Chapter Text
“No visual contact,” a voice spoke quietly through the radio.
Lanolin sighed. So far, all this had amounted to was a wild goose chase, and it was starting to frustrate her. They’d been out here for hours, searching endlessly into the night, and there was still no sign of their target. Loathe as she was to admit it, she had begun to suspect faulty intel.
“Tangle, are you sure you saw her out here?” The sheep grumbled into her radio, using a pair of binoculars to once again scan over the ruins of a city north of Spiral Hill Village that the temporarily-rejoined Diamond Cutters had found themselves in.
“I’m sure,” Tangle replied, not over the radio, but instead next to Lanolin as she dropped down and hung by her tail upside down. “Jewel was out here, I’m not going to lie about one of my best friends like that.”
Lanolin jumped a little, startled by her teammate’s sudden appearance. After taking a moment, and a couple deep breaths, she calmed herself down. The Lemur’s reckless behavior could get on her nerves, and she couldn’t stand how unprofessional she was at the best of times, but Tangle wasn’t exactly wrong.
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” the sheep uttered quietly, but without hesitation.
“It’s all good, boss lady,” Tangle replied with a caring, concerned smile. “I know you’re just worried about her too. We all just want to find her and get out of here.”
“Contact,” Whisper’s voice crackled quietly through the radio again.
Tangle and Lanolin shared a glance, a quiet understanding. Without any elaboration on the sighting, or Jewel’s condition, they both feared the worst. After Whisper relayed her location, Tangle fully dropped down to the floor, and into her radio this time, replied.
“We’ll be right there, Whisper.” After replying, she turned to Lanolin and offered her a hand. “Guardian Angel strikes again, huh?”
“I’m surprised you still call her that when you two are so close,” Lanolin chuckled just a little as she took the lemur’s hands. Once the pair were secure, Tangle dropped them safely both down onto the ground. “Something going on between you two again?”
“No, we’re still just friends, no changes there,” Tangle replied with a smile. The two had dated for a time, but had broken it off amicably. They loved each other very much, but their feelings were just shy of being outwardly romantic. They both figured that they’d be better off as friends, especially given their professional relationship as teammates. “And hey, I don’t call her that often. Only when it’s relevant.”
“Let me know if any of that changes again, at least. Need to account for the different-”
“-different dynamic caused by two teammates dating, I know,” Tangle replied, finishing the sentence Lanolin had said to her and Whisper numerous times before. “It’s alright, Lano. We are ‘Platonic with a capital P’, I promise. And even if we weren’t the Diamond Cutters are temporarily disbanded”
Besides, Tangle had been thinking about someone else more recently anyway.
“More like ‘Pseudo-romantic with a capital P’,” Lanolin teased softly, letting her guard down just for a moment.
The conversation quieted down as they approached the location Whisper gave, their demeanors shifting, significantly tensing, as they noted the wolf was nowhere to be found.
“Whisper wouldn’t just rush in like that, right? That’s more of a ‘me’ thing to do, right?” Tangle asked, her voice uncharacteristically quiet.
“No, she’s a trained soldier, she knows to wait for backup,” Lanolin replied in equal volume, readying her Golden Bell.
The two inspected their surrounding, and Tangle soon found at least a trace of their friend.
“Look, her mask, inside that building,” the lemur whispered to her commander.
Lanolin noticed the mask as it was pointed out and narrowed her eyes. If Whisper were in danger, falling back was an option, and Lanolin was confident Whisper knew when to do that. She knew the wolf wouldn’t enter a fight she couldn’t win. Her mask being off of her had to mean something was seriously wrong, even more than they’d already suspected.
“Alright, I’ll take point.” Lanolin cautiously stepped forward, into danger, with Tangle not far behind.
The building itself was abandoned, as was every building in this city. The Restoration hadn’t exactly gotten around to it yet, so it stay lay in ruins. The empty feeling was unnerving, which was only worsened by how dark it was inside. The pair both switched on flashlights to help them see, though it didn’t reveal anything useful.
“No sign of her Wisps either. I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” Tangle murmured.
“We can hope it’s good, that it means she still has a fighting chance,” Lanolin replied, trying to give some comfort to the both of them.
The two pushed further into the building, uneasy at how empty and quiet it still was. The stillness had them jumping at shadows that turned out to be nothing, the tension and paranoia building without any release...
Crack.
...at least...
Crunch.
...until…
Rumble.
The floor gave out from under Lanolin, just ahead of Tangle. Lanolin ever so briefly let out a scream, until she landed on a basement floor below. The items in Lanolin’s hands clattered around her as they fell from her hands. The sheep reached for her wispon first, holding it up and steady in case of a sudden attack while she was on the ground.
“Lanolin, are you okay?” Tangle called out, much louder than their previously hushed tones. It was fair enough, Lanolin figured. The sound of her crashing through the floor was no doubt louder, if anyone had heard Tangle, they had already surely heard the crash.
“I’m fine, I-” Lanolin begins to call back, but she cuts herself off. From where her flashlight landed, the light from it stopped on a grotesque sight. As Tangle called back that she was going to come down to her, Lanolin blinked, as if trying to make herself believe her eyes were playing a trick on her. They weren’t.
None other than the one they were looking for, Jewel the Beetle, was propped up against the wall, and there was no chance of the girl still being alive. Her wings were gone, and her antennae were stabbed into her neck instead of being affixed to her head. Jewel’s eyes were half-lidded and lifeless, caught in a dead stare back at Lanolin. The sight was surprisingly bloodless, at least by comparison. It looked like she’d been cleaned and staged for.
“Direct- Jewel,” the sheep choked out, hands shaking as they lowered somberly.
“Lanolin, hey! Talk to me!” Tangle landed next to Lanolin, reaching a hand out in concern and placing it on the sheep’s shoulder. When her friend didn’t respond, Tangle followed her gaze, seeing one of best friends sitting lifeless across from the pair. “Jewel? Jewel, no, no, please!”
The lemur rushed to her best friend’s side, shaking her as if to try to wake her up. All it accomplished was dirtying the scene as the movement caused blood to spill from the beetle’s neck. Lanolin stood slowly, picking up her flashlight and coming to Tangle’s side. Next to her, it was clear how broken Tangle was at this sight alone, crying as she fruitlessly begged her dead friend to wake up.
“Tangle, I’m… I’m sorry,” Lanolin spoke softly. It hurt her to see Tangle in so much pain, but she knew it was too late. She wrapped her arms around Tangle and began to pull her back, not bothering to stop when Tangle resisted being pulled away from Jewel’s side. “Tangle, we have to go. There’s nothing we can do.
Tangle kept crying, kept trying to pull away to return to Jewel’s side. Lanolin thought that this had to be a bad dream, but realistically, she knew that couldn’t be true. She held Tangle tighter.
“Tangle, we have to go. We have to find-”
“Oh, Lanolin, who could do this? Who could do such a thing?” Tangle turned around and began to cry into the sheep’s shoulder. The hold started to feel more like a hug, Lanolin trying to give her any comfort she could.
“I don’t know, Tangle. I don’t know. But we can’t stay here,” Lanolin replied softly. “We have to get Whisper and get back to the Restoration. They’ll be able to help.”
At the mention of Whisper, her other best friend, Tangle straightened up. She wiped her tears away and nodded. There was still a chance Whisper was alive, and if she was, they needed find her. Lanolin could tell Tangle felt she needed to find her, as if it was all she was designed to do. Perhaps unhealthy, but more productive sitting around and crying while they were still in danger. No, there’d be time for crying later. Later when they were safe.
“Alright, let’s go,” Tangle nodded again, visibly fighting back her tears and choking back her cries. Lanolin felt a little guilty, but she’d hate even more to see Tangle get hurt by whoever did this while they still had a chance to get themselves out alive.
Their obvious goal was to find a set of stairs. At least that way, they still had more of a chance to find Whisper along the way. Plus, Lanolin didn’t want to ask too much of Tangle given the circumstances. She was already asking the poor girl to leave her best friend’s side.
Their goal was cut ever so short by a splatter of blood on the wall and a pool of it on the ground. The was wet, so it was new. It didn’t bode well, but it also could mean that Whisper was still fighting, which meant that she may still be alive. With a deep breath, Lanolin started to follow the trail, and shakily, she heard Tangle not far behind.
Unfortunately, their hope seemed all too useless. It didn’t take long to find the source of the blood, and it was indeed Whisper. The wolf had a deep gash in her, and her eyes seemed to be missing entirely. There was no doubt that she was dead, and Lanolin didn’t have to look very far to find her killer either. Standing above her, reaching into the wolf’s mouth, was… Sonic. Or at least something that looked like Sonic, since this hedgehog was not acting in a way Sonic would ever have behaved.
Tangle screamed from behind Lanolin, and the creature in front of the pair turned to face them, and sight sickened Lanolin. It was Sonic, it wore Sonic’s face, but the eyes, they were red and black and dripping with blood. It grinned a wicked grin at them, almost seeming violent in nature. It dropped Whisper’s body, turning to face them fully, and as Whisper fell, it became clear what he was doing when they’d arrived. As Whisper’s body fell limp to the floor, her tongue remained in this devilish Sonic’s hand.
“Your quiet friend here tried to fight back. She got one good hit in, but she never really stood a chance.” It spoke with Sonic’s voice, but retained none of the easygoing, laid back personality the actual Sonic had. There was just as much confidence and playfulness, but it felt twisted. “Let’s see if you two can be smarter.”
It tossed Whisper’s tongue to the ground beside her and waited, and Lanolin imagined it was waiting for them to attack, but she wasn’t foolish enough to risk that. Instead, she turned on her heel and began to run, pushing Tangle to do the same. While Tangle faltered momentarily, she picked up without hesitation afterwards, running just ahead of Lanolin. The followed the blood trail to the other end, and gracefully, it lead to a staircase. Going up meant going to the exit.
“You know you can’t outrun me,” the thing called after them.
Lanolin didn’t care. They couldn’t outrun Sonic, but she knew to back down from a fight she couldn’t win. And at the very least, she wasn’t going to let Tangle die. Tangle wasn’t a soldier, even if she was their teammate. If she could just get Tangle a chance, that would be enough, and if Tangle got outside, the verticality of the city would give her a chance.
The pair ascended the stairs quickly and burst out of the stairwell door on the ground floor, only to find the thing waiting for them where Lanolin had fallen through. It looked bored, like it had been waiting for them for some time, even though it hadn’t even been a minute since they started running.
There was no doubt. They couldn’t fight it, and running was futile. Tangle didn’t entirely have to run, but Lanolin did. With a single tear and a quiet sniffle, she understood there wasn’t any way she was going to get out of this alive. That was fine. She’d use whatever she had left to buy Tangle some time.
Without a word, Lanolin stepped forward and pushed Tangle to the side. She raised her wispon, already swinging her bell to ring it, but before she could attack, the Sonic creature was already in her face. With a single hit, she was sent flying back. Her body crashed through the stairwell door and hit the ground hard. Pain coursed through her body, but she pushed through it, raising her wispon again. The thing was at her in a flash again, and with one quick swipe, Lanolin’s arm was no longer attached to her body.
“Lanolin!” Tangle screamed, starting to approach.
“No! Tangle! Go!” Lanolin yelled back, scooting back against the railing as she clutched her arm where it detached. Tangle stopped in her tracks, looking terrified. Lanolin couldn’t blame her. She grimaced, braced, and yelled again, “Run!”
Mercifully, Tangle obliged, tearfully turning and running away, using her tail to cross the gap in the floor. She wasn’t able to see for long, as the Sonic thing plunged its hand through her chest. Lanolin struggled to breath, her lung deflating as it tore through. When it removed its arm from Lanolin’s chest, she fell to the ground, barely conscious. Her Golden Bell was just in sight, and she pushed through the pain to reach for it. She wouldn’t go down without at least trying to fight.
“Yes, little lemur. Run,” the thing called as it turned around and readied to chase her.
Lanolin strained, the pain was agonizing, unbearable, but she couldn’t give up. She pulled herself just barely closer and reached for her wispon.
“Run while you can,” it spoke again, smug and arrogant in a way that drove Lanolin crazy. She finally reached her wispon and aimed it at the creature.
“Just... shut up already,” Lanolin grumbled, straining to speak at all. As the thing turned around, she rang her Golden Bell, sending a wave of pure destruction towards it. Just like Whisper apparently had, she got one good hit in, stunning the thing and even knocking it back. It didn’t last long, the Sonic thing recovered quickly, but it didn’t matter. Lanolin dropped her wispon anyway, not heaving the strength to hold it up anymore.
She was barely conscious as she was picked up by the neck, hazy eyes barely making out the thing glaring at her as it held her up. She spit a defiant glob of blood on it, giving just one more tiny distraction to help the last of the Diamond Cutters.
The last thing Lanolin felt before her life slipped away was her throat being crushed.