"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Past speech and Gman"
"other"
"Adrian, what do you know about time travel?"
The marine raises an eyebrow at the question. Did he hear her right? Is he finally losing his hearing? Last time Adrian checked, his hearing was fine. So it wasn't that. Maybe it's a joke, he thought to himself. However, he doesn't have that much hope with how serious she looks.
'So is that the secret? But what does time travel have to do with anything?' He wondered.
"I know what it is, yes." The marine answers honestly, still not having a clue about what time travel has to do with anything.
"And I've told you about the humans that have fallen before you. The six Souls held by the King as well." The ghost closes her eyes, before opening them once again. "I lied about that. There weren't six humans that fell in, there were seven."
Again, the marine raises his eyebrows even more.
"Her name was Frisk. She wasn't that much younger then I when she fell. About 16. She fell in, and like you, her Determination revived me in a sense, however, I was so much weaker at the time. I couldn't talk to her, nor could I feel a single emotion. All I could do was watch as she went through the Underground. She went through the Ruins without killing a single soul. A true pacifist at heart."
Her voice becomes a little shaky at the end, but nonetheless she continues.
"Unlike you, she was found by Toriel right after Flowey attacked her. She lead Frisk through for some time, and then left her to her own devices in the Ruins. She eventually came to Toriel's house, and like you, she was offered a place to stay, she refused of course, wanting to get to the surface. Toriel didn't want her to go however. She promised she wouldn't let anyone go through the Exit. She didn't want anyone to get hurt, especially Frisk. But Frisk was Determined. Toriel would attack her to try to get her to prove to herself that she wasn't weak. Frisk denied. Eventually Toriel was tired out, and Frisk proceeded beyond the exit."
Adrian, still listening, takes a seat beside Chara on the bed.
"She meet Sans, and her brother, both of whom were really friendly to her."
"Unlike me." The Corporal interjects.
"And for good reason." The girl says suddenly. "Anyways, she meets with them, some shenanigans ensure, but then, she found herself facing one of the Royal Guards. Long story short, she died. Couldn't even dodge the first attack sent her way."
"But then, something miraculous happened. Time went backwards, and next thing I know, she's a few minutes behind from where she died, right in front of a floating star. She encountered a few of them, but neither I nor she knew what they did until then. So she continued, and she died again. And that trend went on for her entire journey through the Underground. She would continue, die, and then she would continue again with her memories from her last death intact, with no one none the wiser."
Smiling, Chara continues. "Throughout it all however, she didn't kill a Soul. Not once. But when she got to the king. She died again, and again, and again. She eventually gave in and decided to fight. She won after dying over and over again, but in the end, she spared him."
"Now the next part is a little hard to believe, but Flowey decided then and there was the time to take the Souls. He became powerful, not a God as he needed her Soul, but powerful nonetheless."
Chara shakes her head, remembering how hopeless it was for her brother to beat her. Not with that power she held.
"She won, because unlike him, she had time on her side. It was after this however, something even weirder happened."
'This entire thing sounds absolutely insane, unbelievable actually. So what could even make this weirder?' Adrian thought to himself.
"We were back at the patch of flowers she fell on when she dropped into the Underground. Everything was exactly how it happened before. I couldn't feel anything at the time due to how weak I was, but thinking back to it doesn't make it any less bizarre. There were a few in the Underground that remembered everything, that kept their memories intact, even when Frisk died, Flowey being one of them. But that didn't stop her, she went through it all again, hoping that maybe she could find a way out of this cycle if she tried again."
"She was wrong."
"A cycle began from that point, she go through the Underground, get to the barrier, and then she Reset. She tried everything, but none of it mattered. So, she decided not to go through the Underground and instead live with Toriel." She decided to skip the part about Asriel God form, it didn't matter at that point.
"Time reset once again after a week in the Ruins."
"This all sounds…"
"Unbelievable." The ghost answered for him
"Yeah."
The girl smiles sadly. "You know, I didn't believe you about aliens either, so I understand your disbelief."
"I might be biased, but I think alien invasions and dimension hopping is much more believable than a time traveling teenager." But can he really say that however the marine thought to himself. It's not like time travel is much less believable than everything else he's seen. Alien invasions, and government cover ups, believable. Inter-dimensional travel, and a shady businessman possible pulling the strings to it all. Not so much. Besides, it's not like he's been going through an underground society filled with sentient monsters and magic.
"But I've seen quite a lot recently. Very recently, so I'm willing to believe this for now."
The girl smiles.
"I'm guessing me coming here kinda destroyed this cycle? Is that what your getting at?"
The smile quickly falls. She looks away from the marine, finding a sudden interest in the floor.
"In a way, yes. But that's not all. There's something you need to know about me. With how out of the loop everything is, I don't know what to expect next, so it's only right if you hear this from me."
The girl turns to him, her eyes devoid of all emotions except one.
Regret.
"Adrian, I'm a murderer." The marine looks to her as his mind tries to take in the information he's she just gave him. It's not long before his brain finally comprehends what she said. He looks back to her, his face morphed into one of confusion.
"Explain."
A statement, not a question.
Chara looks over to the wall, before continuing her story.
"Frisk got tired of fighting so many monsters over and over again. So, she decided that she wasn't going to spare them all, no, instead she was going to kill those that kept on attacking her. She thought it was necessary, to stop herself from being attacked over and over again. But as the Reset happened more and more, more monsters died in the Ruins. She left it behind, sparing toriel and many others, and continued the cycle. However unlike last time, more and more monsters died each Reset."
The ghost closes her eyes, shame written all over her face.
"Then, the Genocide happened."
Adrian's eyes widen, as he remembers the girl from his dream. Those cruel eyes, and that emotionless expression on her face.
"I helped her."
His mind stops, the world slows for adrian as he comes to terms with what Chara just said. That can't be right he told himself. He might not have trusted Chara that much, but the revelation still hurts.
He's reminded of the HECU. Of Black Mesa.
"She murdered them all, every single monster, and with each kill, a wave of euphoria went through me. With every Soul slain, another wave of emotions returned. You wanted to know what LOVE stand for? What Sans meant by you being LV 26?" The ghost turns to marine suddenly. "It stands for Level Of ViolencE. With each kill, her EXecution Points rose, and she became more and more powerful. I would reward her with every kill, every LV by pointing her in the next direction for the Monsters. I lead her to the defenseless monsters, I helped her." Her eyes turn black as night, as the void leaks out of Chara's empty sockets.
Adrian doesn't move
"I felt more and more alive with each kill. The more her kill count rose, the more I became alive. It was heaven. I didn't even blink when she murdered Toriel, my mom..." Her eyes turn back to back to normal as Adrian's eyes widens. "She killed everyone, and when she reached the barrier, we confronted each other." A single ghostly tear falls down her check. "I can't remember what I said. Maybe I called her out for being a murderer, I don't know. All I do know is that Reset happened again. That didn't stop her, not at all. Frisk changed drastically after that. She killed, over and over again. A new cycle began, one of Genocide. After god knows how many Resets however, I changed…"
Her head hangs down low.
"Everything came back all at once. I felt alive again, human even. Empathy, pity, regret, all of these emotions I haven't felt since I was alive. But what became a blessing quickly turned out to be a curse, because now all I could do was watch as Frisk killed everyone, over, and over again. I had to live with that Adrian, I had to live with the knowledge that I helped change this girl into a demon, that I had to watch her as she killed my parents in an endless cycle of violence!" She was shouting now.
It was at this point that Adrian remembered something else from Black Mesa. A memory buried underneath all the other horrors found within that facility. A lone private, surrounded by the bodies of his comrades, and of innocents.
The smell of blood was everywhere, or at least that what Adrian imagined as he stared out at the gruesome scene in front of him.
The bodies of scientists lay in the corner of the room, all dead. However, unlike many other, they sport large chunks of their backs missing. Blood, and spinal fluid leak from the open wounds. Piss drench their pants and the floor as their bladder were released post mortem, turning the ground a yellowish red. Some had entire pieces of their bodies missing, while others had their skulls completely shattered open. Some were old, some were younger. Some were male, others were female. Some had beards, others were clean shaven. One was a ginger, more were blond.
The scene was sickening, but Adrian has already seen many like this. Already he was numb to the death that greeted his eyes. He's seen worse from the aliens. He looked at the spent bullet casings on the ground.
It still didn't make it better.
He walked past the aftermath of the execution, not even bothering to spare another glance at the carnage. He witnessed the aftermath of a slaughter much like this one not a few hours before, right after he found out what his 'brothers' in arms were up to.
Right after he found out why they were sent here.
A muffled cry comes from a room he just pasted. Turning his shotgun to the door, the marine leans up against it, listening for the tell tale signs of zombies that he's been running into lately. After waiting for a while he starts to hear the sound of crying coming from the other side. With this new found information, Adrian slowly turns the door handle.
Another massacre greets him. However, this time, those that lay dead are not scientists, nor even Black Mesa security guards. Instead, he finds that those dead sports the same urban camo as he does, with the same helmets and PCVs that he wears. Unlike him however, they sport the same wounds as the scientist in the other room.
The first thought that went through his head was that Black Ops must have gotten to them. However that idea is immediately thrown out the window when he sees a HECU marine curled up in the corner, with a spent M4 carbine, a discarded helmet, and respirator not too far from him. Much like Adrian, he also wear the gear that he has on him now. Another soft cry comes from the marine.
Walking over the corpses, Adrian gets close enough to reach out to the marine.
The marine looks up at him, tears flow freely from his brown eyes. Blood cakes his otherwise youthful face. Looking over to the young marine shoulder, Adrian spots his rank. Private, he realizes. Couldn't be any older than him.
"I... killed them." He says in between sobs. "They made me ki… kill them. I… couldn't stop myself. They said it was our orders. That… They deserved it." Another wave of tears hit the blood covered ground, mixing the two liquids together.
"They said we had to… go find others. I couldn't. I didn't want to. I…" He looks away from Adrian and to the dead marines in the room.
"I killed them too." He whispered.
Adrian doesn't speak.
"I'm sorry corporal. Oh god I'm so sorry Davis, Harrison, Charlie." His voice becomes more quiet with each name. More tears washed away the blood on his face and fell within the puddle underneath him.
"I'm sorry." the distraught says to the dead, as if his apologizes will reach them.
"Please end it." He whispers as he looks through Adrian's glowing respirator lenses and into his eyes, a bloodied handgun suddenly in his hand held out to him.
Adrian can't respond, nor does he move.
The marine lowers his handgun, curls back into a ball, and continues to cry his eyes out, not even sparing the Corporal in front of him a second glance.
The sound of a distant explosion is heard, but neither pay attention to it.
Adrian picks up the marine's helmet, the name Mendoza etched onto it, and ever so gently, strap it on the crying private's head. A gloved hand pats the marines shoulder and gives a reassuring squeeze. He turns around, back to the carnage in the room and slowly walks away from the private.
Corporal Shephard makes it to the end of the room and walks through the door, however not before looking back to the crying soldier on the far side of the room. He turns the lock, so no one from outside can get it, and shuts it close.
After taking but just five steps, he hears the sound of a handgun going off from behind him. He doesn't turn around. Instead he keeps on going, wondering why he couldn't save private Mendoza.
"Then I had to watch her go through it again! OVER AND OVER SHE MURDERED EVERYONE AND IT"S ALL MY FAULT ADRIAN!" She's all but shouting now with tears falling freely down her face.
"EVERY FUCKING RESET I SEE HER KILL, ANd all I wanted was for it to E…" She stops as she starts to sob uncontrollable.
An arm wraps around her, and she instinctively clings onto the marine and buries her head into his PCV, causing her cry to become muffled. Another gloved hand makes it way to her back, and gently starts to rub it in a calming manner.
"I'm responsible for their deaths Adrian."
A memory goes through the corporal's head uninvited. A picture of that same girl from his earlier dream, Frisk he realizes, walking down a yellow hallway illuminated the light coming from the many windows, a red glowing knife in her hand. Pillars surround her on both sides, and directly ahead of her is Sans, his eyes empty.
"You kill even a single monster… You will face judgement."
Not a second later, the vision is gone, with no evidence of it ever being there in the first place. Chara is still clinging to him as he strokes her back in his best attempt to calm her down. While it's working, he can still tell she's distressed.
"They sent us into Black Mesa with telling us anything." He says suddenly, causing her to look up at him.
"Our only warning was our sudden change in our training routine but a few days prior. The name Black Mesa was thrown around, but nothing was concrete at that point. I came in the second wave, and even then we all still thought it was going to be some babysitting job. Next thing we know, the Osprey next to us was blown out of the sky by a flying manta ray."
A voice rings in both Chara's and Adrian's head.
"Holy shit! Goose 3 is down, Goose 3 is down!"
"Then we were hit."
Memories flood back to Adrian. The sergeant falling out of the VTOL, the sudden crash, then darkness as unconsciousness took him over. The sudden sound of battle comes right after, and then he's greeted the memory of his squad mates fighting tooth and nail against the alien invaders. One looks over to him, watches him as he slowly loses consciousness again. Purple shackles, and an older face compared to the rest of those that he fight later on.
While momentarily confused by that particular part of the memory, he continues nonetheless.
"I was saved by a bunch of the local scientist, who then proceeded to heal me after I went unconscious. I thanked them, got my PCV back, and promised I be back to get them, or at the very least send someone their way to retrieve them."
He takes a deep breath.
"I fought a bunch of aliens, regrouped with the rest some remaining units, and made my way to the evac zone. I didn't make it, and got left behind. Then I found out why everything was so quiet before we got to Black Mesa."
He stares into Chara eyes, and sees the curiosity in them, meaning that he was distracting her from her grievances for the moment.
"We were sent in as a clean up crew, for both aliens… and human…"
A single tear falls down his check.
"My brothers, no, my family were murdering innocents. I found some many defenseless scientists and security guards executed. Even in the midst of an alien invasion…"
"Humans still found a way to kill each other." Chara says silently.
The marine nods. "And then the Black Ops came. They murdered everyone. Scientists, security guards and marines, it didn't matter. But I look back at that and I think back to a particular soldier. Mendoza."
A far away look befalls on his face.
"Didn't know the guy, but I saw what he did. Bodies of scientists all shot up piled neatly into a corner. He didn't want to do it Chara, but his squad told him to, said that they were orders. So he killed them. Couldn't live with himself however, so you know what he did?"
The ghost doesn't answer.
"He killed his squad, couldn't bear to repeat such an action. Nor could he live with himself after such an event." The last part was barely a whisper.
"He killed himself," The ghost stated, finishing the story for Adrian.
He doesn't respond at first.
"Adrian?"
"He reminds me of you in a way," the marine says suddenly, causing Chara to raise an eyebrow and tilt her head in confusion.
"You didn't want to see them all dead, did you Chara?"
"No." She answers weakly.
"You weren't yourself, not completely. You helped her because you had no other choice. Mendoza was forced into the situation, you were forced to help her as you were someone else."
"Adrian…"
"I don't blame you Chara. Your not a murderer, not to me, you just simply had no choice as a higher power forced your hand, just like Mendoza."
A silence falls between the two. Another tear falls down Adrian's cheek, and a ghostly tear falls down Chara's. Soon however, Chara similes. A true genuine smile.''
"You sure know how to help a girl out Adrian, don't you?"
"I try my best."
The two fall back into a comfortable silence as they ponder the new information the two have discovered about each other. Adrian thinks on why he decided to tell her about Black Meas, but in the end, he doesn't care. He saved someone. Not in a physical sense, and maybe not even completely, but he feels like the two have established a bond strong enough to stop the ghost from falling into despair, to trust each other through their journey through the Underground.
"We're fucked up people aren't we?" He says suddenly.
Chara giggles.
Chara might not know why she decided to bring up such memories, Adrian seemed like he was going to believe her anyways, so it's not like she had to support her claim. Nonetheless, she feels… happy in a sense. Maybe things will be better going on. Things might have changed but maybe not in a bad way.
They both know however, that they will make it through the Underground.
A voice interrupts the quiet. It reverberates deep in Chara's head much like a shout in an empty warehouse, bouncing around.
"Watches~ He watches."
"Hiya Mr! Did you have a good sleep?" The bunny from before stands behind the counter, hands behind her back and a car salesman smile plastered onto her face.
Adrian, with his respirator and helmet back on, nods.
"Woah! Really? Because you were only up there for like half an hour." The smile doesn't falter, nor does the marine respond to the statement. The monster takes a bag of coins from behind the counter and passes across to Adrian.
"Here's your money back. You can pay me if you're going to stay overnight."
A little caught off guard, the marine doesn't make a move to pick up the money.
"Just take the money Adrian."
Following as the ghost commands, he takes the money, nodding in thanks as he does so and promptly leaves in tow with Chara in tow.
Not much has changed that much in the thirty minutes time the pair have been inside the inn. The only real difference is that the snowfall has increased in intensity. However not by much, as evident by the multitudes of monsters still outside celebrating around the town center and it's 'Christmas' tree.
Walking down the main street, pass an igloo, a library and a few houses, Adrian overhear the conversation of two child sized monsters by the town tree.
"Did you hear about the Dump?" The first asked excitedly.
A monotone "no" voice responds. However the first child either doesn't care for the other's apparent lack of interest, or more likely, didn't get the idea.
"A bunch of my buddies said that there some type of creature hiding in the garbage. They say it hunts monsters for breakfast, and they almost got snacthed up by it too!" The first monster put his hands up in the air, clearly excited about the idea of some creature ready to eat him.
"I really doubt that." The same monotone voice replies.
"Oh really? Then why are they sending the Royal Guard into the dump if nothing is there? Hmm."
Now that gets Chara's attention. Looking back to Adrian she can tell that the marine is no longer listening to the pair, as he's probably writing it off as just rumors. Chara however, is much more concerned about the prospect of something else being in the Underground. With the arrival of Adrian, and the sudden change in year, the possibility of what could be down here does leave Chara with a pit of anxiety in her nonexistence stomach. What if it's a human who, like Adrian suggested to Toriel, that fallen down from some other unknown entrance to the Underground?
What if it's Frisk?
She shakes her head clear of those thoughts as the pair walk by the skeleton brother's house. Adrian ends up spending a lot of time looking at San's mailbox, filled way beyond what it was meant to handle as usual, before Chara can snap him out of it.
"That's a lot of mail."
The ghost rolls her eyes.
"Didn't he try to kill me earlier too?"
"Yep," Chara says, popping the p.
"Where are we going by the way? I mean I don't mind walking aimlessly until we reach the king buy still."
"The path goes through a cave not far past the brother's house. From there it's a straight path through Waterfall and right to Hotland. And yes, I know, the king is awful with names," the ghost says as she hears a snicker from Adrian.
They make it past the house, but as soon as the cave becomes visible to the pair, the snow starts to pick up in intensity. Snow starts to fall with much more frequency, and the cold wind howls and bites at Adrian's arms, causing a shiver to go through his body. Chara, like always, isn't affected by it, however both Spitball and Sparky curl up in the corporal's backpack to keep themselves warm as the temperature suddenly drops. The Displacement cannon on the marine's back, swings in the high winds, despite it's heavy weight.
With the cave so close in sight, a wave of determination courses through Adrian as he sprints ahead, with Chara close behind him. The marine makes its past the cave's entrance, but continues forward nonetheless. Chara however stops. She doesn't understand why she does, but something nags at the back of her mind, telling her she's being watched.
Turning around, the ghost peers into the blizzard behind her, trying to see if she can spot anything unusual. After a second of searching and finding nothing out of the ordinary, Chara continues forward into the cave, albeit more cautiously of her surroundings as she tries to catch up with Shephard.
Had she looked back out into the storm not a second later, the ghost would have seen the outline of a thin figure holding a briefcase and with piercing emerald eyes, staring at her as she goes further and further into the cave.
The snow in the cave eventually turns to stone as the pair find themselves out of the sudden blizzard and into Waterfall proper. The sound of water dripping from the ceiling and unseen flowing rivers echo across the cave. Luminescent plant life light the way in a hue of blue. Jagard rocks cut out from the otherwise smooth stone floor, giving those that wish to walk these path an excuse to wear shoes, or any form of foot protection.
A small dinosaur like monster without any arms stands further up the path. The kid has a look of pure excitement on his face as he stands around, clearly on the lookout for something. As Adrian gets closer however, the monster kid beams at the soldier coming behind him, despite the fact that said soldier is heavily armed.
"Hey, you out trying to see Undyne too? She's awesome, I bet she can kick that creature's butt any day! Oh, and don't tell my parents I'm out here." The kid sports a bashful expression as he says that last part.
Looking over to Chara for advice, the marine gets none, so he turns back to the monster kid, with a look of boredom on his features. Not that either the kid or Chara can tell with his respirator covering his face.
"Kid, I would go home. It's not safe to go out alone, especially without your parents parents permission."
"But I want to see Undyne! She's so cool!"
"And I'm sure she wouldn't want to see you hurt." The marine interjects quickly, shutting the kid up. However, the excitement doesn't leave his eyes, nor does he look as if he's going to take the marine's advice anytime soon.
Sighing to himself, Adrian walks ahead of the monster, shaking his head as he does so, and passes another sentry outpost, with snow still on the roof he notices.
"So who's Undyne again?" The marine ask, as he treks through an ankle high river that falls down further into a drop in the cave.
"She's the captain of the Royal Guard. She's extremely skilled, and makes use of magical spears that she can conjure up at will. She has an extreme passion to get the seventh Soul for the king. However she can be befriended if you earn her respect."
Climbing out of the water and heading forwards once again. The pair eventually get to, and go through, shoulder length weeds growing out of the cave floor. Suddenly however, a loud and somewhat high pitch voice cuts through the cave from a ledge above them.
"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A WHILE NOW AND THEY HAVEN'T COME BACK."
Quickly, the marine presses his figures against the rock face and shrouding himself in darkness to avoid any wandering gaze.
"Have anyone else tried to get in to the Dump at all while you were there?" A heavy, somewhat muffled, female voice asks without an inkling of emotion.
"NOT AT ALL! EVERYONES TOO BUSY CELEBRATING TO GO ADVENTURING UNDYNE!"
"That's Papyrus." The ghost tells the hidden soldier. "He's not anytype of threat."
The sound of heavy plate armor can be heard shuffling around, before the female figure speaks up again. "I wouldn't worry about those two, I'm sure their alright, they can handle whatever down in the Dumps. Besides, there's an actual human coming through here soon, so I want you to head back home, get your brother, and get everyone to safety. Got it?"
Adrian tenses.
"YES UNDYNE! DO YOU WISH FOR ME TO RETURN SO WE MAY CAPTURE THE HUMAN TOGETHER?" The louder male voice asks, childlike excitement and glee clearly present in his voice.
"No, just head back to Snowdin, you've done well enough today Papyrus. Now get going."
Two pairs of footsteps are heard, one heading back from the way Adrian came, and the other closer to his position. The marine tenses up as he brings up his sidearm. A figure peers over the ledge from above him, giving him a good view of them.
A knighted humanoid greets the marines eyes. Two eye sockets, one glowing white and the other dark, scan the caves, looking for him. Heavy plate hang tight against the figure, providing plenty of protection, and great red mane flows freely behind her helmet. A second passes with the figure scanning the cave before she out of view again. Foot falls can be heard getting further and further away before the sound disappears altogether. After waiting another moment to make sure that the figure is gone, he finally get out from the corner and continues forward slowly. It's at that moment that the same monster child from before jumps out of the tall weeds Adrian walked past earlier.
"Wow! Did you see that! Your so lucky, she almost looked in your direction. I wish she could look in my direction!"
Then without warning, the kid just runs off in the opposite direction of Snowdin, but not before tripping over one of the many jagard rocks and falling flat on his face. Adrian was about to help pick the armless monster up, before he was able to do it himself. And with a smile on his face, he ran back again without tripping over.
The corporal could only stare as the kid runs ahead before continuing forward down the path in the same direction as Monster kid.
Jumping over a pair of small rivers and gaps that lead into an endless abyss, the marine takes note of just how beautiful the place he finds himself in is. The water, while not clear, has a light blue hue to it due to the many 'Echo flowers,' as Chara called them, and other such plants illuminating the large cave system while glowing rocks on the walls give the impression of stars in a clear night sky. While he rather not think of Black Mesa, he can't help but think back to Xen when comparing the place. While there are no floating islands filled with hostile alien lifeforms and pools of healing liquid, the general feeling of awe and the atmosphere from the glowing plants and rivers of a blue translucent water gives off a very similar feeling to the alien dimension.
Chara has been helpful filling him in on what he should expect from Waterfall. Already he's passed plenty of bizarre monsters that've attacked him. However he's been doing pretty good at just threatening them with a gun. Or in some cases just outright ignoring them if he has the chance.
"What, afraid your muscles aren't as big as Aagon's? Don't want to embarrass yourself in front of a girl like me~?" The ghost asked, blinking her eyes in a playful manner.
Which had lead to this point.
"I'm not having a flexing competition against a floating... merhorse? Besides, didn't you say that we were suppose to encounter this Undyne already?"
The girl shrugs her shoulders. "I said that she normally encounters Frisk around the bridge we just pasted. Remember, everything's different with you here now." A devilish smile forms. "Now back to that flexing competition."
The marine groans.
So far, everything has been going far too smoothly for Adrian's taste. While yes, they have run into plenty of monsters, none have really threatened Adrian's life. So he's just been collecting more and more gold coins which he would put in his backpack. Since he doesn't have anything to spend the money on, his alien companions have been using the coins to form a makeshift bed in his backpack, giving themselves a well deserved rest after their trek through Black Mesa.
'Those bastards ate my Bisicle.' The marine thought to himself as he takes a bite out of his last piece of pie from Toriel.
While yes, the caretaker did give him plenty of food, his alien companions have taken a bit more than what was agreed on between the three. It still enough to get him through, but it would still be nice if he could get some more food for later, it's not like they need more than half.
He swore he could hear the two aliens laughing, or more of crackling considering their biology.
Water leaks from the ceiling of the cave, drenching the marine's gear. However he barely bats an eye. Compared to wandering through sewage, both alien and human, the rain is nothing in comparison. However he still takes an umbrella that he found in a trash can.
He wouldn't want to disturb his alien pets beauty sleep now would he?
As his boots splash against the large puddles beneath them, he looks around to find himself walking by a destroyed statue. The upper most half has collapsed in on itself, however the general structure is still relatively intact. A snout can be seen sticking out of the rubble, with large goat like ears on top of the remaining parts of it's head.
Not noticing the dangerous glint in Chara's eyes as she looks at the structure, the marine continue forwards again with his umbrella held high. Not a few feet further however does he runs into a problem.
"Yo! You have an umbrella? Cool!" Without even asking, the monster kid hiding within the enclave in the cave walls runs out and goes underneath the protection of the umbrella. While Adrian might not mind the fact the kid trying to seek shelter from the "rain," he still finds some annoyance with the fact that the kid is still here and not with his parents like he told him a few times already
"Yo, Undyne is so cool! She beats up every bad guy and like, never loses! Man, if I was a human, I wet my bed every night." The kid laughs.
Adrian, still holding onto the plastic umbrella, looks over to Chara, as if expecting an answer to an unasked question.
"He doesn't know your a human. He's never seen one. Same goes for a lot of monsters actually."
"So one time," the kid continues, "we had a school project to take care of some flowers, and the king - we had to call him Mr. Dreemurr - gave us some of his flowers. So anyways he told us about responsibility and stuff like that and that got me thinking. What if Undyne came to school!"
The marine raises an eyebrow behind his mask.
"She could beat up all of the teachers!"
As the three continued to walk in the "rain," the kid spoke up again.
"Okay, maybe she wouldn't beat up the teachers. She way too cool to do something like that.
The group make it out of the cave and onto a large expansive clifftop. The rocks shimmer on the ceiling, giving the illusion of stars in a clear night sky. Far off in the distance, a city can be seen, with many human looking buildings all surrounding a great castle. Towers and walls surround the interior castle, separating the modern looking high-rises and the main castle structure.
"That's the Capital. And that castle," she points to the castle, " is where's King Asgore is, along with the barrier." Chara spoke.
Shephard nods, taking in the structure and analyzing it in way to find any weak points. The walls, while not that thick, could probably hold off any invaders for a short while, however the towers seems to be the weakest part of the entire structure. That use of high-rises also give plenty of cover from artillery. Not that would be useful underground, Adrian thought to himself. All in all, it's a fairly well defended location, considering it houses the monarch of an entire species, that not surprising.
The group make in to the other side of the clifftop, and into another cave, this one without any water leaking from it's ceiling. They pass by another bin filled with umbrellas, so naturally, the marine puts the piece of plastic away before continuing forward behind Chara, with monster kid in tow. They make it to a rather small shelf. Throwing his body wait up, the marine is able to climb it with relative ease while Chara, despite being a ghost, has to hold onto him to pull herself up. Lucky for the pair, Monster Kid didn't notice.
'Speaking of the kid.'
Adrian turns back around only to see the monster child walking back from the way they all came from.
"I'll find another way around!" Quickly, the monster speeds off, but not before falling face first again, and like last time, the kid gets himself up and runs off.
"He's trying to find Undyne." The ghost says.
"I kinda figured."
Going down the path once more, the pair come across a long wooden bridge, with another bridge below that, and further down, a seemingly endless pit.
"Undyne is usually here, so I would be careful lest you fall into the Dump."
The marine takes out his side arm and trusty tool wrench, and with little hesitation walks onto the bridge. Nothing happens as he continues along, scanning the two bridges for the female knight.
An odd noise comes from underneath Adrian causing him to look down. A blue circle of energy materializes underneath his boots, causing him to jump out of it's way. Right as he does so, a large blue spear made of the same energy come jutting out the circle. Looking down, he sees the knight on the other bridge. Thinking quickly, the marine aims his pistol at the figure, but not before he hears that strange sound again, causing him to jump away at the last moment, with a spear where he was before. Seeing that he has no way to get a good shot with the spears constantly coming at him, he decides to book it across the bridge.
The knight follows closely behind him, still causing spears to jut out of out below Adrian's feet, causing him to dodge again and again, throwing off his aim.
'Shit!' Adrian thought to himself as he jumped away from another spear. 'I got to hand it to her, she's good. Now if only you can stay still for one second.'
Looking behind him shows him two things. One, Chara is still following him, so no need to worry there, and two, the knight is no longer behind him on the bridge, causing him to stop and pause.
Not a second later, a line of spears jut out from beneath him, causing him to jump forward again and look back to try and find the knight.
The sound of metal footsteps come from behind him.
The marine quickly turns around and aims his side arm at the knight. In response, the knight raises her right hand, causing the soldier to tense up.
"Adrian look out!"
The figure brings down their hand, and the sound of something coming at him from above causes the marine to jump back. A wall of spears come down and cut through the bridge, with another coming in from behind him, cutting off a segment of the bridge.
'Oh shit.'
The wood falls beneath him, and he quickly follows. Thinking quickly as he falls into the abyss, he takes his backpack and shield his alien friends from the impact that sure is to come.
His back connects to the floor, and Adrian's world goes black.
The ghost could only think of how unlikely it was that Adrian would get sent to the Dump in the same way Frisk would, however that quickly evaporates as she's pulled down as well as the distance between the two reaches its limit. Panic comes first, then the realization that she's a ghost comes second. Smacking herself for her idiocy, the ghost falls with but a care in the world, assured that she'll be fine like she always has been.
Her feet connect with the ground, and her world goes dark.
"There's been a lot of suits walking around lately, so try to act busy."
The world fades back into existence, but once again she finds herself in the facility the Adrian told her about. Grey walls surround her, with rubble littering the floor. Pools of some strange green substance along with blood dot are all around her.
The world fades away with a crack of what sounds like electricity, the same sound that she heard from Adrian's arrival.
The world comes back into view and she finds herself for the first time outside on the surface. Looking around shows that's she's currently in a car park to some type of building. Off in the distance, she can see what looks like buildings spread out in a large area.
A miniature sun forms on the horizon where the buildings once where, blinding here temporarily. Opening her eyes, she can see a great wall of flames heading straight for her, causing her to widen her eyes in horror, despite knowing it's not real.
Or at least, it isn't now.
A great crack is heard as the sound from the large explosion reaches her ears. The shock wave comes next, flipping cars, lampposts, and even causing the building behind her to tumble to the ground as if it were made of sand.
The wall of flames get closer, however she notices a figure in front of the parking lot staring straight at her. A suit, briefcase and green eyes, are the only thing she can make out before the wall of flames reaches him, to the point where he's only an outline as the flames consume her next, turning her world hot white once again.
Then, darkness.
"HE is not man… for you he BREAKS, for you~"
The voice from the Ruins echo from every direction and no direction at the same time.
"Deceive you… Will deceive you.
A horrible alien shriek comes from nowhere.
Then, as if nothing happened, she's standing in front of the unconscious form of Adrian once again.
Dust litters the room as the girl he saw from the Ruins, Frisk he remembers, strolls through without a care in the world, a murderous glint in her brown eyes.
"In this world, it's killed or be killed!"
He sees Frisk smiles as she stares off ahead of her and out of Adrian's view.
"YOUR GONNA HAVE TO TRY A LITTLE HARDER THEN THAT"
A flash of a knight, dust flies everywhere.
"Ah ah ah. Eager as always huh?"
Images of a broken machine laying on the ground go through Adrian's head
"Hey! What are you doing? B...Back off!"
A crumpled flower lay dead on the ground as Frisk smiles.
A series of symbols flash before his eyes. Despite never seeing them before, he understands the message completely.
"You aren't suppose to be here"
His eyes open.
The feeling of flowers surrounding him gives him a brief sense of deja vu as he remembers his arrival into the Underground. The marine slowly gets up, and looks around. Immediately he can tell he's in some type of garbage dump. Piles of trash and discarded machinery surround him. Up ahead, he can see Chara looking at him with his backpack and pipe wrench in hand. The soldier gets up, albeit slowly and walks over to the ghost. He takes his belongings and finds that both of his alien companions are still okay. His side arm was found next to him and his Displacement cannon was still on his back.
"How long was I out?"
The girl shrugs. "Not long, a half hour at most."
Adrian notices the uncertainty and her voice but decides to not bring it up. Looking around for a way out, he finds that there is only one path as every other one is blocked by mountains of trash.
The two continue on in silence, both trying to make sense of what they saw. As the marine trudges along in the heel high "water," he can't help but to think about the supposed beast that was brought up by those kids back in Snowdin. While he initially discredit as just kids spreading rumors, he might want to rethink his opinions on the garbage monster.
His hand hovers over his gun, and he motions for both of his alien companions to be prepared as a sudden sense of unease passes through him. Chara too notices the change in atmosphere and can't help but wonder what is down here.
"There was never anything down here during the Resets, not unless you count the Mad Dummy."
Adrian nods to the ghost and continues forward.
The two round a mountain of trash and come into a clearing. Garbage water still runs through here, however there is a lot more open space. Walls of trash surrounding the clearing on every side but the path Adrian came from and two others. However, that's not what the pair are focusing on.
Their focus is on the dented helmet, and the large amount of dust floating through the air.
"Chara?"
"Yeah."
"Who helmet is that?"
The ghost peers over at it and after a second responds.
"That looks like a Royal Guard helmet. RG 01, or maybe 02 even."
The marine takes out his pistol, and allows Sparky to slither down his left arm.
The pair draw closer to the center of the clearing, giving them a much better view of the helmet on the ground. The helmet looks caved in, as if something hit the face with a tremendous amount of force. Dust can still be seen inside of it, most likely from the previous owner. Looking back to the two paths on the other side of the clearing, the marine ask the ghost what direction they need to go in.
"I don't know."
The marine looks at her.
"I forgot to tell you that the date is also different as well. There so much more trash then I remember being here during Frisk's time."
The marine doesn't say anything.
"Adrian?"
"Somethings watching us."
Before the ghost can respond, the wall of trash next to them burst open as a large shape speeds on through it.
With no time to react, the marine is thrown across the clearing and slams into a large mound of trash. Looking over to his shield, he can see that it's down to 10%. Groning the marine gets out of the pile and looks over to his enemy.
He stops dead in his tracks as shock courses through his body as he takes in what he sees.
Two large powerful hind legs help keep its large body a meter off the ground. It's general shape is that of a Theropod, with a large tail with a hooked claw at the end to keep it balanced, and the legs positioned around where it's center of mass would be. Tiger like stripes and spots adorn the top of body. It's slit-pupiled eyes, black and glossy, are on both sides of it's large head. No neck separates the head and body, as the two combine seamlessly. To top off it's appearance, large red tentacles around its mouth, which itself is full of sharp shark-like teeth.
Adrian doesn't move as his brain tries to come to terms with the fact that one of his old enemies is here, in the Underground.
However, the marine doesn't get much time to think.
A loud alien roar interrupts him and to his horror, Adrian realizes what is going on.
The Bullsquid charged.
AH HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHHAHA
FINALLY, WE ARE HERE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, A MOMENT I'VE BEEN DYING TO WRITE FOR AWHILE NOW.
I'm sure most of you knew that it wasn't just going to be about Adrian going through the Underground, not with the date change and everything.
I wonder what that going to do?!
Anyways, I been having way too much fun writing this Fic, like an obscene amount of fun. I don't know why, I just have been. Also, longest chapter like, ever. I've never done above 5,000, let alone 8,000. I kinda lost track of time. And my word count.
Also quick, but IMPORTANT question to you readers. Do you think I'm doing a good job when it comes to Adrian and Chara, think I'm going too fast? Too slow? Just enough? Is there too much dialogue, or too little. I'm terrible at ships, but I couldn't not do it, you know? The opportunity was right there. Besides, it's important for the plot. It is, I swear.
Also, I made it so that the transitions are visible for those on mobile. For some reason, the line separator doesn't show up there, at least not for me.
