Before we go any further, I will be the first to state my love of Advice and Trust. It inspired this fic and all that's followed so far.
However... I came to rely too heavily on it for the first iteration of this story. Quite blatantly, in some places. As someone who's now found his footing as a creative, it's been a bit of a thorn in my side. I wanted a story that was uniquely mine, even as it wore its inspirations on its sleeve.
So, here we are. Ladies and gentlemen, Nephilim and other assorted, the fic had been updated (quite seriously), especially in the back half.
The three big highlights are, of course, Angel fights, with:
Bardiel: To paraphrase the Dude: "That teamwork... it really ties the Children together."
Zeruel: Now with 200% more appendages, 100% more berserking, and at least 75% more originality.
Arael: In which the Angel in question takes the title of the chapter it appears in a shade more literally.
There are also numerous smaller updates that bear some note:
- For one, new title cards, courtesy of this title card generator! They are also available in wallpaper format, to use for your computer screen (or not. I'm not your grandfather, after all).
- Shinji and Asuka go to group therapy.
- A few more concepts tied to the Worldsea are introduced and explained that help things make sense.
- And various other dialogue and prose updates (again, mostly in the back half, but there are a few scattered everywhere).
For those of you checking in who have read the fic before, now might not be a bad time for a reread as we get into the final arc for Beyond the Gates of Heaven. For those of you new here reading this first, two things. 1, rather odd to find you all the way back here, but nice to meet you. And 2, welcome, and I hope you enjoy your stay on this wild, off the rails work of love.
