Chapter Text
In the spaces between worlds, a strange being held a vibrant green soul in her hands.
“I've finished setting up the shunt,” someone called, “The ones who die are going to the correct afterlife sector, and the ones who live are getting redirected to the world this one sprouted off of.”
“That's great,” the first being said, still staring at the soul she held sorrowfully.
The other one noticed. “Come on, you know the rules. Send her on. She deserves to rest.”
“She was so young,” the first one said mournfully, “ And you know those stuck up jerks won't let her into the part of the afterlife her father and friends are bound for. Greedy, picky, sanctimonious…”
“You can stop ranting, I agree with you,” the other entity rolled his eyes, “But you know as well as I do that there's nothing we can do about it.”
“If only she'd died inside the bounds of her world,” the first one sighed, gently stroking the little green soul, “They'd have had no choice.”
“We'll take her to one of the backup sections,” the other entity told her, “She'll be alright.”
“What's the point of that if she's never going to see her friends and family again?” The first one asked, “She fought so hard…”
“You've been looking at the timelines again, haven't you,” the other one sighed, “You know why we're not supposed to do that with the young ones. Because it makes you want to do stupid stuff.”
“Is she really even properly dead?” The first one asked desperately, “She never had a proper flesh and blood body to begin with, and they've already brought her back once…”
“Under circumstances that can't be replicated,” the other one said, after a look at the timeline himself, “Look, I know you're upset about it. I am too. But to put her back in that world would mean cursing her the way that old wizard is, and if we left her in the in-between that would be even worse. If you can't bear taking her, I'll do it.”
“Right,” the first entity sighed, reluctantly holding out the little soul for her coworker to carry to the afterlife.
Just as the beautiful green soul traded hands, the first entity tried to pull her back. “But what if…”
The jerk knocked her out of both of their hands.
“No!” The second entity cried, but wasn't fast enough to catch the soul before it fell.
“Now look what you did!” He raged, “She's in the wrong world, and the wrong part of the timeline to boot! How is this an improvement on just taking her to the afterlife? Now we're going to have to fish her out again and it's going to be traumatizing…”
“Wait,” the first entity said, voice filled with wonder, “Look.”
Grudgingly, he looked, and what passed for eyes went wide.
A man who should have died to keep himself from evil hands had something to love, to live for, and so survived, and fought, and created the weapons that would see the evil defeated, and many others as well. A creature who was the first of his kind should have been torn limb from limb, left as scrap in a dungeon basement as his cruel, petty captor lost interest, but lived and escaped and went on to save many lives because he had a fellow with him to draw their captors ire and guide him to safety. That creature’s brothers, who should have fallen into a rage of vengeance that would have rendered them hard and cruel and fractured their brotherhood permanently, and left them unable to face the challenges before them, instead stayed strong, stayed compassionate, stayed together, never falling further apart than could be repaired, because their brother lived. The little soul herself would go on to save many hundreds of lives personally, not counting the lives that were saved because she saved their heroes. That whole world was brighter for her presence.
“Alright then,” the second entity said, “We can leave her there. But you get to explain this to the higher ups if they ask, and that still doesn't solve the problem of how you intend to reunite her with her original father and friends.”
“You forget,” the first voice said smugly, “These worlds are due to be part of that recombination event in a few years.”
“Oh they are, are they?” The second entity gave her the stink eye, knowing full well that while the world the little soul had fallen into was going to be part of the recombination event, the world she had come from was not currently slated for it.
“If those irresponsible snobs don't want their worlds to be part of recombination events, they should keep closer eyes on them,” The first entity sang, “The powers used to create these worlds are similar enough that I can fudge the records, and once it's done, there'll be no undoing it.”
“You know what?” The second entity said, “Whatever. On your own head be it. Don't come crying to me if the higher ups don't think you're as clever as you do.”
On a corporeal being, the motion he made would have been throwing up his hands in exasperation and storming off.
The first entity watched him go, and bent to once again consider the little soul. The friends she'd make, the love she'd find, the heights she'd climb to.
“Grow, little one” she said, “Grow. Don't make me see you again so soon.”