Chapter 12

Authors Note: NOT DEAD EVERYONE! Alright, you lot deserve an explanation. So, I hadn't fixed my pop-up problem, but now I have. Completely gonzo. Promise. I was also busy working on ANOTHER STORY. I know, shocking, right? Yeah, that's a RWBY x Prototype crossover story that I'll be posting after the completion of Aincrad. Also, I have to address a few of these reviews, because GODDAMN, THEY MADE ME HAPPY. SERIOUSLY, HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I LOVE IT WHEN YOU GUYS REVIEW? Anyway... J: I fucking loved this review. Seriously, I let out a cheer when I read it. Made my week.

I woke up with Liz nuzzling her shoulder deeper under my arm, resting the top of her head under my chin. I smiled, and prepared to fall back asleep, but decided to stay up and appreciate this moment.

I had to do that, now and then. Unlike others, I'd almost constantly reminded myself that this was nothing more than a video game. There were no ghosts (I'm looking at you, Schmidtt), this wasn't my real body, and the real me was lying comatose in a hospital somewhere. But…with the early sun just peeking through the window, and Liz's warm body pressed against my side…I could almost pretend that it was all real. It was moments like these that kept me grounded, reminded me of what mattered. It was moments like these that kept me sane.

I checked the time, and regrettably…It was time to get up. "Liz," I said softly. She didn't respond. "Liz," I said, a bit louder and shaking her shoulder slightly. She groaned.

"Wha…"

"Time to get up."

She shook her head softly, wrapping her right arm across my stomach, pinning me to the bed. "Nope. 5 more minutes."

"Didn't Asuna say she was gonna drop by early this morning?" I said. "You need to get ready for her."

She groaned again. "Why do you have to be the buzzkill?"

"Because I take a sick, perverse kind of pleasure in it. You think I don't want to fall back asleep? She's the crazy one, turning up this early."

She sat up, shaking her head slightly to rid herself of the slight bed-head. "Well, come on. We'd better cook breakfast then." I spun in place, putting my legs over the edge and touching my feet to the cold ground. Officially the worst part of the morning. I stood, opening my menu and changing from my pajama pants to my regular pants.

"I'll start eggs if you make tea?" I offered.

"Cool," she replied, having already changed behind me. She wasn't in her ridiculously poufy, though admitably adorable, work uniform, rather a baggy pink shirt and white leggings. We crossed from our bed on one side of the second floor to the small counter and stove that made up the kitchen. I drew some eggs and a pan from my inventory, and got the stove cooking, and soon the smell of fried egg filled the house. "Oh, I wish I could wake up to this every morning," Liz said, finishing her tea and starting mine. "I rarely wake up in time to have breakfast in the real world."

"That explains why I'm your human alarm clock," I said. She grinned, taking a sip from her drink. "Besides…someday…" I said the words without realizing the scope of them, and sort of paused. Did I need to finish that sentence? Or would she know what I meant? Because I didn't know exactly what I meant, so if she asks-.

"Yeah?" she asked. "Someday what?"

I scrambled for an explanation. "Someday…W-We'll be able to do this every day," I said, smiling in her direction. Her grin split from ear to ear as her eyebrows rose, and I turned back to the eggs in a mixture of embarrassment and concern for our burning breakfast. I felt her arms wrap around my stomach, and her chin rested on my shoulder.

"Now I remember why I married you," she said.

"What? Because I can make awkward assumptions about future breakfasts?"

She laughed. "Because you're confident in us."

"Of course I am," I said, turning my head so I could kiss her cheek. "We're us." She smiled, and then went back to my side to finish the tea. "Speaking of the real world," I started, "I was thinking the other day."

"Oh, that's dangerous," she joked.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, what do you think happened to our real bodies?" She paused, staring into space for a minute.

"I assumed we were in hospitals, you know? Because a few times in those early days, most people passed out for a few hours. That must have been from the lack of internet, while they moved them to hospitals. You have to be offline for a while before you're automatically logged out and killed."

"Yeah, but a couple of people passed out a few times. I had to carry one guy into a safe zone when he collapsed for the second time in the field. And people passed out for hours…Maybe…"

"What are you thinking over there?"

"Well, if I was in government, I would have moved us all to a central hospital, you know? Clear out one that would be most convenient, and just fill it up with SAO players. It might take a few hospitals, but that's how I would have done it. We'd be easier to take care of, and we're all just there, so it'd take fewer people to staff. Just seems convenient. I doubt that's how they did it, though."

"Can we talk about something else, please?" Liz and I weren't opposed to talking about the real world, like some players, but we tended to stay away from darker subjects.

"Of course. What would you like to talk about?"

"…Tell me about Amy?"

There was a long moment where the only sound was the sizzling eggs in the pan. "Anything in particular?" I asked. She shook her head, and I smiled, sifting through a few memories. "Did I ever tell you about 'Get down, Mr. President'?" I asked. She gave me a perplexed look, and shook her head again. "I think it was the summer of 2016 that she came to Japan with a new game. We gathered up what few friends she'd made, and she explained the game. You have a group of people, and spontaneously, one person puts their finger to their ear, as if answering an earpiece. If you see someone do that, you do it yourself, and the last person who hasn't done it is the president. It is then everyone else's job to tackle the president to the ground, and shout 'get down Mr. President!' hence, the name of the game.

"Well, I decide to sit the game out, because I'm two years older than her and all her friends, so I might hurt someone if I tackle them. The first game, Amy is the president and three people tackle her to the ground at the same time. There's a shout, and they get off her, and she's cradling this sprained ankle, crying softly. Immediately, I'm like 'I've got to get her home, and then mom can get her to the hospital.' So I get her up on my back like old times, and start running home. The entire time, I'm verbally beating myself up, repeating 'you idiot, how could you let that happen,' things like that in both English and Japanese. And I just hear this slight giggle from my back.

"'You couldn't have known,' she says. 'It's not your fault. I shouldn't have played that stupid game on the concrete.' Here she is, with a wrecked ankle, being shaken around on my back, and she's coaching me away from my self-berating. And that's when I knew she was gonna turn out okay."

I'd finished the food during the story, and we began eating at the small table against the wall.

"She sounds better and better every time you talk about her," said Liz.

"Yeah, well, words don't do her justice. I'll have you two sit down and have a chat when we get out of here."

"Are you going out into the fields today?"

"No, clearing group just finished setting up, so they're all over the dungeons. Going in today is just begging to get tailed, and that new orange guild Thieves' Haven is gonna have spies all over the field, waiting for solos like me. I'll go in a few day's time, I already got some rare items from it."

"Oh, yeah! No wonder Asuna's coming by early, she wants to get her rapier in peak condition for the dungeon!"

"Well, we better get down there," I said, popping the last bit of egg into my mouth, and putting the dishes in the sink. I opened my menu, and we both changed. I put on my leather jacket, keeping the hood down, as I'd be hiding in the forge all day. I turned, and she'd changed into the cute uniform. Most blacksmiths wore rigid clothes, to imitate the real risk that blacksmith's face of catching loose clothes in the fire. Not Lisbeth. Liz wore a dark red top with puffed sleeves, and a flared skirt of the same color, with a pure white apron over all of it, and a red ribbon at the neck. Like I said, adorable.

I walked into the forge and sat against the wall as she went to open the shop and greet customers. The next few days were going to be dull, mostly planning, analyzing map data, and watching Liz work. She entered, and pulled the lever on the wall that activated the furnace. The polisher started spinning from the waterwheel, and she took a piece of metal from her inventory and put it in the furnace. She waited until it was hot, she moved it over to the anvil with some tongs, then pulled up her hammer and chose the type of item she was trying to make. What I loved about how she worked was that normally, there was no skill involved. Hit the metal a few times, bing badda boom, you got a weapon. But she put her heart and soul into every piece. She concentrated, raised the hammer slowly, and started to swing, when-

"Hey, Liz!" shouted Asuna from the doorway. Liz gave a yelp, and hit the anvil instead of the metal. Liz shot an annoyed look at the doorway, and Asuna scratched her head and stuck her tongue out. "Sorry, I'll be careful next time."

"I wonder how many times I've heard that…Well, at least it was before I started." She moved with a sigh, placing the metal back into the furnace. "I was hoping to finish that before you got here. Alright, hand it over," she said, raising her arms to take the rapier that Asuna gave out. Liz removed it from its sheath, glancing at it. "It's not that out of shape, is it? It's a bit early for polishing."

"Yeah, you're right. But I want it to be all shiny."

"Hmm?" Liz hummed. She gave Asuna another once over, and I took in her appearance as well. All seemed normal with her outfit, except for her boots, which shone like they'd been just bought, and she was wearing a pair of silver earrings. Liz came to the same conclusion I did. "You've been strange…Today's the first official day of dungeon clearing. What about your guild's clearing quota? Didn't you say you guys were having a hard time with the sixty-third floor?"

"Really?" I asked. "Because those elves in the caves are bitches. They act tough, but they can't take many strong hits." Asuna jumped, finally noticing me sitting against the wall.

"No, it's not that. I-I got a vacation today. Because I have a promise with somebody later today…"

"Oh!" Liz took a step closer. "Tell me, who are you meeting?"

"Se-secret!" Asuna stammered, blushing and refusing to look Liz in the eye. Liz grinned, then crossed her arms.

"Ah, I thought you were brighter these days. So you finally got yourself a boyfriend."

"It-It's not like that!" She blushed further, then coughed. "…Am I really that different now?"

"Of course! When I first met you, you were always concentrated on clearing dungeons! I thought you were a little too stiff, but then, starting this spring, you began to change a little; like taking a rest on a clearing day, that's something you would never have done then."

"Ri-Right…maybe I have changed."

"So, who is it? Someone I know?"

"I…Don't think so…"

"Bring him over next time."

"It's really not like that! It's…kind of a one-sided deal."

I was kind of surprised. Asuna was very pretty, in her own way, and I knew there were plenty of guys that wanted her. But someone not liking her? Unheard of.

"Hmm?" Liz hummed questioningly.

"Well, y'know, he's a really strange person."

"Should I say that he's unpredictable, or that he just takes everything at his own pace…but he's really strong, despite all that."

"Oh? Stronger than you?"

"Yeah. If we dueled, I wouldn't last a minute."

"Hey, Seth! Who can do that?" she shouted to me.

"Well, let's see…I can think of 7 definite yes', 4 of which are guys, and one of which is sitting right where I am."

Asuna began waving her arms. "Don't imagine him!"

"Well, I'll look forward to seeing him soon. And if that's the case, I'll rely on you for advertising as well!"

"You never miss a chance. I'll introduce him. Oh!" she yelped, checking the time. "Polish it, quickly!"

"Right, I'll get it done."

It was the next day that Kirito came.

(X)

Liz had finished most of her current weapon orders yesterday, and had just finished the list. "That's the last of them," she said, wiping her hands on her apron. "Nap time," she said, sitting against the wall next to me, and leaning her head against my shoulder.

"You do know that we have a bed upstairs."

"Nope. Your shoulder's better."

"Whatever. Hey, did I ever tell you about the best phrase ever?"

"No…What is it?"

"I heard this from some Australian I met on a random chat site. Ask me about something obvious. Like, pretend we're in a bar. Ask me if I want a drink."

"Okay…Do you want a drink?"

"Well, I'm not here to fuck spiders." She sat up straight, and stared me in the eye.

"WHAT?" she shouted.

"I'm not here to fuck spiders!" At this point, she'd collapsed into laughter.

"That," she said, wiping a tear from her eye, "is the stupidest thing I have ever heard!"

"But it's funny!" I protested. She collapsed back against my shoulder, the occasional giggle escaping now and then.

"Stick to being a pillow. Jokes aren't your thing."

"Are too."

"Go on then, tell a funny story."

I thought for a second, scanning the obscure bits of my mind. "Did you know that the first president to give an interview to a female reporter was John Quincy Adams, and it's only because she caught him skinny dipping in the Potomac, and sat on his clothes until he answered her questions?" She shook her head, burrowing it deeper into my shoulder.

"Nope."

"How about the next time I see someone, I say 'Fear me mortal, for I shall steal your life source.' And they'll go like 'What, my soul?' And I'll say, 'No, your Wi-Fi'." That time, she laughed. Then I think she dozed off.

God, how lucky was I? Trapped in a Death Game, and I had the most beautiful girl in the world taking a nap on my shoulder…On second thought, those two things sort of cancel out, but still! I just…I just hated that we couldn't do normal stuff. Normal couple stuff. Every day I went out to risk my life fighting monsters, and she stayed to forge deadly weapons. We couldn't just go catch a movie, or an amusement park, or just decide to bake a cake and get more ingredients on ourselves than in the pan. I just wanted my life back.

There was a knock at the front door, and it'd be weird if the Reaper started being the receptionist for Liz. So I decided to wake her up. I shook her shoulder a little, and said "Liz?" She jumped awake.

"Ye-Yes! Sorry!" I stared at her, as she took in her surroundings, shaking off her dream.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just…thought you were a teacher of mine from a while ago."

"Well, there's a knock at the door."

"Ugh, I don't wanna deal with customers, can't you do it?"

"Oh, yeah, the Reaper as a secretary, that'll be great for business." She reluctantly stood, and walked out of the forge. I heard her open the door.

"Welcome, are you looking for a weapon?"

"Erm, yes," said a voice I didn't recognize. I could barely hear them over the water wheel, though.

"Well, the one-handed display is over here…" She said it kind of reluctantly, and I could tell she thought the kid didn't have enough money. Her stuff is very high quality, and thus very highly priced.

"Ah, well, I wanted to order a custom made one…" Oohh, those were even worse. Cheapest ones were 100,000 Col these days.

"The price of metals right now is a bit high, so I think it might be a little expensive," said Liz, trying to steer the conversation away from those, without suggesting that he might be too poor.

"You don't have to worry about the price. Please just forge the best sword that you can right now." Okay, I wanted to see this guy. I got up, flipping up my hood and stepping out of the forge. I glanced up at the supposed poor kid, and saw Kirito.

"Hey, Kirito! It's been a while. Haven't seen you since…What, 62's boss fight?"

He nodded in my direction, looking slightly confused. "Seth. What are you doing here?"

"Um…I live here?"

"Wait, you married Asuna's best friend?"

"Damn right."

"Wow. You said you lived in Lindas, but…" Liz looked at me incredulously.

"Wait, THIS is Kirito?"

"Yup. Looks almost sickly, but he packs one hell of a punch."

"Hey!" he shouted, looking insulted.

"It was a joke," I droned in his direction. Customer and Owner turned back to each other.

"I still need some idea of the stats you're looking for."

"Well, then." He took the sheath off his back. "How about something the same as, or stronger, than this?" She tried to take it, but nearly dropped it. I reached out and held it up for her. It was a bit weightier than what I was used to, but nothing I wouldn't be able to wield. I took it out of its sheath for her to examine, and immediately was drawn to its stat screen. No maker. This thing was a monster drop? It had to be a demon sword, nothing else would get that high of a damage stat.

But now I knew Liz would go all out to beat the system. If I ever picked up a scythe in a monster drop that was better than my equipped one, all I had to do was show her the stats, and she'd go into the forge, and come out with one better than both combined. She wasn't going to be shown up by some random number generator. She motioned for me to give the sword back, while she picked one off the wall. She'd forged it a month ago, I think.

"This is the best sword in my shop right now. It probably won't lose to yours."

He took the sword, giving it a once over. He swung it once. "It's a bit light," he said.

"I used a speed type metal to forge it…"

He made a doubtful expression, then swung it a few more times. He turned his gaze back to her. "Mind if I test it?"

"Test what?"

"It's durability." He drew his sword, and put it on top of the counter. He then raised Liz's sword in his other arm. I realized what he was going to do, and sat back to watch.

Liz realized it too, and tried to reach over the counter. "Wait! If you do that, your sword will break!"

"If it's a sword that breaks so easily, then it's useless. I'd rather deal with it here than in the field."

"That's…"

With a shout, he swung the sword down. The two blades clashed with a shower of sparks, and…Liz's blade was broken completely in two. Her best work. Uh-oh.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" she screamed and grabbed the hilt. "Irreparable…" she muttered. I felt sorry for her, but also amusement. She wasn't going to take this lightly. It was a challenge now. The sword shattered, then grabbed Kirito's collar. "What did you do that for?!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't think yours would be the one to break!"

Uh-oh. Again.

"In other words, my sword was weaker than you thought it would be?!"

"Erm…Yeah?" She pushed him back over the counter, and put her hands on her hips, straightening her back.

"I'll tell you, if I had the right materials I could make weapons that would snap your sword in two!"

"Oh? I'd like one. One that could snap this one in two."

"I could use a new scythe as well, while we're at it," I said. She glanced at me. Oops, that was the WRONG thing to say, but she didn't seem to mind too much.

"So that's how it's gonna be? Fine! Then you both have to help! Starting with the ingredients!"

"Well, if you don't mind…I think I should just go by myself."

"Eh?! You don't think we're good enough to go with you?"

"Oh, I know he is," he said, nodding in my direction. "I don't even know you, though."

"She's fine," I said. "She can more than handle herself."

"Fine, then. I'll pay for that sword I broke, by the way," he said.

"There's no need to do that." She grinned sadistically. "Just remember that if I make a sword that's better than yours, I'll make you pay me bucket loads!"

"As much as you want," he said dismissively. Oh, this was going to be fun. I ended up making the tea this time, as Kirito and Liz discussed where to get the materials. Liz brought up a rumor everyone had heard of. Supposedly, on the 55th floor, some old NPC would talk about a white dragon that collected and ate rare crystals. Those crystals built up in its stomach, forming an ultimate ore. But the thing was, the dragon had been defeated countless times, but no one had any ore. Just some shitty equipment and a few hundred Col.

"I've heard about this," said Kirito, sipping the tea I'd placed in front of him. "There does seem to be a chance to get rare ingredients. But would we get anything if we go?"

"One of the theories is that you need a blacksmith in your party. No one's tried it yet because there aren't many blacksmiths who level up combat skills."

"Well, if that's the case we should get going soon," I said, and Kirito nodded. She glanced at me.

"How have either of you survived this long? We need to form a good party, and-"

"But if we do that, there's a chance we won't get the item when it drops, right?" I said. I knew that Kirito and I were more than enough to take down a dragon mini-boss on the 55th floor, I was just messing with Liz. It'd make her more in awe of us when we took the fucker down. She grinned and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. The two of you teleporting away seems funny." Kirito chuckled, and finished his tea.

"Well, let's go."

(X)

We walked behind Kirito to the teleport gate, my arm wrapped around her shoulder. "This friend of yours broke my masterpiece," she said.

"Yeah, he tends to break things. Don't worry, this'll make you do better."

"How do you figure that?"

"You'll want to make something to break his sword. And you'll do it. If anything can break the strongest monster drop, it's one of your swords."

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Know what to say. It's cheating, I never know what to say around you."

"If you don't know what to say, I'd love to see you when you're normal."

"Are you saying I'm not normal?!"

"Eh…."

(X)

After listening to aforementioned old man go on and on…and on about his entire life, he finally mentioned a fleeting encounter he'd had with a dragon a few years back, and the quest activated. We stepped back out into the cold and ice of floor 55, and I noticed two things. One, that about an hour had passed, we were about an hour or two from sundown and, Two, Liz started shivering again. She'd done that when we got here, but it was a short walk from the gate to the house, so I hadn't thought much of it. But up the mountain was quite a climb. I knew she didn't have any warm clothes in her inventory, as she usually sent me out for materials when she needed them. So, as we left the relatively empty town and entered the actually empty field again, I shrugged off my coat, and handed it to her. She glanced at me, then at Kirito, who'd already engaged in battle with some yeti looking thing. "Are you sure…?" she tentatively asked.

"It's fine. I've gotta start trusting him at some point, if we keep running into each other." She smiled, and took the coat. I equipped some light grey, regrettably hoodless, jacket, and jumped into the fray. After defeating the beast, Kirito noticed the wardrobe change, and looked me in the eye, giving a nod.

"You should take your coat off more often."

"Is that so?" I asked, adding all the sarcasm and innuendo I could into the limited amount of words.

"Th-that's not what I meant!" he stuttered, and Liz and I practically died of laughter.

(X)

The roof of this floor was very close by the time we got to the top of the mountain, couldn't have been more than 20 meters away. The purple light of the setting sun refracted through the ice crystals that jutted from the ground and scattered into a rainbow. It was beautiful, but Liz cheered when she saw it and tried to dash forward. I reached and caught my hood as she tried to break into a sprint. "What are you doing?" she asked, indignant.

"Safety margin," I said. She nodded, and brought out our back-up plan, materializing our teleport crystals. I smiled, then spoke again. "It gets dangerous from here on out, so I want you to find a big crystal and hide behind it. Do not come out, understand?"

"Why? My level's high, I can help!"

"No." I stared into her eyes, trying to communicate that I needed there to be NO possibility of her being in danger. If that happened, I would abandon Kirito without hesitation, which would be easy in the moment, but would weigh heavily later if he died. After a few moments, she let out a sigh, and agreed to back off. "Alright then," I said, patting the top of her head. She huffed, irritated, and I smiled. We continued to walk until coming across the center of the peak. There was no dragon, but the crystals got thicker around a hole in the mountain. It was about 10 meters in diameter, and its depth faded into darkness.

"That's really deep," said Liz, peering over the edge. I lightly pulled her back as Kirito kicked in a loose crystal, which fell into the darkness without a sound.

"Don't fall in," he said simply.

"As if I would!" she said. A second later, there was a sharp screech from the cave, that echoed across the mountain. Instantly, I was steering Liz towards the largest crystal in the area.

"Go! Hide behind that!" She started yelling instructions as she left.

"It uses slashes, breath attacks, and blizzard assaults! B-be careful!"

"Go!" I shouted again. I turned back to Kirito as she ducked into safety. I walked up to Kirito as the ground began to shake. "So, I heard something about breath attacks?"

"Yeah," he said as a huge shape loomed out of the darkness. "I should be able to block that…"

"Don't bother. Pole weapons like a scythe have an air attack deflect skill. That'll work better than a simple deflect from a sword."

"So…What? You block the air attacks, then I'll switch in, and I'll block the physical attacks, then you switch in?" The dragon was nearly out of the hole, its cries still piercing my skull.

"That's using your head," I said, spinning my scythe out of its sheath, and Kirito drew his sword. A huge dragon covered in ice-like scales had appeared. It slowly beat its huge wings while hovering a few meters above the ground. It stared with large red eyes at us, sending a menacing look our way. I responded with a glare that I'd seen send soldiers running without even looking me in the eye. It blinked first, and despite it probably being a random occurrence, I felt accomplished. It must not have like that, because it began its breath attack. It opened its huge mouth.

"Seth…" said Kirito.

"I got it," I said, taking a step forward.

"That's the breath attack! Get out of the way!" Liz shouted from her hiding spot. Man, it'd been a while since she'd seen me fight. I started up the air deflect skill as it sent out a spray of white gas.

My avatar took my scythe and put it in front of me, and began spinning it. The entire weapon took on the appearance of an electric fan, and when it made contact with the gas, the gas simply disappeared. It didn't block ALL of it, but my restoration ring on my right hand filled in the empty spots on my HP bar. It was practically nothing compared to something like the 'Battle Healing' skill, but I was still 40,000 damage points away from earning that.

Kirito, still behind me, accurately predicted the end of the attack, leaping over me and attacking the dragon in midair. I sat back to watch, enjoying his technique. Kid was fast, I had to give him that. He'd gotten it down a third by the time it could retaliate with its claws. Then he was parrying the strike, opening up its underbelly for me to carve up. I leapt at it, dragging the blade across its belly, before catching on one of the crystals and jumping up to its chest. I buried the blade in its neck, and it screamed as its health dropped significantly. It immediately changed from yellow health to red health. Good, we were almost done here. Suddenly…

"C'mon, finish it off already!" shouted Liz. I glanced, crazed as I saw her.

"Don't come out yet!" I screamed, but it was too late. The dragon flew higher than ever, fully expanding its wings. They beat forward, and the snow went flying with a bang…along with Liz. "Lisbeth!" I shouted, dropping into the wind. I blew around in the gale, before finally banging into something solid as the snow cleared. Kirito, Liz, and I were all hovering momentarily, all dazed, and all about to fall into that huge cavern. "Hold on tight!" I yelled as we began to fall. Kirito could handle himself, decided, allowing him to drift as I spun Liz. She was on top of me now, yelling into my chest. I braced for impact, and then…I was unconscious.