A/N Everything Undertale belongs to Toby Fox; Ginny, as well as anything unfamiliar, is of my creation.
Everyone's eyes widened. Toriel was the first to run to the guest room. Frisk was right after her. Then Papryus, and then Sans. M.W. followed after them as well.
The guest bedroom was, indeed, completely empty. The bed's blankets were pushed aside, and the dent in the pillow remained. The window nearest to the bed was opened a crack, as opposed to being completely shut as Toriel had left it.
"How long has she been gone?" Toriel asked, still looking around the room.
"I-I don't know!" M.W. exclaimed. Tears were streaming down her face, and she still looked panicked. "I checked on her about ten minutes ago, and th-the room was empty! I've been searching throughout the entire house s-since then, and I couldn't find her! I'm sorry, Toriel! You trusted me to watch her, and I couldn't even do that! I'm so, so sorry!"
"M.W., it's not your fault," she said, trying to sound soothing. But she could still hear the panic in her own voice. "You couldn't have known what would have happened." She laid a paw on her back and rubbed comforting circles against her dress. "How about you go home? It's been a hectic day for all of us, and worrying won't bring her back. First thing in the morning, I'll go down to the police station and report her missing. Then, we'll go around town and try to find her. For now, you go home and try to relax."
M.W. wiped her nose with a tissue Frisk offered, and nodded. "O-okay, I'll try my b-best." After apologizing, yet again, she left the house.
As soon as the front door was shut, Toriel rubbed her paws over her eyes with a groan. "Ohh, won't this day bring something happy and peaceful?"
"hey, tori?" Sans said. "paps and i will bring your bags into the house. and tomorrow, we'll call undyne and alphys. we'll find her."
"YES, I'LL ROUND UP A SEARCH PARTY!" Papyrus declared, already heading out of the house and to his car.
"Thank you, both," she said with a watery smile.
Frisk nodded in agreement, glancing at the guest bedroom as if Ginny would appear in the doorway. Though they didn't know too much about head injuries, they couldn't help but worry that she was in trouble while she was alone. They could only hope that they would find her before something worse happened to her.
They remained deep in worry long after Sans and Papyrus brought in their shopping bags, wished them a goodnight, and promised, yet again, they would help try to find Ginny. "I'm sorry, my child." Toriel sighed as she tucked Frisk into bed.
At their questioning expression, she continued, "I can't help but feel this is my fault. I had set her off, albeit unintentionally, and that caused her to run and get injured in the first place."
Frisk shook their head and hugged her as tight as they could. No words were needed; they didn't blame Toriel for anything. She finally smiled as she hugged them back.
The following day, as soon as they were free from their respective jobs, Undyne and Alphys were walking about town, looking around and calling out for Ginny. Papyrus had notified them and several others, via text group messages, that she had disappeared the previous night. Various pairs were sent out—Sans and Papyrus, the royal guards, and Undyne and Alphys themselves, to name a few—to look for her.
Toriel had already gone and reported her missing at the police station. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be taking her case seriously, whether it was because she was a monster reporting a missing human, the fact that Ginny was above the age of eighteen and thus considered not as important of a case as a child, or both. They claimed they would do their best to try to find her, but Toriel wasn't holding her breath. Various cases of human police not taking monster matters as serious as human matters had soured her opinion of them.
"Any ideas of where to start?" Undyne asked. "I mean, we barely know anything about her."
"D-did she say if she had a job? Maybe we c-could check there? At least ask i-if she's been around today?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea, Alphy," Undyne grinned. "I think... I think Toriel might've said she worked at some restaurant? Shouldn't be that hard. How many restaurants are there in town?"
"According to this map," Alphys said, bringing up the map app on her phone and typing out 'restaurant' in the search bar, "there are... s-six restaurants."
"Cool! Shouldn't take too long to go in each one and ask 'hey, does a girl called Ginny work here?'."
"Undyne, it would be ea-easier if we knew more details a-about the restaurant. There's a pizza r-restaurant, a su-sushi restaurant, a burger rest-"
"-burger restaurant! Toriel said it was a burger joint! Where's it at?" Undyne asked, seeming to not notice she made Alphys jump at her sudden interruption.
She fixed her glasses and pressed on the burger restaurant's name. "I-it's actually not far from here! And," she giggled, "it actually i-is called The Burger Joint."
"I'm a psychic!" Undyne exclaimed, gleefully throwing both fists into the air. "I'mma make a prediction that we'll find her there!"
"W-we can only hope."
After following the directions on Alphys's map app, they found The Burger Joint. It was a brown single-story restaurant, with a tan roof and foundation, green windows, and a yellow double-door.
"They made the building itself look like a burger?" Undyne asked, raising an eyebrow. "... Have I mentioned that humans are so weird?"
"Y-you can't fault them f-for having imagination."
"I suppose. Say, did Ginny ever say what she did at her job? Like, is she a waitress or something?"
"Toriel said she didn't w-want to disclose... o-or maybe she wasn't allowed to? I-I can't recall." They both shrugged as they stepped inside.
Only a few steps into the door, there was a podium. Standing on the other side of the podium was a human, obviously dressed in a work uniform for the restaurant. "Hi, welcome to The Burger Joint," they smiled. "Table for two?"
"Actually, we need to ask you guys something," Undyne said, leaning one forearm against the podium. "Do you guys have a girl here called Ginny? Reddish hair, brown eyes, kinda quiet?"
"Ginny? I... we... I'll have to bring the manager out to speak with you. Is that all right?"
"Y-yes, that's fine," Alphys nodded before Undyne could reply.
"Why would they be so awkward about us asking if someone worked here?" Undyne huffed, turning to lean back against the podium.
"Maybe th-they're not allowed to disclose who works here? A-and the manager has to say something?"
"I guess." She crossed her arms and muttered, "They're just making finding her a lot harder than it needs to be."
Before Alphys could reply, the previous employee returned, with another human with them. This human wore a similar uniform, but had a large badge that specified that they were the manager. "Hello, I understand you have a question about one of our employees?" they asked, adjusting a small sign that was sitting on the podium.
Alphys frowned thoughtfully when she realized it said 'We have the right to reserve service to anyone'. She could only wonder if that sign was always a thing, or if it had been recently put out.
"Yeah," Undyne answered, turning back around. She either didn't see the sign, or chose to ignore it. "We're looking for a friend, Ginny. Reddish h-"
"-I know who Ginny was," the manager interrupted, drumming their fingers on the podium. "Have they caused any customers you know any trouble previously?"
"Wh-no!" Alphys protested. "W-were just l-looking for her, is a-all!"
"Wait, you said 'was' and 'previously'," Undyne pointed out. "Does she not work here anymore?"
"No, she was fired just this morning," the manager answered without a hint of tact or sympathy.
"Fired? Why? What happened?"
"Not that it's much of your business, but she didn't come into work the previous day. Her position was one that required the utmost in attendance, but she apparently failed to remember that."
"She was injured and in a coma!" Undyne protested, crossing her arms tighter.
"Apparently, she was well enough to try and come in today," the manager shrugged. "But that's not the sole reason we let her go. All throughout her time here, she couldn't keep her mind on the job. She was always looking out the door and at the customers, any chance she got. She claimed to be looking for someone. Well, now she has all the time in the world to find them. Now that that's been straightened out, is there anything else you two need?"
"N-no, thank you," Alphys smiled uneasily as Undyne pulled them out the door by the arm, growling.
"Well, that was a waste of time and energy!" she shouted, throwing her arms up into the air. "And they were such a dick! Did you see that sign they were messing with?"
"I-I did," she sighed. "And we're n-nowhere closer to e-even finding a lead th-than when we walked in."
Undyne's ears perked back at a sound. When she whipped her head around, she saw a human peeking around the corner of the restaurant. Hissing, they beckoned both monsters to follow them into an alley.
"What is it?" Alphys asked.
"Not sure. But stay close, in case they want to try something," she answered. They both walked to the alley the human had ducked into, but she stopped at the entrance. Holding Alphys closer to her with one arm, she yelled out, "All right, buddy, this is as far as we'll go! If you have something to say, you can come to us!"
The human shrugged and approached them, stopping at a respectable distance. They were a dark-skinned human with long black hair in tangled clumps, though more uniform and neat than Ginny's, and were dressed in the restaurant's uniform. Between his first two fingers was an unlit cigarette. "I don't have much time, they think I'm on a smoke break," he said, pocketing it.
"What do you want?"
"You two said you're looking for Ginny? She did say she was in a coma for a day; that true?"
"Y-yes, it is," Alphys nodded, nudging Undyne's arm to loosen her grip. "She h-hit her head and f-fell unconscious two days a-ago. Sh-she went missing late y-yesterday evening."
Nodding, the employee continued, "I called you back here because I wanted to tell you the whole story. Ginny's a nice girl, and since you two are looking for her, and don't seem to be malicious, I want to help you find her in any way I can. See, Ginny worked here as the garbage woman."
"What's that mean?" Undyne asked in confusion.
"It means she gathered up all the trash in the restaurant and took it to the dumpsters out back," he explained, jutting a thumb in the direction of the restaurant. "Because of her position, though, the boss told her she couldn't be seen by the customers."
"What, why? What was there for them to be ashamed about? Lots of people and monsters take their trash out."
"I dunno," he shrugged. "Boss never specified. Closest answer any of us, including Ginny, ever got was because she was 'just the garbage woman'," he quoted in a snarky tone, curling his lip in disgust. "But I think it's also because whenever she came in, her clothes... not to be rude, but they weren't in the best conditions."
"Why didn't she get a uniform?" Alphys asked.
"I asked the boss that once. Apparently, since Ginny was only the garbage woman, it wasn't worth spending extra money to get her a uniform that she would only get dirty. That don't make much sense, to me," he mumbled.
"They said Ginny couldn't keep her mind on the job. What's that really mean?"
"They said she acted like she was looking for someone? That's right on the tin. She was always looking through the doors at the customers, any opportunity she could get. But she was especially looking at the kids. I asked her about that once, and she said she was looking for someone. A little sibling, I think? But she never really asked for much help. Anyway, missing a whole day of work, regardless of what happened, was the last straw. I think the boss was just looking for any excuse to fire her, though. Don't let them hear that I said that though."
"D-do you know where she might be? Where she l-lives?"
"No, I don't know," he shrugged. "She wasn't very talkative, especially about her personal life. Her looking for a sibling was the closest to a personal life fact she ever said."
Alphys took out her phone and turned it on. "I-I'd like to give you my number, i-in case you find Ginny," she offered. She glanced up at Undyne.
"Yeah, mine too," she nodded with a small sigh.
The three of them exchanged phone numbers. "I'm sorry I couldn't be any more help," they said. "But I wish you the best of luck in finding her. Even though she's quiet and mousy, she seems like a nice girl." He glanced at his watch and winced. "I gotta get back to work! See ya." He waved back at them as he jogged back to the restaurant.
"... I guess that was something," Undyne shrugged.
"It w-wasn't anything much to go by, but at l-least we know more about Ginny," Alphys pointed out.
"Yeah, that she was hiding stuff. Question is, what else is she hiding?"