The darkness scatters as the lights flash on

“Shishishishi…”

Lynette’s cackling laughter echoed through the walls of the dungeon, and roused Dakota from her sleep. She wasn’t used to sleeping again, and certainly didn’t have anything resembling a normal sleep schedule in her current circumstances, chained up to the wall with a barred cage ahead of her.

Dakota opened her golden eyes and peered blearily past the bars, at the entrance to the dungeon. The flickering light of the torches illuminated the entryway, and the stringy-haired blonde standing in the corridor.

A twisted grin stretched across Lynette’s lips.

“Shishishishi…” she laughed again, taking shaky steps forward. She leaned in, and wrapped her fingers around the bars of Dakota’s cell.

Dakota pinched her lips together tightly in a thin line, and looked at the woman ahead of her.

“…Lynette,” she said quietly. “You’re here.”

“Of course I’m here, mommy,” Lynette purred, batting her eyelashes. “I’m always here for you, for you, for you, for you!”

She twirled, making the skirt of her maid costume flare up. “If I could, I’d spend every moment down here! Shishishishi…”

For the first time since Dakota saw her, the smile faded from Lynette’s face.

“But unfortunately… I won’t be able to get what I want,” she said with a scowl, shaking her head. “That Echo… your replacement. As if anyone could replace my mommy, shishishishi!”

She threw back her head and let out another cackle, one that almost sent a shiver down Dakota’s spine. But she said nothing, and just kept staring at the woman who had once been her favorite plaything as a child.

“You still haven’t told me… why you’re here…” Dakota said quietly, looking down at the floor. Lynette hadn’t brought any food or water with her, and Echo had said that she would be taking care of all of Dakota’s needs in that regard from here on out.

So, there must have been something else, something other than that which had compelled the doll to come this far.

Judging from the gleam in Lynette’s eyes, Dakota’s suspicions were right on the money.

“Shishishishi,” she giggled, tilting her head to the side and licking her lips. “Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy…”

“You can say it’s because you want to always be here, but then, you did just say you can’t always get what you want,” Dakota reasoned. She continued to regard her “daughter” with suspicion. “Which means… Echo gave you permission to come down here, didn’t she…?”

There was only one reason Dakota could think of why the other woman would do something like that. And it wasn’t because she had Dakota’s best interests in mind.

No, quite the opposite.

“…Are you here to torture me?” Dakota asked with a tired sigh.

Lynette frowned again. She walked up to the edge of the bars and crouched down so she was looking eye to eye at Dakota.

“…Mommy, why would you ask me something like that?” She asked, her tone no longer that of a playful doll. There was a cold chill in her eyes now, and if Dakota cared about something like that, she might have even shivered.

But she wasn’t going to be intimidated by Lynette. Not when Lynette wasn’t even trying to intimidate her in the first place.

Dakota could tell- this was just Lynette being Lynette. This was just the way she was.

“…Echo said, that if I’m a good girl and do as I’m told, I can come pay you little visits,” Lynette said, resting her chin in her hands. “Oh, but… that only applies… if I agree to do something for her. Do you think that’s fair? I don’t. Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair!”

She shook her head swiftly, sending her straw-colored hair bouncing about her head like a tangled whirlwind. A sour scowl passed across her face.

“Shishishishi… I’m not even allowed to enter your cell…”

Lynette pinched her lips together tightly and stared at Dakota for a long, long time.

“…But I don’t care about that!”

And with that, she hopped back up to her feet, unlocked Dakota’s cell, and skipped inside. Soon enough, she was right beside her mother, staring adoringly into Dakota’s eyes.

For Lynette, “adoringly” mean “like she wanted to stab her” and the broken smile on her face suggested the same thing.

“Shishishishi… Dakota… I do so love you, mommy…” Lynette hummed. She reached up and ran her pale fingers through the long fringe of black hair framing the side of Dakota’s face. She caressed it as if it were a cherished pet. “You look so grimy and dirty… shishishishi… the shoe is on the other foot now, isn’t it, mommy? Shishishishi…”

Dakota grimaced. “Is that what this is about?” She muttered. “Are you feeling bitter because… I let you get a little dirty?”

It was no secret that Lynette had been quite a pitiful sight after years of being in Dakota’s possession. If she reverted to her doll form right now, her dress would be torn and poorly mended, her hair would be dirty and scraggly, and her felt skin would be stained, with all the softness and texture loved right off of it.

Hardly anything that could be considered a beloved toy. More like a piece of garbage that had yet to be thrown away. Only… she had been thrown away.

“I don’t blame you for that, mommy.”

Lynette’s voice was almost tender. The sincerity of it left Dakota stunned. She stared at the woman in front of her, and saw the doll behind her human façade.

“You brushed my hair all the time,” Lynette pointed out, stroking Dakota’s hair in turn. “You always repaired me when you damaged me. And I was happy with that. The stains from food you spilled, or from when you dropped me in the mud… the way you hugged me so tight my insides got all mushed and I deformed… that’s what a doll is for, mommy.”

Dakota didn’t know what to say to that. She just stared at Lynette and tried to figure out what sort of madness had possessed this small little doll. Her brain wasn’t processing it.

“My job is to be loved by you,” Lynette whispered. She cradled Dakota’s pale cheeks with her equally pale hands, and tilted her head so that she was looking her mother right in the eyes. “The state I was in… it was proof that you treasured me, treasured me, treasured me, treasured me.”

“…I did,” Dakota whispered back.

There was no point in being tough or brave or cool, or any of that. No reason for her to deny the truth right before her eyes.

Dakota had loved Lynette like the doll was her own daughter. She had not treated her as well as she should, but no one who saw how Dakota had doted on that doll when she was a little girl could say anything but that Dakota treasured her.

“You were… my everything,” Lynette said. She tightened her grip on Dakota’s face. “Everything, everything, everything, everything!”

As she spoke, her voice got more and more intense. Her eyes sharpened into a glare, and she dug her nails into Dakota’s skin.

“A doll isn’t for being displayed on a shelf, like some precious prize! I’m supposed to be loved! I deserve to be loved! That’s what I’m for! I’m… your daughter…”

Dakota felt a stab of pain in her heart when she heard the ache of desperation in Lynette’s voice. What could she even say to the poor, wretched thing?

“…And you replaced me.”

The coldness in Lynette’s voice froze Dakota in place.

“…No,” she said, shaking her head, yanking her face free of Lynette’s grasp. “Never. I wasn’t the one who replaced you, that was… that wretched woman…”

Lynette’s arms fell to her sides, and her head cocked to the side as well. She twitched and lowered her gaze down to the floor.

“You replaced me,” she accused Dakota again. “With a new daughter.”

A shadow crossed Dakota’s face. Oh. So that’s who she was talking about.

“…You understand nothing,” Dakota said. “Sylvia, I didn’t create her for that reason. Not to replace you. I created her to be a tool for me. To fulfill my ambitions. Nothing more.”

The fact that she had become something else after that was immaterial. It had nothing to do with Dakota’s motivations.

“I said, I don’t care about that,” Lynette snapped, her hands trembling. “I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care!”

For someone who claimed not to care, she sure repeated it a lot.

“…I was supposed to be your daughter,” Lynette reminded Dakota. “You could have used me! You could have brought me back with your powers, couldn’t you?!”

“No.”

It was a cold fact of reality that Dakota didn’t know if Lynette would accept or not. But she wasn’t the kind of person to give false platitudes and tell people what they wanted to hear just so they wouldn’t be upset with her.

If Lynette wanted the truth, then Dakota would give it to her. She owed her daughter that much, anyway, after everything that happened.

“If I used my powers, I would have created a copy of you, sure,” Dakota muttered. “But it would be just like what that woman did. Just a duplicate that looked like you. Not you. Not my Lynette. So I… didn’t even bother.”

At the time, Dakota had assumed that everything her cane created was devoid of true agency. That there was something missing in them. Like furniture just lying around the house that she could move wherever she wanted or throw out when she was done with it.

That was the reason she had created Sylvia.

She couldn’t do something like that with Lynette. Not her Lynette.

“I didn’t want to replace you. But… you were gone. I didn’t think it was possible to bring you back,” Dakota continued, shaking her head. “I thought that if I tried, if I just made another doll, then… they wouldn’t be you.”

But Dakota had made other dolls. Plenty of them. All still in their packaging, all up for sale in a craft store in the Shopping District, where no one would ever buy them.

Because that was part of the job.

But- not one of those dolls was her Lynette.

Lynette was quiet for a long time. Her glassy eyes stared at Dakota as if they were completely devoid of life.

Then, finally, she rose to her feet. “I’m your daughter,” she said quietly. “And you replaced me with Sylvia…”

She hadn’t heard a word Dakota said. “I’m telling you,” Dakota growled, fuming in anger as she glared at the doll girl, “that isn’t how it happened. Lynette, you aren’t just my daughter! You… well, you are, but… aagh, it doesn’t even matter!”

Lynette actually recoiled when she heard Dakota shout. She saw the smoldering gaze in her mother’s eyes, and it gave her pause.

“…Mommy?” She asked hesitantly, intimidated by Dakota for the first time since she stepped foot in the cell.

Dakota wasn’t someone to be trifled with. Lynette knew that all too well. Even here, chained up like this, she had been able to free Mary from her bonds and return her to her husband and friends. Who knew what other abilities and gifts Dakota had at her disposal?

Better not to make her mad at all.

Besides- Lynette loved her mother.

She didn’t want to upset her!

…But if Echo asked her, she would.

Because seeing her mother was the only thing that mattered.

“I like Sylvia just fine,” Lynette said. “Just fine, just fine, just fine, just fine. As a sister, she’s… just fine. Yes.”

Dakota raised her eyebrow. Now that, she hadn’t expected.

“…Really?”

“Shishishishi! Yes, of course!” Lynette giggled, covering her mouth. “Because we both agree… how bad of a mother you are, mommy! Shishishishi!”

She leaned forward and patted her mother on the head. “But… don’t worry. We still love you very much. Shishishishi!”

Dakota glared at the woman in front of her. Lynette’s words were a cold comfort to her.

“…Thank you so much,” she said sarcastically.

“You’re welcome, mommy!” Lynette chirped, ignoring the sarcasm completely. Or maybe she was just too far gone to even understand it.

Dakota honestly didn’t know. And she didn’t really care, either.

All that mattered to her was… nothing.

Lynette was too unstable to use her properly as a tool against Echo. Anything she tried to bargain with might end up blowing up in her face. Dakota wasn’t the kind of woman who people cared about, after all. Not even Lynette.

“Lynette… you don’t love me,” Dakota said.

“…What?” Lynette staggered back and nearly fell over. She looked at Dakota in shock and disbelief. “What… what are you saying, mommy!?” She demanded furiously. “Don’t love you? Don’t love you? Don’t love you? Don’t love you!? Of course I love you!”

“You can’t,” Dakota growled. “I’m not… something that can be loved.”

That’s all she was. A “something” not even a “someone”.

If Dakota had any mirth left in her, she might have laughed at the irony. But probably not.

With a sigh on her lips, she shook her head in exasperation.

“I really do love you, Lynette… but I’m not worthy of any love you might feel for me. Or hatred. If there’s even a difference…”

Dakota didn’t care anymore. She was so tired… she just wanted to sleep.

But Lynette wasn’t having any of that.

“How dare you!?” She snapped at Dakota, grabbing her by the collar of her dress and giving it a shake. “You don’t get to tell me that! You don’t, you don’t, you don’t, you don’t!”

She shook her head furiously.

“Of course I love you, mommy!”

It warmed Dakota’s heart to hear that. Almost. Her heart remained as cold as ice, but she felt a little warmer anyway.

But just a little.

“Why? After everything I did for you… is it really just because you’re a doll?” Dakota laughed a bitter laugh. “It’s your purpose, right? My mother bought you for me as a present. And I loved you. And because you’re a doll, you loved me back. Isn’t that so sweet? So wonderful? I’m touched, really!” She cackled.

Then she narrowed her eyes into icy slits.

“But… it isn’t real.”

Lynette smacked her across the face without hesitation.

“OW!” Dakota recoiled, snapped back into a brief moment of lucidity from the force of the strike. She stared incredulously at Lynette, who looked down at her with cold, blue eyes.

Then, she smacked Dakota on the other side of her face, adding a red welt to mirror the one already starting to form on the pale girl.

“Would a doll do that?” Lynette asked pointedly.

Dakota glared coldly at her. “I don’t know what you think you’re playing at, Lynette, but you’re wrong!” She snapped at her. “I’m-!”

“You, you, you, you,” Lynette interrupted her. “It’s always about you, isn’t it, mommy? How you’re so unlovable. But I don’t care. You’re my mommy. And I’m not going to let you drive me away or throw me away! Or stop loving me! You’re my mommy… and down here, you’ll ALWAYS be my mommy,” she insisted.

Dakota had nothing she could say to the deranged doll.

In the end, Dakota hadn’t changed at all. Just like with Sylvia, she’d tried to reject Lynette’s agency. Tried to distill her reason for loving her down to being a matter of obligation. Because she was “made” to be that way.

She knew it was bullshit the second it passed her lips, but she didn’t care.

Because, deep down, in the part of Dakota that she didn’t want to acknowledge, but couldn’t lie to, Dakota knew that nobody should love her.

Not Sylvia, not Lynette, and certainly not Nick.

“…I did love you, Lynette,” Dakota said. “And I still do. You were… mine.”

Not just her possession or her favorite toy. Lynette had always been something more.

But did that even matter?

“I’m not capable of loving you the way you deserve to be loved and cherished, Lynette,” Dakota confessed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, but… I’m not.”

She was too broken for that.

“But mommy… that love you’re showing me… it’s the real thing,” Lynette said quietly. The coldness left her voice, and she sounded warm. Or at least, the closest Lynette could get to sounding warm, anyway. It was still quite cold.

“Lynette…” Dakota’s voice cracked for a second as she looked up at the other girl, who stared down at her with a broken smile on her face.

“I love you, mommy,” Lynette insisted. “But… even though you loved me… you never loved me most. Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair.”

Dakota knew where this was going. She wished she didn’t even have to bother with this nonsense. “Nick…” she muttered. “Nick is… the one who I love most. And he always will be.”

Even if she was trapped down in this basement for eternity, forced to watch over and over again as he was with other women, knowing that she would never be able to be with him like that again…

She could live with it.

Because she was stronger than that.

Because… she had already lost the one thing that mattered most to her.

Not even Lynette and her obsessive love could fill the hole that losing Nick had left in her heart, sadly enough.

“Shishishishi… I know that, of course,” Lynette said, narrowing her eyes into sapphire slits. “Because… mommy… that is precisely why I’m here.”

“What?” Dakota jerked up in surprise, fully alert again. She was no longer looking at Lynette like the wounded child she’d neglected, but as a menace.

“Echo sent me… to make sure you have a front row seat… as your dear, beloved Nick has fun with multiple women tonight… shishishishi!”

Lynette’s laugh was far crueler than ever before. This time, Dakota did feel a shiver. And as the screen turned on in the Master’s Suite and she saw what Lynette had prepared for her, it left Dakota feeling very exposed and shaken.

But she couldn’t look away. That would be like admitting to Echo and Lynette that she couldn’t handle this.

And Dakota’s pride even trumped her jealousy, in this instance, much to even her own shock and chagrin.