Hello once again, Professor Pancakes here. Just within a day, I have already seen plenty of enjoyment from the crossover between RWBY and Half-Life, and I must say it puts me in a very ecstatic feeling. Because of this, I decided to continue on writing it. There's not much to add besides replying to the few that did comment.
Kamzil118: The backwards writing was on a complete whim. I didn't wish to take the time to figure out some massive language barrier of the sort, and since I'm continuing it, it'll make it easier for Gordon to adapt to it. Thank you though.
Shashenka: Thank you very much for reading. In terms of monsters, or in this case aliens; the only ones I could really see myself putting in there are the infamous Head crabs, and the Vortigaunt. The Combine are a very small maybe in this case.
SilentXD7: Thank you very much for reading as well. I wanted to write this for the very reason that there are not a lot of stories that involve 'normal' humans placed in a situation where they are heavily outmatched in every way. In this case, Gordon has experienced these odds since Black Mesa, so in my opinion there is no better scientist for this situation.
Freeman: The one Freeman, Well if you say so...
Jospeh. : Many thanks, and you're not alone.
Enjoy reading
I don't own anything
For what Gordon could feel like one of the best times of his life, the feeling of sleeping on a bed, or rather, sleeping in general felt like a godsend for him. The constant running, jumping, getting shot at, fighting aliens makes a man tired. Especially when said man is not anywhere near what should be for those who experience such things. He was a scientist, not a soldier, and it's one thing he still wouldn't let stop him from doing what's right.
He moved around slightly and noticed there was a missing feeling...
Ahhh, yes, there wasn't a suit on him. He pondered a few more seconds before accepting the probability that he took it off since he was actually able to go to bed without having his life threatened. There was one thing that was on his mind though.
He was having this crazy feeling, or rather a remembrance of a dream. He saw dragons flying through the air, survived a crashing building, saw two completely out of place woman fight each other with some sort of magic. He saved a Spartan, fought the one fire witch, almost died... again. Then he overloaded the Xen crystal inside the gravity gun causing a resonance cascade of sort like the one at Black Mesa, except this time quantifying the amount of negative mass through the use of both the foreign oxygen compounds that the world he was supposedly on along with the immense amount of heat from the woman he tackled, and lastly from the weird substance that the dragon was leaking as it engulfed the two. So, in simpler terms, now space, 'and' time should have collapsed in on all three along with the tower, completely removing everything in about a one-hundred-foot radius, from existence itself... Somehow, he did the impossible and he was damn proud of it. He laid there for a few more seconds before shooting himself up into a sitting position, and that's when it hit him.
It most certainly did hit him, around the mid-section that is. A tray collided with his chest and was flung across the room, along with all the contents that were sitting atop it as well. Then the pain flooded his body, the burning sensation was more like he was cast into the molten lava of Eyjafjallajökull. Not even a second later, as if to compensate the pain he was feeling, a yell of anguish escaped from his now open mouth.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His arms were hung out in front of them like one would have with a case, along those arms were what looked to be bandages that went up all the way up to his torso, which in turn also had bandages wrapped around it. The yelling didn't stop, and his eyes traveled to a figure that was now staring at him with terrified eyes, and was also screaming.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The young girl fell onto the ground, which he realized was the exact girl he met in his dreams, the one with silver eyes that is, not the polarized Spartan of death. Wait, she was the one that carried a scythe, so then she must be death, which was strange since she didn't have her scythe on her. Then even more thoughts flooded Gordons head. There was no damn dream, he literally fought a fire-throwing witch, saved a Spartan's life, and was collapsed in on himself; what made is worse, was that the pain was still there. What happened next didn't help in the situation of his pain, or even the situation itself.
Two grown men burst into the room, rather the blond headed one burst into the room with what he depicted to be a look of terror while the one behind him looked to be drinking out of some container... Gordon then noticed that he was not wearing his glasses so seeing the young girl in the first place was nothing short of some sort of luck. The blonde headed man seemed to join in what he would consider just yelling by this point since the pain that he did experience from the sudden movement quickly diminished by the events that were going on around him.
The black-haired man pushed past the blond and seemed to shout much louder than anyone in the room. "pu tuhs uoy fo lla naC!" He guessed he was telling them to be quiet since everyone, including himself quieted down. He took another drink out of what Gordon assumed to be a flask of sorts, and then figured that the only contents that could even be there would be alcohol. Even though he wasn't really a drinker, he felt as if he could go for one right now... Maybe just a drinking buddy would be nice, like Barney; that man would be the exact cause of returning late to his room every week at Black Mesa because of his friend's habit of drinking over the smallest things.
The black-haired man seemed to take notice in Gordon's change of attitude since he held the flask out to him, in turn receiving what looked to be harsh words from the blonde. "knird a mih gnireffo ruoy dna derujni si nam ehT ?Qrow yllaeR?"
He caught what seemed to be a name out of it, and figured that the black-haired man's name was in fact, Qrow. Gordon didn't care to question who would name their child such a strange thing, and instead reached out to the flask and gladly accepted the man's kindness of sharing a drink.
Gordon brought the flask up to his lips and let the... strange liquid which he first thought it was alcohol, but last time he checked, well at least the ones he's had before, alcohol is supposed to burn the throat and leave some sort of bad after taste, but this, this was different for Gordon. It went down smoothly and there was practically no burn at all, but the little bit that was there he just accepted the fact that it was mostly the fire-witch's fault and somehow burned the back of the throat. At the same time, the drink most certainly did give the feeling of relief that the alcohol back at Black Mesa did when it came to soothing work pains, or in this case, almost-death pains. He lowered it from his lips and closed the lid back on, and what he tried to map out with his terrible vision was an extreme look of confusion from those around him. The blond man was giving off a look of someone just dying while Qrow was more surprised that I accepted his offer, and the young girl, well, from what Gordon could describe, she had seen a ghost; something a bit more petrifying than the older man.
Qrow gave off what he guessed to be a smile before taking back the flask and shaking it slightly before giving what looked to be an impressed look. The blonde man shook the shock away from his face before turning back to Qrow and speaking once more. "snediaM eht fo rewop eht htiw desselb si eh raews I neht eid t'nseod eh fI !nosiop ruoy fo flah knard tsuj eH."
Qrow only shrugged as he placed his flask into... what looked to be its own individual holster. Huh, he guessed that the man drank enough to have his own personal holster for a flask. Gordon turned to face the girl who was now staring at him with what looked to be like some sort of sparkle in her eyes; the ghostly look completely gone and replaced with child innocence. With his hands now by his side, she took his left hand and wrapped both of hers around it while she looked at him and spoke. "naht ereht t'nerew uoy fI ...enod ev'uoy tahw rof hcum os Thank you..."
It hit Gordon then, not painfully this time, but rather a spark of understanding. He finally understood why he could understand these people that were talking right in front of him from time to time. They were talking backwards, completely backwards too, not just single words that form into a sentence, but rather the entire sentence itself. He silently cheered himself on as he smiled towards the girl. He was going to speak to her in their language, well his language just flipped, and then he can finally get a grasp on what the hell is going on. Thankfully, well no so much thankful to the teacher herself, but rather thankful that he remembered that ridicules assignment he had to complete back at MIT with a teacher who thought that 'learning to speak backwards' was a resourceful way to spend one's time at a school of science.
"nameerF nodroG si eman ym ,ereht olleH." His words immediately got a response from the girl in front of him, and that of the two adults, but not one of completion but rather confusion. Did he somehow say that simple phrase incorrectly, or was he completely wrong about their language to begin with and that English isn't a thing here? The girl turned to Qrow and spoke.
"worQ elcnU gniyas eh si tahW?"
Gordon glanced towards Qrow who in turn looked at him with a look of curiosity. He spoke up back to the young girl. "taht od eh dluow lleh eht ni yhw on ,sdrawkcab ekops tsuj eH?"
He sighed as he laid back down on the pillows. He figured if he they aren't speaking backwards then what could they be speaking. He wasn't regretting the fact that he didn't major in English, but rather that he didn't care to partake in the broader assignments that covered the English language better, no, instead he sat around Doctor Kleiner and listened to his lectures on Quantum Physics and the uses for it in means of submolecular movement through larger masses which Gordon used to write his own paper off of.
A new weight appeared out of nowhere on him as he glanced down and saw that both a notepad and pencil were sitting at his waist. He glanced up and saw Qrow gesturing to it while speaking. "ereht morf tuo ti erugif nac ew ,etirw tsael ta nac uoy erus ytterp m'I."
Gordon figured that if the language was indeed English, then maybe writing it could get it across to them better. He took the two in hand and wrote, what he could manage with the still underlying pain, a simple message.
Hello there, my name is Gordon Freeman.
He set the pencil back onto the notepad and handed it to Qrow who took it and held it up to read it. He let out a chuckle and slapped on hand on the notepad before speaking to, what Gordon guessed, was everyone in the room. "yltnereffid su gniraeh tsuj s'eh gnisseug m'I ,sruo sa emas eht s'tI" This earned looks of surprise from the two other individuals and a glance back towards Gordon. Qrow took ahold of the pencil and wrote something down on the paper before handing it back to him. He took ahold of it and was thoroughly surprised at what he saw.
Try speaking normally this time please.
They wrote the exact same, meaning he could really be the only one that is hearing what they say to be backwards, and what he just spoke was actually backwards to them. He coughed in his freehand to clear his throat and spoke. "I believe there we've come to an understanding then?"
Qrow smiled as he nodded his head, and the other two ran towards one another and gave each other a high-five while talking to one another. "neht su dnatsrednu 'nac' eH!" They all were giving a happy look until the young girl turned to Qrow and gave him a confusing look before speaking. "worQ elcnU su dnatsrednu eh t'nac yhW?" Qrow sighed as he wrote on the notepad once more and handed it to Gordon and speaking to the young girl. "sdrawkcab erew ekops eh sdrow tsrif eht yhw ecneh ,sdrawkcab si sraeh eh gnihtyreve taht si sseug tseb yM."
Gordon stared at the three until Qrow gestured to the notepad. He glanced down and read.
What are you hearing us speak, since you are able to speak, read, and write our language?
He smiled back at them and wrote on the paper once more.
Everything you are saying, I'm hearing it backwards.
He then handed Qrow back the notepad who took it, but then gave the gesture to his mouth, giving the question of why he didn't just speak. Gordon himself didn't know why he didn't speak; maybe it was because everywhere he went, there wasn't much of a reason to speak, and thus because of it gained the habit of just sharing everything through the use of eye contact and body movement. He could only shrug the best he could to respond to the man's question, in which he received a nod of understanding.
The three looked to be talking much quieter than anyone normally would, then they suddenly turned out to him, the young girl taking point with a big smile on her face. She began to speak. "ybuR ybuR ybuR ybuR ybuR Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby." While she was pointing at herself. Gordon then realized that she was saying her name was Ruby, and that the fact was that he could now understand that she was 'saying' Ruby. He replied.
"Ruby"
The two showed looks of excitement once more as they high-fived in accomplishment. Gordon finally understood what it felt like to see earlier settlers begin to understand the locals. He felt lost but at the same time was happy since it was much calmer than anything he normally experiences. He then started to formulate an idea through his head. If he was able to understand what she was saying after repeating it so often, then if he was around as they spoke just common day sentences or anything of the sort then he should be able to 'fix' this problem of his. Gordon couldn't accept this as some sort of language barrier, but rather a side effect of the sudden changes in worlds through some sort of temporal rift or it could easily be some sort of controlled resonance cascade since he'd seen the man travel across the entirety of Black Mesa and City Seventeen without any troubles. He spoke up once more.
"I don't mean to intrude, but I have an idea. Could I see the notepad please?"
The three turned to him once again, Qrow nodding his head as he handed Gordon the notepad and pencil. He spoke up again.
"This'll take some time, so if you could give me it, it would be gratefully appreciated."
The two more active ones mouthed out a simple 'ohh' while Qrow nodded his head and walked out the room. The young girl, Ruby, waved to him before exiting the room and closing the door behind her. He looked forward and noticed the mess on the wall of whatever food it might have been that Ruby brought for him, and that it was still there after the entire commotion that happened in here. He shook it off and began writing down what would need to happen if he were to fully bypass his problem, and it would be too much of a hassle for him to speak and not understand what was being spoke, so writing it down is always much easier.
He wrote a few things down on the notepad to start.
Just talk normally when I'm around...
Gordon just stared at the notepad. There was nothing else to write, no convoluted process, no extreme testing to be made, just, talking normally. Was he confused by what he wrote down; absolutely not, rather he was amazed on how simple it could be without some sort of scientific process. He was so used to things being so complicated that others would be there to at least assist, or so simple that all he had to do was shoot at it. It wasn't the case this time, rather it was indeed simple, just not in the fields of... what he did was not manslaughter; anything he ever did was all to defend himself or those who couldn't, and in his eyes, there was no wrong in those actions.
He shook the thought out of his head and began to make an attempt to stand up before he stopped himself. I yelled in pain when I leaned forward in bed, is getting out of it really the best idea? Gordon sat there for a few more seconds, he moved his toes and bent his knees ever so slightly. He determined that he was indeed able to at least move and he inched his way towards the edge of the bed. He lifted the covers and saw that he was practically naked except for the tight boxers that surrounded his lower regions; he pondered on the thought of who undressed him but quickly shook it off. Bandages were not just on his upper half, but rather his entire body. He was a mummy except for the upper part of his neck and face.
He glanced around to look for his glances and noticed that they were sitting on the nightstand right next the bed. He smiled as he grabbed them and setting them right onto his nose. A single thought went through his mind at this moment. 'Perfect'. The glasses that had been through hell and back with him were the cleanest they'd ever been and had no damage to them either. He can't say they ever took damage, even the times when he crashed into the wall after being thrown around by a certain metal individual.
Gordon let his legs fall to the floor as he sat on the edge of the bed, he expected the wood floor to be freezing, but instead was met with a nice carpet feeling in-between his toes. Many things he had long since felt since Black Mesa. He readied himself by slowly rocking back and forth on the bed before launching onto his feet, and stumbling right into the wall. A sharp pain jetted throughout his body, but he didn't fall. He lifted himself off the wall and used his left hand to balance off of it as he glanced to the door right in front of him, still closed thankfully. While he wouldn't mind some sort of help to get out of the room, the thought of someone walking in while he was struggling was not the best thought to go through his head.
Gordon took a step forward and was rewarded with another sharp pain flowing throughout his body. He grits his teeth as he continued to step forward, each step gifting him with the same feeling as before. He could practically feel his blood seeping from his wounds, yet there was nothing on him when he glanced downwards. Each step bringing him closer to the door, and yet there seemed to be another door he was walking towards as well. He decided to ignore the brighter one for now and continue to the nicely polished russet colored door. His hand finally reached the doorknob and wrapped around it, the cold metal sending a rather pleasant tingle throughout his arm. Turning it, the door opened up to a hallway with a welcoming rug right on the floor. His eyes becoming somewhat blurry, after he blinked it away, he decided to continue forward.
He could hear people talking in the room in front of him, but there were other voices there that he didn't recognize, and to no surprise, he still couldn't understand them, but he leaned up closer to the wall as if in an attempt to listen in.
"gnivas rof mih gniknaht eb ot eno eht eb ot deen uoy ,enuaJ no oG !won ekawa s'eH Pyrrha."
Gordon stepped back for a moment, he couldn't tell if it was his conscious slipping or if what he's hearing is more distorted than he imagined. He could easily tell that the last word was easily a name, but what it was in front of was most certainly not should have been there. This problem needed to be fixed and fast before his own English becomes more distorted than those floating islands in the world of Xen.
He took the step forward once more, stepping out into the opening and in front of what he could tell was a very large group of children; or rather just the four and the... three adults there now? He could tell which one was Qrow and the blond-headed man, but there was a woman now. She looked like someone out of one of Barney's magazines, except much less revealing clothes and a much sterner looking appearance. She was the only one to stand up when he revealed himself, and from what he could tell, she sounded rather angry, but at the same time worried. "pu gniod eh si tahW!"
Qrow merely shrugged. Gordon could get a feel for him, reminded him somewhat of Barney and Eli mixed together. "keew rehtona tsael ta rof klaw ot elba eb ot gniog t'nsaw eh dias uoY!"
The children, one of which he could tell was Ruby, all turned around to face him, and all of which gave faces of shock and or surprise except for Ruby.
Everyone one was silent as they stared at him, that is until Qrow spoke up. "niaga klaw mih edam 'nosiop' yM .taht ta kool ay dluoW." He said while shaking his flask towards the other two adults; which in turn shot him a glare before turning back to Gordon.
The woman began to walk towards him, which he took a step back from. Intimidating woman have been giving him problems lately and he really didn't wish to end up bed ridden all over again. She stopped and spun around to look back at the two men. "em tuoba mih llet uoy did tahW?" In turn the two began to laugh and the children that were sitting down also gave a small chuckle, all of which were quickly cut short by what Gordon could guess was her glare.
She turned back around to Gordon and finished walking up to him. "nameerF .rM uoy teem ot erusaelp A." She held out her hand for what he could tell was a handshake. He returned the gesture and shook her hand, the pain he was expecting didn't appear. She carried on, "noitca taht sdrawot evah I edutitarg fo tnuoma eht sserpxe t'nac I ,stneduts ym fo eno gnivas rof uoy knaht ot ekil dluow I." Before he could reply, he saw the blonde-headed boy stand up and speak as well, "ris llew sa uoy knaht ot ekil d'I" sitting down right after he spoke. The woman contiuned to stare at him and he caught the faces of the two men in the back holding back a smile for some odd reason.
Gordon spoke up. "I don't believe if these men told you or not, but I can't understand your language, I can only speak, read, and write it. I apologize for any difficulties this might cause."
The woman in front of him gave him a look of complete surprise and confusion. She quickly turned around and began walking towards the two men. "hceeps ruo dneherpmoc ton dluoc eh taht em gnillet no gninnalp uoy fo owt eht erew nehw ,worQ ,gnayiaT." With that, the two men erupted into laughter once again.
Gordon smiled as he saw what was happening in front of him. It reminded him of the times his fellow scientists would get into pointless discussions in the breakroom and it almost blow up into something incredible where they would end up discovering some sort of breakthrough on the issues they were having on their projects while they were competing that they were on equal terms with. It was mostly the R&D department that ended up doing so, but nonetheless, it was relieving. He set the notebook down on a hallstand right next to him and decided it would be better to discuss this at a later time. He turned around and stopped since a certain silver-eyed individual was now standing in front of him with the very notebook, this time on a different page and writing on it as well.
She looked up at him and turned the notebook his way. He read it.
Would you like to see Pyrrha?
Gordon began to open his mouth to ask who exactly that was, but he decided it would best be saved for later when it would be of vital importance. He just simply nodded and Ruby gave a happy smile before grabbing ahold of his hand and dragging him through the hallway. He walked behind her, throwing out occasional glances here and there. Throughout the multiple open doors, he noticed a blonde girl sitting in a room while glancing out the window. The thing that he immediately noticed was not how brightly her hair shined, no, it was the limp that was not present. He quickly looked away, understand completely on what she might be going through, not that he had gone though it himself, but rather the amount of losses he'd seen and heard from others. There's a time to talk, and another to just let one ponder on one's thoughts. He shook the picture out of his head and noticed they were reaching the end of the hallway.
Ruby walked on a bit faster to the door and motioned Gordon over. He continued he struggle to the door and smile to the girl, motioning to open the door. She stared at him for a second before nodding and opening the door for him. Ruby motioned for him to walk inside. He complied and walked into the room. He looked back at Ruby who simply waved towards as she was closing the door. He opened his mouth to ask who exactly Pyrrha was, but was unable to. He also didn't want to do this since he was almost naked in terms of clothing, but nobody seemed to care, so he took it upon himself to not care either.
He turned back around and was met with a pair of vivid-green eyes. Gordon pondered for a second on how accurate he was with all these colors he's been seeing, but decided to push it to the side as he was more confused on what to say to a bed-ridden girl he'd just saved last night. Not exactly something one can prepare one for, especially after waking up. He shook off any thoughts and focused back on the task on hand, talking to said girl he saved.
"Thank you."
He looked at her, noticing that he understood her perfectly. She was smiling at him; something he'd seen on plenty of people throughout Black Mesa, and City Seventeen, and just like those times, it felt truly sincere. He smiled back at her, adjusting his glasses, "I just did what I do best... Pyrrha..."
She tilted her head at him and mouthed something to herself. "I... I togof to introduce myself. eman ym is Pyrrha Nikos."
Gordon had to rub his eyes for a second, to make sure he was seeing correctly then realized that they had nothing to do with what he just heard. Without a doubt he could make out what she was saying, but the biggest part was that he could make out most of her sentence. He shook his head again before speaking up. "My name is Freeman, Gordon Freeman. A pleasure to meet you." He decided to keep out anything irrelevant such as his doctorate, even though it made his feel rather empty every time he said it since he went through so much trouble of obtaining it. She smiled towards him and gestured to a chair next to her. "deneppah tahw tuoba klat ew dluoc ,dnim t'nod uoy fI five months ago. I've been waiting to speak with you."
Gordon made his way over to the chair and took a seat, the pain still there. He looked towards her and almost immediately fell out of the chair. five months have passed since that night? He quickly glanced back at her, a smile still on her face. He began to ask a question but was stopped by her own.
"It's only been about two weeks since you showed up outside of Ruby's and Yang's house in Patch covered in wounds. I'm not sure what you've been through, but if you would be so kind to explain what you were doing there that night and from then on, I would be most thankful for it."
Gordon's eyes were wider than they might have been before. Five whole months and he only arrive here two weeks ago. He was on the tram for maybe... at most five minutes, most of it him lying in pain on the tram. He was clueless on how to respond until a certain click happened in his head, and as if he had a complete answer for it, he nodded while looking at her. He caught himself before speaking. He somehow understood everything she just said. His solution just might truly be the answer to his problem; talking normally. He nodded towards her and began to speak.
"I went somewhere you would never wish to even think over, and it all started right there." Gordon lifted his arm and pointed towards a map on the other side of the room, and at a land mass that shared the shape of a dragon.
I'd like to thank you all for reading, very very much. Throughout the single day of writing this, I received at least 15 notifications on my phone about people reviewing it, favoriting, or following this story and I was laughing the entire time. My diet for this entire time consisted of small bags of chips and ice-cream, and I wish I didn't since I feel like dying now. From a medical standpoint, won't ever do that again. Anything that you wonderful readers would like to suggest, or simply say, go ahead and let it out.
Thank you, come again.
