Post by gent on May 28, 2017 20:39:46 GMT
Summary : Haibara has prepared the latest antidote to APTX 4869, but she isn't sure it's all that effective...
Word count : 1859
Prompt : The final antidote had not worked quite the way it was supposed to...
“Say, Haibara. You’re sure about this, right?”
“I’ve told you before, Kudo-kun, I’ve recreated the antidote to the best of my ability. It should probably work this time,” said Ai Haibara, her lab coat swishing as she mixed chemicals with ease, not even bothering to look at them as she picked and poured with small, expert hands.
They were in Professor Agasa’s lab, and with the Professor having gone out to meet a friend of his, they’d decided to try out the latest antidote which Haibara had been preparing for quite some days now.
“Should probably work?! You don’t sound very confident!”
“It’s an inexact science,” she said, shrugging. “You do realise I’m working from memory alone, considering that all the documents were destroyed by the Black Organisation. And it isn’t the first time I’m giving you the antidote.”
“I suppose, yeah,” said Conan who was sitting opposite her and tapping his fingers nervously on his lap.
“Besides, you seem to be confident of its efficacy already, seeing as how you’re already wearing your adult clothes.”
Conan looked down at the shirt and pants which were too big for him at the moment. But if all went well, after he took the antidote, he’d turn back into Kudo Shinichi, and the clothes would fit perfectly.
“Let’s just say I didn’t want you to see me butt-naked on the off-chance I do turn back into my adult form.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time for that either,” said Ai coolly.
“Oi oi…”
Ai smiled slightly as she continued to watch the solution filter out. The clear white liquid filled drop-by-drop into a vial she’d kept underneath the filtration device. She breathed out as each drop echoed in the sudden silence of the room, as she took in the weight of what the future might hold.
If the antidote worked, both Kudo-kun and she could go back to their adult forms.
But what then?
Neither of them was safe from the Black Organisation. While he might be persuaded into going to America with his parents to hide, what would become of her? She was a runaway, a traitor to the organisation.
They’d never let her go. They’d scorch the earth looking for her, and they’d find her.
And when they did…
“This is the latest antidote, right? Have you tested it on anything before?”
“No,” she lied easily. She turned to look at him.
“I told you, Kudo-kun, I always need you to take it first, so I can observe what happens to your body and decide if I should use it myself. You should be honoured to be chosen as a test subject.”
“As a guinea pig, you mean.” He said, looking exasperated.
There was a small ping from behind her, and she turned to see the filtration equipment was empty, and that the vial was full of a clear liquid.
“It’s done,” she said softly, reaching out and taking the vial in her hand. She’d wanted to encapsulate it and give it to him in the form of a pill, but he’d been too impatient to wait.
This was actually her second try making the latest antidote. She’d actually prepared a sample and consumed it the night before, so she could test it on herself.
But it hadn’t exactly worked as she’d expected it to.
She just hoped it was a minor miscalculation, and that it would work the way it should, this time at least.
“Let me have it!” said Conan, grinning and holding out his hand. She sighed and gave it to him, shouting a silent prayer to the heavens that it would go all right this time.
He held it at eye-level and considered it for a moment. She knew right away that he was thinking of all that would change if he took the drug. There would be no more Edogawa Conan, no more Sleeping Kogoro, and certainly no more Detective Boys.
But it had to be done, right?
Conan was the illusion, Shinichi was real. Once Shinichi came back, Conan would disappear. That was the right thing to do.
Right?
Before she could fully process that, Conan had drunk the contents of the vial in a single gulp. He blinked slowly, grimacing as the antidote burned his throat. She held up her arm and looked at her watch. The symptoms would start in ten seconds.
They started in seven.
Conan let out an almighty wail and clutched his chest, almost doubling over in pain. She fought her inner instinct to help him, and instead counted the seconds off her watch, making sure the symptoms did not vary.
The second stage began, as he started to sweat uncontrollably, and writhed in pain, clutching his throat and chest. He began to thrash around wildly, as inside him, his cells responded to the antidote within him, and began to fight off the APTX.
He screamed - a terrible, bloodcurdling cry as Haibara bit her lip and continued to watch, her knees shaking.
Please come out right, please come out right.
If it didn’t come out right, she didn’t think she could bear to watch him go through that again.
Finally, he entered the last stage, as the growth began. It always started from the legs, as she watched the once-empty pant legs fill out, his legs appearing out of the pant-holes. His body became bigger as well, fitting his clothes perfectly, as his arms and neck elongated. He had already fainted from the pain, so thankfully, she couldn’t hear him screaming.
Finally, as the process came to a close, he flopped down on his side, and she was face-to-face with Kudo Shinichi, high-school detective. She looked down at his unconscious face and felt a mad desire to slap it. But she restrained herself and consented to shaking him by the shoulder.
“Rise and shine, great detective,” she said, hoping against hope that everything was fine.
He stirred and opened his eyes. He got up slowly and looked down at his hands. He ran them down his body and across his face, smiling as he recognised the familiar contours.
Then he turned and spoke to her, and it all went to hell.
“I’m back!” he said, in a squeaky child’s voice.
Haibara’s heart nearly skipped a beat.
“Huh?!” he said. “M-My voice…”
Haibara’s heart beat faster, and she knew this had not turned out well. The same thing that had happened to her the previous night had happened to him as well.
“My voice still sounds like Conan’s!!!” he yelled.
He jumped up and looked in the mirror, to check if he really had changed into Shinichi. For once, Haibara thought he was more shocked than happy to be Shinichi.
“Haibara! Why hasn’t my voice changed?! Why do I sound like Conan?!”
“Hmm, it looks like there was a miscalculation. I might have misaligned the hydrocarbons, causing a slight underdevelopment of certain elements, which led to improper…”
“In English?!”
“I messed up.”
Shinichi slapped his forehead with his hand and slumped down on the sofa.
“You can change it back, right? I’ll get my voice back, right?”
“Well, like I said, it’s an inexact science…”
“Are you kidding me?!” said Shinichi, looking positively terrified. “I can’t walk around like this! At least shrink me back to Conan!”
“I never thought I’d hear those words come out of your mouth.” Said Haibara, cocking her head to one side. “Well, give me some time. I’ll see what I can do.”
Shinichi ran his hands through his hair, looking almost deranged.
“You don’t understand! Ran is coming here!”
Haibara blinked.
“What?! What did you call her here for!?”
“I… was confident I’d get my body back, so I told her I’d go to the zoo with her!”
“Are you an idiot?! There was no guarantee you’d get your body back!”
“I just trusted you to bring me back, okay?!”
Haibara didn’t know whether to be angry or flattered, but her thoughts were cut by the sudden doorbell.
Shinichi jumped. “That’s her!!”
“What do we do now?” she said, wringing her hands.
“I don’t know! Make some excuse and send her away!”
“What do I tell her??”
“I don’t know, make something up! Go!” he said and ran into an adjoining room.
Haibara quickly slipped off her lab coat, turned and had only made half the distance when she saw Ran in front of her.
“I let myself in, the door was unlocked,” said Ran and stopped when she saw Haibara.
“Ah…” said Haibara, at a loss for words.
“Ai-chan, I thought you left with the professor!” she said, looking amazed.
“I… was just…”
“Where’s Shinichi?” said Ran, walking past her and peering across the empty room.
“He…He’s…” she said, frantically thinking of an excuse to come up with. She decided that it would be best to tell her that he had been called away for a case.
“You see, he’s…” she started.
“You’re early, Ran.” Came a familiar voice from the next room.
Haibara turned in shock. It can’t be…
“Sh-Shinichi?” called out Ran, her voice impossibly soft.
“Arriving early was never one of your strong points, Ran. I can only help but wonder what made you do it today? Were you that eager to see me?”
“Who’d be eager to see you…” said Ran, and Haibara thought she heard her voice crack just a little. “You… deduction otaku!”
Shinichi laughed, and Haibara had heard enough to know that it was really him. But how could it be possible? How was he able to reverse the effect of the drug?!
“Come out, Shinichi!”
“Your wish is my command.” He said, and stepped out of the shadows. He gave Ran a half-smile and stepped closer, so his full form was visible.
Haibara and Ran both stared at him. In a flash, Haibara understood how he’d got Shinichi’s voice back.
“Shinichi…” said Ran. “Why are you wearing Conan-kun’s bowtie?”
Shinichi grinned in a sheepish sort of way. “I think it looks good with this shirt, right?”
Ran scrunched up her face.
“No, it doesn’t! Take it off!” she said and she reached for it.
“No!” said Haibara and Shinichi in unison. Ran looked taken aback.
“Ai-chan…” she said.
“I-…I think it looks good too,” stammered out Haibara.
“Ah, see! You heard the lady. Now let’s go, it’s almost time, said Shinichi,” speaking through the voice-changing bow-tie on his neck.
Ignoring a stammering Ran’s protests, he led her out, not before flashing a look at Haibara, which she took to mean that she’d better work on the antidote right away.
She shook her head ruefully as she watched the couple walk away from her, Ran still telling him that the bowtie was no good, as Shinichi tried to keep her hands away from it.
She smiled as she looked at the retreating figure of Kudo Shinichi wearing the trademark bowtie of Edogawa Conan. She had wondered if Conan was an illusion and if
Shinichi were real, and whether Conan would just disappear if Shinichi came back.
Now she knew her answer. As long as Kudo Shinichi was around, Edogawa Conan would never be far away.
Word count : 1859
Prompt : The final antidote had not worked quite the way it was supposed to...
A Matter of Change
“Say, Haibara. You’re sure about this, right?”
“I’ve told you before, Kudo-kun, I’ve recreated the antidote to the best of my ability. It should probably work this time,” said Ai Haibara, her lab coat swishing as she mixed chemicals with ease, not even bothering to look at them as she picked and poured with small, expert hands.
They were in Professor Agasa’s lab, and with the Professor having gone out to meet a friend of his, they’d decided to try out the latest antidote which Haibara had been preparing for quite some days now.
“Should probably work?! You don’t sound very confident!”
“It’s an inexact science,” she said, shrugging. “You do realise I’m working from memory alone, considering that all the documents were destroyed by the Black Organisation. And it isn’t the first time I’m giving you the antidote.”
“I suppose, yeah,” said Conan who was sitting opposite her and tapping his fingers nervously on his lap.
“Besides, you seem to be confident of its efficacy already, seeing as how you’re already wearing your adult clothes.”
Conan looked down at the shirt and pants which were too big for him at the moment. But if all went well, after he took the antidote, he’d turn back into Kudo Shinichi, and the clothes would fit perfectly.
“Let’s just say I didn’t want you to see me butt-naked on the off-chance I do turn back into my adult form.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time for that either,” said Ai coolly.
“Oi oi…”
Ai smiled slightly as she continued to watch the solution filter out. The clear white liquid filled drop-by-drop into a vial she’d kept underneath the filtration device. She breathed out as each drop echoed in the sudden silence of the room, as she took in the weight of what the future might hold.
If the antidote worked, both Kudo-kun and she could go back to their adult forms.
But what then?
Neither of them was safe from the Black Organisation. While he might be persuaded into going to America with his parents to hide, what would become of her? She was a runaway, a traitor to the organisation.
They’d never let her go. They’d scorch the earth looking for her, and they’d find her.
And when they did…
“This is the latest antidote, right? Have you tested it on anything before?”
“No,” she lied easily. She turned to look at him.
“I told you, Kudo-kun, I always need you to take it first, so I can observe what happens to your body and decide if I should use it myself. You should be honoured to be chosen as a test subject.”
“As a guinea pig, you mean.” He said, looking exasperated.
There was a small ping from behind her, and she turned to see the filtration equipment was empty, and that the vial was full of a clear liquid.
“It’s done,” she said softly, reaching out and taking the vial in her hand. She’d wanted to encapsulate it and give it to him in the form of a pill, but he’d been too impatient to wait.
This was actually her second try making the latest antidote. She’d actually prepared a sample and consumed it the night before, so she could test it on herself.
But it hadn’t exactly worked as she’d expected it to.
She just hoped it was a minor miscalculation, and that it would work the way it should, this time at least.
“Let me have it!” said Conan, grinning and holding out his hand. She sighed and gave it to him, shouting a silent prayer to the heavens that it would go all right this time.
He held it at eye-level and considered it for a moment. She knew right away that he was thinking of all that would change if he took the drug. There would be no more Edogawa Conan, no more Sleeping Kogoro, and certainly no more Detective Boys.
But it had to be done, right?
Conan was the illusion, Shinichi was real. Once Shinichi came back, Conan would disappear. That was the right thing to do.
Right?
Before she could fully process that, Conan had drunk the contents of the vial in a single gulp. He blinked slowly, grimacing as the antidote burned his throat. She held up her arm and looked at her watch. The symptoms would start in ten seconds.
They started in seven.
Conan let out an almighty wail and clutched his chest, almost doubling over in pain. She fought her inner instinct to help him, and instead counted the seconds off her watch, making sure the symptoms did not vary.
The second stage began, as he started to sweat uncontrollably, and writhed in pain, clutching his throat and chest. He began to thrash around wildly, as inside him, his cells responded to the antidote within him, and began to fight off the APTX.
He screamed - a terrible, bloodcurdling cry as Haibara bit her lip and continued to watch, her knees shaking.
Please come out right, please come out right.
If it didn’t come out right, she didn’t think she could bear to watch him go through that again.
Finally, he entered the last stage, as the growth began. It always started from the legs, as she watched the once-empty pant legs fill out, his legs appearing out of the pant-holes. His body became bigger as well, fitting his clothes perfectly, as his arms and neck elongated. He had already fainted from the pain, so thankfully, she couldn’t hear him screaming.
Finally, as the process came to a close, he flopped down on his side, and she was face-to-face with Kudo Shinichi, high-school detective. She looked down at his unconscious face and felt a mad desire to slap it. But she restrained herself and consented to shaking him by the shoulder.
“Rise and shine, great detective,” she said, hoping against hope that everything was fine.
He stirred and opened his eyes. He got up slowly and looked down at his hands. He ran them down his body and across his face, smiling as he recognised the familiar contours.
Then he turned and spoke to her, and it all went to hell.
“I’m back!” he said, in a squeaky child’s voice.
Haibara’s heart nearly skipped a beat.
“Huh?!” he said. “M-My voice…”
Haibara’s heart beat faster, and she knew this had not turned out well. The same thing that had happened to her the previous night had happened to him as well.
“My voice still sounds like Conan’s!!!” he yelled.
He jumped up and looked in the mirror, to check if he really had changed into Shinichi. For once, Haibara thought he was more shocked than happy to be Shinichi.
“Haibara! Why hasn’t my voice changed?! Why do I sound like Conan?!”
“Hmm, it looks like there was a miscalculation. I might have misaligned the hydrocarbons, causing a slight underdevelopment of certain elements, which led to improper…”
“In English?!”
“I messed up.”
Shinichi slapped his forehead with his hand and slumped down on the sofa.
“You can change it back, right? I’ll get my voice back, right?”
“Well, like I said, it’s an inexact science…”
“Are you kidding me?!” said Shinichi, looking positively terrified. “I can’t walk around like this! At least shrink me back to Conan!”
“I never thought I’d hear those words come out of your mouth.” Said Haibara, cocking her head to one side. “Well, give me some time. I’ll see what I can do.”
Shinichi ran his hands through his hair, looking almost deranged.
“You don’t understand! Ran is coming here!”
Haibara blinked.
“What?! What did you call her here for!?”
“I… was confident I’d get my body back, so I told her I’d go to the zoo with her!”
“Are you an idiot?! There was no guarantee you’d get your body back!”
“I just trusted you to bring me back, okay?!”
Haibara didn’t know whether to be angry or flattered, but her thoughts were cut by the sudden doorbell.
Shinichi jumped. “That’s her!!”
“What do we do now?” she said, wringing her hands.
“I don’t know! Make some excuse and send her away!”
“What do I tell her??”
“I don’t know, make something up! Go!” he said and ran into an adjoining room.
Haibara quickly slipped off her lab coat, turned and had only made half the distance when she saw Ran in front of her.
“I let myself in, the door was unlocked,” said Ran and stopped when she saw Haibara.
“Ah…” said Haibara, at a loss for words.
“Ai-chan, I thought you left with the professor!” she said, looking amazed.
“I… was just…”
“Where’s Shinichi?” said Ran, walking past her and peering across the empty room.
“He…He’s…” she said, frantically thinking of an excuse to come up with. She decided that it would be best to tell her that he had been called away for a case.
“You see, he’s…” she started.
“You’re early, Ran.” Came a familiar voice from the next room.
Haibara turned in shock. It can’t be…
“Sh-Shinichi?” called out Ran, her voice impossibly soft.
“Arriving early was never one of your strong points, Ran. I can only help but wonder what made you do it today? Were you that eager to see me?”
“Who’d be eager to see you…” said Ran, and Haibara thought she heard her voice crack just a little. “You… deduction otaku!”
Shinichi laughed, and Haibara had heard enough to know that it was really him. But how could it be possible? How was he able to reverse the effect of the drug?!
“Come out, Shinichi!”
“Your wish is my command.” He said, and stepped out of the shadows. He gave Ran a half-smile and stepped closer, so his full form was visible.
Haibara and Ran both stared at him. In a flash, Haibara understood how he’d got Shinichi’s voice back.
“Shinichi…” said Ran. “Why are you wearing Conan-kun’s bowtie?”
Shinichi grinned in a sheepish sort of way. “I think it looks good with this shirt, right?”
Ran scrunched up her face.
“No, it doesn’t! Take it off!” she said and she reached for it.
“No!” said Haibara and Shinichi in unison. Ran looked taken aback.
“Ai-chan…” she said.
“I-…I think it looks good too,” stammered out Haibara.
“Ah, see! You heard the lady. Now let’s go, it’s almost time, said Shinichi,” speaking through the voice-changing bow-tie on his neck.
Ignoring a stammering Ran’s protests, he led her out, not before flashing a look at Haibara, which she took to mean that she’d better work on the antidote right away.
She shook her head ruefully as she watched the couple walk away from her, Ran still telling him that the bowtie was no good, as Shinichi tried to keep her hands away from it.
She smiled as she looked at the retreating figure of Kudo Shinichi wearing the trademark bowtie of Edogawa Conan. She had wondered if Conan was an illusion and if
Shinichi were real, and whether Conan would just disappear if Shinichi came back.
Now she knew her answer. As long as Kudo Shinichi was around, Edogawa Conan would never be far away.