Hey guys, guess who's back? College has been taking a lot out of me.
An AU idea from misstalwyn (formerly misscarmelita) on tumblr.
Officially dubbed The "Endless Honeymoon" AU
Part 1 of 2.
Sly grunted as the hook of his cane slammed against the sturdy glass that contained them. Le Paradox continued transporting them throughout the blimp towards the front; towards their, as the skunk had so put it, "going away party". Sly swung again and again...multiple more times. The blue-haired vixen beside him watched as he tried with all his might to free the two of them. Getting them, getting her free and to safety seemed to be his primary concern. Sly let out another yell as he took another swung in vain to break the glass.
"Oh for the love of god Cooper, give it up will you? That containment chamber is far too strong for your pathetic cane." Le Paradox bragged, a hint of annoyance in his tone, as they neared the front of the blimp. Despite the madman's words, Sly whacked hard at the glass a few more times. He would have swung again if Carmelita hadn't stopped him mid-swing.
"Sly, stop. It's no use." She said, eyeing him down. All the fire and anger towards him that had consumed her for the majority of their time-traveling adventure had vanished from her expression. All that remained now was concern.
"No. I'm going to get you out of here." Sly said full of determination. He prepared to take another swing before she stopped him again, taking one of his hands in her own. Sly winced slightly at the contact. Carmelita noticed and pulled the glove from his hand, revealing red blistering flesh. A few more whacks with his cane and it would have probably started to bleed.
"You're hurting yourself, Ringtail. Stop! I mean...we've gotten out of worse scrapes than this haven't we?" She questioned, trying to find a light spot in their dark situation. Sly sighed pulling his glove back on once she had released her grip. He knew time was running out.
"Carmelita, in case we don't make it out of th-."
"Don't say that Sly, we will make it out of this! Bentley and Murray are probably right behind us. Right?"
"Yeah, but just in case...I -" Le Paradox interrupted before Sly could continue as they came to a stop. He mentally cursed himself for missing another opportunity.
"Ahh, alone at last! How cozy!"
"You want cozy? I'm going to throw you and all your friends into the same prison cell!" Carmelita growled, the fiery anger returning to her gaze.
"Ah, but no. It is the two of you of whom I am thinking. To be together...forever. Just think of it as the most romantic coffin ever!" The skunk let out a dark chuckle.
"Don't count on it Le Paradox! We've beaten all your other plans." Carmelita gave a short nod in agreement.
"Ah, but not this time I think. Look at this, my marvelous contraption:" he gestured behind them to a enormous swirling portal, "the Time Tunnel! Something else I had your little friend Penelope develop before her...unfortunate failure. It's very much like the time machine, no? With one important difference; from here I have the control over where you go, and it's programmed to send you and your Interpol shrew on an endless honeymoon. Free of charge! Bouncing through time for all eternity! That's if you survive the trip. But either way I will never have to see your irritating faces again!"
"You think this thing can hold me?" Carmelita snapped, pounding her fist against the glass. "Just wait until I get out of here!"
"Why'd you do it Le Paradox? Why the ancestors? Why not just come after me?! What's the deal?"
"The deal? The deal is you Coopers! You destroyed my father and you almost got me...but not quite. And when I rebuilt myself I swore that I would erase the Cooper name from history completely, and so today my revenge will be complete. It is time now for you to go, bon voyage!" Le Paradox pressed a button on his control panel and the containment chamber began moving towards the time tunnel.
"Sly...?!" Carmelita cried fearfully. She and Sly backed up against the end of the chamber, giving each other worried glances. The chamber inched towards the large portal, Le Paradox sat at the control panel ready send them warping through time. Sly grabbed Carmelita's hand, giving a comforting squeeze. She looked sadly into the raccoon's eyes and allowed herself to be pulled closer. The claw holding the chamber was now fully inside the tunnel.
"Sly! Carmelita!" The frantic voices of Bentley, Murray, and Tennessee called out as they burst into the room. Without hesitation Le Paradox smashed down on the button; releasing the chamber. "NO!" Sly clutched Carmelita to him protectively as the chamber fell from the claw's grasp. The three men felt their hearts sink as Sly and Carmelita's screams echoed through the time tunnel. Le Paradox stood laughing at the control panel looking incredibly pleased with himself. Tennessee turned to the turtle and hippo as he began to turn bright blue, signaling he was about to return to his own time.
"Take that good-for-nothin' skunk down boys. I reckon my time here is up." He said before disappearing into oblivion.
"Don't worry, we will. Le Paradox! Where did you send them?!" Bentley shouted him with obvious rage. The vile skunk merely shrugged.
"I don't know, they could end up anywhere, that or they'll just bounce through the vortex aimlessly forever. Either way, I no longer have to worry about Cooper or his little shrew." A sadistic grin crossed his features.
"You bring them back now! If you do, then maybe I won't smash your skull in!" Murray yelled, cracking his knuckles for emphasis.
"Even if I could bring them back, why would I do that?" Le Paradox scoffed. As quick as flash, the villain tried to strike at Bentley and Murray with the claw. They were too quick however and dodged its grasp. Le Paradox pulled back to strike again but misjudged the direction entirely; the claw hit and ripped open the time tunnel. "No!"
"You maniac! You've just torn a hole in time space! Do you have ANY idea what you've done?!" Bentley cried in disbelief as the blimp began to fall apart.
"Ah well, Cooper is out of the way for good, my revenge is still a success. Au revior, imbeciles!" Le Paradox ran towards the side of the blimp, making his escape.
"We need to go Murray!" Bentley exclaimed, wheeling himself back towards the van.
"But...what about Sly and Carmelita? Isn't there ANYTHING we can do?" Murray objected.
"I-I'll think of something, just give me time. But first things first, we've got to get back to the van, now!" Murray nodded, following the turtle off the blimp. Their thoughts clouded with what was possibly happening to their two friends.
As the chamber was sucked through the worm-hole, the thief and cop were practically glued to the glass, holding onto each other for dear life. As had happened years before - during the Cooper vault job - Sly's life flashed before his eyes. His parent's deaths, meeting Bentley and Murray, meeting Carmelita, and every moment after. Thinking back to Kaine Island, he remembered when he'd been in the clutches of Doctor M's monster. He remembered how much of a coward he'd always been towards Carmelita. That, he realized, had not really changed. He looked at the terrified vixen in his arms and made up his mind right there; he was not going to make the same mistake again.
"Carmelita, I need to tell you something, it's really important." She looked up at him.
"Well, I guess it's now or never anyways, I have to tell you something too. You go first." She sighed.
"Do you remember when we were back on Kaine Island and Doctor M had me in his monster's grip?" He began slowly.
"Of course, why?"
"Well, when that thing had me, I thought that was it. I thought for sure that I was going to die. Do you know what all my thoughts were about?"
"No..." Carmelita said, staring into his eyes.
"You. All I could think about was how much of a coward I was towards you. All the flirting, all those things I've ever said, they were real. I thought I was never going to get the chance to tell you how I really felt about you."
"Really?" Carmelita's eyes widened even more, shining bright in awe.
"Yes, and instead of telling you the truth, I took the stupid route and lied to you about having amnesia, even after it wore off."
"Wore off? You mean you really did lose your memory?" Sly nodded.
"It lasted maybe 20 minutes tops, but it was enough. After we'd gotten to safety everything came flooding back and even then I decided against telling you. It gave me the chance to be with you, without our professions getting in the way."
"Y-you kept faking your memory loss just to be with m-me?" The fox sputtered.
"Yes." Sly pulled her in closer to him, she didn't seem to object. "I love you, Carmelita Montoya Fox. I'll always be grateful for that time we got to spend together, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am sorry I lied to you though." He looked away at that moment, still slightly ashamed of his past actions. He felt her hand touch his face, making him face her.
"I'm sorry too, Sly." Sly's ears stood straight up as he quirked an eyebrow at the fox.
"Why are you sorry?"
"Because I lied too remember!?" Carmelita burst out. "I'm the one who told you that you were my partner. I'm the one that tried to turn you into something you're not. You weren't the only one who wondered if we could have something together without professional differences you know...and I'm sorry for how I've been acting towards you throughout this whole time travel thing." It was Carmelita's turn to look ashamed, turning her gaze at her feet. Sly agreed that her anger and hurt had gotten the better of her throughout this entire time traveling debacle, but he'd be lying if he said she didn't have some justification to be angry with him, he knew how her temper could be sometimes.
"Carm, you had every reason to be angry with me. You caught your supposed partner stealing, finding out that they'd been lying to you for years. I understand...and I forgive you." Carmelita smiled and without thinking wrapped her arms around the raccoon.
"I forgive you too."
"If we do somehow make it out of this, is there any chance you'd be willing to try again?" She nodded, pulling back to look him in the eye.
"I'm willing to try, just promise that there will be no more lies or secrets between us."
"You have my word as a Cooper." Sly promised before going in for the kill. He closed the remaining inches between them and brought her lips to his own. Carmelita eagerly complied. Sly grinned as the phrase, "I love you", was murmured between kisses by the Spanish fox in his arms.
THUNK!
The two of them fell apart and onto the floor of the chamber as something made contact with it. They scrambled back to their feet to try and see what had collided against them. A large piece of debris flew on past the chamber and more began flooding past them from behind.
"Le Paradox's blimp..." Carmelita said in realization. Pieces of the blimp collided with the chamber, sending the two of them flailing once again. The previously endless vortex suddenly grew brighter, a portal opening up at the end. Another large piece hit the chamber, this time cracking up a side from top to bottom. Doing some quick thinking, Sly positioned himself, aiming at the large crack in the glass as the portal got even closer, and pulled Carmelita to him. "What are you-?"
"When we're close to the ground I'll try and break us through the crack in the chamber and we can jump out." Sly quickly explained, tightening his grip on his cane and Carmelita.
"WHAT? Are you loco, Ringtail?"
"Trust me." Carmelita glanced at the portal getting closer and nodded, gripping onto the raccoon. "Keep your head down when I break the glass."
"Got it." Debris flew past them through the portal, falling out of their sight as they neared the entrance. The sunlight was nearly blinding as they passed the portal's opening.
And then they were falling... Sly positioned the two of them towards the large crack, praying what he was about to do would work. The ground got closer, large fragments of what had been Le Paradox's blimp scattered in heaps. One particularly large, hard piece was directly beneath them.
Ninety feet, Carmelita guessed, was how high the portal had dropped them from. Eighty, seventy, sixty, fifty...
Sly readied his cane to strike, making sure his grip was firm. They fell a bit further, the chunk of blimp getting closer. Ten feet...
"Now!" He and Carmelita pushed off the side straight for the crack. Carmelita ducked her head down as Sly swung hard. The crack in the chamber split wide open into a hole large enough for the two to jump through. Carmelita and Sly landed hard onto the sandy ground below, looking back just in time to see the chamber, that had once imprisoned them, shatter against the huge section of the blimp debris. If Sly hadn't broken them out, they'd have died for sure on impact.
The raccoon in question let out a small gasp of pain, Carmelita eased out of his grip to assess the damage. A large cut was visible on his left leg, blood slowly oozing out of it. She felt a few smaller cuts stinging, going up and down her arm, but nothing too bad. Carmelita cleaned as much sand and tiny bits of glass off as she could before taking her long gloves and tying them around the wound. Once the knot was secure she helped Sly to his feet. She held him up with one arm drapped around her shoulder, and the two finally took in their surroundings. Their breath hitched in their throats.
Sand went on for miles in every direction. The sun was blinding. The scorching heat practically swallowed them; making it hard to breathe, sweat already beading on their bodies. In the middle of the rubble of Le Paradox's blimp stood a very tall, and relatively new looking, monument. A regal Egyptian figure, a jackal maybe, made up the top of the building. Three pyramids were erected not far behind it. Not a sign of life to be seen anywhere."Ringtail, where, or rather, when do you think we are?" Carmelita finally managed to ask.
"From the looks of it, my guess would be somewhere in ancient Egypt." His mouth suddenly seemed dry.
"Ancient Egypt...Oh, Dios mío, ¿por qué yo?" Carmelita muttered under her breath. "Is there a chance you have an ancestor here too?" She asked hopefully.
"I do have an Egyptian ancestor, let's just hope we landed in the right time period to find him."
"Even if we find him, then what?"
"Bentley would still keeping tabs on the Thievious Raccoonus in the present day, so all we have to do is find my ancestor and leave some sort of message. Once we do that, we just have to wait for Bentley and Murray to come find us." It may not have been much of plan, but it was the only one they had. "Come on, let's hope civilization isn't too far off."