Ok, waters tested, not much hate mail...let's try wading a bit deeper.

I own two things, Jack & Shit, Jack moved out a while ago and shit is not a word I care to associate with RWBY or Undertale.


Chapter 2: Growing Pains.

It's been three years since the surprisingly exciting events of my reincarnation, and I'm sorry to say I was still coming to terms with my new situation, a fact I attributed more to retaining my past memories and personality than anything else. After all, there's a marked difference to a newborn babe and a grown ass man, otaku or not, finding themselves in unfamiliar territory.

Hell for Otaku this was a highly common experience, in fiction anyway, and at the very least I wasn't saddled with some tsundere bitch trying to make me her slave or being made into the pawn of some petulant God.

I honestly don't know which fate would be worse but I'm going to err towards the former because at least humans have a reason for being flawed while Gods are simply assholes because in all honesty who the hell could reprimand them except a bigger, tougher, more assholish God?

So yeah, new lease on life with the memories of the old to fall back on. Believe me when I tell you that made potty training SO much easier the second time around.

What? Don't look at me like that, I had a very weak bladder as a kid and my parents never considered I could be lactose intolerant until I underwent a work-related health check-up. Needless to say they could've saved themselves a mint if they'd simply cut back on the moo-juice while I was in diapers.

Which leads me to the first and arguably the more prevalent issue that arose in my new lease on life; namely that I clearly hadn't reincarnated anywhere on good ol' Mother Earth.

At first I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, since even if I couldn't see clearly everyone still spoke English. It was only after I was 'kidnapped' that I began to realise not everything was as kosher as it initially appeared. Which ties into the second issue that arose, namely the unfortunate bastards blessed with the privilege of being my 'new' family.

I say unfortunate not only because they were stuck on diaper duty until I convinced them I was potty trained, but because of the circumstances behind our coming together. On the one hand, the fact they flat-out kidnapped me had me wary of their intentions, but as time went on and they proved to be nothing but kind, I instead felt gratitude to them, as it would've been decidedly more awkward if I'd remained with my 'biological' family considering I retained my memories of my original one.

To this day I actively try not to consider the possibility that, in my bid to live, I forced Gaster to take the life of an actual child so that I could be reborn. A part of me wondered if Yoko Kurama had to deal with this kind of existential crisis when he possessed the unborn foetus of Minamino Shiori to reincarnate as her 'son' Shuichi. If so then he certainly handled it a lot better than I was, though the fact he was originally a Demon, and thus possessed of looser morals prior to reincarnation, most likely made it easier on him.

I suppose I should go into more details huh? Well for starters, not long after their escape from wherever the hell we were originally, my kidnappers began to go their separate ways, some breaking off to strike out on their own while others stuck around due to safety in numbers until they found a decent town or city to move into. Eventually, the only ones left were the whiny teen who kept going on about 'Monty Burger' and our one-eyed, redheaded leader, the same chick you'll recall who one-shot the guard with a spear before essentially leading the escapees to freedom and just so happened to share the name of the Undying Captain of Asgore's Royal Guard.

At first I passed it off as a coincidence, I mean, just because she had red hair, an eyepatch and could hurl a javelin through a tree didn't mean she was the same person. But as time passed it became clear to me that not only did she bear a remarkable resemblance to Undyne, appearing mostly human save for her sharp teeth and the gills on the side of her neck, her personality was also a dead-ringer for the Guard-Captain's, including her hair-trigger temper and sense of humour.

So needless to say, despite knowing full well I'd essentially been kidnapped by what could only loosely be called a terrorist cell, the sheer fact said cell was being led by freaking Undyne The Undying had me literally fangasming...or it would if I were old enough for my nether regions to do anything besides dye the inside of my diapers a rich, pungent brown.

Fortunately, despite their fugitive status the group had been nothing but kind to me during our time on the run, each taking turns to look after me in their own way, whether it be doting encouragement from the females, supreme awkwardness from the males, or energetic overbearance from Undyne, who proved to be just as passionate in everything she did and personally invested in my well-being to the point of obsession, spending virtually every waking moment she wasn't fighting or sparring simply interacting with me, often conscripting others to record my every action during the times she couldn't.

I'll touch more on that later, but for now let's get back on track and focus on how I determined that I hadn't reincarnated anywhere on Earth. Y'know, aside from the fact my kidnappers all possessed some animal traits like extra limbs or odd quirks like lifting their leg whenever they needed to pee.

Y'see, as I mentioned before, our little cell had eventually shrank until the only ones left included Undyne, myself and the whiny teen who always seemed to wind up on diaper duty, since that was the one part of me Undyne refused to interact with. For the longest time we essentially drifted from place to place, Undyne working as a mercenary, more often than not resulting in us having to flee whatever settlement we arrived at due to causing a scene.

It was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end, which it very nearly did when we wound up getting caught in this huge-ass blizzard en-route to the next town and I ended up coming down with a terrible fever that sent Undyne into straight-up panic mode, rushing out into the blizzard in an attempt to mug the first person she could find to earn enough to pay for a doctor.

Unfortunately for her, the very first person she assaulted turned out to be a certified badass who ate bandits for breakfast. Fortunately for me, the guy decided not to press charges or deal with Undyne like he normally would, and instead led us into town, where he hooked us up with shelter and even paid for the doctor that saved my life.

Naturally, he didn't do so out of the goodness of his heart. He fully expected Undyne to pay him back, though thankfully not in 'that' way. You see, while he'd defeated her soundly during their fight, he acknowledged that she was pretty strong for someone self-taught. Add to that the fact she'd only attacked him out of concern for me and he figured it'd be a waste to let her talent rot in a cell.

All it took to cement the deal was pointing out that life on the lamb was no-way to raise a child and Undyne was hooked. Within a matter of days she'd joined the Town Guard and was essentially running the show by the end of the year, earning the rank of Captain and the title of Freelance Huntress.

Huntress, a title given to elite warriors who were specially trained to combat the Creatures of Grimm, soulless monsters that existed solely to hunt down and kill anything with soul and were attracted to negative emotions like flies to shit.

So yeah, I'd reincarnated on Remnant of all places. In all honesty when I finally figured that bit of information out I was torn between squealing like a fan girl and shitting my pants in terror.

See, even putting aside what I remembered about the plot, and boy that was a Wikipedia article in and of itself, the World of Remnant isn't a very nice place to live even at the best of times. Sure it has all the 'fantasy' and 'magic' that we see in the show, but there's also the racism and discrimination against Faunus, which I quickly realised included the likes of Undyne, and the ever-present threat of the Grimm, whose actions were not as predictable as one would like.

Frontier towns and settlements were always being set up outside the Central Cities only to fail and vanish into the wilderness whenever the Grimm paid them the slightest bit of attention. My hometown resided on an Island outside the Kingdom of Vale, a rural little place consisting of several houses and farms scattered around a deceptively tranquil landscape of thick forests and rolling hills. While we had electricity there was nothing more advanced than a television or radio, hell most of the farming was still done using horse-drawn tools and tractors.

Normally such a place would've been easy pickings for the Grimm, and indeed, there were often reports of Beowolves prowling in the woods so people knew better than to wander there aimlessly. The only reason the town wasn't constantly overrun by the damned things was because the Town Watch, comprised of former Huntsmen and Freelancers, were possessed of an almost maddening dedication to their job. There was also the fact that Undyne was just as much a badass in this world as she was in-game, but I feel it would be biased to include that considering our relation.

Speaking of which, as badass as she could be, there was one downside to being Undyne's 'son', namely that she placed very high expectations on me. Since settling down, from the moment I could walk again Undyne had taken it upon herself to begin my training as preparation for joining Signal with a fanatical zeal.

Don't get me wrong, while the idea of becoming a Huntsman might have seemed appealing, I had never been one to seek out conflict growing up. Factor in what I'd seen the Grimm do during the Season 3 finale and you could understand why I was so hesitant to pick up a sword. Sadly, as far as Undyne was concerned, I had no say in the matter. If it weren't for Grillby acting as the voice of reason, and the fact her job took up most of her time, I'd probably have been hospitalised.

Which brings me to one of the few 'male role models' in my admittedly short new life, the man who offered us shelter and a home after I recovered so that I could have some semblance of a normal life. Back in Undertale, Grillby was a minor background character, a humanoid fire monster who was the owner and proprietor of Sans' favourite haunt. Here he was simply a tall guy in glasses and a bartender uniform whose hair and beard happened to be a fiery red. As you might have guessed from his attire, much like his Undertale counterpart he was the owner and proprietor of the local tavern which also doubled as the home of my mismatched family.

Another thing this world's version of Grillby has in common with his in-game counterpart was how taciturn he could be. Seriously, the man never spoke if he could avoid it, hell I doubt I ever heard him say more than a word at a time, but he still somehow managed to make his point clear. The only times I ever heard him speak were whenever he cautioned Undyne about her language, called for closing hours or when he saw his daughter, Ember, off to school.

Yeah, turn out 'Fuku' really is Grillby's kid, at least in this messed up reality anyway, though much like dear-old dad she's just a girl with bright green hair here rather than a green fire monster-girl. She's a nice enough kid, but like most girls her age while she wasn't above playing with the baby in her free moments she'd much rather be out with her friends and was too young to even consider being asked to babysit just yet.

Not that Grillby ever complained mind you, the man would simply roll up his sleeves every morning after seeing the ladies out before setting about preparing for the day with the patience of a saint, all while keeping an eye on yours truly till Undyne came back from work slaughtering Grimm or instilling the fear of god into new recruits, and I spent most of that time either watching Grillby go about his job or reading in the room I shared with Undyne upstairs.

Some might have considered this boring but I preferred to think of it as not tempting fate. Besides, I'd always been something of a bookworm, and being reborn into a new world gave me the opportunity to expose myself to a treasure trove of new tales, some which bore a startling similarity to ones from our world.


Post 4 Seasons...

'Should've just stayed in your hut old man…' I sighed, setting aside the tale of the Four Seasons with a grimace, knowing all too well how that particular story would end. I wasn't so foolish as to think I could do something to alter the course of events, for one thing I had no idea if Amber was even the current Fall Maiden or when Cinder would make a move against her. Supposedly it was the same day Adam & Blake raided the train during the Black Trailer, but that simply meant it was months before Blake showed up at Beacon.

And even if I did possess irrefutable evidence to back up my claims, just what was I supposed to do? Write a letter to Ozpin warning him of Cinder's plot? Assuming the Great & Powerful Ozpin did take it seriously and not just dismiss it as a prank, I had no intention of painting a target on my ass, which is what would happen if I revealed my knowledge of the Maidens' existence to the Ozluminati.

'I just got settled into my new lease on life…no need to go rocking the boat.'

And with that thought I held up my hand, a blue glow surrounding my palm as I glared at the nearby book-case, a single volume trembling briefly on the shelf before launching itself through the air, beaning me right between the eyes "MOTHERFUCKER!"

You seem to be adapting rather well

"Don't you ever knock?" I snapped, glaring at the shadowy corner of the room where a by now familiar white skull leered back at me "Seriously, one of these days you're gonna give me a heart attack."

My apologies, but as you know, I can hardly interact with anything as I am now.

"Yeah I guess that would make knocking a little difficult." I conceded, rubbing the spot where the edge of the book had left a bruise tenderly "And yeah I'm getting used to this, slowly but surely."

Gaster was another reason that I didn't go insane with boredom growing up, the disembodied scientist having seemingly taken it upon himself to watch over me like a twisted guardian angel, or that one version of Slenderman that actually likes children as something other than a source of protein and Chris Hansen bait.

The first time he'd shown up I'd been sitting quietly in the room I shared with Undyne, reading at the desk by the window when I happened to see her training in the back yard, spinning her spear around like it was an extension of her body, which in all honesty it probably was considering her semblance allowed her to, you guessed it, manipulate water.

Needless to say I got a little too-into watching her thrash her sparring partner to the point I over-tipped the chair and would've likely cracked my fool head open if I hadn't somehow managed to stop mid-fall, my body outlined in ethereal blue flame, like a will-o-the-wisp, Gaster's leering skull looming over me in concern.

Since then he'd taken to popping in whenever he was certain we wouldn't be disturbed to coach me in the use of my power, which was yet another reason to not go to Ozpin with my knowledge of future events.

The reason for this was simplicity in and of itself. Since Grillby had flat-out refused to allow Undyne to unlock my Aura until I was older, the typical age being ten for all hunter aspirants, it was clear this wasn't an early manifestation of my Semblance at work, which meant there was only one other thing it could be, and I had no intention of finding out how the 'Great and Powerful Oz' and his 'Inner Circle' would react to someone other than the Maidens possessing the ability to use Magic.

Knowing Ironwood, he'd probably dig into my past and use it as leverage to have me taken into 'protective custody', which most likely would've involved dissection, or at the very least a breeding program to produce magic-capable Atlesian Specialists. So I was quite content to simply keep my little secret to myself, only practicing when I was absolutely certain nobody, Undyne in particular, could possibly stumble across me moving things with my mind.

Heck, I even made it into something of a game, using my power to create distractions whenever I wanted to sneak past people without drawing undue attention to myself.

Wouldn't you rather spend the day outside? It's quite lovely out today

"I'll pass thanks." I countered, using telekinesis to return the finished books to their place at the top of the bookshelf with a wave of my free hand, the other devoted entirely to holding the book I was currently reading to my face "I'd rather not get roped into Undyne's workout from hell again."

Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life, but there's more to it than reading books.

"I know that Doc, trust me." I assured the spectre with a sigh. "I'm just not the sporty type, alright? Give me a good book and I'm golden."

I just think it's a waste that you're not trying to make any new friends since you arrived.

"I have friends." I countered defensively, only to scowl at his quirked…eye-socket? How in the hell does he even do that? "I mean, there's you, Ember, Burger Pants."

Yeah, funny story, the whiny teenage Faunus who carried my infant arse during Undyne's raid on the hospital turned out to be this world's version of Burger Pants. To be fair he wasn't actually called that here, but since I never got round to asking his name and he happened to work at the local Monty-Burger his old moniker had just stuck.

I meant friends your own age.

"I'm a borderline thirty-year-old in the body of a three-year old." I deadpanned, quirking a brow at the spectre's comment "Just how in the hell do you expect me to relate to a bunch of children? I HATE Children!"

No, seriously, I hate kids, particularly the ones that are too young to know any better yet somehow always manage to get underfoot. I don't know what kind of negative karma led to my reincarnating as one but needless to say it must have been a doozy.

You should at least make the attempt. Life is too short to remain cooped up inside a room.

"I'm not about to go all recluse on you doc." I assured the spectre with a wry smirk "I just don't feel like drawing pictures in the sand or chasing butterflies when I could catch up on my reading." I quirked a brow at the spectre "Now did you just come here to lecture me, or are we gonna pick up where we left off?"

Very well, I've said my piece. Now then, where were we? Ah yes, as you recall, a Strong Soul resides in a Strong Mind and a Strong Body...

As Gaster began to recite the lecture he began all our lessons with, I promptly sat down on the floor cross legged with my back to the door, a pile of books lying beside me just in case someone came along wondering what I was up to.

Ever since the aforementioned incident, Gaster had seemingly taken it upon himself to instruct me in how to control my magic, with particular emphasis on 'control', our first few lessons being dedicated to simply learning how to access my Magic.

Yeah, turns out even monsters need to learn how to use the stuff despite it coming easier to them than for humans. It's why monsters that were part of the 'Royal Guard' or the Boss Monsters, excluding the broken monstrosities that were Omega Flowey and either of Asriel's forms, were much tougher than, say, your standard Froggit.

According to Gaster there were two ways of using Magic, the most common was to access your own Mana reserves, but those with enough know-how could supplement this by tapping the ambient Mana from their surroundings or a suitable focus. Prior to the War with Humanity, the Monsters used both with varying degrees of proficiency but after being sealed beneath Mount Ebott the latter fell out of favour due to the Barrier absorbing all the ambient Mana and the subsequent decline in the ability of the general population led to an overall decrease in the level of magical skill.

Hell, apparently the Original Royal Guard that had existed prior to the Barrier going up had been entirely composed of pure, unadulterated bad-asses in the same weight class as Asgore and Toriel. Considering what most of the Guard, with the exception of Undyne's 'Undying' form, were like, that just went to show how much the Monsters must have suffered beneath the mountain.

Getting back on track, since I clearly wasn't a monster, genetically anyway, Gaster's first lessons had been entirely devoted to teaching me to access my Mana, which let me tell you was a LOT harder than simply waving a wand and chanting a few words in faux-latin. Don't believe me? Then let me ask you this: Where do you think magic exists in the body? The Heart? The Brain? The answer, surprisingly enough, turned out to be the Soul, which considering what I knew of how Magic worked on Remnant, kind of made sense.

Think about it: Amber likely wasn't born with the Fall Power, yet she fell into a coma after Cinder stole half of it. Factor in the fact that Ironwood's machine could have, theoretically, transferred the remainder of her powers to Pyrrha along with her Aura and it was simple to conclude that the reason she fell into a coma was because she'd lost half her soul in the process.

Getting back on track, in order for me to learn how to consciously use magic, I would either have to devote myself to months, if not years of self-reflection on the nature of my soul, which was a headache to even consider, or I could have another magically knowledgeable individual awaken my mana for me. Needless to say I lacked the patience for option A and Gaster's inability to interact with our world in a physical capacity made option B a decided impossibility so we had to go with option C, namely a combination of the two with Gaster guiding me every step of the way while I delved into my soul.

I wish I could tell you I gained some greater insight into myself during this time but the truth of the matter was it was boring as all fuck, just sitting on my arse for days on end trying to garner some reaction from the hovering image of a heart that symbolized my Soul.

Needless to say I failed; A lot. Either I would collapse from exhaustion only to find the sun had set hours ago or I'd be shocked out of my trance by someone, usually Undyne, shaking my shoulder either to drag me outside to 'get some fresh air' or to perform chores for the tavern. I kept at it however, with such a rare prize within my reach how could I do anything less?

And in the end my perseverance was rewarded after two months of repeated failure when I reached out for that hovering mental image for what felt like the umpteenth time and was rewarded for my diligence with a surge of ethereal blue flames, which thankfully didn't burn anything. Since that first success Gaster had moved on to increasing my overall control over my Mana, partially out of his perfectionist nature and partially because we honestly didn't know how to proceed with my training, as I was apparently incompatible with the traditional elemental spells.

To elaborate, while there were arguably as many varieties of 'Magic' as there were people, in the end they can all be aligned with a basic elements under three categories: Attack Magic, Healing Magic and Summoning Magic. For example, Toriel & Asgore's Fireballs were an Attack Type Magic of the Fire Element whereas Papyrus' & Sans' Bone Attacks were Summons tied to their unique nature as 'Undead' type Monsters.

While it was kind of disappointing to know I'd never be able to cast a Fireball or drop lightning on my opponents from a distance, Gaster had assured me that simply possessing the ability to use magic as a human being, and at such a young age, put me leagues ahead of most aspirants. As heartening as that sounded, it still rang hollow considering what I knew Amber and Cinder could pull off.

Still, nothing ventured nothing gained as they say, and so with Gaster guiding the way we turned our attention to mastering the one Magic I'd exhibited thus far, which oddly enough happened to be one of Sans' trademark in-game skills: Psychokinesis.

According to Gaster, this was a rare skill that few had the patience to master due to its deceptively simple nature. However, because it was so outwardly simple it could be used in a variety of ways, ranging from hurling items at the opponent to restraining them to prevent them from dodging a blow. In short, it was a skill that was only as limited as the user's imagination and magical reserves, with more powerful practitioners capable of reshaping the very landscape around them to their advantage or even crushing their enemies with a single gesture.

I'll admit, when I first learnt of just what could be done with psychokinesis I briefly entertained the notion of force-choking Cinder to keep her in place while I dropped an Atlesian Airship on her ala Star Killer. I quickly dismissed such thoughts, not only because the idea of outright challenging Cinder sent shivers down my spine but because there was no guarantee I'd be able to master the ability to the same level of proficiency Sans had and if I got it into my head early on that I was 'special' just because I shared his skills I'd become complacent and my development would stagnate.

As far as the world was concerned, I was a novice with beginner's luck who was dealt a good hand in regards to what skills I could use off the bat, so it would be arrogant to consider myself 'gifted' when I'd be better off focussing on improving my few skills by raising my control and increasing my overall mana reserves.

With this in mind, I promptly closed my eyes, concentrating on the flow of Mana within my body, matching my breathing to the pulsing of my heart until I could feel the Mana flowing smoothly. Holding up my hand before me, I focussed on the feeling of blood flowing through my arm to the limb, opening my eyes as the feeling concentrated in my palm to focus on the nearby stack of books I'd been reading earlier, which was enveloped in a light blue ethereal haze. Almost immediately the volumes began to tremble, like an unstable jenga stack on a shaky surface.

Another advantage to focussing on Psychokinesis was the fact that, unlike a wide variety of more traditional Magics, it didn't require a visual or audio cue, like chanting a spell or making a gesture, in order to activate. Sure using your hands could be used as a focussing tool to improve effectiveness, but all that was truly required was a clear image of what you wanted to do in your mind and enough concentration to avoid getting distracted.

Focussing my concentration, I raised my hand slightly and sure enough the volumes slowly began to rise off the floor, each enveloped in blue flames. Despite my apparent success I didn't lose my focus, knowing all-too-well that getting cocky at this stage would cost me my concentration and send them tumbling to the ground. Already several of the heavier books were already beginning to tremble, if I stopped supplying mana or lost my concentration for a second they'd drop to the floor like dead weights, most likely attracting unwanted attention in the process.

Thankfully Psychokinesis in and of itself didn't use up a lot of magic regardless of how many objects were levitated. The true problem with the technique was the level of concentration that went into maintaining it, especially if you wanted to do more than simply lift something off the ground. Put simply, it took more out of me mentally to levitate multiple books I could carry easily in my arms than it did to levitate a single barrel of cider that weighed more than I did.

This was the result of 2 months of daily training, and while it didn't seem all that impressive at first, Gaster had assured me that for a human just starting out it was an incredible achievement, and that if I kept up my training to improve my control and reserves I'd be able to lift multiple heavier objects at a time.

In all honesty, however, I wasn't in too much of a hurry, slow and steady wins the race and it wasn't like I was going to be directly involved in the events of the series.


Later that evening...

"Alright, good work today guys!" Undyne called out, grinning proudly at the new recruits as they lay sprawled out on the ground before her in varying states of exhaustion, she herself not even sweating despite having pushed herself just as hard "Be back here by tomorrow at 5am sharp, no excuses!"

"Still giving them hell I see." A voice snarked from the side-lines, drawing Undyne's attention to the tall man with greying black hair clad in a tattered cloak over a gray, long-tailed dress shirt and black dress pants leaning against the fence, his arms crossed before him confidently, and black dress shoes.

"Qrow." Undyne greeted, her tone welcoming though there was a hint of an edge to her smile as she glanced at the veteran huntsman turned Signal Instructor "Back from your trip already?"

"For the time being, yeah." Qrow admitted, pushing himself away from the wall to take a swig from his ever-present flask "Figured I'd stop by Grillby's for a drink when I heard you putting the fear of Oum in the new recruits. Gotta admit, I don't know if I should be impressed or annoyed at how effective you are."

"What you should be is scared." Undyne shot back as she waved at the departing recruits "I keep this up they said they'll give me a good word up at Signal." She smirked cockily at the man "Who knows? They might end up giving me your job."

"Go ahead, I hate kids." Qrow scoffed, smirking wryly as he screwed the top back onto his flask, the two of them falling into step beside one another as they made their way back to the tavern "Speaking of which, how's that rugrat of yours doing?"

"Same as ever." Undyne admitted, flagging down a beer from Grillby even as the barman placed a bottle of scotch and a shot glass in front of Qrow "Kid's bright as a button but just getting him to leave his room is a job in and of itself."

"So he's not the sporty type." Qrow scoffed, downing his first the shot with the ease of long practice before pouring himself a fresh one from the bottle "Nothing wrong with liking books."

"It's not just that." Undyne insisted, her expression troubled as she took a swig from her own bottle of beer, her one eye narrowed in a concerned frown "I mean he's always been a little odd. Ever since he was a baby he never made peep even when he was hungry or hurt."

"And you're complaining about that?" Qrow snarked, shaking his head in amusement "I know a few couples who'd pay a fortune for a good night's sleep till their kids are out of diapers." He took another shot "Besides, it's not like there's anything wrong with him, right? Doc said he was right as rain after he got over the flu."

Now there was an understatement if there ever was one, Undyne unable to help the smile that formed on her face as she recalled just how much trouble it took to keep the kid under wraps once he'd gotten better. Hell, one time they'd taken their eyes off him for a second only for him to completely disappear. They later found him crawling along the second floor of the tavern despite none of them having taken him up there.

This had been just one of many incidents that led Undyne to believe the kid was some sort of prodigy, which in turn led to her many, many attempts at beginning his Hunter Training early. While she'd eventualy learnt her lesson after Grillby pointed out how silly she was being, it hadn't diminished her desire to see the boy succeed.

"It's just…he gets this look sometimes." She admitted, her expression falling as she addressed the heart of the issue that was troubling her "I don't think he even knows he makes it, but whenever I see him sitting alone, reading a book or just staring out the window, he just looks so…lonely."

Undyne had seen that look plenty of times before over the course of her life. It was the look of a person who had purposefully distanced themselves in order to avoid being hurt. To see it on the face of a child not even four years old hurt her far worse than the time she'd lost her eye.

She'd hoped by following Grillby's advice and settling down she'd be able to give the kid the chance to develop normally, maybe even make a few friends. But in truth all it seemed to have accomplished was give him the tools he needed to wall himself away from the world.

He still interacted with people just fine, she couldn't deny that, but he lacked any of the natural curiosity or adventurous spirit she dimly recalled having as a child. He'd simply lounge about the Bar watching Grillby work or retreat to their room with a good book and wouldn't be seen till dinnertime.

"Huh…that is kinda weird." Qrow admitted, actually pausing in the midst of downing a shot for a few seconds before following through "Doesn't he have any friends to hang out with? Or did you scare 'em all away?"

"Laugh it up ya drunk." Undyne scoffed, flipping the man off with a glare before taking another swig from her beer "And no, aside from Ember I don't think he's spoken to anyone except me, Grillby or the bar patrons."

"That could be your problem there." Qrow noted, nodding his head as if he suddenly understood all of life's problems "You and the kid were always on the move so he never learnt to make friends. If that's the case, then all we gotta do is put him in a situation where he's bound to meet people and let him work things out from there."

"So basically put him in a sink or swim type situation?" Undyne mused, honestly torn about how to view such a thing. On the one hand she balked at the idea of putting the kid in danger, on the other hand this honestly seemed like the best way to get him out of his shell "What'd you have in mind?"

"My Niece's birthday is coming up next month." Qrow revealed, taking another swig directly from the bottle "Normally I'd turn up just after they've blown out the candles to drop off my gift and grab a slice for the road, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to bring the kid along for the ride."

"Xiao-Long's kid?" Undyne mused, a sly, unsettling smirk forming on her features as she recalled what little she knew about the daughter of Qrow's Brother-in-Law "I like her, she's got spunk."

"She gets it from her father." Qrow scoffed, setting aside the empty bottle, ignoring the pointed look he was getting from a disapproving Grillby "She's also twice as stubborn, so I can't think of anyone better to break the kid out of his shell."

At that very moment, two completely unrelated 3-year olds promptly sneezed at the exact same moment. One of them felt a shiver go down his spine, wondering if someone had stepped on his grave, while the other merely blinked in confusion before resuming her one-sided 'fight' with her father for the last of the freshly baked cookies while her mother laughed off to the side.


You'd think 1 near-death experience would've taught me to keep my mouth shut, but noooo...

Still can't figure out how to insert wingdings into this for Gaster. Also, those of you complaining about the timeskip, just what do you expect a newborn baby to get up to while on the run?

1. For those of you wondering about FaUndyne: She's wearing her 'casual' outfit, leather jacket over her usual vest & pants with combat boots. Symbol: Spear over Green heart.

2. No, Sans has not met Yang, or at the very least they've never been introduced to one another.