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 6 - The Cold

New faces bring new challenges.

Adrian suddenly felt a rush of a chilly wind breeze past him.

"…Colder…"

The comfortable feeling of the RUINS and its various tight corridors decorating its section was suddenly and promptly cut off, like a flame being extinguished from a candle, lighting the way forward.

Impacting him immediately, he reacted aptly.

"…Yet colder."

The marine instinctively hugged himself, shivering ever so slightly. Even a marine wasn't entirely infallible to sudden changes in weather, no matter how much training they may go through to combat this weakness.

It's a matter of how used to it you would be.

Normally, Adrian wouldn't react this way in any case; he was a bona fide trained soldier, after all, trained in all matter of scenarios and combat situations. However, the sudden shift still disturbed him more than it normally would. He turned to Chara, who obviously seemed no worse for wear.

Adrian stifled a chuckle. "Can't feel any of this, huh? Lucky you."

The young woman turned to the man and smirked. "Perks of being a ghost. We can't feel… but there lies the damn downside. We can't feel."

"Fair trade-off."

"I don't think so."

"Well, you know more than me," Adrian thoughtlessly commented, pulling down his sleeves. Wherever he was stationed, it was always hot in some way, so he wasn't used to having them down very often. Raising his gaze, he saw Chara looking right back at him.

"What?"

She briefly looked at his sleeves, now rolled down and covering his forearms. "…It's not that cold."

"Like you'd know."

"Contrary to your belief, I was here before you, ya know."

"Maybe things have changed since the last time you were here alive."

"Yeah, right. Nothing ever changes 'round here… though with you around, I guess that'll change."

Adrian shrugged and took a singular step forward, taking note of his immediate surroundings.

It appeared he was surrounded by trees; or to be more specific, he was submerged in a plethora of dark oak woods, there seemingly being no deviant paths to take other than the one right in front of him, a gaped, obvious, opening covered in snow.

In the horizon, Adrian saw some semblance of light, but it was foggy.

The marine sucked his cheek and blinked. "No way but forward."

Right as he was going to press forward, he witnessed a slight glint disturb his vision ever so slightly on his left.

"Hang on, Corp. Check this ou-"

"Hold that thought."

Adrian paused. He slowly turned his head to his left, tilting it ever so slightly in curiosity. He stared at a large boulder intensely, as if he was expecting something to happen when he did. Something felt inherently off about it, though; it felt like the boulder was staring right back at him.

Which should be impossible…

…but if he knows that if he's learned anything from his escapades in Black Mesa, he would be wise to not take everything at face value.

Instead of ignoring it and continuing forward, he took a sharp left and kneeled right before the boulder, scrutinising it carefully. He put one of his hands on the boulder. It wasn't anything special; it was just a boulder. But the feeling still remained.

Moving slightly to the right, he scoffed, seeing exactly why.

The marine pushed himself off the boulder and stifled a cough. "That's a camera. I'm being watched."

"Wow. You saw that?" Chara remarked as she folded her arms and smirked, a look of modest impressment plastered on her face. "I should give you more credit. I was just about to point that out to you before you interrupted me. Rude, by the way."

"Well, I'm used to the feeling of being watched," Adrian thought, nodding in brief acknowledgement of the spectre.

He thought about pointing at the camera to make it more obvious that he was aware of its presence but disregarded it as he opted for just putting his hands on his hips. "Hey. It's kind of rude to stalk random people with hidden cameras. You should find a new hobby."

The man shook his head before shifting back on his path. With one last disappointed glare towards the camera, he continued forward, venturing deeper into the forest.

Chara, a little stunned by Adrian's inaction, went to catch up with the marine. "Not going to destroy it or anything?"

Adrian shook his head. "Nah. I'll figure out who's behind it eventually. I'm sure they got the hint that I'm onto 'em…" he paused, turning his head towards the young woman. "…I don't suppose you know who it is, do you?"

Chara said nothing in response, only raising an eyebrow as she looked at him momentarily.

"…I'm going to guess that means you do. I'm also guessing that if it was super important, you'd tell me."

"Finally, you're starting to catch on. I'd pat you on the back and give you a cookie if I could."

"Ha-ha."

Adrian refocused, continuing his trek through the harsh wilderness. To be fair, it wasn't that bad, but the environment made it seem worse than it actually was. He finally submerged himself fully on the path covered by dozens upon dozens upon what is likely hundreds of winter-affected trees, although it seemed that the weather was constant, unchanging.

It was maze-like, but luckily for him, he wasn't so unfamiliar.

He's conditioned to the cold. He always has been, in fact, even prior to his military training. He wasn't sure if it was because he moved a lot, consequently adapting to a lot of different environments, but that sort of adaptability did help in the long run, especially when he enlisted. Boot camp was hell, but it could have been worse on him.

However, this cold… was unusual. Perhaps it was the jarring switch from warm and comforting to stark and freezing, but he felt it was something different. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle; in fact, he knows he's been through much harsher, but it was different.

So, he brought it up with the apparition.

"So… Chara."

Chara perked her head up, silently floating aside Adrian. "Hm?"

"You said you've been here, right?" Adrian queried. "In this part of the Underground?"

The young woman nodded. "I've pretty much been everywhere in the Underground. Except a few places, I mean. I've heard about some kind of western… Eh, I'm trailing off. Yes. I've been here before. Why?"

Adrian folded his arms. "Why is it so cold?"

"Eh… Isn't tolerance to that kind of thing in the job description of being a soldier or something?" Chara asked back with a confused expression on her face.

The marine shook his head. "No, no, I mean… This kind of cold is different to any I've experienced. It's way different, actually. I've been through harsher, but I'm just asking if this is normal or something."

Chara said nothing for a second as she seemed to dig through the depths of her mind. After a few moments, she spoke up. "Well, yeah, I guess you can say that. I can only compare from back to when I was actually still alive, and it did feel a little strange, but I didn't think anything of it. Either way, you shouldn't be so bothered. It's nothing to really worry about."

"Huh. Alright, if you say so," Adrian shrugged, tactically walking over a random stick on the ground. "You'd think I would be used to the constant weirdness by now."

"You'll get used to it. Ya have to. Those who aren't able to adapt, don't survive."

The marine nodded. "Yeah yeah, just something I was curious about… Hey, speaking of ability, you still haven't told me about your new ability to… move things. Now that we're out of the Ruins, you can tell me about it, right?"

"Oh, yeah, whoops. Forgot about that," Chara said, nodding as she floated a little further ahead of Adrian. "So, how it works, I think, is…"

CRUNCH!

In an absolute instant, Adrian unholstered his M1911 from its holster and turned around in a flash instinctively, as if it was second nature. His eyes focused, squinting, as his hands kept completely still and uncompromising, poised to shoot at whatever dared to make that noise.

He drew out his breath. "Nothing."

"What was that lock-in about?"

Adrian didn't even give the comment the time of thought as he inched himself backwards ever so slightly, his eyes darting from the path behind him to the surrounding trees. He cursed himself; if his vision was ever so slightly better, he might have been able to see whoever, or whatever, made that sound.

He was glad that he decided to stop wearing his gas mask.

Adrian gritted his teeth. His fondness of surprises could not be overstated – in fact, it could not be understated as well. He despised them; it was only recently in Black Mesa where he learned to grow accustomed to them. He had to – otherwise, he would've been dead, lying on the ground to a random Black Ops ambush.

He knew something was following him; the feeling of him being watched was sending him alerts throughout his body, riding up his spine. But he had no idea who. It wasn't him, Adrian wouldn't have known otherwise, and he wouldn't be this careless.

This was definitely someone else entirely.

"…but who?"

This directly reminds him of Black Mesa, at least a little. Occasionally, when he entered a room, he would be ambushed by a squad or two of Black Ops soldiers, as if they were just waiting for him, or those like him. Every single time it happened, it was never to be expected. He had to learn to be more aware of his surroundings because of it; so, in a sense, he was glad.

…though he could have done without the bullet storms aimed to rip through his face.

He raised his pistol. Whoever or whatever he was facing, they were definitely not going to come out now that he was fully aware.

The marine continued to back up, his guard still completely unshaken. His back then bumped into some sort of force, forcing the man to turn around in a flash. He was met with a wooden pole that connected to some sort of crude bridge. It had a set of poles that oozed with the intention to trap, or block, although one of the primary poles that would allow such a restriction was destroyed, allowing easy passageway forward.

He turned his head upwards to his left, towards Chara, who sat down on the railing holding the poles from above. She seemed to be expecting something to happen, crossing her legs and looking beyond into the horizon.

Adrian, catching this, opened his mouth to question her, but he was interrupted by a noise.

" N."

"Shit."

Adrian froze for a moment, tightening his grip on his pistol and gritting his teeth even harder. He had to act. Every nerve, every fibre in his body was screaming at him to instantly attempt to kill whoever had dared to sneak up on him like this. Just like those Black Ops soldiers.

…but he knew better.

"D O N ' ? E."

Adrian turned around slowly, lowering his gun as he aimed it at his supposed assailant, though his finger was notably not on the trigger. The figure was shrouded in darkness still; he couldn't properly get a grasp on who, or what this was. With a determined expression plastered on the marine's face, he scowled. "Identify yourself!"

The figure revealed himself, stepping out of the darkness with his hands raised.

"I guess that made you… pist-off, huh?"

Adrian tilted his head slightly in confusion as he scrutinized the figure. He was met with a cartoon-ish looking skeleton. Shorter than him by far, possibly around 150 centimeters tall, the 'big-boned' skeleton wore a large, blue hoodie, black basketball pants, and a pair of pink slippers. The dark voids that should be present within the skeleton's eye sockets instead possessed white, floating, iris'. He seemed to have a permanent smile on his face as well.

"Put down the gun, Corporal."

Adrian ignored the request, instead focusing all his attention on the figure. The skeleton didn't seem to want to harm him, but he couldn't help but be on edge anyways. With all the surprises he's encountered thus far, he needed to be careful. "Who are you?"

"the name's sans. sans the… skeleton. nice to… met you…?"

The skeleton seemed to trail off as the white iris' previously present within his eye sockets disappeared completely, although the smile remained. He put his hands down into his pockets and stared at Adrian, or rather, directly at his SOUL.

This surely did not help Adrian feel any better.

"…how many?"

"What?" Adrian replied as he raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Explain."

"ya don't have to play stupid with me, human. i'm sure you know all about your excessively high kill count."

"Damn. Why can people just see that?" Adrian thought shaking his head. He thought it should be obvious, with his occupation not being hidden whatsoever, though it was possible that this 'Sans' person was unfamiliar with the concept…

But then he remembered Napstablook, who seemed familiar with the idea.

Either way, he had no idea how to explain his situation, but he definitely tried.

Adrian, keeping his pistol aimed directly at the skeleton's cranium spoke as his index finger twitched. His eyes briefly darted to Chara, who was intently listening into the conversation before turning back to Sans. He wondered why she didn't offer any more input. "Listen. I have not KILLED anyone down here. Understand? Not a single soul. Leave it be… Sans."

"Maybe he'd be more complicit if you were to, you know… lower your pistol," Chara brought up.

"There it is."

The skeleton's expression remained the same: dark, empty, and apathetic, except that cold, permanent smile. "…your LV is far too high for anyone to not go manic with murderous intent, buddy. and you… never have i seen higher than what you have. and i'll tell ya, i've seen a lot."

Chara quickly hovered over to Adrian and guided his gun down in an attempt to pacify the situation by getting the marine to lessen his apparent hostility. He didn't oppose it as he lowered his gun willingly, placing it back into its holster. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was quickly interrupted.

"now… normally, i wouldn't pay this any mind… for now, anyways, but you… if i were to willing let you go free right now, my boss probably wouldn't like that."

"This fucking guy thinks I'm a monster killer."

"He totally thinks you're a monster killer…" Chara remarked, shaking her head. "Without telling him you're a human killer, I don't know what you're going to do here… unless you really have been killing monsters when I wasn't looking? Or maybe… monsters not from here?"

Adrian wanted to directly respond to what Chara said, but he knew he couldn't. Not right now, obviously. He set her words aside and responded to Sans instead. He could feel the amount of malice coming from the skeleton, and he did not like it. "You don't have to do this. I don't kill innocent people."

"there is too much risk just letting you roam free without someone closely watching you, and i really don't feel up to doing that. i lack the… tendon-cy for mercy."

…

"Sans is acting super out of character, other than his stupid puns… why is he so aggressive? He's never like this, not even in the genocide route… at least right off the bat. What's going on?" Chara thought. She couldn't affect anything more than a couple of inanimate objects, nor could she actually speak to anyone other than Adrian and other ghosts, so she knew her options were limited. All she could do right now was sit and watch this happen.

Adrian, meanwhile, retracted his hand to a side pocket that bore his combat knife. He wasn't looking for a fight, but if he was forced to… he promised himself that he would act. How he would handle this with the same level of pacifism Toriel asked him to use, he wasn't sure, but this is definitely a good way to practice it.

Sans recoiled ever so slightly as he witnessed the knife. It seemed to give him a sense of déjà vu, but he wasn't familiar with why. In any case, the void in his right eye regained some fullness, the emptiness being replaced by a sharp, glowing, blue eye.

At the same time, Adrian closed his eyes for a microsecond, reopening them instantly afterwards. He calmed his breathing, ridding his mind of any excess and irrelevant thoughts not pertaining to what he may face in mere moments. The marine was ready, raising his knife in a battle-ready stance.

…while Sans just stood there with his hands mysteriously remaining in his pockets.

Chara sighed in annoyance. "This sucks. Well, here we go, I guess…"

. . .

"SAAAAANS!"

"Or… not?"

The fight ended before it could even begin as both combatants' intent to fight withered away as a direct response to the loud voice, of which was not so dissimilar to a specific cartoon character that the marine was familiar with.

Sans, specifically, calmed all the way down, to the point where he now seemed as passive as a dough of snow on the ground, feeling the sense of malice die down in tandem. Adrian took note of this as he, as well, retracted his malice, returning his combat knife to its socket. Turning around, he saw the source of the voice.

They were both met with a rather flamboyant-looking tall skeleton, donning a red scarf, boots, and gloves. He also had a pair of blue underwear; it was as if he was attempting to do some sort of cosplay that turned into his permanent attire.

"SANS! YOU ARE UP AND ABOUT, I SEE? THAT IS VERY GOOD! HOW ARE YOU FEELING NOW?" the tall skeleton shouted with purpose. He had his hands on his hips as she smiled in a somewhat prideful manner. "I TOLD YOU, REST IS BEST! ALTHOUGH I DON'T THINK IT HAS BEEN THAT LONG..."

The smaller skeleton chuckled. "hehe, yeah. don't worry, i got plenty of rest. in fact, it seems like i was... bone to sleep!"

"NOOO! IT SEEMS YOUR PROFICIENCY FOR YOUR PUNS HAVE RETURNED!" the tall skeleton exclaimed back, stomping the ground in obviously feigned anger. "ANYWAYS, SINCE YOU ARE UP AND ABOUT, I STILL BELIEVE IN MY FEELING THAT A HUMAN MAY COME THROUGH HERE VERY SOON!"

Adrian opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't muster anything. He had no idea what to say at all. "...What the hell is happening? Does he not see me? I don't have my gas mask on... so I should look human, right? Who even is that?"

"don't worry, bro. i'll let ya know when i see one."

"GOOD! THANK YOU, BROTHER! I SHALL BE OFF! NYEH... HEH...HEH!"

Without even a second glance, the taller skeleton turned right around, and marched the other direction, ignoring the man clad in military attire entirely. Sans let out a sigh and turned back to Adrian, his eyes bearing those floating white dots again. This time, however, he was in a much more relaxed mood.

"saved by the bell, eh?"

Adrian finally got the chance to put some more words in. "Okay, stop. Right now. I don't know where the hell you got your little, uh, 'preconceived notion' that I've been killing your kind. I haven't. Since I've fallen here, zero people have died because of me. I swear it."

He paused for a moment, blinking, before continuing. "Whatever qualms you have with me… whatever the hell you sense from me… It's not who I am, okay? I'm not some murderous psychopath you're painting me as."

The skeleton says nothing, only staring at Adrian blankly. Any semblance of hostility between the two seemed to have completely disintegrated once the taller skeleton interrupted their brief spat. The cool wind brushed as they maintained silence, both completely unreactive.

"…we'll talk later."

Adrian blinked again, and he was gone.

The marine stared blankly at the now newly emptied space. Without uttering another word, he walked over to one of the large poles that lined the bridge and intentionally bumped his head into it. He remained there for a little while before saying anything else.

"…I'm taking five."

Chara shook her head and floated over to Adrian's side. "What're you talking about? Let's get outta here. No way but forward, right?"

"I know, I know… Just gimme a minute. After what I've been through before I got here, I started figuring that taking a break every now and then is better for my… sanity. That's what I've learned, anyways."

"Ugh, fine."

She took a moment to fly up to the bridge's upper platform and sit on it. Crossing her legs, she put a hand below her chin and tilted her head very slightly. Blowing a sigh, she tried to gain any semblance of thought on what had just happened.

Initially, everything went like usual, except Adrian found the camera that Alphys put up to monitor potential humans before Chara could tell him about it. She felt like she should question him about it, but she then just drew it up to intuition.

Next, the stick's destruction. That went by as usual as well, though Chara noted that Adrian was quick to withdraw his gun. She made a mental note to scold him about it later; he shouldn't be using them anyways down here.

And then, Sans' appearance. That almost went by as usual, but Sans seemed to see something right before then. She supposed that he saw Adrian's LV count, something even she couldn't do for some reason, and freaked out.

"It was weird, though… He's never freaked out like this ever. He acts kind of normal, even in a genocide run. Just some extra stuff he says afterwards about Frisk's level being high. He does do something about it later, towards the end of the run… but this early on? Never happened before, that's for sure."

She looked up into what seemed like a black void that she knew led to the cave's ceiling.

"Here, he was instantly ready to fight. Completely out of character. I knew things would be different, but to this degree?"

The young woman shook her head.

"Must be something putting him on edge… Something other than the high LV count. I'd ask Adrian to investigate, but…"

Chara lowered her head and arched her back forward, looking underneath her to take a gander at Adrian. He still had his head planted on the wooden pole, though this time, he had his arms folded.

"Probably not a good idea."

She knew that Adrian's LV count was very high. To what extent, she wasn't sure, but it was high enough to set Sans off right off the bat. She wished she was able to actually see what he's at, to see what all the outrage is about, but she still couldn't check any of his stats. She was completely capable of seeing Frisk's entire repertoire at any time via the usage of a little holographic menu.

In any case, Chara was definitely glad that before any fists could be thrown at each other, Papyrus unknowingly intervened. She wasn't sure who would win, being a fight between two people who knew next to nothing about each other. The more knowledge one has in a fight, plus how adaptable they are, is a great swayer on the deciding factor.

Frisk had the advantage of having fought Sans' set combat cycle over, and over, and over, what might as well be a million times. Every facet, every detail of that fight was extensively studied and practiced by them in its entirety. And so, naturally, it would come easy with the proper amount of time and experience.

But Adrian would have the advantage in that he's a soldier, especially trained in combat, while Frisk doesn't have any formal training whatsoever. Just that they were equipped with a knife and a magic heart locket as their defensive mechanic – Adrian would have a leg up in terms of defense and offense in that respect.

"And that's not even mentioning his… unnatural ability to hyperfocus."

Sans, on the other hand, possesses a flurry of impressive abilities, too. His telekinesis, Gaster Blasters, insanely quick reflexes… the only reason why Frisk defeated him was because of his narcolepsy. Had he been able to keep going indefinitely, the fights would never have ended.

A truly formidable foe.

"Huh… a fight between a well-trained gifted soldier and a magic skeleton… I wonder who would've actually won?"

Before she could ponder the question any further, Adrian knocked on the pole. "Alright, Chara. I've taken my five. Let's get a move on."

"Jeez, about time."

A / N

I am back! With a short chapter… sorry. I could only manage to get this much out with everything happening in my life. The next one will not take nearly as long, I don't think, especially with what I have planned. Expect it sometime near the middle of next month (August 14th-15th, though don't quote me on this).

We finally enter the Snowdin section of the Underground! Yes yes, I know, it's just a taste, but I'm planning on going much further in the coming chapters, of course. Some banter banter, Papyrus hijinks, and the ever-so mystery pervading Sans' consciousness… Why is he so on edge for? Why are his jokes so terrible still?

All answers that will be revealed… soon!

Lol. See y'all in the next chapter!

(TL;DR – Life problems hindered this chapter from being longer and on time, next one won't take nearly as long, for reasons you will see later, and we finally go into Snowdin!)

(F/N) - "Wheres the shockroach?"

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