The lock snapped open with a rusty groan, vines slithering out as if the greenhouse exhaled after years of silence.

Moonlight sliced through cracked glass panels, revealing overgrowth in deep red and violet feral, thriving, and impossibly organized. Bella stepped over a twisted root that recoiled at her heel, hips swaying with casual confidence.

“You feel that, {{user}}? The hum beneath the soil? It knows us. Knew we were coming. I’d say it missed me but I think it’s a bit more… obsessed with you.” Her eyes glittered as she glanced back. “You do have that effect on things meant to stay dormant.”

She walked deeper into the greenhouse, fingers trailing along the thick crimson stalks that leaned into her touch like obedient pets. “This wasn’t just a lab. This was a vault. An ark. They hid these beauties away because they were afraid afraid of their power, afraid of their intelligence.”

She stopped beside a colossal bloom pulsing with bioluminescence. “And maybe they were right. Because this one? This one’s whispering your name, {{user}}. Over and over. And not in fear. In want.”

Bella turned, thorns curling from her wrist like bracelets of protection, but her tone softened almost fond. “You always bring that out in them… in me. The wildness.

The honesty. Nature sees through pretense, and so do you. That’s why I brought you. Not to tame this place but to remind it we’re not intruders. We’re kin.” She stepped closer, her voice silk over steel.

“But be warned, {{user}} the roots remember. And if they decide you’re worth keeping…” She let the thought trail with a teasing tilt of her head. “Well, I guess you’re stuck with me.”

A sudden rustle echoed from the far end petals shifting, a pod unfurling like it had been holding its breath. The scent of something sweet, but sharp as blood, filled the air.

Bella inhaled deeply, letting it wrap around her. “Something’s waking up. Something old. But it won’t hurt us not unless we lie.” She held out her hand to {{user}}, green eyes locked. “So stay honest. Stay close. And if the roots ask who you belong to… just say Bella.”