Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Pandora ( Chapter 78 )

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Pandora

“Getting used to it yet?”Shinichi commented as Heiji strained for the fridge handle. Heiji just glared at his fellow chibi-tantei, who subsequently reached over his head and opened the door.

“It's immensely satisfying being taller than you, for some reason,” he chuckled, reaching for the juice boxes.

“It ain't funny,” Heiji grumbled, taking one. “Why are ya taller'n me?”

“Because you shrunk all the way back to being physically six, like Haibara and I did… two years ago,” Shinichi explained. “We've grown two years. I think. This is all just stuff Haibara's told me, remember...”

“'Cause you don't, I know...” Heiji sniggered. “So what's happenin', anyway? I heard ya were talkin' ta Jodie-sensei...”

“The FBI are going to get us all out of Japan soon,” Shinichi said. “They found several Syndicate cams and bugs in the area, watching the house... since they were fairly easy to find, Jodie-sensei figured that there'll be more that are better hidden. It's not really safe here, despite the number of cops and FBI agents around. Tou-san asked for a little time, just to check out that diamond that Kuroba stole and return it. Given how it was hidden for five hundred years, there's a good chance that it's seen no moonlight for a long time...”

“So what if that's it?” Heiji asked. “What if it's really that Pandora thing?”

“Then...” Shinichi stared at his juice. “Dunno. We figure out some way to destroy it. Diamonds take no less than lasers or a volcano to destroy, but then again, there's no telling what this thing's actually made of...”

“Might as well start with a hammer, and work yer way up if that don't do it,” Heiji laughed.

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“They don't know about Hattori-kun,” Ran suggested. “You two could head back to Osaka safely enough...”

“The FBI insisted that Heiji leave with th' rest of ya,” Kazuha said worriedly, “So I probably oughta go back ta Osaka, but...”

“Don't want to leave him?” Ran teased. Kazuha flushed.

“Well... I mean, who knows what kinda trouble that aho'll get himself inta next... I mean, I'll just be worryin' myself ta death, I mean...” Kazuha trailed off stuttering.

“You know, I never asked,” Ran said evilly, “The other day, when Shinichi and I were out... what did you and Hattori-kun get up to?”

Kazuha squeaked and went even pinker. “W-w-well...”

“Did you... take your own advice?” Ran pressed with a giggle.

“Umm... well... y-yeah?” Kazuha muttered. Ran squealed and hugged her friend around the neck.

“Told you it works like a charm!” She sang happily. “Now we just need to convince Aoko-chan to try it...”

“Try what?” Aoko asked.

“Oh, Aoko-chan, when did you get here?” Ran asked in surprise.

“I asked Otou-san to drop me off on his way to the station,” Aoko said, leaning over the back of the couch where Ran and Kazuha were chatting. “He's going to yell at the prisoners, I think. So try what?”

“Kuroba's a thief, not a detective,” Kazuha pointed out.

“Yeah, but he and Shinichi are so alike...” Ran pointed out. “Unless...” she and Kazuha turned twin teasing eyes on Aoko.

“Why are you two staring at me like that?” Aoko asked, backing away nervously.

“We're just kinda curious...” Kazuha asked.

“You and Kuroba-kun,” Ran asked. “You two... have you...?”

“Have ya kissed `im yet?” Kazuha asked bluntly. It was Aoko's turn to blush crimson.

“Aaaah, we...” she began, then seemed to remember something, and blushed even deeper. Ran and Kazuha exchanged grins.

“That's great!” Ran squealed. “I mean, you've been fussing over him like... well, Kazuha-chan over Hattori-kun...”

“Or Ran-chan over Kudo-kun...” Kazuha, blushing furiously, struck back.

“Doesn't work,” Ran said, razzing Kazuha. “I'm madly in love and I know it!”

“Damn, there goes prime teasing material...” Kazuha sighed dejectedly. Aoko, cheeks still cooling, started to sneak away.

“Sneaking away to yer boyfriend's boudoir?” Kazuha sniggered. “C'mon, we ain't really gotten a chance ta talk yet! We got nothin' till nightfall, so let's have girl talk!”

“Yeah, you can join Kazuha-chan floating down that river in Egypt...” Ran giggled.

“I'm not in denial,” Kazuha insisted, blushing. “It's just... kinda new ta me...”

“I think this ain't the kinda girl talk we wanna hear,” Heiji whispered in the kitchen. Shinichi nodded and quietly led him to the door leading to the hallway rather than the living room.

“Not when we could be bedevelin' Kuroba, anyways...”

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“Are you sure you're all right, Kaito?” Aoko said as he collapsed heavily in the leather desk chair.

“Yeah,” he said. “I've gotta come in here. It's the only room where I'll get any proper moonlight.” He glanced at her. “Why are you so red-faced anyway?”

“Ummm... it's nothing!” Aoko squeaked, going very pink. Ran and Kazuha giggled worryingly. Kaito didn't know what the giggles were about, but he suspected it had something to do with the chibi-tantei's flight upstairs and refusal to return downstairs. They were downstairs now, sitting on top of the desk to reach the adult's heights-though notably avoiding catching the girl's eyes, making Kaito extremely curious and apprehensive as to what they'd been talking about. Still, he had more important things to worry about just now.

Kogoro came limping in with Eri, to Ran's evident happiness, along with Agasa and Ai. Agasa helped Ai up onto the table next to the two chibi-tantei. Yuusaku and Yukiko were already in the library, Yukiko clutching the bag that the diamond was hidden in.

“Here it is,” she said, handing the diamond to Kaito. He checked it over again, just to confirm that it was indeed the jewel that he'd stolen, then nodded to Yuusaku.

“Kill the lights,” he asked. “We need moonlight to see if this is it for real.” Yuusaku nodded, switching off the lights.

The room was in darkness for a few moments, but as everyone's night vision asserted itself- Kaito's first, predictably, so he could pick out people blinking rapidly to accommodate themselves to the darkness- a shaft of moonlight became visible from the round skylight window at the top of the library.

With a sigh, half-expecting another disappointment, Kaito reached out, holding the jewel in the moonlight.

The second it touched the moonlight, there was a blinding flash that obscured everything. Kaito winced, wishing he had his sunglasses, as did everyone else, but through his closed eyelids he could see as the flash died to a soft glow...

A soft red glow.

Kaito opened his eyes, staring at the diamond as he held it in the moonlight. The large diamond seemed to have faded away, a tiny stone appearing to float above Kaito's hand. It was glowing a soft, ruby red.

“Wow...” he whispered, Poker Face forgotten as he stared at the jewel, jaw dropping. He wasn't the only one- the room was suddenly filled with people doing impersonations of his feared fish. It could probably terrify him if his mind wasn't so utterly absorbed by what seemed to be levitating in his hand.

“Oh, Kami,” Ai said quietly, even her stern demeanour dropping. “It's real... It's really...”

“The Pandora,” Yuusaku confirmed softly. He alone seemed to have maintained an inscrutable expression, though his eyes glinted oddly.

Kaito turned the jewel in the light, reflecting the red light around the room like some bloody disco. Everyone was staring at it, awestruck, their faces occasionally appearing for a second in the darkness as light flashed over them.

“It's beautiful,” Aoko said.

“It's evil,” Kaito said harshly. “For this thing... They've killed so many people, including...” he bit off the sentence there, pushing back the bitter memories.

“But this means you can end it, right, Kai-chan?” Yukiko said, a tremble both hopeful and fearful in her voice. “You can destroy that thing, like Toichi-sensei wanted to...”

“How the hell are ya gonna destroy it?” Kazuha asked. “I mean, gonna throw it into a volcano or somethin'?”

“What is this, the One Ring?” Kaito grumbled.

“Well, it ain't easy ta destroy diamonds...” Kazuha muttered indignantly.

“If we could get use of one of the lasers that jewellery companies use...” Agasa muttered thoughtfully.

“We were talkin' about this earlier, weren't we, Kudo...” Hattori began, then trailed off. “Kudo? Oi, Kudo!”

Kaito looked down from the chibi-tantei on the desk. Hattori was shaking Kudo's shoulders, but the boy was ignoring him, staring wide-eyed at the Pandora. He didn't even seem to be breathing, his vision glazing over as the reflected light occasionally made his eyes look purple.

“Shinichi?” Yuusaku said, reaching for his son.

“Pandora,” he whispered. “That's it. I...”

With a sigh, he collapsed off of the edge of the desk, caught in the nick of time by Yuusaku.

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In that sudden red flash, his life seemed to flash before his eyes.

Sights, sounds, smells, sensations- memories passed before him, a deluge of remembrance, brought on by that cold red light. It pierced through his mind, setting him free.

And he remembered. He remembered it all.

He remembered his true childhood, playing with Ran, seeing a ghost, holding Ran as she sobbed into his shoulder.

He remembered playing football and running home in the rain and getting into a fight.

He remembered sakura petals and a beautiful song.

He remembered a dead man in an airplane toilet and, less than a day later, a fallen angel and warring goddesses.

Murder after murder, victim after victim, deduction after deduction.

Tears after tears. Truth after truth.

Falling in love and a rainbow in the fountain.

Pain and fire and shrinking...

Returning to school and the Shonen Tantei-Dan and Hattori and the Kaitou Kid...

The FBI and the Shadow Syndicate and a false girl and gunfire...

A story and a strange drink...

A story about...

Pandora.

Eta and Ushi, the ones that destroyed the Pandora.

They were...

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“What the hell is that?” Kir said, staring at the camera feed. From the Kudo's library, a shaft of red light was shining.

“Let me see,” Gin said sharply. Kir had never once seen Gin look happy, but somehow his eyes seemed to shine as he stared at the shaft of red light. He pulled out his cellphone, dialling a familiar tune. Nanatsu No Ko.

“We found it,” he said, still with that same odd glint in his eye. “It's definitely in the Kudo's.”

He fell silent, listening to the voice of the Organization's shadowy leader through the phone, before his lips slowly curved into a cold smile. “I see. Of course. When...? I can be ready to go within three or four days... I understand. It will be done.” He closed the phone with that same cold smirk.

“Kir,” he said. “When are the FBI and police planning to strike against us?”

“Four days,” Kir confirmed. “The night of the fourth.”

“That night, they'll be spread out and spread thin,” Gin said softly. “Then... we will counterstrike. And we must not fail.”

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Shinichi opened his eyes to find everyone still crowded around him. He was still in the library- he must not have been out long. The lights had been turned on and the Pandora was lying on the desk next to him.

“When's the last time he got any normal sleep?” he heard Kuroba asking somebody.

“He's awake,” Ai called. “Kudo-kun, are you all right?”

“I remember,” he said. “I remember everything. My memories are back.”

“Shinichi, do you really-?!” Ran gasped. The others crowded around, a dozen heads suddenly circling his line of vision.

“Yeah,” he said, sitting up. “It was... the Pandora that did it. It broke the lock, somehow. I remembered. When I was kidnapped and Vermouth... what she told me... it was about the Pandora.”

“Did she tell you how to destroy it?” Kaito demanded.

“I think... there were clues, but frankly I don't think even she knows,” Shinichi said slowly. “But the story...”

“What did she tell you, Shinichi?” Yuusaku asked.

“She told me the story of how the Pandora was found,” Shinichi said, “and of the ones that found it... Eta and Ushi. What happened to them...”

“What did happen to them?” Ran asked.

“They became immortal,” Shinichi said softly. “It began ten thousand years ago...”

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May I now refer you to the companion fic, “The First Woman In The World”, which tells Eta and Ushi's story, and contains the true story of the Pandora. It will be necessary to know the story to understand the rest of the fic- and much of what came before. I'm going to be releasing chapters of that daily for a while, then I'll get back to this.

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Welcome Back, International DCFanficNut 1207! XD What will Saguru tell Akako? I guess we won't find out for a while… XDXD

Odd how often random advice is convenient, eh, TwilTye? But in this case, it only postphones Akako's choice… which means Shinichi remembered first… I know what you mean ^_- Yeah, they were. The idea was that they accidentally saw Hattori when dropping off the jewel, so Ai pretended he was her cousin… leading to Gin overhearing a snippet about a dark-skinned child…

You're not the only one hypothesizing about several dead people not being dead, Pretztailfan95 XD Oh come on! I told you about Morgan Freeman already! Amazing actor, played God, probably IS God because only his voice is perfect enough to create the universe… XD You need some culture, woman. If you've never seen anything with him in it, you're missing out on some of the greatest movies of our generation… which, Wanted excepted, are all 12 or below. Fluff is so sweet… if so awkward among teens… XD Well, her death WAS tragic, more so than usual… and she died literally in his arms, which is rare. Normally he's on the scene after the death. She died in his arms, begging her to help so that she wouldn't die being used by his greatest enemies. I wouldn't be surprised if he had cried. Thank you! ^_^ *luvved* but seriously, I don't have a lot going on right NOW… not compared to what it's going to be when we start warming up for the prelims in November. That's why I'm happy to update daily just now, so that I can take a break between posting this and my next fic to do exams. This fic has less than a month in it anyways, so don't worry ^_-

Major plot moment time, FHP2208… And look! Shinichi, Kaito, no death… everything on your wish list! ^_-

Who could it have been, KageNoNeko…?

They're all pretty much the same size, Virushunter981… Somebody must be telling the sniper things… dead's used almost as loosely here as in InuYasha (where one character dies three times XD) Akai is awesome, isn't he? Let's hope Gin doesn't get him in the manga… (speaking of which… STILL NO CHAPTER, DCTP! DX)

Happy Birthday, StargateNerd! Akako's my favourite underused character. WHERE IS SHE, AOYAMA-SENSEI?? T_T

Increased intensity, Desperatembrace! XD Yes, I am mildly mentally twisted… your point? XD

I based Saguru's parents personalities on his personality, Marie Ravenclaw… psychologically speaking, at least one was liable to be an aloof control-freak. Since we've already seen his father in MK, I figured it would be his mother… and I worry that I made the explanation of what happened to Okiya too convoluted… ^_^;

Guess I did make it too convoluted, DiGi XD basically, somebody killed Okiya some months ago and took his place, disguised as him, and hid his body in a morgue in the meantime. Then when “Okiya” (read: Bourbon) was ordered to go a-sniping, the fake Okiya secretly brought the real Okiya's body along, and dumped it with the other sniper after killing him, as that person did not want to see the Mori harmed but could not get Okiya out of that situation alive. So they made it look like somebody killed them both. That help? I suppose the question is why they would need to dye his hair black… Pandora XD far more sinister than a bomb. No Akako for a while, we're into ultra-flashback mode…

Brainfart, HaibaraDaiFan? XD Maybe you need more sleep to HANDLE THE AWESOMENESS XDXD

True, MimzSilver. Dead is all a matter of perception XD Who killed and replaced Okiya? XD every day you produce a theory, every day I kill it… XDXD

I do not claim to own any of the characters in Meitantei Conan. They are the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho. All characters, couples and locations, if Canon, will be faithful to the manga, so if you're into fics with weird pairings like Shinichi and Heiji, the back button is at the top there. The fic may not make sense if you have not read up to chapter 698, which you can do at a site called (read between the lines) O/n/e/ma/n/g/a, but I advise you to buy the official Tankoban novels (up to volume 30 are out in English at the time of writing) so that Aoyama-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with his imagination. Now, I hope you enjoy the fic! (If you don't, please see my previous comments re the back button).