Chapter Text
Steam rushed through every inch of a factory, powering the whole system with excess. After all, the system had been created to serve the entire underground, though most monsters no longer seemed to want anything to do with the Steamworks. Still, the robots inside persevered. Ever since their reactivation at Clover and Ceroba’s hands, they refused to be powered down. They had their own lives. And families.
One of these pipes pumping steam had a leak, spilling excessive steam into the furnace. While the Steamworks still had more than enough steam and didn’t need to breathe, this particular chamber had a relatively small platform above a massive pit of magma below. The most fortunate part was that the furnace was a rarely traveled part of the Steamworks since there was nothing of importance here beside a surprisingly durable trash can. It was also right next to the exit, which no robot was to leave through, so it was not a major concern.
Due to the lack of urgency, Axis felt comfortable trying to test the skills of his apprentices. All three of them rushed onto the scene in front of Axis as he trailed behind, yelling, “BE CAREFUL. FALLING OFF THIS PLATFORM COULD BE LETHAL.”
Axis Jr. and Axis 2.0 continue running, paying no mind to their father’s warning. Axisa spun on her wheel and muttered, “;;;”
“DO NOT ‘whatever’ ME YOU LITTLE [punk],” Axis yelled back.
“WE’LL BE FINE.” Axis Jr. argued.
“I found the [secreting] steam pipe.” Axis 2.0 exclaimed.
“!” Axisa exclaimed.
“YES,” Axis Jr. cheered.
Axis watched on, marveling at how much they’d grown. Even though they didn’t make it halfway up his chassis, their programming had evolved and developed into three beautiful things he would always treasure. Axis only wished his own creator could see them now. Or Clover. This could never have happened without both of them.
“I DID IT,” Axis Jr. cried out in excitement.
“Not quite. I did that already. You wouldn’t recognize a functional pipe if it [pummeled] you on the head.” Axis 2.0 caustically bit back.
Axis Jr. retorted, “A WORKING PIPE WOULDN’T HIT ME IN THE HEAD. WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING YOU’RE SO SMART?”
“Because I [recognized] that,” Axis 2.0 argued, “It is [merely] a figure of speech.”
“!” Axisa called.
Axis Jr. and Axis 2.0 turned back to Axisa. “What?” Axis 2.0 asked.
“!!” Axisa explained.
“Oh, whoops. I shouldn’t have gotten so [absentminded],” Axis 2.0 muttered.
“!...!” Axisa continued.
“Oh, you [secured] it already…” Axis 2.0 muttered.
“HEHEHE, YOU’RE REALLY A [I LOVE YOU],” Axis Jr. yelled.
“YOU KNOW WE DON’T USE THAT KIND OF [offensive] LANGUAGE,” his father chided.
“YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I SAID.” Axis Jr. protested.
Axis retorted, “YES, BUT I KNOW YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID IT.”
Axis Jr. gave a quiet “HMPH” as Axis caressed the antenna in the middle of Axis Jr.’s head.
“GOOD JOB REPAIRING THE LEAK IN THAT PIPE. YOU WERE MUCH FASTER THAN I EXPECTED. IT MUST BE BECAUSE YOU THREE WERE WORKING TOGETHER,” Axis mused. “I WILL SCAN THE PIPE TO BE CONFIDENT.”
Axis began to scan the pipe system and saw that the leak just below the surface of the platform was indeed repaired, but below that were other leaks, their locations previously unascertainable. Now it was clear that many were nearly a quarter mile below the platform, their steam spilling up from the sides of the platform.
“[shucks],” Axis muttered.
“WE DID IT WRONG?” Axis Jr. speculated.
“NOPE. THIS IS JUST WAY WORSE THAN I THOUGHT,” Axis explained.
“And it’s about… to get… get even worse,” an exhausted voice called out through panting breaths.
“?” Axisa wondered.
“Who is that?” Axis 2.0 asked.
“THAT VOICE SOUNDS FAMILIAR. REFERENCING DATABANKS…” Axis stated.
Axis and all of his children had turned to the voice by this point. However, the steam completely masked their presence.
“No need, it’s m- it’s me, Axis,” the voice strained with effort. A shadow was starting to form, showing their figure, though it was unlike anything the robots had seen.
Taking a final step out of the steam, the figure revealed himself to be Clover, holding Martlet over his shoulder.
“HATTED HUMAN. YOU HAVE RETURNED WITH FEATHERED FRIEND. YOU APPEAR TO BE UNDER SIGNIFICANT PHYSICAL STRESS,” Axis noted. “MAY I ASSIST?”
“You don’t have to. She’s lighter than she- she looks,” Clover wheezed.
“This is due to the fact that [avian creatures] have [porous] bones,” Axis 2.0 explained with a haughty tone.
“BUT MONSTERS DON’T HAVE BONES! THEY’RE MADE OF MAGIC WHICH TURNS TO DUST!” Axis Jr. argued.
“YOU ARE BOTH CORRECT, CHILDREN,” Axis explained as he took Martlet from Clover despite his protests, “WHILE TRUE BIRDS HAVE HOLLOW BONES, MONSTERS DO NO HAVE BONES AT ALL. ALTHOUGH, BIRD-LIKE MONSTERS HAVE A LOWER DENSITY OF MAGIC AND ARE LIGHTER WHICH ASSISTS IN FLIGHT.”
“?!” Axisa inquired.
“YES, YOU ARE RIGHT, AXISA. IT IS RUDE TO TALK ABOUT A WOMAN’S WEIGHT. YOU SHOULD AVOID THAT. HOWEVER, IT IS RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT FOR OUR SITUATION,” Axis explained.
“...Are these your kids?” Clover asked, bewildered.
“YES. THEY ARE MY PRIDE AND JOY,” Axis explained.
“...Thanks for taking Martlet. Just… be careful,” Clover said to Axis, stealing a worried glance at Martlet.
“I WILL,” Axis assured. He had to resist his innate urge to rub Clover’s head since he was occupied holding Martlet’s body.
“Will she be okay?” Clover asked, his eyes betraying the calm of his words. Those two things alone gave Axis a lot of information.
“I WILL TAKE HER TO THE INFIRMARY,” Axis reassured.
“...Okay,” muttered Clover, settling himself down with deep breaths.
“CAN WE CARRY HER?” Axis Jr. asked.
Axis asked, “ARE ALL OF YOUR GRAVITY REPULSORS FULLY CHARGED?”
“YEAH, LIKE ALWAYS,” Axis Jr. exclaimed.
“[Negative]...” Axis 2.0 admitted.
“...” Axisa answered in kind.
“UNFORTUNATELY THEN, I CAN’T LET YOU.”
Axis 2.0 protested, “But you [insisted] she was light.”
“COMPARED TO OTHER FULLY GROWN MONSTERS. YOUR WHEELS CANNOT HANDLE THE WEIGHT OF MONSTERS. THEY WILL BREAK AND I DON’T WANT YOU TO BREAK,” Axis explained.
“Axis,” Clover quietly reminded, his concern growing.
“RIGHT. I AM LEAVING TO HELP MARTLET. CLOVER, TAKE CARE OF THE CHILDREN. I TRUST YOU.” Axis hastily stated as he wheeled away.
A flower popped up in the center of the room. “As sweet as this is, didn’t you hear about the murderer coming?!”
“I didn’t tell them yet,” Clover admitted.
Flowey sighed. “Each and every day, you become more and more of a disappointment.”
“And yet without me, you wouldn’t be here,” Clover retorted.
“That’s the worst part,” Flowey mumbled.
“Searching for: Definition of ‘murderer’...” Axis 2.0 began.
“?” Axisa asked.
“WHAT IS IT?” Axis Jr. asked in turn.
“Bad,” Axis 2.0 said.
“!” Axisa exclaimed.
“UH… THAT WASN’T A FANCY WORD. DID YOU HEAR THAT AXISA? HE DIDN’T EVEN ACTIVE HIS FANCY WORD FUNCTION. THAT’S BAD,” Axis Jr. mused.
“?” Axisa asked.
“Do you understand what she’s saying?” Clover whispered to Flowey.
“No clue,” Flowey admitted.
“That’s not the normal [hue] of the furnace’s glow,” Axis 2.0 commented.
“AND IT’S WAY BRIGHTER TOO,” Axis Jr. added.
“...!” Axisa added.
“YEAH, THE SHAPE TOO…” Axis Jr. agreed.
Clover and Flowey turned around to see a red glow in the shape of two eyes and a mouth, smiling farcically. As it got closer, the steam obscured the figure less until…
Clover dashed to the side near a cylinder and drew his revolver. “Run, ‘bots!”
Axisa and Axis Jr. children obeyed immediately, turning around and wheeling away. Axis 2.0 stayed for a moment, playing out loud, “Calculating likelihood of success… Likelihood (rounded to the millionth place): 0.000000%.” Axis 2.0 hastily followed his siblings.
Frisk ran right across the platform and jumped over Axis 2.0, standing in his way. They took in his expression full of shock and fear for a moment before striking with their blade. With a clink, the steel of the knife clanged against metal, bouncing off.
Axis Jr. and Axisa watched on in awe at the figure kneeling between their brother and Frisk. Clover held up a trash can lid, blocking the attack entirely. He holstered his revolver and grabbed Axis 2.0 with his hand. Then, he dashed to Frisk’s other side and dashed towards Axisa and Axis Jr, crying, “Roll out of here!”
As the children did so, Clover set down Axis 2.0 and pushed him in their direction. “Th-Thank you,” he muttered.
Clover tipped his hat before standing up and glaring down at Frisk. At this point, the path had thinned. It was barely wide enough for Clover or Frisk to be on, with absolutely no room to go around.
Frisk wasted no time, dashing towards Clover. Clover stood his ground and gripped the lasso Martlet had delivered. Clover wondered if it really was as easy as Starlo made it look. If it was, this would look awesome.
Clover lunged forward, hitting Frisk with his shield. Then, Clover struck with his lasso, tying it around Frisk’s ankle, then yanking it out from under their feet. Clover then reached out and smacked Frisk in the face with the lid. With their balance gone, Frisk was sent careening off of the platform and into the acid below.
Flowey whistled in appreciation, looking below at Frisk’s soul hovering over the liquid. “That was pretty good. Here I was thinking you couldn’t do anything but shoot.”
[File 9 Loaded] Frisk dashed at Clover, who lunged forward with his shield. Frisk jumped up and used the bottom rim of the trash can lid as a stepping stone before leaping off of Clover’s head, sending themself hurling into the air. In the air, Frisk drew the empty gun and aimed it at the trio of Axis-lings. However, the shot sputtered out. Perfect.
[File 0 Loaded] Frisk stepped off of Clover’s head and took out their weapon as Clover turned and dashed to protect Axis’ children, panic clear in his eyes. However, Frisk’s drawn weapon was not their firearm, but their blade. As they landed, they slashed at the now-undefended human in front of them. A vine rose from the ground to grab their hand, but Frisk grabbed the vine with their other hand as they reached out and a massive gash formed across Clover’s torso, spewing yellow powder. HP: 1/16.
Frisk raised their knife for a final strike, soaking in the sensation and waiting for the inevitable intervention. After a moment’s pause, Flowey preemptively sent a barrage of friendliness pellets between the humans. Once the bullets were finished, Frisk was able to bring it down with ease.
“NO. YOU CAN’T.”
Frisk felt a cold metal chassis on their leg, immediately followed by a shock, debilitating Frisk for a moment. That moment was just long enough for Clover to rise to his feet. Both humans looked at Frisk’s leg and found something which brought great joy to Frisk in an instant. Axis Jr. was hugging it.
Frisk brought their other leg around and kicked Axis Jr, punting him off the platform and sending him flying. After a few long moments, Axis Jr. hit the acid and began to sink, his lights flickering off.
Frisk gained 20 EXP. Clover’s LOVE increased.
Clover fired a bullet from their finger, hurling towards Frisk. It hit, doing massive damage and sending them falling off the side of the walkway, careening towards-
[File 0 Loaded] Time reverted back to the moment Axis Jr. sank below the acid. A tear fell from Clover’s eye, but he shot at Frisk. [File 0 Loaded] Then he shot again. [File 0 Loaded] Again. [File 0 Loaded] Again. [File 0 Loaded] Again. [File 0 Loaded] [File 0 Loaded] [File 0 Loaded]
Clover’s shot sputtered out as he fell to his knees, sobbing pitifully. As Frisk stepped forward again, vines clasped around their feet. Other vines dragged Clover away at a surprisingly quick pace.
Frisk hacked the vines off their legs and dashed towards Clover, but was too late. A certain aggravating flower popped out of the ground as the entire section of the platform between them was engulfed by vines and crushed, the rubble falling into the acid below. The resulting gap was nearly forty bones long.
“That’s quite a measuring system,” Chara muttered.
Frisk ignored the voice, keeping their gaze at the flower on the other side of the chasm. Flowey squinted as if something was wrong, but then tilted his head in a way that vaguely reminded Frisk of a shrug. Flowey then disappeared back into the ground with his infuriating wink.
On the other side of the chasm, Axisa and Axis 2.0 huddled around Clover.
“?” Axisa asked.
“Are- Are we gonna be [adequate]?” Axis 2.0 asked.
Flowey popped up right next to the clump. “Just get your… dad,” Flowey suggested hesitantly.
“I AM HERE, FLOWER,” Axis noted.
Flowey flinched. He was far from a fan of being surprised. “Oh, when did you get here?”
“ROUGHLY 7.4 SECONDS AGO,” Axis answered.
“That’s not much of a rough estimate,” Flowey noted.
Axis retorted, “YES IT IS. THE EXACT ANSWER WOULD HAVE BEEN 7.35356261557166837251872617725716162726617162726717176172716558669-”
“Okay, I get the point!” Flowey yelled.
“THAT IS FORTUNATE, NOW THAT I DON’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING, COULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT HAPPENED?” Axis asked.
“...” Axisa whimpered.
“i’m so sorry,” Clover muttered.
Axis looked expectantly at Axis 2.0, begging for a real explanation. Axis 2.0 just shook his head. Axis rushed to Clover and shook him. “WHAT HAPPENED?”
“i couldn’t save him… axis jr… he’s in the acid. sinking. gone.” Clover muttered.
“[I love you]” Axisa muttered as she clung to her father.
“That’s sweet, I was starting to think she could only use punctuation,” Flowey muttered.
Axisa turned towards Frisk and shouted, “[I love you]”
Flowey froze. “That’s… strange…”
Axis purposefully ignored the flora.“YES, AXISA, THIS IS A SITUATION RUDE WORDS ARE ACCEPTABLE. IN FACT…” Axis emphasized his next words, sending them straight to Frisk. “I [freaking] HATE YOU, YOU [freaking] piece of [crap].”
Frisk raised a finger towards Axis, but before Frisk could finish their motion, Axis suddenly hurled a massive ball of magic towards Frisk. They looked more annoyed than shocked at the sudden attack and easily jumped out of the way.
Axis turned back around to his children, putting his back to Frisk. “WE WILL GO NOW. I DON’T THINK WE SHOULD STAY BY THE MANIAC ANY LONGER THAN NECESSARY.”
Axis beckoned for his children to follow as he tried to keep his composure. If he lost it, what would that be saying to his children? What would his wife and son think?
Flowey saw Axis and his children leaving, but noticed Clover wasn’t following them.
Flowey popped up in front of Clover, asking, “You okay, buddy?”
Clover didn’t respond, he just silently looked at the ground. Flowey sighed and dragged the cowboy with him as he followed Axis. As they went, an announcement bellowed through every functioning speaker in the Steamworks: “THERE IS A MEETING FOR EVERYONE WHO THINKS OF THEMSELVES AS PART OF THE STEAMWORKS, STARTING AT… RIGHT NOW. IT IS IN THE CHEMISTRY HALL. COME IMMEDIATELY.”
Flowey was intrigued. What was their plan? This didn’t sound quite like the evacuation all the boring monsters had done. Perhaps Flowey should’ve played with Axis more. Whatever, this was going to be quite fun.