Half-Tale: The Fallen Chapter 11, a Half-Life + Undertale Crossover fanfic

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 11 – Waterfall

Back for Blood.

Chara and Asriel Dreemurr were found lying next to each other on a collection of bright, golden flowers, specifically the ones their mother and father planted and maintained at the Underground's 'entrance', beneath the giant, gaping hole that led to the Surface. For a while, they just lied there, motionless, as they stared into the bright, dark abyss above in a mix of wonder and curiosity…

…though it was only Asriel that shared this sentiment.

They often visited this section of the Underground for differing reasons. Asriel was always a curious monster—he wasn't alive during the Monster War, so all he had were the accounts of the veterans of old like Gerson, or his very own father. He has heard a lot of… bad things about humans, but they still always fascinated him.

Were they really as bad as people say?

If so, are they still that way?

To contrast, Chara just liked to visit and reflect on what she thankfully lost and gained.

"…Chara?"

"Hm?"

"What's the Surface like?"

"…"

Suffice to say, she wouldn't be especially fond of this discussion.

She then turned her head to her left, a deadpanned expression unwillingly escaping her countenance's clutches. This wasn't a topic she wanted to discuss. "Do you really want to know, Asriel?"

Asriel's face lit up, however; he didn't seem to pick up the hint. "Yeah! Mom 'n Dad just tells everyone that up there is so dangerous… I've read the history and everything—the Monster War and stuff—but… it's been a while since then, right? Do you think they could've-"

"No," Chara spat out, resetting her gaze back towards the ceiling. "Humans have not changed. They are still the greedy, violent, paranoid, and malevolent bastards they've always been. Trust me, I would know… I'm one of them."

"But you aren't that bad, Chara," Asriel replied simply. "You aren't any of those things, so it can't be completely true, right? There's got to be some good eggs up there."

Chara remained silent.

"And, I mean, maybe one day, if we are able to return back to the surface, we could learn to coexi-"

"No."

She interrupted him for the second time, her glaring red eyes staring directly into Asriel's soul. She needed to dispel any hope, any possible goodwill Asriel might have for humans. She has seen and lived with them firsthand long enough to know their true, unadulterated nature. "No, damn it. No. You need to get it through your thick skull, Asriel. Humans are nothing but violent leeches that lie, murder, steal… everything under the sun."

Asriel froze.

"Not only can they not be trusted, but the idea of humans and monsters coexisting at this point… is completely impossible. It can't happen. Humans are far too arrogant—too scared to even fathom the idea. It will be a repeat of what happened before, when the humans massacred the monsters. I know it, Dad knows it, Mom knows it… And you need to know it, Asriel."

…

It was Asriel's turn to keep silent.

"We've finally reached Waterfall! Man, we spent a lot of time in Snowdin, didn't we Corp?"

"Mhm."

"Hey, don't just 'mhm' me, soldier. C'mon, react in surprise! Wonder! There is a lot of ground to cover here… so much to see, so much to experience… I'm telling you right now; Snowdin was just the beginning."

"I can imagine."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Look around."

The pair was finally in the destined Waterfall section of the UNDERGROUND, a much moister landscape surrounding them compared to the dry, crunchy snow that infested all of Snowdin… as implied in the name. It also emanated a sort of ethereal, wistful feeling, the ceiling, while being much closer to the ground than Snowdin's, held its various collections of stars…

…although it was impossible for them to actually be stars, a much likelier theory for them being mere sparkly, glowing rocks.

However, what Adrian was referring to in the first place, were the numerous monsters loitering about in the current area.

"Oh."

Adrian took a small glance around as he rolled up his sleeves. First impressions weren't that strong—the air was somewhat humid, the smell was stale, and the close quarters distance between everything was reminiscent of the RUINS, of which he didn't dislike, but such a drastic change so quickly wasn't something he particularly enjoyed.

"…Thank you."

"For what?" the marine asked somewhat absent-mindedly before recognising a familiar monster nearby. "Oh, it's that kid from earlier. I wonder…"

Before Adrian had the chance to approach them, they did so first, running up to him. "Yo again! Welcome to Waterfall! I'm not supposed to be here right now, but I couldn't miss the opportunity, y'know?"

"…Why do you still have my signature on your face?"

"Why wouldn't I?" the Monster Kid exclaimed. "I'm never washing my face again! A signature by a human… I've made so many people jealous already!"

The marine had no energy to spare arguing. "…Sure."

"Anyways, I've got something to check out, so catch up with me later so I could help you if Undyne's around…" the Monster Kid then paused, a thought bubble seemingly popping up atop his head. "…though the potential of a fight sparking between you two is SUPER interesting… Man, I can imagine it now! The Surface Soldier versus the Captain of the Royal Guard!"

"The Surface Soldier, eh Corp?" Chara teased. "Be careful, or else that name will stick."

"Kid, don't lead me directly to Undyne, please…"

"Awh man, but it'd be so awesome…" the Monster Kid whined, but they relented. "Fine! But you owe me! Smell ya later, human!"

With that, the Monster Kid ran off further ahead.

"But I already did the thing you… asked…" the marine sighed. He didn't know what he was expecting from a kid after all, so he largely put the blame on himself. "…whatever."

He had already accepted his fate that it was incredibly, almost certainly, likely that he would be led to Undyne. A fight he's been dreading thus far, and it wasn't one that he was really confident he could win. At least, that's what he was assuming based on hype and prior fights against other Royal Guardsmen.

Maybe with his focus ability up and some of his more advanced weaponry at hand, sure, but with how much stronger monsters are in comparison to what Chara mentioned to him, along with how much he has heard about the fabled knight…

It was slightly nerve wracking.

But if he had to fight, he would fight—that's non-negotiable. As long as he didn't kill her, he supposed it would be fine, but he first had to worry about not being killed himself.

"Hey, Corp! Check out this flower."

Adrian was broken out of his thoughts as he heard the young woman call out to him. Snapping back into reality, he saw what she was talking about—it was a tall, blue-petalled flower standing all by its lonesome next to an absent-minded fish-like monster. For one reason or another, it was very familiar.

The marine went to interact with it, tapping one of its petals lightly.

"Hey! Check out this flower, Corp."

"Hm?" the monster beside the flower grunted. "That wasn't the last thing it said. I would know—I was standin' here the last time someone spoke into the thing. What the heck was that?"

At this point, anything relating to Chara's incorporeality short of her literally becoming mortal again couldn't surprise him anymore. The question of her ability to interact with things even as an incorporeal apparition was… hardly a question anymore. If something like this was able to happen just then, it is hard to determine what she can or cannot do anymore at this point.

"I… don't really have anything to say about this," Chara remarked, putting on a confused expression before shrugging. "I'm beginning to question whether or not I still am a ghost… Wait, hang on, I've got the perfect test."

She proceeded to phase through the adjacent wall. "Nope, still a ghost. Bummer."

"Interesting," Adrian thought, then turning to the monster to ask him a somewhat rhetorical question. "So… what is this?"

The fish-like monster cleared his throat. "This right here is an Echo Flower. Its whole shtick is that it repeats the last thing said over and over. Here, check it out."

The monster tapped the petals in the same manner as Adrian did before as it relayed the following message.

"This right here is an Echo Flower. Its whole shtick is that it repeats the last thing said over and over. Here, check it out."

"I figured so… Sans mentioned this to me earlier," Adrian recalled. "Talking flowers everywhere. I guess this was the specific kind he was talking about, though."

"That Sans guy seems to know a lot, dun' he?" the fish monster chortled. "He's s'posed to be 'round here right now, I think, but he keeps goin' missin'. Surprise he ain't been fired yet."

"So am I."

Adrian waved a half-assed goodbye as he slid over to a lone sentry station at a far corner in the room, the exact look and shape of all the sentry stations back in Snowdin. It even kept the snowy roof, which was strange, as it was much damper here, and yet it seemed perfectly fine.

"An empty sentry, eh?" Adrian thought, gliding his hang over its wooden desktop. "I bet this is-"

"Sans'?"

"Who else?" Adrian smirked. "Was he supposed to be here?"

"Yep, another place he's supposed to be that he's not, but…" Chara trailed off, leaning against the station. "Technically, right here, you were supposed to go with Sans to Grillby's. Him meeting up with you at the librarby was new for me to see."

"Ah, so I was a little early…" Adrian paused. "Are you just going to keep calling it the librarby?"

"What're you talking about?"

"…nothing."

"Hehe."

Adrian rolled his eyes, opting for moving forward as the smug young woman followed closely behind.

However, something bothered Chara. Yet again, that strange feeling she felt back in Snowdin around the frozen spaghetti plate area pursued her. She took one last glance around to see if anything would help jog her memory, but nothing came to mind. It felt like it was at the tip of her tongue, but something kept her from remembering. "What am I missing?"

She decided to leave it for another time.

A familiar-looking box made its appearance up ahead, only to be completely ignored as the marine simply walked past it. He knew what it contained, and he was not willing to show any of it to anyone yet. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to show it at all. Like he mentioned prior, it was nothing that he could probably ever use in the UNDERGROUND, so there was no point in revealing its contents.

"Still not going to show me what's inside that box, Corp? Lame…"

Though then again, he wasn't certain on what challenges would face him in the future. He swore off killing, naturally, but what if there came a point where he would have to kill someone? Someone that was so unbelievably stubborn that they wouldn't accept defeat in any other way than death? The prospect definitely did worry him.

"Uh, Corp, you're walking into… hey, are you even listening to me?"

SLOSH!

He has come across people like that before, after all. Many times. In fact, he was almost sure that was written verbatim in his job description. And every time, he was forced to put them down. It even happened more than a couple times in Black Mesa, where he would try and 'convert' a fellow HECU soldier or otherwise to his side, but it never worked.

"Okay, that's enough—I'm not kidding anym- HEY! ADRIAN! WATCH OUT, GOD DAMN IT!"

"H-huh?"

THUMP!

Adrian could only manage a brief glance to his left at a fast-moving object before he was struck by a small boulder directly to his chest, easily knocking him off his feet as he fell backwards into the deep abyss. Before he could fully embrace the darkness, however, he luckily grasped the ledge of a bridge belonging to a smaller subsection of the area. "Crap!"

"Adrian!"

Chara quickly flew downwards to reach the marine and, when Adrian brought up his other hand to try and get a better hold of the bridge, took hold of his hand, easily being able to pull him up. With her help, he was able to climb back onto 'solid' ground, however rocky and unsteady it may be. She let out a sigh of relief as she glared daggers into him. "F-fuck… Damn it, Adrian. Are you kidding me? Do you want to die? Is that it? And leave me alone just like that? Is that your goal?"

"W-what?" Adrian exhaustingly panted, kneeling. "N-no, I… I wasn't…"

The young woman realised what she said and let out a sigh, ceasing her flight as she sat down opposite to Adrian. She didn't mean to say that, but it was too late for her to just take it back. "…no, no I'm sorry. It's just… you need to take better care of yourself."

Although she said this with a stern glare, within her eyes revealed a deep sense of worry.

"I know… I know. Thank you, Chara… again," Adrian said, standing back up. Looking back down into the abyss, he couldn't help but gaze upon what could have been his immediate doom. "If it weren't for you, I'd be… wherever down there is."

"You don't have to thank me. Just do me a favour."

"Yeah?"

"Please… listen out for my voice more, okay?"

"I'll… try," the marine wearily nodded, then bringing his line of sight back up to get a better grasp of where he actually was. He wasn't too far down from the regular path—it appeared he got lucky and landed in a place that had a path that led back to where he was, though this time, he would be a lot more careful. Turning to his right, however, he witnessed the same type of flower he saw just a little while prior. "Hey, Chara, it's another one of those… echo flowers, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Chara replied, about to fly over to it, though she then stopped herself, as if she spoke, the flower would catch her words and ruin the surprise. "You have to hear this one out. It'll lead you to a grand treasure… something that'll definitely help us out."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"…I'm not putting that on."

"Whaat? Why not?"

"Want a list?"

"C'mon, it's not that bad."

"I'm serious about the list."

Chara and Adrian were currently arguing about the merits and demerits of… the marine equipping an old, tattered tutu in a small room behind a waterfall. The echo flower informed them of something being hidden behind it and, them naturally being a curious bunch, opted to investigate… although, Chara already knew what was there.

"It's got to have a higher defensive stat than your high-tech, advanced, bullet-resistant, tactical… gear…" Chara trailed off, contemplating whether to continue the joke, but she opted for shrugging and laughing. "Okay, okay, hah, you got me. It's not meant for someone like you, obviously."

Adrian picked up the tutu and stifled a chuckle. "Wanna see if you can wear it?"

She shook her head. "It's too small for me."

"Go figure."

"And what is that supposed to mean, Corporal?"

"Nothing," Adrian said plainly, setting the tutu back down on the floor. "I'm leaving this here."

"Don't even want to put it in your box, eh? I'll get it out of you one way or another, mister!"

The Corporal mumbled something to himself as he exited the hidden cave and proceeded into the next area. As he did so, above him, he could see a little clearing—a lengthy catwalk. For some reason, a very subtle shade covered over him from ahead, as if there was a sun casting light on him. There was another thing, too; he could swear he saw a figure lie still in the dark, but…

"Hey, I don't suggest loitering around, Corp," Chara informed. "Hurry and get into the… tall grass over there or else the thing you've been trying to avoid will happen."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

The marine agreed, proceeding into the tall grass in front of him to mask his presence. As Chara followed him in, he whispered to her. "Okay… now wha-"

"H… HI UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT…"

Oh.

"Undyne? She's here?" Adrian said, his voice picking up slightly as he began panicking a little. "That's… that's not good. We need to go-"

"Shh, jeez. Keep talking and she's going to hear you."

Adrian nodded in acknowledgement and shut his mouth, opting for listening into the ongoing conversation between Papyrus and… Undyne.

"UH… REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER…"

The other figure said something neither Chara nor Adrian could hear.

"…HUH? DID I FIGHT HIM? Y-YES, OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY AND WITH ALL MY STRENGTH! HECK, I EVEN USED THAT ATTACK I LEARNED-"

…

"…WHAT? DID I CAPTURE HIM? W-WELL… NO. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END, HE OVERPOWERED ME. I FAILED."

…

"WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN YOURSELF… BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO DESTROY HIM! YOU SEE… YOU SEE…"

…

"…I UNDERSTAND."

The pair watched as Papyrus quickly rushed back from where he came.

"She's really dead set on taking my soul… crap."

SLIP!

"Shit."

Adrian made sure to keep absolutely quiet after that slip up. He was completely certain that he had grabbed Undyne's attention with that mistake and giving her any further confirmation was not something he wanted to do. As he lied still in the bushes, he heard her heavy footsteps inch ever so closer to the edge, overlooking the grass. A translucent spear manifested out of nowhere in her left hand as she aimed it arbitrarily before settling it, cocked and ready, directly towards Adrian.

Right as the marine was about to contemplate jumping out and either running or fighting, Undyne relented, retracting her spear and disappearing into the darkness.

A few moments pass.

"Coast is clear, Corp."

Adrian walked out of the tall grass with his heart beating rapidly, something that even the fall from earlier couldn't manage to do. There was something about Undyne's presence that seemed so overwhelming, though he didn't know whether to attribute him feeling that way because of the nerves from the hype or Undyne herself.

"You alright?"

"Uh… I could've sworn she saw me," Adrian took a breath and sighed, running one of his gloved hands through his blonde hair. "She's really going after me now, hm? Wasn't also expecting Papyrus of all people to have told her that I'm around, too, but I guess it never really mattered that much anyways."

"Mhm. She would've found out about you anyways."

Suddenly, Monster Kid sprouted out of the tall grass as well, spooking the marine enough for him to twitch his hand towards his pistol ever so slightly, but it never got close. He was getting good at that, thankfully. "You again. Where the hell did you even come from?"

"Yo… did you see the way she was staring at you…?"

"Uh…"

"That… was… AWESOME! I'm SOOO jealous!"

Adrian, however, disagreed. "…she was staring like death into me. I dunno if that's something to be jealous of."

"Nah, I would've LOVED to be in your position there, honest!" Monster Kid cried out in excitement. "Man, she really is out to get'cha, eh, human? You gotta be careful from here! She's on high alert, y'hear?"

"I'm aware, kid," the Corporal shrugged. "Plenty aware."

"I'm off to watch her beat up some bad guys! Make sure she doesn't see you!"

With that, Monster Kid ran off ahead once again.

"Make sure she doesn't see you, they say… ugh, it's not like I have any control over that," Adrian tilted his head downwards, scoffing. "She knows I'm here, that much is obvious… I'm going to be worrying about this for a while, aren't I?"

"You've already made that pretty obvious," Chara acknowledged. "But, as long as you've got me, you've got nothing to worry about."

"Well, I know that, but…"

"Hey, look! More puzzles!"

"Ready?" Adrian asked, beads of sweat swarming down his face.

"Ready," the other monster, a brown, muscular sea horse with a winding green tail and twelve-ish pack pectorals replied, a cocky smirk growing on his face. "…and GO!"

The incredible, unrelenting, tense battle of the unfathomable sport of arm-wrestling henceforth began with a struggle for dominance.

Adrian gritted his teeth slightly as he flexed his arms, using as much strength as he believed he needed to push the other monster's arm down to the other side. He didn't want to use every ounce of strength—not yet. Saving his strength was the absolute best play he could think of at the moment if he wanted to win.

Over-exerting himself will lead to a loss… and it seemed like Aaron, his adversary, shared the idea.

As the battle for strength supremacy continued to slowly reach its climax, a small splint began to form in the table, but neither were ready to relent. Not even close.

"Go, Corp, go! I believe in you!" Chara cried out, bumping a fist into the air. She was very much enjoying this little contest, though she was mostly staring at Adrian the whole time rather than at Aaron. "I've got a lot of gold riding on this, so you better not lose!"

As the contest continued, it was becoming very obvious that both parties were beginning to falter in strength, the intensity in the air somewhat lessening in volume, but they maintained the same level of strength. Soon, however, a winner would be decided, and the stronger man / monster will be decided.

The marine decided that he needed to end this soon, or else there was a good chance that he could easily lose the strength contest. So, with a grunt of strength, he began exerting even more force within his reserves, finally making some headway as the balance began to tip in scales. "Grah!"

Aaron noticed his hand slipping outside his favour and decided to do the exact same thing, engaging even more force into his side as well. "~HAAA!"

CRASH!

The victor… was decided.

Thanks to his upper hand in strength control, reserves of strength, and superiority, however slight it may be, in raw power, Corporal Adrian Shephard managed to turn the tides his direction as he, with a final grunt of triumph and determination, managed to slam Aaron's hand down on the table, effectively, and finally, destroying it in its entirety.

Adrian panted slightly, bringing his own aching arm up to rub it a little as he looked at the downed monster, who seemed genuinely shocked that he lost. He had to put a lot more force than he was comfortable with, but he knew that if he hadn't done so, he would have lost. "You… hah… you did well, Aaron. Sorry about your table."

Aaron shook his head as he managed to pick himself back up. "~Nah, nah… it's cool. I haven't had a serious arm-wrestling competition in a long time, and this is the first time I've lost… Oh well, at least I can say that the only time I lost in a strength contest was to a bona fide human, heh. Always look for the silver linings."

"It's that obvious, huh?"

"~Are you serious? There's no one else in the Underground that I know of who wears the same stuff you do, human," Aaron crossed his arms, though a slight tinge of pain soared through his right arm. "Are you, ack, that surprised?"

"Well, if you put it like that…"

"Whatevs, I'm outta here. I need to recover this arm that you broke…" Aaron said, rubbing his increasingly aching arm as he left. "G'luck with Undyne, bro!"

As the monster left, Adrian could only shake his head in annoyance at the constant mention of the fabled Royal Guard leader. Reaching into his backpack, he took out a cinnamon bun he had saved from earlier and took a bite, feeling its recovery effects kicking in. "Can I go five minutes without hearing about Undyne? My God, Undyne this, Undyne that…"

"Well, she is the most popular person around, being the head and strongest of the whole Royal Guard after all," Chara mentioned, floating above the marine as she pointed a finger upwards. "Trained by my dad himself, she… ahem… rose through the ranks and, through all the tough and turmoil, reached the absolute pinnacle of strength! Everyone loves her. She's pretty much a badass superhero around here, so it's said."

"…"

"Corp?"

"None of this is helping."

"Sorry."

"…It's fine," Adrian said as he feigned nonchalance, taking a look around his surroundings. There appeared to be yet another flower-bridge puzzle that he had to circumvent. "Monsters really love their puzzles, huh? Does everyone have to do them every time they want to pass?"

Chara nodded. "Mhm. Puzzles have an especially lengthy history down here, as I think Toriel explained to you. They were made to trap any humans if they were to invade, but when that didn't happen, they turned into… fun exercises, really. To pass the time. It just stuck after that."

The Corporeal hmphed in affirmation, picking up a large, unbloomed flower from a collection of four. This puzzle wasn't especially difficult, considering his standards, and he was able to see the solution almost instantly. He did see how it could hypothetically stump someone, however—you had to line up all four flowers for it to bloom.

For instance, if only three were up, then nothing would happen, and the puzzle would have to be reset.

"Hey, Corp. Hang-"

"What's up?"

"…Actually, never mind."

"Whenever you say something like that, we go off the beaten path to some… secret area."

"That's right, but here, I don't think it's something you'd need nor want. Unless you like abandoned quiches underneath benches."

"…I think I'm good."

"That's what I thought."

Adrian proceeded to complete the puzzle, placing all of the flowers vertically to climb upwards, toward the waterfall. They bloomed quickly, creating a safe passageway for both, or rather just Adrian himself, to follow. "Did the guy who made this puzzle really think this would dissuade any humans?"

"Eh…" Chara followed. "At this point, it was more-so for fun than anything, if I remember correctly."

"Huh. I suppose that was fun-"

RING!

A familiar, generic ringtone rang from Adrian's backpack.

Having not actually received a phone call from anyone since before he fell, it caught him by surprise, but he swiftly recovered—he did, after all, give out his number to at least two people. And Papyrus did seem like the person who would most likely call him, at least with some degree of frequency, so he could easily guess who it was from.

Retrieving his phone from his backpack, he held it out, accepted the call, and put it on loudspeaker. "Hey."

"HELLO, HUMAN! THIS IS PAPYRUS!" Papyrus' voice buzzed. "YOU COULD TELL BY THE WAY IT SAID 'COOLSKELETON95' WHEN I CALLED! NYEH-HEH-HEH!"

Soft laughter came from the pair before Adrian spoke. "Yeah, I could tell. What's up?"

"SO… I HAD A LITTLE ENCOUNTER WITH UNDYNE, AND… WELL, IT'S NOT LOOKING VERY GOOD FOR YOU, I'M AFRAID."

"I saw. Couldn't hear what she said, but I can… assume."

"WELL, NORMALLY I WOULD BE ON HER SIDE, ALWAYS, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT VIOLENCE IS THE SOLUTION TO OUR DEBACLE… SO! I FIGURE IT WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA FOR ME TO TRY AND THROW HER OFF YOUR TRAIL UNTIL YOU'RE CLEAR OF WATERFALL!"

"Not a bad idea. What do you have in mind?"

"WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?"

"What?"

"WHAT ARE YOU WEARING, HUMAN?"

Chara snickered a little. "You heard him. Describe what you're wearing to him in explicit, excruciating detai-"

A stern glare from Adrian stopped her from continuing the sentence. "Hey, don't look at me like that."

"I'm wearing the same thing I wore since we last met. I didn't change outfits."

"HMM… THAT'S EERILY SIMILAR TO WHAT SHE TOLD ME! SHE SAID THAT YOU WERE WEARING A WEIRD FORM OF ARMOUR… IS THAT TRUE?"

"…yeah?"

"GOT IT! I'LL TELL HER THAT YOU SWAPPED OUTFITS AND IS NOW WEARING… A DUSTY TUTU! THANK YOU!"

"Wait, wh-"

CLICK!

"I don't think she's buying-" Chara began.

"…that, not for a second," Adrian finished, waving his hand in dismissal. "Oh well, let's just keep moving."

"Acting awfully cocky, aren't you, Corp…"

Adrian cocked a smile back, turning his head to face the young woman. "Yep."

"In these next couple of rooms, I would appreciate it if you were to not say anything," Chara flew right in front of the marine, stopping him from proceeding any further. She held a compelling serious expression on her face. "There's an… interesting story that's told here, and if you say anything, it will be ruined, okay?"

Although he was curious what she meant by this, Adrian nodded without hesitation.

Moving on through the wooden entrance, Adrian found himself in another rather elongated room, filled with a collection of echo flowers littered about. "This is what Chara meant by story, I suppose… Curious."

Now wielding newfound interest in this story, he walked up to the first flower he saw and lightly tapped one of its petals, a very prominent voice becoming quickly audible.

A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish could come true.

Now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling…

Adrian drew his hand on the adjacent wall, finding a sign reading 'WISHING ROOM'. Based on that, he could assume that this was what the voice from the flower was referring to. Chara then landed on the ground, leaning up against the wall. Knowing that her words come through to the flower, as made apparent earlier, she opted for remaining in silence as well, though she would have done that anyways.

The marine turned to the following flower and tapped its petals.

Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The king will prove that.

He followed the next flower.

C'mon, sis!

There was another right next to it.

I wish my sister and I will see the real stars someday…

Between the next flower and the one Adrian was standing besides lied a curious telescope. Originally, he wasn't going to interact with it, but a light tap on the shoulder from Chara convinced him to do otherwise.

Sticking an eye into the lens and using it to take a brief glance at his surroundings, he could discern the wall at the end of a splitting hallway held a hidden door rather than an actual wall thanks to a very cheeky message written on the lens itself, using the bright light from the sparkling stones to illuminate the message as the darkness previously prevented its visibility.

Since Chara mentioned rooms, as in plural, he assumed to remain quiet as he moved onto the next room.

Immediately, he noticed the multitude of signs on the wall, and the lack of the echo flowers. There seemed to be no need to remain silent any further, but he respected the young woman's wishes and continued to say nothing anyways.

Ignoring the gaping, empty, and dark lake to his left, he walked up to the first sign, marked by ancient, yet cohesive, writings…

The War of Humans and Monsters

The next sign had more to say.

Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the SOUL of nearly every monster… just to equal the power of a single human SOUL.

There it was again, the same thing Chara had mentioned to Adrian back in the library within Snowdin. Evident by the numerous strong monsters the marine had encountered thus far on his journey, this idea couldn't have been true. At least, not anymore.

There were numerous cases against it. Dogamy and Dogaressa, Toriel, Doggo, Lesser Dog, Papyrus… all of them were much more powerful than they should be. Rather than them being so much inferior to a single human SOUL, they were able to match Adrian in combat consistently and relentlessly, something Chara could not discern how nor why.

She theorised that the timeline shift, Adrian's unexpected arrival, and Frisk's disappearance caused some sort of cascading effect, thereby making every monster much stronger than usual, but even if that were the case… this specific timeline still had mention to how human SOULs were so much stronger than monster SOULs.

It is also possible that, after so much time in the UNDERGROUND, monsters somehow became much stronger. Combined with her theory, it could explain how they got like this, but it doesn't explain why.

There was no way to prove any of this yet, however.

Adrian then moved onto the next sign.

But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death.

After the pair's conversation in Snowdin, they were both keenly aware of what this was referring to.

If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL. A monster with a human SOUL… A horrible beast with unfathomable power.

Naturally, Chara's story was the first thing that rang in the marine's head.

There was one last sign, and although it had no words, it instead held an illustration of a grotesque beast-like figure, unsettling the marine. However, something about it was so incredibly familiar that it reverberated in the back of his head like a landmine. It must've been referring to the combination of a human SOUL and a monster SOUL, but…

Has he seen it before?

There was a little platform directly ahead of the pair, overlooking a shadowed ocean. Without having been informed what it as, Adrian confidently took a step onto it without thinking, thus beginning the embarkment across the dark waters to a far-off distanced area.

"…"

The Corporeal was unsure of what to say. He already knew how the monster race was trapped beneath of the mountain of Mount. Ebott, and that it was fear that drove the humans into imprisoning them down in the Underground, but… the timeline of events that was just showcased to him accentuated the disturbing feelings he had relating to the entire ordeal.

Chara, however, had something to say. "Interesting, was it not?"

Adrian managed drop down to a sit on the platform, it being thankfully large enough to support him into a casual cross-legged sit. "…It was."

The young woman stifled a feigned chuckle. "Even now, after all this time, people down here still hold out hope to one day see the surface."

He tilted his head upwards, facing the distant, yet bright rocky stars in the ceiling. "It's… a lot. The Monster War, the human and monster SOUL, the combinations between the two… it's tough to really take all of it in. Monster Kind has seen and been through so much—the fact that some people still believe in that dream is really admirable."

"But…"

"I'm the only one standing between them and their freedom."

Chara nodded. "That's the point of contention. I'm not sure if I mentioned to you already, but my father is in possession of six human SOULs. One more, and he'll be able to destroy the barrier forever."

Adrian hummed. A brief thought came into his mind: the idea of sacrificing himself and his SOUL intentionally to King Asgore and free all of Monster Kind, but it was quickly swept away—that wasn't what he was sent down here for, and it for sure wouldn't answer well with him. His directions were clear and precise, albeit somewhat vague at the same time, but he had a destination, and all the time in the world he needed to reach it.

There had to be another way for everyone to be happy and free, too, other than just self-sacrifice.

"You mention this… Fisk person sort-of often," Adrian brought up, turning his head to Chara, who was floating right beside him. "And about all these runs… is there a timeline where everyone is freed? Where Frisk managed to get everyone out?"

The young woman met Adrian's eyes but said nothing for a second before turning away, her eyes whisking back into the deep void. "…Yes. Many times. First hundred or so runs, I reckon. The resets piled on after, though, and…"

"…"

"It was all for nothing."

They remained sat there in silence for the rest of the trip. Eventually, after a little while, the end destination was in sight; they finally reached it and stepped off, the both of them watching as it returned back where it came from, forcing them to press forward. The deafening silence between them reverberated in the air, a slight tinge of tension showcased.

Chara broke the ice. "Well, that got… sort of depressing, didn't it?" she let out a reassuring chortle. "Sorry about that. It's just… monsters have been through a lot, and I wanted you to see that in this manner from the monsters themselves. There's a couple more sections like that I want to show you, so be prepared for when that happens."

The marine nodded fervently.

"So, with that out of the way…" Chara sighed, looking forward as well. The shade from earlier returned, confusing her for a moment before she widened her eyes, realising exactly what's going to happen. "Oh… crap, I wasn't paying attention."

"Huh? What's up?"

"Do not move a single-"

SWITH!

A very sharp blue spear cut both Chara and Adrian off simultaneously, landing mere centimetres away from impaling the marine.

Adrian stood still. "Oh."

"RUN!"

Another spear misfire and Chara's cry finally encouraged the marine to dart past the initial spear at breakneck speeds, with the young woman flying in close pursuit. A metallic figure in the background began shooting flurries upon flurries of spears, all of them manifesting out of thin air as they swarmed him.

With every spear thrown, they inched ever so closer as the figure clad in metal kept up with Adrian's speed, despite the weight of the armour.

And the marine had only one thing to say.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKIN' KIDDING ME!"

As he rounded a minor bend, he took a fast glance back only to see an especially close spear swiftly spiral towards him. This could not be blocked, and it was moving far too fast just to catch. Thinking fast, he went to withdraw his trusty, always-handy M9 Bayonet from its holster… only to only grasp upon thin air.

It wasn't there.

How could he have forgotten—during his fight with Papyrus, it broke.

It broke.

Not so handy now, was it?

He had no choice but to dodge. Quickly contorting his body to try and at least narrowly avoid the spear from piercing his heart, he managed to successfully avoid it for the most part… or that's what he believed. He wasn't quick enough to completely avoid it, the spear grazing his exposed forearm and causing a tiny spill of blood to be drawn.

He had taken too long with his knife idea, but as long as he was alive, that's all that mattered. So, he continued to run.

However, he found that right after he 'dodged' the previous spear, every following blue manifestation began being thrown at massively higher velocities. The impact areas were getting dangerously close to the marine. He managed to dodge a few of them, but it was quickly becoming clear that, without his focus ability, he wouldn't be able to prevent himself from being hit at least a couple of times.

He didn't have a weapon to repel them with either. Adrian was really beginning to wish that he had opened-

CLANK!

He forgot. How could he have forgotten? It never left him. Maybe he got too used to using his knife that it became more inconvenient to just use? That was what he did in Black Mesa, after all, but…

SWITH!

Yet another spear was mere millimetres away from his chest that time had he not acted on intuition and dodged it just in time. He needed to do something and do it fast.

Quickly, he reached back to his backpack to its makeshift holster that he completely forgot all about. He didn't even check if it was there before but, luckily, nothing has changed; there it was, in all its metallic, rustic glory. One of his only chances of survival, right in the palm of his hands for him to contort and manipulate to his use.

His wrench.

Adrian turned his head back again and saw multiple spears headed straight for him. Unavoidable without his focus or a weapon. So, with a clean swing from his trusty wrench, the spears were dispatched with relative ease, clashing against the similarly somewhat metallic, blue spears and emitting a loud CHING! clamour.

It probably worked even better than his knife would have.

Satisfied with his new position of power, the Corporal raised his head upwards, his countenance displaying one immense pride and newfound determination. With his wrench, surely, he would easily be able to keep up now-

Another surge of spears began to close in on him. And fast. Extremely fast. His pace began to slow down—these were much faster than the ones he just had to face. There was no dodging nor merely swiping these attacks away. Even if he pre-emptively stopped suddenly moving to avoid the bulk of it, he would still be struck many times in every vital part of his body.

Effectively killing him.

It was too late to focus.

He wasn't even sure if his vest would save him this time, especially against piercing attacks of this ferocity.

Was this the end?

Already?

Such an anti-climax. Getting so far just to die now-

The spears never hit their target.

Adrian looked up—the spears were all suddenly gone from immediate sight. Instead, he saw a familiar, green-striped sweater and the woman wearing it floating a short distance ahead of him, all of the spears caught and collected right in her arms.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING AROUND? RUN, GOD DAMN IT!"

Chara.

Adrian heeded her suggestion and picked up his speed again. He was exerting all of his energy, from reserves or otherwise, as he slowly felt his breath catch up to him. When his gaze returned forward, in the near distance, he saw a massive patch of tall grass, very similar to the one from before with his initial 'encounter' with Undyne.

A hiding spot, he thought, and a damn good one.

As he jumped off the wooden bridge where the entire debacle took place in, he dived into the thick, tall grass, praying wherever he landed was good enough for when Undyne arrived for him to make a quick escape-

THUMP!

She was too fast.

Adrian's heartbeat was racing a hundred miles a second. He didn't want to fight her, not now—it was way too early. Chara told him that there was still a lot to see; he wanted to do that and witness everything he could with the first fallen human before inevitably fighting Undyne, but…

A second heartbeat was faintly audible.

THWISH!

Undyne struck hard against something. Right as Adrian was about to retaliate, assuming it was against him… he realised it wasn't him that was hit. Through the tall grass' flowing, fleeting strains, he saw Undyne lift Monster Kid up by his eye before begrudgingly, and disappointingly, letting him down gently, walking backwards and out of the grassy patch.

As the marine felt his heartbeat slowly, yet surely, slow down, he let out a massive, exhausted sigh of relief as he let himself relax for a moment in the grass. After some time, he managed to pull himself away from the comfortable spot and exited the section, clutching the wall as he did so. Before long, he found himself falling against the wall to a sit. "Hah… hah… now that… was crazy. Last time I felt anything like that was when I fought that freakin'… ugh."

He bobbed head up and smiled, wiping some sweat from his forehead. He did it—he managed to prolong the inevitable.

The Monster Kid ran right out of the grass, very obviously exhilarated and excited, essentially shaking in their non-existent boots… completely unharmed despite what just happened. "Yo… yo… YO!"

"Hey, kid. You alright? She kinda just… grabbed your eye-"

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?"

"Uh…"

"First I saw that FRIGGIN' COOL CHASE with you and Undyne. THAT was AWESOME. You went SWISH, THWING! And she went HAAAH! FWOOSH! Man, oh man, that was the COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!" they exclaimed. "DID YOU SEE THAT?"

"Of course I saw that. I was the swish thwing-er."

"RIGHT!?" they continued. "And then, to TOP it all off… she even TOUCHED ME!"

"Alright, alright," Adrian chuckled. "Stop shouting so much. I saw it."

"Man! Now I've got a second reason to never wash my face again!"

"Still not a great idea there, kid."

"That fight was SUPER cool though… but I'm kind of confused… What the heck happened there at the end? Right before you jumped into the grass?" Monster Kid asked, half-circling around the marine. "Undyne threw a bunch of spears, but they sort of just… got caught in mid-air? Did you do that?"

Adrian shook his head and lied. "No… no, I don't know what happened there. Lucky break, though."

"Well! in either case, be careful! We'll see her again!" Monster Kid said, still shivering from excitement. "Anyways, I'll catch you later! I gotta tell EVERYONE about that fight! Ooh boy… Everyone better watch out for the SURFACE SOLDIER!"

Once again, Monster Kid tried to run off but tripped before getting back up and properly running off.

Chara then emerged from the grass as well with a deadpanned expression, though it quickly contorted into one of smug satisfaction. "Didja use your focus mode thingy there?"

"Nope."

"Huh. That was… very interesting to watch."

"Oh yeah? You didn't just watch, missy," Adrian smirked. "What the heck was that? I wasn't seeing things, right? Did you catch all those spears? I didn't even see you move."

"I… dunno," Chara floated over to the marine and sat directly to his left. She briefly contemplated leaning up against him but decided against it for now. "I saw that you were in danger, so I knew I had to do something. I figured that with everything that I've been able to do and affect recently, I flew in the way of the spears and… I caught them. I was surprised myself that it worked."

"Good thing it did. You saved my life… again."

"Are you sure that the spears would've impaled you?"

"Almost certain."

"Ehh, well, we don't have to find out now I guess."

"Right."

"So… what's with the wrench?" Chara questioned, moving away a little to better face the marine. She was being a little disingenuous; she has seen this wrench before—in fact, she was surprised that she hadn't seen it again until this point. It was the very same wrench Adrian used in her 'dream', the one he used to… well, kill another soldier. "You pulled it out of nowhere to deflect Undyne's attacks."

"This right here…" Adrian said, reaching to his makeshift holster on his backpack and taking out the fabled tool. He lifted it into the air and proceeded to inspect it. "…is my trusty wrench. I grabbed it sometime when I was on… the surface, and it's kept me safe ever since." He paused, letting out a knowing scoff. "I actually forgot about this until now. Good thing I was reminded it was there, 'cause I'm not sure if I would've been able to avoid the spears from earlier before you intervened."

"Can't say we just got lucky there…" Chara smiled softly. She decided to stand right up, walk out a couple of inches, and turned back to kneel. She stuck out a hand, offering to help him back up. "You okay now? We should probably keep moving—there's a chance that Undyne could come back for a little look around."

With a nod, he took her hand.

"Yes ma'am."

A / N

Heyo! We are officially back in business! February 1st… I told ya I'd be back by then, didn't I?

Everything that I have been working on the past couple of months have already come out by now: Basics in Teaching (a Fundamental Paper Education fic) and Chapter 8's revision (of which I am much happier on the state of now). Make sure to check 'em out if the idea fancies ya!

If this fanfic is going to be as long as I'm predicting, the next planned break will be in December. Woah! That's… a little while from now, actually, so let's not think about that.

Anyways, we are officially in WATERFALL! About damn time, I think. Things are about to start ramping up, and I've got some very interesting plans… such as the reintroduction of something integral that has been forgotten all this time.

No spoilers.

As you can see, this chapter's wordcount is much lesser in comparison to previous chapters. Seriously, I really didn't think I'd go that crazy on the last couple, accumulatively riding up to SIXTEEN THOUSAND words in a single chapter. I'm not sure what I was coked up on when I wrote and edited all that, but I wouldn't expect it to happen a lot. Maybe here and there, but I really doubt I'll do anything like that again until something big in the story happens.

Well, I suppose we're not really that far from that. Let's hope my planning skills come in clutch this time around.

(Minor addition – More references to certain franchises—kudos to you if you get 'em. Hint hint - Dropkick).

I believe that's about all I wanted to cover for this chapter. Next chapter will come at its regular time: that being March 1st (or around), but then I will split into a half-chapter starring Toriel! It's been a while since we've seen Spore, huh? I wonder what those two are up to…

Anywho, reviews and criticism welcome.

As always, take care!

(F / N) - HelenTheMoon

Hey there! I thank you massively for your review (of which is my favourite type for sure, I love responding to them). I'm really glad you're enjoying this fic thus far. The crossover is definitely... unique, but it has a certain charm to it, I've found, that I set out to explore, and so far, I think it's been going along pretty well (though reviews like yours make me feel a lot better about it).

Let's see…

I've always fancied the idea of imprisoned NarraChara and the prospect of Frisk being this murderous psychopath (at least, they eventually become that), and that clashing with Adrian's PTSD and experiences from Black Mesa and otherwise made this a pretty good idea, I thought.

Adrian is a very interesting character. Or rather, I tried to make him to be—he doesn't really have much of a blatant personality in OPFOR other than his journal entries, but, being a Black Mesa survivor, would definitely have a different effect on those he encounters than Frisk would thanks to his innate nature and personality.

Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Chara, the canine unit, Monster Kid… they all see him differently, and think of him differently to Frisk. And in turn, they'll be affected in differing ways. We'll see to what extent very soon ;).

His dynamic with Chara is also something I put a lot of attention to. Hesitant, somewhat reluctant allies at first to something more later. How it will progress is need-to-know, but there will be a lot of twists, turns, and… I'm rambling again.

I'm actually really glad to hear your enjoyment of the fighting scenes. This is sort of a weak point of mine, I thought; sometimes I think I'm too elaborate, and other times I think I'm not having enough detail. I'll keep trying to improve in either case.

Aside from that, Adrian definitely is reaching that popularity status. A strong, merciful fighter… I wonder who that reminds me of?

As for Gaster and G-Man… No comment ;).

I thank you hugely again for the review and compliments. I opened up my email that day and was extremely delighted to see it, so much so that I immediately went to type a reply here in the author's notes (Jan 12th is the time I'm writing this A/N).

With all that being said, I will continue to try and keep up my quality of writing! :)

(F / N) – Gordon Miller

I saw your reply on Wattpad (and responded), but I felt the need to thank you here as well. Again, I appreciate the compliments. I put a lot of effort into writing this story (and will continue to do so), so it's always nice to receive a review like yours.

Stay tuned for more Adrian Chara :P !

(F / N) - Super heavy weapons guy

We'll see…

(F / N) NOTE!

To those reading on FF, the Fundamental Paper Education fanfic will not be published there. Due to how the website is set up, it is not possible. If you are curious about it, check it out on Ao3 or Wattpad… though the former is probably better. I'm under the same name on Ao3: HolmesJaw.