Black Sun

Chapter 19

A short while later, they'd all gathered outside the Ecologists' dome. Ruby and the Marked One stood across from the other three, and Ruby bit her lip nervously.
"...I guess this is goodbye for now," she offered. "But I'll be back soon, I promise."

Pyrrha took the initiative, stepping forward and pulling her into a hug. "We know you will. Just… please, be safe."

She pulled away, and Jaune did the same, stepping up to hug Ruby. "You'd better be back soon," he said gently.

"She will be," the Marked One insisted. "I won't let anything happen to her."

Jaune broke the hug and stepped back to stand alongside Pyrrha and Cinder. Ruby turned and began to walk away with the Marked One, but she barely made it a few steps before Cinder hesitantly called out to her.

"Be safe, Ruby."

Ruby stopped and looked back at her, blinking in surprise. Slowly, she nodded. "Thanks, Cinder."

And then her and the Marked One continued on their way, stepping out of the safety of the Ecologists' territory and heading for the underground lab. Before long, they'd disappeared from view, headed into the swamps; the last thing Jaune saw of either of them was them putting the helmets on just before they vanished into the haze.

He watched as their figures dissipated into the mist, then let out a heavy sigh. Turning to Cinder and Pyrrha, he motioned with his head for them to follow him.

"Come on," he said. "No sense in waiting out here and getting rained on."

"You two go ahead in and rest up," Pyrrha offered. "I'll be out here next to Tantal."

She motioned to the guard standing nearby for emphasis. Jaune blinked, a frown crossing his face.

"Pyrrha-"

"I know," she insisted. "But… I want to be ready the moment the Brain Scorcher goes down. Because when it does… there's going to be hell to pay. We don't know when it's going to be shut down, so I need to be ready."

Slowly, Jaune nodded. "If that's what you think is best." He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "Just don't drive yourself crazy, alright? They'll be fine."

"I know. But I need to be ready regardless."

Jaune, sensing that she wouldn't be swayed, simply nodded and pulled his hand away. "Sure," he said. "Cinder, let's go. We need to get some rest."

She nodded, and the two of them headed back into the dome, leaving Pyrrha out there with the guard.

Jaune let out a tired sigh as he sat down on one of the cots inside the bunker. He brought a hand up to rub his face, doing his best not to let his sheer exhaustion show, and failing miserably. Cinder sat down on the cot across from him, hunched over and staring at the floor. Finally, she also let out a sigh, then looked up at the ceiling before turning back to Jaune.

"I am not even remotely tired," she confessed.

"Neither am I," Jaune admitted. "Still, at least we're not moving around in the field right now. That's the important part – can't be making things worse for ourselves by running around." His brow furrowed. "I wish I was, though… I don't like the idea of Pyrrha and Ruby being forced to fend for themselves."

"They are more than capable-"

"I know, but they're my friends, and I don't like leaving my friends alone like that." He sighed again, running a hand through his hair. "Pisses me off…"

Cinder blinked, then stared at him silently. Jaune exhaled sharply, then hunched over and closed his eyes.

"You're a good man, Jaune."

At that, he opened his eyes again, staring at her with surprise. "What?"

"I said, you're a good man," she repeated. "Must I say it a third time as well, so you finally get it?"

"No, no, it's just… what brought that on?"

"Is it not the truth?"

Jaune bit his lip. "I'm just… trying to survive and help my friends, you know."

"Was that what you were doing when you saved me from being assaulted by those Loners?"

He hesitated. "...I mean, not exactly, but-"

Cinder let out a small huff. "You are being very modest on purpose. Stop that – it doesn't suit you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are… uncommonly decent."

Jaune blinked. "That's… a strange thing to say."

"It's also true."

"May I ask you something?" he said. "What brought this on so suddenly?"

"Just… thinking about some things Professor Kruglov said to me, while we were taking the readings." Cinder shifted in her seat, making herself a bit more comfortable. "I almost died out there, you know. That is the closest the Zone has ever come to actually killing me."

Jaune's eyes widened, and he went to say something, but she raised a hand, cutting him off. "I do not wish to dwell on that. But it did make me realize something… I did not want to die before I'd had a chance to thank you for everything you've done."

"Cinder…"

"I owe you my life," she insisted. "You have saved me more times than I can count since our arrival here."

"And you've saved me," he reminded her. "Don't be so quick to forget that."

"That… is not entirely what I meant," she admitted. Jaune gave her a confused look, and she let out a small sigh. "...Because of you, I am now free to carve my own path here, in the Zone. I am no longer Salem's pawn. For the first time, my life is truly my own. Can you imagine what that's like, Jaune? To go your whole life being chained by people, and then to suddenly have those chains lifted and be set free? It is liberating, in every sense of the word. And I have you to thank for it."

Jaune hurriedly shook his head. "That was your decision-"

"That I was only able to make because of you," she reminded him. "It would have been so easy for you to let those Loners kill me. I was still your enemy at the time – you could have simply walked away and left me to my fate. You had every right to do so, in fact, considering this was back when you believed I had killed your best friend back at Beacon. But you didn't. Instead, you stepped in and saved me."

"You have the Maiden powers, you could have saved yourself."

"Could I have?" she questioned. "They had a gun to my head, or did you forget that part? Maiden powers or not, my reaction time is not faster than a bullet. They had me dead to rights until you came along and intervened. And you did that because, as I said earlier, you are a good man."

Jaune bit his lip. "...I was just trying to do the right thing," he said softly. "What you did or didn't do back then didn't matter. There are some things that simply can't be allowed to happen to anyone, no matter what they've done, and that's one of them."

"But what you don't seem to understand is that so many people would have let it happen anyway." She leaned in a bit, and to Jaune's surprise, through the bunker's dim lighting, he could see a faint dusting of red had crossed her face. "...And you also don't seem to understand that you are the only person I have ever met who has showed me even a modicum of basic human decency and kindness."

Jaune blinked, surprised. "Ruby and Pyrrha-"

Cinder gave a short, quiet, derisive snort. "Pyrrha merely tolerates my presence because you asked her to. We watch each others' backs, sure, but only because there are few other people who will. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement built upon a desire to survive, and nothing more. And as for Ruby… she tolerates me slightly more – seems more willing to look past my past misdeeds than Pyrrha is, at least. But, admittedly, she is surprisingly hard to read, much harder now than when she was back at Beacon. Truthfully, I struggle to make sense of her on most days now. But I think it is safe to assume that if she could trade me for anyone else, that she would in a heartbeat."

Cinder took in a small breath, then exhaled it slowly. "...You're the only one, Jaune. And I am just now realizing how much that means to me, thanks to Kruglov. You've given me so much – my life, and my freedom, after so long… and I haven't been able to return a single thing."

"Cinder…"

She shook her head, and in that moment, Jaune noticed something else.

Cinder Fall, of all people, was staring at him with tear-filled eyes. She brought her hands up and bundled them around herself, then began to tremble.

"...I am so afraid of losing you, somehow," she admitted. "So afraid of doing something to hurt you, or drive you away… even though I know that we will inevitably part ways at some point, I still don't want to lose you earlier than that, if that makes sense. You are the closest thing to a true friend I have ever had, and the knowledge that I might do something to hurt you frightens me more than anything."

That was enough for Jaune. He stood up and walked over to her cot, then took a seat on it next to her. She flinched as he sat down, but made no attempts to shy away, even as he reached out and gently took her by the hand.

"Hey," he said softly. "Look, you've… you've done a lot of bad things in the past, okay? But you're making up for that now, even if you don't want to admit it."

"Helping you three can't make up for all the people who died at Beacon as a direct result of my actions."

"Maybe not, but it's a start." His expression hardened. "Nobody ever said forgiveness was going to be an easy path. That's no reason not to try anyway, because the alternative is lying down and dying somewhere."

Cinder hesitated. "...Perhaps it would be best for all involved if I-"

"Don't," Jaune warned her, his voice suddenly turning stern. His grip on her hand tightened slightly, just enough for to know that he was there, and he wasn't about to let go. "That wouldn't solve anything, and you know it. And… I have to admit, if something were to happen to you, I'd really miss you."

Cinder look at him in shock, and he gave her a small smile in return. "Come on, don't tell me that's surprising to you."

"You'd… miss me?" she said quietly. "Even after everything I've done…?"

"Cinder, what you've done since getting here is save my life multiple times, and arguably just as importantly, kept me sane," Jaune pointed out. "If it weren't for you, I'd either be dead or a complete mental wreck by now. This place… it breaks people. The only reason I haven't completely broken yet is because I've had someone alongside me, keeping me in one piece, letting me fight for them the same way they fight for me. And sure, this whole arrangement started because we needed each other, but at this point, I think it's safe to say we're past that."

"What are you saying?"

"I care about you, Cinder," he bluntly told her. "More than I ever thought I could."

She sucked in a breath to try and calm her pounding heart. It didn't help. "...In what way?"

Jaune hesitated for a moment. "...Honestly, I wish I knew how to put it into words," he admitted. "Look, you've already told me that what you want is to stay here. Even someone as dense as me can tell you want to stay because you're trying to atone for what you did at Beacon. I know you think it won't ever be enough, but it means a lot that you're still willing to try regardless. I want to do as much as I can to help you on that path, before we part ways and I head back to Remnant. If nothing else, I can do that much for you." His expression softened. "You deserve a chance to redeem yourself, Cinder. And more than that, you deserve a chance to finally try and make yourself happy. I intend to do whatever I can to help you there until it's time for me to leave. You have my word, and an Arc never goes back on his word."

Cinder felt her heart skip a beat. She blinked, her eyes widening, before she slowly nodded. "T-thank-"

She was cut off by a lump forming in her throat. She did her best to swallow it, and failed miserably; it stayed stuck in her throat, keeping her from saying anything. Slowly, she turned to Jaune, her vision blurring as she looked at him. His grip on her hand suddenly tightened, and through her tears, she saw him give her a reassuring smile.

"It's alright," he gently told her, never losing that smile the entire time. "You can let it out."

That did it. With those words, the dam finally broke, and Cinder stopped trying to hold herself back. She let go of Jaune's hand and bundled her arms around herself once more as the tears flowed, and her shoulders shook with silent sobs. Her whole body trembled as she cried for the first time since her days at the Glass Unicorn. It was an unfamiliar feeling for her, and yet at the same time, it felt so natural, too – as if her body and mind had finally had enough of her emotions being locked away, and had decided to let them flow freely. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Jaune suddenly shifted next to her, and for a moment, she was worried he was going to get up and walk away. But not him – never him. No, instead, he drew closer, and gently threw his arms around her, pulling her close, allowing her head to rest in the nape of his neck as she cried. He gently ran a hand up and down her back as she let her bottled-up feelings flow free for the first time in years, and Cinder tightly shut her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the feeling of Jaune comforting her.

"It's okay," Jaune softly whispered to her as he continued to hold her tightly and rub her back. "I'm here, Cinder."

Cinder leaned into him even closer, all but burying her head in his chest as she continued to cry. Jaune offered no cries of protest as she did so, instead sitting there and allowing her to completely break down in his grasp. And together, the two of them sat there, holding each other for what felt like hours, even though in reality, it was only a few minutes.

Cinder was so content that she didn't even notice herself falling asleep in his grasp.

The first indication that she'd passed out came when her cries suddenly tapered off. Jaune looked at her in mild surprise, but to his amazement, she really had fallen asleep in his grasp. It didn't take a genius to imagine why; whatever she'd let loose, she'd had to have kept locked away for well over a decade by this point. Jaune stared at her face, still slick with freshly-fallen tears, and hesitated before reaching into his pocket for a rag, then gently wiping them away.
Once that was done, he carefully shifted out of her grasp, being mindful not to wake her up. She stirred in her sleep, a small murmur escaping from between her lips at the slight disturbance his movement caused, but thankfully didn't awake. Once he had successfully separated himself from her, Jaune gently took her by the shoulders and laid her down on the cot, then reached for a nearby blanket and threw it over her. As he did so, he couldn't help but pause and watch her a bit as she slept.

He'd been around her enough to know what she usually looked like when she slept. At this point, he could tell when she was dreaming – her face would always be contorted in either fear or rage, and she'd occasionally let loose a small gasp or other exclamation. She was always tense; it made him think of an animal that had just spotted a predator and was about to run away. And knowing the truth of her past, that probably wasn't far-off from what she'd actually experienced throughout her life.
But not now.

It was surprising, just how… content she looked. There was no tension, no fear or rage… the only sign that she was even dreaming was the occasional murmur she'd let out, but even these were completely absent of any kind of negative emotion.

Somehow, despite everything, she was comfortable. Even the usual Zone-induced nightmares seemed to have spared her this time.

Jaune continued to stare at her for a bit longer, until he blinked and the spell was broken. A happy grin crossed his face, and he leaned in just enough to gently whisper in her ear.

"Sleep well, Cinder."

With that said, Jaune headed for his own cot, lying down on it and staring up at the ceiling, his mind racing.

He hadn't expected Cinder to care so deeply about him. On a certain level, he knew she cared at least somewhat – she wouldn't have been so willing to save his life so many times and listen to him regularly if she didn't, after all. But apparently, her true feelings ran even deeper than that.

Somehow, against all odds, he'd become good friends with Cinder Fall. The thought brought yet another smile to his face. It was funny to think about, sure, but more than that, it made him happy to know that, if nothing else, she had at least one person she could rely on.

Everyone deserved to feel love at least once, even her – especially her, actually, given what she'd been through in her life. And it brought him no small amount of joy to know that he'd been the one to give it to her.

Unfortunately, it wasn't going to last.

As that thought crossed his mind, Jaune's grin finally faded, replaced with a scowl. It was inevitable that the two of them would part ways – he wanted to return to Remnant and she wanted to stay in the Zone; those two goals simply were not reconcilable with each other. In the end, he would leave and she would stay, and there was nothing either of them could do about it unless one of them was willing to give up on their goal, and somehow he didn't see that happening for either of them.

In the end, they were going to have to leave each other.

And yet, somehow, he didn't care. The two of them leaving and never seeing each other again was no reason not to enjoy her company for the time being, especially not if it brought her so much peace.

At that thought, Jaune turned to look at her once again. In her sleep, she had rolled over to her side and bundled the blanket up a bit more around herself. He didn't think it was possible, but she somehow looked even more peaceful and calm than when he had helped her to bed just a few moments ago. His expression softened as he stared at her, and after a few seconds, he closed his eyes as well.

What the two of them had was fleeting, he knew that. And yet at the same time, he couldn't deny that there was something there. They'd both fought together, bled together, and killed together; they'd supported each other through thick and thin, despite their initial misgivings. And through it all, they'd become… he honestly wasn't sure. 'Friends' didn't seem like a strong enough word for it.

Jaune paused at that realization, his eyes flying open in shock. Slowly, he turned towards Cinder; she was still asleep, her chest gently rising and falling with every breath. As Jaune's gaze locked onto her face, his breath hitched, his face going red as he realized what was happening between them.

That was it, then – he was falling for her, slowly but steadily.

The thought was as appealing to him as it was painful. Cinder was breathtakingly beautiful, of course, but even beyond that, she was someone he knew he could rely on at this point. And after she'd just broken down in his arms, he knew that she felt the same about him, too.

And yet, despite that, he knew it wasn't going to last. Inevitably, they were going to have to part ways. No matter how much he cared for her, Jaune still had his family and friends back on Remnant, and he couldn't abandon them, not even if it meant separating from her.

But that didn't mean he couldn't make the most out of what little time the two of them still had together.

Jaune bit his lip again, then looked over to her once more. She was still fast asleep. Without a second thought, Jaune gently placed one arm around her and pulled her a bit closer, taking care not to wake her up.

And it may have just been a trick of the light, but Jaune could have sworn that just before his eyes closed and he passed out, he saw her crack a thin smile.

Ruby and the Marked One trudged through the ankle-deep swamp water, walking side-by-side with each other. Ruby shuddered as the murky water flowed into her boots; she was definitely going to have to air out her footwear later unless she wanted to develop some kind of infection. For now, however, she would deal with it.

"Do we know where we're going?" she asked.

"I spoke to Sakharov myself before we left," the Marked One answered. "He said an associate of his named Vasiliev tried to enter X-16 along with Ghost a while back, but neither man returned."

Ruby looked to him in surprise. "They did? What were they doing, trying that without protective gear like what we've got?"

The Marked One shrugged. "Apparently, they had a lot of Psi-Block." At Ruby's questioning glance, he said, "Medicine that reduces the harmful effects of the Brain Scorcher on one's mind. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing. I guess, in the absence of any kind of better option, they figured it'd be good enough."

Ruby hesitated. "...I'm sorry, but you realize that means-"

"That Ghost is likely dead. I am aware, yes."

"But you still want to come with me to X-16 and try to find him?"

The Marked One nodded. "Yes. If nothing else, I can shut off the Brain Scorcher, which will make searching the Zone for Strelok easier. And if we can find Ghost's body somewhere inside, he may have helpful information on him."

Again, Ruby hesitated. "And… when you find Strelok, you still want to-"

"Yes." The Marked One's expression hardened. "He is responsible for me ending up on that truck, and for my memory loss. I want to get my answers, and then make him pay for it."

Ruby's mouth went dry, but she nodded nonetheless. It felt wrong, hearing the Marked One admit that he wanted to commit cold-blooded murder, but then again, who was she to judge? She'd done plenty of killing since arriving to the Zone, herself.

The two of them continued to trudge through the swamp, their Geiger counters steadily ticking away as they advanced through the water. Off in the distance, through the haze, Ruby could make out several hunched-over figures gathered around the silhouette of what appeared to be a downed helicopter; it only took her a moment before she realized they were Snorks. A choked gasp escaped her, and her grip on her AS VAL tightened.

"Snorks," she muttered to the Marked One. "Have you ever fought these things before?"

He nodded. "A few times." He hefted his Kalashnikov, tucking the stock into his shoulder and flicking the safety lever to semi-automatic. "In the absence of anywhere else to begin looking, I suggest we begin with the downed chopper. You have the suppressed weapon; you take the first few shots, I'll cover you."

Ruby nodded, then shouldered her rifle, aligning the iron sights with the nearest outline of a Snork. Her finger pulled through the trigger agonizingly slow as she tried to maintain steady, even pressure and not jerk the trigger; the shot broke a second later, the heavy 9x39mm slug racing downrange with little more than a loud snap from her rifle's barrel and the chattering of the action as the AS VAL automatically cycled and loaded the next round. The heavy armor-piercing round struck the Snork's head like a brick through a plate glass window; its cranium exploded, painting its contents across the hull of the chopper behind it. The Snork collapsed, the top of its head having been sheared off in the blink of an eye.

The other mutants nearby suddenly tensed, pausing and looking around for the source of the shot that had killed their companion. Ruby didn't waste any time, instead transitioning to the next target and pulling the trigger until it, too, joined its fallen brother. As the second Snork fell, the remaining three seemed to realize they were being fired upon, and managed to locate her position. They began to advance, low growls rumbling out from their throats and through their gas masks, as Ruby continued to shoot at them, the Marked One joining her. Together, they managed to cut down the Snorks as they drew closer, their bullet-ridden bodies sinking into the swamp water below as they were put down.

Ruby let out a slow exhale, taking her finger off her rifle's trigger. After a moment to swap magazines, she motioned for the Marked One to follow her, and the two of them carefully crept through the water, keeping a watchful eye on the blood bubbling up to the surface as they drew closer to the chopper.

Thankfully, the Snorks appeared to be dead for good, as none of them rose up to strike again.

Ruby let out another slow exhale of relief as she approached dry land. She lifted one leg out of the swamp water and was about to place it on the ground when the Marked One reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Don't move," he warned. "This place is riddled with Anomalies. And I don't just mean the obvious ones that look like pools of acid."

Ruby froze, her blood running cold. Slowly, she drew back into the swamp, then slung her rifle and reached for the bag of rusted bolts she kept on her belt. The Marked One did the same, and together, they both began the slow process of navigating through the field of Anomalies to the downed chopper.

Their persistence paid off, thankfully – there was a dead body in one of those orange protective suits lying next to it, surrounded by empty magazines and spent shell casings, though there was no weapon to be found nearby. As she saw the body, Ruby drew in closer to get a better look.

"I assume that's Vasiliev?" she asked. Before the Marked One could reply, something caught her attention, and she leaned in to get a better look, squinting as she did so. "He's holding something…"

"Looks like his PDA," the Marked One told her. "I wonder if it still works."

"Might as well see. Maybe there's something on it that'd be useful to you."

He nodded, and the two of them carefully navigated over to his body. The Marked One wrenched the PDA from the corpse's death grip, and after a moment to make sure it still worked, pulled up the final recording Vasiliev had made.

"We've got all the papers, we know how to deactivate the source of the Emissions! Proceeding to dig into the lab with Ghost…"

Ruby looked over to the Marked One at that, but he was simply staring straight ahead, stone-faced as always, as the recording continued.

"Zombies coming out of everywhere…! Agh, it's all screwed up, Ghost has gone insane! He must've been affected by the Emissions!"

"I guess he really is dead, then…" Ruby said quietly. "Sorry…"

"Not that it matters," the Marked One cut in. "I'm still going in to see what he's carrying on him. With any luck, it'll be helpful."

Ruby nodded, and the two of them continued to listen to the rest of the recording.

"I dropped everything, trying to get out of the tunnels! I… I'm at the swamp, but where's the bunker?! Shit, shit, shit, I can't make out my whereabouts! No response from Sakharov! What's going on?! Zombies everywhere, I'm running out of ammo!"

The recording abruptly stopped after that, though it didn't exactly take much in the way of an imagination to consider why that would be the case. The Marked One looked down at Vasiliev's corpse as the recording stopped, then pocketed the dead man's PDA and turned back to Ruby.

"Sounds like we'll be going in through the tunnels," he said. He peered past Ruby, looking through the mist, his gaze narrowing as he did so. "And I suspect that big building over there is where we'll find them."

Ruby blinked in surprise, then turned around. Through the mist, she was just able to make out the outline of a large, imposing-looking concrete structure surrounded by a wall. The swamp haze had hidden it from view earlier, but now that they were closer, it was much easier to make out. She shifted nervously, unslinging her rifle and holding it in a low ready.

"Guess Vasiliev didn't make it far…" she muttered. "Any idea how to get in?"

"We'll find something, I'm sure," the Marked One told her. "Like you said, Vasiliev can't be far from the entrance. I'm sure if we poke around enough, we'll find a way inside. Then it's just a matter of shutting down the Brain Scorcher and finding Ghost's body before heading back to the swamp."

"Yeah… you're right." Ruby shifted once more. "Okay, let's go."

The Marked One nodded, and the two of them set off, looking for the entrance to the lab.

Special thanks to my good friend Ickbard for the help with this story.

Man, it has been a crazy/eventful couple of weeks for me, my dudes lol. Let me count the ways:

First, I finally caved and bought a Mark 23 of my own. I figured enough characters in my stories are using it that I should probably get one for myself so I actually know how to write it... and also because it's a damn cool gun and I got it on a killer deal, where I paid less for a brand new one than what they go for on the used market. HK was also running a special where if you bought a certain model of handgun, they'd give you a rebate for a few hundred dollars' worth of mags for free. I happened to have bought a P30L not too long ago, so the Mark 23 deal worked out phenomenally for me. It helps that the gun itself is fucking awesome, easily the best-shooting .45 I've ever fired. The recoil is so amazingly soft, not quite 9mm levels obviously but it's not snappy in the slightest. It is such a unique shooting experience, it's hard to actually put into words. It's like... it's so big and overbuilt that it's not the actual recoil of the round pushing you off-target, rather it's the massive amount of weight in the slide reciprocating backwards as it fires that does it. The gun is as big as a Desert Eagle, it is unapologetically enormous and I love it because of that.

Next, I finally caved and upgraded my PC, because my old one was pretty much stretched as far as I was ever going to be able to take it. And I've had a great fucking time with the new one - been playing a lot of Ready Or Not with friends, and I love the game so far. Been running around with the SA-58 and USP45 like a madlad, it's been awesome. I'm going to be giving Baldur's Gate 3 a try next, I've been meaning to play it but it wouldn't run on my old PC so I've had to wait until now. And I also want to revisit some other older games that I liked but that ran like liquid ass on my old machine.

Finally, I don't know how many of you have been following my original story over on r/HFY and Royal Road, but that story is going to be updated for the final time tomorrow. Once it finishes, I will be launching two more originals in its place, and you will be able to read 12 advance chapters for each of them if you head over to my new "Donation site link that begins with a 'P' and ends with an 'atreon'." I go by the same name over there as I do over here. That page is still a work in progress, but it will be updated over time, and in any case, the actual chapters for each are currently up and ready to go if you'd like to read them. Ten bucks a month gets you at least twelve chapters (six weeks) ahead for both stories, so if you're interested, it might be worth the investment. Otherwise, you can catch the new stories live and for free over on HFY, Space Battles, and Royal Road.

Obviously, I am not done with fan fiction yet, so as per usual, I will be working on all of this stuff concurrently. I hope you'll all at least check out the new stories, and if you like 'em, feel free to leave a comment/rating/review, and if you really like 'em, then hopefully the advance chapters are worth your while.

Thanks again, everyone! Talk to you next time!

I have recently launched my first piece of serialized web fiction. It's called An Angel's Retirement, and you can read it over on Spacebattles, Royal Road, or r/HFY. In each case, it's been posted under my name, Obsequium Minaris. I'll try to link it here, but FFN's wordfilter may make that impossible. In any case, let's try it (remove the spaces):

www . reddit r/HFY/ comments / 18xythv / an_angels_retirement_chapter_1/

forums . spacebattles threads / an-angels-retirement.1137358/

www . royalroad fiction 79445 / an-angels-retirement

And the synopsis:

Captain Eric Anders thought his time in the military was over when the war with the Iprenians ended in a ceasefire. He was content to sit back, collecting his monthly pension and drinking his sorrows away. But everything changed when the government saw fit to drop one of its very own super-soldiers into his life. Suddenly, he finds his retirement interrupted by the need to babysit a socially-maladjusted killing machine who has known nothing but war for almost her entire life.

As it turns out, the war itself may be over for the two of them, but the wounds it left behind are very much still present...