Martlet was shell shocked. She hadn't thought "first of their kind" would mean anything like... This! What was she even supposed to say? Just... Move on like nothing had happened?! She'd never heard anything about a human turning INTO a monster before! The thought occurred that, it probably HADN'T happened before, but jeeze!

"Are... Are you alright...?" She hesitantly asked Clover, who now looked to be a mix between, well, herself oddly enough, and what they had looked like before. Thin brown feathers coated their entire body, and she had to wonder if that was uncomfortably hot given their already thick clothes...

"...Yeah? Better then I was feeling yesterday, why?"

"You uh... Notice anything a bit different?" She asked in shocked disbelief.

"No? This is normal for me, right? I just lost my feathers cause of my accident, didn't I?"

"Wh-what...? No, you..."

"Anyways, I've been reading one of the books you got me, the comprehensive history one... And while it hasn't really got me to remember much, I figure that's alright. I'll just re-learn what I forgot instead."

"Clover..."

"What?" His neutral expression shifted towards Martlet, momentarily putting down the book.

"You're..." Martlet was about to come clean on everything that she knew about Clover, but had second thoughts at the last moment... Maybe it'd be better to try and figure out what was going on before telling them anything that might upset them? With the way they looked, they should be fine to travel around the Underground for now... Unless somebody started a battle with them for some reason-oh, wait hold on...

"Clover could you... Show me your SOUL?"

"Uh... Sure?" Clover stood up, and closed their eyes for a moment... Before opening them and having nothing to show for it. "I uh... How?"

"Oh, it's pretty easy!" Martlet chirped and stood up with a smile, "you just gotta..." She closed her eyes for a moment, "gotta really feel it, you know?" She held her wing out, a white, upside down soul hovering gently above it, before quickly fading away again.

"...Right." Clover mumbled, and tried to do what Martlet had told him to do... To just... Feel it? Feel what, exactly? He thought deep... Did some soul searching... And opened his eyes. Martlet was still staring somewhat expectantly and he... Had nothing to show for it. "M'sorry."

"It's... Fine." Martlet's smile turned a bit more nervous, she hadn't meant to embarrass them... "Don't worry about it! I didn't explain very well anyways. Let's try again? Promise I'll do a better job this time."

Clover stood up, setting the book he had been reading moments ago down.

"Okay."

...

First things first, Martlet tried to do a slightly better job of explaining how exactly one would go about showing their own soul. She could've just asked Clover to start a battle, but deep in her own psyche, she still felt somewhat guilty about having ever attacked the kid to begin with. She'd rather not have to start another one, even if there was no malicious intent behind it.

Instead of just telling Clover to "really feel it!" She tried to explain it a bit more in depth...

"So, I know I told you to feel it, and while that is basically what you need to do, I realize I didn't really give you any idea of what to feel." Martlet started off easy enough, standing above Clover as they sat on the couch, kicking their legs absentmindedly.

"It's different for every monster, but by far the most common method for monsters to use their magic is to just feel something, anything at all really! Although..." Martlet began to trail off a bit, not really sure of what exactly Clover was now... Were they even a monster? Or at least closer to a monster than a human now? Would what she was telling Clover even end up working for him?

"Ah-nevermind! If it doesn't work it doesn't work and we can try something else, but just for now can you give it a try? Just hold your... Wing? Out and envision your SOUL appearing there, really, you've gotta BELIEVE it's there! And you best believe that I believe in you!" She gave Clover a wink and a thumbsup.

"...M'kay." Clover halfheartedly mumbled, it seemed as if he was still feeling rather dejected over his initial failure, what was it with them and getting so upset over little things like this? Martlet wasn't sure she liked the pattern, but as long as it never really manifested into anything overtly bad for them-wait, why am I thinking in the long term? They're just staying with me until their memory comes back aren't they...? She shook her head out and tried to refocus, it wouldn't do to not give Clover a hundred and ten percent! Focus scatterbrain!

Clover once again closed their eyes, this time holding their arm out directly in front of Martlet. "Like this...?"

"Yup! Just keep going! Imagine your soul right there in the palm of your hand!" Martlet corrected herself from her prior assumption of Clover's body, now seeing the actual hand shaped hand at the end of their arm.

Clover's eyes squinted just a little bit more, and after a bit of encouragement from Martlet, "Just a little more!" Something actually happened.

Floating right above Clover's hand was a SOUL. It was upright, like a human SOUL, colored like one as well. Though, instead of being completely yellow as it had been a few days ago... There was a thick white outline around the colored part of the SOUL. Martlet made a quick guess, and would say it was about fifteen to twenty percent or so of the SOUL's entire size. She'd seen it in illustrations before, but Clover's SOUL seemed to be remarkably similar to the SOUL of a monster that had absorbed a human's SOUL. But instead of a colored outline, it was a colored inside.

"Oh... Wow..." Martlet looked at Clover's SOUL somewhat mesmerized. It had a certain feeling to it, and while Martlet certainly wasn't a monster who saw that many SOUL's... Well, aside from some of the monsters I've mistook for humans... She was able to confidently say that she'd never seen anything like it before.

Clover slowly opened their eyes, at first looking like he had half expected to just outright fail... Though they ended up looking on with wide eyes at the actual sight of their own SOUL.

"Congratulations Clover! You did it on your first try!"

"I... I did?" He continued to stare at his SOUL, the small heart gently floating up and down. For some reason he didn't seem to think he'd actually done it, which Martlet was starting to get a little tired of... She had just the solution, POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT!!!

"Great job!" she happily chirped and knelt down to scoop Clover right up. Catching them somewhat by surprise and causing the projection of their SOUL to fade away. Of course, that wasn't the end of her assault, as she proceeded to stand back up and hug them as tightly as she could and say, "I'm so proud of you Clover!"

Martlet continued to hold them like that, though she started getting a little bit concerned when they just remained still.... Then, she got really concerned when she started to hear little sobs coming from Clover. Barely audible really, but it sounded like he was trying to hold himself back from all out whaling.

"C-Clover?" She knelt down and set them back down on the couch as gently as she could, then she got a good look at Clover's normally completely neutral face, now on the brink of tears similarly to last night.

I-I-what did I do?! Oh jeeze-oh crap! The one time I try to help and I just go and mess everything up! God Martlet you idiot what were you even thinking?!

"I-I'm sorry Clover, I didn't mean to-"

All at once the child bursted into motion, practically throwing themselves into Martlet. She almost fell over having been completely unready for such a maneuver, but she barely managed to stabilize herself.

"Clover!?"

They'd wrapped themselves back around Martlet, hugging her as tightly as he could. Martlet's beak opened and closed for a bit, failing to comprehend the situation for a few seconds, before she just gave up on it and hugged them back. It was then that he started openly crying.

"Hey, it's alright... Everything's fine." She gently patted Clover on the back even as he sobbed his heart out. She had no idea... Well... She did have ONE idea as to why Clover had reacted like that, but she really didn't want to think it was true. Either way, she'd be there for them for as long as he'd allow it.

...

It took Clover a few minutes to finally calm down, but even after he had finally finished crying, it still took him a bit to let go. Martlet didn't try to force anything, she was... A little afraid of doing something wrong to be honest, but she wanted to be there for Clover.

He finally let go of her sometime after he'd stopped crying. standing back up on their own and wiping away their tears.

"M'sorry, I got your shoulder all wet..."

Out of all the things Martlet had been expecting to hear, that was not one of them. It almost made her laugh. "Don't worry about it." She smiled warmly and ruffled the feathers not covered by his hat a bit. Then she just happened to look over at the clock and... She could've sworn her heart missed a beat there.

"Oh jeeze Clover, I'm sorry-I've gotta go right now!"

She stood up and began to preen at her own feathers as she turned to the stairs... Before remembering she hadn't ever gotten undressed last night.

"Wait-did-did I do something wrong?"

"What?! No! No of course not! I'm just gonna be late for work if I don't go right now!"

"Oh, uh, okay...?"

"Trust me, not your fault I just wasn't keeping track of time, I'd write you a note but you're well awake now so uhm, Clover, just stay inside..." She stopped mid sentence as she began to slip out of the door, thinking it over. "Well, actually I guess it'd be fine if you left the house, just don't stray too far alright? Keep yourself occupied, don't try to clean the entire place up all on your own while I'm gone! Be back in a few hours-bye Clover!" And with that she stepped outside and took off, closing the door behind her.

"Hm." Clover pondered thoughtfully, looking at the stack of books, before looking back at the door. It... Called to him, a sense of adventure beyond... "Well... "Just don't stray too far", huh?"

...

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap-

Martlet definitely did NOT regret being there for Clover when he needed her. She'd probably accept being fired over leaving Clover like that, but since they were okay she really didn't want to have to get fired! Having to work an actual job was firmly on her "do not want" list. So, she might have been a few minutes late, but surely Doggs would be willing to forgive that, right? They were willing to forgive two hours! Well, best not to push it regardless. In record time, she touched down near Snowdin, though her guard wasn't down... Doggs was always so sneaky, he'd always come right up behind her a-

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Martlet, moving a little bit slow today. Not a good day to be moving slow."

She actually squawked as she jumped in surprise, how was it that the one monster in the entirety of Snowdin who was partially blind was always the one sneaking up on her?! She held a hand to her chest and outright panted as she tried to get her breath back, before looking back up at Doggo, who was giving her a nasty side eye... Or was that just his normal eye? She could never tell with him!

"What are you talking about Doggs? Why is this a bad day to be "slow"?"

"You'd have known that, if you hadn't ran right home yesterday. Suppose I can't blame you, if your pack mate is still wounded though."

"I'm sorry, but they really weren't in a good place yesterday. Can you just tell me what's up though, please?" Martlet tilted her head at Doggo, a little bit confused as to why they were being more cryptic then they usually would.

"Undyne's coming through Snowdin today, she's on the hunt for that missing human that was near your post a few days ago."

"W-WHAT?!"

"Yes, yes, so Martlet, keep it moving today, no time to stop." Doggo nodded to himself as he continued to side eye the entire forest, eventually slinking back to his post.

Undyne... Seriously...? Of all the monsters...? Martlet could already feel a headache coming on... But no, it should be fine! Even if Clover wasn't necessarily a monster, and would probably still get their SOUL ripped out if anybody saw it... They did look like a monster! They should be fine!

...

"Yo! Who are you?!"

Clover flinched at the energetic voice, quickly turning around to see a group of monsters their size. How had they snuck up on him...? He hadn't really been paying attention but... Huh.

"Uh... Hello, my name's Clover...?" Why was such a large group talking to him...?

"Sick! Clover, are you looking for Undyne too?! Heard she's coming through town today! You should totally join us if you are!"

"...Who?"

"WHHHHHHAAAAAT?! You haven't heard of THE Undyne!?:

Clover felt the slightest bit off put by this kids energy, but not quite uncomfortable either. The name Undyne did feel as if it evoked a distant memory but... More so just feelings of a deep sense of unease, coupled with a sense of... Justice. "Mmm, no, I haven't."

"She's just the absolute coolest monster just about, EVER! Okay, you've totally gotta join us now! It's like, basically a crime to not know about her, man!"

The words "don't stray too far" came to mind, but Clover figured it'd be fine. Surely they wouldn't be going too far away, right?

"Y'know what? Sure."

"Awesome! Well, cmon Clover let's go!"

...

Past the initial accosting, (it wasn't really that bad) Clover actually found this group to be pretty sociable! Monster Kid, MK as he would come to know them, was more then energetic enough to do the talking for the group. So what Clover had initially thought to be some sort of crusade... Was actually more like a gossip group? Or well, a gossip group during down time. They did occasionally have some interjections... And he was unwittingly the target of a fair majority of their attention.

"So, did you heard that the human they saw around here recently went missing?"

"There was a human?" Clover asked genuinely curious, supposedly humans were generally bad news in the Underground, it usually got monsters on pretty high alert, or so he'd read earlier.

"Uh, yeah? Have you not been in town recently?" Clover's most frequent conversationalist asked, a bipedal cat-like monster. "Actually, don't answer that, we've practically been all over this weekend, I haven't seen you in school before either, actually, are you from The Wild East?"

"Mmm, no, I've heard about it though. Why do you ask?" Clover absentmindedly responded, lightly scratching at their chin through their feathers. He'd actually made the mistake of assuming they were a bit thicker than they really were a few minutes ago, and ended up slightly cutting into his own face. Thankfully, while his feathers weren't thick enough to stop it, they were thick enough to hide said scratch.

"Huh, I just figured you'd have been from there the way you're dressed. Anyways, since you haven't been in town, want some info on the recent gossip?" They asked with a sly smile, and while something about the question gave Clover pause, their curiosity eventually moved them into saying "sure, why not?"

"Great! I knew you'd be interested! Alright, so do you know Martlet?"

"Oh, yes, actually." Clover ducked under a particularly low hanging branch. He wasn't quite sure where they were all going, but he was perfectly willing to follow given they were leaving prints in the snow behind them.

"Perfect! So, rumors have been spreading that Martlet might've actually had a kid! And I think they might be right! Well, maybe not her kid, but adopted or at least a relatives is staying with her. We've actually been meaning to stop by her house and scope the place out some time but... MK is more focused on Undyne, I dunno why he's bothering though. Undyne almost nev-"

"Yo! EVERYBODY! I SEE HER!"

In the distance, Clover heard a faint (not quite) "NGAHHHHH! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!"

"Y-YO! UNDYNE, WAIT UP!" And then the crowd started running. Clover wasn't sure whether to follow after them or to just leave but... A saying came to mind, what was it...? It felt very... Accurate to the situation...? In for a penny, in for a pound? Yeah! That was it.

"Well, I didn't expect that." The cat next to Clover admitted somewhat shocked. "But I'm not getting left behind!"

Then, it was just Clover. "Wh-hold on!" And he didn't want to be left behind either.

So, he took off running.

...

Martlet was trying her very best to stay awake today. She was already on probation, if the captain herself saw her dozing off at her post that would be real bad news! One of the dogs had come around earlier, saying that the captain would probably be stopping by each guard individually. So snoozing was a risk she couldn't afford to take!

"ngaaaaah...!"

Martlet sat up, shook out of her half asleep posture. "What was that?"

She looked around a few more times, before laying her head back down. Truly, the best possible way to assure oneself remained awake.

"NGAHHHHHH!"

That one made her hit her head on the way up.

"Owwww... What is that?!"

And then, practically flying over the wall of Martlet's puzzle via a powerful leap, came Undyne herself.

"NGAHHH! YOU! BIRD!"

Martlet blinked about two times, before realizing who exactly it was that was yelling at her.

"C-CAPTAIN UNDYNE! Martlet of the royal guard reporting!"

Her sprint eventually slowed to a walk as she came up to the front of Martlet's post, letting out a sigh as she leaned against the structure.

"Alright feathers, listen up! Normally I'd be here to ask you about the human that supposedly came near your post a few days ago, but right now!? I need help! I need you to distract these kids for me so I can get away!"

"I-wait what?!"

"There's no time to explain soldier! They'll finish the puzzle any moment now, and I have things to do today! I can't let these kids hold me down right now, I'll be back for you later! Just hold strong!"

And with that, Undyne stretched for a short moment, before taking off running into the forest once again. Though, before she ran all the way she turned to say one last thing. "Oh right! Nice job with the puzzles feathers! Keep it up, that's exactly what we need more of in the Royal Guard! Fuhuhuhu!"

"...What...?"

"YO! UNDYYYYNNNE WAIT UUUP!"

Oh no.

Martlet dove for the handbook she always kept at the ready in her post. Where was the section on distracting kids again?!

The door of Martlet's lava rock puzzle began to slide open in the distance, and she knew her time was beginning to run short...

"Contact with humans... No, Counteracting mass hysteria... No! Evacuation procedure-no! There was a section for this right?! Oh, got it, distracting kids!"

Martlet scanned through the pages as fast as monstrously possible, until eventually heading the crowd, MK came into view.

"YO! WHERE DID UNDYNE GO?!"

"Uhh-Undyne? Haven't seen em around here!"

First protocol, denial!

"Mrs. Martlet, I just heard her! Whaddya mean she wasn't around here yo?!"

"I-er-are you sure that was really captain Undyne? Maybe it was just a lookalike! I've seen my fair share of lookalikes-"

"Nobody could possibly copy Undyne herself that well! They were perfect, just like she was!"

Aw crap, there goes number two.

Martlet scanned the crowd, looking for anything she might be able to draw attention t-

She spotted a very... Familiar hat. She couldn't help but cry out in surprise.

"C-CLOVER?!"

Well, it was unintentional, but protocol three was redirection.

...

"What about Clover?!" MK called right back, meanwhile both of the monsters closest to Clover turned to them suspiciously. Though, the cat monster had already been looking at them like some sort of puzzle before Martlet had even said anything. Clover meanwhile, felt very put out.

Everybody was slowly turning to look at him, given the lack of Martlet's response in favor of staring slack-beaked at Clover. In unison, the entire crowd slowly turned back to face Martlet. The picture was rapidly nearing completion...

"W-why's everybody staring like that?" Clover hesitantly asked, their gazes began to grow out of sync, rapidly switching between Clover himself and Martlet, who was now at least blinking.

"Uh, hey, Clover? Are you actually... Martlet's kid?"

...Was he? He wasn't sure... Clover had no idea what the answer to that question was. "...Maybe?"

"w-what?" Martlet practically squeaked in the distance.

"...Maybe?" The crowd echoed back... It was then that everybody's gaze settled solely on Martlet.

"Yo... Mrs. Martlet..."

Martlet's beak finally closed, quickly turning into a very, very nervous smile.

"Why'd you lie to us man?!"