It almost felt like he wasn't falling any more, as he spotted the crow that had spoken, her wings almost frozen in place. This caused the shrunken detective to realise his brain was going at a much faster rate than normal. It was... surreal.

     Think bird? What? How? Conan was confused for a fraction of a second, though it felt like eternity as he turned the thought over in his mind trying to understand what the crow meant. Then a prickling, stinging sensation like severe pins and needles spread across his skin, his mind almost subconsciously shifting perspective as an agonising pain flared in his left leg, even as he flung his arms out to catch the updraft on instinct.

      Huh? Wings?!? Since when? Time suddenly righted itself, with Conan finding himself hovering almost four foot above the ground on mottled brown wings. He looked at his feet in both confusion and curiosity, only to see sharp looking talons like Hakuba's bird had, and were those tail feathers?!?

     He looked about himself, his wings instinctively moving to keep him airborne, hovering above the ground like some birds of prey did. Was that what he was now? A hawk?

     The crow who'd yelled at him fell in a graceful spiral pattern to land on a nearby piece of machinery with a practiced ease, before turning her ruby-red beady eyes on him. Conan realised with a jolt that this was no ordinary bird, but a witches Raven. Could she be one of the birds that belonged to the woman that had cursed... blessed... whatevered... him? If so he'd have to be infinitely cautious. (He didn't question how he knew she was female. He just... did.)

/See? Think Bird. Not that hard. Mistress sent me to apologise to you.\ The Raven cawed, turning her head curiously as Conan continued to hover. /Flying feels good. Doesn't it?\ She asked, blinking in surprise when he answered her in perfect Bird-speak.

/Ah. Almost as good as booting a football at Kai-nii's head. Why does your mistress want to apologise?\ Conan queried, testing his wings and accuracy as he clumsily landed on the same piece of machinery the raven was using as a perch. He screeched as a sharp jolt of pain shot up his left leg, shifted so he was mostly putting pressure on his right, then shifted his feathers without conscious though. The raven didn't even flinch at the sound.

     /She wanted to scare the Ghost Guy, but he didn't show. You did. She saw flashes of your... I think she said potential future?... so she gave you a way to cheat fate. But she's worried. You are just a chick. That spell was for adults.\ The raven looked nervous and shy suddenly. Conan bobbed his head to show he was listening still. When the raven said no more, he spoke instead.

     /So she's afraid there'll be unwanted and likely lethal side effects for a child?\ The question was rhetorical, but the raven nodded anyway. Conan refrained from rolling his eyes. /I'm actually the same age as the Ghost Guy, Raven-chan, I just look tiny.\ The feathered detective assured, wondering if he was now stuck as a bird forever, or if it was just temporary.

He looked around, his sharp eyes noting the child-sized clothes laying abandoned in a heap where his body should have landed. Anyone could come across them lying there, and damnit, but Haibara was going to completely freak out when she saw them. He didn't just change. Not without his... medication anyway. A patter, clatter and thump of various sized children's footsteps alerted Conan to the approach of his friends.

/I need to go. My friends can't see me like this. Especially Haibara.\ The Raven bobbed her head.

/Ok, Merlin-Falcon-Boy.\ She was smiling, the feathered young detective realised. It was an expression so familiar to him, yet alien too. Humans just wouldn't be able to tell it was a smile at all. /Don't worry about the clothes thing. That always happens the first few times. You should be able to change back too. But only around someone you really trust, or love. Mistress is a Red Enchantress after all. You'll get the hang of it soon I expect.\ The raven explained, leaning over to pluck a feather from him head. Conan glared at her.

/What? It was loose. Learn to preen.\ She admonished, before tilting her head. /I'll go and find Ghost Guy's one legged dove. Then I'll report to Mistress. She can sort of understand me I think. Ja-ne, Merlin-Falcon-Boy.\ With that, she beat her wings firmly before launching herself upwards with a hop and a powerful flap of her wings, airborne and flying off in a matter of a fraction of seconds in the direction Ekoda-Chou.

Conan hunched his wings and shoulders slightly, feeling just a little worried about his friends finding his clothes. He could hear them approaching still. It wasn't like he could do much about them right now, what with being a small falcon-like bird at the moment. Should he try preening himself or something? The way Raven-chan was talking, he'd come to the conclusion that he was now a bird as well as a child and a teenager, so he guessed he'd have to learn to be more Bird-like quickly, lest he raise suspicions.

A well kept white car pulled up, and it took Conan longer than he'd have liked to recognise Takagi-keiji's civilian car with his currently warped perspective. The man looked about himself, eyes falling on the pile of clothes almost instantly. The apparently off-duty police detective hurried over and scooped the child-sized clothes into a red backpack, which he then zipped up and threw at his car, the object sailing through the air and neatly slipping through an open window to land on the back seat.

"Ah! Suzuki-san!" The detective called as the familiar heiress appeared round a corner of the building with three children in tow. They all looked scared. Sonoko waved at him and walked over, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta following like lost puppies. "Have you seen Ran-san?" Sonoko grinned evilly. Takagi-Keiji paled.

"Ran-oneesan is busy beating up the bad guy that took Ayumi, Sonoko-oneesan and Ran-oneesan." Ayumi explained, both boys nodding along with her, though Conan could see Mitsuhiko's thinking face from where he was perched.

"I'm going to the station to report this. Ran can handle herself. We can have sushi and cake afterwards ok?" Sonoko declared loudly, dismissing the off-duty detective in favour of flouncing off like she'd never been kidnapped in the first place. Conan huffed a silent laugh as Genta hurried after her at the promise of food, with Ayumi and Mitsuhiko chasing after Genta with childish shrieks of how greedy their friend was.

Takagi-keiji looked lost for no more than six seconds, because that was when Ran appeared round the corner, alone and completely unharmed. Conan's feathers puffed up in fear at the sweetly sarcastic smile she was wearing, well aware that was her 'I'm about to lose it and break something, likely your neck' look. Why did he have a feeling he was going to be in trouble when he turned human again?

"Ran-san!" He exclaimed, looking a little relieved. She blinked to show she was listening as she slowed to a stop before him. "Did Conan-kun have his... ah... medicine on him?" The off-duty officer asked, paling as Ran shook her head.

"No. Ai-chan might, but they weren't together. Now be quiet. Shin'ichi doesn't know you know yet." Oh. That was right. Wasn't it? Shin'ichi (And by extension Conan) had never told the officer the truth of his identity, but then... the man wasn't stupid; he'd had his suspicions even before they'd ended up trapped in an elevator with a bomb.

Normal six (at the time) year olds did not defuse bombs. Especially in such a professional way in a confined space with such pressure on them. Ok, so instructions had been relayed to him, but Conan hadn't needed them. In fact, had he been in Shin'ichi's body, they probably wouldn't have bat an eye at him disarming the threat the way he had.

     Ever since then, Conan had been a little less childish around Takagi-keiji, a little more trusting. (Though he still mostly hid behind the excuse of  'Oochan told me to...'). Eventually it had gotten to the point where Takagi-keiji just took him seriously at crime scenes, helping him without complaint should he need it.

Then a few months back, the officer had been mumbling to himself at a crime scene as he'd done Conan's bidding. The words sounded suspiciously like 'telling me in the next world? But he already is'. Takagi had gone silent as soon as he'd spotted the tiny detective. That was when Conan knew.

     The shrunken Heisei-Holmes had come to the startling conclusion that Day that the police detective had figured it out, but wasn't saying a word. Probably because he wanted Conan -Shin'ichi- to trust him and inform him personally. Which... ok, that was considerate of him really. Not that the young detective really minded. He trusted Takagi-keiji with his secret.

"Ah! Ran-oneesan!" Conan turned his feathered head, sharp eyes noting that Haibara had company in the form of a certain Master Of Disguise, who was currently masquerading as Kudo Shin'ichi. Only... he wasn't wearing coloured contact lenses, something Ran would notice right away, even if the difference was so subtle no one else would notice.

     "Kudo-kun's all confused." Haibara pouted, looking exactly like a disappointed child for a moment. "He's limping, but won't let me see, he didn't know me, and he didn't recognise pictures of Ayumi-chan and kojima-kun, but he knew Tsubaraya-kun." The not-child's worried face looked up at Ran, her wide teary eyes filled with confusion.

     Ran glanced at 'Shin'ichi', wondering if Ai-chan was really fooled, or if she was playing along, because that was decidedly not Shin'ichi. No, that was the Moonlight Magician Kaitou Kid, also know as Kuroba Kaito.

     The confused looking detective blinked at her, winking subtly as he mumbled 'ran-neechan', much to Ai-chan's evident horror, so either the not-child was a better actor than ran gave her credit for, or the shrunken biochemist genuinely thought this dazed looking teen was really their detective.

"Ah, Takagi-keiji? Can you go with Ai-chan? She knows where I left the guys that kidnapped us, and I'd like to talk with Shin'ichi alone if that's ok? I think there's too many strange things going on around him right now, ne, Ai-chan?" The little girl nodded, snatching the grown-up's hand and forcibly dragging the older man away after casting a worried glance shin'ichi's way. So Ai-chan really did think this teen was shin'ichi?

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Once the magician was sure they were alone, Kaito relaxed slightly and sank to his knees, looking up at the young lady before him with worried eyes. Carefully, he conjured a familiar white dove into existence, whispering a few words to it before making direct eye contact with the scary Mouri girl for a brief moment.

     The little white bird cooed gently, nipping his finger affectionately before beating her winds and taking to the air, making odd little warbling sounds as it flew off. Once the animal was out of sight, the magician got to his feet and shot Mouri-chan a reassuring smile. She raised her eyebrow at him in reply.

     "Conan-kun's safe. Tama-chan's gone to find him." He told her quietly, careful to change the tone and inflection of his voice so he sounded more like Shin'ichi and less like Kaito.

"But?.." ok. Kaito could count on one hand how many people could read him well enough to hear a 'but' coming in his words, and Mouri-chan hadn't been one of them. (Saguru, his mother, Tantei-kun, and now Mouri-chan too.)

"Uh... how to phrase this and not get mauled..." he mused out loud, flinching as Mouri-chan's face contorted slightly. Why did it feel like his lifespan had suddenly gotten infinitely shorter?

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Conan watched Kai-nii and Ran interacting, wondering what he could do. Ok, so from the way Kaito kept shooting subtle sideways glances in his direction, the magician had seen at least some of what happened after he fell. He wasn't sure how much he'd seen though. And how was he supposed to let Ran know he was currently a Hybrid bird of prey?

A soft flutter of wings alerted the avian detective to company, not really surprised to see Tama-chan perched next to him calmly. /You know, doves are supposed to be afraid of Birds of Prey Tama-chan. Do you really have no sense of self preservation?\ The falcon Hybrid commented off handedly as he resolutely didn't look at her. He was afraid he might go for her despite his human mind being mostly in control.

/Live life on the edge, and when you fall off, spread your wings and fly.\ She retorted cheekily, clacking her beak at him after plucking a loose feather from his right wing. /I'm not scared of you. You're still Tantei-kun, even if you do look like a Merlin-Falcon now. I think master saw you change. I know I did, and I was on his shoulder.\ Conan shook his head in a despairing way, before tapping a single talon on his perch, brightening a bit when he realised he could still use his and Ran's tap-code. Maybe he could reveal himself to Ran after all.

The one legged dove waited patiently, noting how the child-turned-Falcon was looking about, observing the surroundings with sharp, piercing eyes. Ok. So Humans didn't normally turn into birds, nor did they talk to and understand birds either. But this was Tantei-kun, a nearly full grown Human who looked like a big hatchling or small fledgling, a human that made defusing bombs look easy. (Or so Master claimed anyway. Bombs were the loud bang things that hurt people and broke things in terrifying cracks of fire right?)

Conan looked about himself, realising just how different the world seemed when seen through a bird's eyes. Sure, he recognised Kaito-nii and Ran easily enough, but they looked different somehow. Not just bigger either. He couldn't quite pinpoint the difference though.

His eyesight was so much better as a bird it seemed, and Shin'ichi had 20-20 vision as a human as it was. That meant when people said birds of prey had amazing eyesight in comparison to humans, they were telling the truth. His hearing was equally enhanced too, along with his sense of touch, though smell was about the same.

Tama-chan made a sound that Conan's bird side recognised as her clearing her throat, bringing Conan back to the present. He shook himself, ruffling his feathers into neatness somehow, much to the dove's evident amusement.

The falcon and the dove took off together, doing a couple of circuits of the building before flying down to the two humans. Tama-chan perched on Kaito's shoulder, but Conan chose to hover at head height to Ran, not right in her face, but close enough to look her in her eyes. He knew it might come across as a little aggressive, but what else could he do?

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     Ran stared incredulously at the hovering bird, taking in the all too familiar too-blue eyes and the little tuft of feathers on the back of its head that looked suspiciously like Shin'ichi's cow-lick. She couldn't quite believe it. She just... couldn't. The bird hovered for several seconds, maintaining eye contact the entire time, before dropping to land on the floor clumsily with dull eyes.

     The bird looked at Ran, then at Kuroba-kun, then back to Ran again, the strange dullness of the look reminding the Karate Champion of Conan-kun when he was scared. The bird mad a few Kew-kew noises at the magician (well, the dove on his shoulder anyway.) before looking her in the eye again, the emotion in the eyes clear as day. It wasn't possible. It just wasn't.

     /People understanding birds and de-ageing into little children isn't possible either. But here I am.\ A swift tapping told her, causing her to stare down at the falcon and gawk. She must have imagined it. She had to have. Because there was no way a bird would know her and Shin'ichi's special tap-code.

     /Ran.\ the bird clicked slowly, using the snapping motion of it's beak to make the sounds. The brunettes blue eyes widened as she actually witnessed the bird 'speak'. It bobbed it's head, the tuft of feathers somehow sticking up even more as it did so.

     /It's me. Shin'ichi. Conan. Apparently that witch did more than just enhance my senses and language skills.\ The bird —Shin'ichi— clicked, turning his head to one side to stare at her in a way that was just so Conan that she simply had to laugh. (It was either that or freak out and cry.)

     She crouched down, forgetting Kuroba-kun was there, extending a hand towards her feathery friend. The blue-eyed bird hesitated for a moment before half flapping, half hopping onto her arm, only one set of Talons tightly gripping her clothes. He seemed to be trying his best not to hurt her, though she did wonder why he was only gripping with one foot.

     "You know Shin'ichi, I always did thing you were a little bird-brained in ordinary, everyday things..." Ran teased, her eyes bright with worry and mirth. The falcon puffed his feathers out at her indignantly, huffing silently at the same time.

"Tantei-kun. You were talking to Akako's raven earlier, weren't you?" Kuroba-kun stated suddenly, making Ran start in surprise. She'd completely forgotten the magician was right there!

/Akako? That's the teenage witch with reddish-brown hair, red eyes and an unhealthy obsession with your alter ego right? The one responsible for my current state of being?\ Conan clicked. Ran translated for him, a little freaked out still, but just going with it, because what else could she do?

(Shin'ichi was Conan-kun, and not even human right now. But he was still her lovable geeky friend underneath the feathers. How was this... this insanity her life now?)

"That about sums her up, yeah." Kuroba-kun's voice was low, hard to hear, but Ran understood. He did sound like Shin'ichi, but not enough like Shin'ichi to fool people who knew him well. It was just... better if nobody overheard what he was saying. "That was one of her Ravens, wasn't it?"

A bob of a feathery head that needed no translation from Ran had the magician-disguised-as-a-detective continuing. "I thought her curse-thing only let you understand birds, not... this." A series of rapid fire clicks, with Ran translating for her friend again.

"He didn't know until just now. Apparently falling to his death triggered something." She paused to listen to the clicking again for a moment. "The raven said something about it being a gift to help him cheat fate. He can also hear Takagi-keiji and Ai-chan returning."

"Ah. I have to go then. I'll wait for you at Tantei-kun's place?" The Karate Champion nodded, flicking her arm up as the Feathered Detective spread his wings, launching him into the air, where he hovered for a second before flying off, hot on the tail-feathers of the dove that had been on Kuroba-kun's shoulders.

A cheeky indigo-eyed grin flashed her way as the magician vanished in a puff of fast-fading grey smoke, a similar puff of smoke coming from Takagi-keiji's car as the magician pilfered Conan-kun's clothes as he ghosted by.

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Conan beat his wings idly, going slowly so he wouldn't overtake Tama-chan, who seemed to be going at a fair pace. For a dove anyway. The Raven had called him 'merlin-falcon-boy' and Conan knew both predators were much faster than doves, thus the lazy wing-beats and idle pace. The little white bird seemed perfectly unbothered by the fact that he, a predator, was hot on her tail.

/Hey Tantei-kun? Want to meet some of my flock before we go to your nest?\ She cooed cheerfully, outright cackling with glee when the Falcon-hybrid agreed. (Lucifer, Lucky and Lupin were going to be so sorry they picked on Watson-chan!)

Watson was keeping an eye on Master's Mate's flock of spy doves when Tama-chan appeared, wing beats fast and half-panicked, a much bigger mottled brown bird right behind her. The hawk made to spring off e perch and onto the attacker, only to pause with her wings half spread as a happy dove cackle rang out, followed by three terrified, angry squawks.

     The hawk looked closely at the brown bird of prey, taking in the unusual blue eyes and the odd tuft of feathers on the back of its head. She'd never personally seen a bird like that before, but she'd seen her master show his mate pictures of peregrine falcons before, so she knew that was the sort of bird she was looking at now.

     Why was a peregrine falcon after her dove friends? Watson shifted her feet, poised for rapid take off should she need to, though as she watched the falcon, she realised she didn't have to. Tama-chan was going right up to the bigger bird and chattering away, the whole flock soon joining in, save for Lupin, Lucifer and Lucky of course.

     The falcon looked almost scared of the big crowd of white feathers vying for its attention, actually hopping behind Tama-chan at one point like a shy human chick would. She kept glancing over to Watson though, as if she wanted a word.

     The falcon said something –Watson couldn't hear what– and Tama-chan was suddenly half hopping, half flying over to her, a worried glance cast over one shoulder as she landed on Watson's perch, looking both happy and worried.

     /Who's the falcon, Tama-chan?\ The hawk asked softly, still keeping half an eye on the other predator. The one legged dove clacked her beak once before looking up at Watson with a nervous air about her.

     /That's Tantei-kun. Akako cast some kind of spell on him. Raven-chan told me the witch took pity on him and gave him a way to cheat fate. I don't really understand it though.\

     /You don't have to though do you\ A distinctly male voice replied from behind them, the distinct blue eyes and feather tuft even more quirky up close. The falcon was hovering at eye level to them, –his– eyes almost seeming to stare deep into Watson's very soul, causing her to shift from foot to foot uncomfortably.

     /Hello Watson. Hakuba-nii's told me everything he knows about you. I don't think he realises we can understand people.\ The falcon greeted, still hovering despite being quite close to a perch. He seemed to prefer to stay airborne for some reason.

     /Hello? I...\ Watson sputtered, amazed at the sheer strength of his slow wing beats. It was almost like he didn't actually need to flap his wings to stay airborne.

      /Wow Tantei-kun, she's speechless!\ Tama-chan cooed cheekily, deflating slightly at the dual sharp eyed glares sent her way.

     Several minutes passed, with Watson firing question after question at the currently feathery not-child until she was satisfied. It seemed to surprise the falcon when she asked him about his last trip to a Kid heist, even more so when she started describing a recent crime scene she'd been to to him. Maybe he hadn't known she was like the spy dove flock? Scary smart animals were rare after all.

Eventually Tantei-kun apologised for having to cut their chat short, beat his wings twice fiercely, and shot off at an astonishing speed. A speed that the Harris Hawk just couldn't hope to match, no matter how much she wanted to. Her wings were just not built for such speeds.

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Cool wind tickled Conan's flight feathers as he flew along at what felt like a fairly leisurely pace, though judging from how the buildings beneath him were flashing past, he wasn't going slow at all.

It was almost as good as football, only this was just... it was more peaceful somehow. Even so high up, he could see every detail of the ground, his mind processing things just that much faster.

Up here, where he could move freely without the restrictions a ground-bound creature had, he felt at ease, no longer bound by gravity and his oh-so-lonely life as Conan.

(He had Ran of course. And Heiji and Haibara. But that was sort of it. So yeah. Excuse him if he felt lonely most of the time. Not many people could function at his mental level consistently. Nor could they hope to understand how trapped he felt as a seven year old. Hmm... Could he count Kai-nii and Hakuba-nii as friends?)

     He could see so much more from up here; and not like how you could see out of a window in an airplane either; it was so much clearer, like seeing through a really powerful set of binoculars, only nothing seemed closer or bigger. Just... clearer.

     Or maybe that was just how his human mind processed the view. It could well be he did have telescopic vision now. And he just didn't know yet because he was a bird right now and the way his eyes were working felt normal.

The journey from Ekoda-Chou to Beika-Chou seemed much, much shorter by wing compared to the train. Maybe it was because he was flying direct rather than following the winding train routes, or maybe he was just perceiving things differently because he wasn't exactly human right then.

Spotting his –Shin'ichi's– home, the bird paused for the tiniest fraction of a second, pausing for a second to register the loud, ominous rumbling he could hear. Something akin to instinct told him to move, so he folded his fledgling wings and dive-dive-dived fast, wings spreading of their own accord to brake like he knew birds of prey did.

Only... he must have misjudged the distance, because he was almost to the ground and he couldn't stop. Strong beats of his wings in an attempt to hover didn't help at all, he was going to crash. Damnit he was going to crash. In this fragile bird body.

A pair of white suede gloves hands expertly plucked him from the air just in time to prevent a nasty crash landing, and Conan shot the owner of said hands a grateful look and didn't struggle against the grip, despite the discomfort caused by one of his wings being bent slightly awkwardly.

Kaito had spotted his Tantei-kun spread his wings too late, and reacted instantly. He'd seen what happened when a fledgling misjudged a landing from that sort of height, and it was messy. So the magician sighed in relief when he felt soft feathers beneath his Kid gloves.

If he'd been a single second later, Tantei-kun would've crashed into the ground. Past experience told kaito that that sort of accident usually turned out fatal for a bird, and kaito had no wish to bury another friend. Too many of his birds had passed on not because of the bullet that clipped them, but the fall afterwards.

"Damnit Tantei-kun. Be careful."he scolded gently, clutching the detective to his chest supportively as he took on hand off of him so he could slide his now free arm under the bird, allowing him to grip and perch on his own. Once he was sure the detective was secure on his new perch, the magician moved to the porch, Where he readied to pick the lock on the front door.

Conan chuckled to himself as he watched the master thief try –and fail– to unlock his front door. With every failed attempt, the magician just pouted and tried again, seemingly determined not to let a mere lock defeat him. It was almost painful to watch the Kaitou Kid of all people struggle with a lock Shin'ichi had mastered at age five.