Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A small introduction and character info about the Hunter: MJ-2

Nickname: Redstar

Hieght: about 6'1

Age: Unknown

Likes: His Friends, Baking, His hats

Dislikes: His hats being shot or damaged, his friends insulted or hurt

Some more details about him such as appearance are on tumblr since I can’t get pictures to work on here

(  https://www.tumblr.com/askmj-2-thestackedodds-fireteam/779447097601736704/ask-mj-2-the-stacked-odds )

Chapter Text

The Hunter, Awoke groaning, feeling like he broke something in his body and light shining in his face from above, sitting up he looked around to see he was on a bed of yellow flowers.

MJ-2: “The hell?”

The looked around again, Confused by his current whereabouts, last thing he remembered, he was on Europa investigating a new anomaly that appeared there after it was reported by Elise.

Before the Hunter could think more about what was going on, his thoughts where interrupted by sounds behind him, causing him to roll forward on instinct to avoid potential danger before looking at where the noise came from.

There was another person, or rather two, one looking relatively normally and one floating of the ground, transparent too, The two people in front of the Hunter seemed to be very confused looking at him, like this was something unusual.

MJ-2: "Um hello there?"

The Hunter spoke a bit nervously, but tried to keep cool in this situation.

?????: "Um Hi?"

The stranger that spoke wore a Blue and purple sweater, she seemed friendly though a bit shaken,

The other person floating in the air seemed to be wearing a green and yellow striped sweater.

MJ: "Um, Do you know where we are?"

The Hunter questioned the human in front of him, he could really use any info on where he was right now, maybe be able to get out of here sooner or later

Frisk: "M-Mt Ebott, or well underground Mt Ebott, I'm Frisk by the way, you are?"

Frisk's answer didn't help much with the Exo's dilemma, not knowing anything about a Mt Ebott, there was a long silence before another voice could be heard, interrupting his thoughts.

?????: "Rude, see this why I hate humanity, never responding to questions when asked"

The voice seemed to come from the ghostly person wearing the Green and yellow striped sweater.

MJ-2: “O-oh Right, Sorry just got lost in my thoughts, Names MJ, though friends call me Redstar sometimes”.

MJ's response seemed to get a confused look from the ghostly person while Frisk gave a small smile, offering a handshake.

The hunter accepted the handshake, shaking Frisk's hand, firmly and slowly , Frisk gave a slight confused look.

Frisk: "You have some firm gloves sir, can barely feel your hand"

Frisk pointed out what she found a little odd, but MJ-2 didn't think much about it.

Frisk: "Probably best we move on forward, look there a path that way"

Frisk began to lead the way forward, which seemed to lead deeper underground followed by the ghostly person.

The Hunter took one last look up the hole above, there was no way of him climbing that way, nothing to properly stand on or jump to and from, and so he decided to walk forward, catching up to Frisk who waited by a big open door way, seemingly taking to the ghostly person before The Exo to close enough to hear anything. 

The odd trio walked down the dark hallway until a yellow flower appeared and started speaking.

Flowey: "Howdy!, I'm Flowey, Flowey the Flower, You're new to the underground, aren't, must be so confusing"

MJ certainly felt confused by what was happening right now but then again he had encountered strange things before during his travels and duties as a guardian, looking over at Frisk and the ghostly person, they seemed not to surprise as if they were familiar with this song and dance.

Flowey: "Well let me Help you, lets teach you something's, ready here we go!"

The hallway felt darker, before a white orb appeared in front of the Exo, looking at Frisk, something similar was happening but a red heart, they both seemed to be trapped in a white box with some letters and numbers around.

Flowey: "See that heart or um that orb, hmm you must be a special one, well anyway that's your soul, the very culmination of your being!"

The people around MJ seemed a little confused when looking at what seemed to be his "soul", as if it was very unusual.

Flowey: "Your soul starts off weak, but can grow a lot stronger if you gain a lot of LV, what LV stand for, Well LOVE of course, well you want some LOVE right-?"

Flowey seemed to pause for a moment, so did Frisk and the ghostly person next to them, the Exo looked around, Seeing Frisk's stats, LV1 HP20/20, before looking at his own, LV37 but the HP seemed to be obscured, making it hard to make out.

Flowey: "woah such a powerful soul, must mean you already knew the truth"

White pellets started to surround them

Flowey: "Must've slaughtered so many, Seems like another genocide on our hands, would be interesting but can't let an opportunity like this pass!"

The pellets started approaching rapidly, Frisk backed up against MJ, visibly scared, seemingly never having this kind of thing happen, while MJ was trying to figure what to do in this situation before a ball of fire hit the yellow flower, sending it flying back.

Someone approached the trio, a goat lady?, if MJ's face was visible without his mask, his confusion would be clear as night, Frisk and the ghostly person seemed to be relieved however.

Toriel: "what a terrible creature, to torture pure innocent youth, do not be afraid my child and sir, I am Toriel, Caretaker of the ruins, I pass through here everyday to see if anyone has fallen down, follow me if you will kindly"

Frisk seemed to almost follow her immediately along with the ghostly person, MJ reluctantly did too, trying to wrap his head around everything before staying back a bit, starting to talk quietly

MJ-2: "Queens?, you here bud?"

The Hunter called out to his ghost, a long pause stood there, filling the Exo with worry before a voice appeared 

Queens: "I'm here Redstar, sorry, been getting this weird feeling since we came here, been analysing everything and it's not giving any answers"

The Exo felt relieved to hear his ghost but felt concerned about his words 

MJ-2: " Same honestly, especially when that weird talking flower pulled that orb out of me, said it was my soul?"

MJ was still processing the events that just transpired

Queens: "That wasn't a soul from my readings but light, your light to be specific, but the girl's, that seems to be some kind of one I think"

Every answer just gave the pair more questions about their current situation

Queens: "I don't think where in Sol, or anywhere home...think that whatever the anomaly was sent us to a different place entirely"

MJ facepalmed, sighing heavily, it sounded like on of those books you read to a child before bed time or a comic book.

MJ-2: "So keep to myself and try to get us home, sounds easier said than done....wait Frisk's a girl?....huh thought they were something else"

MJ's plan was simple but also cautious, he still had his helmet on, hiding away hid mechanical face, and the glove comment from frisk earlier made him think that Exos might not be a common sight here.

Before he and Queens could talk more, they were interrupted by Frisk, telling the Hunter to catch up as they fell behind by quite a bit. The Hunter sped up catching up quickly to Frisk. Toriel began explaining that the ruins were full of puzzles before completing one herself.  MJ chuckled a bit remembering doing similar things back all over Sol, this didn't go by unnoticed before Toriel commented.

Toriel: "it's an interesting set of clothes you are wearing, um, My apologies I didn't catch your names"

Frisk introduced herself quickly, the ghostly person didn't seem want to talk and seemed to be ignored by the goat lady Toriel.

MJ-2: "MJ-, just MJ, Miss Toriel...I um these clothes are from a profession of mine"

MJ stopped himself from saying his number too, which caused a bit of a suspicious glance from both parties

Toriel: "Really?, what is it that you do?"

Toriel seems curious about what was The Exo's profession since he mentioned it.

MJ-2: "Hunter, I'm a Hunter, Miss"

This answer seems to satisfy Toriel, her nodding before the group reached the next room, with a dummy?

Toriel then started to explain the rules of combat and mercy, Frisk going first and talking to the dummy before sparing it, Toriel seemed quite happy with Frisk's actions, before encouraging MJ to give it a go himself, He sighed and went up to the dummy.

MJ: "Strange day, today, isnt buddy?"

The dummy did not talk back but MJ felt a little lighter, reminding him of his talks to a friend back at the tower.

MJ: "Well best not keep you busy Friend, best be on the lookout, heard some folks are quite "monstrous" 

This earned a small laugh from Toriel and Frisk, though a bit of a groan from the ghostly person, seemed they weren't into puns.

Soon the gang moved on forward, before Toriel gave Frisk a phone before leaving, asking that MJ and Frisk stayed there.

The trio waited for a bit before frisk started walking, the ghostly figure spoke.

?????: "what strange guy...why is he even here, how is he even here, what changed for him to be in this "RESET"

MJ looked confused at what the ghostly person was talking about, seemingly talking as if they have been through this before but with the exception of the Hunter.

Frisk seemed to shrug, trying to fake a stretch, unaware that the Hunter could see the conversation happening in front of him, MJ couldn't make sense of it though, "RESET" , he wasn't sure what that meant.

The trio walked and chatted, encountering different monsters along the way, MJ following Frisk's path of sparing them, though the ghostly girl seemed a bit annoyed at this, looking increasingly confused at the Exo. Once Frisk and the ghostly person were out of MJ's earshot, or so they believed to be, they began talking.

?????: "Just who the hell is he, He's got so much LV, How does he even have that much and why is he acting Nice!?, he's stronger than us even before the "RESET"!"

The ghostly person seemed frustrated 

Frisk: "I don't know, but maybe he's genuinely nice?, he doesn't know about souls or LV, Chara"

MJ nodded to himself, standing around the corner, eavesdropping, he usually would respect the privacy of others but this time, he felt like it was justifiably learning that the Ghostly person's name was Chara.

Chara: "Let's talk later at M- Toriel's house"

Chara seemed to get uneasy, Frisk was unsure why until MJ came from around the corner, acting like he didn't eavesdrop on them.

They soon made to Toriel's house, MJ smiled under his mask, it felt warm and cozy, definitely cozier than the place he slept in, his old ship the rust bucket, Toriel seemed confused about their arrival, remembering she asked them to stay where they were but dropped the topic soon after.

The Hunter made themselves comfortable, taking a seat, Frisk did too with Chara just floating around before Toriel brought out a freshly baked pie.

MJ-2: "Smells heavenly, Butterscotch and Cinnamon right?"

MJ's comment seemed to surprise everyone 

Toriel: "Y-yes that's correct, how'd you know?"

Toriel never had a situation where someone guessed what pie it was before she revealed it herself.

MJ-2: "I tend bake myself in my spare time, get used to certain smells"

MJ's reasoning seemed acceptable, Toriel smiling, glad to see another person who bakes, before placing a slice of pie down for Frisk

Toriel: "why don't you take off that mask and enjoy a slice too?" 

Toriel's request make the Hunter flinch slightly before calming himself down, though it didn't go unnoticed by Chara.

MJ-2: "Thanks but I'm not really that hungry right now, I appreciate it but maybe later?"

Toriel nodded, seeming a little saddened by MJ's decline of the pie, MJ felt a little guilty about but knew that if he showed his face right now, things may become more complicated.

After a while it was time to rest, Toriel took frisk to a bedroom, while MJ insisted he'd take the couch, not wishing to intrude any further, soon he laid down on the couch his hat almost covering his Vision, trying to catch some sleep, only to be disturbed by the ghostly Chara, who seemed to be examining him closely as if trying to decipher who he was, this went on for minutes before MJ just snapped.

MJ: "You know I can see you right?"

Chapter Text

Chara jumped back almost screaming as MJ revealed that he very much could see and hear her, before confronting him.

Chara: "HOW, WHAT YOU COULD SEE ME?!"

Chara shouted the Hunter, if anyone else was in the room they'd probably be awoken if they heard her.

MJ-2: "ouch, not so loud, think you might burst an ear drum"

The Exo rubbed where his "ears" are

MJ-2: "yes I can see and hear you, Chara was it?"

Chara seemed to get a bit more mad when the Hunter finished his sentence 

Chara: "SO YOU WERE EAVESDROPPING ON US!"

She looked with a deadly glare, her eyes and mouth turned black and pointed her finger at him, though the Exo did not seem amused, and blinked. Chara just started at him before noticing a very awkward silence, that MJ create by not responding to Chara's accusation or her attempt to scare him

Chara: "why are you so quiet??"

She yelled the question at the Hunter confused

MJ-2: "One Please stop shouting, two this whole thing you got going on here?"

The Hunter did some hand motions circle the fact Chara is a ghost that can have a pretty scary face

MJ-2: "Yeah no....that doesn't really mean much to me compared to the stuff back from I'm from...so um maybe better luck next time?"

Chara just looked confused, thinking about what could've the Hunter been through that he wasn't absolutely terrified.

Chara: "How can you see me??, who are you??, What kinda human are??"

Chara questioned the Hunter, demanding answers 

MJ-2: "One, No clue might be due to a condition of mine, Two, Pretty sure I already mentioned it and Three, I'm pretty sure I'm not from around here"

Those answers didn't seem to satisfy Chara at all, leading to further frustration, she opened her mouth to speak but before she could say something, another voice interrupted.

Queens: "Well these are pretty strange circumstances even for us to be honest"

Chara jumped back, startled by Queens

Chara: "THE HELL?!"

MJ held back a chuckle at Chara's reaction 

MJ: "Well hi Queens, nice of you to join the conversation, Chara meet Queens, he's um...He's my partner you could say"

Chara just stared, dumbfounded, trying to figure out what Queens was, "a floating little thing?, that looked mechanical?"

Queens: "Um are you alright?"

Queens's question seems to snap Chara out of her confused stat 

Chara: "what is the hell is he??"

Chara demanded more answers from the pair

Queens: "I am a ghost...Well his ghost to more specific"

Queens's answer did not answer what Chara wanted to know, leaving her more confused than before

Chara: "Okay I don't know who the hell or what the hell you are, all I know is You're not supposed to be here"

The Hunter just shrugged fully knowing that he didn't really belong here but before any other words could be spoken or shouted out, a loud growling filled the room, MJ's stomach seems to be hungry. 

The Hunter sighed, got up, walking past Chara who tried to get his attention but he sorta blocked her voice out for a moment as he grabbed a piece of pie, Toriel had left out for him incase he got hungry later on, before sitting down with it at a table.

Chara stared intently, prepared to see the stranger's face but instead he opened up a section of his mask and started eating the pie, which Chara was dumbfounded by.

Chara: "You're really not gonna take that off??"

Chara stared at the Hunter waiting for a response

MJ-2: "Look...I ain't got um....I got the prettiest face, don't think either of us would be comfortable with it out"

Chara chuckled, thinking the Hunter is just making an excuse 

Chara: "Oh? What missing something?"

Chara spoke sarcastically, trying to provoke a reaction but the Hunter didn't say anything, just looked down back at the pie. A silence filled the room, a very uncomfortable one, which seemed to somewhat confirm Chara's sarcastic question, though it didn't make her feel good, she sighed before speaking.

Chara: "Sorry....I guess, didn't know....You're an odd person...that I won't say sorry for"

Chara's attempt at a apology was a bit rough around the edges but the Hunter nodded, eating another slice of the pie

Queens: "well since you're here, could you explain this place? And what is going on exactly?"

Queens asked curious, trying to figure out the pairs current predicament.

Chara sighed, reluctantly explaining the story, of the two races of monsters and humans and the war that occurred between them which ended with the monsters sealed deep underground under Mt Ebott, she then told the story of the first fallen human that came to the underground and the history of what happened, or at least the history that Chara seemed to remember, MJ noticed she didn't mention anything about the "RESET" he overheard earlier but decided to not push on it.

Chara: "tell me, are you really a hunter? Cause you don't look like a normal one, Frisk said it as well, no Hunter wears something like that"

Chara questioned The Hunter about his profession and clothes, MJ sighed.

MJ-2: "I am a Hunter....just not in the typical sense of the word Hunter"

The Hunter chuckles to himself a bit, making Chara confused.

MJ-2: " Fun fact, Hunter in German is Jäger, and I met a guy who had that name and was a hunter, so when people say Hunter Jäger, they're basically saying Hunter Hunter"

Chara seemed to crack a bit of a chuckle before shaking her head, refusing to laugh at what she considered to be a dumb joke.

MJ cut the remaining pie slice he had in half, before eating one and offering the other to Chara, which she responded with a look of confusion before MJ walked over to the couch and laid back down, adjusting his had to cover his eyes.

Queens: "Sorry, it just how he acts when he's tired, been a while since he got any sleep"

Chara looked at the "Ghost" that was floating nearby

Chara: "Oh yeah? Like what, a day?"

Chara tried being sarcastic again to provoke another reaction, but the Queens looked at here sternly

Queens: "Try Days, look you don't know much about us and you're cautious and that's fine, but we don't know you either and we're not acting aggressively towards strangers, so please can you be a bit nicer to me and my guardian if you wish to speak to us again, thank you and goodnight"

Before Chara could say anything, Queens disappeared right in front of her, leaving her confused, staring at the Hunter on the Couch, or as the "Ghost" said, it's "Guardian", leaving Chara with more questions than answers as she floated back to Frisk's room, deciding to talk about what he has learned so far in the morning.

In the morning Frisk awoke from her slumber and got up, Chara started explaining what he learned the night before, as they walked out of the room, they smelled something from the kitchen, approaching the living room, they saw Toriel sitting on her chair reading, looking into the Kitchen, they saw the Hunter taking a tray out of the oven, cookies?, before they could speak anything the Hunter turned and noticed them

MJ-2: "Oh!, good morning, I um...I baked some cookies, an old recipe from home"

This caught Chara and Frisk off guard a little, Toriel soon walking in to check on how were things before greeting Frisk properly

Toriel: "Morning Frisk, MJ here decided to bake something for us, how kind of him isn't it?"

Toriel seemed cheerful about having another baker in the house, Frisk responded with a nod, Chara looked at the Hunter with a suspicious glare before he put down the cookies.

Toriel and Frisk tried them first, having a cookie each before smiling.

Toriel: "Oh my, these are pretty good, I have to admit"

Frisk: "They're delicious"

The two seemed pleased with the cookies, taking another bite each, the Exo smiled

MJ-2: "Thanks, it's nothing too crazy just some Dark Chocolate Motes"

Chara's eyes seemed to widen when the word chocolate was spoken, sneakily grabbing one of them and eating it without being noticed, well by except for MJ.

Queens soon popped up out of nowhere, Giving Frisk and Toriel a fright, but Toriel seemed a bit less frightened than Frisk.

Toriel: "Oh Hello again"

Queens: "Apologies Toriel, didn't mean to scare you, oh and hello to you Frisk"

Frisk looked confused, before MJ cleared things up 

MJ-2: "Right, you didn't meet Queens officially yet, while Toriel had an accidental encounter this morning, so Frisk this is Queens my partner in crime, well not crime but that's the saying, he knows your name cause he's been with me but he's not always visible"

Frisk still looked a bit confused but nodded understanding somewhat.

Frisk: "Hi, it's nice to meet you Queens"

Frisk smiled giving a small bow to greet the ghost, Queens did a bow himself, or what could be understood as one.

Toriel: "Never have I heard of a mechanical spirit but it is nice to meet one"

Frisk and Chara looked at Toriel slightly confused before looking at MJ who was rubbing his neck, looking a bit uncomfortable, Chara figured he'd probably lie to her to prevent further information about himself getting out.

They all enjoyed MJ's baking, almost all the cookies disappearing, Chara having stolen a good majority of them. Frisk soon brings up the topic of leaving the ruins, Toriel then quietly excuses herself before walking off, MJ seemed a little confused before He saw Frisk and Chara running after, which caused MJ and Queens to follow suit.

Toriel kept asking Frisk to go back up stairs, to let her do what she needs to do, MJ was quite confused but Frisk and Chara seemed to know what she was gonna do, running after them they ended at a door, the exit of the ruins and into the rest of the underground. Toriel begged for Frisk to go back to the room and tried to reason with MJ to do the same but it didn't work, so a fight soon started, Toriel testing them if they were strong enough to survive.

Frisk dodged perfectly, constantly talking to Toriel, trying to reason with her, MJ did his best too but he wasn't able to dodge every Fireball, getting a bit burned in the process, MJ thought about fighting back but he couldn't bring himself to do it, not after hearing something about "the others", believing She was doing this out of grief, to try and protect them, So MJ restrained himself for now.

Toriel kept attacking, but after a while her attacks started avoiding Frisk and MJ, Her eyes were filled with tears begging them to go back, but eventually she stopped, 

Toriel: "I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to keep you here against your will, I'm so sorry" 

Toriel apologised, filled with sorrow, she started to walk past the pair before turning to MJ, looking him in the eye.

Toriel: "I trust you may protect my child, if need be?"

Toriel asked, hoping for some relief, something to help make this easier, MJ thought about it before nodding.

MJ-2: "I'll try my best, that's the best I can promise"

Toriel nodded, looking a bit more relieved before walking away, still saddened, filled with grief.

Frisk: "Are you alright?"

Frisk asked The hunter looking at his burned and charred clothing, MJ waved off the concern he was fine though injured, Frisk went to grab a piece of the pie she turned away to find it in her pockets but when she turned back to him, MJ seemed completely healed, no injuries of any kind.

Frisk: "wait huh?, how??"

Frisk was confused on how this happened, while Chara was equally confused, who witnessed the entire thing.

Chara: "Queens did something....what did you to do?"

Chara questioned the ghost, looking perplexed on what it did to fix up the guardian.

Queens: "Just Returned him to a previous state, that is all"

That answer made the two girls look at each, even more confused and surprised.

MJ-2: "I know, you probably got a buttload of questions but maybe we should get out of here first?"

Frisk and Chara agreed, moving towards the door, before opening and going through, MJ did take one last look behind, looking at the Ruins for possibly the last time before stepping forth further into the underground.

Chapter Text

The hunter left the ruins with his ghost, almost being blinding with the bright white sight in front of him, Snow, tons and tons of snow and trees surrounding them.

Queens: "An underground Forest, and snow?, this is"

MJ-2: "Beautiful"

Queens looked MJ, both fully knowing that his ghost was going to say that but Queens couldn't argue against his guardian's statement.

Frisk approached the two, looking a bit confused with Chara just looking at them with an odd expression.

Frisk: "Do you not get much snow back home?"

The hunter shook his head in response before explaining.

MJ-2: "no, get plenty back home, hell there's a place where it's just snow and ice everywhere, I just kinda have a particular weakness for it, prefer the cold snow than most"

Frisk nodded understanding MJ's explanation, Chara though gave a raised Eyebrow.

Chara: "You're really a weird one huh?"

MJ chuckled slightly, at that comment which made Chara give an odd look at him.

MJ-2: "well we might as well move on foward, might like the cold, probably not the best for you two or at least one of you to be out of the cold to long?"

MJ scratched his head a little, not exactly knowing if ghosts here can get cold or not, his confusion wasn't unnoticed by the pair, with Chara clearing up his confusion.

Chara: "Yes I can feel cold, no I can't get sick" 

MJ nodded appreciating the info that cleared up his confusion, while Queens just stared a bit blankly at Chara, trying to process the info himself

Chara: "Now before anything else, explain, and don't play with me, you know what I'm talking about"

The Exo sighed, scratching his neck trying to think of words to explain how he got healed so quickly.

MJ-2: "Guess you could say, it's magic?" 

Frisk and Chara looked at each other confused, before looking back at the hunter, their eyes demand further explanation.

MJ-2: "I sorta can do magic tricks?"

Chara raised her eyebrow again sceptically, Frisk tilted her head in confusion before the hunter sighed, snapping his fingers, a small flame appearing at his finger tips.

Frisk and Chara jumped back slightly, Frisk looked at awe, at the hunter's "Magic" while Chara looked at them with a very confused look.

Chara: "HOW?!"

Chara demanded answers, which made Frisk jump from the sudden shouting. MJ struggled to come up with an answer, with Queens answering for his guardian.

Queens: "Me"

Queens started to explain 

Queens: "I am connected to him, allowing him to channel that power through my assistance"

Frisk and Chara looked at each other, with a bit of concerned look before looking back at the Hunter and his ghost.

Frisk: "How exactly does that work?"

Frisk asked the question in a gently manner which seemed to Relax the Hunter a bit.

MJ-2: "he's um....Queens is well...Queens kinda attached to my "soul" " 

Frisk and Chara took a step back, seemingly a bit spooked by that information before MJ tried to reassure them"

MJ-2: "Look it's nothing malicious, Queens just kinda helped me up when I was "down in the ground" been attached ever since and he can heal me when needed"

Frisk seemed to calm down after the answer, Chara though looked a bit odd, noticing the way MJ said "down in the ground" something feeling off about the way the hunter said it before any more questions, Queens broke the silence.

Queens: "I apologise but could we start moving forward, I apologise for seeming rude but I don't wish to become an ice cube" 

The group nodded, before moving on forward, Chara didn't seem happy still wanting to find out more but ultimately decided she would ask more later on.

The snow crunched as the group walked, The hunter hummed a tune that Frisk and Chara found a little odd but quite pleasant before a loud snapping sound of twig behind them, the group turned around MJ holding his hand near his hip, Chara noticed that and looked confused on MJ's stance before the gang moved forward a bit spooked approaching a bridge before stopping.

A presence was felt behind the group, it was closet to MJ, his instincts where going haywire, every single one telling him to fight, to take action but he tried to keep his composure before the presence spoke.

????: "Buddy, don't you know how to greet a new pal?, turn around and shake my hand"

MJ went against his instincts and turned around and shook the stranger's hand, a loud farting sound coming from the handshake, an awkward silence took place as soon as the farting noise ended.

The Skeleton stranger started to laugh.

Sans: "ah the old whoopie coushin in the hand trick, Always a fun one, Names Sans, Sans the skeleton, you're a human right?, my little brother Papyrus is a human hunting fanatic, but no worries, he's harmless"

MJ gave a small laugh, Queens giving an odd look, Frisk and Chara gave light smiles but they seemed a bit uncomfortable for some reason.

Sans: "Nice to meet a new face, around here"

Sans's voice had a small crack in it, as he looked at towards Frisk and Chara, something felt odd, a tension of some kind was clear, the hunter decided to try and defuse it

MJ-2: "Names MJ by the way, It's "Ice" to meet ya" 

Sans looked at MJ before laughing, Frisk gave a small snort herself while Chara groaned at the pun, it seemed to do the trick for now before Sans gave the group the go ahead to move on forward, to a guard post with Sans telling frisk to hide behind the lamp before they turned to tell MJ to hide but he wasn't there.

Sans looked confused along with Frisk and Chara, as they hid behind the lamp before a second taller skeleton came, speaking loudly, confirming that he was Sans's younger brother, they talked about Sans being lazy on the job and the lamp Frisk was hiding behind, as soon as papyrus left Frisk came out of hiding before Sans spoke.

Sans: "So kid, you gonna take away our-"

Before Sans finished his sentence, MJ just appeared right beside them, out of thin air, making everyone jump back, Sans grabbed his chest and his right eye seemingly lighting up, Frisk making a loud yelp and Chara, swearing like a sailor.

MJ Laughed a bit, seemingly finding his actions amusing while Queens just shook left and right in disappointed of MJ's lack of maturity.

Frisk: "Where did you go?!"

Frisk questioned about the hunter's sudden disappearance and reappearance.

MJ-2: "Oh I never left, just stood very still"

This answer confused everybody, the making Sans, Frisk and Chara just stare at him, waiting for a punchline but there isn't one.

Queens: "He made himself invisible temporarily, if we stand still then it we can go unnoticed for a long time"

Queens explanation did not help in the slightest with the trio's confusion

Sans: "Damn you got some pretty wacky power there, bud" 

Sans chuckled a bit before placing his gaze on Frisk, seemingly asking something without using any words before MJ just lightly snaps.

MJ-2: "Okay Explain, what is going on here, you two seem very familiar with each other and I feel like there's something important left out" 

The hunter's tone was definitely not gentle, catching the trio by surprise, not expecting the outburst.

Sans: "It's a long story" 

The skeleton sighed

Sans: "If the kid isn't planning to go around like "last time", she maybe happy to explain it, I'll see you further up"

Sans then proceeded to walk away, but in the direction of the ruins?, which confused the hunter   a bit before looking at Frisk and Chara, who didn't look at him.

MJ-2: "Look I'm not mad, just don't like being kept in the dark, dunno what's going and it's bothering me that I can't do something without knowing what to do"

MJ's words seemed to calm down the pair a bit though Frisk was clearly uncomfortable, a silence filled the area, Chara was about to speak before MJ sighed and spoke first.

MJ-2: "Look if it's uncomfortable now, we can talk later when it is, maybe even explain the whole "RESET" thing I kept hearing you and Chara talk about before you ask, I just have good hearing, so let's just move on forward, okay?"

Frisk and Chara looked a bit shocked at the hunter, staying stunned like that for a few minutes before they nodded and lead the way forward, the Hunter following them.

They encountered a few monsters along the way but always ended things quite peacefully, it felt like a nice change of pace for the hunter due to most of his days involving things getting put into the ground instead of talking things out, it felt refreshing, the group didn't talk much, just a few basic things about feelings and the current situation.

They walked until they were met with the skeleton brothers, Sans and Papyrus who seemed to be talking before notice the group.

Papyrus: "sans are those humans?

Papyrus asked his brother quietly, which sans nodded confirming that there were humans in front of him.

Papyrus: "HUMANS, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL CAPTURE YOU, DELIVER YOU AND THEN BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD, BUT FRIST YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE MY PUZZLES! CONTINUE IF YOU DARE!"

The tall skeleton soon runs on foward, MJ chuckles a bit which made the people around him, give him an odd look, wondering what was funny.

MJ-2: "Sorry, Papyrus just reminded me of a good buddy of mine, same energy to be honest"

The hunter's explanation seemed reasonable

Sans: "Must be a pretty good friend"

Sans comment made the Exo smile under his mask, nodding at the comment. Sans soon left the area.

Chara left out a loud sigh, seemingly not happy about something.

Chara: "Puzzles, those dang puzzles, a waste of time"

Chara made her displeasure known

Frisk: "Don't be like that, they can be fun, Chara, what about you MJ?, what do you think about Puzzles?"

Frisk looked curiously at the guardian for his opinion, The hunter rubbed his chin before he began to speak to his answer.

MJ-2: "Honestly depends on the puzzle, sometimes quite fun, probably the best ones are where I don't get um.... "Punished serverly" for failing them"

MJ's Answer seemed reasonable, Frisk nodded in agreement but Chara gave an odd look picking up on the hunter's uncomfortable tone at the end of his sentence but decided against pointing it out for now.

The team soon moved on foward, solving Papyrus's puzzles quite easily through Frisk's lead, Papyrus seemingly quite happy at the puzzle solving skills presented before him, the team kept going until they approached a small section which had spaghetti on the table and a note, MJ trying to pick up the spaghetti. 

Frisk: "Papyrus must've left it for us, though it's frozen to the table"

Frisk gave the disappointing news to the hunter 

Chara: "Oh well let's-"

Before Chara could finish her sentence, MJ started glowing  radiated colour, his body shimmering with flames before he managed to get the spaghetti off the table before picking up the fork and taking a bite of the spaghetti before noticing the look of sheer disbelief on his companions faces.

Chara: "DID YOU JUST USE YOUR MAGIC TO EAT SPAGHETTI?!?"

Chara was just not having it, looking at the hunter with sheer confusion, before getting a nod from him, His ghost sighing

Queens: "This is quite normal for him, for traveler's sake, He has used his power to bake cookies on the go"

Chara just looked dumbfounded, as here brain crashed like a computer, Frisk on the other hand just started laughing find it a bit funny before being offered some of the spaghetti which she gladly accepted.

After a some time and Chara getting her marbles together they went on further before encountering a humanoid dog in a knight armour, MJ found this monster quite cute before Frisk started to pet him, which caused the dog's neck to get longer.

MJ unable to resist started petting the lesser dog repeatedly, his neck becoming longer and longer till he could be pet no more, Queens just fell silent for a moment.

Queens: "How the Actual F### does that work"

MJ laughed at his ghost's reaction while the other two were a bit caught off guard by the ghost's sudden swearing.

Before long the team once again moved on forward, solving more of Papyrus's puzzle though the tall skeleton seemed to start to get a bit frustrated, completing them, until they reached a sign, in front of a town. 

"WELCOME TO SNOWDIN"

Chapter Text

The Gang soon entered the snowed in town of Snowdin, the hunter chuckled at the name, finding it amusing as it described the town perfectly, the gang soon stopped by the in, Frisk telling the others it probably be a good idea to rest a bit, which no one could argue against, so they headed into the nearby inn, buying a room with two beds for the night, as soon as they got to the room, The Hunter plopped down onto the bed, breathing a sigh of relief, seemingly happy to not be on his feet much longer.

Frisk chuckled a bit, Chara sighing a bit before floating down, sitting down at a chair while Frisk sat down on another bed, a silence filled the room, it felt calm, comfortable just peaceful before Frisk started fidgeting with her fingers, seemingly troubled by something, the Hunter noticing it.

MJ-2: "So what's on your mind kiddo?"

The hunter's question snapped Frisk out of her thoughts, spooking her a little.

MJ-2: "Look you don't have to talk about it now, if you don't want to but know I heard some pretty nasty stuff from all kinds of people, ain't gonna give judgment if you do spill anything"

The Hunter's words seemed to comfort Frisk, Chara sighing on the chair.

Chara: "You going first or should I Frisk?"

Frisk looks down deep in thought, thinking about the current situation, it felt like minutes as the silence grew, Chara looked like she was about to speak before Frisk spoke.

Frisk: "We....We have gone through this before, a few times..."

MJ tilted his head slightly confused, looking at Frisk and Chara, looking for further Clarification, Frisk sighing bringing out her soul, which glowed a bright red before looking for Chara for further help.

Chara: "there exists seven human soul traits that we know of, Green which is Kindness, Blue which is integrity, Green is kindness, Yellow is justice, Cyan Patience, Orange Bravery, Purple Perseverance and Red....Red is Determination, the most powerful one"

MJ listened nodding, taking in that information being giving to him

Frisk: "I....I can rewind time...in a way"

MJ looked confused at Frisk, tilting his head, not sure how to respond to that, Chara groaned before speaking.

Chara: "You ever play a video game Dumbass?"

MJ looked at Chara a bit offended but he nodded answering the question.

Chara: "So it's like that, Frisk can "SAVE" at some points and "LOAD" back to it at that point of time at any moment" 

MJ looked shocked, even with his mask on it was clear this info was something unexpected by the Hunter.

MJ-2: "So....I'm guessing "RESET" is taking you back the start of something?"

Frisk and Chara nodded, answering MJ's question.

Frisk: "Back to the fall into the Mt Ebott"

The hunter rubbed his chin, processing this new information, before looking up at Frisk, who seemed to be getting more upset as she spoke.

Frisk: "After a while...I...I...chose curiosity over my morals and....and..." 

Frisk looked like she was about to breakdown crying, before she spoke another sentence, The hunter took off his cloak and put it over the girl which spooked her a little.

MJ-2: "I heard enough, you two ain't gotta say the rest, if you don't want to....I understand that ain't something pretty, so I won't force it open"

Frisk and Chara nodded, Frisk quietly thanking him.

Chara: "Only us and Sans remember the different Resets....though we don't know if you would be able to"

The guardian nodded acknowledging the information from Chara before sighing loudly.

MJ-2: "You two got a question each, an I'll answer truthfully, only fair since you told me your story"

The Girls thought about their questions long and hard, the silenced that filled the inn room felt almost like a trial that would decide the fate of the future, Chara began to speak first.

Chara: "How did you get here?"

The hunter rubbed his neck nervously before he spoke.

MJ-2: "I was investigating something, found this weird yellow glowing star thingy, deep in an icy cave I was going to call someone before I just blacked out and woke up on that bed of flowers"

Chara looked at Frisk, both sharing a look of concern and confusion thinking about MJ's story but decided to not push on further on the subject for now.

Frisk looked at the hunter before looking down and taking a deep breath before asking.

Frisk: "Why do you not want to remove your mask?"

A silence filled the room, a very uncomfortable silence, stretching minutes, feeling almost suffocating, Frisk looked at the hunter.

Frisk: "S-sorry! If it's too personal, you don't have to-"

The hunter interrupted Frisk before she could finish speaking.

MJ-2: "It's fine, just.....I don't take it off cause I don't wanna scare ya guys"

The hunter's answer made Frisk a bit confused, tilting her head, Chara already knowing somewhat the reason.

Chara: "He's um....we talked before...he's um...he doesn't have something?"

Chara looked uncomfortable discussing this topic,  Frisk looking at Chara and then at MJ to see if that was the truth.

MJ-2: "I got a Prosthesis of sorts and it's not particularly good looking"

The girls held their head low, feeling a bit bad about it, Frisk regretted the fact she brought up something uncomfortable for the hunter.

MJ-2: "Don't worry bout it, happen long time ago, you were bound to find out one way or another, so don't dwell on it alright?"

Frisk nodded, feeling a bit relieved with how MJ has reacted to the whole situation, Frisk offered the hunter his cloak back but he declined.

MJ-2: "You can give it back in the morning or whatever time it is when we wake up at"

Frisk nodded, understanding, Chara looked at Hunter, like she wished to ask another question

MJ-2: "I'll allow one more question from you Chara, so Shoot"

Chara looked at The guardian with a bit of a surprised look, taking a moment before asking her question.

Chara: "Why are you so nice, why are you so relaxed about all this, shouldn't you be freaking out?"

Chara looked at the hunter, confused by his calmness of the situation.

MJ-2: "A good friend taught me it was better to keep a level head in most situations.....and I have experienced....quite a lot of weird stuff....so Time travel shenanigans....that isn't exactly something that phases me as much"

The guardian's answer only made Chara more perplexed at the hunter's calmness, beginning to question his sanity.

Soon enough the hunter laid down on his bed, placing his hat over his face and nodding off after saying goodnight to his companions who soon followed suit.

Sometime later, Chara is awoken, noticing that the hunter is gone, along with his cloak, seemingly having left them, Chara muttered to herself, a bit angry at that the hunter left without a word before she heard something outside, taking a peak, she spotted MJ, leaning against the inn, playing something, a harmonica, playing a tune that felt strange but gentle, there was something off about it but it also seemed like there wasn't. Some monsters stayed and watched the Hunter as he played, others walked by.

Chara observed the Hunter, closely, even though she could not see his face, even though it seemed like everything was normal, that the Hunter was just playing a tune, she could sense some kind of sadness coming from him as he played the tune, as he finished playing his harmonica and the the monsters that watched him disperse, Chara heard the Hunter whisper to himself.

MJ-2: "miss ya Cayde"

As he turned to go back into the inn, he came face to face with Chara, causing him to jump back a bit from being spooked

MJ-2: "JEEESUS.....don't sneak up on me like that!"

Chara chuckled lightly at the hunter's fright

Chara: "Let's call this payback for your little stunt by the Sentry post, now....why are you out here?"

The hunter signed leaning against the inn, rubbing his hands together for warmth.

MJ-2: "Just couldn't sleep much......came out here to clear my head....it helps sometimes"

The hunter's answer seems honest about why he was out of bed and outside the inn, Chara sighed before asking one more question.

Chara: "Who's Cayde?"

MJ just froze, an uncomfortable silence filling the space between them, it felt crushing, almost suffocating, Chara realised she stepped on some fragile ice.

Chara: "I'm sorry....I just overheard you and got curious...just forget I asked" 

Chara turned back towards the inn, ready to go back to the room before the hunter spoke

MJ-2: "....He was the first person I met.....first real friend I got....when I became what I am today......he taught me a lot....he was my best friend and mentor....always the fantastical gunslinger......"

MJ's words felt like they were filled with sorrow, as every time he spoke about him, another pain was caused, Chara floated beside the hunter, looking down.

Chara: "You blame yourself for it.....don't you?"

The hunter knew what Chara meant, nodding 

MJ-2: "Everyday.....even though he told me not to"

The was an audible crack in the hunter's voice, sounding like could just spill it all out at a moment, Chara looked away from the hunter and into the distance.

Chara: "....I lost someone a long time ago.......was my fault too"

MJ looked at Chara with a confused look.

Chara: "I was the first human....who jumped down into Mt Ebott.....life on the surface it was.....it wasn't good...."

The hunter continued to listen, to Chara's story giving her time and space to say what she wanted to.

Chara: "....I was adopted by the Dreemurrs after Asriel...their son found me.....they treated me like their own....he became my brother and my best friend.....the monsters treated me like an actual person...."

The Hunter pats Chara on the shoulder, seeing how increasingly upset she is getting, offering her to stop, if she didn't wish to continue which she refused.

 Chara: "....I wanted to repay their kindness.....to free them...so I..........me Azzy planned to collect 6 more souls.....he brought my body back to the village....things escalated.....he was supposed to get them.....but he didn't....he came back to the underground and he....and he"

The hunter gave the ghostly girl a hug before she could finish that her statement, before soon letting out a few sobs into the Hunter's dark jacket. 

They stayed like that for a while, the streets of Snowdin having become empty, everyone mostly having retired back to their homes for the night, after some time Chara broke the hug.

Chara; "Thanks.....for listening"

The Hunter nodded in response to Chara's thanks 

MJ-2: "Right back at you, Red"

Chara looked at the hunter with a confused look 

Chara: "Red?"

The hunter chuckled a little before clearing up the confusion.

MJ-2: "just trying out a nickname for you, tried red cause you have those nice red eyes" 

Chara looked a bit surprised at the hunter's explanation, looking away from the hunter for a bit.

Chara: "O-oh, well thanks....I guess"

The Guardian noticed something was a bit off, in Chara's voice as she spoke

MJ-2: "Are you alright?"

Chara noticed The hunters concern before trying to shake it off

Chara: "I'm f-fine, just cold out here, let's just get back to the room in the inn, rest up before tomorrow"

Before The hunter could speak anything else Chara went through the walls back to the room they were staying at.

The hunter sighed, taking a one last deep breath of the cold winter air before heading back to inside the inn, and into the room, seeing Frisk still sleeping, and Chara seemingly haven fallen asleep at the desk, causing the hunter to chuckle to himself before covering her with his cloak, to keep her warm before he himself laid down on his bed, covered his eyes with his hat and managing to fall asleep himself for good thing this time.

Chapter Text

The hunter awoke, being shaken by Frisk, who seemed a bit concerned before noticing that the hunter had woken up. 

MJ-2: "Someone's energetic today"

The hunter groaned a bit, sitting up on the bed, stretching out his body.

Frisk: "Sorry, just...I couldn't hear you breathing...and I thought..."

MJ gives frisk a pat on the shoulder 

MJ-2: "It's fine, sorry for spooking you"

Frisk breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing a bit before The hunter's cloak fall on his head, which Chara and Frisk giggling as the hunter looks around in confusion unable to see. 

MJ-2: "Oh, ha-ha, very funny"

The hunter gave a light chuckle before fixing up his cloak before Frisk offered a some food.

MJ-2: "Oh thanks, um...what is it?"

Frisk chuckled a little at the hunter's confusion at the sweet pastry 

Frisk: "a Cinnamon Bun"

The guardian nodded appreciating the info about his food before taking a bite of his one, it tasted quite sweet, full of savoury goodness

Chara munched on another one, sitting at the desk while Frisk sat next the hunter before eating her cinnamon bun, the room was quiet but a good kind of quiet, a warm comforting silence of good company. After the gang finished their food, they walked out of the inn, the Hunter fixing up his hat as they left through the door before breathing the sharp cold air.

MJ-2: "never gets-"

Queens: "old"

The hunter chuckled on how Queens knew exactly what he was going to say, Frisk and Chara joining in with a little giggle each.

The gang soon began walking through the town of Snowdin, having a good look around, it was peaceful, a nice way to unwind after yesterday's events but before long they reached the end of the town before being stopped by the tall skeleton, Papyrus who soon started to give a long speech about friendship and wanting to join the royal guard, seeming like it was quite important to him before he initiated a fight in order to capture The Hunter and Frisk.

The first thing that Frisk did when the fight began, was flirt with Papyrus, which just made the Hunter freeze in place with sheer utter confusion, though seemed to do something as Papyrus didn't send any attacks directly at them, Frisk continued her plan to end the fight peacefully with the Hunter quickly learning about blue magic and to not get hit, stay still.

The hunter chuckled, this reminding him of game of "green light, red light" he had a few times on his journeys, both literal games and non literal ones before he felt his body go heavy, looking at Frisk, MJ noticed her soul turned blue before Papyrus explained that it was his attack.

The new restriction on movement did not go to well for the hunter being hit a few times by Papyrus's attacks though still holding up, though until Papyrus used his Special Attack, a Wave of bones saying cool dude, Frisk Dodged it quite easily, while the hunter chuckled hurt his foot on one of the bones, though soon enough the battle had ended, Papyrus feeling a bit bad about not being able to make into the royal guard and that his number of friends would be remain stagnant.

The Gang looked at each other for a moment before Frisk spoke first, saying they can be friends, MJ following her lead.

MJ-2: "I don't see a reason why we can't become friends, you seem like someone who's pretty chill to the bone"

Papyrus seemed quite happy about gaining new friends before he froze, realising the pun that the hunter just spoke before he threw his hands in anger, accidentally throwing a single bone attack.

Time felt like it stopped for a moment, Frisk and Chara looking at the hunter with a look of Horror, Papyrus then looking terrified himself, before the hunter looked down at his chest, seeing the bone sticking out before disappearing. The hunter felt his body go limp falling backwards into the snow, hearing screaming and shouting becoming more muffled as his sense became fainter, the light in his eyes fading till he couldn't see before he heard one voice clearly.

Queens: "OH NO YOU DON'T"

The hunter shot backup from the snow, sitting gasping for air, patting his chest, breathing heavily, before looking up at the people around him, Frisk, Chara, Sans and Papyrus.

The stared at the hunter a look of fear and confusion, looking like they were about to say something but couldn't find the right words to say, the hunter couldn't blame them for what they just witnessed, a death and a resurrection, a silence filled the Forrest for a while before the hunter got hugged by Frisk, though Papyrus was the first to speak.

Papyrus: "IM SO SORRY TALL MENACING HUMAN, I DIDN'T MEAN TO HARM YOU, ARE YOU ALRIGHT, TALL MENACING HUMAN?!"

The hunter nodded, giving a light thumbs up.

MJ-2: "yeah, I'm fine, just need to get up on my own two legs"

Frisk let go of the hunter as he stood up, stretching his body a bit, which made a few audible cracks, though there was no injuries visible on him.

Sans: "Paps, why don't you go home, maybe make some spaghetti as an apology gift for our friends here bro?"

Sans seemed to try get Papyrus to leave the area for a bit, probably trying to keep his brother from learning about what really happened.

Papyrus: "That is a great idea Sans!, I'll go make some spaghetti, you must be hungry from the fight and use of healing magic!, I'll see you all at home, goodbye for now!"

Papyrus ran off soon afterwards towards his home before looked at the hunter deep in the eyes, a lot of anger and confusion were noticeable behind his skeletal smile.

Sans: "You have a lot of explaining to do here, "Friend" "

Sans tone, almost felt threating, demanding answers to what just transpired, Frisk was about to interject, probably concerned about the hunter's health but before she could say a word, The hunter's ghost spoke.

Queens: "He died...And I brought him back"

The people around the hunter looked confused at each other, not sure how to respond to that information

Sans: "Just what the hell are you"

Sans had this glare in his eye that looked like he could fight if it came to it, The hunter then looked at Frisk and Chara before looking down a bit.

MJ-2: "haven't been entirely honest about Queens....guess to kinda explain it....in your world's term, he would be my equivalent....to a "soul" "

The trio took a step back, confused and a bit frightened by the statement of the hunter

Frisk: "what do you mean?"

Frisk asked the question that all of them had on their minds

Queens: "We came here from a different place entirely.....place that doesn't have the same aspects....Soul magic, Monsters, this whole Mt Ebott stuff"

This info seemed to hit everyone like a speeding train, the silence lasted seconds but it felt like hours.

Sans: "...I'm gonna go home....Check on my bro....We'll talk later"

Sans then just vanishes right in front of them, leaving the group behind, as soon as It got quiet, Chara grabbed the hunter by his vest

Chara: "SO WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU, WHAT EVEN IS THAT ORB THAT COMES OUT OF YOU?!"

Frisk for startled by Chara snapping like that, the hunter stood silent for a while, Chara staring him down, Frisk was about intervene before The hunter spoke.

MJ-2: "I am....a Guardian....and the thing you saw....was my light"

This answer confused the two, Chara letting go but her stare demanded further explanation.

MJ-2: "Its what allows me to do the things I can....such as those "magic" tricks you saw....."

This seemed to satisfy Chara for now who started to float away angry, Frisk looked down before looking at the guardian.

Frisk: "I'm sorry-"

Before Frisk could finish her sentence, the hunter interrupted her

MJ-2: "Don't....just don't....i get it, it's a stressful situation....don't apologise for it"

Frisk nodded, understanding the hunter's reaction, the two began to walk back towards Snowdin and towards the house of the Skeleton brothers, Frisk leading the way, soon catching up to Chara.

The group walked in silence, a strange coldness filling the space around them as they walked, The hunter felt a bit of guilt, frighting the people around him. Soon enough the gang made it to the House, being greeted by the Great papyrus and led into the living room where Sans sat.

An awkward silence filled the house well except for Papyrus's cooking, no one said a word to each other, this silence lasted until Papyrus served his famous spaghetti, everyone sitting down and digging in, except for MJ, he stared at his food.

Papyrus: "Is everything alright?"

The tall skeleton looked concerned at the guardian, worrying that he did something wrong.

MJ-2: "Yeah...yeah...just...,Mind if I tell a story?"

The people around looked up at him, Papyrus smiled a bit 

Papyrus: "Of course, Always happy to hear a story, just what kind of story is it?"

MJ-2: "a story from my homeland"

Papyrus seems quite curious and exciting to hear it, the others looked bit confused, but decided to hear the story out as well, the hunter took a deep breath before he spoke

MJ-2: "Once upon a time....there was a man made of metal, he awoke in the cold winter snow, he had no memory of how he got there or why he was there"

The group looked curious at the guardian as he spoke, Papyrus tilting his head.

MJ-2: "He believed to be alone before a voice greeted him, the voice came from a being called a Ghost, the ghost was sent into the world find the man, for he was chosen for something"

Sans tilted his head as the hunter spoke, confused on where this was going.

MJ-2: "They walked through old ruins, hiding from the falling snow, the ghost explained what the man was, A light bearer"

Papyrus's eyes seemed to light up a bit.

Papyrus: "A light bearer?, that sounds so cool!, though what is a light bearer?"

Papyrus interruption made MJ chuckle a bit, being glad by his about his excitement.

MJ-2: " A light bearer is a person who is able to wield the power of light with the help of their Ghost who becomes a independent part of themselves , who can heal them from most injuries"

Papyrus's eyes light up with excitement, at what seemed to be a mythical tale.

MJ-2: "The man and his ghost as they walked through the ruins, found themselves not alone, Pirates have found them, forcing them to run, falling deeper into the Ruins"

Chara raised an eyebrow on the mention of pirates.

MJ-2: "when they recovered from the fall, they met another man, a man he learned to be called.....Cayde....and he was just like the man, another person who could wield the power of light"

Chara's face turned a bit sad realising that the story seemed quite personal to the guardian.

MJ-2: "He was not just a light bearer though...He was a guardian, a light bearer tasked with protecting those innocent around him"

Papyrus gasped a bit, Frisk gave a little chuckle.

Frisk: "so Kinda like the royal guard in the underground?"

The hunter nodded, accepting the comparison between them.

MJ-2: "The two light bearers became friends quickly but soon the other Pirates found them and a fight began, they two men fought well but they were outnumbered, it seemed to be the end....till the newcomer, broke the darkness, a golden weapon, a golden gun, was summoned in his hand, only leaving Ash where the pirates once stood"

The gang was quiet as they listened, nodding to the story.

MJ-2: "after the fight, Cayde helped the man get back to civilisation, where he was soon faced a choice on what to do with his life.....with the help of Cayde he decided to be like the man who helped, he became a guardian and so he traveled and fought, protecting those in need of assistance, still roaming to this day, fighting the good fight"

As MJ ended the story, Papyrus started clapping seeming enjoying the story that was told, the rest of the gang seemed to enjoy it too, though seemed a bit confused on why it was told.

Sans: "it's an interesting story but why was it so important to tell it?"

The hunter looked down at the table, before removing his hat.

MJ-2: "Cause this story....is answer to your question.....Who I am"

The hunter removed his mask slowly, the room fell into silence, as the people's faces filled with shock, minds with more questions than answers.

At least Frisk and Chara learned, why MJ's Friends call him.... "Redstar"

Chapter Text

The skeleton house fell silent, as the group stared at the unmasked Exo at the table, his silence was almost deafening as it last for what it felt like hours. 

Papyrus: "WOWIE! YOU'RE A ROBOT!"

Papyrus's excitement startled everyone, including the hunter who almost fell back in his seat as Papyrus got a bit too close for comfort, 

MJ-2: "Well technically a human just in a very .....complicated.....prosthesis"

Papyrus's face turned a bit confused before turning to his brother.

Papyrus: "Sans, what's a prosthesis?"

Sans stayed silent for a bit, unsure how to properly answer, His brothers question without possibly causing any trouble.

Sans: "Do you remember how some pirates in those storybooks you read have peg legs and hooks?"

Papyrus nodded at Sans's question 

Sans: "it's something like that....but our friend over there is a bit more...complicated as you can see"

Papyrus seemed to understand what Sans was saying before standing up straight, looking a bit confused and saddened before looking at The guardian 

Papyrus: "so you got replacements parts?, why though?"

The room feel silent, the Hunter keeping his head low, not really looking at anyone, the silence was certainly uncomfortable.

Papyrus: "O-oh, My apologies, I-"

Papyrus gets interrupted by the Hunter before he could finish his apology.

MJ-2: "It's fine, just....I don't really talk about it....it's fine..."

The room went silence once more, before the hunter decided to change the subject, taking a bite of the spaghetti.

MJ-2: "This a pretty a good dish, I have to say that"

Papyrus seemed to immediately forget what just transpired shooting back to his normal excited self.

Papyrus: "Of course!, I the great papyrus!, make the best of spaghetti in the entire underground"

The skeleton Cheerfulness seemed to spread among the rest, before they resumed eating, talking and laughing, telling a few jokes here and there.

It seemed the tension was gone as they finished the meal, before Papyrus gathered the plates and went into the kitchen to make some desserts, it seemed peaceful.

Frisk: "MJ, Queens if you don't mind...how does one get chosen to be a light bearer?"

Ask Frisk spoke those words, the tension returned for a moment, an awkward silence filling the room before Queens spoke.

Queens: "I don't know....it just happens, anyone could become a light bearer and start again"

Frisk seems a little unsatisfied with the answer but nodded appreciating the information anyway.

Before long papyrus came with some desert spaghetti, it was, a unique taste to say the least, after the meal, Papyrus mentioned something about a hangout, which Frisk seemed happy to do. Though before the guardian could make a choice, Sans asked if he help out with something, which The hunter didn't see any response to really decline, so he agreed to it.

Soon enough the Smiling skeleton and Exo left the house once after the guardian put on his mask, Following Sans, the skeleton lead them to a restaurant named "Grillby's", before they walked in at sat the counter, where a monster made of fire tended to the bar.

Sans: "so what you in the mood for?"

The Exo tilted his head, looking at Sans, clearly confused.

Sans: "Drink, what kinda drink would you like"

Sans cleared up the confusion, the hunter had 

MJ-2: "oh um.....A cider, a fruity one is that's alright?"

Sans nodded, before waving towards the monster tending the bar, who was actually the owner of the restaurant, being Grillby himself with him putting down a bottle of cider and a bottle of ketchup before Sans thanked him, and telling him to put it on his tab, before he turned to the hunter, still smiling but that behind that smile, he was serious.

Sans: "You left out something important back there....when you answered the Kid's questions"

The hunter turned away, holding his cider in both hands, before reluctantly nodding 

Sans: "Must be pretty damn important or unsavoury if you left that out-"

MJ-2: "I'm a deadman Sans"

The hunter's interruption and comment took Sans off guard, leaving him confused.

MJ-2: "As far as I am aware....those that can revive the light....are once who are in the dirt"

Sans might have looked like he was smiling but he definitely was not smiling.

Sans: ".....how did-"

Sans was interrupted again by the the hunter before he could finish his question 

MJ-2: "I don't remember how....that's part of becoming a light bearer, you don't remember who you were....A curse or a blessing...."

Sans sat in silence, unsure how to respond to that, the hunter drinking the cider, tilting his head back.

Sans: "....just how old are you?"

Sans's question caught the Exo a bit off guard, before looking at Sans, rubbing his chin

MJ-2: "Honestly...kinda a tricky one....guardians don't really age....So I'm still in my early 20s physically....before I...kicked the bucket....though been gone for a very long time....then after coming back.....a good number of years....but kind lose track of time....so to just give a clear answer....Before death bout early 20s.....now if we don't count the bucket years...maybe 30s, early 40s? But if we count the time I was gone too....technically be in the triple digits maybe more"

Sans just looked confused at the Exo's answer, surprised at the dilemma that has been presented.

Sans: "Huh...must be kinda tricky back home then?"

Sans's tried to use some humour on the situation 

MJ-2: "Definitely...hell, People often sometimes have concerns about having a love life....and it's understandable....We all know what's generally okay and what is not but then there the grey area of light bearers with non light bearers....It's generally okay I think just as long as they're all of age and proper consent....but it does get a bit weird if it's like a 20 year old and someone who's over like 1000 years old....it's confusing"

Sans laughed at the sheer absurdity of the exo's rant, finding it interesting yet a tad bit funny with how much chaos it must be in the exo's homeland.

The laughter quieted down after a while, with the two enjoying their drinks, Though Finding it a bit odd that Sans is drinking entire bottles of ketchup, before Sans asked another question.

Sans: "The kid tell you the story?"

The hunter nodded, holding his cider

MJ-2: "she told me the gist"

Sans titled his head

Sans: "A gist?"

Sans sounded a little bit mad at the implication 

MJ-2: "l didn't let them finish....but I understood what they did....hell I can't lie...if I had that kinda power....I don't know if curiosity wouldn't take over.....if I could just go back to the start like it never happened.....it's almost tempting"

Sans looked at the Exo with a look of fear and anger at his response.

MJ-2: "....but I know if I ever did have the power to go back......I dunno if I would use it...."

Sans face turned to one of confusion, as he stared at the hunter 

MJ-2: "I want to fix...so many things.....but I can't....cause if I do....if I undo all those mistakes....save those I couldn't save.....then I'm taking away the future everyone holds dear to them.....no better than....."

The hunter drifts off, spacing out in his thoughts, holding his head, Sans does almost the same, the guardian being certainly a very confusing person.

Sans: "you know....this is the first in years probably....I can really talk to someone about things like this, feels strange to be honest"

The hunter chuckles

MJ-2: "Yeah, it's guess it kinda is.......wait how old are you guys?....you asked me earlier but you never told me your ages?"

Sans chuckled before he went into depth about monster ages, depending on the kind of monster they are, while also learning the ages of Frisk and Chara, which seemed to be around 16,17 area though Sans wasn't fully sure and he only mentioned Frisk, MJ just assumed Chara was around the same age as Frisk.

Sans: "...What's it like, Back in your world?"

Sans looked curiously at the hunter

MJ-2: "its...it an experience...Everyday is journey, travel around Sol, meet old friends, Protect the world and the people....,it's never a boring life...Not with my team around me...never truly alone"

Sans chuckled a bit

Sans: "Seems like an interesting life"

MJ-2: "Sure is"

Before long the guardian raised his drink in a toast

MJ-2: "To life?"

Sans chuckled before indulging in the nice gesture, Clinging his ketchup against the hunter's cider.

Sans: "To life"

The Exo and Skeleton laughed a bit, enjoying their drinks, though the hunter was getting a little bit, Tipsy with how much cider he began to consume, even if he ate a full meal not too long ago.

The hunter got to the point, he soon started singing a few song out loud in Grillby's, though it seemed to make the place a bit more lively, one of the songs was about running down to place to named Cuba with a load of sugar which Sans did not understand much of the song but liked the vibe it gave off.

Though after a while, Sans noticed that it was getting a bit late, having lost track of time, Getting the Hunter and Himself out of Grillby's and planning to head home, hopefully not causing to much worry for His younger brother and Frisk but the first step they took outside, The Hunter fell, face first into the snow covered ground, Queens appeared and sighed.

Sans: "Is he?"

Queens: "He's fine, just might need some help getting home"

The guardian's Ghost reassured the Skeleton about the hunters condition.

Queens: "Honestly....its been a while since he's been like this..."

Sans: "A guy who had too much to drink?"

Queens: "Relaxed....Happy"

A silence appeared in the air, as Sans looked at the fallen Hunter, mumbling in the snow.

Sans: "...Guardian life ain't that simple is it?"

Sans questioned the ghost, which Queens nodded before the skeleton sighed.

Sans: "Probably should get going before he gets a cold, I'm already chilled to the bone"

The ghost just let out a heavy sigh, as the skeleton chuckled before his hand lit up.

As the skeleton lifted his hand up slightly, so the did the intoxicating hunter as he floated a bit above ground, though his cloak dragged through the snow as Sans used his magic to carry the hunter back towards the skeleton household.

Soon as they arrived as it wasn't a distant walk from Grillby's, As Sans entered the house, he was almost surrounded by his younger brother and Frisk, who began asking him where he and the hunter was, why they were gone for so long, before Sans could explain he accidentally turned off his magic, which caused a loud thud as the hunter fell back onto the ground, groaning.

Papyrus: "SANS, what happened to our friend, brother"

The tall skeleton questioned his brother as he picked up the hunter from the cold snow and settled him the couch, placing his hat on the nearby coffee table.

Sans: "He um, Helped me out with a few chores, we got thirsty, so we went to Grillby's...and um....well think you can get the rest"

Papyrus made an audible face palm, a tad bit disappointed in what has happened before sighing.

Papyrus: "Brother...I am sorry if I seemed a bit rude....We were worried something had happened when you had not returned....we tried calling too but you didn't answer"

Sans looked down rubbing his neck.

Sans: "I'm sorry Papyrus, I think I didn't realise, My phone must've died, I'm really sorry bro"

Papyrus looked at Sans and sighed

Papyrus: "It's okay Brother, I'm just happy that your okay"

Sans sighed a sigh of relief, Looking at Frisk who seemed like she was relieved to see that everything was okay and mostly in good health.

Soon the group made some preparations for Frisk, making a temporary spot for her to sleep on before the two Skeleton brothers said their goodnights before heading back to their rooms to sleep. Frisk said her goodnight to Chara before she herself when to bed, which left Chara alone floating around.

As Chara floated around, she decided to check on the hunter who was laying in well, a position that could be compared to that of a cat laying on its back, though he seems comfortable for now, though as she got closer she could hear the hunter  mumbling in his slumber, as she leaned in closer, she heard what the hunter was saying.

MJ-2: "...I'm sorry....I'm so.....sorry...."

Chapter Text

In the early morning, Chara awoke being the first one up, she checked on everyone, still asleep though when she took at look at the guardian, he was tossing and turning in his sleep.

Chara decided to awaken him, so she started speaking for him to get up, a bit louder each time before finally the hunter shot up, pulling out a weapon aiming at Chara, startling her.

The hunter himself seemed a bit shaken up, breathing heavily, his hands unsteady, seemingly he was having a nightmare and a pretty bad one at that. The two stayed like that for a moment before the hunter realised what he was doing.

MJ-2: "C-crap, sorry"

The hunter quickly holstered his weapon, apologising profusely for his actions.

Chara: "it's alright....i uh...I shouldn't have woken up like that"

An awkward silence filled the room as the two looked away from each other

The hunter sat up straight on the couch, leaning back against it before Chara decided to sit down next to the hunter, the two of them sat in silence, non of them really doing much before Chara decided to speak.

Chara: "wanna talk about it?"

The hunter shook his head

MJ-2: "Rather not....least not today"

Chara nodded understanding the hunter's reluctance to talk about his nightmare.

Chara: "Probably gonna be making our way to Waterfall today"

The Guardian chuckled a bit, before speaking 

MJ-2: "Let me guess, there's Waterfalls and a lot of water"

Chara nodded, confirming the hunter's predictions 

Chara: "yeah....places in the underground tend to have pretty obvious names, like hot land"

The hunter chuckled a bit more

MJ-2: "Let me guess...a desert?"

Chara chuckled at the guardian's incorrect guess

Chara: "Lava, magma and volcanic rocks actually but good guess"

The hunter sighed 

MJ-2: "Welp, should've seen it coming....a desert would probably be something like ...I don't know.....Sandy Fields?"

The two of them grew silent before having a bit of a laugh while trying to keep quiet as to not wake up the others in the house.

MJ-2: "You know....this is nice....being able to relax a bit....Just able to sit and know when you're going out into the world and not having to worry about a fight"

MJ's comment seemed to make Chara tilt her head.

Chara: "Lotta fighting back home?"

The hunter nods

MJ-2: "Yep...from hostiles to friendly matches of crucible"

Chara tilted her head again 

MJ-2: "Oh right....haven't talked much about home besides the stuff you already know .....the crucible....it's essentially guardians fighting guardians....like a sport or to train and test their abilities and such"

Chara nodded seemingly understanding the explanation given to her by the hunter, before looking down.

Chara: "guess, your time from home.....and your actions translated to your...high LV"

MJ: "I guess...."

The guardian looks down a bit before looking at the ceiling.

Chara: "Feeling homesick?"

The hunter reluctantly nodded before shaking his head a bit

MJ-2: "Kinda, I dunno....Never been outside of Sol really....and it's weird not hearing a voice in my ear asking me for stuff.....or chewing me out....or the mess my team got in...guess it's a little more quiet than I'm used to"

Chara chuckled a bit

Chara: "Must be quite the bunch, if you miss them"

The guardian laughed out loud 

MJ-2: "Yeah....Martyr, he's a titan but the way he acts, you could compare him to papyrus here....And Jeremiah...though we just call him, Sal cause it's the shorter part of his name....we buttheads often but wouldn't want another warlock to replace him....even if he's essentially a crazy scientist with godly powers..."

The guardian laughs out loud for a bit while Chara looked a bit confused and slightly concerned with the last comment.

Soon enough Everyone else woke up, Papyrus made some spaghetti for breakfast, The hunter looked a bit confused why Papyrus only ever made spaghetti but then again he often baked a lot of shortbread which ended up making up a lot of his diet, so he wasn't much better to judge.

After a while MJ, Queens and Frisk said their goodbyes to the skeleton brothers before setting off towards Waterfall. As soon as they entered the region, the difference was noticeable, the ground and air felt moist, the hunter started to stretch a little before fixing up his hat

Frisk: "Oh! Uh...do you have a problem with water?....cause you're?....umm"

Frisk tried to nicely ask her without bringing up the guardian's condition 

MJ-2: "Nah us Exos tend to be quite waterproof"

Frisk nodded before tilting her head in confusion.

Frisk: "Exo?"

The hunter facepalmed, before silently cursing himself for forgetting about that important detail.

MJ-2: "Right....my dumb brain forgot to explain....Okay...so Exos are basically what I am...A human in this kinda body"

Frisk and Chara's eye widen a bit at what the Exo was implying.

Chara: "There more of you??"

The hunter nodded 

MJ-2: "Yeah, a lot more than just me, people had their reasons to become one....Health, Immortality, etc"

Both Frisk and Chara stopped for a moment.

Frisk: "Exos are immortal??!"

The humans were shocked at the implication the Exo giving here.

MJ-2: "Well Figuratively Immortal.....An Exo is still human...if the body or Mind is destroyed....then they're gone like any normal person"

Frisk: "o-oh"

Frisk looked down feeling a bit guilty for bringing up an uncomfortable topic

MJ-2: "don't worry about it, you were bound to find out eventually, it's not like it's a taboo to talk about"

The hunter's words seemed to reassure Frisk about the subject, making her calm down a bit.

The gang moved on forward through waterfall for a while, MJ making a few puns about water which Frisk enjoyed though Chara groaned a bit but seeemed to be warming up to them. Soon they made their way into some tall grass, the hunter was about to fully cross before being stopped by Frisk and Chara as they pulled him back into it before load stomping could he heard from above.

Looking up from the grass, the gang saw some sort of Knight in a full suit of black steel armour, overlooking the road before Papyrus showed up.

The hunter picked up on the name of the Black Knight, Undyne as papyrus began to speak with her, reporting on the recent events, such as the fight that happened and his "failure" to capture them before Undyne decided to take on the task of gathering the souls herself, which Papyrus tried to protest against before being scared off by Undyne, the hunter let out a light groan as he felt something rub against his leg, which caused Undyne to look down at the road before she walked away.

The hunter let out a sigh of relief, so did Frisk and Chara before they walked out of the Grass, with the hunter turning around before Jumping from fright as they had an unexpected companion, a Monster kid, who began to fanboy/fangirl about Undyne before they ran off.

Chara laughed her ass off at the hunter grabbing at his heart from fear, before they walked off further into waterfall where a few puzzles laid ahead for them to cross a few rivers, though the hunter decided to be a bit cheeky and to do triple jump over the river, which caught the two off guard.

Frisk: "H-how??"

The hunter only responded to pointing at Queens 

Chara: "Oh that's bullshit"

Even though Chara could float over the river, she seemed a bit jealous of the hunters Abilities, Frisk did frown as well, having to do the puzzle herself.

Soon enough the found themselves crossing a bridge the hunter was going to make a small joke before a spear found itself in his foot, cause him to jump back in pain, Undyne was on the cliffside throwing spears at the two before the gang started running for thier lives, one of the spears grazing the hunter's hat, which caused them to flip the bird towards Undyne, this did not make things any better for themselves

After a while of dodging death, they managed to hide in some tall grass that grew on the other side of the bridge, as they hid, Undyne came through, searching for themselves until she found something before picking it up, it was Monster kid again before putting them down and leaving, clearly not in the best of moods.

The gang breathed a sigh of relief as they walked out of the tall grass, Monster kid running around overjoyed that the captain of the Royal guard Undyne touched his face before disappearing again.

The hunter stumbled leaning against the wall groaning before Queens healed up his foot, though it didn't some Frisk and Chara from worrying, even though the guardian was technically could comeback from just about anything from what it seemed, they did know that it could leave some kind of hidden scars, no matter the person.

Soon moving forward they encountered a field of blue glowing flowers, which the hunter knelt looking at them confused as he could swear he heard them talking but they didn't look anything like Flowey back in the ruins.

Frisk: "That echo flower got anything interesting to say?"

The hunter looked at Frisk a bit confused, before speaking.

MJ-2: "an echo flower?, is that what this is?"

Frisk nodded before being to explain.

Frisk: "Yeah, Echo flowers, they "echo" the last thing said to them or at least things said next to them, like an echo, they grow here all over waterfall, some people even use these to leave each other hidden messages, here and there"

The hunter nodded

MJ-2: "Thanks for the explanation, Frisk, it's nice learn a bit more about this place"

Frisk smiled nodding, before she and Chara started to walk forward to check things up ahead, leaving the hunter alone with his ghost for a moment.

After some thought the hunter spoke to his ghost"

MJ-2: "Queens, do you still have that spare plant pot?....you know from who?"

His ghost nodded before bring out the pot from what seemed to be thin air with a small flash of light.

Queens: "Course I kept it, you do have a bad habit of collecting things that don't seem at all useful but ends up being used somehow in the end, now why do you need a.........your gonna collect one of the echo flowers aren't you?"

The guardian's ghost looked at hunter with a look of surprise and concern as his guardian nodded

Queens: "are you sure it's a good idea to take one?"

Queens concern was noticeably before his guardian reassured him.

MJ-2: "it will be okay, it's not much, just.....if this were to be over at any moment....I liked to be able to look at something....and remember our little adventure"

Queens sighed before allowing his guardian to proceed.

The hunter smiled as he carefully replanted one of the echo flowers gently into the flower pot, making sure it didn't get hurt or damaged before Queens took it away, storing it into their guardians portable vault. 

The Guardian soon stood up before catching up with Frisk and Chara with Queens behind him. The hunter smiled, today was an interesting day.

Chapter Text

The Exo and his ghost caught up to Frisk and Chara quite quickly before going further into the region, before it started to somehow rain in the underground.

MJ-2: "wha?"

Queens: "How does that work?"

The guardian and his Ghost question this weird event, staring at the dark ceiling.

Chara: "Dunno, some say it's magic, others say it's a river flowing up above, dripping down everyone once in awhile"

The guardian and his ghost stare at Chara, Queens feeling a bit dumb for not thinking of that as a possibility.

Frisk soon, spotted a small tub with some umbrellas, giving one to the guardian while holding onto one herself, the Guardian tipped his hat in thanks. 

MJ-2: "Nature here.....it's beautiful"

Frisk and Chara took at look back at the hunter, who was looking at his surroundings before one of them speaking 

Frisk: "What's it like back home, nature I mean?"

The hunter rubbed his chin, before speaking 

MJ-2: "It really depends on the place....There's the lush forests in the EDZ....the fields of spinmental at the cosmodrome....The red Forrests of Nessus....the Tundra of Europa....The Neon lights of Neonuma....The mystical feel of the Dreaming City....The red deserts of mars.....the rocky white surface of the moon....all it is beautiful in its own unique way"

Frisk and Chara nodded before stopping for a moment.

Frisk: "Wait... Mars?....The Moon?....You have been in space?"

The hunter nodded

MJ-2: "Yeah, how else would I travel through Sol?"

Frisk and Chara just freeze for a moment before staring dumbfounded at the guardian.

Chara: "You got a spaceship"

The hunter nodded

Chara: "You've been in space, the moon and mars"

The hunter nodded again 

Chara: "Is there anything you haven't done?!"

Chara seemed a bit frustrated with the accomplishments the hunter has achieved, well what would be considered accomplishments in the underground, before The Hunter could speak, his ghost spoke up first.

Queens: "have a functional Love life"

The Hunter froze before starting at his ghost with a look of confusion and betrayal, Chara snorted trying to hold back her laugh, Frisk did to before feeling a bit bad about it before asking a question about it"

Frisk: "Is it difficult?....Finding someone?"

The guardian looked down, Chara fell silent as well, the area began to fall into an uncomfortable silence before The guardian's ghost spoke

Queens: "Perhaps we should discuss this at a later date?"

Everyone nodded before walking further down the road, in silence.

Eventually the group came up a statue in the rain, the gang looking at it, the Hunter looked closely at it before looking at his umbrella, he felt this odd feeling in his gut before he gave the umbrella to the statue, which shielded it from the rain. As soon as the statue was no longer being soaked, it started to play a melody, it felt peaceful, the hunter smiled, even if it wasn't visible under the mask, Chara and Frisk did notice the hunter was in better spirits now.

They began to walk further down, the hunter now humming the tune heard from the statue, the atmosphere seemed calm, peaceful, it felt nice, Frsik was smiling and so was Chara, the Ghost looked to be enjoying the underground rain, the Hunter continued to hum the tune, he felt lighter humming it though soon the gang interrupted by Monster kid who was hiding at the side from the rain, before Frisk offer for them to walk with her under the umbrella, which monster kid accepted.

They all continued to walk, Monster kid excitedly talking about Undyne, really showing off that he was a big fan of the "Great Undyne, The captain of the royal guard" before they reached a spot that was overlooked the capital, the gang stopped for moment taking in the view before moving off, the Hunter smiled the view having reminded him of home. Soon they needed to climb up, Frisk put her umbrella a way into a nearby umbrella bin before helping Monster kid get up higher, before climbing up herself, followed by the hunter before monster kid disappeared again.

The hunter shrugged it off as Frisk and Chara didn't seem bothered by it before they made it to another bridge, as they started walking on it, Spears from below, Undyne spears, she came for round two, the gang kept running, Frisk dodging perfectly, the hunter dodged well too, only having a few close calls, definitely being happy that a spear didn't go where the sun doesn't shine. 

The gang soon ran into a dead end, Undyne behind them before they could do anything, Undyne broke the bridge, causing them to fall down into the dark void, before the hunter made a loud splash.

Frisk woke up on a bed of Yellow flowers, breathing a sigh of relief after checking herself for any injuries before shooting up looking for everyone else, Chara was floating around as usual laughing a bit and the hunter was sitting on a piece of the broken bridge, completely soaked.

After MJ checked on Frisk noticing she was awake and seeing if everyone was okay to move forward before doing so, encountering piles or garage that didn't seem to have much use, though that didn't stop the hunter from grabbing a few scraps of leather and other small things with him, Chara noticed what the hunter was doing but decided to not question it, assuming the Exo's more experienced eye may have found something useful to himself.

Soon enough they made it out of the dump and back to the general waterfall area before walking deeper down, Following Frisk's lead before making it to an odd place filled with talking dogs in sweaters?.

Queens: "....why do I continue to question everything here....just to witness more"

The ghost seemed to be going to an existential crisis before Frisk welcomed them into the "Tem village" , which was filled creatures all named Temmie, except for one bob.

Frisk went into the "Tem shop" while the hunter stayed outside, still visibly confused by the entire place, he thought he had seen everything but this was just strange even for him, before long Frisk returned and they made their way forward, eventually reaching a dark pathway with a single Echo flower at the end.

When they got close to it, the gang listened to its message 

"Behind you"

As soon the gang turned around, Undyne was approaching them, giving a speech about gaining their souls and what they will be able to do with them before she began to charge with her spear, the hunter on instinct went into a defensive stance before Monster Kid popped up against from tall grass, yelling excitedly to see Undyne fight before realising that the fight was between Undyne and the gang, soon enough Undyne dragged Monster Kid away before the gang walked away from the breathing a sigh of relief.

Making their way through another field of echo flowers and some shallow water, they soon got to another bridge before Monster Kid showed up behind them, before asking if they were human which Frisk nodded.

Monster Kid seemed to be stuck in a bit of Dilemma from what Undyne probably told him before running off, only to trip over, his sweater getting caught on the bridge, leaving hanging off of it, Undyne appearing at the other end, on instinct Frisk and the Exo ran to Monster Kid and helped him back up, Undyne seemed shocked by this before Monster kid did an attempt at a threat, trying to defend Frisk and the hunter before Undyne left.

Soon Enough Monster Kid said his goodbyes and left himself before the gang walked across the bridge fully this time, soon making it to what seemed to be an entrance to huge cave before being stopped by Undyne who started to give a speech about seven human souls and such before ultimately going screw it, taking off her helmet, going on a rant, jumping down and beginning the fight.

Frisk's red soul was turned green, causing her to be stuck in place, it was similar with the hunter but both seems to have a small barrier they were able to use to block Undynes attacks, long enough for Frisk's soul to be turned red again before the pair ran quickly, being chased by Undyne.

They kept running until Frisk got a phone call which she stopped for, the hunter looked confused before looking at Undyne who stopped too.

MJ-2: "wait....you're really gonna let us take a phone call in the middle of a chase?"

Undyne nodded

Undyne: "It would be rude and a cheap Tactic if I did otherwise, "Human"!"

The hunter looked confused but gave a thumbs up.

MJ-2: "You know what, Fair play to you, that's quite honourable"

This comment seemed to stoke Undyne's ego causing her smile widely showing off her yellow teeth. 

As soon as the phone call ended, the Chase resumed, the gang making it in the next region of the underground, Hotland, Which was not exaggerating, lava and brimstone everywhere, the hunter was definitely feeling the heat, if could sweat, he would be making a river.

Before long Undyne slowed to a crawl, being clearly overheated from her armour though she didn't seem to wish to give up but ultimately collapsing from the heat, Frisk quickly grabbing a cup of water and splashing it on Undyne which seemed to give her a second wind.

But she didn't attack when she got up, just stood there, confused before walking away, the hunter thought he might've heard a thank you from the Captain of the Royal Guard directing at Frisk but he wasn't sure if he wasn't hearing things.

The Gang breathed a sigh of relief before the hunter spoke.

MJ-2: "So what's next?"

The hunter turned to Frisk and Chara to look for answer.

Frisk: "back to Waterfall"

The guardian tilted his head in slight confusion before Frisk explained 

Frisk: " Paps wanted us to hangout there, that's why he called us earlier....during our little run from Undyne"

The hunter chuckled a bit, learning that is Papyrus that called them during their chase just to ask if they could hangout in Waterfall.

MJ-2: "anything else I should be aware of?"

Frisk thinks for a moment before answering 

Frisk: "We're going to be with another friend of Papyrus's with us there at the hangout"

The hunter nodded

MJ-2: "Well it will be nice to meet another friend of Papyrus, always nice to meet to new folks"

Frisk smiled, Chara seemed glad with the hunter response too.

Before long the gang moved on forward back towards waterfall, MJ immediately feeling the temperature difference as they walked further away from Hotlands and deeper back intoWaterfall, enjoying the much cooler atmosphere. Frisk once again was leading the way forward until they reached the destination, where Papyrus was already waiting for them by a house that looked like an angry fish?.

The hunter felt like this was going to be quite the interesting hangout, the question that was left on his mind was if it would be a success, or would it crash and burn into a scene of chaos.

Chapter Text

Papyrus greeted the Exo, his ghost and Frisk, seemingly excited for the hangout before mentioning who the group would be hanging out with, "Undyne" which made the hunter twitch a little but thought to himself, they made sure Undyne made it out of Hotland when Frisk gave them water to cool down from the heat, so they should be be safe, right?.

Papyrus then gave Frisk a bone, telling her to give it to Undyne, saying it was a gift and that she loved collecting those. As soon as Papyrus knocked on the door of Undyne's house, Undyne opened it and greeted him, asking if he was ready for a their "Extra-private one on one lesson".

The hunter guessed this hangout was supposed to more of a training session which made sense, Papyrus is trying to become a member of the royal guard, so training with the Captain of it, sounds like a pretty good way to get in.

Papyrus then mentioned he brought friends before revealing the hunter and Frisk, Undyne was about to speak before she froze, her uncovered eye starting to twitch a bit seemingly not happy about seeing them, probably because of the whole situation that happened not even an hour ago.

Before long she invited everyone in, though clearly a bit reluctant to do so, as they came into the house, it was a nice small place, looked like it was enough for one, maybe two people to live in it.

Frisk and Papyrus soon gave their gifts of bones, which Undyne reluctantly accepted putting with the others, which was a drawer filled with them. 

After that Undyne asked if the gang was ready to start before Papyrus said he remembered something important and excused himself before jumping out a window, the hunter and ghost just looked at it with a sheer look of disbelief.

Undyne soon asked the question of why the hunter and Frisk was there.

Undyne: "So why are you here?, to humiliate me even more?.

Frisk and the hunter waved their hands no 

Frisk: "Of course not"

MJ-2: "Yeah I'm with Frisky here, humiliation is a bad taste I rather not have"

Frisk turned her head to the hunter for a moment with a slight glare, Chara was just laughing her ass off, Guess the nickname of "Frisky" is off the table if he doesn't want to have a death stare aimed at him. 

Undyne: "Then why are you?- ooohhh I get it, you think I'm gonna be friends with you right?"

Frisk nodded quickly giving a thumbs up, before the hunter could speak, Undyne spoke first again in a rant of sarcasm about being friends before asking why she would be friends with them and in a threatening tone saying she would beat them up if they weren't her houseguest before declaring that she would never be the two's friend.

Papyrus then popped his head in from the window, seemingly disappointed.

Papyrus: "Dang, what a shame...I thought Undyne could be your friend...I guess she's not up to the challenge"

Undyne's eye twitched, those words acting like an attack on her pride before the tall skeleton ran off again before Undyne went into a rant on how she will become the hunters and Frisk's friend.

The hunter quietly sighed to himself, hoping that this won't end in something catastrophic or at the very least, a spear up his foot.

Undyne then told the two to sit at the table, which they done so, before Undyne went to the fridge and grabbed a few drinks displaying them on the kitchen counters before asking what they'd like.

The moment Frisk got up, Undyne threw a spear at the table, The hunter Leaped up and stuck to the ceiling on instinct as it the spear was going to hit him.

Undyne: "HEY DONT.....get...up....."

Undyne started at the hunter clinging to the ceiling absolutely confused, before being joined by Frisk and Chara.

Undyne: "HEY WHY ARE YOU UP THERE?!?"

The hunter looked at Undyne to see if she was serious 

MJ-2: "OH I DONT KNOW, I like the view up here or maybe cause YOU THREW A GOD DARN SPEAR IN MY DIRECTION"

Frisk held back a little laugh, While Undyne just stared.

Undyne: "WILL COME DOWN NOW?!"

MJ-2: "FINE"

The hunter dropped from the ceiling before sitting down at the now broken table.

Undyne: "as I was saying, you're the guest, sit down, and just point at what you want, you can even use the spear"

Frisk nodded and took the spear pointing at some tea before looking at The guardian for what he wanted, he nodded showing that tea was fine.

Undyne nodded, she seemed a little nervous before making the tea and handing it to them, the hunter took a sip of his, it tasted quite nice but it was quite hot, so he blew on it a little before drinking more, Frisk mimicking the hunter.

Undyne smiled seeming glad that the tea was enjoyable before commenting about a strange coincidence about the tea chosen, Golden flower tea which happened to the Asgore's favourite, the King of the monsters before saying that were similar to him as weenies.

Undyne soon started recalling some memories she had with the king in her Younger days, about how much of a hot head she was and how Asgore managed to help her through that, even teaching her how to fight properly until she became the head of the royal guard before shifting the conversation towards papyrus.

Undyne mentioned that she doesn't feel like she could let him into the Royal guard, before explaining her reasoning, not for lack of strength but because Papyrus is too innocent and kind, this caused The guardian to chuckle, reminding him of someone similar, he always thought that papyrus had a similar attitude to his friend Martyr but the more he thought about it, the more he could help but notice how similar he was to a certain light guide back home, a gentle soul.

Undyne then talked about how she started teaching Papyrus to cook, since she could never bring herself to send the skeleton into battle, so that he could be able to do something in his life before long she realised how long she was talking for and that the tea had been drank.

Undyne got up to get more tea before realising the time before she went onto a rant about how Papyrus's cooking lesson was supposed to be happening right now before turning to Frisk and the hunter demanding that they'll have to do it for him, before giving a small speech about how this will bring them closer after jumping onto the kitchen with quite the high intensity.

The hunter just repeated said "oh no" in his head, feeling the chaos that was about to happen before anything else Undyne jumped over, picked up Frisk and the hunter before Jumping back to the kitchen and placing them down.

The cooking lesson started with the sauce, Undyne telling Frisk to envision the vegetables as her greatest enemy and pound them into dust. Frisk punched a tomato, it knocked over a tomato, before Undyne cheered before joining, destroying at the vegetables into a mess over the counter and walls before saying they'll scrap it up later.

The hunter just stared dump founded at the what was happening before Undyne put down a pot and Frisk threw an entire box of noodles into the pot, before stirring it vigorously before Undyne jumped in with her spear to help out, denting the pot before telling frisk to turn up the heat, the flames getting higher and higher as Undyne demanded more before the entire house on fire.

Soon Undyne went into an unhinged rant before a fight ensued before allowing Frisk attack first, who did a fake attack before Undyne just dropped her spear seeing how Frisk was unwilling to hurt them.

Undyne talked about how Frisk might be able to talk to Asgore and possibly persuade him into letting them go home before the gang left the burning house.

Outside of the house the hunter stood quietly too flabbergasted to muster a single word, his ghost Queens looked at Frisk and Undyne who seemed to have fun after all this.

Queens: "You broke my guardian"

Undyne jumped back pointing at Queens.

Undyne: "What the hell is that!?"

Frisk quickly calmed down the situation, explaining the hunter's story, leaving out a few details to not cause too much confusion and trouble.

Undyne: "so he's a guardian"

Frisk nodded before Undyne pointed at the Queens

Undyne: "and you're a ghost... his ghost which you allow him to use some kind of magic"

Queens nodded, Undyne then looked at the hunter with a very wild and possibly terrifying smile, the hunter almost knew exactly what this meant before she pointed at him.

Undyne: "You must be pretty strong then!"

The hunter shrugged trying to avoid a big fight.

Undyne: "I challenge you, Let's spar!"

The hunter sighed, cracking is neck a bit before turning to Undyne.

MJ-2: "You know what?, Fine, a friendly spar could be nice, just let's not go overboard"

Undyne jumped with excitement, before going over the rules of the sparring match, a standard set of rules to keep everyone safe and not too hurt.

Frisk and Chara sat a bit away, far enough from the fight to be safe, a bit surprised that MJ decided to oblige Undyne's request. Before long came the matter of weapons.

Undyne: "So un you gonna bring a weapon out?"

Undyne held her spear by her side before the Hunter facepalmed before turning to his ghost.

MJ-2: "Hey Queen, mind bringing out Ergo Sum?"

The guardian's ghost nodded before a sword materialised in the hunters hands.

Undyne: "Woah!, that's cool"

The hunter nodded, appreciating the compliment before getting into a fighting stance, Undyne Following the same.

Soon the fight began, Undyne being the first one to attack, the hunter dodging easily before going for a counterattack.

Undyne managed to block it and throw the hunter back before laughing, seemingly enjoying the fight before going a bit more out, causing the hunter to focus more on dodging which seemed to  annoy Undyne started to go even harder in the fight.

The hunter kept dodging, sneaking in a small attack every once in a while unfortunately getting blocked each time, before Undyne screaming in rage going all out, tossing the hunter a bit far before he caught his footing.

Undyne: "And I thought you were strong!"

Undyne took a jab at the hunters dodging 

MJ-2: "Just holding back, but guess that's no longer an option"

The hunter spun, a wave of electricity surrounding him, before a staff of lighting formed in his hands before rushing at Undyne, surprising her. 

The sound of their weapons clashing Echoed throughout waterfall as if a lighting storm was striking the ground, soon enough the fight ended in a tie, both parties get tired out, Undyne from the force of the hunter's attacks and MJ from the heavy use of light in a short amount of time.

Frisk seemed quite happy that no was hurt and always seemed to enjoy the watching the fight, so did Chara who gave a double thumbs up.

Before long a plan was made to rest the skeleton brothers house, so the gang along with Undyne went to a nearby a river were a clocked figure on a dog boat was docked, before getting on and being transported to Snowdin at the request of Undyne.

When they made it to the skeleton household, Papyrus was happy that a new friendship bloomed between Frisk, The hunter and Undyne, before Undyne asked if she could crash for a bit until her house was fixed up, which Papyrus excitedly accepted.

The hunter chuckled before flopping onto the couch, as Undyne started talking to Papyrus about the sparring match, whilst the noises around the hunter soon started fading for him as he fell asleep on the couch.

Chapter Text

The Exo woke up on the floor of the skeleton house, seemingly having fallen off the couch in his sleep, he stood up groggy, stretching out his limbs before being spooked by Chara causing him to jump.

Chara laughed out loud at the hunter's response, which the hunter didn't find it too funny.

MJ-2: "You gonna keep doing that?"

Chara just shrugged, not really knowing that answer before the hunter sighed

Chara: "Dunno, oh and also Papyrus left you some food in the kitchen, while everyone's walking around Snowdin"

The hunter nodded, still stretching a little.

MJ-2: "good to know...Thanks"

The hunter turned and walked to the kitchen, seeing the food left for him by Papyrus, Spaghetti,  honestly would have been more surprising if it wasn't spaghetti.

The hunter takes off his mask, before grabbing the plate and taking a seat, Chara following him, before he began to eat.

Chara: "so, think you're ready to head to hotland, Redstar?"

The hunter chuckles a little 

MJ-2: "Using my nickname, Red?"

Chara smiles

Chara: "Don't see why I shouldn't, you got a nickname for me so why not use yours "

The hunter nods in response 

MJ-2: "Fair enough"

The hunter sighed

MJ-2: "No clue about hotland, never been is such a heated place before, so no clue how I would react exposed to that much heat for a long time"

Chara looked a bit concerned at the hunter's response

Chara: "You're not going to overheat and fail or die on us?"

Hunter chuckles shaking his head

MJ-2: "Nah, I should be fine, besides you know I don't really stay down for long..."

Chara facepalmed a little 

Chara: "Right....Right you can comeback from that sorta situation"

Chara looked down, feeling a bit dumb for forgetting that fact, clearly not used to having a person like that around.

The hunter soon enough finished the spaghetti before putting on his mask as the group of Sans, Papyrus, Undyne and Frisk, before being greeted.

Soon enough The hunter and Frisk said thier goodbyes for now before the gang made thier way towards "River Person" for a ride down to Hotland, saving on some travel time, the hunter started to hum a tune as they continued their journey.

Chara and Frisk looked at the hunter, Chara finding the tune familiar, before she realised, it was the same tune he played on the harmonica back at the Snowdin Inn. 

Frisk: "that's a nice tune"

The hunter stopped humming, before realising that he was humming the tune at all.

MJ-2: "O-oh, I didn't even notice I was doing that"

The hunter rubs his neck a little embarrassed 

Chara: "What's the name, the name of tune I mean"

The hunter thought about answering the question seemingly a bit reluctant to do so before sighing.

MJ-2: "It was called....The man they called Cayde"

Chara and Frisk tilted their heads

Chara: "Wasnt that the name of your friend?"

The hunter nods, looking down a bit

MJ-2: "Yeah.....he used to play it sometimes himself.....last time he played was back when......when..."

The hunter stays silent for a moment, seemingly the topic of cayde weighs heavy on his mind

Frisk: "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to"

The Hunter shakes his head before speaking.

MJ-2: "no, no It's okay, just been a long time since I talked about him like this......"

A silence grows between the group before Chara spoke up 

Chara: "what was he like?"

The hunter looked up before rubbing his chin, chuckling to himself 

MJ-2: "it be easier to say what he wasn't like.....He always ready for action with ace in his hand and charm in the other....always knew how to have fun on the job...even in the darkest moments......he was my favourite...and I was his...."

The hunter seemed to smile under his mask, seemingly glad recalling his memories of his old friend.

MJ-2: "He and his ghost sundance were one of the nicest people you could ever meet, always made you feel welcome, oh Cayde would always try sneaking out of his duties, never a dull moment"

Frisk and Chara seem to smile a bit

Frisk: "He seems like a good person"

The hunter nods, happy that Frisk thinks that way

MJ-2: "Yeah....he was" 

A small silence filled the air before the gang arrived at Hotland, before jumping off the dog boat.

Frisk lead the gang towards where they needed to go next, a giant white building that at the entrance had three black letters telling the hunter exactly what the building was, a Lab.

Soon enough the gang entered the lab, The hunter noticing how the lights were off, but it was still quite visible for his eyes at least, Frisk however almost tripped over a piece of garbage. Whoever was running this place seemed to be a bit on the messier side of things or were just lazy, the hunter didn't know which one but couldn't really do much better, his ship the rust bucket not being the cleanest on the inside either and not for lack of trying. 

The Lights of the laboratory turned on suddenly almost blinding the gang who was just adjusting to the dark space and a yellow lizard looking monster came out of another room, stuttering nervously, apologising for the state of the lab in a state of panic before the froze and turned to the two.

Soon the monster Introduced themselves as Dr Alphys, Asgore's Royal Scientist before they quickly tried to reassure that they weren't one of the "bad guys" seemingly not wishing to engage in any act of violence before stating they wished to help.

The hunter tilted his head confused before Alphys revealed that she has been watching the gang for a long time, ever since they left the ruins in fact, which left the hunter with one important question.

MJ-2: "....tell me you didn't see anything related to a "nature's call" cause that be very awkward"

The hunters question caught everyone off guard, Chara bursting out laughing, Frisk tried to remain composed and Alphys Stuttered

Alphys: "O-OF C-COURSE NOT!"

Alphys stated that quickly, The Exo nodding appreciating that the stalk-ish behaviour was at least respectful in that manner, Still the hunter didn't like the fact that he was being watched all the time.

Soon enough the dinosaur scientist gave a small warning about one of their creations, a robot made Mettaton, originally an entertainment robot, a TV star and then decided to give it anti human combat feature before decidedly trying to remove them and making it worse by making an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood.

MJ-2: "......if I had a coin for every time I seen this happen....Id have three....which is not much but odd it happened three" 

Alphys laughed nervously before reassuring that we shouldn't run into Mettaton.

A loud noise of something clashing against metal echoed in the lab as the building shook violently, repeatedly, before Alphys's face turned to one of horror muttered what the hunter could guess was an "oh no" before something burst through the metal wall, a Boxy robot with a giant M on their screen holding a microphone.

Mettaton: "Oohhh yes!, welcome beauties TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!"

The room became flooded with gameshow music, and colourful lights flashing everywhere, the hunter wished to question how this happened so quickly but decided best not to if he wished to spare his sanity.

Soon Mettaton started to presenting the game show like an any Host would, it seemed normal until Mettaton talked about the only rule in the game show, Answer correctly or Die. The hunter took a deep breath muttering to himself knowing there was going to be catch, not being a normal game show.

Soon enough the quiz started, with the first question being "What's the prize for answering correctly"

A: Money

B:Mercy

C: New Car

D: More questions 

The hunter scratched his head before Frisk hit D as the the answer which was correct, before looking at Alphys who was making a D with his hands before switching to a thumbs up. 

The Quiz show continued for a while, Alphys assisting throughout every question which seemed to be mostly centred around Mettaton.

Soon another question appeared, that Alphys just stared at, "Would you smooch a ghost" with all the answer being heck Yeah, Frisk was about to press an answer before the Hunter just slammed an answer with no hesitation.

MJ-2: "Don't ask"

This response got a confused look from Frisk and Chara, before they could ask the next question appeared, "What is the Hunter?"

A: A Human

B: A Machine with a soul

C: A Deadman

D: A Hoarder 

This question left Frisk, Chara and Alphys confused, all of them unsure how to answer it, though Alphys looked guilty as if she knew what the answer was but was unsure if it was the right one, Frisk and Chara discussed what could be the right answer, trying to get the Hunter's opinion before they were caught off guard.

The hunter pressed one of the choices, Answer C, it was correct, the room fell silent for a bit before Frisk could say anything, Mettaton started speaking the next question which Alphys answered instantly which seemed to make the mechanical TV star unhappy before asking one final question, "Who has Alphys got a crush on",Frisk  immediately answered Undyne which made the Royal scientist flustered before Mettaton turned into a rocket and flew away leaving the gang by themselves, Alphys apologising for Mettaton before trying to also Apologise to the Guardian for one of the questions before being cut off.

MJ-2: "Don't, just don't, I don't need pity for something like that"

The hunter's tone caught everyone a bit off guard, it felt dark and heavy, almost like this wasn't the Hunter speaking. 

Alphys again apologised before upgrading Frisk's phone before standing by the hole in the wall left by Mettaton, thinking on who to fix it.

The hunter began walking out of the lab through the other exit before Frisk and Chara could catch up to him, only managing to catch up outside before Chara shouted.

Chara: "What is your problem?, why are you running away!"

The hunter suddenly stopped at suddenly, Frisk looked at Chara with a slight glare, clearly not happy with how Chara is acting.

MJ-2: "I don't want to talk about"

The hunter's tone was stern, seemingly this was touchy subject, Frisk was about to back off before Chara spoke again.

Chara: "What is it that you're hiding?, A deadman? Why did you act like that?, we saw that you can comeback, so you're not a deadman, you're just someone who's a bit different0"

The hunter froze before looking at the lava before sighing, Frisk and Chara approached slowly towards the hunter, standing next to him, looking at him.

MJ-2: ".....Maverick"

Frisk and Chara looked at the hunter confused when he spoke the name

MJ-2: "Maverick.......it was the name I had before.....before my first death"

The two look at hunter even more confused

MJ-2: "I wasn't always....Me....I had a different life....a mechanic...or at what l could figure it out at least.....I?....he?......Maverick didn't make it when the world fell.......he was buried....left to rest....."

Frisk and Chara's faces shifted as the implications of what the hunter was saying.

MJ-2: "Queens found the place.....and rose me up from the grave....no memory of Maverick......I'm a deadman walking, a thing walking around with the face of a dead guy using a name found on his overalls"

Chara shot up before staring into the hunter's eyes.

Chara: "Hey! You are you! Not some dead guy walking around"

The Exo was about to speak before Frisk interrupted 

Frisk: "Chara is correct, it doesn't really matter who you were in the past, you're your own person and one of the nicest people I've met too"

The hunter looked down silently before making a small sound that could be taken a sob. 

MJ-2: "Thanks....That means a lot"

Chara: "Just don't insult our friend"

Frisk: "Yeah!"

The gang chuckled, their spirits up before they decided to keep moving forward, their hunter feeling their body become lighter, as if a weight of his shoulders was lifted.

Chapter Text

The gang moved through hotland, towards what the hunter learned to be the "core". The hunter found it amazing that the monsters were able to harness the power of thermal energy from the volcano.

As the Gang kept moving through, the guardian hummed before music started to come from Queens (I'm Gonna be (500 miles) ) which surprised Frisk and Chara as they stared at the ghost.

Frisk: " what?"

Chara: "How?"

The girls tilted their heads in confusion before looking at the guardian for answers 

MJ-2: "Oh yeah, Queens can do that, or well just about any ghost can play stuff like that"

Frisk and Chara seemed a little impressed by the ghost's ability

Chara:  "Cool"

Frisk: "yeah!"

The ghost seemed to be happy about his ability being recognised.

The gang continued their way, solving puzzles and getting out of fights before stumbled into a dark area, almost pitch black, Alphys called Frisk and told them that they'd brighten the area up before everything was engulfed in light, making the hunter rub his eyes from the sudden change in lighting. 

As the Hunter's vision adjusted he took a look at the surroundings, it was a kitchen, specifically a Kitchen Film set, before Mettaton popped out from on the counters.

The Hunter sighed and chuckled a bit, seemingly the participation in Mettaton's show was not optional. Mettaton started to do the introduction to the show and what will be made today, a cake and before tell the gang the ingredients, they need to gather for it

MJ-2: "Huh, been a while since I baked a cake"

This comment seemed to grab Mettaton's attention 

Mettaton: "Oh? you bake a lot darling?"

The hunter shrugged a bit before answering 

MJ-2: "Guess you could say that, it's a hobby of mine. had it for a long time, got into it through a good friend"

The hunter seemed quite happy talking about baking as he helped gather the ingredients

MJ-2: "So what kind cake are baking, basic, vanilla, Chocolate, Black Forrest, sponge cake, shortcake, lava cake, cheese cake, butter cake?"

Everyone looked the guardian with a bit of surprised look, certainly not expecting the Hunter's knowledge of cakes.

MJ-2: "...Sometimes there's just a lot of free time, okay?"

Frisk giggled a bit at the hunters response to the staring, while Mettaton seemed to freeze for a moment before snapping back to reality the moment all the ingredients were gathered.

Mettaton: "Oh wait, how could I forget, the most important ingredient!"

Before The Hunter or Frisk could ask Mettaton pulled out a chainsaw 

Mettaton: "A HUMAN SOUL"

Frisk and the Hunter started backing up as the Killer Robot show host started up the chainsaw and began to approach the two, slowly and menacingly before being stopped by a phone call, It was Alphys, managing to stop them by asking one simple question about a vegan cake, which Mettaton threw the chainsaw away and quickly changed their attitude very quickly, seemingly seeing this an opportunity for better viewership.

Before long Mettaton, self advertised their own brand "Human souls flavour substitute" before pointing at a can of it, placed in the other side of the other side of the room, as the hunter and Frisk approached the Can shot up as a tower started rise up with the can on top.

The hunter sighed as Mettaton gave the pair one minute to grab it before it was back to plan A.

Alphys gave Frisk a call before Frisk pressed something on her phone, causing jetpack to appear.

MJ-2: "okay this place would make Sal go insane......"

Soon enough Frisk blasted off to try to reach the can, The hunter not wanting to be left out, decided to use Strand to grapple onto Frisk before before being rapidly lifted up, honestly having some enjoyment out of it at the start at least.

Mettaton soon started flying around and throwing ingredients trying to slow Frisk down, while Frisk Dodged swiftly, The Exo was not so lucky with eggs, flour and milk hitting his face repeatedly, regretting his choice very quickly. 

Though when they reached the top Mettaton congratulated before saying this was the end, and also made MJ-2 Disappointed and a bit angered as the cake was already made before hand before flying away.

Once the gang was back on the ground, The hunter kicked a few rocked down into the lava below.

Frisk: "Are you okay?"

Frisk seemed to be concerned about the hunter

MJ-2: "Oh I'm fine, just had cake ingredients hit my face and I don't even get to bake it, totally fine"

The sarcasm in his voice is more noticeable than a splashy of White on a dark painting.

Chara: "you wanted to bake?"

MJ-2: "Of course I wanted to bake!"

The hunter's outburst startled Frisk and Chara a little before he stormed to the kitchen set and started to take out ingredients.

MJ-2: "the murder host bot ain't here but that ain't gonna stop me from baking"

Chara and Frisk looked confused at the hunter, questioning what the hunter was about to make in the kitchen.

Queens: "....Shortbread....he's gonna make shortbread"

The girls look at the ghost, a bit more confused 

Frisk: "how did you know?"

Queens sighed and responded quickly to Frisk's question

Queens: "Because that's the only food he makes for himself when there's a long journey ahead....he ran out back on Europa....could only resist so long before he needed to bake them....could say that's his vice....like chocolates yours Chara"

Chara looked comically offended at what the ghost was implying, while Frisk snorted before laughing out loud.

Before long the trio noticed the hunter already almost done, holding a tray with the unbaked cookies, Queens's single eye seemed to grow on fear.

Queens: "GUARDIAN DONT YOU DARE-"

The ghost's protest remained on deaf ears, as the Hunter burst into golden flames for a few moments before going back to normal, the room being filled with now a scent of freshly baked shortbread.

Chara: "....did you just use your power to instantly bake?"

The hunter nodded proudly in response, showing off the shortbread on his tray before setting it down to allow it to cool down 

Frisk and Chara looked dumbfounded at the hunter's Undyne level of baking in but both grabbed a piece of shortbread before judging any further and trying it.

A long silence filled the area after Frisk and Chara ate the shortbread, before they stared at the hunter.

Chara: "how does this work..,.why does this work, what dark magic is this??"

The hunter laughed at the question as he started to pack the shortbread into a tin, seemingly pulled out of nowhere, causing a bit more confusion but for the sake of Sanity, Frisk and Chara decided to not to question the hunter any further.

The gang soon enough moved on further through hot lands, getting caught into another one of Mettaton's shows, a news segment, that turned into a bomb defuse nightmare, The hunter certainly did not appreciate this kind of activity but the gang managed to complete it, much to mettaton's annoyance.

The gang continued to solve puzzles and get deeper into the core, soon entering an area filled with cobwebs, the hunter scratched himself nervously as they went through before being stopped by a Monster Spider, The hunter noticing Frisk mumbling her name

"Muffet"