A/N: This was fun~! Turned out decently long, too, so I'm happy~! And we're on fifty, people! Our hard work is paying off! I hope to continue this story as long as you support me (and possibly even if you don't, lol). XDDD Anyways, this chapter is important, yet kind of pointless. Kind of just to settle things after the whole Spider fiasco and such. And, of course, passing fifty, we reach a new direction for the storyline. Enjoy? ^^
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito in any way or form. (or shape!) Ryukaze Erise is owned by Iriss-sama.
Chapter Fifty; Lucid Nightmare Arc
Sunday was a perfect day to contact your thieving partner – a partner that you supposedly didn't know the identity of and who couldn't know you were actually the larger-version of his pseudo little sister. So, yes – Sunday was my choice of day to contact him, seeing as he expected little 'Alice' to be at Akako's house all weekend and it was the day just after; what was the use of procrastinating, right? The second day of November was a lot colder than the first, freezing winds infiltrating your warm jackets and sweaters, and that just made it all the more perfect. Now there was no way to look out of place with extra, facial-feature-hiding, clothing.
My blue scarf was wrapped around my neck, pulled up to keep my mouth and nose safe from Jack Frost's nipping touch while my cap was pulled low over my eyes. I shivered despite my thick sweater, avoiding prying eyes as I hurried inside of a payphone booth. I was currently in Shinjuku, far from both Ekoda and Beika – far enough for Kaito to not get the idea that I lived near there despite always stealing near there. Though, of course, my logic would probably be played against me and he would assume I did live in Ekoda or Beika – but my reverse psychology was fine with that. It's not like he'd find me living there – as an adult, anyways.
His efforts to find me – if he tried – would be completely futile.
I snickered beneath my scarf, quickly closing the glass doors of the payphone, cutting off the flow of cold air coming into the tiny booth. Millions of people were walking around, all decked out in warm clothing, and I was just one of the many random people wandering around – it was a perfect place to set up a rendezvous. My eyes darted in slight paranoia, darting from skyscraper to skyscraper – a trademark of Nishi-Shinjuku – and my mind supplied me with helpful intel that quite a few of them would make perfect sniper nests for Spider, if he decided to ditch his needles. I mean, I had bit his shoulder, after all…
Shaking away the useless thoughts (he couldn't kill me, I had to remind myself) ((not to mention he probably wouldn't be indiscrete enough to kill me when we were so close to Tokyo City Hall)), I pulled my cellphone out of my back pocket, flipping it open, carefully hiding it from the populace around. After all, what type of person would go to a payphone when they had their cellphone? Yeah, it would just look too shady and I was trying to be discrete.
I clicked to my contacts, scrolling down the list before stopping short at one Kuroba Kaito. A grin split across my face as I imagined Kaito's reaction to what I was just about to do. I pulled out spare change from my pocket, easily sliding it into the slot after I had picked up the phone from the holder. There was a brief sound of clinks as they made their way into the machine and I quickly input his number on the little metal number pad once the sounds disappeared into silence.
Beeps sounded and then the whole number was input and there was a short moment of wait before a ringing filled my ears, alerting me that my call was being put through. I tapped my finger against the metal framing in front of me impatiently, clearing my throat in preparation of Jester's voice – my voice was definitely a bit deep, but for Jester, it was almost like a boy's. Almost, not quite – to me, it sounded like I'd just had a bad coughing fit and my voice was husky from the abuse, but it worked well enough, but I always needed to prepare to do it, otherwise it hurt a bit for the strain on my throat fluctuating. Voice exercises helped.
There was a click as Kaito answered his cellphone, sounding cheerful like usual but a bit confused and hesitant due to the unknown number of the payphone. "Hello?"
A throaty laugh escaped my lips, "Kaitou KID, you sound a lot less majestic over the phone line." I informed him and I could practically imagine his shocked face from my spot. "Anyways, I contacted you, as promised. Due to your current silence, you probably didn't expect it so soon – or, perhaps, you didn't think I would be able to retrieve the great Kaitou KID's phone number. If it helps, I'm the only one who could obtain this information. I have special…resources, you could say, I suppose." Like living with you, I snickered internally and if my tone was a bit mocking, well, my name was The Jester.
And all jesters were known for mocking everyone, completely disregarding personal standing and rankings. The more I thought on it, the more my name was well-suited – I had a bad habit of opening my mouth out of terms, so…
Kaito's voice over the line cut through my wayward thoughts and I blinked back to focus. "Jester-san, it seems I've underestimated you. I didn't expect you to get a hold of my phone number, but don't you think it's a bit petty to be calling from a payphone to secure your own number?" His voice had deepened and smoothened to the now-familiar tone of Kaitou KID, somehow still chivalrous despite him calling me 'a bit petty'.
I let out the snake-like hissing snicker I was known for, feeling amused by his claims. "As petty as petty gets, KID-san~! Just like you trying to get my number from my phone~! Also, thank you for acknowledging my pettiness instead of berating me for calling you so randomly – I know several others who would've scolded me for calling at an inconvenient time." My mom, for one, and my sister, and Akako, and others I don't remember at the moment. "Anyways, can we get to business? I only have so much change, you know." I laughed, knowing that I actually didn't have more coins with me if it hung up mid-call, "Can you meet me at Shibuya?"
There was a brief silence and I listened to Kaito shuffling on the other side of the line, and I glanced up to the skyscraper's once more in a paranoid sweep before he spoke again. "I'll be able to meet you there in an hour – is that alright, Jester-san?" Again, he was back to being courteous. I hummed, "Yeah, that'll be okay. I'll be at the Statue of Hachiko, 'kay~? I'll be wearing a blue scarf and a camouflage Toyota Trucks hat, you can't miss me."
"Roger~! I'll see you soon." For a second there, he seemed more Kaito than KID and I grinned.
"Oh, and KID?"
"Hm?"
"Please don't dress as if you were a rejected biker dude, alright?"
With my hit landed, with another laugh, I hung up before he could retort. With one more glance to the buildings around, I stepped out of the phone booth, cold immediately chilling my cheeks and seeping through my warm clothing. I shuddered at the chill and in delight – I adored winter – and began my journey to Shinjuku Station, where I would then go on the Yamate Line of the Saikyo Line to Shibuya and wait for Kaito at Hachiko – hopefully, he didn't take too long to get here from Ekoda. Despite liking the cold, there were times when you shouldn't overstay your welcome outside.
ooOOoo
I had been waiting beside Hachiko for who knows how long and my fingers were officially freezing, despite being hidden away in the – supposed to be – warm depths of my pockets. I shivered, readjusting my scarf and shuffling as I grew restless. I don't know how much time had passed, but millions of people had already met the person who they were supposed to meet with at the statue and had gone on their merry little way while I was currently waiting for Kaito to make his appearance.
Just as I was staring at the concrete, contemplating about calling him and bitching about him showing up on time, a pair of familiar red sneakers came into view. I blinked, looking up, feeling a bit odd at seeing him in my larger form rather than Alice's. He was taller than me, but didn't tower over me like Spider did, thankfully; as long as we were around the same height, I didn't feel odd, even though I was used to Kaito towering over me.
He was dressed in beige pants, coupled with a boring, mundane, grey sweater zipped up to his neck while wearing a white cap and some rather large shades that hid most of the upper half of his face – he followed my advice to not dress so shady and blended in quite well with the crowd, but I couldn't help snorting at his sunglasses. I grinned, a gesture he probably remembered from last night, as I crossed my arms, "You do realize that wearing sunglasses in November looks odd, don't you?" I chuckled.
Kaito quirked a smirk at that, looking amused. "Nobody will notice – people here don't pay attention to those around them too much. Isn't that why you chose a busy place like Shibuya, Jester-san?" He asked in a hushed, conspiratorial, voice that made me feel like a secret agent. If possible, my grin grew as I placed a finger above my lips in a 'shh' gesture.
"Of course that's why I chose Shibuya, KID-san~!" I hummed, "And, please – call me Noriko. Don't want anyone hearing who we are, right? You don't mind if I call you Norio? Ohh, or maybe Kichiro?" I snickered, fully amused. He let out a small chuckle, "Now I see what kind of humor you have, at least, Noriko-san." He emphasized the name, enjoying the joke as much as I was. I mentally tacked on another name to my growing list of alias'. It was getting a bit out of hand, but, well, it was kind of needed.
"Kichiro-kun it is, then." I decided for him with a laugh, "Anyways, we should get out of here. I think people are starting to wonder why I've been standing here for a while." But I knew that wasn't true, since no one was paying any attention, but there was an inkling of worry in the back of my mind that I couldn't shake off. Spider had done wonders for my caution and I wouldn't – refused – to be caught like that once again.
"Besides," I tacked on, "It's freezing."
I walked past Kaito, beckoning him to follow with a wayward glance, heading in the direction of a coffee shop I'd spied while waiting beside Hachiko. He easily caught up with his longer legs, striding beside me calmly as I resisted the urge to turn tail and decide not to go through with our accomplice-ship. My nerves were on-end and I wasn't used to Kaito – as KID – being so open to getting a new ally. Was he really that desperate to learn more about the men in black? Granted, they did kill his father, but it just struck me as odd. There was always the possibility that this was a trap, even though I trusted Kaito as much as he apparently trusted me.
"Please except my apologies, my lady. I actually live quite far from here, you see." He apologized in his once again flirty tone. I shuddered – an action not caused by the cold weather at all. My lips curled downwards in a disgusted grimace and I patted his arm, gaining his attention. He blinked at my expression. "And if this is going to work out, please don't do that flirty thing with me. It's creepy, considering you should be a forty or fifty year old man by now." I told him, quite frankly, "Though, we both know you're not, it's still creepy."
A bead of sweat ran down his cheek as he undeniably deadpanned behind his pokerface. Quirking an innocent grin, I pushed open the door of the coffee shop, a bell jingling overhead, and the smell of coffee beans assaulted my senses, warmth engulfing me. I sighed in content, relaxing immensely now that I was inside a warm building. The inside of the coffee shop was made up of warm browns and mellow red, the atmosphere friendly and cozy. Tables were lined against the wall and the large barista counter took up most of the free room left, but not in an overwhelming way.
We walked up to the barista, waiting behind a woman who was ordering a coffee for herself – she was in a business suit, so she obviously didn't have Sunday off. Sucks for her. Kaito raised a brow at me in interest as I gave a snigger, but I waved him off and soon enough it was our turn to get our coffee.
"I'll have a hot chocolate with everything." I ordered, eyes darting to and fro on the menu hanging above the counter. The man, who I assumed was the barista, nodded and turned to my companion. "Same~!" He smiled cheerily. With another curt nod, the man set to work to creating the easy hot chocolates and I glanced to Kaito as he began to speak, "We'll go over our assignment once we get our things, okay?"
I raised an incredulous brow – assignment? Is that the best he could come up with? However, I gave him a nod, along with another smile that probably gave way to my bemusement of his choice of words. Kaito turned to the counter as our hot chocolates were placed on the counter, immediately pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and paying for it before I could even stop him. "Ah, hey… I was gonna pay for mine. I don't do well with owing people…," I whined despite grabbing the hot chocolate and already heading to the table in the corner of the building. It was away in a little niche and far from the entrance, so people would only come close if they were going to the bathroom in the back or going to sit at the table in front of ours.
"No need to pay me back." He laughed, "Besides, it's rude to let a lady pay for the bill."
My brow twitched as we took our seats on opposite sides of the tiny table made for two. "What did I say about the flirting, Kichiro-kun?" I rolled my eyes at him after downing some of the scalding liquid with ease. "And before we start, we should exchange some vital information about ourselves first." I looked up to the right in thought, feeling my fingers warm over the cardboard holder that they always put over hot drinks at places like Starbucks and the such.
I decided to go with the things he'd most need to know about me. "Well, first things first, you will eventually find this out, so it's no point hiding it, really." I hummed, a bit amused, "I'm a pathological liar, undeniably. I mean, it's not too bad and it's really not for everything, but I do find myself lying quite a bit lately, so…yeah. Another thing would be that while I am indeed looking for that forsaken box of yours, I'm also looking for a different gem, and if I acquire that one first, you're on your own~!" Because then I'd go home.
"Also, you probably expected new information of that organization of yours, but I'm pretty sure I only know as much as you do; they're psychos pursuing immortality, have guns, pretty much are 'big bads', except they don't use silencers often so they're obviously not that smart and Snake is in the system already, and they have a big chain of command way above our heads, you know – the usual." I shrugged, biting the edge of the lid of my cup in amusement at Kaito's wide eyes.
A moment later, he was darting his eyes around the building as if someone was suddenly going to pull out a shotgun of some sort and gun us to death. It was amusing, but the honest-to-goodness, concealed, panic on his face made me feel a bit bad at being so indiscrete. "Erm, you don't need to worry, you know. There's nobody here at the moment except coffee guy, and I'm almost certain he's not evil." I muttered under my breath, watching as his eyes regained focus on me.
I couldn't see much due to his ridiculously large sunglasses, but I could see him relax slightly. Good. "So, anything you want to share about yourself?" I hummed, taking another long drink of the burning liquid. Might as well change the subject now – I had a habit of rambling about things that sometimes made others uncomfortable. But, hey – making people feel awkward was my specialty.
He cleared his throat, taking a small sip of his drink after a moment of watching me from behind his glasses. "You really have no shame, do you?" He chuckled, "You immediately tell me quite a bit about you and yet you still don't know much about me." Oh, please, Kaito – I know a lot more about you than you know about me~!
"It's one of my charms, I suppose~!"
He gave another laugh, "Well, there's not much you need to know about me, other than the fact that I'm new to this partnership thing." He shrugged and my fingers tapped against the table in a rhythmic pace as he went on, "And I wasn't informed that Snake was in the system until today." He finished. Oh, well, I guess I did know more than he did, even if it was only that much. It left me feeling odd. "Snake's in the system under the name Jackal. He's an internationally wanted jewel thief known for his brutal approach." I informed dutifully, thinking back to what happened in OVA four – there was a possibility that it wasn't true due to it being non-canon, but I had a gut feeling my presence had changed that or that he really was in the system.
Kaito gave a low hum in thought, leaning back in his seat as the generic music of the coffee shop kept playing overhead, dulling out our conversation if anyone should try to hear. His hand went up to his chin in a gesture that made him look just the slightest more like Shinichi. "If that's true, then we can use that against him…," His smirk was feral to say the least, but it was gone a second later as he looked back up to me, "What about that Spider guy? Any luck with him?"
I sighed, not wanting to remember the arachnid freak. "No luck. I don't know squat about who he really is and I'm positive he's not in the system. But, he's definitely going to be a problem in the future, so…," I grimaced behind my large grin, taking another gulp of my drink in frustration. At least in the anime, they knew where he was most of the time since he was a famous illusionist, but now he was basically a shadow on the wall you could chase but not catch – like those laser lights that you use to play with cats.
I blinked at a hesitant pat on my arm. "Don't worry about him – we'll get him one way or another." The sharp grin on Kaito's face made him look like a really creepy hipster dude, but he got his point through. We could just play tag like he'd been playing with Snake for a while – a perfectly laid trap here and a perfectly synchronized plan there and he's basically be trapped in his own web if it worked properly. Yes, it sounded incredibly satisfying~!
"Oh! Right!" I exclaimed, startling Kaito who blinked, and I unzipped my sweater slightly, hand going for my hidden inside pocket. I pulled out a piece of paper with a printed picture on it, crumpled from being stuffed in my jacket. Smoothing out the wrinkles, I slid it towards the other thief, who peered down at it in interest.
"This is my next target. I'm not sure if you're going to help or not, but I thought I should tell you, anyways." I told him, gazing down to the lime green mineral cut in the shape of a large tear.
He brought the paper closer to his side, staring with a calculating look – probably sizing it up to see if it could possibly be Pandora. After a moment, he finally smiled. "I'm in. I haven't actually checked any cut minerals, but it's a good idea." Figures he'd be able to tell it was a mineral from a look alone – that's Kaitou KID for you. I bottled down my impressive stare, pulling the paper back to fold it and stuff it back into my hidden pocket.
"Great~! It's a cut Brazilianite called the Pari Passu. It has a legend around it, saying that the tear opens up a pocket dimension on the first day of the New Year at three in the morning." My eyes narrowed in thought as I continued to brief him on the mineral – which I'll just call a gem, since it might as well be one. "It's located in a small jewelry shop in Kabukichō, Shinjuku. Not much leg work needed for it from what I saw, but it'll still be relatively dangerous since it's kind of a red-light district and there's the yakuza, but since the Kabukichō Renaissance is there, I'm sure we'll be fine."
At this, his brows furrowed. "Kabukichō Renaissance? What's that?"
My heart sped up as I realized that I had taken the information on Kabukichō from my mind, assuming it would be the same here and hadn't actually checked. "Uh! Nothing – it's nothing. I must have mistaken it with another place~!" I gave a loud nervous laugh, feeling a bit like a good for making that mistake. "A-Anyways, that's not that important." I finished firmly, zipping my sweater back up and taking another long drink of my hot chocolate – this time, the flow ended before it was supposed to and I pouted, realizing I was all out.
Licking my lips, I glanced over to Kaito. "Whatever you say," He laughed, "As for the gem, it sounds like a perfect candidate. And as our first heist together, it'll be perfect to work on our teamwork, as well." He smirked as he also finished off his hot chocolate in one swig. "So, when do you plan to hold it, leader?"
"Leader? Please, you're obviously older than me. Besides, I'm not the leader-type. If I was a leader, I'd probably disappear on you a lot." I snickered, knowing that it was probably true.
"I said leader because you're the one who brought this heist to light. From now on, whoever finds the gem, leads the heist." He stated decidedly with the hint of cockiness in his voice that made me want to laugh all over again. "Alright, alright~! Lessee…I wanna take a long break since lots of interesting crap has happened lately, so…," I tilted my head in thought before a brilliant idea came to mind. After all, why wait to see if its legend was true?
"How about New Year's Eve?"
ooOOoo
More weeks passed swiftly, a blinding haze of peacefulness and mundane life; school life, hanging out with friends, and having three meals a day. Time was passing quickly – quicker than I wanted – and I felt myself falling into step, pretty happy with this life. Spider hadn't shown head nor hair of him since, too – which made me a bit uneasy, knowing he could show up whenever, but since he hadn't, I had passed my large fit of paranoia. Life was just normal.
Kaitou KID and 'Jester' were also getting along quite well and I called him for a progress report every week, which usually ended up in a long ramble of random conversation. He still couldn't call me, since I still hid my number from him – oh, the works the asterisk and the numbers six and seven could have! – but it was for a good reason. If he got 'Jester's' number, he would realize that it was the same number for 'Alice'. Which was bad. Like, really bad. So, obviously, I just hid my number from him.
Erise and 'Midori' tended to meet every Saturday and I usually spent time playing with the Detective Boys after school. As the weeks progressed, November grew colder and before I knew it, it was already December. The case Conan had with Yukiko in Gunma had passed a while ago and it seemed there wouldn't be another case anytime soon. Well, for me, anyways. I wasn't too sure about the chibi shinigami – after all, despite the mostly cheery atmosphere of December, he'd come back from a ski trip with a murder case story. I swear, that boy…
And another thing that surprised me was…
"Alice-chan~! It's been so long! It's good to see you again!" I was swept into a hug, face smothered in someone's bosom as I struggled for freedom in embarrassment. The woman holding me finally pulled back and I took a large gasping breath for air, my face red from the proximity and the lack of oxygen. "Ch–" At the pout forming on her lips, I immediately rephrased, "O-Okaa-san...welcome home." I greeted with a smile after I caught my breath.
She planted a kiss to my forehead – undoubtedly leaving a red mark from her lipstick but she smoothed the spot over with her finger to smear it away – and placed me gently down back on the wooden flooring above the genkan. She had randomly burst into the house without any announcement and had scared both Kaito and I half to death at the unexpected entrance – to say we both had ran to the door in a panic would've been an understatement. She turned her attention to Kaito, smothering him with hugs and kisses as well.
She looked the same as she had before, silky brown hair cut in a bob style while her violet-blue eyes were as bright as ever with glee. Kaito finally managed to wrestle off Chikage, looking thoroughly red in the face from lack of breath and embarrassment, and she giggled, sweeping off her long faux-fur winter coat and placing it on the coat rack near the door.
"So, since its nearing Christmas, let's go out and have some fun~! Do some Christmas shopping or something!" She cheered in a way that made her seem years younger, not that she looked that much older either, but she probably was since she was Kaito's mom. Kaito blinked with me simultaneously, but Kaito gained his composure first. His grin spread wide, looking like it could almost crack his face in half.
"Sounds fun~!" He cheered, easily slipping into his sneakers and shrugging on his own winter jacket. He turned to me with twinkling eyes, "Alice-chan?"
I let out a small laugh, nodding my head at both their anticipating expressions directed towards me despite being the older two. "Sure!" I chimed, slipping on my snow boots and pulling on my winter jacket, which we had bought recently since my sweater just wasn't cutting it anymore, especially with the recent downfall of snow. We all headed out the door, chattering excitedly amongst each other, following Chikage as she directed to where we were going. I couldn't bring myself to be sad that I knew I wouldn't be home for Christmas and I wouldn't be there for my family and vice versa.
After all, at least I knew that Christmas and New Year's wouldn't be boring with both Kuroba family members, plus my bratty cat.
Review Replies:
To: Iriss-sama – Ahh, gym. (Nods) I'm glad I could help you get your energy back! 8DDD Awesome! 8DD (High-fives) And yup! That's where we were! (Nods) We advanced, like, one case. XDD Yay! I'm glad you're looking forward to their teamwork! 8DDD It should be soon, since Christmas and New Year's basically are just around the corner in the story (like, next chapter type of thing). XDD I'm really excited to the things she can get involved in thanks to this, too! XDDD It'll be fun to write! (Gathers Luck) Thank you, Ri-chan~! 8DDD
To: MiniMiao – I'm glad that helped. 8D As for the questions, when Akako finally clarifies some things, if you still have some, feel free to ask! ^^ (Laughs) It could be seen that way, too, yeah. XDDD He's lucky she understood what he meant, lol. I think she would've been freaked out. XDD And yup! Kaito has Aoko~! Thank you. ^^ I'm still working on my third-person and after writing it for a long time, it feels…awkward, but I'll definitely do more switches in the future! 8D
To: Kudo Shinichi Tanteisan – (Laughs) Don't worry, I'm a lazy researcher, too, E-chan. XDD *evil laughter to Kaito* Of course I let E-chan off the hook~ She's not the master of disguise, besides, she's cooler than you~! (*whispers* and we were secretly in cahoots, mwahahaha~) *sticks out tongue* *ignores Kaito's offended face* XDD (Laughs) I tend to grin when I write her laughing, lol. XDD Maybe it's just contagious…like, Jester Venom Gas (instead of Joker, lol) ((and it doesn't kill you. XDD)) And, yes, Happy B-day, Haku-boy~! *joins in throwing confetti on him despite grumbles* XD Ahh, really? That sucks. Though, I tend to get headaches or feel bad if I don't get a lot of sleep rather than the other way around – I guess my body is just used to unhealthy amounts of sleep that when I do sleep healthily, it reacts badly. XD;;; And it's okay! ^^ (Grins as snowflakes fall and eats cyber cookie) Thank you, E-chan~! 8DD
To: DDmasters – Thanks! 8DD *sticks fork in cyber cake with greedy grin* As for Haibara's appearance (which I'm also super psyched for! *high-fives*), she'll make her appearance in four and a half cases. XD I'm not sure, though, since I may skip out on one and then it'll just be three and a half (I say half, since she'll only be involved in the small last half of it). So, she'll actually be appearing very soon! ^^
-Note(s)
The Statue of Hachiko: Hachikō (ハチ公, November 10, 1923 – March 8, 1935), known in Japanese as chūken Hachikō (忠犬ハチ公"faithful dog Hachikō" ['hachi' meaning 'eight', a number referring to the dog's birth order in the litter, and 'kō', meaning prince or duke]), was an Akita dog born on a farm near the city of Ōdate, Akita Prefecture, remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, even many years after his owner's death. There is a tribute statue to him just outside of Shibuya Station and it's a common meeting place. (like, really common)
Yamate Line: This isn't actually a real line – it's actually Yamanote Line, but in a Detective Conan episode, it is clear that they changed the name of the line, so I changed it for the sake of continuity. The other things, however, were kept the same since I don't have any remembrance of DC changing that – if they did, I don't remember. XD
Noriko, Norio, and Kichiro joke: NORIKO meaning "lawful child" (典子) - Japanese girl name. NORIO meaning "lawful man" (法男) - Japanese boy name. KICHIRO meaning "lucky son" (吉郎) - Japanese boy name. Lame jokes are lame. XDD
Note End.
This was fun to write and finally a gem (not a gem, mineral, but whatever. XD) that isn't a real one! XDD It was fun making it, lol; no trouble at all. XD As for chapters, you all probably noticed that we're now on chapter fifty. When we work together, we can even move mountain! (or something like that) I just want to – once again – thank everybody for their support of this fanfiction, despite my tendency to veer from the original course of action of the DC plotline and take forever for things to get places. XD (gah, I'm such a sentimental, it hurts… ;; ) All your support – everyone reading, reviewing, and just lurking (*winks to lurkers*) – has really made the difference with this story. It went from a big idea in my mind to an even larger idea on paper with your help, providing me with new characters (Erise & Ayala) and with interesting concepts (Kin came from an idea contributed by MagicMilkbone) and with new ideas (those gadgets that you suggested Echo Andalice will show up eventually, promise!). It grew and grew and I feel like we have a small little community now. (is that weird? XDD;;)
So, I just want to personally thank everyone. Thank you, Kudo Shinichi Tanteisan, Iriss-sama, Glassed Loner, MoonRaven95, kuttiepie3, DDmasters, MagicMilkbone, AnimeRules4, Raifuujin, MCRDanime, Lia Alcona, SuperPaperPokemon, kittyfinatic515, MiniMiao, Meow-chan-15, Victini-Kumi, 7Nexus21, DNAuthor, Dumti, KarinMaaka07, Neko249, Niie-pyon, Optimistic Purple Elephant, Pb129, Ryo551, Simers, Tanaka Yue, Tempest J, Tricha Inuzuka, darkbeyonddeath666, dimensionalmagic10134, satheroth335, 3141Molly, Akane-Ri, CJSakura, Irisgarden799, SkyLion27, killer1316, moonlightshade, and oldspacecadet3! Thank you all as well as all the people who review anonymously and those who lurk~! And, of course, my sister who supports me by reading this story! Love you all! *showers you with love*
…(Coughs) Okay. Done being mushy – go on. XDDD
Half way to one hundred, team! Fighting! (Raises Fist)
Lucid Nightmare Arc – END.