More Hallo from WallofIllusion.

I'm thinking about redoing my organization of DN fics, so if you're watching me and ff.n starts telling you that there are new stories which you have in fact read before, it's not its fault.

Character(s): Halle Lidner, Mello

Setting: right after page.75 (The vice president's announcement)

Spoilers: page.75

Pretend this is a magical pretty disclaimer because it's late again and I'm tired.

Team Spirit

Halle's spirits were decidedly low when she returned to her apartment on November eighteenth. To find Mello lying across her couch, his feet propped up on the side closer to her, and using his laptop, did not help. After a few impatient seconds of glaring pointedly at him, she snapped, "Do you think I could have some room to sit on my own couch?"

He swung his feet down casually and without remark, as if he hadn't just been ignoring her. Halle sat, crossed her arms, and stared blankly at the television. Mello had apparently been watching a news program, and of course the newscasters were discussing the vice president's announcement and public reaction to it. Halle groaned inwardly. That surely wasn't going to improve her mood.

She listened to the newscasters babble on about how some people were doing this and a few countries were doing that until it made her sick; then she seized the remote and would have changed the channel, but Mello shot her a sharp glare. "I'm watching that," he informed her coldly.

"You're using your laptop," Halle countered, changing the channel in defiance.

"Multitasking." Mello glanced at the television. "And all the other channels are doing the same thing anyway."

He was right. Every channel seemed to be playing something to do with the vice president's announcement. And when she glanced at Mello's laptop screen, Halle saw that he was watching related videos from different countries and simultaneously browsing a few forums devoted to the same topic.

"Is there any good news?" she asked him sullenly.

"No," he shot back. "Damn your president."

Halle sighed and leaned backwards. "How are the anti-Kira communities taking it?"

Mello fixed his eyes on her. "First tell me what the SPK's going to do," he commanded.

"No," Halle replied wearily. "I asked first and I'm not in the mood to be screwed with right now. Answer my question, and then I'll answer yours."

Impatiently, Mello rattled off, "Plenty of people are expressing displeasure and rage at the president, but it's all flaming and absolutely no one is doing anything useful. Tell me what the SPK is doing."

Halle breathed a discouraged sigh. "Near says we'll have to disband," she muttered reluctantly.

Mello's face instantly creased with a skeptical frown. "Disband?" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you lying to me, Halle?"

"I wish." Halle's eyes narrowed also, but in worry rather than suspicion. "But I'm being completely honest. That's what Near said." The idea scared her. What was she supposed to do if the SPK disbanded? Sure, she could go after Kira on her own, but she wasn't a fool enough to think that she'd achieve anything like that.

"Disband…" Mello muttered to himself as he looked away, oblivious to Halle's worry. "There's no way Near would give up… What the hell's he thinking? Is he going to go on by himself?"

Halle's stomach clenched. She watched silently as Mello grabbed a chocolate bar from his pile on the coffee table and ripped open the wrapper, consuming it agitatedly.

"…If we disband, can I work with you?"

His eyes, wide and intense, clicked back onto hers immediately. She stared back without expression, waiting for his scornful insistence that she had no value to him if unconnected to the SPK.

"Why?" was what he said instead.

"Because—" Expecting a flat refusal, Halle stumbled a little over her answer, but quickly regained her certainty. "Because I want to catch Kira. We've been over this before."

"But you'd work with me to achieve that?" Mello asked, dubious and taunting. "My methods are of questionable legality—or worse."

"To hell with legality!" Halle cried, impassioned but deliberate. "If things keep going like this, any actions against Kira will be illegal anyway. Might as well get a head start."

Mello made a dismissive noise. "Find someone else to work with then," he said—but he did not look away, and Halle did not back down.

"I want to work with you," she stated.

"Why?" challenged Mello. "Surely it makes no difference to you, as long as Kira is caught."

"Just as surely, I mean nothing to you if I'm not connected to the SPK—to Near." She saw his lips tighten sullenly. "But I'm asking to work with you, and as far as I can tell, you're not turning me down."

Mello stared for a few more seconds, and then finally he returned his gaze to his laptop. "I'll think about it. If it becomes necessary."

Halle felt like thanking him but bit back the urge; there was no need to make it seem like a big deal. So she just stood. "Are you hungry for dinner?"

"Not really."

"……Yeah, me either."