Veronica's cheeks were damp from her tears of joy. She knew it. Her sibling was alive and well. To see them standing in front of her, after all these years was overwhelming. She held out her arms wide, smiling uncontrollably. Slowly, her sibling shared her ear-to-ear smile. They ran over to her and wrapped their little arms around Veronica's neck. Veronica's arms immediately went around her, burying her face into their neck and her fingers in their short hair. Veronica's heart soared with happiness. She pulled away from her sibling and took their face in her hands. "It's so good to see you," Veronica whispered.

But their reunion did not last long when the skeleton's loud voice interrupted, "ERM…YOU KNOW EACH OTHER?"

Frisk made a small chuckle and brushed Veronica's hands away and turned to the tall skeleton. They made their hands to the shape of "L"s and pressed one of their hands to cup the right side of their cheek before bringing their hand down to their wrist, with the their index finger on their chin. Veronica knew exactly what that meant but the skeleton…not so much.

He scratched the back of his skull with his large red gloves. "UM…T-TORIEL? COULD YOU COME HERE FOR A SECOND?"

The soft scuffs that were easily recognizable came into the doorway. "Yes, Papyrus?" Her eyes went to Frisk and smiled gently at them. "Well, hello, my child. I see you have met your new…?" Frisk made the sign again, interrupting Toriel. Toriel blinked at the sign, confusion filling her eyes. Slowly she looked at Frisk then at Veronica, her eyes shifting between the two. A gasp escaped her lips. "Oh, my dear Veronica, no wonder you looked so familiar to me! You are Frisk's older sister!"

"WHAT?!" Papyrus shrieked, if it were possible to be any louder than he already was. "IMPOSSIBLE! THE HUMAN WOULD HAVE TOLD THE GREAT PAPYRUS THAT THEY HAD A SISTER!"

Frisk giggled at the tall skeleton, before making a series of signs to him.

"O-OH…YOU…HAVE…?" A tint of orange dusted the skeleton's cheekbones. Veronica raised her eyebrow at that. How was that possible? A skeleton blushing? But…then again…large. Talking. Skeleton. Why not having him blush? His existence was scientifically impossible, but that all changed when monsters came from underground. Veronica's thoughts shattered when she suddenly felt arms wrap around her and get lifted high off the ground. Papyrus spun her around. "WOWIE! I NEW FRIEND TO PLAY, COOK, AND DO PUZZLES WITH!"

Veronica made a small wheeze before saying, "You…got quite a death grip there—!" She yelped when the spinning came to a halt and her feet went back to the ground. Papyrus was giving her the most horrified look that a skeleton could make. Is his face made out of rubber or something? "Uh…did I…say something…?"

Toriel chuckled. "Papyrus isn't one for puns, my dear."

"Puns? But I didn't—oh." Veronica gave Papyrus a small smile. "I'm sorry…that was not nice of me to…rattle your bones—"

"OH MY GOD!"

After Papyrus was done getting bombarded with terrible puns from Veronica, he left the two reunited siblings in peace with their adoptive mother, who started cooking supper. He almost looked pleased that it was time for him to go home. Frisk explained to Veronica that Papyrus didn't like puns very much because of his older brother, Sans, whom loved to make puns with anything and everything.

"Really? Huh. I sort of want to meet this Sans," Veronica said to her sibling. Frisk smiled at her and signed again. "You think we'd get along well? If you say so, Frisk." Veronica shrugged her shoulders and watched Toriel cook. She saw that Toriel put the tomatoes to the far side. Veronica was grateful that she remembered that tomatoes made her sick. Her attention went back to her sibling, smiling uncontrollably at them. She still can't believe that after all these years, Frisk was sitting right across the table from her. She was thankful that she remembered how to read sign language. From the day Frisk was born, they were classified as a mute. They could make small noises, like a gasp or a squeak but other than that, they couldn't form words. Frisk noticed their sibling's stare and sent her a toothy grin. Veronica giggled to see that one of their front top teeth was missing. That must have been recent. Was that…their last baby tooth? Veronica shook her head at herself. Time has passed.

Veronica squinted when she saw something move behind Frisk. She raised an eyebrow when she saw it was only Frisk's shadow. She swore that she saw it move…maybe Frisk moved? No, they didn't. Veronica scooted to the edge of her seat to get up, to see what she saw but stopped when Toriel appeared in the corner of her vision.

Toriel made a small, light chuckle. "That eager, are we?" She placed a plate in front of Veronica, then Frisk before sitting down herself with her own plate. "I hope you are alright with grilled cheese and ham, my dear. I made sure I didn't add any tomatoes."

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah, it's fine, Toriel. At this point, I'll eat anything you'll put in front of me. But thank you for not adding that. They make my mouth itch…" Veronica looked down at her plate and her stomach rumbled violently at the sight and smell. She couldn't remember the last time she had a proper meal. She was almost worried how her body would react to something that wasn't crackers and shelter soup. But she didn't care. She picked it up and took a bite.

"Careful, Veronica!" Toriel said behind a laugh. "You'll have a bad stomach-ache if you don't slow down!"

Veronica looked down at her sandwich to see that it was halfway gone. She blushed a little and put back down. "Sorry…"

"Do not be sorry, you must be hungry." Toriel took a few bites of her salad before asking, "So, tell me about yourself. Frisk has told me so much about you but it's been four years, I would like to know more."

Veronica made a small sigh and smiled a little. "Well, when Frisk disappeared, I still lived at the orphanage. It was…difficult to explain what happened to the Sisters. They…blamed me for what happened. I got kicked out when I turned eighteen a month later."

"Oh…Frisk had mentioned that the two of you lived in an orphanage before they fell down Mount Ebott…may I ask…what happened to your parents?"

Veronica shifted uncomfortably. She's never talked about what happened to her parents before. With a shaky breath, she answered, "Our…our mom died giving birth to Frisk. Dad disappeared a couple months after Frisk was born. He went for work one night and then he was…gone. I was…" She scratched the back of her head as the thought up a number. "…I think I was twelve? Yeah, that sounds right. Since our grandparents were dead and our uncle wasn't able to adopt us, we were sent to the orphanage. And pretty much left to rot. We were never even considered for adoption. During our time in the orphanage, I worked at my family's company…still worked there when Frisk disappeared but it went out of business three years ago. After that…finding a job was dreadful and I kept getting fired and moving from apartment to apartment…then that's when I bumped into you, Toriel." Veronica leaned back into her chair and sighed lightly. "Sorry to go into details, no need to listen to my sob story."

"Oh…don't say that, dear." Toriel sent her a gentle, loving look. "It must have been hard to say what happened to your parents—"

"Can we…not talk about them anymore?" Veronica took her plate and got up from her seat, heading to the sink, starting to do the dishes.

Toriel sighed and looked over to Frisk, who's dark mahogany colored eyes were wide and confused. They shrugged their shoulders, showing that didn't know why Veronica suddenly left. She didn't even finish her food. Toriel slowly got up from her seat and went to Veronica. As she reached out for her, she saw Veronica suddenly close her hand she held out slightly in front of her. She couldn't see what it was but she could tell it was large in size and glistened in the light of the kitchen.

Veronica turned to face Toriel. Before Toriel could say anything to her, Veronica told her, "If you do not mind, I will go to bed now."

"Veronica…if I had said anything that had made you upset—"

Veronica shook her head and put her hand into her pocket, returning the mysterious item into its home. "No, it's not that. It's just—I just need some time alone now. This…this has been an overwhelming day."

"I understand. Let me show you your room." Toriel led Veronica out of the kitchen and dining room. She saw Frisk watch them leave with a sad expression. Toriel could tell that they had so much to say to her older sister and were concerned for her. Toriel waved her hand at them, letting them know that everything will be alright. Frisk sent her a small nod and went back to their food. Toriel took Veronica up the stairs, who was carrying her box, staring intently at the items inside. There wasn't much in the box. A couple of picture frames, some office supplies, a stuffed animal that resembled a bear, and a hat. The hat was what caught Toriel's eye. It was oddly shaped, the main part of the hat seemed to be a faded purple with a shadow where something once was…a decoration maybe? The bill was very worn out, exposing the white cloth and cardboard underneath. It was very much loved. This must be Veronica's prized possession.

Toriel opened a door that was at the end of the hall, turning on the light inside. "This is usually the guest bedroom, but it will now be yours." Veronica stepped inside, setting her box on the desk that was in the far corner of the room before heading to the full sized bed and sitting down on it. Her eyes gazed around the room. They were wide in disbelief…has she never had a room of her own before? Veronica's snapped out of her trance when Toriel asked her, "Do you need any night clothes, my dear? I did not see any clothing in your box."

"Um…no, I'll be fine. Thanks…"

"Are you sure? I think there may be night clothes that Undyne left would fit you." Toriel walked to the closet that was across from Veronica's bed and opened it. She turned around and placed light blue pajamas next to Veronica. "Here you go, my dear." She headed for the door and gripped onto the handle. "Goodnight, Veronica. I will see you in the morning." She turned off the light and closed the door.

Veronica watched the goat-mom leave. She turned on the lap beside her bed and flopped backwards, clasping her hands hard over her eyes. 'God, how can I be so stupid! You shouldn't let the topic of Mom and Dad put you in such a mood…stupid, stupid Veronica!' She scolded at herself. 'Now Toriel probably thinks I'm a moody ass. Congratulations, you get to see Frisk again and you screwed it up. Nice friggin' job.' She got up from the bed and changed into the lent night clothes. The pajamas were a little too big, she bet whoever Undyne was, the pant legs go to their knees, not mid-calf. And the shirt was probably just under their chest, not to their bellybutton. Veronica took off her shoes and walked over to her box, pulling out the bear that was inside. She made a deep sigh and closed her eyes before hugging it to herself and heading back to her bed. She got under the covers and turned off her lap, the only light that appeared now was under her door. "Tomorrow is just another day…of a new life," she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes once more and slowly drifted back into sleep.

Under her door slowly became dark, a shadow crawling inside the room. It slithered across the cream-colored carpet and drifted over to the wall, climbing up it. It stopped over Veronica and stared down at her. Slowly, it creeped onto the head board and next to her head before it engulfed her in darkness. A small hiss filled the air and the darkness faded away from Veronica, as if nothing had ever happened.