Yesterday was great for Frisk; he had gained a secret ally in his fight against Flowey and got to do his circuit around town after training with Papyrus. Sure, he was almost through reading all the books in the LIBRARBY, but everything was nice and quiet after the stress of his confrontation with that sadistic flower. He had even gotten a good enough sleep on the skeleton brother's couch that he felt up to going on a morning run.

It wasn't exactly part of his routine, but it was probably a decent habit to get into. Plus, he could use the opportunity to train his Aura.

He might be good enough at using it for enhancement and defense, but Frisk was sure it could be used for more. For example, whenever he had meditated in the past, he could pick up an odd feeling from those around him. It had alerted him to Flowey in the starter cave, and in the snow clearing, it had told him where Papyrus was dancing.

He could definitely use an ability like that. Hopefully, it would reduce the number of times Flowey could sneak up on him or listen in on his conversations. So right now, he was trying to run in Snowden while keeping in a sort of pseudo-meditative state that would allow him to sense people.

He waved at the oddly Christmas-themed residents as he ran through the town and into the forest beyond.

Of course, that was when everything went downhill. Literally.

For a moment, he felt a prickly sensation go down his neck, which caused him to slip. The human cursed as he tumbled down a small, snowy hill. It wasn't like the fall was dangerous. Still, it was embarrassing, especially because…

"I know you're there, Flowey," Frisk called out as he quickly got to his feet. It was difficult to suppress the urge to start attacking the flower immediately. "Have you finally come back for that rematch?" Still, he couldn't help but throw out a taunt. It wouldn't be good if they started fighting here; it would jeopardize Sans' relatively fragile memory.

"Impressive! You're slightly less pathetic than earlier, and you think that makes you strong." Flowey crowed out as he burst from the ground nearby. "But you'll never be truly strong until you learn the truth of the world."

"That it's kill or be killed, right?" Frisk raised an eyebrow in mock curiosity. "Is that your master plan? Get me to become evil or desperate enough to start killing people for power?"

He couldn't do anything about the enemy right now, but Frisk could still probe for information.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't mind if you started doing that." The flower raised a vine to his mouth and pretended to think. "But I don't think I have any sort of master plan with you. I just find it AMUSING to torture you." His face morphed into a demonic smile. "It might be difficult to play the friend path after that; they are so very dull, but maybe I could find a way?"

So this was all some sort of twisted game to him… Frisk didn't buy it. The words made him angry to even consider. He would never go the friend route with Flowey, no matter how much the flower decided to make him suffer. But that sort of reaction was probably what the psychopath wanted Frisk to have.

Some of that stuff was definitely true, but Flowey wasn't just an unrepentant sadist. He was also scheming and manipulative. It had been demonstrated in the game and proven in Frisk's experiences here.

"I don't think that's all, Flowey. I think you want something from me." He tried to provoke a reaction.

And there it was! It was an incredibly slight change, but his face twitched when Frisk didn't respond angrily to his taunt.

"An interesting thought, HUMAN; please keep entertaining me!" His voice went wild with excitement, only to immediately switch to a bored monotone. "But, this conversation is starting to bore me." Flowey smiled. "And while we're talking about things that bore me, this scenery is starting to get a bit stale."

Frisk flinched as he realized what Flowey was talking about.

"YES! You know what that means! Time's a ticking HUMAN, HAHAHAHA!" He disappeared into the ground, leaving Frisk standing alone in the snow.

"Damn." The human cursed. It looked like this would be his last day to train in Snowden. It annoyed him to play along to his enemy's tune like this, but it was necessary for now.

But that wasn't all Frisk had gotten out of that little conversation. Flowey wanted something from him- he was almost sure of it. The flower might be genuinely crazy, but that deflection of the conversation was too calculated to not have been planned. So if Flowey wanted something... he had a good idea about what that was.

The thought was honestly disgusting.

It had to be the HUMAN SOULS. The one thing that Flowey couldn't convince Asgore to show him or take by force. The one thing he needed to cross the BARRIER and become a god.

But that wasn't the disgusting part.

If what he was thinking turned out to be true... then, technically, Flowey was training Frisk. By forcing him to engage in fights to the death to improve and reviving him if his little soldier died, Flowey was distressingly effectively forcing him to grow stronger. Maybe strong enough to challenge Asgore and distract the king long enough to steal the souls.

The constant instigating fights, the constant urging to move forward, it definitely all fit.

Did he even really ever defeat the flower? If it all played into his master plan.

Frisk shook his head and reassured himself that Flowey had underestimated him and his knowledge. Now that he knew his enemy's intentions, he could move to counter them. Unfortunately, any move to counter them involved going along with it until he was better situated.

So he would have to make the trek through Waterfall by tomorrow.

Maybe it was time to hit up that legendary teacher.

→[A Few Hours Later]

"We're not gonna fight?" Frisk asked, slightly taken aback. Sans had agreed to train him after telling the skeleton what he could about Flowey's plan. The human had only the rest of the day to be ready for Undyne.

"Tibia honest with you, I'm a bit under the weather today." Sans yawned and sat down on the snowy ground. "So today's training is going to be a bit different." Ah, that's right, Sans was still drained from putting his memories in stasis. But he couldn't just say that out loud; there was too much of a chance that Flowey could be listening in, but he did it.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Ok, um." It might sound sad, but most of Frisk's training had been fighting or throwing attacks at other people. "What should I do?"

"Start by bringing out your JUSTICE magic." That's right, it would be the most useful running from Undyne.

Frisk concentrated on the spark inside of him. He remembered those feelings of righteous anger when his trait had been awakened. Focusing on bringing those feelings to the forefront, Frisk felt the spark growing and arc-

*Thump* A glowing stick bounced off his Aura.

His left eye lit up with glowing yellow power, and he turned to the skeleton unimpressed. "Was that supposed to do something?"

"It was supposed to disrupt your concentration, but I can see that your Aura compensates for you in that regard." Hey! It had taken many deaths before Frisk figured out how to keep his Aura on without constantly concentrating on it. "But I think it also served to at least demonstrate the weakness; maybe next time, it won't be a stick." Sans reminded. "Now try and hit me from over there," he called out.

The skeleton was about 20 feet away. Frisk hesitated momentarily, worried about whether he would accidentally hit his friend, before dismissing the thought entirely. "Haah!" The mage gathered lightning in his hand, and it exploded forth. Arcs crashing in a wide area on their way to the target.

By the time they reached Sans, their power had already dissipated into the air. "You're having problems with control, " the teacher pointed out.

Frisk sighed. He knew it was a problem. "I just don't get why I'm having trouble with JUSTICE compared to PERSEVERANCE." He looked down at his hand, which was still sparking with electricity.

"It's your Magic Weapon," Sans said simply. "Even if you don't regularly use it, the difference in control before and after you manifest your weapon is like night and day."

Glowing cyan strings manifested from his fingers that shot out and wrapped themselves around Frisk's bandanna. "Hey!" the student called out as it was ripped off his head. Sans smiled as the strings whipped back unnaturally towards their owner.

Grumbling, Frisk looked at his teacher. "I can't even manifest my spear without being in a battle; what makes you think I can make something with JUSTICE?"

"Because I'm here, " he boasted, twirling the stolen item around his finger. "So let's get to it."

Sans started explaining, and he was actually a half-decent teacher. The first thing Frisk would need to manifest his weapon was some conception of it. JUSTICE weapons, just like the magic itself, were more focused on range. Which, to the human, probably meant some sort of gun, maybe?

"What's your JUSTICE weapon?" Frisk asked to distract himself. The strings were apparently common for PATIENCE, though Sans showed how even those could be modified and extremely powerful. The skeleton turned them so thin they were practically invisible and used them as a form of telekinesis.

"Not something you need to be thinking about right now." Sans scolded. "While some might have similar forms, each weapon is unique to your soul. You can't go around taking inspiration from others."

"Got it." Closing his eyes, Frisk thought of all the ranged weapons he knew. Guns had never really spoken to him. Sure, he had gone to the range a few times, and it was fun, but… It kinda sounded chunni, but he had always wanted to use a bow. "How do you know it's the right one?"

"Well, that was surprisingly quick. Papyrus still hasn't thought of something he'd like for his weapon. Or he does, and then it changes in a day," Sans complained. However, that was also part of Frisk's worries. "Anyway, I suppose you try to form it and shoot something."

Frisk looked down at his left hand. Well, here goes nothing.

He clenched his teeth and dug deep into that well of power he felt within. Thinking back, he tried to bring forth that violent anger that made him feel invincible. It was the feeling of staring down Flowey and wanting to tear the flower apart.

The power crackled into existence in his hand, and Frisk desperately tried to control it. He needed to turn this teeming mass of electricity into his weapon. Slowly, it started to elongate, but the farther it got, the more it felt like he was holding back a tempest.

*BZZZT* Electricity exploded from both ends of the failed creation. Burning the ground and snow on each side of the clearing. "Damn." Frisk had taken a substantial amount of damage to his Aura, protecting himself from the backlash.

"I failed." Frisk panted as he tried to regain his breath from all that effort. "It's just too hard to control."

"No, I think I see the problem now." Sans casually walked up to where Frisk had fallen on his knees and bent down to look the human in the eye. "You're not failing to control the energy; you're failing to control yourself."

Frisk was taken aback. "Wha-What do you mean?"

"That moment you used to activate your magic, you were angry, right? You wanted revenge?" Frisk thought back and nodded, he certainly had wanted to kill Flowey. "Is that all JUSTICE is to you, a way to harm those who have harmed you?"

"What! No!" Frisk protested. He might have wanted revenge at that moment, but he had also wanted to force Flowey to bring Toriel back.

"Then why is it all that you pull from when you want to use your magic?" Frisk opened his mouth to say something before realizing Sans was right, even if he thought his anger was justified, and he did it for more than one reason. "Anger might be powerful, but it's also uncontrollable."

Sans pointed to where Frisk's dual soul had manifested. "The fact that you have that trait means you have a strong moral character. But the true power of JUSTICE magic comes from understanding that character and manifesting it into the real world." Sans stood up and pointed to himself. "It doesn't matter if everyone else in the world disagrees with you. In fact, the more differences between your view of JUSTICE and those you use this magic against, the more damage it will do."

"So I just need to understand myself?" That was easy for him to say but not exactly something easy in practice. Frisk knew he still wanted to kill Flowey, even if he knew it wasn't the route to the pacifist ending. The thought of going through all of this and then leaving that psychopath sitting in the Underground, even if he really was Asriel, he just didn't think he was that forgiving or naive.

Would that jeopardize everyone's chances of getting to the surface? Frisk wanted to save the monsters, especially those he knew through his experiences in this world and the game. But could he stop himself from killing Asgore and crossing the barrier, especially if he was forced to choose between that, and being stuck in hell with Flowey resetting the timeline for eternity.

He just… didn't know. "I don't think I can understand myself."

"Hey, chin up, kid." Sans looked him in the eye. "You don't need to perfectly understand yourself or anything. Just… know that you're more than anger and revenge, ok? I might not have known you for very long, but trust me when I say you're not a bad person. In fact, you're probably the best human I've ever met."

Frisk smiled and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I don't know if that's really a big accomplishment." How many humans has Sans even seen? Probably less than seven. "But, thanks."

"You don't have to thank me. Most couldn't get through what you've experienced without at least a few mental breakdowns." Sans smirked. "But that's not something to dwell on right now. I want you to get up and do it."

"Do what?"

"Summon your weapon, Frisk. I've seen monsters work for years to get where you are right now. You've got the talent." He gestured to their soul once again. "And you've obviously got the drive. So I want you to summon your weapon right now."

Frisk looked up at Sans in surprise. He wasn't ready. He didn't really understand himself. He wasn't good at controlling JUSTICE. He didn't even know if he had enough magic to summon one.

"I'll try."

"Do or do not, there is no try." Sans quoted and teleported further away before Frisk could ask if he had actually seen Star Wars.

Standing up, Frisk looked down at his left hand one more time. Once again, he found a spark inside him and immersed himself in that well of power. Sure, he might not fully understand his character, but what really was someone's character. In Frisk's eyes, the best way to tell someone's character was through their actions.

And what had he done so far? Frisk had continuously fought against Flowey; he made friends and spared the monsters he met along the way, and he tried his best. The human might not know what he could be pushed into in the future, but he did know what he wanted.

Frisk wanted to save the monsters, his friends, and, yes, get revenge on Flowey.

The yellow electric power started to grow larger in his left hand.

He would find a way to make all his goals possible.

Carefully, he shaped the churning energy. Guiding it as the bright yellow power slowly grew.

*Bang* He closed his fist, and the electricity burst out from both sides of his hand. But this time, he didn't allow it to run free. Bending to his will, the energy stopped and curved backward, forming the limbs of a bow. Finally, excess power arced from the tips of both limbs to form the bowstring.

With this power, he could do it.