*Rewritten*
Chapter 1: A Dance to Remember
Set during Sly 2, Episode 2
The ballroom was bustling with activity; couples were taking to the floor to display their skill to the "Lord of the Hills" sitting on his gilded throne, a pair of silver wings outstretched above him, casting long shadows across the room as they blocked the light of a chandelier hanging behind them. If they weren't dancing, the occupants of the room were speaking in hushed tones, or addressing the master of the palace, filling the room with a warm ambience.
A pair of piercing green eyes darted around the room, inspecting every individual with an equal level of suspicion, due in part to their owner's agitation. The young tigress to which these eyes belonged sat in a chair of crimson velvet, nervously tapping her forefinger on the glass in her right hand as her left gripped the chair's arm. This ball, which her partner had forced her to attend, was far from the setting the Interpol officer would have preferred, nor was the revealing attire she had been stuffed into, her physical level of anxiety acting as an adequate expression of these feelings.
Neyla tilted the glass into her lips, feeling the last of the liquid within slide down her throat as she looked across the room to her vulpine partner, dressed in a lavish black gown, conversing with another of the ball's attendants. Carmelita had explicitly stated that they were not to have so much as a sip of alcohol while they were on duty and, while Neyla respected the inspector's decision, a tinge of resentment towards her rested in the back of the tigress' mind, as her only chance of relaxing at the accursed ball had been snatched away as a result.
Watching as the host of the palace rose from his throne to consult his bison associate, the anxiety began to take the better of the tigress, forcing her to her feet as she rose from her chair, prepared to silently slink onto one of the many exterior balconies for some much needed air.
Crossing the dance floor, the tigress set her glass on the bar as she approached the exit. Keeping her posture small to ensure her partner didn't notice her sudden departure, Neyla found herself standing before the golden throne and statue when she noticed something peculiar: a raccoon male, dressed in a black and blue tuxedo, strode down the carpeted stairs, an aura of confidence radiating from the smirk on his lips. Neyla noticed his thin arms as they adjusted his bowtie upon reaching the bottom step, accentuating the lean build hidden beneath the slightly baggy suit, suggesting his choice of wardrobe was a couple sizes too big. Her nervous gaze watched as the raccoon surveyed the room, before darting to a nearby portrait of the Lord of the Hills to avoid eye-contact. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the raccoon confidently strutting towards her, and stepped over to the portrait, seemingly enamoured by the depiction of her Bengal tiger host, hoping the newcomer would ignore her.
'The man sure is obsessed with himself, isn't he?' despite the smooth and sophisticated tone in his voice, Neyla was nonetheless startled when she realised the raccoon had stepped up to her left flank.
Neyla's throat quivered as she turned back to the portrait, scouring her vocabulary for the correct dialogue to use, 'Whatever do you mean?' she eventually decided, her usual false confidence imbued in her tone.
'I mean, this has got to be the fifth portrait of "Lord Rajan" I've seen since I came in here,' the raccoon explained, 'if that's not narcissism I don't know what is.'
Neyla let out a half-hearted laugh as she continued to inspect the portrait. She could feel the raccoon's gaze resting upon her form, prompting her to silently curse the attire Carmelita had forced her to wear. The raccoon was familiar, she knew she had encountered his confident aura before, but raccoons were, based on her experience, incredibly confident people, resulting in the clue being insufficient to help reach her objective of ascertaining his identity. 'You look lovely this evening, Constable,' he continued, his gaze finally moving away from her to inspect the crowd, which had noticeably increased following the conclusion of the band's latest song. Neyla was taken aback by the raccoon's compliment, confirming that he knew her, even if she didn't know him.
'I'm sorry, do I know you?' she quickly inquired, turning to look at the raccoon, her left hand raising to her hip.
The raccoon looked to her, seemingly unsurprised that she didn't recognise him, 'I used to chase after you back in Paris?' he explained, as if to spark a memory within her.
'Paris?' her gaze drifted from him as her mind scoured her memories; Neyla hadn't been to Paris in several weeks, not since she and Carmelita shut down Dimitri Lousteau's nightclub after the Cooper Gang broke in and stole the Clockwerk Tail Feathers. That was when it clicked as her gaze snapped back to the raccoon standing before her, 'Sly Cooper?' she asked in disbelief, barely masking her surprise with a casual tone, looking over to ensure Carmelita hadn't heard her outburst. 'You wouldn't, by any chance, be here to turn yourself in?' she inquired, her eye line guiding Cooper to Carmelita's location, 'Old Ironsides over there would fall out of her dress,' the thought of the mixture of excitement and aggression the inspector would display upon discovering Cooper's presence at the ball prompted the tigress to laugh, inciting a small semblance of comfort within her for the first time that evening.
'As entertaining as that sounds,' Cooper responded, following the tigress' gaze to the fox, 'I'm actually here on business. I haven't forgotten how you helped me get back the Tail Feathers at the nightclub, so I was hoping you could lend a hand again.'
Neyla looked up at the metallic wings welded to the golden statue at the front of the ballroom before looking back to Carmelita, 'So you want the wings,' she deduced as she looked back to Sly, 'and you want me to help deal with Carmelita.'
The band began to pick up once again as Sly smirked, 'More or less,' he confirmed, holding out his hand, 'care to dance?'
The comfort within her departed as she instinctively stepped back, 'I, uh, I don't really do dancing,' she insisted.
Sly raised an eyebrow as he reached forward and took her hand, 'Relax,' he cooed, guiding her onto the dancefloor, 'it's easy, I'll show you.' Neyla could feel the anxiety building within her as the raccoon pulled her to the centre of the room.
Sly spun to face her, positioning her slightly to his right as he rested his hand on her lower back, holding her right in his left before lifting her left to his shoulder, 'Do you know how to dance at all or-'
'It's not that I don't know,' she interjected, blushing slightly as she looked away, 'it's just that I'm not the greatest when it comes to this kind of setting.'
'We're not exactly alone out here Neyla,' he noted, prompting the tigress to acknowledge all of the couples who had begun to dance, 'so don't worry.' Despite her nerves, Neyla looked to the raccoon and smiled, straightening her back as he pulled her slightly closer.
'Now, just follow my instructions and you'll be fine,' he promised, slightly bobbing his head to get a feel for the tempo. Once he was ready, Sly softly called out instruction upon instruction as they began to move, their display increasing in complexity with each lap of the dancefloor, never once stopping. Neyla's confidence in the art slowly grew, gradually replacing the anxiety that had shaken her for the majority of the evening with a feeling of contentment. Despite her increasingly lax mood, a thought rung through her mind as she laid eyes on Carmelita, who had cut off her conversation to watch their dance.
'Are you doing this just to get at Old Ironsides?' she asked as they concluded their third lap of the dancefloor, spinning around Cooper as they restarted their routine.
Sly, who had fallen silent upon deciding his instructions were no longer necessary, sheepishly looked away, 'Uh, yes I am,' he confirmed, his confidence seeming to wane somewhat, 'sorry if that offended you.'
'No, no, it's fine,' the tigress quickly replied, hoping to reassure her dance partner, 'I mean, you won't be getting those wings with her on patrol,' Sly laughed slightly before turning his focus back to the dance, falling silent once more. Neyla, by comparison, was not so easily focused, her mind was attempting to stamp out the spark of envy that had begun to flicker at the back of her mind, but no matter what she did, no matter how much she attempted to remind herself that, to Sly, getting at Carmelita was just a job, the spark would not extinguish.
Neyla let out a slight yelp as Sly dipped her to signify the end of the dance, her heart partially racing from excitement, though primarily from the energy she had exhausted. Sly lifted the tigress back up to her feet, paying no mind to the crowd that slowly stepped off the dancefloor as he raised her hand to his lips, lightly kissing it. Neyla blushed as her anxiety returned, desperately avoiding his eye-contact so as to prevent him from noticing, 'Uh, t-thank you,' she stammered, forcing her blood pressure back into her control as she looked to him, 'that was delightful.'
'Oh no, thank you Neyla,' Sly replied, taking her arm as he walked over to the bar, 'after all, it takes two to tango.'
'Yes,' Neyla's eyes darted over to Carmelita, who was sitting at the bar, watching with a raised eyebrow, 'and three is always a crowd.' Sly's attention altered to Carmelita as the two came to a halt, allowing them to inspect the menu.
'Your friend here is quite an accomplished dancer,' Carmelita noted, rising from her chair to speak with the pair.
'I mean, of course,' the tigress retorted before ordering a drink from the bartender, 'I tried to make him look good.'
Carmelita lightly snorted, 'Don't flatter yourself Neyla,' she laughed, 'his skills far surpass yours.'
'Now, now Miss,' Sly interjected, addressing Carmelita in the hopes of stopping the aggression from rising beyond passive, 'Neyla was more than a suitable partner, and I would never want anyone to say I'm better than her, because that's far from true.' Neyla looked down at the counter to hide her reddening face as a glass of ginger beer was set before her, which she gladly took before looking away to resume her inspection of the room. Looking past the bison mid-conversation with Lord Rajan, and the crowd of people who had begun another dance, Neyla looked to one of the balconies overhead, laying eyes on a parrot resting within a mechanical birdcage. A moment passed in which the two stared at one another, and Neyla sighed, taking a sip of her drink as she began across the room.
'It was nice seeing you,' she called back to Sly, looking back only slightly as she progressed to the stairs, beginning her ascension, all under the piercing gaze of the yellow and green parrot.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the tigress made a hard right as she approached the balcony, upon which she found the parrot, who had neglected to turn to face her. 'It truly warms my heart to see you so comfortable Neyla,' the parrot noted in his sophisticated, yet arrogant, tone, 'I know not the last I saw you so relaxed.'
'So now you're spying on me,' the tigress retorted before ingesting a quarter of the remaining liquid in her glass, 'can't I ever just have a night to myself Arpeggio?'
The mechanisms of the birdcage wheezed with effort as the device pivoted, enabling the occupant to look upon the tigress, 'You are here on a mission my dear,' he commented, 'I don't see why I shouldn't be keeping an eye on you; should I let you out of my sight, you might get ideas.'
Neyla growled, slowly reaching for the whip that could be found at her waist, only to silently scold herself upon realising she had failed to bring her only weapon, thereby leaving herself completely defenceless against her mentor, 'I'm not your pet Arpeggio,' she snapped, 'you don't need to treat me like one.'
Arpeggio heartily laughed at the response, 'My, my, aren't we feeling rebellious this evening?' he questioned as his gaze drifted off to the side, 'would you be a dear and take care of that for me?'
Neyla registered the sound of several soft, spindly, footsteps directly behind her. Before the tigress could react, two vicious claws latched onto her arms and spun her around, exposing her to a vibrant mixture of colour. She heard the sound of glass shattering at her feet as she futilely attempted to break free of the spider's grip, the colours blinding her to anything outside of the empty eyes before her. The agonising process continued for a matter of seconds before suddenly cutting out, leaving Neyla with nothing but darkness.
