The sun shone brightly upon the medieval town of Mishe. It was final days of June and the ripe summer days were in full force. Though the upper floors of Aincrad were above us, the sky still looked a bright blue. I wandered excitedly through the cobblestone roads and the cozy looking buildings. Ever since the Assault team cleared out the floor, the town of Mishe had been the place to be for almost all the players that hadn't opted to stay in the Town of New Beginnings. Because it wasn't my masterpiece crafting month, and because I had pleaded Ryou for a week, I got to take the whole day off with Asuna. We had planned this little shopping trip to Mishe for weeks.

"Oh, come on Asuna, just look at these prices!" my voice cheerfully sung out above the sounds of the market. The two chestnut orbs from my friend turned to look at the Non-Player-Character's wares, trying to discern where my excitement was coming from. "You know, there's a shop on the other side of town with much better deals on outfits." I glared at her. Couldn't she let me have my moment? Not even one victory? Was that really too much to ask? "Ugh…I don't want to walk all the way over there, it's like half an hour of walking!" Asuna shot me a look that was riddled with tease and laughter. "Oh please, is your stamina stat really that low?"

That was it. I had to retort. She asked for it. "Oh please Asuna, I can't believe you can't make god like weapons! Gee, you gotta go beg your best friend to make your stuff all the time! Why is your crafting stat so low?!" I grinned smugly. Yep. She wasn't getting away from that.

The resulting poker face was worth all the legendary S-Class food in the game.

"Ugh. Fine." The Lighting Flash huffed, "we'll just teleport there." Grabbing my hand, she pulled out a blue crystal. The Crystal shattered in her hand as she called out a location across the city, and in an instant, we were there. "You're lucky I have hundreds of these." She sneered at me as I brushed her off. "Yeah, Yeah, whatever. Now where is this shop?" Asuna's eyes narrowed with a mischievous glare. "Just you wait, I've got a surprise in store for you." Uh-Oh. "Hey…I don't like surprises." Asuna didn't even acknowledge me, opting to giggle as I followed her through a set of paths before coming face to face with a five-story building.

"Mishe's Clothing Emporium"

"You gotta be kidding me." I spoke out somewhat disappointed. "A five-story building for just clothes?" "I know right!" came the excited reply. I glanced over at my friend. I couldn't tell if she was excited or trying to annoy me. But then I saw how she had her hands clapped together and a giddy look on her face. Ok. This girl was actually excited to go shopping for more clothes. "I learned about this place from Argo, she said it has everything!"

I scratched my read trying to remember where I had heard the name Argo, then it hit me, the rat looking girl who had a ton of information. She had put my name into the player's guide book a month or so ago, saying I made fantastic weapons. I remember how proud Ryou had looked at me when I showed him my store's name appearing in the little book. Our little family had celebrated with more chocolate cake than I could eat that night. Soon they said, they would help me buy an actual shop all of my own, but for the moment, they wanted to stay on the 27th floor as ore was plentiful there. I didn't really mind however, the darkness of the city of Ronbaru was actually very nice to sleep in and it never got too hot out on my vendor's carpet.

A jerk of my hand jerked me from my thoughts.

"Come on Liz! I want to show you something!" Goodness this girl had energy. Smiling I followed her as we dove right into the store.

Five hours ticked by in an instant.

At first I thought I would hate it, I didn't really care too much for clothes since I wore my blacksmithing gear most of the time anyway; but then little by little I found myself falling in love with skirts, blouses, swimwear, coats, stockings…everything! "Look at this!" I found myself crying out as I held up a grayish pink dress. I loved it instantly. I tried it on and looked at myself in the mirror. It wrapped my body perfectly and came down just over my knees. "Yes! I'm so getting this!" Asuna hugged me from behind. "I love it Liz. But how about this?" I got out of her way and looked at her dress. It went down to her ankles and looked equally elegant and fearsome. It was the epitome of knight elegance, its dark red accents contrasting with a beautiful white and gray color. "That looks great! But isn't that like the sixth dress you're getting?" I asked, with a bit of teasing and concern in my voice. I knew I couldn't afford that much.

"Please Liz…" Asuna casually addressed me as she kept looking at herself in the mirror. "I have so much col I don't even know what to do with it." She kept turning in the mirror before nodding to herself as if she was making a very important decision. Turning to me she caught my look of concern as I did the math on my budget. She snapped in front of me as I was looking at my inventory. "Hey Liz. This is my treat; your money is no good here."

I looked at her in shock. "Wait really?!" She blew me off. "I get way more money that I need. The knights also pay me a nice salary seeing how I lead most of the boss raids too." I looked at her in awe. I really was lucky to be friends with her. Yet for all her power, strength, and admiration she garnered from the players, she was still a girl like me. Even in a world like this, one could find a version of normalcy. It was nice to have the chance to kick back and enjoy a day of leisurely shopping. She turned to me as if lost in thought.

"Oh! That's right! There's something I'm totally getting you." I blinked. "Wait hold on, how do you know if I'll like it?" "Doesn't matter. Follow me!" She exclaimed and pulled me right along, the look of joy and satisfaction on her face was enough to get me excited. We made our way to the back of the top floor and then I was flabbergasted to see the labels on the clothes. They were actually trendy work clothes!

"I came by the other day and I just had to show you these." Asuna immediately went to a rack and pulled out a red dress with a white apron. She then held up a set of knee-high brown work boots that seemed to go right along with it. "You have to try this on!" she exclaimed. I cast her a skeptical look before she frowned and extended the clothes towards me. "Try it on…" Half commanding and half teasing. "Alright Alright!" I found myself only donning the clothes to please her.

I stood in the mirror. I looked…like a waitress of sorts.

"Now that looks really good on you!" Her smile was warm and encouraging. "You think so?" I asked as I twirled around in the dress. It looked nice, and it had better stats than my current blacksmithing outfit, "But doesn't it make me look silly?" I countered.

"Nonsense!" the Lightning Flash retorted. "I think you'll actually boost your sales! You can set yourself apart! Stand out from the other blacksmiths! … I mean they are kind of boring…"

"Hey, take that back! We're plenty interesting!" I tried to shoot back, knowing all too well that at a distance, you probably couldn't tell me apart from Gaya when we were forging. "Sure…" Asuna's voice trailed off with a chuckle. "Liz, this looks great on you! Seriously! Plus, you get better stats, you won't get as overheated standing next to a forge all day!"

I couldn't deny her logic. She did have a point. Truth be told, the more I spun in the mirror, the more I realized that red and white dress did seem to suit me well. "Well ok, but even if its better than what I wear, no one will take me seriously Asuna!" I picked at the skirt's edges. Even back in the real world, I didn't really wear flashy dresses. I stuck to pink colors but still rather modest clothes.

"I reckon people will take you more seriously." I turned slowly to look at my friend's serious look. "I'm being honest Liz, you'll be prettier, and you'll be telling your customers that you're way past all the basic blacksmithing skills with this kind of gear on, I mean you are a master blacksmith aren't you?" I took a moment to think on my skills, knowing I still had a way to go… "HEY WAIT! What do you mean I'll be prettier?!" Asuna's eyes narrowed mischievously. "What?" she giggled, "I didn't say anything." Oh she knew how to get on my nerves. But then I took another look in the mirror. She was right. I looked way nicer in this than I did in those heavy leather overalls I used to forge. Not to mention the ragged worn yellow shirt I wore. This red dress was way more my style.

We dropped nearly half a million in col.

I balked when the price tag was finally tallied up. Asuna didn't even flinch. She just smiled at the NPC clerk and handed me my bag with the dresses and items I had picked out. "Here you go Liz, my treat."

She was one hell of a friend.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking through the city's many gift shops and restaurants. We even found a place that made better food than what Asuna could cook with her skill level! I made sure to pay that tab, just watching Asuna pout as she whined about how she would eventually cook that well was worth every penny.

As we headed towards the teleport gate, at the end of a day of much shopping, we suddenly heard a commotion coming from some of the players gathered around the local info broker.

"Anti – Crystal zones are out there! Be Wary! Be Careful!"

I cocked an eyebrow at Asuna. "Anti – Crystal zones? Is this guy for real?" If there was one person I could rely on for good intel, it was Asuna. Seeing how she was on the front lines all the time, there was no doubt she would have run into the trickiest of traps. But the look of concern across her face worried me. "I've heard rumors of them…but just that."

I felt fear all of a sudden, a kind of fear I hadn't felt since the first day in this nightmare. Teleport crystals were the last resort lifeline. If you had one, there was no way you could die! I made sure to carry several any time I went out to grind out levels, and even then I made sure I never went too deep into any dungeon without Zaki or Ryou. It was a literal matter of life and death!

We closed in on the information broker. He held the latest version of the Aincrad Weekly as he preached out to the crowd of onlookers gathered in the square, "Guild wiped out just this week! Only survivor was a beater! Anti – Crystal zones meant no escape!" The crowd of players looked at the broker with disgust and horror.

"The only survivor was a beater?" murmured one.

"I bet he lured his guild in to take all their stuff!" called out another.

"Player Killers are the worst!"

"A beater as a PKer, this just gets even better!" came another sarcastic jeer.

My hand clutched at my chest. I had forgotten so many times that people died in this game. I spent my time in carefully mapped areas. I always knew what to expect. I hated surprises, especially if they could kill me. So, I never took risks. I couldn't, and it's not like Ryou would let me anyway. Goodness, that man would be worried about me soon if I didn't get back to the shop.

But this bit of news changed things. If there indeed were areas where I couldn't use my teleport crystals…I could die…Gaya could die…Zaki could die…I could lose Ryou. My eyes watered up at the thought.

Asuna's voice tore me from my ever-darkening train of thought.

"How do you know this! Who told you?" Her voice unmistakably shook the gathered crowd as she authoritatively addressed the information broker. The crowd now gathered in the middle of the square was muttering quietly. I felt terribly out of place. Just being next to Asuna became a spotlight on me. She was one of the most powerful players in all of Sword Art; who hadn't heard of her legendary charges on the bosses by now? Everyone was muttering about her, and by extension me. I just gripped the bag of clothes tighter and looked down at the cobblestones, suddenly the most interesting thing in the game.

The information broker turned to The Lightning Flash. "Oh well, I thought you would know already." He spoke in a somewhat frightened voice.

"I don't, spill." Came the markedly flat commanding voice. Her entire personality really could change completely from one second to the next.

The information broker seemed to back off a little bit before he shared the information in earnest. "The beater who survived shared the information with one of the information brokers. He said it was a rigged trap that no crystals of any kind worked in the area." Asuna's gaze narrowed. "Why was he the only survivor? Beaters don't join guilds." The broker, looking quite nervous as he stared down one of the most powerful players in SAO, "Well, he said he was much higher than the other guild members, that's all I know!"

A whisper came from the crowd behind me: "I knew it, he used the trap to get their items, what sly dog." I stood horrified. Were people really this cruel? It was just a game. Why kill for items!

Asuna finally stopped glaring at the broker as the crowd watched carefully. The broker timidly extended a copy of the newspaper. "Here's the article, I'm sure the Knights of Blood will find it useful." Asuna began reading the article replying with only half her attention: "We will indeed…" her voice trailed. I could tell she was worried. I was worried for crying out loud, and I wasn't even on the front lines!

The atmosphere was palpably different as we walked to the teleportation gate. "Hmm…here, take this back to your family." Asuna said as she handed the newspaper back to me. "I'll have to talk to Heathcliff about this." I took the paper and tucked it away in inventory. "Heathcliff, is that your guild's leader?" "Yeah, I don't know what we would have done without him when we reached Floor 25…" My memory immediately went back to that day, it had been crazy as Zaki had been crafting all sorts of new weapons for the returning players. Gaya, Ryou and me had spent two sleepless nights fixing all the equipment for the Assault team. We had made money, but not without a deep feeling of sorrow. We had made the blades many on the Assault team had carried into battle…and they had lost nearly a third of the players fighting. The number of people coming back for repairs was much lower than had headed out. If I failed them, with bad equipment…did that mean I was I guilty of killing them?

It wasn't a question I liked to think about…

"Hey Liz, sorry if it got sour towards the end, but thanks for the day off." I blinked, my face probably blank in confusion as I turned to face her. "Hey, don't be apologizing, it was a great day!" I tried my best to put on a cheerful smile for Asuna, but she was clearly lost in thought, probably going over a dozen different battle strategies that could be put in practice. "Oh…you know me…always thinking about winning the next fight."

I put my bag down and took Asuna's hands in mine. "Hey, relax. I'm sure whatever you face next will be beatable. You've made it this far, and I'm sure you'll be soon freeing us all. You're much stronger than us, so try to relax a little ok?" She made an effort to smile at me, smile at my cheerful outlook before letting out a sigh. "I can't relax…not for long anyway…just look at what happened. I go away for a day and then this sort of threat comes up. I have to fight every day. Or we'll never get back to the real world." I squeezed her hands. "It may not be the real world, but right now its all we got, don't beat yourself up over it, there's nothing you could have done against that beater." She let out a small chuckle. "Maybe." She then looked into my eyes before cocking her head to the side and delivering one of the most random sentences ever. "Hey Liz, you should dye your hair pink…"

I once again, stared blankly at my friend.

"What?"

"Dye it pink." Asuna said softly with a smile. "I think it'd look good on you, it would go well with your eyes and dress." I chuckled slightly at the thought of dying my brown hair pink. "You think so?" Asuna's chestnut eyes relaxed as she looked at me. "Yep, for sure," she then looked down and let out small chuckle before looking back at me, "Well I mean if your dad lets you." I giggled at the thought of my adoptive family's reactions to my new looks. Boy would they throw a fit.

"I mean hey, if he thinks of me as his daughter, I gotta have my rebellious phase then, right?"

We stood there laughing quietly by the gate. "Well…I better get going." Asuna ended the moment. "I have to get back to the front lines tomorrow anyway, and its already late." I could sense her steeling herself back up. Locking away her cheery persona back behind the armor and face of The Lighting Flash, the powerful member of the Assault team.

"Right…" I sadly responded. Letting go of her hands she waved a quick goodbye before teleporting to the Knight's headquarters on Floor 25.

Feeling suddenly very alone I stood atop the gate and spoke loudly: "Teleport Ronbaru!"

It had been just over a year since the game started. The December snow was falling thick and heavy once again. The spirit of Christmas was in the air.

Yet nothing was as great as the smell of eggs sizzling on a frying pan. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I drowsily woke up. Growling and groaning as I equipped a simple shirt and pair of pajama pants before making my way downstairs.

I was greeted to Zaki and Gaya making a hearty breakfast in the kitchen. Ryou meanwhile sat by the breakfast nook with the Aincrad weekly in his hands. Smiling at my still sleepy expression he greeted me warmly. "Ah look who decided to get up guys? Did Lisbeth get enough beauty sleep last night?" It was too early to sass him back. "I never get enough sleep…" I mumbled as I sat down at the table. Gaya happily brought a cup of the game's coffee, supposedly it gave some similar effects to caffeine by stimulating my brain through the nerve gear, but it never worked for me.

"So…what's new?" I casually asked, trying to wake myself by drinking the black liquid before me.

Ryou looked down from his newspaper before looking outside at the snow. "Well ever since you dyed your hair and started wearing that blacksmith dress of yours, our profits have nearly doubled." I smiled fondly, remembering how much of a fuss he had raised when I came down from my room with fluffy pink hair. Asuna had totally been right though, it helped me stand out, even if I had to be a rebellious daughter.

Ryou could tell I was smiling at his remarks. "Now while I still think that you should dye your hair back…" I playfully scowled at him. "Its staying pink … Dad." I pretended to go back to my coffee while peeking out just enough to see his reaction. It was a priceless mix of joy and playful anger. He cleared his throat and continued.

"As I was saying, we've made a lot of money…and with the front lines now on floor 56, its about time we expanded upwards." I perked up, not even noticing the wonderful omelet Zaki placed in front of me. With all of us focusing on mostly blacksmithing and light combat, we had plenty of points to invest in cooking, and boy had Zaki done just that.

"So Lisbeth, the guys and I have talked about this, and we feel its time to give you and early Christmas present, your own shop on Floor 48."

It took me a second to process what he was saying before it hit me.

My own shop?! Where I could run my own business? Close to the front lines?!

"What! Are you serious?!" I yelped as I stood up at the table. Ryou nodded with a broad smile. I couldn't believe him. I glared right at uncle Gaya. "Is he for real?!" I shot at him, as he struggled to keep his own grin under control. "Of course, Liz! We've been planning this for a few months now, but the money you've brought in really helped seal the deal!" Zaki chuckled and joined in. "I can't tell if you're mad or happy Liz!"

I sat back down in disbelief.

My own shop, I'd be having my own place.

"YES!" I finally exclaimed, letting the wave of giddiness wash over me. "MY OWN SHOP!" The coffee finally hit me as I jumped up for joy. "This is awesome!" I nearly leapt over the table and tackled Ryou with a hug. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" I couldn't stop the happiness from infecting every bit of my body. A virtual shop shouldn't have been such a big deal, but when this game became your life…when it seemed to be the only thing you could regard as reality, such an achievement meant so much more. Especially when you had such a close family to share your joy with.

I spent the rest of the morning discussing all sorts of layouts and equipment for my store. I couldn't stop talking about it. It was going to be amazing! It was around midday when we went up to city of Lindas. It was one of the newer floors and lots of people were filtering about, checking wares and buying all sorts of rarer items. It was after all close to the holiday season, and even if people were trapped in a death game, it didn't hurt to try and celebrate.

The little building was just perfect. It sat atop a little hill and had access to a river that ran right by it. A single large water wheel provided power for a myriad of sharping tools, and the furnace was much bigger than anything I had used before, including the one in our shop on floor 27!

"This is huge! I can prep all kinds of metal ingots in here!" I exclaimed much to the approval of Ryou who was setting down some boxes. "Of course you will, don't forget young lady, since you do have the highest blacksmithing skill here, only you can make the kinds of rare artisan swords that truly impress…we'll be sure to give you plenty of work to keep you busy." I let out a mock complain. "Oh how you all just work me into the ground!" I couldn't quite make it seem sincere though, I was just too excited.

It wasn't until the late evening that I felt somewhat satisfied with my progress moving in.

I had my room upstairs filled with most of my personal belongings, including the vast wares of clothes Asuna had bought for me, and the shop downstairs was beginning to take shape. I had decided to spend the night by myself here, seeing how it was too far to be commuting between the old family shop and this one.

Swords lay strewn across the floor. Cabinets and Racks still hadn't been put together and I found myself standing next to a corkboard near my forge.

I sighed for a moment as I pinned up a picture.

It was almost a year old…I still had my brown hair and I was waving my hands wildly with a happy grin on my face. Gaya stood behind me to the left in the picture and Zaki stood to my right, Ryou stood in the front with his trademark solemn expression. We had taken it when we first bought the shop on Floor 27. The sign was nearly identical to this shop.

We seemed happy. We seemed … normal. Odd wasn't it? To think of normality in a place like this… A game where people's lives hung in such a precarious balance. Where life and death were rolling dice for rights over our fate. I clutched my chest as I thought over the past few months.

Ever since the appearance of Anti-Crystal zones, I had been training less and less. I still went out if Uncle Gaya or Zaki went with me, or better yet, if Ryou was my rear guard, but I almost never went into dungeons anymore. You couldn't make me. I didn't want to take the chance at all. Sure, I was level 49 by now, and I could probably survive a few threats, but the fear of dying took ahold of me. I wasn't the only one. Even Ryou and the others didn't go out hunting on their own. When they did, they tried to team up with some of the other blacksmithing and artisan guilds.

There was something to be said about strength in numbers. The Player Killers guilds out there didn't like even odds, so they went for solo players. Still, at some point, we ended up risking our lives anyway to keep leveling up and stay in business. For as peaceful as a life of nothing but crafting sounded, I eventually had to get materials, and I couldn't always just buy them. So any time I had to get rare ores, I felt scared. It was why I had turned to Agil, a strong axe wielder who also ran a goods shop. He had a reputation for driving a hard bargain, but he always seemed to treat me politely. Agil, along with a group of other shop owners, worked closely with my blacksmithing family. He seemed to try and get me amazing deals on all sorts of rarer ores to use so I didn't have to go risking my neck. When he first approached us, I already had a pretty well-known reputation as a crafter of some powerful weapons. Asuna's Lambeth Light was still the talk between the top tier players as a legendary blade, but I was also known for being fair. That seemed to stand out to him. He seemed to naturally want to keep me helping other players in a fair manner. His attitude towards treating people fairly reminded me of Ryou's outlook on the game.

After Asuna paid me so much for her sword, I had gone to Ryou to pitch increasing our prices. He had shaken his head solemnly and reminded me of why we were blacksmiths in the first place. "Its not a game Lisbeth…" he had spoken, I could hear his voice clearly in my mind. "This is a virtual jail of death, we can't try to rip players off. We're here to help them out every step of the way, not steal from them so they can't afford other gear. We all have to help each other. Charge a fair price Lisbeth, and you'll be treated fairly in return."

His voice was soothing in my mind. He was right too. I had to focus on helping others…making sure others could fight for us.

That was when I realized I had never spent a night without someone from my adoptive family. Right from day one, they had been there for me every night, making me feel protected, safe.

I swiped my hand to pull up messages. Without even thinking I sent him what I was feeling: "Hey Ryou, I feel lonely without you guys, thanks for having taken me in a year ago. I wouldn't be here without Dad."

"I'll always be there for you Lisbeth, don't you ever forget that." came the swift reply.

I felt a small tear streak down my cheek as I smiled before getting to bed. He really would always be there for me. No matter what. What would I do without him?

A/N: Sorry for the sort of fluff chapter, but I had to set up a lot of things that will matter later. Also, as you may have noticed, I've been editing the other chapters. Think of this a sort of living document? As I comb through typos and think of better ways to phrase things, you'll seem me editing lots of things. Thanks for reading!