[Act 21] - ||Standing ovation||

AN: Here it is again :') The main part of my second FF. I could fill the same amount of pages I used for this FF only will all my different versions of this chapter. I re-wrote it sooooooo many times in my mind! Honestly and I changed a whole lot about it, and now… I'm sitting in front of a blank page and dunno which version I'm gonna choose B) Nope, no clue yet. I will just write and re-write and re-write until I'm satisfied and likely it will end up being a mixture of all versions. Hopefully the best one possible ;3 Anyways, there's just one thing I can guarantee by now: serious ecchi ahead *^*Enjoy my dear cannibals :)

-Conan-

(H)

It was all silent in the office while the cannibal exchanged glares with the girl in front of him. The words she had just spoken still hung between them.

"A deal." He repeated slowly, like he wanted to make sure she really understood what she had just said.

"Did I catch your interest?" she asked; a kind of satisfaction in her voice that told him she already knew she had indeed. Another moment of silence passed before he slowly continued "What could you offer me? What do you have that could be of any possible interest for me?"

He heard her shaking her head; it was the low sound her hair made while being moved that told him about her actions. "I have nothing of value; especially not while keeping in mind what I ask of you in reward."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest; what was she up to do? "You want me to take the antidote." He explained and this time she nodded. "But you have nothing to give me in reward." She shook her head. "This, likely, is the worst deal I ever heard about."

The girl laughed lowly while getting up from her chair. "I remember the two of us having such a deal before." She unhurriedly walked over to him and continued. "A cannibal promised to take the antidote and a human who had nothing but his own life to donate." He sat up, not sure if she was really offering him what he believed her to be. "What is it what you want to say?" he asked slightly angry about how long she made this take "what do you offer me in reward?" She didn't answer until she stood just a foot away from him. "Me."

A trace of doubt ran over his face before he relaxed it again. He remembered the deal well; a deal he had with the Alice he missed so much. She promised she would take a drink he thought to change her back into a human and in reward she was allowed to eat him. Back then the antidote had failed and he nearly had to deliver his part. Also back in this night she had been the one to offer the deal and back then she'd also dumbfounded him with a single word.

He gave her a dismissive smile "you?" He made his voice sound disparaging, calculating, to hide how much the very idea thrilled him. "You ask me to give up my plans about the world for… you?" He slid to the edge of his seat; she had caught his interest and she had gotten him impatient about how this would continue, but he wouldn't allow her to see that.

"So you're not interested?" she asked, with a voice difficult to analyze. "No offence, but you really had to be uppish to think I would." He ran his eyes over her, would this have been it? Would she give up, or had she expected this? She just nodded.

"Baka me" she mumbled. "Kato told me I'm not good in dealing… she had been better in it." Conan hesitated "don't speak about her like you remember her too well, if you would you wouldn't have allowed him to kill her." Something bitter lay in his voice while he talked about the cannibal-Alice.

He saw the human bite her lip "but I remember her, I really do. I bet she would know what to do, to make you accept my deal…" he watched how she shifted her wait from one foot, obviously busy thinking about a way until she stopped and clapped her hands happily. "Oh I know!" The girl laid her hand on the button of his old suit jacket she wore and fiddled with it "no one buys a car without being allowed to have a look on it, right?"

He blinked while she unbuttoned the jacket and got out of it; afterwards she carefully folded it up and placed it on his desk. "What?!" he got out of his seat like this would stop her but she just continued biting her lip and mumbled "I couldn't expect you to accept the deal without showing you what you'll miss if you refuse" like she was really talking about selling a car to him. He glared at her; his eyes weren't working the way they used to but even to them it was obvious that the tight white shirt was supporting her amenities.

The girl placed her hands on her hips like she was satisfied with her work so far and made him swallow, it wasn't only the fact that he remembered her real body well, the way she stood there wasn't how a child used to stand; she was still the young woman he knew.

"You really think this would change a thing?" he asked, surprised about how he managed it to keep his voice as calm as before. "You can't honestly expect me to take the antidote because you promise me I could sneak a bite of you afterwards. I know I won't want to then!"

She nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, that isn't really fair… then we do it the other way round!" Once again he felt confused when she said "first you eat me and afterwards you take the antidote." And starting to fiddle with the highest button of the white shirt she added "I just trust in your creditability, since I won't be able to check if you keep your part of the deal."

He didn't trust his ears "where's the catch with the deal? Why should you give away your life like that?"

The first time since she'd entered his office he believed to see her really when she looked at him, and not a role she played to keep the distance to him. "I don't know. Maybe you banged my head once too often against a wall… maybe I am scared and desperate and can't stand the pressure anymore… or maybe I just believe this to be worth it. I seriously don't know."

He sighed deeply "well I am sorry, but I have to refuse anyways. Why should I need a deal to kill you? What keeps me away from just tearing you apart?"

She smiled; obviously she had waited for this question. "Nothing, but nevertheless I am still alive, so seemingly you lack some reason to kill me."

He looked at her, curious about why she sounded so much like she knew the one thing he couldn't figure out and seemingly she understood what he felt, because she explained "back then in this night the cannibal-me had you. She had her hand in front of your face and pulled you into the room, remember? Why didn't she just kill you before you could even figure that this wasn't me anymore?"

He saw that this explanation wasn't part of any deal she wanted to sell him, for some reason she needed to tell somebody about this and it seemed to bother her that the first person she talked to about this was him; a cannibal. "Because cannibals, at least the new version, still have some little piece of conscience left, right? APTX4869 allows a part of the human to stay and watch how the monster within takes over. So I know how you feel. Right now your conscience is fighting against instinct."

He looked at her while a little piece of him was understanding that she had spent half a year to figure this out and that this was just why he hadn't killed her by now. "In summary: you need my deal to have a reason to kill me. The conscience will be satisfied, at least I agreed that you can kill me; wasn't that just what you wanted to get from me when you asked me to come out of the stairwell while you doubtlessly had the power to force your way inside? – My permission."

After she had finished her monologue she gave him a short smile, he replied "I have a plan and won't let you get in the way. Maybe you're right, a part of me keeps me from killing you while I'd die to kill you at the same time, but I just have to wait until Ayumi returns; believe me when I say that she has no problem in killing your without any deals."

With a very calm look she took a further step close to him and mumbled "and you're sure you can wait until she returns?"

He knitted his eyebrows and watched her further unbuttoning the shirt. "You see, I admire your power of will. You are a cannibal since a whole week now and haven't killed a person; you didn't even taste human flesh, right?" She innocently tilted her head "of course you infected people by biting them, but that's not the same like really eating them."

He ran his eyes over her, why did his throat suddenly felt all dry? "This must drive you insane… I nearly lost my mind after hours of being infected without flesh and you made it 7 days; my god!"

"I have my tricks" he replied, his voice worryingly low while his eyes were with her hands, opening button after button. "Hunger can be calmed with raw…" she opened the button in the middle of her chest revealing the dell between her breasts "…meat."

It took him some time to register she'd stopped unbuttoning the shirt because she searched for his look; when he recognized this he looked up at her and she looked at him like he'd said lobster wasn't any better than a cold hot dog. "But that's not the same!" she objected "raw meat may be ok, but human flesh…" she chewed on her lip and it took him some strength not to copy this move of hers, just to imagine how it would be…

"Now that I am human again, of course I feel ashamed about it, but I remember how human flesh is for cannibals. Even the long-dead body pieces I had were… overwhelming." Their eyes met and some moments passed until she looked away to further open the shirt, like she wanted to keep herself distracted from what she was about to admit to him. "They didn't taste like any food I ever ate, not even my most favorite dish could keep up with it because… it has been more than food, it was like a drug and it got me addicted before I actually took a bite."

He felt the thrilling feeling reappear that had entered his body when she'd first mentioned the deal, but by now it had increased, he exactly felt how it got him twitchy and unfocused and the worst thing about it was that he wasn't able to do a thing against it. He couldn't move away from her, but he also knew he couldn't accept her deal.

"One of the things I kept thinking about after I had been cured was… how the cannibal-me would have felt when she had been able to actually eat you. If a half rotten piece of a corpse could mind-blow me like that, what would your flesh have done to me?" She hesitated before she opened the last button, the one above the trousers, but finally she took that last hurdle.

"You think I don't know what you are trying to do, right? But I know it perfectly well" he snapped, for a reason the thrill mixed up with anger. "Then why don't you stop me?" she whispered and closed the distance between them fully. "… You come here and believe I'd allow you to take control, but I'm the one who has more pull!"

She laughed dryly "Shinichi, look at me. I'm literally undressing for a cannibal right here to make it eat me; in how far does that put me in control?"

He grabbed her shoulders roughly, anger further blurring his mind. He needed to scare her, only if it was just a little trace of fear in her eyes to stop this feeling, but he also felt he needed to touch her… just once, if it would be as unsatisfying as touching Ayumi he'd maybe be able to ignore her deal.

Her whole body jerked back and he needed to prevent her from tumbling back under his rough grip that increased on the curt over her shoulders. His body slightly shivered. She felt warm; nearly unpleasantly; against his cold skin and there was still the curt that prevented him from directly touching her.

The thing that really tensed his stomach was that after some time of holding her shoulders a light pounding appeared. Rhythmically her blood pumped through her and he could feel it. All this must have been written on his face because after some time she mumbled "I am ready to give you the chance to find out about how it had felt. Just accept the deal. One word and you can finally stop calming the hunger and satisfy it."

Too late he recognized touching her had been a mistake. "A week without flesh. I can't even imagine how much you want some right now and you still keep refusing me? I'm not going to put up resistance, I promise."

"I won't…" he began but she stepped out of his grip and lightly pushed her body against his; spreading her warmth all around. "Your eyes aren't good, but your other senses are, so… how does it feel?" He had placed his hand at her waist; it would have been so simple to throw her into the next wall.

"I believe the cannibal-me enjoyed the smell most; nothing can be compared to the smell of fresh flesh and rushing blood" her breath stroked against his numb neck while she spoke. The girl got up on her tiptoes and hugged her arms around him. The shirt had slightly slid off of her shoulder what brought his face directly to her bare skin.

With wide eyes he felt the smell she'd mentioned surrounding him while her heart loudly kept pumping her blood around in her body. "Do it" she mumbled and her hug around him increased, like she was searching for something to hold onto when the pain would pierce her. "Just do it and take the antidote afterwards and I will be ok!"

At this moment the human half had vanished, maybe because what waited beyond it had held back for 7 days now, or maybe because the fear which made her cling to him further thrilled him, this way or another she had gotten into a place behind the surface and he couldn't help her in this place. He pressed his face against her skin and opened his mouth slowly.

"Deal" she whispered.

-Alice-

She hugged herself to him and closed her eyes. This was disgusting! The whole situation made her feel nothing more than disgust towards herself. She had presented herself to him like… a piece of meat! And the whole time she couldn't help but being aware that she was luring him to do something he didn't wanted. And still… what did she feel her heart racing? Why did such a warmth spread in her lower stomach? She increased her hug; she couldn't help but feeling thrilled, even though this body couldn't have felt less like her Shinichi. It was cold and shivering because it actually wanted to hurt her and she still clung to it, because he was the only one with her. When his teeth would thrust into her she knew she'd hug herself even closer to him and imagine it would be Shinichi.

Only why did he make it take that long? Why couldn't he finally get it done? Behind his back her right hand increased its grip around the injection. His bad eyes together with the fact that he really seemed to long for flesh had somehow drawn his attention from the fact that she had an ace up her sleeve; literally spoken. She had the injection with the red liquid hidden in the sleeve of his shirt she wore; its cover removed so everything would go fast.

After she had hugged him everything she needed to do was letting the injection slide into her hand and wait for his first bite. She couldn't do it before he actually bit her; the risk that he could fight her off before she made it, was too high. But when his teeth would be inside of her she knew he would be too distracted to recognize her pushing the needle into his flesh.

She felt his mouth opening, slowly, like he was still fighting it and she closed her eyes tightly, raising the injection with her thumb above its plunger. "Deal" she whispered and tensed her arm to push the needle into his back when a power; this strong and straightforward that she couldn't help but scream out loud; ripped her away from him and smashed her to the floor.

Even though her mind felt like drifting after hitting the floor and her whole body seemed to ache, her hand hadn't lost hold of the injection; not this time. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but flashing lights exploding in front of her. "You!" A voice growled she had never heard before.

Alice blinked several times until her eyes allowed her to see the ceiling of the office. "Dirty piece of meat!" the tone of the voice was hating, it was shivering in anger and Alice was sure, though she had never heard a voice this murderous, that the speaker was about to kill her. Slowly, with every part of her body burning, she sat up and still didn't understand what she was seeing in front of her. Conan had slumped down in his chair like he had used up the last rest of his power and in front of him a girl was standing, so obviously a cannibal that it took Alice a lot of time to understand she was looking at Ayumi.

The girl was breathing heavily, her body shaking in anger and her eyes were glaring hating at Alice to her feet. "You sneak in here" she hissed "you tempt him" Alice tried to back off but she was still half lying on the floor "and then you try to kill him from behind!" It was the way that Ayumi wasn't screaming but hissing that told Alice about how furious the cannibal was. "I will make you pay for that!"

Ayumi grabbed Alice's neck before she could answer anything and slammed her onto the mahogany desk next to Conan's chair and Alice cried out. The girl hopped onto Alice and dug her knees into her pelvis what made Alice gasp in agony. "I don't have much knowledge about torture, but even I know that it doesn't necessarily kill you if I open up your ribcage to mess around in your guts!" Alice shook her head, unable to speak, but Ayumi slapped her in the face "stop this" she growled and grabbed her neck to stop her from moving.

Alice reached for Ayumi's arm with her free hand but couldn't soften the cannibal's grip. "Don't worry. I won't strangle you, but be sure that you'll wish I had, when I'm done with you!"

Alice eyes ran around the room, she needed something to protect herself with, but what? Her gaze stopped for a second at the injection, ran over to Ayumi and her arm at Alice's throat. It wouldn't be impossible administering it to her and rescuing her life…

Her eyes jumped to her right, to the chair Conan had collapsed on and the grip around the antidote softened. She wouldn't use it on Ayumi; she was just an infected person, this wouldn't help the others.

"Why do you hesitate?" Ayumi asked, obviously she had followed Alice eyes. "Isn't that what you want? Kill as many of us a possible? Get me away from him?! Go on, why don't you try administering it to me?"

"Where did you find it?" a low voice asked and both girls froze. "Conan" Ayumi's voice changed from murderous anger to loving care all of a sudden. "Take a rest, I will take care of this" Ayumi's eyes were back with Alice but Conan had gotten himself out of the chair and coldly looked at Alice – who just couldn't find the man that meant so much to her when she looked into this face. "The antidote, where did you find it? Mitsuhiko told me in the office you locked him away in were only remnants of a broken injection, so where did you find it?"

Alice opened her mouth but Ayumi was still choking off her neck. It took a long icy glare from Conan until she removed her hands so Alice replied "I found it in the corridor in floor 2..."

"You found it?" he asked and she hesitated.

"It… is the antidote Kato tried to administer me. We all thought he succeeded, but instead he just broke off its needle from the body of the injection before the antidote could enter my body… everything I did was decanting it into an undamaged injection…"

He looked at her with a glare she couldn't read before he calmly said "Ayumi get her off of the table."

Ayumi's face dropped, she opened her mouth to answer but he just snapped "now!" and the girl did as she'd been told. Roughly she pushed Alice down onto the floor which she hit painfully and was right back at her site to pull her up to her feet. The only thing the cannibal-girl took care of was that Alice's shirt did not reveal anything that Conan could possible see. Alice fear only increased when she saw Conan smiling, something told her the past happening had erased another big part of the real-him. "I knew it" he beamed madly "I knew you wouldn't let anyone kill you that easy."

Alice stomach twisted, he was neither talking to her, nor to Ayumi. "What do you mean?" Ayumi asked, lowly like she was as scared as Alice. "Don't you get it? If we have the antidote, Kato tried to administer to Alice, right here" he took the injection out of Alice's hand. The girl made an angry sound and tried to get it back but Ayumi roughly pulled her back. "Then she had never been 'healed'! We can still help her; she can be a cannibal again."

"NO!" both girls shouted. He looked at them, angry about their ignorance. "It's just…" Ayumi began, hesitantly and finally continued "she is right, we haven't had any meat, yet. I mean, this way or that the change will take some victims and she… no one would ever find out about it" with an insidious tone.

"Don't be ridicules! We're not like this; we aren't just carnivores."

"Not yet, maybe" Alice interrupted the two of them, a fear in the back of her head that either one would hurt her again; she doubted she could stand much more injuries. But when Conan's look turned slightly asking she dared to add "I told you! This state of the disease isn't permanent, sooner than later it will reduce you to such carnivores. Those feelings you had while thinking about my flesh will grow and grow and erase anything else, please!"

She leaned as forward as much as Ayumi allowed her to "please don't let that happen!"

He glanced at her for a moment and she tried to remember how it was looking at the real-him. Finally he moved; he reached out his hand and forcefully pushed her out of Ayumi's grip and into a close wall. She gasped in pain "remember all the times in your life you were hurt and now imagine how many times still lie in front of you. I will safe you form that."

She shook her head and tried to reply something – something smart that would help him understand but her throat had gone numb. He softened his grip and she felt her legs slightly giving in and she stumbled forward right into his arms. This last attack had taken any possible remnant of stamina. "See?" he asked angrily satisfied "it'll stop."

She tried to get away from him but he had already forces his face to her bare shoulder; this time he didn't need any permission since he wasn't going to kill her – her deal had become useless. She screamed when his teeth entered her flesh. This was nothing compared to the pain she had felt when Kobayashi-sensei had lightly injured her, back then in the school. He had dug those razor sharp teeth deep into her and she felt her ears going deaf when he let go off of her. She wasn't able to keep balance so couldn't help but lying in his arms what shook her body further. "Get her into a room to change in private" Conan's far away voice ordered and Alice felt his surprisingly careful hold giving way to Ayumi's gruff grip.

-Ayumi-

She held that shivering pile of meat in her arms and glared from it over to Conan and back to it. She couldn't do anything about this now, he had made his decision and she couldn't challenge it. "Ayumi…chan" to her very disgust the pile of meat spoke to her, half conscious it looked at her and twisted the cannibal-girls stomach. "Kill me."

Ayumi blinked what had it said?! "Please. Kill me now; as long as I'm still mortal." Shocked she recognized its shaking hand reaching for her sleeve and grabbing it weakly. "Don't let me become one of you, please" she tried to stand up, tipsy on her legs she turned to Conan. "Don't let this thing enter my mind again! Please just quicken my end, but don't leave me alone with it" Conan frowned and Ayumi saw Alice's legs giving in. "You want to see me on my knees? Begging? Fine here I am and I beg for mercy, kill me."

"Bring her into treating room 3302." Ayumi looked up at Conan who turned away with an emotionless look. She hadn't expected him to stay this calm… even she felt some sort of pity for this Alice begging for her death, but again she knew she couldn't challenge his decision and she dragged the girl in room 3302, where she locked her away. "Noo! Kill me instead! Please someone, nooo!"

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