Fear the name Alice Hyde (Near x OC) A Death Note FanFiction

Chapter 18: The Balcony

A/N: Amy J here! Sorry it's been such a long time since I've updated, the back to school season can get pretty hectic. But I've mostly figured out my schedule and time commitments so updated should be back on track. Enjoy! 

I hadn't done much since Mello left me with Near, and at the same time I wasn't complaining. I stayed in my room most of the time and Near came to visit me whenever he could catch a break from work. In a way, I felt like a possession almost. Near would give me vague details about progressions in the case, but never anything too specific. For a while I pondered on the idea that he suspected me of being in league with Kira and Mello just gave me back to have an undercover agent, but I dismissed those thoughts quickly. The butterflies I got in my stomach whenever Near would enter my little room. The immense relief I felt when he would collapse into my arms from lack of sleep and pushing himself too far.

He would speak to me, more times in mumbled than not, half asleep and slurring his words. And at times it would seem like he just had a bucket of cold water dumped on him and he realized that this wasn't a dream and I was there again, not dead or still in league with the Mafia. Those times were my favorite, because Near would smile, really smile. I think it was all that time without feeling any kind of happiness at all and then getting surges of it so suddenly made him lose control, he would hold my face in his hands and simply look at me, tracing my features with a gentle finger, coming to rest at the corner of my eye or my hairline. The smile would fade into concern and then he would speak.

"Say something."

"What do you want me to say?" I always said, and response was always the same.

"Anything." That was all he needed and he would relax and lean back into me, making himself comfortable and drawing my arms around his shoulders and letting them hang freely over his chest. He would talk more on those days, speak more details about how they were closer to catching Kira now than ever. Near was having a slow day and he had brought an armful of toys up to my room and set them up on the floor. I was sitting on my bed, sketching on a piece of scratch paper. Near looked up from the trains and stared at my paper intently.

"Do you want to see?" I asked, I turned the paper around and showed him. It was a rough sketch, none of the details had been filled in yet. It looked like a skyline with a park at the base of it with trees and a pond with a fountain. Miscellaneous lines made the silhouettes of people walking, talking, dancing.

Near blinked, "Where's your sketchbook?" There was a pause before I answered him softly. "It's gone... burned up in the explosion that destroyed the base." I blinked back tears because I remembered all the things I kept in that sketchbook. I had had the same sketchbook for my entire life and now it was gone, all those pictures, drawings, memories. In those pages were drawings of Whammy's House in the winter, birds flying over Near's tree in the back garden and of course Near himself. There were also pictures of Mello, Matt, and even L littered throughout the pages. Memories I would never get back and I had lost forever. The warmth of a hand brushing away the few tears on my face brought me back to reality and Near was leaning over me, sympathy in his eyes but nothing in the rest of his expression.

"I'm sorry you lost it." Near said. He was so close that I could feel his breath bouncing off my face.

"Don't stress yourself about it." I said, brushing him away and instantly feeling the chill of the air against my skin as Near sat back. "You have enough on your plate right now anyway." Near blinked and a flurry of thoughts seemed to pass through his mind.

"Yes, I do, I'll have to go continue working." He stood up and walked out of the door. "Goodbye, Hyde." That was another thing, ever since I had told Near my real name, he hadn't spoken it, or even Hyde very much. Maybe it was just for security reasons. But Near ran every single aspect of the building, including surveillance. So, I was puzzled as to his reasoning to this.