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Clover always wakes up bright and early, but they've slept in today. The water-powered clock to their bedside reads 13:29, and they rise with a groan, quickly tossing their heated blanket aside.
They are quick to jump to their feet, changing from pajamas to their color block hoodie and sweats, adjusting their hat so that their long high ponytail can be looped through the back.
Opening the front door, they adjust their hefty boots, the silver accessories clinking against the sandy wood porch before a voice calls out to them.
"You going out to patrol, Cloves?"
"Yup," Clover nods towards North Star, whose glasses nearly slip off his face when he's bent halfway over, knelt down trying to tie a fixed knot on the back of the old Ketsukane carriage. Clover's not sure why he still insists on taking care of that thing. "You know, you're better off just building them a new one."
"No can do, bucko! Chujin and Ceroba made this beauty themselves, woodwork, paint job and all! I gotta keep this hunk of junk in tip-top shape!"
"If you say so," Clover clicks their tongue, fixing the adjustment of their hat and slinging the adventurer's backpack over their shoulder. "You sure you don't want help?"
"I got it, I got it… C'mon, you trust your old man, don't'cha? 'sides…" Star stands up, wiping the sweat off his forehead, winking towards Clover. "The Meadows needs their trusty Sentinel on standby, don't they?"
Tunturi Meadows was a place far off from the rest of the main regions of the underground, rife with canyons and bountiful oases hot-spots across all of its beautiful flora-covered land. Even the dimmer areas, including the abandoned Stone Grotto, were full of life.
Clover rarely went and patrolled the Stone Grotto. North Star, their boss and caretaker in addition to being the sheriff of Tunturi Town, always advised against it. They can hear his anger now, saying something like Anyone lying over in 'ose parts might as well have sealed their fate already, cuz there ain't no reason nobody should be out 'ere in the first place!
The sentinel chuckles. Either way, they haven't even patrolled the cross between the Grotto and the Meadows in a long time—not since the human came around.
Clover lifts their head slightly. The human, Chara, they said their name was… It had been a little over two weeks since they arrived in the Meadows, if memory serves them correctly. And Clover's memory is amazing.
Back then, Clover had been hostile. They were a trespasser, after all, and humans were to be brought to the Queen. This was their story as well, way back when. They were much younger, and they managed to hide away with North Star, Chujin, and the rest of the Tunturi entourage.
Clover does not know if Chara received this luxury. In fact, they have no idea of their whereabouts, what they are up to, if their soul was taken… Last time they checked, the underground only needs two more human souls to break the barrier.
That would be Clover and Chara.
Oh, Angel, the human huffs, shoving their hand through their hair impatiently. And if they're not okay? And past that, why do you care? Chara was never supposed to enter your life anyway—
"—over!"
Clover stops. The space around them is dim and rocky. They've long since entered the Stone Grotto, it seems, and their leg bumped into a Ghost Shroom.
They look down. It's glowing impeccably bright, putting a bit of strain on their eyes.
"Clover? Stop sulking for a moment! Can you hear me?"
"…I've never seen a Ghroom do that before."
"I—First of all, don't call it that. Second of all, Chara needs help."
The human does a double take, almost immediately kneeling on the rocky ground. "What? What? What's wrong with Chara? Who even are you?"
"Doesn't matter. Chara's injured and, as always, would rather die than ask for help of any kind." The voice sounds extra irritated at the end of their statement, though the playful twinge in their tone makes it sound sarcastic. "So are you in, or should I go find some other random monster who doesn't know how to heal human wounds?"
"Okay," Clover breathes. "Alright. What do I need to do?"
Nearly racing deep into the Grotto, their high ponytail thumping against the brim of their hat, Clover anxiously swipes through the contact list in their phone until they land on the caller ID of…MAYOR BONEHEAD >:(.
They kind of forgot they set his name as that. In all fairness, that was years ago, back when Martlet introduced them.
"hello?"
"Sans. Sans? Hey, it's me, uh… Clover."
There is a beat of silence on the other line. "uh, yeah. yeah, i remember. hey, you ever change that old hat of yours?"
"Th—" Clover clicks their tongue. "Sans, stop messing around. I have something really important to tell you."
"really? that's funny, cause i'm kind of in the middle of, uh, something, right now. can the really important thing wait for my really important thing?"
"Well, yes and no—I know where Chara is."
Sans quiets again. "…yeah, okay. yup. where'd i send them to?"
"The abandoned grotto, Sans! You need to work on those 'shortcuts' of yours, where even were they?!"
"nowhere special. just the capital."
"Sans, what the h—"
Clover slows to a stop, looking straight at the sight from not too far away. There lays Chara, sprawled out over a rock, muddied with bruises and blood, waving their arm weakly around in the air and shouting at nothing.
"clover? what happened?"
"No, I…" They realize their breathing must be heavy, so they pull the phone further away from their face. "I found Chara. I'll call you back?"
"kay. sounds good. stay safe and keep me updated, alright?"
Click.
Clover pockets their phone, drawing out a lantern from their backpack as they start walking towards the other human.
"Frisk, leave me be," Chara scoffs, turning on their right side. "No, Frisk, I'll walk it off… Stop already…"
"Chara?"
Chara looks up, startled by the sight of Clover leaning down with a firefly lantern in hand. "Oh! Um, cowgirl, hi!" They grin sheepishly. "Funny seeing you here! You found me inside the cave this time instead of the entrance… We really should stop meeting like this."
"Stay still, idiot," Clover sighs, pressing their knees to the ground. They set the iron lantern down, the bottom of the mechanism unlatching with a soft clink, emitting brighter light on the ground.
Chara winces when Clover comes closer to them with an open palm, blurry green light and a dirty first aid kit. Clover's eyes flicker from their body to their face, unfamiliar softened wrinkles in the corner of their eyes.
"You trust me?"
"…Sure," Chara breathes.
"You better, I'm the only one you got." Clover carefully pries Chara's arm off of their torso, examining their bloodied sweater carefully. The wound didn't look very bad, at most a skin-deep slash. "…Chara, I—"
"Before you ask, no, Clover, I didn't trip," the human sneers. "I didn't trip, accidentally impale myself with a spike, run into a blade…"
"I wasn't going to ask any of that," Clover chuckles. "Were you expecting me to poke fun at you while you're bleeding out?"
"Well, I would. It'd be better than whatever 'Who did this to you' spiel you had planned initially, I bet…" Chara braces themselves again, feeling the magic pressure mending their muscle. "What were you going to ask, anyway?"
"I was going to ask who Frisk is."
The cavern is silent for a moment, but not too silent where they could hear their own thoughts. Or maybe that's just the sound of Chara's heartbeat.
Their breath hitches. "Um. I don't know a Frisk. At least, I think I don't. Besides, that's a dumb name. Who names—Ow!"
Clover almost smiles watching Chara jerk forward just slightly, like they've been pushed by an invisible force. "Okay then, don't tell me. Tell me what happened instead then, princess."
Chara groans. "How much longer do I have to tell you to not call me that?"
"You still call me cowgirl. Even though I would say that Star has more of the cowboy getup than I do."
"That was only after you started giving me all of those stupid nicknames!" Chara groans, wincing from the pain from their outburst. "Ouch…"
"Careful," Clover murmurs softly, kindly. The glow from their fingertips brightens, and the green softly brushes against Chara's skin.
Chara's chest heaves in and out, watching how Clover's hair carefully drapes over their brow. Their breathing begins to slow…
"It's making me fatigued."
"Oh, sorry…" Clover says, looking up at them. They make eye contact, so Clover quickly looks away for no other reason that they don't like eye contract. "I'm still new at…this. It's a common side effect. Star says it's 'just a part of yer charm'."
Chara chuckles, softer this time, in a way that will only barely make their stomach sore. "How did you learn to do this anyways? I believed magic in humans hadn't been seen since the last century."
Clover pauses. "That's because it's not magic. Not this."
"It isn't?"
"Yeah," the sentinel responds, "It's science."
"Science," Chara echoes. "Tell me about it."
"Oh. Well, after everything, uh, went down, when I first arrived, and Chujin warmed up to me… He offered to run some experiments on me. He said it would enhance my SOUL power, and basically they found out that I have a little bit of everything. Mostly justice and kindness, though. That's why I'm able to do slow healing and my sharp-shots."
Finally prying their hands off of Chara's stomach, Clover puts their hands on their knees. Chara looks up at them, barely holding back a yawn. "That's… really nice, Clover. Although it kind of irritates me that you're essentially a human tank."
"Pfft, what? Human shield?"
"It fits, no?"
"It does not."
Chara sits up, a bit wobbly at first. Clover extends their arms out in case they fall. "Woah—Okay. About your…previous question, about what happened?"
"Yeah?"
Chara tries not to think about how quickly Clover looks away when the two make eye contact again. "I've been… So, I already met the Queen."
"What?" Clover presses forward. "It was her?"
"No, no!" Chara frantically waves their hands around. "It was just a monster I ran into at the capital… Queen Toriel was very sweet. She is very sweet. She…"
Clover examines closely how Chara looks down at their hands. "I-"
"You're staying," Clover finishes.
Chara lifts their head. "…Yes. I am. Staying, that is. For…however long I can. Is that what you did?"
"That's…" Clover looks off to the side. "I never made it to the queen. I ran off to the meadows before that point."
Chara's breath fans out in between them, and they topple over. Clover, panicked, catches them quickly, letting Chara's head slump against their shoulders.
"Shit—Chara, what's wrong?"
"I'm tired," Chara murmurs, burying their face into Clover's thick hood.
"I-" Clover frowns, rubbing Chara's back. "Did you… not want to stay?"
The human's breathing slows, their heart calming…
…
Clover adjusts their position, leaning against the cold stone wall with Chara's weight flush against their body. Clover soothes their back, listening to only the sound of them breathing. "Right," Clover presses a kiss to the top of their head. "G'night, princess."
Chara tries their hardest not to clutch at Clover's chest, focusing only on the feeling of their ear pressed against the sound of Clover's heartbeat, heat rushing to their ears.
Frisk pinches the bridge of their nose, floating off and grumbling to themselves something about stupid idiots.
ᨒ↟ 𖠰𖥧˚
"UGH, THIS ONE IS NO GOOD EITHER…"
Papyrus flips and switches through channels on the faulty T.V., each disappointment proceeded by a frustrated click.
Ever since Blooktune and Chara's altercation (and what a riveting battle it was), Papyrus has had virtually nothing to stimulate his brain with. Every other channel and its predecessor has been nothing short of a snooze fest, ridiculed with nonsensical things like the delay of the freedom of the Underground and how the CORE may be struggling to maintain itself.
You know, terribly mind numbing stuff.
The door creaks open and Papyrus slings his arm over the couch's backrest, staring straight at Chara, who has made a sore attempt to sneak into the living room.
"TINY HUMAN! WHERE WERE YOU? YOU HAD SANS ALL WORRIED!" He pauses, then continues, "NOT ME, OF COURSE. I HAD JUST SEEN YOU IN THE GOLDEN CORRIDOR, AFTER ALL…"
Chara scratches the back of their head, coughing into their blue-and-yellow checkered bandana. They weren't wearing that bandana the last time they met, Papyrus remembers. "I was running away from monsters trying to kill me. You know, the usual."
"AH, YES, I REMEMBER! WHAT SILLY IDEAS, I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING!" Papyrus puts his hand on his chest before turning back to Chara, who shiftily sets their bag down. "BY THE WAY, WHO HEALED YOU?"
"Wh—Huh? I didn't-" Chara stammers, throwing some aggressive and offensive looks to the air. "What are you talking about, Papyrus?"
"THAT PATCH ON YOUR PHYSICAL BODY INSTEAD OF YOUR SOUL. IT'S VERY SHODDY AS WELL, I'LL SAY! I ONLY HEALED THAT BADLY WHEN I WAS A WEE LITTLE BABY BONES!"
"Patch…" Chara echoes, clutching the sore area near their stomach. "…A friend. They're new to healing too. Is it really that bad?"
"WELL, IT WOULD BE, IF NOT FOR THE EVIDENT CARE PUT INTO THE THING!" Papyrus pauses before continuing with "I CAN SEE JUST FROM THE INTRICACY OF IT THAT IT WAS MADE WITH A LOT OF LOVE!"
Chara seems unsettled, almost, when Papyrus grins cheekily. "Like…love, or LOVE?"
"LOVE!"
They blink.
"Thanks, Papyrus."
"YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY WELCOME!"
"I'm going to bed, Papyrus."
"THAT YOU ARE! GOOD NIGHT, TINY HUMAN!"
"Good night, Papyrus."
"YOU CAN TELL ME ALL ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE IN THE MORNING!"
"Papyrus!?"