AN: Okay, so I have been a fan of Repo! and TDC for a little over a year now, and I've been writing fics for my own enjoyment for that same amount of time, I've just never posted any of it. But, seeing how I have developed all these headcanons, written an e-mail to Terrance Zdunich, gotten a Graverobber hoodie from the website, dressed up as Shilo last Halloween and plan on doing Graves this year, have a folder absolutely FULL of fan art, screen caps, etc. on my computer, had a Repo! themed cake for my 17th birthday with lyrics from the song Seventeen on it, have a Grilo ask/RP blog on tumblr, and constantly sing Zydrate Anatomy in the shower, plus the fact that my mom is making me my own custom Repo! t-shirt, I finally decided that it's time for me to get with it and post something on here.

Just be aware that updates might be kind of infrequent because I have a busy life, multiple blogs to run on tumblr and on WordPress, another fan fic that I'm working on right now, plus what I'm hoping will be my debut book.

And dear GOD, I seriously hope that I manage to do justice to everything, because otherwise, I will have failed as a writer, as well as a person and a Repo!/TDC fan.

Also, the name of this fic comes from a quote in a little-known book that I've read three times called Revolution by Jennifer Donnelley, who took it from Paracelsus by Robert Browning. The quote is "...life was blotted out—not so completely/But scattered wrecks of it remain."

Okay, that's all, I disclaim, it all belongs to Zdunich and the Darrens, not me, all I own is the DVD, the soundtrack, my Shilo costume, and a hoodie with Graverobber on it.

"Where are you taking me?" Shilo asked for the umpteenth time, and for the umpteenth time, she got no response from the man in the driver's seat of the limo, and for the umpteenth time, she didn't know what else to do besides wrap her arms more tightly around herself and try to make herself even smaller in an attempt to shrink back in her seat and become part of the upholstery, not even caring that she was probably getting it stained with blood in doing so.

How had so much gone so wrong in such a short amount of time?

Shilo was yanked out of her thoughts and musings by the sound of two gunshots—one right after the other, and too close to the car for comfort in her personal opinion. In practically the same instant that the second one rang out, the driver suddenly seemed to inexplicably lose control, and the limo jerked foward, sending both passengers forward. Shilo was still alert enough from the adrenaline that refused to take its leave of her system that she was able to catch herself on the seat in front of her, but the man driving, on the other hand, was sent jerking to the side hard enough that his head knocked against the glass of his window, effectively putting him unconscious.

She sat in terrified silence for a moment or so, holding her breath and looking around in a bit of a daze. Then, suddenly, she heard what sounded like a pair of feet jumping up onto the trunk of the limo, making her gasp. She looked up at the roof, shrinking back against the seat as the footsteps passed directly over her head, then squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she could as the person reached the front of the car, trying to bunch herself up into a ball when she heard them jump from the roof to the hood. When another gunshot rang out in the night, this time right at the front of the limo, shattering the glass of the windshield, she flinched and, to keep herself from screaming, bit down on her lower lip until she tasted blood, which she didn't even give a second thought to. (After all, she was already covered in it; what difference could a little more possibly make by that point?)

There was a tinkling of glass along with a slight grunting and dull thump that came from the passenger side of the front seat, then someone let out an exhalation of breath, after which she heard a familiar voice say, "Relax, will ya? If I was gonna do somethin' to fuck you up or screw you over, I'd have done it already. You know, during one of the last three times we've run into each other over the course of the night?"

And upon hearing this, her eyes snapped open as she untensed slightly and let out a small gasp at the realization that she recognized the voice that had spoken. Her eyes, upon opening, immediately landed on the sight of none other than the Graverobber himself, seated in the passenger seat up front and leaning there casually as if he'd been that way for the entire ride, slightly twisted around to look at her, one arm behind his head as if he were laying down about to take a nap instead of sitting in the front seat of a limo with a man out cold to his left and a seventeen-year-old girl covered in blood staring at him in a mixture of relief, surprise, confusion, and fright from the backseat.

After several moments had passed with each of them just sort of staring at the other like that, one corner of Graverobber's mouth twitched upwards slightly as he chuckled and just barely shook his head before twisting around more to look at her in a more straight-on way than he had been. "Seriously, kid, you can quit lookin' at me like that now," he said in a tone that, though perhaps trying not to, betrayed that he apparently found some sort of amusement or another in their current situation.

"This is the fourth time you've seen me tonight, I got you outta trouble the first two times, we both got somethin' out of it the last time, and I have yet to threaten, punch, kick, shove, slap, strip, rape, or murder you, haven't I? You've gotten out of it none the worse for wear through anything done on my part, relatively undamaged, twice with more knowledge about shit than you went into it with, possibly even all three times for all I know, and oh, look at that! You made it to the Opera you were so damn hell-bent on getting to, and you did so unscathed, still alive, still breathing, with nothing stolen, and most importantly, having managed to avoid becoming just another corpse for someone to score a harvest and make a profit from. Taking all that into consideration, I think it's a pretty safe bet that I'm not here to do bad shit to you anymore than I was those other three times. In fact, based on our history with one another, short though it may be, if I were you, I might even go so far as to say that maybe, just maybe, there may even be a possibility that I'm here to help you get your pale, scrawny little ass outta the danger zone. Again. Which reminds me, you're welcome for those other two times. Didn't get the chance to say it before, but you are very, very welcome for both of those times, which I say despite the lack of thanks because I'm sure that even though you haven't actually said it, I know you must be grateful for it on both accounts because ingratitude is, after all, a crime, or so they say, so I was taught in my youth, and so I believe to this very day."

Shilo sat blinking for a moment or so before she could find her voice and respond. "Th-Thanks," she stammered. "Yeah, no, thanks. For...For the graveyard and...you know, the—"
"Kid. Relax. I was partway messing with you, alright? You don't have to thank me, I have my reasons for doing that shit, just like with everything else I do. You know why I'm here now, don'tchya?"

She thought for a moment, trying to come up with a reason that might explain his presence, but couldn't think of any, so she should her head in response. "Because," Graverobber said as he began digging around in the glovebox and checking in the driver's pockets, "you, darling, are being played in a manner similar to the boar against the ass even as we speak." At the look this got from her, he rolled his eyes and added, "It's a metaphor, kid, I grew up hearing my dad use it a lot, it's a reference to this old fable. Look, all it means is that you're basically being set up for an attack, and it's gonna come from this guy right here, believe it or not."

"How do you know that?"
"I have my ways of finding things out."
"How did you find me?"
"Again, I have my ways."
"Well...what do you want?"

He paused in his task of looking through the wallet he'd found on the driver to look at her, but didn't speak right away. "What makes you think I want something?" he said finally. Without waiting for a response, he took the credits he found in the wallet and shoved them into his coat pocket, then leaned across the driver and opened all the locks on the doors of the limo before opening the passenger side door and getting out, expecting that Shilo was going to do the same. When she didn't though, he went over to her door and opened it from the outside, making her jump a bit when he appeared there so suddenly. "You comin' or what, kid?" he asked.

"Where to?" she asked.
"Someplace safe," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She raised an eyebrow. "With you?" she said. He rolled his eyes at her. "No," he said, "with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Yes, with me, you see anybody else around here? No, didn't think so, now come on, let's get outta here before—"

"How do I even know that I can trust you, huh?"
"What, it's not good enough that I've already saved your life like three times in a single night?"
"Yeah, and I appreciate it, okay, I do. Honest. Like, a lot. But...I know like nothing about you except what it is you do and that you have this weird knack for always somehow managing to show up right when I'm in some kind of trouble, plus one for getting into trouble and causing it, and...that's pretty much it other than the fact that you apparently are friends with Amber Sweet."

Graverobber sighed heavily and rolled his eyes again. "Alright, first off, I am not friends with Amber Sweet, got it? My relationship with her is about the exchange of goods, and that's it, cápiche? Pure business. I do not enjoy her or her presence, I merely tolerate and put up with her because she keeps comin' back and pays good, otherwise I'd have cut those ties a long time ago, she is a bitch and a pest, and sometimes, when I'm more pissed off at the world than I usually am, I like to let off some of that steam by fantasizing all the different ways I can think of to get away with murdering her skank ass. Hell, I came up with about sixty of 'em while I was hangin' upside down earlier before you showed up, my favorite of which probably has to be the one where I steal a knife from that stab-happy brother of hers and go all fuckin' Norman Bates on her while she's asleep, that way it looks like her stupid brother finally decided he'd had enough of her and killed her like he does to everyone else."

Shilo blinked. "Okay, that actually is a pretty smart plan," she said.
"Thank you, it's definitely one of the best I've had in a while," Graverobber replied, giving a nod. "Now, as for all that other stuff, you wanna know about me? Alright, fine. I'll tell you about me. I'm a twenty-year-old guy that, yes, is perfectly aware that he looks like he's closer to thirty-something than twenty. My parents have been dead since I was about thirteen, I've been a Zydrate dealer since I was about fifteen, and for the two years between that and my parents dying while I was on the streets, I got by on pick-pocketing. I'm sometimes referred to as the King of the Glow, because that's what I am, I am the undisputed king of this trade, they don't call me the Graverobber for nothing. Despite what most people think, I'm not a hobo and I don't always sleep in dumpsters, though I will do it if I feel like I'm not gonna be getting home safely because of the GeneCops. Let's see, what else can I tell ya that ain't gonna put me at risk? I put the dye in my own hair, and the first time I did it, I only used one color, it was like this electric, Zydrate blue, and it was shitty as all hell, and I did it while my mom and dad were out one day and my brother and sister were too busy fighting to even remember I existed, I was going through this big rebellious phase. And, uh...I had to deal with all kinds of older sibling shit and harassment growing up because I'm the youngest of three."

There was a pause while she studied him in a sort of funny way. "What about your name?" she asked. He blinked, turning his head slightly as his eyebrows went up. "I beg your pardon?" he said incredulously. "Your name," Shilo repeated, her voice sounding a bit more confident than it had up until then. "What's your name? Your parents couldn't have just named you Graverobber, right?"
"No," he said slowly, not entirely sure about what exactly she was trying to accomplish by doing this. She shrugged. "So," she said. "What'd they name you?"

He stood there for a moment or so, partway stooped over in front of the open car door with one hand resting on top of the roof and the other still on the door handle and his eyes closed as he absorbed her words, then let out a sudden laugh that made Shilo jump at the unexpectedness of it. "You think I'm dumb enough to go around announcing my name to just anybody?" he demanded.

"If I did that, the GeneCops'd be all over not only my ass, but my brother's, too, and my sister's if she was still on this damn island. The only thing you're possibly gonna get outta me on that subject is that I'm the only kid in my family without an N name, that's it. You ain't gettin' anything else from me on it, so don't bother asking again. If I decide I want you to have that information, then I'll be the one to bring it up, so unless and until that happens, forget about it, kid. I have my alias for a reason. Namely so the risk of my ass getting shot or arrested is lower than it would be otherwise. Now, if you don't have anymore questions, we really need to get going, alright? We're both in serious danger right now, you more than me, and I'm putting myself at risk just by standing here and looking at you. I'm trying to help you again, and we've been sitting here wasting time because you've got all these questions, so listen to me, you can either take the help I'm trying to give you and come with me where you'll be safe, or you can try and take care of yourself, it's your choice. If you pick going off on your own, though, then good luck surviving, 'cause from what I understand, you don't know jack shit, you'd ended up raped, murdered, or both in about two minutes. Like I said, though, your choice. I'm tired, I've had a long night, I'm goin' home, you can follow me if you want, it don't make a lick of difference to me, but if you don't, then hey, nice knowin' ya, kid, it was fun while it lasted."

He gave a two-fingered salute as he ended this speech, and then, without waiting for her to respond, he stood to his full height, straightened out his coat, then turned on his heel and began walking away. For a few moments, Shilo could only stare after him as her mind raced. Then, hardly realizing that she was even doing so, she slid out of the car, slammed the door, and then went hurrying after him, focusing on the brighter colors in his hair so she wouldn't lose sight of him as he walked ahead. "Hey!" she called. "Hey, Graverobber, wait up!"

He halted in his tracks and turned to look at her as she caught up with him. "Welcome aboard the S.S. Psycho, kid," he said.
"I have a name, you know," Shilo said indignantly as he turned and started walking again, this time with her close on his heels. He smirked at her from the corner of his eyes. "I know," he said, and after a moment, he added, almost like an afterthought, "Shilo. You spell it with or without an H on the end?"

"Without," she said. He nodded and "mmm'd" somewhat thoughtfully, but said nothing in response, so they just continued on in silence, each of them lost in their own separate thoughts and musings over everything that had happened during the course of the night.

WHOO, okay, I know I had some big paragraphs there, and I'm sorry, it's just that once I get going, I really get going, you know? Anyone who caught Graverobber's Aesop references gets points and a free hit of the Glow, I can't tell you much about them, but there are two of them, one at the end of a paragraph, the other more in the middle of a different and shorter paragraph, and these paragraphs have only about two or three lines between them. Okay, I guess I can also tell you that he makes these references while he's still sitting in the front seat before getting out and coming around to Shilo's car door. One is more obvious than the other, I'll admit that right now. Anyway, yes, there are going to be more Aesop references in this later on, I have a copy of an Aesop's Fables book, and one of the headcanons I have sort of combines Repo! and TDC through the use of Aesop, but you'll learn more about that in a later chapter, I promise.

Uh...so, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please remember to review so I know how I did with it! AAAAnd everybody remember to Z up responsibly! :P