Martlet

Linde puffed out a cloud of black smoke and lay on the ground, looking utterly done with life.

"Hmph." Frisk stood beside him, glaring fiercely at him.

"Oh! You two look like... you're having fun?" Papyrus laughed, "Nyeh heh heh! But! The next puzzle will definitely stump you!!! Because my brother Sans designed it himself! It'll leave you confused... it certainly confused me... anyway! Just you wait, humans!!!"

With that, Papyrus ran off in great, bounding strides.

"Wow, looks like... you two... uh... get along pretty well," Sans teased from the sidelines.

"Heh... heh." Frisk gave a couple of cold laughs.

"Seriously, if you didn't care about each other, you wouldn't go out of your way to get each other's attention with childish antics," Sans said, sounding like someone who'd been there.

"What the hell do you know, you single skeleton?!" Linde swore at him, then sat up.

Frisk, meanwhile, stared thoughtfully at Linde, a faint blush flickering across her face.

At any rate, she didn't dare flirt with Linde anymore. She was afraid it might lead to something unexpected.

Linde ranted inwardly. Seriously, what is wrong with all of you?! I'm mentally nineteen! How could I possibly be interested in a ten-year-old kid? That's practically an art form in breaking the law! Hmm... then again, I guess I'm physically eleven right now...

Linde stopped dwelling on it and smoothed down his hair, which had been standing on end from static electricity. "All right, let's go."

The two children said goodbye to Sans. After walking a little farther, they suddenly spotted a ladder at the edge of a cliff.

Linde had never seen this ladder in the original game. Was this another area like the City of the Ruins?

Curious, they climbed down the ladder. Before long, a small wooden cabin appeared before them.

Linde stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Hello? Is anyone home?"

Creaking footsteps sounded inside. A moment later, the door opened, revealing an elderly, entirely blue birdlike monster wearing glasses.

Seeing her, Linde suddenly felt that she looked familiar.

"Hello there. Oh, humans, are you? Hahaha, I haven't seen a human in decades." The blue bird stepped back as she spoke. "If you don't mind keeping an old lady company for a chat, please come in."

She looks like a parrot, and she's met one of the humans who fell down here before? What kind of monster... oh my God! Could she be-?!

"Hello, my name is Martlet. I'm a former member of the Royal Guard."

Wait, Martlet? The bird lady from Undertale Yellow? This world follows Yellow's setting too?! Doesn't that mean the Dunes and the Abandoned Factory both exist?!

"My name is Linde, and this is Frisk. Um... Ms. Martlet, would you mind telling us about the human you met decades ago?" Linde asked. He wanted to know which route Yellow had taken.

Martlet nodded and turned toward a blurry photograph, seeming to sink into her memories. "That child's name was Clover. He always wore a cowboy hat and carried a handgun. Oh, his soul was golden yellow.

"The first time I saw him, he had come out through the underground exit of the Ruins. I'd only just joined the Royal Guard back then, and I didn't notice him.

"I designed lots of puzzles, apparently to stop humans at the time, but of course they couldn't stop him...

"Later, he appeared in front of my Sentinel Station, and I finally realized there was a human right before my eyes! Oh... I'm sure you can imagine how surprised I was... so I immediately started fighting him.

"But that child was very kind. He didn't hurt me, and he hadn't attacked any other monsters either. Just like you two. Haha, I'm so lucky to meet kind humans every time!

"Ah, later, I thought that since he was so kind, he shouldn't die at the king's hands. So I wanted to secretly escort him back to the surface.

It looked like this Clover had taken either the pacifist route or the true ending route. Linde reached that conclusion inwardly.

"But while we were traveling to Hotland by boat, it suddenly went out of control... and we ended up in the Dunes.

"There, the mayor, North Star, locked me up, but trained Clover to become his deputy sheriff. Funny, isn't it?

"Later, we met Ceroba, North Star's childhood friend. In short, she tricked Clover into going to the Abandoned Factory so she could steal his soul, but the mayor's subordinates rescued him in the end.

"After that, Clover did something wrong-he killed Ceroba after she put on a mask and lost control.

"Of course, I don't think he meant to. You have to understand, he was a very good child.

Linde sighed. It seemed Clover hadn't willingly given up his soul. Instead...

"Later, I accompanied him to the Throne. He learned that the king had killed the five children before him, so he angrily challenged the king to a fight.

"Of course, he couldn't possibly defeat Asgore. In the end, he suffered the same fate as those five children...

"Children, Asgore only needs one more soul. You're good children too... sigh."

Martlet began to worry about the two children's fate, but when she saw their confident smiles-one could reload a save, and the other knew the plot-she smiled back at them.

"It's getting late. Why don't you stay here and rest?" Martlet suggested.

"Great!" The moment Frisk heard that, she flopped onto the couch.

In an instant, her breathing became slow and even.

Good grief, just how tired is she? Linde's mouth twitched. He hoisted Frisk onto his back and headed for the guest room, looking back at Martlet with a polite smile. "Thank you so much."

Just then, Linde suddenly felt a damp patch on his back.

Hey, why's she drooling in her sleep today? She was fine these past few days. Well, that makes sense. Now she actually seems like a ten-year-old kid. Hehehe.

Linde gently laid Frisk on the bed, affectionately rubbed her cheek, and lay down beside her. Soon, he too drifted off to sleep...