Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper Characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions.
Claimer: I own all of my original characters.
I want to make this perfectly clear…I DO NOT TOLERATE NEGATIVE REVIEWS. I never have tolerated them and I never will. If a review just plainly putting down a story or character will be deleted. I have no problem doing it and I will delete the review. The ONLY time I won't is when the review is from a member of the site so all anonymous negative reviews will be removed as soon as I see them in either my e-mail or the review section. Now when I say negative, I'm not talking about constructive criticism. I am talking about straight up putting down a story and/or character (mainly any one of my original characters.) Now with that being said, this is just a random little oneshot I thought of and I have to admit, it was a challenge to write. I don't normally write very serious oneshots but I figured I'd give it a shot. So, please read and review and let me know what you think. And if you have any story ideas you want me to try, let me know and I'll try to write them and give credit!
Unbearable Guilt
Horrible, guilty, pain, sorrow, all of these things described how I felt on the inside and it even showed on the outside. It had been weeks since the accident but the guilt was eating me alive. Everyone kept saying it wasn't my fault and not to blame myself; but I had to. My one moment of weakness almost cost me my best friends' life but as far as I was concerned, it was as if he had died. Loosing the ability to talk in our line of work was a death sentence. You couldn't be a thief and able to use your legs, it was like having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the bread! Both Bentley and Sly constantly told me not to beat myself up over this, but it was hard not to. I had left the hideout to walk around and get some fresh air in order to think properly. I needed to think about what had happened to Bentley and find a way to fix the damage that had been done.
I walked slowly down the evening streets of Paris and made my way to the river and sat on a nearby bench. The bench bent due to my weight but that didn't matter. I kept thinking about that one moment. The moment where Bentley lost his ability to walk; and it was all my fault. If I had just been quicker and stronger I could have saved him. But instead, I let the large jaws of that self-centered bird crush him. He had gone insides the jaws of the giant metal bird to get the hate chip and destroy it. But the jaws closed down on him just as he was leaving and his legs were crushed. I remember pulling the jaws off of him and running away just as the new body of Neyla exploded. Neyla, that self-centered, lying, double crossing, wench who caused the problems in the first place. If she hadn't taken over the Clockwerk frame none of this would have happened. I remembered hearing her yell at us as we ran away from her just as the Clockwerk frame burst into flames. I sighed deeply and let my head rest in my hands. I head the sounds of the river crash against the rocks and the occasional sound of a passing car somewhere in the distance.
"The elongated sigh of a guilty conscious." I looked up to where the voice had come from and I noticed Ramona, hanging upside down from a broken street lamp. Her body swayed in the breeze and I sighed again with a nod.
"You're telling me," I muttered, "I've never felt worse." I expected her to nod and be on her way but she stayed. It was a rare occasion that I would talk with the thief, that was usually Sly's department, but the few times I did talk with her it was usually insightful.
"What's on your mind? A troubled mind often leads to trouble itself, you know?" I nodded and figured I needed someone to talk to.
"It's Bentley," I said, "he's stuck in a wheelchair and it's all my fault!" I watched her eyes widen and she swung from her lamp post to where she rested on top of it. She jumped down lightly and landed silently on the bench.
"What happened?" he voice had grown quiet and her face was serious.
"Clock-La happened." I muttered.
"Oh yeah, I heard about that! I wasn't in town but I heard about the incident from Carmelita. From what she told me it was pretty bad." I nodded.
"And it's my entirely fault he got hurt! If those jaws hadn't clamed down on him he'd be fine," I sat back on the bench which started to creak.
"Well if it was the jaws that clamped down you can't blame yourself for that. What could you have done to stop it?" he head cocked at her comment and I shook my head.
"You don't understand," I said, "Do you know what it's like for that to happen to your best friend?"
"Well I don't know about a best friend but it happened to my brother," I shot her a questioned glance, "It's my fault why my younger brother lost and arm and a leg, literally. Even though they got a mechanical replacement I still felt horrible about it even months after it happened."
"How'd you get over it?" I questioned. If she could tell me how to get over the guilt I'd feel better.
"I left for a while and had to rethink everything. I had to get someone to teach me how to re-center my thoughts and I eventually felt better."
"Who did you go to? I need to know." I had to get her to tell me how she got over the guilt. The guilt I was facing was unbearable and my life was horrible at this point and I needed someway to make it all stop.
"Well," she mumbled before fumbling with a strand of her hair, "in order to do it I had to leave the city for a few months and I lost contact with everyone until I came back. So, you'd have to leave also and I don't think that Sly and Bentley would agree with that." I shook my head.
"That doesn't matter right now. I have to get this guilt off of my mind. Please, Ramona, tell me." She sighed and nodded.
"Fine, but if your friends get mad your explaining it to them," I nodded in agreement before she continued, "he lives in the Australian outback, a guru of sorts. He's strict but he'll clear your mind of any guilt."
"How?" I raised an eyebrow at her statement.
"Dreamtime." She stated simply, "He uses it to clear your mind and get your mind off things. It helped me and it might help you with the problems you're facing." I quickly pulled her into a bear hug of thanks and she groaned when I squeezed.
"I owe you one, Ramona." I hoped this dreamtime guru could help clear my mind. But Ramona was right, Bentley and Sly wouldn't be too happy with it but I had to do it. I had to re-discover myself and get my mind off of Bentley's injury.
"How about you don't kill me and I'll call it even?" I realized I had been squeezing the small female rather tightly and I released her.
"Thanks." She wheezed out as she caught her breath. And with that, she gave a nod to me and jumped back up to the broken lamp post. From there she latched onto a nearby building and started climbing. I got up from the bench and started home, ready to tell my friends of my plan to clear my mind.
And again, I'm not really used to writing serious stories but please review and let me know how I did! And again, again…I don't tolerate negative reviews so please don't leave any!