Denial
Cream had complete faith that her mother would return to her. The next two days she and Amy received morning and evening phone calls from Vanilla telling them of her process on her 'walk'. The first day she made it to Emerald Town where they assumed she would be staying, but the next day she called 50 miles away from Grand Metropolis! On the third day they received no call from Vanilla. Amy assured Cream that her mother was fine and just needed to find a convenient time to call them. For a while Cream believed in that...
But a week passed since the last time she called.
Little by little Cream began to withdraw from her daily activities with her friends. She missed her mother and longed for her to return and hug her and read to her in that special voice she used. Whole days were spent in her room locked away from the rest of the world. She'd only open the door for Amy. Amy was her first and best friend, and would always be her friend. The hedgehog girl brought Cream's meals up to her and read to her at night. Sometimes Amy would tell her about her own past or the adventures she had with Sonic years before. Those stories were ones she enjoyed more than the fairy tales she was told. Their own adventures seemed like fairy tales all their own...
No matter how comfortable Amy and the others made her they'd be no replacement for her mother. Amy was trying to assure her that nothing was wrong, but Cream knew that Amy and all of the other furries were starting to assume the worst. She was hardly surprised to find some of them in the den one morning discussing what to do: Sonic, Tails, Rouge, Big, and Amy.
" So it's settled. Rouge'll skim the East, Tails will search for West, Knuckles said he'll check the north since it's right around the Holy Summit, and Big will search the South shores. I'll look in Eggman's base. " Sonic said before he noticed Cream. " Don't worry, kid. We'll find your mother. " He said with a grin.
" Let me come with you Sonic! " Amy cried.
Cream moved before he could react. " NO! " She screamed as she latched onto Amy's waist. " Please don't leave me here! Please don't leave me alone Ms. Amy! I don't want to be alone! I don't want to be alone... " Her voice shook.
Amy looked to the little rabbit. " All right, I won't leave you. " She said while stroking the girl's head.
As the others started their search of Vanilla throughout the island Amy took care of Cream at home. Cream seemed to become more withdrawn from the world as time went by. The joy in her eyes and cheerfulness in her voice had long disappeared, replaced with and endless void of sorrow. The doe cried an never ending stream of tears whenever she was alone. Amy tried to at least be in the same room with her to stifle her tears but she was forced to leave whenever one of the others called to update her on their process. She had to relay messages between them in case anything came up.
" I found nothing. " Tails was the first to call.
" She's not there. " Knuckles came in person and told her.
" The eastern forests are clear. " Rouge added.
" Pretty bunny isn't at the beach. " Big sighed.
" Egghead didn't even know Vanilla was gone! "
Amy's heart sunk. Vanilla wasn't on Emerald Island anymore! Their world was huge. Not even Sonic explored the entire planet yet, so they didn't even know where to begin to look elsewhere! Checking the surrounding islands would take too much time so they agreed the best thing to do was wait for Vanilla to call or come home. All except for Amy. Cream's sudden change of mood was starting to worry her so she picked up the phone and made one last call...
Upstairs Cream was still crying. A picture on her nightstand of her mother and herself making flower necklaces brought on this most recent series of sobs. Memories of the times their happy family spent together were flooding her mind all at once. Cheese was trying to calm her down but was knocked to the floor when she suddenly leaned forward. The Chao looked up to his friend to find her eyes no longer had the sorrowful look to them. Now they were focused and fiery though streaks of red stained them from the crying. Cheese looked at her hopeful when she gave one last sniffle.
" Chao? "
Cream looked at her little Chao friend and smiled softly. He gasped soundlessly, there was little genuine about that smile. It was a smile of someone who had given up hope and accepted whatever fate was ahead. " I'm fine, Cheese. Thank you for being there. " Cream's voice changed, it was low and sullen. She reached down and gathered the Chao in her arms. " I'm just fine... "
No, it wasn't true. Cheese could tell that it wasn't true. The doe's body noticeably trembled as she held him. The Chao's worst fear was that the girl had just snapped under the pressure of the last couple of days. " Chaoooo... " Cheese howled in frustration. Depression had taken his best friend away from him.
Preview
She was sure he was giving him an odd look for her choice of clothing but she didn't care. This was what she wanted to wear. They frilly school girl's dress was fine when she was a baby too young to go out on her own, but she was grown now! She needed to grow up since mommy wasn't going to be coming back.
