Part Seven: The Real Thing

Holding Zapper up to his stupid, dumbfounded face is making her arms tired now. Of course she's really her! That's what she's been yelling at him for the past thirty or so minutes.

"You wanna talk?" Jinx says. She lowers her weapon, "Let's talk."

Suddenly, the headlights of an old, sputtering vehicle shines down the road, casting their long shadows down the street. Jinx turns around and instinctively reaches for Fishbones over her back, and she remembers that she left it up in his room. Instead, she charges Zapper up and aims at it, but the boy suddenly grabs her arm.

"What are you—?"

"We can't let you be seen! Don't want to blow your cover, do you?" For once, he says something that makes sense.

"Do you really need to keep that on me?" he asks as he shuts his bedroom door behind them. Seeing as he's not much of a threat, she decides it's okay to holster Zapper.

The hextech canister still sits glowing in the dark corner of the bedroom, and her other weapons rest on his desk.

"Well," he says, "I guess you can sleep on the floor for tonigh—" Jinx makes herself comfortable on his bed before he even finishes his sentence.

"You can sleep on the floor, Natie. I think I'll be fine up here," she says with a wide smile.

"But it's my bed!"

"Not tonight it's not."

She hears him move to turn off the light, making the room dark and silent once again. Jinx stares up at the ceiling fan spinning just fast enough for her to feel the air.

"Do you have an actual name, or is it just Natie?" she asks.

"My name is Nathan, if that's what you mean. I guess I already know yours."

"The other people here, Natie," Jinx continues through the dark room, "That's your family?"

"What about them? You have a family, don't you? Back in Zaun."

Jinx doesn't answer at first, and Nathan takes the hint. "No," she replies in a contrasting tone.

"What about you?" he asks, "Do you have an actual name, or is it just Jinx?"

She rolls over onto her side before she responds, gazing into the green canister beside the bed. "Just Jinx."

Nathan wakes up far too early for a Saturday the next morning, but he has a feeling that day is going to be pretty busy.

The green energy of whatever is inside of that canister hasn't wavered or weakened in the slightest, even after all this time. Its light is just barely out shone by that of the rising sun. He feels a chill blow past coming from the window that had been left open. A little puff of black fur sits comfortably on the sill, sleeping calmly next to where Nathan had placed his burnt drape.

Nathan ignores the cat and observes the person sleeping in his soft, warm bed. Jinx doesn't seem bothered by the cold at all. She doesn't snore, at least, he thinks to himself. She lays curled in a ball in a corner of his bed, cuddling with her rocket launcher in an oddly appropriate manner for someone like her.

Somehow, likely the single most destructive person alive in the world looks just as peaceful sleeping as the resting kitten next to her. Nathan finds himself smiling at the sight of her in such a halcyon state. The way her chest gently expands as she inhales, and then the soft sound of her voice when she breathes out again; it makes his stomach feel uneasy… but not necessarily in a bad way. He has no idea as to know why simply the sight of her breathing is starting to interfere with his own.

Nathan had never thought the first girl to wake up in his bed would be a character from a video game. No, he could never have anticipated that. He's still trying to decide whether or not that's a good thing, though. Seeking help with the situation at hand, he takes out his cell to phone some people he can trust with this.

Jinx later awakens to the sound of the fan still squeaking as it spins, sending cool air down to her on the bed. She stretches, and yawns, reaching her arms up over her head. The black cat sits up from the mound of black fur it had created on the open window sill and yawns as well, it's little pink tongue sticking out between its sharp carnivorous teeth.

"You're still following me, huh?" Jinx says to it. "So that means I have bad luck, or something?" The kitten meows once more and begins to groom itself with its paws. Jinx smiles at it. "That's it. Lucky, that's your name. Who cares what they say you are. You're all good to me."

She suddenly hears some whispers coming from the other side of the door.

"I swear it, she's in there right now. The real thing for sure." She hears Nathan mention her name, but not much other than that. He must have turned me in! she reasons. I never should have trusted a Demacian!

Out of the blue, she feels her chest tighten, forcing her to suck in the cold morning air, like if the wind had been forcefully thrusted into her. A similar feeling from when she had tried to leave the house before.

"This again?" She grips the wooden crest of the bed with one hand and her heart with the other. For a moment she feels cold, like she had been thrown in a freezer, and then all of a sudden it all goes away. Having no time to think about the abrupt episode that just took place, she scrambles to get her all of her guns and her boots. The door swings open before she can even get both feet on.

"Well, here she is," Nathan says as the door glides open.

Jinx looks up, not at Fat Hands nor Hat Lady in the doorway waiting to take her in and award their new Demacian accomplice, but two others the same age as Nathan.

The room is silent at first, Jinx unable to make out what's happening.

"Isn't that the chick who nearly killed you?" the girl nonchalantly says.

"This is the reason you called me here at six in the morning?" the blond boy beside him says.

Jinx makes a very confused face at the other two, and then glares at Nathan.

"These are my friends, Katie and Chris. Guys, this is Jinx."

"You're kidding, right?" Chris chuckles.

"If I were kidding, then I wouldn't have a blue-haired girl in my bedroom at six AM."

"I mean, it's not our business what you're into," Katie says with a smile.

Jinx shouts, "You think I would—"

"Ooh, getting defensive now, are we? Found yourself a feisty one, haven't you Nate?"

Nathan sees Jinx move her hand down for the knife holster. "One more word, sister, and I'll cut your tongue out and wear it on my neck." She fingers the bullet hanging from her necklace.

"Back off her or I'll—"

"Or you'll what, blondy?"

"Okay, that's enough," Nathan says and touches Jinx in the shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Jinx hits his hand away and storms out of the room. Everyone remains quiet until she reaches the threshold of Nathan's room.

"Bitch," Katie says under her breath.

Jinx hears, and turns around to leap at the girl with her knife in hand. Katherine braces for the incoming fight when suddenly the room flashes with a green light; a light identical to that of the hextech energy. Jinx, just as clueless as the rest of them, feels her whole body tingles like static.

For a moment, she is in the air with sea water spraying onto her bare stomach, and the familiar feeling of the Piltovan sun rays colliding with her back. Through the blindingly bright daylight, she sees the jagged rocks of the beach shore that she saw; the last thing she saw as she was falling to her demise. Before she has time to blink, she is suddenly on the wooden floor with a thud, sliding across the floor into Nathan's bed. The others look on as Jinx sits wide-eyed, and just as mystified and horrified as the rest of them.

"I wasn't lying," Nathan says. "She's the real thing."