wow okay. im actually going to do this.
this is actually a challenge to myself to update this everyday with 3 or so moments (think of them as mini-arcs, each moment on its own is pretty short) in a single chapter, so that i can make myself stop procrastinating and that i can put warning for each individual part (instead of it being one massive block of writing).
so, dearest People of the Internet,
i present the product of me getting my act together and writing down the idea thats been festering in my head for 2 years.
(if all goes well, i had this other idea for making this into a series...)
anyway.
Enjoy!
Part I
Curtain, Fire, Warm.
SPOILERS: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 1 (The Revived Phantom Thief Kid) or Magic Kaito TV Special: The Revived Phantom Thief
Curtain.
The veil between the stage and seats.
The divide between performer and audience.
The barrier between dreams and reality.
"When the curtains open, a magician becomes the guide through which the people can experience spectacular miracles. And someday, you too can be on this side of curtains if you wish to, Kai-chan."
The show was beginning.
He watched as the curtains opened and he stood, cheering for his father as he lifted his top hat, bowing to the audience amidst a flurry of confetti. He knew his voice was only a whisper to the applause of the others, but as his father straightened, he looked straight at him, eyes twinkling knowingly, as if he'd known what he was thinking, and smiled.
And he knew, one day he'd be on the other side of the curtain.
......
Fire.
Hot and burning, flooding and consuming, destroying everything it touched.
The resounding boom barely registered in his ears before his vision was enveloped in flames, scorching and searing the walls with black, burning the previously opulent stage where his father had been standing. His ears were ringing with the force of the blast, the yells of the scrambling crowd white noise to the insistent buzzing in his head.
A familiar hand grabbed forcefully to his upper arm, dragging him away from the swirling inferno, his mother's panicked and desperate voice a whisper amidst the din of the chaos.
Smoke choked his lungs, the heat blistering against his skin, the blaze unbearably close, yet so far, as if he was watching a movie, the images burned into his mind as much as the fire burned the theater.
He was screaming.
Despite his watering eyes, sweltering skin, slow suffocation and desperate tugs on his arm, he screamed.
He screamed for his father, lost in the firestorm, the sea of flames encircling him with no way out.
He screamed even as he knew his father would no longer answer.
......
Warm.
It wasn't hot or suffocating in his mother's arms.
She was yelling into her phone, meaning lost to the young boy clutching desperately to her chest, but the anger still obvious in her shouts.
"Find out who did this! I don't care how! You know you owe me!"
The hands of the doctors who checked for smoke inhalation were cold.
"I don't care if I've retired, I know it wasn't an accident! It can't have been!"
The room they had interviewed him was cold.
"Don't lecture me about recklessness!"
The memory of the theater was burning.
"Talk to people! I know people who should know! Someone must know!"
The memory of the theater was freezing.
"So you better make someone start talking or–"
He was numb.
"Kaa-san…"
He didn't want to feel it anymore.
"Oh, Kai-chan…"
He was crying again.
"Oh God, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
The sound of the phone clattered to the floor, soothing warmth enveloping him.
"Oh Kai-chan… I forgot I wasn't the only one who was suffering…"
He nuzzled in deeper to the peaceful warmth, his voice breaking, hoarse from tears;
"Stay?"
Warm hands closed around his own, prying them away from their anxious grip he had on her shirt.
He held on tighter.
"Kai-chan…"
Some part of him knew that if he let go now, he never feel the blessed warmth again.
"Please…"
Warm hands cupping his face, carding through his hair, gently wiping away his tears.
He opened his eyes.
"I'm staying, Kai-chan. I'm staying."
A fresh wave of tears poured from his eyes as his mother whispered reassurances into his ear, wrapping him in their small bubble of warmth, away from the bitter world.
He hoped it would last forever.
He wondered how long it would last.
NOTES:
CURTAIN: Touichi's quote here isn't actually canaon. Made if up myself ;)
FIRE: I went with the TV Special's backstory because I like the idea of an explosion at a performance better.
WARM: I imagined the person she was yelling at on the phone was one of her old underground contacts from her Phantom Lady days.
[see: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 9 (The Phantom Lady Appears), Episode 10 (The Phantom Lady and Ryoma's Treasure) and Episode 11 (Kid and Conan's Ryoma Treasure Illusion) or Detective Conan Episode 627 and 628 (Conan & Kid's Battle for Ryoma's Treasure) ]
TBC
3/100
btw, follows, favs and reviews = motivation
~Rei K.