Finality

n. The state of being decided.

Shinichi opened his eyes and had to blink several times before his vision would focus and there was Haibara, glowering down at him with her child-sized face. Haibara had a wide range of glowers, and this wasn't one she used often.

This was the 'you just terrified ten years off my life' glower, and her immediate set of health-related questions confirmed it.

Shinichi made to answer, then realized he was on his side in recovery position and his mouth tasted like blood. He felt okay, tired and a little sore but overall well enough. "What happened?" he asked, starting to push himself up.

"Hold still, idiot! Your reaction to the antidote was pretty bad, and I think I've figured out why. You said it's been getting consistently worse each time?"

He thought that over, "Yeah, pretty much. Why?"

"I can't believe I didn't realize sooner—your heart hasn't been changing at the same rate as the rest of your body. You almost died this time, and there was some tearing in your left lung as it pulled away from your pericardial membrane. If it weren't for the fact that the APTX in your system had your cells reproducing much faster than normal, you would have. It's why your chest tends to hurt more than the rest of you when you change, and from the looks of it, your cardiac muscles are developing resistance to the toxin-antitoxin combination more quickly than the rest of you. All things considered… it's not safe to try again. I can't be sure you'll survive the transition back to Conan, this time."

Oh. Then… "I can't help them if I'm dead."

"Exactly. You've got eight hours in that form on the outside, but I'd like you back in seven. Your chances are better if Hakase and I can get you to a hospital if things go wrong."

"What's the chance of 'things going wrong'?"

"I'd say at least forty-five percent this time, the reversion is compression damage. It'll hurt, but it's less likely to kill you. If we try this again, considering how close it was this time… well, you'd die as Shinichi, but you'd still be dead."

He closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded. "I'll check in every hour. If I can get that data package… well, it'll be worth it."

No, Kudo-kun, Haibara thought as the teen grabbed the equipment that had been prepared for him and moved towards the door, Nothing is worth this.