Hi everyone, I'm back! Thank you all so much for being so patient with me on this hiatus, it helped a lot with me schedule. Now I am back and ready for action! This is one of my longest chapters and definitely one of my hardest to write. I hope you guys like it. Its so sad, there are only a few chapters left. I think only two real chapters and an afterward if things go as plan. its so sad. I really want to thank all of my readers!

I hope you enjoy this long and difficult chapter!

Time Line:

Sat: Kidnapping

Sun: Everyone searching, questions the men in jail, Mind games and hunger starts

Mon: DB go back to school, Question the man who tells them of first kitten, Takagi stabbed

Tues: Hattori arrives, Conan actually accepts food.

Wed: Hattori stops guy from stealing from police, The two meet Kinkalow/Vermouth

Thurs: Abyssinian dies, Satou worries, contacted by murderer

Fri: Date Takagi is scheduled to die,

Sat: Date Takagi is supposed to be found dead

Takagi squinted and groaned as bright light shone into his eyes. By now the routine of waking up when the lights came on was old hat, and almost no different from waking up to an alarm. He sat up groggily for a moment, then stopped dead as memories came rushing back to him. His blood ran cold when he realized what day it was. The day he was destined to die. His mouth went dry and his heart pounded in his chest. Takagi barely noticed the calm, cocky form of Tabby as the man tramped down the stairs, two trays of food in hand. The officer's younger companion on the other hand, was much better at handling and hiding paralyzing fear and hopelessness and he deftly jumped from the top bunk to the floor.

The child stood a few feet from the gate, not nearly as intense and on-guard as he would have been had it been Lion facing him instead of Tabby. The cocky house-cat grinned down at the boy, setting the plates down as he opened the small food gate.

"Well good morning Kitten," He said in a demeaning, almost sarcastically cheerful voice. "Good news for you, since this is tall, dark, and ugly over there's last meal its something of a freebee. No charge, no begging, nothing. You know, it wouldn't be much to expect you to say thank you for a perk like that." He rose his eyebrows expectantly, but Conan simply rolled his eyes and took the trays as he slid them over, taking them to the shocked Takagi. Tabby huffed in annoyance but characteristically continued to talk as the two prisoners ate with relish.

"Fine then, be that way. However, I'll have you know that Lion also sent me to get your answer on a decision he wanted you to make yesterday. Hmm? So, do you have an answer for him?"

The sounds of eating stopped as the two froze, a look of panic and fear finally appearing on Conan's face, as well as a hidden frustration. Tabby let the silence stew for a moment before letting out a harsh bark of laughter. "So, no answer. Well good thing for you, Lion has been feeling extremely generous today. Told me you didn't have to answer until tonight, when its time for your little buddy to fulfill the last steps of the officer murders."

Conan shot the man a glare but he only smirked back, continuing to drive up gruesome pictures and tales of hopelessness until the two prisoners had finally finished eating and he walked back up the stairs, carrying the now empty trays. His departure left the two in a stunned, depressed sadness that Conan was the first to break.

"Don't listen to him. It won't happen. I won't let it."

Takagi sighed, deciding that it wouldn't hurt for him to play along. "I know Conan-kun, I know."

Conan began to pace back and forth, his chin nestled in his hands as an almost manic concentration in his eyes. Takagi sighed and leaned his head against the cool metal of the bunk bed poles, his bangs gripped in a fist. It was a while before either spoke, though when one did it was Takagi who broke the silence.

"Don't make any promises with him, Conan-kun. I don't care what he does or says about the branding. It isn't worth it."

Conan sighed and looked up at the officer, the light glaring off of his glasses as he looked back to the ground. "I doubt that it will make a difference no matter what I choose."

"What do you mean?"

"You are obviously the only thing that is keeping me obedient. Even Kinkalow could probably figure that out in a matter of seconds. Which means that considering we've been here a week, even Tabby should have figured it out."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Takagi's lips but he didn't dare interrupt the brainstorming boy.

"Once you're gone, they no longer have anything to hold over me, other than that promise if I agree to the deal. The problem is that they have no assurances that I will hold to the promises. They have little more reason to trust me than I do to trust them. Which means they should be expecting me to break the promise. Even if that's not true, the deal only holds for a month.

"Of course they are expecting me to be completely brainwashed by the time the promise will be over. However, you and I both know that won't be the case and I'm pretty sure that Lion is starting to doubt as well. I'll spend that entire month having to watch my back and make sure I keep from being brainwashed, but don't act out too enough to endanger anyone. The question is: what will they do to hold me to my promise and to keep me tame after the month is up. It's obvious, they'll do what worked the first time and threaten someone I care about."

Takagi listened in awe as the boy laid out a detailed analysis of the possibilities, laying the ground works of Lion's planning and reasoning. With a shiver the officer realized that is was almost as if the boy was used to analyzing the thoughts and actions of large and unscrupulous criminal groups.

"The problem with that is that all of my friends are wither officers, detectives, or are always around officers and detectives. That means that they probably wouldn't risk simply threatening to get them and kill them if I acted up. There is no guarantee that they would have a clear shot at any of them. Especially considering that they may well be on guard more after all of this. In all likelihood its possible that they would take one of them just like they took us, lock them up in another one of these hiding holes and... that would be that. If they took one of the kids they could even try to make them a Cat while using them against me.

"If I did anything, they would just kill them and get another person. I could be stuck like that until I died, or finally snapped, whichever came first. The problem is, if I did crack, not that I can see that happening, I doubt that they would set them free. Whoever they had at the time would have already seen too much. It would be easier for them to just kill them rather than risk letting them go. So its pretty much a dead end decision. Agreeing to this stupid decision would only put it off for a month. The only way I could change it from this outcome would be if I agreed and managed to pretend whatever Lion did worked and I don't think he'd fall for-"

Suddenly he stopped, his face displaying complete shock. "What am I saying? None of this matters because I am going to get us out of here before any of this happens." He shook his head and resumed his pacing. Takagi let out a sigh. Enough was enough, they had to face the facts. Gone was the time that they could pretend and hope that they could escape. Now they needed to plan for Conan's future after Takagi was dead. He had to make sure that the vision never came true. The officer knew that Conan knew it was hopeless too, but the young detective was in denial, something that he could certainly understand. However, it wasn't helping anyone.

"Conan-kun, I don't know if you are trying to lie to me or to yourself, but we both know the truth. We need to stop pretending and start preparing for what will happen if we don't escape."

Conan stopped. His fists clenched and the glare from his glasses hid his eyes. "Don't talk like that. I know there is a chance you- we won't make it out. I'm taking it into consideration. I'm thinking about everything, but know this: we will escape. I will not let you die at their hands."

He continued to pace, his brain obviously working overdrive. Takagi sighed and leaned back against the bed. The food had been a nice change, but he still felt fairly weak. Though that could be the fear talking. Oh well. He closed his eyes, casting out with his mind for a way to escape. Unfortunately he was met with a mental brick wall. He idly listened to his younger companion as he muttered stuff at random.

"I could... that would give us some time, but only a few moments at most, and I can't see any way to capitalize on it. It would end up as an irritation and nothing more... probably count as breaking the deal if I took it... that would work if I knew someone was coming... that would be nice if I could just be certain that he would fall for it... that would rely almost entirely on Takagi-keiji's less than par acting skills... maybe if I didn't tell him... no, it would still only take up time..."

The officer listened as the boy tried to create plans, discarded them, and tried to come up with new ones. The thought crossed his mind that he would probably die facing his biggest mystery and failure. The Conan case. He sighed once more. He was so close too, but it looked like it was impossible to solve. On his own at least. He smirked at the thought and looked down at his tiny cellmate. There was one individual who could probably help a lot on this particular mystery, not that he would be too keen to help. Then again, at this point it wouldn't hurt anything to ask. He took a deep, shaky breath. Now, where to start.

"Conan-kun, do you remember that time in the elevator, the one with the bomb?"

The boy stopped his pacing and looked up at him, confused and slightly irritated that his thoughts had been interrupted. "Mmm hmm. I remember."

"I was thinking about a conversation we had back then," Conan tensed visibly and Takagi continued. "I was wondering if you could reconsider your answer."

Conan's eyes widened and his fists were clenched so tight that the officer worried that his palms may begin bleeding. The boy spoke slowly and carefully, his voice a deep baritone. "I told you, not until we meet in the afterlife. I won't tell you until then."

The officer cleared his throat. "At this point it seems I will make it to the underworld a lot sooner than you will. This is probably the closest to the other side that I could be. I was hoping you may consider answering a little early, as a dying wish of sorts. It's not like the secret will ever leave this room."

"It's not a dying wish, you won't die." Conan said weakly, but walked over until he sat across from the officer on the bed. Both knew that though he could protest all he wanted, there was nothing he could do. He wouldn't give up, not until the bullet was in the officer's chest, but he knew that pacing and staining his mind would yield no results. He looked down, refusing to raise his head. "I can't tell you, Takagi-keiji. I've only told one person. I'm sorry but there is a reason why I wanted to wait until the afterlife. It was the only time when the knowledge couldn't hurt you. At least, I hope we'd be safe there."

Takagi's heart went cold. Was the secret really that important? Was it that serious? Did he really want to know? Yes, yes he did. He had to know. It was a drive, his goal. His mind relayed a pledge he'd made when he first started observing the boy, a pledge to 'discover the truth or dye trying'. Unless he could convince Conan otherwise, it seemed like it would be the latter.

"Conan-kun, lets face it. In a few hours I probably won't have to worry about anything like that."

Conan looked up sharply. "Yeah? Well, what happens when we do make it out of here? If we do escape? Then you know information that puts you on the hit list of-" He cut off suddenly. "It puts you in danger."

Takagi could blood rushing through his ears, He knew that whatever Conan was involved in was deep, but to hear the boy talking about it, to hear him go on about the dangers he was facing... it made his blood go cold. Still, he had to know. He swallowed slightly before trying a different approach.

"Maybe... maybe I already know more than you think I do."

Conan looked up sharply as Takagi continued. "How about I tell you what I have already been able to figure out, and if you want to you can fill in the blanks."

Conan frowned and once again gripped his chin. He gazed over to the locked door before sighing and leaning back against the wall at the side of the bed. "You can try, but I won't promise I'll say anything."

Takagi looked to the ground, unsure of where to start. "W-well... First of all, I know you aren't a normal seven year old. You have a really big secret that almost nobody knows. You are extremely intelligent and are an incredibly amazing detective, even though you kind of hide it and..."

Conan was staring at him, extremely unimpressed. One of the child's eyebrows rose as if to say: really? That's all you got?

The officer shuddered in panic. "W-w-wait! That's not all I have! Trust me, I have more! That's was just kind of a- a preview or something. Trust me."

Conan looked at him dubiously and rolled his eyes, but otherwise did nothing. The officer quickly resumed talking. "I know that it's you who solve all of Mouri's cases. Conan froze, his wide eyes meeting the detective. Takagi continued with relief evident in his voice. "You use some kind of dart in your watch to knock him out, and then you use your bow tie to copy his voice."

"How did you know about that?"

"I've seen you, tons of times. Sometimes I'll even purposely stand in front of you to keep other people from noticing. You don't always use the darts, sometimes you just guide us with hints until someone understands. You do it with Sonoko-san too, and sometimes you use a little speaker so that you can run around and do things like pointing out evidence or preforming an example while revealing the case. You do something similar Agasa-hakase sometimes too, but instead of knocking him out you just tell him to move his lips because he knows your secret. That's how you get all of those little devices you have. The shoes, bow tie, watch, and all of that stuff. He made it just like how he makes all of those little toys and inventions he makes."

Now Conan was looking at him with a little more respect. "I didn't know that anyone else knew about that. There have been some pretty close calls but I thought I hid it pretty well."

"W-well you did. It took me a long time to notice it, but once I did and knew what to look for it was pretty obvious."

Conan nodded, but his eyes hardened as he looked back up to the officer. "You said that you though that Agasa-hakase knew the secret. Is he the only one who you think knows."

"Ah, no. Um, I thought Hattori-kun knew because you act... different around him but you just said that you'd only told one person so I guess That's not right..."

Conan shook his head. "Just because I only told one person it doesn't mean that only one person knows. Hattori is a good detective. He figured it out on his own the second time we met."

Takagi's breath caught in his throat. This was the first information that the child had knowingly and willingly gave him. It was a step closer to getting him to tell the whole truth. "Oh. Is there anyone else who figured it out?"

Conan looked up sharply. "That's something that I won't tell you unless you already know. Some names I'd like to keep to myself. The more people who know, the more people are in danger."

"R-right, sorry. Um, I think Kid knows it and that one woman. The blond woman who said that Lion called her Panther. She knew, I'm sure of it. She even kind of threatened to tell me when you started yelling at her."

Conan didn't raise his head. He kept his eyes locked on the bed and nodded, Takagi felt his blood freeze, knowing that there was no turning back anymore. He was getting into the heart of the secret, into the dark and dangerous lands where there was no turning back. He took a deep breath and continued.

"I- I know that whatever the secret is, They have something to do with it."

Conan made a choking noise and looked up with horrified eyes, as though Takagi had just condemned himself to death. The officer took a slow, deep breath before continuing.

"I don't know who They are."

Extreme relief crossed Conan's face, and Takagi looked down before continuing. "I've only heard you call them Them, or call someone Him. The woman knew about Them too, it seemed like she was a member and you knew it. She make a joke about the color black, as though it had something to do with the other group somehow. Also, you seem to get more... intense if you hear anything about criminals dressed in black so I think there's a connection there. That's all I know about them. They have something to do with your secret, that woman is one of them, and they wear black. I don't know anything else."

Conan wouldn't meet Takagi's eyes. "That may already be too much. They don't leave loose ends of any kind."

"They're after you, aren't they? That's why you're always so paranoid, why you try so hard to hide the secret. You're worried that if anyone else knows the secret and they find you, whoever knows will be killed. Its why you were on guard so much when the woman was here, why it freaked you out so much. Wait, no... that can't be right. If she knew why wouldn't she say anything to the people trying to kill you?" He sighed. He'd been feeling so confident about that. Conan however was mutely shaking his head.

"Shes... unpredictable. She knows all right, and shes one of Them, but she won't turn me in. I'm not sure why. Shes a woman with her own agenda. As to everything else... you were right. About everything. You may already know too much about them, you might already be in danger."

Takagi's heart soared. If that were true then maybe Conan wouldn't feel as bad about revealing the secret. If he already knew too much then knowing that little bit more couldn't do too much damage. However, he could see that the child was still reluctant. The officer swallowed slightly. Now was the time to go out on a limb. He had a theory, more like a complete guess, and it was time to try it out. He had no evidence, nothing that anyone said could be taken as a hint toward this conclusion. It was nothing more than a feeling, a sixth sense, but it was a chance he felt he had to take.

"They... They did this didn't they? Whatever your secret is, they caused it. That's why you want to catch them and why they want to kill you."

Conan nodded slowly as his eyes burned in hatred and anger. "Yes, that (insert here a string of curses and insults that would make Nakamouri proud) organization. They did this."

Takagi's breath caught in his throat as Conan's voice took on a new gravity. "You figured out a lot, but if I remember correctly your question in the elevator was 'who are you' and that is one thing you haven't figured out." With one hand Conan gripped the frame of his glasses and took them up, locking eyes with the startled officer. "My name is Kudo Shinich-tanteisan."

Takagi fell back against the bed, suddenly unable to breath. The teen sat silently, watching his reaction. The officer struggled to regain his breath. "K-kudo Shinichi? The seventeen year old detective who went missing. The one in love with Ran-chan?"

A large blush was the only confirmation the man needed. "B-but how?"

"Two men, two of Them, were doing an illegal deal and I winessed it. Unfortunately I didn't realize that there were two until it was too late. While I was focused on one the other came up from behind and attacked me. They used an experimental drug that was supposed to kill without a trace, but instead it did... this. I ran to Agasa for help. I had to make up the identity of Conan Edogawa and went to live with Ran in hopes that Mouri-san would come across Them in one of their cases."

"I bet that gets awkward." The officer said, his mind wandering slightly as the startling revelation threw him for a loop. Conan looked surprised and a calculated look crossed his features, but then he chuckled.

"You have no idea. Its not always awkward or funny though." His voice took on a somber tone and he started strangling his glasses, anger and sadness making its way across his childish face. "Sometimes I hear her cry for me, for Shinichi, and I can't do anything to help. I just have to sit there and listen, hiding behind these stupid glasses!" Conan threw the lenses brutally across the room with a growl. They bounced against the wire gate with a clang, leaving the two detectives in the room to a tense silence. Takagi sorted through the added information, marveling about how mush sense it made, as Conan fumed. Finally the pseudo-child stood and retrieved his glasses with a sigh.

The boy closed the glasses and handed them to the detective. "I'm still sure that I'll find a way out of this. But just in case I want you to take these. Put them in your pocket so that when they find you they'll see these. Hattori or someone else will take them as a sign that I was with you. Hopefully they'll realize that its a sign that I'm still alive. Listen to me though. I will find us a way out of this. I'm Shinichi Kudo, and I will not let a friend die in front of me."

Takagi placed the spectacles in the chest pocket of his coat. He began to respond when suddenly a large crash sounded from inside the house. "What was that?" He questioned. Conan rose and walked over to lean against the cell door. Takagi followed, wincing as the movement tugged a little as the side wound Lion had given him a few days ago. Without any medicine or stitches, it wasn't healing as quickly as usual. The two leaned against the gate, unsure of what the noise could be. The door at the top of the stairs opened slowly, and the two could only gasp is absolute shock when those behind the door came into view.

Ending a hiatus with a cliffy? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! hehehe, sorry! by the way if Takagi seems uncharacteristically mopey, its also because he is kind of trying to get Conan to tell him as well as the fact that he is facing death.