Sanders Sides Oneshots

Where The Portal Lead...

Steampunk. That was all he could think of. The air was smoky but felt cleaner than before; the moon was large and close to them, the sky bright with tiny stars. Thomas diverted his gaze down and stared below him. They were standing in a junkyard that was hoisted high on a hill and there was a city spread out below them. It had an orange hue to it and it seemed almost warm and clean, despite billowing steam being pumped into the streets.

"Lo, are you seeing this?" Thomas stammered.

"Yeah, I am, Thomas..." Logan breathed. He took a step forwards, pulling down the face-mask to his neck, under his scarf, and he stared, stunned, at the city. Logan suddenly fumbled for the brick phone discarding the hammer, as he typed furiously.

Thomas frowned. "Wh-What are you doing? What even is that?"

"It's something I've been working on for three years," replied Logan. "It's basically the best phone in the world."

Thomas looked unamused. "It's a brick with a screen."

"No, it isn't!"

"Logan, it's a brick with a screen."

The older huffed and the brick pinged. "This, Thomas, is a phone that lets me text someone from an alternate universe. After my fifteenth birthday, when I was hanging out with my friends, we discussed the possibilities of other worlds. I claimed that all we'd need to do is find a frequency to reach others."

"Did you?" Sniffed Thomas, following this slightly. Cartoons are surprisingly educational, sometimes.

Logan smirked down at the phone and typed away. "Yep. I hanged out in a lot of junkyards until I found a small satellite. I took it back home, messed with it and- I can't really explain it. I just... I just found this frequency somewhere and I had to find out a way to test it. I built a phone from the satellite and put it in a hollowed-out brick and tried the frequency. I sent a simple 'hi' though the frequency and I met... Well, we haven't told each other our names."

Thomas frowned. "What? Wait, you've had this phone for three years, you're texting someone from another reality and you don't know their name?"

"Well, we both thought it might've been someone from our reality and, y'know, predators online are everywhere. He calls me 'Logos,' and I call him 'Pathos'."

The younger blinked slowly at his brother. "Do you think this is Pathos's' reality?"

Logan smiled slightly, continuing to text. "I hope..."

Thomas nodded thoughtfully, then frowned. "What can your brick-with-a-screen do?"

"Thomas, it's not a- nevermind. It can text but it can't really receive calls. We've tried, but it creates the most annoying static noise," Logan answered. He pocketed the phone and Thomas saw the grin on his face. "Pathos says that where we are sounds like his reality."

The younger didn't share his brother's' excitement. At least, he was more cautious. Yes, they were in another reality and it was epic. Yes, they weren't dead. Yes, they still had a way out. Yes, they were together. But what about the things they couldn't answer? What about the problems they could encounter? What sort of alternate dimension is this? Sure, they hadn't been shot on sight yet. Sure, they could breathe. Sure, Logan's' weird, alternate dimension text buddy said this might by his reality but was that enough? What did Logan really know about Pathos? Not his name, for sure.

Logan turned to the portal and bit his lip, pulling a small, metal key from a lock. The portal fizzed and closed. "There, now no one can get to this reality or our reality without the key," Logan said firmly, giving Thomas a small smile. "Grab that sheet, we'll throw it over this."