Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed or D.N Angel.
Summary: Meeting with witches and getting kidnapped by artwork definitely hadn't been part of the plan. D.N Angel crossover
Pairings: Kaito x Shinichi (DC) and Daisuke x Riku (DNA)
An Eternal Art
By V. Shalyr
VI
Being a Phantom Thief
"I have a theory," Shinichi announced from his seat on the couch back in the Harada mansion's main sitting room, "or a couple theories actually."
"Where would we be without your theories?" Kaito teased. "Fire away."
Shinichi flipped back through the pages of the notebook in his lap, his brow furrowed in contemplation. "Firstly, I think Swan-san brought you here because you somehow have the ability to augment the power of artwork. You seem to have some connection to it at any rate, like how you were able to manipulate things in her world to some extent, and how you could feel the fire like you were part of that world but I couldn't. Maybe the fact that you're here makes it possible to use you as a kind of link into the human world, thus also why you can always feel it the moment something emerges from the paintings like the snake and the dragon."
"That does make a lot of sense in a magic kind of way," Kaito mused, leaning over the back of the couch to peer at his notes.
"Which brings us to what she wants," Shinichi said, turning another page. "Just as we were leaving the painting, I saw her reappear on the beach. It was like the painting pulled her back in when we got Riku out. So what if the reason that Riku fell asleep and was taken by the dragon was because she was there to replace the original princess in Sleeping Beauty—the original woman in the painting."
Kaito frowned thoughtfully. "So what you're saying is that while the artist Rulane Reahna tried to paint herself into fairytales, this woman featured in these fairytale paintings is trying to find a way out into real life."
"Exactly, and she's been using these fairytales—her paintings, you'll notice that there is always at least one person in each one that looks practically like her twin—to get whatever power it is people have that she needs for that purpose. But that also means we can turn things around by playing by the rules of the story, because those key elements are what makes each fairytale the kind of story it is in popular imagination."
"Five paintings," Kaito murmured darkly, "that's a lot of stories she's got at her disposal. We're never going to get anywhere if we constantly have to solve them."
"Perhaps Niwa-kun's family can help. Didn't he say they specialized in sealing the power of different artworks?"
"Hmm." Kaito glanced up at the ceiling, shrugged, and straightened up. "I'll go talk to him."
Shinichi nodded, stifling a yawn. Man he was tired. It had been one long and terribly eventful day and their little trek through the painting had taken half the night. Perhaps he should consider calling in sick tomorrow and taking the day off work.
.
Kaito paused in the doorway of Riku's room, checking to see that the girl was fast asleep before stealing cat silent across it to the balcony door, left just slightly ajar. He raised his eyebrows when he spotted the redhead leaning against the railing, his shoulders slumped in an attitude of weary misery.
"If you're tired, Niwa-kun, you should probably head home."
"Oh, Kuroba-sensei," Daisuke said, glancing back at him. "I'm fine, really. I'll just stay a little longer to make sure nothing else happens."
"I haven't seen Risa-chan since we got back."
"I think Miss Harada is in shock. She doesn't remember anything that happened. That's probably for the best."
"Why the long face?" Kaito asked, honestly curious. After all, what was there to be so down about? All of them had thus far made it through this ordeal in one piece, tired but otherwise unharmed.
Daisuke sighed, returning his gaze to the scattering of city lights. "Can I…ask you a question?"
"Other than the one you just asked, I assume," Kaito said lightly. "Of course, though I can't promise that I'll answer."
Daisuke nodded slowly. "Why did you…become a thief?"
The magician blinked, tilting his head slightly in thought. He hadn't been expecting that question. It was more the kind of thing he expected from a detective. Hakuba certainly asked him enough back in the day. Though perhaps because he wasn't being asked by a detective, he didn't feel the need to avoid giving an answer.
"Well," he started, choosing his words carefully, "I guess you could say it was partly for revenge, partly to learn more about someone I lost, and partly to keep certain things from falling into the hands of the wrong people much like you."
"But you seem to enjoy it so much," Daisuke said uncertainly.
Kaito chuckled. "You know, Shin-chan says the same thing. And it's true. I might have become a thief for some very serious reasons, but I do also have a lot of fun. You know, being a phantom thief's not the same as just being a thief. We don't just steal things. We keep people's dreams alive, let them keep believing in mysteries and magic."
"Grandpa said something like that once too," Daisuke mused. "And I know it's important not to just leave dangerous artworks where they can hurt people, but sometimes…"
The redhead trailed off, glancing back into the bedroom then giving his head a violent shake. "Never mind, I'm not sure what I'm trying to say."
Kaito watched him for a moment longer then shrugged. "I wanted to ask you about that whole sealing thing. Can you just," he waved in the general direction of the museum, "lock her paintings away or something?"
Daisuke frowned and his eyes went unfocused for a moment as though listening to something only he could hear. "We're definitely going to have to give it a try, but Dark's not sure if it'll work. There's something different about them that we've never seen before."
Kaito nodded. "Fair enough. Let us know what happens, all right? Shin-chan and I are going to head home for tonight."
"We will, and goodnight."
"Goodnight." Kaito took a step back towards the door then paused. Not looking back over his shoulder, he added, "And nothing that happened tonight was your fault, you know. If anything, I suppose it should be mine."
And hers. But right now there was nothing they could do about that.
Shinichi seemed oddly preoccupied when they said goodbye to the butler and headed for the front door. At Kaito's questioning look, he shrugged and inclined his head back towards the museum.
"I was just wondering why she would want so desperately to be human. When she was watching us leave, she looked so…" He shook his head, unable to articulate the exact mixture of outrage and anguish on her face. He would never forget that expression for as long as he lived.
"Probably because there's something she thinks she can get in our world that she can't get in her own. But what that is," he shrugged, "who knows?"
The magician and the detective didn't speak much as they made their way through the streets, both lost in brooding about what had happened and—more importantly—what was to come. This world in which they found themselves had never seemed so alien until that point. And yet in the light of the streetlamps and the moon in the aftermath of arguably one of the strangest adventures they'd ever had, all the buildings suddenly felt so foreign and oddly far away.
They had almost made it back to their apartment when someone screamed. It wasn't an "oh there's a monster" scream. No, it was more normal than that, or at least what passed for normal around Shinichi, and they both groaned.
"I don't suppose you can just let someone else handle it for a change?" Kaito asked, already knowing the answer.
Shinichi sighed and turned his feet towards the source of the disturbance. "You know I can't just walk away. You can go home first if you want."
"And you should know that I can't just leave you alone." Expelling an equally resigned breath, the magician fell into step beside him. "Let's just get this over with."
It wasn't a difficult case, but even so they were both bone tired by the time they staggered through their own front door. Later, Shinichi would blame their exhaustion for making them miss the extra rose in the vase upon the table.
.
Kaito woke the next morning feeling…odd. Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to remember what he'd been dreaming about. He was sure it had been important, but he couldn't for the life of him remember why.
Careful not to disturb his still sleeping companion, Kaito slid out of bed and made his way into the kitchen. He must have slept for only an hour or two because he still had quite a bit of time before he had to get to school. He briefly debated with himself whether to wake Shinichi but decided against it. His detective needed the sleep. Hell, Kaito would rather be in bed too, but he couldn't seem to clear his head enough to go back to sleep. Instead, he placed a call to the station to inform them Shinichi was sick and wouldn't be there today then set about brewing himself a cup of coffee. Perhaps the caffeine would help wake him up more if sleep didn't want to make itself an option.
He had only just poured himself a mug of the freshly brewed drink—which smelled far better than it tasted if you asked him—when he caught a glimpse of the vase on the edge of the table. A dozen red roses, he'd put them there only the day before. Roses… There had been a rose in his dream, he remembered suddenly, an incredible, flawless specimen so perfect it had looked almost fake.
As the memory flashed through his mind, Kaito noticed that there were now thirteen roses rather than twelve, but he had no time to worry about this as his vision went black.
Shinichi jerked awake at the tinkling crash of breaking porcelain. Rolling out of bed, he stumbled out of the bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Kaito? Kaito, what's going on?"
The magician was hunched over the kitchen table with his hands spread upon the smooth wood to support him, the remains of a mug scattered about his feet in a spreading pool of coffee. He made no move to respond to Shinichi's question and the detective took a hesitant step towards him, concern chasing away the clinging vestiges of slumber.
"Kaito, what's wrong?"
Another second dragged by in uneasy stillness then Kaito abruptly shook himself and straightened up. Shinichi started to relax but froze when the magician turned to look at him.
"Who are you?"
Shinichi opened his mouth but shut it again when no sound came out. He couldn't believe Kaito had just asked him that. Yet searching the magician's face, he could find no trace of recognition, and he knew Kaito far too well not to know when he was or wasn't lying.
That didn't mean he wanted to believe it though.
"Kaito, this isn't funny."
Blank indigo eyes swept around the room and landed on the clock, seeming not to register that Shinichi was even still there. "Damn, I'd better hurry or I'm going to be late!"
And with that, Kaito vanished into the bedroom in search of a clean change of clothes. A few minutes later he had bolted out the door, leaving Shinichi still standing in the middle of the kitchen, stunned and maybe a little upset. Okay, scratch that. He was way more than a little upset and the worst part was that he didn't know what to do to remedy the situation. Firmly shoving the beginnings of panic into the back of his mind, he spun around to glare at the various, gleaming surfaces in the brightly lit kitchen.
"I know you're here, Swan-san."
The image of the silver-haired woman appeared in the reflection upon the window glass, sharper than she had been the first time Shinichi had met her. Her face might have been beautiful but her smile could not have been uglier. Spite had a way of doing that to people.
"You don't seem very happy today, Tantei-kun."
"Kaito's the only one who can call me that," Shinichi snapped. He clenched his fists and shoved them into his pockets so she wouldn't see, glaring. "Whatever you did to him, undo it right now."
Swan shrugged, her silver-white eyes hooded with amusement. "I can't."
"You mean you won't."
"Won't and can't," she repeated coolly. "Of course, seeing as I'm the one who started the spell, I don't want to lift it. You're tired of dealing with me and I'm tired of dealing with the two of you. You're making my life so much more complicated than it has to be. It's only natural that I take steps to change that. But even if I wanted to, I can't. The story's started. The parameters have been set. No one can stop it now, though you're welcome to try and change the outcome."
"What story?" Shinichi demanded.
But Swan just smiled and mouthed a silent challenge before disappearing. "You have until midnight then he's mine."
TBC…
AN: I know there were a lot of explanations in this chapter. Hopefully, it wasn't too dull. Some things have to be said:)