Made for @harmonytre's Thicket Commission Charity Event!
Day 6: Yellow, featuring Kazuha taking care of Phoenix!Heiji in his chick form!
Thank you for hosting! ^-^
Small bonus sketches~
Was messing around with a few ideas before I settled on Kazuha and Heiji.
I liked the first sketch a lot but since I wanted to stick with a bright yellow palette I decided against it (I'll set this idea aside for the future).
I thought about the second sketch but ultimately went with Heiji in chick form since his other forms don't get drawn too often.
I forgot how happy I made him in the original Kazuha sketch. He just revived 10 minutes ago, he deserves some good pets!
Back with fanart of Phoenix Heiji by @smolboyhours but this time it's a chick! Not based on any chapter this time but I thought chick form and Slime Conan would be super cute together. I WANNA HUG THEM SO BADLY LOOK AT THEM OMG AAAAA
I joined an art even like a mini artfight and we set up teams with characters! This is my first of three! I went all out and made fresh art for everyone. It was fun to break out of the boxes!
I wanted to wait to share this until I could find a way to wrap up the story snippet I wrote, but I'm stuck on it. This is technically set after Movie 7, but is vague enough it could be any episode Heiji nearly dies in (often). Especially since I'm noticing a pattern of fire in his arcs... Enjoy my Phoenix!Heiji AU!
Some details before the story snippet under the cut.
Eyes vary depending on mood! This is the hardest part for him to hide, so he ends up wearing sunglasses a bunch. Both to hide his eye color and because he's much more sensitive to light. Seeing everything brighter and sometimes even colorful auras around people (Kazuha shines the brightest shhhhhh).
Hair has streaks of orange, yellow, and red. More like highlights glinting in the light.
Wings on command <3
Hehe fire powers
The Black Organization is after him now since he basically revived from the dead.
Enjoy what I wrote for the transformation! It cuts off, but I can't figure out how to end it well. I'd add it to Ao3 if I did. Word Count: 1,245
This couldn’t be happening. There he was, wheezing in her arms. He didn’t get hit. He didn’t get sliced. But his clothing did. And that must’ve touched his previous injury, the bandages pushed away in the struggle. The poison worked fast. Seconds ago, he was smiling and laughing, worn out, but his cheery, snarky self. Now his skin is clammy and he’s struggling to breathe. She can feel the life draining from him. This couldn’t be happening. No. Shouldn’t.
She can’t stop the tears from streaming down her face, soaking into his robe. “H-Heiji…” She hates the way her voice cracks.
He barely makes out a tiny “Kazuha-...I’m sorry…”, before going limp in her arms. She bawls, holding him close, knowing it won’t help, but not wanting to let him go.
Conan says nothing, standing back and trying to make sense of it himself. It hadn’t fully registered yet. That he’s gone. Just- gone. It’s just about to hit him, but he notices something unexpected. Glowing…? A faint light emits from Heiji’s shoulder. It grows and snaps off into the air, dancing around them like a playful spark. It multiples into many wispy yellow and white lights. They almost feel alive, the way they hop and swirl around.
Kazuha hiccups, then pauses in confusion, slowly tilting back. His body is warm. Hot even. She startles as a wisp flies past her face. “Wh-wha?” She scoots back next to Conan, looking on in awe. Heiji’s hair flickers like a flame, waves of yellow, orange, and red flowing through. He slouches in his kneeling pose, but doesn’t fall over. All of his scars are glowing. Three large warm colored ribbons (are those what they are?) flutter behind him. But what’s most noticeable are these huge feathered glowing wings that grow from his back. They’re a yellow-white, but appear to be made of pure light.
Heiji quietly groans, mumbling to himself. His eyes slowly open, revealing them to be pure white. He brings a hand to his head and runs it through his hair. He mumbles again, a bit louder. But it sounds- foreign? Twisted and eerie. Not like English or Japanese. Or any human language really. Almost like a mix of backwards speech and screechy bird calls. He looks around, dazed. He squints and waves his own hand in front of his face. The wave leaves trails of light behind. This doesn’t seem to satisfy him, as his expression grows concerned. He mutters under his breath again.
“Heiji?” Kazhua questions, still in shock.
Heiji doesn’t quite respond, slowly looking around in confusion.
“Heiji…are you okay?” She reaches out and faintly touches his hand. He recoils with a surprised hiss through his teeth, bringing both hands to his chest. His wings twitch.
“What…” Kazuha tries to hide the disappointment in her voice, but Conan reassures her.
“I don’t think he can see…”
Heiji confirms his theory by looking around nervously again. After a couple moments of him slowly talking to himself, he reaches out one hand to the air, staring directly forward. Kazuha takes it in hers, despite the quick flash of surprise across his face. He grins and says something. Based on tone, it was probably something snarky. He uses his other hand to pat the top of theirs, so she gives a light squeeze. He speaks again and looks on expectedly. Neither of them could answer, so he frowns. He uses one hand to tap his ear with his palm, frustration growing on his face.
He can’t hear either? Conan thinks to himself, not wanting to verbalize it, for fear it’d make it true.
“We’re here, Heiji.” Kazuha squeezes his hand again, receiving a small nod in reply. “I…don’t know what’s going on, but we’re here.”
Heiji pouts, attempting to think of a solution. Suddenly, he recoils, pulling both hands to quickly press against his ears. His stuttering gasps of pain need no translation. He leans over into himself, wincing and shaking, clenching his eyes shut.
“Heiji!” Kazuha shouts, preparing to grab him again.
“Wait!” Conan holds her back. “Look…” The grass around Heiji starts to wither from heat. A few stray blades catch fire when his wings and tail feathers (yeah, those must be feathers) make contact.
Heiji can’t even scream, and it pains Kazuha to see him convulsing. The glowing scars close up and his tail feathers fall to the ground. In between the gasps, the wings made of light slowly retract into his back. The glowing in his hair dulls to faint highlights, only showing in the light. Eyes still closed, his gasps turn into pants and he starts to relax, falling forward. Kazuha rushes in to catch him, ignoring Conan’s protests. He’s still overly warm, but not hot enough to burn. He relaxes, settling his head into the hug. She rubs his back quietly.
His eyes flicker open, squinting, but no longer pure white. Instead, his irises are a bright orange.
“Heh,” he chuckles to himself quietly. Conan stands behind Kazuha, trying his best to mask his concern. “I can see now, at least.” The words are quiet, but understandable.
“Heiji!” Kazuha pushes away from the hug, holding him at arm’s length by the shoulders instead. “You can speak again!”
Heiji scowls. “Was I not speaking before?”
Conan answers, “it was odd. Garbled and broken?”
Heiji nods to himself. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s almost what I heard from you. All I heard was very faint muffled sounds. Like being both underwater and a mile away. Well, until the high-pitched squeal...” He winces.
“So, you couldn’t hear us…” Kazuha mumbles.
“And you couldn’t see either,” Conan adds in.
“Hm,” Heiji starts to raise a hand to his chin, but with the lack of energy, he decides to leave it in his lap. “Not exactly. It wasn’t quite nothing. It was more like, very very bright. Like, if you turned the exposure on a camera way up. Pure white, but I could very faintly see some colors. I think pink and blue at one point? Not enough to make out shapes, but I could tell your general direction. I think.”
Conan stays silent, thinking. Kazuha looks to the side and reaches to grab something. “Oh hey, you left these behind.” She brings her hand back, clutching 3 long feathers, colored yellow, orange, and red.
“What are these?” Heiji turns them over in his hand. They’re soft, with a faint warmness and sparkling in the light.
“They were attached to you. You also had these big wings too.” Kazuha emphasizes her point by stretching out her arms.
Heiji suppresses a snort. “Wings? Yeah, I didn’t feel that.”
“You didn’t even notice?” Conan asks. “No feeling at all? They seemed pretty attached.”
Heiji shakes his head, then scratches his back. “Not a thing.” He shifts to start scratching at his wrist. “There is an uncomfortable itch around here, though.” The scratching makes small feathers grow and he yelps. The feathers quickly molt and fall to the ground. He picks one up to inspect. It’s orange, small, and round. “Hm.” He shrugs. “Yeah, I got nothing. It shouldn’t be anything too serious, right?”
Conan snickers. “You’re gonna need something to cover your eyes though.”
“Why?” Heiji glares, his eyes turning a red color instead. “What’s wrong with ‘em?”
Kazuha tilts his chin to look at her. “They’re a bright red. No- an orange! Uh, yellow?” She updates him as it changes in real-time. “But certainly not teal…”
I got really sick this past week and couldn't draw. Probably not going to finish Artober this year. BUT- I did finally make proper references for Phoenix!Heiji! Very excited about this hehe!
