Images flashed through Sans's unconscious mind; the swirling lights of his 'shortcut' all around them suddenly brought to a halt by something dark, something wrong ... something, he realized with horror in those last moments before losing consciousness, that wore his face.
"S-sans? W-what are you d-doing here?"
Sans sat bolt upright. He was in Alphys's lab, not far from the mass of monitors displaying security feeds from across the Underground. Alphys was sitting at the console, looking at him with clear surprise ... or at least he thought she was. The swirl pattern on her glasses made it hard to tell.
"Alphys!" he said, rising to his feet shakily. "You're alive!"
The lizard woman's surprise quickly turned to annoyance. "Of c-course I'm alive, you stupid bag of bones! Why wouldn't I be?"
Annoyance suddenly turned to suspicion. "Is someone trying to kill me? Is there a plot against my life? I knew it was only a matter of time!"
She rounded on Sans, driving him back against the wall. "You heard something, didn't you? Tell me!"
"Whoa, easy there, Al!" Sans said, quickly raising his hands. "No one's trying to kill you. It's just last I heard you got splashed with that ichor stuff."
"Ichor? What ichor?"
"The ichor! That black stuff that leaked outta the kid." He said, ignoring the sinking feeling in his chest.
"What kid? What are you ..." She stopped, her tone turning acidic. "Oh, I get it. You're making another of your hilarious jokes."
"I ain't jokin' Alphys!" Sans insisted. "That human kid was full of the stuff!"
"Yes, well someone's clearly full of something here." She said, adjusting her glasses. "There hasn't been a human in the underground for over a decade. Now, unless you're wanting to volunteer for one of my experiments, I suggest you get the hell out of my lab."
He stared at her as she returned to her seat at the security monitors. Something was wrong ... something was very wrong.
His foot brushed against something. Glancing down, Sans was shocked to discover that it was Glen's dimensional analyzer.
Glancing at Alphys, an idea slowly stole over his mind. He slowly approached her and said, "Hey, Al, sorry to bother you, but I need a hand with somethin'."
"Get that jerk of a brother of yours to help." She snapped, waving a hand at him.
Sans promptly clamped the analyzer on it.
"What the hell ...?" She tried to pull her hand back, but he used his telekinesis to hold it firmly.
"It ain't gonna hurt." Sans said, "Just give me a minute to adjust it."
She scowled at him, but there was interest faintly visible behind her glasses as she watched him twist the knobs until the waveform was unique and the result displayed on the screen.
"F-83." He said.
"Intriguing device." Alphys said, her eyes on the analyzer as Sans slipped it into his pocket. "Some kind of hand held bio-sensor?"
"Somethin' like that." Sans said. "It tells what dimension someone comes from."
Alphys scoffed loudly. "Alternate dimensions? What nonsense. Science fiction drivel propegated by weak-minds."
Even as she dismissed his words, however, Sans noticed her eyes firmly on the analyzer. It may not have been the Alphys he knew, but deep inside this Alphys had the same scientific drive. If anything, it was stronger; there was a hunger in her eyes that made Sans feel uneasy.
"Yeah, you're probably right." He said, backing away. "Sorry to bother ya, Doc; I'll be heading back to Snowdin."
Her gaze followed him until he left the lab. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sans started walking back to Snowdin, unwilling to trust his shortcut after what happened. Thinking of his shortcut, his thoughts turned to Glen; he'd lost his grip on her when that ... thing attacked them in mid-transit. Was she okay? Was she here, or did she end up in another dimension? How was he going to find her?"
Or should he? He was in another dimension. Alphys was alive, her strange demeanor aside. She said that there hadn't been a human in the Underground for over a decade; that meant Frisk or Chara or whatever the hell the human child who destroyed his reality actually was had yet to fall. Maybe the kid never arrived in that reality. If they did fall, however, Sans could keep a closer eye on them. If they were peaceful as Glen's Frisk, fine. If they weren't ... well, Sans would be in the perfect position to stop them before they reached Snowdin. Papyrus and the rest of the underground would be safe.
No. There was too much he didn't know; this was another dimension. He had no idea what differences he'd run into, how this world would differ from his own. He needed to be cautious and not jump to any decision. In the meantime, he's concentrate on getting back to Snowdin; with any luck, the Sans of that Universe would also have retained the machine.
Sans came to a halt. He'd reached the end of the bridge at the edge of Hotland, where one of his small sentry stations stood. It looked functionally identical to those he used for naps back in his own dimension, right down the oddly heat-resistant snow on the roof. Of more immediate concern, however, was the figure sitting in the station.
"Well, well, well." Sans said with a smirk. "It appears I've found myself."
The Sans in the guard post didn't respond, currently being asleep, albeit fitfully. They were about the same size, the only obvious difference being the colors of their coats; that universe's Sans wore a black coat with a much fluffier hoodie, red track pants instead of black, and a pair of old red sneakers. When the other Sans snored, Sans noticed another difference; the teeth of his doppelganger were sharpened to points, even the one made of gold.
He was just getting a closer look at his sweatier double when he heard the distant shout of, "SANS!"
A quick glance around for cover that didn't exist, Sans hopped over the cliff behind the sentry station and used his telekinesis to stick to the cliffside just out of view. He listened intently as hard footsteps quickly approached, only to come to a halt.
Sans jumped a little at the sounds of two hands smashing down on the counter of the sentry station. "Sans! You lazy piece of crap!"
"Wha?"
Another smash on the counter. "Your asleep at your post! Again!"
"Geez, Pap, don't get so heated."
Sans had to suppress a chuckle. It was a lot easier after he heard the sound of a skeletal hand smacking across a skull. A quick peek over the side of the cliff revealed the other Sans holding a hand against his cheek bone as another skeleton glared at him.
While Sans and his other self seemed mostly similar, the Papyrus of this dimension was so different that Sans barely recognized him. With his sharp teeth, cruel stare, black armor, and a long red cape coupled with armored boots and gloves, this Papyrus was far more intimidating than his kind-hearted other self.
Sans quickly ducked back beneath the cliff as the dark Papyrus leaned forward on the counter.
"What if Undyne were to come by here and catch you asleep? We'd be the laughingstock of the Underground! She might even dismiss me from my post."
"She ain't gonna dismiss you, Pap." Sans said. "Without you, she'd totally be floundering. Eh?"
Other Sans chuckled even as his brother groaned. "We've been over this! Undyne's attention is reserved for more important endeavors than patrolling and standing guard; that's why she delegates such tasks to us. I've worked for years to be worthy of that trust so that we're safe from the cullings, but if she were to catch you goofing around-"
"She'd kracken my head open?"
Papyrus slammed his gauntleted hands on the station again, this time hard enough to rattle the boards. "This is no joke, Sans! Do you think we'd last a day with all the traitors in the Underground if we weren't protected by our status as Royal Guards?"
"I know, I know." Other Sans said in a resigned voice. "I'm sorry, boss; I was out late last night patrolling the outskirts of the ruins, and I guess I just dozed off."
"That wasn't your normal patrol area." Papyrus said, sounding suspicious. "Did you find something? Did you find evidence of a human?"
"Nah, nuthin' like that. Sometimes I just get to wantin' to keep an eye on the entrance to the ruins, just in case."
"Well, don't." NegaPapyrus snapped. "That door's been locked for decades; any human unlucky enough to be stuck back there will have to contend with the exiles, and that's a prospect that even fills my soul with sympathy." Sighing, NegaPapyrus said, "Still, showing some initiative ... that is a definite improvement for you Sans. Miniscule, but still."
"Yeah?" NegaSans said, sounding a little surprised. Unfortunately, from the sound of footsteps, it was clear NegaPapyrus was walking away.
"I'm going to finish my patrol in Waterfall before heading home for the evening. I'll trust that you'll manage to stay awake for the rest of your shift."
"I will, boss." NegaSans said. "No more naps while on guard duty."
With a grunt of approval, NegaPapyrus's footsteps faded until they were gone.
"Today." NegaSans added with a chuckle. "Stupid bone-head bastard, screwin' with my beauty-sleep. One of these days I'm gonna kick him right in the coccyx."
Sans couldn't help it; he let out a chuckle at that pun. He quickly clapped his hands over his mouth as he heard NegaSans stand up and say, "The hell?"
Sans remained perfectly still as the sound of footsteps approached the edge of the cliff. He didn't even dare slide down a little further; if NegaSans's hearing was as good as his own, he'd notice any sound now that he was alert. All too-soon, Sans could see NegaSans standing above him, his red sneakers only a foot away from Sans's face.
After a few moments, NegaSans let out a grunt and turned away. Sans remained where he was until NegaSans's footsteps faded into the distance, then waited a few more minutes just to be sure. Once he was certain NegaSans was gone, Sans lifted himself back to the cliff edge and set down gently next to the centry station.
Wiping the sweat from his skull, he glanced both ways to find no sign of anyone coming from either Hotland or Waterfall. He started to head for Waterfall, only to stop when he realized he could use a little pick-me-up after using all that magic. If NegaSans was anything like Sans, he kept a few bottles of ketchup in his guard-stations. Just the thought of the sweet tomato sauce would have left him salivating had he the glands to do so.
"All right." Sans said, sitting down on the wobbly stool of the station. "Let's see what he's got here."
What he had turned out to be three bottles of mustard, a deck of cards in a shabby paper carton, and a magazine on human anatomy with an emphasis on bone structure, obviously scavenged from a junkyard. Some of the pages had magic residue on them; Sans quickly replaced the magazine before he could think about that for too long.
He wasn't much of a mustard fan, but deciding that some nourishment was better than none, he took a bottle, popped the top, and took a deep swig. To his surprise, the mustard was quite sweet, whatever was sweetening it effectively muting the normal tangy taste.
"Hmm." Sans said before taking another swig. "Tasty."
"Glad you think so, thief."
NegaSans leapt down from the roof, bones already forming in mid-air before he turned to face Sans. Left eye flaring red, NegaSans held a skeletal hand toward Sans and said, "Now you gotta pay the price!"
