Added new stuff
“Told you I wouldn’t let you die.” She snorted when Clover shot a finger gun her way. Starlo decided to help him out by striking his patented pose and a tiny star flew out from the tip of his own finger gun.

“Sure, yeah you did.” Glancing down at her leg, she flexed her talons, the light blue claws glinting menacingly as she worked to get the feeling back into every extremity in her body. She felt stronger by the minute, her body slowly returning to the pinnacle of physical and magical strength she felt herself to be when she first injected herself.

“H-hey wait, you should probably stay sitting!” Martlet tried to push her back as Valravn started to get up but it was futile as the bigger bird gently and easily pried her feathery fingers off of her.

“I’ll be fine Martlet, thank you.” The two of them locked eyes, a silent conversation between one another and Martlet eventually relented. Valravn lightly and carefully patted her back as she stood up, using the wall behind her to keep herself upright for now.

“ANALYSIS SHOWS INCREASED POWER AND STRENGTH. UPDATING INTERNAL PARAMETERS FOR MONSTER [VALRAVN].” Axis’ eyes briefly flickered as he saved everything into his data banks. “NOW I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE [FRICK] ARE YOU ALL DOING IN MY FACILITY.” Ceroba let out an exasperated groan, the antics of her late husband’s robot reminding her why she didn’t like machinery all that much.

“Because Axis, Valravn here wanted to discuss things privately and Clover suggested the Steamworks as the best solution.” He just blankly stared at her, processing the information before turning to Clover.

“HATTED HUMAN, IS THAT YOUR IDENTIFICATION? CLOVER?” He just nodded, wondering why that was the most important information that Axis picked out from what Ceroba just said. “DESIGNATION UPDATED. NOW, I WOULD LIKE TO RETURN TO MY LOVELY SPOUSE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. YOU ARE ALL ADDED TO THE AUTHORIZED LIST, HOWEVER I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU ALL TO NOT GO TOO DEEP INTO THE STEAMWORKS. IT APPEARS THAT THE DISREPAIR OVER THE YEARS HAS BEEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT AND IT IS NOT SAFE FOR NON-ROBOTIC LIFE IN MOST PLACES.”

“Oh. Well, thank you Axis.” He just nodded and started wheeling off but before he was completely out of sight he stopped, turning back towards Ceroba.

“YOU SAID YOU ARE CREATOR’S WIFE, CORRECT?” She briefly froze up but nodded. “COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM LATER?” His question hit her like a sack of bricks and she nodded again, finding it hard to look into his robotic eyes. “THANK YOU.”

Starlo watched as the weird robot wheeled away from them, disappearing in the dimly lit depths of the Steamworks before focusing his attention back on his childhood friend. Ceroba took a couple breaths before lifting her gaze back up from the floor.

“You okay?” Despite what he found out about Chujin, Starlo knew she still loved him a lot. She gave him a shaky nod but he didn’t push it. Instead he looked towards the two birds and Clover, his eyes flicking over the massive monster who was now completely solid. Her feathers were practically shimmering, gorgeous deep blue, almost black, and cyan.

Her majestic wings twinkled with what he could only guess was the picture perfect definition of the cosmos, tiny dots speckled throughout the massive feathers in a tapestry of the night sky. Starlo had been to Waterfall a couple times and the gemstone ceilings couldn’t hold a candle to what he was seeing.

“Well I’ll be.” He couldn’t help but smile as Valravn inspected herself, her previously menacing yellow eyes now feeling much softer, despite not losing any of their intensity. As her cyan hair moved from side to side, he noticed something else. “Heh, seems like you got a lil’ somethin’ from the deputy.”

“What do you—” Valravn began only to stop when Starlo made a motion as if he was pulling at his hair. Following his example, she grabbed a couple locks and straightened them out. “Oh...”

“Oh that looks good on you! Now you and Clover match, sorta!” Martlet smiled brightly and upon hearing his name the teen tried to see what they were talking about. His eyes widened as he finally noticed the golden lock of hair that was now part of the voluminous cyan mane.

What’s more, in the flickering cosmos of her wings, he could see golden stars appear and disappear from time to time, showing off another connection between the two. Clover’s stomach churned and twisted, dark thoughts swirling in his mind as to him it was a permanent reminder of his dirty deeds.

His gaze shifted from Valravn to the floor as his thoughts continued to darken, revolving around the fact she will never be able to forget just why she is like that. He didn’t notice the larger bird give him a strange look before sighing.

“No Clover, it’s not like that.” She made her way over to him which due to her height only took her a couple steps and after some hesitation on her part, she reached out and patted his head.

“What are you talking about, Valravn?” Starlo scratched his head.

“I just tried to reassure Clover because he was blaming himself for something that wasn’t something he could have done anything about?” She replied, finding it strange that he would just let his ‘deputy’ stew in such dark thoughts.

“But uhh, Clover didn’t say anything?” Martlet raised an eyebrow and Valravn reciprocated it.

“What do you mean? I could hear him...talk...” Gears turned in her head as she saw Clover’s shocked expression.

Clover could only think about how he messed up something again. How he fucked up and now someone else has to live with the consequences of his actions. His mind raced a hundred miles a second and it didn’t take long for the same to start happening to Valravn as well.

“Nngh....Clover slow down please. It’s okay.” The large bird gripped her head with a feathery hand, unable to stop her own thoughts from racing along with the young human’s. Clover could only stare ahead of himself, eyes slightly glassy as he continued to delve deeper into his self-perceived mess-ups, not even registering Martlet trying to shake him out of his funk.

“What’s goin’ on?” Starlo joined Martlet, the two of them gently trying to coax their friend from his sudden state. He spared a glance up at Valravn, finding her to have a similar look in those glowing golden eyes of hers.

“He blames himself for this...for me looking like this.” She managed to squeeze out those words before having to resort to holding her head with both hands.

“How can you tell?” Martlet asked her larger counterpart but Valravn just shook her head.

“I don’t—I don’t know.” It was clear that something was happening between the two and Ceroba started to get a really foreboding feeling. This was different from what happened to her daughter but then again, the whole situation was alien yet hauntingly familiar to her.

She thought back to the many sleepless nights spent with Kanako after the dreadful Snowdin incident; where she spent hour after hour crying into her shoulder, apologizing for doing things that were in no way her fault. It got especially worse after his husband’s passing and she couldn’t help but see a bit of that in Clover now as he just shook in Martlet’s embrace, wordlessly apologizing for nothing.

She was broken out of her thoughts as a soft humming rose above the muffled gasps of air from Clover. Martlet gently rubbed his back with a hand, her other one raised his chin to make him look into her eyes as she kept humming, trying her best to comfort her friend.

“Hey Clover, it’s okay. I don’t think Valravn would blame you for giving her some yellow feathers, especially since they kinda fit her!” She giggled to herself at the end but it seemed to work, as Clover’s eyes focused onto her, then flicked over to the larger bird who gave him a thumbs up despite the grimace on her face.

“You saved my life. I don’t think some yellow stuff would really matter after that, Clover.” She gently patted his head, the strange and dissonant sensations easing up in her mind as the young human calmed down. His shaking slowly stopped and he eased into Martlet’s fluffy embrace.

“So, any idea what all that was?” Starlo scratched his head, shooting a glance towards Ceroba.

“It sounds like there were more side effects than just some discoloration.” Ceroba bit her lip, thoughts wandering to how this could affect Kanako but deciding that it would be something to think of later.

“Like what, they can read each other’s mind?” Martlet blinked owlishly, in her mind slightly bummed out that she doesn’t get to have cool stuff like that, despite the possible negative side effects she just witnessed.

“I don’t know?” Ceroba helplessly shrugged much to Martlet’s incredulousness. “Martlet, I said before that I have no idea how any of this should work.” She nipped any retort her friend could bring up and decided to do her best to figure things out and she turned to Valravn. “What happened to you? All of a sudden you just started to hold your head.”

“It’s kinda hard to explain.” She glanced down at Clover who was practically radiating guilt. “No Clover, don’t start again. It’s okay, really.” She kept her gaze on him before crouching down to be somewhat on even level with him in hopes of really making him understand.

“I don’t think anyone here knew something like this could happen and despite the fact I accepted my death, you never gave up on me and now I owe you my life. Compared to that, this is not something you should even remotely feel bad about.” She gave him a small smile and that seemingly worked as his expression further mellowed out.

“So then what should we do? If it’s like some mind readin’ mambo jumbo, can’t imagine it’s good to see what the other one’s thinkin’ all the time.” Starlo voiced his thoughts, leaning against the wall now and thought over what just happened. “Though not gonna lie, that could be mighty useful with the posse. So many shows we could pull off perfectly if we could just hear each other’s thoughts!” He snapped his fingers in excitement and it didn’t take long for Clover to get behind the idea, chuckling at his enthusiasm.

His friend just rolled her eyes even as she tried to stifle a smile on her lips. Shaking her head to get it back into the game, she focused her attention back onto the trio in front of her. Martlet still kept a protective embrace around her friend and it didn’t seem like Clover opposed it at all.

“Clover, Valravn, could you...think of something and have the other one guess?” Ceroba tried to be analytic about the situation and after glancing at one another, the duo nodded. Clover scrunched his eyes shut, trying to figure out what to think of while Valravn just simply stared off into the distance, her golden yellow eyes glazing over.

“Okay, I think I got it.” Clover piped up as he opened his eyes, staring intently up at Valravn, the large monster breaking out of her trance to glance down at him. She opened her mouth to say something but the words died in her throat as in her mind’s eye, she saw the brilliant starry sky, a gorgeous backdrop above a clearing as comets streaked the inky darkness of space.

“Is...is that what you see up on the surface?” There was a slight tremble in her voice as the image faded from her mind and Clover’s eyes widened.

“You actually saw that?” She nodded and Clover was floored, he didn’t expect her to actually see the memory but in hindsight, he probably should have just thought of a concept rather than that. He felt a tad embarrassed at the awestruck expression on Valravn but a part of him was happy that she could still feel like that, that she was now allowed to live again.

“Well, what did you see?” Starlo asked with a smile, curious what could have caused such a reaction in the larger bird.

“‘Was when I managed to catch a star shower.” Clover looked down at the floor and added quietly. “It was actually a couple days before I...jumped down here.” The smile fell from Starlo’s face and an awkward silence filled the room.

“Oh Clover.” Martlet was there to comfort her friend, laying her head atop his own. She never really found out just why Clover came down into the Underground but The rest of the group could tell that it weighed heavily on the human and surprisingly, it was Valravn who tried to offer some modicum of comfort, patting his back as much as she could with Martler hugging him still.

Valravn rolled her eyes as she saw Martlet give her a thumbs up and a smile, happy that the two now seemed to not be on such bad terms. Clover mumbled something, his voice was muffled by the feathery hold around his entire body.

“What was that kiddo?” Martlet chuckled as she eased up on her hold, letting him speak properly.

“I said, those pancakes taste good, yeah.” Valravn’s wing twitched before she let out a deep sigh.

“Yeah, he knew what I thought of too.” She glanced towards Ceroba who nodded after some consideration.

“Seems like there’s a deeper connection between you two now. My best and most logical guess is that using Clover’s SOUL created this link between you.” Valravn and Clover shared a look, both of them looking a bit apprehensive with this news. But before Clover could ask something, she continued.

“No Clover, I have no clue how that could even work. Like I said before, I’ve never seen or heard anything even remotely similar to this.” She gave him a tired look and he closed his mouth, cheeks slightly flushed that she read him like a book.

“Well if you ask me, that's one helluva thing to have, especially once you two can get a grip on it!” Starlo flashed them a bright smile and his deputy flashed one back.

“I guess.” Valravn mumbled more to herself as she took a step back, looking herself over again. She felt, she looked powerful, and a tiny part of her was both proud and despondent that she held such strength. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to visualize the armor she had on after taking the serum and to the group’s surprise, the gleaming plate of polished metal manifested around her upper body in a flash of dark blue. The rest of the group stared while Clover inadvertently swallowed a growing lump in his throat.

“Well I’ll be, that's some fancy armor you have there, Valravn.” Starlo said with a whistle, inspecting his visage in the reflection. “Now you look like a proper Royal Guard, heh.” There was a cough behind him and he sheepishly turned around to face Martlet, the bluebird’s unamused stare burning into his skull. “No offense of course, Feathers!”

“Sure, if I went to the Dunes wearing my armor, maybe you wouldn’t have thrown me to jail, right?” Starlo coughed in embarrassment, trying to see if Ceroba could back him up but his friend just gave him an impish grin.

”You did what?” The deeper voice of the massive bird made him freeze up and Starlo did his best to diffuse the situation before it could even begin.

“H-hey, it was an honest mistake! Feathers didn’t have any way to prove her claim of bein’ a Royal Guard and I jus’ wanted to have a good time with the deputy and get to know him!” He was sweating bullets but did his best not to wilt under the scrutinizing gaze focusing on him. Thankfully, a quiet voice piped up to save him.

“I had fun tho! Shouldn’t have locked Martlet up but it was fun!” Martlet shot a betrayed look towards Clover but ultimately relented and so did her larger counterpart.

“And I should apologize, Feath—Martlet. Sorry ‘bout how you were treated back then, I got too swept up in the excitement and I’m sorry about that.” He gave her an earnest smile while taking off his hat as a sign of sincerity. “Hope you will come ‘n visit us under better terms, I’m sure you would love the posse!”

Martlet kept the scrutinizing look up for a bit before smiling and nodding. “Sure! Sounds like more fun than just sitting in that cell.”

Starlo awkwardly chuckled before glancing up at Valravn. “That goes for you as well. Might do ya good to see the place in a...better light.” He faltered slightly but tried his best to give her some reassurance.

“M-me? I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to go anywhere.” She felt uncomfortable with the idea of going somewhere she couldn’t do anything to make a difference. A wing touched her arm and she was jostled out of her thoughts, looking down at Martlet.

“I’m with Starlo on this one. I think it would do you good if you came with us!” The large bird hesitated, her thoughts drifting back to the horrid memories of her passing over the dust covered Dunes but was snapped out before it was too late, her smaller self squeezing her wing again.

“I’ll...think about it.” She couldn’t say no to her outright, but worry ate away at her being. Taking that as the best they would get for now, Martlet finally let go of Clover completely and straightened her clothes out.

“I think we should head out now. This has been the longest day in a long time.” Weariness was evident in Ceroba’s tone and the others had to agree with her. However, Clover only slowly made his way to the edge of the pit and picked up his revolver, still discarded after Valravn stopped him from going through it.

“I have...something important to tell you all and I think you should get comfortable for it. It’s not a short story.” He fidgeted with the gun, the idea of ending it briefly resurfacing but instead he put it away into its holster.

“Are you sure? I think you, of all people, should get some rest.” Ceroba hesitantly asked, unsure just how much she and the others could take but also worried for his mental health.

“This is important and I feel I should tell you all.” His voice and expression belied his words but his friends did as asked, getting as comfortable as they could, with Valravn dismissing the armor in order to do so. Taking a deep breath, the young human began his tale.

“This isn’t my first time in the Underground...”


Flowey was livid.

It was bad enough that Clover did his stupid sappy shtick again. It was somehow even worse that the second feather duster appeared because his SAVE-s broke. But then that merry band of idiots had to disappear while he was distracted and by the time he got his thoughts in order, they were gone, the only evidence of them being there was a pile of foul smelling bile left on the sidewalk.

“Think Flowey, think! Where could they have gone?” He tapped his petals with a vine, imitating knocking on his head as gears turned in his mind. This was all new, all fresh, and while normally he would jump at the opportunity for something like this, there was one teeny tiny issue.

He had no do-overs.

No more second chances, no way to get out of consequences, and that equally frustrated and excited Flowey. However, there was a drawback to this now: he couldn’t risk messing up things. He needed to find Clover now, try and cozy up to him in order to grab his SOUL. Maybe then he could get back what was rightly his and if not, then be powerful enough to not worry about anyone in the Underground!

With that idea in mind, now he just had to find that little twat and lure him away from those idiotic saps. The question was, where did they go? He looked around but couldn’t really see any sign that could point him in the right direction. Possible variations started to pile up in his mind and Flowey was starting to miss his power already.

“Knowing that blue chicken, she must have invited him to her birdhouse. That should give me the perfect place to get what I need!” He chuckled to himself before burrowing into the ground, satisfied with the plan of action he thought up. Unfortunately for him, the deranged plant missed the grey gooey puddle that led towards the streets of New Home and had he followed them, to the Steamworks.

While incredibly useful to get around, Flowey hated digging through the ground, especially around Snowdin as the cold icy earth chilled his vines. Thanks to what amounted to centuries of experience with traveling around, he knew exactly where to pop up to be at his destination in a safe place. He shivered slightly as the cold winds blew straight into his face, speckles of snow and ice peltering his eyes and mouth. Not too far away from him was the place he wanted to find.

Patched up walls and a positively unsafe balcony signified the owner of said house, though something told Flowey there was nobody home. The lights were off and try as he might, he couldn’t see a single track—even half buried—in the snow. He dug around the house, checking from multiple windows to see if they were all just asleep, even popping up in the bird brain’s workshop but to no avail. Neither Clover nor that idiotic guard could be found home. Retreating outside, he grit his teeth.

“No—no that can’t be! They are supposed to come here!” Flowey lashed out with a vine at the bark of the tree next to him, his mind not even registering that he should not leave visible traces of his presence there. His thoughts raced, trying to figure this all out. An idea popped into his head and he stopped brutalizing the pine tree, copious amounts of snow piling up around him.

“Okay Flowey, calm down, where else could he have gone?” He briefly stopped to think, looking for any possible scenario from across the resets he did, the answer coming to him in a flash.

“Of course, that foxface must have given him another sob story, I can practically hear it!” His face morphed into Ceroba’s, with an uncanny resemblance to her voice. “Oh Clover I’m so sorry for lying and betraying you, I promise I’ll never do it again! You could come live with me and we could be a happy family!” His face shifted back and he pretended to puke. “Makes me sick just thinking about it.”

With no better ideas for now, he resigned himself to the task of digging to the Dunes. While getting away from the cold was a welcome change, Flowey internally bemoaned the fact he had to go from one extreme temperature to the other. It’s simply not good for his petals!

As he dug through the frozen ground, he couldn’t help but pick up on muffled conversations that made him stop for a moment, in hopes of catching any information. Stopping under what he knew to be that saccharine sweet pancake place—Flowey would rather die than admit that those actually tasted good— and did what he does best, eavesdrop.

“What got you so down, Bero?” A gruff voice of an unimportant nobody filtered through the floorboard he was hiding under. Flowey barely cared to remember who was who as the Underground was so full with useless idiots.

There was a feminine groan as this ‘Bero’ must have dropped something onto a table. A small part of Flowey recognized her to be the pink bear with a penchant for giving herself concussion on the counter but he couldn’t really give a damn about it.

“It’s nothing...” Flowey gritted his teeth in frustration as he could barely hear her. The other monster talking to her let out a scoff.

“Oh please, me and the boys have been regulars for a while now and I can tell that something’s bothering ya. What is it?” There was a pause up there and Flowey pressed his petals against the warm underside of the wooden planks, not wanting to miss anything.

“I’m just...worried...N-not about the shop o-or anything like that!” She was clearly anxious and Flowey had to stop himself from groaning in annoyance. “I-I’m just worried about Martlet.” Now there was something that he could potentially use. Maybe either of these idiots have seen that group of imbeciles. “J-just because she’s a regular and by this time she always comes by for her usual coffee...Oh Angel, what am I doing...” There was another thump and Flowey hoped that she would actually give herself a concussion with that one, maybe that would teach her.

“That Royal Guard? Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her around today.” The other voice hummed in thought. “And then there was that strange kid too. There was something off about him, me ‘n the boys were beaten by that squirt so effortlessly.” A hint of pride flickered in his tone and Flowey rolled his eyes. “There’s something about him that I just can’t put my finger on...I do hope he’s okay too, wherever he went.”

From there on, the conversation devolved into empty—and for Flowey positively mind-numbing— blabber, that made him decide it was not worth his time and so he moved on towards his original destination.

After an arduous amount of tunneling, he finally reached the sandy earth he was looking for and after popping up, he found himself in the desolate and abandoned garden of the Ketsukane household. Grimacing at the dried up weeds surrounding him, Flowey did his best to listen if there were any sounds. When not hearing any, he carefully dug his way into the house, checking room by room, even going down into the ‘fun room’, as he liked to call it, but once again there was nothing.

“Where the hell are they? Golly, making me work really hard here aren’t you, Clover?” His chipper tone was faltering, the white mass making up his face inadvertently morphing into a menacing scowl as he was starting to really lose his patience. Wracking his brain for where else he could go, Flowey quickly made his way over to the Wild East.

Popping up outside the Feisty Five’s ‘hideout’, he wasted only a moment before deciding that there is no way in hell he would be here with the others, too little space and too quiet if those idiots would be around.

Curiosity tugged at him and he dug his way over to the dingy Saloon, just on the off-chance that the merry band of idiots be there. Peeking through a window, he saw that the group he was hoping to catch a sight of wasn’t there. Instead, it was the motley crew of that stupid play-pretend sheriff, whose names Flowey could hardly recall.

“Do you think they are okay? That blue fish—Boray?— broke the melancholic silence, the other three and the bartender nearby sharing an uneasy glance.

“Martlet and Clover did leave quite a while ago, not to mention Starlo chasing off after Ceroba.” That card shark—Spade, if Flowey remembered correctly—shuffled his deck as his single visible eye bore a hole through the desk. He didn’t want to show it but he was just as nervous as the others.

“Star’s strong, he can handle himself. And Clover...well, we all know first-hand just how capable the deputy is.” Boray let out a nervous chuckle as they fiddled with their guitar half-heartedly.

“I still think we shouldn’t have let those two go alone.” The largest bumbling idiot—Ted— cracked his knuckles as he huffed. “There was something fishy about that entire thing with Ceroba.”

“I don’t know, I’m not even sure we could have done anything.” Skooch—that thieving squirrel— decided to finally put in her two bits after hopping into her chair. “You know just how scary Ceroba can be when she’s mad.”

“You just don’t wanna lift a damn finger to work.” Ted huffed again before his eyes widened as he realized what happened. “Hey, give me back my gold!” The larger monster reached after his smaller companion but she just slunk under the table to avoid the oversized hand.

“I’m sure things will be fine.” Spade finished shuffling his deck, only to begin again not knowing what else to do with himself.

Each moment he spent listening to those fools, Flowey could feel his nonexistent lifespan shorten and he would bet that his roots were starting to turn brown just from hearing them speak. Deciding this to be a dead end again, he left, stewing in his own mind.

By now he felt like crashing out, destroying everything around him, but he knew he had to be patient, just a bit more before he got what he needed. Moving into an isolated corner to think, he tried to figure things out.

“He couldn’t possibly have gone to off himself at Asgore, could he?” Flowey thought back to all the times that Clover had given up his soul. Did he really have that encounter and still think the best possible scenario for him is to kill himself in front of his friends? What a joke.

Figuring it would be best to go and check just in case, he dug as fast as he could all the way to New Home. Hiding in the shadows of the throne room, Flowey pointedly ignored the existence of the golden flowers all around him, focusing on the sole inhabitant of the room, King Asgore.

The large goat monster was sitting on his throne, head bowed, and if Flowey didn’t know better, he would think that the old coot was fast asleep. Rolling his eyes, he shifted around without a sound and did his best to look for any clues that the group of saps came by.

None, zilch, nada.
“Pathethic.” Flowey spat in his mind, his gaze fixated on the King of Monsters. He never understood why he didn’t just do the deed already. It’s not like anyone could stop him from crossing the barrier after absorbing a human soul—much less five— and just grabbing the last two needed.

He can’t imagine him making the same mistakes as—

Flowey shook his head, cutting off that train of thought. He did not need to go down that memory lane now. Still, that old fart was wasting his time by waiting for humans to just fall down. But perhaps, with all this dilly-dallying, Asgore did some good by keeping his SOULs safe for the time being. Now, if only he could get someone to distract that coot so he could go and get what is rightfully his. He could feel his anger rising at the thought of all the failed attempts at getting those SOULs, both from himself and with getting Clover into the throne room.

He knew that he was wasting time staying here any longer but he just couldn’t help but get progressively angrier just by thinking about it! It was clear they weren’t here, nor are anywhere nearby but the whole situation was starting to really rile him up.

A tiny part of his mind made sure that he was out of the room before he would lose his marbles and soon enough, he was back at the beginning, under the falling pink petals of the sakura tree. Letting out a growl of frustration, Flowey thrashed against the ground like the petulant child he really was, vines smashing against the brickwork around him.

Nothing was working, nothing! He should be on top of this pathetic world now, he should be unstoppable and yet he wasn’t. All because of that goddamn kid and probably that damned bird too. He should have reset the moment she appeared.

But then, what if that would have just served to break his SAVEs earlier? Flowey had absolutely no clue how that would have gone down and the thought annoyed him to no end. He was very close to blowing a gasket but managed to catch himself at the very last second. His vines twitched in agitation as he had to force himself to take deep breaths. Counting to ten a dozen times finally allowed him to reign in his temper long enough to think. Opening his eyes, he decided to look around and see if there were any tracks he might have missed.

As he stretched himself into the air to get a better view, something in the corner of his eye grabbed his attention. Going over to it, he saw that it was some sort of grey sludge, reminiscent of things he never wanted to interact with again. His memories were jutted at the sight, remembering how that pathetic guard slowly melted down into the same goo, and a wicked smile curled up on his lips.

“Seems like that bird brain ran out of time~” He wished he could hear her begging for help again but by now she must be nothing more than sewage waste.

Good. That's what she deserves for ruining things for him.

Looking around, he saw another small puddle, leading off towards the elevator. He thought about where it could have led afterwards and Flowey had to smack himself. Why didn’t he think of starting with the closest goddamn area the kid might know. Digging down to Hotland, he came out in front of the elevator and lo and behold, more gooey tracks leading off to the Steamworks. Flowey would strangle his past counterpart if he could. Resigning himself for waiting, Flowey dug to the other side of the defunct facility and decided to try and think of a spiel to honey up the kid long enough to get his SOUL.

Eventually, the heavy doors of the Steamworks opened, and with it, a ragtag group of monsters and one human arrived. Flowey narrowed his eyes as something was off. Their expressions were sunken and miserable, a sight he would normally enjoy a lot but for now it put him at a sense of unease. Feathers-for-brain was carrying the sole reason he was there to begin with, the elusive idiot fast asleep on her back. His vines twitched, eager to dust the group then and there and just grab the SOUL but before he could actually follow through that impulse, another figure stepped out.

“Wh-what?! But she should be nothing but a memory by now!” He muttered to himself as the other Martlet squinted, blocking the light of the swelterstone with her wing out in front of her eyes. Something was not right here and Flowey didn’t like it at all. Could they have given her another dose? But that idiot never carries it with her when Clover is a goody two shoes, unless for some reason she decided to change her mind!

There was something else off about her but Flowey couldn’t really put a vine on it. The stray yellow lock of hair caught his eye and he stopped. “Did she always have that?” He quickly dashed that thought away but the origin of that strange decoloration eluded him. “Feh, I shouldn’t be surprised that she somehow grew to like that little bastard.” He didn’t want to think of the possibility of it being anything but cosmetic, his ego and pride would not allow it.

He managed to catch himself before he could fly off into another tangent and lose track of them again, noticing just in time that they headed off towards the Wild East. He followed them, out of sight and hopefully out of mind, and had to suppress a groan when he saw the group circle around the faux cowboy town and towards the stupid fox’s house.

Watching as the massive birdbrain had to squeeze herself down to fit past the door was a funny sight for the deranged flower, and he settled in to keep an eye on everything until he could get Clover alone. He didn’t really know what happened back there that left the group in such a state but he knew he would have loved to hear it.


“What d’you mean this isn’t your first time in the Underground?” Starlo had thought he heard it all but clearly the universe decided that seeing and meeting alternate versions of monsters wasn’t enough. He sneaked a glance towards Ceroba and Martlet but neither of them seemed to have any more of an idea than him. Clover took another deep breath.

“I wish I could mean it in any other way, but I have been stuck down here, in some sick and twisted neverending loop. The same day, week, months repeating over and over and over again.” His eyes were downcast, unable to look at his friends in shame.

“But why? Why didn’t you say anything before?” Ceroba voiced her concern. “If you have been through this day before, then why did you...go along with me?” Her claws clenched in her palm and Clover sighed.

“Up until today, I didn’t remember the other days. I only remembered things that happened to me when time was rewound after I got in—” he looked to the side, contemplating on what to say, “—trouble.” Valravn quickly pieced things together, and she blurted out before she could think about what she was going to say.

“You mean when you died? Is that what the flower was going to do in my Underground? Turn back the time so I would fight that thing again all over from the start?” She realized it too late just what she said and clamped her beak shut, but the damage was already done. There was a surge of shame and despair coming from Clover while the others were horrified.

“Wh-what do you mean Clover died?” Martlet was the first to overcome her shock, albeit just barely and she immediately zoned in on her human friend. “Clover? Clover? What did she mean?”

Clover’s throat constricted as he was brought to the limelight. He knew this would happen when he decided to go ahead with telling the truth to his friends, but it was still a tough pill to swallow. His hands shook briefly as he wished he had chosen otherwise but deep down he knew it was the right call to come clean, they deserved that much.

“There have been times when...things went wrong.” He began, a brief glance towards his friends before his gaze flicked back towards the hole in the floor. “And I had a ‘friend’, who could do the impossible when bad stuff happened to me.” He couldn’t stop the venom in his voice when mentioning Flowey, the intense hatred caught his friends off-guard.

“Clover, are you implying time travel? I’ve never heard of magic like that, such a feat is just...” Ceroba trailed off, her mind racing as she thought back to what Valravn said, to her fight with her human friend and their journey through the Steamworks.

“I know, I didn’t believe him at first either but then, while I was making my way through the Dark Ruins I couldn’t see the floor before me and I slipped and—” Clover visibly cringed as the memory played back in his mind, Martlet covered her beak with her feathers in shock at the implication. She got up from her place and wrapped Clover up in a warm embrace, holding him close as he melted into the hug.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” She asked softly, not wanting to upset him but Clover just shook his head.

“Flowey didn’t want me to tell anyone about him. At first I thought he was jus’ shy, like he told me. But no, he just doesn’t wanna give up his role as a puppet master.” Clover snorted, contempt oozing off of him as he talked about the demented flower. It was starting to get harder for him to focus, both due to the comfortable embrace, as well as constant exhaustion finally catching up with him.

“Flowey? Is it a yellow flower?” Starlo asked out loud and Martlet could feel her young friend freeze up in her arms. “Sorry deputy, Valravn here warned us about a yellow flower before she—eh, never mind that now.” He sent a slightly strained wink and smile towards Clover. “Point is, if I see that varmint then I’ll be sure to give it a piece o’ my mind.”

Despite the circumstances, Clover couldn’t help but smile back, appreciating the gesture of the good sheriff. “Thank you Starlo, but that might probably not be a good idea. Flowey can turn time back on a whim.” At this point, Clover was tired of Flowey’s bullshit and he wanted none of it.

“He might not be able to do that anymore.” Valravn mused and Martlet swore she heard Clover’s neck snap at the speed he turned towards the larger bird.

“Wh-why do you think that? It only happened when I—when I...” He couldn’t stop his thoughts from straying too far and Valravn was inadvertently shown visions of her demise, as well as Flowey being reduced to mulch via a hail of bullets.

“Oh, I see.” She pushed through the nauseating mental image and took a deep breath. “I don’t know if it really has any connection to it Clover, but I think that weird yellow star is gone.” She saw that he was about to interject and held up a starry wing.

“Back when I was fighting that...other you and won, that flower came out and gloated about how I wouldn’t remember any of it. I saw a weird star thing wrapped in a vine of his and I shot it with a feather.” The others had no idea what they were talking about but knew it was important so they listened.

“But that’s—and that broke the star?” Clover sounded hopeful and Valravn hesitated.

“No, it wasn’t just that.” Valravn looked less than happy with what she was about to say. “That other you, for some reason, he also shot it with his last breath. The star shattered and then some weird fracture appeared and I ended up here.”

“The star broke...but that doesn’t mean he can’t just undo everything here. I don’t know why he just didn’t do it already.” Clover’s voice was so despondent that it wrenched the SOULs of his friends. The more they heard, the less they understood, but one thing was very clear for all of them. Clover had been through more than a child, than anyone should have.

“I think it also broke here.” Valravn’s words hit Clover again but he found that he could barely muster any energy to move. Still, that didn’t stop him from staring at the large monster. “Just before you collapsed back in New Home, I heard the same shattering sound as the one back on the rooftop.”

“I don’t know if he only has one of those.” Clover was starting to feel hopeful but a part of him was still concerned that the psychotic flower would just make everything disappear again. “He always put them out when I traveled the Underground.” Valravn hummed in thought at that.

“Was there one near that vending machine? Back where we came from.” She nodded with her head towards the exit of the lab and Clover thought about it for a moment.

“Usually there is but he could have just taken it away, not like it would be the first time.” He muttered the last but more to himself but Martlet caught it.

“Is he really that dangerous?” She asked with concern in her voice but her friend’s silence was a clear indication of that.

“I don’t want any of you to get hurt by him.” Clover eventually piped up but Martlet could tell he was leaving something out but with all he revealed now, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know at this point.

“He looked incredibly upset when it broke. Can’t imagine he would be any happier here either.” Valravn supplied with a thoughtful look. “Do you think he wouldn’t have undone things if he could by now?”

Throughout the conversation, Clover’s friends were trying to figure things out from the bits and pieces they were getting from his conversation with Valravn but the picture each of them were getting was rather grim. Martlet could only continue to hug him for support, while Ceroba and Starlo ruminated in silence.

“You are right, he definitely would have loaded by now. Though there were times when he let things play out...just to see how things would happen.” He sounded tired, too tired but there was an inkling of hope in his tone.

“Well, I don’t really know how that whole thing works but if that other flower was this mad over the star breaking, I think the one here would be equally pissed.” That got Clover to chuckle and after thinking it over, her reasoning gave him hope.%%

“So do you think this means that I’m...I’m free?” He asked with some trepidation, not wanting to celebrate too early but Martlet tightened her hug around him, her comforting gesture easing Clover up immensely. “Haha....suck it...Flowey...” He could no longer keep his eyes open and he slumped against his friend’s body, exhaustion finally taking over.

“Clover?!” Ceroba panicked for a moment, thinking that something bad happened but Martlet put that worry to ease.

“He’s fine, just asleep.” Hearing that, Ceroba’s mind was put at ease, at least a bit..

“I’m surprised he managed to stay with us for so long.” Ceroba stood up and stretched, a bone or two popping back into place. “We should get him somewhere comfortable, he needs to rest.” She bit her lip, looking a bit uncomfortable for a moment before sighing. “My home is big enough for all of us to sleep in, unless someone has a better idea?” She looked at the others, Martlet shaking her head and Starlo, he was just staring ahead of himself with a glassy look in his eyes. “Star?”

“Huh? Wha?” He snapped out of whatever was going through his head before giving Ceroba a lopsided smile. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Star, are you okay?” Ceroba’s question made him falter even more and his eyes flicked towards the now asleep Clover. She found his behavior weird but opted to let him tell things at his own pace.

”I dunno. Jus’ been thinkin’ about what the deputy said and...my fight with him.” He balled his fists, with Valravn looking curiously at him.

“You fought Clover?” Her question was answered by a nod.

“That I did. I ain’t proud of it at all, I wasn’t behaving like a model lawman that's for sure.” He gave her a wry smile before continuing. “But it’s strange. I didn’t give it much of a thought before, chalking it up to Clover bein’ a human n’ just one hell of a kid but now, I ain’t so sure.”

“Star, what are you talking about?” Ceroba already had a sinking feeling in her gut but she didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

“He was just too good at dodging, Ceroba. It's like he always knew what I was going to do and when. There were a few close calls ‘n moments where he got nicked, but he always just managed to avoid any serious injury. But now, after what the deputy said I have to wonder...” He took one look at Clover and cast his gaze down in shame. “What if he wasn’t always so lucky?”

Both Ceroba and Martlet felt stones drop in their stomachs, their own encounters with Clover now put in a whole different light.

“No wonder he didn’t even want to look at me.” Starlo quietly added as he shook his head. “Let’s just go and get some rest. I would wager the deputy could use a bed to sleep in.” It was clear he wasn’t over this but none of the other monsters wanted to think about the issue he just brought up, at least not now. Though it was impossible to stop the mind once it started to wander despite their best intentions.

He caught sight of Ceroba, his childhood friend looking just as forlorn as he was. When she took notice of his gaze, her eyes shifted, glancing from Clover to himself and the sheriff got the memo.

‘We’ll talk later’

“Yeah, yeah that sounds good.” Martlet was quiet as well, her mind unable to stop herself from imagining the worst case scenarios from when she tried to ‘apprehend’ Clover. In her mind, she could almost see the fresh Snowdin snow stained red. Martlet felt sick in her stomach and she couldn’t help but tighten her hold around the young human in her arms. “I’m sorry Clover, I’m so sorry.” A large feathery hand gently grasped her shoulder, shocking her out of her thoughts. Looking back up, she saw Valravn standing over them both, her face neutral but she could see care in those golden eyes of hers.

“It won’t do you any good if you keep thinking about it.” She gently nudged Martlet to get up, who did so with some difficulty while holding onto Clover. “Want me to help?”

“There really is no hiding from myself, is there?” Martlet asked with a hollow chuckle, before turning around. “If you could help him on my back, that would be nice.”

“Sure.” Valravn gently took Clover and for the first time, she was able to treat him like a real child, not a human, not a murderer, but a child. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she helped Martlet secure her friend on her back and the two stood awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do.

“Thanks, Valravn.” Her smaller counterpart smiled up at her and Valravn responded in kind, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, she could allow a genuine smile on her face. Martlet then turned to Starlo and Ceroba, both of whom were silently ruminating not too far away from them. Making her way over to them, she gently nudged the two with her shoulder. “Hey, we should go. Do you know how to get out of here, Ceroba?”

“Yeah, follow me.” She cast one last guilt-laced look at Clover’s sleeping form, before walking off, prompting the others to follow her. The trip through the Steamworks was silent and awkward, none of the adults had anything to say. Heeding Axis’ warning from before, they were extremely cautious deeper in but thankfully there were no accidents. Ceroba often stared at some spots wistfully, remembering her trek through the facility with Clover, guilt weighing heavily down on her about her plans back then.

When they reached the lake of coolant, Valravn opted to fly over the bubbling liquid, unsure if the floating bot would be able to handle her. While waiting for the others to rejoin, her thoughts scattered and she took a good look at herself. Her new body still felt alien to her and deep inside, there was longing to go back to how things were. She knew it was no longer possible, that she was now forever stuck in this foreign body that was once so pure, but she could not deny the feeling. With a sigh, she changed her wings back to arms, inspecting the starry feathers covering them, noticing the sporadic twinkles of yellow stars amidst the sea of white and blue.

She couldn’t stop a small smile from spreading on her beak. While a part of her was still wary of the human, for a good reason if she were to be asked, Valravn knew he never asked for all of that to happen to him either.

It’s not like he wanted to be stuck in a loop of death, self-sacrifice and dying.

Her mood soured as she thought back to her own time, a cold knot forming in her stomach. Just how much of that was because of the flower’s manipulation, and how much of it was due to whatever sick and twisted crusade that Clover wanted to go on? What happened to her Underground after she vanished? Does it still exist, covered in dust and despair, or did it simply cease to exist with her disappearance? Could she go back?

Would she go back?

Valravn felt torn about it. On one wing, it would be the right thing to do, to go back and help the survivors, help rebuild and protect against further human incursions, against that damn flower. On the other one, Valravn was tired, oh so tired. She was mentally exhausted by everything that happened, to the point she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her bed and sleep until she forgot about the Underground and the entire world. She idly wondered if things would have been better had Clover not saved her life with the power of his SOUL. As she moved her head, her hair swayed into her vision and she noticed the yellow streak in the sea of cyan blue again. Clover saved her life, when he didn’t need to. He was prepared to sacrifice his life for what’s essentially a complete stranger, one that was more than ready to turn him into a bloody mess on the pavement.

She shook her head vehemently, trying to get that line of thought away from her. She didn’t want her emotions to seep through their connection, Angel knows they both have been through a lot. Just in time, she could hear the sounds of the floating bot and the group disembarked.

“Hey, hope you haven’t been waiting too long for us.” Starlo helped Martlet and Ceroba off the manta machine. Valravn shook her head.

“No. Was everything ok with you guys?” She got a couple nods in return before Ceroba took over and led them out of the Steamworks. “Where are we headed anyway?”

“My home, it’s near Oasis Valley in the...Dunes...oh.” She realized that it might not be a good idea for Valravn to come along, if her previous worry was any indication. “Sorry, I should have told you before.”

“It's fine.” Valravn’s body language told them that it wasn’t as fine as she said it to be.

“Where would you rest then? I reckon you are just as tired as the deputy ‘n pretty much all of us here.” Starlo asked her as the group stopped, the sealed entrance to the facility not too far off now. Valravn hesitated, thinking of her—of Martlet’s house in Snowdin, but shut that thought down.

“I don’t...know. I could sleep in the forests of Snowdin. They are deep and thick enough that I could hide away forever there. I could easily stay the night in there and meet with you all somewhere tomorrow.” The group of smaller monsters shared an uneasy look, clearly not too thrilled by the answer.

“Wouldn’t it get cold for you? Snowdin ain’t exactly the most inviting climate from my few visits to it.” Starlo scratched his head in thought. “No offense, I know Feathers is used to the cold but I would wager even that is too cold for her.” He shot a glance towards Martlet who nodded after rolling her eyes. It seems like her nickname will stay with the star headed lawman.

“I don’t think it would really bother me anymore.” To demonstrate her point, Valravn summoned a large icicle from thin air, pushing the heat of the Steamworks back from them all. She let the chunk dissipate after a bit, only to be met with a sad look from Martlet.

“Valravn, I don’t think any one of us should be alone tonight.” Her voice was laced with worry and care, making Valravn falter. The large bird didn’t really want to go through the Dunes but at the same time, she didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts either.

“Martlet’s right. I don’t think it would be good for you either to go off on your own.” Ceroba added, giving Valravn a sympathetic look. “Not because I don’t think you couldn’t take care of yourself, but because I get the feeling you need company.” There was something in her tone that told Valravn she was speaking from experience. Her feathers bristled slightly from her inner turmoil but a nudge from Martlet grounded her.

“Alright, okay. But could we avoid the western town, please? At least for now?” Hearing her plead like this sounded so alien, compared to the more collected and calmer way she spoke up to this point, and the group agreed. With that, Ceroba opened the entrance and they were treated to the blinding light of the swelterstone.

Valravn hesitated behind the group, her nerves eating away at her before she ultimately took the steps necessary and made her way out as well. She tried to block the harsh light out of her eyes, with some moderate success. Following the group down the dusty path, she could feel her stomach lurch when she saw just where they ended up. The sounds of panicking monsters played in her mind, helplessly begging her to find their loved ones as they went down to hide in the shelter.

“You coming?” Starlo called out as he made his way back to her, after noticing that she was staring blankly at the farm. From the way her wings twitched, he could only imagine what was going through her mind and knew he had to get her back on track before she gets worse. Deciding to distract her, he continued. “Ma’ folks are really good at growing corn. Did you know that with a bit of magic during growth, you can even make them spicy by default? ‘s one of my Pa’s favourite type to eat!”

“Huh?” That did the trick as she was snapped out of her inner thoughts, staring wide-eyed at Starlo. He gave her a wink and a smile.

“Come on now, we have a bit of a trek ahead of us.” He motioned with his head towards the others. She nodded and fell in line, thankful for the timely intervention. As they reached a thin stone formation over a gaping abyss, Valravn got the same unnerving feeling as she felt back in the Steamworks. After talking about those weird stars, Valravn had a hunch that the sensation was related to them .

On the other end of the suspended pathway was a small bridge that led to the rest of the Dunes. Once again, she got the same sensation and she had to wonder, just how many of those stars did the flower place around? Or did he really just place the one constantly? Questions she didn’t know the answer to but the answers to all those were terrifying to think of.

In the distance, she saw familiar buildings and for a moment she was worried that they would go through the town but thankfully, Ceroba led them through a small gap in the fence and completely circled around the Wild East. The walk under the blazing heat was just as tense as their trip through the Steamworks but eventually in the distance, the Ketsukane estate became visible.

“This is...I remember this place.” Valravn memories flickered back to times when her mentor was still alive, how she visited here a couple times, way back when things were much better, simpler.

Ceroba didn’t say anything, just nodded and opened the doors to the house and stood aside. The group went in one by one, though Valravn had to crouch a bit to squeeze herself through the entryway. With one final breath, Ceroba followed after her and gently closed the front doors behind her, resigning herself to spend the night here.

“You can take Clover to a guest room, second one to the right.” Ceroba motioned to Martlet, who nodded and took her young friend to finally get some proper rest. Starlo saw just how stiff the kitsune’s movements were and didn’t need to think too hard why that was the case. His eyes widened as he remembered something and he politely coughed.

“Forgot that Ed and I left something in the kotatsu room, so I’ll go ahead and grab that real quick, if you don’t mind.” He slinked off and once he was out of their line of sight, hurriedly made his way to the dining room to set things back. Sure, he didn’t agree with what Chujin did, nor what Ceroba planned to do with Clover, but there was a time and place for everything. Tonight was neither of those after all the ordeals.

Valravn awkwardly stood in the foyer. For some reason she was getting the same gut feeling whenever she glanced towards the middle of the mat. She will need to ask Clover once he wakes up if there were really stars everywhere on his journey. She could tell that Ceroba was in a similar position and she had to wonder what happened to her mentor’s family that got her acting like this.

“Let’s see if I can find you some bedrolls. No offense, but I think you would be too big for any of the beds in the house.” The kitsune asked but Valravn shook her head at that.

“No worries, I can just sleep on the floor.” Ceroba stared at her for a moment, before narrowing her eyes in disappointment. “What? It’s no big deal.”

“Listen, I might not have been as present in my home as I should have been, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let guests under my room sleep uncomfortably.” She turned away and walked off, motioning for the large bird to follow her. “Now come, let’s find you a room and things to sleep on.” Seeing as there was no way for her to get out of this, Valravn complied.

“Fine.”

Turns out, it wasn’t as hard to find proper sleeping accommodations for her as they both thought it would be, and once Starlo joined them, the group decided to check on Clover and Martlet. Finding the human to be fast asleep in a bed, while the bluebird sat on the floor next to him, snoring quietly as she slumped onto the mattress. Not wanting to rouse her up, Ceroba grabbed a blanket from a nearby cabinet and draped it over her before leaving the two alone.

“Well, I reckon I should head back to the posse and let them know that things are...okay.” Starlo’s gaze shifted over to Valravn, unsure what to tell his friends. “I’ll come over in the morning once we all had some proper rest, how’s that sound?”

Ceroba was conflicted, not wanting to be alone in her home, even if she would technically not be. In the past months she was used to always being around Star and his posse and having that change so suddenly, especially after a day like this, weighed heavily on her. He noticed her hesitation and his posture shifted, realizing what she didn’t want to say.

“On second thought, it’s gettin’ late and I could use some rest. I’ll tell the others tomorrow then.” He flashed his friend a smile who nodded gratefully. “Let’s just turn in then, we had a long, long day.”

“Yes, let’s.” She grabbed both herself and Starlo a bedroll and after bidding goodnight to Valravn, the two laid down in the kotatsu room, away from where the trapdoor was. Neither of them really said anything but they didn’t need to, just the fact he was there was enough for her.

“She’ll come home soon, I promise.” Starlo heard her breathing hitch and the bedrolls shifted ever so slightly.

“Thank you.” Her voice was uncharacteristically timid but for the first time in a while, he could hear hope in her tone. With that, the two went silent, both hoping that the future was bright.

Unfortunately, sleep did not come as easily as either of them hoped it would. Ceroba’s ears flicked, she could hear Starlo shift uneasily around in his bedroll. With a sigh, the kitsune sat up and rested her hands in her lap.

“I know you are awake too, Star.” There was a moment of silence before her friend let out a quiet grumble and rolled into his back.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to keep you up.” His gaze flickered towards her before promptly going back onto the hardwood ceiling.

“You weren’t. As much as I would like to go to sleep and get this day over with, we need to talk, don’t we?” She asked him, her voice soft and quiet but there were hints of regret in it.

“Well, whatdya wanna talk about?” He still kept his eyes trained on everything but her, the pit of guilt growing bigger in her stomach at that.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know, Star. I practically spat in your face, betrayed you and the posse, tried to kill Clover for something that might not even be worth it!” She couldn’t keep her voice as even as she wanted to, the cracks in the mask she wore at all times began to grow more and more numerous.

“Not to mention what you said...oh Angel, just how many times have I...” She gripped her covers and in her mind she replayed her fight with Clover over and over again, how tired he looked during it and just how easily he evaded most of her attacks. Hell, she had to cheat to try and kill him and even that didn’t work.

“Well I’ll admit, you did pull the wool over all our eyes.” Ceroba winced at that but she couldn’t deny it. Starlo let out a sigh and finally sat up, looking right at her. “And it hurt Ceroba, still does, if I’m honest with myself.”

“I’m sorry.” Was all she could say, now she was the one unable to look her friend in the eye as she turned her gaze away from Starlo. “What I did was unforgivable, I kno—”

“Ceroba, I never said that I would never forgive you.” He cut her off as he let out a deep sigh. “God knows, I did some messed up things to Clover and the posse. But like Moray said back then, ‘Forgiveness is just one apology away.’.”

“Star, I'm not sure what I’ve done can be forgiven.” The way she talked about it told the sheriff that there was more going on than he knew but he was not about to let his childhood friend wallow in misery.

“Well, if you ask me. I think whether or not we forgive you is up to us, ain’t it?” He gave her a small smile. “Awfully selfish of you to just decide you are not worth it.” She let out the tiniest of scoffs but Starlo took it as a victory when he saw the edge of her lips curl upwards ever so slightly.

“We both know I’ve been nothing but selfish.” She shot back before shaking her head. “I’m worried, Star. Clover might have forgiven me after the fight but now...can he really forgive me, if I have betrayed him time and time again?” Her eyes became glassy and to that, Starlo didn’t have any answers.

“‘m not sure. This whole thing’s just beyond everything I ever thought was possible. I don’t even know if I’m ever gonna be able to look the deputy in the eye after all this.” He sighed and tightened his hands into a fist. “Poor kid didn’t deserve all that. I don’t rightly know if I have the right to but barrier be damned, I want to make sure the deputy is safe and sound.”

“Me too Star, me too.” Ceroba laid back onto her roll. “Can’t imagine how Martlet feels right now.” Starlo raised an eyebrow at that.

“Feathers?” Starlo blinked in confusion before he recalled her behavior back in the Steamworks. “Oh...yeah. She must care about the deputy something fierce, eh?”

“Mmmh, I think it goes deeper than that.” She thought back to her using the green magic so easily on Clover. “And I think it goes both ways.” She couldn’t see Starlo but heard him hum in thought. “And if Clover has really been through this day, who knows how many times, then I think it's safe to say he might even view her as more than just a friend.”

“Heh, you don’t say?” The smile was audible in his voice. “Y’know what? Good for them.” With that, Ceroba could only agree. She couldn’t hold back a yawn and she heard Starlo chuckle. “I think this is as good of a time as any to try and catch some shut-eye.”

Yes. I get the feeling we’ll have a lot more to talk about tomorrow.” She was not looking forward to that but knew there was no way of avoiding it. “Good night, Star. And...thank you.”

“Think nothin’ of it. Good night, Ceroba.” With that, the two went quiet and after a while, finally dozed off.

Back in her own room, Valravn laid awkwardly on one bedroll, while trying to use the other one as cover. She didn’t really need it—her body could barely feel the colder night anyway— but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless. Still, she found herself staring at the ceiling, sleep unwilling to claim her as she kept thinking of the events leading up to her current situation.

Letting out a groan of frustration, she sat up and made her way over to the window, sitting down next to it to look out at the ‘night’ sky in the Dunes, only focusing on the crystals embedded in the ceiling to distract herself. It was there that sleep finally took her, the large bird drifting off into unremarkable slumber at last.

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Pub: 15 Apr 2026 18:51 UTC

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