DISCLAIMER: DO NOT REUPLOAD MY STORIES! I regularly reverse search all my stories and when I find just a single one reuploaded somewhere else, specifically Wattpad, I will file DMCA takedowns and hunt down the original authors of any other work that is reuploaded on the same profile or site, then I notify those other authors who have had their work blatantly stolen. I don't go beyond filing the DMCA takedowns, but other authors may not be as kind. Entire accounts have been shut down this way, so don't steal shit. Write it yourself.
Request: "After failing to catch KID again at tonight's heist, Conan just wants to read, but at arriving at the agency, Ran tells him he should read something else from mystery novels and hands him the book 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' and 'Through The Looking Glass' by Lewis Carroll. Not wanting to get in trouble with Ran, he reads the book every night, till he finishes it by the next KID Heist. Once again, he let's KID go, since he helped out in the murder that happened that same night at the heist and KID hinted that he might care more about Conan than other Tantei he has encountered. Being late after the heist, Conan falls asleep in his bedroom at the agency where he starts to get one of the weirdest and maybe pleasurable dreams he has ever had: In Wonderland."
I don't own Detective Conan or any of its characters. Both belongs to Aoyama Gosho.
– Wonderland Dreams –
Part I
– Engaging Failures –
Swiftly, the white-cladded thief dove through the moonlit night sky. His next target in mind and excitement coiling inside of him, making him tingle all over. The world's second largest citrine was being exhibitioned in Beika at a museum and the phantom thief's heist note had been sent there three days prior, causing Edoka's KID force to be in an uproar.
Soon, the brightly lit building came into view and Kaito KID positioned himself at a window. By now, everyone had noticed him and Inspector Nakamori was agitatedly throwing orders around, while the crowd was cheering for the thief. Only after five seconds had passed, KID was already inside the building and running down a corridor. With ease he dodged the police officers trying to catch him, by letting the oblivious men being consumed in a huge cloud of pink smoke, sending them all to the realms of sleep. Unnoticed by the snoring men, he slipped into the large exhibitioning room, eyeing his surroundings. Not a soul was seen and in the hall reigned silence.
Casting a last glance to his sides, KID stepped in, his steps echoing loudly through the room. Calmly he passed old suits of armor and antique pieces of art, approaching the cylindric case of glass with each step. When he stood right in front of said case, he spent a few seconds eyeing the glistening citrus. Its amber color was mesmerizing, its sparkling shine comparable to the moon's at night and its edges cut perfectly. Every jewel-loving person would have literally drooled at its sight, since citrine itself were very rarely found.
After a few moments of savouring the jewel's beauty, KID didn't waste any time and placed a device for cutting glass on the case's front. Only several movements of his talented fingers later and a hole, large enough to fit the magician's hand through, was placed in the glass. With a sly grin, the thief carefully reached into the case, wary of the trap Nakamori probably had set up. If KID actually activated that device, cuffs would have trapped his arm inside of the case, making him unable to escape. But with his nimble hands it was only a kid's play to snatch the jewel away before the PIR sensor could even recognize his movement. The white-cladded thief chuckled when the jewel was innocently sparkling in his palm.
"Long time no see, KID," a voice suddenly rang out from behind the thief, sounding rather young. "I see that you are having fun playing around again."
His grin never faltering the slightest, KID turned around. "You call my magic 'playing around'? I feel insulted, Tantei-kun."
"Would it be so hard to skip this part so I can arrest you now? I still need to do those bothersome homework for school."
A theatrical pout appeared on the thief's face and his voice was slightly whiny when he replied. "Are you abandoning me, Tantei-kun? And here I thought I could have some fun with you. I guess I'll just fulfill your wish and end this quickly."
"Wait, wha–" The next moment Conan was engulfed in a cloud of pink smoke, but he was cautious not to breathe any of it in. Instead he dashed forward and out of the smoke, spotting the thief already leaving the room through a window. KID shot the shrunken detective his cocky smile, before he leapt off from the window's edge and into Beika's night sky. "Damn that stupid thief!" Knowing that he wouldn't get to catch the thief again that night, Conan left before any of the inspectors saw him. He didn't want to be bothered with an angry Nakamori yelling at him again. He had called the Professor there earlier, so it didn't take long until he was home. It was already past eleven at night and all he wanted was to go to bed and at least read a little of his beloved Sherlock Holmes novel. "I'm back!" he called when he entered.
As always actually, Kogoro was slumped over his desk, at least five cans of beer littering the floor below.
"Where did you go, Conan-kun?" Ran inquired, stepping into the room already wearing her pyjamas. "I was worried sick!"
Serene surprise showed on the detective's face. "Eh? I left a note saying that I would be going to the KID heist."
The girl tilted her head in confusion. "There was a KID heist this night?"
"The owner of the jewel didn't want it to be made public, so it was only known by the KID force."
"Then how did you– Never mind. So where is this note? I didn't see any."
"I put it onto the desk…" Conan pointed a finger towards said desk, sweat-dropping at spotting the snoring man's form, "where Oji-san is lying on right now."
Both averted their gazes to the man, drooling onto the desktop in his sleep.
"Yoko-chan…" he mumbled in his sleep. "You don't have to do that."
One could clearly see the need in Ran's face to punch the lazy detective and added to it the strain of holding back said urge. She clenched her fists at her side, putting on a strained smile. "I guess it's his fault for being the drunken idiot he is."
Already stretching and yawning tiredly, Conan walked towards his room. "I'm going to bed now." He heard Ran humming in response and entered his room, excited about reading one of his beloved books again. His eyes went wider in confusion when he wasn't able to find any of his books. "Ran-nee-chan!" he called, walking outside. "Where are all my books?"
"I put them away," Ran replied sternly. "You're only seven and actually shouldn't read scary stuff like that."
Did she forget that I see corpses daily? "But what am I supposed to read now?"
"Read this," the brunetter replied sternly, taking a book out of a shelf. "I loved these books when I was your age."
Frowning, Conan took the book from her, eyeing the cover with sinking eagerness. "'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking-Glass'" he read out loud. His frown then was fixed onto Ran's face and he mumbled something under his breathe. "I already read those when I was four."
Of course, Ran noticed this and she blinked, wondering if she had misheard. "What was that?"
Conan simply waved at her nervously. I'd better go with it. "Nothing, nothing. I'll read it!" With that he rushed off, hoping to not have seemed too suspicious. He flopped down onto his futon, sighing about the injustice of being deprived of his beloved crime fiction. Again, he eyed the cover of one of the books Ran had given him.
It must have been from an older edition, since the corners were torn and the book's spine looked as if it would fall off any moment. He looked inside and found yellowed and slightly torn pages. Maybe it belonged to her grandmother, the detective mused. There wasn't any date on it, so he wasn't able to clearly determine the age of the book, but he guessed it to be around fifty years old. The illustration on the cover was of an older style too and definitely not a Japanese one. It must have been a foreign, probably Western one. Conan easily recognized the two pictured on the cover: Alice and the Cheshire Cat, the girl standing beneath a tree and looking up to see the grinning cat sitting on a branch.
A flash of memory suddenly struck Conan and he remembered seeing Ran with this book on a cold day in autumn. Outside it had been stormy and their parents hadn't allowed them to go outside and left them in the Kudo's mansion to entertain themselves for a few hours, while they took care of their own businesses. They must have been around seven or eight, Shinichi playing around with his soccer ball, watching Ran read on a couch at the same time. She had looked utterly mesmerized by the story written inside, not even taking away her eyes from the letters when Shinichi aimed a ball towards her feet. Conan remembered being bored and that he had walked off to read one of the countless novels in their library. Never bother Ran when she's reading, he had thought at that time. He had learned that important lesson only days earlier, when Ran had started reading that book and he had made the mistake to bother her.
Now Conan was sitting on his mattress, holding the book Ran had been so fascinated about. When the spectacled boy had read the story, he had simply devoured it within a day, finding it boring and not even bothering to remember it all that much. He could recall a few of the characters and some scenes, but the he couldn't remember that much, despite his amazing memory. Now though it was different. He wanted to know what had fascinated his best friend so much and it caused him to actually sit down and start reading. Conan then read with a different intention than back then. It wasn't simply reading, it was about understanding another person. So he read that night for at least two hours, before sleep won over and he was forced to put the book away.
A week had passed since the last KID heist and the next one was already announced. The target: One of the world's largest and finest ruby gemstones, the Lúcia Ruby.
The phantom thief grinned, from behind hearing the men of Nakamori's force desperately trying to free themselves from the gooey green substance the magician had trapped them in. Chuckles left Kaito KID as he soon arrived at the museum's center, in which a large plexiglas case stood. In it were three gemstones placed, all of them priceless and said to be cursed. The thief ignored the emerald and the sapphire next to his target, gaze solely fixed on the crimson ruby. It's bloody red color sent a small shiver throughout the teen's spine, making him a little anxious. Never before had he felt this way around a gemstone and it somehow made him uneasy.
Nevertheless, he pulled out a gadget out of one of his countless hidden pockets and placed it beneath the case. He soon after found the opening he had been looking for and his hand snaked into the case from below and he quickly snatched away the crimson gemstone. It was unusually cold and it even seemed to emit an eery aura. A gulp was heard coming from the phantom thief. Him being a magician, often involved with secrets and mysteries, he had developed a sense of superstition. Of course, he was still thinking more logical than superstitious, but sometimes he still believed in the supernatural.
That was why he didn't loose much time examining the ruby, before he swiftly made his exit towards the rooftop. He was about to leap off of the building, when a soccer ball suddenly whizzed past his head. Luckily, KID was able to suppress his urge to gasp in surprise and he slowly turned around to see a certain spectacled boy, lightnings flashing around his shoes and another ball already placed beneath his foot.
"I won't miss next time," he stated.
A dramatic pout soon graced the thief's face. "No mercy, Tantei-kun? Even though I helped out in today's murder case?"
The small brunette only sighed, half-heartedly glaring at the thief. "It goes against my own desires, but since the police wouldn't have been able to solve that murder case without your help today, I'll let you off the hook. Only for today, remember that. Next time we meet, I'll catch you and tore that stupid monocle from your face."
"My, my, someone seems to be in a bad mood today," KID mocked. "Maybe I could do something about that by–"
"Don't you have somewhere to go?" Conan interrupted the magician. I don't really want to know what he has in mind to cheer me up. I don't need cheering up anyway. What is that guy thinking?
"It seems my help is not wanted, so I think I should make my leave now." With that, the thief let himself fall backwards, shortly after elegantly gliding through the night air.
As per usual, Conan watched the retrieving form of the thief, diving through the night sky, headed towards wherever he lived or hid. Somehow KID's words irked the detective and he re-considered them. The phantom thief seeming to worry about him wasn't anything usual, but somehow his voice had had a certain tone to it that even the spectacled boy couldn't decipher. Did Kaito KID care about him more than about others that chased him?
Conan arrived at the agency an hour later, late at night. Way too late.
"Didn't I ask you to be back by ten?" Ran chided with a sad frown. "I was worrying that something might have happened. You bad luck is almost as bad as Shinichi's!"
I wonder why that is, Conan mused sarcastically. "It got later than I thought it would."
"You have school tomorrow, Conan-kun. It's past midnight already."
Conan shot the brunette the most cutest apologetic look he could muster. "I'm sorry, I just forgot the time. Next time I'll be more careful to be back on time."
Ran sighed, leaning back from her position half hovering over the boy. "Hurry up and go to bed," she sighed. "I'm tired too." She then walked off towards her room, tiredly rubbing at her eyes.
The shrunken detective gladly complied to the request and also walked into the room he shared with Kogoro. For once the man was sleeping in his own bed instead of on the desk, snoring off and drooling into his crumpled pillow. Conan had long ago gotten used to the snoring and quietly pulled out his futon from a drawer, before sprawling it out on the floor next to the sleeping man's bed. When he finally sat on his mattress, he noticed a book resting on a desk. A day earlier, Conan had finished reading the book Ran had given him. He cheered inwardly, knowing that the brown-haired girl would be forced to finally give him back his own books soon. Worn out from his previous thief-chasing, Conan decided to simply go to sleep without reading anything at all before. Lazily, he flopped down onto his mattress, soon after falling into a deep and peaceful slumber. Little did he know that his slumber soon would be disturbed by a rather colorful dream.