Never Fade Away (Cyberpunk 2077 Fanfiction)

1. Heroes

i haven't written a fanfiction in like 5 years :'))

***

The only thing this irrelevant merc's ever done in her life is relish in the past.

You know how people always talk about the old days? Mama Welles telling people stories about how "invincible" Jackie was, the Mox girls reminiscing at how the golden days were when Lizzie was still alive, Barry from next door pouring his heart out into citing the past with his old man... that was V. Always looking behind her. No matter what she did, the future was always out to ricochet heartbreak along the walls of her life.

So, the past was all she had.

"How long're you gonna stare at those keys?" the malware grumbled, head leaning against the brick wall beside Jackie's garage. V wiped her wet nose against her sleeve and breathed out in clogged gasps, eyes swollen to a brilliant red. She couldn't earn a moment alone even if she wanted to. She didn't want to make the ofrenda any more difficult on Mama Welles or on Misty, so she left the bar. That was his mother and the love of his life — V was just another choom. Why would she cry about him? No way will anyone see her like this... except for Johnny. Annoying.

"Fuck off," V said back to the virus, hiccuping midway. She rest her forearms onto her knees and stared ahead. "Not like you know how I'm feeling."

Johnny took the cigarette out of his mouth, something he apparently did to cope that there wasn't any nicotine in his host's system. "I don't have a choice. For a streetkid in Night City, you're disgustingly personal."

She shook her head, unable to retort in fear her emotions would spill out again. And if that happened, she didn't doubt Johnny would use that to shit on her in a heartbeat. Not like that insufferable malware would actually manage to ruin her ego, it's just something she didn't feel like defending herself about.

"Whatever," she muttered, "I'm going home." Then she stood up, dusted herself off, and began hauling Jackie's Arch from his garage — quietly snivelling as she did so.

V remembered when dear Jackster first bought this bike. He always made fun of her for not being able to ride, so he taught her, claiming he took her motorcycle virginity. Fucked up her arm the day of after crashing into the back alley of El Coyote Cojo and Mama Welles had to pay for the damage.

Johnny appeared on the other end of the bike, yanking V away from her memory. "You little gonk, do you realize how many shots you've had at the funeral?"

"What? Don't pretend like you give a fuck about me, Johnny."

"You're right, I don't care about you. You're pathetic. But unfortunately this is my body too and I'm not going to babysit a bitch who's heartbroken over her childhood choom. Take the bus or some shit to Watson."

She huffed, continuing to wheel the bike out. "Piss off, I'll be fine. I'm sure you drove drunk all the fuckin' time while you were alive."

"I did, but you're a depressed little shit right now. Impulsive, stupid, moody. One intrusive thought and you're rolling over the car hood, bloody face planted in some poor fool's windshield."

"Johnny I'm sad, not suicidal. Why are you so concerned with this? It's not like you'll feel the pain of rocketing into three-thousand pounds of metal."

She finally stopped trying to hop on the bike and instead leaned against it, involuntarily hearing what Johnny had to say. "You're so dense. I have another chance at life to destroy a limb of a megacorp and some dumbfuck host ruins that opportunity because she flatlined underneath some wheels after drinking? Not a chance. And besides, if anyone were to kill you, it'd be me."