Sorry this wasn't out by the end of my winter break! But at least I wasn't too late...and also sorry for the short chapter! This one section turned out longer than I planned, and the next section I know will be long, so...I just decided to cut it off here. Hontoni, gomen'nasai!

So anyways, yay, it's Ran again! Were you wondering where she's been? Unconscious, that's where. So now you'll finally get to see what's been happening with her! Hope you enjoy!

The Raven's Eclipse
by pikacutie25

Chapter 3: Unexpected Company

Run. The only thing she could do was run to the place where she somehow knew that something was going wrong. Horribly wrong. Worry, fear, dread. She was painfully aware of each precious second ticking away, each second where she couldn't possibly know what was happening yet she did anyway. Past the gate, up the steps, through the doorway. She dashed into the next room and perceived a terrible scene before her, one that she had only seen in her worst nightmares. Blood trails, giant bruises, deep wounds. The faceless murderer glanced at her, directing a grin of pure evil towards her before turning heartlessly back to his original target whom she knew all too well. Gun trained. The wounded man gave her one last meaningful look: one of terror, one of anguish, one of apology. Shot fired. She watched helplessly as the most important person in her life fell lifelessly to the ground, all color fading from his once-blue eyes. What to do, what to say, what to believe? She stood there unable to move as the murderer turned around to face her, staring at her with cold eyes full of bloodlust…

Ran jolted awake, fully conscious and completely terrified. She was breathing heavily, and her heart was beating madly. Oh God, it was just a dream… she relaxed. After her breathing and heart rate returned to normal, she realized she couldn't move freely. It almost felt like she was tied up…

"Where…am I…?" Ran said, mostly to herself.

"Oh, Mouri-san, you're awake!" a relieved voice called from nearby. It sounded like a girl around her own age, but she couldn't be sure because she couldn't see well through the darkness.

"Huh? Someone else is here? Who are you?" Ran immediately became suspicious, given her current situation.

"Oh, I'm, um…I'm Hamako Mizuna," the voice clarified. Mizuna scooted closer to Ran in order for them to see each other better.

"Hamako Mizuna…? Hold on…you're the girl who was absent from class today!" Ran realized. "Oh, so…this is why you were absent. Wait, where are we anyway?"

"I…wish I knew," Mizuna stated weakly.

"I see…so how did we get here then?" Ran asked, suddenly confused.

"You…don't remember how you got here?"

"Not really, it's all a blur," Ran stated simply. Truthfully, she was still too fazed by her nightmare to remember how she got there, but she would rather not disclose such a horrible dream. "Well, what happened to you?"

"Um, well, I think I was doing some shopping before this. Somehow, I had gotten lost…I guess I must not have been paying attention to what I was doing. The last thing I remember was walking down some alley…so, I guess that must be when I was kidnapped," she sighed.

"You were kidnapped?"

"Yes…oh, Mouri-san, it's all my fault you were kidnapped too!" she said suddenly. "I'm so sorry!"

"What do you mean?"

"After I got kidnapped and brought to this place I didn't recognize, I was terrified…I was scared for my life! I didn't know what this person wanted from me. I feared the worst…" her voice faltered. "So when he came holding a gun and asking me for information, I-I didn't know what else to do! If I didn't tell him anything, I know he would've killed me right then! So I directed him to the only person who could possibly know Shinichi's whereabouts…you," she finished guiltily.

Ran meditated on what she said. She may have betrayed her, but…

"It's…it's ok. It was the only thing you could've done in your situation. It's not your fault," Ran vouched.

"Still…I can't tell you how sorry I am that you were kidnapped too," Mizuna apologized again. "But…you really can't remember what you were doing before now?"

"Hmm…" Ran closed her eyes, trying to remember past her nightmare. "…Ah! Now I remember!"

It all came back to her at once…

She had walked home from school, still thinking about Shinichi. Sonoko had been pestering her even more about him, but after seeing that she really wasn't in the mood, she quickly dropped the subject. Ran had arrived home shortly after parting ways with her friend, and now that she was finally by herself, she allowed herself to continue moping in silence. She had been holding her phone in hand, wishing for a hint, a sign, that Shinichi still cared about her, and that's when she received the text message. The phone's display showed, in giant bold letters, "FROM: SHINICHI KUDO." Her heart had nearly stopped at the time; it hadn't seemed possible. But there it was, the proof right in front of her. She had opened the message, wondering what he had sent her, when she found that it was a seemingly unimportant message: "Wow, my house has really gathered a lot of dust without me around. It looks pretty bad, but I suppose it could be much worse." However, this single message had betrayed a very important fact to her: he was home. Why else would he ever decide to comment on it out of the blue like this? With that hopeful thought on her mind, she had quickly rushed over to Shinichi's house after giving a hurried excuse to her dad. She'd been so excited to finally see him back home that she rushed into the house without bothering to knock or ring the bell. She had run from room to room searching for him, all the while calling his name out. However, she had been losing hope as she went through more and more rooms without finding him or even hearing him utter a sound. When she finally arrived at the last room in the house, she had approached it hesitantly, afraid to find that Shinichi wasn't home after all. She had entered the room, calling out Shinichi's name one last time, when suddenly her mouth and nose had become covered with some kind of handkerchief. After she gasped out of surprise, she lost consciousness and couldn't remember anything afterward…

"That's terrible…you were expecting Kudo-kun, and instead you were kidnapped," Mizuna stated, apparently still beating herself up over her role in Ran's kidnapping.

"Yeah, I guess I was, wasn't I?" Ran said with a weak smile.

Suddenly it all made sense to Ran. Someone had impersonated Shinichi and sent her a text message, prompting her to come running to finally see him again. This same person had then ambushed her there and took her away to wherever she was currently being held. But that still left one unanswered question: Where's Shinichi now?

Could he have been kidnapped too? Or, worse, could he be…? Was my nightmare actually…real? No, it's not possible! Shinichi always catches the bad guys! He couldn't have been beaten!

"Mouri-san...? Are you alright?" Mizuna interrupted her thoughts, worried she was actually upset with her.

"Oh, yeah…I'm just worried, that's all," Ran quickly made up. Not a total lie.

That's right, she was just worried, overreacting as usual. That big, reliable idiot was probably already working out how to rescue her.

He'll come and rescue us…I know you will, Shinichi.

Author's Note: So, how'd you like it? Apparently their feelings are contagious even over long distances! Anyway, again, really sorry for the short chapter...the next one will be longer, I promise. And you can look forward to it! 'Cuz guess who's coming next time~

On a not-so-side note, I won't be releasing the next chapter anytime soon. Sorry for getting anyone's hopes up just to say that! But school this semester is going to be MUCH more than I bargained for... -_-; However, I will say that I'll, again, TRY to get it out sometime around spring break...whenever that is. So please don't abandon this as another unfinished story! Because I DO promise that this will be finished. Someday.

Oh, but I am going to say this, though. I was reading over my previous chapters, and I've gotta say, I am not happy with them. At first it was more of a "oh, this could have been worded better." But then I realized I left out a bunch of small yet crucial details! So before the next chapter is released, I'm going to go back and fix them. Just wanted to say that in case someone got an update notification and expected another chapter...I wouldn't want anyone to be disappointed. Well, anyway, bye 'til next time! Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews tell me what I'm doing right or wrong and give me something to write for! Arigato, mina!