Line #2 Fanfic/CostOfFreedom


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cost_of_freedom.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"And how do the defendants plead?"''\
3	(Illus. by [[https://bakathief.tumblr.com/ Bakathief]])]]
4
5	Everyone's heard of [[Manga/MagicKaito the Kaitou Kid]] - magician, ladykiller, prince among thieves. Unflappable. Untraceable. Untouchable.
6
7	Until now.
8
9	When everything goes wrong on what seems like a routine heist, the Moonlight Magician finds himself exposed, and thrown behind bars without so much as a lockpick to his name. But is that going to stop him from launching the GreatEscape of the century? Of course not. Especially when he finds himself cellmates with the country's ''other'' most notorious criminal...
10
11	[[Manga/CaseClosed ... Shinichi Kudo?]]
12
13	''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/10494801 Cost of Freedom]]'' is a long, twisty fanfiction by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintChocolateLeaves MintChocolateLeaves]], bringing the worlds of ''Manga/MagicKaito'' and ''Manga/CaseClosed'' together on a ConspiracyThriller running from Tokyo's lowest gutters to its highest echelons of power. Currently ongoing, it's slated to run for fifty-two chapters divided into four [[StoryArc arcs]] of uneven length:
14	# ''Hearts'' - in which thief meets ex-detective, and plans are hatched.
15	# ''Diamonds'' - in which fortunes turn, and inquiring minds reopen the ex-detective's case.
16	# ''Spades'' - in which [[RelationshipUpgrade relationships are upgraded]], and answers begin taking shape.
17	# ''Clubs'' - in which, well, we'll just have to wait for publication, won't we?
18
19	----
20	!! ''Cost of Freedom'' provides examples of:
21
22	* AscendedExtra:
23	** In ''Diamonds'' many characters become of larger importance to the plot. Including Ran, Kazuha, Aoko and Hakuba.
24	** [[spoiler:The Miyano sisters and Akai also appear with stakes in the plotline, with Akemi appearing at the end of ''Spades'' and both Shiho and Akai making an appearance in ''Spades.'']]
25	* AlternateUniverse: In many different respects, though the author spells out the big one up-front: here, there was never any Apotoxin poisoning, and thus never any Conan. [[ShooOutTheClowns What this suggests for the overall atmosphere]] probably isn't a coincidence. Other bits of canon are followed or subverted as necessary. For instance, some iteration of the Sunset Manor case still happened, but [[spoiler:Akemi Miyano]] is alive (for now).
26	* BurnerPhones: How [[spoiler:the fugitive Shinichi]] communicates with [[spoiler:Heiji and Kazuha]]. As an extra precaution, they've all agreed that the caller has to speak first.
27	* ClearTheirName: The story initially plays coy with whether Shinichi is ''actually'' innocent of the murders he's been charged with (this ''is'', after all, an AlternateUniverse), but by Chapter 9 confirms he's the victim of a master-class FrameUp, and every single one of his friends is bent on proving it.
28	* ConvenientlyCellmates: {{Downplayed}} - Kaito's initial cellmate ''isn't'' Shinichi (who, in this universe, he's only battled once before, and indirectly at that). Later on, the guards deliberately force him into Shinichi's cell as punishment for an escape attempt, no doubt hoping he'll be dead within a week.
29	* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: The Syndicate's canon [[EdibleThemeNaming booze-codenaming system]] is given an extra twist, as their "legitimate" front in this universe is (wait for it) a chain of liquor stores.
30	* CrazyPrepared: Kaito, best exemplified throughout ''Diamonds'':
31	-->''“They only found four of my Tokyo safe houses. I’ve got two more - so where do you want to go, Shinjuku or Nakano?”''
32	* CruelToBeKind: The ''incredibly'' twisted logic behind [[spoiler:Vermouth's]] framing of Shinichi went something like this: [[spoiler:the Syndicate had already made him and marked him for death. By putting him on death row, she got the Syndicate to back off on an outright assassination; at the same time, she meant to use her independent connections to fake the actual execution and smuggle Shinichi out under a new identity, letting him continue his investigations.]] Shinichi is less than impressed; apart from what he [[TraumaCongaLine personally]] suffered in prison, [[spoiler:Vermouth]] ''did'' kill seven people to facilitate all this, thinning nothing of it because they were all Syndicate deserters.
33	* ExplodingFishTanks: Comes with the territory when you're investigating the home of a tropical fish-keeper that's [[spoiler:being stalked by a Syndicate sniper]], as Ran and Hakuba discover.
34	* FirstNameBasis: Inevitably develops as more and more civilians (such as [[spoiler:Kazuha]]) get pulled into our heroes' orbits.
35	* GreatEscape: Our heroes' common goal, naturally. [[spoiler:As of Chapter 15, they succeed.]]
36	* InWhichATropeIsDescribed: Every chapter after the first begins with a note like this, though some of them are more teasers than summaries.
37	* ItsAllMyFault: Shinichi thinks this regarding [[spoiler:the murders that he has been framed with, reasoning that had he stopped looking into the syndicate, Vermouth would not have killed seven people to put hiim on death row.]]
38	* NotSoStoic: Almost everyone cracks at one point or another, the first arguably being [[spoiler:Shinichi, when four other cons decide to help him "train" for his upcoming hanging.]]
39	* OutlawCouple: By ''Spades'', [[spoiler:Aoko]] has deliberately put herself on the lam with [[spoiler:Kaito]], reasoning that this is ''safer'' than going back home because TheSyndicate now knows how much she means to him. [[{{Tsundere}} True to form]], of course, she insists they're ''not'' a couple until he takes her on a proper date.
40	* PrisonChangesPeople: Prison life has made this Shinichi a ''lot'' more ruthless ([[TheDreaded and feared]]) than his canon self, though he ultimately retains enough conscience and [[spoiler:emotional vulnerability]] to dodge HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook.
41	* ProperlyParanoid:
42	** Shinichi, knowing that the syndicate that framed him will want him dead, [[spoiler: especially following his escape.]]
43	** Heiji during ''Spades'' [[spoiler:after realising that he is being followed. Luckily, those following him are just a disguised Aoko and Kaito.]]
44	* RaceAgainstTheClock: Our heroes have until May 3 to pull off the escape - because by May 4, Shinichi will hit legal execution age, and the State is in no mood for dawdling.
45	* SayingTooMuch: How [[spoiler:Aoko]] learns of [[spoiler:Heiji's]] involvement with the breakout.
46	* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Akemi Miyano]] did not die in order for [[spoiler:her sister, Shiho to leave behind the Organisation.]]
47	* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:Kaito for Aoko]] at the beginning of ''Spades''.
48	* TalkingToThemself: How Kaito keeps himself from going (completely) insane when he's thrown into Solitary for six days. Being a MasterOfDisguise, he can imitate his friends pitch-perfectly.
49	* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The plot grows into this around the eighth or ninth chapter, the A-thread focusing on Kaito and Shinichi in prison while the B-thread focuses on what Ran and Hakuba (and later, Aoko) are doing on the outside. It progresses to [[ThirdLineSomeWaiting something]] [[FourLinesAllWaiting messier]] when [[spoiler:Shinichi and Kaito finally escape and begin to investigate the Syndicate in earnest]].
50	* UndyingLoyalty: Ran is ''the'' single most dogged believer in Shinichi's innocence, perhaps moreso than even the Kudo parents. But she's got stiff competition from [[spoiler:Heiji, who doesn't think twice about serving as the Great Escape's outside-man]].
51	** ''Spades'' throws [[spoiler:Sonoko]] onto the pile as well. Granted, [[spoiler:she ''has'' known Shinichi for as long as Ran has...]]
52	* WhereItAllBegan: [[spoiler:Kaito]] returns to the museum where [[spoiler:he]] was originally arrested to hold another heist and succeed in stealing the gemstone.

Context Fanfic / CostOfFreedom