Conan refused Heiji's offer of his lucky charm. An AU to episode 118.

word count: 1456

Edogawa Conan had not lived with Ran and Kogoro Mouri for very long. And, truth be told, they were still trying to adjust to the strange boy.

Yet, somehow, he still held a very special place in their hearts.

Hattori Heiji, one of the few people to know that Edogawa Conan was, in fact, Kudo Shinichi, a high school detective, he had grown close to him. Sure, they were still rivals, but that didn't mean they couldn't get along at all. They were friends, and that's what mattered.

And because they were friends, it was natural to become concerned about him. Heiji knew exactly what type of trouble the boy could get in, especially considering the fact that he practically attracts murder.

When Heiji got a dream that night that Conan was going to be injured- no, scratch that, killed- he just couldn't shake the feeling for the rest of the day that something bad was going to happen.

The dark-skinned detective pulled the not-child off to the side, shoving his good luck charm into his hands.

"Eh? Isn't this the good luck charm Kazuha gave you?" Conan questioned with a lifted brow, studying the item thrown into his palm. "Why'd you give it to me?"

Heiji averted his gaze, ignoring the boy's questions. "Uh, no reason in particular."

Ugh. He was horrible at lying. The shrunken detective stared at his pensively.

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke, "Is this about the dream you had last night? If it is, then you're worrying too much. I'll be fine."

"Can you please just take it, Kudo?"

Conan stopped. There was a certain pleading within Heiji's voice that made him uncomfortable. He knew that it must have been something pretty disturbing that Heiji had seen if he was outright begging for him to take the charm.

'He's serious,' Conan thought, eyeing the charm in his hand.

Finally, he sighed, giving in to his friend's wishes. "Okay, okay, but I'm not wearing it. Will it be enough if I put it in my pocket?"

While that wasn't the answer the Osakan detective wanted to hear, it was his best bet. He nodded.

"Okay. I guess that works."

But it didn't. Oh, how it didn't.

At the time of the suspect's apprehension, Heiji wasn't there.

In fact, he was actually in the back of an ambulance, being treated for the gunshot wound that he sustained during his own little confrontation. Kazuha, of course, was at his side, clutching his hand for dear life. However, Ran and Conan were nowhere to be found.

Once he had gained back at least a bit of his energy, Heiji nudged her arm in order to get her attention. And, when they locked eyes, Heiji knew something was terribly wrong.

Her eyes were rimmed red, and dried tears stained her face. Through contact with her hand alone he could feel her shaking so much. Despite the fact that he had just been shot in the abdomen, a new knot began to form in its place.

"Kazuha, what's wrong?" His question came out strained. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but at the moment, he was just too weak to play the strong one tonight. He needed answers. Now.

The second the last word left his mouth, it was all over. She broke down into a sobbing mess, carefully engulfing him in a comforting hug. The knot grew even larger. He knew what was coming.

"It's C-C-Conan-kun...he...he..." She broke down, unable to complete her sentence.

No. He didn't want her to finish. He knew what she was going to say, and he didn't want to hear it. She was wrong. No way was Kudo...The guy survived anything. He may have gotten banged up and kidnapped and attracted every murderous thing within a mile's radius towards him but he never-

...Kudo always pulled through.

He always did...right?

Heiji shifted from out of her hug, holding her at an arm's length away. A breathless, "what?" left his mouth, and a whole new set of tears came forth from her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, Heiji."

And he broke down, as well.

He had only found out what had happened a few days later. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, Kogoro had taken one for the team and explained to a hospitalized Heiji about the little boy's unfortunate end.

Upon discovering the little shack in which the culprit, a man named Numabuchi, was held, he had been successfully apprehended, or at least, was controlled enough to be escorted out by the police.

During the time he was being walked out, he had purposely fallen into a pile of rubbish, and came out with a knife. The bastard started swinging it every which way, getting the cops to maintain a safe distance away from him, just enough for him to escape.

Ran and Conan, who just happened to be unfortunate victims of circumstance, were right in his path.

Kogoro admitted that he had been terrified that his daughter was going to be hurt, but was too frozen in fear to do anything. It was the same way with anyone else around the girl. The scene played out in slow motion, it seemed. Even with a crazed murderer coming at two children with a knife, everyone was too paralyzed with fear to do anything.

Everyone...except Conan.

A scream rang out. Thud.

The boy had fallen to the floor, curling himself into a little, bloody ball. No sooner did that happen did Ran carefully cradle him in her arms, attempting to keep the boy awake. While Kogoro had rushed over to aid Ran, Kazuha rushed Numabuchi, pinning him to the floor.

It was after this point in the story did he notice Kogoro struggling to keep his voice even. He tried to keep it as vague as possible, most likely to keep as little people as possible being traumatized by the story's disturbing details.

From what Kogoro had told him, Ran had spent the next moments screaming out Conan's name. The pain and distress that resonated within her voice made the sound almost painful to listen to. She was covered from the arms down in blood, clutching a pale figure close to her. Kogoro mentioned that he would never forget the triumphant face the boy made, despite being stabbed only a few moments earlier. The respect he earned on how he sacrificed his life to save his daughter was worth more than any thanks that Kogoro could ever give.

He soon whispered something to Ran before falling unconscious, laying limply against her chest. Despite how many times Ran screamed his name or shook him, he wouldn't open those cobalt blue eyes again. They had closed forever.

Once help had actually reached them, it was too late. Not only did the knife cut up quite a few of his vital organs, but he had bled out much too soon for any help to bring him back to life. Regardless, the loaded him into the ambulance, the boy being pronounced dead on arrival with nonviable injuries.

He was gone.

Kogoro dismissed himself from the room, most likely to avoid any conversation that would follow after. Heiji almost didn't believe it himself. He couldn't really come to terms that one of his closet friends was gone. It's not that he was in denial, it was just that...it didn't feel like Kudo was gone. It felt as if he were to walk into his room at any moment, a few flowers and a get well card in hand.

But that was never going to happen.

You sure do leave quite a presence, don't you?

He leaned back in the hospital bed, arms folded behind his head, eyes closed. He was going to miss his little buddy, and he only hoped that Kudo would miss him just as much.

Being left alone with his thoughts, a new one crossed his mind.

What do they tell Ran? Does he tell her the truth, about who Edogawa Conan really was? About how he was really no child at all? Did he really want to put her through a brand new level of hurt? The pain of knowing she lost two people she loved very dearly in one, unfortunate day?

What does he do now, Kudo? What does he do now?