My Cause-

Disclaimer- I do not own the characters or lyrics from the movie Repo! The Genetic Opera

Plot Summary- A year after the events of the Opera, Amber (the new CEO of GeneCo) assaults and leaves Graverobber for dead. Fortunately for him, a certain teenager stumbles upon him and takes care of him. Grilo.

Crash!

Rip!

Crumble…

Shilo screamed as she tossed aside yet another hopeless book, the page she tore out now a stress ball. Her father's medical books had told her nothing about how to counteract a zydrate overdose—she wasn't even certain there was one. It was exactly the kind of world they lived in; one that as all about cover-ups and band-aids but not one goddamn cure.

And of course, it wasn't Amber's life on the line—it was Graverobber's.

Shilo had brought them both to her home for reasons she couldn't explain. She hoped it was more of a desire to protect him than it was to reel vengeance against Amber. Upon inspection on both bodies and monitoring their vitals, Shilo discovered that Amber had only injected herself with Zydrate twice (probably two gone mentally by then to do it a third time), which while dangerous close to so, was not enough to cause an overdose.

Graverobber, however, was injected three times—just enough to send him into coma. A fourth time could have very well killed him but fortunately, Shilo found him in time to keep that from happening. She now had time to bring him out of the coma but even time means nothing when no knew how to stop it. She was becoming terrified he'd never wake up again.

"Largo's… Like father like daughter." The deep, rugged voice said. Shilo looked and almost screamed again. Her father stood there; wearing his entire repo disguise except the helmet she herself had pulled off when she discovered his secret.

"Dad?" Shilo was frightened, not so much by the fact he was there, but by the question of her mental state. Perhaps the sleepless night was giving her hallucinations—maybe her grief for Graverobber was driving her insane.

Either way, her shaking knees brought her down. As if to kneel before the ghost of her dead father. "They're the same sort of people who took your mother away from me, Shi…and now she's taken him away from you." The voice was still hard and ragged, not at all her father's usual gentle-paternal one. She had a feeling she was hearing him the same way his victims had in the past. "It must end, before they take anymore."

"How?" Shilo murmured, unknowingly crawling closer to him. She honestly wanted to know. "How can I stop them? Her? She's…She's a lunatic, dad! Almost killed both of them. How can I possibly stop someone who'd give up their life to win?"

"Isn't it obvious, daughter?" The ghost answered with a gleeful glower. He unsheathed his knife, handing it end first to Shilo. She watched with horrified madness. "Eliminate her. Destroy her!"

As terrible as it was, Shilo was tempted to do so. Never in her life, even when facing this murderer she called 'dad' did she ever hate someone more. Amber stood for everything Shilo was against—vanity, ruthlessness, and greed. As far as she was concerned, the world would be much better off without her. No one would even care! They all hated Amber too.

Shilo sighed. She'd care. "No…"

"What?"

"You heard me!" Shilo stood up; suddenly feeling very moral. "You spent your whole life trying to remedy violence with more violence and look what happened—you're dead!"

The ghost fumed, raising his knife as if to threaten her. "Can't you see you could change everything? Do what you promised me? This is your destiny Shilo Wallace!"

Shilo didn't move. "I can't live for you or him like you did for mom. And I can't kill for him either… I refuse to become a monster like you, even if that means losing him. So take this- this shit about destiny and get out of my fucking sight!"

She leered forward to push him, knocking the knife from his shocked, enraged body. Then suddenly he was gone, leaving only a breathless, confused Shilo. It was a hallucination—even if the anger and sadness was very real.

The girl got down on her knees once more, her head over-whelmed with grief. In her head, she told herself it wasn't her father speaking to her, but rather a demonic image of him. A reenactment of her inner desires to seek revenge.

Which also meant giving up hope, something she wasn't prepared to do.

Her hands reached for where she was sure the knife had fallen, forgetting for a moment it didn't even exist. Her hand instead found a heavy book. Shilo grabbed it and dragged it cover up to her. Eyes read the bold, but plain looking script that screamed Drugs and Suicide—the book looked at least 50 years old.

The cures might have been old and outdated—it may not even offer anything that'd help. But desperate for answers, Shilo flicked it open. She skipped through the chapters explaining the psychological answers behind drug use and using them to overdose or end ones life. She vaguely read over the drugs that had little to do sedation or it's effects. Then suddenly she found it—the books about sedation and daze inducing drugs. She found information on depressants; one even called the 'date rape drug' and between many of them, found one outstanding cure. Or

Flumazenil. And maybe if it worked for them, it would work for Zydrate.

She closed the book and took a deep breath. There was no way a hopeful doctor in her first year of college would ever get access to such a drug. She could try and sneak into a hospital, assuming they had it, but it would take time she didn't have. As it turned out the one person who had the most access to medical accessories was currently under her roof.

She had to somehow convince Amber Sweet to let Graverobber live.

()

Shilo stood by her bedside, watching Amber twist and turn against her drug daze. Shilo hoped Amber being so dazed would make her more willing to help.

"Amber, I need your help." Shilo spoke through her teeth. She had to suppress the urge to yell and scream at her, at least for now. "There's a drug called Flumazenil, there's no guarantees but it might help…"

"No…" Amber gasped out. Shilo clenched her fist, trying to remain composed. "I…I wanted to die."

"Yeah, but he might instead!" Shilo snapped. "Kind of a funny way to show your love, isn't it?"

There was a heavy, but quiet laugh. Shilo couldn't believe it; she was drugged, and helpless under her hand, but Amber could still laugh in her face. "Love? Love?" Amber's eyes opened slightly. Shilo could have sworn there was fire in them. "Love… means nothing to me. He—He belongs to me… He's all that really did belong to me."

"What about the company? What about your brothers?" Shilo said, deciding the change the game. It was now time to play 'How do We Keep Ms. Sweet From Wanting to Die?' "There has to be something, anything you want more than this!"

"My brothers are puissant little bastards!" Amber shouted as loud as she could; which wasn't very loud. "And in case you forgot, the company was given to you…They, those ungrateful…them, they want you to have it now. Well, it's yours…Just let me…"

A tear escaped from her eye and Shilo felt her resolve loosen a bit. So this wasn't really a jealous game involving Graverobber. It was a jealous tug of war over her father's favoritism, everyone's favoritism. This was about wanting to be accepted and loved without having to change your appearance or being loud to get attention.

This was about Amber wanting to be loved like Shilo.

"Amber, I spent seventeen years in a room. Not hoping for a future but rather, wondering when my miserable excuse of life would be over. All I heard growing up was that I was fragile, that my disease held me back. Turns out the only thing holding back was the man telling me these things."

Amber turned away, Shilo continued on anyway. "I didn't want GeneCo Amber because I couldn't do anything with it. The company was too corrupt for me to change the world with it. Look at me…" Amber turned back. "I'm ugly by today's standards… they say they want me, but I'm too different for them to truly stand behind me. I wasn't meant for the high-end society stuff. I'm a rebel, I'm a outcast, and I'm a fucking doctor…"

"You're tough enough to go out there and change the world with GeneCo though. Could you imagine it? High society brat Amber Sweet shows everyone by making something out of nothing. You could make GeneCo popular and good…But you can't do it from a coffin." Shilo got down so she could be eyelevel, so Amber couldn't run away from her. The look was cold and paternal, forcing her to make a choice. "You can start by saving Graverobber."

Amber, despite the circumstances, looked more sober than Shilo had ever seen her. The tears didn't stop but it suddenly seemed like the CEO was speechless. Shilo pleaded with her silently—begged her even.

Finally, Amber extended her hand. "Give me my phone…"

()

The doctor Amber had called for arrived in less than five minutes with the Flumazenil. The doctor was now preparing to inject it into Graverobber's bloodstream as Shilo watched. She could barely bare to simply stand as Graverobber laid out—looking paler than death even without his make-up. He looked more like a corpse than the drug dealer who robbed from them.

"This could be an impressive discovery, Ms. Wallace." The doctor complimented. Shilo choose not to answer at this particular moment. "Imagine how many lives could be saved if this cure of yours works."

Shilo fidgeted her hands, watching as the needle broke through Graverobber's skin. She clasped her hands together and hoped. The future had mixed emotions about whether or not god truly existed—the Wallace's themselves were never god-fearing people. So while she had no true desire to pray; she instead choose to hope, and if a god heard her and her 'hope' and decided to be merciful; she'd be grateful.

"It takes two minutes to get a response right?" Shilo asked quietly. The doctor nodded and pulled the needle out.

"At least, that's how it's worked in the past according to that book of yours. It says he won't wake up for ten minutes, so I'd say if he hasn't responded by that time, we'll have our answer." He cleared his throat, and stood before her. "Are you…considering a career in medicine?"

Shilo nodded, daring to step closer to him. "My dad was a doctor for a bit before another career opportunity stood out." Shilo didn't know if the doctor knew of her past or not, but didn't much care one way or another. "I…sort of decided to finish what he never did."

"Well, I think it suits you very well—you should contact me when you begin your internship." Shilo couldn't agree with the offer this very moment, she was too busy watching the man she loved—wondering if he'd pull through or not.

The doctor grew silent and took visual with her. Ten of the longest moments of her life passed and Graverobber had given no seeable response. She couldn't hold back the tears when the clock struck twelve minutes later and still no response.

Suddenly, what little hope she had was gone. Shilo—as ugly and out casted as she made herself to be, was once again alone. Even the doctor, who had regarded her so highly, placed a sorrowful hand on her shoulder and apologized. She sobbed as a knife ripped through her chest. There was nothing left to do but watch him slip away.

"Kid…?" Shilo gasped as the breath was ripped right out of her body. The doctor turned to where she couldn't bare to look, couldn't dare to hope any longer. The doctor ran to his bedside. Shilo couldn't move an inch; she was finally able to breath again, but struggled to keep doing so. The pain in her chest somehow hurt more but slowly began to fade.

"Ms. Wallace? Are you alright?" The Doctor was back to her, looking over her in a concerned matter. Shilo panted but nodded, gaining some control over her panic attack. "He…He refuses to let me look over him. He wants you."

Shilo nodded and rubbed her burning eyes. She stood straight and forced her shaking body to the bed. Graverobber looked barely alive with his heavy-lidded eyes and weak smile, but Shilo smiled back.

"You look like crap…" Graverobber managed to say in a strained voice. Shilo laughed a hearty, over the top laugh. A maddening joy that he was still with them.

"You should look in the mirror sometime. You were looking pretty coffin worthy there for a few minutes."

"And once again, I'm saved by you. Guess if I want to live I should just stick with you." He said with not a hint of malice in his voice. Almost as if he was relieved that he'd always need her.

Shilo leaned down to kiss his lips. "I guess so…."