"Do I know you?" Clover tilted his head at Dalv curiously. Meanwhile, Martlet was now looking between the two of them with a look bordering on worry and terror.

"I-no I don't think so sorry." Dalv smiled and shook his head. "You just reminded me of a friend I met a few days ago, but you couldn't be them, you're not..." He paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Not the same kind of monster as them."

"Well, you did get my name right, oh and you definitely feel familiar too! Oh and... Just between you me and my mom, I'm-"

"Clover! Remember what we talked about earlier?"

"I'm uh... I've only been looking like this for a few days now, so I'm sure you met me before my accident!"

"Your... Accident?" Dalv gave Clover a concerned look, then looked at Martlet just as confused as he had a moment ago. Had Clover called her their mom...?

Martlet sighed, scratched at the back of her head a bit as she contemplated how exactly to explain, before just deciding to tell it straight... Mostly.

"Clover had a really bad fall a few days ago, they've got amnesia at the moment but they're slowly getting better. If they think they know you, they probably do though. Don't really know about that many Clover's in the Underground, heh!"

"...Really? I suppose that I was perhaps just mistaken about them to begin with... Were they really never-"

"I'm sorry-could I speak with you in private for a moment?" Martlet's smile faded nervously just a little bit. "Clover, don't wander off too far alright?"

"Sure thing mom." Clover nodded in the distance having already begun that said process of wandering off. Oh well, Martlet trusted him.

"So... How much exactly do you know?" Martlet sighed and tried her best to smile, but it came out a bit meek.

Dalv hesitated for a moment before asking his own question instead. "What's going on with Clover? Are they or are they not human...?"

"I take it that means you met them before?" Martlet gave up on any pretenses, if Clover knew them hopefully they had been friends.

"Yes, so that is the Clover I know...?"

"Well, yes and no." Martlet considered how exactly to explain the situation, holding a wing to her chin nervously. "It's kind of a lot to explain to be honest... We had plans for the day, but do you live around here?"

"Ah, yes, I just moved in a few days ago. It was because of Clover that I ended up moving, he was my first real friend so..."

That description waived a large portion of Martlet's concerns. Clover's friend? That sounded infinitely better then a lot of the other possibilities she'd been dreaming up.

"That's perfect, where do you live?"

Dalv gestured to the hut behind him. "Right here! It's a bit of a fixer upper but it's a good place."

"Oh, okay! If it's not too much trouble I could swing by some time and explain it all to you? I could even help out with the repairs! I am quite the handybird!" Martlet winked and gave him her best thumbs up. Dalv simply smiled and nodded.

"Sure, I'd hate to keep you any longer when you and Clover have something to do."

Martlet turned to find Clover after waving her goodbyes.

"Now, where did that kid go...?"

...

Clover figured they might have gone just a little bit too far out. Because they were now stumbling through the forest. Unfortunately, the snow had already swallowed up their footprints and they were now slightly worried. Less so about themselves, more about how Martlet might be reacting.

"Oh wow, finally another monster! How ya doing kiddo? Are you lost as well?"

Clover turned in the direction of the voice, in the distance not so far off was a monster who was rather clearly referencing Clover himself.

"Oh, hello! Yeah, I walked a little bit into the trees and sort of... Lost my way." Clover smiled half heartedly as he made his way over.

"Yeah, seems to be happening more and more recently. Oh, Jane's the name by the way! I'm on a case you see."

"Clover, nice to meet ya partner. You wouldn't happen to have any idea how to get out of here would you? I need to get back to my mom..."

"Oh, sure you don't wanna hear about the case?"

"I'd love to, but I wouldn't wanna worry her." Clover scratched an itch as he readjusted his hat yet again.

"Ah alright kid! Just pick a direction and keep walking, you'll probably find a way out easily enough.

"Mmm, alright, thanks for the advice Mrs. Jane. See you around!"

"Likewise kid! ...As soon as I make my way out of here, heh."

...

"Oh, Clover, there you are!" Martlet sighed in relief as she spotted Clover behind the house, he looked a little bit puzzled but no worse for wear.

"Now how in tarnation did I get here? That makes just about no geographical sense." Clover scratched at his chin as he looked around much to Martlet's confusion, but she didn't ask many questions. The two had places to be!

There was only one more puzzle to check up on, which Martlet did not allow Clover to touch. She did it herself this time, even though Clover kind of wanted to do the puzzle. It didn't have any problems though, so no further repairs would need to be done.

That just left one thing to do. Martlet needed to work on actually fixing the puzzle that had broken.

"Oh..."

"Don't be upset Clover, i'll have it fixed up in a moment! You can even help out, I'm sure you'd have fun picking up on some new skills!"

"...Alright, if you say so." Clover sighed and gave in with no further putzing. If Martlet said she had to do it, then she had to do it, regardless of how much he just wanted to go home and read.

"Aw come on, just trust me on this won't you?" Martlet patted Clover on the head as she flapped her wings preparing to take off. "Be back in five minutes tops, don't wander off this time alright?"

"I won't!" Clover yelled up at Martlet as she flew off, before sitting down on the cold snow beneath him.

"...I wanna be able to fly." He mumbled to himself.

...

True to her word, Martlet was back with a tool kit within four minutes, she was not playing around with that claim! And doubly so, she began working immediately. The only thing that really needed any fixing was the broken piece of the puzzle, which needed a replacement. All that required however was a simple plank and same nails. So after a bit of inspection, she got right to it.

Clover stared up at Martlet as she hammered in the second to last nail, really what else was he supposed to do? She'd asked him to grab a few different tools from the kit she'd brought, but other than that it was pretty boring. From her tone of voice, Clover could tell that Martlet enjoyed this but... What was so great about all of this really? Maybe it just wasn't something that he saw eye to eye with her on?

"Last nail then we're done Clover! Can you grab one for me?"

He of course, obliged the request. A moment later Martlet was on the ground reaching for it but... She paused.

"Hey Clover? Do you want to try doing it?"

"...Me?"

"Who else silly? I don't see any other Clover's around!"

"I... I guess why not? But how will I uh, y'know, get up there?"

"Oh I'll just pull you up, no biggie!" Martlet smiled and jumped up, then proceeded to hover in place. "Just grab on!"

"Like-"

"Yes, my leg. Come on already!"

Clover shrugged, and did as told. Martlet flew up, and with a slight bit of hesitation, Clover let go and plopped down on the ledge next to the puzzle. Martlet touched down next to him a moment later.

"Alright, so what you're gonna wanna do here is pretty simple!" Martlet reached down for Clover's hand as she spoke, and once she took his in her own, she lead him towards the spot currently missing a nail. "Alright, hold the nail here!"

Clover did as instructed, and a moment later he was holding the nail against the currently unblemished patch of wood. "Now what?"

"Slide that just a little bit to the left for me? Just about... Okay, perfect! Alright, make sure to be gentle. Hitting your own hands really sucks, trust me." Martlet spoke in experienced fear as she handed the hammer to Clover.

He nodded and lined up the hammer and the nail. Immediately after, he began lightly tapping against it.

"...Alright, I know I said be gentle but not that gentle." Martlet smiled warmly and patted Clover on the back. "You'll be alright, just be careful."

"...If y'say so." Clover narrowed his eyes and lined it up again, this time hitting the nail with far more strength. It counted as far more because he'd been lightly patting it beforehand. He was now hitting it with enough force to at least budge the nail.

It went in bit by bit, and at long last it finally went all the way in. "Great job Clover! Didn't take you long at all... Okay maybe it took you a little bit, but hey slow and steady wins the race! Now, let's head on home after a job well done."

"M'kay." Clover agreed impassionately. He still didn't really get what the appeal of doing this was, but if his mom enjoyed it he supposed he didn't really need the specifics.

Martlet jumped right off, and with a flap of her wings and a bit of magic broke her fall. "Just drop on down I'll catch you!"

Clover was never really one to doubt, so without any hesitation or countdown he jumped right off into Martlet's arms, which she definitely wasn't expecting despite having told him to do so. She almost dropped him, but she steeled herself juuuust quickly enough to not fumble like that.

"Jeeze Clover, little warning next time?" Martlet laughed a little nervously as she set Clover back down on the ground. She'd gotten snow all over her from the catch, so she dusted herself off. As she did as such, Clover asked her a question.

"Hey, why d'ya like woodworking so much?"

"Hm? Why do you ask?" Martlet knelt down to pack up the kit she'd brought as she asked Clover right back.

"I just... I don't really get it, I mean sure creating something, I can understand being proud of that, but you just sounded so happy doing this. Why?"

"Hmmm, think of it like this." Martlet stood back up and turned around with her bag in hand. "When I make or do something for the monsters around me, there's a sense of fulfillment I feel from it you know? You like all that cowboy stuff, and while I won't really claim to understand a lot of it, at the end of the day it's about protecting the people, being a monster of justice, right?"

"Yeah, no higher honor in my books."

"And you protect those monsters because you like them, or you feel they deserve it, I make puzzles and help monsters out because I like to see them being happy. Do you understand? I enjoy it because I can help the people around me. Every person who enjoys one of my puzzles, thanks me for helping them out with a project, each and every one of them brings a smile to my face. You know?"

Clover stood thoughtfully for a moment, before nodding in appreciation of the concept. "Yeah, I guess I didn't really think about it like that. Thanks mom."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"You're welcome Clover, now, it's about time we head home." She smiled and ruffled his feathers.

"Come on!" Martlet chirped out and began to walk, with Clover following shortly after.

...

Home again home again.

"Alright Clover, how about you pick one of the books to start on, or we can keep reading up on history if you'd rather that. I'll go get laundry started. After that, we can head out and grab dinner at grillby's alright?"

"M'kay!" Clover excitedly called back. He didn't even know what Grillby's was, but it sounded good to him. He was already skipping towards the pile of books he'd left in the living room, so, Martlet figured she'd best work quickly.

The two took to their separate tasks real quickly. If it had been a different day, Clover might've questioned Martlet's doing of the laundry, but goshdarnit he'd been wanting to finish this book for the longest time now!

Practically sliding into the couch, Clover began to rapidly flip through the pages, the last place they'd left off had been the aftermaths of the instatement of a head of the Royal Guard and he very much wanted to continue from there... "Page 234, no, page 237, nope, ahah! 241! Hey mom! I'm ready to start!"

"Give me five minutes and I'll be right over Clover!"

"Okay! Waiting on you mom!"

So, he waited. It was tough, staring at the page without actually starting to read, but he was a patient boy. He could wait a whole five minutes... Probably.

...

His willpower had begun to run thin, but Martlet came in time, bearing gifts as well! A large blanket big enough for the two of them.

Clover did take off his hat, but he set it down on the stand right next to the couch. He just didn't want to get it knocked off by the blanket. And from there , he began to read. It was all fascinating stuff really, he had to wonder why exactly the humans had locked all the monsters Underground. What did the monsters ever do to them? It all felt a bit unjust to him. Well, it made for an interesting read at least.

Apparently, a good long while back, there had been a pretty big accident with the Underground's old power plant, which had led to the creation of the Core by the previous Royal Scientist. For some reason, their name went unmentioned. Odd, but Clover paid it no attention. Apparently this power source was pretty revolutionary, because the longest standing school in the Underground relocated from New Home to Hotland near the core in order to better it's faculties, somehow. It wasn't mentioned what exactly it was for in the book, just that it happened.

"Hey mom? How come I don't go to school?"

"I, uh... School's about to go on break Clover, and remember you... Had your accident?" Martlet excused it kind of haphazardly, but it was apparently enough for Clover. He nodded thoughtfully, before continuing on with the chapter.

There was a whole truckload of interesting trivia in here, but sadly not much of it actually helped Clover to remember anything. He still enjoyed reading, but there were to be no extra benefits for the effort. Or well, if you didn't count said trivia as being a benefit anyways. At long last, he'd finally begun to reach the end of the book. It seemed as if he would be able to start on another before dinner, the question remained however, which one? The Hammer of Justice or The Wild East?

At long last, Clover had finally reached the final chapter. The fall of the fifth human. Apparently they'd... Done some pretty bad things...? Were humans not always that great? Maybe there was another reason his mom didn't want him to go around telling people that he was a human? Clover didn't voice any of these concerns, but he did have the thoughts. Regardless, he knew he wanted the rest of the story.

A little while later, Clover was finally able to close the book. Finally done.

"So, did you enjoy the book...?" Martlet asked somewhat hesitantly, she'd never heard of a ten year olds preference of literature being graduate level content, instead of like, picture books or something.

"Yeah! It was pretty good, it had a nice sense of humor and it was really informative! If the author wrote more I'd like to see those too."

"Huh, good to know." Martlet nodded very slightly in acknowledgement. " It was written by Gerson by the way, I'm sure it won't be too difficult to get the next book, or the earlier ones. She smiled before pushing the blanket off of herself. "Alright, I think it's about time you get to see the rest of Snowdin, for real this time. And like I said we can stop by Grillby's afterwards for dinner!"

Clover stared meekly at the other two books he'd still wanted to read, and Martlet did notice but she was having none of it. "Oh come on Clover, you can't just stay inside reading all day! We can go out, get dinner, then come back, alright?"

"Okaaay..."

Martlet was growing resistant to that sad "okay" of Clover's, so unfortunately for him that little trick wouldn't work this time.

...

Despite being a sadsack for about the first five minutes, once Clover actually reached town he practically lit up. "Can I actually talk to people this time?" He turned to Martlet, eyes gleaming through the now snowing landscape.

"Well, if anybody is outside in this weather..." Martlet mumbled back. It had definitely gotten a bit more chilly since the morning. Everybody would probably be inside, so maybe there wouldn't be any showing of the town to Clover today.

"How about we just head inside, alright?"

"Oh, alright, do you think there'll be anybody in there?"

"Trust me Clover, just about half the town will be there." Martlet smiled weakly through the snow. She did find it a little ridiculous just how often the residents frequented the place. Like, they knew how to cook for themselves didn't they? Surely Grillby's wasn't that good was it?

Holding Clover's hand, Martlet pushed open the door, and lo and behold a cacophony of chatter erupted from within. She stepped inside pulling Clover along with her, and the two of them got a few waves. Martlet made sure to smile and wave right back.

Clover on the other hand, was in awe. This was... This was perfect! It was like quintessential bar material! It was like, literally the perfect place to head to after a long day of protecting the town! The environment, the people, the friendly atmosphere, he could almost envision a future with him walking in and getting cheers from around the room.

"Aye Clover! Where'vya been ya bugger?!"

"It's been ages sheriff!"

"Let me buy ya a drink Clover!"

Oh... The future this place held...

"Clover? Clover are you alright?"

"Huh-oh, yeah! I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Alright, you were just spacing out for a bit there, I know nothing's really happened since your accident but-"

"Trust me, I'm fine." Clover waved away her concerns. She frowned, but dropped the subject.

"Well come on then." Her smile picked back up and she pulled Clover up to the front.

"Hm, special occasion?" Grillby somehow raised an eyebrow despite not having them at Martlet. "You're not in very often."

"Well, I was gonna show Clover around town and come in for dinner, but if you hadn't noticed..."

"Ah, I see. What can I do for the kid?"

"Clover?"

"Hmmm, burgers and fries sounds good."

"Right, that'll be 30 G-"

"aye grillbs no worries, put it on my tab."

Grillby's fire appeared to flare just a little bit at that voice. "You've been saying to put it on your tab for days now Sans."

"hey, ever heard of compound interest? The more on my tab the more I owe you, the math checks out don't worry about it. eventually you'll have a skele-ton of extra g." Sans winked.

"...If you don't pay it back by the end of the week we're going to have a serious talk."

"heh, don't worry grillbs. seriously, don't need to give me that glare like you're going to rib me apart."

Martlet blinked a few times as Grillby walked into the backroom, before turning to face Sans.

"And... To what do I owe the pleasure... Sans?"

"ah, nothing that serious. figure I'd just do a quick favor for my bro's newest buddy. sides, i figure you two could use a little extra help." Sans's smile seemed knowing, or was that just his normal smile? Clover wasn't sure.

"my bro was pretty bonely ever since moving here, talking with your kid really cheered him right up. it's the least I could do. plus, looks like he's got a funny bone in him." Sans thumbed at Clover, who was currently barely holding in a snrrk of laughter.

Martlet turned back around when she heard a pitter patter of footsteps, and accompanied with them was Grillby himself, setting down a plate on the counter.

"For the kid. No ketchup left, you can thank a certain somebody for that." Grillby stared at Sans as he spoke, to which the skeleton merely shrugged.

"aye, can you blame a guy? ketchup's pretty good for guys who can stomach it.

That one finally got the slightest noise from Clover, a slow wheezing laugh.

Martlet stared at him, and he gave her his best, "what?" shrug.

...

On the way back, the snow had gotten a little bit worse. So Martlet ended up carrying Clover back home through it.

When they finally got home, Clover was struggling to keep his eyes open. Apparently filling up on bad food and being a kid will do that to you.

"Hey mom...? Could you read to me this time...?"

"Of course Clover, which book would you like me to read?"

"...Can you read about Gerson...? I already saw The Wild East yesterday... But I don't know who he is, and he... Wrote that last book... Right?"

"...Yeah... Okay, sure honey."

She cringed just the slightest bit as she said that last word, but she recovered quickly.

Truth be told, Clover fell asleep about five minutes after Martlet had stopped reading. She smiled, but picked him right back up. It was pretty early, but that was alright. She could deal with sleeping earlier then normal. Not like she was going anywhere in a snowstorm like this.

Tuck Clover into bed, take off their shirt... She'd need to have a stern talking to him in the morning, close the door, and head downstairs. Might as well watch some tv she supposed, it was a bit too early for her personally, but she was sure she'd fall asleep in time. Besides, she'd missed out on a whole lot of Mettaton! They were pretty entertaining, a real up and comer.

...

Martlet woke up to a loud banging on her door, and groggily she gazed side to side.

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG

"HELLLOOOO? ANYBODY HOME!?"

"...Uh oh."

It would seem the day had come, she recognized that voice without a doubt. ON the other side of that door was Captain Undyne herself.

"MARTLET I CAN HEAR THAT TV! WHAT'S WITH THE HOLD UP!?"