Silver the hedgehog hadn't experienced vertigo in at least sixteen years. Being a frequently floating telekinetic, capable of breaching the clouds and rocketing through the air at high speeds, that odd sensation that came with great heights had fled his frame by the time he was four. By five years old, his practice in evading the spawn of Iblis had taught him to soar onto rooftops and through broken skyscraper windows. It was second nature to him, totally natural. This all meant that the hedgehog's present predicament had sent him spiralling, both figuratively and literally.

A little under three hours ago he had been floating over a future world in crisis, a week into what was set to be a ten-day visit attempting to source the cause of the calamity. He'd been levitating above an ancient town in the country of Shamar, though age and the calamity had stripped it of identifying features. Signposts and much of the buildings had been smashed by the monsters now roaming the land; neon blue-purple beasts of various shapes and sizes that had somehow spread to dominate the entire world.

Even now he wasn't sure of the apocalypse' cause, but he had flown high in the sky only to observe that the world was cracked like a giant walnut. The scars ran across continents and the sea, leading the lava at its core to be exposed while planetary plates simply hung in place. No one had survived, though he had found evidence that the world hadn't ended immediately. The diary of one Amy Rose had provided a little insight, mentioning some entity by the name of Dark Gaia, various monsters originating from that being, and the degradation of the chaos emeralds. That and, apparently, this same sort of thing had happened already, not too long ago.

Her journal had also led Silver to Shamar, in an attempt to uncover what Amy had dubbed a Gaia Temple. He'd soared for hours in search of this fabled site, having read it was one of the sources of the world's destruction. Rubble had been sifted through, buildings had been searched and monsters had been beaten back all to no success. That was, until he'd soared high again and noted a rubble pile far from the town's outskirts.

He'd been floating in the sky, just beyond the monster's reach, tearing away sandstone bricks and pillars, when it'd happened. Upon unearthing an especially large slab, he'd sighted a dark, chaos emerald shaped, mass beneath the rubble. He'd extended his psychic grasp, attempting to pull the form toward him, only to find his power seemed to vanish upon contacting the stone. He tried again and again, even attempting to shift the earth beneath the rock to no avail.

Having grown frustrated, tired from his search and maintaining his psychokinesis for so long, Silver had tried one last time to grab the supposed chaos emerald: exerting an excessive amount of energy. Again, his power was rebuffed, but this time the response wasn't so mundane. A second after his power vanished, the dark emerald sent out a jagged bolt of black lightning that had crashed into his chest.

He'd tumbled toward the ground, what felt like a million volts coursing through his nerves and popping his veins. A great uppercut from a larger one of the Dark Gaia beasts had sent him back skyward, granting the time traveller an opportunity to catch himself in the air, but upon regaining his posture everything had felt just slightly wrong. He'd felt heavier in his own telekinetic grasp, his vision had started to spin and a glance down at his body had shown him that whatever had occurred was more than surface level.

Feeling himself drifting downward under the new weight, panicked and so lost as to what had just happened, he'd fumbled for his bag. His partner's words rang in his mind. He'd drawn out an uneven grey rectangular gem and held it to his chest, mumbling the words she'd taught him through now bizarre feeling teeth and lips. It took a couple attempts but, just before he would be in reach of the monsters, her instructions had worked. One moment he'd been wrapped in flame, the world around him consumed by the crackling of fire and blinding light, and the next he'd found himself floating above Southern Island in the Sol dimension.

That effort, coupled with a small journey to the palace and a lot of explaining, had all led to his present position. Silver was sitting on the edge of one Blaze the cat's bed with his now overlarge hands awkwardly clasped in his lap. Vertigo had set in immediately upon his transformation's completion and had been at its strongest in the minutes after he'd first manifested in the Sol dimension, but it still hadn't fully left the hedgehog. Though he'd often cast his gaze up to his companion, his attention had been rather focused on his own body.

He had naturally grown to be tall, more than a head taller than the feline across from him, but this was ridiculous. The hedgehog was certain he'd gained at least half of his prior height and his shoulders were just so wide, even the fluff on his chest had exploded to match this change in proportionality. His hands were the strangest part, at least the strangest to him. While his boots had been bizarrely transformed, gaining cleat like spikes on their base and having their blues grow darker, his gloves had been torn to shreds by the transformation process.

Now he had sharp claws and the symbols on his palms had spread, stretching blue lines up each of his fingers and ending each with a circle where his fingerprint was set to be. Even his golden cuffs hadn't been spared the transition, now they were more octagonal around his wrists and calves. They almost looked like manacles, complete with a loose hanging chain on each one. Why had this happened to him? What could possibly have prompted that emerald to-

"Silver?" The hedgehog snapped to sit upright as Blaze's voice cut through his thoughts, "Did you hear me?"

"Oh, n-no," He winced, catching both frustration and concern in her stare, "Sorry, what did you say?"

Blaze had been sitting on the floor in front of him for over an hour now, scarcely looking up from the two dozen ancient tomes she'd gathered to cross-reference with accounts from Amy's journal. While her world was a separate reality from that of their friends, there were certain consistencies between the dimensions. Presently, the most important of those was the dichotomy between the Sol and Chaos emeralds; a factor Blaze had quickly sought to take advantage of after he'd explained the day's events.

He'd been essentially stuck twiddling his thumbs while she researched, a fact that was placing a not inconsiderable weight of guilt on the hedgehog's now overlarge shoulders. Dawn had barely broken when he'd arrived, spiralling through the air to crash-land in her garden and rouse the sleeping princess. By the notes littering her desk and the empty coffee mugs, he knew she'd been working late the night before.

Despite her grogginess, she'd quickly set things up as if preparing to perform some sort of seance or infernal summoning. Yes books surrounded her, but the scene was completed by all seven of the Sol emeralds being placed at points around the princess and the jewelled sceptre lying flat before took almost everything seriously, but he'd never seen her quite like this.

It wasn't like when she tended his wounds, this wasn't so serious as that, but the feline looked perturbed all the same. This was something neither of them understood, an issue outside of their wheelhouse that had to be solved. The feline was clearly frustrated and pained by her inability to aid him. She'd rushed her way through book after book so very quickly. All this had come together to make his heart throb with a guilt he'd scarcely experienced before and a complete feeling of uselessness. Blaze hadn't even slipped from her pyjamas; she'd done all this work while still garbed in an overlong sleeveless purple nightgown.

"Though the wording is flowery and difficult to parse, Amy's diary mentions Sonic undergoing a transformation like what you're experiencing. Apparently, it happened last time the world split, not the most recent, as a result of an Eggman device that drained the Chaos emeralds of their charge. Sonic got caught in the process and was affected too," Blaze repeated, rising to her feet, "I can only presume that, in the current future, Eggman did something similar, but now the Chaos emeralds can induce these transformations on their own," She passed the book off to him, holding it open to a certain page, before turning her gaze to the balcony window, "But his transformation seemed to revert when he was in daylight, while yours does not…"

Silver glanced down at the journal, finding it tiny in his hands, but upon pulling it close he was able to identify a series of doodles in the margin of what seemed to be a far more beast-like Sonic. Though drawn small and in pencil, Silver could certainly see the similarities between himself and the depictions. His pointed fingernails, long arms and increased fluffiness were all present. The psychic ran his tongue across his teeth and another similarity was confirmed, they had become all sharp and weird in his mouth.

"It's a little juvenile, but they dubbed what you are now as a werehog," Silver looked up only to find Blaze's eyes were upon him, but they'd soon fled back to the window and the orange glow of the sky.

"A werehog? You mean, like a werewolf?" He coughed, trying to rid his voice of its newly gained huskiness only to entirely fail, "Isn't that a bit ironic? With my name and all."

"More than a little, yes," Blaze sighed, "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm still a little dizzy," He saw her tail stiffen as those words reached her ears, guilt immediately pushed him to stand, dropping the book on the bed, "B-But not a sore kind of dizzy, it's not like I'm seriously hurt or sick. I'm just a bit off balance, due to the whole transformation thing," He stepped toward her and reached out to hold the feline for the first time since he'd returned, only for something truly bizarre to happen, "Um, Blaze? Is this another werehog thing?"

His arms had grown longer as part of the transformation, but he hadn't noticed the other change they'd undergone. He was still five steps from the pyrokinetic, but reach had increased far enough to put his hand on her shoulder. Without him so much as willing it, his limbs had become like rubber.

She looked over her shoulder to him and, for the first time since he'd returned, cracked a smile at his surely bewildered expression, "Yes," Was the only answer she gave.

He closed the distance, finding that the arm shrunk back to its (albeit still transformed) prior state once he'd reached her, "You know I'm still me in here, right? It's not like I've changed inside and out."

"You're so naïve, of course I know that. I seem to know about this better than you do," The cat tutted, "I'd have thought you'd have read that section of Amy's journal, having used it so often to understand the past."

"I only read backwards from the last entry. I promised her I'd never read more than I have to, only things that seem important," He was immediately met with an incredulous stare, "A-And I've tried my hardest to not break that oath."

"No matter how your face changes, Silver," She returned his grasp, reaching up to hold his side and likely losing her hand to his fur. Her soft smile had grown into a more comfortable and cunning grin, "You're still an awful liar."

Feeling himself blush, and seeing an opportunity, he quickly changed the subject, "M-My face has changed too? I haven't really seen it yet, only felt it," He used a finger on his free hand like a fishhook, trying to reveal as much of his mouth as possible at the cost of slurring his speech, "I've got pointy teeth now though, is that normal?"

That manoeuvre seemed to change things in an instant. Heat waved from the feline as her stare dropped to his expanded chest fur, her free right hand reached up to push shut his maw, "Don't be silly. None of this is normal, just because it happened before doesn't make it normal."

"R-Right," He managed to mumble, still feeling her warm hand pressed against his chin, "Sorry."

They stood there for a moment, still in that somewhat awkward pose, before Silver finally mustered his courage. Gingerly, he shifted his arms to wrap around her back and pull the feline into his fluff. His view was limited to the top of her head, presently devoid of its usual ponytail. She was so soft and warm to the touch, so small in his new arms.

It was strange for him to think of her as delicate, usually that verb better described him. While Blaze was petite and shorter than him regularly, she was much physically stronger than him. She could match Sonic's pace, lift great weights and perform other such feats he couldn't hope to match without psychic power. Much of that likely remained true now but the fresh difference in their scales just made her seem so dainty.

That thought led to another and Silver's hands slipped lower, as they had before but never so easily. In one easy motion, the feline was lifted from her feet and hugged against him. A moment later, after a little shifting, he felt her hands move to caress through his quills. The vertigo and oddness of his new form was washed away as he succeeded in that simple act, curving his spine to hold her high and nuzzle his forehead into hers. Some version of this was typical for his returns from the future, be it her nuzzling him as he lay in a medical bed or a hug like that of the present. It felt so right, her body slotted so perfectly against his even at this odd new scale.

"Silver," She was trying to remain deadpan, but he heard embarrassment on her tongue, "We need to keep working on this. Based on Sonic the process is reversible, but there are key differences in how you both changed. We might need to act quickly…"

"I know, I'm sorry I came back like this. It's still so early, you've been working so hard. I need to thank you properly," He opened his eyes and couldn't help but smile as he caught her fluster, "But, if it's what's best, I can wait just a little longer."

Gently, he lowered Blaze back to the ground and felt her arms uncoil from behind his head. Her hands lingered for just a moment longer on his cheeks as she reupped her serious expression, "You can thank me however you want, but only after I've helped you. Not before."

She stepped past him, returning to her circle of tomes and ancient artefacts, but he couldn't bring himself to return to his prior position. Invigored by their shared contact and better integrated in his new body, the hedgehog lumbered over to fan back through Amy's diary. He quickly returned to the section Blaze had shown him and read it through, learning second-hand of Sonic's adventure fighting the entity known as Dark Gaia. Unfortunately, according to the pink hedgehog's account of a statement from the blue blur, he had only lost his werehog form by the will of that world ending entity. They would have to find another way.

His eyes wandered back to Blaze, only to catch her hunched over an especially giant and old looking book with golden edging. It took him recognising that tome to identify a few of the others she'd gathered. They were historic books of her kingdom, charting the use of the Sol emeralds across time and various arcane practices related to them. He knew her work should have been holding his attention, but the feline herself was sucking it all in. A yawn breached her lips, a rare showing of tiredness, and her hair drifted from tucked back to hang at the end of her vision.

At first, he went to use his psychokinesis but quickly had a realisation. He stretched his arm across and gently brushed the hanging hair back into place. She glanced up just as his arm shrunk back. Fumbling to make the effort seem more worthwhile, and not like he was just being sappy, he followed it up by representing her with Amy's diary.

"So, you're trying to see if the Sol emeralds can be used to remove the energy that transformed me, like Dark Gaia did to Sonic?" He asked to confirm.

"I think it can be done, but I'm looking for past precedent," Blaze confirmed, "The Sol emeralds and Chaos emeralds are like opposite sides of the same coin. If a Chaos energy did this to you, it stands to reason that Sol energy should be able to undo it."

"That's a lot of reading you've got to do though," He approached, and her eyes fell back to the page, "Is there any way I can help?"

He couldn't help but peer at the book, but he immediately regretted it. The entirety of the tome looked to be written by hand in an awful form of cursive writing, complete with calligraphy flourishes at the start of each paragraph and edging each page. It really looked like it belonged in a museum rather than in her lap, he could scarcely make out single words let alone the pages she'd got through.

"Just relax, Silver. I'm looking after you," Blaze didn't look up as she dropped the next bombshell, so very casually, "I cancelled my meetings for today right after I laid eyes on you. There was nothing that couldn't stand to wait, both you and our allies need my focus."

He cringed slightly as she stifled another yawn, flipping the page. Blaze really was going all out for him, he had to at least do something. Even if it was minor, even if it wasn't strenuous. He'd do what she asked and rest, but he couldn't sleep while he was working so hard.

His eyes drifted to the empty coffee mugs piled on her desk and an idea manifested. He stretched his arm over her, claiming the receptacle and pulling back to himself. That idea led to another, he might not have been able to read the books or come up with a spell, but he could certainly help the reader.

Silver caught Blaze's gaze, she could clearly tell he'd been scheming, "I'll just be a moment," He promised, before lumbering into her en suite.

He closed the door behind him and lurched his way to the sink, letting the hot water run as he reached across for cloth. When his hand stretched back though, and just as steam was starting to rise from the sink, he caught sight of himself in the mirror and almost fell over. Looking down at his body had been one thing but seeing it from the outside was somehow even more bizarre.

Just how much bigger had he become, how much fluffier had he got? His already typically overgrown quills had expanded to flow down to his waist, their colouration had shifted from a light silver to more thoroughly grey with white tips. The quills on his forehead had all flopped back under their own weight. His jaw was wider, his muzzle had discoloured, and his nose had practically doubled in length!

He used his finger like a fishhook again, revealing a set of massive sharp teeth. He opened his mouth wide, even his tongue had changed! Its usual pink had changed into a darker blue, its width and length had grown to match the rest of his body. It was a wonder that he hadn't bit his tongue in two yet. Blaze shutting his mouth suddenly made a lot more sense, had he frightened her? No, he knew what a scared Blaze looked like, she'd felt something else.

Noticing his reflection was now half covered in steam, the werehog quickly set about his work. He lowered the mug into the jet of boiling water, blasting the hardened coffee grime away before taking a cloth to it. He knew he couldn't do much to help her through the work, but he could manage small comforts.

The hot was turned off and cold water flowed, the hedgehog dried off both the mug and his hands before filling the former with cool water. He turned to leave but something struck him, an embarrassing quirk Blaze had long talked him out of. Quickly, he stuck his head beneath the tap and took a direct drink. Before the feline could wonder what was taking him so long, the hedgehog shut off the cold and turned for the door.

He peeked out the cramped room, only to catch the feline smothering another yawn. Guilt again brought his heart to ache as he pushed into the room. His heavy footsteps were hardly subtle as he trapezed through the books and stones surrounding her. When she didn't look up from her reading, clearly immersed, he instead gently set the mug beside her.

"Thank you," He saw her gently smile, but her tiredness was plainer than ever.

A glance to the balcony window revealed that the sky was a step closer to blue, they had truly breached the day. He hesitated, briefly reconsidering his plan, but he knew what was right to do. She had cancelled her meetings, there was nothing to separate them. Whatever state they ended up in, they would spend it together.

Rather inelegantly, the werehog thudded around to sit behind the feline. He crossed his legs into a basket, awkwardly avoiding stabbing himself with his transformed shoes. He'd never been especially subtle and his new form wasn't helping that; it was as if his every movement was meant to be followed by a symbol crash or pounding drum. He saw the feline's ear quirk, caught her tail flicker, but she didn't seem to know what he was about to do.

As softly as he could, still not quite knowing his strength, the hedgehog wrapped his arms around Blaze's front and pulled her into a soft hug. He felt her warm and stiffen, but soon she'd softened in her grasp. Phase two came next, he tightened his grasp and pushed his chest flush against her back.

"Silver, what are you doing?" She asked, plainly attempting to smother the warmth in her tone and radiating from her frame.

In one smooth movement, he picked up the princess and brought her to sit in his lap. Even now, granted height from being atop him, she was still head and shoulders shorter than his new form. She looked back and up at him as he got comfortable, loosening his grip and better positioning himself.

"Just relaxing, like you said," He smiled wide but quickly remembered his teeth, "That's all."

Her incredulous look was bolstered by the tiredness behind her eyes, "If that's all then that's fine, but don't interrupt my reading."

Usually Blaze's stares would shrink him, she'd frequently tease him using sharp glances and chastising words. Now though? Now that she was so relatively small, fitting perfectly in his lap? There was only one word that could describe the pyrokinetic now: cute.

He supposed her hair being down and the overlarge nightgown wasn't helping that opinion. Everything about her just looked and felt so soft, so delicate from his new stature. He'd always been overprotective, he wasn't oblivious enough to miss that fact, but for whatever reason this change was drawing the most of that out of him. Somehow, even if he did shrink, the hedgehog couldn't help but feel this new view was burned into his mind.

He settled with his arms around her midriff, hugging the baggy material of her nightgown into her body and her body itself into him. Part of the hedgehog wanted to stretch for the brush by her bedside and smooth the hair away from her face, both to help her reading and offer something of actual worth. His new form had made him brave, but he soon decided that it hadn't made him that bold.

Instead, the werehog opted to simply relax into his every yawn from her was accompanied by one from him, he felt himself put more and more of his weight against her. It was maybe odd to see studiousness as adorable, let alone the serious look she wore. He'd seen an aesthetic appeal in both for years now, but something about his fresh perspective was making that truth even more undeniable. Perhaps he was just tired, he had been searching for hours when he'd transformed. Maybe transforming had taken the wind out of him or changed something in his head. Still, whether it was prompted by tiredness or another instigator, Silver couldn't deny his thoughts.

"You're just so cute," He sighed into her, before quickly realising what he'd said, "I-I mean, usually you look elegant and pretty but, I guess, because I'm so big now, you…"

He felt her hand find the side of his head, warmth was radiating from her palm. She looked up at him, the seriousness she'd forced onto her face was entirely undercut by the redness of her cheeks and the bending of her ears. Silver had embarrassed himself, but he'd embarrassed her more.

"Just be my chair and keep quiet, Silver," Before he could say anything else, her finger was placed over his lips, "No more talking till I've figured out a solution," One last stern look was thrown his direction, but it too crumbled and she turned away, "But, I suppose, though you absolutely have to change back, there is a certain charm to seeing you like this."

He put his head on her shoulder, curious. Their eyes clashed before she quickly looked away.

"I'm not elaborating," He leaned slightly more heavily into her shoulder and felt heat prickle up her back, "You're so naïve."

The now werehog both felt and heard his tail pound against the carpet of her bedroom floor, matching the tempo of his heart. This new form had granted him an incredible new power, unlike before, he could freely speak how he felt. It wasn't that Blaze's stern looks had lost all their impact, but there was more of him to absorb their power. That was surely a naïve thought, but the excitement it brought excited the time traveller.

"Well, if you won't, maybe I will," He couldn't help but grin with newfound cunning, "You feel so soft and warm, it's like-

"A-Alright, that's it. I'm ready. Let's do this," She rose out his lap, slamming closed the tome and snatching up at the jewelled sceptre.

He immediately missed her warmth, "W-What, already? I thought you had more to-

"I said it's time! I know what I'm doing. Let's do this," She turned to look down at him, pushing the head of the staff toward his heart.

The seven Sol emeralds began to float, soon gathering around their guardian to form an archway around her. Glowing energy surged into the pyrokinetic, outputting such power that the room around them began to blur. Silver didn't flinch however, he didn't even blink as she pushed the source of her universe's might directly against his chest. That reaction wasn't born of his werehog form though; no matter what, regardless of his surprise, he trusted Blaze.

Heat pulsated from the purple staff, he felt something shift inside of him. Sweat immediately coated his brow and his vision blurred, his focus was pulled to the very tip of the sceptre as it flashed an endless array of colours. Then, all those colours were forced straight into him.

He was used to the sensation of burning, but this was somehow different. Heat flowed through him like blood but carried by the warmth was a sensation like surging electricity rushing through every inch of his body. It was as if he was petrified, turned to stone yet burning while sat on her floor. He couldn't so much as flinch, not that he would move to deny her efforts. Soon his eyes were awash in colours, his vision went from blurred to blind as it felt as though the rainbow he had seen before was pouring out of his own skull.

Then, in an instant, it all ceased. There was no lingering pain, it took no time for his eyes to adjust, and he felt exactly as he had just before she'd made her attempt. Blaze stood before him, still in her nightgown, though her hair had been tussled by her effort. He was still in her bedroom, there was no sign of any damage to the space or her books.

Silver looked down at himself, only to be even more surprised at what he saw. His fingers were still clawed, his symbols still ran up his fingertips. He was still huge; his bracers still had the appearance of shackles, and his fluffiness was as overwhelming as ever. He glid his tongue over his teeth. They were still pointed, nothing had changed.

"It didn't work?" The gruffness hadn't even left his voice.

"No, it will," She insisted, still looking down at him, "Or, rather, it should, bit by bit. You should be back to normal by tomorrow morning. I pushed a mote of Sol energy into you, it should gradually cancel out whatever else has taken up residence."

Silver watched as she set down the staff, one by one the Sol emeralds returned to their prior places. A thought occurred to him, "You knew how to change me back, but you waited?"

"I was looking for a faster solution, an instant one," She explained, quickly moving to close the books.

"But if you could have done this…" Though he wasn't hurt, adrenaline from the whole effort was making him think fast, "That means you didn't have to cancel your meetings, right?"

Blaze shook her head, piling the tomes, "Try not to think too hard about it," It was subtle, but he a certain cunning in her expression, "It's only logical that I'd want to be with you to make sure the process does work."

Finally, as she stepped close to him again, it all clicked, "You just wanted to spend the day with me."

"I wanted to look after my companion so that we can save our friends in the coming days. Again, don't think too hard about it," He felt her hand slip beneath his muzzle, she gently pressed beneath the chin, "Up."

He stumbled to his feet. The moment he was upright her hand moved to take him by the fluff of his chest fur. Without another word she began to lead him across the room, drawing the curtains closed as they went. She'd brought him to the head of her four-poster bed, that brush he'd debated procuring was now within his regular reach. She reached up and took him by the muzzle, turning his gaze from the nightstand and back to her.

"You left me for a week, only to come back and interrupt what little worry sick sleep I'd managed to claim. You're going to make up for that loss," Somehow, Blaze looked more serious about that than she had about fixing him. Just how long had she known how to cure him?!

He had thought his new stature had made him strong, had made her simply small and cute before him. His philosophy was flipped just as he was; with a single push he was knocked back and onto the bedsheets. He lay stunned for a moment, blinking at the ceiling, before he managed to half sit up and sight her.

"Well," Seriousness still hadn't left her face, despite the silliness of the prior events, "Make yourself comfortable, you're not going to be moving for a while."

He awkwardly shuffled and shifted, moving such that the back of his head was flat against the pillow. For a moment debated sliding beneath the covers, but soon concluded that his new fluff would cause him to overheat. Given her current state, he doubted Blaze would let him move once she was comfy.

"I think I'm read-

He didn't get to finish that sentence. She moved to straddle him before, less elegantly than usual, dropping her head to top his chest fur. He felt her hands shift to find his shoulders before snaking their way behind his neck, as if seeking out the position she'd usually take when lying with his smaller frame. She was stretching herself a little thin and, though aided by his increased fluffiness, her pose did look a little less comfortable. Despite that, the tenseness gradually slipped from Blaze's muzzle and her brow came to soften.

Silver saw an opportunity; he reached for the nightstand and grasped her hairbrush with only the slightest stretch. Softly, he moved his left hand to hold her back and began to brush the hair from her face. The feline's hair was shockingly long, her ponytail usually hid that fact. Gradually, her whole face was revealed to him. A soft smile lingered on contented lips, occasionally loosing rumbling purrs.

"Regardless of how you've come back to me, I missed lying like this with you," She yawned, "I missed you."

"It seems I've had a bit of an upgrade in that regard. I'm fluffier than ever, at least for today," He set down the brush and completed the hug, "I missed you too."

For as cute as it was to see her serious and studious, nothing could compare to seeing her so fully relaxed. Unlike most werewolves, this werehog's weakness wasn't silver. It was her.