The Box of Hope

Chapter 1

Kudo Shinichi POV

Right now, I feel like I went to heaven just to be pulled back into hell. I was finally in my 17 year old body. BUT it seems that there are some side effects that Haibara just happened to "forgot" to mention to me… So right now I'm sitting in Agasa Hakase's living room, looking at Haibara with a glare for causing and giving me my supposedly forever lasting "headache". Trying to forget about the "headache" for a bit, I calmly recalled the events that occurred after I opened my eyes.

Flashback

All I could feel was burning pain throughout my body. I could hear someone trying to calm me down by speaking to me. I feel myself shivering, so I start to take deep breaths. After a while I stopped shaking so I opened my eyes. My eyes got adjusted to my surroundings. I focused on to Haibara's small form and Agasa Hakase's big form next to hers. I sat up and suddenly I feel like someone got a large needle and poked it through my head. "Itte! What the..? My head..!"

Now I felt my head starting to feel like it was getting ripped apart, and I look at Haibara about to ask what's with the headache. Interestingly, she started to look at me almost… pitifully. Yeah that's it. But why would she feel sad for me when I have my body back? I was about to ask her but then I suddenly feel so much pain that I couldn't hold back my painful scream. Soon I feel Haibara touching her palm against my head and uttering the words" Your awaited Silver Bullet, Pandora…" The pain subsided and I open my mouth to demand answers. Haibara glared at me and said" The answers to your questions lie within your mind Meitantei." Feeling irritated I was about to ask her what she meant when suddenly I heard a voice.

"Hi Hi! So you're my new host, huh? Well I have to say you're capable. Let's see, got shrunk into a child, and used to be oops! Excuse me~! Still is a Meitantei, and blah, blah, blah! Well I have to say it's nice to meet you, Kudo Shinichi. Welcome back to your new body by the way. My name's Pandora and I will be your employer for the rest of your life! Isn't that great?"

What the-? Where is that voice coming from? I look at Haibara and see that she's holding in a laugh. I look at Agasa Hakase, but he asks if I'm looking for something. Haibara then looked at me with a knowing look and asked Agasa Hakase to leave us alone. I was starting to think that the shock was making me hear things or go crazy for a second, but soon I heard the voice again.

"Oh, stop that! You look like you've seen a ghost! Besides I'm not out there, I'm in your mind! Remember what Shiho said? The answers to your questions lie within your mind Meitantei~! Which means… I hold all of the answers!"

"I think I've gone crazy" I sighed and with that thought I massaged my head hoping with all my might that I wasn't.

Haibara smirked at me and said" You're not going crazy. I can hear her too."

I quickly turned my head to her direction. "Explanation. NOW!"

"Calm down, Kudo-kun. Talk to Pandora-san, she'll be better at explaining about the situation you're in"

"…"

"…"

"Well… I think that settles it. We must've been hearing things."

"Nuh-uh~! I'm here~! So where should I start… Oh I know before I tell you, you HAVE to keep this promise before I tell you. Ok?"

"I make no promises until I hear what I'm promising."

"… Ok. Anyways, promise not to hurt me or Shiho-chan after you hear about your little predicament."

"I'm guessing I'm going to be angry enough to attempt to hurt both of you, correct?"

"Absolutely will hurt us."

"… I promise"

"Remember to be calm and logical and all that good stuff. Ok?"

"…"

"… I guess you could say I was the one who ruined your life…"

"Huh?"

"Let me explain. I've had my eyes on you since you were born. Your parents had enormous amount of skill. They were very famous for them in fact. I knew that you would inherit their great skills. I needed someone who had that great amount of skill in order to help me find something extremely important to me. I blessed your eyes by turning them into a very special blue marking that you will be the one who will find my important possession."

"What are you talking about? My eyes are a normal color. I've seen plenty of others with the same eye color as me."

"That would be because I decided until you were old enough to find it with no problem; your true eye color was to be sealed. I had a plan, a very elaborate plan. At Tropical Park when you saw Gin and Vodka, Gin noticed you were witnessing the scene so I gave him the idea to feed you Apotoxin- 4869. Since it was incomplete, I knew that you would survive. I didn't expect you to shrink, but I didn't really care as long as you were alive. Sorry about that, I was kind of cold hearted back then. Afterwards, I met Shiho-chan. When I realized she was the creator of the drug, I created a situation where she could escape the Organization. It wasn't a coincidence that she ended up outside the Hakase's house. I directed her there, so that you two would meet. When you did I let myself inside of Shiho-chan's mind and told her what my plan was. Shiho-chan tested your detective abilities after you failed to save her sister. She probably didn't want to believe that the detective that was incapable of saving her sister from the Organization would be able to take them down. After she accepted the fact that you may be her only hope, she decided to help me with my plan."

Glaring at Haibara and trying to convey my annoyance to the "headache" I asked" Exactly what plan is this?"

"You owe me a favor."

"No I don't, I just met you."

"Maybe so but why do you think Shiho-chan made the antidote so quickly in the first place? It's because I changed you from Edogawa Conan to Kudo Shinichi. Without my help you would've been Conan for at least another 3 years waiting for the antidote. So you owe me one."

"…"

"Unless of course you want to be a 7 year old brat again… That's totally fine with me!"

I could tell she was joking by her tone of voice but she was enjoying my discomfort too much. What does she want so badly that she had to shrink me, make me suffer for a year, and then give me back my old body in order for me to owe her a favor? I do want to argue since she was the one to shrink me in the first place I owe her nothing, but my curiosity as a detective wants me to know what she wants from me and she kind of saved my life in a sick aspect, so I guess I'll listen to what she has to say.

"Okay I guess I do owe you one. What do you want from me?"

"Have you ever heard of me? Pandora that is."

"Of course I have. In Greek Mythology, she was the mortal who was given the box that sealed the world's misfortune and evil. The gods told her to not open the box, but her curiosity won over her and she opened the box. When she realized what she had done she closed the box leaving hope inside."

"Indeed. That story is true but it's not all that happened. I am the Pandora in that story. The gods sent me the box in order to punish mankind for benefitting from stealing fire from the gods. They knew I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to open the box. After I opened the box, I fell into a huge depression. I felt so stupid for falling into the gods' trap. The gods took pity on me since they did in fact use me to punish the humans. They turned my box into a jewel and told me that if I guarded the jewel I will be rewarded. 50 years later, I died protecting the jewel from robbers. The gods gave me special privileges after death since it's hard to guard something when you're dead."

"Not that I believe this story entirely, but what privileges?"

"Stop being in denial, Shin-kun~!"

"Shin-kun?" First my Kaa-san and now this nazo no jinbutsu (mysterious person)?

"Since Shin-chan's already taken or will be anyway." said Pandora sending him a knowing smirk vibe.

"?"

"Maa sono hanashi wo hodoite~! (Putting that to the side) My special privileges are to be "alive" even after death, being able to talk to the minds of people I intrude, erasing memories of me if I choose, and finally knowing everything and anything about the people I intrude on. Sumari! (In other words) I know everything about the Organization and I can tell you everything even give you some special abilities. Wouldn't that benefit you? Nee~? Shin-kun? All you have to do is one small, little, itty-bitty thing for me~! ^.^"

Flashback end

I was still thinking about what Pandora said. That one small, little, itty-bitty thing she wants me to do goes everything against my morals. Looking for someone to blame, I gave Haibara the look. Haibara just smirked back at me and said, "Kudo-kun, glaring at me isn't going to make the situation any better. Besides it might be fun being a thief."

I glared at her. "I'm a tantei! (Detective) I CAN'T be a thief!"

Haibara rolled her eyes at me. "All you have to do is find one magical jewel. Being a thief is the easiest way to find it. Besides, you would have everything Pandora knows about the Organization. It will give you a huge advantage. You just have to do your best to find it, get the information from Pandora, take them down, and live with no more fear. Isn't that what you want?"

It's just as she said. Pandora's favor is for me to become a thief to find her gem. She says it's a jewel inside of a jewel, a doublet. She says the one inside glows blood red when held against the moonlight. The outer jewel is apparently the same color of the real color of my eyes. The problem right now is that Pandora doesn't know what kind of a jewel surrounds her precious gem, and I don't know the real color of my eyes, yet anyways. In exchange for me finding her jewel, I get all the information she knows about the Organization. I sighed. It's just like Haibara said. My ultimate goal is to take down those bastards and the fastest way to do that is to become a thief (Hopefully I can still be a detective after this).

"I guess you're right, Haibara."

Pandora advised, "You should think up of an alias. Unless of course you want to let the whole world know that the Meitantei Kudo Shinichi is now a Kaitou."

I sweatdropped, "Of course I don't want everyone to know, but I'm not that good at name making."

"That's true… Edogawa Conan… Pfft!"

I mentally glared at her.

Thoughtfully Haibara pondered, "How about Zero?"

"Zero?" Pandora and I asked confused.

"Don't you remember Kudo-kun? You said so yourself 'Love is zero. No matter how much you add, you will only lose to misery. But zero is where everything starts, nothing would ever be born if we didn't depart from there.' You're starting your life with a new profession. It's your new beginning isn't it?"

"Oh~! Then I guess it's settled. Any complaints Shin-kun?" Pandora asked me.

I shrugged, "Sounds good to me, I guess. Jaa Kyou wa Kaitou Zero no Tanjou da na. (Then I guess today is the birth of Kaitou Zero)"

"Sou dane~! So about the gem…"

"Hmm..?"

"Go get a mirror. Let's see those pretty eyes, Shin-kun!"

I rolled my eyes and went to ask Agasa Hakase for a mirror. When I came back, I saw Haibara looking at me with a creepy grin, very similar to Kaitou Kid. I shivered and warily asked, "Haibara..?"

Suddenly the small compact mirror that I brought turned into a full body length mirror. I jumped back in surprise. I looked at the mirror who suddenly decided to have a growth spurt and felt my jaw drop. I gaped at what I was currently wearing. If my eyes weren't failing me, I was in white skinny jeans with a couple of small rips here and there, a light red shirt that becomes lighter as you go down until it's completely white, a transparent glowing blue jacket with sleeves that was slightly longer than my arms, and finally a cerulean scarf that covered my face from the nose down complete with black sneakers. But that's not I was staring at. My eyes… They were…

"Kudo-kun… Your eyes… They're so... blue..!"

I understood why she couldn't see anything it's just that my eyes… They're really… blue..? And they were glowing mysteriously which scared me.

"This is the color of the gem that holds my jewel, Shin-kun. Beautiful, huh?"

"Yeah"

"It should be! Since the outer gem is the 2nd most beautiful jewel in the world after the one inside anyways."

"! Suge na…(amazing) Tonikaku… (By the way/anyways) If I'm going to have to find the jewel shouldn't I at least know the name of the gem?"

"Jitsu wa ne (actually) Shin-kun… I don't know… I know that my jewel (The one inside) is named after me so it's called Pandora, but I have no idea what the outer gem is called."

I sighed, "Well… Then I just have to check all of the blue gems and hold it up to the moonlight."

"It's not going to be that easy Kudo-kun. You can't be sure that the gem will be in Japan," said Haibara.

"I know that," I huffed. "But I'm going to check all of the gems here first before I go overseas, and I've already thought of the target."

I looked at the TV. The news was showing the picture of a sapphire with an announcer reporting. "Right now in Beika museum is displaying the beautiful sapphire gem called 'The Everlasting Blue'. The gem was recently bought by Suzuki Jirokichi, the president of Suzuki zaibatsu in order to challenge the Moonlight thief, Kaitou Kid! …."

I looked at the jewel thoughtfully. It fit all of the requirements. It was the right size (at least what I deduced to be), color, and the name seems like a good fit. I smirked. Talk about coincidence. Now all that's left is the heist. This might be quite fun like Haibara said. Looking at the mirror I noticed there's nothing distinguishing about my disguise except for maybe my hair, but other than that I look like a totally different person.

"You know you're right Shin-kun. Your hair is kind of too obvious. I'm pretty sure no one else in the world has quite the cowlick like yours… oh I know!"

I have a bad feeling about this. I looked at the mirror warily. My hair was now about an inch longer a little bit messier with no cowlick in sight. I sighed in relief. I twitched when I heard Haibara stifle a laugh. I looked at her confusion, but she only pointed at the mirror. I looked at the mirror again. I don't see anything different… Wait! I go closer to the mirror and hold out a lock of my hair. I sighed mournfully, my hair color changed to a dark blue. At least, it wouldn't be that noticeable? I mean it was to the point it was almost black. Right? I sighed and took a deep breath. I looked at myself over. I looked like a very mysterious person with my glowing eyes and cerulean scarf covering myself. I'd say my outfit's pretty normal except for the fact that my jacket was flowing and glowing when it was dim and no wind blowing inside the living room. If someone like Hattori saw me there's no way they could tell it's me. I guess I approve.

"Well I'm going to go plan for the heist. Pandora if you would?"

"But you look so cool like this~!"

I sweat dropped.

"Wagatta, Wagatta. (alright, alright) All you have to do is snap with both hands and imagine what you were wearing before."

I did as she said and found that I'm now in my regular clothes. Haibara raised her eyebrows at me. I shrugged in response.

"Ale-le-le? Did I forget to tell you? Shin-kun! You can use magic! Seriously, use authentic magic."

"No. Magic doesn't exist."

"My gods this child is stubborn. You just used magic! How are you going to explain how you changed so quickly with your science mumbo jumbo? How are you going to explain how that mirror grew? How are you going to explain me talking to you in your mind? How are you going to explain how your eyes are glowing? Huh?"

"O-Oi… Daijoubu ka? (H-hey, You okay?)" I said a little wary.

"Tonikaku!(anyways) Magic exists. You can use magic, I can use magic and some other people can use it, too. PERIOD!"

"A-Ah, Wagatta…(I got it)"

Kouha…(scary)

3 days later

For the past 3 days, Pandora trained me on how to use magic. I could tell that she was pretty pissed that I kept on denying that me or anyone for that matter could use magic. In the end though, I stopped being persistent and let her teach me. It actually wasn't that bad. I won't ever admit this to Haibara, but it was actually kind of fun. I can't go to school because I'm still hiding from the Organization, so it was a nice way to kill time.

Today Pandora was finishing teaching me the basics.

"Shin-kun, focus!"

I winced. I was pretty tired of her yelling inside of my head, and considering that I was up late yesterday reading my Sherlock Holmes books didn't help me. I change my mind about what I said. This is torture. A woman who has "lived" for over a thousand years by being inside of people's heads is inside of mine teaching me magic. There is just so many things wrong with that statement. I sighed. I seem to be sighing a lot ever since I became Kudo Shinichi again, but nevertheless I cut off my thoughts and focused like she said.

"I heard all that, but for now let's get this over with Shin-kun."

I nodded. Pandora explained, "Like I said with all of the other 99 spells. Magic forms from imagination. Direct it with your mind. Imagine a shield in front of you and shield my attacks."

Red glowing balls of energy surrounded me ready to attack. I envisioned myself in an invisible sphere that repels anything that comes my way. Seeing I was finally focused, Pandora attacked. I felt myself slowly getting tired. Every time one of the balls got repelled, I felt myself being slightly drained of my energy. Pandora feeling my exhaustion said, "Shin-kun! It's almost been an hour! Just 10 more minutes!" As soon as she said that she raised the speed of attacks. Geez, thanks. Now they had more impact than bullets. If I got hit I was pretty sure I was going to die. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Eh. I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Hah?" (wha-!)

10 minutes later

I was on my hands and knees trying to catch my breath. God I wish I could at least glare at her. I recovered after a while and stood up, making my way next door to Agasa Hakase's house. When I arrived, Haibara came to greet me.

"Omigotou (good job) Kudo-kun. It was a very impressive display of you getting beat up by Pandora-san."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, Haibara. At least I'm done with all of the basics. Now all that's left is the heist tomorrow."

"True. I'll look forward to seeing your heist tomorrow, Kaitou Zero."

I smirked, "I sent Nakamori-keibu the heist notice yesterday. His reaction was pretty amusing you know."

Omniscient POV

Nakamori-keibu was in his office late thinking of a plan to capture Kaitou Kid 2 days from now. While he was sorting out his papers he noticed a card with a blue rose on the bottom right corner. Thinking it was from Kid he read it.

Dear Nakamori-keibu

On the day of the full moon

I shall take the Everlasting Blue

Kaitou Zero

"NANI!"(What!) screamed Nakamori annoyed. "Now there are two of them? No... I won't be fooled Kid! This heist notice is just to provoke me, huh! Zettai ni tsukamaette yaruze Kid! (I'll definitely catch you!)"

Sadly, Nakamori-keibu doesn't know that the new thief does indeed exist and that everything he said will never come true. He'll be in for a surprise. The whole world will.