Hullo! It's been a long long while since I thought about this piece of fiction... I've been more focused on a series I started a year ago which is fully posted on Ao3 and half posted here. It's more Self-Insert/OC-Insert fiction except in this they get reborn into new worlds again and again and again. Anyway, I was thinking of putting them in Detective Conan and found this thing.

Welcome to the AU! What if after getting poisoned Grace woke up before the police got to the scene?

Secrets of the Shrunken Ones AU:

Grace opened her hazy eyes to a starry sky. It was dark and her whole body felt numb. And strange. Like lead and pins and needles but not exactly and more… off than anything. What happened? She tried to make her heavy feeling brain remember. A plane. Some kind of fear. And a red light. Crash? Did it crash? Her mind came up short. She laid there, feeling groggy as she tried to focus on the blinking stars and funny shadows that were probably trees (Was she outside? Why was she sleeping outside?). A few seconds of lying entirely still. Then it all came crashing back and she shot up with a sharp gasp, only to have a sudden dizzy spell cast on her.

She couldn't think of that though. Not at the moment because she was freaking poisoned with That poison with a one-in-a-million survival rate and WASN'T EVEN DEAD! She was alive and with what the poison felt like that was a total surprise. Bones literally felt like they melted and she just burned and burned and BURNED and nononoNONO MAKE it STOP and the fear… oh the fear… She took a deep, shaky breath and pushed the memory back down. She needed her mind calm. And functioning.

But that kind of pain shouldn't be possible. Not to mention said poison shouldn't exist. APTX 4869 (shi-hachi-roku-kyuu. Sharokyu. Sherlock) was supposed to be as fictional as the person who force-fed it to her.

Gin.

And that wasn't even the point because she looked at her hands and it wasn't the fifteen-year-old body she wanted to see. Little hands. Child hands. Baggy shirt that looked more like a dress and jeans with way too much length. Shoes were the same and why was all this happening to her? Had she really been stupid enough to turn around that corner when she heard a loud smack and a grunt of pain? But that was a stupid question because of course she had! Her instincts just were to help people in trouble and she couldn't -wouldn't -do anything about it.

Wait. She had tried to save someone. Someone very familiar.

Shinichi!

Turning her head quickly to the side (and almost faceplanting because dizzy) she spotted the lump of clothes and a small person. He was Conan now. But not, because that hadn't really happened yet and now Grace was here and things were off the rails because she was in a different world and she couldn't get distracted now with icy cold fear gripping her heart because what if he hadn't survived?

It went against all logic but the fear was still there. And had her scrambling towards the bundle. With shaking hands (whatifhesdead-whatif-WhatIf!) she reached out and rolled him over (hesreal-real-REAL! Not-a-dreamwhywhyWHY) and peered at his face with worried eyes just as she pressed trembling fingers against the pulse point at his neck. Two tense seconds went by. It was there.

She slumped in relief but jumped in fright a moment afterwards because somewhere came noises. And they were probably going to drag them to a police station. Grace panicked and wasn't even ashamed of it. This situation was too bizarre to do anything but that.

What to do, what to do…!

She chanted over and over in her mind as her heart hammered in her ears. Fumbling with her too big clothes she scanned their surroundings and saw a possible hiding place in the bushes. Glancing down at the unconscious detective she made a split-second decision and stood on her numb feet while hauling him up. She ended up half carrying, half dragging him towards the safe haven of woods even as she heard him groan quietly.

Not now! Don't make noises. Please!

Dropping down, panting, to the side of a tree trunk and a place where they were hard to see she tried to listen for outside noises with one ear and keep an eye on the unconscious teen-turned-kid (and wasn't it freaky that there were two of them). Another soft moan left the detective's lips and all her focus slipped as her mind teetered towards panic again. He was waking up. A blue eye cracked open. She screamed internally because what was she supposed to do.

Apparently nothing because when he finally got past the haze in his mind he totally did the same mistake she had and sat up entirely too abruptly. Turning to her with a wide eyed expression after surviving the dizziness (Oh. She'd kept a hand on his shoulder. No wonder he freaked) he took in her appearance and frowned lightly.

He opened his mouth and pure dread dropped in Grace's stomach as she slammed a frantic hand on his mouth while clamping down on the urge to hiss a 'shh' when her index finger brushed against her lips. Processing that with so little time she had trouble believing it the detective watched for noises and hearing a crackle of radio and talking he gave her a deadpan expression. He apparently didn't see the point in hiding from police officers.

Normally Grace wouldn't either but they both were child-sized now and she couldn't do anything but give him her own deadpan back. A hand gesturing to her appearance and then to him had the boy looking confused for the longest time and then whitening in sheer horror as he looked himself over. Shock. Disbelief. Numbness. Panic. All that flickered across his face as Grace watched on in sympathy.

But right now they had more pressing matters. Like how to get out of there and somewhere safe to think. It looked like her companion was on the same track of thought as he visibly took his control back and looked through the bush branches and leaves at the officer. He was looking away. The duo exchanged glances and in complete harmony started sneaking away, avoiding sticks or things that would make much noise and hiding in the shadows. Grace took a look down at herself, grimaced at her light green shirt-turned-dress and promptly shook it off out of direct line of sight. Her black tank top was more fitting for hiding, even if it dwarfed her.

Conan- no- Shinichi observed her antics and nodded in approval. Despite the absolutely crazy situation she felt something warm fill her chest but pushed it down quickly as they made their way down the hill and out of… the amusement park? Huh. She'd forgotten and now wasn't really the time to think about it but she was in another world and that made things so much more complicated because it implied so much.

Like, were the relatives she was supposed to live with here? Would they know her? Was there an alternate version of herself? It wasn't like she'd told them she was coming so did it matter? And what was she going to do now that things had been turned so upside down?

Now really, really wasn't the time to think of the answers because she had to concentrate on getting away from the place she should have died at. But that wasn't quite right. She should have died on a plane crash before the poison but nooo the world decided it just had to mess with her and send her into a freaking world where people get shrunk and red witches chase after phantom thieves. Actually… she didn't know that, did she? Who knew what version of the world she'd arrived to. Ugh. It was giving her a headache.

Co- Shinichi started running, prompting her to do the same. They reached the edge of the forest and stopped to catch their breath. The detective looked her over again, curiously. Assessing.

"What's your name?", he asked out of the blue.

Graze blinked, surprised, but replied through her desperate attempts to breathe, "Grace. Grace Filneyard"

Her voice sounded strange to her ears. Too high pitched. Like a child. A frown from the detective. Oh, right. They were in Japan now. Her name was English.

"Mom was Japanese", she said as if it explained everything. It didn't. Not by a long shot. She didn't even know why she'd said it.

Shinichi didn't seem to mind. He was probably too concerned with their situation. She was too. But for a little bit different reasons than him.

"Kudo Shinichi, high school detective", he said distractedly.

Grace could only nod. This was way too strange. She was talking to a fictional character. Every girl's dream? Maybe, but not with these circumstances. Plus he clearly wasn't so fictional now. Looking him over and seeing how lost and real he felt even as he seemed deep in thought made the fictional image she had had of him crumble a little.

If she remained here (would you look at that, some part of her hoped she'd get back) that image would surely be a distant memory in a few days. But what was he doing? Shouldn't he be half panicked across the city and towards his house? Grace felt the uncertainty and fear seep into her again because she was messing his life up. She should leave. But where? He was maybe the only real link she had here. If her distant relatives weren't here, which was very likely now that she thought about it. Maybe… no. It wouldn't be a good idea to show up there. Especially with this situation. She was a child now. With absolutely zero money. And no place to go.

Oh. Look. She was almost hyperventilating.

"H- Hey. Calm down! Breathe!", she felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly and she snapped her gaze up to Shinichi's determined stare. She really was messing things up.

"S- sorry", her voice cracked, "I- I just. Where- What should I do now?"

Aaand that was a stupid thing to say because now he started wondering. And probably realized the situation more fully than in the manga and anime. He frowned, deep in thought. Grace's internal screaming was back.

Please don't let me make things a mess!

"I'll contact my parents"

You know what? Screw it. Canon could go up in flames for all she cared.

Not. She cared just a bit too much.

Shinichi didn't help her panic by that little declaration. Foresight in a king of totally new world? Gone. Things she thought were concrete were also going to be very different.

But… now that the things were heading waaaay off the rails she could probably make them change course to someplace else too.

"We… we should talk this through somewhere less… populated", she said, almost to herself and started running to a corner where a lot of noise was coming from a rollercoaster. Less of a chance to be heard. She heard Shinichi following after her.

I just hope this goes somewhat well.

xXXx

Shinichi… was panicking.

Or he was panicking until that question this new fellow shrunken person (and wasn't that a weird thought) uttered made it clear up a bit for his usual sharpness to take over. They were expected to be dead. If it was found out there weren't bodies, someone was bound to investigate. The first place would be their homes and people close to them. From what it sounded like, he had stumbled across a smuggling made by a big enough organization to have scientists make new traceless poisons. Everyone they contacted would be in danger.

Ran, his mind provided immediately, to his embarrassment.

His childhood friend would definitely be one of those looked closely at if it became apparent he had contacted her. No one he contacted would be perfectly safe but… He wouldn't be able to bring that syndicate down alone in a- a child's body. The ones who would be best for this situation would be people from out of country. His parents. He almost grimaced.

"I'll contact my parents"

He watched in confusion as that statement got her going white. She didn't know them… did she? They were rather famous but most didn't know just how terror inducing his mother could be or how his father dodged his editors.

"We… we should talk this through somewhere less… populated", she muttered and he couldn't help but agree. She started running straight away. He ran after.

He had no idea his world view, that had already turned upside down, was going to be pushed inside out too. And maybe flattened. And twisted. With a supernatural cherry on top.

xXXx

Grace slumped against the fence, obscured by bushes, and buried her face in her hands. She couldn't believe she was doing this. But then again, she felt kind of detached. Perhaps she didn't quite believe this was happening…? Maybe it didn't and she was dreaming, or in a coma. But that didn't make sense and she was stuck there. Carefully, she lifted her head and glanced sideways at her companion. He was looking ahead of himself with glassy eyes.

Well. A conversation would have to start somewhere.

"So… How did you end up in this situation?", she asked conversionally.

Shinichi was startled but told his short tale. He was here because of a promise to his childhood friend and a murder in a rollercoaster. Grace had honestly forgotten that had happened with the confusion suddenly changing world and size brought. She also noted he conveniently left Ran's name out. A good precaution considering he didn't know who he was talking to. He had followed two shady figures and seen a smuggling as one of the two sneaked behind him and gave him 'a new poison untested on humans'.

That seemed… basic enough and matched what she knew. Her story was… crazier.

(Crazier than getting shrunk. Her life, why?)

"And… you?", asked the detective when she didn't react to him having ended the tale.

Grace swallowed and let out a dry, slightly hysterical laugh, "I don't know"

She didn't. A plane crash and a red light and bam welcome to a new world. She had no idea what had happened.

The answer made Shinichi draw up short.

"As in… you don't remember?", he asked, concerned.

A good leap in logic, she granted him, but off the mark. She shook her head slightly.

"No, I remember just fine. At least I think so?", it came as more of a question but she doubted she was missing any memories. Except for the time she was unconscious, "I was in a plane on my way to Japan when it crashed", she told him.

That had him frowning sceptically and waiting what was to come.

"There was a bright red light and here I was, looking at a toilet door in confusion, hearing a grunt of pain and rounding a corner to see someone being force-fed something", she winced at the memory, "They noticed and made me take the same poison", she swallowed nervously but pushed on, "A secret experimental poison… that I know of"

Shinichi took in a sharp breath and got a paranoid look of horror in his eyes. Grace gave him a shaky smile.

"No. I'm not from the Black Organization", she informed him.

His stance relaxed just slightly, expression changing to something more focused. He was still cautious. Wary. Slightly hopeful and maybe reassessing her mental state. Mostly just confused, though he hid everything masterfully.

"What was the poison?"

She looked straight into his sky blue eyes, "APTX4869. With one-in-a-million survival rate. We were super lucky"

Shinichi actually blanched. She was sure she had the same kind of expression when she realized where she was and what was going on. She had no idea where she was going with this, though. The detective was back to normal in no time and asked the more pressing question.

"How do you know?"

How did she know, indeed. 'Well, read it from a manga' wouldn't be appreciated, she knew, even though it was true. She grimaced. Only proof would make him believe her.

"I… know stuff. You're Kudo Shinichi, a high school detective. Your next door neighbour is an inventor whose inventions blow up regularly. Childhood friend, Mouri Ran. Met her at kindergarten as she was making a cherry blossom from paper and you just had to know if your deduction was correct so you 'lost' your own name badge and asked her to make you one too", she blabbered on and watched Shinichi get considerably paler by seconds, "Your mother is a famous actress, Kudo Yukiko, and father a mystery novel writer, Kudo Yuusaku. Ran's father is a detective named Mouri Kogoro. Suzuki Sonoko is your classmate and Ran's friend, also a Kaito Kid fan. Today you came to Tropical Land with Ran because you promised if she won her karate tournament and got shrunken to a child via experimental poison"

She paused, trying to get rid of the block in her throat, and ignored the half stuttered and wary 'How- W- Why do you know this?', "You would have been found by police officers that laughed when you tried to convince them you're a teenager and not a six-year-old. You would have escaped after they talked about some orphanage or creche. You would have gone straight home and made Agasa believe you by deduction abilities. There was- is sauce on his mustache. You two would have gone to your house and gotten you more fitting clothes and talked how to deal with this before being interrupted by Ran who was looking for you. You would have ended up with a false name, Edogawa Conan, after mystery book authors after being backed to a bookshelf and dragged to live with her and her father under that identity. You would've continued to solve murder mysteries with Agasa Hakase's gadgets and using Kogoro as a 'puppet' for deductions, who would be oblivious of everything even as he'd get a nickname of 'Sleeping Kogoro'", Grace braced herself and turned fully to the white-as-a-sheet and confused-beyond-belief detective next to her, "What I just summarized was the beginning of a mystery manga and anime series named Detective Conan"

For dramatic effect, the rollercoaster rode past them just then and made their features light up for a second. Grace wondered if those kind of things would happen often.

Probably not something I need to know now.

Shinichi actually staggered and leaned against the wall. Grace reached out in concern but he flinched back and she thought better of her plans. She'd hurt him. Unintentionally, but she had. And she had no idea what she had been doing anyway.

"Sorry… Sorry to dump this on you. You must think I'm crazy, or a liar, and I don't blame you for that", she whispered and looked down as she felt her eyes sting, "I'm just so- so confused right now! I was in a completely different world not even four hours ago and now I'm in a child's body and couldn't even prevent you from turning into a kid. And- and I should have died twice now but I'm still alive", she choked on a sob as she felt tears roll down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry"

It must feel horrible to find out your life is just entertainment to some people. And realize you were with someone you knew nothing about and could very well know everything about you. She shouldn't have done that. She should've- all thoughts were cut off by two hands gripping her shoulders. She looked up and saw blue eyes reflecting her teary image. They looked quite a bit alike, now that she thought about it. His eyes were looking for deception or something that would disprove everything… and not finding any he dropped his hands. They shook a little.

"What would happen if I did the same thing now?", he asked, looking down. He… probably decided to play along.

Grace grimaced, "I have no idea. Maybe it would go the same way. You created an image of 'Sleeping Kogoro' out of Ran's father where you put him asleep with a wristwatch dart for the duration of your deductions. Without that it's going to be way different. Without that-", she cut herself off and felt a strange string of feelings and images stretch into her mind.

Kogoro continuing life as he should. Ran feeling sad and broken about her missing friend and love interest. Some cases happening here and there, all solved within a week, two, or a month, a day. Some cases she knew of getting outside help via phone call. By the person next to her. Shinichi.

"Without that it… looks… less dangerous?", she whispered, coming back to herself and found herself looking into wide eyes.

Shinichi looked like he wanted this all to be a dream. She knew the feeling. But he'd seen something too.

"Y- your eyes were glowing", he said, stunned.

Grace very much had to restrain her groan. The world apparently loved to mess with her and she just saw a future. How she came to that conclusion immediately though…? Ugh. Headache.

"I don't know why or how but I just saw a future", she exclaimed.

Strange things happening once or twice she could deal with but at least four in a row? That's a bit much. She might have thought it a dream if this didn't feel so real.

"A futu- Nevermind. Let's not think of that now", her fellow child teen shook his head to clear his thoughts, much to Grace's relief, "So going to Agasa Hakase is a bad idea?"

She grimaced, "Maybe not bad but you'd have to lie to Ran a lot while putting her in some danger. And deny her suspicions. Which would undoubtedly make her mad"

Shinichi twitched at her informality. Or then it was the 'mad' comment. Whichever it was, she rubbed her neck in slight embarrassment.

"Sorry. I'm used to saying first names in America"

He waved her off. They had much more pressing things to focus on.

"And your opinion on us contacting my parents?", he asked.

She frowned in thought. It would probably be a good thing. Then they wouldn't have to endure that fake kidnapping. And would get good backup. She didn't even know when it had become 'we' and not 'he' but chose to ignore that.

"It would be a good idea to inform them, yes. But maybe not first first", she muttered while thinking, "We should probably go and get appropriate sized clothing from your house. The Organization will search it later when no bodies show up and the scientist who made the poison will be with them. She will later escape after her sister's death by taking her own poison and turning to a kid. Understanding what happened to you she went to your house where Agasa found her. Her name is Miyano Shiho and her sister Miyano Akemi", she bit her thumb, "She would be the one to know how to make an antidote if she gets the original poison's components"

Shinichi visibly brightened at the thought of finding a way to get his body back to normal. Even if before that he'd been watching her like she was slightly crazy. An oddity. Which she was so she couldn't even be mad. His eyes were focused again.

"Then we'll do that. Can her sister be saved?"

Grace mulled the question over and gave an awkward shrug.

"We would have to make it seem like she got shot and probably use real blood like she was supposed to and find a believable way to make the 'body' disappear", she thought about it a bit more and frowned, "Way too complicated. But… there could be other ways?"

Shinichi nodded slowly, ideas clearly whirring though he didn't have as much details as he'd like. Grace could understand.

"So our immediate plan of action is to sneak into my house and get the… children's clothes but what then?", he asked and she wanted to smack herself for not thinking about that sooner.

Grace frowned slightly. Then a crazy idea struck her.

"We could probably start cooperating with Kaitou Kid", she told him.

The 'What!?' was totally expected.

"He's got some of the organization after him, I think. Or then it's a different one but that's less likely in my opinion. They're hunting a jewel, a doublet, that only shows itself under moonlight. He wants to destroy it before they get to it", she gave the necessary background info, "The heists are so showy because he wants to lure them out and get them caught"

Shinichi seemed to go over that and came to the same conclusion she had. He would be a valuable ally. There was a discrete nod. And she seemed to be struck with crazy ideas that day. Probably because of the crazy happenings.

"We… could maybe pass as siblings", she said, thinking of their similar appearances and same blood type.

"Eh?", he looked her over and blinked in surprise at the similarities, "True. We should do that. Better to stay together"

Her turn to blink. He accepted it? Just like that? Okay.

"Well, we go to my house, take the clothes, and sleep where? Agasa Hakase's?"

Grace nodded, "Last time you posed as his distant relative. Now we could hammer the details out better and create aliases with your parents' help. This time I'm here to mess things up after all", some bitterness leaked into her voice.

Shinichi noticed (of course he would) and gave her an encouraging look, "Not your fault. And you're saving me from a lot of trouble"

She grimaced, "But now there's no guarantee that things will turn out alright"

He smirked, "But there's no guarantee that things won't turn out better"

She conceded the point and smiled. This was a wild situation but she was so glad she wasn't alone. That wouldn't have gone over well. She took a deep breath (her lungs were so small now!) and straightened.

"We should put that plan into action now, shouldn't we?"

And they were off.

xXXx

This is merely a one-shot thingy but I thought you guys might like it since no one has really wanted to take this on. It's been sitting on my computer for who knows HOW long... My writing is still much improved since back when I started this fic. I kinda cringed when I reread some of the chapters.

But yeah. This is likely the last time this piece of fanfiction is updated, though I am considering starting a new Detective Conan fic in my Eternal Cycle series. Some of that's actually written too... just. Not published. Yet.

Anyway, I'm glad people have liked this fic and I'm sorry I couldn't finish it. This was my first long piece of fanfiction that didn't have that much plot planning when I started. Not like the fic I'm currently focused on. This was mostly me getting a 'fancy' idea and just pushing myself to write and write even if some things didn't make sense. Thank you for still reading this 'I-just-started-learning-how-to-write' quality fanfic and for sticking with me through it!

Truly thanks and goodbye!

...Unless you stumble upon my other fanfics on here or Ao3, then it's a new hello.