Author's Comment: While these are labeled as "drabbles" (or short stories), they actually follow a main storyline. Like small chapters. Sorry, I was… kinda tired when I thought about this XD.

Drabble #1: Meeting

Halle Lidner came to her apartment building to find the door to her apartment on the sixth floor was open. Wide open.

Halle reached for her gun, which wasn't there.

Halle quickly peeked into her obviously broken into apartment. The lights were off, and Halle knew from training that this is dangerous. Must be a burglar. She hesitated on whether to go inside or to call the police.

She chose the latter. Besides, she had to kick the-person-that-broke-into-her-house's ass. Halle walked inside.

Instantly Halle could see a white square of light resting on where her coffee table normally is. The square of light cast a shadow, and Halle saw a gloved hand typing on something.

That something was Halle's laptop. The square of light was the monitor, Halle realized.

Halle slapped the wall a couple of times before she successfully turned on the lights.

A boy with blond hair cut in a bob style was sitting on her couch. He immediately looked at Halle, showing his full face.

He had a menacing eyes and a scowl on his face, like he wanted the lights off.

Halle right away recognized him though. He was … Mello. That same Mello in a picture that Near showed the remaining SPK members after the others were killed off by the Death Note.

Halle and Mello stared at each other with disdain and curiosity.

"…Why are you here?" Halle finally asked. It was always wise to remain calm and collected. After all, Near is like that all the time, and he wasn't threatened or killed – yet.

Mello scowled a deeper scowl. He slammed Halle's laptop closed, and Halle had to fight a deep urge to scream at the teenager to respect other's private property.

"Are you Halle Bullock?" He asked back, almost in a daring don't-screw-with-me type of voice.

Halle flinched at having her true name said. She changed her name a long time ago to protect her family and herself.

"Yes." Stay calm, Halle, She told herself in her head.

Mello stood up with urgency and took out a gun from his jacked pocked and pointed it at her before she had time to react. This man was quick.

"What the hell do you want?" Halle said with an inch of annoyance.

Mello looked at her and smiled. Or was that a smirk? He lowered his aim and plopped down on the couch again.

"What I want? I want you to tell me what Near does all day at his 'secret base'" Mello snickered. "I want to know what he says, what he thinks… I want to know what he's basically doing concerning the Kira case."

"You can just go over to our headquarters and ask him." Halle said with her voice dipped in sarcasm.

Mello scowled at her again. "No fucking way. Near is a big-" Halle blocked out his cursing in her mind. She did not tolerate wasted words. "-And he wouldn't tell me anyway."

"How can you be so sure?" It was Halle's turn to dare Mello now.

"Because we both lived at Wammy's House – oh just stop your damn questions already! I need you to tell me every week what Near plans to do, got it?"

"Or else?"

Mello smiled a deep, evil smile. Definitely not a smirk this time. He picked up a black notebook off the table and waved it. "If you don't do what I say, your name will be in this Death Note."

Halle now felt cornered. This boy – this boy that looked so playful in the picture Near showed her but now looks menacing – knew how to manipulate people obviously, how to control them. Like puppets.

Whether Mello was going to sue Near's information for catching Kira or not mattered to Halle, but she didn't have time to think about that. Either she was going to follow Mello's orders or she would die.

"…Fine. I would do what you asked. Just don't turn on me when this is all over." Came Halle's answer.

"Hunh. Good." Mello smirked at her as he passed her on the way to her doorway.

Halle almost slammed the door behind him and heaved a heavy sigh.

Just to do what he asks, to answer his questions… that was all that Halle would do. Nothing else.

And that's how it began.

#2: Glare

"Halle, please forgive me…" Gevanni pleaded on the phone the minute Halle picked it up. He was unavoidable when it came to calling her apartment phone number – Halle's apartment phone didn't have caller ID.

"I can't, Stephan, I can't…" Halle used to call Gevanni "Steph" but now she called him by his full first name. In her mind though, Stephan was always "Gevanni" – his last name.

"Please? Just please forget I ever called you that!" Stephan begged, referencing to two hours ago where he called her a bitch.

"No, Stephan."

"Hey – what happened to the 'Steph'? I thought we had something…

"We don't anymore." Halle hung up.

"Geez you're so cruel to men," a voice chuckled behind her. Halle whizzed around to see Mello at her kitchen table, his legs propped on the edge.

"How long were you here?"

"Quite a while now…"

Halle picked up a file folder from her kitchen table and threw it to Mello. He took it with indifference. "I gave you information; now scat." But Mello continued to read the file at her table, his legs still propped on the table.

Halle sighed. As Mello read the file, Halle continued to do what she was doing before Gevanni called – preparing dinner for herself.

"Hmm… So Near has been communicating with a second L…" Mello muttered to himself.

Halle didn't continue on Mello's train of thoughts, like always. This was the fifth time Mello was in her apartment, and all Halle was committed to doing was giving him Near's information and thoughts on the Kira case.

Halle set a plate for herself at the kitchen table and saw that Mello finished reading the file that she gave him, and was now biting off a piece of chocolate.

"How long are you going to be here?" Halle asked Mello, the irritancy obvious in her voice.

Mello simply chewed on his chocolate while staring at her, and Halle had to ask; "Is chocolate all you ever eat?"

"Of course not!" Mello snapped.

"Prove it." Halle dared. She needed something to get her mind off of Gevanni. Even if it was daring a mafia member who probably didn't legally fly here into America.

"All right. I'll eat whatever shit you're making for dinner, as long as it doesn't poison me."

"Fine," Halle turned back to the stove. The "shit" she was making was pasta. Halle was preparing her mind for the worst. She learned that Mello liked to make snide comments about everything, and Halle knew her cooking skills were about to be butchered.

Soon the curly noodles were ready, and she served herself first as a sign of dominance before filling Mello's plate.

Mello smirked right back as he picked up his fork.

"What would you like to drink?" Halle asked Mello in a fake sweet voice.

"Oh, Coffee please." Mello replied in a similar manner. His European accent came out when he was rude, she noticed.

Halle made a wry face at Mello. "Coffee? At this hour?"

"That's what I said."

"…" Halle took out cups for both her and Mello. She was going to have lemonade. Then she went back to her counter where her coffee maker was at and started making coffee. Behind her, Mello ate his pasta slowly; making sure the fork clicked the plate each time he picked up a piece. She knew that he was trying to piss her off.

"So… who exactly is this Stephan guy? Your ex?" Halle could just hear Mello smirking as he said this.

Damn him.

"None of your business," She said simply.

"It may not, but there isn't exactly any suitable table conversation to talk about, since you already gave me information about what Near was doing."

"Well I don't want to tell you," Halle said. "Besides, you're just using me. We may be working toward the same goal, but I'm not with you in anything."

Mello scowled. "You screw around too much…"

"But not as much as you do." Halle snapped in return.

They ate the rest of their dinner glaring at each other.

#3: Nicknames

Mello started coughing the minute he stepped into Matt's apartment. A hazy fog made it hard for him to even see the redhead.

"Matt stop smoking! I'm going to die from second-hand if you don't!"

He found Matt in his bedroom, sitting on the side of his bed, playing his DS.

"He's not even listening to me," Mello muttered angrily to himself.

"Matt!" Mello practically yelled at Matt.

"What? Oh no – oh GREAT! Mario just died because of you!" Matt was angry now. But Mello didn't' care.

"Matt. I need you to analyze this information to make sure Near or any of his conversations with others have any secret information in them."

"Ok, Ok, I'll do it later…" Matt was still fuming.

Mello just rolled his eyes at the stupidity of Matt's obsession and went into the living room where he slept. Not that Mello ever did. He was scared of the nightmares sleep would bring him. Mello plopped down on the sofa – Hal's sofa was much more softer – and he turned on the TV to a news channel.

Wait, Wait. Did Mello just call Halle "Hal"?

But it was normal – to give people nicknames, right?

After all, when you're thinking about someone, it would be extremely tiring to saw a two-syllable name like "Halle". Too tiring. When Mello thinks, he doesn't want to waste his thinking time on useless syllables of things and people.

Not that Mello would ever think of Halle.

#4: Gevanni

"Halle – wait!" Gevanni caught up to Halle on her way to the SPK headquarters.

"What, Gev - Stephan." Halle sighed in impatience.

"I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about what I called you! Please forgive me…" Gevanni was looking down in a begging way. Halle knew that gesture. Whenever men wanted Halle back they always lied that they loved her. After all, you couldn't lose the sexiest woman in the world.

Halle knew she was beautiful. A man, her parents, her sister, everyone always gawked at her in envy and talked about how beautiful she was. "Sis, if you curled your hair and but a black dot on your upper lip, you could be Marilyn Monroe!" Halle's sister always squeaked. But yet when Halle looked into her mirror, she saw many flaws. So – many – flaws. Her eyes were too narrowed, they weren't blue (it was light brown – the color of mud after a fresh rain shower), her hair was too straight, it had too many split ends, and her face was too heart shaped – Halle could find a flaw with every part of her body and personality.

"I already told you, Stephan. I won't." Halle declared defiantly as she passed through the doors of the building where the SPK headquarters were located.

"Aw come on…" Gevanni still wouldn't look at Halle in the eye, and Halle wanted him too. Heck, she wanted all men to look her in the eye instead of looking someplace else…

Halle walked quickly into an empty elevator and pressed a button to shut the sliding door before Gevanni came in.

"No wai-" The door shut, leaving Halle alone with her own thoughts.

Maybe Halle would forgive a man for once. But her relationship with Gevanni was never working out from the beginning anyway. Halle and Gevanni didn't even know each other's real names. They didn't really know anything about each other.

The elevator door slid open, and Halle stepped out. Gevanni wasn't there waiting for her, thank god. He's probably taking the stairs right now.

Halle took a deep breath and walked down the hallway to the double doors of the SPK Headquarters.

"Halle," Rester greeted Halle with a smile. Halle smiled back. Rester was one of the few men that didn't pursue her. Halle liked that there was someone that did not want her.

"Good Morning Rester, Near…" Halle looked at Near, who was sitting in a chair, playing with a dart. He was so childish, in a different way than Mello. Always playing with toys, (like Mello played with gun and people) and sitting with his knees up to his chest was a position Halle often saw Near in.

"Lidner," Near said, ignoring her greeting. "About the President's death-"

"Halle! I-" Gevanni slammed the door open, almost running in.

Rester, Halle, and Near all looked at Gevanni. Near narrowed his dead-like eyes at Gevanni in annoyance. His shoulders slumped, Gevanni muttered sorry and sat down in his usual spot.

"About the President's death…" Near continued.

#5: Scared

Mello ran upstairs in his base to a secret behind two wooden doors. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Mello murmured through clenched teeth, holding his chocolate with his mouth.. The Japanese Task Force just found the Mafia's base.

Mello locked the door behind him and went to the multiple monitors standing on an old desk. Dead bodies were scattered around him, like Near's toys in his room at Wammy's House, and fuck, why was Mello thinking about Near at a time like this? It was like his memories were flashing before his fucking eyes like in a movie.

He took a bite out of chocolate and chewed as he watched the Japanese Task Force kill two more of Mello's Mafia underlings and take the Death Note. Mello sighed and took a bomb detonator and pressed a button. Immediately one of the monitors flicked off.

Another monitor showed the Japanese Task Force run out of the room to the nearest door outside of the room they came out of: the doors to the room that Mello was in.

After another bite of chocolate. Mello turned on a speaker. "I've exploded the two doorways. You can't get out easily." He said calmly to the Japanese Task Force through a microphone. He sat on the desk, looking deeper into the monitor.

"This one was just a threat, but next I'll blow up the whole hideout. I'm watching your actions through monitoring cameras. If you don't want to be blown up, follow my directions." Mello had it all planned out now. He smirked and took another bite out of his chocolate.

"My first order is to break the cameras on your helmets. All of you."

He saw them look at each other in hesitation – Are they being directed by someone even now? And can that someone hear what I'm saying? – Then took off their cameras.

"Throw down all your weapons and give the notebook to someone, then stand back."

They followed Mello's orders.

"Alrighty, come to the door with the notebook then take your helmet off,"

The person that was holding the Death Note took off his helmet.

It was Yagami, the Father of Sayu Yagami.

Aw, fuck.

"How come you're so mean all the time? Can't you do things in a nonviolence way?" Mello remembered Sayu telling him, before he threw her into a room alone with other mafia members. Her pure words killed him. Mello hated Sayu for that. He'll never be "good".

Being bad is good enough, Mello thought as he let Yagami in and closed the door behind him with a press of a button.

Ten minutes later, Mello clicked another button.

This time, the button was part of a bomb switch.

#5.5: Matt

"Hello?"

"Is Mels there?"

"Who is this?"

"No one. Is Mello there?"

"…no, why?"

"Oh ok… sorry for calling, Ms. Bullock."

Click.