Secrets of the Shrunken Ones

Chapter 3: The Sister

Grace was very tempted to slam a hand on Shinichi's mouth. It was just stupid to open it and talk back to someone who's looking for you when you try to hide from that someone. Especially if you tell them to shut up. She was also tempted to slap her forehead. It was so stupid to cover your mouth after the fact. He was supposed to be the High School Detective of the East! Now Ran would come around the corner and check on them. Or on him. She wasn't sure if she should stay hidden or not.

Grace thought maybe hidden would be good for now, so she pressed herself against the desk and tried to use it as a shield. Shinichi wasn't even under the desk when he found the glasses in the desks drawer. Two lenses fell before her and she hesitated. Ran probably wouldn't notice them, but this time she was here. So she swiped them quietly and quickly under the desk when Ran was occupied with Shinichi. Or future Conan. She didn't know what to call him in her mind.

Coming here would actually be a pretty bad idea when they were presumed dead, if she didn't know better not to disturb the flow of events or the future knowledge was pointless. She was pretty happy with the new chance to live, but it really was stupid of her to turn around that corner right after she'd teleported somehow to see Shinichi getting poisoned. Now look at where she was! Hiding from a high school girl under a table in a child's body. At least they had found more fitting clothes for her. A green hoodie and shorts. Grace sighed quietly.

Could be worse... maybe.

She didn't even want to know.

"Aw! Who are you, then?", Ran asked in front of her.

Startled Grace looked up to see the girl's face smiling at her.

I didn't want to know worse!

"Don't be shy!", Ran kneeled down to encourage her to come out.

What now? How would a real child act? Help!

Grace hesitated for a second and slowly came out still 'cautious' of the girl. She took a few quick steps beside Shinichi and looked at Ran shyly. Might as well play shy when found hiding under a desk.

"Awww! You're so cute! Are you siblings?"

Grace blinked and turned to Shinichi noticing just then how similar they looked. The boy glanced at her and then back to Ran.

"Y- Yeah!", he said smiling brightly, but forced.

Grace blinked again. What? Siblings? With Edogawa Conan?! She couldn't let the shock show on her face though. Not with Ran pressuring them against the bookshelves.

"My name is Shin-, no..."

Really. It was just depressing to watch this conversation.

"Edogawa Conan!"

Now they were literally pressed against the bookshelves.

"My name is Edogawa Conan"

Oh, yeah! What's my name?

Not 'Grace'. It would be suspicious to Conan. Might as well go with her second name.

"I'm Edogawa Marie", Grace muttered quietly inching closer to 'Conan'.

This world really was crazy. She was now officially the sister of Edogawa Conan. Ran started wondering about the boy's name and Conan told the story of their dad being a Conan Doyle fan. Grace was quiet and glad she chose the role of a shy sister. She wouldn't know what to say about this. And she needed to think what to do next. What to do as Conan's sister. How were baths going to turn out? She paused her thoughts. Maybe she really didn't want to think about it until the time came. One thing she knew was that she'd refuse. Being a child was humiliating enough.

Then Agasa Hakase bumped them forward.

"Ran-kun? Could you take care of them at your place for a while?"

Well, here we go! I'm still thinking this is crazy though...

(Now that I think about it 'crazy' might become my favourite word here)

xXXx

Grace Filneyard or now Marie Edogawa laid on her back on a futon in Ran's room staring at the ceiling. Ran was sound asleep next to her. She was thinking. The first case was hard for her. She had known Conan was going to get hurt. She'd known it. Yet done almost nothing. Only tried to drag Ran with her sooner so she could save him faster. It had to happen for the boy to notice he couldn't take criminals down without proper equipment. She had to make him ask Agasa for gadgets.

It hurt to have known. It still hurt to know how many things would happen. And it hurt to know some shouldn't be changed now. It might make things worse and she didn't want to take risks. It was risky enough as it was. But... people were going to die.

Marie sighed and turned to her side, away from Ran's sleeping form. She could think about this later. Now she had about three days before the next case. Maybe she could prevent some of them? The idol thing? But she didn't know how. And should she tell Conan? Biting her lower lip Marie thought of it, struggling with herself. This was crazy. And her emotions were still unstable from this year. She'd lost her family. Her parents. And almost died twice. Maybe she should just wait and let Conan figure it out himself. First she would have to get herself stable.

This was hard. She shared the shrinking secret with Conan and it was hard enough to keep from Ran and Kogoro. Well, Kogoro was easier, but still. Conan could share his secret with some people, including herself. The other secret couldn't be told to anyone. She couldn't take the chance of someone trying to abuse the knowledge. And she had to hide it from a detective of all people. This would be very hard if not impossible.

Marie once again turned around this time to face Ran's bed. The girl was sleeping peacefully not worrying over anything. Not Shinichi, not her, nothing. Marie smiled at her. Ran would be a year older than her if she was still her older self. She had a big sister and brother now. She had a new family, if she could start thinking of them as such. It was hard, yes, but maybe not so bad? With these thoughts Marie drifted into a slumber.

Tomorrow would be another day.

xXXx

So. Third chapter. I'm skipping pretty much from the cases because if you're reading this I presume you've read or watched the series. This story is based off of the manga. Not anime. Also, I'm still not completely sure if I'll finish this but almost 16 chapters are ready at the moment and only waiting for editing. Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1134