I swear, sometimes I cry for our favorite detective. I just read someone's fic (which was actually completely unrelated, but led my mind to other thoughts) and got to thinking about the 13th movie (I'm pretty sure it was the 13th one). It opened up with a sequence that made me scream when I saw it, and then I wondered why no one came to help him when he woke up screaming...

So, this is just one of the many nightmares of Kudo Shinichi, set just after the...eh...I want to say 12th movie. It's the one with the theme park! (Ok, all I know is that six was the last English one, so it's after that. I couldn't find seven, eight or nine was the cruise ship, I'm pretty sure 10 was the Jolly Roger one, one of them was the music one, 13 was the one with the epic helicopter scene and 14 was the one that was set in the sky...I remember the stories at least!) Anyway, it's set just after that movie and inspired by the 13th movie.

Enjoy!

Edit: I read the reviews I've already received and made a few changes (thanks everyone!). And big kudos (not kudo) to the comments on the movies! (Through sheer habit alone, probably, I'm gonna leave my earlier comments alone. But I know which movie is which now, thanks to a few friendly reviewers. For everyone else reading from this point on: Sally forth and enjoy the updated version of 'In the Night.')

In the Night

He felt his legs running, and he watched as his hand waved at Ran, and listened as his voice called to her. You idiot, turn around. The darkness engulfed him, he listened to the exchange of words. He felt the pain sear through the back of his head. I told you to go back! The water, the pill, the melting, the darkness.

His eyes flew open, his gaze greeted by a dirty mirror, peeling with age. He never would have thought a mirror would peel, but this one was. There was a crack in his glasses, the useful side. The right lens. There was blood trickling down his face. Was that from before?

He glanced around the room he was in, realizing this was meant to be his prison. His feet led him to the door. Unlocked, unguarded. His captors had guts. He slipped down the hall.

There was no hope left in this building. On its own it was condemned, but with their dark influence it was hell. He heard something on his left, and pressed his body against the wall. He glanced in.

Blue eyes met his gaze, and a gun filled with roses. Roses? "Haibara?"

"You failed us," she stated, tossing the plants at him. She was pale, almost like she wasn't part of this world anymore. She was pulled back into the room, and he braced himself. But there was nothing. Nothing but the darkness. He clicked the light in his watch on and tilted it inside.

There was his nightmare.

Yusaku, Yukiko, Agasa, Haibara, Heiji, Kazuha, Kogoro, Eri, Kid, Sonoko, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta, Megure even. And Ran. Ran. There was still life in her eyes at least. He ran to her side. "Ran!"

"Conan-kun?" she rasped out. "No…Shinichi. Why?" He felt his heart pounding, threatening to break from his chest. "Why didn't you tell me? At least then…I could have died in peace." He watched her eyes slide shut.

"RAN!" he screamed, latching onto her shirt and trying to shake life back into her desolated body.

"Do you understand yet?" he heard an all-too-familiar voice snarl at him. "This is what happens to people that get in our way." He spun on his heels, reaching down to turn up the strength of his shoes, only to find them drenched in blood. The room…it was ankle deep in their blood. The blood of everyone he cared about, swirling together in the murky pool. One hand lifted him off of the ground, pressing him against the wall, a gun against his temple. "It's so messy to do things by hand, but sometimes it just has to be done."

Shinichi clenched his eyes and heard the resounding boom of the gun.

Conan leapt out of bed, a scream escaping his lips as shudders took over his body. The cry was loud enough to raise the dead, or at least those that had drunk themselves into unconsciousness. Conan wrapped his pounding head in his arms and pressed his forehead against his knees as a thud was heard across the room.

"What's happening?" the fake detective cried out in surprise, sitting up and looking over his bed, expecting to see his humble home on fire. His eyes fell on something a little more disheartening. That freeloading little boy was curled up, trembling from whatever nightmare he had just woken from. The shudders were violent enough to send shivers down his own spine. "Great." He maneuvered his way around the bed. "It was just a nightmare you know." The boy looked up at him, then attempted to get to his feet. "Nothing's wrong. See?" Kogoro flicked on the lights.

"I know that!" Conan spat, tumbling back to the ground. His legs wouldn't support his weight. Not only was the one still in pain from their recent exploits, but his body was too shaky to hold him. That one…that nightmare had been too much this time. Kogoro blinked, and let out a sigh before sitting beside the boy.

"So what happened?"

"Eh?"

"What happened in the dream?" Shinichi blinked at Ran's father. "You wouldn't be like this if it wasn't horrible, and neither of us are going to get any sleep until you get past it, so tell me. What happened?" Conan glanced down, debating on what to say.

"There was a horrible disaster at Tropical Land. A lot of people…were hurt…and…" He shook his head.

"Like who?"

"Like…Ayumi-chan, and Mitsuhiko-kun and Genta-kun, and Ai-chan…and Professor Agasa…and Megure-keibu…and my parents…And…and Ran." He looked up, catching a soft face he hadn't expected. Instead of the usual alcoholic haze, there was a light of understanding.

"That case last week is getting to you. Look, we all made it out alive, alright? There's no more bombs, and no more secret plots to kill people at popular amusement parks…And don't worry about things like that happening in the future, either. I always protect my family." Conan could only stare as the man stood up and turned the lights off again. Family? "Now get some sleep." The pep talk didn't address the true issue, since Shinichi couldn't reveal the full truth of his nightmare, and yet he found that even his hands had stopped shaking.

On the other side of the door, Ran let go of the doorknob. Conan's scream had shortened her life by a decade, she was sure, but things seemed to be alright now. There were no maniac murderers or fires threatening anyone's lives, and the two males currently residing in her life were safe. She turned on her heels and returned to the comfort of her bed, blissfully unaware.