Hey guys, MT here!

Sorry I'm a bit late but college work takes FOREVER to get done. I got a little backed up.

Anyways, I'm sorry that this is a short chapter but I kinda ran out of things to write. I have an idea for what to happen next but I'm going to do a time skip to some time in the anime because I can't really find any interesting, non-depressing, things to write about.

Well, ENJOY!

Chapter 25

It had been ten minutes since I killed the three LC members, Zahir being among them. I was still kneeling next to Aiko and she just continued to watch me as I stared, blankly, at the ground. She shuffled over to me and placed a hand on my own but frowned when she received no reaction. She squeezed my hand and sat next to me before leaning next to me.

"Do you know how I found you, Shikai?" asked Aiko, not really expecting a response. "I hadn't realized this, but you can track people on your friend's list. When you hit their name 2 little bubbles come up, one for messaging and the other for tracking. I discovered it a couple weeks ago. I never really noticed it otherwise. I used it to find you. When I saw you moving towards the edge of town, I got worried and followed you."

I could feel Aiko grab the sleeve of my chainmail and feel her tense.

"I was so scared when I saw that you were outside the safe zone. I was so frightened that I would be too late," said Aiko, her voice cracking. Her soft cries brought me back to reality.

"I…" I began, causing her to perk up and look at me. I could feel tears building up in my eyes and my voice cracked. "I tried…I tried so…so…so hard. I didn't want to kill anyone anymore. I was just going to take them down and arrest them. I didn't want to kill them. No matter how hard I try to be good, why can't I stop being bad?"

Aiko watched as tears streamed down my face and she quickly hugged me into her chest, the cold metal of her armor pressed itself to my face.

"You're not bad, Shikai," said Aiko, her voice cracking. "You are such a very very very good person…and because you're such a good person, you have to do the bad things to protect the people you love. I'm so sorry I came out here and made you do something so horrible. It's all my fault."

I heard her crying and I slid out of her hold to look her in the face. I then hugged her tightly to my chest and she hugged me back after a moment. We held each other as we cried and, after we were cried out, we stood up on shaky legs. We were about to enter the town again when a small group of members of The Army and the DDA came out of the town.

"Halt! What's been going on over here?" shouted one of The Army members.

"We heard witnesses say that some people were fighting out here. They said they saw someone impaled in the head and die," said another member. The leader of the group stepped forward, the only thing distinguishing from the rest was the sash that when across his armor.

"Where are the rest of the people that were here?" asked the leader, sternly. When we stared at them, blankly, he growled. "Answer me!"

"Please wait a moment," said a man from the DDA group. He stepped out of the crowd and he was revealed to be Schmitt. "The woman is a DDA member and the man is her husband."

"C-Captain Schmitt," said Aiko, surprised to see him there.

"You two look like you've seen a bit of hell. Why don't we go back to a bar and talk about this," said Schmitt, receiving nods from Aiko and I.

"Now wait a minute! I was interrogating these two. You can't just take them away!" shouted the leader of The Army group. Schmitt glared over at him and eh tensed.

"So…may I take that as an act of aggression towards the Divine Dragons Alliance? The woman is one of our members. I, as the second-in-command, have every right to be able to interrogate her myself. As for her husband, I also have the right to interrogate him since he is involved with her," said Schmitt, menacingly. The leader visibly flinched at a threat from the DDA and he frowned but muttered out a 'Fine'. Schmitt grinned and then beckoned Aiko and I to follow him back into town.

Aiko, Schmitt, and I moved to a bar, which was being guarded by the DDA, and we explained everything to Schmitt. He didn't seem surprised when we told him about killing all the LC members.

Now he was staring off into space as he thought and finally sighed.

"Shikai, we understood your and Aiko's situation to a certain degree prior but it seems to be a bit more serious and may get even more serious," said Schmitt, causing me to tense.

"W-What do you mean, Captain?" asked Aiko, worried by his words.

"That man…Zahir…is one of the five commanders of Laughing Coffin," said Schmitt, causing my expression to go blank. "Within LC, there is PoH, the Guild Leader, and the five commanders: Red-Eyed XaXa, JohnnyBlack, Zahir, Gio the Joker, and one more that we still haven't discovered the identity of."

"What should we do then? We can't just stay in hiding for the rest of the game!" shouted Aiko, panicking.

"I was about to get to that. Shikai, how exactly did you break free from the paralysis poison? Normally the ones made from LC members last at least 10 minutes and from your story no more than a few minutes could have passed," said Schmitt, curiously. Without looking at him, my expression still blank, I opened my menu. I scrolled over to my skills and looked for one in particular. I swiped my menu to the right and it revolved around so Schmitt could see it.

"Zepar Body?" said Schmitt, confused by the skills name. Normally, skills in SAO were literal like 'One-handed' of 'Weapon's Appraisal', but this skill had a strange name.

"Zepar is a name for a type of demon. It's a bit vague the name basically says what it means, I just never realized it until now. 'Zepar Body' is a skill that makes me immune to poisons," I said, calmly. Aiko and Schmitt's eyes widened and they looked at each other. "I know it is because, aside from my combat stats, it gained experience. I've had that skill for a couple weeks and I couldn't raise it any other way. Until now, when I was attacked by a poisoned weapon."

"That's amazing! Do you know the pre-requisites? If we could help other people get this skill, poisons would be useless and we could properly take care of LC," said Schmitt, excited.

"Don't you think I would have shared it if I knew?" I began, leaning forward. Emotion began to fill my face and Schmitt's excited smile vanished. "This skill just…appeared one day. Why did it, though? There are so many good people out there who need this skill to protect them from Laughing Coffin. Why did I get it? What kind of blessing is given to a murderer?"

Aiko and Schmitt were silent for a moment and Schmitt spoke out.

"One who kills for the good of others," said Schmitt, causing me to perk up. Before I could respond, Schmitt continued, not wanting me to interrupt him. "My philosophy is every life is worth another. If you plan to extinguish a life, you have to be prepared for yours to be used as compensation. Think about how many people each LC member can kill. Hell, Zahir has probably killed dozens just like the other commanders. By taking their lives, you ensure the lives of some many others. And not just the ones in this game, but the ones that will be born from the people who survive this game. Think of all the young people who have yet to get married and have children. They'll have that chance at life and creating new life because you stopped people in LC from killing them."

I sat there, unable to react. He was right. Even though I've taken lives, I never truly considered who was being saved in the process. Sure, I wanted to keep Aiko safe but I always did think what they were doing was wrong. I just never thought what I was doing was any better. I still feel horrible for killing people but at least I see a little light in this situation.

Schmitt got up and walked away, a smile on his face as he knew his words had gotten to me, and he exited the bar. I could hear Schmitt yelling at his men that it was time to go and Aiko and I were left in silence. After a few minutes, Aiko nudged me and I glanced at her. She smiled at me and I nodded before we both got up and intertwined our fingers. We walked back to the inn we were staying at in silence.

Back at the inn, Aiko and I entered, still silent. I sat down on the bed and unequipped everything except for a t-shirt and shorts, as did Aiko. I sat and stared off, blankly, again and I could feel the bed shift and hear Aiko shuffling across it to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into her and I placed a hand on her forearm in reassurance.

"Remember what Captain said, Shikai," said Aiko, simply. I smiled and quickly slid my arm in between us before yanking her around me. She squeaked in surprise and I pulled her onto my lap before placing a deep kiss on her lips. She calmed down almost immediately and returned the kiss with the same fervor.

"You still love me, right?" I breathed out when the kiss broke. Aiko stared at me, worried, but smiled when she only saw a need for reassurance in my expression. She leaned in to kiss me, lightly, on the lips and then pulled back.

"Forever and always," said Aiko, sweetly. I smiled at her and pressed our foreheads together.

"Forever and always," I said before leaning in for another kiss. We just continued to kiss like that. Sweet and pure…until it got hot and dirty.

So? What did you guys think?

Depressing? Happy? I'm pretty sure its the former.

Also, FINALLY I revealed the new skill. I've been toying around with the idea since before I started this story. I had made up the name but I thought about what to make it about. I decided on poison resistance because it would be the most useful in my fight against LC.

What do you guys think will happen next? Zahir is dead (most of you probably didn't even remember him from his original appearance) and LC is prepared to attack. I'm just as curious as you to see where this story will be going.

Before I let you guys go, I don't know if anyone noticed but I have a LOT of easter eggs in this story. From quotes from the bible to names coming from translated words to references to both my life and the things I like. I wonder if any of you have picked up on them :3 If you do feel free to comment about them.

Anyways, until next time...byeee :D