A/N: Hello readers. Here's the chapter, like I promised. Also as a special Christmas present for you all, I have once again changed the cover pic of this story to a new commission I had done, this one of Helios and Dagger (technically Hyde and Lilina since it's IRL but whatever). Be sure to tell me your thoughts.

The dawn of the new morning was upon Wyvern's Inferno after the mess with the Army yesterday. Ren managed to make sure nothing would come from Helios defending himself from Kibao by threatening the Army leader with details of him threatening to kill Yui. Needless to say Kibao kept his mouth shut as to keep his social image intact and to keep Helios away from him to not risk another beating.

The four members of the guild walked to the inn of the 60th Floor where Helios and Dagger were staying with their 'daughter'. Alice questioned why they didn't have an actual home like her and Ren did but the leader made the solid point that there was no way in hell Dagger was shilling any money for said home. They entered the building and made their way up to the room where the family was resting and knocked at the door. Moments passed as not even a footstep was heard moving towards the door.

"Hang on, I got a key." Ren said as he materialized said object through his menu.

"Why do you have a key to Helios's room?"

"Do you really trust him enough that he'll be a nice person all alone with no one to reel him in?"

Riku nodded his head in agreement. "He's got a point Alice."

Moving past the object in Ren's possession, the brown haired teen pressed the item to the door which unlocked it from the other side. The guild opened the door to see what was keeping them from answering but saw something else entirely.

Now there was very little that Helios did that could be considered 'cute' or 'sweet' in the eyes of Alice and Mai. But seeing Helios, Dagger and Yui and curled up together asleep as a family with both parents hugging Yui close with the small girl having an adorable smile on her face was just too cute to not take pictures of.

"Uh you sure you should be doing that? Kinda seems like he'd be pissed with you both documenting him like an animal."

Alice rolled her eyes at Riku and continued to take pictures. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see what Helios is like when he isn't crazy. I'm taking advantage of that."

"You got that right sis!" If possible, Mai was taking even more photos of the family. Most likely for blackmail purposes.

With all the loud cooing and constant shuffling around to take pictures, the noise soon woke Helios up as he grumbled incoherently while moving his body up. After yawning and rubbing his eyes, the tank soon found his bedside was swarming with pests taking pictures of him. Dagger soon woke up as well, causing Yui to begin to stir awake.

Upon seeing the group at her bedside, Dagger's eyes widened. "G-Guys?! What are you all doing here?!"

Helios narrowed his eyes at his friends. "So? Are we gonna get an explanation for this?"

"Yeah. It's called karma." Mai said as she took another picture with the crystal. "Don't worry. I'll be keeping these to myself for the most part. But maybe I'll make a few public."

"GET OUT!"

It only took a few seconds after Helios's shout for the rest of his guild to rush out of the room and close the door behind them.

Yui giggled at the sight that unfolded for her as she woke up. "You showed 'em Papa! Papa is super strong!"

"You got that right kiddo." Helios said with a smile as he ruffled Yui's hair.

"Anyway what's the plan for today? The Town of Beginnings was a bust since everyone wasn't missing a child due to all the hysterical of even mentioning the outside fields."

Helios scratched at his head for an idea. Since they were still the gossip of the lower floors, he'd rather avoid being put on the spotlight for a bit. He looked down to his daughter who for some reason was looking at him like she had an idea. "Got an idea kiddo?"

"I wanna spend the day with mama and papa!" she said excitedly. "I wanna do something fun!"

"Fun huh? Dagger you got any ideas?"

Dagger began to ponder ideas herself. It had to be something that was entertaining, easy to do and most importantly be free. Racking her brain to crunch numbers she soon thought of an activity they could all enjoy. "Maybe we could go swimming?"

"Swimming? Where could we find a place to do that?"

"Isn't there a monster free lake where Kirito and Asuna are at? We could go there to spend time with our favorite little she." Yui giggled as the merchant booped her on the nose.

Before yesterday, Dagger never would've thought that being a mother would be something she would be doing with her life. But seeing as how quickly Yui wormed her way into her heart made her think this whole situation may not be as bad as she once thought it was gonna be. It especially helped that Yui was so outgoing and so easily loveable to help warm up to the idea of motherhood. "Go ahead and pack some food for us while I go get Yui a swimsuit. We'll meet down at Floor 22 to have some fun."

Though it helped he wasn't paying for everything this time around, his wallet was still aching with pain from all the spending last night. "Alright, guess I'm taking another hit."

"Oh don't be such a big baby Helios, a little spending never hurt anyone."

This garnered an unamused frown from Helios. "Maybe try to follow that manifesto for yourself before lecturing me on the spending."

"I'll have you know I use my money to make profitable investments thank you very much!" Dagger turned her head away from her boyfriend in a huff. The nerve of Helios to even suggest that she hoarded all her money for selfish reasons. If it wasn't for the fact that he owned this room she would have him sleep on the couch.

"Whatever I'll go get the food, just make sure the Yui gets all the proper swimming equipment." He patted the small girl on the head who beamed back at him. "Last thing I want is my little girl having trouble swimming in the lake."

"Mama's gonna make sure I'm safe, right mama?"

Seeing those big doe eyes stare up at her with such hope in them, Dagger could help but pick the girl up and hold her close. "Oh of course my little girl. Mama will make sure you're all nice and safe to swim your heart out!"

"Heh, not so easy resisting Yui's cuteness is it?" She could practically hear the smugness in his voice. Dagger decided to let this one go and hold Yui's hand as they departed to get their swimsuits.

Now this left Helios with gathering the food. Now he wasn't one for the culinary arts but he didn't want to buy some generic or bad tasting crap they could get anywhere. No, Yui deserved the best and she was going to get it.

And he knew just the person to make it for him.

"Come on! Help a dad out here!" He shouted to the balcony of Kirito's and Asuna's home.

Upon seeing the berserker walk to their doorway, the two elite players locked the door and shut the blinds as they wanted to no part in whatever he wanted from them. But unfortunately for them, he saw them trying to hide from him and has been yelling at them for the past five minutes.

"Maybe if we don't move he'll go away." Kirito said softly to his wife. "His brain is about as big as a walnut."

"Come on Asuna! Be a pal! Don't be a douchebag like Kirito over there!" Helios called out. "Yeah Kirito I know you're listening you freaking squalid loner bitch!"

"..."

"..."

"... I'm gonna kill him."

Asuna stopped her husband from drawing his sword and shook her head. "No. It's obvious he's gonna keep gathering attention until we give in to his demands. Let me take care of him and he'll leave us be."

"But Asuna-"

"No buts Mr. Loner. Just relax while I handle the bull."

Knowing how fighting a woman on something would be an immediate losing battle, the swordsman merely nodded his head and followed Asuna to the door.

Helios was surprised to see Asuna open the door for him with a tired expression on her face. Most likely a result of his constant yelling for attention but also took note of Kirito's unamused face. Before anything could be said the axe user spoke first. "Okay first off, I'm not apologizing for anything I said. It's what you get for purposefully trying to hide away from me." He shot a dirty look to the black swordsman who only returned the look in kind. "Especially you, loner bitch."

"Alright Helios, before you go fighting a battle that you'll lose fifty times over let's just cut straight to the chase on what you want from us." Asuna said to stop any incoming conflict. "What do you want Helios."

"Food for Yui." He said simply.

"..."

"..."

"... Excuse me?"

"Did I stutter? I need food for Yui and you're the best cook around."

"Any reason as to why you need my help or why I should even help you to begin with."

"Well for one I'm gonna be on this floor with Yui and Dagger soon." He started. "Yui wanted to spend the day with us and Dagger, being the good mother that she is, decided we should all go swimming since the lakes here are monster free. Now I may be a relaxed guy who doesn't sweat small details."

"*Cough* Bullshit *Cough*" Kirito muttered from the side.

Helios didn't even bother to shoot him a glance as he continued to speak with Asuna. "But I am a determined dad to make sure my child is well fed and happy."

"Helios, don't you think you're taking this fatherhood thing a bit too seriously?" The chestnut haired girl could never fathom how the berserker tank went through such a complete 180 in demeanour but it was clearly becoming a rising issue.

"I would never slack off on being a good father Asuna!" He suddenly yelled, making the married couple jump a bit. "Just because my mother was never there for me doesn't mean-!" Before he could say anything else he bit his tongue and grew silent.

Asuna was unsure how to approach the situation at hand. It was clear that Helios didn't mean for that bit about his mother to slip but from what little he said, the vice captain felt like he knew where he was coming from. While she didn't want to jump to conclusions based on one statement it was easy to see that Helios's sudden fatherly urges must be stemming from a lack of parental love or something to that effect.

Of course she would never vocalize these thoughts as she didn't want any tense air to be around them but instead, pulled him into the house. "Come on in then Helios and relax on the couch. I'll have some snacks made for Yui in a bit."

"Oh! Well… uh thanks then Asuna. Kinda thought you were gonna give me more fight than that."

"Would you rather we make it a challenge then?"

He waved his hands at the suggestion. "No, no, by all means go on ahead. I'm very grateful for this you know."

"Good." Asuna said. She walked back into the house along with Kirito, followed by Helios. "Do you have any idea what Yui's favorite foods are?"

"Ummm…" Helios suddenly was at a loss. He had only been a father for two days, so he hadn't learned that much about Yui's favorite things, let alone food.

Asuna rolled her eyes. "Alright then. I'll go with a regular picnic assortment. She's bound to enjoy a sandwich at the very least."

Helios nodded his head. He took a seat on the couch while Asuna headed into the kitchen. Kirito soon followed her in. "Are you seriously making him a lunch after the crap he just said."

"It's not for him, it's for Yui." Asuna explained. "Besides… I feel like I get where he's coming from."

Kirito raised an eyebrow at his wife's statement. "Care to elaborate."

Asuna shook her head and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Another time. For now, help me get everything ready."

Deciding not to dig deeper into Asuna's words, Kirito helped Asuna prepare the lunch. There wasn't much he could do with his basically non-existent cooking skill, but he was at least able to put the food into bento boxes that Asuna had.

In the living room of the house, Helios sat on the couch, waiting for the food to be ready. Looking around, he had to admit he like the homey feeling the log cabin provided. If it wasn't for the fact that he didn't have nearly enough money to pay for it, he would have considered buying a house like this for him, Dagger, and Yui to stay in.

Eventually, Asuna came out with a picnic basket in hand. "Here you go Helios. One family lunch, ready to go."

Helios accepted the basket and got up from the couch. "Thanks again Asuna. I really appreciate this."

Asuna decided to try a shot at getting Helios to add more to his words about his family life from earlier. "You seem to be such a caring father Helios. You must have quite the interesting family life back in the real world."

"Nice try Asuna, but I'm not divulging my past to you." Helios said as he walked out the front door. "I'll make sure to tell Yui you made the food. See ya later."

After the front door to the house closed, Asuna brought up her menu. She quickly typed a message to Ren, telling him Helios's location. They needed to keep an eye on the family if they planned to find a way to keep Yui from being corrupted any further.

As Helios walked up to the lakeside, he could already see Dagger and Yui waiting for him. Dagger was dressed in a ruby red bikini while Yui had a cute pink one piece on. Once she saw her father coming, Yui waved her arms over to him excitedly. "Papa! Over here!"

"I see you Yui!" He called before being tackled to the ground by his excited daughter who glomped him. "Looks like my little girl is cute and strong. What a winning combo."

"Easy there charmer, don't wanna give her wrong ideas." Dagger teased while helping her boyfriend off the floor. "So did you get the food?"

Helios lifted the bag that fell to the floor. Good thing for him that Asuna sealed it air tight to prevent any messes from happening. "Delicious snacks, an Asuna specialty."

While Dagger wanted to question the fact that Helios managed to get Asuna to cook them something, let alone letting him into her home without Ren or the others to keep him in line. She decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and just rolled with it. "Well at least we know that we're getting the primo stuff."

"You got that right babe. Now." The fatherly teen picked up Yui who giggled happily. "What saw we teach our little girl how to swim?"

The three of them placed all their stuff down on the ground and set up a blanket mat and umbrella to cover their belongings. Dagger decided to sit on the side for a bit and watched Helios and Yui bond together as they swam out into the lake. It was so rare to see this side of Helios so openly out in the public. Before he was reserved yet rude and quick with a snarky remark, his brutal honesty being a part of why she loved him so much. But ever since Yui came into their lives a whole new side of Helios has come out of seemingly nowhere that was fatherly, caring and utterly dotting. Seeing him hold Yui above the water to practice her strokes and rewarding her with hugs and kisses when she did it right was just heartwarming to see.

'Yui, you may have come out of nowhere but you've changed Helios's entire world in only a few days.' She smiled at seeing him lift the young girl up into the air and spin her around. 'I'm glad that you came into our lives.'

"Papa! Watch me swim far!" Yui called to her father.

"Alright kiddo but don't go too deep in. Gotta stay safe and not tire yourself out." He called out to her. She nodded her head and began to swim to the near middle of the lake.

The teen stepped out of the lake and sat next to his girlfriend to dry off a bit. "Quick learner isn't she?"

Dagger nodded her head. "Yeah, really does take after her dad doesn't she?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well before two days ago, you were the absolute last person I would think of when thinking about someone who is an amazing father but seeing how quickly you rose to the occasion to make sure Yui had a family to be with. Well needless to say I'm pretty proud of you." She kissed Helios on the cheek making the teen blush hard.

"Mama! Papa! Help!"

The sudden cry from their daughter immediately shook Dagger and Helios from their world as they began to run to the coast of the lake. "Yui!? What's wrong!?"

The girl was waving her arms around in the water as she slowly sank deeper in, as if something was dragging her under. "My leg is stuck on *cough* something! H-Help!"

There was no hesitation in Helios's or Dagger's hearts as they swan dived into the lake at breakneck speeds to reach Yui before she was hurt. Dagger grabbed the child by her armpits and began to pull her upwards to keep her from drowning while Helios dived deeper to see what had Yui in its clutches.

Helios could see a long appendage, most likely some sort of tentacle, latching onto Yui's leg. Helios quickly acted and opened his menu, equipping his axe Executioner. He couldn't put as much power into his swings underwater, but the cry he heard as his weapon cut into the tentacle told him it had done plenty of damage. The tentacle let go of Yui and retreated down towards the bottom of the lake. Helios motioned for Dagger to get Yui out of the water as he swam upwards.

Dagger and Yui gasped for air as they finally made it above water. Dagger kept a firm grip on Yui as she swam with her towards the shore. A few seconds later, Helios came up from the water. "Dagger! Hurry and get Yui out of the-" Before he could finish, he felt himself get dragged underwater.

"Helios!"

"Papa!"

As Dagger and Yui stared in shock, a large figure suddenly emerged from the center of the lake. It was a large, kraken-like monster that let out a loud cry. It swung Helios around with the tentacle it had wrapped around his leg. Dagger quickly swam away with Yui and got her to the safety line of the shore.

"Yui, stay here."

"But Mama, I-"

"Do as I say, Yui!" Dagger sternly told her, cutting her off. "Your Papa and I can take care of this, so you just stay back where it's safe."

Yui reluctantly nodded her head and Dagger took off swimming towards the monster that still had a hold on her boyfriend.

"Dagger!" Helios complained as he flailed around midair. "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Hang on Helios! I'm coming!" Dagger shouted. She equipped her shortsword and swam up next to the aquatic monster. She gripped her blade tightly and jabbed it into the beast. It let out a loud cry as it let go of Helios, violently throwing him back and sending him crashing into the lake. He soon came up from below, clearly pissed about being treated like a ragdoll.

"We can't fight this thing in the water." Dagger said as she swam up next to Helios. "We need to lure it to the shore where we can move easier."

Helios nodded his head. Just as he and Dagger began swimming towards the shore, they both felt a tentacle wrap around each of their legs. The monster lifted them up into the air and began swinging them around.

"Not again!" Helios complained.

Dagger felt herself get flailed around in the air. She quickly took her blade and ripped the tentacle holding onto her, making her plummet down towards the monster. Dagger activated a sword skill as she fell and her blade lit up with a bright veil. "Take this!"

As Dagger's blade Rip-off pierced the monster's body, it let out a loud high pitched cry. Dagger struggled to hold on and keep her blade lodged into the beast, gradually decreasing its HP with each passing second. Helios didn't want to be left out and finally managed to use his axe to cut off the tentacle holding him. He spun his body around like a cyclone as he fell, gaining more and more momentum. With all his power, Helios ripped his axe into the beast, dealing a large amount of damage and causing it once again to cry out in pain. The combined attacks of the two players managed to finish off the rest of its HP and caused it to shatter into fragments.

Helios and Dagger quickly swam back to shore, collapsing and catching their breath once they had finally made it back.

"Mama! Papa!" Yui cried as she ran up to them. "Are you alright?"

Helios gave a small thumbs up to her, still breathing hard due to exhaustion. "Yeah… Huff… We're good Yui."

"Maybe… we should give lakes a wide berth for a while." Dagger suggested to which her boyfriend could not agree more.

"So what should we do now?"

Curse Yui and her curiosity. Not even five minutes after being put in peril she was still looking to spend time with her parents. "Mama and papa are really tired now Yui. Let's eat lunch and rest for a bit."

"Okay papa…"

It really jabbed at Helios's heart to see Yui look so crestfallen. He patted at the girl's head and smiled at her. "Don't worry kiddo. If you let mama and papa rest, we can have someone special play with you."

"Really? Who is it?"

Helios gave a knowing smirk to Dagger who returned it in earnest. It was time for some payback for this morning.

It wasn't that Alice particularly minded having to babysit Yui. What bothered her was the fact that Helios and Dagger had to go through the process of blackmailing her in order to do so. And a secret that she had told Dagger in confidence no less.

As Alice walked up to the lake that Dagger had mentioned in her message, she could see the couple, along with Yui, standing around. Yui showed her an excited smile and waved to her, which Alice returned in kindness. She didn't dislike Yui. Quite the contrary actually. Yui's innocent playful nature was a welcome relaxer to the stress of fighting monsters every day.

"Hey Alice." Dagger greeted. "Thanks again for this."

"If you really want to thank me, you won't mention that little secret to anyone." Alice told her. "And you won't use it to blackmail me again."

"Hey cut me some slack. Helios and I are exhausted and Yui needs someone to play with."

Alice took notice of how tired the couple seemed. "What happened to you two anyway? Did Yui tire you guys out that much?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Helios groaned. "Just do us a favor and make sure Yui stays out of the lake."

Alice really didn't know what Helios meant by that but decided to just go with it and nod her head. "Alright then. Dry land it is."

"Thanks again Alice. See you later." With that, Dagger and Helios walked away back to the inn on Floor 60. It was just Alice and Yui now.

Alice kneeled down and smiled at Yui. "Alright Yui. Is there anything you want to play?"

"Ummm…" Yui thought to herself for a moment. "I know! Let's play hide and seek!"

"Fine with me." Alice said. "You hide and I'll count to ten."

Yui giggled at Alice. "Bet you won't find me. I'm really good at hiding."

An amused chuckle escaped Alice as she patted the young girl on the head. "We'll just have to wait and see how good you are. Just make sure not to go too far."

Yui nodded her head and quickly took off running while Alice covered her eyes and counted. Doing this reminded her of when she was younger and would play games like this with Mai. It brought a smile to her face. "Eight… Nine… Ten! Ready or not, here I come."

Alice looked around the area, trying to guess where Yui had gotten off to. The woods were too far for Yui to run to in the time Alice had given her. The lake was off limits. That meant there was only one obvious place to hide. The trees near the lake. Alice walked up and tilted her head upwards towards the branches of the tree. The leaves provided a lot of concealment, but there was one tree in particular that she noticed a foot sticking out from the leaves. Alice smirked as she kicked the trunk, making the tree shake. Yui fell out from the branches and plummeted to the ground, falling into Alice's arms.

"Found you, Yui." Alice giggled. Yui began giggling as well and the two girls broke out into laughter.

With the game of hide and seek over, Alice and Yui decided to lay down and relax on the grassy fields. Both girls smiled as they felt the peaceful breeze blow past them.

"It's so nice." Yui smiled.

"Yeah." Alice agreed. "It really is."

Yui sat up and looked at Alice. "Umm… can I ask you a question miss Alice?"

Alice smiled and nodded her head. "Sure, ask away."

"Well… is it alright if I call you Aunt Alice?"

"A-Aunt Alice?" Alice gasped. She hadn't really expected Yui to think of her as an aunt. It had only been a couple of days after all. But in a sense, if Yui really was Helios's and Dagger's actual daughter, it would make sense for Yui to think of her as an aunt.

"Do you not like it?" Yui asked.

Alice shook her head. "N-No, not at all. I don't mind." She gave a reassuring smile to the young girl. "If you want to call me that then go right ahead. Aunt Alice it is."

Yui giggled happily. "Thanks Aunt Alice. Can I ask you another question?"

"Of course, Yui. What is it?"

"You and Uncle Ren have a relationship like my Mama and Papa, right?"

'No one has a relationship like those two.' Alice quietly thought to herself, but she knew what Yui meant by the question. "Yes, we do."

"Do you and Uncle Ren have a kid like me?"

Alice suddenly felt her blood run cold as her face became a blank sheet.

A/N: Well hope you all have a Happy Holidays everyone. This is the last chapter for this fic I'll be posting for the year. But don't worry, I'll have a brand new chapter out for you all next year. See you then everyone.