Reborn As A Dust Sans [Undertale Multiverse]

Ch8 - Healing

Ashe's POV

It took you a while to fully awaken. Your magic replenished quickly as your mouth was gently pried open and candies forced between your teeth. Monster candy, you realised distantly, though you weren't quite conscious enough to wonder who was giving it to you.

The deep heaviness that had settled on your bones slowly became lighter, any pain from your injuries instantly disappearing into a numbness and then nothingness as though you had never been hurt innthe first place.

A warm but sopping wet cloth was pressed to your skull. Whoever was using it wasn't the most gentle, seemingly scrubbing something away from around your sockets, but you were still deep enough in sleep that it didn't bother you. You lulled in between cold slumber and vague consciousness, content to remain asleep.

That was, until, they started scrubbing the inside of your sockets.

You let out a quiet groan as your hand shot up, trying to push the stranger away. What they were doing didn't hurt much despite the sensitive area, they were clearly being much more gentle there, but it was incredibly uncomfortable, making you want to gag in disgust.

"C'mon, bud, ya gotta let me clean that gross paint lookin' stuff from your sockets if you wanna be able to see again," an unfamiliar voice grumbled from the darkness.

Instantly your adrenaline rose and you were forced to completely awaken, now fully realising there was a stranger close to you whilst you were vulnerable. What if he hurt you? Well, they probably would have done that already, but still! You didn't want a stranger touching you! Especially not while you couldn't see!

You pushed back harder, attempting to summon your eyelights to see but finding your vision to shadowy and faded for you to be able to see beyond vague shapes and colors. You couldn't tell what you were looking at.

"Bud, stop freakin' out, I ain't gonna hurt ya," he retorted. He sounded... tired. He didn't seem annoyed. If anything, he seemed stressed, like he didn't really want to be anywhere near you.

"BROTHER, STOP BEING STUBBORN. THIS WEIRD SPACE SANS HAS BEEN HELPING YOU FOR THE PAST HOUR. YOU CAN STAB HIM LATER, BUT FOR NOW, JUST LET HIM HELP YOU," the familiar voice of your ghostly sibling scolded you.

With your brother's contribution on the subject, you relaxed a little, no longer feeling quite so alert. If Papy thought he was safe and wasn't recommending the immediate stab-stab-stab treatment, then it was probably okay to trust him for now. You were certain that Papy wouldn't misguide you.

"Glad ya calmed down," the stranger sighed. "Unsummon ya eyelights, eye gotta clean a little bit more. What even is this stuff? Promise I'm tryna be gentle..."

You cringed a little but reluctantly allowed him to continue assaulting your sockets with the cloth. You hated this. It was so gross. You could feel Papy nearby though, a ghostly hand on yours, gentle and comforting, helping to distract you. As disgustingly unpleasant cleaning your sockets had been, you did have to admit that your sockets were feeling far better when they finally pulled away.

"There ya go. See? S'all good, bud. Ya can summon your eyelights now if you wanna."

Your eyelights flickered at first, hazy with the disorientation of having just woken up, but quickly regained focus. In front of you was a vaguely familiar skeleton. OuterTale, you recalled, which made sense, considering Papy had taken to calling him 'Space Sans'.

He snickered slightly at your staring. "I must be a sight for sore eyes, eh?" he let out. Despite your unease, his pun managed to earn a small giggle from you, and a displeased groan from ghost Papy. It definitely helped you to feel more at ease with him.

Realising that your hood was no longer covering your skull, you quickly moved it back up, not feeling comfortable knowing that the head injury would be soo easily visible to those around you. The way his eyes shifted to the injury for a moment and then immediately away made it clear he had seen it, but he chose not to say anything, thankfully.

"So... Dust. As much as I like having guests, you should probably get goin, yeah?" he begun. His tone was calm and disinterested, but you could hear undertones of anxiety leaking through, wariness flashing across his features for a moment before being hidden by a mask of apathy. "This ain't exactly neutral ground, so, uh, might wanna head off before the Star Sanses show up. I didn't call 'em, but uh.... yeah."

You sighed, realising that you were once again being mistaken for Dust sans. Did you really look that much alike? Weren't there any clear distinguishing features, like height or something? That was definitely starting to seem like an ongoing issue, but maybe you could find a solution to that later on.

'I'm sorry for the confusion, mister, but I'm not Dust. My name is A-S-H-E,' you signed out to him, hoping to communicate that he didn't have to be so wary of you. 'Thankyou for helping me, though.'

"Uhhh.... sorry, bud, eye dunno how ta read sign," he explained, scratching his neck awkwardly. "I gotta hand it to ya though, ya do make a good case for learnin' it."

Oh. You didn't even think to consider that sign language may not be universal for the monsters you might encounter. Well, that would definitely make communication difficult. Maybe you should find a notebook to carry around as a backup for situations like this one.

Since he didn't seem to be keen on attacking you despite thinking you were Dust, you decided not to waste what little words you could speak trying to explain. Instead, you considered how he had mentioned this was not a neutral au... did thst mean that neutral ones did exist, though? Just somewhere else?

If everybody was going to assume you were Dust, it was better to stick to neutral places so you wouldn't be attacked for merely existing. This OuterTale sans clearly didn't want you to linger anyway, and you certainly didn't want to be stuck fighting the Star Sanses again, so even if you weren't sure how you actually got here, you figured it was besr not to stick arouns too long.

"Whe..re.... is... n...eu...tral....?" you choked out. Apparently healing candy did nothing to help your throat. Well, maybe not nothing, since it hurt less, but talking wasn't any easier.

"Uhhh, a lot of the Underswaps are neutral, just not the original one cuz of the Papyrus. The OG underfell is, which is kinda weird but ehh, whatever. Then there's FarmTale, MarketTale and uhhhh that one au with the fish? Oh, and FluffyTale."

The fish au? That was... strangely specific yet extremely undescriptive. Still, you got the answers you were seeking. "Tha....nks..." you let out, dissolving into a coughing fit. You had barely spoken at all, yet you were already overdoing it. Oops.

"Eh. Sure thing, bud. Honestly just glad ya haven't tried ta stab me."

You sighed. Papy was the stab-happy one, not you. But that was a problem for future you to deal with.