Title: The Stuff of Heroes
Summary: Because after the Fall, John wasn't the only one who didn't lose faith. But unlike John, Conan was going to prove it, regardless of a certain,nosy phantom thief tagging along. SherlockxJohn, KaitoxConan/Shinichi
A/N: Edited 8/15/2014. This is Detective Conan-cetric. I will underline when Conan and Kid speak in Japanese when they reach their destination. I have not seen Series Three (no spoilers) and will therefore make no references to it. Thank you in advance for reading.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
After hearing it on the news, he couldn't believe it.
It just wasn't possible.
And he was going to prove it.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Otou-san, have you seen Conan-kun?"
"Hmm?" The private detective looked up from his newspaper. "The brat? I thought he was with you."
"Conan-kun!" Ran called, walking around the room to look for any signs of the boy.
"Perhaps he already left for school?" he suggested as he turned the page. "Does it really even matter? God knows he acts so much older for his age."
Ran turned to her father. "He never leaves without me! Something must be wrong… Let me call some people..."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Hello? Oh, hi - What? Oh, no we - Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Yes, I'll let you know right away. Good bye and good luck!"
"Who was that?" Heiji asked as soon as Kazuha hung up her phone.
"It was Ran-chan. She says that Conan-kun's gone missing and asked if we've seen him."
"Ku - I mean, Conan-kun's missing?" Heiji turned wide-eyed.
Slightly disturbed by her friend's sudden change in attitude, Kazuha hesitated when she replied, "Uh, yeah. Listen -"
She didn't get to finish as Hattori broke off into a mad dash, moving away from her and to the train station that would take him to Tokyo to investigate.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It was going perfectly well. They were loud, he was silent, and nobody suspected a thing. Until his phone went off, rather loudly.
Aoko jumped slightly in the air while Kaito frowned to face their follower. "How long have you been stalking us?" he asked, rather bluntly, but was forced to wait for an answer as Saguru answered his phone.
"Hello? Oh, yes, Mouri-san," Saguru spoke, causing the company to turn silent as his face shifted from annoyance to confusion. "No, there haven't been any leads on Kid. Why… Oh. No, I haven't seen Conan-kun, not since the last case. Why yes, of course I'll let you know. Goodbye." He hung up the phone while Kaito approached him.
"What was that?"
"I don't believe it was any of your business," replied Saguru, which caused Kaito to become snippy. "Unless…" He eyed him carefully. "There was a reason as to why you would be concerned that a certain child detective named Edogawa Conan is missing?"
Kaito blinked as he stored the information for further study, away from Tantei-san. He'll just have to cut class later to investigate. "… Who?"
"That's what I thought you would say."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The phone rang while Haibara was in the middle of something extremely important, causing her to become irritated when she was forced to end said activity to go and answer the phone.
"What?" she snapped.
"A-ah, Ai-chan? Uh, I know it's early and all, but do you think that I can speak to the Professor, please?"
Haibara removed the phone from her ear to hear the shower running across the hall. "I'm sorry, but he's not available at the moment. Would you like for me to take a message?"
"Oh, okay then. No, it's fine. It's just... Y-you wouldn't have happened to have seen Conan-kun recently, would you?"
"…" The phone dropped from Haibara's hand and lay there for a few moments before she picked it up again.
"Ai-chan?"
Ai just hung up the phone, allowing her bacon to burn in the pan.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Alright, thank you for your time." Ran hung up the phone before picking up to dial again.
"Oi, there's a note over here," her father called, picking it up from the table.
"What? I would have seen it!" She slammed down the phone and ran to her father. "Give it here!" She grabbed it from her hands and read it quickly. "It says that his mother came by to pick him up really early."
"Well then, there you go -"
"I don't believe it."
"What?"
Ran crumpled up the note before tossing it away. "I mean I don't believe that Conan-kun would have just left without saying goodbye!" She dashed back to the phone and pushed some buttons.
"Hello? I would like to report a missing child."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Oh? And who do we have here? An unaccompanied minor?"
Conan stared at the lady before blinking. He took out a 'Japanese to English' translation book from his pocket and flipped through it before the woman just repeated her question in English.
This time he nodded at the lady as he shuffled his feet, anxious to board the plane. "No ma'am, my mother is already onboard. May I please go?" he answered in perfect English with just a hint of a Japanese accent.
The woman nodded as Conan walked on board, only with his backpack for about twelve hours.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It was a restless twelve hours before finally the plane landed in Heathrow Airport in London. Conan dashed past security and out the airport to try and hail a cab.
After waiting for about twenty minutes, he realized that perhaps he didn't think this plan through.
"Shit," he muttered as he bit his thumb, plotting on what to do.
"Do you need help, little boy?" Conan turned to find a man gesturing to him kindly.
"I got separated from my parents, I think they left for the house already..." He started to sniffle.
"Well, where do you live? I can take you there," the man offered, reaching out for Conan's backpack who jerked back in response.
"It's fine. I'll just call them," Conan replied, taking out a phone.
"Conan-kun! Conan!" A blonde woman wearing black sunglasses waved as the boy turned and found himself in a hug.
"Come on, let's go, hmm?" She spoke in Japanese to the boy before she acknowledged the man and spoke in English, "Thank you so much! We thought we lost him! You are in big trouble, young man." She didn't allow the stranger to reply as she dragged Conan by the ear into a hailed cab, hopped inside and they drove away.
Conan exhaled a sigh of relief, perhaps too early, before scrutinizing who had saved yet kidnapped him at the same time. "Do I know you?"
The woman stuck out her tongue. "You don't remember me? I sat right behind you during that extra long flight, Tantei-kun~"
"Kid?" Conan gasped, as he didn't know that Kaitou Kid was behind him.
Before he could say anything else, however, the driver turned and interjected, "Hey, where are we going?"
Kid opened his mouth to answer, but Conan beat him to it. "St. Bartholomew's Hospital, please."
The cab driver looked grim for a moment before giving a shrug with a nod and turned away from his passengers.
"So, would you like to explain to me why you ran away from your beloved Ran-chan, not leaving a note or anything to hint as to where you would disappear to? You're lucky that they - or Mouri-san at least - were franticly looking for you. I was able to sneak a note on the table, but I don't think they bought it…" Kid questioned, causing Conan to pout in response.
"What about you?! How did you find me?" Conan retorted, not willing to spill his secrets.
"Let's just say that a certain bird told me where you were," Kid replied off-handedly, looking outside the street to watch the traffic of London, England. "Huh, England ain't bad at all," he commented to the cabbie, who didn't reply.
"Isn't. 'Ain't' isn't a word," Conan corrected. "I should have noticed the white trailing me." Conan sighed. "How fluent is your English?"
"Not as fluent as yours. I heard you, Mr. Fluent-in-English-with-just-a-hint-of-a-Japanese-accent," Kid answered. "I can understand and respond. It wouldn't be a problem. I know that you'll need me. No one in their right mind will let a six year old run around London unaccompanied."
Conan rolled his eyes. "And you decided to fix that by disguising as my mother?"
"Have any better ideas?"
"How about my brother, or my father? Why do you have to be a girl?"
"Because of reasons."
Kid knew that Conan wasn't going to accept that answer, as apparent from the glare he was giving him. "You told the flight attendant that you were with your mother, did you not?"
"Hey, stop trying to distract me. How did you catch up to me so quickly?" Conan brought the conversation back to where he wanted it to go, instead of trailing off like conversations tend to do.
"Well, you know, you left Mouri-san for a real scare there. She was freaking out and calling everybody - asking where you where."
Conan slapped his forehead. "Shit! I did it again!"
"What again?" Kid inquired, quite interested.
"I abandoned her again! Without even thinking about it!" He lowered his face in shame. "Stupid, selfish..."
Kid pat him on the back for comfort. "Well, it must be important if you forgot about Mouri-san. What is it?"
"… Sherlock Holmes," he muttered.
"What?"
"Oi, so you've been up to date on the press, then?" The cab driver intervened on their conversation, causing the passengers to cease talking. "I can't understand a word you're saying but I heard about Sherlock Holmes. Turns out he was a phony. Makin' up all them cases just to make himself famous. Wonder what happened to that Moriarty bloke… oh, look, we're here." He pulled up the cab in front of their destination.
Conan handed him some pounds while Kid exited the vehicle, getting his luggage out from the trunk while waiting for the minor to finish paying the driver. He didn't notice Conan's blank expression while paying, or the fact that he was clenching his left hand into a fist.
"Right, well, welcome to London, the lot of ya," the driver said before speeding away, leaving the detective and thief in front of the building.
"You know I suppose since I'm here I might as well go and steal that Blue Carbuncle up in display in the Tower of London. I mean it was coming to Japan later this fall but might as well right?" Kid looked at Conan for a response only to not find him there, instead entering the hospital.
"H-Hey! Wait a minute!" Kid chased after the mini-detective to catch up with him at the receptionist's office. The detective jumped to try and be able to reach the counter but after a few pitiful attempts turned to Kid to give him a lift.
"Hi, I'm looking for a Molly Hooper?" he asked in English with his soprano high child voice, and the woman at the desk looked at him before looking down at her computer.
"Hmm, and who exactly are you, love?" she asked, eyeing Kid suspiciously before he released Conan to let him sit on the counter.
"Ah, she's a friend of my…" He glanced at Kid, who smiled in response. "… Aunt. She told me that she works here and we wanted to surprise visit her!" He spoke so childishly that Kid had to cover his mouth to hide the smile he was sporting from the child's acting.
"Oh, really? I see." The receptionist scrolled on her computer again. "Terribly sorry, love, but it would seem that she hadn't shown up for work today. Most likely a sick day, she's always working here… but now that that Sherlock Holmes has been exposed as the fraud that he is, perhaps she'll take the breaks she deserves, right?"
"You don't know what you're saying!" Conan exploded, causing the lobby to dim in their din while everyone stared at the child.
"Eh heheh," Kid placed his hands over the shoulders of the not-child, and only then did he realize that he was shaking. From anger? "Sorry about that. He has a temper problem. Thank you…" Kid peered at the name-tag. "Mrs. Taylor." He grabbed Conan and lifted him out of the hospital, listening to his jagged breathing.
"Are you okay, Tantei-kun?" Kid asked, genuinely concerned. He had never seen the little detective so riled up. Who was this Sherlock Holmes, exactly? Many people spoke of him, but he didn't trust everyone else's opinion if it made Tantei-kun visibly upset. It made the usually reserved, mature detective act like a broken, disappointed child.
Conan took in deep breaths to calm himself down. "I'm fine, Kid. It's nothing..."
"Clearly it's not 'nothing' if you exploded on that random woman. You're always so composed." He looked up to the sky, to find sunset red instead of sky blue.
"Look, it's been a long day. Why don't we go and check into a hotel? After being stuck on a plane for twelve hours, still jetlagged, we just need to get our thoughts together." He pointed his finger. "And you need to explain the story as to why you're in London in the first place."
"I… you're right." Conan took out a Blackberry and began to type furiously on the letters of the keyboard. Kid just watched as the newly adapted to technology child typed away on his mobile.
"Instead of gaping at me like I have five heads, why don't you start to hail us another cab? I don't know about you, but I don't think I can walk to the Landmark London," Conan said off-handedly to Kid while typing away.
"… The Landmark London? The Landmark London?" Kid gave him a look but held out his hand to do as the child commanded.
Conan shrugged. "Yeah." A cab responded to Kid's raised hand, and pulled over. The driver stepped out to take Kid's luggage as Conan told him their destination.
When they finally got inside the cab, Kid managed to get out, "Who are you?"
Conan gave a sad smile.
"I don't even know anymore."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
After checking into the hotel, Conan didn't even need to say a word. As soon as the staff saw him, the two were accompanied to a super deluxe suite filled with everything they could need - towels, room service, free wi-fi with a computer, as well as a balcony. Finally, the thief and detective unraveled themselves.
But this wasn't a vacation, at least not for a certain boy as Conan took out a pair of clothes from his bag while Kid unpacked his suitcase.
"I call the bathroom!" Kid made a mad dash to the restroom while Conan sighed and switched clothing in the bedroom, since Kid was in the bathroom and no one would be watching. Knowing his mother, the drawers were already filled with changes of clothes for him.
He was glad that his parents understood… of why he needs to be here.
Sherlock couldn't have been a fraud, just couldn't.
"So, what do you think of my new disguise?" Kid stepped out of the restroom.
Looking exactly like Kudou Shinichi.
Conan screamed bloody murder, making Kid panic and mess up his hair, similar to his true persona, as well as switching his eyes for purple and clothes to the hotel provided bathrobe. The hotel room started to ring, and Kid quickly picked it up, shushing the crying child in vain.
"We received calls of screaming, is everything alright?"
That was fast. Kid looked back at Conan, who seems to be in the middle of a panic attack. He racked up his knowledge of English, because the detective was in no state to reply to the phone call.
He coughed for a few moments before answering in a disguised voice, "Sorry, it was nothing. We're just really hungry. Would you mind bringing up something to eat?" He winced, not knowing how they were going to pay for this place, because he sure as hell can't. He only had about a hundred pounds for the whole trip, which he didn't know how long it would last. Oooh, Jii-chan is going to be pissed…
"Very good, madam. Your meal will be there shortly." Kid hung up the phone without any thanks. He stretched across the bed, cradling the child in his chest, who was starting to sob.
"Shhh, Tantei-kun, it's okay. It's fine. Although I might need to reattach my breasts and wig when the food comes, right now I'm not Kudou Shinichi. Now I'm... Joe. Joe Everyman." He thought about what he said. "Wait…"
"… Idiot," Conan coughed, weakly punching Kid as he continued to sob, the lush fabric of the robe sucking up his tears. He was wide-eyed as his robe was starting to get soaked.
He raised an eyebrow. "But I thought that you were a relative of Kudou Shinichi?"
"… Idiot," Conan whispered once more, sobs turning into heavy breathing as the child shut his eyes into slumber. Kid held him for a few moments before he was forced to place him gently on the bed as the room service alerted them to their arrival. He quickly reattached his wig as well as breasts to finish his disguise to answer the door, grabbing Conan's wallet on the desk since his was in the bathroom.
"Thank you. Umm… How much was it?" he asked, opening the wallet. He stared at it as he saw the many large bills and credit cards, as well as an ID card of Conan Edogawa, all in English and one in Japanese.
"It's on the house, madam. Any patronage of the Kudou family is greatly appreciated." The bellhop gave a wide smile.
"The Kudou family, hmm?" Kid commented before turning back to the bellboy. "Oh, thank you so much for your generosity!" He practically slammed the door in the man's face as he looked at what food they have received.
"Sheppard's pie..." He placed the plate on the table with the wallet and eyed the sleeping detective on the bed.
"You have a lot of explaining to do, Tantei-kun," he whispered as he crawled over to his side of the bed and closed his eyes.