This Can't Be How The Story Ends - Professor_Fizz (2024)

Chapter 1: Martlet casually commits treason

Chapter Text

Martlet exits the throne room, tears in her eyes as she slowly shuffles towards the stairs. Was this really how it ends? She had been sure Asgore could be talked down, she had placed Clover's life on it! Now...

Now he's in there... Waiting for his death.

She thinks back to the events of the day. Meeting Clover at her station, riding her boat through waterfall (He was the first person to give her a perfect score on the survey!), Crashing in the dunes... Abandoning Clover until he made his way to the Oasis... Getting locked up by Starlo and his gang.

And then all that business with Ceroba. She had really thought Ceroba was trying to help Clover, just as she was! But it was all an act. She couldn't believe what she'd seen on those tapes. Besides putting a whole new perspective on her mentor, it called into question everything she had believed until that point.

Then they found Ceroba, and she was knocked out.. and when she woke up, Ceroba was gone. Clover had killed her.

Not that she blamed him, not really. She knew Ceroba was after Clover's SOUL, so he was entirely acting in self defense, but... Someone is still dead. And soon that number will rise, because she just LEFT CLOVER WITH ASGORE TO BE KILLED!

"What am I doing?! I can't let this happen!" She turns on her heel (or bird equivalent) and darts back into the throne room, quickly dashing through the door in the back.

"I will make this quick." She hears, spurring her even further. Bursting into the barrier and being momentarily stunned by both the nature of the room and the containers of souls, she shakes her head.

"I won't let you do this Asgore King Sir!" She hurries out, pointing a wing at the very confused monster while simultaneously pushing Clover behind her. "Clover deserves better than this! They went through so much to be here!"

"Miss Martlet-" He's interrupted by the bird simply lifting up Clover, who is snapped out of his shock and starts squirming in her grasp. "Nope, don't care! Uh- sorry! I'm not letting you do this!" She quickly sprints back the way she came (Stumbling twice and tripping completely in the throne room), leaving behind a shocked Asgore.

"Martlet, let me down!" Clover yells, doing his back to squirm out of her remarkably tight grasp. How is she holding him so tightly anyway? She doesn't have hands.

"You'll thank me later, Clover! Just gotta get back to Snowdin, and then I'll make you some nice soup, if I still have the ingredients for it, I'll have to check, I haven't had a chance to go shopping you know? And then you fell on the day I was gonna go so I might not have any left and I just really need to get you home okay?!"

Wow, she's serious isn't she? He didn't think she had it in her. He knew she was tough, he'd died to her once or twice the first time they met but this was unexpected. Deciding squirming is futile, he simply goes limp in her wings, pouting under his hat.

After running out of the castle and heading into New Home, she realizes she can't exactly fly while holding Clover, and getting back to Snowdin is probably not a great idea right now anyway if Asgore decides to look for them... That only leaves...

"Starlo..." She sighs, already dreading the reunion. "Well, guess we're ripping that band-aid off a little earlier than I had hoped. Don't set him off, please? He's gonna be mad, I know it."

"You could just let me go back to Asgore, ya know."

"Nope! Dunes it is!" She runs through the streets, her eyes darting behind her. Realistically she knew Asgore wouldn't be able to call any guards up this fast, but she was still on edge. It's not long before she slides into the elevator they used to get into this disaster in the first place.

Hastily pressing the button with her shoe, she finally allows herself to breathe. "Listen, I'm... I'm sorry for leaving you there. I mean, I know you wanted me to leave, but... It still felt wrong of me." She sets him down. "But, uh, since I've committed treason now, why not give living with me a shot?"

Clover crosses his arms, huffing. "I want to go back." He was not giving up this easily, he had to go back! For the kids, for Ceroba!

"Clover, I don't want anyone else to die today."

He looks at the ground, his hat obscuring his eyes. She could not have said a worse thing right now. Now he doesn't even know what to do anymore.

"I know you have this mission you came down here for. Maybe we can figure out something together? It's better than throwing away your life at least." She nervously chuckles, some feathers falling off her. From stress, likely. "Please, Clover. Please."

He sighs, removing his hat and running his hand through his unkept hair. "Okay. But only until we find some way to save the humans. I still gotta finish my mission."

Martlet gives him a beaming smile, kneeling down to give him a crushing hug.

"M-Martlet! Can't breathe...!" He wails, pushing against her in an attempt to escape her rib cracking embrace. This bird could hug like a champ!

"Oh! Sorry." She lets him go and stands up again, before awkwardly patting the child's hat. "Well... We'll figure things out. Partners in crime! Just like before!" She holds out his wing, to which Clover gives a small smile and fist bumps it.

"Yeah. Partners in crime." He puts his hat back on just as the elevator doors open.

The lobby is empty, the late hour meaning everyone has either left or is sleeping. Only the receptionist remains, although it kind of seems like she's sleeping at her post... How does a hand sleep anyway?

"Just a short trip... Despite how... Uh, distraught Starlo is, I don't think he'll turn his back on you. At least I hope not..." A question surfaces on her mind as they move towards the elevator to the Steamworks. Before she can even think about what she's saying, she just blurts it out.

"Hey, uh, actually... What happened between you and Ceroba while we were knocked out? She seemed... Very tough. How did you... 'beat' her?"

Clover feels the gun in his holster, normally it would be comforting for him, but now... It feels wrong. He still doesn't know why he pulled the trigger on Ceroba. She was beaten already, even if she asked for it... Why did he do that?

"She attacked me... And I attacked back. That's all." He mutters, rubbing some tears away from his eyes. He was not thinking about this right now.

Why did she even ask that? Of course he's not ready to talk about it, it happened less than an hour ago. And he's a kid! An actual child! She really needs to get her head on straight, and fast.

After a quick trip through the Steamworks, they exit into the dunes, Clover walking noticeably slower now that they're back out under the swelterstone. "They're probably gonna cover that up soon.... We should get going."

The two continue off towards the Wild East, while a Flower pops out of the dirt a ways behind them. "How interesting... Normally I'd intervene in such a boring outcome like him going to live with that birdbrain, but... This is new. And I like new things."

He weighs his options. On the one hand, this could just as easily be a dead end timeline like all the others. On the other... Maybe this is the change he's been looking for after all this time. He's not sure why this happened after so long of the same routine, but why complain?

Of course, he doesn't have hands. So there's only one real option ahead of him.

He grins, bouncing with excitement. Oh, How he can't wait to play with this new outcome. "Heh, I'll let this one go for just a bit! He can always go back, of course... Not that he'll remember... I've got all the time in the world." He sinks back into the ground with a fit of psychotic laughter.

Clover hears something echo across the canyon, but checking behind him reveals nothing. Not that he has any doubt what it was.

Flowey's always watching.

Chapter 2: Adult soda can't save you now

Chapter Text

Sure enough, after only a couple minutes of walking, a sudden darkness is casted over the dunes, the swelterstone being covered for the night. Only the lights of the Wild East remain, acting as a beacon for the bird and human child.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to see Starlo right now?" Clover asks, wringing his hands a bit. "He does have a good reason to be mad at me, you know?"

"Er, well, maybe. But what choice do we have? We just need to lie low for a bit, and... And I don't think Starlo meant what he said back there." Or at least she really, really hopes he didn't.

They come into the town square, empty, of course. All the residents have gone to sleep. But, one place is still open. Dina's bar closes late, after all.

The two enter, gently pushing open the doors, but that doesn't stop the entire saloon from turning to look at them both. "Um, hi?" Martlet waves a bit, moving Clover behind her a little. "We were looking for Star- Er, Sheriff North Star? Is he around?"

"What are ya doin here, Feathers?" Comes a tired sounding voice from the back of the bar. "Ain't you supposed to be headin back to Snowdin by now?"

The sheriff is disheveled, as one would be after their best friend was killed only a short hour ago. There's several empty mugs on the table beside him, Dina only having just now cut him off. (A drunk sheriff is bad for everyone.)

"We-" North Star hisses upon noticing Clover behind the bird, cutting her off. "Damn it all, I thought the kid was supposed to be gone already! What are ya doin bringing him back here?!"

"Language, mister!" Dina shouts at him, her snakes hissing back at him. "This is a family friendly bar."

Starlo raises a hand in apology. "My bad Dina, sorry."

"...Anyway, Asgore was gonna... You know. I swiped Clover away before he could, and now we need a place to hide for a bit. We thought you might help."

The sheriff lets out a loud laugh, slapping the table with his mug. "You kiddin? After what that kid did you want to hide out HERE? You want me to help you? You can't be serious, Feathers."

The tension is pretty high in the bar at the point, the unspoken question of what North Star is referring to almost answering itself with the complete absence of Ceroba, who has never missed a night at the bar since Kanako fell down.

Martlet, starting to break out in a nervous sweat, scoots closer to the sheriff's table. "Starlo, c'mon, please. He's just a kid."

"Oh, a kid is he? That makes everything peachy now, don't it? And don't call me that! It's sheriff North Star, and don't you go forgetting it again."

"Right, right, North Star. Look, I know things are rough right now, but you can't turn your back on him!"

"Feathers, as far as I'm concerned, he betrayed my trust the moment he pulled the trigger on Ceroba."

The rest of the patrons, not so subtlety listening to the conversation between the two, gasp in shock at the reveal. Dina in particular is so shocked she fumbles holding a glass, it dropping to the floor and shattering, causing all other conversations in the bar to stop.

"Star, you don't mean...?"

"Yup. Sorry to break it to you like this everyone, but Ceroba is gone. And that kid right there is the culprit." He goes to point at where Clover was standing before, but he's no longer there. "Wait, where'd he go?"

Martlet turns her head around, gasping. "Clover?! CLOVER?!"

"Mmm, relax, I'm right here." Clover waves from the bar stool behind Dina. "This adult soda doesn't taste like anything, why do you guys like it so much?" Dina swipes the bottle away from him. "You're payin for that, kid."

"Yeah..." He sets down the G, getting of the stool and walking over to Starlo's table. "Sheriff North Star, from the bottom of my heart, I am so, so sorry. I... I don't know why I did what I did. I hope you can forgive me."

"Forgive? I'm only tolerating your presence here because of these drinks, Clover. We're nowhere close to 'forgive'. Not when I can still feel her dust on my fingers."

Martlet is starting to regret coming here. In hindsight, they could've just laid low in the Steamworks! She doesn't know anything about the place, but Clover does, surely there wouldn't be much of an issue there?

"But..." Starlo sighs, leaning onto the table, as if all the fight has left him. "I suppose the Five can help you. You're not staying at our place, ain't no way. But one of them might have some idea of where to put you for the time being."

"Really? Thank you Starlo!" Martlet beams, rushing him for a hug. WOW this bird can hug, that hurts!

"Angel, Feathers! You got a death grip, let me go! And don't call me that around here!"

"Oh, sorry! Heh, that's twice now... Maybe I shouldn't hug people. Anyway, where are the others now?"

"Sleepin, 'course. It's late. So, good luck with that."

Martlet deflates, groaning. "Alright... C'mon Clover, we'll find somewhere to sleep for the night." She holds out a wing for him, which he accepts with a frown, staring at the floor.

"And Deputy..." Clover turns around, finally taking in just how ragged and defeated he looks. "I know the situation was complicated. But I can't forgive you. You killed her, and we both have to live with that ."

Clover nods, turning back around and letting Martlet lead him out of the bar. "Well, that went... Not terribly, all things considered. Are you doing okay?"

"Mhmm."

Well, that was the worst lie she's ever heard. But she's too tired to address it, she already knew he wasn't fine.

"Alright! Now just... Gotta find a place to sleep." She takes a look around at the surrounding buildings. The jail? No, she's spent more than enough time in there today. The clinic? Uh, no. Absolutely not. That doctor has something really off about him. That only leaves the barn... Well, something's better than nothing.

"Guess we'll have to use the barn. You think anyone will mind? Maybe I should leave a note... Shoot, but I left my notepad at home. Maybe I can borrow somebody else's notepad? Do you think anyone has one?" She looks down at Clover, who stares back at her with his normal neutral expression.

"...Right, sorry. Doesn't matter. Let's just get some sleep and figure things out in the morning." The two enter the barn, it being thankfully empty. Clover was a little worried that horse that's actually a monster would be in here.

"Well just pick a straw pile! Or, hay bale? Maybe that won't be super comfortable. Whatever works for you!" She smiles, patting Clover's hat.

Clover walks over to one of the straw piles, trying his best to get comfortable. He doesn't succeed, but he feels himself getting tired anyway. This wasn't really what he was expecting when he woke up this morning. Then again, he didn't really know what to expect when he jumped down here.

In retrospect, maybe he should've come more prepared. Without Flowey, he would've died in Snowdin. To Martlet, no less. Or at least, that's what Flowey told him. He couldn't actually remember ever having died, but the flower loved to point out when he did.

That's kinda messed up, actually. Why did he not think about this before? He didn't really see the flower as a proper friend given, well, he had seen him less than Dalv even. But you don't really want to get on the bad side of someone who's saving you from death.

Death... He was on the verge of it. For real, that time. Something about that encounter with Asgore felt... Final. As if even Flowey couldn't change the outcome. But then... Martlet.

Clover couldn't get a good read on the bird. She seemed smart, yet airheaded. Confident, yet insecure. Like her personality was ultimately contradictory. And to commit treason for a human child she only met today? Maybe there's more to her that he hasn't seen yet.

"Hey, Clover? I wanted to thank you for... Well, being here, I suppose. Before you came along I was... Coasting, is the word I'm being generous using. No direction in life, yadda yadda. But now I feel like I have a proper purpose! Oh, oh no. I don't have a job anymore, do I? How am I gonna support you? Or myself?!"

"Martlet, go to sleep."

"But-"

"Martlet."

She sighs, leaning back on her straw pile. Only then does she feel how tired she really is. Her eyes flitter closed, and she quickly nods off. Soft cooing fills the air in the barn as a result.

Clover shakes his head, turning over and trying (and failing once again) to get comfortable. After many attempts and becoming even more exhausted, he's finally able to nod off, letting the soft cooing of his bird companion lull him to sleep.

Chapter 3: Clover's second day in the underground

Chapter Text

Sleeping on straw sucks. It's scratchy, bumpy, and irritating. Clover hates straw now. But hay, he's feeling well rested.

He slides off of the pile and looks over at Martlet, who's still sleeping, splayed out in an awkward position. He wonders how that's even comfortable for her, maybe her feathers? Probably her feathers.

Not that he is completely sure, but it must still be early. The swelterstone is still covered, and as such the only light is coming from some street lamps outside. He wonders if Dina's place is still open... He's getting pretty hungry.

Walking out of the barn, he only sees a few monsters wandering around, the early risers like himself. However, among this group, he spots Moray leaning against the clinic, deep in thought.

He's about to ignore them and head into the saloon, but they look up before they can even move. "...Morning Clover." They say, seemingly struggling to say anything else.

He nods, walking over to them. He's hungry, but he's also polite. No reason to ignore them now.

"Mornin, Moray." He greets back, somewhat timidly. Feels like he's had to talk a lot more lately. Takes some getting used to after so long of not doing it.

"So... Star told us everything." Jumping straight to the point, lovely. He definitely wanted to have this conversation first thing in the morning. Yep. First thing on his to do list for sure.

"I just wanna say I'm not against you for it. We all know what Ceroba was trying to do, so having to fight back is... Understandable. Me and the others aren't gonna hold it against you, promise."

He sighs in relief. Starlo's words from the night before are still rattling around in his head, and he didn't think he could take anymore hits like that so soon.

"T-Thanks... Um, I'm staying with Martlet now. Or, I'm gonna, once we find a place." Moray nods, gesturing for him to follow them. "Yeah, I know. Star told us that too. C'mon, we've put together a little spot for you two. At least for the time being."

They take him to a small cabin on the edge of town, which looks to be pretty run down. "Now I know it's not the prettiest place out there, but just think of it as camouflage! Not even the royal guard will bother checking for you two in there!" They grin at him, him scratching the back of his head.

"It doesn't look like that on the inside too, does it?"

"No. Definitely not. Ed and Ace definitely aren't in there right now cleaning it up." They sweat, looking away from him.

"Okay... Well, thank you. All of you. I'll show Martlet when she wakes up." As he finishes his sentence, the door bursts open, Ed coughing his lungs out as dust flies everywhere. "Darn it Ace, it's just a cobweb! Stop thrashing around everywhere, you're killing me with all this dust!"

Moray sweats even further, Clover raising an eyebrow at them. "Should I wait to tell her?"

"Yes please do not bring her here yet." They nod insistently. Ed walks down the steps, brushing himself off. "Mornin, kid. Sorry about all that, apparently Ace has got something against spiders. Kept yelling about croissants too, not sure why."

"How long do you think it'll take before it's clean?" He asks, struggling to look up at Ed. Seriously, he's massive. Half the time you just end up staring at his biceps. Might just be him though.

"Eh... Hard to say. Whenever Ace calms down and we actually get started again I'd give it a few hours. This place hasn't been stayed in by anyone for years."

"Why?"

"Well, because it's... Haunted."

"...Haunted?"

Moray steps in front of Ed before he can respond. "It's just superstition! I promise! Part of the town's charm, you know? Always gotta have that one haunted house to tell spooky stories about."

"Uh huh. So what happens if we get attacked by ghosts?"

"Well, even if there is a ghost, which, again, I promise there isn't! Ghosts are pretty friendly. You can just talk to them." They gesture for Ed to get back inside, which he rolls his eyes to and squeezes himself back through the door.

"Now why don't we get you some breakfast? You must be hungry."

As if on cue, Clover's stomach grumbles. "Well, looks like I was right. Let's go see Dina. You probably don't know this, but she makes some amazing waffles."

They head over to the saloon with them, excited to finally have some food.

Martlet groans as she feels the swelterstone's light (and heat) on her feathers. She had said that she might move to this area, but the heat was starting to get to her. It's just so constant!

But, ignoring that, she sits up, blinking herself awake. So, treason, dunes, right. Memory's come back. She'll just talk to the five with Clover and...

Wait, where is he?

"Clover? Where are you?" She gets up, looking all around the barn. Nothing! He didn't leave, did he? Okay. No need to panic, he probably just... He's probably just outside!

She runs outside, only to slam straight into Mooch, a large coin purse flying out of her hands and scattering it's contents all over the ground.

"Hey, Watch it!" She springs back up. "Oh, hey! Clover did say you were sleeping in there. You must've been tired, huh?"

"Why? What time is it?" Well, at least Clover isn't gone if they talked to Mooch. Must be with the others then.

"Almost high noon, feathers!" She says, gathering up the spilled G around her. "You must've been out like the swelterstone, huh? Don't worry though, we've been taking care of Clover!"

"...Is that his G?" She asks, pointing at the G on the ground.

"...No. why would you say that? As if I would ever steal anything from Clover." She doesn't even finish the sentence before Clover's gun, stash of food, and what looks like bits of glass and ice(?) fall out of her pockets.

"Oh, damn. Busted. I hate when that happens. I was gonna give it back later, I swear!"

"Why did you even take all of his stuff to begin with?!"

"Er, well... North Star asked me to, uh... Remove anything 'dangerous' from him. You know, just in case?"

Martlet glares down at the squirrel, her feathers thoroughly ruffled.

"Yeah it sounded better the way he said it... I didn't really want to but I haven't seen him so serious in... Ever."

"Just... Just give me the bag, Mooch." She holds out a wing, still holding her glare. She is gonna have to have another talk with Starlo about this. Not trusting Clover is one thing, but having Mooch steal all his belongings like this is ridiculous!

Mooch withers a bit under the bird's surprisingly effective glare, handing back the items (and the G) she took off of Clover. "Sorry, feathers. I promise everything's there, I didn't get the chance to go through it yet."

"It's fine... No harm no fowl." Mooch doesn't get a chance to properly take in the absurdity of her statement before she flies off towards the saloon.

She bursts through the doors, quickly scanning the room and seeing Moray and Clover sitting in the stools on the other side of the bar.

"Clover! Got your stuff, Mooch stole it off of you at some point." She sets the bag down in front of him.

"Wait, really?" Moray says, looking at the bag. "When would she have done that? She never even came in here!"

"Might've been while I was sleeping." Clover says, dumping everything in the bag back into his interdimensional satchel. "Knew I felt a little light when I woke up... Thanks Martlet."

"Mooch strikes again..." Moray mumbles. "I've never seen her stealthat much at once before."

"Apparently Starlo told her to."

Clover winces while Moray raises an eyebrow. "...Star? Why would he-? Oh, right... Because he's 'dangerous'. Ugh... Sorry. I didn't think he'd pull something like this."

Clover shakes his head. Maybe he was right? Heis dangerous. He has blood on his hands. Or, dust, as the case may be. Ceroba may have been attacking him, but he didn't fight her then. He waited until she was down, unable to fight any longer.

That's the worst part, really. She was done attacking, had nothing left. And yet he... He pulled the trigger anyway. What compelled him to do that? He's never pulled the trigger on any monster before! Not Dalv, even if he attacked without reason, not Martlet, even if her entire goal was to capture him, not Starlo, who blamed him entirely for his issues and was fully intending to shoot him, not even Axis! The human murdering robot!

So why Ceroba? A grieving mother, a depressed widow, broken on every level after their fight. Why? Why? It doesn't make sense! WHY?!

"Clover! Clover, are you alright?!" He hears, and it only occurs to him now that he's crying. A few stray teardrops fall onto the counter as he blinks himself back to reality.

He lets out a breath, wiping his tears away. "I'm fine..."

The two monsters give each other a strained look. He is clearly not fine. But can they really press the issue right now? Martlet doesn't have an answer. She really doesn't know anything about kids, but surely this isn't a normal reaction to have out of nowhere?

"Um, it's okay Clover! Why don't we just... Get to that place they have ready for us!" The bird tries to cheer Clover up a bit, awkwardly rubbing his back with her wing. Wow she feels so terrible at this.

"It's not actually ready yet..." Moray whispers to her.

"Or not! Uh, ooh! I know! Why don't we take a little trip? We can go to the Oasis! We can go to that arcade you liked with that weird game you spent almost two hours playing! How's that sound?"

He really doesn't want to, but something about how earnest Martlet is being by trying to cheer him up like this makes him want to say yes. Nobody on the surface ever treated him like that.

"Okay... Maybe we can go back to the playground too? I liked the sandbox..." He wiped away more of his tears, suddenly feeling very childish. Big kids don't cry, come on! He had this down just yesterday!

He forces his neutral expression back into place. Big kids also don't play in the sandbox, but... Damn it he really wanted to. And he knew Martlet at least wouldn't judge him for it.

"Okay, that's fine! I, uh, don't know where that is, but you can lead the way like you always do!"

"The place should be done in a few hours. I'll come and get you when it's done." They smile, Martlet nodding. "Thanks Moray. Tell the others thanks as well, this is a huge favor we're asking of you, and you guys just did it! Wish I could pay or something..."

"Martlet, please. Consider this an apology for keeping you locked in a cell for half of yesterday. No need to thank us."

"Well thank you anyway!" She says, picking up Clover, who looks confused. "C'mon Clover, let's get going." She casually walks out with him in her wings, with Clover just sort of accepting it. What's he gonna do? Struggle? Didn't work last time.

"...Wait, why am I carrying you? You're supposed to be leading." She realizes after they're already halfway to the Oasis. She sets him down, sheepishly rubbing her wing. "Heh, sorry. I don't know why I did that."

"It's okay." He says, starting to walk, Martlet following behind him. Oddly, it feels nice to be leading again. Or maybe that's not so strange... Dealing with the absence of control for so long would make anyone happy to be in charge for once.

They walk into the Oasis, the small town being exactly how he remembers it. Not that he expected anything to change, it's only been a day. Yet, he can't help but notice that strangely human looking monster is missing from the place she was standing in.

"Wonder where Red went?" Martlet says, as if reading his mind. "You know, monsters have a tendency to just stand around a lot. I'm sure you've noticed it on your adventure. Never really thought about why..."

Sensing she's about to start another spiral of endless thoughts, he tugs on her wing to get her attention.

"Hm? Oh, do you want me to hold your hand? Okay!"

Wait, no, this isn't what he was going for.

Actually, this is kinda nice.

...He holds her wing tighter.

"I wonder if that kid will be gone from that other game in the arcade so you can use it this time. You got really good at the one you were playing." She muses, walking with him towards the cafe.

"I'm pretty good at games."

"Oh yeah? I bet I could beat you at one! Well, as soon as I find a way to press the buttons properly. I can only hit one at a time with my wings. It's really inconvenient."

"You're on." He gives the ghost of a smug smile as the two enter the cafe together. Unfortunately, it seems like both games in the arcade are occupied at the moment.

"Aw, shoot. Well, you said you wanted to play in the sandbox, right? Maybe you can do that for a while instead."

He nods, although it was a little disappointing he couldn't play the games right now, it was... Oddly comforting to know he could always go back. Why had he been in such a rush to leave the underground anyway?

It's... Nice down here. Nothing like the surface. Everyone's so nice. Well, except for the all the fighting. Although, he gets the sense that the monsters don't really understand how that hurts him.

Well, most of them anyway.

Clover leads Martlet to the path to the mines, ending up at the small playground just outside of it.

"Oh, cute! Look at this little place! Wonder how many kids there are around here?" She watches Clover walk over to the sandbox and then climb inside, sitting down and grabbing handfuls of sand.

This feels strange. She's here at a playground with Clover, a child, and she's acting as their guardian. If she didn't know any better, she'd almost think she was his... Mom?

Wait, is that weird? No, she shouldn't think like that. Clover's not going to be around forever. Much less act as her child. I mean, come on, he's a human!

Not only that, but she's really not cut out to be a mom. She's a complete mess, and scatterbrained to boot. She can't even hold a job! How would she ever be able to handle a kid?

So that settles that! Not her kid. Clover is not her kid.

Clover laughs a bit as he manages to make a small sand saloon in the sandbox.

She is so screwed.

As Martlet goes back and forth with her thoughts, Clover has fun in the sandbox until Moray comes around to tell them the house is finally ready for them.

The three walk back to the Wild East, having casual conversation on the way, and when they get back they find the other members of the five (minus Starlo) waiting for them.

"Hey Clover! We finally got that place tidied up for you!" Mooch grins behind her bandana, definitely not pocketing some G from Ace, who's standing next to her.

"As tidy as it's gonna get. You need anything, just come and get us." Ed says. "You're always welcome at our place. Unless Star is there. Then you're not. Sorry."

"We left a housewarming gift in there as well." Ace says, stealing his G back from Mooch. "Hope you like it."

"Aw, thank you guys! Seriously, I can't thank you enough for all of this. Oh, but, actually... Do you know where I could maybe find a job around here...? Nevermind, we can talk about that later."

She takes Clover's hand again. "Let's go see what they've put together for us!" The two walk together to the cabin, which is looking significantly less completely uninhabitable since Clover saw it that morning.

They head inside... To find the cabin is just the one room. "Oh. I was expecting maybe more? Wait, what am I saying? We barely even deserve this!" The cabin is pretty sparsely furnished, aside from a newly cleaned bed, and what looks like the hammock from the Five's house. "Guess that's their gift. How sweet of them! I totally call the hammock!" She runs over to and tries to jump onto it, only to miss and crash onto the floor.

"Ow... On second thought, this hammock is... Broken. You can have it."

Clover chuckles a little, walking over to it and setting his satchel down next to it. "I like it. I've never stayed somewhere so nice before."

"Really? I mean, this place is cozy and all but there's really nothing to it. My house back in Snowdin has two floors and a balcony!"

"Well I've never stayed there, have I?"

"Not yet! Hopefully you'll be able to someday! Maybe when the guard gives up the search for you."

"Yeah... Maybe."

He could get used to this.

Chapter 4: Undyne Appears!

Chapter Text

It's a perfectly pleasant day in Snowdin. The snow is gentle, the wind is absent, and there's not a single sound to be-

"NGAAAAAAAAH!"

Nevermind.

"DOGS, SNIFF THIS PLACE OUT!"

Undyne couldn't believe it. A royal guard commiting treason? It's unbelievable! The mere THOUGHT made her blood boil!

She knew Martlet wasn't cut out for the guard, she KNEW! This is what happens when she goes easy on people! Probation, ha! Next time she's gonna fire immediately!

Truth be told, she liked Martlet. While her work ethic is... Lackluster, to be frank, her puzzle making skills are on point. She had THOUGHT that putting her out at this post would be good for her.

She sure feels stupid now! The one time, the ONE TIME a human comes through this area of Snowdin, and the least qualified guard in the entire guard is there to meet them!

It had to be mind control, it just had to be! Scatterbrained as Martlet is, she's probably doubly suspectable to it! Good thing she learned about that from Alphys.

So, the call came in from Asgore. "Miss Martlet has run off with a human." He said. She nearly broke her phone! Which would've been bad, it's new technology and very expensive.

First, she was angry at herself. How could a human have gotten all the way to Asgore without her even hearing about it?! But then, her anger shifted to the human. The diabolical bastard must've been using Martlet to pass by all of her stations without getting reported!

When she gets her hands on that human, she's gonna rip their soul out before they can try that sh*t on her!

But for now, they need to find Martlet. So they came up with absolutely foolproof plan. Find something at her house that can maybe tell where she would be hiding, use the dogs to sniff her out, and save her from the human!

"Any of you dogs find anything yet?!" She calls out, receiving a chorus of negatives in response. "Must be something around here..." She stomps around the front of the house. Looks like Martlet made all of her puzzles at this carpentry desk here. Impressive.

Turning back around, she notices a book lying on a crate just next to the door. Feels weird that she passed that by the first time, she must be really angry to miss such an obvious detail!

She picks it up, looking through it. Some sort of journal? "Huh... Who's this Chujin character? Might be worth looking into... And why's the most recent entry ripped out? Hm..."

The name Chujin sounds familiar. Probably came up once or twice at one of the boring royal guard meetings maybe? Whatever. Probably not important. Maybe.

The dogs all come scrambling in front of her to salute. "Undyne, we found nothing!"

"Nothing?!"

"Nothing!"

"NOTHING?!"

"Nothing!"

"NGAAAAAAAAH!"

She suplexes a conveniently place crate, smashing it open in the process. "Well, I guess we'll just have to look into this Chujin guy then! Only lead we got. Maybe we can talk to him about this!"

She puts the journal into one of her armor pockets. Yes, her armor has pockets, where else would she keep her water?!

"Come on dogs, let's get back to base! We've got some investigating to do. This human won't escape us!"

The dogs all howl as they follow Undyne back towards upper Snowdin, unaware that a blue bird had been listening all along...

"This human won't escape us!" The dogs all howling simultaneously hits her ears, and she winces, shaking a bit in her perch on the tree.

She couldn't believe it. Undyne herself is looking for her?! She is so dead! No way she could stand up to her, not in a million years!

Once the howling finally dies down, she flies to the ground, landing in front of her house. "Guess it's a good thing I came back to get clothes... And that I was too lazy to update my journal." She chuckles.

She walks into her house, gasping at the level of chaos inside. Wait, no, it was always like this. Did the dogs even touch anything? Now she understands why her mom always called her Messy Martlet.

As she gets her clothes, she can't help but tremble from her anxiety. Everyone in the guard knew about Undyne. Certainly on her way to becoming captain, she's the only guard stationed in Waterfall. The only guard because she's completely unbeatable!

She forced Martlet into a fight as a sort of training exercise once, and smacked her so hard she went flying across the room! And now she's looking for her and Clover!

At least she has no idea where she is, and has no reason to suspect the Dunes. All she has to do is stay calm, and let this whole deal pass by. They'll give up eventually.

...Oh who is she kidding? She's FREAKING OUT! Of course they're doing everything to find her, she committed treason for angel's sake! Why did she think this was a good idea?! They're gonna find her and then they're gonna lock her up, and take Clover back to Asgore!

Take Clover back to...

Something deep inside her burns in anger just thinking about that. She would... She would die before letting that happen again! There's no way they're getting their hands on Clover!

This is definitely a reasonable response to a threat against a child you met two days ago!

She sighs, slamming her head onto her dresser. "What is wrong with me? I've ruined my life so quickly... What would mom think of me now? Giving everything up just for a child I barely know..."

Too late to reconsider her decisions now. Clover's under her protection, and that's not changing anytime soon.

She notices an old blanket of hers deep in the dresser she's digging through. "Oh... My old blanket." She takes it out, humming. "Well... Mom did say I should save it for when I have kids. Guess this is as good a time as any."

She puts the blanket in her bag, and then starts hastily shoving clothes into it.

Clover hums along to the songs playing from the loudspeakers in town. Personally, he preferred when the Five played their theme, but they had already done their thing and weren't set to do another performance until later. He really wanted to join in, but...

"Why did I hesitate to fire that last bullet?"

...Something tells him he'd ruin North Star's flow if he were to try. So, he lies in his hammock, spinning his revolver on his finger. (Relax, Blackjack showed him how to use the safety.) Martlet had said she was going to collect some clothes from her house, and while he figured that wouldn't take long since she can fly, he still didn't want to just sit around. He's a big kid after all! Big kids can go wherever they want.

But, he was having trouble deciding exactly where he should go. From here he could really only go into the Steamworks or back towards the mines, neither of which sounded appealing to him. Plus, Martlet would probably freak out if he was gone when she comes back. Though, speaking of clothes... He needed to wash his. He had already had an awkward talk with Martlet about how humans needed bathrooms (Leading to an even more awkward talk about what they were actually used for aside from bathing) and he knew he needed some way to wash his clothes too. Running water seemed to be exclusive to sinks and Dina's tap, so that's not exactly helpful.

There was that laundry room in the Steamworks though. He knew there was no way those busted machines would ever function, but what other choice did he have? Getting new clothes would require way too much explanation from Martlet, and no one in the Dunes could make them. Maybe he could ask the Four to make him a little stall or something to solve all of his issues at once? No, he's asked enough of them already.

He sighs, getting some food out of his satchel. Not only all that, but he only has so much food in his pack. He has G, but not enough to buy sliders from Dina for more than a couple of days. Is this what being an outlaw is like? How do they live like this? All well... Martlet was right about one thing. Throwing his life away to Asgore would've accomplished nothing. He needs to find a way to DEFEAT Asgore, but how? Everyone talks about him as if he's completely untouchable. There's gotta be some way...

A knock on the door interrupts his thoughts. He hops out of his hammock and goes to answer it, only to get lifted by the head by Ed. This is fine.

"Sorry kid, we're doing a tough love thing with Star right now and we've gotta get you in a room with him before he goes off to drink again."

"I don't really want to talk to him right now..."

"Well then the tough love is extending to you too." He carries him out of the cabin, with Clover crossing his arms and pouting as he's carried. Why does everyone insist on carrying him around everywhere?

Ed takes him to the Five's house, where he can hear loud arguing going on inside. This really isn't going to end well.

"You can't avoid talking it out forever, Star! Drinking yourself silly at Dina's every night isn't gonna get you anywhere!"

"Seemed to work just fine for Ceroba, until the kid put a bullet in her."

Moray stomps their foot. "It's not healthy! It wasn't healthy when she did it, and I'm sure as hell not letting you fall into it too!"

"Got the kid." Ed announces, dropping Clover right in front of Star, who glares down at him.

"Ed, why would you bring the kid here? I told you I didn't want them anywhere near me!"

"Ya gotta talk it out, Star."

He sputters, looking at the Four in disbelief. "You can't just force me to sit down and hash things out! What gives you the right to tell me how to deal with my own problems, huh?! Ceroba was my best friend, has been since we were the kid's age, and you expect me to just discuss this with the kid as if it was no big deal?!" Clover decided to just stay silent on this one. Best to let them sort it out without involving him. He had been involved enough the other day. Still had the rope burns too.

"Star, he's a kid."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?! Is his age somehow a get out of jail free card for murder? Just because he's sorry, that makes it all better?"

"Star-"

"No, don't even bother. I see how it is. Well, if you love having Clover around so much, then he can be the damn sheriff!" He rips the badge off of his poncho and throws it at Ed, who fumbles in catching it, and it falls to the floor.

The shock on everyone's faces is immense, and even Clover's gone a little wide eyed at the sight. "Star, come on, we're just tryin to help you!" Mooch says, grabbing the badge and holding it out to him. "We love having you as the sheriff, you know that!"

"All I know is that I want a drink. Now get out of my way." He slaps the badge out of Mooch's hand and pushes her aside, the other three not even bothering to stop him as he storms out of the door.

"That was poorly planned." Ace mumbles, picking the badge off of the floor and wiping it off. "What do we do now?"

"Maybe bringing the kid here so soonwas a bad idea. They need to talk eventually but... I guess it's still too soon." Moray says, looking at Clover. "Sorry you had to see that. We just thought if we pushed you two to talk it through you might come to an understanding of some kind."

"In retrospect Star was already angry when I got here with the kid. I don't think he was in the right headspace to be talking." Ed says, picking Clover back up. "I'll go put him back before Martlet starts squawking all over town again."

Again with the carrying. They've seen him walk, haven't they? Well, whatever. He didn't want to be here anyway.

Ed unceremoniously drops him back inside the cabin and walks out without another word. He's starting to feel like they just see him as some sort of prop, no one even addressed him that entire time. Which, is actually pretty on brand for these guys.

He likes them, sure, and the area around here just makes him giddy with how much it caters to his interests, but the Five really seemed like the kind of people that could use a good reality check every once in a while.

Well, for now he gets back in his hammock, content to relax until Martlet gets back.

"Howdy!"

He jumps, nearly falling out of his hammock, only to turn and see Flowey popping up through the floorboards.

Oh, right. Flowey. He had almost forgotten about him.

"What are ya doin hanging around here, pal? What about your mission?"

"Gotta figure out how to beat Asgore first."

The flower pauses, as if that's the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard.

"Figure out- What are ya talking about buddy? You're totally a match for the king! Especially when you got me by your side!" He winks, sticking his tongue out.

"I can't win, Flowey. I realize that now."

"Alright, look. I know you're probably feeling apprehensive about going to face Asgore, I would be too! But in case you forgot, you have something no one else in this place has. Me! Speaking of which, why don't you SAVE? It's been quite a while you know, over a whole day."

He sighs, moving his hand over the box the flower made appear in front of him. Wait. Last SAVE? When was that? Was it-

"Before you ask, you saved after you killed that fox lady. Great work by the way! You really did her in, the stupid brat. What was she thinking going after poor ol' you anyhow?"

He curses his over-reliance on flowey's power. He knows all it does is put him under the flower's thumb, but what else is he supposed to do? He's sure Flowey knows he doesn't actually trust him.

There's so much about this flower that doesn't make sense. Saving being the primary example, but he had initially assumed that was a quirk of the underground. But no, all the SAVE points he had come across, even with Martlet and Ceroba, went unnoticed by them. They didn't even comment on him stopping to feel the air in a random corner.

Not only that, but Flowey always talks as if he knows someone's listening. Watching. Always darting his eyes around, keeping up appearances... What is he so afraid of?

He figures these are questions he'll never have answers to. No way he's gonna try to get closer to the flower, he has all sorts of bad feelings about him, even though he's been nothing but helpful, if a little rude.

It's just a nagging feeling that he absolutely cannot be trusted.

With his SAVE updated the flower's smile grows wider, and he laughs. "There we go, all saved up! How about you set off for the castle right now? It's just a short walk now!"

"No, Flowey."

He can hear him grumble a bit before returning to his friendly tone. "Alrighty! I don't mind waiting. Just be careful around that birdbrain. You never know if she's planning to betray you!"

With that, the flower dips into the floorboards as if he was never there.

Betray him? Martlet wouldn't do that. It'd be weird if she did, since she already committed treason. Or was this Flowey's way of hinting at something? He liked to do that when something particularly dangerous was ahead... Mentioning how quiet he is just before Decibat, questioning him about his dance skills before El Bailador... So what was this hinting to?

Maybe he didn't want to think about that right now.

"Clover!" The door slams open and Martlet scrambles in, scattering feathers everywhere. "Oh, good, you're here. I saw everyone moping outside and thought something bad had happened!"

"Just Star giving up being sheriff."

"Wha- Okay, one thing at a time. The royal guard is definitely looking for us! I saw them searching my house!"

He sits up, frowning a bit. He didn't have a good grasp on what the royal guard was like since, well the only guard he's met is standing in from him. But if Martlet is this freaked out, it's probably bad.

"Do they know we're here?"

"No, no, I didn't have anything at my house that would've gave them that idea. They took my journal though, which is kind of rude. That's private stuff!"

Good thing he got to read it already then.

"Anyway, the one after us is UNDYNE. She's a rising star in the guard and unbeatable in a fight! She kinda looks like Moray too, actually... Never thought about that before. I wonder if they're related? No, that'd be silly. She definitely would've mentioned that already-"

"Martlet."

"Right, sorry. She's probably gonna come around here to search and we need to be ready for that! So, I have an idea! A disguise!"

"...A disguise?"

"Yeah! We dress you up like a monster!" She sets her clothes down and picks up a few of her feathers. "I'm thinking we glue a bunch of my old feathers together and make you into a little bird!"

"Won't we need a lot of feathers for that?"

"Don't worry, it's molting season. There's gonna be feathers everywhere."

"And what about a beak? And my feet?"

"...Look, it's not foolproof but we need to try something! We can figure it out as we go! Just like we always do!"

He smiles a bit at her. She really can't help being so endearing, can she? Well, just another thing to add the pile of problems.

"Oh, I also brought you blanket. You looked cold last night." She gives him a blanket covered with graphics of little birds. "It was mine when I was little. Sorry if it's a little too kiddy for you..." She chuckles.

"I like it. Thank you, Martlet."

She beams, pulling him into a hug. (She finally learned to be gentle! Kinda.) Clover wheezes as he hugs her back.

"Now, let's go get dinner! I'm starving." She stands up, holding out her wing for him to take.

Clover holds her wing and walks out with her, his stomach grumbling. "Can we have something other than sliders today?

"I thought you liked sliders. Oh no, have you not liked them this entire time?! Why am I so bad at this?!"

"No, I liked them, I just want something different today."

"Oh. Um, I don't know what else we can get. We can ask Dina though."

He feels like he should mention they're running low on G as well, but...

He can just enjoy the moment for now.

Chapter 5: Martlet tries to be slightly responsible

Chapter Text

Martlet was in over her head. Trying to care for Clover and simultaneously trying to find a way to make them money was exhausting. It's been a couple days since they started living in the dunes, and while thankfully there hadn't been any further trouble after she caught Undyne snooping and Starlo resigned as sheriff to take Ceroba's place as the town's depressed drunk, she still hasn't gotten any closer to properly working things out.

She considered getting a job in town, but she doesn't actually know how anyone makes money here? Except for Dina, but she's not meant to be a server. She's tried.

So, she looked to the Oasis. Surely there'd be something there, right? Well, that's what she thought, but the only work she could find was in the mines, and that was a big nope. She's not a hard labor girl.

But she needed to find SOMETHING, they were basically out of G as it is, and she wasn't about to let Clover start wandering around so he could get G from battles again.

At least she figured out how to wash his clothes, they had gotten so caked with dust it looked like he could be mistaken for walking sand. Unfortunately, this meant taking his clothes and washing them in the Oasis.

While Clover was still wearing them. He did not appreciate that.

Regardless, That only left the slim chance of getting a job in Hotland..But the guard presence in Hotland is much higher, so she can't just wander around there. So! She came up with the perfect disguise!

And by disguise she means a box with a face drawn on it.

Foolproof!

"What do you think, Clover? No one would ever guess it's me with this on!"

He looks up from his drawing. He didn't want her to look at it for some reason so she was sitting across the room from him. "...I don't know how to respond to this."

"Aw, is it that bad? I thought for sure I drew the face well enough." She takes the box off, looking at her drawing. "Ah, I see what you mean now... It's all lopsided."

Is she serious? She can't be. There's no way that would work. But he also wants to see what will happens when she tries it.

"Once I get back from my job hunt, what should we do? Maybe I should've brought some games from home... I play a serious game of Monsteropoly!"

"Is that... Like Monopoly?"

"What's that?"

"Nevermind."

She finishes redrawing the face on the box and puts it back on, adjusting it so she can see properly out of the little slits she poked into it. "There! How's it look now?" Clover gives her a thumbs up. He definitely wanted to see where this goes.

"Alright! While I'm gone don't wander too far, okay? Just stay in the East." She pats his hat. "I'll be back soon!"

He nods. "Okay." He goes back to drawing as Martlet flies out the door, trying to focus. He's making a drawing of him and Martlet, he wants to surprise her with it for helping him so much.

His art skills are... Good for his age! Yep. That's what he wants to believe. At least you can tell what it's supposed to be. Good thing Mooch gave him a box of crayons. He's not really sure where she would've gotten them, but he's not complaining.

Speaking of which, he wanted to see if Moray would run to Snowdin again. He wanted those Honeydew pancakes again, they're just too good!

Deciding he should probably do that now, since the earlier they leave the earlier he actually gets the sweet honey covered delicious fluffy circles of delight, he sets his crayons down and heads over to Dina's bar.

Since Star quit as sheriff things have gotten a little strange, with the Four really having only one way to continue their games without completely changing everything around.

So they... Decided Star was brainwashed by an evildoer. Not exactly their greatest work. But since they "saved" him, he has amnesia. Which is a decision that they definitely put a lot of thought into.

Struck him as cliche, really. But whatever kept them happy was fine with him.

"Hey Dina. Where's Moray?" She gestures with her head over to the stage, where Moray is fencing with one of the other residents in town. Although, the monster is clearly no match for their skills, and is nearly falling off the stage already. He was lucky he didn't have to deal with their rapier for long when they had fought the first time, they're a... monsterwith that thing.

After chuckling at his own internal joke, he walks over to the stage just as the other monster flies off the stage and into the wall. "Take that, ya bandit! Think twice before you come in here next time!" They proclaim, spinning their rapier around in a flashy movement before putting it back in its sheath. "Oh, hey Clover. You need something?"

"Pancakes." They roll their eyes, moving past him to get a glass of water from Dina. "Again? I just got you some yesterday. I'm not gonna run to Snowdin every day just for pancakes." They gulp down the water and he can just tell they're giving him some sort of annoyed look. "And I'm also not your errand-monster. If you want to have pancakes so badly you can have Martlet fly over and get you some in half the time."

'She's out looking for a job. Please?" They sigh, their fins drooping in defeat. "Fine. But this is the last time! Walking all the way to Snowdin is not easy. Have to travel most of the length of the underground, even if I'm able to swim through a good chunk of it."

"Okay. Thank you." Moray has another cup of water, likely to prepare them for Hotland he assumes, and leaves the bar in a hurry.

He leaves to head back to the cabin, going back to his drawing. But as he draws, he starts thinking.

Thinking about Ceroba, and Kanako.

Ceroba had been convinced Kanako was still alive, even though he saw directly through her memories that she had fallen down. Which, Martlet has informed him, was the period of time between a monster's death and them turning to dust. A sort of coma.

But she was so sure... And she had mentioned that lab in Hotland. He hadn't seen it, but Martlet clearly had. Maybe they could check...?

Or maybe that's a horrible idea. He doesn't know, all he knows is that the guilt is eating him alive and he doesn't know what to do about it.

Talking to the others didn't help, they all said some variation on how it was justified, aside from Starlo... But it didn't feel justified to him. No one had truly seen it. They acted like he had killed her during their fight.

It was actually somewhat cathartic hearing Starlo say he didn't deserve leniency for it, because he really didn't. He fully deserved his fate with Asgore, and was really the reason he had been so ready for that encounter in the beginning.

But now he's scared. Scared of dying. Scared of how his actions are going to come back around.

His crayon breaks. He was pressing down too hard. He shakes his thoughts loose and grabs the pieces, continuing to draw.

Just focus on the picture. Martlet will be happy when she sees it, and that's all he wants to think about right now.

Trading heat for heat, for a bird that preferred to live in the cold. She was beginning to get tired of it. Luckily, she didn't have to worry about it for long as she went to the UG apartments to check the job listings.

Let's see... Spider construction assistant? Best not... Apartment janitor? Put that one in the maybe pile... Hotland puzzle inspector?! That's perfect! Apply with... Alphys.

Oh, goodie.

Well, if there was ever a time to test out her disguise, this would be it! She knew it was foolproof, so she had zero doubts that Alphys would be able to recognize her.

Still... She really didn't want to be anywhere near that lab again. She may not have seen much when she took the serum but... What she saw immediately made her ask for a change in post.

Ooh, speaking of that serum she REALLY needs to take that out of her bag before she accidentally stabs herself with it. That would be all sorts of a disaster.

Anyway, easy job! She can do this! She quickly flies to the lowest level of Hotland, landing just outside the lab. "Woo, it is hot..." She goes to wipe sweat off of her face, but just hits the side of the box instead. "...Oh yeah. I hope this thing doesn't get all sweaty."

With a fair bit of hesitation, she gives the lab door a firm knock.

She hears a lot of commotion inside, as if somebody knocked over two separate pots of instant noodles, followed by an entire stack of DVD cases falling over and then someone tripping over them.

Or, at least that's what she thought it sounded like. She couldn't really be sure.

"W-W-Who's there?" A meek voice barely makes it way through the door. She was already beginning to regret this.

"Um-" She clears her throat and tries to mask her voice. "I'm here about the puzzle inspector job opening!"

There's silence for about twenty seconds before the door suddenly opens. "C-Come in." Alphys says, sweating buckets and inviting her in with a shaky claw. It's working! She doesn't suspect a thing!

What she doesn't know is that Alphys is internally freaking out about this random monster with a box on their head suddenly showing up at her door. Who are they? Are they someone trying to get her...?

"So... What do I need to do to get this job?'

"H-Huh? O-O-Oh, right... Um, do you have any experience with p-puzzles?" She nervously stutters out, never taking her eyes off of the strange monster.

"Yeah! I helped with puzzles in Snowdin. Just moved here recently."

"O-Okay... W-When can you work?"

"Whenever, I guess. Oh, not late nighs actually. I have a... Kid, at home."

Alphys sweats even further. Something about this monster is seriously setting off all her alarm bells... Or maybe she's just being paranoid after that conversation with Undyne.

She had barely understood half of it since Undyne was clearly in a hurry for some reason, but what she had gathered was that a royal guard member had been brainwashed by a human? She had said something about the dunes too, but she only caught that much.

"W-Well, then I suppose... I can h-hire you. I'll, uh... S-show you the ropes this weekend."

"Great! I'll be here! You won't regret this!" She shakes her hand aggressively, Alphys letting out a pathetic squeal.

"Y-Yeah, um... You c-can leave now."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few days!" She rushes out of the lab, leaving Alphys with shot nerves. "Who was that?!"

Finally, his drawing is complete. He holds it out, inspecting it... He's really not a good artist. But he's at least proud of this one.

"Clover, I'm back!" Martlet bursts through the door, holding her box. "The box worked flawlessly, and I got the job as a puzzle inspector in Hotland!"

"Really? Nobody questioned the box?"

"Nope! Absolutely foolproof, as I said." She sets the box aside for later use, taking note of a plate with honey spots on it sitting near the sink. "Clover, did you make Moray walk all the way to Snowdin again?"

"...No." He averts his gaze from her. She sighs, sitting with him. "Come on, they have better things to do than fetching you pancakes all the time. Besides, I can get them faster. Why not wait to ask me?"

"You were gone. I wanted them now." He really is gonna be the death of her. But darn it, he's just too adorable. "Well, ask me next time, okay?" She notices the drawing in Clover's hands. "Oh, hey, did you finally finish that? Can I see it now, or am I still not allowed?"

Clover hesitates a bit before handing over the drawing. It shows Martlet and Clover standing together in front of Dina's bar, the two holding hand and wing.

Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry don't-

"Clover, this is amazing! I love it!"

"Really?" He perks up, seemingly surprised she had liked it so much. Martlet nods, smiling widely and setting the drawing aside to hug him. "I'll put it up on the fridge! That way everyone can see it!"

Clover smiles a bit, hugging her tighter. He didn't mind getting closer to the bird anymore. As far as he was concerned, no one treated him better, and there's no one he'd rather be living with.

Martlet breaks the hug to attach the drawing to the fridge with a small magnet, grinning as she looks at it. He drew this! Clover actually drew this!

She couldn't believe it, honestly. It was hard to tell what Clover is thinking, so she had assumed he had seen her as some sort of roommate, but... This drawing definitely shows a closer relationship!

She's not really sure why that makes her so happy... Well, she does, but she can't admit it to herself. Clover meanwhile is beginning to see the bird as the parent he always wished he had.

But while he can admit that to himself, he doesn't want to push any boundaries. Maybe Martlet doesn't want that, maybe she's just doing this all out of obligation at this point...

But he wants to hope. She's his ticket to a better life, and has been since she saved him from Asgore. He knows it's a little selfish of him, since he's basically taken over Martlet's life since then, but you know what? He's allowed to be selfish about this. After everything, he wants his happy ending, even if he doesn't feel he deserves it.

Once Martlet has had enough of looking at the drawing, she picks Clover up and takes off his hat. "Alright, watering hole time, mister. And I don't want to hear any complaints this time!"

"Martlet, no... The water is so cold..." She chuckles, ruffling his hair. "You gotta get clean somehow!"

"Fine... But only if you help me build a bathroom later."

"Deal. Now let's get you cleaned up." Martlet carries Clover to the Oasis, with the child resting against her shoulder, feeling safer than he ever has in his entire life.

Chapter 6: Rain is a comfort

Chapter Text

The next morning, Martlet awoke to the rooster crow played over the town loudspeakers. She really wanted to ask them to not do that, but maybe she's just too light a sleeper. Clover's still asleep after all.

She sits up, preening herself a bit. She doesn't actually have any plans for today, since she's waiting for the weekend to start her job. So, it's a hang out with Clover day! Since she knows the disguise works, maybe she can even take him somewhere.

Having finished preening, she gets out of bed and slips on a shirt. Initially she had a been a little embarrassed about sleeping with no shirt, since Clover's in the same room, but he always seems confused. He says all that's under it is feathers, which is true.

Whydid that make her feel embarrassed? She's a bird, she has feathers. The shirt is mostly just to fit in a little more. Still though, she always made Clover turn around when she took it off.

Thinking about it, maybe she could take Clover to get more clothes? He only has the one outfit. She doesn't really know any tailors though... Maybe there's one in New Home? Must be.

But wandering around New Home all day doesn't sound very fun, so... Another time. What else could they do? ...Waterfall, that's perfect! She can take him to waterfall! It's the only place he never got to see when he went through the underground. Mostly because she had helped him skip it. By crashing her boat.

She's gonna have to remember to rebuild that one of these days...

Just one problem with Waterfall. Undyne. The guard lives there and takes her patrols very seriously, and is one of the few monsters that can immediately recognize a human. Her feather suit for Clover wasn't quite finished yet (her molt was being slow this year) so just walking around in the open is out.

There were always the caves. Undyne's patrol ran towards the entrance to waterfall, not so much the cave system that essentially went nowhere. They were pretty, but would Clover enjoy that?

She'll ask when he wakes up. For now, breakfast. She leaves a note for Clover just in case, and flies out to Snowdin. She missed this place, honestly. Everything is so cozy here, and not covered in dust and constant heat.

Landing outside the Honeydew Resort, she does a quick look around the area. Just in case. Clover had reminded her to do that the first time she had come here and... It was a little embarrassing that she didn't even think about it.

Whatever, the coast is clear. Time to get those pancakes!

She heads into the resort, giving an enthusiastic wave to the bear at the counter, who gives a shaky smile in return. She was never going to get used to this whole customer service thing.

After acquiring the delicious pancakes, she's about to fly back to the Dunes, when she hears a conversation nearby that makes her stop in her tracks.

"I heard Undyne is searching for something in the Dunes."

"What's she looking for?"

"A human, apparently. Not sure what made her think there's one out there. They never go through the Dunes."

She feels the chill of the air a lot more now. How could she know?! Okay, okay, calm down, it's nothing serious yet. She clearly had no specific area in mind! She doesn't know, there's no way she does.

She quickly takes flights, hurrying back to the Dunes as fast as possible. On the bright side, at least she knows Undyne won't be in Waterfall today...

An extremely loud knock echos throughout the empty house. The silence is deafening.

"HELLO?! ANYONE HOME?" Undyne knocks again, growing impatient. "Come on, seriously?"

Her research of Chujin had been less than helpful. She was right, she did recognize the name. One of the old Steamworks engineers. Apparently he was dead, so she assumed it was another dead end, but it seemed he had living family. Namely, a wife. Ceroba Ketsukane. She figured she could at least ask if she had seen anything.

She bangs on the door again. "No one's home? Where could she be?" She takes a drink of water as she leaves the house to go back into the Oasis. Thankfully the Dunes weren't nearly as bad as Hotland so her armor didn't cook her alive just from being here.

Stomping into town, she goes to the nearest resident she sees, some monster drinking the Oasis water.

"You! Have you seen Ceroba Ketsukane lately?" The monster stops drinking to look at her, giving her a strange look.

"Ceroba? She hasn't lived there in ages. Think she's staying in the Wild East or something." Ugh, the human loving roleplay town. She really did not want to go there.

Although... If the human was in the area, it'd be the perfect place to hide! That settles it! She'll do a little scouting for now. Just a little. She'll find that human if it's the last thing she does!

She stomps off towards the East, a determined grin on her face.

Clover awoke to the smell of those delicious pancakes. The best way to wake up in the morning, of course. Martlet gives him a smile as he sits up in his hammock. "Morning, sleepyhead! I got you the pancakes you love for breakfast!"

She holds out a plate of the heavenly flying saucers topped with honey. He wastes not a second flinging himself out of the hammock and digging into them. He could never get enough of these things.

"So, I was thinking we'd go to Waterfall today! You've never seen it right?" He can't really answer, having his entire mouth stuffed with pancakes, but he nods.

"Yeah, so I figured I'd give you the tour! I've been through there a few times, and I overheard someone say Undyne wouldn't be there today, so it's perfect!"

He did have to admit, that was a good idea. He hasn't gotten to see Waterfall, aside from what he saw on his improvised rapids ride through it, and he was curious. He swallows his mouth full of pancakes. "Okay. That sounds fun."

"Great! I've already packed up a lunch, so when you're finished we can get going." The bird gives him a thumbs up, somehow.

After a few more minutes of scarfing down delicious pancakes, the two exit their cozy cabin and begin the long walk to Waterfall. Through the laundry chute, up the elevator, down the elevator, ignoring the lab (seriously he didn't even glance at it), and off they go into the wet serenity of Waterfall.

Clover looks in, taking in the sights. There's not much to see yet, but he's already a little stunned. The roof of the cavern is covered with... Gems? Crystals? Something that makes it sparkle, in any case.

Martlet takes note of his reaction, opting to hang behind him so she wasn't in the way of his view. "If you think it looks good here, just you wait."

And so he does. The two walk through Waterfall, and after no time at all, they end up in a room filled to the brim with echo flowers, all talking back and forth. "Woah... What are these?" He asks, walking up to one.

"Woah... What are these?" It repeats back, startling Clover and giving Martlet a giggle. "Echo flowers. They repeat the last thing they heard, over and over... It's kinda creepy, but... They look pretty at least."

Clover whispers something into one. It whispers it back, and Martlet tilts her head. "What are you doing?" He gestures for her to come closer. A little confused, she walks over and kneels next to Clover.

"Thank you for the pancakes..." It whispers to her. She smiles, putting a wing around Clover. "You're welcome, Clover."

"Gotta find Ceroba..." One of the flowers behind them says, causing them both to jump. "C-Ceroba?" Clover repeats, his voice wavering.

"That's Undyne's voice..." Martlet mumbles. "Why would she be looking for Ceroba? And... Oh, no one... No one reported her death... Oh my Angel, we never gave her a grave!"

Having worked herself up, she's hit Clover pretty bad with his own guilt. He's so horrible he couldn't even remember to give Ceroba something as simple as a grave? Martlet's had enough on her mind already, it wasn't her job to remember that... Maybe Starlo made one. He really hopes so.

"We can... Make one when we get back. We need to." He hugs Martlet, who's on the verge of tears. "Y-Yeah, you're right. Better late than never, huh? I can't believe I forgot..."

He couldn't believe he forgot either. Was he really so comfortable that he'd forget what caused all this in the first place? He murdered someone. And he can't even show basic respect after the fact. Disgraceful.

While internally he's ripping himself apart, outwardly he's hugging Martlet tightly to comfort her. And himself, but that doesn't matter.

"I'm okay now Clover, thank you... First thing to do when we get home. She deserves it.' Everyone deserves a grave. How else would she finally rest?

"But we shouldn't let that spoil our day, we have so much more to see in Waterfall! Chin up!" She says, standing up again, Clover still clinging to her chest.

She quickly supports him with her wings. "Want me to carry you?" He doesn't answer for a moment, but he seems to relax a bit and then nod at her. "Alright, I've got you. Just relax, okay?"

She carries the child further into Waterfall, the sound of rushing water accompanying their silence as she moves towards her favorite area.

After a helpful ride from a small duck and little bit of backtracking, they get to it. The room where it rains. When the water starts hitting Clover, he looks up, confused. Only to be hit with more and more water.

Martlet is quickly drenched as well. She would've normally taken an umbrella, but she's got a kid in her arms, how's she gonna hold it?

"There's something so beautiful about rain... Even if it's not real."

Clover looks at the bird, and then back at the ceiling. "I think it's just as beautiful." She sets Clover down, the two standing together in the rain. "The underground is beautiful. I... Don't know why everyone wants to leave. Down here... It's better than the surface."

"It's more about the principle, I think... Being trapped down here gets to you, no matter how nice it is. We all long to see the surface."

"But at what cost?"

Uh oh. Martlet didn't know how to handle this topic. She knew it was gonna come up eventually, but she hasn't mentally prepared herself yet.

"Clover, I... I know what Asgore is doing is wrong, but... It gives the people hope, knowing we're so close. It's why he does what he does. That being said, however..."

She kneels down, a fire in her eyes nothing like Clover's ever seen from her. "I would never let him take you again. The only way you're ending up like the others is when my dust is spread."

"The others..." Clover takes off his hat, holding it to his chest. His hair is immediately soaked. "I need to save them, Martlet. They can't be left in those containers."

"I know... I haven't forgotten what your mission is." She puts a wing on his shoulder. "I'm going to help you as soon as we figure out a plan. I can't be lazy anymore, not with you here."

"You don't have to do that, you'd just get dragged down with me... Just let me handle this. It's my duty."

"Your duty? Clover, you're a child. It's my duty to give you a violence free childhood. The... The best I can. I know I can't talk you out of doing this, but please. You need to let me help."

"Okay, mom..." He mumbles, far too quiet for Martlet to understand him.

"Hm?"

"I said okay. You can help. But if anything happens to you..."

"Nothing will happen to me. I promise. We're partners, aren't we? We look out for each other. And with you looking out for me, what could I be afraid of?"

...

He dashes forward, hugging Martlet tightly, who quickly returns the hug. "Let's keep going... I still haven't shown you the best part!" Smiling, Clover puts his hat back on and nods. He follows Martlet into the next room, where they both get a gorgeous view of the castle.

"Amazing..." Clover breathes out, leaning on the bird.

Martlet smiles, putting a wing around the child. "You were right... The underground sure is beautiful."

"Martlet... Do you want to see the surface?"

"Of course. Who down here doesn't, right? But... I'd give that dream up in a heartbeat if it meant you were safe. You've changed my life, Clover. For the better. I mean it."

Her words have a profound impact on the child. Before coming into the underground, he was nothing and he meant nothing. Just a blip on the radar of two people who didn't care about him.

But since falling down, he's been shown true kindness. True compassion. This is what makes his decision so hard... In another world, or timeline, maybe he gave up his soul for the good of monsters. He could see himself doing that.

But here, now... He has dust on his hands. If that had been the outcome he had been steering towards, that was no longer an option. He had seen firsthand that the others were still here. Still suffering. And so far the only option he can find is...

Kill Asgore.

But no, he couldn't do that. Not again. He could barely handle the guilt from the first murder, and beyond that, killing the king of all monsters is an instant war move.

So what can he do? He doesn't know. He just... Doesn't know.

"Are you okay?" He hears, knocking him away from his thoughts. "Yeah, just thinking..."

"Okay... You can tell me when something's bothering you, you know."

"I know."

The two sit in silence, both lost in their thoughts. It would be a while before either of them spoke again. For now, the rain fell all around them, creating a serene feeling to their surroundings. Soon, they would head back, and things would be problematic again, but for now, they enjoy the view.

The Wild East was of course completely infuriating. Everyone talked in an accent she could barely understand, the heat was much worse now without the Oasis nearby, and nobody in this damn town would give her a straight answer!.

"I'm just looking for Ceroba! Surely somebody's seen her!" The patrons of the bar all look away from her, some even looking sad. She's just about had it. Next time, she's asking for backup.

"How about a reward then? First person to answer my question gets 50 G!"

Still, nothing. Impressive will power! But DAMN IT SHE JUST WANTED AN ANSWER.

Well, fine. If none of these human loving freaks we're gonna give her anything to work with, she'll just search every building in this town!

She stomps out of the bar, unaware that Starlo was just about to start speaking. He was having trouble getting the words out, but she's gone now. All well.

He may be a lot of things right now, but he's no snitch. He knows the only reason Undyne would be down here is if she's looking for a human. "Good luck Feathers, you're gonna need it..." He starts drinking another cup.

Undyne stomps through town, kicking open door after door. She must be here somewhere! She can't just be gone! But as she looks into more and more buildings, she knows. Ceroba is nowhere to be found.

This is a problem, because it implies one of two things. One, she's also been brainwashed by the human and is helping them the same way Martlet is, or two, she's... Fallen down. By the human's hands most likely.

Her rage builds as she kicks in the door to a cabin at the edge of the main path. Empty, but someone has been living here, given the state of the sink and bed. She steps in a looks around, not noticing anything unusual... Until she spots a certain drawing on the fridge.

"Oh ho! What do we have here, huh?" She walks over, ripping it off of the appliance and examining it carefully. It's a kid's work, no doubt about that, and while she can't really determine who the other blob is, the bright blue blob next to it is clearly meant to be Martlet. Oddly enough they'd gotten her face down pretty accurately.

This raised a whole mess of questions. But chief among them was this: was this other blob the human? She had, of course, seen humans through Alphys' human history documentaries, but they looked way different than this blob.

She expected them to be taller, for one. And if it is the human, what are they doing hanging around this place? All the other humans didn't even step foot in the Dunes. She was still mad about not even hearing about the human until after they had gotten to Asgore!

Well, enough analyzing a child's drawing. All she has to do now is come back with some backup. If the human is here, they'll take care of it. They'll finally have their sixth soul.

Undyne laughs as she carefully puts the drawing back. "Just you wait, human! Next time I'm back here I'll have the guard ready and waiting to kick your ass!"

She stomps out of the cabin, shaking the floor so much that feathers from the bed scatter around the room.

And then there was calm.

Chapter 7: The best way to apologize

Chapter Text

Things have gotten a lot more chaotic lately.

They had figured out pretty quickly when they got back home that Undyne had searched the place. In retrospect, hanging up a drawing that showed her and Clover on one of the only things in the cabin was a bit of a dunce move.

She had been looking for Ceroba, as the echo flower had implied, so there was really no reason she would've suspected this bare cabin of anything if the drawing wasn't up, and while Martlet was kicking herself about it plenty, what's done is done.

Now, they needed to prepare. Confrontation was inevitable, nothing they could do would stop it. Undyne could not be talked down from her mission, especially one she believed to be just. Clover respected that, although it'd be easier to respect it if he wasn't the target of all her rage.

They had agreed the best thing they could do would be to get the town on their side, which was... An uphill battle, to say the least. While everyone likes Clover, no one liked them enough to go against the royal guard for him. They needed a trap card, somebody that could rally everyone in town.

They needed Starlo.

Problem is, he's still the depressed drunk, and doesn't seem to be breaking from that anytime soon. Forcing him to talk already didn't work, so they don't have many options aside from begging him to help.

They had tried, and he had done a very good job of ignoring them. It was kind of insulting, but fair. But they still needed his help, so they had to figure out something.

Begging and bribing both didn't work, so unfortunately they're gonna have to try guilt tripping. Not the most moral of plans, but they're desperate. But they'll need help, so they reluctantly have to call on the Four to help them.

And so began a campaign of having everyone talk about how Clover is totally screwed within earshot of Starlo. After a while of this, it seems like he's getting worn down...

"I don't know what we're going to do about Undyne, I can't fight her head on, and I certainly can't handle the entire guard..." Martlet takes a quick glance behind her, towards Starlo. He's tense, they're getting somewhere.

"Would you have any ideas?" She asks Moray, who shrugs. "I couldn't tell you, Undyne seems pretty unbeatable to me. Good luck." Well, she was hoping for a bit more to work with than that.

"Thanks... I'm just worried, Clover's been really on edge lately, and I'm just not sure if he's gonna be able to handle all this." Surely that would work, right? That's textbook manipulation! Good thing she kept her royal guard handbook. She didn't think she'd ever need to use that.

"Feathers, stop. I know you're trying to make me feel bad." He finishes off another bottle, three gone already. "You're not going to convince me to help you."

She groans, some feathers falling off of her from the stress of it all. But, fine. If Starlo wants to do this the hard way, she'll do it the hard way. She stomps over to his table, slapping all of the bottles onto the floor, shattering them.

"Wha-" He's barely able to get a word out before Martlet grabs him by the collar. "Listen, Starlo. I am trying to save this kid from being murdered. If I have to DRAG you out there to help, then I will. He needs you! Just let him make amends!"

Stunned, he only lets out a few noises of confusion. Martlet glares at him, and he begins to sweat. Wow, this bird has an edge to her. He had never seen it before. It's a little intimidating...

"O-Okay, okay! I'll... I'll think about it. Just let me down!" Only half satisfied with that answer, Martlet slowly sets him back in the chair. "Good! I'll be holding you to that." She makes an "I'm watching you" gesture with her wing and leaves the bar.

Moray walks over to the table after she leaves, a little taken aback themselves. "You alright Star? I didn't think she'd snap like that." He swallows the lump in his throat and nods. "Yeah, I... Guess I've got some thinking to do, huh? Don't want to piss off the bird again."

"I guess so. Just take care of yourself, alright?"

He sets gold down for Dina to take, and leaves the bar, going for a walk. This would take some time.

Undyne wasthis close to smashing in a wall at this point. It was unbelievable, completely unacceptable! They wouldn't let her take the entire guard to raid this small town based off of a drawing!

She tried to explain that she knew the human was staying there, but the captain simply said she needed proof! Are you kidding?! Is her word not enough at this point?!

So, now she needs proof. Fine. Won't be hard, just snatch the drawing the time. But as soon as she tries to head off, boom! Sent back to Waterfall. Unfortunately, shehasbeen ignoring her patrols for a while to figure this whole thing out.

Not to worry, she'll just go after she's done to get it, right? Wrong. She promised Alphys she'd watch some more human history with her today. She's wasted so much time already!

It's been WEEKS since she started this search. Who knows what's happened to Martlet and Ceroba since then? Who knows if they're even still alive?

Ooh, if that human laid even a FINGER on either of them they'll rue the day they ever set foot in the underground! She tosses a spear as far as she can to try and burn off some steam.

So, she's walking through waterfall. Nothing to see, as always. No reason to patrol right now anyway, she KNOWS where the human is! But she wouldn't disobey the captain.

She hears a rustling behind her, and she immediately turns around, brandishing her spear. "Who's there?! I will not hesitate to spear you!"

Silence. Was she just on edge? No, she definitely heard something... She goes to check just in case. Looking through the nearby tall grass she finds... The drawing? What?

Hm... This is sketchy, but she's not one to take her luck for granted. She has the proof she needs! All she needs to do is report it to the captain and she's golden!

It can wait until tomorrow though, she's not skipping her movie nights with Alphys.

As she stomps off once again, a flower watches her go with a wide grin. "Stupid guard... So gullible. Well Clover, since you're so intent on staying with that dumb birdbrain, let's just see how you handle the best royal guardsman! Should at least be enough to get you moving."

Flowey laughs, ducking into the ground and heading to the dunes. Oh, this kid has no idea what he's getting into. That guard may be gullible, but she knows how to throw punches. And she's bringing the rest of the embarrassments too.

While it was a bit of a gamble, he knew Clover would handle it... Eventually. That's how all the runs went, and that's how they would continue to go. Things never changed!

Even this new path would become stale and boring after he gave it enough attention. But for now, it was new and exciting, and he had so much to do! So much to prepare for... It was wonderful!

Clover simply has no idea what he has planned...

Clover searched around the fridge, behind it, above it, everywhere around it... His picture was gone. He knew it really shouldn't bother him, since he can just draw another one, but it was special! He had drawn it just for Martlet and someone had taken it. A certain flower, he was sure.

How else would they have gotten in here to take it? For that matter, who else would even WANT to take it? Stupid flower. Now he has to redo it.

But, that's a concern for later, because right now his friends (and parental figure) are out trying to get Starlo to help, and he's sitting here doing nothing. He understood, yes, maybe having him around would set Starlo off again, but he had to talk to him eventually.

He had asked for forgiveness, he was denied, that was fine. Starlo didn't need to forgive him. But he at least wanted to be on good terms with him. So he figured the best thing he could do is find some way to make things right.

If he could, he would load the SAVE before he killed Ceroba. That would be so easy... But that's not possible. Ceroba is gone for good. But what else could he do?

He thinks on it for a while... And decides maybe the easiest answer is the simplest one. If apologizing didn't work, he would duel him. Any self respecting cowboy wouldn't pass on a duel.

Nodding to himself, he grabs his satchel and heads out the door. He'd find Starlo and get this settled. Luckily, he doesn't have to look far, as he spots Starlo heading down towards the Oasis as he steps outside.

He follows him, glancing behind him to make sure he wasn't spotted by the Four or Martlet. Something tells him they wouldn't be happy with this plan.

Noticing no one, he continues trailing Starlo, who seems to be heading somewhere quite a ways away, given his quick pace. It also seems like he's rather tense... He doesn't know Clover's behind him, right?

"Clover." Well he wasn't hiding, to be fair.

"Starlo."

The silence is tense as a thematically appropriate tumbleweed rolls by. Starlo turns around to look at the child, no glare in sight, only a tired frown.

"Why are you following me?"

"I want to duel you."

His face scrunches up in confusion. "A dual? What could you possibly want to do that for? ...Am I your next target, is that it?"

"No. I know I can't apologize. So I want to earn your respect again."

"Well... Pardner, I can't say I refuse. But I don't got a gun to dual with." He says, slipping back into his phony western accent.

Clover doesn't respond, only tossing him his wild revolver. He wasn't going to need it. Starlo holds the gun, shaking his head. "So be it. Ten paces?"

Clover walks up to him, pulling out his toy revolver. He nods solemnly. He's ready for this, he has to be.

The two begin their paces, each step heightening the tension in the air, even the wind seeming to pick up around them, as if warning them.

Eight... Nine... Ten.

Two gunshots ring out across the canyon, causing Dunebuds to flee in terror. The echo lasts for a few seconds before fading off.

First, Clover's bullet. Everyone knew Clover was a dead eye, that was obvious when he was first given the revolver. But the toy? He had that thing when he was just a little cowpoke. He had mastered its use.

So it's no surprise then, that Starlo had taken a solid 25 damage from Clover's hit. Nothing serious, just a bit of HP loss.

Starlo's bullet was a strange case. He had undeniably fired first, and it had definitely hit Clover. He felt it hit him. And yet... He had taken no damage. No blood, no HP down, nothing. How?

"Heh... As if I could ever do it." He empties the rest of the gun, dropping small magic bullets out of it. "I don't got the guts to shoot you, kid. But you sure have the guts to shoot me."

He tosses the gun back, it landing in the sand just in front of Clover. "But you don't want to hurt me. I know that. You're just a kid, doing what you think will get me to like you again..." He sits down in the sand, gesturing for Clover to come closer.

A little reluctantly, he does so, sitting with the Sheriff. "Let me tell you something, kid. Grief is... It's like chasing a bad guy you can never catch. It'll taunt you, mess with you, make you do desperate things... I know I've been throwing myself away a bit lately but... I know you must be hurting too."

Clover shifts uncomfortably. "Yeah... I don't know why I did it, Star. I've tried to find a reason, or to find a way to make it just... I can't. I murdered her in cold blood."

Starlo nods, taking off his hat. "I could never forgive you for it. Ceroba was one of the most important people in my life, even if she didn't think the same of me. I hope she did..."

"She liked you a lot. She said so."

"Heh... I wish I could've had the courage to tell her the same when it mattered. But that's long gone now. I don't want to hate you kid, you're just confused and scared... That's what everyone means when they keep bringing your age into things."

He looks down at the child, who looks back up at him, a little confused.

"You shouldn't have had the burden placed on you to begin with. What Ceroba did... It wasn't right, by any stretch of the imagination. But you still didn't have to kill her, I know you didn't. But I guess... There's no reason to shun you for a mistake."

"R-Really...?"

"Really. Don't take this as me forgiving you, as I said that is not happening. But I will make an effort to try and... Be my old self again. Won't have much time to adjust since we've got Undyne bearing down in us, but hey, it'll make for a good comeback story."

Clover hugs Starlo, which he awkwardly accepts, patting his back. "Let's get back to the Wild East. Feathers is probably looking for ya. And that bird is scary when she's angry."

Clover nods and gets up, brushing the accumulated dust off his legs. He did it! He knew the duel would work, he should've done it way sooner!

The two walk back the East in silence, Starlo staring at the ground as he tries to clear his mind of all his grief.

It doesn't work. But he's trying, and that's what matters.

Chapter 8: THE SHERIFF

Chapter Text

Upon returning home, Starlo immediately made a beeline for the Four's house, surprising them. Without a word, he snatches the badge from its place on the TV, attaches it back to his poncho, and walks out again. The Four glance at each other before following him out.

As he walks through the town, more and more residents take notice of the unusually confident North Star making his way to the town center. When he reaches it, he rings the bell loudly.

"Fellow residents of the Wild East! I've got something to say to all of ya." More of the residents come over to listen, confused and surprised that Star isn't sitting at his usual spot in the bar.

"Your sheriff is back in town!" He's about to continue, but cheering from the Four, and then subsequently the rest of the residents cuts him off. It's a little overwhelming, being cheered for by so many people...

Right, speech to continue. He gets them all to quiet down with a loud whistle. "And I have an important mission to handle now that I'm back."

He has Clover step forward, enough for Star to put a hand on his shoulder. "Clover needs our help. The guard is comin to take him, and we can't let that happen!"

The other residents murmur to themselves, questioning why they should, or how they could even handle the guard. "I know it's a lot to ask from all of ya. Trust me, I'm not ready for this either. But Clover deserves a chance to live on his own terms, and not be killed for just being a human!"

"But Star, they killed Ceroba! They have dust on their hands!" One monster somewhere behind him shouts out. "It was in self defense! I didn't tell y'all the full story when I broke the news. She was also trying to take their soul for her own goals!"

The murmuring of the crowd gets louder. He really hopes Ceroba doesn't smite him from the grave for this. "Clover has been fighting ever since they came here! With me, with Ceroba, with the local monsters, they never deserved any of it! Now it's our turn to repay them for their kindness towards us!"

"What can we do? It's the royal guard! We're just roleplay enthusiasts!" Another monster shoots from his left. Starlo points at them with a smirk. "We do what we do best: Act the part! We got guns, we got heart! They can't deal with all of us!"

There's a silence among the crowd for a moment, before the Four start chanting his name. He's taken aback by, slowly, the entire town starting to do the same.

He can feel himself tearing up just from the sheer overwhelming amount of support. But that's not what matters right now. They've got work to do.

He picks Clover up, setting them on his shoulder. "Alright, let's do this! We've got a lot to do if we want to prepare the town before the guard arrives. Feathers!"

Jumping in surprise from her name being called, Martlet steps forward. "Yeah, Starlo?"

"We're gonna need puzzles." He gives her a smug smile. "Think you can manage?"

Her face slowly breaks out in a massive grin. "Puzzles? You want me to make puzzles?!"

"Couple of em to help us out. You know the guard, make what'll stump em."

She immediately flies off, heading back to Snowdin to get her supplies. "The rest of ya! We need to set up a defense around the bar! Barricades, perches, watchtowers! The works! Ed, you with me on this?"

The monster in question punches his hand with his fist. "Always, Star. Tell me what I'm movin."

"We've got maybe a day at most! Let's protect this kid with everything we've got! We'll show the guard what the Wild East is really made of!"

A cheer rises from the gathering once again as people start getting to work immediately, grabbing materials, discussing plans, and telling Star they're glad to have him back.

"You're good at that." Clover says, looking around. The whole town helping him... Wow.

"Nah, it was nothin. Just couldn't leave ya to the wolves." He sets him back down. "Now you best run along. I know you're gonna wanna help, but I'm not having it. Go rest. Let us handle things for once."

Clover wants to argue, but how can he? Starlo's right, he doesn't want to fight again. Not unless he absolutely has to. But, still... The way everyone talks about Undyne has him worried.

Is it possible they can stop her? And the rest of the guard, for that matter? Starlo is tough, but from his fight he knows the intent to harm is never really there. Martlet is a guard herself, but, uh... Well she doesn't seem very effective.

Ceroba would've been useful. She was powerful. Not that it matters anymore, he thinks bitterly to himself.

He heads back to the cabin, trying to tune out the various power tool noises coming from outside. Well, he has time to kill. And kill it he shall, by making a new drawing in celebration of being friends with Starlo again!

It'll be even better than his last one, and with Starlo this time! He sets to work, grabbing his crayons once again. This time, he was gonna get it right!

"Oh, no way! This is hilarious! They're actually all gonna FIGHT?!" The flower laughs sad*stically as he watches a monster fall from a roof in a failed attempt to nail down something. "These idiots will get themselves killed so fast it would make mejealous!"

"Didn't think that braindead Sheriff was gonna get over his furry girlfriend anytime soon... This is gonna be a BLAST to watch! Oh, I've gotta remember to SAVE just before it starts, I'm gonna wanna watch this over and over and OVER!"

His plan has goneflawlessly. It had taken a few tries to get it right, but he finally managed to get that guard to accept the drawing without questions, and managed to keep Clover from getting himself killed.

Watching Undyne brutally rip his soul out was fun and all, but it was really bad for his plan. For some reason Clover just kept running to the birdbrain and crying the whole time instead of taking action.

Not this time! He made sure the birdbrain left earlier than usual, and put attention on the stolen drawing. Sure enough, it worked! But this is NOT the outcome he expected. It's better!

The sheer hilarity in watching these idiots get ripped to shreds is gonna make for a fun few resets. But, unfortunately, things have to move forward eventually. And when they do, he'll be ready. His plan may have stalled, but he's still on top.

Nobody will stop him from getting the human souls! Nobody!

Martlet had spent the better part of the day feverishly designing a building the puzzles they needed for their defense. She had rushed them a little bit, but she was sure they'd hold the guards back for a while!

She flops onto her bed, exhausted. That's the most work she's done... Ever. For some reason she just really wanted to make some puzzles.

She looks over at Clover, his eyes furrowed as he focuses on his drawing. "Working on another one? Am I allowed to see it before it's done this time?"

"No."

"Darn. Well, do you want anything to eat? We could... At least attempt to weave our way through everything out there to get some sliders."

"I'm okay."

She sits up, frowning a bit. This was unlike him. He hasn't responded to her questions so curtly since they first met. "Is... Everything alright? Well, silly question I guess... You're worried about the guard, aren't you?"

He nods, biting his nails a bit as he continues drawing. "Aren't you?"

"I'm more worried about what they'll think of me helping a human, honestly... And I was almost off probation too." She chuckles a little. "I don't regret it though. It's been amazing taking care of you."

Clover stops drawing, looking up at her. He seems to really want to say something, but he just sighs and looks back down. "Thanks, Martlet..."

She smiles. "Of course! I'll just make some dinner. I'm sure I won't burn it all this time if I really try!"

"On second thought, maybe we could go for sliders."

"Clover, c'mon, have a little faith!" She heads over to the stove. "Now let's see here..."

Several fires, an explosion, and a lot of smoke later, Martlet somehow managed to produce a remarkably edible dinner. "See! I told you I could do it."

"Martlet, you almost burnt my hat off. Never again."

"Okay..." The two eat together, not really saying anything else, given the amount of smoke yet to exit the house. Seriously, how did she even produce food with that much fire? It was a little impressive.

"Clover, if, uh... If we have some trouble tomorrow and things go south... Can you promise me you'll run?"

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Run where?"

"I don't know, just anywhere. If we can't protect you I don't want you to just sit around and take it. The Steamworks maybe? Maybe that robot you told me about can help you."

"I... Okay... But I know you all will protect me. We have the whole town helping, the guard doesn't stand a chance."

Martlet grimaces a bit, scratching at their newly created table. "You don't know them like I do. They're a lot stronger than anyone here, even me and Starlo. Not only that, but Undyne means to kill you. Intent to harm is half the battle down here, you know that."

"Does she really hate me that much?"

"N-No, I wouldn't say that... She doesn't even know you. But she has a job, and she's passionate about doing it. Even if that job is killing you..."

He slowly stops eating, staring at his plate. "Why can't I just be allowed to live?"

Martlet gets out of her chair and moves over to his, kneeling down to hug him. "You shouldn't have to be worried about this. I promised you a violence free childhood, and I'm gonna give it to you. Even if it costs me everything."

He hugs her back, burying his face in her feathers. Soft. He liked her hugs, they made him feel safe. But he knew, of course, that this was just a fantasy he's living out as long as he can. Something would topple it soon.

Something always did.

"Alright, let's get this damn human!" Undyne raises a spear, which the other guards respond to by raising their own weapons. It had taken longer than she had hoped, between getting the captain's approval and gathering up her force, but she was finally heading out! She begins leading her squad towards the Dunes, her armor clanking with every step.

She wasn't worried, of course. Why would she be? She had this human cornered, even if they brainwashed Ceroba and Martlet! She could knock out any monster if she needed to, although she did hope it wouldn't come to that.

The rest of squad would be able to handle things as well, but she had called dibs on the human. She wanted to show them the true power of monsters, and make them rue the day they ever decided to lock them all away underground!

Although itwasa little unfair to take all that out on this random human who likely didn't have anything to do with it. Still, they're dying anyway so who cares?! There's nothing this human could do to escape her!

Thankfully, it's not a long walk before they enter the Dunes. Although... there's something strange going on. "Where is everyone?" Someone in her squad says, and she was just asking asking herself the same thing. It's absolutely devoid of any monsters!

"Just keep an eye out... the Wild East is just down this path." They keep moving, before they come across what looks to be a puzzle blocking the path.

"What the...?" She grabs the note off of the pillar next to it. "Just try to solve this one you royal guard bozos?! Are you kidding me?!" She smashes the pillar, the top half collapsing as the middle is smashed to bits.

She turns back to her squad, an angry gleam in her eye. "Alright, 01, 02, you're up! Solve this stupid thing!" The called guards move up and observe the puzzle. It appears to be a large chessboard, with artificial tiles placed all over the path ahead of them.

One of them takes a cautious step on one of the squares, and is promptly thrown backwards by a spring. "Ow."

"We need to stay on the red tiles." The other guard says, stepping on one. Sure enough, no traps. "Just be careful."

All of the guards have to carefully move over each red tile, which are all spaced fairly far from each other. Some aren't so lucky, and end up being flung backwards by more springs.

Eventually, after about ten straight minutes of trying, they finally make it to the other side. "Finally! Who leaves a puzzle like this just lying around?!"

"Um... We do." One of the guards says, mumbling a bit. They're a little scared Undyne is gonna explode and suplex them. Again.

"Oh, right. Well then I'm gonna beat the crap out of whoever put up this unlicensed puzzle!

They continue on, almost at the entrance to the Wild East... And there's another puzzle blocking the way.

"What?! Another one?! This place is the worst! And these definitely weren't here before!" She grabs another note off of the side. "Good luck with this one, I'm not rooting for you? Alright, I've had enough. Destroy this puzzle!"

The guards immediately get to work, smashing the puzzle to pieces. It was a cool puzzle with a fancy dice mechanic, but all well. Smashed to pieces now.

Finally, the group arrives in the Wild East. But like everywhere else, it's deserted. Not a monster in sight.

"Something's not right..." She mumbles, observing the town. "It's been... Fortified." It's shoddy, but there's obvious signs of fortifications. Watchtowers built on the barn and the clinic, several blockades lining the roads, even a barricade in front of the bar she had barged into the other day.

But as the heat of the swelterstone bore down on them, they felt something else too. Eyes. They were being watched. "Guards... Ready your weapons."

Not even a second after they do so, bullets start flying. The initial volley had been extremely successful, several of the guards losing large amounts of HP just from the sheer surprise.

Undyne, having kept her guard up, only took a few potshots before ducking for cover.

The rest of the guard do the same, although the amount of cover they have is pretty limited. "What the hell is wrong with this town?! You're all shooting at royal guards! Get a grip!"

"You ain't welcome in our town, royal lapdogs!" She hears someone shout from the center of town. She perks out of cover a bit to see some monster in a sheriff's costume standing above one of the barricades.

Who even is that?! She doesn't remember him from her last visit! "There's a human in this town! We're only here for them!"

"We know. We're defendin that kid from ya!" He fires a shot straight at Undyne, which scrapes the wall right next to her. "Kid ain't done nothin wrong, Guard! You're trying to kill a child!"

What? The human is a child? Damn it! Now she won't get a good fight out of it! Does make it easier to take their soul though.

"You'll regret this!" She calls out, making a spear appear in her hands and flinging it towards the sheriff. It's shot to pieces by the absurd number of monsters with guns posted around.

She grumbles. Okay, strategy time. She needs some way to get past that sheriff and into the bar, which is obviously where the human is at. Problem is, there's monsters everywhere. She didn't think humans could brainwash this many people at once!

But she has an idea. One that's never failed her before.

"NGAAAAAAAAH!" She charges straight forward, much to the shock of both the others in the guard, and the monsters aiming at her. Starlo hits her a few times, but the HP loss is minimal.

She tackles Starlo, the sheriff losing his hat in the scuffle. "Listen, I know you're brainwashed and all, but I am NOT Tolerating-!"

A rough hit smashes into her from behind. Enough to take an entire quarter of her HP. Damn it! She let her guard down, that was so dumb of her!

She turns around to see the offending monster, and to her surprise...

"Martlet?!" She knew it, she was brainwashed! Yeesh, and for the worst. She's disheveled, her feathers covered in dust and grime. "Snap out of it! The human can't keep you under their control forever!"

The bird glares at her. Wow. If she knew Martlet could be this intense maybe she would actually let her into the guard proper... Whatever, bigger problems.

"Stay away from Clover!" She yells, shooting some of her magic feathers at her, Undyne just barely dodging them by rolling to the side. "Clover, huh? Man, they've really gotten to you haven't they?"

She summons a spear, only to get shot several times the moment she does. "Ow, damn it, stop! That's actually starting to hurt a little bit!" Starlo gets up, a little shaken, and points his gun at her again.

"Not until you get the hell out of my town, Undyne."

She turns back to him, a furious expression lining her face as the two stare each other down. "You don't have the guts to pull that trigger on me, I can tell."

Starlo smugly smiles. "You would've been right any day before today." He shoots her, point blank, a decently sized hole appearing in her armor as she's pushed back a few inches. That one hurt. A lot. This guy is serious.

"Get out of our town, Undyne. I won't ask you again. I ain't gonna kill ya, but I imagine you'll get a little ticked bein locked in a cell until we can figure out what to do with ya." He stares her down with a determined gaze.

Hm... And here she thought this town was full of nobody monsters who loved humans a little too much. There might actually be some value here after all. If she could just convince them the human was the enemy...

Ah, but that's not going to work right now. She's got two dozen guns, minimum, pointed at her. Not to mention the extremely pissed off bird holding magical feathers to her neck.

Fine. Tactical retreat time. No shame in that, even thought it kills her to give up a fight. She knows when the odds are against her.

"Fine, I'm going. But I WILL be back, and next time I come, things are not gonna go well for all of you punks!" She stomps back towards the rest of the guard, some of them having tried to make it to Undyne only to get shot down. "C'mon, let's get out of here. We need to regroup and strategize."

She helps some of the more injured guards out as they perform their slow retreat. No one stops them, at least. They're not so brainwashed to want to kill their fellow monsters.

Although she's almost ready to fling some spears the moment she starts hearing a massive cheer coming from the town.

The celebration was massive, with Dina giving out a free drink to everyone to start off with.

Starlo really thought everyone was going a little overboard with the celebration, they didn't even win. They essentially just told Undyne she was being bad and to go to her room. Frankly the fact that it worked at all was because of the numbers advantage.

She'll be back... And he can't ask the town to fight again, it was already a big ask to do this once. So what can he do? What can Clover do? They'll have to talk about it later. For now at least, there's something worth celebrating. He finally feels like a sheriff again.

Meanwhile, Clover is sitting at one of the tables, listening to monsters tell him the story of what happened outside. He had been locked in this bar all day, with Dina and Martlet as his only company. At least until Martlet left to go help.

It wasn't so bad, he finally finished his drawing. Looking at it... Well it wasn't so different from the first one after all. But, it's even more special this time. His favorite sheriff is proudly standing with him and Martlet.

He hopes he could start going on adventures with the Five again, now that they're back together. He can finally be the deputy! But... Undyne still weighs heavily on his mind. He knows she's not beaten.

Something tells him really bad things are going to happen when she comes back. Which, who knows how long that'll be? Not long, he thinks.

Still, this is a celebration. He can push all his worries to the side for now. He's eager to show Martlet and Star his drawing anyway.

He's watched from outside the bar window as Flowey sports a smug smile from outside.

"Hmph. First try. And here I thought I'd get to have some fun. All well! Less work for me! Now the funreally begins..." He giggles, watching as Clover walks over to the idiot sheriff and the birdbrain.

"Yes, keep getting attached... Just what I need. I don't know why I didn't exploit this sooner." He giggles again, his face morphing into an evil grin. "You'll regret not listening to me, Clover! When your life all comes crashing down, I'll be there! Laughing at your misery."

He laughs maniacally, and dips into the ground. He had to get Clover saved, but it could wait. Maybe he'd load to see if that fight ever went any differently first...

Chapter 9: Nobody in this chapter has fluff... Except the Resort Shopkeeper

Chapter Text

"Alright Starface, your time is up!"

"Who you callin Starface?"

Starface- No, Starlo stares down the bandit in front of him with his practiced glare. This bandit was just like all the rest, overconfident and egotistical. Luckily, he had just the cure for that.

"Say, have you met my deputy? He's new around town."

"Oh, really? Where is he?" The bandit looks around, expecting the deputy to be just around them. But no. He was perched high above (a foot above their heads), ready to make his grand entrance!

Deputy Clover jumped down from his elevated position, landing on the ground with a practiced landing (Martlet had already screamed at Starlo for letting him jump off rooftops. He's terrified of that bird).

The bandit gasps, pointing his gun at the extremely threatening child. "As if your deputy is any match for me, Star! I've got a quick draw like you wouldn't-"

Uh oh, caught monologuing. Clover fires his shot before he even finishes talking. The bullet hits him hard, causing him to take a few steps back. "Ugh! You got me good... Curse you, Star! This won't be the last you see of me!"

The bandit runs off, and the town cheers for the Deputy and Sheriff duo. Starlo grins down at Clover, before turning back to where Ceroba would be standing out of habit. Surprisingly, Martlet is standing there. She gives him a thumbs up. Wings up? A thumbs up with her wing.

Something about that just makes him feel content. Still, all these games feel wrong somehow. He knows why, of course. Ceroba is gone, and he's patting her killer on the back like nothing's wrong.

But, this is how he moves on. How he always moves on. At the very least, he can convince himself that Clover is a sort of work partner, and not his friend. Just an acquaintance! Yep. That's it.

Martlet walks over to the two of them, slapping Starlo on the back, startling him out of his thoughts. "Great performance out there! Bandit almost had me worried for a bit."

"Nah, that's a C tier bandit at best. He ain't no big threat." He chuckles, holstering his gun. "I got a performance with the Five lined up for later, so you've got Clover for the rest of the day."

"Aw, but I wanna fight more bad guys with you!" Clover pouts, giving Starlo a disappointed look. It's almost good enough to work. Almost.

"Now, now. You know I can't schedule everythin with you. The five and I are the town heroes! Can't let them get jealous again, right?" He winks at the child, who nods back.

"Yeah, I guess..." He hasn't realized it before, but he's emoting a lot more lately. The mask he spent so long holding up is slowly coming apart... Maybe that's a good thing. He can finally be a kid.

"Hey Mo-Martlet. Can we go see Dalv? And also get some of those delicious pancakes." Almost messed up bad there. He hopes they didn't notice that...

Luckily, the bird isn't very observant. "Sure, Clover! But we can't stay for too long, I've got work later. ...Huh. Never thought I'd say that."

She had a stable job, a home, friends... A child to care for... Not hers! Not her child. Justa child. It's like she's actually... Responsible! Her mom would be so proud of her! Probably. The whole fighting the royal guard thing might be something to not mention.

"Well, we better get moving. It's a long walk to Snowdin, even longer since we have to stay off the main path as much as possible..."

She holds her wing out for him, which he gladly takes. The two begin their long trek by heading towards the Steamworks.

"It's good to see you having fun. Even if I have to trek to Snowdin every other day..." She nudges him as she speaks, a grin on her face.

"I'm addicted to pancakes." He shrugs, pulling the Steamworks door open. It creaks as it moves, the steel grinding on the edges a bit. They should probably just start leaving the door open before it gets stuck.

"Yeah... I need to get you better food." She mumbles to herself, stepping inside. The moment she does however, a Jandroid coughs out what can only be described as a pained buzz?

"I JUST CLEANED THAT FLOOR!" It shouts, throwing it's broom down in anger. Martlet looks down, seeing the floor is absolutely spotless, even with her talons sitting on it.

"Um... Sorry? We can help clean it up if you want..." She gets a bar of soap straight to the face for asking, and Clover quickly escorts her into the laundry room before the Jandroid can get even more angry.

"What was that bot's deal?! Ugh, I'm gonna be tasting soap all day now..." She coughs, leaning up against the laundry machines.

"They're always like that... At least they've been repaired a bit. Before it sounded like being screamed at through a broken microphone..." Clover winces as he remembers all the sliding he did during his battles against the bots. He really would prefer to not interact with them again.

"Bleh, this is gross... You got any of that Dihydrogen Monoxide?"

"You mean H2O?" He says, digging through his satchel and pulling out a bottle of the stuff.

"Whatever, just need to get this taste out of my mouth, bleh..." She downs the entire bottle in an attempt to get the soapy taste out of her mouth. It doesn't work.

Trying to ignore it as best she can, Martlet helpsher the child up the laundry shaft. From there it's just a hop, skip, and an hour's worth of walking. Clover had suggested using the mail whale once, but she was never sure if the royal guard would be checking that.

Either way, they finally arrived at Honeydew Resort. And as it so happens Dalv is there too, talking to the shopkeep.

"Hello Dalv!" Martlet calls as they walk in, waving rapidly. Clover copies her, also doing a rapid wave. It hurts his arm though, so he only does it for a moment.

"Ah, my friends. Good to see you!" He grins at them, a far cry from the misery Clover had first seen him in. It was night and day, honestly.

"I am surprised you made the trek all this way once again. And with Clover this time?" He hands Clover a plate of pancakes, which he immediately starts devouring. This kid needs an intervention.

"He wanted to visit you, actually." She pats his head. "We've been a little busy, so we haven't been able to come up."

"Is 'a little busy' what we're calling being hunted by the royal guard now?"

"Shhh! Don't say it so loud!"

He lets out a chuckle. "Sorry, I tease. Penilla's been trying to get my sense of humor back in shape, and I think it's working."

Clover suddenly sets the empty plate next to him. "More! More!"

"Now Clover, one shouldn't only eat pancakes. They're too delicious, you'll never get out of the hole."

"I'm already in the hole! Gimme more!" He jumps onto one of the stools, the shopkeeper nervously giving him another plate.

"I really need to have a talk with him about this..." Martlet sighs, sitting between Dalv and Clover. At least it was nice and cozy in here. All the stress lately had begun to pile up. She was stressing so bad it was affecting her molt!

Even now, the topic of Undyne and the guard wouldn't leave her head. Apparently, she thought they were being brainwashed, which was weird. She didn't remember that in the handbook.

Maybe it's for the best. She's not mad because she thinks they're all being controlled. This could be useful, maybe? They could trick her, somehow... Or not? Ugh, she's really not good at this kind of thing.

Clover would maybe have a good idea, but he's currently swallowing pancakes like he hasn't eaten in days. Wait, what is she thinking? She's the adult here! She can handle this herself!

...But she still doesn't have any ideas...

"So... How'd things go with Undyne?" Dalv asks, trying his best to cool down his coffee by blowing on it. It doesn't work.

"Um... Okay, I guess. We got her to leave, but she'll be back and we really can't do the same strategy again. She'll see right through it this time."

"I would offer advice if I could, but I'd rather not get involved in any more fights. Maybe a handshake will work? You can be friends!"

Martlet gives him a blank look. "Er... Okay, maybe not friends. But you can come to some sort of agreement, perhaps?"

"If only it were that easy... I wish we could talk it out, but how can we? I'm in hot water, and Clover's had a target on his back since the moment he got here! Even I attacked him at first!"

"Yeah, I know... I'm just trying out the, er, optimism. Penilla gets on my case about it." He sips his coffee, giving up on trying to cool it down at all. It burns his tongue.

Clover finishes his pancakes and sighs. "Can we go back to your house, Dalv?" Dalv perks up, clapping his hands together. "Guests, yes! I'm finally prepared for them! Please, do come visit. I'll make sponge cake."

"With actual cake this time?" Martlet narrows her eyes at him. "Yes, with actual cake this time! With a side of corn, of course."

Martlet studies the vampire carefully. While Clover had vouched for him, Martlet still wasn't fully convinced. Especially after he tried to feed her a sponge, that was really weird.

Apparently Dalv was the first major encounter Clover had on his journey, which at least takes some weight off of her shoulders. She was worried she was the first person Clover had gotten assaulted by.

Maybe she's just being judgemental. Clover didn't seem worried at all. Being overprotective like this was probably not a good idea... She just couldn't shake it though.

Dalv takes his leave to go back to his house to set up, since Clover has already gotten more pancakes. She's cutting him off after this. Definitely.

"Why are you so nervous around Dalv?" He asks between mouthfuls of delicious pancakes.

"I just don't really trust him to not hurt you... I don't really know the guy at all, and then you tell me he tried to electrocute you? It's hard to trust somebody after info like that."

"But he won't hurt anyone. He's changed. He was confused or something when he fought me."

He had told her about this before too, she didn't really know what to think. She didn't know much about the Snowdin attack, but context clues were enough. Maybe he's holding a grudge on humans and is just waiting to turn them in?

Or is she being paranoid? She doesn't know anymore. All she knows is she wants Clover to be safe, and the Wild East is the safest place for him. As unfortunate as not being able to live in her own house is...

It wouldn't really feel like a home without Clover at this point.

After Clover's third devouring of pancakes, the two head over to Dalv's house, the small cabin finally being in decent shape now. Penilla is outside, drawing the area around them.

Clover puts himself between her and her work. "Huh? Oh, hey Clover. You come to see Dalv? I was wondering why he looked so excited. Now, uh, can you move? I'm on a roll here..."

"Okay. Your drawing looks great." She seems to be thrown off by the complement, sputtering and failing to produce any words. She does that every time he says her drawing looks nice and he thinks it's funny.

Martlet knocks on the door, losing some of her feathers in the process. She gathers them up, her feather suit for Clover is very close to being done, no need to waste any feathers!

They're let in by Dalv, who shows them the sponge cake (with actual cake) on the table. "Tadaa! I've grown better at baking already!" Martlet nods, sitting down. "That does look pretty good. Wish I could cook up something like this so I didn't have to spend all my G on Clover's food. Not that I mind!" She quickly corrects, grinning at Clover.

"I could try to teach you how to bake, it isn't so hard once you get the basics down. You'd probably be even better at it than me, given the time." He cuts up the cake, giving each of them a slice, and leaving one out for Penilla. She's usually pretty hungry after finishing one of her drawings.

Clover digs into his cake while Martlet actually uses a fork. She may also have to teach Clover table manners... Being a caretaker is hard.

"So, I understand you're Clover's guardian since you rescued him from Asgore and all, but what happens after you get away from the royal guard? What will you do then?"

Martlet freezes, a bit of cake on her fork inches from her beak. What would she do then? Just... Take care of him forever? Well, no, obviously he'd... Wait, would he be able to function even as an adult? Could he get a job? Get a new place...? Would he be able to even have a life?

Dalv seems to notice her inner struggle, clearing his throat. "I'm sorry if that's a difficult question to answer... I didn't mean to offend."

"No, it's... It's something I do need to think about."

Now it's Clover's turn to freeze. What does she mean? He thought the answer was simple, he'd just live with his mom forever. He could, couldn't he? Martlet liked him... He thought. Did she not?

Was she just doing this because she had to?

No, no, that can't be right. She wouldn't save him from Asgore if she didn't want him around, right? Unless she was like him and couldn't let an injustice stand no matter what... Then maybe...

The two adults in the room are talking, but he's tuning them out. Martlet likes him, doesn't she? She's his bird mom. She's always so happy around him. But is she? Is it faked? Why would it be faked?

He's going in circles now. He's just staring at his handful of cake. He needs to do something.Something.He feels his soul beginning to shine...

The sound of something charging up alerts the adults that something's up. "Clover, what are you-"

A charged yellow pellet shoots out from his soul, flying upwards and blowing a hole in the roof.

The silence is deafening.

"Clover... What was THAT?!"

Chapter 10: A long walk home

Chapter Text

"Clover, what was THAT?!"

Clover snapped back to reality, looking around, and suddenly became aware snow was falling on him. How? He's inside...

He looks up, his eyes going wide at the massive hole in roof above him. "W-What? What did I do?!"

"You... Shot something! Out of your soul!" Martlet frantically speaks, moving over to him. "Are you okay?! Do you need help? I don't really know how I would help, but if you need help I'll try!"

Clover grabs her beak, sighing. "It's okay, it's just my soul gun..."

"Your... What?" The two stare at him in bewilderment. Suddenly, the door bursts open, Penilla flopping through the door as she trips over everything she's trying to carry. "What happened?! Is everyone okay?!"

"Yes, we're fine, thank you." Dalv says, moving over to help her pick up all her art supplies. "Clover just... Shot out the roof, I suppose."

"Shot out the- We just finished that! Ugh..." She carries all the art supplies to her room.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can help fix it!" Clover says, shaking a bit. Dalv shakes his head, putting a hand on Clover's shoulder. "Clover, it's alright. You should focus on... Whatever that was."

"It's my soul gun, I told you! I... Didn't know I could still use it..."

Martlet frowns. Still use it? What did he mean? When has he been able to do this, she's never seen it... Is this... How he beat Ceroba? Well, it would make sense, she's never seen magic so powerful before.

"Can you... Control it, perhaps?" Dalv suggests, taking a step back. "I wouldn't wish to go the way of my roof."

"Of course I can, I just... I don't know what I was thinking." He's confused, it's like everything he was just thinking about is... Blurred somehow. He can't quite remember it. But aside from factory resetting his anxiety, it did do one other thing... Give him an idea.

"What if... I fight Undyne with this?"

Martlet yelps, grabbing him and holding him in a tight hug. "Nopenopenope, absolutely not! You are not going anywhere near her, not in a million, billion years!"

He squirms, always surprised by how tight Martlet can hold things. "But we have to do something! And I can beat her with this I think!"

She sets him down and holds him in place, giving him an intense, definitely parental stare. "Clover, I am not letting you fight Undyne when there is avery real chance you will get killed!"

Starlo was right, mom can be scary sometimes. But this soul thing took down Ceroba, surely it could take down Undyne as well? It did just blow a massive hole in the roof...

But at the same time, he can't go against mom. He wants to make her happy. Maybe he can find a way to use it without directly fighting her?

"Okay... I won't, I promise." Martlet smiles at him and stands back up, turning to the two housemates. "I'll, uh, pay for the roof. Sorry about this, I really didn't know he could do... That."

"It's no trouble-" Dalv starts, before getting cut off by Penilla poking him with her pencil. "Yes, it is! He blew a hole in the roof we JUST built!" Rubbing his side, Dalv nods. "Er, yes... We'll probably need quite a bit of G to fix that, I think..."

Martlet sighs, losing more feathers. So much for being aloof, she could barely go five minutes without stressing about something these days. "Just send the bill to our place and I'll pay you guys..."

"We're gonna have to ask you to leave until you make sure that won't happen again." Penilla looks at Dalv, who's clearly about to protest, and pokes Dalv with the pencil again, causing the vampire to let out a yelp of pain.

"Penilla-" Another poke. "Okay, okay... Yes, um... If you need to see me again, we can meet at the resort." He steps away from Penilla, fearing the wrath of her pencil. He should probably bring this up later tonight, this was a bit much, even for him.

"We understand... C'mon Clover. We've gotta get back home anyway." Huh, she really did think of it as home now, didn't she... Well, Clover certainly helps it feel that way.

The two walk hand in wing back towards the resort. They had a long walk ahead of them, and a long talk if Martlet's thoughtful frown was anything to go by.

"Clover... What happened with Ceroba, really?"

Clover stops in his tracks. No. He doesn't want to think about this.

"Clover?"

"Why do you care?" The bird is taken aback by the harsh tone, she's never heard such bite come from the kid.

"I'm... Just trying to understand where this 'soul gun' came from... No need to get crabby."

"Crabby?!" Oops. That may have not been the best choice of words. "You wanna know what happened, huh? She tried so hard to kill me, throwing fire, and bells, and all sorts of magic attacks at me! I barely scraped by with this soul thing, and then I...!"

"...Then you...?"

"I... Shot her. I shot her... She was lying there... She asked me to shoot... So I shot her."

Oh. Oh. That's... That's really bad. She... Doesn't know what to do.

The two stand there in silence, the cold wind blowing past them. It seems to have picked up a bit, the trees are shaking, bits of snow falling off of them.

Clover is shaking, having pulled his hat down to cover his face as soon as he was done speaking. Martlet on the other hand, is in a state of shock. How could she process that?

Clover had murderedCeroba. Not in self defense, by the sounds of it. Actual, by the angel, murder. But... Did that really make a difference at this point?

To Starlo, she's sure it would... But to her? She doesn't know. She and Ceroba weren't close, of course. And Ceroba was still trying to take his soul for her own gain... But to murder her after she's already defeated is...

But she can't bring herself to come to any conclusion. She bends down, pulling Clover closer with one of her wings, and gently pulls his hat away from his face.

He's crying, and right there she decides it's not worth holding it against him. She didn't care if it was wrong, it didn't make this child- this wonderful, playful, smart child- any less deserving of life.

She was definitely not telling Starlo though.

"Hey, Clover, it's okay... I'm... I'm here, alright? I'm not mad." She tries her best to be comforting, gently rubbing his back.

"You're... You're not?" He sniffles, wiping his tears with his arm. "But I... I killed her... Why aren't you mad?"

"It's... Complicated. Just... Let's keep this between us for now, okay? We can tell everyone else when things calm down." She pets his head, setting his hat down on the ground beside them. "We'll... Talk about it on the way, how about that? Get all your feelings out."

"O-Okay..." He mumbles, leaning into her. The bird hugs him tightly until he feels ready to move again, at which point she brushes the snow off his hat and sets it back on his head.

"You want me to carry you?" Clover responds with a nod, and he's picked up swiftly. Martlet begins the long walk back home with Clover in her wings.

After a bit of walking, they finally enter Waterfall. The flowing rivers and lack of cold let the two relax a little, although not as much as either would like.

"So... Can you explain what happened? Please?"

Clover doesn't see any way out of it at this point, so he tells her. From the moment she was knocked out all the way to Ceroba's death. He explains it the best he can, having to stop to take shaky breaths as he holds himself together.

"I... See... I didn't think she would go that far..." She mumbles, before shaking her head. "Well, actually, she did knock me out. Maybe I was just trying to see the best in her..."

Being emotionally exhausted from telling that story, Clover starts falling asleep to the gentle sound of rushing water all around them, only to jolt awake before he can completely nod off.

"You must be ready to snooze, huh? I know the feeling... Just sleep, Clover. I'll get us back home." With her reassurances that he only vaguely picks up on, he finally allows himself to nod off.

"What am I going to do...? This soul gun thing is useful, but I can't let him face Undyne head on... Maybe he can support someone else?"

She looks down at the sleeping child, the day's events taking quite the toll on him. "He needs less stress... I can do this on my own. I have to."

She continues walking, only stopping when she hears the telltale clanking of armored footsteps. Undyne. She needs to hide, right now.

With not many places to hide in this cave, she simply ducks behind a conveniently placed rock. They always seem to be around when you need them.

"Stupid... Town! Now the captain is refusing to let me take everyone down there again until he can get proper approval! Why doesn't he get it?! The longer we wait, the more time they have to prepare!"

Huh, good news. Really good news, actually. Now she has plenty more time to think... Probably. She takes a small peek towards the sound of clanking metal, and sees Undyne pacing in front of the river.

"Maybe I can just go myself? It'll break protocol, but I know I could handle it this time if I just go straight for the kid. But who knows what they'll have this time? UGH, I'M SO TIRED OF THIS!"

She summons several spears, all of which are fired at the rock Martlet is currently hiding behind. She's shaking with fear now, this woman could kill both her and Clover in a heartbeat if she found them.

"Damn it... I WILL get this human! For everything they've done! Brainwashing an entire town, unbelievable!" The clanging of metal gets quieter as Undyne starts stomping towards the path she just came from.

Huh, another lucky break... If Clover hadn't shot out the roof, they would've probably run into her... Maybe she should bet on one of Ace's games when she gets back.

For now though, she quickly runs through Waterfall, no sense in tempting fate by waiting around there. It doesn't take long for her to reach the area outside Undyne's house, where she takes a small break. Undyne likely wouldn't be back here for hours if she was heading to Snowdin.

She gently sets Clover on the ground before unceremoniously flopping down herself. She wasn't the most active monster at the best of times, but running halfway through Waterfall with a child in her arms certainly gave her a workout.

Of course, now she's exhausted and likely won't be able to move for a bit, but hey! At least they're safe. For now. Probably... Maybe she should move somewhere less exposed.

She tries to get up, but her body aches. That run really took a toll on her... Maybe she should hit the gym one of these days. Or, she'll forget and only go once, which is the most likely outcome.

She sighs, looking over at Clover. Still fast asleep, good. He needs his sleep. She... Also needs her sleep. But she can't... Fall asleep... Here...

She wastes no time in passing out, soft cooing emanating from her as the two sleep on the floor together.

"You have GOT to be kidding me."

The flower stares at the two unconscious nitwits just lying out in the open. Is this really what he's working with? These two morons? Well, he's come this far.

And he was so careful with sending Undyne that way too! Hell, he butchered it the first time becauseapparently the kid shot out the roof of that whiny vampire's place. Took him an entire load to figure that out after Undyne slaughtered the kid the first time.

And now they're just sleeping here. Right in front of Undyne's house.

"I should get a medal for dealing with this. Scratch that, a trophy! Both of you are IDIOTS! Conking out right in front of the house of the person who's trying to kill you, who does that?!"

He takes the opportunity to slam friendliness pellets into the birdbrain's head a few times, followed by quick loads. He needed to let off steam, especially since he hasn't been able to talk to Clover for AGES. This damn bird is always right there! She won't leave him alone! And ifSHE'S not on his case, it's the brainless sheriff or one of his entourage!

On top of being a helicopter parent, she keeps being so understanding about everything! BLEH! Just once he wants a timeline where she gives Clover up. One! But no matter the scenario, she never does. It's absurd!

"You're lucky I'm so patient, Clover... I have put more work into this one timeline than you have into anything you've ever done in your sad, pathetic, usually short life."

He looks over the child with an evil grin, pellets floating just above his head. "What I would've given to be rid of you! Oh, but I need you... You and that stupid bird. I'm so close this time! SO CLOSE!"

He laughs, slamming the pellets into Clover's head and immediately loading. "No point in waking you up if there's no danger, I guess. So boring, I'm gonna have to listen to all this sentimental garbage."

His face shifts into an imitation of Martlet's, perfectly mimicking her voice. "Wowie Clover, I sure do have attachment issues! That's why I adopted you after only knowing you for half a day at most!"

He then switches to an imitation of Clover, mimicking his voice as well. "Yeah mom, I'm just soooo sad all the time because my life on the surface sucked so much I had to come down here to find five dead children."

He audibly gags, giving the two one last look of disgust as he disappears into the ground.

Only a moment later does Clover open his eyes. He hadn't heard any of what Flowey had said, but he knew that the flower had at least been nearby. Something just... Felt off.

He sits up, looking around. Waterfall, right. How long has he been sleeping? It was hard to tell time down here, but it felt like it hadn't been too long... Maybe an hour or so?

Well, if the quiet water is anything to go by, they're at least in a safer area. Now he just needs to get Martlet up so they can get moving.

"Mom." He shakes her a bit, before shaking his head. "Ugh, I hope she didn't hear that... Martlet!" He shakes her even more, causing her to groan.

"Nngh, five more minutes mom, the fire isn't that bad..."

"MARTLET!"

"GAH!" She yells out, sitting up in surprise. "Clover! Clover, phew! I thought I was about to be arrested or something!"

"I wanna get home. I'm hungry." The bird rolls her eyes and stands up. "Alright, but I'm not carrying you again. My wings are still aching."

Clover takes her wing, and the two continue their walk, not saying much along the way. At least until they reach Hotland, anyway.

"Clover, um... Are you scared?"

"Scared... Of what?" He looks up at her, having to move his hat a bit.

"Of Undyne, of Asgore... Of being down here forever?"

"..."

"I just ask, since... You seem to have these episodes whenever someone talks about the future. I just want to know... If there's anything I can do."

Looking down at him, she sees a lot of... Pain. She doesn't know how else to describe it, or even what specifically he's hurting over. But she knows there's something that always helps.

She stops for a moment, bending down and hugging Clover with a nice firm hug. She's finally found the proper pressure to use when hugging!

The child relaxes immediately, hugging the bird back as they try to think of what to say. But he can't think of anything. All he comes up with are lame apologies and nothing short of begging.

His mission... That's what she means. She knows he won't leave without finishing it. Freeing those souls... It was digging at him every day. But what could he do? Asgore would wipe the floor with him, he knows that now.

But he can't do nothing... They deserve a better fate. They deserve Justice. He will save them, someday.

"Martlet, I... I want to... It's... I just want to save them."

She nods, rubbing his back. "Yeah, I know... All of our ideas so far may have been bust, but we'll think of something. I promise. Partners in crime?"

"Partners in crime."

The two break the hug and continue their walk, still having a decent way to go before getting back home. But at least this time, they can walk in a much more comfortable silence.

And... He might just have an idea of how to deal with Undyne.

Chapter 11: Tick tock...

Chapter Text

Checking all the puzzles isn't particularly hard, but itis very tiring. She really didn't think this one region had THIS many puzzles. And the solutions change every day!

Regardless, it was still an easy job, and she was paid well for it. Enough to support both her and Clover, in fact. If she ever did move back to Snowdin with him, it'd be a bit more of a hassle to get out here but...

Wait, what is she thinking? If she ever does go back to Snowdin, it almost certainly won't be with Clover. He'll probably be past the barrier at that point... Back on the surface where he belongs. Hopefully.

She walks into one of the puzzle rooms, stretching her wings a bit. She has to get used to flying so much again. This puzzle is one of her favorites though, you have to move around some squares to find a path for the bullet to get through.

They're tied to the door outside, which is never closed anyway so she doesn't really get why it's here, but who cares? A puzzle is a puzzle. And she's paid to check them.

She steps up to the puzzle, figuring out the solution pretty quickly. Nothing too difficult today, thankfully. Yesterday she got stuck on one of the laser puzzles and got home really late. At least she got some overtime.

"I think that's the last one... At least for today. Guess I'm heading home a little early! Maybe I should pick up something for Clover while I'm out..." She thinks about what she could get, but Hotland isn't exactly the most bustling of areas. She could stop at the apartments maybe?

She takes flight, being careful not to dislodge her box disguise from her head. The thing may be foolproof, but it is definitely NOT slip proof. She had already burnt three boxes.

After a short flight, she enters the apartments and makes a beeline for the store. Immediately, she's met with the grinning face of the shopkeeper and their sock puppet.

She had met these two before, when Clover was grabbing a few things before they went to New Home, but that was the only time she had seen them. "Well, hello there! What can we get ya?" Apparently, they didn't remember her. Good.

"Just looking for a gift for... my kid." Hopefully that would get her on the right track, she didn't want to explain any further than that. "You mean the late bloomer you came in with the other day? Sure! What were you thinking? We've got candy, patches..."

Shoot. Apparently they did remember. Okay, just as long as they don't ask any questions- "How is the kid anyway? He get his feathers yet?" The sock barks out at her. She sighs, of course they would make small talk.

"Not yet, might need another season or two, maybe?" She says offhandedly, looking over the patches on the shelves. She had seen Clover wear these before... Maybe he would like them?

"I'm sure he'll bloom into a fine young bird eventually!" The shopkeeper responds, their sock puppet nodding alongside them. "Uh, thanks..." She takes a patch off the wall and sets it on the counter. "How much for this?"

"100G, birdy!" The puppet demands, only for the shopkeeper to slap it on the head. "Be nice! She's got a kid to go home to! 75G, miss."

Oh, okay, maybe this wasn't so bad then. Still, 75G for apatch? She really hoped Clover likes this thing or she is really gonna be kicking herself. She sets down the 75G, and the shopkeeper gives her a cheerful "Thank you!" on the way out.

"Those two are weird..."

"Cloooooover, I don't have infinite patience ya know..."

The flower was starting to get on his nerves. Almost as soon as they'd gotten back home and Martlet had left for work, he had shown up.

Now, he wouldn't leave! Constantly pushing him towards the castle, constantly talking down to mom and Starlo... It was driving him up the wall.

"Then leave. I don't need you here."

Flowey pretends to be hurt by this, wincing slightly. "Wha- Clover, you can't say that to me! Your best friend! I'm the only one who has your best interests at heart!"

He leans in, a smirk on his face, as if he had never been bothered at all. "You wanna rescue those souls don't ya? Your stupid bird mom isn't gonna help. Nor is that lame excuse for a sheriff. Only I can help you! I'm all you need, don't you understand?"

"No. Martlet and Starlo are my friends. I want their help."

Flowey sighs dramatically. Laying it on thick, isn't he? "Clover, you stupid, stupid child... We may be friends, but you just don't understand your position in our relationship..."

"As your-" Clover is unable to finish as a vine wraps around his throat, pulling him off the ground.

"Listen, Clover. I have beenvery patient with you. More patient than I should've been, honestly. But no more. You have one week to get your worthless, WHINY soul over to that castle. If you don't?"

Clover wheezes as the vine tightens it's grip on his neck. He could barely breathe... He scratches uselessly at the vine in a futile attempt to get it away from him.

"Well... You know my power. I'll send you aaaaaaaaaall the way back to the beginning. You won't remember anything, of course... Maybe you'll do something different. Kill this time. Kill that stupid sheriff, or that birdbrain. You don't want that, do you?"

Clover can't help but start crying. He knew this would happen, Flowey was as fake as they come. But he didn't think he would ever do something as aggressive as this...

"Riiiiiight, I'm choking you. Kinda hard to respond, I understand." He slams Clover into the floor, causing the child to let out a sob, along with a pained groan. No bleeding, at least... Hopefully nothing's broken.

"Now, don't let this trick you into thinking we aren't the best of friends! I'm still the only one you can rely on! But I'm not joking, Clover. One week. I'll even make sure to kill everyone you love before I send us all back!"

He laughs, a sad*stic laugh that Clover couldn't have imagined the flower was capable of. "I... Hope you get stomped... On..." He hisses out, barely able to move.

"Tsk. So rude. Is that any way to treat afriend?" He smirks, surrounding the kid's head with friendliness pellets. "Ugh, if only I could just absorb that stupidly persistent soul of yours..."

The pellets disappear, and the flower sighs. "But no. I need you to remember my threat. Wouldn't be much point otherwise! Remember, you're under my control! See ya later, buddy." He flashes one last smug smile at Clover before disappearing into the floorboards.

Well, at least his suspicions were finally justified...

He tries to get up, to move, to even just get off the floor, but he can't. Flowey messed him up good. He can still feel the vine around his neck... That's gonna be hard to forget. He'll have nightmares for sure.

"Mom... Martlet... Please come home soon..." He mumbles, dazed from the lingering pain. He'll just rest here for a while... Until mom gets back...

Luckily for him, the door opens almost immediately. "Clover? CLOVER!" She kneels down next to him. 'What happened?! Can you hear me?! Clover!" He groans, looking up at her.

She gently lifts him up, checking them for wounds. She finds a bruise on his neck. "Who did this to you...?"

"Flower..." Huh? Okay, one thing at a time here. She grabs his satchel and digs through it, finding a bottle of root beer Clover had saved from yesterday.

"Here, this should help..." She helps him drink it, which seems to relax him a bit. Still, he doesn't look any better...

Oh, right. This isn't magical damage. Magical damage doesn't... Bruise. She briefly thinks about taking him to the clinic, but that doctor isn't gonna know anything she doesn't.

"I'm gonna lift you up, okay? I need to get you to your hammock." She watches Clover give her a thumbs up, which she can't help but smile at. He's always been a strong kid. She gently lifts him up, causing him to hiss in pain, and she moves him over to his hammock.

"I don't... I don't know enough about how humans work to, uh... Try healing you." She rests a wing on her head, losing a few more feathers out of stress. "Maybe Starlo would know...? Longshot, probably..."

"Bring him..." Clover mumbles, barely awake. He wants to sleep, he can shake off his pain if he just sleeps, he's sure of it. But he wants to see Starlo... Just in case.

"O-Okay! I'll go get him, stay right there." She winces, facepalming. "Why did Isay that?" Alright Martlet. Head on straight, Clover's hurt bad! Focus!

She quickly heads across the dirt path to knock the Five's door. It might be nap time for them, she doesn't quite remember. Actually, she doesn't really have a good gauge for how late it is anyway. No, wait, FOCUS!

She bangs on the door, harder this time. Starlo opens it, rubbing his eyes a bit. "What's goin on, Feathers? You're gonna wake up everyone bangin like that."

"Clover, injured, come on!" She grabs his arm and yanks him outside, pulling him across the path before he can even react. "Woah, easy! Clover's injured? What happened?"

Martlet doesn't answer, just shoving him into the cabin and towards the hammock. Starlo barely keeps his balance as he stumbles into a standing position next to it. "Alright, alright! Yeesh..." He looks over Clover, quickly becoming alarmed at how roughed up the kid is.

"What happened?! He's bruised to hell!" He moves him a bit. "Damn shirt's in the way... Feathers, help me with this!"

Martlet comes over, and the two carefully remove Clover's shirt. It becomes immediately apparent that he's been hurt really badly. His entire midsection is purple, as if something had slammed into it with extreme force.

Martlet, unable to handle the sight, covers her beak with her wings and backs up against the wall. Starlo on the other hand, takes his hat off and sets it on his chest. "By the Angel... Could this have been Undyne?"

"No, she... Couldn't have made it into town." Martlet squeaks out, turning away. "I can't look... Can we help him? Please tell me we can do something!"

Starlo sighs, feeling the bruised section of Clover's torso, the kid making slight groans of pain as he does. "Doesn't seem like anything's busted inside... If there was, we'd be up the creek without a paddle "

"How can you tell? What if... What if he's not gonna make it...?" Martlet trails off, shaking a bit. She was seconds away from having a breakdown, and Starlo needed to say something quick before she spirals out of control.

"Not to worry, feathers. Your kid's gonna be fine, he just needs to take it easy for... Quite a while."

Something in Martlet's brain stops when she hears that. Did he just say...her kid? But he's not... Isn't he though? She... But...

Suffice to say, Starlo did halt her breakdown. At least momentarily. He looks back down at Clover. "Who did this to you, deputy?"

His breathing is labored, but it's easier to get the words out without his shirt clinging to him. "Flowey..." Unfortunately, this answer means nothing to Starlo.

"Flowey? Never heard of em, but whoever they are... They ain't gettin away with this." He pats his deputy's shoulder. "Try and get some rest. In all my movies there's usually someone who gives a checkup, but we ain't got any human experts around."

Clover nods, having exhausted himself even further just by staying awake. He closes his eyes, very quickly drifting off into the realm of sleep.

The adults on the other hand, are worried sick. What if somethingwas messed up internally? There's no chance they'd be able to fix it! Not to mention, Undyne is only a few days off from coming back.

Clover wouldn't even be able to run away in this state. "Feathers, I think we may have to discuss... Options, here." Martlet is snapped out of her rapidly spiraling thoughts (thankfully of whether Clover is her kid or not rather than if he's gonna make it) and glances over at him.

"W-What do you mean?" Starlo moves over to her, grabbing one of her wings and holding it firmly. "How are we gonna help Clover? Just focus on that. There must besomebody who can help, or some way to figure out what's wrong ourselves."

She stares at him in surprise for a moment before a thought strikes her. Chujin was studying humans. There were diagrams and documents in the basem*nt of the estate about humans. "Chujin. Chujin!"

Starlo frowns in thought for a moment before it strikes him too. "The basem*nt, yes! Great thinking!" She blushes in embarrassment slightly before Starlo yanks her towards the door.

"C'mon, if we hurry we can search through it all before Clover wakes up!"

"Wait, wait! We can't leave him alone, I need to be here! Take the Five with you instead!" She pulls her wing out of his grasp and rushes back over to the hammock.

"R-Right, sorry. Got a little carried away. I'll come back as SOON as I have news for ya, just hang tight!" He bolts out the door, heading straight into his house and whistling loudly. "Rise and shine, posse! We've got a job to do!"

The other four, not happy with being woken up so early, immediately change their tone once Starlo explains. With that, the Five all run straight to the Oasis to start searching.

Martlet stays by the hammock, gently rocking it back and forth to help Clover sleep. "I... Know you won't remember me giving this to you now, but..." She takes out the patch she bought, peeling it and sticking it to Clover's hat. "I hope you like it, when you're awake to see it..."

She looks over Clover again. It hurts just to see this, she wants to look away and never look back but... She needs to watch him. This whole thing happened because nobody was watching him!

"I'm not gonna let this happen ever again..." Her wing rests on his chest. "I'll protect you Clover... I'll protect you. Even if I can't... Starlo will, or the rest of the Five. Dina, even. Dalv!" She's rambling at this point. It's more just to reassure herself anyway.

"You really are my kid... I've never cared this much about anything, and yet..." She pauses to wipe away some built up tears. "I'm so happy you found me after you fell..."

She had to accept it, Clover was her kid. He had been for some time now, she had effectively adopted him as soon as she spirited him away from Asgore, even. She just didn't think she could handle that kind of responsibility.

But look at her now. Job, friends, she even took on the guard! And won! With help, of course but... She wouldn't have even tried if it wasn't for Clover. She would take care of Clover no matter what now.

But does Clover even want that? He wants to leave, to save the souls of the other fallen humans. He doesn't plan to stay with her. But... That's okay. He's already made her into a better person.

All in under two weeks... Maybe she just needed a good kick in the pants. She laughs to herself a little bit thinking about that. To have uprooted her life and caused such a massive change, she probably would've hated it if it was anyone else causing it.

But something about Clover...

Well, that's something to think about another time. She picks up Clover's blanket, her old blanket, and gently tucks the kid in as best she can.

"Sleep well, Clover... We'll do everything we can to help you."

Chapter 12: Someone get this kid some Aspirin

Chapter Text

The night was a blur. Martlet had been woken up several times during the night by Clover screaming, and each time she comforted him until he fell back asleep. She wasn't even sure he was fully aware of what was going on, which was probably a bad sign.

Starlo still wasn't back. She was starting to worry, how long could it take to find something on human anatomy? Or medicine? Or anything useful really...

She at least hoped he wasn't keeping the Five up all night with him. Maybe that's why it was taking so long? Who knows. All she knows is Clover is hurt, and she badly wants to help, but can't.

Clover's screaming again.

It hurts her more every time.

Like each time before this, she gently rocks the hammock back and forth, humming a tune she remembers from somewhere. She would've sung a lullaby or something, but she can't think of any. Did she ever hear any as a kid?

Probably not. Her mom wasn't big on those. At least her tune is working, Clover slowly quiets down again, his body going limp. At this point she might as well stay awake, getting sleep was an impossibility anyway.

Still, she hesitated to take her eyes off of Clover. She felt like if she did, something would get him again. For example, whoever this Flowey monster was... More feathers fall off of her just from the thought. Having finally accepted Clover as her kid, she feels much stronger about his well being.

She felt it deep in her SOUL. An intense, burning need to keep Clover safe. Maybe it was always there, buried under an uncertainty. She didn't want to accept it because, well, he's not staying. Now when he leaves she'll... Well, maybe she won't last very long.

She shakes her head, no, don't think about that. Focus on Clover. He's what's important right now. She takes a quick look outside, only seeing darkness, and nobody outside yet. It must be really early.

"Maybe I should get something to eat..." She staggers over to the fridge, taking a second to look at Clover's most recent drawing on it. It had most of his friends: herself, Starlo, Dalv, and the four. She smiles a bit, it's just what she needed to see right now.

She takes out a coffee, and some noodles. She wasn't gonna try and cook them just in case she set the cabin on fire again, but snacking on them dry worked just as well.

She takes a sip of the coffee and bites a chunk out of the noodles. They're better dry anyway. Now she's awake, and who knows how long it'll be until Clover wakes up. If he wakes up...

No, no, he's gonna wake up. He hasn't fallen down yet. He'll be fine. He has to be. "Everything's gonna be fine... Starlo's gonna find some way to help, and you'll be all up and about in no time!"

She's really trying to be positive here, but it's hard when Clover's crying in his sleep. She sits back down in her spot, being to rock the hammock again. She hopes whatever nightmares Clover is having, they're at least being soothed a bit by her.

Running, running, running, it never ended, he couldn't take it anymore he just wanted it to stop PLEASE MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU

Vines everywhere, vines. Vines. Always vines. Hurts so bad when they hit, they can't hit anymore. Hurts. Just keep running. Run. Run. Run. RUN. RUN. RUN.

"Howdy, Clover! Boy, you sure are in pickle, huh? Why don't you let me heeeeeeeeehehehehe!" The flower is talking, not again. The voice, distorted, again. No. Not AGAIN!

The monstrosity. Turn and run. Have to run. Never stop. It laughs and laughs and laughs. Always there, always the laughing. He's dead. Always dead.

"Aw, don't run away! We were just about to haveSO MUCH F U N!"

The pain comes before the sound. Vines. All through him. It hurts. Please stop. I can't it anymore please stop I can't take it anymorepleasestopicant

"HahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Blood pools. Vision fades. Nothing.

A pause. Change. Mom is here, but she's not right. Melting. She cries out. Why can't he help?Why can't he help? No moving.

"H E L P M E. . .!" He wants to he wants to please WHY CAN'T HE MOVE

Melting into nothing. Gone. So powerful. No, no, not powerful!

Clover wants to cry but he has no eyes or mouth or ears or head or

Stop.

Terrors. That's all these are, terrors. The singing is back... That wonderful sound that soothes his mind...

It all fades away for a moment.

"Clover?" He turns around. Mom. She's okay.

"Mom!" He throws himself at her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

The singing helps. He wants the music to stay forever. No more pain. Just mom.

Mompleasehelpicanttakeitanymorepleasemom

"Mom, how can I leave?"

"You need to wake up, Clover."

"WAKE UP!" She screams so loud it hurts, everything hurts again no mom why why why why-

He opens his eyes.

The first thing he notices is the pain. It's constant, and it feels like it's coming from everywhere. Flowey had slammed him into the floor... He remembers that. It hurts so badly... Couldn't mom do something?

"Mmm...mo..." He tries to speak, but he's exhausted. Drained. He was lucky to even speak at all, really. Thankfully, that's all he needed to vocalize.

"Clover! You're awake!" Martlet shoots up, raising his head slightly with her wing. "How... Do you feel?" He responds with a groan of pain. He's never felt this kind of pain before, it almost makes him want to sleep again. Almost.

Night terrors... It wasn't the first time he's had something like that, but it never got any easier. He could barely remember any of them, much less the events of the previous day. For some reason every time he tries to think of what happened he gets a headache.

He did remember the most important detail though. One week to go confront Asgore, or Flowey would rip it all away from him. Everything. His friends, his new family... He couldn't let that happen. But confronting Asgore meant the same thing, didn't it? Either way he loses everything.

Is it better then, to let Flowey reset so he can try again? ...No. He can't let Flowey win this time, he would fight for the life he's built here, however shaky it is.

He's beginning to wonder though... Is this really the first time he's been through this? If Flowey will reset like this, who's to say he hasn't done it before? And if so, how many times?

...Were his nightmares just his subconscious remembering past resets? If so... Flowey scared him even more than before. The things he sees in his nightmares... Flowey, a monster, killing him over and over again. And mom... Melting away into dust. Even worse... He feels some level of satisfaction when he sees that.

He feels the bruise on his neck, barely just starting to heal. Who knows how long it'll be there? He groans in pain just from touching it.

Wait, Martlet's been trying to talk this whole time... Oops.

"Barely even responsive, where is Starlo?!" She yells at nothing, already frustrated. "Just rest, Clover. I've got you. Nothing bad will happen while I'm here!" Clover doesn't do much other than breathe heavily from the pain, but she's still least 67% certain he understood that.

"You better get back here soon, Starlo."

"Star, I think this might be a lost cause." Moray picks up another file, reading the label on it and frowning. "Chujin sucked at filing..."

"There must be something here. We haven't gotten through it all yet, right?" Starlo was not having a good night. He wanted to curse Chujin's dust at this point, how does one man do so much research and then organize it so haphazardly?!

Mooch pops her head out of a stack of files in the middle of the room. "I feel like I'm learning way more about Chujin than I wanted to." She shakes off a bunch of files and grabs another one off the shelf. "I don't even know what half of this stuff means, it's way above my pay grade. "

"Nobody's payin ya, Mooch." Ed says, holding a comically small folder in his massive hands.

"Well, not directly." She grins, tossing the file over her shoulder. "I'm starting to get tired though... We've been at this all night and still haven't gotten anywhere."

"Well, we can't give up. Clover need us right now, and I'll be dammed if I just throw in the towel when there HAS to be answers here!" Starlo gets up, grabbing a large handful of files and tossing them towards the stairs. "But if y'all need to go rest, go ahead. I'll stay and look myself."

The others share glances. This was unusual. It had only been a few days since he had reconciled with Clover, and it had seemed like he was still conflicted over the whole thing, so why is he so insistent all of a sudden?

"Maybe I could go check on Martlet?" Moray says, setting their file down. "She's probably worried sick."

"I'll come with, I'm bored out of my mind here!" Mooch hops out of her pile and joins Moray at the stairs.

The two exit the basem*nt, leaving the guys to continue searching. Not that it makes much difference, progress is slow. Well, non existent really.

"So am I bringing up the elephant in the room today?" Ace turns, moving his neat stack of files aside. "Why the urgency? Yes, Clover's hurt, but we figured you might a little less... Intense about all this."

"Now that ya mention it, yeah. Why are ya so worried? Clover's a tough kid, they fought all of us at once and barely walked away with a scratch." Ed takes a handful of files(about 11 files) and start sorting through them.

"I may not be comfortable with Clover anymore, but he's still a child. And a sheriff always protects the children of his town."

"Is that really all there is to it?" Ace gives the sheriff an inquisitive stare. "Surely, this sort of intensity comes from something other than obligation."

"You wanna know the truth, Ace? I'm worried about Martlet."

The two stop what they're doing, turning to face Starlo properly. "Martlet? Why?"

Starlo throws the file he's holding across the room, before sighing and slouching forward with his head in his hands. "She's too attached to that kid, Ace. You probably haven't noticed, and I don't blame ya. But she thinks of him as her own kid."

"Like, uh... That old story about the king and queen?" Ed sits down, shaking the floor. "Adoptin a human child and all that?"

"Yes, exactly like that. Y'all know what happened when that human died, so imagine what Feathers would do if Clover bit the bullet. Or worse, was captured by Undyne and brought to Asgore again."

"You think she'll...?" Ace starts, but trails off midway through. He can't say it.

"Yeah... She'll be so distraught, she'll fall down. I'd bet all the corn on my family's farm on it."

An uneasy silence settles on the men, Starlo grabbing another file and silently looking through it.

"Do you really think it'd be that bad? Yeah she's attached to the kid, but... As much as one would be to their own child? This soon?" Ed points out, much to Star's annoyance.

"Trust me Ed, you watch these two for a little while like I have and you'll see it. They've got some sort of crazy bond."

"...You've watched them? Long enough to notice that?"

"I was keepin an eye on the kid while I drank my grief away, give me a break."

He snorts, going back to looking through files. "Well, I can't say I can see it happening, but if you're worried, why not talk to her about it?"

"What am I supposed to say? 'I'm worried you'll fall down if anything happens to Clover'? Can feel her glare on me just from sayin that..."

Ace shakes his head, opening a file. "Oh- Star! I think this is it." The other two come over to look. The file is labeled "Human Anatomy" and has charts of the various systems inside of humans. Gross.

"This is what humans looks like inside? Yeesh, what a mess." Ed grumbles. "At least we got what we came for. Let's get this to the others."

The three quickly leave the mess of a basem*nt, charging through the Dunes to get to the East as fast as possible.

Flowey may have made aslighterror here.

Look, he's frustrated, impatient, and it's all Clover's fault! Who can blame him for letting off some steam by tossing Clover around a bit?

Unfortunately... He was too hard on him. Yeah, he wanted to murder the kid, obviously, but he still needed him alive! His plan would be useless if he was too weak to do anything.

He knew his strength of course, the hit he gave the kid shouldn't have broken anything, but Clover is weak. Really, really ANNOYINGLY weak. So what's a flower to do?

Loading is out of the question, since he decided to be an idiot and SAVE as soon as he left Clover. He can work with this! He can! He will! YEP.

He'll just steal something... Something from that horrid lab. Gotta be something there to fix Clover right up.

Or... Maybe he can let the brainless bird and the delusional sheriff handle it. Maybe they'll actually pull through for once. At the very least, it would give him a small break to handle some... other issues.

Namely, the captain of the royal guard. The old fool is being too cautious, not brazen enough to let Ms. Spearhappy go on her own. But that's what he needs! Otherwise, Clover stands no chance.

So, he's gonna pay them a visit. A littleconvincingshould do the trick. Maybe a little...persuasion.Just to make sure things move right along.

It was all coming together now... Soon came Clover's real test.

He simply can't wait to enjoy the show.

Chapter 13: The road to recovery is filled with... Feathers

Chapter Text

The six monsters crammed into the small cabin were working themselves up over nothing.

Reading the file, it was clear that if something was broken like they had originally assumed, Clover would not be this calm about it. After a bit of talking, they decided to wait it out, if only to see if Clover improved at all.

The four took the opportunity to leave, heading to bed for the rest of the night, leaving Martlet and Starlo alone in the cabin to watch over Clover.

At first it was silent, the two didn't have much to say to each other. But then it got awkward, and Martlet hates awkward silence. She clears her throat, getting Starlo to look at her. "...Talk outside?"

He mumbles a response that she doesn't hear, and the two sit down on the steps outside, keeping the door open just a crack to keep an eye on Clover. Just in case.

"What's goin on, Feathers?"

"I, well... Wanted to thank you. For helping Clover, I mean."

He tips his hat, leaning forward a bit. "Just doin my part as the sheriff."

She giggles a bit, but they settle back in a silence after that. She glances over at him.

"Is that... The only reason?"

He sighs, staring at the ground. Well, guess Ed gets another point on the "told you so" board.

"No. Feathers, you... You're really attached to Clover now, aren't you?"

Caught off guard by the question, her eyes go wide. "Wha- was it really that obvious?"

"You're kiddin, right?"

"Okay, yeah, I haven't been hiding it or anything... It's just... I don't know, I really want to protect him! A-and, take care of him... He's my little partner in crime, you know? And... He's like my own child..."

She smiles a bit, hugging herself with her wings. Dryly, she thinks to herself that she'd still be wasting away at her post if Clover hadn't fallen. She doesn't regret her choices in the slightest.

"He's improved my life, improvedme, just from being here. It's hard not to care about someone that can do that, you know? It's selfish, but... I hope he stays with me."

"I admire what you've done for him, Feathers. Most monsters I know couldn't come close to your level of resilience."

"Oh, no, it's nothing like that! It's just... I feel like he deserves a chance to live."

"And you put everything into that belief, including committing treason. It's something to respect." He looks away, off towards where he had his first battle with Clover. Feels like forever ago now.

"You're an inspiration to a cowboy like me."

Martlet awkwardly laughs. "Oh, wow... I didn't think I had that kind of effect on people. Thank you."

He didn't want to mention his worries now. Not yet... Damn it, why is this so hard, just change the subject!

"So... How's it feel to be a mom?"

"Strange... Especially since my kid is a human!" She laughs. "It's crazy, you know? I didn't think I'd ever have kids, and suddenly one lands right on me anyway!"

He chuckles along with her. Well, now or never.

"Hey, uh... I wanted to ask ya somethin."

"Yeah?"

"You think you'd... Wanna get drinks? Not now, tonight maybe?"

Huh? Weird thing to ask, especially right now... Why'd he sound so nervous saying it?

"Sure...? Why'd you ask like that?"

"Just, uh... You know. I wanna try and, clear the rest of the tension. After all my mopin."

"Oh... Yeah, that sounds good. I wouldn't mind."

"Just feel like I could do more to make up for shutting you both out at first."

"Alright then! Should be fun." She smiles at him, and he gives a shaky one back.

"Well, uh... I'm goin for a walk." He stands up. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Oh, okay. Have fun!" She waves as he walks off. He was acting a little strange. Wonder what that was all about. She shrugs and heads back inside to check on Clover.

At least going out for drinks should be fun. She hasn't spent much time with Starlo outside of when Clover participates in their roleplays.

She'll have to find someone to watch Clover though. Shouldn't be hard, one of the five can do it! Hopefully they don't mind. "Mmm... Hungry..." She hears Clover wheeze.

"I've got the just the thing!" She grabs a few leftover pancakes from the fridge. "Your favorite!" She walks over to his hammock, and before she can even react the plate is out of her hands and Clover is gobbling down the pancakes.

"Wow, you were hungry, huh? That's the last of the pancakes though, so don't ask for any more!" He's gonna ask for more anyway, she knows it. All well. At least he's feeling decent enough to eat without help. He'll be fine.

At least... Until Undyne comes back.

A loud crash fills the room as papers fly off of the desk, scattering all around the room.

"Don't talk back to me, buddy! I hold all the cards here." A vine stabs into the front of the desk, right next to the head of the monster that just slammed into it.

That monster? The captain of the royal guard. Flowey has had enough. "Now that I have your attention... Look at me!" The vine slaps against their side so hard, it sends them sprawling across the floor.

"Stop, stop! I have a family, please!"

"Wah, wah!" He morphs his face into a perfect replica of the Captain's. "I have a family! Don't kill me!" He says in their voice, before slamming a vine into the wall next to them.

"Does it look like I care, idiot?! I spelled out my request nice andclearly, and I am not gonna sit here and watch you snivel and whine all day because you think you can actually say no!"

"W-What do you w-want...?"

"Let. Undyne. Go. To. The. DUNES!" He grabs them with a vine, tossing them over the desk, knocking over a bookshelf behind it. "Do I need to spell it out again for your simple mind to understand?"

"I get it, I get it! I... Can't..."

"WHAT."

"I m-mean! I'm not allowed to!" They put their hands up, quivering with fear. "Asgore, he-" They swallow the lump in their throat. "Specifically said to not send her on solo missions!"

"Oh, is that so? Well, isn't that a shame..." The vine slaps down, cracking the desk in half as if it was nothing but an egg.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Naive, maybe? YOU report all the missions to Asgore. YOU control the information. You know what that means, riiiiiight?"

The flower grabs them with the vine, dragging them through the remains of the desk. He pulls them up by the neck, poking their chest with another vine. "It means! That YOU! Can LIE!I can't believe I have to explain this to you!"

They struggle against the vine, although that just seems to amuse Flowey further. With a laugh, he tosses them across the room again. "I don't know why you keep struggling, it's sobeyond pointless."

"W-Why are you doing this?! Who e-even are you?!"

"Why would I tell you any of that? My monologuing card is atzero stamps, buddy. All you need to know is the one SIMPLE task I've asked of you!"

"Fine, fine! Yes! I'll do it!" They wheeze as they pull themselves up. "What do you need me to do?"

"Oh, just let Undyne do exactly as she wants. Let the idiot barge straight into the Dunes!" The flower pops up again just next to the captain. "Doesn't matter how, really. She's just gotta be alone!"

The captain tries to stomp on Flowey, only to get stopped by a vine wrapping around their ankle. "You know... I could do this myself."

"H-huh...?"

"Well, if you're uncooperative, I mean. Who needs you, right?" The vine wraps all the way up their leg. "It would be way easier. Just... getting rid of you, handling it myself..."

Another vine wraps up the captain's other leg. "...Get me?"

The captain is on the verge of hyperventilating, Desperately clawing at the vines to get them off of their legs.

"Hmmm... Maybe you don't. Then let me SHOW YOU!" The vines pull in opposite directions, and the captain forces out a bloodcurdling scream as they're ripped in half by the opposing forces, before collapsing to dust.

"Oopsies! What a shame. Ah, But I can't actually do that... Too much suspicion."

He loads his file, having just saved before his little outburst.

"Well? Do ya?"

"Yes! Yes! Angel save me, yes! I'll do it! Please don't kill me, please..."

The vines retreat, causing the captain to fall flat on their face, right in front of Flowey. It was all too easy, really. If Undyne was the captain, he might've actually had some trouble here. But no, the one in charge is this complete buffoon of a monster that can't even fit in their armor anymore.

He has no pity to spare for this side character, he has bigger fish to fry. Literally, in this case. Undyne needs to go, or Clover will never go to the castle. And while yes, he was perfectly capable of grilling the fish on his own, there was more to it.

Undyne needs to be alive to become captain later. He has more long term plans in the works, and they require the walking sushi to be captain of the guard eventually.

So, letting Clover subdue her is the next best thing, as aggravating as that is. And since he went and put Clover on a time limit, that means he can't wait for this UTTER WASTE OF SPACE to let her go back again.

Of course, she can't go immediately... At least a day or two. Clover has to be ready, after all! "Good. I'm glad you're finally seeing reason."

The captain leans against the wall, hand on their chest. "W-When do I send her...?"

"I'll give you a signal. You'll know. And if you don't send her? Well buddy... There are vines everywhere."

There weren't, of course. He can't be everywhere at once. But they don't need to know that. "Oh! And don't tell anyone about this, hm? Can't have any of your pesky guardsmen getting all suspicious, can we?"

"Yeah, of course... I'll... I'll figure out some excuse for the office..."

"Good... Glad we had this chat!" With one last laugh, the flower disappears under the floorboards, leaving the captain to curl up in the fetal position as they struggle to comprehend nearly being killed by a flower.

The pain is subsiding. Or, well, it's more accurate to say that it's becoming numb.

Or maybe it's him that's becoming numb? Who cares. He's just glad the pain isn't as bad anymore. With some effort, he sits up, getting the attention of Martlet.

"Clover! Easy, don't hurt yourself. Are you okay? Do you need water? Food?" She frets over him, putting a wing on his forehead to test his temperature. This is pointless, as Clover never had a fever to begin with.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired... What happened?"

"Starlo dug through a bunch of Chujin's old stuff to find some way to help you, and it turns out it was a waste of time... You're just badly bruised and need time to rest and heal."

"Rest and heal? What about Undyne?"

She gently pushes him back down to a laying position. "If she shows up, me and Starlo will handle her!" She is sweating buckets just from saying that.

Well, he can't say he's not a little comforted. Still, if Undyne does show up, what can he do? He can barely move. Easy pickings as far as she's concerned. Stupid Flower... Of all the times to be a jerk...

Speaking of which, being bedridden is causing another problem. Time is running out already, and he still needs to find a way to defeat Asgore, but there's no chance he even comes close in this condition.

Not to mention he still has no plan... At least for Asgore.

"Hey Martlet? I think I have an idea of how to deal with Undyne."

"Shoot."

"Well, you know the Steamworks? There's a robot in there. Axis. Pretty strong, and attacks intruders. If I can lure Undyne in there, we can fight her together."

Not his most thought out plan, but it did have merit. Axis gave him and Ceroba plenty of trouble. Surely he'd be able to take on Undyne if he had Axis to help.

"I don't know... I don't know anything about this robot, how can I trust it to not hurt you? Or turn on you?"

"He's friendly. He just needs to get to know you first, like a dog."

"Dog?! Is he in the royal guard?"

"What? No. I was just comparing him to a dog. Focus."

Embarrassed, she pouts and crosses her wings. "I knew that... What about me and Starlo? Will he also consider us Intruders?"

Well, yeah. But he doesn't want to just tell her that in case she shoots down his plan because of it. There's gotta be a way around it... A visit! Yes, perfect.

"No, not as long as we visit first. He just needs to see you with me and he'll be happy to help."

Martlet wasn't really sure about this plan but... Clover tends to have good ideas. Except for throwing himself at Asgore, that was decidedly not a good idea.

But it's not like she has any ideas either. She took work off to take care of Clover, so she has the time to go check out this... Axis. If he attacks, well, just flee. No big deal, hopefully.

She had never seen a robot before, actually. Chujin had talked to her about making some before he started mentoring her, but seemed... Ambivalent to the topic? It was hard for her to explain.

Either way, he had never thought to show her one before his passing, so it would be pretty cool to see one up close! And one that can apparently be independent too!

"Alright... We can go later today if you're feeling able. Just try and get some rest for now, okay?"

"Okay..."

She pats his head and tucks him back in, or at least the best she can. It's a hammock, there's not exactly a good way to do it.

It's still comfortable for Clover though, who settles back in, quietly drifting off to a thankfully dreamless sleep.

Chapter 14: Robots and Romance

Chapter Text

Luckily for everyone, Clover seemed to improve fairly quickly. It still took a good portion of the day, but he was finally able to get out of the hammock and stretch properly.

Mom was still fretting over him, of course. Nothing he could do about that, but at least she went and got more pancakes for him. That's the most important thing.

After eating a large stack of them, he takes Martlet to the Steamworks. This will be fine. He'll just explain everything to Axis, and he'll have a solid plan for when Undyne gets here.

He really hopes this works, otherwise he's pretty much screwed.

A short walk and a ten minute span of trying to get the Steamworks door open later, they're finally inside. Surprisingly, the Steamworks seems a little more alive since the last time Clover visited. Or, passed through. Trudged through? He didn't really like this place.

Regardless Axis is likely roaming around somewhere, so best to start wandering around and seeing where they end up. They head deeper into the Steamworks, passing a few shockingly functional Jandroids.

"I was expecting this place to be more run down based on the way you described it." Martlet remarks, carrying Clover across the catwalks that make up the facility.

Yes, she's carrying him again. He may be up for moving, but he doesn't need to overexert himself! Plus, she insisted.

"Maybe Axis has been doing some repairs." Could he do that? Axis was a bit of a strange robot, but this is a lot of repairs being done in two weeks or so. Wow, has it really been that long since he fell...?

Such a strange feeling. "Maybe he's up near the main terminal. We should turn around and take the laundry chute."

"The... Laundry chute?" Martlet stops, giving Clover a confused look. "Like... An actual chute? That's not just what you're calling it?"

"Yeah, it leads up to the top of the facility somehow. Ed threw me down it after Ceroba and Star ran off."

"He did what?! Who knows what kind of grossness is in that dusty old thing, he could've killed you!"

"...That was weeks ago. I'm fine."

"Oh, right... I still don't know how comfortable I am going up a... Chute. Can we go the long way?"

"I... Guess? You're the one carrying me." He shrugs, always fascinated by Martlet's ability to forget basic facts on a whim.

"Oh, yeah! Right! Let's go then!" She continues to walk, arriving at the door where he had initially met Axis. You know it would be funny if-

The door slams open once again, Axis rolling out of it and turning towards the two. "HATTED HUMAN, YOU HAVE RETURNED. AND YOU HAVE BROUGHT A BIRD. WE HAVE ENOUGH OF THOSE ALREADY."

"This is Martlet. She's taking care of me."

"UNDERSTOOD. I WILL LOG THIS SO SHE IS NOT MARKED AS AN INTRUDER AND FILLED WITH MANY LASERS. [New designation added: Large Bird] NOW, TO WHAT DO I OWE THE VISIT?"

"We um, need your help." Martlet sets Clover down, making sure he's standing alright before moving over to the robot. "The royal guard is after Clover and... Well, we can't take them on ourselves. We were wondering if you could help."

"FOR THE ONE WHO HELPED ME MEET THE LOVE OF MY LIFE? I WOULD ELIMINATE ANY GUARD THAT POSED A THREAT TO HIM."

"No! Not eliminate! Just, uh... Subdue?" She really hopes she doesn't regret this. She wants Undyne to stop going after Clover, but not by killing her!

"I SEE. CAN I SUBDUE A TARGET INSTEAD OF FILLING THEM WITH LASERS. I WILL CHECK MY SUBROUTINES."

"You pick weird friends, Clover."

"Does that include you?"

"You know it does."

"I HAVE CHECKED. IT APPEARS I DO HAVE UNUSED APPREHENSION PROTOCOLS."

"What do you mean unused? You threw me and Ceroba into a closet or something." He didn't mind it in there honestly, there was lots of cool stuff. Ceroba rushed him out though, as she always did.

"THAT WAS AN ERROR. I HAD INTENDED TO THROW YOU DOWN THE TRASH CHUTE."

"Oh. Well, I definitely preferred the closet."

"YOU MAY VISIT IT ANY TIME YOU WISH. I WILL EVEN THROW YOU IN THERE AGAIN IF YOU ASK."

Now he remembered why he liked Axis so much.

"Well, should we talk somewhere else?" Martlet steps between the two, mostly to protect Clover in case the robot actually did try to follow through on his promise.

"WE CAN MEET UP AHEAD. WE WILL DISCUSS THIS PLAN OF APPREHENSION."

He rolls off, leaving the bird and human behind. She was having second thoughts about it, but... The robot did seem pretty capable. Throwing Ceroba into a closet? She couldn't imagine anyone doing that.

"Best not keep him waiting." She holds out a wing, which Clover happily takes. The two quickly hurry after Axis, who has made it surprisingly far even with his head start.

The journey isn't too difficult, even the massive pool of coolant has finally gotten its bridges repaired. Maybe Axis HAS been repairing the place. Really no other explanation for it.

It was kinda nice to see the place becoming functional again, even if just a little bit. Maybe the robots here would be able to make lives for themselves.

Eventually they reach the odd building where he had gotten chased by Axis. Now that he wasn't sprinting through it, he noticed that the room design really made no sense. But they're not here to study the architecture.

"YOU HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED."

"We took like five minutes to get here..." Martlet mumbles, setting Clover down in one of the chairs.

"FOUR MINUTES AND FIFTY NINE SECONDS TOO LONG."

"You can't be serious-" Clover tugs on her wing, cutting her off. Now really wasn't the time to be arguing with Axis.

"FIRST, I HAVE A QUESTION. WHERE IS THE FOX LADY."

Oh, damn. He hadn't considered that part. ...And now he can feel Martlet telling him to watch his language.

"She's, um... Gone." Martlet speaks for him, likely seeing his wince upon hearing the question.

"GONE. I HAVE GLEAMED FROM OTHER SOURCES THAT THIS TYPE OF PHRASING MEANS DEATH."

"...Yes."

"I SEE. THEN I HAVE TWO FAVORS TO ASK."

Clover speaks up this time. "Of course."

"I WISH TO SEE HER GRAVE. AND, I WISH TO MEET THE LITTLE FOX AGAIN."

Oh, this is actually worst case. How is he supposed to manage that?

"Well, you can see the grave, but the little fox- Kanako by the way- is... Also gone."

"HATTED HUMAN."

"Yes...?"

"I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU."

Shuffling in his chair a bit, and immediately regretting it due to a shot of pain from his bruises, he nods. "Well, we don't know for sure... But we have no way to see her regardless."

"...THIS WILL TAKE A LONG TIME TO PROCESS. I WILL HELP YOU WHEN YOU NEED IT. YOU HAVE DONE MUCH FOR ME. I BELIEVE IT WOULD BE POLITE TO RETURN THE FAVOR."

"Thank you, Axis." This went in a different direction than he was expecting, but... Well, he still secured his help. Now he just hopes it works.

"ALLOW ME TO ESCORT YOU OUT." Before either of the two can speak up, Axis has already left the building and is rolling at a high speed towards the exit.

"When you said he was odd this isn't what I was expecting. And why did we come all the way in here just for him to ask us two things?"

Valid question, he thinks. Lot of walking they just did for no reason. But either way, they accomplished their goal.

"At least we convinced him to help. Um... Carry me again, please?"

"Of course!" She picks him up, quickly carrying him back towards the beginning of the path. She was already getting tired, she wasn't gonna be able to keep this up for much longer.

Luckily, she doesn't have to. Axis is waiting by the still open door of the Steamworks, looking out towards the dunes. "IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG TIME SINCE I LEFT THE STEAMWORKS... AND I STILL LACK A PROPER SAND WHEEL."

"Proper what? You know what, nevermind. I'm not asking questions. Do you want to head to the grave now or later?" Martlet's sweating is getting worse. She figured she'd be used to this by now, with how much she ends up carrying Clover around anyway.

"I WILL WAIT. I AM NOT READY TO FACE THE WORLD AGAIN SO SOON."

"Oh! Yeah, of course. Should we... Come back? Or...?"

"I WILL SEND YOU NOTICE THROUGH THE FLYING LETTER MAMMALS."

"The mail whale? Alright, yeah. We'll keep an eye out." They leave through the door, which Axis quickly shuts behind them.

"I WILL TELL THEM. JUST NOT NOW. HELPING THEM FIRST IS THE CORRECT STRATEGY."

He rolls back into the facility, his unlocked memory banks playing over and over.

Martlet spent the rest of the day watching Clover in his hammock, trying to be a good caretaker. And while she was pretty on top of things, Clover did still feel a little suffocated.

"You don't need to stare at me..."

"If I stop looking at you something might hurt you again! I'm not letting that happen, I can't let that happen!"

"Didnt you have to meet Starlo?"

She shoots up, knocking the chair she was sitting in over. "I FORGOT! I've gotta get someone to watch you right now, he's probably waiting for me!"

"Or you could just-" she's already out the door. Cool.

She rushes to the Five's house, collapsing through the door and knocking feathers everywhere. "Guys I need someone to watch Clover right now!"

The four, completely taken off guard by Martlet's clumsy entrance, just stare blankly at her for a moment.

"I've gotta go meet Starlo!"

That snaps them out of it. Ace immediately volunteers, and Martlet barely squeaks out a thanks before scrambling over to Dina's bar.

However, she halts just outside the door to take a breath and relax. Can't go barging in again, Dina warned her. She CALMLY pushes open the doors... And scrambles over to where Starlo is sitting.

"Easy, Feathers. You're just in time." He gestures to the drinks on the table, ice still frozen in them.

"Oh, good... I completely forgot you wanted to meet! I thought I had finally gotten my head screwed in, but silly birdbrained me still forgot!"

"It's fine, feathers. I knew you'd show up eventually." He takes a long drink and motions for her to sit down.

She does so, picking up her drink. She wasn't much for drinking, but it would be rude not to after he already paid for them. Besides, she can indulge a bit after the night she's had. Maybe it'll help her sleep later.

Carefully taking sips from the glass, she coughs a bit from the taste. "So, what did you wanna talk about?"

"For starters, I want to apologize for the way I treated you. And, Clover, I suppose."

"It's weird hearing you without the accent... You don't really apologize for Clover, do you?"

"...No. I still don't forgive him, that hasn't changed. But the four were right. I can handle it in much better ways."

"Well, good! I'm happy to see you doing better. Clover has a lot of fun with your little adventures." She takes another drink, before sighing sadly. "He really needs the distraction right now. There's so much on his mind, and I just don't know what to do."

"Happy to help..." He trails off. He's trying really hard not to make this awkward, but he has no idea what to say! Screw it, just say something funny.

"You know, you could always join in. You could be... Malicious Martlet, or something."

She giggles, success! "Malicious? I don't know if I could pull off being a villain, I wouldn't even be able to hold my gun properly!"

"Hey, practice makes perfect, right? Besides, we got some guns that'll be perfect for those wings."

"Really? Maybe I'll think about it then." She winks at him.

Covering his blush by taking a long drink, he glances over at Dina, who's giving him a smug look. As are her snakes. He'd get on her case about that later.

"Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun. Well, as long as you can handle taking on my deputy."

"I can totally handle Clover, I threw him into the Oasis myself! He's a real struggle sometimes."

"You... Threw him?"

"Yeah! Picked him up, tossed him in. Got him clean real quick!"

For some reason that doesn't surprise him. He has learned the bird has an extremely determined side to her... Guess that extends to her parenting.

"You really are a good parent, you know. He's lucky to have you."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far... I'm a mess. It's lucky I've even been able to do this good, heh..."

"Don't put yourself down, feathers. Kid's very happy with you. Can't say anyone else would've done a better job."

"That's... Really sweet of you, Starlo. Thank you."

They drink for a while, continuing their banter until they're done with their drinks, which Starlo takes as a cue to wrap things up.

"Well, I should be getting back. Sheriff needs his beauty sleep. But... We can do this again tomorrow, maybe."

Martlet nods, getting up. "Yeah, that sounds fun. Just as long as I can get someone to watch Clover."

"I could always come to you if that's a problem. Don't worry about paying, I've got it covered."

"Thank you! See you tomorrow, Starlo!" She waves at him as she leaves, leaving the sheriff sitting alone at the table.

"Damn it, it's so hard to actually say anythin..."

"You'll get her next time, Star." Dina winks at him from the bar.

"Yeah... Next time."

It was a good start, after all. She enjoyed herself, he enjoyed himself. Maybe he wasn't crazy after all. Maybe this could be something.

He won't let it pass him by this time.

As Martlet walks back home, she finds herself thinking about Starlo. Was it a coincidence? She thought she had noticed it when Starlo asked her out, but... Surely that couldn't be right.

If it is... What doesshefeel? Is this even something she should be thinking about right now? Maybe not. But she can't help but wonder...

She's already excited for tomorrow.

Chapter 15: Would you two just kiss already?!

Chapter Text

With his plan set, the only thing for Clover to do now is practice. He wasn't too familiar with how his soul magic worked, since he's only ever used it in one fight, but he was sure with a bit of time he could figure out how it worked.

Or, you know, that's what he thought.

As it turns out, trying to get the kind of emotional force that seems to be required for such a power is really really hard.

Before, he's only managed it because of extremely high levels of anxiety. Even when he tries focusing on the fact that Undyne is coming, he can't manage it. Maybe it needs to be some sort of adrenaline spike as well?

Either way, standing here with his soul out is beginning to be embarrassing. "I don't think this is work. I just can't get it to fire."

"Aw, that's okay. You'll get it." Martlet pats his hat, smiling. "Just gotta keep up the practice!"

He's happy she's so optimistic, but realistically he doesn't think practice is the problem. Hmm... An idea strikes him.

Last night, as expected, he'd had another nightmare (memory?). This time, he had been murdered by Asgore, just as he had almost had happen at the beginning of this whole ordeal. But it was so real... And from it being so similar, he knew.

It was a buried memory. And if all of his other nightmares were memories, then... He's done this hundreds of times. Thousands, maybe. But Flowey throws him back every time, hoping for his perfect outcome.

It infuriated him. All this time, he had thought this was his first run, that he had made it through the underground with minimal deaths and a somewhat decent run, only to find out there were hundreds more like it.

Except... He didn't remember staying with Martlet, ever. He had nightmares about Flowey killing her, in fact. So what does that say about this timeline? Maybe something's different this time... Not that he can know for sure...

He can feel it. That rising pressure in his soul as he thinks about how much he wants to destroy that flower. Sure enough, a large yellow pellet flies out of his soul and into the air.

"You did it! Great job, Clover!" Martlet claps for him, making him blush a bit. He was already embarrassing himself enough.

It was a little worrying that thinking about how much he wanted to hurt Flowey is what ended up doing it. But back at Dalv's it was definitely because he was anxious...

Plus... He doesn't feel angry anymore. It felt like it was all drained out of him. Is that how it works? Guess that's why he was able to do it constantly during the fight with Ceroba... Constant strong emotions.

Well, that's not particularly helpful. He can't practice if that's the case.

"I guess I'm done. I can't practice much more than this."

"That's okay! You still managed to shoot once, that's a start." Martlet grins, giving him a lack-of-a-thumbs up.

"Can we go visit Dalv soon?"

"Maybe after all this business with Undyne is over... We got lucky last time, we don't want to run into her again."

Well, not a surprising answer. Still, he wanted to apologize about the roof again... He can do it in a few days, hopefully. Before... The deadline.

Forcing himself to not think about that topic, he lets Martlet carry him back to the cabin. Another thing on his to do list... Telling mom that he feels like she's his mom.

It's really hard to get the words out though...

Undyne had reached her limit. Actually, no, she had passed that line days ago. She was so far past her limit she could feel her fins shaking with rage.

The human is RIGHT THERE! You know what? She's had it. She's marching straight into the Captain's office, damn their orders. She is not wasting anymore time!

Stopping through the royal guard offices, she grabs the attention of several of the guard around her. Naturally, everyone has heard about her little expedition to the Wild East, and how she and her squad had been turned back. A complete embarrassment.

Well, she was not letting that be her legacy around here. She could capture this human! She knows she could! But the CAPTAIN, they're just so stubborn! Yeah she's stubborn too, but there's a human in their BACKYARD for crying out loud!

She kicks open the doors to the captain's office, causing the poor monster to jump and bang their knee on the underside of the desk. They slam their fist on the desk as they refrain from shouting out in pain, before letting out a long exhale.

"...Yes?

"Captain, I can't sit around anymore. That human is sitting there in the East, probably hypnotizing even more monsters the longer we wait to capture it!"

"Undyne..."

"No, captain! Listen to me! I KNOW the human is there! If you let me go alone, I can infiltrate the town and get the human before the hypnotized monsters can do anything about it!"

Huh. The captain seems more nervous than normal. She must be getting through to them!

"I can do this! I know I can! I may have gotten caught off guard last time, but they won't be able to handle me when I'm ready for it!"

She slams her hands on the desk, glaring at the captain fiercely. She was not giving up. She has to make them understand!

"Okay."

"WOULD YOU JUST- Wait, hold on. Okay?"

The captain seems exhausted, now that she's looking closer. Weird... They seemed perfectly fine the last time she saw them.

"Yes... If you give me a-" A pause. As if something has stopped them forcefully. "...Two days. Give me two days, and you can go."

"Yes! You won't regret this, captain! I'll have that human's soul back here in no time!"

She turns and kicks open the door again, leaving with a determined stride. This time, things would be different. That human may have evaded her last time, but she would die before letting that happen again!

First though, she needed to get ready. Who knows what that town is preparing for her this time... They've probably turned it into a fortress!

That's it! Recon, she'll scope the place out tomorrow! It kills her to be so stealthy, but desperate times call for lame approaches. Anything to get that soul.

Back in the office however, the captain has a very different view of things.

"What if... She fails?"

"The idea is that she fails, idiot."

The flower smacked the captain with a vine once again, as he had done several times today already.

"T-Then, what if she succeeds?"

Flowey hadn't thought much about that, given that everything was falling into place to ensure her failure... But of course he could always load if need be. Though, now that he thinks about it... That outcome may have some use as well. He'll think about it later.

"She won't. You really think she'll be able to take down a big scary human on her own? Ha." Flowey moves himself to appear on the captain's desk, winking at him. "I'll be making sure everything goes according to plan, don't you waste time worrying about that."

"I need to retire..." They mumble, slumping back in their chair.

Truthfully, he was already bored of this loser of a monster. Just another side character in his play of power, one that would be out of the way soon. Good riddance. Clover was far more interesting... Far more malleable.

He's had more fun these last few weeks then he's had on all the other runs combined. it was exhilarating! He couldn't get enough of this new path! Still though, things need to move along. He'll get bored if he's not careful.

"Speaking of... Thinking of a good successor?"

"Huh? Oh, yes... My replacement... I suppose Undyne would be a good choice for it, given her... Enthusiasm."

Perfect.

"Yes, I agree. She really knows how to scream. I'm sure she'll be a real... asset."

The captain stares at Flowey, trying figure out if Flowey is being sarcastic or actually agreeing with them.

"...Right. I'm... Tired. Need some coffee..." The captain tries to get up, but a vine holds them in place.

"Now, now. We have more to talk about, buddy."

"I've already done what you want, what else could you possibly want from me?!" They struggle against the vine, desperate to get away from this homicidal looking flower.

"You think I'm done? Ha! I have more I need you to do. So much more."

He grins sad*stically, making a vine harness to trap them against the chair, the thorns dig painfully into the chest of the horrified monster.

"Now just stay right there while I get what I need..."

Martlet hadn't thought much about the date she was going on with Starlo much during the day, taking care of a Clover was a full time job after all. She was helping him get back into proper movement!

Now that it was almost upon her, she found herself pondering things. Was she reading too much into things? Was Starlo just being a good friend?

Maybe she shouldn't call it a date. She needs to be sure, right? She doesn't want to mess things up with Starlo either way, even if she's not sure how she feels right now.

So... Just getting some drinks with Starlo. Yeah! Yeah. Just keep it friendly until something makes it obvious. She can do this.

She pushes open the doors to the saloon, spotting Starlo sitting just near the door. She probably would've walked right past him if she wasn't looking for him.

"Hey Star!" She slides into the seat across from him. very nearly going too far and falling off. That's what she gets for trying to look smooth. Clearing her throat, she tries to play it off. "How are you today?

"You just saw me when ya were out with Clover earlier." Starlo says through a chuckle. "But I'm still doin just fine, thanks." He passes her the second drink, which she grabs just before it slides off the table.

"Good! Being out with Clover all day has left me parched." She takes a big gulp of her drink, sighing in satisfaction at the cool liquid turning to magic within her. She really needed to ask for some drinks to take home next time.

"I've been thinkin about this whole Undyne thing."

"Yeah? Got any ideas to add? We're accepting submissions!"

"Well, maybe a few. But I'm not sure if it's the greatest idea."

"Aw, c'mon! Anything helps!"

"I've been thinkin. I did a number on her last time, I could do the same again. Maybe you and I could tag team?"

"Oh! Oh yeah, totally! Even if we don't win, it could weaken her and give Clover time to get away!"

"Alright, yeah! We could practice some beforehand too, maybe. Get us some combo attacks!" He pulls his gun out of his holster to do a cool pose, but ends up throwing the thing up and behind him, getting it stuck in the rafters.

"...I'll get that later. Pretend I did a cowboy pose!"

Martlet can't help but laugh, making Starlo shrink back in embarrassment, before he gets a great idea! He takes out his lasso, getting up and putting a foot on the chair for a better angle.

Swirling the lasso above his head for a moment, he tosses it at the gun, grabbing it by the handle and pulling it perfectly back into his hand.

He complements the smooth move by spinning the gun and winking at Martlet. "There we go. Cowboy pose achieved."

Martlet stares in disbelief, completely shocked at the display. She just can't believe he turned that around so fast. He's so... cool. Why does she hesitate to say that?

"Wow..." She says instead, before coming back to her senses. "I can't lie, that was a cool pose!"

Starlo sits back down, taking a drink with shaky hands. He did a good job not showing it, but he was half expecting to blow his own head off with a stunt like that.

Damn it, the things he does to impress... At least it works. Martlet thinks he's cool!

"Thank you, I'll be here all night." He tips his hat, finishing his drink. "Hm... You wanna get outta here? Go for a walk?"

"Sure! Just let me get some drinks to take home first." She finishes her drink quickly, heading over to the counter to ask for some more from Dina.

He's doing good so far, right? He's certainly doing more than he did with Ceroba, but still... Should he just say it? Or is that a bad idea too?

This is really hard. He thought age might've helped a bit in this department, but apparently not, he's still the same awkward mess he was as a teenager.

But he can make this work! He's already doing good, just a little more time. Then he can ask her out for real. Maybe.

Martlet comes back over with her wings full of drinks, and the two make a quick stop at the cabin to leave them all with Clover, who's currently playing cards with Ace.

After a quick check to make sure Clover's okay, the two begin their walk through the dunes. It's silent for a while, the comfortable kind when you're around someone you like.

But it doesn't last forever. "Hey Starlo? Why do you do all this?"

"What do ya mean?"

"Like, why all the sheriff stuff? Is it for fun? Is it... Your job? Do you get paid to do this? I don't know why I've never thought about this..."

"I guess it's sorta wish fulfillment? Those old movies inspired me a kid. Always wanted to be just like the cowboys in them."

"Aw, that's cute." Oops. Was that too far?

"...Thanks?" Wait, why did she say that?

The two awkwardly stare at each other, unsure of what to say next.

"You're... Also cute?" Starlo offers tentatively, regretting the words the moment they leave his mouth.

"Oh. Oh! Uh, thanks! Haha!"

Nailed it. Totally natural response.

The two continue walking, although the silence is now a lot more awkward this time.

They round back around to the town, stopping in front of their respective houses. "Um... That was fun. See ya again soon? Tomorrow? Well, I'm gonna see ya anyway, but ya know what I mean..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Absolutely! I'm having a lot of fun with you."

He grins before quickly controlling his face into a more neutral look. "Yeah, me too. I ain't had this much fun since I started bein the sheriff."

She nods. "I'm gonna go give Clover his dinner. See you soon!" She waves as she flies through the door, leaving Starlo standing in the road.

That went well... He thinks. Was he too forward? Was he not forward enough? Is there even a way to tell?!

Okay, relax... At the very least, she wants to meet again. That's good! She's not showing any signs of rejecting him so far.

It's been two days! Why is he so worried about this?! No, he knows. He doesn't want to miss his chance this time. But still... It feels like jumping straight into it is a bad idea.

He heads back into his house after a moment, struggling to decide what approach to take. He'll figure it out, he wants to so badly.

Martlet is worth the effort, he just has to go for it.

Chapter 16: Recon of Justice!

Chapter Text

She was out of bed as soon as possible the next morning. She was NOT wasting time, not a chance. She would be the most prepared monster to ever prepare for anything in the entire history of being prepared!

She swallowed her entire breakfast in one gulp and grabbed her armor before halting for a moment. No... she didn't need this. Not yet. Recon is about being stealthy! She sets it back on the stand and sprints out the door. She was so ready for this!

Kicking open the door so hard it snaps a hinge (A problem for later), she heads for the shortcut to the Dunes. She'll need to be careful, getting caught right now will ruin her entire operation! She's totally GOT THIS!

After a quick sprint, she arrives outside of the Wild East. Wait... No fortifications? No blocked roads? Not even any GUARDS? This can't be right.

She sweats under the sun, although without her armor it's fairly bearable. She moves to some shade to keep out of sight, trying to her best to keep herself out of sight. Okay... This is weird. Everything seems to be totally normal here.

"Is this... a trick? Maybe they've set up somewhere else..." She mumbles to herself, before getting startled by Martlet landing almost right in front of her.

She nearly calls out to her, but remembers the reason she was here in the first place. So she watches as the bird walks down the street and into the cabin that had that drawing at the end of the road.

So, that's where she's been staying. The human's probably in there too. But she can't just rush in, maybe the human's prepared traps... Or protected the place in some way.

She scoots long the back edges of the houses, trying to find a window on the cabin. Unfortunately, it apparently doesn't have any. Fantastic.

Next best thing, try and listen in. The walls can't be that thick. She presses her ear against the wall, trying to make out any voices.

It's quiet, but she can just barely make out Martlet's voice, even if she can't understand what she's saying. Something about... Food, she thinks.

"Feeding the human... They've got her serving under them! Ooh, they're gonna regret controlling monsters like this..."

Continuing to eavesdrop here is pointless, so she moves back to her original spot. But what is there to see? She was expecting a fortress and she got a... Frankly disappointingly shoddy looking town.

She'd make a grab for the kid, but that was likely to get her trapped. No windows means no other exits from the house, and busting through the wall would be too much without her armor.

Maybe she can do a little spying then... Learn more about what's been going on around here. She would start with that sheriff. Oh, she has not forgotten getting shot point blank by him.

If anything, she was impressed he got such a good hit on her with her high defence. He meant business, and she was not going to make the mistake of underestimating him this time.

Then, out of nowhere, the nonstop music playing around the area changes. Some sort of... Theme song? She really needs one of those. Would really spice up her battles.

"Citizens of the Wild East!"

There he is. Guess the must be one those roleplay things they do here. Weirdos.

"Seems like some no good varmints have snuck their way into our little town!"

Wait is that a coincidence or-

"We've gotta search the whole place to find em!"

WHAT?! What are the odds of that?!

Thinking quickly, she hops up the wall of the nearest building, ducking down on the roof. This was ridiculous. This can't be coincidence, right? Was she that noticable?

Damn it... This is gonna be a problem. Yeah, the vantage point on the roof is good, but being spotted is much easier up here.

She peeks over the edge of the roof. The sheriff is down there, talking with Martlet.

"Ya sure you saw her?"

"Positive. I saw her when I was landing. I don't know why she's here, especially by herself, but I'm not letting her take Clover!"

"Alone? Mighty strange, after last time."

You can't be serious, Martlet actually saw her?! AND caught her totally by surprise?

Actually, she's kinda proud. She would've done the same thing. But this is really inconvenient!

She needs to find a way out of this. Clearly sticking around is pointless, they haven't set up any defenses.

But with all of the people wandering around... Hmm... Well, she'll just have to show why she's on the guard in the first place.

Martlet was doing her best not to freak out. Undyne! What a scare first thing in the morning! She's almost glad she had to fly to Snowdin today. I mean, not really, Clover's addiction to pancakes was getting out of control, but that's a problem for another time.

Before she can dwell further on that, Undyne lands hard right in front of them, kicking up a bunch of dust, sending the bird and sheriff into a coughing fit.

Not a second later, Undyne is already halfway through town, a massive dust cloud following behind her and stopping any pursuit. The cloud takes a moment to dissipate, leaving the residents of the town very confused. Starlo fans the cloud away from himself with his hat, huffing.

"Well, I guess that's that. Man, that gal can run like a bat outta hell." He coughs again, slipping his hat back onto his head. "At least we chased her off. She won't be comin back for a bit, at least."

"Was kinda hoping I could do a royal guard capture on her! She had no armor too, ugh... Should I have gone after her the moment I saw her?"

"Nah, ya made the right move. No offense feathers, but Undyne is crazy. She woulda sent you flyin across town."

Well, he's right on that. She can see it now... Undyne hitting her broadside with one of her spears... aaaaaaaaaand right into the clinic. Yikes. Still, she should've at least attempted a capture, right? It would've been a smart move to deal with her before she could cause any real issues...

All well, she's long gone now. And now they know to be more on alert.

"Shouldn't we prepare a bit more?"

"Well we can't barricade the whole town up again, we used up all the budget the first time."

Wait this place has a budget? From where? She's just about to ask, when Clover walks over to them.

"Is she gone?"

Starlo tips his hat, spinning his gun. "That's right, deputy! The fine folks of this town chased her off. Ran away like a coward."

"Woah... Wish I could've helped." He seems ashamed, which Martlet quickly picks up on. Clover has quite the hero complex, that much she's noticed. What she doesn't understand is where it comes from. Where could it come from?

She was hesitant to ask about his surface life, since... Well, he's down here. Something tells her a kid ending up falling into a mountain isn't something that happens to kids with normal lives.

To solve the immediate problem, she bends down and puts a wing on his shoulder. "Don't worry, You can help Starlo catch some bad guys later!"

"He can? I mean- Yes, of course! I'll need my deputy by my side today!" He poses in an attempt to look cool. It kind of succeeds. "We got word some bandits are gonna make a run on the saloon today. Ya think we can handle it?"

Clover grins, pulling out his toy gun. "Yes, Absolutely! I'm ready, Star!"

Martlet gives Clover a hug and stands up, nodding at Starlo. "I'm gonna try and go after her. Not to fight! Just to see if I can figure out when she's gonna make her move."

"Be careful." Starlo says, grabbing onto her wing before she can fly off. "Don't do anythin foolhardy."

She wraps her wing around his hand in a gentle squeeze, nodding. "I'll be back soon you two. Don't have too much fun without me!" She removes her wing from Starlo's grasp and jumps into flight, soaring in the direction Undyne took to leave.

Starlo watches her leaves, holding onto one of the feathers Martlet left behind when she squeezed his hand. He twirls it in his fingers for a moment, before sticking it on his hat. "Alright Clover. Let's go get the Five- er, Six together!"

Clover grins, running off to the house with Starlo following close behind.

So running away wasn't the most graceful, or really the best plan she could've come up with, but it did get her away from that backwards town. She's taking a short break right next to this conveniently placed tea stand, which was lucky. She was parched.

She's not fond of the raccoon running it though. Clearly a swindler. She'd probably shake him down for a business license if she had the time. She didn't care at the moment though, she just needed a drink. The tea isn't bad, even reminds of her of the stuff Gerson has.

"You in a hurry? I've never seen somebody come boltin out of that town so fast. 'Side from me, of course."

"Yeah, didn't like the whole... roleplay thing. I'll just be heading back to Waterfall after I finish my drink..." She stars gulping it down, when she hears someone land right in front of her.

MARTLET?!

She spits her drink out, coughing as she chokes on what little she actually swallowed. "Martlet! Have you finally come to your senses?!"

She glares at her. Oh boy. That is one angry bird.

"Stay away from Clover! He's done nothing wrong, and all you want to do is kill him!"

Damn, she's still brainwashed. This is good though, maybe she can break her out of it!

"You know about the royal guard's mission, Martlet! We need that soul so that monsterkind can be free!"

"I know, but... He's just a kid! He doesn't deserve to be killed just for our sake!"

A kid? Oooooh, that explains the drawing then... I mean, she feels a little bad about having to kill a kid, but this is for ALL of monsterkind! The ends justify the means here!

...Actually, wait, she already knew that, didn't she?

"You're not gonna kill a kid, are ya Undyne?" The Raccoon asks behind her, and she takes a moment to glare back at him. "You stay out of this!"

The raccoon immediately shrinks back, pulling on the collar of his shirt.

"Hey! Don't yell at him!" Martlet yells back at her, throwing a few feathers at her. She dodges them easily, but that was an attack. By Royal Guard protocol...

"You're gonna regret challenging me, Martlet!" She summons a spear, pointing it at the bird threateningly. "I've only gotten better since we last fought, and I WON that fight!"

That causes immediate distress in Martlet. She can't fight Undyne! "Oh, no, wait! I didn't mean to attack! It was an accident!"

Too late. Undyne starts throwing a volley of magical spears towards Martlet, which she scrambles to avoid. She's just barely able to, wheezing from the effort.

"Undyne... Let's talk about this! I just want to argue on Clover's behalf!"

"I'm done playing around! I'll knock you out of whatever that human did to you!" She dashes forward, swinging her spear and hitting Martlet in the side before she can respond. She yells out in pain as she goes flying into the nearby fence.

"Ow, ow... Ow... Undyne, please..." That hit knocked out half her HP. HALF. She is so beyond screwed. She weakly tries to lift herself off of the fence, but wow that hit did a number on her. She's still feeling that pain.

"Ha! Yeah, I still got it! Need to train more. Now, Let's see if you've finally snapped out of it." Walking over to the downed bird, she lifts her up by the shirt, eliciting a gasp of both surprise and pain. " Are you going to help me capture that human soul or not?!"

"No... Clover is... Under my protection... He's my kid now..." She slaps her wing against Undyne's face, causing the monster to drop her onto the ground in surprise. "I love him... And you'll have to kill me before I let you take his soul..!" She forces herself to stand, glaring at Undyne, a deep rage behind her eyes.

Now this is interesting... Human mind control must be much deeper and... weirder than she thought. I mean, her kid? What kind of idiot does this human think she is?

"Well, since that didn't work, I guess I'll have to figure something else out later. Can't hit you again anyway, too risky." she backs off, effectively ending the battle between them.

"Don't worry Martlet, I will not rest until I save you and that town from the human, and get our kind the sixth human soul!"

"I'm not brainwashed!" She shouts, collapsing onto the ground as her bravado leaves her.

"That's what someone who's brainwashed would say! I gotta go either way, gotta prepare for tomorrow! I'll be back to save you soon!" She sprints off, leaving Martlet collapsed on the ground.

"Wow, uh. Talk about a flopping fish, huh?" The raccoon walks over to Martlet. "Ya alright, bluebird? Here."

He gives her a few sips of one of his teas, which alleviates her pain. "Thanks... I forgot how hard she can hit..."

"Hey, no problem. Sorry I couldn't step in sooner, I'm a chivalrous monster but I ain't suicidal."

"it's fine, I get it." She brushes herself off, feeling her side. It's healed, but she still feels the impact of that spear. She's never gonna beat her as she currently is...

"Ya need any more items for the road, I've got a few more!" He slides back behind his stand, gesturing at the selection on display. More teas, some popsicles and... Are those plants?

"Um... Sure, I guess. Just a couple of teas and a popsicle please."

"Gotcha, gotcha." He exchanges the items for her G, then snaps his fingers. "Come back anytime! Need to fill your pack, Mo's got your back! Ooh, that one's pretty good..."

"Thanks..." She puts the items away and takes flight, heading back over the East. She can see the cowboys doing their thing all the way up here.

Hold on... She spots a small speck of blue on Starlo. Is that... Her feather? He's wearing her feather?!

Oh, wow. That's... That could mean anything, right? She's just jumping to conclusions! ...Right?

She lands outside the saloon to watch the rest of the show. She can think on it more later.

The flower hiding just out of sight nearby has his own thoughts on the matter. This bird was weaker than he thought. It might not be enough if she's taken out so easily, but... She seems to be into that lame cowboy.

First of all, ew. That's gross. But he knows very well how useful this can be... All he has to do is make sure Undyne attacks the sheriff first... That'll do it.

"I can't let all my planning go to waste just because the birdbrain can't take a hit... Knocking that sheriff out first would boost her, but how much...? Stupid bird, I should've killed you when I had the chance..."

Although, staying out it may be more beneficial for him at this point. He can't step in now, not after roughing up Clover. They're not gonna buy the whole nice facade. All well.

His impatience is getting the better of him now. She's right there, he can just send a vine straight through her back like he's done so many other times.

"Calm down, calm down... Just one more day. Then things will continue moving. I can handle this. I'll take my anger out on these idiots later... Once I finally have the souls..."

He sinks into the ground. He has a few things to try before tomorrow, and only so much time left. The fight was entertaining to watch but ultimately it showed him nothing of importance.

Just one more day. That's all it will take.

Chapter 17: You really are such a child

Chapter Text

Clover was having a hard time finding ways to occupy himself at this point.

He liked it here, of course he did, but... Aside from Starlo and his sheriff duties he didn't have much to do during the day. It was wearing on him a bit, especially with so much to worry about in the near future.

Although, it would probably make more sense to focus on those things. But he's done all the thinking he can, at least for Undyne.

He's hit a complete wall on the subject of dealing with Asgore. He can't think of any situation where he confronts Asgore and comes out alive a second time.

He can only draw so many pictures before he starts going stir crazy. He's starting to get better at it though, he can make a pretty convincing Starlo. Axis was giving him a bit of trouble though. You'd think it'd be easy to draw a robot, but he just couldn't get his wheel right. Whatever, he was tired of drawing.

"Hey Martlet?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we figure out something to do? I'm bored."

She had a lot on her mind at the moment, given the fight with Undyne and her inevitable appearance. They beat her once with numbers, and she only won because Undyne didn't want to kill her.

She was feeling terrible right now. And on top of that there's the whole business with Starlo to worry about. Her feelings were a jumbled mess.

You know what? Starlo can wait. So what if she feels stuff around him? Undyne will ruin all of that if she's not careful.

Well... A little distraction wouldn't be so bad, she thinks. She can finally use that suit she made for him. She finally got enough feathers to make it realistic.

"Well, I've got the feather suit ready. We can wander around a bit if you like. Just, not towards Waterfall..."

"Can we go to New Home?"

What. This is not a question she was ready for, New Home? Seriously? That's just tempting fate, she can't do that!

"Why would you want to go there?" She brushes the suggestion off with a chuckle. "It's busy and... Packed with monsters."

"I just want to see more of it. It looked so cool when we were there..."

Clover's gonna be the death of her. But at the very least she can try and find that tailor she had been considering a while ago. It might be a little preemptive to get new clothes for Clover, considering...

No, no. You know what? The rest of today is gonna be a fun day. She's not gonna spend any more time thinking on the inevitable and just enjoy her time out with Clover today!

"Alright, why not? Might as well put this suit to good use!" She grabs it from the corner. It's a little goofy, but it should do it's job in keeping anyone from realizing Clover's a human. "Go ahead and try it on. It should fit you. I hope."

Clover puts the suit on over his normal clothes, having to take off his hat much to his dismay. The suit does fit pretty well, only being a little tight on the arms. It looks ridiculous.

"Just one final touch!" She places a fake beak over his mouth and nose. Scratch that, NOW it looks ridiculous. "Perfect! No one will ever suspect you're a human!"

This is extremely embarrassing. Not to mention, he can't wear his hat with this thing on. This is the worst thing that could possibly happen to him, his hat is his entire being! He isn't himself without his hat!

"Oh, here, I got some tape so you can still wear your hat without it falling off. I know how much you love wearing that thing!" Martlet tapes down the hat to the suit, holding it firmly in place on Clover's head.

He just... Wow. That... hit him right in the heart. It was such a small act of caring on her part, but...

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he squeaks out a thanks.

"Of course! Now, let's get going, we want to be back before they cover up the stone!" She takes his hand, leading him outside and along the main path through the Steamworks.

Before they leave the machinery filled facility however, they make a quick stop.

"WELCOME BACK HATTED HUMAN AND LARGE BIRD." Axis was looking over the large coolant lake, along with his wife (Who Clover had learned was named Daisy?). "IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU BOTH AGAIN."

"Good to see... you both, as well." Martlet says, glancing at the ever silent junk robot. She swears she's seen it move before. It freaks her out.

"PLEASE WATCH YOUR STEP AS YOU PASS THROUGH. I HAVE YET TO FIX SEVERAL OF THE WALKWAYS."

"Actually, we just wanted to warn you. Undyne is probably coming tomorrow."

The robot goes silent. The sound of steam pumping and liquid bubbling around them fills the air, creating an awkward silence.

"...WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?"

Clover moves next to the robot, pulling out his gun. "Fight with me. You're the last resort, so hopefully we won't need you, but... Something tells me we will."

"I CAN ACTIVATE MY SECURITY PROTOCOLS. HOWEVER, I AM BUILT FOR HUMAN DESTRUCTION.

That stops the both of them.

"Wait, what? I thought you were built to guard this place." Martlet points out, starting to get a very bad feeling. "That's why Chujin created you. Why would you be built to kill humans?"

Guess he has no choice now. He curses his programming.

"I WAS NOT BUILT TO GUARD THE STEAMWORKS. MY ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING WAS TO HUNT DOWN AND DESTROY HUMANS."

Some things are starting to click for Martlet, she seriously hopes Clover isn't on the same train of thought.

Unfortunately, he's already arrived at the same conclusion.

"Chujin... Had a soul for a while, didn't he? He... He had to have gotten it from somewhere." Clover shakily points out, taking a step away from Axis. "It wasn't... You didn't do it, right? Right?!"

"I WAS FORCED TO NEUTRALIZE THAT HUMAN."

Clover feels... Rage. Such... Intense rage... But, wait... Forced?

"What... Do you meanforced?"

"I AM UNABLE TO RESIST MY PROGRAMMING. MY CREATOR... HE DEMANDED I FIND THE LOOSE HUMAN AND RETRIEVE THE SOUL." He feels his core, almost feeling... Guilt. It was illogical for him to feel such a thing, but love also was something he lacked programming for.

"I FOUND THE HUMAN. I TRIED TO STOP IT, BUT I AM UNABLE TO RESIST MY PROGRAMMING. MY MEMORY BANKS ARE MISSING DATA FROM EVENTS FOLLOWING THAT."

Clover didn't know what to think. He had confirmation, a confession even, of someone who killed at least one of the missing children. But was Axis to blame? Chujin created him, programmed him... Would he not be the one directly responsible?

Martlet on the other hand was thinking of one thing, and one thing only. Chujin was... Terrible. With the tapes, you could at least see the noble cause Chujin had supposedly dedicated himself to, but... To experiment on the soul of a human you had a hand in killing?

She... Couldn't believe it, if she was being honest. Chujin had always come across as a kind monster, to think all of this was buried... Did Ceroba know about this? If she did... Why let it continue? No matter what questions she asked, none of it made sense to her.

The robot breaks the silence by rolling towards the edge of the room, taking Daisy with him. "I AM SORRY. I DO NOT BLAME YOU IF YOU WISH TO DESTROY ME AFTER HEARING THIS INFORMATION."

Clover snaps out of his stupor, watching him roll away. He wanted to do something, to stop him. But his anger was no longer directed at him. He knows... Chujin faced his own form of justice in the end.

"Axis!" He calls, causing the robot to stop and turn around. "We're still counting on you! Stay near the door tomorrow!"

"...I WILL BE READY." The robot leaves the room, moving deeper into the facility.

"Are you okay?" Martlet asks, putting a wing on his shoulder. "I... Um, shoot... I don't know what to say, actually... I can't imagine what you're feeling right now."

"I'm... I'm fine. ...No. No I'm not." He turns around, hugging Martlet tightly, nearly causing the bird to fall backwards. "I... I hate him, Martlet. I hate him."

She picks him up, holding him close. She wasn't sure which "Him" he meant in this case, but either way, she's not surprised. "Let's just... Get to New Home, like we planned. We can talk about this later. Okay?"

"Okay..."

Hurrying through the rest of the facility, they use the elevator to leave. Although it's hard to say the mood hasn't soured significantly... That was not what she was expecting to hear today. She never would've thought it possible that Chujin could do something like that.

There was a lot she didn't know about him, it seems...

Regardless, she was out on a trip with Clover. She can't let that... Revelation ruin that. She has to cheer Clover up! She can do this! Her true test as a parent!

"So, excited to see anything in New Home?"

"Huh? Oh, um... I dunno. What's in New Home?"

"Well, pretty much everything! It's like the hub of all monsters. My, uh... My mom lives there too." Maybe it was a bad idea to mention that.

"You mom? I didn't know you had parents."

Ouch, wow. Although what did she expect? She never mentions them, and they certainly never visit. "Yeah, everyone has parents..." She chuckles, but it's hollow. "I don't see mine very often."

"Why not?" He's curious now. He hasn't thought about it, but how does someone like Martlet end up living alone in such a massive house deep in Snowdin?

"We, um... Nevermind. I shouldn't talk about that. We're focusing on you today!" Thankfully, they've just arrived in the hustle and bustle of New Home. Monsters are walking through the streets, entering shops, buying food from vendors, sitting down at restaurants... It was overwhelming for Clover to see so many monsters in one place.

Luckily for Martlet, it wiped the topic of her parents out of his mind. Now he was fully focused on this new exciting place.

"Woah... There's so much... What do we do?"

"Well, first, bit of an awkward request, but uh... Try and call me 'mom' while we're here, okay? Don't want anyone getting suspicious." It wasn't an excuse. It's practical! She didn't just want to hear him say that, obviously.

"Alright, mom."

He just... He didn't even question it. Okay.

"...Good! Let's get going." She takes his hand, carefully leading him through the crowd on the street. She didn't have the greatest idea of what they could do, but she had some ideas.

To start, she takes him deeper into the city, heading for an area she remembers as a child. "The massive playground!" She gestures widely with her wing as they arrive upon the chaotic scene.

In front of them is the public playground made for the monster children of New Home. It's got everything; swings, slides, random climbable objects that kids love. Truly a kid's paradise.

Clover, unable to resist, makes a run to join the other kids playing, but is stopped by Martlet. "Now, remember Clover. Don't run off. I won't be able to find you if you start wandering around the city, okay?"

"Alright!" And off he goes to play. Good for him, she thinks. Finally able to interact with others his age. Not knowing what else to do, she sits down on one of the benches to keep watch on Clover.

It's hard for her to really grasp the position she's in now. It wasn't long ago she spent most of her day sleeping at her post in Snowdin. She's... Much happier this way. But of course, can't think happy thoughts for too long without thinking about the future.

She's terrified. She doesn't want to lose Clover.

Undyne shouldn't be an issue, right? She can take her along with Starlo, right? Is she just trying to convince herself? She doesn't even know anymore! She can't take this, she just wants Clover to be safe!

Meanwhile, Clover is having his fun jumping and climbing around. The suit makes it a little hard to use all of his movement, but he manages. Doesn't want to disappoint mom after all.

"Howdy, buddy!"

Clover freezes, slowly turning around towards the edge of the playground. Him. It's him.

The flower in question is giving him a big grin. "Finally, a moment to talk! Hasn't it just been so long?"

"Not long enough."

"Oh, Clover, you wound me!" He giggles, leaning his petals against one of his vines. "You haven't forgotten about my little time limit, have you?"

Another monster child brushes past Clover. He forgot where he was for a moment. Maybe he could call for Martlet...

"No, I haven't. How could I?"

"Mmmm, fair point. I did... Beat it into you, after all." He wants to shoot that stupid grin off of his stupid flower face. "But that's not why I wanted to talk to you."

"Then why?"

A vine pokes Clover in the chest. "I need you to survive Undyne! It'd be a real shame if your story ended here, wouldn't it? What a lame ending that would be!" Another laugh. he hates it so much. He's had enough for today.

"Careful, buddy. I know you're getting all mad at me, your best friend..." He pauses to give Clover the most phony hurt look he's ever seen. "But you're gonna blow your cover if you vaporize me in the middle of New Home. Control yourself."

As much as he hates to admit it, Flowey has a point. A human soul blast, especially right next to an area with loads of children, would destroy any sort of sympathy monsters could have for him. Maybe even Martlet would toss him away...

No wonder Flowey's talking to him here.

"Now I know you have this whole shoddy, poorly thought out, frankly idiotic plan of letting the birdbrain and her delusional boyfriend deal with Undyne-" The wording there catches him off guard. Why did he say it like that?

"-But I doubt you understand how useless that's going to be. The robot? Much better."

"Axis? What do you mean?" He really was always watching...

"The robot taught you something important, didn't he?" He smirks, leaning a bit closer. "Using a certain... Tool?"

...The trash can lid! It deflected Axis' magic! But, would that work? And, wait, why is Flowey...?

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Hey, idiot. Think for two seconds. If I just wanted you dead, I could do it myself. I need you to go to the castle and confront Asgore, you can't do that if your soul is captured by that moronic fish."

Okay, that was a fair point. "Are you saying I can use that trash can lid to stop Undyne?"

"Stop her? oh, no no. What you need to do is CAPTURE her. Letting her run off again isn't an option."

He has to stop as a monster child starts biting one of his vines. Grumbling, he pulls it away and slaps the child with it. "Get out of here, brat!" The child runs off crying. Oddly enough, no one seems to even notice.

"Kids, right?" Clover rolls his eyes, not bothering to point out the irony in that statement. "Anyway, that jail in your stupid town will suffice, with a few modifications. Now, I need you to listen to me VERY carefully, Clover. Understand?"

The flower gestures for him to come closer, which he reluctantly does. By one step. The flower gives him an annoyed look as he gestures for him to come even closer. Clover frowns, taking another step forward.

"Are you SERIOUS?" Flowey grabs him with a vine, dragging him until they're right next to each other. "There! Was that so hard? Now listen to me. Do not tell anyone you saw me. I know you told them about me, which was already a STUPID MOVE, but telling them we had this conversation would be worse."

"Wha-Why? How am I supposed to explain anything you've told me?"

"They'll think you came up with it. You think that bird will put any thought into where the idea came from? Please. I'm surprised she even managed to make this... Thing you're wearing." He lazily gestures to the feather suit with an expression of disgust.

"Don't insult mom, she did a good job on this!"

Flowey doesn't dignify that with a response, just dropping Clover to the ground again. "I can't believe how much work I've put into this..."

Clover scoots away from the flower as quickly as possible, standing up and scratching the areas where his vines were touching him. "Is that all? I want to go play while I can."

"While you can, ha. At least you're finally understanding how things are. No, it's not all." He dangles a piece of paper in front of Clover's face. "Here. This is what you need to fix up that stupid jail. Give it to the bird."

"But you said-"

Flowey cuts him off by tripping him with one of his vines. He's tired of this conversation. Once Clover slams onto the (Admittedly soft) ground, Flowey disappears into the ground. Clover grumbles, picking himself back up and looking at the paper Flowey left him with.

Seems like a childish doodle of some tougher looking cell, with notes on how to dampen magic. How is he supposed to pass this off as his own creation? Yeah, it looks similar to his style but... He didn't even know magiccould be dampened.

Whatever. At least he's gone, and he can focus on playing. He turns back to the playground, bumping into another kid and running with them towards the swings.

Chapter 18: The one before Undyne shows up

Chapter Text

His time at the playground was fun, but it seems Martlet had more in mind for them to do while in New Home.

Flowey's interruption had soured the mood a bit... But it was nice to have confirmation his plan was sound, at least by Flowey's standards.

He wasn't entirely sure where Martlet was taking him now, although she had mentioned a tailor when she was pulling him away from the playground. He had wanted another turn on the swings...

Whatever, point is, there's more to do in this big city, and he wants to experience as much as he can.

"There must be one around here somewhere... Oh! Here we go!" She points to a shop just ahead of them, a needle and thread logo displayed prominently above the entrance.

Upon entering, the two are greeted with wall to wall clothes for any kind of monster, which Clover walks over to look at. There's so many different types of clothes, so many in fact that Clover begins to wonder how many types of monsters actually exist in the underground.

So while Martlet starts talking with the monster at the counter, he shuffles through some of the clothes. Some of them look like they would fit him, and others have so many different arm holes they could pass as sewn Swiss cheese.

Offhandedly he wonders how many of these were made for a fox monster like Ceroba, since he's not seeing many tailholes... He shakes off the thought as soon as it hits him. Not now.

"See anything you like, Clover?" Martlet comes over to him, looking at the shirt he's holding, one with no armholes. "...Maybe not that one. I gave all your measurements to the tailor so he'll have some new clothes for you in a couple days."

"Okay. Where are we going now?"

"Well, you like games don't you? New Home has the biggest arcade in the underground! It's still, um, fairly small. But there's a good six games!"

He smiles. That did sound fun. But at the same time...

"Hey Martlet? I was thinking on how to deal with Undyne... What if we capture her in the jail?"

"The jail? It may have fit me, but I think Undyne would just smash the bars. Or rip the door off it's hinges. Or jump through the roof... Or-"

"I mean we beef up the jail... Like this." Moment of truth. He hands over the paper, which Martlet looks over with a frown.

"This is... Well, it's an idea, but... How could you have possibly known about this? I never taught you this, and you couldn't have learned it from the books you have..." Uh oh, busted. He's not getting out of this one.

"Did Ace teach you? I think he knows about this stuff..."

"Uh-Yeah! Ace taught me. He helped me come up with it." Okay, phew. Nice save. He really hates lying to mom, but he doesn't know what Flowey will do if he doesn't listen.

"Alright... I guess we'll give it a try. Good work Clover!" She continues leading him along, eventually ending up at the promised arcade. Like she mentioned, there's only a few games there, but they seemed fun.

Although, the line is pretty long. "Huh. I don't remember the arcade being this popular when I was a kid. Do you want to wait in line? We have time."

"Sure. I wanna play games with you mom." She was NOT ready to hear that. She stumbles a bit, before sucking in a breath. "Yep! Let's get in line then!"

Entering the line, she notices it's mostly older monsters waiting, with only a few of them kids. It has been a long time... Maybe these are adults who grew up with the machines? They're kinda hogging them though...

The line moves fairly slowly, some of the monsters stepping up to play being rather good and holding up the line. She's starting to get a little frustrated.

Clover is just bored. Waiting in line was always the most boring part of doing anything fun, so he was just trying to tune it out by looking at the monsters around them.

It was still surprising just how many there were. In this line alone, no two monsters even look similar, aside from children of course.

It... Was interesting. People on the surface would get angry at each other for looking even slightly different. Monsters look so vastly different, and they don't seem bothered by it at all. Why?

He didn't understand much of anything. He's a kid, how could he? But as he ruminates on these thoughts, they finally reach one of the machines.

Martlet puts some G into the machine, and the two begin playing what seems like a space shooter game. Having played Mew Mew Love Blaster to completion, this one stands no chance.

The score keeps going up... And up... Okay, Martlet is getting seriously impressed now.

How is this kid so good? She's been getting destroyed over and over since they started (Wings can't press the buttons quickly!), but Clover is just racking up more and more points!

It's not until he smashes through the high score does he finally get a game over, much to the surprise of the monsters around him.

Martlet is getting a little worried about the all the attention, a monster looking too closely could be the end of them here.

"Woah, your kid beat the high score! No one's been able to beat that in years!" The monster at the machine next to them says, looking at the scores. "Hey everyone, new high score on this one!"

The monsters behind them start murmuring to each other. Is this a bad thing? If she knew Clover was so good she would've just stuck with the Oasis arcade...

"What's his name?"

"Oh, uh... Clover. He's... Pretty lucky." Should she have said that?

"You mean like that human the king is looking for?" OH, that's really bad. She forgot she introduced Clover to the king.

"Yep! Just like the human!" She quickly blurts out, pulling Clover closer to her. "What a coincidence, right?"

"Yeah, that's crazy. How'd he get so good?"

"Hours of practice!" Clover answers for her, tipping his hat. Or, as much as he can with it taped down anyway.

"Hours, huh? You're lucky to get that much practice with lines like these. We'll have to play sometime!"

"Okay, well, we should be going! Maybe he'll see you around sometime!" Martlet scoots Clover along, trying to move him away from the large crowd. "Way too much attention, ugh... This is so hard..."

Oh, right, he's trying to hide. That's why he's wearing the suit.

Being honest, Clover forgot he was even wearing the suit. It was weirdly natural to have the false wings and all the feathers. Itdid look really off, but... It felt right.

He needs to tell her. He's decided on it now, after Undyne. He wants it to be the first thing they talk about afterwards. It'll be perfect, they lock up Undyne, they're all celebrating, and then BAM! Official adoption. Or, as official as they can make it.

For now, he lets Martlet lead him away. "Where to next?"

"Actually, I think we should head home. I just remembered me and Starlo had some stuff planned for tonight." Hm... Was Flowey onto something? He didn't pay attention to it before, but Martlet had been doing stuff with Starlo a lot lately.

"Hey Martlet? Are you and Starlo dating?"

What.

"What."

"...What? Are you not?"

"N-No! What even gave you that idea?!" She couldn't imagine Clover getting that idea from her just visiting Starlo a bunch, so where did it come from? Did Ace ALSO tell Clover about their dates?! Er, Hangouts. They're hangouts.

...For now.

"Oh, okay. Just seemed like you hang out a lot is all..." Her outburst was a little much. Now he knows there'ssomething going on, probably. Truthfully, he didn't care. If mom's happy, she's happy.

Plus it might be fun to have a dad, but one step at a time here.

They make their way out of New Home, which takes a while with the large number of monsters just getting off of work. The foot traffic in the area makes it hard to even judge where they're going.

Normally Martlet would fly, but she can't leave Clover. She really wished Clover was actually a bird like her, things would be so much easier... Although that's basically just saying she wishes he was her born child.

To be fair, that would eliminate every problem they have.

Finally, they arrive back down at the UG apartments, the two of them looking weathered by weaving through the crowds. "You know... I think I prefer empty Snowdin forest over that..." Martlet grumbles, stepping out of the elevator.

Her back was killing her for some reason... Clover doesn't look much better, the suit of feathers somehow gaining a droopy look to it, with Clover himself looking rather tired.

"I hate crowds." He spits out, leaning against the bird.

"Yeah... I do too. C'mon, I think we still have leftover pancakes at home." She leads him along as always, although they tried to avoid Axis on the way back this time. It was best to not dredge that up again so soon.

The Wild East is just winding down for the day when they arrive, the last performance from Starlo and his gang having just finished. Apparently by the look of things it was some epic shootout... She needed to remember to ask about the supposed budget of this place.

In their cabin, they find a stack of pancakes on the table, with a note attached to them. A little confused, Martlet grabs the note and looks it over. It's from Dalv, it seems.

"Martlet, thank you for informing us about Clover's condition. He's welcome back anytime! I've talked Penilla into letting him become my guest once again. When you are able, we would be happy to see you two again. (I also hope Clover enjoys these pancakes... I made them myself. I hope they compare with his favorite.)"

"Aw, how sweet of him! Go on Clover, Dalv made these just for you!"

Clover wastes no time digging into the pancakes, while Martlet sticks the note to the fridge. She likes knowing Dalv is rooting for them. Plus, it was a good contrast to all of Clover's drawings.

Although Clover's pancake addiction continues to be something of a concern, she brushes it off for now. Bigger problems.

"That was fun, wasn't it?"

Clover nods, swallowing his mouthful of pancakes. "Yeah, thanks for taking me. I know it was risky."

"Oh, it was nothing! You deserve to have some fun. Especially right now." She pats Clover's hat, letting the kid return to shoveling down more pancakes.

"I'm gonna go get a babysitter for you. Stay put okay?"

He's not even listening. That's fine, he's not gonna move as long as there's pancakes. She heads over to the Five's house, stopping when she hears a commotion inside the house.

"Ed, relax. It's nothing serious." Starlo's oddly normal tone comes through the door. "It's just hard to figure out a good time to ask."

"What's so hard about it? Just walk up to her and tell her. You know she'll say yes." The monster in question responds, giving Martlet pause. What are they talking about in there?

"Yeah Star, she's totally into you! You shouldn't wait this time, you got this!" A high pitched voice shouts, which Martlet immediately identifies as Mooch.

"I'm just... What if she doesn't? Would it ruin everything?"

Are they... Are they talking about HER?! She stumbles back from the door, breathing heavily. She can hardly believe it. Starlo's... He actually likes her?!

"Relax, Martlet would understand even if she didn't like you like that. But trust us, she does. We've all seen it." She just barely catches Moray's voice still leaking through the cracks of the house.

That confirms it. Starlo likes her. Starlo LIKES her.

She stands there, gawking towards the door of the house. She can barely comprehend it. She likes him too, all she has to do is say something!

She can do it tonight.

She braces herself and walks back up to the door, knocking lightly on it.

The conversation inside instantly stops, with Ace coming to answer the door, a blank face as always. "Evening, Martlet. Need a babysitter again?"

"Mhmm." She peeks into the back, noticing the rest of the posse trying so hard to look casual that it comes off as strange. "I'll see you outside Starlo!"

He jolts up in his chair. "Y-Yeah! Looking forward to it!" He gives her an awkward thumbs up before quickly putting it away, embarrassed.

She giggles, walking with Ace back to the cabin.

"You heard everything, didn't you?"

"Yup. I'm... Excited. I do like him too." She smiles at him, and he tips his hat to her.

"Wish you two the best of luck. We're all rooting for you."

"Thanks Ace. I appreciate it!" She watches him walk into the cabin before turning back just in time to see Starlo exiting his house.

The two stop and stare at each other for a moment... The air is rather tense. It's like they both realize something big is going to happen.

"Well... We gonna get going?" Martlet says, offering a wing to the frozen sheriff, who looks down at it in surprise. After a short moment, and a fair bit of hesitance, he walks over to her and takes it.

Her smiles grows slightly as the two begin to walk through town together.

"It-" Starlo pauses to clear his throat. "It's a nice evening."

"Yeah, it is."

A pause. Finally he speaks again.

"Martlet-"

"Yes."

He's confused, he hasn't even said anything yet!

"Um... Yes, what?"

"Yes, Starlo. I do like you."

The sheriff goes red immediately, having to stop walking to process what just hit him. How did she know? Damn it, Ace told her didn't she? Damn it!

"You- You what? I, uh didn't... Or wasn't, I-" Martlet bursts out laughing, which catches Starlo completely by surprise. She laughs for a few moments before it fades away, and she turns to look at Starlo directly.

"I heard your whole conversation earlier." Oh. That explains that. That's embarrassing...

"And I'm happy I did! I was so nervous you didn't feel the same way." She hugs him, nearly causing Starlo to jump. "I like you a lot."

"Oh. I... I like you a lot too, Martlet. And here I was worried..." He returns the hug, relaxing a bit. Tonight has gone a lot better than he expected.

The two hug for a bit longer until Martlet breaks off and takes his hand again. "I'm gonna be honest... I have no idea what I'm doing!" She nervously chuckles.

"Well, neither do I! You think I'm an expert at this?" Starlo joins in on her laughter, the two beginning to laugh harder just from hearing each other laugh. It takes a while for the two to finally settle down, leaving the area around them quiet.

"Well... We can figure it out together, right?" Starlo says with a wide grin. "Things'll work out, if we do our best."

"Yeah... Everything will work out in the end." Martlet looks back towards the town, towards her home with Clover.

"I'll do everything I can to make that happen."

Chapter 19: UNDYNE

Chapter Text

Today's the day.

Flowey looks at the cabin in front of him with a smirk. He is SO excited to see how this goes. The birdbrain had managed to convince the sheriff to make the modifications to the jail, as he expected. That sheriff would bend over backwards for her.

That confession was stupid, and boring. No buildup? No big emotional scene? Just a stumbled confession and suddenly they're together? What a joke. He could do better, and he's a flower.

Ignoring that, he pops into the cabin to look at the still sleeping Clover. "Buddy, you've got a big day today! Lots of deaths ahead of you. I can't wait to watch them all."

A vine pushes the hammock back and forth. "Get plenty of rest... You need to be in top shape before I SAVE."

Leaving the cabin, he looks over the jail again. This needed to be perfect, any mistake and Undyne would break out and ruin everything. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but he was sick of waiting. This needed to happen now or he was going to reset.

As far as he can tell, the jail is set up perfectly. Now he just has to hope everything goes to plan. Well, without his input anyway. He'll reload as many times as it takes.

"So much to keep track of today! Some of my best work, making this happen. I really know how to make a plan come together!" Although this was only a minor roadblock, he did have some appreciation for how the situation turned out.

I mean, this is perfect! The timing, all the elements coming together at once, him being the mastermind behind all of it... It felt like a story, and he's the main character! It made him giddy with excitement to see how things played out.

The last time may have been anticlimactic, with them winning first try and all, but this time was bound to be different. The amount of deaths he's expecting is many... And he's very much looking forward to it.

"Watching all these idiots struggle to succeed is going to be so fun! But in the end, I already know the outcome! I control this pathetic timeline!" He grins, dipping into the ground and moving to a better vantage point.

He's going to need to be able to see all of this.

She can do this. She can do this. She can do this.

...Can she do this?

Great, as if Martlet wasn't stressed enough. Now even her thoughts are going against her.

She wanted to believe she could beat Undyne, she really did, but she got floored only yesterday. Starlo could help but... She's a little worried fighting with him now, since they're... Together.

That's so weird to think about... But she will keep Clover safe the best she can. Even if both Starlo and her get taken out, there's always Axis.

The human murdering robot.

She didn't trust him. She's surprised Clover does, honestly. Then again, she tried to kill him when they first met. Maybe that's just how Clover is. ...Wait, that sounds really bad now that she's thinking about it...

One thing at a time. She's trying to pump herself up! "I can do this!" She shouts, punching the air with her wing. Whether or not it's working? Questions for later.

"Weren't you going to practice with Starlo?"

Oh. Right. "Thank you Clover!" She grabs her bag and rushes outside, off to meet with Starlo. Clover assumes this would be the point where Flowey pops up to mess with him.

Oddly, the flower is nowhere to be seen. This is the first time since he's been down here that Flowey hasn't talked to him while he's alone. This is probably a bad sign...

Since he's alone, he might as well wander around town a bit. He steps outside, walking towards the center of town. It seems like mom and Starlo went to go practice just on the outskirts, so he can wander around as he pleases.

Not that there's much to see that he hasn't already. He spots Moray hanging around the barn and waves to them, which they return with a smile. "Mornin Clover."

"Morning Moray... You ready for Undyne?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, I suppose. I think we may have a shot if we all work together."

He doesn't really believe that. Undyne just seems like a force of nature. Not only that, but he's been having weird dreams of getting chased by her in places he's never been before...

"Maybe... Martlet says to run the moment half of you are taken out." Moray seems to deflate a bit, sighing. "Probably for the best. Was going for confidence there, but... I'm really worried."

They look around town, shaking their head. "It's just not enough. We're not enough to beat her, not as we are."

"I dunno, I have faith in you guys. I think you can do it if you really try!" His turn to try and be confident, at the very least he can try and lift Moray's spirits a bit. "Just believe in yourselves."

They nod a bit, standing up straighter. "Alright, yeah. No point moping before we've even started. Gotta keep hopes up. Have you eaten yet? We can get you some waffles."

"I already ate, thanks. But where are the others? I thought you guys were gonna do some group warmups?"

They shrug. "Ace is inside, but I have no idea what Ed and Mooch are up to. Said they were gonna go pick something up."

Something to help maybe? Probably. He doesn't really know what that could be though, there's not much in the dunes that would help them.

A loud crash causes the two (and most of the town for that matter) to turn towards the main path, where Ed has set down one of the weird machines that was spitting out rocks above the mines.

"I forgot how heavy these things are..." He grumbles, wiping his massive hands on his shirt. "You could've at leasttried to help, Mooch."

"And disrupt your display of muscle? Seemed like you handled it just fine!" Mooch slides off the massive machine, tapping the side once she lands. "Undyne won't know what hit her when we let one of these babies do its work!"

"Once we figure out how to raise it onto the roof, sure."

"...Oh yeah. Can you throw it?"

"Does it LOOK like I can throw it?!"

"Well-"

She's cut off by Ed knocking her aside. "Just go get Moray!"

Letting out a startled yelp, she quickly scrambles into town and runs straight into Moray's legs. "Oh! Uh, Found them!"

Moray rolls their eyes and walks over to Ed. "What are we working with here?"

"Got the newest one, so it doesn't jam. Problem is getting it somewhere it'll be useful." He points to above the clinic, nudging Moray so they look as well. "Up there was our idea. We lure her over, and boom. Boulder to the head. Should knock her out."

"Hm... That could work, yeah. But how do we get it up there..."

Seems like they're gonna be busy for a while. While that's going on, he heads into Dina's saloon to get a drink. Dina's snakes all stare at him as he sits on the stool nearest to the door.

"Mornin, kiddo. Lookin for some root beer?" She gets out a glass before he even nods his head, quickly filling it and setting it in front of the human, a small bit bubbling over and trailing down the side.

It's weird how he focused so much on that detail... Maybe he's on edge. Well, duh... Why would he assume he wasn't? He lifts the cup and takes a drink from it, trying to focus on that instead.

"I wouldn't be worried about today. Long as I've know em the Five look out for their own. Should've seen em when Ace had his bad breakup. Poor girl broke his heart, and they broke several of her personal possessions."

"Isn't that... A bad thing?"

"Yeah."

There's a long silence between the two.

"So... Is that why Ace hides his face all the time?" He sips his root beer again, he's kind of interested now. He's curious about Ace, since... He's the least open out of the five. A breakup of all things? He thought he was Ace. That just made sense right?

Maybe it was a dumb assumption.

"Somethin like that. Couldn't tell ya myself since I ain't as close, but he was comin in here to drink quite a lot for a while there."

"I can hear you, Dina." Ace says from behind her, causing her to jump. "Don't spill my entire personal life to the kid, he's got enough to think about."

"Ace! I forgot ya were in here! Sorry, ya know how I like to gossip."

Ace shakes his head in disappointment, going back to his drink. Clover finishes his own drink as well, moving the mug aside to set his head down the counter. He was already tired, and the day's barely started yet.

Just as he considers that, he hears loud stomping outside. He's just barely able to turn around before Undyne bursts through the door, spear at the ready-

Clover finishes his own drink as well, moving... The...

He suddenly has a very strange feeling.

He hops off the stool and walks outside. He just has a really bad feeling all of a sudden... But why? He's had a bad feeling all day, but not to this extent...

Then he sees her. Undyne charges into town with a surprising speed considering her armor, launching herself over the town bell and aiming a spear right at his face. She throws it, impaling Clover and shattering his soul instantly. He falls to the ground, hands grasping the spear in desperation as the life slowly leaves him, the frustrated scream of Undyne losing the soul being the last thing he hears.

He feels a sudden urge to move despite being frozen in place, ducking into a roll towards the jail just as Undyne's spear crashes into the spot he was just standing. What was that? He felt it that time, something had happened... But then it didn't.

"HUMAN!" He hears, startling him into a terrified sprint. A spear flies over his head, and before he can react a spear slams through his back, the front poking out of his chest with his soul stabbed on the end. His run slows to a stop as he stares at it. He can barely comprehend the sight. Gasping, he taps his own soul with a finger... It's cold. His eyes roll back, his body falling forward as he loses his balance.

Another spear comes from behind, which he dodges by sidestepping to the right. Barely keeping his balance, he turns past the barn, just barely missing another spear that lodges itself into the wall of the building. This is bad. She's caught them totally off guard!

He has to get to the Steamworks, that's all he can do. Axis will be able to handle her. Undyne suddenly lands in front of him, grabbing him by the chest and ripping his soul out with a clean yank. He stumbles back, feeling his chest. There's no hole. No blood. How...? It's... It's so cold... And it hurts... He stumbles forward, trying to grab his soul back from Undyne, but he's unceremoniously kicked to the ground. His ears ringing, he shuts his eyes and his breathing stops.

He was barely able to pull out his gun in time, but the shot he fires does cause Undyne to pause for a moment. What is happening? He wasn't sure before, but those are his own deaths! He's been dying over and over again!

"Alright human, you've been... surprisingly agile, but that stops now!" She takes another spear, but this time she simply tosses it at Clover. He catches it, looking at it and then back up at Undyne with a confused expression.

"I'm interested in seeing what you can do if you can dodge my spears like that! No more hiding, it's battle time!

And with that, the two enter a proper battle. Clover's normally yellow soul is now a deep green, and he feels as if he can't move. This is really bad.

"As long as you're GREEN, you can't RUN AWAY!" Undyne laughs, pulling off her helmet to look at Clover face to face. "Time to show you what monsters can really do!"

The practice session between the two was somewhat... Lackluster. If they had wanted to get used to team attacks, they should've practiced more than just this once.

Of course, that was interrupted by the commotion in town. First, the loud crash they heard. They had assumed it to be Undyne, but it was just Ed bringing in a rock launcher... Or whatever that was, Martlet didn't know.

They didn't pay attention to the second crash, they just assumed the machine was being moved again. But as they were finishing an attack, Mooch scurries over to them, looking frantic.

"Guys, guys! Undyne! Undyne's here!" She yells out as she runs, before tripping over a rock and cartwheel rolling her way to their feet. "Undyne... Attacking Clover..." She mumbles out, dizzy.

The two look at each other, not saying a word before quickly rushing back towards town. Clover needs their help, and fast.

It doesn't take them long to find the two, in a battle just in front of Blackjack's shop. Looks like Clover tried to make a run for the Steamworks, like they had talked about. Good. But now it's her turn.

Martlet lets out her best battle cry and crashes into Undyne from the back, which to her credit does seem to catch Undyne extremely unprepared. She stumbles forward, and thinking quickly, Clover swings the spear he's holding, striking upwards against Undyne's neck.

The hit knocks the wind out of her, causing her magic to slip on Clover. His soul blinks back to Yellow and he quickly runs back into town, Starlo covering him as Undyne recovers. She swats Martlet away with another spear, with Martlet recovering fast, but not fast enough.

"I've had ENOUGH! I am dealing with this kid, right now!" She flings a spear at Martlet's wing before she can fully get up, pinning her to the ground. She groans, trying to pull the spear out, but to no avail. "Stay there and let me deal with this mess once and for ALL!"

She runs off, leaving Martlet stuck in the ground. "No! Damn it, damn it!" She desperately pulls on the spear, but it simply won't budge. "Someone! Please!" Most of the townsfolk have already booked it to avoid Undyne's wrath, but there's one nearby that remains...

Ace comes out from behind the shop, looking down at her. "Need a hand?" Letting out a sigh, Martlet glares at him... But a smile creeps onto her face anyway. "Wouldn't have minded you stepping in sooner."

"Had to finish my drink." He grabs the spear and yanks it upwards, collapsing backwards with it still in his hands. "...Not my most graceful move."

Martlet quickly stands up, hissing at the damage to her wing. In the hurry over here she left her pack, so she'll just have to deal with it for now. "You coming?" She says, not even turning to Ace. He takes his cards out of his pocket. "Would be rude of me not to."

Before all that though, Undyne attacked Starlo and Clover with everything she had. Starlo has done his best, but this time he's woefully outmatched by the guard. She's shredded his lasso to pieces, and he's only managed to hit her a few times with his gun.

He, on the other hand, has gotten slapped around extremely bad. Only Clover's seemingly endless supply of root beer and pancakes is keeping him going. Undyne is clearly getting frustrated with how long this is taking.

"Oh, COME ON! This is cheating, you can't possibly hold that many items! JUST GET OUT OF MY WAY ALREADY!" She flings another volley of spears at the two, with the both of them shooting as many down as possible before- One catches Clover's leg, and he tries to pull it out as quick as he can, but it's too late. Undyne sends another one straight through his chest, his soul flying out of him and straight into Starlo's hands. He shrieks. -Dodging the rest with quick rolls.

"I ain't lettin ya take my little deputy! You'll have to kill me first!"

"I really don't want to do that! Kind of trying to uphold a moral code here!"

"You're trying to KILL A CHILD!"

"AHUMAN child!" After her retort, she swings her leg into Starlo's side, sending the sheriff flying into the clinic wall. He coughs, pointing his gun at her, but he's unable to line up his shot despite the relative proximity to Undyne.

This leaves Clover and Undyne all alone.Starlo fires a shot, but it misses, and Undyne spears Clover through the chest, grinning as his soul is flung out of him, towards the wall of the saloon. It bounces off of the wall in a rather goofy fashion, right into Undyne's grasp. She laughs wildly. She won.Starlo fires a shot, and it just barely scrapes against Undyne's armor.

Luckily for Clover, it causes Undyne to jerk to the side slightly, making it easier to dodge the spear coming for his chest. He barely had time to think between all these... Deaths. He just had to react. Undyne follows up with a quick slash, desperate to at least get a hit on the human.

Clover is ready for this one though, and he shoots the spear to pieces, causing Undyne to lose her balance and fall to her left. Getting away from the trap that is the front of the saloon, he quickly runs over to Starlo. "Are you okay?!"

"I've been better... She's getting up, get ready!" He grunts, pushing himself up on shaky legs. Probably won't be able to stand much longer... He has to steel himself. Clover needs him. Martlet needs him...

Undyne glares at the two of them. "Okay! So, I've clearly underestimated humans! That's fine! Clearly I just need to change my strategy!" She cracks her knuckles, grinning widely at the two, who share a worried glance, already worried. What could she be planning?

Before either can even react, Undyne shoots forward, slamming Clover's head so hard against the clinic wall it knocks him out immediately... Although the blood on the wall suggests much worse.

Reacting quickly, Clover throws himself out of the way of Undyne's fist, which gets lodged in the wall of the clinic. "Damn it! Stupid..." She tries to yank it out, but it's really stuck. Starlo, initially frozen in shock, quickly backs away. "Now, Ed!" He calls up to the roof.

"On it, Star!" Ed flips the switch on the machine (when did they get it up there, Clover muses for a moment) and a massive boulder falls out just as Undyne frees her fist from the wall. She looks up, smirking; before catching the boulder with both arms, crying out with the effort.

"You can't be serious..." Starlo mumbles, stepping back. This is unbelievable, how can any monster be this determined?! Clover is similarly stunned, his mouth agape as he sees a twinkle in Undyne's eye as she glances at him.She cries out, throwing the boulder towards the child. How could he avoid that? It lands hard on him, crushing him. He can feel several of his bones breaking. The weight shatters his soul instantly.

Realizing the situation he's in, he fires his gun at Undyne's arm, which causes her to flub her boulder toss, it simply falling out of her arms and rolling to a stop nearby. "Ooh, How do you like THAT?! Not even your stupid boulders can handle me!"

"Clover! You're okay!" Martlet calls out, causing everyone to turn to her. Or Undyne would have, if she wasn't instantly hit by a 52 card pickup. "Ow, what the hell?! Why are you throwing cards at me?!" She shields her face from the assault of cards as Starlo and Clover run over to the duo.

"What happened to your wing?!" Starlo grasps her wing to feel the damage, but Martlet pulls it back. "Bigger issues right now! Ace only has so many cards! Clover, you need to get out of here. Clearly, we're running out of steam. Go, NOW!"

Not arguing, Clover sprints past the three, heading off towards the Steamworks entrance. He would be safe... He had to be. She tries to shake the pain out of her wing. "Alright... If we're gonna fight... Let's do it."

Starlo nods, putting his fingers to his mouth and sending a piercing whistle echoing across town. A call to action. His posse arrives in short time, just in time for Ace to run out of cards. Undyne looks up to see 6 very pissed off monsters glaring at her.

"Alright... I have HAD IT up to HERE with you punks blocking me from my goal!" She puts her helmet back on, her eye glowing ominously as she stares back at the posse. "Brainwashed or not... You're going to regret standing against me."

Behind her facade of confidence, Martlet gulps. She knows it, deep down. She's injured, Starlo clearly is too given the way his legs are wobbling. They've got no food in sight. They're not going to win this.

But she hopes... Hopes so deeply that Clover can manage it. With Axis... She needs him to survive. She couldn't bear to lose...

She couldn't bear to lose her son.

Clover pants heavily, his boots slamming into the ground as he finally arrives at the Steamworks entrance. He made it! Felt like it took way longer than it should've, but he made it!

"Wow buddy, you sure are doing a great job!" He jumps in surprise, pointing his gun at Flowey. "Aw, that's cute. Did little ol me scare ya?" He winks, and all the frustration of the day builds up inside Clover.He shoots Flowey. Again. And Again. And Again. He wants this flower to die, HE WANTS HIM SHREDDED INTO TINY PLANT BITS.

He lowers his gun with a sigh. Should've figured that wasn't gonna work. Although it would've been a bad idea anyway, given he's the only reason Clover's lasted this long to begin with. SO many deaths... Why can he remember them all now?

He couldn't before, except through his nightmares of course... Was it an exposure thing? No, that couldn't be it... Everyone around him would remember too. So what's going on?

"Hey, buddy. Don't space out on me right now. Ya got a very angry fish coming to tail you soon enough!" Flowey pulls open the door for him, although even he seems to strain to open the door. "What is wrong with this stupid thing? It was not this hard to open the first time!"

"I think it's rusting."

"From what water?! Ugh, whatever!" He finally forces the door open enough to be entered, groaning in annoyance. "There! Don't say I never did anything for ya, buddy!"

He really wished hecould say that. At least then he wouldn't need the flower. But that's something to deal with later, so he ducks into the Steamworks, the door shutting behind him. It's... Really dark in here.

"Um... Hello? Axis? Are you there?" He calls out, a little unnerved. "Hello...?"

"Heya buddy!"Clover pulls out his gun, much to Flowey's annoyance, and fires six times until the flower is nothing but a pile of plant matter on the ground. He deserves it, even if he knows it will just get erased in the end. Clover yells out, before groaning and stomping his foot. "Don't! DO that!"

Flowey giggles, patting Clover's back with a vine. "Alright, ya big baby. You should've known I was gonna follow you!" He really wishes he could just shoot this stupid flower.

"Oh, you're gonna need this." Clover barely registers what he's saying before a trash can lid is slammed onto his head, with Flowey doubling over in laughter at the sound ringing out. "The look on your face! Haha! Absolutely priceless!"

Clover takes the lid off of his head, grumbling to himself. He remembered the conversation they had about the lid, but he was still a little unconvinced. It blocked Axis yeah, but surely Undyne's magic was different stuff?

At the same time, Flowey seems to have faith in it. And if he does, why should he doubt it? Like he said, Flowey wants him to win this fight. It's a little weird, being on the same side of the one who just a few days ago messed him up really bad...

"HATTED HUMAN. THERE YOU ARE." Clover turns around, seeing Axis roll towards him out of the darkness. He turns to where Flowey just was, but he's gone. Typical. "I HAVE BEEN WORRIED."

"I'm okay. She might be on her way soon though, we need to be ready."

"DO NOT WORRY. I HAVE CREATED MANY OBSTACLES.

"...Can I get past them?"

"YES. THEY ARE TO DISCOURAGE MONSTER INTRUDERS."

"Alright. I have some ideas on how we can handle her as well..."

The two head deeper into the Steamworks, Flowey watching them go with a big grin. This was going to be fun to watch.

It had been a disaster. Undyne completely wiped the floor with them, so much so she was surprised to be the last one standing. Moray had been out first, apparently Undyne saw them as a challenge since they looked similar to her. They were disarmed and knocked out shortly after.

Ace followed, Undyne clearly hadn't appreciated the face full of cards he had given her upon their arrival. She had sent him flying across town, breaking one of the fences near the main entrance. She hopes he's not hurt too badly.

Next was Mooch. Despite her speed, the moment Undyne got a hold on her tail it was over for her. Best way she can describe it is Mooch was... Folded in half? And then suplexed into unconsciousness. Mooch was not going to be moving much when she woke up, that's for sure.

Then Starlo... He had gotten swiped by a spear through his already injured legs, and that took him down. It really hurt to see that one in particular... But she might be biased. In any case, Undyne threw him aside to deal with...

Ed. He put up a fight, much more than she had expected in fact. But even still, for once Undyne was the more agile one in the fight, and that led to Ed taking a lot of hits. He kept up the fight, but even with Martlet helping, he still got taken down in the end.

Now, here they are.

Undyne stares her down harshly. Maybe it wasn't luck that left her for last... Maybe it was deliberate.

"Can't stop me, Martlet. You might as well just give up now."

That's it. That's. It. Her wings clench, sending a bit of pain up her injured one, but she is too tired of this damn guard to care.

"You... You are just... You think I'll just give up? After everything you've seen us do today?" Her voice is low, and it seems to catch Undyne by surprise a bit, as if she was expecting a different reaction.

"I will admit, the human's brainwashing is a lot stronger-"

"Shut up."

Undyne actually recoils. The venom in Martlet's voice is so strong it almost... Scares her? That can't be right...

"You don't know anything, Undyne. You think all this is because Clover hypnotized all of us into doing his bidding? How dense do you have to be?"

"You-"

"I'm not FINISHED!" She screams, shutting Undyne up instantly. She won't be interrupting again. "Clover is just a sweet, innocent kid... He just wants to live, don't you get that? Do you not understand what it's like for him? He has nightmares every night! He won't tell me what they're about, but I know they have to do with you." She gestures with her wing at the guard, who huffs.

"He should be scared of me! I will show him the true might of monsters!" She poses dramatically. Something snaps inside Martlet in that moment. Whatever was holding her back is gone.

"The might of monsters?" A harsh laughs escapes her, and she marches right up to Undyne, who summons a spear to point at her. Martlet does stop, but the anger in her eyes doesn't fade. "Is the might of monsters the ability to kill children and steal their souls? To be kept in containers in the castle until they need to be used? Ignoring the people they used to be?"

"It's a necessary sacrifice. We need them to escape from this underground prison." That line was practiced. It's in the damn handbook.

"I hate you. I hate the guard. I hate being associated with this band of child killers. I should've never joined... But I'm glad I did. I would've never met my son otherwise."

"Martlet, he's not your-"

"Yes he is, and I love him! I want to raise him and give him a life and YOU want to kill him and trap him in a JAR! Think about that, Undyne. Clover is a child with his whole life ahead of him and you... You just don't care! You'd rather bury it in your 'heroic mission' than take any responsibility for what you're trying to do. I know I can't stop you, or even convince you... But I want you to know I hope Clover humiliates you. You deserve it."

Undyne says nothing for a few moments, before throwing her spear into Martlet's chest. There's a moment where Martlet doesn't feel anything, but then the pain begins. She feels the spear with a wing, barely paying attention to it... Her glare never leaves Undyne.

"Did... Did that... Make you... Feel... Better...?"

Martlet collapses to the ground, a sob escaping from her. The pain is unbearable... But she's more worried she won't survive to see Clover again. She needs to stay strong... Just think of Clover... Her breathing labors as she glances up at Undyne.

She's staring down at her, unmoving and silent. The silence is long and tense.

"...I'm sorry."

She runs off, heading along the path she saw Clover taking earlier.

The spear fades from Martlet's chest as Undyne leaves, relieving some of the pain. It only a small comfort though. Undyne clearly wanted to do as much damage as possible without killing her, but... If she doesn't get help...

She can no longer take the pain... Her eyes close, her last thoughts praying for Clover's safety.

Chapter 20: Metal, Anger, and a Phonograph

Chapter Text

It was for a good cause.

She repeats these words in her head over and over as she arrives at the Steamworks door, wasting no time prying it open. She just needed to get this done. She can... She can help them later. It wasn't a mistake, it was necessary. She was in the way of justice.

The inside of the Steamworks is just as dark and depressing as she expected it to be, given what she knew about it. Whole place was declared abandoned ages ago.

"I know you're hiding in here somewhere, kid! I will find you!" She calls out, although as she expected she's only met with the echo of her own voice.

She grumbles, stomping deeper into the facility. She does have to admit, this human isextremely crafty. He had dodged her attacks as if he could see them coming... It was a little unnerving. But she was NOT worried. She knew eventually, he'd slip up, and she'd have his soul.

Needed to find him first though. Hopefully this doesn't turn into some annoying game of hide and seek, she really did not have the patience for that right now. She just needs to get the soul, and then all of this will have been worth it.

She stomps over the catwalk, ignoring the massive welcome sign, which even for her was a little excessive. She arrives at a dead end, with a locked door. Alright, fine, she'll just break-

There's the sound of something swinging open, and she's suddenly falling down, deeper into the facility. This is going to be very, very annoying.

She lands hard on her feet, glancing around for any attackers. None to be seen... Okay. So not an ambush, just some worthless trap.

She kicks the door next to her open and continues moving. No matter what crossed her path, she would not be deterred. She could not fail. Not now.

"WHO'S READY FOR SOME NEW TUNES?!"

Now, the sound that came out of Undyne's mouth wasn'texactly a scream, but it could be described as a... audible choke. A... Phonograph is blocking her path? Wait, no, that's a robot...

"HEY HEY HEY, YOU'RE LISTENING TO BATTLE RADIO, U.G.R.S! THIS ONE'S DEDICATED TO A LITTLE FELLA BY THE NAME OF CLOVER!"

Clover? So this robot knows something, does it? This could be useful. Best not smash it too fast. She really wants to though, this music is obnoxious.

"You know Clover, huh? Got any idea where I can find him?"

The robot ignores her, turning around and waddling off. "Wha- HEY! Don't just walk away from me!"

"GOTTA FIND YOUR AUIDENCE, PAL! SHARE THE TUNES!" Alright, this is gonna get annoying fast. At least it seems to be leading her somewhere... This music is seriously obnoxious.

"Can you turn down the music?!"

"MUSIC DRIVES THE SOUL!"

"Is that a no?" She gets no response, and she grumbles, covering her ears the best she can as the two walk together.

"I DO NOT THINK THIS WILL WORK."

Clover helps Axis back onto his wheel once again. Clover had suggested that he ride on Axis to keep him safer while they fought Undyne, but Axis doesn't exactly have many places to hang on to, and his balance gets thrown off with Clover's added weight.

Clover still really wanted to to do it though, it would look really cool.

"We can do it, we just need to practice a bit more."

"HATTED HUMAN. WE HAVE AT MOST AN HOUR TO PREPARE. I DO NOT WANT TO BE TREATED AS A TOY FOR THAT ENTIRE PERIOD."

"But it's a good idea..." He pouts at the robot. "I think it'll work, I cover you with the trash can lid, and you shoot at Undyne!"

"I WILL LOSE MY BALANCE AND THEN YOU WILL DIE."

Well, when he puts it like that... "Alright, fine... But what will we do instead? We need to fight together, or she'll wipe the floor with us."

"DO NOT MENTION WIPING THE FLOOR. JANDROID HAS BEEN HIGH STRUNG LATELY."

"How so?"

"IT CLEANED MY FACE REPEATEDLY. I THOUGHT FIXING IT WOULD HAVE FIXED IT'S ATTITUDE BUT IT APPEARS TO BE HARD WIRED INTO IT."

Clover leans in close, studying the front of Axis' head. "Oh. No wonder your face is shiny."

"I KNOW. I LOOK GOOD."

Clover takes a moment to think. So he can't ride on Axis, fine. There must be some other way to do this that'll work. Standing in front of Axis maybe? No, that's dumb...

"Do you have any ideas?"

"I HAVE UPGRADED MY DEFENSIVE CAPABILITIES."

"...Okay, but do you have any ideas?"

"YES. WAIT NO. THAT IS NOT WHAT AN IDEA IS." Clover blankly stares at the robot, before turning and looking back down the catwalk that leads back towards the entrance. This is gonna be a struggle. Why can't he just properly plan something for once?!

Too late now, he can get his deaths reversed but he still needs to work with that knowledge to beat Undyne. Question is... How? If he gets trapped in some unwinnable scenario, Flowey will reset... He thinks. He has no way of knowing for sure.

He'll just have to wing it. There's only so much he can prepare for anyway, he can build off of Undyne like he was during the last fight.

...Please let Martlet be okay. The Five too... He's so worried. He wants to go see them, but... He'll die. It's weighing on him.

"Do you think the others are okay?"

"I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING THAT."

He deflates a bit, before deciding to try again. "No, like... Do you think they could've handled Undyne?"

"I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING THAT."

"Axis-" He pauses to groan. "Just tell me you think they're okay."

"I HAVE- OH I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN. YES HATTED HUMAN. I BELIEVE YOUR FRIENDS ARE WELL." Clover feels absolutely no reassurance from that. Was worth a shot at least.

"WHAT I DO KNOW IS TOGETHER WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO WIN AGAINST UNDYNE." Huh... That actually kinda helped. Alright.

Just need more time...

This robot was going to drive her insane. The music was terrible, and it's stupid voice grated on her ears.

"THIS NEXT TRACK IS FOR ALL YOU FISH MONSTERS OUT THERE!"

"Would you just BE QUIET?!"

"HARSH!"

Yeah, she was losing it. She barely even registered where the two had passed through, having spent most of the time just trying to block out as much noise as possible. From what she can see now, they're going through some sort of... Strange office space.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" She shoves aside a table that's annoyingly far across the path in front of them. "I thought we were heading to your stupidaudience or whatever you said."

"THE MUSIC FOLLOWS THE CROWD!"

"No, it... Whatever. Just Take me to... Clover." That was his name. Martlet had said it a few times, but... Took a while to sink in. Appropriate, she thinks. He's a lucky one.

She had expected humans to be tough, Alphys had told her as much. But this kid... Something about him was off. The way he dodged was unnatural. Practiced.

She almost wanted to interrogate him, but... Why should he listen to her? She wouldn't. Especially after... Well, he doesn't need to know about that.

The robot in front of her kept moving, although at a much slower pace than she would've liked. She did not want this to take all day, she already has mountains of paperwork to fill out just from what she's done so far!

Injuring civilians is one thing, but not reporting in is gonna cause all sorts of issues. She was banking on this mission to finally get her promoted, but if she messes it up who knows how long it'll take to get another opportunity like this? She has to succeed. Not just for her, but for all of monsterkind!

...This robot is too damn slow. "Pick up the pace! I don't have all day!"

"TAKE A CHILL PILL!"

"Oh, that's IT!" She slaps the back of the robot, causing a horrendous sounding needle scratch. There's a pause, before a much calmer record starts playing. Huh. This one isn't so bad.

"Oh, this is nice." The robot seems a lot calmer all of a sudden. "Chill tunes for our lovely listeners tonight."

For whatever reason, it's like the robot has turned into someone completely different. But whatever, it's quiet, the music is better, she can stomach this.

Is it moving even SLOWER now?!

"Come ON! NGAAAAAAAH!" She smashes the pillar in front of her, the middle section collapsing into dust. "Hah... Okay, I feel better. Move faster!"

"Hey, hey, no need to harsh the vibes. I'm taking things on beat."

"You're what?"

"Letting the music carry me."

Alright. So. She is really trying not to break this robot. She is using ALL of her self control here. "Does that mean you're moving at the same pace as your music?"

"Music drives us all, fishy lady. You gotta know when to stop and listen to the tunes." Is this robot serious? Now is not the time to be giving her a lesson in PATIENCE!

"I am TRYING to finish my mission! To get to Clover, and take his soul for the good of all monsterkind!" Surely this robot would understand the importance of what she's trying to do, it was created by monsters!

"That is rough. Sounds like you need some smooth jazz." New music, what she could reasonably assume is smooth jazz, starts playing from its beak.

Well... She is beginning to really not like robots.

"Can we justpleaseget a move on?" She gestures forward, gritting her teeth as she tries to be polite to this HUNK OF JUNK- Perfectly reasonable robot.

"Yeah alright." The robot starts moving forward, at a much faster pace this time. Good. They can finally get somewhere. They finally leave the building after a bit of walking, and...

"There!"

There he is! Just on the other side of this catwalk! And he sees her too. Good. "No more running, Clover! This ends NOW!"

She's here.

Axis points it out first, and he turns to see her there... Along with Goosic for some reason? Why is Goosic here?

"Hey, there's my favorite listener!" The robot calls from down the catwalk. "Been looking for you everywhere. Wanna hang?"

"What...?"

"JUST IGNORE IT. I THINK I MAY HAVE MADE A MISTAKE WHILE FIXING IT." Axis says from behind him. "WE STILL HAVE NO STRATEGY."

Well, he's right. They weren't able to settle on anything, not even with the... Surprisingly large amount of time they had. But Undyne's presence here does confirm something, all of his friends back home... They could be really badly hurt. Or worse...

He shivers a bit at the thought. He can't think about that. He has to focus, or everything they've done will all have been for nothing. He can't let that happen. He WON'T let that happen.

"Undyne! I challenge you to a-" Wait. This... He just got a really good idea. "A... A team battle!"

"What?!"

"You and Goosic versus me and Axis!"

Goosic? Is that this stupid robot's name? Well... If Axis is anything like it, can't be anything she wouldn't be able to handle. Besides... She wants to finally have a proper fight!

"I accept! Finally, no more running away! We can settle this like monsters!" She summons a spear, pointing it at the human with a murderous gaze in her eye. "I won't hold back! You better be ready, Clover!"

"WHAT IS YOUR PLAN HATTED HUMAN."

"Just go with it, I think we can make this work."

The battle starts... The thin catwalk being the stage for their final confrontation.

Smells like Metal and Anger.

As with all battles, Clover has the first move. But what's the goal here? Obviously Goosic isn't much of a target, it can just be spared as soon as Undyne is out of the picture. Fight first, act later maybe?

Axis put a hand on his shoulder. "HATTED HUMAN. I BELIEVE WE SHOULD BEGIN WITH A. TEAM ATTACK. AS YOU CALLED IT." Alright... Guess they're doing this. This can only end well!

Clover brandishes the trash can lid, which Undyne laughs at. "Are you serious? THAT'S your weapon? Alright... At least try to put up a fight after all that dodging!" As she finishes speaking, she hits Goosic with her spear. "Come on, You've been playing music this whole time and you stop when we're in a battle? Play something!"

Goosic seems to pause for a moment, as if forgetting what it was doing before now. Another horrendous record scratch shortly follows. "OH YEAH, WE'VE GOT ALL YOUR FAVORITE BATTLE TUNES AND MORE!" It plays... An extremely unfitting song for what sounds like a completely different battle.

"...Whatever, good enough. Attack me! Show me what you can do!" She spins her spear in a practiced motion, before pointing it at the duo.

Now or never.

"AXIS MODEL 014 READY TO ROLL." He lifts up Clover with one hand, firing several beams towards Undyne with the other... Before throwing Clover straight at Undyne. He slams the trash can lid against her face before falling onto the catwalk with a loud clang.

Notably, Undyne does not seem too pleased about getting a trash can lid to the face. She slams a foot onto his chest, and before he can even get a word out follows it up by slamming her spear through his neck. He can't breathe... Quickly rolling out of the way, Undyne's foot collides with the catwalk instead, causing the entire thing to shake.

Okay, maybe he deserved that one. He wouldn't be happy about getting a trash can lid to the face either. Still... Dying really sucks, so avoiding that as much as possible would be nice. he quickly gets up and runs back to Axis, although not without just barely dodging another spear.

"WOW, WHAT A PERFORMANCE! WE'VE GOT SOME ATTENTIVE LISTENERS TODAY!"

"SHUT UP!" Undyne screams at it, starting up an attack of many spears. They seem a lot more unfocused than they were earlier though...Upon getting that realization, a spear pierces his shoulder and sends him stumbling backwards. Too far. His foot slips, and he falls over the railing of the catwalk. He can vaguely hear both Axis and Undyne yelling something, but it's too late... Flowey please reload before he hits the coolant-

He really needs to pay more attention.

"YOU'RE LISTENING TO DEATH RADIO! THIS NEXT TRACK WAS MADE JUST FOR YOU!" Goosic screeches as it starts up its own attack, which ironically interferes with Undyne's by knocking several spears off of their normal path. Undyne is clearly nearing her limit. Good. She's more likely to make mistakes this way.

"WAS THIS YOUR PLAN?" Axis questions, taking the trash can lid to quickly block some of Goosic's bullets. "Just keep making her angry..."

"UNDERSTOOD. INITALIZING SOLO ATTACK #3." Axis summons his collection of laser turrets, all of which point at Undyne ominously. She studies them, waiting for any form of movement or tell. One comes in the form of one of the turrets shaking. Then another. And another.

Suddenly they begin firing, four shots from each one in a sequence. But Undyne is ready. even with the limited space of the catwalk she's able to avoid the line of fire quite well. But then comes her next surprise: before the turrets finish firing, Undyne jumps and grabs one out of the air! She flings it towards Clover with pinpoint accuracy.

It fires all of it's shots into Clover's chest, before hitting him in the legs and exploding. He can't move. Why can't he move? Oh. His legs. They're burnt... And bleeding. Actually... A lot of his body is bleeding. He falls forward, blood flowing down and dripping from the catwalk below. This hurts so bad, Flowey please it hurts, it hurts...

Thinking fast, he grabs the trash can lid from Axis. He quickly swings his weapon, hitting and redirecting the turret into Goosic. It explodes, launching the robot backwards. "B-BIT OF A HARSH N-NOISE COMPLAINT!"

That death he did NOT want to live again. He shivers at the thought. Goosic waddles back into position, its needle skipping on the record and creating an annoying loop in the music. Undyne gives it about five whole seconds before yelling out in anger.

"Get it TOGETHER!" She hits Goosic with her spear again, giving the robot pause. "Hey, hey. No need to get physical. Just let the chill vibes soothe you out." The music is running normally again, although now it's extremely unfitting for a battle. Sounds like it belongs in Snowdin.

"Oh COME ON!" Undyne yells, tossing her spear aside. "Human! Just hit me, Show me what you can do!" She opens her arms, leaving herself totally open for an attack.

Undyne is expecting big things.

Clover pulls out his gun. The toy gun, of course. He refused to touch the real one after... Yeah. he... Didn't want to kill Undyne, but... She'll be fine. Right?

He thinks of all of the people close to him Undyne has hurt to get here. His friends. His Sheriff. His Mom. His grip tightens on the handle and he points it at Undyne, an enraged look in his eyes. Before he can stop himself, he fires. Undyne's shocked face makes him feel so good. He fires again. He keeps firing, until he can't anymore. He drops to his knees, feeling satisfied... Then he looks up. Undyne is gone. She's been turned to dust. He feels himself getstronger.

He stares at his gun. Wait, what? He didn't die that time, why did Flowey...?

"Well? I'm waiting! Come on, hit me with your best shot!"

Not thinking, he raises his gun and fires. It... Does damage, but not nearly as intense as before. After seeing what he could've done... What's wrong with him...?

"Not bad! Not many monsters your age could manage damage like that!" She seems... Impressed? Why? he hurt her, he shouldn't be hurting people... He starts shaking, and he puts his gun away before he goes overboard. Just finish the fight. Finish it.

"Man, Alphys wasn't kidding! Humans are something else!" She starts to say something else, but is cut off by her robot companion. "Hey, easy on the kid lady. We all just wanna dance to the beats of life, you know?"

She stares at it for a moment, as if seriously deciding whether or not to smash it to pieces right then and there. She settles for slamming her foot into its beak instead. "As I was SAYING-"

"NEW TUNES, NEW EXPERIENCES! THIS ONE IS AN OLD FAVORITE!" Undyne looks ready to throw a fit as music he recognizes as being from his battle against Axis starts playing. At least this is more fitting.

"Alright! I can get behind this! No one hit the stupid robot again, got it?!" She points at both Clover and Axis, who both give her a thumbs up. "Good! Now! Eat this!" Blue spots appear beneath the human and robot duo,which Clover can barely react to before they've speared him clean through. That was not fair. which Clover just barely is able to dodge. Axis though isn't so lucky, getting hit with a few of the spears as he tries to maneuver away from the spots.

"OW. I AM NOT ENJOYING THIS." He falls backwards as the last spear hits him, causing the catwalk to shake and groan. Then something snaps.

"HATTED HUMAN. PLEASE TELL ME I DID NOT JUST HEAR THAT."

Clover nervously looks around. "What? What does that mean?"

"THAT WAS ONE OF THE SUPPORT CABLES FOR THE CATWALK SNAPPING."

"WHAT?!" Both Undyne and Clover yell at once, Goosic joining in with a "NOT COOL!"

"HELP ME UP. I HAVE TO GO FIX IT."

"Wha- Axis, I need you here!" He moves over regardless, helping Axis up. "You can't leave me here with HER!" He hisses, not so subtly pointing at Undyne.

"IT IS OUR TURN. JUST DON'T ATTACK AND I WILL BE BACK SOON." Without waiting for an answer, he rolls off, leaving the battle. Clover watches him go with a tired look.

He turns back to see Undyne in a similar state. The two stare at each other silently for a minute or so before Clover can't take the lack of action. "So... Uh. You... Doing anything after this?"

"...What?" She narrows her eyes at him.

"No, wait, that came out wrong!" He frantically waves his hands out in front of him. "I meant what are you gonna do after we... Settle this."

"Well, first of all, I'm gonna deliver your SOUL to Asgore. After that, I got no clue. Maybe I'll ask for a promotion." She shrugs, idly twirling her spear around. Why is she making small talk with this human anyway?

"Ah... What if I win?"

She bursts out laughing. "Win?! Please, you're a good dodger, but you're no fighter. Taking me down is gonna take more than your robot buddy taking potshots at me while you walk around with a stupid trash can lid."

"We needed more time to strategize..." He mumbles, crossing his arms. "What... Did you do to my friends?"

The jolt he witnesses from Undyne doesnot give him a good feeling.

"Why should you care, huh? You just brainwashed them all anyway!" She bites back, clearly conflicted about something. What did she do to cause a reaction like that?

"Who told you that humans can do that? I don't even know how to get people to listen to me half the time, much less follow my every command."

She tries to think up a retort, but... He's right. After what Martlet said, how could she believe that anymore? Not even brainwashing could create a bond that strong. Which... Oh boy. She is not looking forward to explaining this. Luckily, she doesn't have to.

"I HAVE RETURNED." Axis rolls back into place, dust coating his body. "I MAY NEED A JANDROID AFTER THIS BATTLE."

"Oh, uh, great! Battle resumed!" She puts her arms out, swinging her spear back and accidently hitting Goosic across its beak. "WAIT, NO!"

But it's too late, Goosic starts playing... The Wild East theme? How does it even have that? Undyne clearly isn't a fan, groaning and slamming her fist on the railing of the catwalk. "Come on, we had it... That music was perfect..."

"Not to worry lady, I take requests. Ya got a tune you're looking for?" Undyne perks up, turning to Goosic and grabbing it.

"Just something to fit the battle! That last song even, that was fine!"

"Comin right up!" It begins to play... The other slow song from before, that he associates with Snowdin even more upon hearing it again. Undyne's eye twitches under her helmet.

"Axis, remind me to thank you for messing up Goosic's repair."

"I WILL SET A REMINDER."

Undyne has had it. The battle mood is ruined, this stupid robot has gotten on her nerves so bad she can feel it CRAWLING on them, and she is SICK of this back and forth! She flies forward, ending the battle before anyone can react.

She slams her spear into Axis, sending him sprawling backwards. Then, her rage turns to Clover. She grabs him by the shirt, picking him up and slamming him onto his back. He cries out in pain, grabbing her wrist and staring up at her in terror. "Alright, enough of this! I am getting! That! SOUL!"

She reaches through his chest, even as he tries to resist. She grips his SOUL, trying to rip it out him. He can't win this tug of war though, and his soul is ripped from him. Violently. He gasps, swinging his hands wildly in an attempt to retrieve the precious item, but Undyne keeps him pinned down with a foot. "Ha! Finally! I got it!" No! He needs that! He tries to get up, to move at all. But he's pinned down. His breathing slows. He can't... Die like this...

She reaches through his chest, even as he tries to resist. She grips his SOUL, trying to rip it out him. He can't win this tug of war though, and his soul is ripped from him. Violently-

She reaches through his chest, even as he tries to resist. She grips his SOUL, trying to rip it out him-

She reaches through his chest, even as he tries to resist-

Before Undyne can even move her hand, Clover shrieks. That was too many. Too many for him to handle all at once. His soul glows, brighter and brighter... Undyne stares at it in shock, barely comprehending what's about to happen.

A massive blast fires from Clover's soul, the beam hitting most of Undyne's left side, sending her over the railing. She just barely manages to grip onto it before she falls, stunned. Her arm... Her arm! She can't move it! She can't even feel her body!

She can't pull herself up with just one arm, her armor is too heavy and she can barely move!

Clover however, is unconcerned with her predicament. It's all hitting him at once, all the deaths playing over and over in his head like a slideshow. Spears and blood and thepain- he's starting to hyperventilate, he can't take it. He can't take it!

Another beam fires out of his soul, this time blowing a hole in the ceiling above the catwalk. The debris is vaporized before it can fall, but the machinery starting to precariously dangle over the hole in the roof is going to cause problems.

Axis, finally able to get himself back upright using the railing, assesses the situation quickly. "WOW. THIS HAS GONE TERRIBLY. HATTED HUMAN ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?"

Clover doesn't respond. Hecan't respond. His shaking is getting worse and tears are trailing down from his eyes. He feels each and every spear that got thrown through him... It's all too much.

"Hey! Robot! Give me a hand here!" Undyne calls out, her grip slightly slipping from the railing. "I'm... Damn it, I need help!"

"YOU WILL KILL THE HATTED HUMAN." Axis bluntly states, or at least more bluntly than normal. "I WILL NOT HELP YOU."

"Waitwaitwait, okay! Okay! I won't touch him, okay?! I'm... Not in a state to do anything! Just help me!" Her grip slips further. Her armor being so polished was REALLY not helping right now!

Something metal groans above them. Axis had only done a patch job on this catwalk so far, if something heavy fell on it... Something needs to get done, and fast.

"...I AM ACTING ILLOGICALLY." He seems to sigh, rolling over to Undyne and grabbing her wrist with his hands. "BRACE YOURSELF."

As Axis begins to lift Undyne back over the railing, Goosic waddles over to Clover. He's still barely coherent, sobbing through short and shaky breaths. Seeing this, the robot does the only thing it knows how to do. It begins to play a soft lullaby through its beak, one strangely familiar to Clover.

His breathing slowly begins to even out... And he passes out.

Undyne's able to use her body weight to make it over the rest of the railing, landing on the floor of the catwalk with a loud clang. Axis looks up at the hole in the ceiling... He doesn't even remember what's up there, but it's heavy. And he can see it starting to bend.

"CARRY THE HATTED HUMAN." He tells Undyne, who is trying to get her left arm to cooperate. "Carry-? You can't be serious-"

A extremely loud metallic groan interrupts the two.

"Okay you know what sure I can do that let me just..." She awkwardly grips him with her working arm, before slinging him over her shoulder. "Let's get off this deathtrap, now!"

Axis quickly rolls off, Undyne running close behind. Goosic however, is much slower. Undyne notices the music fading away as she gets to the edge of the catwalk, turning around to see Goosic barely halfway across.

Then it falls.

A good section of the catwalk is immediately crushed beneath the massive machine, with the support cables snapping afterwards. "Damn it, move you stupid robot!" She makes a spear appear under the slow moving robot, hitting it from below and causing it to pause.

"THIS RADIO AIN'T DEAD YET!" It screeches, suddenly speeding up as the catwalk begins to collapse into the coolant below.

It just makes it across as the section of catwalk it was standing on snaps, falling to pieces behind it.

"THANK YOU FOR SAVING IT. I AM UNABLE TO FISH." Axis says, continuing to roll forward.

Her face scrunches up in realization of what she just did. She saved that stupid robot that ruined the mood of her big fight. ...Whatever. Better everyone make it out anyway, or something.

"YOU'RE MY BEST LISTENER! YOU'LL BE RECIEVING A PRIZE IN THE MAIL REAL SOON!" It screeches at her as it waddles past.

She adjusts Clover's weight on her shoulder. She could take his soul right now. They aren't looking.

But... She's an honorable monster. She already went against her code by... Ugh, she really messed up. She messed up BAD. What has she been DOING?! Has she really been so blinded by her goal that she can't see the damage she's caused?!

"What a dumbass I've been..." She mumbles, following after the two robots with a defeated posture.

A flower pops up to look at the broken catwalk just after they leave. "Well... That was too many loads for my liking. But fine. This is a good enough outcome."

He shuts his eyes in thought. His plan was coming to fruition, but something felt wrong. Clover was beginning to act different. He thought for sure that stupid guard had him dead to rights, but... Then he suddenly had it handled.

He was no stranger to dead ends of course, especially with Clover. His bad habit of being trigger-happy with SAVEs had caused him issues before. So why did he suddenly make it out of this one?

"Does he remember? Could he?" He mumbles to himself, using a vine to knock off some scrap metal sitting near the edge. "It doesn't change anything if he does... Right?"

...He needed to think about this.

Chapter 21: Clinical discussions

Chapter Text

After Undyne left, the town was quiet for a while.

Obviously though, six monster bodies lying in the middle of town didn't get left alone for too long. The residents of the Wild East slowly began to trickle back in, picking up the injured and setting them in the clinic.

Dina ran the show, organizing people to help them the best they could until the doctor got back. It seems he wandered off during the attack.

After a while... Moray came to. "Oh, my head... Augh... What happened? Did we win?" They sit up, looking at their injured friends in the beds alongside them. "...That's that answered then."

Doesn't seem like anyone's watching over them at the moment, so they get out of the bed they had been placed in. Everyone just seems to be knocked out, thankfully. Although... Martlet looks unusually still.

Before she can think on that further, Dina walks in with a tray of waters. "Oh, Moray! Glad to see ya up and about." She smiles at the monster, handing them a water. "Anyone else up yet?"

"...Don't think so." They sip the water, looking over Ed and Ace on their beds. "What happened? I think I was out first, and... Urgh, my head!" They nearly drop their water as their headache throbs violently. They didn't remember getting hit that hard, why does their head hurt so badly?

"Drink some water, I think you're a bit dehydrated." Dina says, turning Moray's attention back to the suddenly very attractive looking cup of water. They gulp it down in seconds, setting the cup back on the tray and taking another. And another. And another...

"Alright, leave some for the other injured." Dina moves the tray away from them with a roll of her eyes. "It seems like ya got the least beat up, just from what we saw. We're still waitin for the doc."

"Do you know what happened?" They ask, splashing some of the remaining water on their face.

"Nah. Holed up in my bar until I stopped hearing spears. Though..." She glances over at Martlet's bed. "Somethin... Real bad happened to her. She hasn't moved at all since we found her."

They go over to look properly this time. Dina's right, she's not moving... Not even any twitches like the others. "Has she...?"

"We don't know. The doc will be looking at her first." She sets the tray down on one of the tables, looking over Moray. "Yeesh, she really did a number on ya... Surprised ya woke up as quick as ya did."

"Why? How long had it been?" They turn to her, before it clicks. "Wait, where's Clover?! Has he come back yet?!"

Dina raises a hand to calm them down, moving towards the door just in case. "Now, relax. No, he hasn't come back yet, but I can't let ya go barrelin off after him. He can handle himself, ya know that."

They go to retort, but their headache gets bad again, and they force themselves to sit on the edge of Ed's bed. "Urgh... Did he at least get away...?" Dine responds with a shrug, giving them another glass of water.

"We only found y'all lying around out there." Not really a surprise, Martlet had told Clover to run before they had all started fighting. At least he (presumably, they were knocked out first after all) had plenty of time to get away.

"Oh, everythin hurts..." The gravelly voice belonging to the monster on the bed with her grumbles out. Ed shuffles slightly, looking over at the two monsters. "...Did we win?"

"No."

"Darn it. Did Clover get away?

"We don't know."

Ed groans, forcing himself to sit up. "Reassurin... We did give him plenty of time to run... Martlet kept her busy after she got me I bet." Moray finishes their cup, grabbing another one to hand to Ed, which he thanks them for.

"How long did you last?" Moray asks as Ed takes a drink. He holds up 5 fingers, which Moray assumes means he was the fifth out. Meaning... "Martlet was the last one? No wonder she's... Like that."

Ed chokes on his water a bit before looking over at Martlet on her bed. "Like what? What's up with her?"

"She hasn't moved since she got here." Dina supplies, stacking all the empty cups.

Ed winces, finishing his water and handing his cup over for her to take, nodding at Dina in thanks. "Where's the doc? Has he checked her yet?"

Before either of the two can respond, they hear yelling outside. They're just able to share a look before a robot rolls in, startling the three of them. "WE REQUIRE A BED."

"We?" Moray repeats, before getting startled again by loud stomping.

Undyne bursts through the door, grunting. "Let me put the damn kid down already! I haven't ached this much since I first battled Asgore!"

Nobody moves. Nobody even breathes.

"HEY HEY HEY, WHAT'S WITH THE QUIET TIME?! LET'S FILL THAT SILENCE WITH SOME TUNES!" Another robot waddles in, beginning to play some loud and obnoxious music. Everyone starts yelling at the robot to keep it down, until Undyne rolls her eyes and smacks it with her spear. The music pauses, before switching to something much more calm.

"Sorry about that folks, got a little carried away." It says, sitting down.

"WE STILL NEED A BED." Axis says, gesturing to Clover. "THE HATTED HUMAN IS INJURED."

"We're out of beds... Just set him with Martlet for now. I doubt she minds." Dina mumbles, not taking her eyes off of Undyne. The guard glares back at her, setting Clover down carefully on the bed next to Martlet.

The silence continues to drag after that. Everyone looks between each other, as if expecting someone to make a move. No one's sure what's going to happen next.

Then Mooch screams and all hell breaks loose.

Dina fires a gun she was apparently holding (Where the hell was she keeping it?), followed immediately by Axis firing back in expected retaliation. This freaks out Goosic, who fires a few bullets at Moray, causing the monster to stand up and draw their rapier. Undyne of course takes this as a challenge, drawing a spear and pointing it in a threatening manner between the monsters in front of her.

Nobody moves for a few moments once again, until Mooch squeaks out an apology.

"For crying out loud..." Dina puts her gun away. "What the hell are ya doin here Undyne? You gotta realize how this looks."

"Delivering the stupid kid back to you guys." She tries to move her left arm again, still unable to get it to even twitch. "...And maybe get some help. That kid... Is something else. I've never seen anything like what he pulled on me."

Moray slowly puts away their rapier, sitting back down and grasping their head. Their headache got aggravated from standing up so fast. "So... He beat you then?"

"Beat me? BEAT ME? That kid had me dead to rights! If it wasn't for the robot here-" She lazily smacks Axis with her hand, making a loud clanging sound from her armor hitting the metal. "I would've died. So, yeah, I'm beat. Don't expect me to suddenly start stabbing people. Especially not with this stupid ARM!" She grabs her left arm with her right, angrily swinging it around before letting it fall to her side again.

Moray seems highly amused by the display, taking a moment to hand Mooch a water. "What happened to it? It doesn't look injured."

"He shot something out of his soul, some massive beam. Paralyzed the entire left side of my body." She explains bluntly, leaning against the wall of the clinic just next to the door. There's a crash as Mooch drops the glass off water she was holding onto the floor.

Everyone else in the room (minus the robots) have similar reactions. "He did WHAT?"

"Don't look at me! I WISH I had known humans could do that, can you imagine how COOL it would've been to have a laser battle?! Spear vs laser, strongest wins!" Undyne makes a finger gun, pretending to fire it at Clover. "Shame he didn't do it sooner."

The monsters are speechless, all looking at Clover in complete bewilderment. Until a groan catches all their attention. Looks like Ace is finally awake.

He sits up, rubbing his shoulder, before seeing everyone in the room staring at him. "...What did I miss?" Moray moves over to his bed to explain while Ed gets out of his.

"I dunno much about what Clover can really do... But somehow I don't think that's normal for humans." He stumbles a bit, his legs feeling much less stable than he was expecting, so he collapses back onto the bed. "I would also like an apology for getting beaten up, if we're pretendin to be pals."

"Yeah! You suplexed me and pulled on my poor tail!" Mooch strokes her tail, pouting in Undyne's general direction. "That really hurt!"

A groan escapes Undyne, as well as some mumbled statement nobody else in the room understands. "What was that?" Dina prods, a smirk on her face.

"I'm sorry! Alright? I know I really messed up, I went way too hard on all of you. I'm not apologizing for going after Clover though, it's my job and I still plan to do it when I'm back at a hundred percent." She suddenly finds the floor very interesting. Stupid human...

"Understatement of the century, look at Martlet! Look what you did to her!" Moray yells, standing back up and throwing Ace's empty glass of water at her. It shatters on contact, shocking Undyne into a fighting stance.

"Can we not keep smashing my glasses, please?" Dina says, a hand on her forehead in exasperation. "But Moray's right. You pushed too far, and now we're not even sure what condition Martlet is in."

"What do you mean? She should be fine, I know I didn't..." She studies Martlet carefully, trailing off. Shereally isn't moving, is she? She couldn't have let her anger get the best of her like that... Right?

"I believe it would be best for someone to go find the doctor as soon as possible." Ace stands up, as if to do it himself, but quickly collapses onto the ground. "...Help me up, please."

As Moray gives him a hand, Axis rolls forward. "I CAN ASSIST. I AM ABLE TO FIND ANY INDIVIDUAL ACROSS LARGE DISTANCES. ALSO TAKE THIS I DO NOT WANT IT." He drops the trash can lid into Dina's hands, who stares at it in confusion.

"The doc lives in the Oasis I think." Mooch says, still stroking her tail. "Dunno where though. Go try and find him! He wears this weird mask, and has yellow skin."

"UNDERSTOOD. I WILL ATTEMPT TO USE THIS LACKLUSTER PROFILE." He rolls out without another word. Undyne looks down at Goosic, expecting it to follow. Unfortunately for her, it has no intention from moving from its spot on the floor.

"So... Should we ask about that robot?" Mooch whispers loudly to Ace, which everyone in the room hears anyway.

"Listen, I don't know what this thing's deal is." Undynevery gently pushes it closer to the wall with her foot. "I was following it to find the kid, and now it just seems to be following me around."

"Just hangin with my favorite listener." It responses, switching to a different song. "You got a real appreciation for music."

"See what I mean?"

"Maybe it likes you?" Ace seems to smirk behind his bandana, causing Undyne to shoot a glare in his direction. "It can be a pet, or a sidekick."

Mooch laughs, which does nothing to help Undyne's mood. It's just one thing after another today.

And then a shot rings out, and she's short another chunk of HP.

Everyone turns to Starlo's bed, where he's panting with effort, his gun shaking in his hands. "You... You worthless... Child murderer..." He goes into a coughing fit, dropping his gun onto the floor.

Dina quickly swipes it, giving it to Ed for the moment. "Here, drink some water..." She hands Starlo the last glass of water, which he takes and downs in one gulp. "I'll go get more water. ALL of you behave yourselves!" She looks right at Star as she speaks, setting down the trash can lid on the table and leaving through the door with the tray of empty glasses.

"Why is no one... Getting her? She... Killed Clover..." Starlo wheezes out, looking ready to pass out again.

"I didn't kill the stupid kid, look. He's right here." Undyne steps back, letting Starlo see Clover lying next to Martlet on her bed. "He's not dead, just passed out."

"Martlet... Is she okay too...?"

Nobody answers him.

"Somebody... Say something, damnit! Is she alright or not!?" He starts coughing again, banging his head against the wall on accident. That really hurt. "Hell... Just give it to me straight, I can take it..."

"We don't know, Star. We're still waiting for the doc." Moray tells him, moving over to his bed. "Just get some rest, alright? You got roughed up pretty bad."

He grumbles, lying back down. "This is ridiculous... Why are we letting her just stand around here like she ain't done nothin?!" He gestures angrily at the ceiling.

"We're just trying to recover right now. None of us are well enough to be fighting. Not even Undyne." Ace points out, glancing at Undyne. She's still trying to get her arm to move.

"You plannin on takin Clover's soul the first chance ya get, don't ya?" Starlo turns over slightly to glare at her. "This means nothing to ya."

"Am I just supposed to ignore myjob? No, actually, on that topic: Did all of you forget WHY I'm doing this?! We need human souls to break the barrier, the king has ordered any humans in the underground to be hunted!"

She takes a deep breath. A heated argument is a bad idea right now. "...Either way, I need to reconsider things. I went way too far. I guess I can understand why I wasn't initially allowed to come out here by myself..."

"What made the captain change their mind?" Mooch asks. A valid question, actually... Whydid they send her out here? Was it a test?

"Sounds like you all should chill and listen to some tunes. So much tension in the room today." Goosic buzzes out, much to her annoyance. She was really getting sick of this robot.

"Not to be a downer, but what happens if Martlet really is...?" Ed trails off, not wanting to say it out loud. No one does, really.

"Well.. I'll be discharged, and even if I wasn't I'd resign." She raises her hand in a salute. "I would accept any consequences or punishments for... Betraying my fellow monsters. It's unforgivable." She lets her hand fall, sighing. "I don't think I could live with myself if I did. I fight for monsters. The good of all monsters no less. How could I say that again after... Killing one?"

An uneasy silence settles over the room at that. Goosic was right, thisis tense. But what can they do? Axis still isn't back with the doctor, so checking Martlet properly is out of the question. Clearly there's no much conversation to be had given the circ*mstances.

Dina comes back with more water, which is passed around to everyone in the room. She even gives Undyne one, although not without some hesitance.

Then Clover opens his eyes.

At first, he sees blue feathers. Mom! She's okay! But then he looks up, seeing her unconscious form. He starts to feel himself panic again, sitting up to start shaking her.

This catches the attention of everyone else in the room. Starlo is about to speak, but Undyne beats him to it. "Finally awake?" This startles Clover, turning to look at Undyne.

It all hits him at once, spears going through him, his SOUL, her laugh, her grin as she took it.... His breathing gets quicker, and he grasps his chest as it tightens... And his soul begins glowing again.

Undyne immediately drops the glass she was holding, diving out of the way as Clover fires a beam through the wall she was just standing in front of. "Put a lid on that! You're gonna kill me!" She shouts from the floor.

Clover collapses backwards, falling off the bed and harshly onto the floor. He sobs, both from the fall and the overwhelming situation. Moray and Dina go to help him while Undyne stands back up, frowning.

She didn't know much about stuff like this, but it was clear enough he was terrified of her. Obviously, she tried to take his SOUL. Still... To try and fire as soon as he sees her...She may need to leave.

The two helping Clover set him back on the bed, where he immediately clings to Martlet, sobbing into her feathers.

"I'll just... Step out. I shouldn't be here." Undyne mumbles, hastily pushing open the doors of the clinic and walking out. Goosic follows, waddling out and following behind the guard with its music.

"I'll keep tabs on her. Ya just make sure he's alright." Dina says to Moray before following Undyne out.

Moray watches her go, trying to think on how best to approach helping Clover. They've... Never had to do anything like this before, much less with a child. They kneel down so they're on level with Clover. "Hey... How are you feeling?" They speak softly, trying their best to sound comforting.

Clover pulls his face away from Martlet's feathers, his face stained with tears. "I-I, I just... Want her to-hic-to w-wake up..." He chokes out through more tears. He wipes his face before burying it back in Martlet's feathers.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to talk to him so soon. "Alright... We'll have the doc in here to check on her soon." They stand back up, nervously grasping their rapier's handle over and over. They didn't know how to deal with this. Best to leave it to Martlet, if possible...

"What a mess..." Starlo mumbles. "We couldn't protect them... We all got shot to pieces and achieved nothing..."

"I beg to differ. We gave Clover enough time to run away and prepare to defend himself." Ace retorts, playing with one of his cards by sliding it through his fingers. "Without our efforts, he may have died before he even left town."

"I guess... I just wish we could've kept him from fighting... Just look at what he did the moment he looked at Undyne, that's not normal!" He gestures to the large hole in the clinic wall, smoke still coming off of the wood.

"At least Undyne had enough common sense to leave after that. Could you imagine if she got all up in arms because she was just shot at?" Ed scoffs.

"I think anyone would want to leave after almost getting vaporized. Again..." Mooch finally tries to stand, but decides against it when a sharp pain travels up her back. "Ow... What are we gonna do now?"

"All of you just rest, I'll do my best to take care of you." Moray proclaims, standing up straight in the middle of the clinic. "It's the least I could do for all of you."

A chorus of thanks come from the other monsters. Clover's been tuning them out for a while now, he can't get his mind off of mom being hurt. Or worse...

What would he do? Stay with Starlo? He could... But it's more likely he'd go confront Asgore like Flowey wants. Not that he'd mind at that point...

Seems like the end is coming... Was fighting even worth it? Was anything even worth it? Flowey will undo it all, or everything will just go back to the beginning...

But... Isn't that why they fought in the first place? To go against the flower? Win the life he's built here? Yeah, Flowey wanted him to win anyway but... He didn't do things as he planned. The jail, unused. The trash can lid barely accomplished anything.

Flowey clearly expected that fight to go a different way. But he made his own way.

He can win.

He feels his SOUL harden at the thought, a pulse that sends a wave of determination through his body. No, no, he WILL win! He'll show that flower that he's not just a puppet to be played with, to be used for his own gain!

He wipes away his tears, or tries his best to anyway. Martlet WILL wake up! He'll make it happen himself!

He pulls his SOUL out of his chest, holding it in his hands. It makes him shiver a little, just seeing it. All those deaths still weighed heavily on his mind. But he would help Martlet, no matter what it takes.

His SOUL pulses again. "Martlet... No. Mom. Please... I need you. Please wake up... Please..." He whispers, pressing his SOUL against her body.

A bright flash of yellow fills his vision.

And then it all goes dark.