Reborn As A Dust Sans [Undertale Multiverse]

Ch7 - OuterTale

Outers POV

It had been a relatively peaceful day in the original copy of OuterTale. This particular timeline rarely ever had issues with genocide runs, and didn't really reset much in general, allowing the inhabitants to go about their days in relative peace.

Outer was quite aware that the destroyer would frequently visit his au. He had seen the glitched sans sitting by the cliffs, peacefully gazing towards the star strewn skies, or even knitting various creations, too many times to count. There was an unspoken agreement between the two, a sort of 'don't bother me and I won't bother you' type of arrangement, and over time, he had come to almost enjoy the other's silent presence.

He never bothered contacting the Star Sanses. After all, the destroyer had never once caused any damage to this place, and had even actively protected it on a few occasions where visiting outcodes were acting unreasonably, making it clear - at least to him - that this place was under his protection.

And how ironic that was. The god of destruction, protecting an au. It seemed like such an unlikely thing, but then again, really, life was already filled with unlikely things. Like a child that could reset time. Or their homicidal ghost friend. Or even the alternate timelines in general. It was all too tiring for him to try to think about.

One thing he did notice was that there were never even attacks by the Bad Sanses here. Outer certainly heard about them from the seemingly constant Council Meetings, where the judges of the aus would gather to discuss apparent threats to the multiverse. Or argue, mostly. There was always far too much arguing there.

Still, Outer had always told wondered if maybe the destroyer kept the Bad Sanses away from this little starry paradise. Nobody knew if Error worked with Nightmare or not, but there were always suspicions of it. Regardless, Outertale just... wasn't a place that seemed to attract anything truly bad. It was always peaceful and silent, even when the rest of the multiverse seemed to be facing disaster after disaster.

Perhaps that was why Outer was so unconcerned when he felt the sudden gathering of magic forming nearby, the telltale sign of a teleportation between timelines. Within moments, an intruder appeared, though oddly, they weren't even standing. It was nobody he had ever met personally, but they perfectly fit everything he had been told about the sans called Dust.

He observed at first, form a distance, gauging whether or not it would risk his safety to dare tread closer. He wouldn't get involved if he didn't need to, just watch for any signs of violence. He didn't even plan to ask questions. Safer not to know, he figured. But he'd step in if they caused any problems.

The dust variant was laying unconsciously in the snow. There was red ink all over their face, two teal arrows lodged into their shoulder, wounds from a recent fight littering their body. Blood seeped into the snow around them, staining it a dusty crimson.

The stranger had a long black scarf. Or rather, it had been black, but the darkness seemed to drain from it quickly, leaving the more grey-red scarf. It were as though it had momentarily stored onto a dark magic, only to fade when it was used up when bringing the stranger to this au. How strange.

For just a moment, he swore he saw the floating figure of a Papyrus, a black scarf billowing in the wind, bleeding sockets and a twisted grin, but the image lingered only moments before fading. Perhaps it had never truly been there to begin with, but the memory of its empty eyes gazing threateningly at him burned into his mind, making him wary. He'd have nightmares from that, he was sure of it.

Realising there was no obvious threat, Outer ventured to the stranger. They were clearly in need of medical attention, though he suspected they mainly passed out from magic exhaustion, as he could feel how dangerously low their magic was. Though the arrows and ink must not have been comfortable anyway.

"Ehhh... This is gonna be a pain," he grumbled to himself, grimacing at the blood and dust. "I'm not stupid enough to let one of Nightmare's die in my au. Let's get ya healed and sent off before ya draw any unwanted attention."

Whilst Outer didn't really consider himself neutral, his actions usually put him somewhere sort of morally grey. He cared more about the safety of his au and papyrus than he did of anything else. So, he would help the person he assumed to be Dust despite his reputation, solely out of self preservation.

If one of Nightmares close allies died in this au, he could only imagine the hell that the king of negativity would reign here in retaliation. So, he planned to heal the stranger, get them to leave the moment they were strong enough, then give a vague alert to the star sanses that Dust was spotted in his timeline (though he would withhold any information on having helped them).

Using his blue magic, he lifted the stranger from snow, then teleported the two of them to the safety of his home. He could only hope that Papyrus would not come home during the time that 'Dust' would remain there.

He shuddered at the continued feeling of being watched. That horrifying floating papyrus head wasn't real, right? He cringed at the thought. "Uhhh... If there really is a terrifying undead ghost Papyrus floating around here, I, uh, ain't gonna hurt your friend, so, uh, please don't, like, stab me from the afterlife or something," he told the air.

Of course, he was only met with silence. He doubted what he saw was even real, but he was still strangely unnerved.

"...Great. Now I'm talking to myself," he grumbled. Today was not a good day. Oh, how he wished he could just be asleep at his sentry, dreaming of his beloved condiments. "Guess I should get the med kit and get working."