A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! Time to find out the conclusion to Helios's personality change. I hope you enjoy it.
Lizbeth sighed as she placed down a box of materials on her workbench and brought out the tools of her trade, being sure to give a quick look around to the area to make sure she was safe. To say that she was on nerves was an understatement. Ever since she performed the ironic justice of bashing Helios's skull in with her trusty mace she now affectionately referred to as the Idiot Clubber, she has been the target of much horrific sabotage by his girlfriend Dagger. Once when pulled out a box of spare metal she had tripped and dropped its contents on herself. Now that wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that all the metal was replaced a throwing knives. As Dagger ad once said before, although she was in a safe zone, the knives still hurt like hell. Then in another instance she had went to go work on another masterpiece sword for Kirito to try out only to find snapped in half with a card right next to it that read.
'Just like you broke my boyfriend I break your toys. Hahahaha… Oh wait did I write that?' `Dagger.
It only took 5 hours to cry over the loss of the blade before she fell asleep for the night.
"Hey Liz! I'm here!" a voice called from the front door.
Liz turned around with a smile on her face as she saw Helios enter the door. The one saving grace she had in the whole situation was the new Helios wasn't a complete and utter jackass. Quite the contrary he had become the best gentlemen/househusband any girl could ever ask for. It was quite the shock for the females of their friend group to see the otherwise terrible tempered axe player seem much more respectful and mild mannered to them. Though Dagger was very venomous towards this whole situation and to anyone who supported it. As a result she's become rather distant from the guild often speaking to any information source she could find for a possible cure.
Mai, Leafa and Sinon were all for keeping Helios just the way he was now. Him being this nice and charming person almost made them forget that he used to be the biggest asshole in all of SAO. The most shocking of all was how much Liz found herself liking this new Helios. She often had Asuna teasing her about her apparent red face and the way she would giggle around Helios.
And that's what terrified her the most.
She LIKED the new Helios a bit too much.
"Hey there Helios!" she greeted with a smile. "Come again to help?"
He laughed as he put on a cleaning apron. "Considering Dagger has me on house arrest over here and cut off my access to my finances I have no choice." He picked up a broom and started sweeping around the corners of the store. "So Dagger still pranking you?"
"Pranking? No. Subtly attacking me? Yes."
"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?"
"I am not!" she stomped her foot to emphasize her statement. "Why do you insist on defending her!?"
Helios looked taken aback at Liz's burst. "L-Liz?"
"She's spent so much time attacking me and every other girl who's taken a liking to you being so helpful and kind. Why would you be with a girl like that? Why not a girl who treats you right like m-!" She clamped her hands over her mouth before she finished her statement.
"Liz…"
'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' The blacksmith yelled at herself inside her head. 'Why would I say that!? It's not like I actually like hi-!'
She jerked in shock as she felt Helios's arms wrap around her body. She looked up at the taller player to see him looking her in the eyes with a level of affection she's never seen before. She soon found herself leaning forward towards his face with her own, lips puckered as she slowly closed her eyes, waiting for the blissful feeling to erupt within her.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Lizbeth jerked upwards from her position in her bed in a cold sweat. She looked around to make sure nobody, namely Helios, wasn't in her room and got up and ran to her bathroom. After looking at her red face in the mirror for a minute, she could only say one thing. The one thing that has been bothering her for two days straight.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME!? I CAN'T SERIOUSLY BE FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM!"
The blacksmith slapped herself several times in the face and threw a lot of cold water on herself. This was wrong on so many levels! First of all he was taken, second he was her arch nemesis and overall most hated person. Third there was no telling what Dagger would do to her if she decided to act on those feelings and, god forbid, steal Helios from her. She'd probably sedate her, drag her to an open field and murder her slowly and that was if she was being merciful.
'I have to forget about these feelings...' she thought as she finished drying herself off with a towel. 'This is only temporary until he turns back into his old self. I can't get attached to this new Helios... no matter how charming and nice and caring and- alright stop! You're doing it again Lizbeth! Get yourself together!'
As she finished getting changed into her work attire, a familiar knocking was heard on her front door followed by the pleasant voice of Helios saying, "Hey Liz, I'm here!"
'Always on time.' She thought with a smile as she made her way downstairs. "Coming!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile in an undisclosed location, in a dimly lit room stood a round table and six players all sitting in chairs. All of them were hooded in black robes with a golden emblem of a money bag in blazed on the back of the robe with gold trim. In unison the six members raised their right hand and rubbed their pointer finger and thumb together in the universal sign of signaling a person to pay up.
"Money makes Aincrad move." All the players chanted before lifting off their robes hood. Blazing red hair spilled from one of them as the member stood up to address her fellow guildmates.
This was Dagger.
"Members of the Underground Aincrad Financial Network, I have summoned you here for a very special reason."
"Is this about me taking your burrito last meeting?" one had asked.
"What?! That was you?!" Dagger exclaimed.
"Um… maybe"
"You're buying me a new one later, got that?"
"Fine" the girl whined.
"This better be good Dagger!" A blonde haired woman said as she spun her knife in her hand. "I had to close my shop today for this surprise meeting and players who don't buy healing items aren't fighting on the front lines and more importantly, giving me money!"
"I can assure you Crystal." Dagger started as she nodded to the member. "This is a matter of utmost importance. I am calling in the information favor that you all owe me."
Another member, a brunette haired male smashed his hands on the table. "You can't be serious Dagger! This is what you called us here for!?"
"Silence fool!" A voice to Dagger's right called. The girl next to her was none other than the information rat Argo. "She is one of the founding members of the guild! She will be treated with respect!"
"Sucking up to the boss eh Argo?" A gruff voice said. A spiky haired, scar faced man in his twenties looked at Argo with a smug smile. "I thought you had more self-respect than that."
"Everyone shut up!" Dagger yelled, silencing everyone in the room. "Something personal has happened to me so I need all the info you all can get me."
"What sort of info you need Dagger?" a very tall man asked. This tall man was none other than Agil.
Now for those of you wondering what this guild was about, it was an unofficial guild filled with the biggest information trackers/merchants in Aincrad. There's Dagger whose appearance and her cute, yet fake demeanor attracted many male and even sometimes female customers. Agil, who being a weapons salesmen made him a very desirable shop to have. Crystal who made primarily healing items. Among them were Argo, Ban, and Ligar, the three best information trackers in all of SAO. Combined they were the UAFN (Underground Aincrad Financial Network), a guild bent on manipulating the economy of Aincrad to their favor.
The worst part was that they were actually doing a good job of that.
"Has anyone ever suffered a personality change within SAO at all?" Dagger asked.
Ban raised an eyebrow at that. "That's the reason you called us out here for?"
Dagger scowled at him. "My boyfriend got clubbed in the head by some pink haired blacksmith bitch and has now changed from the man I fell in love with. I need to know if there is a cure for this so he can't return to being my crazy boyfriend."
Agil and Argo sighed as the other three raised their eyebrows in confusion. "Well I'll certainly keep my ears open and as my info dealers but I don't know anything about this." Argo confessed
Agil nodded his head. "I'll do the same but I can't promise anything"
Ban on the other hand wasn't too keen on being a team player. "No way, I'm not wasting my resources finding information about your brain dead boyfriend."
It was at that moment that every member other than Ban and Dagger took a huge step back away from the table.
Ban soon found himself in an arm-bar and his face slammed to the table painfully as he struggled to get up against the somehow stronger female player. In the corner of his eye he saw the gleam of a weapon in the dim light of the room and started to panic. "Alright alright I'll help! Just don't stab me with that knife of yours!"
The merchant girl smiled as she put away her weapon. "Good, we're in business then! Be sure to help as much as you can you four. I'm counting on you!" With no other words to say, Dagger pulled out a teleport crystal and left the area.
"That chick freaking scares me." Ligar admitted as he helped Ban to his feet so he could recover his shattered pride.
"We all are." Argo said, placing the chairs back in their original position. "That's why she's the leader of our networking group of financial manipulation."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
-The Next Day-
"Hey Helios can you give me a hand over here?" Leafa asked as she struggled to reach for the top shelf for an item.
Being the ever helpful person he was, Helios reached to the shelf with his superior height, even though it was only a few inches, and grabbed the cooking material for her. "Here you go."
Leafa smiled as she gave the axe player a quick hug. "Thanks again Helios, you're the best!"
"Anytime."
Kirito and Ren sat on the other side of the kitchen, the Black Swordsman glaring at the, currently not, Unrelenting Psychopath after that small display of affection from his sister. "I really don't like Leafa getting too close to him." he grumbled as he unconsciously stabbed his fork into the wooden table as he had been doing for the past three minutes.
Ren gave a pat to his back in sympathy. "Relax Kirito. It's only temporary. You afraid she might fall in love with him or something?"
Kirito looked Ren dead in the eyes, with more seriousness in them than when he fought the Gleam Eyes. "Ren… Don't even joke about that… Ever."
"Ah I get it!" Ren smiled. "You'd rather have all her affection for yourself!"
"God no! She's my freaking sister! Don't say nightmarish stuff like that!"
"He's right you know" Asuna said with a cold smile as she walked up to the boys. "After all Kirito only has eyes for me, right?"
Kirito waved his hands in front of him in a show of panic as Ren just left the table, not wanting to incur the Lightning Flash's wrath. "N-No of course not Asuna! I only in love with you!"
"Hey guys!" Mai yelled as she and her sister entered the bar, coming back from a successful hunt. "What's to eat?"
"The jury's still out on that one." Sinon said from her seat. "Helios has just been running around helping the other girls get all the ingredients they need. Hopefully we all aren't trying to shove each other to use the bathroom by the end of the night."
No one even raised an eyebrow as Silica took a step back from the scene. A slight aura of self-pity covering her.
Alice rolled her eyes as she placed her stuff down on the floor. "Great so either we get good food or some Mystery Food X made by our mysterious bad cook."
The aura only got worse around Silica as Pina tried to cheer her master up.
Time passed as dinner was cooked, served and eaten. Luckily for everyone Asuna was the one cooking tonight so no one would suffer the Sickness debuff anytime soon.
"That was delicious Asuna." Helios said as he carried the dirty dishes to the sink. "You really have to teach me your secret."
Sinon suddenly dropped her plate in shock from hearing those words come out of his mouth. Although she had gotten used to the new Helios, the stuff he said sometimes made her question if that blow to the head really screwed him up. "S-Sorry!"
"Hey it's no problem." Helios said as he swept up the shattered plate. "We all make mistakes sometimes."
The others stayed behind as Helios and Asuna went to go do the dishes. As the door closed behind them, the friend group went immediately into gossip mode.
"Okay can we all agree that new Helios is the best Helios?" Mai asked everyone at the table.
"True as that might be, Dagger isn't happy with this." Liz said as she toyed with her spare fork, twirling it in her fingers. "As much as we love him like this, he has to go back to normal."
"We love him, or you do?"
The blacksmith turned to Klein with a red face and glared at the red head. "The hell does that mean!?"
The swordsman rolled his eyes as he gave a knowing grin to her. "Oh let's face it, out of everyone here you LOVE new Helios the most. We all see it and boy when Dagger sees you go gaga over him she gets pissed off majorly!"
"S-She does?" A cold shivered traveled down her spine at that comment.
"Yeah." Yui piped up from her side at the table. "I was with mommy when she went around the fields attacking anything she could and yelling a bunch of words. When I asked mommy what those words meant she put her hands on my ears and dragged me away."
"Oh I can tell you what those words mean!" Strea said with a smile to the younger girl. "You see when Dagger said the word bit-"
Kirito then lunged at the purple haired girl and clamped down her mouth to prevent her from saying anything else. "Strea! Not appropriate for Yui!"
"Let's… let's just go away from Strea, Yui…" Alice said as she gently lead the girl out of the room.
"Getting back to the original point!" Liz yelled. "I am not in love with him! I could care less about him!"
"What about that time I caught you staring at him in the distance?" SIlica asked. "You were smiling all doopy like with a red face."
"I-I was sick that day!" Lizbeth weakly defended.
"Apparently not sick enough from keeping you from staring at his rear the whole day." Leafa quipped from the side as she gathered the rest of the plates.
"Traitor!"
"So you've got a thing for him? What's the big deal then?" Strea asked. "I'm sure Dagger would be willing to share him with you."
Liz gave an incredulous look to the purple haired axe wielder. "Are you KIDDING ME!? Do you know what that girl has done to other girls who give Helios a flirty glance? She once challenged a high level player to a duel just to break all her equipment in plain view of everyone just to humiliate her!"
"That was one of the greatest sights of my life." Klein reminisced with a sigh before being smashed on the hand by Sinon.
"Pervert…"
"Look I have zero intention on making a move on him! Regardless of if i like him or not isn't the matter at hand. I can't have him and that's that." the blacksmith said with finality.
Strea gave a dreamy look to the pink haired girl. "But isn't the idea of forbidden romance just so juicy? Two star crossed lovers separated by a woman who wants to keep her man the way he is while the other one embraces his softer side and will love him til the end of time!"
"NO!"
"I'VE GOT IT!" A voice yelled at the front. To everyone's surprise Dagger busted through the door to Agil's bar, literally. Shattering the entire door into tiny blue fragments.
"You're paying for that!" Agil yelled at the merchant.
Dagger, in a display of vulgarity only seen by Helios, flipped off the bartender and ran to her friends. "I found a way to turn Helios back to normal!"
"What?"
"Really?"
"That's good."
"No! Keep him like he is!" Mai begged at Dagger's legs. "He's so much better now!"
Dagger knocked away the younger player with her leg. "One of my sources told me that all I have to do is remind him of the stuff he used to do and his old personality should return! Where is he?"
Ren pointed to the kitchen. "He's washing dishes with Asuna."
Dagger grew pale at those words. "Oh dear god it's worse than I thought. Don't worry Helios, your lover's coming!" she charged at the kitchen door, throwing it off its hinges in the process.
"Stop breaking up my bar!"
"Hey what're you doing!?" they heard Asuna yell from the kitchen.
"D-Dagger!?"
The group looked on in wonder as Dagger dragged Helios out to the front of the bar where everyone was and in a great show of strength lifted him up and placed him on a table. "Listen here Helios! If you want my affection back all you have to do is one thing."
Helios raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend. "And that is?"
The red haired merchant then picked up Mai by the collar of her shirt and dragged her in front of them. "Insult Mai. Really tear into her, rip her a new one!"
"I really am not comfortable with this." Mai said from her position.
"You will sit there and shut up or so help me I will sell you to the perverts in the black market for 1 col! I don't even care if I make a profit, I would just do this to spite you!"
Klein's head lifted at this information. "Wait, how much is she on sale for?"
And to no one's surprise Alice decked him across the face so hard that he flew through the same window Liz used for her escape a few days prior. "You are NOT buying my sister!" she then turned to Dagger. "And if you sell my sister I will tear you apart painfully with my scythe!"
Agil slammed his fist on the countertop of the bar area. "Will you damn kids stop breaking my shop!?"
Helios shook his head at Dagger's request. "Sorry, I'm not doing it."
"But why not!? You love me right?"
"Yes."
"Then do it!"
"No."
"Why!?"
"Cause it isn't nice to Mai." he said simply.
Dagger pulled at her hair in frustration while Mai gave a hug to Helios. "I knew you didn't want to insult me! You really do care for me!"
"Alright then, if not insulting Mai, then spit on Sinon."
"The hell did you just say!?" Sinon barked as she stood up from the table.
Dagger's only response was pulling out her knife at Sinon in a threatening manner. "I'm sorry was that backtalk coming from the cannon fodder?"
Ren and Alice could only watch with morbid curiosity. "Wow. It's almost like Dagger just absorbed Helios's old personality and became even crazier."
"I'm not spitting on Sinon or any other of our friends. They work real hard on the front lines and they don't deserve that."
Dagger stomped on the ground as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "This isn't you Helios!" she then ran up the stairs to her room and slammed it shut.
"...Can anyone tell me what just happened?" Helios asked as he looked around his friend group.
"Just… let's give Dagger her space." Kirito suggested. "I think she's been way too stressed out as of lately."
Liz gave a look to the staircase and got up from her seat. "I'm… gonna see what's up with her."
As the group watched her disappear above the stairs. Sinon decided to open her mouth to speak her mind. "She's gonna die."
"Probably." Leafa shrugged. "Her life was as valuable as the rest of ours, but she made her decision and as her friends, we can only support her as she ends her good lived life."
"But she's only a teenager like us." Asuna countered.
"I said good life, not full life."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Liz knocked at the door where the merchant was currently crying in. "Um… Dagger? You okay?"
She quickly retracted her hand as a blade suddenly pierced through the woodwork. Any closer and she could have kissed her hand goodbye.
"Go away you homewrecking bitch!" she heard Dagger yell from the door.
"Look Dagger, I'm sorry for changing Helios's persona but you can't keep blaming and attacking me for this!"
Liz felt a cold sweat go down her neck as the sounds of sobbing stopped and stomping coming towards the door was heard. She looked on in horror as the blade that was shoved through the door was pulled out and Dagger threw open the door. Her eyes were red from crying as tears were still streaming from her face. "You're sorry? YOU'RE SORRY!? It's because of you that you ruined the best relationship I ever had! You turned the crazy boy I fell in love with to a prissy little goody two shoes that kisses everyone's ass! I should have NEVER let him go with you that day to help you getting materials! It's all because you clubbed him that-!" Dagger suddenly stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened.
Liz wasn't sure what was scarier. Dagger crying and angry or her quiet and wide-eyed. She jumped in shock as the merchant shouted. "THAT'S IT!"
"Ow! What's it?" she asked as she yelled her ears in pain from the sudden yell.
"The cure for getting him back to normal! It was so obvious! All you have to do is club him in the face again!"
"What kind of sitcom logic is that!?" the blacksmith yelled back. "I can't cure him by doing the same thing that caused him to be like this in the first place!"
"We don't know that until we try it! Now get the hell over here!"
Not even giving her a chance to compose herself, Dagger dragged Liz down the stairs making her purposely hit every single step. Liz knew that in some way, the universe just wanted to see her suffer.
As she hauled her upright, Dagger grabbed her by the shoulders. "Now pull out your mace!"
"Wait what's going on?" Ren asked as he got near the two girls.
Dagger smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "It's the way to cure Helios! All Liz has to do is bash him in the face again!"
"Are you stupid?" Mai yelled. "You can't just hit him in the face again!" she gave a protective hug to the older teen. "He's perfect just the way he is! Don't change him back!"
"Too bad shrimp!" Dagger said with a sneer. "He's my boyfriend and I'm turning him back to normal."
"Dagger… I respect you a lot." Mai then let go of Helios and pulled out her rapier. "But I WILL fight you on this!"
The two girls glared hell at each other for a few moments before Helios stood up. "I'll do it."
"Wait what?"
"Come again?"
Both girls asked in confusion at the ashy haired teen's statement.
"I said i'll do it one condition." he turned to his girlfriend with a serious look. "If I do this, and it doesn't work with whatever it is you all keep talking about, will you promise just to love and accept me just the way I am?"
Dagger stiffened a bit at this question. This was her only shot at returning him back to normal but if she failed, the person she fell in love with could be lost forever. "...It's all or nothing… Alright fine I accept."
"Alright then." he then turned to his blacksmith friend and leaned out his head towards her. "Go ahead Liz. Hit me."
"B-But I don't want to. I don't want you hating me for this." Liz admitted as she gripped her mace tightly.
Helios smiled at her. "It's okay. I forgive you if you hurt me."
Liz sighed deeply. She REALLY didn't want to do this but it was the lesser of two evils. She would rather hit Helios than face Dagger's wrath even more than she already has. With her friends clearing the way in case he was hit their way, Liz brought her mace back and swung it full force at his head. The impact had the same effect that happened before in the field only instead his HP didn't go down due to being in a safe zone. People passing by outside were shocked to see Helios smash into the ground from Agil's bar groaning before passing out. Everyone rushed outside, surrounding the player to see if any changes had occurred. Liz herself kneeled down to his level and gave a concerned look to him.
"Helios!? Are you okay!?"
Helios groaned as his eyes slowly opened up groggily. His first sight was Lizbeth staring him in the face with concern radiating from her expression with their other friends standing behind him. Moments of silence passed slowly as everyone waited to see what would happen next.
That being said, it shocked everyone when Helios had suddenly headbutted Lizbeth in the face brutally, causing her to clutch her face painfully as she rolled on the floor.
"You bitch!" He yelled at her as he balled his fist at her threateningly. "That's payback for you clubbing me in the face with that manish strength of yours!"
"HELIOS YOU'RE BACK!" Dagger yelled with delight as she threw herself at her boyfriend. Helios was surprised but wasn't exactly complaining when she started to make out with him.
"...Yay he's back to normal." Sinon said in a monotone voice as she walked away.
Many members of their friend group sighed as they found that Helios was back to his normal self again. On the other hand Mai herself was crying at the loss of her big brother figure in good Helios. Leafa was a bit disappointed that she lost a good natured friend but then again she wasn't really all that close to Helios to even care.
The person taking his the hardest however was Lizbeth. Not at the fact that she was currently writhing in pain from the vicious headbutt, but from the fact that another person she possibly loved was taken from her again.
'Can I EVER get a break on my love life?' She screamed in her head.
Dagger broke the kiss with her boyfriend and gave him a sultry smile. "Say Helios… what say we make up for lost time?"
"What are you tal- ack!" Helios couldn't finish his statement as Dagger dragged him by his shirt and brought them into their shared room.
Ren and the others stayed away from the bar for the rest of the day to avoid any awkward moments involving Yui's questions about the upstairs noise and to comfort Liz's broken heart.
A/N: Poor Liz. Will she ever find true love? Probably not. Anyways, I hope you all liked the chapter. Please review if you liked it. I will try to update as soon as possible.