I don't own DeathNote or the characters in it, obviously, or my writing would not be on this site!
Near sat on the floor in the corner of the room, mindlessly twisting shockingly white hair around his finger. The puzzle that lay before him was nothing more than white cardboard; no pattern, no design. That was the way Near liked it. Regular puzzles were too easy. He needed something with more of a challenge, but even this one was quickly becoming lodged in his brain. He barely even needed to look at the pieces anymore.
For a few hours now there hadn't been much sound in Wammy's. All of the other children were outside playing. They would run and jump, scream and holler. Sure it sounded like fun to most, but Near was content to stay right where he was, playing quietly in the corner of the room.
But someone from the outside had just come in and seemingly had other plans for him.
"Near! What are you doing!? What is your deal anyways? Don't you ever get bored of playing that same damn puzzle every, single day?!"
"No," Near said flatly.
He didn't need to look up to know who was screaming at him. It was the same person that was always screaming at him. He knew if he took the moment to glance in that direction that he'd see the same bright blonde hair, the same scowling mouth that was always surprisingly clear of chocolate despite the fact that it was in constant contact with the substance, the same flaming eyes that were very obviously meant to inflict pain with a single glare. No, Near didn't need to look up.
"Oh stop trying to be so indifferent all the time. You and I both know that you're just hiding it!"
"I'm not going to argue with you, Mello."
The boy bit down on both anger and the melting chocolate bar in his teeth. Why the hell was Near always so damn calm!? Surely there was something more under that pasty white skin. Really, it wasn't like the boy was actually born without a heart, right?
Maybe it just took a little more effort to get it out.
Mello bent down and grabbed the puzzle board from the floor right as Near was about to push yet another unidentifiable piece into place and threw it hard against the far wall. Pieces scattered, some landing at the base of the wall, others that had failed to make it that far were now laying stretched across the carpeting and one random piece clung to Near's hair as if desperate to stay where it was wanted. The blonde looked down hoping to have stirred some sort of emotion.
Near was still sitting on the floor, one foot beneath him, the other in a half kneeling position. He had his left hand laying lazily on top of his knee and slowly his right hand rose to twist his hair yet again. The puzzle piece fell to the floor unnoticed.
"A thousand piece puzzle will be very difficult to pick up, you know."
It was a simple statement, said monotonously and without feeling. It was pure fact… and it made Mello want to scream.
"What the hell, Near!? Come on! Give me somethin'! Anything!"
Just then another boy came in from around the corner. His goggled eyes were turned downward and Mello had always wondered if those goggles actually had a purpose. Honestly, did they cut down on the glare from the gaming screen or something? Were they maybe prescription lens'? Whatever it was those things were permanently glued to the boys head.
"Hey Mello, do you have any spare batteries?"
"Of course I do!" Mello screamed sarcastically, "Because I always carry double A's in my back pocket!"
Matt didn't glance up from his game. It wasn't like he didn't know that Mello was being a complete jerk, it was more that he just didn't care, "Alright then. Just go back to torturing Near or whatever it was that you were doing."
Then he turned to leave, probably in search of much needed power to feed his endless videogame addiction. If that game system died, would Matt die with it? It was like the thing was a part of his very soul.
Mello turned his attention back to Near. The boy was crawling slowly along the floor now, gathering piece after piece of his favorite toy, scooping them into the palm of his hand. For a brief, very brief, moment Mello had the urge to bend down and help. He wasn't as heartless as he seemed to most, but it was something that he'd branded into himself from a young age. That whole I'm alone in this world thing. Somewhere in the depths of his mind he felt that it kept him safe...
Moving his hand a little too quickly, Near felt a slight rug burn upon his knuckles. A thousand piece puzzle. Why had Mello decided to destroy that of all things? He usually went after the robots. Those always seemed to be his favorite. They fly so well, he always said as he launched them down stairs or into Matt's soup. Today, though, it was the puzzle.
He was trying to count as he went along, but Mello was making it exceedingly difficult.
"Oh, stand up! You'll never find them all anyways," there was no reply to his comment so he continued, "It's not like it was a particularly special puzzle. The whole damn thing was blank!"
As Near had already stated once, he really wasn't going to argue. There was no point to it. There was no point to saying anything to Mello at all when he got like this. So he continued counting quietly to himself as his small hand wrapped around yet another recovered section of cardboard.
"Damn it all!" Mello screamed suddenly. He'd had enough of it. Talking to Near was like talking through an insanely large patch of woods. Sure the sounds reverberated endlessly between those trees, but he may never know if it would actually reach to the real Near that lay behind those darkened woods. "I give up!"
He turned and stormed from the room, stomping the whole way like a child. He wanted to make a scene, want to pull something from Near. He just wanted to see some damn emotion! He stopped just outside of the door and leaned hard against the wall.
Part of him actually felt defeated, but it wasn't like when he saw in the rankings that he was still number two or when he received ninety-nine percent on his term paper just to find out that Near had gotten a perfect score. This was different. Those things, they would pass in time and become meaningless. After all, Wammy's wasn't like the real world, right?
But this feeling that filled him now was one of the worst he'd ever felt. It was the kind of emotion that tugged rarely at his heart. It was concern, concern and pity. Near was better at everything, except one. He could never, ever match Mello's humanity and passion.
The truth in the matter was that despite the happiness that his mind kept telling him that he deserved, after all he had in fact beaten Near at at least that, he couldn't convince his bleeding heart that this was a good thing. How was it a good thing that this boy was so utterly shut off from the world that he had no friends, no life, no satisfaction in anything he did. He was just… flat.
He whispered hoarsely behind the solid door, "Why can't you understand?"
Because in reality, Mello felt he was the only one that Near really had.
Inside the room Near had finished gathering and was now resituated almost exactly as he had been before Mello had come in. The puzzle lay before him, his finger hung in his hair, his eye trained only on the board… but he felt like something was missing.
He felt… sad? He felt like Mello had dealt him the blow and not the game. The room seemed so empty now, so painfully empty.
And as he pushed another piece perfectly into its spot a small tear sealed it in place.