Wow. This story is just amazing. When I read the part early in the manga where Ryuk tells Light that humans who use a Death Note can never go to Heaven or Hell, I thought he meant that anyone who uses a Death Note becomes a Shinigami when they die. It makes me happy to know that I'm not the only one who thought that, and I really love what you did with the idea. I especially like your description of Shinigami!Light's appearance, and the process he goes through to choose his name. I thought the end of the second chapter was interesting too--I wonder what Near and Matsuda and Misa will think when they realize that Kira is still operating even though Light's dead? Will they figure out what happened, or conclude that they somehow had the wrong guy?

Wonderful, wonderful story!

Oh yes! Shinigami Kira is possibly the most perfect thing. This is wonderful.

Ryuk. Is. So. Bored.
[I think the point would’ve come across just as well with an ordinary sentence, with the way it’s given its own paragraph to make it stand out]

and they think far too much of killing.
[I was about to say ‘what do you expect from a Death Note’, but I think the statement is erroneous: it’s not the killing in and of itself that obsess man, but the easy grab for power or wealth or prestige that it grants]

He smiles though,
[Ryuk? The narrative pattern sort-of implies that, but the last stated person to fit ‘he’ is Light, which conflicts somewhat with preceding narrative of him frowning and bored without escape]

He screams when Ryuk first talks to him – a lot of humans have – and then he laughs – none of the humans Ryuk met before did that. Already he is something different.
[Must be an interesting thing to feel such a need of the different. Not so far from humans]

Yagami murmurs, ‘the bond’, and Ryuk actually has to remind himself not to care.
[Seems like he’s already failed this little personal objective, though it’s an interesting way to put it]

things he has remembered in spite of their uselessness.
[Everybody has their own trivia knowledge, though I thought it a bit expected that Ryuk’s would be about apples]

Humans move all the time in this new era, running everywhere, making machines that can move even faster, hurrying to their deaths. Sometimes Ryuk wishes they’d stop. After awhile the constant buzz of activity becomes a drone, everything washes out and becomes dull and grey again.
[A concise and subtle way to put the bustle of human activity]

Before shinigami become shinigami, though, they change every now and then, seeking something they can’t grasp any more,
[Is this intending to refer in some manner to ‘they try to change themselves like they used to’]

Light is very beautiful.
Humans think this, and Ryuk agrees. The humans are talking about the shape of Light’s face, the distance between his eyes, the balance between nose and lips and chin, the way Light moves, and the way he will smile and joke, and convince them that he cares about nothing more than their happiness.
Shinigami have different standards.
Ryuk is talking about the way Light will write names, the curve of his arm, the minimalist movements of his fingers, the steady, unrelenting perfection of his letters developing across the page.
He might also be talking about the way Light knows other humans, and crawls into their heads and knows exactly how to make them do things for him (tell him their dreams, their jobs, their habits, their names – goodbye, Raye Penber, farewell Misora Naomi).
[Eerie way to put it]

that he’s feeling the absence of L like he’s carved something out of himself.
[I wouldn’t have thought about Light thinking this, but it makes perfect sense]

Chapter 2
Light doesn’t belong in the shinigami realm; it’s too pure, too unnecessary, too human.
[Unusual view, but I think the most interesting one I’d heard of was as Light as a foreign element with darkness an omnipresent one]

He looks like a classical statue, a hollow approximation of beauty, unreceptive, unapproachable. He is cold where he should be warm, made of sharp angles and hard edges where there should be none.
[Poetic way of describing it]

Zellogi said: “Have you heard
[This looks like script format. It’s missing narrative to place them – are they standing by this ‘new shinigami’ watching him closely? From afar? Either way, the punctuation doesn’t quite fit something a little smoother]

It is pale and white, not formed properly; it looks blurred, like a memory of someone seen only once and from a distance. Ghost,
[Strange way to begin swinging things back around to ‘Kira’]

Ryuk says: “Let me
[Script format-like punctuation]

Unusual, but it had that eerie feel that much of Death Note had. Very well written.

Hahahahahaha! Best, best ending (or new beginning) for Ryuk and Kira. This story is pure genius, I'm in love with it. I don't know what else I can even say.

So. Cool. Ryuk is awesome and the way this is written is so poignant. "He chuckles, and Light tilts his head and smiles, and oh, Ryuk knows it’s stupid, but he loves him a little then anyway." Fantastic. Must read more now.

I love this fic and the language you used in it: my favorite line would have to be, “Yagami Light.” He said it like it was a blessing, a curse, the secret name of god, the lowest creature in any realm. It really defines who Light is, I think.

Doing it from Ryuk's point of view made the story even more interesting. The comparison between shinigami and humans were awesome to read as well.

Oh, intense. Shinigami!Light is always a favourite storyline of mine. And I liked the first chapter, with Ryuk loving Light in his own twisted, dysfunctional way. XP Awesome.

~fd97

*smile smile* this fic makes me remember why I got into the DeathNote fandom in the first place - all the endless possibilities...
<3<3<3

It was a really good story.

Twisted and morbid.
I like it. :)
This is absolutely amazing, wonderful, beautiful beyond description.

Oh, god, this was really beautiful. Really like Ryuk's perspective on things. And it's especially cool because... well from the human point of view, Light is a crazy sociopath. But from a shinigami's... Ryuk will definitely remember Light for a long time. Great story :)

I don't know what to say to that. But it's cool. Really cool. I love the way you did Ryuk, the way you showed all his thoughts, and then the ending. I think the ending was the best part, especially the Shinigami part. KIRA.

WOW, that was interesting! I like the idea behind this story! :)

I loved this piece. It was just stylistically incredible. And the characterization was not content to just stay IC, but extended and made beautiful.

I can't help but wish that this ending was the the one used in the manga.

Keep writing!

KK

Beautiful. Just beautiful. Never read a better Ryuk story. You captured his view on Light very well, and were able to explain the end (in the manga, it kept bothering me that Ryuk suddenly was so creepy and cold and killed him).
I also liked the second chapter, very interesting and beautiful writing. I liked how you let different Shinigami speak and intertwined the human (post-Kira) and Shinigami world.