Chapter 7: Memory Fragments

Princess Sango

Ai felt separated from her body in this dream. She felt lifeless, weightless, as if anything that went on was because of something strange, and she couldn't change. First she saw this little girl, who looked just like her clinging to a girl who looked like Akemi-san. The little girl was crying, crying, crying why? Then she saw the tomb stones with the last name Miyano, and Ai covered her mouth, a scream stuck in her throat.

Ai opened her eyes, that memory fading but the sadness was still in effect. This time their was two guys carrying them away. They were dressed in black, and then she was able to make an inference that those two were the men in black, the people who destroyed so many people close to her. She winced as she continued to watch her, as a little girl, being torn away from her sister and thrown into a lab, being told to create something useful for them. Why would she do that? Then someone came in with a knife and grabbed her arm, inscribing something, and she found it to be the word: remember.

The person then smirked at her tears, "Better grow up fast Sherry Miyano, and remember this pain, because if you try anything funny, you'll get this pain and ten times more."

Ai watched as her younger self curled up on a bed supplied and fell asleep. Next it skipped a couple years, to where Ai was happy because she finally finished one product of work, was she really that kind of genius? Ai shivered at the thought of helping them, and saw that her younger self (Ai-chibi) rejoice and hand it over, they informed her that her sister was waiting for her, as a treat. Ai-chibi ran to the room and flung the door open to see her sister (Akemi-chibi) waiting for her. They hugged and Akemi-chibi looked sad yet proud of her sister in that moment, but why?

They were shown walking in the busy streets of Tokyo, but they looked liked weary people, who had been let out of the world after years of captivity. As for Ai-chibi, her pale skin, unlike her sister's whose skin was darker. Ai-chibi's eyes also lit up from looking at the small candy shops and the toy stores, along with cd players. Ai herself started to slowly remember, what that day felt like. It felt like…she had been free, a normal kid, not someone who would die if she made one mistake.

Ai felt black surround her and then she passed out, as if she had a lapse. There, Akemi showed up, "How do you like the memories, sis?"

Ai blinked and looked at her sister, "I-I can't believe all that really happened to me, with the life I have now… Tell me how did remember heal?"

Akemi blinked and then sighed, "It's still there, see for yourself." Akemi gently nudged the paper-thin adhesive Ai had placed on her arm that felt like normal skin, where the words, in plain sight showed, "It's been there forever, but the paper grew with your skin, and it was always peeling when you went to bed, so I'd place a new sheet on."

Ai's eyes widened and then she ran her fingers over the arm, with the word remember, that eight letter word… "Akemi-san, why did you hide it? Why didn't you tell me, what was going on?"

Akemi looked sad, "Maybe you should continue the memories, and I'll talk to you later."

Ai-san saw Akemi-chibi give her a hug before one of the men in black shoved her back inside her room, locking the door. While this other guy took hold of her sister and briefed her on some new heist they wanted her to do. The next thing she knew it was years later, and Ai-chibi was now eighteen, her skin had gotten a little darker, and the words remember still were stained, but healed to the point it was smooth. Ai-chibi seemed more mature, and those eyes were stone-cold, and then she found something out, that her sister was killed, in an accident. This was just after she had finished a new product, called APTX, a new form. Ai-chibi had cried, and no one was there to comfort her.

Ai then saw herself waiting to be killed, and Ai-chibi didn't understand why. She watched as her teen hands worked into her pockets to produce a case of the drug that she had created, and worked the case open and pulled one out and shoved it down her throat, and then collapsing from the pain. Ai woke up to see her clothes oversized and her hands slipping through the chain. Slipping her hands out of the cuffs she was able to also slip through the bars, her skinny figure. Ai took off and ran, ran through the halls and through the dark corridors.

Ai-chibi found herself in Kogoro's house, and waiting for someone, there she met the people: Conan and Cali, or in real name terms, Shinichi and Ran. When they did show up, she forced them out of the house and into an abandoned parking lot, and then the rest blacked out, as if she had already knew, and she did.

Ai woke up, gasping for air, the darkness of the night leaving and dawn creeping through the cracks. Ai looked at Heiji who clung to her hand and she smiled at him, wriggling it away. She stood up and opened her window, letting the air cool of her sweat driven face and sniffed the air, thinking to herself:

I can greet the day, knowing I'm thankful for life.

TBC…