Chapter Text
Tangle sneaked around the structure, followed closely by Whisper and Lanolin. Exploring an ancient temple wasn’t the lemur’s favorite activity to waste her Saturday on… But she wouldn’t complain about spending more time with her friends. Tangle made little noises with her mouth as she jumped and backflipped all around the interior of what once was a place of worship thousands of years ago. Lanolin grabbed Tangle by the arm and pulled her closer. Whisper carefully weaved out of the way of the lemur so as not to get hit.
“Be more careful, will you? This place could be filled with traps” Lanolin looked at Tangle with that disappointed glare she made sometimes. The one that made Tangle feel like she was being scolded by an angry mother. ‘Jeesh. Grumpy, much?’ She thought to herself, she raised her hand as to do a salute. “Aye, aye, captain!”. Lanolin cocked an eyebrow and just let go of Tangle, who fell behind the two girls as she rubbed her arm, quickly running towards them to catch up. She slowed down and began walking beside Whisper, arms behind her back, trying to look casual, as if she hadn’t completely embarrassed herself mere seconds ago.
Whisper tried keeping it together, but couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Just a little. She put her fist on her muzzle to stop the laughter, then looked at Tangle with the faintest of smirks. “ ‘Aye, aye, captain’? What are you, a sailor?”. Tangle held her laughter too as to not enrage her fluffy boss more than she already had. She playfully hit Whisper in the shoulder, causing the wolf to rub the area to calm the slight pain. “Yeah! I’ve got the muscles to back it up, see?” Tangle flexed her spindly noodle arms, getting another small laugh out of Whisper.
Lanolin pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Those two were a handful sometimes. And this was one of those times. The diamond cutters continued their trek through the temple, carefully descending into the heart of the structure with each staircase they found. Tangle scratched her chin in confusion. “Jeesh, this place seems like a big deal. Why are we here again?” The lemur inquired to her boss. Lanolin sighed, having to remind the mission to these two. Or maybe she forgot to tell them in the first place? She swears she did, but sometimes things like that slip her mind. “Tails says this place could have a gem called the Demantoid Dampner. A gem of legend that’s said to have the power of shutting down any kind of energy.”
Tangle kicked a pebble away, the little thing bounced into the darkness of the hall they were crossing. “Why is it always rocks? Do we even need something like that?” Tangle argued, now way less excited about this expedition than she was before. “It’s just a failsafe in case Surge goes rogue again.” Whisper’s frowned as soon as Lanolin mentioned that name. Covering herself with her coat more than usual, shuddering. “Woah! Isn’t that a bit much?” Tangle argued. “Sure, she did bad stuff in the past, but isn’t preparing something to mess her up in advance kinda weird?” She continued.
“...Perfectly reasonable” Whisper replied, trying to hide her anger. “But-” Tangle tried to argue, only to be interrupted by Lanolin. “Surge is unstable, Tangle. Either you take her side or you take ours.” The sheep walked beside Whisper and put a hand on her shoulder. Tangle shrunk into herself out of nervousness and pressure. Before the argument could get more heated, the little pebble the lemur had kicked away finally finished its course, landing on a small metal tile.
All three diamond cutters present widened their eyes as the sound and feel of something big approaching intruded their bodies. A giant boulder fell from the ceiling right in front of them, beginning to roll in their direction. Tangle sprang into Lanolin’s arms as the two screamed. Whisper grabbed Lanolin by the wrist and made a run for it, away from the rock. The sheep tried her best to keep Tangle from falling despite having to hold the girl by only one arm. Thankfully, Tangle was able to jump backward, grabbing onto Lanolin’s hand and running for dear life, only a few meters away from the rock threatening to squish them.
Tangle improvised, looking up and seeing a crosswalk above them, she stretched her tail, the rubbery sound of the action being all that her teammates needed to know what she was planning. “On the count of three!” Tangle said as her tail had already begun to stretch thin from grabbing onto the structure above them and continuing their movement. “One. Two. Three!” As soon as the last word left the Lemur’s mouth the three girls jumped as high as they could, Tangle’s tail went stiff, launching them upwards as a consequence. The boulder crashed past them, making the entire structure shake. Whisper landed kneeling with one hand on the ground, getting up and dusting herself off as Lanolin landed more gracefully, her afro bounced with the recoil of the landing as she got up. Tangle fell flat on her face.
Whisper helped her friend up as she groaned, rubbing her rear due to the stinging pain. “I haven’t stretched myself that bad since the metal virus.” Tangle whined and stood beside Whisper, a few feet away from Lanolin, who was ready to berate the lemur again. “Tangle-” Lanolin took a step forward, causing another rumble. Then the ground below Tangle and Whisper opened like a trapdoor. Both girls plummet into the Darkness as Lanolin screams for them.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Tangle’s eyes widened as a water droplet hit her forehead, sliding down to the right side of her face. Then another. Same spot. Slid to the left this time. Tangle got up and shook her body to dry herself. Her hearing was kind of fuzzy, but she heard a distant Lanolin screaming at her.
“STAY RIGHT THERE! I’LL GO FIND SILVER!” The sheep’s voice echoed, shortly followed by the sound of her wisp obliterating the rock that had previously almost crushed them. Tangle looked to her side. Whisper was getting up. Tangle returned the wolf’s previous favor and helped her up by grabbing her hand tightly. “Lanolin’s gonna go for help” The lemur informed. Whisper nodded in understanding, looking at the strange walls of the hall they had fallen into. She cocked her Wispon, a cheery digital voice yelled “ROCKET!” as she lit the thing like a torch thanks to her alien friend.
Tangle curiously walked next to Whisper, taking in the sight of the ancient mural depicting a fight between what seemed to be 8 bird-like figures and an entire army of… Knuckles? The lemur tilted her head in confusion. She approached the mural and touched it. This thing wasn’t painted, it was carved. Little dents around the rock made the thing come to life. To her, it felt kinda surreal being in a place like this. To Whisper, this was a bunch of nothing.
“Not useful. Let’s keep going.” Whisper spoke as she began walking down the hall, Tangle followed closely. “Wait! Shouldn’t we wait for Lanolin to come back with Silver?” She questioned her masked teammate. “Not fast enough. Might suffocate if we don’t find a way out on our own.” She replied. Footsteps splashing against puddles and echoing through the empty structure.
They arrive at some sort of main chamber, A long stone staircase lead to an owl-shaped sarcophagus with a crystalized green heart encrusted on its chest. Tangle beamed, eyes sparkling as she stared at the gem on display. “That must be the thingamajig Lanolin wanted!” The lemur sprinted towards the sacred tomb faster than her friend could tell her to wait up. She wrapped her grubby hands around the rock and pulled with all her might. Green energy began cracking the tomb as she struggled against the thing.
“Tangle, wait!” Whisper warned her friend, getting a “Huh?” in response before a massive explosion sent them both back, Tangle landing on top of her friend as the shockwave created by the burst of energy lit up all the torches in the area one by one. The lemur scratched her head and coughed as both she and Whisper got up, observing how from the cloud of smoke created by the explosion, the shape of an owl emerged.
“Thou disturb the rest of the fertility goddess Noctavia ?” - Her voice boomed throughout the room as her wings flapped, making her ascend into the air. Her body was covered in a sleek and dark metal armor. Her body itself was undoubtedly different from other birds the duo had seen before. Her long, feathery wings stretched from her back, positioned and shaped like an angel’s. Her arms posessed two bracelets that contained pieces of the same glowing green gemstone in her chest. Both sets of limbs, her hands and her feet, ended in black talons that were so sharp Tangle already felt cut. “We were here for the gem you have on your…” Tangle put her hands in cusps in front of her chest and moved them up and down. Whisper facepalmed.
Noctavia’s expressionless grey face didn’t budge, but she lowered her head for a second before looking back at the pair in front of them, two green pupils forming in the voids she had for eyes, illuminating the mask around her face, made of the same metal as her armor. “Thou dare wake me up… And come here to steal my people’s treasure?!” - Her voice raised in anger, the Demantoid Dampner shined brightly with her command. Tangle and Whisper were both surrounded by swirling green energy.
“W-Wait! Let’s talk about th-” Before the girl could finish talking, Whisper tackled Tangle out of the way and fired her wispon directly at the gem on the owl’s chest with terrifying precision. The cyan blast made contact, only for Lazer to be absorbed by the gemstone. The wolf froze up in terror. Not this again.
Whisper trembled as both she and Tangle were lifted into the air, pulled close together, closer until they couldn’t help but have their faces next to each other, cheeks touching. Noctavia stared daggers into their eyes. “I CURSE THOU, TANGLE THE LEMUR AND WHISPER THE WOLF. SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF THY SINS. ” - Her eyes shine brightly, staring right through the pairs’. Both girls’ thoughts began fading away, fading to white. Then, it was all black.
Whisper tasted her breath in her mouth. She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth to get the nasty feeling out of her system. Her entire body ached and felt like ants were crawling over her. A noise jolted her awake in one go. The sound of a pup whining. Her ears perked up and she looked to her side as she sat on the… soft grass? She was outside the temple now. Somehow. Tangle was there, she seemed out of it too, but she was holding the source of the sound.
The wolf’s heart sank as she saw it. It looked like her. That pup looked like her. It had her fur. It had her muzzle. It had her fangs. Whisper’s breathing accelerated as she closed in on the details of it. Tangle’s hair tuft. Brown fur that looked kind of like a scarf on the thing. Similar to Tangle’s chest fur. And its eyes.
They were Tangle’s eyes.
Tangle tried calming down the pup’s whining with gentle shushing and petting of its forehead, but nothing seemed to truly calm it down. Finally, the lemur noticed that her friend was awake, holding the pup closer to her body after seeing the frown on her face. She had never seen her so distraught.
Before either of them could speak, the distinct noise of a bell ringing grew closer. Tangle’s dizzy tired eyes met Lanolin’s the second she and Silver emerged from the shrubs surrounding the clearing in the forest they sat in. Both the sheep and Hedgehog were utterly bewildered at the sight of Tangle holding a baby that was obviously both hers and Whisper’s.
All four members of the Diamond Cutters sat in Lanolin’s new office. Aka her garage. The bossy sheep handed her coworker a bottle of milk she had just heated up. Tangle thanked her and held the bottle close to the little golden pup in her arms, finally shutting down its whining as it instinctively held onto the plastic cylinder and began drinking. Everyone in the room sighed in relief as the cries were finally shut down for now. “So let me get this straight” Lanolin questioned Tangle and Whisper. “You two found the Demantoid Dampner, but it was held by an ancient owl goddess that cursed you both to have…” Lanolin waved her hand in the pup’s direction. Both Tangle and Whisper nodded. "And the temple is just... Gone?" Lanolin inquired, another nod from the two followed. “Weirded things have happened” Silver butted in, arms crossed as he stared at the baby held by the lemur. “What are you two gonna do about it?” He questioned, scratching his chin as he did. He thought to himself; Could these two even be responsible enough to take care of a baby? With no planning?
“I’m not gonna take care of it.” Whisper replied without any semblance of hesitation, face still frowning. Tangle turned around to look at her friend in what felt like half a second. “What?! Whistle needs both of her moms in her life!” Whisper looked at Tangle in the eyes. “You named it?” Tangle shrugged with her one free arm, much to Whisper’s frustration. “She deserves a name.” She continued. Whisper groaned before hitting the table and crossing her arms, refusing to look at the Lemur.
Tangle’s face turned into a frown, but she didn’t have much time to be sad about her friend’s lack of parental responsibility before little Whistle began crying again. Lanolin and Silver covered their ears and sighed. That peace and quiet only lasted so long. The unprepared mother did the best she could to calm down her pup. “Hey, hey, calm down girl! Coochie coochie coo!”
Tangle scratched her baby’s chin to no avail. Lanolin swiped Whistle out of her hands and laid her down on the table. The pup’s tears stopped for a moment as the sheep covered her face with her hands. “Where’s the baby?” She said in a purposefully silly voice, before revealing her expression, tongue out and eyes closed. “There she is!”. Lanolin covered her face again. “Wheeeere’s the baby?” She popped out of her hands again, inches away from Whistle’s little face. “There she is!”. Lanolin smiled, thinking she had finally calmed down the beast in front of her.
Only for the little pup to begin bawling her eyes out even harder than before. Whisper finally stepped up, pushing Lanolin out of the way. “Idiot. You’re scaring her.” Whisper held Whistle in her arms, staring at her, eyes closed a half-smile appearing on her face. The pup stared at her mother’s face and giggled, reaching to touch her nose with all her might…
But she fell asleep before she reached it. Whisper cooed little noises to the pup in front of her. She still didn’t like the thing, but it was better to have her quiet than noisy. Besides. Maybe. Just maybe. She could get used to her. Somewhat. But even if she seemed calm in the outside, inside she was panicking. She didn't want to raise this pup. She was still dead worried about her missing wisp. But for now, she could play along. If for Tangle and her other teammate's sake.