The Aftermath of Sherry
A/N: Hi! If you happen to stumble upon this story of mine, Welcome! I hope you like it. I'm neither an experienced writer nor a naturally talented one but hey, I tried. I am crazy over CoAi and Shinshi. However, I am honestly unsure on how to go about this story. That is because as much as I want my fav. Shinichi and Shiho ship to get together, I love Ai Haibara/ Shiho Miyano more as a character and the vengeful, bitchy side of me wanted to see Shinichi realize what he has been ignoring all this time and grovel. Our Girl deserves so much better! So there..hehe
Relationships:
ShinShi/ CoAi
Rei Furuya/ Shiho (ReiShi? Can somebody please creatively make a ship name for these two. I'm down to my last few functioning brain cells.)
Disclaimer: Welcome to another episode of "I don't own DC, Gosho Aoyama does. But I am not totally on board with the whole 'childhood friends to true love troupe' so here I am, desperately raking my brain for vocabs to satisfy and express my wild imagination."
Setting: A month after the Black Organization takedown, Ai gives Conan the permanent Antidote for APTX 4869.
CHAPTER 1: ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS
Ai
With trembling hands, I continue to stare at my last 3 lab rats. I have been working religiously for the past month to perfect this antidote. Countless sleepless nights and days spent holed up in Agasa's basement—too much time away from the sun's warmth that I've begun to forget how it feels to have its warmth seep into my skin. A temporary relief to the eternal ice-cold numbness burrowed beneath my cool, calm, stoic exterior.
I've seemingly perfected it.' Ice cold Queen' I hear people murmur as I pass by. It doesn't matter who I am or what name I bear. Shino Miyano- a young prodigy, Sherry- author of death in a pill, Haibara Ai- a primary grade student who acts like she is superior to everyone else.
Feelings are burden. They burden the people around you. The ones you love. She learned that a long time ago.
And all at once, she felt all the adrenaline fade from her body. She faltered a few steps back and sat down on her chair as her knees threaten to give out. She stared into her computer screen displaying the final drug formula with tears threatening to fall from her eyes. 'This is it' she thought.
The final ending—her redemption.
To give back what he has lost. To enable him to finally get what he truly desires.
She should be happy. For him to the very least. He deserves his happiness after all that he has been through because of the dreadful mistake she made. After all that he did for her nonetheless.
And yet, all she feels is emptiness- deep, aching emptiness.
"Yo haibara!"
Ai took a deep breath to steady her trembling voice. "Meet me at the lab today at 6pm"
"Oi oi, is there something wrong?" there was a genuine concern in his childish voice. The voice that she's familiarized over the past 2 years. The voice of Conan Edogawa- the voice she would no longer hear after today. And the thought of it, yanks every inch of resolve that she tried so hard to muster. So she never bothered to speak.
Silence.
Then she heard his shocked intake of breath on the other line.
"Did you do it? Do you have the antidote?" he said quietly with a hoarse voice.
She knows what he would have looked like. She knows that he was holding his tears with the thought of finally having his life back as Shinichi Kudo—the famous high school detective. He could finally return to his angel. To Ran.
" Oi haibara, is it true?" he said again after getting anything but silence from her.
She can hear relief and excitement in his voice. And Hope.
She can feel his hope as she finally let go and let her heart shatter quietly.
A lone tear finally escaped from her eye as she answered him.
"Yes."
"Where is it?!"
Looking up from where she is standing on the farthest side of the room, she saw him panting with an ear-splitting grin after throwing the door of her lab open. She threw him a glare and raised her eyebrow.
"We just replaced that door, baka. Contain yourself matentei-san"
He just grinned wider and giddily walked towards her. "Come on, I'm excited! This is what we have been waiting for!" he exclaimed.
'No. This is what YOU have been waiting for' she thought. She bit her lower lip to restrain herself from actually saying that. She is such a horrible person. She should be happy for him.
So she gripped the edge of the table harder to support herself as she gave him a nod pointing to a tiny black box on her computer desk.
His eyes widened as he follows her gaze and saw what she has pointed to.
Ai watched the boy she loves take slow unsteady steps towards her desk and reached for the box with shaking fingers.
She saw him struggle to control the surge of his emotions and failed as he opens the tiny receptacle and carefully held a single pill between his fingers. He's looking at it longingly. Like it singlehandedly holds the answers to every undeducible question in the universe- like it holds the very key to his life and to his future. And perhaps, it truly does.
No. Not perhaps. It surely does.
Ai can see his shoulders trembled as he tried to hold himself together. I want to run to him and hold him but all I did was stand there and will myself not to fall apart.
Conan then turned and looked up to me. Unspilled tears coating his eyes.
He flashed me a genuinely grateful smile as he ran and launched himself against me.
I can feel him all over me. His arms wrapped around my neck holding me as close as I could get to him. He's trembling and I am not smart enough not to hold him close. I felt his breath against my neck as he said. " Thank you. Thank you for this Ai"
'Ai. He called me by my first name. I've never heard him call me that with such degree of tenderness before'.
"Baka, I never did you a favor. This was my fault in the first place" I whispered.
He tentatively loosened his hold and broke the hug as he tried to catch my eyes. He held my face with his hands when I tried to turn it away.
"Idiot. Don't say that. You worked hard for this and I thank you for that." A new set of tears fell made their way down his face. "Thank you for giving me my life back. Thank you for making me Shinichi Kudo again"
My hands moved on their own. I was lost in his eyes when noticed my hands cradling his tear-stained face, fingers gently trying to wipe his tears away.
I am powerless.
And for Shinichi Kudo, I can never be selfish.
So I took a deep breath and made myself stare back into his blue eyes and drowned in them. To finish my undoing.
I gave him a small understanding smile as I let him go.
"Go matentei-san, Do what you have to do"
He smiled back and with that, he turned away and ran.
Never looking back.
As my knees gave out and I hit the floor beneath me, I finally, let myself cry.
For the only person that brought me back to light.
For the love that I will never have.
- End of the chapter-
Additional Notes: Sorry for the inconsistency in the usage of pronounces which can be obviously confusing on the POVs. That is still one of my biggest struggles and I don't know what to do with it yet, Thoughts?