Note: As is usual with my fanfictions, I always write intros. In case you don't want to read through them, feel free to scroll past the text in italic.

Hey everyone! Yay, the time has finally come for my next long story! Gosh, you wouldn't believe how hyped I am for this to start. Last week, I was legit freaking out and almost uploaded it, but I promised to post the first chapter on September. So here you go. :D I'm challenging myself into posting at least one new chapter every 4 weeks, and I swore to myself that should I fail to meet the deadline sometime, I will HAVE TO write a short story about Jerry. And nobody wants that. Screw that guy.
Just to give you a little context for this fanfic:
1. This is Post-pacifist, which means it builds up on the true pacifist ending; monsters live on the surface in peace with humans. On top of that, consider it a veeeery slight sequel to 'First, There Was A Flower', my first fanfic that I finished writing a couple of months ago. In case you haven't read it – I'm not going to spoil much, just know that I let Asriel survive and, after a few years on the surface, fall in love with Frisk. Although 'His Story' isn't going to bother with the two again, it happens in the same universe, so to speak. So don't be confused when I hint towards Asrifrisk and/or Asriel being alive. :D
2. I'm proud to introduce my OC, a human girl by the name of Lynx. There really isn't much to her, I just happened to keep calling the fallen human Lynx whenever I played Undertale on my own because I liked the name; and now I've given the name to the main protagonist of this fanfic. Yay. She's actually the girl on the cover image of tnis story - which I did not draw on my own, btw. There's an online app called Mega Anime Avatar Creator (sic) which I ended up fooling around with. And that's how I made the picture of Lynx the way I saw her in my head. :D
3. To those who have followed me here since my first fanfic and through my short story series: thank you for putting your time into reading the weird stuff I create. It's the feedback that keeps me motivated to continue writing, knowing that somewhere on another side of the globe, I make someone happy. Please, do not hesitate to write reviews and/or personal messages, either telling me you liked it or yelling where I failed so I can learn from my mistakes. :)

Well, that was a hell of an intro. Let's get to the story already!

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away... (JK)

CHAPTER I: That's My Job
(Lynx's perspective)

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming... On days like these, kids like them were often around having a good time.

As ominous as the previous paragraph might have seemed, they were just a simple small group of teenagers who hung out together. New friends came, old friends left, but the core of the group, consisting of three or four people who others considered as leaders, remained the same, kept together by long years of adventures and, honestly, the same class at school.

She wasn't one of them.

She got into the group through her friend who had a crush on Polo, one of the main protagonists of the "gang", and she's hung out with them a couple of times. Usually, they were just chilling, not really doing anything, and honestly, she kept seeing them simply because she had nothing better to do. Plus, her friend sometimes told her she should try and make new friends, so she kept trying for her sake; but after a few weeks she could tell they were all too small minded to be actually interesting in her opinion. She'd have loved to meet the goat monster that, as she'd been told, used to spend time with them, but since he got together with his current girlfriend several months ago, he was barely ever seen with anyone else but her.

It wasn't like she wanted to meet this Asriel guy only because she wished to see a monster. She had seen him in school quite often and she had gotten used to his presence, even though they never talked – he was younger and, therefore, attended a lower class. Monsters, however, interested her because... They were different from humans. They could take many forms, from anthropomorphic animals to straight up nightmares, and yet they all seemed kind hearted, friendly and, well, fascinating. She had difficult time explaining it even to herself, but monsters always looked like they had an interesting story to share, like they understood the world better. Humans, at least those she had met up to this point, were usually speaking a lot but not actually talking about anything, and they were cauciously hiding their true selves from others, as if they were ashamed to admit they're better people than meets the eye. As if they were too lazy to care about big things.

It should be clear now why she was very excited when the "gang" decided to explore the caves of Mount Ebott, the old home of all the monsters which they left more than seven years ago. They had to be careful, though – it was strictly forbidden to enter the caves, the monsters expressed their concern about the matter almost immediately after the underground had gone empty, much to the displeasure of various human tourists and scientists alike. The fact that they were about to do something prohibited made it even more adventurous for them.

That morning, there were five of them who gathered at the hillside: Jon, Carrio, Mace, herself and her friend Sara. Polo didn't come that day; Asriel was his best friend and he didn't want to go behind his back, knowing he shared the monsters' wish to leave the mountain empty. The rest of them were pretty stoked; the difference was that while the rest of them wouldn't shut up about what treasures left behind and miracles of architecture and whatnot they hoped to find in the mountain, she kept her excitement to herself. It wasn't the solid nature of the underground that pulled her in; it was the spirituality of the place, the history it had.

After about an hour of walking upwards, they found themselves on a rocky terrace with an outstanding view of the countryside; they felt the sunrays on their backs. Underneath, they saw an enormous mass of green forests, and the town could be seen to the right of where they stood.

"Imagine this was the first thing the monsters saw when they left the mountain," she spoke up after a long time. "I'd have cried."

"It's hard to imagine what it must have been like," Sara agreed. "Maybe it was like you were blind most of your life and then they cured you."

She almost told them that people tend to take things for granted, unable to understand someone who might not have had what they did, but she rejected that idea because she knew noone would appreciate that thought. The boys have already looked behind them and saw a wide, dark hole carved into the mountain not far from where they were. "That must be it, guys!" Jon shouted. "Let's go!"

"Give me a minute, I'm exhausted," Sara told him and sat down to demonstrate she's not moving until her strength is back. "I'm not used to climbing mountains like this."

"Fine," said Jon and took off his backpack. "The underground isn't going anywhere."

"Has anyone seen my hat?" she asked. No matter how hard she looked, her favourite baseball cap was gone. She definitely had it attached to her pack when she left home, so it had probably fallen off.

"You had it when we met," said Sara. "You must have lost it somewhere in the woods."

"Would you guys wait here for a while? I'm just gonna go back for five minutes, see if it's near by any chance." She was beginning to feel a little anxious; she loved the hat too much. "If not, I'll just look for it on the way back, I don't want to delay you."

"For God's sake, Lynx," Carrio exclaimed, "why didn't you have the hat on your head if you didn't want to lose it?"

"Because, Carr," she replied over her shoulder, "I didn't have time to blow-dry my hair in the morning." With that, she submerged into the bushes.

Lynx was no little girl anymore – she knew losing one thing only meant she'll have to buy another one. But her cap was exceptionally dear to her – it was one of the last things dad had ever given to her before he moved away. Plus, you know, it looked really cool.

Still, even though she was in a hurry, Lynx did take the time to appreciate her surroundings. It all looked even more beautiful now that she was there all by herself. The sun pierced through the treetops above, a gentle breeze played with leaves and grass... It almost made her not want to go into the mountain at all but rather just lay down, stare into the sky and feel the nature's embrace all around.

Sadly, having backtracked for over five minutes, not only she didn't see her hat anywhere, but she also realised she had lost the path they originally took to get up. The latter didn't really bother her that much – she could just walk and she'd find the group eventually. But the loss of her favourite cap made her sad, and she could only hope to retrieve it sooner or later.

While going back to the others the long way round, crossing a narrow but rather hasty stream, moving past a couple of huge boulders and frightening a little rabbit (at least it looked like one from the distance), Lynx had to ask herself why the heck had she not spent more time in here before. Compared to the concrete life she lived below the mountain, this piece of nature seemed truly magical. She promised herself she'll at least take walks through the woods a lot more often. Preferably alone, because the peace, stillness and possibility to stop caring about anyone charmed her.

Finally, she heard distant human voices, turned towards that direction and quickened her pace. She hoped they wouldn't be too upset she had been gone for some time.

Not long after that, she saw the terrace where her friends were, sitting, talking and laughing. Lynx was approaching them from the left of the path they took before. The entrance to the underground was just above her; she couldn't help but peek inside, looking for any sign of what awaits them there.

Much to her surprise, the sign actually came.

For a second, Lynx thought her eyes might have played a trick on her. All she could see was a brief flash of blue colour; not too bright, rather tiny, as if it came from someone's eye. Before she knew it, the light was gone again.

Suddenly, a short figure emerged from the mountain and walked straight towards her friends. Lynx could only see the person from behind; they had their hands in the pockets of a blue hoodie, the hood pulled over their head. Rather strange, considering the warm weather.

She couldn't explain why, but rather than showing herself or warning her friends, she hid behind a bush in the shade of an oak tree and merely watched what was going to happen.

The mysterious figure spoke up, and Lynx heard a laid back man's voice.

"sup, kiddos?"

Everyone winced startlingly; Sara, upon looking at the hooded man, even cried out in shock. That's a little excessive, Lynx thought. He couldn't have scared her that much... Unless there's something terryfying underneath that hood. He came from the mountain – could it be a monster? And what was he even doing there anyway?

Whoever he was, he stopped about twenty feet from the group. He stood on a mild slope that led to the cave, so even though he was a bit shorter, he had the high ground and appeared dominant over the four.

"oh i'm sorry, did i rattle your bones?" he said.

"A little bit, yeah," Jon replied.

"so... whatcha doin' here, kids?" the man who might have been a monster asked. "shouldn't you be at home, doing homework and not trying to sneak into the mountain, like good children?"

"We..." Jon stuttered. "What makes you think we were even going inside? We simply went on a trip-"

"cut it out, buddy," said the person. "really, you should be more careful about the stuff you say out loud when you don't know if someone's close by cocking their ears. figuratively speaking."

"Fine, we were about to go to the mountain," Jon gave up. "But it wouldn't hurt anyone, we-"

"oh, but that's where you're terribly wrong," the man said. "'cause if you do try to go inside... it'll be you who's gonna get hurt."

Lynx could only admire the stranger's confidence and self control. Even though he threatened her friends and was apparently ready to guard the underground's secrets with his own body, he still held the same pose – hands in his pockets, a relaxed composture, his voice felt almost bored. Like 'I mean no harm to you – yet.' That made him look a lot less threatening than one would expect.

"so, i'm just gonna say this once, so listen carefully," he continued. "grab your things, turn around and run home. i don't want to see your faces on this mountain again."

"But..." Sara gulped.

"now."

"We have a friend somewhere in the woods," she finished the sentence. "We have to wait here for her."

"i'm sure you can just grab her along the way and tell her she's not welcome either." The stranger turned his head briefly towards the pine trees below as to look if anyone else would show up, unwillingly giving Lynx a brief glimpse of the right side of his face. On one hand, he did look like a human; but he looked very pale and skinny, as if he didn't even have any facial muscles. He was grinning, showing a set of teeth that were just as brightly white as the rest of his skull-

Lynx almost facepalmed herself. She was looking at a skull. The mysterious man appeared to be a living skeleton. She heard rumors about two skeleton brothers living among monsters, but she never saw either of them. Up until now, it seemed.

She decided to keep hiding. The monster impressed her, and she wanted to see what he does.

"and," the skeleton continued, turning back towards her friends who were reluctantly collecting their backpacks, "if you miss her and she comes right here looking for you, don't worry... i'll see to it with my own eyes that she returns to the town safely. again, figuratively."

The four friends muttered something under their noses and slowly started walking back down. Sara took Lynx's backpack as well, obviously hoping to meet her on the way. Suddenly, the skeleton was alone – except for Lynx who was still crouching in the bush.

The monster walked to the terrace, stopped there and looked into the distance, probably admiring the view just like she did fifteen minutes ago.

"a beautiful day, ain't it?" he suddenly spoke up. Lynx eyeballed her surroundings to see if there was anyone else she didn't notice before, but the skeleton was apparently talking to himself.

"that's right," he continued. "i know it was rude of me to hide in the shadows spying on someone, but, you know... someone has to keep an eye socket on the undergound." A short pause. "still, that makes me a horrible, horrible person... 'cause that's what horrible people do, they just lie down in the bushes, letting weirdos scare away their friends and doing nothing about it."

Lynx, even though she felt confused and guilty, couldn't help but smile – his monologue was just way too ridiculous to listen to. But did he actually know she was in there, or was he, by any chance, saying that just in case?

He turned around. "enough, young lady," he said while looking directly at the bush that protected her. "you must have had a really good reason for staying behind, and before i cast you out, i wanna know."

Lynx waited for a few seconds but then gave up on trying to be sneaky. She stood up and stepped out of the shadows.

As she approached the skeleton who waited patiently for her, she wondered what he thought about her, seeing her for the first time. A skinny girl of an average height, dressed in white shorts and a dark red shirt, with shoulder length blond-ish hair which (to her displeasure) weren't covered by her favourite baseball cap. A girl who chose to let her friends leave without her and watch the mysterious monster do his thing.

"Just so you know," she told him, eager to show him she's not concerned, "I hate it when people call me 'young lady'."

"oops, my bad," he replied. "so what should i call you? traitor? spy? the great betrayer of friendship?"

"First of all, if you must know, my name is Lynx," she shut him up promptly. "Secondly, what would you have me do, jump out only for you to shoo me away with the others?"

"frankly, that would make me happy," the skeleton simply answered. "oh and by the way, since you gave me your name..." He pulled his right hand out of his pocket and reached out to her. "i'm sans. sans the skeleton. very obviously."

Lynx shook her head in disbelief and looked at the bony hand in front of her. She had never shaken a skeleton's hand before. But there's a first time for everything, is it not?

The moment she grabbed his hand with her own, a loud bubbly farting noise spread all over the place. She flinched and wanted to let go, but Sans held her too tight and squeezed her hand in even harder, producing more uncomfortable sounds.

When it was over, the two of them just stared at each other for a while.

Then, Lynx couldn't help it – she burst out in laughter. She didn't know if it was more from amusement or the absurdity of the whole situation, and honestly, she couldn't care less.

"heh..." Sans chuckled as well. "whoopie cushions in the hand. always funny." He took said item off his hand and buried it deep inside his pocket.

"Wow, did you just have that thing on your hand the whole time?" she asked him.

"yup... i always carry it around, in case i met someone new. it really breaks the ice." He ironically bowed a little. "ice to meet you, Lynx."

She grinned. "You're a fun guy, aren't you?"

"nah, i don't really like mushrooms."

Sans's expression suddenly turned more serious. "well, as nice as it was to meet you, i can't have you wandering around here on your own. let's go."

With that, he simply turned away and joined the path leading off the mountain casually, like there was no doubt Lynx would follow him. To her own surprise, she did.

"Actually, Sans, can you do me a favor?" she asked him. "I lost my hat somewhere in the woods in the morning, could you please find it for me?"

"huh? how am i supposed to find a tiny hat in a huge forest?"

"I don't know, use your x-ray vision or something."

"hey, i do like to brag, but i really don't have an x-ray vision."

"Then how did you know I was spying on you back there?"

Sans looked at her over his shoulder and winked. "i have a bet-ray vision."

Lynx almost stopped where she stood. "That was awful."

"come on, you're smiling."

"Seriously, though," she asked as they continued their descent; she noticed Sans was actually turning his head in all directions, probably looking for her hat. "How did you know I was there?"

"you wanna know?"

"Yeah."

"you sure?"

"Come on, say it!"

Sans stopped. "ok, come closer."

Lynx approached him. "So?"

"shh," the skeleton implied he wanted to whisper it into her ear. She bent down a few inches so that he could reach.

Sans drew near and, with his hand mysteriously kept next to his mouth, barely audibly whispered:

"it's a secret."

Then he simply turned around, kept on walking and whistled a strange melody.

Lynx stood there for a good couple of seconds before following him. "You're a moron, you know that?"

"yup," he said. "that's my job."