Fade to Darkness
Title: Fade to Darkness
Rating: M
Fandom: Detective Conan
Summary: Reincarnation only existed in fanfiction, yet Michael Leo Field was reborn as Akai Senichi, the younger twin brother of Akai Shuichi. However, his new life takes a dark turn; at the age of ten he is kidnapped and at twelve, he is forced to join the organization. [OC Insert as Akai Sibling] [Family/Angst/Drama/Crime]
Arc V
Chapter II
Family
Warnings: Senichi needs help
Senichi was gone. He had escaped the hospital and had returned to his old apartment. He quickly shoved a few of his fake documents and his disguise kit into a backpack before booking a plane ticket using one of his many aliases that he had used for missions. Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to leave the country as soon as possible, the next available ticket was for the next mornings. He wanted to run away from everything, including his family.
So now he had found himself drinking at a bar, waiting for time to pass. He heard someone pull up into the seat next to him and without even glancing in their direction, he knew who it was. "They sent you after me?"
"Everyone is looking for you," Jodie answered. "I had a feeling that you would be here,"
Senichi downed his glass and then leaned his head against Jodie's shoulder. "I'm sorry for lying to you,"
"Did you really love me?" Jodie wrapped one of her arms around him.
"It was real," He nodded. "You were the light in the dark world I lived in. Every time I was with you, I was happy, even when we had our disputes,"
"Let's go back," Jodie said. "They're all worried about you,"
"I'm so tired of everything," Senichi told her. "Why…why do they still consider me family? I'm a monster. Monsters don't deserve families. Monsters don't deserve happiness,"
"To them, you're not a monster," Jodie claimed. "They consider you family because that is what you are. They love you. They know that you didn't commit all those crimes by choice. They know that you didn't choose to go to Mad Dog Arena by choice,"
"Shuu told you about Mad Dog Arena kidnapping me?"
"Yeah," Jodie nodded. "They don't think you're a monster and neither do I,"
"They're lying because they don't want to hurt my feelings,"
"Senichi," Jodie tilted his face so that they made eye contact with each other. "Even if that were true, it proves that they care about your feelings,"
XXX
"Senichi!" His family rushed over to him when they reunited in front of the hospital after Jodie had sent a text to Akai.
Senichi walked over to his parents and they hugged him tightly. He leaned into their embrace. "Mom…Dad…I want to go home…I don't want to stay in Japan or the US…Japan and the US is where Absinthe mainly operated. I want to move on…but I can't if I'm still living here…"
"We can go back to England," Mary suggested. "Alistair took care of the house when we moved away,"
"I'm tired of everything," He sobbed. "I'm tired of killing. I'm tired of stealing. I'm tired of blackmailing. I'm tired of torturing. I'm tired of acting…"
"You can rest now, Sen-nii," Masumi said and patted her elder brother's back. Though she and her brother have only recently met, she still cared for him.
"I don't want to be Absinthe," He cried. "I don't want to be Leo Vineyard. I just want to be Akai Senichi…"
"You don't have to pretend to be something else," Shukichi said.
"You are Akai Senichi," Akai added.
Tsutomu and Mary pulled some strings so that the next morning, the family took the next flight to England.
XXX
Senichi attended therapy sessions to help cope. At first, he didn't want to go to those sessions and refused to speak to the therapist. He expected the therapist to get angry, yell at him, and to force him to talk. But the therapist was patient. She waited until Senichi was ready to speak about his experiences himself. She did her best to make Senichi comfortable when he wasn't ready to speak by changing the subject to his interests, such as anime and manga.
Senichi eventually did tell her about his lives. He spoke about how he was from another world, how he had died, and how he had been reborn into this world. He spoke about how he missed his parents in the Real World but eventually accepted his new family. He spoke about happy moments from both of the families. He spoke about how his kidnapping and, though it was traumatic, he spoke about living in Mad Dog Arena. He spoke about the organization and his friends. He spoke about how he felt like he was a monster and wasn't allowed to be happy.
"You're not a monster," The therapist said. "Your family loves you dearly. If they didn't love you, they wouldn't be trying to help you,"
"I want them to be happy to be with me," Senichi claimed. "But at the same time, I want them to be angry with me,"
"Why do you want them to be angry?"
"Because I'm…" He hesitated. "I'm dying. All the experiments in Mad Dog Arena have taken a toll on my body. From my observations, the most I have is three years, though it'll probably be less than that,"
"Does your family know?"
"Shuichi knows," He answered. "But the others don't. I don't want them to know. I want them to be angry so that when I die, they won't be as sad,"
"Parents do get upset at their children if they misbehave, but in the end they still love their kids. Even if you make them angry, they'll still be saddened when you die,"
"I want to tell them but they all seem so hopeful," Senichi grabbed a tissue and wiped away his tears. He didn't repress his emotions during therapy and was encouraged to be as expressive as he could be. "After twenty two years, I'm back home. They think I'll be able to continue living life with them. But…it turns out that I only have less than three years left until I leave for good,"
"Losing a loved one is always tough and inevitable. But they will always exist in our hearts along with the happy memories we have of them. If you tell them, they'll be able to at least prepare their selves for your demise. A sudden death can be more traumatic. But in the end, it will be your choice to tell them or not,"
Senichi took a deep breath. "I…I think I'll tell them,"
Akai never told his family that Senichi is dying. It's Senichi's secret to tell.
Velgamidragon:
Oh? Three chapters seems a lot for a wrap-up given that the fates of at least two of the characters have already been outline. And if they're shorter, would it make sense to consolidate them into a smaller number of chapters?
Skai:
I just rushed to finish up Fade to Darkness since I had already begun writing Scar(red)let Crow by this point. When I decided to end a chapter in Arc V, to me it just seemed like the right spot to split them up. Now that I'm looking at them, it would've been better to just make one single chapter and just label it Epilogue.
