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Conan's heart was not getting any better.

He had already been at the hospital for three weeks now. Three weeks he had been in there, being given different treatments, medications or test, all coming back ineffective or inconclusive. According to all test results- save for the fact that he had a heart attack- there was nothing wrong with him. Test results were showing nothing. With no medical history to go on, either, everyone was taking a shot in the dark.

He had the doctors confused. With no direct cause as to what was resulting in his deteriorating state, they could really only monitor him at this point, and try their best to ease the pain.

He was dying, and nobody could figure out why.

He had gone into cardiac arrest once already, and the situation only grew worse when the defibrillator did not restart his heart back into normal rhythms. It was terrifying, seeing so many adults crowding around the child's limp body, desperately compressing his chest in hopes of reviving him. CPR was becoming futile when his heart didn't start beating again. They were just about to write his death certificate when he suddenly pulled through.

The doctor's called him a miracle child. They expected that he was done for good.

With enough time being between his last attack and the present time, the doctors decided to remove him from the breathing tube, albeit with much caution. Besides that, there was really nothing else that could be celebrated.

He was looking worse and worse by the day. Due to the fact that his body rejected anything fed to it that wasn't water, Conan lost a considerably deal of weight. His cheekbones were more prominent than they should've been, his eyes concave and surrounded by heavy dark circles.

His body wasn't the only thing that was being affected. It didn't take a detective to see how absolutely out of it he was. It wasn't even from the various sedatives they shot him up with, either. Conan just wasn't...Conan. It began only last week, meaning that something else was on his mind. Which, quite frankly, was understandable. He most likely know what was happening to him, but at this point, it seemed like he was just waiting for death to come more than anything.

The scariest part was what happened a few days ago, this time with the children as witnesses.

Conan had been very adamant about not letting the Detective Boys learn what was happening to him, which was understandable. He didn't want them to be put under the stress of knowing that their friend was a medical anomaly who had a heart attack before he even hit the double digits.

He had tried really hard to not let anything on, from faking energy to "play" with them, to forcing himself to stay awake to hear them talk to him, to even helping them on homework, hoping that the task would distract him from the problem at hand.

He entertained them (and distracted himself) as much as he could, but the kids had to be frequently reminded that Conan was still recovering from something very serious, even if said illness was never disclosed.

One moment they were just chatting about whatever things children chat about, and the next moment screams echoed off the walls as doctors came wheeling in, Conan unconscious against his pillow with about fifteen different alarms blaring for the whole floor to hear. He had gone into cardiac arrest- again- and this time, it was right in front of his friends.

It took her awhile to calm them down, but Ran knew that the Detective Boys knew that what Conan was suffering from was serious. More serious than previously let on. Hours after the incident occurred, when it was growing dark outside and the children cried themselves into sleepiness, Ran had taken the time to escort them all home. This time, she made sure to explain to each one of their parents individually about the situation.

On the walk back to the hospital, she found herself in a very familiar neighborhood. Even though she tried to ignore it, Ran couldn't help but think about Shinichi as she walked past his house. What happened to him? Was he better from his illness, or was he hiding the severity of it again? What would he think about what happened to Conan?

As she stopped in front of the Kudo mansion, the sound of a creaking gate carried to her ears. She turned her head just in time to see Haibara enter, eyes downcast and hidden in the shadows.

That's right. Haibara hadn't visited Conan in the hospital since last week. If she had to guess, she would say that the younger girl was actively avoiding Conan.

She wasn't going to think too deeply into it. A lot of people used avoidance as a coping strategy. Perhaps she was just one of them.

It put her off, though, that that was around the time Conan seemed to take the bad news to heart, and he began realizing what kind of situation he was really in.

That Saturday, she had been preparing to go back to the hospital when the phone down in the agency rang.

She picked up the receiver, praying it wasn't a client. If it was, that'd make her even later to see Conan and give her even less visiting hours to be there.

"Hello?" She spoke into the phone.

A gruff voice on the other side answered. "Is that you, Ran?"

"Dad?" She was puzzled. Why would he be calling her if he knew she was already on her way? "Yes, it's me, dad. What's wrong?"

He paused, and for a second she was certain he had hung up if it weren't for his hard breathing on the other end.

"Dad?"

"Sorry, it's just...I think you'd want to get here as soon as possible. Something happened."

She nearly choked on her words. "Why? What happened? Nothing happened to Conan-kun, right?"

"...You should be here so I can tell you properly. I don't think it'd be appropriate like this."

The tears were already cascading down her face. She had to stop her voice from sounding as watery as her eyes already were.

"No, dad!" She exclaimed, voice cracking in the slightest way that nearly made her lose it. "Tell me now. What happened?"

Both sides were quiet. Ran was waiting for her father to break the worst news possible to her in the gentlest manner possible. She held a hand up to her mouth, trying to keep herself together. Her heart beat faster in anticipation, the knot in her throat burning at an attempt to keep the tears in.

"...Dad?" It was a quiet plea, a hopeless calling that she couldn't hold out for the news. She needed to be informed now.

Kogoro inhaled on the other line.

A few minutes later, people on the street were concerned when they heard whoever screamed from the second floor.

Ran swore that she had never run as fast as she did that day in her entire life.

She wondered whether it was the fact that she ran so fast or the fact that she was distracted the entire way that it felt like she reached the hospital in record time. It felt more like she had somehow transported from home to Conan's hospital room in the blink of an eye.

Ran stormed in, right up to her father and Inspector Megure, who were near the window.

"Dad! Dad!" She wailed, new tears forming in her already puffy eyes. "Dad! Please tell me it isn't true!"

Kogoro stopped her with his arms, holding her close. "The brat's only missing," he started. "The police have already been notified and are out searching for him right now. We'll find him."

She looked up. "But what happened? Was he kidnapped? How-How did he just disappear and no one noticed?"

The sleeping sleuth maintained eye contact with her for a second before starting.

"I went out to get something from the vending machines down the hall and told the brat I'd be back soon. He was practically asleep, so I didn't think he'd do anything while I was gone."

"And then the nurses got frantic because they got a warning up in the front that he flatlined. The doctor's passed by the vending machines in a hurry, and I got a bad feeling that something was wrong with him. I followed them back to the room, but no one was there. His bed was empty. The room's left in the same state we left it in. It hasn't been touched. We don't know where he went, but he can't survive without that equipment. We have to get him back, before he...he..."

They had found a nice area to sit by. It was on a levee by the river, close enough to see the other side, but much too far to swim. There was a large bridge quite a distance down, a low hum traveling through the air from passing cars.

The wind blew slightly. The sun was beginning to rain a golden tint down onto the surface.

They were wrong. It wasn't an ineffective drug, it was just slow acting.

There would be no cure, she learned. That goddamned poison would take him out before she even had the chance to engineer it, anyway.

He knew what was going to happen. He knew it for about a week now, yet still found it in his heart to forgive her, anyway. He insisted that, if he were going to die, let it not be in a dreary hospital room, at least.

She was there with him. He didn't want to be alone.

They were lying in the itchy grass, taking these last few moments to watch the sky, making out ideas in clouds where there were none. The sky was a brilliant pink and orange.

A breeze again. She didn't fail to notice that the sweat on his forehead prevented the wind from blowing his bangs. She wondered how how his internal body temperature must be for him to be sweating on such a cool day.

"Hey, Haibara?"

The sun was going down. It was going to set soon.

"Yes, Kudo-kun?"

His breathing was so subtle. They were like shallow grasps at air. Had it been any quieter, she would have missed it.

"Thanks."

She was lying completely still, her eyes fixed on the scene above her. Her voice caught in her throat, and no matter how much swallowing she did, it still tightened, not allowing her to speak.

She didn't make eye contact. He didn't either.

She wasn't sure how long she just laid there, twirling long stems of grass between her fingers. She hadn't even realized when it became night time, or that she could now see her breath, and didn't see his.

She didn't even notice the cars that pulled up to the scene, their bright headlights drowning her in their light, or the officers that came over to speak with her, only to be ignored by a girl lost in her thoughts.

She didn't remember being picked up and held, or the tear sliding down her cheek, or the fist of regret that clenched her heart stronger than it ever had before.

She did, however, remember looking up and seeing the body of Edogawa Conan being lifted from the ground onto a stretcher, his corpse being taken away for good.