A/N; Alright hey guys, took me a while but here is the next chapter of my favorite what if ship! Get ready for many reactions that will probably reflect the reader while reading this chapter!

Chapter 7: Heated Metal Helios x Liz Part Five

Lizbeth wiped the sweat from her brow after finishing another one of her smith jobs. Repair jobs were always such a hassle to do since nearly everyone and their grandmothers loved to ignore something so simple as weapon durability. Considering that this was literally a death game, one would be more careful to avoid their weapon breaking but nope, just keep on hitting monsters with them why don't you? But then again she supposed if people went bashing in monster heads then she'd be out of a job.

'Now if only I could get some help moving this stuff. Helios is too busy to ask for help right now…'

"Hey there Liz! How've you been?"

'Hmm, not Helios but she'll do just fine.' Liz turned around to see Asuna walking through the front door and smiled at her. "Oh you know, just the same old stuff. How's the honeymoon life with Kirito going?"

"L-Liz that isn't for discussion!"

The blacksmith gave a laugh at her best friend's stuttering and blushing face while placing down a box of materials. "Relax Asuna it's a joke. I hope married life is all that you thought it was."

The auburn haired girl gave a nod and smiled mostly to herself. Things had certainly been eventful since she and Kirito got married and bought their own place to live in on floor 22. It was for the best that she didn't extend this knowledge just yet but ever since having found a young eight year old girl by the name of Yui in the woods one day, their cabin felt much more homey. Especially since the girl had come to treating the two of them as her mother and father which was surprising to say the least but they loved her all the same.

"Hey Liz, has something happened to you recently?"

The blacksmith turned to her friend and raised an eyebrow to her inquiry. "What do you mean?"

"It's just that I noticed you seem a bit happier lately." Asuna smirked herself and leaned on to the countertop. "Maybe found yourself a boyfriend?"

"Please, like I'd do something so dangerous with someone like you around. I would rather avoid to scrutiny of matchmaker Asuna thank you very much."

"Oh come now, I'm not that bad!"

Liz almost wished there was a way to raise her eyebrow harder at this. "Would your husband, Ren or Alice defend you on it?"

She wanted to raise a hand to defend herself but knew that if it were to come down to it, they would just agree with her friend. Liz hummed to herself seeing her best friend's defeated look and just offered a quick 'that's what i thought' look to her. Asuna stuck her tongue out at the blacksmith who returned the gesture in jest causing the both of them to laugh at how they were acting.

"Anyways maybe something happened and maybe something didn't. Ever think I might be happy just because I'm in a good mood?"

Asuna rolled her eyes hard at that statement. "Oh please, you might as well have confirmed something good happened to you with that."

"Still not telling~!" Liz teased. "If you don't mind though, care to help out a bit?"

"Sure."

The two kept on going back and forth for a while as Asuna helped her with moving materials to their respective locations and helped place the finished orders on their racks. Having an extra pair of hands was always good to have around in the long run. Too bad Asuna was a part of such a large guild and high in charge, she could easily be her apprentice if she applied herself to the blacksmith lifestyle.

That made Liz softly snicker. 'Yeah right. Asuna, a blacksmith? Might as well turn Kirito into a musician then.'

As the two continued their work around the shop the front door opened, catching their attention. Asuna scowled as she saw Helios walk through the door with his axe over his shoulder who raised his eyebrow at the look he was getting from the Blood Oath vice captain. "Oi, what's up with that face?"

"You know perfectly well what this look is for Helios." Asuna started. "Whenever you come to Liz's shop it never ends well for you or anyone involved. Do I need to call Ren over here?"

The ash haired teen walked right past the auburn haired girl and groaned at her threat. "Do you really have to play the tattle tell sibling the minute I come through here? I'm just here for business."

"Watch it Helios, don't think i've forgiven your antics from the past. Remember Sheeptar?"

"I'd rather not remember that stupid boss Asuna!"

"That's not what I was talking about…"

Helios gave her an angered stare of disbelief. "For the last time, I cannot be held responsible for stoned Kirito, that guy is an idiot!"

Before Asuna could continue grilling Helios for information further, Liz held her back by placing a hand on her shoulder. "Asuna calm down. Thanks for your help but you can go now."

"Liz I am not going to leave you alone with this jerk. You know how things get with you and him." Liz had to give Asuna credit for sticking up for her friends but now things were different.

"Um hello, this 'jerk' can still hear you!"

The blacksmith waved away her worries and began moving to the other side of her counter. "Don't worry Asuna it'll be fine. Just go and lock the door behind you, I can handle this."

"Liz…" There was something strange going on at this moment. Both Helios and Liz were looking each other right in the eye with a neutral expression, neither of them showing any clear cut emotion. Not the hatred high, spiteful stares she was used to seeing them give each other. "... Alright I suppose I'll go. Just be careful okay? Don't let him bully you into anything."

"Still standing right here."

"Shut up, I'm leaving."

Both pairs of eyes watched as Asuna left through the door and made sure to lock it before her exit. Once the door shut closed the two looked at each other before cracking smiles and started to laugh after the seriousness left the room.

Liz calmed down a bit from her laughing fit and shook her head from her best friend's overprotective antics. "Sorry about that Helios, she's like an overbearing mother."

Helios moved to his girlfriend and pecked her on the lips to which she returned delightfully. "As long as she doesn't go to Ren and make problems it's fine. You're the only one whose opinion I care about after all."

"Glad you think so highly of me considering not too long ago you'd insult my looks." She quipped which earned her a soft flick to the head.

"Oh stop that. You know things change with time." He pressed another kiss to her lips which was graciously returned. "What matters now is what I think of you at this moment and beyond, not the past."

Much as she loved the feeling of Helios's lips on hers, she had to draw the line once he moved downwards and started to nip at her neck. "Whoa there cowboy, no getting frisky yet. I still have some jobs to do."

He slowly separated from his girlfriend with a disgruntled expression on his face at being cut off but then smirked wryily. "Well then I guess I'll just have to help you get those jobs done as quickly as I can, now won't I?"

"Geez what's flipped your switch?"

"Can't a guy just want to kiss his girlfriend?" He asked while leaning in to go for another kiss.

"Well you can certainly kiss me once we get this stuff done." She moved away from her boyfriend's lips as to prevent her from getting caught up in the passion and walked to her smithy. "Now buckle up Helios, I need that strength of yours to help lift these supplies."

The axe wielder sighed but stood tall as he started to lift the boxes that Liz needed to work with. He wasn't one for blacksmithing or smelting but the determined look on her face as she performed her livelihood made him at least want to help. That look of single minded focus and passion for her work is something that he admired both in respect for her and his personal love.

He watched Liz as she struck the hot metal with her hammer time and time again with such attention to detail. Once the metal had formed into a weapon she got Helios to give her another and another to finish the weapon crafting orders for the day. Before long two hours had already passed for the duo and their hard work at getting these requests done and over with and once Liz decided to hang up her smock for a quick break, Helios pounced upon her and started to kiss her neck once more.

"Alright, what's up with you Helios?" Liz managed to say despite the blissful feeling of her boyfriend's lips on her neck. "You are way too needy today."

Helios stopped kissing her neck and moved his head right in the crook of it. "Ren and Alice were acting all lovey dovey before we split up for the day. Made me want to find and kiss my own girlfriend."

The blacksmith sighed at his explanation and held his head with her left hand. "Why can't we just be open about our relationship Helios? It would things so much easier on us. Heck, you could even move in with me so we could see each other more often."

"I'd love to do that babe but we both know I have a lot of enemies who hate my guts. If we made this public then people would start to get you to get to me and I don't want to put you through that sort of crap." He moved his head from the crook of Liz's neck and stared her in the eyes. "I refuse to call myself a man and let you get put in danger."

The pink haired girl smiled at his worries and gave him a reassuring kiss on the lips. This was a side not many people knew about when it came to Helios. A more softer and careful side to his personality did exist but he was very much against showing it to anyone he couldn't trust. This side showed a lot more care, was less egotistical and much more vulnerable than the usual Helios. This Helios is one of the things that made Liz fall in love with him for. A side she only caught glimpses of before their trip to Grandzam Mountain. " Remember buddy, I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting. I gather most of my materials single handedly so I think I can handle anyone you can."

"Damn woman, you sure know how to make me fall for you even deeper don't you?" he asked as he prowled closer to her face.

"Only for you, my manly psycho." she whispered right back at him.

This flipped both of their switches as they began to make out with each other with just as much passion as they did on the snowy mountainside. All the while not aware of the three pairs of shocked eyes watching them as Helios pinned Liz against the wall to continue their open mouthed kiss.

-Two hours earlier-

Asuna paced back on forth in Lindarth at Floor 48 with incredible worry. It had been quite some time and Helios had still yet to leave from Liz's shop. The only reason she knew this was because of having the both of them on her friendlist which she was thankful to have the foresight not to delete him off it after that goddamned Sheeptar incident. But now this situation had just went from wary to concerning within an instant and she did not like it one bit.

'Kirito can help out. I doubt he'd want his favorite blacksmith to be in any danger.' Asuna rationalized in her head while shooting him a message for help. The reply came back within minutes and it did not look positive.

'Nope, not gonna do it. I had enough of Helios when he had us 'power level' our Alchemy stats. Not jumping into that boat again, sorry Asuna.'

The chestnut haired girl kicked a bit of dirt in frustration. One of the few people Helios was actually shaky against didn't want to help. 'Well I really didn't want to have to get Ren involved but… No dang it! Liz is in danger and she needs your help no matter what she says! It's your job as a best friend!' Moving her reservations aside, Asuna found Ren in her friend list and sent a quick message to meet up with her on Floor 48.

She only had to wait for five minutes before a sort of disgruntled leader of Wyvern's Inferno came through the teleport gate. "Alright what did Helios do this time Asuna?"

"How did you even-?"

"Every time you've called me, it's either been a meeting about a boss raid that was happening soon or Helios started something. I know that we haven't made much progress on the recent floor so it has to be the latter." Ren clarified with his impeccable logic.

Asuna had to hand it to the teen, he wasn't the head tactician for no reason. "Well it's not so much what he's done but rather what he might do. Right now he's at Liz's blacksmith shop and he's been there for the past thirty minutes doing who knows what."

"Couldn't it just be that he's going for a repair visit? Knowing how much trouble he would get in if he started something, I doubt Helios would do something to piss off Liz."

She wanted to take Ren's words at face value, but considering recent events, couldn't find it in herself to do so. "I'm sorry but I cannot trust him while he's by himself. Especially after what happened six months ago."

"Look I get that Sheeptar was-"

"Not Sheeptar Ren, something more recent that that."

This got Ren's attention. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you hear about the sanctioned attack he committed on the Knights of the Blood Oath around half a year ago?" Surely being his leader meant that Ren was constantly keeping tags on his wild tank.

However the tactician shook his head with a solemn look on his face. "I didn't but now I feel as though I should be more involved in his life than I currently am."

"Around that time, Helios showed up to the base of the guild and started throwing rotten fruit and eggs at the front gate while yelling obscenities." She started making Ren immediately groan. "It gets worse. It seemed he tried 'leveling up' his Alchemy stat so he was high off his rocker while doing it."

"Please stop."

"It gets even worse."

The brown haired teen just put his head in his hands out of shame. "Of course it does…"

"Commander Heathcliff decided to send some of our members to deal with him as I was busy at the time dealing with recruiting. He sent Kuradeel, Nautilus and Geoffrey after him." This next part was really painful to say, as it only served to question if this was a guild or a daycare center she belonged to. "Helios kicked all three of their butts without using his weapon. Geoffrey was knocked out in a pond, Kuradeel was hanging off the bridge to the gate and by the time I was sent down to apprehend him, Helios just delivered a pile driver to Nautilus before running away at the sight of me." She really felt bad for the kid, somebody that quiet didn't deserve what happened to him. "Nautilus didn't come out of his room for four days after that."

Ren took in a deep breath while clasping his hands together in polite rage. Once he exhaled and took a bit to compose himself, he turned to the gate and cracked his knuckles. "Okay, time to drag him back in line. This sort of stuff ends today."

"Right, we need to gather a team and make this a sting operation!" Asuna affirmed.

"Yeah let's- Wait why can't we just go now?"

"Ren, just the two of us aren't gonna cut it. What if he gets violent huh? Liz would be in the crossfire." The vice commander shuddered to think what could be happening to her best friend at this moment.

He understood Asuna's worries but found them to be a bit farfetched. Helios was a lot of things but violent to friends? Not really. "I'm sure we can handle it."

"Piledriver. Nautilus. Four days." she reminded.

Then again, Helios did have a habit of acting crazy under pressure. "Fine, I'll get Alice but no one else. He's actually more afraid of her than he let's on."

Deciding that this was the best course of action, Asuna allowed Ren to send a message to his girlfriend so they could all congregate at Liz's smith shop. After a quick catch up session and annoying groans, the trio set forth on their self mandated quest to save Lizbeth from the monster that is Helios.

"So Asuna…" Alice started in an attempt to strike up conversation. "Got any idea as to why Helios would be at his sworn enemy's shop today?"

The long haired girl could only shrug and keep moving forward. "I haven't the foggiest idea. From what it looked like it seemed to be weapon maintenance. But from how they were looking at each other made it seem that something else was going on. Some sinister."

Both Ren and Alice looked at each other with worry. They had already decided that it was for the best not to mention the whole coat situation as they weren't sure who was worse, Match Maker Asuna or Mama Bear Asuna. Putting ideas in the rapier user's head was the last thing the tactician wanted.

Within time, the three of them all made their way to the front of Lizbeth's shop. True to her fears, Asuna quietly jiggled the lock on the door to see that is was still locked shut. She gave a desperate look to her friends who followed her to the front door.

"Don't you have a key to the place? You're her best friend after all."

Asuna shook her head while mentally kicking herself for not thinking of asking for one in the past. "No I never asked for one."

Alice gave a shake to the door and shrugged. "I mean worse case I can always just yank it off its hinges. I can pay for the damages later."

"Hold on Alice, that's a last resort option if I ever heard one. Let's look around the area for a bit and survey the situation." Ren, as always, keep his head cool and wits about him as he guided the girls with plans. "Now I'm sure there must be some windows that would give us visibility without giving our position away."

The chestnut haired girl nodded her head. "Yes there is a window that has a ladder next to it. We can peek inside from a higher ground to reduce our chances of being caught."

"Why does Liz have a ladder outside her house?"

"Well awhile ago she once tried to pick up carpentry as a side skill after mastering blacksmithing but gave up after seeing all the prerequisites it had." Asuna explained. "Shame too, she was looking to expand her business into a larger building."

Ren nodded his head. "I agree, shame. But we'll use that to our advantage. Where is the ladder Asuna?"

"Follow me."

And so the couple did, soon finding said ladder right next to a tall facing window. Although movement was awkward to get all three of them up on it, they found a balance with Ren going first followed by Asuna and Alice on the steps below him. This was done to prevent any sort of 'peeking' to be done at the vehemence of Ren who insisted he wasn't that sort of guy. But as they looked down into the blacksmith's shop, they were utterly horrified at what they were witnessing at the moment.

Helios and Liz had their arms wrapped around in each other, holding their faces close in a very lover like manner before diving into each other's lips with such passion. Ren had to look away from this scene just to slap himself in the face and make sure he wasn't dreaming anything. After affirming that he was indeed awake, he could only watch in grossly fascinated horror as his best friend kissed his sworn enemy.

Alice knew that somewhere deep down in Liz that something was changing between both her and Helios after the coat incident. Something along the lines of mutual respect or dare she say at the time, friendship between them. But she would sooner believe that Akihiko Kayaba was hiding amongst them sooner than she would believe that Lizbeth and Helios would become lovers. One thing was for sure though, she was gonna claim that free upgrade to her scythe.

Now Asuna on the offhand from the stunned couple was both horrified and conflicted at the same time. It scared her entirely that the single most dangerous non killer player in the game was currently making out with her best friend. And she meant REALLY making out as those two were diving down each other's throats at this point. But then again it would also serve to explain Liz's recent jump in happiness during the last few weeks. The pink haired smith seemed so much more alive and cheerful than before, with a can do attitude that seemed to rub off on her.

If becoming Helios's girlfriend was the cause of her jump in happiness, could she truly oppose this and step in between what made her happy?

The found her answer really quick when she saw Helios begin to remove her shirt as Liz did the same to him. And what really pulled the pin on the grenade was when he lifted her up bridal style and started to carry her upstairs.

"NOPE!" Asuna yelled as she rushed down the ladder, not caring for the fact that she brought down Alice and Ren with her. Quite painfully might I add. "NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!"

"Asuna wait!"

Too bad for Ren, Asuna was past listening at this point as she rushed at the door and started kicking at it with all her strength. With one final kick before she could be stopped by the couple, the vice captain kicked down the door to the shop and rushed upstairs to Lizbeth's room. She charged forward with her shoulder and knocked down the door to her best friend's bedroom which nearly caused the shirtless Helios and currently taking her shirt off Lizbeth to jump out of their skins.

"A-A-Asuna!? What are you doing here!?" The blacksmith managed to stammer out.

"What am I doing!? What are YOU doing with him Liz!? He's your worst enemy, your living nightmare!" Asuna yelled incredulously. "Why is he not only making out with you but with you in bed!?"

Recovering from his initial shock, Helios got out of the bed and fixed the vice captain with a dirty look. "Who the hell are you to be asking shit when you broke down her door!?"

Asuna reached to her side and pulled out her rapier, threateningly pointing it at him right at his neck. "Don't you dare say anything else you slimy bastard! Not after what you were planning on doing to my best friend!"

"What? Freaking cuddle with my girlfriend in bed? You don't see me knocking down your house doors and throwing my axe at Kirito every time you guys probably bang!"

Ren and Alice finally managed to catch up with the enraged girl and knocked the weapon out of her hands. Alice pinned down her friend to the ground while the brown haired teen secured the weapon in his grasp. "For the love of God Asuna, what were you thinking!?"

"Why the fuck are you two here!?" Helios screamed.

"I could ask you the same thing! Also stop getting goddamned high, piledriving innocent Blood Oath members gets you nowhere!" Ren screeched at him.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP!"

All arguments, struggles and angry dissolved the moment Liz raised her voice at the four players. Never in her whole life had she felt so betrayed, violated of personal space and embarrassed all in one but here she was. The pink blacksmith sighed while rubbing her temples and wrapped the blanket around her bra clad chest.

"Okay I think it's time to explain what our situation is Helios."

The axe player groaned deeply, both at the stupidity of his friends and the fact that there was nothing they could do to hide this from them any longer. "Alright, start us off babe…"

'Babe!?' Alice had to be dreaming right now.

And so explanations were had about how this whole romantic whirlwind started. From Helios saving Liz from those wannabe sexual harassers to going all the way to Grandzam in order to get the special ingots. What surprised Asuna was the fact that Helios was willing to jump off the mountain to save Liz's life even though he had nothing to gain from it. Perhaps deep down he didn't want to see an innocent person die. Maybe he just wanted his axe and didn't want her to die before getting it.

But the most likely scenario was that Helios was starting to realize he loved her and didn't want her to die without saying anything about it.

"So… Now you guys know the truth." Liz finished awkwardly.

"... Well this certainly explains why you've been less violent as of late, Helios." Ren started. "But we are still gonna have a talk about that kid you piledrived a while ago."

The ash haired teen cursed under his breath at his forthcoming punishment. "Well either way now that you guys know what's up, can you all now screw off so I can spend time with my girlfriend."

"... God it is so weird to hear those words come from that mouth." Alice shook her head. There was no way this day could be topped in weirdness. "Just make sure you don't do anything crazy. Oh and by the way Liz, I'll be ready for my free upgrade."

She mentally cursed herself for having made that bet but just nodded her head as she wanted the uninvited guests to leave all the faster. "Before you guys go. I want you to fix my doors that you broke."

"You mean Asuna broke." Ren pointed out. "She was the one having the freak out, we were just here for backup."

"Ren!"

"Asuna…"

"... Fine where are the tools?"

Both couples smiled at her compliance, but mainly for Ren and Alice because they weren't gonna be stuck with the work. The couple bid Helios and Liz a farewell after promising they wouldn't tell anyone else until they were ready to. Which left the two of them alone with only the sounds of Asuna using a hammer to fix the door she broke.

Liz smiled with relief as she snuggled with her boyfriend under the sheets of her bed. "What a day huh Helios?"

"You can say that again babe." He said while pulling her in close. "That damn Asuna though… Way to kill a mood."

"She was only looking out for me. I bet you'd do the same for Dagger if she was with someone." Liz said, a tiny bit of jealously letting seep through with those words.

Her negative feelings were curbed however when Helios kissed her lips to give her assurance. "Calm down geez. I told you we're just friends and yes I would look after her if something like that happened. But you better believe I'd break anyone who makes a pass at you."

Liz giggled at his own overprotective jealously. "Well glad to know you're just as jealous as I am when it comes to attention grabbing."

"Jealously is a sign of faithfulness, you know?"

An agreeing kiss was placed on his lips. "I can see."

As the two of them began to settle in, a devilish thought came to Helios's head. He turned to his girlfriend and whispered something into her ear that made the girl smile.

Meanwhile downstairs, Asuna sighed with relief once she finished repairing the door. Her payment for her impulsive actions were now paid in full and she could head on home to Kirito and Yui. However just as she was about to turn the doorknob, a sudden sound caught her attention. It was a dull, soft sound but she recogized what it meant and what those two were doing upstairs.

The sound of the bed creaking under moving weight.

She skyrocketed up the stairs in a righteous fury and slammed the door open, taking care this time not to break it. "HELIOS! HOW DARE YO-"

All the wind that drove her up those stairs died once she saw Helios and Liz were just jumping on the bed like a bunch of kids. Her raised fist fell limp to her side as both of them looked at her.

"What's wrong Asuna? Never jump on the bed before?"

"N-No! It's j-just that… I mean I-I thought you w-were…"

Helios raised his brow curiously. "Were what?"

A red blush came on her face in embarrassment the vice commander ran out of the doorway screaming apologies as she left the building. Both the tank and blacksmith laughed at her reaction and fell back down on the bed. "You're terrible, you know that?"

Helios pulled in Liz close to him as he threw the sheets over them. "Hey, got her to leave us alone right?"

"Still kinda mean to her."

"I know I'll pay for it later but it just means I can enjoy more time with you."

Liz laughed as she felt the teen kiss her neck and snuggle deep into her. Some of their friends may have discovered they were a couple but in the end it all went for the best. Aincrad's most unbelievable couple rested easy for the rest of the day, embracing their presence within each other and smiling as they rested.

A/N: And behold, another chapter done! Thanks for reading my longest chapter yet friends and I hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will be a continuation on one I've done before to give these two lovebirds a break. Hope to see you all then!