Arthur: When A Tree Falls

Chapter 23: The Alter Ego of Finn

The door opened and it seemed as though they'd landed in a forest. Arthur looked at Elice, swallowed, then ran into the forest. He thought of his Escape classes, his Running classes, and tried to be as quiet as possible as he sought out his blond friend in between the trees. Elice was right behind him, he knew, but he could barely hear her either. Then he heard a scream, along with the sound of swords clinking against each other. Arthur ran around, searching where the sound came from, but it seemed to be above him. He looked up, and saw his friend standing in a tree. Then he saw his friend again, right behind the other. Elice had caught up with him, and whispered.

"Which one is it?" She panted, and Arthur shrugged.

He looked at one Finn. He had blond hair, looked like Finn, and was trying to hit the other Finn. The second Finn had blond hair, had a frustration on his face clearly like Finn, and was trying to hit the before mentioned Finn. 

"Finn has a scar in his neck, can you see-" Elice whispered, but Arthur interrupted.

-"They clearly look the exact same, Elice. There's no telling them apart." He snapped.

Arthur looked at the twins in the tree. He wondered when they'd see Elice and him, and he started to study both their movements. Arthur remembered that Mr Qillian had told him on his first day at Arboria that knowing your mental weaknesses were important too, as they would be the easiest to catch the other on. 

"Arthur, remember how my brother told us that you change from the moment you arrive here?" Elice whispered, and Arthur nodded. "Try and see which one moves more like Finn!" she hissed, and Arthur focused.

The one Finn pushed out the other, who fell on the ground with a loud smack. The Finn still in the tree slung himself out of it, landing nearly on top of the other. Ground-Finn scrambled up and steadied himself, bending his knees to give himself more room for agile movements. Push-Finn lunged out his sword, but ground-Finn managed to duck in time, before jumping towards push-Finn's stomach, taking him in a sort of embrace. He moved back, ready to slam his sword into the other Finn's stomach, but he got a smack of the other sword on his head. THey both started running, and Arthur tried to see the difference.

He tried to think back of how Finn ran, how he would be panting - like in his Running classes - and then he started to realize one of them seemed more Finn than the other.  

He turned to Elice. "It's ground-Finn." He said. "Ground-Finn is the fake."

-"What?"

"Never mind that, it's the one on the left! Come on!" He exclaimed, but then he realized what he'd done.

Both Finns stopped their attacking and looked towards Arthur and Elice. One of them groaned. But it was the left one that groaned. "I told you not to come help me, I've got this!" He yelled, and Arthur raised a brow.

"Arthur, he's definitely the real one." Elice said.

One of the Finns shrugged and moved his sword towards the other, who jumped away in time. They started circling around each other, making slight lunges to try and tempt the other. Then they were in a close combat again, and Arthur couldn't figure out which one was the real one again. Elice started panicking beside him, so Arthur snapped at her and told her to relax because panicking wouldn't get them anywhere. One of the Finn's had clearly received more blows than the other, so one of them seemed to be winning. Arthur wanted to suggest to Elice they should leave them just do it because he didn't want to kill the real one on accident, but Elice started yelling at him.

Arthur focused again, and Elice threw them a Griphlet bar.

"Elice, what are you-"

-"The real Finn will know what it is!" She yelled, but Arthur shook his head.

"The fake Finn will be smart enough to try and get it anyway, you're not helping! Besides, they're not animals, stop throwing Griphlet bars at them like they're ducks." Elice scowled at him, but stopped throwing the brown packages anyway.

The wounded Finn immediately jumped for the Griphlet bar, so Elice told Arthur to shoot the other Finn. This had to be the real one and he wasn't going to make it on his own. Arthur, however, insisted on watching a little longer. The wounded Finn wolfed down the Griphlet bar and turned to the other Finn again. This time he seemed to be getting the overhand, as he pinned down the other Finn. They looked at each other for a split second and for a moment they stopped moving, but then the wounded Finn smacked down his sword, causing a wound in the other Finn's shoulder. Arthur thought back to when Sofia had stabbed him with her pocket knife.

The bottom Finn pushed off wounded Finn, before getting punched in the face, resulting in a nosebleed. As blood streamed down his face he attempted to stab the other Finn, who jumped up and ran. That moment Arthur realized. The wounded Finn ran much more like Finn than the other, who seemed to have the same strange run as the Finn in Arthur's Running class. Elice agreed with him.

"Shoot! He's not going to make it if you don't shoot, goddamn it!"

-"But what if he isn't Finn? I don't want to-"

"JUST SHOOT!"

Arthur took his bow hesitantly, balanced an arrow and pulled the string and arrow back, he closed one eye and focused on the winning Finn. He let go, but since the Finns were running, he missed the first shot. Elice scowled and told Arthur to be careful, then as the other Finn caught up to the first and the both of them stopped moving, Arthur shot again.

The arrow soared through the air, and the wounded Finn ducked as the arrow found its target. The wounded Finn stepped back as the other Finn lay panting under the agony of the arrow in his chest. Then, instead of running towards Elice and Arthur, the wounded Finn ran away. Arthur could feel he'd hit the wrong Finn. And it seemed as though Elice felt it too.

"Finn! No! Oh my God, Finn!" She exclaimed, as she ran towards the real Finn, who was lying on the floor with an arrow in his chest. Elice kneeled down over him and started crying. "You were winning..." She said quietly. 

-"Is he going to be okay?" Arthur croaked, as he dropped his bow and quiver. He didn't want to see them anymore.

"No, Arthur, you killed him. Go away! Go away!" She screamed, and Arthur felt tears running down his face. Elice turned to Finn. "Finn, Finn,  can you hear me?"

Arthur could see the blond boy saying something, but he couldn't hear it. He didn't want to come any closer, because Elice wouldn't be okay with that.

"It's okay, Finn, you fought really well. You're going to be okay. Have a Griphlet bar, okay?" She took a piece of a Griphlet bar from her satchel and fed it to Finn. "Finn, I need to tell you something. Are you still here?" Finn seemed to nod. "Finn, I love you." she whispered, before crying. The blond boy didn't move anymore, and his hand fell from his chest.

-"Elice-" started Arthur.

"No, I don't want to talk to you." She said coldly, but Arthur walked towards her.

-"We have to go, Elice, before Ella leaves without us." He said softly, and he tried to take her hand. She pulled it away as she placed a kiss on Finn's mouth. "Come on, he's not going to wake." Arthur couldn't look at his dead friend, but he felt like he had to.

Elice slowly got up and walked towards the door. Arthur turned to Finn before following her. "Thank you so much for everything, Finn. You won't be forgotten." He whispered, but it was barely even a whisper, because his voice broke and he started crying.