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
XI
Dreaming With You
Evening fell and Kaito followed the swans down to the bottom floor where he sat upon the new building's front steps, his feet on the step right above the water. By now, the street in question was completely unrecognizable with old houses reconstructed into the kind of semi-fantastical medieval designs you only ever read about in stories, and yet… And yet he had to admit to being able to see a certain beauty in it all despite the haunting quality to it.
At the same time, that private acknowledgement irritated him because it served as a reminder of how much control she had here, just how much this had become her world.
"What's on your mind?"
Kaito glanced back at Shinichi who had paddled up next to the steps, but before he could speak he caught sight of something silver in the water. With a shriek, he was up the stairs so fast it felt like he'd teleported there.
"A—a fish!"
Shinichi sighed. Of course, the only thing in the world that could make Kaito react like that. Picking out the tiny, inoffensive, silver creature in question, Shinichi considered it for a moment then snaked his head forward and snapped with his new beak.
"There, it's gone. Now will you please sit back down so we can talk?"
Kaito stared at him, wide-eyed. "You ate it."
"Yeah? So what?" Shinichi rinsed his beak a little self consciously. "I was hungry anyway."
"But it was raw."
"So is a lot of sushi. And besides, I'm a swan. Swans eat fish raw."
Kaito shuddered in horror at the mere thought but eventually made his way back down to the edge of the water. "Now that you mention it, we haven't had anything to eat since breakfast."
"Maybe you should go get something. It won't make night fall any faster if you sit here and watch me."
"Nah, I can wait. Once everyone's human, we can go find something proper to eat together."
Before Shinichi could say anything in reply, a faint, silver light swept across the water, spreading outward from the castle like someone had dropped silver dye in the lake. And as the light touched his feathers, Shinichi's form seemed to blur and shift in Kaito's vision, whiting out and dimming down again to leave the original, black-haired young man where the white swan had been. Shinichi blinked in shock for a moment then yelped as the magic faded and he abruptly dropped into the water with a loud splash.
"Shinichi!"
Before Kaito could dive in to look for him, the detective emerged treading water and shaking water out of his eyes. "I'm okay. It was just really sudden."
"I'll say."
Shouts and splashes could be heard from either end of the street and Kaito hoped that everyone in the city knew how to swim, or had been drifting next to someone who did. Shinichi made his way over to the steps and Kaito helped him onto them.
"I was thinking about taking a look around the edges of this place," Shinichi said, shivering and plucking at his wet clothes. "Hey, do you think you could magic these dry or something?"
"Hmm." Kaito blinked then narrowed his eyes, staring hard at him. Shinichi shifted a little nervously under the not-really-unaccustomed scrutiny but before he could speak, something in the atmosphere changed. It wasn't anything he could see per say, but he felt it like a warm tingle in the air. And when he moved to run a hand through his hair, he found that it was as though he had never fallen into the water at all.
"I'd say it looks like the answer is yes," Kaito said cheerfully, taking his hand and starting up the stairs. "Food first and then perhaps another visit to the castle for investigative purposes is in order."
Shinichi agreed, but before he could voice any opinions on the matter, he was cut off by an all too familiar voice. The voice echoed through the streets. Shinichi turned his head sharply, searching for their source. Without a word, Kaito tugged on his hand and pointed up.
High in the darkening sky above the city, the shape of a massive, silver swan shone momentarily before assuming the form of a woman with silver hair that flowed about her like the wings she no longer had.
"I want to welcome all of you to your new city. As you can see, we are now in the middle of a lake. To assist you, I have provided boats at regular intervals throughout each district. Unfortunately, neither you nor I can leave this place now. Our lives are all bound to the magic of this lake, and so while we may travel a little distance from here, the lake will always eventually pull us back. However, within this place, you may choose to be whatever you wish to be. Whatever you desire, if it does not disrupt the order of my home, ask me. And as long as you are within my city, I shall do my best to grant it."
She paused, perhaps to allow them all to process her words before continuing. "I will be holding a party at the castle tonight. You are all welcome to join me."
With that, she smiled—a brilliant but unreadable sort of smile that reminded Shinichi of the way Kaito smiled when he wanted something from you. Then she vanished and the lights in the castle windows went on, a glittering beacon to mark the center of a lake that currently served both as their own little sanctuary and their own little prison.
.
"People are starting to call her the White Lady."
"Should be "silver" but I guess that doesn't have the same kind of ring to it," Kaito mused.
"People can't really be thinking about just accepting her proposal, can they?" Shinichi asked, though he felt a little uncertain. After all, she was offering them all their dreams. It probably wouldn't matter right away that all they would be in the end were still dreams. It took something more than cleverness to see the difference, not just a clear mind but perhaps a clear heart—at the risk of sounding ridiculously dramatic about the whole situation.
Daisuke shrugged, seated across from them at the kitchen table. "What choice do we have?"
"What about the sealing pendant?" Shinichi suggested. "It couldn't break the spell on me but maybe it can weaken her."
Kaito picked at the food on his plate, frowning. "But this isn't like when we faced off with that snake. We're in her world. I'd imagine she wouldn't let us get close enough to try. And I have to wonder what would happen to us all, caught here in her world, if she were suddenly to get weak. Or what if we try to use the pendant on her and she decides to engineer it so someone dies? It seems to me like it would be perfectly within her power here to do so."
"I don't think she would do that, at least not at this point."
"But what if?"
Shinichi didn't answer. Kaito's face had gone completely blank. It was only because he knew the magician so well that he could tell Kaito was starting to grow agitated. Quite understandably. No one liked having someone else wield so much power over the people they cared about, but the two of them had come to hate it on an entirely different level.
Instead of answering his question for which he really had no answer anyway, Shinichi took a gulp of his coffee and sighed. "I wonder how everyone else is doing."
From the other side of the doorway, they could hear Emiko humming to herself as she explored her new kitchen. The woman seemed remarkably unfazed by all this and her approach to dealing with it consisted of carrying on as though nothing had changed. Shinichi wondered if it was her undying admiration and confidence in Phantom thieves that allowed her to remain so carefree. Or perhaps it was her delight at having—technically—two sons now that overrode any initial worry.
"Do you still want to check out the city boundaries?" Kaito asked abruptly. He shifted restlessly in his chair. He needed to get some fresh air and settle his thoughts.
Shinichi nodded and stood. "Niwa-kun, could you please thank your mother for us and let her know we're headed out for awhile? I don't know if we'll be long."
Though judging by Kaito's current mood, they probably would be. It was always a little unnerving when Kaito actually got angry, it happened so rarely.
Dark and Daisuke's father had left earlier to do their own investigations concerning the fate of the few fairytale paintings that had previously been under their care. Shinichi wondered how they were doing as he followed Kaito through the halls of the building they currently resided in. It resembled nothing so much as a fantastical apartment complex, a maze of interconnected dwelling spaces that had once been the various houses on the block. On the far corner, a door led to a flight of steps down to a small docking bay where several small boats bobbed in the water.
Kaito unmoored one of the small vessels and they carefully clambered in.
"There aren't any oars," Shinichi noted suddenly. "How are we supposed to get this all the way to the outskirts of the city?"
As soon as the question left his mouth, the boat gave a slight jerk and slid out onto the street turned waterway. Without encouragement or any visible means of propulsion, it turned and glided smoothly down the street.
"She sure made things convenient," Kaito said dryly with a twist to his mouth that told Shinichi he both was and was not amused. Nothing in his life was ever simple, and this had proven to be one of the only rules of the universe to which Kaito had never been an exception.
They traveled mostly in silence, Kaito brooding and Shinichi busy watching both him and the people they occasionally encountered along either side of the street. It seemed that most of the initial shock had worn off, if not the confusion. A lot of the city's inhabitants seemed to have decided on doing what they were doing, exploring their new surroundings and trying to figure out where things were. Others were helping to fish out items that had been caught up in the sudden flood, along with some people who had lost their way.
As their boat finally slipped between the last buildings on the outskirts of the city, Kaito let out a low whistle. Where there had once been paved roads and open if rocky space, there was now only a vast stretch of water which ended in the steep, barren slopes of a ring of mountains that surrounded the lake like a jagged wall to keep them in and the rest of the world out. Not that they needed that wall to know they could not escape that way. Running away never solved any problems, not for long.
"I wonder what everyone is going to do."
Kaito shrugged, his gaze flicking from Shinichi to the unusually bright moonlight that seemed to suffuse the atmosphere of nighttime in this now enchanted city. "It'll certainly be an interesting experiment, no? A city that comes to life at night and is full of birds in the morning."
All except for two young men, one of which was not really a human at all and the other caught in between the two worlds holding powers even he could not really understand or control.
"Nobody seems tired," Shinichi observed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Guess in this place, people don't need to sleep."
"Well, it wouldn't be much fun for Swan-san if we all decide to just sleep the night away, would it?"
"I suppose not." The detective hesitated, trying to gauge his companion's mood. "Are you…okay?"
The magician inhaled deeply and sighed. "I'm not mad anymore if that's what you mean—well, not much anyway. It's just… This whole situation, her actions, everything's gotten so complicated and I hate feeling like we're stuck. She seems so willing to sacrifice other people for her goals…"
He trailed off. Just talking about it was rousing the anger again and, at the moment, that was severely unhelpful. Deep down, he knew he was just stressed because he couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to Shinichi, and he hated how his partner was being used as a way of getting to him. Hated how she was trying to use his lover as a way of bargaining with him. He couldn't and wouldn't forgive anyone for that. Some things in the world could not be toyed with.
"So what do you want to do now?" Shinichi knew the answer but asked anyway, wanting to break the silence.
The magician shook himself and smiled a little darkly. "We're going to her party, of course."
.
Things had changed—she had changed—and they had to understand not only this new world but also its mistress in order to make their next move.
Even from the very boundaries of the city, they could see the brilliant glow of the palace lights. And as they drew closer seated in the boat with all the others, their ears could catch the sound of music and conversation. There might have been a slightly nervous giggle mixed in here and there but no laughter.
At least half the city had turned up for the party, and most of them had even dressed the part. It felt like going to one of those fancy gatherings his parents sometimes dragged him to, lights gleaming on clothes of silk and satin and velvet finer than reality could offer. Shinichi unconsciously moved to smooth invisible wrinkles from his simple, white dress shirt. It shouldn't have bothered him, he kept telling himself that, but it didn't stop the slight churning in his stomach.
Kaito was ashore the moment their boat nudged against the front steps and held out his hand for Shinichi. "Shall we join the festivities, love?"
The detective went pink but accepted his hand and let him help him onto solid land. "Don't talk like that. We're in public and it's embarrassing."
Kaito quirked an eyebrow. "Has that ever stopped me before?"
"No."
"Exactly. But don't worry. I'm not in the mood to get carried away."
And indeed, the dangerous glint from earlier was still in Kaito's eyes as he escorted him through the palace doors. It made Shinichi almost wish he would get carried away. Funny how Kaito was easier to deal with when he was being his customarily insane self.
Music was playing as they entered the vast ballroom though there did not seem to be any actual musicians. Instead, the melody drifted from the high rafters, like the ghost of an orchestral performance from long ago. Kaito recognized several of his students in the crowd, several of whom were wearing the costumes they had been making for their performance of Swan Lake. It seemed that Swan had taken a liking to those, or maybe it wasn't an accident that the costumes had turned out the way they had.
"There she is," Shinichi murmured under his breath and Kaito followed the direction of his gaze to a table on the other side of the dance floor. Quite a crowd had gathered around it, but the glint of light upon unnaturally bright, silver hair was unmistakable. "Looks like she's granting wishes."
That just sounded wrong on so many levels, Kaito mused. "I guess it's time to mingle and see how things stand. Give me a moment then I'll come find you and we can put our two cents together, okay?"
Almost as soon as Shinichi nodded, the other was gone, melting into the crowd. The detective hesitated for only a moment before making his own way towards the table where Swan sat greeting her guests. He had no intention of participating in the que, but he was curious to see what people were wishing for. Some people wanted jewels, clothes, fancy houses or changes in their own appearances. One man asked for the return of his family, which had been taken from him in an accident some time ago. Shinichi had felt greatly disturbed by that one if not particularly surprised, and it had been hard to tear his eyes away from the woman and child who walked away with him. Though as he drew closer, what really caught his attention was the expression on the White Lady's face.
He wondered how real Kaito would judge her smile.
"Kudou-san, so you came too?"
Shinichi turned to find Riku and Daisuke making their way towards him. It felt a little strange to see the latter in a suit and the former in a formal dress, albeit a simple one. "Ah, yes, I only just arrived actually."
"Is Kuroba-sensei here too?"
"He is." Shinichi glanced around then added, "Where is Risa-chan? She didn't come with you?"
"She's over there," Riku said flatly, pointing towards the people gathered around Swan. The elder twin hadn't quite made up her mind yet as to how she felt about this. Risa had said almost nothing all day, just spent a lot of time looking thoughtful. It wasn't an expression her sister was used to seeing on her face. And now, all Risa was doing was standing by the wall near the table, watching and fidgeting with the lace on her pastel pink gown.
"Are you going to go speak with Swan-san?" Daisuke asked.
"I haven't decided," Shinichi said honestly. "We haven't exactly been on good terms. Though something seems…different about her now."
"I know what you mean," Daisuke said, rubbing the back of his head a little sheepishly. "She seemed so…angry before."
But now, now there seemed to be a lot less anger and a lot more resignation. Perhaps it was the fact that she had finally gotten her way with something, or maybe like them, she had just grown too tired of their extended struggle. She had said as much when she'd made her proposal.
The detective wondered if it felt so strange because it seemed like such a human reaction, less single-minded and reckless than she had been before. Was that another aspect of how this world's magic was changing? Or a result of having interacted so intimately with the real world for the past several months? If so, maybe they could use it to their advantage.
The arrival of a servant dressed in white interrupted his train of thought and they were presented with a silver platter of tiny pastries.
"No thank you," Shinichi said politely, but the man just continued to smile and hold out the plate until the three of them each took a pastry to make him go away.
Taking a bite of the frosting-covered treat, Riku made a face. "It tastes kind of strange. It's like the cake at that bakery we stopped at on our way here."
"What bakery?"
"A lot of people are reopening their shops," Daisuke explained, swallowing his pastry with little trouble. "But this tastes fine to me. Mom used to make pastries like these."
Riku frowned. "That's funny. The only things that tasted right to me at the bakery were the ones I'd had before too. Everything else was just so bland."
Intrigued, Shinichi took a bite of the pastry in his own hand. It looked like some kind of banana and almond concoction, and when he bit into it, he indeed tasted banana and almonds. Only the taste seemed slightly off, sweet enough but faint and a little uncertain. It tasted, he decided, like what he might expect a pastry to taste like if the taste depended on your memory of bananas and almonds, just another reminder that this world wasn't exactly what it seemed—or perhaps it was that what it seemed was all that it was.
"I can't believe Saehara's actually conducting interviews," Daisuke sighed, crimson eyes following the progress of his brunette friend as he pursued various of the party's attendants. "Just goes to show that life goes on, I guess. And he did tell me once that a good reporter should be able to find news anywhere."
Riku finished the rest of her pastry in one gulp and dusted off her fingers. "That's because news isn't news until you make it news."
She hesitated then asked more softly, "Do you…think she's happy?"
Daisuke blinked and looked back at her. "Who? Swan-san?"
She nodded. "Only Risa asked me the same thing earlier."
The question had annoyed the elder sister just a little. Whether or not this whole situation made Swan happy, it didn't give her the right to mess with everyone's lives this way.
Shinichi was the one who answered her. "Somehow, I don't think so. Or if she is, then she's not nearly as smart or observant as I think she is."
"Maybe…" Daisuke trailed off when the other two looked at him then continued more firmly, "Maybe we can convince her to change her mind and let everyone go. Maybe, if we can give her something in exchange that won't hurt anyone."
The "not hurting anyone" being quite important. The redhead had actually been pondering the idea for awhile now, ever since that incident with Risa and the story of Cinderella.
The detective's eyebrows shot upward in surprise. "What do you have in mind?"
.
Restless, that was the only way Kaito could describe the way he felt. He had mingled for awhile with the people in the ballroom, tested a few snacks, and generally made himself familiar with the atmosphere until he couldn't stand the atmosphere any longer and made his way to one of the open windows. Now, he stood leaning back against the sill, mulling over snippets of conversation and the expressions that people tried to hide behind their eyes. There was some happiness here, yes, because She was giving people what they wanted, or at least what they thought they wanted. But mostly, there was an anxious, twittery nervousness that got under his skin and made him scowl behind his Poker Face.
Magic wasn't meant to be used like this. It was supposed to amaze, yes, but it was also supposed to inspire and make people smile and laugh. Inspector Nakamouri—and probably Inspector Saehara now as well—would probably disagree with that, but hey, the police needed to be shaken up now and then without the danger of blood being shed. KID was really doing them a favor.
"Is something the matter, thief?"
Kaito didn't bother to look at the silver-haired woman who had moved to stand beside him.
"Done with playing goddess for tonight, Swan-san?"
Swan did not retort, though the air around her grew distinctly chillier.
"Have you made your choice yet?" she asked instead, taking a delicate sip from her wine glass.
"No, I haven't," Kaito answered bluntly.
"Are you sure? I could give you anything you want, make any wish you have come true."
A crooked smile tugged at the magician's lips as he turned away. "I don't need someone else to make my dreams come true, Swan-san. I'm the one who does that."
TBC…
AN: The next chapter may take awhile. This entire last arch has just been giving me a lot of grief. I don't know why it's so hard to write. Anyways…
Picture Notice! Alaena F. Dragonstar did a picture for this chapter that I really like (especially the swan ^_^). If anyone's interested, it can be found at
http:/alaena-h(dot)deviantart(dot)com/#/d48j4d2