Fuku and Eliza sat huddled together on the threadbare couch in the former home formerly used by the Undyne of whatever horror of a reality they'd found themselves in. Eliza trembled, clutching Fuku's arm as they all waited for their 'hosts' to return.
It was clear that Undyne hadn't been back to her old place in quite some time, hardly surprising seeing as she was now the Queen of the Underground. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust, including the remains of the piano, which apparently bore the brunt of Undyne's anger at some point. Much of the furniture was broken, for that matter; apparently Undyne had been angry quite a lot before becoming Queen.
Sans rummaged around the remains of the kitchen, eventually finding a box containing a few packets of tea. "Hey, Fuku! Look what I found!"
"You're a godsend, sweetie." She hurried over, Eliza still by her side, and gave Sans a peck on the cheekbone before taking the tea packets from him and moving to the sink.
As she prepared the tea, Sans took the opportunity to look at what remained of his right arm. "Another inch" , he murmured, adjusting the fake arm bone Grillby had given him.
"Did you say something, sweetie?" Fuku asked, glancing back at him.
"Uh, just talkin' to myself." Sans said, sitting back down on the couch. "So, what do you think of the other me?"
"I think I'd like to find a way back home as quickly as possible," she admitted. "It was bad enough seeing dad like that, and hearing the other me scream, but seeing the other you? That horrible crack … and his eye. What happened to him?"
"No idea," Sans said. It wasn't quite a lie; he honestly had no idea what could cause the sickening red glow emanating from his alternate's eye, but something about the way the other Sans looked at him was almost … hungry. Given the position of the crack and … Sans shuddered and shook his head. No use in speculating, and definitely no use in scaring Fuku or Eliza. Poor Eliza looked like she couldn't handle too many more scares.
They sat around the table and sipped at their tea in silence. It was Fuku who finally broke the silence, asking, "Why did they bring us here? I mean, what are we waiting for anyway?"
"Dunno," Sans said, "But they obviously aren't going to turn us in … or turn you over to that mob, squirt. He's Sans, after all; he coulda just brought us right to the palace via a shortcut."
Neither Fuku nor Eliza seemed particularly relieved by this news. Sans decided not to mention the possibility that the skeletal brothers simply wanted their new prisoners to themselves. Instead, he said, "So, any bets on how fish-lady looks here? I mean, Papyrus has the weird teeth, the other me's got the crack and the red eye. I'm thinkin' Undyne's got more fins and another row of teeth."
Fuku snorted into her cup and had to set it down a moment. Even Eliza smiled a little, likely more at Fuku's reaction than the joke itself.
"And Alphys will have three tails," Fuku said, smiling, "oh, and she's a boy here … with a silly accent."
"I bet the river person's got one of those viking boats. Bet he's all spooky too," said Sans with a chuckle.
"You're not far off there." Said the other Sans, now sitting at the remaining seat at the table.
Sans sighed and propped his head up with his remaining arm. "Now I know why people find that so annoying."
"Can't get through the front door anymore," Sans said, propping his feet on the table. "Let's just say when things started getting bad, people got a little … destructive. For the record, last time I saw Alphys, she looked just like she always does."
"Big yellow lizard with glasses, right?" Seeing his other self nod, Sans said, "Well, I suppose not everything has to be different."
"Mind you, she can't do much lookin' herself," Sans said, his grin widening. "Undyne took her eyes for … well, let's just say the Royal Scientist gave Her Majesty some bad info that backfired."
"Oh my goodness," Fuku said, holding a hand to her mouth. "But I thought Undyne and Alphys were … um …"
"Oh, they were," said the other Sans. "Talk about a bad breakup, yeah? Still, can't say I felt bad about it. Me and Alphys hadn't seen quite eye-to-eye for a while … not my fault, but …" The other Sans rubbed the crack in his skull for a moment before chuckling and saying, "well, like I said, I didn't feel bad when she got what she deserved."
"You didn't try fixin' the Core?" Sans asked.
"Of course we tried. We all tried, but even with the schematics, we couldn't figure it out. We went over the thing inch by inch, repaired or replaced anything that even looked a little broken, and still it doesn't work … and without the core, the Underground is dying." The other Sans shook his head and looked at the rest of the group. "But the problem I got right now is figurin' out how to deal with you. Everyone in Snowdin's lookin' for the kid, and if Undyne finds out about you or her … well, let's just say neither of you would care much for it."
"Well, we don't plan on being here long," Sans said. "I need the crystal."
"The crystal?" Other Sans repeated. "What crystal?"
"The one we used with the machine at our house," Sans said. The one we tried to use to rescue … you know. We can use it to travel out of this dimension."
"And you could come with us," Fuku blurted out. Seeing the surprised look on both Sans's faces, she said, "We've evacuated other realities before, realities where the barrier's been broken!"
"Not so sure that would be a good idea," the Other Sans said. "Drop this lot with a bunch of humans, and there'll be another war. A very BRIEF war. As for the crystal, well … last I saw, it was in Alphys's lab. I thought it might be a good catalyst to get the core up and running before … before Alphys and I had our little falling-out."
"Right," Sans said, rising to his feet. "Let's go get it."
The other Sans stood up as well, his smile fading. "Whoa, there; you can't just go walking around out there like that."
Sans froze, his remaining hand going to his replacement arm.
Alternate Sans tapped Sans's skull three times, saying, "Undyne gets word of you, and figures out what you are, she'll be after you more than the rest of the Underground is already for the human."
Eliza shuddered even as Fuku put a supportive arm over the little girl's shoulders.
The alternate Sans continued, "Besides, me just walkin' into Alphys's Lab would be kinda suspicious. We're gonna need to get you and the kid a disguise. Fortunately, I think I know exactly what needs to be done here."
Fuku turned as Sans and Eliza stepped out of Undyne's house. Eliza nervously shuffled forward, her skin covered with black and white paint that, at a distance, might make her seem to be a skeleton. Sans had a little paint too, as well as a small bit of red plastic that fit in his eye-socket, effectively making him look like his alternate counterpart … almost.
"Sans," Fuku said, sounding surprised. "You're a little taller than … well, the other Sans."
Both Sanses exchanged curious looks. Fuku was right, however; Sans had a good few inches on his other self.
"Huh," the other Sans said, "Things must be goin' pretty sweet if you had a growth spurt. Just slouch a bit … well, a bit more than usual, and it'll be fine."
"What about the …" Fuku said hesitantly, only for the other Sans to quickly say, "Ah, leave it. It's kinda cute. Besides, it'll help you tell us apart."
"What?" Sans asked, but his alternate self just motioned for them to follow.
They walked through the waterways of Waterfall amidst the sound of flowing water. It looked about the same to Sans, if maybe a bit dirtier than he imagined. The water was murky, and the wooden walkways were partly rotted, some sections even having collapsed. Even the stone walls and ceiling looked dirty; the crystals once resembling stars were barely visible.
"This place could use some cleaning," Fuku observed.
The other Sans chuckled. "Not many people left in waterfall these days. Gangs from New Home took to raiding this place for food, then … well, let's just say other food."
"They ate the …" Fuku shuddered. "but that's-"
"They're desperate," Other Sans said with a shrug. "Not much food left. Without the Core, nothing grows down here but echo flowers and glowing mushrooms, and we can't eat either."
"What about the garbage dump?" Sans asked. "There's always a bit of food there … nothin' great, mind, but-"
"Food from the surface's been kinda sparse lately. Not even much garbage, to be honest." Looking to Eliza, Other Sans said, "From the look of your friend, I'm guessing the Surface ain't doin' too well either."
Eliza bowed her head, still clutching Fuku's hand.
"Still," Other Sans continued, "we sweep the dumps for food every now and then. Shouldn't be anyone today, but we should still be careful."
Glancing at Sans, Other Sans asked, "So, your world … what's it like?"
"Mostly dead," Sans said. "Frisk … the seventh human, she came down and slaughtered pretty much everyone."
Fuku said, "And my world's been drowned in ichor."
"Ichor?"
"It's this thick black goop," Sans explained. "One touch, and it spreads over monsters. We barely got out of that reality alive … thanks to Frisk."
"Frisk? The kid who killed everyone?"
"In that universe, she was kind and gentle," Fuku told the Other Sans. "And we ended up in an Underground where the Barrier was already down, and the Underground itself turned into a massive movie and television studio."
Other Sans looked to Sans, who simply nodded and said, "Our other selves are big-time comedians over there. Paps even has a cooking show."
To Sans's surprise, Other Sans laughed at this … not the harsh mocking laugh he used before, but a more genuine laugh. "Wish I could see that. Paps has been dealing with the situation down here well, but … ah, nevermind."
"What is it?" Fuku pressed. "I recognize that look."
"You hardly know me, lady."
"No, but I know my fiance, and he gets that look too when he's trying to hide something from me."
"Fiance? Seriously?" Other Sans looked to Sans. "You two are gonna get hitched?"
"Once we're back home, yeah," Sans said, flashing a smile at Fuku.
Other Sans shook his head. "Well, damn. Never thought I'd end up as a family man. Good on ya."
The walked a little farther down the partially rotten walkways before Sans finally asked the question that had been on his mind since first meeting his other self. "Why are you helping us?"
"Whaddya mean?" Other Sans said, shrugging. "We're helpful guys, right?"
"Yeah, altruisim's our middle name," said Sans, giving his other self a look that he hoped made it clear he wasn't buying it.
Other Sans sighed. "This … mess that our world's become … it's our mess. You're right not to trust me; the kids I brought to Grillby trusted me too, and you saw what happened to them. Thing is, I gave up on this reality a long time ago; we're screwed. It's bad enough that we suffer without dragging you into it."
Sans stared Other Sans in the eye for a long time before asking, "What do you think is wrong with the Core?"
At this, Other Sans sighed. "I don't know. I think I've been over ever piece of the damn thing myself, and I ain't found nuthin' to explain why it's not working … except …"
"Except?" Fuku said, sounding hopeful.
"Well, the Core draws in energy directly from the planet, but to do that, it needs to tap into the lifestream of the planet. Basically, it routes the energy through the Underground power grid, then puts it back into the stream so that it doesn't effect the saturation of the nearby areas. Problem is, something broke our connection to the lifestream. If I'm right, we need to reconnect to it, draw the stream back through the core again. To do that, we'd need some kind of catalyst to produce enough stream energy to reroute the normal flow."
"I understand," Fuku said, nodding. "By creating a stream focal point, the normal stream pathways will naturally move to join with it. Once that connection is made, the energy will flow through the core and the underground again."
Other Sans looked at Sans again. "She's way too smart for us … you know that, right?"
"Maybe … maybe we can help," Sans said. "Maybe if we can find a catalyst-"
"Don't you think we've tried? We tried everything we could think of to get the Core running again, even …" Other Sans stopped, his hand moving to the crack on his skull for a moment only to drop to his side again. "Nothin' down here has that kind of power."
"Then maybe we can find something in our reality," Sans said. "We've got a friend who can control the dimensional travel thing … er, kinda. Soon as we find her and a good catalyst, she can bring us back."
Other Sans looked at Sans, then at Fuku. "You'd come back here?"
"We can't just leave you like this," Fuku said. "And Glen … our friend, she'd want to help too."
"It's practically her job," Sans said with a laugh.
Other Sans stared at them for a long moment before a smile spread across his face. "All right then! Let's go find that crys- LOOK OUT!"
A bright light flashed toward them. Other Sans and Sans pulled up a wall of bones, only for the burst of energy to shatter them and pass only inches from Eliza and Fuku, eventually slamming into the stone wall and showering them with bits of rock.
A gleam of metal caught Sans's eye through the cloud of dust. A towering humanoid form stepped forward, the energy cannons that were its arms pointed at Fuku. Sans stepped between them, snapping the fingers of his remaining hand as he summoned his Gaster Blaster. The massive skull let out a blast of energy at the robotic attacker, but an energy shield sprang to life around the robot in time to absorb the blast before fizzling out.
"My, my, my," Intoned a chillingly-familiar voice, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you, darling?"
Sans's eye-sockets widened as the armor plating protecting the construct's face receded, revealing a smirk he'd never forget.
"Mettaton?" He said incredulously.
ns 18.68.41.137da2
