The drive took less than an hour, at the speed Undyne went. Holly pulled out her cell phone.

"Who are you calling?" Undyne asked, eyeing Holly from the side.

"Well, we should probably tell the cops what happened," she answered, but Undyne grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Holly… they won't help us. You and I both know that monsters don't have the same rights as humans."

Holly faltered, heart sinking. The police were corrupt; more often than not, they sided with humans before monsters, and a lot of evidence would be covered up. She'd seen it so many times in the media and when monsters spread the word on social websites. She nodded, swallowing hard, and Undyne released her hand.

Soon enough, they came to a quaint little house with blue paneling and white trim. As they pulled up into the driveway, Holly noticed Papyrus's bright red car. Sure enough, he was the one to answer the door after they tromped up the steps. He was beside himself; Holly could see tear tracks down his cheekbones. One look at Undyne and he wordlessly stood aside so she could rush in to find her girlfriend.

He wrung his hands and glanced at Holly, who put a hand on his arm. His bones felt much warmer than she expected. "Everything's gonna be okay," she told him, channeling her big sister instincts. He nodded shakily. Holly patted him reassuringly and went inside.

She was met with the warm scent of cinnamon and sugar and immediately thought of her grandma. She reflexively kicked her shoes off by the door before stepping onto the generic, cream-colored carpet. She noticed a fireplace to the left as she walked in, the hearth neatly swept, photos of several different children framed and set carefully on the mantel. She tore her eyes away, not wanting to intrude on something that felt very private, and stepped further into the house.

Alphys was draped across a large couch, her head in Sans's lap. Sitting in a wooden chair pulled from the nearby dining room table was a large, white monster with soulful eyes. She looked to be patching up Alphys, her white paws near the yellow monster's face—but when Holly looked, the unfamiliar monster wasn't using bandages. Instead, her hands glowed a soft fuchsia, and when she hovered over a cut, it slowly and neatly pulled back together and healed as if it had never been there. Holly could only gape in amazement, but then sobered when Alphys sighed in her unconscious state.

A quick glance at the yellow monster showed much more color in her face, her breathing even and unlabored. Holly breathed a sigh of relief as Undyne stumbled over to her, falling to her knees and sagging across her girlfriend heavily.

Undyne's voice was thick with emotion and she trembled. "Whoever did this to Alphys—whatever coward who waited for her to be alone, I'm gonna find them, I'm gonna f-find them and—"

"Undyne," the white, goat-like monster interrupted sharply, and surprisingly the fish monster quieted. Undyne spoke again a moment later, her tone much more subdued.

"Toriel, thank you so much."

"Of course, Undyne," the monster named Toriel answered in a much gentler tone. Her wine-red eyes moved up to lock onto Holly. "You must be the human I've heard about recently. I am Toriel. However…" Her gaze landed on the couple. "I am very sorry to meet you this way."

Holly hand's fidgeted and picked at her clothing, the calm that she displayed earlier beginning to fall apart now that the emergency was over. "Yeah, me too…"

"Mom?" A young voice sounded from the other side of the living room. Holly looked up to see a gangling human teenager standing in the doorway, carrying platter full of food items.

"Oh, Frisk, just put that down on the table. Alphys can have some when she wakes up." She addressed the fish monster as the teenager obeyed, putting everything down and sitting on the carpet near Sans's feet. Holly glanced up at the skeleton, flinching when she saw what she thought was accusation in his eyes. He looked away before she could tell.

"Undyne, dear, you should eat a little. It'll ease your nerves. You, too, ah…" Toriel paused on Holly.

"Oh, sorry, my name's Holly," she introduced, lowering herself down to sit on the carpeted floor beside Frisk. She spotted a half-eaten pie that looked somewhat enticing. Her stomach snarled—right, she'd skipped dinner at Papyrus's. She tried to cut herself a piece, but realized she couldn't because her hands were shaking. The teen stopped her, taking the pie cutter away.

"I'll get it for you," Frisk offered softly, giving her a sad smile. Holly released a breath, giving them a grateful look.

"Thanks."

Under normal circumstances, Holly would be firing questions at Frisk, but at the moment, she simply didn't have the energy. There was silence as Frisk cut a piece of their adoptive mother's pie, put it onto a small plate, and handed it over to Holly.

Holly took it mechanically and stared down at it, her vision suddenly hot and blurry.

Alphys could have died. The fact that neither she nor Undyne had been there to protect her, that they hadn't insisted she come with them to Papyrus''s—Her hands trembled so badly she nearly dropped her plate—

A pair of arms wrapped around her middle, and Holly's vision was full of soft, brown hair. Frisk was hugging her, trying to give her comfort. Holly released the breath she was holding and squeezed the teenager tightly, tears burning her eyes. 'Frisk's hair smells nice,' she thought offhandedly.

"S-sorry, I just…"

"It's okay. We're all scared, too," Frisk murmured in a sweet voice. Holly's lip quivered. Not ten minutes of knowing the kid, and already she was attached to them. Holly let herself cry for a few more minutes before a large hand covered the top of her head. She looked up to see the upside down face of Papyrus smiling down at her.

"You have had a very tiring day, human. Toriel offered to let us stay… perhaps one more person, please, Miss Toriel?" he asked, glancing up at the goat monster. She smiled warmly.

Holly winced. "Oh, n-no, I wouldn't want to impose, and plus I have work tomorrow…" she stammered half-heartedly. The truth was, she planned on calling out in the morning. There was no way she could concentrate on work after tonight—and she doubted that she would get enough sleep for tomorrow's shift, anyway.

"Nonsense," Toriel dismissed. "Any friend of the girls is a friend of mine," she said, giving Alphys and Undyne a fond look. Holly thought it strange that she referred to everyone as if they were her own children, but it was endearing.

Holly sighed, sagging with relief. She honestly didn't want to be alone tonight. "Well… thank you. Really."

Another thought crossed her mind and she voiced it aloud. "Undyne, you two are gonna need a place to stay. You can crash at my place for a while, it's the same distance to your work that way. I think my couch has a pullout bed, though it's not that great, honestly…"

Undyne's face was a mix of confusion, relief, and hesitancy. "I… you would do that for us? After…?" She trailed off. Papyrus glanced between the two of them, confused and worried. Holly frowned.

"I said you were always welcome, Undyne. Did you not believe me?" she snapped. Undyne looked stunned, but then a big, watery smile spread across her face.

"…Guess I do now."

Sans was staring at Holly raptly, brows knitted. He seemed unsure of what to make of her.

"Well, then," Toriel said, addressing the room. "We'll need to make sleeping arrangements. Sans, are you and Papyrus staying the night?"

The shorter skeleton nodded. "Yeah. Kinda wanna make sure Alph is okay."

"All right. Do you two mind sleeping on the couches? I want to give Undyne and Alphys the guest bedroom," Toriel asked. The brothers both nodded an affirmative.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Of course!"

"Frisk, you can sleep with me tonight," she told her adoptive child, who groaned but looked secretly pleased. Holly couldn't blame them; Toriel looked soft and fluffy. It was probably like cuddling a really big cat.

"Holly, you can take Frisk's room. She won't mess with anything in there, I promise," she added before her child could retort. Frisk pushed out a bottom lip, then turned to the other human. They pointed two fingers at her narrowed eyes, then turned them towards Holly.

Holly blinked, and then snorted. "I'm honestly just gonna hang out on my cell phone and crash out, Frisk," she reassured the teen.

"Hmm, okay," Frisk relented. Their frown then curled into a mischievous grin, their brown eyes flicking across Holly from top to bottom. "Nice PJ's, by the way."

Holly looked down at herself, eyes widening. She'd forgotten that she had changed into her leopard-print pajama set back at the apartment, and now she was in a room full of monsters—some of which she hadn't met yet. Her face flushed crimson. "W-well! I didn't know this was gonna happen," she retorted.

Frisk snickered mercilessly.

The stars had long been out by the time they all finally made their way to bed. The mood was somber; even Papyrus seemed more pensive than usual as he crawled onto the larger couch. Holly watched as Sans took a seat on the arm of the couch to face his brother, waiting for the taller skeleton to settle in.

"Okay, Sans, I'm ready for tonight's bedtime story!" Papyrus announced, blanket tucked under his chin. Holly couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Sans still told his kid brother stories to put him to sleep at night? It seemed a little childish, but… somehow, it fit them.

The older skeleton flicked his eyes in her direction, raising a brow at her. She blushed and averted her eyes, ducking into Frisk's room. Right, privacy was difficult to come by when the house was so crowded, though somehow she doubted Sans would have minded if any of the monsters watched. Holly was the stranger. She felt her lips turn down at the thought, even as she rationalized that his reaction was fair. He'd only met her today, and he seemed the type of person to warm up slowly to new people. She stepped into the bedroom nearest to the living room, remembering where it was from when Toriel showed her.

Holly looked around Frisk's room, smiling a little to herself. It was almost like a museum of odds and ends—an old ice cream wrapper stuck out of one of Frisk's drawers; a pair of beat-up ballet shoes hung from a plastic wall hang. Frisk's dresser had several photos of herself, looking younger, with each of the monsters. One of them was someone Holly hadn't seen, but it looked like a bigger, blonde-bearded version of Toriel. In another photo, Frisk was turned backwards, sticking their tongue out over their shoulder, while a familiar robot-man struck a pose on Frisk's other side.

'Mettaton,' Holly realized. The robot-monster had become something of a celebrity in the past few years after the monsters had surfaced. He ran a talk show, though it was honestly more of an 'anything goes' sort of thing than a full-fledged talk show.

A slightly ajar window with gauzy curtains allowed a breeze to flow through. Holly decided she's leave the window cracked open that little bit, seeing as the fresh air felt nice.

She listened to Sans's voice carry down the hallway, repeating a simple story from a kid's book she recognized. She remembered that she'd tried to get a hold of Michelle earlier on Skype, and pulled her cell phone out to dial her sister's number.

The line rang a few times until an automated voice informed her that the caller was not available, and to leave a message. Holly took a deep breath.

"Hey, Michelle, it's Holly. I know you've been super busy lately, but uh… I miss talking to ya," she began. Leaving one-sided voicemails was always awkward. "I made some new friends and they're really… really great, Mish. I wanna tell you all about 'em and hear about your new place and everything, so, uh, call me back soon? Love you. Sweet dreams."

She turned the singular lamp sitting on Frisk's nightstand off before peeling back the sheets and sliding in. She folded her hands over her abdomen and stared up at the ceiling. It was covered in glow-in-the-dark stars and planets. Holly remembered wanting those glow-in-the-dark decals in her room when she was Frisk's age, though she dared not ask her mother to buy them. Such a small indulgence was simply not worth all the yelling that would ensue as a result of asking for something so trivial.

Her mind settled back on Alphys, worry twisting her stomach into knots. Holly knew by now that Alphys would physically be okay. Mentally, the monster likely had a long road ahead, but for now… Alphys was alive. Safe. Holly thought of how frail the shy, nerdy monster had looked in Undyne's arms. She hadn't considered that monsters were just as easily killed as humans, but now she was forced to accept this fact. Alphys's attackers only had to have the intent to kill, and she would've been gone.

A choked noise escaped her throat and she realized that tears had slid down the sides of her face and into her hair. She sniffed noisily and dabbed her nose with the sleeve of her pajamas, not wanting to make a mess all over Frisk's sheets. She blinked through her blurred vision to glance at the digital alarm clock Frisk had on the nightstand.

1:04 AM. Ah. So she'd been staring up at the ceiling for far longer than she'd thought. Holly groaned and rolled onto her side. She was exhausted.

But as the minutes ticked by, she came no closer to unconsciousness. She was so tired, but not sleepy; her buzzing mind kept her awake.

A dark shape flickered across the faint moonlight and she shot up in alarm.

"Whoa, hey, just me," came San's quiet baritone. Holly squinted into the darkness and saw two pinpricks of light, realizing she was seeing his eyes staring right back at her. Monsters were definitely something to get used to.

"Sans? Is anything wrong?" she whispered, worried that Alphys might have gotten worse during the night.

"Nah. Everything's fine. I, uh, heard …" He trailed off, sounding reluctant to finish the sentence.

Oh, right. She'd had been crying and sniffling. She flushed and didn't say anything, but moved to turn on the light.

Sans was just in a white tee and his basketball shorts, and a pair of socks that seemed to barely stay on his feet without the flesh humans had to keep them situated. He squinted into the light for a few seconds, seeming annoyed by it.

"I couldn't sleep," he admitted. He edged forward, but hesitated and stayed where he was.

Holly scooted over in the bed to give him space to sit. Sans gave her an odd look but shuffled over, sitting far enough away to not risk accidentally touching her.

"Do you often have sleepless nights?" Holly asked softly. Sans gave her a sidelong look.

"Used to. It's not so bad recently, though. Just when…" he trailed off and she nodded in understanding. Just when my friends are attacked in their own home.

"Are you and Alphys close?" she asked before her tired brain could filter her speech.

Sans shifted next to her, making the bed creak under his weight. "It's sorta… complicated," he hedged. Holly's face reddened.

"O-oh, you guys were…?" she squeaked. Sans looked over at her and noticed the expression, and he waved his hands at her frantically.

"Oh, nothin' like that!" His natural grin thinned. "We were just acquaintances way back when. But Undyne and Papyrus are close, and now she's datin' Alphys, so…" He kicked his feet at the edge of Frisk's bed. Holly was reminded of a child.

"Ah."

He let his gaze fall away from her and heaved a sigh with his nonexistent lungs. "Hey, uh, I came in here because I wanted to clear a few things up."

She tensed, remembering what happened the last time he wanted to make something clear.

"Yeah, I know, I freaked you out earlier. 'm not gonna do anything to ya." He gave her a skeleton wink. "Unless you make me."

Holly couldn't really find it in herself to laugh at this, because now she was unnerved that he'd pinpointed her thoughts exactly. She licked her lips.

Sans turned away. "Listen. Monsters don't have it easy up here. What happened to Alph…" He closed his eyes, the space between his brows drawing together. "Stuff like this has happened before. To a lot of us." He looked over at her, his eye sockets empty; this time, the gesture didn't seem to be threatening. "Some didn't make it."

Holly's chest tightened.

"Toriel thinks we should forgive those humans. The king's told us not to retaliate, sayin' it'll only make things worse." His voice had an edge to it, as if he was frustrated. Holly couldn't really blame him. She'd wanted so badly to report those people. To punish them for what they'd done. But it was not so simple.

She frowned, fisting the comforter between white-knuckled fingers. If only they could just find the perpetrators themselves—then, maybe, they could just make those people vanish without a trace.

But… Toriel the king were right. Violence beget violence, and attacking someone was really not something Holly would ever be able to bring herself to do.

But… Alphys could have died. What was Holly supposed to do to keep her friends safe, if not deal with the threat?

A hand on her arm brought her back to the present. She jumped, startled at the touch, and she saw Sans flinch back as if burned.

"Sorry, I didn't mean… you were starin' out into space," he apologized. He brought a hand to his own cheekbone. "You… you got a li'l somethin' there, kid."

She mirrored his movement and wiped away the tears. "O-oh. Thanks."

There was an awkward silence that stretched between them. Sans kept looking over as if to say something, but stopped himself several times before actually speaking.

"Listen… When I first heard about Alph, I went straight to blamin' you for it."

Holly's head shot up. She opened her mouth to retort, but Sans held up a hand to stop her.

"I thought it had to be related to you somehow. You makin' friends with them, only for an attack to happen right after..." His hand lowered. "I thought of all the ways you coulda been behind it." His grin was coming surprisingly close to being a grimace. "But. I saw how you reacted to seein' Alph all banged up. And how ya treated everyone, like Frisk." His gaze softened. "…Like my brother. And then I thought about somethin' Pap said once. About how we shouldn't judge any humans before getting' to know 'em." He shrugged. "So I'm not gonna do that."

Holly wasn't sure how to react. "Okay…?"

His eyes slid to the side. "It just means I'm gonna try n' be open-minded about you."

Holly pursed her lips. This was awfully arrogant, assuming that his opinion meant so much. And yet… she could sense that Sans was important, that he was like the glue that held everyone together. The behind-the-scenes stage manager. So she stuck her hand out to shake on it.

"I appreciate it, Sans."

She was confused by the flash of mischief across his features until she heard the whoopee cushion sound as their hands met. Her face fell flat.

"…I take it back."

He just laughed at her.

A/N: Thanks to my friend, Akinai, for being the beta reader again! You're a big help!