As usual, Alphys got up after Undyne had left home and went straight to the echo flower. She expected the usual sweet message, but this particular morning what she got was :

"Papyrus found Valari outside while on patrol! She escaped the shelter all by herself! I put her in the guest room."

The lizard woman rushed in there to find the human girl sleeping in the bed. What was Alphys supposed to do now? She couldn't just keep a child there, could she? She probably should bring her back to the shelter, but Valari visibly didn't want to stay there and…

Before the monster could decide what to do, the human girl opened her eyes and sat in the bed. She yawned, rubbed her eyes and waved at Alphys. The latter automatically waved back, then ran to her lab.

When the scientist got out of her lab, she found Valari in the kitchen, munching on dry cereals in a bowl. Another bowl and the cereal box were set on the table in front of her.

The child interrupted her eating to sneeze. Alphys handed her the glasses she was holding ; the human shot her a quizzical look, then took them. She examined them for a few seconds before putting them on.

"D-does it work?" the lizard asked. "I put a v-voice recognition program and-and a m-miniaturised projector in them."

The girl's face lit up when she saw the monster's speech being translated into written words inside the lenses of the glasses. She nodded, smiling.

"G-Good!" said Alphys as she sat in front of her unexpected guest. "So, hum… you still want t-to get adopted by monsters?"

Valari nodded again, this time more firmly.

"I… I'm s-sorry Valari but… We're not even citizens. Humans are b-barely starting to officially r-recognise us as people! I mean… monsters c-can't… Even Frisk still hasn't actually, hum, b-been officially adopted according t-to your human laws, I th-think? I mean, everyone g-goes along and calls them Dreemurr but I'm not sure if- Wait I-I better ask Toriel about it! Hang on."

Alphys took out her phone and wrote the following text :

"Hi! For no reason in particular… what's the state of Frisk's adoption right now? I mean, by human laws?"

As soon as she hit "send", she heard Valari sneeze again and sniffle loudly.

"Oh no", said the lizard monster. "D-did you c-catch a cold?"

The child sniffled again. Alphys sent a second text to Toriel :

"Also what do you do when a human is sick? I mean, I've read a few things but what do YOU do?"

The response arrived quickly after that :

"Alphys, those are very specific questions. What is happening? Should I come over?"

Alphys dropped her phone on the table and hid her face behind her hands. How was she supposed to reply to that?

When Undyne came back home from her morning shift, she was surprised to find Toriel walking to the front door as well, holding a plastic bag.

"I received strange texts from Alphys and decided I should check what is going on", the boss monster explained when asked, "but I could not possibly abandon my students so I waited for lunch break."

The fish opened the door, followed by her guest.

"Alphy?" Undyne called.

She found her girlfriend in the guest room with Valari. The latter was sitting criss-cross on the bed while doodling on a notebook and Alphys was putting a couple more tissue boxes on the bedside table.

"Who are you?" Toriel asked the human. "And what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school? Are you all right, my child?"

Valari raised her head when text appeared on the inside of her glasses. Alphys answered for her and briefly explained the situation while the boss monster gave the child some cold medicine she had picked up on the way there.

Once the explanation was done, the child turned a new page in the notebook and wrote "sorry" all over it.

"It is not your fault if things are more complicated than you thought, my child", Toriel reassured her. "Is there any way to contact the shelter you were in? They must be very worried about you. They need to know you are found."

Valari ripped the page out and wrote on its other side :

"Do I have to leave now?"

"You probably should get better first", Toriel decided.

The human girl nodded and sniffled loudly. Alphys lightly tapped her shoulder to get her attention, then handed her a tissue.

"And if you decide to return to the shelter after that, we'll visit you as often as you'll like!", Undyne exclaimed. "Right, girls?"

The other monster women agreed. The child smiled. Ok, things were not so simple, but they were still better than what she was used to. These women she barely knew were already kinder to her than her parents ever were.