Omen [Undertale Multiverse]

Ch12 - Dust

Omens POV

At Fresh's clear threat, Dust rose both his hands up as if to say he intended no harm. You even felt him force his magic to subside. He clearly had no intention of fighting. "Alright," Dust confirmed verbally, "I ain't gonna touch 'em, know better than tah mess with yah..."

Fresh smirked, clearly satisfied with the answer, but you could still see how tight his grip was on his bat, as though prepared to fight back if the other showed even the slightest sign of hostility. You couldn't help but feel warm at his clear protectiveness

"Why were they with the star shits though?" Dust then added. You reactively pouted a little at being spoken about as if you weren't there. If Dust wanted to know something, you were more than willing to share, he just had to ask!

"Dunno, bruh, ya gotta ask them. I'm their super rad big bro, not their babysitter," he let out. How could somebody so relaxed sound so scolding?

Dust turned to you, clearly expecting an answer. He no longer eyed you like prey, seeming more casual with the sort of slumped posture and relaxed expression. The change definitely felt a little odd.

Giving a polite but awkward smile, you decided to answer his inquiry honestly. You might not understand why he had tried to attack you, but he clearly wasn't doing that now, so you would do your best to be amicable.

"I met Blue earlier at a cafe, the one run by Ccino. It has all these cute little kitty cats," you explained, resisting the urge to just ramble about all of the cats you had gotten to cuddle there. "Then Ink interrupted us and dragged both of us through a portal. It seemed more impulse than planned. I don't quite understand what the fight was for, but I don't really want to be involved..."

A loud snicker came from Dust. "Ink splotch is gonna get someone killed doin that," he said. "Ain't my problem though. I gotta get back before Nightmare kills me for getting myself portalled to god knows where."

You tilted your head. "This is UnderFell#898. Failed genocide run, human is dead but hasn't reset in four days," you let out, realising the last part of his comment might mean he wasn't sure of where he was. Though you hadn't aimed for this timeline, you knew which one it was quite easily.

"Well shit, how'd ya know?" Dust responded, clearly curious.

"The... STATs? Don't they show up for everyone?" You let out slowly. You hadn't even thought to consider that maybe seeing world STATs was also part of your ability, but now it had come up, it made sense to you.

"Nahh. Think that's a kinda rare ability," he hummed.

"What's ya LV at?"

The question caught you a little off guard. Whilst you had truthfully killed before, it was something you had never intended, and thinking about it made you feel ashamed. "...I can't gain LV," you finally settled on as an answer.

The hooded variant rolled his eyes, seemingly not believing what you had told him. "Ya can't or just don't want tah?"

"Can't," you reiterated. "My LV doesn't go past zero. I have... uhm... I... it should be higher, but it isn't," you mumbled out with a slightly shaky voice. It was difficult to talk about, more than you expected.

Dust simply shrugged, clearly not bothered. "That's kinda weird, but whatever. I'm at 37, tryna beat Killer's but th' [FUNK]er keeps gaining more."

The casual way he spoke about LV was definitely a little concerning to you. Even if you couldn't gain it yourself, you knew how it worked - the highest was supposed to be 20, but you could get it higher by killing others who also had high LV. Getting it to 37 did explain how strong he had been when attacking you, though.

Dust then turned to address the other, clearly not noticing your concern. "So, Fresh, have ya told Nootmare 'bout-" he had no chance to finish his words before a portal was formed directly behind him. You stepped back cautiously as the giant blade seemed to quite literally create a tear through the code that made space itself.

The monochrome skeleton that clearly created this code-altering portal didn't even cast you a glance before his hands gripped Dust and pulled him forcibly backwards. Dust let out a loud swear, which was censored, and the portal closed up instantly after them both, leaving you alone with Fresh.

You were a little startled, and your expression was sure to show how confused you were at the sudden interruption. What the heck had just happened? Who was that monochrome skeleton and why did they take Dust?

"Is... he okay? Do I... need to portal him back?" You mumbled, uncertain as to if the other was now in danger. You... had a habit of caring too much for those around you, even if they had hurt you.

Fresh chuckled amusedly at your expression. "Nah, bro. That was Cross with the hella cool knife, he's basically fam to Dust," he explained with a lopsided grin. "You okay though, homeslice? Not hurt or anything?"

You nodded. "I'm alright," you let out, already forgetting how low your HP had gotten. "So Dust is a friend of yours? Or more like a friend of a friend?"

"Eh. He works for mah bruh Nightmare. We hang sometimes," he said with a shrug. You got the feeling he wasn't particularly attached to Dust, at least, not in the same way he seemed to be to you. "Anyway, good to see ya gettin out there. Though when I said to make some rad friends, I didn't mean Ink Splotch of all people." The comment seemed mostly joking.

You sighed, fidgeting with your buckles. "Things have been really confusing," you admitted in the silence that had followed. "Ink is the creator, and dream is a guardian. I barely met either of them, I was brought along by mistake, but... my role seems to be calling me to them," you explained.

"How so, mah raddest homie?" Fresh inquired with a tilted head, glasses displaying HM-MM? as though to emphasise his curioisty in your statement.

"Well... I saw how low their Will To Live is, and its not meant to be so low. Its really, really low, like, concerning so. Yours was bad too, but its at least improving. I don't... really understand what my role is, but if I can see the that STAT, I'm probably meant to fix it, right?"

"Huh. Wouldn't have expected that, mah bro. Ya sayin' you are a guardian or something? I dunno much about that kinda stuff, but if ya need my rad help in figuring it out, I'd be happy to try, lil bro."