Lisbeth Fanfics

Dark...

Wherever the eye can look there is only darkness that will soon be stopped by a dark wall taller than Tokyo Tower.

It would be nice, watching that giant building over the sunset as I eat something cold with my friends... but now I am stuck in this world of death.

As soon as the great presence in red, the Game Master, announced that upon dying in Sword Art Online there was no respawn, be it in the game or in real life, Lisbeth knew that she would not be able to have fun like before again.

Through the help of some friends she found in the game, she became a blacksmith, always with a smile on her freckled face but many times it was never real. Of course, she had good and funny moments with The Lightning Flash, but all of those did not last long enough.

Nothing was real for her in this strange game, not even the pain she felt as monsters hit her countless times due to her recklessness in combat.

Following her choices and consequences, the fluffy, pink short-hair blacksmith encountered herself on the ground about to faint, right after being able to defeat twenty monsters who were of inferior level than her.

Her consciousness kept fading, always thinking that this might be finally the time. She was ready, all that was left was for her to close her eyes and let monsters respawn.

She dived into a dungeon by herself without telling anyone, she clearly knew the consequences of trying to go solo, but her greed talked louder than her common sense. She had a good amount of dropped items, there was no need for her complain.

“How much HP left?” She sighed as her eyes concentrated on the left corner of her vision. A white horizontal bar which should be full and green was painfully red with only a few pixels left. In her inventory was enough to fully restore her health, but fatigue from her previous battles completely restrained her movements.

“How cruel this system is...” With a tiny laugh after noticing her condition, her eyes concentrate on the numbers coming right after her HP bar. “Level 76... I came far even though most EXP was earned through crafting...”

Oddly enough, her humor kept striving to leave her tears far away from her eyes, but they still cried. She was ready, all she needed was to wait, but even so, she did not want to die. Her spirit wanted to live and return to the real world, together with everyone.

Be it the dagger user, Silica which she met through a recommendation from someone, or Asuna which has been her great friend from SAO. Or even... Kirito, the Black Swordsman who will surely freed them from this constant torment.

All she had to do was wait, but for what, for who?

“I think I am seeing her, hurry Kirito-kun!” A feminine voice came from far behind– Her body wants to turn and see for herself, but her mind already knew who was shouting towards her, coming at high speed.

“Got it! We need to be fast, the mobs will respawn soon!” This time it was the voice of a young man, younger than her but surely stronger. Strong enough to break one of Lisbeth’s best weapons she had ever created and to also allow her to create a masterpiece with her heart. “Asuna, Kirito...”

“...Don’t come. Please, not when I am like this...”

It was crushing. In her mind there was only the thought of how they would react upon seeing the usual bright and cheerful blacksmith wishing for death. There was no guarantee if they would help her or, as she fears, abandon her since she is a ‘dead weight’.

“What are you doing Liz!? This isn’t like you!” Shouted the rapier user with long and beautiful chestnut hair and hazel eyes.

Kirito kept on guard for possible enemies while Asuna searched in her inventory for a potion to give to Lisbeth. Upon finding one, her hand reached out to Liz’s head, placing it on her comfortable lap and made her drink the red liquid.

“I am okay, you don’t need to.” She sighed upon closing her mouth in rejection of the help. “How can you say that you are okay when your HP is at red!?”

Asuna forcingly pushes the glass vial made of data to her mouth with a glare that could kill thousands upon seeing it. “I don’t need it!” Lisbeth’s movements return with a slap on Asuna’s hand, making the High Potion fly high in the sky to only fall in the cold ground, disintegrating in tiny particles of blue.

“Don’t you understand it? I want to end it, I am sick of this place, of everything!” Crushing words make Kirito flinch his attention to the surroundings, Asuna too, becomes surprised and confused by her words.

“What do you mean Liz? We are so close to the end.”

“There are still twenty-five floors ahead, the latest floor unlocked included, how do you think I feel after losing everything in my life? Most of my friends will probably mock me or leave me, my looks are also boyish so none will like me. And after all this?”

Both rescuers stand still perplexed by something they clearly knew. Every player felt like this at some time, wondering what will be of their lives after SAO, they too at some point also thought about it.

“It took two years to reach the seventy-fifth floor, it might as well take two or more years to beat this shitty game. I will have more than eighteen by that time, I will not be the same after all this, you know?”

“I’m sorry.” Surprisingly, Kirito makes the move towards Lisbeth’s crumbling body, embracing her in his words. His swords fell to the ground with a loud metallic sound while Asuna took slow steps to their side. “I should have noticed it sooner that you were also suffering.”

“What are you doing, you idiot? You already have Asuna, don’t go hugging other girls.”

“That doesn’t mean that I should ignore friends when they are in need, be it women or not.” His arms sent a strange sensation that could not be easily reproduced in a game. Be it coding, design or whatever someone could do to try to do such feeling, it would be impossible as only the brain acts in this situation.

So warm... So warm that it almost becomes painful to breathe. This is the second time that I ever felt this warm and comfortable with someone, but...

“Just leave me already!” I cannot let him do this to me again, I promised myself that I wouldn’t, not when he is married with Asuna.

I felt the warmth of his hand before and let my feelings blind my thoughts into loving him... No, even if I tell myself it was in the heat of the moment, even if I say that my feelings at the time were all lies, deep down I know that the only lies are my words.

When I met him, he was a cheeky brat that even broke my masterpiece, but he felt different. When I made the mistake with X’rphan, Kirito rushed and protected me, sacrificing his own health just to save me. It felt different.

Being with him simply felt different, whenever his hand touched mine a soothing warmth filled my body with happiness. Despite his cheeky personality, it just felt different.

It might be because I am searching for something to hold on, someone to take care of me when I am sad and to hype me up whenever I need, something that I can call real in this world of lies. But not like this, it feels painful knowing that Kirito already has someone important to him and that I am stealing him from Asuna.

“You already have Asuna, you don’t need me...” I feel secure when I am next to him, but if it means that I will hurt others, then I don’t want it.

“As I said, it doesn’t matter if I am with Asuna or not, you are a precious friend that both of us can’t afford to lose.”

“Why...” I don’t like watching their faces like this, full of sadness for the pitiful blacksmith. I have to return to being the happy and cheerful Lisbeth, but my emotions don’t stop overflowing... I can’t control them. I can’t even control myself!

“Liz...” Even the beautiful Asuna is sad because of me. How can she have such beautiful and long chestnut hair— how can she be so strong?

I have been trying to live as peacefully as I could, trying to ignore this idea of death game, but I can’t. Everywhere I look nothing feels real, it’s just a bunch of data in a game. There is nothing, there is no one who can help a failure like me—

“I’m sorry Liz!” Asuna throws me to the ground with her over leveled strength, the warmth of her body fades into mine. It trembles, my whole being is trembling... not even my legs can support my dead weight anymore, why?

“All this time you also had your problems, but I never noticed them... I am a failure as your friend, I should have...”

“Stop crying Asuna, or else I will also start.” Ahh... I see, that’s why. I want more than what I can have— than what I already have. This feeling is real, at least I hope it is so I can’t let it fade.

“You are already crying.” These tears are real, I just never noticed them. While trying to beat my own mind about this world, I never noticed some of the most obvious things.

Kirito’s kindness and warmth, the tears running down Asuna’s delicate face, they are all real and each one of them carry an emotion. They are made by a system, but what makes them real is the woman in front of me.

“I will free all of us, so don’t worry Liz, soon I will take you home.” His serious face is so childish but trustworthy, his words are so unbelievable that it only makes me want to believe even more in him.

It calms my heart, this feeling. This soothing sensation that keeps entering my body is the real thing that I wanted but never noticed I already had. I don’t need love, as long as I have friends like them I don’t need anything else.

“Is that so... then I will have to enhance all of your equipment!” This is fine, even if my love for him doesn’t disappear, I know that he still cares about me... I have to... believe him.

“Might as well make a discount?”

“Of course not! Just because you said that you would end SAO doesn’t mean that I should help you for free!”

Upon finishing drinking a potion, fully healing Lisbeth, Asuna carefully extends her hand. The tip of her slender fingers slightly tremble with fear of rejection, that soon was met with a big smile.

“Don’t worry Asuna, I wouldn’t be so cruel like this idiot.” Pointing towards Kirito, his expression becomes hurtful but still understanding the joke. “I have never hurt Asuna before, just so you know! Li-s-be-th!”

“...I really don’t like the way you say my name, keep calling me Liz.”

“Understood!”

Both laugh uncontrollably as if they were toddlers again, Asuna join in the conversation with something that took Liz by surprise. “Ah, Kirito-kun, we should warn the others that we found her.”

“Others?” Tears almost returned to the entrance of her dark pink eyes, ready to go down her freckled face. She covered her mouth with both hands, waiting for an answer.

“Yes, Silica, Agil, Klein and the guys from his guild, Fuurinkazan, we all separated and went to look for you.”

“I see...” Uncontrollable tears of happiness left her eyes to the cold ground. Her body stood still for a moment until her tears have completely wiped and a giant smile of the master macer and blacksmith Lisbeth came to light.

I was right. I don’t need love when I have these friends that already love me... I already have something real, these friendships... they blessed me.

END

Thank you so much for reading this story, it’s my first fanfic and basically an experiment to see if I could write one.

It’s a lot sadder than I initially thought and there were times I got lost in what to write, but that’s essentially the fun part of writing, at least for me.

As I haven’t finished reading the SAO novels, I can’t say I know Lisbeth that well and the only one who really knows her is the writer Kawahara-sensei who I really admire, but personally and from what I’ve seen, I like to think there’s more in her mind than what she shows.

I like to think of her as a “normal person” in a way… she has her conflicts like everyone else, but I’m pretty sure she’s not just the always cheerful Liz she shows to everyone.

Particularly in Aincrad, I believe she sometimes felt sad or lonely, thinking about her future, mainly because when SAO ended she was 17 and she was reaching the time where she would decide her future as an adult.

That’s why I wrote this story, mainly to show how I think she thinks, at least, and also to show that she’s not just a mob character who pops up sometimes for plot convenience. To show that she also has emotions and a deep character.

Once again, thank you so much for reading.

-A.R. Silver