Clover stood panting, their revolver drawn though still unused. He wasn't even sure what to do...

"...One... I have one left in my chamber... I'll make this count."

...Forget that prior thought. Clover knew exactly what to do. As a fellow cowboy, he couldn't help but respect North Star's resolve, even if they had been attacking him this whole time... To no avail. So, Clover chose to act, and began to raise his hands in surrender. Even if Starlo shot him, one bullet wouldn't be enough to put him down at full hp anyways. Though, he hadn't expected what happened next.

Starlo pulled the trigger. Before Clover had raised his hands all the way, he'd actually pulled the trigger. 

"W... What?" Clover mumbled out slowly, looking down at his chest with his blank expression, which was now quickly turning into a rare grimace. That... That hurt a lot more than it should've. 

"I... What did I..." Starlo's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the red splotch in Clover's chest, which was now quickly growing. Matching the freshly red mark on the child's SOUL from where Starlo had well, shot it. 

Clover stumbled backwards, hand clutching at the wound. His mind reeled from the shock, wondering how he'd even taken so much damage from that one attack. Had his guard been down or something? Nevertheless, it was fine! It hurt like hell but all he needed to do was eat someth-

It was all too late, that Clover noticed they'd stumbled just a little bit too far backwards. 

"STARLO! What are you doing?!" 

That was the last thing Clover heard before they went overboard.

"C-CLOVER!" Starlo was the first to cry out in alarm, Ceroba followed up a moment after him with the exact same shout of panic. 

The human fell for a solid two seconds before a sickening crunch echoed out from the canyon. That however, was not the end of it. Another second passed and another crunch was heard. The two standing on the land above stood in shocked silence for a few seconds, before yet another dull thud was heard far below. 

...

Clover lay in a growing pool of their own blood, the world flickered around them and they struggled to breathe. Their vision was quickly growing blurry, and their thoughts began to dull in mere seconds. Dimly, they could feel the massive amount of blood pouring out from the back of their head. Clover figured they must've hit their head on one of their stops, but that awareness left them a few moments later. It felt difficult to think, to breathe. They struggled to remember what had even caused them to fall to begin with.

...Sorry... Everybody...? Looks like I'm... I'm not gonna make it there... 

...

"Golly-gee pal! That sure was a STUPID way to die!" Flowey mocked from above Clover's broken body. "Did you know, out of all the times you've fought that phony, you've only ever died to him three out of a hundred thirty four times? Well, I guess we can update that total to four out of a hundred thirty five now, oof buddy, that's a serious blemish on your record, cmon I expected better from you pal! And I mean, the way you died too! At least the other three times you just died fighting, really had to take the stylish exit out this time, huh? Well what else should I expect from the STUPIDEST cowboy this side of the east!" Flowey's face morphed in sync with that last remark, though it quickly warped back into his perfectly innocent smile. 

Clover's body took one shaky, shuddering breath, and for a short moment Flowey stopped speaking in momentary surprise. "You're... Actually still alive? Jeeze pal! If you were this resilient I've got no idea why I even had to steer you this way to begin with! Well, all the better I suppose! I get to watch your DEATH THROES. It's not often that I Get a front row seat to such prime suffering from you! And you... Can't even hear me, can you buddy? Ah you've always gotta find a way to suck the fun out of something I suppose. Well, this is my last try so I guess i should thank you for showing me something new! I'll make sure to savor every moment of your su-"

Flowey looked up and frowned, quickly dipping back down into the earth below. 

"CLOVER! Ohmygodohmygod Clover!" Martlet barely slowed down before she slammed into the ground, just barely stopping her descent in time. 

"Ohmygod shit! Shit, shit, shit, what do I do?! Uhm-uhhh anything in the manual-oh crap I don't even have it with me! How do you treat a human-how do you treat anybody like this?!" All the while Martlet was looking Clover up and down, trying to figure out if there even was anything they could do for the child. Blood... Blood everywhere, drenching Clover... Her eyes widened as she started breathing faster and faster. "I-uhm-right! Food, right?! They just ate when they got low on health in their fight with me-cmon they've gotta have something!" Martlet frantically mumbled to herself as she dropped down and began to rifle through Clover's blood soaked bag. 

Monster food did generally have a healing effect, but for whatever reason it seemed to be more instantaneous for Clover, maybe humans in general? Just as Martlet felt something in his bag, she also heard something else. A cracking sound. Her eyes flicked to Clover's body, and right above his chest was his very SOUL. A hairline fracture spreading throughout the yellow heart. Nononononono-Martlet's eyes widened even further then they had already been, somehow, and she practically ripped whatever it was she had grabbed outside of the bag. 

It was a bag full of some black substance, but Martlet figured Clover wouldn't be carrying around some random object of no value. It had to have been monster food! Of... Some kind! Notimetoopenit! 

Martlet took a bite out of the bag with her beak as she hastily shuffled it towards Clover's mouth. In her haste, she'd actually gotten some of it in her own mouth, but by the time she tasted it and blanched she had already been pouring it into Clover's mouth through the opening. "ThisisNOTmonsterfood!" Martlet cried out in shock as she spat out the black substance... Which wasn't very effective given it was a powdery substance. She also pulled the bag away from Clover, but most of the contents had already been dumped into their mouth. She winced at that, but regardless. In her panic, she continued to rifle through Clover's bag, eventually coming across another object which she hastily pulled out. A bottle of liquid! Surely this was edible-

"Wait-their SOUL is fine?" Martlet stared at the floating yellow heart, the previous cracks that had formed within the SOUL now glowing a bright white. Clover was still breathing as well so it wasn't like they were dead... At least Martlet thought so.

"Humans don't breathe if they're dead, right?" She asked nobody in particular.

She waited a bit, but the cracks didn't grow any better or worse, so she figured Clover would be alright! "Clover, oh my god I'm so sorry, I should've tried to get out sooner or... Or... Clover?" 

He wasn't waking up. Martlet almost poured the bottle of water into Clover's mouth, but thought better of that at the last possible moment. Perhaps he wasn't dead now, but Martlet would feel a lot worse if she drowned him while he was unconscious. So she rifled through his bag again for a bit, and brought out something a little bit more solid, slowly feeding it to the unconscious child.  And the cracks just... Stayed there? Now it had Martlet confused, he wasn't getting any worse or better... But... She sighed, and reluctantly, Martlet started a battle with Clover.

She obviously had no intention of attacking them, but well, there wasn't much other choice if she wanted to check him for any... Unusual circumstances.

Clover - ATK 1 DEF 1

Fading.

"F-fading...?" 

Clover was currently completely incapable of taking their own turn, so it was skipped. Martlet of course, immediately ended the battle.

"What is fading supposed to mean?!" Martlet resumed panicking immediately after reading that little nugget of information, her gaze rapidly flicked around yet again..."I-I don't know what to do! I-wait, maybe?" Before settling on the deathly still human SOUL.

Martlet made VERY sure to not actually touch Clover's SOUL. She wasn't sure if simply touching the thing would absorb it or not and she REALLY didn't want that to happen. So she grabbed Clover's bag, and very gently pushed his SOUL back into his body with it. Martlet hesitated again, but she knew she at least had to check if something had happened with him. She started another battle, and as she did before, checked Clover yet again.

Clover - ATK 2 DEF 1

Fading.

"Oh-OH! That actually did something, okay! Surely their stats going up has to be a good thing, right? I mean... They're still... "fading" but... Better then nothing?" 

Martlet sighed, before holding her head in her wings. "I'm such an awful friend..."

...

Starlo looked absolutely mortified when he saw the poor kid's body. They had to have broken at least half the bones in their body in the fall, the only reason they were even alive... Actually, all three of them had absolutely no idea how Clover had lived long enough to even be healed by Martlet. It was by all accounts, a miracle. 

"Maam I-I'm so sorry-" Starlo managed to stammer out, but when he saw the bird who had just hours ago been so full of life looking as dejected as they now did, it sucked the wind right out of his sails. He hung his head defeatedly, it was all he could do. 

Martlet didn't respond, she didn't even know how to respond to that. It wasn't like she could claim to be a saint, she'd attacked Clover all the same but... She hadn't shot a child with a literal gun! Plus she hadn't even really been trying either, and, AND! She'd promised to keep Clover safe, (after that) and twice she'd already failed! The first fall they'd taken was certainly death defying, how they'd come out of that one unscathed Martlet had no idea. Hell as far as she was concerned it should've had the exact same effects as this one! Or well, that probably wasn't a fair assessment given Martlet was fairly sure the kid had fallen over a hundred feet down on the second time. Her face paled again at the thought.

Martlet sighed as she switched her focus to Clover tucked into bed. The bleeding had at least stopped when they'd eaten whatever that black stuff was... But they themselves still needed a quick wash when they'd been brought to the house, all of which was done by Martlet. Everyone else tidied up around the house while she'd taken care of Clover themself. Martlet could admit it, she was definitely feeling a bit overprotective, and for good reason she'd say!

Speaking of "everyone else", The Feisty Five were still having a bit of a breakup, but when the four heard about what had happened to Clover... They dropped everything and came to help as soon as possible, which was appreciated, the more hands the better. On top of that, Ceroba had agreed to let Clover stay in her mansion for the time being. It was far from any possible royal guard searches and nobody besides those who she knew would ever come there. Though other than that she'd been so... Quiet. At first Martlet thought she was just really upset with Starlo, well, she was too but she at least understood it was unintentional. But no... Ceroba was still speaking with Starlo, even if he himself seemed absolutely gutted during any conversation.

It felt... Somewhat forboding, but hey, Ceroba is trustworthy! Martlet knew that one for a fact, so she didn't worry about it. No she already had a very pressing matter to worry about regardless of all that! 

"Clover...? If you're awake, please don't freak out, I'm going to start a battle with you to get a look at your SOUL and check your status, okay? If you're awake and would rather I didn't do that, then please talk to me?" 

She waited a solid ten or so seconds, and when she didn't get a response, she sighed heavily. Martlet just hoped nobody walked in on her in the middle of a battle with Clover, that would be a bit... Awkward.

...

Interestingly enough, it seemed as if the cracks in Clover's SOUL had actually somewhat repositioned themselves. Martlet wouldn't even try to say she had a good memory, but between how jarring the situation had been and the lack of time between the two comparisons, Martlet felt rather certain in saying that Clover's SOUL was still just as cracked as it had been before. However, there was one key difference. The cracks had shifted, somehow. 

Whereas before it had been as if the SOUL was about to split in two from top to bottom, the cracks now seemed to spread outwards from the center of his SOUL. Martlet wasn't sure what that meant... But she didn't think it was good, maybe that was just how humans recovered from near death experiences though?

"Mmmgh not knowing this stuff is so frustrating!"

Clover - ATK 2 DEF 2

Fading.

Well, she at least had that going for her. Surely, Clover's stats increasing had to mean something good, right? Their SOUL recovering their strength or something?

"Yeah! Bet they'll be right as a feather in a day or two!"

And with her next turn after Clover's was skipped, Martlet once again spared Clover and ended the battle.

"...I hope." 

Then, she heard the door click open behind her. Martlet turned to face their new guest, and came face to face with Ceroba. 

"Do you have any idea what's going on with them? Clover should've woken up by now with enough monster food." 

"...No. I have no idea." Martlet shook her head sadly. "I... I did check their SOUL, and it's damaged, but I'm not sure why that would stop them from... Waking up." 

Ceroba sighed, then she walked closer. "Let me take a look."

Martlet obliged the request, and scooted off of the bed to let Ceroba get a bit closer, she didn't even start a battle with Clover as far as Martlet could tell, so she wondered how exactly she was viewing his SOUL but... Oh well! As long as they're getting a good look at it. 

"I'm... I'm not sure, I'll need more time to figure this out." She said somewhat frustrated. 

"Okay... I just hope they'll be alright... Wait... Time, time, what about time am I forgetting... I... Oh my god-I FORGOT TO CHECK IN!" Martlet shouted as if somebody had just tried to pull her very SOUL out from her chest, causing Ceroba to almost jump, unlike Martlet, who almost hit the ceiling. 

"Jeeze I'm sorry Ceroba gonna have to leave Clover in your care for now please make sure they don't die please I'd be really sad if they died oh my god they're so gonna fire me-" 

And with a slam, the door closed behind Martlet leaving the two alone in the room.

"Well... I'm sure they won't mind a few pokes and prods... Won't even feel a thing." Ceroba mumbled to herself.

...

"Craaaaaap crap crap crap!" Martlet flew through the limited skies as fast as she possibly could, hoping to win the race that she hadn't even bothered to show up for. "Oh my god I was supposed to check in HOURS ago! They're SO going to fire me-then I'm gonna have to get a real job nooooo!" 

Martlet almost crumpled when she hit the ground, matching the same urgency she'd had at the sight of Clover's disheveled body. She needed to get to Doggs, FAST! Maybe if she was lucky, and if she hadn't been THAT late, her probationary officer might take pity on her?

"Come on they should be around here, they're not looking for me right?! Oh god I hope they aren't REPORTING me-"

"Psst, Martlet, is that you?" 

"Oh-Doggs?! Is that you?" Martlet whipped around and came face to face with Doggo, who now very much knew it was Martlet.

"I told you, name's Doggo."

"Right, sorry, sorry! Look-I'm so sorry I'm late."

"It's been two hours Martlet, this lack of movement is downright criminal." Doggo said while giving Martlet the meanest looking side eye she'd ever seen in her life. She shuddered to think of the gaze Doggo could cast if he was really trying to be intimidating. It might as well be even more deadly then a bullet pattern from ASGORE himself... "Sleeping on the job is one thing, but this is practically dereliction of duty." 

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"I-I know, I'm sorry I just..."

She didn't finish the sentence.

"Well? You just what, Martlet?" Doggo glared disapprovingly, was that... D-d-d-d-disappointment in his voice she heard? Martlet shuddered in shame. the worst punishment of all... Being disapproved of! That made the next lie she told hurt all the more, or well, a half lie she supposed.

"I... Uhm... A close family member of mine got really hurt and I was watching over them for the day. I completely forgot that I had to be here and flew as fast as I could! Pleaseeee please don't fire me, swear it'll never happen again!" 

Doggo continued to give her the evil eye, or was that just his normal eye? Martlet wasn't sure, either way it felt intimidating... LIke she'd melt under the weight of it. Then the pressure relented all at once.

"Well, guess I can't blame you for losing track of time if something like that happened. Though next time, keep moving and let me know. I'll give you the day off to take care of your family. Tell them they have well wishes from the Snowdin royal guard, I expect to see you here tomorrow afternoon. move along." Doggo glanced in both directions with his side eye, before slinking back into his guard post which Martlet hadn't even seen him come out from.

That... Went better then I thought it would, wow!

...

She'd kicked The Feisty Five out for the day, Ceroba couldn't risk anybody learning of her secrets, not when she was close to finally finishing her mission. It was after that, that she had gotten down to business. Ceroba grew more and more perplexed the longer she studied Clovers' blood and SOUL. Everything pointed towards one conclusion. Clover, should be dead. Undeniably so, one with the earth, SOUL shattered and scatted to the dust in a million itty bitty pieces. Hell, they should've bled out! But, against all odds, they were still alive.

Their SOUL was at all times a hairs breadth away from irrevocably shattering, yet still they lived. It's instability held together by an odd, congealed source of magic. The cracks in their SOUL by all means, should've killed them by now. They should've bled the contents of their very being out into the open air and died a husk, even if their SOUL had managed to stay in one piece. Still, she was certainly happy with this development, Clover's survival meant she was one step closer to her own goals.

Curiously, the glue holding Clover's SOUL together wasn't just monster food like Ceroba had initially thought it was. No, that was certainly a huge part in its stability, don't misunderstand, but there was another component to it. Another trace of magic imprinted into the cracks. It seemed to be... Martlet's magic? That was odd though... Martlet didn't have any healing abilities. She hadn't mentioned doing anything of the sort either. That was just another thing Ceroba would have to figure out she supposed. 

However, as to the reason why Martlet's magic was there? It frankly didn't matter to Ceroba. After hours of theory crafting, observations and sample taking... Ceroba came to one conclusion. Slowly, very, very slowly. The human's SOUL was absorbing the magic that Martlet had left behind, with the magic from the monster food acting as an intermediary to transmit the energy. Through this, bit by bit the cracks within the SOUL began to mend, exchanged for whatever Martlet had managed to leave in her imprint. And when Ceroba noted down "bit by bit", she truly meant it.

It had taken multiple hours for her to even notice the slightest change. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but after taking note of where the fractures had been, and then comparing it to the human's SOUL an hour later... There was indeed the very slightest of observable changes, though not even a single hundredth of their SOUL had mended, it would take days at the very least for it to heal, probably weeks, but it would happen. The only issue being... Martlet's magic was beginning to run out. 

Whatever she had done, she wouldn't be able to do it again, maybe not from a lack of skill, but for the simple reason that she just wasn't here. Martlet very well might not be back for the rest of the day, and her magic would certainly run out by then... Ceroba realized she would have to figure out whatever Martlet had done, and replicate it before time ran out. And if she failed... 

Ceroba steeled herself, failure would not be an option. 

...

Ceroba stood above an unconscious Clover, looking down at them with a great deal of worry in her gaze, and corn chowder in her right paw. This would be... Dangerous, but she didn't have much other choice. Transporting Clover anywhere would take well over a day in their current state, and Martlet would be on guard duty, so asking her to come do it herself wouldn't be possible as she simply wouldn't be able to read the mail. She doubted Starlo would even be in the right mental state to do this after what they'd done... Nor would they be better suited to it than Ceroba herself. 

Ceroba took a deep breath, and knelt down on the bed, putting her left paw to Clover's chest. She hadn't had much time to run through hypotheticals, but Martlet's magic would run out very soon. Without her magic holding Clover's SOUL together, Ceroba wasn't sure how long he'd last. She did have... a container. But she really didn't want to have to use it. Ceroba breathed in and out one more time, then began to channel her magic through Clover's body.

Immediately, he started to squirm. The first physical reaction she'd gotten from the kid since she'd started taking observations of him... She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. Curiously, now that she knew to pay attention to it, Ceroba felt Martlet's magic vanish in the presence of her own as it radiated through Clover's body. While she did this, she shoved the corn chowder into Clover's mouth, not bothering to do it gently. This was literally a matter of life and death, she didn't care about the minutia details.

Everything seemed to be going well, Clover's SOUL wasn't cracking under the stress and he ate the food just fine... But... Something felt wrong, for some reason, it was as if the SOUL was rejecting her magic! It flowed through the rest of Clover's body easily enough, but as the fresh influx of energy came in from the monster food, it was not paired with Ceroba's own. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that it wasn't working, she tried to force it, but she felt Clover's SOUL shake dangerously at the attempt. Her eyes began to grow wide. 

It's not working... IT'S NOT WORKING!

Though Clover's SOUL was supported by the food, Ceroba could already feel the glue that held it together beginning to come apart. It felt like her world was about to do the same. It would seem as if she needed to use the container regardless of her wishes... She just hoped Martlet wouldn't come back for a few days.

Ceroba took off sprinting down the halls, in a mad dash to reach the basement as fast as possible, so that she would be able to at least preserve the soul for Kanako... Which was why Martlet couldn't have chosen a better time to arrive. 

"Oh, uh, hi! Ceroba? What's wrong?" Martlet questioned as she slipped through the front door, looking curiously at Ceroba who now stared right back at them with wide frenzied eyes.

"MARTLET, COME WITH ME RIGHT NOW!"

...

"Wh-what's going on?!" 

"I'll explain in a moment-just-just listen to me right now!" Ceroba shouted right back as she dragged Martlet through the house, sprinting back up to Kanako's old room as fast as she possibly could. Preserving the human's SOUL was no longer an option now that Martlet was here, but Ceroba knew she would've felt even worse if she had actually gone through with that particular plan. 

Martlet only nodded in response, trying her best to keep up with Ceroba as she shot up the stairs. 

Moments later, they bursted into the room with Clover, whose SOUL was now beginning to float out of their own body.

"What the?!" Martlet cried out as she laid eyes on Clover who was now struggling and gasping for air in the bed, reaching at the air for something that wasn't even there. 

"USE YOUR MAGIC ON CLOVER, HURRY!" 

Martlet immediately ran to Clover's side, though her head snapped in Ceroba's direction as she too ran towards Clover. "I-what?!"

"Just-DO IT!"

She didn't even bother to respond, instead beginning to funnel her magic towards Clover. Obviously, no bullet patterns. In what world would that be what Ceroba meant? Besides she'd have stopped Martlet if that wasn't what she actually meant, she was sure of it! 

Then, Martlet heard another crack. The lines coming from the center of Clover's soul expanded dangerously, and suddenly she had absolutely no doubt about what Ceroba had told her to do. Martlet touched a wing to Clover's shivering body, and began to try and use as much of her magic as possible. 

"I-oh god please be okay..." Martlet practically whimpered out as her eyes nervously flicked up to see Clover's soul... Which suspiciously pulsed with a white light...? And just like that, Clover stopped shivering, though his SOUL had now been even more fractured than before... 

"What... What even was that...?" 

Ceroba sighed and held the side of her head, clearly being extremely stressed. "It's... Gonna take a bit of explaining."

...

"Okay so, let me get this straight?" Martlet stared at Ceroba completely dumbfounded. "First off, while healing Clover after he fell I somehow managed to leave some of my magic with his SOUL, and that's the one thing that was preventing him from dying?" 

Ceroba nodded. 

"Okay, right, so you tried to replicate that but his SOUL just what... Said no?!" 

"Essentially." Ceroba scowled. 

"That's just... That's great. So because I left, Clover almost died... Again...?"

Ceroba didn't nod this time, only looking away from Martlet as her beak turned to a frown. She mumbled something that Martlet didn't hear, so Martlet asked her what she said.

"Uh, Ceroba, what was that?"

Ceroba held a paw to her forehead, before speaking again. "Clover is going to have to stay with you. You're the only one that can keep them alive, apparently."

"I... Wha-me?" 

"Yes, you, Martlet. You're not going to be able to make regular trips every day from Snowdin to the Wild East if you want to keep your job. It might also be viewed as suspicious for a guard who could have possibly met with the human to be making such frequent trips back and forth after that said human just... Goes missing."

"That's... A good point." Martlet groaned and let her head flop onto the table. "Ow. But... How are we gonna move them? And do you think they'll be able to recover...?" 

"Oh, don't worry about them getting better. It was... Very gradual, but their SOUL was healing over time. The reason I had to replace the magic that you left with them was because somehow, the magic you left with them was being converted by Clover's SOUL into healing for them. And as to how we'll get them to your place... Well, you can fly while carrying somebody, right?" Ceroba asked with a wry smile.

...

Well, the answer to that question WAS yes, but for the record it was difficult. It had been a long and grueling three hours! With two rest stops! Okay maybe not that grueling, but it was long. Look maybe I'm just a little miffed that Ceroba kind of dumped this on me alright? Hmph. 

Though, it would be a lie if she said she didn't feel responsible for what had happened to Clover. Even if they were human... They were a child. And she had given them their word that she would protect them... Even if their word wasn't particularly valuable. No child deserved what had happened to Clover, to be tiptoeing on the edge between life and death as they had. So, she didn't complain. Martlet felt obligated, duty bound to make sure that Clover stayed safe while they were otherwise indisposed.

The irony of that statement wasn't lost on Martlet. A member of the royal guard, duty bound to protect a human. She would've laughed if there weren't other monsters in the area and a very clearly exposed human. Was she thinking about other things to take her mind off the possible idea that some monster would see her just lounging around with a human and report her to the royal guard? Maybe, that's why she wasn't going to think about it any more! Wait five minutes for strength to return to her wings and get to going! 

Even though the damage to Clover wasn't exactly... Physical, Martlet was still careful to not treat them too roughly while they were unconscious, carry them gently, set them down lightly, don't fly too fast, all the like. She knew it probably didn't matter, but it just felt wrong to even think about manhandling the poor kid after the day they've been through. Eventually she reached Snowdin, and knew that her own house wasn't particularly far from there. So when she reached the front door about a minute later, miraculously without having been questioned about the mysterious person she was carrying even once... She gently picked up Clover with one arm, and opened the door with the other. 

"Oh jeeze I totally wasn't ready for anybody to stay here, I don't even have much food... I'm gonna have to stock up I guess? And, oh man I guess I should take Clover upstairs. It'd be a disaster if somebody walked in and just... Saw a human asleep on the couch." Martlet paled at the thought, and secured Clover with both of her wings before she began to walk up the stairs. For a minute there, Martlet had managed to forget she actually had a guest room, so she supposed that particular issue had worked itself out. 

"Hah, whatever it's late. Ceroba said it should be about ten hours between each dose of magic in order for Clover to be alright, so if I go to sleep now and give them some magic first thing after waking up, it should work out, right Martlet? Of course it will." 

Gently, Marlet set Clover down after refreshing the clock by giving him an extra bit of magic, and then she tucked him in under the covers, it was rather cold in Snowdin... Especially when you, yknow, didn't have feathers or fur. After that, she basically stumbled to her own room and collapsed into her bed. She took a good look at the time, and it was rather late... Maybe that was why nobody had really tried to question her? Meh... She just wanted to sleep now. Her alarm should go off in eight and a half hours... She breathed out one last time, and settled in for the night.

...

"Hm... This is definitely new. You know Clover, I didn't realize just how much you were holding out on me here! That all it took was you falling down the damn ravine? I'd have launched you down the damn thing myself eons ago! You almost tricked me, you had me going Clover, you really did! Haaah... What an INTERESTING development." Flowey smiled maliciously, gazing into the window that the birdbrain had forgotten to even close. Staring straight at Clover's unconscious body.

"You know, this is probably a dead end, but after watching you bumble around for a few hundred runs, what's a few dozen more down this particular path before I reset and we try this all again? What a joke partner, really. After you almost outlasted me Clover! Nine hundred and ninety nine runs in and you FINALLY do something new! I was really about to just let the time pass till the next human fell, but now? You've finally given me something fresh here partner! Hmmm, perhaps I should save the rant for when I impale your dear "mother" in front of you for the eighty seventh time? Don't know what else they'd be to you when you've given up your adventure almost a HUNDRED TIMES over them!"

For a short moment, the fake smile vanished from Flowey's face, and he simply gazed angrily at the house.

"Though with your track record, you're bound to disappoint, partner. Might as well play it out anyways, who knows? Maybe you'll have something a bit more... Intriguing to show me this time around."