Chapter 53

"Alrighty, so school today." Sans said, driving the two kids to the school. Alice went to grab Chara's backpack, but was stopped as out of reflex, Chara went to grab it, dropping their right arm to grab the backpack. The two kids paused.

"Did you just-" Alice asked. Chara was in shock.

"This means…" Chara jumped up. "Sans! Frisk is nearby somewhere!"
"What? How do you know?" Sans looked back as Chara smacked their right hand onto the cupholder and open and closed their fist. "Alrighty, they're nearby somewhere. I know Liliane said not to, but how's about we skip school for today and go looking for them?"

"Hell yeah." Chara nodded. Sans turned out of the school parking lot.

"Where did you feel Frisk before?" Sans asked. Chara told him the way as he drove. By the time they got back to Alice's house, Chara had regained the use of their right arm.

"Alright, so they're here for sure." Chara said. "We looked in your house before, how about we look at the next one?"

"Sounds good." Alice shrugged.

They continued on, seeing all sorts of houses quite a bit away.

"Alright, let's start here." Chara knocked on the first door and stepped back. An older woman opened it.

"Hello! We're looking for a lost child." Sans said, and handed her a picture of Frisk. She took it and held it up to her face.

"Sorry, I haven't seen them." She said in a creaky, old-lady tone. "And even if I did, I wouldn't help those of your kind." She directed towards Sans. "I wouldn't be suprised if they just ran away from you!"

"You-" Chara started.

"Alright. Thank you anyways." Sans said as he stopped Chara and the old lady slammed the door. "Some people are going to be xenophobic like that. You learn to just deal with it after a while." Chara thought they sensed some sadness in his tone.

"Anyways, let's go to the next house." Sans said as he knocked on the door. This time, a college-aged man opened the door.

"You're not Kelly." He said.

"Nope." Chara shook their head. "We're looking for my sibling, Frisk." Sans handed him the picture.

"Sorry, haven't seen them. I'll keep an eye out while I'm on my date, though." He promised.

"Thank you so much." Sans nodded as he closed the door. "Alright, next house." He knocked on the next door. Music blasted as the man opened it. He was obviously drunk.

"He-hello *hic* there." He hiccupped.

"Heya." Sans said. "Have you seen this kid? They went missing a few weeks ago." He held the picture to the man.

"Nah, haven't seen 'em." He said, taking a swig of a beer. "Yo, do you or your friends wanna'join us? We got shots and everythin'." He burped. Chara frowned.

Can he not tell that Alice and I are underage? Or that Sans is a skeleton?

"We're good, thank you." Sans said.

"Yo man! Another round!" Someone yelled from inside the party.

"Gotta go." He said. "Sorr'bout your kid." He slurred as he closed the door.

"Alright, that didn't help. You had weird neighbors, Alice." Chara commented.

"Hey, this is my f-first time meeting them too." Alice retorted.

"So, you said some of them are shady?" Sans asked.

"Yeah. D-dad told me there are some 'dealers' and 'perverts' and that 'l-little girls shouldn't go down the s-street at all, let alone alone'." Alice said, obviously having no idea what those words meant.

"Well, despite your dad and everything he did to you, he did have a point. Those are some bad people." Sans said. "Dealers sell stuff that changes them to be worse, and perverts are on the same level as your dad for things they'll do to you."

"R-really?" Alice looked horrified.

"Yeah." Chara nodded.

"You're r-really gonna have to e-explain some of this to me." Alice sighed.

I'm not looking forward to that…

"Well, now onto the next house." Sans knocked on the door.

An older man opened, and Chara instinctively pulled Alice back.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

"We're looking for another child." Sans explained. "They were kidnapped a few hours ago and we think the kidnapper went down this street." The older man looked Chara up and down in a way that made them uncomfortable.

"I could help you. For a pri-"

"We're not interested." Sans interupted. "Goodbye." He let Chara and Alice walk ahead of him as he kept an eye on the older man, but Chara could still feel him staring at them as they walked away.

"What d-did he want?" Alice asked.

Sans looked at Chara and signed, She's a bit more innocent, isn't she?

Yep. Chara signed back.

"Me." Chara said.

"Why would h-he want to adopt you?" Alice asked.

"That's not...I'll explain later." Chara sighed.

"W-wait! Come back here!" The man said. Sans sighed.

"Stay right here, you two. I'm keeping an eye on both of you." He walked back up and talked to the old man.

Sheesh, that guy has to be a pedophile...I wonder if he knows if Frisk is here. I hope not.

"So, what's the d-deal with him?" Alice asked. "That old man? H-he seemed kinda...c-creepy."

"Um…" Chara tried to figure out how to put it. "There are some people who are messed up in the head and are attracted to children." Alice looked shocked.

"What?"

"They're called 'pedophiles'." Chara explained.

"Lover of children…" Alice muttered to herself. "T-that's what it means. 'Pedo' is a greek prefix for 'Children' and 'phile' is a latin sufix for love."

"Oh." Chara said. "Makes sense."

"Unlike what they are." Chara had to laugh at that as Sans came back and the man shut the door.

"I managed to get it out of him what he needed. He said that he had seen a woman walk a kid that matched the description of Frisk down to a house across the street."

"Did he get a description on the woman with him?" Chara asked.

"Nope. He was more focused on Frisk." He gritted his teeth as his eyes went dark.

"Oh." Chara looked at Alice. "Well, let's head to that street." They crossed the street and knocked on the door, only for the woman to open the door. She wore her police uniform, and had a cup of coffee, and looked exausted, but she was still recognizable. She dropped her cup in shock, which dropped to the ground and shattered, spraying coffee everywhere. Sans stared up at her in shock.

"Liliane?"

"Sans?" Liliane managed to get out.

"Where's Frisk?" Chara demanded. "I can feel them." They added, lifting up their left arm. "Where the hell are they?" They looked past to see the child. They were an inch taller, but otherwise, seemed unharmed.

"Friisk!" Chara and Alice ran to hug them, and they hugged the two back.

"Liliane." Sans' eyes went dark as he pinned Liliane to the ceiling using his magic. "What the hell? You were supposed to be helping us! Why didn't you tell us you had them!?" He slammed her on the ground and brought her back to the ceiling. "Do you know how fucking stressed Tori has been? She's pregnant. She could have lost the baby from all the stress!"

"C-clarisse! Help me!" Liliane called out.

"Clarisse isn't here. She's dead, you told us that yourself! Or is that another lie?" Sans growled.

"No, s-she's here." Liliane pointed to Frisk. Sans' eyes came back as he was confused.

Then, it hit him the same time it hit Chara.

"Frisk...is Liliane your biological mother?" Chara asked them.

*A/N And here y'all have your answer to the Liliane questions =)

And now, review time!

W D Guester: They were trying not to think about the fact that Frisk wasn't there. It's not Toriel and Sans' first Christmas, it's Chara's and Alice's. They were sad about Frisk not being there, but they didn't want to let it ruin the day.

Diana Huntress Pines: Thank you! I'm a bit bad when it comes to grammar, I've gotten several notes from people for using periods instead of commas for when people talk. I'll probably go back through and fix everything once I finish writing this story.

Exowolv: Yep!

Guest (1): The reveal was kinda Helen revealing it at the Christmas Party. But more of that is to come ;)

Guest (2): Alex is a lesbian.

EveeFan: Liliane changed Frisk out of their sweater and gave them another one, and just brought the one she changed them out of to Sans and Toriel as 'evidence'.

Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading! I will see you guys next time~

Skater