Shinichi Kudo currently sat in his manor, feeling very sick. For over one year, he, the Great Detective, had disappeared mysteriously and instead a small boy had taken his place, seemingly coming to existence out of nowhere. Now the boy was eight years old, but mentally at a high school level. What made him sick was that nobody seemed to care of his condition – well, those who knew of course couldn't truly help him because they had their own demons to take care of – and nothing challenged his suffering mind.
That's why Conan was so happy about following Kogoro-san to every murder, examining corpses that lately even fell from the sky, wandering around the scene and asking questions no normal, well, actually, any eight year-old would ask. Curious stares were the daily menue, but soon the policemen helped him investigate, knowing that something was different about this little boy.
Ah well, his height... Another problem.
Shinichi sighed and wished for the seemingly eternal torture of his soul to end.
Desperately clenching his small hands.
Screaming internally.
After blinking several times, Shinichi realized he was no longer in his room, but rather a colourless void.
"Where am I?", he asked quietly, and a thousand whispering echoes came from every direction.
"Is there someone? Hello!" Shinichi tried to swin, but he was securely suspended "in the air" - whereever that was. "Help!" With that said, a beautiful woman crystallized out of nowhere, long, silvery hair waving down her spine and azure and white feathers covering her body in a beautiful, alien dress. Calmly, she spoke without opening her eyes or moving her mouth.
"I am Magnifica, entity of the soaring skies. You called me, Kudo Shinichi?"
"Haibara... I need your help." The girl looked up from her book, realizing that something was troubling the detective. She studied his features carefully.
"You look like you've seen a ghost", she deadpanned. Shinichi flinched.
"What, really?", she glared at him, "you look pale, that is all. Geez, Shinichi-kun, you do worry me a lot..."
"Yes."
Haibara blinked surprisedly. "Kami, you've really seen one?"
The boy lowered his eyes. "You know that I don't really believe in... the supernatural, but a rare entity has visited me today..."
Ai's eyes widened.
"...and she told me that every soul had a... task attached to it. A kind of guideline for the personality."
The former member of BO knew when to avoid sensitive topics, she was rationality in person. As Shinichi searched for the right words, she knew she had to spill her secret eventually.
"The entity told me that you were able to help me out, but that was about all."
Ai was staring blankly somewhere behind Conan, not focusing on anything.
"Haibara", the detective called out.
The young scientist didn't respond.
"Ai-chan...", Shinichi called her softly. The nickname worked: Haibara woke out of her stupor.
"Shinichi...", she whispered, "she was right. I know things no one can ever know."
She took a deep breath in and out.
"I am a seer."
Silence.
Neither of them moved. Then, a comical sound came from Conan, and he put a hand over his mouth. "A- a fortune teller?" He burst out laughing.
"It's not funny!", Haibara said, feigning hurt.
"No, seriously, this is just so weird!" He burst into a fit of giggles. "First th-the entity Magnifica, now this?"
Haibara looked daggers at him, deadly serious. The response was immediate.
"What exactly is it that could help me?", Conan said in his matter-of-fact tone.
"As I said, I am a fortune teller – of some kind." She paused, feeling the tension. "Once a day, I can reveal someone's "card", a visible depiction of ones soul."
"Ah, so that's why you trusted Agase-hakase so quickly?"
Haibara blushed slightly. "I still don't trust him entirely." Under her breath, Conan could hear: "Someday, someday..."
"I don't think you have to worry of him burning the house", Conan grinned.
"Huh, what? How'd you know?"
"He already did. More than once. But I insisted that he can only do "safe stuff" once you were around." He rolled his eyes. "What else is there to know?"
Haibara tapped her chin. "First, there are many cards that match each other, but each one having a different aura depending on the specialized lifestyle, set of skills and so forth. Second: There seem to be soulmates... Cards that complement each other."
Conan's eyebrow raised at that. "Soulmates?"
"Third", Haibara continued, "There's a common theory, though inadequately documented, caled the "Werewolves of Miller's Hollow theory". It basically takes an ancient French tale and converts it into a more modern view."
"Interesting", the detective added. "What about you? Do you believe the theory?"
"Seeing that there is some evidence, I can't exclude that it could be true."
"Even though you see the cards yourself?"
"They could just as well be hallucination."
After some moments of silence, Conan spoke up: "So... Have you opened my "card" yet?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you that, you have to find that out yourself. By the way, it takes a lot of effort to reveal it, so don't rely on it too often." Haibara dug into her book, signaling the conversation was over.
Shinichi turned around and walked into the study. Only being around books helped him, often. It was nice, having so much knowledge at a place but total silence at the same time. Maybe he could even find a book that could gove him an overview...
If Haibara could cleary see cards and summoned them by will, why wouldn't she believe it?
A/N: *winces* I was thinking of taking the cards as metaphors... But I kinda like this idea, so mayyyybe I'll do a mix of both metaphors and cardgame...
Tell me, how would you finish the title? And what's the correct quote?
Edit 11.12.2017: I made some small changes, added some words.
