thinking about Steph and Cass and their relationships with their deaths bevause like they are so different. Cass is defined by death, the deaths she has witnessed and the deaths shes caused and it feels right for her to die, for her to die and be reborn somthing stronger, somthing better, her death is the catalyst for a new beginning a new life where she does not have to be weighed down by her past (not that she ever escapes it entirely) it didn't take from her it gave, it gave her a new perspective, a future that was her entirely.
Also side note I think there’s somthing to be said about how when she dies a second time she sees Steph carry her (litterally) to her new life, Steph is the guide that gives her another new futures another chance to life, it is a beautiful transition to a new chapter in her life it is framing device that tells us a new arc is going to start and Steph is was gives her that chance, Steph is her hope in a future or something idk
Stephs death wasn’t beautiful, it wasn’t a life lesson, it wasn’t a second chance or a new beginning. She failed. She failed and she suffered the consequences, she died and it was her fault and she should’ve stayed dead, after you die a pointless, painful, avoidable death how do you live again? How do you start over when you deserved to die, when you fully believed your death was cosmic justice or whatever for making a mistake. And then you wake up, and you weren’t even dead so it shouldn’t matter, but it felt like it, and everyone thought you were, and now you have to start over broken and hurt and a failure.
and idk I think this is really interesting contrast within the media but also definitely is at least partly because of how the writers treated them, and who their deaths were for cass died for her own arc and Steph died because they hate her there wasn’t even a reason, also I haven’t read when Steph comes back alive I don’t even know what comic that is so her part is mainly just based on war games and what I’ve gathered from the fandom