A/N: From time to time I do this... I wrote the wrong chapter and messed up the timeline, so I had to rewrite it and make it right. ;)

Warnings:
Strange English, OOCness,

Uploaded: 2013-06-15
Chapter rating: T
Words: 3,100

Chap. 7
At the Strike of Twelve

Pandora watched the magic flow into the books in the library that had formed as he tamed it and made it his own. With interest he'd been seeing letters form on pages that had once been blank; he was unable to read it, and wondered if his host could. The last of the magic disappeared into the walls and made the jewel smile; it was something unbelievably calming and joyful to deal with the power, as if it was something he'd done a lot in his past. The sound of a clear tone echoed through the silence, making him twitch and look around in terror before his eyes landed on the crystal that hung in the middle of the library. With a gasp Pandora saw how the middle of the crystal began to glow and then separated into an upper and a lower half.
"No!" he called out and wanted to stop the shield from opening as the parts began to spin, "no-no-no-no! Stop!" With a small wince he tried to remember how to stop it, but his memories were still blank. The upper and lower part spun faster around the sleeping teenager, until they disintegrated into a millions flakes of light and was pulled into the red world around them. "Was that me?" he whispered as Shinichi was lowered to the floor, still sleeping, "did I open it when I commanded the power into the books?" His host groaned and Pandora stood frozen, fearing that the other would die if he neared him. With a cough the host's eyes opened and stared at the jewel with surprise before his lips formed a happy smile.

"Pandora!" Shinichi called out and tried to get up, but the exhaustion of his body was transferred to his mental image, making him weak and only allowed him to sit up, "I thought I had lost you!" The jewel couldn't help but to smile as his host looked at him with such happiness; it was special, and Pandora could remember something faintly that told him that Shinichi was his last host, never again would he have to deal with a selfish host that only considered him a tool. His and Shinichi's deaths had been tied together, and as long as he didn't grow too powerful, Shinichi was going to be his last; they were going to live together, happily, and then it was over. Pandora remembered that he always felt weary, because his life had been long and painful; he had hurt so many, and been hurt in return, but his life hadn't only contained suffering, there had been peace and happiness in it too.

"Pandora?" Shinichi called out, worried that he was hallucinating, and saw how the jewel twitched and then give him his attention.
"Yes? Sorry, I got wound up in my own thoughts. I just got a lot of power, so I just began remembering feelings about myself," Pandora stated and then walked up to his host, knowing that he'd commanded the crystal to release his host when he was safe, "how are you feeling?"
"Weak," the detective confessed and worriedly studied his friend's eyes, waiting for a perverted and witty comment about the fact that he needed protection, "how little do you remember?"
"I know that you mean a lot to me, and so does our brother," Pandora confessed as he helped his host up from the floor, missing the way Shinichi frowned as he was half-carried to the settee.

"Do you know his name?" the detective wondered as he sat down.
"Kuroba Kaito," the jewel answered and sat down beside him.
"And my name?" Shinichi wondered and did a double take on the answer.
"Kuroba Shinichi."
"Our age?" he continued.
"Twenty," Pandora smiled and saw his host's puzzled look; they were nineteen, not twenty, or had he been asleep for an entire year?
"Tell me what you know about us," the detective requested and frowned as Pandora told him what Kaito had told him; they were twins, their parents were dead, and Shinichi couldn't make heads or tails of it. It didn't make any sense, and as he questioned the jewel further he discovered that 'his brother' was the one that had told him all this. He could only come up with a few reasonable theories and the two most reasonable was that they were for some reason living under an alias, or he'd been in a coma ever since he died the first time and had just dreamed it all up, but he needed to speak with Kaito to get to the bottom of everything; it didn't help him to speak with a completely confused jewel without making Pandora feel sad for his memory loss. While waiting for the thief that Shinichi knew was going to show up sooner or later he began telling the jewel everything that he knew about him.

Dark had supervised the location and was sitting in the darkness on the slanted roof of the bell tower on top of the church next to the gallery, waiting for the white-clad magician to show up. His wings fluttered in irritation, interest and worry; he didn't know Pandora's goals, or how to deal with a magician that was using tricks, maybe he should use real magic against him. The phantom thief leaned forward and lay down on his stomach to look over the edge, smiling as he saw 'Go Kaitou Dark' signs in the crowds, and then ducked as a large, round floodlight passed by the church's bell. Looking back over the edge he studied both the police and the crowds; he knew that the magician was going to 'hold a show' and the thief obviously was an attention seeker, judging by how he dressed, so he would probably go up on the roof and use some kind of window to vanish, unless he got caught. While waiting for the time to become 23.45 Dark studied the large open space filled with people; it was a large square with a fountain in the middle, and around the fountain pillars of stone were standing as decoration. The art around the fountain was a replica of a completed Stonehenge that had been placed there a few years ago. Most of the people had come to see him in action, but he saw a few KID-supporters there too, even though they seemed to be fans of them both.

When the time came Dark saw in surprise that the Moonlight Magician appeared up on the edge of the roof of the gallery in a puff of white smoke, exactly when his watch showed 23.45.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" KID called out as he threw his arms out, "welcome to tonight's show!" Dark, on his rooftop, raised an eyebrow as he watched the arrogantly confident thief and took flight just as the sky above him exploded in colours, making him visible and ruined his element of surprise.

Turning his attention to Dark the magician watched how he landed a few metres away and threw a glance to the door as the police officers were trying to force it open.
"Thief-san," he greeted the purple-haired thief and gave him a toothy grin, "I was sure that you'd show."
"KID," the thief replied and folded his wings to his back, "I don't know how you intend to beat me, but I will stop you, even if I have to get serious."
"Ooh, are you sulking about the fact that I stole the painting without you knowing how?" Kaito teased, giving an air like he was not caring about why it was so dangerous to continue dabbling with magic.
"No, but you're playing with something more dangerous than fire."
"Like hate?" he smirked, hoping to find out if Dark knew what the painting represented and what it had contained, "to be honest, I can't see how an angel represents hate."
"I'm guessing that Pandora told you that," the man stated and narrowed his eyes, "just because one symbol means something happy for you, doesn't mean that it means something happy for someone else, but if you've released that beast I'm going to hold you personally responsible for everyone that gets killed or injured."
"I've given you my ultimatum; if you're worried about the destruction of the planet, or anyone, or me, you can gain my trust and help, but I do not suggest that you try to stop me, because you will never succeed," Kaito's voice was happy and carefree, but his eyes told Dark that he would fight to the very end, "remember that depending on how honourable you turn out to be is the only factor I care about. If you want to keep this place safe, help me, but you won't be able to stop me."

"I can't help you unless I know Pandora's goals, or who the hostage is," Dark stated quietly, knowing that it could be dangerous, and swallowed as he weight pros and cons about helping; it would be safer, unless KID was really working for him, then it would probably be a trap.
"Sadly, that is very complicated, since it involves magic," Kaito said lingering as he watched the other thief near him, "and I don't trust you with my precious person just yet. What if you just seal the magic and I lose the only thing I have left? The only thing I care about?"
"I can't help."
"Then we're enemies," the white-clad thief stated as he grabbed into the edge of his mantle and spun it around himself, making him seemingly fly into the air. Dark immediately beat his winds and gave chase, realising that there must be a contraption somewhere that was pulling the other up, a contraption that had been dispatched after the fireworks. The magician spun around in the air as he stopped and then fell head-first towards the ground. Fire enveloped him and then made the audience gasp as he exploded into a firework.
"KID!" Dark yelled and looked around for the magician, knowing that he wasn't using real magic and therefore couldn't vanish without a trace.

"Right," the white-clad thief's voice came from everywhere and then focused on one point as a cloud of smoke appeared in the middle of the air above the crowds, "here." The smoke vanished and KID was shown to be standing on nothing. "Dark-san, don't try to stop me; you will not succeed. And that's a promise," the magician stated as the purple-haired man dove for him, seeing him vanish in another puff of smoke. For a few more times KID showed up on random places while Dark was trying to figure out how he did the teleportation trick. The Moonlight Magician appeared on the edge of the roof, but as Dark reached him and grabbed him he turned into confetti.
"Give up?" a voice asked from behind him and made the winged man spin around, seeing the grinning magician, but as he grabbed for him again he was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. Dark heard something and stared at where the noise had sounded from, seeing a shadow move across the sky, and it made him smile; now he knew how the trick was made. KID was using the same contraption and after he'd dropped a smoke bomb, confetti or a flash bomb he pulled something dark over himself and used the contraption to swing around, probably landing on prepared lines between the buildings; lines he would have to watch out for.

Following the shadow with his eyes he saw how a cloud of smoke appeared on one of the stones of the replicated Stonehenge. With a few tired flaps he had taken air, but this time he didn't want to alert the thief or make him run again; Dark was tired, and he pretended that he was even more so. He landed gently on the other side and began walking around it, now knowing how the other would be forced to move when he fled, and then he would get caught. The sound of the church bell resonated through the air and KID twitched to stare at it.
"Oh? It's already over?" his solemn voice echoed across the area and Dark watched how the thief's movements became slower by every chime, even the mantle that was being caressed by strong winds was slowly freezing in place. "It was fun as long as it lasted," the words didn't even seem to come from the other thief, as his mouth was moving much slower. At the twelfth chime KID was completely frozen in time with the mantle behind him. The edges of the thief glowed in blue and Dark watched how small blue light-pieces broke off from him and recognised the butterflies that he'd seen the first heist. He watched the surroundings for a fleeing shadow, but saw nothing while the crowds gaped in awe. The police's floodlights focused solely on the purple-haired thief and he heard that officers were making their way through the mass of people.
'That was amazing,' Daisuke stated in his head and made Dark come back to life from his shock.
'Yes, it was,' the thief confirmed, 'I saw no shadow when he left, did you see anything?'
'No, I was too focused on his magic,' the thief's host confessed and made the seemingly young man sigh before he took air, feeling which direction his feather was currently heading. Flying across the sky he realised that the magician must be flying somehow, because the strength of his magic was growing weaker, showing that KID was quickly getting further away from him, but Dark's wings were tired as the wind he'd been battling during their fight had been strong, and now that he was getting closer to the sea it was getting worse.

Kaito smiled as he entered the hospital room from the window and held out the feather for Pandora to sense.
"Pan-pan, I brought you a treat," he grinned as he walked up to the bed and placed the feather on his sleeping boyfriend's stomach as he sat down on the edge. A red trail touched the feather, but nothing happened.
"The power is sealed within the feather," the detective's voice stated and made the thief look at him, seeing blue eyes look back.
"Shinichi, you're awake!" he exclaimed happily and took his lover's hand, "what do you mean 'sealed'? Pandora has taken power from sealed objects and from feathers before."
"This is different," Shinichi repeated what the jewel was telling him, "the painting you came with was sealed with, say a house door. Pandora only had to kick it open to break the lock, and hold it closed so that the hate couldn't get out. However, this feather is locked with a vault Pandora can't open."
"What about the other feathers?" the thief wondered and saw how Shinichi got a distant look in his eyes before he answered.

"You opened them," the detective stated with a smile and made Kaito's eyes widen in surprise, "they didn't contain much, but in the beginning Pandora wasn't strong enough to open anything. You opened the feathers and gave him strength enough to reach out to The Whisperer of Peace, which in turn made him strong enough to kick the door in, but the power in the feathers are still locked inside a vault."
"But I didn't do anything," he stated and took up the feather, "I just held it out and wished that you were going to wake up." With a frown the thief made the wish, but nothing happened. He glared at the bluish black shine and wished, as if he was forcing it to work.

"Pandora says that nothing's happening," Shinichi stated as he studied his thief; to his trained eye Kaito looked weak and exhausted compared to when they had left their home in Tokyo. The magician's body seemed to have taken a heavy toll from the last time he'd seen him. As Kaito sighed and gave up he caught Shinichi's sad eyes.
"What's wrong, Nichi?" he asked worriedly and took the hand in his.
"I'm sorry, Kai. You look like you've been through hell again, all because of me," Shinichi confessed, "it's all my fault. I always gets hurt, and you always have to take care of me. If it wasn't for me, you'd be happy."
"Shinichi," Kaito said with a shake of his head and bent forward to give him a kiss on his cheek, "if it wasn't for you, I'd be sad and lonely, fighting the organisation by myself. Yes, you do make me worried, more worried than I'd ever thought that I could be, because you always forget that you're only human and get hurt. You can't save everybody, but you're destroying yourself trying to prove that wrong. I hope that you'll realise that soon, preferably before I have to identify you at the morgue, but this time it was entirely my fault. If I hadn't touched that relic you wouldn't have done it either."
"I'm sorry," the detective felt tears fall from his eyes and saw how his lover smiled gently before brushing his lips against his, making him throw his arms around his neck and pull him into a fiercer kiss. Kaito pushed down and felt Shinichi meet his desperate kiss, as if they both wanted to confirm that they were actually there, together, and not alone. Pain oozed through the magician's body and made him gasp as he pulled away. The feather glowed in a dark purple colour and Kaito felt as if his arm was on fire.

"Pandora, take it," he forced out and saw how a red trail came out from Shinichi's outreached hand, draining as much magic as quickly as it could.
"Get rid of it, now!" the detective called out after Pandora told him to and saw how the thief disappeared out the window. Only a few seconds later a nurse ran into the room, alerted by the detective's yell, but Kaito was already on the roof, gasping for air through the pain the feather was causing him and all he knew was that he needed to get it away from the hospital. The thief ran across the roof, gripping hard into the arm that was holding the feather. Almost black magic surged out of the feather, scorching the ground and made Kaito stop as his mind whirled with questions and worry; what would happen if the feather exploded? Would it be a crater? Flames? Ice? How long did he have? Would he survive?

He was unable to let go of it and he wondered if he could shoot it with a card, but he realised in his panic why Dark had been so insistent on him not going after magical objects; he had no clue of what he was doing, but he had trusted his own abilities and luck, clearly a mistake. His legs trembled as the burning pain spread throughout his body and he saw how white began to colour the stem of the feather.

A/N: I actually wrote another chapter for this story... BUT it's far into the future. Stupid me.

Answer to guest review: D
Aw, review have to wait to later... But I'm happy that you like it!

Answer to guest review: Vacant Balcony
But I still like them, and I'm gonna take care of them and call them Bob!