Half-Tale: The Fallen
Characters are not mine. Half-Life and Adrian Shephard belong to Valve Corporation, and Undertale and Chara Dreemurr belong to Toby Fox. Please support the official releases.
Chapter 3 – Tutorial
Don't get lost.
Chara has been enduring. Still.
Though this time, her problems weren't so bad.
She spectated, floating along as she watched Toriel, her adoptive mother, lead her newest tether through the RUINS. Chara decided to let her mind wander in her mind as she mindlessly followed them; she wouldn't be able to interact with Adrian in any meaningful way anyways. There was no point in making the Corporal look crazier and out of place than he already looked.
Besides, if her mother found out that that she was a ghost forced to spectate for all of eternity, the outcome wouldn't be so great.
In any case, this was quite the contrast from what she's had to experience the past few RESETS. Usually, in Frisk's runs, things progressed very fast. They sped past every main 'encounter' boss, saving them for later, or kill them right then and there if they were high level enough. Kill everyone and everything in a singular room and then move on to the next. Repeat these two steps and that's the gist of it.
Watching Adrian and Toriel follow the same song and dance, manoeuvring through the various 'easy' starting puzzles, she saw with Frisk and the latter, at least initially, run through made her wonder. Adrian was different, at least so far, to Frisk, but then again, Frisk didn't start off with the genocide runs. Obviously.
But something bugged Chara. This run, that should be insignificant other than her tether not being Frisk, felt final. As if this would be the last time she would have to repeat this kind of adventure, going through the entire Underground.
There was nothing to prove this little delusion she figured she might have conjured up in her mind, though. Adrian should by all means go through the same process Frisk did for all eternity, eventually ending up like them… but she couldn't sweat the feeling.
But it didn't matter that much anymore. She has time now. This time, should Adrian go down that path, she would know to convince him otherwise before he got too far.
That is, if her feeling was wrong.
In any case, she would continue to watch him.
Speaking of, to her, Adrian hasn't proven himself to be an actual bad guy, so to speak, other than the moment on the Surface. But he is a human, and she knew how prone to violence the race could be. Hell, she witnessed a very good example of that with Adrian himself, who she saw brutally dismantling a soldier for one reason or another.
But then she looks at him now and how he moves, how he talks… It's such a far cry from what she saw of him from that moment. She knew he had to have had a reason for committing such violence; he had such conviction and purpose with each wrench swing...
"Now I sound like I'm gushing over him. Bah."
She did only just meet him though, so he could just be hiding his true colours. She'll have to see.
And then there was that alien, Spore, Adrian's best buddy. Chara has absolutely no idea where Adrian got it nor why he still has it, but so far, it hasn't even been commented by anyone else directly. Toriel seems to not mind at all and Flowey initially ignored it. She probably wouldn't have known it was an alien either if it wasn't for Adrian straight up telling her outright.
She… did not like it. Chara knew it would just be recognised as any other monster in the Underground when they get further in, but something about it felt off. If she were asked, she would be unable to explain why.
Chara also felt its eye on her as well. Constantly. Only Adrian and other non-corporeal beings should be able to see her, but she could be convinced that Spore could as well.
But she couldn't just tell Adrian to ditch it. He seems too attached to do that. Not much she could do about it now.
"Hm?"
Before she knew it, Toriel had left them, leaving the two of them, not counting Spore, alone. It appeared they had come to a stop at the end of the infamous long-winded corridor. She's been so involved in her own thoughts that she was oblivious to anything of what the conversation was. Chara blinked before her gaze wandered upon Adrian.
She remembered the little argument they had earlier and wanted to say something. Maintaining this childish silent treatment was definitely an awful idea considering they were going to be tethered for the rest of their journey.
Adrian, it seemed however, had other plans as he pushed forward into the next room. They found themselves in a short, yet elongated corridor with red leaves painting the sides. A little path, only highlighted by its contrast with the rest of the floor, turns a corner; a passageway to another room is notable. If one would deviate from the path, instead taking a left, they would see a little dark entrance to another room.
Adrian visibly sighed and pocketed his hands, beginning to follow the path.
Chara puffed her breath and followed after him. She had to say something. If he wouldn't, she will.
"…Hey."
Adrian seemed a little startled when she spoke up, pausing his movements. "…hey. Listen, I'm-"
"Sorry."
The both of them stopped precisely in their tracks.
Chara titled her head curiously and chuckled, being the first to speak up afterwards. "Nope, I said it first, Corp. I'm apologetic, alright? I'm sorry. I get that it was an instinctual reaction. You probably couldn't help it, couldn't you?" She ceased her floating and landed on the ground, putting her hands on her hips.
"No no," Adrian began saying, scratching the back of his neck with his gloved hands. "I mean, yeah, I guess, but it was on me. To be honest, I probably wasn't going to die earlier. I've been through way worse than a talking flower hurdling 'friendliness pellets' at me. But you know… you can tell. With what I look like 'n all."
"Obviously, I know you're a soldier," Chara felt more comfortable now, even smiling. "And I know you've killed before. There's no other way you could have such a strong SOUL. I don't know what your LV is, I'm sure it's high, but down here, I'm just trying to let you know you don't have to resort to that kinda violence."
"I get it, Chara," Adrian took a breath and readjusted his gas mask. "I'm just used to fighting for my life in really strange scenarios, especially lately. You'll probably catch me doing the same thing for a little while; if I do, just stop me."
Chara nodded. She doesn't really know what Adrian went through on the Surface – she only saw a snippet – but she knew that it was definitely unusual. She knows she'll have to bring it up at some point – her 'dream', but it wasn't appropriate right now. For now, they had to continue pushing forward.
"Okay, should we get going?"
"Hang on, Corp. You see that room over there?" Chara pointed her thumb behind her, a pitch-black entrance that led to another room, a deviation from the path. "Check it out."
Adrian took one glance at the entrance and 'hmphed'. "Why is the entrance pitch black? I can't see anything in there." He glared at Chara. "You're not punking me already, are you? I said I was sorry."
Chara shrugged. "Dunno, but it's not going to lead you to your doom or anything, I promise you. Besides, it'll help you out. You got hurt during your, eh, treacherous bout with Flowey, right? C'mon, take a chance."
Adrian nodded, folding his arms. "Okay, sure. Let's take a look."
They deviated from the lightly highlighted path, instead taking a left from where they originally were, and entered the black pathway. The room almost instantly lit up as the duo entered the room. Adrian raised an arm to cover his gasmask's lens, not expecting the room to brighten as fast as it did. "Damn!"
They were met with a rather small room, with two small square pools on the left and right of the entrance respectively, sliding all of the way to each of their edges. On the far end of the room lied a pedestal surrounded by a flock of red flowers. On it had a ceramic bowl filled to the brim with various candies.
Adrian walks up to the pedestal and reads off a note written on the top first. "Huh… 'Take one!' Is this… candy?"
"No reason to think it's anything else. Go on, try one," Chara smiled as she flew over the two pools of water in the room before settling a few feet from Adrian. She was anticipating something, something she thought she might've seen earlier when Adrian was fighting Flowey. "Oh yeah, and make sure to only take one. If you take any more than that, something really bad is going to happen."
"Uh, what?"
"If you only take one, you'll be fine."
"You had an ominous look on your face when you said that. What was that about? What're the risks?"
"No idea what you're talking about. I didn't make a face."
"…"
"Just take one."
"Hmph. Fine."
Adrian took a breath and hesitantly took a piece of candy and unwrapped it. The candy itself wasn't too notable; it resembled any other piece of chocolate.
"Come on…" Chara watched him with great anticipation.
Adrian briefly lifted his gas mask only slightly – barely enough to reveal just below his nose – and ate the chocolate, pulling the mask back down afterwards. His eyes widened in surprise; the candy seemingly rejuvenated him, if only a little. He certainly felt refreshed. "Woah. That wasn't too bad."
He turned to look at Chara, who looked at him with a deadpan and annoyed expression.
"What?"
"Take off your mask."
"…No?"
"You have to show me what you look like."
"No, I don't. Not right now, anyways."
"You're being annoying, Corp."
"If you say so. Hey, want a piece?" Adrian picked up another piece of candy and held it up to Chara.
"…Screw you too."
"Hehehe," Adrian laughed, kneeling down to Spore, who had been quietly following them from behind. He gave it the candy and rubbed its head for a second. He was almost tempted to grab another piece of candy for later, but he decided against it. Chara seemed serious when she said that there would be something bad that would happen, and the last thing he needed now was any more surprises.
He also knew that there was no point anymore in keeping the gas mask on, but he knew how much Chara wants to see his face. So, he decided to mess with her a little bit, and take off the mask at some random moment. Her face would be absolutely priceless, he thought. "Okay, okay, sorry again. Thank you for showing me that."
"…You're welcome. And you owe me," Chara crossed her arms, testing her intangibility by phasing her arm through the candy bowl. For a second, she could swear that it might have moved, if not only slightly, but she shook it off and drew it up to her own overactive imagination. "Alright, we've wasted enough time. Let's get a move on. There's a lot to the RUINS."
"Yes ma'am."
Adrian, with Chara and Spore following closely behind, exited the room quickly, going back to the room they were in previously. This time, intending to follow the path, he pockets his hands and moves forward. He didn't exactly know how large the RUINS was, but he hoped it wasn't too large. Something about this place gave him a sense of uneasiness.
Right as he was going to draw the corner leading to the next room, he was… encountered.
"Ribbit!"
"Uh-huh…"
A battle sequence begins, surprising Adrian as the familiar feeling of losing something crucial to himself returns once again, the physical manifestation of his SOUL phasing out of his chest. It resonated the same warm, fluorescent glow it did previously. It startled him, but as soon as he recognised it, he was returned his gaze.
Instinctively, just as he did against Flowey, he reached to his side pocket for his trustworthy M1911. Right as the grip of his gun felt his gloved hand, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Chara's stern, red eyes glaring a hole into him. He shrugged, removing his hand from the pistol. "Yeah, yeah, I know."
She sighed in relief. "Alright, here we go. Your first fight. Well, your second, technically." She pointed at the monster. "This is a Froggit."
Adrian folded his arms. "Well… What do I do?"
"Talk to him."
"Talk to… him?"
"Yeah-p."
"Why?"
Chara internally facepalmed. "Okay, I was being a little hyperbolic earlier when we met. Monsters here want to take you out, sure, you're a human after all, but it's super easy to just not fight them and instead make them your friends. Not only would it be less of a hassle for you, but you also get to save yourself the bullets. Less blood, or dust, on your hands as well."
"I see," Adrian huffed, refocusing his attention towards the Froggit. He slightly lifted his head as if he was going to say something, but he couldn't think of anything. "Damn it. What am I supposed to say? I'm a fighter, not a… talker."
Before he was able to make up his mind, the Froggit suddenly attacked. A few flies spawned and flew towards Adrian at very slow speeds. Unceremoniously, he just side steps out of the way of the flies.
The Froggit, however, noticing the man in the mask's guard was down, leaped with speed towards him. Unfortunately for him, however, Adrian dodged this as well without much issue. He looked over to Chara, who was smiling. She shrugged in response to his gaze meeting hers, gesturing a go ahead.
"…Idea."
He stood his ground and pointed at the Froggit accusatively, seeming to look down upon the monster. "You. Froggit. Those attacks you just did right now… weren't so bad. Keep up the good work."
The Froggit, in response, blushed, seemingly satisfied. He smiled, dropped some gold on the floor, and hopped away into another room. Adrian tilted his head in slight confusion, walking over to the dropped currency. "Is this… Gold? Why did he drop gold?"
Chara floated over to Adrian and crossed her arms. "That's another thing I forgot to tell you about. Monsters also drop gold upon defeat, for whatever reason. I actually don't know why myself; I never bothered to ask anyone when I was alive. Probably some formality or something." She nodded her head. "In any case, pick it up! It'll help you later."
Adrian picked up the gold coins, it totalling to around four. To him, these were definitely quite rare on the Surface if it was pure gold, so he wondered why a monster would just drop him gold. Maybe they were more common here? He'll have to find out later; either way, he pocketed it. He then shook his head. "I'm not good at this, Chara."
"Maybe not now, but you will be if you keep it up. You don't have to only talk to your opponent; there are obviously other things you can do, depending on the monster," Chara said, ceasing her floating and landing on the ground in front of Adrian. She pointed at him. "It's super easy. Even a child could do it. Don't tell me you'll let yourself be outperformed by a child, Corp?"
"…" Adrian said nothing for a moment, seemingly in contemplation. "…No guns?"
"No guns."
"Damn."
Adrian and Chara, along with Spore, have been traversing the RUINS, encountering a variety of puzzles and monsters alike, the latter of whom were all spared by Adrian with some degree of hesitance. Having to deviate from his instincts from his militaristic training was certainly a little difficult, but he was able to suppress that side of him.
The puzzles, however, were a different story.
So far, they weren't hard per se. In fact, they were quite easy. Too easy. Adrian wondered who these were made for. Surely not for him, or someone like him, anyways. Chara mentioned her having some kind of 'previous tether'; he wonders if they were the kind of target audience that perhaps Toriel, the caretaker of the RUINS he talked to, made these puzzles for.
Either way, he doesn't need to fester on this for long. He'll ask Chara about it at a later date and hopefully get some answers on the true nature of the UNDERGROUND.
In other news, the monsters he's encountered were all certainly interesting. He met an enlarged frog, Froggit, a very sensitive monster resembling a moth, Whimsun, and… a sentient glob of jelly. And, although they all attacked first-except Whimsun, who he encountered by accident-, he was able to pacify all of them without pulling out a single weapon.
Which was a nice change for him.
All of the monsters so far weren't very strong nor threatening, thankfully; Adrian wanted to maintain some semblance of pacifism for as long as he can. He figured that going on a random murder spree not only would take more of a toll on his mental than there already is, killing semi-innocent monsters and whatnot, but he also just did get finished with essentially massacring an entire race of invading aliens along with entire units of Black Ops soldiers.
If he doesn't have to kill, then he won't.
…but if he has to…
Adrian, with a puff, turned into the next room. It was a very large room with particularly strange flooring that spanned throughout the middle of it to the end. Turning to his left, he saw a little wide rectangular hole crafted into the wall that led elsewhere. He figured that he could fit in it if he tried, but there was no point in trying at the moment; the end of the room looked like the way to go anyways.
He returned his gaze back to the strange flooring. The tiling definitely differed from the rest of the floor he stepped on; they looked as if they were on the brink of collapse.
"Right. What is this."
"Looks like it's a break to me, Corp," Chara absentmindedly said, ceasing her floating. She stepped foot on the solid ground and walked over the puzzle, absolutely nothing happening. "Not so bad. This puzzle is free."
"You doing that isn't doing anything to convince me that I won't just completely fall down the second I step on a single tile there, Chara," Adrian raised a hand to his chin in contemplation and gazed upon the whole of the room. There wasn't any way around it; someway, somehow, he'd have to cross. "This doesn't look very fair to me."
"Psssh, naw, what are you talking about?" Chara smiled, resuming her flight. "It's a meticulously crafted masterful puzzle concocted from only the grandest of minds!"
"What?"
"There is no way around it. Trust me on this. Just walk, 'kay?"
Adrian did trust her, at least a bit, so it did weigh on his mind more than it normally would. So, he made a judgement call and walked over to the edge of the 'safe' area. Before he arbitrarily walked on it, he scrutinised it for a moment.
"One step…"
He lifted a foot and stepped on a tile that especially seemed like it would collapse upon impact. He pursued some pressure on it. Nothing happened. His suspicions haven't been completely quelled, however. "Hm… Okay, this doesn't seem like it'll land in a massive spike trap."
"Spike… wha?" Chara squinted her eyes and tilted her head. He shook it right after though. "…Eh, see? What'cha doubting me for, Corp?"
Adrian huffed. Maybe Chara wasn't messing with him. He supposed that he should be more open-minded in this kind of thing. More trusting, rather. He pushed his worries aside and began walking on the crumbling floor, nothing happening so far. "Well, you know, I can't be too careful-"
He was barely able to hear the sound of the floor crumbling beneath him as he almost instantly fell, without being able to grab a hold on any of the surrounding broken tiles. "SHIT!"
"NOT AGAIN!"
"Ooph!"
The Corporal landed on his back on yet another set of flowers, although these were red, and slightly less effective than the ones he fell on in the beginning of the RUINS. He lied there on the ground for a second in contemplation. "Fuckin-A. That's the second time."
"BAHAHAHA!"
In the meanwhile, Chara phased through the floor, laughing excessively. She looked at Adrian and held her stomach. "Aw, JEEZ! I haven't laughed like that in a LONG TIME! I can't see your face, but it HAS to be absolutely priceless! Can't believe you fell for that. C'mon, Corp! Thought you were better than that!"
Adrian lied there motionless on the ground, unmoving.
"No, but seriously. It looked so obvious, too. You can't just believe everything you see." She floated over to Adrian and put her hands on her hips, floating over him. "…Corporal? Hey, I know you're fine. Those red flowers are embedded with monster magic; they won't hurt you no matter what."
Adrian remains motionless.
"…Corporal?"
"…"
A slightly concerned expression could be seen on Chara's face as she ceased her floating, moving over to Adrian. "Hey… Corporal. Get up. It's not funny anymore. It's not that big of a deal; let's just get going. I'll show you how to do the puzzle."
"…Adrian?" She went to take a closer look at his mask, wanting to see some sign of life coming from the soldier. She looked, or at least tried, to see his eyes within the lens. A sense of panic, if very slight, seemed to wash over the young woman. "Wake up? Please?"
The air smoothened, bringing upon a moment of silence.
"…Boo."
"GAH!"
Chara instinctively flew back at blinding speeds, yelping as her already brightly lit up cheeks reddened even further. She flipped backwards in mid-air, stabilising herself after a second or two. "Fuck! Corporal, what the actual hell?"
"Just a little revenge," Adrian got off his back and stood up, dusting himself off as the impact prior kicked up some pollen or a similar substance. "I didn't know you were so susceptible to jump-scares like that, Chara."
"I want to punch you so bad right now. You're lucky I'm a ghost," Chara sighed in exasperation. "Otherwise, you'd actually be on the floor lying dead… Jeez, making me think you were dead. I do not want to go back."
"Go back to…?" Adrian thought for a moment before shaking his head in dismissal of whatever she was talking about. "Alright, whatever. Let's see what this has to offer…"
"…You figure it out," Chara floated up to the ceiling with an annoyed expression on her face, phasing through. "I'll be waiting for you by the end of the puzzle."
Adrian shrugged. Startling her like that probably wasn't very mature of him, but at least he learned a little more about her. He smiled underneath his mask; he'll apologise later. For now, however, he needed to solve this 'puzzle'.
He gazed upon the open ground and witnessed a sort of pattern; flowers were bunched up in certain areas, leaving a clear-cut path free of the red flowers. "Okay… I see it now. The puzzle is actually a maze. The pattern here, the clear path, is probably the one I have to take up above. Hah, I would've had to fall down here anyways; otherwise, I wouldn't know the pattern."
"Now… How would I get back up…?" The man turned his head and saw a door. He supposed that the little slit in the wall that he believed himself to be able to fit into was connected to that. "That's got to be it."
Without saying anything, he pocketed his hands and examined the room one more time. He needed to remember the pattern, so he went on a little practice run and walked through the open path to build up his memory. He didn't really want to fall again, for the umpteenth time today.
When Adrian finished, he took his time walking towards the only door in the room saw a ladder within a few feet of the entranceway. He climbed it and crawled through the slit. It did indeed fit him–just barely. His PCV didn't make it any easier; he realises that he should probably find a place to put all of his gear in soon.
In any case, he returns back to the main puzzle room. He saw Chara on the other side of the room, her arms folded and her back against the wall. He lifted his head to acknowledge her presence, but she turned her head to the side and 'hmphed' in response.
"Expected."
Adrian gauged the puzzle, utilising the mental note he made of the solution. "Start from the far corner, walk all the way right, move forward ever so slightly, take a far left, walk forward a little, take another right, walk to the end, and then it is safe to walk to puzzle."
With ease, he followed his own instructions through the maze and, as luck would have it, he made it through. "Figured that all my myself. Imagine that."
Chara scoffed. "Tch, took you long enough."
"C'mon, that didn't take me that long to do," Adrian folded his arms. "Anyways, for what it's worth, I'm sorry for starling you. But eh, you did mislead me."
Chara turned her piercing gaze towards Adrian's. "Yeah, but still! You would have had to go down there anyways to find out that it's a maze, with the solution being down there and all."
"I know that, but you could've told me that before I blindly fell."
"…I knew you weren't going to die. I told you as much."
"…Don't do that again," Adrian pushed his back against the wall to mimic Chara. "I've fallen too many times today and all of them were quite unpleasant, alright? I'm tired of it. It wasn't a big deal that time and from earlier, mostly cause I wasn't hurt after, but… well. Those kinds of surprises aren't my favourite."
"Okay, okay, I get it, Corp," Chara replied with a groan. "I'm sorry, alright? There, happy?"
Underneath his mask, Adrian smiled. "Yep."
"Hmph!" She got off of the wall and flew over the puzzle. "Hum… This is the first time you've gone over this puzzle. It didn't take you that long. You've got a photographic memory or something? That'd be cool."
"Nah, nah. It's just a little memory puzzle. It was kind of obvious, with the flooring and all. Just had to memorise the pattern and… there it was. Wasn't that hard at all. Very interesting puzzle, though. I'll give you that I needed to fall down."
"See? Me, ehm, 'misleading you' was all part of my master plan," Chara smirked, returning to Adrian. "Yep. Mhm. For sure."
"…Right," Adrian questioned that, but didn't fester on the thought for very long. He turned, facing the entranceway to the next room. However, he stopped right before he proceeded, he felt something off. "Hang on… I'm missing something."
"?"
"Where's Spore?"
For one reason or another, his alien friend continues to elude him at every possible corner. In Black Mesa, they were inseparable; now, it wanders at every possible corner. And it doesn't help that Adrian hadn't really been focused on keeping an eye on it so far on his venture, ever since he beckoned him to get off of his shoulder.
"I'm an awful pet owner. Where the hell…"
"Hey, Corp," Chara looked at him with a deadpanned expression and pointed upwards, then looking up herself. "Still so creepy. Jeez."
"Huh?" Adrian turned his head upwards and saw Spore crawling on the ceiling. He chuckled and beckoned for him. "Hey, Spore! G'down from there!"
The alien creature obliged and dropped down directly on Adrian's shoulder before retreating on the ground. Spore, with its one eye, briefly stared at Chara for a moment before proceeding to the next room by itself.
"Yeah, I'm never getting used to that… ever," Chara thought, a little bead of sweat dripping down the side of her head. He shook off the feeling and turned her gaze back towards Adrian. "Oh-kay… Come on, let's follow your, eh… little friend."
"Right."
The both of them continued forward, following the little alien into the next room.
A/N (Long Author's Note inbound! TL; DR at the end)
Holy shit. Oh my God. Before I say anything relating to this chapter or whatever the hell, Disco9 HIMSELF, the absolute primary inspiration for this fic, made a review! I can't even express into words how much this means.
Hold on hold on, lemme properly address it.
Ahem, Disco9. THANK YOU! Your fic was far from shitty. It was definitely a really enjoyable read and I loved every second of it, which only left me saddened when I saw how abruptly it ended (right at a climax too… Man, that messed with me for a while, but I completely understand your reasonings now that I'm hearing it).
…Which was why I decided to take it upon myself to sort of rewrite it, if you will? With some new ideas and concepts and more elaboration on certain stuff along with using yours as well. It's really hard to put into words… Your fic made me want to continue writing.
If/when you do decide to finish it, I'll be definitely checking it out with great anticipation. Thank you for the kind words!
Anyways, with that out of the way, chapter 3…
I want to make something clear. If the entire part of a dialogue is italicised, it means that it's a thought. If a single word or two is italicised in a dialogue, then that word is emphasised when the person is saying it; so, it is not a thought.
Ex. "The guy is a guy." Is a thought.
"The guy is a guy" is something being said.
Moving on, the beginning of this is going to be slow-ish. Not that much action here – mainly character interaction and pure story rather than constant action. Might be a little boring, but I think it will make it so that the later scenes will be more impactful 'n stuff.
O.K. so, this chapter was going to be long initially. 8 thousand words or something like that, but I decided to cut it into two as to fit my plan, the rest being in the next chapter (4). I'll go into more detail there.
That's about all.
(TL; DR – Disco9, the main inspiration of this fic, reviewed the fic. I am incredibly elated. Emphasis in dialogue is when specific words are italicised; thought is when the entire section in the quotes is italicised. Early on story will be slow-ish. This is on purpose. This chapter was long, but I cut it. See next chapter's A/N for more info.)