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Ceroba raises her staff in a desperate attempt to shield her face but Clover isn’t having that. They charge their soul and with one final blast, the mask shatters to dust.
They catch a glimpse of Ceroba’s grief stricken face before being unwillingly pulled into another memory. They brace themself, selfishly hoping for a memory that’s a bit happier. They don’t know if they can handle watching Chujin’s funeral right now.
“Psst… Psst, Clover?”
A hazy scene comes into focus as shadowy blobs become pizza boxes and sleeping figures on the floor.
The T.V. was on, but it had run out of tape which left only static to fill the screen. Regardless, it gave off just enough light to illuminate a silhouette sitting across from them.
No… nononono… Anything but this…
They nudged Clover with their foot again. Their ballerina shoes made their prodding too sharp to ignore and so, groggily, Clover sat up.
“...hmm?”
Once Clover responded, Melody brought their legs back and wrapped their arms around their knees.
“I’m sorry to wake you… I wanted to write a letter but… I couldn’t get the words right.”
Clover sat up straighter, not quite registering the words but hearing the pain in their voice.
Tentatively, they crawled closer and lightly nudged Melody’s shoulder. Melody looked up at them with tear tracks staining their cheeks.
“I-I know you’re probably too young to understand this but you have a right to know, more than anyone… I’m going on a trip and… It’s going to take a little while.”
Clover pulled back a little and tilted their head.
“...Where are you going?”
“I - it’s complicated, well not really I just- It’s Mom.”
Fresh tears spill down their cheeks as they struggle to maintain their composure. Clover held out their arm again but hesitated, unsure of what to do.
They’d seen Melody cry before, especially after their mom died. Melody always wore their heart on their sleeve, unafraid to let people know how they truly felt. Clover actually admired how unashamed they were to cry in front of people. It usually made things a lot easier. However, usually Clover just had to apologize or pull out some band-aids and the tears would stop. Whenever Melody cried about their mom, things got more complicated.
Clover didn’t actually know their mom very well since they chose to live with their dad. They still missed her but whenever they got sad it was easy to just pretend their mom was in her apartment working on her computer or driving their siblings to ballet practice.
Melody and the rest of their siblings had their whole life uprooted. There was no escaping reality when it was constantly staring at them so harshly in the face.
Melody wiped their nose with their arm and continued.
“Clover, the last thing I said to her was ‘I hate her’ but I don’t, I never did. I thought I did at the time because she’d always force me to go to those stupid ballet lessons but deep down I could never hate her but I told her that anyway. I lied to her, Clover, and n-now she’ll never know that.”
Clover frantically shook their head but before they could get a word out, Melody pressed on, almost like they were trying to get all the words out before they got stuck in their throat.
“Sorry just isn’t good enough. I need to make it count. So, you remember how those people brought flowers to Mom’s funeral? Well, Mom’s favorite flowers are Buttercups, but no one brought Buttercups. They’re really expensive and they don’t grow around here anymore, but I heard from Delphine that they’ve been spotted around Mt. Ebott. It only takes a day to get there, and a day to get back, and I don’t think I’ll have to climb the whole mountain. It should only take a couple days and.. What are you doing?”
Clover dug in between the couch cushions and fished out a bag of butterscotch candies. They turned and offered the plastic bag to Melody.
“...what?”
“Rations. In case you get hungry.”
Melody stared for a moment before reaching over and pulling Clover into a back breaking hug. Clover’s eyes widened for a second before wrapping their arms around them in turn.
Too soon, they broke apart and Melody carefully shifted off the couch. They cautiously made it over to the door, making an effort not to step on their siblings’ sleeping bodies. Clover followed them.
Please don’t go…
Melody slowly opened the front door, wincing at every creek and anxiously looking back to see if anyone else heard. When the gap was finally big enough. They sucked in their stomach and started to slip through, only to freeze half-way when Clover grabbed their arm.
“I could go with you.”
Even to themself, their voice sounded small. Melody gave them a sad smile.
“With your little legs you’d only slow me down.”
Clover frowned and looked away but their grip didn’t waver.
"Then… then you have to promise you’ll come back.”
“I-”
“No fingers crossed.”
Melody rolled their eyes in exasperation.
“C’mon Clover, you know I’d never stoop that low.”
Still, Clover dropped their grip and Melody held both hands out so they could clearly see them illuminated in the streetlight that filtered through the gap in the door.
“I promise, I’ll do everything I can to make it back to you. If someone tries to stop me, I’ll kick them in the face.”
Clover smiled a little at that and they smiled back.
“I love you, Clover.”
“Love you too.”
And with that, they silently slipped into the night. Clover stared at the door for a while before sitting down with their back against the door. They knew Melody said it’d take a few days, but Clover still fell asleep there… Just in case…
As the memory fades. Clover takes a few seconds to remember where they are. Their memory clears but their vision remains blurry. Something warm and wet slides down their cheeks.
A voice to their right breaks the silence.
“What… what was that?”
Clover glances at Starlo as he sits up, scrunching his face in a wince. They turn to Martlet, who pushes herself up with her wings and dazily turns to look at Clover with an expression of confusion that morphs into shock once her eyes lock with theirs.
“Clover! Are… Are you okay?”
Clover turns to face Ceroba, who stares at them with an absolutely shattered expression on her face.
“You… You lost someone too.”
After hours of walking, countless battles, and countless deaths, Ceroba’s words are all it takes to finally make Clover’s legs give out.
They lost them… They’re gone… They’re dead.
Clover spent three years refusing to accept it, three years of sleeping against the door, waiting for them to come home. After that, they spent the past year stewing in nothing but rage.
Their siblings moved on with their lives as if nothing had even happened. Dad reported them missing and half-heartedly hung up posters, but outside of that, he shut down.
Sometimes Clover would catch him smoking out on the front porch and he’d spend hours staring off into the distance without really seeing anything. If he’d had one too many of his drinks, he’d start talking about the mountain and how it was almost tradition for it to take just for the sake of taking. He’d talk about it like it was some sort of insatiable being, ruthlessly ripping apart families and ruining lives for no reason other than to take.
Clover had never told him about Melody’s mission. They’d never told anyone, no one bothered to ask.
Every night they would lie awake and this image would form in their mind of a ruthless, bloodthirsty monster with several long arms for snatching up children. They’d imagine it towering over them with a face-splitting grin, reveling in the idea of making children suffer.
Clover would imagine shooting it down and watching the hunger leave its eyes drop by drop...
But when they jumped down, they didn’t find a blood-thirsty monster, instead they found a frog, then they found a goat-lady who spoke to them in a kind, soft voice that reminded them of their mother. When they fell even deeper and encountered their first enemy by themself, they couldn’t bring themself to pull the trigger.
They couldn’t do anything. There was no one to fight, no justice to be served, everyone down here was just trapped, helplessly, hopelessly trapped.
None of them deserved the blame for what happened to Melody, but if Clover couldn’t blame a monster under the mountain, then who else could they blame except themself?
“I’m sorry”
Ceroba’s words echoed their thoughts. Clover became dimly aware of her arms wrapped around them
“I’m so… so sorry.”
She was crying again. Clover couldn’t stand to see her cry. So they did the only thing they knew how to do in this situation. They wrapped their arms around her, burrowed their face in her neck and cried.
They cried for all the monsters that were trapped in the underground, they cried for all the monsters their sibling hurt, they cried for their sibling, Melody, who just wanted to give their mom an honest apology, they cried for their mom’s death and for all the tears they forgot to shed.
Clover and Ceroba cried together because the world was a cruel and greedy thing that was far too big for either of them to fight no matter how tough they were. They each cried with each other, for each other, because they were each so intimately familiar with this pain and they knew how much the other didn’t deserve it.
Clover felt something brush their back and turned around to see Martlet smile down on them with tears in her eyes. At the same time, Ceroba looked over her shoulder to see Starlo with a hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t… I don’t know what else to say. Sorry just doesn’t feel good enough.”
“I forgive you.”
Clover cut in instantly. Ceroba turned back to them, startled by their conviction.
She then let go of Clover and pulled back, turning her gaze to the ground.
“Thank you Clover, but after everything I’ve done, all the pain I’ve caused you- all the pain I’ve caused everyone-”
“Now I’m gonna stop ya right there Ceroba.” Starlo kneeled down to meet Ceroba at eye level.
“If you're gonna start ramblin' on about how you don't deserve forgiveness, I will remind you that a few hours ago, I was in the exact same situation. My judgment was clouded and I screwed up, but you forgave me. You all forgave me. We’ve both made poor choices, no sugar-coating that… But because of all of you, I believe there’s still hope of fixen’ em.”
“I… can’t begin to grasp what you’ve gone through…” Martlet added, “but this was an absolutely horrible way of dealing with it. You can’t change what has happened, you’re right. But you can control how you live from now on. Clover clearly believes in you and so do I… I think you can change for the better and Starlo and I can help you every step of the way.”
Ceroba looked down again, her voice almost too shaky to form words, “But Chujin… His legacy… His wish. It will never be fulfilled.” Ceroba raised her voice. “It was all for nothing! The experiments, the serum, this fight, all of it was pointless!”
“That’s just not true!”
Clover flinched slightly at hearing Martlet raise her voice.
“Chujin might not have been the perfect monster I thought he was… But even his darkest secrets came from a caring place. And that right there… is his legacy. It isn’t found in a serum to save the world. Everyone he helped, everything he crafted… That’s what matters.”
“Martlet’s right. He made life down here bearable for so many. And for that, he has my respect.” Starlo added, but not without a hint of bitterness in voice.
Chujin would be remembered. Clover was sure of that. They had never even met the guy and they could tell that he was a good person. He helped so many monsters, built so many helpful machines, and worked tirelessly to secure a better future for everyone he loved. Chujin died a hero, and he would be remembered as such...
Melody would be remembered as a monster. Not a real monster, but the vicious bloodthirsty creatures humans associated with monsters. From the undergorund’s point of view, would that make them a ‘human’?
“What the hell was I thinking? I was so tunnel-visioned. So lost…”
Ceroba was crying again, but Clover had no more tears to shed.
They watched the scene play out in front of them from a distant place, from far-away they faintly noticed an empty feeling in their chest. A different kind of ache they weren’t used to, yet somehow felt familiar. It had grown over time, with each face they encountered on their journey, every name they learned, every friend they made, there was always that empty space where they refused to allow their heart to grow.
Deep down, they always knew they would have to say goodbye. That realization should come with pain, but they made peace with their fate a long time ago. Now, there was only emptiness.
“We can work through this. We’re here for you.”
Starlo stood and offered Ceroba a hand, she took it with a weavering smile, and stood up, leaning on Starlo slightly to keep her balance.
Their friends will miss them for a while but they’ll move on. They’ll have each other and eventually, the surface.
They were arguing now, Clover was pretty sure it was about them. How could they argue when there was clearly only one option?
Not all humans are good and not all monsters are bad. The world is a lot less black and white than Clover initially thought, but they’re certain of one thing, and that's that the monsters deserve better.
There’s one last piece of justice to be served. The monsters deserve a chance to be free, they deserve hope, and above all, they deserve to know that not every human is out to get them. There will always be humans that will fight for justice.
“Clover…? What are you doing?”
They stood in front of their friends now, the three of them lined up with varying degrees of confusion on each of their faces. Clover’s soul hummed with energy as it hovered above their hands.
They could almost hear the voices of The Underground urging them forward, thousands of hearts beating as one would soon stop.
They stretched their arms out in offering, extending the soul towards Martlet. They imagined flying would be ten times better in the surface air.
Her eyes widened in realization yet she still shook her head in denial.
“No… nonono, you can’t mean…”
“It’s time to go.”
Clover spoke out loud because they felt like they owed her their last words.
“No no no no no- we’ll think of a plan! We have options.”
The desperation in Martlet’s voice proved she knew otherwise.
“Y-yeah, don’t do something you’ll regret. If it’s Snowdin you don’t like, you can live with me. My house has the space. A-And the posse loves you!”
Starlo wasn’t used to letting people go. His hospitality didn’t account for people leaving. He’ll learn eventually that it’s not his fault. Some people just come and go. He said it himself, Clover couldn’t stay forever. They could never put that burden on him.
“Please you gotta listen to us, Clover! You deserve better. You’re-”
“Clover.” Ceroba cut Martlet off. She stepped forward and kneeled down to look them directly in the eye.
“Is this actually what you want? Or do you just feel like you don’t have anywhere else to go?”
Clover visibly flinches at her words, taking an involuntary step back. They don't know what they expected her to say but they know she wasn’t supposed to say that.
Why was she asking them that? Of course they didn’t have anywhere else to go. There was no more justice to be served.
Dalv came out of his shell and found a new home in Snowdin where he’ll make tons of new friends, Starlo made up with his posse and is going to work on accepting himself, Ceroba is going to move on with the help of her friends, and Martlet… Martlet’s crying…?
“Clover? Clover look at me.” Clover turns their attention back to Ceroba who would be staring into their soul if it wasn’t out of place at the moment.
“You remember how about ten minutes ago, I was willing to lay down my life for a cause that ultimately might’ve gone nowhere?”
Clover turns away, afraid they won’t be able to keep their face blank this time, but Ceroba isn’t having that.
She places an arm on their shoulder, “Clover look at me.”
Clover looks up to see an expression on Ceroba’s face that’s twice as fierce as it was during battle.
“Just because it’s for a noble cause, doesn’t mean you should throw your life away for a chance of making a difference. We don’t know what awaits us on the surface, hell, we don’t even know if we’ll make it that far. For all we know, you could end up being the last human to set foot in The Underground.”
Clover frantically shakes their head, but Ceroba presses on, “Now, that doesn’t mean we have to give up hope. It just means we haven’t fully considered all our options. Monsters have looked into alternative ways of breaking the barrier before. Some believed it was very possible. Even Chujin played around with the theory while he was working in the science division.”
Clover shakes their head again, why doesn’t she get it? If Clover stuck around, they would only make things worse for everyone.
Martlet would almost definitely be fired, she, Ceroba, and the sheriff of The Wild East would forever be regarded as outlaws, and everyone in The Underground would lose hope.
No one wanted things to go this way but at least it was something for the monsters to count on. They could kid themselves all they want but it was only a matter of time before the last human soul fell.
As for the surface… Well that was a trial they would have to face no matter what. Some humans aren’t going to be so accepting but they have to try. All they need’s a chance, and Clover’s holding it right in front of them. Why can't they understand that? They deserve a chance to be happy. They-
“I’ll help! I’ve never really worked with science before but I’m a fast learner! I can figure something out, I promise I’ll do whatever it takes! Just please Clover… Don’t go.”
The way Martlet’s voice cracked cut directly into Clover’s soul.
She always saw the good in everyone and everything, even when there was barely anything to see. They were only a blip in each other's lives yet, Clover could see Martlet’s heart breaking in front of them. She deserved so much better. She deserved a chance for a brighter future more than anyone else Clover had ever met.
And yet, despite everything… Martlet’s eyes were still brimming with hope.
When Clover looked Martlet in the eyes, they couldn’t help but believe her. She said she was going to find another way, so she would. She would save the last human from death, she would save the entire Underground from a future of misery and hopelessness. She would do anything to help Clover because that’s the kind of friend she was… The least Clover could do for her was trust her judgment.
They feel their soul return to their body and they watch Martlet’s face melt with relief. She rushes forward and pulls them into a hug.
Clover latches onto her feathers and squeezes their eyes shut, letting themself be swallowed by warmth. In that moment, they will themself to believe everything is going to be okay.
Things are going to get rough for a little while, but that's okay. They will protect their friends no matter what. If they can’t give up their life for their freedom, they will devote their life to their happiness. If that means they have to stick around, then that’s okay, whatever it takes.
When Clover lets go, they feel three monsters breaking apart from a hug they last remembered consisting of one. They adjust their hat and take Martlet’s hand as they numbly walk away from the cherry blossom.
This is it, they’re alive, for some reason they have to keep telling themself that as they start to walk past the chiseled stone walls of New Home.
They’re alive… They’re alive… They’re alive…
No matter how many times Clover repeats it to themself, it still doesn’t quite feel right.
As they pass the beds of gray flowers, they take notice of the lack of glimmering yellow light up ahead. They freeze in their tracks.
“Clover? Is something wrong?”
They pause, and gesture back towards the tree.
“Do you… want to be alone for a minute?” Ceroba asks from behind Martlet. Clover turns and nods at her and she returns a nod of understanding.
“Oh, okay, take your time Clover.” Martlet smiles understandingly.
“But maybe hurry up a little, I don’t know if being this close to the castle for so long is such a good idea right now,” Starlo adds.
Clover nods and walks back to the tree alone.
They look around to double check that they’re friends aren't listening before nervously calling out, “...Flowey? Are you there?”
Their voice comes out raspy and faint so they clear their throat and try again, “Flowey…? Flowey please come out, I’m sorry.” Clover’s voice grows louder and more strained, “I know you wanted me to go to Asgore but… I just can’t do that to my friends. I tried to keep my distance but they care about me too much. Leaving them would just do more harm than good. You understand… right?”
Clover looks around desperately for a trace of the familiar yellow petals. They call out again and again, letting their voice ring through the empty air…
But nobody came…