A/N: TWO chapters in a day?! WAAATTT? Anyway, reviews would be great. Oh, and anyone who provides a constructive review will be in the running to receive: their VERY OWN OC! :D (In this story, of course.) Whomever I pick will receive a PM from Yours Truly, and we will have a discussion about what personality thine OC will have, along with other features! Anyway, welcome, to the second chapter for today,


The Bodyguard: Chapter Two


I screamed a war cry as I sliced the monster into two pieces. It had been a month since I had logged into SAO, and it had been a month since Lisbeth and I had teamed up to try and escape this hell-hole. We had been training for all of this week, desperately trying to adapt our unconventional matchup with the monsters.

As Lisbeth brained the last monster with her hammer, she squealed with delight. "Level 11! Finally!" I smiled. Lisbeth was having trouble levelling her character, as she wasn't getting enough monster kills. However, she didn't know what I had been getting up to.

A few weeks after acquiring my ninja armour, I had been approached by an info broker named Hevla, who offered to give me early access to loot location information, in return for information on players. I agreed, and have spent every night so far tailing players. So far, I had reported on three players; two tanks and a merchant. I had observed their skills, fighting styles, and, in the merchant's case, the way he interacted with players. Before this, I had often rescued players suck in higher level areas, and those who were being accosted by bandits. Already, people had begun to take advantage of weaker players. I had recently taken out a large ring, and handed them off to some NPC guards, as there was little in the way of guilds yet.

I had used my new armour, and observed them. However, the Adaptive Katana I had received was unable for me to use, so I had stuck with my simple one-handed sword. My Katana was currently in Lisbeth's inventory, because she was practising her Appraisal skill. I felt bad going behind her back, but we needed the money and loot.

Currently, Lisbeth killed the majority of the monsters, while I was running "interference" as it were. As in, I would try and separate the monsters from their packs, and eliminate them one by one, often starting with the larger ones. This was working well, as I was getting a lot of the experience, and allowing me to focus on levelling up, while Lisbeth could develop her fighting style.

As we sat down, with Lisbeth panting from her efforts to slay the monsters. As I went through my inventory, a message came up. I frowned, and opened it. It was from Hevla.

Hope I'm not interrupting your fun times with your girlfriend.

I frowned. Helva knew that Lisbeth and I were just friends.

There's a meeting on in Tolbana today. It's about clearing this floor. Thought you'd like to attend.

I smiled. Looks like some people had decided to work together.

Another thing: You've become a bit of a legend. After that stunt you pulled in taking out that bandit ring, people have started to name you 'The Shadow of Aincrad'. Don't let it get to your head. Anyway, that's it for today. Check the bottom of the note for the coords to a new hunting ground.

I closed my screen, and watched as Lisbeth propped herself up on her legs. "Hey, there's a meeting on today. It's about clearing this floor. If you're interested…" She shook her head in a negative.

"Nah, you go along. I'll just keep levelling until you come back. I'll be level 12 before you know it!" I smiled at her optimism, and set off to walk back into town.


It took me about an hour to get back into Tolbana, but before I entered, I spotted the sheer amount of players in the town. Getting in unnoticed from the ground was gonna be impossible. The rooftops would have to do. I leaped onto the nearest roof, and began to make my way towards the amphitheatre where the meeting was taking place. I sat down and waited, and watched as about fifty players slowly entered the arena. I saw a couple of people that really stood out:

A guy with blue hair, along with a shield.

A HUGE black guy, maybe around my height with a rather large axe to go with it.

I also saw two players separated from the main group. One with black hair, and a sword over his shoulder, and the other with a hood on. With my high detection skill, I could see that the second player was a girl.

Blue hair mounted the stage, and began to speak. "Ok people. Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started!"

The general chatter from around the stage quietened down, and blue hair continued. "So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming, good to see you. My name is Diabel, and in this game, the job I roled is Knight!" This last statement brought laughter from the gathered players, and I groaned slightly from my perch up in the build overlooking the stage.

"Dude, there's no job system in this game!" Blue hair looked slightly annoyed, but he continued anyway.

"You guys wanna hear this, or not?" The quietened the doubters down, and he continued. "Right, anyway. Here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." This made gasps come from the assembled players. I silently congratulated Diabel on his discovery.

"First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to floor two. The next step is, we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game! Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here. Do you agree, or not?" People began to talk nervously among themselves, and I moved closer towards the stage, to get a better view. Slowly, sounds of agreement came from the assembled players, and everyone began to clap, with a few even whistling.

"Okay! Glad to hear that you're all with me on this! Now, let's figure out how we're gonna beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six." This got me worried, but I made no move from my roof top. I watched as the other players naturally gravitated towards their friends, and I felt a small twinge of sadness. The only reason that I had Lisbeth as a friend was that she had decided to stick around with me. I didn't really like making new friends, especially after the way tha-

I shook my head, frustrated with myself from bringing up bad memories. It's all over, I'm fine, I'm good, I did the right thing. But, those words sounded hollow, even in my head.

"Alright!" Diabel was starting to talk again, and I cleared my head, wondering how much I had missed. "Looks like everyone's teamed up! Now then,-"

"Hold up a second!" A new voice shouted, and I looked to see a guy with short, spiky orange hair standing on top of the stairs leading down to the stage. He leaped down the steps, and landed on the stage.

"My name's Kibaou. Got that?" I sighed softly. Oh boy… "Before we take on the boss, I have something to get off my chest. We all know about the 2000 people who've died so far, yeah? Well some of you need to apologise to them right now!" Confused gasps and mutterings came from around the theatre. Diabel began to speak. "Kibaou, I think I know who you are referring to. You mean the ones who are ex-beta testers, right?" Kibaou turned to Diabel.

"'Course I mean them! The day this stupid-ass game started, the beta guys just up and vanished, right!? They ditched all us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too! They were the only ones getting stronger in here. This whole time, they've ignored us like we were nothing. Hell, I bet there are some of them here! Come on out, beta testers! We should make them apologize to us, and we should make them all give up their money and the items they got! They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us! Why should we?!" The crowd remained silent throughout this entire rant. I merely rolled my eyes. Please. The beta's gave us a guide book, AND they had guides up on the internet about how to get started.

The giant African-American guy stepped forward. "Can I say something?" I turned to look at him. He was approaching the stage, and addressing Kibaou directly. "Hey, my name's Agil. Kibaou right? I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help them, and you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?" Kibaou became a little bit angrier at having to explain his rant.

"No, you didn't."

"You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers." Kibaou and the rest of the crowd gasped in surprise. I felt like it was my time to speak up. "You know what else?" All of the players looked up towards my hiding spot, and I leapt down onto the stage. I rose to my full height, just shy of Agil. Even so, many of the players began to whisper excitedly.

"That's the Shadow!"

"He saved my party last week from some dire wolves!"

"I heard he can walk through walls!"

"Listen up!" My yell echoed throughout the square.

"Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died." The majority of the players were nodding along, and Agil spoke up.

"I agree. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here 'cause I want to learn from those players' deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're gonna beat the boss." The players nodded, and Kibaou angrily crashed into a seat. I took a seat next to Agil. I offered my hand to shake, and he took it.

"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Everyone started to focus their attention on Diabel. He pulled out a guide book, and tapped it lightly. "For info on the boss, it's all in here - the latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about." When Diabel mentioned this, people gasped. A coupled looked at Kibaou, and he sunck further into his seat. "According to the book, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions - the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword type weapon called a Talwar. He can change his patterns of attack, too." People began to mutter nervously at this.

"That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the EXP; and whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. Any objections? Good! We leave tomorrow at ten in the morning! Meeting adjourned, people." Agil tapped my shoulder.

"Hey, Shadow right?" I nodded. "Good to see ya. You saved a couple of my frineds a few weeks back." I sighed sadly. "Too bad I couldn't save the rest of the party." Agil shook his head. "Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. Anyway, are you already in a party? Cause I can't invite you." I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm already in a party. Back when the game started, a player saved my life. I've been helping them level up ever since." Agil smiled. "I also know," he said, smiling conspiratorially, "that you've been handing off higher level gear to lower level players." I awkwardly nodded, while he laughed and patted me on the back. "Well, tomorrow we'll see just how good you are, eh?" I nodded once more, and we went our separate ways: him to the centre of town, and me to the hut where me and Lisbeth were living in.


"Hey, I'm back."

Lisbeth waved a greeting from the makeshift forge she had set up. Most of the lower level gear I had was given to her, so that she could break it down and reuse the materials to create better gear. This gear was then sold at low prices to lower level players, and the money used to buy higher level ores and components.

"How was town? Meet anyone new?" I shuffled on the spot nervously. Lisbeth had been trying desperately to get me to meet some new people, but I just wasn't up to it. I tried to change the topic. "So, um… what's the date today again?" I roughly knew, but I wasn't keeping track. Lisbeth narrowed her eyes lightly, then checked. "Oh, it's the 2nd of December." I squeaked slightly. Lisbeth raised an eyebrow. "Was that a squeak I just heard?" I shook my head, before letting out a large breath. "Well, it's just that, today is… a bit hard for me…" Lisbeth raised her second eyebrow. "What is it? Is it an anniversary of some… hey, Crassus? You okay…?" I just slowly sank to the floor, and began to cry. Lisbeth rushed to my side.

"Hey, I'm sorry! I didn't know!" I just kept crying, and she just pulled my upright, and moved me towards the couch we had. She placed me down, and just sat there, looked ashamed as I wept.

After about ten minutes, I slowly stopped, and just started to talk.

"On this day, four years ago, I… I killed my step-father." Lisbeth jumped back in fright, and I continued.

"My step-father wasn't a nice guy. He used to beat my mother, and I only found out later that it was because she was… not faithful… and, well… that's how I was born. Her boss… and her…" Lisbeth was still looking at me in shock, and I choked down tears.

"Well… w-when I was six… I told my step-dad to stop hitting my mom… a-a-and he said… 'W-well if I stop hit-t-hitting her, t-then who d-d-d-do I hit-t?' Then… well… he started to beat me…" The tears flowed, not just on my face.

"Finally, things came to a head… when mum reported him to the Police… is retaliation… he… he killed her… in front of me! Then… h-h-h-he knocked me out… grabbed me… took me to a cliff near our house… then told me to… j-j-jump… I said n-n-no, so… he… went to p-p-push me… and he missed." Lisbeth was just sitting there, silent, with tears running down her face.

"I… I PUSHED HIM! I PUSHED HIM OFF THAT CLIFF!" I grabbed a vase that was sitting on the side table, and flung it at the wall, where it shattered into a thousand tiny polygons. I stormed out of the house, and ran.


I arrived back at the starting town at 11 pm. I ran through town. I reached to railing. Thirty people, after hearing Kayaba, had flung themselves off here.

I would make it 31.

This was it. I had no one left. No one cared. No one knew. No one wanted me.

I was already dead.

A soft wind tugged at my sleeves, as if encouraging me to jump.

I was already dead.

I heard people start to yell and scream when they saw me on the edge. Some of those people's voices I recognised.

I was already dead.

"Shadow! Wait!"

"Shadow! It's not worth it, man!"

"Shadow, we need you!"

I.

Something was moving in peripherals.

Was.

It was getting closer.

Already.

I could hear it panting.

Dead.