Many thanks for the reviews! This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoy it.

I do not own any aspect of Repo! The Genetic Opera, but I am obsessed nonetheless…

The soft illumination from the city lingered quietly outside as thick curtains prevented it from sneaking into the bedroom where Shilo tired to sleep. She tossed and turned in complete darkness as sleep was managing to elude her once again. Blood, camera flashes, her father's dead body, Mag's dead body, the gun… everything from the opera plagued her mind whenever she closed her eyes. She could even hear Rotti's laugh echo maliciously in the background as the events of that night played over and over again. Shilo groaned in frustration.

"Kid, will you just fall asleep already?" Graverobber asked impatiently in the dark. He was sitting next to her with his arms crossed. Shilo had been tossing for over an hour now.

"I told you I haven't been able to sleep since the opera," Shilo said as she sat up.

"Yeah, that was five months ago. Move on. Just close your eyes or something."

"Ugh! What do you think I'm trying to do?!"

"Hey, don't get pissy with me, kid. You're the one who asked me to stay up here with you….. Where's the damn light?" He said as he scrambled to turn the nightstand lamp on. He hit the light and started to put his boots on.

"Where are you going?" Shilo asked nervously. "Are you leaving? I..I'll fall asleep eventually. I know I will. "

"Calm down kid, I'm just going to the bathroom," Graverobber said slightly agitated.

"Oh." Shilo looked down at her hands. She was being too clingy. She guessed that she had developed some abandonment issues after her father's death. Shilo was so used to her father always being there. The five months she had spent alone after his death made her appreciate even the slightest company.

"Across the hall right?" he asked bringing her mind back to the present.

Shilo looked up. "Oh… Uh, yeah, it's across the hall."

Graverobber walked out of the room closing the door behind him. He paused for the briefest moment and sighed. Poor kid, he thought.

Shilo waited patiently in her room. She hugged her knees to her chest. He's coming back….He's coming back….He's coming back… she repeated in her mind as she tried to reassure herself. She looked up across her bed to find Marni's portrait staring back at her.

You're mother, rest her soul, would be so proud of you. Though you cannot see her, she is here with you. We will always be there for you in your time of need. Shilo you're the world to me….

Shilo swore that she could hear her father's voice whisperthroughout the room. She brought her hands to her head and desperately tried to shake out the thoughts. She needed to keep it together.

Shilo looked up and glanced at Marni's portrait again. "Are you proud of me?" she hesitantly asked.

Marni simply stared back at her.

"Didn't think so," Shilo whispered.

"How about you, dad?" she asked as she glanced around the empty room. "Are you really here in my time of need?"

She was only met with silence.

"Didn't you say that you'd protect me?"

Silence still. God, I'm going crazy….Shilo thought. She was having a one way conversation with her dead parents.

"Why did you leave me?" she asked the room.

"I told you kid, I had to go to the bathroom," Graverobber said as he opened the door. He had heard her conversation with her parents, but he decided to spare her the humiliation.

"Oh, you scared me," Shilo squeaked.

"Sorry…okay….So, you ready to try the sleeping thing now?" he asked.

"I guess so," Shilo replied back quietly.

"Great," Graverobber said as he sat on her bed and proceeded to take off his boots. He turned the lights off once again.

"It's so dark," Shilo peeped.

"Yeah, that's kind of the point kid….. Night time, it's dark so you can sleep. At least that's what normal people usually do….. But hell, we both know you're not normal," he replied teasingly.

"You're the one who robs graves at night and extracts drugs from dead people. That's anything but normal," she retorted.

"True, but I know that I'm not normal and I've come to accept that," he turned to her and whispered in her ear. "Have you though?"

"Have I what?"

"Accepted your lack of normality," he whispered in the dark.

"I'm more normal than you. Aren't I?"

"Yeah, but are you okay with that."

"Well, it's too late to change now," Shilo shrugged.

"That's the right attitude kid. Can't change the past….All you can do now is to try and sleep…" he hinted.

"It's just…. It's still too dark," Shilo whispered. She was used to sleeping with some kind of light on since her father always needed to be able to check on her when she was sleeping. "Wait….Do you have any Zydrate?"

"For what? Kid, there's no use getting addicted to the shit. Zydrate only helps to ease surgery. It does nothing for your kind of agony," he carefully explained.

Frustrated with his assumptions, Shilo tried to elucidate her reason. "No, I mean… It's like a…"

"Oh, it's like a night light," he finally came to realize.

"Duh," she said mockingly.

Graverobber reached into his jacket to unveil a little glass vial filled with Zydrate. The bluish glow illuminated a small radius in front of their faces as they both stared at the vial. Graverobber glanced passed the vial to see Shilo's reaction. Her eyes were fixated on the light as he waved it slowly in front of her. He could see pure fascination reflected in her eyes. She was enamored with the drug.

"Kid, this can't make you forget or help you sleep. Are we clear on that?" he asked.

"Sure…" Shilo responded, but her eyes were still fixated on the glow. She had no intentions of using the drug at first, but when Graverobber pulled the Zydrate out of his jacket, Shilo saw her cure was in her sight.

"I'm being serious kid. This shit's not worth messing around with." He was stressing each word. Graverobber couldn't have Shilo getting addicted to Zydrate right now.

"But you said that night in the graveyard that it was a……Didn't you say it was a cure?" she hesitantly asked. She needed something to help her sleep.

"A cure…" He realized that she expected it to solve all her problems. "Your cure? That's what this is about?" he responded.

"Tell me why this wouldn't be able to help me?" she asked persistently.

"It's only for surgery. Not all help comes in a little glass vial…. Damn it kid, it won't help you."

"How do you know?"

"Did you have a surgery?" he questioned her.

"No, but…"

"Then it's not going to help. Just drop it, kid. I'm not letting you get addicted." He was set on this.

"One hit wouldn't hurt me."

Graverobber stared at Shilo's face illuminated by the glow of the Zydrate. She was desperate. She was beautiful. Maybe the Zydrate would help her relax. Maybe it would finally help her sleep.

"One hit," he responded. He turned on the light next to the bed.

Shilo stared at him as he pulled out his Zydrate gun and proceeded to load it. He held the gun in his hands, hesitant to continue. He looked up at Shilo once more.

"This is just for tonight. I can't have you dependent on this shit even if it helps you sleep," he explained.

"I understand," Shilo responded.

"Where do you want it?" he asked as he raised the gun.

"I don't care. I mean…I'm use to needles and injections."

"Fine kid."

Shilo readied herself for her first hit. Graverobber watched intently as she rested back on the bed. He leaned over her regretting what he was about to do. Shilo opened her eyes and looked into his.

"Are you still sure about this kid?" he asked her hoping she would change her mind. "Everyone reacts differently to their first hit…. It could change your life... "

"I'm sure," she said cutting him off.

"I'll make it quick then."

Graverobber leaned in closer and kissed Shilo as he pressed the gun to the inside of her leg.

He pulled the trigger.