#dcmk fic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lupizora · 5 months

Text

Title: ghosts of the past (keep coming back for us)

Genre: Supernatural/Horror-ish | [Canon Divergence]

Pairing: None

Rating: T (tw: Temporary Character Death. Guns/Gun Violence)

Word Count: 5,738

Summary: Kaito learns, in the most unexpected way, that the Great Detective’s death curse is more literal than anyone had expected.

The sky was bright blue with no cloud in sight. It was the kind of vibrant turquoise someone would notice if they looked up on a dry sunny day. A color so vast and so endless that it engulfed the horizon with its magnitude.

Frankly, it hurt.

Kaito's eyes couldn't stray from the sight though, even if it swallowed him whole.

He took a shuddering breath. The air was crisp, clean, and light enough to make his head spin a little. As if he was once again on his trusty hang glider, soaring over the expectant crowd after a KID heist.

But Kaito wasn't flying.

He was standing on top of an equally unending… lake? That sounded safe enough. Any other implied huge body of water swiftly left his mind. It wasn’t the time nor the place to worry about such a thing. The surface below his feet reflected the sky like a mirror, leaving nothing to indicate its depth. If something were lurking underneath, waiting to attack, he'd be none the wiser. He shivered at the thought.

“For someone who has conquered the skies, it’s surprising how much you hate the sea.”

“It’s not the sea I dislike. Just the scally things swimming in it,” Kaito automatically replied before the bizarreness of it hit him.

He whirled around. Greeted only by more of that empty expanse of sky and water, his gaze shifted downwards on instinct.

There he met an intelligent set of eyes, slightly obscured by a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. Kaito knew them all too well. It was a set he hadn’t seen in years. One which was staring back at him completely unchanged. The rest of Edogawa Conan’s form seemed equally unbothered by the passage of time. From the blue suit jacket over a white shirt and grey shorts combo to the bright red bowtie around his neck, and those blasted crimson snickers-of-doom on his feet.

“You look the same,” Kaito stated the obvious.

The cunning smile the other had used against tough opponents, spread across his face. “You too.”

From their lack of presence and weight, Kaito knew his monocle and top hat were missing. But he still expected to be wearing some part of his KID outfit. Instead, it was the unassuming black, dime-a-dozen, school uniform from his high school days. The kind of getup Edogawa Conan shouldn’t know about, considering he had never discovered KID’s civilian identity was Kuroba Kaito.

The oddities kept stacking on each other like a fragile house of cards. Should he question this nonsensical turn of events directly? Frontal attacks weren’t his thing, especially with the Great Detective of all people. It was already making his head hurt.

So, Kaito settled for some bait. “That was a low blow.” He grinned. "Shortie.”

The other simply cocked his head to the side and blinked. “Was it too obvious?”

“You think?!” Kaito exclaimed. Catching his breath, he tried to restore some semblance of his trusty poker face. "Even if you were the little detective, it’s been almost seven years since we last saw each other. He would have changed over time. Gotten a bit taller and all that." He waved a hand at their surroundings. “Then there is this place. I’m standing on water, instead of sinking. It doesn’t make sense, no matter how you cut it.”

“Is that so?” Whoever was masquerading as Conan asked with an innocent childlike curiosity. "I can’t control the appearance of this field. It comes from your subconscious. But, here I thought, seeing a familiar face would soften the blow. News like these give everyone a hard time."

Dread washed over Kaito’s back like a bucket of ice-cold water. “News? What news?”

"Magician Under the Moonlight,” Not-Conan said gravely. “What is the last thing you remember?"

Pure white light obscured one of his glasses's lenses and expanded outwards to swallow everything around them.

When Kaito lowered his arms, he was standing in the aisle of a convenience store. He was familiar with this particular arrangement of crispy chips on the shelf in front of him. It was the store near Aoko’s new apartment. He had gone there several times recently to grab a meal while they helped her renovate the house. Said renovation had been an eye-opener for many reasons; least of all learning that Hakuba Saguru—in all of his posh rich boy glory—didn’t shy away from manual labor.

The question remained though. What was so important about this scene?

Judging from the bag of popcorn in his hands, he had come to buy snacks. There was a faint memory ringing in the back of his mind. Some kind of gathering—a party or a movie night. The responsibility had apparently fallen on him for the food, and he had had to run here at the last minute. It was the most logical assumption. But it wasn't answering anything substantial.

Loud voices echoed from the other side of the store. Throwing the popcorn bag back to its place, Kaito hurried down the aisle. The shelves were too high for him to get a glimpse of the situation.

"...in the bag!"

"Let's…ca…wn."

From the bits and pieces of the conversation he could catch, it didn't sound good though.

If his memory served him right, the snacks aisle was the third parallel row from the entrance. He would have a clear view of the register when he reached the end of it. Taking a left turn, that moment’s glimpse got Kaito to backtrack behind the shelves immediately. Someone was trying to rob the convenience store with a gun.

This close to the mugging, the conversation was easier to hear.

"Don't mess around!" the robber yelled.

"I can assure you I'm not," someone said in the same tone he would speak to a wild animal.

Kaito peeked from behind the corner.

Standing like a shield between the armed robber and the young lady manning the register, was a teenage boy. His sweater and pants were a bit short for his lanky frame, suggesting a recent sudden growth spurt. Mousy brown hair, parted in the middle, clung sweaty to his forehead. He was putting on a brave act; a fact both admirable and foolish for a boy his age. But his skin was so pale. It made the freckles splattered across his face more prominent under the harsh fluorescent light.

Feeling like he was going through the same motions, Kaito realized he knew this kid. It was one of the Great Detective’s young friends. He was older, but their friend group’s penchant for ending up in hairy situations had remained the same. Kaito didn’t even have it in him to be surprised. A strong sense of justice and common sense rarely meshed well together.

The clerk’s sharp cry pulled Kaito out of his reminiscence. There was no time for this. Judging by the trembling of their body, the robber was getting impatient.

“You’re stalling,” they said.

“Of course not.” The kid took a step back. His voice cracked as he pleaded: “Please, sir. There is no need to escalate things fur—”

The robber raised the gun higher. “You should have stayed quiet in your corner. No one asked you to play the hero.”

Despite frantically patting his pockets, Kaito instinctively knew he wasn’t carrying something useful. He had left his card gun together with KID’s stuff when he retired from the life of a phantom thief. All that remained on his person were materials for parlor tricks. But he couldn't let someone die in front of him. Not again. Not on his watch.

So, Kaito ran. Each of his steps echoed against the walls and back to him with the precision of a countdown.

The clerk noticed him first, her expression frozen like a tragedy mask.

The kid managed to squeak some garbled words in surprise as Kaito’s shoulder connected with his chest. Shoving him out of the way, Kaito took his place in the line of fire.

The loud thump of the kid hitting the ground. His own ragged panting. Someone shouting a warning from somewhere close. Everything drowned from the sound of Kaito’s heartbeat.

The revolver’s canister was holding all of his attention.

It fired.

The scene blipped out of existence. As if someone had pulled the plug on a CRT monitor, only the fuzzy star-shaped afterglow remained in the dark. Kaito floated into nothingness for a moment, until something akin to a fishing line hooked under his ribcage. He was violently pulled back to the empty expanse of sky and water.

Not-Conan was waiting expectantly for his answer there.

The words weighed heavily on his tongue. After everything Kaito went through in his time as KID, this seemed anticlimactic. But there was no mistaking it.

"I died."

"Correct," Not-Conan chirped.

Ignoring his inappropriate cheerful tone, Kaito lamented—in the privacy of his mind—that if someone had to show up to guide him in the afterlife, that someone should have been his dad. Why take the form of the Great Detective, of all people? Then again, Kaito had been well aware of his little rival’s reputation outside of the KID heists.

"Are you some kind of Shinigami, then?" Kaito asked.

The other cupped his chin in thought. Considering he wasn't the Great Detective and he was aware of that, this mimicry of the real Conan’s mannerisms only baffled Kaito. There was no reason to continue with the pretense. Unless this entity’s goal was something else entirely.

“I guess…” Not-Conan drawled. "You could say I am their overseer."

Goosebumps crawled up Kaito's arms like slithering eels. Scanning their surroundings again, there weren’t any signs of hidden cameras or recording equipment. This wasn't some attempt to prank him, after all. Then, that meant…

Kaito sighed, resigned. "I know I’ve said this kid will be the death of me one day. But I didn’t mean it quite as literally.”

Death laughed. His voice held the same overjoyed childlike pitch as the real Edogawa Conan. "I can see why Lady Luck favors you," he said. "You are entertaining."

For an entity existing since the dawn of time, this guy's casual tone was suspicious. Nothing good ever came out of this kind of attitude, and Kaito was already dead. What else could Death possibly want from him?

He didn't let the discomfort show on his face though, and bowed. "As a magician, I aim to please my audience." Glancing back, he added with a small grin. "Even if that’s Life's critics."

Instead of getting offended, Death seemed pleased. "Quite the flatterer as well." His smile spread wider as he began to circle Kaito. "I must admit. It was a tiny bit frustrating seeing you escape, almost unscathed, situations that without a doubt would have cost you your life. But alas! There wasn't much I could do about it," he said, splaying his hands. "This was part of my agreement with the Lady."

These words piqued Kaito's curiosity, but he could recognize the bait from miles away. After all, he had used similar methods as KID to get people to ask the wrong questions.

"I am forever grateful to Lady Luck for her most welcome patronage," he said. "Unfortunately, isn't this the end of the line for me?"

Death spared a glance over his shoulder. "Not quite. You see, I had no reason to claim you so soon. There was another I wanted first. Someone whose hybris had been growing at such a steady pace, he was bound to come to me."

Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance, even though the sky remained spotless.

"He almost did when the time arrived. The drug had a ninety-nine percent chance of fatality, and yet. He managed to score the one percent that guaranteed his survival," Death snarled. His tiny hands grappled with nothing in the air. "After that, he kept brushing shoulders with me, always a breath away, but never close enough to true oblivion. Not from lack of effort on my part, mind you. I sent numerous challenges his way, and he still escaped all of them!"

Kaito hadn't seen such open hostility and malice on Conan's face before. Not once, during the three years they had spent crossing paths with each other. Even if Death was simply borrowing Conan’s appearance, it was still rather jarring. Whoever the person in question was, he must have used all his life's worth of luck to leave the manifestation of Death fuming like that.

"While I can see how this must be frustrating for you," Kaito offered. "I don't understand how it has anything to do with me, sir."

"On the contrary, the reason you're here is because of him." Death's mood brightened like a switch had flipped. "More specifically, the curse I had bestowed upon him."

This was odd. “I can’t see how that kid would have offended you enough for this. He’s only what? Sixteen-seventeen?”

“It’s not Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko.”

“Then who? If what you showed me is true, there were only four people at the store.”

"I suppose it didn't register in your consciousness," Death mumbled, and snapped his fingers. "Let's take another look at the crime scene."

Kaito was transported once again at the moment he had faced the wrong end of a gun. Everything was frozen in time. The robber had already pressed the trigger. As the bullet’s impact had thrown him off balance, Kaito found himself trapped in a body mid-fall. He couldn’t twitch even a finger. For someone perpetually in motion like him, this was pure torture.

“Don’t fret,” Death said nonchalantly. He stood in front of the store’s glass door, completely out of place in this scene. “It won’t take long.”

So much for being unable to influence this space. Doubts had been festering under Kaito’s skin since the first time Death had changed their surroundings. Doing it for a second time with this scale of control, brought another level of discomfort to the situation. What else was Death omitting until it was convenient for him to reveal?

"So, what now?" Kaito asked, as his head was the only thing he could move.

Death knocked at the glass pane behind his back. "Please divert your attention to this spot here."

It was a distorted reflection of the overall scene, as natural half-light from the outside meddled with the artificial one inside. Kaito could make out the forms of himself, the robber, and the rows of shelves behind them. Any further details were impossible to determine.

"Am I supposed to see something there?"

"You are looking but you're not seeing," Death complained. "Alright, I will clean it up for you." Waving his hand with the grace of a stage magician, he turned the frosted glass into a mirror.

Kaito's eyes widened in surprise. At the spot above his left shoulder, he could discern another young man emerging from the first aisle. He couldn't be older than Kaito's twenty-seven years. His casual suit jacket was open and he wasn't wearing a tie, so it was hard to pinpoint his job. But there was something overly familiar about him. It was in the intensity of his expression, caught mid-yell, like someone accustomed to jumping into dicey situations. His cerulean eyes had turned into steel. The force of his run had sent his bangs askew, but there was no mistaking that cowlick like a feathered antenna on his head.

"The Great Detective?" Kaito muttered, astonished. "How…?"

Snapping his fingers again, Death freed him from the partial paralysis.

Kaito dropped unceremoniously on the tiled floor. When he looked up again, everyone but themselves had disappeared from the scene. There was something eerie about it, least of all how the mirrored glass still showed the Great Detective's adult appearance.

Death had a smug smile plastered on his face. "Allow me to introduce you to the real identity of the person you called Edogawa Conan."

Leaning back, Death's Conan form passed through the glass—as if the latter was made out of water—and the reflection stepped outside. He dusted his shoulders and smoothed the sleeves of his suit. No doubt, stalling for some kind of dramatic flair.

It gave Kaito plenty of time to scramble back on his feet. They had the same height. Upon closer inspection, the Great Detective's face was similar enough to Kaito's too; it could have been the easiest disguise ever if he knew back then. What a shame.

"It would have backfired spectacularly. Depending on what you used this disguise for," Death said.

His voice was in the range Kaito had used as KID, but certainly more serious than playful.

Kaito narrowed his eyes. "Reading my thoughts now?"

"What makes you believe I wasn't doing this already?" Death buttoned up the suit jacket properly. "As to why I can change the appearance of some things here…Limbo takes the form of the spirit's inner world, yes. But I still have some administrative rights." His smile was too sharp for comfort. "You can't hide anything from me."

Kaito had never felt more exposed.

Maybe these were the consequences of letting go without proper closure. After all, KID's battle with the Great Detective had remained a draw. They had parted ways on amicable terms. Whatever case had been plaguing the little detective was over, and that had been enough for Kaito to know back then. Learning his rival's identity from a third party sounded wrong on so many levels. Even if he wouldn't be able to use this knowledge in the future.

He hated being robbed of having a choice, more than anything.

“It has all been a ruse, then?” Kaito asked.

“There is no doubt about your demise,” Death said. “I am simply offering to satisfy your curiosity. How could have a child bested you when he seemingly couldn’t have the same lived experience?”

“Alright, spill. What's his name?" Kaito kept his face as blank as he could. But he couldn’t hide the storm brewing in his chest just as well.

"There's no need to get aggressive." Death offered his hand. "Kudou Shinichi, detective."

Kaito had heard of him. Japan’s modern-day Sherlock Holmes. The savior of Tokyo’s Metropolitan police department. Another teenage detective, who had brushed shoulders with the KID once, before disappearing for three years. It seemed silly how Kaito had never made this connection himself. In his defense, he never saw any reason for it. Kudou Shinichi had stayed away from his case when he returned to the public eye. Almost as if, KID didn’t matter all that much to him.

"I can believe that's his default introduction, no matter his appearance," Kaito said fondly. It hurt. "I hope you won't get offended, sir, if I don't feel like shaking your hand right now."

Retracting his hand, Death had the nerve to look pleased with himself. "Most understandable."

They returned to the empty expanse of blue. The stillness of everything did nothing for Kaito's frayed nerves when Death kept Shinichi's form instead of reverting to Conan’s. This was a game to him, that much was certain. One Kaito had to play if he wanted to figure out why they were having this discussion, instead of his soul getting shipped to whatever afterlife awaited him.

"If the person you were talking about before is the Great Detective," Kaito started. "What is this curse you have given him?"

"Simply put, it attracts death around Kudou Shinichi.” Death had pulled another bowtie from his pocket and was trying to tie it around his neck. “I couldn’t force him to come to me, you see. Instead, I thought. If bystanders continued to drop like flies by simply existing in his vicinity, it would eventually make him despair enough to decide that on his own."

"Surely, it didn't faze him at all. He's a detective. Homicide cases could fall at his feet as often as it is for a magician to pull rabbits out of top hats."

"Every human has a threshold to how much of it they can handle. I simply miscalculated his resilience to pain, both physical and emotional. He was already tearing apart and putting himself hurriedly back together to return to his original body. Time after time, after time." Death had no right to sound this cheerful about it.

Kaito clenched his fists. "Was the crime of escaping you once, so great, that you had to condemn him for the rest of his life like this?"

"The rest of it? Oh, no. It is the definition of madness to repeatedly do the same thing and expect different results,” Death purred. "If he wasn't willing to come to me on his own, I might as well guide his hand."

"What do you mean?" Kaito asked, disgust coiling in his stomach.

"I changed the scope of his curse, you see. Instead of everyone around him being in grave danger, the target now is Kudou Shinichi himself."

"Are you saying that…” The ramifications of this train of thought hit Kaito like a punch in the gut. “If I hadn't gotten myself involved, the Great Detective would have died?”

Using his reflection on the lake's surface, Death nonchalantly fixed his bowtie. “Hopefully.”

Anger surged through Kaito's body like a massive wave. He wanted to blame the predicament of his soul being scrubbed raw for someone's entertainment that he couldn't keep his cool. But then again, he had spent so many years pretending that nothing could hurt him; that he was alright on his own; that KID's mantle wasn't as heavy as Jii-chan or his mother had suggested on one occasion too many. So, pardon him for getting mad on another's behalf.

Kaito grabbed Death by the lapel of his suit. "This is all one big joke to you, isn't it? It doesn't matter if he helped countless victims find some semblance of peace. What you want is one life that managed to survive a little longer than you expected."

"There is no scale on which lives are measured, despite what you humans want to believe." Death tried to pry his hands open, but Kaito wouldn't budge. "Someone will die in every second that another might live. No one is more important than the next. Death comes for everyone. That's how it is."

"You just admitted to having an open vendetta against an ordinary human," Kaito hissed. "Which words do you expect me to believe? You hypocrite!"

"For someone that couldn't die, no matter how reckless he got, you have no right to complain."

"Then why am I here?"

"It is due to the fact that someone cheated," a different voice echoed all around them.

Death disappeared in a puff of smoke and materialized a few steps away. "Stay out of this," he shouted to the sky.

"You can not speak my name without expecting me to appear, dear." This voice's range was higher. Almost feminine, but not quite at the same time. "I could not remain idle when you are interfering with the fate of my ward."

"Lady Luck?" Kaito asked, taking a look around.

Her giggle resonated like a wind chime. "I am afraid I can not appear in a physical form you are familiar with," she said and a soft breeze tousled Kaito's hair. "I am here, nonetheless."

He wanted to lean into the caress, if only for a moment's relief. But he had to regain his composure. There were too many things hanging in the balance, even with a more than welcomed ally on his side.

Death huffed. "You are making it sound like I am a villain here."

"From a human's perspective, you are being unfair—even exceptionally cruel, dear. What's one life compared to all the million others in the world, if they are equal?" Lady Luck said. "From our perspective, you are twisting the terms of a fair deal to fit your selfish desires." Her voice took the unmistakable tone Chikage had whenever she would catch Kaito's younger self doing mischief around the house. “After Toichi, you promised me that you wouldn’t meddle with those looking to destroy Pandora. Are you going back on your word?”

Heavy gray storm clouds appeared overhead as a cold gale blew around them. Kaito tried to keep his balance, but the water rippled violently under his feet. Falling on his knees, he braced against the lake’s surface. Like the hard glass he had come across on skyscrapers, it didn’t let him pass through. However, only for a moment, it stopped reflecting the sky like a mirror. A large yellow eye—its pupil slit like a cat’s—was looking back at him.

“THE DEBT MUST BE PAID!”

This roar echoed distorted. As if several different voices were trying to speak together, but couldn't help being slightly out of sync.

Above the surface, Death’s Shinichi form had purple-green smoke coming out of his body. His shoulders heaved as he panted heavily. This outburst must have been taxing to him if his real body was down there.

Kaito couldn't see it anymore. Only his ordinary reflection stared back, troubled frown and all. He wasn’t the elusive phantom thief KID anymore. In his humble opinion, he had settled into his life as a civilian just fine before his death. What could he do against an entity like this?

A warm feeling settled like a blanket on his shoulders. "Isn't a magician's job to make the impossible happen?" Lady Luck whispered in his ear. "You already have everything you need."

Her presence dissipated, but her words struck a chord in Kaito's heart. She was right. He wasn't one to stop when the odds turned against him. If anything, there was nothing more boring than a heist that wasn't challenging.

Taking a deep breath, Kaito rose to his feet. "I have one more question. Pandora is real, right?"

"Yes." Death pushed his bangs out of his eyes. His irises flickered between gold and cerulean before they settled for Shinichi's eye color. "What of it?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought it was interesting how you weren't anxious about such an item still existing," Kaito said with a shrug. "Since I never found it and all."

Suspicion clouded Death's expression. "You're scheming something."

"Now, now. All I'm saying is that you were caught red-handed breaking your end of a very valuable agreement. Turns out, you can't claim me while I'm searching for Pandora. And yet, here I am in Limbo." Spinning around his axis, he made sure the last word echoed far and wide. "Getting your hands on the Great Detective's life can't be more important than a gem that grants immortality, can it? You won't have any work left to do."

"Those humans stopped looking for Pandora," Death said. "You made sure of it."

Kaito circled around him with slow deliberate steps. "Yeah, but who's to say someone else won't restart the search? It's been two years since KID's last heist. The announcement of my death might inspire some courage in the Organization’s remnants. There will be no one left to get in their way."

"Don't insult my intelligence," Death barked. "As if there is anyone who knows your real identity."

"But you can't be so sure about that, can you?” Kaito paused. “Face it. The possibility is there, and you've just discarded your most valuable card by letting me die."

Death hummed, contemplating it. "Even if I reverse the natural order of things, there is no guarantee you will succeed. You already gave up on Pandora once."

"I did," Kaito admitted. It had been his hardest decision as KID. One he had been willing to take if some semblance of normality would finally return to his life. "After searching for so long, I figured it was more reasonable to destroy their Organization with human resources—than rely on some mystical gem that may or may not exist."

"You had to create a fake one to convince them either way." Crossing his arms over his chest, Death changed his approach. "What makes you believe this conversation is real, to begin with? It could be a trick of your mind to process the shock of getting shot in a vital organ. Even figuring out Edogawa Conan's true identity could be a long-time coming deduction you had been too afraid to make."

"Now that sounds like something the Great Detective would say," Kaito chuckled. "But trying to convince me it's all in my head, this late in the game, can only mean I'm making you nervous."

Death glared at him. It was a terrifying expression to have on Shinichi's face.

Finishing his circling right in front of him, Kaito offered his hand. "I'm not even supposed to be here anyway. If you're going to send me back, you might as well cut yourself a deal for your efforts. Because I will track Pandora down and destroy it this time," he said with conviction. "And since I'm being merciful enough to ignore your transgression on behalf of the Lady, I have only one condition. When I succeed, you have to leave the Great Detective alone for his actual remaining life. It's a small price to pay, don't you say?"

Bell chimes echoed softly in the air. Death cocked his head to the side as if listening in to the inaudible words. They probably reached an agreement with Lady Luck because the next time he focused his attention on Kaito, Death had that infuriating smirk on his face again.

"Why not?" He clasped Kaito's hand. It burned. "I would love to see you try."

Ignoring the pain, Kaito shot a smile back. "Prepare to be surprised, sir. You have the front row to my greatest magic show yet!"

"I am counting on it," Death said, releasing him.

The lake swallowed Kaito before he could snark back any further. It was freezing cold. He covered his mouth and nose, more out of some self-preservation instinct than an actual need. He couldn't drown in this place, and he knew that. Slowly, he opened his eyes. A few rays of light pierced the water from above, giving it a teal hue. Nothing was swimming around him. There was only this massive wall on Kaito's right, stretching far and wide into the darkness below. Some curious part of him wanted to get closer and figure out what it was. Patches of seaweed, barnacles, and even corals were growing on its surface.

But a prickly feeling spread on Kaito's chest at the thought. No, something else should be here too. Where is that thing?

Right before his eyes, the wall rippled as a crack spread horizontally on it. It widened with a terrible rumble, revealing two rows of cone-shaped rocks. Kaito's mind tried to convince him of it. But there was no mistaking the gloss of ivory. He had seen enough ornaments in museums so far, decorated with animal tusks or teeth, to recognize them.

Laughter permeated the waters, the voices mocking him. "You do not comprehend the size of what you are up against, little magician."

The creature's mouth widened further, revealing a cavernous darkness akin to the depths of the ocean. It created a swirling current in the water that dragged Kaito inside.

Fear spreading across his shoulders and crossing down his spine, Kaito found the strength for one final act of rebellion. You better keep your end of the deal, or so help me, I'll make you regret it.

The jaws snapped shut around him.

Kaito gasped. Instead of water, he gulped down air; stale and tasting like some B-grade detergent, but sweet nonetheless.

Voices filled with urgency the darkness still plaguing his surroundings.

"Mitsuhiko! How long till the ambulance is here?" The Great Detective shouted from somewhere nearby.

"They still need ten minutes," the boy replied hastily.

He clicked his tongue. "Miss, do you have a first aid kit around?"

As the clerk lady gave an affirmative answer, Kaito's eyelids fluttered open.

The fluorescent light turned out to be too bright for his eyes. To keep them open, Kaito forced his attention on the tiles. Candy was littering the floor around him like confetti. From the force of the gunshot, he had hit the small shelves in front of the register. Someone had propped him up against them later.

He took another hurried wheezing breath. His chest hurt, as if someone had driven a hammer through his ribcage. Getting shot had that kind of effect, no matter the body part. He had enough first-hand experience on the matter to testify about it.

"Hey, slow down." Hands reached out to support him, one from just below his ribcage and one on his shoulder. They were warm. "You are badly hurt."

Blood had splattered across his jacket. The front of his shirt was soaked as well. "You don't. Say," Kaito grunted.

Gathering his remaining courage, he shifted his gaze to the person in front of him.

The Great Detective—Shinichi—was on his knees, trying to keep Kaito's body from moving too much. It was almost uncanny to have the face that Death mocked him with, staring back with such obvious concern etched on it.

"Don't speak for now," Shinichi said softly. "You should conserve your strength."

Kaito couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. "If I knew. It'd make you. Look at me. Like this," he rasped as pain shot through his chest, "I'd have tried it. A long time ago."

"What…"

"You're a tough crowd to get his attention off." Kaito cupped Shinichi's cheek. "Great Detective."

After his initial surprise, the gears in his head appeared to turn. Shinichi narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

But Kaito couldn’t find the words to reply. Amidst the haze in his own head, it was getting harder and harder to focus too. The sights were already darkening again at the edges.

"Wait!” Shinichi pleaded, securing his hold on Kaito. “You need to stay awake!"

"Don't worry." Kaito patted Shinichi's cheek and let his hand fall into his lap. "It's a short break. I'll be back soon."

Blood had smeared across Shinichi's cheekbone. It painted a stark difference against the ashy tone his skin had taken. For a moment, Kaito thought yellow cat-like irises were staring back at him from that face.

"Would you now?" Death's voice echoed teasingly in his ears.

Kaito blinked. The effect was gone. Instead, his worried rival continued mouthing words that couldn't reach him at the moment.

Of course. Kaito thought, letting his heavy eyelids drop once more. I'll definitely save him.

#dcmk #detective conan #dcmk fanfic #dcmk fic #magic kaito #case closed #kuroba kaito #kudou shinichi #edogawa conan #original non-human characters #fanfiction #fanfic #canon divergence #wolfswriting #if you've seen me posting this before; my bad #I wanted to try something else once again lol #and I really liked this banner I made!#thank you to everyone who has enjoyed my humble little story so far ♥#ghosts of the past (keep coming back for us)

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