Something Old, Something New
Fossils and Aliens Sanders Sides AU
Note: Trying out a new AU. Please let me know if you want to see more! This could probably stand alone, but I have more ideas to explore if people are interested.
Virgil crossed his arms, leaning against a dead tree trunk and watching his friend dig in the sand. He stifled a laugh. Logan never liked getting dirty, yet here he was, wearing a tie now-covered in dust, kneeling on the ground.
“Are you going to help? Or just stand there and brood?” Logan demanded, looking up at him.
Virgil shrugged. “It’s hot out. I need the shade or I’ll wilt,” he said.
“If you took off your hoodie, you wouldn’t be sweating as much.”
“Says the guy who wears a tie to a dig site.” Virgil smiled sideways.
“Serious people wear neckties. I do have a reputation to uphold.” Logan adjusted his tie with a huff.
“A reputation, hm? And yet we’re in the middle of nowhere cuz one of your beeping machines said there’s some kind of old rare fossil thing hidden underground in the area.” Virgil stretched and reluctantly left the comfort of the shade to see if there was any progress.
Before Logan could open his mouth to protest, Remus barreled into view. “Hey, hey, hey! Guess what I found! There’s been like a butt-load of UFO sightings around here!” He skidded to a stop and waved his phone in their faces— too fast for either of them to make out what exactly he was trying to show them.
Logan gently nudged Remus’s arm away. “Preposterous. We do not have significant evidence for the existence of extraterrestrials. Every UFO sighting can be explained by some natural phenomenon— meteor showers, comets, even drones. Do not get your hopes up too high.”
Virgil shrugged. “I dunno, specs. Sometimes things can’t always be explained away. Like cryptids.”
Remus giggled and clapped his hands. “Oooh do ya think we’ll find any cryptids out here?”
Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Cryptids are urban legends. They don’t exist either.”
Remus pouted. “Quit being a party pooper! One day you’ll see!”
Logan sighed. “I need to get back to work. Help me or stay out of the way,” he said, stabbing his shovel into the hard ground.
Remus shrugged and grabbed a shovel, digging along next to him. Unlike Logan, he loved getting dirty in all senses of the word. “Yo, just tell me to slow down or whatever so I don’t break any dino-bones. It is dinosaurs we’re after, right?”
Logan sighed. “It seems to be something from the Jurassic period, if the readings are correct. So yes, theoretically there is a high chance of a few dinosaur bones.”
Virgil stretched. “I’m gonna go grab some snacks and drinks. Hydrate or die-drate!” He did finger-guns, then wandered off.
By the time Virgil returned, the moon had replaced the sun in the sky. A full moon, and a beautiful arrangement of stars he has never seen back in the city. “You dorks find anything yet?”
Logan cleaned off his glasses. “Science cannot be rushed. We might be out here for days or weeks. Perhaps longer. It would, of course, be faster if we had more of a crew—“
“We don’t need a crew,” Remus interrupted. “The three of us against the world! We’ll be famous. We won’t need to listen to nobody!”
“Double negative,” Virgil and Logan said in unison. The three of them broke into a laughing fit, then paused, looking up at the night sky. There was an odd humming in the air, a ringing and thrumming.
Remus shot to his feet. “Aliens, aliens, aliens,” he chanted with a grin.
“It’s probably just someone blaring music...” Logan trailed off.
Virgil scoffed. “In the middle of nowhere? Dude, we’re miles away from the nearest gas station.” He froze, then dove towards the others, knocking them to the ground.
A colorful aura filled the air— blue and red and yellow. Once it cleared there were three odd-looking beings standing in the open area, each humanoid but clearly different species. One was reptilian in appearance, covered in gold scales with glowing eyes. Another looked somewhat like an elf, tall and regal, with glowing red markings over his skin. The third was a short blue creature with frog-like limbs, cat ears, and a rather fluffy tail.
The blue one hopped closer and grinned. “Greetings, earthlings!” He piped up. “We come in peace!”
“Goodnesss, Patton. You’re going to give the pathetic creaturessss a heart attack. We’re lucky they aren’t armed.” The reptilian one inspected his sharp nails.
“Forgive my rude companions,” the third one said. “We truly mean you no harm and we sincerely apologize for frightening you. I am Prince Roman.” He bowed with a flourish. “We would like to learn everything we possibly can about your culture!”