One Battle in the War

[Forever Lost 55]

I felt like writing, so I did. It's not good. But I'll share it anyway.

“Please…” Her grip tightened. He was forced to stop, and he turned to look at her, mildly surprised.

“It’ll be fine. Just have some faith in me.” Her lip quivered her fingers not ready to release him.

“Don’t go. Don’t do it.” She said, her voice trembling between fear and authoritative. His eyes seemed to search hers; looking for the reason she was being so stubborn.

“It’ll be alright. Just go with the plan.” She forced herself to release his hand. She was being so foolish. But in the face of the enemy, suddenly it crowded around her. Just how dangerous it was. Just how scary it was. Just how likely it was that he could die tonight. Before words could escape her lips again, Conan had disappeared.

This wasn’t a joke. This wasn’t a game. There was no guarantee that anyone would come out alive today. This was possibly the end. There would be no miracle. Reality… this fearful reality… it burned inside of her. Silently, Haibara began to make her way around the building, ready to take action.

“Isn’t this a lovely surprise, our traitor, Sherry?” The voice and the words sent chills down Haibara’s spine. She clenched her teeth and pressed her forehead against the wall in front of her.

“Nice to see you again, Gin.” Haibara almost laughed aloud. Kudo-kun had gotten her voice down well. Trembling, Haibara pressed 110 on her phone.

“There are some dangerous-sounding things going on in the parking garage under the Beika Super Mall. I think someone has a gun. Please send people quickly!” She used her more mature tone, thankfully not making the police ask why a little kid was calling in. They responded, saying that they were sending units right at that moment. She set the phone down, listening to what was going on, praying that she’d hear her own adult voice again – that she wasn’t too late.

“You’ve come to die, Sherry?” There was a shot. Panic coursed through Haibara’s veins and she once again pressed her forehead against the wall. Please… please… be alive… Tears fell from her eyes.

“I’m scared.” She whispered, answering aloud her mental question as to why she was acting this way. She may have been a cold-blooded murderer. She may have dealt with death on several occasions. She may have done horrible things. But this fear was overpowering, all too real. Kudo-kun was in there. Acting like her, dressed up as a young woman with short strawberry blonde hair, facing the worst monster ever.

Just then, someone she didn’t want to ever see under these circumstances appeared. Ran. She was rapidly approaching the parking garage. Haibara pushed herself off the wall and in a panicked frenzy she raced towards Ran. She won’t listen to me… That thought stopped her short. Surely, if Conan-kun’s little friend told her to not worry about it, she’d ignore them and check for herself. Haibara took a deep breath, hid herself from view, and did something she hadn’t done in awhile.

“HEY YOU, THE PARKING GARAGE IS CLOSED. NO TRESPASSING.” Haibara was shaking after using her very ticked off woman voice. She had placed all of her fears, all of the urgency, in that moment, and quite frankly, it took the energy out of her, making her feel weak. Haibara peeked around the corner. Ran had an odd expression on her face as she looked around for the voice.

“I’m sorry…” Ran muttered, and like a good law-abiding young woman, she turned hesitantly away and began to go back to where she had been coming from. Haibara’s heart was pounding. Hopefully no one had heard her inside. Hopefully Kudo-kun was still alive. Hopefully… hopefully the police would be here soon.

After leaning against the wall for another few moments, hearing nothing, she couldn’t hold back. She slipped inside, slowly making her way through the darkness. A lone vehicle, a familiar one, was parked, its headlights on. In the light was a large man with silver hair. In front of him was a young woman, standing oddly. Of course, Haibara knew that ‘woman’ was actually male. Every step she took made her fear grow. She froze as Gin spoke.

“You really have the gull to dodge my bullet after coming here like this? You know, Sherry, for a moment I thought you were an imposter. But I can smell you. The smell of a traitor.” Haibara felt herself get light-headed.

“Heh. As if anyone would appear before you as me, Gin.” Kudo responded. Gin’s expression wasn’t visible to her, but Haibara was pretty sure he was smirking. She felt her stomach lurch as he reached out and held a strand of Kudo-kun’s wig. Haibara figured that Gin must’ve had the gun up to him; otherwise any normal person would’ve probably smacked his hand away.

“Police!”

No… no… no… no… Haibara kept repeating in her head, a group of policemen, including Satou-keji at the entrance, lighting up the place, clearly revealing Gin. He smirked, pulling Kudo-kun over to him, a gun to his head.

“You don’t want to shoot.” He said calmly. The police force had their guns aimed still, but none had fired. Gin began to laugh. Haibara’s mind couldn’t think clearly. It was really happening. Kudo-kun… was about to die. In her place. Slowly, unnoticed, she began to walk towards the two, as if in a trance, just along the edge of the light. Gin’s eyes were on the police, along with Kudo-kun’s. It was an odd stand off. For a moment, the only one moving was Haibara. However, Gin was triumphant and began to slowly move toward his car. “Clear the way for my car and I won’t kill this girl.” There was no response.

Suddenly, Haibara sprinted the last few feet she had to go and using the hood of the car, she launched herself forward. Gin had caught on and swung his gun and fired it just as her foot came in contact with his hand. The bullet pierced through her arm, which was the only part of her body left in the line of fire. Within a second, the gun had flown from his hand and she had fallen to the ground. Satou-keji, finding it her only opening, shot Gin in the shoulder. He released Kudo-kun as a result but he was still standing. The wig was slipping from Kudo-kun’s head as he propped himself up on one arm, trying to see if Haibara was alright.

“Haibara…” He said, shocked and worried. Gin knew he would most likely get arrested at this point, but began to slowly move behind his car, raising his hands in supposed defeat. Kudo-kun stared as Haibara picked up the fallen gun and said coldly.

“Shoot to kill.” The trigger was pulled, and a bullet went right through Gin’s skull. All the trembling was gone. She had abandoned reaction to fear. Her eyes were dull, insanity having come over her. Her arm fell, but her hand still clenched the gun. Her other arm was bleeding profusely. Kudo-kun swallowed, staring. The police stood for a moment in shock themselves.

Satou-keji quickly took the gun from her. “Ai-chan!” She said, surprised. “What… why…?” Haibara looked at her with death cold eyes.

“He was going to kill her.” She stated simply.

Haibara sat on the couch at Agasa-hakase’s, still in her trance. The police force ended up covering for her, finding a seven year old who hung around Conan-kun to be more worth protecting than a man who had just tried to kill an innocent person. The report said that Satou-keji had killed him by accident, as he moved in a threatening way after she got him in the shoulder. Everyone had been let off the hook. Apparently Ran had called the police too, figuring that something was up. She wasn’t told about Haibara or Shinichi, and instead was kept in the dark. Conan had returned to his younger body after the temporary antidote wore off.

“Haibara…” He said, his first words aimed to her since the day it had all occurred, which was about a week ago. Dully, she looked up at him. He didn’t seem to have any comforting words. “They had him under control. You didn’t have to kill him.” Haibara stared at him, empty.

“I’m a cold-blooded murderer.” She replied quietly. She knew he was going to get away that day. If she hadn’t killed him then, he would’ve come after them. But Kudo-kun wouldn’t understand that. She didn’t have the fight to try to gain back his trust. She had lost her only true friend.

“Haibara…” he repeated. It took her awhile to register that tears had begun to fall down her cheeks. “You did it to protect us, didn’t you?” Her eyes widened. “I don’t like that you killed him. But I could see it, too. He was going to make it out of there at that rate.” He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s alright now.” Something broke inside of her and she began to sob into his shoulder.

He just let her cry into his shirt. He knew they still had more to fight against. The Organization wasn’t completely gone. He knew that she had been afraid. He had been, too. It was a miracle that he, himself didn’t pick that gun up and shoot him first. In the end, they had to keep fighting. Fighting for the freedom of their oppressors, fighting for a freedom from all of the lies surrounding them, the pain in their hearts, the ever-present danger. Perhaps soon they’d see the day that they could stop lying.

[Aeyra 260]

This was pretty good! (and I can ignore suggested ConAi!) Thumbs up from me!

[Forever Lost 55]

@Aeyra Aww, thank you! *stares in shock* YOU CAN?! I'm so proud of you~ XPP

[Misaki-chan 164]

Super good job Je-chan! *hugs*

[Anti-APTX4869 181]

Ahhh.... the soul of your work... it is amazing.

+1 for you

[Forever Lost 55]

@Misaki-chan Thank you! *hugs back*

@Cure-kun Thank you!! You know, what you said kind of means a lot to me, because I wrote this after watching an amv someone made that reminded me just why I watched Detective Conan, just what danger they were in, and how many emotions were so rampant, I tried to recreate that image, although I don't think I did properly... Thank you..

[Anti-APTX4869 181]

I had a vision of your work. It clearly visualizes the story you are talking about. I can feel your emotions into this as well.

[Forever Lost 55]

You have no idea how happy that makes me >.<

[Aeyra 260]

You did do the emotions really well!! I was feeling what Ai was feeling. ^-^ As for me ignoring ConAi... well... Conan wasn't acting anymore romantic than usual.

[IdentityUnknown 216]

I thought it was good. I'll go in depth later, must work...

[Forever Lost 55]

@Aeyra I'm really glad And yeah, it's not like they kissed, right? XDDDDD (which would've been terribly out of place..)

@Kaichou Thanks.. good luck on your work!