Mikau: Hello! Thank you so much for checking out this story! I saw a Shinichi and Conan parody someone had done of the video for Mosaic Role, and it inspired this chapter. The story's dark and angsty, but it'll have its sweet moments too. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Yusaku, Toichi, and Kogoro never would have grown mustaches. If you notice, when Yusaku and Kogoro were young, they didn't have mustaches, and they looked pretty good. Now? Not so much. I guess I just don't like facial hair.

…

Mosaic Role

It was the strangest dream he had had in a while.

Conan was sitting on a bench, waiting for the bus and talking with the person next to him, as people sometimes did.

That wasn't what made it an unusual dream.

The odd part was that Shinichi wasn't Conan. Instead, he was looking at Conan through the eyes of the person his younger alter-ego was conversing with.

"It's fine, you know," the bespectacled boy was saying. "I've been expecting it for a while. I know how much you hate me because I hate me too. This body is useless. Sure, I've found ways of making it work for me, and thanks to Agasa Hakase's gadgets, I can function, but…"

"You want to be your true self again," the other person responded. "You don't want to have to rely on those tools like a crutch. You want to be able to be with Ran. It's okay. I understand."

"I don't want words of comfort from someone like you!" the shrunken sleuth snapped.

"What do you mean?"

"Murderer," the grade schooler muttered, eyes narrowing. "You're going to kill me the instant that you have the opportunity. You'll tell everyone that Conan's parents came and took him to America with them. Then you'll forget all about me. Everyone will forget that I even existed in the first place!"

"In time, yes," the man replied levelly, and it was then that Shinichi noticed the gun in his hand. "You were never supposed to exist in the first place. I'd only be making things right again. You think so too, don't you?"

"No. Not anymore." Conan looked up at him with clear blue eyes full of determination. "Just because I wasn't born into this world like other people, doesn't mean that I don't have the right to exist! I have friends and people who care about me! I have a life, and you don't have the right to take that away from me!"

"But you said you wanted to be your true self. You said that you hated that worthless form, and yet you also say that you don't want to disappear? Which is it? What do you really want?"

"I don't know," Conan whispered, looking down at his feet again.

"You can't have both."

The small brunette sighed, closing his eyes. "You've already made your decision, haven't you?"

"My choice was made the day you came into existence, and it hasn't changed at all since then. You should know. I've been trying to dispose of you from the start. I despise you."

Shinichi could feel the man smiling softly as he closed his eyes as well.

"Then do it."

When Shinichi's eyes opened again, he found himself looking out from behind Conan's glasses once more.

"Kill me," he heard the little detective whisper as he looked up through tears to face his attacker. "But…make it quick, Shinichi?"

Shinichi stared in horror from behind Conan's eyes as Kudo Shinichi himself pulled back the hammer of the gun pointed at his younger incarnation.

"With pleasure."

A shot rang out, painting the sidewalk crimson.

000

Conan woke with a start, and, after checking to make sure his brain hadn't really been spilled all over the pavement, he glanced at the clock.

Four AM—both too late and too early to call anyone for comfort and/or counseling.

He opted to text Kaito to request a meeting the next day after school.

The nutty magician (who he was pretty sure was the Kaitou Kid) always managed to make the former ace teen detective feel calm and less like the world was ending.

After sending the message, he closed his eyes and tried to return to the world of dreams, but disturbing phantoms of his previous vision kept floating through his head—Shinichi's sadistic grin and the smoking gun; Conan's limp form and unseeing eyes.

There would be no more rest for the great detective tonight.

…

(o)v(o)

Mikau: They're owl eyes…maybe. You see the beak? Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. Please review, if you have the time. I'm very interested in knowing how this chapter was received. The first three-fourths was a little difficult to write; I hope it wasn't too confusing. Maybe it'll have to be read twice. Thank you very much for reading! Hope to see you next time!