The kid was crying again.

Always the same. Always at complete random. Like some kind of child-shaped torture method. It wasn't the worst he had suffered. Not by a long shot.

But it was definitely the most annoying. The most persistent.

As fates went, winding up trapped in some messed up, half remembered back room of the Afterlife with only a small child for company was definitely not the best. He huffed and let smoke plume from his lips and nose. At least the fading memory of cigarette smoke was still holding up. It made the crying at least somewhat tolerable. Was there any point in engaging? It was always the same thing. No difference, like a broken fucking record.

Of course, he always caved in.

"Pipe down, would ya? Givin' me a fuckin' migraine." His bark momentarily shut the child up. The reprieve was only temporary as - once again - the kid started to ball her eyes out like a fountain. The same shit again. "Jesus Christ, how many times do we gotta do this, kid?"

"I want my brother!"

"He ain't here!" His temper flared. He was falling for the same argument once again. Like he simply couldn't help it. His growling only added to the tiny girl's distress.

"Then I want Jackie!"

"News flash; he ain't here either! Guess you're fuckin' stuck with me." He yanked the aviator shades from his face and tried quelling the pulsing pain in his forehead. After spending so long stuck in the mind of Valorie Garcia, seeing her in this diminutive, helpless state offered a variety of conflicting feelings.

Pity among them.

Though annoyance was definitely the strongest by far.

"Why are you so mean, Johnny? You never say anything nice!" The child pouted. Her crying had finally stopped, only to be replaced with something equally annoying. The puffed up cheeks of a sulking toddler. The pulsing in his head grew worse as he growled a rough noise of irritation. The headaches had gotten a lot more frequent recently. So had Kid V's outbursts. Confusing was a complete understatement.

After V interfaced with Mikoshi and had her final conversation with him, Johnny thought it was over. He would join Alt and retreat into the Blackwall, probably to merge with her and become some weird, fucked up mega-AI. He could have sworn that's what happened. He had that memory of passing through. It was as vivid as his own death.

And yet here he was.

Locked in some weird stasis. Nothing changed. Everything repeated itself. V's child apparition most of all. Was it even V at all?

The woman Johnny knew wouldn't be so annoyingly hopeless. All her faults aside, V was definitely determined and capable. In a weird twist of fate, she became something more than a simple friend. More than a sister, even.

He often pondered their connection now that he was trapped in this limbo.

As useless and infuriating as the exercise was, it at least passed the time. If that even meant anything anymore.

For once, he decided to try a different approach with the kid. He kicked the chair opposite him, sliding it gently toward Kid V's little corner. "Plant it. You want Papa Johnny, let's give it a fuckin' shot." Surprised, the child gingerly poked one of the chair legs. She recoiled as if expecting something to jump out at her. When nothing of the sort did, she carefully got to her feet, dragged it closer to Johnny and clambered up onto its seat. "Alright, kid. I'm listenin' so spin it."

She clearly had no idea what to do. This was the first time Johnny had even considered a friendlier approach. In his own wallowing irritation, he had always just stonewalled her. After all, it wasn't like she was the real V. Just some pale, reductive imitation of her. Engaging with her with more than cold hostility would just be a waste of effort.

"Why… are we here?" Starting off strong. The kid asked the impossible.

"If I knew that, then we wouldn't still be here. I should be with Alt and you should be livin' your fuckin' life. I didn't give up a second chance at my own life so you could fuck yours up."

"I wanna leave…"

"Door's right fuckin' there." The chromed arm stretched out and pointed to the door. It was locked, of course. Another torturous fabrication of whatever hell this place was. Again, he sighed and sparked up another smoke. The pros of smoking via memory meant he at least never ran out. The cons were never actually getting the nicotine fix he needed.

The kid huffed again. "It's locked, asshole."

"Yep."

"I'm hungry."

This was going nowhere. Even if it was the most normal the kid had ever been. Johnny didn't know what was worse. The crying or the sulking. Both were playing his nerves like a violin. He leant back against his chair and slammed a foot on the table. "Cook up a memory or somethin' then. I ain't your dad, V." A long exhale of smoke billowed into the centre of the room.

All he had was memory. The reliving of past experiences was at least something.

It was only that, however. Memory.

The tiny kid whined a little at that. "My name is Valorie! V. A. L. O… uh… wait…" she quickly counted something on her fingers and muttered under her breath about Mama Wells. "R. I. E!" she finally finished with a look of pride and triumphant smugness.

As if spelling her name was in any way an accomplishment.

The two fell silent once again. Kid V lowered herself off her seat and shuffled back to her corner. And so the cycle would begin anew. Always the same. Johnny let a low grunt escape. Barely had he resigned himself to another stint of total silence when something strange happened.

It hardly registered at first. A slight rumble in the distance. Audible groaning of metal. Barely perceptible tremors under foot.

At first, he ignored it. Then it stuck in his mind. What the hell was that metallic grinding? What caused the tremor? Was there actually something out there? It sparked a budding sense of curiosity. He hadn't felt that in quite a while. The kid was unresponsive, now. Huddled up and gently quivering in her corner. It gave him the impression it was just in his imagination.

Something his mind had concocted to squeeze just that little bit more torture out of him.

But the fact alone that he had heard and felt something was enough. If there was something out beyond that damn door, he was going to get there.

A flash of silver chrome cut the air. With a clenched fist, he punched the metal door. A horrid clang resonated around the room. Kid V let out a yelp and started to cry once more. Nothing happened. The blow didn't even leave a scratch. "Fuckin' piece of shit." He launched a second blow. Then a third. Nothing.

Johnny growled and reared back for a fourth, futile strike. Though he was stopped by the sensation of something yanking at his trousers. "Stop! You're hurting my ears!" It was the kid. Pulling at the leather with a frowning, puffy pout.

"The fuck do you suggest, then? Sit on our asses for the rest of fuckin' eternity!?"

"They're helping us! They're gonna… ugh…" The kid stumbled back as if she had been struck by something. In a daze, she fumbled on the spot, rubbing palms against her scalp. Then she let out one of the most blood curdling shrieks Johnny had ever heard.

And that was saying something.

Kid V's body writhed in visual agony. She threw herself against the table. Then at the wall. Then she suddenly collapsed to the ground. Motionless. Not even breathing.

"Oh… fuck…"

It was so sudden, so violent, so unexpected, Lynn barely had a chance to register what the hell had happened.

By the time her senses had returned, she was already sprawled out, upside down on a theatre chair. The same one she had been sitting on when they entered V's Palace. She was back in the attic. Dizzy and aching all over, but in one piece. Everyone else was in similar positions. Like they had been picked up and dumped like dolls.

"Ow…" Lynn groaned and tried shifting herself back to a regular sitting position. "Everyone alive?"

A round of grunts and moans.

They were investigating the bar ruin. They had found a strange looking terminal that held a resemblance to that Mikoshi machine from Carson's Seedling. Though in this case, it was smaller and was glowing a faint lilac instead of an ominous red. Lynn recalled that a single touch triggered something. A tremor. Then one of those gigantic chains wrapping around that tower snapped off and fell to the lava below.

Then they were back here. In the movie theatre's attic.

"Fuck me… if this is gonna happen every time we do something in that place… count me out." River's tone wavered. From a glance, it was clear he was nauseous. A thin sheen of sweat. Heavy breathing. A slight shake to his movements. Lynn couldn't blame him for a second. She was in the same boat, after all. So too was everyone else.

"Let's… call it here. We need to… ugh… gather our thoughts and talk things through with V. But… maybe another day." Everyone agreed with Lynn's assessment. Even if their exit of the Palace wasn't voluntary, it had still taken a lot out of both the thieves as well as River and Judy.

With that said, Judy was looking around with a worried look. "Where is she, anyway? Hm? Oh, a note." A scrap of paper stuck to the makeshift coffee table held a scribbled few words. "Gone to Crossroads. Of course she has…" She smirked, "I'll give her a call." A quick tap on her phone and thus began the waiting game as it rang. It only took a few seconds before the call was answered. "Hey, babe, we're-... Oh, hello, Lala. Where is sh-... w-what?"

Time ground to a halt.

With eyes wide, jaw dropped and nothing but shaky breath forcing its way out of Judy's lungs, it was like everything had suddenly stopped.

The phone slipped from her hand and clattered against the cushioned seat. "N-no… nononono."

"Jude?" Gingerly, River reached out only for his hand to be slapped away. A lump formed in Lynn's throat. Her mind raced and desperately tried to reach any other conclusion than the obvious. The muffled voice from the phone continued. Acting fast, Lynn picked it up and silently ordered someone to take Judy to her room. Shiho and Ann taking up the responsibility.

When Judy was safely away, she took a long gulp of air and placed the phone against her ear.

"..dy, are you there, darling?"

"S-sorry, it's Rin now. Judy is… unavailable right now."

"Oh, the sweet little thing that accompanied dear V on her birthday. I… assume you know what this is about?"

"She's… gone, isn't she?"

There was silence. All but confirming without the need for a verbal reply. Lynn felt a large tear burst from her eye and run over her cheek. She hadn't known V for long, but that didn't stop it from hurting. Over the course of her brief Phantom Thief career, Lynn had become acquainted with death and the threat of it loomed over her each time she entered the Metaverse. That said, when it did strike, it was cold, callus and completely unexpected.

"The paramedics managed to bring her back."

"She's alive!?" Hope hit her like a freight train. Couldn't Lala have led with that? River perked up at the outburst. Relief mixed with apprehension churned away. From Lala's tone, there was going to be a solid 'but' on the edge of that statement.

"Yes… but she's in a coma. I thought it best she got sent to a facility close to where she lives, a lovely little clinic in Yongen Jaya. I'm with the doctor now, but Rin, honey… it's not looking good."

So the call was coming from right across the street. Lynn didn't know ambulances could take patients to private clinics.

There wasn't any time to complain, though. They needed to get over to Takemi's clinic. Quickly.

When the call ended, Lynn bolted for the door to Judy's room, burst through and loudly barked the order. "We're going to the clinic!" Judy was a complete mess. Makeup was trailing down her face as tears poured like a waterfall.

Both Ann and Shiho sat on both flanks, doing their best to hold it together themselves. Although they were on the verge of bursting out with tears themselves. Meanwhile, Judy was muttering "we killed her" to herself over and over again. It almost set Lynn off again, too. She gritted her teeth and held it in.

"V's alive. Judy, she's alive."

"W-what…? No… we… killed her. We should never've gone into that fuckin' Palace."

"Don't give up, yet, Judy." Said Ann, her tone soothing and quiet.

It took a lot of effort and coaxing, but eventually, the three teens managed to get Judy to stand up and lead her outside. The techy wasn't thinking clearly. From what Lynn had heard, the woman had gone through a whole lot of loss. What made it worse is that V's mortality was a known issue. An ever present threat that loomed over the couple, preventing them from making any lasting plans.

But this wasn't the end. V was still fighting. Still clawing at life.

Lynn was determined to make sure Judy would have the future she wanted with V.

Even if she had to kill to do it.

Author's Notes:

This one's a little short. Next one will be back to full length. Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. I certainly am enjoying writing it. If you have any feedback or suggestions, don't be afraid to leave a review. It keeps my motivation high and the creative juices flowing.