SOLARVERSE 2

Chapter 6 - Rendezvous

"Huh? A Scientist Sans..?" Dust said as he stood there in awe, not that it was the first variant of this type of Sans he had seen but something about them seemed noticeably different from the original scientist he was used to, the skeleton that stood before them had a disheveled appearance, impossible dreariness leaked out of their eyes, one of them dried with blood, through sheer presence alone as their breaths were inconsistent in their march, and their stats and physicality were arguably weaker than that of a classic Sans, but oddly enough what caught Dust's attention the most was the facial expression of that very skeleton, they looked shocked yet bewildered at the same time as if they had never seen such a familiar specimen before... But why?

Dust had already pieced together that this new multiverse should have something in common or inherited from its parent multiverses, which should mean at least some of the universes, timelines, and people within them precisely... And yet this one, so it seemed, did not inherit the memories of the knowledge Beelzebub cursed upon them? But just like everyone else, despite being so far apart, he too came to the inevitable conclusion internally, they only used the core elements of everything that made up each world, inherited or not, but not the specific details... One of them, is memory most likely, was as though it were printing a sheet of paper based on another, you could copy everything from the original, but in the end, it isn't a perfect copy of the original simply because it exists...

"Stay back." The lab-coated skeleton spoke, in an aggressive tone, yet nervously snapping their fingers as if it were instinct, eyes hyper-fixated on Dust who too took a step back in response, not out of wariness but merely to make the individual feel comfortable, but unexpectedly much to Dust's shock, out from the green-tiled ground, just one tile before his foot, it gaped and slid open, as a large metal claw etched out, it's body slithering as tightly yet fluidly as a snake as it was quick to latch its cold grip onto Dust's ankle firmly without fail.

However, though its pulling strength was at its maximum, enough to send a boulder tumbling down into the abyss, Dust was quick to stand his ground, unfazed by the initial attack as he swung his trapped foot forward, not only ripping away from the metal claw's grip but breaking it as well through sheer force alone, noises of short buzzing and static filled the room as it's metal body crawled its way back into the floor tile before it slid shut, this made for the lab-coated skeleton to grit their teeth in frustration as they turned around, staring at the papers they spent much time working before quickly switching back their gaze to the individual before them.

"My name is... Dust, I don't mean to do any harm, I just want to talk... I'm just a little lost around here, is all, sorry for stumbling in here unannounced," Dust said, raising out his hands as he put up a half-desperate and artificial smile, though it was partly genuine just to ease the poor soul in front of him as he took a step forward, which this time did not make the lab-coated skeleton shrink back cautiously, in fact they seemed to calm down aside from the occasional narrow stare from their eye sockets.

"...My name is Sans, it's a pleasure to meet you..?" The skeleton responded, raising one of their eye sockets skeptically as they leaned away from the table they at first seemed to be actively protecting, too took a step closer to Dust, the two simultaneously approaching each other warily, and it was just now the lab-coated skeleton began to take in just how similar they both looked to each other.

"...You look a lot like me," The skeleton said now in a more fascinated tone than before, their posture straightening noticeably.

"Ha, coincidences can be freaky... Say, do you have another name you could use? No offense, but I have a good friend of mine I'm trying to look for, his name is also Sans, and I'm trying to get all the help I can to find him... So, to avoid confusion and that kind of stuff maybe I could call you by another name?" Dust spoke half-wittingly, though it felt quite wrong to lie through his teeth, it was undoubtedly necessary, the two now face-to-face as they stared at each other, blankly visually but interested internally.