Chapter Text
Clover immediately could feel the difference in the weather in Snowdin compared to the Ruins. She felt her teeth start to hurt from chattering and his body start to lose the energy to shiver. Their outfit provided very little protection against the freezing blizzard having been dressed for a warm western town rather than cold winter.
He considered retreating back into the Ruins to regroup and reconsider her plan but found the door had closed and there was no way to reopen the door from the outside. They were only feeling weaker the longer they spent out in the cold so with no way back, the only direction left was forward down the path. She may even get lucky and find some kind of shelter along the path.
As Clover traversed deeper into the snow covered forests and plains, he felt someone watching them from nearby. She looked around for the stalker but found the trail empty and the tree line too dark to see anything. Clover then felt frostbite on his ears, so he decided he would have to ignore the one following them and push forward until they find somewhere out of the vicious winds with more effort than before.
They sprinted through the snow until she almost tripped on a broken tree branch. Clover found it suspicious that there was no snow on the branch conveniently located in the center of the trail, but he needed to find shelter before he can start worrying about what monsters may be after her. They walked further down the trail until stopped by a startling noise behind them broke the usual quiet of the area. Clover turned around to see an unbroken branch where the snapped branch used to be. This set off many warning bells in Clover's head since it was confirmation that there was someone or something else around here, as well as evidence of unnatural powers that Frisk had claimed monsters possessed. Ignoring the weakness from the cold, Clover sprinted away from there as fast as he could.
She didn't get far though as Clover soon found a wooden gate had been put up over the only bridge to go any further forward. They tried to slip through the bars but when they approached the gate, he felt some kind of magic stop him from moving. With no way forward and no way back, Clover turned around and readied their hand on their gun and faced their stalker. She listened as the sound of footsteps grew closer and closer and Clover's heart began to beat faster and faster as an unknown foe approached. Their mind started to race and their vision began to blur as a vaguely humanoid blue figure came closer. Clover attempted to pull their gun from its holster, but found himself paralyzed and unable to move. The monster then began to speak.
"human. don't you know how to meet a new acquaintance? shake my hand."
Clover felt her hand start to move on its own to reach towards the monster's extended hand. She then felt a sudden electric shock that brought them back to his senses.
"hehe, the old joy buzzer prank, gets em everytime. anyways, i am sans, sans the skeleton. i used to watch for humans here to help my brother out, but i recently retired to pursue other ventures." the skeleton explains. "you look pretty chilled, why don't you come with me and i can get you a hot dog from my stand."
Clover decided they didn't trust the skeleton but she saw no other options so he decided to follow Sans across the bridge to get past whatever magic had stopped her before and then they could slip away once an opportunity arises. Clover turned around to get over the bridge and discovered the bars of the gate on the bridge had disappeared and the magic that had stopped her before no longer was in effect. Sans followed behind him until they reached a small wooden stand that Sans went over to and retrieved what looked like a hot dog which he offered to Clover. Clover accepted the hot dog to avoid being rude and ate it. They felt their weakness from the cold disappear and felt like their health was restored. The skeleton then started talking again.
"that was a real life-saver for you huh. we should get moving though since it is still a bit of a walk back to get back to town. i hope you enjoy puzzles, since my brother has left a lot of em on the path."
Clover did not really want to be delayed from their mission, but the skeleton did help him so far so it probably wouldn't hurt to stick with him for a bit longer. The town he mentioned may even have info on the humans. Sans did mention that his brother specialized in watching for humans, maybe Sans' brother would be able to help find the missing children. Clover gave a quick nod of acknowledgement towards Sans.
"great. the firrst puzzle should be straight ahead down the trail. just be careful of monsters since some of them can be very energetic and may attack you to show it. if that happens, just try talking to them and they should stop, like how a dog can be calmed down with a few pets." Clover thanked Sans for the warning and started walking away before finding Sans had somehow gotten ahead of her and was waiting for him in the next clearing. "forgot to mention something, there is a special kind of magic that has a blue glow. if you don't move then it won't hurt you, so if you see blue then freeze like blue ice. see ya at the puzzle kiddo." Sans explained.
The skeleton then disappeared in the blink of an eye. Clover was left confused by the skeleton but continued forward anyways. They passed by an abandoned wooden booth and found a note that said it belonged to someone called the Great Papyrus and Clover suspected with a title like that, Papyrus must be rather strong and it would be best to not risk a confrontation by staying around. The next area had a large frozen ice patch which Clover carefully crossed, only stopping to investigate a disabled surveillance camera that appeared to have frozen over. Clover took note of the cameras as another potential lead for the humans and then continued towards the clearing Sans had instructed her to go to.
After crossing the ice and going a further through the snow, Clover found another guard station that also appeared to be empty. They walked until suddenly they heard someone bark out, "Did something move?"
Clover immediately stopped moving to avoid drawing attention to herself as a dog like monster rose from below the counter of the guard station. The dog looked around for a bit before starting to talk to seemingly nobody. "Was it just my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something was moving, I'll make sure it never moves again."
Clover was not intimidated by Doggo's threats, but still opted to sneak past without conflict. They slowly stepped forward which caught the guard's attention. The swords in Doggo's paws started to glow blue as Doggo unleashes a flurry of strikes at Clover. She tries to dodge the attack but cannot move fast enough to avoid getting hit. The swords cut at Clover until they put their hands up to defend and stopped moving.
The flowing blue sword suddenly started phasing through Clover harmlessly. Doggo started getting confused where his target went and goes back to looking around. Clover then remembered what Sans had said about blue attacks, and he came up with a plan. Clover reached out her hand and pet Doggo, which caused the monster to lose focus and start acting like an excited dog. This gave Clover a chance to steal some money from the window of the guard station and get away. They then finally found Sans again, waiting for them at the far side of the next clearing. Clover attempted to walk over but after setting foot in the center of the clearing, she collapsed from the pain of an unexpected electric shock administered to their head.