thunder in our hearts, baby / repo! / graverobber/shilo / pg-15
title: thunder in our hearts, baby
fandom: Repo! The Genetic Opera
pairing: Graverobber/Shilo (Nathan/Marni, Mag/Marni)
rating: PG-15
disclaimer: These characters are in no way mine.
summary: "Where are we going?" she asks, a little later. It hadn't occurred to her until today -- why are they traveling, anyway? It's not like there's anywhere safe to go. "To the sea," he says, and she closes her eyes.
notes: AU. Death. A (very belated) birthday gift for twistomatic. Happy birthday, dearheart. Title from "Running Up That Hill".
"This is a bad idea," he says.
"Do you want us to end up like Culture Club?" he asks.
She laughs under her breath, hums a few notes from the chorus of "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" as she starts to unbutton his shirt.
People used to say that they were convinced Nathan and Marni were her parents, ignoring all proof to the contrary. She's still not sure where the first rumor came from, but some people just latched on and never let go.
She supposes she can sort of see where they were coming from -- she did look an awful lot like Marni, at least, and if you squint she sort of looks like Nathan. And Marni did sort of adopt her, at the beginning, but that was also because she was the youngest one in the band, she'd never been on tour before, she didn't know what the road really meant. And Nathan came along with that, for obvious reasons. (And Mag, for reasons that were slightly less obvious. Although she's still not sure if that wasn't just Mag taking her own liking to her.)
It wouldn't have been so bad to have really been their daughter, she supposes, but she's glad she isn't, all the same. She's also glad she was in a different state when everything started to happen; this way she can pretend her parents are still alive, that they didn't end up like Marni did.
Nobody's called her in the four days since. She tells herself that they're hiding in a shelter somewhere, and tries to forget about it.
They're not all that safe, really, and she can barely sleep. He's the same way, apparently, although he's abandoned all pretense for the time being and is sitting just inside the doorway. It's a good vantage point, really; he can see if any of them are coming, but they can't see him.
He looks older in the fluorescent lights, sadder. He's also still wearing that ridiculous stage makeup and those giant stompy boots, although she supposes he's had them for long enough they're a better option than a brand-new pair of running shoes. It all combines to make him look like a frame from a movie, or something, some post-apocalyptic thing about tragedy that everyone would call a film and would win a thousand awards because it would move every person who watched it.
"You should really be asleep, you know," he says softly, and she startles.
"So should you," she says a few seconds later, getting up and moving so she's next to him anyway. "Why aren't you?"
"Someone has to keep watch," he says, shrugging, and she supposes that's true. She doesn't remember when he slept last, though. "And it's not like I've been able to sleep for the past few days anyway," he continues, which answers that question.
"Yeah," she says, leaning to the side a little until her head's on his shoulder. "Nathan and Mag seem to be okay, though. I wonder why."
He laughs, and she never really understood what a joyless laugh sounded like until just this moment. "Yeah, well. You're always the last one up, you miss the part where they magically wake up after eight hours or so. I don't know where they got it, but they've both been taking something every night since --" He stops, takes a breath. "It's going to backfire sooner or later."
"... oh," she says, and lets that sink in. Well, when she manages to sleep, she sees her family being eaten. Or, on the really bad nights, coming after her, flesh falling off of their bodies in chunks. So she guesses it makes sense that they'd both be taking something to make the dreams go away, given the fact that they all saw what happened to Marni.
"Where are we going?" she asks, a little later. It hadn't occurred to her until today -- why are they traveling, anyway? It's not like there's anywhere safe to go.
"To the sea," he says, and she closes her eyes. Like this, she can remember how he smelled, his touch on her wrists. How she'd convinced him, kiss after kiss, that it wouldn't ruin the band.
He didn't need to worry; the world did that for them.
Three days later she wakes up after being asleep for maybe two hours -- the most she's gotten at one time without jolting awake in almost a week -- and Mag's gone. Neither of them will tell her where she went.
They leave without her, and when she mentions Mag's name they both flinch.
The next day they find Nathan laying in a bathtub, eyes closed. His chest isn't moving, and there are a few empty orange bottles in the sink.
They leave without him too.
She doesn't know how much longer it is until they reach the water, but when they do they find a little house, board up the windows and clear out the bodies. There's only one bed, but it's a queen, so they stick to different sides. She wakes up the next morning and he's curved along her back, one arm thrown over her hip, and she closes her eyes. The next time she wakes up she can hear him somewhere else in the house.
"Why the sea?" she asks him one night. They're eating crackers and tuna straight from the can, and all she can think of is how she hated tuna salad when she was little. Absolutely hated it.
He looks at his boots, which he wears every day, even though they haven't left in almost two weeks, and then back up at her. "I always wanted to die by the sea," he says.
She wakes up one night to the door slamming shut, and she's up and out of the house after him before she realizes what she's done. "You shouldn't be doing this," she hisses, once she's caught up. "This isn't safe, there could be a bunch of them coming toward us right now, what are you doing?"
He doesn't answer until he's reached where the sea comes up to the beach, made a place for himself on the sand. "I miss the stars," he says, tilting his head back and taking them in. "I remember, I used to make up stories about the people who went to go live in the stars when I was younger. This one escaped from an evil queen, that one had cancer at five, you know." He lets himself fall backward until he's laying out, legs in the surf. "They were all good people. I used to think it would be a nice place to live, after."
She stands there for a while, looks up at the stars and feels the water washing over her bare feet. She closes her eyes and thinks of her parents, of Marni and Nathan and Mag.
"Well," she says, dropping down so she's laying next to him and scooting over so their sides are touching. Their hands touch, and she laces her fingers through his. A few seconds later he pulls his arm away, puts it around her shoulders instead and pulls her closer, links their other hands. "It still will be," she says, and he kisses her lips softly.
She closes her eyes. They wait.
fandom: Repo! The Genetic Opera
pairing: Graverobber/Shilo (Nathan/Marni, Mag/Marni)
rating: PG-15
disclaimer: These characters are in no way mine.
summary: "Where are we going?" she asks, a little later. It hadn't occurred to her until today -- why are they traveling, anyway? It's not like there's anywhere safe to go. "To the sea," he says, and she closes her eyes.
notes: AU. Death. A (very belated) birthday gift for twistomatic. Happy birthday, dearheart. Title from "Running Up That Hill".
"This is a bad idea," he says.
"Do you want us to end up like Culture Club?" he asks.
She laughs under her breath, hums a few notes from the chorus of "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" as she starts to unbutton his shirt.
People used to say that they were convinced Nathan and Marni were her parents, ignoring all proof to the contrary. She's still not sure where the first rumor came from, but some people just latched on and never let go.
She supposes she can sort of see where they were coming from -- she did look an awful lot like Marni, at least, and if you squint she sort of looks like Nathan. And Marni did sort of adopt her, at the beginning, but that was also because she was the youngest one in the band, she'd never been on tour before, she didn't know what the road really meant. And Nathan came along with that, for obvious reasons. (And Mag, for reasons that were slightly less obvious. Although she's still not sure if that wasn't just Mag taking her own liking to her.)
It wouldn't have been so bad to have really been their daughter, she supposes, but she's glad she isn't, all the same. She's also glad she was in a different state when everything started to happen; this way she can pretend her parents are still alive, that they didn't end up like Marni did.
Nobody's called her in the four days since. She tells herself that they're hiding in a shelter somewhere, and tries to forget about it.
They're not all that safe, really, and she can barely sleep. He's the same way, apparently, although he's abandoned all pretense for the time being and is sitting just inside the doorway. It's a good vantage point, really; he can see if any of them are coming, but they can't see him.
He looks older in the fluorescent lights, sadder. He's also still wearing that ridiculous stage makeup and those giant stompy boots, although she supposes he's had them for long enough they're a better option than a brand-new pair of running shoes. It all combines to make him look like a frame from a movie, or something, some post-apocalyptic thing about tragedy that everyone would call a film and would win a thousand awards because it would move every person who watched it.
"You should really be asleep, you know," he says softly, and she startles.
"So should you," she says a few seconds later, getting up and moving so she's next to him anyway. "Why aren't you?"
"Someone has to keep watch," he says, shrugging, and she supposes that's true. She doesn't remember when he slept last, though. "And it's not like I've been able to sleep for the past few days anyway," he continues, which answers that question.
"Yeah," she says, leaning to the side a little until her head's on his shoulder. "Nathan and Mag seem to be okay, though. I wonder why."
He laughs, and she never really understood what a joyless laugh sounded like until just this moment. "Yeah, well. You're always the last one up, you miss the part where they magically wake up after eight hours or so. I don't know where they got it, but they've both been taking something every night since --" He stops, takes a breath. "It's going to backfire sooner or later."
"... oh," she says, and lets that sink in. Well, when she manages to sleep, she sees her family being eaten. Or, on the really bad nights, coming after her, flesh falling off of their bodies in chunks. So she guesses it makes sense that they'd both be taking something to make the dreams go away, given the fact that they all saw what happened to Marni.
"Where are we going?" she asks, a little later. It hadn't occurred to her until today -- why are they traveling, anyway? It's not like there's anywhere safe to go.
"To the sea," he says, and she closes her eyes. Like this, she can remember how he smelled, his touch on her wrists. How she'd convinced him, kiss after kiss, that it wouldn't ruin the band.
He didn't need to worry; the world did that for them.
Three days later she wakes up after being asleep for maybe two hours -- the most she's gotten at one time without jolting awake in almost a week -- and Mag's gone. Neither of them will tell her where she went.
They leave without her, and when she mentions Mag's name they both flinch.
The next day they find Nathan laying in a bathtub, eyes closed. His chest isn't moving, and there are a few empty orange bottles in the sink.
They leave without him too.
She doesn't know how much longer it is until they reach the water, but when they do they find a little house, board up the windows and clear out the bodies. There's only one bed, but it's a queen, so they stick to different sides. She wakes up the next morning and he's curved along her back, one arm thrown over her hip, and she closes her eyes. The next time she wakes up she can hear him somewhere else in the house.
"Why the sea?" she asks him one night. They're eating crackers and tuna straight from the can, and all she can think of is how she hated tuna salad when she was little. Absolutely hated it.
He looks at his boots, which he wears every day, even though they haven't left in almost two weeks, and then back up at her. "I always wanted to die by the sea," he says.
She wakes up one night to the door slamming shut, and she's up and out of the house after him before she realizes what she's done. "You shouldn't be doing this," she hisses, once she's caught up. "This isn't safe, there could be a bunch of them coming toward us right now, what are you doing?"
He doesn't answer until he's reached where the sea comes up to the beach, made a place for himself on the sand. "I miss the stars," he says, tilting his head back and taking them in. "I remember, I used to make up stories about the people who went to go live in the stars when I was younger. This one escaped from an evil queen, that one had cancer at five, you know." He lets himself fall backward until he's laying out, legs in the surf. "They were all good people. I used to think it would be a nice place to live, after."
She stands there for a while, looks up at the stars and feels the water washing over her bare feet. She closes her eyes and thinks of her parents, of Marni and Nathan and Mag.
"Well," she says, dropping down so she's laying next to him and scooting over so their sides are touching. Their hands touch, and she laces her fingers through his. A few seconds later he pulls his arm away, puts it around her shoulders instead and pulls her closer, links their other hands. "It still will be," she says, and he kisses her lips softly.
She closes her eyes. They wait.