You know how much I love you, Daddy, but if you don't mind, I'm only gonna kiss you on the cheek this time

Sylvia looked uneasy as Nick brought her into the Master’s Suite. Like she didn’t know where to stand. She’d been in there several times, but never as a guest before. Without her powers, she felt so much more exposed.

“Daddy… I’m sorry for running away,” she mumbled. “That was wrong of me. I should… I should have been trying to make you happy, Daddy…”

She **** a smile to her lips, and that just made Nick even more uncomfortable.

After all, she was still trying to live up to Dakota’s expectations of her.

“Sylvia… sit down,” Nick said, gesturing to the couch. Luckily, Sylvia was too emotionally drained to bother objecting, and like the dutiful daughter Dakota tried to turn her into, she went and obeyed. While she was doing that, he turned to the doorway, where Holly was waiting uneasily.

“Holly, go find Rose and Marley,” he requested. “Let them know that we found Sylvia and that she’s alright.”

Well… “alright” was a strong word. But the important thing was that she was safe. The rest could be settled later, hopefully.

“Yes, master,” Holly nodded. She quickly turned and left the suite, leaving him alone with Sylvia.

It had been some time since that was the case.

Sylvia stared up at him with her baby blue eyes, looking so innocent and free of guile that he didn’t know how to respond at first. He approached her and sat down next to her at the couch, and finally decided to talk.

“Sylvia… I don’t really know what to think of you yet,” he admitted. “After all, all the things you did… I know you did them for my sake, but that doesn’t change the fact that they were bad things.”

“…I know,” Sylvia said, nodding slightly. “You were there when Holly explained that to me, remember?”

“Yeah, I know,” Nick sighed, slumping back on the couch. “But then, there’s everything I saw happened to you with Dakota… you were created just to please me. How twisted is that? Creating a whole person, just to make someone else happy?”

Nick had no idea what to make of something like that. It sounded so wrong. But Dakota had done it. She’d created a person just for his sake, and now… he was stuck with her.

“What you said before, Daddy… about Dakota still not acknowledging me, even after I did what she wanted… you meant that, didn’t you?” Sylvia asked sadly.

Nick nodded. He could feel the pain echoing off of her. “Yeah. Dakota… I don’t believe she’s a bad person. I don’t want to believe that. But what I saw in those visions you gave us… seeing all the things she did… not the haunting me stuff, I mean, that… that’s just complicated and twisted and unfortunate. But transforming all those people…”

Nick had never met any of them before, of course, and he had no idea how they were living their lives now. At his wedding he’d met many hosts and a few other masters and their harems, which had prepared him for the thought that things could have been so much worse than if he’d ended up with Sylvia. In fact…

“You know… at my wedding, meeting all those other people… I was actually almost glad, you know?” Nick turned to Sylvia, who looked at him in confusion.

“That it was you, I mean,” he clarified. “That you were the one who was my host. Seeing what some of those people had gone through… what they’d been afflicted with… it was twisted, really twisted, and you… you weren’t always like that.”

Maybe he was giving her too much credit. Sylvia had done some cruel things, just to be cruel. She was certainly no angel. But compared to what could have been…

“I guess… I was relieved that it could have been worse. And happy that you really seemed to be trying to make me happy, all of us happy, in your own way,” Nick confessed.

Sylvia was completely shocked.

“You… do you really mean that?” She asked, her lip quivering. Tears started to well up in her eyes. “Really?”

“Uh… yeah?” Nick didn’t know what else to say.

“Daddy!” Sylvia threw her arms around him and hugged him again. “Daddy!”

“H-hey, come on, let me go!” Nick complained, trying to shake her off. “Come on, it’s not that big of a deal!”

“O-okay,” she said, pulling back. She wiped her eyes on her sleeves, unable to suppress the giddy smile that split her face in half. “Sorry for hugging you, Daddy… but… I just couldn’t believe it. No one… I didn’t think… I didn’t think that anyone would ever thank me for something like that. I’ve been working so hard, trying to do my best for you… thank you, Daddy!”

“Whoa, wait, hold on,” Nick said, holding up his hands. “I wasn’t thanking you,” he clarified. “I was just being clear, alright? That you’re not the worst thing that could have happened. But there’s no way I’m ever going to thank you for what you did. Transforming people like that? It’s wrong, no matter what, Sylvia.”

Sylvia stared at him. “But aren’t you happy now, Daddy?” She asked quietly. “You looked happier than I’ve ever seen you before, marrying Mary. That wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Dakota and I, you have to understand that, right?”

Nick understood that alright. Which is why he felt so uncomfortable about all of this.

Because… Sylvia wasn’t wrong. If it wasn’t for this show, he would still probably be alone and miserable with only television and his books to keep him company. But because of her actions, he now had several women in love with him, multiple sexual partners, and a wife who was fine with all of it.

And the only thing it had cost him was a few scraps of integrity, in going along with this whole thing. Even if it had been with the best of intentions.

“…I just don’t know, okay?” He admitted with a sigh. “I don’t know what’s right, or what I should believe in. I know that transforming people like you did is wrong, when it’s against their will… but Mary’s feelings for me, and Gina’s, and everybody else’s… they weren’t brought on from a transformation. If they were… you can bet that we’d be having a much different conversation right now.”

His eyes narrowed and Sylvia felt a chill run down her spine. She swallowed.

“I-I get it,” she said, nodding slightly. “And look, Daddy, I’d never want to influence someone that way, okay? Making them fall in love with you… that’s not right. I just… I wanted it to be easier. For them to love you, the way I do.”

Nick vaguely remembered a few transformation possibilities that suggested Sylvia wasn’t being all that honest with him. Would she have vetoed those, if they’d been voted for? He honestly didn’t know. What he did know, though, was that right now things were complicated.

And a big part of that was Dakota’s fault.

“Anyway, my point is, Dakota… she’s not like you,” Nick said, shaking his head. “She’s… harsher. The things she did… I couldn’t believe it. And I don’t want that to happen with me. With us. To the people I care about, I mean.”

Before seeing those visions, he knew that Dakota could be harsh and cruel, but he also knew the kind and loving side of her, the person who valued the people she cared for.

But it seemed like that part of her had withered away and died when the masked man gave her that cane.

“Are you worried about her?” Sylvia asked quietly. “Worried that she’s going to transform you and your friends?”

Nick shook his head.

“No, actually,” he admitted. “I was at first, but those transformations… they were tamer compared to the ones she’d inflicted on those other people. That was reassuring.”

“Maybe she’s turned over a new leaf?” Sylvia asked hopefully, anxiety creeping into her voice. “Maybe she’s a better person now, after having been brought back!” She was practically giddy at the thought. “Maybe… maybe she… she can be a real mom now…”

Her whispered hope stung Nick’s heart.

Sylvia seemed to be rewriting the past with every word she spoke. It was like she was trying desperately to pretend that everything that happened with her **** hadn’t happened at all.

It made Nick feel sick to his stomach when he thought about discouraging her of that.

“Sylvia… I believe that Dakota is still inside there somewhere,” he said firmly. “My Dakota. The woman I love. She’s drowning in that power and feeling bitter and miserable, but I have to believe that deep down inside, she’s still Dakota. She’s still the woman I love.”

Nick loved Dakota. And he wanted to help her become a person.

But he wasn’t going to trust her. Not after what she’d done.

He reached over and placed his hand over Sylvia’s.

“If you just do what Dakota wants you to do, then that will just reinforce in her mind that you’re not really a person, Sylvia,” he said firmly. “And I believe that you are. I think that if you really try, you can be your own person. You can do things that Dakota wouldn’t want you to do. But you’ve got to want that for yourself, understand? You have to put in the effort to grow.”

Sylvia felt uneasy. The way Nick was looking at her, like he believed her and trusted her… it wasn’t something that she was used to.

This wasn’t like the friendships she’d had with her fellow hosts, or the twisted relationship she had with her mother. This was something more significant; at least, that’s what her heart was telling her.

Nick had seen the things she’d done, and he knew what she was capable of. Things that didn’t seem wrong to her, but to him clearly were. And while he wasn’t absolving her of them or trying to tell her that it wasn’t a big deal, he was still willing to give her a second chance, in spite of that.

“Okay,” she said, nodding. “I’ll… I’ll do my best to become a better person and make things right! I won’t just listen to Dakota anymore and do what she wants! So what do you want me to do?”

She stared up at him hopefully, and Nick felt his heart break.

“No, Sylvia,” he said, shaking his head. “It doesn’t work that way.”

She didn’t understand at all.

“What do you mean?” Sylvia asked, her voice creaking with worry. “Why doesn’t it work that way? What way? Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it!”

“No, don’t you see?” Nick got off the couch and started pacing back and forth, trying to figure out how to explain things to her. “Sylvia, if I just tell you what you’re supposed to do, that doesn’t count!”

“Why not?” Sylvia whined.

“Because… because you’ve got to figure it out for yourself! If I just tell you what to do, then it’s no different from Dakota telling you what to do! She says you’re just a machine, some doll that will follow orders. And like this, asking me what to do, you’re proving her right, don’t you see?”

Sylvia shook her head. She didn’t see at all, actually.

Which was, unfortunately, part of Nick’s point.

Frustrated, Nick let out a long sigh and scratched his head.

“Sylvia… you’ve got to figure out for yourself what to do,” he said. “I can help you if you need it, but I’m not going to give you directions. I’m not going to tell you how to make things better, because then it won’t really make things better. You’d just be doing it because I told you to, not because you think it’s the right thing to do. Do you understand?”

Sylvia stared at him for a second, and then nodded. But it was a cautious nod, and the way she looked at him, like she was **** for approval, confirmed his suspicions.

“Sylvia… are you just going along with what I’m saying because you think it’s what I want to hear?” He asked.

“Yes, Daddy,” she replied automatically, looking down in resignation. “Sorry, Daddy…”

“No, no… it’s… haa…” Nick sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was going to be difficult. “Let me ask you something,” he said, trying to tackle the issue from another angle. “What do you want? Like, right now, what do you want?”

Sylvia scrunched up her face in thought. “I… want to make you happy, Daddy.”

“Okay, why?” He asked.

“Because… I love you?”

“Is that a question?” He pressed.

She shook her head. “No, I definitely love you,” she asserted. “I love you a whole lot, Daddy! And-and I don’t want it to be because Dakota made me, either. I want to genuinely love you, for real. Does that… is that good?” She gave him a crooked smile, one still **** for his approval.

Nick sighed. It was a start, anyway.

“So you love me, and that’s why you want to make me happy, is that right?” He asked.

Sylvia nodded. “Yes, Daddy!”

“Okay. What else do you want?”

Sylvia blinked, like she couldn’t understand the question.

“What… else?” She asked. The words tasted funny on her lips.

“Yes,” Nick nodded. “What else? People want more than one thing, Sylvia. People want all kinds of things. You’re aware of how greedy humans are, right?”

“Obviously, Daddy,” Sylvia scoffed, rolling her eyes. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that you should want more than just to make me happy, if you’re really a person,” he pressed. “Dakota said she created you to be the host, and to make me happy. So what else do you want? You might not realize it, Sylvia, it might not have sunk in yet, but you’re human now. Do you get what that means? It means you have all sorts of feelings and ideals and dreams. You have a life ahead of you, outside of this show, outside of this island. What do you want to do with that life? Because you can’t just live for one person’s sake. That’s not really living. There’s gotta be more, Sylvia. And if you actually want anyone to believe you’re a real, complex person, you’ve got to be able to answer that question. What do you want?”

Sylvia stared up at Nick in wide-eyed amazement. It was like he was lifting a curtain off of her eyes and showing her something that she’d only been able to glimpse in the past.

She didn’t know what to make of it.

“I… I…” She looked down, trying to think about what she wanted.

“…I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “This… it’s all so new to me. I want to make you happy… I want to make Marley happy… I want to make the girls in your harem happy… but all those things… Dakota put them in me, right Daddy?”

She started to shake. “I just… I want to live, but… I don’t know how!” It was like there was something there for her, just beyond her grasp. Something she wanted to reach for, but it was just slightly past her. And she didn’t know how to close the distance and embrace it.

Sylvia raised her head, and wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked up at Nick hopefully.

“What if…” She began, “what if I… what if I apologized? To everyone, for their transformations? Would that be a good start?”

“Do you mean it?” Nick asked softly.

Sylvia winced. “I… I don’t know,” mumbled.

She would have to get used to saying that, apparently.

Nick sighed, and sat back down. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, a comforting gesture he never could have imagined making back when he and Sylvia were still at odds the way they had been before.

“I don’t know what the right thing to do is, either,” he admitted. “But I just want you to know, I think you’re a real person. I think you’re just confused and overwhelmed right now. But just like with Mimi, I think you’ll be able to find your real self over this next week, okay?”

Sylvia beamed at him, and her cheeks flushed.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she said, lightly kissing him on the cheek.

Dakota watched the exchange with bemused interest. It was strange, seeing Nick like this. Feeling so sympathetic towards Sylvia. Something that absolutely didn’t deserve it.

He doesn’t know any better, she thought, shaking her head sadly. He’ll be kind to anything, even if it only looks like a human.

The conversation was wrapping up after the kiss. And just in time, because someone else was trying to get her attention.

Well, this could be amusing, Dakota smirked, lifting her cane. With a flick of her wrist she was gone, and reappeared in Carly’s bathroom.

“Ah!” Carly jumped back from the mirror, surprised.

“You called?” Dakota asked, raising her eyebrow. She looked around the room. “Where’s your sister, by the way? Shouldn’t you two be joined at the hip?”

Dakota knew where Marley was, of course, she was just giving Carly a hard time. But the cosplayer ignored her goading attempt.

“Marley’s off with Rose,” she said. “They’re doing a thing. But since I’m by myself, I wanted to talk with you about something.”

“Oh, is that right…” Dakota narrowed her eyes. She had a pretty good idea she knew where Carly was going to go with this, but she wanted to hear the other girl say it. A thin smile broke her face in half. “Very well, then, what can I do for you, Carly?” She asked, stalking towards the cosplayer.

Carly tensed. She averted her eyes, suddenly feeling uncomfortable about the situation.

“I-I don’t know if you know this,” she stammered out, “but Sylvia and I… we had a secret arrangement. She promised she’d let me do something, and well, I was wondering…”

Dakota nodded slowly. “You were wondering if the agreement would continue with me, is that right?”

A sigh escaped Carly’s lips and she nodded. “Y-yes,” she admitted. “It’s about the dream place… the one that lets you go anywhere?”

Dakota nodded. “Oh, I know all about your little deal,” she assured Carly. “Free access for half an hour to Dream Alley every round, to visit a certain cemetery. Does that about sum it up?”

Carly winced. “Y-yeah,” she said, her voice cracking.

Dakota stroked her chin. “…Why?”

“…Huh?” Carly stared at her in confusion. “Why what?”

“Why do you want to go visit that grave?” She asked quietly. “To pay your respects? You could just win the competition, make a wish, and then…”

She snapped her fingers to punctuate her point, and Carly let out a choked sob. Tears blurred her vision and she quickly wiped them away.

“Emmy… is gone,” she whispered, shaking her head. “But she’s still a part of me. And when I’m there, it’s like… I can talk to that part of me that’s also her. I don’t expect you to understand that, but-”

“I understand,” Dakota cut her off. “I was dead too, if you remember.”

“…R-right,” Carly stammered, shaking her head. “Sorry, this sounds absurd, but I really-”

“It’s not absurd at all,” Dakota said, approaching her. She ran her hand along Carly’s cheek. “I think… it’s very admirable, to be honest. Caring so much for a lost child. You would have been a far better mother than the one I had.”

Carly tensed as she felt the ice in Dakota’s voice.

“It’s strange how that is,” Dakota continued, moving her fingers up to play with a fringe of Carly’s hair. “How some people want nothing to do with their children… while others would give anything, just to bring theirs back.”

Carly stepped away, shaking her head quickly. “If-if this is some kind of trick to try and make a deal or something, forget it. I-I won’t do what you want, even… even if you would bring her back…”

Dakota clicked her tongue. “Oh, no, no, no, I would never,” she assured Carly, a statement that relieved and stung the woman in equal parts. “I respect the game far too much… I’m simply expressing my amusement at the irony, that’s all.”

Now Carly was starting to get mad. She clenched her fists. “My tragedy… is amusing?” She asked, being very careful to control her temper. She was asking Dakota for a favor, after all.

Dakota paused. “…That came out wrong,” she said. “Allow me to make it up to you. I’ll abide by your little backroom bargain with Sylvia. Though, perhaps it’s more of a favor… whatever, it really doesn’t matter. Yes, once a week, you may visit your daughter’s grave and talk to her as long as you wish. Sound fair?”

Carly sighed in relief, the tension draining from her body. “Thank you, Dakota.”

“Don’t mention it,” Dakota replied with a bow. “…Seriously. Don’t.”

The menace in her voice sent a chill through Carly’s spine. Even when the pale host disappeared from the bathroom, Carly couldn’t stop shivering.