Black Sun

Chapter 18

It was nightfall by the time Professor Kruglov led her out of the Ecologist's dome and into Yanter proper. Drops of rain began to gently fall on the ground below as they walked, and Cinder cursed her rotten luck.

"It always rains here…" she muttered.

"That's the Ukraine for you," Kruglov said without looking back. "And the Zone gets the worst of it, too. It's generally more wet than dry around here. Oh, and in case you weren't aware… it's best not to drink the rainwater unless you absolutely have to. We have no idea what's in it, exactly, but it does not seem to like the human body very much."

"I'll keep that in mind," Cinder said as she followed him out of the Ecologists' territory. Kruglov waved to the armed guards as they passed; Cinder was surprised when neither guard eyed her with suspicion.

Then again, they had just saved Kruglov's life and research, so perhaps that simply meant something more to them than it did to her.

"So where are we going, exactly?" she asked.

"There's a field nearby," Kruglov told her. "It's right on the outskirts of where the Brain Scorcher can reach. It's perfectly safe, I assure you – we've taken readings from there many times, and the only issues we've run into have involved the mutants. Zombies like to congregate in the nearby factory, and sometimes they'll spill out and we'll have to put them down. Don't feel too bad about that, though – believe me, you'll be doing them a favor by putting them out of their misery."

Cinder simply nodded along as they walked. They marched in silence before Kruglov suddenly cleared his voice.

"So," he said, "how long have you been in the Zone?"

"What's it to you?" Cinder snapped.

Kruglov held up his hands in surrender. "Just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean anything by it."

Cinder stared at him for a moment, then took a breath to calm herself. This man wasn't her enemy, sure, but she wasn't used to people trying to dig into her past like that. She'd only ever revealed parts of her personal information to a select few, all but one of whom were firmly in Salem's corner.

At the thought of Salem, a wry smirk crossed Cinder's face. She'd spent years living in fear of Salem, but now, she was free. Dangerous as the Zone was, Salem couldn't touch her here. Cinder had left her behind, and there wasn't a damn thing Salem could do about it.

She shook those thoughts, then turned back to Kruglov. "...The four of us have only been here a few weeks," she admitted.

"Truly?" he asked, surprised. "You all handled yourselves very well back there for only being here for a few weeks. Do you all have prior training?"

"Something like that."

"Even the young one?"

"Yes, if you can believe it. She's been around guns since she was very young."

"Hm. I must say, you Americans certainly do things differently than the rest of the world."

Cinder nearly asked him what he meant by that before biting her tongue. Idly, she recalled overhearing some other Stalkers discussing a country called America. Rather than draw attention to herself by asking about it, she simply nodded along.

"How could you tell we were American?"

"Your accents," Kruglov offered. "That and the fact that none of you seem to speak Russian or Ukrainian. Whenever I've listened to you talk, it's always been American English. Not that that's odd, mind you – plenty of Americans come here. We have a few on-staff, in fact. But it is rare to find ones as young as yourselves here. Makes me wonder why you all thought coming to the Zone was a good idea. Hell, I'm surprised the Military even let you in."

Cinder shrugged. "Ask no questions and be told no lies."

"Ha. Fair enough, I suppose."

They kept walking in silence before Kruglov spoke to her once more.

"So, how long have you and the blonde boy known each other?"

"Hm?" Cinder asked, her interest suddenly piqued.

"I asked, how long have you and the blonde been acquainted?"

Again, she shrugged. "A few weeks."

"Truly? You seem much more familiar than that."

A vein pulsed in her forehead. "Were you planning to make a point sometime soon?"

"Oh, no, I simply find the behavior of people in the Zone to be quite fascinating, is all. Everyone copes with being here in their own special ways – some people turn to violence, while others such as myself look towards a mission of some kind to keep us going. But you and the blonde appear to have turned to each other for comfort instead. Is that about right?"

Cinder nearly hissed at him again, but caught herself. Kruglov hadn't exactly insinuated anything she wasn't already aware of herself. It was true that out of the entire group, she was closest to Jaune. It was true that they'd had moments of friendly intimacy between each other – they'd gotten drunk together, swapped stories, shared a bed while naked… she'd even broken one of her cardinal rules and regaled him with information of her past.

And yet, she didn't regret any of it. Cinder had gone her whole life without that kind of human connection, and as loathe as she was to admit it, it felt nice, having someone to confide in and trust in, or at least someone who wasn't being forced into helping her the way Emerald and Mercury had been.

"Why are you bringing this up now?" Cinder asked weakly. "You barely know us."

"Well, you four saved my life," Kruglov said. "I figure the least I can do to personally repay you is offer what little life advice I have to give."

"And what would that be?"

He paused, then turned around to face her. She stared at him through his opaque bubble-headed environmental suit, trying to fixate on where she figured his eyes would be. It didn't seem to have any effect on him, though; he simply continued to stare at her, much to her chagrin.

"I've seen the way you and him interact," he offered. "Perhaps I'm reading too deeply into it, but then again, perhaps not. In any case… if there's something you want from him, you should let him know."

"And why is that?" Cinder asked, her question coming out as a low mutter, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Because life is short in the Zone," Kruglov explained. "Death comes for us all in the end, but here, he tends to sneak up on you. Too many people here die every day because they accidentally walked into a barely-visible Anomaly on a path that used to be clear, or because a sniper they couldn't even see fired a bullet that took their head clean off from several hundred meters away. You can't rely on time to drag your whims to the forefront, should you have them. Make the most of the time you have now, that way when Death does come for you, you can meet him head-on rather than cling to your regrets. That's why I'm making it a point to tell you now: If there's something you want from the blonde boy, let him know before it's too late."

Cinder blinked. She stared at Kruglov for a moment, hesitating before giving him an answer.

"...There is nothing I want from Jaune," she said softly. "Believe me, he has given me more than enough already."

"Hm. I suppose I was mistaken, then," Kruglov said. "My apologies; I could've sworn, from the way you were fussing over him on the way back…" He shook his head. "Think nothing of it. Even for a scientist, I still get things wrong from time to time. Unfortunately, the laws of attraction aren't quite as set in stone as the laws of physics."

The two of them stopped just outside the mouth of a large concrete drainage pipe that led underneath a small hill. Kruglov flipped on his headlamp, and Cinder did the same with her weapon-mounted light.

"Follow me once more," Kruglov offered. "And stay alert for any Zombies or other mutants we may encounter. If we run into them, I will need you to keep them off of me while I take these readings."

Cinder nodded. Kruglov took a breath.

"And once again, my apologies," he said.

Cinder waved him off. "Think nothing of it. There's simply nothing between myself and Jaune."

"Hm. Let's go, then."

With that, Kruglov took off into the drainage pipe, and Cinder followed him, trying desperately to ignore the sudden empty feeling that had come over her as she went.

The two of them pushed into the pipe, their weapon lights leading the way. They moved carefully, keeping an eye out for any threats. Off in the distance, Cinder heard the telltale moaning of Zombies, and motioned for Kruglov to get behind her before she carefully moved up. Sure enough, there were three Zombies ahead; she cut them down with single shots from her rifle, leaving them all writhing on the ground before she carefully approached and finished them off with a shot to the head each.

Once those Zombies had been dealt with, she motioned for Kruglov to follow her, and he did, the two of them advancing through the rest of the drain pipe. They emerged out into a clearing behind a small hill, with the factory Kruglov had mentioned in the earlier looming in the distance. Even from here, Cinder could hear more moaning, indicating yet more Zombies in the area.

"We're here," Kruglov said as they stepped out onto the grass. He motioned with his head towards a nearby rusted, burned-out bus. "I'll be behind there. If any Zombies approach, keep them away from me. Think you can do that?"

"Without issue," Cinder said, pulling out her rifle's magazine to check how much ammo she had used in her last encounter. After taking a moment to evaluate, she replaced it with a fresh one, then nodded towards him. "Lead the way."

At that, Kruglov took off towards the bus, Cinder hot on his heels. The two of them bounded over to it in record time, then hunched down behind it, Cinder peeking out with her rifle and watching the hill as Kruglov set his weapon down and pulled out a scanner of some kind.

No sooner had he started working than did Cinder see a Zombie begin to crest over the hill. She grit her teeth, hoping the man would turn and go back the way he'd come, but to her chagrin, he continued to advance, lurching towards them slowly but steadily. He hadn't seemed to have noticed them, as he hadn't yet raised his rifle and started shooting at them, but she knew it was only a matter of time.

"Professor," she hissed. "There's one approaching. What shall I do?"

"Let him pass, if possible," Kruglov said without looking up from his scanner. "If not, then we'll have no choice but to take him out and hope it doesn't attract anymore to this location."

Cinder nodded, aligning her weapon's iron sights to the Zombie's torso. By her estimation, he was about fifty meters out; far from a long-distance shot. The factory itself wasn't much farther back from that. If she took a shot at this Zombie, then it was for sure going to draw in the rest.

To that end, she held her fire, up until the moment the Zombie suddenly turned towards her location and let out a low moan, then began to raise his battered, rusty Kalashnikov, apparently having finally seen her.

That was her cue. Cinder fired two semi-automatic shots into his torso, one after the other; the force of the impacts spun the Zombie around, but he wasn't dead yet, instead falling to the ground, where he writhed. Cinder fired one final shot into his head, spilling his brains across the hill, and that was enough to put him down.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. But then, she heard it – the frenzied moaning from inside the factory grew louder. As she watched, several Zombies began to come pouring out of it, limping over the hill, already firing their weapons. Their shots were wild, their accuracy coming through volume of fire more than aiming, but they were no less deadly because of that. Rounds pinged off the bus they'd hunkered behind, ricocheting across the ground and cracking by Cinder's head, missing by mere inches. She didn't let it get to her, though – instead, she continued to take careful, aimed shots at their aggressors. Round after round struck the Zombies in the torso, but while that was enough to stagger them, it wasn't enough to stop them for good. They continued to push forwards, pausing only to clumsily reload their weapons as they ran dry.

"Professor!" she called as she ducked back into cover to swap magazines.

"I know!" he shouted back over the gunfire. "Keep them off of me, I'm almost done with the readings!"

Cinder racked the bolt on her weapon to chamber a round, but paused just before sticking her head out. Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't place it – it was some kind of bizarre, tingly feeling in the back of her mind, almost like an itch. As the seconds ticked by, that itch gradually began to blossom into pain. Before long, it felt like someone was driving a nail into her skull; a scream tore its way from her throat, and she fell to the ground, her weapon hanging from its sling as she clutched at her head. Through tear-filled eyes, she looked up at the sky, just in time to see it changing to a blood red.

It reminded her of Evernight.

"Emission!" Kruglov called, his voice coming out forced. "Cinder, we need to-"

That was as far as he got before Cinder lost consciousness.

It was a massive thunderclap that shook the entirety of the dome in Yantar that woke Jaune up. He couldn't remember falling asleep; it must have had to do with the medicine the Ecologists had given him for his gunshot wound. When the thunder struck, it was loud enough to nearly make him roll out of bed; he barely caught himself in time to avoid landing face-first on the floor.

"What the hell was-"

The words hadn't even finished leaving his mouth before there was another massive strike of thunder, loud enough to nearly make him jump out of his skin. Outside, the wind began to howl, and rain began to pour down. Most strange of all, he could have sworn he felt something tearing at his mind, as well as whispers in his ear, even though nobody else was in the small room with him. It was very faint, but it was unmistakably there; he couldn't tell what the voices were saying, but he could clearly hear them saying something to him, despite how barely-audible they were.

He suddenly winced, a headache forming in the front of his mind. He brought a hand up to rub his forehead, then stumbled out of bed.

"Ruby?" he called. "Pyrrha? You guys okay?"

They both came running for him, to his relief. They seemed relieved that he was unhurt, as well.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said. "What's going on?"

"I was hoping you guys knew. Where'd this storm come from? It was raining a bit earlier, but nothing like this."

At his words, the storm outside began to intensify, battering the dome with rain and wind as thunder roared outside. Jaune's eyes suddenly widened.

"Cinder is still out there!" he said. "Come on, we need to-"

He went to move outside, only to run right into one of the guards, who held him in place.

"Easy, friend," the guard told him.

"Let go of me!" Jaune growled, trying to shake out of the guard's grasp. "Someone is still out in the storm. We need to go get her-"

The guard shook his head. "If you go out there, the Emission will kill you instantly."

"Emission?" Ruby asked, tilting her head. "What's that?"

"It's a storm made of vast psychic energy," Sakharov chimed in from his spot behind them. "And Tantal is correct – if you leave this dome, you will be instantly killed, or worse, turned into a Zombie."

"We can't just leave Cinder out there!" Jaune protested.

"And we won't," Pyrrha promised him. She turned to Sakharov. "When can we leave?"

"Once the Emission is over," Sakharov informed her. "You'll know that to be the case when that strange feeling in the back of your mind finally fades. As far as Emissions are concerned, they can only harm you if you're outside, they won't give you anything worse than a bad headache so long as you have a roof over your head during them. And they only last for a few minutes, to boot."

His piece said, Sakharov turned to the guard, Tantal. "See if you can get Kruglov on the radio. Hopefully he's done with his readings and on his way back."
Tantal nodded, then keyed his radio and began to speak Russian into it. Kruglov's voice cut through the static, and he began speaking back as well, though his words were forced – to Jaune, at least, he sounded wounded. To Jaune's frustration, he could hear gunfire in the background, but nothing indicating Cinder was still alive.

Jaune simply grit his teeth as he listened, knowing Cinder was out there, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

"-Said I'm not leaving her, and that's final!"

Blearily, Cinder cracked one eye open, a groan escaping her. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurry; it took her a moment to realize she was back in the drain pipe. Kruglov was standing above her, firing his rifle; she noticed he was bleeding from a fresh gunshot wound to his left arm.

That snapped her out of her stupor. Immediately, Cinder sat up, doing her best to ignore how her nose and ears were leaking blood, and how it felt like someone had taken a jackhammer to her frontal lobe. She reached for her Kalashnikov, still dangling from its sling, and joined Kruglov in firing at the Zombies who had made it to the opening of the drain pipe they'd sheltered in.

"You're awake!" Kruglov said as they both fired in tandem, thinning the herd of Zombies that were approaching. "I was afraid I hadn't gotten you here fast enough!"

Cinder said nothing, instead continuing to fire her weapon. When it ran dry, she ripped the magazine out, and with shaking hands, replaced it with a fresh one before charging the gun, then resumed firing. Between herself and Kruglov, the Zombies didn't stand a chance. Before long, the opening to the drain pipe was littered with bullet-ridden corpses of zombified Stalkers.

Cinder stopped and stared at the pile of dead for a moment, smoke curling up from her rifle's barrel as her chest heaved with exertion. Once she had confirmed the fight was over, she let her weapon hang, then clutched at her head, which still felt as though it was about to split open. A low, pain-filled groan escaped her.

"What happened to me…?"

"It was an Emission," Kruglov said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Think of it as a large storm made of psychic energy that comes directly from the center of the Zone. It's been awhile since the last one, I recall; we were overdue for one." He shook his head. "Can you walk?"

Cinder tried to struggle to her feet, only to nearly collapse, her legs were shaking so bad. Kruglov instantly caught her, then threw her arm around his shoulder to support you.

"Here, lean on me," he offered. "I've got you."

Cinder's gaze traveled to the bullet wound in his shoulder. "You're bleeding," she noted.

Kruglov nodded. "It was worth it. I wasn't about to leave you behind, no matter what. We're both lucky – that wasn't my first Emission, so I guess it didn't hit me quite as hard as it did you. But a few more seconds, and we both would've been screwed. Thankfully, I managed to get you inside here before the brunt of the storm could hit."

Cinder brought a hand up to wipe at her nose; it came back slick with red. She stared at it for a moment, then lowered her hand.

"And… that's similar to what we'd have to deal with in the lab?"

"Yes, or at least, it would be if I hadn't been able to finish my readings." Kruglov held up his PDA with his free hand. "This should be enough. We'll get to work on those helmets as soon as we get back. Here, walk with me – I'm sure your friends are eager to see that you're okay."

The two of them began to move, much slower this time thanks to their injuries. As they walked, Cinder was tempted to tell him that none of the other three were her friends, but for some reason, she simply couldn't find the willpower to do so.

Kruglov's words hung in the air around her as he helped her back to the base in Yantar. And somehow, they hit her on a deeper level than even the Emission had.

"Cinder!"

Jaune rushed over to her as she and Kruglov came limping in. Kruglov helped her over to a nearby chair, and she slumped down into it, holding her head in her hands. Jaune stared for a moment, then turned to Kruglov.

"What happened?"

"We got caught in the Emission," Kruglov reported. "I barely managed to get her to safety in time. A few seconds more, and that would've been it for both of us."

Jaune's heart skipped a beat. Slowly, he nodded. "Thank you for not leaving her there."

Kruglov waved him off. "Don't mention it… Shit, this hurts… Excuse me, I need to get this looked at."

With that, Kruglov walked off deeper into the dome, no doubt to get treatment for his gunshot wound. Jaune felt bad about holding him up while he was so obviously injured, but he needed to make sure that Cinder was okay first. He owed her that much, at least.

Carefully, Jaune crept over to Cinder's side, kneeling down next to her. "How are you feeling?":

"Like a Beringel just pounded my head into the dirt for twenty minutes straight…" Cinder grumbled. "Seriously, my brain feels like it's about to split open…"

"Here." Jaune reached into his pocket and came back with a small white rag. "For the blood."

Cinder nodded appreciatively, then began to wipe the blood away from her nose and ears while Jaune looked her over for other wounds. After a moment, he shook his head.

"I can't see any other injuries on you," he told her. "Can you walk?"

Cinder nodded, then tried to rise to her feet, only to stumble and nearly fall. Jaune was there, thankfully, and caught her easily enough; the two of them stared into each other's eyes for a moment before she looked away, her face darkening.

"...Thanks," she muttered.

Jaune blinked, but said nothing about it. "Psi damage must be no joke."

"It's not," Ruby chimed in. "Believe me, I know, thanks to having to fight a Controller. And as bad as that was, Cinder looks like she had it worse than I did."

"Well, I suppose we know who in this group isn't going into the lab," Pyrrha said.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"I mean that you and Cinder are staying here, Jaune."

"What? But-"

"You are still injured," Pyrrha pointed out. "That gunshot wound is bad enough, but we'll be on a time limit as well. We can't afford to send you in there when you've already been injured. And as for Cinder… I'm not comfortable sending her in when she's already been exposed to something similar. She'll need some time to recover beforehand, and honestly, I'm not sure we have that kind of time. The Ecologists have been gracious to us so far, but I suspect before long, we'll have overstayed our welcome."

Slowly, Jaune nodded. "...That makes sense, I suppose. I don't like admitting it, but it does." He sighed, running hand through his hair. "So, it'll be you and Ruby, then?"

"Apparently," Pyrrha said with a nod of agreement.

Just then, there was a knock on the dome's front door. They all turned towards the noise, confused at who it could be. To Jaune's knowledge, all of the other Ecologists were nearby, so he wasn't sure who could be coming by, especially this late.

His question was answered when the door finally opened, and a friendly grin split Ruby's face.

"Hey, Marked One," she greeted. "Didn't expect to see you here."

The Marked One blinked, surprised. "...Ruby? What are you doing here?"

"Trying to shut off the Brain Scorcher, that's what. You?"

Again, the Marked One blinked. "...Huh. Seems we have similar goals."

The rest of them exchanged a glance before Pyrrha cleared her throat.

"Well," she said, "I think things may have just gotten a bit more complicated than we expected."

It only took a few minutes for the Marked One to fill them in. Apparently, he was looking for a Stalker named Ghost, who had entered X-16 awhile back but had never returned. They didn't dig too deeply into why he was looking for Ghost; all Ruby would tell them was that the Marked One was looking for a man named Strelok for some reason, and that Ghost was somehow connected to him.

Which, of course, left them at an impasse.

"Alright, so," Jaune began. "We've got three people trying to get into X-16 and only two helmets to go around. So how do we decide who goes?"

"I wish to volunteer," the Marked One said. "I need to go in and search for Ghost anyway, so the way I see it, I might as well do my part to shut off the Brain Scorcher at the same time."

"Any objections?" Jaune asked. Nobody said anything, and he sighed. "Alright… we can't send him in alone, he's going to need backup. Ruby and Pyrrha-"

"I'll do it," Ruby volunteered. Everyone looked to her in surprise, but she didn't falter. "I've fought alongside the Marked One before, in a different underground lab, even."

"Ruby, are you sure?" Pyrrha asked, concerned. She bit her lip. "I can go-"

Ruby shook her head. "This is going to be dangerous enough as-is. I'd prefer it if the Marked One had backup from someone he already knew."

"For what it's worth, I think she's talking sense," the Marked One offered. "Though admittedly, I dislike the idea of sending a young girl into combat as much as the rest of you…"

"That's neither here nor there," Cinder emphasized, grimacing as the words left her; her head was still aching from earlier, with no end in sight, it seemed. "The Zone is dangerous enough for her already. If she thinks fighting alongside you is for the best, then who are we to say otherwise? And besides, as much as we hate to admit it, two people have to go; it might as well be the two who work well together."

Jaune let out a small sigh, then turned to the Marked One. "Please keep her safe," he asked.

The Marked One nodded. "You have my word that I will."

Jaune nodded, then looked to Pyrrha. "I suppose that begs the question of what the rest of us will do while they're in the lab."

"You two will do nothing but sit here and allow yourselves to heal," Pyrrha chastised. "As for myself… I will wait on standby for when the Brain Scorcher is shut down. Once that happens, I'm going to rush in after them, because I suspect they're going to need help at that point."

"Makes sense…" Jaune sighed again. "Admittedly, I hate this plan, but I suppose we don't have a choice. We have to shut down the Brain Scorcher regardless, and this seems like the only real way to do it."

"Then it's settled," Ruby announced. "As soon as the helmets are made, the Marked One and I will go."

Nobody raised any objections. Finally, Cinder broke the silence by letting out a small groan of pain; Jaune was at her side in an instant. He stared at her as she grit her teeth, a frown crossing his face as he did so. Without missing a beat, he gently helped her up once more, then began to guide her over to where the beds were and set her down onto one.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked from behind him. "Is everything alright?"

"I suppose," he said with a shrug. "I just… don't like the idea of not being able to help you guys."

"You're injured," Pyrrha told him, her expression softening. "And besides, someone has to take care of Cinder for now. You're still helping us, even if you aren't out there shooting people."

"I know, I know…." He let out another sigh. "Just… promise me you'll all stay safe. I'd never forgive myself if something happened and I wasn't there to help you all."

"I promise." Pyrrha stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder for a moment, then turned and walked back to where Ruby and the Marked One were talking.

He watched her go for a moment, then turned back to Cinder. His expression softened when he noticed she was asleep, and he took a seat on a nearby bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the rain gently drum against the top of the Ecologists' dome.

The entire time, he prayed to whatever gods were listening that all of his friends were going to be okay.

Hello everyone, Minaris here. Normally I'd use this space to tell you about my day or talk about guns or something, but unfortunately, something more pressing has come up. To put it simply: If you are currently exclusively following this story as well as my other stories on AO3 and you would like to continue following them, then you should probably head over to FFN right now and begin following them there, as I am likely to be banned from AO3 soon. Apparently, advertising commercial content on AO3 is against the rules, even if it's your own commercial content; I have already received a warning for those Amazon links to my own stories I post throughout the chapters of my fics and profile here.

And before you bring it up – how this makes any sense when people have their fucking donation sites in every chapter/profile and are advertising their commissions on AO3 already is beyond me, since at the end of the day both of those are the exact same shit. Apparently, those are okay, but if I do something incredibly similar and arguably less exploitative, that's against the rules and I get banned for it.

I've appealed this decisions by the mods, obviously, but I suspect it's not going to matter. I haven't heard anything back from since yesterday when I first got the warning, so I don't exactly have high hopes for this being resolved in my favor, despite it being a completely fucking retarded decision by them. All this is to say that I am, in all likelihood, not going to be around on AO3 for the foreseeable future after the next few days, when my ban finally goes into effect (I have 7 days to remove the "Offending content" from my posts and profile; I will not be doing this because the rule they're attempting to enforce is fucking stupid and if they're willing to ban me over something so colossally retarded, then I would rather they stop being sanctimonious about it and just pull the fucking trigger already, because at that point I wouldn't want to be on their shithole website staffed by drooling retards anyway).

I guess this is something to chalk up in FFN's favor at the end of the day – the site is pretty shit, with absent moderation, a stupid-ass wordfilter that makes writing for them a huge pain, and it tends to sporadically shit itself and break every couple of months, but at least they haven't banned me yet. I'll remember this the next time some idiot tries to argue to me about how much better AO3 is than FFN.

Anyway, it's funny to me that out of all the sick shit AO3 allows (and implicitly supports by not banning it), this is the one thing that apparently crosses the line. You can write as much incest loli weight gain cock vore snuff porn as you want, but try to advertise your own books as a way for fans to support you in lieu of a donation site or taking commissions? Nah, that's against the rules. Makes perfect sense.

But yeah, if you're exclusively following my stories on AO3 at this point, do yourself a favor and head over to FFN and follow me there instead, since my time on AO3 is likely very short right now.

Regardless of how all this stupid bullshit plays out, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I also hope to see you at the next one as well.

Thanks,

Minaris