Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Repo! The Genetic Opera. I wouldn't be writing this if I did.

Author's Note: Singing will be in italics. This is probably a disaster but when a plot bothers you for weeks, you just have to give in.

Where Hope Grows

Preface

I know dead when I see dead. Mag, the once vibrant soprano, was impaled on the fence that had been meant to serve as charming scenery. The announcer said it was part of the show. He was lying.

I know dead when I see dead. There was blood staining the false snow, pooling at the singer's feet. The scene was beautifully macabre and that part of me that enjoys such things appreciated it. I studied the feathers of her costume, brushing against her deathly still legs. It occurred to me then that she had been a caged bird and this was the only way she would ever be free. I began to leave.

"Stay tuned, folks. You don't want to move, folks, cause there's more excitement coming." I ignored the voice of Rotti Largo at my back. If his idea of excitement was a dead body, then all I had to do was walk through a graveyard to have my fill of such excitement. "As an encore, Geneco will cure a very sick and needy young girl. She's been caged up like a monster by her overbearing father." I froze. At his words, I saw flashes of people I knew. People I'd left. A slender girl-child with all the potential in the world smiled in my memories. A man whose face grew more exhausted by the day reached out to touch my shoulder, green eyes unreadable.

"I remember," came my broken whisper.

I was afraid to turn around and watch the curtain, afraid to wait with the rest of the chattering, brainless crowd. I should have left. I wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place. It would be right if I left.

The curtain opened. Largo began talking but the words didn't reach me. I only saw the girl, so pale and dressed in black. "Shilo?" Slowly, I approached the stage. No one noticed me. They were too engrossed in the live entertainment to care about a cloaked woman moving in the shadows. They even began to jump up and shout encouragement, jeering at the man prostrate on the ground. The man all in black, to match his daughter, whose face was a study in pain begged for a reprieve.

"Tell her! Tell her!"

"Someone tell me what is going on!"

"No more!"

"Nathan." I tasted salt on my lips as I said his name. With a shaky hand I touched my left cheek. Damp tears greeted me. I hadn't even realized I was crying. It had been six months since I'd heard his voice or seen his face. And now to see him like this, to see Shilo being taunted and prodded in front of an audience… Why wouldn't I cry?

"He's poisoned all your medicine." My gasp was among those of the shocked crowd. But then, I knew the man. The action made sense. She'd been so eager to get outside when I knew her. Without a valid reason, Nathan never would have been able to hold onto her.

"I can't breathe," Shilo whimpered. My eyes snapped to her. She was gasping, a look of fear splashed across her face.

"This will pass," Rotti told her and I almost believed the tenderness in his voice. "You've got to fight through it." Shilo began to crumple and I… I couldn't stand it. With a snap, I pulled off the weight of my cloak.

"Someone please, please help my daughter." I began to run forward. "It's my medicine. I'm the cause of all your sickness."

"Shilo!" I shouted out as I vaulted onto the stage. There was a moment before she passed out when our eyes met. The hope I saw in her dark orbs broke my heart.

"Livvy?" Then she fell into the blood.

"Shilo!"

"Olivia, don't!"

"Take her down," Rotti snarled. I didn't need to see the expressionless bodyguard reach for her gun. I didn't need to hear the shot. I knew through Nathan's scream and the pain of a bullet ripping into me that I'd done my last stupid thing. My knees gave out. I fell next to Shilo, reaching out my hand to touch her fingers. Blood pooled beneath me.

"Olivia, look at me! Olivia!"

"You've been keeping secrets, Nathan. Who's the peach?" My heartbeat slowed. I stared at nothing. Before I closed my eyes, I felt Shilo's fingers twitch beneath mine. I let out a quiet sigh.

There were worse ways to die.