The Raven's Eclipse: An Action/Suspense Fanfic

[pikacutie25]

Hey everyone! Well, since I can't draw to save my life, I've decided to contribute (I guess this is contributing...?) to the DC community by writing fanfictions. This one in particular is my first one, so I hope it isn't too bad... :/ I'll update chapters as soon as I finish writing them, which may or may not be often...for now, here's a summary!

Conan Edogawa is pretty good at keeping his secret. But what would have happened if even one of the students at his school couldn't keep quiet about Shinichi's reappearance as the Black Knight? Will he be able to take on the Black Organization with the life of the person he cares about most on the line? And who will he turn to for help...?

[pikacutie25]

And here's the first chapter!

Spoiler: Chapter 1: The Shadow Looms

In a hotel room somewhere in Tokyo, a woman with long blonde hair sat on her bed smoking a cigarette. She gazed out the window, ruminating about her recent activities and remembering two tiny figures who had left a deep impression on her. She thought about the possibilities and then smiled to herself.

The melody of her cell phone's ringtone then interrupted her thoughts. She glanced at the caller ID and, recognizing the number with a knowing smile, answered the call. They had a short discussion on a recent new member, and promptly ended the call with no extraneous words.

In the syndicate for only a month and already having almost the same privileges as members like Gin and me…this person must have some serious potential, she thought. I wonder how this rookie will fare against him…

Meanwhile, a certain little boy sat in the office of the Mouri Detective Agency with a look of extreme discontent visible on his face. Conan Edogawa usually kept up a good façade to mask his true identity, but today he was so completely dissatisfied with recent events that he couldn't keep it from showing on his face. He sat on the couch in the office and plopped his chin on the palm of his hand, thinking back over his recent reappearance.

This whole experience is just so frustrating! When I get my hands on the bastards who did this to me, I swear I'll make them wish they had never laid a hand on Shinichi Kudo! Conan sighed. I finally got to meet Ran again as myself, and I couldn't even enjoy it the way I wanted to. Some people just really disgust me. If those two people hadn't decided to murder someone, I would've been able to do exactly what I wanted to before I changed back! I came into Ran's play as the Black Knight, and I tried to take her out to that special place…both times, I was so close to…to… Conan blushed.

Just then, Ran decided to walk in and, seeing how red Conan's face had gotten, worriedly inquired, "Oh no, Conan-kun! Do you have a fever? Are you sick?" She placed her hand on his forehead to measure his temperature, but this only served to make him blush an even deeper shade of red.

"Uh, n-no, Ran-neechan, I'm not sick…d-don't worry…" Conan stuttered.

"Hmm…well, you don't seem to have a temperature, so I guess you aren't sick after all. Thank goodness!" Ran remarked. Thus satisfied, she walked out of the room, allowing Conan to breathe a sigh of relief.

God, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up…

* * * * *

Mizuna Hamako plopped face-down on her bed and let out a long groan. "I knew I should've taken up the offer to play the part of the princess in that play, I just knew it!" she exclaimed, pounding her fist into her bed. "I should've seen it as a sign when they randomly chose me out of all the other girls at our school…and of course my all-important game just happened to fall on the same day as the play!" she grumbled, reluctantly sitting up.

"But…but if I had known that he would be there, and as the Black Knight no less…!" she sighed. Her eyes began to water against her will, which she promptly wiped with no little force. "I've liked him ever since I first met him at this school…not that he ever noticed me, even though I've been in his class the whole time," she closed her eyes to prevent more tears from coming.

"I would've g-given anything…to have been the one onstage, to be close to him like that…a-anything! Shinichi, why…? Why won't you choose me over that girl Ran!? Am I not…g-good enough for you?" she had started sobbing by now, cradling her face in her hands. "Shinichi Kudo…you showed up so suddenly, and now you're gone again…p-please…come back…I need to tell you how I f-feel…!" she said between sobs. With nothing else on her mind but her missed chance, she continued crying in silence.

From outside the bedroom, Mizuna's mother moved away from the door. Oh, my poor Mizu-chan, she thought. But…this phase of hers will pass. For now, I think something else she said caught my attention just a little more…

* * * * *

In another location, a man sat at his desk. It was covered in scattered newspapers, articles, and clippings, and on one corner of it sat a computer of a relatively new model. The man was currently amusing himself by reading over one of the less-popular newspapers, Beika Weekly, and enjoying the trite, pointless stories. He flipped the page, and a particular headline immediately caught his eye:

FAMOUS HIGH SCHOOL DETECTIVE MAKES REAPPEARANCE

Story by Chiyo Hamako

He quickly scanned through the story, then immediately started typing rapidly in his computer. His eyes darted back and forth, reading through all the information on his computer until they suddenly came to a halt, staring at a particularly interesting find. He smirked and, looking back at the newspaper, said to himself, "Well, this should be interesting…"

* * * * *

"Come on Conan-kun, it's time to go to school!" Ran called from the front door of the Mouri Detective Agency.

"Okaaay!" she heard a tiny voice call back. A couple of seconds later, a small child came running towards her, backpack fit loosely on his shoulders.

"Ready? Have you got everything?" she inquired.

"Yep! Let's go, Ran-neechan!" Conan exclaimed. Smiling, Ran led the way out the door and then they were on their way.

Ran always enjoyed walking with Conan on the way to school. He was a constant little ball of energy zooming around her, and he made her smile every time. Of course, there were a couple of rare moments when he seemed altogether too sad for a child, but his sad moments were almost always brought on by something that troubled Ran. She thought it was very sweet of him to worry about her like that, and his caring reminded her greatly of…

Shinichi…

She then found herself thinking about her absent friend…no, friend would be wrong. Ran liked to think of him as more than just a good friend, and she wished she could have told him how she really felt before he disappeared. Again. She was suddenly reminded of Shinichi's special "appearance" at her school play and their little "date" afterwards. What had he wanted to tell her? She had had a certain hunch at the time…but he couldn't possibly have wanted to confess to her something that she felt strongly for him. She was probably letting her own feelings obscure her vision of what was actually true. Besides, why would someone as talented and intelligent as Shinichi want someone like her…? She became depressed at the thought that he didn't feel anything for her…

"Ran-neechan?" Conan asked worriedly.

She realized that she had fallen silent in her own thoughts for a long time, and with the thoughts she had on her mind at that moment, she probably didn't have the most optimistic expression on her face either. She looked down at Conan and, with an attempt at a smile, said, "Yes, Conan-kun?"

"I was worried about Ran-neechan…you got all silent and looked sad so I thought something was wrong…" Conan had a look of genuine concern on his face, one that not many kids his age know.

Yet again, Ran was amazed and comforted by Conan's capacity for caring about her. "Oh, Conan-kun, nothing's wrong…thank you for thinking about me, though." Ran stated.

Conan gave her one last look of concern, then faced forward and concentrated on walking. Ran sighed internally and tried to find some happy thoughts in case Conan ventured to glance at her again. Soon, however, they came upon the corner where Sonoko and the Detective Boys were waiting.

"Conan-kun!" the young ones ecstatically called out, running to him. Haibara remained characteristically indifferent.

"Hey, guys!" Conan responded. They all converged around him, obscuring most of him from view.

"Ran! What's up?" Sonoko called. Her friendly words finally brought Ran back to reality.

"Oh, hi, Sonoko!" Ran cheerily responded, all previous negative thoughts wiped away for the moment. "Nothing much, just walking Conan-kun to school, as usual." The two teenage girls began walking towards their high school while the group of kids went the other way to the elementary school. She glanced back at Conan one more time before focusing on her conversation with Sonoko.

"So, how has your boyfriend been?" Sonoko sneered.

"How many times do I have to tell you? He's not my boyfriend!" Ran blushed.

"Right, right. Sure he isn't. So have you talked to him lately?"

"Oh, well, I…" Ran drifted off. She found herself thinking about the recent past again, but to avoid thinking negative thoughts again, she said, "Yeah, I did. And he's just as big of an idiot as always."

"Then why don't you move on from him?"

I don't move on because…I love him, she wanted to say. It was true, she loved him deeply, though she would never admit it to anyone. So instead she said, "Because that big idiot needs someone to look out for him."

* * * * *

Class was almost ready to begin at Beika High School, but there was a pair of girls in the corner of Class 2-B who were still talking quite noticeably.

"Have you talked to Mizuna-chan since then?" the first girl inquired.

"No, I haven't," the second girl replied. "In fact, she's not here yet, is she? Where could she be?"

"She was really upset when I talked to her. She probably doesn't feel like coming to school."

"Wow, I've never seen her miss even one day of school. She must be really down…"

"Yeah…I hope she feels better soon."

"Alright you two, enough talking," the teacher called them out. "It's time to start class now."

The two girls, slightly embarrassed, immediately took their seats and tried their hardest not to look too conspicuous with the entire class staring at them.

Ran, too, was looking at them, but empathized with them as she herself had been in the same position many times before. However, she did not think it was that odd that the girl mentioned was missing a day of school. After all, there was a certain detective in their class who had missed a lot more than a single day. When was the last time he was in class? As the teacher babbled on about history, Ran allowed herself to sink into a reverie again, staring at the vacant seat in the classroom.

* * * * *

"Wow, class was so much fun today! Right, Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I had fun," Conan managed to say. Because making a game out of learning the multiplication table is just thrilling…

"Hey, you wanna come to the professor's with us?" Genta offered.

"No thanks, I really have to get home tonight," Conan answered. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye!" the three children said as Conan began to walk home.

Conan was worried about Ran. She hadn't looked her usual cheerful self earlier that day, and more than likely, it was probably his fault—either Conan's or Shinichi's. Most likely Shinichi's. He was just as upset as she was that their dinner out got cut short by a stupid murder. Even though she seemed to have gotten her frustrations off her chest that night, she was probably still heartbroken, and she needed his support one way or another.

So, as he arrived back home, he called out, "I'm home!" He expected to see Ran immediately, but for some reason she wasn't there. "Ran-neechan?" he called out again.

"Stop making such a racket!" Kogoro yelled from the next room.

"Where's Ran-neechan?" Conan asked, walking into the room Kogoro was in. The old man was currently at his desk smoking a cigarette while reading a newspaper…the usual.

"She told me she was going out with a friend tonight and that she didn't know when she'd be back. And she didn't even leave me any dinner!" Kogoro complained with a depressed expression.

"We could always go for take-out, right Oji-san?"

"Take-out again?" Kogoro grumbled.

Conan decided to leave the conversation at that, as he didn't want to provoke him when he was hungry. Well, Conan thought, if she's going out to have fun with a friend, then she must have already cheered up since then. That's great! I'd hate for her to still be depressed.

Thus satisfied, he decided to be productive and get his easy homework out of the way. He got his books out of his backpack and climbed up on the chair to begin when suddenly he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He reached for Conan's phone but realized it wasn't the one vibrating; Shinichi's phone was.

What on Earth? It must be a message from Ran, Conan thought as he got out his other phone. However, as he flipped open his phone, he saw that it was instead from an unknown number. Curious, he opened up the message to find something stranger than he would have ever imagined receiving right then:

The precious orchid blooms beautifully in the daylight.
The jet-black raven watches jealously from out-of-sight.
The gentle whale returns home for the day,
Waiting until the next to again be on its way.
Come nighttime, the raven swoops down and plucks the flower,
Bringing it back to the whale's home before the midnight hour.
The raven challenges its rival to snatch away its prize,
And watches from its lair with unwavering eyes.
The raven, with its sharp intelligence, can plainly see
If there is more danger than there should be.
It would then promptly fly off past the shore,
And the beautiful flower will bloom…nevermore.

Conan stared at the message, perplexed. What the hell is this?

[pikacutie25]

And finally, here's the second chapter!

Spoiler: Chapter 2: The Message

The more he read the cryptic message, the more confused he became. In the past, Conan had solved numerous cases involving riddles and codes, but this one was different than all the other ones he had encountered. He could feel it. This was not like something thought up in the mind of some psychotic serial killer wanting someone to solve his impossible riddles, nor was this something hurriedly written down by a homicide victim trying to leave a clue to the killer. Whoever wrote this put a lot of deep thought and time into making sure it was exactly what it needed to be. But what exactly was it? There was obviously a deeper meaning to this seemingly simple poem, and the author made absolute certain that it was difficult enough that not just anyone could figure it out. Well, this is just a puzzle, Conan thought. And like any other puzzle, it has a solution, and I’m going to figure it out!

The first thing that popped out at him was that the poem seemed to have a recurring theme of nature. A whole lot of good that’s going to do me, Conan frowned. What else is hidden in here? The main character, so to speak, appeared to be the raven. Let’s see…provided I don’t overanalyze this, this story has a very simple plot. A not-too-attractive raven becomes jealous of a much more beautiful flower and in its envy steals the flower away: that much I can understand. But what does everything after that mean? What does a whale have to do with a raven and a flower? Ugh, maybe I’ll save that last one for later.

So, the raven goes back to wherever its lair happens to be, and…it waits for a rival? What animal has a raven as a rival? This doesn’t make sense. And what kind of danger is the next part talking about? More than there should be…? Was the raven expecting danger from its rival? Then why would it challenge it in the first place? Well, I can probably guess it has to do with some sort of trivial contest between the two. But just who are the raven and this mysterious rival? And then there’s the last two lines…the raven will fly far away and the flower won’t bloom anymore? So that means the raven will disappear and the flower will…die?

“Aghh! Can this be any more difficult?” Conan shouted, letting his head fall hard on the table.

“What are you yelling about now, brat!?” Kogoro called out again.

“Oh, uh, it’s just hard homework! But I’ll figure it out!”

“Eh? Is that all? Geez, kids these days…”

Conan sighed. He realized he was making more and more slip-ups lately, though that could be partially owed to his recent “get out of acting free” card; that is, his recent temporary change. He hadn’t needed to keep up his act when he was actually himself, but he hadn’t thought he would revert back to his original terrible acting. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. He seriously hoped it wasn’t the latter option, though.

Anyways, I’d better get back to figuring this out. If something like this was sent to Shinichi’s phone, it’s obviously important, so I need to reason this out as quickly as possible. It might have to do with a case, more likely than not.

However, try as he might, he could not get any more insight into the poem’s meaning. He glanced around the room, trying to draw inspiration from something, but no luck. He imagined how Ran would have reacted if she had seen him right now at such a loss. She probably would have laughed. Even with the bitter possibility of failure before him, he could think nothing but positive thoughts when it came to Ran. Her smile, her face, her radiant personality…just like an angel’s, he found himself thinking with a smile. Like an angel…

Wait a second. Conan was suddenly struck by an idea. He needed to stop looking at the poem so literally and look at it from a more figurative viewpoint! Why didn’t I think of it before? If each object represents a person or thing, then this just became a lot easier! So maybe the main character, the raven, is actually…a phone?

“Huh?” Conan realized he wasn’t actually thinking of the raven as a phone. This time, the melody of a call on his cell phone interrupted his thought process. But it wasn’t from the phone he was currently holding; it was from Conan’s phone. What, is someone going to explain the answer to this riddle or something? Conan joked to himself. He fished out his phone and flipped it open.

“Hello?” Conan answered nonchalantly.

“Kudo-kun!” said a half-terrified, half-angry voice on the other end.

“H-Haibara? What’s wrong?” Conan’s tone instantly changed.

“You’re what’s wrong, Kudo-kun! I told you not to do it, I warned you not to! The whole reason I gave you an antidote was so that you wouldn’t upset Ran or tip off the Organization! But then you just had to go and show yourself off to the entire audience at that play. You thought something like that would go unnoticed? They would have found out eventually! They always do…and now none of us are safe…!” Haibara’s voice had slowly morphed from one of anger to one of pure terror.

“Haibara, calm down! What’s happened?” Conan demanded, now slightly worried too.

“You don’t read Beika Weekly, do you? Your carelessness made the headlines this week! The Organization could already be after you, me, and everyone else we know and love!” Haibara finished.

Conan grew silent as comprehension slowly dawned on him. The article, Ran’s sudden absence, the message…it all suddenly made sense. How could I have been so stupid and careless…?

“Kudo-kun? Hel-” Haibara was cut off when Conan suddenly hung up without another word.

After hanging up, Conan did not shift position at all; he sat stock-still on the chair. He was in utter shock after realizing what had just happened. All this time, all these careful actions…it was all for nothing…? I couldn’t even protect the one I care about the most…? Ran, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault…I failed you… Conan shut his eyes, angry at himself and the rest of the world. I suppose they’ll come for me next, right? I don’t even care if they kill me…I should have been first anyways… He lowered his head to the table to hide the grief his face would inevitably betray.

* * * * *

Conan had no idea how long he had been sitting there in that position. The next thing he became conscious of was his hand vibrating in front of him. Wait, his hand was vibrating? On a second look, he realized he was still holding his phone in his hand, and now it was vibrating from another message. Reluctantly, he flipped open his phone and realized there were actually many messages, all of which were from the same number: Haibara’s phone. Some part of his original self that he retained in the back of his mind scolded him for hanging up on Haibara like that. However, he was too upset and shocked to even give a second thought about Haibara.

He read through her numerous messages, only half-caring about what they said. He was able to retain a single overarching idea from her messages, though. She was worried about him. It wasn’t like him to suddenly hang up on someone for no apparent reason and not even attempt to contact the person again. She, being the genius that she was, correctly deduced that something was up. Did she send these messages because she simply wanted to know why I hung up, or does she actually care…? Upon reading through the messages, he perceived that she truly was concerned. Could there actually be other people worth protecting…?

Conan finally managed to get his logical mind back together after the shock. It was only then that he realized that he hadn’t yet fully deciphered the riddle. There could still be hope if he could figure it out. He grabbed his other phone again and looked over the poem once more. Paying careful attention to the flower’s role this time, he realized that the message didn’t necessarily say that it was dead yet. It would only die if some extra danger came into play. So could Ran be…? His heart full of hope now, he eagerly set to work deciphering the rest of the poem. Obviously, the raven was the Black Organization, or at least one of its members. Ran was the flower, which should have been immediately obvious given that her name means “orchid.”

So, ignoring the out-of-place lines about the whale, the poem had a fairly obvious meaning. Ran, the orchid, was kidnapped by a member of the organization, a raven. This person took her to some secret place, “the whale’s home,” during the night. After bringing her there, he sent a challenge to his rival, Shinichi, which would explain why he got this message in the first place; the message itself is a challenge. Next, it mentions that there should not be “more danger than there should be,” and the only thing that would be significantly more dangerous than Shinichi would be the police. If this extra danger is present, then this person would escape and most likely kill Ran before leaving.

Well, that was actually very straightforward. I can’t believe I didn’t get it before! Elementary school must really be dropping my IQ or something…

Now that it was apparent that a member of the Black Organization was challenging Shinichi, the only question was when and where. The “when” is probably midnight tonight, seeing as it is the only mention of time anywhere in the poem. The “where,” however, is more difficult. The lair is supposedly the whale’s home, but what is it supposed to be?

Maybe compiling all the parts about the whale will help me figure out the place? Let’s see, something has to be represented by a gentle whale, as both of the other objects turned out to be people. It has to be something that travels back and forth across the water every day. Does that mean it’s a type of marine vehicle? But that could’ve been represented by any aquatic animal. It has to be one about as large as a whale…it travels back and forth…

Suddenly it clicked. A cargo ship! The place must be the shipyard! Of course! It’s the perfect place for something like this; the place is practically deserted! Conan glanced at his phone’s clock—it was currently 5:32 PM. There was plenty of time until the designated meeting time.

However, Conan now faced a new problem: what was he going to do? So a member of the Black Organization has suddenly discovered that Shinichi Kudo is actually still alive and has kidnapped someone close to him in an effort to lure him out. Alright, great. Now what? He absolutely had to go meet this member in order to rescue Ran, but there were some problems. For one, I can’t possibly go like this. How would it look to be expecting the great detective Shinichi Kudo and find some kid waltzing in instead? I’m not going to betray my secret if I don’t have to. But, all of Professor Agasa’s inventions fit Conan, not Shinichi, and there isn't enough time for him to make new ones. I need help. I can’t call the police, or else he’ll somehow find out and kill Ran before I can get there. I really can’t call Hattori for help either, because he’s all the way in Osaka and there’s no way he could make it here in time. What am I going to do? I’m out of options!

Conan put his hand on his head. He had no idea what he could do. Was he really powerless to rescue Ran? No, I can’t think about that again! There has to be another way…

Conan suddenly raised his head, struck by an idea. Maybe…!

He quickly got up and ran over to Kogoro. He snatched the newspaper right out of his hands, saying, “I’m going to borrow this really quickly, Oji-san!”

“Oi! Give that back!” Kogoro started chasing Conan.

A master as he was by now of dodging Kogoro and his attacks, Conan was able to read the paper and dodge his attacks at the same time. Aha, Conan thought, locating a specific section of the newspaper, I thought so! This will be one of my most desperate moves yet, but it’s my only option. I hope this works…!

Finished with the newspaper, Conan tossed it up in the air for Kogoro to catch. Not listening to anything else Kogoro said after that, Conan got ready to leave, quickly putting on his shoes. As he ran out the door, he yelled back, “Oji-san, I’m going to stay over at the professor’s tonight! I have something important to do!”

Before Kogoro realized what had happened, Conan was gone out the door, heading hurriedly to Professor Agasa’s place with a purpose.