Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He was hiding away in the professors home, the basement to be exact, the last safe heaven he has. Edogawa Conan formerly Kudo Shinichi is now the last one standing of his allies and friends, they all thought that they were ready for the face off but turns out they were wrong oh so very WRONG.

It has been a few years since he was shrunk from his 16 year old body into that of a 6 year old. He was 10 when he decided to come clean to all his friends, to come clean to Ran. And it all went so well at first, everyone he told offered him their support and trust. Everyone that care about him wanted in on the take down of the Black Organization, and so they planned. 

But with how well it all first went, with how accepting and forgiving everyone was of his lies he let his guard down. 

When members of the FBI, CIA, Mi6, PSB and all other parties, friends and family alike that were against the Black Organization team up and decided to fight as one entity they didn't realize that they had a traitor in their midst, one who was there for every meeting, every plan, EVERYTHING and that traitor took hold of the adults first. At what was supposed to be a normal, safe, conference at the PSB building the traitor made their move and killed everyone there. 

The ones that were safe was himself, Heiji, Ran, Kazuha, his parents, professor Agasa, Ai, Furuya Rei, and Akai Shuichi who were all hiding away at the request of their parents in the Kudo manor while listening in on what was supposed to be a normal conference. 

Heiji, Ran and Kazuha lost their parents that day. Everyone they know in the police force, and every odd yet reliable friend they made were gone in a blink of an eye. They all died due to poisoning that was released in the conference room, the doors were locked and any attempt to brake it down was useless because the poison was incredibly fast acting, not one of them stood a chance. 

What's worse is that it was broadcasted life to the whole world, as an example and warning to everyone who would dare go against the organization. 

They went into hiding after that. The Kudo manor and the professor's home was made into a bunker with all the security measures they added. They were safe as they could be. 

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Shinichi haven't seen any of his friends smile or make any other expression other than blank acceptance in weeks, the adults were no better.

Professor Agasa was more often than not locked in his house inventing something that he said would save them. Furuya-san and Akai-san were always up at every hour keeping surveillance they said. Ai was couped up in her lab trying to make an antidote. While he and his parents tried their best to comfort his friends. 

His parents, professor Agasa, Furuya-san, and Akai-san all insisted that they, the kids, stay inside no matter what, any supplies they would need were taken care off. The children were forbidden from going out, even if they wore his mother's disguises, and everyone agreed.... Everyone except him that is.

He kept trying to come up with some kind of plan, because there must be something, anything, that he can do. He, be it as Kudo Shinichi or Edogawa Conan, who made more progress than any of the government organizations did against the BO, he who was the reason that they all got together to fight, he who caused their deaths. He had to take responsibility for his failings. 

Heiji, Ai, Ran and Kazuha didn't see it that way but they have always been far too forgiving of him. So for their sake he pretended to not drown in guilt and self hatred. But once everyone was asleep he would stay awake and try to come up with a plan. Because when he has both Kaito KID and Vermouth at his disposal, both willing to do the work while he be the brains of the operations there's no way that he can make a mistake again RIGHT? 

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His answer came in a month with a package sent to their doorsteps address to him from KID. Furuya-san and Akai-san were the ones who open it, him and his parents were the first to see. And everyone else bare witnessed to its contents afterwards.

He told his friends to stay back, to stay inside in case anything happen, so Heiji convinced the girls to stay at the entrance of their home while he went on ahead. Ai manage to convince professor Agasa to stay behind with them as well. 

What was inside was the dismembered heads of Kaito KID and Vermouth, their eyes gauge out and mouth stuffed with other bits and pieces of their cut up body, written on their forehead were the words 'traitor' and 'failure' along with that was a note and a box. 

The note stated that his efforts while almost successful wasn't nearly enough when other organization members realized Vermouth's fondness for him, realise that Kaito KID lied to them but because Anokata was impressed he sent him a 'gift'. He read the note again and again and again, because there was something about the note that was bothering him. But he once again realized to late. 

When his father went to open the box he was to late to warn them, to far away to pull them all to the safety of their house but close enough that he was caught up in the explosion. Because on the note he released that what was bothering him was it's smell, it smelled exactly like the chemicals that were used by Plamya and when he realized it a bright light and flames overtook his vision. 

He was blown away from his parents and Akai-san and Furuya-san, straight into the doors of the manor. He lost his conciseness then and when he finally came too he was lying on a bed in the professor's home. The first person he sees after waking up was a sleeping Ai and Ran, both looking worse for ware, then in came Heiji with bandages on his hands and neck. 

When he saw that he was awake Heiji scream his name loud enough that it woke up the two occupants of the room as well as having professor Agasa and Kazuha run into the room looking panicked. 

When everyone saw that he was awake he was promptly hugged by them all and he felt that everyone was shaking and crying, not really knowing what exactly happened he simply hug them back and gave them all reassuring words to calm them down. 

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Once everyone calmed down they explain how the bomb went off killing those who were outside, how he was blown back and passed out shortly afterwards. Heiji was the one who picked him up and he was also the one who had to restart his heart when it stopped beating for a moment while they were hiding. 

That right after the explosion some BO members fire at them and they had to run back to the professor's home for safety, while grabbing what they can from the Kudo manor, mainly guns, bombs, and any other weaponry. They told him how they all had to kill their attackers to get to safety, and eventually every other person who tried to get to them. 

And everyone became even more protective of him after that. He wasn't allowed to do anything on his own, the incident where his heart stopped traumatized them to much, and because he simply refused to sit by uselessly while everyone else work hard he came up with a compromise that he was to always have one or more person with him when he's out buying their necessities, because without his mother only he could make disguises good enough to fool others and he was adamant about coming along for each supply run. 

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And once again everything was peaceful for a few months, until the BO decided that they had enough of playing cat and mouse and attack them when they were all getting ready for dinner. He along with professor Agasa was separated from the others, he heard their screams and the gun shoots and everything else that happen between one moment and the next but he refused to believe that his family were gone until he saw for himself. 

Professor Agasa took him to the basement where he explain that he was working on a time machine, a real working time machine, that could take the subject inside to the past. It's not truly complete yet, nor is the machine able to send someone back to a precise time but it does work. The professor explain how he experimented on objects first then animals and it would always work, but he's never done so for a human. 

They heard the foot steps of people marching to where they were and they looked at each other a knowing dread filling their stomach, the professor knelt down and hold his shoulders tightly "Shinichi... I could try to send you back. But there's no guarantee that it'll work... What.." And Shinichi, who's adverse to touching and would, on a good day, only tolerate touch from people he is close with HUG the professor, a man who raised him as much if not more than his parents did. Shinichi hug him tightly and smile at him reassuringly "Even if it fail, I would not want to live in a world without my precious people in it... Professor please it it can make everything better, if I can safe even just one person... I'll have to try"

And so that's what they did. Professor Agasa power the machine up as Shinichi steps inside, he took a deep breath and smile brightly at the professor "I'll see you soon, professor Agasa!"

And everything fade away in a flash of bright light. 

Chapter Text

When he finally open his eyes Shinichi saw that he was surrounded by trees and that it was raining, the sky is dark from the clouds and thunder rings clearly overhead. At first he didn’t know why he was there nor where the others are but after a while of gathering his thoughts he let out a hysterical laugh “AHAHAHAHAH it work.... IT WORK! AHAHAHahahahah... I.... I’m back to the past...” he took a few deep breaths to clam down and started talking to himself “Alright, the machine definitely works…but, when am I?” he slowly stands up and began walking, no real destination in mind.

The trees eventually thin out, and emerging from the bushes he realize that he is in a park near his home “This park…it’s definitely familiar. But…where to go from here?” he starts walking around the park, seeing countless people hurrying to cover from the rain some families are walking around with umbrellas and a few kids are playing in the rain. ‘It’s nice how peaceful and normal everything is…’ he can’t help but think ‘will I be able to keep it, this time around?’ Shinichi continues to walk aimlessly around the park and as the rain gets heavier, the less people he sees, and the more his thoughts spiral.

‘Can I do this? Would I succeed? Will I save them all this time? Where do I go? How…’ but his thoughts were interrupted when he sees a man running towards a woman. He observes as the man greets the woman happily and picks her up while spinning her around, looking for all the world like the most in love couple there is ‘They look like my parents…’ he cant help but reminisce. He was about to go in another direction when he heard someone scream from nearby ‘Really? Even now?’ even though he thinks this, Shinichi still run towards the sound and found a dead body with three people surrounding him. Two man and one woman was standing near the dead body of another man, they all look to be around their mid to late twenties.

“Stay away from the body! Don’t touch anything and miss call the police, mister call an ambulance!” he yells while pointing at the woman and one of the men.

The rain fell harder as Conan Edogawa, he can’t be Shinichi anymore… he doesn’t want to take that away from this timeline’s version of himself, crouched by the lifeless body as his sharp eyes scan every detail despite the pounding in his chest. The victim, a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, lay face down in the mud and his umbrella was discarded a few feet away. Blood pooled beneath his head, mingling with the rainwater and a deep gash was visible at the back of his skull.

Nearby, three people stood frozen: two men and a woman, all soaked to the bone. The woman’s hands trembled as she clutched at her coat, while the taller of the two men held his hands up defensively.

Conan glanced up, addressing the group with authority that seemed out of place for a child. “No one move! Don’t touch anything—you might destroy evidence” The woman blinked at him in confusion. “Who are you, kid? Shouldn’t you be with your parents?” Ignoring her, Conan turned to the second man, who appeared more composed. “You, call an ambulance. And you,” he pointed to the woman, “Notify the police. Quickly!”

Though startled, they obeyed and Conan began inspecting the scene, details began to piece themselves together. The victim’s wallet was still in his pocket, ruling out robbery. His umbrella, although nearby, was closed, as if he hadn’t even attempted to use it.

“Hmm…” Conan muttered, his eyes narrowing. He noticed faint muddy footprints circling the body  ‘The footprints are scattered erratically… as if the killer panicked’ . He stood up and turned to the group as they returned. The woman, who’d made the call, was visibly shaken. The woman fidgeted nervously, while the other two stood with arms crossed, watching Conan carefully.

“Who found the body?” Conan asked, keeping his voice firm.

The taller man raised his hand “I did. I was walking through the park when I saw him lying there. I called out for help, and they came running.” He gestured to the woman and the other man.

The woman wiped her face “I heard him shouting and came over. I didn’t see anything before that though.” Conan nodded, his gaze lingering on her muddy shoes. The mud caked on the soles didn’t match the footprints near the body. He turned to the composed man. “And you? Where were you?”

The man shrugged, his voice calm. “I was further down the path. By the time I got here, they were already looking at the body. By the way… shouldn’t you not be here kid? Where are our parents?” Conan just give him a slight smile “Around… I wanted to play in the rain so I did!” he tried to sound as cheerful and convincing as possible “But little boy…are you not afraid? Come let big sister buy you something” the woman held out her hand while she crouches down to be eye level with Conan, a look of concern on her face.

Conan’s eyes darted to the woman’s coat. Her hand that was not held out towards him were clenched tightly around it, as though holding something inside. ‘What are you hiding?’ “Miss,” he said stepping closer “can I see your hands?” She stiffened. “Why?”

“You’re shaking… my mom said that holding hands can help you feel less scared!” Conan said with fake cheer “Oh! And if there’s something you’re holding onto, it could be important to the case.”

She hesitated, her eyes darting between Conan and the taller man. Then, slowly, she opened her hands, revealing a small bloodstained rock. Her face ashamed and guilty.

Gasps came from the other two men, but Conan remained calm, his mind racing.

“This rock…” Conan murmured, carefully inspecting it. The size and shape matched the wound on the back of the victim’s head. “Were holding this when you came to the body?”

“I—” Her voice cracked. “I… I didn’t—” she paused looking at the two men staring in horrified silence at her and then at Conan, before she nodded and give an apologetic smile “I did…it was just…”

The smaller of the two men seemed to finally snap out of his frozen state as he step in front of Conan and yelled at the woman “Just what!? What could possibly justify you ki-” he look towards Conan “Hurt someone so badly!” meanwhile Conan was looking surprised at being shielded by the stranger ‘Well… That’s new’ he couldn’t help but think. 

The taller man then scoff “I wouldn’t say that he was just hurt… look at him, laying on the wet, dirty, concrete ground in the rain… he is most definitely dea-” “There is a child!” the woman yelled suddenly, surprising everyone. She took a shaky step back, her face pale but calm “It wasn’t supposed to happen… I just wanted him to listen to me. To understand why he did it to my brother. But he laughed at me. He said it wasn’t his fault…”

The truth hit Conan like a thunderbolt. He step out from behind the two men and said softly “He… killed someone close to you, didn’t he?” in the background the two man can be heard arguing about how the little boy is clearly smart enough to know what death is ‘They remind me of them…’ Conan choose to ignore them in favor of listening to the woman.

Her eyes filled with tears. “My brother. He hit him with his car two years ago. He got away with it—called it an accident, and of course the court took his side! He had the money and the power necessary… while my family are just some lowlife nobody” she spits the last part with venom “And now he’s free, living his life like nothing ever happened!” She sank to her knees, the rock slipping from her fingers.

Conan exhaled slowly, piecing together the timeline. She’d come to confront the man in the park, to get closure, and probably brought the rock to scare him. But something had gone wrong. “But big sister… If you just wanted to talk, why did you hit him?” Conan asked gently ‘I feel bad… playing into her weakness like this’.

She shook her head. “I didn’t mean to hit him. I just threw it to scare him, but… But that BASTARD! He insulted my family and gloated in my face” her face contorted in anger “Do you know what he said? He said that my little brother is retarded to not know to stay away from the road! That he did me a favor taking him off our hands… and then he had the gall to ask me to come with him!” the two men and Conan all stayed silent “My little brother was just 9! He was rushing home from school and then he was killed by that monster!”  She buried her face in her hands “And then it I just… threw the rock at him. I didn’t even think to kill him, I just wanted to hurt him!” she began to tremble and cry “I promise it wasn’t intentional! I… I didn’t think that someone as evil as him… could die just like that…”

Conan’s heart ached as he watched her crumble. He could see the pain she carried, the desperation for justice that had driven her to this moment. But justice through violence wasn’t justice at all.

The rain poured relentlessly, drenching the park in cold, unyielding sheets. Conan Edogawa—formerly Shinichi Kudo—stood over the woman, his heart a storm of emotions as she crumpled to her knees in the muddy grass. Her quiet sobs were nearly lost in the thunder and pounding rain, but the anguish on her face struck him deeply.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” she choked out, her hands trembling as she clutched at her soaked coat. “I just wanted him to understand—to feel as scared and hopeless as I was, as my family still are…” Her voice broke, and she buried her face in her hands. The two men gave her sympathetic stares and look towards the dead body of the man with concealed disgust.

Conan clenched his fists, his small body trembling with frustration. He knelt beside her, his tone soft but firm. “I understand how you feel,” he said, his young voice belying the wisdom of someone far older. “Losing someone you love… it’s unbearable. And when the person responsible doesn’t care, it feels like there’s no justice.”

She looked up at him, startled by his words. For a moment, she seemed to forget that she was speaking to a child “But hurting someone… killing someone…” Conan continued, his voice steady, “isn’t justice. It’s revenge. And it won’t bring your brother back.”

Her tear-streaked face tilted toward him, her expression wavering between desperation and defiance. “He ruined everything,” she whispered. “My family was never the same after that night. My brother was everything to us, and he just drove away like nothing happened. How can I live with that?”

“You live by honoring your brother’s memory, not by staining it with something like this,” Conan said, his tone sharper now. “What you’ve done will only bring more pain—pain to his family, and pain to yourself. If you run now, you’ll carry this guilt for the rest of your life. Is that what your brother would want for you?”

Her sobs quieted, and her expression shifted—anger giving way to something else. Guilt. Regret. A flicker of understanding “He wouldn’t want this,” she murmured, her voice trembling “He’d… he’d tell me to be strong. That it’s okay and that I should move on…”

Conan’s gaze softened. “Then be strong now. Running won’t make this better, it won’t change anything. The only way to honor your brother is to face what you’ve done and take responsibility... Not for this man...” he said with a glance towards the dead man “But for your own conscience and guilt… Big sister wanted to take me away from the dead body, she’s kind. A kind person who was hurt” the three adults all look surprise at his words

For a long moment, the woman remained silent, the rain dripping from her hair and clothes. Then, with a shaky breath, she nodded “You’re right,” she said quietly “I can’t run from this anymore. I need to… I need to make this right. For my brother, and for me… Thank you, little boy” she smiled kindly at him and stood up, Conan felt a strange mix of relief and sadness.

“Well then… if you would kindly come with us miss” the taller man said, showing his police badge. The shorter man was also holding out his badge “We are police men from the Tokyo metropolitan police department, you have a right to an attorney” the two men, who turns out to be police officers, said in a firm but not unkind voice ‘I never thought that they would be police officers… although, it does explain why they were so calm with a dead body in front of them’ Conan gave a look around the surrounding, now realizing that the area was boarded off and, while there were police officers around, non ever approach them throughout the time that Conan was asking the three suspects questions.

“You are… police officers?” the woman said with shock and surprise in her voice “But… why…” the taller man step towards her and hold out handcuffs “We were worried that you may try to run or do something to this kid” he said while looking towards Conan “And…we were on a different operation before we found the dead body” he continue to explain as he cuff the woman and covered her hands with his coat.

“It was an undercover job so we couldn’t really reveal ourselves…” the shorter of the two men patted Conan on the head and silently ask whether or not he wants to be picked up, Conan nodded “But our friends had the situation handled while this kid was playing detective. Good job on that kid” he smile down at Conan, at this Conan let out a shy laugh and rub his  head “Hehehe…I really like watching detective shows and reading about detectives”. And with that they head towards the police station ‘First day and I’m already in the polices radar…’ Conan thought to himself ‘Should I just try to run?’ he kept on debating on what best to do all the way to the station.