I'm the one who loved you from the start, you are the one forever in my heart

Carly and Marley were both teleported at the same time, which was kind of unnerving.

“So where are we?” Marley asked, looking around. “This is where we’re supposed to find our target, isn’t that right?”

“Yeah,” Carly agreed. “It should be, anyway.”

“Any ideas who it’s going to be, then?” Marley inquired. She frowned. “Knowing Dakota… the way she set this little challenge up, the person you have to transform is probably going to be someone close to you, you know.”

Carly sighed. “Yeah,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Yeah, I know.”

She wasn’t thrilled by that. But she and her sister had both arrived at the same conclusion. That the only reason the girls would be sent to earth in order to transform someone was because the people they would be transforming would be people they cared about. People they didn’t WANT to transform, but would have to in order to win.

She tightened her grip on her gun.

“My first thought was that I’d be transforming my friend Stacy,” Carly informed her sister. “You know, the person who got me into cosplaying on LonelyFans in the first place? But… she doesn’t live in the suburbs.”

Carly would have expected an apartment complex of some kind, since Stacy lived in the big city. But nope. She and Marley were standing in front of a nice little house with a white picket fence. The kind of place she envisioned herself settling down in.

You know, if she ever planned on settling down, which was a long time coming.

“So if not Stacy… who do you think it’s going to be?” Marley asked. “Not our parents, right?”

“Who knows?” Carly shrugged. She turned to Marley and cracked a grin. “It might even end up being you!”

“Oh, come on!” Marley rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t even make sense! I’m right here! Besides, technically, this is the first time I’ve even been to earth! As a human, anyway. Apparently, Dakota found me somewhere in the Amazon Rainforest.”

“Yeah, but it could be some sort of other universe,” Carly pointed out. “Dakota said that was possible, didn’t she?”

She clapped her sister on the shoulder as she walked towards the door. “Don’t worry, Marley, I wouldn’t do anything bad to you. Maybe just a light slime girl transformation.”

Marley rolled her eyes. “Don’t even joke about that,” she muttered, following her sister. “That isn’t funny.”

Carly would disagree. But first, she needed to find out who she was actually going to be transforming. It made her feel a little gross inside, but she didn’t have time to think about that.

Marley was there to serve as her conscience, though.

“Are you sure about this?” She asked her sister. “You’re going to be inflicting a transformation on somebody. It could be somebody you know, even. Is… is that really the right thing to do?”

It wasn’t like Carly could just pick a nice transformation and be done with it. No, the goal of the challenge was to choose something insidious. Sadistic, even. And Carly didn’t have a sadistic bone in her body.

“I’d be lying if I said I was totally cool with it,” Carly told her sister, stopping at the door. “But it’s not like I have a choice, do I? I mean, I can’t afford to lose this challenge. Not like I lost the other ones. This isn’t about VP anymore, sis, it’s about making sure I have the chance to give out a rose. I need to save Dani, just in case she doesn’t win her challenge.”

Carly wanted to save Dani, it was as simple as that. And while Dani had some friends, she couldn’t count on them to save her. She wasn’t even sure she could count on Kim, Dani’s current buddy.

If Carly wanted to make sure Dani was safe from elimination and wouldn’t be subjected to some horrible, awful elimination transformation, the only way to do that was to win and pick her as her buddy herself.

And to do that… she would have to cross a line she wasn’t sure she would ever cross before.

“I’ll do it,” she said firmly, reaching up and knocking on the door.

The seconds the two of them spent waiting for the door to open were agonizing. Marley thought she would die, it was clear that Carly was getting more uncertain with each passing moment. She shifted from one foot to the other as she stared anxiously at the door, waiting for it to open.

Then it did.

“Hello?” A teenager in shorts and a pink top opened the door, and stepped onto the porch. The young lady was glowing with a soft light, identifying her as Carly’s target. She had a curious look on a very familiar face.

Carly and Marley were taken aback for a moment. The girl standing in front of them definitely looked familiar. She looked like a younger version of them both! But Carly remembered what she looked like at that age, and this wasn’t it.

Then the girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait… mom?”

And just like that Carly stopped breathing.

“Mom, what’s going on?” The girl asked, scrunching up her face in confusion. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work right now? …And why’s Aunt Marley with you?”

Carly stumbled back and nearly fell down the porch steps. She couldn’t find the words.

“Oh my god!” Marley gasped as she finally realized what Carly had known already. “It can’t be!”

“E-Emmy…” Carly stammered, her face white.

“Uh, yeah,” Emmy said, confused. “What’s up, mom? And hey, why do you look so… young? And why’s your hair blue? I didn’t realize who you were for a second.”

Carly didn’t hear a word that came out of her mouth. She threw her arms around Emmy and hugged her tightly.

“Emmy… Emmy!” She sobbed, holding her close.

“Mmff! Ung!” Emmy squirmed in her mother’s grasp, trying to free herself. But Carly wouldn’t let her go.

Marley watched from the steps and shook her head in disbelief. “This is so wrong…” She muttered in disgust. “So, so wrong…”

What had Dakota done?

Forcing Carly to transform someone was one thing. But making the target of that transformation a version of Carly’s daughter who didn’t die in childbirth?

I know she said there would be time travel and parallel realities… but this is sick.

Marley clenched her fists and her hands began to shake. She already held a grudge against Dakota for the way the host treated her mother. But this… this was crossing a line.

Carly didn’t seem to care, though. She was too busy hugging her daughter and kissing her cheeks, while a very confused Emmy tried to get free.

Finally, she succeeded in pushing her off.

“Okay, what the heck, mom?!” Emmy exclaimed. “What’s going on!? I told you, I’m too old for hugs and kisses, you’re embarrassing me!”

“I… I just…” Carly looked like a reprimanded child. She gazed sadly at her daughter and lowered her arms, not sure what to say.

Marley sighed and stepped in on Carly’s behalf, since her sister was clearly not equipped to dealing with this issue on her own.

“Let me explain,” she said gently. “Your mom… she’s in kind of a weird place right now. Would you mind being a little patient with her?”

Emmy blinked. “Weird place? What do you mean? Mom, what’s going on? Is everything alright?”

Carly wiped the tears from her eyes, and then realized she was still holding onto the ray gun. She froze, realizing what that entailed.

No. Everything was definitely NOT alright.

---

“So let me get this straight.” Emmy rubbed her temples in frustration. They’d moved to the family room, which was a better place for them to discuss what was going on. Carly was too shaken by Emmy’s presence, so Marley had to do a lot of the heavy lifting. “You’re not my mother?”

“No!” Carly exclaimed, standing up from the couch and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “I am your mother, see?”

She changed her hair, turning it back to its original chocolate coloration and shrinking it down to her usual pixie cut.

That just weirded Emmy out even more.

“…Okay, when you said you guys were on some weird reality show where you were forced to transform, I thought you were joking around,” Emmy said, sinking back into her chair. “But… it’s for real?”

“That’s right,” Carly nodded softly. “I’m trying to compete to be a member of my friend Nick’s harem… well, actually, right now I’m competing in order to keep my girlfriend from being eliminated,” she clarified.

That was the part that confused Emmy the most.

“So… you’re my mom, but like, from ten years ago,” Emmy said, struggling to work that out. “So what, I would be like eight?”

Carly winced. She felt sick to her stomach. “That’s… no.”

She shook her head.

“So wait, I wasn’t even born, then?” Emmy seemed even more confused. And with every question she asked, she could see that Carly was just feeling worse and worse.

“Emmy, you…” Carly’s hands shook. Luckily, Marley was right there with a glass of water from the kitchen, and she took a long sip to even herself out.

Then she tried again once her nerves were calm. “Emmy, you… you died.”

Emmy’s jaw dropped. “Wh-what?” She sounded a lot less like a playful teenager, and a lot more like a scared little girl. “I… died?”

Carly nodded and sniffled back her tears. “When you were just a baby… you were stillborn. In my reality, anyway.”

“I-I’m so sorry…” Emmy replied with a numb look on her face. She wasn’t sure what else she could even say to that, it just didn’t seem real.

Everybody sat in silence for a while. The awkward tension in the room was palpable, and that wasn’t even factoring in the fact that Carly needed to use her gun on Emmy in order to pass this next challenge, either.

Marley was the one who had to intercede. “Emmy… your mom has to-”

“Marley, that’s enough,” Carly cut her off. She looked sadly at her sister and shook her head. “I’ve been relying on you enough as it is. I can at least have a conversation with my daughter on my own, can’t I?” She pleaded.

Marley opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. She nodded and sat back down.

Taking a deep breath, Carly turned to the alternate version of her daughter. Little Emmy. The girl she’d never gotten to raise.

“…You’re so big,” she couldn’t help but laugh out, shaking her head incredulously. “Look at you! You’re eighteen now?”

“Yup,” Emmy replied, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. This wasn’t exactly easy for her, either.

“Can you tell me a little about yourself?” Carly leaned forward, and it was obvious to everyone who looked how hopeful her expression was. She was really putting a lot of pressure on Emmy right now without even knowing it.

Emmy just shrugged. “Like… what?”

That was the question, right?

What to ask first?

Carly had missed so much.

She knew, in the back of her mind, that this wasn’t actually her daughter. She had already mourned her daughter a long time ago. Somewhere, on an alternate planet earth, her daughter was interred in a ground with a loving headstone looking over her. A headstone Carly still went to pray to in Dream Alley every chance she got.

Her Emmy was dead. This was another Carly’s daughter.

But right now, she couldn’t care less about something like that.

In this moment, right here in front of her, was her Emmy.

How could she just move past that like it was normal? How could she not ask every question she ever wanted to ask to her baby girl?

“Do you and your mom get along?” Carly asked hopefully. “I hope she’s not too strict with you… I always wanted to be one of those cool, permissive moms.”

Emmy shrugged awkwardly. “I mean… she’s okay,” she mumbled. “She’s my mom. I don’t know what else I can say about her.”

“Is there… do you… do you have a dad?” Carly asked. That was another thing she was concerned about. And when she saw the shadow cross her daughter’s face, she got even more concerned.

“I mean… doesn’t everybody?” Emmy couldn’t keep the venom out of her voice. “It’s not like he spends time with me, though. My mom- err, you… you never remarried or anything like that.”

A wry smile broke apart the scowl on Emmy’s face. “Little did I know, you were into women this whole time instead.”

Carly blushed. This wasn’t the kind of conversation she wanted to have with her long-lost daughter, but what could you do?

“I-I mean… I didn’t know either,” she mumbled. “So you’re just living with your mom, err, I mean, with me, then?”

Emmy glanced at Marley. “Aunt Marley comes to help out, too.”

“This is curious,” Marley said, stroking her chin. A reality where Emmy existed would necessarily be a reality where she was never created. Even if she was Carly’s real sister now, for all intents and purposes, things would have been different. Unless some version of Harem Hotel occurred in this reality, too, perhaps?

Ugh. It was too much to think about.

“What do you like to do for fun?” Carly asked, her face aglow with interest. It almost unnerved Emmy to see.

“Okay, um… look, I get that you’re really sensitive about this stuff, after what happened,” Emmy said gently. “But… I’m not your Emmy. And yeah, you’re my mom, I’m not denying that. Even if that means you’re just some version of her. But… I don’t know, is this really healthy?”

Emmy was just a kid. She couldn’t imagine what it was like, for Carly to lose her as a baby. That must have been just awful.

But even so… what was she supposed to do about it? And for that matter, what was Carly? It wasn’t like they could just play house together.

And on some level, Carly understood that. Her smile turned sad, and she looked down.

“I know that, of course,” she whispered, wiping her eyes. “I know you’re not my Emmy. My Emmy is gone from this world. She’s moved on. And no matter how much I loved her… it doesn’t… it doesn’t…” Her voice cracked and she looked away, unable to face the replica of her daughter. “It doesn’t mean…” She sucked in a deep breath to try and fight her way through the pain. “It doesn’t mean… that it’s wrong for me to move on.”

She exhaled, and wiped her red eyes. “Emmy… you’re not really my daughter. But in a way, you are. You’re what my Emmy… what she could have become. But you’re your own person as well.”

Carly reached out and placed her hand over the other girl’s.

“I can’t replace my Emmy with you, obviously. Just like I can’t bring my Emmy back. And treating you like a replacement isn’t fair, either,” she agreed. “But… it’s not like we’re strangers, is it? Even if you’re not ‘my’ daughter, even if I’m not the ‘right’ version of your mother… does that mean we’re nothing to each other?”

“No!” Emmy blurted out, her eyes widening. “Of course it doesn’t mean that! That’s not what I was trying to say!”

“Oh… oh, good,” Carly sighed with relief. She slumped back against the couch, finally able to relax. “I’m sorry, I just… I was so frightened…”

“Look, Carly, all I was trying to say, what I meant, was that I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea,” Emmy clarified. “For your sake! I was afraid that if you started thinking of me as a replacement for your daughter, that would just hurt you, and that wouldn’t be good at all, would it?”

Carly smiled sadly and shook her head. “No, you’re right, it wouldn’t be,” she agreed. “And… I almost did get caught up in that. But that’s not why I want to know more about you, Emmy.”

Emmy blinked. “It… it isn’t?”

Carly shook her head. “My Emmy…” Her voice broke, but she forced her way forward. “My Emmy… she never had a chance to grow up like you did. She didn’t get to have hobbies, or favorite TV shows. She didn’t get to play sports.” She gestured at the assortment of soccer trophies up on the wall, from Emmy’s childhood up through high school. “There was so much… so much she didn’t have a chance to do…”

She couldn’t hold it back anymore. She burst into tears, and slumped against the arm of the couch, crying into her sleeve. Marley reached over and hugged her from the side, but it did little to improve Carly’s mood as she broke down.

“Mom…” The word escaped Emmy’s lips before she could stop it. What she was seeing hurt too much. She knew that the woman in front of her wasn’t actually her mother. She was another Emmy’s mother. But seeing her like this, seeing the woman who had raised her so inconsolable, and knowing that even if they weren’t parent and child, they were still bonded by blood, still family…

It hurt her terribly.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Emmy said softly, kneeling next to Carly and placing a hand over hers. “I’m sorry you didn’t have a chance to raise… me.”

Carly looked up and wiped her eyes. There was a question she wanted to ask, but she was dreading the answer.

“Emmy… please… just… just tell me one last thing,” she begged, clutching her little girl’s hand tightly. “Was… was I… was the me who gave birth to you…”

“Oh…” Marley’s mouth opened and a small sigh escaped. She knew what Carly was about to ask, and she knew she shouldn’t ask it. But she couldn’t say anything about that.

“Was she… was I… a good mother to you?”

Emmy’s eyes widened and her mouth morphed into an O. “…What?”

“I-I… that is, she… she would have been a single mother, raising you without a steady job,” Carly stammered. “A bit of a clueless airhead, who doesn’t even know what she wants half the time. The kind of person who doesn’t take anything seriously, who makes reckless mistakes, who… who isn’t good about taking responsibility for herself.”

No matter how much Carly looked at herself, she couldn’t imagine any version of her being a good mother. Marley was the responsible, considerate one, and she was the party girl. She knew that Emmy must have had a lot of doubts and resentment built up inside of her.

That had been her greatest fear. If Emmy had lived… would Carly have been able to give her the home she deserved? Carly had been deprived of the answer to that question, and her doubts filled her with hesitation, uncertainty, and self-loathing.

But if she was an awful mother, that meant this version of her probably was too.

Emmy, after overcoming the initial shock, saw the desperation in her mother’s eyes. Carly wanted to know, she needed to know. She truly couldn’t believe that her other self was a good mother, and was afraid of how that reflected on her.

“You… you were an amazing mother,” Emmy gently informed her.

Carly’s eyes widened and she stared at her daughter in shock.

“I… what? But…”

“For as long as I can remember, you’ve been a great mom,” Emmy asserted. Her eyes began to get wet. “Even though you worked all day, you made sure to have the energy to help me with my homework. You drove me to all my soccer practices, and came to all my games, and even after a long day, even if you were exhausted, you always made sure there was food on the table.” Emmy wiped her eyes and laughed a little as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Of course, it was usually takeout, but I never held that against you.”

Carly laughed a little herself, even though she was crying just as hard as her daughter.

The answer to Carly’s question should have been obvious. The house they were in was clean, and photos of Carly and her daughter covered the walls. On the fridge in the kitchen, old drawings by a child’s hand were hung by magnets, and up on the mantle was an aged stuffed toy that had been placed up safe out of reach, treasured.

This was a house filled with love. A house that anyone could tell you was the result of a woman who wanted to provide the best life for her little girl possible.

“I’m sorry it couldn’t be me,” Carly said, wiping her eyes. “I wanted to give my daughter everything too. But I’m so happy… thank you for being okay. Thank you for letting me know that I wouldn’t have messed it up.”

Carly embraced her daughter and wept. Marley watched them from the sidelines and wiped the tears from her own eyes. But something didn’t escape her sight.

The gun remained on the table, unfired.

Could Carly bring herself to use it? Could she transform her daughter?

“Carly…” Marley whispered, placing a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You know what we have to do, right?”

“Do?” Emmy asked. “What do you mean?”

Carly separated from her daughter and sighed, wiping her eyes again. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” she said gently. Then she turned to Marley with a tired, heartbroken face.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I know. But we don’t have to do it now.”

---

After that, Carly spent as much time as she could with her alternate daughter. She learned all about her Emmy’s dreams and aspirations, as well as the fact that her daughter had a crush on a boy at school!

“It probably won’t go anywhere, though,” Emmy said, her cheeks red.

“Why not?” Carly frowned. “Doesn’t he like you?”

“Umm… maaaaaaayybbeeee…” Emmy’s voice trailed off and she looked away, blushing. “He smiles at me a lot in class, and he’s come to some of my soccer games. And he always comes to talk to me after…”

“So what’s the problem?” Carly asked. “Come on, it sounds like he’s into you! Look, if you’re shy, Aunt Marley here can tell you all about it. She’s having trouble being honest with the guy she likes, too.”

Marley’s jaw dropped in shock. She couldn’t believe her sister of all people was saying that!

“And what about Dani, huh?” Marley snapped.

“We’re together now, so it doesn’t matter,” Carly replied. “Anyway, Emmy, if you want a boy to like you-”

“Carly.”

Marley cleared her throat, and pointed to her wrist, where a watch would be if she hadn’t begun her life as a slime girl on an island cut off from the modern world.

…Or if people in their twenties still wore watches.

“I know, I know,” Carly groaned. “Sorry, Emmy, but we have to go soon. But maybe we can help you out?”

Emmy frowned. “Help me out how?”

“This gun right here!” Carly picked it up off the table. “I can turn you into whatever you want! Does he like blondes? It can make you a blonde! Does he like small breasts? It would be kind of a loss, but-”

“I-I don’t want you to transform me or anything!” Emmy squeaked, shaking her head frantically. After everything Carly told her about the show?! No way!

“Oh…” Carly frowned. So much for winning, then.

Emmy sighed. “Look, the problem is… he’s going to this school, in another state, right? And it’s a really good school… but my grades aren’t good enough to get me in. I could get a scholarship, but… I’m not good enough. I like soccer, but I’m not, like, a champion.”

She let out a wry laugh. “It’s not like that gun of yours can make me a genius or anything. Or some sort of soccer star.”

Carly and Marley looked at each other.

Marley quickly shook her head. “Carly-”

“Of course it can!” Carly blurted out.

Emmy’s eyes widened and Marley groaned, slumping down into her seat.

“Wait, what?!” Emmy couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I told you, this gun can do anything!” Carly said. “My girlfriend, Dani? She’s really strong, like, supernaturally strong! I can make you a great soccer player with just a push of a button! And a genius? No problem!”

“I… are you sure?” Emmy knew that Carly could transform, after all, she’d seen the other woman’s hair change. But she assumed it was just cosmetic stuff.

“Emmy, you’re my daughter,” Carly said gently. “I want to give you anything! Heck, I can make you rich! Like, ‘buy a social media platform because you’re a deranged narcissist who needs to be the loudest voice in the room’ rich!”

“Uh…”

“And I can get you your dream job, too! Whatever you want!”

“No, that’s-”

“Do you want pheromones that can get you any guy? Because-”

“MOM!” Emmy cut her off there. “Mom, please, that’s enough, okay?”

“…Sorry,” Carly said, giving her a lopsided smile. “But you’re my daughter. I love you.”

Emmy sighed in exasperation and smiled, shaking her head.

Carly pulled the trigger. She stuck just to improving Emmy’s physical abilities, and her intelligence. She wished she could do it for EVERY Emmy in the multiverse!

Even though Emmy hadn’t changed physically, she’d definitely changed. And Carly was glad. She was overwhelmed with joy, seeing her daughter like that.

“We have to go now, sweetheart,” Carly said softly, placing her hand over Emmy’s.

Marley sighed. She wasn’t sure if this really counted as an “insidious” transformation (probably exactly the opposite) but at least Carly had used the gun.

They’d have to see what would come of it. Hopefully the audience would have mercy.

The two of them spent as much time with Emmy as they could, before they were forced to transport back to the island.