Chapter Text
Clover grasped her chest, heavy pained breaths left her mouth from the multiple magic attacks she had been hit by. Her legs shook from strain as she knelt down from no longer having the endurance to stay upright. Emotional turmoil from the person she admired so deeply attacking her.
Her eyes had been shining in awe when she first saw Starlo. A Real Sheriff. One that had the proper wear, the hat and a six-shooter. One that hunted down bandits and spread JUSTICE around the town.
And he had given her the honor of being his DEPUTY!! The honor of going on missions together with his posse!!
It hadn't all ended up alright... The posse wasn't quite happy with it but... they had made up their differences so it was alright!
So why..
Why was.. Why would Sheriff Starlo do this?...
Pain from both her failing body and the betrayal shook her. He called her a bandit... Treated her like one... Shot her like one...
All because he wanted recognition...
Bitterness and resentment began to rise inside of her... All of that because he wanted to be famous. He just... disregarded JUSTICE, tried, was, killing her just because...
"Don't look at me like that...This is the only way..", Starlo said with sadness and regret in his eyes, his hat tipping forward, almost clouding his face. That just made Clover angrier, he didn't deserve to feel sad for this.
As Starlo was pulling his six-shooter from his holster, suddenly, a fireball came from Clover's direction and hit him square in the face, knocking him out and throwing him to the floor.
Surprised at what just happened Clover tried to turn backwards but a sudden sharp pain stopped her from doing it. Darkness started to seep into her vision, everything became a bit blurry. She staggered backwards but just as she thought she would collapse she was held by someone. A fox monster's face was the last thing she saw before the darkness consumed her.
_
Clover woke up.
She felt more worn out than she ever felt in her life, tiny amounts of pain lingering briefly. Yet despite that she felt cozy, as if she was in a perfectly cool temperature and not the nearly scorching heat of the Dunes.
She opened her eyes and realized she was in dimly lit bedroom she didn't recognize, laying in a bed and covered in blankets. She tensed up a little as she realized she was somewhere unknown and couldn't feel her hat. She tried to move but something stopped her.
"Don't move. You aren't well yet", looking to the side Clover saw someone he had come to know in her stay in the Wild East, Ceroba. She relaxed at her presence.
Ceroba had been very straightforward with her during her stay in the Wild East, maybe a bit too much in fact... yet she had also been kind too in her own way. Clover really appreciated her company between the missions.
"Miss Ceroba..", mumbled Clover.
"I'm gonna be honest, you were in a pretty bad state and my healing magic can only do so much. You'll have to rest for at least a day or two, unfortunately"
She looked contemplative and pained for a second before saying, "... And about what Starlo did... I'm sorry.. I didn't think he would go this far..", Ceroba was really upset about Starlo, her face scrunching up in anger and disappointment.
Starlo. That name. That Monster. The betrayal she felt, the anger. Sheriff 'North Star'. The Hero of the Underground. The Liar.
"I thought... he was my friend...a real Sheriff... and then he got the gall to... to..!!", said Clover in anger. "He knew it... knew what he was doing... he was hurting me..!! But he still kept doing it..!", her anger only increased the more she said.
Balling her hands into fists, she shouted, "He ain't a Sheriff. He ain't no Hero!! He's just a dirty liar is what!! He is...! He-"
She got interrupted by a gentle hug from Ceroba. Her eyes widened, not expecting... this. Not from her. Ceroba had been really nice but... She didn't think she would want to... And... Something wet slid down her cheeks. She didn't realize she was crying.
At that point she just decided to... let go. Let Miss Ceroba hug her. Let herself cry. Wash away the fervid feelings of anger, betrayal and something else. Let the tiredness of her journey wash over her. Forget for just a moment about her ruined mission and rest. She spent a good 5 minutes letting it all out till she was empty, no more to give, yet feeling warm for it. For a moment she vehemently didn't want to let go of Miss Ceroba's soft embrace, but she reminded herself she couldn't keep hugging her even if she wanted to.
"Sorry for crying on yer clothing Miss Ceroba..", Clover said apologetically.
"It's fine..", responded the fox.
"Where are we? I don't... know this place..", asked the former deputy.
"... This used to be my house. Initially I was going to take you back to where I live but... I didn't think you wanted to see Starlo there", explained the fox.
"...As for this bedroom... it used to belong to Kanako-", Ceroba continued but was interrupted.
"W-Wait y-you mean yer daughter?! Whah-", retorted the cowgirl, a bit shocked, "I shouldn't be here then! This ain't mine! I-"
"Don't worry about it Clover... You need a safe place to rest.. Besides if Kanako was here she would be fine with lending her bed", she smiled sadly.
Despite her reassurance Clover still felt out of place staying in someone else's bed and room. Looking around the drawings in the wall, the way the room still looked lived in made her feel even more intruding. In particular the drawing just above the bed was what caught her eye. Three foxes, one smaller than the other two. A happy family... Something inside of her welled up but was then quickly overtaken by curiosity.
"...N-Not to be rude or anything but... You talked a lot bout her and... Where is Kanako?"
Ceroba looked even more downtrodden at this question.
"Sorry if I asked someth-"
"No... It's fine.", Ceroba took a breath, "Long ago an accident happened to Kanako and she... fell down. I sent her to the Lab in Hotland alongside other Monsters in hope that the Royal Scientist may help her but... It's been more than 2 years and I haven't heard a word from her or the Scientist. But I know. I know that Kanako is there still."
"That's awful! I... 'm sorry bout that.."
"Thank you.. I would've said your kindness reminded me of Starlo but... I don't know if he is still the same kind farmer he used to be, not after what he did."
The mood dropped as she mentioned Starlo.
"Miss Ceroba... I could help you find yer daughter if ya need...", offered Clover.
This surprised Ceroba, "Aren't you... on a mission to the Castle?"
"Well... Yes but... Is fine it can wait, cause you waited more than enough to see yer daughter!", what was left unsaid was Clover's increasing doubt and denial regarding her 'mission'.
She had no one to save cause they were all dead, she had learned about the fate of the missing children from Martlet. But that couldn't be it, right? Her mission couldn't just be invalidated, right? There was a point to all of this, there had to be a point to all of this, a reason she came all the way here, because if there wasn't...she wouldn't know what to do with her life if it was all meaningless.
She felt restless, the agitation to push forward beckoning her. Bring JUSTICE to the one responsible: Asgore. The replacement for her original mission, for her purpose. Yet could you pull the trigger on someone even knowing they were a criminal? Was death a deserved punishment when you would become no better than the one you were punishing?
But that could wait... It wasn't like the King of Monsterkind was going to go anywhere... Or that she would have anywhere to go after she was done... She had nothing and no one waiting for her. No home. No... family.
"If you are really determined to help me... I know a shortcut to get to Hotland. Normally I would've gone myself but the place isn't exactly small... or well mantained. It would really help having someone crafty and courageous like you on my side", Ceroba smiled.
Clover blushed at the praise, looking away a little. W-Well regardless Clover would definitely help Miss Ceroba find her daughter. It was only fair after she saved her. Most of all she knew for certain it was the JUST thing to do.
A low growling noise came from Clover's stomach, causing her to blush even more. Ceroba just chuckled at that.
"I guess I will have my hands full for today and tomorrow", said the fox as she got up and went to prepare some food for her guest.
_
"Clover you don't need to- Are you okay?! You are crying again!", said Ceroba, concerned as her guest devoured the bowl of corn chowder faster than even Kanako did at her hungriest.
Clover meanwhile was having the best meal she ever had in her life. Sure the pancakes from Honeydew had been really good and so had the sweet corn Dalv gave her but this... this was..!
There were no words for how flavorful it was. Only the tears she shed as she was nearly overwhelmed with flavor could do any justice to describe how she felt about this meal.
Now that she thought about it... everything she had ate in the Underground had been so much better compared to anything she had on the Surface. But to be fair it wasn't like they could consistently afford good food up there . Still.. being able to eat something that wasn't just fine but was absolutely delicious made her incredibly happy.
"Do you got more? Is sooo good", asked Clover hopefully.
*sigh* "I can make some more", Ceroba said in amusement.
_
A few hours later Clover was feeling a lot better. She had taken a nap after eating 4 full bowls of corn chowder. She blushed a little remembering how she ravenously devoured them. Now that she didn't feel so beaten down she decided to get up from bed.
Removing the covers and putting her feet on the floor she successfully got upright, though she still felt sore all over. Utilizing her recovered mobility she decided to take a closer look at Kanako's room. There wasn't as much things as she thought there would be. The drawings which she had noticed before and... was that Dalv?! Did Kanako know him? Maybe she could ask Miss Ceroba about it later. Then was a drawer full of something she didn't want to disturb... and a box full of toys which she decided to look closer.
She thinks there were some wooden building blocks inside, but besides the box was also a plushy. She grabbed the plushy and took a closer look. Something inside of her hurt. She never had a nice plushy like this... Kanako was lucky she had a nice mother, a nice life. All the more reason to help Miss Ceroba.
She put the plushy back where it was before and turned back to see a large and old TV together with some machine she didn't recognize and a... VHS Player! Excitement burst forward as she tried to look for her bag but couldn't find it on herself. Her panic of losing her bag lasted a brief moment before she saw it was safely stored near one of the bed's legs. She shuffled herself there and searched deep into it. It wasn't long before she found what she was looking for. An old VHS tape. This alongside her hat and her toy gun were her only possessions that mattered. Her most treasured things.
When she had visited the house Ceroba and the posse lived in she was completely over the moon once she saw how many different Wild West movies they had there and she had absolutely wanted to watch every single one of them after they were done with the missions. She had also wanted to show Sheriff North StarStarlo her own movie too but then....
...She shook her head, trying to ward off the bad feelings, she should be happy to have an opportunity to watch this movie, her first and only movie, again. She plugged the cable inside of the electrical socket and put in her tape. After a few seconds the familiar Harmonica began to play as the screen showed a familiar desert she had seen so many times. She smiled joyfully as she sat on the floor to watch it.
"-how do ya think we are gonna stop the bandits Sheriff, they got all those damn guns on us!" "Now pardner hold yer horses cause I got a goddamn plan! I ain't letting that old coyote get ahold of my town!"-
So absorbed in watching the movie that Clover didn't notice Ceroba behind her, watching the movie together out of curiosity. After a while of watching Ceroba started to get tired as the hour of sleeping, at least for the denizens of the Underground, approached. The fox yawned, which then caused Clover to yelp and jump in fright.
Seeing a familiar face Clover relaxed, "Y-Ya scared me Miss Ceroba!"
The fox lady chuckled, "Sorry to interrupted your movie session but it's getting quite late. I'm going to sleep and you are going too."
"B-But I ain't tired yet!", whined Clover.
"That's no excuse now Clover. Go to bed. Tomorrow we'll go save Kanako and we need to be well rested for the journey.", said Ceroba in a wise tone.
"Fiinee...", she reluctantly answered.
Clover retrieved her tape and unplugged the TV. As she was stashing her possession in her bag she realized that outside looked just as bright as it was before. She felt very confused at that. Didn't Miss Ceroba said it was night? Like the time to sleep?
It took an embarrassing amount of time for her to realize that she was Underground, which didn't have a day and night cycle. After coming to that realization she noticed a light switch near the TV. Pressing it caused something in the large window above the bed to close, shrouding the room in near total darkness besides the faint light coming from downstairs. Satisfied with the darkness she flopped into the bed and covered herself with blankets.
After her fast paced adventure through the Underground, going through the Ruins, fighting Dalv, seeing the sides in Snowdin, fighting Martlet and so many other things... Being able to just relax and close her eyes felt heavenly. Her adventure had been so strange but nice at the same time... She was thankful for being able to help Dalv cause he really wasn't well when she saw him, she hoped he could move back to Snowdin. Martlet had been nice too even though she had attacked her. She hoped she wasn't still stuck in prison, she would be fine though.. Martlet was quite tough, she could handle herself.
Being surrounded by darkness started to make her sleepy. She moved a little as sleep started to overtake her.
She dreamed of soft and fluffy arms hugging her.