When everything seems fine with certain people, nothing is going right. A little boy could tell you that.

Edogawa Conan, 9 years old, was in pain. Excruciating pain. And the only thing that he could think was, 'It hurts,' over and over.

Which was not helping at all.

Now, Conan had been shot, stabbed, almost drowned, went through the change multiple times, and had almost been caught in a fire a few times and he had dealt with all of it. This, however, was different. He couldn't wait for someone to help or for it to stop or escape it somehow. He was stuck and that knowledge added to his agony.

The only other person who knew how he felt was Haibara Ai who had started to experience these attacks a few weeks back. She knew that the pain hadn't stopped since it had started but had simply decreased waiting for its crescendo and then diminishing abruptly until he could continue moving again without feeling like he was walking through fire and being suffocated at the same time.

Haibara had located the cause of the pain as a side effect of the APTX. While the Black Organization had been taken down almost a month ago, Haibara was still testing her antidote and was in her lab almost 24/7.

Of course, pain had never stopped Conan unless he passed out from it and then it merely paused him until he woke up again. However, even he had to doubt his logic in coming to the heist. Kaitou Kid was still active as he had not yet found Pandora and wanted to destroy it before someone else harmed people going after it. Of course, he was still being shot at as certain members of the Syndicate had yet to be placed behind bars, one of them being Snake.

Minutes before the heist, Conan struggled to contain a scream. Stupid attacks. Always happening at the most inconvenient times. He was getting used to them though, after a year, he should be. He was also used to hiding them. Especially hiding them.

It stopped quickly and so Conan moved up towards the jewel which was on the third story. While he didn't really want to have the thief arrested, it would be great to catch him, a sentiment that he knew Hakuba and Hattori shared with him.

The heist started promptly at eleven as Conan had deduced it would. There was the usual Dog-Pile on the Bandit and flashes and bangs which always accompanied a heist but Conan was already running up the stairs after Kid. Running was another thing that the APTX did not like but no one even knew that anything was wrong with Conan. So, Conan gave chase and flung open the door to the rooftop. There was Kid and there was the usual bullets. Kid simply gave Conan a peace sign when he spotted him (which didn't take long) and avoided the bullets. It was always like this. It seemed so sim-

Ow. It didn't hurt as bad as an attack but it was making him lose consciousness. Blood loss? No, Conan had not been injured. Ah. Bullet wound. Yep, heists were so simple. Wait. When you lost consciousness, weren't you supposed to see black? Conan was seeing white and red was creeping into his vision. Oh. Right, Kid was there still.

Conan's phone buzzed and so he wearily moved a hand even as he vaguely heard Kid protest. No, wrong phone. Oops. He dropped it. Oh well. Shinichi's phone then. Oh, a text from Haibara.

It's finished.

What was finished? The only thing Haibara finished that could relate to Kudo Shinichi was the antido- Oh! The antidote was done. Well, he'd have to thank Haibara.

Why was everyone being so loud though when he was mentally thanking Haibara? He typed back a thank you and then closed his eyes. Light still shown through a little but it wasn't much. He could hear a faint yelling about him not going to sleep because he'd never wake up but he dismissed it. Of course he would wake up.

That was his last thought before darkness enveloped him and the pain stopped completely.

Edogawa Conan died with a smile on his lips.

A/N: This is my first real attempt at something angsty with that ending in mind from the beginning. Is it any good? I simply started with the idea that the APTX is probably doing some sort of harm to him and then spun out from there. I just read a more angsty chapter of When Pandora's Box Is Opened again though so that could have a hand in it…

I also decided that animals meant the lower parts of the organization while alcohols were given to those who handled big jobs or were otherwise high in the organization. Or, at least, it's that way in this fic.

Ja ne!

~J. DCF

Completed: November 11, 2010

Uploaded: November 11, 2010