Death Note/Monster Crossover, The Guilty, Ch. 4

[labingi]

Fandom: Death Note/Monster
Title: The Guilty
Rating/Warnings: R, psychopaths, character deaths
Genre: Drama, sequel to "Sons and Lovers"
Characters: L, Light, Watari, Tenma, Nina, Johan, (a few minor characters)
Spoilers: Potentially all of Monster, DN through the Higuchi arc, all of Another Note.
Summary: When Johan wants to obliterate Light's

Comments

[tl__dr]

I GOT OVERWHELMED OUT OF REVIEWING AGAIN, THIS IS WHY YOU GET SUCH BELATED FEEDBACK

It just feels like everything I say will pale in comparison to how much I love this fic (I've already memoried it as one of my two favorite fics ever evereverever, seriously :D), and every comment I want to make on every incredibly bit of character interaction will be me taking exchanges that are two sentences long and spewing out novels in response. Because seriously, every line of this is like a full essays' worth of Monster meta, it's truly incredible the insight you have into the characters and the series and the themes and the way everything intertwines, and the way you demonstrate this insight in such subtle, sparse ways. I'm so in love with everything this fic says about Monster and Death Note and their casts, and like I said, if I try to start giving you specific examples of what I mean, you'll end up with something 20 times the length of your fic on your hands and I'm not sure either of us wants that, haha.

I hope the fact that the potential for these novel-length levels of squee exists can give you some sense of the appreciation I have for this fic, at the very least! It's not just the fabulous characterizations and character interactions that I love, the plot is SUBLIME. I was in suspense for the entire story, and I just found the ending so bittersweetly satisfying - both monstrous threats end up dead, but we witness the hurt that brings the people who loved Light and Johan and it's impossible to find this anything but tragic, at the same time as it is relieving. (And Misa and Johan & Anna's mother as secondary casualties is also incredibly heart-rending - you really drummed that home with poor Rem's freakout, which I said I wouldn't go into characterization because there's too much to say but I would like to touch on how much I ADORED the scene with her and Watari, where Rem had such a human sort of stubborn, childish insistence that Misa be kept safe OR ELSE, but her cool, distance supernatural nature was also undeniably presence. It read exactly like her, basically, and that was such a nice treat for a Rem fan like myself.)

Ahhhh there's so much I want to say but I am getting very tongue-tied; still, I need you to know plain and simple that this is the best seriously written Monster fic I've ever read, and such an exhilarating treat to read. Thank you thank you thank you for creating and sharing this.

I have avoided reading the epilogue because I don't want this story to be ooooover, so you may be getting still more rambliness from me some time in the future. :)

[labingi]

Thank you again so much for your glowing comments. I would love to read the meta you've written even if you haven't had time to complete it or don't want to post it publicly; I'd be fascinated (in a totally vain way!) to read more of your thoughts.

I'm glad you enjoyed Rem. In a previous comment, I told you she wasn't going to appear anymore, and here she pops back up. That was partly due to your commenting that you enjoyed the Shinigami's presence:) It also stemmed from a need for a scene to break up B's letter and B's death. Initially, these two scenes were far apart, but in my confused attempt to structure all the scenes I'd written out of order, the B stuff ended up getting all squished together.

Another thing I realized belatedly I let slip was dropping Nina and Johan's joint plotting. It's fine, of course, if their plot doesn't come to fruition, but a good story would tie up that theme, at least with some character's commentary.

Well, I hope when you read epilogue it will please. It's short and full of quotation.