Merry Holiday! May the next year bring you all happiness!

-Moriarty

"Oh!" Alphys exclaimed from the doorway. "Yeah she's here." The hand at Alanna's waist tightened for a moment before Alphys came padding back toward them followed by a familiar hooded figure. "Alanna your friend came to check on you." She subtly waved her hand and Mettaton sighed lightly his hold on her waist shifting from supportive to a more familiar hold.

"Cooper?" Alanna asked slightly surprised. He looked up at her his hood still hiding the more human parts of his face.

"Hey, bubble girl. See you're still alive."

"Bubble girl?" Alanna deadpanned narrowing her eyes at him. There was an amused sound from Mettaton that she immediately hated. "Yeah, I'm still alive, Kermit. How's your day been?"

Cooper was staring at Mettaton as he replied. "A bit too hot, but not too bad. I figured I'd take a stroll. Come check on you."

Mettaton not so subtly shifted her closer a roguish smirk making its way onto his face. She glanced to him and wanted to laugh. Yeah, Alanna thought, like he could make Cooper jealous with that little stunt. Only thing he was doing was making her slightly uncomfortable. But then again she had never really had someone flirt with her before. Well, at least not lately.

Cooper stared at Mettaton for a few moments longer before looking to Alanna. "How was your day?" He asked.

"Hot mostly. I met Mettaton today." She said nodding slightly toward the robot.

"And it was a pleasure." He said in that sultry tone of his.

"Hmm I bet. I'm surprised a celebrity like you has a day off. Shouldn't you be running a show or something?" Cooper asked cooly.

"Even stars have to rest sometimes, darling. But don't worry there will still be plenty of me to go around." He added throwing a wink his way. "If I'm not too preoccupied." That last part was a bit softer. Like velvet. Alanna glanced to him and met magenta eyes. She felt herself blush and pulled slightly away from him. He let go easily crossing his legs and watching her intently as she stepped slightly away from the group.

Cooper looked to the side with a slightly annoyed face at Mettaton's comment. "So what are you doing here anyway?"

"I wanted to visit Alphys." Alanna explained throwing a smile at her. "I had a good time last time we hung out."

"M-me too!" Alphys spoke up.

"Were you worried about me or something?" Alanna asked Cooper. He looked around for a moment letting his eyes wander over the lab.

"Not particularly." His tone was dismissive. As if he couldn't care less about what she had been up to. But the mere fact that he was at the lab...

"Then why were you looking for me?"

"I didn't want you ending up in trouble or ending up with the wrong people."

Alanna immediately smiled at Cooper's response. "Right."

"Sounds like worrying to me. How sweet." Mettaton voiced her thoughts with an added laugh. "You can be sure she is safe here with us."

"Right," Cooper's eye slightly glowed while he scanned the lab and Alanna immediately wondered what exactly he was doing with his magic. "How is your research going, Alphys?"

"Mettaton's power usage in this form is still not sustainable for extended or permanent use." Alphys rattled off. "And my research on Alanna hasn't gotten very far." She added.

"On me?"

Alphys stammered for a second and blushed. "I ran a few tests on the hair samples you gave me. It's interesting," she said glancing to Cooper, "human hair seems to be unique to the individual. I ran tests on the proteins and found that they were in different patterns than the samples that Frisk provided me."

Alanna blinked. She had already learned something just from some hair she had given her. What was she going to do with other things? What would she figure out about her monster heritage? Maybe she could figure out what type of monster her ancestor was. The thought was interesting to Alanna.

"I see. Find anything peculiar? Like something you wouldn't think a human should have?" Cooper had taken to wandering around the room examining random charts and notes that were strewn around. "I'm curious." He added. Alanna looked sharply to him a ripple of unease going down her back.

"W-well…" Alphys glanced down. "There was something...but I had discarded it as the sample being contaminated." She muttered.

"What?" Alanna found herself taking a small step toward Alphys.

"I found…" Her gaze nervously flitted around the room. "Are you sure you want them to hear?" Something about the statement made Alanna's mouth go dry.

"I don't care." She lied.

Alphys sighed and threaded her fingers together. "Magic seemed to be part of the makeup of your hair. It was threaded through along with the solid more human parts." Her eyes darted to Cooper for a moment. "I thought it was perhaps because you were in contact with magic, but Frisk's hair had never shown that property. Without a proper sample group I'm mostly going off of guesswork as to what the rest of humanity is like. But with magic so prevalent in your hair samples...there's a good chance that you have a lot of monster in you." She finished looking at Alanna.

"But...she said that it was probably some great ancestor." Alanna mumbled.

"Alanna…" Cooper was skimming over some papers that were resting on one of Alphys' research tables. "Should we know anything about your ancestry or do you know how you have traces of magic?"

Alanna instantly felt defensive. Like she was being interrogated for something she didn't do. "I didn't even know about you guys till I fell. I expected to die at the bottom of a very large hole with no one ever knowing what happened to me. How was I supposed to know that magic was real and you all were trapped down here? My parents are human, and so are my grandparents and their grandparents. All my family is human." Alanna paced like a caged animal. She wasn't sure when she started the action. "Magic isn't supposed to be real." She added even as she felt her own magic rising through her at her agitation.

Cooper had stopped looking at the papers to watch Alanna as she paced. When her eyes met his he watched for a moment more before turning away from her looking back toward the floor.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to pry too much." He moved away from the table and went to sit in an abandoned chair. Alanna slowed her pacing watching him instead. "This all must be strange, confusing, and…" Cooper paused for a moment the light of his eye dimming significantly. "...horrifying." He finished in a disturbed voice. Alanna stopped completely at the tone of his voice. He shook his head slightly and glanced up to the room.

She let her own gaze drop knowing that it was probably different with her magic so close to the surface. "Don't worry about it." She waved his concern away.

"I didn't think about it like that." Alphys added sounding horrified.

"Poor thing." Even Mettaton sounded subdued. "You think no one would look for you on the surface?" He asked. Of course Mettaton would be the one to continue to pry, Alanna thought only slightly bitter.

"No," she admitted, "maybe the people from my job, but no one close to me. No one knew where I was going either. I lived alone, no pets thank goodness, and no real friends. My parents are who knows where. They might not even hear about me going missing for months and months."

"I'm so sorry." Alphys choked out. Alanna immediately shook her head.

"Don't be. I've had an opportunity only one other human in the world has had." She said looking around them. "I got to meet you all. Learn about what really happened here. I've gotten to see the Underground. I have a chance to right a great wrong of humanity that was lost to time. Even if I don't make it out…" That thought sobered her for a moment. "Even if I don't make it out it would have been worth it." She said with a shrug. "You all have had it much worse than me." She added with a smile thrown at the monsters in the room.

Cooper stood up. "Look at ya being a ray of light in this forsaken world." He laughed a bit as if his own statement amused him. "You're a good person, Bubbles."

"Are you making fun of me?" She asked softly thrown off by his sudden change in mood.

"Believe it or not I am able to give compliments."

Alanna sighed. "Sorry." She mumbled. "I just didn't expect that."

Alphys who had been watching the two of them intently clamped her hands together a wide and secretive smile spreading across her features. The slightest hint of a pink blush dusting the yellow of her cheeks. Mettaton had glanced between the two of them then back at Alphys with a sigh.

"Another one?" He asked in a bored tone. Alphys quickly hushed him looking back to his open panel. He looked amusedly between the two of them and Alanna felt as if she needed to blush though she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just that the sultry robots eyes were on her again.

"I'd ask what you two are talking about, but knowing you Mettaton, I don't want to know." Cooper quipped. Alanna laughed slightly at the comment and over the offended look Mettaton gave him.

"You've hardly met me. I'm not the same monster that I play onscreen."

"No, you're much flirtier." Alanna looked startled when she realized she had spoken aloud. Mettaton, however, gave her a slow and honeysweet smile.

He tilted his head at her the smallest fraction. "Only to some." Alphys giggled at his antics and Alanna blushed again glancing down at her feet. She hated to admit it, but Alanna partially liked the attention Mettaton was giving her. She had been so used to being practically invisible save for when she was on air. In the Underground she was certainly noticed though most of the time it was more of the bad attention than the good. This was different.

"Hold still," Alphys ordered bringing out some tool that made Mettaton flinch before he held perfectly still.

"You wanna get out of here, Alanna?" Alanna looked to Cooper then back to the room at large. Alphys was trying to focus on her work and Mettaton was still focused on Alanna. She glanced back to Cooper.

"Where would we go?" She took a small step toward him.

"I can show you some cool places," Cooper offered already heading toward the door. Alanna hurried after him shooting a glance at Alphys and Mettaton who simply waved her on. Alphys looked excited.

"Okay, I'll come but only if I get to ask you stuff." She said as she reached him. "I don't know much about you."

"That's fine," he said glancing around Hotland. "Ready for some sightseeing?" Cooper held his hand out to her. She watched it for a moment then very slowly put her hand into his meeting his eye as she did so. His mouth lifted in a half smile as her skin touched him the glow in his eyes changing slightly but she wasn't sure what it meant.