Leaving Hope

Sylvia looked odd, as she prepared for the rose-giving ceremony. Nick noticed she seemed almost electric with anticipation- though not, necessarily, in a good way.

Almost like she was anxious, or nervous… which was strange.

“Shall we begin?” She clapped her hands together, doing a marvelous job of keeping her nervousness out of her performance if that was the case.

The five girls (six if you included Marley) who were up on the chopping block all looked nervous themselves. Even Dakota seemed concerned. She was glaring daggers at Sylvia, who was ignoring her completely.

“Nick…”

Nick looked up to see Holly waiting on him with an anxious expression on her face. She could sense something was off about the mood herself.

Sylvia had really brought everyone for this, huh?

“Dawn, you’re choosing first again!” Sylvia declared. “You’ve certainly got the luck! Never once having been up for elimination… how about that?”

Dawn bit her lip. She glanced over the crowd, and her tail twitched. Then she looked back at Morgana, the Auditionee, who was standing beside Nick and shaking like a leaf, and her expression softened.

“My rose goes to… Morgana,” she said, picking up the rose and holding it out to the other girl.

Morgana nearly fell off the stage in shock.

“R-really?” She stammered. “Me?”

“Yes,” Dawn nodded. “Morgana… you’ve really worked hard to improve yourself this last week. And I don’t want to take that away from you after you’ve just now gotten started. So… this rose is an acknowledgment of that.”

Morgana was stunned. After the disaster of a week she’d had, culminating in her being the saboteur and stabbing everyone in the back, the fact that Dawn would actually pick her…

“Even though I betrayed everyone?” She asked.

Dawn laughed. “It was a challenge. I don’t care about something like that. I respect someone doing whatever it takes to win. Within reason, of course.”

She gestured for Morgana to come over, and this time the goth actually complied. She accepted the rose, holding it at a distance like she wasn’t sure it was real.

“Well now, that’s quite a surprise! The Auditionee, chosen first!” Sylvia mused. “That means, one of our regular members is about to be booted from the harem! How shocking!”

Nick glared at her. This was all on her. Because of her, someone he cared about was going to be transformed, just like Holly was, just like how Mimi became Marley. Even if the girls were happy with the outcomes… he doubted whoever was eliminated here would be happy with it.

Wait… what would happen if Carly and Marley weren’t chosen? He wondered suddenly. If they were eliminated, then… would they both get new exit transformations?

That might be even worse.

“Next up!” Sylvia clapped her hands as Dawn and Morgana took their seats. “Rose, if you would? After a few close weeks, you’re finally giving a rose of your own!”

“Yeah…” Rose nodded, walking up with her head held high. She picked up her rose and then turned on her hip, scanning the crowd. She could have picked her current buddy, Dani… but there was someone she wanted to make sure was safe, first. “Carly. And Marley, too. Both of you. I’m choosing you guys for my rose.”

“Really?” Carly’s eyes widened.

“Why?” Marley asked, surprised.

Rose gave a small, sheepish smile. “I mean… it wasn’t… the worst thing, being your guys’ sister for a day.”

That was probably the closest Rose could get to admitting she’d made friends.

The twins weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Carly accepted the rose gladly, while Marley pulled the other Rose into a rib-crushing hug.

Two roses still remained.

Mary winced, walking up onto the stage. She’d been planning to pick Morgana, but Dawn had already chosen the goth girl as her own buddy. That left Gina, Dani, and Dakota.

Of those three options…

“Gina,” Mary said, surprising everybody.

“What?” Dani blinked.

“Gina?!” Dakota couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“…Gina?” …And neither could Gina.

Mary nodded.

“Curious…” Sylvia stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Why Gina? You enjoyed your week with her that much, did you?”

“Gina…” Mary glanced back at her. “She… she’s been working very hard. Trying to improve herself. It’s only in small ways, but… I think, if I stick with her… she can really make a change for the better.”

Briefly, Mary had considered choosing Dakota. After all, Dakota had done a lot for her this last week, and for her wedding. And she didn’t think Kim would choose her. Kim… she was sure that Kim would choose Dani.

And if that was the case… then Gina would be eliminated instead. Mary didn’t want that. Not when the punk girl was finally starting to gain some sense of self-worth. If I don’t help her... then no one will. I can’t let that happen.

So as bad as she felt to do it, she didn’t think she had a choice.

“Mary…” Gina was so grateful, and so surprised, that she was at a loss for words. She actually blushed. Which made Mary blush.

“Well… do you want it? Or not?” She mumbled, embarrassed.

She gave Gina her rose, and that meant only one remained.

Kim’s rose.

“Well?” Sylvia asked, turning to Kim. Nick could sense how tense she was. He could swear she was starting to sweat. “Who are you choosing?”

Dani looked anxiously up at her fellow tomboy, while Dakota just stewed in silence. She knew. She knew what was about to happen.

“…Dani,” Kim said. “She’s helped me so much, I can’t just-”

“NO!” Dakota screamed, rising from her seat. “No, you can’t!”

“Sit down!” Sylvia snapped, glaring down at her. “Kim chose Dani to get her rose. There’s no changing that. I’m sorry, Dakota, but you’ve been eliminated from Nick’s harem.”

“Dakota…” Dani looked guiltily at her. Kim said nothing.

Nick rose from his seat, to try and plead Dakota’s case.

“Sylvia, wait!” He protested. “Kicking Dakota out like this, I don’t think-”

Sylvia turned to him. “It doesn’t matter what you think,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Dakota had her chance. And unfortunately, she couldn’t build the bonds with the rest of your harem necessary to remain. Perhaps, if you like, she can continue serving you in some capacity? As a tradwife, perhaps? Or maybe the perpetually-cucked childhood friend, like Holly!”

“Never!” Dakota spat, glaring venomously at the blonde host.

Sylvia ignored her. “Kim, would you like to finish what you were saying?”

Kim sighed. Her face was filled with guilt. She handed Dani her rose, then turned to Dakota. “Dani… Dani is my friend. But Dakota… you were my buddy. This whole week, we could have been getting closer. And… I know you tried. I know you helped me out, giving me that transformation. But even so… I just… I can’t trust you.”

“You can’t trust me?” Dakota stared incredulously at her. “Why not?!”

Kim flinched under her gaze, and her eyes quickly shot to Morgana. It was just for a second, and then she looked back to Dakota again, but that second was all it took.

Dakota turned to Morgana, an incredulous look on her face.

“…You?”

Morgana started to sweat. She looked down.

“Dakota, it’s not what you think!” Nick pleaded, climbing down the stage and rushing over to her. He managed to hug her before she reached the petrified goth. “Morgana, she said… she just said we couldn’t trust you! Due to her transformation! It made her see things… but please, don’t-!”

The momentum pulling on his arms disappeared. Just like that, Dakota calmed down completely. She took a deep breath, and exhaled.

The atmosphere around her changed completely.

“Oh, I see…” She murmured, turning back to Sylvia. The blonde sat on the edge of the stage, lazily kicking her feet out. “So that’s how it is.”

Sylvia tilted her head to the side cheerfully. “What do you mean?”

“You showed her, didn’t you?” Dakota lurched forward, narrowing her eyes. “Turned them all against me. That was it, wasn’t it?”

Sylvia batted her eyelashes innocently. “Your time is up, Dakota. You’ve been kicked out of the harem.”

Dakota threw back her head and laughed. It was bizarre. No one expected anyone to LAUGH at their elimination before.

Then she grew enraged. “You think something like that will work!?” She demanded. “You think I’ll let this stand?! You defective tool! You’re supposed to do your job, like a good little host! You’re not supposed to do something like this!”

Sylvia’s eyes widened and she recoiled back, like she’d been struck. She clutched her cane to her chest. “W-wait…”

“Dakota?” Nick stared at her, not sure what to make of what she just said. Her golden eyes were practically dots in a sea of white, and she was gasping for air.

“What did you say? A tool?” Dawn narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“What did you mean when you said she wasn’t ‘supposed’ to do something, huh?” Dani demanded. “What’s going on?!”

“Sylvia, you have to know something,” Kim said, turning to the host. “What was she talking about?”

Morgana just shivered with fear.

Sylvia’s startled expression slowly turned into a smile. Dakota’s eyes widened.

“Don’t you dare!” She snarled. “You can’t! You’re not allowed to-”

“That’s when you were a contestant,” Sylvia cut her off. “I couldn’t show them then. But… you’re not a contestant now, are you? You’re just… a girl about to be eliminated.”

Sylvia turned and gazed down upon Nick. “Tell me my boy… would you like to see the real Dakota? What she was really up to, all those years she was gone?”

Nick’s eyes widened. “…What?”

“NO!” Dakota shouted. “DON’T YOU DARE! YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS DOLL! DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!”

But before she could get to the stage, Sylvia raised her cane.

And everyone saw the same thing Morgana had seen one round prior.

Dakota woke up floating beside the bank of the river.

Huh? She thought, looking around. What happened?

The last thing she remembered, she’d been throwing a fit. She’d run away from Nick in tears, and tried to cross the river in the middle of the storm. Then, a wave washed over her, and…

“Dakota! DAKOTA!”

Nick’s screaming filled her ears. He and Gina were huddled beside the riverbank, wailing.

“Nick!” Dakota cried, rushing over to him. It was a strange sensation; she couldn’t feel the ground beneath her feet, or the rain hitting her face. But she didn’t even notice those things. The only thing that mattered was that Nick was upset.

She reached him, but her words couldn’t seem to. He just kept shouting her name in desperation.

“It’s okay! I’m right here!” She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder.

…And her arm sank right through.

Instantly, she knew what had happened.

But she refused to accept it.

“No…” She whispered. She reached out desperately, trying to touch him again. She wrapped her arms around him to hug him, but again, they passed right through.

Nick’s hugs had warmed her heart on so many cold and lonely nights. They had gotten her through the bad times.

She couldn’t feel him. But she could feel the memories of her drowning pushing into the back of her mind, forcing her to accept what she didn’t want to be true.

I’m dead.

Dakota would never feel Nick’s warmth again.

Why? Why did this have to happen to her?

She didn’t deserve this. It wasn’t fair.

“…And so, we say farewell to this lost child, and hope that she may find everlasting peace in the lord’s hands.”

By the time of the funeral, Dakota had come to grips with the fact that she was dead. She couldn’t even remember the sensations of being alive anymore. The taste of her favorite foods, the feeling of the sun kissing her face, the rush of swinging through the sky, all of it was gone.

The only thing she could still remember was Nick’s touch, and the warmth of his love. She held onto those sensations with everything she could. She gripped it tightly in her heart until her chest started to ache, even though she knew that was just her brain fooling her.

She didn’t feel pain anymore, either.

“Dakota…”

Nick was completely broken. His eyes were red from the countless tears he’d shed since Dakota’s accident, and they held a glassy, hollow stare. He looked blankly off into the distance as his step-mother wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s not fair. I know.”

“It’s all my fault…” He muttered numbly. “All my fault…”

Amelia tried to reassure him that it wasn’t; but her words never found purchase. His heart had frozen, and he couldn’t bear to hear anything but what he knew to be true: Dakota had died because of him.

Dakota could see the pain in his face, and it made her miserable.

“It’s fine,” she whispered, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. She wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him from behind. She’d gotten better at it; he still couldn’t feel her, but she could hold him in a way that she wouldn’t pass through.

It was the best she could hope for.

“I didn’t go anywhere. I’m still here. Together since birth. We promised. So I’ll be with you forever,” she promised.

Even if he couldn’t hear her words, she hoped that the promise would relieve his pain somewhat.

Following that, Dakota continued to stay by Nick’s side. She ignored her mother- that woman had never loved nor cared for her. The closest she’d ever come to feeling the warmth of a family’s love was when she stayed with Nick and his parents.

So that became her new home. She followed Nick wherever he went, to school, to the park, to the library, and all the while she could see his emotional state in constant decline.

She continued to send him all the love that she could, until one day, she saw his face light up when he spotted another girl.

A short thing, with glasses and a ponytail, and her nose buried in a book.

“Oh… Dawn… hey.”

The short girl glanced up, and the two shared an awkward look. She kind of smiled, then she went on her way.

Dakota was livid.

He’s thinking of someone else. I thought… didn’t you love me!? I’m right here, Nick! I’m right here! She was faced with what she’d been dreading most.

Nick… was moving on.

I shouldn’t be surprised. Not after he kissed Gina. His feelings for me… are they just that shallow?

Was this how she’d spend eternity from now on? Watching Nick as he grew up, forgot about her, and fell in love with someone else?

No. She couldn’t let that happen.

She wouldn’t.

Dakota had watched a lot of movies about ghosts. In those movies, ghosts always had special powers, such as being able to make things float, or write words on a foggy mirror, different ways of communicating with the world of the living.

Needless to say, that was a bunch of garbage. Dakota couldn’t even pick up a pencil eraser!

She’d tried, too. For a solid month she parked herself at Nick’s desk in his bedroom and tried to make his pencil float.

It didn’t move an inch.

Eventually, she had to accept that she couldn’t impact the world of the living. It just wasn’t possible. Which made sense. If everyone who died became a ghost, then there would be pencils and things flying all over the place.

Maybe they were all like her. Trapped watching over the people they loved, forever unable to interact with them.

Dakota wanted to cry, if she were capable of shedding tears. But a disembodied spirit could only do so much.

Then one night, while he slept, she tried her last hand. She tried entering his dream.

She concentrated really hard, and imagined herself slipping into his mind. Entering his dream. But it was too hard. She kept feeling herself come up against a wall. A wall she wasn’t powerful enough to break down.

“NO!” She shouted into the aether, her voice breaking in her sorrow. “I won’t give up! I won’t… let him forget me...!”

And just like that, the wall cracked.

That’s when she realized it. A strong enough emotion could bring the wall tumbling down. She just had to focus on the strong feelings in her heart, and use them to push herself forward.

Like slamming her fists against the ethereal wall, she chose the strongest emotional connection she could think of, something that would have a deep, visceral reaction for Nick.

The day she died.

It hurt, reliving that again. But something told her it was the only way she could get through to him. So she let the river swallow her again, and felt herself slip through the wall, and into Nick’s dream.

“Aaaaah! Dakota!” Nick sprung out of bed, gasping for air. He’d had another nightmare. A dream about Dakota’s ****. He’d had them multiple times in those first few weeks, along with sadder dreams where Dakota was still alive. Those dreams, he would wake up hoping they were real, only to find out that they weren’t.

He laid in bed and cried, whimpering Dakota’s name softly into the night.

Dakota stood over his bed, saddened, but relieved at the same time.

She hated seeing Nick in this state. But the thought of him forgetting about her…

If this was what it took for him to keep loving her, then she would hold onto it with everything she had.

The years went by. And nearly every night, Nick continued to have those dreams. Horrible, heart-wrenching dreams of Dakota dying before his eyes. The therapists he saw didn’t help. Nothing his parents tried seemed to work.

Once, his dad brought up the idea of moving to a new house, where there wouldn’t be as many painful memories. That night Nick had such a vivid dream he woke up vomiting.

By his sixteenth birthday, his life had well and truly fallen apart. It was all he could do to keep his grades up, and he wasn’t getting much sleep. Dawn had thoroughly rejected him multiple times, seeing him as a creepy stalker. He had very few friends, one of the only ones being Dani, an older girl he was trying very hard not to crush on.

And all the while, Dakota remained in the back of his mind.

“What if I take him to London for the summer?” Amelia suggested. “It could be a nice change of pace. Somewhere new. I’ve been meaning to pay a visit to my family, and I’m sure they’d just love to meet him!”

His father couldn’t come, but he was thrilled with the idea.

And that’s how Nick found himself on a plane to London, with Dakota tagging along for the ride.

Needless to say, Amelia’s hopes didn’t pan out.

While Nick had enjoyed Europe and all the sights his step-mother showed him (though why they had to stay in a hotel instead of her family’s castle he didn’t quite understand) in the back of his mind, Dakota was still there. He imagined how much fun they would have had together. And it hurt.

“I have to go visit with an old friend,” Amelia informed him one morning. “Will you be fine by yourself until I get back? I’ll leave you some money if you want room service.”

Nick was 16 at this point; he could be left to his own devices. Amelia was always unsure of just how much space she should give him, as his step-mother. It was one of the many things Dakota liked about her.

The second she left the room, Nick was out the door. He wanted to be alone. Alone, to clear his thoughts, without having to deal with all the stress of being with his step-mother.

The skies over London were filled with rain. This was apparently common, even in summer. It had rained a lot of the time Nick had been here.

Nick hated the rain. Like oceans and rivers, it brought back bad memories of that day. Memories that remained more vivid than ever due to the constant nightmares that plagued his dreams. The stress of it all… sometimes, he wondered if he should just throw himself in the channel and be done with it.

That’s what Dakota would want, right?

Maybe then… they could be together.

But then, he would remember her vivid smile, and imagined she was right by his side, watching over him. Nick believed in heaven. And if Dakota was really watching over him (which she was) he wouldn’t want to hurt her by throwing his life away like that.

She would want me to be happy.

“Isn’t there some way I could make him happy?” Dakota mumbled to herself, feeling the misery wafting off him. She watched him from afar, as the rain slid over his umbrella, wondering how she could help.

She just wanted him to always remember her. How had it gone so poorly? Why did it hurt him so much, every day?

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she spotted something. She turned to see a man in the crowd. He was wearing a nice suit and walked with a cane. His head was oddly-shaped, and as she took a closer look she noticed he had slicked back black hair and wore a porcelain mask that depicted a painted smile. It was odd, to see someone like that, wearing a mask in the middle of the street. The only thing she could see were his golden eyes, staring into her soul.

That was what she found most eerie of all… he seemed to be looking right at her, even though she was dead.

Then she blinked and the man was gone.

She turned and rushed to catch up to Nick, arriving just in time to see him bump into someone.

It was a child. A pale little ratty thing with messy black hair and dressed in rags. She looked homeless, and she stared up at him with dull, blank blue eyes.

“Oh, s-sorry,” Nick stammered, apologizing to the street urchin. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer. She just kept staring at him.

“…Are you alone?” He asked, looking around. “Where are your parents? Your mom and dad?”

Still no response.

Nick sighed and hung his head. What was he supposed to do? Go to the police?

Then he recalled the money in his pocket, that his step-mother had given him for lunch.

“Hey, uh… want to get some ice cream?” He suggested, pointing at an ice cream stand down the street.

The girl blinked, then she tilted her head to the side, confused.

“Ice cream. It’s really good. Have you never had it before?”

A shake of the head.

“Do... you want any?”

And, finally, a nod.

Dakota smiled. Relief washed over her like the rain that passed through her body.

Nick had been broken. He was damaged, no doubt about that. But as he let the little girl under his umbrella, she knew that he was still the same kind soul that she remembered.

Hopefully, the London police would see it that way too, and not see it as a strange man buying sweets for a little girl.

Dakota held onto him for a few more years after that. She didn’t need to enter his dreams anymore; the nightmares seemed to follow him just by her presence. And as he got more and more miserable, her heart grew heavy.

She hated seeing him like this. She wished there was some way she could help him. But there was nothing to be done.

Nick was fresh off his heartbreak from Dani, and heading to college. Naturally, she followed him. And she hung around when he met Carly, too. They seemed to get along okay, but Dakota was attuned enough to his emotional state, after haunting him all these years…

She knew that he was just going to face even more misery if he got closer to Carly.

“Just forget about girls like her,” she begged, wishing her silent pleas could reach his ears. “Aren’t I enough for you? Don’t you love me?”

Remembering her shouldn’t pain him so much.

“Can’t you just be happy… loving me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course he can’t.”

A voice like ice made Dakota freeze. She whirled around in shock, not sure what to expect. She’d heard many voices over the years that she’d mistaken for talking to her. But for the first time, part of her just knew.

He wasn’t speaking to someone else, only for her to misunderstand.

The voice’s owner was speaking to her.

And there he was. The man from the streets of London. The man in the mask. Standing in the center of the crowd of students at the orientation party; among them, but not a part of them.

He was like her. Separated from the world.

He approached her silently, gloved hand clutching his black cane. The jewel embedded in the head sparkled black in the light.

“You… who are you?” Dakota asked, tensing. But she already knew the answer. “Are you… the grim reaper?”

He chuckled. It sounded hideous, like a bubbling swamp. “Me? No, no, nothing so… macabre. No… you’re Dakota Johnson, correct?”

“Dakota Evans,” she corrected him with a snap. “That name…”

“Was your mother’s, yes, I know,” he cut her off. “Playing pretend with Nicholas all those years ago, acting as if you came from another family… inventing a placeholder name, for the day when you could someday take his… ah, young love…”

He let out a long sigh, which sounded like the air being let out of a tire.

“…A pity it had to end so tragically.”

Dakota was losing her temper. This was the first meaningful interaction she’d had with another person in almost ten years, and she was already starting to lose it.

“Who are you?!” She cried. “What do you want? If you’re not the grim reaper, then what are you?!”

He touched his hand to his chin. Or, where his chin would be on his mask. “Well… what do you think I am?”

She honestly had no idea.

He was so close now, she could almost feel his breath. She looked up at him warily, remembering for the first time that her body was still that of a small child. She had no idea if she could be hurt as a ghost, or what that would even feel like, but she felt… afraid.

“You addressed me as the grim reaper… because you thought I was here to take you to the afterlife, isn’t that right?” The man purred like a cat.

“Well… I’m dead… so…” The words still hurt coming out of her mouth. “But… you can’t! I won’t go! I’m not leaving Nick! I… I need him! If I go, then he’ll…”

“He’ll forget you? That’s what you’re scared of, isn’t it?” The masked man crooned. “That you’ll just be a blip to your love. A figure from his past that he’ll remember fondly, but set aside, and move on from.”

His words stabbed at the heart of who Dakota was.

“I… I…” Her lips trembled. She might have spent six years haunting him, but she was still that little girl who drowned in the river.

“Well I’m sorry to say… you’re absolutely correct,” the man breathed, leaning down to look her in the eye. Dakota couldn’t see anything through the holes in his mask. Just inky blackness, and two golden pools shining out of it.

“That is what happens to those who leave this world. Eventually, they are forgotten. People move on. They grow. They heal. They become better for it. Even Nicholas will reach that point eventually.”

Dakota shook her head frantically. “No! No, that’s… no… please…” Her voice choked in her throat and she started to shake.

“Of course, you’ve been doing a great job of fighting it all on your own!” The man straightened up and clapped his hands together in mocking applause. “I’m quite impressed! You’ve dug your claws in so deeply that they might not ever come out, not as long as you remain with him.”

Hope blossomed in her chest. “Then-!”

His next words slammed into her like the waves that had taken her life. “But that cannot be allowed.”

Dakota felt like the world around her was collapsing.

“Why!?” She cried. “Why can’t I stay with him!? You let me stay this long, so… why?! Don’t I deserve this?! Even just this much happiness?!”

“I needed you to ripen,” the man replied, unleashing an airy cackle. “Like a fruit on the vine. And you’re coming along quite nicely! You can’t even see it, can you? You’re so blinded by your **** need to be a part of him forever that you can’t see that your presence is like an anchor, dragging him down into the abyss. If you keep this up… that boy will sink further and further into depression.”

“N-no!” Dakota clapped her hands over her ears; she didn’t want to hear this!

But she was a ghost. His words passed through her anyway.

“It’s already happening. The stress of those dreams, they’re making him ****. He’s too afraid of losing the people he loves, like how he lost you. That desperation makes him more and more frantic and possessive, harming those who would otherwise get close to him.”

Dakota wished she could deny that. She wished she could be the positive **** in Nick’s life she desperately wanted to be.

But seeing how his feelings for Dawn and Dani had affected him… the way he’d acted, so **** and possessive, fueled in no small part by her own jealousy…

The man’s voice dropped to a whisper. “If you leave him be and come with me, then he’ll be freed from your shackles. He won’t forget you, don’t worry about that, but you won’t be a weight pulling him down any longer. He’ll be able to move on peacefully and find a new happiness. A new love. Don’t you want that for him?”

In her heart, the answer was no. Dakota wanted to be the one who Nick always loved.

“I just… I just want… I want him to be happy…” She whimpered. “I want to be with him! I want to love him! I want us to be happy together!”

Ah. So she could cry. All these years, and she thought that, as a ghost, she could not.

“Well… what you want stopped mattering the second you stepped onto that bridge,” the man said with a shrug. “You have a choice now, young miss. You can stay here, with Nick, forcing him to only love you forever even as it ruins his life and eventually kills him… or you can come with me. And I can bring you to a new future in the world beyond this one.”

Dakota sniffled. She wiped her eyes. “Is that… really my only choice?”

The masked man nodded. “It is.”

“Then…” She looked back at Nick. Carly beamed at him with desire in his eyes, but he was too ****, too damaged, to accept her interest.

Maybe… if she was gone… maybe he really would be happier.

Dakota closed her eyes and thought back to her past. Not these last six years, but the twelve before them.

“My life… was miserable…” She murmured. “My mother never really loved me. She didn’t care. I was just a check to her. But Nick… he… he loved me. He cared for me. Someone like me… someone who came into this world unloved and miserable… he gave me happiness that I never thought I’d ever deserved…”

She clutched her chest; there was no heart within her breast, but still… she could feel the pain.

“If I can give him back… even a little of that happiness… then I will.”

The man nodded and closed his eyes. The atmosphere turned somber.

“I see.”

“Can I…” Dakota’s voice cracked. “Can I at least… say goodbye?”

He nodded again.

Dakota turned and rushed over to Nick. He was so much taller now. The distance separating them was worlds apart.

And yet, like he could understand what she wanted on a subconscious level, he sat down on the couch with Carly.

Just close enough to where Dakota could plant a kiss on his cheek.

“Goodbye,” she whispered. “I love you. Together since birth.”

Nick had been her forever. But now, forever had ended.

She turned to the masked man, and they disappeared.

“Is everything okay?” Carly asked, her brow knitting in concern. “Nick… you’re crying.”

“H-huh?” Nick hadn’t even realized it. But there were tears rolling down her cheeks. “Oh… sorry, I don’t know what’s going on,” he hastily apologized, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. Something had changed, something he couldn’t put his finger on. But being here, talking with Carly, it felt like he could finally start putting the pain of his past behind him.

Dakota accompanied the masked man through a vacuum of nothingness. He held her hand tightly, though his glove was as cold as ice.

She shivered.

“So am I… going to hell?” She asked quietly.

“Hell? My dear girl, what makes you think that?” The masked man asked.

“Well… you don’t really look like an angel…”

She had no idea what this thing was. But he certainly wasn’t human.

“I’m not a demon,” he assured her. “But you’re right, I’m not an angel, either. I’m… well, I suppose you could call me a bit of a businessman.”

Dakota stared at him.

“Huh?”

“I’m a model employee,” the man said, walking deeper into the emptiness. Dakota could feel the ground beneath her feet, but it felt like nothing. It was strange. “But when you’re in my line of work, it’s important to make investments on the side. You’re one of those investments, my dear.”

Dakota didn’t know what to make of that. “…Okay? Um… so what’s your name?”

That got a chuckle out of him. “Ah, it’s much too long and complex to be pronounced by someone like you, my darling. But you may call me Mr. S.”

“Okay… Mr. S,” Dakota tried it out. Still felt weird. “So if we’re not going to heaven or hell… where are we going?”

He glanced back at her, and for a moment, she thought the smile on his mask was the real thing.

“Why, to paradise, of course.”

And with that, the vacuum of darkness tore away and they were standing in the center of a field.

“Whoa!” Dakota’s eyes widened and she looked around, surprised. The field was gorgeous, and seemed to stretch for miles. A babbling brook ran through it, parallel to the path the two of them had walked. She shivered as she saw it. “What is this place!? Where are we?!”

“This is the island where I do my business,” Mr. S informed her. He raised his cane, and the two of them were suddenly standing in front of a giant hotel. It sat on a cliff overlooking the sea, amid a cluster of red flowers.

“Harem… Hotel? What’s that?” Dakota asked.

Her question elicited a laugh. “That question has a great many answers, and not all of them are true,” Mr. S answered. “Simply put, I run what you might want to think of as… a game show. Of the interdimensional variety. I’m one of countless hosts, spread through all corners of reality, and even some corners where reality is a little more… flexible.”

Dakota didn’t quite understand.

Mr. S sighed. “…Let me make it clearer. I bring people to this island, to compete for the affection of one person. The master. It’s what’s called a harem. That’s the word for it in your reality, right?”

“I know harem anime,” Dakota offered, remembering the many times she’d watched those over Nick’s shoulder. “Where a lot of girls like one guy.”

“Yes! It’s exactly like that,” Mr. S nodded. “Only here, we alter the girls to make them a little more capable of embracing the master’s love… oh, and of course, because the audience likes it. Can’t forget about the viewers!”

One of the golden lights behind his mask went out. Dakota wondered if he was winking.

Then she had a sick thought.

“Wait… is that why I’m here?” She questioned, pulling her hand away and taking a step back. “You’re going to make me be in someone’s harem!?”

She was technically 18, but the thought of being with someone other than Nick, that…

“Oh, my, no! No, not at all!” Mr. S said, shaking his head frantically. “No, my time has long-since passed. Oh, yes, I did run a great many seasons here… so many, in fact, that the bosses were very pleased with my performance.”

Dakota shivered. The way he was looking at her…

Mr. S curled down the fingers of his hand, until a single one pointed towards the sky. “I’m moving… upstairs.”

Dakota swallowed. “Then… why am I…?”

“I told, you didn’t I? You were an investment!” Mr. S declared. “You see, when a lost soul passes on to the afterlife, they’re usually taken to heaven or hell. But as a host of Harem Hotel, I have certain… privileges. I could sense all the way from here the intensity of your love for young Nicholas, and it made me curious. I wanted to see what would become of you, when you reached full maturity. So I had your soul earmarked for me, instead of one of those other places.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry- you weren’t missing much.”

“So I… what? You brought me here in order to…?” Dakota still wasn’t sure what this strange man wanted from her.

“I want you to replace me!” He exclaimed, throwing up his hands like it was some big announcement. “I wasn’t sure, at first, there were several other candidates I was considering. You see, the producers won’t let one of us hosts join their ranks without an adequate replacement waiting in the wings. But when I showed them what you did to the man you loved, over these last six years… well, they saw the same thing in you that I did, young miss. Your potential. I think you could do great things here, and give us a show unlike any other! So, what do you say? Would you like to become the next host of this island?”

Dakota didn’t know what to say. She was completely overwhelmed by everything the man was saying.

But just because she looked like a child, that didn’t mean she was one. She was 18, and could think for herself.

“What would I have to do?” She asked cautiously.

“Nothing too difficult,” Mr. S assured her with a twirl of his cane. “Design the island however you like, staff it as you please, and when one of us producers comes calling with a new cast of master and contestants, you just facilitate things. Come up with challenges and transformations and punishments. It might take some getting used to at first, but you’re a creative young lady. If you let the cane guide you, I’m sure you’ll excel.”

He held out the cane to her.

“And I can do… anything?” Dakota stared at the cane, and for the first time, she could feel the power coming off of it. She swallowed.

“This is your world now, Dakota,” Mr. S confirmed with a nod. “You can alter it as you see fit. Create whatever you like. Would you like to test it out, before taking me up on my offer?”

“What if I say no? Are you gonna erase me from existence or something?” She didn’t realize it until now, but her arm was extended out towards the cane. Her fingers already brushed across it. But she hadn’t taken that last step.

He shook his head. “No, of course not! I’ll send you to heaven or hell, or wherever you’d like… but don’t be afraid to take what I have to give you. You wouldn’t want to pass on with any more regrets, right? This gift... it’s your reward, after all you’ve been through. It’s what you deserve.”

Deserve. There was that word again. The word that made her heart ache, as she remembered the life that she’d barely been able to live. A life that had been robbed from her.

The offer was tempting. It wasn’t like she was bound to Nick any longer. As much as she loved him… she had to let him go. Maybe this place… this power... would fill the hole in her heart.

Dakota took the cane, and felt the power flow through her.

“This is… amazing!” She gasped, as she felt herself change. In an instant, she was so much more than she’d been. The knowledge of all of Mr. S’ past seasons of Harem Hotel flooded into her, and she saw everything in a new light.

“Remember, it’s only temporary,” the masked man warned her. “I’ll be back in about… oh, 24 hours. Let me know then what you decide. …Oh, but before I go, may I make one suggestion?”

“What?” Dakota asked, leering at him suspiciously. If there was one thing her knew knowledge had informed her of, it was the fact that there was always a catch.

“Take a look at your appearance,” he cautioned her. “Summon a mirror.”

She raised her cane, and willed a wall-length mirror into existence. She looked at her reflection and gasped.

“My eyes!”

They were as golden as her benefactor’s.

“It’s because you’ve inherited that power from me,” he informed her. “Consider it a… lasting gift. When you pass on those powers someday, you may leave something for your own successor. For now, though, I want you to ignore that and focus on the rest of your body. You see… how do I put this…”

He stroked his chin.

“…Harem Hotel is meant to be titillating. And a drowned 12-year-old girl is most certainly NOT that. Perhaps a change of appearance is in order? Something to reflect your actual age, perhaps?”

Dakota smiled a wicked smile. She could picture herself now. “I want to be tall!” She declared. “Tall and gorgeous, a real adult woman! Beautiful and striking, with a fancy dress! Like the princess of a movie!”

She had been poor for most of her life. But being a princess had always been a dream of hers. She deserved to look nice for once.

Mr. S shrugged. “Then make it so.”

She turned back to the mirror and closed her eyes. She willed herself to become that person of her dreams… and so she did.

“Well?” Mr. S asked, sounding rather smug. “What do you think?”

“…It’s a start…” Dakota mused. “It’s a start…”

True to his word, Mr. S returned 24 hours later on the dot.

“Well, this is certainly something,” he said, walking through a field in the center of the island. The same one they had arrived at in the beginning. Dakota was sitting on a swing, rocking back and forth with a pensive look on her face. “I give you free reign to do as you like, and… you make a playground. Not bad. Not the most creative or daring thing in the world, or any world, but… not bad.”

“I used to play on these swings as a little girl,” Dakota murmured thoughtfully. “I wanted a touch of home. And that’s not all I did.”

She hopped off the swing and approached her benefactor with a coy expression on her face.

With a wave of her cane, countless pixies fluttered into being.

“Faeries,” she said wistfully. “Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of faerie land. A world of mystical creatures with powers beyond imagining. I always dreamed that they would show up one day, to take Nick and I away to their lands so we could be together forever…”

Her words brought an ache to her heart. But she couldn’t deny the truth of them. Whatever pain there was in her past… the fae brought her happiness.

“I think I shall staff my hotel with them,” she decided. “A princess deserves adorable servants to wait on her, after all.”

“I noticed as well that the river’s gone now,” Mr. S said, scanning the empty field.

Dakota’s expression darkened. “Rivers, streams… waterfalls… I have no need for those things here. This is my island, you remember. I shall sculpt it as I wish.”

Anticipation crept into the masked man’s voice. “Then does that mean… you’ll be accepting my offer?”

“The power to create the perfect world I deserve…” Dakota held the cane covetously to her chest, as if she were afraid to let it go. “I would have to be a fool to pass that up.”

“You have to play the game, though,” Mr. S cautioned her. “You’ll still have to do your duty as a host. And now that you know what that entails… can you do it?”

Dakota felt insulted that he would even question her.

“Of course I can,” she sniffed. “Who do you think I am?”

Mr. S nodded. “Then, as the host of Harem Hotel: Island Holiday, I name you the next host of this territory! I bestow upon you all powers and titles that come with this territory, and the unquestionable authority as host of Harem Hotel!”

He just raised his hand and said a few words. On the outside, nothing seemed to change. But there was a rumble in Dakota’s heart. His words had a permanence to them, that her previous uses of the cane lacked.

She clutched it tighter. It was not some loaned gift, not any longer. It was hers now.

“I’ll be moving on up then,” Mr. S said, turning to depart. “You’ll hear from me again, when it’s time for your first master. I’m the producer responsible for your season now, after all.”

He paused.

“…One more thing. I can’t help but be curious.” He turned back to Dakota. “You could create anything you want with your powers. So why didn’t you create that boy, Nicholas? You could have made a dozen of him, a hundred, to service your every whim. And instead you make… faeries.”

Dakota stared blankly back at him, as if that question were the stupidest thing he could have asked.

“There is only one Nick,” she replied. With a flick of her cane, she conjured a being in his likeness. “Even if I made a copy of him… that would not be real. Just something animated by my own powers. No better than a doll.”

She tapped her cane on the ground and the copy disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“I would never insult him by creating some soulless replica.”

“I see…” Mr. S nodded, stroking his chin. “Very interesting. Well… good luck with your first season, Dakota. I’ll be in touch shortly.”

And then he was gone.

It was hard to count time passing on the island. As its master, Dakota was acutely aware of how time flowed around her; she could alter it as she wished. One time, she made the day only 5 minutes long. Then, she made the day an equivalent to a week, just because she could. With her powers, the concept of time was… malleable. Like everything else in her little island paradise.

Then one day, Mr. S appeared before her again. In the room she’d deigned her quarters, the same room he’d once occupied. His portrait hung on the wall, right beside hers. There was an empty spot to the right, where Dakota’s successor would presumably go, if she ever succumbed to her boredom and relinquished the gift she’d been given to another.

“Dakota! How are things?” He asked, as subdued as ever as he approached her. “Having fun with yourself?”

“Actually, I’m quite bored,” Dakota admitted with a disconnected scoff. “With this, I can do as I please… but it’s all so boring. They say absolute power corrupts absolutely… but this feels more like apathy than corruption.”

“Well… perhaps it’s because you lack someone to experience your powers with,” Mr. S proposed. “Loneliness stings, after all. In which case… I come with good news indeed.”

Dakota leaned forward intently. “You mean… it’s finally time?”

“That’s right!” Mr. S cheerily nodded. “Your very first season of Harem Hotel! Are you ready?”

Dakota took a deep breath and exhaled. She’d been preparing for this. For… wow, she really had lost track of time here. Days? Weeks? Months?

…Years?

Her thoughts of Nick were fainter and fainter. That was, perhaps, a good thing.

She rose from her seat, a professional smile on her face.

“Always,” she assured him with a bow.

“Then allow me to present to you the dossier on the upcoming master and the girls in his harem,” Mr. S said, handing her a folder. It seemed strange, to convey information in such an imprecise way. Couldn’t he upload the knowledge directly into her head? Perhaps he was more limited in this dimension, now that Dakota was its ruler.

She thumbed through the folder curiously, scanning it with her eyes.

“This says his name is… Mason Atweiler. He’s currently engaged… to his fiancé, Kathleen… who he’s known since elementary school.”

“That’s right,” Mr. S said, nodding eagerly. “A childhood friend. I thought I’d be generous and start you off with a treat. Something familiar, to cut your teeth on.

Childhood friend.

Those words cut into Dakota like a knife.

“And I can handle things how I like, yes?” Dakota asked, just to be sure. “These other women…”

“They’re other people in his life who he has romantic entanglements with, in one way or another. I’m particularly fond of that one, Shelby Daniels. His fiancé’s coworker? She’s been subtly trying to get into his pants for some time now, behind her friend’s back… I do just love the homewreckers!”

Dakota scowled as the masked man cackled distastefully.

He quickly sobered up. “Yes, yes, to answer your question, yes. You have the freedom to handle things as you see fit. But remember… the discretion of the host comes with limits. If the producers think you’re favoring one contestant too much, or trying to flout the rules of the game… or even worse, if you’re not entertaining enough for the audience? We might have to… step in.”

Dakota swallowed. She wouldn’t allow that to happen. She had come this far. She finally had everything she’d always deserved. She would NOT have it taken away, not now.

She snapped the file closed. A wicked smile crossed her face. “I’ll be just fine,” she assured him.

“…And now, for the first girl in Mason’s harem…”

Dakota hadn’t expected to find her duties so… interesting.

“…Miss Kathleen Dorner!”

“Kathy?!” Mason sat up in his chair, shocked. He’d just been informed that he was going to be the center of some big harem, and the first woman in it would be his fiancé?!

“Mason?! Honey, what’s going on?!” The sweet, honey-haired girl looked around frantically as she was summoned to the first of the contestant seats. She stared up at the stage, and her husband-to-be seated atop it, with confusion.

“Welcome, Kathleen!” Dakota greeted her. “My name is Dakota! I’m the host of this little show we have here called Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season! You’ve been invited to have a place in Mason’s harem!”

“Harem?! My- my Mason would never-!” She sputtered. “We’re in love!”

“That’s right!” Mason declared. “I love Kathleen! I’d never cheat on her with other women!”

Dakota winced internally at his declaration. “Do you… really mean that?” The words just slipped out of her lips.

Mason stared at her, confused. “Of… of course I do,” he muttered. For a second, the woman in front of him looked almost… hopeful.

Dakota’s expression hardened. “Then… I look forward to seeing you prove it.”

Love, huh? He’s saying he loves her? And she loves him? How sweet.

She was rooting for them, she really was. Love and happiness… that’s what it was all about, right? That was her job. To make the master happy.

“Is that really fair, though?”

A small voice in the back of her head whispered into her skull.

She ignored it, and continued introducing the other girls in the harem.

This was Dakota’s first go, so there were only six. Mason’s fiancé, of course, and Shelby Daniels. There was also his secretary at the office, the one who always left the top few buttons of her shirt opened and greeted him with a breathy smile, the slutty cheerleader who came onto him in high school, all grown up with adult proportions, the porn star whose movies he’d touched himself to as a child, who looked even sexier now, and finally the thorny but alluring punk girl he’d sat across on the subway a few times, looking every bit as tantalizing as she did dangerous.

Dakota threw them all at him, trying to see if he would break. If his words were meaningless bravado, or if he actually meant what he said.

And… he seemed to mean it. No matter how sexy she made the transformations, no matter how much she emphasized the importance of sleeping with the other girls, for their own sake... Mason refused to budge.

Which only fanned the embers of jealousy in Dakota’s heart into a raging inferno.

“Remember, Mason,” she informed him after one particularly close challenge, where the girls had to wrestle in body lotion, “regardless of who wins this competition… all the girls will still be bound to you. They’ll be in your harem.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Kathleen declared, proud of her victory. “We love each other, and we’re going to get married.”

“That’s right,” Mason asserted. “I know that the others are all trying their best, but… I’m sorry. Kathleen is the only woman I’ve been with, and she’s the only one I want to be with. We’ve been together since forever, and we always will be.”

He wrapped his hand around hers, and they both smiled.

“Together since birth!”

Dakota’s own words echoed like poison in her ears.

Why? Why do you get to say that? Why do you get to have that happiness together? It’s not fair… it should be me! Why do you two get to be together forever, while I… I can’t-!

And just like that, something in Dakota broke.

You don’t deserve that.

It wasn’t about the game anymore. She made it her goal to make Mason fall. To tear that “everlasting love” he shared with Kathleen into little pieces. They didn’t deserve such sweet, honeyed words. They deserved a taste of what Dakota had to endure.

She started with the transformations. Twisted, sadistic things that warped everything he loved about Kathleen in obscene ways. She blimped out her tits, to the point where she could barely walk. Then inflated her lips, turning them into a cartoonish “O” that couldn’t even close properly. She could barely speak at that point. And when no trace of the sporty tomboy he’d fallen for on the playground back in second grade remained, Dakota took away her mind as well.

She turned Kathleen into a cuck. Made it so that she could only be sexually satisfied by seeing Mason inside of another woman. While making sure that she still hated every bit of it. Kathleen didn’t deserve to be happy. She deserved to be as miserable as Dakota. How dare she think that she could marry her childhood friend?! That she could shove her relationship in Dakota’s face, like she was mocking her?!

Mr. S had warned her about bias, but that was just bias in favor of one of the girls.

He never expressed any qualms about Dakota sabotaging one like this. Besides, the audience was loving it. Mason reiterating his love for Kathleen for the billionth round in a row was a snoozefest. But seeing his beloved fiancé get mutated like this, and him STILL trying to proclaim his love for her? Even while she resisted the urge she felt to turn him loose on the other girls?

Well… that was just good television.

And the viewers ate it up, too. Her numbers were skyrocketing, where once they had been a flatline of disinterested tedium. Now they waited on bated breath to see if Mason would do the deed. If he would cheat on his fiancé.

And all it took was a few sprays of aphrodisiac from a certain treacherous best friend, and the damage was done. Kathleen walked into the Banquet Hall to see Shelby riding her fiancé like a rodeo bull, and let out a deranged cry.

Whether out of orgasm, or despair, or some mixture of both, Dakota couldn’t quite be sure. But she delighted in the look of heartbreak on Kathleen’s face as she witnessed her love of over 20 years cheat on her with the woman she’d thought was her best friend.

And when the season came to a close with Shelby as the victor and “queen” of Mason’s harem and Kathleen as their little cuckpet, Dakota felt like she’d finally found her purpose in life.

Mr. S came by the day after the season ended to congratulate her.

“I must say, Dakota, I’m impressed,” he said, applauding.

“Oh?” Dakota raised her eyebrow and leaned back in her seat.

“Look at you… most people, when they get started, their first seasons are disasters!” Mr. S laughed. “But you… my, they’re really talking about you upstairs! Oh, yes, praising your creative taste… tormenting that poor girl until she offered up her own fiancé to the rest of the harem, even though she hated seeing him with them? That’s the kind of stuff you just can’t script. I knew I’d found a jewel in that river all those years ago! Yes, you’re coming along quite nicely...”

Dakota just smirked. Her expression was dark.

“It’s my job, to give them happiness,” she said, clutching her cane tightly. “Those women… they think that they’re entitled to love… to fidelity… to a man who will never abandon them… they’re fools. They deserve what they get. They need to learn that what they call love… is nothing but their own self-satisfied desperation as they try to deny the truth of reality.”

Mr. S laughed. “Indeed! You’re absolutely right! If their love was so absolute, they wouldn’t be on this show in the first place! Well done, Dakota! I expect great things from you!”

“Who’s next?” Dakota asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Ah, ready to go again already, I see?” Mr. S’s eyes flashed. “Just as I’d hoped. The next master is a Mr. Ethan Franko. Married for six years now, to a Mrs. Joana Hall. Decided to keep her old name, it seems. And get this- she has two daughters from her previous marriage, Kelsey and Mackenzie, both in college right now.”

A twisted smile slowly spread across Dakota’s lips. “Step-daughters, you say…?”

Oh, yes, that gave her plenty of ideas.

Dakota treated Mr. Franko with all the respect his “marriage” warranted. So what if his wife was heartbroken to see her husband in a threesome with her daughters? It was what she deserved for believing in something as silly as a wedding ring.

And they were only the first of many to come. Dakota hosted season after season of people boldly proclaiming their “love” for others- a girlfriend, a fiancé, a wife, even just a platonic best friend, and watched with glee as those relationships collapsed one by one at her hand.

Why do you think you deserve it? What makes you worthy of it!? Stop saying it! Stop saying that word! It has no place here! That word is meaningless! It’s not for you, it’s not!

She leapt from one season to another with hardly any time to breathe. After all, time was meaningless to her. What would be months on this island, could be just a scant few days in the real world, or minutes, or seconds, it was all up to her decide.

What should I do next? She contemplated as she tore over the files of the foolish masters who declared their “love” for their women, and the foolish women who believed them. For this one… yes, I think I’ll make her speak only in sexual innuendo. Ah, and the dutiful class president girlfriend… yes, I’ll make her addicted to the fluids of older women, driving her master into the arms of that cheerleader skank who always bullied her!

Who should be next?

Next?

Next?!

She clutched her cane tightly to her chest and shivered with glee.

Endless possibilities… a never-ending sea of fools who drown in their worthless “love” …Like a kaleidoscope! No matter where I turn, there’s always a new possibility… a new transformation to try… a new way to distort that misguided hope, turn it into something more… palatable.

She threw back her head and laughed as she spun around her room, seeing the countless harems and happy masters she’d created with her machinations flash before her eyes. How wonderful! How beautiful! For the first time… I’ve finally found something to fill me with meaning-! This is it... the happiness I deserve, after so long... I’m truly… truly aliiiiiiive!

Her cane struck a mirror and it shattered with a crack, sending glass falling out. Dakota whirled around and saw her own reflection in its remains.

But for a moment… she was that child again.

“Raaargh!” She roared, slamming the end of her cane into the mirror again and again, until nothing remained that could reflect her face. “NO! NO! NO!”

She took a deep breath and calmed herself.

For just a moment, her thoughts had drifted towards… him.

Nick has no place here, she reminded herself. He’s just a small piece of my past. Someone who doesn’t matter in the slightest. I’m a new person now. I’m the host of this territory… this season of Harem Hotel. I don’t need him… anymore...

And yet, her heart ached all the same.

“Well! I just came to pop by to visit my star pupil, but it seems you’re rather busy right now.”

Dakota gasped and raised her head. There he was. Mr. S. His mask was gone now, but she still couldn’t make out his features. They looked human, but it was like looking at a grainy image that refused to come into focus. She couldn’t pick out anything distinct.

She could see his smile now, though.

“You’ve changed a bit,” she noted dully. “How long has it been? Several years, I imagine. Time… has little meaning, in a place like this.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Mr. S said, shaking his head as he approached her. “You’ve done some amazing things in your tenure already. Short as it’s been.”

“Short?” Dakota raised her eyebrow. Though she supposed, with how little time meant anymore, and in the cosmic scale that an entity like him might have dealt in, that was a fair assessment.

“It’s a compliment, believe me,” Mr. S assured her. “In such a brief time, for you to make so many successful harems… so many popular seasons… the other hosts are simply teaming with envy! The ones who don’t look upon you with disgust and fear, of course.”

Dakota narrowed her eyes. In the brief encounters she’d had with the hosts of other seasons, she hadn’t been impressed. None of them truly understood her divine calling.

This was what she had been born for. To twist those foolish, naïve humans who proclaimed their faith in love into something better. Something they deserved.

“If you’re just here to congratulate me, you can go,” Dakota scoffed. “You’ve let me go without training wheels for quite a while now, old man, why the sudden visit? Plagued with a bout of nostalgia, perhaps?”

Mr. S laughed, and gave a wry smile. “Ah… what happened to the little girl who was shivering in front of me so long ago?”

“I grew up,” Dakota defiantly declared, narrowing her eyes. “Now, what are you here for?”

Mr. S didn’t seem perturbed by her statement. The smile on his face seemed as fake as the one on the mask he’d once worn. “Is that any way to speak to a producer? I would expect a little bit of courtesy, for old time’s sake.”

Dakota smirked. She lifted the hem of her dress in a curtsy. “…If that is what you wish,” she agreed, faking her politeness admirably. “Now, again, what do you want?”

Mr. S smirked. “…To reward you of course,” he replied, lifting up a dossier. An old, familiar thing. She remembered the first one he’d given her. Madison, or Mason, or something like that. There had been so many over the years.

“Here is the next master we have planned for Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season,” he informed her. “I discussed it with the other producers, and we all agreed that this would be the perfect locale.”

Dakota accepted the dossier, but she wasn’t impressed. “You could have just sent it to me like the last ones. Haven’t we moved past in-person deliveries by now?”

“I know, I know,” Mr. S sighed as she cracked the folder open. “But I really wanted to see the look of gratitude on your face when you opened your gift. You’re like a daughter to me, after all.”

Dakota turned to stone as she looked upon the contents of the folder.

“This… this is…”

“That’s right,” Mr. S said, his eyes twinkling. They were no longer gold; Dakota couldn’t make out the color any longer. “It’s been decided. The next master of Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season, will be one Nicholas Reynolds.”

“NO!” Dakota shouted, flinging the folder across the room like it had suddenly caught fire. “Why!? Why do I…?! ...I refuse! I have nothing to do with him anymore! So-”

She froze when she saw his face. She couldn’t make out any specifics, but he wasn’t smiling.

“I think… you’ve misunderstood something,” he said, approaching her. “When I picked you up all those years ago… you were nothing. Just an angry spirit, clinging desperately to a boy who couldn’t forgive her.”

He grabbed Dakota by the jaw and looked her dead in the eye. “You were nothing. Everything you’ve made of yourself, it’s because of what I gave you. Do you understand that? It is because of my faith in your abilities that you’ve been able to get this far.”

He pushed her away, and she scrambled across the floor. But he slammed a mirror down in front of her and **** her to stop.

There she was. Not the gorgeous woman who twisted the hearts of men and gave foolish women what they deserved.

Just a little girl who’d drowned in the river.

“That body of yours, those powers, they are a lie,” Mr. S hissed into her ear. “Even now, I could take them all away, and turn you back into nothing.”

“No!” Dakota whimpered. Not that. Anything but that.

“Do you understand now?” The producer asked, leering down at the helpless figure beneath him. “What it is that’s expected of you?”

Dakota looked pathetically up at him. How many years had it been since she’d last cried?

“Why?” She breathed, starting to shake. “Why are you doing this to me? Why… why him?”

Mr. S snorted in disbelief. “Why? Because my girl… that was the entire point. I told you, did I not? You were a fruit I was waiting to ripen. And now... harvest has come. The only reason I spared you all those years ago and took you under my wing was because I wanted to see what would happen when we got to this point. A host, seasoned by seasons of debauchery and twisted transformations, **** to preside over the season where her dearly beloved is the master? THAT is something that NO ONE has done before, my dear. It’s groundbreaking! Just think… you’ll be able to use all those powers of yours, and bring your beloved Nicholas all the happiness he so richly deserves.”

He leaned in close and whispered into her ear.

“And all the while… knowing you’ll never be a part of it yourself.”

Dakota wept. She thought she’d moved past all that. She thought she’d left her past behind her, for good.

She’d simply been deluding herself. She was no star. No great host.

From the very beginning, she’d just been a tool to entertain a being she couldn’t comprehend the nature of.

She imagined doing to Nick, what she’d done to so many other masters in the past. Only now, instead of another contestant, SHE was the one who would watch her love taken from her by countless other women.

“What if…” The words escaped her lips before she could even think them. “What if I… had another way? A way to make this an even better season?”

Mr. S seemed intrigued slightly, but he just snorted. “Better than this? And how would you do that?”

Dakota grabbed her cane and held it tightly to her chest. She was ****. “What if, instead of having me as the host… what if I was one of the contestants?”

Mr. S seemed taken aback by that suggestion.

“You… a contestant?”

“Imagine the reaction,” Dakota said, quickly retrieving the file. With every step away from the producer, her confidence surged. “Nick… it says here, he’s 26 now? That means it’s been over 14 years… 14 years since I died before his eyes. Imagine the reaction, if I were to be resurrected as a member of his harem! Imagine the ratings! What everyone would say! A former host, as the contestant with her lost love? We couldn’t tell anyone, of course, but...”

Dakota could imagine it. In all the seasons she’d run, she’d never done something as daring as this. But she was confident it could work.

Mr. S had no reaction. For a very long time, she waited to see what he would think of her idea. She felt the urge to talk, to justify herself further, but she refrained. She’d given the best pitch she could. It was up to him now.

Then he smiled.

“I knew…” He said, shaking his head. “I knew there was a reason I chose you to be my successor, out of everyone else. So that’s your plan, then? To be reborn, as a member of his harem? Sneaky sneaky! Trying to get one over on us, are you?”

“Not at all,” Dakota said, shaking her head. “It’s simply ideal to implement, for all parties involved.”

It was a lie, and an obvious one. They both knew it. But that didn’t matter at this point. I deserve this. With all my hard work over the years, I deserve this much, at least. He has to see that.

“It’s not as simple as that, though, I’m afraid,” Mr. S said, shaking his head. “You see, the paperwork has already been filed. In one year- Earth years, that is, Mr. Reynolds will be coming to this island. THIS is the setting for his season, and you are the master of this territory. You can’t change that.”

Dakota let out the breath she’d been holding. “…What if I could?”

“Oh?” Mr. S raised his eyebrow.

“You chose me as your successor,” Dakota pointed out. “What if I appoint a successor of my own? Someone who will work to ensure that the season goes as smoothly as possible? That it works out the way we intend?”

Mr. S stroked his chin. “Well, certainly, that would be something. But I can’t imagine you’d just pull some random person off the street. What did you have in mind?”

Dakota smirked. “If I can’t find the right tool for the job… I can always make it myself.” She raised her cane.

“First… a blonde. She has to be someone he’d be attracted to. And ever since we were kids, he always loved blondes. With blue eyes… and an accent. Something European, it doesn’t really matter. He always adored his dad’s old movies with that French actress.”

Her cane’s glow intensified, and the thing she constructed began to take concrete shape.

“She should be voluptuous as well, I’m sure he likes big breasts. Most men do.” She remembered the massive rack on that Carly girl. Oh yeah, Nick definitely had a type. “As for personality… it doesn’t really matter. Playful, teasing, it’ll sort itself out. I can sculpt that later. She’ll be obedient to me, after all. Give her some fancy clothes, a top hat, things to make her stand out and draw attention to herself… and there we are.”

She lowered her cane, and the light faded. Standing before her was a blonde woman with a rocking figure, dressed in a gaudy outfit that looked like it had been stitched together from several eras of time. A leotard, a showgirl skirt, high-heeled leather boots, a red suit jacket, a red tie…

The thing looked ridiculously garish, but Dakota didn’t really care. Not as long as it served its purpose.

“Mistress!” The blonde cried, staring up at her with adoring eyes. She took her first breath of life, experiencing the world for the first time. Or something like that. Dakota didn’t really care. Not as long as she served her purpose.

“Well?” Dakota turned to Mr. S with a triumphant smirk. “What do you think? I’d say she makes an adequate replacement. I’ve given her plenty of knowledge about seduction and transformations, and how to run a game like this. With a year’s tutelage, she’ll be perfect.”

“…What about a name?” Mr. S asked.

Dakota blinked. “What would she need with that?”

“…Most hosts need a name,” he pointed out.

“Fine, fine,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. It really didn’t matter. The thing was just a placeholder, so Dakota could be by Nick’s side. Anything would do. “Since I drowned in Sylvia River, I’ll just name her that. Are we done now?”

Mr. S laughed. “Not quite,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s not enough to just have someone waiting in the wings. No, the producers want a bit more of a deep dive. So, for this next year, we were thinking about a therapist’s office, and then…”

He and Dakota discussed their plans, while Sylvia listened in intently.

One year later…

“Mistress!” Sylvia rushed over to Dakota, her face filled with excitement. “Come look! I was taking care of the Mimic Jelly just like you asked, and-”

“Sylvia, does this affect me in any way?” Dakota asked, not taking her eyes off the movie she was watching.

Sylvia gulped and shook her head, standing at attention. “No, mistress.”

“Then why did you come talk to me about it?”

Sylvia looked down. “Well… Sally talks about stuff with her dad, so I just thought…”

“There it is again, you’re thinking.” Dakota rolled her eyes. “Do I have to remind you what you were created for, again? Will a transformation help with that? How about...”

Sylvia blanched. “N-no need! I was created... to… run a successful season and make Nick Reynolds happy?” She frantically recounted. She’d actually been enjoying her sessions with him quite a bit, playing at being a therapist. She felt like she was connecting with another person for the first time.

“Exactly. No need to think. Just do as you’re told,” Dakota said, waving her hand dismissively at her. “Now, leave me alone. This will be the last movie I see for some time, and I want to make the best of it.”

Sylvia nodded, and waited patiently for her creator to finish.

Only when the movie ended and the credits finished rolling did Dakota rise from her seat and turn to Sylvia, her eyes showing just the faintest sign of interest in the other woman.

“So… about the Mimic Jelly-”

Dakota raised her hand and stopped her right there.

“I have no interest in your stories about that plant,” she rebuked her creation. “It’s time to go, or did you forget?”

Sylvia’s eyes widened. “That’s right! Today’s my last appointment with Nick!”

Dakota held up her cane, and Sylvia’s appearance changed. The top hat was gone, along with the leotard and showgirl skirt. In their place, she wore a thin pencil skirt and a button-up shirt. Her hair was tied up neatly in a bun, and she wore a professional-looking pair of glasses.

She looked every part the therapist she’d been pretending to be for the last year.

“You remember what to do, correct?” Dakota asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Yes, mistress!” Sylvia nodded. “I bring Nick here, and I go through the introduction routine, just like you showed me.”

“And then you bring me back,” Dakota reminded her. “As the final contestant. Bring me back last. Is that clear? My first transformation will be a new body… one attuned to Nick’s tastes, perfectly. To completely blow him away. I want you to save the best for last. And you should stop with the mistress thing. That will give away the game. Nick, under NO circumstances, is allowed to know that one of the girls in his harem used to be a host. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mistress!” Sylvia saluted her. “...Err, I mean, Dakota! I will! I promise! I’ve got it all planned out and ready to go! There will be the eight of you, and then after each round, a new contestant will come in, to replace an old one. Or not! It’s up to the audience.”

“Yes, yes,” Dakota said dismissively, not at all impressed by the crazy idea Sylvia had developed. But she couldn’t blame the poor thing. Sylvia had been created to have innovative ideas as a host- but that was it. She was practically an AI, one that generated prompts and ideas for seasons. Everything else she was had been created by Dakota.

Hopefully, artificial intelligence would work in Dakota’s favor.

“Mistress…” Sylvia looked nervous.

Dakota sighed. “What is it?”

“Is that… did I do good? As your apprentice?” Sylvia asked hopefully. “You’re sure I’m ready, right? You believe in me?”

What a worthless question. What Dakota believed in didn’t matter in the slightest.

“Just do your job,” she said, holding out the cane.

Sylvia cautiously took it.

The words came to Dakota so naturally; they were the words that had changed her life forever, when Mr. S had spoken them. “Then, as the host of Harem Hotel: Island Holiday, I name you the next host of this territory! I bestow upon you all powers and titles that come with this territory, and the unquestionable authority as host of Harem Hotel!”

And it was done. Sylvia became the next host, and was sent on her way to meet with Nick for one last day of “therapy”.

At the same time, Dakota closed her eyes, and let herself crumble away. She waited in anticipation for when she would be revived.

Finally, she thought, a smile on her lips as she faded into nonexistence, I’ll finally get what I deserve.