Klein(SAO)x Reader

Chapter Fifteen

"But first, I want to thank you." Confusion at these words runs across Skylar's eyes and compensates the terror in me. "You know, how Skylar wiped out our leader? Well, I was second in command then, so I was next in line for the high horse. Now, I'm head of the guild, thanks to you. But, there is one thing that I have to do. Since you two are...close, I'm going to have to execute one of you. I've decided to leave the question of who will be executed to you. So, you can go ahead. Go on." He grins wickedly, igniting a blazing wrath and emptying despair that fight for domination inside of me.

(Skylar's perspective)

"I've decided to leave the choice of who will be executed to the two of you. So, you can go ahead. Go on." He grins, making the only sensation I'm able to handle at the moment beam through the fog barrier keeping them back: Desperation. Klein and I both watch at him, Klein glowering and me staring in shock, and he sighs. "Fine. I'll leave. You have five minutes top. Starting now." He grumbles as he saunters out of the cell, locking the door behind him. I look over to Klein, who is staring at the ground, mostly emotionless. The feeling that really sticks out of the uncertainty is a concern. 

"K-Klein," I start but flinch when his restraints start humming.

"Skylar, I can't let you die. I'll go."

"Klein, no. We can find our way out of this! I'm sure of it!" 

"We've tried all we can. Now, they're leaving it to us. I know I don't want you to die."

"No. Don't let what they said earlier come true, Klein! Don't! Please--we can find our way--I know it...." I linger, scarcely holding back tears, and glancing down to my boots. Tears flood down my face, both from the pain of leaving Klein, and maybe from the pain of the voltage as I scan the chains above me, spotting what I've been looking for this whole time.

"I--We have no choice. It's either you or me, and I want it to be me."

"Klein? Remember what I said on the last floor? That if you died, I'd kill myself? I was serious then, and right now, if you throw your life away, I will fulfill my promise. If you die, the reason why I'd kill myself? When you asked me that the first time, I couldn't bring myself to admit the love I have for you. But now the reason why? It's because I love you. And that if you died, in front of me, because of me, for me, or anything else, I wouldn't have anything else to live for. The only person I'd love would be dead, and I would be alone in this stupid world. You would never get to see the real world again, and it would be the same story for me. We need to carry on, or we'll never make it! Now, I have an idea, so, instead of bickering over who'll die, let's figure out a way where neither of us dies, okay?" I adjust my tone from deadly solemn to lively, taking the card I had been sneaking in my hand, and skimming it through a groove on my chains. The shackles open, lowering me to the floor.

"W-wait, you knew that was there the whole time?" Klein falters, puzzled.

"No, I actually just figured it out. Did you notice the way he looked nervous in between the 'I'll leave,' and 'starting now'? Well, he was looking directly at the slot in the chains, and I also just noticed a small hole that the card could probably fit through," I reveal, working my way through Klein's chains. He then drops to the stone floor next to me, "so, I decided to try the card, and it worked."

"As I said before," Klein pauses, rubbing his wrist, " you never stop impressing me, Skylar. But we should get going. Do you think a teleport crystal will work in here?" 

"It should, but there are also the odds of the walls blocking it."

"Agreed. I'm going to try anyway," mid-sentence, he clutches my hand, then murmurs, "teleport: Gwendrin!" Nothing happens, much to my chagrin.