Angel

Chapter 5

Her long wavy locks of that shiny black had been chopped off during the preparation for the operation. It was necessary just so they could extract the tumor that threatened her life. This was the last day before her operation. The days that followed just seemed too hard to imagine and…Time appeared to be making fools out of those who depended on it so.

She had received every single one of her classmates and close friends during the visiting hours of the last day. It was almost the same as any other day in the previous weeks when she was hospitalized. Busier perhaps. Sometimes the room might be full of incessant chatter. Sometimes, the room might be filled with people yet humming with silence.

Nonetheless the day was short and soon visiting hours were over. Yet with permission from the doctor, Kogoro, Eri and Conan stayed over watching her sleep under the influence of the drugs that took away the pain. She was all but a shell of the former healthy Ran. Pale and gaunt, she looked so weak under the faint illumination of the moonlight. Eri finally gave way to the tears that silently wrecked her body as she clutched the solemn Kogoro, who was determined to finally be the pillar they could count on for support. But under that fading moonlight that highlighted her frailty, Conan thought she looked like a sleeping angel.

"Do you believe in angels?"

"Of course not!"

"Why not?"

"They can't be proven with science. Have you been reading those fiction books again?"

"Those books are no more fictional than your Holmes!"

"… Well at least I know that I can rely on Holmes rather than a non-existent angel."

The little girl looked a tad upset. Her lower lip quivered as though she was about to burst into tears at the boy's sarcasm. Then those shiny eyes closed for a moment and when they opened, there was no more hint of tears. "Don't you want to hear about what I read?"

He gave in. "Ok."

She stood up from the steps they had been sitting on. "They say that each and every person has a guardian angel. Our guardian angel protects us and sees that we are safe. Anyway, if you don't believe me, let me tell you something…There's a way to see our angel!"

He almost burst out laughing at her naivety. "Have you seen yours then?"

It was then when she broke into a wide smile as she stopped her little dance on the pavement, brightened by the golden light of the setting sun. "Yes!"

"So what does your angel look like?"

Winking, she put a finger to her lips, "It's a secret!"

Ran was wheeled into the operation room the next morning. The surgeon operating on her was a renowned neurosurgeon. Yet neither his reputation nor statistics of successful operations could put the hearts of the anxious ones loitering just outside the room, at ease.

The first hour went by fast.

The second hour seemed much longer.

The third hour. Conan left the group.

During the fourth hour, Sonoko and Kazuha left for the nearby church, only to find little Conan kneeling right before the altar, appealing to a god he had never believed in before.

The fifth hour saw the group whole once more.

The sixth hour was when someone – who was it? It didn't seem important… Someone brought drinks… Not that any of them could have stomached down anything. A doctor had left the room hurriedly, leaving the doors swinging wildly behind him. He returned soon after with another doctor, neither answering to the people waiting.

The seventh hour was when Sonoko started crying. She had held back for weeks. Conan walked down the corridor to the window, and stared at the peaceful idyllic life outside where the pigeons crowded around the fountain. There she was, in a room some metres away, fighting for her life, and just outside the window was a whole world that was rich with the energy that was being drained from her. His clenched fist drove hard into the windowsill. It didn't seem fair. About to leave, he turned. It was then that a soft fluttering caught his ear. Looking back, a white pigeon had settled on the sill, basking in the warmth of the bright afternoon.

He reached out. Startled, the bird flew away, leaving behind a single white feather that caught the light, glowing softly. His fingers closed over the feather gently.

Which hour it was that the doors swung open didn't seem to matter to those who waited. The doctor paused momentarily outside the doors before finding Kogoro who gripped the his arms almost as though his life depended on it. "Well?"

"Some complications arose during the operation. We did our best. The tumor has been extracted and we have stopped the cancerous cells from dividing. But your daughter… She is in a coma now. Her condition is still rather unstable. If she were to make it through the night she will be out of danger."

No one knew what to make out of this. The silence that followed seemed to give them time to decide over their reaction. The doctor patted Kogoro and left.

She had made it through the night. But she did not awake from her coma. The nurse had passed Eri a box under Ran's instructions before the operation.

She opened the box and found it filled with envelopes that were properly addressed in her daughter's neat writing. Her hands sieved through the contents until she found the one meant for her.

'Mother'

Dear Mother,

I am writing this in case I cannot make it through…or in case something happens. I know you probably will berate me for having such a thought but I just thought that I should consider all possibilities. Who knows, maybe I'll be looking at this box some days after the operation and laughing at this as though everything had been a dream.

I love you Mother. I love you and Dad. I long very much for you two to be together once more. Dad may seem to always be in that drunken state, flirting with pretty women and all but… late in the nights when I put him to bed in that stupor, he often calls out your name… I know he still loves you. Haha, of course if all goes well, I wouldn't even need to be telling this to you through this letter. I will continue of course, to bring you two back together.

Yet in any case… If… If you should be seeing this letter, it must mean that I didn't make it. I want you to know that I am very grateful to you for all that you've given me these years. I never blamed you for leaving the house. I never blamed you once.

Are you crying now as you read this? Don't… I'll still be around you. I'll be watching you and protecting you with my blessings up in Heaven.

I will always be with you.

Your loving daughter,

Ran

The box fell from her lap as the contents spilled onto the floor. Hearing the dull thud from the corridor as he was approaching the room, Conan broke into a sprint and dashed into the room only to find Ran still sleeping, and her mother, lost in her tears as she clutched the letter still, with a heap of letters at her feet.

Dear Shinichi,

Do you blame me for hiding my condition from you? Maybe if I had told you about this, you would have returned from wherever you were to see me… It's been so long since we've last met… Would you not have done the same too, if you were to be in my shoes? I don't want you to worry…

I have another reason for not telling you. I know. You are Conan. You were always by my side weren't you? I have no idea what happened – that you should be reverted to your younger self and yet still be able to appear as Shinichi sometimes but… surely you have your reasons. I trust you. The resemblance between the two of you is too striking anyway…you can't fool me stupid! We grew up together remember?

It has been years, hasn't it? I think we spent almost our entire lives together. Or maybe my entire lifetime perhaps, which must have ended for you to be reading this. 17 years… Every year with you was a blessing. Every memory together was a precious moment of my life.

Do you believe in angels?

I wonder if you remember the first time I asked that question… I can tell you didn't believe when I told you I saw my angel. And I still remember that skeptical expression of yours when I told you how to see your angel. Haha… You wanted to know what my angel looked like didn't you? It's still a secret! I'm never going to tell you!

I don't know if you still remember the method I told you. It seems silly to be writing all about that in here, since this would be my last words to you…But if you should try it… I hope you do see your angel.

Even if you don't, know that I will always be by your side as you have been by mine through out my entire life, guarding over you as you have done for me.

I love you, Shinichi…

Always yours,

Ran

He carefully folded the letter and placed it back into the envelope together with the feather he had picked up two days ago. It was the second day after the operation and she still hadn't woken.

So she had always known…

For seven years she had laid on the bed, lost to the world of consciousness almost as though she had been placed under the spell. He had visited everyday, telling her of the happenings, even pausing at times as though expecting her response.

Today was no different. He sat before her, holding her hand in his as he smiled gently at her and began talking.

"The FBI had allowed Ai to recover the documents regarding the drug that had left us small. She has been working on an antidote in their research laboratories… I think it's been two years since she had left to America for her research… It's been that long… She contacted me again recently. I think there has been a breakthrough in her research! I will be meeting her tomorrow just before I meet you…Maybe you'll wake up then?"

The syndicate that had left him a child, had been apprehended during the fourth year that she had remained in coma. Just as well, as Conan, he would be entering puberty soon and the resemblance would grow difficult to hide.

He didn't visit Ran the next day. He couldn't. And when he finally could, it was a week later.

Again, he sat down in the chair by her bed and spoke to her still sleeping body.

"Wake up Ran… Wake up… It's been seven years already…"

The week that he was gone, Ai had run tests samples of his blood and made him somewhat of a prisoner in her laboratory before she gave him the drug that would be the antidote. "I have to make sure that there would be no more side effects this time round."

He took the round pill and glanced doubtfully at it.

"Are you certain about this?"

She gave him a chilly smile as always and replied, "No."

Even after a week, he was still weak. Yet he had recovered his proper body. Soon after the usual one-sided conversation with Ran, he fell asleep by her bed, all the while holding onto her hand.

He was dreaming. And in the dream, they were kids again. Then again, perhaps it was not a dream, rather a memory. They were ten again, seated on the steps that led to her father's office. She was talking and he was listening. Then she got up and started twirling around on the pavement.

They were so small, they were so young. Time seemed to stop forever in that moment where she continued her little dance, all the while lit aglow by the smiling sun.

And as memory dictated, he said it. "So what does your angel look like?"

She stopped and winked. "When I wake up, I see my angel!"

The dream ended as he awoke to Kogoro's frantic shouts that sounded somewhat unintelligible to his ears. Or perhaps he wasn't paying attention.

Waking up, he saw his angel smiling faintly at him.

A/N: Yep, the story ends here. Hoped you enjoyed it. Haha it took a little longer than I promised because I changed the ending I originally had in mind… I hoped you like this. I had this idea in mind for quite some time. Guess the inspiration for it was drawn somewhat from the happenings to the people around me. I wished they could have had a better ending but life is just so. Nevertheless, I believe in angels! Yes haha I believe that there's a guardian angel assigned to each of us, smiling and blessing upon us always. I have a friend who believes in this new age stuff and she has a few books of this. I still remember the conversation over the phone when she told me how I could see my guardian angel. I tried it. I think I saw mine. There's more to believing than just seeing. Every moment that we are happy, I think there's someone blessing us. And when we are down, there's someone trying to help us up again. Angels need not have wings; they can be people around us too...

Much thanks to everyone!