How did it end up this way?

I look down at the hole in my chest. I see blood come out the hole where my heart should be… but I'm still breathing. I'm still alive.

I didn't think it would end up like this… Why did Pandora do this to me?

48 hours earlier

Kaito's POV

"We just received news. Kaitou KID is going to steal the 'Marbella' blue topaz at 11:59 tomorrow night. This will be the same night 5 years ago that Kaitou KID returned from his 8-year absence. Will the police capture him this time? Stay tuned for more news."

"That… STUPID THIEF!" Aoko yelled after the news announced my new heist. I flinch at her loud tone. "Kaito how can a they question that my dad will not capture the criminal?! My dad had been working hard these past years, too hard if you ask me. He doesn't sleep enough at night anymore…." Her tone switches to one more sad and somber.

"Aoko I'm sure that this will end soon," because after this heist will be the last.

"How can you be so sure? How do you know that that idiotic thief will stop soon?" she asks with irritation in her voice.

"Well whatever he's been looking for should turn up after years of searching. Plus I am a KID fan so I have this feeling that soon KID will disappear or come to the light on way or another," I tell her. It's the truth, after tomorrow I will either die getting the jewel, get captured, or finally arrest the organization that killed my father.

"Mo… I just don't understand you when you say those things. How can you be a fan of a criminal?"

Well technically all of my family members are thieves so can't help it. "I'm a fan of his magic shows, they are put together really well and only high level magicians, certain detectives, and few mystery writers can see through. What he pulls is amazing." I say with excitement. It's true that only select people can see through my tricks.

"Speaking of which when are you going to get serious about becoming a magician. I know that you are good enough to have your own show," she said. She blushed a bit after hearing what she said and turned away. "Or maybe not since you're still too immature like back in high school."

I laugh at that. I do still tease her but not as much as I did back then. I continue to hide my feelings just like I hide my identity, but after tomorrow it will all end. If I make it back I will tell her everything, and if I don't I have a system to send everyone the message of what I was doing.

"'A magician is never to forget their heart of a child'."

"Mo…"

It was almost time for the heist. Nakamori-keibu was barking at every guard that came his way. He had gotten a bit better at setting traps for me but they end up failing because he comes to me for advice on them. If he didn't he would have caught me a few times by now.

I crawl through the vents to end up right above the display case of the 'Marbella' blue topaz. I've planned a big show once I know for sure that this will be my last show as KID. There was even a camera crew for this heist so it would be broadcasted throughout Japan.

The timer I had set for confetti cannons hits zero and spray the KID task force with colorful reflective paper. Then the lights that I had set up earlier turn on blinding the police with the colorful light reflected of the confetti.

I drop down in the confusion and land next to the case for the topaz. I quickly pick the lock and take the jewel. I jump onto the display case and hold the gem to the moon through a skylight. I stare in awe as the once blue gem starts to glow red.

I put on my poker face and turn to the task force who were now recovering from being blinded by the colorful light.

I address my audience. "Tonight is a most splendid night. It has granted me to take this beautiful jewel," I heard Nakamori-keibu yelling insults at that remark. "But do forgive me, as this will be my last show."

Everyone turned dead silent.

Nakamori-keibu was the first one to recover. "K-Kid, what do you mean this will be your last heist?" He sounded shocked.

"I'm sorry Nakamori-keibu, these years have been fun, but I have finally found the gem I have been looking for. I apologize to the owner of this fine jewel but I am not going to return this. Though I will pay them for the topaz over the next few years as much as I can."

"You think we're going to accept stolen money?" One of the jewels attendants asked with a bit a rage.

"I assure you the money you will be receiving will be clean money. Not one cent will have been stolen," he was still uneasy probably because a thief will be paying for a gem." I turn back to the audience. "As this is my last performance I have set up something for you all. Before I disappear from this world along with this beautiful stone, let this be a farewell gift to you."

The roof of the building started opening to show a clear night and full moon. The lights in the building went dead. Everyone looked up to the now clearly visible starry sky to see KID somehow floating in the shadow of the moonlight.

KID spreads his arms out towards the sky and seemingly from his hands fireworks shot up. From the fireworks items were falling down to them. They were all parachutes with thornless roses attached to them. As they land in their hands they see that all of them have ribbons with the names of the person catching them.

The fireworks become more intense. I speak one last time to my audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen! This has time together has been fun. I will remember every minute till I breathe my last breath, however far away that is. I will miss these days. To the world I bid you farewell."

KID's form then bursts into fireworks. I see the awe on the faces of the task force and the camera crew. I put down the binoculars to look at the spectacle at a distance and turn to see guns pointed at me.

"Looks like you brought a party to my retirement, Snake." I look at the man in the center of them.

"You are going to hand us Pandora KID. It is your choice weather the hand is cold or not." He says with a stern look on his face.

He was more serious tonight. Even though it really is Pandora they look almost impatient… almost as if tonight was the night Pandora would shed its tears of immortality… shit. I grit my teeth. What should I do? I had plans for my death but only after I had given Pandora to Jii-san.

I hold the gem to the full moon. Red light then bathes the scene.

The next thing no one would have been able to plan for. The comet flies over the moon, the gem then started to shine even brighter and what looked like a crystal rain started surrounding me. The pieces of crystal started to turn into liquid and absorb into my skin.

"Shoot him!" I heard Snake yell.

I hear gunfire. Bullets torn through my body, yet even as they pierced my heart, it was still beating.

I look down to see holes where my heart should be. To make sure they're real I feel them with my gloved hand. I could feel the indent the holes made in my chest. "I should be dead," I say to myself.

I don't have time to wrap my head around that fact. I take out a thin wire out and spiral around them, bullets still hitting me. I pull on the wire after I looped around them a few times. Then were all pulled together. They were now tied up. The police should have heard the shooting but I'll send the message to them that they have some criminals to pick up.

I get home to my apartment that I've lived at for the past year. I call Aoko to plan the time to tell her. We plan to meet tomorrow here at noon.

After I hang up the phone I start breaking down. What should I do, I am no longer mortal. Does that mean I stop aging from now on?

All I planned on was destroying Pandora; never had I wanted to use it. Immortality is a curse, not a gift.

I go over to the cabinets and pull out a bottle of Hibiki Harmony Suntory whisky that Kaa-san gave to me as a gift. I take out a glass and pour. Before I even take a slip I can feel my sanity slipping from me. I start laughing, tears were falling from my eyes. I look at the holes in my jacket and my laughing becomes more hysterical. I can't die. My laughing gets louder and louder till it fills the entire apartment. I can't die. I start to down the drink. Glass after glass had been downed till I didn't feel the need and drank directly from the bottle.

The bottle is then left abandoned, now empty. The apartment could not settle that night as they heard the laughing of a man that had lost everything. The laughing had echoed through the night even after the source of it had long since stopped.

I woke up the next day around 10; my head was throbbing with a mild hangover, though not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I move around in the dark to straighten-up the room for Aoko's arrival. My calm persona setting in as I finish cleaning up the room. I take a quick shower and put on a fresh set of clothes.

By the time I get out its 11:30. I wait in silence for the knock on the door. I only waited 15 minutes, Aoko arrived early. I get up and walk to the door.

As the door opens I hear Aoko greet, "Hey Kaito."

"Yo, Aoko," I respond. We walk to the lounge area of the apartment and take a seat on the couch.

"So what did you want to talk about?" she asked with the innocence that never seemed to leave her.

I sigh, trying to figure out where to start. I talk about the beginning. "Aoko, have you ever heard about the first time Kaito KID appeared?"

She looked a bit confused and slightly irked but responded "It was in Paris about 21 years ago. He was seen flying out of the Eiffel Tower I think."

"Yeah, though at the time he was carrying someone, namely another phantom thief who wanted to retire from that life but an evil organization was using her. Phantom Lady."

Aoko looked even more confused. "Why would Kaito KID be with Phantom Lady?"

"To be honest I don't know why he was there in the first place, I was never able to ask him. But after that day Kaito KID became a phantom thief greater than her and people forgot about Phantom Lady, like he told her that night."

At this point Aoko was dumbfounded with the information I was telling her and what it implied.

I continue before she has a chance to respond, "They fell in love and eventually had a kid together, but Kaito KID stole something that a certain organization was after. They found out who he was and killed him under the disguise of a stage accident, when the child was 8 years old."

Aoko's eyes widened at that part. "Kaito, does that mean-"

"Please Aoko," I interrupt her, "let me finish, you need to hear the whole story."

I take a deep breath before I continue. "8 years after the first KID's death, another KID had shown up. He was the first's partner. That is how the child found out about his father. There was a time lock on a picture waiting 8 years to tell his son in a specialized room with the father's old equipment and costume. The child then wanted to meet KID to find out. That is when the child found out about his father and the circumstances of his father's death. The son then set out to use his father's persona to find the murders, it took a while but KID the 2nd found out what the killers were after and had come up with the mission of finding it and destroying it."

"The organization was after a big jewel that was thought to grant immortality, though it is hard to tell which one is the right one. The gem needed to be held up to the moon and the center was to glow red. The way the gem was legend to grant immortality was that if held up to a specific comet it would shed tears that would grant that curse."

"The new KID had found it but was confronted by the organization. He was prepared to die there, but something happened that he never wanted. The curse was put onto him. The men were then captured by the thief then left with the police."

"Now his mission is over but now he… I am immortal… I know for sure, last night when I met the murderers they had shot me, not before Pandora had put this curse on me. I… I saw and felt a whole where a bullet tore through my heart." My voice was started to crack but I kept on going. "I was planning on telling you after it was all over and done… but now I will continue on living… even after everyone I know and l-love are long gone. Aoko… I-I wanted to tell you first because out of everyone you were the one who deserved to know the truth more than anyone. There were many times I wanted to tell you this and one more thing. But now I don't think I have the right to tell you, it wouldn't be fair to you." The tears start falling again. "I thought of all they ways to tell you, I thought of different ways you could react and the situations we might've been in. But none of them had me like this. I might have been calmer, not hysterical about losing my mortality. Choosing whether to tell you I love you or not. All these years I've been at war with myself because of finding out the truth, then trying to tear those bastards a new one. Trying to find the one gem out of millions that my not have even existed, the only reason I truly thought it was possible for a magic gemstone was because I witnessed real magic from a real witch who, mind you, was trying to either end my life or turn me into her love-sick dog."

My voice trembles with emotions, anger, sadness, longing hysteria.

"If you want you can just call the police right now, they can search this place and they'll find the room will all of KID's equipment. You can forget what I said about feeling towards you, if you want I can disappear from your life completely. Whether I'm in jail for a hundred years now that is possible or just on the opposite side of the planet. You-" *SLAP*

A hard slap form Aoko halted my words. I now saw that her eyes were puffy and her cheeks were red.

"BAKAITO! You really think that after all these years you can get away with that? I've thought that you were KID for years since high school! Even after coming terms with that…" her voice grew soft. "Even after that… I still was in love with you..." Tears were falling from eyes in rivers. "I had thought that if you were KID then you had to have a good damn reason for suddenly turning into a thief. But to think… your parents were thieves with their own agendas that weren't the worst things in the world, and just for stealing one wrong thing before returning it, your father was murdered for that…" She grew quiet. Silent sobs left her lips and I could see her shoulders shaking.

I start to reach out to her and she hugs me. She squeezes me so tight that I start to lose circulation. I hug her back that if I let go she would be gone from my life forever.

She speaks up "I love you Kaito, you have sacrificed so much to make sure that these men would be brought to justice. Though it will be hard to forgive you. You know what I've seen my dad go through around and during heists. You better damn well make up all the grief you've given him and me."

She pauses debating whether to say something or not. She pulls back looking me in the eye. She takes a deep breath. "Kaito, even if you can't die, I'm willing to spend my lifetime with you. I want to help you through these next years the best I can. You have paid a price that no one should have, I just want to make the start of that time a little more bearable."

She takes my head into her hands and kisses me. It was gentle, slow, and sweet. She drew back slowly and looked at me with her red puffy eyes her usual fire lit them mixed with love and compassion.

"You're not going to get out of this, but I expect you to make up for every piece of art you stole," she said, her normal tone starting to return.

"Of course, I'll make sure of that," I tell her before going in for another kiss, this one filled with more passion than the last.

As the years passed, Kaito and Aoko married and had kids. From the outside Kaito looked like he was aging with Aoko, but in reality he was applying makeup to mimic what he would look like aged.

Through the years Kaito and Aoko had come up with what Kaito could do with his curse. The subject was sad but they came up with the idea that after she had passed, he would become the immortal Kaitou KID, but just as a traveling magician.

When Aoko's time had come, he mourned the loss. They were old enough to see some of their great grandchildren before she passed. The day after her passing he set up his own death and replaced his body with a dummy. He cries leaving his family for the last time. At times he would come by but without his makeup or in a disguise.

Every time one of his loved ones passed he wept knowing he could never join them but that is the price he would have to pay for his misdeeds.

Years went past Kaito as he travelled the world. He had his solo magic show. The entire world was entranced; the money he made went to help causes around the world. The smiles and looks of wonder on everyone he performed for helped him through his despair.

Another was letter's Aoko had written him. She wrote him a letter every day after their confession so he had enough to last him a few centuries.

Kaito watched the world around him, his circus became a legend and people started to see all the good he was doing. The world was turning away from war and strife, and focusing on the most important things, the people. The magic shows inspired many people to help one another out seeing how kind people could be seeing his example.

A millennium passed and the world had become a peaceful place. Kaito was surprised when he found himself getting slower. The pressures of penance eased off his shoulders. After all that time he was finally given peace, and he was reunited with the one woman he loved with his whole heart and soul.

Yes I know this is very similar to my other Magic Kaito one-shot I just can't help it. I'm thinking of a new fic but this one with a different ship for the story. Till then bye (sorry I'm really bad at updating my regular fics, shit happens+writer's block+procrastination=no stories)