Confliction

Disclaimer: I don't own Sly. If someone said I did, they lied. The only ones I own are the ones you don't recognize.

AN: I know I'm still writing Mercy and Blazing Hearts but I saw no problem in starting a new fiction since I just finished Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. I'll still be updating my other fictions. The end just left such an opening for a fiction so I had to write it. I've never written a Sly Cooper fiction before so I hope you all enjoy this. Also, so you know, Carmelita is my favorite character and thus this story will focus mostly on her.

Summary: Carmelita finds out the truth about Sly and never wants to see him again. Now, a year later, someone is killing off the Fox's. Not wanting Carmelita involved in this case, the chief sends her away, much to her disapproval. The last Fox, other than herself is her little sister. To save her sister, Carmelita will have to set aside her black and white views and learn to see things in a new light.

**EDIT** Re-reading through this so I might finish up my latest chapter, I spotted more than a few errors through here that I missed before. I only fixed one glaring error and one typo. The one misspelling of Desiree's name and when I said Sly would go upstairs and then he actually went downstairs. I thought of revamping the entire thing, but decided against it as I like how it shows the progress in my writing. However I couldn't let that go in all good conciousness.

Lies, Trickery, Pain… Confliction

It was wonderful. Carmelita never felt so happy… since she stopped trying to catch Sly she was calmer… more at peace. Granted she only felt this peace because the infamous Sly Cooper had managed to hit his head and get amnesia.

She told him he was her partner when he asked who she was. Yes, she had lied. And she felt slightly guilty about it, but it was necessary. What kind of person would she be if she threw a man in jail and he didn't know what he did wrong?

As far as she was concerned she did the right thing. Sly was a different man now. He was a good man on the right side of the law now. How could anybody argue with her decision? No one could. That was why Interpol had accepted Sly as a constable when she brought him in.

The chief was skeptical of course but in the end he relented. Inspector Fox and Constable Cooper made a formidable team. She knew it; he knew it… hell, all of Interpol knew it. Sly still had many of his old quirks, his flirtatiousness for one example; though she didn't mind so much anymore… so long as that flirtatiousness stayed directed at her.

Without Sly being a master thief, Carmelita was able to accept his advances. Sometimes, she was surprised at how much he could act like his old self and still not remember who he was. She shook her head.

It had only been a year since it all started. And now here she was with a beautiful diamond ring on her finger. In a matter of months she would be Carmelita Montoya Cooper. Life was wonderful.

The only thing that had Carmelita worried was the day Sly's memory would return and her blissful life would end… she hoped with all her being that day would never come.

The door to her office opened and the object of her thoughts walked through. He grinned at her, "How's everything going, beautiful?"

Carmelita rolled her eyes and smiled, "Nothing. It's kind of boring, actually." She sighed. As peaceful and blissful as her life was… she couldn't deny that fact. Ever since Sly lost his memory… it had been quiet… too quiet almost. She'd never admit it aloud but that was the good thing about chasing a master thief. It was never boring.

But that was the only thing she would miss… the adventure; the excitement.

Sly nodded his head. "Yeah." He agreed with her.

----

The phone rang and the handsome Doberman Pincher picked up the phone. "Hello?" his somewhat raspy voice answered.

"Doberman." The voice replied.

Detective Wes Doberman straightened out immediately. The black dog held the phone tighter in his as he recognized the voice. "Yes, Ma'am."

"I have some information you might be interested in."

"Yes?"

"It concerns Constable Cooper."

For a moment the detective lost his ability to speak. It was no secret that he held no fondness for the thief turn cop Sly Cooper. In fact, it was common knowledge the two felt little more than hatred for one another. He cleared his throat before replying, "What about Sly?"

"It seems as though our little thief is also a little liar. He knows very well who he is and he's using that ignorant Fox to stay out of prison."

"Inspector Fox is the farthest thing from ignorant I assure you. She-"

"If I wanted your opinion I would have asked, you ingrate!" the voice interrupted angrily.

"I-I'm sorry, Ma'am."

"You should be. Now listen, I want that raccoon arrested."

"I have no problem with that… but you never cared about criminals before…"

"And I don't care now. Cooper is a liability to me. He's in my way, I want him out."

Wes furrowed his brows, "How? He doesn't know who you are."

"He doesn't need to know me. And you don't need to know anything else! You work for me or did you forget all I've done for you?"

"No, Ma'am. I didn't forget… but how can I arrest Cooper? He has the whole of Interpol fooled."

"We'll just have to make him slip up then won't we? I'll set up a temptation for him. With his past, he won't be able to resist this."

"What are you going to do?"

"Leave that to me and don't think of it. Just be ready to bust him."

The line went dead before he could reply. He hung the phone up. Cooper was a fake? He knew it. And now… now he could prove it.

----

It had only been a year since Sly chose his path and while he loved Carmelita with all of his heart… he still missed his old life… his old gang. They had a good thing going there and it was all changed the moment he made his abrupt decision.

Not that he regretted it… not totally, at least. He did it so he could be with Carmelita. But… he had been a thief all his life. It was a big part of who he was for a long time…

He shook his head. No. He didn't regret it in the least. He loved Carmelita and this was the only way he could have her. It was a sacrifice, yes, but it was well worth it. Soon enough, Carmelita would be his wife, but she didn't know his secret. She didn't know that he faked his amnesia. No, and she could never know.

She wouldn't understand. Sly knew that. If she were to find out what Sly did, she would only think about the fact that he lied to her and not about why he did it. Carmelita, he loved her more than anything, but she was strictly black and white about things. That was just how she was. And that was why Sly had to continue to lie to her.

----

"It's beautiful…" the female mouse said in awe as she stared at the flawless gem. It was an emerald with a solid gold chain; very expensive. This gem was called the Bachiatari Ishi, which translated into Cursed Stone; the emerald had been bought by a rich entrepreneur who went by the name of Lady Desiree despite the Japanese legend of it bringing bad luck to anyone who possesses it.

Bentley looked from his computer to his wife and partner in crime, Penelope, and smiled at her. The turtle nodded his head, "Yeah, it is."

Things had gotten rough for Bentley and Penelope lately. Money became tight and things weren't going as well as they had in the beginning of their partnership. But the Bachiatari Ishi, despite its name and history, would change that… for the time being, at least.

The lovers made a great team, that was true, but, unfortunately, brains couldn't do everything. Together they pulled off great heists with Bentley's hacking and Penelope's RC skills, but soon heists became more and more difficult. It was obvious that they needed Murray's strength and Sly's stealth back… but… they both knew the chances of getting them back were near nonexistent, well, for Sly at least.

Still, Penelope and Bentley were all that was left of Cooper gang. They hardly felt bad about stealing the Bachiatari Ishi from Lady Desiree. Lady Desiree wasn't the law abiding citizen one normally expected from one of her class. It was well known that she was working for some big mob boss, though no one knew who he, or she, was…

"What do we do if we bump into Sly?" Penelope asked.

"What do you mean?" Bentley asked her.

"He's part of Interpol and Lady Desiree is a target for them. It's obvious that Sly will be there."

Bentley blinked, he hadn't thought about that. "I don't know, Penelope… I don't think Sly would try to arrest us, but…"

"Carmelita will be there, too." She finished for him.

----

"She's known as Lady Desiree. She's a very powerful woman and she's the only person, we know of, who knows the identity of the leader of the Poison Rogues." Wes informed Carmelita and Sly as they sat in his office. "As you know, the Poison Rogues are one of the most dangerous gangs known. We suspect Lady Desiree of being a member of the Poison Rogues, but that hasn't been proven yet. Still, there is evidence of her having contact with them. The chief wants us to go in and take her into custody."

Carmelita nodded her head, "No problem."

"When do we leave?" Sly asked.

"We have the location of where she resides and the warrant for her arrest now." Wes told him.

Carmelita didn't waste another second before she stood up and grabbed her shock pistol off her desk and put it in her holster. Sly followed her lead and Wes led the two out of the office.

Wes sighed as he got into his car; Sly and Carmelita's car right behind him. It was true that he hated Sly, but he had no problem with Carmelita. In fact, he admired her dearly. She was so strong and dedicated to her work… beautiful… he didn't want to hurt her.

Yet, it was what he was about to do.

His boss made him what he was. He was nothing and she built him into the man he was, and she would have no qualms about tearing him down. He knew this and that was why he did what she desired.

Sly tricked Carmelita, he tricked all of Interpol, and Wes' boss had a plan to prove it. She didn't inform Wes of it, she just told him where to go; giving him the location of, the wanted, Lady Desiree… Wes was confused as to why she wanted Sly gone so badly, she never told him more than what she felt he needed to know. He couldn't understand why she wanted Interpol to find the woman who could cause so many problems for the Poison Rogues with a single sentence. And he didn't understand how anything to do with the third member of the Poison Rogues could prove Sly's lie.

But, it wasn't his place to understand. It was only his place to do as he was told.

----

"No one's here." Carmelita stated as the three walked into the, very large, mansion.

"Guess she knew we were coming." Sly said.

Wes shook his head, "The door was unlocked. She might be here, we should probably separate."

Carmelita and Sly agreed, nodding their heads.

"I'll take the upstairs, Carmelita, you take this floor and Sly, take the downstairs." Wes told them.

----

Sly searched the downstairs. It wasn't a basement or a cellar; it was almost as if it were a gigantic vault. Man, did that take him back… suddenly; he heard voices speaking in hushed tones.

"It's fried… is there another way in?" Said a female voice that Sly recognized, though he couldn't recall who, exactly, it belonged to. He followed the hushed voice.

"I'm afraid not. Without your RC chopper there's no way we can get over that water." Said a voice that Sly could never forget… Bentley, which meant that the other voice had to have belonged to Penelope.

"What about your chair?"

"I can't fly all the way over there even with the gadgets on my chair."

He walked closer to the voices and he saw them. "Bentley." He said and smiled when his best friend turned around.

"Sly!" the turtle exclaimed smiling.

"Well, I definitely wasn't expecting this." Sly laughed.

"I'm afraid we were." Penelope spoke up.

"Nice to see you again too, Penelope." Sly said with a lopsided smirk.

Penelope shook her head, "I'm sorry, Sly; forgive me if I'm wary. It is nice to see you again."

"You don't have to worry about Carm; she's looking around upstairs for Desiree." He told her. "What're you guys up to, anyway?"

Penelope and Bentley didn't seem like they wanted to tell him, but it didn't take Bentley long to relent. "We're here for the Bachiatari Ishi."

Sly blinked. "Come again?"

"The Bachiatari Ishi." Bentley repeated.

"It's a very expensive emerald from Japan." Penelope told him.

Sly nodded his head and looked behind them. In the middle of a large pool, that covered an entire section from corner to corner, was a display case that held the Bachiatari Ishi. The only thing going through Sly's mind was why Desiree had a giant pool in her downstairs… what was wrong with just putting the thing in a safe?

He shook his head, there seemed to be no way over to the gem except by swimming through it. "What's wrong with the water?" he asked.

"There are microscopic nanobots in the water, anything that goes in gets an electric shock that can go through any object and kill whoever tries to get to the Bachiatari Ishi." Bentley answered.

"A little extreme for some gem, don't you think?" Sly muttered as he scanned for any kind of way over the water. He found one. Along the wall was a small ledge, not large enough for a typical person but perfect for Sly to sneak on.

"Why don't I help you guys out?"

"Wouldn't that put you in an awkward situation?" Penelope asked him.

Sly shook his head, "No way, Carm and Wes are busy searching for Desiree, there's nothing to worry about."

Bentley smiled at him, "Thanks, Sly, it'll be almost like old times."

"Yeah, almost." Sly nodded before he snuck on the very small ledge and tip-toed around to where he was right across from the case and jumped on it.

----

Wes was searching the upstairs as he said he would, his boss told him to go to Lady Desiree's place, but there was no Lady Desiree. At least that solved the confusion of why he was sent there… well, mostly. True, his boss had thought about the problems that could occur if they had arrested the woman and had fixed that bit. But how was any of this going to prove Sly's deception?

A ringing of a phone interrupted his thoughts.

----

Carmelita sighed in aggravation. There was no sign of Lady Desiree and the lack of noise from either downstairs or upstairs told her that is was highly unlikely she was in the mansion.

"Carmelita," she heard Wes' voice and turned around. His look told her that he hadn't found Desiree either. "We should go downstairs to help Sly."

Carmelita nodded her head and followed him down the steps. The two began searching for Sly.

What she saw next caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

It was that turtle, Bentley, who Sly had once worked with. Next to him was a lady mouse… Penelope… that was her name. But they weren't the reason Carmelita was shocked into a pseudo coma… no…

Sly had flipped over to them, holding an emerald necklace that, from what she could see, he had stolen. He turned around to see Carmelita's shocked eyes.

"Carm," he started, but she cut him off.

"Don't even." She said shortly. "When did you get your memory back?"

"He always had it." Wes spoke up.

Sly shot him a glare, "Shut up, you-"

"No, you, Sly, you shut up. Wes?" Carmelita looked at him. He had the answers and at the moment she couldn't look at Sly's face.

"Sly lied about his amnesia, he tricked you… he tricked all of Interpol. I've suspected it since the beginning, but I couldn't prove it."

Carmelita closed her eyes in anguish.

"Carm," Sly stepped towards her.

"Don't come near me." She said steadily, "You lied to me?"

"It wasn't like that…"

"Then, tell me, what was it like?"

"I wanted to be with you."

"So you tricked me. Sly, you don't get it, you lied. Our entire relationship was built on one giant lie!"

Sly's eyes flashed in anger, "I wasn't the only one who lied, Carm! You tried to trick me into thinking I was your partner!"

"I only did that so you wouldn't have to go to prison!"

"And that makes what you did better?"

"Yes! It does! I thought you lost your memory, that made you an innocent man and I couldn't send a man to prison if he didn't even know what he had done wrong! I tried to save you! And you just… you…" She took a deep breathe. "And you lied to me. Just to save your own ass!"

"That's not true! You know it's not true! I just wanted to be with you! I gave up my friends, my legacy, for you!"

"I see what a sacrifice you made." She said, laughing bitterly. "I get it now. Get in nice with the inspector and steal all you want while she's blinded by love. You took advantage of me."

"This is why I never told you the truth. I knew you wouldn't get it. You're too black and white! I knew you'd twist it!" Sly yelled, frustrated.

"No… you're the one who doesn't get it…" she said, barely above a whisper.

"So, what now? Are you gonna arrest me? Are you gonna slap on the cuffs and haul me off to jail?" he asked, incredulously.

She shook her head and looked at her hand. She pulled off her glove to reveal the diamond ring Sly proposed with. She took it off, her face void of all emotion, and tossed it to him. He caught it easily and stared at her with heartbroken eyes. She didn't care, it was his fault. "No," she said calmly and emotionless, "I never want to see your face again, Sly Cooper."

--

Sly felt his heart break. He lost her. She was reacting in a way he never thought. He wanted her to glare at him, to shoot him with her shock pistol, to arrest him, anything but look at him with that stoic expression.

"We should go, Sly." Bentley said.

--

Wes stared at the two. Wes should have arrested him, but he didn't want to leave Carmelita like this, as he knew that Sly would run and he would have to chase him. Carmelita wasn't acting like herself…

"Leave, Cooper, leave now." He looked at the raccoon. Sly looked back at him, confusion etched in his features. "Go, Cooper, but know that I will find you and I will bring you in. For now, though, just go… for Carmelita's sake."

--

Carmelita watched as the three thieves left. She cursed herself for her stupidity and for being so gullible. He tricked her. He took advantage of her. He lied to her.

Now, he was gone. And she wasn't going to chase him anymore. She wasn't lying. She never wanted to see his deceitful face ever again…

Well, I hope you all like this. Remember, it's my first Sly Cooper fic. I just thought that it was a bad idea for Sly to lie like that… anyway, please review, it'd be much appreciated.