The ride to the lab was quiet, save the music softly playing on the radio. Though you had been gone for months, a lot of the popular music sounded the same as it had before Christmas. Sans sat beside you in the rear passenger seat of Alphys' white Beetle while Undyne sat in front.

"I-I hope you don't mind the c-clutter when we get there." Alphys said with a small laugh. "I've been busy with new energy source experiments, and Mettaton and Undyne are never home to help me spiffy up."

"I tried to sort the blueprints, but the paper some of them are written on is kinda delicate." Undyne sighed. "Too delicate for me, anyways."

"I-it's okay, Undyne."

"So, if you're going to be testing my magic," you said, watching the number of houses passed slowly dwindle down, "wouldn't the earthquakes damage your home?"

"I h-have a testing field we can use! That's why Sans is coming along- if things go wrong, he can use his magic to control the impact."

"Yeah, heh, I'm a regular shock absorber." Sans smiled at you from his seat, and you smiled back, feeling reassured. Something else, however, was bothering you.

"Sans," you spoke quietly, "why was Frisk... Hiding from me?"

His eyes flickered out for a second before he blinked and shrugged casually, with his trademark smile. "Kiddo was s'posed to be in school. Guess she just didn't wanna get caught."

You arrived at a house far off into the country, though its design was smooth, industrial, and white. Alphys entered a code on her phone which opened the gates for the vehicle before pulling into the garage on the right side of the home. You stepped out and followed the scientist to the rest of the home, and you were brought to a large, open concept living space with white couches and a sleek black coffee table. The windows had been tinted outside, and you could see they reached from the floor to the ceiling and let in a natural, bright light form the sun outside.

"This is incredible." You breathed.

"Th-thank you." Alphys said with a smile. "Most of the design was Mettaton's idea, but I built the lab downstairs myself. Now, we can head down-"

"Not so fast, Alphy!~" A familiar voice the commanded attention filled the living space and a robotic figure began to descend the stairs near the kitchen. Mettaton's eyes were casually on his phone before he looked over to you and the others with a devilish smirk. "I've received a very important message from the queen herself, that today is a very important day."

"H-huh?" Alphys fumbled for her phone and began swiping furiously. "I-I don't remember h-her mentioning today w-was a holiday.."

"Oh, dear Alphy, don't you know? Today is Kalia's birthday!"

"It's not a big deal, Mettaton." You said, waving your hand dismissively. "I haven't bothered to celebrate my birthday in years, and we have more important-"

"NONSENSE!" Mettaton rushed to you, pulling you from the others quickly and making his way to the stairs. "Everyone should celebrate a day like this! Why, imagine if no one celebrated the day I was brought to the world! How dull the world would be!"

"Jeez!" Undyne groaned. "Weren't you just on TV? Why are you even home right now?"

"When I got the queen's message, I sent my assistant to take over for me while I rushed home; Anyone can interview a basket of lost puppies, but celebrating a birthday is a difficult talent!"

"You really think this can wait, Al?" Undyne whispered.

"Sh-she hasn't had any episodes, yet." Alphys whimpered back. "S-so maybe if we stay clear of the city..."

Mettaton began pushing you up the stairs and you looked at Sans for help, but he only shrugged and smiled. You soon found yourself in what looked like a beauty salon, decorated with more sequins and hues of purple and pink than what would be socially appropriate. There were outfits lining the length of one side of the room, and shelves of shoes and make-up and accessories. Most of the products that you could read had Mettaton's name on them, and some of the tags on the clothes were of the same brand.

"Have a seat, dear!" Mettaton didn't give you much of a choice as he planted you in front of a mirror. "We've got some serious work to do, if we're going to dinner and shopping!"

You faced the mirror. Your eyes looked tired, and your hair matched, frizzy and tangled from the lack of a brush after a shower. You could see the tip of a scar peeking out from the collar of your t-shirt. You looked down at your hands, where the scars were the darkest and a wave of humiliation swept through your body and you pulled the sleeves of your shirt down. Mettaton placed a few plastic totes on the vanity before catching your gaze.

"Something wrong, dear?" He asked, eyeing your fidgeting hands.

"I usually wear gloves." You muttered.

"I see." The flair in Mettaton's voice was gone, and he took a seat next to you. "You know, darling, I haven't heard Sans or anyone else even mention your scars."

"I hide them."

Mettaton leaned forward and looked at your arms, then gently took them into his own, metal hands. "I meant I was told about you and Sans' return from wherever you were kept. Toriel and Sans spent days healing you to the best of their abilities, from what Alphys had described. We all stayed with you through the worst of it." You looked at Mettaton and he smiled warmly at you. "Did they tell you that?"

"I'm sure they would have; I only woke up this morning."

"Well, make sure you understand one thing, darling: this eccentric family loves you, even seeing all of your scars. If you ask me, I'd say they are something to admire."

"I appreciate the pep talk, Mettaton, but these scars aren't something to be proud of. They just show how weak I am; how, even though I was born with these powers, I can't use them without destroying myself."

Mettaton smiled even wider. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Your magic isn't your greatest power, Kalia dear. Your power comes from your defiant spirit. You're a real go-getter, like me." He gracefully had put your hands back onto your lap to stand and gesture to himself with a proud smile.

You paused to look at Mettaton before a smile reached your face. He giggled and brought out a hairbrush, taking a chunk of hair in his hands and spraying it with something that smelled like roses and sandalwood.

"Will you pick some for me?" Daniel asked, his voice hoarse from coughing all through the night.

You nodded with as genuine of a smile as you could muster. "Of course, Danny. I'll grab a bunch and we can press the petals for a bookmark."

"That sounds wonderful." He whispered before falling back asleep. You watched him rest, feeling somewhat tired yourself, before turning your head to see Mettaton-

"Something wrong dear?" He looked at you, as confused as you were.

"H-huh?" You turned back around to the bed and-

Huh? but it was...

The vanity that replaced the bed had arrangements of foundation, eyeshadows, and lip colors. Mettaton had stopped brushing your hair for a moment to watch you gaze at it before slowly returning to his work. There was a knock on the door and Sans peeked inside.

"Hey, uh, I had a funny feeling I should come up here and check on you." He wandered over to the chair to your left and sat down. "Namely, a shaking feeling?"

"Sorry." You mumbled, still unsure of where your mind had gone a moment earlier. "Guess it's getting a little worse."

"Am I missing something?" Mettaton asked, his tone giving away his irritation.

"Better put your skills into high gear, Robo-shop." Sans replied, leaning lazily into the chair. "We've gotta get this ball rolling."

"Alright, then!" A light flickered behind his right bang, and soon his hands were quickly at work on your messy do, clipping dead ends and lightly pulling knots away in a flash. Soon, you barely recognized the head of hair you had abused for years of factory work tied tight in a messy bun.

"You sure all of this stuff is necessary?" Sans asked, picking up a bottle of concealer in his hands before tossing it away. "You're sort of just messing with perfection, here."

"Very cute," Mettaton said, not breaking stride, "but I've been waiting to try my hand at her hair since I met her. Besides, I'm not 'messing' with anything; Every beautiful girl deserves a pampering every now and again, and Kalia is long overdue." He stretched an arm elaborately towards the far wall. "If you don't like it, there's the door, darling."

"You both are too much." You groaned, unable to hide your blush. You didn't mind the 'pampering', considering the damage done to your hair would have cost a fortune at a salon equalling the talent and machine-like precision of Mettaton. You wondered how you would look with different hair... Maybe shorter, like a pixie cut. You quickly shook the idea away from your mind- a change like that would be just too drastic... For now, anyways.

When he finished with your hair, you barely had time to look at it before he spun you around and gazed at every corner of your face. You stared back, awkward and not knowing where to put your own gaze. "Hmm." He took your face into his hands, as though inspecting fine chine before it was to be painted. "Perhaps... Pink?"

"Blue!" Alphys' voice barked behind the door, before you heard the sound of desperate scrambling away from it. You groused until you heard Mettaton make a tutting noise.

"Honestly, that little reptile and her fantasies." He mused. "No, I'm thinking of a palette that's a little more... Sophisticated."

Mettaton went to work, first applying a cream on your face and waiting before adding a light powder. Then, he brought out a few pencils in neutral shades, making thick marks below your cheekbones and along your eyes and forehead. Then, an ovular sponge was dabbed meticulously along the lines- blurring them out, you imagined- and a small amount of a rose-taupe was smudged onto your cheeks, as well. You couldn't see what he added to your eyes, but one of the products was most definitely a liquid liner, then a lip color that was far darker than anything you would have bought yourself. He finished his work with a swab of his finger across your eyebrows, and something light that he sprayed on your face, before he tooka step back, hand on his chin, with a triumphant grin.

"My, my, my." He exhaled, tapping a finger to his cheek in rythym with his words. "I think I've outdone myself, here. What do you think, Sansy?~"

Mettaton approached you and turned the chair to face him, and the lights of Sans' eyes grew large and his mouth- usually sealed in a lazy smile- fell agape. You felt nervous at his reaction, and looked warily into the mirror. "Is it bad-?"

The girl in the mirror looked fresh out of a movie; shining, luscious hair that fell gracefully past the shoulders and framed her face in (h/c) waves. Long eyelashes framed eyes that pierced the mirror with an intense gaze, accentuated with liner curved into a sharp wing tip toward your outer brow, with dark, burgundy lips parted in surprise at your stare. She was beautiful.

But... was it you?

"Now, an outfit to match!" Mettaton looked around at his large selection of clothing before pulling out some jeans and a flowey blouse. He threw them onto your lap before grabbing Sans and rushing to the door.

"I don't see why I have to leave." Sans said, giving you a dazed grin and wink.

"You are not defiling my studio or my hard work with whatever you have on your horny mind." Mettaton retorted, pulling the door shut with both of them on the other side.

You took a moment to breathe. The day so far had been so hectic, with Toriel pushing the four of you out the door and then agreeing to using the journal.

The journal was still with Sans, which made you fell more reassured, but the idea of using it to trigger memories put you on edge. You weren't just thinking of things from before, and the sudden hallucination from earlier proved that.

You hurried into the new clothes and adjusted the shirt, which was a button-down blouse in soft pink with watercolor flowers floating down and collecting on the bottom left hem. It was an outfit you wouldn't dream of buying, considering how much it cost, but wearing it, you could tell he chose the outfit far ahead of time.

With a sigh you turned to the door and pulled the handle, opening the room to a ray of sunlight and an empty staircase. The downstairs was unusually quiet, and you grew a little nervous. "Maybe they're all in the basement, already." You assured yourself, descending the stairs to the kitchen and-

"SURPRISE!"

You jumped back, nearly falling onto the stairs, to everyone jumping up from behind the couch- Papyrus overexcitedly falling forward onto its cushions. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They all cheered, smiling faces and waving hands abound, and you let your heart return to a normal rate before moving.

"You're all here?" You gasped, holding your chest and smiling.

"Well, child, we weren't going to let your birthday come and go without a cake and a party!" Toriel said, reaching her hands out that held the traditional pastry. It was a two-layer, white, round cake, adorned with sparkling sugar roses and vines made from fresh cream frosting. "I hope you don't mind vanilla; we didn't have time to buy chocolate at the store."

"Vanilla is perfect." You said, smiling at your name delicately signed in cursive on the top.

"A l-little celebration before we get started, right?" Alphys grinned. Toriel brought the cake into the kitchen, setting it on the counter and taking a large knife from Undyne to cut with. She set it beside the cake, then took a candle from her purse and pushed it into the center of the cake, lighting it with her magic.

"Ready everyone?" She asked the crowd, and you heard them all take a prepatory breath.

"Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday, dear (Y/n),

Happy Birthday to you!"

You smiled at the little cake and looked up at your mother. "He can have some too, right?" You asked.

"If he's feeling better, then he'll have some cake." She replied with a soft smile. She seemed more tired than usual, but between preparing this small party and taking care of him you weren't surprised. "Now, (y/n), why don't you pick which slice you would like?"

You looked back down at the cake, each of the little dollops of icing enticing your sweet tooth. Finally, after much of an internal debate, you had decided.

"I'll have-"

"Kalia!"

You blinked, and saw everyone had a firm hold on the counter- aside from Undyne, who was tightly gripping your shoulders and staring at you.

"Fuckin' Christ." She sighed, letting off a bit and still looking into your eyes. "That was close."

Everyone seemed relieved, and it only took a moment before you realized what had likely happened. "The earthquakes happened again, didn't they?"

Undyne's eyes widened. "Kal, you almost teleported."

"I what??"

"WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO LEAVE YOUR PARTY, HUMAN? YOUR PARTY IS RIGHT HERE!"

"Hey, Kalia, are you there?"

Something began to close in on you, and your vision began to grow dark.

"Kalia?"

"Oh, dear- Undyne, wait-"

"Someone

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