Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As Clover was going on the rooftop of UG Apartments, he took a glimpse of a bird monster he met a while back.

Martlet Of The Royal Guard, when he was leaving Steamworks he got an urgent letter that asked him to meet her at the rooftop of UG Apartments that is located near the CORE. 

He could ignore the letter but something inside him didn't allow him to do that. Even after hearing advice from Flowey, his "Best Friend" who was insinuating that this may be a trap,  Clover remained unyielding and thus Flowey had no choice but to reluctanly agree to let him meet Martlet.

It took a little time before Martlet turned around and saw Clover.

"Ah, you got my message! Great!" As she turn her back once more, she was looked at the CORE.

"What a view... That large facility in front of is the CORE. The main source of power for the Underground. Behind that is New Home. The capital city... King Asgore's Castle." Once she mustered her confidence, she turned around and looked straight into Clover's eyes.

"Look, I haven't been 100% honest with you. My whole life, I was taught that humans are the enemy. But you... you never came across as such."

After hearing those words, Clover was a bit confused, considering how their first meeting turned out.

"Though, during our journey, I did sense a faint, alarming aura in you." 

After she drew the syringe from pocket, Clover briefly froze in place. He sees it for the first time and yet it looked strangely familiar.

"I had this backup plan in case started a rampage but...you never did."

Out of reflex, as Clover was about to draw his gun, Martlet threw away the syringe to his surprise.

"Phew...that feels liberating. I'm so sorry for keeping that from you. You're a good kid. Even so, there's another problem...I don't think Asgore would agree. You see, he needs 7 human souls to destroy the barrier. So far he collected five and he might try for another. Now that we're this close, I'm afraid there isn't a peaceful way of confronting him. I'm sorry."

After hearing about the fate of missing humans, Clover couldn't help but to feel helpless. While he was suspecting that they had perished long before he came to the Underground, the fact that he couldn't help stinged much more than he anticipated. As Clover was having all kind of thoughts, Martlet continued in much gentler voice.

"I know this isn't the path you intended but...let's...put all of this behind us. You can come and stay with me. Live out a happy, violence-free childhood! I'll teach you craftsmanship and you can teach me marksmanship! You don't deserve to die this young."

Those words were enough knock all his thoughts and make Clover speechless. A violence-free childhood? Is this truly possible? After all of trials and tribulations, all of the fighting, would of this finally come to an end? But what about missing children? He knew they were dead but he has a verge to at least try to avenge them and make Asgore pay for his crimes and yet... As Martlet didn't know what Clover was thinking, asked him in order to break the silence.

"...What do you say?"

While Clover was briefly contemplating about the answer, he knew it would be all the same regardless. He was tired of all of this, he knows Flowey will be dissapointed due to lack of his resolve but he doesn't care. Deep inside, he always wanted to find the place where he could belong and live a happy life. When someone is not only willing to forgive him for his sins but also gave him a place where could live peacefully, how he could decline such a proposal? The common sense dictates that he shouldn't trust the bird monster and yet for some reason he had a feeling that with her...maybe everything will turn out fine.

"Sounds good." While Clover was hiding his teary eyes with his cowboy hat, he responded with a faint smile on his face.

Martlet was surpised for a bit before she was everjoyed hearing an answer.

"Really??? Wow! We are going to have so much fun! I promise this is the best outcome for both of us. Well, "roommate", let's go to Snowdin!" As she was slowly going toward Clover, it appeared as if the peace and tranquility awaited them in the future. Unfortunately for both of them, it was merely an illusion.

Out of nowhere, vine came out and pierced Martlet's chest from behind while slowly lifting her entire body.

"W-What is this? Clover...? W-Why would you..."

Before she could say more, she dusted away and as soon as it happened, a familiar flower emerged right before Clover, his "Best Friend".

"Golly! That sure was a waste of time. Now how abou-"

*BANG *BANG

Thanks to his reflexes, Clover took two quick shots toward Flowey, interupting him mid-speech unfortunately he was faster and managed to hide beneath the roof.

"Now now, pal. What was all that about? She was about to detain you for who knows how long. I merely removed an obstacle that would prevented you from accomplishing your mission." Flowey remained composed, still keeping his "friendly" facade.

"Why...have you done this?" But Clover didn't listen. He barely managed to keep his rage under control as his last opportunity to get a peaceful life dissapeared right before him as if the light in the tunnel dissipated right before he could reach it.

"So that's how it is." Once Flowey said those words, he dropped his act, revealing his true colors.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! If only you could see yourself right now. Killing that klutz was worth it even if it was just to see your idiotic teary face. I had a little jhope you would refuse that bird's proposal, alas it appears some things never change."

As Clover was about to take another shot, the vine came out from his blind spot, knocking him down and taking away his gun.

"I admit I was surpised by little stunt of yours but playtime is over, little cowboy. Once I absorb your soul, I shall kill Asgore, take the rest of human souls and become GOD. Clover, in this world, it's kill..."

The ring of "friendliness pellets" surrounded kneeling Clover.

"OR BE KILLED!"

As Flowey was maniacally laughing, Clover feels huge amount of despair while looking at flower's disturbing face. Is this the end? Was all that struggle in vain?

.....No. While he was still immensely scared of Flowey, he knows he cannot falter. He will experience the life's joys and sorrows. He is determined to live on despite the odds. When Clover took those vows, something unexpected appeared and it was floating right before his eyes. The [RESET] button. However, he wasn't the only one who noticed the anomaly.

"Hmm? Don't think I will allow it."

>[LOAD] FAILED

"...!" For the first time in the while, Flowey was visibly distressed as things may soon go against his inicial predictions.

Fortunately, Clover felt as if Flowey tried to reload a second ago, he knew he doesn't have time to think this through and so he attempts to touch the button.

"Oh no you don't!"

As the bullets were about to hit Clover, at the last moment he pressed [RESET] button.

And thus the Wheel Of Time goes backwards once more.

As Clover was sleeping on the familiar flowerbed, the faint voice could be heard right next to him.

"Ugh, this human again? The humans are like cockcroaches, no matter. It won't be long until they join the rest."

After the rest, lost most of his memories but they are some that remained despite all the resets.

And now his new adventure, unlike any other has officially begun.

Chapter Text

A bit of time has timed and Clover finally woke up. Although for some reason, he has a headache but he ended up brushing it off.

Once he stood up, he looked around the area but it appears no one is here. It must been a weird dream, he thought as he recalled hearing a faint voice but couldn't remember what they were saying.

Then he quickly checked whenever a certain item is still with him but thankfully it still was. The Missing Poster. A grim reminder of his mission and the reason why he's here. And yet it appears Clover seem to lack confidence in the contrast when he initially ventured to the Mt. Ebott.

He quietly hid the poster and went through the gate at the end of the corridor. As he was about to go through another gate, suddenly a Yellow Heart show up near his chest and a Frog monster was hopping toward him.

But before Clover could attack them, something unexpected happen. A Goat monster just went through the gate at the opposite site and glared at the Frog monster until they hopped away, leaving Clover and Goat monster alone.

"Ah! Hello. Are you alright?" After hearing her gentle voice, Clover dropped his guard down despite exuding intimidating aura a second ago.

"You must be wondering what is going on. I'm Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through here every day to see if anyone has fallen down. It does not happen often, you are the first to come here in a long time."

Clover had a bad feeling after hearing her words. For how long these missing children were missing, he pondered.

"Do not be afraid, little one. I will do my best to protect you here. Come! I shall guide you through your new home."

His new home? Those words resonated with Clover for some reason. While he didn't fully trust the Goat lady, he had a feeling that at least she is not planning to hurn him. So he decided to go along with it for the time being.

As he was following Toriel, through the entrance that was on top of stairs with red leaves being right next to stairs, Clover saw a bunch of buttons scattered around the room. 

"The Ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. They must be solved in order to move from room to room. Allow me to demonstrate." As she said that, Toriel pressed the pressure plates that were outside of the path afterwards she pressed the yellow switch and thus opening the door."

"We are free to proceed now. Follow me, my child. There are more puzzles ahead."

Clover didn't had time to think about the purpose of these puzzles before he had to catch up with Toriel that waiting for him in the next room.

This one is much bigger than previous, he could see streams of water with bridges seperating each part, vines and bunch of switches on the walls.

"In this room, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I labelled the ones that you need to flip."

As Clover was walking toward the lever, he noticed it has yellow arrows pointing at it as if there was a possibility of failing this puzzle in the first place. After pressing it, a sound could be heard.

"Splendid! I'm proud of you my child." Toriel said it with big enthusiasm. If Clover didn't know any better, he would think it was an obvious sarcasm as such remarks were a common occurrence back home. 

As Clover walked through another bridge, he saw last two switches with one of them having yellow arrows all over them and spikes that were blocking pathway to rest of the Ruins. He couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow as he was wondering about the purpose of these puzzles. Strangely enough after pressing it, there was no sound.

"...It should have opened by now. I'm sure I labelled the correct lever." Toriel was also perplexed about the recent development.

"Ah, do not worry little one! Try flipping the other switch." But she quickly regained composure and suggested Clover to pull the other lever.

As Clover about to press the switch, he got a big headache as he could feel a surge of memories came back to him at this moment. He could see himself pressing the switch and then falling down to the abyss.

Unfortunately, as Clover was trying to remain still, unknowingly he pressed the switch with his left hand. As he could feel ground crumbling beneath him, at the last moment he attempted to jump out of danger.

He managed to grab the ledge but he could feel his strength draining at the rapid pace. Luckily, Toriel wasn't just standing here as she quickly ran to Clover in order to help him out. With a surprising ease, she pulled him out before his fears could manifest.

"My child! Are you alright!?" Toriel asked Clover as she couldn't hide her agitated state.

"Yes...I'm fine." He didn't had time to process the events as he felt something was missing.

When he took glance through the hole that was just created and quickly he an got answer to his question. The poster, something he took along with him was slowly going down to the void until the darkness engulfed it and he could see it no more.

"I apologize little one, the Ruins are much more dangerous than I anticipated. Could you stay still for a moment?" As Toriel was talking, she walked towards the bigger batch of vines that were right next to switches and soon a sound of lowering spikes could be heard.

"Grab my hand, little one. I shall take you to safety." Clover was too distracted to do anything but nod as they were moving at the fast pace.

Once they left, a familiar flower emerged from the ground, clearing showing their displeased face.

"Damn it all! Why is it NOW it went differently!?"

>[LOAD] FAILED

Flowey was already annoyed by the fact, Clover managed to reset the timeline without his imput but somehow he also lost ability to SAVE which made him extra furious. And who else could be the culprit but that little cowboy who was now being guided by the Goat Lady.

"That stupid Toriel will definitely look over him from now on. What a nuisance."

Despite exclaiming a spiteful remark previously, Flowey was willing to exercise patience. Whenever it will take a day, a week or even a month they will eventually relaxed their guard and when no one is looking, kill Clover and regain the control over timeline. In his mind, there is no way it will go any other way.

With regained confidence, Flowey went away now awaiting the perfect moment.

Chapter Text

As Toriel was dragging Clover through the rooms, he couldn't appreciate the architecture or the contraptions that were scattered around the Ruins. Although there was something that he managed to lay his eyes on.

During the travel, a couple of monsters took notice of the unusual pair although they were keeping their distance for some reason.

Clover was surprised with the diversity of monsters appearances. They were some based on animals like frogs, moths or bugs, some of were based on food like carrots or even gelatins. In one of the rooms, there was some sort devil(?) shaped monster, that one was angrily staring at him as if they were looking for a fight. On the pathway, there was a stereotypical looking ghost that was seemingly lying on the ground but as soon as they were approaching, they just...vanished so that concluded that interaction.

After some time, they finally reached their destination, Toriel's House. The fronyard wasn't particulary impressive as beyond having leaves outside of windows, right before them is a solitary, almost dead tree. To Clover's astonishment, there is a single leaf desperately clinging to the branch, so fragile yet so resillent. Somehow, such a sight strongly resonates with his soul as if the kindred spirits reunited after a long separation.

Toriel seeing that Clover was keep staring at the tree, beckoned to him and a bit later they finally entered her simple home.

"Welcome to your new home! I apologize, normally I guide the children and teach them about the puzzles along the way, perhaps the time finally caught up with this place." Toriel says it with hint of melancholy in her voice but Clover wasn't attentive enough to catch that.

"Oh I almost forgot, you must be exhausted. Here, let me show you the room." Toriel shown her hand and gestures him to take it, once Clover took her hand they went right to the yellow corridor and stood right before the first door they see.

"This is your new room. It's a bit small but I made sure it was clean all the time in situations like these. I'm sure you will love it, my child." Clover suddenly felt something on his head, Toriel was gently headpatting him. He felt a bit embarrassed but the gesture felt...nice so he remained silent.

"I have to prepare something to celebrate your arrival please take a rest in the meantime, little one." 

When Toriel went away, he stood alone before the door as he still hesitant to open it but eventually the curiosity won him over and took a glance at the lodging.

As he went inside, Toriel's description was proven to be rather apt. It was humble but cozy room. There were lamps in the corners, a shelf with small chest on it's right side and wardrobe on it;s left side, he could even spot some toys. Compare to where Clover used to live in, as far he was concerned, it's essentially is a 5 Star Hotel.

Clover took his hat off and put it on the top of the shelf. Afterwards he laid on the bed and was absentindly staring at the ceilling. 

Despite that he just recently entered the Underground, a lot of happened in that short period of time. Meeting a monster that seemingly wanted to attack him, meeting somewhat scary but a kind-hearted Goat Lady, entering a mysterious Ruins, almost falling to his death and now they are in the house of the Goat Lady. 

He deduced that for certain Toriel is not planning to harm him due to fact she just saved his life at that time. Suddenly, he heard knocking and then he saw Toriel peeking through the door.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your rest, my child. There is something I want to ask you, what do you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon?"

"...Butterscorch?" Clover didn't exactly get the point of this question.

"I see, thank you!"

After hearing his answer, Toriel went away to do her business. As Clover was about to lie down, he could hear quick steps that were going toward his direction.

"Um, you don't by any chance hate cinnamon?"

"No but...is there a point to this question?"

"Oh no, it's nothing important. I just wanted to prepare something to celebrate your arrival as I mentioned before. Now I know everything I needed to know. Rest well, little one!"

Toriel made an awkward smile before she left, this time for longer. While Clover still wasn't sure what she was up to, the conversation somehow managed to ease his nervousness and with his mind calmed down, he took a brief nap.

As Clover was asleep, Toriel came back and brought something "special" as she promised, a slice of butterscorch-cinnamon pie. It's been a while since she made one of those, she comes Clover would enjoy it, like other humans did. 

In order to not disturb his rest, she was slowly opening the door and tiptoed to the room, leaving the slice along with the tiny fork, perfect for the little boy.

As Clover was left alone, he started to regain consciousness and could smell something with his nose. He opened the eyes and laid his gaze unto plate with a slice of pie that was on the ground.

"So that was it, huh." Clover finally understood the reason behind her previous questioning. Admittedly, he felt hunger at this moment so he didn't mind appreciating her hospitality. 

Clover found the slice to be very sweet perhaps a bit too much for his tongue. Such a delicacy was a rarity for him, maybe that's why he's not used to taste of it, not that he dislike it.

Once he finished eating the pie, he took his hat, put the dish at same shelf and left the room. 

As much as he wished to wholeheartedly enjoy his stay, he knew he couldn't stay here. There was still something needed to be done: his mission. He went to the other side of the house, looking for Toriel until he saw her reading the book right next to the fireplace at the living room.

"Ah! You are awake. I hope you rested well, little one." Toriel greeted Clover with a bright smile.

"Yes...um, Miss Toriel? There is something I need to talk about."

"Hm? What is it?"

"...While I appreciate your warm welcome, I'm afraid I have to be on my way."

"*Sigh Am I really that scary to these children?"

"No, no no! I believe there is a misunderstanding, I happen to be on a mission." Clover knew he had to make himself clear as she did save his life so he believed he owed her at least an explanation.

"A mission?"

"Yes, there is a case of missing children apparently last time they have been spotted, they went to Mt Ebott. As I was following the lead, I stumbled across this place, that's how I got here. Do you know anything about this, ma'am?"

"Hmmm, I'm afraid your search will be futile. As of right now, very likely they are not longer in this world."

"Huh? They all have been murdered!?" Clover was in disbelief when he heard her words.

"...Long ago, the King Of Monsters, Asgore declared that all humans are enemies. He wishes to destroy the barrier to free the monsterkind but for that he needs to collect 7 Human Souls. While I do not know about their fates, the chances are Asgore is very close in achieving his goal."

Clover tried to remain calm but his face was giving away his real thoughts.

"My child, I'm sorry for delivering this news but I must implore you to give up on your mission."

"But what about the children!? How can I stand by, knowing that they got murdered in the cold blood? Am I wrong to seek JUSTICE for their sake!?" 

Clover couldn't help but to snap at her. Not only that, due to emerging paranoia he took his gun and aimed at Toriel. Toriel remained unfazed as she knelt and embraced the scared little cowboy. Her action astounded him and he dropped his gun in the shock.

"...May I ask how old are you?"

"*Sniff 10. Had a birthday a month ago."

"I see, you still have a long life ahead of you. The places outside of Ruins are very dangerous, you will very likely perish before you even reach Asgore."

"Bu-" Clover was about to retort but Toriel quickly interrupted him.

"I understand your frustration but you shouldn't burden yourself with such a responsibility. You are still a child and as someone who happen to lost children of my own, I cannot stand by and let your life to be cut short."

"*Sniff You also lost your own children?"

"A long time ago, it matters little now. I know the Ruins may not be the most pleasant place to live in but I will take care of you and you get to live a happy childhood. And top of it if next humans would come in, we will get to prevent their deaths. How's that sound?"

Clover couldn't hold it anymore and finally cried his heart out while hugging tightly Toriel. She was staying silent as she was headpatting him in order to calm him down a little. It appears a lot of suppressed feeling were lingering inside his heart and for the first time he was allowed to express his pain though tears.

Chapter Text

It's been 3 months since Clover fell into the Underground, that was also a time when he learnt the horrifying truth about the fate of missing children, initially he wanted to serve JUSTICE to the ones resposible but was swiftly consoled by Toriel, the caretaker of the Ruins and currently he's under her care.

Right now, Clover going through his morning routine. His appearance is quite different from before, he doesn't have the usual cowboy get-up, He wears a yellow striped blue shirt, blue shorts  along with little black boots. Well, there is one thing that he kept from his previous look. He initially thought about leaving it alongside the rest of his belongings but quickly felt insecure without his trusty side-arm at his side. (Even though it's just a plastic toy). 

Currently, he's in middle of shooting practice in the room with the Dummy. Clover was proven to be quite a remarkable gunslinger as after each shot, he throws the gun into the air and seamlessly catches with the other hand. He made sure to aim way out of where the Dummy was. According to Toriel, his "phony" gun can be actually a quite a lethal weapon against monsters also she requested to avoid destroying the Dummy. At first, Toriel was hesitant about the idea of letting a child to have a gun even if it was just a plastic toy but Clover armed with big yellow sad eyes was proven to be too much of challenge for her to overcome.

During the practice, a Froggit hopped closely to his side.

"Ribbit. Ribbit. (You are really into this.)

"I have to keep myself in the top form." Despite hearing only croaking, Clover could perfectly understand what Froggit was saying.

"Ribbit? (Were you always that good?)

"Hmm, I don't know, it's kinda came to naturally I guess?" Despite all of his efforts, he doesn't know why he was that good at it. Three months wasn't nearly enough time to achieve such a result if he considers all kind of little tricks and stunts he was doing even before he started practicing and he couldn't recollect any moments of him using any guns before he entered the Underground. It's just... feels like a natural extention of his arms. 

Once he ran of rubber bullets, Clover made a quick twirl with a pistol before swiftly holstering it and collected the bullets. Afterwards, he bid farewell to Froggit and was moving to another place.

Next destination, the "Candy" room. It's a small room with a pedestal in the middle. There was a bowl of treats called "Monster Candy". The rule is each individual can only take up to one candy only.

Although, it appears someone may about to break up that rule, as in the room there is a Whimsun who's eyes are exposing their inner desires.

"You can take one more if you want. I can ask miss Toriel about it if that's the problem."

"Aaaah! O-Oh n-no, I co-couldn't possibly bother her about such triviality..." Whimsun got surprised by Clover as they weren't paying attention when he entered the room.

"I'm so sorry! I have to go now!" 

Whimsun burst out the room with the teary eyes. Clover knew they didn't bare any ill will, he came to understand that any sort of social interaction significantly rises their anxiety level.

After doing the last checkup, Clover was on their way to next destination. As he was going through the part with the Rock Puzzle that required pushing 3 rocks unto the pressure plates, he spotted a vibing Moldsmal. He couldn't tell what they were saying but considering their lively movements they were making, it suggested they were to happy to see Clover. He briefly waved to Moldsmal and soon left them to their own devices.

As he entered the hallway that was connecting the western and eastern side of the Ruins, a famillar ghost was lying on the pile of leaves.

"Oh. Hello Clover." Napstablook warmly greeted the little boy.

"Howdy! It's been a while since I've seen you in these parts. What's the occasion?"

"Um. When I feel like not doing anything, I like to be here. It's relaxing."

Over the time, Clover got see Napstablook in all over the Ruins although by far this was their favourite spot. Once he asked them, where were they from and apparently far away from here there was a place called "The Waterfall" where Napstablook's house was. From the stories he heard about that place, Clover had a little of a desire to see it with his own eyes.

"Oh right. You probably have places to be. See you."

As Napstablook soon vanished, Clover bid his farewell and went to the room on the right. However the peace didn't last long as he could heard a pair of monsters loudly arguing about something.

"Get out of here! I was here first!" A Migosp says it, clearly annoyed by the presence of another monster.

"Don't look at me like that, you know I was here before you." A Loox responded with a firm but a bit shaky voice as they tend to be less confident if they feel they are being picked-on.

Clover was aware of their petty squabbles but never was able to settle their differences for good. Although, considering the room they are in, it gave him an idea.

As the monsters were too distracted to notice him, Clover went close to one of two spider webs, specifically the smaller one and put several Gold coins into the web. Toriel likes to give him a pocket money for helping her with the chores and right now he managed to accumulate an impressive amount so this isn't much of a loss for him. Once the spiders took the coins and came back with a their delicacy, a Spider Donut. 

Once Clover took it, he went to the monsters, tapping Loox on their shoulder and presented the Donut to them.

"For me? Thank you Clover, you know didn't have to." Loox happily accepted Clover's gift and because that was the reason they came to this room, they went away, cheerfully chewing the received treat.

"Thank the Angel, I thought I would be here all day!"

Migosp went to the larger web in much better mood and purchased another think the spiders were selling, a Spider Cider. Clover get to try it only once, the taste of it was...interesting but as soon as Toriel find out, he was harshly scolded as apparently he was way "too young" to drink such beverages.

Once the conflict was resolved, he went on his way to the final destination. At the path, he encountered Vegetoids, who like to remind him to eat the "Greens" on which Clover always end up showing a cramped smile. He never really liked eating vegetables but Toriel also liked to tell him that it's good for his health although he doubted that due to their "awful" taste.

As Clover reached the final crossroad, instead of going to Toriel's House, he went right. At the end lies an overtook of "Home", the first city ever built by the monsters after the war, however they end up moving away to another place called "New Home". Whoever thought of the names, it seems didn't want think about it too hard.

As he was living with Toriel, Clover's opinion on the monsterkind improved quite exponentially from that fateful day, although he never agreed with King Asgore's decision, he came to understand that things aren't as black and white as he initially thought. Most importantly however, he came to admire the monsterkind's persistence and determination to live on despite the odds and the city before him is a manifestation of their will.

But he didn't have to reminisce as today was special day. After standing for a bit, Clover went back to Toriel's House. Toriel was at her usual place, on the comfy chair reading the book about something she's really passionate about, snails. Although Clover never came to understand her obsession with the subject.

"Welcome home. Was everything alright?"

"Yes, aside the usual squables, things remained peaceful. Now miss Toriel, may we continue the conversation from earlier?"

After hearing that, Toriel's smile disappeared and was replaced with a solemn expression.

"*Sigh I must apologize, Clover. You have a right to know and yet I was selfishly avoiding the subject."

Clover and Toriel get know each other quite a bit but there was something she never wanted to talk about, the missing children. As caretaker of the Ruins, she came into the contact with all children that fell into the Underground including Clover but everytime he asked about it, she swiftly changed the subject. It's not until Clover brought a faded ribbon and a toy knife that were scattered around the Ruins, she decided to finally spill her beans. 

Clover suspecting it would be a long story, sat down on the ground and at last he would get to know a story that was long forgotten by many.

Chapter Text

As Toriel got more confortable in her chair, the memories from the past were slowly coming back to her, awaiting to be put for the good use like a volcano that is about to erupt and flood the surroundings with lava.

"A long ago, after the tragic death of 2 children that were not only dear to the Royal Family but also seen as hope for the monsterkind, Asgore swore to kill any human that may step inside the Underground and use their souls to destroy the barrier. The monsters feeling the grief of their King were extremely supportive of that decision, well with some exceptions. As I didn't want to be part of such barbarity, I went back to the place where the monsters settled for the first time, the Ruins. While it was mostly abandoned after monsters move to the "New Home", for me it was a perfect place where I could have some semblance of peace and tranquility until that fateful day. When I was attending the bed of Golden Flowers, out of nowhere something dropped into the bed of flowers, it was a human girl."

Clover was aware of circumstances behind the royal decree. After speaking with the monsters from Ruins, those kids were the Prince of the Underground and a human child who was first to fall into the Underground after the war, apparently they fell from the same place as he did and other missing children. From what he heard, the human soon fell ill and after they passed away, the Prince absorbed their soul and crossed the barrier in order to fulfill human's last wish. However after he came back, his parents found out he was grievously wounded and soon after he also passed away. And yet wasn't Asgore's reaction to all of this a bit too extreme, he pondered.

"Poor girl, she was shaking with fear when she saw me to the point she tried to scare me off with the toy knife. I managed to calm her down but she remained silent. I guided her through the Ruins, making sure no monsters could harm her. But when we reached my house, I told her to wait for a second but when I came back she was no longer there."

"Is that why her stuff was in the Ruins?" Toriel nodded as she affirmed Clover's question.

"She must have run into monsters and dropped them at some point. When I was desperately looking for her, I found her lying unconscious with ragged clothes, near the overlook. Even after I healed her wounds, she didn't wake up so I took her in. It took a couple of days before she woke up from her coma. Afterwards, she was more willing to listen but at the end she never have spoken to me. "

"Never spoke? Is that why you don't call her by her name?"

"Never learn her name, at most I could figure things out through her expressions. During that time, I was doing my best to take care of her and yet one day she dissappeared, this time for good." Toriel's eyes became more teary as she recollected the event and felt defeated as if she failed to protect the innocent child.

"Wait, you didn't try to lock the doors?"

"I did lock the front door but there was another way out, through the basement. She likely awaited the moment when I will be less attentive and use that opportunity to sneak out."

The Basement. Clover was of the door that serves as exit from the Ruins, hell he could even leave at any point without Toriel noticing. But he was happy living with her, he came to appreciate her kindness, her generosity and her caring nature. She may be harsh at times, even may end testing his nerves but he ultimately knew that she means well. As such, hearing that she treated in such cold manner by the other kid, made Clover fell guilty for asking that question. 

"...What about the others?"

".....They left me all the same."

"...Is it truly impossible for them to survive out there?"

"My child, the places beyond the Ruins are extremely dangerous for humans. Even if they managed to get past all the obstacles, the only way out is at Asgore's Castle and....I'm afraid it's unlikely that they got past him."

And at a sour note, her story was over. After hearing the tale, Clover has a lot of to think about but before he would do that, he stood up and came closer to Toriel who was staring at the ground. He embraced sad Goat Lady. 

"Thank you for telling me this, Miss Toriel and I'm sorry for bringing your bad memories." As he was hugging her, to his surprise he felt her embrace became tighter.

"Clover my child, promise me something. Promise me that you will keep on living, that you will keep yourself out of harm's way, you have to, understand? Promise me that!" Toriel finally expressed her inner desire as she was hugging the little boy, who willing to put his faith in her. She could feel how delicate he is as if tiny wind was enough to blew away this little clover.

"....I will do what I can." Clover quietly whispered as if he didn't want for her to hear it.

After hearing out Toriel's story, Clover went to his room in order to think through his options. As if the spark was ignited once more, he came to a realization.

There must be more to this story, the same with the fates of missing children. Why did they left Toriel? Did any of them survived? Did they managed to escape the Underground? The more questions he asked, the more his curiosity grew.

As he was thinking, his soul resonates with him as if they were agreeing with his assessment. Strange. For the first time since he fell to the Underground, he found peace in his mind. Not only that, it appears like the course of action was more clear than ever as if the pathway just appeared before him. He didn't know what lies at the end, whenever it was a hope or despair but Clover understood one thing. Even if they all end up being slain by King Asgore or his subjects, he have to learn about the circumstances behind their deaths so that JUSTICE could be properly served.

As Clover came to a conclusion, he went to the shelf, took the pen and paper and started writing something.

Chapter Text

The Ruins are a special place in the Underground. Previosly known as "Home", it was a first settlement the monsters had built soon after they got trapped by the barrier. Back in it's heyday, it would boast with it's remarkable architecture and multiple layers of elevations that were linked by many pathways which would allow for a smooth traversal between each level. When the monsterkind moved away, the place was slowly deteriorating and the knowledge about the pathways was mostly lost along with it.

Clover only knows about their existence due to some of the saved records that were in Toriel's House. Unfortunately, outside of the mention of those pathways, there weren't any information about their exact location. Today, Clover investigates one of the rooms in the hope of finding one of those passages.

As he was meticulously searching the room, the 3 Froggits that likes to hang out here jumped closely to Clover as they were intrigued by his seemingly bizarre behaviour.

"Ribbit? Ribbit? (What are you doing?)"

"I'm looking for something." Clover responded while still keeping his attention on the search.

"Ribbi- (Wha-)"

As one of the Froggists was about to say something, a loud noice interrupted them. Clover immediately looked at direction of the source and he could see a wall slowly revealing a hidden passage that was then followed by torches getting lighten up.

"It appears it's my lucky day." Clover spend a couple of hours looking through the Ruins, thankfully he didn't had an opportunity of finding out what happens when you aimlessly search and hope magically something would happen.

"Ribbit? Ribbit? (Isn't it dangerous to go to places unknown?)

"Ribbit! Ribbit! (Toriel would not be happy if you get hurt!)

As the Froggits tried to dissuade him from going through that newly opened entrance, Clover shakes his head.

"I'm sorry fellas. There is something I need to do but don't worry I will be back before you know it!"

Clover knelt before Froggits and gently headpatted them. He was deeply moved by their concerns for his safety but he knew he had to do it. As he was getting closer to the hidden passage, he could feel his soul resonating with him as put a hand on his chest.

"Yes...let's go."

After reassuring himself, Clover entered the new pathway but neither him or the Froggits couldn't see there was someone else in the room.

A familiar flower was observing the whole spectacle,  it appears the opportunity finally presented itself.

As Clover was descending further below, the feel of anxiety was growing but also the sense of anticipation. Where it was leading him? Would there be any clues about the missing children? When he finally reached the end of the tunnel, a familiar sight has shown up.

A bed of Golden Flowers in middle of the room but without a sunlight going from above. Once Clover did a quick look over, he noticed the place was in sorry state even if only comparing to part of Ruins he was familiar with. The darker colors and visible rubbles gave this place much more depressed feel to it although for some reason he had a feeling he had seen this room before. There was only one door besides the one he just came out off so he didn't had a choice if he wanted to proceed. 

As soon as he went out of the door, suddenly the fear completely paralyzed him. At the first glance, it seems like a straight path but a quick look would reveal everything. Giant pitfalls on the sides alongside lack of any safety railings exacerbate his fears. 

To this day, he couldn't forget that day when he almost fell to that pit when he first came to the Underground. Sometimes, he gets nightmares of him not getting saved by Toriel on time and falling to his doom. As such he proceeded with caution, little steps a the time and most importantly looking straight not below his feet.

After managed to get on the side of the bridge, he sighed with relief and was moving going forward. As he was going through the hallway with bunch of columns, his instinct kicked in as he could sense something coming from behind.

As he looked behind, two vines were about to skewer him like a fish, Clover managed to sidestep on time but not without getting an injury.

"Argh!"

One of the vines managed to hit his left arm, Clover quickly took his gun with his other arm and he was thoroughly scanning the area. He could feel the adrenaline filling his body, however as he was looking for the attacker he couldn't find them or the vines that almost pierced his chest. 

The pain was excruciating but he had to endure. As he stood up. he kept his gun as he was slowly going forward while looking out for danger. Whatever it was, it may come back if he let his guard down even for a second.

After a very slow walk, Clover reached the end of the hallway but the sight didn't exactly soothed his nerves.

"They are still working puzzles here!?"

Annoyed Clover who was still weary of his surrounding walked toward the sign that was slighly covered by vines but on it there was only one word: "EXPOSITION" in capital letters.

"*Sigh" The things won't go smoothly will they, Clover thought to himself.

Afterwards, Clover was attempting to solve the puzzle, each time he would press a switch, he would quickly turn around and look over the room while still being armed. The pain in his left arm didn't subside however he didn't had much of a choice if he wanted to continue. After some trial and error, the spikes were lowered but before he could go, suddenly his Yellow Heart came out of chest. 

>>[FIGHT]

He knew what it meant, suspecting it was a monster that attacked a moment ago, he made a quick turn and took a shot, it a was bullseye! But when Clover laid his eyes on the attacker, the sight surprise him. 

A humanoid-like monster with tiny wings, for unknown reason the bloodlust started to converge on his mind.

"Just gotta keep it... cool." Monster was barely holding up, made one desperate attempt to defend themselves.

Clover's footwork was immaculate as despite his injuries he was capable of dodging all flies that were all coming all over place. As he was about finish the adversary, for a moment he regained his senses.

"...Go."

"...Huh?"

"I SAID GO IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE!" The monster who got scared by Clover's shout, flew away without looking back. 

The battle was over but Clover was nowhere near in state to think clearly. Why he was suddenly had an urge to hurt someone? Judging by that monster's attidute, it very likely wasn't them that attacked him and yet he almost pulled the trigger that would end someone's life. That thought alone terrifed him. 

"...I have to keep it together."

Despite the recent occurring, he knew he had to continue and thus he eventually ventured beyond the lowered spikes in hopes of that his troubles would eventually pay off.

Chapter Text

After the incident, Clover had to do yet another puzzle which involved switching on glowing boxes in the right order. Thankfully for him, there were no sneak attacks this time, thus after solving it he could proceed to the next room.

The following room was a long thin corridor with a water ponds on the sides. Clover was wary of the surroundings, constantly looking over the place, trying to spot any potential threats. As he was moving, he was a sign on his left side that read: "Private property. No trespassing." Initially he was baffled by it, after all wasn't this place part of the larger city, even Toriel only claimed an ownership over a single house. But as he was pondering about such triviality, Clover could sense something was coming.

He quickly ducked under the vines that were about to get him. He made a run for it hope of outspeeding the vines. Unfortunatelly, unlike the last time, the attacks were much more relentless, the vines were going from all angles but Clover wasn't willing to give up that easily. With some skillful maneuvering and timed sidesteps, he managed to survive the onslaught.

As he was going upstairs, he noticed there something at the top. Without hesitation, Clover took a shot but before it could connect, the entity has hidden itself. When he reached the top, there was no sight of it but also it meant the vine attacks had stopped.

"What is this?"

When Clover dropped on the floor out of exhaustion, a hooded figure came out of the entrance. There was an awkward silence as they both looking at each other. After some time has passed, the stranger started going backwards.

"No...It cannot be. I must be seeing things."

After telling themselves that, they went back from they came from. Clover's mind was an bit of ragged state so he couldn't muster to say anything to the hooded figure. He could feel however that they were seemingly scared of him. Whatever the case, he thought it won't be their last meeting similarly to the other monster he met, they also gave him a feeling of deja vu. After a little rest, Clover continued on his way.

The next room has a branching path with one that goes straight and one on the left. There are also a lot of white flowers on the right, they seem to be well taken care of. 

But then, Clover raise their guard up as there a dinosaur-like monster seemingly napping next to wall. He could notice art suplies and pencil in their hands. In order to not wake them, he was tiptoeing and was planning going straight but as soon he passed her, he could a loud female voice coming from behind.

"Ah! I must draw, I must draw!" The monster quickly stood up but it appears she is only half-awake.

"Shhhh...You must rest." Clover whispers while trying to not make any additional noice.

"Uhhh...I'm must....." Without being able to finish the sentence, the monster was successfully put to sleep with peaceful expression on her face. 

Clover sighed with relief and finally could continue going straight.

At the end of the road, there was a lemonade stand although it wasn't exactly in the best condition. At the moment, no one was at the counter but taking it without permission is essentially which is a big no no for him so he took 5G from his pockets and put on the counter, thankfully this action made his conscience much lighter. Afterwards, he drank the lemonade, as a result his face contorted but it did what he expected. The injury on his left arm was slowly healing up until there was no more wound. During his stay in the Underground, he got himself hurt a couple of occations, for some reason the monster-made food and drinks possess strong healing properties that are extremely effective if it's consumed by the humans. 

After he put back the glass on the counter, Clover went back to go on the other way, successfully sneaked past the sleeping monster without waking them up until he was met with an impressive sight.

Tall Corn hedges were spread across the room with spikes on both sides that were blocking the way. From looks of it, it's a Corn Maze. Clover wasn't sure what he is looking for inside, as he was traveling through the labyrinth on few occations he was attacked by corn-like monsters. At first he was considering retaliating back, however there was something off about their behaviour. There were unusually friendly and yet they still seemingly tried to kill him. Only after Clover got an idea of offering them sincere hugs, they eventually left him be. Even to this day, Clover has difficulty of understanding the behaviour displayed by some of the monsters.

After some grueling walking through the maze, he finally found the exit with a button at the end. He was hesitant on switching it off as it may lead to causing unintented troubles for himself.

"Wait. Weren't there spikes at the entrance of Corn Maze?" At the end, Clover reluctantly pressed the button as he hoped it may lead him to somewhere.

Despite encountering many dangers, he didn't find any clues about missing humans and the more time passes, the more likely Toriel about his true reason of his little "excursion". The mere thought of him getting scolded brought chills to the little boy. Either way, he decided to go back at the start of the labyrinth.

After going through a long thin pathway on the left, he entered a room. In middle of it, there was something strange lying on the ground, a pebble shaped bullets. Not exactly a thing he was looking but this may will do. While he wanted to avoid combat as much as possible, he didn't know if it would be possible at the end, not to mention if those vine attacks couldn't make it more obvious, there WAS something lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike him down. He sincerely hoped it won't come to it and he will not get overwhelmed by bloodlust like last time.

After he went through the other path that was blocked, after Clover find out that it leads directly to the end of labyrinth, he subconciously facepalmed as he could avoid all that slugging through the maze again if he went few steps on the right.

Another thing he didn't notice the first time was a sign:

"Friend: I planted these for you. It isn't much but I hope it brightens your day. It always brightened mine."

A Friend? Was this message for the hooded figure he encountered earlier, Clover wonders.

The following had yet another crossroads with spike roadblock on the right. He also notices there was yet another sign on his left:

"Friend: Do not fear the unknown. Sometimes, they're nice."

As he was looking afar, he spot a familiar figure and thus he sprinted to the collapsed bridge that seperated them.

"It's you!"

"!" The hooded figure turned out after hearing Clover. Despite the darkness covering their face, Clover could sense they were surprised just as he was.

"Did they finally come after me!?" They asked with a shaky voice, cleary scared of the human. 

"No, no. I'm ju-" As Clover tried to explain himself, he was swiftly interrupted.

"I don't know who you are but...please go back to where you came from."

The hooded figure then went on their way, leaving Clover flabbergasted. 

It may seem this expedition may not be fool's errand after all. They were clearly frightened and seemingly thinks he intends to harm them. Did they met a human before? What exactly happened that left them in such a trauma?

Clover's eyes reflected their curiosity, he knew he had to strike the iron while it's still hot. With the renewed hope, he continued on his perilous journey.

Chapter Text

After pulling the lever that was close to the broken bridge, Clover ran back to the spike roadblock in order to pursue the hooded figure. As he was continuing on the pathway, the 4 columns on the left side of road had revealed themselves. Initially, he didn't pay heed to it but after taking few hasty glances, he immediately stopped as the sight terrifed him.

There was something inscribed on those columns, moreover it appears they were telling some kind story by usage of pictures.

"From the left: first column depicted the hooded figure he met just a second ago, next one had an ominous but a familiar figure, another one had a body with missing head and the last one had a soul similiar to his."

After looking over it multiple times, Clover had a bad feeling about all of this. Was human decapitated by that evil-looking entity? Was hooded figure involved with the murder? 

Without wanting to waste more time, he turned around and ran in hopes of finding the truth about the mysterious pictures.

As Clover was running through yet another bridge, his vision was slowly getting more obscured the further he went. Few moments later, the darkness completely engulfed him and a pair of eyes appeared.

Then his soul came out of his chest and a bat-like monster has revealed itself which meant one thing, a battle is about to commence.

>>[ACT] Ask

"Excuse me but I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"Don't move. Don’t make a sound. Hushh hushh!" Clover tried to talk this one out but they were end up more annoyed than anything.

The monster has send out a wide blue wave attacks, unfortunately they didn't give him any room to dodge and as result he got hit. Although after he knelt due to pain, strangely the other wave attacks didn't do anything after reaching him.

>>[ACT] Clarify

"Listen, I really have to go!"

"Move in silence. Hushh Hushh!" The monster responded while being more displeased with the noise.

Afterwards, wide orange waves attacks were send, after hearing what monster said, he decided to heed their advice. He was tiptoeing toward the attacks, as he expected they didn't do any damage!

After that, Clover figured that he must exercise patience if he want ever get past this bat-like monster. As such, he decided to observe the monster while keeping himself quiet.

"Whhispers only please. Hushh hushh!" After Clover kept his mouth shut, it appeared it put them slightly at ease.

Afterwards, the fight continued as the monster was sending a mixcure of wave attacks alongside dropping the stalagmites unto Clover's head. Thanks to Clover's patience and attentiveness, he managed to masterfully evade every attack that was leading toward him. His efforts soon payed off as monster kept getting more and more sleepy until they stopped attacking.

"Sweet silence..." Clover for a moment got an urge to draw their gun and kill the monster in their sleep but he quickly shake those thoughts off, thankfully preventing the tragedy that could have transpired.

>>[SPARE]

After he spared them, they woke up and laid their eyes on the little boy.

"Thhat is more like it. You still hhave quite to learn but you have shown a great potential. I shhall name you an honorary Sentinel of Silence! Spread the tranquility across the Underground and make sure to not bring shhame onto your new title! Fare thhee well!"

After parting ways with Clover, the darkness completely dissipated and he could finally continue his pursuit.

Once Clover reached the other side, he made sure to stay on the path, as he was going through yet another bridge, someone was already on the opposite side.

"WAHAHAHA! Prepare yourself villain as I shall str-" A scroll with angry eyes was conducting a heroic speech but the monster didn't expect the following response.

"Sorry, not now" 

"Wha-!? I was practicing for weeks, don't leave me like that man!" Clover ignored the monster and continued running, until he couldn't hear angry scroll's ranting.

The next section involved another puzzle with glowing boxes in slighly bigger room, there was a spike roadblock and on his left there was a gate. He went to investigate and to no one's surprise it was locked.

"I hope it's the last one..." Clover was already fed up with the puzzles, it doesn't help after the fight with a bat-like monster, he remained agitated due to learning about hooded figure's potential involvement with one of the missing children.

Thankfully, neither surprise attacks or monsters didn't happen so he was able to solve the puzzle without an interruption. 

Afterwards, he went through the path that was closed off by spikes.

"Huh?"

To his confusion, that path led him to the dead end as the bridge was already destroyed so he couldn't continue this route. He went back to see whenever he missed something but it didn't appear the case. The gate remained locked so that option was off the table. 

As he was looking over the walls, he noticed there was something off with some part of it. But before he could check it out, he could hear the ring calling. He blindly hoped it wouldn't come to this but it appears the fate decided to do a little prank on him.

Chapter Text

During the time when Clover was exploring the Dark Ruins, Toriel was busy cleaning her tiny house. As this the end of the week, she took her trusty broom and sweep at her pace. Kitchen, living room, the corridors, no dust shall escape! As she was happily humming while sweeping, she eventually got to the Clover's room. As she was about to start, she noticed something was lying on the bed.

"I found something interesting that I have to check out. It won't be long."

                                                                                                     Clover

Toriel shook her head in the exaggerated manner. She got to know Clover since that time, she sweared to take care of him. He likes to leave those notes, every time he wanted to go out due to finding something he was interested in, which is already quite surprising due to The Ruins being a relatively small place. Quite an adventurous spirit, she thought.

Admittedly, there was something he never shared with her as each time she asked about Clover's family, he gets silent and solemnly stared at the floor. Toriel suspected that it's a very sensitive topic and while she would like to know the whole story, she felt she wasn't in the position to pry into his private life as she herself is withholding a certain information about her true identity.

After she finished cleaning the house, Toriel went outside to clean the frontyard but before she could start, three Froggits nervously jumped toward her.

"What it is?" Toriel asked them with a cold tone. Thanks to that incident with the child shortly after she became a Caretake of the Ruins, she was very distrustful of monsters as they can easily endanger any human that may fall in, thankfully Clover managed to befriend them all but that didn't make her forgive for what they done before.

"R-R-Ribbit. R-Ribbit." (Ex-excuse us, there so-something we want tell you.)

"Ribbit." (It's about Clover.)

"Hmm?" Toriel clearly displeased with their presence, nagged them to continue.

As they were explaining the circumances regarding Clover, Toriel's eyes became bigger due to the received shock and soon she run back into the house to look for her cellphone.

As the cellphone kept ringing, Clover nervously took it out of his pocket as if he was preparing to brace the impact.

"Y-Yes?"

"Clover! Where are you now!?" As soon he heard Toriel's worried voice, he understood that he is now in a bit of pickle.

"In the Ruins, of course. Where else I could be?"

"I was just notified that you found a hidden passage that was leading to the lower level of the Ruins." 

"Wha- How did you know!?" Who snitched, Clover thought at this moment until he recalled the encounter with Froggits right before he went through the passage. While he was little happy to learn that they were really worried about him, he wished they kept secret for a bit longer.

"My child, that was place was abandoned for years, who knows what kind of dangers lies inside. I cannot let you recklessly put yourself in harm's way."

"I'm fine, I promise! I will just find what I need and-"

"Stay still. I will pick you up in moment." As Clover tried to reassure her, she swiftly interrupted him, clearly wasn't willing to take "no" as an answer.

"Wait! Miss Toriel!" 

As she hung up, Clover realised he wasted too much time. After taking away the sheet on the wall that was obscuring the entrance he ran into the dark cave.

To no one's surprise it was in fact very dark, he could barely see anything. As he was threading through the cavern, he noticed there was something shiny on the floor. A white feather, although needed a bit of preening but still it looked good enough for him. It would serve as a good souvenir after his trip will end, he thought.

As he was continuing moving forward, he reached another dead end. He could see through the gap that there was a path past these rocks, unfortunately there wasn't enough space to squeeze in.

After Clover took another turn, he finally managed to leave the cave. As he was about to continue moving, he briefly froze in place. The bat-like monster he met earlier, was hanging and sleeping, thus he had to make sure to NOT wake them up by walking really slowly.

Thankfully, it didn't take long before he finally reached his destination. Out of all rooms, this one was the most spacious. There was a stream of water in the middle and fork in path right next to it that was leading to the stairs. As he was looking over the hall, he saw someone going upstairs. Hooded figure, the target of his pursuit was finally within his reach.

"Please, wait!"

"...It appears my warning fell on deaf ears." They were still bit quiet, but Clover could sense the annoyance in their voice.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you but I'm looking for information about missing humans, I believe you possess such an information."

"! So you've been after me...Listen, human. This is a private property and currently you are trespassing. If you keep insisting on disturbing my peace...I would be forced to use drastic measures."

The hooded figure clearly wasn't interested in further conversation as they went upstairs and went through the entrance above. But Clover wasn't willing to get discouraged by such half-hearted threats. His patience was reaching the limit and their unwillingness to cooperate didn't help in keeping his bloodlust in check.

As such, he ran after him in order to confront the mysterious stranger and find the answers he was seeking since he came to this place.

Chapter Text

As Clover was attempting to catch up to the hooded figure, he entered a pecular room. A somewhat thin road while the rest of the room is flooded with water. 

He eventually caught up to the monster, so do hooded figure stop moving as they heard the footsteps coming from behind.

"...I believe I made myself clear."

"I cannot go back unless I get the information about a missing human. You must know something."

Annoyed by the human's stubborness, they finally turned back to face Clover proper. After they took off their hood, monster's features were revealed. Purple hair alongide purple complexion, horns and sharp looking fangs. They undoubtedly were a vampire-like monster.

"My name is Dalv and this part of the Ruins is my home. If you still insist on interrupting my peace, I have no choice..." As he was saying, the sparkles appeared for a moment all around the monster.

"...but to remove you from my home, permanently."

Once he finished speaking, Clover's soul came out of his chest just like the other times. It appears the confrontation was unavoidable.

>>[ACT] Beg

"No...I don't want to fight. I just want the answers."

"I thought I was able to hid myself but it looks like you found me anyway." 

Despite Clover's pleas, Dalv didn't seem to listen at all and muttered a spell that would help him in getting rid off the trespasser.

Clouds appeared above Clover's head to rain the lighnting from above. Clover was caught off guard, which resulted getting hit by the first lightning strike. But he quickly collected himself and noticed a shadow beneath his feet which helped him in barely avoiding every subsequent attacks thanks to listening to the sound of lightning that were about to strike him down.

"...So be it, I will do it your way!"

>>[FIGHT]

As Dalv was clearly unwilling in having an honest conversation, Clover thought that he didn't have a choice but to use force if he wanted to get anything out of him, thus he quickly drew the gun and shot him for the first time.

"I'm sorry for things difficult but I'm done running away."

Seemingly unfazed by the attack, Dalv started casting his next spell. It was very similar to the previous one but with a little twist. A cloud appeared at Clover's right side, he spotted it with a quick glance but it made Clover panic as his head went down, the lighting strike appeared right before his eyes. The spectacle looked like a frantic dance but somehow Clover managed to left unscathed. 

>>[FIGHT]

As soon it ended, Clover fired another shot, making Dalv flinch a little bit but it didn't seem to do much damage.

"Where did you come from anyway? There shouldn't be any accessible entrances..." Dalv was confused while contemplating about possible ways for Clover to enter this place.

In retaliation, Dalv summoned the lighting orbs which surrounded Clover and were going toward him in one by one. Despite it's relatively fast projectile speed, it ended up being the easiest attack so far for Clover to handle. A sidestep and going around the projectile was enough to avoid the rest of lighting orbs. But that wasn't enough to soothe him.

As the fight goes on, Clover's anger grew more and more. Clover was frutrated with monster's lack of cooperation, why he was insisting on not giving him any answers, Clover thought. Unless...they were resposible for the child's death?

"You...is that why you fight back?" Clover muttered to himself, seemingly not being able to remain calm.

>>[FIGHT]

After reaching the conclusion, Clover took a shot that surprisingly end up hurting him much more than the previous ones but Dalv was determined to maintain composure to Clover's annoyance.

"That hurt...but I cannot falter now."

Afterwards Dalv casted a more powerful attack. The walls of lighting appeared on Clover's sides, limiting his movement. It was quite a curveball as Clover had to move at the same direction as the walls, unfortunately he got himself shocked during this attack. The situation was tense as both sides seemingly trying to push themselves to the limit.

>>[FIGHT]

Clover clearly exhausted with constant dodging, tried to shot back but due to his mind getting more unfocused, the shot end up barely missing the target.

"..!" Clover was shocked after he realised he missed.

Unfortunately, Dalv wouldn't miss the opening as he casted yet another very dangerous spell. The lighting orbs caged the little boy and started furiously spinning around him. This was the hardest attack Clover had to face as thanks to the unpredictability of its movements, he got hit few times by the spinning orbs. He was clearly tired out by continuous barrage of attacks and yet he knew it was too late for him to quit so he continued his struggle to stay up at all cost.

"I...cannot...fail...I..." Clover couldn't finish the sentence as he tried to remain conscious.

>>[FIGHT]

As if channeling all his rage unto his trusty sidearm, the power of the following shot appeared to be much greater than anticipated. Even Dalv could sense the upcoming danger, he tried to dodge it but Clover was determined to make the shot count, thus Clover was able to predict where he was trying to move and preemptively shot at his position, resulting in bullseye. Dalv's body recoiled back and went on his knees as result. Despite that, Dalv didn't want to go down, he may had covered in fear in the past but now he mustered all of his confidence to face the threat that was standing before him.

"You humans may almost got me in the past but I won't my fear to overwhelm me, not this time."

Dalv opened his cloak and lighting bolts were quickly coming out. Despite Clover's valiant efforts to survive the barrage of electricity, he eventually mistimed a sidestep which resulted in getting hit by one of the lightning bolts. It was a powerful attack as it sended Clover right back to the ground while knocking his gun away at the same time.

"...Angel, pray forgive me."

After he muttered a prayer, Dalv was slowly gathering the electricity on his palm until he created a large lightning orb. Once he looked at his opponent for the last time, Dalv had sended it's most powerful attack toward the pesky human to finish the fight and banish his past, once and for all.

Clover didn't had enough strength to stand up quickly, was this the end? Would all his training ending up in vain? Would JUSTICE for the humans will remain a fever dream?

....No. Clover wasn't willing to give up, not now. As the lightning orb was about to reach him, suddenly a miracle had happened. As the sphere was going slower and slower, Clover noticed there was off with his soul. As if resonating with Clover, the soul was slowly turning around until it was directed toward the lightning orb. Clover's eyes became yellow and he could feel the overwhelming energy that was stored inside, ready to be released at any moment. Well, he didn't want to wait any longer.

"FIRE!!!"

Clover passionately shouted and a powerful blast came out of his soul. As both projectives clashed, it didn't took before the lightning orb was completely evaporated, leaving Dalv is utter shock and despair. There was no time for him to even try to dodge it. Dalv was soon send flying by the blast, it was so powerful that end he end up bouncing off the door that was at the end the path.

It appears the fight finally reached the grand finale.

There were silent coming from the hall. Clover, barely conscious while holding gun was continuing going forward. Dalv, despite his sorry state, managed to survive the blast but due to the impact he was unconscious for a moment, now he started slowly opening eyes and he saw someone, a human who he just fought a second ago was going toward his direction.

When Clover finally reached him, Clover pointed gun at him.

"I...have...one question. Why...did you...kill the child?"

"....What?" For the first time, Dalv was paying attention to what Clover was saying but he couldn't help but to show his confusion.

"DON'T YOU DARE PLAYING DUMB. I KNOW YOU KILLED THE HUMAN, I SAW IT! I SAW THE COLLUMS THAT TOLD ME EVERYTHING!"

"I....uh...." Dalv wasn't able to keep up with Clover's speech, even if he did understand some of it, he wasn't able to properly respond.

"OHHH I SEE IT NOW. YOU MUST BE SORRY FOR WHAT YOU DID BUT TOO LATE! YOU ATTACK ME SO I WON'T ACCEPT ANY APOLOGIES. ACTUALLY...WHY AM I BOTHERING EXPLAINING MYSELF TO THE MURDERER? LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH!"

When Clover was seemingly acting out of his mind, Dalv remained still as if he awaited the judgement. He understood that not hearing Clover out was completely his fault due to being completely blinded by the past and he almost killed him as result, of course he would be angry. Dalv also was thinking perhaps this would allow him to atone for his other crime, the other time he attacked human...

As Clover about to deal a finishing blow, a plethora of memories just came back to him. His adventures through Dark Ruins, mercilessly killing monsters, befriending them, having a handshake with Dalv and cowardly killing him after he decided to drop his guard. When Clover laid his eyes on Dalv, he couldn't help but cry while his hand was shaking.

"Why...why I cannot pull the trigger? Despite everything you did, I...I cannot bring myself to hate you..."

Soon after, Clover dropped his gun and came to his knees, completely bewildering Dalv.

"Why is this world so cruel? Why does innocent children have to suffer for someone's else mistakes? Is this really the only way?"

After his speech, Clover couldn't hold his feeling and started crying, it was so loud that an echo could be heard. Despite all he went through, despite how tough his facade looked like, deep inside was a little kid, someone who's earnest wish was to live on and do the right thing. 

Dalv remained silent as he could take a good look on Clover.

"He is so young...just like the other child..." After the realization, Dalv guilt was overbearing as he almost extinguished such a young life for such petty reason. He couldn't help but stare at the ground due to his own stupidity. 

As Clover kept crying, a familiar voice could be heard coming from the opposite side of the room.

"Clover! I'm here, I will protect you!" 

After hearing the voice, Clover briefly stopped crying and looked at the direction it came from. He spotted a mightly fireball going toward him and Clover soon realised it was actually directed toward Dalv. Despite all he had said previously, he didn't actually wish for Dalv to die, out of instict he pushed surprised Dalv aside, barely managed avoid the fireball which then hit and destroyed the doors right behind them.

As they were both still lying, Toriel quickly closed in the distance with another fireball prepared.

"My child, please stand aside. I will finish this quickly."

"No, no! Please, don't hurt him!" With his remaining strength, Clover went up and stood right before Toriel as if he was protecting Dalv.

"You're completely beaten up! It must the work of that scoundrel." Toriel was completely infuriated after seeing Clovers state, scaring Dalv in the process.

"No, I...will...explain..." Clover was trying to finish the sentence but unfortunately all his strength escaped his body, resulting in going unconscious.

"CLOVER!" After Clover went unconscious, Toriel quickly ran to his side in order to check on his condition.

Chapter Text

Some time later, Clover was sitting at the table right next to the fridge, staring in silence. His clothes were now a bit tattered as result of confrontation with Dalv. Toriel was busy glaring at Dalv, as if she intends to light him on fire with just her eyes. As for the vampire monster himself, he was awkwardly standing still as he was nervous due to immense pressure that was exerting from Toriel.

After the excruciating battle, Clover lost his consciousness and Toriel quickly ran to his side. After Dalv collect himself a little, he told her there was a bed in his house if she was looking for place where the little kid could rest. Toriel didn't want to waste any moment as she rushed through now destroyed doors to Dalv's home, with Clover in her arms. 

Even after healing all his wounds, Clover was still knocked out so Toriel didn't had any choice but to watch over him in this deteriorated part of Ruins but not before bluntly telling Dalv to not enter the room or else, which he obliged due to the mixture of guilt and his fear of Toriel. After Clover woke up, his sight was immediately greeted by Toriel who gave him a tight hug. Toriel wanted to leave Dark Ruins as soon as possible but Clover quickly dissmised the idea as he had something important to discuss with Dalv.

And thus this is how they got here, although despite his intent, Clover didn't had a clue how to start the conversation as he had still a lot of unresolved feelings about Dalv. After a silence that felt longer than it actually was, Dalv mustered his confidence and attempted to break the ice.

"Um...I apologize I couldn't prepare anything for this occasion. I wasn't expecting any guests today."

"Oh no! I wasn't hungry anyway but thank you for your consideration."

And thus the silence has fallen once more. Toriel was getting impatient due to lack of dialogue and so she nudged Clover to state his business.

"My child, if you are done, I would like to now burn that rascal for what they did to you."

"No no no! I'm sorry, I was just contemplating about what to say to him."

Toriel didn't actually mean that (At least the burning part) but Clover was too agitated to notice it.

"Yes! Um...Mister Dalv, was it?"

"No need for formalities. Just Dalv is fine." Dalv was never fond of getting referred in such manner, so he quickly corrected Clover.

"I see! There is something I wanted to ask but due to...some complications I wasn't able to do so." Clover was struggling in finding correct phrase as he wanted for Dalv to opened up for him.

"....As far I know, you had encountered a human before, is that true?"

"...Indeed I did. But before I say anything more, I must ask. What do you plan to do with this information? It isn't something I'm willing to share with anyone."

After hearing Dalv's question, Clover was dumbfounded. It's undeniable that from sound of it, it wasn't a pleasant encounter and he was aware that to reveal such a sensitive memory may be asking much too much. He deduced that the only way for Dalv to be honest if for him to be honest as well, if he seeks for mutual understanding.

"When I first came to the Underground, I was looking for the missing children that presumably fallen down here. After I learn that, it's very likely they got killed I was furious at first but..." He briefly looked at Toriel and smiled.

"After living for some time down here in the Ruins, I came to understand that things aren't so simple I initially thought. To answer your question, I don't know what I will do with this knowledge but...I wish to learn what happen to those children, no matter what. I couldn't possibly bear the notion of living in ignorance."

"I suggest you to answer truthfully. He became much more inquisite as of late, even if you lie to him, I'm afraid he won't rest until you gave in." Toriel backed up Clover, as she as well interested was interested in the fate of one of the children. 

Dalv looked at Clover and he could see his eyelids shining in yellow as if the emanation was meant to showcase Clover's spirit to the whole world. Dalv smiled slighly, even the child was more confident than he ever was, thus the answer to the predicament was made clear for him.

"I understand. I will tell you everything I know." 

As Dalv was about to recite the history from the long past, Clover was intensively observing the vampire monster, as if he didn't want to miss any information.

"It happened while back in Snowdin. I was about to return home but something occupied me for a bit until I ran into a human. A little girl, wearing a tutu and ballet shoes. When I first saw her, I was horrified." 

"Horrified?"

"The tutu....was filled to brim with dust."

"!" "!"

Clover and Toriel were caught off guard after the revelation. The dust, whenever a monster dies unlike humans they merely turn into dust. Clover learn that information when he was getting familiar with the history of the Underground and monster themselves, not to mention Toriel's lectures in the free time. However the idea, that previous humans may had blood on their hands sort of speak, for some reason never came to his mind.

"How strange, when I was guiding her through the Ruins, she hadn't shown any violent tendences..." Toriel recalled the human in question and was quited troubled upon learning that information. 

"Guiding...her?"

"Ah, Miss Toriel is the caretaker of the Ruins and she is the first monster these children had encountered."

"!" Upon hearing Clover's explanation, due to utter shock Dalv quickly turn his sight onto Toriel who was staring right back with squinted eyes as if forbidding him from revealing her true identity. He didn't know why Clover isn't aware of it but whatever the reason may be he wasn't willing to risk getting engulfed by her wrath.

"I-I see. Back to the topic, there was another thing that was off about that girl. Her eyes...they were almost hollow but there was a glint of blue. It didn't take long before she attack me. I...tried to stand my ground but if that other monster didn't come, I would certainly be dead by now." Dalv still gets chills, every time he recalls that particular moment. Is it something that was haunting him for as long as he remembers.

"But why did you stay? Couldn't you just run away?"

"I couldn't, if I did my friend would get hurt. There was no way a child would be able to defend herself against the human."

"!" Another bombshell was dropped, even though Clover really should had brace himself. His opinion on the human in question was getting lower and lower, especially after learning that a child was put in the mortal danger. Either way, Clover was willing to hear the end of this tale.

"So, what happened to the human at the end?"

"I'm not sure. When the other monster appeared which I believe was her relative, the human ran away deep into the forrest before she could finish me off. Afterwards, I moved to the Ruins so I don't know what happened to them."

"If I recall correctly, there was an entity shown on the pillars besides Dalv. Perhaps they were the culprit?" If Dalv's story is true, then it was rather obvious for Clover, who likely was responsible for the human's demise.

"The pillars? That's strange, I don't remember there was anything like you described, I thought you just came here to finish me off." Dalv expressed his confusion as even thought he knows which pillars Clover is referring to, he didn't remember anything of sorts.

"Huh? But they clearly was something scribed on those columns, how could anyone miss them?" Clover looked at Toriel, to seek confirmation.

"My child, I was busy rushing to where you were, as such I wasn't paying heed to the surroundings." But Toriel merely shaked her head as she was laser focused on finding Clover at all cost.

Then suddenly, Clover had a realization. If Dalv indeed was unaware of the pictures back in the pillar room, then what else he could think of a human that was seemingly pursuing him through the Dark Ruins other than they had malicious intentions?

"Is that why...you thought I came here to kill you?" Clover was mumbling something to himself but Dalv heard that and thought it was question directed to him.

"...I have no excuse. I wasn't in the right mind, I suppose being alone can take a toll on the mind. But fret not! You were completely justified in defending yourself. So even if I died, it's not like anyone would miss me anyway."

As Dalv was trying to console Clover, the boy couldn't help but to scowl upon seeing his self-deprecating attitude which made Clover feel awful.

"...No. It isn't just to take an innocent life. No matter of circumstances." Clover refused to take an easy way out that would absolve him of that injustice as he doesn't think he deserves that. 

"It must be painful to recall those awful memories, I'm eternally grateful you were willing to share it with me. It may be impossible to erase the past but I don't believe it means we should wallow in hatred." 

Clover knew what he did back then was inexcusable, as such he wishes to make it up for his mistake and grew up as person. He was aware of importance of first step to such endeavour.

Afterwards, Clover stood up and walked toward Dalv while showing him a Candy Corn he had found in the Corn Maze, as gesture of goodwill.

"So how about to start from beginning and then later maybe....we may become friends? By the way name's Clover, the aspiring cowboy that wishes to bring Justice upon this land!" 

As Clover was tipping hat (Even though he wasn't wearing his cowboy hat), Dalv found the little boy's gesture and speech to be rather endearing. There wasn't any hesitation regarding his decision.

"If...that's okay with you, I will be glad to become your friend." Dalv shook Clover's hand and thus it appears they manage to connect for the first time, to their joy. But it wasn't long before the silence by a certain someone who observing them for the entire time.

"Now that it's over with, it's time to for us to leave. Someone must be disciplined for carelessly putting themselves in danger."

Toriel was rather happy about the outcome of this conversation but she had a lot to say to Clover regarding this escapade.

"Wha- I'm sorry for leaving now Dalv but I promise we will meet soon!"

As Clover was being dragged by Toriel to her home, Dalv was a bit perplexed by the sight but still waved to him. He merely prayed that Clover's punishment won't be too harsh.

As the pair went on their way, a certain flower emerged from the ground.

"Juuust great, even though he was still alone, I still wasn't able to kill him!"

The whole situation pissed him off to no end. Hell, the fact Clover survived all of his ambushes was already ludicrous. It's as if...they were already familiar with his attacks.  But how can that be? Clover doesn't seem to remember a thing and yet...

Flowey wanted initially to use the opportunity where both Clover and Dalv were severely exhausted and took human's soul but thanks to his rotten luck, Toriel managed to reach them before he could execute his own plan.

Flowey sweared after he regained control of the timeline, he would make sure to "repay" Clover for all of the time wasting and annoyances he suffered from. 

Chapter Text

It's been two weeks since that fateful day Clover ventured to Dark Ruins and befriended Dalv, a loner vampire monster. You would think not long time has passed but it's remarkable how much can be done in such small period of time if you put the effort as the little boy came to understand during those days.

"My child, are you prepared?"

"Yes Miss Toriel, I got everything I need." Clover replied to Toriel while tapping his holster.

"Alright then let us away."

Due to the incident from two weeks ago, Clover was reprimanded by Toriel and had help with some of her chores at the following days. On top of that, he had to promise if he wanted to go to Dark Ruins, he would have take her along and listen to her. But Clover wasn't opposed to this as even he was aware that going to unknown location may spark a lot of danger and ultimately knew that Toriel was doing it out of her concern over his safety.

After Clover and Toriel left the house, a familiar monster could be seen right next to the near dead tree. They were busy with drawing something on the paper to the point they weren't paying attention to their surroundings.

"Ah, howdy Penilla! I see your passion has returned." Clover remembered her from that time where she slept somewhere at the Dark Ruins. After getting to know her for a bit, he came to understand that she was reaally passionate about drawing as it appears it one of those days where she found something intriguing.

"Ah yes, hello. It's nice to have more places where you can go to, as I soon I saw this cute little house, I knew I have to immortalize it in a painting! I hope you guys don't mind." While Penilla normally doesn't like to take her eyes away from the work, she came to appreciate Clover's enthusiasm and open mindedness which make him a great conversation partner.

"I don't think that would be an issue." Clover looked Toriel and she shook her head as to imply there weren't any issues with that request.

As Clover bid farewell to Penilla and along with Toriel went on his way, he could spot another monster that was looking from afar. A Loox was looking at his direction or to be specific was looking at Penilla with an intense gaze. Similar to her, he wasn't paying attention and only after they get very close to him, Loox noticed the pair and quickly ran away while having a bit of a blush. Toriel giggle a bit while Clover was smirking upon noticing his blush. It appears spring has come sooner than expected.

After the pathway was opened and they came back from Dark Ruins, Clover and Toriel came to agreement to leave it open and informed Dalv and the rest of monsters that they could freely travel between floors whenever they like. Some were indifferent about the news, some were eager to explore the other floor like Penilla. 

Afterwards, they went on their to the Dark Ruins.

There was a serious effort initiated  by Clover to make Dark Ruins a more pleasant place to live in. The first things that were done was to remove most of the debris scattered around the area with the exception of broken pillars and they were more torches placed on the walls to make the atmosphere less gloomy. The monsters all over the Ruins were helping out including Clover who personally volunteered to help out with this endeavour. 

After some time, the duo reached Dalv's house now with newly-made doors as the previous one was blasted by Toriel but thankfully there were crates that could been repurposed to make the doors, while not as sturdy Dalv ultimately didn't mind that.

"Howdy!" "Good day."

"Ah, hello you two. I hope they were no issues on your way."

Dalv greeted the duo with a tender smile. After exchanging pleasantries, he gave them a corn as present. Unfortunately, there weren't many things in the Dark Ruins that he could give them but they appreciated his sentiment all the same.

"Miss Toriel, may I now go?"

"*Sigh Yes my child but remember to take a call. Be good, will you?"

"Yes yes. I will be going." 

After Clover briefly waved to Toriel and Dalv, he went on his way. In the past, Toriel would tag along but after some conversation with Dalv, they found out he was interested in making children books and thus she was more willing to stay behind.

As he reached the hall, a monster duo approached him, a Flier and a Froggit.

"Whassup dude!" 

"Froggit. (Hello Clover.)

"Howdy! What can I do for you, fellas?" Clover greeted with his usual hat tipping gesture, even though he still wasn't wearing his hat.

"Nothing man but there was something I wanted to ask. Could you....twirl with your gun? Asking for a friend." Flier asked Clover with a bit hesitation with anticipating sparkling eyes.

"Hmm?" Clover a bit confused about the last sentence as it was clearly obvious who told Flier about his gun twirling skills, even so it's not like he minded that in the first place.

"Sure, check this one out."

Clover kept his morning routine that involves practicing his aim and top of improving on his gun twirling skills. Recently, he became capable of quickly throwing gun into the air as he soon as he catches each time in quick succession which he was personally proud of. He was not shy in showing off that alongside his other tricks like switching his hand every time he threw the gun or quickly twirling while twisting his hand in different ways. After he was done, Froggit and Flier clapped especially the latter's was much more intense.

"Holy crap dude! That was sooo cool!"

"Well, I did practice a bit afterall." Clover tried to remain humble but he was obviously enjoying hearing the praises.

"Ribbit. Ribbit." (Sorry for trouble, after I told Flier about it, he was very eager to see it with his own eyes.)

"No problem, I'm happy you enjoyed the performance." Froggit tried to apologize but Clover quickly dismissed that as he had a lot of fun pulling out those tricks.

Afterwards, Clover bid them farewell and was continuing his walk.

As he was traveling through the Dark Ruins, he saw yet another monster duo near the entrance to the Dark Cave, Rorrim and Whimsum. From looks of it, the former was pinning a white flower unto their head.

"U-Umm, are you sure it would work?"

"Absolutely! You will see at the moment." Whimsun was unsure about the course of action but Rorrim was quick to cheer them on. Afterwards, Whimsun could finally admire their own appearance.

"See? You look fabulous!" 

"R-R-Really? Umm...."

Whimsum was too shy to honestly express their feelings but it appears they were clearly happy with the result. Clover didn't had an opportunity to meet him, first time Clove went to the Dark Ruins. This mirror-shaped monster liked giving advice on how to look stylish and appropriate for the occassion. He also has a rather jovial personality, even though it's suprising that his demeanor didn't scare Whimsum as they usually seem to be afraid of basically everyone. Well, perhaps it's first step to get them out the shell.

Clover didn't want to interrupt them, thus after wishing Whimsum good luck, he went on his way.

As he was going along the road, a loud footsteps could be heard from behind but before Clover could it out, he was tackled by a monster. A Migosp was running away from a very talkative Crispy Scroll.

"Agh!"

"Wait! I was about to get to the good part."

"I don't care about your stupid "anime". Leave me alone, you nerd!"

"Ah! This is must be the "tsundere" behaviour I've seen in a lot animes. Very well, I shall play along!"

Migosp wasn't keen on having company, they like to chill by themselves. Unfortunately, there was someone who is more than eager to talk to other folks. Clover kept looking at the Crispy Scroll who was chasing after Migosp until their figures disappeared into the distance.

Once Clover reached a place he met Dalv for the first time, he noticed there was quite a gathering who appeared to be in the middle of discussion.

"*Gelly Sounds" Moldsmal burbed as if they were trying to express annoyance.

"Greens! All monsters should eat the greens." Vegetoid was seemingly disagreeing with Moldsmal.

"The Corn! Afterall, who doesn't like some good hugs?" Sweet Corn also expressed her opinion, although it appears they may not be on the same wavelength with the rest of the group.

"Squeaky Ribbit!" "Squeaky Ribbit!" (No way, the pears are superior!) (What they said!) Micro Froggits were also very passionate about their opinion.

As Clover was watching over the group while making sure he was standing aside, Vegetoid spotted him and called him out.

"Ahhh, Clover. You appeared at the perfect moment. Say, what is your favourite food? It must be greens, right?"

"Squeaky Ribbit!" "Squeaky Ribbit!" (No it isn't, the pears are the best!) (Don't even try pressuring Clover!)

"*Gelly Sounds!" Moldsmal expressed their complete disapproval.

"What a silly question. How could anyone resist Corn?"

"I-I, uhhh..."

Clover was completely overwhelmed by the approaching monsters, it took quite for him to calm them down, regardless he thought for him it was a time well spend together.

After finally being able to let go by the merry entourage, Clover went back to the certain bridge where a familar face was hanging around.

"HHmm?" 

"Oh, howdy. I hope I didn't interrupt your sleep." Clover looked apologetic as Decibat's face was contorted.

"Ohh no, I'm not angry at you. It's just these days there is so much noise which me not being able to sleep for as much as used to."

"Ah, I see. Sorry about the trouble I've caused." Clover was sympathetic toward Decibat's circumstances as he was partially responsible for a bigger traffic that was going in and out of Dark Ruins.

"Don't be, little puppy. I was just rambling, I know things will go quiet eventually." But Decibat quickly dispelled Clover's fears and tried to cheer them up.

As Clover was thinking about the solution, it wasn't long before an idea came to his head.

"Oh, I know! How about go to the Ruins? There is certain place that is especially quiet."

"HHmm...I'm interested. Where it is?" Decibat became curious after hearing Clover's suggestion.

"Do you know where is the entrance? After you go upstairs, go right until you notice a ghost. They will tell about the place where you could sleep in peace." Clover quickly reminded himself that there was Napstablook who likes to just lay down on the ground. They will certainly know a good place.

"I see, it's better to listen to thhese noices. Thank you, little puppy. Fare thee well!"

After taking Clover's advice, Decibat flew away and was going toward destination in hopes of finding place where was peace and quiet.

After Clover managed to visit every single place in DarkRuins, he intended to go back to Dalv's house but to his surprise near the four pillars there was Toriel and Dalv chatting about something.

"Ah, Clover. How have you been?" Dalv greeted Clover after noticing approaching the pair.

"I'm fine. I was surprised seeing you all way here."

"It's nothing really, my child. We're just go here to investigate something."

After hearing Toriel's response, Clover took a look on at the pillars. Previously there pictures all over it as they were telling a story. Now, merely a drawing of a cat was on one of the pillars and nothing else.

"...There is nothing here."

"My child, are you it was this place?"

"Yes, it is! I remember it very clearly." Clover quickly affirmated his previous statement despite the evidence suggesting otherwise.

"Still it is strange. I've been living for quite some time and yet I had never seen anything Clover described on these pillars. And yet I'm confident he's not lying..."

Dalv tried to deduce the reasoning behind these drawings sudden disappearance but unfortunately he couldn't think anything. 

Who did make those drawings and why they no longer exist? Despite all their efforts, the mystery will remain unsolved for a long time.

Chapter Text

Clover was standing in silence at the overlook for quite some time. On the view there was "Home", a first ever settlement made by the monsters. 

A lot of happened since he fell into the Underground and since then he was living alongside the monsters in the Ruins. He learned intriguing things about them as species, their struggles and fears regarding their uncertain futures. Not only that, he get to know them on the individual level, like sterm but kind-hearted Toriel, timid and soft-spoken Napstablook, blunt but understanding Decibat, tenderhearted yet brave Dalv and all other monsters he befriended on his way here.

On the hand, Clover also got to learn about the missing children and their own struggles. A spark within him was re-ignited and a desire to avenge the humans was growing a little bit each passing day. Fortunately, Clover wasn't so shameless to demand the lives of those who did not had anything to do with their gruesome fate like Dalv who also was a victim of injustice by one of those humans. 

....What should he do? Despite staring at the remains of "Home" for so long, no answers came to him.

As such due to not being come with any solutions, Clover turned around and decided to go to one last known location where he may get what he needs. The place where it all started.

After some time has passed, Clover reached his destination.

A familiar flower bed was beautiful as ever and the rays of sun that were going from above, amplified that feeling. He could still remember his feelings when he was falling down and his initial surprise when he learned that this may had just saved his life.

As he was reminiscing, the silence was broken by a voice.

"Hmm? This human is still here?"

"!? Who's there?" Clover got startled by the voice which sounded familiar, to the point he quickly put his hand on the holster, scanning the area for potential threats.

"Oh, you can hear me. It may not be so boring afterall." The voice didn't pay heed to Clover's reaction and was continuing with nonchalant tone.

 "So...where are you?"

"It doesn't matter. Now that's out of the way, listen up human. Can you kick the bucket already? "

 "!? What's that suppose to mean?" Clover was surprised by the bluntness of the request and how swiftly his own question was dismissed.

"Exactly what I said. What's the point of living when you know, you will never escape? At least your death shall redeem a bit the scourge that is humanity."

 "From sounds of it, you don't like humans very much."

"Ehehe, oh do I? I wonder how did you figure this one out." Even though he couldn't seem them, Clover could feel the spite in their sarcasm that meant to mock him.

"The humanity staged an unjust war against the monsterkind, sealed them in this blasted mountain so that they would silently die out in the darkness and eventually forgotten. Those wretches treated it as act of "mercy", hmpf what a farce."

"I...U-uh...There must be a reason why humans may have felt threatened." Clover tried to come up with something to defend humankind's decision but nothing specific came to his mind.

"Prejudice and blind hatred, nothing more. Let me ask you this as you survived here for this long, do you genuinely believe the monsterkind were at fault?" 

Clover was stunned for a bit. After living in the Ruins, he came to understand that monsters don't normally seek conflict. Even if some of them did attack him, it was just their way of "conversing" with others, they were completely oblivious that it's harmful for humans. 

 ".....No, not really. B-But, the children fell in and died here. Is it truly unfair to seek justice?"

"The humans mercilessly slaughtered thousands of monsters in the war. Their deaths were merely a blip in comparison, a pyrrhic victory at best. And yet a scoundrel like you dares to demand "justice". Who are you trying to fool here?" 

Clover tried to argue his case but the voice was completely unrelenting. As such he was pondering on how to put his words in the right way. There is a grain of truth in what they said as after learning that one of the missing humans were involved in murders, he wasn't so delusional to advocate for their complete innocence on the matter. Still he didn't believe it's fair to condemn the rest when they may have been innocent and their lives may got unfairly cut short.

"I...I understand that what humans did to monsters was wrong. And I'm not in position to excuse my ancestors wrongdoings. But..." Clover stopped for second before he collected his mind and spoke with resolve.

"I don't believe the life should be treated lightly. Regardless, if it's monsters or humans....everyone should be able to ask for retribution when they were clearly wronged, otherwise how can we say there is any justice in this world?"

The world is a cruel place, that much he knew. Regardless of species, all folks from all way of life struggles with something. Even he himself was a victim of such injustice. Still, he didn't want to gave up on this world nor his belief in justice. Even if he may not ever receive a compensation for his hardships, he wanted at least guide others to the treasure he couldn't possess.

"So you insist on living? What a waste of time, unfortunately Toriel is too kindhearted to the wretches like you, otherwise you would been a toast long ago."

 "!? You know Miss Toriel? Who are you?"

"I'm merely an echo of the past, someone who experienced human's injustice firsthand and had seen their crimes. May your demise be gruesome and last for the rest of eternity."

And with such ominous words, the voice dissipated as if it was never there in the first place. However Clover knew it was all real, afterwards he was walking away in silence.

As Clover was going back to the Ruins, still pondering about what just transpired, his instincts snapped him out of it.

The vines were coming from the sides, ready to nail him like a shish kebab but Clover was too experienced by getting hit by such attack, thus he managed to sidestep it without issues. Soon after, a flower revealed itself before him.

"Aren't you sly little boy, although I suppose I should have expected as much."

"A talking flower?" Clover was a bit flabbergasted by the sight as he doesn't remember ever seeing this monster. Despite the admirable attempts made by him, Toriel and Dalv to look after the culprit behind those attacks, they were not able to find any leads. While Clover was busy collecting his thoughts, Flowey was continuing talking as usual.

"You have no clue how long I waited just for this moment. So now, do me a favour..." As he was about to end the sentence, Flowey's face revealed his creepy face.

"AND DIE!"

Clover's soul came out of his chest which it meant one thing: the battle between Clover and Flowey was about to commence.

Chapter Text

Clover was on edge when the battle had started. Despite it's innocent appearance, he wasn't thinking even for a moment to let his guard down as this little flower was likely the "culprit" behind all those ambushes he had encountered back when he first entered the Dark Ruins. Still, Clover didn't want to resort like last time.

>>[ACT] Ask

"H-Hey little fella, what's all that aggression is all about?" Clover tried to gauge Flowey's intentions but his voice betrayed his nervousness.

"Very funny. I will make sure to add that to my torment counter."

Flowey wasn't in a good mood to talk and unfortunately he took Clover's comment as mockery. Flowey created a multiple waves of bullet petals from each side of the room and was sending them at Clover's direction one by one, however the attacks weren't very challenging to dodge so Clover managed to avoid getting hit. 

>>[ACT] Apologize 

"I'm not certain you are angry, if it's because I stepped on the flowers then I'm truly sorry for not paying attention to where I was walking." Considering his opponent was a flower, Clover deduced he may had accidentally stepped on one of the flowerbeds, there many in Dark Ruins so it was a likely scenario.

"What? Are you seriously insisting on keeping your facade?"

Flowey wasn't amused by Clover's antics and the fact he kept acting "oblivious". As Clover was preparing for next attack, he could hear an alarm coming from his left and quickly stepped back at last second before he could get hit by the vine. The vines were coming out from all sides so Clover had little time to brief although unlike the ones before the battle, there is always an alarm before the attack so he was able to react on time. Even the double vine at the end wasn't much of an issue for Clover, although that one was surpisingly fast.

>>[ACT] Ask

"What did I do to you? I don't believe we ever met." Clover was perplexed about Flowey's behaviour as despite his earnest attempts to de-escalate the situation, the flower became increasingly more hostile.

After seeing Clover's genuine dumbfounded look on his face, Flowey's expression contorted into anger, he remained silent as he was preparing a more deadly attack.

Giant vines were going after Clover but unlike the previous ones, they were relentlessly pursuing him. Clover had to run forward, not only that the petals appearing one by one just to make his life miserable. It was a daunting trial as Clover was forced to muster all of his senses in order to overcome the challenge. Once Clover saw the wall was getting closer, in deperate attempt he jumped aside in order to avoid getting pierced by those giant vines. 

As Clover was trying to stand up, Flowey had spoken but it was clear that he was at his limit.

"Enough of this charade. You won't be able to keep on dodging forever, once I regain control over the timeline, I will make sure your suffering will be immense. Do you seriously think you can conveniently forget about all your crimes you committed in those previous runs? I must admit, it must taken quite an effort to seal off all your memories about the murders just to play house with your previous victims. Unfortunately for me, your shenanigans caused me losing my power to save, I'm tired of sickening play."

While Flowey was ranting and carelessly revealing sensitive information, Clover was honestly surpised about the amount of spite and venom that was spitting from that little flower. All of this...seemed familiar. He seemed to possess all kind of memories about the Underground and yet he never could have deduced where did they come from or why he had no recollections of some events ever happening. What the flower meant by "previous" runs, it gave him chills when he heard the phrase for the time.

"Just....who are you?" Clover dared to ask Flowey, even though he had bad feelings about all of this.

When Flowey was about to rant again, he got a sudden realization. He thought Clover must have regained memories and he was just pretending ignorance. Then a slight smile appeared on Flowey's face, a devious idea came to his mind that may help him solve this conundrum.

"Golly! What a silly question. It's me, Flowey! Flowey the Flower." Flowey responded with the wink and usual "friendly" tone he used almost every time he had spoken to Clover.

When Clover heard this familiar phrase, he suddenly knelt due to the headache as if the seal was finally broken. During his stay in the Underground, often he experiences "nightmares" in his sleep or that's he thought. As more and more memories came to him, his hands started shaking, the tears appeared in Clover's eyes, the guilt overwhelmed his entire being. His inner fears were proven to be true.

"AHAHAHA! What a pathetic display. For a second, I thought you had no remorse over what you did but no. Nothing has changed, you are still stupid little kid! I remember all your killings, how much you were eager to enact JUSTICE and how every time you backed off as soon as you felt a bit of guilt. Pff, how boring."

Flowey manacially laughed as he was ravishing the moment. It was almost worth it enduring all of this waiting. As Clover was finally be to regain some of his cool, he asked a following question.

"Just...what do you want to accomplish?" Even after regaining memories, Clover couldn't understand what was Flowey's endgoal. Yes, he knew Flowey desired to become a "God" and for that he needed humans souls. And yet to what end, Clover pondered.

"Oh silly Clover, you should know that by now. To BURN this world into the ground and then afterwards go back and DO IT again and again!"

"Maybe then....The world shall be redeemed for taking away someone I once held dear..." Flowey muttered to himself.

"!?" Even though, Clover could barely hear Flowey's last sentence, he noticed that he said it in much softer tone than usual. Most importantly, a certain connecton may had just revealed itself.

"I see..." After seeing Flowey's expression, even though he didn't have full picture, he couldn't help but to feel pity toward the lonely flower as now Clover was finally be able to figure out the next step.

>>[ACT] Approach

"Oh you are done? I thought you will continue lying on the ground and wallow in self-pity." Flowey said with mocking tone.

As Clover was slowly going toward Flowey, the petals were sended toward him but unlike before, he didn't try to avoid them."

>>[ACT] Approach

"? What are you doing?"

Flowey was confused by Clover's actions as the latter continues to approach him. The vines were summoned but Clover didn't bat an eye even after receiving hits.

>>[ACT] Approach

"Y-You will die if you continue like this, you know."

Flowey became more and more riled up due to Clover's silence and his disregard for his own safety. Another series of petals was sended, still Clover eyes were focused on Flowey. He was brought to 1 HP, his clothes were tattered and yet he was fearlessly moving forward.

>>[ACT] Approach

"N-No, STAY AWAY FROM MEEEE!"

As Flowey was utterly terrifed of Clover who was about to reach him, in desperate attempt, he summoned multiple vines and entagled Clover. But when Flowey was about to absorb Clover's soul, a sudden powerful surge of power within destroyed all the vines and freed Clover out of their captivity. 

Flowey felt completely powerless to the event that just occured. Clover remembered a similar situation that happened in the long past, that time where he shot down any monster who would stand on his path, regardless of their intentions. When he and Flowey met for the last time, he executed Flowey with the impunity.

No...this isn't like that time. Unlike that time where Flowey was brazenly insulting Clover right in his face before demise, here Flowey was completely frightened, completely meek as if awaiting his fate. Clover didn't saw Flowey as terrifying manipulator that has to be cut down at all cost but merely a lonely child who seemingly lost their way...just like he did.

>>[ACT] Hug

"!?"

Clover knelt before the little fellow and tightly embraced Flowey to their own astonishment. It was a very warm embrace, something Flowey didn't feel for as long as he remembers it's almost like as if Clover wants to direct all that warm toward him. The fight was over.

"W-Why...?" Flowey was about to cry, despite him being soulless, somehow he couldn't help but to feel sadness. 

"I'm sorry but there is something I have to do, for that I need your help." Clover finally look upon Flowey and expressed his sincere wish.

"W-What makes you think I won't betray you yet again?" Flowey was understandably sceptical about Clover's words.

"If you help me, I will make sure your dearest wish come true, for the sake of person you hold dear."

"! How did you know?"

Flowey's reaction was enough for him to confirm his theory. While there are a lot of blanks to fill, he had a feeling that a voice and Flowey share a connection as they both seemed to possess hatred to the world at large and were unlike other beings he met in the Undergroud. Of course, he was aware that this may been just a coincidence but regardless, he decided to follow on his gut feeling.

"And once I'm done with my matters, I will willingly gave you my soul. How's that sound?"

Flowey was stunned once again by Clover's offer. He could sense Clover's intense gaze, his yellow eyes were shining as if they were displaying his determination.

Flowey's decision would end up a decisive faction that led pernamently changing the future of the Underground.

Chapter Text

It's a morning, which means another day has come but today was special day. As Clover was still comfortably sleeping in his bed, a certain pair of monsters was having a conversation in the living room, they made sure to be not be too loud so that the little cowboy could have all the sleep he needs. He will really need it for what's to come.

"I'm honestly surprised, you actually agreed."

"I'm shocked just as you are. Although, I'm still not sure if that was a good idea..."

When Toriel learnt about Clover's intention to leave Ruins, obviously she was very opposed to the idea. It look a lot of persuasion for her to even consider it. Or perhaps due to tight bond between her and Clover, she came to understand that Clover is very capable of taking care on their own, especially recently.

"I don't know if in the position to say this but....I have faith in him. Despite all I had done, he was willing to forgive me. Clover is a good kid." Dalv didn't know Clover for as long as Toriel, despite that for some reason he has a blind faith in the boy.

"That's exactly why I'm worried. Yes, he befriended all monsters here in Ruins but would be so simple when he leaves the Ruins? What if he runs into the monster how cannot be reasoned with?"

"I'm sure he will figure something out, like he always does."

Dalv was aware of Clover's adventurous spirit and his passion about finding out what exactly happened to the missing children. One time, Clover asked him about interesting places in Dark Ruins he could visit. Personally, he was more of an introvert and would rather stay in his house, well until he met Clover that is. There was only one thing he could tell the boy that day, that related to an ancient puzzle that apparently was leading to a treasure somewhere in Dark Ruins. To his surprise, next day he came back with Golden Pear to hand it as a gift! According to him, there was a hidden passage in Dark Cave that lead to the treasure, where there was also a peculiar monster that liked to count dust. Dalv was extremely moved by the gesture, so he kept Golden Pear as keepsake.

"Speaking of which, since the last visit I've noticed Clover feels...different. I remember seeing his somber expression one time when he was looking at some of the monsters, did mayhaps anything happened?"

"Not that I'm aware of, although I did notice the change. Clover act much more responsibly, also he is less childish. *Sigh I suppose he's growing up..."

Toriel never got to experience seeing a child grow up before her eyes due to....a certain incident. She prayed that at least Clover get to live a happy life even if he may had to stay in Underground for rest of his life.

"If you are worried, you can always go along with him."

"I cannot. Other humans may fall down in meantime and I'm not confident they would be able to handle themselves." Toriel shook her head after hearing Dalv's proposition.

And thus the conversation about Clover and his upcoming journey continued in peace.

Some time later, Clover woke up from his sleep.

He quickly jumped out of the bed and went to his wardrobe. As it was a special occassion, he knew from the start what he wanted to wear.

Leather jacket, cuffed blue jeans, a yellow bandana, brown boots and most importantly, cowboy hat with attached feather. His good old outfit which he didn't wear since he decided to live with Toriel. Afterwards, he went to self to take his holster and pulled out his gun. He made a habit to twirl with his gun at start of each day.

Then, Clover left his room and went to the end of the corridor where a mirror was, to check how he looks like. 

"....Despite everything, it's still me."

For a second, Clover wished he didn't regain his memories. As they say ignorance is a bliss and his time in the Ruins was definitely where he was one of the happiest he ever was in his life. Unfortunately, there is something he wants to accomplish not mention his promise to Flowey, it was too late for his to back down. Clover put hand on his chest where soul was, he still have to get used to the "alien" presence inside him.

*Flashback to the end of fight between Clover and Flowey

"Golly! If I didn't know any better, I would say you just lost your mind! Very well, I will go along. But, let me do one little "trick"."

Clover's soul came out his chest as if the battle initiated, Flowey's vines entagled Clover's soul but unlike the last time, it was much more gentle feeling. He could sense an energy coming out of the vines as if they were covering his entire being.

After Clover opened his eyes, he saw something remarkable, his Yellow Soul has little vines all over it.

"It's done, now I will know where you are at all times. After you're done with your quest, I will take your soul just as you promised. Had to assure you will keep your end of the bargain, you understand. I hope you will amuse me just like in the old times, pal."

*End of flashback

Even now, Clover still wasn't sure whenever teaming-up with Flowey was a good idea and yet a desire within him compelled him to do so. Considering his true nature, he thought if he would force Flowey's all attention onto him, perhaps he would avoid needless casualties. He hoped to at least avert a certain tragedy that happened in past runs.

Afterwards, Clover went on his way to the basement where lies the doors that leads outside of Ruins.

As Clover was getting closer to the door leading out of the Ruins, Toriel and Dalv were already waiting down here.

"Good morning, my child. I hope you eat your breakfast before you rush in here."

"Yes, I did Miss Toriel. Thank you very much." Clover smiled as he thanked for the meal. 

"Are you sure you already want to leave? The monsters would be happy if pay them a visit." Dalv asked Clover with a bit of concern.

"I already told others that I will be leaving yesterday so I should be good to go."

Right before the day of departure, Clover payed visit to the every monster in the Ruins. He had seen all kind of reactions, some of them were crying, some of them merely wished save journey, either way it was rather emotional for him.

As they were standing in the silence for a bit, Toriel nudged Dalv with her head to talk to Clover.

"Yes, um...Clover. As you would be going to a place it can be quite cold, I have prepared something for you."

"This is..." Clover wasn't sure what was Dalv holding.

"A winter jacket, I hope it come of use."

As Clover was checking out the yellow winter jacket, he smiled and put it on. It's a bit too puffy for his taste but it was surprisingly comfortable.

"How do I look?"

"Adorable."

Toriel's comment made Clover blush a bit while Dalv chuckled a little before he quickly reminded himself to give another thing, Golden Pear.

"! You didn't eat it?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not into pears but I didn't want you to think I was ungrateful so I just kept it as keepsake. I did appreciate the gift truly!" While Dalv was trying to explain his thought process, Clover merely chuckled after seeing his nervous expression.

"No worries, I understand. So why now?"

"Well...Your journey will likely be full of danger so I figured I give you something as good luck charm. I hope it's alright."

"Then I shall accept it, my dear friend."

After hearing out Dalv's sincerity, how could he not accept the gift? Afterwards, Clover pulled forward his hand for a handshake, Dalv shook his hand and both smiled.

"I hope you will invite to your concert one day."

"N-No, I'm not that good yet...but I will do my best." Dalv got a bit flustered but he got the spirit.

Once he finished his talk with Dalv, Clover turned his attention to Toriel. She knelt before him and tightly embraced the child. Clover wanted to reciprocate the warmth and thus they hugged each other in silence for some time until finally she properly look at Clover.

"There is a good friend of mine that lives beyond the Ruins, they will make sure to keep you save." 

"A friend?" Clover was surprised hearing this as Toriel never mentioned going outside of Ruins.

"They may be a bit...eccentric but they made promise." 

Toriel her recalled interactions with the individual, until today she didn't know why she confided in someone who she never seen by face. Perhaps deep inside, she knew one day Clover will leave the Ruins. After that, Toriel took off her red scarf and tied it to Clover's neck.

"Be safe, will you?" Toriel couldn't help but to tear up before the child but Clover slighly shook his head.

"No, this is not a final goodbye. We will meet again, even if it may take a while, I always have this." Clover pulled out his phone Toriel gave him, reassuring her that they can talk at any time.

Toriel eventually regained her smile to Clover's delight and soon they seperated. During this, someone unexpected was coming.

"Wait, please!" 

A familiar bat was appoaching at the very fast pace as if they were running for their live.

"*Sigh I thhought I wouldn't make it. I also want to bid farewell to this little puppy." Decibat said, clearly stating their intention. Afterwards, another figure appeared out of nowhere, startling Dalv.

"Hi....I hope you don't mind me....oh....I've seen others coming this way....."

"Others?" Toriel asked but before she knew it, a loud noise could be heard coming down.

To everyone's bewilderment, it wasn't just few monsters but everyone Clover had met, even more anti-social ones like Whimsum and Migosp came to see him off which really moved Clover. And thus, the departure was postponed while Clover was exchanging words with everyone. Despite the nature of the event, the atmosphere was festive as if they were meant to celebrate all their memories that made along the way.

When a time to depart finally came, Clover tipped his hat to the crowd and as the door opened, leading to the unknown, then he went inside without looking back while the crowd was waving at the human.

After the door closed behind him, he entered a very familiar place then Flowey came out before Clover.

"Howdy! You sure are loved, huh. Hard to imagine, to be frank. Although I have to give you a heads-up, pardner. The place you're about to enter is much more dangerous than most areas you have been in most your other runs."

"The missing humans went through this door, so I have to go the same way." Clover bluntly stated his reasoning.

"Golly! Aren't you too cold to little old me? Well...I hope you will bring a lot of joy. HAHAHAHA! See ya later."

Flowey left, leaving Clover alone. He inhaled and exhaled in order to calm his nerves. And then, he finally left the Ruins behind.

Just what exactly lies at the end of the road? Neither Clover or anyone else knows the answer but there is one thing certain. His actions will undoubtedly shake the future as he knew it.

Chapter Text

Mount Ebott, an impressive wonder of nature that now serves as prison for monsterkind as a result of a conflict, long forgotten by the humankind.

Even so, the certain myth regarding the mountain had survived to this day and continued to resurface once in a while.

According to the legend, whoever attempts to climb that accursed mountain never returns.

Beneath Mount Ebott lies a human settlement, far away from the known civilization.

As such, people living there are working tirelessly to live on for the next day, that is with exception of one person.

A lone child, someone whose life was never easy since their birth, was gazing alone at the horizon, at the place where the monsters were trapped.

Once Clover left through the exit, an ominous sight had reveleaed before him. Tall trees surrounding snowy path that was seemingly going into nothingness.

Clover was restlessly looking around as he was looking over due to the eerie atmosphere. Outside of the bush, he noticed nothing else.

In attempt to calm himself down, Clover gulped and start following the road. Despite all the rising paranoia, a certain object hidden in the bush eluded him.

As he was continuing moving forward, a continuous silence wasn't helping in easing Clover's anxiousness. Then suddenly, he could hear something coming from the forest!

Clover's eyes quickly darted over the source of the noise but due to darkness, he couldn't see anything. It went silent as quickly as it appeared.

As he was nervously trudging along, a sound of cracking came from behind. When he hastily turned around, he could see a stick on the ground, broken in half.

Whoever was following Clover was making an astounding effort to not reveal themselves. For Clover however, it was an unideal scenario as he wasn't aware of their intentions which ended up making him even more anxious.

As such, Clover decided to pick up the pace. He ignored the noises coming from other directions, it wasn't long he reached a provisional looking wooden bridge. 

But as soon as he stopped, he could hear something walking in the snow coming from behind, getting closer and closer. Clover mustered his confidence and quickly turned around while smoothly drawing his gun. But to his utter bewilderment, no one was there.

"are you looking for someone, pal?"

"AAAAH!"

When Clover turned out once more, someone was already standing there. He didn't know from where they came from, thus he couldn't help but inevitably fall on the snow out of shock.

"whoa, isn't that bit of an overreaction? am i that terrifying?" When Clover finally laid his eyes on the stranger, he could see a smiley short skeleton wearing blue hoodie alongside white shirt inside, black shorts with white strips and some black boots with hands hidden in the pockets.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just there was someone behind me and I thou-"

"oh. that was me, i wanted to play a prank on you but it looks like you are not in the mood."

"..."

"..."

There was an awkward silence as Clover was left speechless after monster's words. Soon, the monster decided to broke the silence.

"oh, i forgot to introduce myself. i'm sans. sans the skeleton."

"I'm Clover, nice to meet ya." The skeleton? Clover never heard anyone mentioning their "species" during introduction or perhaps it was their surname? While he was pondering about such a nonsensical detail, Sans continued talking as usual.

"so Clover if i'm correct, you're human aren't you?"

"...Yes?" Clover wasn't sure how to respond but at least as far he could tell, Sans wasn't hostile to him so he answered truthfully.

"then let me tell me you how things around here. see that booth?" Sans pointed at the booth that was on the other side of the bridge.

"i'm a sentry and my job is by on the watch, for humans like you. but you see, i'm not really into catching humans. so let's me a deal. you will go through the bridge and if anyone asks, you never saw me. got it kid?"

"Alright...but if I may ask, why did you apply for the job then?" Clover couldn't understand a reason why Sans would apply for a job, he clearly wasn't interested in fulfilling in the first place.

"simple, the payout is great and most importantly, i don't have work down to the bone."

*BA DUM TSS

A sound of drums out of nowhere, successfully distracted Clover from asking any follow-up questions.

"well, see ya around kid. oh one more thing." As Sans was about to leave, he recalled something important.

"there are royal guards stationed in this area, if i were you i would keep your distance if possible. they wear a fancy armour so it should be hard to miss them."

And with such words, Sans left Clover to his own devices. As he was twirling with his gun and after putting it back into holster, Clover went on other side of bridge then Flowey had emerged from ground.

"Golly! What's the deal with this guy?"

"You don't know him? Didn't you had a power to save?" Clover raised an eyebrow.

"Silly Clover, just because I could reload a save at any time doesn't mean I payed attention to every single monster here. Besides...we're already past the time when your initial journeys had happened so some stuff would be new even for me."

"I see. Also Sans mentioned "Royal Guard", are they more prominent here in this part of Snowdin?"

"Oh yes, totally. More hostile too, especially comparing to your old acquaintance."

"Martlet..." 

After regaining his memories, Clover had a difficulty in recalling certain events due to the accumulation of all memories from previous runs. But one of things he was able to perfectly recall was Martlet, all their encounters, talks and...her numerous demises. At this moment, Clover recalled his fateful encounter at the UG Apartments when he had to fight her, which considerably soured his mood.

"Well, at least now I know going along with your plan may not be a waste of time after all. You better be careful, there are no saves that would bail you out of trouble like last time." Flowey chuckled after his last statement.

"...I will keep that in mind."

The unknown world eagerly awaited Clover, he was aware that an exhausting journey was ahead of him, even so he had a patience to see it through.

After Clover went on the snow path, he failed to notice that there was something hidden in the bush nearby, a camera.

"O-Oh dear. A human just came through the door. I b-better inform the king."

Unfortunately for Clover, a certain reptilian monster was present to witness a monumental event. It appears things would get tense much earlier than he may anticipated.

Chapter Text

As Clover was moving forward, he reached the first branching paths for today. Right next to it, a familiar box was lying there alongside it there was sign.

When he approached it, he read the contents of the sign:

"This is a box.
You can put an item inside or take an item out.
The same box will appear later, so don't worry about coming back.
Sincerely, a box lover."

"Huh. A box lover..." Clover remembered reading a similiar sign but instead it was from a self-proclaimed "box hater". Is there some kind of rivalry going on?

After deciding to not think about that too much, Clover searched the box to see whenever something was inside but to his surprise there was. Once he took it out, Clover took a closer look at an item. It was a pink leather glove, worn out quite a bit which suggests it was put in use often. He couldn't put finger on it but he was feeling it may come in handy and thus he hid it in his pocket.

However, it wasn't long before he heard rapid footsteps and quickly turned his head to see what was going on. A drake(?)-like monster was trying to tackle him but Clover brilliantly sidestepped, though it meant another fight was upon him.

>> [ACT] Talk

"Excuse me but I have matters to attend to." 

"Sheesh, what's up with this "frosty" response?"

Clover tried to talk them down but it appears the monster wasn't interested in hearing him out. Afterwards, monster sended out a ton of crescent-like projectiles toward Clover, there were few close calls but thankfully he managed to not get hit.

>> [ACT] Convince

"Look, I appreciate your company but I'm kinda in a hurry." 

"Are you sure, you simply don't have "cold" feets? 

Despite his efforts, the monster make it seem like they lived in different worlds. They summoned yet another projective wave but it was mostly same as previous one with a difference some of them were moving in parabolic way. Still, thanks to Clover's experience in battling at this point, that was proven to be a breeze. The monster continued to get more upset due to lack of Clover's reaction on their jokes.

"C'mon! Can you "chill" out already?"

"Pfff! Oh wai-" Clover couldn't help but to snort with laughter, he quickly realized his mistake and tried to apologize but then something unexpected happen.

"Ha! I knew my jokes were funny after all. Dad was wrong!"

"Huh?"

Clover was a bit perplexed seeing their reaction, eventually he realised the monster simply wanted to make him laugh.

>> [SPARE]

"Thank you for your attention, I have yet to share my puns with other folks." 

With renewed confidence, monster went on their way. The puns weren't particulary high quality, still Clover appreciated their genuinity. Although he pondered whenever, it's just a coincidence that every monster he encountered here thus far liked puns.

When Clover took the path on the left, he ran into a dead end but there he encountered a strange sight.  A fish-like monster fishing with a rod, out of curiosity Clover went closer and asked them about their activity.

"Umm, excuse me but may I ask what are you doing?"

"Don't you see? I'm fishing." The monster answered nonchalantly without even looking at Clover.

"Yes, but umm....aren't you a fish?" As Clover had a trouble to find right words, the monster took a glance at the stranger and elaborated on his reasoning.

"I see you are rather young boy, so listen to words of your elder. When you get to my age, your desire to find your other half would drastically increase as such you will do everything you can to fulfill that desire."

"I...see. Well, I shall pray for your good fortune."

Clover still wasn't convinced about his "unique" method of getting what he wanted, but Clover figured out that, it would be for the best to leave to do his own thing.

A bit later, Clover went back to the crossroads and continued on his initial path, as he was going further and further, he could hear the sound of a hammering alongside some mumbled voices.

It didn't take for him to find out to who these voice belong to. One of them was a figure he had met as soon he left the Ruins, Sans and someone new. Like the former, they were also a skeleton but much taller and has a similar goofy smiley face. They were wearing some kind of "armour" although the description may be a bit too generous as it looks more like a cosplay than anything. It appears they are in a middle of a conversation.

"c'mon bro, you don't have to do it now."

"QUIET SANS. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, IS FULLY CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF THIS TASK ON HIS OWN."

"oh dear..."

As Papyrus was taking glance at Sans, he noticed Clover from afar.

"HMM? IS SOMEONE STANDING THERE?"

"oh, heya kid. didn't know we would meet again so soon." Sans greeted Clover with his usual laid-back attitude.

"Umm, hey fellas. I hope I wasn't interrupting or anything." Clover tipped his hat and approached two skeletons.

"no biggie."

"SANS, WOULD YOU MIND TO INTRODUCE YOUR FRIEND TO ME?"

"Oh, we're n-" As he was about to explain their relationship, Sans interrupted him in mid-sentence.

"it's nothing special, he just tend to travel a lot and we happen to stumbled upon each other couple of times, right kid?"

"Umm...yeah. I'm Clover."

"NICE TO MEET YOU. EVERYONE THAT IS A FRIEND WITH THAT LAZYBONE IS A FRIEND OF MINE."

When Clover extended his hand, Papyrus shook it with a great enthusiasm, for a second he thought his arm would about to be ripped off.

"I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS! THE MIGHTEST ROYAL GUARDSMAN YOU WILL EVER MEET! OR RATHER THAT'S THE PLAN AT LEAST. AND A BROTHER OF THAT BONEHEAD OVER HERE."

"that's me." Sans winked at that comment.

"I-I see, nice to meet you too. So, what are you guys up to?" Clover took a look at the Papyrus's "shoddy" looking construction and couldn't exactly figure out what he was exactly creating.

"AS AN ASPIRING ROYAL GUARDSMAN, I FIGURE OUT THAT IT WOULD BE SMART IDEA TO PRE-EMPTIVELY BUILD A STATION FOR MYSELF AS EACH MEMBER OF ROYAL GUARD GETS ONE!"

"but first, you have to pass the captain's test."

"I'M PREPARED FOR EVERY OCCASSION. IT'S A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE UNDYNE WILL ALLOW ME TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!" Papyrus responded with ever brewing confidence.

Clover squinted his eyes as he heard name "Undyne". As far he could remember, they were the Captain of the Royal Guard that was mainly patroling around the Waterfall which was one of the other areas in the Underground. In any of his previous runs he luckily never ran into them, although considering his quest it may be a difficult task to avoid them at all times. As Clover was pondering, the brothers continued the conversation at their own pace.

"oh no, i'm not doubting, either way i imagine it would be a bone chilling experience."

* BA DUM PSS

"SANS!"

"c'mon, it was a pretty good one."

When Papyrus saw grim look on Clover's face, a certain question came to his mind.

"PARDON ME CLOVER BUT YOU LOOK RATHER YOUNG. ISN'T IT DANGEROUS TO TRAVEL ALONE?"

"Oh well, I'm kinda used to it but thank you for your concern. By the way, do you guys know where might be the closest settlement? I'm not very familiar with the area."

"YOU MEAN SNOWDIN TOWN? IT'S VERY EASY. JUST FOLLOW THIS PATH AND YOU WILL GET THERE IN NO TIME! ALTHOUGH, THEY ARE PUZZLES TO BE SOLVED SO BETTER PREPARE YOURSELF!" Puzzles? Aren't we outside?, Clover thought. Despite living for months in the Underground, he still wasn't exactly sure why some of the monsters are obsessed with puzzles.

"I see, thank you very much. I will be on my way then."

"HAVE A SAFE TRIP. IF YOU HAPPEN TO STAY IN SNOWDIN TOWN FOR A BIT LONGER, DON'T HESITATE TO PAY US A VISIT! NYEHEHEHEHE!"

As Clover was about to go on his way, Sans pulled him in closer, so that Papyrus couldn't hear them.

"there is a royal guardsman nearby, once you see a blue attack, stay still, got it kid?"

When Clover looked at Sans, he merely winked and thus he responded merely with a nod. As he was going further down the path, Clover could only hear the sound of hammering coming from the back.

Clover ran into another sentry booth sooner than he expected. Unlike the one Sans has, this one is more fancy looking with dog emblem at the top and a bell on the counter. Before it, there was another sign:

"Absolutely NO MOVING!!!"

"It must be that royal guard Sans warned me about."

He was in bit of conundrum as in order to continue on this path to he has to pass through this station. Clover took a deep breath then decided to move forward and hoped that no one was there at this time, unfortunately sometimes life likes to play a prank. A monster has leaned out of the booth, it was a dog wearing a ninja-like mask.

"Did something move? Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something WAS moving... For example, a human... I'll make sure it NEVER moves again!" Monster said with a raspy but a powerful voice. Afterwards, he jumped out of the station while Clover's soul came out of his chest, another battle has begun.

>> [ACT] Calm

"Umm, I apologize for moving but I didn't see any other way."

"! So someone is here. Show yourself!"

Unfortunately, Clover's words only agitated the royal guardsman even further. As soon as Clover saw monster's swords shining in blue, he quickly recalled Sans's advice and made sure to stay still which ended up being quite effective. The dog was aimlessly swinging around the area, even he managed to swing at where Clover was but since he was standing still, all of it ended up missing. Clover wasn't sure how to handle this encounter, if he does anything he would merely get agitated again. Well, there was one idea in his mind. The dog monster is standing dangerously close to him while their eyes were darting all over the place.

>> [ACT] Pet

Since, their opponent was a dog, maybe petting him would help, Clover pondered.

"WHAT!!! I'VE BEEN PET!!! PET? PAT? POT?"

The royal guardsman got confused and excited at the same time as he was wildly swinging with his swords with even faster frequency but Clover remained still like a rock thus it was a futile effort. Once he calmed down, Clover tried to end the fight before he could enleash a much more dangerous attack, fortunately it appeared that his strategy payed off.

>> [SPARE]

When the battle was over, the dog monster had spoken with a shaky voice.

"S-S-S-Something pet me... Something that isn't m-m-moving... I'm gonna need some dog treats for this!!!" Afterwards, the dog monster jumped into the booth as fast as he could.

When Clover noticed that royal guardsman doesn't seem to react toward his movements anymore, he picked up the pace and left the station behind.

The first fight against the Royal Guard in this area was rather straightforward but even Clover knew he lucked out that the opponent was blind, thus he mentally prepared himself for future challenges.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, at the "New Home"...

The sounds of footsteps were echoing through the corridor. An intimidating figure in armour was going toward the Royal Palace which meant one thing: The King has summoned them. 

Upon reaching the throne room, they found their King doing his usual activity: watering the flowers in peace. King Asgore, the King Of Monsters and current ruler of the Underground. His appearance screamed POWER, yet their tone of voice tend to betray the expectations of those who met him for the first time.

"Oh? Can you wait for a second? I'm almost done with watering those flowers."

It actually took a while before Asgore wrapped that matter up but the figure didn't mind.

"Thank you for your patience, Captain Undyne. I hope it wasn't a trouble calling you here."

"Not at all, I'm yours to command." Undyne took her off her helmet and knelt before Asgore, eagerly awaiting his command.

"Yes, yes. Let's get straight to the point. I was recently informed by Dr.Alphys about a precarious activity, a human had just entered Snowdin."

"!" Human. The monsterkind's sworn enemy and the one that are responsible for their imprisonment. Even a singular thought about humans was enough to ignite Undyne's unrelenting fury.

"Currently, it is unknown what's their attitude to monsters is but to avoid the worst case scenario, I prepared a task for you." Asgore looked into Undyne's eyes.

"Yes! I will do anything you ask of me!" Undyne replied passionately.

"Good to hear. I want you to go to Snowdin and capture that human. Once you do so, deliver them to me. Make sure they remain unharmed."

"But my King! What if that human was dangerous? Wouldn't it be safer to outright slay that scum and the-"

"I believe I made myself clear, Captain."

"!"

Undyne knew that tone of voice, when Asgore uses it then he it meant he won't take any objections. And right now, he is her liege and had no choice but to obey. Afterwards, Asgore turned back and continued speaking.

"I shall take care the rest. Understood?"

"....Yes, it shall be done."

Undyne reluctantly accepted the assignment, she equipped her helmet and went on her way, leaving Asgore alone in the throne room. 

Asgore looked at one of his arms, it was shaking like crazy. Just for long this must continue? Even know, he wondered what would happen if he didn't decreed that humans are their enemies, but how else could they escape this prison? What would give them hope to live for another day? The responsibility was suffocating Asgore to this day and perhaps will forever more.

He could only pray that his nightmare would eventually come to the end.

After the confrontation, Clover find himself in middle of yet another crossroads. There is patch of ice in middle of it alongside a sign. Despite not having any skates of some kind, the curiosity easily won over him and he decided to slowly walk on the ice to see what was written on the sign. Unfortunately for him, the contents  were very disappointing:

"North: Ice

South: Ice

West: Ice

East: Snowdin Town"

All of Clover's feeling were surging at same time, thus he slapped his cheeks to calm himself down and successfully dissipating all of his negative thoughts. 

There was a side path up north which Clover wanted to take a look first, he was so focused on the journey that he didn't even noticed he perfectly slided on the ice without slipping! 

Up north, he saw an ordinary snowman at the edge of the highlands. Or rather it would be if it wasn't for one detail.

"Hello! It's been a while since the last time someone payed me a visit."

"AAAH!" It appears Snowdin has a lot of surprises left for Clover to discover, for better or worse.

"Aww, sorry for startling you. I was just too excited to see anyone. But I don't know when the next one would appear, can you hear me out?"

"Alright, I'm listening."

"Well, you see I cannot exactly move away from here and my dearest wish was to see the world. Would kindly take a piece of me and take it the edge of the world?"

"Take...a piece of you?" Clover raised his eyebrow after hearing out snowman's "interesting" request.

"Yes, do not worry I won't melt so that shouldn't be a problem."

"I understand but...I'm not sure if I would be able to fulfill your request." 

"Please! I don't know for how long I would have to wait again. I just want to experience life at large!"

Clover wasn't sure what to make of it, on one hand he wasn't sure if he would even survive his quest. Even so, he was moved by snowman's plead thus at the end he took snowman's piece.

"...I will I do what I can. No promises though."

"That is enough for me. I wish you a safe journey, human." 

Clover merely tipped his hat and move out without looking back. Despite barely knowing Clover, snowman had a feeling that the human boy was burdening himself with a heavy responsibility. Sadly, they could only pray that everything will turn out well for little cowboy at the end of the path he had chosen.

Once Clover went back on track, it appears as if destiny decided to "diversify" his adventure just for today as now there is a pair of monsters seemingly getting head to head.

"That was obviously the wrong way. I shouldn't have trusted a "hatless" person." A tiny humanoid-like monster with large head was throwing a tantrum.

"Shut up! You said your stupid hat would nagivate through this and yet here you are." A weirdly shaped monster retorted with mockery of their hat that made of ice.

"*GASP How dare you!? I will let you know tha-" Before they could end their sentence, someone interrupted them.

"I beg you pardon fellas but may if I ask, what's going on?" Clover didn't want to sit by and watch their endless bickering and thus decided to resolve this dispute.

"How gorgeo- uh I mean, we have a trouble of getting through the maze." The monster was briefly mesmerised by Clover's cowboy hat before he snapped out and explained their plight.

"A maze? I don't see anything." Clover could only see an empty field.

"See for yourself then!" The monster shaped like flying saucer said with a smirk.

"Ouch!" As Clover was about to enter the field, it wasn't long before he bumped into an invisible wall.

"That's what you get for not believing me, idiot!"

As Clover going back and forth, the two monsters were looking at Clover, completely forgetting their earlier quarrel. Only after investigating the walls of the invisible labyrinth by touching them briefly , something came to his head.

"Hmm...I think I have an idea."

"You do!? As expected from someone who has such a marvelous hat!"

"Actually, I don't know if it will actually work but it's better than nothing. But first, can I ask about your names? Name's Clover."

"Others call me Ice Cap, as you could guess it's because of the great hat I'm wearing right now." Ice Cap proudly stated their name.

"Like dude, how could you not heard of me? I'm the celebrity around here, the OG, the GOAT, th-"

"Shut up, Jerry. Nobody cares about your monologue." Ice Cap said it with contempt.

"Now, now calm down fellas. So here's my idea: When traversing through the maze, we will stick together, in that way even if we reach the dead end, the other one could lead us back and there would no worries of getting lost on the way. "

"I don't know man..."

"If you have a better idea, we are all ears." Clover said it with smirk while getting a little payback for Jerry's comment from earlier.

"Of course I have a better plan, we....we.....wait a sec, I have to think!"

"So it's settled. But who will be where? My arms are too small to reach yours." Ice Cap was cutely waving with their tiny hands. 

"I can put you on top of my head, while Jerry wraps his arm around mine, sounds good?"

"Yay! Absolutely!" Ice Cap responded with sparkling eyes as if they were excited by the prospect of being on top of Clover's hat.

"*Sigh Whatever. I would figure something eventually but if you insist." Jerry reluctanly nodded along.

Afterwards, Clover put Ice Cap on his head while Jerry wrapped with his narrow arms around Clover's arm. After bunch of backtracking and bumping into walls later, they managed to eventually get out.

"Woohoo! I knew that was the right path." Jerry celebrated his victory, despite all other missteps he made along the way.

"Finally, I can ditch that loser. Thank you very much Clover for guiding us." Ice Cap thanked Clover with a warm smile.

"We get through it thank to all of our efforts, even Jerry's."

"If you say so, I have to go now. I need to look for a hat like yours. I heard in the Wild East, you can get one of those. See ya!" Ice Cap bid farewell while thinking of the sweet future where they would get a cowboy hat.

"Wait! I...." Jerry was about call out to Ice Cap for ditching him but before he pursued them, he turned around and said something to Clover.

"I...thanks, pal. See you." Clover merely nodded with a smile and thus Jerry went on his way.

"Wild East, huh...." Clover vividly remembered the Wild East, it was probably where he was the happiest but before he could reminiscent, Flowey emerged from the ground.

"Wow, I thought you will keep bumping into walls forever. You know, I almost wanted to make this course a bit more "spicy". Flowey said with mischievous smile.

"I appreciate that you didn't. I hope that the next puzzles won't be nearly as annoying as this one."

"Ooh, I don't know about that one. By the way, you will soon meet other Royal Guards so don't get yourself killed yet, pal. This little adventure looks too promising to now screw everything up."

"Yes, yes. I'm glad you're entertained."

After exchanging some banter between Clover and Flowey, the little cowboy went across the wooden bridge in order to get to next part of Snowdin.

Chapter Text

Once Clover went to the other side of the bridge, he encountered yet another bizzare sight. An entire empty field with a designated area where a snowball was lying around. Or maybe not a ball, there was something off with the shape but he couldn't put his fingers on.

"I think...I will go to see the other place first."

Clover wanted to take a little break from puzzles and thus he went to investigate another seperate area at the highlands, where they were two stations that was resembling the one the blind dog monster has. Thankfully, there was no one there so he could read the sign in peace:

SMELL DANGER RATING
Snow Smell - Snowman WHITE Rating: Can become YELLOW Rating
Unsuspicious Smell - Puppy BLUE Rating: Smell of rolling around.
Weird Smell - Humans GREEN Rating: Destroy at all costs!

"Another pair of dogs?" Clover pondered whenever it's going to be a pattern moving forward in this part of Snowdin, if that's the case perhaps his "strategy" against that Royal Guardsman from earlier may come in handy in his adventure.

When Clover returned back to previous area with the snowball, unexpectedly he called for Flowey for the first time.

"Flowey, are you here?" And speaking of the devil, the flower 

"What? Do miss me already? I'm kinda busy flower, y'know." Flowey responded while having a smug on his face.

*Flashback to the time when Clover was near the sentry stations

On the empty field, besides the snowball there was something else hidden in plain sight, a camera hidden in the snow near the tree. Then a vine from below spiked the camera, completely destroying it.

"Golly! That scientist lady surely likes to spy on other people, huh."

After disposing off the remains of camera, Flowey felt that Clover's journey was a bit too "peaceful" for little cowboy, thus he decided to do some tomfoolery. After all, some little chaos didn't hurt anybody, did it?

*End of flashback

"I imagine. Do I have to do this puzzle?"

"What to do you think, pal?"

"*Sigh So let me guess, I have to guide that snowball into that hole?" Clover pointed at the hole that was at the end of the course.

"The snowdecahedron but yes, although you have to get each color at least once."

"Whatever it's called, wait...what do you mean "each color"?" Clover had a bad feeling about Flowey's statement.

"Well, after every time you sink the ball into the hole, a flag would raise from that hole. They are seven of them, you can to get depending on how fast you are."

"And I have to get all of them..." 

When the reality sinked in, Clover looked quite dejected but if he wanted to continue he had to do the puzzle, thus he didn't want to waste more time and started kicking around the "ball". This exercise is all about pushing the "ball" at the right angle, unfortunately Clover's first attempts were are poor which end up irritating him to Flowey's amusement. At least, the "ball" repeated at the same place immediately after each fail which alleviated some of his concerns.

This was taking so long to the point, Flowey climbed on Clover's shoulder just to experience all of his negativity from the best view possible.

"Nice to see, at least someone is having fun."

"What can I say? You're quite expressive kid which makes all your reactions very fun to watch."

"Am I?"

"You have no idea. As a soulless, I find it fasticating how anyone can react differently depending on given circumstances."

"Soulless? What's that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds. I'm unable to express emotions due to the fact I have no soul."

After some good kicking, Clover finally managed to successfully raise a cyan flag. However, he was too distracted with the recent revelation.

".....WHAT!?" Clover stood in disbelief.

"Didn't I mention it in any of the previous runs?"

"...Not that I'm aware of."

"Oopsie! I guess the cat got out of the bag." Flowey merely winked upon realising his blunder.

"...Is that why, you want to take human souls? To be able to feel again?"

"Well, not only that. You see, at first I wanted to help others and befriend other monsters but despite all my efforts I was never able to feel love or compassion." Flowey said with hint of a lonely smile.

As Flowey was about to begin his monologue, Clover was able to be a bit faster than last time and raise a purple flag.

"As time went on my curiosity kept growing as since I had an ability to save, I restarted the timeline countless times. At the time, I was conjuring all kind of scenarios just to see how others would react."

After a bit of work, a green flag was raised.

"What would happen if kill I someone at the broad daylight? What if I pit pair of lovers against each other? What happens when I spread the discord in entire Underground? Just the amount of possibilities were enough to temporary fill my evergrowing curiosity." Flowey couldn't help but to give a sadistic look upon recalling his earlier life as a flower.

Clover kept quiet, while he was continuing on kicking the ball and soon a blue flag was raised.

"Now, after get human souls, I will be able to become god. And with their power, I would be able to reshape the reality to what I see fit, anytime I want. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Upon imagining all kind of horrors he may inflict upon the world, Flowey reflexively laughed regarding his future prospects. Meanwhile, a yellow flag was raised, only 2 flags remained.

"No reaction? I even made all the effort to prepare the speech and all that." 

"Frankly, I'm just surprised you're willing to reveal all that to me." While Clover was attentively listening to Flowey's story, he had a difficult time in understanding why Flowey was so talkative this time around. After all, in previous runs he was more of a type that kept all his cards hidden and revealed only when Flowey knew, he won't be able to do anything about it. Or is it because of that agreement, he was inclined to be more open about himself?

"Hmpf. If it wasn't for our little deal, I would had achieved all that in no time. Be thankful for my generosity!" Flowey acted as if he puffed out his chest, at same time a orange flag was raised.

"Hehe, yes yes I thank you, oh almighty! Although, there is something I find odd about your story. One of the reasons being "be able to feel" is not the only one. Is it related to person you care about?"

When Clover brought the subject, Flowey stop talking and kept staring at the ground. After some time, Flowey continued but in much somber tone.

".....Even now, I remember her expression when she passed away...I was doomed to live in sorrow...once I take human souls maybe then I...."

Before he could finish his though, a last flag was raised. It's red color caught Flowey's attention to the point he was mesmerised by it's color scheme.

"That's the last one. I thought it would take forever but thankfully no....w..."

Clover expressed the sign of relief but when looked again at his shoulder and there was no Flowey to be seen.

"have a good time?"

"AAAH! Sans, I would appreciate if you stop suddenly appearing right behind me."

"i'll think about it. i see you were engrossed by the ball game. can't blame ya, my bro likes to spend time in afternoon but he yet to raise a flag other than cyan one. but aren't you on a clock or something?" Sans expressed his confusion due to the lack of big progress on getting to Snowdin Town.

"Trust me, I wouldn't do it if I had a choice." Clover expressed his disapproval regarding the puzzle but then Sans's next statement caught him off guard.

"what? kid, the path was right there if you didn't wanna do the ball game."

"Yeah but don't I have to complete it in order to continue forward?"

"silly, where did you get that idea from?" 

"..."

"..."

While Clover was standing as if he was frozen still, Sans sensing the danger made a cunning maneuver of bailing out as soon as he could.

"well, looks like i have to go. let me give you an advice, make sure to pay attention what others are saying. oh and say hi from me to that little friend of yours."

Once Sans disappeared from sight, Flowey emerged from the ground.

"Crap, someone saw me, I probably should have pay more attention to my....what?" When Flowey looked at Clover, he turned his head with one of the eyes shining yellow.

"Flowey...I believe you forgot saying something important..."

"What? I said "what do you think" and you just assumed it's necessary to do the puzzle." Flowey responded while pretending his obliviousness.

As Flowey to failing to come up with a good excuse, Clover was slowly taking out his gun out of holster.

"H-Hey pal, that's not our deal intailed, if you do something rash I wil-"

When Clover aimed at the mischievous flower, Flowey went into a full panic mode.

"Ithinkihavesomethingtodosseeyalater!"

When Flowey went on his way, Clover's anger slowly subsided, then he took a breath and after a twirl, he hid the gun right back into the holster.

"Hmm? What is that smell?"

"I don't know dear but I want to eliminate it."

When Clover was continuing on his way, he ran into two inspicious figures with dark robes. It appears his troubles aren't over quite yet.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile at the Hotlands, the hottest place in the Underground, at the beginning there was a booth where a certain skeleton was occupied with something.

Sans was meticulously spraying the ketchup on the hotdog as he was preparing to open a small business on the side. At the same, Undyne was hastily going toward the Waterfall in order to accomplish King's Asgore task but as she almost went passed the booth, after taking a quick glance she came back to confront Sans.

"What do you think you're doing, punk!?" 

"oh, hi. wanna some?" Sans presented his newly prepared hotdog, not paying heed toward Undyne's angry face.

"You should be at your post right now! A dangerous human is roaming around Snowdin, as we speak. They came of out that gate, near your station. What do you have to say?"

"dunno, i was on the break. oops."

Completely unsatisfied with Sans's uninspired response, Undyne slammed the counter while glaring at the bonehead before her.

"Listen well, you lazybone. If it wasn't for King's mercy, I would had kick your butt so hard, you would already flew through the barrier. You go back to your post and make sure that human won't leave Snowdin. Understood!?"

"aye, aye. i will keep my eyesocket on the area." Sans merely winked upon hearing Undyne's threat.

"Hmpf!"

After taking a glass of water at near water dispenser and pour it out on her head, Undyne continued moving forward. Since Sans volunteered himself to watch over the part of Snowdin, Undyne constantly gets frustrated with the skeleton's performance due to him doing the bare minimun. She tried pleading to King Asgore to replace him with someone else due to the importance of the post, the King always end up brushing off her concerns and since he was her superior, she had to comply.

While Undyne was under impression that Sans was just that lazy, in reality Sans's reasons behind volunteering to this seemingly boring job was something she would never figure out on her own. And now, it appears they would be some changes to Sans's plans.

When the battle commenced, the identity of the attackers were exposed as two dog monsters with sharpened axes, ready to show off their deep affection.

"Hmm, those stations must have belong to them..." Clover recalled the booths he encountered right before the ball game.

>> [ACT] Pet

As the duo were also dogs, Clover figured that his previous strategy will be as effective as last time, unfortunately as he tried to pet one of them, one of the dogs swinged with their axe toward him, Clover barely managed to avoid that attack.

"Hands off my hotdog!"

"You tell him dear!"

The Dogi performed a series of coordinated axe swings, their speed was impressive so did Clover's dodges but as the attacks were about to end, Clover was a bit clumsy and got hit.

When his turn had come, at first he wasn't sure what his course of action should be. Petting won't work as evident by what happened previously, then suddenly he recalled something. Near the stations, there was a sign that was describing so called "danger smells", if he somehow changed his smell perhaps they would let him go?

Eager to test it out, Clover came with the fastest method although he was a bit hesitant as it would mean his winter jacket would get dirty. 

>> [ACT] Roll Around

Clover eventually decided to roll around the snow to change his smell. Afterwards, one of the dogs jumped over Clover and now he was standing in-between them. 

"No. 2 Nuzzle Champs '98!!"

"Of course we were second."

Then, one of the dogs barked, releasing a bunch of white and blue hearts toward the other side. Clover could see the gaps he could squeeze in and with thank his efforts, the continous onslaught of "love" was not enough to stop him on his tracks.

>> [ACT] Re-sniff

"Hey, I'm fairly certain you have mistaken me for somewhere else."

Upon hearing human's words, the Dogi looked at each other, got closer to the "weird" smell and re-sniffed Clover. Thankfully all of their suspicions were shattered as if the mirror was just broken into pieces.

"Wait! Are you actually..."

"....a little puppy!?" The pair exclaimed their surprise.

>> [ACT] Pet

Seeing the opening, Clover quickly petted the Dogi's while they were still calm. The gesture was much more welcome this time around.

"Wow!!! Pet by another pup!!!"

"What's an eye-opening experience!"

As the Dogi's were delighted by getting petted by Clover, the battle soon come to a happy conclusion.

"Dogs can pet other dogs??? How could this be???"

"Thank you for broadening our views, weird little puppy."

Afterwards, the Dogi went back to their stations while holding hands together.

Clover looked at himself and see whenever they were some serious wounds but outside of a bit dirt, he managed to remain relatively unscathed.

The next area was a bit barren in comparison to previous one, at glance they were bunch of coniferous trees and snow piles scattered around the area.

As Clover was investigating the area, he noticed a strange designated spot with nothing in it on the right and at south they were spikes blocking the way.

During his search, Clover accidentally walked over the snow near spikes and suddenly beneath it something revealed itself. A bit later, he uncovered a map that showing an "X" at the top right, it wasn't long for Clover to connect the dots and soon he hurried back to the place with designated spot. 

Clover knelt and was traced all over it until his finger felt something. After he put a bit of force a sound could be heard, spikes were lowered.

After Clover passed the barrier, another unfortunate sight awaited him. Another pair of Royal Guards was standing to his way to the next area.

"Barf? (What's the matter, Sergeant?)"

"Barf, Barf. (The Captain has called entire canine unit for a briefing. I want you to gather the others and then we shall meet at Snowdin Town.)"

"Barf, Barf! (Wowee! It's been since we have been called for something like that. I bet it will be fun!)"

"Barf, Barf! (For sure, for sure! I wonder what kind of play we wi- *Sniff)"

It was a conversation between two dogs, from the distance they could have been mistaken for relatives as the main difference in appearance was one of them was much larger. 

Before the bigger dog could have end his sentence, he smelled a strange smell and looked at the direction where Clover was standing, then the small one soon followed with the gesture.

Clover awkwardly waved toward the dogs but unfortunately for him, they weren't willing to pretend he wasn't there.

As soon as his soul came out of his chest, the Royal Guards commenced their attack. The smaller one immediately jumped at him, while Clover managed to dodge him but he wasn't able to avoid getting hit by bigger dog's spear thrust. The power behind that attack was impressive as Clover end up getting pushed away by it's sheer force.

>> [ACT] Pet

"There, there."

Clover quickly jumped to his feet and approached the smaller dog, and petted him to his hearts content. His tail started wildly wagging, expressing the excitement upon meeting a new "playmate".

Due to that action, the smaller dog moved a bit faster than usual while at same time he performed a double slash with one of them being a blue attack. Clover sidestepped the normal one but for next one he wasn't paying attention for the colors and thus unfortunately he struck by it. Soon after, the bigger dog looked as if he was charging the spear while shining in blue but as the attack about reach little cowboy, it's color quickly changed to white, surprising Clover as result.

As Clover was barely able to hold on, he was about to reach for food he took before he venture beyond Ruins but then his exhausted eyes noticed something flying towards him from above the dogs, a bone. As he looks at the dogs, he could see them staring at the bone while a bit of saliva was dropping out their mouths.

>> [ITEM] Bone

Clover didn't had time to take in what just happened but as soon as he laid his eyes on the bone, he turned around and tossed it away to the forest.

"Fetch!" 

The smaller dog was hastily heading toward the forest, running past Clover. As for the bigger dog, Clover noticed the lack of head in that giant armor.

"Barf! (Hey! That bone is mine!)" 

Beneath the armor, there was a little puppy wagging excitedly. It appears the appearances can be deceiving, Clover would have to learn that lesson eventually.

After the puppy run toward where the bone was thrown, Clover took Candy Corn out of the pocket and ate it, regenerating his HP. Before the journey, he stock on food with the help of Dalv and Toriel that prepared some of it for him.

The fight has reached an unexpected conclusion, right afterward Clover made haste to the next area before the Royal Guards could catch up to him.

Chapter Text

After leaving Royal Guards behind, Clover ran into another series of puzzles. There were some snow piles alongside blue "X" on the sides, up north there a switch while below a sign:

Turn every X into an O.

Then press the switch.

Fortunately, it was just more of an introduction thus after changing X into an O by stepping on it, Clover passed without an issue. As expected, the next one was much more complicated but before he could get around solving that one, a familiar figure called him out.

"HELLO CLOVER! I DIDN'T THINK WE WOULD MEET EACH OTHER AGAIN SO SOON." It was a taller skeleton who he met alongside Sans.

"Howdy, Papyrus was it?" 

"WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE SANS'S FRIEND WOULD REMEMBER MY NAME!" Papyrus's eyes were shining while his hands covered his mouth.

"It's only natural, i don't considered it to be anything special. Speaking of which, is Sans not with you?"

"NOPE. HE SAID HE HAD SOMETHING TO DO BUT IF YOU ASK ME, THIS IS JUST AN EXCUSE TO LAZE AROUND." 

"Well, I did see him not long ago. Hmm..."

While Clover was pondering about Sans's absense, Papyrus continued talking.

"I SEE YOU'RE IN A MIDDLE OF SOLVING THIS GLORIOUS PUZZLE! I MUST SAY, I GOT REALLY GOOD AT SOLVING THIS ONE. ALTHOUGH ADMITTEDLY, I MANAGE TO GET THIS RIGHT ONLY EVERY 3RD ATTEMPT."

"I see. But why there are so many puzzles on the way to Snowdin Town?"

"OH, THAT'S SIMPLE! A LOT OF MONSTERS LIKE TO SOLVE PUZZLES AND SO THEY CREATED THEM TO INCLUDE AS PART OF THEIR DAILY ROUTINES. AND ALSO IT MEANT TO STOP HUMANS ON THEIR TRACKS." Papyrus responded with a brimming enthusiasm.

"Isn't that right...wait. So that's means you know the solution for this one?" 

"YEAH BUT ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT TRY SOLVING IT YOURSELF FIRST?"

"NothanksIwillpas-*AHEM My apologies, I'm just in a hurry I cannot really spend time appreciating those puzzles." Clover was rather tired of puzzles at the moment so he welcomed any opportunities on skipping the solving part.

 "NO PROBLEM. I ALSO SOMETIMES TEND TO RUSH THINGS WHILE NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO MY SURROUNDING, LIKE TODAY WHEN I WANTED TO SEE WHAT WAS A JUNIOR JUMBLE IN THE NEWSPAPER. ANYWAY, THERE IS A WAY TO SPED UP THE PROCESS."

Papyrus got closer to the coniferous tree that was at most far left.

"CLOVER, NOW CHANGE ONE OF THE X PANELS." 

After Clover did what Papyrus instructed, the skeleton pressed a switch inside the tree which end up lowering spikes.

"Oh, that will do. Thank you very much."

"THERE IS NOTHING TO THANK ME FOR. IT WAS BUT A TRIVIALITY FOR SOMEONE SUCH AS MYSELF, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEHEHEHEHEHE! NOW LET US AWAY."

As the duo went to another area, unexpectedly someone was already waiting for them.

"ISN'T THAT SANS STANDING RIGHT THERE?"

"oh, i'm glad seeing you getting along. but bro, can you go ahead without us? i and clover have something to discuss."

"HMM? COULDN'T WE WAIT UNTIL WE GET TO SNOWDIN TOWN?" 

"no worries, i wanna just give a heads up to kid. i assure you it will be a bonetiful conversation."

*BA DUM PSS

"SANS! UGH FINE, I WILL MEET YOU AT THE PLACE. SEE YOU LATER, CLOVER."

Clover merely nodded as annoyed Papyrus went on his way alone, leaving two of them alone.

"Before we get to the point, I have to ask. It was you who threw that bone to me, didn't you?" Clover asked with an almost accusatory tone.

"wow, was it that obvious?" Sans didn't pay heed toward his tone.

"While I appreciate your help, there is something I cannot understand. Why are you helping me? Aren't I, an enemy of the monsterkind? The one that sentenced you to live in those dark caverns for rest of eternity?" 

In Clover's view, Sans came up as rather enigmatic figure, due to fully maintaining his smiley expression, thus he found difficult to read anything out of Sans's reactions. Upon hearing Clover's question, Sans merely turned back in silence before he asked back.

"...what do you think?"

Clover thought a bit about how to respond to Sans's question, a bit later he decided to be honest about his thoughts.

"...From what I could see, you don't seem to be kind of person that likes to mind in anyone but your own affairs. The only thing I can think of is that there is a really good reason for why you didn't just catch me and hand over to the Royal Guards."

After sharing his honest thoughts, Sans faced Clover once more.

"i see you are quite sharp for a kid, that will come handy in your journey. but i would like to make one think clear, as long as keep up doing your usual stuff, i promise to watch over you." After some pause, Sans continued his speech.

"as for the reason why i called you for one-on-one talk, i'm here to give you a warning. the big shot herself, the captain of the royal guard will soon arrive in snowdin."

"!" Clover was shocked by the news as if the worst case scenario just manifested itself before him.

"if she ever spots you, i'm not sure what she will do when that happens. so i recommend to reach snowdin town as soon as possible."

"But wouldn't that be the very FIRST place she would visit? I overheard some of the Royal Guards mentioning some kind of briefing will happen there." Clover expressed his worries about Sans's suggestion.

"yes this is precisely why i'm telling you to hurry up. i have to prepare an emergency plan. we will meet up as soon as you get to the town." Before Sans could go, Clover stopped him for one last time.

"Hold on! You still didn't answer my question. Why are you helping me?"

"hmm, let's just say i have a promise to keep." Sans winked while still keeping his pretense.

"! Wait, aren't yo-"

"we will catch up later, kid."

When Clover blinked, Sans was nowhere to be seen. Whatever question may have emerged, he had to leave them for another day and thus without wanting to waste any more time, he ran forward to reach the destination before Undyne.

Clover was running through the following areas without paying heed anything around it. There was a station at the left side that belonged to the smaller dog and past it, there was another puzzle involving switching X into O but on patch of ice.

Normally, it would been rather dangerous but thankfully, it was already solved by someone else. Clover figured that it was likely Papyrus as he was also going toward Snowdin Town.

After Clover slided on ice to another ice, he reached another place with bunch of snow piles scattered around. It was effectively a home turf of one of the Royal Guards which could be deduced by that small doghouse which belonged to the "bigger" dog from earlier. 

Soon Clover reached a long bridge that leading toward Snowdin Town. As it was quite a distance, Clover decided to take it slow and steady instead, eventually he managed to cross the gap safely.

After a perilious journey, at last Clover entered Snowdin Town for the first time. The banner and welcoming cozy atmosphere brought a lot of charm to this little town. As Clover was slowly walking while looking over the buildings, suddenly he has frozen in place as certain monster left the building with the "Shop" sign at top.

"Aww, they didn't restock on the materials yet. *Sigh I hope it won't take too long..." Martlet couldn't help but to sigh in public as she really wanted to finish that project, she was working on for while at this point.

After seeing the blue bird, Clover was overwhelmed with emotion and as if they had a will of their own, the legs were moving slowly toward Martlet. Once she was within reach, Clover tightly hugged her while the tears were slowly dripping out.

"Oh! Hello...little one. May I help you?" Martlet was completely off guard as she was hugged by a little child.

"perfect. it looks like everyone is here." Sans said while coming out of nowhere as per tradition.

"Hey Sans. Do you know this kid?" 

"yea, this is clover. the one i mentioned earlier."

"Alright. Say...can you maybe..." Martlet had a little trouble of saying no to this adorable child but thankfully Clover eventually stopped on his own.

"Ah! My apologies, I was too engulfed by the moment." Afterwards, Clover concealed the face with his hat.

"huh. do you know each other?" Sans looked at the pair with a curiosity.

"No, no! I was just get a sudden surge of nostalgia, that's all. hehe..." Clover responded awkwardly which made Sans even more interested about the circumstances.

"well, as for the matter earlier, can you take in kid for a bit? he had been on a journey for a while, he needs a rest up. the things are about to get busy around here."

"I mean sure but...did you ask Clover, what he thinks about it?"

"Well, I-" Before Clover could respond, Sans pull him closer and whispered.

"the royal guards would be on full alert in the snowdin highlands and likely blocking the way to the waterfall. you should stay low for few days."

"...Yes, I'm okay with it as long as you don't mind." Clover scratched his head, while it was going Martlet squinted her eyes.

"Say, Sans...doesn't he look a bit odd to you?" After those words, Clover slightly trembled as if he was expecting getting exposed.

"nah, he's just not from here. look at his outfit."

"Ah! You must be from Wild East! I'm sorry, for moment I thought you may be human. But then I realised, how could human be friends with Sans."

"Yeah, I see what you mean..." Clover continued to avoid looking at Martlet's eyes. 

"well, you better get going."

"Ah, right. Clover hang up tight! We will about to fly toward my house, if that's not an issue." Martlet tapped her back.

"*Sniff Yes. Let's go."

After Clover managed to hop on Martlet's back, then she bursted into an air and together they flew out of Snowdin Hightlands, to where Clover's initial journey took place.

Chapter Text

While Martlet and Clover were in the skies, the latter was busy with admiring the views. Looking from afar, the entire Snowdin looked so beautiful. The glittering snow, all kind of landscapes and all the little buildings alongside it's denizens would make for a great painting. 

"You like what you see?" Martlet asked Clover after she saw his genuine happy expression with eyes as if they were shining on their own.

"Oh, umm...yes." He responded with a bit blush while desperately trying to hide his embarrassment with his hat.

"No need to be shy. I also love to admire the view during my travels. It's very soothing for the mind, you see." Martlet smiled as she was sharing her experience.

After some time has passed, Martlet's house appeared in the horizon.

"Oh, I believe we're close, time for the finish!"

Afterwards, she sped up like a bullet while Clover desperately trying to not fall off. Right before the landing, Martlet propelled herself a little in the air, in order to drastically decrease the speed while she was descending.

At last, the duo landed right next to Martlet's house at the Snowdin Lowlands, unfortunately during the landing, Clover got a little headache due to the air pressure which Martlet noticed at the end.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry Clover, I swear it was force of habit. I'm not used to carry anyone on my back while flying." Even after all this time, Martlet was still a bit of a scatterbrain. Clover would likely found that more endearing if it wasn't for the fact, he just got a headache because of it.

When Martlet took Clover's hand, she led him inside her home. Clover never got an opportunity to go inside in any of the previous runs, thus he was undeniably curious what was inside like. After switching on lights, he could finally look around.

The room was much smaller than he expected, although it was may be due to boxes lying around. In the right corner, there was a small kitchen, on the left a ladder going upward while the bed is lying at the opposite side where the door was.

"Sorry for the mess. I got this request from Sans today so didn't have time to clean up. I have to check out one more place so...make youself at home! No worries, I will back in no time!"

After Martlet went away, Clover was left to his own devices. The first thing he did was he took out his hat with dirtied winter jacket and put it on one of the hangers on the right side of the bed. This is also where was a Royal Guard uniform, although he never saw Martlet ever using it. 

Then Clover took out of his pocket, a well-kept notebook alongside a pen and sat on the bed. During his stay in the Ruins, Toriel graciously gave him one after he saw she had a diary. There, he recorded every information he learned regarding missing humans. So far, his journey through Snowdin didn't bear a fruit yet, with exception of one thing.

He took out yet another item, a leather glove he found inside the dimension box. Now it would be a pure conjecture to say it must be a property of one of the children but something within Clover wasn't able to pass it as coincidence, especially considering the location. As he was busy writing something in his notes, Flowey came out and called him.

"Howdy! Already taking an easy way out? Honestly, I thought your resolve would take you farther than last time."

"Soon they would be Royal Guards with their Captain searching for me in the highlands. Without saves, I would rather to not take a risk." Clover didn't fall for Flowey's taunt.

"Well, if that's your excuse. Not that it matters much to me." Flowey merely shrugged off after hearing Clover's response.

As Clover was staring at his notes due to Flowey coming to him, an idea came to mind.

"Say...did you meet the other humans beside me?"

"Nice try, bucko but I'm afraid I won't be much help. I didn't even had an opportunity to meet them otherwise I wouldn't be so gung-ho on taking your soul. Well, there was one time but....."

Flowey suddenly feel silent but Clover didn't wanted to waste opportunity to try prying into his unfinished thought.

"The other time?"

"Now, now. Slow down little cowboy. It's time for ME to ask a question. When did you meet up anyway?"

Flowey's interruption made Clover was taken aback before he could come up with an answer. Eventually, he decided to recite their "meeting" even though they may not even talk about the same person but he didn't want for Flowey to discover that fact.

"Well...there was one time...we didn't exactly part on friendly terms, they were kinda rude and somewhat condescending....Ah! No offense." Clover tried to apologize but Flowey merely chuckled.

"Hah! Sounds just like her. Some things never change, huh...."

After hearing the description of his best friend, Flowey made a little smile. Then suddenly, he asked Clover in a solemn voice.

"Clover...why did you decided to now go on your futile quest?"

"To learn the truth." Clover looked directly at Flowey's eyes as if he wanted to show off his resolve.

"The truth... does it really matter? They are all already dead."

"I don't see your point, Flowey." Clover squinted his eyes.

"Just think about it. Despite all your good intentions, a lot of monsters were eager to kill you and don't even see anything wrong with that. On top of it, the Royal Guards are tasked to hunt down any human that would fall into the Underground and deliver their souls to Asgore. And after they get all 7 souls, they will destroy the barrier and exterminate all humans on the surface."

During Flowey's prolonged rant, Clover had chosen to stay silent as he wanted to know where it was leading towards.

"Like, did you never thought that showing mercy to monsters may be a mistake? That it would be better to kill them before they can harm other humans? That you should deliver JUSTICE for those that got murdered even if they didn't do anything wrong? To avenge those children?" 

While Flowey shown off his creepy face, Clover could recall all the memories from that time when exactly that happen. He eventually achieved what he desired and yet....he felt empty. As if despite all the killings, he never felt that it was an outcome he truly wanted, thus at the end he reseted back to where it all started. 

".....No. There must be another way." But this time, Clover wasn't able to keep his sight on Flowey.

"Hmpf. We'll see about that. I'm curious how long it would take for you to finally crack. HAHAHAHAHA! Yes, that will be exciting when you finally snap. I shall eagerly await this day. See ya!"

And thus Flowey left Clover in much more precarious situation while being unsure of the future.

Fortunately for Clover and Martlet, they flew off in a nick of time as Undyne was just about to reach Snowdin Town. After some time has passed, the Canine Unit had gathered in the middle of the town, then Undyne has started the briefing.

"Attention! A human was recently spotted in the Snowdin Highlands! According to Dr.Alphys, some of the surveillance cameras were destroyed which the cause is likely the very human who is now roaming around."

After that statement, the Royal Guards started whispering to each other but that didn't last as Undyne has materialized a spear and slammed into the ground.

"Our King has tasked us in capturing human and deliver them to the capital. We have to catch them before they could harm any monsters. Did I myself clear?" After that, the voices become even more restless upon hearing about their new assignment.

"Human? I didn't see anything of sort."

"Could that be...?"

"No way, darling. The description is way too off."

"Barf! (Captain. I have a question.)" Greater Dog had stepped forward, in order to confirm something important.

"Hmm? What is it, Sergeant?"

"Barf? (Was only one human confirmed to be in the Underground?) 

"According to the intel, only one was seen. Why are you asking?" Undyne couldn't get the point of that question.

"Barf... (Well, during our patrol, me and Lesser Dog ran into a human bu-)" But before he could end the sentence, Undyne quickly closed the gap and was glaring at the poor dog monster.

"What. did. you. say?"

"B-Barf! Barf! *wimp *wimp (I-I mean we did try to catch the human but we got distracted at the end and...)"

As Greater Dog struggled to spit that out, Undyne silently to the nearest rock and then...

"NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Out of rage, she tossed it out all the way to the river at the northern side of the town, scaring the Royal Guards.

"That's enough of excuses! Split up and search the area! I won't tolerate any slacking on the duty! Understood!?"

"YES!!!" "Barf!!!" The Canine Unit answered in unision with exception of one member.

"Barf? (I'm sorry, Captain but I also have something ask.)" Lesser Dog was the one that stepped forward to Undyne's annoyance.

"Ugh! What is it now!?"

"Barf? Barf? (What about Martlet? Should she be informed as well?)" After pointing out a valid point, Undyne was pondering for a bit before she came up with an answer.

"Ah, the birdie. Don't bother, knowing her she's probably asleep at her post as usual. Besides, there is no way for humans to find the way to the lowlands. Now that's settled, do your duty! Go! Go! Go!"

After the briefing, at the following days The Royal Guard led by Undyne was meticulously searching the Snowdin Highlands for any signs of human activity. Unfortunately for her, thanks to the interference by a certain skeleton and a bird, the target was able to elude her through all this time while the little cowboy himself was chilling at the place, no one would ever search under normal circumstances.

Chapter Text

During the Royal Guard Hunt for human, Clover was unable to leave the vicinity around Martlet's house as one day Sans appeared and instructed him to not venture too far in case other monsters may snitch him to the Royal Guards. He begrudgingly accepted the arrangement while Martlet tried to cheer him up during the period he was "grounded".

Fortunately at the following day, the tall skeleton had paid him a visit which manage bring back some of his joy.

"HELLO CLOVER! I GOT NOTIFIED BY SANS ABOUT YOUR PREDICAMENT AND THUS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GRACIOUSLY KEEP YOU A COMPANY."

"Nice to see you again too. I was in fa- wait. What do you mean "predicament"?" Clover was concerned about what Sans told his brother but Papyrus didn't pay heed toward the question and continued talking.

"I PROMISE YOU THIS WILL BE FUN! JUST LOOK WHAT I BROUGHT WITH ME!"

Papyrus gave Clover a newspaper with pointed at something that looked like a childish scribbles. From the glance, it look like a typical game of "Word Search" but with a kiddy drawings.

"And this is...?"

"JUNIOR JUMBLE! WITH TODAY'S NEWSPAPER, ANOTHER VOLUME WAS JUST RELEASED. WHEN I BECOME ROYAL GUARD, THOSE WOULD SERVE WELL AS PUZZLES! WOULDN'T YOU AGREE?"

"Hmm, I don't know....wouldn't crosswords be better for this?" Clover wasn't convinced about the effectiveness of such "puzzles".

"WHAT!? HOW COULD SAY THAT, CLOVER! CROSSWORDS ARE FOR COMPLETE BABY-BONES! I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT SANS SEES IN THEM."

"...Sorry..." Clover scratches his head as he felt a bit guilty but after seeing his expression, Papyrus quickly steered his gears unto cheering him up.

"AH, DO NOT FRET! IT APPEARS YOU NEVER HAD AN EXPERIENCE WITH THOSE SO IT'S NATURAL THAT YOU COULDN'T ACCURATELY ASCERTAIN IT'S DIFFICULTY. SO HOW ABOUT YOU TRY IT OUT NOW, TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF?"

After a little consideration, Clover decided to accept Papyrus's request.

"Sure, I will give it try." Clover responded with a smile.

"SPLENDID! SO HERE'S ONE, LET'S DO IT!"

Afterwards, they spend the entire noon in figuring out the junior jumble. It turns out, being a kid with a limited knowledge may make a simple challenges like this quite difficult. 

"Agh! What's that even suppose to mean?" Clover screamed as he staring in disbelief at the some of the words like "skibiditoilet" or "googleanpeasant". 

This was going for so long that Martlet was able to return from her shift.

"Hey Papyrus. What are you guys up to?"

"OH IT'S NOTHING, JUST DOING A JUNIOR JUMBLE TOGETHER. TODAY IS PRETTY DIFFICULT ONE."

"Is...that right?" Martlet said after seeing Clover angrily writing something and then immediately crossing out.

Eventually, she also involved herself with the activity. Sadly, this task was proven too hard for even the Royal Guard. Thus they continued until afternoon when Clover's stomach started growling.

When you're have to stay for a prolonged time, it's unavoidable you would eventually run out of things to do and with Clover it was no expection. He did manage to convince Martlet in bringing some target dummies for him to improve on his marksmanship (Even though she was hesitant at first due to the idea of a child using a firearm) thus thank to her well-honed craftsmanship skills, she made some of them out of the remains of wood materials from her another project which she placed at the opposite side of the workbench outside.

One day during Clover's practice, Martlet came out of little warehouse that was right next to her house and brought Clover an interesting proposition.

"Clover, what you say about having a little friendly competition?"

"Competition? I'm all ears." Clover was interested in any ideas that could alleviate his boredom.

"Since you really like to practice your marksmanship, how measure your skills against a full-fledged Royal Guard such as myself?" Martlet explained while proudly pushing her chest.

"I don't mind but...wouldn't that be a bit difficult?" As Clover's shooting practice involved not actually hitting target dummy, he wasn't sure how that would work.

"Oh, don't worry about that one, I came prepared for just this moment. TA DAAA!" 

After that, Martlet had shown a special-made target cutouts with all the neat details. Then she came closer to target dummies and hang them on them.

"As for the "bullets", I got it covered too!" Martlet winked as she summoned beautiful blue feathers around her.

"...I guess that will do. What are the rules, Miss Martlet?" As soon Clover called her "Miss", her expression immediately changed.

"What did you say earlier, Clover. Just "Martlet" is enough, I'm not that old yet."

"Ah, sorry Martlet." Clover scratched his head as he tried to hide the fact he forgotten about it.

Before she recited the rules, Clover and Martlet stood right in front of their designated target dummies.

"So here's the rules. We will the best of 5. Whoever is more accurate, wins the round. To make things more interesting, each round we would spice things up. And when I shout "FIRE!", we fire at the same time. Any questions?"

"I think I got the gist of it."

"Great! So let the competition begin!"

First Round. There were no gimmicks for this one so the duo were just preparing themselves mentally. After some time, Martlet shouted the signal.

"FIRE!"

Upon hearing the signal, they both released their "projectiles". Martlet's feather hit an 8, a respectable number but it was nothing in comparison to Clover's immense experience who's hit a dead center. Thus, it's 1-0 for Clover.

"Woah. That's was impressive but don't get too confortable. Time to make to spice things up!"

Afterwards Martlet flew into the air and started flapping with her wings, which created a powerful magical tornado which gusted snow end up creating snow dust that covered the target dummies.

"Now let's see if you remember, where your target is positioned." Martlet said with a smirk after landing right at her designated spot.

"Bring it on!" Clover was also getting fired up.

The battle was on. As the dust cloud created through magic lingered on the shooting range, the contenstants were eagerly awaiting the signal. At same time, Clover kept spinning with his gun while Martlet squinted her eyes.

"FIRE!"

And thus the "shots" were fired. As the projectiles were piercing through the snow dust clouds, soon they reached their designated targets. Unfortunately, Martlet's calculation was a quite off and only managed to get a 6 while Clover's shot hit the center yet again. It was 2-0. After the dust has dissipated, Martlet commended Clover's performance.

"Well, well, we got quite a sharpshooter here. Let's see how you deal with this." Afterwards, Martlet brought bands as the next round involves them being blindfolded.

"Umm, are you sure about this Martlet?" Clover asked with uncertainty.

"No worries, that should be a piece of cake for monsters like us. Speaking of which...I don't think I ever saw you using magic."

"O-Oh, umm....I just don't use it very often, that's all." Clover nervously responded, thankfully Martlet didn't try to pry more into this.

"Alright, I will give you a hint. Once you focus hard on your soul, you would be able to "feel" your surroudings. I cannot exactly describe how that works, you will know once you try it out."

"Okay...I will do my best." Clover merely nodded even though he wasn't sure whenever he would be able to actually pull it off.

Clover decided to listen to Martlet's advice and closed his eyes (Even though he was already blind) to better focus. After some time, he could feel his yellow soul manifesting right before him and the world going white. As he was continuously channeling focus on his senses, it looked like as if the world stopped moving and slowly his soul started emitting yellow waves. Soon, he could sense things around him like Martlet, the target dummies, her house and even the trees around him. 

Clover was awaiting the signal, luckily the wait didn't last long.

"FIRE!"

As Clover was about to take the shot, unknowingly his eyes started shining yellow. It was just like that one time back when I fought Dalv, Clover was pondering about the familiar feeling but his attention quickly returned back to the reality as he finally a performed a miracle, a bullet imbued with incredible power was going toward the target with rapid speed.

After hearing the sound, Clover opened his eyes and hastily untied his band and he couldn't believe it, he hit a 10! Soon after, he looked at Martlet's target dummy and he could see she also did very well, although it was a 9. Which meant one thing, he won.

While Clover was still standing in disbelief, Martlet ran toward him and lifted him into an air.

"Wow! What a shot! How did you do that?" Martlet said with clear excitement in her voice.

"I don't know...I just took your advice and it kinda worked." Clover responded with a blush as he even wasn't sure what just happened. As he was still thinking about the situation, Martlet quickly put him back to the ground.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I just got too excited. Honestly, your energy felt very warm...I had never felt anything like it in my life."

"I'm not sure what that was either...." Clover couldn't come up with a clearer response.

"Well, you're still a child so i guess it's natural you're still not used to using magic. As long as you keep practicing like you do with your marksmanship, you will surely master your magic in no time!"

"Is...that right?" Clover said as if he couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Absolutely! Who knows, maybe one day you will join Royal Guard and maybe even become Captain!" 

After hearing her honest praises, all Clover's doubts disappeared into nothingness. He couldn't figure out why he felt this way about her but there was something about Martlet's radiating personality that magically kept pulling him to her like magnet that was bringing all the metal in the vicinity.

He recalled that one time, when a blue light shinned at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps...his hopes and dreams may not be a pipe dream after all.

Few days has passed, at first it would seem that it would be yet another chill day but then Clover heard a sound of knocking. After he opened the door, a familiar skeleton was standing with his familiar smile.

"heya kid, wanna hang out?" Sans asked him out in his usual nonchalant tone.

"Okay...but didn't you said I cou-"

"yea but i know a place where we could do just that. no worries, i know a very convenient shortcut." Before Clover could finish his thought, Sans interrupted and explained as if he predicted this course of events.

"A...shortcut?"

"yep."

"That would allow us go there undetected?"

"yep."

"..."

"..."

Even to this day, Clover was incapable of discerning when Sans was joking and when he was serious but there was one thing he learned about this funny skeleton. That if Sans proposes anything, something outrageous is destined to happen.

"Alright, let me dress up real quick."

"splendid. i knew you would be on board."

Ignoring Sans's lightheated remark, Clover went back to Martlet house to take his cowboy hat alongside his winter jacket. After a while, they both went on their way while Sans was leading Clover to the previously "undiscovered" pathway.

"follow me, i know a perfect route."

When Clover was following Sans, suddenly his view was briefly obscured by the darkness until eventually he noticed he was already inside a pub.

"Wha- How? What did ju-"

"hey kid. are you going to just stand there?"

Once Sans told Clover to hurry up, he quickly snapped back to reality and sat down right next to Sans. Beside them and bartender there was no one inside the pub.

"grillby, the usual please. Kid. do you want something to drink?"

"A glass of lemonade, if possible."

"We only have water." The barterter responded in lower voice. Despire being literally on fire, somehow his clothes and glasses were still in intact.

"Then this will do."

After they both gave their orders, Grillby retreated back to the kitchen leaving them alone for a little while.

"So, what's the occasion?"

"c'mon kid. couldn't i just want to introduce my pal to the pub i like to visit?"

"I can see it, I just don't think that's the only reason why you brought me here today."

Sans could only sigh upon getting his intentions seen through by Clover. Sometimes he wishes he acted more like an actual kid.

"so, how are you doing? sorry i couldn't think for a better solution."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I'm doing well, I think. Although I have to ask, how did you convince a Royal Guardsman to take me in. Wouldn't be a problem if her Captain or others would find out that she was sheltering a human?"

"to be frank, that was meant to be a temporary measure. but after i came few days later, to relocate you martlet insisted in keeping you for as long as it was necessary. i don't know what you did but she seemed to be quite attached to you."

"She's very nice." Clover responded while he thought about Martlet.

"well, glad you get along." 

After Grillby briefly came back with glass of water, Clover thanked the bartender and drinked it. There were obviously more "exotic" drinks right at the shelf but the boy was a bit too young to try them out. After Grillby was gone again, Sans continued talking.

"so, what are you going to do after the royal guards stop looking for you? i'm assuming you wanna go home, yea?"

"Well...not exactly. I have very different goal in mind."

"oh?"

Sans didn't expect that answer, after that Clover took out his trusty notebook and put it on the counter.

"I'm looking for clues about humans that fell before me and learn everything about their fates in the Underground. If you know anything, I would really appreciate it." 

"sorry kid. i became a sentry not long ago, you are actually first human i've met so i wouldn't know much about other humans."

"That's unfortunate..."  Clover's hopes were quickly crushed but soon Sans gave him another lifeboat.

"well, martlet may know something about them. she is a royal guard and stuff."

"But wouldn't that be risky? She may end up suspecting about me being a human again." Clover raised a valid concern.

"something tell me that won't be an issue even if that happens."

Clover wasn't sure where Sans's confidence was coming from but he couldn't continue the conversation as Grillby came back with double fries with some ketchup. They were eating in silence but suddenly, Sans jumped off his seat and was heading toward the door.

"welp, that was nice talking to you. grillby, put it on my tab. enjoy your food, kid. no worries, once you leave the pub, you will end up right next to martlet's house. see you."

"Take care, Sans."

After he took his notebook and continued his meal, there wasn't much going on. After he finished, as he was about to head to the door, he was called by the bartender.

"Wait, human. I have something to share with you." 

"Yes?" Clover looked at Grillby with perplexed look, after the bartender looked around, he shared a lead.

"To keep it between us, the shopkeeper in Snowdin Town may have some answers you seek."

"Why are you telling me this?" While he suspected Sans likely made some sort of deal with Grillby for him to keep his mouth shut about Clover, he couldn't comprehend why Grillby would want to assist him in any way.

"Think of it as a mutual transaction. I gave you an information while you promise to visit my establishment once in a while."

It turns out the reasoning was much more trivial than he thought. He probably should be more worried about the fact, Grillby may had overhead his conversation with Sans but he didn't feel any malice from the bartender's words.

"I see. Thank you very much."

He tipped his hat as thanks afterwards he properly left the pub. 

Fortunately, this little trip was proven to be quite helpful for Clover's quest and it looked like as if the days of living in shadows may soon come to an end.

Chapter Text

It's another day, Clover and Martlet are in middle of tinkering with something very familiar.

Clover remembered that time, when he took Martlet's boat called "U.G. Aviator" in attempt to travel to the Hotland so he was took by a surprise when he saw the boat's appearance has changed considerably.

According to Martlet, one day when she was following the river, she noticed there no were actual places where you could land on so the boat would unavoidably fall down the waterfall at the end. She decided to apt for something that could travel through air instead  and thus eliminating  the possibility of getting influenced by outside factors like stream speed.

Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be a daunting task as finding proper components just to remodel it was quite difficult while making it fly was another thing entirely, even with her skills.

After quite a work, the boat was successfully turned into an airship that was twice the size, although there was still a matter of building fuctional engines and gather enough fuel to make it work.

Obviously, Martlet considered Clover too young for him to tweak with dangerous machines thus he was mostly helping when looking for parts or giving appropriate tools.

Once they took a break, out of nowhere Sans came over and greeted her.

"sup martlet. have a minute?"

"Hey Sans. We're kinda busy right now. Is it something that has be addressed right now?"

"sorta. i want to know your opinion about something."

After a little thinking, Martlet decided to went along with his request.

"Okay, let's go somewhere quiet."

When they found their way to Martlet's station, they stood right next to it while Sans closed his eyes and started talking.

"it's about time for kid to go on his way."

"I agree. The Royal Guard will soon abandon their investigation, which means Clover won't be actively hunt down, for now."

"so you knew, huh." Sans looked at the bird with one of his eyes, acting as if he already knew that Martlet already found out about Clover's identity.

"Sans, I may be scatterbrained but even the most oblivious monsters would eventually add up 2+2 and figured that Clover was a human."

"and yet you still didn't hand him over to the Royal Guard."

Sans's sharp observation made her speechless and after thinking it through Martlet shared her honest feelings.

"...Clover is a very kind and hard-working child, of course I wouldn't do that. If it was any other human...I may not been so charitable."

Martlet recalled that time, when a human was reported gone on a rampage and the evacuation was issued, that imfamous event was later known as "Snowdin Attack". If Clover was anything like that human, the encounter would likely go in much different direction.

"if you say so." Sans merely nodded along.

Afterwards, there was a silence between two parties. As the wind was howling in the distance, soon Martlet's anxiety reached its peak, thus she had spoken. 

"Still...I don't want him to meet King Asgore. The King is very nice and all but...what if he decides to take his soul anyway? Is it worth a risk?"

"oh, don't worry about that one. he doesn't aim to leave the underground." After hearing Martlet's concern, Sans quickly calmed her down.

"...What?" 

Martlet looked at the skeletion with confusion but after Sans explained Clover's circumstances and his goal, Martlet's mind was imbued with knowledge.

"So that's how it is."

"here's my little suggestion. when you are together, keep an eye on him yea?"

"Do you expect for something to occur?" Martlet didn't like the implications of that statement.

"if nothing happens then it was an unnecessary precaution, if something drastic happens, well...you know what to do." But Sans wasn't willing to elaborate more than that.

"...I will keep that in mind."

"cool. say hi to clover from me."

After Sans disappeared as soon as he appeared, Martlet put her hand on her chest and begun reminiscenting about her late mentor, the one that introduced her to the wonders of craftsmanship. He despised humans with all his being, openly calling them all sort of names. She wondered, what he would think if he found out that his pupil end up not only befriending a human but also living with them under same roof.

Alas, there was no response or perhaps the lack of it was the answer all along.

At the Clover's first day after Sans told him that he could walk around freely, he and Martlet decided to visit Honeydew Resort as apparently there will be a famous band playing that day.

"Oooh! It's nice to finally be able to go out." Clover said after he streched himself.

"Hehe, I imagine." Marlet chuckled upon seeing boy's happy expression.

After some time walking, they reached their destination. There was a familiar bear with strapped honey jars soundly sleeping, unconcerned what's going on around him. The closer they get to the cabin, the louder the music is.

Once they entered the cabin, they noticed they were a lot of monsters already inside. Meanwhile, Clover shouted with an enthusiasm upon seeing how was at the stage.

"Hey! I know this band." Clover pointed at the band, it was Rodney's Band which he was acquainted with in one of his previous runs.

"Good for us then, occupy a table for us while I go for the drinks."

"Oki doki!" Clover responded with excited voice, which made Martlet stumble a bit due to little cowboy's cuteness.

Afterwards, the bird went to the counter where a certain pink bear-like monster was acting as vendor.

"Welcome customer. What I can do for you?"

"Two Honeydew Coffee's please."

"Right away!"

After she went to switch on the coffee machine and went back to the counter, she whispered to Martlet.

"Psst, hey. Who is that adorable child, you brought today?" The shopkeeper asked Martlet which she obviously referred to Clover. As expected, she had eyes all over the establishment.

"Umm...no one special. I just had to take care of them for some time."

Martlet struggled explaining what's their relationship, fortunately there was a sound of coffee being ready thus the conversation didn't last long.

"Here you go. Have a good day." The shopkeeper said while she returned to her business-like attitude.

"Thanks."

After thanking her, Martlet went to one of the tables Clover occupied which happened to be right at front of the stage. Clover was a bit too energetic as he come to regret it after he hastily took a sip of his drink.

"Auch!" Clover expressed the pain while showing off his now reddened tongue.

"Careful, It's pretty hot." 

While Clover was slowly blowing on the drink to cool it off, the duo listened to the perfomance. Thanks to it's merry atmosphere, the place was giving off a very tranquil vibe while lively conversations could be heard in the background.

"So Clover, what are you going to do now?" Martlet asked question, while she was looking at him with one of her eyes.

"Well...I will probably stay in the Snowdin for now anyway. I want to visit few places." Clover responded casually, which meant he was completely unprepared what she said later.

"I see, it's about missing humans, isn't it?"

"! How did yo- *Sigh It was Sans, wasn't it?"

After he got flabbergasted, Martlet looked at him apologetically.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry but...at least I want to know whenever you are aware of the risks associated with it." 

"...I have to, regardless what may happen in the future." Clover said in much quieter tone.

While the band was playing to the enjoyement of the crowd, the mood in table where Clover and Martlet was much somber. Despite the positive affinity they had built over past days, there was something that each held to themselves. For Martlet, besides knowing Clover's true identity she recalled few times a frightened look in his eyes which she was never able to cause of it while due to Clover's experience in the past runs, he wasn't able to truly forget the times when they had...much more strained relationship.

Both of them were hoping to uphold the status quo as both of them were afraid of what would happen if any of them revealed their secrets. How would the other party viewed them? Would they naturally drift apart due to mistrust and reservation that may took seed? None of them wanted to put the other in such a situation.

"Clover, do you think all humans are evil? Or there is a way for monsters to become friends with them?"

Martlet eventually broke the silence, while Clover responded with a hint a nervousness in his voice.

"...I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough to answer such questions but..." Then he looked directly at Martlet.

"I think it is possible for them become friends...that's what I believe."

Yes, if his positive relations he made with other monsters in past were any proof, it was more than enough to make his statement hold true.

"I think so too."

Martlet smiled upon hearing Clover's hopeful response, it felt like as if the gap between them shrinked even so slighly. As they were looking at each other, someone was calling for little cowboy.

"Hm? Clover, it that you?"

After Clover turned his head upon unexpectedly hearing his name, he was surprised but then the joy quickly filled him after he saw who it was. It was a friend he made back when he lived in the ruins. It was none other than vampire monster Dalv, an aspiring writer and musician.

Chapter Text

Upon laying his eyes on a familiar face, Clover quickly bursted out of the table and ran toward Dalv. The vampire stumbled a bit after he suddenly got hugged affectionately.

"Ooh! I don't believe it was that since our last meeting." Dalv said with a hint of embarrassment as he was gently patting little cowboy's head.

"I'm sorry, I got a bit too emotional." Clover said, after he properly stopped hugging.

"Think nothing of it. I'm glad you're doing well."

During this touchy reunion, Martlet was getting to the pair on her own pace.

"Hey, Clover. I don't want to barge in or anything but...would you mind introducing to your friend here?"

"Ah! Yes! Dalv, this is Martlet. In the recent days, I was in her care." Upon hearing Clover's explanation, Dalv slighly nodded and extended his hand.

"I see, nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine!" Martlet grabbed Dalv's hand and shook it with great enthusiasm.

"So, Dalv. What brings you here? Is everyone okay? Doe-"

"Please, calm down. I appreciate the enthusiasm but even I can answer so much." Dalv interrupted Clover to not get overwhelmed by too many questions.

"Starting from beginning, I want to get better at socializing so I temporarily left the Ruins to see how much Snowdin changed since the last I've been here. As for the latter everyone is doing well, although Toriel was a bit sulky that you didn't call her yet."

Upon hearing "Toriel", Martlet couldn't help but to squint her eyes. The name ringed the bell but she couldn't say why that was the case. Nobody was paying attention to her expression thus the conversation continued as normal.

"Ah! I completely forgot...ugh..." Clover's mood suddenly got a bit worse.

"Wait, are you living in the Ruins?"

"Yes. There are actually plenty of monsters living there."

"I see...well, good timing actually. Dalv, I know it may be a sudden request but can we speak somewhere private?" 

"Is something wrong?" Clover said with worried eyes as Martlet's question made him concerned. But she quickly shook her head and explained herself.

"Nothing of sorts, I just wish to confirm something. Meanwhile, how about you make a call to that "Toriel" you mentioned?" 

"I don't mind. I think you should call her too, Clover. I believe she would be happy hearing your voice." Dalv didn't mind her request while also encouraging him to call Toriel.

"Okay...but once you finish the talk, promise me to fill me in!"

"Of course." "No problem!" Dalv and Martlet responded in unison.

"Then I will wait for you outside."

Afterwards, Clover went outside the Honeydew Cabin to make a call to the caretaker of the Ruins.

As Clover was busy outside, the music in the establishment kept playing while Martlet was struggling on how to start the conversation.

"Again, I'm so sorry for calling you so sudden." Martlet apologised with sweaty face.

"Please, be at ease. I understand. What's the matter?" Dalv could relate to Martlet, as while at face value he seemed doing fine but his mind was much more turbulent state as he isn't used to talk to strangers. 

"Well it's about Clover...umm...do you the truth?"

"The "truth"? About what?" Dalv said while showing off his puzzled look.

"You know...that Clover is human and all that..."

"? Yes, what about it?"

"Well, here's the situation..."

After Martlet was revealed to Dalv that the Royal Guard was searching for him and the reasoning why she was taking care of him, surprisingly Dalv had a mild reaction.

"I see. Glad everything worked out."

"You seem to be much more composed than I expected."

"Hmm...Considering what happened back in the Ruins, it wasn't as dangerous. Besides other monsters even I attempted killing Clover myself."

"You did try what!?" Martlet didn't see that coming. For some reason, she never considered that someone like Dalv would ever try to a finger on him.

"Yeah...it was pretty embarassing. I wasn't exactly at the right mind at the time." Dalv scratched his head upon recalling unpleasant memory.

"And he forgave you?"

"Yes, I couldn't believe at first but he offered me a handshake despite what I had done...something moved within me. Believe me or not, if it wasn't for Clover's sincerity and kindness, I would probably never dared to leave the Ruins ever again or even try to make friends with other monsters."

"He means a lot to you."

"I know it may sound unbelievable bu-"  As Dalv tried to explain himself, he halted as soon as Martlet shook her head.

"In the contrary, I was taking care of him for a bit so I understand the sentiment. Clover is a good kid, even though his marksmanship skills may make him appear more violent than he actually is."

"So you understand. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that Clover is a child."

"I know right! He can be quite mischievous."

As the conversation went on, the two of them became much more relaxed and even bonded by sharing their stories related to Clover. For example that time in the Ruins, when he wanted to impress monsters by trying doing a backflip, fortunately Toriel interviened on time before he could inflict any severe injuries on himself or that time when Sans gave him a crossword which ended up him lying on the bed while lamenting how "impossible" is to solve this crossword while making over exaggerated faces.

After they finally noticed that they send too much time talking, they were about to hurry up before Clover could ran back and asked them what was taking them so long.

"Thank you for the talk, Dalv. I hope I wasn't too intrusive."

"Not at all. It was nice to hear what was Clover doing in the past days. I hope we could become friends too." Dalv responded with smile, as making friends was among his favourite activities.

"It would be a pleasure. Let's go, Clover is probably awaiting us."

And thus, Dalv and Martlet left the Honeydew Cabin.

Once Clover went outside, he took out his phone. It's not been used since that time he left so he was a bit worried if it would still work. Fortunately, it appears it is still very functional.

"Yes? This is Toriel." A gentle voice could be heard coming from the phone.

"Hello, it's been a while."

"Clover! My child, how are you faring?"

"Pretty well, I think. Forgive me for not calling earlier, I was occupied with some stuff." Clover apologised to Toriel, although he didn't want to say he just forgot out of embarrassment.

"Don't worry, little one. The most important thing for me was to learn that you are safe and sound." Toriel continued, blissfully unaware of his blunder.

"So, how is everyone doing in the Ruins?"

"They are doing fine, sometimes they approach me and asked me when you will come back. They sure seemed to miss you a lot."

After he heard the sentence, Clover didn't see a smile radiating on his face. Something withim him was extremely overjoyed upon hearing those words.

"Oh, also some monsters left the Ruins, specifically two. Napstablook, who said they wanted to stop "lazing" around and wanted to pursue their career also Dalv, who just recently departed."

"That's a nice coincidence, I happened to ran into Dalv just now."

"Oh, you are still in Snowdin? I thought you would be already farther from here."

"Well, my quest involved searching through the entire underground if necessary. Fortunately, I did find some leads here."

"That's good to hear. I presume you already met my good friend?"

Upon hearing this, Clover was a bit hesitant to mention Sans as he always viewed the goofy skeleton as an enigma and for all he knew it Sans's involvement may have been just a coincidence.

"I think so? He never mentioned you directly though."

Upon feeling an uncertainty in Clover's voice, Toriel asked a very interesting question.

"Does he like making puns about bones?"

"Oh yeah, that's Sans alright."

Clover didn't know any other skeleton so that's probably right on the money. There was also Papyrus but from what he seen he doesn't seem to like puns very much, although he does recall seeing him made some when no one else was around. But before Clover could go more deep into though, Toriel continued the conversation.

"Ah! So that's his name."

"Wait, you don't know his name? How did you become friends if you never seen each other faces?" Clover was confused upon the revelation about her "friend".

"It's...complicated my child. To put simply, one day I heard knocking at the giant doors at the end the Ruins, I asked who it was and then we ended up exchanging puns. Later, we were just casually chatting and none of us bothered to pry into each other's identities."

"So this is where the obsession with puns come from..." Clover something muttered to himself.

"Well, child. I'm about to get a little busy. If you don't mind, how about we end the call for today?"

"Actually I have one more thing to ask, Miss Toriel if it's not a problem. It's about missing children."

"...Yes, I'm listening."

Even if he couldn't see her face, he had a feeling she became more serious in an instant as if she wanted to make sure to not miss anything.

"Well, I found a pink leather glove in the chest, does it sound familiar to you?"

"Hmm....Ah! I recall a child wearing something similar. They were quite a troublemaker, eager to look for the fights."

"Sounds like they were a bit violent..." Clover wasn't sure what to think about that information as he knew there was already one human that did something similar but if she was reading his mind, Toriel quickly interjected.

"Oh no! It's nothing of sorts. As far as I remember, they never killed a single monster." Upon hearing her reassurance, Clover sighed in relief. At least, that's one less problem to worry about.

"I see. Thank you for confirmation, Miss Toriel."

"That's nothing, I'm glad a little old me could be helpful. Don't hesitate to call me if you will ever need an advice."

"I will keep that in mind, thank you again. See you later, Miss Toriel."

"Take care and be good, alright Clover?"

"Yes."

After he ended the call, Clover had to wait for some time but fortunately he didn't have to stand there for too long.

"Hey Clover. I hope you didn't wait for too long." Dalv said while feeling a bit guilty but Clover quickly shook his head.

"No at all, so what you guys were talking about?"

"Nothing much, mostly we shared some stories regarding your hijinks."

"H-Hey, this is not something you should share with anybody..."

After seeing Clover's reaction, Martlet couldn't help but to laugh, soon Clover and Dalv joined in. It was indeed a joyous time.

"Speaking of which, have you seen posters about new Ice cream booth opening in Snowdin?"

"No? Is it somewhere in Snowdin Town?" Martlet asked Dalv as it piqued her interest.

"Apparently, it's in the place called "Snowdin Outpost". I don't think I ever heard of that place before."

"That's actually not that far away, I'm surprised there are settling in there of all places. Last time I checked, it was still under the construction."

"Snowdin Outpost?" Clover was perplexed as well as he never heard anyone mentioning this place in any of his previous runs. Fortunately for him, Martlet was eager to explain it to other two.

"It's not surprising you never heard of it. A month ago, the King approved the project of building a settlement somewhere inbetween Snowdin Highlands and Lowlands. There were many complaints from monsters about the difficulty of travelling to one side to another. And thus Snowdin Outpost was born. Or rather soon to be born, I suppose. So Dalv, you want ice cream?"

"Oh no, I was more interested in that Snowdin Outpost but before that I wanted visit Honeydew Resort."

"How about we visit together?" Clover said with voice full of joy.

"Are you sure? Weren't you planning staying at the resort?"

"It's my work free day so I decided to take Clover to the Honeydew Cabin. But I don't mind a bit of a detour." Martlet stated her intentions.

As Clover was looking at Dalv with anticipation, Dalv eventually give in.

"If you are fine then we can go there together." 

"Yay!" Clover rejoiced upon hearing his decision.

"Alright then. I know my ways around here so I can lead you there. You can count on me!" Martlet said with confidence.

And thus Clover, Dalv and Martlet ventured forth toward their destination, where bunch of twists and turns were awaiting them on every step.

Chapter Text

As the trio was moving down south, they a bunch of monsters on their way but no one of them pay heed toward Clover.

When they reached one of the crossroads where there was a cute(?) giant castle, they were multiple of igloos right next to it. In reality, those were actually crab-like monsters called "Frostermits". Clover was familiar with them so it wasn't a difficult task to recognise them. They remained stationary thus the trio had no issues of getting past them.

As they going following the road, they reached a twisted path with a lamp in the middle. Clover saw another familiar face, an Imsomnitot a round-shaped monster with antennae. As the name suggests, they had a trouble of feeling exhausted although it appears the gentle light coming from that lamp was enough to put them into sleep. Perhaps this may be a thing that could soothe their insomninac habits.

After some time, they reached the place where a first lava rock rolling puzzle was placed, at the edge of the forest there a pathway that was leading to the parts unknown.

"This way. Make sure to stick to the path though as you may end up getting lost."

"Get lost? Are sure this is safe?" Dalv shared his concerns to Martlet but she brushed it off immediately.

"It's fiiine. A bit of a darkness won't hurt anybody."

"If there is no other way, let's just listen to Martlet's advice." Clover was undisturbed about the bird's words thus he insisted on going to the forest.

As the group went on the pathway slighly covered by the leaves, soon they were engulfed by the shadows of the trees. Unlike the main roads, this one isn't as well kept as the others.

Their footsteps were enough to dispell the silence that would otherwise make the atmosphere a bit too spooky for some people. Clover kept his pokerface while bravely trudging though the forest, Martlet was quietly happily humming along but Dalv was on his guard and nervously kept looking around as if he was expected getting jumped by something hidden in the bushes.

As they were going along, they could see a glimpse of light at the end of the road which was getting bigger and bigger as they were closing. Also a sounds of construction could be heard from afar and soon as the trio went through the last batch of bushes, an impressive display has entered their sight.

The working monsters were showing off their skill in stone masonry as they were building a wall that is meant to show the boundaries of the future Snowdin Outpost. The circular shape is intended to take as little space as possible while the inside are going to serve as rest point for everyone who may desire to travel between Snowdin Highlands and Snowdin Lowlands.

Right now, the top priority aside building the fortifications is to make a facility which would serve the Royal Guard as base of operations in case of emergencies. In fact, one of the reasons behind the creation of this project was due to the inability of the Royal Guard to respond quickly to the human threat during the infamous "Snowdin Attack", the currect Captain Undyne was a huge supporter of this endeavour.

The trio went through the gate that is yet to be constructed, unaware that soon a someone they were avoiding all this time will show off their face. 

"Woah..." Clover was impressed by the sheer scale of the construction as he never saw anything like it in his life.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

When they heard the voice, the trio turned their attention to where the source of the voice came from. It was a cyclops-like monster in the worker uniform leaning on the crates. Their laid-back posture suggested they were on the break.

"What do we have here...a bird, a vampire and...hm? Is that...?" As they were looking over Clover with their eyeball, they saw Martlet squinting her as if she was warding them away. After that, they looked away.

"Well, it's not my concern anyway. If you go further from here, you will see an ice cream booth. That's what you are here for, yeah?"

"Thank you. Let's go Clover." Martlet replied in the very formal tone.

Before Clover could say anything, Martlet took his hand and went on their way while Dalv followed them, still not being to comprehend on what just happened. The monster couldn't figure out why the other two were guiding him around but as far they were concerned, it was above their pay grade. And thus, they merely stared from distance until they went out of the sight.

As they were going deeper unto the construction site, on the sid they could see a blue rabbit-like monster having a downhearted expression. Initially he didn't saw the trio approaching him only after Clover tugged his shirt he opened his eyes and quickly invigorating himself.

"Ah, customers! Would like some Nice Cream in this lovely weather?"

"Isn't bit too cold for Ice Cream?" Dalv ansked a valid question.

"No such thing! It's a "Nice Cream" not Ice Cream, It's merely a frozen treat that warms your heart!" Dalv still found something dubious about saleman's explanation.

"Hmm, sound enticing." 

"Not so fast!"

But before Clover could decide, another voice ringed right at the opposite of the cart. Then suddenly, a racoon-like monster wearing a slick blue suit with a fedora slided on the snow out of nowhere but before he could introduce himself, Clover expressed his surprise.

"Mo!" Clover screamed with excitement which brought the attention of that saleman.

"Oh, I see someone recognises me. As expected, my reputation is on the rise!" Mo expressed his satisfaction, as if he had a feeling good times are about to come. Then he snapped his fingers and his own cart slide to his side.

"WAM! How about getting something nice on the road? The solids that USED to be liquids, now perfected thanks to this special recipe! A once hot chocolate now with perfect pitch of ice! Have I piqued your interest yet?"

"Hold on! I was the one that talked to them first!" The rabbit salesman was completely displeased with the appearance of his rival.

"C'mon pal. Everything is legal in the business world. You either get everything or go home!" Mo continued to nonchalantly brag about a potential of stealing customers, to the rabbit's annoyance.

"Don't you think I will let that happen, you swindler!"

As the two of them were loudly arguing, Clover, Dalv and Martlet turned around and whispered something to each other.

"So, what do we think?" Clover asked about their opinions on the matter.

"I'm here just to see the place so I don't mind either choice." Dalv calmly expressed his viewpoint.

"Personally, I would be careful with that Mo guy. In the past, his wares came from a very "questionable" supply chain. I heard he had change a heart as of late though so who knows." Martlet adviced caution in regards to Mo, favouring the rabbit salesman. Due to her experiences with him, she would rather not allow Clover to get scammed.

That being said, Martlet is quite forgiving at heart, some may argue a bit too forgiving. She heard recently that Mo was leading a much more respectable business, thus she wanted to remain honest and gave the racoon monster a chance.

"I see. I think I have a solution."

Afterwards figuring out the solution , Clover approached each individual cart and took the treats while leaving a considerable amount of gold.

As he approached the vendors, they looked at the boy and saw a Extra Hot Pop and Nice Cream in his hands. Once Clover successfully took their attention away from the arguing, he ate those at the same time.

"Yummy!" Clover said with an honest smile as he was blissfully regaling the taste of the treats.

Afterwards, the two salesman looked at each other, feeling embarrassment about having a dispute in front of the customers.

"Um...sorry pal. I think may went too far." Mo expressed his sincere apology while scratching his head.

"No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't lash out the way I did." Rabbit salesman said while reflecting on his mistake.

After seeing another discourse coming to a close, Clover looked happy at the monsters who reflected on their behaviour while Dalv and Martlet continuing getting impressed by little cowboy's ability to solve the disputes.

Who knew that a bit of honesty in life could bring a lot of happiness to this seemingly imperfect world.

After tasting the sweets, the trio bid farewell to the quirky salesman and were continuing on their way. While Clover and Dalv happily conversed, Martlet noticed there was someone troublesome approaching. It was not other than Captain Undyne of the Royal Guard and sergeant of the Canine Unit, Greater Dog.

"Clover, can you hide behind us for a second?" Marlet asked in serious voice.

"What? But wh-"

"Just do it! I will explain later." 

After Clover quickly hid behind her back, Martlet nudged Dalv to stand right next to her. Thanks to her efforts, they manage to successfully block the sightline from Undyne could spot Clover. 

When Undyne saw the duo, she approached them while maintaining her usual bravado.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing punk!?"

"Today is my free day, Captain. Just like any other Royal Guardman is entitled to have one." Martlet sharply stated while maintaining composure.

"Hmpf, you have guts to talk to me like that. Not that I dislike it. Actually, that's a great you are here. Have you seen any humans in your area?" Undyne simply stated her business as she wasn't paying much attention at Martlet's behaviour.

"...Not that I know of, no."

"Unfortunate. That dastard human has slipped way somehow from our grasp. But we believe, they are still in Snowdin somewhere. We plan to do a brief check up in the Lowlands. We will keep in touch in case we need your assistance, understood soldier?"

"Loud and clear, Captain."

Afterwards, Undyne nodded and then she laid her eyes on the vampire besides her.

"...And who is this guy?"

"M-Me? P-Pardon me ma'am, I'm D-Dalv." Dalv nervously stated his name as the sheer pressure the Captain of the Royal Guard was exuding was enough for him to lost the composure.

As Undyne was staring at the sweaty vampire, it looked like as her gut feeling was screaming that something was off. Thankfully after some time, she finally took her glance off Dalv.

"Not my type. I won't hold you for much longer. Have fun on your date, soldier."

"He's not m- *Sigh"

Martlet was irritated by Undyne's careless remark but before she could protest, the Captain was hastily going further and further away from her.

"Barf! (I'm apologize for trouble.)"

Greater Dog was sympathetic to Martlet as he knew the Captain can act a bit...like a loose cannon sort of speak. After stating the apology, the Greater Dog soon followed Undyne.

"Let's go. We will soon be at the opposite gate."

Some time has passed and now the trio successfully reached the edge of the Snowdin Outpost. But due to the previous encounter with Undyne, they were walking in silence. The silence continued until Dalv decided to attempt to start a conversation.

"Do you want leave you alone so that you can talk it out or...?" Dalv wasn't sure what to say but he thought as long as first step would be made, the conversation will flow naturally.

"It won't necessary. I would rather you stay."

"I have no issues with that."

After stating their desires, Clover looked at the blue bird.

"Martlet...for how long you knew I was human?"

Starting off with an unconfortable question, it looks like this may proven to be quite a challenge for Martlet to explain herself to the meaningful degree.

Chapter Text

As Clover was starting at the bird, patiently awaiting the response, Martlet struggled to come up with words.

"...Truth to be told, initially I didn't know you were a human. Only after I got to know you, I figured out. But I planned to tell you sooner or later, honest!" 

Martlet tried to reassure Clover but to no avail. He covered his eyes with his hat, casting a shadow on his face. During this silence, he muttered something to himself.

"...I hate it..."

"Huh?" Martlet couldn't hear his words thus she could only express her confusion.

"I said I hate when someone is keeping secrets away from me! If were were truly friends, how couldn't you share something so trivial?" Clover shouted to Martlet now without hiding his scary look.

Immediately after, Clover turned his back as if he was feeling a bit uncomfortable with his action. Secrets. It's something that everyone possesses, whenever they like it or not. Regardless how small they may seem, revealing them at the wrong moment could cause a serious damage in people's relationships.

Clover was aware that not everyone would be willing to share everything about themselves, himself included. But for some reason when comes to Martlet, he feels betrayed as despite all his best intentions and trying to make for what he did in one of his previous runs, alas she never truly opened herself to him.

The rationality dictated that he's overreacting and yet he wasn't able to calm himself down. The scars were visible more than ever.

"Unless..." Clover unexpectedly pulled out his gun and aimed at the bird.

"You were planning taking my soul, didn't you? Don't try lying to me, I can see through your deception!"

The gilded eyes were shimmering, briefly enthralling the duo with it's beauty but Martlet shook it off and appealed to Clover, despite the danger.

"Listen Clover, I know shouldn't have kept it away from you bu-"

"Don't come any closer or I will shoot!"

As Martlet was about to slowly go toward the boy, Clover stopped at her tracks. After a moment of silence, suddenly he turned back and fled to the forest without looking back.

"Clover wait!"

But before Martlet could even had a chance followed him, she felt a tight grip on her shoulder. When she looked at the perpetrator, Dalv slowly shook his head as if he was insisting on not going after the boy.

And thus, Martlet couldn't do anything but meekly stare at the figure that would soon disappear in the woods.

When Clover was nowhere on their sight, Martlet started speaking with a tone that indicates her impatience.

"Dalv, you better have a good reason for stopping me. What if h-"

"Calm down, please. He is going to be okay."

Dalv calmed her down and soon he loosened his grip. Upon a reflection, Dalv muttered something.

"...I thought he was over it..."

"What do you mean?"

When Martlet looked at the vampire with curiority, he closed his eyes to collect his thoughts as he recalled certain incidents.

"I don't know the full story myself but...there were few times in the past when Clover suddenly got aggressive and was threatening other monsters. It never lasted long and he always end up profusely apologising for it."

Dalv couldn't wrap his head around why such things happened in the first place and it's causes. Coincidentally, it happened few days before Clover went out of the Ruins.

"Do you have any clue what's the cause of it?" As he heard Martlet's question, Dalv immediately shook his head.

"We did try to talk to him about it but Clover was insisting every time they were merely "mood swings" and nothing more."

He recalled that time he asked Toriel about Clover's unique "condition" but even she had no clue at all. They did approach the boy together but unfortunately it didn't get any new information. As he opened his eyes, he expressed his honest thoughts about the whole situation.

"I think something in past...hurt him a lot. It's probably related to his former life at the surface but..."

"But what?" Martlet was getting relentless due to the unusual long silence in-between sentences.

"I have a feeling that...there is something more to his behaviour. More than we could possibly imagine. I wish I knew how could I help him..." Dalv said with sorrowful voice as if he was feeling powerless not being able to figure out how to help his friend.

"So now what? We can't just let him stay alone in this state." After hearing Martlet's accurate assessment, Dalv decided to show initiative which he hadn't done since that fateful day.

"...I will go talk to him. It would better if I go by myself." He expected to hear an objection from Martlet but to his surprise no such thing happened.

"Wouldn't be dangerous to only go by yourself?"

"I'm sure he won't hurt me, I believe in him." Dalv stated it with conviction. Upon seeing his determination, Martlet folded. She also wanted to make haste to Clover but she was aware enough that it may not be the best idea as Dalv knew him longer thus it's more likely to work out if he would do it.

"If you say so. But as soon as I hear gunshots I will burst right in, understood?" 

"...I thank you for your consideration, Martlet."

After thanking the bird, Dalv rushed in to where Clover ran just a moment ago, in hopes of calming down now anxious little cowboy.

As Dalv was carefully threading through the bushes, eventually he saw Clover twirling his gun while sitting on the tree stump. When he accidentally broke a stick on the ground, Clover immediately aimed at where the source of noise was coming from.

"Do not be afraid, it's only me."

Despite seemingly being threatened, Dalv remained composed as he didn't feel he had any reason to be afraid of his friend. Soon, this turn out to be correct as Clover lowered his weapon, turned his back and started twirling again in silence. 

When Dalv finally stood right next to Clover, he spoke to the boy.

"Clover. I'm sure Martlet didn't want to hide things from you for longer than it was necessary. Don't you think she deserves another chance?"

"This is not the type of matter you should hide. Ever." Clover stated, clearly still angry about the development.

Dalv didn't try to argue or got upset about Clover's seemingly unreasonable response, instead he sat on the tree stump then started talking in much tender voice. His last conversation with Martlet gave him an idea.

"I'm here for you. Whatever your troubles may be, I'm more than willing to give you a helping hand. But..." 

When Clover looked at Dalv, the sight made his heart drop as vampire's tears were coming from his eyes while he was staring at the ground, unable to look back.

"...As of right now, It's hard for me do so. It pains my heart to see you like this. I just want to alleviate your burden even by a little. Isn't that what friends are for?"

As Dalv's voice started cracking, Clover was able to finally calm himself. Friend. Dalv was never able to truly grasp what it meant to be a friend. Even after befriending Clover, he still struggles with talking to other monsters. 

After recalling his honest efforts in opening himself up, Clover knew it would disrespectful of him to deny Dalv's help and think it was unsincere attempt.

"...It's not like that. When I saw Undyne I got scared and..I'm afraid I will got found out...what happens to other monsters that were sheltering me? What would happen i-"

Before he could rant for much longer time, suddenly Dalv embraced him, astounding Clover in the process. After feeling the warmth, Clover hugged him back. There was a peaceful solace in the woods.

"Can you hold me for a little longer?" 

Dalv didn't respond but he heard it very clearly and thus he kept holding little cowboy in his embrace. While his wound didn't magically disappear but for a moment he could appreciate the peace of mind and be free of all of his sorrows. A certain bat would definitely be proud of evolution of Clover's mindset.

After a time as if it felt eternity, Clover seperated himself from Dalv and stood up. Then he switfly hid his gun in the holster and spoke.

"*Sigh I have to apologize to Martlet. And I'm sorry that you had to see me in such state. We had just reunited and yet I still threw a tantrum right before your eyes." Clover honestly stated his apologies but Dalv merely smiled as he was just happy that Clover condition improved.

"I'm glad I could help. So how about we go back and talk things through with Martlet?"

Afterwards, the duo went on the way back to where Martlet was, Dalv was guiding through the forest while he held Clover's hand so that he couldn't get lost. However, they didn't know that a certain flower was observing them from afar.

"Oh golly! Isn't that nice? Two sobby blokes snuggling to each other. How cute." Flowey said with mocking grin.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Yes, just a little push and he will finally do it. Cannot wait for their reactions."

Clover may had wasted a lot of days hiding from Royal Guard but he knew soon something about to happen to him and his friends. He was making all necessary preparations for it to happen and couldn't wait to see the fruits of his labour.

Chapter Text

After Clover and Dalv went back from the forest, there was a sight of Martlet absentmindedly staring somewhere at the side. She didn't notice their return at first but eventually her glance was taken at right direction. It appears her spirit wasn't as lively as before.

"Hey there...Is everything alright?"

Martlet greeted the duo with cramped smile but they could easily see through her. Clover stepped up and approached dispirited bird. When he stood right before her, he proceeded to take off his hat and pressed it to his chest. Then the boy looked at her with his bright yellow eyes and spoke.

"Martlet, I cannot describe how much I regret my actions from earlier. I hope...you will come to forgive me one day."

Once Clover casted his glance away, Martlet knelt before the boy and gently held his cheek with her wing, stealing his attention away from his thoughts.

"You are wrong. This is not something I should had hide in the first place. From as long as I remember, I had been told many times that humans are enemies. It was continously lingering in my mind but after I came to know you...I...Wait, why are crying? Did I said something wrong!?"

Before she could end her sentence, Martlet panicked upon seeing Clover's tears but he quickly wiped the tears with his tears and smiled at her.

"It'a nothing...it just...it was nice hearing that from you. Thank you...for putting faith in me." Clover said, a sound a relief could be heard in his voice.

While he didn't hear the whole sentence, he couldn't help but tears up. It's almost like he could feel what she wanted to convey and he subconsciously deemed more words were unnecessary.

To communicate his feelings, Clover suddenly hugged Martlet to her surprise but it was short-lived as she also gently embraced the little cowboy. Upon seeing this, Dalv who kept quiet throughout entire conversation was glad that his friends settle their dispute and honestly express their thoughts to one another.

After a rather long time, two of them finally seperated and begin to plan their next course of action.

"So, now what?" Martlet asked as she didn't real think what they would do after they settle their dispute. After a moment of reflection, Cloved answered.

"Hmm...I think it's a good opportunity to visit Snowdin Town."

This answer left Dalv and Martlet flabbergasted, especially the latter as they had a mix feeling due to meeting Undyne just a moment ago.

"Woah woah, Clover wait. I know that the investigation was just abandoned recently but the Captain is still in Snowdin. What if any of the monsters from the Town would notify her or other Royal Guards?"

"I don't think that will be an issue. Besides, Undyne is in the Lowlands which is precisely why it's a good moment to go there now."

Before the trio left the Outpost, Clover turned back for a second then he saw Greater Dog watching them from afar until he turned around and followed Undyne. Despite seeing him, it appears the Royal Guardsman didn't disclose that information as evident by lack of an angry fish monster chasing after them. This gave him an idea for a gamble, a dangerous but an effective one.

"It's about your quest, isn't it?" Dalv asked, who wanted to avoid beating around the bush with which Clover energetically nodded.

"Yes. During my stay in Snowdin, I've gathered some clues about missing humans, one of which leads me to the shopkeeper in Snowdin Town."

"I think I know who is it referring to but is this information credible? What gave you this idea?"

Clover was at first a bit hesitant to answer Martlet's question but if he wanted to use this opportunity, he thought it was now or never to convince them about his plans. This much he was aware of.

"I got that tip from Grillby, the bartender. One day, Sans took me to the pub and that's how I learned that information."

"*Sigh Of course he did..." Martlet pressed her forehead upon hearing about yet another Sans shenanigans. How come the one that proposed to hide Clover in Lower Snowdin in the first place was also very irresponsible Was it merely a prank or...was there a deeper purpose behind it?

After a bit pondering, Martlet looked directy at Clover and asked.

"Clover, I'm sorry to bring this up again but I have to ask. Are you sure this is what you want to do? You are still a child and...don't you think you deserve a peaceful life?" Martlet added with saddened tone. While she wasn't aware of experiences he endured during his previous travels in the Underground, she couldn't escape the feeling of lingering darkness, as if a large shadow casted from behind was enveloping little cowboy, giving him an unreasonable responsibility he is forced to bear.

"I don't believe it's necessary for you to put yourself at risk. I know the Underground isn't perfect but it can be a nice place once you get used to it!"

While Martlet tried to talk him down, it was an attempt doomed from the start.

"Thank you for your kind words, Martlet. But this is a path I want to follow. Even if it wasn't for those humans, I want to do it for myself." After showing off his conviction, he grabbed a tip of his hat and covered his eyes.

"I understand. Regardless, I'm going with you and I won't accept "No" as an answer. What about you, Dalv?" While she knew she couldn't change his mind, at very least she wanted to keep him in safe.

"My friend is in need so I want to go with you....Isn't that how it works?"

Dalv ended his sentence with an awkward pause but Martlet quickly reassured vampire by clapping him on his shoulder.

"Hehe, you are precisely right! We're friends and friends are all about helping other when one of us in a pinch! So, what are waiting for? Let's go on an adventure!"

"We're not exactly on an adventure but...I guess some enthusiasm won't hurt us." Clover made a half-smile upon seeing Martlet's newly regained enthusiasm.

And now with newfound objective, the trio went forward toward Snowdin Highlands in which presumably Clover would be able to do a considerable progress in his quest.

As the trio were moving upward the mountain, thankfully they didn't ran into any complications.

Eventually they reached Snowdin Highlands but they still didn't slow down as they want to risk a chance of meeting Undyne coming from where they came from. Soon, they went past a familar dog house which belonged to Greater Dog. 

Once they encountered the bridge leading to Snowdin Town, Martlet proposed to carry Clover on the other side but he refused as he didn't feel it would be dangerous just like the first time he came in.

Eventually, Clover and Dalv were able to cross the bridge without any issues regardless Martlet was on the edge as if she was expecting the rope was about to split but fortunately no such thing happen.

"Huh...it doesn't seem anything changed since my last visit."

"Not that surprising, this town is a rather peaceful these days. Even a vague rumor could easily become a big talk of the town."

As their brief talk, the trio moved to the closest building which happens to have a "Shop" sign at the top.

"Is this the place, Clover?" Martlet asked as far she was aware that was the only place that would fit the description.

"I think so. The bartender said the shopkeeper may have information I need."

But before they could enter the shop, suddenly Martlet stepped aside and said the following.

"Alright, let's split up for a moment. Dalv, can you keep an eye on Clover while at it?"

"Okay...but is something the matter?" Dalv asked, clearly confused about Martlet's request. 

"It's just...I think I may know some people that could give us some clues."

During their travel, Martlet thought about how she could help the little cowboy with his quest. Despite her efforts, she couldn't come up with anything but then she recalled something very important. Prior to Clover's fall to the Underground, the Royal Guard had to dealt with almost every single case when a Human was spotted in the Underground. Perhaps her former collegues may have something useful to share. She knew that sometimes they like to hang out in the Grillby's.

While she wasn't particulary close with any of them, the bird sees this as a great opportunity to arrange the meeting which could make all the difference.

"Really!? That would be a fantastic news, Martlet!" Clover exclaimed with enthusiasm.

Normally he would be suspicious of when someone would suddenly decide to slip up and go on their own way but it appears the conversation from before, made him more willing to put his trust onto his companions.

Upon seeing the spark in Clover's eyes, Martlet couldn't help but to be proud about her achievement even though her plan has yet to be put in motion.

"Hehe! Worry not, I shall return before you know it!"

After Martlet waved toward Clover and Dalv and ran toward the Grillby's, the duo entered together the shop. Upon getting in, they could see all sort of trinkets and baubles and most importanly a plump purple bunny-like monster behind the counter.

"Hello, travelers. How can I help you?" The shopkeeper greeted them with a smile.

Strangely enough, the shopkeeper was merely wearing a summer hat and a tank tops, Clover found it very unusual considering Snowdin's climate but he knew they were more pressing matters thus he quickly switched his gears and stated the purpose of his visit.

"Umm howdy Miss, we're not here to buy anything but rather to seek information."

"I don't mind some chitchat. How can I help you?" The shopkeeper understood his intention, so she was all ears.

"Hmm, I think it would better if I bring this up on the counter."

After some uncertaintly, Clover put the Tough Glove on the table. After taking a quick glance, the shopkeeper's eyes raised as if she found something a thing she lost long ago.

Even Clover was surprised by the intense reaction.

"!? How?....Where did you find this?" The shopkeeper looked at the travelers, making sure to keep herself composed as much as she can. Fortunatelly, she didn't have to wait long for an explanation.

"I found it inside the Dimensional Box. Is there something you can tell us about the owner of this glove?"

After hearing Clover's question, the shopkeeper crossed her arms, closed her eyes and tilted her head on the side, as if she was pondering about something important.

"Well yes! Hmm...I suppose it's doesn't matter now. It's been a long time since then. But I have to warn you, it's quite a long story."

"I have no issues with it, ma'am." "Me neither." The duo exclaimed their eagerness of hearing out the tale.

"Okay, strap in then. It's a quite a tale if I say so myself."

Afterwards, the shopkeeper lady resided a tale she knew since her childhood:

"Long ago, a human like no other has been spotted. It's been said that they were brave, courageous and incredibly skilled. Yet due to their small posture, they were vastly underestimated by their opponents. Apparenly, the human was merely seeking a good fight, thus they challenged every monster they came across. Even the mighty Royal Guard was no match for the daring youngster. It's only until the Captain of the Royal Guard himself challenged them to a duel. The rumors says you could see two shadowy figures going against each other at the peak of one of highest mountains in Snowdin. Eventually, after an exhausting fight, the Captain yielded and as they agreed before the duel the victor had a right to demand one thing from the loser. Despite defeating him fair and square, the human only had one wish: A desire to challenge the King of Monsters. And thus, the Captain has personally guided human to "the New Home" where King Asgore resided. After some time has passed, the King has announced to the public about the recent acquirement of the 2nd Human Soul. The Monsterkind rejoiced upon hearing the news but they were some monsters that didn't share the enthusiasm. There were rumors that stated one of them none other than the Captain of the Royal Guard himself who a day after the announcement resigned from his post and quit the Royal Guard altogether. Afterwards, he led a much simpler life with his newfound family for the rest of his days."

When the shopkeeper finished her story, the duo was left speechless. It took a moment for them to take it in but before that the shopkeeper broke the silence.

"So what do you think? Don't you have anything to say?" She said with a hint of disappointment as she was expecting more of a reaction.

"My apologies ma'am, it's just..." As Clover was struggling to come up with words, Dalv quickly followed up.

"It's sound like a fairytale...Oh! I'm so sorry! It's not that the story is fake it's ju-"

"None taken. I myself doubted it after I heard it for the first time. Well, there IS a grain of truth to this tale."

"What would it that be?" Clover asked, not hiding his curiosity away on the matter.

"The Captain, he happens to be my long passed grandfather."

"!" "!" Clover grabbed a tip of his hat while Dalv crossed his arms, giving away their astonishment.

"Surprising, isn't it? My parents told me after he quit the Royal Guard, he set up this very shop. As for the gloves, you brought to me today..." The shopkeeper pointed at the Tough Gloves that were placed on the counter.

"They belonged to that human. I heard from my parents that they were given by the King, after grandfather asked for them."

"Why would he want those gloves?" Dalv asked while raising an eyebrow as he was incapable of connecting the dots at the moment. 

"No idea, frankly. He never disclosed his reasons behind his action. Even now, the circumstances behind his resignation are shrouded in mystery to this day."

"And King Asgore would allow him to quit just like that?" Clover said as he couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind Asgore's decision.

"Well, knowing the King that was the least surprising part. He is very kind to us, some monsters even saw him outside of the Castle, talking casually to his subjects! I admit, I'm very impressed of his fortitude especially considering our circumstances. Who knows how it will take before we will get out of this place."

During his stay in the Underground, Clover heard all sort of views regarding Asgore. Some were favourable some...much less. Of course, he could simply write off the shopkeeper's comments as plain bias and yet he felt it wouldn't be wise to rule it out.

Just what made him to stick to his decision from the past, he pondered.

"...What do you think were the reasons behind your grandfather's departure from the Royal Guard?" Clover asked while he was covering his face with his hat.

The shopkeeper lady closed her eyes once and muttered.

"Hmm....I imagine it has something to do with the human. If they were indeed just a kid, I can get why grandfather...may not been so thrilled regarding human's demise. If they were more like that rascal from "Snowdin Attack" incident then... *Sigh I pray that no more innocent lives would need to be sacrificed in order to destroy the barrier."

Dalv briefly shuddered upon hearing "Snowdin Attack" but no one pay attention to him at the time.

Her sentiment was understandable, just like most of the monsterkind she put her faith unto King Asgore's hands and hoped that one day they will be set free. But when she went deeper into her consciousness, she became more conflicted with the potential sacrifice that has to be made. What if any of the following humans won't be just like that one from "Snowdin Attack"?

While Clover couldn't see her eyes, her expression gave it away. Eventually, he determined he got all the information he needed at the moment.

"I see. Thank you for your kind answers, ma'am. I think we will be on our way."

As he was about to take the gloves, the shopkeeper stopped him for the last time.

"Wait, I've something that may interest you."

Once she brought their attention to her, she took out something from below of the counter and put it on the counter. It was a slightly worn out bandana with abs drawn on it.

"Is that...?"

"That's right, it's the other item that used to belong to that human. You can take it, free of charge." The shopkeeper confirmed Clover's suspicion.

"Are you sure? Isn't it sort of a family heirloom?" Dalv asked a sensible question as he was aware of the importance of this item.

"Initially, I wanted to ask you whenever you would be interested in selling those gloves to me but after hearing you out, I figured you may be needing it more than me. Just promise to visit my shop once in while, deal?"

After the lady stated reasoning, the duo looked at each other and nodded.

"I appreciate your help, ma'am. I will make sure to not waste your generosity." "Thank you very much for helping Clover." The duo thanked for the shopkeeper's assistance, this would certainly drew them ever closer to completing the quest.

"Bye now! Come again sometime!"

As the shopkeeper lady was waving at them, they left the shop. They had a lot of discuss with each other, not to mention they have to wait for Martlet to come back.

It looks like it will be a looong day for the trio.

Chapter Text

After the duo left the shop, they remained at it's entrance, patiently awaiting for Martlet's return. Meanwhile, Clover's face kept the same unmoving expression as he was trying to absorb all the information he just learned a moment ago.

"Hey....are you okay, Clover?" - Dalv asked the cowboy who deep in his thoughts.

"Ah! I'm sorry for being quiet. I was just thinking about the conversation."

"I understand, it was quite a story." - Dalv nodded in understanding.

"Yes, yes! By the way...can I ask something about that incident you had been apart of? I know it may b-"

"Ask away. I'm your friend, I will be glad to help you."

Dalv merely smiled but he did appreciate Clover's thoughtfulness about the matter.

"Thank you...I was wondering, do you know the name of a companion you had back when you were confronted by that human? I don't believe I ever ask about it."

"Hmm...I believe her name was Kanako."

"Kanako..."

As Clover was making sure to keep the name in mind, Dalv continued talking.

"She was a rather cheerful girl. Although...after we seperated, we hadn't seen each other since. I hope...that experience wasn't too traumatizing." - Dalv said as he sadly side-glanced,

"So you have no clue about her whearabouts? I see...that was more than enough. Thank you, Dalv."

"Actually, I think you could be become good friends!"

"Friends...then I will look forward to it."

Right after they ended the conversation, someone was yelling at them.

"Clooover! *Ugh Daaaalv!"

They saw exhausted Martlet running toward them.

"Are you alright?" - Dalv asked with concern.

"Don't worry! I'm fine, i'm fine...Wait, there is no time for rest. I've successfully arranged a meeting. We can go right now if you want to."

"That easily?" - Clover subconciously raised an eyebrow, suspecting that there is a catch.

"Well, I didn't disclose that you are human...and also they are Royal Guards...However, they are off-duty right now, I assure you they are nice monsters once you get to know them! Hehe..."

Clover and Dalv looked at each other then after brief silence the vampire monster has spoken.

"Are you sure they can be trusted? What if they found out Clover is a human? Wouldn't that put you in a tough spot?"

"I don't believe that it would come to this. Besides..."  

Martlet whispered something but thankfully no one noticed. After some consideration, the boy decided.

"I think it's worth a shot." - Clover said.

Dalv already slighlty nodded as he expected the outcome.

"Martlet, can you lead us to the meeting?"

And thus the duo followed Martet to a place Clover was quite familiar with.

Once they entered the locale, strangely enough it was dark inside.

"Are you sure we are at the place?" - Dalv asked Martlet.

"That's strange...there was still light right before I le-"

As she was about end the sentence, the door closed right behind them, startling the little cowboy. Soon a light appeared and highlighted a table with familiar faces awaiting the newcomers.

"Sit down, dear guest."

A deep voice has spoken, suggesting to take a seat. Dalv and Martlet were puzzled about the situation meanwhile Clover didn't hesitate and already took a seat at the table. The duo decided it would be for the best to watch over him from afar.

"H-Howdy, fellas." - Clover nervously greeted the monsters that were already at the table.

"...Hmpf."

"Woof! (Hello!)"

"My, my. Aren't this puppy adorable?" "Shh, aren't we suppose to be intimidating or something?" 

The other monsters were Royal Guards he met when he was travelling through Snowdin for the first time. While each one greeted him in different fashion and yet for some reason there was a tense atmosphere. Or perhaps it's merely the mind that is playing tricks with little boy.

"Are you familiar with poker?" - Doggo asked Clover upon which the latter slightly nodded.

"Good."

Then a deck of cards appeared in the air and soon they gave each player two cards. Fortunately, Clover was very familiar with poker thanks to his love for wild west movies and it happens that "Texas Holdem" was a rather common poker format that was utilized in those movies.

Once he looked at beneath the cards just like other players, he find out he has a pair of fives with both of them being a red color. A rather promising opening hand.

Afterwards the blinds appeared right next to two player, Dogamy payed his 25$ small blind while Clover 50$ blind. Each contestant has 250$ each, it appears the game is set.

"I'm gonna call."

"Woof! (Calling!)"

"What do you think, dear?" "Hmm...I think we will play."

All players called, Clover wasn't familiar with their playstyles thus he decided it would be better to play it safe for now.

"I'm checking."

The flop has magically appeared on the table which consist of: A King Of Spades, 2 Of Hearts and A Jack Of Diamonds. As Doggo checked, Lesser Dog had different plans.

"Woof! (Let's make it more interesting!)" - Lesser Doggo raised the bet by 33$.

"We accept the challenge." "Wait, are you sure?" - Dogamy called, unfortunately he didn't heed his wife's calling.

"Call." - Clover played along while maintaining calm.

"Bah, I fold."

Another card appeared and it was a 10 Of Hearts, Clover was very close to get "Flush" on his first ever game.

"Woof! (Raise!)"

But Lesser Dog raised the stakes by 33$ once again!

"We will..." "Fold! Have you seen our hand, dear!?" - Dogaressa scolded her husbard before he had a chance to call.

With two players remaining, the last card appeared but Clover's face soon fallen into despair as it was a King Of Diamonds, just one-off.

Soon both players checked and revealed their respective hands. Clover had a Two Pair but Lesser Dog has a Full House with 3 Kings and 2 Jacks, making him a winner.

"Woof! Woof! (Heck yea! That's what I'm talking about!)"

As Lesser Dog was collecting all newly gained chips, Clover was a bit sullen about the loss. Luckily before he could forget his reason behind coming to Grillby's in the first place, Doggo started the conversation.

"So. I heard you are gathering intel regarding the fallen humans, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir. Do you know something about it?"

The first to respond to his question were the dog couple.

"Hmm...I don't think so?" "Oh no, at least not more than an average monster. Me and husband just joined the Royal Guard recently."

"Woof! Woof, woof!" (The only one I'm most familiar with is that one from "Snowdin Attack". According to witnesses, they eventually fled to the Waterfall and never seen again. Apparently much later, another human was spotted in the Underground, however they never stood their feet in Snowdin so very likely they took a completely different route.)"

"I see..."

While most information Clover already knew, the part about potentially different path from the Ruins got his interest but before he could ponder, Dogamy called out to Doggo who has yet to speak.

"I'm surprised you are staying quiet. Aren't you in the Royal Guard for much longer than all of us here?"

"Yes, I may have something to share. But..."

As he was about to end the sentence, Doggo nailed the dagger on the table top. All players could feel the tremor that was engulfing the whole table.

"I would never tell such a thing to anyone, you see. Unless, you do something for me."

"And that is...?" - Clover said as he stared back at the monster.

He knew there was something off about Doggo's behaviour in comparison to their first meeting. Then Doggo grabbed one of his chips.

"A bet. If you win, I will tell you what you want to hear. But if you lose, you will give yourself up and we deliver you straight to the capital...human."

"!" "!" - Dalv and Martlet who were silent this whole time flinched upon hearing the word "Human".

Doggo continued talking even after seeing Clover's furrowed eyebrows.

"But...if you walk away now, we will all pretend this meeting never happened. On the other hand, you would have to abandon your little quest of yours."

As Doggo made the whole room speechless, Martlet came closer to the boy and whispered.

"Clover...I'm sorry, we shouldn't come here after all. We will figure something out, ju-"

Before she could advice Clover to not act rashly, he put forward all chips he had.

"I accept the challenge."

Clover looked defiantly at the monster, making clear he won't get myself intimidated. Not after he everything went through.

Chapter Text

As Clover put forward the chips, Dalv attempted to reason with him.

"Clover, this is not a time for jokes." - Dalv said sternly.

"Sorry Dalv but I'm serious." - Clover replied, remaining unwavered.

"But why....?" - Martlet asked, confused about cowboy's confidence.

After a moment of reflection, he turned around and looked at his friends and made a gentle smile.

"This is simply who I am."

"Clover..."

Clover struggled with resolve and while he still thinks he lacks a clear vision of the bigger picture, he doesn't want to run away anymore. Not until he fulfills his dearest wish.

Then the boy turned back and looked at Doggo.

"Before we begin, I will be settled with this arrangement on one condition."

"And that is?" - Doggo asks, raising his eyebrow.

Clover then pointed at Dalv and Martlet who stood right beside him.

"Regardless of the outcome, these two won't be punished for helping and hiding me away from the Royal Guard."

"...What if we don't comply?"

Despite being blind, Doggo's stare was quite intense as if he could clearly see what little cowboy was doing. As he was staring at Clover with squinted eyes, Clover drew his trusty firearms with a little twirl and then put it on the table for everyone to see.

"Then I will make sure justice will be served."

As he said it, Clover's eyes glinted yellow for a few seconds before it faded away. That moment couldn't go unnoticed as monsters felt a great pressure, making Royal Guards feel unease.

"Woof...(This is seriously nerve-wracking.)"

"I think we should stay out of this, dear." "Fully agreed."

Neither Lesser Dog or the Dog couple weren't feeling in interrupting the staredown between Doggo and Clover. After some intense silence which felt as if it lasted forever, the former eventually folded by closing his eyes.

"Very well, I accept."

Immediately the cards appeared right beside them, the final game could finally begun in earnest. After both players had shown their hands, Clover looked at Doggo's cards. A King Of Spades and a 10 Of Spades against Ace Of Hearts and 6 Of Hearts.

The odds were seemingly in his favour and yet the nervousness couldn't go away. To calm himself, Clover closed his eyes. During this silence, there was a sound of cards slowly being put at the center of the table. After the fifth card was placed, no one made any sounds. After the boy opened his eyes, he looked around and saw everyone but Doggo's surprised expression. Some of which had mouths wide open.

Eventually Clover glanced at the point of interest, he froze. Queen Of Clubs, 2 Of Hearts, 3 Of Hearts, 4 Of Hearts and 5 Of Hearts.

"...You have won." - Doggo said with the hint of relief.

"Woof, woof! (That's crazy, this is first I've ever seen someone getting Straight Flush.)"

"Yay! You did Clover!" - Martlet shouted as she embraced the little comboy.

Soon, the lights went back on in the establishment, dissipating the tension while bringing joy alongside it. Immediately after Doggo stood up.

"I shall keep my end of the deal. Human, I will await you outside."

After the monster left, Martlet finally could share her grievances.

"Uff, I'm glad everything turned out fine but...which of you decided to make the spectacle out of it!?" - Martlet exclaimed as she glared at the remaining Royal Guards.

"D-Don't look at us." "Sorry, after you left Doggo came up with an idea to "test" the human. But please believe me, we didn't mean any harm!"

"Woof! (Grillby also played along so it isn't only our fault!)"

Lesser Dog pointed at the bartender who merely waved, once everyone looked at his direction. Not paying attention to the occuring conflict, Clover sought an answer for something he pondered after he entered Grillby's.

"Out of curiosity, when did you find out I was a human?"

To his question, the Dog couple looked at each other and has taken the initiative.

"How else could it be, little puppy?" "We saw you with the birdie over here a few times." - Dogamy pointed at Martlet who busy scolding Lesser Dog.

"On behalf of my friend here, thank you for not capturing Clover." - Dalv expressed his gratitude with a little bow.

"Ohoho, don't fret it. Isn't that right?" "We just don't believe it was a right to do."

"...But aren't you close to regaining freedom?"

As Clover was covering his fate with the cowboy hat, the couple had a difficulty in answering the question. Then Dogamy knelt before Clover who soon took a notice of his action.

"Listen, little puppy. A lot of monsterkind still resenting humans, hell we are too but..." "We aren't so foolish to treat every human the same way. If possible, we would prefer to avoid ending the lives of innocent."

The Royal Guard was never an easy job. The monsterkind who are made of "Hopes and Dreams" has an natural aversion to violence. It's only after the unfortunate incident which caused both the prince and the human perishing prematurely, this was even considered an option in the first place. After learning through various means about Clover, the couple didn't have any regrets in not capturing human even if it meant going against the orders of the King himself.

"I see. Thank you for your words, means a lot."

After they share a precious smiles, Clover looked at Dalv.

"I think I will now go outside. Do you mind if I go by myself?"

He expected some resistance after what just transpired a moment ago but surprisingly the vampire merely nodded and sended the boy on his way.

"After some consideration, I'm more at ease to let you go by yourself. Me and Martlet will be waiting for you here after you're done."

"I assure you the kid's safety is guaranteed." "He may be a bit grumpy but he means well." - The couple reassured Clover.

After he bid farewell to the couple, Clover left the building to meet up with the blinded Royal Guardsman.

Doggo eventually led Clover to a Hidden Grove, far away from the town.

"Where are we going?"

"To the place long forgotten by the time." - Doggo replied, not elaborating further.

As they were going through a narrow path, at the end a rather small gravestone could be found partially covered by snow. Clover looked at the monster for explanation but he pointed at the place, implying that he should check it out.

Not having a better idea, Clover alone got closer to the gravestone and uncovered the writing on it.

"....!"

"May the human rest in peace."

Despite hearing footsteps, Clover didn't bother to turn around however Doggo wasn't waiting for him and has spoken regardless.

"After the King took the human's soul alongside their body, a monster built a memorial to commemorate their memory."

"When...did it happen?" - Clover said, struggling to maintain composure.

After a bit of a silence, the dog monster recited a story he knew too well.

"After King Asgore declared war on the humanity, the Royal Guard was established and soon they made preparations in case another human may fell into the Underground. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to wait for long. One day, a scout reported that a human girl had just entered Snowdin. The Captain ordered to set up a trap, once the human approached the spot, the monsters jumped out of the hiding spot. The ambush was successful and human perished without much resistance. Monsters were rejoicing upon their victory but someone wasn't as thrilled. Despite that, little puppy delivered a finishing blow, soon he came to regret his deeds as the image of a frightened girl who stumbled when trying to flee, was burned into his mind. After some time, the puppy had built this in secret to make sure that this injustice won't be forgotten. The fate however had different plans as despite wanting to make up for his deed, he was never able to fullfil his vow."

Afterwards, the silence engulfed the place. The frosty wind was the only one that was accompaniating the two. Finally Clover asked monster to verify his suspicion.

"What...What would he do once the opportunity arises?"

Despite being blind, Doggo was able to perfectly turned his head to where Clover was and stared directly at the little cowboy.

"Whatever is necessary."

Suddenly Clover saw his SOUL coming out of his chest. Before him in the frosty wind stood a lone Royal Guardsman who was eagery awaiting his next move.

Chapter Text

"..."

Once the battle has begun, Clover quickly drew his weapon and aimed at the blinded dog monster. The latter was standing still as if he awaiting cowboy's judgement.

And yet, the boy's uncertainty immobilized him.

"Just kill him! He is literally asking for it!"

"Please do not! He didn't had a choice!"

Two voices from his head manifested on his shoulders. Despite not having a physical form, it almost gave an impression as if they were real all along.

"Oh c'mon...Are you seriously going let the murderer slips away from your grasp? Have you truly gotten so soft?" - The voice on the left said mockingly.

"If you do this...you won't ever forgive yourself...and all our efforts to become better would be all in vain..." - The voice on the right said in much quieter tone.

Clover from the past wouldn't certainly hesitate to pull the trigger however...was that truly wants? Is his path damned to be a bloody one, regardless of his intentions?

As both figures were standing still, they were watched by certain onlookers although they made to stay out of sight. Eventually, the boy came to a conclusion.

> [SPARE]

As the colors were coming back, Clover put back his firearm after a quick spin. Doggo sensing that the battle was over, has finally spoken.

"...Is that your choice?"

"Yes. Would you prefer if I did what you wished?" - Clover asked with a hint of curiosity.

"...Can I be honest for a moment?"

After a moment, Clover nodded. Then Doggo has finally dropped his guard and came back to his usual attitude.

"*Sigh* Sorry kid. I'm not usually the one that get so serious. But after I heard about you I wanted to test you and...nevermind. I'm too old to get worked up by the stuff like this, what I was thinking..." - Doggo stated as he was scratching his head.

It appears he realized how much he was asking of the little cowboy before him. Upon hearing monster's explanation, Clover slightly smiled and made a jest.

"No problem although you seem doing quite well despite the blindness."

"That's what everyone says. By the way, why a kid like you is here down below? You seem to be far from a little pup that got lost in the woods."

Initially he thought, Clover is seeking revenge but right now, he couldn't help but to be dumbfounded.

Clover looked at the sky and stared for a moment at the darkness that made impossible to see the ceiling then he took of his and pressed it to his chest.

"My goal to find out what happened to the humans that fell here in the Underground and to learn about the Monsterkind who are inhabiting it."

There are still a lot of things to discover in this place far different from the surface. Despite all the newly gathered knowledge, it feels like he barely reached the tip of the icerberg. 

"Quite a goal for a kid like you. But...what are you planning after? Would you confront the King?"

The King Of Monsters, the final destination of his voyage. Clover had an issue to come up with an answer. 

"...I would like at least to learn the truth from the King. Whatever may happen next...I swear on my SOUL that justice shall illuminate the path for us all."

Doggo merely turned at where the grave. He felt he heard everything he needed to know.

"Then I will pray things will work out at the end. You should go back now or your friends would get worried."

"? What about you?"

"It's been a while since I visited here. I will stay for a little longer." - Doggo explained himself afterwards there no objections.

"I see, thank you for showing me this place."

After Clover thanked the Royal Guardsman, as he was about to leave Doggo suddenly stopped him.

"Oh one more thing. I noticed there are vines wrapped around your SOUL. Are you okay?"

Then it felt as if his heart had dropped. He almost forgot about his "deal" with Flowey and no one brought that fact in the past.

"A-Ah. No, it's nothing special. Thank you for your concern."

"...Alright, kid. If you say so."

The monster could hear the nervousness in Clover's voice but he decided to drop the subject as he was suspecting the boy wasn't willing to talk about it.

After Clover left Doggo by himself, soon the observers also disappeared in the darkness.

It wasn't long until Clover find his way back to Snowdin Town, Dalv and Martlet were already waiting outside of Grillby's.

"Oh. What about the Royal Guard?" - Dalv asked as he quickly noticed the monster was nowhere to be seen.

"He wanted to do something so I left him alone."

"I see, I see! So what were you talking about?" - Martlet asked as her eyes glittered with curiosity.

Clover was more than eager to tell his friends about what transpired in that hidden grove. Well, almost everything. He didn't feel disclosing the contents regarding their final conversation after the fight was fair without Doggo's consent.

"So this kind of place exist here huh..." - Martlet mumbled as she was nodding along.

"I'm glad you made progress, Clover. Do you have any plans what to do next?"

"I think I want to rest for today. What about you, Dalv? Are you going to stay in Snowdin?"

"Hmm...I think I will walk around for a bit longer then go back to Ruins. Initially it was suppose to be a small excursion." - Dalv responded with an awkward smile.

"Ah...we did kinda dragged you along. Sorry about that."

As Clover was scratching his head, the vampire quickly corrected him.

"No need. I'm happy we got reunited and spend some time together. I even got oppotunity to find a new friend!"

Dalv found his time hardly wasted in such a joyful company.

"I suppose it's a good time to go back to my house. Although, I wonder if Captain is still in Lower Snowdin..."

As Martlet was wondering, someone unexpectedly solved the mystery for her.

"it's fine. undyne just recently went back."

"Is that right? Thank th-Ahhh! Sans, what did I say about sneaking from my back!?" - Clover screamed in surprise as a certain skeleton kept doing his usual antics.

"c'mon kiddo. you should be used by now." - Sans said, unbothered as usual.

"Oh, is that one of your friends Clover?" - Dalv asked as he was intrigued by the newcomer.

"I guess you can say that. His name i-"

"name's sans. sans the skeleton."

Before Clover could introduce him, Sans get in the way and did it himself and non-verbally asked for a handshake.

"I'm Dalv, nice to mee-"

*Pffffft

As they shook their hands, a sound could be heard in near vicinity. Meanwhile, Dalv blushes from embarrassment while Martlet is desperately fighting herself to not do a facepalm. But there was at least one person that was enjoying himself.

"hehe, the old whoope cushion in the hand trick. it is always funny."

To save her newfound friend from things getting more awkward, Martlet wanted a clarification from Sans.

"Just to be clear Sans, you mentioned Captain is not longer in the Lower Snowdin, Is that right?"

"yep, the coast is clear. she is currently chilling in the outpost."

As they were sub-conciously ignoring Sans's pun, Clover and Martlet looked at each other.

"Yes, I believe it's a good time to go back."

Clover nodded as he was in the agreement. It was rather a good timing all things considered.

After they bid each other farewell, soon they went on their seperate ways and this escapade came to an end.

But for the little cowboy, he would be forced to think about the course of action after a short respite.