Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper. Everything else is fictional.
Bandage Face
"You know what I heard?" says Ricky Cooper, a distant cousin from the city of New York.
"What?" I ask as we watch our cousin Salmer Cooper from Australia chat away to my parents. His bandages begin to loosen and we move our head in closer to see if we can catch his face; sadly he notices his bandages loosen and fixes his problem. "Darn it; thought we'd see what he looks like."
"Yeah, but you what I heard about our cousin Salmer? I heard his face is blank as a concrete slab."
"I call bull on that Ricky, he's probably got a face. Maybe it's all burnt up from that one job he did back in Africa back in the early forties, the whole police did set fire to his house after all."
"Actually, I heard he burnt his house himself. Only I do recall hearing from Javak Cooper from Egypt that he saw his face once."
"I call bull again, but what did he say anyways about the face."
"Well, he told me his face is that of a zombie's."
"So, are you saying that our cousin Salmer is undead? I have to call bull for a third time, but that would be cool to have an undead cousin."
"Well he is sixty years old."
"Ricky, just cause he's sixty doesn't make him undead."
Salmer looks at us with our parents, who wave us over and we jump off the swing to join them. Yes, that's the beginning of our family reunion of Cooper's from all over the world. Salmer Cooper has to be one of the most mysterious/shut-in of our family tree, but I still saw him once in a while before Clockwerk broke my life, which is a good and bad thing. My parents that day put on an act of being friendly, but in reality their feelings towards him weren't great. Why? On some of his missions he did dark deeds to get what wanted, or so the stories go. My parents forbid me to ever ask what he did to get some of his possessions. One night something would happen that would give me the truth about Salmer…
"It's been a pleasure seeing you two after so long," my cousin Salmer says to my parents.
"Not at all, it's always good to see that you're still up and about after retiring from the business," replies my dad, who shakes my relative's hands, which also have bandages around them.
"Well, I'll see you all later because if I don't leave now I'm going to miss my flight," Salmer looks at me and I can see him attempting to smile even though I can't see his face; I hide behind my dad, listening to him chuckle in a kind way. "I'll see you later Sly, and may I say I can't wait to see you again whenever that may be."
"Say goodbye Sly," says my mother.
"Bye," I blurt out quickly and hide my face behind my dad.
"Shy guy isn't he? Well, I can't wait to see you become a master thief like your parents and every other Cooper," my bandage-up relative says.
My cousin Salmer walks to his car and gets in, only his car won't start. He looks at us, and scratching his head while coughing nervously. "My car won't start."
I can see my parents face go white, but my dad quickly says, "Did you forget to fill it with gas? I can take you into town to get some."
"No, I filled it this morning," replies my cousin from Australia.
"Maybe the battery needs a charge," my mother says in a nervous tone.
"Possibly, do you have jumper cables? I can have someone tow it in and have a mechanic look at it," Salmer answers while scratching the back of his head attempting to figure out the problem.
"What about your flight?" I blurt out, which makes all heads focus onto me; I wish I hadn't said a thing.
"We can give him a lift," my dad tells me. I swear his heart almost gave out at the thought of our relative missing his flight.
My cousin Salmer looks at the wristwatch on his arm. "It's leaving in ten minutes."
"Crap," my dad hisses, but he quickly looks at his car and at my bandage relative. "Come on, I'm giving you a lift."
"Well, let me get my bags into the car and then…" Salmer starts, but my dad cuts in before he can finish rather rudely.
"It's ok, well mail your bags to you just get in the car."
My relative replies calmly, yet with a hint of surprise. "Ok, that works too."
The two leave, but in half an hour they're back. My dad's face is red with anger, but I can see him attempting to keep his cool.
"What's happened?" my mother shouts, but she knows what went wrong.
"He-He missed his flight," my dad answers through his teeth.
"How is he going to get home?" I say, and again all eyes fall on me, which makes me look away in shame for asking.
"I'm afraid he's going to be staying with us for the night, he spent the rest of his money on another flight back to his home for tomorrow," my dad replies with a heavy sigh.
"I-I see, well, um-I'll get the couch set up then," my mom says; her eyebrows twitch.
"I'll need a lift in the morning, but thanks all around," replies my cousin Salmer and in that instant the sky, which had had a setting sun now has gone dark, but the lights for our house are on and I can see my relative's shadow stretching out a few feet towards mine due to the positions we're at…
Night; man's great foe and a child's greatest fear until he's ready to look under the bed, and find there is no boogeyman. Only, a monster had come to visit, my cousin Salmer Cooper and on that night I'd dig to find out the truth as to what he looked like…
"Got to be quiet, got to be quiet," I kept whispering to myself as I went down the stairs very slowly. I round a corner and see my uncle sleeping with the covers on his body. "There he is."
I continue down, thinking and wondering what my relative could be: a man who went through a horrible time and now must hide his face, bad burns from a fire back in the old days, a zombie face pops into my head, or maybe he's an alien from outer space. The curiosity gave me a mixture of chills and excitement. I'd know something about the family member who lives alone, cut-off from everyone else, unless he wants to be in contact with his flesh and blood.
I'm facing him, he breathes in and out slowly. The mysterious figure is fast asleep on his bed with a visitor that's come to see him; only the stopper by is going to risk taking a look at why he hides his identity. However, as I reach for his bandages he grabs my hand with his right and I let out a scream.
"What do you think you're doing Sly?" my cousin Salmer growls.
"I-I…" my voice trails off in terror as he rises up and lifts me off the ground like a little doll; his strength is incredible.
He shifts so he has the neck of my pajamas, we're face to face and I can hear him breathing heavy from rage. "There are some things you should never do Sly Cooper, and one is never touch my bandages."
I hear my parents bust out of the room, then move around the corner and down the stairs, but freeze upon the scene; they're full of terror. My relative looks at them, and from my best guess his eyes are burning with a level far above irritation.
"Your son snuck down to pull off my bandages," my cousin screams so loudly it must've gone out of the room because a car alarm goes off. Strange how his voice had made the vehicle do so.
"We're very sorry about that, just put him down and we'll give him a talking to," my mother replies moving slowly as not to cause any panic with the up and awake wild fiend, who holds the poor innocent soul in his grip.
Salmer shifts his head back to mine and lets out a laugh. "Why deny the child's curiosity of what his relative looks like? I say let him see for himself."
"No!" my dad screams, but too late my cousin is unwinding the bandages.
My breathing quickens and I find that his face-what he looks like, is not there. In fact, his whole head is gone.
"I have no appearance, you know why Sly? It's because a voodoo doctor cursed me with no visible form for my crime, robbing him," I begin to cry and he let's out a growl. "Knock it off, you're a Cooper like me and our blood doesn't shed tears out of fear."
"Stop it! You're being a monster!" my dad screams.
"Let me go! Please!" I whine.
He pulls me forward and I can feel his nose touching mine. "Now you know, satisfied?"
Salmer Cooper drops me to the floor. I can't see it but I sense an evil grin has come across his face.
My mom runs over to me, and shields herself from my mad cousin. "You're a monster! A fiend from hell!"
"No," my relative answers through his teeth. "I'm a Cooper, a true thief who steals because that's the only way to live in a world that'll burn itself down sooner, or later."
"Come on Salmer! I'm going to drive you to the airport! You're not staying here anymore, in fact you're never welcomed back," my father screams.
"Fine, but first I'm going to get my bags and don't worry about the car! You can sell it for all its worth! With my money I can always buy another!" my cousin barks and off the pair go outside.
My mom leads me upstairs back to my room, only she says one thing to me I remember if I ever I think of Salmer Cooper. "You're not to tell anyone, you hear? No one is ever to know about him, no one but us!"
Well, although I made that promise long ago I couldn't help but say something. He's part of the dark family tree. He's not be a Cooper to me, or anyone that knows the truth about him, only he will be forever by blood whether I like it, or not. Looking outside at the night sky-I swear his presence is with me even though he died from what I hear, during Clockwerk's hunt for my family. Well, my minutes are up by the look of the clock on the wall. Same time tomorrow, doctor?