The Avatar opened his eyes. He used to dread waking up from his dreams where he could do anything he wished. He hated facing reality. A feeling of fear accompanied him when he rose from sleep.

Now he felt a different feeling. A splitting headache. His vision was all wobbly. He couldn't recall last night very well. Where was he?

His eyes widened. He found himself lying on a pile of passed out teenagers. Their breaths stank of… what was that? Cactus juice? Tea? He never was an expert on beverages.

He turned his head and had to clamp his hand over his mouth to stop from screaming. The princess of the Fire Nation. The one who'd kidnapped his bison and tried to incinerate him was lying right next to him. Drooling and muttering with her eyes still closed.

"Zuzu, it's just a little burn. Don't boo about it."

He chose not to respond to that and instead slowly got up. No easy task with the headache mind you. He went to find Frisk, wondering how many airbending practices he'd broken.

...

"This is it Sans. Our moment to shine. The Avatar and his mute friend need our assistance. We must keep a stealthy presence. Like a living shadow we must- Sans! What are you doing?"

"what's it look like? asking around."

"No, Sans! We're supposed to be undercover!"

"so, this guard here says that princess azula is off on a merry holiday. and get this! our friendly airheads took off with her!"

"They did? I don't understand. Why would they betray us like that?"

"can't say i blame them. any chance to go off with a pair of cute girls their age. i mean if i were in their shoes i'd- "

"Gah! Sans! Naughty imagery!"

"relax bro, i'm kidding. they probably didn't have a choice. Can't imagine poor aang is having any fun so near that psycho bitch."

"Hmph! So be it! Then let's get to work! Find the Avatar's bison and the Fire Lord!"

"righto chap! but first i'm gonna go check out that stand over there. those flakes look tasty!"

"Sans! I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"

...

"Kuzon! There you are! Where have you been, silly Billy?"

"Just… wandering."

"Wandering? That sounds like fun! Why didn't you wake us up! We would have loved to go with you and Frisk!"

"Yes well, we didn't want to disturb you or the princess."

"Luckily for you, you didn't! Someone else did though and got a burn mark along his arm! Terrible of course, but the jerk had it coming! Trying to look up her skirt! That's a no no!"

Frisk couldn't help smirking at that. Sure, a bit morbid. But with the kind of life she'd lived, you had to find humor wherever you could.

"In any case, the party's over, so why don't you head on back? She's going to want her guards around. So, it might be best to be there for when she recovers. Hmm?"

Maybe she wants some alone time suggested Frisk. Aang relayed that to Ty lee.

"Oh, I'm sure she will when she wakes but she also wants her guards to do their jobs. Or else!"

What disturbed the airbenders was how cheerfully she said that last bit. Like there wasn't anything unusual or sinister about it.

She may be nice but she's still Fire Nation, Frisk warned. Never forget.

...

"Sans. I get the sense we don't both take this as seriously as the other."

"i know bro. there are some really good foods here! and you're just ignoring them all!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"oh, hey look! pardon sir. how much for this smoked slug? scuse me? how much? that's bloody robbery! that's zero stars on yelp! oh what's yelp you say? just you wait, you'll see."

"Sans! Come on! We've got a mission to do! Can we please get to it!"

"eh, i dunno. i think we've been pushing ourselves a bit. maybe it's time for another nap."

"Arrgh! Screw you! I'm done!"

Sans turned to his brother, somewhat shocked by this latest outburst. Papyrus was already walking off in quite the huff into a nearby tea shop.

"That your brother? Maybe you should go talk to him, you know?"

"hey, keep your opinion to yourself! you're not getting any more stars on yelp." Despite that he still followed his suggestion and walked after his brother. He found him at a table, drinking from a cup of tea.

"trying to drown your sorrows in tea? might i recommend putting alcohol in that?"

"Oh, stop. Easy for you to say. This is all just a game to you, isn't it? All these years out here, you never really cared whether or not we found the Avatar."

"well, to clarify-"

"But I have! It's been my life's purpose! To do our job! All these years and no luck! Nothing! Not a sight! And now we finally have the chance to something that matters and of course you don't give a damn!"

"papyrus, hang on a sec."

"Hang on? For what? You're not going to pretend suddenly that you really care, are you? Don't bother! You're hardly the best actor."

Sans opened his mouth to refute that claim. But then realized he couldn't exactly argue with his brother's logic. He paused a moment thinking, then sighed.

"all right. guess you got me there. we'll go find the pretty bison."

"Thank you! See, that wasn't so hard was it? You can totally-"

"not yet. first some tea. with booze! nothing beats a city-wide search with a hangover!"

Papyrus placed his head in his hands.

"How are we related?"

...

Is she awake asked Frisk?

"Yes. But not entirely. She's acting… I don't know how to describe it. Weird?"

It's called hungover.

"Hungover? Nobody hung her over anything! She'd be dead!"

Frisk shook her head and sighed silently.

No, I mean she drank booze. Same as all of us.

"Booze? I just had cactus juice!"

Eh, same thing. She shrugged. You seemed to have a lot of fun with her though.

"Fun? How can you recall anything? I don't remember a thing!"

Stronger stomach for this stuff. But you two really hit it off.

"What does that mean? And whatever you saw was probably the… booze."

Booze or not, I hope you aren't forgetting she's the enemy.

"Enemy?"

Yes! Enemy! The enemy we're here to defeat!

Aang took in a deep breath.

"Can we not talk about this now?"

Then when? After this little vacation?

He couldn't respond. He didn't want to talk about this for some reason. Not one he could explain.

"Hey uh guys. Looks like Azula's got something she wants to talk to us about."

"Any chance she's feeling better yet?"

"Oh, you mean sober. Not a chance!"

"What does sober mean?"

Frisk sighed and followed. This kid needed some real pointers in life.

The princess sat at a table, clutching her head and muttering something unintelligible.

"See Azula? Therefore, you limit the amount of alcohol you intake! A perfectionist like you should know that!"

"Shut up please Ty. We've got an assignment."

"Uh… Assignment?"

"Yes. From father. We're not heading home yet. We need to make a pit stop first."

"I'm sorry princess."

"Sorry? Don't be. This is what I want! What I live for! What you live for, little guard."

Aang felt himself tremble a little. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the princess' response to this.

"And what do we live for, princess?"

Her smile reminded him less of the vulnerable teenager from last night and more of the monster who had taken Appa and tried to kill him.

"Punishment, dear Kuzon. We live to punish."

...

Poor Lo and Li. The first time we see them in months, and we have to leave after a single day!"

"As princess of the Fire Nation, I have priorities neither of them can comprehend. They understand that."

"But your dad sent you on this vacation! And now after one day, he sends you off n another assignment! It's not fair!"

"Fair?" Azula laughed a hollow laugh. "What about life is fair?"

"I just thought…. You know you could catch a break? You deserve it."

"I don't want a break. This is what I want. To make myself useful. This is why I exist. I'm not looking for handouts! I'm looking for purpose! You don't do that on a beach drinking with teenagers!"

"I… Azula…"

"No. Even if I wanted to quit, the Fire Lord wouldn't allow it."

She strode past her acrobatic friend. She couldn't help meeting Aang's eyes as she passed him.

"You understand right? We must do this. For the glory of the Fire Nation."

Aang instinctively nodded. She smiled.

"That's the spirit. See that Ty lee? He knows what it means to be a true patriot."

He stared out at the ocean thinking. He found that word to often be ironic.

...

"Hey Sokka. Got a moment to talk?"

"Talk? Why talk to me? Why not talk to my Sister?"

"Hey listen man. What do you have against me? We're fighting the good fight. Taking on the Fire Nation! Isn't that what you would want?"

Sokka sighed and contemplated his answer. Truth be told, he couldn't point out anything in particular that Jet had done to earn his distrust. He'd just gained this kind of feeling ever since meeting the wild child. Not something he could really explain. Still his instincts had served him this well thus far so who was he to deny them?

"Look I agree with you. The Fire Nation needs to go down. But come on man! You're a bunch of kids living out of a tree house! What do you expect to do? Take the fight to the Fire Lord?"

"Eventually! We just need more time! More young warriors willing to risk their lives! Warriors like you!"

"I admire your courage. Really, I do. But we've already got a plan to connect the water tribes and Earthbending villages and I think we need to get back to that sooner rather than later."

"Hey, I get that man! And I respect it! I really do! But that doesn't mean you can't help a brother out now and then, right?"

Sokka sighed. He was going to regret this wasn't he.

"All right. I'll bite. How can I help?"

"Tomorrow morning we're going out on scouting. We could always use another strong guy to back us up. Heck, you might even learn a few things yourself!"

Sokka couldn't help grinning idiotically at the compliment about "another strong guy."

"Aw what the heck. I can give it a shot, I guess."

...

"Kuzon. I told you to master that stance. Have you?"

"As best as I can."

"Excuse me?"

Aang felt his throat tighten up. Not the response he wanted. How to answer?

"I uh…. I mastered it to the best of my abilities princess. But as a mere guard, I can't hope to attain perfection."

That was the kind of answer he found that would make her smile. But this time, she tilted her head in thought.

"I don't know about that. For most guards I would agree. But you're different."

She stood and picked up a jar from one of the cupboards in the kitchen. She walked back to the table and gestured to him to sit.

"Fire Flakes?"

He stared a moment. That did make her frown.

"When a princess offers you something, it's not really a good idea to refuse her is it?"

Aang immediately sat down and accepted some flakes. She smirked at his obedience.

"There's a good boy. That's how you get ahead in the world."

Aang bit his lip. Didn't want to get on her bad side. He saw what that was like.

"You know I've been thinking about last night. When I'm not trying to blot out this headache." She rubbed her forehead.

"Which part? The alcohol?"

She laughed.

"No of course not. Who can remember anything from that? No, I meant our talk. What you said about your father and sister was really something."

"Was it? Doesn't everyone have a complicated relationship with their family?"

"Not like you. Your anger is tantalizing. Inspirational almost."

"Inspirational? I doubt that. I'm just an ordinary guard doing his duty to this nation."

"I don't think I'd call that ordinary what you experienced. I've met ordinary. You aren't ordinary."

"I… Thank you princess."

"Did you love your father?"

He stared at her. That question sounded so out of character for her.

"I… I'm not sure. Whatever I thought of him, I don't think he loved me."

"No. That way. He wanted a different kind of love. Actual LOVE."

"The way you say that. LOVE. I've heard that before."

"Of course, you have. LOVE is power. LOVE is the measure of how much power you can inflict on others. That's the kind of LOVE he had for you."

"I… I don't think I follow."

"You said he tried to get the power of flight from you. The power to hurt others. Influence his will over them. Lose the ability to feel pain."

He remained silent, taking this all in.

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"To help you come to grips with this. To accept that and move on. So, you can become better. Do better."

He raised his eyebrows. Really not sure how to handle this.

"Not doing very well, am I?"

They both paused. Neither good at this.

"What about you? Do you love your father?"

He had meant good intentions with that question, but he immediately wished he hadn't asked it. She gave him a nasty look.

"What do you mean? He raised me, taught me all the skills I would ever need to know and will one day entrust me with the future of the world!"

Aang should have stopped there but must have not had his head on straight at that moment.

"But is that love?"

She kept staring. As if she couldn't believe he was asking her of all people that question.

"Just go to bed guard. Don't overstep your bounds."

...

"There Sokka! Fire Nation Scum! Do you see?"

"Uh… No. All I see is an old man with a cane."

"Don't let that fool you. Any Firebender is a bad Firebender. No matter their age. Come on freedom fighters! For freedom!"

"Hey, wait! Hang on! Time out!"

But they weren't listening. They'd already surrounded the old man and beaten him to the ground.

"Hey! Hey! What hell are you idiots doing?"

"Fighting for freedom! Hello! Have you not heard anything while working with us?"

"I don't see how this is stopping the Fire Nation! He's harmless!"

"That's what I thought once too. Long ago, I thought that surely, they couldn't all be bad, right? Wrong! They're all bad Sokka. Believe me."

"Yeah, well guess what? I don't believe you. Now let him go!"

He tried to fight back, but they held him down. Jet looked at him with disappointment in his eyes.

"Take him back to camp. I'll talk with him later."

"Let's talk now you crazy-"

"Later Sokka. Now as for you spy… You think just because you're old we're gonna show you any mercy?"

"Yes. Mercy's good! Mercy's always good!"

"But you know what isn't good. Ash-making criminals like yourself."

The water tribe boy was led away helpless. Able only to watch them beat the old man to the ground over his screams and pleas.

...

"Any luck down there Sans?"

"yeah, no. nothing."

"Why do people say that? Yeah and no? It makes no sense! It's an oxymoron!"

"kinda like it like that."

"Why? Because of the moron bit?"

"har har. oh well. nothing to see here."

"You sure? You've been down there for some time. You're not getting lazy, again are you?"

"nah bro. plenty of air in this bald head to spare!"

Papyrus raised his eyebrow. His normal instinct would be to roll his eyes at his brother's lame pun and move on. But something about the way he said it this time made him move down the stairs.

"Sans, what gives? That pun sounded even worse than-"

His eyes widened when he saw the sea of skeletons strewn about the underground chamber. They wore earth kingdom military uniforms. Beyond that, they had nothing to indicate who they were

"told ya not to come down here bro."

Papyrus ignored his brother and continued to stare.

"They… How could they… They…. I can't…"

"bro, you ok?"

The little brother turned and ran up the stairs.

"is that a yes?"

...

"Sokka! What the heck happened out there? Jet says you…"

"What? Didn't beat up a defenseless old man? He's right. I didn't do that!"

"What? Defenseless old man?"

"Yeah! That's right! They ambushed an old man! They almost killed him!"

"Sokka! I know all right! Jet told me! He was a spy! A dangerous spy! Jet had no choice!"

"A spy? You're not listening Katara! This was not a spy! This was an old man just walking along minding his own business! He did not deserve any of that!"

"Do you know that?"

"Know what?"

Katara's face darkened.

"Do you know he didn't deserve any of that? Do you know he wasn't a spy? A murderer?"

"I… Not for sure. But we didn't know he was! This guy didn't have any weapons on him! No armor! Nothing!"

"And that makes him safe? Lots of Fire Nation citizens aren't carrying weapons or armor. That doesn't make them any less dangerous!"

"Wait. Hang on. What are you talking about? Of course, they're less dangerous without weapons or armor? What are you talking about?"

"No, what are you talking about? Have you forgotten what they did? What they will do if we let them? The pain they've inflicted on our family? The pain they will inflict if we let them get their way?"

"Katara. This wasn't them. This was an old man minding his business. It's not the same."

"It is the same! Totally the same! We were just minding our business! We didn't do anything to them! We gave them no reason to hurt us! But they did! They did hurt us!"

"This wasn't them! Are you listening to me? What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you? Siding with the enemy? Denying these brave boys their good work? God! I can't deal with you right now!"

"Katara wait! Come back now! Katara!"

"Sokka! What's going on!"

"Oh, nothing much. Jet beat up an old man and both he and Katara are apparently unhappy that I didn't follow suit."

"What?"

"Listen Katara won't listen to me. Can you look over her? I need to go get some things packed up."

"Packed up? You mean to leave?"

"Look Suki trust me. This place isn't good. Besides Haru's dad and the other Earthbenders will probably want us back. I think we've been here long enough. We can do better out there than here."

Suki thought on it then nodded.

"All right. I'll look after Katara. Let me know if you need anything."

He smiled at her and she smiled back as she walked off.

"Well guess this day wasn't a total nightmare."

...

"I wish I could understand you Frisk. You seem like a nice girl."

The "nice" girl just stared ahead. She couldn't ignore the acrobat. But she could divide her attention to keep from going insane.

"I gotta say I'm impressed. A girl guard! And so young! You're a real inspiration for us all!"

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

"Of course, it's all a lie. But no reason anyone must know, right?"

She turned to the acrobat with widened eyes. She stared back smiling. Undisturbed.

"Oh, come on. Don't look so surprised! I'm not that dumb, and neither is Azula! She knows every guard on her personal ship and none of them are kids."

She leaned in close and placed her hands around Frisk's shoulders. Her smile lost none of its warmth.

"But it's ok! Really! If she wanted you punished for that, she would've done it! You two must have made a good impression on her! Although, I am mighty curious to know where you really came from. You didn't lie back on ember island did you Frisk?"

She shook her head so fast; she thought her head would fly off.

"Oh, that's so nice! See! You can trust me! You just have to let me trust you!"

She squeezed her long and hard. Frisk didn't dare tell her off. Not that she could. No mouth and all.

"You're really doing swell! Both of you! So just keep that up and Azula won't have to peel your skin off! Seriously. Please be nice. I don't want to lose another friend.

She then skipped away like nothing happened. Frisk just stared after her, heart racing and didn't notice Aang walking up until he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You uh… you two have an ok talk?"

She turned to him. Eyes alight with rage.

They know we're not guards!

"Hang on, slow down. Let me try to understand that. They… something about soldiers?"

Guards!

"Sailors!"

She pointed at his and her armor.

"Oh, guards! Sorry I should have practiced more. Wait, they know?"

They know! We're just amusements! You need to kill her!

"Wait, hold on. That's too risky."

No! Kill her before she kills us! You must! You must! For me! For Toriel! For everyone!

"I… Frisk I'm sorry. You moved your hands really fast there. I didn't catch it. Could you move your hands a little slower please?

She made a silent scream of rage and stormed off leaving the Avatar standing alone and confused.

"Why do I have to do this? Why? I'm just a kid. I can't do anything…"

...

"hey bro. hold on. where do you think you're going? that's the fire nation palace. you planning to sell hot dogs?"

"No. I'm planning for vengeance. For all people! Everywhere!"

"no."

"What do you mean no? Let me go!"

"no. get over here out of the street. we're wanted criminals, remember?"

"I have to do this! I must take revenge! This is why we're here Sans! This is the whole reason!"

"really, cause i thought we were here to find a bison."

"I'm serious! What was the point of all this? Leaving home? Traveling the world? Finding the Avatar? What was it all for if not to kill these bastards?"

Sans stayed silent for a moment. Even when bothered, he continued to smile.

"Well? Why are we doing this?"

"i dunno. to live?"

"Live? Live!? Is that what you call selling hotdogs and making puns?"

"i guess. i mean sure, why not? living is having life, right?"

"Then I don't want to live. This isn't the kind of living I want!"

"yeah but if you live, you may get the chance to choose how you live. if you die, you don't get to make that decision, eh?"

Papyrus stared at his brother. He still found him hard to read sometimes.

"So, we just put up with this horror? And hope it gets better down the road?"

"well if you can't survive, you can't be a guard can you? and that can't happen if you ain't willing to wait."

"And I can't wait if I'm dead."

"which is what's gonna happen if you march into that palace. and who's going to hear my air puns then?"

Papyrus sighed then nodded.

"Fine. Let's get back to finding the bison. But mark my words Fire Lord! Your time will come! You hear me? Your time will come!"

"that's the spirit buddy! get all that air out of your system!"

"Air out of your system? Really Sans?"

...

"Haru! There you are! What are you doing?"

"What's it look like? I'm saving the day!"

"Saving the day? How? What are you doing here?"

"Staking out the town down there. Do you see it? Jet and the others followed the spy after they beat him up. That's where he lives. They must have recently set it up and we're going to change that!"

"Wait, what? That spy was an old man!"

"I know it was an old man. But Jet said it was just a disguise. I guess when you've done this for some time you learn to pick up on that."

"If he were a soldier in disguise, why didn't he fight back? There'd be no need to keep secret to a bunch of freedom fighters!"

"Unless he hoped to get our trust so he could sneak into our fort and murder us! Duh!"

Sokka turned to Jet walking his way followed by his friends the Duke a little wild child. And a big guy named… Couldn't remember.

"Yeah duh! You gonna get fooled that easily man?"

"Oh sure. That makes perfect sense! How could I not see that? Come on Haru! Does something like that make sense?"

"Well when you put it like that, no." The long-haired man rubbed the back of his head.

"Exactly! So, what are you all doing here?"

"The culmination of all our years here. It's all been leading up to this. The spy came from there."

Sokka followed Jet's finger to a village down in the valley. A small thing, not much to say.

"Yeah a Fire Nation settlement. I saw it on one of my walks. Just a normal village with normal people. Aka not you."

"Another disguise! And we're going to fix that! We're going to bring it down!"

"Wait. What!?"

"Yeah up top Duke!"

"My name is the Duke! Get it right!"

"You're going to destroy the town!? Why in the love of spirits or whatever would you do that!?"

"Sokka, listen to me. It's a hard world. To survive in it you need to do tough things."

"Like murder of innocent people!? Are you insane? Haru! What are you doing with this nut?"

"I… I'm just trying to spare others the fate I had."

"By killing a whole village of innocents? What the actual hell?"

"Jet, is he right? Are there innocents in that town?"

"Innocents? Who is innocent among the Fire Nation? No one! Say they're innocent to your father Haru! Who they locked up for years! Say they're innocent to your mother Sokka who they killed! Say that to both my parents who, you guessed it, they killed!"

"Ok woah woah hold on. That does not give you the right to kill innocents!"

"I told you! None of them are innocent! Don't you get that!? God! No wonder the southern water tribe is so ruined with idiots like you!"

"So, this is the real you huh? Wonder how my sister would think f you if she saw this side?"

"Oh, don't you worry about Katara! She understands. She sees their cruelty! I'm sorry you don't Sokka. I guess you don't have the determination needed."

"Determination? What the frick- No. Enough of this. Haru, I think we've been here long enough. It's time to rendezvous with your people."

"Wait. Jet. You mean to tell me that there non-fighters down there?"

Jet just stared at Haru for some time before sighing.

"Shame. I thought you guys had what it took. But no. You lack determination."

Rocks flew up around Haru while Sokka whipped out his… boomerang.

"I think you need a better weapon dude."

"Well excuse me for not being born a bender!"

The two didn't appear to have much of a chance against these three trained fighters. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, they got company.

"Hey Jet. Duke. I think I hear movement! Soldiers coming!"

"I told you it's the Duke! Come on! You've had years to get that!"

"No time! Move it!"

Sokka and Haru turned to move themselves but a blast of fire in front of their feet stopped them in their tracks. Jet turned back one last time with a look of disappointment then ran off into the woods.

"Yeah, you better run! You're no match for boomerang!"

"Uh, Sokka. I don't think he ran from that."

"Quite correct young man. You should be much more concerned with us."

They turned about. A platoon of Fire Soldiers stared them down with hands raised to attack. At the front stood three men. All three they recognized One with sideburns. An old fat man and…

"Oh, come on! Not you again!"

The scarred boy with the ponytail smiled and felt his heart lift. Not something he felt often.

….

"Kuzon. What are you trying?"

He stared at her somewhat embarrassed. He just stood there with one hand raised to the sky. She stared back trying to understand but quickly understood and laughed.

"Attempting lightning already? I went over 4 years of training before I tried anything close to that!"

He blushed red from her statement, but she strode closer.

"Do you know what it takes to make lightning? Inner calm."

"Calm? For a Firebender?"

"Yes. Unusual I know. But a calm and steady mind that knows itself is the only type of Firebender that can make this miracle happen."

She held her hands close together like a tent and took a deep breath. She then began making movement with her hands. Her face remained impassioned. She finally let loose a spark of lightning which went straight for a few seconds before fizzling out of existence.

"Oh, for the love of…" Her temper flared up for a moment before it too fizzled out.

"One day. One day."

"I haven't seen many Firebenders do that. Actually, I think you're the only one."

"Only the best can do it. Those like me, my father and my… Uncle."

He didn't question the tone with which she said uncle.

"And it requires calm?"

"Well, more than that. An absence of passion and emotion. But it also requires the separation of positive and negative energy. Yin and Yang. And when you bring those together…"

The energy is released. So, you're not really controlling it, but rather guiding it!"

The stare she sent his way told him he'd messed up again.

"It's not polite to interrupt someone."

"Err. Right. Apologies princess."

"You've pretty much got the philosophy down though. Therefore, I believe it's your inner state that's making it difficult."

"I'm not calm?"

"No, I don't think you are. You show it on the outside, but inside you're letting emotion dictate your movements. And if you let that control you, you will never achieve the determination needed to unleash the lightning."

"It'll just fizzle out."

"Or worse. Backfire horribly. You need to get over your block."

"And what would that be?"

She continued to stare at him. He saw no maliciousness in her eyes. A rare sight.

"Well to be frank, everything you discussed at the beach."

"Oh. You remember that?" He rubbed the back of his head somewhat embarrassed. He didn't know why. It was nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone had a past. This frightening princess was no exception.

"It would indeed make sense. The past and trauma make us doubt ourselves. Make it hard to gain control."

"What about you? You described trauma in your past, but you can cast lightning almost perfectly."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Almost. For me almost isn't good enough. You saw the lightning. It didn't maintain perfect form. It's taken years to get it as good as it is now but… Well it's not my father's. Not yet."

"I think it's amazing. So beautiful."

"Yes. Yes, it is. But advanced. Not ready for it are you, believe me. Stick to the basics for now. Don't be like little Zuzu and try to overreach."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Frisk looking out from the shadows. Her eyes spoke volumes. What she wanted from him was clear.

"Princess. If we win the war what happens?"

"What happens? What do you think? We bring the world to its knees and make them learn respect for the superior element. Duh!"

He continued to stare. It was sad really. There was more to her than met the eye. But she was still the enemy. An obstacle to world peace.

He stared back Frisk's way. She saw he wasn't going to do the deed. She marched off angry.

What did she expect? Him to kill her right there and then? It would be suicide for him too.

In time though, he might have to. He'd have to do as she said. Build up the determination to bring her down and stay true to his goal.

He wasn't looking forward to it.

….

"hey papy. i've got something that should cheer you up."

"Sans, if it's another air pun I don't want to hear it."

"nah, ain't a pun. more like a joke. what's high as a kite but fat as a balloon?"

"Really Sans? Even for you that's terrible? Let me guess. It's a…"

Down the fleet of stairs within the prison they had broken into, Papyrus found his brother standing and grinning (as usual) in front of a massive prison. In the center lay a half-starved beast chained to the ground. It uttered a groan of pain.

"the answer? an air bison! whaddaya think?"

Papyrus turned his attention away from the amazing discovery to stare at his brother.

"You really need to come up with better jokes Sans."

The older brother shrugged.

"fine. guess some people can't appreciate quality humor."

Papyrus turned back to the Avatar's bison. For the first time since he found the Avatar himself, his dreams seemed achievable.

"I can't wait for Undyne to see this!"