Clover woke up, and first things first, realized they'd totally fallen asleep while they were supposed to be preening... Cccccrap. How early was it...?

Sun was rising bright and yellow up in the horizon.

"Crap."

His mind flashed back to about an hour before he'd fallen asleep.

"Okay Clover! I'm trusting you to do your own preening after dinner, if you don't do it I'm gonna be real disappointed in you..."

"Alright, no, this is salvagable!" He started rambling to himself as he began to go into a frenzy. Nip at one, straighten another out, pinch one between his claws and yank it a bit (it was pretty clear when a feather would come out if he pulled it too hard) rinse repeat a few dozen times as quickly as he possibly could... Was that placebo? Cause Clover swore he heard a barely audible yawn off in the distance. A very Martlet sounding yawn. How did he know it was her? He just did. He started preening a little bit faster.

"Ceroba?" Clover heard a cry of shock in the distance, good, she'd be distracted and he'd have a little bit longer to finish! Although she'd certainly need to be distracted for awhile given he was still a bit less than half way done... Whatever it was Clover just really hoped it didn't have anything to do with him.

...

"Ceroba?" Martlet squawked in shock, why was there a kid with her-why did the kid look like her?

Martlet paused for a moment, she hadn't seen Kanako much back when Chujin was still... Around, but she knew the two of them had a daughter. Where had she been all day though? "Ceroba, when did Kanako get here?"

"...Last night, you never heard about her falling down did you...?"

"W-what!?" No, the answer to that question was no she had not. After Chujin died the two of them hadn't really spoken that much.

"It doesn't matter." Ceroba sighed as Kanako looked up at her and Martlet questioningly. She was confused and afraid, Martlet was also just as confused after hearing that it "doesn't matter" but she didn't press.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you, but could you and Clover please leave for now? Kanako and I need some time, right sweetie?"

Kanako nodded wordlessly, her gaze was off staring into the open. Martlet had never heard of somebody coming back from falling down but... If they had and they somehow came back...? It would make sense if there were still after effects of some sort. She had still wanted to speak with Ceroba about her and Clover's whole situation... But she understood if her own child took precedence, besides, she was starting to lose faith in Ceroba's ability to give solid advice...

"...Okay, we'll be out of your hair then."

"Thank you." Ceroba gave her a smile that felt very genuine, now that she thought about it, the smiles she'd seen yesterday had been somewhat hollow... Well in any case, she was happy Ceroba was feeling better. Martlet smiled wearily, before turning to face towards Clover's room.

"Clover! Are you up?!"

...

Crap, crappity crap crappington mayor of dungville, just a little bit more to go!"

"Clover?"

She's getting closer-I have no time! I'll just have to hope she doesn't ask about it darnit!

Clover, out of habit, had folded his shirt and set it down neatly before going to sleep last night. He wasn't sure when he'd built that habit, but he had so he didn't question it. The problem with that of course, was that he had to unfold it, which costed him precious seconds.

Throwing on his shirt like he currently was certainly didn't do the feathers he'd just preened any favors, but it was better than being caught in a lie as far as he was concerned. He'd run out of time anyways, his mom was knocking on the door...

"Clover? Are you awake?"

"Yes mom! Just getting dressed!" And perfect, a crime he'd get away with doubtlessly. Provided Martlet didn't look under his shirt and see the contradiction between the preened and unpreened feathers anyways... And for the finishing touches... He tied his bandanna, and donned his hat. Clover was ready to roll.

"Okay, you can come in now!"

The door clicked, then slowly slid open. "Are you ready to go? Ceroba's daughter... Was... Sick? They got better and came back today, so she'd like some alone time with her. We'll be heading home a little bit earlier than expected cause of that."

"Oh, uh, sure, o'course. Can we stop by Sheriff Starlo and say goodbye first though?"

Martlet paused for a moment, before hesitantly saying "sure? Why not."

...

"And what do I have the pleasure a'meetin my deputy so early on this fine mornin?" Starlo readjusted Clover's hat a bit for him, he didn't do anything to stop him. They hadn't even had to wake Starlo up, he was out and about at the crack o'dawn! Clover was right, justice really did never sleep...

"Mom says we're going to head home a little bit earlier than expected cause Ceroba's daughter came back? Or something like that." Starlo's eyes widened at that information, and he looked in Martlet's general direction as if asking if that was true. She nodded moments later.

"I... I see, thanks for telling me that Clover. I'm sorry but... Would you mind excusing me? I've... I've gotta go speak with Mrs. Ceroba." His face screamed confusion, but also tentative hope.

"Oh... Okay." Clover frowned, but if Starlo had to do something he was sure it'd be important.

Martlet saw fit to intervene, and walked between the two. It was a damn good moment for Starlo to bounce, so walk away he did.

"Alright Clover, it's been fun but it's about time we start heading back. I've gotta get back to work... Actually they didn't give me a specific time, but just in general! Let's try and make it home some time before noon, alright? We can have a picnic in Waterfall on the way back, I can show you around Snowdin while I still have off!"

"Alright, that sounds good to me." Clover smiled up at Martlet, and despite all of her currently conflicting emotions, she couldn't help but smile. He was just a good kid...

"C'mere" She knelt down and held her arms out, and Clover reciprocated.

"Love you."

Martlet didn't even sigh this time, she just waited a moment and responded. "Love you too."

In that moment, it didn't really matter how possibly unethical this all was, she knew what she felt to be genuine love for Clover. For her kid. She was sure it'd all work out.

...

The return trip through Waterfall was just as pleasant in Clover's opinion. The sights and aesthetic of the place were wonderful. He was definitely looking forward to that picnic, why wouldn't he be? Being a cowboy was fun, and he was still raring for more, but slowing down and enjoying the little things in life was just as nice. Besides, he felt as if there had been a critical lack of such moments in his life. Must not have happened much in the past, so if he was being offered the chance, he figured he should take it.

They took the same path through Waterfall that they had taken from Snowdin to The Dunes, so it was only inevitable that they returned to the rain once again. "Hey Clover? There's a pretty nice spot around here that would do for a picnic. Remember how I told you about my parents living here? It's near there. Does that sound alright to you?"

"O'course it does, a nice scenic picnic sounds great mom."

"Great! It's been awhile since I visited that garden, I'm sure you'll love it!" Martlet chirped as she took a turn, it was a bit more off the path than before, but Clover took no issue with it. He was always up for a little bit of a trek. The one issue was that it was pretty wet, but he was still perfectly comfortable. Which was odd, because this distinctly felt like it should be a miserable experience. It wasn't though, so he didn't question it any further.

After a few minutes, they finally slipped out of the rain. It took a little bit longer after that, but they made it out of the foliage shortly afterwards. Martlet gazed fondly on the area, she had some good memories around here.

"I knew packing some extra would come in handy some time on this trip." Martlet sighed contentedly as she reached into her pockets, pulling two perfectly undamaged sandwiches out of them...? How? Actually, that made sense in an odd way. Now that Clover thought about it, he'd had a bag like that didn't he? Oh, but he left it at home. "Well?" Martlet smiled and offered one to Clover, which he graciously accepted.

The two sat down, and Martlet was the first to take a bite. Clover wasn't particularly hungry for some reason, so instead of immediately eating he decided to ask a few questions.

"So your parents used to live around here?"

"Mhm!" Martlet mumbled through a closed beak, before swallowing and clarifying. "Their house is a few minutes of walking away from here, or well, it's not really their house anymore, they sold it, but you get what I mean right?"

Clover nodded, then began to eat.

"Uh, hey Clover?"

"Mmm?"

"I uh... How would you feel if I... You know what? Nevermind, don't worry about it!"

"Worry about what?"

"Well I just... I keep mentioning my parents but, I haven't really told them about... You? I was wondering if you... I mean..."

"If I'd like to meet them?" He finished the thought as his eyes wandered, it really was a pretty nice area, Clover figured his grandparents must've had good taste.

"Y-yes..." She finished nervously, before shoving the remainder of the sandwich down her beak.

"I'd love to! I mean, haven't I met them before? Seeing them should help with my amnesia shouldn't it?"

"I uh... No, you haven't met them before Clover."

"I... Haven't? That can't be right..."

Martlet sucked in a breath, if there was ever a time to tell him the truth and nothing but the truth...

"Clover... I just want to let you know nothing needs to change if you don't want it to, but, you weren't always-"

A rather devious laugh echoed in the distance, how did Clover know it was devious? It just was. It felt like a voice he could almost recall...

Oh my god! Can I ever just tell them!? Is the world conspiring against me or something!?

"...Always what?"

Okay, I was gonna finally tell them they were human but-I had to work up the nerve for it and that totally just ruined my momentum! Well I can't just leave them hanging now but...

"You weren't always a... Uhm... You weren't always a bird? You used to be a-a different kind of monster! You're-" her memories flashed back to her conversation with Ceroba about an hour prior. "still related to me, don't worry about that I am your mother but-uhhh-but you only became a bird a few days ago, that's why I was so surprised!"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"...Really? That's... A bit to take in, y'know?" Clover mumbled to himself. He too thought back to a conversation the day prior as he did so, before the proverbial light bulb went off above his head. "Oh, so is that what Ace meant by me being a human?"

"W-WHAT!?" Martlet squawked immediately at the mention of that, but Clover's sentence continued.

"So what kind of monster is a h-w-what's wrong...?"

"Oh-I uh-nothing! Nothing's wrong! Continue with what you were saying, please."

"Ace said I was a human a few days ago, what kind of monster is that? We read about them falling together, are they super rare or something? There's entire history books about them!" There was a new light in Clover's eyes, the word human was simultaneously jogging distant memories and making him feel very special. "Although I guess I wouldn't be a human anymore if I'm a bird now..." He mumbled slightly more upset, before jolting up and correcting himself. "No offense though o'course!"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh"

"Mom?"

"Right-sorry! I uhm, yeees, humans are very rare monsters, they can..." Martlet guiltily glanced side to side as Clover stared up at her with gleaming eyes. "They can take on traits of other monsters! That's why you're a bird like I am now-because your SOUL took on some of my magic!" When did I get this used to lying...?

"You're still a human-sort of-so don't be upset about anything! You can tell cause your SOUL has a color to it unlike other monsters-" Thisissuchanawfullieohmygoooood! "-but uh, other monsters might be jealous about how special you are if they see your SOUL so don't show it off to anybody!" They could learn LITERALLY anything about what humans are and see through this!

"Awesome! Thanks mom, I'll make sure to not show off. It'd be pretty mean a'me to get other people upset like that. I was worried something was wrong with me for a bit there, but you patched that right up."

"R-right..."

"Well, this picnic was nice, but if we want to get back before noon like you said, we should probably get moving again." Clover chirped as he stood up and stretched.

Martlet marveled at just how easily Clover had believed her. Surely that book that specifically mentioned humans multiple times would've ended up tipping him off? How did he not see anything wrong with this lie...? Did he really trust her that much.....? Aw man, the thought of that made her real bad. Though, the deeper in she got the harder it would be to tell them the truth herself. Surely this would never end in any bad way, right?

...

Flowey stared at the duo shocked. Had he seriously only had to reset one time this conversation? That was like, a new record. Well, it would probably be in his best interests to just reset anyways and do enough to get Martlet to drop the conversation in it's entirety, but her fib had been so ridiculous that at this point he was just curious of how it would play out...

"Maybe just this one time I'll let it slide. Not like I can't just redo this if it doesn't all work out."

...

All in all, it didn't take too much longer to reach Snowdin, it was literally the same path and they'd already covered a little less than half of it after getting past the rain. Not many monsters said hi, and the puzzles they'd already done were simple to solve again. So, without any events of note, they finally arrived.

Martlet got some waves, and being the person she was she always made sure to respond, but yet again no conversations of note really happened. Just simply greeting and hellos for the most part.

After Clover had inspected the sixth random object, Martlet felt a slight need to interpose. "C'mon Clover, as soon as we get home we can have some proper lunch, and after that how about I show you around Honeydew Resort? It's close to home and you can check out some of the puzzles I've made! I'm sure you'll enjoy them!"

"M'kay, sounds alright to me. But after that, can we just spend the day at home? I wanna finish reading that book t'be honest."

"Why not? I don't have much to do besides checking up on the puzzles." Martlet gave Clover a few scratches, and the two were off yet again. No more distractions.

Home again, home again. Martlet breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped through the door. As wonderful as the trip had been, there was a certain comfort to being within your comfort zone. Which yes, was indeed her house.

"Clover, why don't you go get your clothes while I make lunch? I totally forgot to have you pile them up so I could wash them when we got back." Martlet smiled nervously and rubbed at the back of her head.

Clover shrugged and turned to walk up the stairs. Why wouldn't he? It was a pretty simple ask anyways.

With that, Martlet turned on the stove and let it begin to heat up. Then, she steeled herself. Clover had agreed to it, and god forbid she squandered this obligation. Even if Clover wasn't REALLY her kid, in her eyes he might as well have been. Once more, she pulled out a pen and paper. Martlet had a letter to write to her own parents.

...

"Dear? Martlet wrote to us!"

"Really now? It's not often that she does. Bring it here, let's read it together."

"Hi mom! Hi dad! I hope you're having a great day today! I know it's been awhile since I last wrote, but I figured it's been a few weeks since I last wrote! There's been a lot going on in my life recently, but don't worry I've been doing well for myself, and I might even be off probation soon! Though disregarding my job security, if it's not too much trouble could I visit some time soon? It's been so long since we last met in person and I have some news to tell you as well! I would write about it, but I feel like it's something you'd be better off hearing in person. Love you both! Write back as soon as you can!"

-Martlet

"What, does she think we'd ever say no?"

"Of course not, it's just formalities dear."

"Of course, of course. Would you bring me a pen honey? You know my legs aren't what they used to be."

"Certainly dear."

...

After a fulfilling lunch, consisting of pancakes and milk, a true classic, the two were once again out and about.

"You probably don't remember, but you actually got through these puzzles pretty quickly Clover! You're a smart cookie you know that?"

Clover nodded thoughtfully, he wasn't going to outright state that he'd already seen them when they were speedran by the horde of kids he had been with, but he wasn't going to act oblivious either. "Really now?"

"Mhm! Well, I guess I don't know how fast exactly you did it but... Wanna give it a try? I need to check how well they work anyways, might as well have a little fun with it!" Martlet chirped happily as she gave Clover a light nudge towards the controls. "Go ahead!"

Clover looked up at the wall, maybe he had done this before? The concept felt familiar.

"Alright..."

He sized it up a moment longer, then began. It was simple enough, controlling it controlled the entire board. He just had to get the molten rock to the ice, right?

Clover began to narrate his own actions, a way to make sure he was doing what he was thinking. "Up... Down, let it slide... Bring it back up and-" and then the wood cracked.

"CLOVER!"

The rock broke through the wood and came careening straight down, Clover reacted quickly, but likely not quickly enough to escape unscathed. Luckily for him, that didn't matter.

With an enormous WOOSH a burst of magic slammed into the rock sending it flying off to the side. It crashed into the snow and harmlessly melted the chill around it. The wind also kind of sort of knocked Clover over, but he didn't completely topple either.

"CLOVER-are you okay!?" Martlet came sliding in on her knees, holding Clover face to face with herself. "Did any of it break off and hit you-you're alright right?!"

Clover breathed in and out deeply for a moment, before lightly pushing Martlet away and standing up. Dusting the snow off of his pants. "I-yeah, I'm fine... I'm fine."

"Jeeze-I'm so sorry! I had no idea it would've broken like that, I'll just do the checks myself from now on, I'm-"

"It's fine, I'm alright, not a rock on me see?" Clover did his best to reassure Martlet, but her worried gaze still didn't change... At least not for a little while.

After a few more seconds, she finally gave in and sighed. "Alright, but seriously I'll do the rest of the puzzles. I'm so sorry about that."

From there, they were on their way to the next puzzle. Clover felt much less inclined to explore around here for some reason, it already sort of felt familiar? Bottom line he felt like he could already tell you how to navigate the place, must've been a place he frequented before now he supposed.

Frankly, he was starting to grow a little bit tired of this whole vaguely sort of remembering everything.It was like looking at a billboard from super far away. You could get the general picture of it, but reading the words on it? Absolutely ludicrous, no way. Memory by memory, it felt like those words became just a little bit clearer, but it was still a far cry from legible. Speaking of that analogy, what even were billboards?!

...

There were a few monsters who stopped to say hello as Martlet and Clover walked through the beaten path, but nobody had any real conversation topics to hold them with. So, they slipped past Honeydew Resort with minimal delay.

They were set to finish this all up in record time pretty much! Clover was excited to get back home to continue reading, but that was before he saw what felt like a familiar face.

"Oh, hello! i don't think I've seen you around before." A somewhat timid voice called out for Martlet's attention. They were standing in front of a somewhat dilapidated hut smiling somewhat nervously. "What's your name?"

"Oh, hello! I'm Martlet. I was out on a little trip for the past day and I'm off duty right now, but I'm the Royal Guard in charge of the area around Honeydew Resort! Nice to meet you...?"

"Ah, Dalv, it is nice to meet you too. Who is the little one..." Dalv trailed off as he looked at Clover, who was similarly staring back at him with somewhat comprehending eyes.

"...Clover?"