Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Faint rays of light reflect off of glistening gemstones hanging far, far above the large ditch that they found themselves in, casting a dazzling light onto their face. Their eyes groggily opened, a groan escaping their lips as their eyes lazily looked around the patch of sunflowers they had landed in, surrounded by a small pool of water. A horrible stinging pain ran through most of their body, and most noticeably, their head. Their body felt twisted, and their leg definitely wasn’t supposed to be where it was currently. Their eyes trailed downwards towards the sticky, red substance that seemed to be splattered across their clothes, flowing from their head. 

That was blood, their blood.

Around them laid the remains of some kind of… Boat? How did they even end up here? They couldn’t remember. Even more worryingly, they realized they couldn’t even remember their name. Or much of anything about who they were.

“Howdy! Boy, now that’s a surprise. I guess this time you just got unlucky, huh.” An overly-chipper voice spoke, clearly coming from nearby.

“Who…?” They weakly mumbled, attempting to push themselves upwards only for the numb pain they felt in their head to develop into a splitting headache, dizziness overwhelming them as they fell back down. Their blurry vision however, managed to focus on a… Flower? A talking flower, right ahead of them?

“Boy, you’re MANGLED. Like, really mangled! I never expected humans could take so much damage! You always go down so quick from monsters’n stuff, but I guess they were just attacking your soul or whatever. Oh well, I’d RESET now but… Eh, I think it’d be more fun to just watch ya bleed out. ‘Cause you’re DEFINITELY gonna die here- Oh boy, imagine Martlet’s reaction when she finds your body!” The smile on the flower's face grew wider, their chipper, lighthearted tone completely juxtaposing their words.

They were going to die. No. They couldn’t, not yet. Not without- Without… What was it they wanted? They could feel it deep inside them, the burning desire to do… Something. To set something right, a problem that they were supposed to solve. And Marlet, that name sent another jolt of pain through their head, as their breathing grew more ragged.

“No- No… I can’t- I…” They wheezed, trying once again to push themselves to their feet, their vision growing even hazier as the flower's grin only grew more and more amused.

“Well, this is just sad to wa-” The flower suddenly paused, diving into the dirt as the sound of flapping wings approached.

“Clover! Clover?! Oh my gosh, Clover, say something- Are you alright?!” An extremely worried voice called out, just as they fell right back to the ground. 

They summoned the strength to push themselves onto their back with their bruised and swollen hand, revealing that the voice was coming from what looked to be some kind of… Giant blue bird. That’s a weird sight. Was their first immediate thought, before they realized… Maybe it wasn’t? They couldn’t really remember what /was/ normal. And that name, “Clover”. It was enough to make their headache even worse, before something snapped back into place. It was them- They were Clover, and the bird was…

“Martlet…? What’s- Uh, going on…? Where… Am I?” Clover weakly croaked out, at this point staying awake was a battle, they felt absolutely horrid/ Remembering both their own name and Martlets seemingly making things worse.

“Oh my gosh- Oh my gosh, hold on Clover, I’ll figure something out!” Marlet worriedly shouted, scooping them up in her wings, cradling them protectively. This was enough enough to put Clover at ease, and as soon as they realized they were in safe hands- They passed out.

Martlet was panicking. No, panicking was an understatement to the current emotional turmoil she was in.

“Oh my gosh- Oh my gosh, this is all my fault!” She worriedly lamented as she paced back and forth outside of her once empty guest bedroom, now occupied by a severely injured human child.
She flipped through her royal guard handbook, her eyes wide as she poured over any medical advice it could offer her, specifically pertaining to humans. She had already bandaged most of Clovers bleeding wounds, although their head-injury alongside their clearly broken leg was far out of her medical experience, which mostly consisted of treating sore thumbs and splinters. She continued to flip through her handbook, stopping on a completely random page, the larger than usual text catching her eye for a moment.

She paused as she re-read a very important part of her handbook. 

“Any humans the royal guard encountered must be captured, or killed, and brought to king Asgore so their SOUL may be used to free the underground.” Martlet’s frown deepened, as she slunk back against the wall, dropping her handbook to the side, “As if I don’t know that already- I’m-I’m basically committing treason by keeping Clover here- Oh my god, I am committing treason!”

“But- If I take them to Asgore…” She trailed off, looking over at the closed door, and let out a long sigh.

“They’re just a kid… They looked so lost and confused, and- I-I… I was going to help them. I was supposed to help them, and now because of me they’re almost dead!” She buried her beak into her legs, groaning as she wondered aloud what to do next.

“I’ll… I’ll make this right, I’ll fix them up, and THEN we’ll go to Asgore!” She hesitated for a moment, before finding the resolve to make the valiant choice of fixing her mistake, and then taking the human to Asgore. They were a good human, and just a kid! 

She was sure Asgore would see reason and let them leave the underground, right…?

“Hey- Hey, uhm… A-Are you feeling better, I made you… Soup!” Martlet's nervous, yet still enthusiastic voice awoke Clover from their slumber. They felt terrible, although significantly less terrible than they did when they were on a patch of sunflowers bleeding to death. They also felt warm and cozy, discovering they had been tucked into a bed. Their head still hurt, and they felt weak. Although hunger overpowered that weakness. Clover grabbed the bowl offered to them and began slurping up the soup, careful not to spill any.

Their eyes darted around the room they found themselves in, it was spacious, surprisingly so. The bed they were laying in was extremely comfy, and for some reason, they felt like it was far better than what they were used to. Was it? They couldn’t remember what they were used to, what if this was just their bed? Although, everything around them felt… Luxurious, despite the fact Clover had no frame of reference of what they were used to. It was just a gut feeling. Their gut was also feeling full, they let out a small burp after finishing the soup. Clover looked over at the bird-woman, Martlet, who was leaning over (their?) bed.

“Clover…? Do you uh- You feel better, right? I fixed up all of your wounds! Or at least- I think I did… Uhm, I also just sorta sat around outside your room feeling like garbage, before I realised “Hey, Martlet!, that kid’s totally gonna get hungry in there!”. So I made you soup!” Martlet seemed on edge, probably because she was worried about Clover. They knew each other somehow, right? She even said this was “Their room”. Before Clover could begin to ruminate on why or how they knew each other, they noticed their right leg, uncovered by the blanket and wrapped in thick bandages. It stung a lot, and so did the rest of their body, all of which was covered in varying degrees of bandages, although the hot-spots definitely seemed to be their head and leg.

“I feel… Better. Yeah.” They croaked out, giving a brief nod with their still pulsing head. They wanted to go back to sleep already… Being awake was apparently now exhausting, they were pretty sure that wasn’t normal. Their eyes began to droop, and Martlet took notice.

“Okay, well uhm… Just get some rest! I’m sure everything’s gonna be a-okay if you’re feeling better!” She enthusiastically exclaimed with a worried smile. She definitely was trying to convince herself rather than Clover.

A part of Clover felt good, really good. It was a familiar yet odd feeling, someone really, truly caring for them. They must’ve known Martlet for ages, was she their… Family? The word sent a spiral of thoughts through Clovers head, as they began to drift off to sleep, of mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, their meaning all known to them, yet they couldn’t remember any of their family- And by all means, they should have SOME family. Martlet must be a part of their family, that made sense. It made total sense, in their sleepy mind, as they drifted off into a slumber again.

Martlet took a deep breath in as she stepped outside into Snowden Forest, turning around to double-check if she had locked her front door. Her backpack was firmly strapped to her back. She just had to play it cool, play it super cool. Be relaxed, way more relaxed than she had ever been in her life, and nobody would suspect that she’s harboring a critically injured human in her home and committing treason against the king!

“Should be simple!” She exclaimed aloud, a smile forced onto her beak. She entered a small squat, before launching herself upwards with a flap of her wings, flying towards town. She had a few things to pick up for Clover, mostly more food, and definitely some new clothes. Their old ones weren’t looking too good after their fall. Oh, and she should REALLY check out some medical books from the library.

She landed in the center of Snowden Town, letting out an exasperated sigh of relief before continuing onwards to her destination, a small grocery store just on the outskirts of town. Martlet’s eyes were wide as she scanned the crowd for anyone looking her way, trying her best to act SUPER casual. 

…Maybe they already knew and were just waiting for Undyne to arrive and fill her full of spears like she was some novelty themed pin cusho-

“Hello Martlet of the royal guard!” A very loud voice shouted, causing the bird-woman to let out a shriek of terror, backpedaling away from the source before noticing who had startled her.

“Oh. Uh- Hello… Papyrus, right?.” Martlet’s eyes were wide with anxiety, as she once again forced a smile onto her beak. She knew about this guy, apparently he and his brother had recently moved into town.

“Indeed. Although you may refer to me as the GREAT Papyrus, Papyrus also works. Now, let’s get down to the real spaghetti of this conversion, Martlett. Your traps!” Papyrus’s ever-present smile seemed to grow wider, as he leaned towards the very worried bird.

“M-My traps? Y-You mean my puzzles?” Martlet’s voice trembled with fear, she had forgot to reset them after Clover completed them, oh god, did he know the human set them all off, that she was the last person seen with-

“They’re incredible! I have to say, you’ve INSPIRED me to begin making my own! In fact, I even managed to get a /special training course/ with none other than the captain of the royal guard herself, Undyne! So watch out, Miss Martlet- You’ve got competition in this town, Nyeheh!” Papyrus’s voice brimmed with confidence, pointing two finger-guns at Martlet as he began to back away, still maintaining eye-contact and finger-guns with her as he did so.

“O-Okay…” She mumbled, unsure as to what just happened.

Thankfully, the rest of the trip was uneventful, apart from some annoying questions from suspicious monsters.

“Huh, you seem on edge Martlet, everything okay?” The rabbit-cashier asked as they scanned the unusually large amount of food Martlet had bought.
“Psssh, me- ON EDGE?! Nah, I’m a-okay, don’t you worry about me ol’ pal!” Martlet said with a wide smile and equally wide eyes as they snatched up their food and ran out of the store.
“Uh-huh…” The cashier simply nodded in confusion.

“Kid, you wanted your clothes in what size exactly?” The tailor, a bear with a needle stuck behind one of his ears grumpily asked.
“Oh, like uh… Sorta like my size but uhm… Like, my proportions but smaller, like uh- If I was a kid y’know?” Martlet tried her best to explain, although this only seemed to increase the tailors suspicions of her.
“Uh-huh…” He squinted at Martlet, as he prepared her clothes.

“You’re looking for medical books? We’ve got a few I can fetch you, sure.” The librarian tiredly droned.
“Do you have anything related to uhm, kids? Y’know, about kids I mean? How to help kids- Medically. I mean like, take care of- Uh… Medical books, about kids!” Martlet was definitely keeping her cool.
“Uhhhh… Sure?” The librarian sounded very confused.

Martlet nervously walked through Snowden Town, her beak chatting together not because of the cold, but due to the immense fear she was currently feeling as prying eyes stared at her from all over, whispering hushed conspiracies under their breath.

“Hey, did you hear about Martlet?” One monster whispered to another.
“Yeah, rumours are she’s got a kid at her home.” Another responded.
“Look, I told you- She’s got clothes for the kid and everything!” Another voice whispered.
“Jeez, can you believe it? That young and already taking care of her own kid.” An older monster sighed.

Martlet stuffed the clothes, books and various foodstuffs and an unusually large amount of corn that was on sale into her backpack, as she rapidly looked around at the gossiping town, completely unaware of their true whisperings.

“They know- They know- They know!” She mumbled under her breath, as she readied herself to take off. With a flap of her wings, she had taken off.

“bro, are you sure you didn’t stress her out a little too much?” Sans looked up at his brother, who seemed to be far too focused on writing down new ideas for his puzzles to have heard him.

Chapter Text

Clover saw people and places they felt like they could almost recognize, clawing just at the edge of their mind.  Voices shouted and argued, while they laid on a sofa, staring at a television, displaying nothing but static. Slowly, the static noise grew louder, and louder, until it eventually overpowered the arguing behind them.

Clover awoke with a jolt, their eyes wide. Was that a memory, or just a bad dream? Where-ever they were in that dream, it was certainly cramped. Nothing like the spacious room they found themselves in- Their spacious room, like Martlet said. It was a little bland, lacking… Lacking in what? Their eyes slowly trailed towards a tattered looking hat on the counter next to their bed.

“My hat!” They reached out, grabbing their hat and placing it back onto their head instinctively. As they did, an echo of a memory, an idea of something forced its way into their mind. Cowboys, the wild west, or was it east? Cool guys with big guns in giant deserts riding on horses and bringing JUSTICE to those who deserved it.

Cowboys are awesome. This was an undeniable truth, and one not even severe head trauma could have taken away from them. With their personality beginning to re-assemble and their memories clearly coming back to them, they summoned the strength within to push themselves out of bed, wincing as they shifted their weight to their left leg.

“Okay, time to discover more about this house- Or… My house? I probably live here.” Clover made a reasonable assumption, after all, they felt a lot better, and they must’ve been here for at least a few days or so.

The first thing that caught their attention was the window in their room. Peering out of it, they saw a snowy forest that seemed to stretch out for miles and miles. There didn’t seem to be any other homes nearby, although they could make out another giant building just over a river, and a path leading to it. They could even just barely make out what looked like a town, way up on a giant mountain. It was an incredible view. Although they had more pressing matters at hand, like re-exploring the rest of their home!

Clover limped out their their room, finding a small living room and connected kitchen ahead of them, along with the front door, leading to the outside world. The entire home had a rustic feel to it, as it was made entirely out of wood. Strangely, parts of the home looked significantly better built than others, with bits and pieces having clearly been recently added onto the home. Like random planks of wood nailed into the wall for some reason…?

A staircase led up to what looked to be a balcony, along with a gigantic bedroom. Clover definitely wasn’t scaling that mountain today. A television and sofa caught their attention in Martlet’s living area, although it didn’t look anything like the one in their dream. Next to it however… A book-shelf! Images of libraries and books flooded into their mind, along with hazy memories of old novels involving cowboys they had once read. Stories weren’t the only thing books held in them though, no… What they were looking for was information! Mostly about where-ever they were, they didn’t want to worry Martlet with the fact they had lost their memory, she already seemed… Stressed enough. It was the justifiably right thing to do to seek out their memories on their own, like a true independent cowboy.

A few minutes of sorting through books later, Clover had figured out a LOT about Martlet, and less about where they were. A lot of books relating to puzzles, a few romance novels (blergh), and absolutely no sign of any cowboy related books! Or anything related to where they were, at least. Until something caught their eye, a dusty book that looked as if it hadn’t seen much use by Martlet. 

They yanked it off of the shelf, inspecting the cover. 

“Uncovering the mysteries of the underground, and its history. By Gerson.” Clover read the title aloud, confused, but intrigued. They cracked the book open, and began flipping through the pages. The book began with a brief primer on what exactly the underground was, it thankfully looked like it had been written for a younger audience.

Clover sat down on the pile of various discarded books, a throne of knowledge to help them regain their own.

As they read through the book, Clover soon remembered that they were in fact in the underground, the home of all monsters after the humans sealed them away a long, long time ago. A fire began to bubble inside of Clover's stomach. How could the humans do something like that, just lock away an entire species? Unbelievable. They continued reading, as the book discussed the basic biology and more mundane facts about monsters, before continuing on to more speculative theories about how monsters even came about in the first place.

Then, the book discussed humans. How they were dangerous, although not inherently malicious creatures, they could possess power so great that even a child could slay the mightiest of monster warriors if they /hated/ them enough. The thought sent a chill down Clover’s spine. Then a bitter sense of unfairness filled them.

How could this world be so unjust, so unfair? It didn’t make any sense! No monster could ever hope to match up against a human, they were at the mercy of humanity’s cruelty. Justice evaded them, tragically. Although, there seemed to be hope…

A monster with a human soul, is far more powerful than a human. In fact, if a monster were to wield the power of SEVEN HUMAN SOULS, the barrier keeping them trapped in the underground could be destroyed.

Clover was entirely engrossed in the book, reading on and on as they discovered the history of snowden, which was the part of the underground they were probably in judging from all the snow. Waterfall… The place they had woken up in. The hotlands, where few reside, and where the CORE provides power for the entire underground. A region that really caught their eye was the dunes, apparently mostly considered it a wasteland due to a mining operation gone wrong. Finally, New Home. The capital of the underground, and home to king Asgore himself.

Clover put the book down with a satisfied sigh, they seemed to have re-remembered just about everything they needed to know about the world! Well, apart from their age… Oh, and if Martlet was their mother, sister… Aunt? They really didn’t know.

Then, a thought began creeping into their mind, a dangerous kind of thought, one that felt familiar.

“What if I’m a human?” No. No that couldn’t be, that didn’t make any sense at all! They lived in the underground, after all- They had their own room, a guardian of some kind, and… Well that was all they had, but it was a lot more evidence than the contrary.

Just like that, being a monster became an undeniable truth to them, something so obvious that to even think about it again would be a complete waste of time.

Clover began to push themselves up from the pile of books they had been sitting in, maybe it was time for some more rest like Martlet said… Or, maybe they could pay Martlet back for making them soup in bed, what a luxury that was.

Clover hobbled over to the kitchen, staring at the counter they were just big enough to reach. A large assortment of dirty dishes laid in the sink. Clover frowned, Martlet definitely seemed like she had been suffering without them around. Their head stung, as a memory resurfaced of them… Washing dishes. Oh. Well, at least it’s something.

Clover immediately slipped into a well remembered routine of scrubbing dishes down, although found absolutely no pleasure in doing so. In fact, despite clearly knowing what they were doing, it didn’t feel right at all. It made them feel pretty sad.

Finishing the dishes with a sigh, they realised that doing the dishes wouldn’t be enough to impress Martlet, they clearly were familiar with doing that kind of thing for her, even if they didn’t like doing it. What else could they do for her…?

Clovers eyes slowly moved towards a tin of soup left on the counter. Perfect!

Martlet arrived back home, landing outside with a sigh of relief. She was glad the bridge was still broken from her fight with Clover. She frowned, remembering how the poor kid had just stood there while she attacked them again, and again… She shook her head, decisively clearing the negative thoughts from her mind.

Martlet unlocked her door, and took a step inside. She sniffed the air, confused.

“Hey, why does it smell like something’s BUUURNIIING- CLOOOVER!” She shrieked, her eyes bulging out of her skull at the sight of a literal fire in a tin pot, that was currently on her stove. In her wooden home.

“Oh hey Martlet! I made you soup.” Clover turned around, a smile on their face as they pointed towards the burning pot. Martlet leapt towards the burning pot, ripping it off of the stove and swiftly throwing the pot behind her, sending it careening out of the front door and into the snow with a wet HISS. The snow around it visibly began melting as it cooled.

“Oh, I thought I might’ve overcooked it…” Clover mumbled ashamedly, watching their terrible attempt at cooking continue to somehow burn in the snow.

“CLOVER, WHAT WERE YOU THINKIIIIING?!” Martlet grabbed the child's shoulders, shaking them back and forth.

“I just wanted to pay you back… For making me that soup.” Clovers frown grew deeper, as they stared guiltily at the wooden floor beneath them, “Sorry.” They mumbled, sounding like they were seconds away from crying.

Martlet's emotional reaction proceeded to do a one eighty as Clover began to sniffle.

“Hey, hey- It’s uhm, fine buddy! It’s just I sorta like this house and uhm… That was a fire, and I really didn’t want you burning down my ho-” Martlet began her explanation, her voice softening significantly before Clover began to cry. Her eyes once again threatened to explode out of her head with how wide they became.

“Y-You did all that for me, and all I managed to d-do was almost burn our house down. What I’ve done is unjustifiable!” Tears were streaming down Clovers face.

“Clover- Ah, no-no-no it’s fine! Everyone makes mistakes, I really appreciate the effort! Hey- I make loads of mistakes all the time! And- And.” Martlet desperately looked around for some way to console the crying child, surprised to spot her former mountain of dirty dishes neatly washed and stacked.

“Huh, and you even did my dishes! I mean- I feel like that outweighs almost burning my house down by like, a lot!” Martlet was trying her best to comfort them.

Clover stared up at her, wiping the tears from their eyes with their sleeve- Which had dried blood on it…

“Thanks, Martlet.” Clover seemed to calm down, before lurching forwards towards Martlet, catching the bird completely off guard as she jolted backwards expecting a surprise attack from the human- Only to be met with a hug instead. They stared down at them, her eyes were physically incapable of getting any bigger.

‘Humans are dangerous. Humans are dangerous.’ A quiet voice repeated in her head over and over.

“Uuuuhm… No problem! Just don’t cook anything else, or at least don’t cook when I’m not here… Although wow, I really am impressed with how you tidied up around here.” Martlet gently began to pry Clover away from them, wincing as she realised they now had snot and tears on herself.

“Surprised? I always do the dishes’n stuff here right? I’ve sorta been having trouble remembering stuff, but I didn’t wanna worry you anymore, ‘cause you’ve been trying your best to take care of me. It’s the right thing to do.” Clover seemed to completely recompose themselves, adding a confident nod to the end of their extremely worrying statement.

“T-Trouble remembering stuff?” Martlet could only feel so much guilt, her emotions had been taken on an absolute rollercoaster in the past few days and she was beginning to think her SOUL may just shatter purely due to emotional turmoil, “Also, did you just say you always do the dishes here…?” Her worried, guilty expression shifted into a more confused one. She briefly glanced over her shoulder, noticing the LARGE pile of books pulled from her bookshelf, laying on her carpeted floor.

“Yup! This is my home, right? You said that was my room earlier. Sorry about the books, I was gonna clear them up but I ended up making soup for you instead. Oh, and I already  figured out everything I need to know from them, so don’t worry! I’m gonna go get that soup, I can probably eat it, I don’t want it to go to waste.” Clover happily limped outside, towards the thankfully cooled and no longer on fire pot of soup.

Martlet’s face paled. Although it’s not like anyone could see due to the fact she was covered in feathers, so she just looked worried. Clover thought this was their home, and they CLEARLY thought that Martlet was their… Guardian, room-mate? She did NOT KNOW and that was a whole can of worms she was NOT ready to deal with. 

The gravity of the situation began to dawn on her as she watched the human experimentally reach out to grab the pot, wincing and recoiling due to the fact it was still hot to the touch.

“Clover lost their memories.” She mumbled “And- They think they live with me- And… They’re… Just trying to help out…” Her voice softened, as Clover returned to her with the pot of extremely burnt soup in their hand.

“I’ll drink this up, then I’ll get to cleaning up the books!” They began to limp towards Martlet’s modest kitchen table, only to be stopped as Martlet gently grabbed their shoulder, twirling them around to face herself.

“Ya don’t gotta drink that Clover.” Martlet looked down at Clover sympathetically as she grabbed the burnt soup out of Clover's hands and tossed it towards the sink behind her.

“The soup!” Clover exclaimed, watching the pot of burnt soup fly over the sink and slam into the kitchen wall, splattering soup everywhere. They frowned, they were gonna have to clean that later-

“Listen, Clover. This is /VERY/ important.” Martlet knelt down, making sure they were on their level. It's what her parents used to do when she was younger. Their feather-covered hand was still planted firmly on their shoulder, “What exactly do you remember…?” Martlet couldn’t hide her sympathy, or pity for the poor child in front of her. Gone was any kind of lingering fear, replaced only with guilt and sadness.

“Oh, well I read that book’n I figured out we’re in the underground and we’re all monsters!” They happily exclaimed, a smile on their face. Clover pointed towards an old history book she had kept lying around the house.

Martlet opened her beak to say something, before stopping herself in what some may call one of the rarest events to take place in the underground.

“Uhm… Clover, what do you think you are?” She asked in the most polite, reassuring way she could muster.

“A monster, duh! You don’t gotta worry about me thinking I’m a human or something.” Clovers smile grew wider. Martlet’s SOUL threatened to shatter in two, partially due to how adorable they were, and also because of how much of this entire situation was her fault.

Martlet took a deep, long breath. She had to be honest, Clover was a good kid, even when she tried to fight them… They didn’t fight back. Hell, they even washed up all her dishes! They did almost burn their house down, but accidents happen!

The tiny, quiet little voice in Martlet’s head screaming humans were dangerous and cannot be trusted slowly faded away, as she made her choice.

“Clover… I have to be honest with you.” Martlet began, preparing herself for the worst as a confused look spread across Clovers face, “You’re a really good kid, but all of this- It’s my fault. You lost your memory because of me. I… I… I messed up. I’m sorry.”

Martlet hung her head in shame, unable to look Clover in the eyes.

“I forgive you. You said you didn’t mean to do it, so we just won’t let it happen again!” Clover happily exclaimed, a worryingly similar smile to her own forming on their face. Martlet let out a sigh of relief, looking back up at Clover.

“There’s just one more thing I need to tell you Clover, you… You’re a human.” Martlet watched Clover’s face closely, her own still racked with guilt.

Oh. They were human- Oh… Ooooh. Memories, hazy, although their own began to steadily flow back into their mind, it hurt a little but they could mostly remember who they were. That was embarrassing.

“Oh. Uh- Okay.” Clover blinked a few times, before apparently coming to their senses?

“Wait what? You just- Remembered?” She surprisingly sounded more shocked than Clover did.

“Yeah. I guess you just needed to remind me. Sorry for being weird.” Clover took a step back away from them, moving towards the open front door. It was nice staying here. But… They had a mission, a mission they couldn’t give up on. They’d bring JUSTICE to the underground, no matter what-

“Clover, why don’t you just stay with me?” Martlet asked.

“...What?” Clover froze, turning around.

“I- Look, you’re a really good kid, and you’ve already been through so much. I-I feel like you deserve a happy, violence free childhood, y’know?” Martlet’s voice was strained, as Clover stared up at her, “I mean… If you stay with me, you won’t have to fight anymore, and I know you had your mission'n all that but… I don’t think you have a chance against Asgore.” Martlet cast her gaze away from Clover. They stared back at her, emotional turmoil bubbling and flowing within the young cowboy. 

Clover had really, really liked it here. It was better than their old home. Well, not in terms of dirty dishes, but still… Looking at Martlet now, all they could see was genuine sympathy and worry on her face, towards… Them.

Clover clenched their hands into fists, preventing themselves from trembling. They could be strong, they were a big kid, they had flowey-

“If you stay, you won’t even have to do the dishes! I’ll do them for you, and uh- I’ll try to tell the rest of the snowdin about you so they don’t attack you or anything. Please, Clover. You’re too young for all this.” Martlet’s final plea shattered Clover’s confident facade. They took a step forwards, moving away from the open front door, leaving the chill of the outside behind.

“Yeah. I’d like that.” They mumbled, holding back tears as Martlet embraced them in a hug. They hugged back.

“I’ll do my best to take care of you Clover, but this is the best decision for everyone, really! You’ve made the right choice. Now, I just need to convince the town-” Martlet paused. Clover wondered why, looking up at her face, only to feel a weird stinging pain in their… Stomach? 

They looked down, seeing a large thorny vine extending through Martlet’s chest, and partially into their own stomach.

“C-Clover… Oh- God…” Martlet managed to sputter out, her voice trembling with fear. The single large, thorny vine impaling her chest then raised up and away from Clover, as if she was being presented to them, letting her dangle in front of them. 

Martlet’s vision shifted away from Clover, and over to something unseen in the doorway, where the thorny vines seemed to be extending from. Clover fell backwards, grabbing at their now bleeding stomach. They were frozen in absolute fear, unable to do so much as speak.

“R-Run…” She croaked with the last of her strength, looking down at Clover before evaporating into dust. Clover stared wide-eyed at the dust, which proceeded to slowly fall down onto them, almost like it was snowing.

“Howdy!” A chipper voice practically sung.

Clover turned, slowly. Their breathing was slow, and shaky, their entire body was trembling with fear.

There, standing in the doorway, was a flower. Flowey the flower, with a large, thorny vine right alongside him.

“Boy Clover, you sure do manage to find new and incredible ways to disappoint me with every single run, don’tchya?” Flowey let out a disappointed, and somewhat annoyed groan.

“It’s expected, though- I don’t blame ya. Well I do, but this time it was just my fault for not resetting earlier, ya’know? You’re like a magnet for boring, stupid endings of just living out your days with some crappy “motherly” figure, like god- It’s just SAD how fast you’re willing to give up your adventure for a HALF DECENT LIFE. Were you REALLY that badly treated up on the surface, Clover? Yeesh.” Flowey’s face shifted entirely, large fangs and sunken eyes appearing where his usual smiling face would be. His voice grew more angry and malicious, although it kept its joking tone.

“Why?” Clover asked, at first shocked and confused, although anger- The need for JUSTICE began to bubble up rapidly inside of them.

“Psssh, ‘cause this is a dead end dumbo. Another timeline wasted by you living out your years in the underground. I guess I could just reload but-” Flowey was interrupted as Clover reached for their toy gun, still inside of their dirty leather trousers, thankfully.

“Nu-uh, you don’t get to do that!” Flowey childishly chided Clover, as they found themselves holding nothing, staring at Flowey.

“I think you need to remember who’s /really/ in control here, Clover. But- Ah, absorbing your soul never works out and… Actually…” Flowey paused, their face scrunching up as if they were mulling over something.

Clover dove towards them, fully intent on yanking that stupid flower right out of the ground if they got their hands on him. 

The same partially bloodied vine that had killed Martlet shot forwards, impaling Clover through their right shoulder before tightly wrapping around the rest of their arm, causing them to let out a yelp of pain as they dangled uselessly in front of Flowey, all the while blood began to flow out of their still impaled shoulder.

“No- No, this is good actually. I can work with this… You’re always so… Blergh, /justicey/ or whatever. No matter what I do, no matter what I say, you’ll always end up doing the RIGHT THING. It’s SO. ANNOYING. And I guess because of that, I can’t absorb your soul either. ‘Cause I guess justice doesn’t really mix well with my whole vibe, ya’know?” Floweys tone was still clearly malicious, although he sounded like he was more joking around with Clover, treating him like a toy to be played with as he swayed the impaled human from side to side in the air.

“I’ll- Kill you…” Clover weakly muttered, glaring down at Flowey.

“That’s the spirit kid, but keep it for another run! In fact, save it for like, five minutes earlier- ‘Cause this is a REALLY good spot. To put it bluntly, I’ve sorta decided to change my plans.” Flowey looked up at Clover, a twisted grin on his face as he watched him squirm against his grip, unresponsive to his taunts.

“Y’see, I’m gonna make a new startin’ point for you. Right HERE. Because you don’t have any memories, and I got a save right before I did any’o this. Ain’t that just swell? I can play with you as long as I want here, and then I can go RIGHT into manipulating you, turn you into EXACTLY what I NEED you to be. Hell, maybe I’ll change you so much, I’ll finally be able to get my hands on your SOUL?” Flowey began laughing, their vine swinging clover back before slamming them forwards, through one of the wooden walls of the house, breaking… Something, although what? Clover wasn’t sure at this point. They let out a desperate gasp of air. Splinters covered their body. Flowey reeled them back in, wanting to make sure they were still alive before continuing.

“Oooh, tough ain’tchya! Don’t feel too bad Clover, I’m gonna give you what you ALWAYS wanted down here! A life where you can live out your days with your stupid replacement parent, only I’ll be right there with ya!” Flowey winked at Clover, before continuing, “Oh, and you can’t remember you’re a human. That’s gonna ruin a LOOOT of what I’ve got planned. So… Yeah, that’s basically it pal.”

“Why- Why are you doing all this?” Clovers voice shook with rage, their body hanging limp above Flowey.

“I dunno, ‘cause I want those SOULS Asgore’s got? Although, all this…?" Another vine emerged from the ground, motioning around at the destruction, dust, and blood surrounding them, “This is just for my personal entertainment. So c’mon, let’s play for a while Clover. You’re such a good stress release for me.” Flowey let out a maddening laugh, as more vines began to burst from the ground, creeping towards Clover.

Clover forced their eyes shut. They didn’t know what was going on anymore, but… If they couldn’t beat Flowey, they wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction anymore.

“hey.” An alarmingly calm voice spoke, it had almost the same care-free cadence of Flowey's voice. It sounded like it was coming from right behind Flowey?

“Wait what-” Flowey turned around, only to be met with a short, stocky skeleton with a permanent smile etched on his face staring down at him, both of his hands were stuffed into his coat pockets.

“wanna play with me instead?” Sans casually asked, as Flowey's smile slowly grew into a frown.

“You’re no fun…” He grumbled.

FILE 1 LOADED

“Listen Clover, there’s one more thing I need to tell you, you’re-” Martlet was interrupted by a CRACK as something slammed into her front door. She yelped, leaping back away from the door as it swung back open, letting go of Clover in the process.

Clover turned around, cluelessly staring at the door, then looking to the window.

“Nobody’s there.” They bluntly stated.

“Maybe- It was just the wind?” Martlet recomposed herself, clearing her throat. That had really thrown her off focus, what was she going to say? Clover was- A human… Yeah, that’s- Maybe… Uh… Did she really have to tell them?

What if they left, after she told them the truth? What if they marched to their death and got killed by Asgore, or even by Undyne, or the other royal guards! What if… What if they- No, they wouldn’t do that to, they’re a good kid! But… Maybe this was for the best?

“Nothing, don’t worry about it Clover.” Martlet shook her head, trying to clear herself of her guilty conscience, “Don’t worry about washing up dishes though, I’ve got /that/ handled from now on! Oh, and don’t go outside until your uhm… Your leg’s healed!” Martlet nodded after giving a somewhat forceful command to the human, she was clearly proud of their own quick-thinking.

“Oh, sure Martlet. But what about the soup? I really don’t want it to go to waste…” Clover frowned at their burnt soup, half of it was splattered across the wall. Honestly, it was remarkable they could even burn soup in the first place, how do you even do that?

“I’ll- Uh, I will?” Martlet took a step forwards, scooping up the remainder of the soup and placing it off to the side. Hopeful that Clover wouldn’t ask her to eat it in front of them

“Thanks Martlet, I dunno why but I’m just really worried about messing stuff up.” Clover dumbly smiled at them, none the wiser that Martlet was a filthy, dirty liar. She felt terrible.

“Y-Yeah, don’t- Don’t worry about a thing Clover, in fact… Uh, worry about- This, instead!” She reached into her backpack, removing a pair of clothes, some jeans and a tank top.” “Actually, please don’t worry about this either. But these clothes are for you!”

“Whoa, you got me something?! Do I need to pay for it…? I don’t have any gold with me…” Clover began digging around in their pockets.

“What? No! No… You don’t need to pay, it’s uh- Just new clothes, it’s like a gift, y’know? Haven’t you gotten gifts before…? Stuff for free, y’know?” Pity was evident on Martlet’s face as she stared down at Clover, who nodded their head.

“Yeah, but free stuff’s only for birthdays- Or at least… It should be right? I guess my memories are all still messed up.” They shrugged, taking their clothes and happily limping back to their room.

“Alright, bye Martlet! I’m gonna get some rest.” They disappeared into the room. Secretly, they wished they had more cowboy-themed clothes. These were just Martlet’s clothes, but smaller.

Martlet let out a sigh of relief, leaning up against the side of her kitchen counter, and staring down at the half-empty can of burnt soup with a look of resignation on her face.

“Jeez, I had no idea taking care of a kid could be so difficult! Mom was right, I really do need to get my crap together.” Martlet grabbed the can of burnt soup, slowly sipping it as she stared out at the still open door ahead of her. A chill ran down her spine as she stared out at Snowden Forest, and the river ahead of her.

“This is for the best.” She re-assured herself, before slurping down more of Clovers burnt-soup.

Chapter Text

Martlet laid in her bed, sound asleep. Beside her, on a small shelf was an intricate looking wooden clock. With a turn of a gear, a small wooden bird burst out of her clock, jolting her awake.

“I’m up!” She shot upwards, blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the light. At the foot of her bed, stood a small human child wearing a cowboy hat.

“Clover- CLOVER?! What are you doing here?” Martlet rubbed her eyes, at first shocked at the sight of the human, then rapidly regaining her composure mid-sentence.

“Oh. I was hungry, and you told me not to cook anything before you woke up.”

“C’mon, surely there was something there you could eat without cooking, right?”

“I didn’t want to disturb you by asking. So I waited here until you woke up!” Clover cheerfully exclaimed with a smile on their face.

Martlet frowned, a little concerned by how cautious Clover was, “Next time, just help yourself okay? Just remember the ONLY rule in this house. Don’t cook stuff when I’m not around. Oh, and actually… Uh, two rules! Please don’t come into my room when I’m sleeping.” Martlet hopped out of her bed and slid straight into her boots. Clover nodded, and Martlet made her way downstairs.

To Martlet’s surprise, Clover had recovered remarkably fast. It had only been a week, and they seemed to be as right as rain. She figured it might have something to do with feeding them monster food, as she’d heard human food was… Weird, to say the least.

Clover sat patiently at the small table in the kitchen, while Martlet went about preparing them something to eat. She had been packing her own lunches for years now, making food for Clover was as easy as pie. Far easier than making pie, actually.

Martlet reached into her fridge, pulling out a jar of jam and a loaf of bread. She laid the bread out on her kitchen counter, ready to begin spreading the jam. In one swift motion, she- Completely failed to open the jar of jam. Oh.

“Uh… Hang on Clover, let me just…” She briefly looked back at Clover patiently waiting for their sandwich, their legs swinging back and forth. Clover looked up from the book they were reading, staring at Martlet.

“Huh?” They dumbly responded.

Martlet shifted her focus back to the jar of jam, groaning and grunting as she struggled, and failed to open the lid.

“When did these things become so… Tight?! Argh, I’ve got to go  to work soon, I don’t have time for this! Clover, fetch me my toolbox!” She shouted back to the child in the most polite way she could frustratedly-muster up.

“Okay.” Clover hopped out of their chair, happily scurrying off to fetch Martlet’s toolbox from her room. They soon returned to Martlet with her toolbox in hand.

“Thanks, Clover.” Martlet swiped the toolbox away from them, opening it up and taking out her saw. She twisted the jar of jam to the side, and began sawing away at its lid.

“Hey, Martlet? Are you sure it isn’t one of those jars you need to twist to open?” Clover innocently spoke up, as Martlet was mid-way through sawing the lid off of the jar. Martlet paused, reaching towards the jam lid, and twisting it.
With a pop, the lid was removed from the jar.

“Oh.”

A few minutes later Martlet and Clover were enjoying their jam sandwiches (with trace amounts of glass dust present). Clover swallowed what they were chewing, then began speaking, “Can’t I help you make a puzzle or something today Martlet…? I promise I’ll be good, I feel better now, and I’ve even been practicing my wood-working skills!” Clover excitedly pointed towards their room's door, which now had a wooden horse-shoe nailed into it.

“Well, you see… Uhm, I wouldn’t want to risk you hurting your foot anymore than it already is so just stay here until it’s fully, totally healed alright?” Martlet once again pulled the same lame excuse out of her feathers that she’d been using for the past few days, ever since Clover began itching to go outside.

“Aw… Okay.” The cowboy hung their head in defeat, apparently her word was still law to them. It was an odd feeling, knowing that they’d believe almost anything she’d tell them.

“I’ll be back by noon Clover, keep safe until then! If you want to watch something on the VHS player, I got you one of those cowboy movies you kept asking about yesterday.” Martlet cheekily grinned, pulling a VHS from her back pocket. Clover’s eyes lit up in excitement, like a rabid animal they leapt up towards Martlet's hands ripped the VHS away from her.

“ThankyousomuchMartlet!” They quickly shouted out, before making a mad dash towards the television, slamming the VHS into the player, and gluing their eyes to the television. Parenting was easy- No, it wasn’t parenting, she was simply keeping them safe. They were… Room-mates! At most. Yeah. Definitely room-mates.

Martlet made her way out of the home and with a flap of her wings was once again soaring through the air, towards her guard post. She let out an exhausted sigh as she sat down in her chair. She whipped out a notepad and pen, beginning to scribble down a list of things she needed to do that day.

“Jeez, all that hard work of taking care of Clover back home, and now I’m going right into work… I need a break or something, I’m overworking myself!” She exclaimed, before immediately falling forwards, sound asleep on her booth’s desk.

“Is this thing recording…?” The camera shakily focused on a monster in cowboy-attire. Their head vaguely resembled a star.

“Yes star, we’re recording.” A very tired sounding female voice responded. The camera fully focused on the Cowboy, and the town around him. It was just like Clover imagined, what they remembered! Wooden buildings, the odd tumbleweed blowing past them, and sandy dunes as far as the eye could see. Or at least as far as the camera could record in decent quality. This must be one of the movies they had forgotten about!

“Howdy… The name’s Star. Sheriff star, I run this fine here Town along with my posse…” He adopted a cowboy stance, gripping his belt with both of his gloved hands. Everything about him screamed COOL to Clover, from the way they spoke to the town they were in, even their clothes and attitude!

Hushed bickering could be faintly heard, along with a very annoyed sounding groan.

“It’s us, the feisty five!” Five voices shouted, all of them out of sync. They ran towards Star, before each of them struck a dynamic pose next to them, then proceeded to individually introduce themselves to the camera.

“We’re the Feisty Five, and we enforce JUSTICE in this town!” Star reached for his revolver, sticking his index finger into the trigger guard and twirling his revolver around it. A brief flash of light obscured the camera's lens for a moment, as Star seemed to fall back before the scene transitioned.

“Oh, Feisty Five. Please uh- Help me… The snake has- Do I really have to say this shi-” The scene seemed to restart abruptly, maybe it was a stylistic choice made by the director?

“Oh, Feisty Five. Please help me. My famed gun store has been robbed of its most prized possession, my /golden revolver/.” The large looking, well dressed monster spoke in an almost monotone voice.

“Gargh, what?! How could they do that?!” Mooch squeaked.

“The real question ya should be asking, is WHO did it, pipsqueak.” Ed added on.

“It was… Uh- Sid the… Snake?” The gun store owner was staring at the back of his hand as he spoke.

“Now all that’s left is the why, and I think everyone knows that already!” Moray reached for their rapier, ripping it free from their sheath.

“You forgot the where.” Ace joked.

“Don’t worry, I already know WHERE that bastard Sid is!” Star shouted out, pointing towards something off camera.

“Star, I don’t think you should be using that language, what if a kid watches thi-” The camera woman's voice was cut short as the scene cut to a sandy cliffside.

Sid the Snake stood near the edge of the cliff, a dastardly smile on his face. “Well well well, if it isn’t the FICKLE-FIVE!”

“Gargh, you take that back!” Ed shouted out, shaking his balled up hand in Sid's general direction.

“I’m afraid this is where your story ends, fools! With the power of the golden revolver, I shall become unstoppable!” Sid reached into his back pocket, pulling out a revolver that had clearly been spray painted gold.

“Don’t let him fire it!” Ace shouted out, as the Feisty five charged towards Sid. four shots rang out, and one by one, each of the Feisty five dropped to the ground. Noticeably out of sync from when the golden revolver had been fired.

The only one who remained standing was the sheriff himself…

“You only got one shot left in that thing, don’tchya?” Star's hand tensed over his holster, he was ready to pull out his revolver at a moment's notice.

“Bwahaha! One shot is all I need to- BLERGH!” Sid fell backwards, clutching his stomach with both of his hands, dropping the golden revolver in the process.

“You flinched…” Star twirled the revolver in his hand, before bringing it up to his face. The camera cut to a close up of his face, right as he blew a puff of smoke away from his revolvers still smoking barrel.

“COME VISIT THE WILD EAST TODAY!” A cheerful voice added on at the end, followed by the abrupt end of the film

“That was the greatest thing I’ve ever watched.” Clover stared in awe at the television.

Martlet was once again blissfully asleep. Or as she would’ve put it, hard at work, just waiting for her bell to ring if she was ever needed. A loud DING caused her to slowly awaken. She yawned, slowly pushing her head up and off of her booth’s desk.

“Clover- I’m trying to sleep…” Martlet groggily mumbled, her eyes focusing on whoever was standing in front of her Booth.  Martlet’s face rapidly shifted into one of utter shock and despair.

“We got reports that there was a human around here, rookie. You seen ‘em?” A gruff voice questioned from the incredibly imposing armoured monster that stood before Martlet.

“C-Captain Undyne! No ma’am, N-NO HUMANS SPOTTED HERE!” Martlet shot up out of her seat, saluting her captain.

“At ease, soldier.” Undyne turned away from her. Two other royal guards, Dogamy and Dogaressa, stood a ways away from Undyne, appearing to be her escort. “Huh. We got reports of them moving through this area, although… You were probably asleep, weren’t you?.” Undyne slowly turned her head back to face Martlet, her single eye stared deeply into both of Martlets, “Maybe it’s for the best that the little gunslinger didn’t end up running into you, Martlet. I’m not sure you’re uh… Ready to face off against a human just yet. We wouldn’t want a human's first impression of the royal guard to be a rookie now, would we?!” Undyne suddenly burst out into laughter, as did the two other royal guards.

Martlet simply stood at attention, absolutely terrified of the woman standing in front of her. Did she know? Were they just messing with her before they  finally revealed that-

“Oh, actually… I gotta give one thing to ya, kid.” Undyne began walking back towards her, placing her gauntleted hand on Martlet’s feathered shoulder. Martlet was desperately trying not to quake from fear. “Those traps were great! I inspected ‘em myself, you’ve been doing great work with what ya got available. If only we supplied you with some better materials, maybe that human wouldn’t have gotten so far, and I woulda been able to have my sick ass showdown with them right here!” Undyne sounded briefly impressed with Martlet’s handiwork, before growing extremely excited at the prospect of fighting a human.

“Our fight’s gonna be so fuckin’ cool!” Undyne stomped away from Martlet, grabbed a large snowy boulder that just so happened to be nearby, and in one swift motion, suplexed it over herself, splitting it in two. She let out a satisfied grunt, twisting back around to face Martlet after her sudden boulder-smashing.

Martlet was shaking in her boots, she just had to play it cool, she just had to act like she didn’t know anything, she had to protect Clover!

“Anyway, back to business. These reports have come in from a few monsters, although most of them are confused if what they saw was a human or not, we questioned one guy… Uh, I think he was called Dalv? Who says the human was wandering around some old ruins he used to live in before heading up here. Too bad most monsters don’t even know what a human looks like!” Undyne briefly paused to crack her gauntleted knuckles, “Anyway. I figure you can help us look for them today Rookie. You know this area of snowden a lot better than any of us do. We’ll talk to that Dalv guy again, see if he’s got any new information for us.” Undyne spun around, beginning to stomp away from Martlet. Her armour made a distinctive CLANG with each step she took.
Martlet couldn’t believe it. She had gotten away with it. They didn’t suspect her of anything! She was a free bird and Clover was in her safe feathered hands! A relieved smile spread across Martlets beak.

“Oh, and who’s Clover? I heard you mumbling about them in your sleep. In fact….” Undyne’s tone suddenly grew extremely suspicious, as she turned back around. The two other royal guards were now also staring at her, “I’ve been hearing some /rumours/ about you, back in Snowden-Town.”

Martlet couldn’t hide her absolute despair, this emotional rollercoaster of a conversation was about to cause her to reach her breaking point!

Undyne stared down at her, before continuing on with her speech, “Talk of the town is that you… You’re taking care of a kid, aren’t you?” Undyne sounded almost certain of herself.

“A k-k-kid?” Martlet stuttered out, utterly petrified. Had Undyne just been messing with her this whole time, was this some kind of torture tactic to get her to break?!

“Yeah, a kid named Clover, right?! Everyone in town said you’ve been acting real weird about it, like you’ve been trying to keep it a secret? Ah, you don’t gotta worry about anyone judging you for adopting some little runt!” Undyne jovially exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face, hidden behind her helmet. She playfully punched Martlet’s trembling shoulder.

Martlet’s eyes widened as the crux of what Undyne was saying dawned on her, “YEAH. Yeah. That’s uh- Yeah… I’ve uh, see I… They got into a bad accident, and I’ve been taking care of them for the past week. They don’t have anyone else, so I just decided to take them in... I’ve been trying my best to look after them when I’m not working.” Martlet brazenly lied to her superior, calling upon survival instincts she didn’t know she had to stay calm.

“They’re hurt?! DID THAT FREAKIN’ HUMAN KICK THEIR ASS?!” Undyne grabbed Martlet's shoulders with her gauntleted hands, pulling them uncomfortably close.

“I-I… No, they uh- It’s a long story, but it mostly just involved my boat…” Martlet guiltily admitted, the ruined remains of ava still on the riverside, waiting to be re-assembled.

“Good to hear rookie, good to hear. Well, not the part about your kid being injured. Honestly, I’m sorry for even bothering you! I had no idea you were going through all that, taking care of an injured kid… Jeez, no wonder you were sleeping on the job! Tell you what, how about you take the week off while your kid’s recovering, huh? I’ll even give you a bonus, to help take care of that little rascal!” Undyne let out a cackle, then placed a pouch full of gold onto Martlet’s booth.
Martlet's beak hung open as she stared at the bag of gold presented to her.

“Hey… Before me’n the dogs go looking for that human, why don’t I swing by’n give your kid a visit! Man, I’ve always wanted to be a cool aunt.” Undyne grinned, awaiting Martlet’s response.

“Nooooooo- No… They’re uhm… Still recovering, I think the shock of seeing one of their idols might do more harm than good.” Martlet was becoming shockingly good at lying.

“Grhm. Okay. Another time then, yeah? I don’t wanna leave one of my biggest fans hanging! Oh, and I’ll make sure to tell Asgore about that little rascal ya got, I’m sure they’d love to meet them. Who knows, maybe they’ll even join the royal guard when they’re a little older ey, following in their mothers footsteps...?” Undyne jokes.

Martlet didn’t respond, blankly staring ahead at Undyne with wide, shell-shocked eyes as both she and her two escorts walked into the woodlands. They sounded like they were planning on questioning Dalv again, for more information. Martlet’s gaze shifted to the bag of coins on her booth’s desk, then looked back up at the now empty forest ahead of herself.

“WELL, I GUESS CLOVER’S MY KID NOW!” She shouted aloud, to absolutely no one other than herself.

Chapter Text

Flowey had an issue. Two issues, actually. For one, Clover still needed more “ironing out” before he could really start his plans. Their “monster persona” was still too fragile, and Flowey had to make sure it developed into a more solid personality before he could try properly molding them. The other problem was that LOSER from the ruins known as Dalv. Apparently, that little rat decided to snitch on his best buddy Clover! He could just reset, but there was no guarantee the meeting with Undyne would ever go that smoothly again. Instead, he’ll play it safe.

Flowey burst up from the snow, right beside Dalv, who seemed to be in the process of rebuilding a destroyed log cabin.

“Howdy!” Flowey chipperly sang, trying his best to put on his kindest, sweetest act.

“Oh, hello…?” Dalv turned around, they looked nervous, although the vampire ALWAYS looked nervous, so it wasn’t much to go off of.

“Say, have you seen my buddy Clover around here by any chance?” Flowey innocently asked.

“Clover? Oh- Yeah, They’re that huma-” Dalv began to speak, before Flowey sent a smooth, small vine flying towards Dalvs mouth, covering it before he could continue.

“Whoa, whoa! Don’t go calling them that, they’re not a /human/, they’re just… Well, they’ve got a /disease/, you know?” Flowey softly spoke in a hushed tone, as if they were sharing a deep, dark secret.

“...What?” Dalv sounded confused.

“Yeah, I’m their best buddy’n… Oh, things haven’t been going too well for them. Ever since they caught blood-itus, which makes them bleed blood, and lost all their feathers… And their beak. From what I hear, GUARDS are looking for them now? My pals around here told me YOU were the guy who started spreading all those rumors. You at least didn’t tell those guards their name, did you?” Flowey was an excellent actor, completely selling his distraught and worried act to the young vampire.

“No, no- Of course not, god… Clover probably hates me now…” Dalv ashamedly looked away from Flowey, as a smile began to creep onto the flower's lips.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself pal! Oh, and one more thing, Clover got into a nasty accident, but they’d love to see you once they’ve recovered!” Flowey happily exclaimed, winking at the pathetic sad-sack that stood before him.

“Oh, that’s good!” Dalv sounded relieved.

“Just make sure those guards don’t poke their nose into Clover’s business, alright? They’ve got enough on their plate right now.” Flowey dove back into the snow, right as Undyne and the other royal guards began their approach towards Dalv.

“YOU, VAMPIRE BOY! WHERE’S THE HUMAN?!” Undyne barked at the monster, who immediately grew very uncomfortable.

“I’m… Not sure. I-I might have confused them for a human, when they were just a humanoid monster, like me. Sorry.” Dalv meekly mumbled, unable to maintain eye-contact with Undyne, instead looking to the side of her.

“NYAAAAARGH!” Undyne turned around, stomping away from them, as did her escorts.

Flowey smiled, watching them wander away to chase their own tails in the woods.

“Now all that’s left is to introduce myself to my best friend!” Flowey happily exclaimed.

Clover was sorting through rubbish, which had become a great way for them to occupy themselves. No, they weren’t sorting through trash, they were prospecting! Too bad the only prospects to be found in this garbage can are the remains of their burnt soup. Clover readied themselves for another dive, this time shifting their attention to a black bin bag lazily resting against the trash can. Before they could open the bag however, somebody knocked on their door.

“Uh, Martlet? Are you home early?” Clover walked towards the front door, opening it to find a small yellow flower smiling up at them.

“Howdy Clover! Good to see ya again! You feeling okay after that little accident ya got into…?” The flower seemed concerned about them.

“Uhm… I’m doing better, but I don’t really remember you, did we know each other?” Clover rubbed the back of their head. The flower winced, casting his gaze away from Clover, appearing to have been genuinely hurt from their question.

“You really don’t remember me? I’m Flowey, your best friend! Jeez, that fall must’ve really messed you up, huh?” Flowey let out a disappointed sigh, and Clover couldn’t help but  feel bad for the poor flower.

“Oh darn. I’m sorry for forgetting about you Flowey, you said you knew me though right? Maybe you could help me remember more about who I was?” Clover pitifully asked, guilt welling up inside of them in response to Flowey’s pained expressions.

“Oh, I’d be delighted to help you remember who you are, pal!” Flowey winked at them, before beginning to explain who they were…

“Just in case Martlet didn’t tell ya, you got a /special disease/, that makes you bleed red dust! Don’t worry, it’s not infectious, it’s like a defect ya’got… Boy, do you got a lot of defects…” Flowey shook their head, letting out a sigh as pity for the poor monster-boy began to spread across their face.

“Wait, what? H-How many defects? Does Martlet know about them?” Clover worriedly asked.

“Clover, buddy! Relax, it’s nothing life-threatening you’ve got, you just came out a little different than your mom, y’know?”

“My mother…? You know who she is?” Clover questioned, tilting their head to their side quizzically.

“You don’t even remember that!? Well, your mom’s Martlet, obviously. She adopted you a while back, after you got abandoned by your old bird-family ‘cause of your freaky appearance’n stuff. Just be glad she loves ya, pal. Because not even a mother could love that ugly mug!” Flowey burst out into laughter. Clover wasn’t laughing, instead they just sadly stared at the plant in front of them.

“Oh, lighten up buddy! I’m just joking around with ya! I love that stoic little face of yours, I’m your best buddy after all.” Flowey smiled up at Clover, who just nodded in response.

“... I hope I haven’t been causing her too much trouble. What else can you tell me about my life?” Clover knelt down next to Flowey, who began eagerly explaining to them all sorts of wonderful facts about their life.

Such as their love for the Royal guard captain Undyne, their HATRED towards humans and what they did to monsterkind, and their future plans to join the royal guard!

“Don’t you hate ‘em, Clover? Those humans…? After all they’ve done to us, you were always going on rants back when I knew ya about how you wanted to make them pay for what they did to all of us, you were even going to join the royal guard when you grew up buddy!” Flowey studied Clovers face carefully, almost like he was looking for something. When Clover met them with an indifferent look, they seemed to become visibly disappointed.

“I guess joining the royal guard’d be nice. It’s what Martlet- I mean mom does. I kinda like building stuff, maybe I could help her with traps one day…? I dunno about humans though. What they did to us was terrible, but I doubt they’re all bad.”

“Wise words clover, wise words indeed from the future captain of the royal guards!” Flowey playfully winked at them, causing Clover to let out a slight chuckle.

“You’re so silly, Flowey.” They stood up, and Flowey seemed to realise they had grown bored of listening to tales of their old self.

“I sure am pal! Although hey, I’m sure if you just /prove/ yourself to Martlet, that you can take care of yourself’n all that- Be as… Creative as she is, you’ll be able to be let out of the house in no time! She’s just worried about you.” Flowey dove into the snow, leaving Clover alone in their homes doorway.

“Huh. Maybe you’re right…” They turned back to the bag they had yet to open, walking towards it and ripping it open. Strangely, the entire bag was filled to the brim with blue feathers, Martlet's feathers!

“Does she… Shed these?” Clover stared confusedly at the feathers for a few moments, before an idea struck them, their eyes widening, a spark igniting behind them.

“I know exactly how I’m gonna prove myself to Martlet!” Clover smiled proudly.

Clover stood utop their homes balcony, staring out into Snowden. Duct-taped to both of their arms were two shoddily made wings, made out of a poorly cut wooden frame along with a lot of blue feathers.

“I’ll fly right over to Martlet, and show her I’m a real independent sheriff, able to handle themselves no matter what happens!” Clover readied themselves for the big jump, they just had to flap their wings like Martlet did! It’d come natural to them, they were a bird-monster at heart, even if they didn’t look like one!

Clover took a running start, and leapt over the railing and off of the balcony. They uselessly flapped their wings in the air, before hurtling straight towards the ground, slamming into it with a resounding thud, right as Martlet made her way across the bridge leading to her home.

“C-Clover…? Oh my gosh, CLOVER, CLOVEEEER?!” Martlet shrieked, running towards their limp body.

“Alright, this isn’t gonna work.” Flowey grumbled.

FILE 1 LOADED

Clover took a running start, and just as they were about to jump, something yanked on their trouser leg, causing them to stagger forwards. They slammed against the railing, threatening to topple over it. They uselessly flapped their wings, before resorting to letting out a shriek of terror as they fell off of the balcony, hurtling straight towards the ground.

“Ohmygosh, Clover!” Martlet shouted, crossing the bridge just as Clover slipped over the balcony. With a flap of her wings, she soared through the air, grabbing Clover just before they hit the ground. Martlet and clover both rolled across the snow, Martlet’s breathing was ragged, her eyes wide, and the child was thankfully closely held against her chest, unharmed.

“Again, again! That was great, Martlet!” Clover happily looked up at her, their face half-buried in her neck-feathers.

“Clover… What were you thinking?! You could’ve seriously hurt yourself!” Martlet stood up, for once- Anger, although stern reaching her voice when talking to Clover.

“Uh… I just wanted to impress you. My buddy Flowey said that maybe you’d let me start going out with you if I showed you I wasn’t a featherless freak who can’t fly.” Clover mumbled, regret clearly evident in their words.

“Gah- Argh- Oooooh…” Martlet grabbed her face, rubbing it with her feathers. Raising a child was far, far harder than what she thought it would be. Oh, what the hell- That’s what she was doing at this point, caring for a small, stupid child. Who was somehow, even more of a ditz than she was. Which was an impressive feat, by all accounts. Martlet took a deep breath, and prepared herself to give a proper grown-up speech to Clover.

“Clover, you’re not a freak. Every monster’s a little different, hell, I don’t look exactly like my parents! You just have be happy with who you are.” Martlet placed her feathered hand on Clover's messy hair, ruffling it.

“You really mean that?” Clover hopefully looked up at her.

“Mhm! In fact, why don’t I introduce you to snowdin? I guess I’ve been a little too overprotective… I’m sure they can see past your erm, unique appearance.” Martlet grabbed Clover's hand, beginning to lead them towards town.

“Really?! Wow, you’re the best Martlet!” Clover almost sang, following closely behind her.

A few moments later...

“IS THAT A FUCKING HUMAN?!” Undyne shrieked, as ten blue spears spontaneously appeared around her.

“Oh for crying out loud!” Flowey groaned, watching the situation unfold from afar, “Do I have to do everything myself?!”

FILE 1 LOADED

“Mhm! In fact, why don’t I-” Martlet’s re-assuring speech was cut short as a piece of paper flew directly into her face. Clover began snickering, while Martlet could only bring herself to let out an annoyed groan, reaching up and grabbing the paper from her face. She inspected the coloured paper in her hand.

‘Tired of shopping for the same old clothes? Do you crave high quality, custom outfits? Look no further than Muffet's tailoring company! Based in Hotland, where all the spiders are. You can’t miss it! (Not to be mistaken for Muffet's Bakery!)’ Martlet finished reading the note, blinking a few times.

“Huh, it’s just some ad for some tailors who specialize in making… Costumes? I think?” Martlet was a little confused by what exactly the ad entailed.

“Costumes? Wait, I got an idea! What if we ask them to make like, a bird-costume for me! So I look more like you!” Clover hopefully stared up at Martlet, a heartmeltingly innocent smile on their face.

“You see Clover, the lesson here is uh…” Martlet trailed off, before realizing that there was in fact no lesson, and that Clover should probably get some kind of disguise before going out in public. A disguise! Of course, she was a genius! Clover would wear a “feather-suit” when they’re outside, nobody would be the wiser that beneath those feathers was a small human child!

“The lesson is that you’re right Clover! I’ll put in an order for that feather-suit right away! I’ll be back later, please don’t cook anything while I’m gone!” Martlet called out, dashing inside of her home to grab a black bag, full of her shedded feathers. She slung it over her shoulder, and with a flap of her wings she launched herself into the air, leaving Clover by themselves once again.

“I’m gonna go watch that movie again.” Clover spun around, walking straight towards their home.

“Mhm, so you want this “bird suit” to be how big exactly?” Muffet questioned, a notepad and pen held in two of her six hands, while a teacup was held in a third.

“Oh, like- My size, but… Uh, small! Kid-sized!” Martlet exclaimed, placing the bag of gold Undyne had gifted her on the table in front of her.

“While I would prefer exact measurements, I suppose “kid sized” will have to do. Relative to yourself, I presume?” Muffet gracefully took a sip of her tea.

“Yup!” Martlet responded with a nod of her head.

“Excellent, now let’s see here…” Muffet's free hand picked up the coin bag, holding it up to her face and inspecting the gold inside, “This seems to be more than enough, my boys will get right to work on that little feather-suit of yours. Expect it to be delivered to your home within two to three business days.” With a snap of her fingers, hundreds of spiders crawled out from cracks and crevices in the room, beginning to move the large bag of feathers Martlet had delivered to them to another room.

“Will that be all, dear?” Muffet spoke with a reserved smile on her face.

“Uh, yeah! Thanks for everything, miss Muffet.” Martlet stood up, beginning her trek outside of the spiders-nest and towards snowdin.

“Oh, no no! Thank YOU miss Martlet! Business is terribly slow nowadays, although I can assure you, your little secret is safe and sound with us.” Muffet gave a knowing wink to Martlet as she left.

“O-Okay!” Martlet stuttered, taking off with a flap of her wings, completely caught off guard by Muffet's insinuation.

Both Martlet and Clover were fast asleep on the sofa, having stayed up far too late, engrossed by the news coverage of a possible human in the underground as told by the one and only Mettaton of the MTT news network.

A knock on the door awoke Clover, although Martlet continued snoring loudly. Clover decided it was best to let her rest, hopping off of the sofa and walking towards the door. With a twist of the handle, the door swung open.

A single spider stood outside their door, a small note in its hands. Behind it, a brown feathery suit! Clover shifted their attention away from the suit, taking the note from the spider’s hand.

“We hope you enjoy your new suit, thank you for being a loyal customer of spider-kind. P.S, I hope you don’t mind but we had to take measurements of you when you were… Sleeping? What?” Clover read aloud, confused about the added message. In response to their questions, the spider gave them a salute of one of its many legs before scuttling away. Clover took a step outside, grabbing the feather-suit, and bringing it inside.

To say this thing was high quality would be an understatement. The suit itself was a dark brown, the same colour as Clover’s hair! The feathers had been dyed somehow, and stuck to a thin, yet durable piece of cloth that seemed to act as some kind of almost skin-tight jumpsuit. Clover ran into their room to change. A few minutes of struggling later, they exited their room. Their clothes thankfully easily fit over their new feathery appendages, the suit had clearly been made specifically for them.

Finally, the head, or more so the mask. Clover pulled it over their face, it didn’t feel uncomfortable once it was on, although getting into it was certainly a struggle… Why wasn’t there a zipper on this thing?

Clover experimentally opened their mouth, watching the beak of their suit open in response as they did so.

“Whoa…” Clover spoke aloud, moving to a mirror to better inspect themselves.

There, in front of a mirror, stood a small monster-kid. Two perfectly sized holes in the mask dispelled any illusion of them wearing a mask at all, in fact it almost felt like it was sticking to their eye-lids, which wasn’t the most pleasant feeling. Incredibly, the spiders had even recreated their hair almost perfectly! Which raised concerning questions for the young cowboy.

Their expressions were limited, the beak could really only smile or frown. Their face usually only displayed a “stoic neutrality” as Flowey had put it, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

A lingering sense of deep societal shame and embarrassment began to fill Clover's stomach. They couldn’t put their finger on why though, although for some reason the word “fursuit” was knocked around a few times inside of their almost empty head. Shaking the bad thoughts away, Clover marched towards Martlet, shaking her awake.

“Martlet?” Clover softly asked.

“Grhmmm… Clover…?” Martlet woke up, her eyes widening in shock at Clovers appearance.

“Clover, is that you?!” Martlet shouted in disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty cool suit right?” The small human turned bird proudly placed their hands on their hips, adopting an uncannily similar facial expression to Martlet’s own cheeky grin.

“I-It sure is…” Martlet nervously responded, unsure as to how to feel about having a mini-doppelganger.

“So can I go see Snowden today, please?” Clover looked up at her, their beak forming into a frown, one of two facial expressions it was capable of shifting into.

“I don’t see why not? I’ve got the whole week off, after all.” Martlet nervously smiled at the child in front of her. She was in too deep, and at this point her only option was to keep on swimming until she hit the bottom of this proverbial ocean of lies.

“Great!” Clover happily exclaimed, marching towards the door and out of the home, with Martlet following closely behind them.

A tired and exhausted Flowey let out a sigh of relief, watching the two depart.

“God, if dealing with Clover wasn’t bad enough, now I have that ditzy bimbo-bird to worry about, what a sick joke! I just need to keep it cool, I’m making an… /investment/ here. As long as tweedle dumb and tweedle dee don’t get themselves into anymore trouble, it should be smooth sailing from here.”

Chapter Text

Clover closely followed Martlet through Snowdin Town, gawking at the snow-covered homes and various monsters around them, most of which seemed to be rather surprised to see the young cowboy. Clover was tragically without their hat or bloodied clothes, instead wearing their tank top and jeans, along with their "feather-suit". The small town was mostly full of fluffy and furry monsters like Martlet, although there were all sorts of odd looking monsters going about their day. It made Clover feel a little better, knowing just how different monsters could be from one another. Clover must’ve really forgotten what normal was, if this stuff was now abnormal to them. 

Martlet stopped at a large pine tree, a variety of decorations covering it. A memory pushed its way forwards in the back of Clover's mind, there was something so familiar about it… They must’ve been here before!

“This is Snowdin Town, Clover! Not to be mistaken for the forest in Snowdin, which is called Snowdin Forest. Also, Snowdin is just the name of the area of the underground we’re in… Uh, it’s a little confusing now that I think about it… Oh well, back to the town! What do you think of it, Clover?” Martlet sounded nervous.

“It’s a mighty fine town! That tree looks kinda familiar, though. Also… Why are those guys staring at us?” Clover’s attention shifted to the small crowd of dogs whispering to themselves outside of a large wooden building. The monsters were definitely staring at them… Did they know each other? It’d be awkward if Clover had to deal with more situations like Flowey, that’s for sure.

“Wait, what?” Martlet spun around to face the group Clover had pointed to, “Oh, those are just some other royal guards I work with. I’m not sure what they’re doing here, since Undyne has everyone on high alert.”

“Hey, we’re on break!” Doggo shouted, his eyes darting back and forth, desperately trying to locate where Martlet and Clover were. The rest of the group stopped whispering.

Dogamy sniffed the air, “Yeah that’s /her/ kid alright! I knew it, Martlets got a puppy! You owe me TEN gold pieces, Lesser Dog!” Dogaressa let out a sigh in response to Dogamy’s celebration. Lesser dog whined, his ears flattening against his head.

Clover had to admit, it was certainly a sight to see. All sorts of dogs of various shapes and sizes were staring straight at them! Wait, did they just call them Martlet's puppy?

“P-Puppy? No, no- I just… Adopted Clover, we’re not related, really!” Martlet awkwardly explained, as both she and Clover made their way towards the group. An absolutely gigantic dog in a suit of armor stared down at Clover, it was an intimidating sight. It then completely shattered any illusion of intimidation, as a small dog hopped right out of the suit of armor and leapt up onto Clover, licking their face.

Clover fell backwards, laughing as the shockingly regular dog licked their suits face. Wait, regular? This was a distinctly abnormal dog, at least compared to the others… Right?

“Greater Dog, stop licking Martlets puppy.” Doggo ordered. The small white dog hopped off of Clover, leaping back into its suit of armor. Tragically, its tail was now sticking out of the headpiece, rather than its head. Clover stifled a laugh, while Martlet seemed completely unphased by the shenanigans unfolding around her. Martlet gently nudged Clover towards the group of dogs with a wing.

“This is Clover, I’ve been taking care of them for a few weeks now. They’re SUPER adorable, but they’re still learning about the underground. I’ve been a little worried about bringing them into town because of… Recent events. I just wanted to keep them safe, but they’ve got an adventurous spirit!” Martlet wasn’t lying, technically. Dogaress sniffed the air, directing her snout towards Clover. The veil over her head made Clover feel uneasy.

“Hmph. Don't worry about anything, little one. If that human comes ANYWHERE near this town, we’ll know! You’re practically in the safest, most human-free zone in Snowdin right now, with all of us here.” Dogaress bragged, while Dogamy nodded in agreement with his partner's statement. Clover's beak shifted to a smile, as they instinctively reached out and pat her head. Dogaress stood up sharply, their tail wagging back and forth rapidly.

“It feels good to be rewarded for a job well done.” She smugly spoke, while the rest of the dogs eyed her with jealousy.

“Hard to believe you’re adopted kiddo, from what little I’ve seen of you, you certainly look like her.” Doggo's eyes shifted back and forth, trying to catch any movements made by Clover.

“They also have the same scent!” Dogamy quickly added.

Anyway, why don’t you introduce the pup to Grillby? Go take them inside and get something to eat, ‘cause Sans ain’t hogging the ketchup today.” Dogaress cleared her throat, "Anyway, we've got a human to find, guys!” Dogaress whistled to the rest of the guard-dogs, signaling for them to follow her. Each of them sang a chorus of goodbyes to Martlet and Clover, apart from Greater Dog, who just barked. Martlet watched dumbfoundedly as the dogs walked away. Doggo however, stayed behind.

“How come you get to laze about all week while that human’s on the loose anyway Martlet…? I heard Undyne gave you PAID LEAVE! I could take care of a puppy’n still work, easily!” Doggo narrowed his eyes at where he presumed Martlet was standing, who took a slow step away from him.

“I- Uh… You see, I just needed a little time to-” Martlet was interrupted by Clover, who launched a wooden stick over Martlet's head and into the distance.

“Fetch!” Clover shouted, and in a flash Doggo was gone, barking loudly as he chased after the stick. Martlet watched as Doggo disappeared into the woods, in search of the stick.

“That’s one good costume.” She mumbled under her breath.

“Martlet, are those guys the other royal guards you work with?!” Clover excitedly asked Martlet.

“Oh, uh… Yeah! I don’t usually run into them very often, and uh… We don’t hang out that much since I’m posted in lower Snowden near the resort. But they’re all really nice people, and talented guards! …When they’re not asking me to take them on a walk, or pet them…” Martlet's enthusiastic attitude briefly faltered as she remembered why she didn’t usually “hang out” with the guard-dogs.

“They seemed like good monsters, and they’re hunting that human! Once they capture them, we’ll all be one soul closer to getting out of here!” Clover was very happy that soon enough, they’d be one step closer to their freedom. One step closer to enacting justice. Martlet didn’t seem to share their enthusiasm.

Clover's attention shifted to the bar they were standing outside. It was a classy looking rustic building, the name “Grillby’s” was carved onto a wooden sign. It looked busy inside, but that wasn’t about to stop Clover!

“Hey, let’s go talk to that Grillby guy! He’s in there, right?” Clover looked up at Martlet, a smile forming on their beak.

For the briefest of moments, Martlet completely forgot that the smiling tank-top wearing avian staring up at her was a human. She snapped back to reality, shocked at just how good their costume was.

“Sure! I can even get you something to eat there- To eat back home, unless you can somehow eat it through uh… Well, we’ll figure it out!” Martlet walked into Grillby's, with Clover happily following behind her. The inside of Grillby’s Stank of meat, booze and a bit of sweat. It was a familiar smell, one that made Clover feel uneasy. Heads turned and the chatter of the bar turned quiet, chairs shifted as the various patrons of the bar all turned to stare at Clover and Martlet.

“Holy shit, I was right! Martlets got a kid!” A literal giant eye broke the silence, followed by another monster next to him shouting.

“Language!” This then quickly devolved into loud chattering and discussion about Clover and Martlet.

“They… Knew?” Martlet dumbfoundedly asked, as both she and Clover walked towards the well dressed fire-elemental serving drinks at the bars counter. Clover naturally presumed this was Grillby.

“Of course, you’re the talk of the town, have been for weeks.” Grillby’s voice crackled like fire.

“Uh, hey! I’m Clover. I’d like a whiskey, please.” Clover barely was able to poke their head up over the counter. Martlet stared in disbelief at the child, while Grillby reached underneath the counter, grabbing something.

“Come back in ten years and ask again kid, here’s a burger in the mean-time.” They placed a burger on the counter, which Clover began struggling to nibble on with their beak. Amazingly, it seemed as if they were able to awkwardly eat food, even through their costume.

“So, how long have you had them? You’ve even got them an almost matching outfit.” Grillby grabbed an empty glass from the counter, taking a rag from his pocket and getting to work on cleaning the dirty glass.

“Oh, I uh- Adopted them recently. Undyne’s let me take a week off after they… Wait, why are you asking me? Why’s everyone so interested in me?!” Martlet slammed her wings against the counter, leaning up against it as she locked eyes with Grillby's. Or at least locked eyes with his glasses. Clover continued to happily eat their burger.

“Not much happens around here, kid. Rumor's spread like wild fire. Heh. It’s my business to know what’s what around here, so I can always give my customers the scoop. Here, I’ll even make it worth your while.” Grillby reached behind him, then slid a cold rootbeer towards Martlet. Martlet squinted at the rootbeer, deciding to take it with a shrug, stuffing it into her jeans pocket.

“Well, because… Uh, Clover was in a tiny little accident, and I’ve been taking care of them ever since. They basically live with me now, and it’s been a… Struggle adjusting, I guess. But they’re adorable, and I don’t mind taking care of them. Undyne even gave me a week off because of it! I’d say that’s a perk of having them around!” Martlet smiled, reaching down with a wing and ruffling Clover's hair.

“There’s loads of perks for keeping me around.” Clover nodded in agreement, finishing up their burger.

“Why don’t you introduce Clover to the rest of the town, Martlet? They look like they’re just itching to get out and about.” Grillby nodded their head towards Clover. Clovers beak shifted into a smile, as they stared hopefully up at Martlet.

“Yeah, sure! I guess I do owe a bit of explanation of what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks, and uh… Well, Clover’s been wanting to explore the town for a while now.” Martlet made her way out of Grillby’s, along with Clover who followed closely behind.

Clover soon found themselves being lead all over town, exploring inns, libraries, or a “librarby” as the sign called it, and getting introduced to a lot of monsters. A little too many in Clover's opinion, all of them seemed to make a big deal about them and Martlet, barraging them with questions. Eventually, after a long day of meeting new monsters and exploring the town, Clover and Martlet sat outside of the local inn, each holding a mug of hot chocolate. Clover was awkwardly sipping it through their beak.

“Sorry if they were a little too chatty, Clover. Not much really ever happens around here, so we’ve been the talk of the town for weeks. Hey, at least a few of them gave us free stuff!” Martlet raised the hot chocolate the inn-keep had given them up to her beak, taking a long sip.

“Yeah, it was nice meeting everyone… Those teenagers seemed as cool as cowboys, I hope I can hang out with them someday.” Clover let their feet dangle off of the wooden bench they were sitting on, swaying them back and forth.

“They might be a little too old for you to play with Clover, but hey! I’m sure you’ll find loads of friends here, like uh… That kid who I can’t remember the name of, or… Well, Papyrus is nice enough, too bad he and his brother aren’t around today.” Martlet looked to the side, watching monsters beginning to end their day, as night approached.

“Hey Martlet, how old am I? A lot of people kept asking, but you never said!” Clover put the cup of hot chocolate down.

“Oh uh… You’re eight? Yeah, eight, that’s right!” Martlet sounded unsure of herself, before becoming far more confident in her guess. Clover was satisfied with her answer.

Clover knew what they had to say next, they had been preparing to drop the big question all day, and now after behaving REALLY WELL and meeting just about everyone in Snowdin Town, they were ready.

“Martlet, can we go to the wild east tomorrow, please?” Clover practically begged, grabbing Martlet's left wing with both of their feathered-hands. Martlet's face began to shift into a stern, authorative stare. This stare however, quickly changed into an almost pained wince, their head turning away from Clovers own, unable to meet their gaze. Her expression then shifted once more, into that of sad-acceptance.

“...Sure…” She hung her head in defeat, letting out a sigh.

“YEE-HAW, IT’S TIME TO SADDLE UP!” Clover leapt off the bench, running around in circles in the snow as they celebrated wildly to themselves with. The innkeeper poked her head out of the inns door, investigating the commotion outside.

“Huh, they really remind me of you when you were a little younger, hun.” The rabbit-monster looked down at the defeated Martlet, who let out a groan of agreement.

Doggo walked back towards Grillby’s, proudly holding a chewed stick in his mouth.

“It took me a while, but I finally found that damn stick! Uh, Clover…? Where are you?”

Chapter Text

Martlet landed with a grunt, the flapping of her wings had kicked up sand everywhere. She was sweating, thirsty, and exhausted. That’s what flying in the dunes did to someone built for colder weather. Tragically, this was only exemplified by the package she was carrying in her backpack.

Clovers head burst out of Martlet’s backpack, inspecting the area around them.

“Finally, we’re here!” Clover leapt out of the backpack, falling into the sand with a thud. Martlet tiredly turned around, taking a moment to catch her breath while Clover pushed themselves back to their feet.

“Just- Make sure you don’t overheat in that thing, Clover.” Martlet motioned to Clovers costume with a wing.

“I’ll be fine! This is where I belong, after all…” Clover adjusted their weathered cowboy hat, staring out at the town that laid before them. It was just like in the movie they saw, but better! Also, there was a pretty big corn farm just above it, but that didn’t change the fact that this is exactly what they’d been looking for! A tumbleweed blew past them. Clover audibly gasped, closely watching it roll past them.

“So, are you ready to check this place out? I really hope they don’t charge an admission fee… Gosh, what if they do? I only brought enough gold for a drink!” Martlet began checking her pockets for any extra gold, while Clover made their way towards the town ahead of them. A gigantic glowing stone sat just behind the town. The sun stone, the cause of the dunes. Sure, it may have devastated the local ecosystem, but it was super cool to look at!

Clover stopped at the towns entrance, looking around excitedly at the other monsters going about their day, all of them wore similar clothes and even hats to Clover!

In the center of town, a small crowd had gathered near a large bell. North Star, the sheriff himself stood just in front of them, his back turned to Clover. He seemed to be speaking to the crowd about something…

“Alright folks, we just got our first payment of all the sales we made from that movie we shot right here, in this envelope!” North Star raised the envelope to the crowd, illicting gasps and murmurs from the various gunslingers.

Northstar cracked a grin, opening up the envelope, “Now it’s important to remember to split these profits fairly, well- Mostly fairly… Blackjack may have asked for a fifty percent share for the use of his store’n guns and what not… Although hey! That ain’t a problem, not one dang bit! ‘Cause let me tell you we’ve sold…” North star squinted at the piece of paper he held in his hand, “Two… Copies. That’s uh, ten gold pieces in total.”

“...I bought one.” The camerawoman spoke up, Clover immediately recognized her voice, finally putting a face to it. They were a tall fox-woman, appearing to be distinctly out of place compared to the rest of the townsfolk in terms of clothing, apart from her leather boots.

“Thank ya Ceroba! I appreciate your patronage, HOWEVER! That means ONE COPY was still sold! That copy could have been spread around illegally, or shown to a very large group of friends who told their friends about the movie! Don’t worry folks, this is only the first week of sales right here, we’ll be selling more in no time’n put this town on the map!” North Star balled one of his gloved hands up into a fist, raising it into the air to punctuate his triumphant speech. The townsfolk erupted into cheers and discussion, before beginning to return to their routine.

North Star turned around, tugging on the collar of his poncho, “The gunsmith is gonna god damn kill me.” He mumbled worriedly.

Clover could only stare in utter awe at the worried sheriff before him. He was everything they wanted to be, from their wide hat that cast an intimidating shadow over their face, to their black poncho, even their thick gloves and sturdy looking boots! Clover couldn’t believe they were face to face with their idol!

“You’re just as cool in person as you are in the movie…” Clover whispered to themselves, unable to bring themselves to properly introduce themselves to the coolest man in the underground. North Star seemed to notice the small child had been staring at them for the past few minutes, at first seemingly confused, then becoming clearly happier once they noticed Clovers choice of clothing. North star strode towards Clover, then proceeded to squat down next to them.

“Howdy there little partner, what brings you to our fine town?” Northstar winked at Clover, who was struggling to find the courage to speak to such an intimidatingly cool person.

“I-I came here with my mom. I watched your movie like ten times mister North Star, it’s the coolest thing ever! I knew I had to come here once I saw it, it was like my destiny… You guys even have the same clothes as me!” Clover proudly placed their feathered hands on their hips, their fake-beak shifting into a smile.

North Stars eyes widened, a blush spreading across his face “Y-You watched my movie?” They struggled to contain their excitement, before quickly turning away from Clover and clearing their throat violently before continuing, “Hah, of course you watched my movie pardner. Just by your clothes alone, I can see you’ve got what it takes to one day be a sheriff like me… Or at least a deputy.” North star stood up, grabbing Clovers flop hat and adjusting it slightly, so it now partially cast a shadow over their eyes.

Clover determinedly nodded in agreement, immediately flipping their hat back to its normal position.

“Anyway, how about I show you around town ya little cowpoke, it’s the least I can do for one of my… Biggest fans.” North Star seemed to be struggling to contain the very wide smile that was forming on his face as he spoke.

“Uhm, who are you?” Martlet finally caught up with Clover, suspiciously eyeing the cowboy.

“Hah, me? The name’s NORTHSTAR! I’m the sheriff of this here fine town, me’n my posse keep the peace 'round here!” North star spun back around to face Martlet, pointing a gloved finger at her.

“Hey, where’s the rest of the feisty five anyway, mister Northstar?” Clover asked, realizing there was no sign of them.

“Oh, they’re all back home visiting their families since it’s the weekend- I mean they’re out of town bringing JUSTICE to folks who deserve it.” North Star placed both of his hands on his belt, eyeing Martlet up, almost like he was assessing her, ready to fight if need be! At least, that’s what Clover thought.

“Uhm… Is this place safe for Clover? You guys have a lot of guns around here…” Martlet extended a wing towards Clover, who immediately frowned upon the realization that Martlet may prevent them from fully enjoying the town.

“‘Course! We uh- Only use RUBBER bullets against most folk, it’s important to be merciful as a sheriff after all.” North Star clearly valued the life of even criminals and bandits, what a true enactor of justice he was! Martlet didn’t seem convinced, “I assure you miss, your kid will be safe with me!” North Star unholstered his revolver, to Martlets discomfort.

“Uhm, you really don’t need to do that.” Martlet sounded worried, rightfully so as North Star began to spin the revolver around his index finger. Clover watched on in amazement, as the revolver came to a stop. As it did, a single round was discharged into the sky. Northstar seemed completely unphased by this.

“Did you just accidentally fire that?!” Martlet was growing significantly more worried.

“‘Course not, that was completely intentionally miss.” North star spoke with absolute confidence, despite his trembling right hand.

The saloon doors swung open, and out walked the camerawoman.

“Star, what’s taking you so long? Also, why did I hear- Oh…” The kitsune locked eyes with Clover, then shifted her gaze towards Martlet. The woman constantly looked somewhat annoyed and bored, or a mix between the two.

“Ceroba? Oh, I’m just introducin’ this up and coming sheriff to this here fine town! …They bought the movie.” North Star once again sounded ecstatic that someone had purchased their movie. Clover figured the other monsters must just not be ready to embrace revolutionary films.

Ceroba walked towards Martlet, her half-closed eyes fully opening.

“You… Worked with Chujin, didn’t you?” Ceroba questioned.

“Yeah I did! Oh my gosh, you live here?! I figured you were- Uh… You know, still living back there after… Uh- You know…” Martlet's very happy mood was quickly dampened, as she casted a brief worried look towards Clover. Clover did not “know”, and quite frankly they didn’t appreciate being kept out of the loop. However, this was clearly personal business. So they’d just listen in.

“No I… I’m living here with Star, they’re a close friend of mine, and practically run the town. Since when did you have a kid, anyway?” Ceroba looked down at Clover, who happily waved up at her.

“Wow, I can’t believe I get to meet North Star and the camera-woman! This is a darn good day…” Clover smiled up at Ceroba. A small smile spread across Cerobas face, before quickly fading, replaced by a pained frown.

“Martlet, can we talk in the saloon? Don’t worry about Clover, Star will keep them safe. I trust him.” Unlike Star, she spoke bluntly, without any bravado, although with a sense of certainty Star seemed to lack.

“Well, if you trust him- Sure. Clover, I gotta go catch up with Ceroba, I used to know her husband way back when! He taught me how to make stuff! He’s- He was like your uncle, y’know?” Martlet waved to Clover, as both she and Ceroba made their way into the saloon.

“Sheriff Star, I really wanted to go to the saloon.” Clovers beak shifted into a frown, the sheer disappointment on their face unable to be properly captured by their feathered mask.

“Well hey partner, there’s a load-more things to explore here! C’mon, I’ll take ya to meet our gunsmith!” Star motioned for Clover to follow him with a gloved hand, walking towards the gun-store.

“Really?! Will I be able to get a better gun from him? My revolver got kinda damaged after I fell…” Clover followed Star, taking a very damaged looking plastic revolver from his pocket as he walked.

“Heh, ‘course! We’ll get you hooked up with your very own six-shooter. Least I can do for my /biggest fan/.” North Star adjusted his hat as he stepped towards the fancy looking gun store's front door. According to a sign hanging off of the overhanging porch’s roof, the store was called “Blackjack’s”. 

Star turned the doors handle, attempting to open the door. It didn’t budge.

“Uh, hang on partner.” Star briefly glanced back at Clover, then loudly knocked on the door ahead of him.

“Go away! I ain’t doing business with you, North Star! Not until I get my royalties from that damned movie!” Blackjack shouted from behind the still currently locked door.

“Blackjack, pal! I got the royalties right here, along with a brand new customer for ya.” Star took a step back, letting Blackjack unlock the door and step outside with an awkward walk due to his wooden leg. The large, well dressed gunsmith suspiciously eyed the sheriff. Star stood confidently in front of him, offering the opened envelope to Blackjack, who quickly snatched it away from Star.

Blackjack took a look inside the envelope “Let’s see here…” He took the measly amount of gold inside out, examining it in his hand, “Star, this is only ten gold! How much were you sellin’ that stupid movie for?!” Blackjack shouted up at Star, who placed both of his hands on his belt, completely un-phased by Blackjack's shouting.

“Heh, we sold it for five gold. Per sale. We uh… We sold two. You only get five gold by the way, I gotta split the rest among the rest of the gang.” Star bluntly explained, although he still maintained his cowboy-aura. Blackjack let out a groan in response.

“Hey, we may not have made a lot off of sales YET, but we got a brand new customer and FAN of the feisty five!” Star’s confident, authoritative attitude gave way to excitement as he leaned down towards Blackjack, a smile plastered across his face.

“What…? Oh.” Blackjacks gaze shifted to Clover, who waved at them, “Howdy there kid, this cowboy taking you on a tour? ‘Cause if he is, lemme tell you this store right here is where you can get ANYTHING cowboy related!” Blackjack proudly exclaimed, proudly motioning to the store behind him.

“Anything cowboy related?! This is so cool! It’s just like in the movie, do you even have the /golden gun/?”

“Bah, the golden gun? That’s just somethin’ that damned idiot Star asked me to spraypaint for his stupid movie, y’know that’s not even the first gun that “sheriff” has lo-” Star covered Blackjacks mouth with his gloved hands, twisting him around and squatting slightly to whisper something to him. It sounded like they were very, very desperate whispers.

“Hey, don’t call North Star an idiot! He’s doing good work here if y’ask me, enforcing justice in this here town.” Clover defended their idol, also trying to sound a little more cowboyish as they spoke, “Wait, spraypainted?” Clover scratched the bottom of their beak with their feathered finger.

The hushed, very desperate sounding whispering finally came to a stop with a loud groan from Blackjack “Okay, fine I’ll play along!” Blackjack frustratedly muttered, as North Star suddenly jolted upwards and away from Blackjack, clearing his throat and immediately re-entering his confident posture.

“Blackjack here asked us to find the GOLDEN GUN! That was uh, tragically lost during the recording of our film. It should be right at the bottom’o that big ol’ cliff.” Star pointed towards the cliffside at the edge of town, it looked like a very steep drop.

“Oh, wow… Hey, if we find it, can I get a reward or something? I need a new six-shooter, ‘cause my old one’s kinda busted up.” Clover reached into their pocket, withdrawing a damaged looking toy gun. Blackjack leaned towards the gun, examining it with an audible “hmph.".

“Tell you what kid, I’ll fix up that gun there if you’n the… “Sheriff” find that gun for me.” Blackjack pat Clover on the shoulder. Clover excitedly looked up at the larger monster.

“You can count on us, mister Blackjack!” Clover spun on his heel, beginning to march towards the cliffside, with Star following closely behind them.

Martlet looked around the bar she was sitting in, she certainly didn’t expect Ceroba to hang around a place like this. Although, she guessed it wasn’t really a bar, and technically a “saloon”? She wasn’t too sure what the difference was.

“Martlet, you zoned out again.” Ceroba tiredly snapped her fingers in front of the birds face.

“Sorry! I was just thinking, gosh… It’s been forever since I’ve seen you. I just wanted to apologize for what happened to Chujin. It must be hard for you, and Kanako.” Martlet's wing wrapped around the full shot glass in front of her, as she took a long sip from it.

Ceroba grabbed an unlabeled bottle from behind the counter, popping the lid off with her thumb before taking a long, long swig from the bottle, almost emptying it in a few seconds. She slammed the bottle back onto the counter, burping.

“It’s fine.” She stated coldly.

“Uh… Are you sure it’s okay? I’m pretty sure you didn’t used to drink this heavily before… You know.” Martlet stared down at her mostly full shot glass, then glanced back to Ceroba who was peering into the now empty bottle.

“Yeah. I’m sure. Anyway, you’ve got a kid now? I never expected you to have a child so soon. You’re doing a good job though, they seem happy. Funny how they love cowboys, just like Starlo. I’m sure they’re going to enjoy playing with him.” Ceroba grabbed another bottle from behind the counter, cracking it open and beginning to drink heavily from it.

“Ceroba, honey- Watch how much you’re drinking.” The bartender spoke up, briefly looking away from the customers she was serving. Ceroba didn’t seem to acknowledge her advice, as she slammed the now empty second glass bottle back onto the counter, letting out a satisfied “ahh” as she did so.

“Oh, uh… They’re not really my kid! We just look similar, I adopted them a few weeks ago after… Uh- Well, they got into an accident, although they’re doing way better now!” Martlet happily chirped, eliciting only a small smile from the depressed looking Ceroba, who was still holding onto the empty second bottle.

“I’m happy for you.” Cerobas voice sounded genuine, although there was a hint of loathing in the tone of her voice.

Martlet put her drink down, growing somewhat concerned for her mentor's wife.

“Where’s Kanako anyway? I’m sure Clover would get along great with them!” Martlet happily exclaimed, trying to brighten Ceroba’s clearly depressive mood. As soon as she loudly spoke those words, the entire saloon seemed to fall silent. Cerobas eyes widened, as she shakily reached for another bottle.

“K-Kanako… Also got into an accident. She… Uh- She fell… Fell down.” Ceroba’s voice trembled, as she struggled to maintain her icey facade.

“What?! Oh my gosh, is she already-” A shocked Martlet was interrupted, by Ceroba.

“No. She’s okay. I sent her to the royal scientist for an experimental treatment. She… She’s still alive for now. It’s been a few weeks since I last saw her, but I can still sense her presence.” Ceroba regained her composure as she spoke, staring down at the full bottle she held.

“Gosh… How could she- She was so young, and…” Martlet trailed off, while Ceroba just shook her head.

“It’s- It’s my fault. I-I thought, I- I thought that injection would help her, I’d be making Chujins legacy matter, but- God, unless the royal scientist can work a miracle or I somehow find a /pure/ human soul… She’s dead.” Cerobas facade shattered, as tears began to form in the cornes of her eyes. Martlets eyes widened in response to what she was hearing.

“I-It was an accident, you had good intentions even if what you did was… Well, uh- Wait, you said you needed a human SOUL to save her?” Martlet's shock turned to confusion.

“If I just… If I had a /pure/ proper soul to counteract the impure injection I gave her, it’d save her! I know it would!” She leaned forwards, grabbing at her hair with her claws, “I’m pathetic, an absolute failure of a mother. Please, just go- I don’t want you to see me like this.” Ceroba was struggling to hold back tears. Martlet reached out a wing, placing it on her shoulder.

“Please don’t say that Ceroba, after all- I… Might be able to help.” A small, pitiable smile formed on Martlets beak, as Cerobas attention shifted away from the bottle and towards Martlet.

“What?” She asked, quickly and suspiciously.

“Clover… They- They’re… A human.” Martlet leaned towards Ceroba, whispering the truth to her in fear that someone else might hear. Ceroba stared at her in disbelief, before pushing herself up and away from the bars counter. She stood next to Martlet, her body half-limp as she stared down at the bird. Then, she started to laugh. It started off quiet, before becoming maddeningly loud.

“I-It’s not some kind of joke, I swear, they- It…” Martlet struggled to find the words to describe her situation, as Ceroba slowly recovered from her mental break. Ceroba stared wide-eyed at Martlet. She said nothing, although her eyes narrowed at the bird with an odd, almost predatory gaze.

"Are you serious?" She asked bluntly, to which Martlet repeatedly nodded, standing up.

"I'm sure they can help, it's just that they don't know that they're, well... A human." Martlet tried to explain the situation to Ceroba, although she swiftly walked past her, towards the saloons exit.

"I'll look into it." Ceroba stated, her calm voice carrying an underlying sense of determination, and hope. She exited the Saloon, followed swiftly by Martlet.

"Wait, what do you mean look into it?!" Martlet anxiously asked. Ceroba stayed quiet.

“Whoa. That’s a really steep drop.” Clover stared down at the dizzyingly high sheer drop just beyond them, “This is where Sid dropped the gun after you shot him?!” Clover excitedly asked Star, who simply nodded in response, his very proud smile returning to his face.

“Exactly, kid. Don’t worry ‘bout the drop, avoiding danger’s just apart’o life as a real wild-east cowboy.” Star finished tightening the rope around Clover’s body.

“Are you sure this is gonna go well, Star? I’m not sure I can fly like my mom can.” Clover ashamedly admitted.

“Psssh, ‘course you can fly! You just ain’t figured out how to do it yet kid. Once you’re dropping down there, you’ll start gliding safely down towards the gun. It’s a fool-proof plan, I even got this rope in case something goes wrong. I’ll just yank on it and stop your fall!” Star stomped his right foot against the ground, winking at clover as he pointed a finger gun at them.

“Oh my gosh, you did the thing!” Clovers mouth, and by extension their beak hung open in shock.

“Would I do any less for my biggest fan? Anyway, let’s do this Clover!” Star loosely grabbed the rope with his gloved hands, “I’ll tighten my grip if you start screaming, so ya stop falling!” He once again explained to Clover, who nodded repeatedly in response.

“Let’s do this, partner!” Clover made a running leap towards the cliff, and dove straight off it.

“Are you actually kidding me right now?” Flowey watched from the towns center as Clover dove off of the cliff. As he commentated on Clovers stupidity, Ceroba ran past him, followed closely by Martlet.

Clover wildly flapped their wings as they hurtled towards the ground, they had feathers, and vaguely wing-shaped arms thanks to their suit, surely they could fly somehow, if they just really tried hard enough? They extended both of their arms attempting to glide like Star had told them to. They continued to fall towards the ground.

“Oh no. Star? STAAAAAR?!” Clover shouted, beginning to wildly flap their wings as they realized they could definitely not fly despite his encouragement.

Star grimaced, “Hang on buddy, I gotchya!” He tightened his grip around the rope in his gloved hands. Star however, was not bracing himself properly, as he would soon find out- This is incredibly important when lifting heavy objects. Star was pulled forwards in a flash, flying off of the cliff in an incredible display of stupidity.

“Oh god!” He held onto his hat with his gloved hand, as he too began to fall towards the rapidly approaching dunes.

“STARLO!” Ceroba shouted, diving towards the rope, which appeared to almost be at its lengths end.

“Oh my gosh, Clover?!” With a flap of her wings, an extremely distressed Martlet launched herself forwards, towards the cliffs-edge. She then dive-bombed off of it, straight towards Clover, who was seemingly still attached to the rope. Her eyes darted towards Star as he she flew past him, the screaming cowboy having no such safety-mechanism attached to him. Her eyes darted back towards Clover, she had to make a choice- Star or Clover?! Would she even reach Clover in time?! They were so far away, and so close to the ground, oh god, this was too much!

Ceroba braced herself as she gripped the end of the rope, her boots dug into the rocky ground as she struggled to counter balance the rather heavy human child.

Clovers surprisingly elastic rope suddenly went taut, causing them to fall just a little further towards the ground, before bouncing them back upwards then downwards, then upwards… They let out a laugh of amusement, staring up at the cliffs edge to thank their idol, only to watch them fall right past them, followed closely by Martlet.

Martlet was thankful Ceroba managed to save Clover, although didn’t hesitate to kick her boots off and grab a hold of Stars back with her talons. She then began to pull herself upwards with a bit of struggle, turning their dive into a glide towards the sand. As she approached the sand, she dropped star with a grunt. Only to crash into the dunes a ways away from him, thankfully mostly unharmed, although she was breathing heavily. She looked up at the cliff ahead of her as she laid in the sand, letting out a sigh of relief as she saw Ceroba beginning to reel Clover up towards her.

“I-I owe ya miss! I may have uh… Miscalculated just how much yer kid weighed. I am- Deeply sorry. I-I just wanted to make them feel special, y’know? They’re… I dunno, they kinda reminded me of myself when I was their age. I wanted them to have an adventure’n…God, I’m sorry miss.” Star completely dropped his confident persona, shamefully staring at the sand in front of Martlet. Her anger quickly shifted to pity, then understanding.

“It’s… Well it’s not alright, but I don’t blame you. I don’t really have the right to blame you, after… Uh, don’t worry about it, okay? Just maybe don’t throw kids off of cliffs next time! Even if they are bird-kids, because… Uh, well Clover can’t really fly.” Martlet fully stood up, eliciting a nod from Star as he picked up a spray painted revolver that laid in the sand next to them.

“Once I get this back to Blackjack, he’ll be able to fix up Clovers toy-gun! Make it real fancy for them, it’s the least I can do after this mess…” Star rubbed the back of his neck, turning around to stare up at the ascending Clover.

“Yeah, that’d be- Clover.” Martlet turned around, watching as Clover was safely lowered down towards them. They had a smile on their fake-beak, seeming rather happy about the events that had just unfolded.

"Hey Martlet." Clover casually greeted their guardian, who proceeded to lunge forwards, wrapping her wings around them and bringing them in for a hug.

"Clover! Gosh, I'm so glad you're alright." Martlet let out a sigh of relief, Clover was a little taken aback, although wrapped their arms around her.

"I was fine, sheriff Star had it under control!" Clovers attention shifted towards Star, who awkwardly tugged at the collar of his poncho, averting his gaze from his number one supporter.

"Uh, how exactly do we get back to the town...?" Martlet questioned, staring up at the imposing cliff before them.

Clover hummed to themselves as the group finally made it to the top of the cliffside after a very , very long walk.

"Well, that was almost a disaster." Martlet mumbled, looking down at Clover, who happily smiled up at her.

“Thanks Martlet. I promise me’n Star won’t dive off of a cliff again! Or uh, try flying…” Clover gave Martlet two thumbs up, while Star awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Say partner, I’ll turn in this gun’n get your iron fixed up. After that, I'm gonna go see where Ceroba ran off to.” Star flashed him a confident grin, “Safety’s one of the most important thing a cowboy can worry about!” Star quickly added on.

“I feel like you should be telling yourself that.” Martlet grumbled. Star lead the two back towards town.

The rest of the day was uneventful, Clover met a few other monsters around town, even the dastardly Sid the snake! Most of them complimented their incredible choice of clothing. They briefly stopped by the saloon, and after Star dropped off the golden gun, they got their beat up gun fixed up into a proper looking revolver! Apart from falling off a cliff, it had been a great day to say the least! No matter where they looked though, they couldn't seem to find Ceroba. They really wanted to thank her for saving them.

Clover sat next to Martlet on a bench outside of town. Martlet was fanning her face with a wing, and generally seemed exhausted. Clover was happily sipping a root cola, bought from the saloon. Too bad they didn’t let them buy whiskey.

“So, you ready to head home pal?” Martlet extended a wing towards Clover, letting it rest over their back.

“Yeah, it’s been great here... I couldn't find Miss Ceroba to thank her for saving me, though. We’ll come back, right?” Clover hopefully stared up at Martlet, who chuckled in response to their gaze.

“Maybe, Clover.” She ruffled their fake-hair, before opening up her backpack, waiting for Clover to hop inside.

“Just be thankful I don’t charge for my delivery services.” Martlet joked.

Clover wildly fired off rubber bullet after rubber bullet, each of their shots slamming into random objects and furniture around their home. Martlet was far too exhausted to stop them, slumped into the sofa, staring at the latest news report. A shot bounced off of a vase of flowers, Clover gasped as he watched it careen off of the side of the wooden shelf. They were barely able to leap towards the vase of flowers, catching it just before it hit the ground. Clover reached up towards the shelf, placing the vase back onto it. They then shifted their attention to the television, their almost limitless energy beginning to run out.

“Breaking news! That’s right, MORE breaking news unrelated to the reported human sightings, can you believe it?!” The robotic news-anchor, Mettaton spoke extremely loudly.

“Reports are coming in directly from the royal scientist herself that a recent experimental procedure to save monsters who have “fallen down” was a success! The monsters have been returned to their homes. Doctor Alphys is receiving wide-spread acclaim and praise from monsters all across the underground for their surface-shattering achievement! Not to mention, the HUNDREDS of monsters who are now asking to bring family members in to receive this miracle-treatment she’s cooked up! Bringing back the dead and building ME, is there nothing this beautiful woman can’t do?!” The camera shifted to Alphys, who appeared to be wearing a modest dress. Next to her sat the king of all monsters himself, Asgore. He was sitting in a chair that was far, far too small for him. It was almost comical. 

Clover squinted at the large, friendly looking King. Something didn’t feel right about them.

“Beauties and Gentlebeauties, with me tonight in the studio is King Asgore and Doctor Alphys themselves!” Applause erupted from Mettaton’s speakers.

“Oh, I’m only here to help answer questions many monsters may have for both myself and Alphys regarding… Recent events. The star of this show is the doctor herself.” Asgore, motioned towards Alphys with his gigantic paw, who was visibly sweating.

“So doctor Alphys, how did you do it, how did you BRING the dead back to life?!” Mettaton dramatically asked, only for Asgore to gently raise his gigantic paw up, indicating that he would answer.

“The exact methods of how this was done will remain… Classified for now. As the procedure is still being refined, although I assure you it will be made public eventually.”

“Ooooh, a mystery?! Well, the cure seems to work well enough from what this participant has to say!” Mettaton pointed to something out of frame, the camera swiveled around, revealing none other than Ceroba, along with a small kitsune sitting on her lap. Ceroba looked content. There was a small smile on her face, as she intently watched her child.

“Hello, I'm Kanako!” The small Kitsune cheerfully introduced herself, waving to the camera.

"Ceroba?!" Martlet stared at the television in disbelief. Clover was just as confused, if not more so than Martlet. They decided to keep quiet though.

“Isn't she just ADORABLE?! To think that the great and wonderous ROYAL SCIENTIST was able to not only save, but re-unite this child with her mother! Is there anything she can't do?" Mettaton asked the camera, before immediately shifting his attention back to Kanako. Ceroba briefly glanced away from Kanako, eyeing the robot with suspicion, before quickly returning her gaze to them.

You were one of the test-subjects Alphys saved, are you not? Tell us, what was the experience of being CURED like, and do you believe that this treatment is ready for the general public?” Mettaton quickly added on the last question to Alphys growing anxiety and the Kings visible displeasure.

“Uhm... Oh, it was kinda scary, there were all these needles'n stuff and I felt kinda good at first, but then I felt really bad! Everything got all weird, but I felt a lot better after Alphys fed me some pills...” Kanako trailed on and on, before being cut off by Ceroba, who hushed her softly.

"We're not allowed to speak about that, remember?" Ceroba faintly whispered to her daughter. Mettaton however, made sure his microphone picked up the whispers, holding it close to the two foxes.

“Oh my, so you-” Mettaton began, only to be interrupted as Asgore stood up.

“I believe it may be best for me to address the underground directly.” Asgore cleared his throat, taking a step towards the center of the set.

“But we’ve got hundreds of callers waiting to ask about when their family members can get-” Mettaton stopped talking, as Asgores gaze briefly shifted towards them, a very dangerous look in his eyes. Mettaton shuffled some papers on his desk.

“Please prepare yourselves for an official royal announcement from the king himself!” The camera focused on Asgore.

Martlet and Clover watched intently.

“The royal scientist is still in the process of conducting this experiment. It may take years for this experiment to be concluded before we can safely begin the treatment of other monsters who have fallen down. I know this is a hard pill to swallow for many of you out there, although this is for the best.” Asgore spoke firmly, yet somehow his voice remained soft and understanding, “However. If the reports of the sixth human are true, and I assure you the royal guard has been searching the entire underground for them… Progress may be able to be made not only towards the barrier being shattered, instead it /may/ further doctor Alphys’s research.” Asgore turned back to Mettaton, smiling, “That will be all.”

“Wow, can you believe it?! Has the underground ever been more alive than right now beauties?!” Mettaton's voice remained upbeat and very loud.

“Eh, maybe there’s no human here after all… I feel like we would’ve seen it by now, right?” Clover looked up at Martlet, who decided to stay quiet.

Chapter Text

Flowey was feeling good. Or as good as something without a soul can feel. He knew Clover would attract trouble from a certain crazy fox-lady if they ever went to the wild-east, although keeping the cowboy away from that town was a fool's game. Sure, he could just kill Ceroba but that’d cause way more problems than it would solve. Instead, he just needed  to… Delay her pity-party for a few years until Clover was strong enough to defend themselves against her. Turns out that was way easier than he expected, although it involved going back to a place he really, really wasn’t fond of. Speaking of which, he was heading back there right now, just to tie up a few loose ends, and to have a bit of fun with the good doctor!

“Howdy!” Flowey appeared from a crack in the tiled floor of the lab, causing Alphys to shriek, and drop the instant noodles she was eating. She awkwardly turned around, staring down at the flower.

“F-Flowey! Oh my god, I can-can’t thank you enough for what you did! I-If it weren’t for you… T-Those poor monsters w-would have…” Alphys trailed off as she neurotically fiddled with her labcoat buttons.

“They woulda melted into a bunch of magic-goop held together by determination? Yeah, wouldn’t that be a shame?” Flowey decided not to mask his blatant sarcasm.

“W-Well, I’m not exactly su-sure what would happen to them, although… T-The o-original soul longevity plan is completely wasted! N-Not to mention we only have a few years t-tops before we run out of the d-determination needed to ke-keep them stable.” Alphys worriedly walked over to a cluttered desk, pills and various test tubes full of odd glowing liquid were spread across it.

“Eh, you’ll figure something out. Probably. I believe in ya Alphys, you made me after all!” Flowey winked at Alphys, who seemed to only grow more anxious.

“T-That was a complete accident! I-I didn’t know I’d make some kind of se-sentient flower by jamming determination into it! I-If I knew that, I wouldn’t have injected those poor monsters with it, and- Oh god… I-I only have five years tops to figure out a cure!” Alphys only seemed to grow more worried.

“Psssh, Five years? That’s a load’o time to figure stuff out big-shot. If you don’t…? Eh, who’s to say you can’t just start… Rationing it a little more, maybe take a few fellas in here, let a few keep on taking the pills. Y’know, the ones who deserve it?” Flowey began to slowly extend his stalk upwards, gently coiling himself around Alphys like a snake. Alphys shuddered, trying desperately to contain her ever-growing anxiety.

“C’mon… I mean, poor ol’ Kanako and her mother, given a second chance only for it to be ripped away in five years. Don’t worry, you’ll be the one deciding who gets to live, and who gets to melt… Eventually.” Flowey’s voice grew into a hushed whisper, gaining an extreme amount of enjoyment out of watching the lizard squirm with each word he spoke into her ear.

“S-Shut up, shut up!” She shouted, shaking Flowey off of herself. Flowey rapidly retreated towards the crack in the tiled floor.

“What?! C’mon Alphys, I’m just kiddin’ around! Can’t ya take a joke?” Flowey was very much enjoying himself, all the while the extremely flustered Alphys glared down at them, her face wracked with worry, guilt, and anger.

“A-Are you even going to help me?! God, please help me. I-I can’t do this alone, I can’t…” Alphys began to beg, as Flowey pretended to mull the question over for a few moments, before staring up at Alphys, and winking at her.

“Nah, sorry. You’re on your own, Alphys!” He happily exclaimed to the utterly horrified Alphys. He then disappeared under the lab, deciding to make his way back to Clover to check up on his most annoying project yet. Oh, who was he kidding! It was fun watching all these new scenarios unfold, even if the kid was one of the stupidest things in the underground. They certainly had a knack for attracting trouble.

It had been a few months since Clover had first moved into Martlet’s home. Or moved in again, after his accident. Things were great! Clover didn’t know why, but they felt happy, very happy. Almost content, if not for the severe lack of cowboy related paraphernalia in Snowdin. The Wild East was great fun, although sadly they rarely seemed to run into Kanako whenever they visited. Life was good, life was very good for them.

Tragically, life wasn't as good for Martlet. While they had become somewhat adept at being a caretaker, they weren't the best. Her current problem? Clover was dirty, smelly, and their feather-suit was generally kind of gross.

“Clover. You smell. Bad.” Martlet stared down at Clover, who was currently slouched into the sofa watching a rerun of Mettaton’s latest reality TV show, exclusively starring himself.

“Oh, sorry.” Clover lazily responded, before examining the suit they were wearing. It seemed like months of playing in Snowdin and the Wild East had coated their feathers with sand snow and various bits of food they accidentally dropped on it.

“You really don’t need to wear that thing in the house, you know. It’s filthy!” Martlet for once sounded rather frustrated with Clover, who shamefully frowned with their fake-beak.

“I’m sorry Martlet… I just really like it, it’s comfy, warm, and it makes me feel like I fit in!” Clover tried the usual apology and sympathy route, although Martlet’s frustrated expression didn’t budge.

“Don’t try that little song and dance on me young monster!”, Martlet tapped her boot against her wooden floor, before letting out a sigh “...Gosh, that sounded pretty stern. Uhm- Ahem. Clover, I’m going to teach you how to Preen yourself. Because I can’t live with this anymore. I probably should’ve taught you how to do this when you first got the suit, but oh well!” Martlets optimistic attitude quickly returned, as she sat down next to Clover, grabbing the small wannabe bird and placing them onto her lap.

“Preen? Wait, you mean clean?! You can’t clean this suit, the sand and snow gives me a rugged look!” Clover pleaded with his caretaker, who only raised an eyebrow in response to their pleas.

“Clover, it kinda makes you look like you’re homeless. Also, I said preen, which is kinda like cleaning, but it’s mostly just cleaning your feathers. See- I’ll show you how to do it.” Martlets head proceeded to shoot forwards, and to Clovers absolute shock she appeared to begin biting and rubbing against their suits feathers.

“W-What are you doing?!” Clover confusedly asked.

“Preening you!” Martlet responded with a feather in her beak, as she continued her onslaught of feather cleaning, “Next time, you’ll do this yourself.” Martlet's words worried Clover, although tragically she was the sheriff in this home.

Upon getting to his “hair”, Martlet froze, feeling something moving around in her beak. She spat it out onto the sofa, staring down in disbelief at the micro-froggit worriedly hopping around her living room.

“Clover, there are MICRO FROGGITS in your suit!” Martlet raised her voice in shock, to which Clover responded with a simple shrug.

“They paid rent.”  Clover re-assured Martlet. A high-pitched croak responded from Clover's hair, as a small gold piece was suddenly produced from within the depths of their suits feathers. Martlet took a moment to process what she was seeing, before letting out a long sigh.

“Please leave. You can keep your gold.” Martlet waved the micro-froggit away, who let out a sad croak, before both they and their companion hopped away, presumably out of their home.

“I was wondering where you kept getting gold for all those rubber bullets.” Martlet suspiciously eyed Clover, who immediately put on their best, most innocent looking smile they could.

A lot of preening later, Clover was relaxing outside in their suit. It was now clean, free of sand snow and micro-froggits, sadly. They were only wearing their jeans and tank top, since there were no fellow cowboys around to impress. Or really anything to do at all.

Clover yawned, their fake-beak opening wide before snapping shut.

“Martlet’s right… I reek. I need a bath.” They spoke the words aloud on reflex, before realizing what they had said.

“Oh- A bath! I remember those, now! Wow… I /really/ need to bathe… Too bad Martlet doesn’t have one.” Clover began wracking their mind for places to wash up in, before remembering that river that ran through lower Snowdin. There was the resort, although they didn’t want anyone seeing their weird fleshy body. So the freezing cold river it was!

Dalv and Penilla wandered through Snowdin forest. Leaving the ruins really was for the best. If only he knew what happened to Clover, or that weird flower who claimed to be their friend.

“Covering for them was the least I could  do- I wonder, though… Was his friend lying? I’ve never heard of anything called “blood-itus” before. Also, they looked almost identical to that /other/ human I saw once.” He looked down at Penilla.

“Beats me! I’ve only seen one human, I think. Clover! I miss that little guy…” Penilla sighed.

“I hope they’re doing alright, where-ever they are.” Dalv finally exited the woods, reaching a small clearing around the riverside.

In the shallows of that river, currently splashing themselves with freezing cold water, was Clover themselves. Dalv couldn’t believe his eyes, he briefly looked back at Penilla, who seemed just as shocked as he was at the sight of the human bathing before them.

“H-Hello? Clover?” Dalv nervously introduced himself to the human, who suddenly spun around, letting out a yelp of shock, before immediately recomposing themselves.

“Oh- Hey! Who are you guys…?” Clover hopped out of the river, giving the two monsters a puzzled look. They were thankfully still wearing their jeans.

“What? Clover, I’m Dalv, we- You said we were friends, right? Don’t you remember me?” Dalv sounded genuinely hurt, and a little concerned.

“Hey, we also met!” Penilla waved at Clover, who simply stared back at the both of them with a blank expression on their face.

“Nope, drawing a blank on you guys. Sorry, I sorta got into an accident, and lost my memories of most of my friends’n other stuff, but I’ve basically remembered everything now, so there’s no need to worry!” Clover spoke with an uncharacteristically optimistic tone to their voice, with a smile on their normally stoically neutral face. It was a little odd to say the least, at least to Dalv and Penilla, “How’d I know you guys? We were friends, right?” Clover walked over to their feathered costume, beginning to slip into it.

“You forgot? We met in the ruins, you- I… A /flower/ said you got into an accident. I just didn’t think you’d forget us- Wait, why are you putting on a costume?” Dalv at first sounded hurt, before immediately becoming confused at the sight of Clover sliding into their feather-suit.

“Darn, I’m sorry. I’m sure I’ll be able to remember you soon though. We can still be friends though, even if I don’t remember you yet!” Clover fully slid into their suit, pulling their mask over their face, “The suit’s something I wear ‘cause uh… I kinda look all weird without it on. I was born without feathers, so uhm… Just don’t tell anyone I wear this, alright?” Clover placed their hat back onto their head.

“Oooh, I get it! Their costume’s a disguise, Clover’s just pretending to be a monster. You don’t need to keep up the act around us though.” Penila smiled up at Clover. Clovers beak shifted into a frown, they looked confused.

“Huh? Pretending…?” Clover didn’t seem to understand what they were talking about.

“I-I don’t think he’s pretending.” Dalv stuttered, his concern for Clover growing rapidly as the conversation progressed.

“Why else would he be wearing a costume like that? Hell, it’d fool me if I hadn’t seen him put it on!” Penilla pointed her large pen towards Clovers costume. Clover just seemed confused.

“That’s what worries me.” Dalv was unable to meet Penias eyes, casting his gaze away from her. He turned his attention back to the clearly confused Clover.

“Clover…? What are you?” Dalv asked, his voice sounded cautious.

“Uh, I’m… Well, I’m Clover! I guess I’m kinda a cowboy, and I’m also a kid… I live with my mom just over the river, have you guys met her yet?” Clover seemed to completely misunderstand the question, “Don’t worry guys! I’ve been making a great recovery from that injury’n stuff.” Clover’s beak shifted into a smile, they seemed proud of themselves.

“I meant- What… What you /are/ Clover, like- Species. I-I’m worried you forgot that you’re a-” An extremely worried sounding Dalv was cut off, as Clover continued to talk.

“I’m a bird-monster, obviously! Well, not actually obviously… I have a medical condition. A few medical conditions, actually… It’s why I wear this suit, ‘cause I don’t grow feathers.” Clover finished their explanation, although was seemingly  growing a little annoyed at their friends' constant questioning.

“A human…” Dalv managed to choke out, right after Clover finished their tirade. Clover froze in place. Silence fell upon the group.

“Human? Is that a joke or something? I know I’ve been having trouble remembering stuff, but saying I’m one of the people that trapped us all down here isn’t funny, partner.” Clover squinted at Dalv, before shrugging, “Okay, maybe it’s a little funny.”

Dalv’s expression sank into despair, he had absolutely no idea what to do next.

“Clover, you mentioned you had a mom right? Why don’t we go talk to her?” Penilla tugged on Dalv's large coat, snapping him back to reality.

“Yeah, good idea.” Dalv mumbled. Clover seemed to mull the question over for a while.

“Sure! I’ll introduce you guys, if you haven’t already met.” Clover twirled around on their heel, and began marching towards Martlet’s home.

The walk there was full of nothing but mostly awkward silence. Clover decided to break the silence.

“...Sorry for being a little rude back there, guys. I’m sure my mom’ll clear this up, though.” The group made their way over a rickety looking wooden bridge, arriving at Martlet's home. Clover extended their feathered hand, knocking on the door. The door opened, revealing a somewhat tired looking Martlet.

“Clover, you don’t have to knock- Who are they?” Martlet's gaze immediately shifted towards the two monsters behind Clover.

“Oh, they’re my friends! I knew them before I got into that accident like, a month or so ago.” Clover smiled up at Martlet, who nervously smiled back down at them, before looking over at the two.

“We met Clover before their uhm… Accident, miss.” Dalv nervously fiddled with his coat's buttons. Martlet froze in place. They knew! Despite her initial shock, she managed to barely recompose herself, turning her attention towards Clover.

“Clover, I need to talk about a few… Grown up things with your friends, yeah! Very grown up stuff, so… Uhm- Why don’t you head over to… Those skeleton brothers! I’m sure they’d be okay with you hanging out at their place for a while.” Martlet tried to maintain her confident, happy facade as worry began to well up inside of her.

“Oh, sure. Bye guys!” Without any further questioning needed, Clover spun around and wandered away towards Snowdin Town.

Both Dalv and Penilla sat on Martlet's sofa, while Martlet paced back and forth in front of them, biting her wing with her beak.

“So that’s it, that’s what happened!” Martlet stopped her pacing, turning to face the two sitting in front of her.

“So he really thinks he’s a monster? How’d that even happen?” Dalv asked.

“I-I don’t know, they just presumed they were one and I just went with it! I-I should’ve just told them they were a human, but what if… What if- I’m not sure Asgore would just let them go home.” Martlet was stumbling over her words.

“Oh…” Dalv seemed to understand, “Well- I’m not sure if this is a good idea but… I guess we can keep your secret, right Penilla?” Dalv looked over at the small monster, who nodded her head in agreement.

“Gosh, thank you. I-I just want them to live a normal life down here.” Martlet's voice was steeped with pity, and regret. She looked away from Dalv, as a frown spread across her beak. Dalv stood up, as he managed to find the confidence within him to begin speaking.

“I-I think you should tell them, eventually. You can’t hide forever, I know that- I mean, hide from the truth. You know… Uh, I’m not very good at analogies.” Dalv awkwardly mumbled.

“But- I- Ergh, maybe when they’re older…” Martlet rubbed her face with her wings.

“So you’re their mom?” Penilla questioned.

“What, me?! No- No, I’m too young to be their mom, I’m like uh… A big sister, or a cousin! Or an aunt- Wait, not an aunt! Hah-Ahah…” Martlet trailed off into nervous laughter, while Penilla leaned towards Dalv.

“Should we tell her Clover keeps calling her his mom?” She whispered to the vampire, who worriedly shook his head in response. 

“Uh… We should probably get going soon, Martlet. Although… If you ever need help with anything, just ask us. Clover’s our friend.” Dalv began to move towards the front door, before turning back around, “Clover’s secret is safe with us. Unless we’re tortured, then I’ll probably crack. Sorry.” Dalv walked out of Martlet’s home, followed closely by Penilla.

“Thanks…” Martlet let out a sigh of relief, before giving them a brief wave of her wing to see the two off.

“Bye!” Penilla called out, as the two monsters exited Martlet’s home.

“That went… Surprisingly well! Huh. Anyway, where’s…” Martlet’s voice trailed off as she glanced towards her clock, her beak hanging open in shock as she realized just how late it was.

“Oh gosh, I-I need to get Clover!” Martlet raced towards her front door, hoping the skeleton brothers would’ve allowed them to stay over this late. As she swung the door open, she was greeted by a short, stocky skeleton in a hoodie, holding Clover by the scruff of their neck.

“GARGH?!” Martlet let out a shriek of terror, before being hushed by the skeleton.

“they’re sleeping, lady.” The skeleton with a permanent grin on his face gently placed Clover down onto the wooden floor inside of the home.

“Uh… Thanks? Sorry for not getting there earlier, and-  Were you out there this whole time?” Martlet's thanks and apology quickly turned into suspicion.

“oh, no worries miss. my bro loved the kid, and the kid loved my bros cooking. they even shared some royal guard training techniques with them.” The skeleton winked at her, before spinning around to leave.

“You… Uh- What?” Martlet looked down at Clover, they were fast asleep.

“oh, I meant pasta recipes. my bro loves pasta. and to answer your other question… i just took a shortcut here, lady. anyway, later.” A gust of wind slammed into the door, shutting it.

Martlet walked towards the door, intent on getting answers from that odd skeleton. When she opened the door however, there was nobody there. There weren't any footprints in the snow.

Chapter Text

Clover fired shot after shot at the wooden targets down at the range, the force from each bullet knocking a few of the cardboard cutouts over. A smirk spread across Clover’s fake beak, as they twirled their now empty toy gun around their finger, before accidently letting it fly straight off of their finger and away from them. Clover let out a long sigh, as they watched their toy gun land in the range ahead of them.

“Well that wasn’t too bad, kid. You hit your shots, at least.” Ace pat Clover on the back, which seemed to lighten their mood.

“Thanks, Ace…” Clover mumbled, walking towards their gun.

“Whoa, hold on a second kiddo!” Ed suddenly leapt in between them and their gun, Clover looked startled, before Ed continued “You can’t head into a live firing range, y’might get hit by a bullet! I’ll close up this range’n get your gun back to you nice’n safe.” He crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at Clover, who let out a long groan in response.

“But Ed! There’s nobody else here, it’s just me and Ace!” Clover whined, motioning around to the deserted gun range.

“No buts, kiddo, that’s just the law the sheriff enforces. Why don’t you go find Kanako’n play with them?” It didn’t sound like Ed was suggesting, more so demanding. Of course, Clover knew Ed was just doing as sheriff Star asked him, following and enforcing the laws was a must if they ever wanted to join the Feisty Five. And when it came to laws, there were none more strict in the Wild East than firearm safety laws. Or well, they were more like rules. But breaking them could get them sent to the slammer! For a few hours.

“But- I wanna hang out with you guys! Kanako isn’t /into/ the Wild East like I am. Listen, what if all you guys vouch for me and say I’m ready to join the team! We could be the Feisty Six!” Clover eagerly explained to Ed, who let out a long groan.

“Kid, I love your enthusiasm, but North Star’s the one who decides who’s allowed into the Feisty Five, and who ain’t. Last I checked? He said you’re too young, kiddo.” Ed sounded a little sympathetic.

“I’m basically an adult!” Clover raised their voice.

“You’re eight, kid.” Ed calmly responded.

“Grhm… Whatever. Ace, I’m OUTTA THIS HERE TOWN!” Clover twirled around on their boots heel, then stomped away from the firing range.

“I’ll tell their mother where they’re heading.” Ace muttered through their jacket’s collar.

Clover reeled their foot back, slamming it into a rock before continuing on their long, boring walk towards Kanako’s home. Away from the cool wooden houses and towards the way more boring looking homes.

“How’d I even end up friends with her…” Clover asked themself, as they began to think back to when they first met the Kitsune.

Clover’s feathered hand was currently being held by Martlet. This made them feel extremely lame. Especially since North Star was watching, and they were in the Wild East! They’d have to tell Martlet not to do any embarrassing stuff to them around here later. In front of them, Ceroba, and her daughter Kanako both stood. Behind them was their manor, an imposingly large, beautiful home.

“I’m sure they’ll get along fine, Ceroba! Go on, say hi to Kanako, Clover.” Martlet turned away from her conversation with Ceroba, smiling down at Clover and nudging them towards the small Kitsune with her wing. Clover let out a groan, stepping forwards.

“Howdy.” Clover greeted the Kitsune they had seen on TV with a forced-smile on their fake beak. They wished they was playing with North Star or Sid the snake, what made this whole thing even worse was that both of them were watching this from the sidelines like it was a spectator sport!

“Hello! I’m Kanako, who are you?” Kanako stepped forwards, Ceroba’s gaze followed her every step, not daring to take her eyes off of them for a moment.

“Clover! I live with Martlet, she’s like- Kinda my mom.” Clover awkwardly coughed into their beak as Martlet seemed to become visibly embarrassed by being called their mom, immediately launching into a defensive assault to the others around her that she was more of a “big sister” than a mother, “I- Uh, I mean, I don’t have a mom, I’m a cowboy! Cowboys don’t have mothers, we have… Guns.” Clover proudly grinned, reaching for their revolver, pulling it out and twirling it around their finger.

“Whoa, cool trick!” Kanako watched the gun spin. Clover attempted to stop twirling their pistol, only for it to fly right off of their finger, and towards Kanako’s snout. The toy revolver bounced off of her nose, hitting the ground. Kanako briefly seemed stunned, Ceroba looked shocked, and Clover was rather worried. Kanako started giggling.

“W-What’s so funny?” Clover asked, they sounded a little defensive.

“You’re so silly Clover, you’re just like uncle Starlo!” Kanako continued giggling, as Clover took a step forwards, their eyes narrowing at the Kitsune.

“W-Well look here miss, me’n sheriff NORTH STAR are NOT silly, we are proper COWBOYS and enforcers of the law- And uhm, I’m also sorry for hitting you on the nose. B-But I expect an apology for you laughing at me, as well!” Clover was very flustered, they were glad their suit hid their face, because it was probably bright red. Kanako stopped giggling, bending down and picking up Clover’s gun for them.

“Okay, okay- I’m sorry, Clover. I promise I won’t laugh at you again!” Kanako smiled brightly at Clover, extending their toy gun back towards them. Clover narrowed their eyes at her, before snatching the gun away from her.

“Apology… accepted, pardner.” Clover looked back up at Martlet, who seemed to be giving Ceroba a thumbs up. Or feathers up.

“See? I told you they’d get along!” Martlet winked at Ceroba, who could only bring herself to roll her eyes in response to Martlet, despite the small smile on her face.

“Stupid… Lying Kitsune…” Clover muttered, stomping towards the large, imposing gates that lead to Kanako’s luxurious home. They definitely weren’t jealous of it or anything! Clover rudely barged in through the open front door, the smell of a tasty, meaty dinner wafted through the house. The source of which being Ceroba, who appeared to be in the process of cooking lunch, she greeted them with a smile.

“Oh, Clover! I didn’t expect you to visit today, but Kanako’s in her room if you…” Ceroba trailed off, her welcoming attitude fading as she watched the cowboy storm off upstairs, completely ignoring her. Ceroba let out a sigh, “So, I suppose you don’t want anything to eat?” She called out from the kitchen. Clover immediately ran back towards the kitchen.

“I-I would like something to eat, miss Ceroba!” Clover shamelessly, and politely shouted, before immediately running back towards Kanako’s room. A smile returned to Ceroba’s face, as she continued cooking.

Clover reeled their foot back, slamming it into Kanako’s door in an attempt to kick it open! Nothing happened. They slammed their boot into Kanako’s door again. Nothing happened. A click was heard, and the door slowly opened.

“Oh, hey! I figured it was you Clover, come on in!” Kanako happily greeted them. The grumpy cowboy’s hardened, stoically neutral gaze briefly rested on them, before they stepped inside. They remained in a gunslingers stance, their hand hovering over their holster as they scanned the room for threats.

“WATCH OUT CLOVER THERE’S A BANDIT RIGHT BEHIND YOU!” Kanako suddenly shouted loudly, causing Clover to yelp, spinning around and drawing an invisible revolver, firing off multiple shots through the doorway. It took them a few moments to realise that there was nobody in the doorway, and also- There was no gun in their hand. Kanako however, had broken out into a laughing fit. Clover’s face grew a little more grumpy as they slowly turned around, staring at the laughing Kitsune.

“You think yer real clever, don’tchya?” Clover placed their feathered hands on their hips, as they began tapping their foot against the floorboard.

“S-Sorry Clover, it’s just too funny to-” Kanako’s laughter lowered to giggles as she began speaking, only for her to break out into a coughing fit mid-sentence. Clover’s grumpy expression shifted to one of clear worry, as they moved towards their friend and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I-I’m fine Clover, jeez. You don’t gotta worry about me, okay? My mom already does enough of that.” Kanako smiled at Clover, they could tell it was forced. Kanako wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and as she did so… Clover couldn’t help but notice some weird white-goop that she seemed to smear over it. Had she… Coughed that up?

“I was told there was an order for two sandwiches in here?” Ceroba knocked on the door, a metal tray with two delicious looking steak sandwiches in her hand.

“Oh yeah, my favourite!” Kanako pushed herself back to her feet with a struggle, walking over to Ceroba. Clover shrugged, still a little concerned for their friend, but deciding that a meal prepared by Ceroba was far more important than their friend's health. A little more important, at least. Ceroba lowered the tray onto the ground, and gently closed the door.

“I’m downstairs if you need anything.” She spoke with a reserved smile on her face as usual, although her eyes were fixed on Kanako.

“Mhm!” Kanako grabbed a sandwich, sitting down next to the door and beginning to eat it.

“...I wanted that sandwich.” Clover grumbled, sitting down next to her, and grabbing the less desirable sandwich.

“You’re just jelly ‘cause your mom’s cooking kinda sucks.” Kanako slyly remarked, with a very cheeky grin on her face.

“Hey, don’t insult my mom’s cooking!” Clover sounded genuinely offended.

“Okay, okay- Sorry, too far! Anyway… What have you been up to recently, Clover?” Kanako took a large bite out of her sandwich, waiting for Clover’s response.

“Well… Everything’s dandy with my mo- Martlet. She’s a little worried about me coming here almost every day, though. North Star and the Feisty Five let me hang out with them, but they never let me go on any of the cool or dangerous missions, like fighting Sid’n stuff! They say I’m too young, that I should… Hang out with you.” Clover groaned, stuffing their beak between their legs, “I’m totally old enough to be a part of the Feisty Five- We could be the Feisty Six! I could even be his deputy!” Clover whined to Kanako, who tilted her head at them, frowning.

“Sounds like you’re having loads of fun out there, even if they don’t let you do the adult stuff yet. I wish mama would let me out more.” Kanako’s mood clearly began to sour, her gaze cast downward and her ears drooped. Clover briefly panicked, before finding their resolve, they had to cheer their friend up!

“Uh… Well, I mean- I’m sure Ceroba’ll let you out soon! Those pills you’re taking have to be doing something, right? She’s just… Worried about you, like how my mom was worried about me after I got into that crazy accident a while ago…” Clover rubbed the back of their head, as they thought back to the boat wreck.

“I’m not getting better, Clover. I’m not getting any worse, either. Mama keeps talking about how we need to just give Alphys time but… I dunno. I’m worried she won’t even let me go back to school, either. I really like that you keep coming to visit me, though!” Kanako’s mood briefly lightened, as she turned back to Clover, a small smile on her face.

“T-Thanks.” Clover bashfully waved a feathered hand in front of Kanako, before blinking a few times, recognizing something she said.

“...School? Oh, uh- You go to school?” Clover asked as if she had just told them she regularly visited the surface.

“Yeah, duh! I go to school in Hotland, we have a break over the spring. It’ll be summer soon though, and that means back to school! If I’m… Well enough.” Kanako’s happy mood once again dropped, as she stared down at her sleeve, staring at the white goop covering it.

“I… Uh- Well hey, I don’t go to school either, so I can always just stay right here with ya, if you don’t go back!” Clover crossed their arms over their chest, nodding their head in agreement with their own statement.

“You don’t go to school…? Uh, what? Did your mom not like, sign you up yet or something, ‘cause y’know… You only got adopted this year right?” Kanako questioned, to which Clover defensively shrugged in response.

“I ‘unno.” Clover refused to meet their gaze. Something deep inside of them told them they were better off avoiding school. Flickers of memories flashed in their mind whenever the name was spoken aloud, of boring classrooms and old people jabbering on endlessly about things they really didn’t care about. It kinda made their head hurt a little. Clover winced, rubbing their head with a groan.

“Mmmmmm… Well, I don’t want you to miss out! ‘Cause it’s really fun, and there’s loads of other kids you can meet there! You kinda need more friends Clover, ‘cause right now you kinda only know me and like… Five oldies pretending to be cowboys.” Kanako’s smug grin returned, as she stifled a laugh. Clover grew more flustered, flapping their feathered hands around defensively.

“T-They are not old, and they are NOT pretending!” They huffed, “What’s wrong with being friends with people older than me anyway? I’d like to think I’m very mature for a monster my age, Kanako.” Clover briefly adopted a far more elegant way of speaking.

“Cloveeer… C’mon, you need more friends your age! I could even introduce you to my friends, and you could show them how much of a super cool cowboy you are!” Kanako was clearly attempting to push Clover's buttons, and tragically, despite knowing what she was doing, it was working.

“Grhm…” Clover looked away from them, refusing to respond to them.

“Clover… I know you had a rough… Uh, well- A rough time or something before you met Martlet, but things are different in this school, I swear! C’moooon… I might be going back there, and if I do- I don’t want you /not/ to be there! That’d make me /super sad/.” Kanako at first started off sounding very genuine, briefly tugging at Clover’s emotions, before she immediately shifted to a mockingly-sappy tone.

“Grhmmm! Alright fine, I’ll ask my mom about it!” Clover yapped, spinning around to glare at Kanako. Kanako giggled. Those giggles turned into coughs, and those coughs turned into a full blown coughing fit. Clover once again moved towards her, placing their hand on Kanako’s back.

“K-Kanako?” Clover worriedly asked, as Kanako continued coughing. The door to Kanako’s room burst open, as Ceroba rushed inside, a pill bottle in hand. Kanako briefly managed to stop coughing for a moment, shaking her head.

“Mama, the doctor said not to-” She was cut off, as Ceroba forced the pill into her mouth mid-sentence. She swallowed it with a loud gulp, and her coughing ceased. Clover seemed relieved, although Ceroba still seemed anxious, kneeling down and cupping her daughter's face with her hands.

“Kanako- Please, tell me if you’re not feeling well.”

“I-I don’t want to waste those pills, Mama. The doctor said we only get so many every month. I just cough a little, I’m fine!” Kanako hastily explained.

Ceroba remained quiet, removing her hands from Kanako’s face and standing up.

“I’ll just ask for more.” She stated simply, before walking out of the room.

“But you already asked for… More.” Kanako sighed, looking back to Clover, “So, what else do you wanna talk about?”

“I dunno. I just wish there were some way to… Make things right with you’n whatever’s going on. You deserve to be happy, Kanako.” Clover’s gaze hardened as they stared at her, while Kanako looked somewhat amused.

“Suuuure, are you about to go on another really, really long rant about justice by any chance Clover? ‘Cause I’d rather just watch one of Uncle Starlo’s movies.” Kanako snickered.

Ceroba walked back downstairs, the pill bottle she was holding was shaking violently in her trembling hand, the few pills inside were bouncing around like pin balls. She continued her walk through her home, until she reached her living room. She reached out towards an innocuous rug, grabbing it with her free hand and violently ripping it away from the floor, revealing a hatch. With a kick of her boot, the hatch flipped open. She descended downwards, into her husband's lab.

Various crushed up pills, microscopes and other equipment was neatly arranged on the large, clean looking table in front of her. The gravity of the situation once again dawned on her as she moved towards her microscope, but she managed to remain calm, a shaky breath leaving her lips.

Peering through the microscope at the crushed up pill below, Ceroba fiddled with the magnifier, turning something on, as blue glow shone from within the microscope, shining down on the crushed remains of the pill below it. That glow should reveal any usually unobservable magic present in the pill.

“What have you been feeding my daughter?” Ceroba asked aloud, a tang of fury present in her cold, calm voice. Something was in the pill, something she had seen before, something that she had used to create… /That/ injection out of. A yellow, glowing substance. Chujin had described it as a byproduct of human powers, or at least a component of it. Whatever it was, it produced a lot of energy, transferring that energy to whatever it was bonded to. There were of course other ingredients mixed in the pills, some things Ceroba recognised, others, she did not. After weeks of researching these pills, one thing was becoming abundantly clear to Ceroba. She needed more of these pills to keep her daughter healthy, what was enough for the other monsters to remain stable simply wasn’t enough for Kanako.

“I need- I need another human!” She shouted out. Frustration overwhelmed her as she slammed her balled up fist into the desk. She took a deep breath, and tried to calm down, removing her fist from the dent she had created in her desk.

“Where am I supposed to find another human?” She hopelessly asked, maybe she was talking to Chujin? Was he watching her, watching as she not only failed once, but twice to save their daughter?

Ceroba’s paws reached up towards her head, rubbing it with a sorrowful groan.

“I almost wish that damned joke Martlet told was true.” Ceroba growled out, before suddenly pausing. What if she wasn’t joking? The world around her slowly began to spin, as Ceroba staggered backwards, a manic smile spreading across her face.

“I-I need to be… I need to be sure first.” She muttered to herself, her eyes briefly darting towards an empty syringe in the room. Perfect.

“I’ll look into it.” She muttered to herself, repeating the same words she had spoken to Martlet, back in the saloon.

“...And that’s why if me’n King Asgore ever fought? I’d win.” Clover finished their explanation with a smirk on their beak. They took a ravenous bite out of their beef sandwich, savouring the unburnt food. A very amused smile was plastered across Kanako’s face.

“Sure Clover- Hey, it looks like my mom’s busy with something, why don’t you and me sneak out-” Kanako was interrupted as the door to her room swung open, Ceroba once again standing in her doorway.

“Clover, would you mind coming with me for a moment?” She politely asked, for once her attention was shifted away from her daughter, instead she stared down at Clover with an odd, analysing look in her eyes.

“Oh, sure! Guess I gotta mosey on outta here, Kanako. It was nice hanging out though!” Clover gave her a wave goodbye, as they exited the room. Kanako frowned, waving back to her friend.

Ceroba led Clover through her home, although strangely, she didn’t seem to be leading them to the exit. Instead, the two of them entered the kitchen. Clover’s head spun around.

“Miss Ceroba, isn’t the exit over there?” They pointed back towards the door. Ceroba seemed to completely ignore what some may consider the most obvious statement of the year. She reached into her kimono, an empty syringe being produced from within it.

“Clover. I’m a little… Worried about how much you’ve been hanging around Kanako in her current state. I’d just like to perform a small check-up on you, to make sure you’re fine.” Ceroba calmly explained, although seemed to briefly struggle to find the right words. Clover seemed to think for a moment, then shrugged.

“Sure, I don’t see why not!” Clover smiled, knowing that they could always trust Miss Ceroba! She saved their life, after all! A relieved smile spread across Ceroba’s face, as she moved forwards with the syringe in hand.

“Why don’t you take a seat first Clover? I’m just going to… Push this needle into you, and check for something, okay?” Ceroba’s voice briefly trembled, before she shakily motioned to a chair next to Clover. Clover frowned, sitting down. Kanako’s current state must be really getting to her, but they were sure Alphys would-

“Owch!” Clover stared down at the syringe that had been jammed into their arm, straight through their costume. Their beak shifted into a frown, as they looked up at Ceroba.

Ceroba didn’t react, she didn’t say a word. Instead, she stared wide-eyed as the syringe jammed into Clover slowly filled with a crimson red liquid.

“Oh dang, that’s my blood-itus. It’s kinda embarrassing.” Clover mumbled, causing Ceroba to snap out of her trance. She quickly removed the syringe from Clover, hastily stuffing it into her Kimono.

“Y-Yes, blood-itus is… Uh, a rare… Condition.” She was briefly unable to meet Clover’s gaze.

“So uh, is my checkup over?” Clover asked. Ceroba nodded, clearly having lost her composure.

“Y-Yes, you can- You can go now Clover.” She motioned towards her front door, “Don’t tell your mother about what happened. I… Don’t want her worrying about any of this.” Ceroba quickly added on, as Clover made their way to the door.

“‘Course, miss Ceroba!” Clover exited the home, yawning, “I gotta get my gun back from Ed.” They grumbled, their mood immediately souring as they began to grumpily stomp back towards the firing range.

“So, what’d you get up to today, Clover?” Martlet happily asked, as she ironed Clover’s only other pair of clothing, their jeans and a tank top.

“I wanted to hang out with the Feisty Five’n North Star again, but they told me to go play with Kanako! It was so dang lame. Well- Actually, it was kinda fun hanging out with her, but… I wish I was doing cowboy stuff instead.” Clover frowned, pulling their mask off.

“I know you have a lot of fun with Northstar, but they’re adults- And teenagers, and you’re… Well, you’re still… Y’know, a little small.” Martlet placed her iron down, and walked towards Clover.

“That’s what everyone says- Hey, what are you doing?!” Clover’s voice filled with surprise as Martlet scooped them up, raising them up to her eye-level.

“Mmmm- You still seem a little small to me.” Martlet smiled smugly at Clover, who dangled uselessly in front of her.

“Being small ain’t gonna get in this here cowboy’s way of dispensing justice!” Clover confidently shouted, despite the current situation they were in.

“Mhm.” Martlet nodded her head in agreement. Clover groaned.

“Oh, Kanako said something about school? Apparently it begins pretty soon, so uh… She sorta wants me to come, I dunno though. I’m not sure if I’ve ever been or not, but it sounds pretty darn /lame/ to me.” Clover explained to Martlet, feeling far more confident now that they were eye-level with them, ignoring the fact they were still being held.

Martlet briefly looked surprised, before an excited smile spread across her beak.

“School?! Of course we’ll get you into a school, buddy!” She suddenly brought Clover into a crushing hug, as the poor cowboy let out a strained wheeze under the force of her hug, “Oh, I can’t believe it! You’re finally going to school and- And… It’s all just moving so fast!” Martlet sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Clover, reluctantly, wrapped their arms around Martlet. Or at least tried to, she was a lot bigger than them.

“Don’t cry… Mom.” Clover mumbled into Martlet’s feathers, which seemed to cause her to begin crying. Despite Clover’s grumpy attitude and general distaste for being treated like a kid, and not a cowboy… Right here, in Martlet’s arms? They had never felt safer.

A manic smile spread across Ceroba’s face as she peered down at a small droplet of Clover’s blood using her microscope. Trace amounts of that mysterious substance were right there, inside of their blood! Could it be that a human's SOUL naturally fills their body with it? It looked… Slightly impure, compared to what was inside of the pills, most likely due to it being extracted from a body rather than the SOUL itself.

Something else also caught Ceroba’s eye though, something very, very interesting. It looked similar to that yellow-substance, although there was a lot more of it present in Clover’s blood. She reached out with a metal scalpel, experimentally poking the drop of blood. The mystery-substance seemed to briefly energise, before returning to normal.

“How… Interesting.” Ceroba muttered, as she continued to slave away at Chujin’s desk, a long night of experimenting awaited her.

Flowey burst out of the ground outside of Ketsukane manor, his stalk rapidly extending upwards as he attempted to peer through a window, into the home.

“There you are…” He muttered to himself, grinning as he watched the clueless human be lead around by Ceroba. He silently observed the two of them, unable to hear their conversation through the glass.

“Wait, what are you- No, no, no! Are you kidding me?!” Flowey’s face shifted to that of shock, followed closely by frustration at the sight of Ceroba drawing BLOOD from Clover’s arm.

“You- You idiot! Damn it, damn it, damn it! Eeergh, I need to keep an eye on this…” Flowey squinted at the syringe full of blood, suspiciously watching Ceroba, surprised that she let Clover walk free.

“What’s your angle here, lady…?” Flowey mumbled to himself, “‘Cause I don’t intend to /share/ my new toy with anyone else.” A smile slowly crept onto Flowey’s face, as Ceroba once again descended down into her husband's lab.

Chapter Text

“Clover, buddy- Hey… Hey buddy, get up!” A muffled voice called out to Clover, who slowly pushed themselves up and out of their bed, yawning. They looked over to their window, it was Flowey!

“Oh, hey Flowey.” Clover hopped out of their bed, walking towards their window, “Whaddya doin’ here?” Clover cocked their head to one side, they didn’t often see their friend around, which was honestly a bit of a shame.

“Ah, me? I’m just here to wish my FAVOURITE cowboy in the underground a happy birthday! And to congratulate you on finally getting back to school, boy… I wonder what kinda stuff you’ll learn about there?” Flowey asked, gently swaying back and forth in front of Clover’s window. Clover grinned, bashfully rubbing the back of their neck.

“Oh, uh- Yeah! I’m supposed to start goin’ back today. Kanako says it’s real cool’n all, but I doubt it. It’s probably just gonna be really, really boring.” Clover at first sounded excited, before immediately becoming grumpy.

“Hey, chin up pal! Between you’n me…? I wouldn’t worry about doing too well in school, you’re shooting for the royal guard after all, aintchya?” Flowey winked at Clover, who gave a very unenthusiastic shrug in response.

“Eh, maybe…” Clover mumbled, “I dunno though.” Clover began changing into their feather-suit, alongside their jeans and tank top.

“Hey, don’t gimme that attitude pal! Who knows, maybe you could become a /real/ sheriff of the underground someday! You just gotta impress Undyne whenever she comes to visit, you used to ALWAYS talk about how you loved the royal guard, remember?” Flowey smiled widely at Clover, who briefly knocked the idea around of being their very own sheriff.

“That… Sounds pretty cool, actually. I dunno about Undyne though, she’s Martlet’s boss and all that, but I haven’t seen her yet. Apparently she’s been really busy looking all over for that human. I do think she’s pretty cool though, a real hero of the underground… Maybe you’re right, maybe I could be like them one day!” Clover moved to leave their room, only  for Flowey to catch their attention again by tapping his stalk against the window.

“Hey pal, I got you something real special for your birthday outside! So don’t take too long in there, okay?” Flowey ducked down out of sight, as a smile spread across Clover’s face. It was their birthday today, but they didn’t feel too excited. Everyone had already done so much for them, and Martlet had already bought them so much stuff, new clothes, they’d let them go to the Wild East whenever they wanted… Jeez, they practically expected to do work today!

With a turn of the handle, their door slowly opened to reveal…

“Happy birthday Clover!” Martlet sang out, balloons and various decorations were hung all over the small home, “I know it’s not much, with uh- My rather limited salary from being on probation’n all that, but I managed to get you some PRESENTS!” Martlet excitedly exclaimed, her wings pointing towards her kitchen’s table. There were two wrapped presents, alongside a tasty looking cake.

Clover didn’t say a word, their mouth slowly opened to speak, to say something, to say thank her- But nothing came out.

“C-Clover, are you- Oh my gosh, did I- Did I do something wrong?!” Martlet quickly moved towards Clover, kneeling down to them, a guilty look plastered across her face.

“What…?” Clover felt something wet trickle down the side of their face. They slowly reached their hand up to their face, wiping a tear away from their eye, surprised by the fact they were crying, and just how… Terrible they felt, “...I’m not sure.” Clover mumbled, sniffling for a moment, before shooting forwards and wrapping their arms around Martlet, squeezing her as tight as they could.

“Clover?! I- It’s… It's okay.” Martlet was at first shocked, before her voice quickly took on a soothing tone. She gently began rubbing Clovers back with her wing, a look of abject pity on her face for the crying child before her. It… concerned her.

“What did I do to deserve this? I-I don’t get it.” Clover briefly pulled themself away from Martlet’s tank top, staring up at her with tear-filled eyes. 

Martlet’s heart split in two.

“Deserve?! What do you mean, deserve! Clover- You… You deserve to be happy, and uh… Well, ‘cause I take care of you, and I love you. You don’t need to do /anything/ to be loved, you’re just a kid.” Martlet sounded frustrated, although it was clear to Clover that frustration wasn’t directed towards them.

“I… Do?” Clover asked, a little confused. They had been expecting the shoe to drop for a while now, for when Martlet would turn around and say “Well Clover, it’s time to clean up my home, I hope you kept track of everything I’ve been doing for you!” for a while now. Or at least, something along those lines. But… What if that- What if she was telling the truth? What if… It was all just free?

Clover felt absolutely terrible, and they  didn’t really know why. In an odd way, it felt kind of good to just cry for a bit, wrapped up in a hug like this. They sniffed, wiping their face on Martlet’s tank top before pulling away from her, a smile on their face.

“Thanks… I guess I just kinda got overwhelmed, Mo-Martlet.” A small smile spread across Clover’s face, their mood brightening. A slightly tired, forced smile made its way to Martlets beak as she stared down at her now snot and tear covered tank top.

“N-No problem Clover.” She mumbled, before clearing her throat and motioning towards the various presents, and cake, “Since it’s your birthday, why not have some cake for breakfast! It was made by Ceroba herself! I… Uh, didn’t want to risk messing it up for you.” Martlet shamefully admitted, walking with Clover towards their presents.

Clover looked in awe at the cake that sat before them on the table, Ceroba had clearly put the effort in.

“Go on, open your gifts Clover, I’ll cut you a slice.” Martlet proudly produced a kitchen knife from a draw, while Clover began to tear open one of their two gifts.

Inside the neatly wrapped package, was a… Wooden carving of a bird? It was surprisingly well made, but what stood out the most to Clover was the fact it was wearing a cowboy hat.

“Aw… Thank ya Martlet.” Clover looked over at Martlet, who was messily cutting a large slice of cake for them. They shifted their attention to the other present, tearing it open to reveal…

“A hat? Whoa, this looks so cool!” Clover grabbed the wide-brimmed cowboy hat in their feathered hands. A piece of rope wrapped around the crown of the hat, appearing to keep it in shape. A blue feather was tucked into the rope wrapping around it, which caused Clover’s smile to grow just a little wider.

“This is so cool…” Clover mumbled, taking off their ragged flop-hat and placing their brand new gunslinger’s hat onto their head. It fit perfectly over their mask.

Martlet spun back around, now holding a plate with a very messily cut slice of cake on it.

“Mhm, I know, I know… I’m the best.” Martlet briefly basked in Clover’s praise, a smug smile spreading across her beak, “Oh- Hang on… It looks like one of my feather’s got caught in it.” She placed the plate on the table, Clover immediately began devouring said cake- Ceroba’s cooking never failed to disappoint.

“Nah, I like it. ‘Cause it reminds me of you.” Clover happily exclaimed with a mouth full of cake.

“Uh… Clover? Don’t speak with a mouth full of food… Please.” Martlet watched as cake-crumbs flew everywhere as Clover spoke, before the child finally swallowed.

Clover continued to eat their cake, now in silence, deciding to take Martlet’s advice.

Martlet however… Just watched them, leaning against the side of the table, and odd- bubbly feeling rose up in her stomach. It was a stupid feeling, one that she couldn’t really describe, but… Seeing Clover stuff their face full of cake, with a wide smile on their face? It brought a smile to her own, as well.

A loud CRACK startled Martlet out of her happy-trance, twirling around to see Starlo, his boot raised, having clearly just used it to kick open her door.

“Starlo, you could have just knocked, you know?” Ceroba’s tired voice groaned out from behind him, as both she and Kanako made their way into Martlet’s home.

“Ya don’t expect me to make an /cool/ entrance for my biggest fan?” He whispered to Ceroba, a stupidly happy smile on his face, “It’s their birthday as well, so of course I’m putting on a show!” He quickly turned back around to face Martlet.

Clover stared at the trio in absolute awe of what they were seeing.

“Happy Birthday, Clover!” All three of them shouted out at once, Kanako and Starlo seemed to be holding something, were they… More gifts?

“You guys are all here- For me?” Clover asked, genuinely in disbelief.

“Pssh, of course we’re here kid! And I even got a card for ya from the rest’o the Feisty Five.” Starlo reached into his poncho, pulling out a novelty birthday card.

“Of course we’d come see you Clover, jeez… You’re so over dramatic sometimes.” Kanako jokes, as she walks towards Clover. Ceroba nodded.

“I do hope you’ve enjoyed that cake I baked for you, although… Kanako was hoping she could get some too.” Ceroba shamefully admitted, giving her daughter a dirty look, which Kanako guiltily avoided.

Clover stared at the people in front of them for a few moments, unable to say anything. Oh here they were, being a giant nuisance and ruining everyone’s day on their birthday. They were just the worst, they didn’t deserve this, they were spoiled rotten.

“Clover- Clover, are you okay? You’re zoning out…” Martlet grabbed their shoulders. Clover looked up at Martlet, genuine concern- Not annoyance on her face.

Maybe… Maybe none of them cared? Maybe all of them really were just here because they cared about him, and expected… Nothing in return? Well, apart from cake.

“‘M fine…” Clover smiled up at Martlet.

“I-If you don’t want to share the cake, y-you don’t have to!” Kanako very quickly added, to which Ceroba reached over and tugged the tip of her ear, which seemed to get the point across to be quiet.

“You guys… Can have all the cake you want. You’re… This- This is the best birthday ever.” Clover’s wobbly voice was enough to melt the heart of Martlet, and significantly defrost Ceroba’s.

“You ain’t even gotten any of our gifts yet pal- ‘ere, I got ya something…” Starlo marched towards Clover, handing them a brown poncho!

Clover gasped, admiring the poncho, his fake beak hanging open in shock. It was clearly well made.

“...It looks a little big.” Martlet mumbled, frowning.

“W-Well of course it’s big, they’re gonna grow into it one day, ain’tchya? I made sure to make it big, so they wouldn’t have to get it made bigger later!” Starlo defensively declared, moving aside to let Kanako run towards Clover, a wide smile on her face.

Clover couldn’t help but notice she was far more lively than usual.

“Here you go, Clover! I got you a cell-phone! Now you can talk to me whenever!” Kanako shoved the rather expensive looking cellphone into Clover’s hands, as they struggled to balance the two gifts they were holding.

“Whoa, this is a mighty fancy gift, thanks!” Clover inspected the cell-phone, they weren’t too familiar with how exactly they worked, they were kind of a new thing from what they’d heard…

“Wow Ceroba, that’s so thoughtful! I can’t believe you’d be willing to spend so much on us…” Martlet was thankful that Ceroba had bought Clover such an expensive and practical gift, although she couldn’t deny she wasn’t a little… Jealous of her wealth compared to her own. You could only do so much on a probational salary after all.

“Oh. My daughter bought that with her allowance.” Ceroba bluntly stated without a hint of smugness in her voice. Martlet’s face paled, as she stared in utter shock and disbelief at Ceroba.

“Well- Uh… Thanks Kanako, I mean… I ‘unno why you’d waste all this money on me but… Thanks.” Clover’s fake beak shifted into a smile.

Kanako reached up, and flicked Clover’s forehead with her finger.

“Ow, why’d you- Why’d you do that?!” Clover winced, rubbing their head.

“‘Cause you’re my friend dummy, and I like talking to you!” Kanako loudly spoke, squinting at Clover, seemingly rather fed up with their attitude.

“Okay, okay… Well uh- Thanks guys. It’s only the morning, and this is already the best birthday ever- Wait, I start school today!” Clover hopped out of their chair, staring up at Martlet expectantly.

Martlet waved a wing in front of her face, she seemed completely relaxed, “Why do you think I invited everyone here now? Kanako’s taking you to school!” Martlet winked at Clover, her self-satisfied smile returning to her beak, “God, I’m awesome.” She mumbled under her breath.

“Really?! Ceroba’s letting you go to school?” Clover spun back around to face Kanako, who nodded.

“Mhm, I started taking these /new/ pills mom made-” Kanako began talking, before Ceroba interrupted the two.

“How about I get you two to school, you wouldn’t want to be late on your first day now, would you Clover?” Ceroba motioned for the two children to follow her, as she began walking out of the home.

“If anyone gives ya trouble Clover, you just tell me about it.” Starlo nodded towards Clover, who nodded back.

“Bye Martlet, I love you!” Clover waved goodbye to Martlet, jogging out of the home.

“I-I love you too Clover!” Martlet sniffled, tears forming in her ears as she waved goodbye to her child.

“Uh… You okay, feathers?” Starlo asked, looking over at Martlet, who, as soon as Clover was out of sight… Let out a long sigh, running a wing through her hair.

“They grow up so fast...”

Flowey dove into the snow, scowling as he watched Clover leave with Ceroba and Kanako. Oh well, their gift could wait! Now was the PERFECT opportunity to finally begin sticking his roots around Ceroba’s little lab.

It was a surprisingly short trip to Hotland, although wandering through Waterfall left Clover feeling an odd sense of unease. It was a beautiful place, at least Ceroba seemed to know the way through.

Eventually, they reached Hotland. Clover was a little alarmed by just how easy it would be to fall into the pit of magma below them, although thankfully they soon made their way towards an elevator, various other children and teenagers lined up, ready to enter it.

“This is a pretty dangerous place for a school…” Clover mumbled.

“Well, it’s the perfect place actually- Monsters live all over, and Hotland’s right in the center of the underground. Although, there’s a few other schools in New Home… That city’s massive, though!” Kanako explained to Clover.

“Trust me Clover, the school’s perfectly safe. You just need to take that elevator up, and it’ll be straight ahead of you.” Ceroba then turned her attention towards Kanako, wrapping her arms around her daughter, embracing her in a hug.

“Yeah, yeah- I love you lots, mama.” Kanako returned her hug, before breaking away from Ceroba, who appeared to be a little teary eyed. The two then stepped into the elevator, which had thankfully emptied out.

The doors to the elevator closed, and Kanako suddenly leapt in front of Clover and began rapidly speaking.

“Clover oh my gosh my mom told me not to tell you although-” She took a deep breath of air in, “She made me new pills and they’ve totally made me feel better!” She proudly reached into her kimono, pulling out a pill bottle.

Clover took a moment to process what she just said, then smiled.

“Oh, that’s mighty fine to hear, Kanako! How’d she make them anyway…?” Clover asked, to which Kanako shrugged, tossing a red pill into her mouth and swallowing.

“I dunno, I just gotta take a few a day. More than the white ones the scientist lady gave me, although… I don’t mind.”

The doors to the elevator opened, and as the two stepped out… Clover saw an absolutely gigantic building standing before them, although it strangely only seemed to be three stories high, despite how big it was.

“Whoa…” Clover looked around at the various monsters chatting outside of the school, some were as young as them, while others looked like fully grown adults.

“Yeah, it’s big right? It’s kinda like, the biggest school in the underground. Each floor is for different ages’n stuff. We’re on the bottom floor ‘cause we’re still kids, the second floor’s for teenagers, and the third floors for adults.” Kanako happily marched towards the gigantic school.

“Hey, nice costume little dude!” A reindeer-girl carrying a skateboard, looking to be in her late teens, ran past Clover, and into the school's entrance.

“T-There’s a lot of people…” Clover mumbled, following Kanako closely. They adjusted their hat, making sure that Martlet’s feather was lodged in place.

“C’mon Clover, it’s FUN here! Don’t get all nervous, I’ve got loads of friends who’d love to meet you!” Kanako happily walked into the school, with Clover following.

Clover- Well, they were a cowboy, they WERE going to be a sheriff one day, and cowboy’s don’t get socially nervous when in a big group of strangers, nor do they cling to their friends! So, they puffed out their chest and steeled their nerves, walking alongside Kanako, presumably towards their class.

“I’m NOT nervous Kanako, I ain’t afraid of nothin’.” Clover confidently spoke, only for an extremely loud bell to begin ringing throughout the school, causing Clover to let out a yelp of shock. Kanako burst into laughter, and Clover instantly became flustered.

“T-That caught me off guard is all!” Clover tried to defend themself, although Kanako only rolled her eyes.

“Listen Clover, I gotta go grab our locker keys before we head to class, you should put your gun in there, they don’t like us bringing toys into class.” Kanako swiftly turned around, walking away.

“I-It is NOT a toy, Kanako!” Clover shouted out towards Kanako, as she disappeared into the sea of other children moving around the hallway they found themselves in. Clover gulped, pressing themselves up against their locker, their eyes darting around to monster to monster, they were- They were not scared, they wouldn’t be scared! It was just a school, they were just other kids!

The crowd finally cleared as the children made their ways to their respective classrooms. Clover let out a sigh of relief, and pushed themself away from the lockers they were leaning on.

“...Hey.” A gruff voice caught Clover off guard. They turned around to see whoever was speaking to them, only for a purple hand to be placed on their shoulder, “Buddy.” The gruff voice seemed to belong to a girl a little taller than Clover, wearing a plain blue shirt and worn looking jeans. Messy brown hair covered most of her face. She looked… Intimidating, to say the least. She was certainly more muscular than they were.

“Uh…” Clover looked down at the girl’s arm, then back up at her, “Y-You better let go of me miss, I ain’t-” Before Clover could continue, they were promptly lifted up into the air by the girl with her single hand, and slammed into the locker. Clover gasped from the impact, the air briefly knocked out of their lungs. The purple-girl continued to smile at them, apparently having no trouble pinning them to the locker.

“Your attitude pisses me off.” The girl sneered, “Look at you, wrapped up in your little delusion- I can tell from a mile away you’re a softie just by looking at you, a real mama’s boy, HAHA!” The girl let out a monstrous laugh, as Clover struggled hopelessly against her grip.

“...Anyway, I’m gonna need your LUNCH, ‘cause I know your MOM probably-” Before the girl could continue her shakedown, a ball of fire slammed into her side, causing her to drop Clover, stumbling away from them. The large girl spun around, their fists clenched, clearly ready to fight- Only to unclench them, their expression shifting to a scowl once they saw the kitsune standing beside Clover.

“Don’t touch Clover, Suzy.” Kanako spoke these simple words in a tone eerily similar to how Ceroba spoke of her, her voice commanding authority Clover didn’t know it had.

“Whatever!” The large girl shouted, before stomping past the two, making sure to keep her distance from Kanako, “Stupid boss-monster…” She muttered under her breath, before making her way into a classroom.

Then, like a switch had been flipped, Kanako returned to her happy, bubbly self, offering a hand down to Clover, a warm smile on her face.

“Sorry Clover, that’s Suzy, she’s kinda… Uh, well she’s not so bad once you get to know her!” Kanako acted as if she hadn’t just launched a fireball into her side. Clover was amazed at the cognitive dissonance their friend had. They reached out, grabbing her hand and pulling themself back to their feet.

“I didn’t need ya help, y’know Kanako?” Clover huffed, “I had it ALL under control- I was about to draw my six shooter’n deal with her myself, as any proper cowboy would.” Clover was pulled up to their feet with ease by Kanako. It was alarming just how strong she was.

“Suuuure… Anyway cowboy, c’mon! We’re gonna be late for class!” Kanako grabbed Clover’s hand, forcibly pulling them along towards a classroom.

“Let go of me ya damn fool!” Clover shouted. It’d seem like adjusting to a more healthy Kanako may be harder than they realised.

“Ooh- Ohoh, OH! Now THIS is just RICH!” A very amused expression was plastered across Flowey’s face as his vines dug through Ceroba’s research notes, finally pulling out a vial half full of Clover’s blood.

“Golly, maybe you should’ve been a vampire? You’re certainly more fitting of the title than that shut in…” Flowey snickered to himself, before safely putting the vial of blood back where he had found it.

His stalk extended upwards, allowing him to peer at the desk, various crushed up pills and an assortment of equipment neatly arranged on it.

“Now, what have we here…?” A vine extended from the ground, reaching up and wrapping around a red-pill laying on the table in front of him.

Chapter Text

Clover made themselves comfy, or as comfy as they could in the wooden chair they were sitting in. Looking around at the classroom they now found themselves in, most of the other kids there seemed to be around their age, with Suzy definitely being the eldest.

To their right sat Suzy, who occasionally cast a dirty look their way. To their left was some armless kid wearing a striped shirt.

Sadly, they couldn’t score a seat next to Kanako like they had wanted. The classrooms felt smaller than what they were used to - Which is weird, because this should be their only frame of reference. Oh well.

In front of them, Kanako and some reindeer-girl exchanged hushed whispers while occasionally turning around to look their way, giggling, before immediately returning to whispering. To the right of them sat… A Temmie. Thankfully, it seemed completely uninterested in the gossiping happening next to it 

Clover, quite frankly, did not care for gossiping, especially when they were the subject of said gossip.

“Yo, what’s up dude?” The kid to the left of them spoke up, causing Clover to turn around.

“Oh uh, howdy! I’m Clover, it’s my first day here.” Clover forced a smile to their beak.

“Dang, I thought so dude! Well, welcome to our class! It’s… kinda small, apparently there’s not a lot of kids around our age in the Underground, so uh… yeah. We might have the smallest classroom, but we get the COOLEST teacher dude - Trust me.” The monster kid smiled back at Clover, who was a little taken aback by just how friendly they were.

“Alrighty then. Uh, I’m also - Kanako’s friend, I guess.” Clover mumbled, briefly glancing over towards Kanako, who was still wrapped up in her conversation with the reindeer girl.

“Yeah, she REALLY cares about you dude, you know she even asked me to - Uh… Well, that’s not important. Anyway, you can call me MK, dude! I can’t believe I almost forgot to introduce myself, hah!” Monster Kid chattered enthusiastically, before coming to a sudden nervous stop as their gaze shifted over to something behind Clover. 

Clover turned around, flinching as they realised both Kanako and the reindeer girl were now suddenly standing to the side of their desk, smiling down at them.

“Hey Clover!” The reindeer girl happily greeted Clover with a smile on her face.

“So, Clover… this is Noelle! She’s basically my best friend around here.” Kanako excitedly explained to Clover. For the briefest of moments she gave a sharp look towards MK, before shifting her attention straight back to Clover.

MK gulped.

Clover didn’t like the implication that Kanako of all monsters could be intimidating others, although they could worry about that later.

“Uhm… It’s a pleasure meetin’ ya, Miss Noelle.” Clover awkwardly extended their feathered hand towards Noelle, who grabbed it with both of her own and shook a little too enthusiastically.

“Don’t call me Miss Noelle, silly!” Noelle snickered, “Gosh, you sound just like one of those Wild-East people!”

Clover couldn’t help but be drawn to the t-shirt Noelle was wearing. They took a moment to read what was printed onto it.

“Uh, what’s “ICE-E”…?” Clover innocently asked, looking back up towards Noelle, and by extension Kanako - Who was rapidly shaking her head with an extremely worried look on her face.

“Youdon’tknowaboutICE-E?!” Noelle launched herself towards Clover’s desk, slamming both of her hands against it and gripping it tightly. All of a sudden she looked absolutely manic. “LISTEN, THIS IS GOING TO SOUND CRAZY BUT HE’S /REAL/, CLOVER, AND MY BIG SISTER SWEARS SHE’S SEEN HIM AND-”

Before Noelle could continue, Kanako placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Uh… Maybe you can tell Clover about your cryptid hunting another time, they’re still settling in right now!” Kanako smiled at Noelle, who let out a long sigh, seeming to take the hint.

“Okay… Just add me on Undernet if you want to talk more about that stuff though, Clover!” Noelle exclaimed, before quickly returning to her seat with a smile on her face.

“S-Sure Noelle.” Clover managed to stutter out as she left.

Clover was completely overwhelmed already. They stared blankly ahead at the chalkboard in front of them. Kanako was right. School definitely wasn’t boring, although perhaps that would’ve been better compared to this chaos?

Out of the corner of their eye, as Kanako sat back down, Clover could’ve sworn they gave Noelle an irritated look before returning to their normal conversation.

Somebody tapped Clover’s shoulder, they spun around to see…

“Hi. I’m Bob.” The Temmie, Bob, had extended their right arm to comical proportions.

“Uh… Hi? Are you a… A Temmie?” Clover asked. They had heard about Temmie Village from Martlet. She was often “commissioned” by them to build various odd things for them. Despite paying her in hard-boiled painted eggs, she still enjoyed the work.

“Indeed I am, although as you have most likely noticed, I am different from the rest of my kind. Therefore, they have sent me away to this school in order for me to obtain more knowledge in order to better our village. When I return, I shall be heralded as the next great Tem of our generation.” Bob finished their extremely lengthy explanation, Clover just slowly nodded throughout it all.

“Bob… How old are you?” Clover questioned. This Temmie had a rather deep voice, at least compared to the other Temmies they’d heard.

“Nine.” Bob responded neutrally.

“Oh. Okay.” Clover turned away from Bob, back to the chalkboard at the front of the class.

They’d all been waiting for a long while now. Didn’t schools usually have teachers? Or was there something they were meant to be doing?

“Dude… Kanako freaks me out sometimes, y’know?” MK suddenly whispered to Clover, who was taken completely off-guard.

“H-Huh? Hey - It ain’t nice to talk about people behind their backs.” Clover felt like they were being taken from conversation to conversation, but they tried to keep up and whisper back.

“Dude… I know Suzy is kinda mean, but Kanako’s like super-” MK seemingly ignored them and leaned in closer, but before they could continue, the door to the classroom swung open, and someone walked inside.

“Well, if it ain’t my favourite kids in the Underground!” The old looking turtle-monster chuckled, and just like that the entire class became silent. As he surveyed the classroom, he turned a smile toward Clover.“Would ya look at that, guess we got a new face joining us this season! Kiddo, what’s your name?” 

“C-Clover, sir.” Clover stuttered, once again put on the spot. They heard Suzy snicker and felt like they were about to explode, but they just had to keep it cool.

“Ah, Clover? Say… You’re Martlet’s kid ain’t you? Boy, ain’t that something? Well, y’can call me Gerson. I’m your teacher! For just about everything, apart from magic’n whatnot.” Gerson scratched his wrinkled neck with his equally wrinkled hand, before finally seeming to decide on something. “Anyway kids, today we’re gonna learn about - The history of humans in the Underground!”

“But I wanted to do math today!” Noelle gave a very loud sigh. “I need to learn how to calculate the exact location of ICE-E’s next appearance in the Underground…” 

Noelle trailed off and began muttering to herself. Gerson let out a raspy laugh.

“Oh, maybe tomorrow kiddo. Anyway… Let’s get to learnin’ kids!”

The lesson seemed to progress without many issues, apart from the occasional whisper from MK about how they could totally take down any of the humans Gerson was describing, with Clover usually agreeing. This then led to the two beginning to discuss in great detail how they could easily take down any human they came across, along with their “battle plans” relating to such situations. They may have gotten a little too caught up in their conversation, as Gerson eventually noticed neither of them were paying attention to a word he was saying anymore.

“AHEM!” Gerson very loudly cleared his throat, and both MK and Clover snapped back to attention. “Now then… Where was I? Ah, yes… The BLUE SOUL, the colour’s said to represent INTEGRITY. Belonging to the only human known to have gone on well… A “rampage”, to put it bluntly.”

Gerson pointed to his chalkboard, a rough drawing of each of the humans and their SOULs were drawn.

“A rampage…?” Clover asked confusedly. Why would any human want to kill monsters? 

Suzy scoffed at Clover’s naivete.

“Indeed. Now, humans aren’t the bloodthirsty monsters TV makes them out to be, they can be just as kind or as mean as you or I, however…”, Gerson briefly looked over at Kanako, who seemed quite tense as she stared down at her desk. “Unlike monsters, humans can’t use magic in the same way that we can - In fact, many monsters who use magic to communicate would essentially be attacking a human simply by speaking! To a human, all monster magic is /offensive/ magic.”

Clover wasn’t satisfied as Gerson finished his explanation. “But… Why didn’t they just try to talk to a monster instead of attacking everyone?”

“Bah, maybe they were just too afraid to chat! Although, what’s real odd about this human is that a lot like the one RUMOURED to be in the Underground recently, they disappeared! They were found a while later in Waterfall, their body had been uh… well, “hidden”. No monster has ever stepped up to claim that they were the one to catch ‘em, and nobody knows nothin’ about who did it either! It’s a real mystery, kiddos!”

Kanako stayed completely silent, averting her eyes away from Gerson.

“Welp - That’s all we got time for today. Maybe someday I’ll be teachin’ you about the sixth human, if Undyne manages to catch ‘em! Yer all dismissed!” Gerson pointed to the door, and just on time, the school’s bell rang.

Everyone began packing up their pens and pencils. Clover - Who had no backpack or stationery - tapped their desk with their fingers before standing up.

“Crazy lesson right, dude? Gerson’s the best when it comes to history. Uh, other stuff, though… Not so much.” MK snickered, walking past Clover, “Smell you later dude!”

Bob had somehow already vanished - Clover didn’t want to question it. Suzy stormed out of the class, leaving only Noelle and Kanako with Clover.

“Soooo…” Kanako smiled, looking over at Clover. “How’d you like your first day?”

“Uh- It was okay. Apart from Suzy - Which I could’ve totally dealt with, by the way.” Clover wasn’t about to let their reputation as a gunslinger be ruined because of her!

“Suuuure… Well, anyway. How about YOU also add me on Undernet, now that you’ve got a phone and stuff. I mean - You have known me longer than Noelle, right Clover?” Kanako did not sound like she was asking, moreso demanding. Clover was beginning to become a little nervous.

“S-Sure Kanako.” Clover stuttered.

“Oh, make sure you add me as well!” Noelle happily sang, “I got loads of cryptid theories I NEED to share with you Clover! Maybe we could even hang out in the Wild East sometime. I've heard about a SUPER weird cryptid that lurks around there, they call them… The PALE PERSON!”

“Sure Noelle…” They mumbled, dumbly nodding in response to her excited rambling. Talking to people was exhausting. Kanako was wrong, being friends with a bunch of old people was way better than this…

“Oh, I’m SURE Clover would LOVE to INCLUDE YOU in our hangouts at my place, Noelle!” Kanako happily responded, with a very dangerous edge to her voice.

“O-Okay?” Noelle looked a little confused as she walked out of the classroom, leaving Kanako and Clover alone.

“So cowbird, are you ready to leave?” Kanako offered her paw to Clover. Clover frowned, staring down at it.

“C’mon Kanako, I can handle myself- AAH!” Clover was grabbed a hold of by Kanako, and she promptly took off into a full blown sprint, with Clover being dragged behind her.

“I promised Martlet that I’d get you home nice’n safe!” She happily exclaimed, as Clover struggled to keep up behind her.

“H-How in tarnation are you so strong?!” 

“So, how was your first day Clover?” Martlet asked from across the table. Clover didn’t respond, instead staring at their favourite meal - A burger, currently in front of them and ready to be eaten, prepared by Martlet herself. It looked like it had taken a lot of trial and error, judging from the various burnt patties in the bin.

“Clover?” She asked again, to which Clover slowly raised their head. “Gosh, you look exhausted…”

“Yeah… It was fun though.” They admitted tiredly, a small smile on their now featherless face.

“So… You’re going to keep going? You’re okay with not being able to hang out as much at the Wild East as before…?” Martlet questioned, almost like she was double-checking that Clover was serious about going.

“Yeah. I’m okay with that. I can still see ‘em on the weekends right?” Clover grabbed a hold of their burger, taking a large bite out of it. Martlet let out a relieved sigh.

“I’m glad Kanako was there to take care of you, she told me about… Uhm, how you handled yourself really well!” Martlet forced a smile to her beak as she awkwardly fiddled with her wings. “And… Well, how you also had some trouble with other kids…”

“I’m FINE, Martlet. I can handle myself, okay? I don’t need Kanako to protect me from some dumb purple girl…” Clover let out an exasperated groan before taking another bite out of their burger.

“Listen, Clover… If this is too much - You can tell me, okay? I’m not gonna be mad or anything, I just don’t want you to get stressed out! You’re just moving into this so fast, and uh… Well, maybe you might be better off outside of school for a while?” It was clear to Clover what Martlet was trying to insinuate. That they were too soft, that they were too weak. They didn’t like it.

“I’m /fine/. I liked it there.” Clover mumbled, unable to meet Martlet’s gaze, looking downwards at their burger.

“Clover…?” Martlet reached over the table, placing a hand on their shoulder, “Just promise you’ll tell me if something’s wrong, okay?”

Clover briefly looked up at her, and saw the tender smile on her face. They scrunched their eyes shut, before sighing again.

“...Okay.” They mumbled.

“Great! Now, c’mere birthday-bird!” Martlet scooped Clover up in a crushing, feathery hug. Clover didn’t protest. Getting hugged by Martlet felt like they were being wrapped up in a fluffy cushion.

Clover knew they had a smile on their face when Martlet finally let them go.

“Hey, how about you finish off the rest of that cake before you head to bed buddy?” Martlet reached over and ruffled Clover’s hair, before moving to begin cleaning up the kitchen.

Clover took out their new phone and scrolled through their messages. Kanako had asked them if they’d be going back to school tomorrow.

“This thing sure is neat…” Clover mumbled to themselves, as they messaged back a ‘yes’.

As they did this, their phone alerted them of a notification for a friend request from Undernet, apparently they already had an account? It was from “Holidaygirl1997”. They were a little confused as to what exactly that meant, although - More friends was always a good thing! At least that’s what Kanako always said… They accepted the friend request, presuming it to be Noelle.

A loud knock on the door shifted Clover’s attention away from their phone - Oh shoot, they weren’t wearing their feathers!

Clover ran into their bedroom and quickly slipped into their costume, which honestly felt more like a second skin at this point. They exited their room, hearing the door open as Martlet stared confusedly at the two skeletons that now stood in their doorway.

“Uh, what are you guys doing here?” Martlet clearly wasn’t expecting them.

“GREETINGS! I COME BEARING GIFTS FOR THE “BIRTHDAY BIRD”, NYEHEH!” Papyrus exclaimed, proudly holding a wrapped gift in his hands.

“Isn’t it… A little late? Uhm- I’m sure Clover would love to-” Martlet turned her head around, seeing Clover had exited their room, now wearing their feather-suit. “Oh! Here’s the birthday monster themselves!”

The two skeletons walked inside, both approached Clover, although Sans hung back behind his brother.

“Papyrus?! How’d ya even know…? I don’t think I ever told you /when/ my birthday was back when we hung out…” Clover scratched the bottom of their beak with their feathered hand, tiredly gazing up at the energetic skeleton standing before them.

“AH, YOU WISH TO KNOW? WELL YOU SEE, ONE OF MY OTHER CLOSE FRIENDS…” Papyrus leaned towards Clover, holding a hand up to his face as if they were about to whisper something… before abruptly shouting anyway. “A SMALL TALKING FLOWER, TOLD ME ALL ABOUT IT!” Papyrus stood back up, a proud smile etched into his boney face.

“huh… howza ‘bout that…” Sans’s eyes trailed up to look at his brother, before focusing his attention back to Clover.

“Hey, you know Flowey too? Ah jeez, I’m sorry I forgot to tell you! They had to remind me of my birthday as well!” Clover let out an awkward sounding laugh, while Martlet and Sans briefly exchanged a look.

“That’s weird, that flower told me that you told it that your-” Martlet stopped herself, a look of realization quickly dawning on her face. She shook her head worriedly, but didn’t say anything more.

“I HAVE BROUGHT MANY GIFTS, CLOVER! TO BE PRECISE, TWO! ONE FROM MYSELF, AND THE OTHER… FROM OUR FLOWERY FRIEND!” Papyrus winked at Clover.

“Dang… Ya didn’t have to, Papyrus.” Clover happily looked up at their friend, who smiled back down at them.

“BUT I DID! NOW, BEHOLD!” Papyrus thrust the neatly wrapped gift into Clover’s hands. They tore it open with ease, and within was… A freshly cooked plate of spaghetti.

“Oh- Uhm… Thanks Papyrus!” Clover wasn’t too sure what to make of the gift. Papyrus did make pretty good spaghetti, though… At least, in their opinion he did. Clover placed the plate of spaghetti onto their table, and Papyrus once again thrust another gift into Clover’s hands. It looked a lot smaller than Papyrus’s, and was far more… shoddily wrapped.

Clover wasn’t about to be a brat though, so they tore open the present, revealing… A sheriff’s badge?!

“Whoa!” Clover inspected the badge in their hands, it looked like it was made out of REAL gold! Strangely, a flower had been carved into the front of the badge, “This is the coolest gift I’ve gotten all day!” Clover was in absolute awe of the sheriff’s badge. They flipped it over, revealing some writing carved into the back…

“Dear best buddy, hope you have a great day today! Just always remember who you’re really enacting justice for! -Love, your best friend forever…” Clover read the carving aloud.

Hearing no response from his friends, Clover looked up to catch Martlet giving Sans a worried look. For just a moment, the usual white orbs that hung in the center of his eye-sockets were gone, replaced by utter blackness. His smile remained unchanged, however.

“WOWIE! WHAT A GREAT GIFT! I SUPPOSE I’VE BEEN… OUT-FRIENDED! WELL, AT LEAST IT WAS BY SOMEONE WHO’S A MUTUAL FRIEND OF YOU AND I, EY?” Papyrus pat Clover’s shoulder, as the bird-brained human happily pinned their badge to their tank top. Papyrus abruptly spun around to glare at his smaller, smiling brother. “ANYWAY, LAZYBONES! COME GIVE YOUR GIFT TO CLOVER!”

“‘course bro. here y’go kiddo, enjoy it.” Sans walked towards Clover, briefly taking their hand out of their coat’s pocket to reveal… What appeared to be fried snow?

“W-What is this?” Clover questioned, genuinely confused as to what they were seeing.

“fried snow.” Sans constantly sounded like he was on the verge of bursting into laughter whenever he spoke, like he was in the process of telling the funniest joke ever, even when he wasn’t.

“How- How did you fry snow, that ain’t scientifically possible!” Clover stared down at disbelief at the snow before them.

“eh, i have my secrets.” Sans winked at Clover, handing the fried snow to them.

Clover stuffed the fried snow into their satchel, deciding to eat it later, if it hadn’t already melted…

“FRIED SNOW?! I MADE AN ENTIRE MEAL FOR MY FRIEND AND YOU ONLY FRIED SOME SNOW?!”

“hey, c’mon bro. i’m pretty sure creatin’ a scientifically improbable meal for them to eat a pretty good gift in my opinion.” Sans looked up at his brother.

“...FAIR. WELL, GOODBYE CLOVER! METTATON’S NEWEST SHOW IS GETTING DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO AIRING AND I DO NOT WISH TO MISS IT!” Papyrus broke out into a full sprint, running out of Martlet’s home before Clover had the chance to say goodbye.

“Thanks Papyrus!” Clover shouted out to the skeleton.

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS TREATS HIS FRIENDS WELL!” He didn’t bother to stop, or turn around, instead he continued sprinting back towards Snowdin Town.

“hey kid. thanks for being my bro’s bro. they really appreciate you hanging around’n stuff. maybe you could come over sometime, help them work on some puzzles… you’re on the same “footing” as your mom when comes to that carpentry biz, ain’t you?” Sans smirked, stuffing both of his hands back into his pockets.

“Uh… Sure?” Clover shrugged with a faint smile from their fake beak. It sounded fun enough, and that pun, while bad, did make them feel more at ease.

“that’s what i like to hear. later.” Sans walked outside, a gust of wind shut the door as he left. Martlet let out a sigh of relief. 

Clover just yawned, walking towards the sofa and laying down on it. They turned on the TV, while inspecting their shiny new badge in their hand.

“Hey, Clover…? A-Are you sure you should be hanging around that flower? They seem… Uhm, a little… I dunno, I just haven’t really met them yet is all.” Martlet lied through her beak, as she returned to cleaning up the mess she had made trying to make Clover a burger.

“Huh? He’s a right fine feller, let me tell ya that much! Heck, without him, I woulda never figured out I had blood-itus! Or that I was featherless’n what what not.” Clover went back to watching the television, seemingly giving the topic no more thought.

Martlet’s stomach sank, did that flower… know? It was definitely something she should keep an eye on, at least.

Another slice of cake and a marathon of Northstar's various “movies” later, Clover was fast asleep on the sofa, snoring loudly.

Martlet walked towards them, gently placing a blanket over them. She kneeled down next to them and gave them a peck on their forehead.

“Happy birthday, Clover.” She smiled, but as she looked down at the sleeping human before her… A feeling of guilt slowly began to well up inside of her, one that she hadn’t felt in a while. It was all just a lie, a very nice little lie- but still a lie. She was practically raising Clover as her own, and… What about the life Clover left behind on the surface, was there someone that cared about them just as much as she did - if not more?

Was she a bad person for stealing them away, for… protecting them?

She didn’t really know anymore.

Kanako refreshed her computer's browser multiple times, scowling.

“Why haven’t they sent me a friend request yet?! Obviously I can’t be the one to do it - That’d make me look too desperate…” Her bloodshot eyes stared at the screen. A gasp escaped her lips as she checked Clover’s profile.“CLOVER FRIENDED NOELLE BEFORE ME?!”

“Kanako, honey- Please be quiet.” Ceroba’s muffled voice called out from another room.

Flowey was absolutely giddy as he burrowed underground to Hotland, malicious new ideas springing forth and making him smile even wider than usual. He spent some time laughing it up at Ceroba’s makeshift excuse of “lab”, reading all he could there.

Shame he wouldn’t be able to attend the party HE prepared, but still, imagining the look on that smug trashbag’s face when he saw Clover wearing HIS badge that his own dear brother would be presenting to them was a pretty good consolation prize.

Sadly, he had more important things to do. Speaking of…

“Alphys, pal- Buddy, how are you?!” Flowey appeared from a crack within the lab Alphys was currently pacing around in. 

“F-Flowey?! O-Oh my gosh, it’s you!” She gasped in surprise, scuttling towards the flower. “Y-You’re back, h-have you-”,

“Hush.” Flowey silenced her, before clearing his throat and continuing. “I know I said I won’t help, but I’ve got something real special here that MIGHT just help you with your little determination problem.” 

Flowey extended a vine towards Alphys, offering her the same red pill he had stolen from Ceroba’s lab.

“W-What is this…?” Alphys took the pill from Flowey, examining it closely in her hand.

“If I had to guess? It looks like someone’s trying to make a /knockoff/ of OUR pill. The weird thing is though, it almost seems like it’s working… I just need you to tell me how that works. Maybe it’ll even help you help those poor monsters ya’ doomed!” Flowey cheerfully sang, before disappearing once again into the ground below.

“W-What?!” Alphys watched as Flowey once again abandoned her, leaving her alone with the red pill in hand.

Now alone, Flowey once again let out a small cackle as he overlooked Ketsukane Manor. 

“Welp, that takes care of that. Now then…” Flowey muttered as his vine wrapped around a sketch he’d stolen, containing Kanako’s soul, the normally white boss monster SOUL had been stained a dark blue. “How am I gonna make use of YOU?” 

He grinned madly, his face deformed into a ghastly visage as a new pawn appeared on his board.

Chapter Text

The next couple of days seemed to fly by for Clover. They made fast friends with MK, and Bob was a polite enough guy. Noelle was sweet, although a little overwhelming in their opinion. They mostly talked with her online… It kind of felt like Kanako wasn’t the biggest fan of their friendship, though. 

Suzy stayed quiet, and thankfully away from Clover. She seemed to be a bit of a loner, although they would sometimes see her chat with MK when Clover wasn’t around.

Things were… Things were okay. Finally, Clover was starting to really settle into a real, proper life-

“Clover, dude! Get your head outta the clouds!” MK shouted over at them, startling Clover back to reality.

“Huh? What’d I miss…?” Clover drearily asked, hoping that Gerson wasn’t about to announce another math lesson.

“The COOLEST lesson ever is about to begin!” MK excitedly exclaimed as they bounced around in their chair.

“Huh? What kinda lesson-” 

“Alright everyone settle down, now make sure to treat your new magic’n fitness teacher with the respect she deserves!” Gerson cut Clover off, motioning towards the door to the classroom.

The door to the small classroom was suddenly ripped right off of its hinges by a blue hand.

“DAMN IT!” Undyne shouted. She marched into the classroom, the door still held in her hand. She then spun around, jamming the door back into its frame.

“OH MY GOD IT’S REALLY HER IT’S ACTUALLY UNDYNE!” MK excitedly shouted. They were vibrating rapidly, to the point Clover worried they may explode.

“That’s right punk, it’s ME! The one and only, hero of the underground, spear of justice! And now, also… Uh- Elementary school… Gym teacher…” She rather unenthusiastically groaned out the last part, sighing as she did. “Was there seriously nobody else you could get for this, Gerson? I’m kinda running the Royal Guard.” 

Gerson laughed in her face. “Who else better than you to teach a BOSS MONSTER how to fight?” 

Gerson waved his hand toward Kanako, who smiled sheepishly upon being singled out. She seemed a little taken aback by Undyne’s brash attitude, and Clover couldn’t blame her - especially as Undyne swiveled around to scrutinize her a little more closely.

“Well, I’ll be damned! You know what, this class doesn’t look so bad after all, you all got a lotta potential, I can see it in all of ya now! Especially you, uh..” She snapped her fingers together, trying to remember the name of the Kitsune in front of her.

“Kanako.” Kanako spoke.

“Kaneko, yeah!” Undyne somehow managed to mispronounce her name.

“Who knows, Undyne? Maybe this could serve as good practice for ya. Or at least as a way for ya to relax… You’ve been stressing yerself too much chasing shadows all over the Underground.” Gerson re-assuredly pat Undyne’s shoulder, and the fish-woman let out a long, defeated sigh.

“Listen kids, I can’t promise I’ll stick around, but… Ah, to hell with it! You’re all learnin’ how to use OFFENSIVE MAGIC today, that’s the lesson! ‘Cause I’m the god damn teacher, and I make the rules!” Undyne grabbed a piece of chalk, immediately snapping it in her hand before scrawling ‘OFFENSIVE MAGIC TRAINING’ onto the chalkboard. “NOW WHO HERE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO USE MAGIC?!”

The entire class was silent, as Kanako and Noelle both slowly turned around to face Suzy.

“Yeah, I wonder who, huh?” Kanako said with a smug grin. Suzy scowled back at her.

“I can’t use magic.” Suzy spoke through grit teeth, with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

“Oh - Well that ain’t nothin’ to worry about kid! Not being able to use magic’s a common enough disability, but you shouldn’t let that hold you back! That won’t stop you from being able to crush boulders with your bare hands if you train enough, like me!”

“...Yeah.” Suzy muttered, a slight smile appearing on her face.

“Uh… I don’t know how to use magic, either. I’ve never used it before.” Clover raised their hand.

“That’s alright kid, I’ll explain-” Undyne’s intense, determined expression suddenly shifted to one of surprise, then confusion. Her eye narrowed as she intently focused on Clover. “Say, what’s your name by the way kid? Y’look real… familiar.”

“C-Clover, Miss Undyne.” They really needed to work on their stutter.

“Clover?! Well if it ain’t Martlet’s kid, why- You little rascal!” Suddenly, Undyne's arm wrapped around Clover’s neck, while she used her other to noogie them with glee. “I never thought I’d see you here, gahaha! Wait until that bird-brain hears about this! Uh-” 

Just as suddenly as she began, she stopped. Clover quickly realised why once they saw the other students - along with Gerson - all staring at the two of them. 

“Oh, I mean uh…” She then grasped Clover’s shoulders with both of her hands and gave them a stern look. “Kid, our relationship is PURELY teacher-student when we’re in this building, so uh… Pretend like I’m not your mom’s boss, okay?” 

Undyne cleared her throat as she released them. Clover slowly nodded.

“S-She’s not… My uh, real mom.” Clover quietly mumbled. For some reason, it still felt wrong for someone to so casually imply Martlet was their mother. Their weak rebuttal seemed to go unnoticed by everyone, thankfully.

Out of the corner of their eye, Clover could’ve sworn they saw Suzy’s eye twitch.

“Anyway kids, time to give you the run-down on what exactly magic is before we get into the swing of things.” Undyne began scrawling spears onto the chalkboard.

“Now, magic comes in two forms. Regular monster-magic, which can be used to express ourselves and is generally harmless, just used for practical stuff or for show.” Undyne tapped the chalkboard. “Then, you have OFFENSIVE magic. That’s the kind of stuff me’n the Royal Guard are trained to use. Of course, you should always know how to defend yourself - at least to some extent, even if you’re not in the royal guard. After all, any of you could choose to join if you really wanted to!”

A toothy smile spread across Undyne’s face, the entire class eagerly ate it up.

“ANYWAY, LET’S GET TO BUSINESS, TO THE GYM!” Undyne ripped the door off of its hinges once again, marching out of the classroom, before jamming the door back into place.

Clover had decided to change into their tank top, and put their hat away. They didn’t want it to get damaged while they were practising magic… If they could even use magic.

“Suzy, dude- Chill, you gotta calm down. Clover’s a weenie, but they’re a good guy!” MK’s voice echoed from down the hallway. Clover paused, listening in on their conversation. A pang of sadness ran through them as MK called them a “weenie”.

“I don’t CARE what you think MK, that little coward’s nothing but trouble! They hang with Kanako, you should know that means they’re bad news! They’re just some lucky little spoiled bird, just like that kitsune… The only difference is, they’re not as strong as her.” Suzy started off angry, before quickly becoming pleased with what she was saying.

“W-What do you mean, Suzy?” Worry began to creep into MK’s tone.

“I’m gonna teach that little runt a lesson they won’t forget. I’ll show them that they’re WORTHLESS!” Suzy sounded like she was seething. Clover’s fake-beak hung open in shock.

“This sounds like a REALLY bad idea dude!” MK nervously pleaded with his friend.

“I don’t CARE.” Suzy stormed away from MK, and into the gym.

Clover turned the corner, MK seemed startled to see them.

“C-Clover, how much of that did you…” MK looked very nervous.

“...All of it.” Clover bluntly responded.

“I- Listen dude, Suzy really doesn’t like Kanako, she’s like - kinda controlling, and uh… Maybe you could try talking things out with her after class? I mean, you seem pretty cool for someone who’s friends with Kanako!” MK ran into the gym, almost tripping over their own foot, although managing to catch themselves before they fell.

“What did Kanako ever do to you…?” Clover mumbled to themselves, before entering the gym, with a strange feeling in tow.

Undyne was wearing a tanktop and jeans, and most of the class had changed into something a little easier to move around in. 

Bob was now wearing a sweatband.

“Alright, those of you who know how to use magic! I want ya to try to use your magic to summon a projectile of any kind’n hit that target over there!” Undyne pointed towards a dummy. Everyone apart from Clover and Suzy readied themselves, with MK being the first to step up.

MK vibrated for a moment, before a bolt of electricity shot out of their tail, arcing through the air, then impacting the dummy with a thunderous CRACK.

“Impressive stuff kid, uh - Temm- Bob! You’re up next!” Undyne pointed towards the Target.

Bob’s constantly smiling face didn’t change, as they trotted up towards the Dummy, and lifted their front paw into the air. That front paw then rapidly extended, until it slammed into the Dummy’s head, knocking it over.

Undyne blinked a few times, before nodding.

“Uh- Transformation magic’s a rarity, although not the best in combat. You can make it work!”

“Thank you.” Bob politely nodded at Undyne.

“Next up… You, antlered girl!” Undyne pointed towards Noelle.

Noelle took a deep breath, and held both of her hands together in front of her. Cold air began swirling around her, gathering in between her cupped hands. The room grew colder, and colder… Until eventually, Noelle cast her arms forwards, and… a single ice cube was thrown out towards the Dummy, hitting its face. It wobbled slightly.

“Hey! Not bad kid, ice-magic’s super rare, all you need is a bit of training and you’ll be creating ICE-WEAPONS in no time!” Undyne shot her a thumbs up, Noelle looked very nervous.

“I-Ice weapons? Gosh, maybe I’d be better off with just an ice-skateboard or something…”

“Anyway, last up… Kanako! The boss monster herself!” Undyne’s mood visibly improved as she walked towards Kanako, kneeling down to her level and placing a hand on her shoulder.

“So, you know what you’re doing kiddo? I heard you use fire magic, similar to ASGORE… I could give you some pointers if y’need them.” Undyne had a wide smile on her face - It was painfully clear to everyone in the class who her favourite already was.

“Uh- No thanks. I already kind of know what I’m doing. My mom taught me how to use magic after I- Uh, don’t worry!” Kanako smiled back up at Undyne, who nodded down at them, seeming to understand her.

“Well, fire away kid! Don’t hold back!” Undyne motioned to the dummy.

Kanako took a deep breath in, and placed both of her hands together. She closed her eyes, and one by one, balls of pink fire began to form, and then swirl around her. Undyne took a step back, her eyes wide with shock as more and more balls of fire whisked around the Kitsune, until she was almost completely obscured by pink-fire. She then pointed her hand outwards, adopting an aggressive stance as she did so. The orb of fire surrounding her suddenly broke off into a swirling beam of projectiles, rising up towards the ceiling of the gym in a dazzling display of power, coating everyone in the room in a shade of pink light. Then, it slammed down into the Dummy, creating a gigantic explosion of pink-fire.

Clover’s beak hung open in utter shock.

“W-What…?” Clover stuttered out. Everyone else appeared similarly shocked, apart from Undyne, who had a smile so wide plastered across her face that it seemed like her lips were threatening to tear.

“KID!! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!!” Undyne ran towards an exhausted Kanako, who was barely able to keep herself on her feet.

“Y-You said not to hold back, right?” Kanako weakly smiled up at Undyne, who gave her a thumbs up in response.

“HELL YEAH I DID! Uh- For future reference though, hold back a little. Property damage ISN’T COOL KIDS!” Undyne shouted out to the rest of the class. “Anyway… Oh- Uh, Suzy? Why don’t you give it a go? Get physical with it, unleash the beast!”

Undyne put on a show of encouragement for Suzy, although after the incredible spectacle of Kanako’s attack… It didn’t really work.

Suzy walked up to the Dummy, reeled her arm back, and slammed her fist into its scorched head. It fell over.

“...Nice hit.” The dummy spoke earnestly. Suzy let out a low, dangerous sounding growl.

“Anyway, the rest of you, get back to practising! I need to help Martlet’s kid - I mean Clover with figuring out how to use magic.” Undyne turned away from Kanako, who began coughing into her sleeve, letting out a groan of annoyance.

“I-I think I need to visit the nurse, sorry miss Undyne!” Kanako quickly ran out of the gym hall. Suzy let out a dry chuckle.

Was Kanako… Pushing herself too hard? Clover wanted to follow her out and ask, although they were quickly spun around by Undyne, forced to face her.

“Eyes on me, ya rascal! Things are about to get REAL, real fast! So listen up, here’s what ya gotta do to use MAGIC.” Undyne slammed her balled up fist into the center of her chest.

“Your magic comes from your SOUL, and every monster's magic is a reflection of that! You’ve probably got some wind-stuff like your mom, which is real practical’n great in battle.”

“We’re not- Related.” Clover's fake beak shifted into a worried smile, as Undyne’s confusion grew.

“You look almost identical to her! Bah, whatever. Anyway, you just gotta FEEL it inside of you, your SOUL, what your MAGIC represents. Sometimes it’s as easy as just snapping your fingers and getting it to manifest, although other monsters- Uh, like me… Have to really /feel/ something to manifest their magic.” Undyne reached out in front of her, summoning a blue spear into her hand.

Clover felt a chill run up the back of their spine as they saw the spear.

“Hah, don’t worry kiddo- I ain’t gonna use this on you.” For some reason, Clover doubted her words. “Anyway, just give it a go, close your eyes, reach out- And try to create something, anything in your hand. Dig REALLY deep kid, really deep into your SOUL!” 

Undyne was clearly trying to hype Clover up, but Clover didn’t really feel it. They closed their eyes, letting out a deep breath. They raised their hand into the air, and began digging within themself…

Did they even have magic? What if this was just another thing they were bad at, another complication that they’d get walked through anyway… Suzy was right. They really were just lucky. Lucky that Martlet took them in, Lucky that… Kanako was even their friend.

Clover opened their eyes, sighing.

“Jeez kid, you look real beat-up. Hey, it ain’t the end of the world if y’can’t use magic, although… Let’s try something else, huh? Now my attacks get STRONGER the more determined I feel, y’know? Let’s see if you feeling- I dunno, some kinda emotion can make your magic manifest! Some monsters can only use their magic when they’re REALLY feeling a certain way, y’know?” Undyne pointed towards the dummy, which was being pelted by various magical attacks from the other kids. “I want you to point your finger at it, and just start thinking of stuff, good stuff, bad stuff, all sorts of things!” 

Clover looked up at Undyne, unsure of themselves.

Undyne pat Clover’s shoulder, “I’m gonna tell Martlet y’did a great job either way.” She winked at Clover, and a genuine smile spread across the cowboy’s face, and by extension their fake-beak.

Clover pointed a single feathered finger towards the Dummy, taking a deep breath as they calmed themselves… Then, they felt… Sadness, over how they were still letting people down. Anger, at themselves, for being so useless… And Suzy, for tormenting them. Happiness, that they had made so many friends, and were learning so much. Then… Then they felt something else. A deep rooted emotion that seemed to be planted at the core of their very being. It was like a tiny little fire within them, that they had just rediscovered again. They focused in on it, and to their shock, the tiniest yellow spark began to form at the fingertip.

“Hold onto that feeling kid, hold onto it!” Undyne’s voice shook with excitement, as she watched Clover's finger spark with yellow. Clover closed their eyes, trying to hold onto the feeling… The feeling of….

The feeling they felt when they realised humans had trapped monsters underground, forever…

The feeling they felt when Starlo told them they couldn’t join the Feisty Five.

The feeling they felt when… when Kanako told them she was sick.

The feeling they felt when… when… when they heard Suzy talking about how much of a failure they were, how much of a burden on Martlet they must be!

Yellow energy crackled and sparked around Clover’s fingertip, forming into a small yellow ball of energy, yellow energy arced around it.

“HELL YEAH! YOU SEE THAT, KID?! THAT’S MAGIC, RIGHT THERE, THAT’S…” Undyne began cheering, before seeming to pause, not actually knowing what to call Clover’s odd magic.

Clover could feel it within their very SOUL, this was the power they held! They just needed… They just needed to… What was this feeling?

It was injustice.

Injustice that they could correct, that they would bring justice to! They’d… They’d…!

Clover’s fingers instinctively formed a finger-gun, as they readied themselves to fire the cracking ball of yellow energy forming.

“HELL YEAH KID, FIRE IT!” Undyne shouted. Clover remained laser focused on the target in front of them, and with a pull of their finger… They fired their finger-gun.

A single, slow moving yellow projectile flew from their fingertip, and hit the dummy. It shook slightly.

“...Oh. That felt a lot cooler than it actually was.” Clover felt slightly embarrassed.

“Psssh, don’t worry about that, it was your first time! With a lotta practice and hard work, you’ll be able to do loads of cool stuff with magic like yours, Clover!” Undyne gave them a toothy smile, along with a thumbs up.

“T-Thanks.” Clover mumbled, a nervous smile forming on their beak.

Suzy glared at Clover, silently seething.

The rest of gym class with Undyne consisted of far, far too much physical exercise for Clover’s liking. They rested against their locker as they caught their breath, the bell ringing loudly, although this time not startling them.

“Finally… It’s- It’s over.” Clover wheezed, reaching into their locker and grabbing their cowboy hat, along with their toy gun. They turned around to begin to leave, hoping to catch Kanako outside, only for them to turn straight into a purple fist, impacting their fake-beak with an audible CRUNCH.

Clover fell back with a yelp, grabbing a hold of their now cracked fake beak with their feathered hand, wincing- Their lip was cut open, they could feel it! Not to mention their costume was damaged!

“GET UP!” Suzy shouted, glaring down at Clover. The hallway parted, as various monsters began crowding around them, some taking out their phones and snickering at the ongoing situation.

“I said- GET UP!” Suzy roared, reeling her foot back for a kick. Clover scrambled backwards and to their feet - Only to retreat into a monster behind them, who shoved them forwards, back into the fighting-ring that had formed around the two of them.

“You think you’re something, huh Clover? You think you DESERVE any of WHAT YOU HAVE?! Your MAGIC, your MOM, your FRIENDS?! HAH! You’re NOTHING Clover, NOTHING! Nothing but A LUCKY BIRD!” Suzy pointed at Clover, her voice dripped with bitterness,“...A bird who got luckier than me.”

“C-Can’t we just talk? I-I don’t want to fight, please Suzy.” Clover held their hands out, although this act of non-aggression only seemed to frustrate her more.

“ERGH! You’re so- So SOFT! So… ANNOYING! You’re the definition of a lucky idiot, Clover! Everything in your life just fell into place, and you know it! Your mom, your friends… Your MAGIC.” Suzy continued ranting.

“I-I made friends with Kanako outside of school, we-we were roleplayin’ with-”

“Oh, you made friends with a dying girl?! How noble, Clover- Really, I’m sure it was a lot of effort to visit her once every couple of days while you were busy playing dress up ‘cause your MOM would always take you out on a damn holiday every other day!” Suzy shouted out, with a far more cruel, mocking tone in her voice. The crowd around them began snickering and laughing.

“B-But- How’d you know-”

“Tch, MK told me. They’re only as friendly as they are to you because Kanako told them to be. She’s a REAL control freak, although… I’ve been going EASY on her ever since I heard about what happened to her. But now that SHE isn’t around to protect you… Me’n you can finally have some REAL fun, Clover. And I can show you just how worthless you really are.” Suzy cracked her knuckles, and the various kids began to cheer and shout, some trying to break up the fight, while others egged them both on.

“Suzy, we don’t have to-” Clover tried to talk, but Suzy didn’t want to hear it. She sprung forwards, balling her hands up into fists and throwing a swift jab towards Clover’s face.

“SHUDDUP AND FIGHT ME YOU DAMN WIMP!” Suzy shouted. Clover just barely managed to stumble aside, only on reflex - It felt like muscle memory, which was odd, because they really weren’t that much of a real fighter… outside of playing cowboy…

Suzy let out an enraged roar, lunging forwards again with both of her arms outstretched, trying to grapple onto Clover’s shoulders.

Clover’s breathing began to quicken, as his mind began to grow foggy- This was all so familiar, this feeling, this anxiety, this… Battle tendency, they had felt it before, their body felt like it wanted to move on its own, and in an odd sort of way- The overwhelming fear they felt began to quell.

Suzy reeled her right arm back, before sending an underhanded punch towards Clover’s stomach, twisting her entire body, throwing everything she had into the punch. Clover was too zoned out to dodge, caught up in his memories, her fist impacting them with an audible THUD.

“AAHGH!” Clover hacked up spit out of their fake beak, grabbing at their stomach with both of their hands. Their body folded forwards, as they threatened to topple.

“You’re NOTHING but a damn nuisance for your mother, just some BRAT she has to keep around- Not ‘cause she likes you or anything, but out of DUTY. ‘Cause if she didn’t care about you, who else would? Face it Clover, every single thing you’ve been handed in your crumby life has all been down to DUMB LUCK. I’d be doing her a favour if I killed you right here, but - I’m pretty sure she’ll end up getting rid of you eventually, ‘cause you’ll annoy her so much, just like you probably annoyed your last parents into getting rid of you, HAHA!” Suzy let out a monstrous laugh, as a few kids from the crowd joined in… Although the vast majority seemed to only mutter amongst themselves, apparently there was a certain line that had just been crossed.

Clover took in a shaky breath, as they managed to fully upright themselves again. They said nothing. They pulled their hat down over their face. 

“What’s wrong, did I finally manage to get under your skin, you damn expressionless robot?!” Suzy sneered.

Clover’s hand instinctively reached for their revolver, they let muscle-memory guide them. They were filled with an absolutely overwhelming sense of… Justice? Injustice? No. Just… Hate. They weren’t sure if it was directed at themselves, or Suzy. Maybe it was both of them.

Suzy lunged forwards again, sending another wild jab towards Clover’s throat. Clover swiftly sprung off of their right foot, avoiding her lunge with ease. They raised their toy gun towards Suzy as she stumbled forwards. She scowled at Clover, before snickering at the sight of their gun.

“Don’t you GET it, Clover?! This isn’t some FANTASY, this isn’t some crappy WESTERN or whatever, you’re a LOSER. You’re nothing but a lucky BIRD who annoys EVERYONE THEY MEET. EVEN YOUR OWN MOTHER.” Suzy’s words lodged themselves deep within Clover, rubbing themselves up against forgotten worries and pains.

Clover didn’t respond. Their expression remained hidden under the shadow of their hat. Then, they began to feel that hate, that pain, that… anger, begin to flow into their hand, into their fingers… And then, into their gun.

“Wait what are you- Oh, you’re trying to use your magic?! Please, that crappy little pea-shooter ain’t gonna do nothin’ to me, you ain’t Kanako, Clover!” Suzy laughed, although that laughter began to fade once she noticed the brightly glowing tip of Clover’s revolver was becoming brighter, and brighter. A small orb of cracking energy formed at the tip of the revolver. It started off small, although it began to grow, and grow, and grow…

Clover felt more and more of their hate, their anger, their desperate need for JUSTICE flow into the ball. They weren’t sure what they were doing anymore, they just knew it was bad. They should stop, but- It felt good to finally let it all out.

“H-Hey, that’s getting kinda… big…” Suzy took a step back. Clover said nothing. “You don’t need to fire that thing dude- I get it alright?! You’re strong you don’t need to-” 

Clover pulled the trigger.

A gigantic ball of yellow energy shot towards Suzy at lightning fast-speed. It slammed into her stomach, and sent her careening backwards, tumbling down the hallway until she finally stopped rolling a good few meters from where Clover had initially hit her.

“O-Ow…” Suzy whimpered. She wasn’t moving.

Clover’s revolver fell back beside them, as they suddenly let out a long, relieved sigh. Then, like a truck - The weight of what they had just done hit them. They stared down at Suzy’s body, then back at their revolver.

“I-I didn’t mean to- I- Are you - Are you okay?” Clover began to walk towards Suzy, who let out a weak groan. Clover felt sick to their stomach, how could they have done something like this - How could they have allowed themselves to- To almost…

“S-Shut up…” She moaned.

“What in the UNDERGROUND is going on?!” An extremely stern voice shouted, as just about all of the children in the hallway suddenly made a run for it.

Clover nervously fiddled with their feathered fingers. They sat in front of the school's principal, an extremely large fire elemental wearing a very expensive looking suit.

“‘M sorry.” Clover mumbled. The principal sighed, rubbing their forehead with their fingers.

The door swung open, and Martlet ran inside.

“Ohmygoshiseverythingokay?!” Martlet shouted, running towards Clover’s side and grabbing their shoulder.

“...Yeah. I’m fine.” Clover mumbled, turning away from Martlet’s gaze.

“Your beak…” Martlet’s attention immediately shifted to the large crack on Clover’s fake beak.

“If you’d be so kind as to take a seat, miss… Martlet?” The principal- Despite being made of fire, was somehow handling a piece of paper. They were even using a wooden desk… Clover had decided it was best not to question that.

“W-Whatever happened, I-I’m sure it wasn’t Clover’s fault, they’re a really good kid!” Martlet grabbed a hold of Clover’s hand with her wing, squeezing it. Clover said nothing, instead hanging their head in shame. The principal sighed and shook his head in response.

“I’m afraid what Clover did was - Well, severely injure another student. To the point where they had to be treated with healing magic in order to stabilise them. They’re making a full recovery as of now- Don’t worry about any long-lasting damages…” The principal surprisingly re-assured Clover, “The orphanage that takes care of her isn’t looking to press any charges against Clover, either. Really, this entire situation is a stain on our school’s almost perfect record. There’s a reason why magic is banned outside of class, and this is why!” 

The principle briefly got a little too… “heated”… Before quickly calming themselves down. Clover leaned back in their chair to try to escape the rising heat, although quickly returned to their former position once the elemental calmed himself.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t- I figured… I don’t have an excuse.” Clover couldn’t lie, if they had just wanted to scare her off, they wouldn’t have fired it. But they did. And it felt good, really good to let out all that anger, and pain, and hate that they didn’t even know they had in them.

“Well, quite frankly you have a rather good excuse considering the situation at hand, along with the various students that witnessed her start the fight with you. Although yes, this a was clear… escalation, your fitness teacher has told me that you had only recently learned how to use your magic, and were probably unaware of how dangerous it could be. Therefore… You will not be expelled.”

“Oh thank goodness.” Martlet let out a sigh of relief.

“Instead, you will be banned from ever practising magic on school grounds again, due to the extremely volatile nature of your SOUL’s magic.”

“W-What?!” Clover shouted out, a frown spreading across their beak. “But- Undyne… A-And…”

“You will still be allowed to participate in the class, although you will be treated the same as Suzy.”

“Maybe this is for the best, Clover. I- I wasn’t even sure you could use magic, ha-ah…” Martlet awkwardly smiled at Clover, who was absolutely gutted at the current situation.

“...Although, I’ve managed to work something out - Well, actually, - something was worked out for you, by none other than your gym teacher herself!” The principal exclaimed.

“Huh?” Clover sounded confused.

“Well, your magic’s dangerous Clover, it wouldn’t be smart to let you use it here, although it’d be even more foolish of us to never teach you how to control it properly, which is why…” The principal cleared his throat, and the door to his office was suddenly ripped off of its hinges by a blue hand.

“WHY ARE ALL THE DOORS HERE SO EASY TO BREAK?!” Undyne shouted, stomping inside, before jamming the door back into place.

“You, PUNK!” Undyne pointed towards Clover.

“Huh?” Martlet turned around with a dumb expression on her beak.

“No- Not you, other punk! Gargh, this is too awkward when you’re here Martlet - Martlet, pretend like you’re not here, THAT’S AN ORDER!” Undyne shouted to Martlet, who nervously saluted her commander, beginning to pretend like she “wasn’t there”.

“PUNK, LISTEN UP! I heard what happened and- Well, I’m disappointed, kid. I expected better out of you.” Undyne placed her hands on her hips, glaring down at Clover.

Clover cowered under her gaze, unable to come up with anything to say to rebuke her.

“...But. This is a mistake, and we all make mistakes, kid. Now, here’s what I’m gonna do.” Undyne knelt down beside Clover.

“I-I don’t deserve whatever you’re doing.”

“Gargh, just shuddup and listen ya rascal! Clover - Your magic is /strong/, really strong. I know the feeling, when I was a kid I was sparring with ASGORE every day, and I NEVER had to hold back! I… hurt someone really bad, after I got into a scrap with them once. My point is - You got to learn to hold back, or at least to control your magic. It’s strong, really strong - Hell, what you did to Suzy probably isn’t even the limit! I could make you even stronger.” Undyne stared at Clover, determination evident in her eyes.

Clover briefly broke away from her gaze, before turning back to look at her.

“...Why?” Clover asked, confused as to why he was even being given this choice. Was what Suzy said about them being lucky… right?

“‘Cause you- Well, you remind me of myself in a weird sorta way! You got that same flicker of JUSTICE in ya kid, I can see it in yer eyes! If Gerson’n Asgore didn’t take a chance with me, I wouldn’t be here today! So I’m taking a chance with you!”

A smile spread across Clover’s fake beak.

“There’s just something I need you to promise me…”

Clover leaned in towards Undyne, ready to hear her out.

“No matter what happens… NEVER, EVER use your magic on another monster- Well, unless you’re training. Save it for a human, okay? What happened today could’ve ended in a far worse way.” Undyne stood up. 

Martlet had to admit - She was surprisingly good with children. She did have to deal with running the entire Royal Guard, so… Maybe that made sense?

“I promise I won’t use my magic on another monster, miss Undyne.” Clover repeated, their voice hardened, a new found sense of… Justice flowing through them.

“Great! That’s what I like to hear, kid! Your first lesson’s on the weekend! MY PLACE! DON’T MISS IT!” Undyne slapped Clover on the back, causing them to let out a grunt as they pitched forward. She didn’t notice just how powerful her slap had been, as she turned to leave.

Clover didn’t really know how to feel anymore. Was everything that Suzy said true? They couldn’t deny they were happy to be given one on one training with Undyne, but… Did they really deserve it?

Before Undyne took a single step she seemed to suddenly remember something, turning around and looking over at Martlet. “Oh, and uh… You can stop pretending to not be here.”

“T-Thanks captain!” Martlet exclaimed with a sigh of relief as she sat down, visibly exhausted.

“When we are in this school, you will call me MISS Undyne, or UNDYNE, as I am your CHILD’S TEACHER! By the way, you’ve got a great kid Martlet! Gahaha, they’re just a joy to teach.” She placed a very firm hand on Martlet’s shoulder, who very nervously looked up at her boss, forcing a smile to her face.

“O-Oh, t-t-thank you Undyne - I mean uh, Miss Undyne?”

“Ah, don’t sweat it! You know, you two really are alike… Only the kid’s got a lot more guts than you, GAHAHAHAHA! I’ll make them into a Royal Guard in no time, just you wait!” Undyne spun around, stomping out of the principal's office.

Martlet seemed to deflate a little bit as Undyne left the room. She turned to look nervously at the principal, wringing her wings together.

“S-So, um… Is that all?” She asked hesitantly.

“...That’s all.” The principal re-assured her.

The walk home was completely silent. Martlet didn’t say a word, and neither did Clover. They would have asked her to carry them, although they probably didn’t deserve it after what had happened.

Martlet stopped in the middle of Waterfall. Clover stopped next to her. She turned around, looking out at the beautiful bioluminescent lake in front of her. The bright blue glow of the water illuminated the rest of the cavern. Clover looked out at the giant lake before them. Martlet sat down on the edge of the lake, patting the strikingly black grass next to her with a sad expression on her face. Clover sat down next to her, feeling as upset as Martlet looked. They felt ashamed of what they’d done.  Guilty. Just… They just felt terrible.

“Clover… I know- It’s hard.” Martlet began to speak, taking Clover off guard. “... It’s hard to- I- Gosh, I’m not very good at this, Clover.” 

Martlet hung her head in shame, holding it in her wings. Clover was completely taken by surprise - suddenly it felt like the situation had flipped on its head. Why was Martlet apologising to them, instead of them to her?

“W-What do you mean?” They asked. Clover idly swayed their legs forwards and backwards, their boots just barely skimming the surface of the glowing water.

“I-I… Clover, am I a good - Am I… Am I a good… caretaker?” Martlet asked, removing her head from her hands, and turning back to face Clover.

“Yeah! Of course you are! You’re- You adopted me, right? That’s… That means a lot to me, Martlet. I’ve been so worried that eventually you’ll just turn around and say you don’t want me anymore… Living with you - It’s like a dream come true, or something.” Clover stared out at the serene lake. It was calm.

Martlet seemed to think for a moment, before scooting a little closer to Clover. She had a pained expression, like she was admitting something shameful. “...Clover, if you - If you ever feel like… You don’t want to stay with me anymore… It’s okay - You can say something. Maybe… Someone else would be better off taking care of you.”

“Huh? No way! You’re - You… You’re Martlet, Martlet.” Clover stared up at Martlet, and Martlet stared down at them.

Martlet hesitantly reached out with her wings, and like a flash, Clover leapt into them, letting her wrap them around their body.

Martlet didn’t really know what to say anymore. She was worried Clover was close to finding out the truth- Or at least, being found out. Not only that, but the guilt she was feeling only seemed to grow worse with each day that passed. Was Clover truly happy with her? Would it be better for her to just let them go, let them leave to the surface? Even if it meant… ASGORE.

“I love you Martlet.” Clover’s muffled voice interrupted her thoughts. Martlet smiled down at Clover, the overwhelming conflicting feelings she felt were tearing her apart from the inside out.

“I-I love you too, Clover.” Martlet rubbed their back, as they continued hugging them.

“You’re not gonna send me away, right Martlet? I-I don’t want to - I don’t want to leave, Suzy - Suzy was right! Everything I have, it’s just luck, all of it’s dumb luck! I did nothing to deserve a home, to deserve friends, to deserve all the cool stuff you do for me! To deserve… A mom…” Clover choked out their words, holding back their tears.

Martlet closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in, and then out.

“Clover… Even if it was all dumb luck - That doesn’t change the fact that I love you, and I’ll always love you. And- I’m… I’m going to try to be a better… mom.” Martlet felt awkward, in a good kind of way.

“Martlet. You’re already the best mom I’ve ever had.” Clover looked up at her, still wrapped up in her wings.

Just like that. Martlet’s doubts were washed away..

“Well, that doesn’t mean I can try to be better, can it?” Martlet winked at Clover, who let out a tired sounding laugh, as Martlet scooped them up into a full on carry, “How about I get us home, huh? You’ve had a long day, Clover…”

“You don’t need to carry me Martlet, I’m perfectly- Perfectly… I- I’m just gonna get some rest for a moment…” Clover mumbled, before slowly falling asleep in Martlet’s wings. In their defence, they were extremely soft.

“Maybe there’s nothing wrong with playing pretend.” Martlet smiled down at Clover, a teary eyed smile on her face. She… She was okay with this. Maybe- Just maybe… They could live out this little lie forever.

Flowey laid hidden within a patch of Echo Flowers, having watched the scene unfold before him. 

“Blech.” He retched. Honestly, what a damn soap opera this turned out to be! 

He promptly moved from his hiding spot to where Martlet and Clover were, watching them walk back to their sad excuse of a “home”. Flowey continued to watch Clover sleeping oh-so-peacefully in their “mother’s” arms before suddenly donning a clearly fake smile. 

“Golly, Clover! ‘Everything in your life just fell into place’, huh? ‘Your mom, your friends’… well maybe not your magic, but still! You sure do have it GOLDEN.” He sarcastically exclaimed before his “smile” suddenly took on a more fanged appearance. “…you idiot.”

Even if he didn’t want Clover hearing him, it still felt good to say it out loud… Though with his venomous little rant over, he realised some things. First, Undyne is going to be training that bird-brain. It means that the kid’s gonna be around Papyrus more. So he could probably use THAT. And more importantly, that SOUL magic of theirs was bound to improve with the Underground’s LOUDEST heroine, instead of some tacky school. And if the brat could send some schoolyard bully to the infirmary for just a thrashing and some words… 

“Golly, everything’s just falling into place isn’t it Clover? Don’t worry ol’ pal, you can have the easy life for now. But when the time comes… I’ll just have to remind you just WHO gave you that life.” He cackled to himself, then burrowed into the ground.