#character resurrection

            "Engie Engie Engie!" the Bostonian screamed, a pained edge to his voice.             Engineer frowned, the panic in Scout's tone putting him on high alert. As the youngest of the crew grew closer, he picked up on the stutter step with which he was running. Something was wrong, very wrong. Scout rounded the corner and came to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the wood framing the point and breathing heavily.             "Hold your horses, son. What's wrong?" Engineer called, trying his best to maintain a calm demeanor. As he walked to the top of the stairs and looked down, he gasped in alarm finding Scout doubled over and wheezing, one arm pressed to his abdomen and blood staining the front of his shirt. Scout peered up at the Texan, tears brimming in his eyes as he spoke in a strained voice.             "Engie, there's somethin wrong with respawn!"

IT'S FINALLY FINISHED

Longest one-shot I've ever written coming in at 16,604 words. I think I'm ready for a nap, guys.

But at the same time, there’s also potential joy in getting someone back, in having that second chance. A lot of potential pressure in a second chance, but still overall a positive thing. What if the returned person brought themselves back, and feels stronger for having fought their own way back to life? How does that affect the dynamics? 

(What if they brought themselves back and feel betrayed/hurt that they had to, even if they’re also proud of themselves, especially if they’re not the only undone death, but the only one who did it alone?)

What happens when happiness on one side meets upset and/or anger on the other?

Also, how did the resurrection happen? This can be used to flesh out parts of a universe! If spells were used, what cost might magic like that exact? If the returned person escaped from the afterlife or was somehow not entirely dead, how did that happen? Where were they, what were the circumstances that let them get out? Are there gods or other beings to bargain with? What was it like, where they were, and how does that experience add to the effects of dying and coming back? Were they anywhere at all? What if they don’t remember?

What physical consequences are there? I loved in the Circle of Magic books by Tamora Pierce, by following her soul psychically at the moment of death, Briar was able to save his mentor Rosethorn, but she forever has certain physical consequences. She had to relearn to speak because her brain lost oxygen, she has a slight slur that will never fade, and her body is permanently weaker than it was before. What bodily costs might a returned person have to pay to be back, and what accommodations might they have to make in their lives if, say, they lose one of their senses, or the ability to speak, or some of their strength or mobility? 

What about just healing in general if these costs aren’t necessarily all permanent but lead to a lasting recovery period? Who will be willing to help the returnee through that?

What if they’re no longer precisely the species they were (likely human, but not necessarily), what would that mean?

And the reverse, again - what if something about dying and coming back gives some kind of new power, or changes/increases abilities the returnee already had? What kind of mixed emotions would that bring? Yes, there’s a new advantage, but at what cost? Learning to work with said new skills is an effort in and of itself, especially while adjusting to being alive again in general, and does it really feel worth the trauma to have a new ability?

If someone had to go get them from some afterlife a la Orpheus, was there some kind of trade? Are there physical consequences, positive, negative, or both, for the person who went questing to an afterlife or limbo?

After the killing game, Shuichi occasionally goes back to the ruins of the Academy, which had been closed off by police but never cleaned up. He does this in hopes to find something more, something to explain the inconsistencies that still exist, stuff that still doesn't make sense.

The First time he went back, it was with Maki and Himiko, they went back to the mercifully still intact trial room, and brough up all the portriats to make a makeshift Memorial for everyone who died just outside the ruins. Even people they didn't know (most likely ex fans) stopped by it once in a while and left flowers and candles for the fallen participants.

About three months of going to visit the ruins on occasion to investigate, he finds something new, something he never saw before. Under a heavy piece of rubble, that took quite a bit of strength and time to move; he found a crushed, cracked, hardly intact, clown mask. It wasn't just some random freak fan who put it there to mess with him either;

something is amongst the rubble, but not quite alive

Yeah, I’ve started privately referring to AUs like the wedding one, the DnD one, the college one, the B99 one, and even the zombie one as “the kingdom where nobody ever dies.”  (A reference to my favorite Edna St. Vincent Millay poem — trust me when I say it’s not nearly as saccharine as the title sounds.)  Because they all start with the premise that all the events of canon happened, and also that everyone somehow or other survived the final battle.  I think in every single one of those cases I at least started writing the AU, concluded I wanted Rachel or Tom or Collette there, and said “fuck it” and resurrected everyone.