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Tangle cycled past the dense foliage overhead blotting the light of dawn, one hand gripping the handle, the other pinching a half-eaten strawberry that she plucked a few moments ago by its petiole. She lept off her bicycle and ran towards Whisper, leaving the promontory she was just on a minute ago in the dust.
Whisper whipped around and aimed her Wispon at her. Tangle held her hands up, throwing the strawberry in her hand by accident. “Whoa-whoa-whoa, simmer, girl! It’s me!”
Whisper stared at the palms of her hands—free of suction cups—and lowered her Wispon, sighing as her shoulders slackened. Her wisps burst from her cloak, nuzzling Tangle whilst making indecipherable gurgles.
“Hey, little buddies!” she chirped. “Miss me much?”
Whisper sighed. “Tangle? What’re you—”
“Adventuring with you, what else?” She grinned, her tail giving Whisper a thumbs up.
Whisper simply trudged away, donning her mask. The wisps noticed this and hovered towards Whisper in a carefree yet entranced manner, not unlike a school of fishes swimming towards an anglerfish’s luminescent fin ray. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
Tangle frowned as she tailed Whisper. “Why not?”
She hastened her footsteps and gripped her weapon tighter. “Mimic’s free.”
“We’ve beaten Mimic once! We can definitely do it again!” Whisper’s strides became wider, faster, catching her by surprise. She swung from a tree branch to catch up with her. “Besides,” Tangle said as she landed on the soil on the balls of her feet, “didn’t you offer to go adventuring with me a few months ago?”
“That was then.”
“What’s changed since then? We’ll still kick his butt!” Tangle said as she knocked her fists into each other.
Whisper footsteps slowed for a moment, then regained speed. “Please, just…go home, Tangle.”
Whisper strode into a cavern nearby. Tangle peered into the cave and gulped. It was dark; she could scarcely see anything. To Tangle, the mine was like a wyvern tunnelling through the earth, swallowing minerals that have formed since time immemorial in aggregate.
You’ll be fine. There’s no murderous octopus this time. No bombs. No massive explosion. You’ll be fine.
She steeled herself and ran into the narrow, light-starved mines. Small chunks of iridescent ore were strewn around the mines. Tangle recalled Jewel going on a tangent about them; apparently, they were quite valuable and were obtained in a mine that would “build that mountain’s future”. Right now, they were probably on said mountain. “Where are you going, Whisper?” she asked, her voice echoing throughout the obsolescent industrial remains.
“Away,” replied the darkness.
“From where?”
“You.”
Tangle was nonplussed. Whisper’s words struck her like a dart laced with venom, one so viscous that only two people that were close to each other could harvest and use it against each other. She stood there in shock for a few moments before chasing after Whisper once more.
“You’re afraid. I can tell!” Tangle said, careful not to utilise that same venom against Whisper. “Let me help you!”
Whisper took off her mask, revealing her cadet blue eyes, open in a rare moment of unguarded vulnerability. “You’re right. I am afraid. Afraid of losing you!”
A spider scuttles across the uneven walls of the mines, blissfully unaware of the argument taking place.
“I’m not taking any chances! After the Metal Virus, I—” Whisper faltered. “I…” She tried to continue, but her voice cracked. “I’m not losing you.” Her eyes seemed to glow in the dark with stark determination. Yet, there was a glassy quality to her eyes that made Tangle think she was pleading, pleading for Tangle to stay with her, to not leave her with a glimmering, metallic husk. “Not again.”
“I don’t want to lose you either!” Tangle blurted out. ”What if you get in trouble? What if you get drugged? Stabbed? Killed?”
“Doesn’t matter—”
“You do matter! You matter to me!” Tangle put both of her hands on her chest. “Whisper…I’m sorry. I promise I’ll be more careful next time.”
She said the same thing back at the ground zero of a blown-up Eggman base. How many times has she broken that promise since then?
“I’m getting rid of Mimic. For good. Best if you don’t come.”
“Whisper, wait!”
Tangle’s tail formed a fist and slammed the cave walls in frustration. The mines shook, and the wooden foundation splintered.
“Whoa!”
“Tangle!”
Tumbling—
—Screaming—
—Crashing—
—Pain.
Tangle rubbed her eyes and turned around to see that the entrance to the mines had been closed in.
They were trapped.
Okay, calm down, Tangle. The workers will probably free us. Calm down. You’re fine.
But no matter what she told herself, she couldn’t get rid of that sense of dread that weighed her heart down, that gnawing inconvenience that refused to let go—and why was it scorching? There was nary a trickle of sunlight; the ores that glowed with iridescence that dotted the walls were the only sources of light. So, when did it get so hot?
“Tangle?” Whisper called out and put a gloved hand on her shoulders. Tangle could feel her comforting presence whisper death in her ears. She was close. Too close.
It was nauseating, the heat.
“Hold—hold on,” Tangle breathed out. “I-I’ll make some more space for us.”
Tangle’s tail brushed against the walls, and it made her feel boxed inside. She pressed her trembling hands against the walls to dig through the rubble to free herself, but each time she was in contact with a surface, she felt even more caged in. The walls were closing in on her; it felt like she was being crushed by mattresses. Lots and lots of mattresses.
She needed to get out. Now.
“L-Let me out!” She screamed. She slammed the wreckage multiple times with her tail, each hit doing nothing but adding more droplets of fear to her heart. The world around her was spinning. The pounding in her chest wasn’t helping, either. She looked around frantically. Stalagmites. Stalagmites that looked an awful lot like the tendrils of death. Prehensile, purple tendrils of death.
No one would rescue them. No one. They were trapped. Whisper was stealing her air! She knew what awaited them. Shortness of breath. Nausea. Soon, death would come. They’d watch, helpless, as death pulled their last breath from their lips. And there would be nobody there.
Nobody.
Tangle was freaking out, and that was freaking Whisper out.
Whisper reached for Tangle’s wrist, but Tangle pulled away with all her might.
“L-Let me go! I have to get out!” She screamed at the wreckage, a desperate, mindless cry. Her bloodied fists flailed at the wreckage, the banging causing the mines to reverberate slightly.
“Tangle! Please, calm down!”
It reminded Whisper of the time they first fought Mimic together. Mimic had trapped Tangle in a safe, and she had seemed pretty shaken up about it.
“Need to…get out…!” Tangle pulled fistfuls of her own fur, her body shaking violently as she did.
Whisper had never seen Tangle so timid before. It pained Whisper to see Tangle, someone who was usually fearless and was the first to leap into action like this. It was all her fault, too. But what choice did she have? She had to leave Tangle behind to stay with her.
(She always had the choice. She was just cowardly, like Mimic had said years ago.)
Her heart ached for Tangle. It was scary how much she cared for Tangle. She was afraid. She knew Mimic would hurt those close to her, and Tangle was at the top of that list.
Not now. She could feel bad about herself later. Right now, she needed to help Tangle.
Tangle was hyperventilating. “Can’t…breathe…”
“Calm down. Take a slow, deep breath. Here, like this.” Whisper breathed slowly, all the while making sure it was audible enough so that Tangle could hear her. Initially, Tangle still had trouble breathing, but soon enough, her breathing slowed down to a normal pace.
“W-Whisper, I…” Tangle’s trembling voice pulled at Whisper’s heart.
“It’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll be rescued soon.” Whisper extended a hand towards Tangle. “Is it alright if I…?”
Tangle didn’t seem able to answer, only nodding. She buried her head into Whisper’s cloak, her shoulders shaking as hot tears cascaded from her eyes.
Whisper’s hand found the tufts of fur on Tangle’s head and combed through them absentmindedly. Only then did Whisper realise that she missed this touch. In a way, she felt nostalgia as her clawed hand brushed through the fluffy fur. It was foolish to push Tangle away when she desired her deep down. She kept telling herself that it was for the best, but can she say that now that the both of them were trapped due to her actions?
“Heh, this is…kinda lame, isn’t it?” Tangle muttered. “Scared of tight spaces…”
“It’s alright,” Whisper said as she rubbed circles into Tangle’s back. “I’m here. Everything’s going to be okay.”
She realised that she cared for Tangle dearly.
“Promise you’ll stay…?”
And she’d do anything to ensure she’s safe.
“...Always.”
Tangle was now cuddling Whisper. They were like two vulnerable animals, hiding from the rifle of the rotund, egg-shaped hunter.
“I’ve missed this,” Whisper murmured, breaking the comforting silence.
“Hmm?”
“Missed you. But after what happened, I started pushing everyone else away again. I was…afraid. Still am.”
Tangle glanced at the Wispon that was set aside a few minutes ago (it felt like hours, though), eyeing its superb craftsmanship. A deadly weapon in the capable hands of Whisper, yet the Whisper before her was…vulnerable. Whisper’s wisps watched the scene that unfolded with stars in their eyes, moonstruck. Her gaze met with Blue’s, and he nodded his head fervently. She ran a hand through Whisper’s hair; its silkiness was like heaven. “I am too. When you left the Restoration, I was scared. Just you and me, adventuring together…I didn’t want things to change.”
Whisper pulled away from Tangle, her hands crossing over her shoulders as her cadet blue eyes darted away from Tangle. “I don’t…deserve you.”
“Sure you do!”
“I’m…broken.”
“That’s alright. I’ll keep on loving you, no matter what.”
Whisper buried her head into Tangle’s chest fluff. “I’m supposed to be the one comforting you here.”
“Well, that’s what girlfriends do, right? They comfort each other.”
Girlfriends…were they really girlfriends?
Whisper chuckled. “You’re so…you, Tangle. I’m…glad.”
She supposed they were.
Tangle shifted her legs slightly. “How about this? Since we’re both so afraid of leaving each other, let's make each a promise!” Tangle gently cupped her hands on Whisper’s. “We’ll promise each other to never leave each other’s side, no matter what!”
A ray of light shoots through the mines, landing on a chunk of iridescent ore, causing it to shine radiantly.
“It’s—It’ll be fine, right?” Whisper asked, her voice small.
She was trapped in a cramped, gloomy space with Whisper. However, despite everything, Tangle still felt joy. It was a simple sort of joy, one that brought comfort to Tangle’s heart.
The crack in the rubble widened, causing more sunlight to spill into the mines.
The joy of being alive with someone you love.
“I’m certain it’ll be.”
They were rescued by the miners just a few minutes ago. Whisper watched as the leaves on the large pine tree beside her susurrated as the crisp winds flew past them.
“Thanks. I know this kinda stuff isn’t really your thing.” Tangle said.
“S’ fine,” Whisper replied.
“It’s my fault. I should’ve left you alone.”
Whisper sighed. “No. Mine. Was foolish of me to push everyone else away.”
Tangle stared at the small, multicoloured ore in her palm. “Well…we’re just trying to live for the future, aren’t we?”
Her wisps lounged on the branches of the pine trees, observing both of them intently like suitors clutching vellum where ink from a pen would soon spill upon.
“I guess this is goodbye, then.”
Whisper paused, then held out a gloved hand. “You’re breaking our promise already?”
“Huh?”
“You wanted to go adventuring with me, didn’t you?” Whisper tilted her head. “What are you waiting for?”
Tangle blinked once, then blinked twice. Then, she pounced on Whisper and gave her the largest grin she’s ever seen; it barely fit on her face.
Whisper giggled. “Tangle, people are watching.”
Tangle raised an eyebrow. “So?”
“Impressions matter.”
Tangle purred. “And yet you still love me anyway.”
They had much to discuss and many things to work out, but for now, Whisper was happy to have Tangle back. Still, she couldn’t shake off this nagging anxiety that lingered in her mind. But, she was with Tangle once more. And, to Whisper, that was all that mattered.
What lay ahead may be grim for them, but for now, Tangle took solace in the fact that they had each other. Today, she knew, would resound, shine and ignite with more hope than the obsolescent mineral she held in her hands.
She’ll face Mimic…
She’ll face the future…
…together with her.