This is set almost right before the Yellow Box warehouse – and apparently, Halle knows Matt…somehow. And I stole the 'crap-ass boss' from Amaryne. We were debating on the good and bad points of Near...

It always seemed to me that Halle didn't like Near all that much. I wanted to see if that really was the case.

Apparently so.

But I will be uploading a sequel where Halle starts to like him a little better.

…Not romance. Purely platonic. She realizes just how young and childlike he is. Maybe even the start of…uh...motherly love? .(this is the sequel I'm talking about. This one is just basic Near-bashing. But I love Near. So why…?)

…-.-"

Yeah. I'll shut up now.

----

Halle Lidner had never liked Near very much.

He was this freaky genius; emotionless, white. There were times where that blinding colourlessness made her sick – it reminded her of how stained she was compared to him – he who had never needed to go out into the real world and face all the horrors there; he who had never been required to when there were so many who would do that for him, because he was Near. Because he was L's successor. In a way, Halle was biased, hearing all of this from Mello, hearing him spit out Near's name with venom that could only come from a lifetime of hate.

And it was different because Halle wasn't like the other SPK members. Gevanni was smart enough to vaguely follow the raging, intellectual battles between Kira and Near. Not that she wasn't as intelligent. But he had actually helped. Significantly, too. What with the replacing the pages and the switching of the notebooks that would take place tonight, it was clear that played a big part in Near's plan. Halle didn't see the part she played, apart from acting as Takada's bodyguard to uncover any connection she had with Kira. A small job, a 'just in case' job to keep her busy. And in the end, she had gotten Mello, Matt and Takada herself killed. It turned out that that would cause Mikami to reveal the fake notebook and in turn, would lead to Kira's defeat, which was what she had been fighting for all along, but she couldn't make herself believe that Mello's death was necessary. She couldn't make herself believe that Matt deserved to be shot down like a dog on live television.

And Rester, well, he was Rester. No one really knew exactly where he came from, but Near seemed to trust him much more than he did Halle. Half the time, she felt that Rester knew more things about the case than he let on, because Near had told him. She understood, because, as Near had pointed out, she was a woman, and the most likely person for Mello to contact. Contact, befriend, they were all pretty much the same thing. The point was, Halle wasn't exactly well-informed when it came to the inside, less important details.

Such as the fact that Near actually did know that Halle was meeting up with Mello.

He wasn't strong, or an ideal leader. He was co-dependent, unable to stand on his own. His social skills were atrocious; he was a crap-ass boss who didn't give a shit if his employees were tired, a downright jerk when it came to it. So smart, so…uncaring. And yet so vulnerable. Sometimes when she looked at him, she felt an undeniable flash of pity – or was it disgust? – for the eighteen-year old on which this fate had been forced upon.

Halle Lidner didn't hate Near.

But she didn't exactly like him either.

It was hard to describe what she felt when she saw the albino boy sitting there calmly, one hand moving a toy around and the other absentmindedly twirling his white, white locks. There was something…something that made her look at him in disbelief; that someone so young had the ability, the intelligence, to end this horrifying 'war'. There was awe in that gaze, mixed in with the incredulity. But there was also fear. He was too white. White, blank, pure, whatever you wanted to call it, except for those black, soulless eyes that stared into the face of truth and searched for answers, delving deeper than anything and anyone, just to know.

Halle Lidner was afraid of Near.

She was afraid of his calm, his almost flawless logic, his colder-than-ice expression and personality that was the exact opposite of Mello's, which burned brighter and more ferociously than anyone's. She was afraid of his deft, unwavering hands that were always holding a toy or action-figure of some sort. She was afraid of his robotic, inhuman intelligence that isolated him from the world.

Halle Lidner was afraid, because it was impossible for someone to be so perfect and yet so flawed at the same time – and yet here he was, the only one left, because he was Near. And if that was what humankind had been reduced to, Halle didn't think she'd be able to stand living in the world much longer.

----

*gasp* Is Halle suicidal?!

No, that's just her really disliking Near. It's sort of like a "OMG THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD HAS BECOME" kind of suicidal.

Because Near is too robot-like (according to Halle) to be, say, Supreme Ruler of the Universe.

But I digress.

GAH. SERIOUSLY. EVERYTHING I WRITE GETS SHORTER AND SHORTER. THIS WAS ONLY WHAT, TWO PAGES LONG?! WTF?!

Anyway, feedback would be great XD