"Here you go, Kudo-kun, your precious cure. Are you sure you're ready for it?" Haibara said, offering him a small white pill and he took it eagerly.

"Of course, I mean, it'll hurt, but I'll finally get to see Ran again! That-that's worth anything." Conan said, taking the pill from her hand and getting a glass of water from the sink.

"If you say so, Kudo. But you should be aware that nothing ever truly goes the way one plans. 'The plans of mice and men' Ne?" Haibara said and Conan looked at her suspiciously.

"What are you trying to say, Haibara? If this is another one of your stupid tests or mind games then-."

Haibara cut him off. "I'm not playing any sort of game with you, Kudo. There's your cure, take it or leave it. You've got a lot more choices to be made after you get done with this."

Conan smiled, dropping his tense posture at her assurances. "Yeah, you're right. No matter how this turns out; thanks, Haibara. Bottoms up!"

Conan dropped the pill into his mouth and downed the glass of water. As the burning pain of the transformation filled him, he could've sworn he heard her say "Let's see if you thank me after you're done. Good luck." But, as his consciousness slipped away, he couldn't be sure.

He woke in an unfamiliar place, white as far as the eye could see, with no change in landscape at all. But, as there had been nothing before, suddenly there was. Or, rather, someone. It appeared to be a man, a bit taller than Shinichi and wearing a loose white shirt and white pants that hung around him almost like a skirt. His skin was dark and his features were distinctly foreign, not American though, almost Middle Eastern.

"Shinichi-kun!" the man called out and waved his arms. Feeling confused (but ultimately glad to wake up in his teenage body) Shinichi made his way towards the man.

"Hello, my name is Devaduta, but most people just call me David these days. How are you, Shinichi-kun? Oh, and good job, I must say." The man said cheerily and Shinichi just looked at him in confusion.

"I'm fine, I guess. What exactly are you congratulating me on? And where are we?" Shinichi said and David laughed.

"Right, I'm sorry, I'm used to greeting people a little more informed than you. I'm congratulating you on finding your 'cure' of sorts. Great job you did, detective, we were all rooting for you. And this," he gestured around him ", is a place most of us call 'The Last Stop'. Let's clear things up for you now. What, exactly do you know, or think you know, that is." David said and sat, his loose fitting clothes pooling around him and Shinichi sat too, surprised to find himself dressed similarly to the other man, though his clothes seemed to be more of a gray-blue color than white.

"I was shrunken into a child by a criminal organization and adopted the alias Edogawa Conan. I was living with my best friend and crush, Mouri Ran, and I met a former scientist from that organization named Sherry, a.k.a. Miyano Shiho, alias Haibara Ai. She made an antidote which just got to take and then I ended up in this place." Shinichi said and the other man nodded.

"Get right to the point, don't you? Can't blame you, though I would've loved to hear how it went from your point of view. We only get third and second points of view up here, it's so annoying but they insist on privacy all the time. Enough of that now, time to tell you the real story. That night you got poisoned, you should've died. But, by some cosmic twist of fate, your little girlfriend came after you and found you there, half dead. The events of the past year? They've occurred in about, oh, an hour of Earth time. The times you've been able to turn back to your old self was when they managed to revive you. You are currently dying on a operating table, actually." David said and Shinichi felt horror creeping up on him.

David looked sympathetic. "Lot to take in, right? Don't get too wound up, there's more. The past year has been a sort of purgatory, if you will. You see, you lived a really great life down there and you do catch an awful lot of murders, which makes the souls much happier, mind you. And there had to be some reason your girlfriend interfered, right? So the question became this. Do we let you live or do we let you die? And it came down to letting you carve your fate on your own. We let you live in your little fantasy and the verdict was if you didn't find a cure before you died, we'd let you die, as you should've. But, if you did manage to find it, we'd let you decide your own fate, stay or go back to your life. Don't make your choice just yet though, still more." David said, seeing the young man open his mouth.

"Remember Ai-kun? She was a real person, as were your little detective friends, though they're still alive. Ai-kun tried to commit suicide and, in the real world, she succeeded. Since she was following orders and tried several times to not do as her employers wished, we let her pay off her debt by helping you. Explains her cryptic words there at the end, doesn't it? Of course, she was aware she was dead. Heiji-kun was real too, of course, you'd probably get along with him quite well, if you go back, you should look him up. Ah, let's see am I forgetting anyone? Oh, yes, your Black Organization. They're all still there and at large and such, but you have more than enough information to turn them in with and get them caught, promise. Don't feel like you should go back to catch them though, Kaitou Kid has it all but covered should you decide to stay. If you go back, try getting him to talk with you for a moment, his mind's on par with yours. Well, I think that's about it." David said and looked expectantly at Shinichi.

"I want to be with Ran." Shinichi said quickly and David looked back at him with level eyes.

"But Shinichi-kun, you will be with Ran-kun. By the time you got through the gates, she might even be waiting for you. Time is different here. You'll still be with her, but you'll be with her here instead. This place is paradise, Shinichi-kun, do you real want to leave and live a whole human life full of pain and hurt? Everything you desire is right at your fingertips here." David said and his voice sounded like a plead.

Shinichi considered this for a moment. "No, I'm sorry, but I can't. I'll be here again one day, won't I?" At the other's nod, he continued. "There has to be a reason that Ran saved me, there has to be a reason you decided to let me choose. If I was meant to be here, you would've sent me straight through. I know who I am now and what I need to do. But thanks for the offer. Really, it was tempting."

David smiled easily. "Don't worry about it, I always really knew what you would pick, besides, we don't have fast food up here! The devil's work, for sure, but it's a delicious sin, I've heard. And a completely forgivable one at that."

"Well, how do I get back? I am dying, remember?" Shinichi said wryly.

David laughed. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again, Shinichi-kun! Be prepared for the punch, from what I've been told, it's pretty painful! Okay, here's what you need to do. Close your eyes." Shinichi did as instructed and waited to be told some magic words or something. "Now, open them!"

Shinichi gasped and opened his eyes. He tried to sit up only to gasp painfully again and fall back against the pillows.

"Shinichi!" a familiar voice exclaimed and Shinichi painfully turned his head to spot the familiar figure of Ran at his bedside. She darted across the small space between them and grasped the sheets next to his arm. "Shinichi, baka, what did you think you were doing? You-you nearly died and I can't-Don't you ever do anything like this again!" Ran sobbed and Shinichi smiled weakly.

"Ran..." he whispered and she looked him in the eyes.

"Shinichi, you're okay, aren't you? Wait, don't talk, you'll wear yourself out. Oh, Shinichi, I was so scared you were going to die. They told me you wouldn't make it...." Ran said and Shinichi shifted his arm closer to her hands with large amount of effort and she grasped the arm gently, as if afraid of breaking him.

"Ran, I-!" Shinichi wheezed.

"Baka, I said not to talk!" Ran exclaimed and pulled a chair over and scooted it right next to the bed. She sat in it and laid her head on his chest lightly, not letting the full weight of it rest there. "Is that okay? I'm not hurting you?"

Shinichi made a positive sounding noise in the back of his throat.

"I'm so glad you're alive...." Ran whispered and lifted her head off his chest. "I need to tell the others you woke up. The whole school is in an absolute uproar, Shinichi. If you had died, I don't even know what would've happened. A bunch of our class skipped yesterday and came here, they weren't allowed in but they were convinced their very presence would revive you. I think Sonoko started that plan."

Ran chuckled about this as she pressed the nurse call button and Shinichi smiled.

"Ran-chan, is that you, honey? Did his heart start racing again?" a woman's voice cooed over the intercom.

"No, Tsubasi-san, Shinichi just woke up." Ran said and a flutter of activity could be heard on the other side.

"He-he did? That's great, Ran-chan! Some one will be up, no; I'll be up there in just a minute. Don't let him fall asleep, okay? Ja!" the woman exclaimed and cut the call short.

"That's the head nurse for this floor. Your heart started racing really fast sometimes and I got worried. She's very nice." Ran assured him and he smiled.

The woman he assumed was Tsubasi burst into the room then and the one sided conversation stopped. For now.

(Three Days Later)

"Good news! The nurses say you should be okay to start talking again, if you want to. You've recovered really well, Shinichi." Ran informed him and Shinichi's face broke out into a wide smile.

"Finally!" he rasped and then frowned at the sound of his voice. Ran smirked and held a glass of water just out of his reach.

"Missing something?" she said and he glowered and tried to take the glass and failed.

"Say please! Oh, wait, you can't unless I give you the water, can you?" she said, fully awake of the fact. At his face, she laughed and handed it to him and he drunk it greedily.

"I've got a lot to tell you, Ran." He said and she looked over, surprised at his immediate forwardness.

"Like what?" she asked sat on the edge of his bed. He could barely move his arms still, the poison had been nearly impossible to stop; his cells had literally been destroying themselves. The only way they'd been able to save him was by running a high voltage electric charge through his body, deprogramming the mass apoptosis before it could reach a critical rate.

Shinichi paused here, hesitating one last second. But he'd already wasted enough time as Conan (though his brain continued to tell him it was all just an elaborate dream, that year was still very real to him. It counted as reality, as least for now.) "I-I love you, Ran."

She gasped and looked at him shocked at the words that ad come out of his mouth. "S-Shinichi?"

"I can't even begin to explain to you how I came to this conclusion, but I do. I love you. Will you be my girlfriend, Ran?" Shinichi said, looking her straight in the eye.

"I-Of course, Shinichi! Yes!" she exclaimed, hugging him fiercely and his body protested, but he refused to make a sound. He had waited too long for this for something silly like pain to mess it up. "I love you too, Shinichi."

"I already knew that." He murmured to himself, but she heard it and looked at him suspiciously.

"How did you already know that? Well?" she said, pulling away and looking at him with her hands on her hips and he wondered what kind of scenario she was imagining in her mind; him eavesdropping on her and Sonoko, him reading her diary, him spying on her in her sleep (he now knew that she talked in her sleep and, in the months he'd been gone, she had called out his name at night on many occasions.)

Shinichi laughed, not only at the images, but also at himself. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. I wouldn't believe me if I told myself. I doubt even Kaitou Kid or even Hattori would believe me, should I find the need to track them down. So, wouldn't you just like to drop it?"

Ran looked at him, confused. "Kaitou Kid, what about him? And who is Hattori? Shinichi, you're not making any sense, I think I'll just call the nurse now...." Ran moved towards the button.

"No, no, wait! I'll explain, I explain. But, I'm not crazy, alright, and this wasn't a dream, so don't suggest it. It went something like this...."

And that was the real beginning. Or, better yet, the end.

This can be entirely blamed on my brother, who, while we were having a conversation about Conan and how Gosho-sensei was going to end the series and such, suggested that the whole ordeal Shinichi was going through now was simply his own personal form of purgatory. The idea jumped into my head and wouldn't let go and then it mutated, because I really didn't want to kill Shinichi off, at least not without him getting his say.

KIRBY: In further news, Velocity's writer's block has all but vanished, so expect more soon.

One more thing.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!- An important plan is in the making right now, something that all of you, the readers are welcome to take part in. BUT before we can do anything, we need your help! We need to know Gosho Aoyama's address or his address for fanmail, though the first is preferable. So, a chanllenge to all of you out there! First person to get me a real, working, address for Gosho will get to request any sort of fic they want, any pairing, though please keep my sanity in mind with your requests, AND they will be let into the circle about this master plan before anyone else (who doesn't already know) finds out! So, what are you waiting for? Get to work!

Thanks for reading and remember to review!