[Many years after the death of Kira, during the reign of the Holy Britannian Empire]
Hal Ridner didn't know why Near had contacted her, but she could guess.
She hugged her briefcase closer to her side as a man prepared to take the open seat beside her on the train car. The woman standing just in front of her stumbled despite her grip on the handrail when he turned to sit and nudged her with his backpack. Hal glanced down at the woman's shoes, vaguely curious, and noted that they were rickety high heels. No wonder she couldn't keep her balance. Hal scanned the rest of the crowded car, wondering if there was an empty seat that the woman could take, so that she wouldn't fall into Hal's lap when the car started moving again.
There was no space free. Hal really hated rush hour.
Without a word, she stood up and motioned to the woman in heels, who took Hal's vacated seat with a murmured, "Oh, thank you." The man with the backpack eyed the poor girl's exposed legs when she sat down, and Hal rolled her eyes.
She was going to kill Near for expressing his desire to see her on such short notice.
Hal checked her watch. It was Friday afternoon, when everyone else was hopping on the weekend train and running off to play — including Near. Hal had stopped working for him long ago, once the aftermath of Kira's death had died down, but to this day, she knew how the detective operated. Hal had wanted to keep tabs, and Near had let her, within reasonable boundaries. His numbers of cases had gone up over the years, but somehow he'd still found time to leave himself Friday afternoons and nights for himself. And Near needed it, Hal thought darkly to herself as she looked out the train window. The scenery was blurry, as if the windows were eyes with clouded vision, and the train crying because it was so full of dirty, ignorant, whiny passengers. Even a genius couldn't function at full capacity 'round the clock, or so Lester had claimed when he insisted Near give himself time to rest. Hla had discovered later that Near had protested. Now it was after hours on Friday, and she knew that Near always took these hours to himself. Hal wanted her time off, too.
What the hell had he called her for?
When she stepped off the train into the station, she hailed a cab. It was a rusty old thing, topped with an advertisement about working in the Sakuradite mines. Hal took it in, ambivalent, and gave the cab driver orders to drop her off three blocks down from where Near kept his latest headquarters.
No, not Near.
L.
Hal found herself wondering briefly what Near would look like now, if he would resemble the original L even more than he had when he was younger. Though she'd kept herself distantly aware of his movements over the years, she had not been in his presence since the day she'd left. Something in Hal's depths stirred in an almost motherly anticipation with her curiosity, but she quickly crammed it back down. There had been a time when Hal had cared for Near, and she still owed him her gratitude for a plethora of actions, but she would allow herself no sign of weakness now. There could be no old threads knotting themselves into her emotions and tying her back to what had been years before.
She and Near were on different sides now. Everything had changed.
The cabby pulled to the curb. Hal paid him and stepped out, slipping her sunglasses off to better read the building numbers. She set off walking, and halfway there, her cell phone rang.
"This is Ridner," she answered.
"Hal, it's me. Near wants you to stay where you are and let one of us escort you the rest of the way."
It was Gevanni. Hal's lips formed a wry smile as she spoke low into the receiver. "Why am I not surprised that you're still taking orders from the kid with the LEGOs?"
"Is it me, or was that greeting a bit more anti-Near than necessary?" The query sounded upset.
Gevanni sent down Lester to meet her, and it came as no surprise to see that new wrinkles had formed across the man's stony face. Nevertheless, Hal shook his hand with a firm grip and gave him a well-deserved nod of respect. Lester was tougher than a boulder, and more loyal than a pack of lions to their king. Near was smart to keep him around.
Hal went through six layers of security checks before she was allowed to go farther than ground level. A man in a black suit relieved her of her briefcase.
"Any tidings from the royal family?" Lester asked as they alighted in the elevator a few long minutes later.
"Cornelia Li Britannia says she'll abscond with your pension if you don't answer her summons." Hal kept her face straight, but Lester didn't know whether to take her comment seriously. He settled for a muttered remark about spoiled princesses and military records that no one should have access to, before looking Hal straight in the face and saying blithely, "Funny how unrelated women sometimes seem to come from the same brazen ilk."
The elevator doors chimed and Hal stepped out into the hallway. "Where's Near?"
Lester motioned her into a room down the hall. Gevanni stood up and straightened his suit, catching Hal's eyes once before averting his gaze. Lester cleared his throat, and the younger man jerked his thumb over his shoulder, toward one corner of the room. Hal moved a little to the left until she could see behind him.
Near sat in the middle of the floor, building a vast city out of colored blocks as a train set whistled and drove in a circle around him.
Hal breathed a sigh of relief, only realizing that she had done so when both Lester and Gevanni turned toward her in confusion. She shook her head once to keep them silent, her eyes refocusing on Near. If he had heard her release her breath, he hadn't shown it with any kind of movement. His back was to her; his shoulder blades stuck out as he hunched over the block tower in front of him, poking through his snowy shirt like the tops of little mountains. His hair fell farther down around his ears than Hal remember, but it was still fleecy and white like lamb's wool.
"I'm glad you agreed to come on such short notice, Hal Ridner," the detective said, and Hal's heartbeat raced at the sound of his voice.
Jesus, it really was Near. Older, harsher, but Near nonetheless. Hal wished he would turn around.
It occurred to her then that she had been afraid he might have changed. That he hadn't seemed to reassured her.
"Why did you call me here?" she demanded, as a wave of Near's pale hand motioned Lester and Gevanni outside. The two men looked surprised, and Gevanni opened his mouth to protest, but a pat on his shoulder from his older mentor cut off his protests. They left, Lester with his face grim, Gevanni with his gaze on his shoes as he passed Hal to slip out the door. Near didn't speak until the barrier had clicked shut.
He twirled his hair delicately. "Hal."
"Near."
A beat passed. Then, letting the curly lock fall back onto his head, Near said, "Are you well?"
Was he going to waste her time with chitchat? And why wouldn't he turn around? Hal let her eyes wander about the room, noting the stainless steel surfaces and metal ceiling beams. "I'm as well as I can be under the current pressures of the Empire. Tell me what you wanted me for."
Another block went down onto a tower somewhere in front of Near's body, with a wooden clack that echoed.
"You're here because I have need of information about the Britannian Empire."
Hal wasn't surprised. For almost half a decade now, she had been working as a bodyguard for one of the Knights of the Rounds. The royals had taken care never to leak information about which knight each bodyguard was assigned to, and as a rule, bodyguards only shadowed their charges at official meetings and public appearances. Even so, someone as great as Near would know something. Hal kept her face passive, even though she was speaking to Near's back. She had noticed the screen just a few feet in front of him and to his right, mounted up on the wall. It was on, showing footage of the hallway where Lester and Gevanni now stood guard, but by the angle it was possible that Near was watching her expression in its reflection.
"What makes you think that I'll just give you information about the people that I work for?"
Near's tone didn't change when he replied, even though Hal's had grown irritated. "I am asking because I have need of the information."
"This isn't some free exchange. My loyalties are to the Empire only, and I left your services because you expressed a clear dislike toward that Empire when it began to emerge. If you want me to talk, you'll have to give me a damn good reason to." Her hands were shaking, but she kept them clasped in front of her. She had never blatantly refused Near anything, and it felt strange.
"I remember all of that," Near said dismissively. "You and I no longer shared the same goal, so I allowed you to leave. But suppose I told you that now things have changed? Would you consider helping me approach the same goal as Britannia, but from a different angle?" He put another block down. "For a woman that has been known to use such tactics before, I should think it would be no great difficulty for you to manage."
Hal gritted her teeth. He was referring to the way that she had once aided both Near and Mello, helping two rivals behind the back of one in order to defeat a common enemy.
One of the things Hal had feared when Near had called her was that he would force her to think about Mello. Now, in some subtle, horrible way, he had. Hal's mind was drawn back to her correspondence with the reckless, dangerous blond. To her failure to support him the way she had supported Near, because Mello had paid a hefty price and Near had not, and maybe if Hal had been better at balancing the attention she gave to each of them…. Yes, Kira had been beaten, and that was what they all had desired. But Mello had ended up dying for the victory.
That was never what Hal had wanted.
"If you told me that your opinion of Britannia had changed, Near, I wouldn't believe you. I wouldn't believe you at all." The train passed around Near again on its tracks, chugging along like a caterpillar on a mission.
Near's monotone rose a bit. "You are so sure of my stubborn demeanor?"
Hal didn't answer him. She ventured a step toward his island of towers and train tracks. "Why didn't you just comply with Britannia from the beginning? You had no reason to suspect how far they'd go back then."
Near didn't acknowledge her physical advance. "Then you admit they've gone too far?"
"That's not what I said."
There was a long silence, and Hal could hear the hum of Lester and Gevanni talking in dark undertones outside the door.
"Shall I tell you why I refused to comply with them?" Near asked at last, straightening a bit as he completed a block tower. It stood taller than he did from where he sat.
Hal bit her lip. Did she really want to know? She had been so sure of herself when she had left Near to join the royal service. Perhaps her change of allegiances had been a type of running away after the wounds of the Kira incident scarred her. Perhaps she had been too weak to handle more work at the side of a ruthless child that never seemed to cease plodding on, not even after the loss of many lives. But Hal Ridner had believed in one thing when she left Near's services, and it was that her decision to withdraw had been informed, advantageous, and a relief.
Now she wasn't so sure. What if Near had predicted the future of the Empire from the beginning, and simply taken a different route to achieve certain things that Britannia was now working toward achieving? What if she simply hadn't seen it the way Near had? She would feel like a fool. She silently cursed Near for injecting her with doubt.
Hal licked her lips carefully and said, "Yes, I'd like you to tell me what made you defy the Britannians."
The train rumbled past Near's arm again, but this time he reached out and snatched it. It lifted free of its tracks and went dead when the detective flipped a switch on the bottom. "Very well." He slowly began to turn and face Hal.
She saw his profile first. His jaw line had grown stronger, more chiseled. As he continued to shift position and his features came farther into view, his eyes found hers —those black, void eyes, now rimmed with rings — and for a moment, Hal forgot to breathe.
But then she did — two names in reverent succession. "God, Near." He looked like L.
Near took no notice of her reaction. "I believe that when Kira's reign ended, it allowed for Britannia's hostile takeover." He gave her a moment to ponder the heavy statement. As she tried to take it in, he frowned and added, "I do not approve of their hostile takeover."
At last Hal had stopped her mind from racing. "'Hostile' is a strong word. And how do you expect to prove that theory? Britannia was able to rise — and, as you say, take power by force — because Kira was destroyed?"
Near sent her a shriveling look. "It's clear that Britannian methods of operation border on the unethical, and possibly the criminal. Especially in places like Japan."
"Area Eleven."
Near's glare intensified. "Japan," he repeated. "And Kira would never have stood for that. Never."
Hal was silent. Near believed that Britannia was an Empire of criminals? Criminals that had only come to power when the serial killer that targeted their kind had finally been eliminated? "You sound as if you wish Kira were still alive." The idea was incomprehensible. This was Near. Near — and Mello — had fought to bring Kira down. One of them had died for the cause.
It was Near's turn to fall silent, and when he shifted himself even more fully toward her, Hal noticed for the first time what looked like weariness etched across his features.
"My job has grown difficult, now that the element of fear has been eliminated from the minds of the world's criminals."
"You mean the minds of what criminals were left after Kira got through with cleaning them out," Hal corrected bitterly.
Near ignored her. "With Kira gone, the lawbreakers have resumed their wrongdoing tenfold, as if to make up for the time they lost cowering in holes. The world is a dark place, and Britannia is taking advantage of that. The Emperor Charles is taking advantage of that."
"The Emperor Charles is the one that gave you your most recent job." Hal couldn't help it; she spat the accusation like a baseball player spits tobacco. Near's face lit up with interest and amusement.
"Oh? Then you're aware that he's hired me to track down Zero?"
Hal didn't say anything.
Near's lips turned up at the corners in a grim smirk. "To get back to your question," he said, "you're wrong. I do not wish that Kira were alive. Kira is in the past, and right now I want information from you so that I can locate Zero in the present. Britannia also wants to locate Zero — and, consequently, prevent him from taking action. You can see now why I mentioned a common goal from different angles. Will you answer my questions?"
Hal tried to read him by studying his face, but it was a useless pursuit. It always had been. "Do you intend to take Zero into custody when you find him?"
"I find it interesting that you said 'when' and not 'if.'"
"Answer the question."
"Why should I do that when you refuse to respond to mine?" Something in Near's posture was irritated now, and waves of a formidable variety were rolling off him strongly enough to make Hal take a step back. Near moved to press a button on the surface of a nearby desk, and to Hal's surprise, a panel on the other side of the room slid up, revealing an area that had previously been screened from view. The ex-CIA agent watched Near to see if he would do anything else.
Near's next words were flat. "Lord Weinberg."
Hal whipped her head back around to the panel so quickly that her neck cracked, but she spared it less than a thought. No, it was impossible….
Gino Weinberg stepped into the room, accompanied by a man in a suit that Hal had never seen before, and who promptly left as soon as Gino had entered. The Britannian was clad in the lavish white uniform that marked him as the third Knight of the Rounds. He walked with dignity, every bit the lord, but Hal's hands balled into fists when she clapped eyes on him.
He was blindfolded, and his hands were bound.
Gino's face was impassive. Near grinned, and it was twisted.
"What's going on?" Hal queried, her voice hoarse. Her mind whirred, and in less than a second, she knew that Near knew everything.
"I'm sorry," Near said, and Hal knew that he wasn't. "But I obviously couldn't have him seeing my face or my headquarters."
Hal bowed to Gino even though he couldn't see her, keeping with royal custom when in the presence of someone higher than she whom she served. This had all been beyond Gino's power, it seemed. Hal turned back to Near. "How did you find out that it was the Knight of Three I'm assigned to, and why did you bring him here?"
Gino spoke to Hal.
"The Emperor gave me orders that I was to come," the Britannian announced apologetically, reaching up both his bound hands to brush his hair away from his face.
Near looked positively triumphant. "I would not be so foolish as to call you here if I didn't have a card to play, Hal Ridner," he revealed. His face became serious again. "There are very few things that go on within the Britannian government system that I do not know about. One of them is the current information about Zero, which the Emperor has refused to give me even though he's asked me to locate the man and his Black Knights."
"But what has Lord Weinberg got to do with it?"
Gino spoke in Near's direction. "I'd like to know that as well."
Near looked away. "Gino Weinberg is merely the tool I am using to prove to you how much information and power I have access to within Britannian walls. I now expect you to comply with me, Ridner."
Hal saw nothing for a few brief, tense seconds. Her vision clouded with outrage and she stiffened, feeling rather than seeing the Knight of Three do the same just a few feet away. Mello's words about how Near manipulated and used people came floating up from a place that had been gone, still loud in her ears though they hailed from years before.
Hal said at last, softly, "No, Near. I won't comply."
Near turned away from her again. "Think about it carefully."
There was a rustle of clothing, and then Gino was standing somewhat in front of her — a bold move considering that he was blindfolded and could not see the layout of the room. "You won't have to think about it any more than you already have," the knight told her. "I won't comply, and if I don't, neither does my bodyguard." Hal surrendered to Gino's confident authority when Near's piercing, soulless gaze moved from her to the Britannian in annoyance. She took a moment to collect her scrambled thoughts.
Near was asking her to play the skewed double agent again, asking her to put her allegiances in two places for the same purpose. Asking her to risk more than she'd ever risked before, and to allow herself to be used again in the process. Hal looked up Gino, at his stoic, youthful image. Would an alliance with Near — an obligation to him — put Gino Weinberg at risk? Gino, who threw himself after the Black Knights and Zero for the benefit of his proud and victorious Empire? Could she watch another brilliant, driven creature die in the pursuit of an entity that was too clever, too violent, too powerful to oppose without copious amounts of bloodshed, possibly because she might fail to guard him due to being absent to carry out Near's separate orders?
Hal lifted a hand to her face, not caring for the signs of weakness it would project. Her fingertips met with the grooves that were beginning to deepen on her skin. Years had passed, but loss of the worst sort did not fade with time. Hal simply would not risk it all again. And Knights like Gino counted on her.
Gino inclined his head in Hal's direction. "Hal, are you all right?"
From the very beginning, Gino had insisted on being casual and addressing her as 'Hal.' Hal's head whirled. Mello had insisted on the very same. The two youths were nothing alike, but Hal cared for and believed in Mello the way she cared for and believed in Gino now.
"He can't keep us here, you know," the Knight of Three whispered gently. Near was listening to their exchange, but Gino didn't seem to care. Then, "Come on, where's my badass bodyguard?"
"Lord Weinberg," Hal responded wearily, at last reaching the final conclusion in her mind, "We can refuse to comply with L's request for information, but he'll eventually find a solution of his own. Won't you, L?" She cast Near a withering glance.
Near picked up the blocks that he had been neglecting. "Yes," he stated bluntly. "If you do indeed refuse me, to find another way will be my only choice. And I will do so without question."
"Then do so," Gino replied without hesitating. Hal watched the knight as he took a moment to listen to the sounds of Near's tower construction. The Britannian walked toward the noise.
Near looked wary, but he didn't move. Neither did Gino once he'd advanced a few careful steps. Hal held her breath as the two felt each other out.
At last, Gino said, "Just because two people want the same thing doesn't mean they're fit to work together, and trying to manipulate those two people into working together won't do any good." Hal flinched. "We're looking for Zero because we want to. You're looking for him because you have to."
"That is correct," Near replied flatly. "I was given this case and I took it, though not because it was in my own personal interest."
"What is your interest?"
Near stacked a block loudly, and Gino drew back a bit, but not enough to allow Near his comfort zone. Hal flexed her fingers, unsure of whether she should step in.
"My interest as L is the pursuit of justice."
"Justice… for the people?" Gino mused. "Like Zero."
Near's voice hardened. "No. Zero's approaches are just as illegal as Britannia's. And kindly move away from my block city."
Gino didn't move his feet, but he turned his head as if seeking Hal. Then he seemed to think better of it. Near watched them both from the corner of his eye.
"You're difficult to interpret," Gino observed finally. "What are you building out of the blocks?"
"A city."
Hal did not know whether to grow nervous or to feel smug when Gino smirked a bit. "A city of Justice with citizens that you're going to protect and give rights?"
Hal looked at Near next. The pale detective appeared just as confused as she was. He began to twirl his hair again. "You could say that," he revealed carefully.
Gino rubbed unconsciously at his bonds. "I sincerely hope that you succeed at taking care of the people," he said. "But there's a problem with your methods. While you sit hidden in here, planning and analyzing and communicating through distant sources, you're missing what's really happening in the midst of things."
"I fail to see how that is relevant." Near's tone was sharp enough to pierce sheet metal.
"It's the outside factor that might escape your notice in the end," Gino said. "It's the things you haven't planned for that might thwart you in your deductions, and unfortunately, sometimes a lack of organization or a reckless approach on the enemy side can only be met with more disorganization and recklessness." Near's face darkened slowly, but Gino could not see it. "An unpredictable monster like Godzilla could come and destroy the very city you seek to provide with justice, could toss a monkey wrench into your plans that you could not fight with logic alone. The truth is that you can't do a damn thing by yourself. How would you fight a chaotic Godzilla? How would you combat the Black Knights or Zero if they resorted to tactics that you couldn't interpret from your cowardly hideaway?"
"Th-that's enough," Hal broke in, choking on the words as old allegiances rose to clash with current ones, and her desire to defend what Near was capable of despite his weaknesses fought with her loyalty to the Knights of the Rounds. Gino didn't seem to hear her.
"Because of the hole in your approach," the knight continued, "I'd like to say we could join you and patch that hole up. Maybe Emperor Charles already expects it, since he asked you to find Zero and also ordered me to come here. But is cooperation comes only with the conditions you're asking, we simply won't be used. You should consider learning to take physical risks and actions yourself. You might learn something."
Near was still as a corpse, but the air around him vibrated with ire. "That's enough," Hal gritted for the second time, her harsh command directed at her lord.
For a moment, Gino looked surprised at the audacity of her interference. Then he released a small chuckle and moved slowly toward the sound of her voice. He stopped very near to her, though Hal couldn't tell if he knew it.
"Yes, your majesty," he murmured teasingly.
He knew it.
And Hal knew that he had not meant to dig into parts of Near's psyche that were delicate and buried. She inhaled to calm herself.
"Near," she called perhaps a bit too loudly, "I'm sorry things turned out the way that they did, but I hope you understand why I've refused you."
Near said quietly, "I do."
"Will you permit us to go now?"
"I am not keeping you here. Lester will lead you out." Near was staring at his blocks, but he did not touch them. "Gino Weinberg may be untied once you have left here."
Gino shifted, as if ready for Hal to take the initiative of leading him to the door, half a smirk of helplessness on his youthful, handsome face. At once, Hal's feet felt fused to the floor. She wasn't sure she was ready to leave.
"Hal?" came Gino's smooth voice from somewhere outside her consciousness, and she forced herself to reach out and take his arm to lead him toward the door. She turned the knob. Lester and Gevanni surveyed both her expression and Gino's as they stepped aside to let the two outsiders pass. But only Gino went fully out into the hall. Hal guided him ahead of her first, and then she paused at the doorjamb.
"Goodbye, Near," she said. She could feel the threads inside her that had once tied them together slowly ripping apart.
"Goodbye," Near responded emotionlessly.
Hal stepped outside. Gevanni looked her in the eye for the first time since she'd arrived as he passed her to return to Near. "So long." Hal nodded, a lump in her throat.
Lester took hold of Gino and they headed back to the elevator.
"Godzilla, huh?" Hal asked as they traveled down the many floors to ground level. Lester looked confused. Gino grinned beneath his blindfold.
"Do you think I intimidated him?"
Hal smiled wryly. "Not a bit."
"Damn."
"He'll go after Zero with all he has, and he might get in our way." Lester was frowning at their conversation, but Hal avoided his stern gaze. The elevator doors slid open, and they backtracked through the six layers of security toward the exit. Lester steered them toward a waiting car.
"When the driver drops you off, he'll also remove Lord Weinberg's bonds," the elder man said. "As for what you now know about our location, Ridner, I assume that Near will have us change to a new headquarters." Hal tilted her head in acknowledgment. She had expected nothing less.
She and Gino slid into the back of the car, and Lester shut the door. The driver concentrated in merging into the traffic and Gino fumbled with his seatbelt. Hal watched the tall building recede in the rear-view mirror. "Don't let Godzilla destroy what you've built," she whispered, so low that neither Gino nor the driver could hear her. The setting sun glinted off the skyscraper's glass windows as if expressing consent.
"It's Friday night," Gino said. "What do you want to do when we get back? If Lloyd-sensei and Cécile-san don't need me in the Tristan, we could round up the other knights and their bodyguards and have a party."
"Let's watch Godzilla," Hal responded humorlessly, and the Knight of Three dissolved into a fit of laughter.
A moment later, Hal cracked a smile.
A/N: Um, anja-chan? Yeah, I have no idea how your latest contest guidelines ever could have spawned this. It hardly has anything to do with anything, and I don't know where it came from. You have fun judging it while I consider surrendering to the urge to write a Gino/Hal lemon.