A/N: Not gonna lie, this isn't the first Sonic fic I've ever made, but it's the first I've decided to post. Just a simple continuation of where the comic is now. Enjoy!
Whisper never really wanted to be a fighter, nor did she initially want to be someone who fought for the weak. Early on, it wasn't hard to find a fight with anyone, from her father to her many siblings. They argued as often as they said they loved each other. Whisper being the runt of litter encountered neither. Though clashes came up, she learned much about avoiding conflict and being observant of others' emotions and their mental state. She came to learn as the years passed, that she excelled in anything that engaged her. She tried avoiding conflict, like disagreements over who would have to wash the dishes before going to sleep.
"I'll do it," she said.
They all gaped at her for a moment. "Are you sure?" her father asked.
"Yes." she responded, "Why are you so surprised?"
"You did them last week," He questioned sheepishly. "D-Don't you want someone else, to—"
"I don't want you to fight. I'll do it."
They all agreed to do the dishes together.
She didn't go to school, nor did she need to. The house library was as good as anything she could get there, but without the social interactions. There she learned about history and the world outside their little old-fashioned home. Whisper asked her father about the world and what he'd seen. He was reluctant but said he would take her out to see it all someday, which he did after her fifth birthday. Off the hill, through the evergreen, and in a canoe that rolled down the river that stopped before a cliff, he showed her the world they lived in.
"You're from Arcadian Island?" Tangle gasped, astonished. "You've never mentioned that!"
Whisper bristled at the phrasing of it, almost like it was a cardinal sin to be born somewhere, but she knew what Tangle meant, as always.
Whisper and Tangle found themselves conversing often after the incident with Surge, but once the tenrec had joined them in the Diamond Cutters, their conversations had gone from being simple words between friends to akin to therapy sessions. Tangle was a talker by nature and carried the conversation even when Whisper had nothing to say, but these days Tangle was the one doing the listening. Whisper let many things slip after Silver told her about the situation with their newest recruit and the potential member.
"Never mattered." Whisper did her namesake, eyeing a set of petunias near the promenade. The Restoration's gardens were the perfect place to talk to her about serious things like this. Only a scant number of people enjoyed the flowers. "Does it now?"
"Oh, uh. No. Not at all," Tangle giggled, unnerved, possibly scared of her now, "That place was the only place Sonic could never fix after Eggman decimated it."
"I was born after the destruction. Only the southernmost part was bombed," she muttered, "We lived in the north. Was better there. Warmer winters."
"But it wasn't bad..." Tangle inquired, "Like, nothing scarring about living there...?"
In that moment, Whisper rectified her observation, Tangle wasn't scared of her. She was scared for her. The wolf-eyed teen took her response slow, "...Nothing bad. More... formative than anything. Ask me another time."
"Huh," she breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you weren't hurt by it. I can imagine it would be scary there."
"I-It's beside the point," Whisper changed the subject. "I only said it because I won't let anyone do something like that again. I'll be scorned if it'll be either of them."
"It won't. We won't let it happen, girl. You don't have to trust them, just trust us enough to know who we put our trust into," she said, punching her on the shoulder, "I'm not saying trust again for another week. But you get the gist."
"I trust you, Tangle," she uttered, "But Silver said he had black eyes. I believe him almost as much as I believe you."
"Black eyes don't mean it's Mimic."
"Then what does it mean? Either way, he's hiding something."
Tangle jostled her, unexpectedly appearing embarrassed, "Aren't we all hiding something?" she had gotten close enough to brush her muzzle with Whisper's nose. "There's a lot of things we have to keep to ourselves, I think."
She looked at her in the eyes, then turned away, "No. All of us are transparent except him. We know nothing about him and he never said anything-"
"Thought I'd find you here," a voice sounded, raspy and grating to Whisper's ears. It was Surge. "I don't know why you come here anyway. It smells like dirt and pissy river water."
"H-Hey, Surge," Tangle said, swiftly detaching herself from the wolf.
"Yeah, whatever, the gang was lookin' for both a' ya. Let's get going so I can beat some robots into the ground!" Surge barked, glaring at them for a moment as they were still. Whisper bared her teeth at her and Tangle tried her best to keep her from leaping on her and wailing on her. "Still hung up on your little toy getting broken a few months ago?"
"Surge, don't. Not now." Tangle intercepted, but she pushed more.
"Like she'll do anything to me," Surge rushed behind Whisper, wrapping an arm behind her back and onto her shoulder, like a cobra constricting her prey, "Lemme tell you something, friend. A bit of advice."
Whisper whipped her arm off her shoulder, and Tangle's at the same time, she growled like a wolf in a state of nature.
"You woulda had a better shot when you weren't like this." She continued, "I know exactly what makes you tick and it's all I need."
"You have a point?" Tangle demanded, wrapping Whisper in her tail.
"Yeah, I do. That face doesn't suit you. I liked fightin' you more when you weren't tryin' to kill me. Not cuz it makes you easier to beat but cuz it was harder." Surge stated, "I'm only sayin' this since I like you. You're better when you're not actin' like me."
"You're just an animal." Whisper snarled. "You don't know a thing about how I feel."
"Seems to me like you're the animal," Surge replied with a grin, before getting into a starting position, "See ya at the meeting."
And she disappeared in a flash, and a boom, leaving behind a hyperaroused wolf and partially frustrated, stuck-between-a-rock-in-a-hard-place lemur, holding her back. "Let me go, Tangle! I'll—"
"Whisper!" Tangle yelled, "You'll do what?!"
"She deserves it. You know she does."
"We aren't about things like that. Surge is allowed a second chance... something. We don't dole out judgment as we see fit. If it were like that, how many of Sonic's friends wouldn't be here right now? How many of yours?"
Whisper's eyes were fixed upon the teen's, as she grabbed her by the hands, palm over knuckle. Tangle's eyes reciprocated the gaze, quietly intent and kind as they always were. How she hated that stare she had, it was so kind, yet directly opposed the turmoil in her. How often did she give chances to others only for them to throw it in her face, stomp all over the love she gave?
"First, let's be calm. Revenge will do you no good," Tangle implored.
She imagined all the times she said goodbye and no one came to her aid— oh she hated those eyes... because they reminded her of those times and despite living through despair, she still had them. What was different between them?— she wondered lately. Certainly, it was high time she found out, right?
Lanolin hated her job sometimes—no, that wasn't right, indeed she hated her job on occasion, but this was not one of those times, rather these moments would be filed under 'hating delegation in a group'. She often led small task forces, company managing sections, and trivial things. By the wool on her skin, nothing was worse than placing people where they had to be but did not want to be. Like assigning groups in classrooms, it required she be a teacher, a leader, but also someone who knew and respected them at the same time.
Tangle would handle hers gladly like she always did. Hopefully, someone endlessly upbeat like her would be fine working with the endlessly virulent like Kitsunami.
"I'm not leaving Surge."
Lanolin exhaled a huff of air, "Okay, no. You won't be leaving her. It isn't like that. We're just splitting up to cover more grou—"
"I'm not leaving her," Kit repeated.
There was quiet in the room, Surge was staring at them with a smirk, chuckling at her attempt, but with a glare from Lanolin, the grinning dimwit closed her mouth and instead, went to reassure her companion's misgivings at least a little, "Listen, we'll be fine. She said this'll be a cinch, so just buddy up with her and you'll be fine, okay?"
He was quiet as the once-angered expression fell and gave way to compliance, the likes of which Lanolin could only describe as unhealthy. But she moved on, she could not be bogged down by these two as she expected that with the influence of the people from the Diamond Cutters and the restoration's resident heroes, he would end up with something resembling a well-adjusted mindset.
Then there was the case of the two troublemakers. She had worried about pairing these two up, their issues in the past caused great chemistry issues, but now she didn't care for two reasons: one, this would be a serious call they were going on, where lives were on the line, and two: if they worked together, they could be the strongest duo here.
"Whisper, I'm pairing you up with Surge."