Kim's Helplessness

With how Elmo was unconscious, and possibly more injured than he looked, Kim couldn't help but worry about how Elin was doing. Elin hadn't bee very good with combat in the past, and Kim doubted she'd improved much since then. Which meant that she wouldn't be able to fend off the doppelganger for long.

While she'd like to just run ahead of the others, she knew that she'd not only be lost almost immediately as she had to wait for Jonas to guide her. Which was irritating enough, but adding that to the fact that she couldn't be sure how much help Elin needed right then.

She had to take deep breaths in order to keep from losing her temper at the whole situation, which she knew wouldn't help her at all. If anything, it'd hurt her more than anything else. Especially with how she'd have to deal with Jonas trying to get her to calm down. Which would take time during which they wouldn't be heading towards Elin.

While they had been moving slow when they were heading to find Elmo, now they were moving even slower. While Jonas had thrown Elmo over his shoulder, they were still going slower, partly because Jonas was taking care to not have Elmo hit any of the debris, which as far as Kim was concerned the furniture along the hallway was just debris.

Maybe it was her impatience which made time feel like it was crawling along slowly, but it felt like it was taking far longer than she felt it should. It was likely her imagination, but that didn't help her impatience any. It merely exacerbated the whole situation.

Kim wished that she would be able to at least have some light to see with, but couldn't figure out where she would be able to get some. The lamps in the servant's hallway were installed directly in the walls and Kim didn't feel like going to the effort of forcibly removing one, as it seemed like it would take more effort than it'd be worth, aside from the fact that it would also probably take more time to accomplish that than it was taking to get to Elin right now.

Eventually, Kim could start hearing sounds ahead of them. She couldn't really make out what the sounds were, just that there were sounds that were ahead of them.

Yet, as they neared where the sounds were, where Kim could give an estimate of how far ahead of them the sounds were coming from and it sounded more like a fist fight than anything else. Though occasionally she could hear talking, yet they were still too far away from make out what was being said.

"Elin should be around the corner," Jonas whispered suddenly, startling Kim.

"Can you make out what they're saying?" Kim asked, certain that Jonas was able to hear what was being said with his Keen Ears skill.

Kim felt Jonas shaking his head more than saw it. "All that's being said is 'Sacred Shot.' I can only assume that means Elin hasn't beaten her doppelganger yet," Jonas answered.

Kim sighed. While it would have been nice for Elin to have defeated the doppelganger already, she wasn't really surprised. However, she couldn't help but feel a bit of dread at that fact. She worried at what condition Elin would be before they could help.

Then as they reached another hallway, that was dimly lit from the moon and stars outside, Kim could see Elin through the shadows, as well as the doppelganger. Which was mirror image of Elin, not that she could say which was which.

However, as they came in sight of the two Elins, one of them was throwing a punch at the throat of the other as that Elin rushed towards the other, which made Kim feel like her heart suddenly leapt into her throat.

The punch wasn't that good, and Kim couldn't help but wonder how much of her instructions to Elin in regards to fighting with her hands had stuck. Assuming that the one throwing the punch was Elin anyway. She at least hoped that it was.

Jonas didn't do anything immediately to help Elin, he merely set Elmo down and motioned for Kim to stay put. Not that she could bring herself to move. She wanted to help Elin, but she couldn't say which was Elin and which wasn't. Even if they spoke to her, she suspected that Elin wouldn't be able to say anything that the doppelganger didn't already know. Which meant she was less than useless in regards to helping Elin right at that moment.

Which was tearing her apart inside. It was worse than when she first learned that Elin was facing a doppelganger on her own. At least then she had the excuse that she couldn't help because she was so far away. Now, however, she couldn't help because she could see that the doppelganger had copied Elin herself, and there wasn't a way to really tell which one was the real Elin.

The other Elin tried to backpedal, but the first Elin continued to throw punches towards the throat of the other Elin. Kim wasn't sure why, as the punches didn't seem to be doing all that much. Other than maybe bruising the other's throat. Which Kim couldn't come up with a reason to doing that. Especially with how ineffective that Elin's own punches were.

Kim watched Jonas as he merged into the shadows and disappeared from view. Kim clenched her sword, wishing that she could do something like that, especially since Jonas could apparently see a difference between the real person and a doppelganger that had copied someone. If she had that ability, then she'd be able to figure out which Elin to help and wouldn't be so useless at that moment.

The Elin's seemed to be continuing their fist fight, although Kim felt like the fight had started to become one sided. Primarily because of the one Elin trying to punch the other in the throat. Kim wished she knew what the reason was behind it, but she didn't dare ask.

If that was the real Elin, then she worried that if she distracted that Elin that she'd give an opening for the other Elin to turn the tables and would put the Elin she would be trying to help on the defensive.

Kim sighed helplessly as she felt a headache start to grow just from that thought alone with keeping track of which Elin she was talking to herself about. She would be happy when this situation was over with and hoped they wouldn't have to deal with any more doppelgangers in any subsequent challenges. Or at least not in a combat role. There were many things she'd be willing to deal with that she found rather unpleasant than these doppelgangers again.

Kim blinked as she saw a knife flash out of the shadows. She could tell who Jonas attacked, just that she was sure he'd hit one of the Elins. Kim couldn't help but feel like her heart had frozen inside herself as she waited to see which Elin was the real one. She barely dared to breathe.

Then when the Elin who had been on the defensive collapsed, Kim felt her breath leave her in a ragged manner, relief coursing through every fiber of her being. Even though she wasn't happy that it looked like Elin collapsed there, she reminded herself that it had to have been the doppelganger. She knew Jonas wouldn't strike without being sure of which one wasn't their ally.

Kim barely paid any attention to Elmo as she heard him groan and started to move. Clearly he was starting to wake up on his own, though she speculated about if she should let Elin heal him when she saw him. Elin would definitely want to heal him, because that's just the kind of person she was, but Kim wondered if she should urge Elin to hold back on that, since there was no telling how tired that fight had made her Elin.

When the other Elin collapsed, Kim thought that might have been the end of it, but she was surprised when the real Elin kept punching the doppelganger. Kim couldn't help but start to move forward. She wasn't sure what this was about, but suspected there was more to what she was witnessing than just what met the eye right here.

Even as Jonas emerged from the shadows, looking more worn out than Kim could remember seeing him, Elin kept punching the doppelganger, despite the fact that her arms were starting to tremble and Kim couldn't help but think that if the doppelganger was still alive that those punches weren't likely doing much at all.

When Jonas tapped Elin on her shoulder, he said something quietly to her, so quiet that Kim couldn't even hear what was said, and offered her one of his daggers. Elin stared at it for a few minutes, looking like her brain was struggling to process what was in front of her.

Then as Kim started to get closer to Elin, the real Elin accepted the dagger and before Kim could even blink, she'd driven home the dagger hilt-deep in the doppelganger's chest. Kim wasn't sure if that would end the doppelganger right then, but shortly after, she could see that the doppelganger stopped all movements, at least that Kim could make out at the distance she was at, and Jonas pulled the dagger free.

At which point, Elin and Jonas started to make their way over to where Kim was, and of course Elmo. As she watched the two walk, she could see how unsteady Elin was on her feet and wondered just how much stamina Elin had used in that fight to be so unsteady. Which also made her wonder just how long that fight had lasted. Then, as they reached Kim, she couldn't help herself and picked Elin up in her arms.

Elin looked like she didn't realize what had happened for a moment, then burrowed her face in Kim's shoulder. Kim couldn't help but smile at that. Kim wondered what exactly Elin was thinking right then.

"Alright, now that we're all here," Jonas said, pulling Kim out of her thoughts. "And, of course, all awake now, let's discuss what we have left to do here."

Kim hadn't even realized they'd reached Elmo. She had been so wrapped up in caring for Elin that she was surprised to see him. Although, she couldn't say how alert Elmo was. He merely looked like death warmed over in his current condition.

"I know we're all pretty tired, and some probably more than others, but we still have at least one thing left to do," Jonas continued. "We need to determine if the chamberlain Lance's family is the ringleader or not. If he's not, then we need to find out who is, or we're not likely to bring this challenge to an end."

Kim sighed. It always had to be just one more thing. She wasn't sure that she liked that, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. Especially since she couldn't say what she could actually do other than endure whatever came her way in this.

"What do you suggest?" Kim asked, just wanting to get this over with so they could get to bed. If nothing else, she'd really like to get some sleep. After that, she wasn't sure she might like to do, especially with Elin, but she knew sleep was a must right then.