What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

As Nick and Morgana’s night together came to a close, rewinding time for a bit, it was possible to see what other people in the hotel were doing at the moment- in this case, solving the mystery of where a few strangely absent girls had wandered off to after dinner.

The answer to that question could be found with Amelia Campbell. While one of the youngest girls in the harem was busy being plowed by her stepson, she gathered up several other wayward teens under her wing, in the hopes of leading them down a different path.

Or, at least, a path that would lead to a more positive mental health outcome than what Morgana was currently grappling with.

It wasn’t that Amelia necessarily had reason to be worried, at least as far as one of the girls was concerned. She felt decently certain that Emmy, at least, would not end up romantically engaged with Nick.

…At least, she really, really hoped not. But given the nature of this show, and Dakota’s obsession with giving Nick everything she thought he would want, whether he wanted it or not… it never hurt to be cautious.

“Um… why am I here?” Emmy asked timidly, looking around the classroom. “I… I know what you said before, to my mom, about formalizing my education, but really, I don’t think it’s that big of a problem,” she tried to explain. “I’m… I remember stuff. You know? I got all those implanted memories, I’ve got a full high school education.”

“Yes, an American high school,” Amelia said, the disdain in her voice impossible for even her high-class accent to conceal.

Sylvia snorted from the seat beside Emmy, and shook her head gleefully. “Hah! She got you there, Emmy!”

Amelia turned her gaze upon her other problem student, and narrowed her eyes. “And as far as your education is concerned…”

“Hey, I’m a licensed therapist!” Sylvia pointed out.

Amelia crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrow.

Sylvia didn’t back down. “I know I was created by Dakota, but she DID put all the relevant knowledge I needed into my head!” She pointed out, tapping the side of said head. “That’s enough, don’t you think? I mean, I WAS helping Daddy, as a legitimate therapist, for over a year!”

Amelia didn’t budge. “What Nicholas knows about proper mental health care could fill a book,” she replied. “In fact, it has.”

Ouch. But everyone always said family was the harshest critic.

“Well, uh…” Sylvia scratched her cheek. “I still think…”

“If you are so educated, then you must know about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, then?” Amelia inquired.

Sylvia stared blankly at her. “Uh… sex, ****, and rock and roll?”

“Incorrect.”

“Err… I was kidding?” Sylvia tried to laugh it off. “Come on, Amelia, don’t be so serious, I’m just saying-”

“The Skinner Box, then?” Amelia asked next.

Sylvia flinched. “Um… that-that was the box where that guy put the cat into and then said it was alive or dead, right?” She claimed confidently, trying to sound like she knew what she was talking about.

Emmy sighed and rubbed her temples. “Sylvia, that’s Schrodinger’s Cat. Even I know that.”

“Cats, boxes, whatever, the point is-”

“The point,” Amelia interrupted, an unusual gesture of rudeness on her part, “the one I have just made, is that you are woefully uneducated. You are 18 years of age, supposedly, but by all accounts you are wholly ignorant of anything beyond pop culture references, internet jokes, and rank political incitements.”

“And sex, I know a lot about that,” Sylvia pointed out, not helping her case in the slightest.

Amelia’s eye twitched and she sighed. “…When this show ends and you return to earth with the rest of us, I fear… deeply… for what will become of you should you not have any proper education. At least she…” Amelia paused to glance over at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin who was doodling in the corner, bored and amused at the same time somehow, “…has… marketable skills that she may employ if necessary.”

The assassin leaned back in her chair and waved cheerily over at them. Amelia sighed again.

“…Although I would rather it not come to that. Do you understand my meaning?” Amelia hoped she was expressing herself properly. It had always been a struggle for her, connecting with others, but she was trying. The more words she used the more she hoped she was getting through, but Sylvia just looked confused.

Almost shocked.

“Wait… you… you’re serious?” She asked. “You mean… I’m going to be going back with you guys? To earth?”

Amelia raised her eyebrow. “…Did you think you would not?” She asked in confusion. “That is how the show works, does it not? The members of Nicholas’s… harem…” (She felt a little queasy even saying the word.)

She cleared her throat. “…Ahem. They will be bound to him, correct? Then is it not the case that they would be with him back on earth?”

Sylvia blinked. “…Well, I mean… yeah, that makes sense, I guess,” she said, shrugging. It had really never occurred to her. “But me? I just thought… I don’t know, when the show ended you guys would all go back to earth and I’d stay here with Dakota and help her run the next season or something.”

That had been what she’d always done, after all.

“Absolutely not.”

Amelia’s words made Sylvia flinch and she stared in shock at the face of the older woman, which suddenly morphed into a look of absolute disdain.

“H-huh!?”

Emmy quickly hustled to a new chair, wanting to get as far away from the teacher as possible. She hid next to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who also gave her bad vibes, but who she figured was the only one who might be able to shield her if something bad happened.

It looked like Amelia was going to explode. Which was surprising because her expression was completely neutral.

“If you are under the assumption that I would allow you to remain here with that woman, then disabuse yourself of that notion,” Amelia stated coldly. “You do not have a place here with her. Forget that. It is out of the question.”

Sylvia’s mouth morphed into a shocked look, like a kicked puppy. “B-but-”

“It will not happen.” Amelia’s words refused to be bargained with. Her eyes seemed to freeze the very air around her. “I will not allow that.”

Sylvia’s mouth flopped open and closed, but no sound came out. Her brain was knocking back and forth in her skull as she struggled to get her thoughts in order. What she was hearing just didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t like she wanted to stay here, so why did Amelia make it sound like she did? No, this was just… where she belonged.

It was where she’d always belonged. Here, with Dakota. Even if Dakota didn’t want her here…

What was she supposed to say in response? The topic of going to earth had arisen before, sometimes even by Sylvia, but it had always been a joke. Just a little tease. But this… this didn’t feel like a joke to her.

Nothing from Amelia felt like a joke, and now the woman was telling her she would be coming with them. Leaving Dakota here alone and spending the rest of her- now mortal- life on earth with her Daddy and everyone else…

What was she supposed to make of that?

A tense silence hung in the air as Amelia struggled to make sense of the expression she saw on her pseudo-granddaughter’s face, while Sylvia struggled to make sense of the words coming out of her not-exactly-a-grandmother’s mouth.

And Emmy just huddled behind her mute, bimbo-shaped shield and struggled to make sense of the whole entire fucking thing.

“If you tell her like that, she’ll never understand,” a new voice said, breaking the silence. “You have to explain things in much more simple terms.”

Sylvia jumped and even Amelia flinched slightly at Dakota’s sudden appearance. Emmy let out a startled gasp and almost fell out of her chair, while Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin rose to her feet. She was the only one who had not be caught off guard.

“Duh… Dakota!” Sylvia stood up sharply, her eyes wide. “Wh-what… what are you doing here?”

She tried to laugh off Dakota’s presence with a casual smile, like it wasn’t a big deal. She failed utterly, of course.

“I came by because I heard that Amelia here was running a daycare service for unruly children,” Dakota said with a sneer of amusement. “And I came to drop one off.”

She tapped her cane and Nola tumbled into the classroom, looking dazed.

“Wuh-buh?!” The pink-haired girl scrambled to her feet, confused. “Dakota, what am I doing here?!” She questioned.

Dakota ignored her, turning to Amelia before the leprechaun could start yapping. “The producers are considering giving this one another chance at hosting a season, if she displays enough progress while working for me,” she explained to the wary blonde. “Unfortunately, she’s far from up to snuff I’m afraid… but it would be quite helpful if you could fix her up? Get her ready to perform? I’d so hate to have to see her fail…”

The gleeful smile on her pale lips showed just how little truth was in that statement.

Nola’s eyes bulged in surprise. “Wait, really!? Seriously!?”

Amelia scowled. “I would not even know where to begin,” she testily replied, knowing absolutely nothing about what these nebulous “producers” would want to see from the leprechaun. “Why are you really here?”

“Ah, you caught that, eh?” Dakota smirked. She waved her cane and sent Nola away again before the leprechaun could launch into a speech of thanks for her good fortune. “Well, it’s not like I was lying, though.”

“Why are you here?” Amelia asked again. If there was one thing her bluntness helped with, it was cutting to the heart of the matter. Dakota could try to obfuscate and play dumb, but Amelia didn’t get distracted easily.

And she doubted Dakota would retreat from her- that would be too much like losing, and Amelia knew how much the stubborn woman hated to lose.

…And if she needed a reminder, the look the host was currently wearing was an excellent one.

“…Why do you think I’m here?” Dakota petulantly replied, throwing the question back in Amelia’s face. It was a common ploy, and one Amelia was imminently familiar with. She’d dealt with Dakota quite extensively as a child when the young girl would throw her fits, and this was just another moment like that.

“The most obvious answer,” Amelia replied, adjusting her glasses, “can be found if one looks to how you made your entrance.”

Dakota’s eyes flickered to Sylvia for a moment and her mouth twitched. She curled her fingers around her cane. “…So then say it,” she muttered.

“You came because Sylvia and I were discussing her future here,” Amelia calmly but firmly declared, her sharp words seeming to fill the entire classroom. “Or more precisely, her lack thereof.”

“Um… c-come on, it’s not a big deal!” Sylvia waved her hands quickly. “I mean, so like, yeah, I’m a part of Daddy’s harem, so I’ll be going with him, right? Dakota? Is that right?”

She looked at her creator, not sure what answer she was hoping to get from the host. After all, if you asked Sylvia if she would rather go to earth with Nick and her friends or stay here and serve Dakota for the rest of her existence, the answer was an obvious one. Sylvia wanted to be with everybody. She’d never wanted anything more.

But… she wanted to hear Dakota’s answer still.

Does she want me to stay? No… of course she doesn’t. Why would she? Obviously, Sylvia knew there was no chance that Dakota wanted anything to do with her. But of course… part of her, the part deep part at the bottom of her heart, still wanted Dakota to stand up for her and say she couldn’t go.

But of course that would never happen. So no sense in even hoping for it.

“…The rules of the show are quite clear,” Dakota sniffed. “As Sylvia is a member of Nick’s harem, she will be returning with him to earth, of course. It is as simple as that.”

And of course, Dakota was the consummate professional.

Like Amelia believed that.

“And is that also your opinion?” Amelia challenged.

Dakota’s smile didn’t falter. But it looked a lot stiffer than Sylvia remembered.

“…I am the host of the show. Merely a tool of the producers,” Dakota replied with an elegant curtsy, lowering her head in a bow. “My opinion of the rules is not relevant, I am merely an agent of their enforcement.”

“…Right,” Amelia said. It was the closest Dakota had ever heard her come to sarcasm, and she wasn’t pleased with it. She responded with a sour expression.

“No need to get snippy,” the brunette huffed, tapping her cane. “What would you like me to say? Would you like me to pour my heart out, talking about how much I wish that Sylvia could stay here with me, that I don’t want to see her go, but I know that she’ll be happier with Nick? Is that what you’d like to hear?”

“Is that how you feel?” Amelia asked, raising her eyebrow.

Sylvia’s eyes flicked over to Dakota and she looked intently at her creator.

Any trace of affability drained from Dakota’s face and she stalked towards the older woman.

“What do you want from me?” She asked with a growl. “I came here to help you, you know. To help you explain things to that girl in a way that her simple, adoring brain could understand. And yet, you see fit to play these games… why?”

“I told you what I want,” Amelia replied, standing her ground. In her eyes, that statement was enough. Further repeating herself would be redundant, and therefore, unnecessary.

But by not restating her case, it just left Sylvia more confused than ever. Her eyes flickered between the two of them, hating the tension in the air but not sure what to do about it.

“…What I want,” Dakota said, after several eternities of silence, “is for Nick to be happy. And he would be happiest with Sylvia by his side, I imagine. She is, of course, beautiful, as I created her to be, after all. And devoted to him. Would that not be enough?”

Sylvia’s heart skipped a beat and she gasped. Dakota… she was actually saying nice things about her! Wow! This is so great! It’s like… the best day ever! She was exaggerating a little, but not really. The few times Dakota had praised her in their time together before the show, she’d always praised Sylvia’s beauty. Talking about how she was the perfect person to draw Nick’s eye. She had accepted that praise with pride, and to hear it again, even after all the changes she’d undergone…

…It was a strange feeling. With all the things Dakota had done to her, things that she was only recently becoming aware of, even, to still feel gladdened by the wicked woman’s praise… it was as saddening as it was invigorating, and it filled Sylvia’s breast with complicated feelings.

Amelia felt no such strange compulsions. She had sympathy for the tormented woman, but only to such an extent. And right now, what sympathy she felt for Dakota’s tortured existence was overshadowed by her treatment of Sylvia.

As a mother herself, in her own mind, at least, it was not behavior that could be permitted. And for all the cruelty in Dakota’s willingness to send her daughter away to earth, never to be seen again, Amelia believed that was truly the correct decision.

If Dakota could not change as a mother and a person, then it was better for Sylvia to never see her again.

But Amelia still wanted to hear her say it.

“…I see.”

…Well, that wasn’t quite how she anticipated it coming out, if she was being honest. Amelia had intended to goad Dakota into revealing her real feelings, but apparently “I see” was what she’d said instead. And while she may have put some weight behind it, somehow Amelia doubted her words would have the desired impact.

Dakota raised her eyebrow. “Oh?” She sneered. “And what exactly do you ‘see’ then? Hmm?”

Amelia had given her the out, but she hadn’t taken it.

Curious.

Perhaps she had triggered her confrontational personality after all. Or maybe it was just the host’s natural stubbornness.

Either way, Amelia had been given a second chance. She was determined to make use of it.

“Your first deflection was by stating you are a tool of the producers. A factual statement, but an improper answer to the question of your true feelings,” Amelia pointed out. Dakota’s eye twitched. “The second time, you deflected by stating you wanted what was best for Nicholas. The veracity of that statement aside, it is still not an adequate answer to the actual question.”

She stepped forward, staring Dakota right into her empty, golden eyes.

“What are your feelings?” She demanded. “Not as a tool of the producers, not as someone who loves my stepson. As a human being, how do you feel about the possibility of never getting to see the life you created ever again?”

“…I’m not a human being,” Dakota coldly answered.

“Another deflection.” As if Amelia would let her get away with that. “What is your answer?”

“Like I would answer you, of all people,” Dakota sneered contemptuously at her. “The woman who abandoned her own child to flee halfway around the world, because parenting became too inconvenient? Like you have any right to judge me on-”

“More deflection,” Amelia cut her off sharply. “Trying to shift the focus onto me, and away from yourself. I take it then, that your repeated refusal to answer the question means that you have no answer? Is that correct?”

The furious grinding of Dakota’s teeth echoed through the classroom. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin watched the exchange with a gleeful smile as Emmy shivered, and Sylvia… just stared at the two women in amazement.

Amelia had her trapped. She could see it in the gleam of Dakota’s eyes. The host could either answer, or she could flee, and thus admit that Amelia had defeated her.

And then, slowly, Dakota straightened her back.

She sighed.

She looked into Amelia’s eyes.

And she answered her question.