I love your stories, they are so good and get me all worked up everytime! Great story! Never stop writing L/Light!

aww that so sad i so prefer the first ending light and L should be together L an asshole in this one so that sucks poor light

Fuck. This alternative ending was sad. It's similar to a knife twisting in my heart. It hurts that much.

I think this ending was much more believable, and I can seriously see it happening in the series itself.

L would live up to his standards as a person who brings people to justice, despite what he wants. It's just in his nature as a ruthless detective. He hasn't lived all those years for it to just stop because he believes himself to be in love.

And I can see Raito performing death to himself - if only to preserve some dignity. After all, if I were in his shoes, I think choosing your own means of death by your M.O would more or less be better than facing a judge and jury.

Of course for the sake of liking sappiness, the last chapter was probably better suited to me. If only because I want them to be together. =+=

Yey a happy ending. I'm assuming the next one will be the sad one. I'm kind of dreading it.

But I more or less liked the way this happy ending turned out. Lolz, therapy and a guy for Misa is amusing.

BEAUTIFUL.

and i only have one more thing to say...

I'm crying.

A really good story - tragic from the start. To me, the way you described their relationship, it was quite a destructive one - for both. Whether I am correct in this or not, I was reminded of Buffy season 6, where she and Spkie are together but she doesn't love him. She does it because she truly hates herself. I am so used to reading fanfics where L and Light truly fall in love that reading this was quite uneasy at times. Still, it's a very well written story.

I have been reading and rereading your story "Cruel and Unusual" for some time. And I`ll have you know that I am one more person asking for an epilogue to chapter 13. Something in this story appeals strongly to me. I can`t help thinking that it`s unfinished without L`s reaction to Light`s death.

I almost never read L/Light fic since I rarely find any worth reading, but I read nearly all of this in one go. VERY GOOD.

The only critique I have is I wonder if Light is slightly out of character? He seems a bit girlier than I can imagine him actually being. L, however, rings very true!

I was rather astonished-in a good way :D, L seemed as he was supposed to be. Despite what we fangirls want to believe L was an insensitive bastard whose first priority was Justice, as such I liked the second ending better it seemed more likely to happen truth be told however I am positively itching for L's point of view-for the last chapter (13)!
Hope to read more of your stories soon, greatly looking forward to you updating TBOS! :D

how sad, but still very emotional, my favorite ending. i can't remember if i reviewed this the first time i read it though (feels like forever ago) so i'm leaving a review now. this is honestly one of my favorite DN fanfics in this site, only thing that would've made it better would've been L's thoughts after Raito's assisted suicide. for some reason i can never find very many L/Raito stories with L's thoughts. but still, this is good. i loved every minute

"Cruel and Unusual" was charming, haunting, from beginning to end.

My favorite part is actually the first several chapters, before L realizes/admits to recognizing Raito's attraction. I love how intense Raito's emotions were, especially in the first and second chapters. It's that intensity which made the later chapters, when the two are finally happy, so much sweeter.

I also liked how well you stuck to the canon. Honestly, I don't much like AU; after all, the events in Death Note canon are so...loose at some points (i.e. all those days Raito was locked up or chained to L passed by so quickly...the audience doesn't really know what happened between the major turnpoints), I feel like writers already have plenty of flexibility to create their own stories without needing to completely throw out the Death Note universe.

And before I forget, I have to mention that I liked the comic relief in between events. Planning a plot is hard, but I think improvising all the funny moments while still keeping to the plot-line is even harder.

Finally, I'm amazed by your bravery; because really, not many authors attempt a first-person story, forget one where the other main character is referred to as "You." But I like its effect--it separates L and Raito into their own world, and it's far more personal.

In fact, because of the first-person narration, I'm actually tempted to say I preferred the first ending. It's easy to be caught up in the emotions of "Cruel and Unusual" and want the happy ending, if only because of how wrapped up I am in the feelings "I"--Raito--am experiencing.

Still, I definitely like the second ending more. After all--in the end--regardless of whether he repents, Raito did kill thousands, criminals or otherwise; there is no excuse, and there can be no mitigation in his punishment, considering the extent of his crimes. Objectively speaking, he deserves death.

So, while I can see L overlooking the deaths of so many innocents (L is a little whimsical and selfish at times)...I don't want L to. I'm idealistic, and I prefer to think of L as strong and righteous enough to suppress even his own love/emotions in the name of justice. In some ways, L overlooking Raito's crimes would be even more tragic for me than Raito being executed.

Anyways, this was my second time to read "Cruel and Unusual." I enjoyed it the first time, but now that I've carefully sifted through this again, I think I like it even a little bit more than before.

Thank you for writing. It was well worth my time to read.

Omg this made me so sad.
You did a great job.
You should really consider doing a follow up story though.
But, like from L’s point of view even if it's just a one shot or something.
Like to know what he thinks about the whole thing like was it really just an act or was it just a desire for 100% trust.

L, what a fool he was. And poor Light, although I'm quite glad he kept his mind at the end of it. Always clever that Light, using Ryuk like that. I'm quite glad this isn't the one shot you originally intended it to be

did he die are you done what happened !!?? =^.^=

love it