“No! You can! You are the only person I know who knows how to”—Clover’s fists tightened in preparation of what he must say—”how to work with SOULs. I have an idea on how to save her but we need you for that!” The group went completely silent and Ceroba’s fur stood on end.
“Clover, do you realize what you are saying?” Her voice shook as memories flooded back into the forefront of her mind, her greatest shame and regret playing out over and over again in her mind’s eye. Her claws flexed out of her fingertips and prickled the insides of her palms. “I can’t, not again.” She shook her head, trying to not slip and tumble down into the spiral of self hatred she spent the last year so in.
“Deputy, what are you talking about?” Starlo was unsure but something about the way his childhood friend reacted rubbed him the wrong way. Clover turned towards him but much like Ceroba, he didn’t meet his eyes, instead looking squarely onto his chest. Star raised an eyebrow, the weird behavior of his young friend setting off red flags but he had the feeling Clover would clam up pretty hard if he were to pry, especially now.
Clover bit his lip, not wanting to spill the beans on Ceroba, despite the grieving mother’s multiple betrayals across timelines. She had shown him genuine care and love as well and he was not about to trample all over that. So he went with however much he could say without telling the others of her past mistake. “Ceroba has knowledge and skills that could save Valravn’s life, potentially.”
“How do you know that, Clover?” Martlet shot a glance towards the shaking kitsune, the tall monster’s face shadowed by her hair but she could see tears streak down her muzzle. “Ceroba? Are you...okay?” She didn’t answer and the bluebird took a careful step towards her, reaching out with a feathered hand. But before she could touch her, Ceroba’s head snapped towards her, stopping Martlet in her tracks.
“I’m fine.” Her tone was even and measured but everyone could tell she was not okay, not at all. Turning towards Clover, Ceroba took a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m sorry Clover but I can’t help her, not like that.” She hoped that he would leave it be, but unfortunately for Ceroba, the cowpoke was not going to give up.
“But you can! You are the only one who can!” He grabbed the arms of her kimono, tugging on them and for the first time since coming back, their eyes met. Golden yellow stared into deep amber and Ceroba felt her SOUL twist. Her lips trembled and she forced herself to look away from Clover’s pleading eyes.
“Clover please stop, we can’t do anything for Val—”
“It worked for Kanako!” The air around the two suddenly felt incredibly cold and while not entirely knowledgeable about Ceroba’s daughter, even she knew that was a touchy subject from what she heard so far.
“Deputy! What in blazes are you—”
“Clover that was entirely uncalled fo—”
“Clover, listen to me. Do not try to bring my daughter into this, please.” She didn’t raise her voice but there was no need to. While her expression was mostly calm, he could feel an underlying current. He was fully aware just what she was capable of when pissed off. Gritting his teeth, he knew that he had to do something to save Valran but for that he had to convince Ceroba he was telling the truth. His mind raced on what to do but his body reacted first, a muscle memory guiding him as he took out his SOUL, instincts taking over like he had done this hundreds of times before.
“Clover, what are you doing?” Ceroba was caught off-guard by the sudden move, long enough for Clover’s SOUL to do its magic. A brilliant golden light enveloped the group and when they opened their eyes, the four of them were in a dimly lit room with faded, greenish-blue walls. Starlo blinked the stars out of his vision and was about to ask what happened, when he heard Clover’s voice.
“Just watch.” He pointed at another figure and when they looked over, the group saw another Clover with Ceroba.
“Will this really help her, Ceroba?” The other Clover asked as he was sitting on a dingy bed, the kitsune holding a syringe of sorts in her hand which was filled with a golden shining liquid.
“Yes it will...thank you, Clover.” She gave him a quick hug and a grateful smile, one which he reciprocated. The group then watched as she broke the contact and made her way over to another bed, one that had some sort of weird, gooey blob on it.
“But that’s...this is...where are we?” Ceroba frantically looked around, barely catching the exchange between her other self and Clover, only coming to her senses somewhat when her counterpart used the syringe to inject the golden substance into that melted mass.
“Is this what you meant by ‘it’ when you said it worked on Kanako? Does this mean that’s her?” Martlet sounded perturbed by that train of thought but then the vision swam and the sound that broke the silence brought Ceroba to tears.
“Mommy...is that...you?” A garbled but unmistakably young girl voice cut deep into Ceroba’s SOUL, a voice she never thought would hear again.
“That—that can’t be.” She covered her mouth in shock as the memory faded and they were back in the Steamworks. “Clover, what was that? Where were we? How could that be Kanako?” She desperately turned to him, her fur matted with fresh tears as she grappled with what she just saw. Was it real? Did Clover just make this up somehow? She squished that last thought into a smear, realizing that Clover is many things, but a disgusting, dirty liar who would mess with her like that is not one of them.
“It was us, in another time.” He gently grasped one of her hands. “You saw that whatever you took from me seems to have helped. Ceroba please, come and help Valravn.”
“What do you mean, another time? Clover, what's going on?” Martlet, just like everyone else, felt incredibly confused and a slight bit disturbed.
“And why did that vision or whatever that was, end there?” Starlo added, sneaking glances towards Ceroba. “What happened to my lil’ niece, Ceroba?” His question was only met with silence and he had half the thought of giving her a piece of his mind. However, the sorrowful and heart-wrenching look she gave him put a stop to that notion, at least for now.
“I’m sorry, I’ll explain what I can but we need to go, now!” Clover turned and ran off, stumbling and almost falling flat on his face as the rapid and constant exertion started to wear on his body, only stopping in the doorway to make sure his friends were coming. “Come on, I don’t know how much time we have!” The urgency was clear in his tone and he stared straight at Ceroba. “Please, I can’t let anyone else die because of me...” He desperately pleaded to the kitsune, who finally began to move, following after him.
Martlet and Starlo looked at one another, unasked questions and unspoken doubts piling up in both of them. It was the sheriff who acted first, deciding to go after them with her following quickly. They saw Ceroba run after Clover, barely catching sight of her turn left as she disappeared. When they reached the split in the path, the duo took the one that went left. Upon entering a hallway and pointedly ignoring the puddle of bile on the floor, they could hear people speaking but couldn’t make out what they said. Moving closer, the conversation became clearer and understandable.
“—TED HUMAN, TALL LADY, WHAT IS GOING ON? I HAVE RECEIVED REPORTS OF MULTIPLE INTRUDERS INTO THE STEAMWORKS BUT IT’S JUST YOU AND THIS BEING. IDENTIFY THEM.” Rounding the corner, they came upon the miserable sight of Valravn propped up against the wall, her body now almost completely gray and her feathers were fully melted into her being. Martlet gasped, covering her beak in horror as the ghastly sight of her other self shaking her to the very core.
“She is Valravn, Axis. She is not well and...Clover are you...okay?” Ceroba looked at the human who was doing his best not to collapse on the spot as he stared at Axis, the sentient robot unsure of why he was getting such a reaction.
“HATTED HUMAN? MY SENSORS ARE INDICATING HEIGHTENED DISTRESS, IS EVERYTHING OKAY?” He turned to face the human properly and Valravn called out, her breath and speech garbled and hard to make out.
“Don’t—don’t go close to him now.” She coughed up some gooey phlegm, trying to ignore the implication of what that might have been. Clover was taking in breaths rapidly and Valravn could guess he was seeing things again, possibly other encounters with that weird blocky robot. “Clover, listen to me. You are not there, you are here and now.” The large bird groaned in pain but persevered, lifting a hand as much as she could and waved it, hoping to catch his vision. “Focus on my wing, Clover.” Despite his quickening breathing, he tried to do as told and his wild eyes slowly moved from side to side, the grey gooey wing slowly swimming into his focus, breaking through visions of Axis and him murdering one another over and over again.
“What’s happening to him?” Martlet quietly asked, not wanting to accidentally set her friend off.
“MY SENSORS INDICATE HIGH STRESS AND SENSITIVITY, HATTED HUMAN IS GOING THROUGH WHAT I BELIEVE IS CLASSIFIED AS PANIC ATTACK.” Axis unfortunately was less quiet and Valravn threw him a withering glare, as much as she could in her current state. “I SENSE I SHOULD REMAIN SILENT FOR NOW.” He then proceeded to roll away from the group, allowing Clover to ground himself in reality once more. It took him a couple tense minutes, with Valravn running out of energy to move her wing by the end of it but the teen found himself once again in the presence of his friends.
“You okay?” Valravn croaked and Clover nodded shakily.
“Deputy, are you sure you are okay? That didn’t look too good to me.” Starlo piped up quietly, not wanting to accidentally cause trouble. Clover looked at him before quickly averting his eyes, a pang of hurt going through the Sheriff’s SOUL. He exchanged a glance with Martlet but she was just as lost as he was.
“I’ll explain everything, after Valravn is better.” He shakily tried to reassure them but it wasn’t very effective.
“Clover, I'm not sure I even know what to do.” The kitsune bit her lip, trying to avert her eyes from looking at the melting monster but to no avail. In her mind all she could think was that her precious daughter is going through the same state.
“But we have to try something! It’s my fault she’s like this and I can’t just let her die!” He begged his friend, Ceroba finally tearing her eyes away from the pitiful sight and locked them with the determined teen. “And if it really works, we could even save Kanako once this is all over!” The mention of her daughter again was a low blow and Clover knew that but he didn’t have too many options if he wanted her to cooperate as fast as possible.
She knew the repeated mention of her daughter was likely an attempt at making her more likely to help, but a part of her could not squelch the flicker of hope that reignited after she witnessed whatever the hell it was that Clover’s SOUL showed them all. Taking a deep breath, she mentally prepared herself and thought things over.
“Alright, fine.” The weight that pressed down on her entire being only increased the closer she got to committing, an icy grip threatened to seize her up. “From what it looked like, I have...for lack of better words, ‘tapped’ some of your SOUL’s essence.” Pushing through the crushing weight, she put a hand to her chin in thought. “Chujin hypothesized that a pure human SOUL could be the key t-”-She stopped herself from continuing that sentence, looking away in shame. -“ That doesn’t matter anymore...but if it could theoretically do that, it could maybe help and stabilize what Valravn is going through.”
“Maybe?” Martlet blurted out, having a hard time processing what was happening with the other version of her in this current state. Moving over to Valravn, she did her best to use green magic but it was a futile attempt and while she knew that deep down, the bluebird didn’t want to accept it at all.
“Martlet I don’t—this is not something I’ve ever seen or heard about. Monsters don’t melt, for God’s sake!” Ceroba felt like shit after the outburst but she was not in the mood to be tactful. Taking another deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves. “We’ll need a...” The kitsune trailed off, the memories coming back once again and she trembled, unable to hold the shakes back. “We need a syringe.”
“Where in blazes are we going to find one here?” Starlo scratched the back of his head while moving closer to Ceroba, putting his other hand on her shoulder to give her a reassuring squeeze. He was unsure why his old friend was behaving that way but at the same time he knew it was not the time to pry. “I might not know what's rightly goin’ on with Kanako but we’ll get my lil niece back.” He flashed her a small smile, wobbly and faltering but genuine all the same.
“I hope so too Star, I hope so too.” He gave her one last squeeze and she tried to gather all her willpower in her body to go through with what needed to be done.
“IF I MAY. I HEARD THAT YOU NEED A SYRINGE TO GET SOMETHING FROM HATTED HUMAN, IS THAT CORRECT?” Axis piped up from where he was standing, Clover flinching imperceptibly upon hearing his voice.
“That’s correct, Axis. Why, do you know where we could get one here?” Ceroba raised an eyebrow, not expecting him of all people to provide any assistance to begin with.
“WE ARE CURRENTLY IN THE LABORATORY SECTION OF THE STEAMWORKS. WHILE I DO NOT KNOW WHAT EXACTLY MY CREATOR’S CO-WORKERS DID IN THIS FACILITY, I POSSESS A RECORD OF STOCKED ITEM LIST.“ He looked towards Ceroba and his eyes began to flicker. “RUNNING DIAGNOSIS ON INTERNAL INVENTORY.” He leant forward a bit, going limp and Valravn, alongside Martlet, used this momentary lull to take a look at Clover.
“Clover? Are you okay?” The bluebird was the first to speak up, making him jump as he was snapped out of the daze he once again fell into. He looked at the two birds, his face a mixture of sorrow and fear but there was an underlying current of determination in those faded golden eyes. He hesitated, not sure what he should say but eventually he forced a small smile on his face.
“Yeah...I will be.” They all knew he was not being entirely truthful but neither of the Martlets brought it up. “And you are going to be okay too, Valravn. I won’t let you die.” His eyes regained some of its color, showing he was ready to do everything in his power to help her and Martlet smiled, nudging Valravn’s goopy shoulder.
“See? Clover is a good kid, we told you!” She beamed at the larger grey bird but Martlet didn’t miss the way Clover looked away, as if in shame. “What? Did I say something wrong?”
“N-nothing Martlet, we’ll talk about i—”
“DIAGNOSTICS FINISHED.” Axis’ timely interjection saved the teen from having to find awkward excuses and he let out a silent “thank God” as he never felt more relieved in his entire life to be cut off by the sentient bot. Thankfully, repeated exposure to his voice managed to lessen the mental blow and he even managed to look at him. “ACCORDING TO THE INVENTORY LIST, THERE SHOULD BE APPROXIMATELY FIVE BOXES OF UNUSED INDUSTRIAL GRADE SYRINGES CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING EVEN THE COOLANT LAKE. EACH BOX CONTAINS APPROXIMATELY THIRTY OF THESE SYRINGES AND CAN BE FOUND IN SECTOR 78-B LOCKER, TWENTY METERS FROM HERE.” He pointed behind him and Clover knew he had to act fast.
No sooner than he finished, a yellow blur dashed past him, vanishing in the direction he mentioned leaving only stumped monsters and a confused robot.
“SINCE WHEN CAN HATTED HUMAN TELEPORT?” Ceroba let out a sigh, feeling an oncoming headache but it dwarfed next to the sheer dread she didn’t want to show.
“Uhh, would wager sometime in the ballpark of the last couple hours, partner.” Starlo supplied helpfully, only to be met with the emotionless stare of Axis as the robot looked him up and down.
“[WILD WEST NERD] DETECTED, ANSWER REGARDED WITH SIXTY PERCENT PROBABILITY OF BEING OVERBLOWN, AS PER INSTRUCTIONS OF CREATOR.” The smile immediately evaporated from the sheriff’s face and despite the circumstances, Ceroba had to stifle a giggle at the expense of her childhood friend.
“That sonuva.” The star-headed monster grumbled and looked up just in time for Clover to appear in a yellow flash, almost toppling over from exertion but he held an entire box securely in his hands. His breathing was hard but he pushed on for the sake of Valravn’s life, doing his best to ignore his burning lungs.
“I-is this the one?” He opened the box and showed the contents to Axis. Ceroba inadvertently looked at it and all of her mental preparation and strength vanished in an instant. She didn’t see empty syringes in that box but in her mind, each of them were filled with that baleful blue liquid. Her breathing quickened and she took a fearful step back from the offending box, lips trembling and her ears flattened against her head.
“Ceroba?” Starlo immediately realized that something was off about her, moving in to comfort her but the moment he touched her shoulder she jerked away, as if burnt and Starlo had to take a step back. “What’s wrong?”
He looked between his distraught friend and the pitiful state of Valravn and his stomach felt queasy at the sight of her. He didn’t want to say anything out loud but the whole melting business made him feel wildly uncomfortable. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Starlo tried again.
“Ceroba, I ain’t sure what’s goin’ on but Valravn here needs your help. If what the Deputy is saying is correct, you should be able to.” He put on a shaky smile, trying to ignore Valravn in his peripheral vision and instead stepped up to his friend again, this time she didn’t pull back.
“Star I’m—I don’t know if I really can do anything.” She looked into his eyes and he could see a weight in them that he had seen way too many times during this last year. Ever since Kanako fell down there was a profound change in her eyes that scared him, not in the sense that he was afraid of her but rather, for her.
“Please Ceroba, you gotta help us!” Her human friend pleaded and she did her best to keep herself from crumbling into a miserable pile. Her hands trembled as she tried to get her body to stop shaking but to no avail. She had to be strong for her friends but there was just no more strength left in her body after all that happened today, neither physical nor mental.
“Clover, I c-can’t do it. I’m sorry I just—I just can’t.” Ceroba was tired in every sense of the word; she could feel her legs were ready to give out at any moment but she was given the miniscule strength to stay upright by Starlo being there for her. Clover looked up into her eyes and knew that he could not change her mind on that.
“Then how do I do it?” His voice was quiet but it still thundered against the kitsune’s ears. Her breathing caught and she could feel panic rise in her again. “I’ll be alright, I promise things will be fine but I need to do it.”
“I-I-I-I—” Her gaze flickered between Clover, the now empty syringes and the dying form of Valravn. Her instincts and mind screamed at her to run, never look at those accursed things again but deep in her SOUL, that tiny ember of what the teen said before refused to snuff out. She never again wanted to do anything so invasive, so condemning but if it could really work, if it could get her Kanako back.
Just as she was about to try and force herself through the numbing shivers wrecking her body, a voice cut her train of thought in half.
“I’ll do it.” Surprisingly to everyone, it was Martlet who broke the silence. Even Valravn was surprised, raising a gooey eyebrow as best as she could in her current state. After one last attempt at getting her better via another green feather, the bluebird stood up and walked over to the others.
“I just need to...stick this into Clover’s SOUL and uhh, drain some stuff out, right?” She looked at the box of syringes on the floor, having been discarded when Ceroba’s panic got the best of her. The distraught mother so badly wanted to blast those things away, to just try and forget and move on but she knew that inactivity would only lead to further death.
(From here its the same as before)