A/N: I had this idea in my head... and I know I have another fanfic going but I really wanted to get this idea out there

Anyway, since this is the beginning of a different story, I'll throw out the obvious disclaimer. DC does not belong to me, MK does not belong to me, etc, etc, etc. I won't say it again, kay? Good.

Oh yes. Excessive cursing alert. That's all~

Anyway, enjoy the story!

-Icie911

Time Swirl

W-what… what the hell is going on?!

Everything… from the clothing he and Ran wore, to the place they were walking… everything was the same.

Exactly.

The.

Same.

Ran was even crying as they walked past another brightly lit game stand. He felt his mouth open and words form.

"Ah, Ran, stop crying, alright?" His voice awkwardly comforted Ran. Another thing. He couldn't control anything that was happening- from the words he said to the actions he made.

"H-h-how can you be so h-heartless?" Ran's voice was shaky, her hand wiping at her face. "Someone was m-murdered!"

Why can't I do anything? Why is everything happening exactly like before?

"A-ah, well, I've seen a lot of dead bodies, being a detective and all…" he stuttered, slightly apologetic.

What's going on? Why am I back… in Tropical Land?

Nothing made sense. One minute he had been standing in the secret hideout of the BO, still as Conan, a gun in hand. It had been pointed at Gin. His finger was white against the cold trigger. And then… he had felt… a ripple(?) or a slight shimmer. Suddenly Gin's eyes had widened creepily, his lips stretched into a ghastly grin.

Blood was smeared across the room, Haibara unconscious behind Conan and Vodka dead behind Gin. Who had killed Vodka again? Everything was a messy blur.

As the seconds passed, Shinichi found it harder and harder to remember what had happened. Focus. Focus.

Gin… had… straightened up. Stood taller. It's happening, he had whispered. A deadly laugh escaped him. You're dead, he had shivered with ecstasy. Dead, dead, dead! Conan had winced. He managed to keep the hand holding the gun steady. No, he had retorted, attempting to mask the uncertainty in his voice, I'm not the one who's going to the afterworld today. Gin's laugh echoed around the room.

Then shoot me, he had taunted. If you're so certain, shoot me now. He stood with his arms outstretched, leaving his chest exposed. His grin had widened. How lucky that it was me who you were facing when this happened. How lucky. Conan had hesitated. Then with grim determination, his finger jerked backwards, sending a bullet straight into Gin's heart. A trickle of blood leaked down Gin's mouth. His laugh was just as cold as before. Conan's eyes had widened. No, impossible, IMPOSSIBLE! His voice escalated in fear.

He was not feeling himself. Then again, he had just killed Gin, shot a bullet through his heart, and he was still alive. Did that make any sense? He wasn't quite sure. His head felt light. Bright stars danced across his vision.

Haibara had woken then, gripping onto his ankle. Her hand seemed to be the only thing latching him onto the earth. W-what's wrong…? She had managed to choke out. K-kudo… She saw the alarm written across his face, quite clearly. Then she had felt the ripple(was it a ripple?) whisper through the air. She suddenly felt light-headed herself. No, she had whispered, looking at the neat hole in the jacket above Gin's heart. You didn't. KUDO! She screamed at him. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?! Conan didn't understand. He had shot Gin, wasn't that obvious? That wasn't a bad thing… unless… killing him was in some way connected to something else? Conan suddenly felt very detached from his situation. Everything became hazy. Haibara was- crying? Tears were leaking down her face, and she was screaming. But Haibara doesn't cry. He must have imagined that.

Shinichi remembered falling to the floor, Haibara's grip loosening.

Gin's laughter grew louder and sharper, and his face jeered at him. Goodbye, tantei. He whispered. I'm sending you a one-way ticket to the afterworld, and Sherry's going right after you. Who knows, maybe I'll take pity on you and spare your pretty little girlfriend. Then again, I do so enjoy killing… feeling the blood on my hands, the warm limp body… even if it's all theoretical, it's to say the least, exhilarating. His teeth flashed in the dim fluorescent light.

Everything was suddenly too bright for Conan. Haibara collapsed next to him, and everything else was blurring quickly, as if he was watching through a glass and a grimy washcloth had swiped across his view. His head was pelted with wave after wave of dizziness. Maybe he was hallucinating, but he thought he saw a faint misty circle illuminate the room. It was blue; cerulean, he remembered thinking. Gin had kicked Haibara into the wall first. But his eyes must've been playing tricks on him, because she seemed to dissipate, and then she was gone. She had been kicked in the direction of the circle.

You next, Gin's whispered in his ear, his voice lilting in an almost singsong way. You know, maybe I will kill that pretty little brunette. I get shivers just thinking about all the possibilities, and I think that her blood would be quite luscious... and a beautiful red color. He laughed at Conan's pained expression. I've always liked cerise. And then he had shoved Conan into the wall. Into it, not against. Conan was exhausted, but he still remembered wondering how that was possible.

He felt a sort of melting sensation, and then he had blacked out.

And now he was here. Back in Tropical Land, the day he had shrunk and become Edogawa Conan. What sort of twisted new trick was this? Was he hallucinating, dreaming? But Shinichi knew, in the pit of his stomach, in the swirling black depths of despair, that this was not a dream. It was some kind of warped reality, not a hallucinogenic vision. The worse thing was, he couldn't do anything. He couldn't reach up and stroke Ran's tears away, because he hadn't that fateful night. He couldn't grab her hand and pull her away from the park, because he had stupidly followed Vodka into his own demise.

Shinichi felt hopeless. Was he going to be forced to relive every day of this life again, without any means of control? Only for this to happen again, and again, and again… he couldn't even put himself out of his misery. Suddenly a flash of black crossed his vision.

Oh no, he thought despairingly. Please, not this again. He slipped his hand from Ran's. No, no, no! He wanted to scream. Ran gave him a strange look.

"S-shinichi?" Her voice trembled.

"Ah Ran, I want to check something out," he told her. I have to change this! I can't go through this all again. I can't. This will not be like last time, I swear it won't! But his voice continued, despite his efforts. "You go on ahead, alright? I'll catch up with you later!" His feet started to carry him away. No, no, no! Ran's face was full of worry.

"B-but Shinichi-" Her eyes were glassed with fear. Don't worry, he wanted to tell her. I'll be fine.

Oh the irony, he thought to himself bitterly. Like hell I'll be fine. I'm only going to live the rest of my life in this twisted kind of joke.

His feet carried him behind a bush, just as before. Snatches of conversation reached him. He crept up closer, behind a wall, to hear the conversation better. He felt himself reach for a camera.

I have… to break… through…!

After three quick snapshots of the duo, his painstaking efforts were rewarded. Leaning against the wall, a glimmer of sweat appeared on his forehead. No time for resting, I have to go! His feet inched backwards, ever so steadily. He had to get out, and quick.

Suddenly a thought hit him. Oh no, he whipped his head around, I totally forgot about him…! He saw a flash of blonde and a bat connecting with his head. He mentally cursed himself for his stupidity.

Oh yeah… Shinichi remembered weakly, falling to the ground. He dyed his hair blonde before letting the natural silver shine through. He shook his head to clear it. He needed to move and he needed to move now.

"N-no…" he coughed out, a splatter of blood coating the grass. "This won't… be the same…!" His body seemed to be made out of lead. The attempts to sit up, to run away, were all in vain. "Damnit, I can't… move…! I won't… allow… this to happen… again…!"

Gin leaned down, his breath rank. "Oh, trust me tantei, this time won't be the same." A jolt ran through Shinichi's body. He knows? What the hell? But Ran had no idea…

"Did your really expect her," Gin expertly read Shinichi's expression, "to know anything happened? It's just us. This… what did Sherry call it? This Black Organization. Not a bad name, but it lacks originality."

"B-but if you know," Shinichi coughed, bringing Gin back to his original question, trying to buy time, "how is Vodka still here? Didn't he die?" Gin's grin widened.

"You foolish, naïve boy." A shudder ran through Shinichi. "Why are you still a teenager, hm? Why are you back in Tropical Land? Why is everything the same?" His voice was full of sardonic malice. "Time has reversed."

I-impossible… Shinichi thought weakly. Something like this- it's not possible! What kind of concoction did the damn organization cook up this time?!

"It's no use explaining it to you." Gin's voice was filled with obvious contempt. "But… it's quite lovely; we have a completely fresh start," he drawled. Vodka smirked as his partner continued. "Tequila might live a little longer, I can make sure that Shuu-something double agent dies by my hands instead of Kir's, who, by the way, will have die along with him. Of course, they won't know what's coming at them~ oh, the possibilities are endless. You, however, are not going to have this chance. We can't have that happening, eh?"

Shinichi's eyes reflected his fear. I thought I had broken out of this accursed repetition! He struggled again. Damn, why won't my body move?!

A quiet laugh.

"You'll see soon enough," Gin whispered. "Everything will be crystal clear. Sayonara, tantei-san." He fed a pill into Shinichi's mouth, downing it with water. It's too late… defeat was written clearly across Shinichi's face. He could already feel the small burning in the pit of his stomach. He clenched onto the grass.

"And don't forget, your pretty girlfriend and I have a date to keep." Gin couldn't resist taunting the teen. Shinichi's eyes widened.

No. No, no, no! Ran! No one will know, no one will be able to protect her from this bastard!

"Of course, I get agitated easily," Gin's voice lilted. A familiar burning sensation flashed across Shinichi's body. He winced in pain.

"I might accidentally, say, kill her." Another quiet, deadly laugh. With those parting words, he and Vodka disappeared into the night. Vodka had been snickering quietly.

"D-d-damnit!" He spat. Blazing fire rippled across him, silent and deadly. It hurts more than I remembered it, he thought dully as a painful electrical shock burned him. His skin started smoking. He could feel the liquid flames in his bloodstream, the icy scorching sparks engulfing his body, the splitting headaches slicing his head. Shinichi could barely fit in a coherent thought. Damn, this hurts A HELL LOT MORE THAN IT SHOULD! His eyes were swarming with multicolored dots; impossibly bright spots of light. He clenched the grass tighter, tearing up the crumpled emerald blades. He could feel his bones melting, jerking and jolting in ways that spent fresh spasms of pain through him. Shinichi was being burned alive, but much, much, worse. A thousand times, a million times worse.

A dark trickle of blood leaked down from where Gin had pummeled him. He couldn't even lift up his hand to wipe away the tickling streak of blood. Shit, Shinichi thought as blackness swept his vision. I think I blacked out quicker last time. And then he felt no more.

He seemed to wake up in a thick sea of darkness. Eh? I'm pretty sure this didn't happen before… maybe a few years passed, a few hours, a few minutes, a few seconds, but after what seemed like an eternity, he heard voices again.

"Hey, hey!" It's that policeman again. "There's a body here!" I remember last time I thought that I was dead. At least I don't have to worry about that now… Shinichi thought wryly.

"Wait a minute," Policeman #2, Shinichi recalled. He's going to be the one who breaks it to me that I'm a kid.

"Isn't that Kudo Shinichi? The famous teen detective?"

EH?

T-they recognize me…?

Does this mean I didn't shrink?

Is it possible that maybe the pill was dysfunctional? Is this what Gin meant when he said that things wouldn't be the same-? No, I felt the pain. If the pill didn't work I wouldn't have had to go through all that agony.

Oh shit. That means-

"No pulse." the first policeman muttered. Oh fuck. That's what Gin meant. But why did the pill kill me THIS time?

"I'll call in the others," the second officer muttered grimly. "Poor kid was only seventeen… and already gone." What did Gin do this time?

"That's what he gets for being a detective, I guess," the first one said flatly. "Setting himself up for something like this… with all those criminals he prosecuted it's no wonder he was killed. But I still feel bad for him. Too young… he died too young."

Shinichi barely heard what they were saying.

That damn organization is always three steps ahead of me, isn't it?

The hell, Gin. You sly bastard.

Suddenly he was hit with thoughts as his brain seemed to re-awaken. Oh no, this is going to be across the news… all across Japan! Hattori will never know me, Ran's going to be traumatized, and Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko might never solve a case correctly… And that idiot Kogoro will stay a useless drunken flirt his entire life! Oh no. What about my parents?! What'll they think? What'll Agasa do if I'm not there to control his destructive 'accidents?' A more serious thought hit him.

Haibara was with me. Cold dread swept through Shinichi.

(the backup arrived. lights flashed across the small expanse of grass. shouts were heard.)

What did they do with Haibara?!

(they started investigating. after outlining the body shape, his limp body was sent for the autopsy.)

I'm an idiot, Shinichi groaned. Of course. This- warped reality… it's happening to her too.

(sounds fade from the scene. in the moonlight, police caution tape sections off a rectangular space. the case would be continued in the morning.)

I can't be dead- this can't be happening!

(the scene fades into darkness. murder of shinichi kudo, end.)

End Note (E/N): Eh. I'm not quite sure whether or not to be happy with this outcome... I think it's a little confusing... review? Pretty please? If you want me to continue, I'll start writing after a bunch of them! :O

I'm throwing out requests even there are no followers on this story... but w.e. Review! :D

Yes, I know it was kinda obvious Shinichi would die. Don't hate D: