Hey, I'm back!
I'm sorry, I left this story for so long! I told you I might never write my other ideas. Well, I guess it was better to say so, seeing how much time it took me to finally get back to this story!
It wasn't an easy chapter to write. I hope I didn't left too many mistakes in there.
See you after this chapter for more information.
Bonne lecture ;)

What happened

"Come on, don't be so nervous! It'll be fine!"

"Certainly not, knowing you. Just tell the FBI about it and leave this place, it can only end badly."

"Why would it? I called you exactly to confirm that! If they're not on a mission, then they won't be watching the surroundings."

"Kudou-kun, stop playing dumb. You're heading toward abandoned warehouses, how is that not a place where they'd meet? Which means it will be surrounded by guards and snipers all around."

"Relax, we're not there yet and… Wait, how can you know that?!"

Conan suddenly realised Ai's voice wasn't even anymore. It sounded like she was out of breath… Running?!

"Haibara, the hell are you doing? Stay home, it's dangerous!"

"If it's dangerous for me, it's dangerous for you. Get away or I'm coming to get you myself."

"No, stop! They can recognize you."

"You too. You've crossed path with them too frequently, they'll end up remembering your face. Get. The. Hell. Away."

"I'm careful! Now stop, I'll be fine! Why are you even going by foot? Hakase's not here?"

"No, he's out fixing a defective invention of his, he's on his way back, but with you being stupid, I don't have time to wait. If I don't see you come back on the spare tracking glasses, I'll just join you."

"Oï, no! If you have to speak to someone about this, at least tell Jodie-sensei or Subaru-san!"

"I don't have her number, remember? Especially since she changed her phone. About my neighbour, he's currently out."

"Oh, hello Conan-kun! Long time no see. What a surprise to see you there!"

The small sleuth stopped dead in tracks upon recognizing the voice, even as he barely met the person it belonged to two or three times.

"Ha… Hakuba-niichan?!"

Well, he didn't expect to meet him either, but now and here was really a bad time… The person he was tailing wasn't exactly going to wait for him, and he had to make sure they didn't notice him too.

But then, he gave a quick glance at Hakuba's group, and blinked upon seeing the face of one of his classmates, a teenager who seemed to try and hide his face by chatting with a girl with dark hair reflecting red.

"Wha…"

"Oh yes, it is true you don't know my classmates. Let me introduce you", he proposed with and odd, triumphing smile. "Here's Kuroba Kaito and Koizumi Akako."

"Can't you let him be? He's in the middle of a phone call after all", Kaito remarked. "Also, he seems to be in a hurry."

Conan kept staring at him, which seemed to be much to his discomfort, even if he hid it well.

"Are you… Shinichi-niichan's twin brother or something?"

That was a silly question. He was Kudou Shinichi, and he was 100% positive he didn't have any sibling, but he looked so much like him! Except for the haircut, which looked more like…

"Kid?"

"You're the kid here", Kaito joked, poker face in place, approaching him while trying to put up a show as usual, or Hakuba would be suspicion of him avoiding the Kid Killer. He kneeled, taking a flower out of nowhere to Conan. "Extraordiniary magician. Nice to meet you. You're Edogawa Conan, the Kid Killer, right? Aoko talks about you a lot."

"And you're Kaitou Kid", Conan answered. "Though it's odd you're not related to the Kudou too, you look so much like him!"

Hakuba's smile widened as Akako frowned, focused on the child, but Kaito easily laughed off the accusation.

"That's a rude thing to say to someone you barely met! I'm speaking about the whole being Kaitou Kid accusation, even if telling me I look like a detective isn't exactly a compliment either. By the way, weren't you after someone, tantei-kun? I wouldn't want us to slow you down and make you loose your target."

That. That way to call him. Only one person called him that way. But suddenly, Conan snapped back at the Organization member he met by chance on the street and turned toward the direction he disappeared.

"Shit!"

"What are you doing, Conan-kun?" Hakuba asked, suddenly serious. "I don't think it is a good idea for you to follow a criminal alone."

"It's nothing like that, don't worry!" Conan assured them. "I gotta got!"

"No! You'll just draw more attention to yourself. Just give up already!"

Conan hang up before Ai's voice had a chance to reach the others and began running, hoping he'd be able to find his target even as he let him a bit too much of an advance, not noticing the thinking looks on his back.

"Didn't the person on the phone yell something?" Hakuba noticed.

"Yes. It was a girl's voice, trying to prevent him from doing whatever he's currently doing. Looks dangerous to me. I guess he just lied to us. Do you want to follow?" Kaito explained, being the one closest to Conan at the time.

"It depends on if you are willing to prevent a tragedy or not, but it is at the risk of your life, and the one of your relatives too" Akako informed them.

Both boys looked at her, incredulous.

"What?"

"It's exactly as I said. Something bad is about to happen. If you don't hurry, you won't be able to prevent it. It may be already too late."

He had sent Ai a message so she didn't try to join him through the badge either, since he was about to get close to his target. He was afraid for a few minutes he wouldn't be able to find him, but here he was again. The problem was they were beginning to leave crowded streets toward the area the scientific was talking about, which meant higher risks of Organization members being around and noticing him. They weren't in the middle of warehouses yet, but it was only a matter of time. He wasn't going to be able to follow him for very long, but he didn't want to loose this opportunity either.

He saw the figure he was following throw an empty cigarette packet on the floor, and smiled. That was his chance!

Acting like he was a passerby in the now empty street, full kid act mode on, he walked noisily behind his target, exclaimed loudly upon seeing the thrash on the floor and made a run for it before running toward the one who had thrown it.

"Mister! You lost something! Mister!"

A gunshot pierced through the air and a sharp pain exploded in his chest. He gasped and collapsed on the floor.

"Someone's coming."

"Isn't that the kid from earlier? The steps are light."

"No, Conan-kun went in that direction."

"So..."

The small group halted until they saw a young girl around Conan's age with auburn hair run with a scared expression on her face, glasses looking like the boy's on her face, going in the same direction as Conan.

"Oï, wait!"

She didn't reply, didn't even seem to mind them as she kept running.

They all began to run to follow her, yelling questions at her and telling her to stop, until she finally realised their presence and turned to scream with a panicked voice:

"Get away, it's dagnerous!"

"Is that..." Hakuba began.

"Yes. Definitely the voice of the person he was on the phone with", Kaito confirmed.

Then, a gunshot rang through the air, stopping them dead.

"I told you we might not make it", Akako reminded them. "It is as I said: we are too late..."

Conan put a hand to the entering bullet wound, gasping and coughing. It was so painful to breathe, but he had to… Even if the blood coming out of his chest and mouth told him that soon, he wouldn't be able to breath much more that this red liquid rather than the air he needed.

How… Why did happen? We're still near frequented streets…

He raised his head, seeing another black figure joining the first. Long silver hair. A murderer's glare on him.

Gin.

"Aren't you a bit jumpy lately?" The man he's been following joked. "That was only a brat."

"He's too close, and we have to move now. Did you let any finger prints on your cigarette packet?"

"No."

"Then we're leaving. Now."

Without a second glance at him, they left, just like that, while he was beginning to drown and suffocate in his own blood, too far away to hide the bug he had prepared on his target. Instead, his arms that barely held his upper body gave up, letting him lying on the floor, a pool of his own blood forming around him as he struggled to breath, struggled to stay awake.

Haibara… Gotta warn her… She can't come here…

With a last look making sure the two Organization members had left or were too far away to notice, he took his badge and adressed directly Ai's badge, trying to speak distincly despite the blood and coughing.

"Haibara… Get away. It's dangerous… 'm sorry, I failed… At least they don't… Ugh… Have a reason to come after you… For what I did..."

"Edogawa-kun?! This better be some bad joke. What happened?! Where are they?"

"Don't worry… They left… But I'm not gonna… I'm not gonna make it..."

In the distance, he could hear footsteps. A lot of them. Same went for the sounds coming from the badge. He frowned.

"You're… Not alone?"

"Come on Conan-kun, don't leave us, we're coming", Hakuba's voice added, serious and worried.

"Hear our voices, cling to them if you need to, but please, just, stay conscious", Kaito's added.

"No… Get away… They might still... Be around..."

He was trying so hard to breath, to sound understandable, to refrain the pain from showing in his voice, but the way he spoke told them all they needed to know. No one asked if he was the one who took the bullet they heard. They all knew.

He let go of the badge, grasping his clothes, as if pulling them off would help him breath. But it was stupid, he knew it. He tried to apply pressure to reduce the bloodloss, but his vision was getting blurry. The bullet pierced through his lungs, that was for sure, but that wasn't the only damage it did. That kind of bullet usually perced straight in the body before coming out, but this one had touched too many vitals things on its way. One of the main bronchus was probably severed, or a close area around it, for him to have such trouble breathing when such injuries usually killed in 30 minutes. It was barely 5 minutes since he was shot, and he could already fell his consciousness fading away, even as he could make out figures in the distance running toward him, yelling his name through the badge.

He couldn't wait for them. He tried, really, but he felt his eyelids close as they grew bigger.

You were right Haibara, I should have listened… I won't be able to apologize face to face… Please tell Ran… Tell her I'm sorry. I won't be able to keep my promise…

So sorry…

Posté le 25.07.2021

So, that's how it happened. Maybe I should have added it to the first part of the story directly. This is one of the reasons it took me so long to continue this story, I didn't really know how to arrive to this. When I read my notes, I realized I had other ideas, but that's ok, this one works too.
I already began writting the next chapter. I'm not sure how many ideas I'll write after this. I have a couple more, but it's really hard to write... And not only because it's not my mother tongue. The subject isn't exactly easy.
Well, we'll see! I hope you will be there to read. Sorry for the long wait again, and see you (hopefully sooner this time!)