Hey everyone,
Okay, I promise, this chapter we are going to cover Sly's past. Then next chapter is going to be Michael and Carmen's turns to shine and after that we are going to cover a storyline that will have spawned from what I have planned for this chapter. And after that we are going to start on the Fox family training to be part of the Cooper Gang. And if I were to give one hint about these next few chapters, you can bet they will help Sly grow closer to his future in-laws.
Let's do this,

Venquine1990
PS. Parts of this will be canon and can be found in the Sly Cooper fandom wiki, some are just my own personal head-canon. One such example is that I changed the name of the orphanage Sly went to, but not the name of the lady in charge.

Chapter 22
Discussions of Past And Future – Part 02

25th of June 2007
Cooper Hide Out
Sly's POV

Carmelita and I calmed down and now we're again lying on the bed. I have my left arm behind my head, which is on top of the pillows and Carmelita is again on her side besides me. My arm is wrapped around her torso and my chest is serving as her own personal pillow. I feel exquisitely content like this, just lying here and relaxing, while enjoying the comfort of Carmelita's soft, beautiful form against mine. Then a thought again occurs to me and I mutter:
"You know, I never did finish describing our dream home to you." Carmelita giggles and mutters: "True. Then again, it was the knowledge that you wanted to knock me up that got me to feel like seducing you the way I did." I grin at her, even as I try to ignore how her nipples are still showing through her bra. "I understand that, my love, but just let me tell you how I envision us after we're married. What my dream of our future might look like."

Carmelita happily snuggles her head on top of my chest and mutters: "Right, so a three story house with a huge attic and the ground floor being mostly open, bar the right front corner of the room." I nod at her and say: "Yeah. The rest of the ground floor is divided in three sections. The left front is our living room, with a couch big enough to house all of us comfortable. The right back is the kitchen and the left back is only covered in floor-to-ceiling glass panels.
There we can do whatever we need, like paperwork we might need to work on or a journal we'd want to keep or something like that. And the little area between that and the kitchen, behind and underneath the stairs is a play area for our kids. And naturally, the kitchen also has this huge island where our whole family could sit and have meals together every day." Carmelita moans and I grin down at her as I continue my tale.

"For the first floor, I was thinking three bedrooms and two bathrooms." This confuses Carmelita and she mumbles: "I thought you and I both dreamed of four kids. Would they share two of those then?" I shake my head and say: "No, one of the bedrooms would be ours, one for our friends if they come to stay over and one would be the nursery. The attic would be the kids' bedroom, with a slide down to the first floor to make sure they wouldn't hurt themselves.
And the same glass sliding doors as on the ground floor in case they wanted to have a part of the attic to the room. Also, I was thinking of asking Bentley to invent this system that we could implement into the staircase between the ground and first floor. One that would sense motion and if the motion was light, like our kids when they are still young and crawling, the stairs would turn into a slide as well, with this half-tube coming out of the floor at the bottom to catch them.

As a way to protect them and still be able to have their bedroom and nursery be on the upper floors. Oh, and finally our bedroom would be at the front. Same as the nursery and there would be this huge balcony connecting the two. With glass on the edge of the balcony, of course. And, like I told you, a front porch where we could sit in rocking chairs and large yards where the kids could run around and play in. And finally a high walled fence to make sure they don't accidentally run onto the road or something of the sort, you know."
Just like I always do when I talk about this, I have turned my head away and to the side, my gaze out the window as I give a voice to my fantasies. Then, just as I mutter: "Oh, and I thought we could have the exterior be in the same design as my parents' old place, as a way to honor them." I notice that a patch of my shirt is getting wet. I turn to look back down and only then I realize that Carmelita's body is shaking in my arm.

There are tears running down her face that worry me, but the huge grin on her face alleviates my worries at the same time. "My love?" I gently ask her and Carmelita lets out a teary giggle before she whimpers: "It's nothing. It's – it's just – I – I've been so focused on my job for all these years that I lost sight of what my future might hold for me one day. To know that, in my stead, you came up with such an incredibly lovely and homey kind of house."
The fox shakes her head and then looks up at me, her eyes full of tears, yet also full of love as she says: "Every time that I think you can't surprise or amaze me anymore, you just have to go and prove me wrong, don't you Ringtail?" I grin back at her and gently run my hand down her face to wipe away a few of her tears and ask: "So you approve?" The fox nods and mutters: "I do. I – I want this, Sly. More than anything in my life, I want this dream of yours to be a reality one day."

I happily pull her close to softly kiss her on the lips and mutter: "One day. One day this will be our life together, love. I promise." And while Carmelita lies her head back down, my mind instantly moves down to the lower basement, to where we store some of our loot and the riches that we have stolen over the years. My mind specifically focuses on all of the gems and precious stones that we have looted over the years, as well as a few rings as I think:
"What kind of ring would serve this promise to my love the best? Probably one I make myself. Perhaps not so much the ring itself, but if I can find the right gem, maybe I can have Murray carve it in the right shape and size and then fuse it onto the right ring. Hmm, thought for some other time." And Carmelita seems to read my mind again – or maybe just sense my mood – as she mutters: "Your parents would be so proud of you, Sly."

Instantly I grin as wide as I always do when I think of my parents or when someone says the same thing. Yet then Carmelita sighs and mutters: "I – I know it's a real mood killer, but – part of me is glad that they were killed. I do believe they would have preferred that." I can hardly believe what the young woman is saying and ask: "What do you mean?" Carmelita yawns and mutters: "I mean with how ill they were. How close they were to – well – being bedridden and whatnot."
The fox obviously tries to explain herself, yet I feel even more confused and say: "Carmelita, my parents weren't ill." The fox looks up and we stare at each other for a few minutes. Then her eyes widen and a hand covers her mouth as she gasps: "Wait, you – you don't – you don't know – do you?" I raise my eyebrow and ask: "Know what? Carmelita, what do you know of my parents that I don't? And what do you mean, they were almost bedridden?"
"You – you – you never got to see the – the – the autopsy report?" Carmelita asks me and while this question does hurt and bring up the same pain I felt so long ago, I just lower my head. The two of us move until we are, once again, sitting on the edge of the bed and I mutter: "A few months after my parents were killed, an officer came to the orphanage. He told me that my parents had had their wills executed – and that I was the main beneficiary.

I inherited the house and my dad had even already sold off most of his loot to fill up a bank account with enough money, that the state could keep receiving rent. But the rent was to remain on the same prize as before they were killed and the state was not allowed to do anything to the house unless I was old enough to decide for myself. It was to be preserved exactly as it was. I also inherited other stuff, including the Thievius Raccoonus.
But, as you know, the Fiendish Five had ripped that apart after they killed my parents. All the officers were able to find of that was the cover. That was hard enough for me to hear, but then – the officer explained why it had taken them months before they approached me about all this. Apparently, they had searched my parents' place up and down and inside out for the last item they had left me, but they just couldn't find it. My parents' wedding rings. There was no trace of them."

Carmelita cuddles close against me at hearing this. I try not to cry, just like I think I did back then and I hiccup as I say: "I really don't remember what happened after that. Just like the night they were killed, after I saw Clockwerk tear his claw talon through my dad's torso and heard my mother's neck be snapped, I went into shock. I woke up the next morning, back in my room with Bentley and Murray. The appointment had been at 10 in the morning."
Carmelita actually has a few tears of her own running down her face as she mutters: "I – I had no idea. Sly, I'm so sorry. But then – the officer must have left the autopsy report with the lady running the orphanage, right?" I nod, but I snort and mutter: "Yeah, probably. However, to quote Mrs. Puffin herself. A dumpster sometimes looks more organized than my filing system. I am lucky that I can keep my orphan files organized, thank you very much.

So by the time I was ready to finally view that – that report, it was years later. There was no way either of us could have found it. Even Bentley would have gone mad trying to find it." Carmelita grimaces at this and I ask: "You know what it says?" She nods and says: "When I took your case, I decided to do every last bit of investigating that I could. I looked into anything I could find out about you and discovered about that night.
The autopsy report was part of the police report that was filed about that night and I read the whole thing." I sigh at this and mutter: "And it – it claimed that they – were ill?" Carmelita nods and says: "Yeah, but – I don't think you should hear it here. I think it's best if we head down. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like Bentley and Murray deserve to hear this as well." Yet I don't disagree with her. Instead of that I nod and we get up.

Instantly Carmelita is close against my body and her whole form conveys how badly she wants to comfort and reassure me. I can't help but grin at this and mutter: "I guess the roles have been reversed since Saturday, huh?" Carmelita grins back at me and nods as she says: "You got that right. Now I get to be your rock." I grin at her, yet at the same time her words and what she's not telling me fill me with a strong sense of fear and dread.
We head down and everyone grins at us. That is until they see the way that I am holding Carmelita's side and how she is clinging to me in her need to comfort me. "Eh, what happened?" Bentley asks and while I sit down with Carmelita in my lap, I mutter: "Carmelita told me that she saw my parents' autopsy report, from the night they were killed.""Do we want to know how you got to that topic?"

Cheren asks and I shake my head and say: "No, but that's more because apparently that report revealed something I never knew about my parents. Carmelita was about to tell me, but then she realized that Bentley and Murray deserve to hear this as well." Bentley and Murray now share a worried look and we all turn to the fox in my lap. The vixen sighs and mutters: "To be honest, I can understand why they kept this quiet."
Bentley tilts his head and I notice Murray sending a quick look into the corner. Melanie also catches this and she says: "Good thinking, Murray. Come on, Angela. It's time we head home." I'm not entirely happy with this new distraction, yet at the same time I do agree with both my best friend and the young mother. And after we all greet the two and they have left, we all turn back to look at Carmelita. The fox nods and says:

AN: I DO NOT MEAN TO INSULT ANYONE WHO HAS HAD SOMEONE DIE OF THIS FORM OF CANCER. I MYSELF LOST SOMEONE TO CANCER! I KNOW HOW PAINFUL IT IS. MY APOLOGIES IF YOU STILL FEEL INSULTED OR HURT OR IF THIS BRINGS BACK UNPLEASANT MEMORIES.

"Sly told me why he never found out about this, how his meeting with the officer who was in charge of it all went. It's just, while they were indeed killed, both Connor and Carra Cooper were actually diagnosed with terminal illnesses. Connor had an illness that slowly affected his muscle strength as well as his stamina, while Carra had bone marrow cancer.
And unfortunately, according to my research, there were just no specialists near their home that were willing to treat the wife of a criminal, nor were they willing to accept money that Connor had lawfully earned to pay for the treatment. They were just left to die, just like that. I even managed to meet with the doctor that diagnosed them both and he told me that he had hoped that – ugh, never mind. Let's just say he pissed me off royally."

The others all nod, yet Bentley and Murray are just gaping. And I myself feel pretty similar. Then suddenly, thanks to all this, a memory resurfaces. "Is that really the best you've got? You're pathetic, you overgrown metal chicken. You need to rely on the tricks of your lackeys to even catch up with me? Then again, we have been outsmarting you for years now, haven't we? Face it, Cogswerk, you will never beat us, not really. You never did and you never will. You can't even kill me."
"Dad. Was this – was this why?" I whisper as I remember that night so vividly I almost feel like I am back to being eight years old. "Sly?" Carmelita's voice and her question instantly pull me back into the present and I softly say: "When – when dad fell for Panda King's trap – when his legs got caught by those booby-trapped fireworks that he had set off into the room – and even while Panda King was holding his arms apart and holding him hostage – my dad didn't give up.
Instead – he did something that I just never understood. He was a hostage to their will and yet, he challenged them. He insulted Clockwerk and talked about how the bastard had attempted to kill my ancestors before him. I just couldn't understand why my dad was doing this, but then – just when dad challenged him that he could never be killed, Clockwerk did exactly that. He ripped his talon straight through my dad's body."

The others in the room are all horrified, even Bentley and Murray as I never told them this bit about that night. I lower my head and mutter: "I – I never understood why he did that. Why he would try to look so strong even when he was so tired, so weak, so vulnerable. Could – could it be because – he was ill? Because he already knew that he was dying? Did he challenge Clockwerk –?" I stop here and Marcus comments:
"Because he didn't want to die weak in a hospital bed, I do think so, Sly. In fact, if what I have heard about Connor Cooper, both from hearsay and from you just now, I think your old man might have had another reason. You. He must have known that it would confuse you, but he wanted to die a hero in your eyes. He didn't want you to see him die looking weak. He wanted you to see him die a Master Thief; someone who always has the last laugh, no matter what."

I really want to hide my face in my hands for this, but Carmelita beats me to it and instead she pulls my head close into her neck. I bury my muzzle into her luscious hair and the scent of her perfume and shampoo slowly help me calm down from the emotional turmoil that is going through me now that I know this. I also feel that Carmelita's hold on me is both tense and comforting and she mutters: "Still, there is one thing I don't understand."
We all look at her and she says: "As you all know, Sly helped me arrest each of these monsters. All of them, bar Clockwerk, who we took down together and who we thought was going to die in the lava of Crack-Karov volcano. But because I was the one to arrest them, I was also the one to interrogate them. And – I felt the need to make sure they would sit time for that horrible crime as well, so I made sure to add it to their testimony when I questioned them.
But, Sly, each and every one of them told me the same story. That they had been told where to find you by someone. Someone who also told them that you were out and about because you were going through your initiation. They told me that that was why they attacked that night. Because none of them wanted you to see the murders happen and they only agreed to help Clockwerk commit this, as long as he agreed that you were not to be present when it happened."

"Why would four monstrous murderers care whether or not I was there that night?" I can't help but almost snarl, but Carmelita shakes her head and says: "I don't know. It's just what they told me. All four of them. Also, Miss Ruby, Riley and Muggshot all told me that your mother had told them about her cancer and that she asked them to make her death swift. That she told them how she was too weak to really fight them, but she didn't want to suffer, not anymore."
The fox tries to be as gentle as possible as she tells me this and I let go off a few of my tears as I mutter: "They complied. At the same time I heard my father's dying screams of pain as Clockwerk tore through him – I heard it. Krcht. The sound of my mother's neck being snapped. I don't – I don't know who of them did this or – or how, but – I know that they complied." Carmelita nods at this and she herself looks down as she says:

"Miss Ruby told me. She told me that she was the one to hypnotize your mother, so she would be in trance and wouldn't feel it. Muggshot held her down on the floor, in case she would subconsciously try to fight back and Riley snapped her neck with his tongue." By now the only thing that is keeping me from succumbing to my memories is Carmelita's voice and her weight in my lap. Yet I can't help myself and so I ask:
"But then, what was that sound?" The others all look at me and I say: "The last thing I remember before I lost consciousness was the sound of something – something soft – falling down the stairs. I never found out what it was, because I fainted at the sound and didn't wake up for another 48 hours. By the time I was awake, I was in Bentley and Murray's room, at the orphanage." Carmelita grimaces and mutters:

"I – I think that might have been your mother, Sly. According to the report, several of her bones were badly broken and she was also indeed found at the bottom of the stairs, in such a position that – that it gave the officers present the impression she had fallen down." I shake my head and mutter: "That doesn't make sense. Why would they try to – to drag her body upstairs after killing her? What was the point? And who of them tried this?"
Carmelita lowers her own head again and mutters: "I – I'm sorry, Sly. I – I never asked about this. I – I should have, but –." But I shake my head and mutter: "Don't blame yourself, love. I don't blame you. If anything, I am more curious about something else." The others all look at me and I stare back at them as I ask: "Who told them? Who told them that lie? Who made them believe that I wasn't there that night? That I was out? Who sold out where my parents lived to killers?"

Everyone shares looks that prove they don't know either and Cheren mutters: "I'm starting to think that we might have resigned a little too soon." Helena cringes and asks: "Maybe we can ask Michael to find out for us?" But I shake my head and say: "No, he's got his hands full reorganizing Interpol and cleaning out the crap that has been polluting that place with corruption and whatnot. I need to get these answers myself."
"But Sly! They're in prison!" Bentley shouts and I grin at him as I say: "I know. That makes it all the much easier to get my answers. Especially as they're all in the same prison. And it will save us up on gas prices as well. No offense, Murray." But the Hippo seems too shocked to respond and I turn to Carmelita, who seems truly distraught with the notion of me going through with this. The fox seems to stare at me for a moment before she asks:

"Heathrow prison. All four of them were put there. Same prison and even on the same floor. But – but – but Sly, surely you're not thinking of breaking into prison, are you?" I grin at her and say: "Break in, no. I plan to sneak in there. A few days of recon and I should be able to find a guard that has my height. After that, it's just a matter of a good knock on the head with my trusty cane and I should be able to get my answers."
Carmelita bites her lip and mutters: "That – that does sound like a plan, but – but Sly, I – I'm not – I – I mean –." I gently kiss her, just to alleviate her fears and obvious concerns and say: "I get it, love. And the idea of sneaking into a prison of all things was definitely the last thing I ever thought I would do, but it seems that my friends here forgot one thing." I grin at them and say: "I snuck in and out of that prison once before – perfectly safely."
Murray looks startled and Bentley hits himself on the head as he says: "You're right! I forgot! That's what started this whole thing! It's what got us on the trail of the Cooper Vault in the first place. It's where you met your dad's muscle, Jim McSweeney and where you found out about the map that he and your dad had hidden in that museum in Italy." I grin at him and give him a thumb's up with my forefinger aimed his way as I say: "Exactly. I got this." And Bentley nods in agreement.

You go, Sly.
To be honest, I have another story in mind that actually takes place before Sly 2, so I forgot that, in this story, Sly has already met with McSweeney. However, that doesn't mean that the walrus is not going to play one hell of a role in the chapter where Sly will, again, sneak into the prison to question the four members of the Fiendish Five. And yes, for the sake of this story, Muggshot will still be in prison.
For now,

Venquine1990