Author's Note: I do not own Sly Cooper or Star Fox. Sly Cooper is owned by Sucker Punch and Star Fox is owned by Nintendo. This story takes place two months after the events of Sly 3. It doesn't really follow the Star Fox storyline.

Feathers and Fur

Chapter 1: Love across Stars

My beloved Neyla,

My heart longs for you. It has been so long I've last heard from you. Time isn't easy to track on the Great Fox, but if the computer is right, then it's been well over a year. It may even be closer to two years. My mind is buzzing with questions. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Have you even been receiving my letters? I would give anything to hear from you again. Just remember what I said my earlier letters, my heart, mind, and soul, belong to you.

Yours forever,

-Falco

That was simply one of the many letters Falco had sent to Earth. For at least three years he's been communicating with a girl on Earth. He didn't really know that much about her. He knew a few things about her past, and he knew her name was Neyla. But above all else, he knew he loved her. Falco had felt a closer connection with this girl he'd never met than any he's ever met. Making sure the letter was free of any errors; he placed it in a teleport pod, a device capable of sending items from one point to another virtually instantly, and sent the letter to Earth.

"You sent her another letter didn't you?" Fox said from Falco's doorway.

"I wish you would stop spying on me like that." Falco said.

"I'm just worried about you Falco," Fox said, "You don't truly know anything about this girl."

"I know enough." Falco said, "There's a connection between the two of us. I know it. The letters I've received, I can feel what she felt when she sent it."

"Similar to me and Krystal." Fox said, "If you truly feel this way, then I have good news."

"What?" Falco asked.

"We have a new job," Fox said, "On Earth."

"Earth?" Falco asked, "Are you serious? We've never been called there before. It's not even in our usual systems."
"I know, we've never been near the Milky Way," Fox responded, "But yeah. Someone on Earth wants us to do a job."

"How long ago did we get this job?" Falco asked.

"About three months ago." Fox said thinking.

"Why did you wait so long to tell us about it?" Falco asked.

"I wanted to make sure everything checked out." Fox said, "The amount of money they were offering didn't seem realistic."

"How much did they offer?" Falco asked.

"Ten-million apiece." Fox said.
"Apiece?" Falco asked shocked, "No wonder you didn't believe it."

"But forty-million was transferred to the account a few minutes ago." Fox said, "That's actually what I came to talk to you about."

"I assume we already started the jump?" Falco asked.

"Yes we did." Fox said, "Computer says we should be there in about two days."

"I'll be ready." Falco said.

Meanwhile on Earth…

Neyla received another payment from a store she had under her thumb. Everyone thought she'd died when the hate chip was destroyed, but she was just as alive as she ever was. When the hate chip was removed from Clockwerk's destroyed body, her mind was separated from the hunk of metal. That's probably what allowed her to survive. Sure, she was groggy when her mind flooded back into her body, but that passed. The one thing she's yet to figure out is how she found herself blocks away from where the Clockwerk frame crashed. Eh, who cares? For the past year she's been staying underground, running a small network of crime that's been growing quickly. And Interpol hasn't caught on yet! Even though it's happening right under their noses!

"Heh heh." Neyla chuckled just thinking how easy it was to pull the wool over Interpol's eyes.

"Neyla, we have a problem." One of Neyla's low level flunkies said, breaking her train of thought.

"What?" Neyla said, "I told you, if someone refuses to pay, find a way to change their mind."

"It's not a money thing." The flunky said, "Interpol may have found out your alive."

"WHAT?" Neyla shouted grabbing the unfortunate messenger by the shirt collar, "Please explain to me how that happened."

"You remember Smith? The guy you sent to collect on the fruit stand's payment?" the flunky asked.

"Of course I do, I sent him." Neyla responded.

"He was caught." The flunky said, "And our sources inside the police said he was taken in by Interpol."

"That doesn't prove they know I'm alive." Neyla said.

"He was taken in because he said he had information about your whereabouts." The flunky said, "I think he's going to roll over on you to reduce his sentence."

"Crap." Neyla cursed, "I'll disappear for a few weeks. I know how Interpol functions. I should be able to stay hidden until they come to the conclusion Smith was lying about me."

"Are you sure they'll forget about you?" the flunky asked.

"Sure, Carmelita will probably keep chasing me," Neyla said gathering anything that could prove she's still alive, "But the top dogs will pull her off sooner or later. All I have to do is stay hidden until then. It's Sly Cooper I'll have to be careful of."

"Sly Cooper?" the flunky asked, "The thief? Why would he pose a threat?"

"I tried killing his friends." Neyla responded, "You could say he 'killed' me. If he learns that I'm still alive, he'll make sure Carmelita finds me." Neyla finished gathering the evidence and began to leave.

"Neyla, you dropped this." The flunky said picking up a pack of letters, "What are these? Letters?"

"Those don't matter!" Neyla said snatching the letters, "All that matters is that you need to act like I'm still here."

"I will ma'am." The flunky said as Neyla left. I can't believe I kept these things. Neyla thought looking at the group of letters she snatched, I haven't thought about Falco in years. All those years of lying, I forgot about the only person I've never lied to. Guess it's easy to not lie to him; I never had to meet him face-to-face. I want to say 'who cares about some guy. He's part of my old life'. But something in me really does care. Guess I must be in love, in love with a guy I've never met and probably never will.