Reborn As A Dust Sans [Undertale Multiverse]

Ch6 - Fight

Ashe's POV

Did they just call you Dust!? That was definitely an issue. You knew already that you looked like him, but what else could they have expected when coming here? This timeline was clearly a DustTale variant, so it was only natural that you would look like a, well, dust Sans. Shouldn't they have been expecting that? Were they expecting this to be a different kind of au, maybe?

Feeling exposed, you teleported onto a branch of the same tree, hoping that putting in distance but keeping in sight would be enough to deter them from immediately attacking. However, that plan backfired, as the branch was torn apart by bone attacks, causing you to fall. You landed crouching and unharmed, but feeling a little disheartened.

Seeing as staying on trees was clearly not an option anymore, you attempted to raise your hands in hopes to sign a response ; you intended to explain that you weren't Dust, but rather, a different variant named Ashe, but the moment you raised your hands, they seemed to think you were readying to attack them and immediately launched into action.

"We won't let you mess up this Au! Er, well, not any more than it has been!" Ink shouted as he summoned a wall of ink to throw you backwards.

Rude. This au wasn't even 'messed up'. It was meant to be like this... wasn't it? You didn't somehow mistake what kind of timeline this was meant to be, right? Sure, there were a few differences, like Papy being monochrome and his eyes being all leaky, but other than that, it seemed pretty typical for a DustTale. Was he just assuming, or was there actually something wrong with your timeline that you just didn't know about?

You needed to stop getting distracted. This was just a misunderstanding, surely you could explain-ooor you could get stabbed through the foot by a glowing bone attack. Ouch. You immediately ripped it out from your hand and threw it into the tree. It didn't take too much from your HP thankfully, but it did hurt quite a lot.

"MWEH HEH HEH! WE'LL STOP YOU!" Blue shouted as a multitude of glowing bones shot through the air, of which you had to practically throw yourself to the side to dodge.

This was already going terribly and the fight had barely begun. You were absolutely not prepared to fight anyone! Especially not the Star Sanses! If they just gave you a chance to sign, this misunderstanding could have been easily cleared up! Curse your inability to physically talk!

"Why do you even work with Nightmare? Whatever he promised you isn't worth it!" Dream shouted

The three had a lot more stamina than you did. You were already slightly dizzy, overexerting yourself by dodging a nrw attack every few seconds, not given even a moments of grace. They worked well together, and you might have complimented their teamwork if it weren't literally being used against you.

Deciding it would probably be better to run, you turned and begun to do just that. You dodged several attacks and attempted to pass Blue, only to feel a hand instantly drag you back by your hood, throwing you back in the middle of the three.

"No! You can't just escape without answering our questions!" Ink yelled, summoning chains with his paint. They were tight, a dripping black substance that didn't quite have a chance to solidify before you acted. You summoned a bone attack to break yourself free.

Did they even see how your magic sparked and spluttered? How you were so weak from injury and hunger that you could barely even summon an attack? They did seem rather tired, and if they just got here after fighting Error like their conversation had suggested, maybe they were too exhausted to notice?

"Just give up, Dust!" Ink shouted.

You continued to dodge various attacks. Arrows, ink, magic bones and other sorts of attacks, all aimed towards you.

There was no chance for you to sign, and escape didn't seem like an option when being outnumbered like this, so you looked to Papy pleadingly, trying to see if he had any ideas on what to do.

"ASHE, THEY'RE CLEARLY NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO SIGN, AND THEY WONT LET YOU RUN AWAY. YOU SHOULD DUST THEM BEFORE THEY HURT YOU MORE!" He shouted to you as you dodged yet another attack. "JUST STAB THEM REALLY HARD! I BELIEVE IN YOUUUU!"

You frowned, hoping to convey your disappointment in his answer solely through your expression. Even if these skeletons were slightly terrifying in their insistence to hurt you, you knew they were good people and you didn't want to hurt them. Paps didn't seem to quite understand that. "STAB STAB STAB, BROTHER, YOU CAN DO IT!"

Another unimpressed stare.

"IF YOU DONT WANT TO DUST THEM YOURSELF, YOU COULD LET ONE OF YOUR TRAPS DO IT? YOU JUST HAVE TO LURE THEM TO ONE, YOU SAW HOW THEY WORK EARLIER!"

Another stare, just as intense.

"FINE, FINE, I GET IT, YOU DON'T WANT TO HURT THEM. BUT, BROTHER, YOUR MAGIC IS GETTING DANGEROUSLY LOW. YOU CANT DODGE FOREVER..."

He had a point, but your thoughts were interrupted by the pain of an arrow striking your shoulder. You whimpered as you tried to pluck it from your bone, only for another two and a face full of paint to take its place.

"BROTHER!" Papy screeched as you fell back.

The paint left you momentarily blinded, your cries of pain silent as you tried to claw the substance away from your face. The lack of vision was terrifying. It was dark and it made you remember drowning all over again, made you remember what it was like to die all alone.

The ink burned! Hot, hot, hot, it burned like acid, eating at your bone, burning, burning! The substance was in your mouth now too, bitter and burning even without having summoned an ecto tongue, and it hurt so bad! Why? Why did they feel the need to hurt you like this? You didn't do anything wrong! You didn't deserve this!

"Pa..py.... hel...p...!" you managed to choke out, sobbing as you clawed at your face, stumbling hard into one of the tree.

You wanted to be somewhere safe! Not here! Anywhere but here! It hurt so bad! With your rising distress, you felt your magic building up. It was cold and buzzing, surrounding you, and you could feel Papyrus' magic too somehow, both part of you and separate, merging together.

And then, there was a sudden silence, and your consciousness was failing you. You felt the dirt as your head hit the ground, but everything slipped away, and you were cast into a dreamless slumber.

You didn't even know that yours and Papy's combined magic had teleported you into a completely new universe.