A/N: Just another one shot lol, this one is a different view on Sly Cooper's life in general

In The Dark I Shall Rise...

In The Light I Shall Die...

The Change Of Life...Kills Me.

_-GoddessOfYingandYang-_

You Were Right

Cooper was never one to be so rash in life changing decisions, nor was he ever one to be in a position of such weak degree. He was alone. Sly Cooper had nothing left. That's all he could think, that's all he could feel in his heart. Emptiness. Everyone had left, and he…was all alone… He couldn't think this way; he was a brave, cunning, and suave thief…right?

Breathing a hard breath into his paws, and rubbing them together, the raccoon stood silently, without a word, in the parking lot of an abandoned place of business. The place before had been an old bar, a place that the raccoon didn't prefer to remember. It was the stage for his greatest faults, and that was enough to make him want to look away from it in anger.

People judge to quickly; the raccoon was a thief yes, yes, he did come from a long line of thieves. Though did they ever think that maybe, just maybe, he was just like them? He may have had a different background growing up, but that did not deny the fact of him having emotions, going through things, and living life. Sure he was a thief, but at one point he was a teenager.

He had hormones, acne, and the whole nine yards. Though his dad being an international thief didn't really help that. In fact, Sylvester despised his father. Of course he respected him as well in a twisted sort of way, a way that nobody in his or her right mind would justify as sane. Of course, how could somebody like him be sane? After all he was a teenage thief.

Growing up…it's hard. He had it harder. Still going through what all teenagers go through, he had more things piled on top. Sometimes he would jokingly refer to it as the, "Leaning Tower Of Pisa" which made a whole lot of sense as an 'inside' joke. Lying about it became an art form over the years; perfected and mastered to the highest degree…heck he deserved a medal!

The whole Cooper Clan thing wasn't important to him growing up; when he was growing up, all that was important was getting away from his dad. That was his mission, stay away from dad, stay away from Connor Cooper. The raccoon had respect for him, and somewhere deep down inside of himself, he loved him, but…there are two sides to every emotion, especially for Sly Cooper.

Life had grown on him, those were the old feelings, and those were the old days. Though standing in front of the old place were a gang of rebels used to hang out, namely him, being one of the members…brought back those memories. Silently he wished that this was a nightmare, that none of this was true, that he was dreaming and asleep in his bed…but no.

He was in a parking lot, waiting for friends that he'd given up at age 16. Waiting to be picked up, and once again whisked away into their charades. They probably didn't even care about their history, they never really did. All they cared about was the every day survival of the wild parties from the nights before. No doubt they were going to a party tonight, and no doubt Sly was going whether he liked it or not.

This was his entire fault, so he didn't complain. The gang had left after the Kaine Island incident, and no, not just because they couldn't 'find' him. The raccoon had gotten a blast to the stomach, but he'd been getting them the whole fight! That's what those stupid reporters said, "Sly Cooper is currently in a coma from a shock blast to the stomach, and is currently stable."

No. He'd gotten a blast to the stomach yes, and it was for Carmelita, again, yes. What made the whole thing a lie however was the fact he was in a hospital, or anywhere near Miss. Fox. After he was shot, he simply left. That was it. Simply left Carmelita tailing behind him in awe; he'd been hurt and was in pain, but pressed on for the sake of finding his team.

Though all he got…was a note.

A stupid flimsy piece of paper explaining that they'd gotten a new leader…

How is that possible? Getting a new leader while YOUR leader is on a heist? Your on some island, and nobody but the gang your in is on it, plus the guards of the bad guy, how do you find a leader?

Apparently…the leader was found within the gang why Cooper was gone.

Dr. M was one smart guy, and to his grave had ruined the raccoon's life. That baboon had made Bentley so angry, so mad at the Coopers, that he'd left the raccoon stranded on some island with a bunch of cops, no boat, and taken his gang along with it as icing on the cake. Greatest friend dump in history; Bentley was usually level headed, maybe all the years of growing apart made him snap.

The note read this simply,

To Sly,

We've had some great times…but their over…sorry but there's somebody else in charge now.

From the gang

What hurt Sly most about it, was the fact they thought he was a leader. He never wanted them to look at him as a leader. Always, he stressed the importance of making everything equal! Murray, and Bentley always got a fair share of the cash, they split it even for gosh sakes. That didn't seem to be their thoughts on the subject, so that was the end of that whole thought.

After the gang left him stranded, the thing you would expect to happen, happened. Carmelita finally captured Sly Cooper. No, she didn't get him checked on by medical professionals; that was a hoax to make Interpol look good. All he got to see was the judge, and the wall of a prison cell. His feelings for her and all love was crushed, thrown in a trashcan, and burned.

So he lost everything one night…so what?

He'd lost a lot in his life after all. The raccoon had his dignity torn from him, had been betrayed so badly that it left scars in his mind, had been beaten by his own family, and so many other things that should have broken him a long time ago. Though somehow being in a jail cell made his life miserable; the raccoon couldn't live, couldn't busy himself, he was left to his thoughts.

The thoughts he had weren't like most. Nightmarish, hellish thoughts raged in his brain. He couldn't dispose of them, couldn't dismiss them, because for the fact it was his life. The thief had a cover story with Interpol, they released to the public that he'd gone into the orphanage at age 7, no. The Cooper had been at least 15 when he'd been sentenced to the orphanage.

Quickly he'd made friends with two other children belonging to thief blood. Bentley, and Murray. The hippo's dad was a violent car thief, and was caught, shot on sight more so, and died shortly after. Bentley's thief line came from both his parents; they hacked into the government security, and simply took whatever they needed, sold secrets, ECT. They were sentenced to death for crimes against the nation.

The Cooper's however were not violent as far as Sly could tell. The only one who'd ever been violent was his father, the only exception. Nobody saw it but Sly. Nobody got beaten every night; nobody was the son of an alcoholic single father. Connor had changed after Maria died. Before her death he'd acted as if he loved his only son, afterwards true colors showed.

To ease the pain of staying at home with an abusive father, the raccoon found comfort in the streets in which he lived. Soon enough, he found a gang, not his own gang, but a gang he joined. It was a very rule guided gang; you had to prove yourself with stupid stunts, and death defying acts against the law. Of course Cooper excelled at this, and was quickly accepted.

The gang was close, but they were also divided at the same time. The rules stated that the members had to protect each other, and especially protect the leader of the group, Smithy James. Smithy made the rules, and who ever didn't follow them got to face his legendary beat down. This of course was him simply having his boys grab you while he beat the crap out of you with brass knuckles.

You weren't out of the gang unless you died, or if you ran away. Gang members who ran away were usually caught and killed soon afterwards. The Cooper didn't realize all of this until he was already in the gang; everything the rules stated made the master thief want to barf. They were crude, and barbaric rules…but what worked, worked. Every rule got them more wealth, and health.

Not so much health…

One of the rules was being a drugie. This rule was very easy for the young Cooper to pull off; the ease of being completely oblivious to the world was a gift. That's the way he saw drugs, a gift. He didn't have thoughts about his dad, didn't have to face reality, and could casually stroll along lives path without a care in the whole world. This opinion changed over the course of time, and he gave the stuff up after he…ran away.

Cooper was the first one in the history of the gang to run away, and live. They hadn't caught him yet, and it seems tonight they'd catch him. Though he wanted to be caught. He wanted to smoke again, wanted to block out life. They were right in the end it seemed, right about life being a total waste of time, that nobody would ever give a thief in the hood a chance at real life.

So many times…

So many times he tried proving that theory wrong, so many heartfelt ways. Getting a job was the first step; nobody hired him. Though he was young, he tried for jobs that usually accepted younger people. Most thought it was cute for a small child to be wanting to work for five dollars a day, though if it was a child of a thief bloodline, opinions veered off in a completely different direction.

Brushing away the thought of a job, assuring himself that he was just to young, he decided to try dating. Maybe a woman could straighten him out. So, he ventured into the classy part more so the middle class part of town. The reason he saw it as classy, was for the fact they actually had things. Swing-sets in his part of town were just trash swinging from a flimsy cracking rope.

The adventure didn't last long. Girls would laugh at him, would say hurtful things about the way he looked, how he dressed, and were he came from. Shrugging it off, he collected bottles off the street; buying clothes with the little money he had, plus getting his hair cut, plus a new pair of shoes, he went back. This time the girls simply stuck their noses in the air, and called him trash.

It didn't help when he got home that day either. His dad beat him again, then took his new clothes, shoes, and then cut his hair horribly. So he gave up hope once again, and blended back into the shadows with his fellow gang members. It didn't take long for him to fall back into the groove of things; it also didn't take long before Clockwerk murdered his dad.

Things changed again.

Forced into the orphanage he lost his vision of the whole gang rules again. However when he got out, along with his new friends, the gang insisted, more so demanded, he came back. How could he return to that, when he had his whole life in front of him? Soon that too was tarnished; he figured out after going to about fifty places of business, that he was getting hired because of him being a thief.

Picking himself off the ground, along with his shattered hopes, he moved on to do what he was meant to…be a thief. The two friends agreed quickly, and quit their 2-dollar a day jobs also being in the same situation as their raccoon friend. Then they formed the gang, and went on going on adventures and such…stealing from criminals…you know the whole long and rough story.

Soon enough Kaine Island happened.

After being sentence to life in prison, he escaped like expected from most people. It was easy to do so, and even easier to leave all the people who mocked him in the dust of the past. To think…he'd dedicated his life to proving the theory of people never changing was a lie, and that they could accept him. A cold slap to the face is what he got, a punch to the face…

So the raccoon returned to his old life again, this time truly broken of any hope to ever have a normal life. All his opinions were drowned, all his ideals crushed, all dreams burnt to a crisp, and all love for anybody tarnished. Everything that the gang he'd run way from said would happen…happened.

As the car pulled up…the raccoon felt fear rise.

Fear of what they would do…

Fear of how they would say I told you so…

Fear of everything…

The leader simply stepped out of the car, strode up to him, and punched him in the face. Knowing he fully deserved this the raccoon didn't dare make a noise as he fell backwards in front of the group's leader. Smithy loomed over him and pressed a foot adding a lot of pressure before speaking in a venomous tone, "I was right, wasn't I, Coop?"

The nickname stung…he hated that nickname…hated being a part of this gang…hated everything!

Though…he'd lost all hope for life…so why not just submit?

Nodding slowly the raccoon looked into the eyes of the 'I told you so' dull brunette eyes of the leader. Hesaintly the boss removed his foot, and bent over giving a hand to the raccoon. The thief looked at if for a moment; if he took it…it meant he was back in the gang, meant that they were right all along, meant…he'd wasted his life believing people could view him in a different way.

Taking his hand was the beginning of a same old worn story, one he should have stuck to. Bitter irony, bitter irony… Here he was about to make the same decision that he'd always returned to. To live under rules of another man, and to just avoid life to all extents. Why hadn't he just stayed, and never, ever, gave those people a chance? He always knew that some day, deep down inside, that he'd return to this…always knew…

Smithy gave a crooked grin as his hand was laid out in front of Sly. The leader always knew that he'd return as well it seemed, and always knew that the raccoon would come crawling back broken to his doorstep, "Your not going to kill me?" The suave voice cracked in anxiety.

"Of course not." Smithy's teeth showed as he smiled once again, "I knew that you'd come back one of these days, and I'm sure you did too."

The look on the raccoon's face was that of a broken man… "How come you didn't tell me?"

The boss paused, "I wanted to see if maybe you could prove me wrong…but as always, I'm right."

Grabbing his hand, the boss lifted him up, and patted him on the back before ushering him into the smoke filled car.

Obviously people couldn't see him a different away, obviously people couldn't change, and obviously they couldn't give Sylvester James Cooper a chance.

After lighting it, he put a cigarette in his mouth and inhaled a large breath full of poison, "You were right." He whispered to Smithy, "You were right."

I Do Not Own Sly Cooper Characters Sucker Punch Does...