After Phantom Liberty

River

(River gave it some time and thought and invited V over) V felt the tension in the air the moment she stepped into River's apartment. The familiar scent of stale air and the hum of electronics greeted her, but the place looked emptier than she remembered. There was a heaviness hanging over everything—a ghost of the life they had once hoped to build together.

River sat at the edge of the couch, staring at the floor, his hands clasped together, his brow furrowed in deep thought. He barely glanced up as V entered, though she saw the flicker of recognition in his eyes. She knew he had been through hell in the two years she'd been gone, but she hadn't expected to see him like this—broken in a way he never used to be.

"Hey," she said softly, trying to bridge the gap between them.

River glanced up, his eyes hollow but alert. "V..."

She moved closer, sitting next to him. "You okay?"

He let out a bitter laugh. "Am I okay? No, V, I'm not. Haven't been for a long time."

V frowned, her chest tightening. She hadn't expected their reunion to be easy, but the darkness in his voice, the weight in his words—it wasn't what she'd imagined. "Talk to me. What happened?"

River rubbed his hands over his face, the lines on his skin deeper, more worn. "After you went under, things started falling apart. I lost my job with the NCPD. Got caught up in some bad shit."

V's heart sank. "What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath, the shame clear in his voice. "I sold out, V. I gave up police intel to some corpos. Did it to pay for Randy's rehab. I couldn't let him slip away. Not after everything."

Her eyes widened in shock. "River... you sold out NCPD intel?"

"I know," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "I know how it sounds. I didn't have a choice. Randy was falling apart after everything. He started using again, and if I didn't get him help, I was gonna lose him for good." His fists clenched, and he looked away, as if he couldn't bear to face her. "So, yeah, I sold out. Gave them information they wanted on gang operations, raids... I did what I had to do."

V sat there, stunned. River had always been the one to play by the rules, to fight for justice even when the system failed. But Night City had a way of breaking even the best people. She couldn't imagine the kind of pressure he must have been under, the choice he'd had to make.

"River..." she started, not even sure what to say. She wasn't angry, but she felt the weight of what he had done, the toll it must've taken on him.

"I never wanted this," he continued, his voice low and strained. "But they found out. NCPD found out. I got blacklisted. No one would touch me. Couldn't get work, couldn't get out of it. The people I gave the intel to? They didn't let me walk away clean, either."

V swallowed hard, reaching out to place a hand on his arm. "And Randy? Is he okay?"

River nodded slowly. "Yeah. He's clean. Doing good. He doesn't know what I did to get him there, though. And I don't want him to." He looked up at her then, his eyes filled with guilt. "I did it for him, V, but it cost me everything."

She could feel the weight of his words, the way he carried the burden of his choices alone. "You shouldn't have had to do that. The system... it's broken, River. It put you in that position."

"I know." He let out a heavy breath. "But it doesn't make it easier."

They sat in silence for a while, the reality of what River had been through sinking in. The man she had loved—so strong, so determined—was now fractured, trying to hold on to what was left. V's heart ached for him, for the choices he had been forced to make. But despite everything, she didn't see him as a man who had failed. She saw a man who had fought for his family, for what little he had left.