The Alternates
Again, just like the other blurb I posted today, this was purely experimental. I wanted to see how a situation could play out, so I did a thing :P
In summary, Pest and War are messing around in some random AU, and they just so happen to bump into a couple skeletons that appear to be their younger alternates
Pestilence grinned, nearly cackling as he darted away from his soulmate, holding her satchel. Racing after him through the snow, War screeched, "C'mon, Pest! Hand it over!" Making a sharp turn around a tree, he called out to her, "Not a chance, Sweetheart! Not until you agree to share some of your chocolate stash with me!" The glitch cursed at him and he laughed, continuing to dart through the forest that surrounded them. As the pair exited into a clearing and War noticed a clearly occupied town with this AUs residents perusing the streets, her eyes widened, "Pest, we should go, there's people here! My aura could hit them full force if we get too close!"
Her soulmate waved off her concerns, veering in another direction, "Then we won't go near them! Problem solved!" She growled in agitation, trying to speed up as she ran after him. Pestilence glanced back at her and grinned widely, playfully blowing her a kiss and winking, causing her cheekbones to flush a soft shade of dark blue. Spitting out a handful of obscenities, War decided that she was done playing fair. Using a shortcut, she warped through the space between them, intending to tackle him to the ground. Pestilence glanced back at her again, and seeing that she was much closer this time, excitement flickered in his eyes.
There was the sound of someone else shouting nearby, and before War even realized what was about to happen, someone slammed into her out of nowhere. She yelped and toppled to the ground, her chest heaving as she desperately attempted to catch her breath. Ready to begin cursing at whoever had ran into her, she lifted her gaze to look at them, but as she registered their appearance, she froze. Above her was the Sans of this timeline, clad in his usual shorts, slippers, and turtleneck, and she also noted the long, white coat, and large, round glasses he wore. The part that caught her entirely by surprise was his eyes; One eye light was white, as expected, but the other was multiple shades of green. It was ringed, with what looked like a cross hair perfectly centered over it, and her own eyes widened.
This... This was some version of her soulmate, wasn't it?
Realizing the position they were in, Pest's alternate nealy leapt back away from her and held up a hand, his entire face flushing green as he sputtered, "C-Crap, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to slam into you like that! Are you ok?" Now that he had backed off and she had space to move, the glitch sat up, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head and refusing to look at him. Normally, she'd begin cussing him out without hesitation, but since she realized who he was, she begrudgingly decided to let it slide, "It's ok, 'm fine. Are you ok?" Hearing her voice, Pest's alternate gawked at her, slowly nodding, "Yeah, I'm fine... Mal." He slipped in her name cautiously, hoping for a positive reaction.
In response, War stared at him, her figure fizzling the smallest bit in surprise at hearing her old name. So he recognized her... That could only mean that he knew some variant of her, and she glanced around. Right on cue, another figure appeared beside Pest's alternate, lightly bringing a closed fist down on the top of his head, "Gotcha, Nerd. Now hand over my chocolate, I wasn't done with it yet!" The alternate lifted a hand, wordlessly pointing at the rider, and his partner shifted her attention to her, almost immediately freezing in place, "....No freakin' way." The two glitches stared at each other for what felt like forever, before Pest's voice was heard, breaking the silence, "Babe, you ok? I heard you get knocked down."
War slowly rose to her feet, dusting the snow off of herself, "Yeah, I'm ok." Pestilence used a shortcut, teleporting to her side and offering her the stolen satchel, "Here's this, by the way. I didn't take any of it." She made a sound in acknowledgment, still focused on the pair of alternates before her. Following her gaze, Pestilence momentarily froze before tilting his head, "....Well this is new." His alternate's sockets widened again, "Oh my god, there's one of me, too." Pest stepped closer to the pair of alternates, making a full circle around them as he eyed them curiously. Mal left her partner's side, moving closer to War and tilting her own head. Now within arm's reach, she lifted a hand, lightly poking at War's arm. Moving slowly, as to not alarm Mal, War also reached out, touching her scarf.
Noticing the way Mal's eye lights began to grow hazy, War took a step back, glancing at Pest and his alternate, noticing the way his alternate's expression began to very slowly become one of annoyance; It was her aura. It had already started to mess with their heads, meaning that her and Pest needed to leave NOW.
Moving closer to Pestilence, she reached out, lightly tugging on his arm and pulling him away from his alternate. He furrowed his brow bones at his soulmate, but as he looked between the pair of alternates and took in their expressions, he understood what she wanted. Offering the pair an awkward yet apologetic smile, "We'd love to stay and chat a while, but we gotta go. Maybe we'll pop in again sometime, who knows." With that, he wrapped an arm around War, whisking both of them away. Neither of them were sure if they'd see their alternates again, but Pest decided it could be something to look forward to.
