"Speech"

'Thought'

Last time:

Red blood poured from the side of his abs like a waterfall. Not even the dried dirt below could soak up so much and a medium sized puddle formed around the young man's buttocks.

"Come out! I know where you are," he called to the hiding couple.

"Damn it, he found us," Shinichi cursed. Ran gave a loud gasp and leaned closer to him with fear in her eyes.

A sudden jolt erupted in her that dissipated the smile and tensed her muscles once more. "Where's Shuichi!" she asked.

Headral flipped his brow, "I…don't know ma'am, I thought he went with you guys," he said.

Jodie dashed up the hill with great hurry. She noticed that the entrance door was now gone and in it's place stood a wall of debris. "Put that fire out!" she ordered.

"We can't ma'am, one of the member said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Shuichi!" she yelled into the flames, "Shuichi answer me," she said tapping her pair of sunglasses, "Hello? Are you there? Damn it, this thing don't even work," she cursed.

"SHUICHI!"

Ch18

Losing Thy Loved

Water shot out from the hose of the fire trucks rapidly, evaporating the moment it touched the flames. The only sign of it's effects were the dark dense smoke that rose from the sudden chills of the dust that flew up from the embers. Excluding the teams that chased after Heizou, all hands were brought against the fire.

Panic began to set in Jodie's eyes. She paced nervously, back and force before the collapsing structure, praying that it will remain standing for the up coming minute, then pray for the next minute when the last had passed.

"Why isn't the fire put out yet? It's been almost 15minutes!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry ma'am," one of the fire chief said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "It is just too intense."

"It is because of the chemicals," a FBI scientist walked up, looking down at his clip board.

"Chemicals?" Jodie asked.

"Yes, the fire is receiving an abnormal amount of fuel from the chemicals inside the structure. Also, even if we put out the surface fire, we can never put out the fire itself, "he replied pushing up his glasses.

"Explain yourself," Jodie commanded.

"Alcohol fires," he said in a simple tone, "You see, alcohol fires can not be put out by water. If anything, water will just spread it. This is why on some areas, it will start burning once more after the outside fire is put out. The only thing we can do is continue to pour water upon the outside to cool it down and hopefully, that will keep the building from collapsing until all the alcohol is burnt up and the fire put out."

"And how long is that going to take?" Jodie said, growing slightly more agitated.

"Well…we do not know…" the scientist shifted his glance.

"Damn it, this isn't good. This is bad…Very bad…" she said as she narrowed her eyes.

(Inside)

Coughs went up as two figures continue to ponder their way through the intense heat the burnt their lungs. Overhead was a thick overcast of charcoal smoke. Their faces now turned black from the ashes that flew from the blazes and their skin tingled each time another spark landed it's way upon them.

Haibara looked up at the door that closed in slowly each step Shuichi took. 'This place…I know I've seen it somewhere else…' she thought, 'Where did I…wait a minute…could it be?' "Shuichi, wait!" she shouted.

The man stopped his steps and glanced to his side at the tiny girl coughing upon his shoulders, "What is it?" he asked.

"We can't go in there," she said abruptly.

Shuichi's eyes opened with question, "Why not?"

"Just trust me, we can't go there!" she said with slight fear and frustration in her voice.

"But that could be a way out," he argued, "and even if it's not, it might still not be affected by the flames. If it remained shut until now, that room could be the only room that is not engulfed by fire."

"No, we can't go in there!" she exclaimed.

Shuichi looked over sadly and was about to turn around when another explosion sounded from their back. Another ball of fire erupted down the lab, embedding itself in the smoke where it ultimately was engulfed by its black masses.

"I don't know why you don't want to go in there," he said, "But we can't go back now and that's our only chance. I'm going there and that's final!"

"But…!" Ai was about to argue but was forced to held her tongue when another pain shot through the back of her head.

"And you're hurt, we need to find a place for you to cool down. That room will still be warm but it should be cooler than out here," he smiled and picked up his pace to the door.

Haibara watched weakly at his hand as it took grasp of the knob. A sizzling sound was heard as he retrieved his hand from the metallic knob from pain. "Damn it that's hot!" he said shaking his hand.

"Yea, now stop trying so hard and find a different place," Ai insisted.

"There is NO other place, I'll get us in!" Shuichi said as he took a deep breath through his nose and reached for the handle once more.

"Wait!" Ai shouted. But it was too late, his hand had already reached it's target.

"Ahh!" Shuichi screamed as he forced his hand to remain in a grasp as he turned the knob and pushed the door open. Even though he had put his sleeve over his hand as a layer to protect his hand from direct contact, the heat was nearly unbearable. Looking inside, a smile of relief flared upon his face, "Great, finally a room that wasn't locked," he laughed.

'…' Haibara only looked around but she said nothing.

"Just as I thought," Shuichi said looking about the empty room, "The fire has not gotten to this room yet."

"Yea…" Haibara said forcing out a smile, then shifted her glance to the side.

Shuichi lowered her against a wall and closed the door quickly so that no more smoke can enter than what had already gone in with a kick. A small metallic frame caught his attention, which had a wooden handle upon it. 'Is that…' he narrowed his eyes.

"Yes it is," Ai said as she bit her lips, "That is a garbage shoot. It leads to the out side."

"You knew about it? How? And why did you try to prevent me from coming here?" he asked.

"I knew because I realized that this place's design is exactly the same as my original lab. I couldn't tell at the start cause well, it has been quite some time since I've seen it. This room confirmed my suspicion because it was a room such as this that I was held captive in. Thanks to Apotoxin4869, I was able to escape from a shoot just like that after relieving myself of the handcuffs," he explained.

"That's great, you can escape and run to safety!" Shuichi shouted with excitement, "Come on, you can get out of this hell hole!"

"and that is the reason why I didn't wish for you to come in," she chuckled.

"Why? I don't get it, why would you want to stay in a place like this?"

"BECAUSE!… because I wanted to stay with you…"

A moment of silence crossed the room. Ai's blush was camouflaged against the reddish glow that entered from under the door. Collecting her courage, she forced herself to continue.

"I love you OK! I thought I would be able to forget about you, I thought I could get over that rainy day and put you behind forever! But I couldn't…To this day, I still can't through away that stupid shoebox with the pendant and the first rose you gave me. If I come here, I knew you were going to force me to escape from that shoot. But what about you? You can see that, that tiny place can't fit a man like you."

"I don't care, if I can't fit through then so be it! But you, you can still go! You have a chance to live!"

"A chance to live what? Don't you see, I'm the one that caused this mess. You found out and became so obsessed about the B.O. because I was a member of it. Now, you're stuck in a burning building with no way out. If you die, I would be the one that killed you if you die!"

Sweat ran down in drops down the two's cheeks. Their eyes met one another for a split second before they changed their glance to opposite directions once more.

Shuichi bit his lip and narrowed his eyes. "I don't care what you think about me," he said coldly. Ai looked up surprised at his reaction, "Whatever we had going on years ago can never return! Right now, you're someone that needs help and I'm the rescuer. It is my job to get you out and that's the only reason why I'm doing this. So I'm going to get you out and that'll be that!"

"Bull shit, you don't really expect me to believe you. I'm not some animal that you raised that you're releasing back to the wild you know," she said with a hint if urgency.

"I should have never taught you how to look into people's eyes," Shuichi chuckled.

He walked over slowly, Ai squeezed herself against the wall. "What are you…" she gasped but before she could finish, she felt his hand raise her chin and his lips upon hers. Her eyes widened as she blushed through her cheeks. She felt a silent sting to her neck as her eyes began to fall. Darkness took her, her head plopped down as consciousness left her.

Standing back up, Shuichi took a glance at the watch he had received from the teenage detective. 'Wow, this stuff really works,' he thought raising his eyebrows with admiration. Picking the sleeping girl from her spot, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her head, going over the wounded area twice. He carried her to the shoot and opened the hatch.

Holding the tiny girl in his hand he could still not believe that this was the woman he had loved. 'That looks like a long drop, I hope it's not straight,' he chuckled nervously. He took one last, long, pensive look at her and released her after placing her back straight against the side. Hearing the sound of her gliding against the wall, he let out a relief of sigh, 'Enjoy your slide,' he laughed with a sad expression and turned back to the closed door.

He walked up to it and placed his palm against it's metallic board. The heat forced him to retrieve it on contact. 'Damn it, it's really burning out there,' he cursed and moved to the back of the room. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he watched his life flash before his eyes.

(Shinichi)

"Come out you little brat, I know you're behind that rock," Vodka laughed confidently.

The young detective bit his teeth together as he leaned back, gluing his back against the boulder. Placing his hand upon his wound, he felt something, something round. 'What is that?' he grasped it. Sticking his hand in his pocket, he felt the object. It was hard and slightly heavy. Then a sudden memory shot back into his mind.

"Here Conan-kun, I won it at the department store. You know, those things where if you buy their goods, you get a chance to win a prize. That was the please try again reward." Ran laughed, "I thought you might like it, kids always like shiny round things don't they?"

'What's this doing here?' he puzzled as he brought the ball out. A sudden idea flooded into his head, 'maybe I could use this,' he gave a grin. "Ran," he whispered at the girl who peeped from the rock to the approaching man.

She turned around from his call.

"Listen carefully, this might be our last chance," (Ran leans over and he whispers)

Vodka closed in step by step, still cautious about what to come. A spherical object flew from behind the rock, he immediately fired his gun upon the object out of reflex, blurning his vision from behind his night vision goggles. (Fact: Night vision goggles focus the dim light through its lens so it becomes blurry upon sudden movements) The sudden blindness caught him off guard, forcing him to miss his target and spin about to search for his where about. A smirk arose from Shinichi's lips as he whispered, "Now."

Ran dashed out and gave out everything she had to the tubby assassin. One last things came into focus of his lens and that was the flying fist of an angry girl. Hearing the sound of the beating, Shinichi jumped out and readied his watch, "Ran, get out of the way," he shouted.

Ran jumped from her spot one step to the side. The sound of the flying needle rang through the air as Vodka felt a sharp pain to his neck. 'Bullseye,' Shinichi laughed and watched the man fall to his face. He let out a sigh of relief. He could hear the sound of a helicopter getting closer and closer.

"We did it Shinichi!" Ran called waving her arms joyfully. Something suddenly caught her attention. 'That ball he threw up, it looked kind of familiar.' She thought, but with a shrug she smiled and waved again.

"Yea," Shinichi raised his arm but quickly pulled it back to his wound.

Laughter returned to the two.

"Kudou…Shinichi…" Gin whispered as he struggled in the dark using everything he had to grasp his gun. Raising his gun with his shaky hands, he took air on a shadow he saw through his weakened vision.

(Click)

The sound entered the teenage detective's ear sharply, piercing down to his chest with such force that his heart seemed to stop for a split second. He turned and saw the glimmer of the head of a handgun as it reflected the light of the moon. Narrowing his eyes, he dropped the ball in his hand and pulled back his leg.

(Bang, bang…bang)

Blood scattered against the silenced laughter, just as his foot came in contact against the hard stone ball. Gin's face widened as the orb came into site of his eyes, only to realize it was too late. The ball cracked itself upon his face, knocking it hard against the rocky wall behind. He held his hand to the point of impact. Pain shot through him but he did not scream nor groan. Sticking his tongue out, he collected some blood upon it. 'Bitter' he thought, before he collapsed upon the floor.

"Ran…Ran? RAN!" he staggered his way across. His could no longer feel his own pain as he took sight of the blood bath before him. She lay still, not a single movement, while color decipated from the surface of her skin. "Ran!" he shook her, no reply came, "Don't do this to me Ran, you gotta wake up!"

A beam of light shot from above, lighting up the area, "Hey, is everyone okay down there?" a voice called.

Shinichi continued to shake her, even with all his experience with bodies he had seen, this one he could not bare. "Wake up Ran! WAKE UP!" he shouted, not even listening to the calls from above.

The chopper landed next to the two as two men ran out. "Ms. Jodie, we've located Kudou Shinichi!" one of the man yelled into the walky-talky.

The two men kneeled beside the fallen girl. As one pried Shinichi from her, the other inspected her conditions. Bending down his ear to her face, his eyes lit up with a slight bit of hope, "She's still breathing!" he shouted.

Those words were the sweetest words that Shinichi had ever heard. He felt calmness return slowly.

Moments later, the plane took off with 4 new members. 2 handcuffed as they lay in the back, and 2 up front they were treating as it flew.

"Ran…" Shinichi whispered sadly as he extended his hand and brushed her hair from her face.

End…

Who's going to live and who's going to die? What will happen to Heiji? Next chapter, second last chapter! Either the next chapter will be a long one or the final chapter will be. Please wait patiently and you won't be disappointed.

Reviews, reviews, wahh, I'm losing readers only 2reviews for ch9. Hoe many people are actually still reading this fic neways? Oh well, thank you to the two that reviewed for me.

The Number1 Case Closed Lover: Happy ending? Sad ending? You will find out in 2 chapters. I hope you enjoyed this story, and thanks for the review

Crystal Snowflake: Thanks for your awesome support on all my stories. I really really, REALLY appreciate it.