Chapter 14: Detego

There were several things Heiji expected when Kazuha showed up. To get yelled at? Sure. To get scolded? Definitely. To be called down to the agency's office and find a severed head in a box on occhan's desk?

That had not been in the running. At all.

"It's him," he heard Ran whisper. She was very pale, eyes wide in horror and a hand over her mouth.

"What," Kazuha said nervously. "What is-" She yelped as Shinichi fucking ninja'd his way up the desk, just catching a glimpse of what was in the box before Kazuha caught him by the shirt collar and hauled him back. "Oh," Kazuha observed very softly, a tinge of green to her face because the crime scenes she'd stumbled on were fresh, the light of life just fading, not this dark and cold thing beginning to rot. She backed up, setting Shinichi down as she sat on the couch.

"Gin," the boy rasped quietly, blue eyes wide behind his glasses and Heiji breathed in sharply in recognition of the name. The guy who had been responsible for the Detective of the East's current state, a cold blooded killer who had shot himself in order to counteract the effect of Shinichi's tranquilizer dart.

The one whose head was currently in a box.

Heiji mentally cursed, unsure what to do. Kazuha looked nauseated, Ran seemed to have her own hang ups there and Shinichi (he thought he was Shinichi, would he be crying or acting more childish if he was Conan? Gods, how was this his life?) was being confronted with the presence of a man who would have killed him, had attempted to in the past, never mind that the man himself was dead now.

"Conan-kun," Ran said, voice trembling and the oddest expression on her face. She walked past Heiji and knelt down next to the boy, laying a hand gently on his shoulder. He flinched, turning his wide terrified gaze to Ran and she said, "Oh, Conan-kun," and hugged him. He let her, his small frame trembling so slightly that Heiji wouldn't have caught it if he weren't already so attuned to him.

Taking this for the cue it was, Heiji went over to Kazuha, carrying the trash can with him. "Hey," he said quietly as he sat next to her on the couch but keeping watch on Ran and Shinichi out of the corner of his eye. "Are you okay?"

"Okay?" Kazuha said, looking over at Heiji incredulously. "Heiji, that-" She breathed in and out, deep and deliberate. "Gods, Heiji, how do ya-" She covered her face with her hands, a fine tremor in her arms. "We need to call the police," she said after a moment.

"Yeah," Heiji agreed. "We do." He made no movement though, just stayed where he was, mind in turmoil and his attention split between everyone in the room.

Kazuha looked at him, confused by his inaction. "Well?" she asked with a hint of her normal bluster.

"It's best ta give them a minute, don't you think?" he replied, tilting his head in Ran and Shinichi's direction.

"...Yeah," Kazuha agreed. "Yeah."

Everything was a little blurry, not quite in focus beyond the warmth of (neechan) Ran's arms around him and the unfortunately familiar scent of decay, of life cut short, the thread shriveled and blackening at the end.

It really couldn't have happened to a better person, honestly, but everything had consequences, hell, he was a consequence, and even inaction was still an action as he stayed still, hands fisted against his sides not quite daring to even breathe because why was Gin here, how could he be here, who was responsible for this -

"It's all right," Ran-neechan breathed, his hair barely moved by her exhale. "It's all right, you're safe, we're both fine, it's okay Shinichi-"

He stiffened, eyes opening wide, and pushed her away as Conan screamed.

It wasn't like the situation could get any worse, honestly, how can you top a severed head in a box? That was Heiji's opinion anyway. As far as he was concerned, it was a pretty damn accurate opinion, too. Before his best friend started screaming anyway.

It was shrill and unlike almost anything he'd heard come from Shinichi's mouth before. Going from Ran's wide-eyed expression she'd never heard it either. "It's okay," she stammered, reaching out for him but stopping just short. "It's fine, Conan-kun, you're safe-"

"I'm not him!" the boy shrieked, hands cupped tight over his ears and hunching down, practically kneeling on the floor now. "Shinichi-niichan isn't here, he's not here right now, he's not!"

"What's going on?" Kazuha asked.

"What did you say to him?" Heiji demanded.

"Nothing!" Ran protested. "I was just telling him everything was okay, that he was safe-"

"We're not safe," Conan insisted quietly, looking over at the desk. "It's not safe here, or anywhere, there's eyes and ears everywhere."

"Conan." Heiji crouched down, eye level with him. "He can't hurt you or Kudo, okay? He's dead, he can't hurt either of ya again."

"What do you mean, again?"

He ignored Ran's outburst and focused on Conan. "You're all right, you're both fine, okay? Kudo, an' neechan an' me, and Kazuha too, we're all alive and here and okay."

"Haibara," Conan choked out. "She-"

"She's fine too," Heiji reassured him, moving so he blocked the view of the desk and the box on top. "She's safe at the hakase's, they're all safe."

"That's the man from Tropical Land, isn't it?" Ran insisted, kneeling down next to Heiji. "And the other man that he was with, he - he-" She trailed off with a muffled sob. "They did this to you, didn't they," she whispered. "They hurt you, you've been hiding from them."

"What the hell is goin' on?" Kazuha exploded. "Ran-chan, what are you talkin' about Kudo-kun for, when it's-" She hesitated. "It's Conan-kun right here. Conan-kun and Kudo-kun?"

Heiji just about smacked his head. Oh, they were in for a long night...

Chapter title translation: Reveal

You may have noticed the ship tag changed. Yeah. That's a thing that happened. While plotting out the rest of the story (which I originally thought would be 20 chapters max but now it's looking more like 25-30 lol) I was trying to write the KaiShinHei in there like I planned but it just? didn't? happen? It was more HeiShin with kinda queerplatonic KaiShin so that's kinda what's happening now irdk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, I have a buffer of a couple chapters now so I will be posting the next chapter next Saturday, and aren't we all in for some drama *evil laughter* Oh, it feels so good to be back, I'm absolutely ecstatic, seriously I'm smiling so hard rn :DDDDDDDDDD

Reviews/concrit are appreciated as always, and if you want you can hit me up on Twitter at AseArtisan if you enjoy Yuri on Ice and shitposting, as well as me screaming about cats and rocks.