Chapter 5

Many Years Ago

A young, three year old Tangle was currently climbing a tree.

"Tangle? What are you doing up there?" Her father called up to her.

"There's a flicky nest up here! I wanted to get a closer look!" Tangle said.

"Well come down from there! It's really dangerous!" Her mother called up.

"Hold on! I'm almost there!" Tangle said.

However, before she could get any higher, her food slipped off of a branch, and she began to fall.

"Tangle!" Knot shouted as the young lemur began to fall.

Trying to slow her descent, Tangle tried wrapping her tail around a nearby branch.

While she was successful, it didn't slow her descent by much.

Shortly after, she landed on the ground in a heap.

"Owwww…" Tangle said as she rubbed her face. She then looked up to see a very… surprising look on her parents faces.

A look of absolute disgust.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Tangle asked. She then realized that her tail felt… weird.

Looking back, she saw that her tail was stretched out, and was still wrapped around that branch she grabbed onto.

The young lemur, who had no idea why this was happening, only thought that it was really cool, and had stars in her eyes as she looked at her tail in amazement.

"Mom! Dad! Do you see this?! It's so cool!" Tangle said as she pulled on her tail, breaking the branch and having the tail retract back to it's original length.

Her parents didn't respond though. They just walked over to her, and said. "We're going home."

Tangle, while young, knew that that wasn't a good thing.

'They're probably mad at me for climbing the tree…'

When they got home, the three went along the rest of their day as normal.

Everything was fine until Tangle went to sleep.

When she woke up, she found that she was no longer in her bed, but in a very, VERY small room. The room also seemed to be moving somehow, and, while there were holes in the ceiling, that was the only source of light she could see.

"Mom? Dad? Are you there?" Tangle asked.

Silence.

"Please… I'm scared…" Tangle said as she began to struggle to breathe.

Eventually, they stopped, and she could feel the room go towards the ground.

The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was her father.

"Farewell… freak."

When Tangle woke up, she was in a bed, with some… thing, covering her mouth. She felt cold, and had little energy, but she managed to lift herself up from her laying position.

"Oh, you're finally awake!" Said a voice from the side of the room.

Tangle looked over to see a bear approach her.

"How are you feeling young one?" The bear asked.

"…I'm… tired…" Tangle said.

"That's understandable, you were in quite bad shape when I found you." The bear said.

"Where…?"

"This is Spiral Hill Village, and I am the mayor here." The Mayor explained. "I was going on a morning stroll just outside of town, when I found a small box with a few holes poked into the top. Inside, I found you."

"I was… in a box?" Tangle asked. "So… fuzzy…"

"I see… the trauma of the experience must of had a impact on your mind." The Mayor said. "Do you remember your name?"

"T-Tangle…" Tangle said.

"Well Tangle, until you get everything figured out, you are more than welcome to live here with me." The mayor said. "In fact, I think I know someone who would love to be your friend."

The mayor then left the room. Shortly after however, he came back, a young beetle in tow.

"Tangle, this is Jewel." The mayor said. "She likes to come and watch me do paperwork some times."

"H-Hello…" Jewel said as she hid behind the mayor's leg.

"H-Hi…"

"I just know that the two of you will be great friends!" The mayor said.

Present Day

Tangle always wanted to know for sure what led to her being found in that box. She never wanted to truly believe that her parents were responsible for that though.

Now though? Staring at her parents, who she was just told had abandoned their own child? She could not find the words to say.

"So, what are you doing back here? I thought we made it clear that you are no longer welcome in our home." Brawl said.

"I… I…"

"They are here for the emerald that you have in your possession." The mayor answered for her. "They need it to save the world."

"Pfft, yeah, right." Knot said. "Probably heard that we had it and was planning on stealing it."

"I…"

"Now leave, we have nothing left to discuss with a freak of nature like you." Brawl said.

Instead of responding, Tangle just ran.

"Tangle!" Tails said as the lemur ran away from them.

He then turned towards her parents with a look of unbridled fury in his eyes.

"Oh what, does this freak have something to say now too?" Brawl asked.

"How… DARE YOU!" Tails shouted. "Do you have ANY idea what you did to her?!"

"We were simply disposing of some garbage." Brawl explained.

"She is NOT just some trash for you to dispose of!" Tails yelled. "She is… no, WAS your daughter!"

"We may be related by blood, but we do not care for that freak." Knot said.

"She is a living being! How dare you treat her like that!" Tails yelled.

"Tails… maybe you should calm down a bit…" Whisper tried to reason.

"Seriously you two, maybe you should…" The mayor also tried to reason.

"Stay out of this!" Tails shouted. "I bet these two don't even know what she's been doing all these years!"

"Why should we care?"

"Well, for starters, she probably helped save your lives a lot more times than you could ever realize." Tails said.

"Yeah, right."

"Miles Tails Prower." Tails said. "That's my name, I am sure you've heard of it."

"The two tailed freak that Sonic guy calls his brother?" Brawl asked. "Yeah, I guess you do look like him."

Tails just grit his teeth at the insult. Being called a freak was something that still bothered him, but he could take it in this situation.

"You can call me a freak all you want, but I will NEVER forgive you for what you said and did to my wife!" Tails said.

That seemed to do the trick, as Brawl and Knot were silent at this proclamation.

"… I'm… sorry?" Knot asked.

"We got married last month, and no, we had no intention of inviting you." Tails said with as much venom in his voice as possible.

"I… uh…"

"Keep the emerald if you want. But don't come crying to us when a chimera comes and takes it!" Tails said as he walked away.

Whisper stayed behind, deciding to give them some time alone.

"She… got married to someone regarded as one of the world's greatest heroes…?" Brawl asked himself.

"I think you two have a lot to think about." The Mayor said. "For now though, I think you should bring me that emerald, so that we can help them on their quest."

"… Very well."

Tangle was sitting on the wing of the tornado, lost in thought.

"They… really did leave me to die… just because of my tail…" Tangle said to herself.

She just sat there for a bit, until Tails joined her.

"Hey…"

"Hey…"

"Are you alright?" Tails asked.

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine!" Tangle said "Just a bit overwhelmed, you know, between this whole thing with Nemesis, us being the only ones who can stop him, and finding out my parents think that I am a freak who doesn't deserve to live!"

"Tangle…"

"It's fine though! Cause we are gonna beat Nemesis, and prove to them that I am someone who deserves to live!" Tangle said.

"Tangle… please…" Tails said before hugging her. "Just… stop…"

"What…?"

"Stop trying to stay strong all the time…" Tails said. "It's just me… you don't have to be strong around me when you are hurting…"

"I… uh…"

"You have always been the strong one Tangle. Always the one to give us a shoulder to cry on when we needed it. Just this once, let me be the one to help you." Tails said. "You're never alone… remember?"

The following sequence of events Tails could only describe as the first time he had ever seen his wife completely lose composure, as she began crying into his arms.

"They just… they left me to die!" Tangle said in between sobs.

"Shh… just let it all out." Tails said.

"I can't… I can't handle all of this Tails!" Tangle said. "What if… what if something goes wrong?! What if… what if…"

"Don't think about what if's right now." Tails interrupted. "We will find a way to beat Nemesis. I know it."

After staying like this for a bit, Tangle managed to somewhat regain her composure.

"Sorry about that…" Tangle said.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm just happy to know that you can actually cry!" Tails said.

"Wh-Why is that a good thing?"

"Cause it means that you are a mobian… just like me." Tails said. "What they did… it really hurt you. I can tell."

"Y-yeah… it really did." Tangle said.

"Just know, that no matter what happens, I will be there with you every step of the way." Tails said. "Til death do us part… right?"

Tangle smiled at this. "Right."

The two of them then shared a hug.

"Tails… I'm going to be honest with you… I'm scared." Tangle said. "Nemesis… he's a lot stronger than anything we have ever fought before… and we have to find a way to take those emeralds from him before he takes ours from us…"

"Yeah… it's not going to be easy…" Tails said.

"I don't know how you and Sonic always do it. Just, rushing into danger, no fear whatsoever…" Tangle said.

"Simple… we don't." Tails said, earning a surprised look from Tangle. "You'd have to be crazy to not be afraid of some of the things we have been up against. However, we know that just cowering in fear is not the way to get things done, and that we need to take action. Sonic taught me that… and honestly, there was a time I had forgotten that lesson."

"Really?" Tangle asked.

"Yeah… there were a lot of times where I just… stopped fighting because I was so afraid…" Tails said. "What I am trying to say though, is that it is alright to be scared. The ones who are truly brave are the ones who act despite their fear."

"Heh… You know, you've given a lot of sappy speeches… but that one was really good." Tangle said with a laugh.

Tails just smiled at this. She was back to her normal self.

"So… what are we going to do about the emerald?" Tangle asked.

"I think Whisper stayed behind, so…"

KABOOM

End of Chapter 5

Just when you thought things were going to get a bit better.

So, I want to go a bit into Brawl and Knot. Tangle's name can be interpreted as two different things. A synonym for fighting, and having a similar meaning to a knot. So, I took the two of those, and split them up, with her father being Brawl, and her mother being Knot. We won't be going TOO deep into them in terms of personality and character building, but I have plans for them in terms of some nice, short stories.

Anyways, The final battle begins in the next chapter, so look forward to that next time!