Chapter Text
Conan’s heart beat like a loud drum in his ears as the room filled with smoke and the mirrors shot up from the floor. He heard Rei squeak as she and Shizuka got surrounded and he saw Hakori running towards him just as the mirrors darted into his path. His friends had been successfully separated from him, leaving him with no obstacles in his path. He hated his fortune, but it was what he needed to accomplish his task.
“You didn’t think to get rid of these after the last heist?!” the Inspector shouted.
“There was nothing in the floor after the last one! I thought KID had cleared them out on his own!”
“Never trust KID to clean up after himself! That’s rule number four!” Conan wondered what the other three rules were and how many there were in total, but KID’s entry signaled the start of his task.
The map he had spent hours memorizing before jumped to the front of his mind, but it was useless without knowing where he was. He would have to find a landmark before he could find his target.
Cautiously, he took a step forward, hand held out just in case. Some of the panels held clear panes instead of mirrors, making the maze extra tricky. The area before him was obstacle-free. He took another step, checking the next sectioned area. Clear again.
He clenched his teeth.
His method of checking was taking too long. He did not have a lot of time before someone found him and he needed to be alone to complete his task. Impatient, he hurried forward —only to ram his face into a clear pane he had not expected. He let out a yelp of pain.
“Conan!” Rei called. “Was that you? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine!” Conan replied, internally cursing the thief.
“We should stick together,” she suggested. “Conan, can you follow the sound of my voice?”
“I’m coming!” he yelled back, heading away from her as they spoke. He was more careful, but he was working with a time limit. The corridors twisted this way and that, slowly meandering their way to each exhibit. Once he found one, he was able to position himself and following his mental map was much easier after that.
He constantly had to duck people in the maze, but with KID distracting over half of them, he found doing so fairly easy. At one point, KID ran past him, startling him. Conan raced back a corner, just in time to evade the Taskforce that was hot on KID’s heels. Once the stampede was gone, he headed back in, intent on his goal.
Something sparkled on the floor. He spared just enough time to pick it up, finding it to be the key Jirono had used on the Looking Glass Quartz’ locked case. How thoughtful of KID, getting this for him.
In no time, he was before his target, searching the pedestal for the keyhole Jirono had used. The key slid into place, drawing the keypad out. Conan fumbled with the keypad, unable to see the numbers themselves. KID had memorized the code from the one time he saw it and shared it with Conan, but putting in the numbers by memory was harder to do when he could not see what he was pressing.
Luck seemed to be on his side that night, because he heard the affirmative chime after some careful button presses. Turning the key, the glass case hissed as the lock slid open, allowed the case to move.
Short as he was, Conan could just barely see the glint of the stone on the pedestal. Reaching out with his silver-gloved hand, Conan hesitated, just the slightest bit before steeling himself and grasping the Looking Glass Quartz firmly in his hand. Concealed by the silver and his palm, Conan stuffed it into his pocket and left the display behind.
His target was in hand. Now he just had to get it to KID.
Returning to his mental map, he slowly made his way to the exit of the maze where KID and he were to meet. He heard the Taskforce off in the far left corner of the maze and Rei in the far right. Hakuga and Hakori were arguing with each other somewhere between the two, so he was in the clear.
The exit was in sight, but it was empty of a white figure. He was just wondering how to contact KID when a voice spoke up. “Not bad, Tantei-kun. Perhaps you should give up detective work and become my assistant full time.”
Conan scoffed and turned to where KID stood. “Not hardly. I told you, this was a one-time thing.”
“A shame.” KID sighed. “You are so helpful when you choose to be.”
“Whatever,” Conan said. He held up their prize. “You know how to use this?”
“I have some ideas,” KID said, taking the gem. “It has a delayed reaction, so it might take some time to be sure, but at least the gem won’t be walking off on us.”
Conan made a noise of agreement, when he saw a second white figure leap onto the tops of the mirrors. His eyes darted between KID and the second figure, determining them to be the same. “How did you…?”
“Ah, ah, ah!” KID shook his finger with a grin. “A magician never reveals his tricks.”
A loud yell suddenly rang out through the room. “Kaitou KIIIIID!”
“And that’s my cue to leave,” KID decided. “If the gem works like last time, I’ll have until midnight. You know where to find me, Tantei-kun.”
Before Conan could say another word, the thief was off, disappearing up the stairwell.
Just as the white figure disappeared, Hakuga and Hakori appeared at the end of the long corridor of mirrors. Hakuga looked around wildly for any sign of the thief, but Hakori’s gaze was locked onto Conan’s. His eyes widened at whatever he saw before they narrowed in some emotion Conan couldn’t name.
Conan could not bear to see his gaze. He turned his eyes away.
The heist was over quickly after that. It took time for everyone to find the exits of the maze. The Inspector checked everyone for a disguise but the thief was long gone. Conan stuck around until Shizuka took Rei and him home. There, Conan asked if he could sleep over at Hakase’s place. She had no reason not to let him, so he took off, promising her he would be safe.
He ran from the hotel to Hakase’s place, seeing snippets of the heist on every news station and every TV store. He made it all the way to Hakase’s place, then further as he went to his house instead. There, he climbed the stairs to the second floor. There were many places KID could be in the house, but Conan was pretty sure he knew where the thief, high off adrenaline, would choose to sit and clear his head.
Sure enough, he found him on the balcony, staring up at the full moon.
He was still dressed as KID, the same clothes he had appeared with and would likely disappear with. That is, if they did this right.
“Did you do it?” Conan asked.
The thief held up the gem, looking through it in the moonlight. The chain dangled around his wrist. “I’ve depleted its magic, but I don’t know if it was enough to replicate what happened last time.”
“So there’s still a possibility it might not work.” Conan gritted his teeth. If so, what would happen then? “We don’t have time to try again.”
“We don’t,” KID agreed. Silence, then, “If our world’s merge, and you need a place to stay, you can always look me up. You shared your house, so it’s only fair that I share mine.”
Conan clenched his fists. The ‘if you aren’t expelled from existence entirely’ went unsaid, but he could feel it hanging like a guillotine over his head.
They fell into silence.
“Can I ask you something?” KID’s voice suddenly broke the silence. Conan looked at him, then back to the full moon overhead. He made a noise of acknowledgement. “That day, a week ago, when I came to pick you up from school, why were you so insistent that I didn’t call you Tantei-kun?”
Conan remembered that day vividly. He scowled into the night, even as his cheeks turned pink.
“Well?” Kid prodded.
“If the Shounen Tantei-dan heard you call me that, they would all want to be called that. They wouldn’t think it fair that I was called a detective and they weren’t,” Conan continued more quietly, voice more of a mumble. “I didn’t want to share.”
There was silence for a moment, so long Conan almost feared that KID had finally left. But no, he still sat beside him when Conan checked.
Those indigo eyes were trained on him; a soft smile split the other’s lips. “You know, for being a mature sixteen-year-old, that’s kind of childish of you.”
“O-Oi!” Conan squawked as KID cracked up. His laughter echoed through the night, but Conan couldn’t find it in him to mind.
“Sorry, sorry!” KID said insincerely. “I wasn’t making fun of you.”
“Yes, you were,” Conan argued.
“Okay, I was.” KID held up his fingers, pinched together. “Only a little though!”
Conan went back to scowling at the moon.
“Oh, before I forget. I should probably give this back to you,” KID said, a phone appearing in his hand. “I don’t think it will work in my world.”
The familiar red case reminded Conan of Rei as it was her favorite color. It was the same phone that was her only connection to his older self. For a moment, he almost told the thief to keep it, but knew he was not strong enough for that.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the phone from KID. He flipped it open and went through the text messages. He debated deleting the conversation between him and KID when another conversation caught his eye. It was from an unsaved number and had three simple words.
Just in case.
“Oi, what’s with this text?” Conan asked, looking up.
But KID was gone. The space where he had sat was empty.
Conan checked the time on the phone just to see it was a minute past midnight.
Instead of Lewis Carroll, maybe Cinderella would have been a better theme. He thought as he put the phone away.
With KID disappearing, it was probably safe to say that he had returned to his universe, but double checking would not hurt. So thinking, Conan went back in the balcony doors and down the hall to where his room was —should be.
Peaking in, he let out a relieved sigh and pushed the door open.
His bed was exactly as he had left it—or rather KID left it, seeing as the thief had used his room during his stay. There were a few more clothes in the hamper and a few spare cards and coins scattered on his desk. Other than that, his desk still had his text books neatly stacked and his Holmes novel lay on his nightstand.
Everything was as it should be.
Conan threw himself onto his bed, exhausted beyond belief. The sheets smelled different. The dust had aired out and the unique scent of detergent had filled them again. Under that though, there was the faint scent of chemical smoke not unlike that of the smoke screen from tonight’s heist. Part of his mind wondered what it was, but part of his mind already knew.
Comforted by the scent, Conan fell into an exhausted sleep.
* * * * *
When he woke, he checked in with Haibara and Hakase. They remembered the person that stayed at Conan’s home for the last month, but the name Kaitou KID did not bring up any other memories. Rei remembered Hakase’s ‘nephew’, but the name did not ring any bells. Same with Shizuka, thought she seemed to think it was the name of a new cartoon of some sort.
Hakori remembered his meeting with the man and was glad he had made it home, but had no idea why he had decided to travel to Tokyo after school that Friday. Conan tried to ignore the relief that welled up at the thought of Hakori forgetting about Conan’s brief criminal record.
“I must have smelled a case,” he decided. Conan did not bother correcting him as that quickly became the reason. A scream from across the park told them a murder had occurred, just like it usually did when the two met up.
Life continued as usual.
There was one link Conan did not know what to do with.
One day, while playing in the park with the kids, Conan spotted a man sitting on a bench as if waiting for someone. The man looked strangely familiar, though Conan had no idea why.
“Ah, isn’t that Bokuro Toushi?” Mitsuhiko asked, excitement evident in his voice. “I saw him on TV yesterday! He’s a great magician!”
“Magician?” Genta beamed and started running over. “Bokuro-sensei! Show us some magic!”
“G-Genta-kun!” Ayumi hurried after worriedly. “Don’t ask like that! It’s rude!”
Reeled in by his own curiosity, Conan picked up the ball they had been playing with and followed the three. Bokuro was already sheepishly putting on little tricks for the kids, to gasps and coos of awe.
“That’s so cool!” Genta cheered. “I want to try!”
“How did you do that?” Ayumi asked.
“Ayumi-chan, you can’t ask that. A magician never reveals his tricks!” Mitsuhiko recited, looking to the man for approval. “Isn’t that right?”
“Very good. You would make a good magician,” Bokuro praised before scanning the park. His shoulders slumped.
“Are you looking for someone, Oji-san?” Conan asked, despite already knowing the answer.
“Oh, not really. There was a man here a week or two ago that was putting on magic tricks. I wanted to see him again, but…” The man sighed. “I supposed he’s moved on.”
If the person was who Conan thought he was… “Was it the Nii-san that ‘magicked’ a flower in greeting?”
The man’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“It’s a signature trick of yours. I figured you would be interested in where he learned to do it.” Conan shrugged as he presented the easy deduction. “Sorry, but that Nii-san has already gone home. I don’t think you’ll see him around here again.”
“Oh? Does he live far?” the man wondered aloud.
“Too far to travel easily,” Conan replied. “Sorry, Oji-san.”
“That’s fine. It was just a passing interest.” The man smiled down at Conan. “You’re quite the detective, you know. Knowing exactly who I was referring to.”
“I get that a lot.” Conan smiled wickedly, then turned to the others. “Hey, are we gonna finish our game or what?”
They did and the man left, taking the last trace of KID in this world with him.
* * * * *
It was three months after and two days until the next full moon and Conan could not help but think of the night that had landed KID in his world.
Back then, KID had been nothing more than a note on a screen and a challenge in the air. The deciphering of the notice, the feeling of superiority over the police and other detectives who had incorrectly guessed the time and method of exit, the rush of knowing he was right —it had been a night of exhilaration.
He regretted he would never get that feeling again.
Then he came home to a TV switching from the homicide case he had helped solve to a breaking news article. A familiar logo and handwritten card greeted him.
How…?
His phone buzzed. The unsaved number —now labelled ‘KID’ had one new message.
Miss me Tantei-kun? ;)
Conan grinned.
END