Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

Claimer: I own all of my original characters.

Well this story is finally starting to come to and end. Two more chapters and this story will be completed! I am excited that I fulfilled my goal and made this my longest story but I have to admit, I'm ready to move on to a new story. But I do have the storyline for my new story ready and I'll try to post it soon after this story is done. But until then, please read and review and let me know what you think.

Chapter 21: Hanging By a Thread

As soon as Ramona jumped out of that window to escape from Cortex I knew she wouldn't survive; there was no possible way. She jumped through a window thirty stories above the ground, she had no type of parachute, she was too frazzled to possibly grab onto the side of the building, and the only thing that could break her fall was the thicket of trees below but they were too close to the ground. I knew that if she was even lucky enough to get to the trees, the limbs would snap at her weight, cut her up, and then she'd smack to the unforgiving ground and die. I felt sick as I thought of what would happen to Ramona but then I could start to feel the anger start to rush through my body when I glanced to the two people who had caused her certain death; Dr. Neo Cortex and his niece. Those two had taken away the one woman I cared for with every fiber in my body and simply tossed her out a window. I had so many things I needed to tell her, but now I couldn't. I needed to tell her how I truly felt about her. I knew, and just about everyone else knew, that ever since I had first met an adult Ramona almost two years ago on a heist, I had been attracted to her. Now, almost two years later, I knew it was a lot more than just a crush on a pretty face.

She deserved to know how I felt. I wanted, no, I needed to tell her that I loved her. And I knew I should have told her before, before any of this had happened and before the tensions had started between Ramona and Carmelita. But now it was too late to let her know anything. I couldn't help but replay the scene of Ramona jumping out of that window for her life and probably already knowing she'd be jumping to her death. I felt like I had been punched in the chest with a metal pipe at the thought of never being able to see her again, talk to her, steal things with her, confide in her, or kiss her ever again. I temporarily shook the thought of the woman I loved dying and replaced it with being dead set on getting my revenge on the two people that caused her death. I clutched onto my cane tightly and was ready to beat the snot out of the two scientists until Carmelita decided to do that for me.

"No one ever, ever, hurts my sister!" she practically screamed before pulling out her recently found shock pistol. She placed her finger on the trigger and fired. Shot after shot after shot was fired at the scientists until the gun had been emptied. But that didn't stop a furious Carmelita. She quickly reloaded her gun and emptied her gun again. Every blast of blue electricity went from the gun and hit somewhere on both people and the mutated animals they were riding on.

I watched as the two fell to the ground, unconscious but alive. Carmelita snarled and replaced her gun. She stormed to the unconscious forms on the ground, grabbed them by the back of their shirts, and pulled them into the corner and handcuffed the both of them to a pipe on the wall. I followed her as she quickly ran over to the window Ramona and jumped out of and looked down towards the ground. I looked down as well and felt my stomach turn upside down. Yes, there were trees below but they were so close to the ground it wouldn't have helped her fall. She had to have fallen to the ground, I was certain of that. She wasn't clinging to the side of the building and there wasn't a dent in the trees, or not one that I could see. It was eerily quiet both inside the building and outside in the open air. I glance out of the corner of my eye and the look on Carmelita's face told me that she was thinking the same thing about her sister.

"I have to go find her. She's my sister I can't just leave her out there." She turned quickly and ran out the door and started heading down to the ground. I sighed and looked back out the window and silently prayed that Ramona was still alive; despite my true feelings.

I pulled out one of my paragliders and perched myself on the windowsill. Like Carmelita, I wasn't going to just leave Ramona down there. I didn't know if she was dead or not but I had never left her in life threatening situations before and I wasn't going to start now. I swiftly jumped out of the window and waited until I was halfway to the ground before deploying my paraglider. I silently and slowly drifted to the ground and landed on the edge of the woods. I tossed the used paraglider to the side and looked along the edge of the woods. It was completely silent and there wasn't even a tweet from one of the many various birds in the trees. I was going in there and I was going to find Ramona, but I dreaded it. If Ramona had smacked the ground like I believe she did, then I didn't want to see her crumpled form on the floor of this man made Hell. Ramona had fought most of her life to stop this man and his reign of terror from continuing and now it was looking like he had come out on top.

It didn't take long for Inspector Fox to meet me at the edge of the woods and stay silent. We both looked at the trees, bushes, vines and other random plant life before deciding to split up to look for Ramona. I branched off to the left and Carmelita went to the right and we were determined not to leave until we found the missing raccoon. I still dreaded what I would stumble upon while looking for Ramona but I wasn't giving up. She didn't deserve to be left in the place she hated with a passion and I wasn't going to leave her here and neither was her sister. I stepped over logs and through plants while searching through the plant live. It didn't take long for Carmelita to call out stating that she had found her sister.

"Cooper! I found her!" I quickly made my way to the officer but my stomach was churning at the thought of having to look at a deceased friend. The first thing I noticed when I arrived on the 'scene' was the fox, staring off into the distance with a gloved paw over her mouth. I cautiously walked up to her and braced myself before looking in the same direction as the fox. I looked to the side and my heart sunk at the sight.

My eyes landed on Ramona, completely unmoving and silent. As she fell, she had apparently triggered one of the homemade animal traps Carmelita and I were stuck in a few days ago and now Ramona was hanging upside down by her foot. She was suspended by the rope, a few feet off the ground, and the only movement she made was caused by the slight breeze that had started up and was now making her swing slightly. Her arms hung past her head, her tail did the same, her un-matching eyes were closed, and her lips were slightly parted. I heard Carmelita sniff and she quickly wrapped her arms around my chest and bury her face under my arm to avoid looking at her dangling sister. I placed my arms around her shoulders and looked over Ramona a few more times. She looked like she was simply sleeping but I knew otherwise. Deep in my heart I knew she was in a permanent state of slumber and we couldn't get her back.

I lost track of how long we stood there but it was for a while. It wasn't until a bird squawked in distance that we decided to get her down from the tree and take her home. Carmelita decided to let the rope down and I would be the one to gently lower her to the ground. I waited until Carmelita had loosened the knot formed in the trees before reaching up and grabbing Ramona's arms so I could place her on the ground. I walked backwards with Ramona in my grasp while her sister lowered her down. I supported her back as she became closer and closer to the ground. Her feet gently touched the ground and I slowly and gently placed the rest of her body down as well. I crouched down and looked at her again. Her face was filled with cuts from the glass and smacking against various tree limbs as she fell to the ground. I brushed her bangs away from her face and stood. I walked back over to her sister and ran a paw over the back of my neck.

"What are we going to do with her?" I asked after she met my gaze.

"I don't know," she sighed out, "We'll have to carry her out of here, get her back to Paris, and put her next to my dad. I know that'd make her happy." I nodded and placed a paw on her shoulder. It would take a while for Carmelita to get over her sister and despite my feelings I had for Ramona, I'd try to help her through it.

We stood there and talked about our plans about what we would do with Ramona until I could hear shuffling behind me. I turned behind me and could almost feel my jaw fall to the ground and my eyes pop out of my head when Ramona, who I though had died, was sitting there stretching and clutching the back of her head. The only thing that made sense in my mind what that the animal trap stopped her from killing herself on the ground but she had to have hit her head on her way down, simply knocking her unconscious. She finished funning a paw through her fair before glancing up to us. She shot us one of her usual smiles and waved.

"You have got to be the luckiest person I've ever met, Ramona. You know that?" her sister called out to her sister. Carmelita was right; Ramona was the luckiest person I've met. She's the only person I know that could fall out of a thirty story window and survive by the threat of a rope. There wasn't anything I wanted to do more than go up to Ramona, hug her, and let her know how I feel but I wasn't going to do it in front of Carmelita. With the current tension between the two, the last thing I wanted was cause more tension. I'd wait until we returned to Paris and then when we had a chance to be completely alone without any interruptions, I'd let her know everything from how I felt about her to how I planned to show it.