Fic-DC/MK: Future Holds A Lion's Heart Epilogue 2/4
Title: Epilogue 2 (All We Know of Heaven)
Fandom: Detective Conan/Magic Kaito
Rating: PG
Word count: 907
Warnings: Second of four epilogues to The Future Holds A Lion's Heart
Theme song:( "The Future Holds a Lion's Heart" by Darren Hayes )
You can move through time in one direction
Sad, but it's the truth
Say hello to your future
~Darren Hayes, "The Future Has A Lion's Heart"
In a different time and place, Kuroba Kaito finds Pandora. (But this is the future.)
It was cold.
Summer had eventually given way to autumn, and fall to winter. The seasons passed in a way completely unconcerned with the drama of fleeting mortal things. In another time and place, he seemed to recall Pandora telling him that the planet had nothing it needed to say to humans, and he thought right now he could see why.
The day the world had ended nothing, and everything, had changed. He had searched, of course, for any sign of Shinichi, alongside the rest of his friends. The Osakan detective had been absolutely beside himself; he'd only recently gone back home to tend to his own life for a few weeks before returning to lead the search.
Mouri-chan had also been worried, of course, but to her this was so much a repeat that she couldn't quite bring herself to invest as much of herself as last time into it, knowing as she did how it ended. Kaito himself had torn the country apart on his own, for all the good it did them; it was as if the earth had simply swallowed him without any warning or evidence. But he already knew they were chasing a ghost.
In some ways those final moments had come down to a trade; Tantei-kun for tou-san. And it made him sick, he hated himself for it and was so, pathetically grateful that no one, not even Koizumi who had taken lately to staring at him in a quiet sort of pity, would ask him if had been worth it. He honestly didn't know, was guilty and so traitorously relived that he'd never really had a choice in the matter.
He had his father back, and he wouldn't trade him for anything, anything at all, but he would have said the same of Shinichi and he had to wonder at Pandora's penchant for screwing you over without even meaning to.
Shinichi had been born for Pandora, and his whole life had been defined by a wish that Kaito didn't even fully remember making. All the pieces had come together later, when he'd thought about it. The detective's karma, and his misery at the hands of the Syndicate, had been a direct result of Kaito's wish. Shinichi had spent his life paying for something that had never really been his fault. Kaito had forced that on him.
And then, again by Kaito's will, he had been simply wished away. Kaito didn't understand how murderers could live with themselves, having taken away someone else's life at their own convenience, if it felt anything like this.
In its own way, it had done exactly as he had asked, without even trying to subvert the intentions of his wish when he'd made it. They said to wish carefully, because often getting exactly what you ask for isn't really what you want; Pandora had held to not just the letter but the spirit of his request in what anyone who knew the details would deem a miracle of benevolence, and still, still he had lost far more that he would have been willing to bargain.
What should have been months of bliss, basking in a miracle that no one had expected to see granted, had instead seen its shine drained, shadowed by the events that had caused them. His world had stopped turning, had dropped out from under his feet and left him in an eternal freefall with no glider to support him and no ground in sight.
"Kaito," his father called.
Kaito turned to look at him, dressed in recon blacks again in contrast to his own fully suited Kid attire. (They were very careful that, barring special circumstances to mess with Hakuba and Nakamori-keibu, only one of them was dressed as Kid at a time. They didn't want them really thinking he could be two people.)
Kaito smiled at him, because he would always have a smile for his father, and even after several months something in him was still riding high on the elation of that impossible circumstance. But it was tempered with tiredness, and the void he didn't think it was possible to ever truly become used to falling through.
Toichi understood. He smiled back, encouraging, but he never had anything to say when he found Kaito here, the place where the world stopped turning on an unremarkable July evening.
Kaito stood, brushing off his slacks with brisk movements that managed to look showy just by nature, and gave a nod and a tip of his hat to his counterpart in true Kid fashion. He got a nod and an tip of an imaginary hat back, and they grinned in twin manic devilry at each other as Poker Face came back, hiding everything that might be inside. No matter what cards you have in your hand...
Four steps and he was in freefall, only in this one his wings snapped open and caught the wind as it bore him up and away. He felt more than saw his shadow do the same.
He felt much more at peace with his feet off the ground, where he couldn't tell if it was still turning.
A/N: Offically, this is the end of the fic. Unofficially, the muses would not stop talking, so there's a little bit more for you to enjoy if you stick around.
Like it or hate it, let me know!
Fandom: Detective Conan/Magic Kaito
Rating: PG
Word count: 907
Warnings: Second of four epilogues to The Future Holds A Lion's Heart
Theme song:( "The Future Holds a Lion's Heart" by Darren Hayes )
You can move through time in one direction
Sad, but it's the truth
Say hello to your future
~Darren Hayes, "The Future Has A Lion's Heart"
In a different time and place, Kuroba Kaito finds Pandora. (But this is the future.)
It was cold.
Summer had eventually given way to autumn, and fall to winter. The seasons passed in a way completely unconcerned with the drama of fleeting mortal things. In another time and place, he seemed to recall Pandora telling him that the planet had nothing it needed to say to humans, and he thought right now he could see why.
The day the world had ended nothing, and everything, had changed. He had searched, of course, for any sign of Shinichi, alongside the rest of his friends. The Osakan detective had been absolutely beside himself; he'd only recently gone back home to tend to his own life for a few weeks before returning to lead the search.
Mouri-chan had also been worried, of course, but to her this was so much a repeat that she couldn't quite bring herself to invest as much of herself as last time into it, knowing as she did how it ended. Kaito himself had torn the country apart on his own, for all the good it did them; it was as if the earth had simply swallowed him without any warning or evidence. But he already knew they were chasing a ghost.
In some ways those final moments had come down to a trade; Tantei-kun for tou-san. And it made him sick, he hated himself for it and was so, pathetically grateful that no one, not even Koizumi who had taken lately to staring at him in a quiet sort of pity, would ask him if had been worth it. He honestly didn't know, was guilty and so traitorously relived that he'd never really had a choice in the matter.
He had his father back, and he wouldn't trade him for anything, anything at all, but he would have said the same of Shinichi and he had to wonder at Pandora's penchant for screwing you over without even meaning to.
Shinichi had been born for Pandora, and his whole life had been defined by a wish that Kaito didn't even fully remember making. All the pieces had come together later, when he'd thought about it. The detective's karma, and his misery at the hands of the Syndicate, had been a direct result of Kaito's wish. Shinichi had spent his life paying for something that had never really been his fault. Kaito had forced that on him.
And then, again by Kaito's will, he had been simply wished away. Kaito didn't understand how murderers could live with themselves, having taken away someone else's life at their own convenience, if it felt anything like this.
In its own way, it had done exactly as he had asked, without even trying to subvert the intentions of his wish when he'd made it. They said to wish carefully, because often getting exactly what you ask for isn't really what you want; Pandora had held to not just the letter but the spirit of his request in what anyone who knew the details would deem a miracle of benevolence, and still, still he had lost far more that he would have been willing to bargain.
What should have been months of bliss, basking in a miracle that no one had expected to see granted, had instead seen its shine drained, shadowed by the events that had caused them. His world had stopped turning, had dropped out from under his feet and left him in an eternal freefall with no glider to support him and no ground in sight.
"Kaito," his father called.
Kaito turned to look at him, dressed in recon blacks again in contrast to his own fully suited Kid attire. (They were very careful that, barring special circumstances to mess with Hakuba and Nakamori-keibu, only one of them was dressed as Kid at a time. They didn't want them really thinking he could be two people.)
Kaito smiled at him, because he would always have a smile for his father, and even after several months something in him was still riding high on the elation of that impossible circumstance. But it was tempered with tiredness, and the void he didn't think it was possible to ever truly become used to falling through.
Toichi understood. He smiled back, encouraging, but he never had anything to say when he found Kaito here, the place where the world stopped turning on an unremarkable July evening.
Kaito stood, brushing off his slacks with brisk movements that managed to look showy just by nature, and gave a nod and a tip of his hat to his counterpart in true Kid fashion. He got a nod and an tip of an imaginary hat back, and they grinned in twin manic devilry at each other as Poker Face came back, hiding everything that might be inside. No matter what cards you have in your hand...
Four steps and he was in freefall, only in this one his wings snapped open and caught the wind as it bore him up and away. He felt more than saw his shadow do the same.
He felt much more at peace with his feet off the ground, where he couldn't tell if it was still turning.
A/N: Offically, this is the end of the fic. Unofficially, the muses would not stop talking, so there's a little bit more for you to enjoy if you stick around.
Like it or hate it, let me know!