Chapter Text
Finding out that Dust got a job overnight was definitely not what she expected to hear first thing in the morning. How did "have good sex once more before the world ends" turn into this so quickly?
Guess the universe itself found a solution to the problem after all.
She really should let go of any previous assumptions of what life itself consisted of, because holding onto those structures while trying to listen to Dust talk was starting to cause her a massive headache.
There are multiple universes. Got it, sounds cool. There are multiple versions of every person, including Dust and her. Yeah, correlates with the multiverse stuff. These things she could somehow fathom.
The hard part was trying to accept that Dust had a dream last night, where a "God of Negativity" offered to hire him for a team of murderers that destroys alternate universes, and in exchange would provide him an opportunity to live permanently in a castle in a universe of his own. And apparently, for some strange reason, she would be allowed to join the ride, and all it would take is a quick step through a multi-dimensional portal.
Yes, it could technically be just a dream, but something about the way Dust was telling her all this seemed serious. He even seemed... Hopeful? Had she ever seen him look hopeful before?
Dust held the title of the science genius here, so she refused to think about the practical side too much. She instead tried to focus on the possible positive outcomes.
So, problem number one. The state of the Underground and the possibility of losing control of the timeline to Chara; gone. They'd be teleported away, and after some apparent multidimensional magic, this universe would cease to exist.
Problem number two, Dust's withdrawal symptoms from not being able to kill; gone. He'd get to do exactly that. He would essentially be hired as a hitman after all.
Problem number... Wait. Were there any more problems? Wasn't this the perfect solution to everything that was wrong with the world?
Is Dust's current sour mood due to him actually being afraid that she'd say no to this?
...
"so, yeah. you probably think i've totally lost it. and i can't prove to you that this shit is real either. i just... know it is."
"I know. You wouldn't lie to me."
"nope." Dust agreed.
She did believe him, no matter how loudly her mind was trying to scream at her that there was nothing believable in what he'd just told her. But, this wasn't a question for her mind. It was a question for some other part of her, not just a bunch of brain cells that had no idea what was important in life.
Her entire being had never been more sure about anything than the answer she was going to give.
"Okay. When can we leave?"
Dust finally looked at her, for the first time since he'd started talking. His expression was blank and unreadable.
"What? If you're waiting for an answer, you just got one, I'm ready to go whenever. If you still want me to go with you, that is."
"of course i... i mean..." Dust paused to pinch the space between his sockets. "you're seriously just gonna throw your entire life away for this? this entire universe, everyone you've ever known will be not only dead but gone, neither the surface nor the underground will no longer exist after this."
"Yup, that's what you told me." She replied somewhat unenthusiastically. This was becoming another case of 'Dust not realizing that she can make decisions about her own life'...
...
Dust, yet again, failed to find any trace of hesitation or dishonesty in her intent. There was something about her determination, something that wasn't... Normal. Was Nightmare aware of this? Would he try to use her to his own advantage as well? He promised that he'd protect them both but... Was Dust unknowingly making a deal with the devil here?
Of course, they couldn't stay here either, neither of them could. Dust knew that Nightmare was probably going to destroy this AU anyways now that it had caught his attention, so the only options for them were to either disappear along with the timeline, or leave together. He was essentially forced to take Nightmare's offer.
At least he found some comfort in the fact that, if it came down to it, Dust would be there to protect her. He wouldn't hesitate to kill for her, after all.
He would no longer just watch from a distance.
...
"Are you ready to leave all this behind?" Her voice interrupted his thought process.
Dust was quiet for a long moment. Not because he didn't know the answer. He was ready, this timeline had nothing left for him anymore, he'd gotten rid of everything worthwhile a long time ago.
But, maybe there was one last thing that needed to be done. Something that she deserved to know.
...
Dust stood up from his bed, gesturing for her to follow him. She look confused for a moment, before standing up as well and walking behind Dust as he lead her out of his room and towards the end of the upstairs hallway. He stopped in front of a door, his gaze dropping to his feet.
Her heart was pounding. This was a room she'd never been in before. She'd never even seen Dust enter it, despite it being a part of his own house. It seemed like he was deliberately avoiding even looking at the door in front of him now. This only proved that her choice to avoid asking any questions about it before had been a smart one.
She knew that there had been someone else living in the house, someone who had obviously been very close to Dust.
She also knew that Dust had killed everyone.
Dust's sockets closed for a moment and he took a deep breath in preparation, before turning his gaze to the door.
He decided to open it, and stepped in.
...
She followed, approaching the doorframe carefully, gauging Dust's reaction. He was still, gaze focused at the floor ahead of him. But he made no effort to stop her, so she decided to let herself in as well.
She took a quick look around the room.
A skull and crossbones flag. Action figures. A racecar bed. A box of bones on the floor.
She didn't have to process the sight for long. Everything about it screamed 'little brother'.
The words started coming out without her even realizing.
"This is-"
"don't." Dust stopped her.
She looked at Dust warily. He wasn't giving away any physical reactions, so she decided to leave the sentence unfinished and continue her observation.
Compared to the rest of the house, and especially the disaster that was Dust's room, this one was surprisingly clean. It looked like as if it had been purposefully left untouched by the chaos that was visible everywhere in the Underground. Every item had a carefully thought out spot. A feeling of child-like joy was radiating from each object her eyes landed onto.
She stepped closer to the table of action figures to observe closer. She picked up one of them in her hand, brushing some (non-monster related) dust off of it.
"I heard him once, you know."
Dust didn't react, but his eyelights sharpened their focus on the floor.
"I mean, I didn't hear any words, but I felt something. It was... About the spaghetti. I asked if it was okay if I take some. And... Somehow I got the feeling that he'd said yes."
She wasn't looking at Dust, but she could hear his breathing deepening slightly. For a moment she wondered if she'd gone too far, sensitive things from his past weren't exactly something he was usually eager to talk about...
But, he wasn't trying to shut her up either. She was so close to something here.
She took a deep breath before asking the question.
"What was his name?"
"papyrus." Dust answered immediately, as if the ability to do so would vanish if he allowed himself to hesitate.
She nodded in reply.
...
She'd seen the mailboxes on the outside of the house. She knew that 'Dust' wasn't his real name.
And now, there was only one option left.
...
She decided to keep the conversation on what he was probably more comfortable with.
"He seemed like a cool guy."
Dust was quiet for a moment, before an unexpected small huff of laughter left him. When she looked at him, his gaze was focused beside him, eyelights looking distant.
There was a hint of melancholy in his expression, but the smile on his face was more genuine than she'd ever seen before.
"he... says it's nice to meet you." Dust spoke, gently and quietly.
The sudden rush of emotions that hit her threatened to spill out, but she swallowed the tears down and instead settled her eyes to where his gaze was focused on.
She no longer cared whether this was a sign of insanity. If she was ready to abandon her home universe to live in a castle filled with a bunch of murderous skeleton monsters, she wasn't really deserving of the label 'sane' anymore either.
And, if that was how things were gonna be, they could just be insane together.
"Nice to meet you too, Papyrus. I'm happy I got to try out your spaghetti."
The wave of joy that suddenly filled the room caused both of them to smile simultaneously.
...
'that's the power of your intent, bro...'
She spent the rest of the day thinking about what to pack to bring with her to the new universe they would be settling into. They didn't exactly have any useful details about the 'conditions' of their new home, the only info Dust had been given in his dream was that their "needs would be taken care of".
Did the God of Negativity know about the needs of a human female? Would she be able to do some multiversal shopping to restock on hygiene products and whatnot? Questions for later she supposed.
She decided to focus on packing things that held some emotional value, and couldn't be replaced with any store bought stuff. Her favourite clothes, her phone obviously (would it even work?), and lastly, she visited the library to retrieve the weird space book. The one that confused asteroids and planets with each other, and talked about travelling through black holes as if the author themselves had gone through one (which obviously, they hadn't). It was just a nice memory to have from her time in the Underground.
With a small backbag full of her stuff, she returned to Dust's place, knocking briefly on the door to signal her arrival. When she opened the door, she was met with him sitting on the couch, staring at the wall in front of him.
"Have you packed?"
Dust shrugged.
"don't need anything."
She sighed. Dust was apparently planning to leave this universe in a grumpy mood.
"C'mon, there must be something you need, some skeleton... I dunno, creams or whatever you use for your... Bones?"
Her attempt at lightening up the mood apparently worked, since Dust's tired grin twitched up slightly.
"...skeleton creams?" He repeated with confusion and a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Yeah! Or uh..."
Gosh, he even wore the same clothes everyday...
"Get something to remind you of this place. I know there's probably a lot of stuff you'd rather not remember, but take something with a good memory attached to it, in case you get homesick. Please?"
It was worth a try. This was his last chance to do so anyways. Even if he refused, maybe she could still sneak into his (or his brother's) room and grab something into her bag. He definitely needed to have some sort of a comfort item for this, a physical reminder of the good things from his past.
However, to her surprise, Dust seemed to actually be considering her request. He continued staring at the wall, but was now grinding his teeth together, obviously deep in thought.
After a moment, he blinked out of existance.
That was either a really good or a really bad sign...
...
It didn't take long for him to return. Maybe a couple of minutes. He appeared silently where her back was turned to, so she got slightly startled by his sudden voice.
"ready?"
She turned around to face him. Her eyes landed briefly on the newly appeared red scarf around his neck, with some snowflakes stuck to it.
She did not comment on it. She merely smiled in approval, and nodded.
"Yeah. Ready."
...
With a confidence as if he'd done this a million times before, Dust spoke, addressing his words to an invisible third person in the room.
"alright boss, we're good to go."
It was finally time to see whether all this talk about multiple universes held true. Not that she didn't believe it or thought that Dust was going insane, but it still felt... Weird. They just stood there in silence, waiting. For what exactly, she wan't even sure. She figured that Dust couldn't have known much better either.
But, the weirdness didn't last for long. Not more than 20 seconds later, a loud sound echoed from somewhere nearby, as if a wall of the house was being ripped in half. The sound was followed by an empty space in the air next to them opening, and both of them were left staring at an impossibly dark, seemingly endless void.
The portal was open.
Dust looked at her once more for confirmation. The unavoidable shocked expression on her face was probably masking her readiness, but she knew from experience that Dust never liked to settle for just her facial expressions or words to get the truth out of her. No, he was searching for something else, looking for his answer.
After he'd supposedly found what he'd been waiting for, he stepped closer to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and after a brief moment of eye contact, he leaned down, pressing his forehead against hers. He stayed there for a moment, sockets closed, the fireplace-like crackle of the portal the only other thing audible besides his deep breaths.
"promise to hold on tight?" He asked quietly.
She nodded.
"Yeah."
Dust tightened the grip on her shoulders once more, before picking her body up into his arms, one hand under her knees, and the other supporting her back. She threw her own arms around Dust's neck, and kept her promise, pressing her body tight against him.
Dust's took them to the edge of the portal and tightened his hold on her, before taking the final step.