Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ New Dawn ( Chapter 85 )

Chapter Eighty-Five

New Dawn

“I am getting so sick of waking up like this,” Shinichi commented to nobody, staring at the white ceiling.

“Here, here.”

Shinichi turned his head to look at the bed next to him, a movement slightly restricted by bandages wrapped tightly around some burn on his neck. Hattori was lying on the bed next to him, little arms folded under his head, staring at the beds across from theirs. He was also sporting wraps and bandages (with cartoon dinosaurs on them, to his visible irritation) around random burns, though no sling. Shinichi followed his gaze to see Ran and Kazuha sitting up in bed across from them, chatting casually, sporting their own burn wraps and a few bruises peeking out from under other bandages (plain white).

“Oh, you're awake!” Kazuha said, noticing him. Ran turned her head to him and grinned happily. Both of them and Hattori looked a little giddily happy; in fact, he felt pretty light-headed himself. It could have been the enormity of what had transpired at Agasa's, or maybe some morphine had been making the rounds.

“They insisted on keeping us all overnight,” Ran explained. “Most of us will be leaving today, I suppose, although where to... We'll probably be going to Okaa-san's... Well, Okaa-san and I will, anyway. Otou-san cracked a couple of vertebrae when he hit the wall...”

“Yer parents an' her parents are across th' hall,” Kazuha said, ticking them off on her fingers, which danced a little whenever she raised them. “Kuroba's upstairs with his mother. Hakuba an' Aoko-chan are next door with Agasa-Hakase an' Ai-chan, though they only got light burns like us. Hondo-san's in her own room... Akako-chan's uninjured...”

“You tore your wound open, you'll be here for a few days, especially since you never got it properly treated in the first place,” Ran said, with a slightly exaggerated remonstrating frown. “Kuroba-kun's not going anywhere soon either, his leg broke very badly and Hakuba-kun was right, he refractured his ribs. Yuusaku-san's also going to be in a while, his leg was crushed quite badly, they're worried it may never heal right... Agasa-Hakase got off lucky, apparently his, um, padding, meant the bullets didn't hit anything vital, though he'll still be bedridden for a while, they nearly made a cheesegrinder out of him so it'll be too easy to rip them open and make them larger…. Hidemi-san's less lucky, her injuries are serious but she's alive... I think Eisuke-kun's flying back from America to see her. Ai-chan broke several ribs, poor thing, she'll be in a while as well...”

“Hondo's coming back?” Shinichi said with interest and slight apprehension. “So...”

“We got `em all,” Akai said triumphantly from the doorway. “Red Rum or whoever aside, we caught everyone at every last one of the places we hit. We got the data from Red's computer, too, so the rest are being rounded up as we speak. Not a lot of the senior members left- Chianti was found dead in your house, must have been an internal squabble or something, one bullet in the head from close range. Gin's dead too, I made very, very certain of that. And... we found two bodies in the basement, burnt to skeletons… the handbones had fused… anyway, we can't confirm if they're Vermouth and Red, it's not like they had dental records or anything, but, well... who else could it be? Besides... I asked them to do a carbon-date on the bones and the machine went haywire. Nearly blew up...”

“It's over...” Shinichi breathed, sinking back into his bed. “It's really...”

“Indeed it is,” Jodie said happily, limping in and sitting on the foot of Shinichi's bed. “We got back before dawn this morning to find the burning lab and Shuu going “Where the fuck were you?”, but overall- they're all caught, the highest-rankers that are still alive are Vodka and Schnapps, which bodes well for the trials given how bright Vodka has proven to be and how when we told Schnapps that Red Rum was dead he spilled his guts faster than someone being hung, drawn and quartered...”

“It's over, Shinichi,” Ran said softly, standing up a little gingerly and walking over to him, sitting next to him, an arm around his little shoulders. “They have APTX data, Ai-chan can make the antidote... you'll be back to normal soon... it'll all be all right now. I promise.”

“I thought I was the one who promised that,” Shinichi said with a shaky laugh, but he couldn't help hugging her back with his good arm, a single crystal tear sliding down his cheek, as all the fear, all the pain, all the suffering, all the fighting, all faded away...

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“This too shall pass,” Akako said, sitting on the windowsill, staring out at the beautiful day. The sky was blue, without clouds. The sun was shining, not warmly perhaps- it was still February- but brightly, a perfect day. There had, perhaps, been days more perfect than this, but right now it just didn't feel possible- which was perhaps the essence of a perfect day.

“Come again?” Saguru said, glancing over at her. He had a laptop open on his lap, and had been sifting through thousands of files of Syndicate data, killing time by searching out any files to do with APTX 4869 while Haibara Ai and Agasa Hiroshi still slept the peaceful sleep of those on very heavy painkillers. Aoko had gone upstairs to watch over Kaito and his mother.

“Just something a very wise woman said to me once,” Akako said, still staring out at Tokyo. In the streets below, thousands of people milled around, unknowing of the momentous event that had happened only hours ago... “It... still hurts, you know. Knowing that once, I was like them... but...” she turned to face him, giving him one of her new, beautiful smiles. “I'm part of time again. I can move forward... and my pain can't. Someday... I will pass it. I know...”

“So many people have been hurt by the Syndicate,” Hakuba said softly, setting the laptop aside and wandering over to sit next to her. “But you're right... as long as we are alive, we move forward. We may hurt now, but...” he gave her a smile of his own, a genuine one, a rare occurrence. “It will not last, so long as we move forward. And it is easier not to do so alone...”

They sat there for some time talking quietly. The world flowed on.

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“Ran's all right, thank Kami,” Eri sighed. “I'm just glad you're alive, Anata... when you passed out...”

“You're the one who nearly gave me a heart attack when you came flying through the air,” Kogoro grumbled. “I mean... you're a skinny little thing, if you'd hit the wall like that...”

“I'm glad you're all right...” Eri sighed again, not rising to the bait, leaning against him. Restless and without any serious injury beyond bruises, she'd wandered over to sit next to her husband, who was seriously uncomfortable but couldn't move his back.

“Would you be that upset to be shot of me?” he joked.

“Yes...” she admitted with a sigh. “Anata...”

“Ran's going back to yours while the agency is being rebuilt, right?” Kogoro continued, a little nervously. “Dunno if I'll be out by then...”

“If you are, I hope you come back to mine too,” Eri said. “And stayed. Anata... I decided, last night. I'm...”

“I'm sorry,” Kogoro cut her off. “I was just trying to tell you to get some rest because I was worried about you.... I felt guilty about your injury. I guess... I was a little pigheaded...”

“So was I!” Eri insisted. “I was worse! I knew all that, I was just being... stupid and prideful...”

“You're not stupid, you're a lawyer,” Kogoro insisted. “I'm the baka in the marriage, remember?”

“Yeah... that's what it should be, shouldn't it?” Eri sighed, suddenly deflating again. “A marriage... but it hasn't been for... too long, I guess.”

“You really want to get back together?” Kogoro said with the tentative air of one who is certain that it's too good to be true.

“Always have,” Eri said with a little smile. “I'm ready to endure you.”

“I've been waiting to put up with you,” Kogoro grumbled, but with a little smile. Eri leaned over and kissed him, as light and tentative as a first kiss- which, in some respects, it was.

It was a new dawn; a time for new beginnings.

Yukiko opened one eye, glanced over at Yuusaku, who despite not opening his eyes and appearing to be deeply asleep gave her a thumbs-up.

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“No.”

“I have to, Aoko…”

“No.”

“Just once, just to say goodbye…”

“No, Kaito.”

“I'm not going to steal anything…”

Aoko sighed in exasperation. “No last Kid heists, Kaito…”

“But I told you, it won't be a heist!” Kaito exclaimed. “Just a show, a bit of a party, fireworks and so on… just to say goodbye. Kid won't leave without a proper send-off…”

“Kaito…” Aoko sighed.

“I mean it, Aoko,” he said softly. “I'm not asking out of any sort of bedevilment or anything, it's just… Pandora is gone. There's no need for Kid anymore. But unless I actually say it, to the world… Kid won't go. He didn't go when Tou-san died… I need closure for this, too. I mean…”

“It's not just Kid you want to say goodbye to, is it?” Aoko asked softly, placing her hand on his, gently intertwining her fingers with his.

“No,” Kaito said quietly, looking down.

“Fine,” Aoko sighed. He glanced up at her in hopeful surprise. “But Kami help me… you are buying the fireworks and whatever else you have planned, all right? You steal so much as a jar of peanut butter…”

“Peanut butter?” Kaito said with a thoughtful look. Aoko was under the worrying impression that she'd just given him ideas.

“And when it's over…” she continued.

“…I shall lock up the outfit, the hanglider and everything to do with Kid,” he swore, raising three fingers in a gesture that was completely lost on Aoko, “and give you the key.”

“That mean… over…?”

Kaito and Aoko both whipped around at the sound of the weak and muffled voice from the next bed. Minami had turned her head slightly, her eyes half-open, staring at them.

“K-kaa-san…?” Kaito whispered.

“Kai… to…” she murmured, trying to reach out to him with the arm not in a sling, but wincing as her still-damaged arm protested.

“Don't move…” he gasped, starting to sit up, but Aoko put a gentle hand on his shoulder, forcing him back down, and walked over to kneel next to Minami.

“Obachan…” she whispered. “How do you feel?”

“Been… better…” she muttered with a cracked smile. Kaito gave her a teary grin in lieu of being able to reach out to her.

“It's all over, Obachan,” Aoko promised, patting her hand. “We're alive… hurt, but alive. We're all alive, and they're all in jail… the Pandora is gone… it's all over now.”

Tears began slipping down Minami's cheek, as fast and strong as those pouring down her son's. Aoko placed one hand on Minami's injured one and reached the other one out to Kaito, linking together the fragile remnants of a broken family.

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“Hakase…” Ai murmured, drifting back into consciousness.

“Ai-kun, you're awake! Agasa said happily.

“You're all right?” she asked, turning slightly to stare at him, tears welling up. She'd had nightmares that they'd all…

“I'll have to tell the doctor to take me off that diet,” Agasa laughed, gingerly patting his rotund stomach. “It'll take more than bullets to get through this!”

Ai started to laugh, but stopped with a wince as her ribs hurt.

“There ought to be a button for a painkiller drip on the control pad for your bed,” Agasa said, indicating a button pad lying on her bedside table. “I insisted that you'd be mature enough to use it responsibly.”

Ai laughed again, careful to not laughed too hard, and pressed the button, sighing in relief as the pain faded a few seconds later. “Is…?”

“Everyone else got out alive,” Agasa reassured her. “The only fatalities that night were Chianti, Gin, Vermouth and Red Rum. And my lab…” he sighed sadly. “They had to let it burn itself out in the end, it didn't actually stop until after dawn… The insurance covers a rebuild, though, and frankly they'll probably finish rebuilding my house before the surgeons finish rebuilding my gut…”

Ai giggled again, this time without pain. She felt very light-headed.

“You're awake, Haibara-san?”

Ai glanced over to the door, a little surprised to be addressed so politely by someone older. She'd gotten used to being brushed aside as a kid.

Hakuba Saguru had entered, laptop in hand and various random wrappings covering burns, followed by the completely uninjured Akako.

“Kaito-kun's mother woke up,” he said with a smile. “It'll still be quite some months before she can leave, but it's a start…”

“I'm glad,” Akako said softly. Ai noted that her hand was loosely gripping Hakuba's. “Kaito-kun does not deserve to lose both parents…”

“When did all of you get on first-name terms?” said Ai in surprise, remembering their tendency to address each other by last names only.

“Saving each others' lives from the most evil criminal organization ever created has a bonding effect,” Hakuba said with a shrug and a grin.

“I don't think I've ever seen you grin like that,” Akako said with a wicked grin of her own, looking almost like her old smile. “You almost look like you might have some devilment in you after all.”

“Kami help me, Kaito-kun's rubbing off,” Hakuba groaned, pressing a hand over his eyes in a longsuffering yet clearly overdramatic gesture. “Anyway…” he set the laptop down on Ai's bedside table. “I sifted out all of the APTX data,” he explained. “It's all on there, if you want to look. If you can figure out the chemical formulae for the antidote, I put the email address for Hakuba labs in the email program on there… I'll make sure it's the main priority there, don't worry.”

“Warn them now, If all of my data's on here I should have the formula by tonight,” Ai said, grabbing the laptop and clicking away happily.

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“Thank you, agent Hondo,” the CIA pen-pusher said politely, closing his notes. Hidemi's superiors had descended within hours of being informed by the FBI that her job was complete, requesting a report. She'd have to find out who had told them and push them off of something high.

“Hondo-san, you have one more visitor,” the nurse said as the American passed her and left the room. Hidemi sighed and nodded as her head fell back heavily on the pillow. She did not feel like giving another report, dammit. She just wanted to rest. She needed to decompress. All of the horrible memories, all of the terrible things that she'd seen or done to defeat the Syndicate, ever since her father's death… she knew that they were just waiting to crash down on top of her, overwhelming her, and she knew that she had to let them. She had to let go, let everything wash over and past her…

“Oneechan?”

Her mood suddenly changed at that voice. She stared at the door, her breath catching.

Eisuke was standing there, clutching a sports bag. Unlike the pristine CIA officials, who didn't appear to sleep, he had evidently climbed out of bed to catch the first flight he could- he was wearing tracksuit bottoms, a rumpled t-shirt and loosely tied trainers without socks. His hair was a mess, but his eyes were bright and alert behind his slightly askew glasses.

“Ei-chan…” she whispered.

“Is it true?” he asked, collapsing in the chair next to her bed. “Oneechan… is it true that they're finished? Are you…”

“It's all over, Ei-chan,” she said, tears spilling over as she reached out to straighten his glasses. “It's all…”

“Complete the mission… in my place… Don't give up, Hidemi!”

The tears that she had known would come took hold of her, uncontrollable sobs wracking her body, Eisuke leaned over to hug her, not saying anything but just being there as she hugged him back; brother and sister again for the first time in over ten years, another broken family healing together again…

The world began to heal over.

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I have to say, I totally agree with you, KSA Key-Chan… But I decided to make it that way because that's how life is. Sometimes, there can be no redemption. Sometimes, you don't get to say goodbye… besides, though he did recognize her, Jin-chan effectively died on the way to becoming Gin, and perhaps it's better to let Akako mourn as such until her heart is calmer and she's more at peace with herself. Besides, can you really see Gin suddenly realizing what he has become, renouncing his evil ways, lovingly embracing his sister and going off to play with orphaned children to atone for his life of sin? XDXD seriously, I knew I could never redeem Gin. I doubt I ever will, in any fic.

If it does happen, Sunny Lighter, I may sue for stealing my brain-matter…. Either that or I'm psychic XD

Agasa's alive, StargateNerd ^_^ Akako helped Kir get out of the building while the shit was going down downstairs, and got caught up by the arriving cops and didn't get away until just after the building exploded. Then she was basically acting as pain-relief to everybody. She's been kicking around the hospital ever since.

Agasa is alive, Mimzsilver! ^_^ Only three chapters and an epilogue left… ^_-

No epilogue quite yet, Mel72000… there's still the windown and fluff left. Even if you try to end a story with a bang (literally), there's still cleaning up to do…

When WILL the antidote be finished, KageNoNeko? XD soon, probably…

Glad you liked it, Silver Shadowbreeze… it was meant to be sweet, a flashback to who they were ten thousand years before… and they will if Ai has anything to do with it XD

There's a few chappies of fluff and stuff left, MyMelo… I don't know how evident the pun is in the anime, but it was explained in the subtitles of the fandub of the manga that I read. I love puns like that, and I wish they translated better, especially since it contributed to a lot of the ambiguity around Shuu…

I am wise for my years, Marie Ravenclaw XD Yeah, I was pissed off at those loudmouth cops too… I hope she feels better when she finds out that it's exactly the other way around… he liked Sato because she looked like Kobayashi XD

The final epicness, Desperatembrace! Yeah, I feel so sorry for poor Kobayashi-sensei… and pissed at those cops… D:<

Ladies and Gentlemen, that was the ultimate epicness of the fic… XD glad you liked, virushunter981. It was meant to be a little fluffy and wistful… basically it was a dream I had XD

Caught up, DiGi? On the fic and the sleep? XD

Glad you like, FHP2208! ^_-

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).