As you'll see, this is a remake of an old fanfiction. I had been intending remaking it back when I cross-posted 'Before the Beginning, and After' on AO3 but I had other things going on then, including other writing projects. Finally, though, I am able to start working on this. I decided to publish it as a separate story rather than just replacing the chapters because the original work is still special to me. After all, it is the first time I ever wrote a fanfiction for a chorus battle! That, and I thought it will be really interesting to see the changes between the old version and this new version (hopefully, those changes are improvements! I'm sure intending them to be).
Anyway, one of the main changes I am making is just to put a little more thought into the world building. I had some originally, but it was very rudimentary. I've thought a lot more about what magic is like in this universe, and changed a few terms. 'Mahou shoujo' is still the term for the most powerful magic users, but the next step down are now referred to as 'mages' rather than 'specialists' although people can be described as being a 'specialist' in particular magic fields (for example, that is the one they are a 'mahou shoujo' in or one they have mastered the best even if they are not 'mahou shoujo'). It also remains a gender-neutral term despite the literal meaning, and to that end I am attempting to make this a queernorm fantasy universe too, as I have tended to do with other things-because though there are resemblances to the real world, this is (clearly, I hope) a fantasy version of that world.
Anyway, I am also trying to give the plot a bit more substance, which will also help the world-building (and vice versa). To that end, I've made up four original characters who are Niðavellir members and who will get scenes in their POVs alongside the characters I made up from the CB-group members. I've listed them all in the character tags on AO3 and will have a 'cast list' at the end of chapter 1-1 here, so that should all be clear. But I will delve into their personalities and relationships a lot more, and hopefully give them some good character development. After all, the goal isn't just to remake what is already there but also to come up with an ending of this story, which is one thing I didn't do with the original.
I'll leave this note here for now. If anything else ends up needing explaining, I'll do it in future chapters. But I hope you will all enjoy this.
The uncollected souls were waiting for a reaper, but none would come.
There were only two people standing in the rubble. One kept turning around in circles, mouth a perfect 'o', trying to grab control of their breathing as they took in the destruction. The other calmly sprinkled a vial of almost colourless powder out around them, highlighting the collected souls, making them look like bubbles floating around them. These bubbles swayed in the slight breeze, as did the clothes and hair of the two surrounded by them.
It would almost have been beautiful, if it were not so horrific. At least, that was what the first person thought. The second person had no such compunctions as the emptied out the last dregs from the vial, then threw it behind them. The bottle landed somewhere in the rubble, and this simple action silenced the breeze. The bubbles, too, became still.
"Are you going to keep gawping, or are you going to do something?" the second person said.
"We should…we should get a reaper here." The first stammered. "N-no, we need to get a reaper here."
"No, we don't."
"But if we don't-"
The second person held up a hand to silence the first person.
"Do you want to rebuild, or do you not?"
"Well, that's…"
"You want your legacy, do you not? Just as I want…what I want. Did you not agree to the deal, whatever it takes?"
"What about your end of the deal, huh? My students, they…"
The first person gasped and gestured at the bubbles around them.
"They're dead! They're all dead!"
"Oh please, this was not the entire school, merely a handful. They'll be replaced in due time, once you rebuild."
"But how can I do that? I should have looked after them better. And actually, you should have too! You said you'd help me to protect them!"
" And I will. This is the beginning of the cycle. The end has come, but with every end there is a beginning, is there not?"
As they spoke, the second person had been preparing a vial, lining it with a substance from a pouch that seemed to change colour every time the first person looked at it. Now, they held out the vial and the substance within it glowed so brightly, it seemed as though light spilled out from it. This light grew tendrils, which snaked out across the air and then grabbed the bubbles of light and drew them into the vial. Slowly, slowly, the vial filled with iridescence, and then the glow faded and the tendrils retreated back in. The second person stuffed a cork into the top, and then turned to the first, holding out the vial.
"I, too, will do whatever it takes."
The first person reached out as if to take the vial, but then stopped. The second person tilted their head.
"It's too late to back out anyway, you know this."
"I suppose it is," the first person said. "I assume that doing this will help me to rebuild and it will help you with you…you know."
"Yes."
"This…you're keeping their souls from moving on for all our sakes, right? It is for the right reasons, right?"
This question was met with a smile that curved sharply, all teeth. It made the first person step back, but then they thought. They thought about everything they wanted and that was expected of them, and how much easier it had been to get those after tying themselves to this second person. This tragedy was just that, a horrible tragedy. But just like any setback, it surely could be overcome. They were not resolute, nor were they ruthless.
But they could be, if they had to.
So they smiled back, just as sharp. Sharper, even, as they pushed down the little niggles of doubt deep, deep down where they'd never surface again. They took the vial from the second person, and held it up to the sky. In the night that had snuck up on them, the vial was the only source of light, and both of them were bound to it like moths.
This is so beautiful, the first person thought, We can't let you go. I'm sorry, but that is how it must be. They allowed themselves that thought, and only that thought. Then, they looked at their companion, drew themselves up to their full height and squared their shoulders and commanded:
"Tell me what to do."