A/N: As I promised, here it be, I hope it's apprearance pleases thee...
Now, now, enough with the rhyming^^ I'm once again very sorry that it took so long, but I'll explain momentarily, as this story will undergo some changes. The first one, TwilightReader1 and I have talked (since she's really incredibly busy) and have decided that she's going to take a hiatus from beta-ing. Which means that this chapter is the raw version without any edits that Twilight usually puts in. When she's feeling better, we'll upgrade this Chapter (and any following hereafter) and replace them bit by bit. So you'll get an added challenge out of it. You'll get to see the raw version (written completely by myself) and later the upgraded version with the things that my beta usually contributes.
She is only on a hiatus, so she'll come back someday. We just thought it best to not make you wait anymore, since she won't have time to work on the story until her next break from school (which will be Thanksgiving) and because she's really having a tough time at the moment. So anybody going for her throat has to face off with me!
The other change would be that I kindly ask my anonymous reviewers to stop constantly begging for updates. Just because you annoy the life out of me, will not make the chapters appear any faster. I took great care to piece this fiction together and I'm not going to start messing it up now. I'll update whenever I get the chance, so please, cease with the constant 'Please update!' (that's not a proper review anyway...)
On another note, the facebook-page where I post news on the stories I'm doing is not growing as quickly as I had hoped. What is it? Nobody reading the authors notes? Once again, the name on the page is 'Callie Winters' and the pic is a black/white photo of a woman with sunglasses. Anybody willing to join me there is welcome to do so. Its really the best source to while the waiting hours away. Plus, you'll get to talk to me directly and even chat with me if I have the time^^ A couple of people are already on there and we'd be happy if some more joined our circle^^
Now, without further ado, enjoy this chapter and remember: This is the raw version, so its not as good as it would be if Twilight was here. Let's all wish her the best^^ (You're great, Barb! *hugs*)
Chapter 13
Wednesday, 22nd September 2011
Teitan Elementary School
1:20 PM
Heiji POV
It wasn't possible. It simply wasn't possible.
That was the main thought that ran through Heiji's mind as he had been given the news. It had been Megure-keibu himself that had called him, speaking in a solemn and grim voice that told of the underlying fear the man felt.
Kudo had vanished.
His classmates had testified that he never returned from taking the call earlier. At the end of lunchbreak, the kids had noticed that the leader of their little posse was absent and had informed their teacher. Unwilling to let Ayumi leave the building, they had the teacher search, but she only found the cell phone, lying abandoned just outside the doors to the school. With his shrunken friend nowhere in sight. Or at least that was what Megure-keibu had told him.
Baka... Its not possible! Heiji's brain insisted, even as he rounded the corner where the school was at. Six squad-cars were parked there, lights flashing, with police officers swarming the scene.
Energetically, fuelled by a hitherto unknown feeling of utter dread, the tanned teen shoved his way through the crowd of uniformed officials, not few of whom were moving out of his way on their own accord. Finally he spotted Megure speaking with a woman about the age of (if he had to guess) 28-30 who was looking very concerned. Even worried.
That's the teacher then...
Not far behind her, Heiji spotted the remainder of the Detective Boys, all wearing identical expressions of worry and fear. Heiji felt an uncomfortable stab somewhere in his chest cavity at the sight of that. Not only because they were entirely too young to be looking so frightened, but also because it drove the severity of the situation home to him.
Kudo was gone. Likely in the hands of that madman, given how quickly he had vanished.
Even while under official protection...
A vein in Heiji's forehead started to throb. While it was true that the police had been sent to keep the girl under surveillance, unofficially they had also been instructed to keep an eye on the small sleuth. Given his frequency of getting into such situations, it was entirely logical that Megure-keibu had ordered that too. And still he had been taken, spirited away by that maniacal monster.
Face grim with righteous anger, Heiji stepped up towards Megure-keibu, outwardly calm, but inwardly seething with rage.
Some protection that was... Did they get some Donuts or what?!
Before he could reach the Inspector and fold him together like a cloth, three kids intercepted his way. Lucky for the Inspector.
Quickly his eyes scanned the kids, noted how the girl seemed on the verge of tears, while both boys tried to soothe her without the use of words. But the thin one carried a sheen in his eyes that told Heiji that he, as the only one of those three, somehow knew what the disappearance of his friend truly meant. He proved it when he looked up and faced Heiji's gaze with a solemn one of his own.
"Conan-kun must have vanished sometime during lunchbreak. He went outside to take your call, but never returned. Lunchbreak ended at 12:30." the geeky boy ('Mitsuhiko', his brain informed him) told Heiji, his eyes occasionally scanning the premises, but landing more on the police officers than anything else.
Quickly Heiji crouched down.
"Tell me wha' ya guys know." he ordered them sternly. He had no time for niceties. If what the boy said was correct; and it had to be, because he called Kudo about five past 12; the time-frame was already set. He needed to find his friend before the 72-hour mark passed. The girl; Ayumi; had composed herself and looked up to him with watery eyes.
"Co-Conan-kun said that I should stay with Mitsuhiko-kun and Genta-kun. And I did." she started.
"He told us that he was expecting you to call during lunchbreak, so he left for a few minutes. We stayed with Ayumi. We didn't think he'd go very far. He instructed us not to leave Ayumi-chan alone," Mitsuhiko continued, meeting his eyes with more maturity than Heiji expected, "but when the bell rang again and he had not returned, we became worried. He was a bit shaken when he left."
"'Shaken'? Wha' do ya mean?" Heiji asked, as it was not a word he would usually associate with Kudo.
"Well," Mitsuhiko shuffled his foot uncomfortably before lowering his voice in a half-whisper, "He fell asleep during the lesson. I think he must have dreamed something really bad."
Heiji could see that this was only half the story. Mitsuhiko tried to give him the facts, but at the same time he wanted to protect Kudo's pride. But Heiji was very good at reading between the lines. After all, it all tied in with his own suspicions he had been harbouring since the nocturnal phone-call he had with his shrunken rival. Kudo was too proud to admit to nightmares, but Heiji knew he had them. But if these kids said that he looked shaken, then it really must have been bad. He reigned his straying thoughts back in, as Mitsuhiko continued to talk.
"Anyway, we wanted to go check it out, but we didn't know whether this was a trap for Ayumi-chan or not. So we told Kobayashi-sensei and she looked for him. She must have found his cell-phone, because she came back and told us that no one was to leave the class-room and that she was going to inform the police."
"That's when we figured something was fishy." Genta threw in.
"Indeed. We asked her what had happened and when she told us that she could not find Conan-kun, we went downstairs and checked his shoe-locker. First we thought he had simply left, perhaps with you, because something had come up and he forgot to tell us. It wouldn't have been the first time he had done this." Mitsuhiko continued on, but was cut off by Ayumi.
"B-...but his sneakers are still in his locker... so he co-uldn't have left with you." the girl said, another distressed tear rolling down her cheek.
"When we saw that, we came back upstairs to wait for the police. The cruiser that was circling the premises was already looking around, but they couldn't find anything. Megure-keibu and the rest of the police arrived shortly after. We've been waiting for you." Mitsuhiko concluded.
Heiji had to give the kids the credit they deserved. The idea to check the shoe-lockers bordered on brilliance. It made certain that the shrunken detective had not just left.
"Ya guys did good. Did ya see anybody 'round the school durin' the morning? Anythin' a' all?" Heiji asked urgently, but feeling his faint hopes dashed when the kids all shook their heads.
No leads in that direction then...
"Shame Conan-kun went without his jacket, right?" Genta absently remarked towards the thin geek next to him, to which Mitsuhiko nodded silently, his high forehead creased in worry.
"Whaddaya mean?" Heiji asked confused, entirely not following the kid's thought process.
"Conan-kun had... well, we all carry a number of tracking devices with us," Mitsuhiko elaborated, producing a small, round object from his trouser pocket, "Conan-kun carries them in a pocket in his jacket. They work the same way as the badges and can be tracked with the glasses that Conan-kun has. Hakase designed it that way. We thought it best that each one of us would carry them around a while ago, in case we ever needed to track someone or each other. But the jacket is still with his things upstairs, as is Conan-kun's badge. We checked that already. First we thought we could find him with Agasa-hakase, provided he had something else to track them down with. But if he doesn't wear the jacket, he doesn't have the tracking devices with him either."
Man, that's a heck-load of technology...
Briefly Heiji was silent, filtering all the information for bits and pieces he could use.
These homing-devices could be a good shot, perhaps they were in luck and Kudo had slipped one in his trouser-pocket earlier. It was a slim hope, but better than nothing. Heiji knew that the Professor always had a spare pair of Kudo's glasses at his house, in case the current pair was damaged. Kudo always wore the most upgraded version, but an older one would do as well. The tanned Osakan made a mental note to call the Professor later to get one of the other models.
His thoughts were broken as he heard Megure-keibu calling his name. Standing up, he faced the man, feeling the ire return. Though, judging from the angered frown on the Inspector's face, he was not the only one being extremely pissed at the officers that had been stationed here.
"Hattori-kun," the man greeted him with a curt nod, "we've searched the premises. There is no sign of Conan-kun. The kids told me that the last person that allegedly spoke with him was you. Is that correct?"
"Yeah. Called 'im 'bout 12:05 on his cell. I jus' wanted ta know if everythin' was a'rite. We talked fer maybe 10 or 15 minutes. He was fine when I hung up." Heiji answered shortly. He didn't have time for long explanations, he needed to do something. A question rose in his thoughts, and though he loathed the answer, he needed to ask.
"Have ya informed da Mouri's yet?" the tanned Osakan asked, his expression grim.
"Not yet. I've sent Takagi and Satou to pick up Ran-kun and I was just about to call Mouri-kun in." the Inspector answered, his face expressing how much he wanted to do anything but tell the small sleuth's caretakers what had transpired.
That was one thing Heiji could not blame the portly official for. Of all the things that could have gone wrong, this was the possibility that Heiji had most feared. With Kudo gone, who had been in this case a whole lot longer than he had, Heiji's chances of finding the killer in time were already limited.
On that thought followed another, far more urgent thought. The tanned sleuth recalled why he had been so pissed off originally and directed his gaze back at the Inspector. And though he tried to keep calm, he just couldn't. After all, being calm and collected was not something he did often.
"How could dis guy even get t' th' school an' grab 'im?! I thought ya said, yer guys woul' keep an eye out! Wha' happened, ya guys took a coffee-break?" Logically, Heiji knew that exploding at the Inspector would avail him nothing, but at least it calmed his roaring head for a second or two. He just needed to shout at someone, to blame someone for this mess, to make someone responsible. A petty action, truly, but Heiji felt like he had failed Kudo. He told the non-child that he'd help and what happened? Kudo himself had been kidnapped. Right after he'd taken his call, so technically that made it his fault.
Not that Heiji wanted to think about that too closely, at least not yet. He could have a pity-party later.
"Of course the officers kept an eye out. The culprit must have secluded himself inside school-grounds and waited for a moment when the squad-car was out of sight." Megure explained, deliberately calm, as if he had anticipated a reaction like this already.
Gotta give the man credit for that...
Forcing himself to calm down again and think logically, Heiji took a few deep breaths. It would not help if he was being impulsive and angered the officials either. They were as worried as he was, he could see it in the Inspector's eyes. Kudo had become their unofficial mascot; much to the chibi's displeasure; so him being taken equalled someone taking direct aim at a cop. They'd go straight to Hell and back if necessary. And that was a decided point in their favour, at least in Heiji's humble opinion.
"Yer right, tha's the only way dis bastard could have gotten 'im," Heiji continued, rubbing a hand against his temple, glad the Inspector let his outbreak go undiscussed, "also, I was a' da toystore da guy could 'ave gotten da doll from. Seems like we're in luck with one thin' today. Da owner remembers who bought it, but 'e don't know da name. I've sent 'im ta da station ta give a full description. If ya 'ave someone who could do a sketch, we might get a suspect I.D. soon."
Megure's eyes literally lit up at the prospect of finally getting a grasp on the elusive murderer.
"Finally! Of course we have someone at the station to do the sketch! I'll get right onto it!"
"Wait a second. Did dat teacher see anythin'?" Heiji asked, throwing a glance towards the young teacher, now standing with a concerned looking official Heiji remembered as Shiratori-keibu.
"Unfortunately not. She said she went around the school after the kids had informed her that Conan-kun was missing, but she checked outside last because she didn't think Conan-kun would go there. When she did look, she found his cell-phone in the mud next to a single school-slipper, which we believe has been worn by Conan-kun. Afterwards she came in and notified us." the portly Inspector answered, also looking towards the woman.
Just as Heiji drew breath to ask another question, one of the forensics guys hastened over to them, in his gloved hands a small plastic bag.
"Megure-keibu! We found this, not very far from the point where the cell-phone supposedly was." the man said quickly and showed them the item. Catching sight of it, Heiji felt his eyes bulge while his throat went uncomfortably dry.
"Is dat a syringe-cap?!"
For a moment both the portly Inspector as well as the tanned teen were silenced. There was no harmless reason for a syringe-cap to be on school-grounds and they both knew it. Quickly they shared an uneasy glance. This was worse than just chloroform. Heiji's mind wandered off, thinking through the scenario that would have been required to lead to this little piece of evidence. Especially with a killer that was usually so very careful about leaving evidence behind. To his knowledge, it was the first time something like this had been found.
The fact that a chemical had been injected into his shrunken friend made Heiji queasy as well. At the same time it seemed to make perfect sense.
His attention returned just fast enough to witness Megure-keibu ordering the man to bag the evidence and get it to the lab immediately. It could be vital to know if anything of the chemical had been left in the cap. Even one single drop would be enough. Then the official turned to Heiji.
"This doesn't make sense. If this is truly the same killer, why would he change his method now? He always used chloroform before, why switch to something different now?" asked the clearly puzzled Inspector.
"Thin' 'bout it, Keibu-han. K-...Conan-kun is a much more difficult target, maybe 'e didn' wanna take any chances." Heiji answered, stating the only thing that could explain such a sudden switch in MO. It didn't answer the question of why the killer had switched targets however.
Leaving the Inspector to make his necessary calls, Heiji turned and let his gaze wander over the grounds. While his body remained relatively stationary, his mind was going a mile per second. Or at least it felt that way.
Questions rose and vanished again; shelved away to be reintroduced upon his thoughts later. One thing kept coming back however. Well, two things to be accurate. The first was how the culprit had managed to get close enough to Kudo to grab him without the mini-sleuth noticing. Heiji knew that anyone sneaking up on his shrunken friend would immediately (or nearly so) be noticed. Kudo's paranoia at its best.
But then Heiji recalled how his counterpart had looked earlier, just a few hours ago. And how he'd sounded on the phone before then.
Kudo was absolutely exhausted.
It was therefore entirely possible that his radar (in a manner of speaking) had not been as effective as usual today, enabling the culprit to creep up on his shrunken friend.
The other thing that rattled through Heiji's frontal lobe was the question why Kudo had been taken in the first place. While it was possible that the killer had thought up an elaborate deception to convince them he was going for the Yoshida girl in order to draw their focus away from Kudo; Heiji doubted that was the true reason. It just didn't seem like something this guy would do. Even though the name 'Edogawa Conan' also sported 6 syllables.
I wonder if Kudo realized that... meh, probably not, knowing him...
So what if it was true and Kudo had not been the originally intended target? If the culprit had switched his focus, he would have had a reason to do so.
Still thinking about that, Heiji let his gaze wander back to the Inspector, who was still on the phone. Or rather, on the phone again. The sharp commanding tone of voice had vanished and the official now spoke in a calm, reassuring manner.
Either Occhan or Neechan then...
And with this thought it clicked in Heiji's brain.
What was it that Kudo said about this guy again?
Their killer was a narcissist, meaning that above all that primal desire to kill and control, he wanted to be recognized, wanted to be famous. And what better way to be famous (or rather infamous in this case) than taking the kid under the care of Mouri Kogoro himself?! The greater populace of Tokyo knew that his shrunken friend hung out with the police a lot (not a great surprise there, given how often Kudo stumbled over dead bodies during the course of a normal day!), therefore the killer had switched from a simple target to someone much harder to come by. And all this only to increase his 'fame'.
Heiji suppressed a repulsed shudder as he thought of that.
He tried his hardest not to picture Kudo in the clutches of that animal, but found it a near impossible task to achieve. For the moment the tanned teen merely functioned, but as soon as he stopped for more than a mere second, his over-active imagination pictured in gruesome detail just what might be happening to his friend right now. Nervously he glanced at his watch.
1:35 PM.
It was possible that whatever Kudo had been drugged with, it had likely worn off already or was just wearing off now. The way this culprit acted and thought made it seem unlikely that he'd use drugs that would leave a potential victim incapacitated for too long. Kudo was probably awake right this moment and enduring only God knew what kind of torture. At once Heiji shied away from that train of thought. If he allowed his brain to think of that too closely, he would not be able to concentrate hard enough to find Kudo.
You can fall apart later...
Yes, later sounded like a good plan. When all this was over and he'd found Kudo, he'd allow all this to come back. Right now he had no time for this, he told himself sternly.
Just as he'd thought this, he noticed something in his peripheral vision hurrying towards him. Turning he felt his resolve crumble slightly while his heart gave a painful jolt as he beheld one Mouri Ran, running directly to him, her face the very picture of worry.
Calm down, she's upset enough as it it... Don't make it any worse...
A second later two hands fisted themselves into the front of his shirt.
"Hattori-kun! Is it really true?! Is Conan-kun really..." she couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence and she didn't need to. They both knew what she meant to say.
Heiji found himself sighing heavily, he was not good at things like this. It always made him feel like crap when girls started crying around him. Especially girls he knew and respected (even liked in a purely platonic fashion). Trying to appear reassuring, he placed a hand on the distraught girl's shoulder.
"Wish I could tell ya otherwise, ...but... 'e's gone. No-one's seen 'im since 'is lunchbreak." It cost him much to even say it. Somehow it brought the grim reality of the whole thing back to him.
Kudo was gone.
And Heiji had NO idea how to find him.
Completely dissolving into worried and scared tears, Neechan passed a shaking hand over her eyes.
"Oh no... I didn't want to believe them when they showed up... I thought... maybe he'd turned up somewhere... I told him to be careful, and he said he'd be alright..." the young female nearly sobbed and the mere sight of it made Heiji cringe.
Crying girls... he really wasn't good with those.
Breathing deeply to at least appear that he knew what to do, he looked at her. He needed to calm her down somehow or he'd crumble right there alongside her.
Her eyes, blood-shot and scared, looked up at him and Heiji tried desperately to ignore the way her entire face seemed to scream her inner terror at him.
"Neechan,... I know it's hard, but ya need ta calm down, 'kay? We're gonna find 'im..."
"But the time... What if we can't find him in time?" Ran asked, fearful of the answer. And in truth, so was Heiji. The time was set, and running away with each passing second. Now it was his job to raise the odds in their favour. If he failed, he would never get over it and Heiji knew that. Nevertheless he had every intention to try with everything he had, so he forcibly shoved these doubts away. He had to stay positive and at least portray an image of confidence, if only for the benefit of those around him. In short, he would have to bluff himself through this.
"Listen, Neechan. I'll find 'im. I promise ya tha', a'rite?" the tanned teen answered the distraught female, feeling himself calming down slightly. Or at least calm enough to keep going for the next 70 hours. Ran looked up at him, a pleading expression in her watery gaze and the Osakan found himself furious beyond reasonable thought at the man behind all this. This animal caused so much suffering and pain, it would be hard work for Heiji to keep his temper in check when he found the guy.
But before his mind could stray any further, he concentrated on Ran again, his own face set in a steely mask that told nothing of his inner turmoil.
"I promise." he repeated and this seemed like all the reassurance the girl needed, for she nodded and finally released her death-grip on his shirt.
Heiji made a mental note to call Kazuha to get her to Tokyo as well. Neechan needed someone to support her and he neither had the time nor was he qualified for that. Kazuha would be able to distract her for a bit (after all, the Ahou was incredibly distracting by nature).
As he absently dialled the number and waited for Kazuha to pick up the call, he once again tried not to imagine what Kudo might be facing at the moment.
I'll find you, Kudo... And if it's the last thing I ever do... I'll find you...
After all, he HAD promised it. And Hattori Heiji never broke a promise.
Wednesday, 22nd September 2011
Location unknown
Time unknown
Conan POV
Sluggishly Conan's mind returned from the deep void he had been caught in. He couldn't recall where he was, couldn't even recall who he was for the moment. His eyes felt as heavy as lead and his arms and legs were numbed with fatigue. His mind and his conscious battled with the roaring desire to stay asleep, but his thoughts could not be silenced. There was something, he was not supposed to be sleeping. Not now.
Why not?
The smell around him triggered a thought. It did not smell like the Agency.
Wait, what Agency?
He felt like he should be there, but at the same time calling the place 'home' seemed wrong. The small human could not understand for the moment why exactly it seemed wrong, he just knew that it did. He was not supposed to be sleeping and even if he were, he wasn't WHERE he was supposed to be.
Okay, what happened?
With difficulty he tried to think back, tried to remember what had been before the blackness had claimed his mind and cast him into oblivion. But he couldn't. There was just nothing, though he felt like there was something very important. Something vital even. He concentrated harder, thought back to the moment when the darkness had soared.
He'd felt something prick his neck. Not more than a small sting and suddenly his body had felt so heavy. And then that darkness had claimed him and all his thought had vanished.
There's something I'm not getting here...
He truly felt as if his thoughts were moving through a thick fog, as if he could only catch glimpses of them before they disappeared once again.
Sensations filtered through his clouded mind. His side was cold and cramped. His arms seemed twisted backwards and there was something between his teeth.
This doesn't make any sense... Need to open my eyes now...
He focused all his concentration on his leaden lids, trying to lift them. And as he did so, he became aware of the fact that his glasses were missing. He had worn them before, right?
Briefly his lids parted and allowed him a fuzzy glimpse of his surroundings before the task of opening them nearly sent him back into unconsciousness. What he saw seemed off also. He was close to the ground, maybe that was why he felt so cramped. He was lying on the floor.
Where, though? I'm not at the Agency, doesn't feel like the Agency...
Conan's sense of smell came back online once more and he registered that the air smelled stale, unused, with a tinge of wet ground in it. And something else, something close by. A rusty, disgusting smell. His brain took little more than a moment to place it, though it was more out of instinct than real thought or a chain of reasoning.
There was old blood, somewhere close to him.
And with that smell his brain jolted into a jumpstart he had rarely experienced. He couldn't move his arms, not only because he felt so tired, but also because they were restricted behind his back. Someone had bound him. The thing between his teeth was a cloth, so someone had gagged him. And his body felt like lead because of the darkness earlier, so someone had also drugged him with something.
All this added together to form a disconcerting conclusion. He'd been abducted. He'd been drugged and brought to this place, wherever it actually was.
More and more thoughts came to the forefront of his awareness, even as feeling returned to his arms and legs. The memory of an arm around his body, restricting his movement as well as the instinctive knowledge that some chemical had been administered to him, most likely through a syringe.
Immediately his eyes flew open again, even though the image he glimpsed was incredibly blurry and unfocused at first. The mini-tantei tried to lift his head, but found he couldn't do so. Suddenly it seemed as if his head weighed a ton. As Conan tried to clear his eyes, make his sight focus on something, anything, a sound reached his ears.
A melody was coming from somewhere. His overwrought paranoid senses first thought of that accursed children's song 'Nanatsu No Ko', but not even a second after that suspicion, his ever analytical brain informed him that it was not THAT song being played somewhere. While it was a children's song, judging by the melody, it was also slightly different.
Eerie.
Disquieting.
A subtle whirring accompanied the melody and before his eyes had settled on the object that emitted this eerie rendition of some children's song, his mind had already placed the sound with unerring accuracy.
It was a musicbox.
It took a few long seconds for his eyes to focus on the box standing on a table a bit away from him. More out of habit than anything else, Conan looked at the box very carefully. It was smallish, brown, seemingly entirely nondescript in design. One could almost mistake it for an ordinary wooden box, were it not for the music being played by it. His gaze travelled from the box to the table and from there to the floor. More and more details swarmed the shrunken teen's mind.
The floor was dusty, but cleared of anything that might have been there originally. The room he was in was relatively large, only small windows high up on the walls. Behind these windows, the rain was still going on, leaving trails on the dirty glass.
On the far side of the room, there was a metal door, slightly rusted on the edges, but solid from the looks of it.
Conan followed the wall with his eyes until he reached the left side of the room, about five meters from his head. What he saw caused his heart to briefly stop before thudding away in an entirely unfamiliar panicked staccato.
There was a shelf on the wall.
A shelf filled with toys, carefully placed and apparently unused, though some were dusty. There were model planes, cars, stuffed animals, a Kamen Yaiba action doll, a few girlish dolls. The last, and apparently newest item made his insides freeze in terror.
His glasses.
All in all, there were 12 items on the shelf.
Oh, holy shit...
An uncomfortable shudder passed through his numbed frame as the significance of his glasses among these toys did not elude the shrunken teen. Unbidden, the memory of a conversation with his Osakan friend returned. Hattori had warned him to be careful, saying that while he may be smarter than an ordinary kid, he still looked like one.
Wish he wouldn't have been right on this one though...
With the discovery of that shelf, Conan was aware of who had kidnapped him and how severe his situation truly was. He'd been kidnapped by the same killer who had already taken 10 kids.
Wait, why are there 12 items then?
His forehead creased as he looked over the items again, counted them again, if only to make sure he hadn't made an error. But the number still remained the same. 12 things were stacked there, his glasses the newest ones. The police only knew of 10 victims.
That left only one possible explanation. They hadn't found the body of the 11th kid yet.
Suddenly his rapidly awakening brain made a terrible connection. One he hadn't thought of before. Something that had not even entered his darkest thoughts yet.
His own name consisted of 6 syllables when it was sounded out. Or at least the alias of 'Edogawa Conan' did. He had been too immersed in his deductions, too worried about Ayumi, too damn used to Hattori calling him 'Kudo' that he had missed in entirely. He had missed that he himself fit the profile.
A grade-schooler whose name could be sounded in 6 syllables.
I'm in really deep shit, aren't I?
Energized by this ever so disturbing thought, Conan began to try and move his arms. If he could free his hands, he might be able to escape and lead the police to the killer's hiding place. Since he hadn't worn his shoes and had sadly forgotten his watch, he could forget about taking the culprit down by himself. Maybe he could lock him inside somewhere instead, before calling the cops.
Determined Conan ignored the implications around him, pushed the rising panic back down in order for him to find a way out of this. He tried twisting his hands, hoping he could slip out of whatever it was the killer had restrained him with, but felt the material slice into his flesh hard enough to cause his numb fingers to lose what little feeling he still had.
If only I wouldn't feel so groggy...
Blinking rapidly to clear the dizziness out of his mind, Conan tried once more to lift his head, if only to figure out what he had been bound with. Or if there was something nearby that could cut his bonds. He hadn't even lifted his head that far off the floor, before blackness soared up and threatened to pull him under again. Weakly his head thudded back onto the concrete underneath him.
Damn... What did that creep drug me with? I can barely move...
Absently the shrunken sleuth wondered about it, but there was a number of liquid tranquillizers that could produce such effects. The drowsiness, the dizziness, that nauseating sensation of the room tilting off kilter. And last but not least his body's stubborn insistence to remain immovable, even in the face of such danger.
Conan was under no illusions regarding the danger he was in. If he did not manage to get out of there quickly, he'd no longer be able to. But for the moment, the chibi tantei did not manage more than lying on the floor, desperate not to black out again.
The shrunken sleuth was confused by one thing though. Why had the killer switched his focus from Ayumi to him? Why had he suddenly changed targets, even though it went against the profile?
It didn't make sense, at least not to him. Maybe Hattori had been right and Conan had unwittingly driven the killer into a corner, forcing him to do something desperate. But the fact that his glasses were on the (for lack of a better, less disturbing term) trophy-shelf indicated that he had not been taken on a whim. Whatever he'd been drugged with spoke for that also. The other kids had been incapacitated by chloroform, but Conan had been overpowered by something much stronger, much more potent. Something that was more effective than chloroform.
A different sound jolted the small detective back to complete awareness. Beyond the door in front, he'd heard footsteps. Someone was coming. Someone wearing heavy boots that thudded and echoed through the otherwise relatively quiet building. Immediately panic surged forward again, threatening to overwhelm clear thought and send him into a complete and total freak-out, but he sternly shook himself. It wouldn't help if he panicked. There was a chance to survive this, and if he could glean some details on the culprit before he escaped, like a description, he'd have more chance of setting the cops on the right trail.
Slowly the door opened and Conan found himself face to face with the predator that had haunted even his nightmares.
Almost he couldn't believe it. The face he saw was so completely normal, the shrunken teen nearly did a double take. While he was used to culprits looking like ordinary citizens (after all, homicidal maniacs rarely looked like such), the man that stepped in took the cake in being inconspicuous. A pleasant face, orderly hair, ordinary clothing. Nothing that would make him stand out. No noteworthy features at all. This man looked like any other citizen of Tokyo.
It was his eyes that were different though, Conan could even spot it from his current position several feet away from the culprit. And there was no doubt this man was the killer they had all sought in vain. If nothing else, the cruel glee in the man's gaze spoke more than a tongue ever could. A twisted grin played on the man's features as he slowly, deliberately slowly, came closer, the thumping of his boots echoing in the room, humming in tune with the melody which still continued on.
And that was the truly worrying factor for Conan.
The fact that this man, this mindless maniac came slowly closer, while the shrunken tantei could not back away. He was literally unable to, even though he continued to try. But his body would not cooperate, would not allow more than a weak twitch, while the sleuth's gaze was virtually glued to the man.
Humming that damned melody.
Conan desperately tried to reign his rising panic in, but a small part of him admitted to complete terror at the sight of this man's eyes. He could read the sadistic pleasure this man; no, creature; derived from killing children.
It took the killer little more than ten seconds to reach him, and Conan watched in horrified fascination as the man crouched down, coming even closer. Bizarrely, this gave the shrunken teen the urge to literally slink away, as if that would actually help. Logically, Conan knew that the torture would begin now, that from this moment on he had a time-frame until he would die at the hands of this deranged animal, but an utterly terrified part of him just wanted to crawl away, simply hide from that gaze.
It took more courage than he thought to meet the man's gaze with something akin to determination and fearlessness.
What was it about this man that caused him to inwardly cringe in fright?
But Conan was nothing if not a master of Poker-face. He summoned every shred of confidence he could find and glared at the man with all the fire he could. Oddly enough, this provoked an amused laugh from the murderer.
"I knew you were different."
The voice was not entirely unpleasant either, Conan absently noted. It was likely that no one had even thought of this guy, his neighbours probably wouldn't even entertain the thought that this man, who seemed so utterly normal, would be the child-killer the entire populace of Tokyo was after.
The man reached for Conan with his right hand and belatedly the chibi tantei noticed some small scars on the man's hand, before the voice caught his attention again.
"Hush now. I am the Sandman." With that sentence, the eyes that gazed at Conan became devoid of all emotion besides deranged elation.
"I shall make you sleep."
What the...
That was as far as Conan got before the first blow fell and the nightmare became reality.
Okay, before anybody starts moaning about the unrealistic effects of the drug used, I'll explain what it is later. Maybe next chapter. Let me assure you however, that this specific drug indeed gives the nasty side-effect that you can't move (because it paralyzes the muscles) and slight, short-termed amnesia (which makes you wonder where the hell you are and what the heck happened^^), so it is a completely legit drug and not something I cooked up because it fitted into the story. Like I said, I'll explain later what drug it really is, so stay tuned^^ You are welcome to guess however^^
I hope I can update soon, but I'll have to check the next chappie for inconsistencies and plot-holes. For now, this will suffice. Hope you enjoyed it^^