V sighed as she turned off the water to the shower she was using. It seemed like some entity had turned on V making her life a living hell. That would explain how much shit she had to deal with now. The towel she grabbed was still warm like it had come directly out of a dryer. The perk of magic as V had been told by Cynthia before she had started her shower.

She stepped out of the shower and started drying her hair. The matted mess that it was had finally been taken care of. The brush they had given her was fantastic, never tangling in her hair as most other brushes did. She didn't know if that was from magic or just the make of the brush.

As she finished toweling off her thoughts wandered. It had been a day since Harry had brought her here. A day since he told her what exactly was in her head. Just the thought of what a Horcrux was still turned her stomach. And Johnny wasn't fairing much better. He had been silent after that revelation. V almost felt bad for him. He was still an ass, but no one deserved to have their soul split against their will.

A soft pop broke through V's thoughts. A small creature with large lilac eyes, and floppy ears, had appeared in the room. She held V's clothes and offered them to her as she spoke, "Vispy be having your clothes for you miss V. We took extra care with them."

"Uh… thanks," V tilted her head at the strange creature. She took the clothes, noting that it was what she had been wearing before, now cleaner and more intact than she had ever seen them. "Did you do repairs?"

Vispy nodded to her, "Yes, Vispy be repairing your things. Did you not be wanting that?"

"No, it's fine just," V shook her head. "Sorry, who are you again?"

"I is being Vispy miss V," Vispy was wringing her hands together. "Master Harry assigned me to you while he is being elsewhere."

"Right, thank you… Vispy," V said as Vispy nodded once more before disappearing with another pop. "This is my life now."

V pulled her clothes on, grimacing as her muscles twinged in protest. Cynthia had said she would still be sore for a few days. Something about her nerves restarting. Compared to other things V had gone through, the pain in her muscles was barely an inconvenience.

She exited the bathroom, a towel draped over her head, and stopped once she saw her jacket laying on the bed. Like her clothes, the jacket had been cleaned and fixed. She ran her hand down one arm that she had patched herself a few years ago. The rough patch job was gone, leaving only the smooth leather of the jacket.

V whistled softly, "Damn, she did a preem job."

"Vispy is one of the best," Neville's voice floated to her from the entrance. The large man stood in the doorway, the bright light from outside washing out his features. "Though she sometimes gets carried away."

"It's fine," V slipped on the jacket. "Just you know… been a while since I could properly fix these things. Even then, never as good as this."

Neville had entered the room and was examining the back of V's jacket. "You know, my daughter was really into Samurai. Especially during their reunion tour. I think she was sixteen or seventeen back then."

A flash of memory flitted through V's brain. A young girl, shadowed by a large burly man, getting a t-shirt signed. Henry, the bassist, getting too handsy and getting pinned to the wall by the same man. "I think Johnny remembers that. You went to a concert with her once didn't you?"

Neville's brow furrowed, and a small smile spread across his face, "Yeah, I did. Back in 2020. Their reunion tour, if I remember."

V smirked at him, "And you pinned a guy to the wall. That's more what Johnny remembers."

Neville huffed out a laugh, "Yeah, remember that too."

V sat down on her bed and started pulling on her boots. The corners of her mouth tugged down into a frown as she spoke, "It's weird seein' someone else's memories."

"I suppose it would be," Neville sat on the bed opposite to V. This close V could make out the definitions of his face. His brown eyes were surrounded by lines and wrinkles etched into his face by long use. His beard hid most of the other signs age V was sure he had. That combined with his rather plain wardrobe left her with the impression of a grandfather who could still kick your ass if needed.

"Is your daughter here in camp somewhere?" V asked.

"No," He said with a shake of his head. "She's out east with some of the other Aldecado divisions. I'm just here as the old man to help with raising some of the younger ones."

"Sounds like a tough job."

Neville gave her a warm smile, "It has its moments. Are you feeling up to some food outside right now?"

"Yeah, I think so, otherwise the shower would have been pointless," V stood, her knees wobbling slightly. Once she got moving, her muscles seemed to cooperate just fine, but when first standing was still tricky. As evidence when V tripped, nearly face planting into the floor. Neville caught her though and helped her stand fully, "Heh, thanks."

"It's no problem," He said, letting go of V so she could stand on her own.

Her second attempt at walking was more successful, and she soon found herself outside the hospital room. The main area looked much the same as it had yesterday. Though there seemed to be more children around this time. They ran between the tables, completely ignoring the adults trying to reign them in.

"Over here," Neville guided her to an empty spot with a gentle tug on her sleeve. He got V settled and spoke again, "I'll get you some food just wait here for a moment."

Neville left her to herself at that. She watched the kids for a bit, unable to help the small smile on her face from their antics. She had always loved kids. They reminded her of a simpler time when she didn't have a care in the world. V's phone system rang, interrupting her reminiscing with Judy's avatar showing up in the corner of her vision.

"Hey Judes, what's up?" V said, answering the call with as much nonchalance as she could.

"V? Been trying to reach you for a while," Judy's voice was calm, though she had turned off the face cam. "Just been getting voicemail."

V checked and saw three messages from Judy. How she hadn't noticed them before was a mystery. That was usually the first thing she did when getting up. Granted, the last couple of days hadn't been normal.

"Sorry 'bout that," V rubbed at her eyes. "Had something happen on a job. Guess I missed you callin'."

"You ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," V wasn't sure how much she should tell Judy. Especially since it would reveal more magicals than just Harry. "So, how's Evelyn doing?"

"She's awake now, which is why I was callin'," There was a sound like squeaking springs on Judy's end of the call. "Told her a bit about what happened. I know you wanted to talk to her, and she seems to want to talk to you too."

"Good, good," V nodded along with her words. "We should have Hellman pretty soon. As soon as we're done here, we'll be on our way."

There was silence on Judy's end for a moment, "You still chooming around with Harry then?"

"Kinda stuck with him for now. He's not too bad though." Silence once again from Judy's line. "Judes?"

"V… I got a bad feelin' about this shit,'' Judy said. "I may have mentioned his name to Suzie, and she freaked out on me big time. Pretty sure I nearly got fired right then."

"What the fuck?"

"Granted, Suzie can be a bitch sometimes," Judy continued over V's outburst. "But, you should have seen the look on her face. Don't think I'd ever seen it that pale before."

V's brow furrowed. Why would a Mox have such a reaction to Harry? It didn't track with his history and the Aldecados' reaction to him.

"Maybe, whatever he did to the Tyger Claws got back to her," Johnny materialized, sitting at the other side of the table. "That might have fucked with her head a bit."

"Where the fuck have you been?" V asked.

"At my apartment?" Judy answered.

"Shit, no not you."

"Well, if you don't wanna talk," Johnny pushed back from the table.

"Sit down, shut the fuck up, and wait," V said with a growl

"V? You feeling ok?"

"I'm fine Judy, my... passenger who's been absent for a while, decided now was a good time to start talking," V rubbed at her temples.

"He sounds like an ass."

"You have no idea. Better let you go, Harry, and I'll be by later," V said, glaring at the unrepentant Johnny.

"Alright, just… be careful V," With that Judy ended the call, letting V turn her full attention to Johnny.

"You do remember you don't have to speak out loud to me, right?"

"Where have you been?"

"Thinking," Johnny leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Thinking? That's it?" V mimicked him, a scowl plastered across her face.

"Yeah, I do that from time to time," Johnny pointed at her. "You might wanna try that on occasion."

"Fuck. you."

"Always with the warm and fuzzies with you, isn't it?"

Neville walked up, placing a bowl of soup in front of V, "Cynthia said to start you off light."

The smell from the soup triggered another memory for V. She was sitting at the kitchen table, the white appliances reflecting the orange glow from the campfire. His mother turned, handing her a bowl, the smell wafting to his nose. Her mother smiled softly at him, gesturing at her to drink from the bowl. He picked up her spoon.

With a scream, V tore herself from the memory. She shoved away from the table, landing on the ground in a heap. The edges of her vision were overtaken with static. Neville crouched over her wand out and waving. Cynthia was there as well, appearing out of nowhere. The concerned look on her face sent a surge of rage through her. Why should they care? This wasn't their problem, they barely even knew her.

"V, V! Look at me," Cynthia said, nearly shouting to get V's attention. Locking onto the healer's brown eyes and hearing her call V's name seemed to calm down her racing mind. That hadn't been her rage. While V had never been great at accepting help, she had never been angry at someone for offering.

V sprung up, nearly head-butting Neville, "I need some air." The two Longbottoms protested even as V scrambled to her feet. "I just need some air." She tore out of their grasp and stumbled up to the exit. V burst through the tent flaps and blinked several times at the harsh sun. Harry stood there, blinking owlishly back at her. Before he could speak, she pushed past him.

"V?" Harry called out to her.

"Not now!" V yelled back as she marched off into the hills surrounding the camp.

V sat on a cliff that reached over the mechanics' tent. She had her knees to her chest and was staring out into nothing. The sun had nearly set, the pinkish hue casting the camp in a warm glow. Campfires had been lit again, with people gathering around them, trading beers and laughs. The children that had been in the menagerie earlier had been let loose. They now raced around the campground, still ignoring those that tried to corral them.

Johnny had gone silent once more, leaving V alone with her thoughts. She was pretty sure the memory leak freaked him out as much as her. She could still feel it in the back of her mind. The wrongness of it. She wasn't even sure which part was Johnny's and which part was hers. The memories blended too much.

The sound of gravel crunching alerted V to someone behind her. She stayed where she was, only letting her eyes move to watch the man sit down. The person behind her groaned as he lowered himself to sit beside her.

"I think, I'm getting too old to be on the ground like this," Neville said once he got himself settled in his spot.

"Don't seem that old to me," V said, her voice muffled.

Neville laughed, "I assure you I am."

The two of them sat in silence for the moment, observing the camp from their perch. V could make Harry's red coat from this distance, as he had gotten roped into helping with the children. He would chase them around the fires, waving theatrically at them as he did. He would occasionally glance up at the cliff, giving the children an opening attack. They would latch onto his arms and legs in an attempt to drag him to the ground. Though he would always manage to shake them off.

"He's really worried about you, you know," Neville said as he leaned back on his elbows.

V shook her head, "Don't know why. We barely know each other."

"Doesn't matter, not to him at least," Neville looked over at V. "He always had the tendency to dive headfirst into things. Including people."

V snorted, "Surprised he's not dead already."

"So are we."

V lifted her head to look at Neville, "And what about you? Why are you here?"

"We held a vote," Neville nodded as if that explained everything.

"I'm sorry… What?"

"Well, it was more I got voted into the position," He ran a hand through his thinning hair. "Apparently I give off this grandfatherly air that's supposed to be comforting." He leaned closer to V, lowering his voice to a fake whisper. "Though I'm pretty sure Harry only said that so he could play with the kids."

That got V to huff out a short laugh. Though they fell back to silence, it was a little lighter this time. V sat up, stretching out her legs to let her feet dangle over the edge of the cliff.

"So you knew Harry when he went to school?" V asked.

"Yeah, we went to Hogwarts together," Neville answered with a nod.

"Hogwarts? Really?" V couldn't help the bubbling giggle that escaped her lips. "That's… Who decided that was a good name?"

Neville gave her a small smile, "Some wizard thousands of years ago, I would assume. It's been called that since before I was born."

After taking a moment to control herself V spoke again, "So what was he like back then?"

"Much the same as he is now," Neville seemed to consider his words before continuing. "Though, with the war going on, he didn't get many chances to relax like this."

"War? Which one?" If V remembered her history right, there were a lot of wars going on in the ninety's.

Neville shook his head, "No war that you would recognize. This was a wizarding war. It ended in ninety-eight, because of Harry. And the whole world had no idea what was going on."

That was hard for V to imagine. Seemed everyone knew what was going on these days. From some cyberpsycho terrorizing Heywood to the Corpo back-alley dealings that went down every day. Very little of what happened in Night City was kept behind closed doors for long. Even V's heist had been spread around, or at least versions of it.

"How old were you two back then?" V asked.

"Seventeen."

"Fuck," V leaned back, "That's intense. When I was seventeen, I was more concerned about my car, who I was gettin' in bed with that night, and trying to prove myself to the clan."

"Nomad?"

"Yep. I'm more comfortable out here than I think I'll ever be in that city."

"Why did you end up there then?"

There was a pause as V considered her answer, "Guess I thought I didn't have much of a choice. I had just left the Bakkers. Didn't wanna risk another clan at the moment." She looked up to see the lights of the city. They still drowned out the stars, even from this far away, "And the city was just sitting there on the horizon like a beacon begging to be reached."

"Do you regret it?"

V had flashes of Jackie, Misty, and Mama Welles, "I don't regret who I met, but… Right now I wish I'd never set foot in that fucking city. Maybe I wouldn't be as fucked as I am now."

"You might have been worse off," Neville said.

V let out a bark of bitter laughter, "Don't know how that's possible. Was given four weeks to watch myself turn into somebody else. Wasted a week already running around trying to find some way to live past next month." She clenched her hands and curled back in on herself, not wanting to turn the rage that she felt against him. "Now I got Johnny's memories mixin' with mine, reminding me I'm on borrowed time. Can't even tell them apart anymore. So.. What exactly could be worse than that."

Neville watched as the sun kissed the horizon, staring at some something unseen, "At least you have the power to do something about it," His voice was soft, barely reaching V's ears. "At least you're not stuck, unable to change anything or help the ones you care about. You've got time."

V growled, "That's great and all, but in three weeks that'll mean jack shit."

"And what does it mean right now?" He leaned in as he spoke, "You're so focused on what you'll be missing in the future, and how terrible that is. What about right now?"

"I don't know!" V yelled, finally looking at Neville, "I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I just…" Rage melted into grief as tears trickled down her cheek. She looked away, burrowing her head in her knees again, "I just want to live."

Neville pulled her in for a hug as the dam that V had built over the past week broke. She sobbed into his shoulder, something she hadn't done since she was younger. Neville said nothing as he held her, soothing her by rubbing her back in circular motions. They stayed like that until her breathing had gained some semblance of normalcy again.

"'M sorry," V mumbled as she pulled away.

"Nothing to apologize for. I was a father and a grandfather to two girls. My shoulder is more than used to it," Neville gave her another warm smile. "We often need a good cry from time to time."

V rubbed at her eyes, wiping away the wetness she found there, "Don't think I'll have many more opportunities for one after this." She looked back down at the camp. With a sigh, she stood up, "Should probably get back now."

"You go on ahead," Neville leaned back, using his head to gesture at V. "I'm going to stay up here for a while, and enjoy this view."

"Yeah, sure," V started on the trek back to camp. She stopped a few feet away and turned back to Neville, who still sat at the edge of the cliff. "And thanks."

A/N And the sixth chapter is done! It's been a while hasn't it guys? Been working on other projects and such as well as diving into the community a little bit more. The next chapter is Hellman as this chapter dealt more with V than V and Harry. As always, I'll see you guys in the future!