Chapter 19: Chica
A couple of days later, Suzy came by Papyrus' house.
"Hey Papyrus, want to come over to my house to play hide and seek?"
Papyrus beamed.
"CERTAINLY."
"Meet me at the dump in Waterfall after school."
"HEY MOM IS IT ALRIGHT IF I GO TO SUZY'S HOUSE AFTER SCHOOL?"
Arial sighed.
"I don't see why not."
After school Arial picked him up and walked him to the dump. They saw Suzy already there.
"My mom's in the back if you want to talk to her."
She saw there was a small shack behind her, and knocked before heading inside.
"Come on Papyrus. Let's play."
After a game of hide and seek, Suzy spotted a small yellow monster with a pink bow on their head. The monster's eyes lit up at the sight of Papyrus.
"Hey, aren't you related to the royal scientist, Dr Aster?"
"UM, ER..."
"Yeah, he is."
"That's so cool."
"What's your name?" Suzy asked.
"Chica."
"Chica, do you want to play hide and seek with us?"
"I got to ask my mom," she said. "She lives in Snowdin with my little brother. I kinda snuck off to Waterfall without permission."
"Can we come with you?"
"I don't see why not."
Once the three arrived at her house, Chica knocked on the door.
"Mom, you there?"
A tall yellow monster opened the door accompanied by a small yellow monster with no arms.
"Chica, I thought you were playing outside."
"I was but Papyrus and Suzy want to play hide and seek in Waterfall and I want to play too."
"Ok, but be back before evening."
"Mom, can I go too?" asked the younger monster beside her mother.
"Kid, you're too young."
"But mom!"
"No, that's the end of it. Have a good day, Chica."
After that the three headed to Waterfall.
"So how do you know about Dr Aster?" Suzy asked.
"Oh," Chica said, her face flush. "I'm a big fan of his work. He wrote all these theories about time travel and theorized that humans might possess the ability. That'd be kind of cool to have the ability to correct your mistakes and not worry about the drawbacks."
Suzy turned away with a frown on her face.
"Yeah, it would," she said softly.
"I also have some of his old music. My mom said he used to have another woman he went with before Arial. She was deaf though he tried his best to please her with his music. He developed hearing aids for her but she preferred to have no hearing. She died at a young age though. I would have liked to meet her if she was still alive."
"Ok Chica, Papyrus, you two go hide while I count."
Suzy closed her eyes covering them with her hands.
"1, 2, 3," she whispered, continuing to count to ten. "...10. Ready or not here I come."
Suzy put her hands down, opened her eyes and ran eager to find them. As she was looking for them, she heard a loud voice coming from the blue flowers nearby.
"NYEHHEHEH."
Suzy whirled around. Was Papyrus nearby?
Near a bridge was a large waterfall. Suzy walked through wetting her hair in the process.
"NYEHHEH, GUESS YOU FOUND ME."
"Wanna help me look for Chica?"
"SURE."
The two exited the waterfall but after looking around Waterfall, they couldn't find Chica anywhere.
"Maybe she hid in Snowdin."
The two headed back to Snowdin. Papyrus looked behind some snowmen while Suzy looked behind some tall trees.
Suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and saw it was bunny with a pink frilly dress holding a matching umbrella.
"Have you seen my little bunbun anywhere?" they asked with a frown on their face.
"What do they look like?"
"Well they're smaller than me. They have these little ears too."
Suzy shrugged.
"Sorry, haven't seen them. I'll let you know if I do though."
"SUZY, I FOUND THEM."
Suzy ran over to where Papyrus was. He was standing behind a tree looking into a green bush. She saw big eyes peering at her.
"Haha, found you."
Chica chuckled.
"I would have hid somewhere else but what I hopped in I got stuck. It's just lucky you found me. I thought you forgot about me."
"Sorry," Suzy muttered sheepishly. "We thought you hid in Waterfall."
"It's alright."
"Oh Chica, I thought I heard your voice."
The three turned and saw it was Chica's mother. Her lips were curled into a deep frown and she looked green in the face.
"Have you seen your brother?"
"No, I haven't. Is he missing?" Chica asked, looking very horrified.
She looked grave.
"I didn't want to worry you.
"I'll find him for you," Suzy offered.
"I can't ask that from you. You're only a child."
Suzy grumbled.
"I may look it but I'm over sixty years old," she snapped.
"Haha, good one."
"ARE YOU REALLY THAT OLD?" Papyrus asked.
Suzy frowned.
"Of course."
Chica's mother sighed.
"It'll be alright. I'll look for him. I'll just leave Chica with the neighbors."
Chica groaned.
"Ah mom, I don't need a babysitter."
"Well see you later then," Suzy said waving to Chica.
"See you, Suzy. See you, Papyrus."
As the two were heading back to Hotland, Papyrus spoke.
"WILL SHE BE ALRIGHT?"
Suzy shook her head.
"I don't know. I'm a little worried."
"WE SHOULD BE GETTING BACK IT'S LATE."
"We can't just leave," Suzy said. "What if she don't find him?"
"YOU THINK WE SHOULD GO LOOK FOR THEM?"
"Yes."
Papyrus shrugged.
"I DON'T KNOW. IT COULD BE DANGEROUS."
"Ah we can't give up now," Suzy said. "I mean you can fight right?"
"YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT FIGHTING."
"It's just a safety measure. In case we run into any trouble."
"OH YOU WON'T RUN INTO TROUBLE WHEN YOU ARE WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS. I'LL PROTECT YOU."
"Thanks Papyrus."
With that in mind, Papyrus and Suzy began asking around if anyone seen a small,yellow, armless monster. The bunny monster from earlier tapped Suzy on the shoulder.
"Oh, you're that woman from before."
"I couldn't help but overhear that you were looking for someone. I seen someone similar to that little girl who was hiding in the shrubbery. They were captured by a red horned monster. They said something about bringing them to a cave on the top of a mountain of gems."
"I HEARD THAT LEADS TO A DARK DUNGEON. THE MONSTER THERE AREN'T FRIENDLY EITHER."
"Then it's good we're prepared then."
Papyrus gulped.
Heading in the direction of the ruins, the mountain was east of town. The two walked across a bridge that stood above a wide river and headed up the mountain.
With Suzy's help, the two were able to get through a rock puzzle that opened a stone door that leaded further into the cave. The natural light coming from the entrance lit up a bit of the darkness in the cave ahead.
"Can someone turn off the lights? These kind of things take concentration."
Papyrus and Suzy headed further into the cave, the stone door closing behind them causing them to be enshrouded in darkness.
Suzy conjured a red fireball in her hand bringing some light in the cave. They both spotted a black slime cutting some snakes from a monster's head.
"It's about time someone closed the door. The light hurt my eye."
"Who are you?" Suzy asked.
"Me?" The slime asked. "I'm Madam Prima and you are?"
"Suzy. Are you cutting the snakes off of that monster's head?"
"Yes, you never know when a monster is in the need of a makeover. I have quite the reputation in Snowdin and I can't do my job efficiently when there is light in here. I'm quite blind with it."
"Have you seen a small yellow reptilian creature down here?"
"Yes, I have seen them with Lucy."
"Who's Lucy?"
"I'm Lucy. Who wants to know?"
Suzy turned and saw a red monster with horns, wearing a red cloak.
"WE WERE LOOKING FOR A YELLOW MONSTER WHO HAS LOST THEIR APPENDAGES."
"Oh you were, were you? If I say I saw them, what would you say then?"
"OH WOWIE, ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU KNOW WHERE THEY WENT?" Papyrus asked.
"They went to see a dragon up here. He's famous for being quite a greedy creature. He won't be happy when he learns someone is lurking where he keeps his treasure trove."
Suzy and Papyrus glanced at each other with equal worry.
"OH DEAR."
Hours had passed and Arial paced around the kitchen anxiously glancing at the clock. Papyrus was running late.
Sans came back from his daily walks to the ruins later that evening.
"Hey Sans, have you seen your brother anywhere?"
"You said he was playing with Suzy right?"
"Yes, but he should have been back by now. He hadn't even had dinner either."
Sans sighed.
"I can't just sit around pacing like this. I'm taking a shower."
Before Sans could say a word or move a muscle, she headed into the bathroom and locked the door.
"Mom!" He shouted but she didn't reply. He sunk to the floor in defeat. "Damn it."
Arial had the habit of taking showers when she was nervous.
"As I lie in bed reminiscing the day and I can't help dwelling on the fate of the day and I sigh what's boning on and I said nyeh heh, nyeh heh heh. I say nyeh, what's boning on."
She also had the habit of singing trashy songs too. Sans groaned and slapped his forehead. The worst part of it was that she sung it very well.
"Sans, is that Arial in the shower?" Aster asked as he headed out of his lab. "Oh goodness please make it stop. I won't have the concentration to get any of my work done."
Sans sighed.
"Alright, alright, I get it."
Before his father could utter another word, Sans teleported to Waterfall and began looking around.
'Strange.'
He couldn't find them anywhere.
The monster Sans had seen when pursuing the fifth child, had been pacing around the area.
"Hey!"
"Are you talking to me?" They sputtered.
"Yeah, have you seen two monsters? One has blonde hair and the other one is a tall skeleton."
"Yeah, I heard they wee looking for some other monster in Snowdin."
"Thanks for the help."
In the deeper depths of the cave, some of the ground had been covered in lava but Lucy had insisted on leading them through the area.
"Thanks for the help. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't offered to lead us through the cave," Suzy said.
"No, it should be me who should thank you. It's been a long time since I've felt useful to someone," Lucy said.
As Sans asked around Snowdin for information on Papyrus, a bunny lady approached him slowly with a look of caution in her eyes.
"You said you were looking for a tall looking skeleton with a humanoid like monster right? I talked to them a couple of hours ago. They were looking for a yellow monster with no arms. I saw them headed to the mountain in the outskirts of town. I told them I seen them with a red monster with brown horns."
Sans' eyes widened.
"Are you talking about Lucy Delucard? She's descended from a species of blood thirsty monsters that feast on humans and monsters. She's killed at least thirty monsters."
She paled.
"Oh dear, they might be trying to rescue that kid."
Sans teleported back to the lab to tell his mother the bad news.
"We have to rescue him," he said.
"It's too dangerous even for you, Sans. You can't just waltz in there guns ablazing. Lucy tends to prey on those that have a tactical disadvantage. She's merciless."
"If we wait any longer than they'll die anyway."
"They're not going to die, Sans. Have a little hope. It's just like that father of yours to plant that doubt in your mind. I keep telling him that you shouldn't be getting involved in his little projects but he never listens."
Sans sighed in frustration, pacing restlessly outside the bathroom before he stopped. Having decided what to do, he promptly vanished.
"Sans? Sans, are you still there?" Arial asked frantically. She quickly hopped out of the bathtub and headed for the door however Sans was already gone.