Archer (Klein x Reader)

Chapter 19 - Laughing Coffin's Newest Member

Six months later, you were walking exhaustively out of the floor sixty-seven's boss room with the guild. Correction: Your guild.

After some consideration, you finally joined Fuurinkazan a month ago for safety reasons. It would allow for the other members of the guild to see your location at all times, and you to see theirs. You trusted them now- especially now that Issin was gone. Besides, the burgundy-colored armor had grown on you.

The night you told Klein you wanted to join, you remember him being so excited that he kissed you right in the center of town square, paid for the recoloring of your cloak and all of your armor, and then bought dinner for the entire guild (which was all unnecessary). That was quite a festive night, as everyone celebrated you as a new member- even though it felt like you had been one since the beginning.

But now, a month later from your induction, you were all dragging yourselves out of floor sixty-seven and into a safe area on sixty-eight. The boss fights were really starting to get to be difficult- as you all expected they would be- but if they're this hard now, it concerned you as to what was coming.

You looked slightly ahead to see a tired Klein dragging his katana behind him on the cobble path as he walked. Moving up next to him with your bow in your hand, you matched your speed to his. You walked next to him silently, watching the surroundings.

"Uh, hey," he slowly said to you, "do you know where the next town is?"

"Mmm, no," you replied. "I could probably check though. Why don't we make a rest stop here while I check?"

"Sounds good to me," he huffed, immediately plopping down on the side of the road. The other members quickly followed him.

You were still in the Castle Labyrinth levels, and you didn't know how long it would take to get out of the Labyrinths. You looked around the area for higher ground- soon spotting the remains of a castle turret.

Placing your bow on your back, you began to carefully climb the partially crumbled structure. Upon reaching the top, you looked across the floor to see the end of the safe area, but right in front of the edge of the safe area, you saw a small town.

Climbing back down, you were greeted by Klein.

"I thought you were resting," you said.

"I'm not gonna let you just climb to the top of some sketchy pillar by yourself," he stated, wide-eyed.

You laughed at him and smiled.

"Well, there's a town right before the edge of the safe zone," you told him. "It's not too far. There's another labyrinth after that though."

He sighed.

"Let's get going," he announced, and everyone began silently walking down the cobble path.

Once in the town's inn, Klein and you walked into the room and essentially collapsed on the bed- armor and all.

After resting for a little while, you willed yourself to get up off the bed and remove your armor and weapons.

"You're lucky that Harry One pushed you out of the way earlier," you said, bringing up how Harry One, a guild member, shoved Klein out of the way of an attack by the monster in the boss room. "I don't want to think about what could have happened if he hadn't done that."

He scratched the back of his neck as he laid on the bed.

"Yeah," he said. "I actually got distracted by you while fighting."

"What?" you asked as you finished removing your armor, worried. "How so?"

He shrugged.

"You kind of get this look on your face when you're really concentrated like that- and I don't really know how to explain it- but... it's captivating," he said with a dazed smile as you sat down on the bed next to him. "Not that you're not entrancing at other times, but it's just... just something else whenever you have that look on your face."

You could feel yourself blushing and covered your face with your hands. He was honestly so cheesy sometimes.

"You shouldn't be focused on me during a fight," you flatly stated into your palms, shaking your head. "You should be focused on the fight itself."

He then grabbed you by your waist (making you drop your hands from your face) and quickly pulled you to where you were lying diagonally on top of him.

"Hey," he said. "I mean that."

You looked at him with your hands on his chest-plate and blinked, still red-faced.

~~(Timeskip)~~

A few days later, you were just about to walk into the boss battle on floor seventy-one with everyone in the guild. You were trailing behind in the guild, turning on your stealth to prepare.

And that was when it happened.

A hand flew over your mouth as another arm flew around your waist and pulled you into the shadows. You watched as the guild walked into the room.

Irritated, you began to struggle to be free- but they were way too strong for you. You had a good idea as to who it was though. As you were pulled to the ground by their two hands, your captor slung their leg across yours to trap you to the ground.

They removed the hand around your waist.

Your eyes widened as they showed you their guild's insignia on their inner wrist.

Laughing Coffin.

"You'll stop struggling if you want to live. That goes for the guild too," a familiar voice darkly said.

Immediately, you froze. You didn't want to endanger anyone else.

How? you thought. How could Issin join them?

You heard him quietly laugh as he doused your body in paralysis potion. Feeling your body go limp and fall back onto him, he then picked you up by your hair and began dragging you away from the boss room where Klein and everyone else was.

As he walked down the path, you watched as you passed through the barrier of a safe zone.

He then dropped you uneventfully onto the ground once more and moved to stand over you. You looked at him in his black armor.

Then, he grabbed your jaw harshly with one hand, picked you up by your face, and held your head outside of the barrier of the safe zone.

"I wonder what would happen if I killed you like this," he said, increasing the pressure of his hand on your skull.

Your eyes widened as you attempted to reach his hand with your own to stop him. He simply laughed and threw you behind himself, back into the safe zone. As he laughed, he removed a transport crystal from his inventory.

Walking over to you once more, he threw you over his shoulder.

"I think I'll have a little fun first. At least before I kill you."