Title: Escaping From Eternal Darkness

Authoress: Freya darkrose

Genre: Romance/Angst

Rating: T

Pairing: Shiho Miyano/Ai Haibara x Shin'ichi Kudo/Conan Edogawa

Summary: A lot of stuff had happened in the past. Joy, misery, excite, and sadness lingered among us. But one thing hadn't changed since the day all those emotions were released; regret and extreme pain were still present. And now, with their life in danger, how would they be able to escape their fate that was known to them as death? Would they be able to break free? Or would they die painfully with one another?

Disclaimer: I don't own Meitantei Konan/Detective Conan/Case Closed or any stuff involving the anime/manga – it includes the characters, as well.

Part I: Prologue

Shin'ichi Kudo's/Conan Edogawa's Point Of View

"Hey! Have you found her yet?" I yelled, panic coursing throughout my body. My heart was thumping really hard against my chest that I thought it would burst out of it.

I couldn't breathe properly.

I felt like suffocating; being drowned in the depths of the sea with someone pushing me down against the cold water as if trying to kill me.

My knees were getting weaker every single passing second. A second, I thought, bitterly. She's suffering more than I am every second. "Hey!" I yelled once again, only louder this time; expecting to hear someone's response. "Has anyone..." I panted, my throat aching — it was becoming as dry as a desert. I coughed heavily. Anyone... No one.

As if my prayers were being heard beyond the darkness engulfing me, I heard a faint voice getting louder and louder each time. The person must be close by, I thought, hopefully. I wanted to approach the person who was calling for me, but unfortunately, my own legs betrayed me.

My legs fell down on the cold, wet, rocky floor. I couldn't hold on any longer — but I had to. I needed to hold on. For her.

I slowly stood up, fighting against my weakened and now-going stiff body. I lifted my head just to meet the person's gaze who was calling out to me. But, since my body felt weak, I had to lean on the trunk of the tree behind me for support. Stupid, I muttered, since when did I became like this?

"Kudo!" Hattori ran faster towards my direction, his voice sounding sharp, but at the same time, encouraging.

"Have you... found—" I tried to complete a sentence, but Hattori stopped me.

He spoke up first before I could. "Kudo, we can still locate her." He looked at me directly, his dark eyes weren't wavering for a bit. "There's still hope, Kudo. Don't give up just yet!" He shook me, hard, as though he was speaking to a soulless corpse.

My eyes lit up in response to what he said. He's right, I agreed, it's not the end yet. "Stop shaking me already, Hattori." I yanked his hands away from me, forcing myself to stand up without any type of support. Sweat was running down my body. It can't be helped, I wiped some of it off my face, I've been running around like an idiot for a while.

When I was able to regain my composure back, I looked at him understandingly and grateful, at the same time. "Thank you." The words that escaped my mouth sounded more like a hiccup than a word of gratitude.

"Be careful now; the floor here is still slippery from that heavy rain earlier." He reminded me as I took my first step.

"It's all right. It's not like I'm clumsy enough to fall down into thin air." I said, my tone had a hint of teasing in it.

My face then turned seriously. I guessed my expression was hard right about now. "Anyway, back to the topic, Hattori. Have you—" I was cut-off midway by him, yet again.

"Ah, you're right. Not only that, we also have traces of those guys who took her away. The location — it's found. No need to worry about," he reassured me, and by hearing him talk made me want to go to her place right now.

There's still time, those words rang inside my head, still time.

"Let's hurry!" I shouted, and we both started to run. Shiho!

Shiho Miyano's/Ai Haibara's Point Of View

My body — it hurt so much. I couldn't move. Why was that?

As I tried to lift one of my arms up, a sudden pang of pain ran throughout my whole body. Tightening of muscles, the pain in my skull rising, and my breathing... it was slowing down. Was I about to die? If I was, I never thought there would come a day where this would occur; but I was already expecting it since the very beginning, just... not this soon.

They found me. There was no turning back. I could never return to my old life. This was the end for me...

I continued to stare at the celling, helplessly, trying to come up with an idea to save my life. But even so, there was no point in doing so, was there? I was dying, anyway.

It was so dark in here... Where was I? I started to wander. Although one thing was for sure: this place suited my deathbed. Happy endings didn't exist in real life. They were merely fairy-tales — an illusion created to hide the filth of this world.

My life has always been surrounded in pure darkness. Light is the only thing I can never grasp, and will surely, never see ever again. I thought, clearly accepting the fact that I would never make it out alive. But when his image suddenly came to mind, my thoughts wavered. I felt nervous and mostly fearful of never being able to hear his voice again, and to see his cheerful smile...

I made a couple of attempts on moving my body — to finding a way out of this. I have to survive, those were the only words I could think of right now.

I slowly arose from the rough, cold, cemented floor. The muscles and organs of my body, aching, as well as my racing heart. It's so hot in here, I was suffocating and it was driving me insane. It was even more painful than the fear I felt whenever I sense a member from the Black Organisation was nearby. I have to hold on, I repeated inside my head.

I stood up, carefully, but my head felt so light that everything around me seemed to be blurry. I need to focus, I told myself.

When I was finally on my toes, I felt a hard thing, and along it a clicking sound behind my head. I was pretty sure it was a gun pointing at me. One blow, and surely, I'm dead.

"Haven't you tortured me enough...," I stopped, purposely; my heart skipping a few beats. This was really bad, but I have to pull myself together. "...Gin?" That man's codename was as hard as any boulders in Earth. Its outcome was colder than ice, sending chills down anyone's spines as they pronounce that one syllable.

"Clearly not yet, Sherry." His voice sounded as if he was smirking. I knew he was going to like my death. My very own death caused by his merciless hands.

I wanted to run, but my feet were glued on the ground below me. If I run now, maybe I could still make it. But then again, he had a gun and could kill me without even taking a single step.

After hearing his words of good-bye for me, I couldn't remember anything. Everything was pitch black, and I no longer had any idea of what happened next. I was no longer certain if I was still breathing or not.

The only word I could mutter as I was getting ready for my eternal slumber was his name. The only person I could think of.

…..And the person who I wanted to see once more.

…..Shin'ichi...

~).(~).(~).(~).(~).(~

This is my first fanfiction and I still have some doubts about this one. I don't know if this is any good, since I really have no confidence in my English and, mostly, vocabulary. Also, I only started watching this anime and reading the manga recently so I'm not sure if I got the characterisations right. Mm... I don't really know what to say now LOL. Anyway please read and review!

Edit (07/05/10): There's a lot of grammatical errors here which I've now corrected. I'm truly sorry about the atrocity of this fic a few months ago. Tell me if I missed any of them.