Arm in arm and row on row

A special guest?

Nick didn’t like the sound of that.

“What’s going on here?!” A voice exclaimed.

Sylvia turned with a smile on her face. “Oh, and that’s-! …Not who I was expecting. Oh, right.”

A woman with bright green hair stormed towards Sylvia with a scowl on her face. She had long, pointed ears like an elf and wore a leather jacket that matched her hat. She had sharp green eyes behind the rims of her glasses, which went well with her green vest and pencil skirt. Tall leather boots covered her legs.

The elf woman was seething.

“Oh, Evelyn, hello!” Sylvia waved at her and the smile quickly returned to her face.

“What am I doing here?!” Evelyn demanded. “A wedding?! I received no warning, no heads-up, no invitation, you just abduct me from my show without even asking!”

“Yeah, sorry, you were just so cute I couldn’t help myself,” Sylvia apologized. “If you have a complaint, please take it up with inhuman resources and the producers.”

Evelyn didn’t know what to say.

“Now then, with this cutie out of the way, let’s get back to what we were talking about before,” Sylvia said, turning to Nick again. She shut out Evelyn completely in spite of the elf girl’s continued complaints. “Oh, but before we do… I suppose we should have everyone here, shouldn’t we? Justine? That’s quite enough, please!”

She dragged Dawn back from the other woman’s clutches. The cat girl looked ragged.

“She was petting me… for an eternity!” Dawn seethed, leveling a harsh glare at Sylvia. Again, it had no effect on the host, and Sylvia just laughed it off.

“Don’t worry,” she said, patting Dawn on the head and scratching her ears. “No harm done, right?”

Dawn didn’t even want to dignify that with a response.

“What about Morgana?” Kim asked, looking around. “She should be around here somewhere, right? Can you go get her?”

Kim didn’t want to confront the japanese woman who had **** the perky goth. She reminded her of a yuki-onna, a type of monster in japanese folklore, and if that was the case, then she probably had all sorts of supernatural powers.

Yeah, Kim really didn’t want to be turned into a block of ice.

Sylvia sighed. “Fine, fine, I’ll go get Morgana. Yuki should be… Yuki!”

The snow woman had Morgana bound and gagged, and had slung her under her arm like a sack of cat food, practically out the door of the chapel.

Sylvia stormed over to her to see what the deal was.

“Yuki, what are you doing with my contestant?!” She demanded.

Yuki glanced away, a flash of guilt appearing on her face for the briefest of seconds before her cold sneer returned.

“Oh, what a mistake! This isn’t my curvy goth! I must have just gotten confused!” She brazenly lied, letting Morgana go. “A thousand apologies, Sylvia. It was truly a misunderstanding.”

“…Yeah, I’ll bet,” Sylvia said dryly. She didn’t want to go head to head with Yuki given the snow woman’s capabilities, but she still had to defend her contestants.

If the Auditionee dropped out before the next challenge due to abduction, her ratings would crater! She was already trying to recover from the viewership drop brought on by the wedding preparations!

Yuki slipped away as Sylvia freed Morgana from her bonds. The pale woman shivered, both from the cold and the fear of what had transpired.

“You doing okay?” Sylvia asked. “Don’t freeze to **** on us, you’re in the wedding party.”

“She… she was going to abduct me…” Morgana mumbled.

“Yeah, I know. That’s bullshit though. I already **** you first,” Sylvia asserted. “Or I guess Nick did. Whatever, the point is you’re not getting away that easily. Now come on, we’ve got a wedding to get to!”

She helped Morgana to her feet and led the goth girl back to the others.

“Morgana, are you alright?!” Kim asked.

“I’m with Kim, that looked really scary!” Holly said, imagining what would happen to her if she’d been captured by someone other than Nick.

“You look pretty rough,” Gina winced.

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Marley shivered, imagining what would happen if she was in the same exact position.

Carly reached out a sympathetic hand towards Morgana, but the goth girl shrugged it off and **** a smile back to her lips.

“It’s nothing to concern yourself with!” She declared boldly. “A witch of my powers would have no trouble dealing with a fiend like that!”

Yup. Same old Morgana. Masking her insecurities with grandiose statements of superiority. The girls looked at each other and sighed. Why did they even try?

“Well, I’m just glad you’re back,” Sylvia said, smiling. “After all, we’ve got a lovely young lady here who’s just dying to meet you all. She’s come a very long way to do so! And now, without further ado-”

A crash against the door caused the whole building to shake.

“OH, COME ON!” Sylvia roared in frustration. “I’m trying to get to the good part here! What is it this time?!”

Roar burst through the doors of the chapel, looking like hell. This was a man of class, of distinction. As far as anyone knew, he was the only producer to finish a goddamn season of Harem Hotel, and he did it with class, with wit, with clowns and feet. Now look at him, stumbling into a church like he'd been trapped on an island for the runtime of the original season Harem Hotel, ten, twenty, maybe thirty years. The metaphor was not all together uncalled for either; this was a man cast adrift. Victim of the great void between worlds, washed ashore at this wedding.

His attire wasn't doing him any good either. He might as well have been mauled by a tiger. Maybe a tiger mauling would have done him some good, at least then he may have kept both shoes. As it was he had to do with one loafer, and the shreds of what had been a universally expensive suit. It may have been as expensive as a gold bar, but neither its value nor glimmer divided up in quite the same way. Shavings of gold were still gold, shreds of a suit were rags.

He was as welcomed in this corner of the universe as victims of smallpox were in others. Faeries dressed as ushers tried to bar his entry, but he was still a producer. Where his hands went reality changed, and anyone who got in his way were brushed aside like blowup dolls... due to them being transformed into blowup dolls. "I need a place to hide, she's coming for me!"

Sylvia cocked an eyebrow, and looked to Nick. "I'm guess he'll be sitting on your side?"

"I don't know him." Nick replied in a panic.

Sylvia slowly looked the master over, her expression almost reading as dubious. "Hmmm." Even that simple noise put doubt to the idea that Nick wasn't acquainted with human debris of all stripes. She whipped around on the man as he slurped holy water from the basin. "Excuse me this is a private event, no interdimensional hobos allowed, now get!" She made a shooing motion.

His beard had advanced to the point where he resembled a schnauzer drinking from its bowl. He turned to her, ready to reduce her to whatever humiliating fantasy passed through his mind at that moment, but his crazed eyes suddenly shimmered with recognition. "Sylvia?"

"One of your friends?" Dani snickered from the safety of Nick's side.

Sylvia scowled and could only scowl because Roar was on her the next moment. One hand on each shoulder, a proper predator. "It's me Roar, I had you on Eloise's episode of Hotel Talk. What the hell happened you're having a wedding episode? All the other hotel's I've been to... it's like a day has passed, if that."

Slyvia pried herself out of his boney fingers. "You're throwing a lot of words at me right now."

He grit his teeth. "Listen to me you slimy upstart, I need you to get me to your Producer. A final wish went horribly wrong, I'm being chased through the multiverse by a contestant."

Sylvia could feel thought bubbles manifesting above the heads of her contestants. "Don't even think about it." She said, without turning around. She had to consider the man before her. Turning her ushers into blow-up dolls was a neat trick, and it's not like the church was parked on a road for anyone to stumble upon. On the other hand, she'd never seen the producer that invited her onto the talk show, and he didn't seem nearly godly enough to be one anyway. On the other other hand, if he was Roar he was responsible for like fifteen seasons getting nuked and half of the studio sinking into the void, she had no desire to get that stink on her given her current standing with her own producer. "Who's chasing you?"

Speak of the Devil and she shall appear.

Unnoticed by everyone until now, one of the stained glass windows decorating the church had an image of the devil on it. Your classic red skinned, horny little demon. Only now the jagged shards of glass moved and warped, and almost smirked, before they shattered entirely. Like a placenta being ruptured Bloody Mary, Queen of Hell and the great sin of wrath was birthed into this world. Glass rained down upon her as she hit the ground, and there was much screaming in the church.

This woman was a devil, The Devil, or at the very least Mrs. The Devil. Her skin was as red as her namesake, monstrous horns sprouted from her short black hair, her teeth were sharp like a shark, and her eyes held as much warmth. Leathery wings sprouted from her back, and a sinister barbed tail cracked around her like a whip compelling a wild animal to do something... immoral.

"Her." Roar deflated in an instant. Now that she made her appearance, his powers would be locked away, he'd all but given up on this reality, he'd just have to try again in the next one, after his skinning.

Sylvia was aghast; how was anyone supposed to work under these conditions? "Seriously? Now? After all my plans?!" Her face was turning red, a metaphor that failed next to a very red very real demon.

"Trying to hide in a church, now that's some slippery shit." Mary grinned and stalked forward, heedless to the host, and mortal vermin scattered around the place of worship, or more likely whoreship, as it felt like they'd entered another one of Roar's precious studios. "But you fucking know I only respect Catholic churches." Bloody Mary of course being one of history's great religious bigots. "I'm going to kill you extra painfully in this place for daring to insult my intolerance!"

"Actually, this is a Catholic church." Dawn said, scared but, you know... not scared enough to resist correcting someone. "The Bride is Catholic."

"Oh..." Mary looked about the set, things were looking pretty churchy. Then she grinned and held up a dildo like it was a knife, and pointed it towards Roar. "But it's probably not consecrated right?"

Sylvia began to sweat. "Conse-what?"

"Thought so." Mary moved forward and snatched the producer by the scruff of his neck. Her tail whipped around and bound both of his hands together. "There was a distinct lack of me bursting into flames." She clapped her hands. "But hey, it's a wedding, and I'm nothing if not a romantic. I'll wait until the service is over, and during the reception, I'll tie this guy's innards to the bumper of the limo like they're tin cans."

Yeah, really not the vibe Sylvia was going for tonight. "Thanks very much for that, but again this is a private function." She summoned up a clipboard. "Ya gotta be on the list."

"Let me see that." Mary snatched the list free. "Ah, here we are." Using naught but a thorny nail Mary circled the +2 next to Skylar's name in red ink. "That's us."

"Well that very well may be, but I don't see a Skylar to go along with it!"

"Yeah, well, she's dead, so fuck you for not doing your research."

"You can't!"

Mary tapped the clipboard one last time, her voice utterly certain. "We're on the list."

Soon enough the words. 'Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary...' Began to appear carved into the clipboard as if by a pagan knife, blood seeping from pages.

And that was that.

Bloody Mary brushed past Sylvia and towards the contestants and master, those who were available at least. "Nice to meet you." She gave Nick a taloned hand, and let him shake it. "Congratulations on your big day."

He took it as readily as anyone would accept hellish excrement into their hands. "Um thanks, just, just trying to keep everyone happy."

Mary beamed. "Trying to keep everyone Happy, I love that." She pointed her finger at the girls. "You girls are lucky, our master wasn't that way at all. He loooooved torturing us and making us miserable."

Dawn's tail whipped curiously. "You were a contestant too?" She'd met plenty today, but none of them were quite so... hellish?

Dani got more to the point. "Who was your master?"

"The Devil."

Despite the intrusion and chaos, Sylvia still found it within herself to smile. "I'm looking pretty good now, aren't I girls?"

Gina caught herself on a pew. "Your master is the devil?" That was a million new pieces of information and a lifetime of decisions she had to process all over again. "Then... I mean... who are you?"

"I'm Bloody Mary, Queen of Hell."

Morgana practically died on the spot from excitement. Kim thought she spotted the girl start to drool.

“R-really?” She asked tentatively.

Dawn's eyebrow cocked. "Like the ghost story?"

Mary laughed and turned towards her. She moved forward and brushed her hands through the small woman's hair, tender as a child with a doll. Fear and arousal made for a frightful cocktail as those talons brushed all along her cat ears. "That's right Dawn, when you were at Regan's birthday party, and stood all alone in the dark, my name twice upon your lips. You stopped yourself from saying it a third time because you were afraid something was going to get you, and you were right." Her voice was as sweet as a grandmother recounting a warm memory.

"Get off her." Dani's brain and heart were in the right proportions to allow her to shove Mary away. Dawn dropped to her knees immediately like Mary's hands on her head were the only thing keeping her upright. Dani bent down to help. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry, sorry." Mary raised her hands. "I've been watching you all since you were babes, I just assume a friendship immediately."

"Help me." Roar whispered to the pale woman with the golden eyes, she at least had the spark of the supernatural about her.

"Hush now baby." Mary said clapping her hands over the producer's mouth. "The adults are talking, be a good boy and chew your glass." Mary looked about the group to see if anyone else caught her eyes.

No one.

Except the pale woman, Roar had been talking to. Mary looked her up and down, and smelled the air. When the inhale was complete, she smiled as large as anyone had ever seen. "Now you smell particularly rancid." She lunged forward and took possession of Dakota. She ran her nose along her arm, her neck, she stroked her hair and smelled it as well. "Mmmm it's ****, and it's madness, and it's sickness and it's cruelty, and it's wrong wrong wrong." As the demon rambled, and manhandled the girl, Dakota sat through it serenely, as snug as a piece of bread between the red hot elements of a toaster. And when Mary had smelled, and felt, and tasted everything on Dakota that she desired, she set the woman aside and gave her an approving nod. "I favor you, and grant you my boon."

"Now hold up." Sylvia was sensing some nonsense, and moved forward to stop it.

But Mary held up a hand. "Hold." She half turned to the host. "This is bad." She gestured to Dakota. "Skylar only teased the souls out of the hell, to place them there once more. You went and broke the whole goddamn universe. No, no no." Mary turned back to Dakota. "You are evil, and wrong, and disgusting, and I would be remise if I didn't give you hell's blessing now." She held Dakota's hand in her own, and a light shone from it, red and evil. It was the red light of hell, of ****, of every soul that thrashed about dying, wishing, begging, pleading for more out of life only to be murdered, by nature, by man, by God. It burned and branded Dakota with the royal seal of hell. Her putrid flesh boiled sizzled in protest, but the brand took. On its own it flashed red once, then faded, until there was no sign it'd been there at all.

"What was that?" Sylvia asked.

Mary shrugged and released Dakota. "It's whatever Dakota makes of it. Just one aberration wishing another good luck." She clapped her hands together. "Now I've chewed up the scenery enough, who's side am I sitting on Bride or Groom?"

Sylvia honestly didn’t know what to make of this.

So, she did what she always did, and improvised.

“Well, the bride’s name is Mary, so let’s call it kismet! You can be on her side!” And with that, she practically shoved the Queen of Hell away before turning back to Nick and the girls. The awkward smile on her face spoke volumes.

“…Some people, you know? Haha… friends of friends, and all that…”

“Sylvia, what’s going on here?” Kim demanded. “This is going completely off the rails.”

“Was she really the Queen of Hell?!” Morgana asked, stars flashing in her eyes.

“I don’t fucking know, okay?! Gimme a sec to process all this, geez! I was just told one of my friends is dead!” Sylvia snapped. She grieved for, like, two seconds. “…Okay, all good. Now, where were we…? Oh, right! My special guest!”

Everyone stared at her in shock; like they could actually go back from this.

But that was exactly what they were going to do. Sylvia tapped her cane, and summoned the power of the producers to suppress the fearful feelings going through the contestants’ minds, and Nick’s, of course.

It wouldn’t do to bring show politics into the wedding; today was meant to be a special day!

“Okay, now that that’s settled, let’s get back to the special guest! She’s just dying to meet you all!” Sylvia chirped.

Again, Nick felt a chill run down his spine. “You aren’t talking about another one of those hosts or producers, are you?” He asked worriedly. If someone like Bloody Mary showed up, well… he doubted his Mary would be happy about it.

Sylvia smirked at him. “Why of course not. She’s someone you know very well.”

Those words only had seconds to sink in before Sylvia tapped her cane on the floor and the church shifted around them. A blonde woman popped into existence right in front of the group, and Nick gasped.

“Whoa, dude…” Gina rubbed her eyes, trying to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

“Well that’s a twist,” Dakota said, raising her eyebrow.

Dawn squinted at the familiar face, and shifted through her memories trying to resolve where she’d seen the woman before. “Wait a second… isn’t that…?”

“Amelia?!” Nick exclaimed, nearly falling over in shock.

The woman standing in the center of the church, clad in a dark blue dress that accentuated her figure, looking around in confusion and trying to figure out where she had been taken to, was none other than his step-mother!

Their eyes met and she gasped.

“Nicholas!” She exclaimed, rushing over to him. “What’s the meaning of this?! What’s going on here?! Where am I?!”

“A-Amellia…” Her name had quickly become the only thing he was capable of saying. His mouth flopped open and closed as he stared at her in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on.

There was only one answer, and she was standing on the sidelines with a gleeful smirk on her face.

A few others were able to figure out who she was from the context, and Morgana was one of them. She looked at the blond brit with bright eyes, and her mouth dropped open.

“No way… is that… Nick’s mom?” She asked, practically in awe at the vision in front of her.

“What!? No way!” Dani said, shaking her head in disbelief. “That can’t be Nick’s mom, she looks like she’s our age!”

“Dang, no wonder I had such difficulty trying to seduce him, if he had that waiting for him back home,” Carly noted, running her eyes up and down the woman in front of her.

Marley rolled her eyes and snorted at the ridiculousness of what her sister had just said.

“She’s his step-mother,” Dawn reminded them. “That’s why she’s so young. She’s only in her 30’s.”

“…Even still, though,” Rose said, whistling in appreciation. No wonder the producers thought a sexy blonde with a European accent was the best choice for seducing Nick. “She looks pretty damn good for being in her 30’s.”

The girls weren’t wrong, though. Nick’s step-mother was a vision of elegance, class, and beauty, even with her flawless face locked in a stern scowl. She had nary a wrinkle on her glowing skin, looking as if she could be their age in spite of being at least 10 years older than any of them. And like her face, her body was clearly winning the fight against age. Dani was confident that if her dress was to suddenly vanish, everything would stay exactly where it was.

Oh man, Dani thought, realizing the direction her thoughts were pointing her. Do I want to fuck Nick’s step-mom?

That was a level of depravity that she didn’t even want to contemplate.

“Nicholas, what’s going on here?” Amelia was relieved to see that her step-son was okay, but that relief took a back seat to her irritation, frustration, and confusion. “The last thing I remember I was chastising one of the girls in my class, and the next thing I know, I’m here! Wearing… this!”

She gestured towards her dress. She hadn’t worn something like this in a long time.

“Look, Amelia, you’re just going to have to trust me, okay?” Nick said, the worry in his voice audible. “There’s a lot going on here that you’re not going to believe, but you’re just going to have to try.”

Amelia stared at him, her brow furrowed with concern. But her eyes lacked humor. Whatever was going on, it had better have a good explanation.

“Well, alright then,” she relented. “What exactly is going on here, Nicholas? Who are all these people? These women?”

Where did he even start?

Nick sighed and opened his mouth to try and explain, but his voice seemed to die out in his throat. He really didn’t have an explanation for all the shit he’d gone through since he came here. What, was he going to tell his step-mom that she’d been spirited away by some magical, interdimensional entity, and for what? To attend his wedding?

No, he’d just come off sounding like a crazy person. But there had to be something he could do to help explain things!

Luckily, or unluckily, he didn’t have to, because a certain someone was happy to explain things to Amelia, and she gleefully did so with the biggest shit-eating grin on her face anyone had ever seen her wear.

“Allow me to explain,” Sylvia said, walking forward. She bowed with a flourish. “My name is Sylvia River, and I’m the one responsible for bringing you to this happy event.”

Amelia’s brow furrowed. Sylvia River? Why did that sound so familiar?

“Speak quickly,” she snarled. “If this isn’t some dream, then whatever you’ve done… I don’t even know how this is possible!”

“By magic, of course,” Sylvia bluntly replied. Nick couldn’t believe she’d actually come right out and said it!

Amelia stared at her.

Dawn was pretty impressed. The woman hadn’t even flinched when she heard the word “magic” come out of Sylvia’s mouth. That was really something.

“Magic, huh?”

“That’s right,” Sylvia nodded.

Amelia let out a long sigh and rubbed her temples. “Well… alright then.”

Sylvia was as impressed as Dawn. “You seem to be taking this remarkably well.”

“Well, it’s not like there’s some other explanation I can think of to explain this,” Amelia snapped. “You brought me from my classroom all the way to some church in the middle of lord knows where, in the blink of an eye. I may be a skeptic, but I don’t think anyone could deny magic being real after experiencing that.”

“…Fair enough,” Sylvia said, nodding. She smiled. “I like you already, Amelia. I really hope we see more of you-”

“NO!” Nick practically. “Are you insane?! You aren’t seriously proposing…”

“Of course I am,” Sylvia smirked. “Don’t you think something like this is the perfect opportunity to-”

“NO! Absolutely not!” Nick exclaimed, glaring at her. “I refuse! Even if you DID drag her into this whole mess, that doesn’t mean I would EVER-!”

“Excuse me,” Amelia snapped, narrowing her eyes, cutting into the conversation. “What are you two talking about? I believe you were in the middle of explaining things to me? I STILL do not have the slightest idea what is going on here!”

“Mom- I mean, Amelia, please!” Nick exclaimed, feeling his face heat up at that slip of the tongue, which Sylvia would certainly never let him live down. “This is more complicated than you can understand, just… please.”

He really, really didn’t want to Sylvia to-

“You have been brought to Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season,” Sylvia declared, filling the church with canned applause. “Welcome, Amelia.”

Amelia looked at her in disgust. “Harem… Hotel?”

“That’s correct,” Sylvia nodded.

Amelia narrowed her eyes. “Explain… more.”

“This is Harem Hotel,” Sylvia repeated. She placed her hand on Nick’s cheek. “Our sweet boy here, he’s been brought to this place in order to find true love. You see these fine young ladies over here?”

She turned to the other girls and gestured at them.

“Each of them is competing for the right to be the head of Nick’s harem. Well… almost all of them are, anyway. Holly and Marley over there, they’ve already been eliminated.”

“Okay, so let me get this straight. You brought my step-son here as… what? The head of some Bachelor-style show, where these girls compete for his heart? Is that right? And I’m judging from the ‘harem’ in the title of this thing… that it’s rather risqué?”

“You figure things out fast, huh?” Sylvia was more and more impressed, and Nick was more and more uncomfortable. At this point, he was just about certain that Sylvia wanted to bring Amelia into the harem, in spite of his protests.

And when Sylvia wanted something, she usually got it.

Amelia turned to Nick. “So you’re sleeping with these women, then?”

Nick wilted under her gaze. The disapproving way she was staring at him, he felt disgusted in himself.

“It’s not what you think,” he pleaded. “They’re… okay, so yes, I’m sleeping with a lot of them, but it’s not what you think!”

“He’s a victim in all this, too,” Dawn said, approaching Amelia. “He was brought here by that witch, too. He doesn’t want to be here either.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Sylvia smirked. “He’s clearly enjoying himself, isn’t that right, Nick? Spending time with all these lovely women, falling in love with them… it’s something you’ve wanted all your life, isn’t that right?”

“Stop twisting things!” Nick exclaimed. “Amelia, you don’t get it. I really, really was brought here against my will, but I’ve gotten to know them, and it’s really made me happy! I’m doing great! I know we’re prisoners here, but… but I’m making the best of it I can.”

“Yes, you’re exactly right, Nick! Continue to make the best of it!” Sylvia said, barely able to mask the smirk on her face.

Amelia glared at her and frowned. “I see… when you said before, that things were turning around for you, that you were falling for someone, then… I see. So you were talking about this show.”

Nick winced. She obviously didn’t approve of this situation, and he didn’t blame her.

Then Amelia’s eyes swept over the other girls, and approached them. “I see… these girls… so you all love my step-son, is that right?”

“NO!” Dani exclaimed, her face flushing. “I’m not in love with him! I like girls!”

“…I see,” Amelia said, not sure what to make of that. “And the rest of you? How do you feel about the situation you find yourselves in?”

A few uncomfortable looks passed over the group of girls. But there were, of course, outliers. Gina wore a crooked, awkward smile, while Holly beamed from ear to ear. Dakota just smirked.

“Amelia, it’s not that simple,” Nick protested. “Please, let me just explain!”

He was sick and tired of Sylvia’s manipulative words and the awkward situations they put the other girls in.

Amelia turned to him. Suddenly, he was a child again, getting chastised by his step-mother. He felt too scared and powerless to say anything.

“Well, Nicholas? Will you explain things to me?” She asked coldly.

Nick winced and nodded.

“See… it all started when I went into therapy.” He gestured to Sylvia. “And SHE was the therapist. I’m sure you can imagine how that went…”

“I was a good therapist!” Sylvia objected.

Nick ignored her.

“Then, before I knew it, I was here. And women who I know were ****, and **** into my ‘harem’. Every week, we have a new challenge, and someone gets… eliminated. Kicked out of the harem. Only to be replaced by another woman. And it’s just… they’re all encouraged to fall in love with me and sleep with me, and it’s just overwhelming…”

He knew how it must sound. But Amelia looked at him without scorn or judgment.

“Nicholas, I know you’re a fine man,” she said gently, walking up and cradling his cheek. “I know you weren’t responsible for this. But I have to ask… what are you doing about it? Are you ever going to come home?”

“I will,” he promised. “I’m not going to stay on this island forever. We’re not. We’re going to find a way to make it back. All of us.”

“When the competition is over,” Sylvia clarified. “And Nick’s harem has been formed.”

Nick winced. Amelia scowled.

“…I see. And the girls… they’re people you know?”

“Some of ‘em, yeah,” Nick nodded. “Others, well…”

Amelia’s eyes landed on a face that looked familiar. She gasped. “Regina?” She interrupted Nick. “Regina DeAmico?”

Gina blushed, and played with a strand of her hair. “It’s, um… it’s just ‘Gina’ now… hey.” She waved awkwardly at the woman who had once helped her out of her dress when she got mud all over it. She had really been hoping that Amelia wouldn’t recognize her.

“We haven’t met before,” Rose said, introducing herself with a winning smile. “But I’m just crazy about your son.”

“Step-son,” Amelia corrected her.

“Nick’s just the best!” Holly couldn’t keep her praise contained any longer. “He’s amazing! He’s wonderful! He’s-”

“Holly, that’s enough,” Nick said, cutting her off. Her praise was bad enough; with his step-mom here…

“Amelia. It’s been a long time.”

Amelia turned to the source of that voice, and a look of confusion crossed her face. Unlike with Gina, she didn’t recognize the woman speaking to her.

“I… pardon me, but I don’t believe we’ve met,” she said, shaking her head.

Dakota smirked.

“We have. A long, long time ago. I used to sleep over at your house, ever weekend. You took Nick and I on trips to the museum, and the theater, because you wanted your son to be more cultured. You really don’t remember?”

Amelia stared at her in confusion.

“I’m Dakota. Dakota Evans.”

And the blonde’s face turned white a sheet.

“Wh-what?” She took off her glasses and blinked, putting them back on. “Dakota… but, no, that’s impossible! Dakota Evans died 15 years ago!”

“That’s right,” Dakota nodded. “I did die. And now, here I am.”

Sylvia smirked. “Resurrections are a simple matter, for beings with the power the producers have.”

Amelia just shook her head. She felt dizzy, like the ground was about to fall out from under her. “…So you can even bring people back from the dead…”

“I’m sorry about this,” Kim offered awkwardly. “This is kind of a weird situation…”

Amelia adjusted her glasses. “…Why are you wearing just underwear?”

Kim’s face turned scarlet.

“There’s one little thing that Nick forgot to mention,” Sylvia said, slinking over to the teacher like a cat. “After the end of each challenge, the girls… are changed in some way. The audience votes on a transformation for them, and it becomes permanent.”

Amelia scowled. “Of course it would be something like that… but you never answered the question. Why am I here? Because I can assure you, I have no intention of joining Nicholas’s ‘harem’ or anything like that.”

“We’ll see,” Sylvia smugly replied.

“Sylvia…” Nick glared at her.

“Don’t worry, Amelia, I have no intention of forcing you into your son’s harem,” Sylvia assured the other woman, patting her on the shoulder.

“Step-son,” Amelia corrected her. “Precision is everything, young lady.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Fine. Step-son. Whatever. Anyway, as I was saying, I have no intention of forcing you into his harem yet.”

Amelia cracked an eyebrow. “Yet?”

Sylvia ignored her of course. “No, I brought you here for one reason, and one reason alone. And that’s because every mother has a right to be present at her son’s wedding. Even if he is just her step-son. As one mother to another, I felt compelled, you see.”

For the first time, Amelia’s stern expression broke as she realized where she was. She looked around the chapel. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock. She turned to Nick with an incredulous look on her face that he’d never seen before. “…Wedding?” She echoed, as if she was trying to confirm it was true.

Nick had never seen Amelia look so shocked. Even when he surprised her as a kid, she regarded him with stern, controlled discipline. He wasn’t used to seeing her thrown off like that.

Amelia could see now that the girls’ dresses were elegant and classy, like her own, and that her step-son was wearing a suit.

“Yes!” Sylvia could barely contain herself. “A wedding! My boy here is getting married to one of the women in his harem! Our Pretty Mary Sunlight! I’m sure you’ll just love her.”

Amelia shook her head. “This… this is too sudden. I just learn of this, and you’re already getting married?!”

She took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down. Then she refocused her energy and her stern countenance returned, but not without traces of sympathy for Nick’s situation.

“It’s just that sort of situation, I suppose,” she muttered with just a hint of bitterness. “Still, it’s far too early for you to be getting married!”

“But didn’t you marry Nick’s father when you were like 19?” Morgana pointed out.

Amelia’s jaw dropped in shock.

“You… but that’s… how do you even know about that?!” She exclaimed, losing her composure once again.

“She’s a stalker,” Holly chirped.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Carly snickered. Marley had to laugh at that too.

“…I suppose I should stop being surprised by things like this,” Amelia sighed, adjusting her glasses. “So… Nicholas… you’re finally getting married. And this girl… you love her?”

“I do,” Nick said, already picturing Mary’s kind smile. “Amelia, I know you’ll just love her. She’s a really great woman.”

A small smile tugged up the corners of Amelia’s lips. “Then… I’m happy for you. Not everybody gets the chance to marry the one they love. And for some of us, that love is taken from us far too soon.”

She placed her hand on Nick’s shoulder.

“Please… treasure her. It’s not the wrong choice if you love her from the bottom of your heart.”

Nick smiled, and his eyes started to water.

“Thanks, mom,” he said. Then he gasped.

Amelia just offered him an awkward smile. “It’s fine,” she assured him.

Sylvia clapped her hands. “How wonderful! Everyone is getting along! This is great! This is exactly what we want to see on our show! Now, it’s time to get this thing started! Come on my girls! Places everyone! It’s time to get this wedding started!”

Nick’s heart leapt out of his chest. His wedding, the actual ceremony, was about to begin.