Disclaimer: I don't own Repo! The Genetic Opera

Chapter 5

The next morning Shilo's eyes were heavy with dark circles underneath them. She didn't get much sleep during the previous night. She was continuously woken by the nightmares that were coming back to haunt her. That horrible night at the opera, after having escaped the crowd of hungry paparazzi, Shilo wandered the streets aimlessly, carefully staying in the shadows so no one would see her. When her legs grew too tired to walk anymore she sat down on the cold concrete, closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep. It didn't last very long though because horrific images began to appear on the inside of her eyelids. Images of her father slitting the throats of faceless victims and then being stabbed himself. Then the cruel, menacing faces of Rotti Largo and his children appeared. She cried out to father but he lay limp and lifeless on the floor while the Largos began stalking towards her, laughing mirthlessly. Rotti shoved his will in front of her face and demanded that she sign while Luigi and Pavi held her down. She thrashed in their arms screamed for help as the three of them commanded her to sign the paper, repeating it over and over like a mantra. Then Amber came up from behind her and held a scalpel to her throat. Just before she was about to die, she woke up with a scream and in a cold sweat. She had always wondered if Graverobber would have still found her if she haven't had screamed. After a few weeks, the nightmares were slowly starting to fade and she was finally able to get sleep. Now the nightmares had started up again and Shilo was exhausted.

"You alright?" asked Graverobber, noticing Shilo's morose expression.

Shilo groaned in response as she searched the cupboard, looking for the coffee mix. She didn't really drink coffee too often but in her state she was going to need it; a lot of it.

"What's wrong, Shilo?" he asked. "Don't take this the wrong way but you look terrible."

Shilo sighed and pressed the button to the coffee maker. "They're starting to come back. The nightmares."

Graverobber frowned. "Oh, no. It was because of last night wasn't it?"

Shilo nodded and rubbed her eyes. "I think so. Just being there again at that opera house, and then that run in with the Largo's. It must have triggered it."

Graverobber pinched the top of his nose in frustration. "Shit. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry, Shilo. I shouldn't have forced you to go. If I hadn't bought those stupid tickets you wouldn't have to deal with all this."

"It's okay, Graves. You apologized enough last night. You didn't mean for this to happen."

"I still feel horrible."

"Don't. Besides there's no use dawning on it now. We just have to find a way to get through this. At least we're still alive right?"

Graverobber looked at Shilo in astonishment. "You're one tough women, you know that? I think you're dealing with this better than I am."

Shilo smiled. "I have to be tough in order to survive. You taught me that remember?"

He gave out a light-hearted laugh. "Yeah, I guess I did. It's just kind of a trip to see you like this, you know?"

"Don't get soft on me now, Graves." she said, handing him a cup of coffee. "So, let's get started, shall we?"

"Right." he nodded.

The first thing they did was gather all of their personal belongings from each of their rooms. They used some of the cardboard boxes had picked up on the way home the previous night. It took them about 20 minutes for each of them. It was true that they didn't have much to pack besides clothes and other personal items . Shilo figured they would have more resources back at the house anyway. As Shilo cleared the bookshelf in the living room, she wondered what it would be like going back to her old home. Would it look the same? Would it feel the same? Did she make the right decision of asking to go back there? As she pondered this, there was a knock on the door.

"Guess that's her." said Graverobber, going to answer the door.

Sure enough when he answered the door, there was Ana standing in the doorway, wearing casual clothes and ready to help. "Good morning" she greeted.

"Morning." he replied. He looked over her shoulder, noticing the strange and flamboyantly dressed character holding a large gun who was standing in front of a black car. "Um, who is that?"

"Oh, don't mind him. That's just my bodyguard, Martin, he's here to help." she replied.

"Alright then." said Graverobber still eyeing the strange character.

"So, can I come in?" she asked.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah come on in." he said, clearing the doorway.

"Thanks." she said, stepping in. "Hey, Shilo."

"Hi." replied Shilo, acknowleding Ana.

"So we're pretty much all set here. Do you want some coffee before we go?" offered Graverobber.

"No, thanks. " said Ana "I'm good."

"Okay, well I guess we can head out then. Ready Shilo?" he asked.

"Yeah." she nodded, picking up the box of her belongings.

"What do you guys need?" asked Ana.

"You can get that box full of books if you want." said Graverobber, picking up his own box.

Ana nodded, grabbing the box. The three of them headed out the door and down the steps of the apartment. Martin opened the trunk of the car for them without a word. "Thanks, Martin." said Ana. Martin nodded to her in reply and then glanced at Graverobber who inwardly cringed. They headed back inside and grabbed a few more boxes. As they walked down the steps again, Ana notcied the necklace that Shilo was wearing.

"That's a very pretty necklace." she said.

"Oh, um, thanks. It belonged to my mother." replied Shilo.

Ana smiled at Shilo, trying to be nice and Shilo shyly smiled back.

After they put the rest of the boxes in the trunk, Ana told Martin that it was the last of them and thanked him again. He nodded and then proceeded to open the car door for them.

"Are you gonna miss it?" Shilo asked Graverobber.

Graverobber shrugged. "Nah, it was just an old apartment. Nothing special. Not the first place I lived in either. I'm kind of excited to see what this house of yours is like too."

"Don't get too excited." said Shilo

They arrived to the Wallace House in a matter of 15 minutes. Shilo hesitantly stepped out of the car and looked up at her old home. Ana and Graverobber noticed her distraught expression.

"Are you okay?" asked Ana.

Shilo gulped. "Its just been a long time since I've been here." she answered.

Graverobber unexpectedly grabbed her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "It's going to be okay, kid." he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

Shilo smiled back and took a breath. "Well, here it goes." she said.

With that the three of them walked to the gate and opened it. There was a gate blocking the front door as well but Shilo remembered that button that was hidden behind a bush to buzz them in. She was about to retrieve the spare key under the mat when the door opened by itself. Shilo slowly went through the door and Ana and Graverobber followed. They looked around the front room, wondering if anyone had possibly broken in and damaged anything. Alas, everything looked exactly the same as it did when Shilo left. The room was bare and empty except for the small plastic plant and coat hanger in the corner. Of course there was also the large portrait of her mother above the fireplace. The only difference was the specks of dust that had collected on top of the mantle and the staircase. It was spooky.

"I can't believe it. Shilo whispered "Nothing's changed. Everything looks the same."

"Well no one has been here in a year, kid." said Graverobber "Not inside anyway."

"That's right. You said that Amber had guards surround the place. I'm surprised that they didn't come inside." said Ana

"They were just making sure that I couldn't get in." said Shilo.

Ana looked over at Marni's portrait. "Is that your mother?" she asked.

Shilo gazed at the portrait. "Yeah, that's her. That's not the only picture of her either." she answered, remembering all of the portraits of her deceased mother all around the house.

"She's beautiful." said Ana, examining the portrait. "You're the spitting image of her too."

"Thank you."

"I see where you get your good looks from, kid." said Graverobber, winking at her and trying to lighten the mood.

Shilo smiled at him. Then she looked down at her watch. "I guess we should get started then. Don't want to be late." she said, acknowledging Ana.

"Right." she answered. They walked back to the car to retrieve the boxes and start unpacking. They each grabbed a box and went back inside. Shilo gestured them to follow her up the stairs.

"We don't have a guest room so you can have my dad's old room okay, Graves?" she said as they walked up the stairs.

"Sure thing." he said examining the many holographic portraits of Marni. Shilo noticed him and Ana looking.

"I know its creepy. My father worshipped my mother. He was devastated when she died. So he put pictures of her all around the house."

"It must have been hard for you both." said Ana as they walked to Shilo's room while Graverobber went to Nathan's old room.

"Well not really. I mean she died when I was born. My dad said that she was dying already while she was pregnant with me. He told me she had a blood disease but that was a lie. One day an accident happened and he unintentionally poisoned her medicine. She began bleeding heavily and he was forced to give her a cesarian."

Ana set the box she was carrying down on the floor. "That's horrible. I'm so sorry, Shilo." said Ana.

"It's okay." said Shilo, starting to unpack the box of clothes and hanging them up in her old closet. "It was a long time ago. I don't even remember it happening. I was just a baby."

"I see. That's very sad." Ana shifted her eyes awkwardly and began unpacking the box of knick knacks. "Where do you want this?" she asked, indicating the snow globe in her hand.

"Oh, you can put that on the desk over there. Anyways sorry for the depressing story."

"No, it's fine. If it makes you feel any better, I lost my mother too."

Shilo frowned. "I'm sorry. What happened to her?"

"She...she committed suicide." said Ana, looking down.

"Oh. That's terrible. I'm sorry. Were you close to her?"

Ana smiled sadly. "I was actually. She was the most amazing woman I ever knew. She wasn't just my mother, she was also my best friend."

Shilo smiled. "You know I've always wondered what my mother was like. My dad said that she was amazing."

"I'm sure she was, Shilo."

"Thanks. Its a shame though, I always resented her in a way, as sad as that sounds."

"Why though?"

Shilo sighed. "Well, it was because I blamed her for my so-called blood disease. I was angry at her because her death made my dad so paranoid to the point where he kept me locked in my room. He was so afraid of losing me the way he lost her. I convinced myself that it was her fault that I wasn't able to go outside. Then when I found out the truth, I felt so guilty. All those years resenting her when I should have loved her." Shilo paused for a moment and looked at Ana who had a concerned expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm rambling again aren't I?" said Shilo.

"No, no. It's okay. I'm just..surprised that you're telling me all of this when we barely know each other."

"I know. I'm not usually this open, not even with Graves. You're just easy to talk to somehow. A good listener too."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad that I could help." smiled Ana

"You know you're being pretty open too." Shilo pointed out.

"I guess that's true. I've never shared with anyone how my mother died."

"If I may ask" Shilo hesitantly started , "Why did your mom kill herself?"

"I honestly don't know. It was pretty unexpected for me. I mean, I knew she was feeling sad lately at the time but I never thought that she would do that. I wish I knew why she kept it from me."

"Why was she sad?"

"It was because of her job. She...had a horrible boss. He was a monster."

"Oh, I see."

"Were you close with your dad?" Ana asked, trying to change the subject.

Shilo sat down on the bed. "You could say that. I mean he was really the only one I had contact with for seventeen years. He was overprotective and sometimes overbearing but he loved me. Everything he did was to keep me safe."

"You must have been shocked when you found out what his real job was." said Ana, taking a seat next to her.

Shilo gulped. "I was but I don't like to think about him like that. I like to remember him the way I knew him, as my protective, loving father."

"That's good Shilo." said Ana, admiring the other girl's attitude.

"What about your dad?"

Ana shrugged. "I never knew my father. My mom told me that he left before I was born."

"Well...that sucks." said Shilo, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah. It's okay though. At least I had my mom around. I do miss her a lot though."

"I guess we have that in common. In losing both of our parents. Although it isn't a very pleasent thing to have in common."

"Yeah. Well at least we have one good thing in common."

"What's that?"

"We both seem to be huge Blind Mag fans." laughed Ana, just noticing the posters all over the room.

"You were a Blind Mag fan?" asked Shilo, suddenly becoming excited.

"Not was. I still am."

"Me too! Her music was amazing. She was my idol." Shilo began perking up.

"Mine too." said Ana, whole heartily.

"I'm actually kind of suprised that you like her."

"Why?"

"Well its just that your music styles are so different...yet similar in way. Don't take this the wrong way but I always thought that you were trying to copy her. I thought that you were trying to replace her."

Ana shook her head. "I would never want to replace her. I would never be able to. She was incredible. I actually get my musical influence from her."

"Really? But you don't sing opera."

"I love opera but Amber doesn't allow me to sing it. She said that GeneCo needed a fresh, modern sound. She wanted someone different then Mag."

"Why though? Mag was the reason why GeneCo recieved so many new customers. She gave some light to that crooked company."

"I agree completely. The truth is though, Amber was always jealous of Mag. She was jealous of all the attention and adoration Mag recieved not only from the public but from her father and brothers as well. So when Mag was out of the picture, Amber wanted GeneCo's new singer to perform the way she wanted. In her image. That's why she makes me dress and dance in those ways. "

"Wow. I guess that makes sense though."

"Yeah but don't tell anyone I told you this okay?"

"I won't. You can trust me." said Shilo, giving Ana a reassuring smile.

Ana returned the smile. "That's good to know." The two girls just sat there for a moment, shocked in how much they had in common and how easy it was to talk to each other. It was almost as if they had known each other for years.

"What time is it anyway?" said Shilo, breaking the silence.

Ana checked her watch. "Crap! We have to be at the photoshoot in half an hour!"

"Oh, no. I guess we've been talking for a while."

"Yeah, it's okay though we'll have just enough time if we head out now."

"Oh, should I change?"

"No, you look fine. I'll get you something else to wear when we get there anyway."

"Okay, then. Let's go." said Shilo.

Ana nodded and got off of the bed heading towards the door.

"Ana?"

The girl turned around.

"Thanks for helping me unpack, and for listening."

"You're welcome. Thank you too."

Shilo nodded. Before they began to walk downstairs Ana stopped. "What about Graverobber?"

Shilo poked her head into her father's old room and saw Graverobber passed out on the bed, just as she suspected.

"He's fine. He's asleep. He always sleeps during the day. Late nights out, you know?

"True. C'mon we better go or else Amber will have both our heads on a platter."

"Right." nodded Shilo. Then the two new friends headed out to their jobs.