Note: Sorry I took so long with this chapter! I'm finally here now! Enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 19

Argus attempted to catch Frisk before he fell on the ground, and he failed to do so. It looked like Frisk had fainted after screaming. Argus was worried about him. Argus wondered if he was pushing Frisk too far. He regretted his decision to let Frisk train himself in meditating. He did not understand why Frisk would have such an effect during meditation.

"Frisk! Frisk! Wake up!... Please." Argus said as he slowly approached Frisk.

Frisk did not wake up. Argus started panicking. He knew that if Toriel found this out, she would punish him. So, he went outside the gate and checked if there was anyone nearby. There was no one anywhere near the place. He let out a sigh of relief and went to Frisk's side.

A few minutes later, Frisk finally regained consciousness. He felt pain in his head. He stroked his head as he got up.

"Welcome back, Frisk! Are you alright?" Argus asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Frisk said as he cleaned the dirt on his clothes.

"Okay, well.. Do you wanna continue meditating or?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I'm never meditating ever again… I didn't know it had such a bad effect."

Argus wondered what kind of experience that Frisk went through. And he could clearly see the shock and fear on Frisk's face. He knew right away that Frisk had just went through something frightening.

"W-what happened, Frisk?" Argus asked reluctantly.

"I… I saw… Something that I saw last night… It was…. It was scary… I didn't know that… I had to face… It again." Frisk could barely speak because of his shock and fear.

"Calm down, Frisk…. Take slow and deep breaths… It was just a bad vision… That 'thing' you mentioned doesn't exist.." Argus tried his best to encourage Frisk.

"I-I'm trying… Looks like… I can't seem to calm down.." Frisk said with an unstable voice.

Frisk followed Argus' advice and started to take slow and deep breaths. It took a while for Frisk to calm down.

"Finally… It looks like you calmed down, Frisk." Argus said, noticing that Frisk finally calmed down. "That's right… You need to relax, because whatever you've been seeing… is not real. Do you wanna take a break?"

"No, continue the training… I can't afford to lose even a second of my time." Frisk said in a serious tone.

Argus was shocked to hear that, because Frisk looked extremely tired and exhausted. His DETERMINATION was quite something. Argus had never seen such a high level of DETERMINATION, even from a human.

"Okay, if you say so." Argus agreed.

"So… what do I need to do now?"

"Meditate.. We can't proceed any further without completing the meditation phase. This part also brings forth your fears. You need to face them. Be brave. That 'thing' can't harm you." Argus said in a serious tone.

"I told you I'm not meditating again." Frisk said in a frustrated tone.

"But without mastering this step, you can't go forward… You'll have to give up protecting yourself for the rest of your life."

"A-Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately, yes. This is a crucial step for you to learn how to control your soul energy."

"Ugh… I guess I have no choice then..." Frisk said in a frustrated tone.

Frisk sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. He tried his best to concentrate. Argus sat close to him.

It was quiet, there was barely any sound in the air. Frisk found it relaxing and was able to get rid of his thoughts, one by one. It was a slow process, but he was finally getting it done. A few minutes later, he saw himself in the garden, meditating. He tried touching the version of himself that was sitting on the ground meditating. However, he could not touch that version of himself, because his hand went right through his body. "Am I out of my body?" Frisk thought. At the same moment, he heard a beast-like laugh behind him. He turned around to see the humanoid black figure that he had seen before in Toriel's garden. He was terrified.

Frisk screamed, "What are you? What the hell do you want from me?"

"You don't know what I am? Well, that's a shame… " The black figure spoke in a beast-like voice.

"Ofcourse not! How would I know? You're not even human… You're not even a monster… What the hell are you? Answer my question!" Frisk said angrily.

"Do I even look like a monster or a human? I'm surprised that you don't know what I am... " The black figure moved closer to Frisk. "You really don't remember me?"

"No, I don't… I really don't… I haven't seen you before… Until now.. What is it that you want from me?" Frisk said in a frustrated tone.

"I see… So you… really don't remember, huh. That's kind of disappointing… Now, I must go..."

Frisk screamed, "WAIT! Please answer my questions. What are you? What do you want? Answer me!"

The black figure slowly disappeared without saying anything. It did not answer any of Frisk's questions. Frisk was frustrated and scared at the same time.

Frisk screamed, "WAIT! COME BACK! COME BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE YET!"

Nothing happened. The black figure did not come back. Even after Frisk screamed his lungs out. It did not take Frisk to wake up.

"Frisk? Frisk?!" Frisk heard Argus as he woke up. "Thank god, you're okay. You just collapsed out of nowhere."

"So… What I saw was… just a dream?" Frisk asked in a curious tone.

"I don't know what you saw, but it seems like you were in deep sleep. So, yes, whatever you had was a dream."

Frisk was confused. He clearly remembered seeing himself meditating earlier. But now, he had to believe that it was a dream. Something was not adding up.

"Are you… sure it's a dream?" Frisk asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was a dream. It usually happens when you try to clear your mind through meditation." Argus answered.

Frisk rolled his eyes. He suspected something about Argus. He suspected Argus of hiding something from him, even though he did not know what exactly Argus was hiding from him. He decided to play along for now, until he could find out what Argus was hiding from him.

"Why didn't you tell me that before? It felt so real... " Frisk looked Argus right in the eye.

"Sorry about that, I forgot about that. You'll have other effects on your mind when you're meditating for the first time." Argus said as he got back on his feet.

"There's more?" Frisk raised his eyebrows.

"Yes… You'll have daydreams and nightmares. And you'll also experience hallucinations. Sometimes, you'll even die, but that's uncommon." Argus explained.

"What?! You must be joking! There's no way that meditating is this dangerous." Frisk laughed uncomfortably.

"Oh, our meditation is a little different compared to human meditation. Our version of meditation affects your soul energy. That's why you experience things like hallucinations or even death. You're already at the first stage. Don't worry too much about it. Because once you get the hang of this, you can control your soul energy. The effects will be gone once you master meditation." Argus explained with confidence.

"I see… I don't like the sound of that, but I guess I'll have to face it if I want to protect myself. This is gonna be hard." Frisk said as he rolled his eyes. "Let's continue meditation.."

"No, that's all for today, if you try more, you could end up dying. We'll continue this tomorrow." Argus said as he turned around to go back home.

"No, I wanna practice meditation now. I can't afford to waste any time. I don't know when Flowey will pop up again. I don't feel safe. I feel powerless." Frisk said with a frustrated tone.

"No, Frisk. Please understand. You've done it enough already. You shouldn't overdo this type of meditation. Because it can destroy your mind."

"Destroy my mind?"

"Yes. If you overdo it, it will destroy your mind. You won't be able to do anything once your mind is destroyed. You'll die."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

Argus did not answer Frisk's question and continued towards the exit. He was surprised that Frisk was able to still stand up after all that. But he knew that if Frisk tried it one more time, it could be disastrous.

Frisk found himself scared. He did not know when and where Flowey would strike him. He had no way of protecting himself if Flowey came after him at any point.

"Frisk.. I know that you're feeling unsafe. But don't worry. I'll walk you home. I'll protect you until you learn how to use soul magic." Argus said in order to reassure Frisk.

Frisk did not want to put too much trust in Argus, but he had no choice as there was no other way. He was not happy with completely trusting monsters. He felt uncomfortable to be in a situation where he was required to trust monsters. He wanted to learn how to protect himself before Flowey or any other monster attacked him. The feeling of frustration was overwhelming for him.

Argus could clearly see Frisk's frustration. He had a feeling that Frisk did not trust him. He did not find it surprising since Frisk was not familiar with monsters just yet. Teaching Frisk reminded him of other humans who received training from him. He remembered a specific human who went on a rampage during meditation training.

Frisk could tell that Argus did not trust him fully. "Well.. At least the feeling is mutual." Frisk thought as he walked forward.

It did not take long for both of them to reach Toriel's house. Frisk saw Catty and Sapphira standing near the front door. They were talking to Toriel, who stood beside the both of them.

"Oh hey Catty, Sap!" Argus called out with an excited tone.

The three who seemed to be buried in conversation turned around and looked at Frisk and Argus.

"Hey Argus, Frisk! It's been a while." Catty shouted.

"Calm down, Catty! It hasn't been that long." Sapphira said in an embarrassed tone. "Your behaviour honestly is embarrassing."

"Huh?! How's it embarrassing?" Catty laughed. "Didn't you tell me to always be myself?"

"This and that are different, Catty."

"U-um..." Frisk said as he waited for them to finish talking. Both of them looked at Frisk right away.

"Oh, sorry about that." Sapphira said in a calm voice. "My sister really needs to stop being weird."

"She's not weird really." Frisk said.

"She's-"

"Well, now that the both of you are here, should we go inside?" Toriel interrupted Sapphira.

"Yeah, I'm starving now, Tori." Argus replied.

"Me too." Frisk shouted.

All five of them entered the house and went to the living room. There were enough chairs for them in the living room. They seated themselves on the chairs.

"I'm gonna go prepare some food for everyone." Torield said in a calm tone. "Wait here while I prepare the food."

Toriel then trotted out of the living room as soon as she said that. Frisk wondered what Toriel and the sisters were talking about earlier.

"Argus… Did you hear about what happened to Daz and Dolo?" Sapphira asked.

"Yeah I did… It's really sad. I'm glad they're alive. How are they doing now?" Argus said.

"They're doing okay… I never expected the seal to lose its power again."

"Yeah, it's a pain to fix it all the time. We have to get help from Alphys all the time."

"The seal should have been fixed by now… I still feel uneasy.. I mean, Flowey could be anywhere within the ruins, waiting for the opportunity to attack."

Frisk, who was listening to the whole conversation, started feeling dizzy. His vision started to blur.

"Uh… Something… Something's wrong with me." Frisk said in a weak tone.

All the monsters in the room focused all their attention on Frisk as soon as he said that.

Frisk felt worse at each passing moment, and collapsed within a few minutes. All the monsters in the room gathered in the room, worried about him.

Catty screamed,"FRISK! FRISK! WHAT'S WRONG?!"

"Why did he collapse all of a sudden?" Sapphira said, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh no." Argus' eyes widened.