Upon Wings of Starlight and Determination (Undertale Yellow)

Clover is gone, but the lives that he touched go on. None more so than that of the bird monster, Martlet, who is grieving the young human and what could have been. Yet, in her grief, she starts having wierd visions, remembering things that never happened. What is going on and why, is a mystery, and one that she will solve. Others take note of this, and a flower plots in the darkness as the world begins heading towards a new dawn...

Opening her eyes, Martlet slowly blinked away some wetness from tears as she stared at the ceiling above, "… Dreaming about that again… I hate that dream, reliving it again and again..." Swallowing, she shook her head a bit, 'Then again… I deserve reliving…'

For a few more minutes, she continued to just lay there, wiping at her tears before finally sitting up with a sigh and swinging her legs over the side of her bed. Yet again, Martlet stayed like that as she fought a part of herself that just wanted to lay back down on the bed and stay there. Her face in her hands, her shoulders shook some as she swallowed thickly, "Come on, Martlet… Clover wouldn't want you to waste away. You got to eat something at least…"

It took several tries, but she managed to get to her feet, swaying for a few moments. Then, slowly, she made her way around the various messes on her bedroom floor and out into the hallway of her house. A brief stop in the bathroom found her splashing her face with some cold water, just as much to wash away the tears on her face as to wake up more.

Looking at herself in the mirror, bags under her eyes with said eyes being red rimmed, Martlet sighed a bit, "… I look like I feel… a piece of flaming garbage." Yet again, she felt tears well up in her eyes as a broken laugh escaped her, "But that's what I am after all… couldn't even save Clover. Fucking useless."

Despite her best efforts, her mind flashed back to the dream she had, of Clover's death as a small sob escaped her beak, "Completely and utterly useless piece of garbage… By the Angel, I hate that dream… Only ones worse are…"

Right then, her mind flashed to other dreams that she had. Such as the ones where she actually killed Clover when they first met, by accident on her end, but still. How she could feel the horror rip through her as she saw the snow slowly turning red around the child, the realization that she had killed them tearing through her even as she apologized and begged for them to live. Their blood staining her feathers as she held them as they breathed their last.

Quickly jerking away from the sink, Martlet gasped some as she held her head in her hands, shaking her head, "No, no, no! I… C-Clover never died like that! I didn't kill them! I didn't!"

In her head, a accusing voice whispered back, "Really? Are you sure, they are so real though… like a memory."

Gasping, Martlet shook her head again, "No! Not a memory! C-can't be a memory and…"

Upon raising her head and looking into the mirror, her eyes widened and she jerked back at the reflection in the mirror. Because the sight that met her was not of her usual light blue feathers and yellow beak. No, rather the facial feathers were black with what looked like stars shining with the beak being hooked and a cold, icy blue as ethereal hair flowed behind it. All the while, piercing yellow eyes looked into hers.

With a squawk, Martlet leapt back and hit the wall, stars springing up in her vision as her head bounced off it before she shook it off. Shaking, she looked back into the mirror as her chest heaved… only to be relieved by the sight of her normal appearance, "I… r-right, seeing things. C-Clover would never kill everyone… never…"

However, briefly, her mind went back to a conversation with Clover, when she had commented on how relieved she was that he wasn't like the humans that they were warned about…

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Happily looking around at the scenery of the Wild East as they took a short break, Martlet realized that her companion was silent. Smile falling away, she turned towards the human, who was looking down at his boots, "… Clover?"

Jerking some, Clover looked up at her with his brown eyes before shaking his head, "Sorry about that, Martlet."

Frown deepening, the bird monster moved over to him and placed a wing over his shoulders, getting a jerk from the human, "Clover? What's wrong?"

Once more looking down at his boots, Clover shook his head, "I… I almost was."

Blinking a little at the confession, Martlet frowned, "What do you mean, Clover? It is kind of hard to imagine that from you, you know?"

Grimace on his face, the cowboy looked away, "… There's legends, back in town, about how monsters sometimes snatch children and kill them. How, years and years ago, a Monster came down from the mountain with a dead child in its arms, having viciously murdered them for their soul. That it tried to kill other children as well alongside the villagers before being driven off, taking the dead child with it."

Very slowly blinking, Martlet furrowed her eyebrows, "I… a monster coming down from the mountain?" She the then shook her head a little, "I remember hearing about how Prince Asriel died at the hands of humans outside the Barrier."

At that, Clover looked at her in surprise, "Wait… a monster did? But… did he…"

Continuing to frown, the monster shook her head, "Um, Princet Chara had grown sick and died, with Prince Asriel taking their SOUL so that he could carry them back to the village to lay them in the golden flowers there. But… the humans attacked them and Prince Asriel only barely made it back through the Barrier before he died, turning to dust. Afterwards…"

Realization on his face, Clover nodded, "Afterwards, King Asgore made the declaration to capture any humans, huh?"

Slowly, Martlet gave a nod of her own, "Um… yeah."

A snort escaping from him, the young boy shook his head, "Golly… no justice on anyone's side here. And I almost fell into the same trap. No justice at all."

For a moment or two, Martlet chewed over what she just heard before turning back to him, "… What… what were you going to do, Clover?"

With a shrug, Clover shook his head some, "Find the missing children, and either rescue them… or avenge them."

Very briefly, the Royal Guard next to him had the image of Clover, covered in dust and a gun in their hand before shaking it off. With a deep breath, Martlet placed a hand on his shoulder, "But you didn't."

Nodding, Clover smiled a little bit sadly, "But I didn't." Looking up towards the ceiling of the Underground, he released a breath, "Something told me that I should listen, get ta know the reasons behind it all. Now I do… Justice may be blind, but I'm not." Turning towards her, the boy smiled some, "Thanks to that, I've gotten to know you all. And you're all good people… just in a bad situation. That's all."

Tears springing to her eyes, Martlet gave him a smile of her own, "Thank you, Clover."

Only nodding, the human reached over and pulled her into a hug, which she fully returned. Both of them thankful that things had turned out the way that they had. With the two of them being friends rather than enemies…

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Shaking her head free of the memory, Martlet ran her fingers through the feathers on the top of her head, "… R-right, Clover made a choice not to go down that road. He was a good person, always was." Then, with a small sigh, she leaned back against the wall some and looked at the ceiling as she remembered another part of the same conversation, "… Though, considering what he told me, I suppose that it would make sense…"

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Eyebrows furrowing, Martlet frowned slightly as she came to a stop and looked at Clover, "Clover? What do you mean that everyone keeps hurting you? I mean…" Very briefly looking down as she remembered how she had attacked Clover, then she shook it off and turned back towards him, "You sound like everyone keeps coming and attacking you, even nice people?"

Grimace on his face, Clover nodded and pulled the brim of his hat down as he kicked at a stone, "I mean… almost every time I meet a monster, the first thing they do is attack!"

Utterly lost now, the bird monster shook her head as she tapped her beak with her finger feathers, "That… that doesn't make sense. I mean, if they were Royal Guards, but…"

Scowl on his face, Clover looked away, "I shoulda knew tha' ya'll wouldn't believe me, Martlet…"

Quickly moving in front of him, Martlet placed her hands on his shoulders as she crouched down to better meet his eyes, "I'm trying, Clover, I really am. But… I am just really confused, because that doesn't match up with what I know." She then shook her head a little bit, "Most monsters don't even know what a human really looks like! Even some of the Royal Guards don't." Tapping her chest, a frown crossed her face, "I mean, I know because I spent time guarding the Royal Labs and Chujin was a mentor of mine."

Completely gobsmacked, the human stared at her for several long moments, "I… how the heck can ya'll not know what a human looks like?"

With a shrug, Martlet shook her head and weakly chuckled, "Well… besides the odd one falling down? Been… well, centuries since the last time we saw a lot of humans."

Jaw hanging low, Clover looked up at the ceiling of the Underground, "… You all have been down here, trapped, for centuries?"

Sigh coming from her, the bird monster also looked up, "Yeah… I mean, while we us monsters can live for centuries, there's only a couple that remain from the time of the War. The King is one, the Queen, wherever she is, is another, Gerson, I know was also there… But… not many know what a human looks like." Grimace on her face, Martlet shook her head as she turned back to Clover, "Heck, I know that at least twice someone from the Far East had Royal Guards try to capture them thinking that they were humans."

Mouth moving for several moments, Clover exploded, "Then why would people keep attacking me with magic?!"

About to say something, Martlet then blinked as what Clover said filtered in, "Wait… you say that monsters attack you using magic? Are they… acting nice before?" At the unsure nod, she snorted some and shook her head, "Clover, they're just greeting you…" Of course, that was when the fact that the human was staring at her caused the Royal Guard to frown, "Clover?"

Odd choking sounds came from the young boy before he waved his hands around, "What do you mean they're just greeting me?! That's… that's like another human trying to stab or shoot someone as a greeting!"

Rapidly blinking, Martlet raised an eyebrow, "Um… they're not trying to hurt you like… what you just said, Clover."

Scowl on his face, Clover shook his head, "Then why does it hurt me!"

Taken aback, the Royal Guard stared at him, "Hurt… that shouldn't hurt! I… I'm not understanding this at all! Monsters don't really attack, and… what?"

Just as he was about to say something, Clover stopped and frowned as he glanced away mumbling something under his breath. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was deeply frowning with a thoughtful look in his eyes. Then, the boy's eyes drifted down to his hand and he took a deep breath, "I… let me try something, Martlet…"

Not sure where this was going, Martlet slowly nodded as she watched him undo the sleeve button on his wrist and start rolling his sleeve back, "Um, okay…"

After he was done, he slowly nodded and held out one hand, shaking, "Martlet… can… can ya greet me? Like ya said, b-but aim for my hand?"

Briefly glancing at him, Martlet waited until he nodded and took a deep breath before the area around them darkened as she summoned one glowing feather. With another glance, and getting another nod, she fired it at his hand, 'That should help him realize-'

Much to her horror, when it hit, Clover yelped and a red line appeared on his hand before it wept blood.

Panicking, the bird monster flapped her hands, "I, what?! I was only greeting and… why did you hurt and… here, give me a moment, I know some healing magic!" Quickly, she grasped his hand and green enveloped it, healing said wound, "There… we go, Clover, all better."

Very slowly nodding, Clover just clenched and unclenched his hand, "Um, thanks, Martlet."

However, when he looked at Martlet, he could see that she was still distressed, running her hand through her head feathers, "I still don't understand what happened! That… that was a greeting spell! You should have gotten a feeling of hello from it… b-but it hurt you? Why?"

Looking at his hand, the young human put it together moments before the Royal Guard, who looked horrified did, "Ah think… maybe… if ya'll greet a human like you would a fellow monster, it would hurt them instead…"
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Back against the wall, Martlet slowly sighed before shaking her head as she opened her eyes, "No wonder any humans that fell reacted the way that they did… they thought that we were attacking them, even when we were just greeting them…"

With another small shake of the head, she stumbled out of her bathroom and made her way down the hallway. Pausing briefly in front of a closed door, she felt tears spring to her eyes and opened it, to reveal a mostly empty bedroom. The only pieces of furniture inside was a bedframe and a dresser.

For several moments, Martlet just stood there looking in the room with the morning light streaming in. Closing her eyes, she opened them to reveal that the room was now filled with life. The bed had a mattress with a cowboy themed blanket on top, there were various posters and pictures on the wall. And there, seated on the bed, was Clover, who smiled as he looked up at her, "Howdy, Martlet."

Then, slowly, the image faded away and left the empty bedroom there once more, with the bird monster sighing, "… Howdy, Clover."

Nearly a minute passed while Martlet was standing there, looking into the bedroom, seeing what could have been. All the while, her soul felt like it was almost breaking from the sorrow and grief that she was feeling. Eventually, she was able to force herself away from the doorframe, slowly closing the door until it was shut with a click.

Leaning against the wall, she could feel hot tears drip down her cheeks sobs broke free and her shoulders shook, "I'm sorry… I am so, so sorry, Clover… I just… I wish… I am sorry… please… please forgive me…"

Once she had herself under control, she turned, hesitantly, away from the door and made her way down the stairs until reaching the bottom. Passing the living room, she could almost see Clover's ghost watching her television before it faded. Instead, it revealed a living room with various things laying around such as fast food containers. Looking them over, Martlet slowly blinked, "… I should clean that up, but… why bother…"

Very slowly shaking her head, she ignored the mess and made her way to the kitchen, mumbling some as she checked the various cupboards, which were almost bare, and fridge, which was similarly empty. Blinking, Martlet grumbled a bit as she shook her head, "… Should probably go shopping as well… maybe…"

Only releasing a sigh, the bird monster opened the cupboard and turned on the kettle as she pulled out a packet of instant oatmeal. Soon, the kettle was done and then she poured the hot water in. Waiting for it to be done, her eyes drifted closed as she dozed a bit…

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Relief going through her, Martlet had a bit of a small smile on her face. Yes, Clover had killed a number of monsters. But she knew that the little human actually wasn't all that bad. There was good in him, it was just a matter of bringing it out. Hopefully, things would be better now.

Walking up to him, she opened her arms and hugged the human, a happy look on her face as she felt her smile widen. She had grown fond of Clover, and couldn't wait to show him her home, and everything els-

Suddenly, the breath was driven from her as she felt a stabbing pain go through her. It took her a moment or two, but she realized that she had been dealt a fatal wound. Mouth moving, she could only blink with a feeling of betrayal go through her as she looked down, "C-Clover…"

Then, she saw the green vine sticking through her stomach from her back, a hooked end waving in the air, and the horrified look on Clover's face before her vision faded to black and she felt herself become dust, realizing that it wasn't the human, it was-

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Jerking back to wakefulness, Martlet fell out of her chair with a loud gasp and a short scream. Eyes wide with fear, she could feel the stab wound through her stomach, which was covered by her hand. Shaking for almost a minute, the ripple of pain going through her, she slowly looked down at her hand and gulped. Then, slowly, very slowly, the bird monster moved her hand away from her stomach, expecting to see dust on it…

Only to see nothing and no wound at all.

Very slowly blinking, Martlet swallowed some, "I… what was… what was that just now? I… wait, I never got stabbed… but it felt so real… and… and feels like it had been stabbed…"

Confused, she continued to look in confusion, wondering what had just happened…

Still somewhat out of it due to what had just happened, it took several moments for Martlet to become aware of the loud banging on her door. Blinking some as she came back to the present, the bird monster could also hear her voice being called by a familiar voice, which made her frown, "… What is he doing here?" For several moments, she sat there, part of her wanting to continue to lay on the cool floor before the banging and shouting got louder. Then, with a groan, Marlet slowly got to her feet, "… Ugh, might as well see what he wants, he'll probably break down my door and I don't want to fix that…"

Reaching the door, Martlet paused for a moment to take a deep breath before grasping the door handle and opening it, only to see stars as a fist is brought down on her head, "Oh! I am sorry, Martlet!"

Grimace on her face as she blinked back the sudden headache, Martlet took a deep breath before looking up at Greater Dog… and the hoodie-clad skeleton monster beside him, "It's… fine." Rubbing her head, she slowly stumbled to her feet, "Anyways… what are you doing here?"

Unsure look on his face, Greater Dog cleared his throat as he shifted from one foot to the other, "Ah… I was just checking on you and… well, we heard a scream." He then tried to look past her, "Is everything alright?"

Taking a deep breath, the bird monster just nodded, "Yeah… just… just a bad dream." Rubbing her face some, she shook her head, "That doesn't answer why you're here, I'm no longer part of the Royal Guard, I quit, remember?"

An uncomfortable look on his face, Greater Dog shifted some, "Yes… that is true…"

Chuckles coming from him, the skeleton grinned a bit, "heh, yeah, that was definitely something to see. never seen anyone knock undyne out with a single punch before, don't think that she ever had either."

Deeply scowling as she clenched her fists at the memory, Martlet narrowed her eyes with the other two monsters taking a step back, "She dared to disparage Clover's sacrifice and to congratulate me on getting him to kill himself. Saying that I was a hero for doing such!" Chest heaving as she felt that oh so familiar and burning anger, she shook her head, "That punch was the least that I could give her for that."

Shifting a little, Greater Dog shook his head, "I realize that what happened affected you, Martlet, I do… but that did not mean that you had to quit the Royal Guard. In fact, if you want, I am sure that-"

"No."

Having been cut off mid-sentence, Greater Dog blinked and cleared his throat, "I… that is…" Seeing the look in Martlet's eye, he cringed, "Um…"

For her part, Martlet raised her finger and jabbed him on the breast plate, "I said no, Greater Dog, I will have no more to do with the Royal Guard now or in the future. Not just because I refuse to be put into a situation where I will be seeing another child die… But because I fully disagree with both King Asgore for what he ordered and Undyne with what she plans for after having gotten the final human SOUL." Glare increasing, she nearly snarled, "I refuse to allow for Clover's sacrifice to be used for mass murder."

Very briefly, her mind went to a certain vial, hidden away just in case Undyne did try to go through her plans of killing the humans before she shook it off.

One eyebrow raised, the skeleton hummed a bit, "i mean, the humans did seal us away down here. can't blame some for wanting to get back at them."

Twisting around, Martlet glared at him, "Look…"

Knowing why she trailed off, the skeleton nodded, "name's sans… sans the skeleton."

Briefly blinking for a moment, Martlet then shook it off, "Right, look here, Sans… What Captain Undyne believes? How once the Barrier is broken we should go and attack the humans in retaliation for the Barrier? That is wrong on all levels, there is no JUSTICE in that."

Not saying anything for several long moments, Sans cocked an eyebrow, "huh, you actually believe that, don't you, martlet?"

Evenly meeting his gaze, the bird monster nodded, "I do."

Yet again, there was a pause before Sans suddenly shrugged some and closed his eyes, "eh, no skin off my back if that's your belief. but, hey, i wouldn't mind hearing more from you about that. how about we talk more inside since i am kind of chilled to the bone out here."

Mouth opening and closing, Martlet was about to say something when Sans ducked under her arm and headed inside, "I, wait, stop! Hey!"

As she twisted around, Greater Dog simply reached up and pinched the bridge of his muzzle as he sighed before following.

Inside, Sans was glancing around, taking note of the empty fast food containers and the like, all signs of someone who was a bit of a slob. Yet, that was not what caught his attention, not in the slightest. Rather, he glanced at the pictures on the wall, including ones of Martlet with a human boy. One of which had said boy and her holding a somewhat rickey looking birdhouse, "huh, so is this the human?"

Her eyebrow twitching some, the bird monster fought back the urge to scowl before taking a deep breath, "His name is Clover."

Cocking his head to the side, Sans nodded some, "clover? nice name, shame that he wasn't as lucky as one…" Seeing Martlet clench a fist and about to retort, he continued, "or, maybe, he was since he met someone who cared so much about him."

Pausing, Martlet stared before the fight went out of her as she looked at the pictures with tears in the corner of her eye, "… No, I was lucky to meet him." Shaking her head some, she sighed, "Even if we only knew each other for far too short a time… he taught me so much."

A hum escaping from him, the skeleton tilted his head, "oh? like what, if you don't mind me asking?"

Glancing at him and searching his gaze for mockery, but finding none, Martlet shook his head as she looked back at the pictures, "… Humans and monsters despite how different we are on the outside, on the inside are more alike than most think. We can be as good or as bad as the other. That friendship and love is the same for both. And that, in the end… there can't be true justice for what happened to us, not from the humans and not from ourselves. Not the way that most think."

Searching her, Sans hummed again, "you really believe that, huh?"

With a glance at him, the bird monster sighed some, "How many Monsters are there that were alive during the war?"

Not quite sure where this was going, but intrigued, Sans rubbed his jaw, "hmm… good question. honestly? can't be more than a few dozen left who remember the war, let alone were alive during it. why?"

Very slowly, Martlet shook her head some, "Humans lifespans are a lot shorter than a monster's. The humans above ground? None of them alive were so when the war happened. And I doubt that even their great-great grandparents were… from what Clover told me, it is practically a mostly forgotten legend. Something that people don't actually believe in. What JUSTICE is there in punishing people for something that none of them were part of or even alive during? That their distant ancestors were responsible for." Then, she sighed some, "That's why I refuse to be part of the Royal Guard under Undyne since she wants to take out what happened on them."

It was then that Greater Dog spoke up, "But humans have attacked and even killed monsters in living memory! Not to mention what happened to the Prince!"

Yet, the bird monster shook her head, "Let me ask you something, Greater Dog. If you were to see a human walking towards you, arms and hands full of dust… what would you do?"

Jerking back as if shocked, Greater Dog sputtered for a few moments, "Well, I'd attack them! They obviously had killed a monster after all!"

Meanwhile, Sans just looked at Martlet before humming, "that's the point though, isn't it? it would look like the human killed a monster, when they could have simply been bringing the monster's remains to somewhere they wanted."

Nodding slightly while looking at him, Martlet sighed, "Yeah… Clover told me… about how there is a local legend, about a Monster who came down from the mountains and in their arms were a child that they had mercilessly killed. And how, the villagers defended themselves against it, driving it back up the mountain." Voice now softer, she continued to look at Clover's picture, "That… was how the humans saw it. And, once more, all those involved on the side of the humans are long since dead. What kind of JUSTICE could one have now? None."

Doing his best, the dog monster cleared his throat, "Wait, what about the humans who fell? While… Clover… might not have killed any monsters, others did!"

For a brief moment, Martlet had the image of Clover aiming a gun at her, covered in dust before mentally shaking it off as she just felt tired, "You ever ask why?"

Taken aback, Greater Dog blinked at that, "Why… why what? Did they attack? Because they hate us obviously!"

Only shaking her head, the bird monster turned to him, "No… it was something me and Clover figured out."

Interested, Sans cocked an eyebrow at this, "and what was it that you figured out?"

Martlet turned to him and sighed a bit, "… To the fallen humans, monsters keep attacking them."

Utterly lost, Greater Dog blinked, "Wait, what? That doesn't sound right."

Jerking his thumb towards his fellow member of the Guard, the skeleton frowned, "he's right… most monsters would flee from a human, not attack it. i mean, granted, most of them wouldn't even know what a human looks like…"

With a shrug, Martlet shook her head, "Which is the issue. Because, as it turns out? When you greet them like you would any monster with a magical spell? It instead hurts them, actually wounds them. So, to them, when a monster greets them…"

Realization on his face, Sans blinked a bit, "… it instead hurts them, making the human think that they were attacked." Tapping a bony finger against his jawbone, he frowned even more, "huh… now isn't that an interesting bit of news? didn't know that."

Very much tired, the bird monster rubbed her face some, "Anyways… was there really a point to this whole visit? Or…"

Placing a paw on her shoulder, Greater Dog shook his head, "I only wanted to check up on you, Martlet. While you may not be a member of the Royal Guard anymore… I still count you as a friend."

Small sigh escaping from her, Martlet shook her head a little bit, "… Thanks, I guess."

All of a sudden, Sans shrugged some and spoke up, "welp, guess we did everything that we needed to do here. should probably head out and all that good stuff."

More than a little thrown off, the dog monster blinked, "Er… I mean… I… guess, but…"

For his part, Sans was already walking towards the door before he stopped and paused, looking back, "Oh, by the way, Martlet?"

Turning away from the picture, Martlet frowned, "Yes, uh, Sans?"

Hands in his pockets, the skeleton smiled at her, "from everything that i have heard about him? i think that this clover fella would rather you find a way to live your life. to find something that you can hold onto and do. not like you need money with the stipend from king fluffybuns and all. and if you want to change things… well, maybe find a way to do so. jus' sayin'."

And, with that, he walked out the door followed by Greater Dog after a quick goodbye leaving Martlet to continue to look back at the picture with a small sigh…

Slight frown on her face, Martlet slowly made her way back to her kitchen and then sat down as she thought over what had just happened. Looking at her now cold oatmeal, she sighed a little bit before taking a spoonful and eating it, grimacing a bit, 'Find a way to change things, huh? Easy for him to say… I'm just one bird, a former member of the Royal Guards.'

Yet again, she glared at nothing as she felt the heat of rage go through her at remembering how her fellow monsters were celebrating as she carried Clover's lifeless body to the castle. How they were cheering the death of a child, one who hadn't harmed a single monster despite how every monster were out to get them. They simply didn't care that an innocent was dead, all they cared about was how they were one step closer to freedom. And it utterly enraged her as she felt that heat well up and spread across her body.

Unnoticed by her, for the very briefest of moments, her feathers shifted from their normal cyan to a darker navy blue before fading back to normal.

Closing her eyes, Martlet took several deep breaths as she tried to calm herself to some extent before shaking her head. Just taking another bite of oatmeal, she looked off into the distance, 'Changing things… like I could, no one would listen to someone like me… and I am just one bird…'

Then, from inside of her, a memory bubbled up, one of another one of her and Clover's chats as they made their way through the Underground, this time from their time in Snowden…

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"Do you think that after you get home, that you can convince your fellow humans to help bring down the Barrier?"

Blinking some, Clover turned his eyes towards Martlet for a few seconds before shrugging, "Don' rightly know, Martlet. But I can give it a try at the very least."

Head tilted some, Martlet frowned a bit even as she ignored the slight ache in her chest at the thought of Clover leaving and decided to distract herself by sweeping some of the sawdust from their work on the birdhouse into the garbage can. Later, she would toss it into the fireplace, but she continued, "It is just… no offense, Clover, but I can't imagine that a lot of humans would listen to you."

Much to her surprise, the human laughed a bit before giving her a smile, "An' tha' right there is why ya'll wrong, Martlet."

Confused, Martlet furrowed her eyebrows as she leaned against the workbench, "How?"

Bright smile on their face, Clover shook his head, "Ya'll thinking that I need to convince everyone, Martlet. I don't, I simply need to convince enough." Then, he shrugged some, "Even convincing one person is enough, because they could go on and convince others." Pausing, the cowboy hummed for a moment, "Think about it like… ya know, how a single snowflake in the right spot can cause the snow piled up on a branch ta fall off. Like that."

Despite her confusion, the bird monster just nodded, "I… see?"

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Like always, Martlet swallowed a little bit at the memory of closer, with the empty feeling in her chest, in her SOUL. However, then she shook her head some as she murmured, "You don't have to convince everyone… just enough. And even one…" Slowly, but surely, she continued to work her way through her bowl of oatmeal, 'But… how?

Eventually, her spoon clattered into the now empty bowl as she took it to the sink in a sort of autopilot as she continued to roll the issue around in her head. That continued as she began to clean the various dirty dishes, followed by beginning to clean up her house. All the while, she continued to think over the issue.

While she was a bit of a scatterbrain at times, one of the tricks she had learned how to focus was that when she was doing things with her hands. For some odd reason, actually doing something helped stop her from being, well, all over the place. It helped her to concentrate, which was also why she had such issues with being a guard and often falling asleep, there simply was nothing to distract her.

Tossing old fast food wrappers and boxes into a bag, Martlet frowned deeply, 'Okay, so the goal is to… change things. What did Chujin say? Break down problems into steps, solve each step and then you solve the problem. I know what the problem is, but how to change it? I mean, obviously, I would need to get King Asgore to stop ordering humans killed… but, he won't listen to me. Maybe if enough monsters are against it, he'll stop? Okay, so how to do that? It isn't like I can just… talk to monsters over and over.'

Done with the ground floor of her house cleaning, she continued upstairs, 'So, I need to convince enough monsters to get King Asgore to stop. Sure, Starlo and the others in the Wild East like telling stories of Clover, not to mention they have that statue of them. But… that is only for those who visit. I'd have to convince more people than just that though… It isn't like I can just go on the radio or the television… Ugh, I wish that there was a handbook for this-'

Pausing, Martlet's eyes widened as before she began to clean quicker, 'Handbook? Book…? A book! That's it! Lots of people read books, so if I write a book about Clover, about the time I had with him! It might make them think differently. But… I don't know the first thing about writing books.'

Finger tapping against her chin as she swept up some trash, the bird monster frowned, 'Okay, so… find out how to write a book then? Is there books for that?' A snort escaped her as she finished with her room, continuing to roll things around in her head as another thought occurred to her, 'Wait… doesn't Dalv write children's books? Maybe talk with him, he'd know how to write a book at the very least.'

Her eyebrows furrowed, Martlet hummed as she finished cleaning the last bit of trash, 'Right… so talk with Dalv about how to write a book. Then, write a book about Clover and the time we had together. And hopefully it will change some minds. It's… not much, but something…'

And it really wasn't much, just an idea. But it was somewhere to start, and she could fill in the rest. Much like how planning projects had an outline and then you slowly filled in the rest of the design.

It was also much more than she had since Clover… had died.

Reaching up, Martlet sniffled a little bit as she wiped a tear from her eye before shaking her head as she softly murmured, "I promise you, Clover… I'll do you JUSTICE, like you would me and like how you deserve…"

With a deep breath, she lifted her gaze… and froze as she found herself looking at her basement door. For several long seconds, Martlet stared at said door with its lock before. For a few brief moments, she remembered earlier that morning. Her thoughts regarding if Undyne and the King attempted to go through with their plan of warring with the humans once they had seven SOULs and the Barrier had been destroyed.

Swallowing, Martlet looked one way and then another before going to her room and opening one drawer. Digging around, it took her a few seconds before she pulled out a key from a hidden bottom. Then, walking back down the stairs, she glanced around before unlocking the door.

Flicking on the light, the bird monster descended down the stairs, taking them one at a time until her boots reached the bottom of the basement. Looking around, her gaze fell onto the "furnace" for the house, which contained a moderately sized Swelter stone. Said furnace not only heated the house, but also the water in said house. And it was much safer than using wood fires, though a few monsters swore by such.

However, that was not what Martlet was focused on and, after a few moments, made her way around to a shelf unit below the steps. Grasping it, she tugged it with it rotating… and revealing a door behind it. One that she opened and then entered into another room, this one under her front door.

The room wasn't particularly large, but it had a filing cabinet filled with papers, as well as a small shelf unit. It also had a large, wooden table that Martlet had built herself, but it was what was on that table that she looked at. What with a mess of glass tubing, beakers, and the like with a smaller swelter stone off to the side.

A secret place that she hid from everyone, where she had created something just in case a human came to the Underground that tried to kill everyone.

Gaze moving over the table, it fell to a series of vials, still in their holders, and a few small drops of reddish fluid inside of them. Even now, she wasn't quite sure what had been in the vials that she had snatched from the Lab, or rather the place under the Lab, when she was a Guard there. All she knew from overhearing the Royal Scientist was that it was some sort of powerful substance. One that allowed for human SOULs to stick around and could have given monsters power.

She had been rather confused by that, but had also remembered something that her old teacher, Chujin, had told her. Granted, he had been drunk at the time, but had rambled on about something regarding extracts from human SOULs and monster SOULs. That it would have made a normal monster much stronger.

Upon remembering that, Martlet had kept an eye out and, as it turned out, the Royal Scientist, Alphys, had been a bit… disorganized. Often, she left the vials she used to initially gather the extracted substance in after transferring it to others. It had not been hard for Martlet to collect the stray droplets into other vials, slowly filling them.

Once said vials had been filled, she snuck them out of the lab and brought them here and used books and such to create a distillation setup. Which wasn't too hard as she remembered fixing a similar set up for Dina with Chujin, who used it to make "Adult sodas". But this setup was for that extract, running it through it several times.

And it was not just that glowing red extract, Alphys had also had smaller amounts of a purple extract, an orange extract, and a cyan extract. Martlet had mixed them together when distilling them. But she added one last bit… an extract from her own SOUL.

That… had not been too hard, even though she winced a bit at the phantom pain. After all, Alphys had wanted some volunteers for comparisons between monster and human SOULs. Something which involved extracting a small amount from a monster's own SOUL to compare it with. That… had very much not been pleasant.

Still, Martlet knew where hers was stored and had quietly swiped it, which had never been noticed. That extract she had added to the others and simply ran it through the distillation until finally, she had a single vial. One that glowed a soft blue and sometimes seemed to have small stars inside of it. Not sure if it would work, or if it would kill her, she simply kept it as a backup just in case.

Glancing at the vial, the bird monster softly sighed, 'A good thing that Clover is who he was. I'd hate to use it-'

For a moment, she gasped as she grasped at her head, closing her eyes as, for a brief moment, she saw herself with the vial, and then injecting it into her. Fire and pain spreading as her body grew larger, stronger. Her screech of pain becoming a scream of triumph and power as she looked down at a dust covered Clover.

Just as quickly as it had come, the vision was gone and Martlet groaned as her head felt like it was splitting open.

Very slowly, she breathed in and out as she calmed herself, frown on her face, '… What in the Angel was that?!' Then, despite the pain in her head, she shook her head, 'Lack of food must be affecting me…'

Then, with another shake of the head, she slowly stumbled out, closing the door behind her and pushing the shelf unit in front of it to hide said room…