A/N: Sorry for the super long wait and any concern I may have warranted. Rest assured that this story will be continued, but I'm in a bit of a writer's slump. XDD;; Anyway, this is the first chapter of a new arc – the Transmogrification Arc, to be specific. The arc name is actually really important to the events that are about to unfold~! XDD Hope you enjoy this chapter! 8D I feel one part got a bit too extensive, but it felt wrong to cut it, so….yeah. XDD
Chapter Fifty Seven; Transmogrification Arc
After my call, the police had arrived not long after and had gathered us all for questioning and eye-witnesses and other crime-scene investigation stuff. Currently, we were all outside of the estate and the fenced gate, surrounding Suit Man's body, which had been painstakingly taken from the fence slowly, in a loose half circle. While the detectives of the case had no problem looking at the recently-impaled body, I found myself feeling slightly queasy, purposely looking away towards the far left (away from crying people) with my hands dug deep into my pockets uncomfortably, standing a bit back from Heiji and Kogoro.
It was chilly out, but I wasn't cold thanks to my long-sleeved shirt and scarf, and the sound of crying was somewhat drowned out by all the activity currently taking place in the area – police searching for the bandaged man Heiji and the others had seen and all the extra guards roaming the property. If I had thought the place was crawling with police before, then it definitely felt like I was being thrown into a pit of police-cobras at the moment. They were literally everywhere.
"He was thrown onto the fence." Megure-keibu concluded from his spot crouched next to the victim, a forensic officer on the other side of the body doing his work, with Smiley crying her eyes out somewhere near him. I cleared my throat soundlessly, shifting a bit restlessly. It wasn't my fault, so I shouldn't feel guilty every time something like this happens, I berated myself. Not to mention that changing things didn't work out the last time…
I pushed the thoughts away and focused my attention on Megure's conversation, despite keeping my eyes away from the body. The poor jerk's torso had been pierced straight through with barely any resistance, blood spilling all over his nice business suit and it was generally not a pretty sight – after the first peek at the body when I'd first been brought here, I kept my eyes away since. Dead bodies give me the heebie-jeebies…
Megure stood, turning his attention from the body to Kogoro. "So, is it true that the culprit was Nagato-shi's son, Hideomi-san?"
"No, it isn't!" The voice was sharp and defensive and it cut off Kogoro before he could even open his mouth. I glanced over in slight surprise as the others also swiveled their heads to look at the culprit of denial – Green Suit. Her eyes were set into a sure glare, but without much work, I could tell there was sweat dotting her cheeks and neck in nervousness. "The culprit isn't Hideomi-san! He must have…," She trailed for a moment, "He must have had a reason!" Damn, I have to admit, she was a pretty good actress.
"No matter what the reason was, it's still murder!" Smiley shouted, finally looking up from her deceased husband with tears still overflowing in her eyes. She quickly turned her face back to the ground, as if trying to hide the fact that her voice was water-clogged and she was sniffing every so often. "Give me back my Mitsuaki-san!" Again, she lost her composure, reeling back slightly with tear-stained tracks once again flowing with water and she quickly smacked her hands over her face to cover her appearance as she finally let loose the heart-wrenching sobs she'd no doubt been holding in.
Everyone in the vicinity – including me – winced at the sight and I grimaced. I was never too good with crying people, so I was feeling really uncomfortable. "But…Hideomi-san isn't the type of person who'd do such a thing!" Green Suit defended once more, though she looked to be staring at Smiley with a concerned expression. She quickly turned away, probably out of guilt, to Megure-keibu once more, "And the person we saw may not have been Hideomi-san!"
As Megure gave a look and noise of confusion, Heiji's face became serious. "That's true. The person we saw was someone with bandages wrapped around his face."
"Bandages?"
"Y-Yes. We were told that Hideomi-san had severe burns on his face." Kogoro answered and Heiji picked it up once again, "We saw the culprit just after ten o'clock. We were all in the chairman's bedroom." Megure nodded his head and turned to the sleeping detective once more for confirmation, "Who left the room with you?"
"Those who left the bedroom with me were Heiji-kun, Ran and Conan," Ran's dad looked up in thought, "the butler Take-san, and Yasue-san. There were six of us." With a sharp look on his face, the inspector nodded and turned his head to settle his glare on Green Suit. "After everyone left the room, where were you?" He questioned with a piercing look – I swear, Megure's glare was equivalent to staring into a crow's eyes too long; eventually, you start to feel as if they know everything about you, your reflection appearing those black, beady eyes.
"I stayed in the bedroom by the chairman's side." She stated and the inspector then turned his eyes on me, making me straighten to attention, as if I was in the military. Mustering a nervous smile, I nodded my head briefly. "I'll attest to her staying in the bedroom – though, she was actually having a mental breakdown on the balcony." I let out a small, time-inappropriate chuckle and at the ensuing looks, cleared my throat noisily. "…er, anyway, I stayed in the room to finish my juice."
Megure's glare faltered as he gave an incredulous blink. "You…stayed in the room to finish your juice?"
I nodded, "I know it sounds strange to stay in a room when someone screams to finish your juice, but that's honestly what I did."
Regaining his composure, Megure gave an exasperated sigh and muttered a quick, "I'll take your word for it…,", in a tone that relayed that he was obviously thinking of my other stunts I did while on a case the other times he was the lead investigator. Like running off after immediately being deemed a possible suspect due to my Osaka-ben or barging into an investigation to help my suspect friend. I laughed internally – now that I think about it, I seemed thoroughly suspicious!
I felt a questioning glare from blue eyes before they turned back to the inspector as he looked up at the balcony beyond the fence where Suit Man had fallen to his painful demise. More specifically, he looked at the rope dangling from the edge, forensics officers having a field day up with tons of useless evidence. "But the culprit had even prepared a rope to escape from the balcony." He stated, assuring us that it had to be someone who had the time to tie a rope to the balcony – someone who knew the layout of the house.
Everyone's eyes settled on the piece of incriminating rope. "There's no doubt that the culprit used it." Heiji affirmed and looked back to the plump Megure, "When I was outside with the security guards, it was still swinging."
"So where's the man in question, Hideomi-san?" Megure-keibu swiftly redirected the conversation in an attempt to get more information. The butler looked worried, bushy grey brows furred up on his wrinkled face. "Actually, he's nowhere to be found. We were looking for him before you came."
"That means the culprit must have been Hideomi-san." Kogoro said seriously and Green Suit once again went on the defensive for her fiancé, "T-That can't be!"
"At any rate," Megure-keibu started, "We've found the weapon and the bandages the culprit used." He lifted a plastic bag with a large kitchen knife smeared with dark, dried blood. My stomach curled unpleasantly as I made a face and looked away from it. "If we inspect these…,"
"Hey!" Conan called out and I blinked, turning to where his voice was coming from. Right next to the dead body, he was crouched, lifting the limp hand by Suit Man's shirt cuffs. "What's this wound on the back of the victim's hand?" He questioned in 'innocent curiosity', "It looks like a stab wound." Seeing Kogoro walk up behind the shrunken Shinichi, I quickly ducked in and lifted him into my arms just as the older detective's hand went down for a swipe at the younger's head.
Kogoro almost let out his balance at my interference, but regained it before he fell on top of the body and I snickered, hugging Conan to my chest like a teddy bear. He swung helplessly for a moment before beginning to struggle to get out of my grasp. "Child abuse~" I chimed to Kogoro teasingly and with a pout, I placed Conan back onto the ground, ignoring the sleeping detective's displeased grumbling and glares thrown my way. Conan shot me a quick baleful look.
Before anyone could say anything else, a man tanned skin with a spiky-ish hairstyle of brown hair ran over with a serious look on his face. I had to keep my excited grin to myself – this was my first meeting with Takagi (officially, anyway; I don't think the time in the library counted since I wasn't sure if that was him)! We all turned to give the man our attention as he called out to the inspector. "What is it, Takagi-kun?" Megure asked.
"The mansion's security cameras show that nobody left the building after the crime." Takagi informed. Everyone reacted as expected – panic. "That means the culprit is–!" " –still in the mansion!" Eyes drifted up to where the chairman's room was located and then Conan was off, running quickly back into the building, not heeding to Kogoro's call.
Heiji quickly followed suit, shocking me as he once again called out a, "Come on, Midori-han!"
Beginning to feel a bit like the Robin to his Batman, I followed after with Megure-keibu on my heels.
ooOOoo
"Crap! The door's locked!" Heiji panicked, jiggling the knob of the door. I almost broke into laughter – so time-inappropriate, I know – when he started banging on the door like a literal orangutan. "Hey! Is anyone inside?!"
Despite having watched the episode and read the manga chapters, I still blinked in surprise as Scowly opened the door with a displeased face. "What's with all this noise? Why are you all gathered here?" She questioned and as I peered around her, I saw Ran sitting next to the chairman's bed.
My brows furred in confusion. What the heck? Hadn't they just been outside with us all? Heiji, Conan, and I had to run all the way here and they somehow got here first, had time to get settled in, and even had time to lock the door.
Not only is Heiji's dad a secret ninja, but Ran and Scowly have freakin' teleportation abilities.
Our little group of stair-dashers piled into the room as she let us in. "Why are you here?" Heiji asked the most important question. Seriously, why are they here? How are they here?
"There was a commotion, so I came to make sure everything was okay." Scowly told us, crossing her arms over her torso. I made my way over to Ran, leaning my hip against the back of the chair she was currently occupying, shooting her a bright grin in absent greeting.
"Where were you before you came here?" Megure demanded and I almost resisted a face palm, but couldn't – because, really, they'd been with us before this. With her usual attitude, the woman raised her nose in the air haughtily and said, "I was in a bad mood, so I was drinking in my room." I felt like sinking to the floor in confusion. What was going on here? It was like there was a discrepancy in time. My shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter.
"By yourself?" The inspector fished.
"Yes, I was griping about things with my friend on the phone." Her eyes rose in thought. "I was drunk, so I don't remember who I called. But is it true that Hideomi killed Mitsuaki-san?"
"Well, apparently…,"
"Just as I thought. I figured he would do it eventually." She sighed. "Those two always got into arguments when they were together. They were childhood friends and got along very well, but…after the accident, they fought like cats and dogs."
"'The accident'?" Megure prompted.
"Probably how he got the burn on his face." I piped up with a shrug.
Scowly surprising confirmed my 'guess' without any backlog. "Yes, twenty years ago, there was a fire at an inn near here. Mitsuaki-san and Hideomi were in high school at the time and were passing by. He should have stayed out of it, but Hideomi shook off Mitsuaki-san's hand and leapt into the fire to save a girl." Scowly directed her attention to Green Suit. "That girl was Hyuuga Miyuki. Because of that, Hideomi suffered severe burns on his face. He stopped going to school, locked himself up in his room, and pretended to be a writer. Of course, there wasn't a single women who would go near him."
"Knowing this," Scowly continued and her voice was slowly becoming spitefully accusing, "this women approached Hideomi and even had him recommend her as father's secretary. And now marriage?!" She was full on rage now. Either she had a serious brother complex for Hideomi or she just really wanted to get married for some reason. I'm going with the former.
"That's enough, Nobuko." The chairman spoke up.
"Oh, father, you were awake?"
"Well, I've been half-awake ever since everyone left the room in a commotion." He admitted, eyes drooping tiredly. I'm surprised he was still sleepy in a situation like this.
"Did you notice anything unusual after that?" Megure-keibu practically demanded.
"No, nothing happened. Hyuuga-kun stayed by my side until Ran-san came. Though…, I did hear this young lady mention something of a…men syndrome after everyone left and she was finishing her drink?" His eyes slid to me and his brow furred as he tried to remember what I said.
All the eyes in the room honed onto me, some suspicious (cough, Conan, cough) and others confused or deadpanning (cough, Megure, cough). My face flushed bright red at the attention and embarrassment of it all – how in the world did he hear me saying that, anyway?! I thought he was an old man, which equates to bad hearing (usually)! Quickly, I scrambled for an answer to the unspoken question.
"That was…it was–a song!" I defended. "There's a song that goes…something similar to that degree. And…it was stuck in my head at the time. It's embarrassing for you guys to know that I was musing over a song like that, haha…ha…," I felt like shoving my head into the nearest wall at how utterly lame that sounded out loud.
The inspector let out a deep sigh, as if he was just so done with me and my odd behaviors. I sent him a sheepish grin that he replied to with unimpressed eyes. "That's nothing unusual for her. While it's a good idea to keep an eye on her, it's probably best to just ignore her antics." He told everyone, bringing his hand over his face for a brief moment. Conan's eyes had narrowed at me before he redirected his attention to the case at hand.
Thankfully, Kogoro redirected the conversation away from me. Bless his wonderful soul~! "This isn't the time to go searching for your first love, is it?" Kogoro said to the chairman with a somewhat downtrodden face. He probably hoped it would just be a clean case without any deaths. Sorry, occhan, but you're literally walking with your own shinigami – the probability of a clean case is about 23%, if that high.
The chairman's face dampened in horrific disappointment. "No, that's fine. Please forget about that."
It was only a little while after that Conan pulled Heiji from the room to inquire about why he really called him here. Curious if he would ask about me, I leaned up against the wall next to where the door was cracked open, so that I could hear their conversation but they wouldn't be able to see me listening in. My eyes focused on my legs, tracing the pattern of the plaid on my shorts and the star design on my leggings. The more I looked at it, the more oddly put it looked together.
"The truth is that the chairman said he heard a strange noise last night." Heiji was saying and short prompt from the shrunken detective had him elaborating. "Yeah, the sound of someone running quietly in the hallway in the middle of the night and the sound of objects colliding over and over again." Geez, if I'd heard that, I would've just called the police over the first time I'd heard it.
"That means…,"
"That's right. Someone in this house was working on something for this murder last night. At first, both my dad and I thought that it was just a burglar casing the place, so we increased the guards and even called you guys. We knew something would happen tonight. But who would've thought it was someone's life he wanted to take?"
Umm, everyone who has ever been around you two for more than two months, probably.
"Premeditated murder…," Conan trailed.
"But don't you think it's odd?" Heiji asked. "Mouri Kogoro, who you made famous, was here. That means the culprit was either very confident about his plans, or…,"
"…He couldn't change the plans."
"What puzzles me are the objects left around the victim. Nevermind the weapon. There wasn't much time for the culprit to flee, so why did he bother to take off his hat and bandages?" Heiji brought up and they were working in such perfect synch, like gears made to operate a machine together.
"And the fact that he made sure we saw his face on the balcony, as if he wanted to place the blame on Hideomi-san." Conan intoned.
"Which means the only person who could have done it is Nobuko-san, who had left the room." Heiji theorized.
They stood in silence for a while and just when I was about to move away from the door so that they didn't know I was eavesdropping when they came back in the room, Conan spoke up again.
"So?" He said, "What's Watanabe doing here?" My head perked up in interest.
Heiji gave out a small laugh. "Ah, Midori-han? I…wanted to confirm something with her."
"Hm?"
"Seems like it was nothing important, though."
I smiled to myself as the conversation ended, moving from the door as they headed back inside the room.
ooOOoo
After that, we all began to search the mansion's every nook and cranny to look for Hideomi. While searching, I was also looking out for any gems that could possibly be hidden around, but just like Hideomi, they were nowhere to be found. With a yawn, I headed back to the middle of the main room with Ran, who I ran into while walking back from down the halls. Heiji and Conan were already there, looking tired and just a bit frustrated at the lack of evidence.
"Hey, find anything?" I questioned, though I knew the answer would be negative. But I had to act like I didn't, since we'd done this Scooby Doo style – split up and look for clues.
"Nope, you?" Heiji asked.
"I wouldn't be asking you if I did," I chuckled before another yawn cut me off. I put my hand in front of my mouth sheepishly. "Sorry."
Megure's voice came from behind me and Ran, startling us both a bit. "I think it's about time we call it a night. It's already three. We'll all continue searching tomorrow." Wow, really? I'm really glad I had already told Kaito I'd be staying the night with Akako, otherwise he'd probably be in a bit of a panic by now. We all relaxed a bit at the thought of getting some well-deserved sleep.
I nodded my head at the inspector, pulling out my phone and opening the alarm settings. "What time are we gonna start tomorrow?" I asked him curiously.
He blinked. "Um, probably six."
"'Kay~" I swiftly set the alarm to five thirty as Megure nodded and bided us all goodnight for the night, following the butler to his room for the night. It had been decided that we were to all stay in the mansion tonight for safety reasons and the such. As for Conan's entourage and Heiji and I, we had already planned to stay the night at the mansion. My attention was drawn from my phone to Conan, who was staring at me with an odd expression.
"Hm?" I prompted curiously, a bit unnerved as I rubbed sleep from my eyes.
"…That's a nice phone." He said with that same odd expression.
My brows furred and I offered an uneasy grin at him. "Thanks…?"
A gentle hand resting on my shoulder had me flinching before I turned to see the butler there. "I'll show you to your room now, Watanabe-san." He said, and I gave a short salute to the others in parting, beginning to head up the stairs with him. Along the way, he told me how to get to Heiji, Kogoro, and Megure's room in case something happened at night.
I was shown to one of the guest rooms by the tired butler, nodding my thanks before heading into the large room and flicking the light switch. It was furnished with a plain theme with colors of burgundy and black, with a large queen-sized bed in the center, a night table and lamp, and a bookcase pushed against the wall filled to the brim with books on ethics. With a sigh of relief, I walked further in, shutting the door silently behind me and heading for the bed. Today had been a long day.
A content smile made its way to my lips as I stretched and sat down on the bed after grabbing a random book from the third shelf. It was, like, three in the morning, but I still didn't feel like sleeping despite being tired. I've always been a bit of night owl, though, so it wasn't very surprising. I flipped the book open to a randomly selected page far into the book and skimmed the lines with a dull interest, only to laugh at what I'd found. It was a book on the theories of moral behavior and how it develops. I snorted and closed the book with an ironic grin on my lips.
"I personally didn't think that was your type of book either, kitten." A voice purred from the foot of my bed.
I jolted with a yelp, the book falling to the carpeted floor with a low thud as I swiftly stood, backed up several steps to the wall, and brought my hands up to my chest in a flinch – and while my feet were placed correctly if I was attacked, my karate sensei would be disappointed at my hand's positioning. 'You're leaving yourself wide open!' he'd probably say before delving into how many different ways he could take me down with my unguarded posture.
My eyes narrowed into a deep glare as fair blond hair and blue eyes registered. Relaxing slightly, I crossed my arms and gave him a sardonic smirk, one that screamed my want to reach back down and chuck the rather thick ethics book in his face. "Spider, what an unpleasant surprise." I droned tensely, "Stalking me again?"
He looked down at me with a smirk and I internally cursed his height. How come he was so darn tall?! "Yes, actually." He answered smoothly in his ever-irritating tone, as if he hadn't just admitted to stalking a minor. "Today's an important case for Hattori Heiji, isn't that right? He finds out about the true 'do's and don'ts' of detective work, right?" A cold chill down my spine had me straightening, hair on the back of my neck standing on end. "'If you drive them to suicide, you're no better than a murderer', or something of that type of nonsense?" He sounded amused.
"I don't see how that concerns you." I stated cautiously, mentally calculating how far away Heiji's room was from mine in case I had to sprint to go help him. The odds were a bit in favor of the arachnid freak, though, and that alone made me incredibly uneasy. I shuffled in place, glancing at the closed door. How the hell did he even get inside?
"Oh, on the contrary, kitten," I made a face at the nickname and he chuckled deeply, "Since you're bothering to make it your business, it's my business. If it's yours, it's mine." Wow, that wasn't creepy at all. "Plus, when you start looking for gems behind my back, I think I have the right to retaliate. Really now, it's not very nice to play dirty." He ended patronizingly.
"We didn't lay down any ground rules." I retorted, "If anyone's a cheater, it's you, goldilocks." Not for any particular reason, just that he was unbearably annoying. It also wasn't fair that he could watch my every move while I had to constantly guess where he was and what he was doing – frustrating.
He gave another chuckle. "Fair enough, but I'm not a cheater. Like you said, we didn't lay down any ground rules. Watching you can't possibly be against the non-existent rules, can it?" I instantly felt like smashing his head into the nearest wall and then smashing my own head to fall unconscious. It was too damn late to deal with this – deal with him. In fact, it was always too late to deal with him, no matter the time.
"Smartass." I scowled.
"I got it from my creator, what can I say?"
Releasing a groan, I pointed a threatening finger at his chest. "Why can't you just go about your merry little way and leave me alone? Go join some circus with your illusion act – the Deadline Circus or Cirque Dans La Rue. I think you'd fit in." I snarkily remarked. If there was anywhere Spider belonged, it was in a demented circus. Or a high-security prison cell.
"I would, but you see, kitten, that'd be no fun. I wouldn't be able to see your reaction to my first heist's prize and that'd just be a pity." He reached into the pocket of his black slacks and pulled out a chain necklace with onyx wings carved out in amazing detail, spread out as it ready to take flight into the sky. His smirk grew at my gaping expression. "While you had no luck finding gems, I found this pretty little thing tucked away in the late wife's study, hidden in her desk drawer."
I blinked in disbelief. How come he found something and I didn't? Then again, I had the decency to not go peeking through a dead lady's things, so I guess that's where I went 'wrong' in my search. I opened my mouth to say another sarcastic comment, but nothing came to mind. I was at a loss for words with a psycho spider in my room. Great…
"It's called Icarus' Wings. Apparently, it was a 7th anniversary gift, but that's not the interesting part." He thrust it outward and I was tempted to try to snatch it, but the last time I'd wrestled with him, I'd ended up with a concussion and I didn't really feel like having to explain myself to Akako again. She'd fry me up and serve me to her butler for dinner if I ended up injured again while supposedly 'staying with her for the weekend'. The pitch black color of the wings glittered faintly in the dim light of the lamp on the night table.
"It's said to have the powers of many generations captured inside." He began to explain and my brows furred in massive confusion. "The story of Icarus, I'm sure you've heard it. Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by the wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus' father warns him that he should fly neither too low nor too high, because the sea's mist would clog up and the sun's warmth would melt the wax. But Icarus ignored his father's warning and flew too close to the sun. His wings melted and he fell into the sea and drowned."
"Okay…?" I found myself questioning in confusion. What did this even have to do with anything?
"This gem is said to be the manifestation of Icarus' melted wings, molded back together by the grieve-stricken Daedalus into onyx."
I frowning at him. "What does this have to do with you and me? It's obviously not the gem we're looking for, Spider." My tone was a bit shaky and I tried to process his story-telling. For some reason, the story left me all kinds of anxious despite being almost…normal. He sent me a sly look as he pocketed the necklace after staring at it for a moment.
"What I'm trying to say, kitten, is that this piece of jewelry is very powerful." He had a shark's smirk on his face that reminded me of myself when I was proving a point to someone. "And now it's mine."
So that's what this was about – gloating. Jerkface probably made up the whole story just to give me the creeps. I gave an indignant huff, "I don't see why you need more power, but I don't care. It's not what I'm looking for. Take it, for all I care." His face remained unchanged for his confident smirk and my brow twitched. "That means you can leave now that you're done gloating." I hissed through clenched teeth. If he didn't leave, I'll be tempted to smash his pretty face into the nearby bookcase. Not that I wasn't already tempted to, but…
He let out a small, mocking sigh and shook his head with pitying expression – as if I just didn't understand something. My fingers twitched. "And here I expected a bit more from you, master." The word was venom-injected, like acid pouring from his lips into my ears and I grimaced in distaste. "I wasn't here to gloat. I'm here to offer you a deal."
"No, thanks. I don't make deals with evil arachnids." I answered stiffly, frowning up at him.
He stepped closer and I took a step back to compensate. "Don't come closer." I growled, trying to look intimidating to the much taller and stronger person. My shoulders rose and I straightened my back to look taller, much like a cobra raises itself to scare off predators.
He let out a small laugh at my defensive actions and once again brought out the necklace, chains clicking as the black wings slid side-to-side like some type of pendulum. "If you'd like, I can give you this if you give my deal some thought. It's not actually a container item – it's another one of those pocket dimensions that you and that boy got stuck in. I believe this one is in an artificial sky of some kind." He mused absently and I jolted in panic as he offered it.
"D-Don't give it to me, idiot!" I yelped, backing up swiftly, my shoulder blades slamming into the wall behind me as I leaned away from the dangling piece of jewelry. "I don't want to get stuck inside some odd place again!" Not that I remembered anything much from the other pocket dimension, but whenever I tried to remember, my head would pound and an uncomfortable, shaky, breath-taking, feeling of guilt would leave me sick to the stomach and gasping for breath as the world spun. Yeah, not fun…
His sharp teeth flashed for a moment in amusement and he put it closer to my face, making me turning my head away and screw my eyes shut. This jerk! Just wait until you don't have that stupid pocket dimension to protect you and then I'm going to kick you where the sun doesn't shine! My eyes carefully pried open when I heard a small sound from Spider and the clinking of the chain pulling away from me. I looked just in time to see him once again pocket the item. I focused my gaze on him, bewildered and suspicious.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that, it only opens during solar eclipses." He said and was it just me or did he seem a bit awkward? I brushed the thought away. Yeah right. "Either way, my deal." I rolled my eyes and quickly interrupted, "I told you, I don't want to hear it! I won't agree to it!" There was a short silence.
His Columbian blue eyes narrowed and I gulped, feeling myself break into a cold sweat at the intense glare. "W-What?" I managed without the heat I wanted behind it. It sounded more like a frightened stutter and I felt like running, but my legs were locked.
"I want you to listen to my deal, kitten, but you won't. Is it so hard to just hear me out?" He hummed with a sardonic smile and I flinched as his current appearance flickered, being replaced with blue eyes a shade darker – filled with sick amusement as I paled – and tanned skin, a harsh yellow tattoo over his left eye etched into his skin. He'd dropped the 'softer' mask and I was gazing upon his true face for the first time since we've met. I'd only seen it in small flickers and now it was solid. My heart leapt into my throat at the different appearance, uncomfortable being in the presence of someone who looked like the regular threatening Spider but seemed much more…scary.
"Do I have to convince you to listen?" He continued, "I know you have those children friends of yours, as well as that ever-trusting brunette by your current appearance's side…," He trailed off with a suggestive lift of his brow. My heart almost stopped in sheer horror and my body moved on its own in an adrenaline rush of worry, fear, and anger. How dare he threaten them?!
"Don't!" My fingers were wrapped around his wrist in a vice-like grip, skin paling under the force, but it didn't seem to hurt him much. "I'll listen to your stupid deal offer, but if you hurt them, I'll kill you." I warned with a dark glare, purposely digging my nails into his skin to get my point across. I wasn't against hurting him, especially if he was planning to touch a single hair on any innocent's head.
"I thought you'd say that." His accomplished expression was infuriating as his image flickered back to the Spider I was more familiar with, in appearance any way. "Here's my deal: instead of searching for the gem separately and trying to find it before the other, I'm willing to work together with you to find it. On the condition that you'll train yourself to fully utilize your magic."
My grip loosened on his wrist in surprise and relief at him dropping the subject of my friends, but I was incredulous. "You want to… help me?" It seemed too good to be true, there had to be a catch; it probably had something to do with why he wanted me to 'fully utilize' my magic. The magic Akako told me I wouldn't be able to use, anyway, because I was still in my 'non-magical body'; I was still physically a normal human and therefore wouldn't be able to use magic without an outlet. Or something. I couldn't exactly remember everything and I had a lot to process that night, so give me a break.
"Oh, she finally gets it." He mocked as he nodded and gave a fake round of applause to irritate me.
I gave a scowl that probably came off as a petulant pout as I re-crossed my arms across my chest. "Well, it doesn't matter if I 'finally get it'. I can't take your deal." It was physically impossible, not to mention that I didn't feel particularly inclined to work together with this arachnid stalker. I was managing just fine without his help, thank you very much.
"I had a feeling you would say that." He nodded nonchalantly, as if I'd played right into his plan. This man is so annoying… "Don't you want to know the truth, about everything?" My breath caught in my throat and I immediately knew what he was talking about; all those nagging questions hidden deep in my subconscious that bothered me while trying to fall asleep. His face grew smug and sly as he caught my attention.
"Don't you wonder about things that you don't know of – of things hidden from you by your little witch friend? Don't you wonder how you somehow managed to crack auto safety glass? Don't you wonder why you can easily gain the trust of that boy, Hattori Heiji, and even that brunette girl? I assure you, it's not that they find you so trustworthy. You've only known them for a few months, at most, after all. They're not people you belong with – I can give you your place in the world. I can help you get home." He extended a pale hand towards me, as if beckoning me to take it and come with him.
I felt myself flinch and withdraw back with an odd, heavy, feeling blooming in my chest. I felt like a child cowering away from my closet in fear of what lay behind the closed doors. I had desperately tried to ignore all those questions, burying them deep in my mind to be prodded at a much later time when I felt I could fully understand the reasons, and Spider was just digging them up. I didn't want to hear it – I wanted to cover my ears and pretend he wasn't there, but that would be childish.
Instead, I leaned back onto the wall behind me and slid down slowly, drawing my knees up to my chest and staring up at him with frosty eyes. "I said 'no', can't you understand those words?" My voice sounded gravelly as my mind continued to assure me that I was indeed normal. There was nothing strange about me and I belonged right where I was, even if I was in a dimension different from my own. Breaking the glass had been lucky – it probably was already cracked. Heiji and Erise trusted Midori because she was their friend and they're people who believe in their friends. Kaitou KID trusted Jester because…because they were supposedly in the same ordeal. There was nothing strange, nothing odd.
Ya see, Midori-han, it's like ya don't even exist.
A chill spread over my skin as Spider crouched in front of me, his outstretched hand barely brushing the tips of my bangs before pulling back. Coldness spread from the contact point with the sensation of crawling spiders and soon it felt like I'd been sitting out in the cold for hours, body numb and lips chilled over. A violent shiver wracked my body as I hugged myself for warmth, trying to curl further away from him as he stared at me with cold, unsympathetic eyes with a smirk curled on his face.
"Try to deny it all you want, but you were brought here for a reason. Don't you want to know the grand scheme of things?" He cooed as if he was talking to wounded animal and if he didn't shut up, I was going to kill him– "This world isn't full of nihilism. The people in charge have big plans, you know. I can tell you everything, if you just accept my offer. In all truth, it's in your favor, isn't it? I inform you of all your naiveties, I help you find the gem, I help you get back home; it's all you've ever wanted."
A small growl erupted for my mouth as my body curled taut before I rocked myself forward at Spider, practically launching myself at him. I gripped his collar and he fell to his back with a surprised face that quickly smoothed over to his usual confident face. I yanked him forward before slamming his head back to the ground, over and over. I'm not sure if I was trying to knock sense into him, or me. My body was moving on its own accord and my hands were slowly losing feeling the longer they held onto his collar.
"Shut it – you don't know me at all! Don't assume you know things that you don't! And I don't give a shit of the grand scheme of things! I ended up here on my own accord and I refuse to believe in something as stupid as pre-determined futures, no matter what you or Akako says!" I seethed in his face, a grin of malice twitching at the corner of my mouth in success as I saw his face twist in slight pain. In a second, my back slammed into the ground painfully and he was on top of me, his own hand tangled in my collar.
Cold breath brushed across my face as he leaned closer and for a second of horror, I thought he was going to kiss me (or bite me, but that'd be less horrifying) before he got to his feet, hauling me up with him. The tips of my sneakers barely brushed the ground as he held me by my collar above my height and I felt my throat close up at the tight hold. "It seems the over-tempered child needs a lesson." He mocked and I choked on a smartass remark as he hauled me further up and then there was a rush of air and I'd hit the wall on the other side of the room. The lamp on the night table tumbled onto the floor, bulb shattering, as I slid down the wall, my shoulder slamming into the night table as I went down. The room filled with complete darkness due to a lack of window.
Pain seared up my shoulder and back as I hit the floor rather ungracefully. Right, I'd nearly forgotten that Spider probably had super-strength. The only curse to him I had in mind would be insulting me, since I was technically his 'mother', so I didn't voice or think it. Instead I scowled as he wiped his hands together, as if he had already won. He wasn't even bothering to look over to where I'd fallen – this bastard…
I felt blood welling in my mouth, so I probably bit my lip of something, damn it. I spit it out to the side quickly and gathered my strength, glass bits crunching under my feet as I stood from my crash landing. I easily crossed the room in a few long, swift, strides – oddly able to see the vague outlines of everything – and the glass had probably alerted him to my presence, 'cause his face turned towards me just in time for my fist to connect with the side of his face. He quickly recovered and gripped the arm I'd used to hit him and pulled, making me stumble forward and my chin to get a personal meet-and-greet with the other wall. It would've been my face, if I hadn't realized at the last second and clicked my tongue.
My teeth clenched in pain as I felt my arm become twisted up against my back and him lean closer to speak over my shoulder at me. "You aren't very good at this, are you?" He chuckled and to retaliate and prove him wrong, I lifted one leg, planted it against the wall, and pushed. My head rammed into what I assumed was his chin as we both stumbled backwards, my arm pulling at an almost too-painful angle before he was forced to let go to regain his balance.
As he recovered his balance, I'd already turned on my heel and slammed my fist into his face again, another step forward and my left fist dug into his solar plexus in a thrust punch. He gave a small sound of discomfort and bent over slightly, placing a protective hand over the wounded place. He was completely unguarded. I backed up a bit, planted my feet, readied myself – and then I hit him with a well-placed kick right in the side, where his ribs were.
I half expected him to give another groan of pain, but he didn't, instead rewarding me with a scathing look as if I'd just done the worst crime in the world by hurting him. My heart froze for a moment and the temperature in the room seemed to, as well. He had a pained look in his eyes, but I knew I was in trouble the second his façade flickered to be replaced with his earlier appearance. The image of a spider glittered faintly in the darkness. He lunged.
Pain blossomed across my face and I realized in indignation that he'd freakin' punched me. I swiftly returned the favor and we both seemed to not really care anymore, rage consuming any rational thought as we eventually blocked each other's attacks and started to grapple, trying to over-power the other. He easily beat me in height and I found myself bracing my legs and arms, somehow managing to remain unfolded despite his obvious advantages.
His teeth flashed to me in the dark and I bared mine back, a growl ripping from my throat. By now, my whole body was cold and numb from keeping close contact with him this long, but I wasn't about to back down. I struggled for an idea to get the upper hand, or at least change the situation, since I could feel myself beginning to fold under his weight. I gave him a one-over and immediately found the perfect idea. His legs were braced similar to mine and completely unguarded. It was cruel, but I didn't care.
He gave a pained groan through clenched teeth and crumpled to his knees, dragging me down with him as his nails trailed long scratches on my arms despite the fabric of my shirt saving me from the brunt of his nails. He recovered faster than I had expected and I yelped as I was slammed onto the floor once more and a knee drove into my stomach, knocking the air out of me as my stomach clenched in pain. His eyes glinted as they narrowed and his voice was still somewhat strained as he said, "That was a cheap move, kitten."
"I never said…," I huffed out breathlessly, teeth clenched, "…that I play fair." A sneer crawled onto my lips.
I could make out a smirk on his face as he lifted his arm to deliver another one of his ice-cold hits. "Fair enough." My head snapped to the side and I felt the first dredges of tiredness and pain getting the best of me. My adrenaline rush was failing me and I didn't know how much longer he could go at this. Ugh, I obviously hadn't been thinking of this when I first lunged…
Warm blood trickled down my frozen lips and my breath was coming out in condensed puffs, but I wasn't the only one looking worse for wear. Spider's face looked pallid in some spots and I had no doubt that those patches would bloom into a purple color a few hours later. I couldn't help the sense of pride that I'd managed to damage his face and with a surge of strength, I shifted away from his next punch, his knuckles making a loud thud as it hit the carpeted ground.
My knee made contact with his stomach and I hurried to crawl out from beneath him as he took a moment to regain his breath – and I felt a tiny bit of guilt since that was the third time I'd hit his torso, but I brushed it away. I jumped to my feet, grasped the back of his suit's jacket and tried my best to throw him as far as I could – which wasn't very far or hard, but he still collided with the nearest wall. As I was catching my breath and running through ideas of running out the door to get out of this bad situation, chilled hands grasped my shirt – one on my shoulder, the other between my shoulder blades – and I dangled for a heart-stopping moment before I was flying across the room.
My body crashed into the bookshelf, arms and legs protecting my face and ribs as I curled, hard edges digging into my skin. I fell the short distance to the ground and I groaned, rolling onto my back as an ache spread across my whole body. My eyes widened and my breath hitched as several books fell onto me, hardcover spines bruising me and the whole shelf tipped precariously before falling forward. I screwed my eyes shut and braced for the impact, but it never came.
Books fell around me, pages flapping and thudding onto the ground. I opened my eyes a crack and was dumbstruck. Spider was above me, bookshelf toppled onto his back and he looked like he was in a bit of pain. "Wha…," My voice was incredulous, "What are you…?" …What just happened? Weren't we just trying to kill each other?
He used an arm to steady and stand the bookshelf back up and he smirked at me. A frozen palm touched my forehead and an agonizing jolt of lightning coursed through my veins and my body slumped as my senses went haywire. Black spots invaded my vision and my eyes began to drift close on their own accord. I couldn't even muster up a betrayed scowl as my body stopped responding – and it was odd that I was feeling betrayed, wasn't it?
"That was fun, kitten," The words were becoming drowned out by the sound of rushing water and the unmistakable sound of my own heartbeat, "But for now, you should wake up." Columbian blue eyes and an accomplished smile were the last things I saw before everything became swallowed in blackness.
Damn it, I let my guard down…
ooOOoo
Spider walked into the chamber Akako was residing in, slaving over another old grimoire, pages turning without her touching them, just as the sun was beginning to rise. She was sipping at a cup of tea at her desk and flicked her fiery eyes to him as he sauntered in, an almost unnoticeable limp to his steps. She raised a condescending brow at him, "What happened to you? You look as if you've been run over by a car." There was no concern in her voice, merely cold amusement and perhaps a bit disdain.
"Nothing I couldn't handle, I assure you." He stated smoothly, walking further into the candle-lit room. He glanced to the couch as a familiar snicker reached his ears. As expected, the fifteen-year-old teen was laying curled up on the couch, wild black hair framing his face as he gave an impish grin. "Looks like you got beaten pretty bad – you realize you have a black eye, right, spurious?" The teen's voice was scratchy and Spider had a feeling that he'd never stop getting irritated by it.
He offered the teen a deep frown, lightly touching around his right eye gently. "Like I said, it was nothing I couldn't handle." He enunciated again and the teen bristled, sharp nails digging into the soft material of the couch, but he didn't move. The two glared at each other and Akako rolled her eyes in annoyance, turning in her chair to look at them.
"Stop fighting." She ordered sharply and while the teen begrudgingly listened with a petulant face, Spider sent the witch a mocking look that obviously said 'I'm not going to listen to you'. Akako gave him a harsh look and reached out a hand. "You got it, right?"
He smirked, "Of course. Icarus' Wings is all yours, little witch. It probably won't do you much good, though." He fished the necklace from his pocket and tossed it over, where Akako easily snatched it out of the air. She looked over the onyx jewelry before turning a suspicious look to Spider. "What did you do to it?" She questioned fiercely, "There's not one trace of the magic that once dwelled inside of it." The boy on the couch sent Spider an equally suspecting look as he shifted, resting his chin on his palm and sitting up slightly.
"I'm not quite sure myself. There was nothing in it the moment I found it." Spider gave a small shrug, "Perhaps someone else beat us to the punch."
"No one else knew about this gem, Spider." Akako's eyes narrowed into a glare that would make lesser men cower, but he kept his composure. "This gem was an heirloom in the Koizumi family for years before we sold it to that chairman's family, since we knew that it would be safer with people who didn't know how to use it. So, tell me, who else could have 'beaten us to the punch'?" Her tone was cold and burning all at once and the black-haired teen sat up, securing his blanket around him.
He tilted his head up and breathed in the air before tensing and baring his teeth, a territorial hiss escaping his lips. "You smell like Midori!" He accused, "Was she the one you fought with? You didn't hurt her, did you?!" He demanded to know. As he was about to stand, Akako shot him a Look and he snarled for a moment before flopping back down onto the couch, staring up at Spider with hateful eyes and a glower. His nails dug once more into the couch and he knew he was going to pay greatly later when Akako realized he'd shredded her couch's cover.
"We got into a small scuffle, is all. No need to be defensive, brat." Spider sneered and Akako quickly stood and got between the two – it wouldn't be the first time she'd had to step in before they got into a fight. "As for who," He regarded Akako's last question, "I'm not sure. Maybe one of your relatives is doing things behind your back, hm?"
There was a moment of tense silence before Akako crossed her arms and gave a dainty sigh. "I don't believe a word from your mouth, but I suppose it's all I have to go by. We'll have to find something else, then." She brushed past Spider's shoulder to get back to her desk, beginning to once more flip through the faded yellow pages of her grimoire. The black-haired teen offered one last spiteful look before closing his eyes to rest once more.
With none of their attention on him for the moment, Spider's lips curled into a scheming smirk as he headed out of the Koizumi mansion.
-And, once again, due to Spider's interference, a new arc has opened up! The Transmogrification Arc will be filled with ominous meetings, suspicious motives, adjusting to new things, and meetings with old characters you may be familiar with and new characters that seem too familiar to be new (along with a slew of "unique" one-time characters, lol)~! It'll be kind of long and spread out, ranging from now to the in-story summer.
Also, more than half of what Spider said in this chapter is a complete and utter lie. XDD
As for the review replies I always put down here, I'll be skipping them this time since I'm not quite up to replying to things at the moment. XD;; However, next chapter, I will definitely reply to the new reviews and such~! ^^
Thanks for reading~!
"Next Conan's Hint: Mobile Phone!"