Clover stretched his arms out wide as he walked out of the front door. Aside from, still being a little achy, Clover felt like that had gone pretty well. The whole, let her work her aggression out thing, sort of worked? Well, as long as she wasn’t glaring at him like you would a piece of gum on your boot, Clover didn’t really care.

The walk back home was a bit more crowded this time, students formed groups and everything, and given they weren’t behind schedule today, they had to deal with that. For the most part, the trio just took a backseat and let the other kids speed ahead. None of them really wanted to be bumping shoulders above the magma.

All in all, Clover was pretty quiet on the walk back, he had a bit to think about, mostly about his magic to be fair, but that thought had more in it to unpack than you’d think it would.

His magic felt… Odd, somehow. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that his control of it wasn’t completely pitiful, Clover could sense… Something wrong with it. He couldn’t put his finger on it though. Though, the word he wanted to use… Was… Somehow it was… Hollow? It sort of just felt like a shell of what it should be, though that didn’t make much sense…

He continued to play around with it as they walked, simply content to let Kanako and Noelle keep chatting away. He waved a hand, created a pole, waved it away and frowned. Still hollow, still empty… He breathed in deep, and thought back to when he’d first noticed it earlier today.

…

Clover juggled (that was an exaggeration) a mix of various objects, all of course, created by him. A ball, a cube, a triangle. He was just messing around for the most part; and Noelle was right there with him conjuring a bit of her own magic. They had gone outside, but they weren’t having a battle or anything. Just some, mostly wordless, practice next to each other.

Admittedly, it was a little bit difficult to properly focus after he had smelt what exactly it was Ceroba had been cooking… Something he hadn’t had from her before, which was a rarity at this point. He was eagerly looking forward to the experience, given she usually didn’t mess up; and by usually, Clover meant a one hundred percent success rate.

He shook his head and threw the shapes away. They, of course, vanished a few seconds later. Clover hadn’t put that much magic into them to begin with.

“Hey, Noelle.” He tapped her on the shoulder, and she may or may not have jumped out of her own skin.

“Jeeze, Clover! Think you could give me a bit of warning next time?” She smiled nervously and took a step back.

“...That was the warnin though?”

“...Okay, sorry, let me rephrase! Let me finish what I’m doing next time, okay?” Her smile became ever slightly more forced.

“Sure, no feathers off my back.” Clover shrugged. “Anyways, I was gonna ask you to shoot some of your magic at me.”

“...But why though?” She raised an eyebrow incredulously.

“Cause I wanna see if I can block it with my magic, you know, figure out what I can do with it n’everything.”

“...Okay, don’t blame me if you get hurt though!”

“It’d be my own fault if I both failed to block, and to dodge.” Clover rolled his eyes and took a few steps back. “Alright, ready whenever you are.”

Noelle simply nodded in response, and then she held out an arm. Clover watched intently as the air literally froze around her hand, a cube of ice forming at her fingertips.

“Alright, here it comes!” Noelle smiled again, and thrusted her hand forward, the ice following the movement and rapidly accelerating towards Clover. He didn't panic, this was exactly what he asked for. So, he raised a hand in response and held it out towards the incoming projectile.

A wall, just any kind of barrier. Any line between him and the attack, that was all he needed. He barely even needed to visualize it, and after he’d done that, his magic rushed forth. And… He couldn’t help but smile, there, exactly where he’d wanted it, was a yellow shield. Well, not really a shield, but a barrier.

So he watched on with great sadness as the ice cube completely shattered it upon contact, and didn’t even lose momentum. He, to be fair, had absolutely not expected that to happen. So when the cube came careening straight into his chest, it caught him pretty badly off guard.

With a wheeze, Clover tumbled to the ground. That had hurt, but he was more upset about his magic just doing… That.

“Clover! Are you alright?!” Noelle cried out in alarm as she sprinted to his side, though she paused when he raised an arm.

“M’fine-” he coughed “-just caught me off guard is all. Help me up?” He started to push himself off of the ground, and was promptly helped along as Noelle took hold of his hand.

“What happened there?” Noelle slightly tilted her head. “You used your magic, didn’t you?”

“...Mhm, not quite sure what happened there. I mean, I didn’t put that much magic into it, didn’t really have the time to do it… But, it shouldn’t be that weak, right? It’s not like ya shot a boulder at me or anythin.”

“Yeah… That’s weird.” Noelle nodded to herself. “Maybe it’s just a lack of experience… Or something?”

“...Maybe.” Clover frowned. He hadn’t noticed it before, but with that fresh experience, he could feel something off in his magic. His frown deepened a little further.

“Dinner’s ready!”

Clover blinked in surprise, that fast?

“I hope you enjoy katsudon!”

…Clover did too.

“...I guess this can wait a little longer.” He shrugged. “I’m pretty hungry, come on.”

…

“So, see you guys tomorrow?” Kanako backpedaled as she asked Clover and Noelle the question. They were both heading to Snowdin, and she was heading to The Dunes. So, obviously, their paths split.

“Yup!” Noelle smiled and gave her a thumbs up. “See you here tomorrow?”

“Sounds good to me.” Clover nodded, and Kanako nodded in agreement. “Welp, see ya later Kanako!” He smiled at her and spun back around to face the way home.

“Yup! Bye guys!” Kanako gave them a thumbs up, even though they weren’t looking, and went on her merry way.

“So, just us now.” Clover shrugged evenly. “Suppose we should get going too, huh?”

“Obviously.” She shrugged right back.

“Welp, come on then, I’ll lead.”

…

“I t-told you a-already! We need m-more of their b-blood to do much else!”

Ceroba frowned and shook her head. “How much more can we ask of them? They’re already generous enough to let it happen every other week with no resistance. We just need to learn how to work with less.”

“B-but, humans should t-theoretically be perfectly f-fine even if they have much more t-then what they’ve currently b-been having drawn-”

“But Clover isn’t just a human any more.” Ceroba’s frown slowly transitioned into a glare. “We have no way of knowing if they’d be fine or not, and that’s not a risk I’m willing to take. We stick to an amount healthy for normal monsters. You know as well as I that his blood contains magic all the same as a monster.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“...B-”

“Alphys.” Ceroba’s eye twitched. This was absolutely not something she was going to compromise on, and Alphys would most certainly never even be able to get her close to one.

“Clover’s safety takes priority over almost everything else.” She also liked the kid, so did her daughter, but that wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you brought to a debate like this. “What do you think happens to the serum if the source of it falls ill, or worse, dies?”

“...I u-understand your concerns, b-but, it’s not like they’d drop dead from having slightly more of their blood d-drawn! Even a monster would be fine if they h-had more than the h-healthy amount of magic d-drawn from them as long as it wasn’t excessive…”

“But are you really going to take any risks when we have a perfectly sustainable equilibrium?” Ceroba had to struggle to keep herself composed.

“But… When more monsters… I-inevitably fall down, w-we’ll need more! In order to keep everybody s-stable. So…”

“So that’s why we work on making the process more efficient, like I said. The solution isn’t more, the solution is efficiency.” Her face finally started to form into a scowl, Ceroba was very much beginning to lose her patience.

“Unless more humans happen to fall down and the entire Underground gives up on freedom one SOUL away from breaking the barrier, simply taking more and more isn’t a viable solution. We need to create as much as we can from as little as possible. Are we clear?”

“...”

“ALPHYS.”

“F-fine…” She shrunk back from the fox as her voice finally broke. Ceroba’s left eye twitched wildly as she glared at the lizard, but she closed her eyes before she managed to pull in a shuddering breath.

“Thank you.”

Alphys knew they didn’t mean it. She also knew that they had more reasons for their standpoint that they weren’t letting on, but she didn’t have the nerve to challenge the fox on it.

“Now, I believe we were going to see how exactly we could boost the naturally occurring determination with outside sources, yes?” Ceroba somehow managed to mold her face back into a smile, though it was now noticeably more forced.

“...R-right…” Alphys mumbled.

Why did it have to be this monster of all monsters to have the expertise she needed…?

…

“So, this is your house huh?” Clover rubbed at his chin curiously. It made sense that he hadn’t seen Noelle before given her house was pretty deep into the forest, way away from the main town or even his home. They’d actually already passed through the town, but he simply wanted to know where she lived to have avoided his notice for so long.

“Yup! Now that I think about it, it does make sense that we never met…” She smiled weakly. “But, your house was back in town right? We can meet up tomorrow to head to school, or something.”

“Well, not quite, but close enough.” Clover shrugged. “I’d ask you to introduce me to your folks, but my mom has the day off n’we were gonna spend some time together. So, I’d best be heading off now. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah! See you tomorrow Clover, oh, wait, before I forget!”

“Hm?” Clover had begun to turn, but tilted his head back at Noelle.

“Give me your phone number! I got Kanako’s back during gym, but I never got yours!”

“Oh, alright, one sec.” Clover mumbled and reached into his bag, a moment later, he held out his phone and read off the numbers.

“Alright! Bye Clover!”

He smiled evenly and waved back at her. Once she was inside, he let out a pretty big yawn. Today had been rather exhausting. That whole first day grace thing was real. Classes demanded a lot more focus now. And well, he was more than ready to give that attention, but given he’d missed the basics of geography on the first day, that one had been a bit more tiring. Then, obviously, his fight with Susie had been physically tiring at the very least, even if he ate up and recovered his strength a bit afterwards.

…He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell his mom about that, or at least, not about how exactly it had turned out.

Bottom line? He was tired. And he was looking forward to spending some quality time with his mom. She had been working a lot recently, it was honestly a little worrying but… She was still just as cheerful as she’d always been. He still couldn’t help but worry, but he supposed she was fine.

Clover smiled and shook his head with a degree of exasperation. The child worrying about the parent? He really should take Martlet’s advice some time, just act his age for once…? …Meh. That wasn’t really his style.

After a bit of trepidation, Clover found his way back onto the beaten path, and the rest of his walk was a breeze. He’d walked through Snowdin a great many dozen times by now, so he knew his way through the place like the back of his hand. Before long, he was back at his own home, smiling fondly at the door.

“I’m home!” Clover announced as he swung the door open, though when he scanned what was immediately visible, there was no Martlet to be found.

“...Mom?”

“The couch, Clover,” she called back warmly.

“Oh, m’bad.” He stepped inside and took off his boots, then stepped forward. There on the couch was his mom, with a book, and a pile of blankets in tow.

It was simple, but Clover couldn’t help but smile. That really was exactly what he needed after the events of the day. With a lazy stretch, he collapsed into the couch and leaned against her.

“Would you mind readin to me today? I’m a little bit tired out, today was pretty eventful…”

“Sure, Clover.” Martlet smiled and ruffled his feathers. “This one is fine with you, right?” Martlet held up the book, once again, comprehensive history guide, book three. The third humans fall.

“Mhm, that’s great, thanks mom.” Clover pulled one of the blankets over himself, and snuggled up to her.

“Then, I’ll start.” Her smile got just that little bit brighter, and Martlet began to read.

…

Martlet’s smile didn’t abate for even a moment. It felt good to just have a calm afternoon like this after the previous day had been so hectic for her. She couldn’t really recall a time where reading made her so happy, but… She supposed it wasn’t really the reading. She could say it to herself without any hesitation, she really did love Clover as her own. She’d said as much to her mom, but that had been somewhat of a spur of the moment thing.

But no, even without that pressure, she could still say the exact same thing. She loved Clover, even if she didn’t particularly enjoy reading, just being able to connect with her kid through it was worth it. Though, when she heard him quietly snoozing against her side she didn’t exactly feel the desire to keep reading.

“...You must’ve been exhausted, huh?” She quietly closed the book and set it off to the side. She wouldn’t be so cruel as to get up and wake him, but the tv remote was close enough. He wasn’t all that jumpy, the tv wouldn’t be nearly enough to wake him. Besides, Martlet was fairly certain she was missing out on a special mettaton episode.

Slight issue, she was, juuuust a bit too far away from the remote to be able to reach it. She blinked once, before smiling weakly. “Heh… Maybe I should’ve just sat just a little bit closer to the side, huh Clover?”

He obviously didn’t respond, he did lean just a little bit further into Martlet’s side though.

“...Yeah, that sounds about right. Alright, guess I’m stuck with you huh?” She continued to smile and wrapped an arm around his side, this was fine, she could miss the episode. This was probably better anyways.

“Love you Clover.”

…

Clover opened his eyes with a yawn, had he really fallen asleep so early? He must’ve been more tired than he thought he was. Well, he just hoped his mom hadn’t read too… Far… Well, she was asleep, so he figured that was in fact not a thing she had done.

“Mmm… What time is it?" Clover mumbled to himself as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. He'd gotten home around four... Maybe a little later than that, and there was a snowstorm outside, so... It had probably been a good bit, storms generally didn't show up till "night time" anyways. His eyes glazed over the clock and... Seven thirty four. PM, of course. He hadn't slept for THAT long.

Though, now that he took a good look at the time, something else came to mind for the bird. His stomach rumbled quietly. He hadn't had anything proper to eat since breakfast if you didn't count snacks... He'd be remiss to wake his mom up, so maybe he could slip away and make dinner himself...? Well, couldn't hurt to try. He was sure she'd appreciate it too.

The blankets had been piled on a little thicker after Clover had fallen asleep, which, for the record; he appreciated that. Clover liked having heat like that concentrated on himself, he was accustomed to it. But that did make slipping away without notice a little bit more difficult when they were currently sharing the same four different covers. He did give it the ol college try though.

He began to slowly shift his weight to the left. Which, that was working... There was no greater problem, he just started making his way out quietly. He... Might've overestimated how difficult this would be, just a little. Within a few short moments, he was mostly out from under the blankets. His hand went for his hat out of habit, but he paused when he didn't feel it. That pause was nigh heart stopping for the poor kid, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it on the other side of the couch. For a second there, he was worried that he'd lost it outside... No, his mom just took it off for him while he was asleep.

He stepped across the carpet in his quest to retrieve his most valued possession, his bare talons very quietly clicking against the floor.

Martlet yawned.

Clover froze.

His eyes very slowly drifted over in her direction, that was a real big yawn... It almost made him wanna...

Clover yawned.

Clover grimaced.

"Mmm..." Martlet's eyes slowly blinked open, she blinked a little faster when she didn't feel Clover next to her, but given he was right in front of her that light surprise quickly died down. "...Oh, good morning Clover."

"...Uh... It's seven mom." He smiled a little weakly. He hadn't wanted to wake her up...

"...Oh. Good evening Clover." She smiled and corrected herself, then she yawned again. "Did you have a good nap?"

"...Uhuh, I was pretty hungry though, was gonna see what I could do for dinner." He dropped all pretenses of stealth and just strolled up to the couch. Not much point in it any more he supposed. "How's spaghetti sound?" He asked as he once more donned his hat.

"...Hold on, you weren't trying to make dinner yourself were you?" Martlet raised a questioning eyebrow.

Red handed...

"Nnnnnooooo...?" Clover smiled guiltily.

"Pff, as if I'd let you." Martlet pushed the pile she'd amassed off to the side. "So, spaghetti?" She happily chirped and stood up.

"Yeeeeah." Clover rolled his eyes and adjusted his hat just right. "I was hoping to surprise you." He pouted, if only a bit.

"Well, looks like I got to surprise you." Martlet's smile grew just a little wider and she booped the top of Clover's beak.

"...I guess." He shrugged somewhat disappointedly.

"Oh come on! If you're really that upset about it I'll let you do most of it, okay? I mean, it's not that I don't trust you, just..."

"Nah, not trusting me is totally fair, I almost burned down the house before."

"Okay, but that was weeks ago!"

"Not like that's a particularly long time." Clover shrugged again. "Well, I'm hungry so... Can we start now?"

"Sure! Sure."