Chapter 8
Sly p.o.v
Sly darted from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding police patrols as he made his way to the hospital. He had put it off long enough. Bentley needed him, and he wasn't going to disappoint his friend.
Sly had run across the Parisian skyline countless times, he could probably do it blindfolded by now, so he let his mind wander back to his encounter with the tigress down in the sewers.
She had kissed him. He hadn't imagined it, and she couldn't have been lying… Neyla had kissed him.
Just thinking about it made Cooper's heart skip a beat. Neyla was telling the truth, she had to be. He just knew it.
Ever since he had confronted her atop the Contessa's castle, Sly had been slightly dead inside. The tigress's claims in Prague were genuine… but this was even more real.
Putting the thoughts aside, Sly dodged a series of antennas, not really wanting to disturb the view sessions of the people inside, thus, drawing unwanted attention to himself.
The raccoon stopped two blocks away from the hospital; dropping into an ally and removing anything that would make him look like a criminal, namely, his mask, cane, belt, and hat. Quickly examining himself in a broken mirror, Sly smiled. He looked like an ordinary raccoon, who might've spent some time on the streets.
Stepping out onto the sidewalk, Sly casually walked up to the hospital, ensuring he didn't make eye contact with any police who might recognise him, before stepping inside and up to the receptionist, a pigeon, who didn't look like she was enjoying being up so early.
'Excuse me,' Sly hesitantly said, quickly putting together a backstory that explained his relationship with Bentley, in case the fake ID didn't check out. The pigeon looked up at him.
'Visiting hours aren't until 8 a.m. sir,' she droned, looking at her watch, 'you've got an hour of waiting ahead of you.'
'Damn it,' Sly groaned, slumping into a nearby chair, 'this is the only time I'm able to come in, surely you can make an exception?' the pigeon stared at the raccoon, a bored look on her face.
'Any particular reason you can't come back in an hour?' she questioned, raising an eyebrow.
'I'm about to go catch a plane to New York,' he explained, mentally crossing his fingers, hoping she would believe him, 'I promised my friend that I would come visit before I left, considering I haven't seen him since before the accident.'
The pigeon stared at Sly, giving him an empathetic look. Sighing, the woman turned on her monitor and started typing, 'Name?' she asked, looking up at him.
'Samuel Cooner,' the raccoon responded, praying she would buy it.
'Alright,' the woman didn't type anything, 'who are you visiting?'
'Bentley…' Sly momentarily paused, 'funny, he never actually told me his last name… he's a turtle, came in yesterday, I believe.'
The receptionist rolled her eyes and flicked through the database, needing to manually track down who Sly was searching for. 'Why is he in hospital?'
'Broken legs,' Cooper responded, getting tired of the conversation.
The pigeon located Bentley on the computer and dialled a number into the phone, 'Hey,' she greeted, 'I've got a guy down here, looking to visit the turtle with broken legs… yeah, the one named Bentley… alright,' the girl hung up the phone. 'You're free to head up,' she droned, turning back to her phone, 'room 235, second floor.'
'Thank you,' Sly smiled, he would've tipped his hat if he was wearing it.
Hurrying up the stairs and down a series of hallways, Sly found the numbers 2-3-5 above one of the doors and entered the room, and was unsurprised to see Murray sitting next to Bentley. The hippo looked up at Sly.
'Sly,' Murray nodded, turning back to Bentley, 'about time you showed up.'
'I was busy,' the raccoon groaned, pulling up a seat next to Bentley. 'You were lucky to get a room to yourself, bud,' Sly noted, prompting Bentley to chuckle, 'how're you holding up?'
'As well as I could be,' the turtle sighed, 'I had my first operation last night, and the doctor's saying the chances of me being able to walk again are… pretty slim.'
Sly stared at his friend in shock, Murray's statement from before finally being confirmed, 'You'll never be able to walk again?' he repeated, the thought tumbling through his mind as he tried to make sense of it.
'I'm not saying it's certain,' Bentley hurriedly added-on,' but it's… quite likely… a 75% chance I'll never be able to walk again.'
'I guess that's not too bad,' the raccoon muttered, somewhat enthusiastically.
'Yeah,' Murray mumbled, 'I guess it is.'
The trio sat in silence as Sly attempted to find the right words to say to his muscular friend. 'Murray,' he finally sighed, breaking the silence, 'about what happened earlier…'
'Sly,' Murray exhaled, 'I'm not interested in anything you have to say on the matter, I don't want to talk about her right now.'
'I just wanted to apologise,' the raccoon responded, hiding his frustration towards his friend, 'I was just so angry, I wasn't considering all the options.'
Murray stared at his friend in shock, 'I'm honestly surprised you came to terms with it so quickly,' he noted.
'I had time to think it over,' the raccoon lied; despite how much he hated lying to his friends.
'Well I'm glad that's behind us,' Bentley interjected, drawing his friends' attention. 'Sly, you promise you're not gonna get yourself into too much trouble while I'm in here, right?'
'Of course,' Sly promised with a reassuring smile.
'Same with you Murray,' the turtle continued, as Sly noticed the dark rings around the hippo's eyes, 'in fact you should probably get some sleep,' Bentley added on, also noticing the dark rings.
'I guess,' the hippo responded, standing up, 'I'll head home then… coming Sly?'
'No,' Sly exhaled, looking back to his hospitalized friend, 'I'm gonna stay here for a while.'
'Thanks buddy,' Bentley smiled, gripping his friend's hand, 'I could use the company.'
'I'll head home then,' Murray interjected, 'don't want to get in the way of your bromance.'
Sly facepalmed, 'Get going big guy,' Sly ordered, turning to face his friend.
'Fine,' the hippo sighed, 'I'll be back later,' and with that, Murray left the room.
Sly turned to his friend, 'I'm worried about him,' he explained.
'Can you blame him?' Bentley replied, 'Murray's never taken loss well, we saw that when we left the van back in Canada.'
'This isn't loss though,' Sly groaned, 'you're still here, aren't you?'
'Loss can mean many things Sly,' the turtle explained, 'whether the loss of someone you love, or the loss of limbs or the ability to do something. I'm surprised you don't know that.
'Yeah, I guess,' the raccoon exhaled, leaning back in his chair. The friends sat in silence, simply enjoying each other's company, until the turtle yawned. Sly chuckled, 'Why don't you get some sleep bud?' the turtle nodded in agreement, taking off his glasses and snuggling into the pillow.
'You heading home?' Bentley asked, squinting at the raccoon.
'Nah,' Sly responded, 'I'll stay here for a bit, I'm not exactly tired.'
'Fair enough,' Bentley smiled before immediately falling asleep, leaving the raccoon alone with his thoughts.
Neyla p.o.v
Neyla had been flipping from rooftop to rooftop for at least an hour, unable to contain the emotions rushing through her body.
'I kissed him!' she exclaimed, unable to believe it, 'and he definitely liked it!'
The tigress had finally convinced herself to stop on a rooftop near Notre Dame, where she sat on the lip of the building, listening to the chiming of the bells. Sly believed in her, just as she had hoped, so now she knew she had an ally amongst the tsunami of people who wanted to kill her.
The woman had been sitting on the rooftop for ten minutes before she started moving again, not wanting to stay in one place for too long.
Dropping down into an alleyway, Neyla considered how she was going to get food. She hadn't really eaten in the last couple days, and it was really starting to become noticeable. The tigress didn't want to eat out of a dumpster, that's how you get diseases, and she was a wanted criminal with no money, there was no way she could buy it. The only option left was the one she wanted to do the least, save eating out of a dumpster: she'd have to steal it.
The tigress could consider her options for very long, as she looked to her left and made eye contact with the one person one this Earth who would do worse things to her than Carmelita: an incredibly angry and vengeful hippo.
Neyla bolted, knowing she wouldn't be able to explain her situation to Sly's friend, considering how close he had been to the turtle. The tigress leapt onto a fire escape and very quickly started climbing, feeling an incredibly heavy weight shake the structure. 'Neyla!' the hippo yelled, 'I'm gonna kill you!' this wasn't one of those friendly, "I'm going to kill you" moments, Neyla could tell: this man wasn't going to stop until she was dead.
Reaching the roof, Neyla very quickly started sprinting along the Parisian skyline, trying to figure out the best place to hide from Sly's friend. Eventually, she settled on the third alley away from the roof she had run from, expertly navigating her way down the fifty foot drop onto the hard cobbles below before hiding under a dumpster.
Listening intently, Neyla heard what she knew signalled the end of the chase: at the top of his lungs, the hippo roared in anger, so loud that anyone in the whole of Paris who was still asleep was probably startled awake.
The tigress remained under the dumpster, afraid to even breathe, in case the hippo had super hearing or something. She just sat there, in silence, hoping the crazed hippo chasing her wasn't nearby.
It's ramping up now, isn't it? Rate and Review, please! Seriously, I really appreciate the support, it means a lot to me.
