Chapter Text
A single thud. From one moment to the next, another human had found themselves lying face down in a bed of flowers. Pain surged through their body, as while the bed of flowers beneath them had softened the fall, it still wasn’t a pleasant experience. They could barely bring themselves to move, the sounds of ragged breathing filling the space around them.
“Oh… a human, huh?” A soft, female voice echoed ethereally throughout the space, causing the human to make the attempt to look up. With their face covered in dirt, they were met with what seemed to be a sort of fox, seeming to be just a little shorter than they were… though they seemed quite different than what the human was used to seeing. Though they were brown furred and had the facial features of a fox, they also had a ponytail, and also wore a pink kimono, blue jeans, brown boots, and a scarf with a bell on it. As if the clothes weren’t strange enough, they seemed to be partially see through, their outline glowing a gentle, golden hue. They also seemed to be floating.
“Hey… can you hear me?” Her expression showed a mix of caution and curiosity as she slowly floated around the human. The human could just barely nod with a grunt, barely able to get to their knees. “Huh… I guess you’re the only one who can. Guess that means I’m stuck with you…” she said wistfully, shaking her head a bit. The human just gave her a confused look, having no idea what was going on aside from the fact that… they had a mission to complete. “Anyways, you’re probably new around here. I’m Kanako…” She waited for the human to respond, but was met with silence instead. She raised an eyebrow. “You gonna… say anything? Do you have a name? Anything?” After a few more moments, the human painstakingly got to their feet, standing up as best they could in their current condition. They did their best to mutter out a single word. Clover.
“Clover, huh? Alright… come on. If you want outta here, then… you’ve got a long way to go.” she said, floating at a safe distance from him. Finally mustering the energy to do anything else, Clover started slowly walking forward. He observed the dirt, stone, and roots that comprised the walls, ceiling, and floor of the tunnel they were heading through. Upon stepping through a dilapidated stone archway, they found themselves in a large room with a single patch of grass in the center. Upon reaching the grass patch, a large, from one side of the room, a white frog-like creature jumped out in front of them, making Clover jump. Their heart started racing as they didn’t know what to expect from this, especially as they felt a brand new sensation. A golden yellow heart, something they didn’t know about, shone brightly and visibly from inside their body, the point of the heart facing the monster.
“Oh no, a fight… the poor thing’s gonna get pulverized…!” Kanako covered her eyes with her forepaws before any terrible spectacles could unfold, and Clover just looked at her weirdly. The frog also looked at Clover weirdly, watching and waiting for them to make the first move. “Please… d-don’t hurt me…” he said, his voice shaking a little from the pain of the fall, and his body shaking more as he could barely stand as it was, shakily reaching for the toy gun in the holster on his belt. Before Kanako could express any sort of surprise at his reaction, a much more stern voice boomed through the air. “Froggit, stand away from them this instant!” The voice, despite being so forceful, carried a sort of motherly tone to it as well, and the Froggit shuddered in response before jumping back into the shadows, the golden heart vanishing from sight once more. Standing at the other side of the room stood a large, furry monster standing on two legs, with small horns on her head, big floppy ears, and a white and purple robe adorning some sort of crest on it flowing down and around her body. She approached Clover, and though his body was frozen in fear, she knelt down in front of him and looked into his eyes with compassion.
“You poor thing… the fall has not treated you well I see. My apologies about the Froggit, human, they did not mean you any harm.” She gently rested her forepaws on his shoulders, and inexplicably, he could feel his energy coming back. He could feel his wounds healing, and his body relaxing under her caring touch. “It has been a long time since a human has fallen here. Welcome to the Underground, my child. My name is Toriel” She stood up and turned to face the exit, looking back at him over her shoulder. She was about twice his height, making the height difference even more clear as she looked down at him in a physical way of speaking. “Come. Whenever you feel you are ready, I shall guide you through these catacombs.” She left the room and went on to the next, just leaving him alone with the stupefied Kanako. She looked like loads of thoughts were going through her head, but in total, only one of them actually left her lips.
“You… didn’t wanna fight them?” Clover just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, shaking his head and finally letting his hands settle at his sides. “That’s… not what I expected. Huh…” He looked at her wondering exactly what she expected him to be, then turned to the doorway and looked through it. The area up ahead looked quite purple, and despite looking very tall, also seemed a bit claustrophobic. “You’re thinking about going with her? Alright then, just… don’t hurt her, please?” With another confused expression, he just slowly nodded and headed out of the room, her following behind. Through the Ruins they went, Kanako and Clover following behind Toriel as she divulged on door keys and diversions, and assisting them with the puzzles they encountered. One, however, seemed to not quite function as planned. Upon trying to pull a level for a puzzle, the floor beneath Clover gave way and sent Clover tumbling down into yet another dark abyss. Toriel’s cries and pleas did not reach them though, and Kanako was pulled along with him as if she were tethered to him.
Time passed, Clover having been knocked unconscious from their second fall of the day. The room they had fallen into was dingy and dark, full of cobwebs, cracks in the walls and floor, and a deep sense of loneliness as if it were imbued within the very essence of the area. Even Toriel’s panicked cries seemed to fade away without much effect before stopping altogether. While Kanako was waiting for him to wake up, she had noticed a piece of paper had fallen from one of his pockets. It was a worn out missing poster with five children pictured on it, telling their names, as well as saying they likely fell underground as well. She mumbled to herself a bit before the paper caught a stray gust blowing through the room, sweeping it off the edge of the floor they were on, and even deeper into the looming darkness below. Not that Kanako could do anything about that given her incorporeal form. As she watched the paper descend deeper into the depths, Clover finally woke up, groaning and rubbing their head as they sat up.
“You… came to find other humans down here?” she asked, quickly putting together what Clover’s main objective was. He gave her a nod as he stood up again, slowly walking toward the room’s exit. She couldn’t help but clench her forepaws a bit as she thought about the other humans, though couldn’t brood for very long before yet another new voice was heard. Seemingly jolly but dripping with potential malcontent, stood a single flower in the middle of the next room. Yellow petals, a green stem, and… an almost cartoony face in the middle. The flower waved with one of their leaves stemming from the ground. “Howdy! My name’s Flowey, Flowey the Flower!” The human looked at them with wide eyes, and took a single step back while holding up their hands with palms open, as they weren’t looking for a fight. Another confused look from Kanako was interrupted by an eerie giggle.
“Come on, what’s that weird face for? It’s not like I’m gonna hurt you or anything! In fact, I wanna help you!” Clover looked at Flowey incredulously, cocking their head to one side a bit as they wondered just how this flower could be helpful in any way. “Looking at how you’re standing, there’s no way you’d stand a chance in a fight with another monster! Soooooo here, let’s show you the ropes real quick!” The golden heart was made visible again as they became engaged in another fight, Clover jumping in surprise as Flowey giggled. They explained how the heart was their soul, the basic rules of fighting, and showed them how to dodge attacks too. Something that threw Kanako off guard was how receptive the human seemed to be to the part where mercy was explained and recommended. She couldn’t help but wonder what it could all mean, afraid of what the results could turn out to be. Soon enough, the soul vanished once more, and Flowey taught them above saving. Upon saving for the first time, and after Flowey vanished into the ground, Clover just looked around with even more confusion about how everything worked.
“Well… at least you know how to spare monsters now. I don’t get what that whole “saving” thing was, but… it might be useful? Who knows?” Clover shrugged and started heading onwards, through the winding rooms of this especially ruined area of the Ruins. Along the path, they began running into various other monsters who inhabited the area. For a while, Kanako remained silent, just watching the human incredulously as they kept on sparing every monster they ran into. Some way further into the Ruins, she and Clover both noticed a strange, hooded figure on the other side of a ravine. They appeared to be monologuing silently to themselves for a few moments before turning to face them, noticing their approach. They seemed apprehensive… they took a step back, their hands up in a defensive stance before they just shook their head, and turned around. A whisper of denial and hallucination carried on the air as the figure went off toward another exit, leaving the remaining human and spirit wondering what they had seen.
“Mmm… it might be for the best that they’re over there. I don’t wanna get in any more fights than we need to.” Clover looked at her as he heard the hesitation in her voice. He took a deep breath, building his courage as he spoke.
“So… why are you following me around?
“Huh?”
“I mean… you’re clearly weary of me. Can’t you, like… I dunno, go somewhere else?”
“Not really. I don’t wanna stick around to see the dust fly…” She sighed to herself and shook her head before continuing. “Maybe… it might be your soul or something? Either way, something’s keeping me from leaving, so… here I am.”
Clover looked down at his abdomen, picturing the golden yellow heart that he’d been seeing pop up since he fell down here to begin with. Flowey had explained that the heart thing was their soul, but they didn’t really get the full picture. He poked at himself for a moment as Kanako just watched.
“Have you never seen a soul before?”
“I mean… no? Why would I have?”
“Oh boy… I dunno how you lived up to this point without knowing something like that, but okay. Not like we’ll be going anywhere just trying to figure that out.”
She started floating off toward the exit Clover could access, waving him along with a little less patience than before. They ended up walking along a very lengthy bridge, just a few feet wide, and with bottomless darkness coming from below. Clover walked slowly and carefully along the path, his eyes wide and his teeth clenched as he made his way across. Toward the center of the bridge, they heard some strange squeaking noises, like a bat… which is exactly what appeared in front of them, large, purple, and with ears about as large as their head. They glared at the human, ears pointed right at them as their two pairs of wings flapped behind them.
“Too loud, too loud! You are being far too loud!”
“Huh? But I didn’t-“
“Shhhhhhush! If you cannot be silent, I will silence you myself! As the sentinel of silence, I must maintain peace within these sacred ruins!”
The area around them darkened further, the two ends of the bridge falling out of sight as the monster spread their wings wide. Clover’s soul became visible again, and with a screech, another battle had begun. The human stood there silently, eyeing the creature with much fear before an attack was unleashed upon their soul. “Remain quiet and still!” Some power built up in the bat’s wings, and with one big flap, a wall of blue magic came hurtling toward the human. Clover shut their eyes tight, and gritted their teeth hard… and they felt nothing but a gentle breeze as the attack passed over them harmlessly. They looked around in confusion before hearing Kanako shouting at them. “As long as you stay still, blue attacks don’t harm you! But orange attacks need you to not be standing still!”
Before Clover could interject, the bat spoke again, building more power in their wings. “Move with silence!” The next attack came flying from the monster, a wall of orange hurtling toward the human. They were too afraid to move, so instead of passing through them, it felt like they ran as fast as they could into a solid wall, knocking them down and injuring them. Their breathing became rougher and less rhythmic, the wind having been knocked out of them as they found it extra difficult to get up afterwards. “What are you doing?!” Kanako shouted at him. “I told you to move through the orange attacks, standing still is how you get hurt!” Not that the repeated advice helped them catch their breath or anything, though her loud volume didn’t seem to affect the monster they were facing at least. The bat creature was prepping to fire off another attack, put on edge by the human’s pained noises. “You refuse to be quiet even after my pleas? Fine then! I shall drive you away until you do not return!”
Clover barely managed to get themselves to their feet again before facing the next attack. A blue attack, easy enough to stand still and pray at least. Though next was orange, which set the human’s adrenaline pumping again… they did take a step into the attack though, and to their relief, it passed through as easily as the blue attacks did. They didn’t have time to celebrate however, as they still had to deal with another few blasts. Blue, orange, blue, an alternating pattern of pain, spreading across the area and dissipating harmlessly into the distance afterwards. The human just put their hands up defensively, trying to remain quiet as best they could. Several more attacks followed, several requiring Clover to lean out of the way of smaller, white bursts of magic, while alternately standing still or moving through an onslaught of blue and orange. Nothing they couldn’t handle at least, as they continued doing their best to be as silent as possible, even with other attacks hitting them from time to time.
After what felt like an eternity, with Clover feeling the metaphorical pinch of low HP, the monster began slowing down their attacks as they looked closer at the human. Once they were certain the human was really trying to be quiet, the attacks stopped completely. The battle was finally over, leaving the monster fluttering in place with a small smile. “Do you hear that…? Good… neither do I. Now I have ascertained that you do not wish to cause chaos, more that you seem… lost. Regardless, should you stay quiet in my domain, I shall reward you by promoting you to be the honorary sentinel of silence! Treat this position well, as I must be off to spread the peace and tranquility. I wish you luck on your travels, hat-wearing child.” Clover had successfully survived, and spared them as well, gathering a few more pieces of currency from the ground where they were fighting. He had no idea where this money was coming from since he wasn’t hurting anyone, but he sure wasn’t complaining. Not that he really had much energy to do so, instead slowly and quietly meandering to the other side of the bridge before sitting against a wall in the next room.
“That was… hard to watch. Those attacks were pretty easy you know.” Kanako said with a sigh.
“You… say that like… this is my fault…” Clover retorted.
“I did tell you to move through the orange attacks, and so did the guy trying to dust you.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever… I’m not exactly used to this if you haven’t guessed…”
“You’re definitely not, no.”
“You trying to yell where to go constantly wasn’t really helping either…”
“Hey, I was looking at everything that was happening, it would’ve worked!”
“… several of those times you told me to hop to the side would’ve meant falling into the abyss…”
“… well, I mean… I guess? Look, at least they’re not hurt or anything. And I guess you’re okay too, so that’s… good?”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Considering you’re a human, I’ve got no clue what you’re thinking… just that it probably isn’t good. Oh hey, it’s another one of those save point things!”
She pointed at a floating star above the ground, glowing the same way that Clover’s soul did while battling. The human sighed in relief as they staggered over to it, and held out their hand, feeling a warm energy flow through them as their health was restored. Once they were done, Flowey popped up from below the floor. “Howdy! Glad you managed to get past that guy, he’s a real stickler for keeping quiet, isn’t he? Anyways, let’s get your progress saved, and get you on your way again. You shouldn’t be too far from the exit now!” Clover’s progress had been saved. And now it was time to move on, further through the Ruins. A few more puzzles, and many more signs of decay and deterioration within the walls of this place, a seemingly once busy area having been long forgotten, along with its inhabitants. It wasn’t long before they had reached a sight that was oddly familiar to Clover.
“Huh… I wasn’t expecting to run into a corn field down here.” Kanako said as she looked over one of the massive stalks in front of her. Each one was almost twice her height. “Maybe this was where all those gifts went…”
“Someone gifted a whole corn field? Is that… normal?”
“No, it’s definitely not… though mom said that an old friend of hers lived somewhere in the Ruins. She used to give corn to them as a gift, since we had lots of it too.”
“Weird…”
“We live near a farm, what’d you expect?”
“Just about anything else to be honest. Though I don’t get why someone would plant a whole field here… it just feels off.” said Clover as they began heading through a path that had been made through the field. One turn, then another, a fork in the road, a few more turns… something was off.
“Hey… the paths here keep spreading out!” Kanako said, her face contorted in confusion. “I thought we were just gonna walk right through and get to the other side, I didn’t realize this was a corn maze…”
“But… why is there a corn maze here? It’s not like anyone’s really here to enjoy it.”
“Who knows? Shouldn’t we get going though? I don’t wanna get stuck in here…”
“True enough… actually, that gives me an idea. How far up can you float?”
“I dunno, why?”
“It’d probably be easier if you could look down at the maze from above and just tell me where to go.”
“Ohh, you might be onto something… alright!”
She flew up a little distance, then looked down at the field from above. It took a minute or two for her to get her bearings, but once she figured it out, she started guiding Clover through the maze. A nice path to one lever hidden in the field, then to the other, and finally to the exit. Surprisingly simple for the both of them once they started working together. Clover sighed in relief once he got out of the field, looking up at Kanako as she started coming down.
“At least the field wasn’t that big.” she said once she had finished her descent.
“Yeah… I was never good with mazes.”
He gave a small chuckle, and began proceeding into the next room. They followed the path ahead of them, Clover seeming to have been cheered up in some way after having gone through the maze. A few more fights, a few more monsters spared, and a few more rooms gone through, all while Kanako was thinking about something. They seemed to wanna bring something up, but kept hesitating, looking away from the human a bit as her forepaws fidgeted in front of her. Clover noticed this and looked over at her after some time, breaking the silence.
“Something wrong?”
“H-huh? No, it’s fine… I’m just thinking, that’s all.”
“It looked like you really wanted to say something though. Go on, what’s on your mind?”
“… well… do they… have mazes like that on the surface?”
“The corn maze? In a couple places, yeah.”
“Those must be really big…”
“You have no idea. Used to do them a lot when I was younger, still never got the hang of them. If I went into one by myself, they’d have to call the fire department to rescue me.” he said laughing, a big smile on his face as he reminisced about the occasional rescue operation he caused.
“Wow… at least that one wasn’t too big then. Wouldn’t wanna get stuck in there for too long…”
“No, definitely not. Can’t exactly call anyone down here to come save me.”
“You probably could, it’d just take… a lot of screaming.”
“Yeah, I’d rather not do that.”
“Me neither. My poor ears if you did…”
As she rubbed her ears with her forepaws, the both of them noticed the hooded figure up ahead, on the path they were trying to take. The figure seemed aloof, and despite being unable to see their face, they seemed to show a sense of fear once they noticed the human in the same room as them. Once again their voice carried softly through the air, an eastern European accent being discernable through their words. “You… aren’t just my imagination running wild? Please… return to where you came from, and do not follow me. Please…” Without another word, the figure retreated further into the Ruins. Once the figure was gone, Clover and Kanako could notice that a save point had appeared where the figure once stood, and they could hear dripping water coming from ahead. They both looked at each other as Clover accessed the save point, Flowey popping up from behind it once more. “Gee, that guy looks like a real downer, huh? But hey, you’ve got a job to do, right? You can’t go back where you came from, so all you can do is move forward!” One eerie giggle later, and progress had been saved once more, the mysterious flower popping back into the ground once more. After some hesitation, Clover slowly made their way into the next room.
Another bridge, but this time with two channels of water on either side. The room wasn’t very long, and the figure was near the exit. There seemed to be only one way through… no other way around this. “Why do you not listen? Just… leave here, won’t you?” The human looked down, and sighed as they had resigned themselves to this. Though their expression showed they were nervous, they didn’t keep themselves from shaking their head in defiance. “… if that is how it is… so be it. You barge into my home, follow me around, and simply cannot leave me be… if you will not leave me alone, I will make you.” The figure reached up, and unhooded themselves. The figure was a light purple vampire, with a very dour expression filled with the same resignation that Clover felt. Kanako gasped and covered her muzzle, seeming to know who the figure was. A faint whirring sound could be heard, along with crackling along the watery surfaces surrounding this impromptu battlefield. Clover’s soul came out, and yet another battle had begun.
The figure made a hollow attempt to show some level of intimidation, and the human could feel a slight change in the air. A few moments later, a bolt of lightning zapped through them, causing them to cry out in pain and taking a step back as they still stood their ground. “What’re you doing?!” Kanako shouted, in disbelief that they once again just stood still during an attack. “When you feel the air shifting around you in a weird way, that’s a clear sign of an attack! I could feel it from here, and you’ve dealt with this before!” Clover gritted their teeth and took the advice in mind as another attack was brewing.
“I don’t get you… this isn’t even the first time you’ve done this to me. To everyone here, I’m sure… pestering, bothering, hurting… if you keep coming, then I can’t turn a blind eye to it all anymore.” The figure seemed resigned, but resolute in their position, launching another attack at Clover, who did actually move this time. The human’s face was just confused as they took in the information. Kanako look puzzled too, having been with Clover the whole time and at least knowing he hadn’t encountered this figure before. “Hey… what’re they talking about? You’ve never… been here before, right?” Kanako asked, to which the human just replied with just a very confused shrug. Having turned to look at Kanako for that response, the figure seemed to become confused as well. “Are you… speaking to someone? And why do you look… as confused as I do?” The question wasn’t left to have answers given, at least not before several more bolts of lightning were flung through the battlefield. A few more close calls, and a few more light grazes left Clover feeling a little more exhausted and hurt than before.
“You refuse to attack…? And you look so sad… something is very wrong here. You are certainly the human who came here before! … r-right…?” The figure’s attacks got a little more sporadic as their conflicts and doubt grew within them, unsure what the meaning of any of this could possibly be. It didn’t make things any easier for Clover, for even though they were starting to adapt to the attack patterns, they didn’t know when the barrage would end. Nor if they would last to see the end of it at all. At one point the figure stopped attacking completely, bracing themselves a bit with a pained expression as if they were expecting an all-out attack from their opposition… but it never happened. Clover, who was being given a very long window of opportunity to strike, wasn’t taking it. They instead just stood there, hunched over with their hands on their knees, panting as they tried to catch their breath. They made no motions to attack… no hostile intentions at all. “This is… wrong. By now, you certainly would have done something about me, right? So then… have I been mistaken? Perhaps you are… not the one I thought you were. No, you… you definitely aren’t them. I… really do apologize for being so foolish. There isn’t anything I can do to make this right…”
While the figure looked in dismay off to the side, Clover looked at the ground in thought for a few moments. A few memories of the surface quickly flashed in their mind, and something compelled them to move forward. They slowly walked up to the figure… and before either the figure or Kanako could get too afraid of what could happen, Clover gave the figure a soft smile, extending an empty hand to them, and their toy revolver still firmly in its holster. “You… want me to shake your hand? Even after I’ve hurt you? I… does that make us… friends…? It’s been so long… I accept!” The figure returned the handshake, and the battle was over. Both the human and the figure breathed their own sighs of relief. “… so… how does being a friend work again…? Umm… o-oh, right, names! My name is Dalv. I’ve lived in this part of the Ruins for… who knows how long? Anyways, my home is just up ahead… the exit is just through there, so I’ll probably see you soon. Take your time though.” Dalv quickly scurried away, his voice a little nervous as he hadn’t had guests in quite a while. Clover watched them leave with his head cocked to one side, and a fox floating near him who was almost as confused as he was.
“… so… that’s what happened with him…” Kanako said, a deep-seated frown on her face as she looked at where Dalv had gone.
“Huh?” Clover asked in response.
“Dalv… he’s an old friend of my mom. She used to talk to him every once in a while, though he always came off as really lonely. I used to play with him sometimes too. But a while ago now, he just… vanished.”
“Vanished down here I guess.”
“Mom said he’d been acting weird right before he left, but she never got to talk to him about it before he went away… it made her sad. And... me too...”
“… is he the friend you were talking about before? The one who always got gifted corn?”
“Yeah, that’s him…”
“Huh… whatever caused him to come down here, it didn’t stop him from cherishing what you guys gave him at least.”
“… no… no it didn’t…”
She looked away with her ears drooped back and her head hung low, sadly reflecting on the past. Clover was tempted to put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but it’d probably go right through her anyway. He couldn’t figure out anything to do or say that could cheer her up, so he decided to press forward anyways in the hope that he’d figure something out later. In the next room, he stumbled across a wooden door in the wall directly in front of them, with a few small windows on either side. Definitely someone’s house, most likely Dalv’s. The area looked oddly clean compared to how run down the rest of the Ruins looked. The door was also open, as if to invite them inside… which seeing as they had no other way to go, Clover took a single step through the door and looked around. It was a quaint little home, dark wooden floorboards spanning the length of the room and hallway that they could see, and Dalv standing in a part of the room that had been made into a kitchen area, dull tiles on the ground instead of wood. He was getting something out of the fridge, what appeared to be a plate with a sponge on it, the sponge covered in icing.
“A-ah, you came just in time! You see, my birthday was just last week, so… I still have a treat left over if you’d like to have a bite. Otherwise, feel free to relax. Sorry for the mess in here by the way, I haven’t cleaned since this morning… you may want to keep your shoes on.” Despite the fact that the house looks essentially spotless, Dalv still gestured to the occasional speck of dust on various objects in the room. Clover looked at the odd food item quizzically, raising an eyebrow before running a finger along some of the icing drooping over one edge of the sponge, and licking it. Their face contorted a bit as they processed the taste, politely declining the kind offer. “You don’t like it? It’s fine, I get it… not everyone likes corn flavored frosting anyways.” Clover and Kanako looked at each other with very concerned expressions as Dalv started heading down the hallway. “I can imagine you’re busy doing… whatever you need to do. You can stay as long as you’d like, but if you want to leave, the exit is over there.” He gestured to a doorway opposite the house’s entrance as he disappeared down the hallway.
As Clover began slowly meandering toward the exit, he noticed several children’s drawings pinned up on a wall above a desk, a desk covered with stacks of paper strewn about. He also noticed that Kanako was already over there, looking at the various papers. He couldn’t help but head over to her and see what was up.
“Hey… is it just me, or do these pages seem… familiar?” Kanako asked as she looked at Clover and gestured to one of the pages.
“Familiar… how exactly?”
“I just… feel like I’ve read this somewhere…”
“I dunno… ‘The happy bunny was selling ice cream in Snowdin. They were sad because nobody was buying any… then a nice monster came and bought some, and this made the bunny very happy!’ … this seems like… a kid’s book.”
“Yeah… oh yeahhhh, I remember him saying he did wanna be an author at some point!
“That probably explains all the papers with very similar looking text to this one.”
“Well hey, he’s on his way to writing something great!”
“Heh, yeah… I wonder if he’ll ever publish any of these.”
“I’d definitely read them! Though uhh, I think I’d need him to turn the pages for me…”
“I mean, I could read ‘em to you. Flip the pages and everything, you could tell me whenever you’re ready.”
“Hmm… no, no thanks… a-anyways, what about the exit Dalv mentioned? I think we’re done here, right?”
Kanako looked away and rubbed their head, hiding their appreciation of the human’s offer along with slight embarrassment coming from a slight reddening of her translucent cheeks, trying to deflect the conversation instead. Clover just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then shrugged as he made his way to the exit. The exit room, unlike the rest of the house, was filled with dust and cobwebs, as if it wasn’t used very much. Wooden boards were nailed over the doorway leading outside the house, barricading the exit. Clover grunted as he tried pulling on the boards a few times, but to no avail. He even fell backwards after one of the attempts, crashing onto his back and groaning afterwards while Kanako giggled. Dalv came rushing over. “What is happening? Oh! Are you alright?” He helped Clover up, then looked at the barricade. “Right, I had forgotten about this… I put these boards up when I decided never to return to the Underground again. Though having met you… I think I may have changed my mind about that. So… thank you.” He raised an arm, and shot lightning at the boards, causing the nails to melt away and the boards to drop off the frame. “B-by the way, I never did, umm… get your name. Can you tell me?” The human gave their name, along with a nod of their head.
“Clover… that’s a nice name. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Clover… and likely what you’ve done for everyone else as well. Maybe we’ll end up meeting again soon… take care.” With one bow of their head, Dalv left the room, and went back to doing their own thing. After a few moments, Clover headed out through the doorway. They went through a long, thin hallway before emerging in a room very similar to the one they encountered the frog-like creature from the beginning of their journey down here. In the middle of the room stood a single save point, and once they were close, Flowey popped up from beneath the ground. “Golly, you’ve made it outta the Ruins in one piece! Good for you, buddy! Though I’ve gotta say, you sure do talk to yourself a lot, you know? It’s kinda weird… but eh, what do I know about humans? Less than you do for sure! That aside though, the door up ahead is the exit! The journey’s gonna be getting a lot longer from there though… with me by your side though, I’m sure you’ll make it through alright! That said, I hope you like cold weather, heehee!”
Progress was saved, and Flowey popped below the ground again. Clover stared at the save point for a little bit before looking back up and seeing the massive doors looming above him on the other side of the room. With a determined look on his face, he went up to the doors with Kanako just behind him, and slowly pushed them open, readying themselves for whatever they may find on the other side.