A/N: I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for the love you've shown to this story.

Mentions of suicide and angst warning!

All mistakes are mine. I haven't proofread it.

Ran walked up the stairs, her footsteps echoing, but she didn't care because there was no one to listen to those footsteps. The distance between the stairs was hard to judge. She had to use more energy and she didn't want to. Wasn't getting through a day enough?

But it was inconsequential. The end result would make this all worthwhile. This would be the last time she would have to expend energy in anything, which was good, because she felt drained. And never in her life had she felt that way. This constant need to just stop. She had joked before with Shinichi, that her name meant 'run' but she was now exhausted. There was nothing left to run for, nor nothing left to run to.

She reached the top of the stairs, where their bedrooms were situated. The door was open slightly, but she couldn't care less. If it was one of the members of the Organization that Shinichi and Ai-chan had told him about, then it would be easier for her. They could kill her right then and there. She entered and for the first time in her life, she felt nothing.

She wasn't annoyed about her lazy father, she wasn't happy that she had gotten a good score on her tests, she wasn't sad that Shinichi was gone, she wasn't angry that someone had messed with her family, she wasn't worrying about Conan-kun, she wasn't chatting merrily with Sonoko. She felt nothing and she smirked.

She had always wondered what drove people to kill themselves. Wouldn't they be scared? Didn't they think about people who they were leaving behind? But she got her answer when she took out the knife from the kitchen drawer. Yes, they were scared but not scared enough to stop. They did think about people they were leaving behind but the all consuming grief didn't relent. They were selfish enough to hurt people just so that they wouldn't hurt. And that was okay with her. She had deserved this act of selfishness. She had sacrificed herself many times for the sake of others. No more. Now, it was their turn.

She let her tiny fingers slide along the blade of knife. Her fingers pricked and she expected it to hurt but it didn't. She was fearless in that moment, knowing all of this would end. Everybody would move on with their lives eventually. Even Shinichi who claimed to love her. She let out a dry little laugh. She knew he would care about his friend death but he would have new cases to solve. He always left her behind, this time he would get a taste of what she went through all these months, just in a more permanent way.

She held the knife to her wrist, mouthing 'I love you, oka-san, oto-san' when she heard a gasp, she turned around to see Sonoko with her eyes widened in horror.

Everything froze. She had forgotten about Sonoko. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw her best friend. She would leave behind Sonoko, who had unconditionally stayed with her all those years. She sniffed and an anguished sob broke through her. Why wasn't anything easy?

Sonoko was baffled when she saw a kid enter the kitchen. She had come to the Agency a while ago, missing her dead best friend. She was in Ran's room when she had heard the door open. She tensed when she thought an intruder had come in. Nobody was touching anything in this household on Sonoko's watch. She grabbed a grooming stick from the corner of Ran's room and was ready to smash it into the person who dared to defile her best friend's home like this when she saw a child.

Was this kid one of brat-with-the-glasses friend? She had never seen her though. Speaking of the brat, Sonoko hadn't heard of him either. She knew he wasn't dead though. Maybe his parents had finally come to take him. It was about time though. Who left their kid alone like this? And in Ran's charge? She knew how nurturing Ran was but that was just taking advantage of her. Oji-san wouldn't help with the kid as he was helpless on his own majority of the time and everything would fall on Ran's shoulders. Again.

So Sonoko had taken up the mantle of being Ran's distraction. She took her shopping and to vacations and talked to her about boys and Kaito Kid. She didn't want Ran to miss out on being an everyday teenager. She wanted to see her best friend happy. And in hearts of her heart, she knew Shinichi-kun would too. His noticeable absence had made her furious.

Ran was dead and he was still off playing a detective? Did he really love Ran? Or were the cases more important to him? Did he miss her at all? And then there was Conan-kun. The brat-in-glasses was infatuated with Ran, if not in love with her. She had seen how he would act around boys who would show even a speck of interest in Ran. It was hard to believe that he would leave with his parents after Ran's death. Knowing how inquisitive he was, she was half sure that he would be searching who had killed his neechan. But then he was just a kid, what could he do?

The child she saw looked like a girl, at least from behind, with her long, wavy hair. Sonoko spied on her quietly; maybe this girl was missing her friend, like she did. But to her surprise, the girl walked confidently into the kitchen. Sonoko's brows furrowed, kids didn't usually walk this way. Had she come to the Agency before?

She followed the girl quietly and was aghast when she saw the kid putting a knife of her wrist. She let out an audible gasp and the girl turned around to face her.

The world froze as the two of them looked at each other. This girl… she looked like Ran. She looked like Ran when they were kids. What was going on?

The girl just stared at her until her eyes filled with tears and she started sobbing openly. For some reason, Sonoko's chest hurt looking at this kid. She reminded her so much of Ran that she couldn't help but kneel down to her height. The kid still had a knife in her hand and Sonoko slowly held her hand out, silently asking for the kid to given the knife to her. There was silence for a few seconds and the kid sniffed and reluctantly gave the knife away.

Once the knife was in Sonoko's hand, she cooed, "Good girl. It's all right." She pointed at the knife and said, "I'm going to put this away, okay? You don't have to be scared. I'm not going to hurt you. Okay?" As soon as she said that, she realized how redundant those words were, this kid had wanted to hurt herself. She would most definitely not be scared of her.

She put the knife in the drawer and sat diagonally across the kid. She didn't want this girl, Sonoko was sure she was a girl, how could she not be when she looked so much like Ran? to flee. She had tried to kill herself. She could try to do it again. And looking at the girl's haggard face, Sonoko was sure that she would try to. It was better for her to stay and not act suspiciously. The thought of this kid dying, when she looked so much like Ran, was unbearable. She had already lost her dearest friend. She didn't want her miniature clone to die too.

She held her hand up in invitation, asking her to sit. The girl obliged her and in a few seconds, they were sitting on opposite sides, facing each other. They stared at each other in silence and Sonoko had an inkling that this girl was trying to memorize her face. For what she couldn't say but this was much better than her having a knife in her hand.

"What is your name?" Sonoko asked when she was sure that the girl wasn't going to speak any sooner.

The girl spoke quietly, "Haibara Reina."

Haibara? So she was that prickly girl's sister? They didn't look like sisters though.

"I am Suzuki Sonoko." When there was silence for a beat, she continued, "This is my best friend's house. Her name is… was Mouri Ran." The 'was' coming out of her mouth felt like she had swallowed knives. Saying 'was' hurt more than she had though it would.

"She… she died, you know? Along with her family… and I don't know what to do. I just… I miss her." She could feel herself choking up and the only words she could muster up before she broke down were, "I miss her. I miss her so much."

Tears poured down her face and Reina-chan stood up. She walked towards her and wrapped her hands around her head. Sonoko's head was buried into this kid's chest and she smelt exactly like Ran. She felt like Ran and before Sonoko could comprehend anything, ugly sobs broke through her.

Sonoko clung to Reina-chan for life and so did she. It seemed liked Reina-chan was crying too, her little body was shaking as she cried silent tears and all Sonoko could hear was a litany of 'Sorry'.

~oOo~

Both of them calmed down after a while. The occasional hiccups and sniffles interrupted the relative silence when they hurried footsteps reach the second floor.

Conan stood near the doorway, wheezing for breath and wiped the sweat that had gathered on his forehead. He eyed the room and was mildly surprised to find Sonoko there but when his eyes landed on Reina-chan, his previously tense face lit up.

His whole body relaxed and he plopped down besides Reina-chan. "Ra… Reina… Are you okay?" he asked.

Reina-chan nodded tensely and looked away from him. Sonoko was confused. Hadn't Reina-chan come to meet the brat-in-glasses? It was his home and apparently, he hadn't left the Agency. But that wasn't the confusing part, she figured that they must have had a fight or something, Reina-chan did have a knife in her hand after all, but she didn't seem like those kids who would try to harm themselves just because they had a fight with their friend. No, the most confusing part was how their bodies gravitated towards each other without their notice.

Even though Reina-chan appeared to be angry at him, her body language had relaxed a little and she had unconsciously moved towards him. The brat-in-glasses didn't even pay attention anyone around him. He was staring intently at Reina-chan, as if trying to figure out what was going through her head. Where had Sonoko seen this exact dynamic?

The tension was getting thicker and Sonoko decided to cut it. For some reason, she was annoyed that the brat had interrupted her time with Reina-chan. "What are you doing here, brat-in-glasses? I haven't seen you in a while."

It was weird how his face changed from intense to innocence in a matter of seconds. As soon as he faced her, he let out a childish laugh and said, "Hehehe, my parents have come back, so I am living with them at Shinichi-niichan's house." At the word 'Shinichi' Reina-chan flinched a little and it was noticed by everyone in the room.

Sonoko didn't know how to approach this topic. Was the kid aware that Ran was dead? He must have been, right? She decided to cut through the chase. "Brat… you… you know what happened, right? With… Ran and oji-san?"

The way he reacted, Sonoko was sure he knew about it. He didn't seem so heartbroken over it though. Maybe kids took time to process? She wasn't sure what the protocol was.

"Yes, I… I heard about it." He answered quietly.

"Okay." Sonoko said. She wasn't going to prod him. She had already saved a young girl from killing herself. Her quota of consoling kids was full.

The three of them sat in silence. And for some inexplicable reason, Sonoko felt like she had gotten both of her childhood friends back, with Reina-chan taking the role of Ran and the brat-in-glasses taking the role of Shinichi-kun. The atmosphere reminded her of the times when Ran was depressed about her parents constant fights when they were young.

She didn't know what came over her but Sonoko needed to talk and being around these two made him want to speak. So she did. She started talking about the first time she had met Ran. The first time she had met Shinichi. The way their friendship unfolded. And how she had been the first one to notice when Shinichi-kun started looking at Ran differently.

She told Reina-chan and Conan-kun stories after stories about her time with Ran and Shinichi-kun and the kids listened quietly, half aware that she was grieving. Sonoko had been there for them in her own way. Pushing them to do what they wanted. Even Shinichi could admit that. Now, it was their turn to return the favor.

A/N: Hope you like it! Review to let me know!