Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Chapter Rating: T

Collection Summary: No matter where or what they are, their lives are always entwined. KaiShin stories in fantasy settings.

Chapter Summary: As an archeologist, Shinichi dedicated his life to uncovering the mysteries of the lost empire. His search, however, leads him to a stranger he feels he should know and the remnants of a terrible magic.

Remnant of a Lost Age

[Archeology Verse]

Part 4

"We're what?"

"We're leaving Teitan City," Shinichi repeated as he continued to pack. "I want to get started on deciphering those writings, but, to do that, I'll need more reference materials. The Bayshore Archives have a lot more on ancient codes and forms of writing than any of the libraries here in Teitan. So I want to go there next."

Kaito raised an eyebrow at that. "Does this mean you're giving up on those answers you wanted from me?"

"Of course not," Shinichi huffed, mildly offended by the suggestion that he would give up on any puzzle. Although, if he had to be entirely honest with himself, part of his irritation was born of the sneaking suspicion that he was running away from the answers Kaito might give him. No, he was just prioritizing his work over personal curiosity. He would answer Kaito's riddle and get those answers eventually.

When he was ready.

"I've been asked to present on the writings I found at the Historical Treasures Conference that's coming up soon," he explained. "I'd like to have more to say than that there are illegible writings on the wall."

Kaito frowned. "I still don't like the idea of a bunch of strangers swarming through those catacombs. They may find things that should remain lost."

"Like what?" Shinichi asked, curious. "I thought you said you didn't know what all that writing was either."

"There's that altar room," Kaito replied dryly, indigo eyes going cold.

Shinichi stiffened. For an instant, the room in question flashed before his eyes, and he felt a chill run through him, going straight down to his bones.

He was pulled out of the disturbing flashback when he was abruptly enveloped in a warm and eerily familiar embrace. He relaxed before he realized what he was doing and hastily (reluctantly) wiggled out of Kaito's embrace to finish checking the hotel drawers for anything he might have forgotten to pack.

"You can check everything I plan to present to make sure it's acceptable," he offered. "I wouldn't want to put anyone in any danger."

Kaito sighed. "Well, to be fair, most of the more, ah, problematic areas can't be accessed by anyone who isn't a magician from a ruling house. The rest is more sentimentality on my part than anything else. Though I've warded the more important of those as well ages ago with all the treasure hunters trouping around for the last thousand years. I'll take you up on that screening offer though. Best not to take chances."

Shinichi stole a quick peek at the magician over his shoulder, concerned by the odd note in Kaito's voice. The shadows he saw in those indigo eyes did not reassure him. He wished he knew what to say. Since he didn't, he went back to checking for overlooked luggage items and asked Kaito if he had any preferences regarding breakfast, figuring that food was as good a distraction as any even for someone who didn't strictly need to eat. Or, well, perhaps especially for someone who didn't strictly need to eat and therefore had not been doing so for nearly a millennia until very recently.

Kaito brightened instantly and began listing restaurants he'd heard made great breakfasts, although a knowing gleam in his eyes told Shinichi that he was fully aware that the archeologist was changing the subject in an effort to cheer him up.

They checked out of their hotel ten minutes later and had breakfast at a small café that served incredibly scrumptious omelets. Then they visited several carriage services that, Shinichi explained to Kaito, were the fastest way to cross the considerable distance they needed to cover to get to Bayshore.

"You realize I know a great variety of spells just for travel," Kaito said as he trailed after Shinichi towards the next carriage service station. "We could fly."

Shinichi gave him a funny look. "People used to fly?"

"Well, it depended," Kaito admitted.

This made Shinichi frown. "On what?"

"Well… It does take considerable concentration. Lose it while too far off the ground and, well, let's just say getting your concentration back before you hit the ground isn't easy when you're plummeting at high speeds—not that I've ever had that problem," he added hastily when he saw the expression on Shinichi's face. "And it's freezing if you go too high up. But that just means you need the right clothes and a suitable charm or two."

"I would prefer the carriage," Shinichi said firmly.

"You're missing out. Flying is incredible."

"Until you hit the ground, you mean?"

"I wouldn't let that happen," Kaito promised.

Shinichi made a face. "Maybe another time."

They ended up joining a carriage caravan being run by a group of shifty-eyed men who Kaito disliked on sight. But they were the only carriage service that wasn't booked full that was going to Bayshore.

"You're an archeologist, right?" one of the carriage drivers asked Shinichi, eyeing his traveling pack. Said pack was quite small, but there was a definite weighing quality to the man's gaze. "You visit the ruins recently?"

"No," Shinichi replied. "I last went a few months ago."

"Find any treasure?"

"Of course. I found a series of ancient writings that no one alive right now seems to have any idea how to read. But, once we figure them out, they may be able to tell us everything about what actually happened back at the end of the empire," Shinichi explained, launching into excited lecturing mode. "Or it could go even further back than that. I have reason to believe these writings may refer to entire generations of history that we've never even heard of. Like back even before the—"

"Right, right," the man interrupted him hastily. "I'm sure it's fascinating. And you sir?" He turned to Kaito. "You an archeologist too?"

"No. I'm his bodyguard," Kaito declared, flashing the man a toothy smile that held more than a hint of a warning.

The carriage driver frowned slightly then shrugged. "Anyway, we'll be setting out soon, so don't wander off. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go see to our other guests."

Shinichi turned to Kaito with a deadpan stare. "And when exactly did you become my bodyguard?"

"Since the day we met," the magician declared and laughed at Shinichi's incredulous stare. "Come on. Our carriage is waiting~."

Shinichi and Kaito found themselves seated in a carriage with an elderly couple who were off to spend their fiftieth anniversary by the sea, their grandson, who had come along both to watch out for his grandparents and to collect seashells and coral for his artwork. He, in turn, had brought his girlfriend, a bubbly young woman with a dimpled smile, and her mom, who, while she approved of her daughter's beau, was not yet ready to let the two go off without her for supervision. The entire family, for official or not, it was clear all five of them thought of each other as family already, were very friendly and talked a great deal.

The artist's girlfriend had a flare for jewelry design. And, upon learning that Shinichi was an archeologist, she had begun quizzing him about the jewelry from the Empire—their trends and styles and cultural significance. Her honest interest drew out the enthusiastic scholar in Shinichi, and the two chattered away almost nonstop as the wheels of the carriages turned and turned.

For his part, Kaito had opted to keep to himself sitting quietly next to Shinichi and keeping on eye on the world beyond the carriage windows and the other on their fellow travelers. He could have contributed to Shinichi's discussion with the girl about Empire jewelry, but he didn't. Some part of him was reluctant to share anything of that past world with these people, not because he didn't like them or because he thought they wouldn't understand but because it would mean he would have to think about it all again—of everything and everyone that had been lost in one terrible, tragic night in which the world as he had known it had ended.

Those memories were still with him, of course. They would be with him until the end of time. But, for now, he was content to let them simmer in the back of his mind and just focus on making a space for himself in this new world and time with Shinichi.

A small smile made its way onto his face as he turned to gaze softly at the young archeologist seated beside him.

Now that he had found his Shinichi again, all he really wanted to do was to stay with him, to hold him and protect him, to fulfill those promises he'd made all those years ago—promises he had broken that he refused to fail again.

The journey to Bayshore was long but uneventful if you discounted the overly talkative travel companions. Or it was uneventful until the third day when Shinichi noticed that the last of their five carriages had vanished.

"What's going on?" the female half of the elderly couple wondered, peering back up the road down which they had just come. "They can't possibly have fallen that far behind, can they?"

"Maybe they took a wrong turn and got lost," her husband suggested, frowning. "These woodland roads meander every which way. Maybe they're just out of sight. I'm sure they'll catch up when we make camp."

"I suppose you're right," his wife agreed after a pause.

It was nearing dusk though, so everyone in the carriage found themselves glancing back up the roads every few minutes. Just searching.

"Does anyone remember who are what was in the last carriage?" Shinichi asked.

The others mostly shrugged. They had kept mostly to their own carriage so far during this journey. At camp, each carriage's occupants had their own campfire. There hadn't been much inclination to socialize, especially with the dour weather they'd been having and the general desire to keep moving.

"I did jot back for a look at the last carriage yesterday though," Kaito said slowly. "I was curious why its windows were all covered. I wanted to know what they were hiding."

"So you peeked," Shinichi said flatly.

Kaito only smiled. "I investigated. You'd have done the same thing."

"So what did you find?"

"Well~, remember how the coach driver asked you if you'd found treasure, and you bored him to tears with all your scholastic mumbo jumbo?"

"I didn't—oh, whatever, never mind. Yes, I remember."

"Well, I couldn't tell if there was anyone in there because it was packed with stuff. There were actual Empire artifacts in there. They've removed some of the seats to make room. Some of it was gold and silver. And there were a few power crystal tools too."

"That sounds valuable," the artist observed.

His young lady gasped, hand flying to her mouth. "You don't think… Bandits?"

"If so then our drivers are very likely in on it," Shinichi said grimly. "Otherwise, they wouldn't have known which carriage to attack."

"It could be a coincidence. They could be planning to pick off our carriages one by one starting at the end," the artist argued. "I mean, it's not uncommon for cargo and luggage to be placed at the end of a line. We need to warn everyone and send for help. If we find a defensible position, someone can take a horse to carry a message."

"Now, now," his girlfriend's mother said, raising a placating hand. "Don't you think you might be jumping to conclusions? It's possible that the carriage simply ran into a ditch or threw out a wheel."

"She's right," the grandfather agreed. "Mechanical issues are always a potential hazard on the road. It's nothing to get excited over. Just you wait. I'll bet that last carriage will be back before you know it."

Shinichi had serious doubts about that. He felt the bandit theory was more plausible, especially when he looked back on that conversation with the carriage driver. As Kaito had said, the man had been very interested in the topic of treasure. At the time, Shinichi had chalked it up to that fascination more than half the population seemed to have for the magical relics and great mystery of the ruined empire, but it was just as likely that the interest had been more sinister. On the other hand, that last carriage had contained no people that they knew of whereas the carriages still present were carrying not only several elderly passengers but at least one child, so it seemed wiser not to call the thieves out before they got to the next settlement. The problem was that, by then, it would probably be rather difficult for the authorities to do anything about the theft. They could detain the remaining carriage drivers, but they could easily claim that they didn't know what had happened to the last carriage. They might have some issues explaining why they hadn't gone back to check on it, but, without any hard evidence of wrongdoing and no injuries or lives at risk, well… Suffice to say the case wouldn't be much of a priority.

It irked him though, to think that these people might get away with such a brash plan—literally just running off with a carriage full of valuables in broad daylight.

Perhaps they should ask one of the drivers for something they had left in the last carriage. Then they could tell the authorities later what kinds of lame excuses the men came up with for not going to search for the missing vehicle.

Shinichi was seriously considering doing just that when, to his astonishment, the last carriage—the one that had been missing nearly all day—came trundling around the bend and rolled to a stop at the edge of the camp.

"Sorry we're late," the driver called out in a gruff, seemingly weary voice. "Wheel got caught on some roots. Then we had some trouble with a ditch and, yeah, one thing led to another. Surprised we got here at all."

"Oh, so it really was just road trouble," the artist's girlfriend breathed out in relief, and it seemed the discussion of foul play was over.

Even Shinichi thought that he might have jumped the gun there a little, but he decided that he would be vigilant for the rest of their journey either way. Just in case.

The thought had no sooner crossed his mind then Kaito appeared beside him, materializing out of the evening shadows like a phantom dressed in blank and nearly scaring Shinichi out of his skin.

"Make some noise next time, would you?" the archeologist complained. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Ah, but if I made noise, I wouldn't have been able to sneak a look at that cargo again."

Interest piqued, Shinichi leaned towards him and listened intently as Kaito described in low whispers the crystal powered artifacts that had had their power crystals replaced with plain glass orbs and blocks. Some of the gold too had been replaced with weighted wood or stones painted gold and mixed in with a few of the real deal.

"It's pretty bold but sneaky too," the magician concluded. "The way they switched out only the pieces they can easily reuse and that the real owners might not miss at all before they're long gone isn't a bad strategy if they can pull it off."

Shinichi couldn't decide whether to be dismayed, annoyed or exasperated. "What kind of idiot agreed to having so much treasure transported in such a ridiculously lax way?"

Kaito let out a snort of laughter. "That would be the idiot who's been drinking with the drivers every night. He's been passing himself off as some big shot treasure hunter from that treasure hunting agency that keeps getting mentioned in the papers, but I took a peek at his credentials, and he's just an assistant's assistant. He has a letter in his bag from his superior explaining that he was asked to take over the overseeing of this delivery because said superior had a medical emergency. Judging from some of the other stuff he's hidden away, it seems like he pocketed a large portion of the money that was supposed to be used for the delivery, which is why he's using this very cheap carriage service instead."

"Oh god," Shinichi muttered, deadpan. "I'd almost say he deserves to be robbed."

"It would certainly have been more surprising if he hadn't been," Kaito agreed.

"But his superiors don't deserve it," the archeologist went on, lips thinning. "And the robbers shouldn't be allowed to get away with it either."

Kaito cocked his head to one side, one eyebrow rising. "Would you like me to take care of them?"

Shinichi blinked then stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Kaito looked amused. "Master mage here, remember? I could…" He waved a hand vaguely. "Make sure they won't ever rob anyone else."

Shinichi felt a sudden chill, and he stared at Kaito. Was he suggesting what it sounded like he was suggesting? Surely he wouldn't… Would he?

"We are not killing anyone," the archeologist said.

Kaito blinked then apparently thought back over what he said. "Oh." He laughed. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I was thinking more along the lines of giving them a good scare then rounding them up and delivering them to the authorities."

Shinichi relaxed, more relieved than he cared to admit. "I don't think that'll be necessary. All the major treasure hunting agencies keep detailed records, and they would have had their treasure authenticated and logged before they had it shipped out anywhere. If we could give the authorities a heads up before we reach Bayshore and provide them with our route and the like, they should be able to take care of the rest."

"Would it help to know where to find the loot?"

Shinichi blinked. "Well, yes, that would definitely make for a cut and dry case."

The magician grinned. "Consider it found then. In the meantime, if you could draft the message you want to send, we can save ourselves some time."

Curious to see how Kaito planned to make their last minute plan work out, Shinichi dug a sheet of parchment from his pack and composed a letter outlining the robbery. And since he needed whoever the letter reached to take it seriously, he included a note that it was being sent ahead via magical mends he discovered in the ruins recently.

When Kaito returned well past when most everyone else in camp were fast asleep, he described the location of the bandits' lair so that Shinichi could include it in the letter. Then he told the archeologist to pick someone he knew at Bayshore who might believe their message and contact the proper people.

"Well, there's Professor Agasa," Shinichi said after some thought. "Last I heard, he told me he had accepted a teaching position at the university there while he continues to work on his inventions. He used to take care of me while I was growing up, so I'm pretty sure he'd believe me."

"good," said Kaito. "Then I want you to sit here and close your eyes and think really hard about this Agasa. Once you have him firmly fixed in your mind, place your hand in this bowl of water."

Fascinated, Shinichi did as he had been instructed. When he placed his hand in the water, he was amazed to suddenly see Professor Agasa's image right there on the water's surface. The man was bent over a desk covered in tools, tinkering with something.

Kaito leaned over Shinichi's shoulder to study the elderly inventor. Once he was certain that he too had both an idea of the man and a clear picture of the space he was in, Kaito picked up Shinichi's letter, murmured a spell over it then dropped it into the bowl. Instead of landing in the water with a loud splash, the letter slid past Shinichi's hand and fell right down into the image to land with a dry smack on the desk next to Agasa's elbow.

The image of the old man in the bowl of water jumped, and he looked up, but apparently he couldn't see them even though they could still see him. So he scratched his head and looked down again, and that was when he spotted the letter.

He picked it up, hesitated for only an instant then opened it. A few minutes later, he was racing out of his workroom.

Back at their campsite, Kaito and Shinichi shared half satisfied, half wondering grins.

"Can you send things to anyone this way?" Shinichi asked, still somewhat in awe.

"Only to people you have a mutual relationship with," Kaito replied. "In other words, you have to know them and they have to know you. After that, it's more a matter of distance and the size of what you're delivering. Anything much larger than a letter takes too much energy to send very far, and since it's going to be falling, you also don't want to use it on anything delicate. But it's one of the best ways to send mail."

"It's incredible," Shinichi murmured, shaking his head.

So this was a taste of what life might have been like back when mankind had had all the magic they could ever want at their fingertips, Shinichi thought. To think that it had all been lost because a handful of people couldn't be satisfied with the wonders they already had. Then again, he supposed, greed had always been one of mankind's greatest weaknesses. It made him wonder too though. Was all that knowledge truly, irrevocably lost?

-To Be Continued-