Reborn As A Dust Sans [Undertale Multiverse]

Ch13 - Farm

Farm's POV

FarmTale timelines were known to lean towards neutrality. They welcomed any and all travellers regardless of reputation, though they had no issues in driving out those who chose to cause trouble. After all, every world had a judge, and the judge would always protect the place they called home.

It seemed that most people found these timelines to be ‘boring’ since all they were really known for was, well, farming. It more often than not just attracted people wanting to be simply left alone. They weren’t seen as worth allying with, and even though the original FarmTale was invited to council meetings, they never bothered attending.

This particular timeline, FarmTale #201, was a little different to others though. When Nightmare had taken Horror into his care, the king had sought an alliance to ensure that the starving skeleton – and his home – would never have to endure hunger again. It was partnership he deemed as absolutely necessary.

Nightmare’s threats of violence and attempt to force this world into submission were entirely unnecessary. The moment Crop and Farm had met Horror and learned how his world bad been consumed by famine, leaving the underground’s inhabitants desperate and violent, the farm brothers had already made their decision to help in any way they could.

The allyship was intended only as a way to distribute food and similar resources, but slowly developed into something more like a friendship. They weren’t close, not really, but they were definitely friendly towards one another, and FarmTale was definitely considered very loyal to Nightmare.

Crop and Farm were eager to share their wealth of knowledge, teaching Nightmare and his little family about farming. The two even helped establish plenty of fruits and vegetables back at the castle, and gifted them several chickens (which Killer seemed to adore), allowing them to be self reliant when it came to food.

Their peaceful timeline simply became a safe space for the group to relax and mess about. They could play with the animals here or simply visit for the fun of it. Sugar – Horror’s brother – was often here as well, and was practically best friends with Crop, the two Papyrus types acting like brothers more than anything. He’d passed a few years ago from illness, though, and Horror started visiting more frequently, though on his own.

This particular day had been quiet though. Farm had initially been unconcerned at the additional presence in his timeline, knowing his home was protected by Nightmare, but he did feel a healthy amount of suspicion towards the Dust look-alike. It was only natural for him to be cautious and guarded, orbs never leaving the dusty skeleton, waiting for any sign of danger.

It didn’t help that their CHECK came up only as ‘ERROR: can’t check two people at once’ even though Ashe was seemingly alone. It was strange, but he would let it go and simply observe. In the end, it didn’t take long to figure out Ashe was harmless, perhaps even trustworthy.

Ashe was very honest. Whilst some questions clearly made them uncomfortable, such as asking about their underground and supposed ghost sibling, they were still willing to answer.

Farm wasn't actually sure if the ghost sibling was real, or perhaps a hallucination or delusion, and the mention of stabbing had him a little concerned, but Ashe seemed to be discouraging it, so maybe it wasn't something he needed to be worried about.

Farm smiled as Ashe’s excitable nature. The other was excitedly playing with the various chickens, each one crowding around them and demanding their attention. The laughter that filled the air was so quiet, yet he could hear the genuine joy and happiness, feel it radiating through intent the other probably was not even aware they were emitting.

Ashe was so gentle towards the animals, too. They moved slowly as to not startle them, and made sure they were comfortable with his petting, showing clear care and compassion. Farm doubted they realised, but the chickens were actually fully trained as companion animals, and the fact they were so friendly towards Ashe meant the skele was probably not doing so well mentally.

Curiously, their eyelights would sort of flicker strangely as though they were attempting to form stars but couldn’t quite manage to do so. It was adorable, but also a little concerning. Just how depressed did they have to be for their eyes to refuse forming stars, even at this level of joy?

He also wondered how old they were. They were clearly an adult, but they had this sort of childlike innocence to them, something he would have never expected from somebody with such high LV. How were they just so... soft? What happened to make them so different from Dust?

Farm was certain, by this point, that Ashe was not a threat. He did not feel any need to tell Nightmare of the strange dust type giggling in the barn. But he was curious, and decided to text Horror about them.

TEXT CHAT

FARM: Thought yer shoul know tha we got a visitor in our timeline

HORROR: who

FARM: Jus sum dusttale vari callin themself Ashe. Know em?

HORROR: no

   r u safe

FARM: Yup

   Theyre pretty harmless so ya don neet ta send someone

HORROR: what r they doing

FARM: Playin with th chickns n helpin out my bro wit chores n stuff

   [IMAGE ATTACHED]

HORROR: be there in 5

FARM: Ya really don have ta, but if yer gonna pop by, please don bring Killer, don want im stealing th cows again

HORROR: ok

Farm chuckled at the messages, sticking his phone back into the pocket of his checkered red and white top. Horror always seemed to prefer in person communication, keeping his messages very short and simple as though he struggled to use technology (and he probably did).

Now, Farm just had to decide whether or not he would tell Ashe that that Horror would be visiting, or leave it as a surprise. Ashe did seem far too interested in the chickens, and he wasn’t particularly keen on disrupting their fun.

Maybe he would just let it play out, he thought with a grin. Ashe didn’t seem like the type to attach somebody unprovoked, and he knew that Horror was typically the same. And this was neutral ground, technically, since the allyship with Nightmare was kept hidden form the multiverse, so hopefully the two would be more keen to simply get along.