Chapter 8

So while I've been working on this fanfiction for the past week and a half, I've neglected my other stuff. This fiction has had a lot of insperation behind it I just can't stop. However I felt bad leaving my readers from the "what if" story hanging for so long. I'm a terrible author heh. So I left a little announcement and hopefully they'll find this story and get their fix. I love you all! Also if you notice misspellings in my work please let me know. My spellcheck suddenly quit working and now anytime I go to use it everything gets underlined. I have no idea wtf is going on with it. Anyhow ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!

"That's...a lot to take in Raven." Dr. Leland said the next day. Raven had explained everything that had happened over the last few days; becoming friends with Sans, the many talks they shared (leaving out details like how Sans had killed), Harley showing up, how she went ballistic in the supermarket, and Klarion showing up again. Raven sat in Lelands office, hugging her knees to her chest, Cherie sat on her shoulders. She was still hurting from pushing Sans out of her life.

"I just feel like I fucked everything up." She said, "I never should have tried to make friends."

"Now Raven you can't really mean that." Leland said calmly. Raven snapped her attention to the Good doctor.

"And why not? He never would have gotten dragged into this if I had just left him alone." She hissed, her collar heating up, "But whatever, I don't need him around anyway. I can take care of myself."

"If I recall, if you hadn't made friends with this Skeleton, you'd be right back in the last place you wanted to be." Leland pointed out. Raven scowled as she continued, "If not for him stepping in and saving you when he did. You may not be here, talking about this."

"I..." Raven trailed off.

"She raises a valid point Raven dearest." Cherie said from Raven's shoulders. "If not for Sans we may not have gotten away from Klarion, and we may not be sitting here today."

"The expression on your face tells me you know I'm right." Dr. Leland said kindly. Raven bit her lip, "It doesn't always have to be just you and your familiar. You're allowed to rely on other people."

"What if I don't want to? Relying on other people gets them hurt. Especially when Klarion's involved." Raven said, letting her feet touch the ground as she sat properly in her seat. Dr. Leland looked down her glasses at her.

"You're tone a changed quite a bit since our last session." she pointed out. "Last week you were worried about you getting hurt, today, it's about someone else."

"What's your point doc?" Raven asked bitterly. Leland smiled genuinely.

"What do you think?" She asked back. Raven scowled.

"The Skeleton is a good influence on you lovely." Cherie said giving Raven the answer. Raven rolled her eyes.

"That's a load of crap." She muttered. Leland frowned, not sure what Raven meant by that. Raven elaborated, "Cherie thinks Sans was a good influence."

"I'd have to agree with him." She laughed, "Maybe your familiar should apply for a degree in psychology."

"Perhaps in a previous life." Cherie mewed proudly, puffing out his chest. If he could grin he would have. Raven rolled eyes again as she slumped in her seat.

"I think you're both nuts." She grumbled. Leland gave a half smile.

"I don't think you really think that. Deep down I believe you know it's true. You mentioned earlier you didn't feel angry around him." She said, "That even after your 'bad day' that he managed to make it better right?"

"Right before Klarion nearly killed us both."

"And he helped save you, right after he helped you home after passing out." Leland said plainly, "From what you've told me he seems to be able to take care of himself. I admit I don't fully understand Monster magic, even yours vexes me. However I think you might have handled this wrong."

"What are you saying? That I shouldn't have pushed him away?" Raven asked crossing her arms over her chest, "That I should let him get hurt? Just because I want friends I should let him risk his own neck?"

"I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that perhaps that wasn't a decision for you to make." Leland said calmly. From Raven's shoulders Cherie ruffled his fur.

"I believe I may have voiced the very same thought yesterday." He said giving Raven a narrow eyed look. Raven felt the collar warm.

"Yeah well if you two agree so much, why don't you be her familiar." She mumbled. Cherie cut his eyes and flicked Raven's nose with the black tip of his checkered tail.

"That was uncalled for Ravenna, my dear." he said in annoyance. Raven batted his tail away from her face and huffed as Leland watched the two, only able to hear one side of the conversation. She never pried into her and Cherie when they talked, Raven was sure part of the Good Doctor thought she was insane and just humored her. However she also knew better as she had seen first hand what Raven could do. Back when, before the collar, she gave Leland a show of her powers. She had used her powers to throw Leland's coffee mug at the wall behind her, causing the drywall to crack. To this day the crack was still there. Raven never quite understood why, maybe a constant reminder for The Good Doctor that Raven wasn't completely crazy. Raven sighed.

"Ok, so say I buy into it, and I did react poorly." She offered, "There's nothing I can do about it now."

"The universe may have its own plan for you Raven. You never know." Leland said kindly. Raven shrugged "So shall we talk about the other ghost of your past? What happened to Harley?"

~0~

After a while Raven sat in the entry hall of the building Leland's office was in. She hesitated walking outside, in case Klarion, Harley, or whoever showed up. The only thing she wanted to do was get home, repair her barriers and make more glyphs. She wanted to be prepared for when Klarion showed up again, and even though she was still aching from her outbursts sat the supermarket it needed to be done.

"Are you going to take into account what Dr. Leland said?" Cherie asked from the pocket of her black pull over hoodie. Raven scowled, "We could really use Sans' help."

"I don't need anyone's help." Raven said as she stared up at the ceiling. "Just because she says it, doesn't mean I have to listen."

"It worked the first time." Cherie mewed as he poked his head out to look at his master. Raven looked down.

"Oh yeah. So well I nearly got us both killed." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Cherie huffed and retreated back into her sweatshirt pocket.

"Sarcasm, is unbecoming of you Raven lovely." he hissed. Raven hunched over as she placed her hands into her pocket and pet the magical familiar.

"Sorry." she mumbled scratching under Cherie's chin as he purred. She stared down at her boot clad feet and became lost in thought. Would it really be so bad if she went back to Klarion? All this violence could be avoided if she did, she could probably still go to therapy every week. And she didn't have to indulge in what Klarion saw as entertaining. Hell, Klarion could also probably remove Fate's collar, she did miss having the full use of her powers. The feeling of magic all around her, sure she was scared of what she would do if she had it all returned to her, but she did miss it. That wasn't the only thing she missed either. She didn't want to admit it, but there was still a small part of her that did want to go back.

"You do not mean that." Cherie said with a growl. Raven wasn't sure, she hated Klarion for all the hell he put her through, but she also missed how he made her feel. "feel? Like how he made you feel used? How he treated you like property? Is that what you miss?"

Raven bit her lip. Of course that wasn't what she missed, she hated what he did to her. However, he wasn't always like that. He used to be sweet, he used to genuinely care. "He is not like that anymore Raven dearest. Klarion is a spoiled child, you are better off without him."

"It's just a thought Cherie." Raven said out loud. She then let out a sigh as she saw a shadow stop in front of her. She didn't look up, "I'm not mentally disturbed, I'm a meta-human, I'm talking to my cat."

"I thought you didn't like the term meta to describe you." A familiar voice said. Raven looked up and stared as Sans stood before her. He grinned.

"Sans what the hell are you doing here?" Raven asked as she sat up. Sans shrugged.

"You said you thought I was insane yesterday, I figured I'd get my head checked." He joked. Raven frowned, then stood putting her hands in her pocket. Sans grinned as he looked her up and down quickly.

"I think you might need it." She said, then—despite Cherie's protest—walked past him. Sans turned to follow.

"Aw come on, no need to give me the cold shoulder." He said "I got enough cold shoulders in Snowdin. Heh heh. Get it? Cause of all the snow?"

Raven stifled a laugh. She got the joke, but she wasn't about to let him know that. She kept walking, hoping that after a while he'd get the hint and go home. "Don't you have work to get to?"

"Oh I had a ton of work to do today," Sans admitted, "A Skele-TON. Heh, heh."

"I believe you walked into that one my dear." Cherie mewed from her pocket. Raven bit her lip to keep from smiling. She kept repeating to herself it was for his own good, over and over inside her head. She didn't respond and kept walking forward towards home.

"Hey Raven," Sans called out to her again. She ignored him, but he continued anyway, "Wanna know how I knew to find you here?"

No reply.

"I felt it in my bones. Heh, heh." That time Sans was sure he heard something. A low groan he assumed was Raven's familiar, Cherie seemed to share Papyrus' lack of humor. He was sure that if he kept at it long enough Raven would eventually laugh at one of his jokes. He just had to pick the right one. Then another one came to him, "So Paps and me live near this former royal guardsman, you remember me explaining to ya about them right?"

Silence.

"Well one of them doggos came by and ran off with Papyrus' arm." He continued, "I couldn't stop laughin, but Papyrus didn't find it very HUMERUS."

Finally Raven couldn't hold it in any longer. She stopped and doubled over as she started to laugh. She laughed hard enough to shake Cherie out of her sweatshirt pocket. She turned, still laughing and looked to Sans, who was grinning. He had a feeling that one would work.

"Earlier today someone said I was really fat for a skeleton," He continued, "I told them I was just big boned."

As Raven continued to laugh, Sans kept cracking more. He figured if he could get her to laugh she'd eventually start talking again. "I dunno know if I should put a little more BACKBONE into these jokes, but then again TIBIA honest I think I'll get lazy and not try as hard to make a skele-TON of them..."

"Ravenna, please, he is going to keep at this until you answer him and make him stop." Cherie begged his master, who was still laughing.

"Ok! Ok! Ha, enough!" Raven shouted between laughs, "haha, I get it."

Sans grinned, "Was that so hard."

"I hate you." Raven said with a laugh, of course she didn't really meant it. In truth she was happy to see the goofy skeleton. Made her day a bit brighter. Sans grinned.

"No you don't." he said. Raven let out a sigh.

"No, I don't." She said, as she stood up straight, "Why are you here Sans? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"My reason for being here is of Grave, importance." Sans joked. Raven placed her hands on her hips.

"Sans I'm serious. I told you not to hang around me." She said, no longer laughing. "You don't know Klarion like I do...I don't want you or your anyone else hurt."

"Let me worry about that." Sans said putting his bony hands into the pockets of his coat.

"What about your brother? What if Klarion comes after him because you refuse to leave me alone?" Raveh asked, thinking to the story he told her about the alternative versions of himself. The amount of times he killed Frisk. He'd killed him several times, and died several times in order to avenge his brother. Raven watched as Sans' right eye disappeared and he frowned.

"I'll take care of it." he said, then grinned as his eyes returned to normal, "Besides, Papyrus would kick my lazy bones if he found out I let someone put themselves in danger and I refused to help."

"I'm not totally helpless Sans." Raven said as she continued walking. Sans followed. "I have plenty of ways to defend myself. I just need to make them."

"And if this guy breaks through them like he did that barrier thing?" Sans asked. "What will you do?"

"I'll kick his ass the old fashioned way." Raven said matter-o-factly. Behind her Sans frowned.

"You didn't last time." He pointed out. Raven stopped walking and looked down at her shoes. True, she hadn't fought back that time, but there had been a reason for that. A reason she didn't really want to acknowledge just yet, and probably never would. She had a lot of conflicting emotions when it came to her ex-boyfriend, about a lot of people that used to be in her life actually.

"Will you ever confront those conflicting emotions Raven dearest?"Cherie purred as he poked his head out from her pocket and looked up at her. Raven scowled down at her familiar, he sighed and retreated back inside, "A conversation for another time then."

"Raven?" Sans inquired, breaking Raven from her train of thought. She shook her head.

"Last time he caught me off guard. It won't happen again." She lied.

Sans said nothing as he watched Raven from behind. He had a feeling there was more to it than that, but it wasn't his place to ask, no matter how concerned he may be. "Besides Bone boy, what do you care? You've only known me for a few days."

A fair and valid—if not a tad harsh—point. They really hadn't know each other for more than a few weeks and only a few days within those weeks. Even so—at least on Sans' part—they had a deeper connection than that. Not love exactly, at least not in the romantic sense anyhow, but there was a deep friendship between the two. The kind that didn't show up often in the world. At most, some people may find two or three people they could connect to that made a few days of friendship seem like a lifetime. Sans could feel something like that, even though he couldn't sense everything that Raven had locked away inside herself. That fact, however, may also be the reason why. At least, that's how he felt. Raven on the other hand, may not feel the same way, though that still didn't change his view on the matter.

"I like ya kiddo. Ya seem nice, you were nice to Papyrus and you didn't have to be. That alone makes you ok in my book." He over simplified. Raven sighed and turned on a heel and looked down at the pudgy skeleton.

"I'm not getting rid of you anytime soon am I?" She asked, placing her hand on her hips. Sans shrugged.

"Nope." He said plainly. Raven sighed.

"You could have at least lied, it'd make your job a lot easier." She said.

"Skeletons make terrible liars." Sans said, "You can see right through us."

"Klarion was right, you are a comedian." laughed Raven, "Look, I'm not really sure what you're going to do, I'm just going to be spending time at home magic proofing the house."

"Maybe I can help." Sans offered. Raven pursed her lips.

"You'd be willing to help me?" She asked, "Doesn't sound like the lazy bones I know."

"Heh. Help, drink all your ketchup. Same thing really." he joked. Raven smiled but rolled her eyes.

"That's more like you." She said as she continued walking to her house. "So uh, what you said about your brother. that didn't actually happen did it?"

"Oh yeah." Sans said, "They took his left arm. but it's ok, he's all right now."

Raven didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified, but a wink from Sans told her it was ok to laugh. She did so and shook her head, at least with Sans there at least she'd have some conversation.

This chapter was pretty short, for that I apologize. I found it better to end the chapter here than let it go one for too long with dead air. Usually I try to make the chapters as long as possible however there are times when a chapter demands to be ended. Well since you've made it this far, maybe you'll be willing to go a little farther. Leave us a review to tell us what you think. Any and all critisism is welcome. Especially now that my computer has turned off its spellcheck. I'm sure there are plenty of errors in spelling. See ya.