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 8 – Puzzles 'n Pain
Very… puzzling, indeed.
"…Chara, I want to call it."
Adrian, upon having heard Chara's request, had deviated from the regular path and found himself overlooking a river gently going downstream to parts unknown to him. Placed near it was a regular, plain, wooden fishing rod, cast into the flowing water; it shivered slightly.
He, with little to no hesitation, had went to reel in the rod to see what was used as bait, and it was… a portrait with a note, the latter of which possessed a phone number. Instantly, he reached into his backpack to retrieve his cell phone.
Before he could do so, Chara stopped him.
"Don't call it, Corporal."
"…Why not?"
Chara squinted her eyes in confusion. "For real? C'mon, ya stupid. What do you think is going to happen?"
"That's the thing. I don't know. Which is why I figured I'd go and find out."
"It's going to be some creep on the other side."
"How do you know that?"
"You've seen the portrait, Corp. And read what the guy said. 'Call Me! Here's my number!' Again, what're you expecting?"
"Something interesting," Adrian said, folding his arms.
"Do you seriously think something interesting will happen if you call it up?"
Adrian looked up for a second and blew some air. "Nah. Not really."
Chara just looked at the marine, deadpanned, placing a hand on her head as she sat in mid-air. "How did I get stuck with you?"
"It's fate, obviously," Adrian said, putting the note back on its reel. He threw it back out to the river, placing the fishing rod to its original position. "Alright, alright, was just curious, is all."
"You should stop being so curious, Corp."
"I wouldn't have survived nearly this long if I wasn't curious, Chara," Adrian mentioned, shaking his head. He retraced his steps backwards, returning back to the triple pathway. Taking another look around the area, he noticed something different.
Something changed within the room, but he was having a little trouble discerning exactly what. "Uh…"
He realised what it was.
"That box wasn't here before, right?"
Chara, who was obviously following closely, shook her head. "Nope. I was going to say something earlier, when you first got here, but I forgot. Normally, that box would always be there. Not sure why it showed up now."
She shrugged, ceasing her floating. "Go check it out. Maybe you've already got something in there."
Adrian nodded, moving over to where the box was. Instead of instantly opening it, however, he opted for reading the sign first. "…It says, 'This is a box. You can put an item inside or take an item out. The same box will appear later, so don't worry about coming back. Sincerely, a box lover.'"
"Yeah-yeah. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to store your pistol inside."
"I guess it wouldn't be such a bad…" Adrian thoughtlessly and finally opened the chest… only to immediately close it the instant after. He seemed shaken up and static when he did so, backing away from the chest in a combination of confusion and panic. "Uh… no way. I'm going to hang on to my pistol for a while."
Chara's expression contorted into one of confusion, putting her hands on her hips. She went to overlook Adrian's shoulder at the box. "Eh… what was that, Corp? I couldn't see what was in it before you closed it."
"…Nothing."
"Whaaaat? Your reaction made it seem like something, at least. No way it's just 'nothing'. Tell you what, give me a second," Chara smiled, cracking her knuckles. "Lemme see if I'm corporeal enough to open this."
Adrian let out a cocky smirk and crossed his arms. "Haha, ah, yeah, I'd like to see that."
The marine knew that, try all she might, she likely wouldn't be able to open the chest. Even considering recent developments pertaining to her… ever-so mysterious increasing corporeality, he didn't think it would progress that fast. So, he watched with feigned bated breath as…
Creeeeeek!
"What the hell."
The young woman turned back with her very own cocky smirk. "Oh yeah? What'd you say again? Something about me not being able to open it?"
"Okay, first off, I never specifically said that you wouldn't be able to open it-"
Chara scoffed in slight frustration. "Hey, what gives? There's nothing in here. Were you punking me?"
Adrian peered over into the box, and to his surprise, there was indeed nothing within it. He knew exactly what he saw in there, definitely nothing he could use on his journey in the Underground, but that wasn't something that Chara needed to know about. With an impressive feigned cough, he chuckled as if he expected it.
Quickly discerning that it was likely user-based, the marine crossed his arms and strengthened the belief of his façade. "Yup, mhm. I was messing with you. I saw literally nothing."
"Ugh, lame."
"Yeah, well, at least we know your ability to do corporeal things is improving."
Chara smirked. "Not so lame."
The pair, after finally ceasing their meddling with the strange box, opted for moving on, Adrian continuing on the highlighted path. However, he groaned, slightly reluctant to do so, seeing what he would face in the horizon.
Adrian said nothing, only gritting his teeth slightly. The accursed skeleton-bros. He didn't know what to think about either of them yet. One of them completely ignored his existence, but seemed to mean well, and the other was primed and ready to try and kill him.
Chara flew to Adrian's ear and whispered. "…only one way to go, Corp."
The marine, blowing a sigh, agreed. So, with his natural-ish confidence and pocketed hands, he drew near them.
"AND SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE…" the tall skeleton from earlier exclaimed before realising another presence was nearby. "HUH?!"
The tall skeleton turned to Adrian, and then to his brother, Sans, who, in turn, turned to the tall skeleton. This continued in a loop, a drawn-out cycle that only fastened in pace until, eventually, both of them were looking directly at Adrian.
"What…"
"Meet the skele-bros, Corp. And for real this time. I don't know what that was earlier."
The skeleton brothers then turned backwards, facing the other direction as they attempted to speak in private. However, to Adrian's 'luck', they didn't speak very softly as to indicate a private conversation.
"SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT… A HUMAN!?"
They turned back to face Adrian again.
"uh…" Sans cast a wider smirk. "…actually, i think that's a rock."
Adrian turned to look at the rock behind him and snickered.
"OH…"
"…hey, what's that in front of the rock?"
"OH MY GOD!" the tall skeleton exclaimed in glee, although he seemed like he needed some confirmation. He turned back to Sans and spoke a little softer, although Adrian could still hear him. "(IS… IS THAT A HUMAN…)."
"(yes)."
"OH MY GOD!" he proudly shouted. "SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL… I'M GONNA… I'LL BE SO… POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!"
He cleared his throat… somehow. "HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN… THEN…!"
"So, there's his name… Sans and Papyrus, hm?"
"I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S NEXT! IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE… ONLY IF YOU DARE!" Papyrus exclaimed as he flaunted his cape, running off to the next area for reasons unknown to him. "NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"
Sans, however, remained for a little while. "…well, that went… well."
Adrian opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted. This was seemingly becoming a pattern, one that he wasn't particularly enjoying.
"…ahh, don't sweat what i did earlier, guy. if you are who you say you are, then you've got no reason to be tense 'round me. but i will be keeping an eye socket out for ya, just to make sure of it… but…"
Sans' eyes went black as… time itself seemed to slow down to a crawl.
It's as if everything and everyone's speed crawled down to an absolute standstill, leaving Adrian and Sans the only people capable of doing literally anything during this time. Even Chara was frozen within time, which freaked Adrian out even more.
The marine turned his head rapidly, trying to make sense of what exactly was happening. "What the hell… What is this? What are you doing?"
"…step outta line and i think we're both in for a bad time, ya get me?"
Time blinks again, and Sans is gone once more.
"Wow, that was weird. I bet he did his time freezy thing again," Chara flew overhead of Adrian before propping herself upside down, directly facing the marine. "Need another break?"
"…Nah."
Adrian continued dragging his feet along the highlighted path, trying to wrap his head around his current situation. He feels like he shouldn't be having this much trouble doing so—especially with his background with the strange and unusual back in Black Mesa—and yet here he is, surrounded by skeleton puns and monsters, completely unfamiliar with it all.
"…Hey Corp. Why haven't you been saying anything? Like, to Papyrus and stuff."
…and the monsters he encounters aren't even really hostile, either, so he knows he has no reason to do what he was trained for, and what he normally did back in Black Mesa. Killing to solve his problems. To try and protect the innocent scientists and find a way out of the hellish facility.
"Uh… Corp? You there?"
His thoughts drowned Chara out.
And…
Wait.
"Kill… to solve my problems… What the hell am I thinking?"
Where has he heard this before?
| / \ |
Black Mesa
"Hey! Damn it, wake up!"
Adrian was kneeling besides a heavily injured scientist, who appeared to be on the brink of death—there was little to nothing anyone could do for him at this point. Adrian darted his eyes around the steel corridor he found himself in to see if there was anything, anything at all that could be done to help him.
Adrian let out a slight groan in frustration. There was nothing.
The marine cursed himself, punching the wall and causing a large clank sound to be made. "Screw this facility. Screw the government for sending us here to kill everyone. Screw these aliens… Fuck… everything, GAH!"
A slight cough can be heard emanate from the scientist. Miraculously, he finally appeared to be conscious, at least for a little while. "I… heh, I guess I'm still in Black Mesa, am I?"
Adrian blew a sigh of relief. "Yeah. You're still in this dump. You were used as a human shield by one of my own to fend themselves off from some… large headcrab zombie. I don't know—it was freaky, some kind of mutant variant or something."
"W-we… called them Gonomes," the scientist managed to spit out, some blood running a line down the side of his mouth. "I-it's the n-next stage of mutation… for the h-headcrab z-zombies, we theorised. It… was fascinating. U-unbelievably magnificent."
"You… you called them that?" Adrian asked with confusion littered in his voice. He began piecing something together that he felt like he's always known. "That would mean…"
"Yes… we are f-familiar with them…" the scientist groaned in added pain. He opened his mouth to speak again, but he coughed up some more blood again. Shaking his head, he feigned a chuckle. "T-they're doing this for a reason, y-you know."
"Who is?" Adrian asked, semi-rhetorically.
"Your… your colleagues… C-clean up duty, yeah? T-they don't want anyone to know w-what we were doing down here…" the scientist continued, his life-force obviously, and quickly, fleeting. "I've… hah. I've always wondered 'what if the surface found out what we were actually doing down here?"
Adrian knew something was off about the place—other than the obvious alien takeover, it felt like everything was too perfectly stacked on each other. As if this wasn't the first time these Black Mesa scientists have tangoed with aliens.
That mixed with the number of strange devices, rooms that seemed to serve no purpose, immensely confusing layout…
This confession gave him more questions than answers.
"What the hell are you talking about? What have you guys been doing down here? What happened here? Where did these aliens come from?!" Adrian shot out question after question, wanting answers now. Something caused all of this, and he wanted to know why. "Tell me!"
"So… so many questions, so… so little time," the scientist's voice decreased in volume, becoming quieter and quieter, softening in tone… until it was as quiet as can be. "I… I don't have all the answers, but…"
"But? But what?!"
"F-free…"
The scientist finally limps over, succumbing to his wounds unceremoniously. There was no whimper, there was no fanfare… just another death in the endless steel corridors that was littered within the incomprehensibly large compound.
Adrian lowered his head. "Shit."
The marine finally stood back up, taking a breath of air as he sucked in his cheek. With a look of confusion, anger, and determination, his eyes slowly found their way to the dead 'Gonome' on the ground, bleeding from the gunshot wounds he placed there himself.
His eyes then went over to the half-dead Black Ops soldier who he saw use the scientist as a shield against said Gonome. He was propped up against a wall near a vending machine. "…I could use a drink."
Adrian took his time walking to the soldier, knowing he was intently watching him. Withdrawing his signature wrench from its makeshift holster on his backpack, he gripped it tightly. In time, he stood right in front of the wheezing soldier, who was clearly on the brink of death, much like the late scientist before.
He knew what to do. And for him, he wouldn't stand around and wait.
"Looks like you're a problem."
|/ \|
Problem…?
"Oh, hell no. We're not doing this again," Chara exclaimed, breaking the marine out of his impromptu concentration. She found herself getting better at doing this due to Adrian's ever-so increasing frequency of his arbitrary mind-losing.
Adrian blinked a couple of times, shaking his head as he tried to rid himself of his overbearing thoughts. Raising his head to look at Chara, he opened his mouth to say something. "I'm…"
He couldn't form another word for a few moments.
"Corp?"
"…I'm… I'm fine."
"You don't really seem to be fine," Chara squinted her eyes and pouted, folding her arms in slight annoyance. "I keep telling ya, you've gotta get a handle on it. I dunno what you've been through, because you haven't told me yet, but…"
"I know… I know. Sorry. What did you ask me again?"
"I was asking why you-"
!
"…Did something move?"
Adrian ceased all of his movements, not even moving a millimetre more. His eyes darted to the source of the noise—it was a dog-like humanoid monster in a little rickety sentry station. He sucked his own cheek, a habit he's been indulging in recently, and planned his next move accordingly.
"I can only see moving thing. If something WAS moving… for example, a human… I'll make sure it NEVER moves again!"
Adrian felt something released from him yet again. Naturally, after all the battles he's had in the RUINS and what he learned there, he knew instantly that it was his SOUL's physical manifestation reaching out and being pulled in for the fight.
It startled him for a second, due the fight happening out of absolutely nowhere, but he was ready still. He had to be. The marine figured that this would be a good time to practice his holding back techniques.
"Oh yeah, here's Doggo. Probably should've mentioned that earlier, but where's the fun in knowing everything that's going to happen?" Chara smiled, floating upwards to spectate the fight. She had a lot more space now compared to the RUINS, so she found herself just observing from above in the fights Adrian has been in so far in Snowdin. "Have fuuun!"
"…Doggo?"
"Don't move an inch!"
In a flash, Doggo quickly moved in to try and locate the source of whatever he saw moved, accurately pinpointing Adrian's location. He recoiled his arms, two short swords in hand, and jumped a fair distance into the air, launching himself towards the marine.
"Gotta dodge."
"Hey, Corp! Here's a tip: DON'T DODGE, tank it! The sword's BLUE!"
"Not doing that."
Adrian smirked. He knows he can clear the attack easily; the move was way too predictable for him not to. So, he dodged out of the way, rolling to easy safety, knowing it completely missed. Although the monster was quick, he was definitely quicker for…
…sure?
"Ow."
Adrian felt as if he got a slight, nigh-on unnoticeable paper cut on his finger, although instead of his finger, it was his SOUL. It looked like he sustained damage, however little it was. He almost didn't feel it either, which was a little odd to him.
And he was so certain he dodged there, too. "What happened?"
"I definitely heard THAT! Something MUST be here then, and since you didn't identify yourself, it must be a human! Power of process of elimination!"
"Yeah… yeah that makes sense."
"Damn it, Corp, I told you to…" Chara floated over to the marine and pouted, swirling around him to make sure he wasn't injured, only to realise he was barely harmed at all. "Uh… Okay. Wasn't expecting you to eat that for nothing. Guess I shouldn't underestimate by tough you are."
Adrian only nodded in affirmation, but he was curious. Chara told him to tank the attack rather than dodge, and he wanted to know why. So, he decided to try it out—even if it hurt him, he now knew that it wouldn't be a huge amount. He stood back up when Doggo wasn't facing his direction and moved around slowly.
He called out. "Hey! Doggo! Over here!"
"I knew it—you have the smell of a human, too! C'mere!"
Adrian froze in place, not daring to move another inch.
Doggo launched himself towards Adrian yet again, swords drawn back, as he contacted the marine, slicing directly through him, clean cut. To any bystander, Adrian would have seemed to have been cut in half, reeling from the shock of such an impact.
"Ahah! I gotcha!" Doggo exclaimed in pride.
However, that was not the case.
"I don't… feel anything. Wow. Okay. Sure, that makes sense," Adrian raised his hand and clutched it. He took absolutely no damage; yet again, Chara was right.
"Hey Corp? Guess what?"
"…What."
"Pat his head."
"Is that what it comes down to?" Adrian spoke in a soft voice, suppressing it so that only Chara would be able to hear him. Luckily, it didn't seem like Doggo's hearing was extremely sensitive. "Just so you know, me doing what you asked before wouldn't have made any differen-"
"Just. Pet. Him" Chara said, shaking her head. She floated to the ground and put her a hand on her hip. She then raised an eyebrow, her already prominent, permanent blush reddening slightly. "C'mon. Please?"
…
"Gah. I'll have to be fast about this."
Adrian nodded his head and, in an instant, sprang into action, rushing towards a retreating Doggo with only one intention in mind: petting the dog monster. He recognised the monster's quick and agile nature, so he had to think and act fast in order to catch him.
With his own methods, of course.
So, he did what he did best.
"Ey, Doggo! Over here!" Adrian exclaimed, trying to grab Doggo's attention.
"Huh?! What?! You're still here?! Gah! Undyne's gonna have my head for this!" Doggo groaned in annoyance before launching himself towards the direct source of the voice. "You c'mere!"
Adrian, obviously seeing this coming, froze up intentionally; it was as if he was a statue.
Doggo's attack connected, slashing directly through the marine with ease. Once again, Adrian felt no harm come to him. He turned around and smirked.
"Ugh! C'mon, where are you?! You were just-"
Pat!
…
Pat!
Pat!
"What? Pet? Pat? Pot? Pet? Pat?!"
Doggo stumbled backwards in blatant confusion, accidentally falling back into his sentry station; he appeared disoriented as he struggled to stand back up. "Woah… S-s-something pet me… Something that could stop moving… and start moving all over again like a loop!"
Adrian raised both of his eyebrows. "What…"
I'm gonna need some dog treats for this!" Doggo, eyes twitchy and all, relented as he shuffled back down into the sentry station, the fight finally ending as soon as it started.
The corporal, saying nothing for a moment, felt his SOUL retract back into his chest. Then, a collection of gold fell onto the floor, pouncing on the snow as if it was suspended in mid-air initially. As her usual, he went to pick them up. "…Wow. That really worked."
"Awh, I know. I'm just that good. Nice to see my… wonderful, aloof nature and charm can breach your defences just like that!" Chara said, snapping her fingers for added effect. She floated around Adrian for a bit teasingly. "Y'know, you can really fluster a gal."
"What're you on about now?" Adrian said, patting the snow off his gear as he also placed the gold into one of his 'gold pockets'.
"You know, when you…" Chara stopped herself midway through her sentence. "…Eh, never mind. Let's get going."
Adrian shrugged. "Sure."
"Jeez, Corp. You're kind of dense sometimes…"
The pair continued on their path, spirits high and attrition well maintained, although on the way towards the base of the town, Chara noticed something unusual up ahead, nearing a little bend that led to a split path.
"Hang on a bit… That's weird," Chara floated a little ahead, stopping right before the triangular pathway, except much larger in scale, and covered by pure ice in the middle. It left only a little space to squeeze through to reach the next area. "Sans isn't here."
"What, is he supposed to be here?" Adrian hummed, stopping in tandem. "Well, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised… considering what happened earlier and all."
"True, though he was supposed to explain something important here…" Chara ceased her floating. "Guess I'll have to do his job, then."
"Hm?"
"So… you know those blue sword attacks Doggo did?" Chara asked.
"Mhm."
"Okay okay," the young woman remembered how she warned the marine, him ignoring it, and getting hurt… however little damage it did. "When you face attacks like those, you're supposed to go right through them. Meaning you need to stop. Imagine… Blue stop signs."
She paused. "Think stop signs. They're red, right?"
"I get it, Chara."
Chara smiled. "Great! You're gonna need to know that for later. Now go get the snowman piece."
"The what?"
"YOU'RE SO LAZY!"
"For Chrissake…"
Adrian found himself square, directly in the middle—or rather, right behind—of what seems to be a completely open space that screams 'I'm a trap! Walk on me and you DIE!' The marine watched as Sans and Papyrus bickered with each other as well, seemingly awaiting his arrival. He raised his head and sighed softly, opting for waiting for the pair to notice he's there.
"Awh, baby's first puzzle from Papyrus," Chara sneered, floating to Adrian's side. She put a hand over her mouth and smiled in tandem. "Excited?"
"Uh…"
"Don't answer that."
"YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!" Papyrus exclaimed to Sans, stomping his foot into the ground for a second.
"uh… I think that's called… sleeping."
"EXCUSES, EXCUSES! I WILL GIVE YOU A PASS FOR NOW, BUT ONLY JUST THIS ONC-"
Both Sans and Papyrus finally noticed Adrian, turning around in an instant to face the marine.
"Hi," Adrian spoke up for the first time in front of Papyrus.
"OH-HO! HERE I WAS THINKING YOU WERE MUTE!" Papyrus exclaimed with some surprise noticeable in his voice. "ANYWHO, YOU'VE FINALLY ARRIVED!"
"Yeah, well…" Adrian paused for a moment, putting his hands on his hips. "Haven't been given much of a chance to say anything lately."
"WELL, MAKE SURE TO SPEAK UP MORE NOW! ESPECIALLY WHEN CRITIQUING MY PUZZLES… I TAKE ALL CRITICISM VERY SERIOUSLY!" Papyrus coughed, clearing his voice. "ANYWAYS! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! OBVIOUSLY!"
"Uh-huh…"
"I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE…"
Chara chimed in, synchronising her voice with Papyrus, obviously unbeknownst to everyone but Adrian. "QUITE SHOCKING!"
Adrian stifled a laugh, while Chara chuckled without much consideration.
"FOR YOU SEE… THIS IS THE INVISIBLE… ELECTRICITY MAZE!" Papyrus continued, taking out a blue orb from seemingly nowhere. "WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN?"
"Hang on, this won't kill me, right?" Adrian interjected a question for clarification.
"OF COURSE NOT! THIS IS AN (ALMOST) HARMLESS PUZZLE MEANT TO JAPE YOU! KILLING YOU WOULD BRING NO BENEFIT TO ME."
Chara spoke up. "Eh… he wants you to test his puzzles."
"…I got it."
"OKAY! YOU MAY PROCEED!"
Adrian hesitantly took a step forward into the large patch of highlighted snow, only for Papyrus to be immediately zapped by the orb in his hand. This time, Adrian couldn't hold in his laughter as he audibly chuckled. "Hey, I-uh… I think you forgot to do something there."
Papyrus stood there, momentarily stunned, trying to figure out what went wrong. He turned to Sans and stomped his foot onto the ground a couple of times. "SAAANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"…i think it's something you forgot to do. the human has to hold the orb for it to work."
"OH. OKAY."
Papyrus, displaying his pinpoint accuracy and knowledge of the puzzle, ventures through the electric maze with little effort, the snow trudging and making the correct path very blatant. Reaching Adrian, he handed the orb to the marine and retreated back using the exact same pathway he created himself.
"OKAY, TRY NOW!"
Adrian, looking at the orb in his hand, contemplated a few options. A. he can follow the path, B. humour Papyrus and shock himself, or C. void the path entirely as he walks beside the puzzle itself. "Hmm…"
Chara took the liberty of knocking one of them down. "Don't cheat and go using the side."
Adrian spoke softly and quietly, making sure neither Papyrus nor Sans heard him. "How'd you…"
"Sixth sense."
Adrian shook his head. "Depleting my armour's defences probably isn't a good idea when I can avoid it. Recharging it took forever…" he though, sucking his cheek as he folded his arms in mild contemplation. Eventually, he shrugged, reaching a conclusion.
He hesitantly took a step on the maze puzzle again, except this time, it was on the path Papyrus unintentionally created. Nothing happened, so he decided to follow the path with some amount of caution. Each step he took, he took slowly, blatantly taking his time with it.
"Uh… you don't have to go that slow, Corp."
"Not taking my chances."
"What chances?! It won't even tickle you."
Adrian raised his head to look at Chara for a mere moment before refocusing his attention on getting through this 'puzzle'. "Do you know how long it takes to charge this suit with a regular cord? If I can avoid damage, I'm going to."
"…You're crazy."
Eventually, Adrian made it to the end, finishing the puzzle with a sigh. Looking back, he realises that he probably could have afforded to go through faster, but he shook his head in dismissal of the prospect. "Didn't take that long, did it? Probably 30 seconds or less."
"You took a whole minute. A whole minute, lost to time. I hope you're proud of yourself."
Adrian smirked. "Sounds about right."
"INCREDIBLE, HUMAN! YOU… SLIPPERY SNAIL!" Papyrus clapped with genuine pride in his voice. "YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY! ALTHOUGH YOU COULD HAVE WENT THROUGH A LITTLE FASTER…"
"Okay, yeah, I get it, I could've done this in seconds. What's wrong with being so cautious?" Adrian sighed. If he learned anything from Black Mesa, anything at all, it's that being overly cautious will never cost you.
"HMM… IF YOU SAY SO, HUMAN…" Papyrus shuttered his eyes in suspicion before shaking it off. "ANYWAYS! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE SO EASY! THIS TIME, IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS!"
Adrian brought his gaze to the short skeleton himself, who shot out finger guns in response. "…is that so?"
"YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEH! HEH! HEH! HEH!" Papyrus exclaimed. Instead of turning to run away, he stood static as he was seemingly pulled the other direction by some unknown force.
"What is even happening anymore," Adrian facepalmed, trying to get a grasp on his current situation. It's confusing enough for him to be thrusted into some kind of monster underworld, but it's another thing when it concerns the monsters' mental states.
…although he admittedly didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing yet.
Adrian turned his gaze to Sans who, unlike last time, remained in his position. "Staying this time?"
"…just wanted to let'cha know that i don't think you're a threat. you have no killing intent, which is funny, seeing as your… y'know, is so high. makes someone wonder how you got to that point," Sans mentioned, his permanent grin lessening in intensity somewhat. "…though something tells me that i probably don't wanna know."
Adrian's face contorted from a soft, carefree expression to a somewhat serious one. "Yeah. Yeah, it's probably best that you don't. Did a lot of things up there that I'm not that proud of, but it was… necessary. Using that kinda force down here is obviously something that I've been avoiding, though."
"yeah, i noticed… well, as long as you keep that up, you'll have a not-so bad time down here, guy."
Chara, listening in on the conversation intently, chimed in with her own input. "Woah, and just like that, you guys are buddy-buddy. Dunno how you do it, Corp." Chara seemed genuinely surprised, yet pleased at the same time.
She ceased her floating and stood behind the short skeleton, towering over him. She put a hand on her hip and stifled a chuckle. "Lemme tell ya. Would'ya believe me if I were to say that, at one point, I was around the same height as Sans?"
"…No."
"…I can probably guess what you're thinking."
"Good."
"…anyways, i wanted to thank you for playing along. my bro seems like he's having fun."
"Ah, don't sweat it. He's fun," Adrian said dismissively, waving his hand. He did have a question relating to him though, something that has been festering in his mind for a little while, so he believed this would be the perfect time to bring it up. "…speaking of your brother, I've got a question."
"shoot."
"What's with your brother's outfit? Something about it is so familiar… reminds me of this one game that came out a while ago that I played back home. Earth…found, or something like that."
"…heh, funny you say that…"
The pair continue to push forward, continuing their journey in the sparse, immensely cold, landscape of pure white, trudging through the perilous environment. With nothing but their wits and the clothing on their backs, they have no choice but to look ahead…
…although that may be a slight exaggeration.
Adrian hummed to himself. He was definitely in a good mood, despite everything that had happened thus far. How couldn't he? He wasn't being attacked nearly as often as he was in Black Mesa nor was he now in a dangerous position.
Although, he found himself a little thirsty—for some reason, ever since he fell, he hasn't been getting very hungry nor thirsty, at least to the degree he used to. He didn't know whether to draw it up to some dimensional-trickery or some form of magic, but he found it strange in any case. So, to satiate his thirst, he did what any reasonable person would do.
He reached to his backpack's side pocket for his container of water to drink from. "Almost empty. Gotta refill it soon."
"Hey, Corp."
His eyes went to meet Chara's. "Hm?"
"Thirsty?"
Adrian set his container back into its receptacle. "No, no. I'm just grabbing my bottle for fun."
Chara frowned. "Didn't have to be sarcastic about it. It was rhetorical."
Adrian let out a chuckle. "Hah, sorry, sorry. What's up, then?"
"How does some nice-cream sound?"
"Ice cream?"
"…Same difference."
"I would kill for some ice-cream right now. I don't care how cold it is; I'll always take any opportunity to gets some."
The young woman raised an eyebrow. "When was the last time you've had any?"
"Had to have been a couple of years ago."
"Wow. Depressing."
"You can say that again."
"Wow. Depressing."
"…I was joking."
Chara shook her head, playfully smiling at the marine. She found herself really not minding Adrian as much as she, at least before, thought she should. In fact, she found herself genuinely liking to be around him. She's only known him for a little while, and yet she feels like it's been far longer.
And she knows that she's going to have more opportunities to learn more about him, especially on the path they're on. The road ahead is still quite long, so she figured it was good that they get along well now.
Her mind began wandering to thoughts of him; his qualities, to be specific. To her, he's funny, cute, determined, quick-witted, competent… She blinked. She tried burying these thoughts instantly, but the attempt failed. She couldn't help it; for what reason, she did not know.
She just felt a little fuzzy.
"…Anyways, check out that vendor up ahead. The depressed guy with the cart."
"Sure."
The marine walked over to the aforementioned depressed guy with the cart and overheard him talking to himself.
"I don't understand why these aren't selling… It's the perfect weather for something cold."
Adrian approached the monster and gestured towards the ground. "You sure? Normally, people buy cold things in hot weather, and hot things in cold weather. Not super surprising that you aren't getting a lot of customers."
The monster unconsciously responded. "I mean, I guess I could move my operation over to Hotland if that's the case…" He then opened his eyes, seeing Adrian. "OH! A CUSTOMER!"
The monster sorted himself out, settling upright from the relaxed position he was in before. "Hello! Would you like some Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now just 15 G!"
Adrian delved into his gold pockets—for some reason or another, he found the gold to be combining into each other. For instance, a pair of 5 G turns into a single 10 G representative. He didn't mind it too much, seeing as he didn't want to be over-encumbered by the gold, nor did he want to run out of space so quickly.
He took out 15 G precisely and then paused for a moment. He turned his head towards a day-dreaming Chara; he figured get something for her, too. So, he took another 15 G out of his pockets and handed 30 G in total to the monster and smiled. "I'll have two, please."
"Here you go! Have a super-duper day!" the Nice-Cream guy replied with a large smile plastered on his face as he gave Adrian the two nice creams, elated at the fact that he finally got a customer.
Adrian nodded and turned, spotting an area masked from general view by a camouflage of snowy trees. He walked over into the trees, looking back every so often to make sure Chara was following him, however absent-minded she was at the moment.
He was surprised when he saw that it led to a little trail, a wooden bench marking a notable spot of rest they could take.
The cool, Underground breeze whisked through Adrian's purview as he sat down on the bench. He motioned to a semi-unconscious Chara, who floated in mid-air statically. "Hey, Chara. Wakey wakey."
"Eh?" Chara blinked a few times, becoming conscious again. "Oh God, I'm turning into you the way I'm starting to doze off randomly. That's no good."
"Hey, is it that much of a bad thing?" Adrian said, shrugging. He motioned to give her the nice cream in his left hand. "Here, take one. While you were dozing off, and since we now know you can at least hold inanimate objects and… eat them, I thought I'd get you one."
"Huh?" Chara seemed confused at the offer for a moment before huffing. "Oh… oh, I, uh… Thanks, Corp."
She took the nice cream with slight hesitation. "Yeah, it'll definitely take me a while to get used to the fact that I'm starting to be able to affect actual things. It's so weird; after such a long time, I can move things around again."
Adrian nodded, leaning back on the bench as he took a bite out of his nice cream. It had a sweet, vanilla taste, the paste honing a soft texture. It wasn't anything extraordinary; it was… nice, as the name suggests. "I can imagine your whiplash. So, it only started when I showed up, right? Never happened before?"
Chara, in tandem, took a bite from her nice cream, some portions of the nice cream being visibly and physically removed from itself. "Mmh, yeah. I've tried so many times before you to interact with the world in any shape or form, but nothing worked. I gave up at some point… I figured why even bother? Nothing I could do would change anything."
Adrian listened intently.
"…until I met you, it looks like," Chara slurred her words a little as she spoke those last few words. She shook her head, turning her gaze from the seemingly endless forest to Adrian, her red eyes glistening against the snow. "It's so… weird. Everything happening right now, I mean. I'm still having a tough time believing I'm actually out of that loop."
The young woman felt little need in hiding what happened in her past anymore, even considering how traumatising it was for her. Everything she experienced, everything she went through; she couldn't help but feel the need to hide it. But, at least to Adrian, she felt like she could confide in him a little.
"I didn't have a good life, Adrian. I really didn't. Even when I finally died, tethered to… them, I always wondered, 'what did I do to deserve this?' Over and over again, rotation after fucking rotation…"
Chara paused, then feigning a smile. A collage of tears drew from her crimson-red eyes, trickling down her cheek. She appeared none the wiser. "I guess that's just how the world works, isn't it? Kill or be killed, live and let go… and maybe… I deserve it."
Adrian said nothing for a little while.
Chara shook her head slightly, wiping her tears away. "I'm sorry, you didn't need to hear all-"
"No."
Adrian stopped her mid-sentence. He took some time to gather his thoughts on what she had just told him. He knew only a little of what this 'rotation' thing she was talking about, along with her previous tether… so he wasn't absolutely sure. But in spite of that, everything in his very being was screaming at him to comfort her.
So, he tried his best.
"Listen, Chara," Adrian said, putting down his cone. "I don't know what your last tether did, nor what happened to you in life… but please listen to me. It's all over. You're past that; it's completely done."
The marine ceased for a moment, blowing a breath of air, before continuing.
"I've seen a lot. Death, destruction, war, so… so much under the sun. And believe me, that kill or be killed mantra? It's not true. And it absolutely does not make you feel any better," Adrian remarked, trying to let out a smile that would cheer her up. He knew he wasn't the best person to comfort anyone, but he really wanted to try. Especially for Chara.
"I can tell you've been through a lot. I can see it in your eyes; you've gone through hell and back. I've seen so many people give up in the slightest threat of danger… but you're still here, Chara, and the worst of it is finally over. You didn't deserve any of what happened to you. And trust me… now that I'm here, I won't let a single thing happen to you, got that?"
Chara was stunned. She couldn't muster up a single word as she felt her permanent blush deepen in response to Adrian's sincere words. She felt the heat build-up on her face, as if it was true feeling. She couldn't tell the difference; it absolutely felt real. Something else built up within her as well, something she was almost completely unfamiliar with… was it her SOUL? Her heart?
…and could she push it back, like last time?
She wasn't so sure.
In any regard, she was thankful. She said nothing more for a moment, before she finally regained the ability to speak. "…I don't know what to say. Thank you, Adrian. I really do appreciate it."
"Hey, don't worry about it," Adrian smiled, lessening the tension as he took another bite from his nice cream. "What can I say? I'm good at cheering people up."
"Pssh, yeah right," Chara scoffed, folding her arms. "I mean, sure, that was good, but you could take a few lessons from me."
"Oh yeah? Let's hear a few."
"Oh-uh… hm… Let's see…"
"Don't think too hard on it. Hey, your ice cream's going to melt."
"Is that even possible here?"
Woosh!
Dun…. Duna-naa!
"Hey-o! Aye, there we go!"
"Woah, proud of you, Corp. Didn't know you were so good at kicking balls into holes."
"Huh? C'mon, now it's weird. Why'd ya have to say it like that?"
Adrian had just gotten finished with kicking a fleeting, spiralling, and slippery snowball into a small hole. The marine sighed, looking back at the trail he left in the snow. There was some ice that he had to quickly bypass, which almost reduced the amount of time he had to get the snowball into the hole.
He knew he was lucky to have gotten it first try, but truth be told, he probably would've given up if it took any longer…
…No, it's unlikely; he'd keep going.
Suddenly, a red flag sprouted from the hole. A little paper note was attached to the base, fetching the pair's attention. So, the marine walked over to it and read it aloud. "…Hm. 'Try as you might, you continue to be yourself.' What's that supposed to mean?"
"Whaaaat?! Holy crap, that's so lucky!" Chara exclaimed in genuine surprise. "My last tether only managed to get this once in what might've been a thousand or so attempts! How'd you do it so fast?"
Adrian shrugged as he feigned a cocky smile. "Guess I'm just that guy."
"Okay, let's not get too cocky. You just got lucky there," Chara folded her arms and pouted. "Anyways, check the hole."
"…alrighty then," Adrian responded, setting the note aside and reaching his hand into the hole, finding 10 G. "Woah. Free gold. I know a lot of people who'd like to reach their hand in some random hole for… gold… Okay, now I sound weird."
"Good news, we can sound weird together."
"Well, I think yours was intentional, though…"
"Maybe."
Adrian raised his head upwards, breathing an exasperated sigh before turning his gaze upwind. Sans was standing in the distance, a few meters right of the nice cream vendor, staring at nothing in specific. "Oh, I know he wasn't there before. And I've been paying attention."
"Not enough, it looks like. Better go check out what he wants."
"I already know you know what he wants…"
Regardless, the marine was curious to see what he's doing, just standing there, so he made his way over to where the skeleton was and sparked up a conversation. Awkwardly, he raised his hand. "…Hi."
"yo, human. i've been thinking about selling treats, too. howza 'bout some fried snow?" Sans asked. "only 5 G."
"…What the hell is fried snow?"
"snow that's fried. you want some or not?"
"How did you fry the snow?"
"air fryer."
"What the hell is an air fryer?!"
"you been living under a rock or something?" Sans chuckled. "surely you surface folk have air fryers."
Chara chimed in. "Uh… Don't we?"
"Okay, whatever, I'll buy some… fried snow," Adrian wearily and reluctantly replied, reaching into one of his 'gold' pockets.
"whoops, did i say 5 G? i meant 50 G"
"What is this instant inflation?" Adrian was prepared to hit him with the big N.O. before Chara intervened.
"Say yes. Psyche him out, y'know?" Chara smirked, hovering directly overhead of the two.
"Uh."
"…Suuuurreee."
"f'real? alright, you drive a hard bargain. 5000 G."
"You call that a bargain?"
"ok, ok, test groups aren't liking that, i get that now… 50 thousand G. that's as high as i'm willing to go."
Adrian put a hand on his head as a slight headache ensued. For some reason, not for Black mesa, but this was enough to give him a headache. He put his hands up in a 'you got me!' pose and exaggeratingly breathed out. "Damn, you got me. I don't have the cash."
"not enough money, eh? that's alright. i'm all out of snow, too."
"What- I… Huh?!" Adrian was on the brink of exploding from confusion. He had no frame of reference of what anything the big-boned skeleton was attempting to deliver him. Fried snow? What even is fried snow?
"Al-right, Corp; let's get a move on 'fore you blow a gasket or something," Chara beckoned.
"For the best."
"I'm… okay. Alright, Sans," the marine hesitantly chuckled, pointing backwards, towards the flag minigame. "I'm going to… go the other direction."
"cya up ahead, soldier."
"Right…"
Adrian walked backwards, still facing the skeleton, before turning around fully, taking a casual stroll. He turned his head to Chara, who was smiling the entire time, after gaining enough distance. He thought about saying something, but he had no idea of what.
Everything that has happened so far was so… strange, not even considering what he's been through so far, before he fell. "I know I shouldn't be surprised by all this… weirdness, but this is getting too much. I don't even know what's going on anymore."
"Golly, you must be confused, huh?" Chara teased. "Don't blame you. It's definitely… weird down here, but that's part of the charm, y'know?"
"I guess you're right. It's just a little jarring considering what I was doing before…" Adrian waved his hand. "Ah, I shouldn't worry so much."
"Mhm, especially with whatever happened in Bl-," Chara unconsciously commented before covering her own mouth before she got to finish the sentence. She attempted to play it off. "…aaack wherever you were up on the surface."
Adrian turned to the young woman. "What was that?"
"Nothing. Just wondering when you're going to tell me about what happened to you on the surface," Chara pouted, folding her arms as she floated alongside Adrian. "You said you would tell me later, right? When exactly is that?"
Adrian sucked his cheek. He recognised that he did promise to tell her, but he didn't know when it should happen. The marine didn't like keeping many secrets in general at all, for varying reasons, but this was something that he felt he needed to keep from the young woman for as long as possible.
He didn't know what would happen if he told her. The whole reason why he was taken by him was because of his employers fearing that Adrian would tell someone.
But Chara's a ghost. Would the G-Man even know? Is there even any risk?
He didn't know any of that for certain. All he knew was that he did not want to endanger Chara in any way. Why he felt so strongly about protecting her in this manner, he didn't know either; his comforting of her came out of what felt like some kind of instinct, or second nature.
The marine shook his head. "So many questions, too little answers… damn it."
"Corporal?"
The marine ceased his walking. He knew what he wanted to say. "I did make a promise, didn't I?" he winked. "I'll tell you later. I always keep my promises."
Chara squinted her eyes. She did want answers, seeing what she's seen on the surface and her dreams and nightmares, but it wasn't absolutely at the forefront of precedence right now. So, for now, she decided to let it go. "Okay… fine. I'm going to hold you to that, y'know."
"Didn't expect any less."
"Is that… is that a word search?"
"OH HUMAN! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR…"
Adrian had proceeded into the next area; it was a little elevated above the trees, but it was still surrounded by the en masse. He was wondering when he would encounter the next puzzle Papyrus or, in this case, Sans, prepared for him.
He wasn't expecting too much from the lazy skeleton, suffice to say.
Papyrus looked around, confused, before staring back at the 'puzzle' itself. "SANS! WHERE'STHE PUZZLE?!"
"it's right there, on the ground," Sans said, retaining his neutral, smiling face. "trust me. there's no way he can get past this one."
"Is that a challenge I hear?" Adrian smirked.
"Don't tell me you're going to actually do this word search, Corporal," Chara scoffed mockingly. "You can literally just walk past it."
"And miss my opportunity to do a word search? I used to love these as a kid," Adrian mentioned, walking to the middle of the snowy patch. He picked up the piece of paper and inspected it, groaning in annoyance. "Oh, come on. This isn't hard."
He lowered the paper and put his hands on his hips, looking at Sans. "Ya got anything harder than this?"
"uhh… i mean, i could get today's crossword…"
"WHAT? CROSSWORD?!" Papyrus stomped his foot into the ground. "HOW ABOUT SOMETHING HARDER… LIKE JUNIOR JUMBLE! DEFINITELY THE HARDEST TYPE OF PUZZLE!"
"Wait wait, did you just say Junior Jumble? That's… are you for real?" Adrian exaggeratingly motioned to nowhere in particular. "Crossword is way…"
Sans motioned a sideswipe of his neck—to indicate for someone to stop talking—towards Adrian, who stopped talking the moment after. "Okay, well… I guess it depends on your aptitude in either type of puzzle. Crossword depends on your, uh, vocabulary. Ya gotta know what the words mean; depending on what the word is, it can be really hard or… easy…"
"NATURALLY, MY VOCABULARY IS EXQUISITE! SO, I FIND CROSSWORDS VERY EASY IN COMPARISON!" Papyrus proudly declared. "ALTHOUGH THE DAILY CROSSWORD CAN BE A LITTLE TOO MUCH FOR MY TASTES…"
"Okay, let's, uh… come to some kind of agreement, then. Can we say that, depending on the contents, length, and time it takes to do a crossword or junior jumble or... whatever, either can be argued as more 'difficult'?" Adrian folded his arms, folding the piece of paper with the word search and placing it into one of his pockets.
"What is happening," Chara blinked blankly.
"HM…" Papyrus seemed wary of the dubious conclusion, but shrugged, smiling brightly. "I THINK THAT'S A WONDERFUL CONCLUSION TO THIS PREDICAMENT! THANK YOU, HUMAN! NYEH, HEH, HEH!"
Papyrus scurried off the other direction, leaving Adrian and Sans 'alone' once again.
"hey, thanks for doing… that," Sans said. "…yesterday, he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope'."
"Yeah, yeah, no problem. Though you might want to explain to him sometime that Junior Jumble is aimed towards… kids," Adrian scratched his head as he let out a soft chuckle. "I've always liked doing a nice, difficult crossword puzzle."
"alright, alright, ya got me in a bind; i'll make sure to set you today's crossword aside later."
"Appreciate it."
Adrian waved a goodbye, leaving Sans behind, although he knew the skeleton would somehow appear later on in front of him despite this. In any case, the marine figured that, at this point, he couldn't guess anything. At least Black Mesa had some measure of uniformity, although it was sort of a low bar.
"You almost convinced me that you thought Junior Jumble was any sort of difficult," Chara smirked as Adrian entered the next area. She quickly floated over to the table placed in the middle of an artificially patched snowy ground, a plate of spaghetti on it. "Hey look! Free food!"
"Is that so…" Adrian squinted his eyes, seeing a note on the ground. Walking over to pick it up, he read it aloud, mocking Papyrus' voice as it was obvious who wrote it. "Hey, check this out real fast."
Adrian cleared his throat. "'HUMAN! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI! (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPGAHETTI IS A TRAP… DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU! YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT, THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE THAT YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING! THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!) NYEH-HEH-HEH, PAPYRUS.'"
Adrian laughed a little. He did enjoy the bros' antics all the same, even if they're strange.
"That was… actually super convincing. Had to do a double take to make sure he didn't come back," Chara giggled, smiling as she sat on the microwave to the right of the table, which was also, in turn, standing on a table.
"I could eat…"
"Don't eat the spaghetti. It's inedible. It's also stuck to the table."
"Are you for real?"
"Couldn't even use the microwave if you tried, Corp. There's no outlet for it to be plugged into."
"Damn it."
"All the settings also say-"
"Okay, okay, Chara, I get it… jeez," Adrian sighed in semi-exasperation. It wasn't that he felt incredibly hungry—in fact, at best, he could be labelled peckish—but… he knew that he needed to eat sometime. "Well, it's the thought that counts anyways, right?"
"The thought was for you to eat it," Chara raised an eyebrow, folding her arms. She took a glance around the area in a bout of slight confusion. "Why does… something feel different. Off, even. I feel like we're missing something here… but what?"
"Meh, these things happen" Adrian shrugged, pocketing his hands and turning his head towards the next area. "Let's get a move on."
"Ah, yeah, sure-"
!
Thwish!
"Too close!"
Adrian barely managed to dodge a sword strike coming randomly out of left field. Rolling backwards, scrambling back to his feet, he immediately picked his head up, trying to locate his assailant. Though, as soon as he did, his face immediately contorted into one of confusion.
"Oh, for the love of…" Adrian let out a groan in annoyance, scrunching up his face. He felt his SOUL retreat from his chest as he saw the strange-looking enemy. "Chara… who is that?"
The young woman let out an elated shriek as she clasped her hands together.
"It's… lesser dog!"
A / N
Before I say anything, yes, Sans took a short nap before he showed up again.
Anyways, I am BACK with another chapter! Wow, this one feels like it took longer than I normally release them. And that's because, technically, it did; I'm a couple of days late. But that's for very good reason! This is a long chapter. Not only did I write nine thousand words, but I went through every single word to revise what I can, too. Took way longer than I thought I'd take.
…but that's not to imply that I mind doing it, though. This is fun.
Another thing—I got a review on that, along with being awesome as hell, informed me that I messed up on the times of the Resonance Cascade. I should have it fixed by the time I upload this chapter, so if you go back and look, it will be different. Just saying this so there's no pseudo–Mandela's Effect-type deal going on.
Anyways, going into the main contents itself… this is a very packed chapter. I even had something in my draft that I completely deleted (…for later usage) because it was something that would have happened pretty much right after a serious event. You can probably tell 'cause I kind of hastily replaced it with something that fits the scene for now that kind of… Well, explaining any more would kind of ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?
I was going to end the chapter off after Chara and Adrian's moment with the nice creams, but I felt otherwise. I have a pace that'll cover pretty much all of the Snowdin area's events (along with some special ones, for obvious reasons), and ending it there would've kinda-sorta ruined it to a degree. In either case, I'm sure this is something I'll come to 'regret' in the future, but for now, I think how it is now is fine.
Let me know what you guys think!
Anyways, we're making 'quick' progress through and through, but we're not even close to done. So be ready for what's to come! I hope you guys stick with me; your support (reviews, kudos, etc) really does help a lot.
I'll see you guys… next month! Stay tuned!
TL;DR – Sans took a nap after his initial Adrian encounter. I'm a little late. Editing takes a bit after writing. It's all good. I changed the time in Adrian's journal from 1998 to 2004. This chapter is jampacked with stuff. Interesting stuff, I hope. Nice cream moment could have been the end of this chapter, but I chose to do otherwise. May regret it later. We'll see.
(F/N) – ISuckM8
Thank you so much for the review! I really appreciate it. I'm glad to hear your enjoyment of the fic and how I personify the characters—I try my best to make these chapters the best I can. I do have quite a bit more reviews on Ao3 compared to here, but I try not to stress over it too much; although, whenever I get a review like yours, I'm overjoyed.
As for the Resonance Cascade thing… yeah, you're right. It was kind of an oversight by me, haha. I went off memory that it happened sometime in 1998 without rechecking. By the time you see this, I'll probably already have corrected it to sometime in the early 2000s. Thank you for the callout!
(F/N) – John Game
I super appreciate it the review! I'm happy to hear your praises. And don't worry, I won't be going anywhere anytime soon. As for the Sans and Shephard interactions… well, as you've seen, this chapter has quite a few of them. Spoiler spoiler, but there will definitely be a lot more.