Chapter 21

Aerith lightly sighed as she walked into the room that Bentley used as his workshop. While she did this she told herself, "Well, it's now or never. Besides I have to be honest with Bentley about going back home." Once the young woman was inside the room she bent down slightly and gently tapped the turtle on his right shoulder and added, "Bentley, you're not too busy are you?"

"No, I'm not that busy at the moment Aerith. Is there something on your mind?" The green skinned anthro asked, once he had turned to look at her. The healer was glad to hear that response, but before she could say anything he went on with, "However, I'm glad that you came to talk to me since there was something that we've been keeping a secret from you for a while now."

"Oh? And what might that be?" The brunette asked, while she titled her head to the right a bit.

After she had asked this the healer took note of the worried look the anthro turtle had on his face before he answered with, "Well, you see Aerith, the time machine has been done for a few months now. But after Sly bought you that flower shop he decided not to tell you since he was afraid you would want to leave."

"Oh, I see." Aerith let out, as she turned her head away. She then made sure to calm herself before she continued with, "Thank you for telling me Bentley, but now I think I should get ready and then have Murray take me to Panther's party….if his willing to of course."

"Don't worry Aerith, I'm sure Murray will be more than happy to do that for you. And please don't hold anything against Sly. He just really cares about you and I guess he just doesn't want to lose you." Bentley stated, causing the brunette to stop walking.

She then looked at the turtle and whispered, "I-I know he cares about me. Just like how I care about him."

ooooooo

Panther smiled with satisfaction seeing all of his party guests enjoying themselves. And yet there was one in particular that he had not seen yet tonight. However, the party had only been going on for an hour at the moment so he knew she would show up sooner or later. But while he brought a red rose up to his nose he told himself, "Hmm, wherever could my lovely angel be? I know she said that she was busy, but I highly doubt my charm went unnoticed by her yesterday." His grip on the stem of the flower tightened however, when he added in a hushed tone, "Unless however, that raccoon got to her and pleaded with her not to come here tonight." The feline actor soon put his anger and worries to rest once he spotted the young woman walk into the ballroom. And once he had approached her he bowed and greeted her with, "Good evening my dear, I am pleased that you were able to make it here after all. And that dress you are wearing tonight is simply beautiful."

After he had said this Panther raised his head and saw the brunette smiling at him when she replied, "Yes well actually it's thanks to my friends that I was able to finish my work early enough so that I had enough time to get ready for your party."

"Hmm, you must have very reliable friends who care about you a great deal if they were willing to help take care of your shop with you." The purple furred anthro responded with, before he placed the rose he had been holding into his front suit coat pocket. Once that had been done he proceeded to take the green eyed woman's right hand into his own before he went on with, "But enough about everyday life. I believe now would be the perfect time for you and I to share a dance together."

Unfortunately for the yellow eyed panther he never got to have that dance with Aerith because right as the two were about to start dancing he felt a finger lightly tap his shoulder along with another male's voice as the stranger asked, "Pardon me, I don't mean to intrude on the two of you. But may I cut in?"

ooooooo

Aerith continued to look at the anthro raccoon who brought his gaze over to her and asked, "And who might this be?"

"Her name is Aerith, and she is one of my many guests for this evening." The anthro cat stated, while the brunette saw Panther now staring at her.

"Ah, well it's certainly a pleasure to meet you, beautiful." The stranger said, as he brought her hand up to lips and kissed it followed by a quick wink.

Upon seeing this along with his hazel eyes and goatee the young woman asked herself, "Sly? Why is he here? Did he maybe do this to surpise me or something/?" She instantly broke out of her thoughts when she saw the two were staring at her. When she realized this she smiled warmly before she added, "It's very nice to meet you as well good sir."

"Well if that is the case then perhaps you would like to share a dance with me?" The disguised thief asked, while he still held onto her hand and stood up straight.

"I would love to." The green eyed healer answered, before the two made their way onto the center of the room. Once the music had begun to play the two began to dance, but as they did this Aerith looked up at Sly and went on with, "You know I wasn't expecting you to come here tonight, Sly."

She saw the orange and black suited raccoon smugly smile at her when he answered back with, "Well, to be honest I wasn't going to come. But well, let's just say I changed my mind."

"Hmm, so you came here not worried about what Panther may say or try to do to me then?" The brunette questioned, as he spun her around a few times.

Once the thief had repositioned her he replied with, "Well, that's part of reason why I came here tonight."

Hearing this caused the young woman to become curious as she let out, 'Oh? And what might your other reason be then?"

After she had said this she felt herself being dipped slightly and while she stared into Sly's hazel eyes he responded in a hushed tone, "Sorry gorgeous, but you'll have to wait until the end of our dance to find out." And once he had brought her back up onto her feet added, "By the way Aerith, I knew that dress would look amazing on you."

Hearing this comment caused the healer to lightly blush as she remembered that the purple dress she was wearing was one of the more elegant dresses that Sly had bought for her a few days after she had ended up in Paris. "Thank you, Sly." The young woman replied, before the two slowly stopped dancing.

And once they had stopped dancing completely the green eyed human soon noticed that the thief had not let go of her hand. She was going to ask him why that was, but even before she was able to do this she found herself following him outside onto a nearby balcony. She then began to wonder what he was up when he closed both of the doors leading back inside. After this had done she finally asked, "Alright Sly, you must have a reason for bringing me outside. So what did you want to talk about?" Instead of receiving an answer right away though Aerith saw the anthro thief reach into his right pants pocket. But while he did this she added in a whisper, "Sly, what are you doing?"

When she looked up at the black and grey furred anthro's face however, she saw a very serious look which surprised her a bit as he told her, "Aerith, the reason why I brought here is because I wanted to ask you a very important question." And once the brunette saw a small black box in his right hand she found herself blushing a deep red when she saw him get down on one knee while he opened it and went on with, "So Aerith Gainsborough, will you do me the honor of taking this thief's hand in marriage?"

"I, are you certain that you would take me as a wife? I-I know that the two of us have gotten closer and have been in a relationship for a while now….." Aerith replied, before she looked away.

The only reason she looked away thought was that she could calm herself from the sudden proposal. And yet when she looked back at Sly from the corner of her eye she saw him smiling at her while he confessed, "Aerith, I know this is sudden for you since I never spoke of a word of this to anyone. But please understand that to me your an amazing person, and I'd be willing to give up being a thief if that's what it'll take to have you say yes. I-I just want to make you happy…."

Hearing these things caused a tear to fall from the healers face before she said, "Sly, you've made me so happy ever since I've met you. And I was going to wait until tomorrow to tell you this, but I've decided to stay here." She then turned back to the anthro raccoon as she continued with, "So I will marry you, but please don't give up your family's legacy because that's the person I've fallen in love with."

Once she had finished speaking the healer saw the anthro thief stand up onto his feet and quickly pull her into a quick hug as he whispered, "Thank you." He then pulled away slightly while he added, "But please if you every want to see your friends just tell either Bentley or myself and we'll get you to them at fast as we can."

"Thank you, Sly." Aerith replied, before she looked back into the ballroom and saw Panther staring at them. And right when she was about to say something she soon realized that he had begun to walk away.

ooooooo

Carmelita scouted the ballroom one last time before she saw Panther make his way past her. But inside of walking by her the vixen saw him stop before he let out, "I don't mean to alarm you, but Sly Cooper is here at the party."

"What? Where is he?!" The orange furred fox demanded, as she began to walk towards a pair of closed doors leading out onto a nearby balcony.

"If I were you I would not bother him right now." The feline warned, causing her to stop in her tracks. And even before she could ask why that was he quickly went on with, "Because he just proposed to Aerith. And from the looks of it I would say she said yes."

"Oh….I see." The blue haired policewoman whispered, before she soon realized something. She turned around to face the actor and went on with, "Wait a minute you didn't do anything to stop the proposal? That's very unlike you, Panther."

Hearing this caused the purple furred cat to lightly chuckle while he explained, "Every good gentleman, including myself must know when it is finally time to give up on a woman when she clearly loves someone else."

A/N: And here ends this story. Now to be honest I was planning on making it a few chapter longer with a slightly different ending. But after not typing for a while (and not being able to find my notes) I just decided to go with this idea instead. I hope this story was enjoyable for all of you to read. (although I feel a few chapters were somewhat rushed) So thank you for reviewing and my next story will be a Mario and Star Fox crossover story. Of course it'll be up to guys if you want to take a look at it or not.