3k words! A whopping 3k words in this chapter! It was so nice to type this chapter, and I just had to leave that cliffhanger.
Oh, by the way...This chapter's called "Spinning the Roulette of Destiny". For some funky reason there is a word limit on the chapter titles, so I had to shorten it. Sorry if it sounds a bit weird!
"A dinner? At the Takashi Enterprises head building?"
At first Conan could not believe his ears when Ran told him. He had been handed his best clothes, and asked to change into them for the evening gathering. He quickly slipped them on, and knowing that dinner usually carried on into the night, packed a spare suit of Shinichi-size clothes into a little backpack. Not that he needed them, but just in case it struck midnight and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Conan-kun? Are you done?" Ran's voice echoed from outside his door. He yelled back a reply, then hurriedly picked up his pace and dashed out the door.
When they reached the place, a towering skyscraper loomed before them. Its shiny walls reflected the lights of the city in its nightlife, and the huge glass doors opened before them, letting a gush of cold wind blow them over. They quickly went in, with Ran admiring the architecture and stuff.
"Welcome, Detective Mouri," chirped a voice from behind the counter. A neat head popped up, revealing that it was Mr Nekobi who spoke. "Come this way," he said, indicating a ornately carved door, "Dinner's just about to start."
The doors creaked open, granting them entry to the gathering. They hurried to a table in the centre, and took their places, just as President Takashi started her opening speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I warmly invite you all here today, to commemorate Kaito Kid's failed heist," she implored, "Now, let the party begin!" She tugged on a little string, and the red satin curtains that were covering the walls revealed lines of waiters and waitresses holding plates full of scrumptious food. They sauntered into the room, carefully placing each plate onto a table, before serving out the numerous dishes to the guests.
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The long, drawn-out yell was emitted from a ebony-haired teenager a few tables away. His friend, a girl with short, brown hair, was busy trying to comfort him. "It's okay, Kaito-kun! I'll just ask them to take away the fish! Hi, waiter? Could you please take this dish away? My friend here is not exactly fond of fish..." she added, with a nervous laugh as the panicky waiter rushed the plate of fish back to the kitchens. Conan burst out laughing at the funny sight, much to Kaito's annoyance. He got up and walked over to the kid, who was still chortling and bashed him on the head with a rock-hard fist. "Laugh like that, would you? If I gave you cockroaches on a plate, would you scream or eat it happily?" the irate teen shouted at the child.
Conan summoned up as much tears as he could, and bit on his cloth napkin. His eyes grew huge and watery, knees bent in a pleading way, his entire being radiating pure, sweet innocence. His lips quivered, he looked like he was about to cry.
"Kaito-kun! Now look what you've done!" Aoko came up and dragged a confused Kaito back to his table, while the other guests looked on in amusement. Conan dropped his mask and went back to eating, all the while letting Ran rub his sore head. "There, there, Conan-kun. It was just a small bump, nothing to worry about. Kaito-kun is so naughty."
He could not agree more.
He glanced at his watch to check the time; it was three minutes till eight. "Ran-neechan, I need to go to the washroom," he said simply to his guardian, and promptly scurried out the door. Ran watched him go, and then turned back to eating.
In a secluded corner of the ballroom, Yuuma Minoru stood up from his seat, and excused himself.
Conan's feet pattered lightly on the metal stairs, as he made his way up to the very top of the grand building. There were a total of ten floors to ascend, but he made it there before eight, with the help of his handy suspenders. Attaching them to the railings a couple of floors up and then shooting skywards on them was a simple task compared to unlocking the access door. After a few minutes of trial and error, he managed to break the lock, and went out to the roof.
There was another person already on the roof. His tousled golden hair shimmered against the moonlight, and his equally golden eyes seemed luminous on his light brown face. He held his head high in expectation, and his very posture gave him a sense of self-confidence. Conan's face reflected his shock as he recognised the boy standing before him.
"Yuuma Minoru?!"
"Edogawa-kun, you seem surprised. Oh, maybe you should be, seeing that the one who called you here was me." He smirked arrogantly, pleased to see his friend.
"Y-You called me here? B-but...you couldn't... you shouldn't..." The midget detective's words poured out in a stammer, for he had been bowled over.
"Oh and why shouldn't I know about your condition?" He stuck up a couple of long thin fingers, putting them down one by one as he read off points, "Kudo Shinichi, age seventeen, a high school detective. Administered a certain poison, and was shrunk to a child size. Edogawa Conan, an alias used by the subject to hide his true identity, has gained possession of the Angel of Destiny, and the angel form takes on the shape and appearance of his old body." He looked up at the bespectacled child, and grinned again. "Am I right, meitantei?"
Conan gulped down his fear, recomposing himself. "So...What do you want, Minoru? Probably the Destiny?"
His wild guess struck gold.
"Why yes, and I'd be really appreciative if you'd calmly hand it over to me, without any struggles or arguments, and then we can just leave each other in peace." His eyes gleamed with wicked delight at the prospect of gaining his most desired treasure.
"And why would a little kid like you need something so important?" Conan was unsure. Little kids shoud not be messing around with things like this.
Yuuma merely laughed. Then, he raised both his hands, pointing them up to the dark heavens. "You think I'm just a little kid?" he cried, as his yellow eyes glowed bright, a dazzling liquid amber. The bright light enveloped his small body, and seconds later, another person stood in his place.
'Yuuma' was taller, much taller. His golden hair was long now, flapping gracefully, framing his perfectly cut, chocolate-brown face. Dressed in ornate-looking armour, his right hand twirled what looked like a white-hot sword with a shiny handle, the blades so sharp that it even seemed to slice the thin air between them. A pair of the most glorious, powerful wings flapped slowly behind him, the colour of molten gold. His fierce eyes seemed to be crafted from the purest beams of sunlight, and their intense gaze was fixed on Conan's own ultramarine ones.
Behind him, he heard a faint whoosh of wings. He turned, and found himself face to face with a woman that resembled the teen standing in front of him; she had long flowing blond hair as well, and was dressed in armour with a pair of the finest neon yellow wings fluttering behind her. She had a pale complexion, as opposed to the teenager's tan.
"Come now, child, hand us the doll and we won't hurt you one bit," her voice dripped heavily with sarcasm and bitter sweetness, the kind that Conan had grown to hate. He backed away from her in an instant, and saw that she had been, in fact, blocking the only escape route.
"And how on earth do you suppose I'd give it to you guys? Most probably you'll kill me once you've obtained your prize," he spat defiantly, staring straight into the girl's amber eyes.
"You obviously don't know who we are. I am Sephron, and that is my sister Saphira. We are one of the most powerful angels on this earth, and we can easily squash you to bits, provided you don't do what we say." Sephron chuckled, his voice doused with venom. He raised his sword and pointed it at the child, who was beginning to feel tremors building up in his feet.
"So, are you gonna give it up or not?" His usually sweet voice was the thunder that struck the tree, setting it aflame. The sword's blade ignited, the bright tendrils of orange flame trying to reach for Conan, trying to devour him.
He stood still, hesitant. Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run. He was stuck!
"HIIYAH!"
A flurry of paws, claws and feet bounded into Saphira, sending her flying backwards. She quickly regained balance, then faced her competitor with natural-born pride.
The huge white flurry slowed down, and a snow white wolf untangled itself from it, its fangs and claws bared. With a battle growl, it leapt for the female angel, and busied her by trying to rip out her weak throat.
The flurry stopped, revealing a little girl with disproportionately big butterfly wings. She fluttered them curiously, and then turned to Conan with a look of concern. "I knew you'll get in trouble. So we tailed you here." She turned back to the sparring duo. "I think I should go help Twin." With that, she joined the battle.
"Don't mind my sister; she's more than a match for your two puny, weak friends," laughed Sephron. Conan was snapped back to reality, and was facing the angel once more. His feelings were stung by the insults the teen had thrown to his newfound friends. His tiny fists trembled with rage and fury, and his little frame looked as if he was right smack in the middle of an earthquake.
"Another thing," continued Sephron, oblivious to the child's reactions, "You're guardian is the girl Ran, right? Well, I think she's a coarse, overpowered thing, definitely not a lady! Whoever that falls in love with her is a big, dumb idiot, because she's not worth a single damn!" he laughed deliriously at his remark.
Conan was pushed to breaking point. Not that he was angry at the insults about him, he was furious at the comments Sephron made about his dearest, closest friend all these years. His head tipped down, as if conceding, his glasses hiding his eyes under a thin sheet of white reflected light. His body quaked; one could almost hear the bones within him rattle. Blue veins popped out on his clenched fists, his nails digging deep into the flesh.
"I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THAT!" his scream resounded again and again, as it bounced down to the first floor, carrying its master's message to the ears of the people around.
"Oh, what's wrong? Did I upset, you, kiddo? Saw-rhee." Sephron's eyes rolled childishly around in their sockets, his mouth curled up in mockery and scorn.
Distantly, the clock tower chimed.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Not yet time.
"Damn it! If only I could go angel on you...then maybe you'd shut up..."he hissed heatedly, while the other boy hooted in laughter.
"Conan-kun? What are you doing up here?"
They both did a double take at the girl standing at the doorway of the staircase. Her long oak-coloured hair brushed her orange skirt, her rosy face blushing a little from climbing up so high a flight of stairs.
"Ra-Ran-neechan?" Conan was speechless. What was she doing here? This was no place for her to go to! She might be in trouble! Thoughts swirled around in his head as he tried to think of a plausible excuse for his presence on the roof.
Ran froze, momentarily speechless.
Sephron laughed, and shot over to her. He held his sword up in front of her neck, its white-hot blade nearly singing a deep cut in her pallid skin. "So what do you do now, little meitantei? I've your wee lil' girlfriend at what they call...gunpoint, except without the gun." He cackled, the sound comparable to the thunder that was starting to roll overhead. "Give me the Destiny, and I'll give you your friend. Deal?"
If the situation was not that horrific and Conan was not feeling panicky, he would have said, "Oh, poor Ran-neechan. She's an item for barter trade."
"You bloody asshole!" he swore, although he knew his ever-protective guardian was in earshot. "Dragging her into this is not doing anyone any good!"
"But at least now you'll listen to me, you hot-headed arrogant brat!"
He fell silent. Ran's life was dangling by a fragile thread, and he was holding the other end of it. One wrong choice and it would mean the end for the both of them, possibly even the people dining below them.
He hesitated. Sephron's ultimatum was really difficult to choose. Giving him the Destiny might very probably end more lives than he can imagine, yet not handing it over mind spell the building and everyone in it doom. Both ways, there was a huge risk of death. His mind pondered over each choice, weighing chances and risks.
"Conan-kun..." Ran mumbled, "Don't give it to him...It's alright, I'll be okay...."
His shoulders slumped. Even Ran wanted to sacrifice herself now. He sighed, then walked over to Sephron, who was grinning in sheer delight. He positioned himself in front of the fallen angel and took out a penknife. He took a deep breath, bracing himself for pain.
Suddenly, the roof shook dangerously. Bits of bricks and cement tumbled down from the very ground they were standing on, crashing down onto the ground floor way below them. They left little craters in the ground, a stark reminder of what would happen if anyone decided to fall down as well. Tendrils of tangerine flames shot up into the sky, demolishing their only earthly escape route. The orange glow gave the black sky a tinge of crimson, and made everything look like a scene straight from the depths of hell, and that was what Conan was feeling.
"Conan-kun! We can't hold on any longer!"
Miranda's voice rattled his cage; it was hard enough having to stabilize himself, help her and Twin and trying to decide whether or not to at the same time. He was starting to crumble as well.
"Tantei-kun!"
He spun around, teetering and tottering on his toes like a spinning top. The singular dove stood behind him with his hands stuffed into his pockets, his trademark pose. The scarlet nightingale flitted around behind him, her eyelids aflutter, her hands curling around her skimpy skirt. The dove was holding up a gun in his right hand, purposefully pointing it at Sephron.
"Let Tantei-kun's friend go. She has no right to be involved in this." His confident voice punctuated the very air before him.
"Uh-uh-uh!" Sephron chuckled, wagging a finger at Kaito Kid in child-like displeasure. "Kids should not order adults around, shouldn't they?"
The ground beneath them cracked again, knocking off the flurry of wings and claws!
"Miranda! Twin!" Conan screamed at them, as they spiralled to the ground amidst the thick black smoke that was pouring out of the upper windows. He stared after them as they fell, and were very soon lost to sight. Saphira spread her wings in the nick of time, and swooped down to the ground floor together with them.
"What do you do now, Meitantei? Saffy has gotten rid of your two friends now, and you are left all alone with these two bumbling idiots," he spat the phrase 'bumbling idiots', pissing the duo off. Kid aimed his card-gun at Sephron's golden head and clicked the trigger.
A whoosh of metal-edged cards streamed out of the steel canister, cutting through the air. Sephron dodged in the nick of time, but they still managed to clip a couple of hairs off his head. Akako waved her hand at the river of cards while uttering a series of ancient-sounding words, causing one of the cards to accidentally slice Ran's leg.
"Yeek!" she screamed shrilly, and Conan's eyes flared with anger.
Sephron cursed, then tossed the injured teenager to the floor. He unfurled his yellow wings and hopped off the collapsing building. Conan ran after him, but stopped when he got to the edge of the rooftop. He scowled, then ran back to attend to his guardian.
"Tantei-kun! Me and Akako have already evacuated the guests and staff!" Kid called, and Conan furtively glanced over the concrete edge.
Even though there was a huge opaque plume of black smoke, he could still make out vague tiny humanoid shapes, waving their hands at the ground floor, well away from the building. He sighed in relief, before turning to Kid.
"Can you go check on Miranda and Twin for me? I need to make sure they're all right." Conan's intent face told Kid to just listen, instead of protesting or suggesting otherwise. He nodded curtly, and extended his hang-glider. Akako produced a broom out from nowhere and got onto it. The both of them then zoomed off into the night sky.
"Ran-neechan, everything's gonna be all right." He turned back to his guardian, whose wound had already started to clot. Conan ran his fingers along the wound, which promptly sealed itself shut. Ran stared back at the newly formed skin in wonder, then faced the kid again.
"What are you going to do now? We don't have any escape."
'It's okay, Ran-neechan." Somehow, Conan's usually reassuring voice did not seem to calm her down this time. She glanced at the crumbling roof, crumbs breaking off from its frail frame like crumbs from a gingerbread cookie.
Conan suddenly grabbed her arms and pulled them up onto his back. Little bits of 'oomph' and 'humph' slithered out from his throat, but with much effort, he finally strung Ran into a comfortable piggyback position on him. He tottered over to the edge of the building and looked down.
The ground seemed miles away, further than it should be. The distance seemed so dizzying, and the heat too great, he felt like he was about to faint. He gripped Ran's arms in apprehension, his gaze fixed to the floor below them.
"Conan-kun, are you scared?"
"No, because...."
"Because what?"
Conan sighed to himself, and answered the question. "Because I need to make sure Ran-neechan waits for Shinichi-neechan."
Her eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time that Conan had ever spoke about it so seriously.
"O...Okay then."
He took a deep breath, steadying his trembling legs, and stepped onto thin air.
There! Oh, and by the way, it might help if you play the actual DC song during the scene with only Ran and Conan together in the building. The song would be the chapter title. It's a great song, honestly, and my idea actually started out from there.