Hi. This is just the setup for my double ending story. The prologue, if you wish. Enjoy!

"....." words

italicized thought Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Eri Kisaki always kept her cell phone on nowadays. She never knew when her daughter was going to call anymore, and when she did she was normally in tears. But it was all because of Shinichi Kudo's disappearance. That and he barely called.

Anyways, it had become a habit. But not even she could have predicted the call she received from her daughter at midnight on Thursday.

When Eri heard her phone ring, she sat up somewhat to search blindly for it. Finding it, she brought it up to her face and, with eyes closed and half asleep, answered, "Eri Kisaki, how may I help you?"

"Mom, it's Ran." she heard amongst sniffles and sobs. When Eri heard this, she sat up, completely awake now. She mentally got ready for a long night.

"Honey, what's wrong? Come on, tell Mommy all about it." she said. Only sniffles were heard. Eri sighed. A guessing game night. Figures. "Does it have to do with your father?" silence. "Sonoko?" silence. "Conan?" more silence."Boy trouble?" sniffles. Now they were getting somewhere. "Did Shinichi call?" a sob. She had just hit the nail on the head.

She was about to ask another question when Ran's barely audible voice stopped her. "Conan's with his parents, Sonoko is out of the country on vacation, Kazuha is worried enough about Heiji, Dad is passed out drunk again, and you're the only one left I can talk to."

Oh no. She was the last person Ran could talk to? Mom is supposed to be the first one on the list. "Talk all you want, sweetheart. I've got all the time in the world." Damn, and she had an important meeting at seven. Oh, well, her daughter's sanity was more important.

"Uh-huh. *sniffle* He called again. But, oh, Mom, I may never see him again!" she broke down in sobs. Sigh. She must have been over reacting again. Maybe this won't be such a long night after all.

"Honey, I'm sure you're just over reacting. Now calm down and we-" but she didn't get to finish.

"Mom, I'm not over reacting!" she shouted. "He told me he may die tomorrow night!" she broke down into sobs again, her momentary anger long forgotten.

The young detective, die? Unthinkable. Impossible. Ludicrous. Ridiculous. Or was it? Ran thought so. "Tell me what happened."

It took a few minutes for Ran to calm down enough to talk, but calm down she did. "Well, it was the first time since Conan left a couple months ago that he had called. Oddly, I was more relieved than angry. I had been so scared that something had happened to him. The conversation started off normally, though. But when I asked him where he was, he said 'Closer than you think, Ran, closer than you think.' And when I asked him when he was coming home, he said, 'That's what I'm calling about.'

"He said he was in deep. That before he could come home, he had to take care of it. And then he told me that it was unavoidable. It was either now or later. Then he said that...that...he was calling to say goodbye!"

Ran started sobbing again. Eri felt sick. Sick to her stomach.

"Ran, calm down. What did he say." sobs were the only answer. "Ran, what did he say! Answer me, dammit!" Eri was scared. Ran seemed to be sobbing her heart out. It was such a heart retching sound, it was a sound that could dim anyone's spirit.

A good ten minutes later, Ran could talk again. "Now, what did he tell you, Ran?" Eri asked her daughter in a you-better-answer-me voice.

"Well, before he could say anymore, I a-asked him if he was doing it alone. If he was, all he had to do was tell me where he was and I would b-be there in an instant. Whatever it was he had to do.

"But he said he wasn't alone. He said he had three other teenagers by his side. T-that worried me enough." Ran gave a watery laugh.

"Then he said that he was calling because he may not be able to call again. H-he said he may die tomorrow night. And that he wanted to be able t-to say goodbye."

"Oh, god Ran. Oh, god." Eri was dumbstruck. He knew it? Yet he still went into danger practically alone? And then had the nerve to call her daughter just to tell her that?

"He said there were things he needed to tell me. But he first told me that by midnight on Saturday, if I didn't here from him, that he was dead. And he told me that if that was the case, I was to call Dr. Agasa. He would explain it all."

Ran was starting to cry again. "He told me that he was sorry. Sorry that I cried over him, sorry that he worried me, sorry that he couldn't be with me completely, sorry that he couldn't do anything to help the situation.

"Then he said, and I quote, 'Wish me luck, koishii. I'm going to need it.' Then he...he told me that he loved me. Then he hung up. Oh, Mom! What am I going to do!?"

Then, once again, Ran was sobbing. But, who could blame her? Her one true love might be gone. And it was up to 'Mom' Eri to help her through it. Here goes nothing.

"Ran, he will come back." Eri said.

"H-how do you know, Mom? How can you be so confident?" Ran asked, her emotions running wild.

"Honey, how can you doubt him? You love him. Believe in him, believe that he will come home safe." Eri told her, cradling the phone like she wished she could do to her daughter.

"But Mom, he's practically going alone. How can I not doubt that he will return? How can I be sure he even cares how I'm feeling with that information?" she shouted.

"Honey, he loves you. He told you himself." she responded calmly over the phone.

"What can words do in this situation, Mom? They're meaningless at this point."

Eri sighed. "Honey, do you remember when you and Shinichi went to the hospital together?" Eri was getting desperate. This was her last resort.

"No, I don't Mom. When did we do that? And what does that have to do anything?" Ran asked.

"You were nine or ten, it was so long ago I can barely remember. Anyway, it was you, your father, Shinichi, his parents, and I. We were having a picnic lunch, so we could all meet each other.

"It was time to eat, and you and Shinichi had fought, again. You weren't going to eat together. But you both wanted to eat by the willow tree. So you decided you were going to climb the tree, and eat in it. Shinichi was going to be by the base of the tree. Well, the adults and I turned our backs for two minutes, and the next thing we know, you are out of the tree, on top of Shinichi, both of you unconscious."

"Oh my god, Mom. Did you, lawyer-attorney-person-slash-mother-with-motherly-instincts allow me to do that? But that does sound like something I would do." Ran commented.

"Oh, you think I knew beforehand? I found out afterwards. Gosh Ran, you scared the crap out of all of us. You and Shinichi." Eri told her, her voice going from angry to relieved.

"Sorry. Anyways, continue."

"Yes, well, we did the obvious. We called an ambulance. You were taken to the hospital. The doctors told us you would be fine, just that you would be unconscious for a few more hours. You were in the same room, so we were all there. Shinichi woke up first, though. Care to guess what he said first when he woke up?"

For once, Ran was silent. Almost. "Did he say, 'Where am I?'"

Eri laughed. "No, honey. Close, but no banana. After he woke up, he took a quick look around before asking, 'Is Ran okay? I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything happened to her.'"

And then Ran began to cry again. She cried and cried. Finally she was able to sniffle something out. "Did he...did he really...say that?"

Eri nodded, forgetting her daughter couldn't see her. "He did. If you don't believe me, ask your father. He may remember. But there's more to the story, Ran. Apparently, while our backs were turned and you started to climb, Shinichi warned you, even though you were fighting. He told you that if you climbed any higher, the branches may be to weak, and you should just come down and eat with him. Being as stubborn as you were, you blew him a raspberry and climbed on."

A giggle was heard. "That sounds like me, Mom. It really does."

"I know. Well, when the branch you decided to sit on broke, Shinichi said he was afraid that you would get really hurt. So even though there wasn't enough time to get one of us's attention, and that he couldn't catch you, he screamed and dove for you anyway. He was laying on his stomach in the dirt, you on top of him."

"He, he did that? Why...why would he risk injuring himself to stop me from getting hurt?" Ran asked, more to herself than to her Mom.

"Because, even at the young age, he loved you. And it was a good thing he dove for you. Shinichi had a nasty bruise on his chest for awhile. According to the doctors, a very sharp rock made the mark, and that if it had you back, instead of Shinichi's chest, it would have been disastrous. It would have hit your spine in such a spot that you would have been paralyzed. The doctors couldn't tell if it would have been your legs or your pinky toe."

"Mom, did he....did he really save me? Did he really love me that much back then?" Ran asked.

"Of course he did, honey. Once you woke up, you didn't remember climbing the tree, so Shinichi told you that you got yourself in trouble again, and he had to bail you out again. Of course, you didn't know karate then." Eri said.

"You believed that his bruises, sprained wrist, and cracked, but not broken, rib was because you couldn't stay out of trouble. Needless to say, he got a few more bruises. But my point was, he risked his well being to save you. It was the power of love that gave him the courage to do that. And if he loved you that much then, think how much that love has grown."

Eri could practically here the gears turning in her daughters head as she thought this over. "Have you thought about he feels about all of this, Ran? Does he want to die? Does he want to have to say goodbye? Is he okay, knowing that he said all the hardest things for a person to say, goodbye, I may die, I'm sorry, and I love you, in one phone call? All I've heard you ask is if Shinichi knows what he's doing to you."

This seemed to really turn the gears. "No, I...I haven't. All I've thought about is how I feel. Oh gosh, I really am selfish. Oh, what....what may I have put Shinichi through? But you are right, Mom. He must love me. He even said so himself. I just need to have faith in him. I need to trust that he will come back. It's all I can do."

Eri smiled to herself. Mission accomplished. "That's right, sweetie. I know he'll come back. Just you wait."

"Thank you, Mom. Thanks for listening to me so late at night. I'll let you get back to sleep. Good night."

"Good night Ran. Sleep well. Call me when Shinichi comes home." And with that, the phone was hung up. Now to see if I can catch even an hours sleep. Shinichi, if you don't come home to Ran, I'll kill you myself.

hi. Like I said, this has a bouble ending. A sad and happy one. I'm not going to tell you which I publish first, though. So please enjoy, and don't kill me. Byes bye! -Em-chan.