Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Restoration had just averted a potentially world-wrecking crisis - one that would have started not externally, but internally. Issues had converged, dominoes had been set up to fall, and yet thanks to instantaneous action, the organization still stood, heroes were still heroes, and those who could have started a civil war had settled down and thought about their lives.

Duo the Cat had been firmly exposed as Mimic, making everyone who refused to believe due to “lack of evidence” feel like shit. Sonic, with no knowledge of who Mimic was or what he did, was about to tell them to just kick him out like any other bad guy. Before Mimic himself could rile up Whisper and Lanolin, likely to the point of the Restoration splitting into two extreme sides bent on stopping each other, Tangle ripped the mask off Whisper’s face, activated video playback, and raised the projector up for everyone to see.

Of all possible ways, that’s how Sonic and company actually learned the story of the Diamond Cutters. Not only did Sonic and the others finally get basically everything about Whisper, but the display had been enough to leave Surge and Kit speechless and result in a surprisingly genuine declaration that any plans they did have to betray the good guys were indefinitely delayed.

There had been discussions, apologies, a promise to deeply investigate Clutch the Opossum, and in the end, Sonic, accepting this wasn’t his situation, had simply walked away and left Mimic to his fate - as decided by the management, indefinite incarceration in a maximum-security human prison, far from anyone he’d hurt or any of those people’s loved ones.

So where did this leave Whisper?

Well, Lanolin had said “I’m sorry” very bluntly and then said she needed time to think. Whisper heard her crying in her quarters earlier, but didn’t come in. Surge’s “apology” had been even quieter, yet somehow evoked realization of how horribly she’d been hurt all the same.

Whisper knew she’d just make things worse if she tried to speak without giving the wounds time to heal. Instead of talking, or more likely arguing with, people she’d never trust, the wolf was left going back to who she always went back to: her girlfriend.

Her girlfriend who had probably just saved the world.

Whisper found Tangle on a balcony overlooking Restoration HQ’s hub, making her way through a package of strawberry-frosted cookies, but evidently not feeling positive at the same time. As she hovered up to meet her partner using her Wispon, the Guardian Angel only hoped that would be fixed by some time together. 

The wolf hovered in place until she knew for sure Tangle could tell she was there, then settled on the railing.

“Hey, Poundcake.”

“Mm, hoi,” Tangle answered the greeting, swallowing a bite of cookie, before suddenly shifting body language to be more serious. “Need a shoulder to lean on?”

“... yeah,” Whisper admitted. “Just gotta forget about everything that just happened.”

“I get it. I already know anything you need to say, but please, say it again. You need to.”

“Nah. We both understand that. He’s gone now. Way more gone than before.”

Tangle nodded.

“Wanna just curl up on the couch and laugh at low-budget movies together?,” she asked. “With more of these cookies? It can be a stupid little decompress- ’date.’”

“... yeah.”

“I just bought the whole Kickpuncher franchise on DVD. Let’s pop one in.”

About ten minutes later, Whisper was curled up in Tangle’s tail, and the two were well into munching on strawberry-frosted cookies and watching the battles of a cyborg human whose “cyber-punches have the power of kicks” in the post-apocalyptic “future” of 2006 A.D. Throughout the opening sequences, there’d been much talk of scavengers, drug-dealers, terrorists, and mercenaries - all in ridiculous tones, of course, which allowed the two girls to have more laughs than anything.

Tangle had started out making mocking comments on everything that happened in the movie, but Whisper had been able to tell she was gradually losing focus. Something was on her mind, something related to her stunt with Whisper’s mask. Whisper could tell too.

“Alright, if not how Mimic’s gone, what do you need to talk about?”

Tangle paused the movie (midway through a kick-punch) and sighed.

“This is a dumb question.”

“No question is dumb coming from you.”

“Alright.”

The lemur took a deep breath.

“I thought about your old friends again when I saw them on the recording again. The original Diamond Cutters. Up until yesterday, I was the only one of Sonic’s friends who even knew they existed, and their not knowing almost caused a disaster.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“So… have you ever considered what they’d be like meeting the Restoration and all that? How would they get along with everyone? How would they get along with me? Slinger, Claire and Smithy?”

Whisper paused, breathed in and out.

“I guess only I could give any idea how, huh?”

“Sorry to spring such a loaded question on you, I just…”

“No, no, no. ‘S fine. I can answer it, and you should have asked it before.”

The wolf cleared her throat, thinking about her old memories, and pulled out a photograph she always kept on her of the team.

“Smithy brought us together,” she began. “He was a leader, a mentor… a father figure to me, Slinger and Claire. He was like Miss Vanilla, if Miss Vanilla had a degree in robotics and a minigun. If he walked into Restoration HQ, he’d immediately start adopting kids. Including you and Jewel - you’d be absolute treasures to him, he wouldn’t be able to leave you alone.”

Tangle snorted at the notion, but reminded herself not to laugh too much at sensitive subjects and quieted down.

“He was a genius, as you recall. Could keep up with Eggman and Tails. Could and would teach Tails a thing or two, in fact. For all I know, he’d share the Diamond Cutters’ Wispon and mask tech with all the heroes. Could’ve been something incredible.”

“A real dad, huh?,” Tangle pondered. “Your Wispon is a prototype, and he wanted everyone to have a finished one. He deserves to be remembered.”

“He really does,” said Whisper. “Without him, there would be no Diamond Cutters, past or present. I never would have met any of the most important people in my life.”

“They really were your family, weren’t they?”

“Well…” Whisper’s snout turned a little red. “Smithy was like my dad, and Slinger like a sibling, and Mimic… like a weird uncle. But Claire…”

“Wait, Claire was-”

“We kissed a couple times,” the wolf admitted. “Guess I always had a type, heh heh…”

“Oh my gosh, really?” the lemur chuckled. “You just have a thing for spunky monkeys?”

“I was the spunky one,” Whisper replied. “I used to be a lot more like you, remember? She was the method to my madness. The one who tried to stop me when I did stupid things. The one with all-knowing, all-seeing psychic radar. She’d be the same to you.”

“And Slinger? What would he be?”

“They,” Whisper corrected.

“Oh,” Tangle said acceptingly, awkwardly blushing.

“They were a goofball - showing off, doing tricks with their blasters. They’d turn Spiral Hill into a playground with you. Also, they were kind of flirty, and got crushes really easily.”

“I’d hope you wouldn’t fight over me,” Tangle laughed.

“Surely hope so.”

The wolf took a breath, contemplating something.

“You know, even Mimic used to have a little good in him. I wonder what he’d think of you before everything.”

“I don’t want to think about that,” the lemur groaned. “That guy was and is the absolute worst. Never forget, NEVER forgive.”

“Never indeed,” Whisper said with a nod. “And now he’s gone somewhere WAY harder to get out of.”

“And you can focus on the good things in life,” Tangle replied, patting her girlfriend on the shoulder. “We can focus on us.”

“Thank you,” Whisper sighed. “For being there for me… and for asking me to get this off my chest. I’ve always thought about the whole idea of them meeting you, if they’d approve of us being together… all of that.”

“Do you think they would?”

“... Yeah.”

And Tangle, too, sighed, as she rested her head on the shoulder of the girl she loved and started the movie up again.

“I wonder if I’m friends with the Diamond Cutters in other universes…”

“I’m sure you are.”

Chapter Text

“DOUBLE MALL DATE!,” Tangle and Slinger cheered at the top of their lungs.

The Neo Diamond Cutters Plus One all made their way into Sunset City’s newest shopping complex with smiles on their faces, but one couple, despite Jewel and Lanolin having pitched the trip as a “team bonding exercise,” was clearly more excitable than the other.

“This place has it all,” the lemur cheered, pointing at the map display at the entrance. “Trendy candy shops, nerd stores, a place that sells nothing but fidget toys - they even have escape rooms!”

“You’ve forgotten the best part,” her partner replied with a cat smile, circled by their Wisps. “The food court! You’ll never guess what joint set up a location here!”

“Chiudi la porta d’ingresso! There’s no way!”

“SI MANERA! Pepa’s! The best of the best! I’m going to eat arepas con queso until I rupture!”

As the two comically spun around the sign, their best friends just looked on in amusement.

“They’re turning into her,” the sheep said with a concerned smile. “They’ve always been a bit of a jokester, but now they’re bouncing off the walls as much as she is. Whatever happened to the trained soldier?”

“I think it’s because Slinger’s finally happy,” her beetle girlfriend replied, tightly holding her hand. “Now that ‘Trinity the Dog’ is gone, they can be a fourteen-year-old again. A fourteen-year-old who’s madly in love with a kindred spirit.”

“What do you mean?”

“You only recently got to see all the things recorded on Slinger’s monocle, right?”

“I skimmed through them, at least… their ‘video diary’ or whatever… mostly a mix of physical training and goofing off.”

“That diary showed me everything I needed to know about Slinger, Lin. That video diary kept them alive and sane. It’s the reason their will never broke, the reason they stayed suave, even after seeing so much death and fear. It’s also how I realized they were perfect for my sister, who’d been through the same stuff.”

“The same stuff? As far as I know, Tangle’s just a thrillseeker who grew up with no trouble?”

“Well, you came in not knowing a lot about us,” Jewel replied. “And that’s okay now. But when we were very little, Tangle was hurt by her birth family, and had to heal from that with help from mine. And now, on a good day, nothing can make her frown again. We both saw that in Slinger too - they had to leave everything behind not once, but twice during the war, losing their jungle village and then their Diamond Cutter family. But thanks to holding on to their Wisps and making connections in the Resistance and Restoration, they’ve been able to regain their smiling spirit.”

“Huh,” Lanolin huffed. “You’d never guess by looking at ‘em that they’d both been through so much. Makes me want to get to know them better… even more than I did before, of course.”

“Well then, why don’t we join them in that boutique?”

The sheep’s eyes darted up to check on her teammates, realizing that Slinger and Tangle were paused at the window of a boutique, the Wisps having returned to their capsules temporarily.

“Tangle!,” Jewel cried out. “We need to hook il tuo amore up with some new threads!”

Tangle gasped.

“Slinger! She’s totally right! You don’t have to get hung up at this window, you’re free now! You can ditch your Diamond Cutter ‘outfit’ and look how you want to look!”

“... E-estas segura? Can… can I really forget now?”

“Mimic’s dead, Slinger. You deserve it.”

The ocelot took off their beret, holding it in their hands. One could easily tell they were thinking of Smithy, Whisper and especially their childhood friend Claire. They had come out on top and honored their friends’ legacy. They did deserve it.

“... I do deserve it!”

“That’s the spirit!,” Tangle cheered. “Let’s shop ‘til we drop!”

“S-SI!,” Slinger replied with stars in their eyes, putting their hat in hammerspace as the quartet entered the boutique.

“Why, if it isn’t Director Jewel!,” the customer service worker, a female wild hog, said. “How can I help you and your friends?”

“Well, Slinger? How can she help you?”

The ocelot took a deep breath before affirming their decision.

“I’m letting go and living well! I want an entire fem-NB wardrobe so I can finally hang up these old, dirty, boyish clothes and move on to a happier life with my girlfriend and her friends!”

“You love to see someone who knows exactly what they want,” the worker smiled. “I’ll show you the whole selection!”

“And the two of us are stuck covering their pay?,” Lanolin asked her love.

“Yep,” Jewel chuckled back.

What followed was two hours of extensive looking through the catalog and trying on outfits - selected not only by the four heroes, but by Slinger’s Wisps as well. The ocelot wasn’t retiring from combat, but also liked dresses, so they asked to see if they had anything “Amy Rose-like,” or short skirts, that wouldn’t get in the way of their fighting, particularly their spin attacks like the Panjandrum, where they’d roll along while opening fire with their Wispons. Ultimately, they all recognized that “fem-NB” didn’t mean all dresses, so they also picked out a few sets of tights and tube-tops - somewhat reminiscent of Whisper and Claire’s, but more casual and colored in shades of yellow and orange, at Tangle’s suggestion.

“Orange goes great with teal!”

For shoes, they bought a mix of boots with short heels - not enough to give the Diamond Cutter trouble running - and one pair of high-tops literally identical to Tangle’s. Not to mention a new beret - a casual light-orange one, with a button in the middle.

After buying enough for a week’s worth of outfits, Slinger decided they were going to walk out of the shop in a selection of clothes from the boutique.

Jewel, Lanolin, and especially Tangle waited outside the fitting room, eager to see the new look of their friend’s choice.

“Esta bien… perfecta!”

The door slowly slid open to reveal the ocelot’s new fashion sense: an orange sleeveless polo, a yellow pleated skirt, gray tights, tall white boots with straps to holster their Wispons, gray bands around their biceps for their Wisp capsules, and of course, their new yellow beret. They were surrounded by their five Wisps, whose eyes displayed various positive expressions.

“How… do I look?”

“Like a billion rings,” Jewel smiled.

“No scarf?, Lanolin asked with a head-tilt.

“The scarf was a relic,” Slinger replied. “If I get cold, I have Tangle’s tail, don’t I?”

“I-I-I…”

The beetle and sheep turned to see the lemur staring directly at her partner, a small droplet of red under her nose.

“SlingerI’mhopelesslyinlovewithyouIneedtokissyouonthelips.”

The ocelot looked over at Jewel and Lanolin, then at the service worker, who gave a thumbs-up. When they grinned, chuckled and nodded, their Wisps pushed them into their girlfriend.

“A tu servicio, mi amor~” Slinger replied, pulling the taller girl’s head down to their level and smooching her just as requested.

“In the store?,” Lanolin sighed. “Really?”

“I don’t mind,” the worker assured. “Young love is important.”

Tangle shook cobwebs out of her head as the quartet left the boutique, Jewel and Lanolin going on ahead. Her lover turned to face her in their orange outfit with a huge smile on their face, flashing a peace sign on their forehead.

“I know you’re thirsty, but how about we quench that thirst with a slushie from the food court instead~”

“ACCIDENTI, SLINGER!,” Tangle cried, blushing profusely. “I-I’m not that kind of thirsty, you always make everything sus! You’re… you’re just really cute in that outfit. It really feels like you don’t have to wear the old colors anymore, it… it feels like you.”

“I… agree. For too long, with Mimic out there, I let myself be eaten away by the need to uphold my honor as a mercenary. But now I can just be… me! Slinger la Ocelote! A silly cat from a jungle village who wanted to do some good!”

“You’ve come so far,” Tangle smiled back. “As a person, as a hero, as a genderfuck teen.”

“Remember how Jewel and Lanolin had to talk me into believing you didn’t see me as a boy?”

“Man, our confession was so corny. ‘I nEvEr UnDeRsToOd LoVe UnTiL i MeT yOu!”

“Heh heh!”

“Hahahahahahahahaha!”

They put a hand on each other’s shoulders and laughed together, turning to face their double date pals.

“You coming?,” Jewel asked teasingly. “Can’t eat Pepa’s until you rupture if you never make it to the food court!”

“Alright, fine,” Tangle laughed back. “But I’m dragging them to the makeup place afterward and making them even more beautiful~”

“Buena suerte on THAT,” Slinger replied, pecking Tangle on the cheek, before running off ahead of the others with their limited super-speed.

“Hey, come back here!”

Now it was Jewel and Lanolin’s turn to laugh as the lemur slingshotted herself after the ocelot, two rays of sunshine piercing through their clouds and chasing each other through life.