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The sky suddenly cleared, a brilliant blinding blue with golden rays shining down from, not the sun but something else? Tangle felt a weight lift from her, she couldn’t remember what it was but her whole body suddenly felt light as a cloud.
That is until a certain wolf tackled her to the ground, wrapping her arms around Tangle’s neck, if she didn’t know any better she’d have thought the other was trying to strangle her. They were quickly joined by five energetic balls of energy, all exclaiming in a language Tangle couldn’t even begin to understand.
She realized quickly that Whisper was shaking uncontrollably in her arms, gripping onto the back of her crop-top like it was her only life line. “Oh Gaia, that’s- that’s right” she thought, remembering everything from the past few weeks, until… right.
She reached and started rubbing calming circles into Whisper’s back, “Hey Whisp, ‘sokay I’m here now right? Everything’s gonna be okay,” she spoke softly and waited for her to calm down somewhat, her wisps nudged and nuzzled them until Whisper’s shaking calmed and her panicked breaths slowed. They lay there for a bit longer, holding each other as Tangle watched Sonic and, who she assumed to be Silver, flit through the sky in a golden flash, saving the day like she knew they would.
Tangle pulled her gaze from the sky above and returned to her world. Whisper seemed to be more stable now. “I’m gonna sit up now, is that okay?” She asked gently and waited for any kind of response from her friend. There was a small and hesitant nod but Whisper’s grip around her didn’t lossen, not that Tangle minded, she didn’t plan on letting go anytime soon either.
She pulled herself up, using her tail to help push her up and keep her there until she was balanced on her own. Whisper was still silent, she felt small, almost unnoticeable shakes coming from the wolf. Tangle wracked her brain to think of a way to soothe her friend, her tail wobbled behind her and she had a sudden light bulb moment. She wrapped her tail around the two of them, willing the fur to be extra soft and fluffy for her friend, encasing them in a bundle of warmth and comfort. She made sure to not wrap them up too tightly, but just enough to foster the warmth between them and add to it.
She heard Whisper sniffle and shift, still clutching at her clothes with what she could only assume was a total white knuckle grip. The wolf pulled her head out from its refuge between Tangel’s head and shoulder where it had been hidden from the lemur’s view. Her face was tear stained and her expression seemed all over the place. There was relief, sadness, anger, and joy and probably a million other emotions and indescribable feelings bubbling underneath it all. Tangle carefully scanned her face, internalizing everything she saw, searching for what she had missed during her absence. All she could glean was that it had been a lot, and that was probably putting it more than lightly.
She moved her hands from Whisper’s back to her face, lightly brushing strands of hair out of the wolf’s face. Her mask must’ve fallen off when she had tackled her but she didn’t seem concerned about that at the moment. She cupped Whisper’s cheeks, wiping away tears and squishing her face around in an attempt to make either of them laugh. As she kept at it Whisper started to huff, probably trying to suppress a chuckle, which filled Tangle with such joy she couldn’t help but break out in laughter. Whisper followed in full soon after and after the laughter there were more tears.
After more sniffling and sobs Whisper finally slowed and regained some amount of control over her emotions. “Tangle I- I missed you. I missed you so much I’m so sorry I-“
“Now what are you apologizing for? I’m the one who did something stupid and got caught! I’m sorry I had to leave you, but I couldn’t go back to you either. It hurt, a lot, but I just” she paused, trying to think of a good way to phrase the whole metal virus global pandemic panic and getting infected as something less severe than it really was. “I had to make the best of a really, really, REALLY, bad situation. Y’know?”
Whisper nodded but Tangle could tell she still felt at fault. She couldn’t change how Whisper felt in one sitting but she sure could try. “Whisper. Repeat after me, It’s. Not. Your. Fault. It’s not either of our faults, what’s important is that we’re both here now and the future is bright as the sun!” She tried, and at that Whisper nodded and smiled at her, even loosening her vice grip by the tiniest bit. “You ready to get up yet though?” She smirked and Whisper grinned and shook her head.
“I don’t think I could, even if I wanted to honestly.” She admitted almost bashfully. She must be really, REALLY, tired, Tangle thought. Shaking her head Tangle readjusted her grip on the tired and suddenly flustered wolf, lifting her up in her arms, full bridal style, as she herself stood.
“Sorry Whisp, but it looks like the light shows dying down up there. Gotta find everyone else and get ready to help with what comes next, right?” She beamed down at the wolf only for her smile to turn to a look of confusion, “uhh, Whisper? What are you doing? Are you okay?! Did something happen to your face or head??” Tangle started panicking until she remembered Whisper’s missing mask, along with all her habits and body language she had come to be so familiar with.
As Tangle glanced around looking for the mask, the wolf only grew more flustered. Her wisps had gathered around her and were cooing and making some enthusiastic noises Tangle still couldn’t understand for the life of her, but they only seemed to make Whisper shrink further into her arms. Her hands practically glued to her face and ears fusing with her skull. Until she suddenly reached up to grab at Tangle's face, almost knocking the lemur over again.
She seemed to take a moment to properly examine it before taking a deep breath and laying it all on the line. “T-Tangle, I have something I need to tell you and I don’t think it can wait a second longer.” She stated and then immediately froze up, rebuilding her courage before starting again. “Tangle, I-I like you! Like, like you like you! A-and I’ll understand if, if you don’t feel the same way but after everything, after being without you a-and not knowing if we’d make it I, I have to be true to my heart, like you are, no regrets.” She finished, face flushed red and practically panting from her nerves and breathlessness.
Tangle stared at her in almost disbelief for a moment before bursting with laughter. Whisper stalled before struggling to escape Tangle’s grasp. She quickly rebounded, realizing her mistake the second the happiness had burst out in laughter form. “Hahaha-ah, Whisper! Whisper please I’m sorry, that’s-ha- that’s not what I meant I’m sorry!!” She whined as the other continued to struggle. “Of course I like like you too! That was just so, so cute!! You are so cute! I love you Whisper!! Obviously!” She beamed brighter than the sun or any super form to Whisper.
“You dork. You scared me.” Whisper smiled and leaned up to kiss the silly lemur she called a girlfriend as said silly lemur continued to beam and giggle.
“I said sorry.” She chuckled and leaned down herself to practically attacked Whisper with pecks all over her face and head. The wisps danced around them happily, even Tangle could understand body language. She spun around with them, almost getting too dizzy to stand as Whisper howled with laughter. All good things must come to an end though.
“Uhh, sorry to interrupt, but we got trouble and could use all the help we can get guys!” Silver called, hovering a few feet in the air, trying to give them their space while also asking for help.
Tangle grinned, “what’s up Silver?”
“Uhh well, S-Sonic is, uhhhh, missing? I feel like garbage and we need everyone’s help to catch Eggman and Zavok before they escape!!” He cried in an incredibly panicked tone. He must be really overwhelmed, not to mention that he looked absolutely exhausted.
“I dunno who Zavok is but sign me up! What about you, babe?” She beamed at the word and Whisper flushed an adorable shade of pink before curtly nodding and moving to get out of Tangle’s arms. Silver nodded at the two and shakily zipped away, probably leading the way to where the rest of the resistance was gathered.
“Ready to go kick some bad guy butt?!” Tangle whooped enthusiastically as the two gave chase to Silver. Whisper was doing some quick pre battle prep checks on her wispon but turned to the other and gave a determined nod.
“After we get them and things start getting back to whatever the new normal is, would you like to go on a date with me Tangle?” Whisper asked, looking the lemur in the eyes for the first time in what might as well have been forever.
Tangle reached over and wrapped her hand firmly around Whisper’s, blushing and replying, “it would be my pleasure.” They laughed and pressed onward, into their bright new future.