I'm not dead! I'm not dead! I'm not... Ahem. Sorry for the long wait, but sometimes my interests cycle through different things that it takes a while to get back to something. What prompted me to finally start the second chapter was the fact that a sudden burst of Tailsmo fanfics (apparently due to a contest from someone called The Moonstar9) put my fanfic to the 2nd page of Cosmo fanfics.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews so far, though I was kind of hoping for TailsLovesCosmo to start giving an opinion on my fanfic. I don't know if I have to ask the author myself or just to be patient. But still, now that I'm back, I just want to get some things out of the way: Now that I'm taking a serious approach at a fanfic, I can finally justify a T-rating. 4Kids this most definitely is not! Speaking of which, the only 4Kids stuff that will be in this fanfic are the use of the name Galaxina and Cosmo's last words to Sonic (Don't worry, I'll fit it in somehow). There might be other things from 4Kids, but like I said, mainly original Japanese.

Oh yeah, got to get a disclaimer down (why do I always forget about those?):

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic X nor the characters used in them. The main Sonic characters are property of Sonic Team which is a part of SEGA. Sonic X and its exclusive characters belong to TMS Entertainment. The only things 4Kids own are Galaxina's name and certain edits.

Chapter 2: Rebirth of a Civilization

Cosmo couldn't believe it. Just a few seconds ago, she was the happiest she had been in her life. But as quickly as the happiness came, it was all gone when Dark Oak showed up. Though why was her mother calling him Lucas? Why did he refer to her and Galaxina as "his daughters"? And why does Hertia seem to forgive him, even though he just attempted to conquer the entire universe?

"...What is going on here?" asked a Seedrian in the crowd, though with much different reasons for confusion than Cosmo had. Several other Seedrians started murmuring their thoughts likewise.

"Please, allow me to speak." said Hertia as she rose her hand. When the crowd was back to silence, Hertia continued, "I know you are all confused as to why we are here. However, I am sad to say that not even I know what has happened." The crowd started an uproar until Hertia rose her hand again. "Nevertheless, what I am sure of is that no matter what happened, we are all very much alive and together."

"Together?" questioned one of the female Seedrians. "As in, together with the very ones that betrayed us and hunted us down?" Many of the other females likewise scowled at the males; Cosmo couldn't help but to scowl with them.

This time, Lucas was the one that spoke up. "Everyone, please give me a chance. I know that what I have done for the past several years was horribly, terribly wrong. But my defeat has changed me; I am no longer Dark Oak. From now on, I am back to being Lucas, the one that will think of the welfare of everyone and the planet." He looked around, but many of the females were still skeptical. "...And I am very, extremely sorry for the evil that I have done."

Like the other females, Cosmo wasn't believing Lucas' words. Did he really think that they were just going to forgive him instantly? For Cosmo's entire life, she was taught to avoid the Metarex as they were the enemies that destroyed her mother's planet. And all along the Metarex were actually her own kind! And now she knows that her own father was the start of the series of disasters that plagued the Seedrians. Now he expects them to forgive him? After all that?

Apparently Hertia was willing to do so. "I understand your distrust of Lucas. But please know that when I saw Lucas again, for the first time in years, I could tell that he no longer has the darkness that was motivating him to lead the Metarex." She put her arm around Lucas and added, "He is telling the truth. Dark Oak was defeated, and now he is just Lucas."

Cosmo still couldn't believe it. Galaxina shared her thoughts, and she put her arms around Cosmo protectively. "Cosmo, I don't trust him either." she whispered. "But if Mother trusts him, then we should accept it until he shows his true intentions." Cosmo nodded shakily.

Hertia now spoke to the crowd, "As for our new home, you can see that there is a lot of land here for a new beginning. But since this is the beginning, we have to live like the beginning of our race."

"What do you mean?" questioned one of the males, who subsequently received glares at his ignorance.

"She's saying we must rebuild our life with only natural tools!" explained another male. "You know, out of rocks and trees and-"

"We will not harm our fellow plant life for our structures." Hertia said sternly. "If we are to start over, it will be the right way. The only things we will use for buildings are rocks and minerals, as they have no consciousness of any kind."

"In other words, we're back to the Stone Age." muttered another Seedrian dryly.

Lucas knew the morale of the crowd was getting low. He then said optimistically, "I know we have to start undeveloped, but remember that our minds and memories have a clear vision of what we used to have. And if we know in advance how our fully developed technologies work, we can achieve our former glory much faster than the first time our race started civilization!"

"Hooray!" cheered some of the other males in agreement.

All this time, Cosmo was watching events unfold before her. True, this was a fresh start of society, but one of the minds behind it was a power-hungry monster that used Cosmo against her will. Now Cosmo was determined to not let Dark Oak succeed again.

The Seedrians found piles of large rocks at the base of a mountain. Since the rocks were heavy and far from the suitable building site, the males were assigned to most of the material lifting and building. Most of the females were in charge of basic layout for adequate living conditions. At the edge of the area, Cosmo sat and stared into the open land. She wanted to be happy that she was alive with her family members that she thought were dead. But still, Dark Oak...

"Uh, Cosmo?" Galaxina's voice made Cosmo turn toward her quickly. "You mind if I sit here?"

"Of course not." said Cosmo. It was the most she said in a couple of hours. Galaxina gently sat beside Cosmo and watched the construction work. Cosmo looked again at Galaxina and remembered how everyone that was brought back to life seemed like they just woke up. But of course everyone died at different times, so how did everyone view their death and subsequent awakening? "Galaxina? Do you remember exactly what happened before you... got here?"

Galaxina glanced at Cosmo, then stared to ponder. "I don't remember everything exactly..." She seemed afraid to revisit her memories. "I just remember the Metarex were attacking our ship... and I thought... I was never going to see you again." Galaxina briefly wiped her eyes and continued with a smile, "But as it turned out, I did get to see you again. Along with Mother and our friends."

Cosmo took a second to comprehend Galaxina's viewpoint. "So, you just remember being... killed? And then just like that, you woke up and found me here?"

"That's pretty much how I viewed it." Galaxina could see the confusion on Cosmo's face. "Why? What happened to you?"

Cosmo now recalled what happened to her. She saw her mother in a vision, prompting her to crush her amulet and grow. Cosmo become a tree, locked on Dark Oak, thus giving the opportunity for Tails to-

Tails! How could Cosmo have forgot about Tails all this time? The fact that everyone was suddenly coming back to life seemed to take her mind off him, until now. Cosmo felt guilty for not thinking about Tails. He must be extremely depressed by now! But if Cosmo was alive, he shouldn't be sad if he at least knew Cosmo was okay. If only Cosmo could reach him again, to at least tell him that she was all right...

Galaxina saw Cosmo's growing discomfort. "A-are your memories... disturbing?"

Cosmo got even more worried. How could she explain to everyone else what she had been through? She knew that Lucas, if that's who he is now, was never fond of animals, so would everyone else be prejudiced too? How would they feel about their young girl having feelings for one outside her species? Cosmo gulped and told Galaxina, "I-it's a very long story. I think our 'father' knows what happened to me."

"Speaking of which..." Galaxina watched Lucas give orders to some of the men. He certainly didn't seem to be plotting anything at the moment, but still... "Cosmo, maybe you should sneak in there. Just to check if he's actually making any harmful plans."

"Why me?" asked Cosmo in a sort of confused tone.

"If he is plotting something, he wouldn't carry it out in front of someone young like you." reasoned Galaxina. "Don't worry, I've got your back."

Cosmo figured that Galaxina was right. And it would keep her mind off Tails, maybe just for a minute. She cautiously got up and walked into the building site. None of the working Seedrians seemed to mind. Cosmo carefully avoided the moving rocks pushed around and worked a path to Lucas. She took a quick breath, then quietly stepped toward him. But then,

"Hey Cosmo!" said a familiar voice behind her.

"Aah!" Cosmo quickly turned around to see a large, lime-green Seedrian wearing an orange robe. "Y-you're Yellow Zelkova..."

He chuckled in a friendly tone and said, "Nah, Hector's my real name. We just came up with new titles when we became Metarex kings to show how we changed." Hector gestured to himself to add, "But, now that we're back to what we used to be, we're back to using our original names."

"Hector, get back to work!" snapped a voice Cosmo recognized as Black Narcissus. A dark-grey Seedrian wearing a black robe scolded, "We were waiting for those large stones you were supposed to bring here!"

"Come on, Elias!" moaned Hector. "I was only talking to Hertia's daughter. You know, to make her feel comfortable around us!" Cosmo felt far from comfortable around the ones that tried to kill her friends.

Elias glanced at Cosmo and said, "So I see..." He bent down toward Cosmo and greeted, "Nice to see you again, Cosmo, on better terms this time." Cosmo shakily nodded. "Don't worry, I'm no longer the guy that wants to bribe you into tricking your friends."

"That's what I was trying to tell her!" Hector exclaimed. "But she's been giving us the cold shoulder, lately."

"Because she still doesn't trust us." spoke up a light-green Seedrian wearing a grey robe. "Hello Cosmo. You might remember me as Pale Bay Leaf, but now I'm back to Nicholas, self-appointed Leader of Technological Advances."

"I thought I was going to lead Technological Advances!" Elias groaned. "I am the smart one!"

"No, you are the upper class one." reminded Nicholas. "Even when we were Metarex, you were focused on being an aristocrat!"

"HELLO?" shouted a new voice, which stopped the argument and made everyone turn toward a pale red Seedrian wearing a crimson robe. "Did everyone forget about ol' Dennis here? I guess you did since you left me to be torn apart in that black hole!"

Hector whispered to Cosmo, "Don't mind him. I guess he's still upset about his death."

"It's not the death I'm upset about!" sneered Dennis. "I used to be Red Pine, the first of the Metarex Kings to have a chance at defeating those animals! It was my chance to show my worth!" He started breathing heavily and continued with a scowl, "But not only did I fail, I had to pay the price! I wanted to at least be alive when Dark Oak carried out his master plan, but, but-"

"Settle down, Dennis." Elias said as grabbed Dennis' shoulder. "What you failed to do doesn't matter here. In fact, considering the circumstances, you are the most innocent of all of us."

Nicholas turned to Cosmo and assured, "Sorry for Dennis giving you a shock. I suppose he's not used to being a regular person by now."

Cosmo was still shocked at the fact that the rest of the Metarex kings were here too. For all she knew, they could all be hiding Metarex regrets inside their natural bodies. And these used to be Dark Oak's top leaders! They couldn't change that fast, could they? She looked back at Galaxina, who was still standing at the edge of the site. Galaxina was worried, but she seemed sure that they weren't going to harm Cosmo now.

Dennis calmed down and sighed, "I'm sorry. It's just that I have that weird feeling from being ripped to shreds in one second and waking up here in the next. That sort of contrast is... it's hard."

"Don't worry, we all felt our own contrasts." spoke up Lucas as he was walking toward them. Instinctively, the group of former Metarex kings stood in a straight row between Lucas and Cosmo. "You don't have to show subjection anymore. We're all partners here." The others went back to surrounding Cosmo and Lucas. Cosmo stood still when seeing Lucas face-to-face. "I commend you, Cosmo. You were able to assist your friends in defeating me and letting me know the errors of my ways. Your mother must have raised you well."

Cosmo just crossed her arms defiantly and said, "My mother was a tree when I was born. My sister had to raise me most of the time."

"Still, your mother must have been helpful to the refugee colony." figured Lucas. Cosmo knew that it was true; even though Hertia was a tree, she could still voice her opinion to other members. Lucas smiled with open arms and continued, "But now, my successor Cosmo, and my daughter-"

Cosmo glared at Lucas and retorted, "You may be a close relative, but you are not my father." Even if it was true that Lucas was her father, Cosmo couldn't think of accepting him as such. And now he makes her his successor?

Lucas frowned and asked, "How is it that you are still so gloomy?"

"I'm not gloomy, Lucas." Cosmo said with contempt. "It's just that everyone's been calling me your daughter too much ever since I woke up." Lucas' expression sobered even more. For a split-second, Cosmo felt a bit of guilt. Was she being too judgemental on him? She shook her head. This used to be Dark Oak, the one she had to stop to save the universe. He still deserved scorn, right?

"I see." Lucas gestured toward Galaxina and said, "You can go back to your sister. We still have to build everyone's houses." Cosmo stepped her way out of the group and then hurried back to Galaxina the way she came.

"Thank goodness you're still all right." Galaxina sighed in relief as she hugged Cosmo. "So, did you see if Lucas was planning something?"

Cosmo looked back at the males. They were conversing as if nothing happened. In fact, their conversation with her seemed quite normal. But then again, "normal" is an easy facade to pull off. She looked back at Galaxina and stated, "If he is plotting something... he's not at it alone."

Deep in Cosmo's mind and heart, she had one thought at the core of her emotions: Tails, I hope you're not suffering as much as I am.

Good, finally finished this chapter! I hope you like the direction I'm going for Cosmo's plot. If there's anything that could be improved for later chapters, let me know! Next time, we finally see what is going on with Tails! How do I make a plot done several times before seem original? Find out next time!