PART SIX

Conan's eyes blinked open slowly, as if waking from a dream. The world seemed off around him, blurry at the edges, and a headache throbbed in the recesses of his mind. He moaned softly, and his eyes closed again, plunging him back into darkness.

He would have gone back to sleep if it hadn't been for the voices.

"…far in do we take them?"

"Told you. Middle of the lake."

He moaned again. "Five…more minutes…Ran-neechan," he mumbled blearily. But they kept talking.

"I thought we were coming clean! No more murders…we were escaping!"

"Don't worry. We'll make it look like an accident. Those bumbling fools at the station won't see through it."

"But…"

Something registered in Conan's mind at the word "murders." His eyes opened for the second time, the world a bit more focused. It took him a couple more blinks for it to be recognizable—he was on a boat, tied to the benches…

No. They were on a boat, tied to the benches.

He could feel the rise and fall of Ayumi's breathing, her back to his, their hands tied together, then to the metal legs of the bench. Or that's what he guessed, since his hands could only follow the rope so far. He looked up slowly, so as not to garner the attention of their captors, and glanced towards the front of the boat, back towards Ayumi.

There was the man with the expensive coat, the one who'd tried to strangle him. His neck still ached with bruises left from that man's fingers. And the other man, the one steering…short gray hair, tied back in a small ponytail, black overcoat and fedora…and not Gin.

Conan felt his mouth twist into a scowl. He'd put them both in danger for this? What was this, anyway?

The foreigner started shifting anxiously from one foot to the other. "How much farther, Takashi?" he asked.

"Will you shut up?" snapped his companion—Takashi? "Look, you want something useful to do now? Why don't you go check the briefcase and see if they gave us the real deal, all right?"

"What?" the foreigner exclaimed. "You haven't checked it already?"

"I was waiting for you."

"We could be killing kids for nothing!" the man shouted, and Takashi turned slightly towards him. Conan quickly dropped his head and closed his eyes, feigning unconsciousness in case the man caught sight of him.

"Just check the case," snarled Takashi, "and leave this work to me!" There was a thump, and Conan guessed he'd shoved his partner. There was a soft muttering, then footsteps headed his direction. As he came closer, Conan's foot twitched anxiously. They hadn't tied his feet, probably not fearing the kicking strength of a kid, and he would be ready when the man came just close enough…

Wait.

He didn't have his shoes. He had on flip-flops.

He cursed himself a million times over as the man came into range, and he felt him crouch down beside them. Conan tensed, but didn't dare open his eyes to see what was going on. He heard something slide out from underneath the bench—the briefcase, he guessed—and the man standing and walking away.

After a moment, he dared to peek through barely cracked eyelids and saw the foreigner seated on the bench opposite of them, hands reaching for the black briefcase's metal clasps. Just before undoing them, he paused. "What if it's not really it?" he asked quietly. "Will you still kill them?"

"Just open it." That was the other man's reply, which was answer enough to both Conan and the foreigner, both of whom shivered a little. And then the man reached for the clasps again.

As the two's attention was placed elsewhere, Conan tugged experimentally on the knots tying them together. Biting back a sigh of relief, he felt the knots give, if only a little. They don't expect much of kids, thank God. Slowly, he turned his wrists in the free space in the rope, turning his hands palm up so that his fingers could grasp the connecting knot. Gently he began to pull on them, loosening them. All the while he kept his eyes on the foreigner and his suitcase.

Let's see…tug, tug…what's inside…tug…

The man pulled the top open and looked inside. After a moment there was a surprised exclamation of, "What?"

"Huh?" Takashi glanced back. "Did they dupe us?" His voice had dropped an octave, making a dangerous tone, indicating he would not be happy with a "yes."

"W-Well, I…I really…" The man sounded baffled, and Conan opened his eyes a little bit wider. What's in there…? "This looks like…" C'mon, what is it!

"A teddy bear."

What? Conan thought incredulously. All this for a teddy bear?

"You're kidding!" The boat sputtered noisily to a stop and Takashi thundered back, snatching the stuffed animal from his partner's hands. When he realized that it was, indeed, a teddy bear, his nails tore furiously into the brown felt, pulling an arm and then a leg from the animal before dropping it disgustedly onto the deck, spilling stuffing onto the floor. "They're trying to make fools of us!" he growled to his friend. "Absolute fools!"

"I feel a fool," muttered the foreigner, dropping his head into one hand. "If you'd only checked it before…"

Takashi turned around and smashed his fist into the foreigner's face, who was flung back against the boat's railing by the force of the punch. When he looked up, his nose was bleeding and his eyes were furious.

"You little…!" he started.

"I want you to sit down and shut up while I think of what to do!" The loudness and force of his words caused the foreigner to shut his mouth abruptly, though his face remained red with fury. There was silence for a moment.

That was when Conan heard it.

Tick…Tick…Tick…Tick…

He moved his gaze from the arguing men and down towards the teddy bear, from where he was sure the noise was emitting. He thought he could see something sticking out of the hole where the arm used to be…just maybe…was it black? He squinted at it.

It was the tip of a little black box. One that went tick, tick, tick.

Conan felt his heart stop beating for a moment before his sly escape attempt turned into a full-out frantic one, throwing secrecy to the wind. His fingers tore at the rope, desperately trying to free Ayumi before…

"Takashi, the kid!"

Instantly a hand grabbed his shirt, pulling him forward against the ropes. "Oi!" the man shouted. "Sit still, brat—"

The force of his pull, however, tore the ropes the rest of the way loose, and they uncoiled from around his and Ayumi's wrists. "Ayumi-chan!" he shouted, all too aware that the ticking had increased. "Ayumi-chan!"

"Mmm?" The little girl sleepily opened her eyes. "What…?"

Conan bent his head and bit into the man's hand on his shirt as hard as he could, feeling his teeth pierce the skin. He tasted blood before the man howled in pain and brought his other hand up to slap him, throwing him back down onto the bench hard. "You stupid little runt," snarled the man, reaching out for him again, but Conan had already stood up, dragging Ayumi into a standing position, too.

"C-Conan-kun!" she shouted, startled, confused.

"Ayumi, jump!" he screamed, and he hurled himself over the side of the boat, taking Ayumi down with a shriek after him.

Seconds after they hit the water, sinking down just far enough, the world above them exploded into oranges and reds. The water rocked with waves from the force of the explosion, turning the two in circles, and Conan quickly drew Ayumi into him, keeping her close as the world turned upside down around them. After a moment, his lungs aching, piece after piece of burning metal splashed into the water beside them, scratching and scraping him on the way down, leaving his shirt tattered. His flip-flops floated away in the water, and he didn't care.

By that point, all he cared about was breathing again. He kicked his feet hard, pulling himself and Ayumi up to the surface. They gasped in big gulps of oxygen, as much as they could hold, and Ayumi was crying now, holding herself to him instead of him holding her now.

The boat was in pieces, and the two men were gone.

Ayumi hadn't spoken since the rescue boat had pulled them both from the wreckage. Instead, wrapped in a fluffy blanket one of the rescue members had handed her, she'd curled up on a cot below deck and went straight to sleep, staying conscious long enough to just drag Conan down onto the edge of the cot at her feet. And with that, the first aid came down to treat the many scrapes he'd gotten and inspect the bruises along his windpipe.

"He really got you, didn't he?" the woman muttered pityingly. "I'm sorry, boy. But you're safe now."

"Mmm," he replied absently. Who had placed that bomb? That was all his mind was on at this moment, barely feeling the sting as she dabbed at a scratch above his brow with alcohol. He actually had a good idea who had placed the bomb, but was that really their style? He wasn't sure. Haibara will know.

"Boy?"

Conan blinked and realized the woman had been asking him a question. He offered a small smile. "Um, what?"

"Who were you with before you were kidnapped? We'll need your names so we can find you and your sister's parents…"

"She's not my sister." He glanced over at Ayumi worriedly. "We're part of the same club. A good friend of ours took us five out on a trip, and we wandered off and…" He shrugged a little. "Well, you know."

"Oh." The woman blinked. "Well…we'll still need your names."

"I'm Edogawa Conan. She's Yoshida Ayumi." And he went on give them the rest of their information—how old they were, what hotel and what rooms, what was their guardian's name…

"Thank you, Conan-kun," the woman said kindly after a while, once Conan wanted to think and feigned exhaustion. She stood up and began to leave the room. "Don't worry, you're safe now," she said, then closed the door behind her.

He had been faking it. Or, at least, he thought he had. But after a while, he decided lying down wouldn't be so bad. Or closing his eyes. Or…

And then he was asleep.

When he woke up, Conan was surrounded by people. As his eyes fluttered open, he took in their worried faces—there's Mitsuhiko and Genta…the Professor…even Haibara.

"Conan-kun?" Mitsuhiko leaned forward, taking up the line of sight. "Are you awake?"

"Conan, what happened out there?" demanded Genta, pushing Mitsuhiko aside.

"Yeah, yeah! What happened?"

"Kids, he's tired," came the Professor's voice, and the two leaned out of the way and he could see them all again. "Give him a minute."

"Sorry," the two chorused, but they waited anxiously as Conan adjusted to another new place. I need to stop waking up in random places, he thought irritably, realizing he was in a hotel bed now, and from the laptop set up on the desk in the back, he'd guess it was the Professor's room. He put his hands against the bed to push himself up, but felt his hand hit someone else's. He glanced to the side and saw Ayumi fast asleep beside him. Tired as he was, he still had enough brain to think, We slept together?!

He quickly sat up, pushing that thought away. Instead, he asked the first thing that came to mind. "When did you all get here?"

"We got a call—" started the Professor.

"We thought you'd died!" interrupted Genta loudly.

"We were so worried!" Mitsuhiko added. "They carried you two off the boat, and neither of you were conscious, and we didn't know what had happened!"

"It was scary," agreed Genta.

Ai approached the side of the bed. Her eyes were concerned, an expression he rarely saw. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "We weren't on the boat when it exploded, so I'm fine…"

"Good." She raised her hand and flicked him soundly in the forehead.

"Ow!" he yelped as she snapped in a whisper, "What were you thinking? I know you were chasing a clue, and you took Yoshida-san with you? What is wrong with you?" She faltered. "I thought you wouldn't let them get hurt."

Conan's irritated look turned into a full-on glower. "And she isn't, is she?" he snapped back. "I told her to go back! She followed me!"

"Conan-kun!" Mitsuhiko interrupted again, and their conversation came to an abrupt halt. "You're just a magnet for danger, aren't you?" Mitsuhiko observed.

"This is the second bomb you've been with!" Genta put in.

"Well, it's not like I asked to be with them!"

I know you were chasing a clue, and you took Yoshida-san with you.

Her mouth pressed into a thin line.

I know you were chasing a clue, they said. But a clue to what?

She opened one eye just a bit so she could see the looks on their faces. She already knew, but she needed to see anyway, and found herself correct. They were not the expressions of two first grade students. So much older…

Ayumi closed her eye again before they noticed her. Her mind replayed the events of the past days—the scared expressions, the shack, the foreigner, a boat and a bomb…

Something very big was going on here, something that involved Ai and Conan and something they didn't want anyone else to know about. And she didn't think it was a relationship, either.

I'll help them. I swear it.

I know this one's kinda short, and not my best, but I had a hard time putting this one into words for some reason. Phooey. Anyway, I did my best and I hope you like it! -Wynter Fyres