Categories > Anime/Manga > Detective Conan > Magician's Waltz
Chapter Two: Actions and Reactions
We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. --Herman Melville
When I was younger I drempt the silly dreams any child dreams of. I drempt of faeries and wizards, of magicians who pulled more then a rabbit out of their hat.
But as time passed the dreams of fairy creatures and the nightmares that haunt you from under your bed faded away, replaced with logic and fact, dreams of fingerprints and DNA matching. Legends and myth have no place in a logical mind.
But...he stayed.
I was seven when I dreamed of the Mad Hatter. Tall, dark, insane perfection. He invited me to a tea party on the moon. It went well, as far as dream tea parties with insane fictional characters do. I remember laughter...and I remember tears, as I said good-bye, the dawn approaching.
I never forgot that dream, and I never forgot that smile, as he bestowed a kiss softer then an angel's wing to my cheek.
So why can't I see that smile any more? Why has it vanished in a veil of red and the screams of hundreds?
Why can't I see my Mad Hatter any more?
Saguru was jarred from his musings by a tapping at his window. Standing, the young detective stretched his arms over his head, working the knot from his back as he moved over to the window and unlatched it, opening it enough to allow in his hawk, watching as Watson settled herself on his chair.
He had had the bird for years, trained her, cared for her, and he KNEW her. Every position, every move, every slight tilt meant something to him.
She had failed.
She had not found her prey and Kid was still missing. Another dead end.
Sighing, he reached into the fridge that contained her 'rewards', heating it up to a nice body temperature before giving it to her, petting her lightly on her head before returning to his work. He stared, unseeing at the multitudes of newsprint, the hastily scribbled notes and fact sheets, the xeroxed bits of evidence.
None of it was leading him anywhere and he was getting to the point of just wanting to fall down and simply cry, wondering if everything was truly gone.
His Mad Hatter was truly gone and dead.
-
It was hard, being the wife to one of the most wanted men in the world. That fact had always amused her in the dark nights, waiting for him to come home. Her husband, a showman, an actor, thief king...was wanted more then murders and rapists.
Maybe it had to do with the fact he tended to tweak the noses of the kind officers who chased him.
But as hard as the role of wife was, it was a hundred times harder, a million times more terrifying, to be the mother.
Her BABY was the one lying on the cold, stained futon, shivering in spite of the heat in the air. The doctors had long since come and gone for the day, shaking their heads. The news had not been what she wanted, but what she was expecting.
The shock and head trauma was too much for him. He was damned lucky to have stayed as awake as he did to get down. Now that the initial trauma has passed, it's jut a waiting game.
She knelt next to her son, adjusting the blankets around him, baring his shoulder so she could check on the bandages. No fresh blood, that was always good. They had re-opened the barley stitched wound moving him and she was worried about infection. This basement wasn't the most sterile of locations.
Coma's don't usually last longer then two or four weeks, but IF he'll wake up is a question. He could regain full consciousness, or he could remain in a vegetative state, we just don't know. And even if he regains consciousness, we don't know what will happen after. Very few people awake without any complications.
She unwound the bandage over the shoulder, setting it just so before wrapping it again, making sure there was pressure on the wound but not enough to form a tourniquet and cut off blood supply. That done, she brushed Kaito's bangs from in front of his face, sighing softly as her fingers caressed the gauze around his head, the bald patch. He was going to hate that when he woke up.
Make sure to keep watch on the machines, check them every twenty minutes, more if you have the alarms silent. I would really prefer a nurse be stationed her but I understand the...unique circumstances that guard against it. Call me, any time, if there's a change. Call for an ambulance if you have to. I'd rather have his life safe then his reputation.
Placing a gentle kiss on her son's temple she carefully laid down, a feat in itself with the sensors, iv's, and cords. Settled, she pulled her son closer, holding him as she allowed her eyes to close. It had been years since Kaito had been seven, a decade in fact, but he felt the same in her arms, curled up beside him as he did so long ago when she waited for his father to come home.
“I'm sorry I wasn't there to catch you, Kaito.” she whispered, a tear sliding down her face, falling onto Kaito's cheek.
-
Aoko stared out at the night sky from the roof she was sitting on, counting the stars and making a wish on each one. There was a bang from the house and she shook her head as her father cursed, a pot going flying out the kitchen window. Her father wasn't the best cook in town.
Returning her gaze to the stars she closed her eyes, picturing them in her head, a sea of diamonds on midnight blue velvet. “Star light, star bright, stars I see tonight, wish I may, wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight,” she whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek.
“I wish he'd come home.” she said before opening her eyes, ignoring the tears as she watched the stars above her twinkle on and off with their merry little beat, eyes tracking the satellites moving in orbit. She was seventeen, old enough to no longer believe in the magic of the stars, but young enough to wish it was real.
“I miss him,” she whispered to the stars, falling back to lay on the flat of the roof, nothing in sight but those stars. “I miss him so much. Why did he disappear? Where is he? Why hasn't he come home...or called...”
The stars held no answers to her questions, but patiently listened as the girl poured out her heart, twinkling away.
“I need him...give him back.”
-
There was a knock at the door and she raised her head, sleep muffling her eyes as she looked at Jii as he moved closer, checking the monitors around Kaito's body. “I'm sorry, I must have dozed off.”
“Quite alright, ma'am. I've been here checking since you came down and fell asleep. Caring for the young master is no hardship.”
She smiled as she carefully untangled herself from her son and wires, sliding off the futon. “You can go home now, if you wish. I'm quite awake.”
Jii smiled, giving a final check after switching the IV bags. “I've got a few good hours left in me, if you wish to go shopping or simply relax.”
“What this family would have done without you I have no idea. You're a true lifesaver.”
“All in a days work. My life would be quite a bit more dull without the masters.”
“Too true, Jii, too true.” she said and headed for the door, gathering the bedding that needed to be washed.
Jii followed her, pausing as the woman stopped and turned, looking back through the door at her son. He reached out, placing a hand on her arm and felt the tremble as his friend struggled to keep from breaking apart.
“I want him to wake up, Jii. I want him to open those eyes and give me some wisecrack that will do nothing more then make me want to hit him with a pillow.” she whispered, voice breaking.
“I know, ma'am. I want the same. But the doctors said we have to wait...and pray. And that's what we'll do. And hopefully, he'll wake up someday.”
“Someday,” she whispered, wiping her teary eyes. “Someday is very hard to face.” She turned headed through the 'work' room, towards the paining of her husband, her own poker mask forming on her face as she stepped through it, ready to face the day.
Jii shut the door behind him, following the woman, too far away to hear the small alarm going off.
In a dark room, under the Kuroba house, on a small, dirty futon, a blanket shifted and two eyes slowly opened, blinking. “Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?” he muttered, shifting as he drifted off towards sleep.
TBC
We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. --Herman Melville
When I was younger I drempt the silly dreams any child dreams of. I drempt of faeries and wizards, of magicians who pulled more then a rabbit out of their hat.
But as time passed the dreams of fairy creatures and the nightmares that haunt you from under your bed faded away, replaced with logic and fact, dreams of fingerprints and DNA matching. Legends and myth have no place in a logical mind.
But...he stayed.
I was seven when I dreamed of the Mad Hatter. Tall, dark, insane perfection. He invited me to a tea party on the moon. It went well, as far as dream tea parties with insane fictional characters do. I remember laughter...and I remember tears, as I said good-bye, the dawn approaching.
I never forgot that dream, and I never forgot that smile, as he bestowed a kiss softer then an angel's wing to my cheek.
So why can't I see that smile any more? Why has it vanished in a veil of red and the screams of hundreds?
Why can't I see my Mad Hatter any more?
Saguru was jarred from his musings by a tapping at his window. Standing, the young detective stretched his arms over his head, working the knot from his back as he moved over to the window and unlatched it, opening it enough to allow in his hawk, watching as Watson settled herself on his chair.
He had had the bird for years, trained her, cared for her, and he KNEW her. Every position, every move, every slight tilt meant something to him.
She had failed.
She had not found her prey and Kid was still missing. Another dead end.
Sighing, he reached into the fridge that contained her 'rewards', heating it up to a nice body temperature before giving it to her, petting her lightly on her head before returning to his work. He stared, unseeing at the multitudes of newsprint, the hastily scribbled notes and fact sheets, the xeroxed bits of evidence.
None of it was leading him anywhere and he was getting to the point of just wanting to fall down and simply cry, wondering if everything was truly gone.
His Mad Hatter was truly gone and dead.
-
It was hard, being the wife to one of the most wanted men in the world. That fact had always amused her in the dark nights, waiting for him to come home. Her husband, a showman, an actor, thief king...was wanted more then murders and rapists.
Maybe it had to do with the fact he tended to tweak the noses of the kind officers who chased him.
But as hard as the role of wife was, it was a hundred times harder, a million times more terrifying, to be the mother.
Her BABY was the one lying on the cold, stained futon, shivering in spite of the heat in the air. The doctors had long since come and gone for the day, shaking their heads. The news had not been what she wanted, but what she was expecting.
The shock and head trauma was too much for him. He was damned lucky to have stayed as awake as he did to get down. Now that the initial trauma has passed, it's jut a waiting game.
She knelt next to her son, adjusting the blankets around him, baring his shoulder so she could check on the bandages. No fresh blood, that was always good. They had re-opened the barley stitched wound moving him and she was worried about infection. This basement wasn't the most sterile of locations.
Coma's don't usually last longer then two or four weeks, but IF he'll wake up is a question. He could regain full consciousness, or he could remain in a vegetative state, we just don't know. And even if he regains consciousness, we don't know what will happen after. Very few people awake without any complications.
She unwound the bandage over the shoulder, setting it just so before wrapping it again, making sure there was pressure on the wound but not enough to form a tourniquet and cut off blood supply. That done, she brushed Kaito's bangs from in front of his face, sighing softly as her fingers caressed the gauze around his head, the bald patch. He was going to hate that when he woke up.
Make sure to keep watch on the machines, check them every twenty minutes, more if you have the alarms silent. I would really prefer a nurse be stationed her but I understand the...unique circumstances that guard against it. Call me, any time, if there's a change. Call for an ambulance if you have to. I'd rather have his life safe then his reputation.
Placing a gentle kiss on her son's temple she carefully laid down, a feat in itself with the sensors, iv's, and cords. Settled, she pulled her son closer, holding him as she allowed her eyes to close. It had been years since Kaito had been seven, a decade in fact, but he felt the same in her arms, curled up beside him as he did so long ago when she waited for his father to come home.
“I'm sorry I wasn't there to catch you, Kaito.” she whispered, a tear sliding down her face, falling onto Kaito's cheek.
-
Aoko stared out at the night sky from the roof she was sitting on, counting the stars and making a wish on each one. There was a bang from the house and she shook her head as her father cursed, a pot going flying out the kitchen window. Her father wasn't the best cook in town.
Returning her gaze to the stars she closed her eyes, picturing them in her head, a sea of diamonds on midnight blue velvet. “Star light, star bright, stars I see tonight, wish I may, wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight,” she whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek.
“I wish he'd come home.” she said before opening her eyes, ignoring the tears as she watched the stars above her twinkle on and off with their merry little beat, eyes tracking the satellites moving in orbit. She was seventeen, old enough to no longer believe in the magic of the stars, but young enough to wish it was real.
“I miss him,” she whispered to the stars, falling back to lay on the flat of the roof, nothing in sight but those stars. “I miss him so much. Why did he disappear? Where is he? Why hasn't he come home...or called...”
The stars held no answers to her questions, but patiently listened as the girl poured out her heart, twinkling away.
“I need him...give him back.”
-
There was a knock at the door and she raised her head, sleep muffling her eyes as she looked at Jii as he moved closer, checking the monitors around Kaito's body. “I'm sorry, I must have dozed off.”
“Quite alright, ma'am. I've been here checking since you came down and fell asleep. Caring for the young master is no hardship.”
She smiled as she carefully untangled herself from her son and wires, sliding off the futon. “You can go home now, if you wish. I'm quite awake.”
Jii smiled, giving a final check after switching the IV bags. “I've got a few good hours left in me, if you wish to go shopping or simply relax.”
“What this family would have done without you I have no idea. You're a true lifesaver.”
“All in a days work. My life would be quite a bit more dull without the masters.”
“Too true, Jii, too true.” she said and headed for the door, gathering the bedding that needed to be washed.
Jii followed her, pausing as the woman stopped and turned, looking back through the door at her son. He reached out, placing a hand on her arm and felt the tremble as his friend struggled to keep from breaking apart.
“I want him to wake up, Jii. I want him to open those eyes and give me some wisecrack that will do nothing more then make me want to hit him with a pillow.” she whispered, voice breaking.
“I know, ma'am. I want the same. But the doctors said we have to wait...and pray. And that's what we'll do. And hopefully, he'll wake up someday.”
“Someday,” she whispered, wiping her teary eyes. “Someday is very hard to face.” She turned headed through the 'work' room, towards the paining of her husband, her own poker mask forming on her face as she stepped through it, ready to face the day.
Jii shut the door behind him, following the woman, too far away to hear the small alarm going off.
In a dark room, under the Kuroba house, on a small, dirty futon, a blanket shifted and two eyes slowly opened, blinking. “Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?” he muttered, shifting as he drifted off towards sleep.
TBC
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