"Clover?!" Martlet croaked out as she leaped to Clover's side, immediately dropping to the ground by Clover's head. "Clover, talk to me!"

She almost started shaking the kid, but figured that wouldn't really do them any good. She hesitated for a moment, but started another battle with Clover, just to get a quick look at their SOUL, check, the usual. "You... You're... Fine?"

Their SOUL looked almost the same as the last time Martlet had seen it, the cracks were in all the same positions and didn't look to have healed that much yet either. She wouldn't lie and say she understood why there was a now, slightly more visible outline around Clover's SOUL, but other then that all seemed well! Well, the white coming from the cracks was a little less bright... But Clover had been fine the last time she'd seen his SOUL like that, so he should be fine now as well!

"Only one way then..."

Clover ATK 3 DEF 2

They're exhausted.

"...Eh?"

Martlet looked around for a bit. "Exhausted...? Why would they be...?"

Her face paled as she looked around again... She hadn't been wrong, her house was a lot more clean... "But... Why would he...?" Martlet shook her head and ended the battle. She frowned, what was Clover thinking? They'd lay them down on the couch for now, let the kid get a bit of rest... So she reached down to pick them up, but... As soon as Martlet's feathers brushed against Clover's body, they immediately jolted awake and scrambled away.

"M'sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep I'll finish-" though before they could finish the sentence, they broke into a violent fit of coughing.

"Woah, woah! Clover just calm down!" Martlet reached out a wing to steady the child, but before she could reach Clover he threw up his arms in defense, staring at Martlet with wide, frenzied eyes. As opposed to their usually very stoic neutral expression, the horror in his eyes threw Martlet off almost as much as his demeanor.

"Clover..." Her arm moved just a little bit further, and they flinched in response. Martlet froze just as badly as Clover did, her wing hovering just a few inches away from Clover.

Her frown grew even deeper, and slowly she began to pull her wing back, raising both in surrender. "I'm... I'm Not gonna hurt you Clover, what's going on...?"

Martlet had been worried about Clover for the past day, but this... She hadn't expected anything like this, how could she have? Martlet didn't think she'd ever seen anybody so... Afraid before in her life, ever.

Clover steadied their breathing as Martlet remained absolutely still. Slowly, he began to push himself off of the ground, almost stumbling once, but eventually managing it, coming to eye level with Martlet.

"Clover... Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"Are... Are you not angry...?"

"Wh-angry...? No! Clover, I'm worried! What's got you so... Terrified?!" She stared at Clover in disbelief as her wings gradually came back down to her sides.

"I... But I didn't finish my chores..."

"What chores Clover? You've been unconscious for the past twenty four hours, you almost died! I-look, I Don't know what's gotten into you Clover, but I'm not going to hurt you, you're safe here, can you just... Trust me?"

Clover's mouth opened and closed for a moment, his arms trembled for a bit, but after taking one last shuddering breath, he nodded slowly.

Martlet slowly reached for Clover, and when they showed no signs of trying to run away, she went all the way. She pulled them close, and hugged them tight. "You're safe here. No harm will come to you, alright?"

Martlet waited, and waited, until eventually she felt Clover nod. She was still frowning, but Clover didn't need to see that. She lifted the kid up, and slowly walked over to the couch proceeding to gently lie them down.

"What am I going to do...?"

...

Clover was trying his hardest to reign in his breathing. It was a struggle to just keep himself from hyperventilating. What was going on? Why was he so afraid? Because bad things will happen if he didn't do what he was told! But... Now that he thought about it, wasn't he told to just "laze around"? And when had Martlet ever punished him like he thought she was going to in the past...? What... What happened in the past...?

He couldn't remember, he couldn't remember anything. Clover very suddenly found it much more difficult to stop himself from hyperventilating.

"Clover-CLOVER! What's wrong?!"

"Can't-I can't remember anything!" Clover clutched at their chest yet again as they forced themselves back into sitting up. It felt like their entire world was splitting apart. It was like he wasn't getting enough oxygen-wait, no, he wasn't getting enough oxygen. His breaths were so shallow that he wasn't even breathing properly.

Just as he felt like he was about to pass out, a squeezing pressure brought those broken pieces back together. Martlet had no idea what to do, so she hugged him again. Which, actually worked.

"Clover! Breathe! Just, breathe. Calm-calm down, please. You're alright, you're safe."

It didn't feel like he could listen to himself right now... So he listened to Martlet instead, following her instructions and well, breathing.

"Okay... Now, Clover, what do you mean you can't remember anything?" Martlet pulled herself away and looked Clover straight in the eyes, her beak a worried frown. Her wings were still touching Clover's arms, though the contact felt... Reassuring.

"I can't..."

"Can't what Clover?"

"What... What happened to me?" Clover struggled to hold back tears, something told him that it was an answer he didn't want to hear.

"You... You had a really bad fall Clover, like, really, really bad. You've been out all day. You're... Lucky to have survived."

"Is that why I can't... Remember anything?" His eyes started to grow moist, and all Martlet could do was stare even more worriedly.

"Look... Maybe it's not as bad as you think? How about I give you a refresher of the day and you can tell me if that jogs any memories...?"

Clover stifled the tears and nodded slowly. If there was ever a plan, that would be the one.

...

"After we met, we fought for a bit, and I felt awful about it so I decided to help you get to Asgore so that you could go home-"

"But... Don't I live here? Why would I need to go to..." Clover paused, thinking of the name "Asgore" actually seemed to jog some memories, also some emotions. Fierce anger, a sense, a feeling... Something at the core of Clover's being... A profound sense of JUSTICE.

Just as Martlet was about to say something, Clover ended up cutting her off. "Wait, that actually sort of worked I think! I-uhm-keep going, please?"

"O... Okay." Martlet smiled somewhat nervously given she failed to correct that prior misconception, but continued as per Clover's request. "After that, we tried to sail to Hotland, but we got into a little... Accident. You fell pretty far, but that wasn't what caused you to lose your memories."

"I... See... That didn't-"

Clover abruptly stopped, looking all around the room. He wasn't sure who, but... It felt like somebody else was in the room.

"Clover?"

"I... What is that?"

"What's what Cl-" Martlet felt her entire body begin to tremble, a sharp pain coming from her chest.

Martlet looked down slowly... "I... What... C-Clover...?"

Slowly, her body was lifted into the air by a thorny vine as Clover looked on with absolute horror, mouth agape in shock.

"R-Run..."

She crumbled to dust.

"MAN! Do you two EVER feel like not being such sops?! Like, really!? I'm trying to see something interesting here pal! I mean, I guess emotional trauma can sort of do it for me, but really buddy, you are just DETERMINED to be boring aintcha? Like come on partner, surely you're not that far gone? Where's your fire?! I wanna see that RESILIENCE you put on display for me just yesterday! Get up, get going! Working off a third of your normal strength shouldn't be an issue for a HUMAN!"

"Flowey."

"Ohoho! So you remember me do ya buddy? I'm flattered! ...Almost." Flowey's face and eyes sunk in for a horrible grin, for just a moment, before switching back to his neutral picture of innocence.

At the sight of the flower, Clover's memories came flooding back in, his "best friend", his mission, his goal, his... Fall. His life back up on the surface, all of it.

"You know buddy, you really-and I mean REALLY, almost had it in the bag! I know you don't remember any of this bu-"

Clover's hand shot for the gun that he knew to be in its holster, drawing the armament at a speed that would make even the most seasoned of cowboys blush in shame.

Though, it was for nothing.

File 3 loaded.

"Uh-uh-uh! You don't get to do that partner!"

And he was sitting in the couch again, Martlet's freshly dusted body scattering down on him once again.

"Like I was saying, you really had me going-"

Clover tried to draw yet again, though this time Flowey's smile turned into a more neutral expression, a vine snaked out from the ground and pierced Clover's shoulder, pinning him to the dusty couch eliciting a cry of pain from Clover.

"My, my pal! Is it that difficult to let your best friend talk?"

"I'll... Kill you for that!"

"What, for killing your precious mommy-" Flowey mimicked Clover's own face when they had been crying mere minutes ago, let it sit for a moment and then switched back to a smile. "The eighty seventh time? Or for THAT? I think we both know it doesn't matter either way."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I'll... Never... Help you!" Clover grunted through the pain as they tried to grab the vine currently impaling their arm, though there could've been better efforts to make, given all he succeeded in was impaling his own hand on one of the spikes. He cried out again.

"Hm? Help me with what ol buddy ol amnesiac? Or-ahah, don't tell me! Did seeing me really jog your memories? Good, you should REALLY understand what I have to say next!" Flowey spoke in a singsong tone as the vine impaling Clover curled upwards, eliciting another scream of pain from the young child, as well as tearing open the hand that had grabbed it.

"You see, how should I say this? You're the single being in the entirety of the underground that's come close to making me feel any genuine emotion in this entire miserable existence! And NOT IN THE GOOD WAY."

The vine currently coiling around Clover's shoulder violently yanked him upwards, completely dislocating the socket. He screamed again, though Flowey obviously didn't care.

"Nine hundred, ninety, nine, do you know what that number means partner? The amount of times you've FAILED me! You know, maybe I'd be just a little bit more forgiving of it if you could at least STICK to being such a pathetic sadsack, awwwww, SPARING everybody you come across, and for what? Did you not hate these monsters just the day before you came to the underground? But noooo! You could never even stay true to it, you'd always slip up somehow, kill a monster somewhere, blow up a robot in front of the damn fox, you could never go the distance in either way!"

Flowey slammed Clover into the wall again, getting yet another scream out from the kid. His arm was bloodied and battered, absolutely mangled, and Flowey's vines were beginning to crawl all over his skin, ripping into it more and more with every passing moment.

"Even when you did make it to the end, every single time, without fail, you'd always just choose to give up on everything! Come on buddy, was your life up on the surface REALLY that awful? The slightest bit of love and you just, what, give up on your justice? Where's the adventure, the excitement that the SOUL of JUSTICE himself should want?! Did Asgore NOT kill those kids? Or did I somehow miss out on that after doing everything in the entire underground twenty times OVER?"

Clover didn't respond, only mumbling a few words under his breath.

"Heh, you're gonna have to speak up partner! I didn't hear a thing you said!"

"I'll... Kill... You..."

Flowey held Clover's body up in disbelief, his smile finally dropping for more than a few seconds.

"And see, that's what I don't get! You were sooooo quick to resort to violence against little old me, but even despite my best efforts, you'd never just go on a RAMPAGE. I could bring you a tape of a human having their SOUL ripped out of their chest by Undyne herself and you still would end up sparing at least one monster. I just don't get it!" Flowey paused for a few seconds, before their smile came back yet again.

"So, you kind of sort of upended my monologue pal, but that's fine! That's reeeeal fine. Just know this, I'm only doing this because I hate you. You won't even remember any of what I told you, I just wanted to get it off my chest, you know?" Flowey continued to smile as he admitted to commiting this atrocity just because he was bored.

"Capiche? Capiche. So here's the deal, I'm going to reset back to right before this whole shabang happened. For two reasons, and both are only my curiosity. Because I have no hope of you making it to Asgore like this. You'll probably just end up staying with feathers for the second time, before I decide to reset again anyways. I'm sure I can find some way to get you back on track from here, hell manipulating you into what I need might actually be a valid strategy as long as you don't remember much! I suppose I'll need to test that theory out pal, so you'll be seeing me REAL soon anyways, even after I reset."

Flowey whipped Clover's body around a bit more, before raising them up to the ceiling. "Now, shall I tell you what those two reasons are partner? The first of which being that, out of the hundreds of times you've gone down the same route again, and again, and again, this is the first time you've really shown me something truly... NEW!" And Flowey made sure to punctuate the statement, by slamming Clover down onto the ground on their back, smashing the wooden floorboards to bits. Clover no longer had the energy to respond.

"And as for the second reason?" Clover could feel the danger coming, though they were powerless to stop it. "It's quite simple really, I want to see what happens to THIS." Flowey's grin morphed into his sunken smile as the vine wrapping around Clover plunged into their chest. Clover gasped, and with their mangled hand they tried to reach for the vine impaling them... Only for it to come flying back out of their chest with a yellow heart with a faintly white outline in tow.

"I've never seen anything quite like it before partner! Really, on the very last try, on the THOUSANDTH run! You show me something this interesting? How could you hold out on your best friend like that? Hah! It almost makes me wanna," Flowey's grin began to change again as he dangled Clover's SOUL in front of their very eyes, this time to one that was purely malicious. "Oops." And he crushed Clover's SOUL, shattering it into tiny pieces.

...

"I see... That didn't jog anything..." Clover frowned as Martlet described what they'd gone through together, and while she couldn't really talk about much, given she wasn't there for a lot of it, none of it besides Asgore's name seemed to trigger any memories for Clover. "Well, thanks for trying I guess..."

"I... I'm so sorry Clover... No child should ever have to go through what you're dealing with." She sighed and pulled Clover in for another hug, they let it happen.

"If you wanted, I could ask Starlo or Ceroba about the time they spent with you, maybe that'd help a bit more...?"

Yet, at the mention of the two's names, Clover actually felt something else stir in them, more memories! Clover had an epiphany, was it names? Did names help them remember?

"Sure-but, could you get me some books? I think-I think names that I know help me remember stuff. When you mentioned those two, it sort of felt like I could recall some of what happened! I'm... Still a little foggy, but it feels like a good memory... I think...?"

"Of course Clover, I can get you some books." She smiled weakly as she pulled away. "Now, can you wait a moment?"

He nodded, and Martlet stood up. She walked over to the pantry, opened it, frowned when she noticed Clover had ended up sorting in there as well, then grabbed a piece of monster candy. She had bought them exclusively FOR Clover after all. She walked back, and once again knelt in front of the kid.

"Can you eat this for me? Think of it like medicine, but it'll taste good, promise!"

Clover felt a pang of discomfort at the word "medicine" but he nodded anyways. Taking the small orb like candy from Martlet's hands. She placed a wing against Clover's chest, and nodded expectantly.

He stared at the piece of candy for a moment, before closing his eyes and popping it into his mouth. It actually wasn't nearly as bad as he had expected. Why did Martlet say it was like medicine? Then, he felt something else. He opened his eyes and looked at Martlet, then looked down at the wing pressing against his shirt. It was... Warm, though he was normally warm... No, it was a different kind of warm. A warmth that spread throughout his body equally, and finally rested somewhere near his heart.

"What... What was that?"

"Oh, right I guess you wouldn't know, sorry!" Martlet once again smiled weakly, then she began to explain. "It's the reason you're alive, I think. Somehow your SOUL ended up absorbing my magic and used it to heal itself from the brink of death. It should heal eventually, but without more magic you might just... Drop dead?" Martlet's smile grew a bit nervous, but she tried to quickly rectify that. No need to upset Clover even more then they already were.

"Don't worry about it though, you're perfectly fine as long as I'm with you!"

Clover gulped, but nodded anyways. "Okay... I trust you."

...

After that, Martlet carried Clover up the stairs. They had at first insisted that they could do it themselves, but after they stumbled and almost fell all the way back down on the fourth step, Martlet was having absolutely none of it. He tried to say a cowboy wouldn't need help like that, but Martlet similarly, was having none of it. He didn't put much more of a fight up, and eventually Martlet got him back into bed.

"Alright, I'll be gone for a little while, I'm going out to get some books, like you asked. Don't freak out and try to clean the entire house if I'm not here when you wake up, alright?" She tried to smile, but it ended up becoming much more pained then she wanted it to. She also reached for Clover's hat, but they gripped onto it when Martlet's wing got close.

"Please don't, I really don't want to lose this." They said with genuine fear at the thought. Martlet frowned (not because of Clover) and pulled her wing back.

"Alright, it's okay, not gonna do anything you don't want me to. Don't worry. Try to get some rest, alright? You need it."

Clover nodded, and Martlet finally slipped outside of the room.

"...What am I doing? They didn't ask about anything but... This isn't their home! They don't live here... I'm... Gonna have to tell them, they can't just..." Martlet sighed, and walked down the stairs. For now? She was gonna do the best job she could of taking care of Clover. Worrying about all the details? That was going to have to wait for later... Hopefully not too much later...