AN: Here's the next chapter. Not much to say aside from the fact I made a discord. More on that at the end. Here's the link to join though.

Discord Server: discord dot gg/kSvA5vftJ9

Before we begin, I must ask all of you to read the closing AN of this chapter. It is very important. Now, without further adieu... Let's get on with the show!

XXX

Song of A Dead Bird

Asuka found this whole situation weird.

Here she was, once again seated at the bedside of an Angel. Except this Angel walked like her, talked like her, and looked like her. Nuriel was laying near motionless on the hospital bed, her eyes were open but only just so. Every so often her skin would glow a faint orange and her eyes would flutter open wide, but despite that she was unresponsive. Asuka sighed.

"Ye have been checking on Nuriel quite often as of late."

Asuka nearly jumped in her seat at the sound of Leliel's voice. She whipped her heard around and glared. "Shit! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"My apologies." Leliel responded. "I did not know ye cared about Nuriel so." Asuka turned away from Leliel now, tucking one of her locks behind her right ear. A frown marred her face.

"I don't know if I do," Asuka sighed. "I just… don't understand her." Truthfully, Asuka wanted to pick Nuriel's brain. She needed answers desperately. Nuriel's anger with Shinji that lifetime of months ago had been tangible; literally. And yet she turned around and seemingly forgave him.

Asuka sighed. She admitted that wasn't entirely true. She had no way of knowing when or even if Nuriel forgave him. Half a year had gone by before she even saw Nuriel after Shinji's coma began. She could have genuinely forgiven him during that time. It also could have just been an act to try and make Seraphiel let his guard down when the Seraph woke up instead of Shinji.

And that was another can of worms entirely. Shinji wasn't Shinji anymore; he was gone. And that was her fault. She didn't know how to feel about the whole thing. Asuka was still so upset with him. Upset wasn't even a good enough word to express her rage, if she was being honest with herself. But she shouldn't have let her anger cloud her judgement as she had. With just a few words, she'd managed to get one of her fellow pilots killed. And it was more than just that. Missus Ikari lost her son; Rei lost her brother. Toji and Kensuke no longer had one of their best friends. Even Mari missed him.

"Ye do not understand thine self?" Leliel queried, breaking Asuka from her thoughts.

"Well… she's not me." Asuka argued. Leliel shook her head.

"That is an inaccurate statement. The two of ye do have key differences, but at thine cores, ye are the same being." Leliel replied. Asuka frowned at this, remembering the conversation she'd had with Shinji about not being anyone's replacement. So he lied about that too. Wonderful. She huffed and trained her eyes upon Nuriel again.

"Then I really don't get it."

"Is it not simple?" Leliel began, her eyes observing Nuriel's form as another faint glow rose from the depths of her still body and made her shine beneath the sheets. "Ye are the same being, but thine histories are not quite so. Nuriel knows more of Seraphiel than ye do. And that is all I shall speak on the matter. Ye shall have to ask thine other self for the details when she wakes."

"When do you think that will be?" Asuka asked. She received no answer. When she looked around her a moment later, Leliel was gone.

"Damn Angels." Asuka grumbled, crossing here arms over her chest in frustration.

Yui took a long sip of her tea. She loved tea; all sorts of flavors of it. It calmed her nerves at her worst moments. It had been particularly helpful when she was pregnant with Shinji. Yui had nearly had a miscarriage five months into the pregnancy. She'd needed six cups of tea to just barely relax then. At least until she'd been able to meet with her doctor.

Yui was eight cups in right now and she did not think any number of cups was going to calm her down now. Across from her, Kyoko took a sip of her own cup. She was on her second. While she was also quite partial to tea, she was nowhere near as crazy about it as Yui.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry about this." Kyoko said. Yui set her cup down with a sigh.

"We've been over this, Kyoko. This is not your fault."

"It feels like it. I could have taught her better."

Yui shook her head, smiling wistfully as she stared into her cup. The liquid inside reflected her eyes: baggy, puffy, and red. She spent much of her time these days crying and failing to sleep intermittently. Gendo tried to help, but she was still furious with him. His attempts did little more than annoy her.

She wasn't always such a crybaby, quite the opposite in fact. Yui had been stronger before she'd ended up in her Eva. She'd spent so much time there though… she felt stunted—knew she was, really. For a long time, she had no one to interact with. No one had been capable of reaching her until her son entered the plug.

Now that she was free of Unit 01, Yui could hardly control herself anymore. Everything felt brand new. And even if it hadn't, Yui wasn't entirely sure she'd have been able to hold back her tears in this situation anyway. Her child was essentially dead. And there was nothing she could really do about it.

"Asuka was confused and hurt. I don't think any amount of home training would have stopped that explosion. It's just her nature…" Yui responded, her fingers gripping her cup tightly. God, I can't even bring myself to detest the girl. No matter how much I want to. No matter how much she might deserve it, Yui thought.

Did she deserve it? Yui wondered. She wasn't sure. She was angry herself. Her son shouldn't have lied for so long, but damn if she didn't understand why he did. A small burst of laughter escaped her lips and Kyoko looked up at her with furrowed brows, wondering what could possibly be funny.

Imagine if he had actually told her earlier? She'd likely have tried to beat him to a pulp. My son had no real options. I just wish I could have been of more help to him.

"Is Rei okay?" Kyoko tried, hoping to change the subject if only a little. Yui shrugged.

"As well as can be, really… she's devastated. She feels as though if she'd been a better sister, maybe Shinji would have trusted her more and told her everything. And then she could intervene. Trying to make her understand that it had nothing to do with trust is like pulling teeth."

Kyoko hummed, but nodded. "But otherwise, she's fine?"

"For the most part. Rei's a good girl… though I'm not sure she will ever forgive Asuka. Shinji held a more special place in her heart than even I was aware… and unlike me, she doesn't have the life experience to process all of this and prevent herself from lashing out at her." Yui replied. Kyoko leaned back into her chair, her head laying over the back of it as she looked at the desk and computer behind her upside down.

She liked Rei. Kyoko thought her attitude was a good influence on her rambunctious niece and daughter. Now she supposed that was done with. Though, maybe if we save Shinji somehow, she wondered. Kyoko lifted her head from the back of the chair and shook it, dismissing the idea. The success of that seemed impossible at this point.

The two women finished off their cups and sat in a comfortable silence for some minutes, lost in their thoughts and worries.

Kyoko's tablet let out a shrill chime and she sat up straighter, her eyes locking onto its brightly lit screen and focusing in on the words and numbers it displayed. Kyoko grabbed the tablet and stood before speaking. "That was Nuriel. She's conscious. Really conscious."

Yui didn't need to hear another word.

Nuriel's eyes opened with a slow flutter, the outside world flooding her irises in a blur of colors. A fiery red stood out to her at her bedside and even though she couldn't quite make out anything more than splotches, she knew who was sitting with her. Surprising. She thought. Her throat felt dry, but she left it be. She didn't truly need water.

"What do you want, Asuka?" she asked scratchily, coughing shortly after. She could have danced around whatever was on Asuka's mind if she wanted to. Nuriel didn't see the point. She recognized the look on Asuka's face. It was one she'd seen looking back at her in the mirror multiple times.

"Why?" Asuka asked, gripping the bedsheet tightly.

"Be a bit more specific maybe?" Nuriel grumbled back, groggy and exhausted. She sat up slowly, the effort seeming to drain her to her very bones. It was such a weird feeling. Nuriel hadn't felt tired in a long time. Not since her human years. She didn't want to injure her core ever again if this was how things were going to be. Not that there will ever be another time for me as I am…

"There's no way you don't know exactly what I mean!" Asuka snipped, just barely using her indoor voice. Nuriel sighed. She did indeed. She totally knew.

"You want answers. I get that. Fine. Ask away." Nuriel replied. Asuka was taken aback. She'd expected a struggle to get the information she wanted, a messy fight. Not this… ease.

"Just like that?" Asuka asked. She would have fought. And this was her… or something. Right?

Nuriel rose a brow and spoke. "You want to fight over it? We can, I guess. I'm a little tired though. Won't be much of a challenge, I'm afraid."

"You're not nearly as… fiery as you were when we first met."

Nuriel shrugged. "I was really pissed back then. But it's been a long time since then. I've had my time to come to peace with everything now that I finally got to see his stupid face." Her words were insulting, but the way Nuriel spoke made Asuka think she was coming from a place of affection more than anger.

"How could you forgive him?" Asuka asked, nearly whispering. Nuriel scoffed.

"Who says I forgave him? Nah, I haven't even had the chance to talk to him about it. But I've come to terms with it. I have a decent enough idea why he did it. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same if the roles were reversed. So no, I haven't forgiven him yet. But I have put it behind me." Nuriel replied. Asuka stared at her, eyes wide.

"You… would have done the same? Why?" she asked. Nuriel sighed and craned her neck, looking up toward the ceiling.

"You know, Shinji and I probably loved each other." Nuriel said. Asuka flinched, her past fears seemingly confirmed. "Too much. And there's a thin line between love and hate… I'm not saying you've got it easy here or anything, but if nothing else you have more of a support structure than I ever did; than either he or I did, really. We were horribly fucked up kids.

"I had no family and he didn't either. Our Misato wasn't as responsible or happy as the one here, so even though she did try her best for us, she wasn't enough to deal with all of our deep seeded traumas. Hell, she drank constantly just to cope with her own shit. And Shinji's worthless father wanted us as unstable as possible. Easier to tip us over the edge for his apocalypse scenario that way. It didn't matter how we felt about each other. All we were capable of was causing one another harm. It really hurt me when he tried to murder me, but I get it… In a weird, sort of twisted way… Shinji just loved me—and hated me—that much."

Asuka did not know what to say to that. If nothing else, she understood that whatever relationship Shinji and Nuriel had was unhealthy to the extreme. Though, the details were just as lost to her as they'd always been, after hearing from both of them, it seemed clear enough that them trying to kill each other—it could almost be seen as an inevitability.

"I—"

"It's funny he's going to finally succeed now. And he didn't even mean to this time." Nuriel chuckled. Asuka's whole body stiffened.

"What…?"

"I'm dying." Nuriel replied. Asuka took in a sharp breath.

"Wha—No! Leliel said that his attack only grazed your core!"

"It did." Nuriel nodded. "But that was enough. I tried to fully heal the wound, really, I did. If I wasn't a Seraph myself, I would have just died on the spot. That kind of core damage is irreparable. I'm going to die, Asuka; I'll wither away before the month is out. But I want to go out on my terms—and that doesn't involve my last days being bedridden as I slowly get weaker."

"What are you going to do?"

Nuriel looked out of the window, expression placid and unreadable to Asuka. The minutes passed by and Nuriel didn't move or change her expression at all. It was weird. Asuka couldn't remember ever making this kind of face. Such a lack of expression was unlike her, after all. Leliel was right… we're not the exact same person.

"Tell me, Asuka, do you want to know everything about my past with Shinji?" Nuriel asked suddenly. Asuka nearly jumped in her seat, having lapsed fully into her own thoughts. Do I? Asuka wondered. Thirty seconds later, fingers trembling as they remained clutching the bedsheet, Asuka nodded.

Seraphiel took a deep breath, burying his hands into the soil around him. It was damp from the rain of yesterday and embraced his arms pleasantly. This was it. This was what he was fighting for. Seraphiel pulled his hands from the soil and stood to his feet, bringing his gaze up from the ground below to the crumbled buildings before him. Thick with moss and vines, mother nature was successfully reclaiming her domains stolen by the vile works of man. No longer was concrete and asphalt dominating the ground. The dirt and grass had taken back their rightful thrones.

"Beautiful, is it not?"

"Absolutely gorgeous." Seraphiel replied. "I long for this in my own home."

"Worry not. Ye shall attain it. How fairs thine progress?"

"I have yet to locate my home, but I will return in due time. The vermin will not stop me." Seraphiel replied. His companion placed her hand upon his chest, delicate fingers brushing lightly against him. She radiated a comforting heat at his side and buzzed with power.

"I do not doubt ye for even a moment." She replied, her hand moving from his chest to his shoulder as she pressed against him. Her lips moved to his neck. Seraphiel grinned, thoughts of bloodshed fueling the lust sparked from his kin's body.

"Soon… soon that place will be just like this world, Lutiel. Wonderous. Devoid of Lilin. Untainted and free." Seraphiel proclaimed. Lutiel smiled against his neck.

"And then ye shall return here?" she asked, trailing feather light kisses up his neck. A near animalistic groan passed his lips. Lutiel's smile widened.

"Yes." He hissed out.

"Good… then let us remake this world in our image…" Lutiel's lips moved for his ear. With another deep groan Seraphiel pushed her down to the dirt and took her.

The first thing Kyoko noticed when she opened the door to Nuriel's room was the stifling heat. It clung to her skin like a heavy blanket, and she could already feel sweat beginning to squeeze its way out of her skin. Is this why Leliel slowed her down? Had it been even hotter before? But then why wouldn't she just say so?

"Mom." At the sound of her daughter's voice, Kyoko let her eyes take in the room. Charred sheets and a melted chair and bed were the first things she noticed, the second being her naked daughter sitting on what was left of the hospital bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. The long hair let Kyoko know this was, in fact, her Asuka. Nuriel's hair was the shorter of the two.

"What happened here, Asuka?" Kyoko asked as she stepped further into the room, removing her lab coat as the heat seemed to intensify the closer she got to her child. Behind her, Yui came into view at the doorframe and gasped. "Where is Nuriel?"

"She—died?" Asuka replied. Kyoko's face scrunched.

"You don't sound so sure of that." Kyoko responded.

"Because… she—lives on… in me?" Asuka responded, sounding terribly confused. And now Kyoko was too.

"What…?"

"Nuriel gave… herself? To me… I'm an angel now."

Kyoko desperately needed to sit down.

XXX

And that's the chapter! Shorter than normal, but this is where it needed to close. And so ends Nuriel's life. An unbelievably painful existence she led up until her final moments which will be revealed in the next chapter. Hopefully she can find peace within the depths of Asuka's soul. Speaking of next chapter, there is something I have to say to all of you.

I don't know exactly how things with this fic will fair from now on. To be clear, I am not abandoning it, but chapters may be coming even slower than normal. Back when I started writing on this site, it was with the intention to practice and polish my abilities. And while that has remained true, as the years have passed… this has felt more and more like a job. A job I don't get paid for. It used to be very fun, but lately it has become much more of a chore... which isn't what I want. My passion for writing has not diminished, but I don't have a lot of time these days. I have so many responsibilities and they're only growing with time. Hell, I'll be a married man before the end of 2022. With my time more frequently limited I've made a decision. It was a hard one, but I feel it is what needs to be done.

Aside from writing here lately feeling like more of a job than simple practice and fun, I have admittedly been hesitant to start throwing myself into my own original work. I have been afraid, I suppose. Afraid no one would enjoy what I want to write, instead of just liking my spin on our mutually loved franchises. But I'm passed that… I want to put myself out there. So while posts of Evangelion and Naruto will be slowing down, I'm going to be throwing myself head first into my own story.

I'm sorry if this disappoints some of you, but it's high time I finally do what I want to do. I have a story I want to tell. Many of them. And it's about time I tell them. Thank you for sticking with me this long, and though it may be a while before the next chapter, I will see you next time.

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