Ch 3 - The Woman

Sans shook his head as the strong wave of deja vu swept through him. After taking a second to gather his thoughts, he stepped out from behind the pillar to look around the Judgement Hall. His eye-lights found a pile of dark robes and he froze. "heh..." He wasn't losing his mind then. A strange woman, one that Asgore claimed to be a mage, really had interrupted his latest battle with Frisk.

He felt something stir in him, something almost like... hope?

No. He wouldn't let this newest deviation sway him. He had gained hope again once before... back when the kid had first fallen and taken the power from that thrice damned flower. Look how that had turned out.

But deep down, the relief he felt at having this change, any change really, from the repetitive death and slaughter and Loss... Well, he couldn't help the slight lightening of his soul.

He pushed whatever the feeling was as far to the back of his mind as he could and approached the fallen figure with caution. The twin pin pricks of light that served as his eyes glanced to the end of the hall and back. Never was he so glad there was a delay before the kid showed back up. Question was, how did the Mage stay in the same place? Was it because of her magic or because she died? Or, just maybe, because the woman was a time mage.

The feeling of hope rose again before being violently shoved back down by the skeleton monster. Hell, he didn't even know if the mage was alive, let alone had any sway over space/time. He would Not make any assumptions. Not again. His SOUL would break under the weight of yet another disappointment.

He was nearly to the dark pile of robes and curly brown hair when the mage began to stir. There was a small groan and then she sat up. Or at least he thought it was the same person. The strong woman that had faced him with righteous fury was just that, a woman. This... This was a child. Younger even than frisk. He was no human age expert, but if the human before him was a skeleton, he would definitely say they were a baby bones.

"Wha..." she began, but then grabbed at her chest and bent over herself with a hiss of pain. The robes, meant for someone many times her size, slid off her shoulders.

That was when Sans noticed the wings. It was like the wings of a chick were growing on the back of this young child. More fluff and quills than actual feathers. He was pretty sure those weren't there before. Humans don't usually have wings, right? What was she?

"hey there buddy," he began cautiously. She screamed as he spoke, so not cautiously enough apparently. "whoa there, calm down.'" He crouched down next to the tiny mage and she scrambled away from him, clutching the oversized robes to her chest as she realized they weren't staying in place.

"What happened? What are you? Where am I? I thought I died..." She looked down at her hand. "Why am I so small?" Then she turned angry browny eyes on him. "What did you do?!" she accused in a cutely petulant, child's voice.

He put up his hands in a placating gesture, "slow down there girly, I didn't do anything."

She looked like she was about to argue with him, but a groan of pain had her doubled over again. Sans backed up warily as a shimmering wind seemed to pick up around the human girl. The wings on her back, the thing he had the best view of in her hunched over posture, seemed to grow before his eyes. Full fledged flight feathers burst forth from quills and her body increased in size rapidly. It was over in a moment and a sob tore its way from the human's throat.

When the mage looked up to him again with tears staining her cheeks, he felt pity for her. That had looked painful. The now young woman seemed to catch sight of the iridescent, feathery appendages over her shoulder and panic seemed to set in. "Please," she begged him with big doe eyes, "what is happening to me?" She sobbed.

He was about to answer that he didn't know, but he felt that oppressive presence that signaled 'its' arrival. "sorry lady," he apologized as he stood to face the murderer, "but looks like our time to chat's up."

She looked at him in hurt confusion before another voice drew her attention to the other end of the hall. "What is she still doing here?" Came the kid's angry voice.

He saw her dive for that small stick of hers, a magic wand perhaps?, but his attention was focused on the brother-killer now. "i was gonna ask you the same thing, kid. you've been busy, huh? ..." He took a step away from the mage to bring the focus onto himself. These two obviously weren't on the same side and like they say, the enemy of my enemy and all that.

"so, i've got a question for you. do you think..."

"Cut the crap comedian," the kid growled out before turning angry red orbs on the mage. "You!" they pointed the knife at the young female mage, "What are you? How did you get in here?!"

The mage pushed herself onto unsteady feet next to Sans and held her wand in front of her. "I could ask you the same thing, kid. You tried to kill me!"

"Obviously I didn't do a good enough job of it."

"You stabbed me in the heart you psychopath!"

"Don't worry bitch, I will fucking slit your throat and kill you for good this time!" The kid began to step towards the mage, but Sans stepped in front of her.

"do you wanna have a bad time?" Sans growled out more menacing than usual, the words ingrained in him slipping out easily. "cause if you take another step forward... you are REALLY not going to like what happens next."

The kid took another step with an angry, but mocking grin on their face. Sans didn't even have a chance to finish the normal dialogue, however. The mage reached around him and swished her wand in the preteen's direction. A red light flashed across the short distance and slammed into the kid, sending them sprawling. They did not get up again right away.

Sans turned wide eye-sockets on the mage.

"What," she sniffed indignantly, "that child is obviously insane." He turned to face her with an bemused smile on his face, but ended up having to catch her. "Ugh, I should not have cast so soon," she reprimanded herself. Her wings fluttered inexpertly as she tried to regain her balance.

For some reason, suddenly all sans could focus on was how warm and soft this strange human woman in his arms was. He felt his cheeks tingling with the beginnings of a blush and tried to move the situation along. "uh… a little early to be falling head over heels for me, isn't it?" He was silently pleased to see the warm splash of red rise to the human's own cheeks as she pulled herself away to stand under her own power. Yup, he still had it…

After he was sure she was steady on her feet, and a quick glance assured him the little murderer was still out cold, he asked, "so, uh, what did ya do to the kid?"

"Oh, that?" she questioned airily, "that was just a simple stunning spell. It should last a few minutes." She brushed some dirt off of her robes, trying to regain some composure and straighten herself up after her recent trials.

"heh, simple she says," he muttered to himself.

"Now, not that I'm complaining, but," her eyes narrowed on him, "why are you helping me?" She looked to the back of the hall. "And where is your king for that matter?" She spat out the word king like it was a curse word.

Adopting an air of nonchalance to help put the mage at ease, he answered her. "old king fluffy-buns? well, he doesn't usually come out here during the fight." He didn't miss the way her eyes sharpened at his wording.

"So you are saying this fight happens regularly. Not just a fight with that... that murderous child" she waved her hand dismissively at the unconscious human, "but this fight in particular?" His slightly widening sockets seemed to confirm things for her. The mage seemed to then forget he existed as she turned from Sans and began pacing. He even had to dodge her wing from slapping him in the face as she turned. "That would explain the fluctuations in time I've been picking up. A time loop, centered inside the barrier," she thought out loud as she paced. "Perhaps a breakdown in the rune scheme? Is the child perhaps a magical that inadvertently tapped into it? Or did the corrupted ward latch onto the first source of human magic that came along?" She turned quickly on her heels again to face him. "But if this is a time loop, how do you remember?" Sans must have looked a little overwhelmed with her whiplash inducing attitude changes since she seemed to back off slightly.

"I'm sorry, I tend to get carried away with my work." After straightening her robes again in what may have been a nervous habit of hers, she offered her hand to him. "Hermione Granger, a pleasure to meet you."

Sans raised a brow at her, but reached out with a smirk. He was about to get her with his favorite old trick while introducing himself properly, but fate had other ideas. A flash of golden light glinting off metal had him abort the handshake and instead used the hand gesture and a good dose of his magic to shove her away from him. A knife sliced through the spot she had been in just a moment before.

Both of them turned to look at an angry as hell, red eyed demon child. "I will kill you both," the preteen seethed. "But I'll start with you." Frisk pulled out the old pistol and aimed it at Hermione with a twisted smile.

The mage held up her wand, but hesitated. Sans again used his magic to push her behind a pillar and block her from the line of fire. If he was right, the mage was out of magic and this round would be on him.

"hey," he drew the demon's attention back to himself. "it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming... on days like these, kids like you..." he drew them into a FIGHT. "...should be burning in hell."

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Thanks for reading! Next time... Hermione's WTF moment...^_~