Alphys remembered meeting Sans like it was just yesterday..
It was quite an impression and not to mention, a bit.. embarrassing.
She had always done science-y things ever since she was a kid. But during her awkwarder adolescent times she had spent all her energies at the dump. One of the few places she felt comfortable in. That day she'd spent so much time there that her eyes must've rested and for quite a while too. What felt like moments later she heard a calm low voice.
"Hey there." They said.
Her eyelids fluttered but otherwise remained shut.
"Mmm w-wha?" She grumbled.
A hand suddenly clamps down on her shoulder jarring her wide awake. She looks up at the deathly looming darkness, scary white peering eyes that she felt could pierce through her soul. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets as her heart jumped into her throat. Has death finally come for her?
"AAH!" She yelped, smacking her head harshly against the pile of trash she slept on.
The dark figure now covered in light turned out to be a skeleton. One that dropped his smile as he held up his hands and slowly stepped away, a bead of sweat falling down his forehead.
"woah take it easy there heh." He replied.
After she calmed down from her near soul attack, her eyes glanced slowly up and down the skeleton guy in front of her. Long lab coat and a blue sweater underneath. Fluffy slippers? Was he here to nap or something?
"sorry bout that...thought you were just resting your eyes not sleeping... didn't mean to disturb ya." He said.
Alphys immediately shook her head and smiled in that grimacing way of hers. Boy was she embarrassed being caught here. "No-no it's fine. I-I shouldn't have been s-sleeping out here anyways!" She exclaimed.
"oh." He rubbed the back of his skull. "well in that case, glad i woke ya... " His eyes met hers again. Though those glowing white dots in his skull still unnerved her, this time it was a lot less intimidating. She kept wondering what this monster was doing here at the dump. Hardly anyone comes here except if was by mistake or it was the others she showed around.
"by the way... your name wouldn't happen to be Alphys- would it?"
She adjusts her small round glasses on her yellow snout. "Y-yes. I am. But how do you-"
"-oh cool! so you are Alphys!" He smiled. "it's nice to finally meet you." He points his thumb at himself. "my name's Sans."
She took an immediate step back. The lab coat! The monster type! But she had to make sure...
"Sans? As in 'Sans Gaster' the royal scientist's son?"
Sans rolled his eyes to the side as he chuckled. "guilty." The way he postured himself.. Alphys clearly remembered it even to this day. It was like he was used to the shock and awe. All confident and sure of himself... So sigoy! The famous son of the scientist she looked up to and she was gifted with his presence here at the dump! Wait. At the dump? It wasn't right... he's supposed to be in a lab or something.
He knew her name.
And t-tried to find her...
Did that mean his dad?
Buckets of sweat increased upon Alphys's scales. She presses her hands together as she held her pleading hands to her face. "Am I in trouble with your dad or s-something?" She asked.
The skeleton rose his eye socket confusedly for a second before waving off his hands dismissively. "no no. i wasn't sent here by anything or anybody... well unless boredom from working solo at the lab counts heh."
Alphys's nerves settled down from that information but not by much. Her claws still shook from the gut feeling of her idol looking down at her in disappointment. "O-oh I see hah. Why not go home then?"
Sans shrugged with open hands as he winked, his stance that she'd soon come to know as his signature smile. "eh. rather not do chores when my brother's sleeping...or just do chores period."
She wrought her hands together nervously. "But then.. why were looking for me? A-and where did you get my name? Me of all monsters!"
Shoving his hands into his blue sweater he shrugged again. "i've just heard of some girl into science that goes by the name of Alphys who likes to hang around at the dump... so i figured... you'd be pretty cool to hang out with."
As he talked her face heated up at one of nicest things she's ever heard someone say to her. But was he sure he got the right Alphys? Cool wasn't exactly in her vocabulary...
"So whaddaya say? Wanna hang out together a ton? Maybe even a skele-ton?" He winked.
She brought her claws to her muzzle. 'Snnrk! Oh god, was that a joke?" She said
"hehe. you're still smiling though." He replied.
It was true. Yet her smile congealed to a doubtful frown as the pun played in her head again. "Wait. You want to h-hang out with me?" She asked.
"jeez i must've scared you that bad huh?" He leaned back, tiredly rubbing his neck "...did you not want to?"
"Trust me I do! But... eheh ..I'm not exactly the most interesting monster in the underground you know.." she blushed.
"with a sense of humor like mine? i doubt it."
She laughed at that. "W-well if you say so. Then I guess we can h-hang out. Sure."
"good to hear then!" He smiled. She smiled back. He inner self screaming with joy. She couldn't seem to find any words to say to him. So she just stared. A few seconds of awkward silence later Sans looked around the cavern.
"so... why do you hang at the dump a lot?" He asked.
"Oh r-right." She shook her head of the starstruckness. "Um. Well.. it's kinda where I get all my supplies. But at the same time it's like a second home to me. Sort of h-hard to explain I guess...Did I even mention the waterfall here?"
"er... isn't it like any other waterfall?"
"No. This one's different." She points to the waterfall ahead. "When you go to the tallest one up there it looks like an endless abyss from down below... like you could almost pretend you're from the surface, especially since that's the place where all the stuff falls into before spreading out everywhere else. E-either way it's a great spot to go when you wanna th-think about stuff..."
They both stared at the aforementioned waterfall. The crack of light from the surface pouring down below. Objects that could fall in but could never return back to the legendary surface world Alphys, Sans, and any other young monster in the underground had heard about but never had seen with their own eyes.
"what do you think they do up there... the humans i mean?" Sans asked beside her. "do they have magic like us? or do ya think it's a more self sustaining force?"
"I'm not sure really..." she whispered.
"guess we'll never know huh?"
Sans turned his head.
"Y-yeah." Alphys replied.
The pair sat together in silence for awhile longer. Alphys thought on how she didn't really want to see the surface world much. Nothing would really change in the end for her would it? Just staying at home, enjoying another round of anime alone, like always. But whenever she could see pride and triumph on all of the other monster's faces to go back home, back to this above. It made her both terrified and excited enough to try for something. Anything.
"hey." sans said, "maybe we could find that out together."
"Yeah?" Alphys smiled, waiting for him to make another bad joke. He didn't seem like the type to be serious about anything. Only a punchline never came. Instead her breath caught in her throat and her cheeks pink at his nonchalant grin. Despite the differences, his eyes flickered a light she's seen all too often.
And that's when Alphys's life changed for the better.
Until that is, the day of the accident. When no one could remember yesterday anymore.
THE END.