#internkira

Life in the Underground involved a lot of the same things, day in and day out.

That’s why Monster Kid liked the Echo Flowers.

Out of all the things in underground that they had grown used to, the Echo Flowers remained something of interest since, in their own way, they had the potential to change.

He visited them every day, listening to what may have been left behind in their petals.

One day, for some reason the flowers are unnaturally quiet.

It goes unnoticed by them how dusty the ground is, how quiet the entire Underground is.

Alphys sat at her computer, hunched over a partially finished cup of noodles, the screen of her computer the only source of light in the room. She absently twirled the chopsticks, the tips gently scraping the bottom of the Styrofoam cup.

“You know, sitting in the dark like this is bad for your eyes.”

She jumped at the voice, sloshing some of the cup’s broth onto herself as a result.

“G-Geez Sans, give me some w-warning next time!” She said, her tone edged with frustration as she brushed the soup off the front of her lab coat.

“My bad Al.” Sans said, pulling a napkin from the pocket of his lab coat and offering it to her. She gladly accepted it and dabbed at the wet spot. He had a knack for having just what any given situation might call for.

As she focused on the spot on her jacket, Sans sat down in the office chair next to her, spinning himself around once for good measure.

“How’re things lookin’ on the readings?” Sans asked as he dusted off the computer in front of him, gently pressing down on the power button until the machine whirled to life.

Alphys balled the napkin up into a crumpled mess and tossed it in a nearby trash bin.

“G-good…kinda? E-every now and t-then something pops up on here t-that I’m not sure how to r-read. Maybe you can l-look at it?”

At those words, Sans scooted himself towards Alphys’ screen as her clawed hands turned the monitor so that it would be easier for him to see.

“There, d-do you see this?” she pointed at the screen. The background of the screen itself was black, while the graphs displayed were a bright neon green color. Alphys’ curled finger pointed at a sizable, blinking dot on the screen, the dot disappearing just as she brought Sans’ attention to it.

“A-ah, shoot, hang on…” Alphys muttered, tabbing through the screens of the program she had open.

She did this for about thirty seconds, before she suddenly stopped, saying, “Aha, there it is!”

Again, the large, green dot blinked on the screen, this time disappearing even quicker than before. It was uncanny, really. Just like it knew someone was looking for it.

“Ugh! See what I mean?! It keeps jumping s-so I can’t get a good read on it!” Alphys’ tone was edged with annoyance once more, her fingers quickly tabbing through the screens again.

“Hey, Alphys, it’s ok, I saw it.”

She stopped mid tab, letting the screen pause after a moment of inactivity.

“W-what do you t-think it is?”

Sans shrugged in an almost uncaring manner. As per usual, his reaction, or lack of, towards the situation concerned Alphys.

“S-Sans, really, t-this could be serious! I’ve never seen a-anything like this before. N-not only does it k-keep jumping, it, w-well, when it does stop for long enough, eventually the d-data just-“

“Stops, right?”

Sans finished her sentence for her, his cool tone surprising her. So he had been paying attention after all.

“S-sorry, I’m just worried a-about this.”

“I know, it’s ok Al.”

There was silence once more, the soft whirring and beeping of the computers the only thing interceding on the quietness of the lab.

“So…w-what do you think it is?” Alphys asked.

Sans idly spun himself around with the office chair once more.

“An anomaly.”

Were it not so dark in the room, Sans would have seen a very ‘yeah no shit’ look cross over Alphys face.

“Sans…”

He chuckled to himself, the exasperated tone in Alphys’ voice hard to miss.

“Sorry Al, couldn’t help myself.”

“Y-yeah, har har, y-you’re a funny guy-“

“Funny to the bone.”

Alphys groaned audibly at the pun and Sans laughed again, more at Alphys’ reaction and less at the joke itself.

“But all joking aside, I’m not sure what it is yet. But, whatever it is, maybe it’s just unhappy.”

The tone of Sans’ voice had turned serious and almost sad.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Maybe I’m talking crazy here, but, I’d imagine it wouldn’t be jumping around like that if it wasn’t looking for something, you know?”

Alphys turned to the computer screen once more, setting the cup of noodles on a nearby counter ledge.

“W-what do you think it’s looking for?”

Sans shrugged once more.

“Perhaps a friend?”

Before Alphys could question his odd line of thought, Sans stood up and tucked his hands into the pockets of his lab coat.

“Well, unhappy or not, that anomaly isn’t showing any signs of making its way towards us yet. So, instead of watching it, you wanna go watch some TV in the break room?”

Alphys grinned and stood up herself, locking the computer screen with a few keystrokes.

“S-sure Sans.”

They made small talk as they left the room, discussing which snacks they should get from the vending machine.