Heyo, author here. This is actually my first fanfiction like this, so I'd be thankful if in the comments criticism isn't too harsh.

Also, since Gaster's a mysterious character, I'm basing his stats off the lore and some of his powers from things like Glitchtale.

Thanks, and enjoy =).

Chapter 1

The void is a vast plain of emptiness, a waste land for the non-existent. Yet even in such a place of literally nothing to begin with, there can be something once it becomes recognised by a conscious being. Some would say it was bright, white all around, most would say it were black as night. But no matter how the mind interprets it, the ground is always the same.

Ankle deep liquid. It's not water, in fact it's nothing. But if someone were to give it a description, it'd be the divide between it and existence.

That's the situation W.D. Gaster found himself. After accidently falling into the core he regained consciousness just lying down in the liquids of the void. To say the falling into the core was painful would be a sugar-coating understatement.

The excruciating pain of his very molecules and existence being pulled apart by his own magic tearing into threads to be flung across all timelines was unimaginable.

It hurt, a lot.

But the momentary anguish was nothing compared to the shear loneliness of his condemned isolation.

For years he spent in that place, learning that even in a place full of nothingness, he could see the world in which he'd come from if he'd only knew where to look. By that he had to plunge head first into the liquid ground.

Down there, it was a spectacle.

It was like he was swimming through branches of infinite timelines. The moment the scientist discovered this, he was in absolute awe. But as time went on, he found he could not enter any of the continuing ones, and everyone in the Underground in all timelines had forgotten him.

His discovery of a lifetime quickly turned into his own living hell. Being alone is one thing, but to be forgotten and alone was horrendous, the despair everyone fears. If he was lucky, he'd find a couple or so people who mentioned his name, but it was only to refer to a mere boogieman.

A bad dream.

It was too much, heart wrenching. But he wouldn't let it stand, he wouldn't stay here until the end of everything just for someone to save him.

As the formerly recognised royal scientist of the underground, he didn't sit by. He worked.

Using all his knowledge, all his wits and power to find a way back. Scavenging the timelines, he found he could enter and leave those that were decaying, those that were uninhabited and had stopped progressing.

With collected materials from the timelines he managed to construct a counter part to the core in the plain of non-exitance.

An anti-core.

Much like the original, it was big to say the least, and clunky with gears turning away and a humming that sounded like a lion growling. Though as a counter part to the core, this machine absorbed magical power, compressed and dispensed it into something below it.

That something he intended to be a timeline below the liquids, and since a monsters' very being was made of magic….. well, the implications were plainly obvious.

If someone like Papyrus were to explain its function, they'd probably say it acted like a giant magic syringe.

"I'll be home soon, everyone. Please, just wait," he promised, aligning the machine so it was aimed to the timeline most similar to his own. "…If I'm right about this…re-entering a progressing timeline will restore my state of existence…. you'll all remember me~."

He faulted slightly in his preparations, but quickly pulled himself together to find his second wind.

"No. No, I'm sure you will. I may be split across all these timelines in magic, but by converging them all into one I can be brought back into existence. I will be remembered."

Adding the final calculations on his point of re-entry he stood before his hopeful salvation.

"At least Sans will remember me," he sighed, still fearing that his arrival won't undo the damage the core had done to him in the first place.

Last time he checked in on them, a human had fallen into the underground. The eighth one.

He wasn't exactly thrilled about it, seeing her interact with the monsters. She even befriended his two sons at one point, so it made him happy at least.

"The eighth, to break the barrier," he said, pushing a series of buttons on a keyboard, engaging systems and firing up the machines function to absorb magic. "Funny, she looks so much like…..like little Chara."

A countdown sequence started from three and before long he could feel his magic being sucked away from him. It felt like he was an unravelling ball of yarn.

It tickled.

Trusting in himself he let the feeling envelope him. His skeletal body turned to dust and was sucked into the bowls of the anti-core like a vacuum.

Gaster was conscious for the whole thing, feeling himself collecting to a point before he was pushed out like he was in a syringe into the ground below. The insertion was like he was watching the whole world go by in a mad rush while he stood still.

Magic flying down through the universe of timelines before slamming into one below and soaking into it. Now the whole actual universe was rushing by him at lightning speeds and coming up on Earth.

Before long he was coming up on his exit point, Asgore's castle. He wondered how his king would react to seeing him, would he know who Gaster was?

No, even if he doesn't remember, the king is a kind monster, and will surely take Gaster in with open arms. 'He's a big furball after all.'

He mentally smirked at that remark.

Flying through the buildings ceiling, he came to the throne room. Suddenly his soul froze at what he saw. A nightmare made real.

It had been some time since Gaster last checked in on this timeline, but it was enough for all hell to break loose. The dust of monsters was everywhere, Sans was leaning against a wall with a slash mark across his front while he was holding onto Papyrus's red scarf.

He had that same ridiculous smile plastered on his face even as he crumbled to dust.

At this point, Gaster was materializing into the physical plain. He was hazy, much like a clump of sand slowly turning to clay and becoming solid as he rushed over to his son.

"S-Sans, what happened?" he panicked, going to lift up his shirt to inspect the damage, but found his fingers lazily pass though them. The materialization process wasn't yet at a point where he could physically interact with the timeline.

The short skeleton looked up to him with droopy eye sockets.

"Oh…. Hey G. Long-time no see~," he croaked. "I know you don't age but, but you've really gotten dusty haven't you~."

"This is no time for puns, Sans," Gaster stated, still feeling his body slowly coming together at the molecular level. "Now what happened? Was it that human who came to the underground?"

"You mean Frisk?... Nah, nah she really isn't the one at fault here. She's more of a victim in this than the rest of us."

Gaster suddenly felt the space around him become static, distorted for a moment.

"Wha… No, no I've seen this before," he panicked, getting up and looking around. "This timeline is about to end."

Turning back to Sans, he frantically looked him over for a way to help. His son had lost both his legs to dust at this point. "Hey, don't fall apart on my G, that's my job."

Gaster felt his heart drop. For so long he'd wanted to return home, so that everything could be right again. But now, was he about to lose the very home he'd fought for for so long?

Kneeling to Sans, Gaster attempted to rest a hand on his sons' shoulder but passing though him. So instead he opted to hover above it.

Reality went static again for a moment.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave you, Sans. If I don't discover what's causing this timeline to come to an end, I might end up in the same situation I was before, or worse."

"…Do what you gotta do G~," Sans sighed, grinning as the lights in his sockets died. The dusting had reached to his collarbone. "I'm dying to see you in the next timeline~."

With that, Sans's body crumbled to dust completely, leaving behind only his clothes, and Papyrus's scarf. Gaster clenched his fist that'd been hanging over his son's shoulder, trying his best not to break.

"You always like your puns."

Stomping up, he used his magic to teleport into the room behind the throne room. Half expecting to find Asgore, he instead found the human child. She was dressed in her usual blue jumper with purple stripes across the middle with their back turned to him and in her hand clutched a dented kitchen knife with dry blood across the edge.

A pair of orange panels floated in front of her, one read [Erase] while the other [Reset]. Their hand was floating ominously towards [Erase].

"Don't you even think about it, Frisk," he declared, thrusting out his right hand and summoning his seven skeletal hands, using the pale blue hand of patience to shoot tendrils to entrapping her.

In lightning reflexes, and without even turning around she sliced through nearly all of them, only getting a few snaked around her knife arm.

"Now move away from that [Erase] button."

There were a few moments of silence, then the distortion Gaster kept feeling buzzed again, only this time when it was over, Frisk had changed. Instead of wearing the blue and purple jumper, she was now wearing a green jumper with yellow stripes across the middle.

She slowly turned to face him with blood red eyes and a maniacal grin on her face.

Gaster felt his heart sink again, the magic in his sockets acting as eyes widening at the sight.

"Says who?" she rhetorically spoke in a voice that sounded like it was being said by two people at the same time.

"…..Chara...?"

She moved in to press the button, Gaster attempted to yank back on the tendrils and coupled it with a beam fired from the red hand of determination.

Chara's hand just brushed over the [Erase] panel, turning it green then everything vanished in static before turning to darkness. The beam Gaster fired whizzed past where she'd been into the far-off distance without hitting anything and the tendrils slumped down with nothing to hold onto.

For a split moment Gaster thought he was back in the void but noticed he couldn't see any of the timelines. Aside from him, there was simply nothing, not even a ground to stand on.

The feeling of his being sent into a timeline came back again, only this time it didn't feel like the world was rushing past him, there was no world to rush through.

He was falling, falling through the doomed timeline with no apparent bottom in sight.

Panicking, he opted to use his teleportation, or summon a Gaster blaster to carry him, only to realize neither would help. He wasn't falling be gravity, there was no real way for him to stop his plummet and to use teleportation he had to know where he was.

All he could do was scream as he fell into the abyss.

He blacked out soon after.

Later

Coming around, Gaster felt saw all over. He creaked open an eye and was immediately met with a blinding light, forcing him to squint.

'Hold on. This can't be right,' sitting up and opening his eyes, he blinked a couple of times to make sure he knew what he was feeling.

He had opened his eyes.

Looking down at his hands, one was his normal skeletal hand with the large hole in the palm while the other was….covered in flesh. Patting and massaging his face he felt skin and flesh. Even eyelids, ears and hair.

He was still in his normal attire with leather shoes, black trousers, trench coat and white turtleneck. Itching to look more into himself and see what else was different, Gaster did his best to hold off on his curiosity until he found out which of all the timelines he had fallen into.

Gazing around, he was in a forest. Not a very thick one based on how easy it was to see through, which suggested animals lived here, but not frequently traversed through. A stream flowed nearby. Stumbling over himself a little before standing by the water's edge, knelt to peer into the flowing stream.

A human face starred back, and not one of a fully grown adult either. It couldn't have been more than…. seventeen, or eighteen. Pale skin covered his face with messy frost white hair reaching down to above his neck. His eyes were their same multi coloured blue and red with deep scares above his skull fractures.

One ran down from his right eye to mouth with another stretching up from his left and disappearing into his hair.

"OH MY GOD!" he screamed, tripping back and scrambling away from the refection. He wasn't one to be easily surprised, but when you've undergone a physical change you were unaware of, that tends to put people on edge.

No, an entire species change.

It wasn't easy, but he managed to soon recover himself, continuing to analyse his current surroundings. Looking more to the woods, a bit to the horizon….even his own body. Specifically his right arm, taking off his trench coat to see that his entire arm was still a skeleton. Under his shirt his body had fused with some flesh also.

It stretched from his head to the entire length of his left arm. From his neck it went down mostly the middle of his chest and spread out around the abdomen area.

If his previous studies on the human children that fell to the underground yielded anything, it was that the organs he was more than likely missing at first glance were a pair of lungs, liver, heart and some guts bellow the stomach.

Pocking the flesh, it flexed a little before springing back as he retracted his finger.

"Hmmmm….. Normally the body of a human can't live without the heart or lungs, let alone…..this much flesh. My magic is probably keeping it alive and from going into rigor mortis," he deduced, putting back on his shirt and buttoning up his trench coat. "This is probably a side affect of me falling through timelines."

A bird flew by, drawing his attention away for a moment. Then he noticed the sky, he really noticed it. Gaster couldn't help as his eyes widened and breath taken away to the vast blue sky above, clouds lazily floating by. Then the sun came out behind the clouds and blinded him again.

"Gaahh-ow. I don't think I'm in the underground anymore," he said rubbing his eyes. Then blinking for a bit while the pain subsided. "Hmph, I'd almost forgotten what the sky looked like in the outside world~."

His brief reminisce was interrupted by some rustling in the bushes nearby. Turning his attention to it a large wolf life beast slumping out on all fours, well over three times Gaster's own size. Covered in ash black fur with a pale skull covering the top part of its head with glowing eyes like burning coal as sniffed the ground, probably tracking something.

It noticed Gaster and snarled intimidatingly at him.

"Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to know where I am? I appear to be in a bit of trouble and am in need of some assistance."

The monster leaped at Gaster, swiping its claws to tear him to shreds. A green bubble enveloped Gaster and the claws cracked into the forcefield. Startled, the wolf move back, still keeping eyes on him.

"It appears you're not much of a civilised monster, now are you?" he said, seven skeletal hands floated from behind him. They each glowed a colour of a soul; purple, green, red, blue, light blue, yellow and orange. The green one was glowing brighter than the rest. "But can you at least show any sign if you can understand me or not?"

The beast did nothing as it leaped again, this time towering over Gaster as it rapidly swiped profusely at the forcefield attempting to break it.

"Sigh. Seams you're but a mindless animal, aren't you?" the orange hand flashed, and numerous orange ping-pong balls appeared around the wolf. It took notice and stopped attacking Gaster, glancing around in curiosity.

Clenching his fist, the balls flashed a bright orange before all exploding simultaneously, blasting the beast to smithereens.

When the dust settled, its mangled corpse lay on the ground, large gouging holes and pits across its body with once burning eyes dead.

Letting the barrier down, Gaster strode over to it with his hands still hovering about him. He was sure it was dead, but one could never be too careful.

"Now let's see, what kind of monster are you…..?"

Before he could finish the wolf was starting to evaporate, grumbling away with ash like flakes rising off it. Before to long it was gone without a trace, even its bones.

"Seems like all monsters here die just the same."

More rustling from the bushes behind drew his attention to a whole pack of the same type of beast he'd just killed. All snarling, sniffing the ground and looking just as mindless.

"Its pack?" he queried aloud, turning to where he'd just killed the previous wolf before turning back. "Guess you're not as mindless as I thought. You've all leaned to have scouts."

Later

It'd been nearly an hour since Gaster found himself in the woods, and aside from the pack of wolf beasts he hadn't run into anything else.

No other monsters or any sign of a civilization. He considered teleporting around the place, but that would've been insufficient and draining on his magic reserves. Fortunately his magic was replenishing at a steady rate, but with the extra lumps of flesh for his own magic to sustain it wasn't as fast as it used to be.

Sure he could tear it off, lose the excess baggage and have all his magic to spare, but there was also a risk to it. The way things were now, he was on the surface. The same surface humans ruled after casting all the monsters down into the underground after the war.

Well, not all of them apparently.

If he were to be caught while walking around with his skeletal features exposed there was no telling what trouble he'd get himself into with the natives.

No, best to leave the flesh on. No matter how nauseating it made him feel at times.

'Okay, time to think. Clearly something happened that caused the previous timeline I was in to end, and Chara was some how connected to it. Even though it should be impossible since she's dead and has been for so many years. Unless there's something about human souls that would make them able to inhabit other beings after they die, or maybe I missed something when I wasn't looking at that particular timeline…..'

Stopping for a moment, Gaster summoned a gaster blaster in front of him. A dragon looking skull towering over the scientist with giant twisted goat horns at the back of its head and vicious teeth lining the mouth, some longer than his arm.

'Either way, I can't get answers by just thinking about it. One step at a time, and the first thing to do is get an understanding of where I am.'

Gripping its eye socket for leverage, he hoisted himself up and climbed up to the middle of the forehead.

Things were moving too slowly, and he needed a ride. His own blaster wouldn't normally be his first choice of transport, but he'd seen Sans ride his own at times so how hard could it be?

He quickly found that out. While the blaster was moving through the air, Gaster had to crouch on the forehead while gripping the dragon skull's horns for stability or else he'd fall right off.

How did Sans even stand on his without slipping?

Soaring high into the sky, the breeze felt pleasing to him. It was cold, not like the feeling in Snowdin or a refrigerator, but that of a morning welcome from a time he had long since missed through decades in the underground. Gaster couldn't help but indulge himself in it.

The vast landscape stretched out before him of nothing but green forest as far as the eye could see. Before long he spotted a high-rising castle in the distance.

'Well, a better place to start than any,' he thought, teleporting with the blaster to above the grounds, flying low until just above the ground before hopping off and letting the skull dissipate.

For a brief moment he found himself in awe. The sight of a castle rising far beyond the ceilings of the underground and kept on going to where the peak of the tallest tower broke into the clouds wasn't something he saw often. He probably could've from the void but with so many timelines he was never concerned about those that didn't include the underground.

After collecting himself and moving on, he began his search for literally anyone he could hold a conversation with in the castle. It was surprisingly empty despite its grand scale.

Walking through the courtyard, it reminded him a little of royalty what with the fountain in the middle and large stone pillar supports holding up a stone ring encircling the entirety of the grounds.

The place was empty, yes, but Gaster couldn't help but feel as though it's normally bustling.

Time passed and Gaster found himself in a long corridor with large arching windows on one side and doors lined on the other. He took a peak in one of them and it looked much like a small lecture hall.

"Is this….. some kind of school-?"

"Excuse me," someone sternly called from behind. "But what do you think you are doing here? Students aren't to be here until next week."

Turning around, Gaster came face-to-face with a human.

With a crop in hand, she appeared to be in her mid-20's with blonde hair tied mostly in a braid at the back of her head with a curl hanging down the right of her face and sharp green eyes starring behind oval glasses. She wore a thigh high skirt with stockings and a white long-sleeved t-shirt with a short purple cape draped over her shoulders.

He shoved his right hand into his pocket before she could see. He didn't know if things were the same here as it was before monster were sealed, but concealing the fact he was a monster in front of a human would be best for the moment.

'At least she speaks English.'

"Apologies, I don't mean to be roaming the halls of this castle, but I'm afraid I'm somewhat lost. Do you think you could tell me where I might be?" he queried.

She visually looked confused for a moment.

"If you're trying to lie, you might as well come up with a better one," she accused, tightening her grip on the crop.

"Perish the thought. If I intended to lie, you're right, I would come up with a better story. But as I have nothing to gain through deceit I have no reason."

There was silence between the two, the human keeping a straight expression before replying. "You're in the hallways of Beacon academy. One of the global huntsmen academy's."

"An academy?" pondering, Gaster tried to remember how Frisk first fell into the underground. If he was right, it was by accident after hiking up a mountain. He didn't know where the human fell exactly, but it was a start.

'What was its name?'

Gaster tapped his leg from the inside of his pocket until stopping. "Is it anywhere close to mountain Ebott?"

The human furrowed her brow.

"No. We are nowhere near a 'mount Ebott'."

"Hmm. Okay then, do you know where I can find it?"

"Sorry to say, but you won't find a mount Ebott," they all turned to the shadows behind her. Out walked a man dressed in a green suit with greyish-white hair and brown eyes behind dark spectacles. He wasn't gandpa-ish old, but he walked with a cane in hand that was half mechanical at the top and holding a mug of coffee in the other. "Believe me, I should know."

"Professor Ozpin," Glynda addressed as the man now named Ozpin came to stand next to her before taking a sip from his mug and looking Gaster over.

Gaster could tell the human was judging him. At this point he had half a mind to just leave, but as a former royal scientist, he was determined to get as much information as he could here. A decision would have to made later.

"What do you mean there isn't one?"

"I mean there isn't one. I've been around this world for a long time and I have learnt a lot of terrain names. There is no mountain Ebott," he repeated, a smile etching onto his face before walking closer and stopping before Gaster. "Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon academy."

Passing his mug to his left, Ozpin held out his hand at the introduction. Gaster was little hesitant.

"Wing Ding Gaster," he replied, stretching out his left flesh hand opposed to Ozpins right. "Pleasure."

Ozpin was for a moment looking down at the outstretched hand confused before his demeanour returned to its calm, retracting his right hand, passing the mug and cane over to it before shaking.

"Yes, and might I add you did an interesting drop into our courtyard. Your semblance is something of interest to summon the skull of a beast."

"Semblance?"

"Yes. Though if you're wanting to scope out the campus grounds I'd recommend you do it during your first day."

Later

After a somewhat lengthy and informative conversation with the humans, Gaster realized that Ozpin had really assumed the skeleton was an enrolled student at his academy. That little misunderstanding was quickly rectified, though not before Gaster could learn as much as he could.

Though he had to be careful with what he asked. Too many questions on things that are common knowledge would be suspicious. The rest he'd have to find through other means more discrete, and there were a lot of things that interested him to say the least. For starters, the topic of semblance.

For the most part, semblance was the manifestation of the soul granting its user protection, healing and a natural ability unique to them. For Glynda, the deputy headmaster of the academy, it was telekinesis.

The use of soul energy wasn't something new to Gaster. It was one of his appointed jobs as the royal scientist to break the barrier to the underground by harnessing human souls through the combination of a monsters'.

Though it was new to see humans managing to wield their own souls like that. Something that beared further investigation on his part. But they weren't the only intelligent beings on the planet who could use it.

A race called the faunus existed in the world, a cross between humans and animals. It was somewhat humbling for Gaster to know there were people somewhat close to monsters living on the surface. Though it was for that reason that they were discriminated against be the humans.

He also learnt that the monsters he fought earlier were a beast called grimm. Apparently they've been this planets biggest threat right next to humans and faunus since the beginning of history. Case in point, the academy was to act as a training ground for people who'd fight the grimm and save lives.

It impressed him to say the least, but the thing that shocked him were all the irrefutable facts.

The history books of this world had no other reference to monsters aside from the grimm. Either they were kept as a secret from the world, or they genuinely didn't exist. Even magic was nothing more than a myth.

He'd fallen into an unknown timeline, one with no magic, no monsters (of his version) and no underground. Built on a foundation of conflict, blood-shed and a resource they refer to as dust, the humans and faunus were the current sentient inhabitants of the world.

After coming to terms with it all, Gaster's non-existent heart almost caved in on itself in shock. It worked, he'd succeeded inserting himself back into existence as a singular being, but now he was in a random timeline amongst the jumbled branches of the infinite timelines in the void.

Now he was further away from home, so far away in fact he couldn't even see the underground.

To be in a world completely alien to him and ruled mostly by humans, it was a struggle to not lash out at the two before him in pure irrational fury.

After some thinking, Gaster came to the decision that the best way for him to get home wasn't to traverse through the seas of infinite timelines from within them, but to….. return to the void.

Though was the chance the anti-core might not even be there when he returns. It was made up of parts from decaying timelines, so it would make sense that it too was decaying. But having built it once, he can do it again. Even if that meant tearing himself apart again to return, so long as he could return home, he didn't care what pain he had to go through.

There were a few problems though. To recreate his core, he'd need access to recourses, funds and the planets molten core. Then again, he didn't need the cores power to produce magic, just the existence shredding insides.

He'd have to improvise.

First and foremost though, in this world, Gaster needed some place to set up asked Ozpin if there was a place in a nearby city for him to lay low in, he was a little more than shocked to hear the human offering him a place at the academy

It was tempting, but Gaster had to decline.

It wasn't because he didn't see any merit in it, quite the contrary. This academy functioned as a huntsman training institution. A semblance training institution.

If he wanted to study how the human souls of this world functioned in contrast to his own, what better place to do it than at an academy that trained humans to use it? On top of that it could serve as his base of operations.

No. He just didn't have the finances to attend. Quite a gaping hole really.

"Finances? Oh, that's easy to resolve, young man," Ozpin had responded to Gasters reasoning with a smile. The scientist cringed at the term 'young man'. He did have the body of a human child, but he was far older than any normal human. "You can apply for a scholarship. It will handle your education and living expenses. You just have to prove your worth in a test."

Gaster was taken back by this.

'Could it really be that easy?' he thought to himself.

Again, the answer came like a flat brick.

Two days later, during his sign-up for the scholarship, Gaster had to give a brief background about himself, training and semblance.

He doubted 'former monster royal head scientist of another timeline' would be the least bit believable for a background. Luckily for him he had hit up on a few old books during his free time and learnt that there were settlements outside the city of Vale he was currently in that fell to the grimm with no official survivors.

'No official survivors means no official conflictions, and I'll just say I was raised by a kind family in the woods who were….. properly equipped to handle themselves,' he agreed, scribbling on the lines. 'I can research more into it later.'

It was a flawed background, but the best one he could come up with that people wouldn't immediately call him out on. As for his semblance…..

'Most semblances have only one aspect to them, one action. Say if someone had the power to turn invisible, that more than likely doesn't mean they can use the fundamental basis of turning invisible and refract whatever light they wanted. So if I were to pin down mine….skeleton hand summoning. I'll change it later if I have to.'

Pretty soon, the scientist found himself in a huge room with multiple arenas lined throughout.

"Okay Gaster, this is your final test," an examinee declared standing at the other end the octagonal ring. "To pass, you just need to either push me out of the ring or reduce my aura to below 15%. Understand?"

He nodded at her declaration, still keeping his right hand in his pocket. This was becoming a hinderance for him. Gaster was right-handed, and to be forced to use only his left in public had developed more than a few hardships for him.

None the less, he will keep it hidden.

A horn sounded for the match to begin and the huntress charged at Gaster with her polar-arm pulled back to deal a blow. Gaster summoned his light blue hand of patience and let it hover behind him.

Just as the examinee swung their weapon at him, Gaster teleported behind her letting them swing in empty space. The hand still being where it was left shot out light-blue tendrils that wrapped around the examinee's body.

She was taken back for a moment but managed to brace herself as the hand pulled on her only to be struck with blast to the back. The extra force coupled with the pulling hand through her right out of bounds.

As she sat up, Gaster had a red skeleton hand next to him. Both patience and determination quickly disappeared.

"That was pretty sneaky," she commented, getting back up and turning to Gaster with an annoyed look on her face. "Would it have hurt if you at least showed a little more fighting potential."

"If you wanted me to fight a little harder than just follow the itinerary, then you've should've said so in the itinerary."

She sighed a little at his words. He was right, but when it comes to matches and they end this quickly, there's just no real way to evaluate if someone is really capable of handling themselves in things like drawn out battles. "Well, I guess tricks in battle are what catch the enemies off guard. Congratulations, you pass."

Gaster felt a satisfied feeling rise within his soul. It's always pleasurable to have success in his line of work.

Though he couldn't say much for the person in the next ring over.

A blonde human boy in jeans, white armour, wielding a sword and shield. Gaster had seen his fair share of fights and Undyne's hardcore training drills, and even he could tell the human was sloppy. Swinging his sword with more effort than what would normally be needed, he was missing most of the time and blocking with his shield jarred his arm a little.

'It'd be a miracle if he passed,' Gaster thought as he was led out of the training room.

Though if he stayed for ten more seconds, he would've seen the boy attempt a charge only to trip over himself at the last possible minute and catch the examinee off guard. Barrelling into him and shoving the examinee out of bounds.

Interlude

Back at Beacon, in the tallest tower was where the headmaster's office was. Cranking with gears on the walls, the ceiling and in the floor, it looked more like something from the inside of a great grandfather clock than an office. As the vast landscape of the Emerald forest stretched out below him, Ozpin stood by the window looking out with his usual cup of coffee in one hand and cane in the other.

"I wonder if Qrow's doing alright. It's been a while since he last contacted any of us," he hummed as the elevator behind him pinged before sliding open.

He didn't even turn around to the sound of high-heels marching in. It was practically a traditional sign at this point, signifying an angry vice principal wanted to say something.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Accept him into the school so casually and support his enrolment?" Glynda repeated irritated. "For all we know he could be a complete novice in battle, or worse."

"Relax, Glynda," Ozpin responded calmly, turning from the window behind his desk to her. "I don't know if he is or isn't a threat. But I do know he found his way here after killing a grimm."

Glynda was a little perplexed by that statement as he strolled over to his desk before taping a few buttons on it. In a moment a holographic video was pulled up showing a part of the emerald forest with a river passing through.

As the video played on, Gaster came out from behind a tree and knelt beside looking into it. Possibly to look at his own reflection. Suddenly he screamed, scampering back and making Glynda jump.

Then she noticed his arm, his right arm.

"Ozpin, his-his arm is-."

"Just keep watching," he cut in.

She was still in a bit of shock at seeing the skeleton hand, turning back to watch the rest of the video. But it just got worse, Gaster took off his shirt, and what she expected to be normal was one with fleshless sections and revealing bones. Mostly in places where vital organs should've been.

Throughout this, Gaster was calm, as though he was expecting something like this and yet was more concerned by the existence of his flesh. Pretty soon a grimm broke through and attacked him.

There was a brief moment where Gaster was encased in a green bubble with the grimm attacking it until the whole area around it was filled with orange balls no bigger than ping-pongs. There was a flash and they all exploded, cutting out the video and ending it in static.

"As you can see, there is a side of him that he doesn't want shared, and it doesn't look like Gasters' affiliated with Salem. At least not on her good side," Ozpin addressed, turning off the screen. "That's why I asked him to enrol here. Not only to help win against her, but to also understand why someone like him is in that condition and yet isn't dead."

"So he kills a grimm, shows he was missing flesh and you instantly assume it's alright to enrol him into the academy? That sounds pretty irresponsible."

"Glynda, I may not do everything with a proper explanation, but just know that I do it with a reason, and believe me I have a reason for inviting that boy into the academy."

"Shouldn't you at least ask him about everything else? If we confront him with this new information, he might just talk more openly to us."

"It isn't the right time for that."

"Isn't the right time?"

"If we confront him about this while he's in a position to just simply move on, he might just do that. You may see this as irresponsible, to allow someone who just appeared in the Emerald forest into our academy, and in a sense you're right. But I see a move. A step forward."

"You haven't been drinking again, have you Ozpin?"

"Oh no, no, no, it's been well over three-hundred years since I finished that phase, I have no intention on going back," Ozpin chuckled as Glynda kept looking at him concerned. "But if you want a clearer explanation, then just know I'm looking to grasp every opportunity I'm presented with."

"Even if it might hurt you in the end?"

"Then that's a risk I'm willing to take."

Next day

"What interesting technology," Gaster mused, holding the small grey card in his hands and flipping it over and over. "A piece of plastic which can access an account through a digital data base. It's a lot like my key cards, only with more information. Definitely makes it easier to keep track money."

It'd been only a day but Gasters credentials had been processed and approved. He assumed there was bound to be some issues with his backstory, but oddly enough they were all approved. Gaster didn't know if it's because his story was that believable for them, the people in charge were that neglectful, or there're might even be someone backing him up.

Concerning as that latter was, further investigation would have to be carried out another time. as for now, shopping.

For the past few days, Gaster had been staying at one of the dorms in Beacon leant to him by Ozpin. Food included. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that he was Asgores' human form in this timeline with all his kindness. Now all he needed was a Toriel to go with it.

Or maybe he already had one…

But until he got his card, he'd spent most of his time in the library reading the rest of this world's history. He also found out that his new body had flesh in the groin area and right leg. The rest was all bone.

"Now let's see…..first, I think I'll go for some clothes first…..," looking up to see store ahead with a clothes hanger on its sign. "I need to get a fresh change and a glove as soon as possible."

After purchasing some more trousers, long sleeved shirts and white cotton gloves, he sought to explore more of his surroundings. Though he spent so long shopping for the right effects that he'd lost track of time. The day now had gone and replaced by the night sky with the shattered shining moon.

This sight, he just couldn't get enough of it. The glimmering stars of the real night sky was like a soothing melody for his anguished heart. The people of the underground, how much he wished he could share this sight with all the monsters.

Carrying his bagged purchases in one hand, he looked to the white glove he'd gotten for his right. With his attire he looked like a musical conductor.

Musing at the idea of him conducting a band he flexed his fingers and weaved his hand through the air back and forth as though conducting an orchestra. Playing a tune in his head he'd heard from one of the infinite timelines in the void.

"Bada-ba-baaah-bah-baaaaaah-bada~. Buda-baahh-bah~. Buda-badaaa~. Bada-budaahh~."

He sung the tune for a bit until looking into the windows of a store across the street. It had a view to inside the shop were upon shelves, upon shelves were stacked with vials and packets of different coloured powders.

He recognised them as the dust from texts he'd read. A new material, something he just had to explore.

Stopping his melody, he teleported across the road to the front of the store, passing through the glass door and ringing a bell as it opened.

"Welcome," an elderly man with grey hair greeted behind the counter.

Gaster gave a nod with a smile before moving to browse. There was just so much in stock, a wide variety of colours before him. There was some for fire arms, power, perfume and even cooking.

Already he could see Papyrus going crazy with mixing the dust as ingredients into his spaghetti dishes and turning them into fun messes. As skeletons, neither he, Gaster nor Sans could give their verdicts on the taste, that fun little job went to anyone who was brave enough to try.

Or unfortunate to be passing by the house.

"….Hmmmm-uhmm-hmmm. Hmmmuhm-humm-uh-umm-um-um-um~," some humming nearby pulled him away from his browsing, over in the corner of the shop in the magazine section was a young girl with a red hood in a black dress and her back turned to him.

She was humming along to some music playing from what he assumed were headphones given how muffled and static it sounded.

He cringed slightly at the sight of her. He knew she wasn't the one who broke the timeline, but he still wasn't ready to like human children just yet.

Sighing, he turned back to his browsing. If he could hear the girl's music playing from all the way over here, then chances were she'd have hearing difficulties in the future. Not his problem.

"Teenagers…."

As time passed, Gaster was intrigued to find what varieties of dust this store had to offer. Even gravity was really a dust attribute, how does that even work? Does natural gravity dust create temporary gravity fluxes? If so, how is it formed? Could it be made artificially?

With questions racing through his mind, Gaster barely heard the store bell ring but was pulled out at hearing someone exaggeratingly asking how hard it was to find a dust store open so late. Tuning out of their conversation he read the label on the back of a dust packet.

'Warning; do not consume. Doing so may lead to; vomit, indigestion, internal irritation, combustion-combustion?!'

Flipping the packet over he read the label.

[Fire dust].

"Well that explains it," he mused, deciding to purchase it. "I wonder what would happen if I fed a rabbit this? Heh, I'd make them explode just by thinking about it….. and feeding them. Speaking of, I'll need a rabbit."

There was the sound a sword swiftly unsheathing. "Kid, hands where I can see 'em."

Turning next to him he came face-to-face with a man dressed in a black hat, suit, sunglasses and a red tie. In hand he held a red bladed sword at Gaster.

Looking around the store there were three other men dressed in the same attire. Another one stood in front of the counter in a white suit, black cloves, baller hat and smoking a cigar with orange hair reaching down covering his right eye.

Gaster recognized him as Roman Torchwick from the news, a criminal who's been robbing dust shops recently. A grin on his face as the black suits were ransacking the dust off the shelves.

"Is this a robbery by chance?" he rhetorically queried, placing the dust packet back on the shelf.

The man looked a little confused before going back to his threatening facade. "Yea, so turn out you pockets and hand over all the dust you have."

"If you're after dust, I'm sorry to say but I don't have any."

Turning around, Gaster began walking away to the next shelf of dust but was blocked as the man rounded him, still holding his sword aloft. "I said; hand over everything you have-."

"Bwa-AHH!"

Crash.

Both their attentions snapped to one of the men flying across the room and slamming into a rack of empty bottles. Glancing from where he'd come from, Gaster noticed the hooded girl was standing in a thrown position, as if she was the one responsible.

Another marched up to her before holding her at gun point. It was fast, too fast. In a blur they both went flying across the store, smashed through the window before the girl skidded on the guy like he was a surf board on the pavement.

A she stood up her hood fell down to reveal her to be no more than fifteen with silver eyes and hair cut just under the top of her neck ending in red tips.

"I could do what you said," Gaster began, drawing the attention of his robber and picking up a packet of yellow dust. "But I think you have more pressing problems than that~."

He grunted in annoyance before lowering his sword and rushing to the others who were looking outside as the girl pulled out a large red cartridge that extended out and unfolded into an oversized scythe.

"The toys kids get in this world are weird," Gaster mused to himself, pulling up to the counter and taking out his pay card. The cashier in front of him was more than slightly unnerved. "I'd like to buy this one plea-."

Both the card and dust before him were snatched from his hands before he could finish. "I'll take that."

Gaster had completely forgotten but Roman was still by the counter, smoking his cigar with a grin on his face. It's not that he was completely negligent, he just didn't care for the crook's existence.

"Next time, kid, watch who your standing next to."

Pocketing them both he ran out the door where the girl was severally kicking the henchmen's collective asses.

"You did not just steal my allowance," Gaster declared, teleporting from the counter to outside in front of Roman, catching him off guard.

"What the-? But you were just inside."

"Give back my card and dust," he demanded walking up to the Roman, letting out some killing intent.

Surprisingly, Romans' expression went from confused to calm again. Gaster didn't even notice Roman pull up his cane at waist level before a highly condensed flare fired out at him. The explosion blasted him away like a ragdoll and barrelling into the girl in red. As he sprawled on the ground a searing pain burned on his chest. It was like he had an accident in his laboratory and spilt some acid on himself.

"-GAaaahhhh!" turning onto his back and gripping his chest, Gaster saw that a part of the front of his coat had been burnt away along with his jumper underneath to revel his singed human flesh along with a few of his ribs. "I should've been more careful…"

"Oh my god, are you okay? Are you okay?" the human girl came into Gasters view with a panicked expression. He quickly covered what ribs were showing and tried to sit up. She panicked and tried to help by helping him sit up as the bones in his spine clicked a few times. "W-we need to get you to a hospital-."

She was cut off as Gaster shrugged her away before glancing down the road where Roman was making his get away up the side of a building fire escape. With Gasters' only form of finance. He was alone and the henchmen he was with were laid unconscious on the road side.

"Can't let him get away," he grunted as she watched Roman get near and near to the top.

"Don't worry, I'll stop him," she declared in a stereotypical hero pose. "And the names Ruby."

She turned around back to Gaster, but he wasn't there anymore. After quickly glancing around she wailed a little at not finding him and made a bolt for the building, bursting into rose petasl and speeding across the road, up the side of the building before landing on the roof.

"Well I've got to say, you kids are kids full of surprises aren't you?"

As Ruby looked up to see Roman standing before her, she was surprised to see the guy who lied hurt on the side of the road not but a few moments ago standing opposite the criminal with seven skeleton hands floating around him. Each one glowed different colours in singular large holes in their palms as he looked to be fighting through the pain lingering from his burnt chest.

"Give it up, Roman," she called, pulling back crescent rose to be ready to strike.

"Sorry, red. Not on the itinerary tonight," Roman flipped his cane around and fired a shot at Ruby.

She leaped to the side, avoiding the blast as it hit the edge of the roof. Gaster took the initiative, summoning a pair of blue energy rings from the hand of integrity and hurling them straight at Roman.

He noticed, dodged one and parred the second with his cane which turned out to be sturdier than it looked, but scuff marks were left behind on the tool. Ruby leaped from behind, cleaving with the flat of her scythe which Roman blocked again with his cane before wielding it like a sword and striking back at Ruby who parried by spinning her scythe like a turbine.

'This world is even more dangerous than I thought,' Gaster mused, arching the rings through the so they were now heading back to Roman. "I'll need to step up my game."

Bring forward justice he fired a hail of yellow energy bullets followed by a shot from determination. They flowed in a two-way strike with the energy rings whizzing through the air. Roman noticed side stepped one of Ruby's attacks and putting her in the line of fire. Gaster didn't have time to change their trajectory, but Ruby managed weave away as the beam and bullets crashed through the opposite building with the rings slamming into the roof and dissipating, leaving deep impact grooves.

Gaster readied to use justice, integrity and kindness, but was caught of guard by the sudden blurring of engines as an airship came up from the side of the building. Roman was standing on the ledge right by the vehicle.

"Sorry kids, but this is the end of the line!" he yelled above the wiring of the engines, pulling out the energy dust packet he'd swiped from Gaster and tossing it to their feet's.

They were both a little confused until Roman, having leaped into the cargo hold of the airship shot another flare at them, this time aimed for the dust. Gaster remembered what the packet in the store said about the red dust.

He quickly encased himself in his barrier of kindness before the flare crashed into the crystal, igniting it and causing the equivalent of a small power plant going haywire. Lightning erupted into a miniature storm, striking everywhere around including the barrier hard and for the brief moment blinding him from the light show.

When it returned, the roof at his feet had been burnt with lightning streaks, but what drew his attention was that a purple floating pentagram was now hovering in the air next to him. Behind it was Ruby who was recovering from bracing herself while Glynda stood before her holding up her signature crop to maintaining the purple shield.

Maybe Gaster should've helped protect Ruby a little, but how did Glynda even get here?

Brining the barrier down, Glynda pushed up her glasses and went on the offensive, lashing out with an array of purple energy bolts on the air ship. Thinking this was the best time to study her semblance Gaster dissipated his hands and watched next to Ruby who held onto her oversized scythe like it was some kind teddy bear.

Glynda put on quite the display for them both, lashing out her crop like it was a wand and summoning a storm of hailing crystals that battered the airship. Roman disappeared into the cockpit and someone who's facial features were covered by the shadows took his place.

Dawning a red dress her arms glowed golden flames before fire burnt from her hands and a fireball was hurled at them. Glynda deflected it with another barrier but some stray fire liquified and splattered onto the roof, burning where it touched.

Seeing this Gaster summoned his hands again just in case things got a little out of hand.

Runes suddenly appeared by Glyndas feet. Jumping away they exploded like landmines and the debris floated in mid-air, turning purple before spiralling in the air and forming into an oversized spike spear.

The spear launched at the airship where it was met with bursts of fire blasts until it was broken down to half its original size where it split into multiple smaller spears. Snacking through the air they moved to impale the ship from multiple angles before a burst of fire from the girl shattered and incinerated them all.

As the glowing ashes rained from the sky, Ruby saw a break in the battle and whipped her scythe around so the head was aiming at the ship before letting out a barrage of rifle shots from the weapon.

Seeing as semblances weren't in use any more, Gaster momentarily lost a little interest in the display before him and remembered why he'd come here in the first place. The dust and card Roman had swiped from him.

Feeling a sudden sense of dread, he glanced down to where the Roman had ignited the dust packet. Well it was certainly a waist of prime research materials, but Roman still had his card. Readying his hands, Gaster teleported from the roof to the cockpit of the airship where Roman was trying to steer with one of Glynda's large crystals embedded into the head rest.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Roman exaggeratedly wailed as Gaster went searching though his suit pockets. "Hey, hey, hands off the merch. A little help here!"

In no time Gaster found his card, pocketing it back into his own trench coat just in time to see the girl whose face had been covered by the shadow of the ship now revealed pulling back on a dark glass made bow and arrow. He teleported back to the roof just in time as the arrow flew and shattered out through the cockpit wind shield.

He wasn't gone that long, but already the roof had been decimated even further with more bits of debris piled around. Turning back to the ship, the cargo door closed shut just as the whole thing banked before rocketing away with blaring jet engines.

It wasn't much of a win, hell Gaster knew that his whole involvement in this little mess was down right because of his negligence for a crook right next to him, but he felt satisfied at the victory.

He'd secured his income, got a little more of a taste for the type of combat this world goes through and got himself a front row seat for a human's semblance in action. Not a bad starting spot for him in his line of work all things considered.

"Oh, wowww~, you're a huntress," some high-pitched fan girl squealing pulled his attention back to Glynda and Ruby, the latter looking at the former with literally sparkling wonder in her eyes. "Can I have you autograph~?"

Glynda had her stern expression on her face with disappointment mixed in while looking down at her before turning to Gaster.

"Hello Gaster."

He felt a little tinge of displeasure in her greeting.

"Evening Glynda."

Later

Ruby sat in a dimly lit room with a small table in front of her with an empty chair on the other side and a single light hanging over head. A text book page interrogation room for sure. Slowly pacing behind the chair opposite her, Glynda Goodwitch was looking at a tablet with graphs and a series of information documents.

After the little failed attempt at stopping Roman Torchwich, things hadn't really been feeling all that great for her.

"I hope you realize the dangers you put yourself in, young lady," she scolded, looking up with a stern look. "If things had gone wrong, you could've lost your life, maybe even killed."

"But they started it-."

"That does not excuse you. After all, because of you someone else got seriously injured."

"I-I didn't mean too. Is he…?"

"Sigh, he'll be alright. We tried to get Wing Ding to a medical centre for a check-up, but he won't get anywhere near the place. He might have the energy to avoid doctors, but after you he's next."

"But I had to help stop them-."

"And help you did. So count yourself lucky that if it were up to me, I'd send you home with a simple pat on the back," Ruby's spirits lifted somewhat. "-and a slap on the wrist."

Glynda struck her crop onto the table, making Ruby whimper back as it made a cracking sound.

"But~, luckily for you there's someone here to see you," Glynda stepped aside and Ozpin in his green suit stepped through the door behind, holding a plate of cookies in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other.

Ruby immediately recognised him, after all he was the headmaster of one of the four huntsman academy's worldwide.

"Ruby Rose. You have…silver eyes."

She sniffled a little in confusion, still getting over the whole being lectured at and still getting a stern look from the deputy headmistress. Ozpin set the plate down before her while taking the open chair.

Ruby eyed the chocolate biscuits on the plate before extending a hand and snatching one of them before shoving it into her mouth whole. A sense of comfort wafted over her as she indulged in the crumbling texture of the baked good before shovelling in a few more in.

"Impressive skill with a scythe," Ozpin stated, gesturing to the tablet Glynda was now holding up, playing a video of her fight with the four henchmen outside the dust shop from a security camera before Gaster slammed into her. The video rewound and played again on a loop. "I do believe I've only seen such skill with such a dangerous weapon by only one other person. A dusty old crow."

"Ah, that's my uncle, Qrow," she perked up, feeling a little refreshed after vacuuming the plate of biscuits and the mention of her uncle. "He's a teacher at signal. He trained me. I was complete garbage before he took me in, and now I'm all like, watcha-ha-kyaha."

As Ruby started karate chopped the air, Ozpin took another sip from his mug.

"So I've noticed," Ozpin nodded. "I take it then that, as a student of signal, you wish to become a huntress?"

"Yea. I only have two more years of training then I'm going to apply to Beacon. You see my sisters already going there this year and she's trying to become a huntress. I-I'm trying to become a huntress because I want to help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'ehhh, might as well make a career out of it'. Eha, I mean huntsmen and huntress arejustsomuchmoreromanticandcoolandexcitingand- dyhahaha~, you know?"

As Ruby looked at the two with excitement, Glynda had gone from stern to slightly baffled at Ruby's little rant. Ozpin on the other hand had the same expression as before. Calm and with a simple smile.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"Your professor Ozpin. The headmaster at Beacon."

"…"

"…."

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

Ozpin gave a brief glance up to Glynda who rolled her eyes in response. "Hmph, well okay."

Getting up and outstretching his hand, Ruby enthusiastically took it and the two shook.

"Welcome to Beacon, as the headmaster, I can bend the rules a little to accept you a little early."

"…Wha…..?"

Ruby just then realized what he meant by that. Of all the freshman students this year at the academy, she was going to be a literal child amongst them!

Totally worth it.