You neglected yourself when you were younger, and now you're loved but you lack the feeling you've been longing for

“Hell-loooo!”

Echo skipped into the dungeon with a twisted smile on her face, pleased as always to see her favorite prisoner.

“And how are we doing this lovely evening?” She asked, knowing full well what the answer to that question was.

Dakota had no answer for her. She looked tiredly up at her replacement with empty, cold eyes, and didn’t say a word.

That was fine. Echo loved the sound of her own voice.

“So cold,” she cooed, fanning herself with a piece of paper. “And here I was, coming to do something nice for you! Is that any way to treat me?”

Dakota grunted something. Maybe an answer to Echo’s question, or maybe it was just an involuntary response from her throat. Either way, it was good enough for Echo, who leaned forward and grinned maniacally at her predecessor.

“I’m not lying,” she said, showing the sort of gleeful face that someone who was lying would likely be wearing. “I really came here with a treat for you, Dakota.”

She held up the piece of paper she’d brought into the cell.

“This right here is a letter. From… your beloved Nick.”

There it was. A response. It wasn’t much, but there was a brief flicker of awareness in Dakota’s eyes at the mention of Nick’s name. Just enough confirmation that the former host wasn’t dead to the world after all.

Echo smirked and stood up straight, pulling the letter away from its recipient.

“That’s the reason I’m here, you know,” Echo said, waving the letter tauntingly in front of Dakota’s face again. “If it was up to me, I would have spent the night up there, with them.”

She turned to the television set, which was still showing everything going on in the Master’s Suite. Which meant that Dakota had seen everything. The conversation Echo had with Nick, where she promised to give him opportunities to interact with Dakota as a reward for his good behavior, the confrontation between Echo and Mary, and even Nick acquiescing to Echo’s demand, Dakota had seen it all. And right now, the camera was focused on Nick and Mary as they talked to each other, with Holly in the middle, hanging back with uncertainty.

“I really wanted to stay up there, so I could play the third wheel for their night,” Echo said with a sneer, glaring contemptuously at her other self. “After all, I was the one who went on the nice romantic date with him. But she gets the loving? Make that make sense.”

Dakota could have said something snarky about how Echo didn’t deserve it and that it was a fitting punishment for her to be relegated to the sideline while Nick and Mary made love, but she just didn’t care enough to bother.

“…Still, I doubt they can get a romantic mood going anyway, in light of everything that’s happened since then,” Echo mused, tapping her cane a couple times on the floor. “And you KNOW there’s no chance Nick is actually going to go through with masturbating using Vivian’s panties. What. A. Prude.”

Not that Echo was one to talk. She still remembered back when she WAS Mary, and how restrained and hostile to sex she had been back then.

It made her sick to her stomach.

“Unfortunately, as the host, I have other duties,” Echo said, turning away from the TV and facing Dakota again. She placed her hands on her hips and huffed. “I gave him my word that I would deliver this to you, and a host is only as good as their word.”

That was why she’d been forced to come in person instead of relying on Lynette. Lynette would have just torn up the letter out of spite due to her feelings about Nick. And Echo didn’t trust Nola to be a team player yet. And the faeries? Well, they had been created by Dakota. Who could even say where their loyalties were?

Echo was a supremely paranoid woman who thought the whole world was out to get her. It was just part of being Christian.

“Still…” Echo looked over her shoulder and smirked. “I wonder how their night is going to go… aren’t you curious, Dakota?”

“She’s… really gone.” Nick couldn’t believe it. He’d poured his heart and soul into that letter- he thought it would take hours to come up with the right things to say, but no, it all came pouring out of him as naturally as could be.

“Do you think she really delivered it, though?” Holly bit her lip. “I mean, given everything else she’s done…”

“The nerve of that girl!” Echo exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest. “What did I JUST say? Of course I’m going to deliver it, I gave my word! Can you believe that she’d actually say that about me, Dakota?” She demanded, turning to her predecessor.

Dakota said nothing.

“She gave her word,” Mary said. “Echo… she’s still me, in a way… I know it’s hard to see, but… I have to believe that she wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

Mary had no idea that Echo was watching her say that. Or how annoyed her other self was that they’d both said the same thing, even if it was true.

Holly shook her head. “Well… I’ll trust your judgment, Mary,” she said in resignation. “I still don’t think we should put our faith in her, but…”

“She’ll do it,” Nick said confidently. “After all, she wants me to trust her. If I don’t believe she’ll keep her word, then I’ll have no motivation to keep going along with her games, right?” He pointed out. “So it’s the smart move on her part to be reliable here.”

Mary nodded. That made perfect sense.

“See? See?” Echo waved that the television with a smug grin. “Nick gets it! I know he’s dense and foolish and can’t run a harem to save his life, but he understands how the game is played!”

She threw back her head and laughed. “I mean… as long as you give him the proper motivation, anyway! Hehehe! And use small words when explaining it!”

Dakota still wasn’t responding. But that was fine. Echo could do just fine with a captive audience, feedback or no.

“…So what do we do now?” Mary looked at Nick hesitantly. “If Echo was coming back, then… she would by now, wouldn’t she?”

Nick agreed. “Yeah… I guess we should assume that she’s going to stay wherever it is she ran off to, probably.”

“Thank the lord for small miracles,” Holly sighed in relief.

“What a thing to say!” Echo pouted. “They’re making it sound like they don’t want me there or something! How rude! What, because of all the terrible things I did? …Probably.”

She shrugged, completely devoid of empathy. “Oh well. It’s not like I’m doing this to be voted Miss Popularity.”

Nick and Mary stared at each other. Their expressions were filled with doubt and hesitation. As they gazed into each other’s eyes, Holly’s eyes flickered between the both of them. She wasn’t sure what she should do right now.

What a mess! Holly thought, biting her lip. She cared about her friends and wanted to look out for them, but she was stuck. The tension in the room was thick and she completely understood why. For the first time, Nick and Mary had a chance to actually breathe and have a conversation about what was going on, and she was in the way.

And it’s not like I can just leave! Holly would have loved to give them their privacy, but she couldn’t. And even if she could, a part of her wondered about whether or not she should. After all, her friends would need all the emotional support they could get right now, and Holly could, at least, do that for them, even if that was the extent of what she could do.

Holly bit her lip, stuck in place and not sure where to go from here. It seemed like none of them knew where they should go from here, in fact.

Which wasn’t good at all.

“Um!”

It was Mary who summoned the courage to speak first. It took a lot of doing. She took a deep breath and broke their gaze by staring down at the floor. Once she summoned enough strength, she raised her head and looked Nick in the eyes, seeing the doubt all over his face.

“I know all about what happened, between you and Echo,” Mary said. “Your date together, with-with Rose. She told me the whole thing, while I was locked up in that cell with Dakota.”

Nick winced. He didn’t want to be reminded of that. But it was something that they needed to confront together.

“I… Mary…”

“To be clear, I don’t blame you,” Mary said, shaking her head. “She was me. Of course she fooled you. That doesn’t mean anything.”

Nick hadn’t been worried about that, but he was relieved to hear that she didn’t blame him. “So… you’re not upset?”

She blinked and looked him in the eyes. “…Of course I’m upset.”

Nick winced.

“But I’m not upset with you,” she clarified, shaking her head.

Mary took a step forward and placed her hand on Nick’s chest, stroking his heart. “She stole my appearance and pretended to be me. She manipulated you and gaslit you, and tried to get you to have sex with her. Those were horrible things to do, to the both of us. And then, when she kissed you… it hurt so much. But… you realized right away that she wasn’t me. You pushed her away, and then… then I was with you again.”

Tears welled up in Mary’s eyes, but she blinked them away. Down in the dungeon Echo just felt nauseous. Mary was actually crying about that?

“Mary… I should have figured out it was her before that,” Nick said. “Rose was suspicious, but I blew off her suspicions.”

“Because you know me so well,” Mary pointed out. “She got everything right, so of course you would think she was me,” she reminded him again. “It’s okay, Nick. You aren’t to blame for what happened. Alright?”

Mary leaned up and kissed him. “See? You like my kisses better than hers, don’t you?”

Nick found a smile finally return to his lips. He took Mary’s hands into his and the two of them looked each other in the eye.

“…There’s more, though,” he said, determined to tell Mary the whole truth about everything. “After she brought me up here and made that bargain with me, she did other stuff to me, too.”

“What?” Mary’s eyes widened and her face paled. “What… WHAT other stuff?” She demanded, furrowing her brow into a glare.

Nick bit the inside of his cheek. “It… she… she froze me in place and got on top of me, and started… grinding against me. Trying to get me hard.”

“So she violated you,” Mary said, a shadow crossing over her face. “How could she do something like that?” She looked like she wanted to cry again. “How… how could…I?”

“Violated him!? Oh, come on!” Echo groaned. “That wasn’t how it went! I-! He-he was enjoying himself, I could FEEL it! He was getting hard, so that means he liked it! What’s this about violating!? It’s not like I forced him!”

She heard a sharp chuckle from behind her and turned around. To Echo’s irritation, she saw that Dakota had regained some life, and was now looking at her with a condescending expression on her face.

“Dakota-!” She growled, clutching her cane. “Are you mocking me?!”

“…It’s rather pathetic…” Dakota croaked out. “Only been here… for one day… and now everybody thinks you’re a rapist.”

A creaky laugh erupted from her strained throat and her body trembled. “How long do you think you’ll last with people looking at you that way… huh? My guess… you don’t even finish the round.”

“Sh-shut up!” Rage flooded Echo’s cheeks and she stormed over to Dakota, green eyes blazing furiously. “You’re not one to talk, you useless failure!” She roared, twisting her fingers through Dakota’s hair and jerking her head up so she could look the other woman in the eye. “I did what I thought was necessary! I’m the host, it’s my JOB to titillate the master!”

Golden energy flared to life in Dakota’s eyes and she jerked her head forward, nearly pressing her face against Echo’s as her pale lips twisted into a sneer. Echo jerked back, startled, as Dakota pushed forward as much as she could.

“Your job is to run a successful season,” she hissed. “Nick isn’t going to make that easy for you. You can’t force him. You can try to coerce him, but the audience won’t be happy about it. And you definitely can’t assault him. Face it, Echo… you’ve failed before you’ve even begun!”

A shiver rolled down Echo’s spine. She let go of Dakota and stumbled back, clutching her cane in front of her like a shield.

“No, I… I can fix this,” she muttered. “I can… I…”

“How?” Dakota slumped back against the wall and smirked. “Nick will never trust you. The audience will likely give up on you. You have no one in your corner, definitely not the producers… You said it yourself, Echo, I was sent down here because I was too nice. But- now you’re stuck! Ha! You’re stuck! HAHAHAHAHA! If you can’t make amends with him, you’ll never get anywhere as host. But if you try, then you’re not cut out for the job, and they’ll get rid of you! You lose! HA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Dakota’s broken laughter echoed through the dungeon as Echo trembled in impotent rage. As much as she loathed to admit it she knew Dakota was right- no matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, she was trapped now- all because she’d given into her urges and did a little dry hump!? Tried to get Nick to have sex with her under false pretenses?! That-!

…Okay. Yes. That was pretty bad. The part of her that had Mary’s memories of life back on earth understood the wrongness of that.

But what was she supposed to do now?

“It’s too late to go back,” she muttered, digging her gloved nails into the side of her skull as she started grinding her teeth together. “If he hates me, he hates me, I don’t care one way or the other… but if I can’t do what I need to do as the host, then…”

There were no good options. Echo didn’t realize how trapped she was until Dakota pointed it out to her.

And Dakota’s evil laugh still ringing in her ears even now wasn’t helping matters, either.

“You-!”

Echo whirled around and glared at Dakota, who looked up at her with a nonplussed reaction.

“Yes?” Dakota asked, a little livelier than before. She was still trapped and defeated, but she could comfort herself with the knowledge that her tormentor would face a far worse fate than she would when the time came.

“Do you need my help?”

Dakota asked that question purely because she knew how much it would destroy her. And she could see it up close and personal.

It was simply delightful!

“Your help!?” Echo roared.

“There’s no one who knows Nick better than me. There’s no one who can manipulate the audience better than I can,” Dakota pointed out, her tired face twisting into a sneer. “You’re willing to quid pro quo with Nick… why not one with me?”

Echo looked down at Dakota and shivered. The former host was powerless and bound in chains. But why do I feel like the one who’s imprisoned?

Even bound and helpless, even looking completely broken and defeated, Dakota now radiated triumph and success.

Unlike Echo, who was helpless to do anything at all.

“…You think I’ll beg, to someone like you!?” Echo growled, stomping her foot. “You think I would beg!? You think I’ll plea with you to help me!? NO! NO! NEVER!”

She wished the brick beneath her foot was Dakota’s smirking face. What she wouldn’t give to kick her into a bloody pulp! …But she couldn’t.

“You’re already doomed,” Dakota sneered. “You just don’t realize it yet! I’m the only one who can be the host to this season, Echo. You can try to be the bad girl, you can try to put obstacles and stakes in front of Nick, but he’s too nice. That’s what I realized. He won’t take it. He won’t do what you want him to do. You might be able to string him along for a bit, but if all you can do is be a violent bully, the audience will be done with you. And unfortunately that’s what’s necessary to take this show back from Nick and his harem and that sappy ‘We can all live happily ever after!’ ideal they preach until you’re sick to your stomach.”

That was what had brought Dakota to ruin. The inability to do what was necessary. And she could see that Echo may have been willing… but she was too weak-willed to go all the way. The fact that she was falling for Dakota’s childish taunts and provocations was evidence enough of that.

“Admit it, you’ve lost,” Dakota snickered, shaking her head. “If you go to the producers right now and beg, maybe they’ll let you keep your worthless existence… probably not, though.”

“Dakota…!” Echo growled, clenching her fists tightly.

“More likely, your best bet is just to go all the way,” Dakota continued, ignoring the seething host. “Give in completely and be the bitch. Tear up that letter, break your word, bully and torment Nick until the audience is sick of it! You won’t survive very long, but at least you’ll go out on your own terms, and do a bit of carnage along the way, right?”

Echo blinked. Then the anger drained from her heart and was replaced with something else entirely.

Understanding.

“…So that’s it,” she murmured, her lips twitching up into a smile. “That’s why you’re baiting me. You were trying to get me to tear up the letter, weren’t you? Getting me all worked up and making me lose my temper, so I’d destroy Nick’s letter to you out of spite. Not only making him hate me even more, but also proving to you and the producers that I’m too emotionally unstable to become the host…”

Dakota’s expression turned cold and unresponsive again. She kept staring at Echo in silence, golden eyes seething.

“Well… it’s not going to work,” Echo said, shaking her head. She held up the letter again. “If you want to run away from Nick feelings, then try not to listen. Otherwise, you’re going to hear everything he has to say.”