Chapter Text
“Do you…” Ceroba asked hesitantly, carrying the glass jar in which Clover’s SOUL now resided. “…want me to stay?”
“…” Clover gulped, refusing to look back at her. They really wanted to say ‘yes’ but… “Go on. I’ll… be okay.” She shouldn’t have to watch a child die right in front of her, powerless to do anything to help them. Not again.
“…Very well.” She sighed deeply, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “This won’t be forgotten. Goodbye, Clover.”
And with that, Ceroba walked off. As soon as she turned the corner, out of Clover’s view, they felt a sharp, piercing pain in their chest, unlike anything they had felt in any other battle they’d had so far. It was like a limb had just been slashed off.
Clover lost their balance almost immediately, desperately gasping for air and grasping the fallen leaves of the nearby tree as if they were holding onto the edge of cliff.
“So, this is it?” A familiar voice called out. “All that work just to become another cog in the machine? Heh, you’ve grown so predictable!” He sounded very disappointed, trying to hide what was clearly some sort of contempt, or frustration.
“I could undo all of this right now but…” For the love of God, don’t. Clover thought to themselves. “…maybe you’ve earned your rest.” Thank you. “After all, there’s always another.”
Clover heard a sigh from somewhere. “Can’t say it’s been fun so… I suppose this is where we part ways” a chuckle echoed out. “Oh, who am I kidding? Until we meet again… friend.” There was a genuine form of fondness coming from Flowey’s voice at that moment that, thinking about it, Clover wasn’t sure he’d heard before from the flower.
But they didn’t have time to think about that for much longer, as they could no longer bear to try and just about fail to keep their balance standing on all fours. Gathering the remainder of their strength, Clover crawled back to the north wall of the balcony, where Ceroba had been moments ago.
“…Flowey…” Clover called out, their voice coming out just short of a whisper, realizing they were gonna have to fill their lungs with as much air as they could before uttering a single word. “Come… here…”
A silhouette of a yellow flower appeared before the cowboy’s now blurry vision, though still out of reach. “…closer…”
Flowey grumbled for a few seconds before descending and re-emerging right between the child’s legs. Surely this would be close enough for whatever it is they wanted.
Clover slowly, weakly raised their arms, trying to get them closer to the flower’s stalk. “What are you doing?” He asked, a bit of apprehension in his voice.
They wrapped their arms around him as much as they could, trying their absolute best to give the flower an embrace, a hug. “Thank… you…” Flowey could definitely feel something small and wet hit his petals. Clover was crying. “…friend.”
Two more vines sprouted from the ground, carefully wrapping the cowboy before him,
in an attempt to return the hug. “…no problem, pal.”
It was getting harder and harder to breathe every second that passed, and the fact they were starting to choke on their tears was not helping in the slightest.
“…I’m… scared…” Those were Clover’s last words.
Flowey wished he could feel something, anything, having had someone who trusted him dearly enough to have him be the last witness of their own death, who wished to be by his side in a moment of pure fear and despair, someone who considered him a friend of all things.
But there was nothing but cold, uncaring numbness, as there always was.
…
Clover’s grip went limp.
Flowey sighed. “…I’ve had enough of this.” He retreated back underground, thinking of his next plan. He was going to wait however long he’d need to and take advantage of the next human. To hell with the nice facade. And he was going to make damn sure it would work this time.
…
Clover was suddenly aware of themself again.
“Hmm… it seems another has perished. How pitiful.” Said someone in a neutral, though melancholic tone. It looks to have come from a… purple SOUL?
“Aww, c’mon Hope! No need to be a killjoy!” Said another SOUL, an orange one. Though their voice was a lot more optimistic than the other one. “Sorry ‘bout them! Hope can be very cryptic sometimes, but you should get a feel for what they mean given enough time. What about you? What’s your name?”
“I’m… Clover.” Said the yellow SOUL, scared and confused because of their new surroundings. Or rather lack thereof.
“Nice to meet you, Clover! My name is Tom. And those three over there are Adrian, Grace and Lila!” Tom pointed to a green, blue and cyan SOUL respectively.
“Wait… you all are-“
“The five children who fell into Mt. Ebott, yes. Though I guess six now, since you just became one of us.” Hope interrupted Clover, filling in their thoughts for them. “There’s not much to do out here, except to talk to us I suppose.”
“So come on. Tell us your story, o yellow SOUL of Justice.”