Chapter Text
Kaito clasped his hands together in satisfaction as he watched the safe doors slide open, the creak of its giant metal hinges echoing through the corridor.
He quickly activated the dummy he’d prepared and sent it into the interior, waiting for the sound of the guards charging at it. When it was time, he pressed the button in his pocket, triumphantly listening to the guards groaning and passing out from the sleeping gas.
As quickly as he could manage he dragged the guards out of the room, tied them up, and tossed them around the corner, then he slipped back into the safe, shutting the door. Luckily he already had an escape route planned (three, in fact), so getting back out through the actual safe door would be his last resort.
He scanned the room, the familiar gray and purple walls resting gently in the light. The tall stone pillars lining the room towered like giants, beckoning.
He checked his watch, doing the silent countdown in his head. 3…2…1…
All of a sudden the lights went dark, the only light left in the room being the faint lamps hung behind the purple stained glass windows embedded in the walls. Perfect. The power had gone off at the exact time he’d planned. The security cameras should’ve been off too, and even if they weren’t, most likely the entire police squadron would be in a panic, trying to get the lights back on.
“Hey, KID, you okay?” came Conan’s voice through their communicator.
“Yep. All it took was some knockout gas to get in. Seriously, these guys underestimate me way too much.”
“Okay, good, but I’m still worried about—“
“Well I’m already here, so even if I wanted to, it’s too late for me to back out of it.”
“No, you don’t get it. Whoever killed Sherilyn Tan obviously carries some vendetta against you if they decided to frame you for it. That means that you could be—“
“Just who exactly do you think you’re talking to?” Kaito laughed. He couldn’t, didn’t reveal the nervousness he felt as well. It would distract him. He had to always remember his poker face. “Just relax and let me do my job.”
“Just get the gem and get out of there!”
“Jeez, alright, alright,” he muttered. He reached to turn it off just as he heard Conan’s final warning. “And be careful, okay?”
“Of course, mei-tantei,” he said. He turned his attention back to the safe. “Now then…” He pulled out the remote control he’d pickpocketed from the millionaire, Mr. Chen. He pressed the button he remembered seeing Mr. Chen press, and waited for the column to appear from the floor. The rectangular steel pillar appeared in front of the center column, the Lapis Fist gleaming elegantly in the clutches of the karate belt. It shone dazzlingly, azure light drawing him in. He didn’t need the belt, all he needed was the gem. As quietly as he could manage he unlocked the case and took a tool from his pocket, carefully removing the jewel from its place. It came out cleanly with a satisfying pop. Kaito quickly placed it in his pocket, straightened the belt on its pedestal, then pushed the remote control again and watched it sink back into the ground.
“Alright, I got it,” Kaito said into his communicator. “I’ll be back soon—“
He stopped, carefully whipping his head around the room.
“Uh, Kid? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just thought I heard something.” He slowly reached his hand into his jacket pocket, pulling out his card gun.
“Okay, well get out of there! If you don’t—“
“I know, I know…” Kaito whispered. He tried to steady his breathing. His heart had started palpitating anxiously against his ribcage, sweat breaking out on his face.
It was impossible. He hadn’t heard the safe door open, and when he looked back at it, it was still firmly closed, like the boulder sealing an exit to a cave. Even if the person had snuck in somewhere else, Kaito knew he would’ve heard it. No matter how cautious you were, you’d always make some noise, no matter how quiet you were. If someone had managed to sneak in here without him noticing…
No. It’d be okay. He’d make it back. He was Kaito Kid. Maybe he was just going paranoid. Imagining things. It had to be.
He’d promised…
Tap.
There it was again, that faint footstep he’d heard earlier. He turned toward where he’d heard it. No one was there. He took a cautious step away from the central pillar.
Should he call out? Just quickly leave? If there really was someone else in here with him, even if he tried to leave, it was very possible that they’d get him before he could leave.
Maybe Conan was right. Maybe he shouldn’t have come.
But he had to. If he didn’t…
He shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. He had to focus. He’d make it out. He just had to figure out what to do. Maybe he could use the sleeping gas he had left. It’d hopefully be enough to fill most of the room, and while they were distracted, he could find the perpetrator, tie him up, and then get out. They’d murdered someone. It made his blood boil in anger.
Tap. Tap. There they were again. This time louder.
He used his other hand to reach for the remaining sleeping gas bombs he had.
“Kid, get out of there. Get out of there!”
“I know, I know!” he hissed back. “Just give me a minute.”
Tap. Tap. Each footstep was a hammer engraving fear into his heart. Maybe he’d faced Snake while they had guns pointed at his head, but this was different. This was not knowing where someone was coming from, and knowing they were targeting him.
Tap. Tap. They’d grown into echoes in his head. He couldn’t wait any longer.
“Who’s there?!” he called. “Show yourself!”
Tap. Tap. There. Right behind him.
Forget the smoke bombs. He’d almost forgotten about the cards he’d had loaded with it. He whipped around, shooting a card.
It hit nothing, only the empty air.
Impossible.
There should’ve been someone there. They couldn’t have—
Then he felt the iron barbs rip the flesh of his back, electricity being inserted like lightning through his veins.
He cried out in pain, card gun dropping from his hand, his body falling to the floor with a bang. Everything shook and hurt, he could not move. He gasped, trying to reach for his weapon, when he noticed something that had rolled out of his pocket, just a bit from his left.
The sapphire.
He did not see his attacker, he only saw a gloved hand snatch it up and make it disappear.
“Oi, Kid?! What happened? Are you—“
Kaito cried out again as the stun gun pierced his skin once more. His vision darkened, and he was helpless as he listened to the culprit pluck his communicator out of his ear, crush it under his foot, then proceeded to pull out a gun from his pocket, one shot being all it took to smash Kaito’s weapon into bits.
Then he fell unconscious, oblivious to the cold, dark water beginning to surround him on all sides, engulfing him, swallowing him.
~~
-1 Day Earlier-
Kaito couldn’t exactly say he was pleased when Aoko called him and woke him up at 6 in the morning.
“Geez, Aoko. This is only my third day away, you miss me already?”
“Yes, Bakaito,” she sighed into the phone.
Kaito forced himself out of bed. The mei-tantei was still asleep, so Kaito wandered to the couch in the other room and plopped himself down there.
“But why call me now?” He said. “It’s, like, 7 in the morning in Japan, and 6 over here.”
“Even if you’re away, I thought I might as well keep you on a good schedule! Don’t forget, Chikage-san wanted me to get you up early, even on weekends. So I might as well annoy you even when you’re away.”
“Ha-ha…” he muttered. “Well, you’ve woken me up. I’ll see you on—“
“Wait, Kaito, don’t hang up yet!”
“Ah, what now?” he said, bored yawning escaping his lips.
“Isn’t it true that a murder recently occurred at the Marina Bay Sands?”
“Yeah, why?”
“And Kaito Kid is the one apparently behind it?”
“Yeah, ‘apparently’. That doesn’t mean he did it though, right? I thought he never hurt people at his heists…”
“I…I know…” Kaito could almost imagine the tearfulness in her voice solidified, crystal tears slowly making their way down her cheeks. “I just….I’m worried…”
“Hey,” he said. “Hey. Why’re you so worried? It’s—“
“But…Kaito…”
Then it hit him. Now he understood. “You’re worried about me?” he said, his voice almost a whisper.
“Y-Yes…”
“…” The only sounds in his ear was Aoko’s light sniffing. “Hey,” he said quietly. “Aoko.”
The sniffling stopped.
“Aoko, listen to me. I’ll be fine, alright? Anyone tries to get their hands on me, I’ll surprise them with an explosion of doves, confetti, and playing cards.”
“…Promise me that you’ll be okay? That you’ll still be in one piece when I get there on Friday?”
“…I promise.”
Kaito could imagine the smile forming at the corners of her lips. “See you in two days.”
“In two days.” He responded.
Then he hung up.
He rubbed his eyes in exhaustion, suddenly surprised at finding light tears there.
Someone nearby cleared their throat. Kaito’s head whipped upwards so hard he almost got whiplash. Conan was standing there awkwardly, looking like he was trying to decide whether to look at him or at the floor.
“You okay?”
“Y-Yeah…” he said. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“What’s with you worrying about me all of a sudden?”
“It’s just what I said. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“…” Kaito sighed tiredly, shut his phone and shoved it quickly into his pocket. He got up and edged his way around the pint-sized detective, heading for his bag.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who was that?”
“…No one.” Kaito didn’t turn back to look at Conan. “Listen, I have to finish my preparations. Just let me be for a bit, okay?”
If Conan responded, he didn’t hear it. But that was fine. Kaito found himself lost in thought again. He thought of Aoko and her voice, all of the new tricks he’d been practicing that he wanted to show her when he got back. He thought of the memories they’d had.
And yet, why did he feel filled with dread?
He couldn’t even believe himself anymore.
“‘No one’?” he’d said.
It wasn’t true.
She was everything.
~~
As much as he wanted to stop, Conan could only grit his teeth in worry as he teared his way through the streets, weaving in and out of the crowd faster than he’d ever moved in his life.
The last thing he’d heard from the communicator was Kid’s cry of pain, along with the faint crackle of electricity. Someone must’ve caught him off guard and got him with a stun gun…
Dang it. He’d told Kid not to go. Must the thief always be so stubborn?
No, he’d focus on that later. What was important was getting back to the manor to try to help him. If someone had caught the Kaito Kid off guard, then what did that say about the culprit? No matter who he was, the least Conan knew was that the thief was in danger.
No…don’t die, Kid…
He could try to call Ran, but it wasn’t like “Arthur Hirai” had Ran’s phone number, and the only phones he had on him were Conan’s and Shinichi’s—
Wait. Kid had gone there disguised as Shinichi. It would make SO much sense for Conan to call her on Shinichi’s phone—
No, no no! I forgot Kid still has my gadgets locked up somewhere. Even if I went back to the hotel and found them, something will have definitely happened to him by then.
So he continued to run. Continued to shove through the crowd, running as fast as his short legs could take him. He would’ve given anything to have his skateboard with him, so he could make it back to the manor in a quicker time.
The second he arrived, he shoved through the crowd of guards, soon finding himself in the courtyard where Kid had faced off against Makoto. Leon Lowe and his bodyguard, Rishi Ramanathan, Rachel Cheongu, Mark Aidan and John Han Chen, as well as Inspector Nakamori and the large police squadron were all standing there surrounding Makoto, most of them pestering him with questions.
“Ah, Arthur-kun, there you are!” Ran’s voice came from behind him. “Where’ve you be—“
“Sorry, Ran-neechan, but there’s no time!” He ran to the crowd and tugged on Leon’s jacket.
“Hmm? What do you want, Arthur-kun? Can’t you see we’re—“
“Leon-san, I promise I’ll explain how I know later, but right now we need to get to the safe!”
“What? And why’s that?”
“Kid is in danger!” Conan found himself shouting, surprised by the waver in his voice. Maybe it wasn’t just because he didn’t like seeing people die. Maybe it was because he probably wouldn’t be able to get back to Japan if something happened to him. Maybe…maybe it was just because he’d actually started to see Kid as a friend.
“What?!” Inspector Nakamori cried. “How do you know?!”
“I said I’ll explain later! If we don’t go right now though, he might die!”
“Alright, alright,” Leon held up a hand for silence. “Everyone calm down. Let’s head there now.” He raised an arm and dashed off, the rest of the crowd following him.
Kid…please, don’t die, Kid!
~~
Kaito came back to his sense and found himself dying.
He found himself surrounded on all sides by cold, dark water, choking him, enveloping him, sucking away his life.
His first instinct was one filled with panic. He was dying. Drowning. Unable to escape—
Calm down. Keep your poker face. You’re Kaito Kid. You can make it out of this.
The safe was almost completely filled with water, maybe an inch or two left from the top. He’d take it. He’d take whatever he could get. He quickly swam for the top, grateful for the mere second of air he could get before the water finally entangled him once more.
He tried to steady his thoughts, tried to calm himself down. He had to observe his environment, and fast, and figure out a plan to get out of there. The entire safe was now filled with water, dark currents pulling at every surface. The only light came from the lights behind the stained glass panels on the walls. The water that was filling the room seemed to be coming from multiple grates scattered throughout the area. If whoever had knocked him out and left him here had turned the water on, then he assumed the switch to turn it off wasn’t anywhere within the safe. And even if it was, it wouldn’t change the fact that he was still trapped underwater.
Okay, so he either had to find a way to open the safe and get out of there, or to drain the water.
He knew the average person could only hold their breath underwater for about two minutes, maybe more depending on how healthy the person was.
The thought of him possibly only having two minutes left to live terrified him.
So he swam over to the safe door, went to desperate work at trying to pull it open. He tried to turn on the panel of buttons, but they were not responding to him merely tapping it. He supposed it was either from the water, or the criminal had disabled it.
So that just left trying to find some kind of grate or drain. If Kaito’s internal timer was correct, then he had around one and a half minutes left. He scanned his eyes around the safe desperately, his dark locks floating about wildly in front of his eyes.
Then he saw it.
He saw over to it desperately. It was his only hope left, the only thing that could save his life now. He tugged at it once, twice, but it wouldn’t budge. The tiny, minute holes of the drain were blocked underneath by some kind of seal, making it impossible for the water to drain out.
No.
He pulled on it once more.
No, no, no!
He should’ve suspected that the drain would be sealed firmly so he couldn’t remove it. He should’ve taken more precautions when approaching this heist. He should’ve listened to the mei-tantei, or at least been more on his guard. He should’ve just left as soon as he’d taken the jewel, not stopped because he was nervous when he’d heard a tiny noise.
I’ll make it out, he’d thought.
I have to! I-I can’t…I have to…I have to see her again!
His card gun wouldn’t be able to help him. Even if it could, it wouldn’t have the strength and velocity it would’ve had if the room wasn’t filled with water.
His normal tools for magic couldn’t help him, not when he was underwater
The blade of the pocketknife he carried with him was too big to fit in the miniscule holes of the drain, and there was barely a tenth of a crack on the sides to try to wedge it into.
What was wrong with him? No one had ever gotten the better of him. He’d never been outsmarted. He’d faced down murderous cops, like that Detective Dolon. Someone had managed to corner him at the clock tower heist and he’d almost gotten captured. He’d dealt with literal red magic—sorcery and witchcraft. He’d nearly been shot in the eye. He’d…he’d…
He’d faced off against his father’s murderers, had dealt with Snake one too many times.
He couldn’t let it end here!
Now he tugged at it more desperately, more rapidly than before, playing cards floating up and around him from his pockets. He couldn’t die. He couldn’t face the end. After everything he’d gone through—
Then he felt it.
He felt that feeling like his lungs were about to burst, felt them fill with water.
So this was it.
He’d die without gaining justice for his dad, without taking down his murderers, without even finding Pandora.
It’d all be going to waste.
His whole life…
He felt his life flashing before his eyes. He saw all of his classmates, his father’s every magic show. He saw Akako and Hakuba joining the class, saw his first encounter with the mei-tantei. He saw the mei-tantei’s girlfriend, saw each and every heist he’d pulled off. Every success, every failure, every tear shed when he found himself staring up at his father’s poster, missing him and asking why he had to be gone. He saw his mom—he’d said he was going to visit her once the heist was over. He’d planned to come up with an excuse for Shinichi Kudo to leave, he was going to spend the rest of his break seeing her, and joining up with Aoko when she got in—only a day or two after the heist was supposed to be over.
Aoko…
He saw him first meeting her at the clock tower. He remembered how he’d introduced himself, how he knew he had fallen in love with her the minute she’d joined his class at school, the minute he’d found out that they were going to be neighbors.
He wouldn’t even get to say goodbye.
Ten. Nine. Eight.
His shaking hands desperately searched his jacket’s inner pockets, searching for the plastic bag containing the picture. He always kept it with him, always hidden deep inside and close to his heart, in case if something did happen. He had to see her. He had to see her face one more time.
His last time seeing her face was brief—only one last thought was able to cross his mind.
Beautiful as a sapphire.
He hated how he hadn’t been able to find Pandora. Now Snake and his men would most likely find it. He didn’t know how long it’d take them, but one was thing was that they’d find it eventually. Kaito would never be able to gain justice for his father.
He had so many regrets. So much guilt he’d had to live with. He hated lying to Inspector Nakamori. He hated lying to Aoko, the love of his life, hated seeing her angry, seeing her cry because of him. And as hypocritical as it sounded, he hated stealing. Because before becoming Kaito Kid, that was all of the type of stuff that he’d been against.
And yet he’d taken the risks. He hadn’t cared. They’d taken everything from him. How could he not seek vengeance?
Every drop of blood he’d shed, every tear that had made its way down his face, every heist he’d pulled off, every trick he’d ever performed, all of it had led here.
Tonight he’d die as Kaito Kid, the thief, trickster, the criminal. He’d risked it all when he’d taken on the phantom’s persona. Risked himself, risked his mind, risked everything.
Maybe he’d never even been Kaito Kuroba. Maybe he hadn’t become Kaito Kid, but Kaito Kid had become him.
Another disguise.
He felt his lungs give way as his air ran out. His mouth opened in a gasp and then there he was—struggling and drowning in the harsh current, drowning in the waters of his soul, the darkness of death being the last thing he saw as his eyes closed forever, as he took his final painful breath and felt the life leave him.
Forgive me, Aoko.