The song for this chapter is "Ballad of Mona Lisa" by Panic! at the Disco. Thanks, Kaychrys , for recommending the song. :D

*Tom's POV*

We heard a tired, feminine voice yell from inside the plant-shrouded home, "I'm done seeing clients for today! Come back tomorrow." Mot's eyebrows drew together in confusion before he knocked again, a bit louder.

I heard something that I was pretty sure was a curse. Booted footfalls sounded on wood planks as someone approached the door, and two locks clicked. The door opened enough for the lady to poke her head and a small pistol outside. She was wearing a long-sleeved dress of some dark green, velvety material with brass buttons down the front and lace around the cuffs and throat, and a pair of brass and leather goggles sat atop her head. The woman's black hair was up in a bun, except for long ringlets that framed her olive face. Her dark eyes were as angry as those of any Dianitee I'd seen, and her plump lips were set in a frown. The caplock pistol she held was a tiny thing, the size of my palm, but it would definitely drop a target if the bore of the muzzle was anything to go by. The hammer was already cocked, and the lady had it aimed at Mot's face.

"Easy there, M Rose! Save those bullets for a blood moon," Mot said, taking a step back and quickly pulling his hood and scarf down to reveal his mottled face. He left his hands raised to show he meant no harm. I followed suit when Mot shot me a glare.

Marie Rose studied Mot for several tense seconds before lowering her gun and saying blandly, "Mot? I almost didn't recognize you with how much your creeper spores have spread."

Mot paled for a moment before a teasing smile snuck onto the lady's face. I suppressed laughter as Mot realized she was pulling his leg. She looked up and down the street—all seriousness once more—before motioning us indoors. Inside the home wasn't much warmer than out. So I left my coat and scarf on; I even stuffed my gloved hands inside my coat pockets in attempt to get the tingling feeling out of my fingers. Once in the small foyer, Marie surprised me by crushing Mot in a hug which he returned. When she released him, she had a wide grin on her face. "Seriously though, you have a new spot here," She said tapping a patch of green skin below his infected eye.

He swatted her hand away and mumbled, "Yeah, it's not the only one." Marie gave him a stern look. "Don't worry about me. Dia will touch up his magic once he's back."

Okay, why the heck are these two acting like long lost siblings?

Marie's gaze softened and she turned to me. "Is that Alyssa under there?" She asked with a hint of the "baby voice" all women seemed compelled to use around little kids.

"Um, no," I answered.

Her eyebrows shot up, and she looked between Mot and I in confusion. My voice did sound identical to his, aside from the thinly veiled irritation in mine. Mot sighed and introduced us. "Tom, this is Marie Rose. M Rose, Tom. I'll explain in a little bit. First, I have a message from Jeriah."

Her friendly mien vanished, and she started to raise her pistol again.

Mot's eyes widened as he tried to salvage the situation, "Look, I get that you're mad he left..."

"Mad?" She asked in sarcasm bordering on something more dangerous. Her voice rose as she continued, "No, no. I'm not mad that he left. 'Never leave your partner behind.' Malarkey. I'm mad he didn't ask me to go with him!" She lowered the pistol and uncocked the hammer as she walked away from us into the kitchen to the right of the foyer. Mot and I cautiously followed. We entered to see Marie pouring herself a glass of gin from a nearly empty bottle on the counter. She tossed back the half-filled glass before pouring more. She seated herself at the kitchen table, leaving the gin bottle and her pistol behind on the wooden counter. She took a more delicate sip and motioned to the seats across from her.

We obliged, and she sighed. Staring into the colorless liquid in her glass, she asked quietly, "Do you have any idea how hard it's been providing for Amelia when no one wants to be associated with the 'traitor's wife'? Yeah, Mianite let us stay and keep our house, but that doesn't pay bills or buy groceries."

While M Rose was talking, I looked around the rest of the kitchen. It looked functional and clean, but worn. Cream paint was beginning to chip and peal in places on the cabinets, and the furniture and appliances looked weathered and scuffed. There was a stain on the table that I thought—or at least hoped—to be spaghetti sauce. A wood-burning furnace "heated" the room from the left corner by the foyer. The greedy, soot-stained monster demanded a lot of fuel for little enough reward. No doubt, the front door and a door against the back wall were to blame for most of the heat escaping. There were a few old doodles nailed to the wall, obviously drawn by a kid. One of them was a drawing of a woman with black hair in a sundress, a man in blood mage armor, a man with half of his face colored in green and a red scarf, and two little girls, one of whom had bat wings. I guess that's how Mot and Marie know each other. Makes sense; Alyssa and Amelia must only be a few years apart, I thought with a grin. Poor Mot must have been desperate for advice to put up with the Salt King's older version. I guessed that Marie had been the actually helpful one.

On further inspection of the room I was a little worried to notice numerous bottles the same shape and size as the bottle of gin, though their labels had been removed (mostly). They had been repurposed for flower vases or held brews of various colors where they lined shelves above the stove and furnace. I say brew because this whole house smells like mandrake and fresh cookies. Suddenly the moss out front made more sense. Marie must have been into witchery.

I ignored Mot's death glare and asked, "Why would Mianite let you stay here? Didn't Jeriah betray him?"

She tightened her grip on her glass before setting it on the bare tabletop with a look of disgust. She met my gaze behind my sunglasses as she scoffed. "He saw how furious I was when I heard he'd up and left without us, and it's not like we had anywhere else to go. I'm basically a hostage against Jeriah if he ever decides to show his face again. Believe me, Mianite will be the least of his worries if he does," She said fiercely, though a flash of longing in her eyes made the threat sound hollow.

I broke eye contact with the unnerving woman to glance at Mot beside me. He looked a bit heartbroken. "The wet napkin thought he was being all noble, keeping the two of you out of danger," Mot shook his head sadly. "But I could tell he missed you both. He kept accidentally calling Alyssa Amelia the whole first year we were gone. He wants to come back, you know."

"Well, nothing's been stopping him. Jeriah's a lot of things, but I'd never known him to be a coward..." Marie trailed off in a way that made the statement a question.

I looked over at Mot, wondering when he planned on telling her about the whole being trapped in a different dimension thing. He was already on it. "He's not, M Rose. I'm the only one who made it back." He had her attention now as he began to explain what had been happening over the last ten years.

As they talked, I heard the sound of footsteps climbing the wooden steps to the back door. Said door was flung open by a teenage girl with skin almost the same olive shade as her mother's. She was dusted in soot and ash, and a few strands of her wavy brown hair had slipped from her braid. She wore a simple white tunic and brown trousers, but the leather and iron braces that protected her wrists to elbows and the rattling bag of equipment she carried in one hand made me wonder if she was training to be a soldier like her dad. She was certainly too young to have been recruited already.

"Hey Mom, I..." She stopped in her tracks as she saw Mot and I. Her eyes flickered over me nervously and fastened on Mot. Her face broke into a grin, and she dropped her bag. "Uncle Mot!" She squealed as she tackled him in a hug.

Mot—who thankfully had stood up before she reached him—swung her around and laughed into the hug. "Amy! When did you get so big?! You know you're not allowed to be taller than me." He set her down and looked her over. "Gods, you've gotten taller than Alyssa now!"

Marie smiled as she watched them, likely reliving better days years ago when they had all been together. Finally, Mot introduced me as a... friend of his. Marie was apparently growing impatient to hear the rest of Mot's story and whatever sappy message her husband had sent her. She interrupted the pleasantries to ask, "Amelia, dear, why don't you get to know Tom and show him the greenhouse while Mot and I finish up some business here?"

Amelia nodded, catching enough of the serious air in the room to not ask questions. She headed for the door she'd left ajar in her excitement, and I followed her, glad to be able to do something. Sitting still while others talked was never a strong point of mine. Once the kid had closed the door behind us she asked, "What's up with them? And where's Alyssa?"

"Uh..." How do I handle this? "If I told you I'd have to kill you?" I shrugged, not sure if the young Mianitee would appreciate my humor.

Amelia snorted and said, "Fine, I get it. 'Adult stuff.' I'll just find out later," She waved dismissively at me as she flicked a light switch beside the door, turning on a light over the doorframe and a string of lights in the greenhouse. She walked over to the structure made of large sheets of plastic stretched across a wire frame. It took up the whole backyard except for a narrow path along one side that gave access to the alley. I followed a few paces behind her, taking off my sunglasses en route. It was too late now to be able to see well with them on.

She did a double take when she turned back to see my green skin showing. "Same thing as Mot, but with a zombie," I said by way of explanation, pulling my obnoxious blue scarf down. It was making my face itch. Amelia nodded and politely looked away.

She swung the door to the greenhouse open and stepped inside. I was surprised to find just how much warmer it was in the enclosure. I looked around in amazement. Benches, hanging baskets, and flowerbeds were all I could see. From each some exotic species of flower or coils of vines grew, none of which I recognized. Scratch that; I recognized one bloom, a pure daisy. I recognized the white flower from Wag's failed foray into botania magic. So Marie's into witchery and botania? I was impressed. Wag had told me botania flowers were quite demanding and difficult to cultivate, and I knew from experience what a pain it was growing mandrakes. All of these looked in full bloom despite it being winter too. I wouldn't have doubted there was some other magic at work to keep these plants happy.

Amelia pointed out flowers and gave names to the vibrant blooms as we waded into the colors. She listed off more names than I'd ever heard of, and I only remembered a few of them, like glint weed, blood poppy, tiger's eye, and pollidisiac. There was a whole row of the latter for reasons unknown. As we walked she described some of their purposes. Some were good for headaches or fevers. There was one flower that spooked creepers, because it resembled an ocelot's coloring. She regaled me with a story of her and Alyssa making Mot a flower crown out of those. There were even some that killed mobs while leaving humans alone and could be set up as a perimeter for a campsite.

After we reached a carefully sectioned off part of the greenhouse which held a small bed of hateful mandrakes, conversation turned to other things. "You know, its nice—my mom having visitors who aren't clients," She said the last word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth, but moved on before I could ask what she meant by it. "You guys must have traveled a long way. Did you run into any of the damage coming into town?"

"You could say that. Mot and I almost got buried alive by an avalanche one of those space rocks caused."

Amelia's eyes widened in excitement. "Sweet! Did you see Lord Mianite while you were out there?" I gave her a confused look. "He was blasting the meteorites out of the air to protect the city and villages. It was so awesome!"

Huh, that explains where the lightning came from. "Then why is this place damaged? We passed one of the craters off the main street on our way here."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Even Mianite can't be everywhere at once." Here she sighed and looked a little sad. She put her elbows up on the barrier separating us from the mandrake patch and rested her chin in one hand, idly tossing a pebble at one of the plants to make it screech. "The others don't seem to get it. The soldiers are saying that everyone's scared Mianite can't protect us anymore." I made a connection between what she said and all the people I'd seen heading away from the city. "Mianite's taking it pretty hard too, I think."

I raised an eyebrow skeptically and joined her in leaning on the fence. "What makes you say that, kid?"

She looked at me wearily and pointed up. "The sun's gone."

"I don't get it."

"Mianite's got sole control of the Overworld currently. When he's confident, the sunlight's bright and strong. All afternoon it's actually looked like it might rain. It hasn't done that since the day his brother was killed."

"But you still believe in him," I observed. "You're not scared?"

She smiled and stepped away from the mandrakes. "Nope. I was down at the barrack stable helping a friend with the horses and overheard a message the lieutenant got. Mianite has his engineers working on a way to evacuate everyone to someplace safer—something involving portals or dimension travel..." She trailed off as if she knew more, walking to a different section of the greenhouse.

I moved to follow her but tripped on something. Correction, I was tripped by something. I looked down to see a green vine with wicked thorns at least an inch long painfully buried in my ankle. I swore I saw the vine move and tighten its grip as my vision blurred. I shook my head as Amelia ran back over and started scolding the culprit—a red and blue flowered plant. Turning to me once she'd removed the thorns from my leg, she apologized, "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize the bellethornes would think you were a real zombie! Hey!" She snapped her fingers in front of my face as my eyes started to grow heavy and my head lolled to one side. I felt numb all over, and the world had a funny sheen to it. "Shoot, that venom's fast. Hold on." I was vaguely aware that she dragged me out of reach of the lethal plant before running back toward the house shouting for help. Everything went black after that.

*Syndicate was slain by a flower*

I snapped my eyes open and gasped as I sat up from my patch of grass. I looked around to see that I was in the ruins of Dagrun. Our campsite in the mountains must have been destroyed if I had respawned all the way back here. D*mn it. I heard a ring on my communicator and looked down at it to see messages from Jordan and Sonja. I groaned when I saw how my death message read. Oh, I am never hearing the end of this, am I?

Marie Rose and Amelia are mentioned in the Amniosis episode alongside the other alternates and their loved ones. I'm also pretty sure Lieutenant Al mentioned them when talking to Sparklez in one of the early episodes, but I couldn't find which one. :P I imagine that if the capital city had been built, we would have gotten to see the last alternate's home. Jeriah was the only one we didn't get to learn or see that much of in S2. Everyone's always thought about Alyssa, Alva, and Andor hanging out, but I bet Amelia was in the mix as well. Poor Andor was outnumbered. XD Imagine them going through that phase where "girls have cooties" and the three chasing him around mercilessly, teasingly trying to give him a kiss until he slunk off to go play with Allister or his boomerang instead.

There may be the makings of a one shot in there somewhere; I'll think on it later. :)