“I- you what?” I was sitting up straight, and Jett sighed. He didn’t seem to want to talk about it.

“Yeah. I was a person, I was… powerful. Destined for greatness. Or whatever.” He was muttering, I stood, and walked over to his display. I stopped before the glass, waiting for the rest of the story.

“What happened?” I asked, and he let out a dry, tired laugh.

“It’s a long story.” He said, I made a face. I picked him up and went back over to my bed, I laid back down on my stomach again and continued to wait. He sat in my hand ahead of me. The more I could get him to talk about it, the less time I would have to be guilty over snapping at him.

“I have time…”

“I see that.” He responded sarcastically, “I was a warrior, my trademark was my sword, imbued with magical power to eliminate darkness. It could shapeshift back then too, to a bow, or a shield, but it was most commonly a sword. The gun from today was because that of fight you had with the guard the other day. It was the first time I’d seen one up close.”

“You were, what, trapped in your own sword?” I asked.

“Almost. More like the sword and I were combined into one being. Even if I were to somehow go back to normal, the sword would still be within me. It’s an inseparable bond, at this point.” He told me, and I looked at the sword differently then. The sword and Jett are different, but also the same.

“I was destined to defeat the Warlord AAAAA.” He said, re-grabbing my attention. “I was going to, I was able, I was strong. Until I was cursed by a witch.”

“Why would they do that?”

“I wish I could tell you. I would have stayed with her, until I was stolen. By your ancestor, Cearbhall Maire. He took it upon himself to fulfill my destiny for me, and when he died, he reminded me that as long as there was someone to carry his genetic magic, then there would be someone to take me to finally defeat AAAAA. The story changed, over the years.”

“So the chosen one is actually you.” I said, and he made an odd sound in response.

“Sort of, yeah. I was. You are too, in your own way. You’re the chosen one because the Máire family magic developed stronger in you than it did in your brother. Though, he could have done it. I guess.” He sounded disappointed by something.

“How do we fix you?”

“Ha. Fix? We don’t. I’m stuck like this.” He responded bitterly.

“Are you sure? There was a way to make you like that, there should be a way to reverse it, right?” I tried again.

“I don’t know about reverse. You’d have to talk to the person who did this. Your ancestor’s sister, Niamh. So, I’m afraid you’re bent outta luck unless she’s still alive.”

“I’m related to Niamh? She was Cearbhall’s sister?” This was confusing me now. “Wait, is that why only the people in my family can use you?”

“I think so. Niamh was the strongest in your family, she liked making things that would make her and the people she liked even stronger.” The strongest in my family. Huh. My family...

“So you’ve met a lot of my ancestors then, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, hated most of ‘pop em.” he said casually.

“Why?” I asked, was my family that bad?

“Cearbhall wasn’t bad, comparatively. He had his flaws. Everyone else was…” He sighed. “... not a lot of them were very good people, Fin.”

I looked down at myself, he said I was a good person. He didn’t say so about my brother, nor my father.

“And my brother? My father?” I asked warily, Jett tsk’d.

“Your brother’s alright. Not really bad but, not significantly good either. It’s not so black and white, like it sounds. Your father on the other hand? As soon as he discovered what he might be involved in, he deserted us. His responsibilities. Eventually, unsurprisingly, it seems like he deserted your family, as well.” He explained. So he really did know my dad then. I nodded, it wasn’t surprising to hear anymore.

“I’ve heard something like that before.” I readjusted myself, laying on my side was more comfortable than my stomach. I still held him in my hand, I was looking at the hilt sideways now. I was getting really tired, but I wanted to keep talking about Jett’s past.

“Will you tell me about your life before this happened?” I asked him, and added. “You don’t have to, if it’s painful.”

“Psh. I’m over it…” He said, but I had trouble believing him. I couldn’t call him out on it though, because he started talking.

“Let’s see… when I was a kid, my family owned a large hound. Big scary lookin dog, I remember hating him.” He started telling me, I snorted.

“Really? You seem like the type to love big scary dogs.”

“No. Big no. Little ones are fine when they aren’t yapping constantly. Medium sized dogs are easier for me to get along with. I’m more of a cat person, though.” He answered, and I found myself surprised.

“Really? I guess I could see it, but it’s a little unexpected that you like cats.”

“Well, I’m nothing if not unpredictable, evidently.” He sounded amused, “I had a cat, before the curse. Her name was Mjau, she was grey, with white stripes.”

“You named your cat ‘meow’?” I asked, and Jett laughed.

“Listen. I wasn’t very creative back then, okay?” He answered, and I laughed with him.

“Tell me more?” I asked after, and Jett hummed, and started telling me a story from when he was young. Something about a beach cliff he wanted to dive off of, and that he got in trouble for sneaking around in order to get there. I couldn’t remember the details, as my eyes grew heavier and heavier. The room darkened as they eventually closed, and Jett’s storytelling in the otherwise silent room went quiet as I fell asleep.

That night I had the paper-cut-away cliff dream again. The man was still faced the other way, and his hair moved in the breeze. He was humming, but the song didn’t sound quite as sad, although more quiet. I leaned forward to hear better, and only realized after I leaned too far that my body was no longer locked in place. I stumbled a bit, and I must’ve made a noise because the humming stopped. I watched the man’s head whirl to look over his shoulder at me. He was handsome, his eyes were steely gray and his black hair looked almost blue in this light. He looked startled. We stared at each other for a few seconds, I didn’t dare open my mouth and risk ending the dream.

The man turned a little bit more, blinking like he was still shocked to see me standing where I was, and he opened his mouth to say something. Of course, that was when I woke up. I opened my eyes to find Jett was still laying beside me on the pillow, I forgot to put him away. The memories of yesterday flooded back, including the story of Jett getting cursed.

“Did you-?” Jett started asking after a second, but I cut him off by sitting up abruptly.

“I just realized I need to go do something.” I rose out of bed without bothering to put on my day clothes, and I left the room and shut the door behind me.

“Hey! Fin, wait!” Jett called out as I fled, and I could hear him grumble quietly behind the door. I leant against the wall opposite, burying my face in my hands. The guilt and upset from yesterday came rushing back, made worse when I realized Jett was a person and that I made him relive all those probably negative emotions by asking him all those stupid questions. I’m so stupid! I threw my head back into the wall in some sort of retaliation.

“Finlay?” Emma called, I turned to see her head poking out from the kitchen. I forgot she was spending the night on the couch so she wouldn’t need to go out in the blizzard. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

“Hi, yeah. Good morning.” I started walking over, and went past her into the kitchen. She looked at me still in my pajamas.

“You’ve been out for a while. Did you sleep okay?” She asked, and I went to the pantry to start fishing out something easy and edible for breakfast.

“Fine. Sort of. Couldn’t sleep.” I said, contemplating what I was going to do to make up for what I’d done. I sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal in the end. I thought back to what Jett told me last night. He said I’d have to ask Niamh. She may not be alive anymore, but what if there’s evidence of what happened to her? Maybe I could find clues somewhere? I finished my food quickly, and dropped the bowl into the sink. I went into the living room then, and stood before Briar who was doing more research on his laptop in his chair.

“I need help finding something, please?” I said in way of asking. He looked up to me with a smile.

“I’d be happy to help. Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” He agreed, but showed his concern. I looked a bit of a mess in my haste to get away from Jett. I nodded.

“Is there anything else you can find from the witch Niamh?”

He hummed, and started tapping away. “There are some other pieces of hers, presumably failed experiments, stored in the museum here in town, if you’re looking for something nearby. I’m afraid there are pieces like this all over the country. There does seem to be a higher concentration here, though.”

I nodded, this was good news. Better to track her down, the more things there are. Maybe if I’m lucky, there's even a journal somewhere.

“Anything of hers that’s more of a personal belonging than an experiment? Like a diary, or something?”

“Hmm. I don’t see anything here, oh! But the library does have a contact listed, an Ava N. Máire. How interesting...” He said, following through with looking into this woman. My eyes widened.

“Wait, do you think she’s related to Finlay?” Emma asked, apparently she’d been listening. Briar shook his head.

“Very unlikely, the ‘Máire’ family name became ‘Moira’ long ago.” He said, with a calm shake of his head. If only they knew. I decided to keep my suspicions to myself.

“You said there’s contact information? Where could I find her?”

“Oh, she lives right near the museum. She’s a historian, it would seem. I believe she has an office there. Should I send-”

“-No.” I said. “This isn’t anything to do with yesterday, it’s more personal than that destiny business.”

“... I see. Well, you will be careful, yes? Take Jett with you, maybe go with Ms.Emma?” He suggested, and I glanced to her before nodding. Just in case.

“Alright, if you could give me a moment I’ll send you her contact information with the address of the museum.” Briar said, turning back to his laptop. I turned to go back to my room, and I gave Emma an attempted half a smile, trying to reassure her that I was okay, just… Having a rough time. I made it back to my room and immediately started changing for the day.

“Now why the hell did you leave me here by myself?” Jett yelled from where he still sat on my pillow.

“... I needed to ask for some information. We’re going to a museum today to see if I can get it.” I answered, now dressed, and putting my socks and shoes on at the edge of my bed.

“And you had to do it alone?” He still sounded upset.

“Yes, Jett.” I said as I finished lacing up my boots.

“Hmph. You better tell me why.”

“I will, later. Maybe.” I said. I grabbed him and his satchel, and left my room. When I reentered the kitchen, Emma had gathered her things. She safely assumed I’d want to go do this sooner rather than later. Briar let me know he sent me the information, and I pulled it up on my phone. I noticed then what time it was, almost noon already. I really did sleep in late, then.