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The darkish blue walls that were adorned with small gems that lit up the entire area, the cyan-colored echo flowers producing a small amounts of pollen everytime it repeats the last thing it's heard. The blue waters moving like it's in rhythm with the flowing sounds it makes. It was all enough to make a cozy atmosphere for the place like waterfall, but it didn't feel like one for today.
A blue bird named Martet was sitting down on the purple colored gravel, in front of her was a small wooden raft with a yellow colored flag, a raft that she was currently dusting and re-attaching some parts and making sure that none of them would break once they hit the water. A raft that was built for... Someone that was close to her whose gone... Forever.
A young human that goes by name of Clover was one of the sixth humans to fall down the underground, who only fell down just to find the five missing children that have fallen down here and were never to be seen again by the public, even worrying some people including each of the childrens parents. The parents experiencing worry and sadness over the fact that they might have been dead and ran away, and that thought alone terrified them. Looking at these poor lives being taken away just from walking up to the mountain and never come back to their homes and families, was the one thing that they have took it upon themselves and think that it is their responsibility to find them and bring the singular person who was the cause of their dissaperances to justice. So they went up to Mt.Ebott and started their quest.
The entire time they've been here in the underground, they have met nothing but genuinely really cool monsters throughout their journey, sure some of them tried to attack them but they've realized that someone like them is genuinely nice kid that just wants to find the missing children and save them and get out of here. There was it's ups and downs, but at the end they realized that not every story has it's happy ending, and finding the children were not going to be easy and would be more impossible to try and save them. But at the same time, they felt pity over the fact that the entirety of monsterkind and their costs of living here was hopelless that in the next couple there would be nothing but silence.
So, they sacrificed themselves... They gave up their own soul to the king of Asgore to give the monsterkind it's justice it truly deserves... And it has been about months since that peculiar day. A day that they gave up their own life to save everyone in the underground. And now today was the day they decided to give their tribute to the one that was a brave kid they have ever met. Martlet finished dusting off her raft, she scrambled herself back up on her feet. She looked at the raft for a few seconds before letting out a breath she didn't knew she held in. The blue bird picked up the brown-colored cowboy hat that was on the ground right next to her, a cowboy hat Clover had gifted her before they had to give up their soul and had to say their final goodbyes in person. She clutched the hat to her chest at the thought of it, still looking down at the raft with an unreadable look on her face.
"... I've been thinking about that day. A lot." The blue bird said after the uncomfortable amount of silence with the only sounds of the water flowing.
"Time is a funny thing you know? I guess in the big picture of my life, you were only a blip. But oftentimes... Those blips make the biggest impacts." Another silence fills the air again, the blue bird trying to find words to continue on like having a conversation with them... Yet it feels like she's talking to herself more than anything.
"The king offered me a promotion. A guard post in New Home." She said, the slight dissapointing tone can be heard in her voice when she said that, along with slightly gripping on the hat that is in her hands. She lets out a long but exasperated sigh before continuing.
"But after experiencing the worst the job had to offer... I declined. Not only that, I put in my two weeks, heh." She said with a small smile, a smile that has soon crestfallen when she tried to make herself feel better, but failed. She looked to the side akwardly, her feathered fingers mindlessly rubbing the hat to feel the brown leather fabric.
"I.. Think that there much more better causes to pour myself into." She turns her head back to the small little raft she built that is front of her.
"Anyways, sorry that I'm putting you on one of my rafts again. Might not be the most appropriate sendoff after that last ride... But it's the tribute I could think of." She kneeled down next to the raft, before gently putting cowboy hat in the center of it. She placed her wings on both sides of the wooden boat, as she looked at the hat with nothing but pure guilt. She heard footsteps from behind, that caused her to turn her head around to see two monsters, one a fox and one a star, Ceroba and Starlo, both looking at the small wooden flatboat before turning to look at Martlet.
"It's nice." The kimono dressed fox said before she darts her eyes at the boat again, the sheriff giving a small nod in agreement "It is. Thanks for doing this."
Martlet stood up from the purple gravelled floor before turning her body around to look at the two monsters in front of her. "Felt good to craft something with meaning again. You got your gift?" She asked, turning her head to Starlo.
"Yeah, here you go." The sheriff answered the question giving her a nod before going over to the right side of the raft. He pulls out a toy gun that was kept in his gun holder, a one Clover gave to him before sacrificing themselves before their departure. He left out a shaky sigh, kneeling down to place the toy weapon right next to brown-leathered hat. He stands up, taking a small step back, his eyes not leaving the raft for a couple of seconds before hearing Ceroba's voice.
"Oh, I almost forgot. There's two people I invited who were friends of Clover."
Both the sheriff and the retired royal guardsmen turned to look at her, Martlet tilting her head to the side in confusion "Friends?"
"H-Hello? Is this the right place?" A voice echoed and the sound of footsteps, as well as the sound of whirrs and gears turning can be heard approaching from behind them, catching their attention. The fox lady stepped out of the way to show a vampire looking monster with two white bulky but sharp horns, wearing a coat, and a robot that stood right next to him.
"Oh hello." Martlet greeted first with a small wave, "Howdy." Sheriff greeted second, tipping his cowboy hat at the two, smiling welcomely at them.
"Sorry if we're intruding... My name is Dalv." The vampire uttered as he introduced himself, giving a small bow as his own way of greeting. "AXIS MODEL 014." The robot gives a small wave back at the two, before turning to look at Dalv as his way of messaging to speak first, Dalv gave a nod before turning to look at the others.
"I umm... I was living in the ruins when Clover first entered the underground."
"So you were the first to meet 'em?" Starlo inquired, putting a hand on his hip. "One of the first, I suppose... " The dalv nodded, wiping a small droplet of sweat that was on his cheek before continuing.
"A-Anyway, when we met, I acted foolish and..." He looked down a bit in regret before letting a tired sigh "...Attacked Clover."
"I think we all did that at one point..." The blue bird said, putting a hand to her side whilst sadly looking down. Dalv looked back, waving a hands a bit "I promise it didn't last long, though! And I held back a little. Um..." He was going to continue to say something, but he placed a hand on his neck and looked back up with a raised eyebrow "Where was I going with this?"
"Clover helped you out of your situation." Ceroba replied, the vampire giving her a small nod, "Yes. All in all, Clover was very kind to me." He felt his own shoulders slightly relax once he finishes talking. "That checks out."
She smiled, turning her towards Axis before asking, "What about you, Axis?" All of them turned their heads to look at the robot as way to let him talk. And so... He did exactly that.
"WELL... JUST LIKE ALL OF YOU, I AS WELL, HAVE TRIED TO MURDER CLOVER. MOSTLY BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THEY, AS WELL AS TALL LADY, HAVE BEEN TRESSPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY IN STEAMWORKS." The automation looked away a bit, letting out a bitcrushed sigh before speaking, his head still turned away from the others. "I UNFORTUNATELY WAS ATTACKING THE PERSON WHO WAS THE SPOUSE OF MY CREATOR, CHUJIN... AND IT WAS NOT LONG AFTER THAT SHE TOLD ME THAT MY CREATOR PASSED AWAY... AND COULD NOT TELL HIM THAT I MISSED HIM BECAUSE OF THAT." Axis felt his gloved hands grip, not out of frustration, but out of pure sadness and guilt.
"Oh... That's horrible Axis." Martlet commented, feeling bad for the poor robot knowing that his creator passed away without having to see him one last time.
"I'm sorry you had to find out about that..." Ceroba sadly replied, she felt regret after when she told Axis about that and how sad it was to see the poor robot's reaction to it. She even felt a little helpless about the fact that she lied when Axis asked to tell Chujin that he missed him quite a lot, but what else was she supposed to do? Let him be blissfully unaware? Well, she could have let him but that wasn't what she wanted to do.
Axis turned to Ceroba, waving his gloved hand in reassurance. "IT IS OKAY, TALL LADY- NO... CEROBA. IT WAS BETTER TO TELL ME ABOUT IT SOONER THAN LATER." That made her feel a little a bit, she felt a small smile tug at the corner of her lips.
Axis turns back to others to continue, "ANYWAYS, AS I WAS SAYING. AFTER MY FIGHT WITH THE HUMAN, THEY COULD HAVE DESTROYED RIGHT THEN AND THERE AND WENT ON, BUT... THEY DID NOT. AND THEY ALSO MADE ME MEET THE LOVE OF MY LIFE..." He felt himself smile, a light gray coloured blush appearing on his cheeks when he mentioned his beloved wife. A cartoonish puff of smoke billowed from the pipe on Axis’ head, the four could’ve sworn it was vaguely heart shaped, that made Martet and Dalv giggle at the robot's reaction.
"Well, lucky you partner! I can tell that you met a very nice robot with your expression and all." Starlo chuckled, a robot giving a nod in response, a lovestruck look appeared on his face.
"I DID. SHE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING." Axis shook his head to revert back to his normal expression to continue to explain... Again.
"AND I REALLY WISHED I BROUGHT SOME KIND OF GIFT TO GIVE THEM IN RETURN AS A TRIBUTE IN A WAY. BUT..." The robot looked down, fidgeting with his gloved fingers, whilst trying to find a way describe his situation. "DUE TO LEARNING ABOUT MY CREATOR'S DEATH, AND AS WELL AS THE STRESS OF MAKING SURE THAT THE ENTIRETY OF THE STEAMWORKS WILL NOT COLLAPSE, AND TO MAKE SURE THAT MY LOVELY AND THE ROBOTS ARE IN WORKING CONDITION, I COULD NOT... I AM SORRY." He looked down in guilt.
"No no, it's fine Axis! You coming here to say your final goodbyes to Clover with us is more than enough!" Martlet assured him, making the automation feel a little bit better, but the guilt was still there and it was understandable.
"Anyways, it's nice to meet you, Dalv and Axis. Thanks for coming." She walked over to Dalv to give him a handshake. Which he happily reciprocated the gesture, "Of course."
Axis gives her a small a smile, "IT IS THE LEAST WE CAN DO." After she and Dalv stopped their handshake, she turned around to look at the raft again before looking back at the others "Well... No more stalling. Everyone ready?"
"I believe so." The fox lady giving her a nod at her question, with Axis and Dalv nodding as well. As Martlet was going over to pick it up, Starlo pulled out a hand to stop her in her tracks.
"Oh, wait a second. I want to place one more thing." Starlo goes over to the front of the small wooden boat, he places a small blue and red colored-glasses that pulled out of his pocket in front of the cowboy hat and the gun.
"Safety glasses?" Ceroba asked. "I want Clover to stay safe on their journey. Can't forget 'em, right?" Starlo commented, tipping his cowboy hat a small bit with a smug look, causing Ceroba to let out a small chuckle whilst shaking her head. "No, you can't."
And after that, the blue bird goes over and picks up the raft in her blue feathered hands, Starlo goes over to the small lake that they're going to place the raft on to get out of her way. She walked over to the watery long pond that probably leads to... Somewhere, with Ceroba, Axis and Dalv following behind her. When they all got infront of the lake, Martlet kneeled down and place the raft on the water before standing up again. All five of them watching as the raft slowely and surely moves along the flowy water. "There you go..." The bird quietly says.
Dalv was the first to say goodbye to Clover. felt his mouth quiver, he almost was about to cry but managed to hold it in, except for the one tear that fell down his face, his voice was left all shaky, "Goodbye friend."
Ceroba was the second. She clasped her hands together, closing her eyes, as if she was imagining herself standing in front of a grave on a funeral, "Thanks for all you've done."
Axis was third. The automation hasn't left eyes off of the wooden raft, taking note of the contents that was in it. Just from looking at them alone made his whole body shake, and god did he wish he could cry, but he couldn't since robots were not programmed to, "EVEN THOUGH WE ALL HAVE HAD A ROCKY START WITH YOU. WE REALLY DID APPRECIATE YOU, AND YOU DESERVE YOUR REST."
Starlo was the fourth. He looked down, his hat covering his own eyes, he felt his own voice crack a bit, restraining from letting huge waterworks, he'll break down when he gets home, "See you around, kid."
Martlet being the last one to say her goodbye. The tears well up in the corner of her eyes as she couldn't hold it in anymore, she managed to let her goodbye out despite her voice going up a bit higher and being a bit shaky "Take care, Clover."
The water picks up the speed, causing the raft to go a little bit more faster. It went as far as the wind could take it, and it dissapeared out of their sight and into shadows of the waterfall area.
Even though Clover might have lost so many things, like them costing their own life to save everyone, but after everything that they've done and after everything they've been through, they really did deserve respect for being brave enough to get back up on their feet and continue. And of course they'll forever be in their and the other monsters hearts for their kidness and loyalty and they'll forever be living on as the most bravest child in the entire time in the underground, and they wouldn't have it any other way...
And just like that... The raft left and said it's final goodbyes to it's friends, and so did Clover.
