Well it's the end (though the chapter title begs to differ), and I'm sorry. This chapter wound up being ridiculously long (with lots of drawn out speech, explanations, and situational analysis) which I guess is good... but I kind of hate to say goodbye to this story, it is -in my opinion- the best story I've written so far so I'm sad to see it ending but if I continued it any further it would become very stupid.

I'm not entirely happy with how this chapter/epilogue turned out, it feels kinda forced but in the end I just went with it cause I couldn't think of a way to make it any smoother. Sorry. And while I'm apologizing I may as well say this chapter has a lot of holes in it, mostly because it really only exists to complete the loop that I've already established and rationalize this story not as an AU story but simply a different timeline than the original DC, I mentioned it last chapter but you'll really need to read It Became Complicated if you want to fully understand what's going on, and in turn what happened.

Sorry to anyone who was actually waiting for my amateur writing~ I have no legit excuse for taking so long. I was reading manga, and watching anime, studying for exams, and being more social than I've probably been in months... and then the holidays came by... so yeah that's my excuse, I don't actually care whether or not you believe it... I'll put the usual thanks and such at the end this time so please stick around for it.

Epilogue. this caN't be the enD.

Alongside my allies I continued to face the Black Organization... that is to say we continued to fight against Conan, though I had never told anyone the truth about what I'd witnessed when I'd gone into the future, and maybe I should have but that can no longer be helped. Telling them what I had seen would have likely not changed what was already bound to happen anyway.

In any case as the years went by and I slowly came to realize many the things that I mentioned in the chapter prior to this one I grew to dread the my inevitable encounter with Anokata/Conan that was set to occur precisely nine years after I returned to my timeline. Knowing that the entire time he'd basically been toying with me as he waited for the day to come when he would reveal himself to me once again, I was able to see that I truly stood no chance against him, however that didn't mean I had no intention of trying to face him anyway.

As the nine year mark approached I thought that I would be sufficiently prepared for our meeting, I wasn't -of course- but at the time I'm thought highly enough of myself to believe that I knew what was going to happen, because at that point I hadn't yet realized that we were stuck in the midst of a stable loop in time so I suspected that he would ask for me to join him to take over the world together or something stupid, evil, and cliqued like that.

I suppose it's not really that relevant what I thought was going to happen, the difference between what I'd mistakenly imagined and what reality had in store for me was great enough that by bothering to mention my false scenario is more or less a complete waste of your time. At this point it'd probably be best if I explain what has truly happened...

It had been ten days before that I was captured by the Black Organization, to anyone else it would have appeared that they'd finally discovered my true identity as Kudo Shinichi rather than Edogawa Conan, but knowing -as I did- the truth of who stood behind the organization I understood that this was his way of saying that my time was up. Though I suppose saying I was 'captured' implies different circumstances than what I was cast into, it gives more of a sense that I was meant to be a 'prisoner' but from the ten days I'd already gone through at that point it was already apparent my role was more that of a lab rat.

They had gotten Ai as well and were using pretty much everyone that we cared for or at the very least had regular contact with as hostages to force her to complete Apotoxin4869 as well as an antidote to it's shrinking side effect, I was to be her human test subject in that regard... which I suppose doesn't change much. The greatest change to my life had been the general isolation and the extremely poor living conditions... but there's no need for me to explain any of that.

The point is Conan (... Anokata... I'm not even entirely sure what I should really call him at this point) came to visit me.

I'd been sleeping when he came, it was his knocking on the door that'd woken me up. I'm not sure why he knocked, the door was always locked so it's not as if I could have let him in, it would have made much more sense for him to have just barged in considering he obviously would have had a key. Regardless for me the fact that there had been a knock had been unsettling. The only person who'd ever came in was Ai and she was -for all practical purposes- just as much trapped as I was so she never wasted the little time we were allowed together knocking, so I knew it wasn't her.

I made no attempt to answer the knock. Soon the door swung open and I was faced with Conan, his physical appearance had changed a bit over the previous fifty-nine years bit it was all too easy for me to recognize him.

Honestly the moment that I had understood that whenever I met Conan again nearly sixty years would have passed for him I mentally prepared myself to see my own appearance as an old man, I can't say I was disappointed in the slightest to see that he'd aged quite gracefully -or rather, not at all. The only thing about him that seemed to show any signs that he was not a normal teenager was his long silver-gray hair, he'd tied it back it a fairly traditional looking low ponytail,which with the plain black suit he was wearing sufficed to make him look as though he was some kind of prodigal mafia boss. His bangs hung limply in front of his eyes making it impossible for me to see any of his expression besides the self-same smile that he'd worn the last time I'd seen him.

I made the completely reasonable assumption that Apotoxin 4869 had (at least in his timeline) granted some form of pseudo-eternal youth. It wasn't exactly perfect considering his hair still proved that he'd aged, and there was such a low chance of anyone who took apotoxin actually shrinking. Even so there were plenty of questions that I couldn't be bothered to ask regarding how he'd explained his failure to age to the rest of the world. I wonder if the apotoxin from my timeline will have the same effect... I wonder if I'll ever be old enough to know.

He was the one who spoke up first.

"I gave you nine years, as promised, and still you refused to give up," he stated, his voice had a strange tone to it, kind of youthful yet wistful at the same time.

I didn't even have to think before replying, "Of course not. Even if you're basically me, I can't leave the organization alone."

"I knew that would be the case," He sighed, seeming almost disappointed, "Your sense of justice is way too strong."

Isn't this a bit too casual for a meeting between the leader of a powerful criminal organization and one of the people fighting against it? In this kind of situation normally it'd be way more tense... right? Ugh, I don't even know anymore, this guy seems to get his enjoyment by taking a sledge hammer to the metaphorical wall between logic and chaos...

I must have taken too long to reply, though I'm not sure how I was meant to, he simply continued, "Even knowing you were doomed from the get-go you continued to fight me and by doing so have cornered yourself. If you had given up then this could have all ended peacefully."

That's a lie and we both know it. He'd given me nine years knowing full well that I had no intention of giving up fighting the organization, given the circumstances there's no way this could have ever truly ended peacefully. I told him as much.

"Even so I gave you a choice and you chose, it was as a result of your decision that the current situation has arisen," He replied calmly, his tone turning darker with the next line, "and you are equally to blame for what comes next."

A weak shiver had run up my spine as he'd said that, as if implying that he knew exactly what dark future awaited me and I didn't doubt for a moment that that was the truth. The situation was already grim and he had the power to do pretty much whatever he wanted to make it better or worse for me, worse being far more likely between the two.

Of course there was no way I was ever going to let him know that I was even the slightest bit afraid of what it was he might think would come next. I stood my ground, "Your choices are yours my choices are mine, I'll take responsibility for my actions if you do the same."

I narrowed my eyes at him as he smiled as though he'd predicted I would say that exact line, "In your current situation there is no hope for you... you won't last much longer as you currently are..."

That statement doesn't really make any sense, weren't we just talking about taking responsibility for our own actions? What is he talking about? Is he telling me that I'm going to die or be killed soon... or perhaps he meant something else entirely as he'd used rather cryptic wording. I wonder how long 'not much longer' is for him these days anyway, for all I know ten years could be a short period of time as he sees it but then how long it is doesn't really matter all that much does it?

"I haven't done anything I regret."

"Hmmm?" for just a moment he seemed to be honestly confused by my statement, "Then would you say that even if you could go back in time that there's nothing you would change?"

His question came completely out of the left field, leaving me somewhat surprised. Was there anything I would want to change? Of course there were things I'd like to change. It's normal for a person to wish that they'd done certain things different ways when they look back on their own past and mine is likely more grim than most.

However I doubt that there's much that could be changed even if the option of time travel presented itself to me, I had already realized that most of what had happened was predetermined, there wasn't much that could really be done.

"Even if you ask that... my current situation is a bit hopeless, you said so yourself," I muttered in response, not entirely sure what kind of answer he would have been hoping for, "Even if a chance to travel back in time were to present itself to me I'm not even sure what could be done to fix any of this."

What's the point of this conversation anyway? Is he trying to make me feel bad, or maybe the conversation thus far doesn't matter so much and he's just stalling before bringing up a more pressing topic... either way I was beginning to grow tired of this idle chatter.

He paused for a moment, "Even though the answer has already been presented to you?"

In an instant my mind raced, I tried to think through everything that had happened to me thus far. What 'answer' was he talking about, what was it that I was missing? I wanted to know.

But even so if the question was what I should change if I were given the chance to time travel then I couldn't actually think of many events significant enough that I believed they would make much of a difference. It wouldn't really matter all that much even if I were to change the past because it wouldn't affect me personally, it would just diverge and all effects would go to a Shinichi in another timeline... which really makes it a kind of a hollow victory, not to mention there could be interference from different timelines at any point so there would be no garuntee that it would remain peaceful even if I were able to temporarily fix things.

It began to become apparent that he was waiting for me to give a reply of some sort before telling me any more, so I asked, "And what 'answer' would that be?"

"I don't think that's really for me to say..." he trailed off.

Then after a long pause he sat down next to me on my bed and spoke up with a sigh, "Right now we're in the middle of a loop, a certain set of events keep reoccurring and because they keep happening they'll continue to keep happening. If nothing is done then it'll probably never change..."

Wait... what's with this random off topic comment? Why can't this conversation just stay coherent? No, more importantly... the person talking now is...

"Shiharoku?"

"Ah, right. Sorry for not saying so right away, I'm not really sure how long I'll be able to stick around..." He confirmed, without missing a beat he continued, "In any case, there's just one chance for us to break free of the loop, but it's risky."

I reasoned that if we were in a loop then an action I had yet to take was going to result in whatever it was that had started Shiharoku's leaping through time in the first place... so it was pretty much already decided that I was going to have to go back in time at some point wasn't it? Unless the chance to break out of the loop is if I don't go back in time, or perhaps... if I were to die. It was quite a while back but Vermouth had said that if I were killed then the organization wouldn't be able to exist.

Ever since I'd figured out the truth about who Anokata really was I'd just assumed that she meant that if I was killed before I wound up going to the future that one time that there wouldn't ever be any reason for there to be a time machine and he'd never get the chance to go back in time and found the organization... but if all of this is a loop then that changes everything. What Vermouth had said may still apply. If I'm going go back in time to do something that accidentally leads to Shiharoku's time jumping and eventual mental breakdown creating Conan/Anokata then if I died right here and now before getting the chance to do that then it won't happen.

At least that would make the most sense, but there's no real risk in that. Shiharoku just said that there's only one chance and that it was risky, he should have a better understanding of the situation and he's probably had more than enough time to think this through so I must be missing something here.

"Risky in what way?" I asked in attempt to gain a better understanding of the situation, "If it's our only chance I'm willing to try it but, what exactly is it we're talking about here?"

"I want you to kill me."

I didn't understand. No, to say I didn't understand is an understatement; I was completely baffled. Why on Earth would he want me to kill him?! Even if I did such a thing how would that suffice to do anything to help this situation? Stop thinking about it, there's nothing, it wouldn't help at all!

The Black Organization has already been around for sixty years now so I'd hardly achieve anything from killing it's leader now, at least nothing in way of preventing it's existence. I guess best case scenario without Conan/Anokata the organization wouldn't be able to operate and would just dissolve... but if Conan is as smart as I think he is then he's probably got someone in line to take his place if anything happens to him.

Having apparently read my line of though Shiharoku extrapolated, "Not right now, about one year after I shrank. It was at that point in time that I first met you, I want you to go back in time to that point and kill me."

"Er... what?" Was all I could manage to say. I wasn't even sure what I really wanted to ask...

"It took me a while to understand but you're the Shinji that I know from my original timeline and the doomed timeline we made together. There's plenty of evidence to support this fact but none of that is really important the point is, back in the beginning he never told me exactly what it was he was trying to prevent he'd only told me a tiny sliver of what the true scenario must have been and he'd never said what it was he was supposed to do to fix it, and now I understand why, it's because he'd been sent back with the purpose of killing me," He stated blandly, sounding almost bitter.

Then again I guess I'd be a bit bitter too if I were telling someone that they had to go back in time and kill me so I wouldn't be able to exist. Even so he's the one who's telling me to do this, I'd feel more like it was the right thing to do if he didn't seem to hate the very fact that he was even suggesting it.

"At your current age it'll be fine if you go back to being Kudo Shinichi even if apotoxin hasn't been cured, you can just return to a normal life (in the event that you don't wind up disappearing). Just stab me as painlessly as possible and leave the knife behind, evidence won't matter, your finger prints and DNA are the same as mine so even if your prints are on the knife or some of your hair falls on the carpet it'll still look like suicide. Haibara and Hakase might think your suspicious for a while but you'll just need to prove that you're from the future and they should eventually come to accept you..."

As he paused again I took the opportunity to ask what I'd been wondering, "Wouldn't it work just as well if I just don't go to the past or maybe if I were to die?"

"There's no guarantee that anything would be avoided if you didn't go back in time, but there's no point in ever dwelling on that as a possibility because you will -without a doubt- go back in time to the point I mentioned, because it's one of the conditions necessary for Conan's existence; you go back in time to when I will meet you for the first time and because of what I learn in that timeline with you I wind up transmitting my memory back timeline after timeline, and eventually Conan come into existence. He's taken great measure to ensure that he will exist, so if you were to die for whatever reason before going back in time he'd be very angry and he'd probably take his rage out on Ran and everyone else you care about, it would change the sequence of events at the cost of everything you care about in this timeline." He said, I got the sense that he was ashamed that it was his own alternate self that was responsible for all of as he continued, "And if you were to die or kill yourself after you go back in time then not only would it appear to the world that Kudo Shinichi had died, it would probably lead to the same result of me leaping across time. So the only way is for me to die, I have to be the sacrifice in order to break out of this accursed loop."

Was there really no other way? I racked my brain, just trying to find an answer, anything that Shiharoku may have overlooked, any possibility of there being a different outcome, any kind of hope within reach, but nothing came to me as I desperately grasped at every possible outcome I could think of in that moment. It seemed that no matter what I did there was still to high of a chance that nothing would change.

That is... unless I killed Shiharoku before he became the way he is now. That was the single chance to change fate that was presented. Our one last hope.

If I couldn't bring myself to kill him then we would come full circle once again, and I would inevitably come to find myself in this same position again without any memory of it having passed who-knows-how-many times before. I'd probably regret not having been able to change it, but I would justify it by saying that no matter what rationalization there is it isn't right to kill someone... and because of that we'd probably never break free.

And that's what made this plan risky, it was obviously a gamble between Shiharoku and Conan. Since it was already inevitable that I would wind up going to the past the only two courses of action available were to either kill Shiharoku in the past or to not kill him; if I killed him then I'd have broken the loop, but if I don't then I'll wind up doing exactly what Conan wants by insuring that the loop continues and likewise that he exists. On one hand I become a murderer, but on the other my actions will lead to the forming of the very organization I've been trying so hard to fight... and there is no other conceivable way to get out of this.

In any case it was hopeless, neither answer could be considered right or wrong...

There was just one question that had been bugging me as I'd continued to think about the exact nature our the loop we were supposedly stuck in, "It doesn't make sense though... if 'Shinji' is me then why didn't I tell you about what was going to happen? If I did then you could have changed everything right?"

"You're right if Shinji had told me, then things might have been different, but if he'd told me everything right away then I'd have pushed him to tell me what he was going to do to change it, and there's no way you'd tell me that I sent you to kill me... or maybe he just didn't want to tell me my future because he knew it would fill me with the same sense of hopelessness that you're feeling right now," He reasoned, his tone growing sorrowful with each phrase, "and then because he intended to change the future he forgot nearly everything that was supposed to happen after the time he'd met me."

I can't say I entirely understood that. I was going to lose my memory because I wanted to change the future? Does that mean that if I didn't want to change it I would be able to remember what was going to happen? That sounds terribly inconvenient.

That's the only possible outcome that wouldn't require killing past-Shiharoku... if I could retain my memories then I could do better to advise him as to what would happen and he could break us out of the cycle... but if I intended to change the past then I would -for whatever incomprehensible reason- be unable to remember and therefore unable to do anything against the loop. So ultimately it's true, the only possible garuntee we have of breaking out of the loop is to just kill past-Shiharoku.

I gulped, "If I break the loop, if I really kill your past self... what will happen after that?"

We were trying so hard to break free of this endless cycle but what exactly is waiting for us beyond it? What exactly is it that we're trying so desperately to reach. I wanted to know. No, I needed to know.

"I don't know."

There was a long pause.

"I can't be sure what will happen if we can get out of all of this..." He answered me somberly, "For any one event in this loop to exist all the others must also exist, by going against it at any point it is made so that none of it could have ever happened in the first place, but for such an action as you killing me to happen then this conversation must take place... so maybe the world will spin off into a timeline that continued the loop and one in which none of the events had happened."

In that case this is almost completely pointless. If breaking the loop only triggers a timeline that will continue past the loop which will continue despite it's fracture... that's like condemning my own self to unhappiness so that another me has a chance at obtaining normal happiness.

"Although it's not unthinkable that all of this will simply be accepted as something that never happened. I never leaped across timelines, I never sent messages to the past, Conan never became Anokata, Kudo Shinichi was never poisoned, you never went back in time, and you never gave me the idea that time travel might be able to solve my problems. Everything as we currently know it would be nil, all our current efforts and struggles would be unknown to anyone because they would have never happened... sounds rather grim thinking about it, but that's actually the best case scenario for us," He paused for a while as if realizing just how odd it was that was the best case scenario, he smiled a bit but it was so faint it could hardly be considered to actually be a smile, "I think it'd be better if doesn't exist... I mean you're perfectly free to prefer the other way, it won't really make any difference as we don't know what will happen."

I really wasn't sure which one I'd be happier with, both possibilities completely sucked as far as I could see... but I suppose either would be better than just continuing to repeat the same stupid thing over and over.

Suddenly his faint smile disappeared, "Wow if I leave him alone he'll just talk forever won't he, still he's managed to tell you why you'll need to go back in time."

I couldn't help but frown a bit myself when I realized that Shiharoku had suddenly switched back to being Conan/Anokata, sure there probably wasn't much else for me to Shiharoku or rather much for him to say to me but it was still rather disheartening seeing the fact that Shiharoku -who was still in essence a form of me- had more or less been forced to become the recessive persona under the weight of Conan's domination. Perhaps the sheer fact that after all this time Shiharoku was the one losing to Conan was supposed to be a sort of grim omen that Shiharoku and I truly were always destined to ultimately lose to Conan and be forced preform the actions that would cause the cycle that would in turn create the situation leading to Conan's victory and our endless defeat... I honestly hoped that I was just reading way to much into that.

I swear I could almost feel a glare through his overlong bangs as he must have assumed that I wasn't going to say anything about his sudden return, the thought that I may have ticked him off -even if just a tiny bit- was enough to make all evidence of the frown his appearance had caused to disappear.

"It won't work you know... his plan to have you kill him and change the past, it won't work."

His statement stopped my train of thought completely.

What did he mean? There was still the issue of the paradox which was pretty much unpredictable, but if I killed past-Shiharoku then Conan would never exist and therefore couldn't found the organization, and I wouldn't be poisoned so in a weird alternate timeline I'd get to live my somewhat normal life as Shinichi. It was a fairly straightforward plan, why would it not work. I mean even if the timeline goes on after I kill him I would be there filling the role of 'Shinichi' in that timeline afterwards so I don't think that there's any real potential for screw up assuming I could actually kill past-Shiharoku.

I said as much to Conan.

He gave a slightly evil sounding laugh as if to say 'you really don't get it do you?' then smirked as he explained, "Even if it wasn't me, someone else would have been 'Anokata', I'm not saying that there's more than one Anokata because for this timeline at least Anokata has always been me and me alone, I'm saying that the organization is something that always would have existed."

I didn't understand. If there had ever been another person with the determination and goal to have possibly become Anokata then why would they have not made an organization anyway even if an organization similar to what they had in mind already existed? Unless that person doesn't exist in this timeline or was offered a better lot in life this time around... or maybe, just maybe, they were here and just as evil. Maybe that Person existed and had seen that there was already an organization like the one he'd wanted to create so he just manipulated everything from the shadows, orchestrating everything while remaining completely unnoticed on the surface. That was definitely a disturbing thought.

"I guess it doesn't really matter though, you'd have to be a fool to actually try to kill your past self even in a different timeline, especially if you aren't sure what is going to happen as a result, " He stated coldly.

Was this his attempt to convince me not to kill past-Shiharoku? I'd have expected him to at least do better than that... I mean sure I was already a bit unsure as to whether or not it was really okay for me to just go back in time and kill him but what Conan was saying really made no difference at all.

He seemed to realize as much, he sighed "Whatever..."

At that point he left, I guess he either ran out of stuff to say or my indifference to what he was saying annoyed him. Is it bad that I sort of hope it was the latter because at least then I know I'm inconveniencing him, but I guess it's possible that if he had more to say he might've said something helpful. I can't be sure so there's really no point in dwelling on it now.

And with that you've been brought about up to current. It's been a while since that conversation. Months have pasted since then, it's probably almost been a year by now it's hard for me to tell.

I don't know what will happen when I go back in time but it's going to happen soon, I might have weeks, or maybe days left until I have to go.

At that point I'll no longer be able to send anything else back as I have been, this is probably the last you'll ever hear from me. I'm sorry that you'll never be able to know the true conclusion of this overly complex adventure of mine, as much as I hate to admit it I guess this is the end.

Goodbye.

- Kudo Shinichi

THANK YOU FOR READING!

There will be no more to this story after this unless I get really bored so I wanna thank everyone who's read so far *takes in a deep breath*

Thanks to: Guest-san, Alyssa-san, guest-kun, Rainkit-chan, jackjiahe-chan, Syrus07-chan (Dokun), blaziebla-kun, starshinesoldier-san, Reader-san, DetectiveLion-kun, AWhimsicalLaugh-san, Tiffy-pii, miko647635-chan, haibaraai4869-chan, manga-fan-99-san, detective4869conan-san, flyer1228-san, roy23-kun, Guest-chan, insanewritter1220-san, Puto-kun, Alex Elvan-kun, Cased In Darkness-sempai, Partsu-san, and everyone who read but didn't review. THANK YOU SO MUCH EVEN THOUT NO ONE IS GOING TO READ ALL THOSE NAMES!

Now then I guess I'd better get to work on my other stories... so see ya later I guess!