Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Clover awoke from his seat in the car, from a sleep so deep that just for a moment, he'd forgotten everything. When he was, where he was, how he was- everything. Not even the dream he was just having. 

Not that he tended to remember his dreams anyhow, but- 

He took a breath. He gathered his mind. And he pulled his hat back from off his face. 

As he made himself aware of the light and the world once more, the first thing he saw was the forest. A forest without leaves, and the sun shining bright above, and the sound of commotion before him.  It was...noon, if he had to guess? Sometime a bit later? Three, he'd say, if the sun was any indication. 

The smell of nature. Wood and pine and sawdust. He looked ahead, and saw that they were at grandma and grandpa's house.

Or...their house, he now supposed. And he alone, sitting in...a moving van. A moving van, that looking behind him, was empty. 

He'd slept through all of the work! 

He quickly unbuckled himself and hopped out of the car, his boots crunching in one of the few patches of snow still pristine,as he ran forwards towards the house, chasing the end of a brown coat as someone finished carrying in what he assumed to be the last of the boxes.

"N'...where'd ya want this one, then?" The holder's voice said, as he anxiously trailed in behind them. 

"Oh uh...what is that one- Kitchen, please! Thanks Starlo!" 

"It ain't nothin!." 

He quickly filed in behind him, running past the door and coming to a stop at the stairway, where Mama, looking bone tired, was staring back at Mr. Star with a tired smile.

"...I'm really sorry. Again, I mean." Mama sighed. "I know you said it's fine and all, and I don't have to pay you back or anything, but-"

"Martlet, please." Mr. Star said, holding up his hand in a stopping motion as he doubled back into the living room-entrance-stairway. "Ain't this what friends are for? Helpin' when ya need it? 'Sides, I know y'all are good for it. Ain't no-one better I know with a chipper, n' I've been meaning ta' break that old table out."

...He watched as mama huffed. As she looked around for a moment in clear distress, before giving Mr. Star a hug. 

"...I really can't pay you back enough for everything."

"S' the least I can do. What with well...everything." Mr. Star said, pulling away as he spared a glance to the stairway. "...N' I know I've said it a hundred times already, but...m'sorry bout em. Wish I could'a done more."

 "...I don't blame you for anything, you're the mayor now! You uh...got big...responsibilities! And...stuff!"

"Well, suppose if now means the last half decade maybe, but-"

Mr. Star was interrupted as Melody brushed past him and Mama, taking a box with her name marked on it up the stairs. 

"...Suppose the little lady's got the right idea, though. We all got us some work to be done, don't we?" Mr. Star chuckled, as he stepped away towards the door. "Got me those...'watch me forever or I die in a day' flowers I gotta take care of now. Brings the ol' office together, but...hell, ain't no better than kids a' my own!"

"Yeah, I uh...I bet!" Mama said, laughing for a moment before abruptly catching herself and offering another half smile to Mr. Star. "I'll...call. Tell you and Dalv and...well, I guess just  you two when everything settles down."

"Be seein' ya then." Mr. Star said, as he tipped his hat to Mama, waved goodbye to Melody, and...came to a pause before him.

"Deputy!" Mr. Star said, falling to a knee as a genuine smile came to his face. "Didn't even see ya! When did you get up?" 

"I'm real sorry, Mr. Star!" He quickly said in return. "I didn't mean ta' make you do all my work! I know ya had ta' drive us over n' everything, n' then-"

"It ain't nothin, kid." Mr. Star said with a smirk. "...Bit a' fresh air was nice. Stretch the legs n' all. That, n' I certainly ain't about ta' be trust yer' Mama or yer' sister with the wheel."

"...Melody ain't too bad with the wheel, though!" 

"...Hey!" Mama chirped from the stairwell.

"Still ain't too much leeway a 2-Haul's gonna be givin a kid-"

"I'm seventeen!" Melody shouted from deeper in the house, as he watched her head poke out from around the corner.
 
"Ain't too much leeway a seventeensies gonna get on legal paperwork!" Mr. Star shouted, turning his attention back to face her. "N' y'all would still need me ta' bring it back anyhow!"

He watched Melody stare a moment longer, before rolling the one eye not obscured by her hair, retreating back yet deeper as she took another box, one marked with his name with her.

Mr. Star chuckled, before turning his attention back to him. 

"...I still ain't too sure 'bout everything, Mr. Star." He said, as he struggled to meet Mr. Star's eyes. "I know it's...really the only way we got, but...s'just-"

"A little scary?" 

"...Somethin' like that."

"Look at me fer' a sec, Deputy." Mr. Star said, as he placed his hand upon his shoulder.

He looked up.

"You're gonna do great. I know it." Mr. Star said, as a warm smile spread across his face. "Hometown ain't so scary, once ya' get to know it a bit. Hell, I'm buds with onea' the scariest folk here I know- one a' the scariest folk I know period, n'  she ain't half too bad once you get to know her!"

"Heck-" He continued, turning back to Mama. "Ain't she the one what gave you that job offer in the first place?"

"Uh...yeah! Yeah!" Mama said in turn, as she peeled her attention away from a box. "I...actually have to tell her we're here now, i'm supposed to...get something from her,and-" 

"See? S'all howdy dowdy!" 

...He laughed at the words, and felt as Mr. Star patted his head, taking it as a sign to get up from his knee. 

"You just keep on bein' you, Deputy, n'... I reckon a little howdy's all they'll need ta' warm up." 

He watched as Mr. Star walked over towards the door. As he smiled, waving one last time before sticking his hands into his pockets-

And feeling a small slip of paper that he'd almost completely forgotten.

"Wait! Wait, Mr. Star!" He quickly shouted, pulling it from within and running to the door.

"Already missin me, kid?"

"Well, not yet, but-"

"So ya' hate me, s'what yer' sayin?" 

"I...uh- could I ask you a favor? What fer' when ya' get back ta' Eastwood?" 

"...Anything, deputy!" Mr. Star said back, as he opened the door an inch wider. "Whatcha need?"

"Could you...give this ta' someone?" He said, as he extended the slip of paper out, and felt as it was removed from his hand. "...Says everything n' all on it, but...I can't no more, so..."

He looked up, and saw Mr. Star's eyes widen at its contents, before shifting over to Mama. 

"...Ya sure, kid?" Mr. Star asked, an almost concerned tone in his voice as he spoke. "...I ain't been talking to the neither of 'em what since...well, yaknow, but-"

"I am!" He quickly interupted. "I...already been talkin to her anyhow, n'...I just wanna hear hear her again, s'all."

"...I suppose ya' could pull my leg just a little bit more." Mr. Star sighed, before pocketing the slip. "What fer' my favorite deputy n' all."

He smiled, abruptly running forward and hugging him, muttering out another "Thank you Mr. Star!", muffled by the layers of his jacket. 

"...It ain't nothin, kid." Mr. Star said, as he quickly hugged him back, before peeling himself away. "Now, I gotta get on...gittin. N' I reckon your mama what still needs ya fer' the unpackin, yeah?" 

"Oh, uh...yeah!" He said, as he backed away. "Talk to ya later, Mr Star!" 

He smiled and waved. Mr. Star smiled and waved. The door closed.

And in the following silence, he sighed, as something like reality finally began to set back in.

He walked back in, around and through and across the maze of boxes still sat upon the floor, until he found himself in the center of the familiar living room.

It hadn't been long since they last visited. Months, at the very most, with most of the time being...everything else. The house was already more of a second home than anything, and in the few years he'd spent with Mama legally being Mama, he could look at any particular piece of the house and come up with a story. Their trips were never longer than a day, and they never ventured very far from the house, never ever beyond the road, but he supposed it just made it easier for everything to...rest.

Deeper blue and faded pink feathers, hiding somewhere beneath the couch. Shelves filled with wood carvings and trinkets that he had a helping hand in making. A pantry, that he imagined, still likely had that one package of root beer, missing one bottle.

One of the last times he honestly, truly remembered Melody smiling was here. Not for very long of course, after Mama had pointed it out, but it'd still found its way back even after. Still there, just...hidden.

He imagined a lot of stuff was going to be like that from now on, looking down at one or two of the boxes nearest. Pictures and clothes. Tools and trinkets. Wood of a high enough quality that Mama couldn't sell it or throw it out before they finished moving. 

His eyes caught a glint of a picture on the wall, sitting above a miniature carved wooden horse. 

He knew that there were more. He didn't dare look up to them. He knew how much it would hurt.

But the sound of sniffling upon the stairs drew his attention, forcing it back up to the stairway. 

Mama. Sitting on the fourth or fifth stair, holding a picture frame and crying.

He stopped what he was doing immediately and rushed to her side, saying nothing as he stood beside her.

He didn't need to look at the photo to know which one it was. The colors he caught out from the edge of his eye were enough.

Blue and Pink.
Cyan beneath them.
White and Brown and Brown and Black and Blue beneath that.

He didn't dare look further.

He leaned the weight of his body into mama's side, and was embraced in a hug that seemed more reflex than thought.

"...You alright, mama?" He mumbled out through her feathers.

"...m'fine, buddy. It's just...you know." Mama said in turn, before reaching upwards to hang the photo back up, before  falling down to sit upon the stairs and sitting him down with her. 

Her other wing wrapped around him. Mama sniffled. And he did his best to keep his cool. 

He'd already had his turn to cry. And back then, he'd already gotten most of his tears out. Either then, or the gathering after, or the law office after that before any of the yelling- but Mama hadn't had her turn to cry yet. Melody hadn't had hers.  Or...maybe she already had. Melody was always better at hiding those kinds of things than either of them, after all.

Mama sobbed. He openly hugged her back, and the world devolved into simply cyan blue and noise.

Footsteps echoed from overhead, hesitating before they drew closer, coming to a stop and sitting down on the opposite side of Mama.

A wing released him. Her other pulled her closer. And slowly, begrudgingly, he felt as Melody hugged her back too.

...He was glad that she did. Glad that he didn't need to remind her this time, glad that she stayed there until Mama got enough of her composure back to pull away on her own.

"...I finished unpacking our room. The curtain is out." Melody said beside him, sometime after. "I can help down here, if you need it, Martlet."

"N' I can help however!" He quickly added. "I can uh...move all the tools n' the wood n' stuff out to the shed! Or- put the kitchen stuff away! Or-"

"...I appreciate it, guys." Mama sniffled, before turning to him in particular. "But uh...I actually do have something important I need you to do, buddy."

"Anything!" 

"I uh...need to get something from...someone." Mama said, as he watched her dig her phone out from her pocket and begin to shakily sift through her phone list. "I uh...gotta go to my new bosses work, and uh...talk to her about...work."

He watched as she hesitated on the contact named Bossnew(hometown)(scaryone) CarolHoliday. 

"I...was gonna go out as soon as everything got settled, but...gosh I'm sorry, I just...I don't think i can talk to her like this." Mama continued, as he watched her shakily take a screenshot of the contact list and a passing conversation, before sending it to him, as it now connected to a new wifi. To the old wifi. "If you could...go out and...tell her we're here? See what...she has for me? Some papers or something, it should be? I just...I just-"

He leaned against her again as she sobbed. He hugged her tight. Mama dropped the phone from her hands, and Melody hugged her too.

"I can do that, Mama." He said, his voice once more muffled by her feathers. "I just...gotta go n' talk to her? Find her n' all?"

"...yeah, buddy. That's all. And then just...come back when you're done, and-"

"We'll finish unpacking." Melody said, as she reached over and pat his back. "...Just go."

"...right." he said back, as he rose from his seat and headed downstairs towards the door. 

"...Right!" He repeated, lingering a moment longer before he opened the door and idled in the open doorway. "I'll be right back! N' I'll have everything ya were talkin' about, n...you ain't gotta worry 'bout it no more!"

"...Thanks, buddy." Mama said again, as her one wing wrapped tighter around Melody, who in turn looked away with her one uncovered eye. 

He offered them both one last tip of his hat, before turning around, venturing outside, and shutting the door behind him.

...With no idea at all where he was supposed to go next.

But, he supposed, as he began to wander, a cowboy's intuition had never steered him wrong before! And so, he pulled down his hat, straightened Mama's feather still attacked to the band around his brim,  and with a vague direction to travel, took off in the direction of Hometown proper.

.  .  .

...Clover hesitated at the town's entrance,  staring at the fallen remains of broken police tape on the floor. From what he'd heard, between Mama and Mr. Star and...everyone else, Hometown was a real nice place, warm n' inviting n' all, even so deep into the winter, but...even so. Stepping into any new place on your own was a bit intimidating. Espically with the snow underfoot. 

He was never the most keen on snow. It was nice, and it crunched under his boots, but there was something about it that always...intimidated him about it. 

But he remembered Mama's face. He remembered how important what he was doing was, and he knew that she had trusted him to get something done, and so he would! 

He took a deep breath, he shook the dirt and feathers off from his jacket, set his eyes upon the horizon- 

And began to walk.

Even with his eyes glued down to the pavement, it didn't take long for others to notice him. Or, rather, for him to notice others noticing him.  He heard it in the way they moved and spoke, conversations abruptly halting or feet falling silent in the snow for a moment before continuing onwards. Once, even, the honk of a car passing by. 

It shocked him out of his stupor, and he noticed as the car passed, that it was waving. Or, the monster within was waving, in what he could only assume was greeting.

He waved back, before withdrawing his hand back into his pocket a moment later. But before he could turn his eyes back down, he saw another monster wave, and gave another wave in turn. He saw them smiling, and could help but himself smile in turn. Yet another offered a "hello", and as a newfound warmth found its way to his face, he couldn't help but offer a "howdy!" in turn. Everywhere he went down the path he took, someone noticed and opened a window, or spared a moment from the driveway they were shoveling, or took a moment from their day to greet him with an enthusiasm he couldn't help but match.

It was nice. It was more than nice, it was great! Howdy Dowdy n' all! 

...It distracted him, until he eventually came to a stop near the end of a road, absolutely no closer to the end of his goal. 

...Right. He'd forgotten to ask Mama where Misses Holiday even was. 

Not to worry though! He was certain the townsfolk would be willing to help! And so, he turned around, he pulled back out his phone, and he began to walk towards the first monster back along the path that he encountered. 

"Howdy! I'm real sorry to bug ya-"
"Oh, that'd be the mayor you're lookin for. Just down that way a bit!"

And he grew closer. 

"-But I could just use a little bit a' help, see? M' lookin fer' someone-"
"Well, ain't you just a little gentleman? Could pick your cheeks right off ya, I could! You'll be lookin fer' town hall! Can't miss it!"

And he grew closer.

"N' someone what I talked to earlier said I could find 'er here-"
"Ah. Miss Holiday would be at home, currently. She has been for the past few days. If the matter is urgent, you will want to look for the double gates down on third street. Ring the buzzer, and I'm sure she'll respond soon."

And he grew closer. Closer and closer, until he found the address he was looking for, sealed away by a thick, heavy looking metal gate. 

And so, he follow the instructions he was given, hastily written down upon his phone, and staring past a crack in the screen, saw that as it had been explained to him, the box was in the third tree from the left.

He took a deep breath, he gathered his courage, and Clover rang the buzzer.

Carol Holiday would rarely, if ever, choose to describe the tempo of her work as "panicked."

There were much more fitting words to use, even in more uncertain times. 

Calculated. Strategic. Planned.

But very little of the waking hours she had spent in the last two months had been 'planned.' And as she looked over the security footage of that night, for the third time today, for any scrap of information she have have overlooked, she had begun to accept the descriptive word of 'panic.'

At 2:30 AM, on November 7th, Kris, Susie, and her daughter trudged into the house past the gate, firmly shutting it behind them.

At 3:13 AM, an animal runs past the camera, and the forest shifts. 

...At 3:24 AM, The Vessel appears. 

Carol paused the video and analyzed it again, playing it back in as slow of a speed as the system she had installed so long ago would allow.

And as it always had, in the same six minutes of footage she had available, it looked to the walls to her home, lightly shook the bars, knocked quietly on the largest section of metal that it could find...and then waited.

At 3:27 AM, it repeated the process, knocking and shaking and waiting.

At 3:28 AM, it knocked. It waited.

At 3:30 AM, it knocked. 

But it did not repeat the motion after that. It never got the chance to.

She pauses the video.

Something in the forest moves in a blur, and just as she had recently learned how to, she cycled through the next four frames of footage.

Four frames, in a camera that caught sixty per second. 

The visual of something glowing from the dark. A lit-up faceplate.

A blur of movement from something the forest.

The vessel's head moves a fraction of an inch to follow it.

And the vessel is consumed by darkness.

...At 3:30 AM, alongside another quarter of the section of the minute... there was nothing.

And until 2:48 PM of the next day, there was nothing else, until Toriel came to her gate, and the door was opened to allow her in.

...There was nothing else she could learn. There was nothing else to pursue. 

There was nothing.

She dropped her head into her hands, and a shaking sigh released from the back of her throat.

She knew what it was, obviously. She'd spent long enough in the darkness to recognize it. The way it moved, the way it...fed. The eyes that tended to follow. 

From the information available her mind had already begun to piece together an explanation, and every fiber of her being was still searching to prove herself wrong.

But the shapes that the darkness worked with were consistent enough to make notes. Enough to theorize. Enough, paired with the information gathered from the army of objects she had created for the specific purpose of searching the depths for signs of the Angel's vessel, to put together her thoughts.

There was only one person left who could be...used. Only one tall or strong enough to fit the role. And with her in play, the situation had developed from controllable to....not.

Even as she was, she knew December well enough to predict her. To predict the "Knight." It could be lured and coerced and spoke with enough to understand its goal, and enough to manipulate things into serving her own means. 

But Carol did not know this new Knight. She understood how it was made, what purpose it served to fill, but she had no leverage or familiarity or power with which to control it. 

She had adapted, guided the Angel to seal the Bunker's fountain, with all the limited power and perspective she could from another city away, but nothing had been found within. No Police Chief, no frightened Vessel- Nothing.

She had returned and double, triple, quadruple checked by herself. She had searched their Castle Town. She'd recycled ideas and darkners from before, utilizing knowledge that only she knew, creating them with the expressed purpose to scour the depths beneath.

And she'd only found remnants. Of her creations. Of darkness past. Of...nothing.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing but speak in half truths as they grew yet further away, nothing but feed more darkners to the depths below. 

Nothing.

And the thought of that brought a newfound wave of terror to her soul.

...She was helpless again. Sat beside yet another hospital bed, knowing that there was nothing she could do.

...She should've kept a larger profile on the new police captain. She should've planned for something to go so catastrophically wrong.

She was alone again. Watching as her family and her friendships tore themselves apart. 

She collapsed upon the table. She should've known better. She should've done better. 

She should have known better. She should have known better.

...She should have just taken the easy way out when she still had the option to do s-

[HELLO? UH- M'SORRY IS THIS ON? M'I DOIN THIS RIGHT?!]

The abrupt screaming from her laptop pulled her away from herself, immediately uprighting, before turning the volume down and staring back at the screen of her laptop. 

A motion report and buzz from her gate. One of the new additions she'd made, only after it was already too late. She opened the camera feed...

And she squinted. For on the other side of the the gate was a human. One she'd never seen before in her life.

"...Who are you." She hissed back, after taking a moment to search for the key that transmuted her laptop input to the speaker outside. 

[My name's Casey, but all my friends call me Clover, so you can call me Clover!]

"Last name." She hissed back. "And whoever you are, if you do not have a purpose to state, you will leave. And if you do not, I will-"

[M'sorry was just pullin my phone out! Uh...My last name's Cardinal! N' I'm here cause my Mama said she was workin fer you now, n' she needed some papers on what she was supposed ta' start doin!]

...Again, as rarely as the occurrence happened, Carol panicked. Martlet Cardinal and her two children- that was today.

"Continue inwards." She said, as she turned to the side of her desk and pressed a button, hearing through the audio grain as her door began to open. "Wait at the entrance. I will be with you shortly." 

[Thanks a bunch ma'-]

She shut the front of her laptop, and quietly began to make her way to the front door. Out from her master bedroom, past Noelle's room, past December's currently vacant room, and down the stairway. 

...A distraction would be welcome, she thought, as she idled by the door for the next few moments it would take for the human to arrive. However momentary it would be, time to let her mind settle and think elsewhere had become something of a commodity. 

...She needed a plan. 

The Angel's soul would be vital, obviously. It's cooperation. Its power. But how was she supposed to convince them? Threats wouldn't work. Fear wouldn't work. And any goodwill she currently held was either long gone, or recovering in a process too slow for her to make use of.

...She had no idea what to do.

"...hello?" A muffled voice from behind the door said, pulling her from her thoughts. "I...I really hate to be a bother, but-"

She opened the door, and watched as the child that waited on the other side nearly fell through as the door abruptly opened mid-knock, before correcting themselves and standing upright.

"Er- Howdy!" The child said, waving their hand fervently in greeting as a wide smile found it way to their face. "My name's Casey! But- er- wait I...said it all on the phone back there, but- You can call me Clover!"

She looked them over. A subconscious decision more than anything, but assuming that this one was the other of Ms. Cardinal's two children, with how much trouble she'd come to understand the first one was, she'd best begin to file away what she could now, rather than later.

...Teenage, from as much as she could assume. A spot younger than Kris, and certianly younger than the other one. Fourteen or fifteen, she would guess.

A...well loved leather hat, perhaps older than the boy wearing it, with what she assumed to be one of Ms. Cardinal's larger feathers in its band. 

A yellow and blue dotted handkerchief around their neck, of a similar quality and care.

A brown down jacket, worn pants and boots, and a smile across their face that while seemingly forced, didn't seem to take quite so much effort as she did to maintain hers. 

Raised from a lower income family, corroborating the words from Ms. Cardinal and her observations. She would take a carrot approach, rather than the stick. 

"...You are Martlet Cardinal's child, correct?" She said, as she settled her attention back upon their face.

"Mhm!" They said in turn, as they took to their phone, the expression on their face snapping to focus for a moment, before they pushed its cracked screen into her face. "Got everything right here, I think!"

She spared it a glance, before gently pushing the phone to the side. An excerpt of the written documentation she had sent to Miss Cardinal. Well enough, she supposed. Having someone willingly run the information over would save her some time.

"...I will have everything she needs in just a moment, if you would be so kind as to wait." She said, gesturing forwards as she turned on a heel and proceeded inside. "...Regardless, you may tell her immediately that I am looking forwards to the addition of her services. Since a recent departure from town, structural repair, alongside electronic repair, has become difficult. As such, it would be rather pleasant to have someone who can fulfill both of those niches within-"

"M'sorry ma'am! I can't hear you from all the way over there!"

...She turned around, halfway past the door, and saw the child still standing outside.

"...What are you doing?"

"...You ain't said I could come in, so-"

"Enter." She sighed, before pointing towards the floor mat beneath them. "Clean your boots before you do, shut the door behind you, and wait within the kitchen as I retrieve the necessary information from my office." 

"Yes Ma'am!" Said the child, Clover, she believed she heard him wish to be addresses as, as he followed her order to the letter, and quietly stood in waiting within the kitchen. 

...An obedient child, with understanding of basic manners. A part of her felt relief at the sight, as she turned back around and proceeded back up the stairs. If Miss Cardinal had trained at least one of her children so well, then she would be a breath of fresh air to work with.

Her thoughts, however, drifted back into planning as she walked, hesitating and coming to a stop outside Noelle's door. 

...The papers that Clover Cardinal needed would still be there a moment later. And it wouldn't hurt to take stock of her current situation before she continued to plan later.

"Noelle." She stated, first moving to open the door herself, then hesitating and knocking thrice. "...You are awake, correct? I need to speak with you and your...friend in a moment."

...But she received no response.

She knocked again. She waited. 

Nothing.

She knocked a third time, and still received nothing, and an inch of frustration began to build in the back of her mind.

She quickly banished it away. Anger had not served her well when dealing with the Angel. A clear and collected face would be the best one to wear.

"...I am entering."

She quietly opened the door, steeping inwards as the beginnings of a negotiation strategy played out in her mind. The Angel was still childish. Still impressionable. And in a relative sense, still naïve. She didn't imagine it would be bribed off with sugar or treats or anything of the like, but-

...But the last thing she imagined she would be seeing was...what she saw currently.

Noelle, still sick from the Christmas incident, still in pajamas and still beneath the covers of her bed, was holding the soul of the Angel of Prophecy within her hands, and...peppering it with affection. Kissing its shell, over and over with her eyes shut and her ears filled by some manner or another of earbud. And as she looked closer, at Noelle's face and the Angel's shell- she saw that Noelle had seemingly...found lipstick, somewhere within the house and was wearing it as she did. 

Judging by the amount of marks currently present, had been spending a considerable amount of time in the process of...whatever this was. Whatever the Angel, clueless of her entry itself, seemed to wittingly allow to happen.

She was unaware of exactly how long she waited there before Noelle opened her eyes, and whatever serene emotion she had been feeling before was abruptly replaced by wide eyed terror.

"MOM?! It's not- We're- I'm not- It's not what it looks like!" Noelle began, her voice terribly raspy and pained as she quickly tried to get out of bed, still clutching the Angel tightly in her hand. "I'm- we were just- I- Light said that-"

Noelle quickly fell into a coughing fit, dropping the Angel to the floor as she struggled for breath.

"Noelle, no-" She quickly said, as every impulse of shock or fear was quickly turned away into a familiar concern, rushing to her daughter's side and quickly ushering her back into bed. "Angel, no. You are still sick, and will certainly not be-"

...She stopped herself, noticing her tone and her voice and her infliction. This wasn't how she was supposed to remedy a situation. This wasn't how she regained any ounce of trust. This wasn't how she was supposed to be a better parent.

...The plan could wait. Everything else could wait. 

"You are still sick. Recover for a moment, and we will have this conversation later."

"I....Light-, they're not-" Noelle weakly said as she stared down at the Angel upon the floor, moving erratically as they rolled, unwilling or unable to fly upwards.

She wordlessly grabbed them, taking note of the shift in their consistency and texture as she did her best to avoid the splatters of lipstick mark across their surface. 

While normally they felt firm and solid, like a Coconut or glass structure, they currently felt...compromised. Squishy and infirm as they writhed in her hands, like something stirring inside a rotten pumpkin. 

Overstimulation, she assumed, as she handed them back to Noelle and quickly searched the floor of her room for something else. 

"...Light? Light?" She heard Noelle say, concern and terror in her voice as free from her stupor, she seemingly came to the same conclusion.

"They are fine. Simply...overwhelmed." She said back, shutting the door of her closet. 

"...what?"

"The Angel is a construct of love. Made to love, and to be loved. And judging by the marks that you have...gifed to them, you have been fulfilling that purpose for the better part of the last...25 minutes, if I were to assume. And I don not imagine after such a barrage that they will be holding a solid form for much longer."

"...why would they-"

Just as she found what she was looking for, the same Hamster ball from Christmas, she heard Noelle shriek in terror, accompanied by a sound not unlike raw meat or a watermelon being torn apart.

"I-I...I don't I can't-"

"Overstimulation. Similar to a drug overdose. Comparable to a cat given catnip. They will recover. Faster, if placed into an enclosed space."

She turned back, and rushed forwards, holding Noelle's hands back as she began to push them back into her chest. 

"Put them in here." She simply stated, before opening the hamster ball and placing it on her lap. 

"...w-why not-"

"Do you remember that evening Kris held two phones on call together, and chased you down with them? The resulting noise?"

"...Yeah?"

"Imagine a similar feedback loop, localized within your chest."

She waited at Noelle's side as she apologized beneath her breath, before shoving their mass into the hamster ball and quickly sealing it. 

Just in time, she supposed, as the Angel's form continued to erupt, the strings and muscle and tendrils within reaching out, as if to fill the vacant space within a chest.

She looked down at her daughter, something like panic racing in her mind as she in turn looked down at the writhing mass within the hamster ball with a sad expression upon her face.

"...I have a matter to attend to. Gather your composure, and we will speak on...this when it concludes. I will return shortly."

She quickly left, leaving Noelle just enough time to respond with anything other than a nod before she closed her door, but receiving nothing in turn. 

The door clicked shut. Carol took in a deep breath.

...If nothing else, she supposed, this was a different form of panic. A more grounded form, deeper and personal and terrifying in a way she hadn't felt in a long, long time. 

She sighed. At least with December and Asriel, things were traditionally terrifying. 

She collected herself. One step at a time. Solve the issue in the best means possible, and continue to the next. 

She quickly returned to her first task, retrieving the yellow envelope with everything related to the Cardinal situation, and heading back downstairs-

Only to see the child down upon a knee, petting the...other recent addition to her family. 

"I like yer' cat!" Clover cheered, as she watched them continue to pet the demon that had taken residence in her home. "They're a little weird but...in a nice way! They was bangin up against the fridge a bit n' pokin it with their tail, and I didn't touch it or nothing, but they kept lookin at me like they wanted me ta' open it! I didn't touch nothin, but-"

"I have retrieved what you have come for." Carol said, plainly offering the envelope out to him. "Please take it, and please leave." 

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't do nothin' wrong, did I?" Clover said in turn, fear spearing across his face as she watched them raise from their knee and hesitantly take the envelope.  "M'sorry! I didn't-"

"You have done nothing wrong. I simply have a personal matter I must attend to immediately." She continued, forcing the envelope into his hands as she unsubtly guided him towards the door. "It was a pleasure to meet you. Leave."

"I...yes ma'am! Sorry ma'am, thank you ma'am! Have a good day ma'am!" She heard him say, as she heard the sound of the door opening, and then subsequently closing.

...She quietly turned to the demon, before opening the fridge, pulling out one of the hard boiled eggs it had seemingly become obsessed with, and watching as it trotted of with its desire in hand. 

Or...tail, she supposed.

One task done. Onto the next. 

She spared herself some time to think, as she proceeded back upwards through the kitchen, up the staircase, and hesitated.

...How readily hectic, her life and home had quickly become. Angels and Demons take residence within people and bedsides, wearing the masks of people and housecats. 

She raised her hand, and knocked three times upon Noelle's door. 

She hadn't been the best mother for a great amount of time, but she knew enough of her daughter to understand how she felt, even from such a short interaction.

...Her little girl was in love with the still-beating entrails of a god. 

...Her little girl was in love. And what kind of parent would she be if she was not there to help her through it?

She would not repeat the same mistakes as her mother. She would not lose her family again, and if it meant putting everything else aside, then Hell Itself could wait. This was...why she did everything. This is what it was all for. No matter how strange or offputting or...other it was. 

Carol collected herself. She opened the door. And she let herself inside.

Entering the room once more, she saw that little had changed. Noelle, still silent, spared her a glance, but quickly returned it back to the mass within the ball.

...The important things first.

"...How are you feeling, Noelle?"

"...better." She quietly responded, with a rasp still in her voice. "...still sick. but better."

"...And them?"

"...they're-" 

"Before...this, I mean. Have they improved?"

"...there was only a little crack left. they're almost better."

"...Excellent." She said, before taking the chair from Noelle's desk and bringing it to her bedside, sitting down and staring at the swirling mass within the hamster ball just as she was. "...Then I suppose we should be getting to the difficult part."

Noelle remained silent. The gears inside her head spun, trying and thinking and comparing and contrasting in attempt to find the best words to say. 

"...Would you like to explain what had happened yourself? Before I...jump to any other conclusions?"

"...we were trying to figure out some complicated feelings."

"And such was done by...painting them in my lipstick."

Noelle shrinked away, holding the hamster ball closer to her chest. Too judgemental. Too aggressive. She needed to try again.

"...I will withhold any and all judgement for the moment. Please, just...help me understand."

"...we were trying something that we were reading. we both liked it, and...it sounded like it was right, and...light got the lipstick, and they said that they'd tell me if it was too much, but-"

She was interrupted by another coughing fit.

"Would you like me to get you some water?"

"i have water, thank you. we just...got carried away."

"And you accidently overfed the being composed of love with...love. I see."

"mom?" Noelle asked, as she turned her head to face her. "...how do you know so much about them?"

"...I had done a great deal of preparation. Given their nature and mind, it was...necessary. I likely know more about them than they do themselves, and I will spare the both of you the specifics." She said, as she found it to be her turn to look away. "But I digress. Why had you felt the need to...reenact as you did?"

"i...we...wanted to know if we were feeling the same thing." Noelle said, as she spared a glance to her phone. 

"Feeling, as in...love, yes? The particular kind of love that...this would invoke?"

"...yeah."

"And did you come to a conclusion?"

"...i don't know."

A silence followed, and Carol stared down at the swirling mass in Noelle's hands. The spasms had stopped, and its form had seemed to calm, even if still...spread. She watched as Noelle's hand raised, meeting and holding one of the veins that had escaped through the air holes of the ball. 

"...I will tell you, that of my understanding, this...reaction is only something that occurs in...the state you are likely attempting to find."

"...i don't understand."

 "Only a particular kind would do...this." She said, as she gestured once more to the ball. "So if I may ask...do you love them?"

Silence was her answer, as she watched Noelle hug the ball tighter. Tighter and tighter, until all the force her still sickly form could manage was pressed into the gesture. 

"...i do." Noelle simply replied, looking into the distance as she rested her chin upon the ball. "i really, really do, and i don't know what i'm supposed to do, and...it scares me. it scares me more than anything, and it feels too...real, and its intense and it's everything, and...it's like my heart is just-"

"Bursting out from your chest? Pounding so hard in the moment that everything else but them fades away?"

She watched as Noelle nodded in turn.

"...I understand. I was once in love like that once too."

"...once?"

"Rest assured, Noelle, I would still cut my way through hell for any of you, if this entire situation was not proof enough." She said in turn, as she met her daughter's eyes. "The nature of love simply...changes over time. From something that consumes you to something that IS you. Love is...fickle in that way. Unstable, until it incorporates its way into your soul." 

She looked away, finding herself focusing now upon the window as the structure and order and planning in her mind fell away. 

"A relationship that will withstand is not built upon a...feverous form of love,  It is based upon many. That fervor is powerful, but...fleeting. It is the trust and care and connection that builds from the prior that withstands, but...as such, the fervor is needed. A lure. A glue that holds connection together." 

Something cracked beneath her hand. Carol quickly looked down, and saw that she had been gripping the top of Noelle's chair so tightly that the wooden piece she held had cracked. She exhaled, and looked back over to her daughter. 

"...Do you see that kind of future, Noelle? With...them? Do you believe they see the same? And, far more importantly, do they make you happy?"

She watched as Noelle gaze shifted between them and her, over and over, her breath shaking and her hands trembling.

"...yeah." Noelle nodded, as she looked within the ball and watched as the Angel's form began to reconstruct. "yeah. i think i do." 

"...Then that is all I care for." She simply said in turn, before rising from her chair. "You are smart, and you are strong, and...despite my best attempts, I am positive that you will endure. I have failed you in...so, so many ways before, and I will not fail you again."

"...mom?"

"You have my blessing, and I can only assume you already have your fathers." She said, as she took Noelle's chair and returned it to her desk. "Do what makes you happy, Noelle. So long as what makes you happy is...admissible in court, I suppose. Or something of the vein that would not be terribly difficult to clear your name in court from."

"was...that a joke?"

"...Was it recieved as one?"

"...it was a good one. if...you meant for it to be."

"Then I suppose it was." She said back, forcing a smile to her face as she turned back, watching Noelle take a now-formed Angel out from within the ball. "I will...leave you to your own devices, so long as there is not anything else you need from me."

"i think....we're ok." Noelle said back, as a smile made its way to her as well. "we might...just go back to...you know." 

"Then I do advice you keep the ball on-hand." 

"back to- watching videos, I mean!"

"Yes." She said, as she made her way to the door. "...And for future reference, the container of Vaseline in the bathroom will break down lipstick stains. Simply leave it on their surface for a minute, and then-"

"Mom!"

She smiled, silently laughing to herself as her head was turned far enough that Noelle could not see it. She supposed she saw what Rudolph got out of this...teasing thing.

"...I love you, Noelle." She said, as she began to close the door behind her. 

"love you too, mom." She heard her say, before the door shut completely, and she was left alone in the hallway once more.

...Not the worst she's managed a situation, she supposed.

"...yeah, she really does seem like she's changed, doesn't she?" She heard Noelle say through the door, as she began to journey back to her laptop. 

...Not the worst at all.

With the house finally clean to a standard, and everything put away, Melody finally sat down with Martlet in the living room, and allowed herself to breathe. 

It'd been a major pain in the ass to get everything done, and she'd taken hours to do it, but...they did it.

"I know I already said it before, but...I really appreciate your help, Melody." 

She didn't respond, but didn't jerk herself away like she usually did. She was too tired for that, and at the moment, she supposed, there was something nice about how soft her wings were. 

"We can uh...figure food out when your brother gets back." Martlet said, to her frustration. "I...know we had to toss out a lot of the stuff in the pantry, but-"

"M'back!" Clover's voice sounded out, accompanied by a knocking on the door, and the sound of boots scraping outside.

"You don't have to knock, buddy! It's your house!" Martlet shouted out beside her.

"Right- Right!" Clover said in return, before pulling himself in through the door and excitedly running over to the two of them on the couch. "Got what we needed though! Here ya go, Mama!"

"Oh, thank the Angel-" Martlet sighed, as Clover sat beside her and she opened up the envelope. "I was a little worried, but...I guess it all worked out! How'd it go, buddy?"

"Good!" Clover chirped back. "They was nice! A little cold, n' she got a little busy at the end, think her daughter was...smoochin on someone r' somethin', but she had a cool cat I pet a little bit! Had this weird cool tail n' everything! Ain't ever seen nothin' like it! What's all this for anyhow, Mama?"

"It's just...business stuff, I think." Martlet said, as she began to pull out papers from within, shaking the envelope from the bottom. "The first thing she really wanted me to work on was this...Ferris wheel? And it's supposedly a super big thing here, and-"

Melody's eyes and Clover's and Martlet's all went wide, as with the shaking of the envelope, money came through at the bottom as well. Hundred of dollars in bills, at the least. 

"Well, uh...that solves dinner!" Martlet enthusiastically said, as Melody picked everything up from the floor, handing Martlet the money and inspecting something else within the pile. "Pizza sound alright to you guys?"

She tuned them out for a moment as she read, Martlet moving from the corner of her eye as she looked over something with her name. 

An invitation to work. At a...flower shop.

"Ooh! That sounds cool!" Clover said beside her, as she squinted, still reading the finer text. She wasn't opposed to the idea, and would sooner kill herself than work in food service again, but odd details within the fine letter put her off. She'd be paid by someone else, she'd not have any assigned responsibilities aside from being in the shop, and she was supposed to...watch for somebody. 

"...This has 'Hometown Butcher' written all over it." Melody grumbled, as she handed the paper off to Clover. "I don't trust it." 

"Well...maybe they just want a friend! Or some help r' somethin! Or maybe they're helpin' out someone else!"

"People only do things to help themselves, Clover." She sighed. "Sticks and carrots and...whatever the f-...heck."

"Well...it'd be worth a look at least, wouldn't it?" 

"...Clover-"

"Please?"

...He was using that damn voice again. And if she looked over, she knew he'd be looking at her with that same stupid smile that always seemed to work. 

...Fuck.

"Fine. But-"

"Thank you, Melly!"  Clover said, as he abruptly tackled her with a hug. "It'll be great, trust me! Whole lot of it! Hometown's real nice, n' the people are real nice, n' it's gonna be great! Just you see!"

...She supposed she would. Clover's enthusiasm was always infectious, even if she tried her best to-

"...Wait." Melody said, abruptly cutting him off. "Where did Martlet say she was going to get-"

"They got an ICE-E'S in town!"

"...Of course they do." She sighed.  "Dammit-"

Clover laughed, and she hugged him back, locking him in a noogie that she purposely held back from. He was lucky that she loved him.

...But she knew she was luckier to have him.