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 7 – Uneasiness
What is this feeling?
…
The Void.
A seemingly infinite, desolate one, at that, surrounds him. There is nothing in sight, yet he could feel everything in the universe. However, where he was, felt absolutely empty at the same time. No stars, no distant planets, no cosmic constellations… nothing.
And yet, he smiled.
He doesn't know if he's been in this place before… hell, truth be told, he's probably been here hundreds upon hundreds of times; he just doesn't know it.
A particular feeling was always there, though, in this void, to remind him of his convictions. Of his promises, of which he has regrettably made very few. He wouldn't have it any other way, however; it's not like he disliked the promises he's made.
Though there were many reasons why he's only made a handful of them. But only one, relatively recent, promise notably stood out from the rest.
It was a promise to an old lady, that he would never harm a human that came from the large, ruined, shielded door that blocked the way to… what he eventually found out was named the RUINS. He's always thought that request was strange – he was a sentry; he was supposed to be on guard for humans, after all.
And, for a little while, he did contemplate whether he should accept it…
…
He did. He couldn't help it, after all; he never really felt up to hurting anyone anyways, so it was as if nothing has changed at all.
But he knew that eventually he would have to make a choice. In whatever scenario, in whatever event, he would have to decide whether to kill or leave be. To his relief, it hasn't happened yet; he doesn't know if he would be able to make the right call or not.
During his brief contemplation period, he hanged himself up on the promise, sparking a sense of curiosity within him… Why? King Asgore needed only a singular SOUL for all to be free, right? Why should he humour her? There's no real reason to care, right? He stopped giving much of a crap about… anything a long time ago, anyways.
…
As mentioned, even after all his inner lines of questionings, he pushed past his… reservations and agreed to it.
How long ago did this take place?
Only a couple of weeks.
His eyes darted from black space to black space. Although everything was… dark, he was somehow able to pinpoint precise spaces of darkness without the need of a sense of direction. Raising his hand, he tried to see if he could move, or even propel, himself in any meaningful direction.
All attempts failed.
"…guess not."
THWISH!
A blue, circular cast of light seemed to try and form in front of him. It did not succeed; the creation sparked a few blue lights before dissipating back into nothingness.
"…not even that worked. guess i'll be here a while."
Some time passes, with nothing changing whatsoever. He found himself continuing to float in whatever void he so happened to find himself in. However, right after he figured nothing would change, a little feeling invaded his mind.
At first, it wasn't anything major.
But then…
Everything suddenly came back to him. All the memories, all the times he's survived, all the times he's perished, all the times he watched every single person he knew be murdered right before his eyes… Everything was tied to a single person. A single human that changed his world forever, whether he liked it or not.
The human who saved and destroyed his entire perception on reality.
…He couldn't find it within himself to care. Why would it? He quickly discerned that all the memories would be whisked away again, including what's happening now, into nothingness, him only having somewhat of an idea of what might go down when everything is reset again.
The being supposed that this was THE END. His death would be reversed, and everyone would be place right back in their proper spots.
He had absolutely no idea when this loop began. At one point, everyone was just living their lives, free of control and repetition. And then at a later point, likely when the final human, Frisk, fell down, it was as if they took absolute control over this tiny section in time in the UNDERGROUND.
And played it again.
And again.
And again.
Experimenting. Saving and killing people. In various orders.
Thousands upon thousands of times.
It should sicken him, but he thought that to be a waste of time and energy. Why bother to try and change what can't be changed, reason what can't be reasoned with? It's all pointless – even before he began remembering, he stood by this belief.
But that was for an entirely different reason.
"…welp, this is… boring."
Suddenly, the little feeling from earlier returned in a higher dose, perverting his mind. An unfamiliar one, at that; an uncomfortable feeling. One of dread and unsubstantiated fear.
For the first time in a long time, he felt absolutely terrified. This never happened before – this is new and real. Something must be changing, something completely out of his control. He shot his eyes to look for what could be causing this, only being met with the overwhelming and ever-so encompassing darkness.
A ray of light emanated from the horizon. A slight one, but a deviation from the constant darkness certainly.
It confused him. It wasn't necessarily a bad feeling now that he's had the chance to feel it a little longer; he assumed that the dread was an automatic response to whatever was happening now. But regardless, it was still very… incredibly strange.
The light got brighter. The dread returned; this was bad.
The darkness was beginning to become fully engulfed.
The dread was overwhelmed.
He could only watch.
. . .
Awaken.
Sans woke up in a cold sweat, shooting up from his bed with a pounding headache. Taking his cranium in one hand, he took large breaths of air. His eyes darted around his naturally messy and unorthodox room; he tried to remember what his dream was about. He knew it had something to do with why he was having the headache – it had to be.
He felt its incomparable importance.
But… he couldn't remember a single piece of useful information.
Only a feeling he could vaguely remember.
An… uncomfortable feeling.
Uneasiness irrationally invaded his mind.
Eventually, with time, the pounding headache he had subsided, leaving him with only the feeling. "…this is weird… and different. what the heck's making this happen?"
Wearily getting up from his 'bed', he kneeled down and grabbed his signature blue sweater. Slipping into his similarly signature pink slippers he finally slugged himself to his bedroom's door. Turning around for a second, he took note of his incredibly messy room, but he obviously didn't feel up to it right now. "…maybe later."
The skeleton finally left his room, the feeling still not having faded away. Making a fist, he rubbed his right eye in apparent tiredness; he really didn't feel up to doing anything today. But, he knew, he had to. At least the bare minimum.
Despite everything, he kept his smile. "…ahh, how am i gonna deal with this…"
"SAAANS! WAKE U-"
A taller skeleton was seemingly just about to stomp up the staircase before he saw Sans standing outside of his bedroom door. "SANS! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO WAKE YOUR LAZY BONES UP! MIND EXPLAINING WHY YOUR SOCK IS STILL ON THE FLOOR, BROTHER?!"
The tall skeleton pointed to a singular, strategically placed sock in the middle of the living room floor.
Sans, not feeling up to fancying his brother's banter, shrugged, pocketing his hands in his sweater. "…i'll get it later, paps."
"HMM… USUALLY YOU WOULD RETORT WITH ONE OF YOUR BLASTED PUNS…" Papyrus comically put one of his gloved hands on his chin, rubbing it in suspicion. He also climbed up the staircase to physically inspect his older brother. "IS SOMETHING WRONG, SANS? DO YOU NEED ME TO DO ANYTHING FOR YOU?"
Sans shook his head in dismissal. "…nah, nah, i'm just… peachy. might've woken up on the wrong side of the bed, dunno."
"BUT YOU CAN ONLY WAKE UP ON ONE SIDE OF YOUR BED! ISN'T YOUR BED'S LEFT SIDE PRESSED AGAINST A WALL?" Papyrus exclaimed in slight confusion before rattling his head. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS, BUT YOU SHOULD TAKE A BREAK TODAY! I'LL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING! ME, BEING THE GRACIOUS BROTHER THAT I AM!"
Sans chuckled a little, raising his spirits. "…aw, gee, thanks bro… maybe i'll take you up on that offer. just for today, though. can't get myself fired, can i?"
"I'M QUITE SURE UNDYNE WOULDN'T UP AND FIRE YOU LIKE THAT!"
"probably not."
"PRECISELY! NOW WE'RE ON THE SAME PAGE!" Papyrus smiled. "ANYWHO, I HAVE A FEELING THAT TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT, IN ALL! I WILL CONTINUE TO WORK ON MY PUZZLES FOR ANY INCOMING HUMAN!"
"…hmm, if you say so, paps. what gotcha thinking that we'll see one today?" Sans inquired, genuinely curious. With him feeling the way that he does now, he can't help but feel that anything is possible.
"LIKE I SAID, IT IS A FEELING! AND MY FEELINGS ARE SELDOM WRONG, SANS! GET SOME REST; I WILL HANDLE THIS! NYEH HEH HEH!"
With surprising haste, Papyrus ran out of the house, likely to tweak, fix, or create some puzzles in preparation for who he feels is coming. Sans, chuckling to himself again, shook his head. The chances of a human falling down now is never absolutely zero, he supposed, so Papyrus wasn't wrong, but what were the chances?
Still, he felt something off himself, too, so maybe there was some credence to it?
"…prob'ly not."
He quickly came to this conclusion without any second thought. A feeling is a feeling, and although he loves his brother, he would rather not have a human show up. Not today, at least; not with this pounding headache.
He wouldn't know how he would act.
Sans' stomach growled. He forgot that he needed to eat sometimes – although he's a skeleton, he's a monster skeleton. Meaning he does require some form of sustenance, of which he found ironic enough. "…time to hit up Grillby's."
Looking around, making sure there was no one around – although he then scoffed at himself, realising there was no one else here due to him being in his own home – he snapped his fingers, opening a portal behind him.
Ever since… that experiment, he's been able to conjure up portals that can take him wherever he wants. Although he tried to keep this ability under wraps, he slipped up a few too many times, and now it's… well, not widely known, but it's known to a degree. Now, he doesn't really care about that; as long as no one bothers him about it, he can continue to abuse it without a care in the world.
The skeleton fell into the portal, instantly teleporting to another environment. Landing on his feet, he stood and recognised his surroundings… one filled with snow. He was now right outside of Grillby's, his favourite restaurant in the entire Underground. Where he's free to chill, relax, and tell his incredibly well-crated puns that he spends all day thinking of to the other patrons.
…although he doesn't know if he'll be up for the latter.
/ | \
"…and then i told him, '…ey, what's the big idea? i'm booked for the comedy show today… who're ya?'"
Sans shuffled in his seat, widening his grin. "…the guy pointed at the sign of the comedy club and the portrait, saying 'I OWN THE COMEDY CLUB!'."
He settled with tales.
Laughter roared from the entirety of the cozy and ever-so popular pub, Grillby's. Located in prime time Snowdin and ran by none other than Grillby, the silent fire monster, himself, it was the best meeting place for all of Snowdin's denizens, although it's mostly the guardsmen and guardswomen who really show up these days, excluding a few specific patrons.
…from what Sans could tell, anyways. He doesn't spend all his time here. He might as well, though; everyone knows him.
The bar itself wasn't a spectacle, but it just felt great to go to, relax, and feel part of something… although Sans would usually complain about the jukebox constantly being on the fritz, and Grillby would argue back that his tab was super high.
In any case, it was definitely Sans' favourite place to visit.
"…anyways, that's how i first found out about mettaton," Sans said as he leaned in more onto the table. "only talked to him a few more times after that. my bro's a big fan of him now, though."
"Ehh, never was into Mettaton's stuff on TV," a rather unkempt looking fish-monster sitting to Sans said as he took a swig from his drink. "Doesn't feel like anything he makes is real, honestly. In fact, it's hard for me to believe anything on TV's real. Can't even trust the news."
"Hm? What's wrong with the news, Ugish?" a red-bird monster inquired sitting beside the fish.
"I dunno, Reird. It's just… untrustworthy."
"What does that even mean."
"c'mon, mettaton ain't that bad."
"Hmm… Everything feels so… twitchy these days. Is that a bad thing? I don't know… but it's different!" a dog-monster with squinted suspicious-looking eyes brought up as he took a bite out of a dog treat. "…it does make for some good entertainment, though."
Grillby seems to attempt speech, but every word comes off as a garbled mess, his voice incapable of piercing through his own flames. The aforementioned red bird monster attempted a rather crude translation, however, to Grillby's delight. "He says that it doesn't matter to him if nothing's real on TV. As long as it's fun to watch, then it's fun to watch. He also says that he doesn't know what you're talking about on the news thing."
"Oh, come on."
"I guess I kinda get it… But it's more-like a nothing burger down here more than anything," one of the dog monsters dressed in robes, notably the one with the light stubble, mentioned. "But to be fair, there isn't really much to report these days. You got the occasional 'Undyne saves the day by beating up a thief', which is cool, but that's kind of it, really."
The matching dog monster, who was next to the other, nodded her head. "(Yeah. And then at that point, why really bother with it? We're better off making our own fun.)"
"i've got zero problems with that, for sure."
"Guess you guys are right."
"…with how everything is nowadays, can't blame you guys for wanting to take your mind off… y'know, but hey it ain't all bad. 'least for me, as long as i'm able to tell you guys my, oh so amazing puns, that's pretty much all the fun i need."
This time, a collective groan was shared between everyone but Sans, who shook his head in feigned shame. "awh, c'mon guys. i'm a… skeleTON of fun, ain't i?"
Grillby seems to attempt speech again as he slammed a hand on the table, then pointing at Sans.
Reird let out a single chortle as she translated what he said once again. "Hey now, you've gotta watch out, Sans. He says that if you keep on with these puns, he'll start getting on your ass with your tab again."
"welp, guess that's my cue. gotta get to sleepi- i mean, resting… yep, mhm," Sans said, getting out of his seat. It wasn't a lie; today was his break day after all, courtesy of Papyrus. "see ya guys later."
"Tell your bro I said hi!"
"Take it easy, man."
"Grillby says later! Oh, and I say cya!"
"(Laterz.)"
"TTYL!"
With one last wave, Sans left the cozy establishment. He took one look around the snowy area before turning left to the side of the building so he could conceal himself somewhat from any potential onlookers. He knew that he doesn't hide his portal-teleporting shenanigans anymore anyways, or rather the fact he can teleport, but no one knew how it worked for real. So, he decided to hide that specifically.
…not to mention the look on people's faces whenever he appears out of nowhere when he goes another direction. Absolutely priceless. Far too good to give up.
Although this time, he hid it just for the sake of hiding it.
The feeling, although lessened due to him putting his mind on something else, hadn't disappeared yet. Not at all. He wanted to investigate it, but he didn't have any idea how; it was like an eternal itch that he couldn't scratch, no matter how much he tried.
He knows the answer lies in his dreams, but what good is that when he'll just forget anyways?
THWISH!
THWOOM!
The skeleton conjured a portal and fell into it, ending up near the beginning of Snowdin. Or rather, where his post was, near the beginning of the snowy location. Where his brother would usually scrutinise him the most.
Sans' permanent smile widened slightly in fondness of his brother.
Shaking his head, he decided to ponder on something that was also on his mind. It was in relation to the famous locked door at the beginning of Snowdin, of which not too long ago, he made friends with the person on the other side of the door. Although he hadn't seen what she actually looked like yet, he felt comfortable calling her his friend.
…He met her by pure chance. On some random day, he was bored enough and had nothing better to do, so he decided to practice some of his knock-knock jokes to the door, thinking there wouldn't ever be anyone who would answer it. It always fascinated him, at least a little; he was never able to teleport himself past the door for whatever reason, so it filled him with a natural curiosity.
In any case, this went on for some time; it became a sort of routine for him. However, one day, he was sat up next to the door, telling his usual jokes, before he actually got a response. He recalled what happened exactly – he knocked on the door and said, 'knock knock'. Miraculously, someone responded from the other side, asking 'who is there?'
It stunned him for a moment, but he obviously responded. 'dishes.'
'Dishes who?'
'dishes a very bad joke.'
A howl of laughter emitted from the other side of the door, as if it was the best joke she's ever heard.
Sans quickly realised she was the best audience he's ever had and, after telling a dozen more jokes, she even told him one of her own.
'Knock knock!'
'who's there?'
'Old lady!'
'old lady who?'
'Oh! I did not know you could yodel!'
"…needless to say, she was extremely good."
After that, they told each other jokes for hours upon hours on end before Sans eventually had to leave. However, they made a promise to each other that they would visit each other every day. It was like his routine, except now he finally had someone to tell his jokes to and have jokes for him to hear and take notes on as well.
This routine continues to this very day, although yesterday, she did not show up for some reason or another.
"…wonder if she's up and about right now."
THUMP!
THUMP!
THUMP!
Sans gritted his teeth; a sudden, powerful headache invaded his cranium, pounding endlessly and excessively. The feeling that had been pursuing him all day arrived in its maximum force; something was wrong. Something wasn't right. Someone doesn't belong.
It was a wholly unfamiliar feeling. So, so uncomfortable.
He leaned back on the sentry station and grabbed his head and recoiled in pain.
"…this… this isn't 'cuz of the DT... but why? what the heck is this feeling?"
Although the headache subsided, he still needed to investigate. Assuming that whatever is making him feel like this is nearby, he created a portal and teleported to the very beginning of the snow area, near the massive, ruined door. He believed that whatever is causing this, he could get to the bottom of by getting the jump on them and seeing what it's about.
Assuming his hunch and, technically, Papyrus' hunch, was correct.
Hiding himself within the trees, he did what he believed would be the greatest idea to do when he saw a human: stalk them and eventually introduce himself, naturally.
He witnessed a tall human wearing an assortment of strange-looking gear. When he saw him, the feeling made itself present once more, although it wasn't as severe as it was before, which confirmed his beliefs slightly. He didn't know who this human was or why he was here, but he was interested.
"…i think i owe someone gold now. whoops."
From what he's studied, most of the humans that fell into the Underground were kids, so he supposed that this was an interesting deviation, or change of pace. Especially in someone who looks like they've been through a scrap or two already.
…though he knew that it was likely that whoever this was, they've gone through a lot more than just a scrap or two.
So, he followed him and watched as he… talked. He couldn't exactly make out what he was saying, but it was as if he was having a full conversation with himself. "…weird. wonder who he thinks he's talking to. there shouldn't be anyone else nearby, i think."
Sans decided to investigate a little further as he pursued the man. He had a little prank that he had in store for if a human were to ever fall down in his lifetime and he was present, that being the ol' twig snap.
What he would do, is place a twig in the middle of the floor, hope whoever human walks past doesn't destroy the stick, and after they clear some distance between them and the twig, Sans would snap the twig, making his appearance a little more mystifying. This sort of thing was super funny to him; he would build up a serious and mysterious persona before revealing himself to be… literally the opposite, pretty much.
So, he snapped his fingers and created a portal behind the human, crushed the twig, and fell back into his already created portal, returning to his hiding place within the trees. When he looked back to see the human's reaction, he was… startled. The human, contradicting his calm demeanour from before, was razor -focused on the broken twig.
"…woah."
Sans watched as the human backed up slowly after witnessing the minor event. Now being a little hesitant of actually approaching the human, him being the cause of that feeling as well, and this little stunt, he wasn't too sure on whether he should introduce himself at all.
…but he knew better.
The skeleton has seen many people on edge before, obviously; Doggo is someone who comes to mind immediately, but he's never seen anyone so tense before. Whoever this was, he probably went through something. Something that would make him this uptight.
Heck, he even pulled out a pistol.
Sans' smile intensified a little. He just thought of a pun.
He waited for the human to reach the bridge so that he could introduce himself properly. Or rather, as properly as he could. The human eventually did, turning around to face the bridge. Just as planned. So, Sans finally made his presence known.
Snapping his fingers once again, he created another portal, one that was only a few meters away from the human this time. Sans walked up to the man very slowly, his heavy footprints being completely, intentionally audible. Luckily, the human didn't turn around. Not yet anyways, so his bit could still be realised.
Finally, he spoke.
"HUMAN."
Sans watched as the human tightened his grip on his pistol.
"DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO GREET A NEW FRIEND?"
The human turned around slowly, lowering his gun to be poised against the skeleton. Sans, knowing he was still shrouded in darkness, knew that he did admittedly look intimidating, to a degree, but that was what he was going for anyways. "Identify yourself!"
"…heh, yeah, looks like this guy means business."
So, he did what any reasonable person would. He raised his hands and revealed himself, stepping out of the darkness. "…guess that made you… pist-off, huh?"
Sans had the chance to get a better look at the human now, so he took advantage of it. The human was an adult human, wearing some sort of vest with advanced protection. Some sort of law enforcement agent, he wondered. Possessing white, camouflaged, cargo pants, Sans supposed differently – perhaps something more in the field of some kind of military.
But he wasn't really sure. What would he know about what military the Surface has, if there are any?
The human spoke again. His voice was only slightly gravelly but couldn't have been from someone any older than twenty-ish… though Sans, again, admitted that he wouldn't know much about human biology anyways. "Who're you?"
"the name's sans. sans the… skeleton. nice to… meet… you…?"
THUMP!
THUMP!
Sans felt it.
Dread.
Death.
Destruction.
That Feeling that he thought was just subsiding returned yet again. Though there was no headache this time, no harm to himself, but he felt the human's power. His LV. It was high. Not 'sorry, I killed a few people' high, but 'I just decimated the population of a small planet' high.
Sans felt dread build up within himself upon the witnessing of such an excessive number.
Sans felt the amount of death this human caused.
Sans felt the destruction this human has wrought.
He couldn't help but turn on him instantly.
He went dark, serious for the first time in what must have been years at this point. Putting his hands in his pockets, he made his hostility and intentions clear. He was a sentry, sure, but he was not only that. Long ago, he was appointed as a Judge, and he fully intends on fulfilling his duty as one.
And he doesn't intend to fail, either. This 'human' has already been through enough for him to cast judgement already.
"…how many?"
THWISH!
THWOOM!
A portal opened in the smaller skeleton's room, revealing a conflicted Sans. He teleported there directly after his very strange encounter with the human…
He had no idea what to think.
The human tried to reason with him, saying things like how he isn't who he thought he was, and how he wasn't some sort of genocidal maniac hellbent on killing everything and everyone in sight… and for some, entirely unknown to him, reason… Sans is inclined to believe the human.
The very idea of thinking anything different than the genocidal maniac theory was absurd, but Sans felt some truth to his words. That didn't make it any less confusing, however; his incomprehensibly large LV should be the only warning sign he needed to see that the human was some sort of mass murderer.
And that's not to even mention his gun and his posture as well; he had experience, that much is obvious, so why is he having so much doubt on where he should stand in this?
The sincerity he showed, his reluctance to fight, at least when Papyrus left… all of it showed him the opposite case. So, he made a quick decision on the spot. He wanted to watch him for a while, and see his actions before casting true, actual judgement on him, and not one that he made without knowing the full picture.
"…guess i'm on standby."
He also couldn't deny that the feeling was having a drastic affect on him and his decision-making skills, too.
So, he tried thinking objectively.
…
Sleepy.
A / N
Alright guys! We are back for another Dok-
…Half-Tale chapter.
Sorry.
Anyways, I am back with a chapter that releases… halfway through the month! Yes, yes, I know – stark contrast from my once-a-month upload schedule. I did it for a very specific reason, of which you've probably already discerned… it's a difference in perspective! We take a peer into Sans' inner turmoil and experience before he encounters Adrian.
I wanted to offer a little deviation from the beaten path a bit… a bit of a reprieve from the constant Adrian/Chara perspective we've been seeing. Something to… explain Sans' strange behaviour.
I want to continue making these sort of 'half' chapters – in fact, I know I will, with some other perspectives in the Underground now that Adrian and Chara* are present. Don't know what the next one will be about (I do have a few ideas…), but I wouldn't expect most of them to (this one being somewhat of an exception) be super main story heavy. Think of 'em as… filler chapters as I prepare the next mainline entry.
Filler, but canonical. Obviously.
I won't have them labelled as half-chapters (ex. This will just be chapter 7, essentially), however; they will take the full slot of being a 'normal' thing.
I also had a question pertaining to how long this story is going to overall be. I could have just responded to it – it is an Ao3 question – but I wanted to touch upon it here… Plainly, I have no idea! I think, maybe 35-ish mainline chapters with a bunch of half-chapters spread here and there? So, somewhere around 40 to 45. Maybe. This story is going to take a good while to fully write, perhaps taking the next couple of years (really depends on if I decide to keep this once-a-month full chapter release; if so, I may have to consider making 'em longer…). So, it's going to be a bit of a long-term undertaking, but I hope you all stick with me until completion!
Another note that I'm making in the middle of editing – I am revising a section of CH6 to line up properly with a new idea. So, if you go back and reread it, it will be slightly different.
Final note: Got home from a trip and randomly got sick out of absolutely NOWHERE, so this was a little bit late. It's nothing of huge consequence, but I thought it was noteworthy.
That's all I wanted to discuss this A/N for this chapter. I will see y'all in the next one!
(TL; DR) – Half chapter time. Different perspectives; Sans' inner turmoil discussion. I plan to continue doing these kinds of chapters. This story will be very long in terms of length and how long it will take to fully complete. Made a change to CH6. I got sick out of nowhere.
(F/N) JustSomePerson29 - Pretty Good Mate, One Question, Will Frisk be present again in the story?
Answer – Yes! They will come back later on. Their influence will be present throughout the entire story, too.