Case File: Pandora & The Universe

Glasses

'He's fine child.' A voice whispers, carried by the blowing wind from the open window. Conan shifts from his position at the windowsill.

'You'll meet again soon.' It faded, leaving a napping Conan shivering from the cold night air.

Ran must've found him like that and moved him to the bed because he woke up the next morning hugging Mr. Cuddles, the window already closed. He blinked, rubbing his eyes with his hand to get rid of his sleepiness. He extended his other hand and reached for his glasses...which was not there.

'Huh...'

For a moment, he was back in the Mouri Detective Agency.

"Ran-neechan!" he called, "Where's my glasses?" When he heard no one coming in, he stood up, still hugging his plush and went outside the room.

He absentmindedly questioned why he had a plush in the first place as he groggily climb down the stairs, careful not to trip, all the while calling the suffix of his sort-of big sister.

He got downstairs with a little difficulty since he was still a little sleepy, and walked into the living room of the agency.

He yawned right as he said Ran's name, so all that came out coherently was "Neechan, where's my glasses?" when he asked.

"Conan?" A masculine voice he heard snapped him out of his daze and suddenly he wasn't in the agency anymore. He didn't recognize the place, or so he thinks, and he also didn't recognize anyone in the room.

His wide eyes stared at the room filled with people he knew he should know but his muddled mind couldn't register them. He panicked. His throat clamned up on him and he could only make a strangled noise. His eyes teared up in his confusion.

"...Hey Conan..." he heard the gentle tone of the masculine voice again and looked at the direction it came from. It was moving until he could see the thing in front of him.

"Hello." The voice greeted, "I'm going to hold your right arm, okay?" He felt something squeezed his right arm and he flinched, squeezing the bear in his arms. The hand didn't let go from its firm grip.

"Can you focus on the feeling of my hand, Conan?" Conan didn't understand why he would do that.

"You can look at it too if you want." Conan slowly turned his head to his right where he felt the grip. He didn't notice the plush slipping from his grasp as the tension leaves his body.

Slowly, his head became clearer and the hand registered in his brain. He blinked, then turned his head to follow where the arm came from and came to look at the person holding his arm. His now bright blue eyes stared until his mind also registered who the person was... KID? No, this was different.

"Shinichi-niichan?" He asked softly, and said teen smiled.

"Hey kiddo." Shinichi greeted, though he still hasn't let go of Conan's arm, "You feeling okay?" he asked.

Conan could only blink owlishly, not really sure what happened yet. Instead of answering, he looked behind the teen to see that there were at least ten more people in the room.

Ran-neechan, Yukiko, Yuusaku, Kogoro-otchan, Heiji, Kazuha, Agasa-hakase, and the Detective Boys were all present... He started attending school and he was going to school...right?

He swallowed dryly, "What...?"

Yukiko approached him, Yusaku right behind her, crouching on Shinichi's right side and showed Conan a... cake?

"Happy Birthday Co-chan!" She said cheerfully, though her voice was also gentle.

"...Birthday?" He asked. He didn't know he had a birthday. He saw Yukiko's smile faltered slightly, which then made him wonder if she was going to cry.

Instead she held the cake closer to him, "Yep! it's your birthday today and we're going to celebrate it with everyone!" she gushed, smiling brightly at him. He could see Shinichi's smile from the corner of his vision.

His attention was diverted to Yusaku when the man crouched beside his wife. He watched as the man took out a pair of glasses from the inner pockets of his suit jacket, popped the lens out and placed it gently on Conan's face.

Conan can only stare as the man spoke up, "It's your first time celebrating your birthday with us and we wanted to celebrate together."

Conan knew there were other people in the room, but they were so quiet he forgot about them until they slowly came up one by one to greet him Happy Birthday.

Apparently they were going to his room to wake him up and surprise him, but he surprised them instead.

He later noted that the kids were also calm when they greeted him (he guessed that they sensed how the adults were acting around him and copied them in fear of harming him). With each and every greets and gifts, his eyes started tearing up until his tears dripped down his face. Most of them panicked, asking what was wrong.

Yukiko hugged him, "Aw, it's alright Co-chan!" Conan just nodded all the while hugging the boxes of gifts given to him.

He heard Hattori laugh, "The kid's touched!" he announced only to be hit by Kazuha.

"Shut up, Aho!"

"Who you callin' aho, you Aho!"

Conan could only give a watery laugh as he thought that some things never changed. The day went on, everyone sang happy birthday, he blew the candle on the cake before they ate it along with the meals Ran and Kazuha brought over. Satou-keiji, Takagi-keiji, and Megure-keibu came in a little later that day with their own gifts and greetings.

The kids joined them while the rest looked at them, clearly amused, though kept out of their conversation. Before the party was over, Conan played the little detective game with the Detective Boys to get his present from Agasa-hakase and Shinichi.

The gift in the end was the upgraded version of the Detective Boys Badge, and a white piece of paper with the word 'Magic' printed neatly at the center. Conan looked at Shinichi and the teen winked at him, offering no explanation. He was soon distracted by the kids saying goodbye because it was getting dark, and everyone else trickled out with them.

The Kudos made him open his gifts after everyone left. Satou-keiji gave him a pocket notebook while Takagi-Keiji gave him a pen. Megure-keibu gave him a card with money inside. Kazuha gave him a charm and Heiji gave him a new hat. The Mouris gave him owl decorations for his room, and the Kudo couple gave him his own phone.

They had a family group hug after that, and they binged watched a show till they all fell asleep on the couch.

Conan felt so overwhelmed. Here he was, alive in another universe, his family in the same room as his friends. He might have lost his old identity, but he never regretted saving Shinichi. He was thankful to the universe and the gem for giving him another chance to right his wrong, and to properly defeat the Org and its branches. 

He lost half the battle, but he'd gained something new, and he'd be damned if they took that away from him too.