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 IV
Chapter XVII
Nightmare
Warnings: None

Many months passed. Daily life was a mere routine. Absinthe successfully carried out missions. When needed, Leo would go out and restock on supplies. At night, if they weren't exhausted, there would be an amount of time where Senichi could take over. Senichi was allowed to cry out his frustrations and sorrows. He was allowed to indulge in his favorite past times of anime and manga. He was allowed to be free just for that time frame.

Then came the faithful night when Curacao had been ordered to retrieve a list of NOCs from the PSB headquarters. Absinthe hadn't even realized Darkest Nightmare had begun on until Vermouth dragged him to locate Curacao. They found her jacket with several shards of glass. Vermouth thrusted it in his direction. "Track down her scent,"

'Curacao's amnesiac at the moment,' Absinthe thought. 'Currently she's all the way in Touto Aquarium. If I can somehow avoid that place as much as possible…' He grabbed the garment and enhanced his olfactory system, inhaling Curacao's scent deeply. He immediately gagged from the additional scent. "The smell of gasoline is strong! It's overwhelming Curacao's!"

"Then follow the scent trail of gasoline," Vermouth ordered.

"It's hard to distinguish one specific gasoline trail when there are several cars with the same type of gasoline all over this area," Absinthe grumbled. "I'd like to see you try tracking. It's harder than you think. Why do you think dogs have to be trained? I know drug detection dogs can take around two to three months to train,"

Vermouth walked further down the alley until she came to the ocean. She pointed across to Touto Aquarium. "Will you be able to distinguish her scent trail over there?"

"Possibly," Absinthe replied. "But I'm not entirely sure. There are way too many other scents. There's the smell of food and other people as well as other things. This is why I don't typically use my nose to track down these people. I use the more traditional ways of tracking down targets like Gin," 'Also because I don't want to deal with the side effects of using my animal attributes,'

"We're still going to Touto Aquarium," Vermouth told him. "There's a chance that she's actually there,"

"Fine, fine," Absinthe agreed. 'I need to stall long enough for Conan to encounter Curacao. In the movie, after she regained her memories she tried to escape. Maybe…just maybe…she'll revert to her old self. Curacao will revert to Harimanna. But the thing that worries me most is Gin. It was never confirmed in canon that the two were related. Will Gin order her death? There's a part of Brendan still left in him. He can't kill Harimanna,'

XXX

Conan caught a whiff of the scent of gasoline and noticed the silver haired woman sitting on a bench. Haibara tensed up at the sight of her. "Edogawa-kun—"

Conan approached the woman. "Are you alright, Oneesan? You're wounded. Oh, you have heterochromia, it's rare!"

'She's acting odd,' Haibara noticed and cautiously approached her too. 'No reaction? She doesn't recognize me?' "What happened to you?"

"You seem to be alone but your knees and hands are hurt," Conan noted. "May I see your cell phone?"

"Yes," Curacao agreed.

'She's willingly letting him see his cell phone!?' Haibara exclaimed. 'What's wrong with her?' "How long have you been here? Where did you come from?"

Curacao shook her head. "I have no idea,"

"What's your name?" Haibara asked.

"My…name?" Curacao closed her eyes. "Sorry, I have no idea,"

'She's not lying,' Haibara realized. 'She's genuinely confused,' "Show me your head please," She inspected the injuries on the woman's face. "It's not a fatal wound, but it's deep. You also have some bruises here and there,"

"She must have hit her head with an old car," He picked up a shard of glass. "There are some windshield splinters, but the recent designs have a protective coat against the splinters. The car was blue and the splinters are recent, so she was the driver or passenger. She also reeks of gasoline,"

"Amnesia," Haibara concluded. "She doesn't remember anything," 'At least this means she can't report my location to the organization,'

"Do you have anything else with you?" Conan inquired and was passed a set of colored cards.

"Conan, Haibara!" Genta called as he and the others ran towards them. "We've got the tickets!"

"It seems that this woman has lost her memory because of an accident," Haibara informed. "I think we should call the cops," 'It'll be safer for the kids if she were not with us. The organization is definitely looking for her,'

"No!" Curacao immediately blurted out.

'So she retains at least some instinct of avoiding the police,' Haibara narrowed her eyes. "Is it a problem if we call the police?"

"I don't know," She shook her head. "But I don't want the police. I don't know why, but I don't want them,"

Conan took a photo and Curacao attempted to flee. "Wait Oneesan! We're not going to call the police! We're just going to look for an acquaintance of yours and we needed a picture,"

Haibara grabbed Conan's wrist. "Kudo-kun…don't," She whispered. 'Don't get the Mouri's involved!'

"In the name of the Detective Boys, we are going to help you look for your friends and help you regain your memories!" The three real kids declared. "Let's start off by trying to find someone she knows,"

"But how are you going to do that?" Professor Agasa questioned.

"It's obvious, professor," Genta responded. "We're going to look around," The kids started dragging the woman along with them.

Once they were gone, Conan turned to Haibara. "What's wrong? I'm not going to call the police but I'll see if Ojisan is willing to take on the case," He sent the photo to him.

"That woman is a member of the organization," Haibara revealed. "Codenamed Curacao,"

Conan's eyes widened. "What!? Are you sure!?"

"Yes," Haibara nodded. "She's Gin's twin sister and also Rum's right hand. I don't want the Mouri's to get involved,"

"I…I already sent it," Conan sweat-dropped. "But it seems that she actually lost her memories," He looked in the direction of where the kids had gone. "But if she's someone that important, then the organization is definitely going to be looking for her,"

XXX

Vermouth and Absinthe were at a restaurant. Vermouth had set up her tablet and camera. She scanned the area with the camera and used the organization's program to identify the faces. One of the faces that came up was Curacao. "She really is at Touto Aquarium,"

"Indeed she is," Absinthe nodded. "That will definitely narrow it down. Rather than the entire city we just have to search here," He took his binoculars and immediately found Curacao. 'She's with the Detective Boys,'

"I found her, Gin," Vermouth reported.

"Where?"

"Touto Aquarium,"

"The aquarium?"

"Yes," Vermouth nodded. "Don't worry, Absinthe and I will bring your dear sister back right away,"

"Why is she hiding at the aquarium?" Absinthe asked though he knew the answer. "Why doesn't she make any attempt to return to the organization?"

"To throw any investigating officers off her trail," Vermouth replied. "They wouldn't think that the cause of the pile-up last night would be hidden amongst the crowd,"

XXX

"Do you sense any organization members?" Conan asked Haibara.

"It doesn't work with all members, just those that I know and those that have a dark aura," Haibara answered. "Besides, there are too many people here. For all we know, some members could be in disguise,"

"Curacao is definitely easily recognized with her long silver hair," Conan added. "They'll find her in no time," They noticed the kids had brought her to the darts game stall. "She scored a perfect score,"

"Muscle memory," Haibara said. "She's Rum's right hand man. It's only natural for her to have such great aim, even if she is amnesiac,"

"But I don't think there's much harm in letting her stay around the kids," Conan said. "It doesn't look like she'll hurt them," The two shrunken teens walked over to the others. "What are you guys doing? Her memory isn't going to come back like this. Let her rest a bit,"

"Hey!" Professor Agasa called down to them. "The line to the giant Ferris wheel is short. Now's our chance to ride it,"

"Let's go then," Ayumi said.

"She might be able to remember something," Mitsuhiko agreed and the kids once again dragged her off.

"I doubt she'd be able to recall her memories from anything in this park," Conan said. "There's nothing resembling the Black Organization here," 'If she does recall her memories, we can gather information about the organization,'

XXX

"There she is," Absinthe and Vermouth walked over to where Curacao was standing in line with the kids and leaned on the opposite side of the railing.

"What are you doing?" Vermouth asked Curacao. "We're heading back," She started walking away and Absinthe followed.

"Oneesan, you're going to lose your place!" Ayumi called.

Curacao hurried to catch up to them. "Sorry, I thought that someone was talking to me,"

"Someone you know?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"No, she must've been talking to that man next to her," Curacao shook her head.

"She didn't recognize us," Absinthe noted.

"Something's wrong," Vermouth informed Gin. "She seems amnesiac,"

"Hurry up and make sure she remembers everything!"

"Understood," They started walking away.

Curacao glanced back down at the two figures, specifically at the man. 'I…I feel they're familiar but they couldn't have been talking to me, right? They would've called out my name or try to get my attention more,' She took a deep breath and unconsciously enhanced her olfactory senses. A tiger's sense of smell was not used much in hunting. 'This scent…it's so familiar…' She put a hand to her head. 'Sen…ichi…Who is Senichi?'

XXX

After the accident where Genta fell but Curacao rescued him, the kids snuck away from Professor Agasa and Conan to ride the Ferris wheel with Curacao. When she saw the overlapping colored lights, she let out a cry of pain and collapsed into a seat while mumbling names. "Senichi…Ahren...Brendan…" 'Those people…who are they!?' She let out a scream. "Kir…Bourbon…Stout…Aquavit…Riesling…" 'Do I know these people too? They don't have the same feel as the previous three! I feel like…they're enemies!' "Argh!" 'Enemies…of whom?'

While Mitsuhiko wrote down some of the names he heard, Ayumi called Conan. "Answer…please!"

"What's wrong?"

"Conan-kun, help!"

"Ayumi, what's going on?"

"I don't know why but the lady's in pain!"

"What do you mean? What's she doing?"

"Her head hurts and she's saying some weird things! I don't understand what's she saying!"

"I've written them down," Mitsuhiko told her.

"Mitsuhiko-kun wrote them," Ayumi relayed. "Conan-kun, come and help us!"

XXX

"It turns out that the car accident really did cause her to lose her memories,"

"So?" Gin asked. "Where is she?"

"At a police hospital,"

"The police shouldn't be guarding her. To them, she's just a random woman with a case of amnesia,"

"She did manage to get a handful of spy names from police headquarters. Where are you anyway?"

"Berlin,"

"Ah, back in your home country I see. Hurry up and get back here. Maybe seeing your face will jog your twin's memory,"

"Deal with Suzuki's infrastructure," Gin ended the call and looked at his email. "A list of spies…" 'Stout, Aquavit, Riesling are confirmed to be spies. It seems like she didn't finish her sentence about Kir and Bourbon but they're probably on the list too,'

"Gin, the mission's complete," Riesling told him.

Gin pointed his Beretta M9 towards her. "Your name is on the list of NOCs,"

"W-What?" Riesling stuttered. "That's impossible! I'm not a spy!" She knew that Gin wasn't going to listen to her and fled.

Gin and Vodka were quick to follow and cornered her. "Where do you think you're going?" Vodka asked. "You have one minute to explain yourself,"

"I told you, I'm not a spy!" Riesling denied.

"Stop joking around," Gin said. "We can smell the scent of a spy, Riesling! We've recently received information about you. Your name is on the list of our spies,"

"Let's kill her now," Vodka glanced at his watch. "We're wasting time,"

"Let me go!" Riesling demanded. "I'm telling you that I'm not a spy! Gin, you can trust me!"

"Trust you?" Gin smirked. "I'm not an idiot to do something like that," Riesling saw that she had no escape and attempted to dive into the Spree. Gin fired a single shot and nailed her in the head. "Let's get going to Japan. There are two more rats to deal with,"

XXX

Conan met up with the FBI. "The English MI6, the Canadian SCRS, and the German BND confirmed that their spies were assassinated," James informed. "The syndicate got a list of spies and took care of them,"

"They must have known about that thanks to the PSB's list," Camel added. "We need to tell Akai-san,"

James' cell phone rang and he answered it. "Hello?"

"Is this James Black?"

"Yes, who is this?" James asked.

"If there are any other agents with you, please put me on speaker,"

James did so. "You're on speaker. I have two other agents with me. Who are you?"

"My name is Akai Tsutomu. I'm Shuu-chan's father. I got your phone number from him. He seems to be busy with preparations for something so I decided to contact other FBI Agents,"

"Why?" Jodie asked.

"Stay away from the Ferris wheel! The organization planted bombs there!"

"What!?"

"I'm in Japan at the moment. My coworkers and I plan on disabling the bombs, so don't worry about them,"

"Where did you get this information from?" Conan asked.

"A little kid is with the FBI? Oh, you must be Holmes' Apprentice! I got this info from the Scarlet Crow. You can call me and my friends the Crimson Robins. Ah, we gotta get going now. Bye!"

"Is he a reliable source?" Conan questioned. "He seems suspicious,"

"The Scarlet Crow is Absinthe," Jodie revealed. "If Absinthe was the one who informed him of all this, then I trust him," 'Senichi and Shuu both said that their family hailed from England. Crimson is a shade of red (Akai) and the national bird for Britain is the robin,'

"There were three other names that Curacao mentioned too but they weren't alcohols," Conan added. "Senichi, Ahren, Brendan,"

"Senichi is Absinthe's real name," Jodie informed. "I'm not entirely sure about who Ahren and Brendan are,"

"I'm giving Curacao's phone over to Professor Agasa to see if he's able to get it operating," Conan said. "She won't be able to get in contact with them even if she does regain her memory. What information did she steal?"

"A list of undercover spies from various intelligence agencies," Jodie answered. "The spies are currently infiltrating the syndicate right now,"

"We can't let them get it," Conan stated. "Or else Kir and Bourbon…"

"Not only that," James added. "It also contains information about their agency. It will become even more difficult for them to disappear from the syndicate's eyes and escape assassination. These three assassinations are just the beginning of the nightmare,"

So I'm changing some things up a bit for Darkest Nightmare. Tsutomu and his Crimson Robins will play a role.

The revamped version of this fic will be titled Scar(red)let Crow and will have some MAJOR changes. Yes, the title is weird. It's supposed to be able to be read as Scarred Crow or Scarlet Crow. I read it as Scarredlet Crow.
Spoiler Cipher: Ipzmv qa vwb oqdmv i jtiks zwam qv bpm amkwvl izk.

Velgamidragon:
Mm, my favorite scene in this chapter was the one with Akai and Senichi! The dialogue was so fluid, smooth, and natural, and it made me feel so warm and fuzzy reading their words compounded with their emotions and reactions. The dialogue between Gin and Senichi in both scenes was also pretty solid too; Akai and Senichi's scene just gets first place :)

Skai:
I'm glad you liked it.