Chapter Text
With the pink leaves of the cherry tree contrasting the gray of New Home, a brown haired human stood resigned. Missing their cowboy hat and that gun Starlo had gotten for them, Clover stood ready for what they were about to do. Giving up their soul for all of monsterkind’s freedom: a death sentence. Starlo and Martlet had already vacated the castle turret, leaving only Ceroba alone with the kid.
It was almost funny to Ceroba. Just moments before, she had made it her mission to kill this very human on this very ground, and now they were just going to do it themselves. Though, at least it was on their terms, and for a noble cause compared to why she had tried to take their soul. Reflecting on it now, Ceroba didn’t know what she had been thinking. She had never been a scientist like Chujin, yet she thought she could complete his work. All she had done was kill her little Kanako in her blundering with things she never truly understood. Worst of all, she hadn’t seen the true legacy that Chujin had left behind, instead single mindedly focused on that blasted serum. What a fool she had been.
Giving her head a little shake to break away from her own problems, she turned her attention back to Clover, carrying the container for their soul in her arms. Clover stared back at her with a determined look in their eye, even if it was full of sadness as well. However, Ceroba could tell just how serious they were about this. It was admirable. Ceroba was going to say something about how much she respected them for doing this, yet… she hesitated.
Ceroba wanted to get one last look at this amazing kid; she wanted to remember them for what they were doing for all monsterkind. They deserved at least that much. Without their hat, their hair was adorably messy. For a moment, Ceroba saw her daughter without her hair tied up in its little pony tail as she woke up in the morning, cheekily smiling back at her. The vision left as quickly as it came, yet the image of her daughter came back to her mind. She didn’t know why her daughter’s face was coming back to her so strongly now. Perhaps it was lingering effects from the mask breaking, still torturing her heart with visions of her daughter. Yet… she couldn’t shake the image of her daughter on that horrible day from her mind. Ceroba looked once more at Clover’s eyes, feeling a horrible sense of deja vu. Then with the image of her daughter in the front of her mind, Ceroba saw it. She was taken back to that horrible moment in Chujin’s lab. Her daughter looked up at her, as she prepared to inject the serum into her daughter.
Their determined eyes, her determined eyes, Clover’s eyes, Kanako’s eyes.
It was the same.
The child in front of her looked back with those eyes, ready to sacrifice themselves for all of monsterkind. Once again she was aiding a child risking their life (no, ending their life) all for some greater good. The kitsune suddenly felt sick to her soul. What was she doing? Was she doing the same mistake that killed her daughter? Her mouth felt dry as she stared down at the child in front of her. The brown-haired child that had chosen to carry the weight of the world without complaint or tears. Logically, Ceroba knew she shouldn’t be interfering with the child’s decision more than she already had been. Logically, she knew this wasn’t her business. Logically, this was the best outcome Clover could have, as they couldn’t live or escape the Underground with King Asgore hunting them down. But… but…
But…
Ceroba saw Kanako stare back at her.
Ceroba had listened to her logic and respected Kanako’s decision, ignoring what her heart had told her. She wouldn’t make that same mistake again.
The soul container hit the stone floor with a loud clunk. Clover blinked in surprise as the container was dropped. They gave a worried look at Ceroba; their kind soul still more concerned for Ceroba’s wellbeing than their own. However, if the kid was surprised at first, they were in shock as Ceroba wrapped her arms around them, picking them up from where they stood. Holding the child tight in her arm, Ceroba dashed away from that turret overlooking New Home, dashed past the confused looks of Starlo and Martlet, and dashed as fast as she could to get this child somewhere safe.
—
A flower rose up from where the human and monster once stood. This flower had seen many things. He had been around for too long. The things he had once called people had become nothing more than predictable puppets that always said the same old things and did the same boring actions. It had been a godsend when Clover had fallen down, not only to toy with something new and unknown, but something that could be used to finally free him from the Underground. Yet for this time around, the human had quickly become predictable, always choosing to spare his enemies and show ‘mercy’. Always choosing to be so pathetically weak . Flowey wasn’t even annoyed that they had chosen to give up their soul; they probably couldn’t have even been strong enough to distract the old fool for him to steal the souls. Or at least, this is what Flowey had been feeling until now.
Now, for what felt like the first time since forever, Flowey felt genuinely surprised. Something truly unexpected had happened that the flower had been caught off guard, only able to numbly watch as the guilt-ridden moron stopped Clover from giving up their soul and ran off with them.
It didn’t make any sense! That idiot had been advocating to respect Clover’s choice not a minute before, only to chicken out when the time actually came. She was even bawling as she had left her soul container behind and stole Clover away from the scene like some big cry baby! She wasn’t supposed to act like this! The uncertain idiot and the delusional fool should have been doing this; not the one that had been so set on completing her ‘mission’ that she hurt everything around her! That girl was too depressed and lost in her own guilt to do anything else! She certainly wasn’t supposed to be helping some child at the cost of her own mission!
The flower fumed to himself silently, watching as the uncertain idiot and the delusional fool chased after Clover and their ‘savior’, and for a moment could completely understand what the two must be feeling: complete and utter confusion.
However, the flower composed himself quickly. After all, it’s not like her choice really mattered anyway. With his power , he could simply go back, and stop her from having the chance to interfere.
But…
It had been a long, long, long time since he had seen something new from these old puppets. His curiosity had been piqued. How would this play out? After all, no matter what Ceroba thought, Clover had been dead set on giving up their soul. Would she break down and lose it like she had when he had shown her what became of her ‘precious’ daughter? Would she and her ‘friends’ kidnap Clover to force them to be alive? Would Clover finally give in and finally kill someone? Or would it just be the boring ending, where they all try to live ‘happily ever after’ ? Knowing what he knew about all of them, the Flower thought the latter option was most likely, but he had already been wrong before…
What else surprising could happen?
With his ‘face’ contorting to a maniac grin, Flowey cackled to himself on the empty turret in New Home. He couldn’t lie; he was a little interested now!
And after all, it’s not like he couldn’t just reset this all when it got too predictable anyway.