Ficcage ahoy! Conan Rerun part 3.
*Mel runs around in little meeping circles*
Feedback! Give me feedback or give me - well, no, not death. Death is boring. Hmmm... aha! Give me feedback or give me ficcage! That way I'll be happy either way. X3
[ --And an end. To some things. July 29th, 2001. ]
Shinichi watched the building burn, eyes narrowed behind Conan’s glasses. Things had moved fast once Megure had evidence in his hands linking dozens of corporations and people to a criminal organisation that covered Japan and was sending tendrils out into countries all over the world. He hadn’t wanted to believe it at first -- especially since several of his superiors, men he’d respected and trusted, were implicated in that evidence -- but he was used to hearing the weirdest accusations out of Kudo Shinichi’s mouth and having them turn out to be true. He’d suspended disbelief long enough to go over the documents that ‘Conan-kun’ had delivered to him, and a phone call from Shinichi had finished the job of convincing him.
Anyone tracing that phone call would have found that it came from a public phone around the block from Megure’s office, and had been made by a little kid who held his bow tie in front of his mouth while he talked. Switching personalities back and forth like that had been difficult once, and ‘Conan’ had caught himself using ‘Shinichi-nii-san’s words and mannerisms on more than one occasion in past months -- and vice versa, with variously dangerous and hilarious results. He’d gotten used to it, though, and sometimes worried that it was getting too easy to be just Conan-kun, energetic little kid, in his first year of elementary school and getting very good marks, thank you... but breaking the back of the Black Organisation meant that he could stop worrying about it. Edogawa Conan could finally ‘go home’, and Kudo Shinichi could ‘finish his case’ and step back into his old life...
...couldn’t he?
I’m still stuck in a six-year-old body, he thought bitterly. Well, seven-year-old now, not that that’s made much of a difference! I just assumed that once the threat was gone, everything would go back to normal, but... Haibara hasn’t found a cure yet, and now we can’t hope to find it in data we steal from the Black Organisation; they’re gone, and most of their main bases managed to hold out against the police and Interpol long enough to erase their data and blow up any labs. Like this one. So I can’t go back to my old life yet. I don’t have to hide from assassins any more, but I still have to hide from the people I care about... unless I really want to try to explain to Ran that her sort-of boyfriend has been lying to her and living in her house as ‘cute little Conan-kun’ for months.
This isn’t the victory I wanted. This isn’t what I wanted at all!
There was a rustle of cloth behind him, and a drawling voice spoke up, laughter bubbling just below the surface. “Well, well, what’s this... isn’t it past your bedtime, Kid Detective? Does your pretty nee-san know you’re out and about so late?”
“Kid!”
Eyeing the defensive stance Shinichi/Conan had automatically dropped into, the tuxedo-clad thief held up his hands, making soothing motions. “Now, is that any way to greet a friend? Especially one who came to congratulate you?”
“Congratulate me? Why?” he spat, fists clenching.
“Oh, I don’t know...” Kaitou Kid shrugged elegantly, white suit glimmering in the faint light coming from the quarter moon as his hands disappeared back into his pockets. “Maybe because you actually did it. The Black Organisation is gone for good, destroyed past any hope of returning; the people you wanted to protect are safe now. You don’t have to lie awake at nights any more, worrying that someone dressed in black is going to work out who and what you are and come for that pretty nee-san of yours, or those kids you run around with. Even that moronic detective you’ve been helping out behind the scenes... you’d be pretty upset if anything happened to him, even if he is an unappreciative jerk who can’t see past the end of his own nose, right?”
“...I guess so,” Shinichi said grudgingly, knowing he should say something polite in return but unable to force the words out. The Kid’s words cut uncomfortably close to the bone, sending a shiver down his spine. He understands... more than I want him to, I think! How does he do that? He has to be able to read people, to impersonate them as well as he does... That must be it, but it’s creepy! “I might be a bit more satisfied if I’d actually done it all myself, though.”
He took a step back as the Kid threw his head back and laughed. Not one of his normal laughs; not mocking, or amused, or slightly crazy, the way he laughed at the police officers who chased him after his thefts. It was a strange laugh, strained... maybe even a little hysterical?
“Oh, no, Shinichi,” Kid said finally, still chuckling painfully. “This was all your own work... trust me!”
He brought his head back down to look at the smaller boy, smiling faintly, and Shinichi frowned as something in the burning building flared, throwing light over part of the Kid’s face and letting him see his expression clearly for the first time. The eyes behind the monocle were... he didn’t know how to describe it. Sad? Wistful? ...Pitying? Then the tall teenager shifted his head, dipping the brim of his top hat lower, and his face was completely shadowed again.
“Why’d you come out here, anyway?” Kid asked, turning away to watch the fire. “What’s so special about this lab that you can’t leave it to the cops?”
“It’s the last,” he said grudgingly, moving forward to stand next to the Kid’s leg. “It wasn’t listed in any of the documents you-- we-- found; the police located it almost by accident. They were doing something important here, important enough that it was kept a secret from almost all of their own members, and none of the people who knew about it have been taken alive... but one of them was a city councillor, and he had his official chauffeur drive him here once.”
“Stupid of him,” Kid observed lazily. “That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”
“...Gin and Vodka haven’t been found yet.”
“Ahhhh.” Kid didn’t need an explanation of the names, proving that that was one more thing he knew about Shinichi’s business. “And you figured they might be here.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think they’re the type to run for it when things start going down the tubes,” the taller boy observed dispassionately, “so yeah, if this is the Organisation’s last holdout there’s a good chance they came here. Looks like everyone who’s going to get out has done it, though...”
“...and the police are pulling back,” Shinichi muttered, leaning forward for a better look. “Stupid--! If they really are here, they could still escape--“ Without another thought, he took off running, heading for the wooded hill behind the building, angling to circle around it.
“And off you go to make sure they don’t get away,” Kid whispered softly, watching him go. He stood where he was for a moment, lips moving silently as if he was holding a conversation with himself; then he shrugged and walked off, generally following Shinichi’s course but angling further uphill, giving the building a wide berth.
* * * * *
Feedback! Give me feedback or give me - well, no, not death. Death is boring. Hmmm... aha! Give me feedback or give me ficcage! That way I'll be happy either way. X3
[ --And an end. To some things. July 29th, 2001. ]
Shinichi watched the building burn, eyes narrowed behind Conan’s glasses. Things had moved fast once Megure had evidence in his hands linking dozens of corporations and people to a criminal organisation that covered Japan and was sending tendrils out into countries all over the world. He hadn’t wanted to believe it at first -- especially since several of his superiors, men he’d respected and trusted, were implicated in that evidence -- but he was used to hearing the weirdest accusations out of Kudo Shinichi’s mouth and having them turn out to be true. He’d suspended disbelief long enough to go over the documents that ‘Conan-kun’ had delivered to him, and a phone call from Shinichi had finished the job of convincing him.
Anyone tracing that phone call would have found that it came from a public phone around the block from Megure’s office, and had been made by a little kid who held his bow tie in front of his mouth while he talked. Switching personalities back and forth like that had been difficult once, and ‘Conan’ had caught himself using ‘Shinichi-nii-san’s words and mannerisms on more than one occasion in past months -- and vice versa, with variously dangerous and hilarious results. He’d gotten used to it, though, and sometimes worried that it was getting too easy to be just Conan-kun, energetic little kid, in his first year of elementary school and getting very good marks, thank you... but breaking the back of the Black Organisation meant that he could stop worrying about it. Edogawa Conan could finally ‘go home’, and Kudo Shinichi could ‘finish his case’ and step back into his old life...
...couldn’t he?
I’m still stuck in a six-year-old body, he thought bitterly. Well, seven-year-old now, not that that’s made much of a difference! I just assumed that once the threat was gone, everything would go back to normal, but... Haibara hasn’t found a cure yet, and now we can’t hope to find it in data we steal from the Black Organisation; they’re gone, and most of their main bases managed to hold out against the police and Interpol long enough to erase their data and blow up any labs. Like this one. So I can’t go back to my old life yet. I don’t have to hide from assassins any more, but I still have to hide from the people I care about... unless I really want to try to explain to Ran that her sort-of boyfriend has been lying to her and living in her house as ‘cute little Conan-kun’ for months.
This isn’t the victory I wanted. This isn’t what I wanted at all!
There was a rustle of cloth behind him, and a drawling voice spoke up, laughter bubbling just below the surface. “Well, well, what’s this... isn’t it past your bedtime, Kid Detective? Does your pretty nee-san know you’re out and about so late?”
“Kid!”
Eyeing the defensive stance Shinichi/Conan had automatically dropped into, the tuxedo-clad thief held up his hands, making soothing motions. “Now, is that any way to greet a friend? Especially one who came to congratulate you?”
“Congratulate me? Why?” he spat, fists clenching.
“Oh, I don’t know...” Kaitou Kid shrugged elegantly, white suit glimmering in the faint light coming from the quarter moon as his hands disappeared back into his pockets. “Maybe because you actually did it. The Black Organisation is gone for good, destroyed past any hope of returning; the people you wanted to protect are safe now. You don’t have to lie awake at nights any more, worrying that someone dressed in black is going to work out who and what you are and come for that pretty nee-san of yours, or those kids you run around with. Even that moronic detective you’ve been helping out behind the scenes... you’d be pretty upset if anything happened to him, even if he is an unappreciative jerk who can’t see past the end of his own nose, right?”
“...I guess so,” Shinichi said grudgingly, knowing he should say something polite in return but unable to force the words out. The Kid’s words cut uncomfortably close to the bone, sending a shiver down his spine. He understands... more than I want him to, I think! How does he do that? He has to be able to read people, to impersonate them as well as he does... That must be it, but it’s creepy! “I might be a bit more satisfied if I’d actually done it all myself, though.”
He took a step back as the Kid threw his head back and laughed. Not one of his normal laughs; not mocking, or amused, or slightly crazy, the way he laughed at the police officers who chased him after his thefts. It was a strange laugh, strained... maybe even a little hysterical?
“Oh, no, Shinichi,” Kid said finally, still chuckling painfully. “This was all your own work... trust me!”
He brought his head back down to look at the smaller boy, smiling faintly, and Shinichi frowned as something in the burning building flared, throwing light over part of the Kid’s face and letting him see his expression clearly for the first time. The eyes behind the monocle were... he didn’t know how to describe it. Sad? Wistful? ...Pitying? Then the tall teenager shifted his head, dipping the brim of his top hat lower, and his face was completely shadowed again.
“Why’d you come out here, anyway?” Kid asked, turning away to watch the fire. “What’s so special about this lab that you can’t leave it to the cops?”
“It’s the last,” he said grudgingly, moving forward to stand next to the Kid’s leg. “It wasn’t listed in any of the documents you-- we-- found; the police located it almost by accident. They were doing something important here, important enough that it was kept a secret from almost all of their own members, and none of the people who knew about it have been taken alive... but one of them was a city councillor, and he had his official chauffeur drive him here once.”
“Stupid of him,” Kid observed lazily. “That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”
“...Gin and Vodka haven’t been found yet.”
“Ahhhh.” Kid didn’t need an explanation of the names, proving that that was one more thing he knew about Shinichi’s business. “And you figured they might be here.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think they’re the type to run for it when things start going down the tubes,” the taller boy observed dispassionately, “so yeah, if this is the Organisation’s last holdout there’s a good chance they came here. Looks like everyone who’s going to get out has done it, though...”
“...and the police are pulling back,” Shinichi muttered, leaning forward for a better look. “Stupid--! If they really are here, they could still escape--“ Without another thought, he took off running, heading for the wooded hill behind the building, angling to circle around it.
“And off you go to make sure they don’t get away,” Kid whispered softly, watching him go. He stood where he was for a moment, lips moving silently as if he was holding a conversation with himself; then he shrugged and walked off, generally following Shinichi’s course but angling further uphill, giving the building a wide berth.
* * * * *