Summary: It was just supposed to be a stupid visit to a stupid museum, Conan determined. And then KID had to go and steal that rose. Ugh, he really hated art. /Ib AU, ShinKai/
GA: I come back after an entire year of absence and instead of double-updating To Be Close like I had planned (and am still planning!), I'm starting a new fanfic. And a crossover AU, no less! Oh boy, this is going to be a doozy. Well, I'm here, so I might as well make it count.
Enjoy!
CHAPTER ONE: A WELL-MEANING HELL
The Beika Museum of Fine Arts was only interesting the first twenty-seven times, the shrunken detective known once as Kudo Shinichi realized as he stared at the same hideous portrait of the same hideous aristocrat for a mere second before turning away. Eidetic memory or no, with the number of times that he had visited the museum - at least once a year for school purposes, plus the several times his parents dragged him along when they returned from overseas - he could trace every line on every painting, in his sleep.
But, of course, the others weren't as familiar with the permanent exhibits, and he sighed to himself as Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko ran through the exhibition halls, marveling at the cubism in the south wing, the Renaissance sculptures in the west, and everything else that the museum had to offer. The only solace he could find was the cherry blonde next to him, and even she was trying at the best of times. "Tiring, isn't it," Ai stated rather than asked. "Trying to keep up with the others, that is. I imagine you've scoured each of these walls for your fair share of clues?"
"Probably more than you think," Conan admitted, his mind subconsciously wandering back to the many cases that had occurred in the building. "Art fanatics are murderous fiends, apparently." Ai simply rolled her eyes at his bland laugh, and wandered away, more than willing to get away from the cursed detective. As she left, his attention turned to across the hall, where a sign was displayed, advertising the temp exhibit that he had really tagged along for.
"The life and death of Guertena Weiss, eh? Sounds something right up your alley, tantei-kun." Conan was, unfortunately, wholly unsurprised when he heard the familiar voice of a certain phantom thief emanate from behind him. "Wasn't Guertena known for the mystery behind his works, or something along those lines?"
"The morbidity of his later works have led to the theories that he was mentally unstable - perhaps to the point of murder," Conan pointed out, refusing to turn around and face KID, even as the teen swiped a hand over the young detective's breast pocket. Inside the pocket appeared a blue rose, at which Conan snorted. "You do realize that Guertena barely made enough in his life to buy a single diamond, much less a Big Jewel, right?"
"As most famous artists tend to do," KID commented, "but not everything is about heists, you know. I have a life outside of being a gentleman thief." Conan rolled his eye at the slight chuckle that resonated behind him, and a few comfortable, if slightly awkward, seconds passed between detective and thief before Conan felt a buzz in the pocket of his shorts.
The text was from Haibara, that much was obvious even though the number corresponded with Mitsuhiko's phone. As Conan walked away, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Oy, oy, where are you going, tantei-kun?"
"Everybody else is already in the Guertena hall," he replied smoothly, even though he had no obligation to answer KID. "I'd advise you let go of me now." Instead of complying, however, the grip on his shoulder tightened as KID used him as leverage to stand up.
A hand ruffled his hair, and Conan would have snapped at the teen if they weren't in a public setting. "My friend is waiting for me back in there, anyways. Why don't I accompany you, Conan-kun?" Even without looking, the boy knew that a wide smirked had graced the other's lips. "Or have I earned the privilege to call you by your elusive real name?"
The teasing tone in his voice made Conan unsure as to whether he should growl or flush red, so he opted instead for sighing loudly and walking away, even though the light footsteps behind him made it obvious that KID wasn't going to let him leave so easily. Although irked, he allowed the thief to follow him - was it really allowing when he had no choice though? - and didn't particularly pay him any attention until he passed the reception desk and something else caught his attention, making him turn back to make sure the thief was still there. "Something up, tantei-kun?"
"Where is everybody?" There was no receptionist checking for exhibit passes, no loiterers right inside the hall, and no sound coming from outside; absolute silence had replaced the lazy whispers that echoed down the corridors. Conan's eyes met KID's, and they both shared a suspicious glance, even though the latter's were thinly veiled by amusement. "KID, what did you do?"
"Saa, not everything is always my fault. Frankly, I'm offended at the insinuation."
"Shut up." Still, relief was evident in his voice at the other's words. So if something was going on, at least he wasn't being stalked by the one responsible for it. He turned back towards the innards of the exhibit and took a few tentative steps forward, the only sound vaguely reminiscent of an echo the larger steps behind him. It was as though not only time, but the air itself had decided to stop moving. The only evidence that pointed to the contrary were the two boys' light breaths, both of them trying to muffle their own sounds in favor of hearing any potential signs of life in the vicinity.
That was when Conan noticed the faintest of glows emanating from his breast pocket, the blue rose that KID had offered him earlier dimly glowing in the shadows of his shirt. "You aren't allowed to bring outside materials into the museum," he muttered simply, not particularly expecting a response from KID.
However, a response was what he received. "Kekeke, I didn't bring it from the outside, though," he said with a grin. "I swiped it from one of the pieces in here - Embodiment of...song, or something? Science?" The look he received in return was one of weary impatience; Conan knew well the extent of KID's memory, and his fooling around was frankly getting annoying. "Fine, fine, be that way. It was Embodiment of Spirit, but I don't get what's so important about- woah!"
Before he could finish his statement, Conan had grabbed his wrist and turned, tugging at him to hurry up. "Show me where Embodiment of Spirit is," he demanded. "Whatever is going on, I have the feeling it has to do with that piece, if not the entire exhibit." Confused but not quite in the right mind to be questioning Conan, KID wrestled his wrist out of the other's grip and instead strode forward, knowing full well that his tantei-kun would be more than capable of keeping up.
KID took a left at the first intersection, followed by two rights, and Conan quickly realized that they were going in a large square, avoiding the much longer hallway that they could have used instead. "If you're just going to keep leading in circles, then you might as well tell me so I can look for it myself," he growled, gazing down the long hall that would have been a much easier, much faster route to their destination. KID simply shrugged, however, and laughed once more.
"I'm not leading in circles, tantei-kun," was his simple reply. "We're almost there." The thief's words rang true as, moments later, the two stopped in front of a statue, a large stony rose whose petals were suspended in air. "That's odd," KID muttered, picking something up from the ground. "Earlier, there was a large bouquet next to this thing. See?" He held out his hand, where a slightly wilted, yet otherwise healthy, thornless white rose was sitting in his palm. "a bunch of colored roses - blue, red, white, orange..."
A fraction of a second later, the same glow that emanated from Conan's rose began to seep out of KID's as well. Although his grip on the stem remained steady, KID was surprised at the development. Conan hazarded a guess at his thoughts - he was a magician, yet the illusion wasn't his, so the concern on his face was understandable. "There must be some type of heat sensor inside the stem," Conan explained without bothering to look at his own rose. "So when it senses body heat, a small mechanism placed between the petals begins to glow, giving the flower its light."
"Just like tantei-kun to explain the tricks with such a boring answer," KID sighed dramatically, but he still accepted the explanation and placed the rose in his own pocket. As he did, though, his eyes flickered down the hallway that he had seemingly avoided, and his entire body suddenly tensed up. "Ne ne, do you have a boring explanation for why there are no patrons here, too? Because..."
He pointed behind Conan just as the lights began to flicker, and before the lights went out completely, the room suddenly illuminated by nothing but the milky moonlight (at 2:27 in the afternoon, his cellphone supplied him helpfully), Conan caught a glimpse of red, trailing down the hall and into the darkness. There was little doubt in his mind as to the liquid the trail was comprised of.
"...I have a pretty damn good idea."
GA: Aaaand that ends chapter 1. Chapter two is when we get into the really good, "everything's trying to kill us" part of Ib - the part all of you are dying to read, of course. Until next time!