#whispfinite

Whisper gripped her wispon tightly as the jackal sprawled out on the ground in front of her started to groan. She quietly shooed her friends into the safety of their capsules. If she needed them they could come out then, and not a moment sooner. Despite the lack of his distinct mask Whisper knew that the jackal before her was Infinite, Eggman’s right hand during the war. Though a decent amount of time had passed since Infinite’s disappearance, so why was he here now?

As Infinite pushed himself shakily to his knees Whisper pulled her mask over her face. Why hadn’t she informed the Restoration about this yet? Before she could figure out the answer to that, Infinite turned to look at her. His mismatched eyes were clouded with pain and confusion. “Who..?” His voice sounded rough, possible from lack of use. 

“Not important.” Whisper answered quietly. ”How did you get here?”

Infinite blinked, bringing a hand up to grip his head, “I don’t…” He gasped suddenly and brought his hand to his chest in a panic. Whisper tensed, ready to call on one of her wisps but as quickly as the energy came it seemed to leave Infinite. His hand fell back to the ground to support him. “It’s gone.” His gaze fell to the floor. “It would appear I’m at your mercy.”

Whisper tilted her head as she glanced at where Infinite had gripped at his chest. The gem that had once been there, the Phantom Ruby, was gone. In its place a scar, just starting to be covered by his fur. Although whatever had caused that had healed, she could make out several other injuries on his body. “You’re hurt.” She wasn’t sure why she pointed that out.

“I am.” Infinite confirmed, apathy lacing his voice.

She really should just contact someone at the Restoration and let them deal with him at this point, but for some reason she didn’t want to do that. “Let me help.” She offered instead. The least she could do was patch up his injuries since he didn’t really pose a threat right now. Without the Phantom Ruby at his disposal she was confident she could handle him. If it came to that.

Infinite sneered at her. “And why would you offer me help? I recognize that weapon in your hands. It’s clear we’re not on the same side.”

Whisper frowned, not that it could be seen. He did have a point. It wasn’t like he was in any real danger from his injuries just yet either. Logically it would make more sense to let someone else treat him once he was in a more contained environment. “You already lost.” Whisper decided to say instead, since she really didn’t have  a solid reason for offering help. 

“Do you find enjoyment in pointing out my failures?” Infinite growled.

“No.” Whisper was quick to clarify. She slowly moved towards him, reluctantly switching to holding her wispon in one hand. Infinite bared his teeth at her, but didn’t do much else. That was probably the closest she’d get to agreement right now. Once she was close enough she grabbed the jackal’s arm to take a look at that first. Surprisingly he didn’t try to pull away. 

Just like she’d figured from her initial glance, his injuries weren’t anything serious. Results of some sort of fight, but not against someone who was intending to really hurt. After a moment of hesitation she put her wispon down, out of Infinite’s reach but close enough she could grab it quickly if needed. He stayed oddly quiet as she did what she could to clean and bandage his injuries. It would do for now, but it would be better to use some more proper medical supplies later.

She backed away, picking back up her wispon, and held out a hand. Infinite’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the offered hand. “What game are you playing?”

“No game.” Whisper shook her head. “You can come with me, or take your chances alone.” Well that wasn’t entirely true, if he refused to go with her then that would likely be the point that she’d inform the Restoration about him. He’d probably be caught before he could even think about getting away.

Much to her surprise Infinite took her hand. His stance was shaky but he didn’t fall. “Don’t expect me to play nice with you.” He growled. “I’m only cooperating because it’s my best option.”

“Fine.” Whisper nodded. There was no reason to argue with him, especially if he was cooperating. The following walk was quiet, but Whisper honestly preferred that right now. At least Infinite didn’t try anything. She paused though as she realized she’d need to take him back to Restoration HQ. That wasn’t likely to go over well. 

She glanced back at Infinite, the jackal looked impatient. “What?” He narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it. Just follow my lead.” Whisper turned away and kept walking. If she was lucky no one would recognize him without the ruby or his mask.

Infinite was starting to believe trusting the wolf had been a poor idea. It wasn’t as if he’d had much of a choice but still. Excuse him if he was on edge while casually walking through a place full of people that would happily put him behind bars, or worse, if they looked close enough to realize who he was. Perhaps the only thing saving him was the wolf’s presence at this point. It was a minor miracle that the two managed to arrive at what he assumed was the wolf’s own dorm space without being stopped.

“You can stay here for now.” The wolf said, pushing her mask so it didn’t cover her full face. “Until I figure something else out.”

“I feel safer already.” He let the sarcasm in his voice be very clear. “How long until someone finds me and realizes who I am?”

“You didn’t have to come with me.” The wolf looked at him.

“We both know you wouldn’t have just let me walk away.” He narrowed his eyes. She simply shrugged before opening her coat allowing five different colored wisps to fly out. They all eyed him wearily, sticking close to the wolf.

The room was quiet for a while as the wolf just stood there, only half facing him. “Your wispon…” He eyed the weapon in question before looking at the wisps. “It’s different from the ones I remember seeing and you have more than one wisp with you.”

“Why does that matter?” The wolf seemed defensive.

“I suppose it doesn’t.” Infinite shook his head. “Just making an observation.”

Silence once again fell between the two of them. Perhaps he should just sit down and try to rest for a bit. “... how did you know it was different?” The wolf spoke up again once he’d sat down.

“I did pay some attention to my enemies. Knowing their weapons was crucial in making sure I was never caught off guard.” He huffed. “Even if they didn’t pose much of a threat it was better to know than not.”

The wolf gave him a thoughtful look before turning to another door. “Just don’t touch it, or them.” She gestured to the wisps that followed her. There was no time to actually give an answer though as she vanished into what must be another room. He leaned back on the couch and watched the door for a few minutes, ears twitching at each noise he could hear. He couldn’t figure her out, and that felt dangerous. Not as if he had many options though. Crawling back to Eggman was out of the question, and it wasn’t like he was really fit to be on his own right now. As much as he hated it, he was likely safest staying with the wolf for now. He closed his eyes and tried not to think too hard about it.

Infinite's ear flicked as he heard Whisper emerge from the other room. Somehow he'd remained undetected for a couple weeks now, even in the midst of his enemies. Perhaps that was why it worked though. It was entirely unexpected. 

In that time he'd also earned the privilege of the wolf's name. It was… fitting based on how she talked. He did wonder if she spoke like that to everyone. There hadn't been much of a chance to tell considering the only other person he'd got to meet here had been a lemur who introduced herself as Tangle. She was quite… excitable to say the least. It was easy to tell why her and the hedgehog got along, Tangle had wasted no time in regaling him with a tale about some adventure she'd been on with Sonic. Though he failed to understand the clearly close bond Whisper and Tangle shared. He knew barely anything about his… host though, so perhaps there was something he was missing.

For now though, he was getting sent an odd look as Whisper walked into the room. Her wisps drifted closer to what he was doing in interest, but didn’t come too close. It was progress though. For the first week they wouldn’t leave Whisper’s side when he was in the same room. “What are you doing?” Whisper asked, frowning.

“Cooking. What does it look like?” Infinite huffed. He thought it was fairly obvious, and the wolf had proven to be quite smart so far. Well if one ignored the fact she brought a known former associate of Eggman into the Resistance- sorry Restoration’s main base.

“I know that.” She looked away briefly. “But why?”

“Because risking going out to get food from your cafeteria is becoming troublesome. Your lemur friend tends to find me and draw far more attention to me than I’d like.” Infinite gave her a look over his shoulder.

“That’s… understandable.” Whisper reluctantly nodded. “Why so much though?”

Infinite flicked an ear. His reasoning felt somewhat stupid in hindsight, but he needed to give her an answer. He hummed and made a show of looking at how much food he’d prepared. “Oh? I hadn’t even noticed I’d made that much.” He looked at her. “I suppose if you’d like you can have some. Would probably just go to waste otherwise.” Whisper tilted her head slightly; it felt like she was trying to figure him out just by looking at him. Instead of continuing to subject himself to that he turned away and dished up what he made of two different plates. “Take some or not, your choice.” He moved past her.

It didn’t take long for her to join him at the small table in the room, and thankfully things stayed quiet for a while. It was hard for a conversation to start when both people were eating after all. That however didn’t stop the wisps from floating as close to him as they’d ever gotten. Clearly they were curious. Perhaps they were even reflecting the curiosity of their master. Whisper seemed focused on the meal, but he was sure she had questions. He’d be content to never have to answer them.

"It was good." Whisper said evenly once the two were finished.

"It was edible at the very least." Infinite shrugged. He tried to ignore the odd feeling that settled over him at the compliment. It wasn't important.

"You're getting better." Whisper commented after a bite.

It had become an odd routine for him to cook at least one meal for the two of them. It honestly was one of the only things he could do to keep himself from going stir crazy. Neither of them had figured out a suitable solution to their situation, so things continued on. At the very least he'd gotten comfortable. Well at least as comfortable as he could in his situation. It was sort of… nice he supposed. Even if he was very limited in what he could do. He could privately admit to himself that Whisper helped.

"Thank you." He finally answered as he cleared away the dishes. The wisps all came over to watch with some sort of fascination as he washed them. He would never understand why such mundane things seemed to intrigue them.

"I've been thinking…" Whisper started. "Maybe it would be a good idea to just tell the Restoration about you."

Infinite turned on her with narrowed eyes. The wisps floated away, nervously glancing between the two. "And just how well do you think that will go hm?"

Whisper didn't back down. "We both know someone is going to figure it out eventually. Tangle is suspicious. It would be better to come clean so they don't make assumptions."

He frowned. Unfortunately the wolf's argument was solid, and perhaps his resistance had been worn down after being stuck here so long. It scared him that he wasn't actually against the idea of working for the other side. Maybe Whisper had been more of an influence on him than he thought. 

"Perhaps you're right." He looked away, fight draining from him. "At the very least it would be better than dancing around it all."

Whisper smiled, it was small but it made Infinite's heart beat fast. "It'll work out."

"I certainly hope so." Infinite took a deep breath. "And Whisper?" Said wolf hummed. "... thank you."

Her smile grew slightly as she nodded. "Ready?" She held out her hand.