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Once upon a time, there was a meeting. It happened in a place outside of our understanding, beyond space, time, and everything in between. It concerned ideas no one here knows or can know with any amount of certainty. It may, in fact, be a complete fabrication that goes against the characters of all involved. But if it were to be acted out, it might look a little something like this...
Eleanor existed. And yet didn't.
Having previously lived multiple, full lives in four dimensions, bound by time and space and yet thriving in them, it was hard to say what Eleanor was now. It was even harder to say exactly who Eleanor was now.
And yet, none of that mattered. Eleanor existed.
And then she was back. Human, blonde, a little short, and absolutely full of fire. Sitting.
She blinked. And then blinked a few more times. It had been so long—it hadn't been long at all—since she had eyes to blink with. And now she did.
She took a breath. Okay, lungs. And a head. With a nose and mouth.
She looked down at her hands. Were they her hands? She wiggled a few fingers. Yes, they were her hands.
She looked up in front of her. There was a small fire in front of her. On the other side was a couch, or bench, or something long and comfortable. She glanced to the sides: it went all the way around the fire. She was sitting on it. She was not the only one sitting on it.
To her right, a comfortable distance away, was Chidi. He was muttering to himself in a way that would remind most of his friends of his anxious ramblings, but she recognized the tone. This wasn't rambling, this was processing. Connecting. Figuring things out like the genius he was. Her genius.
The thought filled her with warmth. She smiled.
He looked up, glanced around, and made eye contact with her. He smiled back.
"Woah," an awed voice said from past Chidi. They both turned to see Jason.
Jason was looking around them, past the bench. They were in a valley of some kind, but not one Eleanor recognized. And in the sky above them was a sea of stars with a glowing cloud to the side.
"That's the Carina Nebula," a friendly voice said past Jason. It was Janet. "At least, that's what 21st century NASA called it."
"That's quite the flex," Tahani said. She was closer to Eleanor, on her left. But not the closest.
"That's not a flex," Michael said from next to Eleanor. "If they were flexing, it would be the Time Knife or the Space Doughnut."
A soft chuckle came from the last person around the fire. "Astute as always, Michael."
The person looked ordinary, plain. Thoroughly mixed race. Dressed simply, a pale blue sundress. But not necessarily a woman. Almost perfectly in-between.
Eleanor shook the last of the cobwebs from her mind. "Okay," she said, "what's going on? Are we in trouble?" She narrowed her eyes at the newcomer. "Did something else break?"
"No, Eleanor," they said, clearly holding back laugher. "Everything is as it should be. Everything is..." They shook their head. "Everything we hoped for."
Eleanor kept staring at them. "And just who are you?" she said after a moment.
Their smile fell a bit. "We... Are," they said with a shrug. "We just Are. If you need a name..." They smirked. "Call us Arceus."
"Oh, like the Pokémon?" Jason blurted. "I loved your game!"
Chidi stiffened, like an egregious faux pas had been committed, but Arceus(?) just laughed. "Thank you, Jason," they said, genuine.
Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "That's your name?"
Arceus shook their head. "If you want to use a more religious name, you can," they said. "We know when we're being addressed."
"Found the marshmallows!" a younger person said just behind Eleanor.
"Jesus Christ!" she yelled, jumping away from the person—who had hopped over the bench and landed between her and Chidi.
"Yes?" the newcomer said. This one was more clearly middle-eastern in a white robe-like garment. He held out a paper bag full of marshmallows to her.
Eleanor just stared, a knot forming in her stomach. She looked to Arceus in confusion and a little bit of fear.
"Like I said," Arceus said. "If you want to use a more religious name, you can. But I don't think you want to."
She looked back to the newcomer—Jesus?—who shook the bag.
"Take one and pass it on," he said with a smile. "Sticks are in the fire; I'll go get the crackers and chocolate."
Eleanor took the bag.
"Wait, hold on," Tahani said, holding up a hand. "Why s'mores?"
"Because there's a campfire," Jesus and Jason said at the same time. They made eye contact and bumped fists in front of Chidi. Jesus nodded and hopped back over the bench.
Eleanor took a breath. "Holy mother-forking shirtballs," she muttered.
Janet made a face. "I didn't think the language filter was on."
Michael shook his head and smiled. "It's not."
"Why?" Chidi said quietly.
Arceus shrugged. "Language is always evolv—"
"No," Chidi said, a little louder. He was still, almost impossibly so, staring at Arceus. "Why?"
Everyone stilled. Arceus smiled sadly.
"Is there an answer we can give that you'll be satisfied with?" they said. "That's a very big question."
"Try," Chidi said.
Arceus looked into the fire and took a breath to collect themselves. "We are not everything everyone says we are. Some of the rules of your reality are ones that we wrote. Others are rules from ours. There are some things that are simply impossible, some tradeoffs that will always exist."
They looked back at Chidi. "We created you, among other reasons, to love. If you did not choose freely to love, the manner of your love, it would be worthless."
Chidi laughed. "Free will?" he squeaked, eyes wide, hands trembling. "That's your big answer?"
"It is the start," Arceus said sadly. "It does not answer everything—"
"You bet your ass it doesn't!" Chidi spat.
"And we want to discuss it with you," Arceus said. "We want to reason with you. With you, Chidi!"
Chidi cocked his head. "What?"
Arceus smiled. "Chidi, the philosopher who didn't just have ideas but actually went and lived it! Built it!"
They turned to Jason. "Jason, who makes so many things as simple as they need to be. And a Janet who knows both good and evil."
They shifted to their right. "Tahani, with the drive and ambition to make not only herself better but everyone around her. Michael, the fire slug whose fascination with humanity turned to love."
They focused on Eleanor. "And Eleanor," they said warmly, full of love, "who learned to care for others and never stopped."
They looked at the group as a whole. "You restored The Bad Place, made it the learning experience it was always supposed to be. And then you saved The Good Place!" They laughed. "We are so proud of you."
Eleanor scoffed. "So now you swoop in and take all the credit?"
Arceus shook their head, their smile staying in place. "Not at all. All we did was lay the foundations. You built the house."
"Well, now that you've buttered us up," Michael said, "why did you call us back here?"
Arceus met his gaze."
"They didn't," Tahani said after a beat. "I did."
Everyone turned to look at her.
She fidgeted in place. "They came to me first, asking about my architecture work, and then they offered..." She sighed. "I'm so sorry to have pulled all of you away, but I couldn't even think of trying this, not without my friends."
"Try what?" Eleanor said.
Tahani floundered for a second before turning back to Arceus. "Can you...?"
"Of course," they said and turned back to the group. "Like we said, you have all lived your lives, and you've done so much more than you should have ever had to. The Bad Place, The Good Place... That you did it, and did it well, speaks to your character, your love for others, your love for each other.
"What we're offering here is entirely up to you. If you want to go back to your rest, your job, your life, you can. Our fire is always lit, our door is always open to you. And if you simply want to stay by the fire, we are happy to simply spend time with you or help you have time with each other.
"But, if you're interested..." They leaned forward and met everyone's gaze.
"How would you like to make your own place?"