bladder could really make them feel old.

Old, therein lay another problem entirely, their age. He was thirteen years her senior and she was still a minor, now that would be fine if they were related but seeing as they weren't people would start talking about the little opera girl and the drug dealer as soon as they caught wind of it. Everything would go downhill from there. Most of the time he didn't care if people said things about him, he'd either let it go or if he did care…well it depended on what blunt or sharp object was most conveniently available to him. The kid on the other hand, considering her currently very fragile mental state, probably couldn't take it. He'd have to stay low whenever, if any, company came over.

The kitchen was by far his favorite place in the entire house, everything he wanted was easily accessible in that one room. Food was in the fridge, pantry, and cupboards. There was a TV in the corner of the kitchen counter. An island with storage space where all the cooking pots and pans were stored had cushioned chairs on the side of it that faced the TV. The place was paradise to Graverobber who had always been a man of simple wants and needs. While the house's all around bigness was offensive to his preferred lower class state of being he found he could tolerate the high life to some small degree.

"Let's see," he mumbled as he opened the fridge door, "What do we have?"

There wasn't much left in the fridge and soon someone was going to have to go shopping. He wasn't sure how that was going to work out but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. In the fridge and freezer was a half a block of cheddar cheese, a frozen pepperoni pizza, and a small pack of lunchmeat. There were crackers in the pantry and only flour and sugar was left in the cupboards. When he'd started living with Sh- in Shilo's house, even thinking that he lived with her would imply something more, the first thing he did was go grab lunch for himself and the first thing he noticed was how low on food the house already was. Apparently Nathan only bought enough food for one week and while it was the same amount of people in the house still Graverobber knew he ate considerably more than Nathan. He also knew he could probably eat the entire pizza himself and for Shilo he could cut up some of the cheese and lunchmeat, grab the snack crackers to put it on and make it into a hors d'oeuvre platter for the kid to pick at.

"That'll work."

By the time the pizza had cooked and the cheese and lunchmeat had been sliced up and they along with the crackers given their own separate pile on a plate Shilo had finished her shower. Her bathrobe was wrapped tightly around her and she had replaced her favorite black wig on her head. She was pretty embarrassed about having her wig off around him so she typically kept it on. He noticed her middle was smaller then it had been six day ago and he couldn't help but think that she was skinny to begin with but now… He'd have to get her to start eating regular meals again.

She sat down on one of the chairs and looked at her food distastefully, pushed it away, and looked up at him, "Graverobber, can you tell me more about repo-men?"

Of course she couldn't leave it alone, "What do you wanna know, kid?"

"Are they all… y'know…messed up in the head?"

"Couldn't say for sure."

She bit her bottom lip, "Are they recruited or do they come to GeneCo on their own?"

"Can't say."

"Do you know anything about them or are you just guessing about them?"

"Cla- no."

"You were about to say something else," Shilo accused.

"Yes, I was," he conceded.

"Are you- are you lying to me! Keeping things from me?" She chocked back a sob.

"I never said my life was open book, kid."

"I know, but what does that have to do with repo-men?"

"I told you, I've had to get on with my life after losing someone too. Maybe not in so many words but I've told you."

"So, this is because someone you cared about was killed by a repo-man?"

"No," he replied solemnly.

"Then what!"

"Cl- it doesn't matter!"

"You did it again, Graverobber, you were about to say something else."

She was openly weeping now and he knew he had to reign in his temper before it got the better of him. He needed some air.

"Just put that pizza in the fridge, I'll have it later," first he had to assure her he had no intention of leaving then, "I'm going for a walk, I probably won't be back till late." He turned on his heel and left the kitchen, he was almost to the door when Shilo called out a question to him.

"What were you about to say, Graverobber?"

"Look, kid, it's no-"

"Do you not trust me?"

"It's not that at all!" His hand was on the doorknob.

"Then what?"

"Nothing," and he swung the door open and slammed it behind him but not before he heard her ask him again what it was he'd almost said. He couldn't believe he'd almost let that slip, too, but old habits die hard.

"I remember"

He'd mend fences with her later, right now he needed to walk it off. When it got dark he'd go to one of the graveyards near Shilo's house and gather zydrate then he'd head back there and hopefully this whole thing would be forgotten. He had to say it though, had to get it out of his system before he let it slip out , before he said it right to Shilo and... and what? What was there to lose or gain if she found out?

Trust

Affection

Friendship

What would she think of him if she knew? Did he care?

Assassin

Murderer

Monster

"I remember"

He had to say it and he had to say it now, those habits which may reveal something about his past he didn't want Shilo to know were the most dangerous. Even still, he knew if he didn't say it at least once he'd let it slip at a bad time.

He heaved a heavy, world weary sigh and whispered, "Classified repo-man information."


I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU ACTUALLY READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE

A/N: So this being the first chapter I really haven't gotten into the gritty stuff yet but it'll be there. I honestly DO NOT like to cuss (in writing especially) so you won't be seeing that in here though it would be in character I just can't do it and don't ask why. This story was mainly inspired by "Zydrate Anatomy" "Legal Assassin" and "Night Surgeon". I honestly don't think there's going to be anyone interested in this story but if there is I will start, against my better judgement because I'm working on so many other stories, posting chapters as regularly as possible (as soon as I write them). Also, if you do read this then also review. I cannot begin to stress the importance of this because it let's me know what you think of the story and what I need to work on. Not that anyone is even going to like this story that is. Man, posting this story is giving me an anxiety attack, seriously I'm not joking with you. I so much want to do justice to the characters and the wonderfully gritty world of Repo! but I'm just so nervous I'm not :( I better stop ranting. Also, don't flame this story in the reviews, you may not like it but it doesn't mean I need to read your rude expression of opinion. I also can't promise every chapter will be this long but I'll try not to make them too long or too short either.