Chapter 20: The mysterious skeleton and the human.
It must have been hours before Suzy had seen a clearing at the end of the cave. Lucy stopped several steps ahead of them.
"WHAT'S THE HOLDUP?"
"Why did we stop?" Suzy asked.
"Hahahaha, you two really are idiots aren't you? Did you really think I going to let you rescue my next meal?"
Suzy turned pale.
"You mean you eat monsters?" she asked.
"Don't look so surprised. I'd eat humans if I could. They look more appetizing."
She licked her lips.
Suddenly the ground below them turned red.
Suzy felt heat seeping through her shoes that intensified as time passed.
She yelped as her shoes began to burn. Quickly she ran up to Papyrus and clutched his hand teleporting some ways above.
Her magic sustained them in the air as lava burst from the ground.
"So you can do magic too? It's a pity you have to be my next meal."
Lucy shot a circle of fireballs up at them.
Suzy flew to the side taking Papyrus with her.
One of the fireballs homed in on Suzy's location.
"What?"
Her eyes widened with surprise. Swiftly Suzy moved around the other fireballs circling around her.
She barely dodged them, one of the fireballs searing parts of her blonde hair.
Suddenly a heated rock hit Suzy square in the chest.
"SUZY!" Papyrus cried out.
After being knocked harshly against the wall, she plummeted to the ground Papyrus falling with her.
Lucy laughed.
"Did you really think you'd stand a chance against me? DIE!"
She fired a large fireball at Suzy.
Suzy stirred, recovering her breath barely catching Papyrus before they hit the ground. Luckily the ground was covered in snow.
The fireballs promptly disappeared.
"Are you two alright?"
Papyrus looked up and saw it was the bunny monster from before. She saw Suzy and instantly ran to her side.
"Hold still so I can use my magic to heal you."
A blue glow emitted from her hands as they were touched her severely burned chest. Instantly the nasty burn had become a scab.
"WOW I DIDN'T KNOW THAT BLUE MAGIC CAN HEAL OTHER MONSTERS."
She chuckled.
"It's very hard to learn. It's very advanced magic. Even now it's not completely healed."
"Ahem."
Suzy slowly looked up and saw Lucy had got up snow coming down her face. She looked miffed.
A fireball was formed in her hand and she brought it closer to a short skeleton.
"My my looks like someone needs to learn their place."
Papyrus frowned catching sight of his older brother in her hands.
Sans looked weary.
"SANS!"
"Move an inch and you could say goodbye to him forever."
Suzy turned to Papyrus.
"Don't worry we'll save him," she whispered. "Just distract her. We need to buy us some time."
Papyrus seemed to be struck with wonder. He stroked his chin thoughtfully and it seemed he was struck with an idea as his eyes lit up with unconcealed excitement.
"UM," Papyrus addressed the red horned monster. "DO YOU HAVE ANY FORKS OR SPOONS?"
Her eyes widened.
"No, of course not," she sputtered.
"OH WHAT A PITY, SURELY YOU DON'T THINK YOU'D BE ABLE TO EAT US ALL IN ONE BITE?"
"What are you getting at?"
"It'll be hard to eat us whole. You might want to cut us in bite-sized pieces or you might choke," Sans said. His right eye winked at her.
"OH DEAR," Papyrus quipped.
Lucy snarled.
"I am a vigilant eater."
"Our skulls are rather tough."
"Then I guess I'll have to chew for a while."
"YOU MIGHT NEED A NAPKIN THEN. IT MIGHT GET MESSY."
Suzy teleported behind her summoning some lightning in her hands and she punched Lucy from behind.
An electric shock jolted through Lucy before she collapsed.
Sans stroked the back of his vertebra where she had gripped him.
"SANS, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Papyrus asked.
"I'm fine, Pap. She just rattled my bones."
"Ha and you called me a pipsqueak."
Sans turned and saw Suzy clutching her chest
"Are you alright there, pal?"
She was glancing at him with dull eyes before she collapsed unconscious.
"SUZY!"
Papyrus picked her up from the ground and slung her over his shoulders.
"SANS, DID YOU SEE THAT YELLOW MONSTER WITH NO ARMS? WE WERE TRYING TO LOOK FOR THEM BEFORE YOU CAME."
"Yeah, they're right behind you."
He turned and saw the monster with the bunny from earlier. They were holding a little bunny in the hands.
"IS THAT?"
"It's my little brother, Bun Bun."
Sans sighed.
"Well, let's go home. Mom and dad are probably worried sick."
On the way back they dropped off the yellow monster in Snowdin before heading back to Hotland.
Once they arrived back at the lab, Sans stumbled on his father talking to a skeleton only a hair shorter than him. A woman with short brown hair wearing a white lab coat coat spoke with Arial.
"Mom, we're back," Sans said.
Arial looked at them and her features smoothed as she let out a sigh of relief.
She glared at Sans and Papyrus.
"Papyrus, you shouldn't be a bad example for your brother. I thought I taught you better than that."
"MOM, SUZY'S BEEN HURT."
"Oh she'll be alright," the woman with the short brown hair said.
She walked towards Papyrus gazing at the girl in his hands.
"Set her down."
Papyrus set her down as the woman with the lab coat set her hands on Suzy's chest.
A blue light emitted from her hands. Less than a minute passed by before she removed them.
"She should be alright with more bed rest."
Papyrus took her to his room.
"Take care of her Papyrus. She's staying with us for a while," Aster said.
The woman with the lab coat spoke with the other skeleton.
"Are you ready to go?"
The skeleton nodded and with that the two left. It was a baffling sight.
"Was that a human?" Sans asked.
"Yes, she said she came down here with the skeleton," Aster supplied.
"No human ever willingly comes here though," Sans sputtered. "Who was that skeleton she was with anyway?"
"He said he was a time traveler trying to find someone who's been scattered along time and space. He and that woman were asking about the river person."
"Who's that?" Sans asked.
"Beats me. I told them I never heard of them."
Days flew by before Suzy woke up. She saw Papyrus by her bedside.
"What happened?" she asked. "It feels like I was run over by a truck."
"YOU FELL DOWN. I CARRIED YOU BACK TO OUR HOUSE. THIS TALL MONSTER TREATED YOUR INJURIES."
Suzy looked down at her chest where she saw it was bandaged.
"Oh thank you."
"I WAS VERY WORRIED ABOUT YOU, SUZY."
She looked sheepish.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I hope you didn't get in too much trouble."
"NOT AT ALL. MOM SAID YOU ARE EVEN STAYING WITH US FOR A WHILE. ISN'T THAT GREAT?"
"Wha? But why?" She inquired with surprise.
Sans came in with a slice of lasagna on a plate.
"Your parents said they wanted to keep you from getting into mischief. It's your punishment for behing so reckless."
Suzy blew a raspberry at him before digging into her food. She sighed avoiding the older skeleton's gaze.
"I don't know what's the point in coming here if I can't even go with them."
Sans shrugged.
"Your dodging skills could use a little polishing if you're thinking of doing something like that again. That was awful, 2 out of 10 and I'm being generous."
"Well you were just standing there held at her every whim by a measly fireball. You would have been BBQ ribs."
Sans' pupils vanished.
"One out of ten and I'm not being generous."
Sensing the frosty atmosphere, Papyrus spoke.
"WHY DON'T WE TRAIN TOGETHER. WE COULD ALL COULD USE A LOT OF IMPROVEMENT."
Suzy sighed.
"Alright."
Later that evening, Sans dropped by Grillbys.
"Hey Grillbz!" Sans said, taking a seat by Honky, a brown duck-like monster.
"Grillby wanted to ask you who you were late. Did something happen?" Honky asked.
Sans merely chuckled.
"Nothing really."
Grillby stepped out from behind the pub and motioned for Sans to follow him.
Sans followed him out towards the empty tables where he started mopping the floor.
"Spill it."
"Heh, guess nothing gets past you. Another human has fallen into the underground."
Grillby glanced at him.
"I bet you're wondering why I don't just deliver them if I had the chance but I promised someone that I wouldn't and I couldn't bear to disappoint them."
Grillby sighed.
"I'm more worried about you."
"Don't worry if it gets out of hand I'll stop it before it goes too far."
On Monday afternoon, Suzy and Papyrus met outside Sans' room.
Papyrus knocked insistently on his door.
"Come in," Sans said.
The two headed inside. Suzy saw papers on a desk and scattered all over the floor.
"SANS!" Papyrus muttered angrily. "YOUR ROOM IS A MESS!"
Sans chuckled looking very sheepish.
"Er...sorry. Should we get started then?"
Suzy saw Sans' left eye glow bluish gold before the three disappeared before they reappeared in a white room.
"WHERE ARE WE?"
"I brought us inside the lab."
"DID WE TELEPORT HERE?" Papyrus asked as a bead of sweat came down his skull.
"Don't look so nervous, Papyrus."
"I JUST DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU. REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME."
"Don't worry it won't happen again."
"SO WHAT ARE WE DOING?"
"I think I should teach you how to use bones with more precision who knows it could be helpful."
"YEAH."
"For today though I think I could use some dodging practice."
He glanced at Suzy.
"It might be useful learning how to dodge differenet attacks from monsters who might be able to use different kinds of magic and you are perfect for the job."
Suzy looked surprised.
"You want me to battle you. I might be strong but I'm not that strong."
Sans narrowed his eyes.
"Funny but we've never fought before. I don't remember you ever watching me battle. How do you know I'm strong at all? The only time you've seen me in battle I was captured by a monster."
Suzy sighed.
"Alright but please go easy on me."
Sans fired a line of white bones at her.
Suzy barely dodged them they were going so fast.
"I thought you were gonna go easy on me," she spat.
Suzy cracked her knuckles.
"It's on."
In her hand she formed a blue spear and hurled it at Sans.
The skeleton vanished and appeared in front of her within seconds bobbing her on the head.
Suzy winced.
"How did ya-wait you used a teleport didn't you."
"No, you're just too slow."
"NYEHHEHHEH, MY BROTHER RUNS PRETTY FAST," Papyrus said. "HE USED TO TRAIN WITH THE-"
"Again."
Suzy got up and this time backed up firing one blue spear after another at the agile skeleton.
It was as she watching that she noticed that it took longer for him to dodge spears coming from the left side.
Suzy fired a jolt of lightning at the skeleton from the left side. Sans dodged but lightning magic worked differently honing in on it's target and stunning it completely.
"Ugh," Sans groaned. "What did you do?"
"It was just some lightning magic. It should wear off after a while."
Suzy sat beside him. She thought after a while he'd feel a little better.
Her parents had always told her that magic paralysis vanished after several minutes but this wasn't proving to be true.
Sans clutched his left eye in pain.
"Are you alright?' she asked reached for him.
"Don't touch me," he snapped.
His magic clutching her soul and shoving her away.
"What's that all about?"
After training Suzy had been preparing for bed when she heard a knock on her door.
"Come in," she said.
Sans walked inside.
"How is your eye?" Suzy asked.
"It's better than before."
"That's good."
"Sorry about before. The pain just triggered a painful memory. I'm not angry at you or anything."
"I know, Sans."
After a week of training, Sans stopped by the lab.
"So did you finally get it to work?"
"Yeah, but it's a bit buggy." Aster said. "This time I have it calibrated so it should take us to the time before Asriel was killed."
Aster was at the controls.
"That's funny. I was sure I had the controls calibrated perfectly but now it's not even working."
He opened it up and noticed the flux determinator was missing.
"Someone stole the flux determinator."
"That's humerus!"
"SANS!"
"What?"
"This is not funny. Someone had to have snuck in and stole the piece from the machine."
Aster looked around and saw the elevator leading to the King's castle was disturbed. A furry black tail stuck out of the door.
He picked it up.
"What's that?" Sans asked.
"A tail by the looks of it. I bet you it belongs to the thief."
"You want me to find him?"
Aster groaned.
"I think the answer is obvious."
Sans vanished.