Improper Guardian
Chapter Twenty One
By: Brenli
Cheriour. That terrible Angel that was out to ruin the life of every I-Child, and whatever White Wing stood in his path. The Angel that had locked Michael away. The Angel that had raped her.
"… Not the one…"
"The very same."
Nema stared with unblinking eyes. "… That makes… absolutely no sense, Nyssa…"
"Then you will write me off as a loon, as well? And maybe that's fine. You have to keep good face if you want to make this little war of yours happen." Nyssa was back to sounding distant and cold.
"Don't talk like that. But listen to yourself…! How can an I-Child become a Rabbit Hunter?"
"You know of an Adolf Hitler, if you are from Assiah. They say he was part-Jewish."
"That was a rumor, and it's been proven false before." Nema reasoned.
"… I understand that the situation is unreal. Believe me, at the time I hadn't been able to swallow it."
"… He doesn't even LOOK like an I-Child…!"
"Not ALL I-Children look like lab rats. My eyes are green. Isobelle's eyes were purple. Some of Rujiel's hair is black. We are still I-Children… But I will admit that Cheriour's appearance is the result of his own modifications. The problem is that he removed himself from this group of I-Children when he was finally full grown. He was brave, and moved above ground. I came with him, so only I know… it was small, at first. He grew his hair out. It covered his eyes, and to be honest I thought it was sexy. Then he began dying it all sorts of colors. Black, brown, red once. Then he settled for blonde. I'd thought nothing of this either, but then… he began to bleach his wings. He's done it so often now that you would have to look closely to see that his wings are actually a bit ashy…"
Nema wasn't sure if Nyssa realized that she was gripping the Angel Crystal cross to the point where her already white knuckles were becoming unbelievably lighter, or that she was beginning to rock as she let the story fall away from her, or that she had stopped blinking.
Now Nema was able to see why the other I-Children may have considered Nyssa to be off her rocker. When she wasn't speaking of this strange tale, she seemed normal, but if one made her bring it up, she was gone.
Nema wasn't sure if she really had any right to think this. Maybe it was just heartbreak. Heartbreak was a maddening thing, in its own right… Hadn't heartbreak successfully turned Nema into a sniffling, sneezing wreck that cried for hours in the shower?
But somehow… Nyssa was still successfully managing to look like a Grade-A loon. "He kept telling me ugly things…" Nyssa babbled now, "That we are ugly, pitiful things… That we have no right to breathe… That we take up too much space… He claimed that though he was lowly, he would… fix things. He did. I tried to make him change his mind, you know… I did try. The next day he was gone, gone. I tell you, I was HEARTBROKEN. I didn't understand… Then he started forming a large group… and I knew we had to fight against it, right? And I did. I did so hard, but I didn't… didn't want to hurt him. But one day, I fought the whole day without seeing him, and when I came back here… I saw the whole place… in SHAMBLES… and I didn't understand… Then I asked Rujiel… He told me… he told me that a White Wing with blonde hair covering his eyes had attacked… and… and… killed my mother and father… and had raped my little sister and killed her, too. He said the killer called himself Cheriour." Finally Nyssa blinked. "… I guess… it is too unreal. Please understand it's not really Cheriour that I love. I love Ashriel. It is a shame that Ashriel is lost inside that new man."
Nema stood, now, unsure of what to say. Nyssa was coming back down from the post-traumatic moment she had just endured, when a white fist poked out from the edge of Nyssa's gray doorway sheet and knocked on the wall. "They told me I'd find you both here…" Rujiel said as he let himself in, and Nema watched his red eyes lock on Nyssa and narrow. "Whoa, are you okay?" He took several steps closer to Nyssa, and for that split second it seemed that Rujiel had actually forgotten Nema. Nema watched Nyssa nod to him, and wondered if in spite of Rujiel's blatant attraction to Nema, he still carried a soft spot for Nyssa.
Rujiel smiled after a while, mumbling a quiet, "Okay." Then he turned to Nema. "My little sister thanks you ten times over for the mini-crown loan… None of the other kids believe you gave it to her, and they're calling her a petty thief."
Nema's lips turned up into a small smile. "You want me to clarify that Lilliel's not a thief?"
"And while we're at it I'll show you around?"
Nema really didn't like the sound of that much. Sure, she was only acquainted with two rooms, thus far, but she would've rather had Nyssa show her than Rujiel… Rujiel… was making it sound practically like a date.
Nyssa was not helping her. "You need to go get Neriel and her sisters, too, Rujiel… Perhaps Nema can follow you there?"
"Maybe you can come with us?" Nema offered, trying her hardest to bury her urgency out of her voice.
"No, I've got an earring to make and a headache to get rid of…" Nyssa said softly, holding up Nema's Angel Crystal cross and examining it once again.
"It'll be dark, soon… I guess we can't waste any time. We'll go straight to Neriel…" Rujiel seemed oblivious to the flinching of Nema's body as he reached for her elbow. "Let's go."
Nema lightly, though deliberately, shook off Rujiel's hand and stepped through the doorflap, Rujiel following two steps behind. It was too much like the old days… When Michael would follow two steps behind…
She stopped and allowed Rujiel to lead the way this time, and now she felt a little better.
"Nema!" Lilliel cried, her pink eyes happy to see her. "Go ahead and tell them!"
Nema laughed and tapped the tip of the dark red mini-crown, "Lilliel here has full rights to my mini-crown until I fix hers. She never stole it."
The two older I-Children left, both retaining wide smiles as Lilliel stood regally and shouted, "HAH! I TOLD YOU ALL!"
It was quiet for a long part of the way. At least on Nema's part. "Don't think I'll have time to show you much… The system down here is based off a simple grid, but it's huge. If you're looking to go above ground, you'll look for a tunnel marked like this…" He pointed at a sketch of two lines arching from a cross, drawn in white chalk. "These are safe. They'll take you up to an old building or some other safe place like that. Anything else might take you out in the open; you'd have to be a fool to use them." Rujiel snickered. "But I guess that wouldn't stop you, would it?"
"No, but I'll heed your word."
"What's this? You're not gonna talk back to me?"
"Why, does that turn you on?" Nema couldn't help but snap.
Rujiel's eyes reflected what little light was in the tunnel they were in as they blinked rapidly. "NO! I'm not that weird!"
"Nyssa made you sound a bit like that." Nema said as she began climbing up the poor excuse for a stairway up to the surface.
"Nyssa?" Rujiel said incredulously. "… Why was she talking about me?" Nema said nothing, but Rujiel excused it. "… Well, it DOESN'T turn me on, Nema…! At the most it makes me laugh, that's it!"
It wasn't until they were halfway up the stairway that Rujiel began talking again. "… I want the woman I spend the rest of my life with to have… a voice. A lot of women in Heaven are too quiet… They don't question what a man says, especially if they're lovers… I don't want that. If I tell a girl I like, 'You're a lunatic!' I want her to get mad and tell me she isn't, or at least call me a lunatic right back. I want her to stand up for herself…" After another long pause he said quietly, "That's what a real woman is like. That's how I want the woman I care for to be."
Oh boy, if things weren't awkward already…! Now Rujiel was actually being HEARTFELT about it! "… I'm already with someone." She said the words slowly. She had never, EVER in her life had to turn down someone's proposal, before. It was more awkward than letting Rujiel talk like he had.
"… Oh." Rujiel said flatly. "… So is he a White Wing? Or a human? Or, what? The Devil?"
Nema laughed. "I think of Lucifer in more uncle-like terms, thank you. He is a White Wing."
"… Ah. I swear I think the White Wing guys always get lucky with the best I-Child girls…!" Rujiel grumbled as they left the rundown building the tunnel had led to and snuck into an alleyway. "When are the guy Rabbits gonna get any attention…? Seriously..!" He spoke in a raspy whisper now, and led Nema to the end of the alleyway. They were looking at the field.
"Your father wasn't an I-Child?" Nema asked.
"Nope. A proud White Wing. Hence my hair." He pointed at one of the black locks. "As for Lilliel… she is a spitting image of our mother, pink eyes and all."
"And Nyssa?"
"She is Assiah born. She lived in the United States… You know the place?"
"No one in Assiah DOESN'T know the States, Rujiel…"
"Hey, just checking!" Rujiel held up his hands, helplessly. "… She moved here when she was thirteen, when her father, a human, died." He pointed out to the field. "Here's the tricky part. We've gotta beat wings and fly our fastest over ALL that distance and go into the forest."
Nema nodded and shrugged, silent as they sped across the field and into the brush.
"Lucky we didn't get caught… So, anyway, that's where her eyes come from. Her father." Rujiel finally finished.
"Rujiel?"
"Yup?"
"… I asked Nyssa why everyone thinks she is insane…"
"… Oh." Rujiel's voice dropped to a sad flatness. "… Do you believe her?"
"I don't know…"
Rujiel seemed extremely uncomfortable, now. "… Don't know if I do, either." He began leading Nema through the thick trees, keeping low. "Most of us… we just think that a Rabbit Hunter killed Ashriel, and that it more or less traumatized her… Once her family was killed, she just gave up, and her attempt at a rebellion faded." Nema listened to his voice began to tighten and crack, but he tried to cover it up with a cough. "Did she tell you? I wanted to date her."
"… She did."
Rujiel chuckled shortly. "She was a beautiful girl… I think she was all I really could have asked for. But we were all young… I think she thought Ashriel was safe. I was a delinquent and a loud mouth where Ashriel was orderly and well-mannered. A gentleman… and I'm sure that, at the time, she probably liked that most. When I heard she'd be moving away to live with him… I couldn't help myself. I told her that I loved her…"
Nema hardly enjoyed all this talk about heartbreak, but she let him leak it all out, anyway. "What did she say?"
"Nothing. She said nothing… And I said I was sorry and left."
"… So do you still love her, then?" As sad as that may have been, she hoped he did. She hoped he'd never stop loving Nyssa, so that – selfishly, she'd admit – she didn't have to worry about Rujiel being all TOO serious about any passes he might make in the future.
He had to stop walking to think about that. "… I don't know. In a way, I do… but she isn't the same girl, anymore. Cheriour and his Rabbit Hunters… they took the Nyssa I loved away." He concealed a bit of sadness with another cough. "But you move on… I mean, I will always care about her, but the truth of it all is, I can't love her as she is, now… I… have to let her go, because she's not herself, anymore… Get DOWN!" Rujiel's white hand firmly placed itself on top of Nema's head and forced her onto the ground, though they were already nearly crawling about.
"What?" Nema hissed in a whisper as she fought to look over the edge of the vegetation before them.
"Shh! Hunters…" Rujiel clasped a hand over Nema's mouth, then bit back a cry. "Ow, shit!" Nema had bitten him.
Her ruby glare focused first on Rujiel and then rose over the edge of the brush… And at that moment, the anger was replaced with wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock and disbelief. "That's… that's…!"
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
"Tonight, Michael, we shall have you perform a sort of initiation into our group. There are a group of three Rabbit girls that we have discovered bravely taking trips down into Assiah… As though the Rabbit Hunting were mere myth! Goodness, that kind of idiocy does not pay off. And tonight, you shall show them that, as twenty of my best Rabbit Hunters and I watch you. It will be a delicious show, we all imagine. I look forward to counting you as the 21st of my favorite Hunters."
Cheriour had said these words coldly, yet they maintained a sort of glee, as though this was going to be the best party as of that night. That was some hours ago. The Fire Angel nodded sluggishly at the time, and the sneaky march to the location of Michael's first victims felt too long. His sword felt heavier than usual. No one spoke to him, and he spoke to no one. They had formed a black-cloaked barrier around him as they proceeded. Were they afraid he'd run off? Did they not realize that it took one second to burn them all down? Well, he wasn't going to. He'd thought this through. He didn't WANT to do this, but he was going on the assumption that Nema would want to keep his wings white. So he'd do it, he'd kill 777 times, but once that last kill was made, he was going to burn this disgusting cloak that settled over his adolescent frame. He was going to go back to his home, and his army of men, and he was going to bury himself in his room for a very, very long time. If he had his way, he wasn't going to come back out. Ever.
This was also some hours ago. A few minutes ago he had rushed into the scene with his trusty sword brandished. He was disgusted. He knew they were female, but he was assuming they were at least well-trained women, women that could put up a fight. They were weak girls, girly girls. One of them appeared to be little more than nine years old, and they were all wearing kimono… I-Children taking visits down to Japan, then. It was a shame that Nema would never meet them.
When it came to things like battles and killing, Michael had this handy ability to turn off his conscience. Usually the only problem was that he couldn't ever turn it back on, for some reason. Right now the horrible problem was that he couldn't turn it off, now. This was an initiation? Picking off innocent girls? And young girls, too. They were hardly worth his time. They didn't deserve to die. Two of them, the younger ones out of these three, couldn't even speak in Heavenly tongues. Assiah born girls, who hadn't even properly awoken, yet…! Definitely not worth his time. They could go back to Assiah and pretend to be albino humans, and that could've been that. And here they were. What horrible luck.
As of this moment the only one that could speak in Heavenly tongues was pleading with him. "Please…! Please, spare them, at least! You could put them back in Kyoto… they'll never awaken!"
"I know." Michael said coldly. It was never in his nature to sound this icy. It made him think of his brother. But this seemed to be the only tone he could take, right now.
The audience was watching him, waiting for him to make his move. As if this was the most exciting thing in the world. Feh. This was going to be the dullest thing ever. But Michael supposed that was why they were just Rabbit Hunters. They weren't interested in the thrill of the fight. They just wanted these poor people dead.
He had to get this over with. It was almost over before Michael had taken another breath… It was easier to pick off the older ones for some reason. The second one to go had begged in rushed, anxious Japanese, but all the time he had spent on Assiah made him fluent. He understood every single word, and the Rabbit Hunters were urging him on, "Do her in! She can't even speak right!" Well, she could speak right. Her Japanese was flawless, even as it trembled in fear. It was very formal in spite of the urgency of the situation. She must have been a poet… Michael swung his bloody blade once to scare her into silence, and listened to her cry his name, for even among the downtrodden he was well-known and revered.
"Michael-samaaaaa…!"
Oh God, she did not just say that, she did not drag out the last syllable…! That was too painful. It made him stop.
"What the fuck are you waiting for? Do her in!" The Hunters cried.
So he drew in a shaky breath and closed his eyes, feeling the blade of his sword slice cleanly through the middle of her, the scream lasting for a slight second after the impact. Now the youngest girl was screaming in her place.
This was hard. This was way too hard. He had to tune all of this out…! Why couldn't he just shut off his stupid conscience? Why couldn't he be the way he was before the Rabbit Hunting, before he'd actually fallen in love with… HER! Why couldn't he just forget her for a few small moments? Just a few! Wasn't it ENOUGH to know he would never forget her, Nema, his violent Queen? His Queen, no more!
The Fire Angel screamed and rushed forward, swinging the sword down. He hit dirt. He'd missed! The little girl ran and was begging in Japanese… oh, those words she was saying! He wished he didn't understand, he wished so bad…! Those words were too heartbreaking! Tune it out, tune it out…
Just get it over with. He was making this more difficult than it needed to be.
He scooped up this screaming little girl. By this point he had forgotten it WAS a little girl… thank God. He'd shut off that bothersome conscience. Now, it was easy as ever to take this sobbing little girl by the throat and pin her against the rough bark of the nearest tree. And it was easy to take the bloody blade and push it right through the little girl's heart.
Michael opened his eyes and stared into hers… big, ruby eyes, reflecting light, fear, and sadness. She should've been gone by now, but she said a few more words in the only tongue she knew… No one understood but him. "… But I haven't done anything wrong…"
"I know!" Michael yelled, and in a flash his sword left her chest and reconnected with her neck.
He took several steps back and allowed the body and head to fall and land with dull thuds. See? Dull. So dull. No fight in any of that, at all.
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"Nema…! Nema, wait!" Rujiel was calling in whispers, chasing after Nema, but she failed to hear him.
She wasn't gonna cry. Nope. She wasn't going to. That hadn't happened. Hah! What was all that? That was just pretend. She wasn't gonna cry. Nope. It wasn't real…! Even if it was, well, that wasn't Michael! Nope! Nope, nope, 'cause Michael was all locked up. He was more likely playing a harmonica. Yup. 'Cause that's what you do in jail. You play harmonicas, and you don't run around in black cloaks killing I-Children. 'Course not. So she wasn't gonna cry, she wasn't gonna. Even if it looked like him, even if that was his red hair, and his tattoo, and his sword… Okay, maybe it was him, but she wasn't gonna cry! Nope! Michael always WAS an asshole, anyway! She always KNEW he was so fucking heartless! And she didn't love him, anyway, so there! She wasn't gonna cry!
Oh, who was she kidding?
So many things did not add up and it seemed that in the face of such a disturbing event, Nema's body had some kind of natural compass. Without Rujiel's help, she'd found her way to the right building, the right tunnel, and, finally, Nyssa's room. Because she was not acquainted with any other room that could possibly be even a little private.
Nyssa was not there, for whatever reason. And that was fine. That was fucking PERFECT. Nema needed to be alone.
She wasn't alone. Rujiel remained two steps behind her the whole way, even into Nyssa's currently empty room. "Nema, are you okay? You're acting like you've never seen someone die, before!"
And that was supposed to make it OKAY to see THAT MAN killing people that looked like HER? "FUCK YOU!" Nema hissed, rushing blindly at Rujiel. She hit him. Oh, she hit him hard, and she enjoyed it. The tears blurred her vision. It was easy to pretend that Rujiel's body was Michael's body, even if Rujiel was taller than Michael. That's okay. He'd have to do. Good Lord, Nema wanted to beat the SHIT out of Micheal, right now!
"Ow, fuck, Nema, stop it!"Rujiel struggled against the blows delivered by this wild, angry Nema. "NEMA!" He pushed her and watched her trip and land on Nyssa's bed, where she curled up into a tight ball… and sobbed her heart out. It was a long, miserable cry.
"… What did you do?"
Rujiel's garnet eyes locked on Nyssa, standing in the doorframe. "… Neriel and the others are dead."
"… I see." Nyssa held out Nema's new cross earring and let Rujiel take it. "Her room is the vacant one next to yours."
"… That room is huge."
"And she is our new war leader. It fits." Nyssa said. Though her room was being rudely invaded, she excused it. "Nema." She called out to the crying wreck on her bed. "Was it him?"
"Fuck you…" Nema cursed. So what if Nyssa was being gentle about it, or even letting Nema sob all over her blankets? Nema was fucking sick right now. She needed to be left alone!
"… Hmm." Nyssa said, very obviously unaffected by the offensive language. "Rujiel," she whispered to him, "I'll be in the soapbox room. You've been… very forward with her. She has too much on her plate. Be selfless. She is untouchable."
"All of the women I care for are untouchable." Rujiel said dryly.
"Care for? And think, you've only known her one day…" Nyssa mused and left.
Rujiel would admit it. He had wanted Nyssa to find his comment insensitive and offensive. He had wanted her to hit him for it… but he knew the Nyssa he cared for was long gone. Rujiel turned to look at Nema, who was now standing on the opposite side of the bed, the dark sleeves of Michael's shirt wildly rubbing over her red eyes. "So the man you were with…" He met Nema's fiery gaze with a calm, sad one. "… was Michael?"
Nema couldn't even stand to hear his name, anymore… She couldn't stand to wear his shirt, anymore! Angrily, she pulled the black fabric off of her, balled it up, threw it on the ground. It landed with the most satisfying thud, but that just made her want to cry some more. She couldn't stand to wear it but she felt naked without it…! She was so gone. She dropped to the floor, her white arms crossing over Nyssa's simple mattress, her face disappearing in them. "I swear you think you KNOW a person…!" She sobbed. "… What the Hell was all that? What the Hell was it?"
She was being unbelievably loud, and it was late. People were trying to sleep. So Rujiel quietly shushed her and went to join this poor, betrayed wreck, kneeling beside her. "Nema, it's okay…"
"This is not fucking okay."
"Shh, please, listen to me. There are a lot of other women here who can relate to you… So many of them get involved with White Wing men, only to have them leave and hurt them… It's evil, but it's not new…"
Nema slapped away the hand that brushed her hair behind her ears. "Stop talking like you KNOW everything! You don't! You think you know what he did for me? You think that what I saw makes SENSE? Fuck you, Rujiel!"
"I'm sure he could've sworn to marry you, even, and it would still sound sadly normal…" Rujiel only flinched slightly as Nema's hand raised up. "Go ahead."
… Nema couldn't do it. He wasn't the man she wanted to hit. So that pale hand of hers returned to its normal spot, and she blinked aside two more cheated tears. "Those girls were speaking Japanese… That little girl… She kept telling him, 'I'm sorry… I won't become a Rabbit…'" This time she allowed Rujiel to push her snowy hair back behind her ears. "… He killed her, anyway."
"Nema, I don't know how long you've known him, or how much he made you think he loves you, or that he would never hurt you… But that's the thing with White Wings. We have learned that… too many times, already. Even my mother knew." Rujiel watched Nema slowly wind down into subdued depression.
"He left her?"
"Yes."
"And Lilliel?"
"She is my half-sister. Her father… killed my mother last year. I have been her sole guardian since then."
Nema finally allowed the physical and emotional toils to weigh down on her and press her onto the edge of Nyssa's mattress. "Gomen nasai…"
"It's okay." To Nema's tired, albeit curious glance, he answered, "Neriel taught me a little Japanese once. Just for fun."
Nema nodded silently. She didn't even know what to say, anymore. She was angry, and sad, and she finally realized she was pretty tired, too. She had gone through… a very long, troublesome day. She needed to sleep.
She didn't mind when Rujiel reached forward to slip her new earring into her pierced ear. "… I think you now have an earring that will rival any White Wing's, Nema." And she didn't mind when he took her hands and helped her stand. Or when he picked up Michael's shirt. Or when he escorted her to her new room, apparently placed next to his.
She had too many other things to mind, anyway… At least he was offering some genuine comfort in a world like this… a world where words like, 'God, I think I've fallen in love with her,' mean nothing at all…
"… If Lilliel says something about you becoming her older sister, you can tell her to stop. She's still young. She thinks its fun to set me up with people. You are definitely on her list." Rujiel said in a half-whisper.
"… I won't mind. She is a cute kid."
"Nema." It was Nyssa's voice that called out. "Former members of the Anima Mundi have been talking. They want to have a conference with you tomorrow. Get this started right away."
Oh, yes. That war. She had started that, hadn't she? And she'd be fighting… against HIM. That… White Wing liar and traitor. "Good to know." She said flatly. She was done crying, but she still wanted to be alone. So she took her shirt from Rujiel's grasp and marched into her new room, shutting the strange kind of rickety door she had. But at least she had a door.
"… And only earlier I had fondly believed that we might have had Michael on our side." Nyssa said softly.
"No. We are never, ever that lucky." Rujiel replied, and escorted Nyssa to her room. He watched her walk before him, her snowy hair brushing along her back. He missed her, even if she was little more than two steps away. He missed her so much he was beginning to see the lost parts of her in other women. Women like Nema. "… I'm sorry."
Nyssa had stopped before the doorflap to her room. "What for? Have you done something I should know about?"
"No, no…" Rujiel sighed. "I'm sorry… about Ashriel. Regardless of what really happened."
She turned to smile at him, and the shine of tears were unmistakable in her bright green eyes. "… I know you don't believe me… But thank you, anyway. It has been a long time since I have felt… that kind of compassion."
That was that. Now there was no one to spend any amount of time with, and he was alone with his lonely thoughts. So he went back to his room, his fingers lightly brushing along Nema's door in idleness. He could hear her sniffling.
To his surprise, Lilliel was still awake as he entered the room.
"Hi!" She greeted him happily, gripping Nema's mini-crown in her little white hands.
"Shh, Lilliel!" Rujiel scolded, "People are trying to sleep!"
The little girl giggled and held one and over her mouth as Rujiel kicked off his boots and slid into his bed. Lilliel followed suit and got into her own bed, set across the room from his. "So how is Neriel?"
"… Neriel… won't be coming here, anymore."
"… Oh." Lilliel said quietly, soberly. "… That's, what? The tenth death today? Just out of the people we know?"
"… You shouldn't keep count, Lilliel. That's too morbid for a girl your age. A girl your age should be interested in dresses and dolls and boys. Or fistfights and bugs and boys. Whichever suits you."
"Or fistfights and dresses and boys, like Nema."
Rujiel managed a smile. "… Yes, you can mix it up, too, if you want."
"… Hey, brother?"
"Yes?"
"… Nema's really gonna do it, isn't she? She's really gonna start a war."
"Yes… yes, I believe she will."
"I'm glad. I was sad when Nyssa stopped fighting."
"Nyssa isn't the same anymore…"
"No…" Lilliel agreed quietly. "Nema is a lot like how Nyssa used to be."
"Yes, she is."
"I like Nema. Do you?"
"I do…" Rujiel said tiredly.
"… You know what would be cool? It would be cool if Nema became my older sister. I really mean it, this time. I think Nema would be an awesome older sister. She could be like… that one big word, shuroget. My… shuroget mother."
"… Surrogate." Rujiel corrected quietly. "… A surrogate mother."
"Yeah, surrogate. A surrogate mother and the coolest older sister, ever."
"… Shh. It's time for sleep."