The Last True Crime

A Sly Cooper fan fiction by Tex-Hempioro

Disclaimer: Sly Cooper, Carmelita Montoya Fox, Bentley, Murray, and other characters, settings, and events concerning all three games are owned by the Sucker Punch Company. Any future original characters and plot line belong to me.

This fan fiction is dedicated to you, the readers, as well as all Sly Cooper fans. I hope you enjoy reading the first chapter and future chapters to this story.

Chapter 1: A Box of Tissues

The glowing face of the white moon in the dark sky cast its silver rays into the apartment building near downtown Paris. At this hour, the street lamps had been doused to give those who wished for sleep to have it undisturbed. A tall shadowy form crept closer to the open window and was preparing to leap down to street level; in his right paw he clutched a long slender pole that bore a curved tip. From the brim of his blue cap, he took another long look at the curvaceous form under the sheets behind him. The slumbering female had her back turned to him in the bed, unaware that she had noticed he had gotten up.

As the shady form lifted his foot to step onto the window sill, his sharp ears twitched to a sound of a mechanical clicking noise. "Don't you dare move," the feminine voice behind him spoke. "Step away slowly and turn around." The form stepped into the moonlight; his gleaming brown eyes were the first to be revealed.

"Carmelita, I've been rubbing off on you. I didn't even hear you get out of bed." He sat down the cane to lean against the wall and placed his gloved paws up in a defensive manner. The red fox tightened her grip on the bright red pistol that the raccoon was all too familiar with.

"I knew it," she spoke, hurt clear in her voice. "I knew it was too good to be true. Here I thought my dream became reality, I had you off the streets causing grief all over the world for me to play catch up. I had you join Interpol, I had you become a model citizen, god dammit you were a law abiding cop!"

"Carmelita, please-

"Don't you dare 'Carmelita' me; you have stepped across a fine line, ringtail!" Sly didn't respond he had no right to argue with her. She took a deep breath and placed both paws to steady the pistol she gripped. "You toyed with my emotions again by tricking me with your damned romantic ways, and like the idiot I was I believed nearly every word of it." She turned her head away, unable to look square into those damned brown eyes of his.

She had gotten lost in those eyes before, ever since they shared their first true kiss on that balcony in the star light. Now here he was, standing before her, his usual happy go lucky smirk lost in his expression and instead replaced by a look of complete guilt and shame. For the longest moment he stood there, silent as the wind that blew through the open window behind him. He drew a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Carmelita, you need to understand, I lied to you so that we could be close. I know it was wrong to hide all this from you, but if I told you I would give up my life as a thief it would just be another lie. Your whole family generation after generation was an enforcer of the law as mine were thieves."

He pulled off his cap and placed it over his heart as he took a few steps closer to Carmelita. She placed her pistol in between them and pushed the barrel against his chest. "You said you loved me once" she whispered in her alluring Latin accent. "You said the very words to my face. I saw no false meaning in your eyes, and yet here you are, wearing those cloths...holding that cane."

"Carmelita, I promised you," he brought his paws into hers and placed the shock pistol on the nightstand. "I promised you that I wanted us to be together. I never have broken a promise before in my life, and I'm not going to start now by breaking it to the woman I love. I have to do this; I have to see that the work I started would be finished...so that you can be safe. But remember something, remember my promise to you and that my heart will always belong to you."

She slid her paws out of his and turned away. Carmelita wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered, though it wasn't from the cold night air. "You have no heart." Her look could melt steel. She turned away, only to be turned around again as Sly wrapped his paw around her wrist and brought her palm to his chest, feeling the thumping of his heart beat.

"I do have a heart, Carmelita, and it only beats for you."

"Just go, I'm sure I'll see you again soon enough. Remember this ringtail, until you're caught, I'll always make sure the safety's off." He leaned close to plant one last kiss on her cheek. Thinking it would be the last honest kiss she would receive, the red fox turned her head so that his lips landed on her own. Despite it all, she enjoyed it, and it made her sick to her stomach and weak in the knees.

She tore away from him and avoided his eyes again. She motioned to the open window with a jerk of her head, her dark blue hair swaying as she did so. Sly replaced the cap squarely on his head, covering the spiky tufts of grey hair above his brow and grabbing his cane. He jumped up onto the window sill and glanced behind him one last time. "It only beats for you, Carmelita Montoya Fox."

"Just go..."

He nodded his head and whispered "As you wish" before he leapt out the window, landing on the tiled roof of a building and sliding down the slope. At the edge of the roof, he kicked off and soared through the air, twirling in midair and landing on the top of a lamp post with the tips of his toes. Carmelita watched through the window at the raccoon's acrobatic display before he sprinted down the street and out of sight.

"You'll always prefer that cane of yours before me won't you, criminal?" She stepped away from the window and closed it shut. Placing her shock pistol into the holster insider her brown jacket that hung on the hook by her front door, she walked into the bathroom and grabbed the half full box of tissues and sat back down on the bed. The fox pulled out the thin piece of paper and dabbed around her eyes as she sniffed and continued to look through the transparent body of the window. She didn't know how long she sat there; she didn't bother to glance at the clock by her bed and continued to pull out more tissues until the box was hollowed out.

After tossing the last crumpled up piece of flimsy cloth, she lay back down and rested her head against the pillow. She shivered as she pulled the sheets over her body, realizing she wouldn't have a warm body to snuggle up against this night. Her light flow of tears caused her eyelids to grow heavy and sleep came a little easier for her.

As she slept, the dark, shadowed pathways of the street were easily navigated by the quiet, agile raccoon that stormed down the sidewalk and climbed up onto a random roof of a small home via another light pole. He sprinted across the tiled surface and leapt through the air and somersaulted onto another flat roof. Sly jumped up to the chimney and sprang up to grab the ledge of a taller building where he finally ceased his sprinting and leaned up against a viscous stone gargoyle. His chest heaved as the grey animal sucked air into his lungs and wiped the perspiration from his brow. Sly brought a paw to his face as he felt a stream of tears escape from his eyes.

He looked down from his seat high above the assortment of cars flying back and forth on the black strip of asphalt that was streaked by double yellow lines. He glanced down at the direction he ran from to look at the apartment complex with its window ajar. His ears fell flat as he watched the shadowed form of a woman walked back into her room and close the window. "I'm sorry," he whispered with the blowing wind. "But I can't let this go unfinished."

He felt a soft vibration in the red holster strapped to his left leg and unbuckled the flap to it. The raccoon reached inside and placed the buzzing blue binoc-u-com to his eyes. A small visual screen came to life and the green face of Bentley appeared, his blue helmet strapped to his head. "Do you read me, Sly? I'm getting some static, are you responding from a high area again?"

"Yeah, Bentley, I hear you loud and clear." Sly's usual optimistic sounding voice seemed hollow and empty to the turtle.

"How'd she take it?" he asked, covering his mouth to stifle a yawn.

"I'm not sure," the raccoon shook his head. "I've seen her upset before, but this is different." He paused for a moment and then tired to change the subject. "So, do we have a plan, pal?"

"Yes, I've talked it over with Murray on his cell phone. He's on a plane headed for our location. We'll pick him up tomorrow morning at the airport and get down to business."

"And what about Penelope, is she up to speed on the details?"

"Affirmative, I'll send my RC chopper to deliver our current location to you. No need to worry about transportation for the objective, Murray already took care of it." Sly couldn't help but brighten up and chuckle at his friend's obsession with the Cooper gang's van. Bentley lurched forward from a loud sneeze and readjusted his glasses. The raccoon's ear twitched as he heard the flapping of small rotating propellers.

The miniature red RC helicopter hovered above Sly as he reached out and snatched the little piece of paper, reading the dark blue ink that was etched on its surface. He placed his binoc-u-com back to his eyes and spoke into it. "I've got it; I'll head over there now."

"See you in a bit, pal. Glad to have the gang back together again."

"Yeah...I am too, buddy." He replaced the blue binoculars in the red holster on his thigh and stepped to the edge of his perch. Leaning forward on the tips of his toes, he spread his arms away from his body and leaned forward to free fall from the tall building he sat upon. Feeling the wind rush against his body as he fell, he reached out with his cane and hooked onto a cloths line. He pulled down on the line and flung himself several feet into the air, clutching a flag pole and watched as the red white and blue segments of the French flag flapped in the wind.

He took one last glance below and blew a kiss to a distant apartment complex. "Until we meet again my love," he whispered under the noise of the flapping fabric of the flag. "I promise to come back to you." And with that, he held the cane in his mouth as he slid down the pole and stuck to the shadows, steadily moving towards his destination.

Author's note: How'd I do? Did you like it? Give me your opinions please, I want to hear them. Though I haven't a clue what will happen throughout the story, I will try my hardest to develop a good plot that will entertain you and want you to continue reading. That is my goal, to entertain you and develop something that you will enjoy to read. R&R, give me your opinions, I'm all ears.