(This takes place in Deception when Shujinko meets up with Ashrah again in Edenia and she asks him to retrieve her Kris blade from the Netherealm. If you were like me and didn't give a crap, the blade was never found for her. :D Does anyone else remember that? If not, then maybe I'm making it up. XD Oh well, this is AU anyway. Let's excersice our imaginations, hm?)

(Also, I know I have another story up that I need to working on - well, a lot of stories that I need to work on, but oh well - but I just like this one so...yeah. You might like it, you never know. ;D)

Ermac pwns!

I own nothing that is not mine.

Ashrah never thought of herself as stupid. She had always thought of something before she allowed herself to do it. So, she pondered, why was she back in the same place she had so desperately wanted out of?

Oh yes, She looked down at her empty hand.The blade I've lost is still in this place. Ashrah had no choice but to go back to the Netherealm. Kris was still there. The sword that had helped her ascend from Hell had somehow stayed there. She had argued with herself for days on whether to go back or leave it. What if she somehow was trapped there again? Would she have to battle her way back up? The thought exhausted her.

Ashrah sighed as she scanned the massive area surrounding her. Nothing could be seen except maroon colored earth and corpses lying about. How she despised the Netherealm. Enemies were everywhere, whether one knew so or not. It was a fight to just be there, minding one's business.

After a few moments of staring, Ashrah, deciding it was a waste of time to simply stare, started walking in some random direction. She had no idea where she could have dropped the precious blade. For all she knew, someone, or something, could have found it. If it came to that, she would fight to kill to regain it. She needed that blade.

The white clad demon made her way through miles and miles of darkness and the ever so present rivers of magma. But, to her annoyance found nothing even close to the Kris. There was a desperation building in her as she continued her search. What if she never found it? What if she couldn't leave the Netherealm without it? Just as Ashrah was about to lose all hope, she saw a figure ahead of her. It looked familiar…

Ashrah found a large boulder to hide behind, hoping she hadn't already been detected. The she-demon focused her eyes on the figure. He seemed to be wearing red and black with black wrapping around his face. The sight of the figure sent Ashrah on edge. Why? He looked familiar, yes, but from where?

Just as she asked herself the question, she remembered who he was. Anger boiled in her chest as she stood, readying herself to attack the demon.

It's that damned demon Ermac, she thought as she began walking steadily toward the unsuspecting warrior.

Ashrah had been defeated by the red wearing "demon" when she was on her quest to remove herself from the Netherealm. Unfortunately for Ashrah, even if she would have defeated Ermac, it would have done nothing for her because he was, in fact, not a demon. And for some reason she couldn't get that fact through her head.

Ashrah stomped her foot as she stopped a few feet away from her soon to be opponent, hoping to get his attention. When that didn't work, she resorted to speaking. Or, yelling, more like.

"Demon, I think we have some unfinished…" Ashrah stopped when she saw what was in her enemy's hands.

The Kris.

Ermac had for some reason ended up in the Netherealm after teaching Kenshi telekinesis. It didn't really matter, because for some reason he knew he could easily escape the hellish realm. The warrior just happened to walk by an unusual blade on his way out, and was examining it. The thing seemed useless due to the structure of the blade itself. It was curved like a retreating snake, and on top of that it wasn't very long. Of course, Ermac wasn't really one for swords; he was better with a battle axe or a hammer…

Just as he was about to drop the ugly thing and be on his way, a woman's voice rang out behind him. Ermac turned to see a woman dressed in all white with a large hat covering part of her face due to the veil attached to it. He absently looked at the blade in his hand and back at the woman.

They oddly seemed to be made for each other.

Ermac hadn't really paid that much attention to what she had said, so he asked the obvious question. "What?"

The woman seemed shocked by something, so Ermac spoke again, except louder. "What?"

She seemed to snap out of her dazed state and gave Ermac a hateful glare. Or, what he could see of a hateful glare. The woman started to hiss as she spoke.

"Demon, I hope you know that is my sword."

Ermac cocked an eyebrow. Demon? Him? Sure he didn't exactly look human with his glowing green eyes, but that was one of the side effects of having multiple souls within oneself. "We are no demon, we - "

"Silence! I don't need your lies. Return my sword to me so I shall cut you down for what you've done to me."

Ermac simply stared, his confusion completely unhidden. "We…don't understand. What have we done to you?" Ermac had no idea who he was talking to. Had he met her before? Surely he would have remembered such a hat…

"I am Ashrah! A demon trying to ascend from the Netherealm with the help of the blade you have in your evil hands. You defeated me in kombat." Ashrah's anger seemed to only grow as each syllable left her mouth. Ermac couldn't help but feel angry himself. He may have been evil, but no longer. He had changed, and there it was, some strange she-demon was calling him an evil demon.

"Well Ashrah, we assure you we are no demon." He paused as he gave her a quick study. "Also, we don't remember you."

Ashrah's mouth twisted into an angry grimace as she knelt down into a fighting stance. "Demon, I hope you know that I have hated you since the day we fought! You may have won that time, but this day you will fall."

Ermac sighed as he threw the sword in his hands to the ground. "Alright demon," he made sure the word was as mocking as possible, "we will see who falls."

Ashrah felt her jaw clench at the word demon. How dare he!

With a short battle cry, Ashrah charged with her left hand forward, her hand flat and horizontal. She swiftly swatted downward at Ermac's shoulder, feeling confident she had hit her target. When she felt nothing but air swoosh past her hand however, she quickly held her arms to her chest in defense.

Ermac had dodged the movement easily with a quick step backwards. He stepped forward again to break the woman's defense with a punch of his palm to her chin. Surprisingly, she was faster than she looked and side stepped the attack, kicking Ermac off his feet with a round house kick. Ermac caught himself before he landed on his back and stood in a crouched position.

Ashrah watched as the warrior's hands began glowing a bright green, seeming to be even brighter against his black gloves. His eyes became brighter as he gave a quick flick of his wrists.

Before Ashrah knew it, she was face to face with the ground. Hissing in pain instead of giving herself a moment to recover, she began to stand, only to fly through the air again and land on her back. The demon cursed under her breath, realizing she couldn't move.

When she heard foot steps coming toward her, she began to worry. He would surely kill her. Why he hadn't last time was pure luck, but the second time would surely bring her to her death. She shut her eyes, waiting for the final blow.

"If you promise not to attack us again, we will let you go with no further harm." The words caused Ashrah to literally gasp. What was going on?

"W-what?" Ashrah asked, dumbfounded.

"We will let you go if you promise not to attack us any further. We have something to do, so we can't drag this out any further."

Ashrah only blinked in response. How could this be? He was evil! "But…you…" She stopped when she realized he was walking off. She felt anger rise in her again. Was she just some nuisance to him? Surely he wasn't that powerful. Of course, he had thrown her so easily with some strange power.

"Wait," she demanded. He paused and turned his head. Ashrah clenched her jaws together and grabbed her Kris blade. "This isn't finished just because you say it is! I will not fall to you!'

She heard Ermac sigh as he turned completely around. "We were afraid of this." Before Ashrah could prepare for an attack, she was floating in the air. She screamed without realizing it - how could he be so fast?

Ashrah was about to say something, but cut herself off with another scream as she began to fly through the air. As soon as she hit the ground she fell unconscious.

Ermac sighed again as he walked over to the woman to make sure he hadn't killed her somehow. He still didn't remember her he realized as he knelt down, but Ermac had the strong feeling she wasn't evil, just annoying.

Before Ermac stood back up, he decided to take a look at the somewhat crazed woman who had attacked him. With caution, he lifted the white tinted veil*, throwing it over the large hat hoping it wouldn't fall back over her face. Of course, the hat was so large the veil wasn't long enough to catch onto the top of it and stay, so it fell back down. Ermac grabbed the veil again and repeated the action.

It fell again.

Ermac felt a sudden rush of anger as he grabbed the hat and began yanking it off -

"What are you doing?" A familiar voice questioned, causing Ermac to stop dead in his tracks. The green eyed warrior stared down at the body before him, noticing dark colored eyes glaring up at him rather heatedly. Ermac could only stare with his mouth gaping. What was he doing?

"We…were, uh…" For some reason Ermac was at a loss of words. What was wrong? He could have just explained that…

He looked at the woman's seething eyes.

…never mind.

Ermac cleared his throat, along with his head, and stood. "We were…leaving. Do not bother us again."

Ashrah growled as she stood shakily. "I'm not done, demon! I - "

Ermac felt his eye twitch as he spun around. "You what? Woman, we have business to attend to that does not involve you. We suggest you leave us alone before we get angry."

The she-demon seemed shocked by the small outburst, because she didn't say anything as Ermac began walking away again. Ermac sighed in silent gratitude to the Elder gods when;

"I will destroy you," was all she said before Ermac felt something jab into his shoulder. Ermac gasped as he moved out of the sword's reach, feeling the blade pull away from his body.

Great, he thought, we've been stabbed with that ugly sword…

*I know Ashrah only has a veil on the back of her hat, but let's just pretend she has it covering her face, too.

(Alright! Just remember this is AU. I'm not that good at matching my fanfics with the actual time line, so why try? It would end horribly anyway! :D)

Red