"So let me get this straight," Papyrus said as the group continued walking ahead with Sans walking next to him and Undyne and Frisk walking behind. "Grounding him doesn't mean that he has to sleep outside on the ground?"
"No, Pap," Sans said. "Frisk is not sleeping outside. We've had to thaw him out twice already."
"Then what does 'grounded' mean?"
"It means he isn't allowed to leave the house for a while."
"For how long?"
"I don't know. Maybe a week."
"Oh, goodie! That means we can have lots of therapy together."
"Yep."
"But time with me isn't really a punishment. We should make Frisk do something else."
"What did you have in mind?"
"How about we make him hang out with everyone in town wherever he likes and not let him come home until he has to go to sleep? That way, he'll miss out on time with us completely!"
"Papyrus, that completely defeats the purpose of grounding."
"So, grounding means he does have to sleep outside."
Sans sighed and facepalmed before he tried to explain it to him again.
Meanwhile, Undyne and Frisk were spending some time together.
"So, you were a military brat too, huh?" Undyne asked.
"Yeah, that's what the kids at school would call me," Frisk replied.
"Wow, dude. Where did you live? Where was the base?"
"It was in Ebott City, so that's where I lived my whole life before I ran away. It's the city right outside the mountain on the surface. I only came back last summer. They were part of the Special Forces tasked with fighting, uh, evil monsters who escaped. They started after they got married when they were 18. My Mom said it was highly restrictive. Only specific types of magic users are let in, but they got in because of their determination and trained to become the most awesome warriors ever."
"Man, they sound like some cool people. Did they ever teach you anything? Like how to fight?"
"Oh, yeah. Everything I know about using determination magic comes from them. They taught me what they learned from their families. My Mom showed me how to use it to make my attacks stronger and dodge more quickly and things like that. She was a lot like you but nicer and gentler. My Dad showed me how to heal myself with it and create save files and that kind of thing. I wasn't an expert at any of it by the time they died. I mostly practiced it all on my own when I was living on the streets. You have no idea how useful save files are when you don't want the authorities to find you."
"That's so cool, Frisk! You'll have to show me more moves sometime, which reminds me…Was it your parents who taught you how to reset?"
Frisk froze in place for a second allowing Sans and Papyrus to gain a little distance before he responded. Undyne noticed and stopped with him. He then pulled out the piece of paper Napstablook gave him and used it to cut the top of his left hand before placing it back in his pocket.
Frisk moved his right hand upwards and telekinetically moved some blood out of his hand and moved his hand in a wave motion to move it around. The blood started glowing as Undyne watched on.
"My parents told me that determination lives in our blood, sweat, and tears…" Frisk began.
"I know," Undyne interrupted. "The flower told us. He also said that using blood magic too frequently would kill you. Are you sure you should be doing this?"
"It's okay. I'm just using enough to demonstrate. This little blood won't kill me. Just don't tell Sans. Anyways, my parents never showed me how, but they told me that a determination user can use their blood, sweat, and tears to do anything they're determined to do. However, because of risky it is, my Mom said blood should only be used in emergencies. Back then, when I realized what I had done, I couldn't live with it. I decided it was worth the risk, so I cut open my arm with the knife I used to kill everyone and used my blood to create the button to reset time. I'm so glad it worked. I would have ended everything there if it hadn't…"
"Oh, my God, Frisk," Undyne interrupted stopping Frisk before he could go off on other depressing tangent. "You're so strong. I have to train you now! You can use that to fight."
"Undyne, you remember now," Frisk said sadly. "I already have. That is why I am never using my determination to fight ever again. The Almighty showed me mercy, so now, I must show mercy to others."
"That doesn't mean you have to let your ass get kicked. What are you going to do when you meet Asgore?"
"I don't know. I haven't even thought about that. I've been so busy resetting, but now that I can't do that anymore, I'm not sure what I'll do when I see him."
"Wait, what do you mean you can't do that anymore? You mean you can't reset at all?"
"No, He took that away from me. That's why yesterday I couldn't go back. If somehow I do something bad, what am I gonna…?"
"We can figure that out later, Frisk. How about we catch up with your brothers before they freak out on you again?"
"Okay, but there's one more thing I want to do. Does your face still hurt?"
Undyne felt the scratch on the right side of her face from her spear that she hit herself with when Sans tossed her onto the snail racing track.
She rubbed it with her fingers and said, "It's no big deal. You of all people should know that it takes much more than something like that to keep me down, punk."
"I can make it better," Frisk said. "It's something my Dad showed me."
Frisk moved his blood so that it was touching Undyne's scratch. Before she even had time to react, the blood glowed more brightly before it disappeared along with the scratch.
Frisk smiled as Undyne felt her face and no longer felt the scratch.
"Like my Dad said, the Most High gave us determination so that we could do His work and make miracles happen," Frisk said.
Undyne stood there feeling stunned. Frisk turned around and immediately ran into Sans. He felt like his heart was going to stop. Frisk stepped backwards in surprise while Sans grabbed his left hand, looked at the paper cut on it, and looked back up into Frisk's eyes.
"Sans…?" Frisk asked to break the tense silence.
"What did I say about using blood magic?" Sans asked in annoyance while redoing Frisk's bandage to cover the top of his left hand. "Honestly, are you trying to break every rule I give you within 24 hours?!"
"Sans, I was just demonstrating for Undyne," Frisk said quickly. "She wanted to know how resets used to work. It was only a little blood. I used it to heal her…"
"What part of 'you're anemic' don't you understand? Frisk, your body has lost a lot of blood to your determination. You have got to give it time to create more blood to replace what it lost, or else, you are going to die!"
"What?!"
"I'm sorry, kid. I didn't want to scare ya, but that's the truth. It's why I told you not to use any more blood magic. Your body dies if it doesn't have enough blood. I don't want that to happen, but you have got to cooperate with me here. You need to let yourself rest and learn to fight without it, again, unless it's an emergency. Alright?"
Frisk started rubbing his bandages again and staring at the ground without responding. Sans looked at him in concern.
"Kid…?" Sans asked.
"I'm sorry, Sans," Frisk said. "I didn't…I didn't realize I could die."
"You're going to be alright, kid," Sans said. "You just need to eat some more food. Now, put on your sweater. We're getting close."
"Alright," Frisk said quickly untying his sweater from around his waist and pulling it on as he walked past Papyrus.
Once he got his sweater on, he stopped to look at the water. That was when Frisk saw him.
Undyne stood there looking at the ground lost in thought, too.
"Sans," she finally said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know he was that sick…"
"It's nothing he won't recover from," Sans said. "You don't need to worry about it. You just have to help us take care of him until he gets better."
"You got it!" Undyne said with her large toothy grin.
"Guys…" Frisk said quietly while he approached the creature floating on top of the water.
Papyrus ran up to his brother, picked him up from behind, and swung him around in a hug.
"Oh, Sans!" Papyrus yelled. "I'm so proud of you. You're talking about your feelings. I'm so happy."
"Guys…" Frisk said more nervously as he stood at the water's edge.
"You were right, Pap," Sans said. "It does feel good to have others on the same page as you, but please put me down before I throw up."
Sans' HP rose by another point, and Undyne stood there smiling in contentment.
"GUYS!" Frisk yelled at the top of his lungs.
Everyone finally started looking in Frisk's general direction and started walking over to him.
"What is it, Frisk?" Papyrus asked.
"Papyrus, would you please put me down?" Sans asked.
"It's Flowey," Frisk said anxiously while he started hyperventilating. "He's in the water."
"WHAT?!" Sans yelled before he short cut out of his brother's arms and teleported over next to Frisk.
Sure enough, Flowey was there floating unconscious among the plants. He was burned until his petals were almost black, but he was breathing and still alive.
Sans looked at Flowey and back to Frisk. Frisk was visibly shaking and breathing shallow breaths as Papyrus and Undyne moved next to him.
"What did you do to him, Sans?" Papyrus said taken aback by Flowey's appearance.
"Yeah, you must have blown him to hell," Undyne said before noticing Frisk. "Hey, punk? Are you alright?"
"Take him home and get him some lunch," Sans said looking at her pleadingly while handing Frisk his coat. "He doesn't need to see this. He's not ready. I'll take care of this."
In one look at his trembling clenched fist, Undyne understood.
"Come on, punk," Undyne said lifting Frisk onto her back and walking away. "Let's go."
"Sans, what are you going to do with him?" Papyrus asked. "He's been horrible to everybody, but he still needs help. You have to take him to a doctor."
"Don't worry, Papyrus," Sans said with a smile. "I'll get him looked at."
"Good," Papyrus said happily getting up and walking away. "I'll go start therapy/discipline with Frisk. We'll see you later."
"See ya," Sans said doing all he could to conceal the rage building up inside him.
Sans looked down at Flowey and waited for the others to disappear.
"Hey, Sans!" Frisk yelled from the path.
"Yeah?" Sans asked looking back at him.
"Don't kill him," Frisk said. "Please, I don't want him to die, despite everything he's done."
Sans looked back at Flowey and reluctantly said, "Don't worry, kiddo. I won't hurt him."
Undyne looked back at Sans one more time in concern, sighed deeply, and ran ahead to catch up with Papyrus. It was all Sans could do to conceal his anger until everyone was gone.