I've probably read this four times over the past couple months. Yet...I never review. Silly me.
I love this. Love love love. This is broken into so many little bits that it should be choppy, but strangely it's not at all; it flows perfectly. Somehow each section gets more and more poignant even when it seems that it can't possibly get any more gut-wrenching.
My goodness. I can't even articulate how wonderful this was. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

wow!...this is an amazinf peice of art...it was just wow...the what could have been if they never met...i think you easily captured it down...it was amazing!...totally love!

Sorry, I know I'm probably just taking space in your inbox but I couldn't help myself.

This is heart-shatteringly beautiful. It makes me cry to read it.

So well thought out, and written.

Practically speechless. Just... wow.

I love it.

Wow. I would've thought that things would've been all right if Light had never picked up the Death Note. But I forgot about something: he and L are way too complicated to ever be content without challenges like the ones they imposed on one another. This "what-if" scenario you've painted for them stays true to their colors, and shows perhaps how worse off the two might've had it if the Death Note had never appeared. Their existences would've STILL been miserable, a no-win, all around. Maybe even more so.

When a story makes me feel this deeply, I know I've found a gem in the rough. Thank you.

Oh God, this was extremely depressing but the sheer brilliance! Both of them just wasting away like that. I'm a bundle of emotions at this piece; there's pity, there's sympathy, there's a large amount of disgust for some odd reason, indignation on their behalf and a helplessness that is triggered by their situation. I'm probably not making any sense.

Bottom line: well done.

Just plain amazing. I'm speechless; I don't know what else to say.

Ow, that really hurt. Amazing writing even if/or just beacuse it made me rather depressed. L without Light and Light without L is very sad. They are kind of meant to be in my opinion - not necceserly in a romantic way, even if I am a L/Light fan, but as a central focus point in each others lives.

. . . that was so depressing T.T But I think it was a really accurate portrayal of what would have happened. I love the title and the last line, and how they connect.

Also, the fact that L and Light got so close to meeting (When L came to Japan) was a very nice touch.

Very well done!

Going through your DN stuff at work. >__>; I really shouldn't, but this is too good!

I love how there's a near encounter. Almost, L! If only you'd waited for Light, haha. Great work!

~fd97

This depressed me. Great job! I love the whole atmosphere of the story, and the end was excellent. It was like Light own small victory, not letting the pointlessness of it kill him. I had a good way to express my thoughts on this all planned out in my head, but it went away, so... All the stories I've read from you are awesome. You're one of the best writers I've ever read.

I just LOVE this! It's so perfectly IC, and so real to the story...it's just...amazing.

Like all your other fan fictions, a perfect story.

You describe the monotony of their lives so well that I was starting to feel useless myself. Throughout the story, you kept the dampened tone that serves both as a leading thread and a way to express the tragedy of their lives.

I always considered it to be a misfortunate fate that Light picked up the Death Note; but your story puts everything in a different perspective. Reading about the pointlessness of their lifes makes me almost want to shake them, as though to say that there is more.

And still they sensed that there had to be something else. You played with their fate, by letting Light look away just when the Death Note fell from the sky; by sending L to Japan the moment Light goes to America. It makes it all the more frustrating.

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No one. L is just a letter and Lawliet is a ghost.
-

That one almost brought tears to my eyes. Suddenly it becomes so clear that L is just a letter on a screen; that no-one knows the real him. It made me feel even sadder about his death.

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Perfectly hollow, he keeps walking.
-

A perfect summary and ending of the story: it shows the perfection of Light, more a burden than a blessing, and the uselessness life has become to him.

I would want to quote a lot more things from you story, because just with this review I don't do it justice.

I can only hope you will continue writing, because you are without a doubt the best author I have seen on this site; and that isn't false praise or an exaggeration.

~Snoaz

I liked the darkness that exists in this fic. It was well done and quite an interesting read!

This story actually makes me almost GLAD Light found the Death Note. :( Just, to think of two people living a life like this... it's depressing in itself.

This was just...

Honestly, i can't really quote what specifically made this leave such an impression on me. The possibility of L and Light never crossing paths was really played out in this fic, and even though it's often said Light finding the Death Note was really the worst thing that could ever happen to him...well, would this alternative have been better? Doing nothing but sleepwalk through this life with no means to truly channel his brilliance?

Granted, they COULD have met (what damn timing there was in Light's flight to America), work perfectly with each other, but possibly they'd probably never really... experience the real challenge they seek unless they actually went head-to-head with each other.

Anyway, my point? Wonderful. Your DN fics are spectacular as usual. I enjoyed Redivivius very much too. ^^