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Author's Note: The end of the beginning is near.

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan. How many times should I mention this?

The Moment Where Everything Was Lost

Part I: The Eclipse

"Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the inquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems."

Sherlock Holmes (A Study in Scarlet)

Chapter XXX: The Day of the Eclipse Part II

Shinichi's point of view

"Haibara, Haibara," I was desperately hanging on to the hope of her safety. In the narrow pitch black shaft, Haibara fell onto my lap, motionless. A tiny snicker came off Gin's mouth the moment the gunshot went off. Hopelessly attempting to escape, I went into a rampage of anger in the little space that the corners of the shaft trapped us in.

The roadless journey ahead pained me. I was confused and scared at what was ahead. Gin's glare was fixed at us, and his grin told of the happiness and excitement surging within him. We had no escape this time.

"I have no idea how you got here, Kudo Shinichi, but that's not important right now," he gritted his jaw in eagerness.

I remained still, trying to come up of some way to escape. I could crawl back, but it would be careless since Haibara was like this. I felt Haibara's arm and made my way up to her neck to feel her pulse. She was still alive but barely. She was hanging on but staying here wouldn't do anything. I needed to get out of there fast, but our only option was to fall into Gin's command and find a way to escape from there on.

"Gin, you know the boss wants both of them, alive," Vermouth urged Gin. "Shut up, I don't take orders from you anymore."

"You have no idea how much influence I have on our boss. You know that I'm still her favorite whether you like it or not," she was cornering him with no choice. "I should have killed you when I got the chance," he addressed to Vermouth. "The same goes for me, Melkior."

"Don't call me that. You're lucky that you're a woman with no identity," he spat at Vermouth. We were frozen in fear. The slightest movement was fatal in our position. Chances of escaping were opening up one by one, but their rate of success was near impossible. My heart raced with each beat and second that passed by. Gin's argument with Vermouth went on for a while. Though it was obvious that she was buying us time, we weren't, in anyway, possible to escape. I thought of using the tranquilizer needle, but an experience from before rendered it useless. Gin was immune to the tranquilizer.

It would only make matters worse.

I scanned the room from left to right. The shaft was in a small opening at the top side of the room. The room itself was small. Vermouth was tied to a chair in the middle of it with a small lit bulb swaying on top of her. There was only one door which was behind Gin. Everything other than that, nothing could be found. The walls were cemented and blocked. There were no windows or anything opening except for this very shaft that we were.

I couldn't stand there and watch Gin kill all of us. I raised my voice and said, "Gin, I'll make you a deal."

He looked at me with his dead eagle eyes, but no reply came out. "I'll turn myself in, but you need to carry Sherry to the medics," I proposed. "You're in no position to bargain, boy," he said. "Neither are you. You can't easily shake off the loss if Haibara were to die. Your boss has taken a liking into me also. Your call, Gin," I had no choice but to stick with this uncalled for bluff.

Gin punched the wall beside the shaft and shouted in anger. "You're lucky. Move slowly here and tie yourself. Don't try to escape, or else I'll break your legs. Boss didn't say that I couldn't hurt you if you tried to resist."

I held Haibara out of the shaft and laid her down beside Vermouth. She was losing blood. Her clothes were damp in it already. "Where are we?" I asked. "Why are you?" Gin mocked me. "This is a testing ground for weapons and such," Vermouth explained. I got confused after that. How could Haibara missed out the fact that there was a testing ground here. She used to work here, yet she was clueless.

"Do your part of the deal, Gin. Take care of her," I reminded him. "Vodka, come inside," he said in his deep voice. "Brother, that's Sherry!" Vodka got surprised as he entered seeing the two of us. "I know. Take her in the infirmary in the Intelligence Headquarters. Don't ask questions. Tell the person in charge there that we need her alive."

Vodka obeyed Gin and took up Haibara. I stayed beside Vermouth and watched the two of them go outside the door. "Now, Kudo, answer me this. How did you end up here?"

"I'm as surprised as you are, Gin. We found this shaft at the end of the trench near here. We followed it and ended up here."

"It seems your plan is failing. First, it was the magician and now, you."

"Magician? Kaito? Where is he?"

"He's safe, for now. After his remarkable finale at our safehouse near Beika City, boss said that it would be much of a waste if we were to kill him. Setting the entire place in fire, that kid has some remarkable tricks," he grinned. "But where is he?"

"He's here, of course. Boss took the actions needed. She knew that you would be here, but I have to say that you came in a bit too early," he laughed. "Yeah, plans didn't go as expected," I positioned my hands to my back and slowly tried to feel if the tranquilizer watch was with me. He was immune to it, but it could give us time to escape. By now, Vodka should have been driving there already. I could escape and go there. The problem was Vermouth. I couldn't leave her there after everything that she has done for us in the past infiltration.

What should I do? Time was ticking, and all hope was deserting me. Where are the others?

Heiji's point of view

"Off all people, I just have to be stuck with you."

Heiji and Hakuba ended up falling at the same part of the trench. Heiji injured his left foot while Hakuba's jacket got ripped off, causing to scar Hakuba's exposed left arm. They were walking in the boulder filled of the trench. The cliff borders from where they fell were high up. The sides were too steep to even try to climb up without the proper equipment.

"It's not like I wanted this," Hakuba replied. "Let's try and not fight. We all fell in one place, but we ended up in different parts of the trench. We could've rolled in different directions, but it wouldn't be that far considering we fell the same time. Using a flare won't be any help. The organization might be able to detect us that way," Heiji explained.

"I tried using the transmitter that Kudo-kun gave us. It's not reaching anyone. I guess we'll have to rely on luck by walking on," Hakuba climbed up a big boulder and observed at a distance. "No luck, it is all rocks and snow. I can't see anyone."

"How long were we unconscious?"

"Judging from the position of the sun, I guess for only 20 minutes. There wasn't much time lost. The others could have used that time to walk away already," Hakuba deducted.

"Wait Hakuba, I'm hearing something," Heiji closed his eyes and let the sound surround his presence. It was footsteps, steady and light. In this silent barren trench, a single pebble drop, no matter how light, will cause a tiny echo of its sound. Heiji focused on the steps, the sound of snow being stepped on, and the sound of an off-beat clicking.

What's that? It sounds weird.

"300 yards, behind us, the sound's coming from there," Hakuba amazingly deduced. "Can you find out what the clicking sound was? I'm feeling that it's a gun, but the clicking was repeated. It could be the echo, but it repeated three times."

"I've been wondering about that."

"The footsteps are light. That person's being cautious; he's moving slowly, taking precautions. He's taking lapses before he takes one more step," Heiji added. "Wait, the sound stopped," Hakuba said.

"It noticed us. Wait," Heiji took out a small pistol that he took from his father, just in case the situations needed it. He dropped out a silver bullet from the gun and held it in his palms. He positioned it upright in a near rock in the middle of the trench road. "What are you doing?" Hakuba protested.

"We have nothing to lose. It could be Akai or Jodie-sensei, and this will help us in determining who it is," Heiji explained. "How?" Hakuba scratched his forehead. "Well, it's a given that you don't know this, but Akai's known as the Silver Bullet along with Kudo."

"And if it's an enemy, we won't have anything to lose. Kind of like a double edged sword, don't you think? If they know we're here, we're going to be one step back. We need to have the element of surprise on our side," Hakuba said. "Can't you see? There isn't a plan anymore. It's has become a game of capture the flag. First one to find the other wins."

"Hattori, the footsteps, it's moving again," Hakuba noticed. "It stopped. There is it. Another click, just what is-," then, it hit him.

"Hakuba! Duck! It's a sniper!" Heiji shouted, but at the sight of Heiji's enlightenment, the first shot broke. Hakuba jumped a bit to misdirect the bullet from hitting his head. The bullet now went through his right shoulder, piercing right through it. He let out a shout of pain.

"Impossible, who could have shot like that despite the strong wind," Heiji couldn't believe it. They waited before the person could reveal himself. From a far of view, the person appeared in view with his sniper on his hand. Heiji didn't dare move. The sniper's hands were fast.

"You!" Heiji shouted at the person's sight. It was Chianti in fur coat while smoking. "Hey there, brat," she laughed. "I thought you died," Heiji assumed. "Vermouth was apprehended before she could do real damage. It was fun hunting the two of you, by the way. I would have killed you right off the bat, but you're needed, Heiji Hattori. I can't say much for this kid here," she said.

Heiji felt the gun behind him. He was waiting for the right time. "I'm telling you right now. Don't do it. Korn's watching you, Heiji Hattori," Chianti threatened him.

We're trapped. This is bad. Kudo, where are you?

Author's Note: Hoped all of you liked it. Reviews everyone! The next chapter would be released on February 18. Sorry for the delay in advance. I'm going to take the time to edit the first chapters. If you noticed, the grammar of the first 5 chapters is entirely awful. I revised the first one already and did my head spin. I couldn't believe that I wrote that! I just couldn't! So, now, I will edit the early ones to attract more readers.

Coming Soon: Chapter 32: The Day of the Eclipse Part III