This Isn't a Dream (Whispangle Oneshot)

This Isn't a Dream

Moonlight trickled into the room through the window. If she had to guess, Whisper would probably say it was around two in the morning. Not that she dare make a move to check, though; it'd wake the sleeping lemur snuggled up at her side. As quickly as Tangle could fall asleep, she was still a light sleeper. The slightest movement would cause her to wake up, groggy and grumpy...best to avoid doing that if she could. The wolf sighed, gazing into the darkness of the bedroom as her mind trailed off.

She was used to not getting much sleep, instead staying up late and getting lost in her thoughts. Sure, she would eventually get a bit of rest, but more often than not she'd find herself laying awake at night, staring at the ceiling, and thinking about how she'd ended up where she was. Never forget. And how could she? Living through a war started by the man responsible for practically ruining her life, watching her friends—her family—die in front of her eyes after Mimic's, someone who she was supposed to trust, betrayal, and then living through the metal virus, having almost lost Tangle for good...that stuck with her. During the night, everything would come back to her whether she wanted to think of it or not. Namely, in the form of vivid, horrible nightmares. It wasn't easy. For the longest time, she'd be tasked with having to calm herself down afterwards, while everything was still fresh in her mind. It was a long and rough process, but she was capable of doing it on her own eventually. It worked for her best that way; not worrying anyone with unfixable problems.

Then Tangle was added to the mix. When the lemur first suggested spending nights together, Whisper was reluctant to agree. She was fine handling things by herself, but she knew Tangle didn't work like that; if something was wrong, Tangle would know and insist on trying to help. While Whisper wasn't against accepting help from Tangle, this wasn't like their first encounter with Mimic together. Tangle couldn't just have Tails lock her dreams in a cell, no matter how much either of them wished it to be the case, it didn't work like that. But Tangle made it clear that this was the one thing she'd wanted from her, and Whisper knew she couldn't dance around it forever. Eventually, she relented, and for a few nights it seemed she was in the clear. But, as always, the moment she let her guard down, disaster struck yet again. The first nightmare Tangle was around to witness was probably one of the worst she'd ever had. She remembered waking up a complete and utter mess.

Whisper had to be shaken awake; her eyes flew open, only to well up with tears. Her breathing was panicked, and if she wasn't already, she was one scare away from hyperventilating. She hadn't even realized the lemur's hands were on her face until she pressed her forehead to her's. "Hey, hey! Whisper! Look at me!" Tangle yelped, her voice full of worry, "You're okay! It was just a bad dream!"

"H-Huh? Wha...but-"

"It's okay. You're okay. Just try and breathe, okay?" Tangle's hands moved from Whisper's face to her hands, offering a gentle squeeze. Whisper could feel her gently rubbing the back of her hand with her thumb. Frantic blue eyes scouted the darkness for any remainder of the dream; for Mimic, for what remained of the Diamond Cutters, for the Shadow Androids. Not a single trace of any of them was left. "B-But...Smithy...Claire...Slinger...the...the androids..." the wolf stammered, still looking around feebly.

Tangle shook her head. "Shh...it was just a dream," she reiterated gently, "You're okay now. You're awake. You're safe."

"Just...just a dream...?"

"Mm-hmm...look at me," Tangle let go of one of her hands and used the free hand to tilt her head up so that they were making eye contact, "You're awake. You're safe. You aren't alone. I'm here."
You aren't alone, such a simple phrase played over and over again in Whisper's head. She wasn't alone. Tangle was right there, being so incredibly patient for someone who was usually the first to jump to action in any case. The light sleeper who didn't take well to being woken up—Chaos knows how she felt waking up to whatever unpleasantries came from her sleeping form. She'd avoided sleeping with Tangle to avoid this exact situation and yet...having her around felt so much more comforting than she could have ever prepared for. "T-Tangle, I..." she began, barely able to hold back her tears.