Ran let out an audible gasp. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows twitched jerkily as the person on the other end introduced himself as Kudo Shinichi. Thousands of questions flitted past her mind, overwhelming her so much she could not manage to get one single word out.
"Hello? Hello, Ran? Are you there? Hello?" the shockingly familiar voice beckoned. Still Ran remained taciturn, her mouth agape but not a single word materialising.
After what seemed like an eternity plus one second, Ran choked out, "S-Shinichi? B-But... You're dead."
The person on the other end chuckled, making Ran feel rather dense immediately.
"Yeah, well, this is the ghost speaking," Conan, or so it appeared, teased.
Previous astonishment were driven out and replaced by testy indignation as Ran clenched her free hand. She raised her fist in front of her and almost walloped it at the phone receiver.
"IDIOT!" she hollered, sounding extremely intimidating even over the phone. "You had better tell me what's going on right this second!"
Conan distanced the phone from his ear as Ran shrieked, only reinstating it after Ran's voice died down. "Ok, ok. There's no need to get so touchy."
"Touchy? TOUCHY? You bilk us into thinking you're dead AGAIN and you're commenting about my touchiness? Shinichi, in case you have forgotten, I happened to be the president of the karate club!" the high-pitched voice roared, so loud that the people around Shinichi turned their heads at him peculiarly. Shinichi reddened, scurrying to an isolated place before continuing.
"Ok ok! I get it! Now do you want to know what happened or not?"
Ran gritted her teeth. "Yes."
"Sit down then, it will be a long story. Now it happened more than a month ago..."
The scorching fire crackled turbulently, at such close proximity to Conan and Haibara that a morsel wafted towards Conan and caught fire on his shoe. He allowed the fire to burn on without any attempt to extinguish it.
"Haibara," he started, his glasses glinting opaquely, echoing the fiery display before them, "I want you to know that, there's no other person I'd rather die with."
"K-Kudo-kun..." Haibara wheezed, her lungs desperate for oxygen.
A ear-splitting shattering of glass from somewhere above them interposed her.
"I can't allow you to die, tantei-kun," a voice with an uncanny resemblance to Shinichi's tone uttered. "Who will follow me around like a canine after that?"
Two pairs of incredulous eyes shot towards the source of voice. A phantom stood, in magnificent white, on a broken window frame high above the building, his splendour heightened by the blistering fire below him.
"Kaitou Kid!" Conan exclaimed out loud. A corner of his mouth curled upwards involuntarily at the sight of hope in the form of the Magician under the Moonlight.
"Now, tantei-kun, the fire on your shoe simply won't do. Let me help." Kid soared over towards him, magicking a bucket of water which he poured all over Conan and Haibara.
"Oi, you're hurting her!" Conan protested as Haibara grimaced at the cold water stinging her bullet wounds.
"My apologies, Miyano-chan, but this is to save your life." A piercing blue eye and a monocled eye sized her condition up. He shot a worried look at Conan, at which he flinched, because he understood very well what it meant.
Haibara might not survive.
"Well, let me get you both out of this inferno," Kid resumed in a superficially light timbre. "Ladies first."
He bent down to scoop Haibara up, but Haibara thrashed his arms away weakly.
"No... G-Get away fr-from m-me..." she panted.
"Haibara, you have to-"
"N-No, don't lea-leave my s-side, Kudo... kun..."
Conan winced at how fragile she was being. He felt an immense urge to hug her and protect her, but he knew he would only be hurting her. And so, he contended with a squeeze on her shoulders and a whisper into her ear.
"I will protect you always..."
He placed a butterfly kiss on her bruised cheek before signalling to Kid. Kid rapidly carted her up to his hang-glider, his actions swift but deft. Haibara wanted to protest some more, but just then she fainted.
"Haibara!"
"Don't worry, she's still breathing. Stay here, I'll be right back." Kid took off from the ground and out of the building, leaving a troubled Conan behind in the midst of rolling fire, like an island in a sea of red.
"Be safe, Haibara..."
True to his word, Kid was back promptly.
"Now your turn, tantei-kun."
"Wait a sec, Kid was the one who saved you?" Ran remarked disbelievingly.
"Yeah..."
A major question mark overhung conspicuously in Ran's mind. She mumbled softly, "How's Ai-chan?"
Silence. Silence that persisted for so long that Ran feared the worst.
"She's..." Conan began, but faltered off again.
"I-Is she...?"
"No, no!" Conan deterred instantly. "She's still alive and well, and her injuries are practically non-existent now. But..."
"But what?" Ran asked, getting impatient.
"She's blind."
Another silence.
"S-Shinichi..." Ran stammered, racking her brain for a way to comfort him.
"It's ok, I've helped her before, and I'll help her now. I will never give up on her," Conan declared. Ran had to smile.
"And I won't forgive you if you do! Where are you now, anyway?"
"Canada," was Conan's short and concise respond.
"Canada? Isn't that where-"
"Yup, hakase is our guardian here. We may be teenagers in real life, but we look like kids to everyone else," Shinichi said, not without a hint of grumbling.
"Wait," Ran stopped him, scrupulously gathering her thoughts together. "Does that mean he knew all along?"
Conan laughed. "Actually, he and my parents knew all along. Hakase was the one who created the fake corpses the police found. I left my watch on them for identification."
Anger began to escalate in Ran again as she half-lidded her eyes in provocation.
"And you didn't tell me?" her voice growing more and more shrill. Conan, perceptive as always, did not miss the pique.
"I'm very sorry, but as many talents as you possess, acting is not one of them. I can't risk the organisation finding out about our survival!"
"Don't try to butter me up," she said curtly. "But I accept your explanation."
Conan heaved a sigh of relief. He knew from experience that it was never wise to get on Ran's bad side.
"So what are you going to do now?" Ran inquired.
Conan pondered on this for a moment before replying, "I will never absolve the black organisation after what they have done to Haibara! But for now, my priority is Haibara's eyes.
"Aww..."
"What?" Conan ejaculated, irritated at her mushy tone.
"Listen to yourself. Everything you do is for Ai-chan! That's so sweet..."
Conan blushed. "W-What are you talking about? I've got to hang up now, hakase will freak out at the phone bill."
And without another word, he hung up. Ran listened to the click of the phone and smiled.
Do your best, Shinichi!
--
Haibara sat down in her new home, her hands busy feeling everything in the house. The couch, leathery and soft, a coffee table made of glass in front of her, a vase with a solitary rose in it.
"Ah!" she cried out, a rose thorn pricking her finger. Hot viscous liquid began leaching out of her forefinger. She dropped her wounded hand, listening intently as the liquid trickled onto the ground, projecting splashes of sound waves that vibrated her ear drums.
I'm blind again... Is this how I will stay for the rest of my life? This dull, colourless life? A life of nothing but sound waves and touch?
He deserves someone better...
She hoisted herself up and felt her way with her unharmed hand.
Rough walls of unknown colour, smooth glass panel, cold to the feel, wooden window frame, its edges somewhat jagged and...
A door knob. Metal. Wintry. The gateway away from here.
He deserves someone better...
Her wobbling hand turned the doorknob. Groping her way out, with each stride her steps became more uncertain, and she tripped.
"Haibara!"
She heard the owner of the voice, the love of her life, sprinting towards her hurriedly and catching her before she could hurtle into the hard ground. The warmth of his hands sent a tingle through her, but she pushed him away, nonetheless.
"Where are you going?" Conan asked, concerned at Haibara's unsteady footsteps. He wanted to support her, to lead the way, but he knew Haibara would just push him away again.
"Away from here," Haibara answered impersonally, her frosty expression in place.
"But why?"
Haibara halted in her pace. Tears trembled in those teals, before she lost control of them, and down they tumbled.
"I don't deserve you..." she murmured, hugging her quivering self tightly, feeling ever so vulnerable in her world of darkness.
She gasped, a pair of strong arms circling her waist, pulling her from behind into a passionate embrace. She felt Conan's head lean on her shoulder, his face so near his breath was prickling her flushed cheeks, his heart thumping against hers robustly.
"That's not true," he said in an undertone, his tenor low and resolute. "I love you, and that's all that matters."
Haibara shook her head vehemently, her soft hair brushing against Conan.
"If I leave, you'll forget me someday..." she said sadly. The arms released her slender waist, and for a moment Haibara was truly afraid that he had indeed deserted her. But then, she felt two hands land on her shoulders from her front.
"I'll show you how much I love you," Conan asserted, and Haibara felt silken lips sweeping her closed eyelids, one at a time, soft, tender yet ardent.
The turquoise orbs fluttered open. Suddenly Haibara felt dizzy, her legs losing their hold when Conan grabbed her back. She steadied herself, finding herself solely dependent on Conan's support at the moment, leaning against his arms. And...
Conan saw her pupils focused on him like the blind never could.
Could it be...?
Her fingers reached up and traced his lips. His ceruleans dilated excitedly.
"Haibara, you-"
A finger silenced him on the lips. Slowly, he lowered himself as they sealed their eyes, their throbbing lips finally meeting.
There was light in Haibara's life again.
I try to hold,
But the darkness breaks
My walls, and leaves me
Defenseless.
In, rushing silently
Like a thousand horsemen,
The darkness floods my soul.
I want to scream in terror,
But I cannot, for the darkness,
Like the cold hard vacuum
Of space,
Has sucked away my breath.
So there I stand, silently horrified,
Yet utterly unable to do anything
For myself.
Then,
Without any warning,
A brilliant light floods the crevices of my soul,
Which even I, in the darkness,
Had forgotten existed.
The light dispels in an instant
The darkness that had taken years
To take hold,
And remains,
Causing me to feel
Lightheaded.
Again, I want to scream,
This time, not in agony,
But in ecstasy.
But the light holds itself
Across my mouth,
And I cannot speak.
Instead, I bask forever
In the light which
Came when I didn't ask for it.
But it came when I needed it most,
And for that,
I love the light.