Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ranpo was heading to work when suddenly he was grabbed.

Someone came from behind and shoved a cloth in his mouth, yanking a hood over his head and cinching it around his neck so that he wouldn't be able to get it off, but could still breathe.

At the same time, 2 people grabbed his arms, and once the first person stepped away, they twisted his arms into an unnatural position behind his back and tied his wrists together.

The whole while Ranpo was struggling with all his might, wishing he weren't so weak.

He was shoved into the back seat of a car, and forced to lay on his back. Panicking harder, he kicked out desperately, only for his legs to be pinned down, while someone else held his shoulders.

From around his head a muffled voice said, "Search him. Take any and all possessions."

Immobilized, Ranpo could only lie there helplessly as they took his phone (which was broken he assumed judging by the shattering noise from outside the car), his snacks, also thrown outside the car and his glasses, again, thrown outside the car where they shattered on the pavement.

Ranpo's ankles were tied together, before he was yanked out of the car, shoved into a crate then loaded into the trunk.

Chapter Text

"President...? Um, Ranpo hasn't shown up for work yet, do you know where he is?" Yosano had been asked to inform Fukuzawa of Ranpo's absence from work.

Fukuzawa shrugged. "He mentioned last night wanting to visit Poe. He's probably just there. I'll call Ranpo to confirm though."

"Don't bother, I think he lost his phone again, he isn't picking up. Do you have Poe's number?"

"No, but I'm sure it'll be fine. He'll show up. You should get back to work."

The ADA wasn't too worried about Ranpo, although he usually showed up for work, even if he didn't do any of the paperwork Kunikida tried to give him, there were times where he'd leave for a while to randomly drop in on Poe, then stay at his place for some amount of time until Fukuzawa called him in for a case they couldn't solve.

And most of the time he forgot to tell them. He'd usually mention wanting to visit Poe which was why they'd worried at first since he hadn't, but if Fukuzawa said that he was talking about it last night, they just assumed that he was there.

⚎

Ranpo was getting carsick. He had no idea how long he'd been in the car, and he was in a really uncomfortable position.

Suddenly the car lurched to a stop, and the crate he was in was taken out of the car. He wasn't taken out of the crate however.

He had no idea what was happening. He didn't know where he was, who had taken him, or why. And that was what made him scared.

The crate was set down, and he heard more boxes and crates being shuffled around him.

Then the sound of an engine, and a truck moving, a truck Ranpo realized, that he was in. Likely a shipping truck. Well that wasn't good.

⚍

Poe absent mindedly stroked Karl, petting the raccoon as he thought.

"Karl, it's been a while since we've gone to visit Ranpo hasn't it? Perhaps we should stop by once I finish this mystery novel."

Poe sighed as he looked at the unfinished novel on his desk.

"I really should work on this, if I work on it as much as possible it might be done in a little over a month!"

Poe smiled, and promptly went back to writing, eager thoughts of visiting Ranpo filling his head.

Chapter Text

Ranpo squirmed in the crate, struggling to break his bonds. He was hoping that if he tugged at the ropes hard enough, they might fray and break, and he'd be able to escape. He'd been taken out once, and given water and food, so clearly they wanted him alive, but they kept him in a soundproofed area and blindfolded, so he had been unable to get help.

He was back in the crate now, gagged, and blindfolded. He was in the back of a truck again, and by the sound of it, there were other boxes. He prayed silently, though to whom he wasn't sure himself, that it wasn't other victims such as himself.

Eventually the truck came to a stop and the back doors were opened. He felt the crate get taken out, and heard voices, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. It was loud, way too loud. It sounded like there were a hundred voices outside, and lots of overlapping loud sounds.

He was carried within the crate for a while, before finally being set down somewhere. He waited silently for a while, not that he could make any noise in the first place, then felt his blood run cold when he heard a sound that while he wasn't too familiar with the sound, he definitely recognized it. The sound of a plane engine. He was on a freaking plane, and going who knows where, but likely out of the country. He'd be lucky if he was found.

.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

In the meantime, the ADA wasn't worried at all. Ranpo had been gone almost a week, but again, ever since he'd met Poe, these instances were very normal. They also believed that Ranpo deserved a break, they'd had him solving cases nonstop for a couple months now.

They had informed the police of this, and so they weren't reaching out about cases specifically requesting Ranpo. They had Dazai go instead, although it wasn't easy to get him to go, someone had to drag him to the scene.

Actually, Kunikida was hauling Dazai to a scene right now, the aftermath of a kidnapping that had happened who knows how long ago, but probably not too long.

"We're here!" He announced the police. "What do we have to work with?"

"Ah, Kunikida. We found here a smashed phone and glasses, and signs of a struggle, making us believe someone was kidnapped, lost their glasses which broke in the struggle, and then their phone was smashed." A police officer explained quickly. "The problem is figuring out who it is."

Kunikida nodded, and took some notes. "Dazai, help me out here!" He yelled at the other man who was trying to sneak away.

"Awww... Fiiiineeee!!" He complained.

Dazai looked at the scene and frowned. "Ugh, how annoying. There's too much dirt and dust for us to be able to check for fingerprints or DNA. Any samples or prints will be disturbed or contaminated. Not to mention the fact that anything that would even still be there will have been washed away by the rain last night."

"What are you saying?" One of the officers asked.

"I'm saying that it's impossible to tell who these items belonged to. There's nothing that could lead us to who the missing person is, let alone to them."

"Do you think they were kidnapped last night, and that the kidnapper or kidnappers took advantage of the rain because of that?"

"Although it would be a possibility, it's probably not the case. The only signs of a struggle are the trampled plants, and they've already started to perk up again, so they were probably trampled a bit ago. I'd judge maybe a week ago. Not to mention the fact that even if the kidnappers had a teleportation ability, the fact that there are no footprints or tracks means that it couldn't have happened last night, or there would at least be some mud on the building that would have been kicked up in the struggle, and tracks on the pavement over there."

"Why wouldn't they have gone the other way where there's still more dirt?"

"That way leads to an intersection. One turn is a dead end, the other leads straight into Mafia territory. Since we have a truce right now, they would have told us if they kidnapped someone or saw someone getting kidnapped. In other words, they only could have gone that way." Dazai pointed towards where the dirt alleyway merged into the paved road.

"I see..."

A/N: I have no idea what I just said, I put words together and hoped it made sense

"Karl!" Poe cried. The raccoon had torn some of Poe's pages.

The raccoon hid from Poe. "Now I have to rewrite them... That just makes it longer until I get to see Ranpo!"

He sighed, and then collapsed. Karl raced over to him, and curled into his chest.

After a while, Poe still hadn't moved. He had fainted from overwork.

Chapter Text

Ranpo wasn't sure when he fell asleep, but when he woke up he was sitting blindfolded in a cold room. His hands were shackled behind his back, and he felt cold metal on his ankles. He could also feel cold wet concrete beneath his feet, someone had removed his socks and shoes, and also his gag, but at least he was still dressed. His hat was gone though, likely lost in the kidnapping process. He hadn't even noticed.

He heard footsteps, and tensed as they neared.

"So you're my newest subject..." A voice murmured.

Two pairs of hands roughly grabbed him by his upper arms, his legs were unchained, and he felt a chain get detached from the cuffs around his wrists, though they were still shackled together. 

He was yanked harshly to his feet, and forced to walk a ways. Ranpo made sure to memorized the amount of steps it took to get to each turn, how many there were, and which way they went.

The place had a cold damp feel to it, and Ranpo kept feeling water on his bare feet. At least he hoped it was water. Eventually they came to a room that, while still cold, was significantly warmer, with what felt like tile floors, and it wasn't damp with wet floors and puddles.

They walked across the floor for about 20 steps, and then Ranpo was turned around and shoved harshly into a chair. Straps were fastened around his ankles. His wrists were unshackled, then strapped to the arms of the chair before he had time to react.

"Don't worry, this shouldn't hurt. Well, the needle won't. I can't promise that what I inject into you won't cause you pain." The voice from earlier said.

Ranpo swallowed nervously, but said nothing. He felt a small prick in his right forearm, but no pain. Then he felt the needle slide in. Then he felt the liquid pumping into his veins. It burned, really bad. Forcing himself not to scream, he bit down hard on his tongue, causing it to bleed. He could feel the warm liquid filling his mouth, but he still made no sound.

He felt another prick on his other arm, then that was injected with the liquid too. There was still liquid from the other needle entering his arm, so he guessed it was connected to a tube of some sort. He tried to stay silent, but ended up whimpering, sounding a lot like a wounded animal.

"Does it hurt?" The voice murmured.

Ranpo didn't respond. He felt someone pat his head.

"I'm so sorry, I know. It hurts. Don't worry, you're doing so well... It's almost done."

After a few moments, he felt the right needle get taken out of his arm. Then the left.

"There, all done. That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

Ranpo released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, gasping for air. "What... what was that?" He finally managed.

"That was a little something to help numb the pain. It hurts when it's injected, but that just means you'll be in less pain for the rest of this process." The voice said, almost kindly.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see. Well, feel I suppose would be more accurate."

Ranpo shivered, squirming in the chair uncomfortably. Then he felt only pain as electricity courses through his body, he jerked and thrashed in his restraints, screaming.

It hurt, it felt like he was absorbing the electricity. After what felt like ages, it shut off, and Ranpo went limp, trembling from the pain.

"Hmm... That didn't quite go as intended. Oh well, I'll send you back to your cell now!"

Ranpo's restraints were undone, then his arms were reshackled and he was yanked to his feet. However the second the man let go of him, Ranpo collapsed, unable to hold himself up.

Two pairs of arms yanked him to his knees after a couple moments, and Ranpo was dragged back to his cell, rechained to the wall.

—

Once Ranpo had barely recovered from the electricity, he was dragged back into that room, strapped to a table, blindfold removed.

His torturer wore a mask that hid his features, so Ranpo didn't know who he was.

"Please... Tell me why you're doing this..." Ranpo begged.

"I want to know if it's possible to create an ability in someone, and if they can handle more than one," the man replied, causing a chill to go through Ranpo.

Then a needle was being lowered to his eye and Ranpo screamed.

—

Ranpo wasn't given any time to recover from whatever was injected into his eye the previous day before he was back in the torture chamber, being electrocuted, this time with the painful liquid from before being injected into him at the same time through an IV.

It felt as though the electricity were becoming part of him.

He hated it.

—

Months passed like this. Ranpo struggled to remember his own name and who his friends look like. As time passed, he changed.

His right eye, the one that kept getting injected, turned completely black aside from the iris, which was gold. He could also see through objects, including his blindfold. He also knew he was in America.

Ranpo also had wings, feathered and black, able to morph and disappear into his body and extend at his own will.

His torturer was currently trying to give him an ability related to lightning and electricity, but it kept failing, and Ranpo kept almost dying. He was furious.

Ranpo was starved, extremely malnourished, he could lift his shirt and count his ribs.

He was only given water every other day, and food twice a week. Spots danced across his vision every time he stood up.

Ranpo kept crying himself to sleep, longing for someone to rescue him.

Meanwhile, the ADA had realized Ranpo was kidnapped two weeks after the incident.

But there were no leads as to where he was.

Chapter Text

Poe nervously walked into the Armed Detective Agencies head quarters, clutching his latest manuscript to his chest.

"Poe, hi," Atsushi greeted, but he looked exausted, with heavy bags under his eyes. "If you're here to see Ranpo, he's gone missing."

Poe's eyes widened. "R-Ranpo's... Missing?!"

Atsushi nodded, and for a moment his head hung, lowered, before snapping upright as he jerked himself awake. "We've been wearing ourselves down trying to find him. We originally thought he was with you, and so there's no trace of him."

"He's been missing for almost 5 months now," Kunkida said with a yawn.

It was then that Poe noticed the entire ADA seemed exhausted, with heavy bags under their eyes, even Dazai was doing work.

"I can try to help you find him..." Poe suggested.

"Thanks," Atsushi yawned.

It took a month and a half for Poe to find any leads, and even then, he didn't know if it was the right one. A group of human traffickers who kidnapped random people from different countries and smuggled them to America.

So Poe promptly took a trip to his home country, following the lead the best he could.

Ranpo had been kidnapped for almost 7 months now. His kidnapper had somewhat managed to succeed with the electricity ability — he could absorb it, and later shoot it out in a large destructive blast, but was currently pretending the one time he'd done so was a fluke. It would make escaping easier.

He was just so weak, and too malnourished.

There were other victims, plenty in worse shape than Ranpo. But he hardly cared. There would be no way to escape and rescue even one of them. Fukuzawa would save them even if it cost his life, but Ranpo didn't want the Armed Detective Agency to never find him because he went and got himself killed.

And he wanted to see Poe again.

Finally, after 7 months had fully passed, Ranpo struck.

Using all the electricity he'd absorbed, Ranpo blasted a hole in his cell and ran out of the building as it crumbled, crushing everyone inside.

It didn't matter.

He was finally free.

Chapter Text

Poe heard a large explosion, and noticed the building he'd been going to investigate collapsing, someone running out of the wreckage.

He ran towards the building, Karl jumping off his shoulders and darting ahead, shooting up the person and resting on their head, startling them.

As Poe neared, his heart stuttered and his breath hitched.

It had been far too long since he'd seen the familiar face before him.

"Ranpo?"

The other man looked up, shocked, eyes wide (his left eye looked different, the sclera had turned black and the iris gold) it was definitely Ranpo. "Poe?"

"Ranpo!" Poe ran forward, embracing his crush in a tight hug. "I worried I wouldn't see you again!"

"Wh- how? Why are you here?" Ranpo asked, shocked.

"We've all been looking for you," Poe said. "I came to investigate some human traffickers thinking you may have been one of their targets."

"I was," Ranpo said. "But they're all dead now. So are the other victims, crushed in the building. I'm the only survivor."

"Ranpo... What did they do to you?" Poe asked, terrified.

Ranpo flinched. "I don't want to talk about it... Please, I was going mad there, don't make me-"

"I won't," Poe said. "You don't have to tell me anything. Come, let's go home."