Part 2
The Beginning

Chapter 10

Terrene

Just as before, something had happened. It was odd in all of its simplicity and complexity. It was something that should not have happened but did anyway. Maybe it was predestined to occur. Needless to say, this is my biggest clue, and I cannot find anything more credible, or palpable. Sure, there was talk, a few rumors here and there from other times, but nothing substantial. Until one day, came… a boy, a stranger, a girl. It's too complex, and I still can't prove any of it, and I can't find him. Just the boy, not the stranger. He is the only answer to this… phenomenon. He can fix this.

And now other things occur. A certain occasion that needs my full cooperation and attention. Others have been called as well, but, I hope I'm not too late. So, as before, I leave you again to tend to this dire need. You'll see me again this time.

Something did indeed happen. The weather changed from a warm summery climate to a cold and monstrous, windy and cloudy day. Frame by frame, instant by instant, rock by rock, the moon changed.

It not longer held a beautifying, consistent shape of white rock and surface. It was... different. But also the same dark star from eons ago. The left half of the white planet seemed fine, and even brighter than ever. The other half was not so lucky. Just moments ago, just as an earthquake produces a loud and powerful rumble from within you and the earth, it too gave off a seismic energy and force of a thousand volcanoes erupting in the sky. The dark star changed, but also erupted. And the sky bled because of he who makes the sky fall.

And finally… a girl, the girl you've met so many times, the twelve-week old child, a child with yellowish hair, and neon green eyes which glowed in the dark, a Seedrian like her mother, the one that would and will take back- what is rightfully hers, Terrene, stood outside, marveled and frightened at the scene of the moon's shattering.

Terrene was a mirror image of her mother. She wore a crimson dress followed by sun-colored petals. A dress of her mother's too big for her, and the dress' yellow petals drooped on the mucky, brown colored grass she stood on. She eyed the white star in the sky, placing both of her tiny hands on her mouth, unrecognizing the complete severity and extremity of the situation. Even being a newborn, she was half the size of her mother. And her very thin, yellowish hair waved away from her, a pattern picked up by the wind.

The little baby found little consolation with all eight of her fingers on her mouth, but she felt a new wave of di-oxy marbon enter through her pores and found that the relaxation she needed.

"I must not be scared." Truly the newborn was unlike anything that had ever been born. She was not full plant or even completely animal. Her species did not exist, but it was a miracle and a half that she did. She tried thinking of something else, but dread only filled her. She needed her father, but she could not call for his name, she was frozen in shock. Her six puny toes were even being surrounded by even tinier creatures with many legs, but she still had not the courage to move.

"I just… can't be scared." She repeated, feeling something move up her arm. It felt cold and stung for a few seconds. The girl shrieked when she heard the thunderous roar of lightning. "Da- I ca-" Terrene felt a sudden wave of ice penetrate her head and could no longer see clearly. She began to tumble and fall but not before something caught her.

"I've got you sweetie."

Terrene opened her eyes, it didn't do much good- it was pitch black. This was all so strange, she didn't even remember how she got there in the first place. But nonetheless, she began to travel through the darkness, uncertain of what was in it. She noticed she was being covered, maybe shielded by a thin veil of dark or shadow, it wrapped around her like a cape.

And then she saw him.

He was just as surprised as she was. His voice shook her soul and every fiber that made her trembled with fear as he spoke, "You."

"Daddy!" Terrene yelled out as she came to.

"I'm here Terrene." A soft voice came for the girl. "Daddy's here." Miles effortlessly picked up her daughter and cradled her in his arms. He immediately placed his tails near Terrene's way. He knew she enjoyed playing with them.

The girl looked around. She saw the familiar dark, decrepit and rotting wood around her. Her home always looked that bad, but it still was home, and it was still so huge to her. They were downstairs in the living area. Miles had placed a small candlelight in the center of the room. There it lit most of the room, all of the fireplace, the wall and window they leaned on, a little of the door but almost nothing of the kitchen. Each quadrant of the house had its own personality and yet all shared the same trait of rot.

Miles was a young, yellow fox with twin tails. His eyes were blue and his voice was soft. His skin and fur looked rugged but bright. He began to take off his sneakers until he felt a sting of hot and ice prickle through his side, he winced louder than he wanted to, and it caught the attention of his daughter. Miles grabbed at his side and his long scar in pain and peered over it. It was still closed, but with every passing month, it felt and seemed as if it was opening and tearing itself through his tendered skin. The little girl looked up at her father with a slightly frightened glare.

"What?" Miles asked, pausing as he stared back at the seedling. He noticed his question was forthright and brusque, which made Terrene look away in disappointment and embarrassment. The little girl dug her head in the bulbous yellow tails, trying not to care so much. Concerned for a moment, Miles neatly brushed and organized her thin hair but was reminded of his daughter's outright disobedience. He finished placing his sneakers and socks away from him and hardened his eyebrows and mildly clenched his teeth. "You were outside again."

Terrene opened her eyes inside of the tailed fur and hesitated giving a simple and immediate response. Her light-green blood chilled momentarily. Guiltily she closed her eyes again and pressed harder on his tails.

Seeing as to his daughter not responding, Miles pretended like she hadn't just ignored him and continued his rebuke, "I told you never to go outside while I'm gone."

"But daddy!-" Terrene blurted without thinking.

"No Terrene!" Miles yelled, he felt he had even spat along with his exiting tantrum. He leaned back on the wood below the window of the living area, noticing his daughter had gone back inside the comfort of his much fur. He started to feel panicked and uncomfortable, even lightheaded. The fox felt his forehead, and then checked his pulse. He looked up at the dark ceiling, symbolically looking for someone's guidance. Miles scratched his chin, he realized in the twelve weeks he had been gone from home his fur had begun to wildly grow out of control, he hadn't trimmed in even longer than that. "You don't know what's out there."

"Do you?" Terrene mumbled.

"Excuse me missy?" Miles asked. In truth, he had barely seen what was out there, hunting them.

Terrene looked up, eager to quiet down, but she almost could not stop herself, "I was afraid. I heard a noise and I thought-."

The fox studied the girl's emotion clearly and concisely, noting the simple yet inexorable changes in mannerisms and face alterations in his daughter. "Well, you should have told me that to begin with."

Once, a long time ago as a seedling, Terrene hated hating, but now, it was different, and she could not help the feeling that she was being looked down on and blamed for little or no legitimate reasons. She started, closing her eyes, "I was trying to tell you."

"Trying to tell me what?" Miles asked taking off his sneakers. "I noticed you were outside."

The girl shook her head in confusion, "What? No, I was trying to tell you that I was afraid because I heard a noise, and you weren't coming."

The fox unclenched his teeth realizing leaving his daughter alone, and the mix of the cataclysm in the sky, was probably terrifying for her, "I'm sorry I snapped." Miles cleared his throat and leaned back on the soft wood, "But rules are rules, I told you never to go outside without me."

Terrene looked down, defeated, "Yeah, you said that twice now."

Miles stopped and thought of why she would say that.

"What happened to the dark star?" Terrene did not realize the term she had used. "Does it explain why I've been so sick?"

Miles was not familiar with the term- he had never called the moon that or taught that to his daughter, "You mean the moon?" The fox had nothing to explain the travesty in the sky, the phenomenon was beyond him, "I don't know Terrene. But you've been sick because there hasn't been much sunlight these past few days."

"That's really sad, for the moon I… mean." Terrene nodded off.

The fox felt bags under his eyes as he stroked them painfully and anxiously. It was moments like these when he scolded himself for not bringing proper and mundane objects from his house, such as a simple pillow. His one pack would have to do, so he set it above his head, resting it inside the window frame. He suddenly felt a fast paced rhythm of breathing coming below between his tails. His daughter's pores had begun to open slightly and increase their intake of breath. He had also noticed, when she would fall asleep, she would sweat profusely. He wondered how much of Terrene was normal. Miles never once met another like Cosmo, so he had nothing to compare Terrene with- just her mother, aside from the robotic Lucas and his lackeys.

The yellow fox began to drift coldly, slowly, and silently. It was a long day, and the coming day would be even longer. "I miss you." He said while closing his eyes. He mumbled, "I can't… do it without you Cosmo, I'm a bad…"

At will, Terrene had increased her rapid breathing. Eavesdropping on her father was normal to her now. She had, numerous times, seen him speak to himself outside through a window. Although, she noticed he was precise to never speak to himself in the rotting house. Terrene knew who her father was pretending to talk to. She knew all of them from when she was a small seedling. She would think of their names before she went to bed. She thought of them as distant friends who she thought missed her, and would love to know her. But that would be asking too much, probably according to her father. Cream, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Chris, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Rouge, Eggman, Decoe, Bocoe, Bokkun, and my favorite, Mephiles. To her, he had taken care of her better than her father ever did, or could. There was of course, her mother, which she would never name, and which she once mistook for being Cream. That was how much her mother was never there. Miles had to tell her that the sweet rabbit was not her mother. How would she know? She only got a good glimpse of her "real" mother, but not for long. And what did she care? She wasn't there.

Terrene hated her mother, almost as much as she hated her father. Hate was everything she sometimes knew. It fueled her more than water ever could. It enriched her more powerful than the sunlight. It gave her reason to think, reason to breathe, and for such a small girl, it gave her reason to be. And for all that, Terrene… Terrene…

"You. It is you. The one that would defy Me."

She heard a crack, and something ripped open through Terrene's chest as she gasped and realized she was awake. Her tall eyelids flapped up and down as she checked herself all over. Nothing seemed the matter, not counting the serious dread she felt within. Her light surroundings told her it was morning. She peered outside a window where she lay, the sun was still being blocked, which probably meant she would be sick today as well.

Terrene looked around. Her home was a sad excuse. There were cracks everywhere, the upstairs had been boarded up years ago, but she sometimes slipped in and used it as her own private room. The kitchen looked more of fireplace than the actual fireplace. There was no furniture, no tables, no chairs, nothing remotely comfortable like she remembered Miles' old house to be. And definitely nothing like his other metal home. That part of her life she remembered so vividly. She had spent so much of her time, alone, forgotten by that fox that called himself her father, below his dresser. He had thrown her there in a fit of rage, forgetting her, yelling about her mother. How pitiful he was at that time. And then she was taken back there all over again, to almost relive that hell. Luckily, Mephiles was there to save her, and take care of her, look after her, caress her, when no one would address her or even believe she was real- a living thing.

She looked at her father. He lay motionless. This should have worried her more if it wasn't for the happy thought of his untimely death. She would treasure that moment until the day she died. And death was all too real for her. She had already witnessed her mother's death. It wouldn't be crazy to think that this too would happen to her father, and then, to herself. But Death did no such thing, instead, he mocked her, he spat in her face and made her live and relive the very moments she would always regret, with her father.

(For me, not for reader.) Cream's birthday is on October. Terrene's birthday is on August. Right now, it's June.

Terrene got up, stepped over his bulbous yellow tails and watched as Miles lay there. Tiny as she was, she could still hold such and much grudge. Was it normal to feel this way? Terrene did not know as she asked herself that. It was as if part of her conscience had not yet awakened, being the twelve-week-old that she was. And that (twelve-week-old thing) was another thing her father did not completely understand. Technically, Terrene was forty weeks old, so, approximately, almost three months, give or take eight weeks, or almost one year. She could fathom her real age, apparently Miles could not.

The little girl turned around too quickly and found herself tripping on the two giant tails and landed face flat on the soft yet still painful rotting wood. "Ow." Terrene picked herself up and held her now very swollen mouth. The fox looked around crazily, expecting some sort of attack from a malicious source, only to find that the seedling was standing over him.

He should have been more worried about her, "Terrene!" He scolded angrily and still exasperated, "Why, did you wake me?"

Terrene stepped back, she knew her punishment was coming, it was just a miracle and a half for her that Miles did not drink the night before -a secret stash he found between a compartment of the kitchen, only a few days into moving in.

The fox struggled to get up and now towered over the girl, "Are you going to answer me young lady?"

Terrene couldn't help it, she had to, she no longer felt the protection she needed, she was vulnerable.

Miles lost it, "Answer me!"

The little seedling began to whimper quietly. Why, she thought, Why me?

Miles too felt the severity of his scolding, held his head in utter anger and proceeded to yell and shout incomprehensibly while leaving the dying edifice. When he slammed the door behind him, Terrene gasped and her body was sent into a shrill panic. She could still hear him outside, yelling about something, unsure of what, until it got quieter and quieter.

The poor, defenseless, tear-shedding, Terrene closed her eyes, still quietly gasping, mumbled, "I- h-ha-te you." True, the seedling hated her father, and she even hated her mother. But Terrene mostly hated herself. And it was those three hyphenated words that helped the seedling forget about her decaying life, even if it was for just… one… Terrene… Terrene…

This time, Terrene definitely remembered going to sleep. She hoped it wasn't like the last, but to her disappointment, she looked beyond where she was, and beheld a great void. The little seedling felt the warm comfort of the same blackened cloak that had surrounded and shielded her before. Without it, she probably would not go any further. But now, with this object, it gave her confidence to explore. She swam through the howling dark and pictured an area of lifelessness. Six pillars stood parallel and opposite to each other, it seemed she stood on a floating rock. For each respective pillar, there were six thrones adjacent to the pillars. And for each throne, in front of them, were six woven baskets. Terrene felt a force glue her feet back on the ground, she did not mind it, and she approached the six pillars. She wanted to extend her hands in front of her, she knew something was wrong, but her cloak gave her another surge of great confidence.

Terrene walked to the first pillar, admired its craft and glow and symbols. She sat on the throne, mighty and too big for her. And finally, she looked inside the woven basket. She saw a head, without a body. She froze, her tiny fingers chilled and stood out in all directions. She tried to look away, but could not. She was compelled to see the bodiless head. It was of a human girl, much like Chris, she remembered. The seedling's feet walked without her permission, on to the next pillar opposite of the last. There was, sure enough, another head. This one was of a human boy. The next three pillars were oddly similar. One was of a red animal, much like her "uncle" Sonic (that's how Miles put it), only her head was shielded by something… shiny. The other was the face of an older man with scars, but Terrene was certain this was no human, this was something different, as if it was trying to appear as a human- a man pretending to be a man. The third was a mystery, but was also a boy… a boy of metal. Why was the third a mystery? Because he decided to hide something.

Lastly, Terrene found her way to the sixth pillar, throne, and woven basket. Terrene recognized the final head- someone she knew, and finally her legs responded to her. She cried out but found that more difficult than running away. Her cloak helped her rise up into the black air once more and the vision of the floating rock shimmered away.

Terrene's journey was coming to a sudden halt. She beheld a red mist. The mist was welcoming. The mist was alluring. The mist was everything. Her cloak began to glow a bright periwinkle in every direction.

The mist had eyes, and it looked upon the very small seedling. The red eyes followed wherever she went, the red eyes saw exactly what she saw. The redness smiled and bellowed a thunderous chuckle and spoke, "You. It is you, the one that would defy Me?"

The little girl found confidence where she lacked in her life, "Me? That… depends. Are you a good mist? Or are you bad?"

The red mist bellowed another chuckle and shook the little girl's atoms, "What do you call yourself, confident little one?"

For the first time in her very short life, she was proud to say her name, "Terrene."

"Terrene." The voice whispered and it rang a thousand times over and over and over. "You must understand, confident, little, Terrene," The voice paused and was greatly amused by this new thing that had wandered in his realm unannounced, "there is not good, there is not bad."

"Then what is there? If there is no good, and if there is no bad?" Terrene questioned the bodiless figure.

The red mist was gladdened she asked and smiled, "There is only… Me."

Terrene screamed atop her storage sacs, she finally awoke from the nothingness and found she was still in her home. She shivered and began to hyperventilate.

"It's alright Terrene breathe. But not too much. If you breathe enough of that you may drown."

The seedling obeyed and tried to recover her sanity from the awful nightmare. Her breathing pattern normalized.

"There, there, that wasn't so bad."

Terrene was glad her father was there to help her, for once in his life. She found it easier to breathe as she closed her eyes and concentrated on his voice. When Terrene opened them, she looked around for Miles. To her surprise he was nowhere in the house. She got up, alarmed that had heard someone's voice, but there was no one there. She looked at the kitchen- still black. She looked up at the stairs- still boarded. Where is he? She thought as she walked lightly to a window next to the door. This was the window she always looked out of, and luckily she was tall enough to see completely through it. Being forbidden to go outside as she was, it really took quite the mental toll on her. To know that there was something out there made her want to castigate all the more towards Miles. All she could see and was allowed to see was a very tall and green-looking, plain, grass. That was farther out. Closer to the house, the grass seemed to die and have a paler color. She noticed the few times she was outside that they were completely surrounded by bog, bugs and boringness.

She thought of the voice for another moment, maybe she was still dreaming somehow. The nightmare she just experienced was all too symbolic and creepy, it might as well have been about one of Miles' pointless lessons. True it was palpable, but her dreams were usually nightmares, so it didn't faze her as much.

The seedling noticed something new, growing tall alongside the grass. It was long but thin, and at the head there was a black or brown spot surrounded by little yellow things. She wondered if that was a new species of grass. She wide-eyed stared at her dress, maybe there's a connection? Her yellow petal dress did match the color, and she was some kind of a plant, she thought. Maybe it's a flower… I wonder how it can grow in a swamp.

Terrene wished she could go outside and see this new grass thing up close. She dare not go outside on her own and then be yelled at again. But maybe her father would find some food and be glad of it, leaving her the perfect opportunity to ask if she could go outside this time. She felt an ache in her chest. She hated being sick, she blamed that on Miles too. There never was enough water for her and her father. And the food that Miles enjoyed, Terrene simply detested. It didn't even feel right going in her mouth, and it felt even worse coming out from it.

Looking up at the sky, she noticed she had slept longer than she anticipated. It was already getting dark. Being sick also meant she would sleep most of the day. And it made her clothes very wet, because of the sweat, just not stinky like Miles, only wet. Deciding to go upstairs to her room, she was stopped mid-stairs by the sound of the door opening. She peered over the wall leading the stairs, the fox had returned. But as always, with a sour look on his face. Maybe this wasn't good news for Terrene.

"Terrene where are you?" The father fox called out, peering to and fro, making his way to the living area and setting down his pack.

She sighed, "I'm here." She made her way down and sat next to the pack. Her inquisitiveness caught the better of her and she pried upon the pack, "Did you find anything?"

The fox sighed, "No, so that means we get to eat your favorite meal."

Terrene winced and pouted, straining her face muscles. "Can't I just have water?"

"It's not enough, you need more." Miles sat next to his daughter as he handed her a very hard piece of food she despised. She stuck out her tongue. "Uh-uh, we don't do that to food. What do we say?"

"Th-mr-mt-ful." Terrene muttered.

"I'm sorry what?" Miles stuck out his large ear ceremoniously, as if he had done this a million times.

"That we're grateful." She said disdainfully, which made the fox smile. She dug in with her little teeth and was unable to break it completely, and she made the same face as before. Her pores filtered in something rancid smelling from the food. "Gross."

"Its bread honey, it's not that bad." Miles chuckled as he lit the same candle as the night before. There was still light out, maybe she would ask...

She gulped down a part of the bread, stuck out her tongue again and cleared her throat. She still was not able to tell him, would he yell at her? He didn't seem in that bad a mood. "I uh." She looked over to him, he hadn't heard. Maybe she shouldn't, I mean after all it was just some stupid grass thing. He had pulled out a small pad of paper and had begun to draw on it. He would sometimes write gibberish but other times he would draw, flowers, the house, and many times he would just do… you know who.

"Here." Without looking, the fox handed her his piece of bread. She looked at it and then at him.

"Aren't you going to eat?" She wondered.

He shook his head, "Mm not hungry."

This was a bold faced lie, it had to be. She remembered all of her lost friends would eat continuously, and that's all they pretty much did with pattern. Part of Terrene did worry so she asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." He said more calmly than usual, even sweetly. Oh this had to be the perfect chance to ask.

For him, she dug into another piece and with her other hand played vigorously with her hair, always making a knot and letting it go, "W-well… I was, going… to ask you…" She winced away shyly. When she looked at him he was humming to himself, perhaps she really was in the clear on this one. "I wanted to go outside." She said finally and rapidly.

Miles stopped and seemed to be looking outside, lost in thought for a moment. His features turned crisp and downtrodden once more, "No." He whispered.

"But daddy!" She pleaded.

"I said no." He said a bit more displeasing.

Terrene was lost again in rage, "It's not fair."

"Terrene, I think it's time you go upstairs to your room." Miles said unenthusiastically. Her eyes widened, she knew what that meant and she dare not say anything in return. She began to climb the stairs but hung back and waited mid-step. It was dark enough on the stairway that she was not seen. Miles made his way to the kitchen, there was a familiar sound of wood opening and closing and he sat back down next to his pack. She saw the same bottle he always got.

It was moments like those that Terrene feared for her safety. It was only a few times that it got out of hand, she saw him yelling, once hurting himself. She tried stopping him and he nearly beat her. He was that close, it never came to that but she did fear him when he drank that stuff. She dare not even go back down, or stay there any longer. She knew how it would end. With him crying himself to sleep. She didn't want to see that. Even that made her sad, for her father. Sure enough she hated him, but she still cared… somewhat. Maybe it was simply pity. She finished climbing upstairs, lucky for her, the wood was too wet to creak or make any other unwanted noise.

"I missed you today." She heard him say from below.

When she opened her door, which was next to two others, one to the right, one to the left, and a bathroom farther out to the left, her pores smelled the freshness and the same welcome it always had. There was a bed, circular, small, just her size. There was a dresser pushed alongside the window, a closet with nothing in it. And her favorite part of being in her home, a tall library filled with books and books everywhere, lined on the wall close to her bed. She loved her stories with everything she had. She stepped over to her library and grazed some of the books at her eye level with her fingers. She climbed on her bed and just stared at the many pages. Perhaps she would read a new one tomorrow, and finish about seven she had already started. She especially wanted to read the one about… Arthur and…his…

Terrene.

Terrene.

"Terrene."