#sunflowers of inferno

rewrite of the ending of sunflowers of inferno (because i watched it and was immediately inspired)

KID kissed Conan on the forehead before he scooped up Ran to run, catching the way Conan stiffened slightly and reddened at the action. “I’ll see you out there, Meitantei!”

He does not hear Conan’s response, if one is given.

Only a few minutes later KID is safe on the ground with Ran safe under a tree.  The only one not safe is Conan. He does not know where Conan is. Or how he planned to get out. KID inched his way to the bank, ready to find a way back into the collapsing building- which, seriously, with everything they did you’d think the Suzuki’s would’ve built a building that didn’t collapse like it was made of cards- to grab his idiot detective. Honestly, he should’ve never left him behind. (But he knew, if he did it again, he likely would’ve. Ran was important to Conan and KID could deny Conan very little. Especially when he was so clearly pleading.)

There is noise, suddenly. Louder than the normal sounds of the forest. Voices getting closer with each second. One of Conan’s friends must have noticed him in the air. He looked back at the sleeping Ran and then at the mountain. Or maybe Tantei-kun had made it out and was leading them himself.

The only voice he could clearly hear calling out was the Suzuki heiress.

He ducked further into the trees so he wouldn’t be spotted and waited and hoped. He’d spent years hoping already to find Pandora. What would a few seconds be compared to that, hoping to see Conan leading the group? (A lot.)

The Suzuki heiress appeared leading the group, with the kids close behind, without Conan among them. He felt his chest seize gently. The slow beginning to suffocation. Where it has not yet occurred that another breath will not come. Ran woke and the whole group began to wander up and down the bank, sure that Conan had to be near Ran, shouting his name. “You’re making us all worry,” KID whispered. He did not notice the branch break under his foot as he took a step out of his hiding spot.

There was a gasp and someone- Ayumi?- called out that there was something in the river, and KID felt relief in his chest. Conan had found a way out. Slowly he made his way closer to the shore, still out of sight, so he could see Conan appear. Just to be sure he was safe. Aishya’s Sunflowers surfaced and KID smiled at Tantei-kun’s cleverness to use the painting to make his way to the surface. Except the painting bounced once and floated peacefully.

And Conan did not float with it.

The relief stuttered in his chest and died, the second stage of suffocation, the burn in the chest as the bubble of air expanded and threatened to break and panic set in. His gaze went to the river and he squinted at a dark spot slowly getting smaller. There. It did not matter that he would be seen. It did not matter that the man who had been trying to kill him was there. (Maybe he was as bad as Tantei-kun, paying no mind to who he would leave behind, more concerned for the safety of those important to him than for himself.) KID broke through the crowd, unclipping his cape as he did, and dove into the river. There were a few gasps but he ignored them and they disappeared as he submerged.

Half frantic, he searched the murky water. The dirt kicked up from the fall stings at his eyes. It did not matter as they landed on a form and the bubbles that flowed from its mouth as it went limp. He kicked closer to the form, to Conan, and grabbed the boy under his armpits. The water made him feel unusually light. He did not stir as KID pulled him close to his chest and swam upward with his free arm.

The crowd of Conan’s friends gave him room as he deposited Conan on the bank before he pulled himself up. Mouri-tantei hurried to their side to get the water out of Conan’s chest. When Conan sat up coughing, water coming out of his mouth, it felt like KID had taken his first breath in several long minutes. Tears were in Conan’s eyes from the roughness of the coughing. KID met his eyes, and smiled, and bowed.

A choked “KID-” was all he heard, but he spotted the gratefulness in Tantei-kun’s eyes before he left to meet Charlie-keibu who he didn’t see with the group anymore and had no doubt drifted further into the woods for a confrontation where they would be alone. He better hurry. KID was not in the practice of missing meetings, after all.