Glad you guys are enjoying my fic! Thank you to all my reviewers including the ones for this story and my other Sly fics! Ok. This will be the last chapter of this season so to speak. Things are going to start to pick up from here. But to keep any confusion down, I will place the time skip as a heading or at least have someone mention the time change. Thanks again to Dragon and Sword Master for his betaing prowess!

Your hints for this chapter: There are no Easter Eggs in this chapter. Sorry.

All readers: please don't/stop read/reading Strangers Like Us... it will be replaced after this prequel is finished... that is the point of a rewrite after all!

The poll is finished! The top five villains are now:

1. Neyla

2. Panda King

3. All of Them

4. Dimitri, Arpeggio, The Contessa, Dr. M are tied for fourth.

5. Clockwerk and General Tsao are tied for fifth.

Since all of them ranked so high, it is a safe bet to say that you will see all of the old villains at some point in the series. Whether they remain in the story, will be the question. Most of the ones in the top four will have a longstanding role of some kind though!

Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and other related characters are formerly the property of Sucker Punch, inc. and currently the property of Sanzaru, Inc. except for Beatrice Montreal, Bryan Moliere, Desiree Mallery, Desiree Monroe, Nautica Macavity, Aubrey Lancaster, Ann Minaret, Armand Jaeger, Philip Dumont, and Claire Bennet which all belong to me. Carmen Fox, Carlos Diego Fox, Kitty Petro, and Ling Chu belong to Kitty Petro.

Season 1: "When Strangers Meet"

Season Finale

Episode 11:

Dreaming, Interrupted- Part 2

At Whispering Rock...

Sly drank in Beatrice's blurry face in as his heart rate slowed down. There were so many questions Shaun wanted to ask but getting his brain and mouth working together turned out to be much harder than he was accustomed to. Beatrice placed her hand on his shoulder and spoke softly to him.

"You are in the hospital. You had developed meningitis and had ended up passed out in my bathroom," she explained. "We were really worried for a bit. You were close to dying." Dying? He really must have been ill. How long had he been asleep? He tried to ask her but once again Shaun found himself without a voice. However, Bea must have read his mind because her next words answered his question. "You have been in a coma for about four weeks. Between everything that has happened, we weren't sure-" she abruptly stopped speaking as the sound of the door opening up distracted her. She looked up and greeted someone that he did not know.

"How much have you told him?" asked a new voice. This voice was masculine and had a slight growl to it. Sly could only simmer angrily as the two discussed him as if he wasn't even there.

"Just where he was and how long he had been asleep and why," she answered quietly.

"Oh ok, good. I would say to leave it at that... It will take a few days for him to remember that much." Answered the gentleman as he finally came into the teen's line of sight. The man was tall and had obsidian fur. Any other details were indiscernible to Shaun's still recovering eyesight. "Hello Shaun... It is good to see you awake. We were beginning to really worry about you." He explained softly, repeating Bea's words from earlier. "I am Dr. Phillip Dumont, one of the psychiatrists here at Whispering Rock. I have been monitoring your mental state during your recovery. I am mainly here to make sure that you recover mentally from all that has happened recently. I will be checking in on you from time to time to make sure there aren't any problems as you heal..." Shaun struggled to remain awake as he was suddenly weary. Despite how badly he wanted to hear more about what was going on, his body refused to cooperate. Darkness was hovering on the edge of his vision and the doctor's voice had begun to fade. His eyes finally floated closed after another minute and Shaun drifted off once again...

Eventually, Shaun woke up again with a start. It was now much darker outside, but it was not quite night yet. He sighed heavily. His body still wasn't responding to any of his wants and he was still no closer to getting any real answers. He once again stuck in the same recurring nightmare. Every time he awoke it was the same thing. If someone happened to be in the room, they would quietly explain that he had been ill and he was currently in the hospital while he recovered. He would attempt to ask for more information but he could not get any sound to leave his lips. Eventually, he would give up and drift back to sleep, only to find himself in the same position again. The sound of the door opening drew Shaun from his frustrated thoughts. He cut his eyes over to the doorway and was surprised to when the scent of a snow leopardess reached his nose. It reminded him of his mother. He looked away, it couldn't be her... His mother had abandoned him with his father when he was eight years old and he had not seen her since. The nurse was probably here to do the tube cleaning for the night. It was never a comfortable sensation, but not having the procedure was just as irritating.

He closed his eyes and tried to relax. But the moment her hands touched his throat, he tensed up again. That was all he could do. His muscles would weakly tense, but produce no useful movements. Well, that was not exactly true. He could move his eyes as much as he wanted, but they weren't any more useful. Their vision was terrible. The images that Shaun usually saw were blurry and he could only make people out by their voice and maybe the color of their fur/skin/hair. But the worst thing was, he could not make a single sound. Turns out the doctors had given him a tracheotomy and had inserted a tube in order to take over his breathing for his damaged lungs. Since no air passed over his vocal chords, he had all but lost his voice. For the last few days it had become a frustrating game of trying to mouth what he wanted before giving up and blinking his way through a slew of yes or no questions. Which still usually ended in Shaun not getting nearly any of the answers he really wanted. But he was beginning to pick up the fact that he was not being told everything.

For example, whenever he tried to get more information on his condition, he would get childish and overly cheerful answers about it or uncomfortable silence. And if he asked about Bentley, they would just ignore him. Once he feigned sleep while everyone was in the room with the doctors. They were arguing with the doctors about "telling him the truth". That overheard conversation did not help his worry any. The doctors' reasoning for withholding information was to avoid another 'magical incident'. What kind of an incident were they trying to avoid? But he did learn something interesting, this hospital and its staff were specifically designed and trained to work with people who were magi. One of his half a dozen doctors, apparently, is a magus himself. His internal musings were cut short when he felt the suction from the siphon tube start to suck the mucus from his lungs. Once again, a vile mix of disgust and helplessness ate away at his insides. How useless was he? He could not even take care of his own bodily functions without help! The only thing he could do was lie there and exist.

"What a waste of space you are, Cooper!" he growled in his head. His mental castigation was cut short when another voice cut in,

"No wonder you decided to take a trip! You are rather emotionally abusive." Shaun started. Who said that? After hearing nothing else, he sighed and let his thoughts wander again. He wished she would finish up so he could be alone.

"Why? So you can brood in peace?" taunted the voice again. Now, Shaun was sure he heard the voice. Finally, the nurse was finished with her duties and covered him back up, before placing her hand on his forehead. She sighed, before drawing away.

"I don't know how this can get any worse!" he groused.

"You could have an aneurysm? Lose your sight completely... or..." added the voice.

"Who asked you?!" Shaun finally snapped, acutely aware that if he could actually speak, he would have been talking out loud. A furious flush wound its way down the hybrid's body. A rather bemused series of chuckles echoed through his head after a second. The smoldering heat in his veins quickly turned into a furious blaze.

"Easy champ, I was just joking... well mostly joking..." came the reply from somewhere in his mind. Shaun gritted his teeth in irritation. The voice continued, "It's obvious you are losing your mind and are in denial."

"Well you are a load of help, you son of a-" he broke off abruptly. Another wave of exhaustion swept through the hybrid. He was tired of being fucking tired and being fucking invalid! This entire thing was becoming ridiculous! He had gone from being part of one of the top gangs in the Underworld pecking order to a half mad invalid in a few weeks!

"That came out wrong, I suppose. I was attempting to snap you out of your pity party, but it angered you instead. I apologize." The voice's reply sounded sad this time. The hybrid's anger was snuffed out by confusion. Was the voice in his head apologizing to him?

"I have to admit... I am simply lost at the moment." Shaun thought back.

"Don't worry, kid. I will explain what I can soon. But you need rest now, if you are ever going to get better." came the tired reply.

"Who are you? I mean... are you me or something else?" asked Shaun. Despite the weirdness of the conversation, he found himself curious about the voice. All Shaun received was silence. He stared at the ceiling for a while, before falling asleep. Not a moment later, the feeling of air on his face woke him up. Sly opened his eyes to blue skies. Confusion swept through the teen as he slowly sat up. The confusion suddenly turned into jubilation as he glanced at his hands which he could move any way he chose. He could move again. Slowly, Shaun struggled to his feet. His body felt awkward and weak, but he was standing. The sound of someone clapping nearly put him on his butt again, although he managed to catch himself at the last minute.

"Careful kid, you don't want to fall again do you? You will definitely wake up again and that won't do either of us any good," warned a familiar voice. Shaun turned to see an eerie replica of himself standing behind him. The replica was wearing his thieving outfit and looked a bit older than him surprisingly.

"Who are you?" Shaun asked bluntly as he continued to stare down the intruder in his head. Despite his curiosity, he was certain whatever was going on here was not good for his health. The replica seemed to be amused by his wary behavior. When Shaun questioned the apparition again, its face turned from bemused to pensive.

"Who am I? That is an interesting question. The truth is though, I can't honestly say. I really don't know who I am. But if you must have an answer, I can give you an idea of what I am." The lookalike answered. "I am a magical entity that has existed in your family for generations and my job was to keep your family from mucking things up too badly." The teen raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Right... I totally trust that you are not trick of the Contessa's or anything right?" snorted Shaun in response. "So do you have a name?"

"No, not really... I told that nice doctor that kicked the Contessa's ass for you that my name was Sly, but you probably won't be too happy with that." He answered. Shaun balked at that.

"You can't possibly be Sly... " huffed the teen as he looked around himself. What was this place anyway?

"Why not?" asked the replica as he leaned against the wall of a large building. Shaun felt a sense of familiarity settle around him as he looked at the building. He started at the structure, trying to place where he had seen it before, then it hit him.

Before him stood a museum. The museum was small by most modern museum standards and it was definitely ancient. It used be to an old pre modern world fortress, and before that it had been a "small" coast home to a wealthy merchant family. But nowadays it had remained as in use as a small museum and minor tourist attraction off of one of Italy's coasts. Sly remembered this place well as it was one of the few places that his parents and he had gone to together. It was a place of peace and pleasure for the young thief. He remembered the grandiosely decorated building with its winding stairs on the outside as well as the inside. The outside stairs led up to two guard towers that were always kept locked according to the curator. The bricked dome sat up on the third and highest story. Nothing worthy of note was kept up there. It was just there for decoration of the main building. There had been two floors of unique and lesser known pieces of local Italian art. His father had been really interested a particular piece of art when they went.

The previous Cooper thief insisted that his son memorize the painting, he had said that it was vital to the clan's survival that he memorize that painting. Even now he could see the artwork in his mind. But before he could get too wrapped up in it, he remembered that he should not be anywhere near this place. Why was he here now? What was the Contessa's aim here? Was it to make him show her where the money was hidden? To just confuse him more? He really did not know. There was also the niggling feeling in the back of his mind that the last few days and what was happening now weren't dreams.

"You have not answered my question?" the apparition's voice drawing Shaun back to the conversation.

"What?" the teen blurted.

"Why can't I be Sly? After all, you are Shaun." Said "Sly" with a shrug of his shoulders. Sly just rolled his eyes in irritation. The suspicion that this thing was another one of the Contessa's tricks was beginning to fade. The replica was too ridiculous and irritating for the Contessa to have come up with. She would have scrapped him herself. Besides she preferred being direct about her approaches.

"If you must have a name, it can't be Sly as that is my preferred name and it would get confusing. If you have to have a name, Sy will do just as well." Grumbled the teenager as he continued to stare at the slightly ruined area he was in. "What happened here anyway? And why am I here?"

"Sy... I like it! As to your questions, this construct is a magical-mental representation of your mind and the reason it is currently in disarray is that the Contessa forced her way in and started doing damage looking for you. When the doc and I confronted her, the resulting fight only added to the mess, until your magic fried her ass before kicking her out." answered Sy.

"Well, I have to admit, I never thought my mind would look like this..." muttered Shaun as he continued to gaze at the sights around him. He was particularly interested in watching one of the gashes in the ground slowly close up leaving a streak of dead grass in the midst of the green lawn.

"It is tied to a place or an idea that you cherish most. This place must have meant a great deal to you," said Sy as he came over to Shaun. The teen could believe that. After all, magic was often tied to strong emotions. Even as he brooded over the damage around him, a sense of peace had begun to grow within the young man's mind. So much so that he began talking to Sy, revealing the memory that he had never shared with Bentley and Murray.

"Yes, this was one of the last places my family went together before we went into hiding when I was a small child. So, this place does mean a little something to me. But what I still don't understand is why you are here." Shaun watched as the replica seemed to debate on what to say.

"I told you before, I am simply here to guide the Cooper family descendants. You are currently in trouble up to your eyeballs, so here I am," shrugged Sy as he stared Shaun in the face. For some reason, this made the teen uncomfortable and he turned away. His gaze turned back to the dead grass before him.

"Is this the reason I can't move now? All the damage that the Contessa did?" he asked as he avoided the other man's face.

"Unfortunately, no kid, it's not. The reason you can't move is exactly as the others have been telling you. You have been horribly ill and the complications of that illness have left you in this state. But the damage here is not helping your case any." answered Sy.

"That seems reasonable. But, if my current state is tied to my illness then why is the state of this mind space, construct or whatever, is not helping me any?" asked the teen, once again suspicious. Sy sighed loudly.

"This construction exists at the nexus of your mind, body, and magic. Any damage here, will have an effect on all three. Of course there will be some areas that are more likely to be affect than others," he explained.

"Meaning?" Shaun pressed for more information, given that this- whatever Sy was- was actually talking to him rather than at him. This was the first actual conversation that he was able to have with another being since he woke up. That and he really did want more information, especially since Sy seemed so willing to give it up.

"These scorch marks are a representation of the damage done to your magic and mind from the Contessa's attack. Most of your memories and such are still intact as they were contained in this building. The rest along with your conscious self and emotions are inside you. There are some areas that have damaged areas that are larger and deeper than others, these deeper wounds also probably have caused some physical damage... but it will mostly, hopefully, manifest as longer healing time rather than more impairment." explained Sy.

"Uh huh... again that makes sense. But you sound like there is more to it," prompted Shaun as decided to make himself comfortable on the ground again. The ever-present weariness that had been plaguing him had returned with a vengeance. Sy continued his explanation as he took a seat, too.

"However, the immediate problem is that your magic being shunted to healing the magical damage first. This is slowing down your healing on the physical side. The longer it takes for the magic to heal the magical damage, the longer it will be before your magic gets around to healing your physical injuries. The longer it takes for your physical body to start healing... the bigger the chance of you becoming permanently disabled is." Shaun felt an icy chill race through his body at that. Permanently trapped in his own body? That could not happen. There was too much to do and laying about could see him or his friends killed. "I can't remain this way for too long, there is too much to do... Murray... Bentley... and-" he thought, panicked.

"Slow down kid, the only thing you are responsible for right now is getting better." said Sy, as he placed a comforting arm around his shoulder. Sly looked dumbstruck.

"I did not say that out loud, I know I didn't!" Shaun babbled, trying to figure out how the other raccoon had heard his thoughts.

"No, you did not but I can still hear your thoughts. Nothing here in your head is private. You can't hide from yourself. And I have no choice but to listen in..." admitted Sy. Shaun glared.

"I am quite sure that you could ignore it if you wanted to." grumbled the teenager. After a moment, the hybrid yawned loudly.

"All right kid, we've talked long enough. You need rest. So, close your eyes and we will talk some more later." said Sy. Sly for once did not object to the other man's suggestion. He stretched out on the grass and allowed the warm sun to lull him to sleep...

The next morning, the teen awoke to a new person in his room. Well the person was not new per se, but he definitely had not seen him since they first met. It was the dark furred doctor from earlier in the week or was it last week? The days had begun to blur together for Shaun. Thankfully his vision had started to improve. Things were still horribly blurry, but at least he could make out shapes and people now. He must have noticed that Shaun was awake as he started speaking,

"Good morning, Shaun. How are you feeling?" The hybrid snorted. Why did they ask him questions when they knew he couldn't really answer them? "I am absolutely fucking perfect. My head still hurts and my left leg has gone numb..." he thought in irritation. Shaun saw the doctor move from his position by the bed. A few moments later, someone else came into the room. After a moment, the nurse had made their way over to the bed with a syringe in hand. They spoke softly as they told him that it was just some morphine. Once they injected the medication, they left without another word. Shaun was confused. Why had a nurse given him something for pain as he knew that he had not said anything out loud?

"Hey! That is the doc that helped me kick old creepy crawly's ass in your mind!" Sy voiced suddenly from the back of Shaun's mind. The voice startled him. He jerked violently, causing a shooting pain to go through his body. He closed his eyes in pain and irritation. Finally, he released irritated sigh and pulled his attention back to the doctor that had remained at his bedside.

"So just who are you? I am assuming that you can hear my thoughts?" Shaun asked. The doctor smiled softly and nodded.

"As I have said before, I am Dr. Phillip Dumont and I am a physician here at Whispering Rock and specialize in mental disease and injury. I am currently assigned as your mental health specialist." answered the lupine. "I am just simply here to see how you are coping and provide a means of communication for you." A means of communication? That was an interesting phrase to use.

"So you are here to make sure I haven't gone around the twist, huh?" asked thehalf breed. Phillip gave no indication that he had heard the teen until he answered his question with one of his own.

"Do you feel like you are 'going around the twist'?" Shaun frowned. Was this damn lupine making fun of him now?

"Ha. Ha. Ha. You are funny, doc." Shaun thought with disdain. Phillip frowned.

"I suppose my question came off wrong. I simply want to know how you are feeling. According to your friends, you seem very agitated. They believed that it was due to your inability to communicate. Is this true or is something else wrong?" Phillip asked again in that same soft even tone. Shaun was taken aback. This doctor wanted to know how he was feeling about being bed bound in a hospital. It could not be that freaking simple. After all, the Contessa wanted to know things too. Suddenly, the room around him changed. The walls became dark, grimy stone. The air had become dank and frigid. He was still lying down. The Contessa face hovering him. Panic washed over him and he fought to get away. As she leaned closer to him he shut his eyes in terror. When he opened them again, he was back in the hospital. Phillip was now standing over him with his eyes closed and his hand resting on his forehead. Well, at least that is what Shaun hoped his bleary vision and sense of touch was telling him.

What are you doing?! Shaun thought frantically. The doctor's hand was quickly removed.

"Relax. I was just bringing you out of your flashback. I meant you no harm." Said the doctor. Shaun went through the motions of trying calm himself down. He watched as the doctor's shape moved back towards the chair he must have vacated. "The other physicians want to try and keep your stress levels down. So, I was sent in to see what ways we could achieve that." Shaun was honestly too exhausted now to care about anything. But he realized that the doctor probably was not going to leave without some form of an answer.

"I am well as can be for someone has just woken up from a coma! But if you really have to feel like you are really making yourself useful… could you figure out where my friend is?" He could feel Dr. Dumont's confusion.

"I am not sure which friend you are referring to. You have quite a few regulars." Dr. Dumont answered with a laugh. Shaun frowned. The one that he thought he had seen the most of was Bea.

"I have more than one still?" he thought.

"Yes, Beatrice, Brian, and Murray are all here on a regular basis. However, I have only seen Beatrice and I haven't seen your reptile friend in a while, though," the lupine admitted. Shaun frowned as much as he could. Bentley had been coming to the hospital, but now he was not. Shaun did not know how to feel about that. On one hand, he was sad and worried that Bentley was not present. However, he was so relieved that he was not present anymore to see him so weak. The pessimistic part of himself had been conjuring up images of the turtle sneering that it served the raccoon right that he was so ill now.

"I can ask about him for you? If that would make you feel better." Said the doctor softly. Shaun was becoming quite annoyed by the doctor answering his rhetorical questions. While he was happy that he was finally getting some answers, he still felt like he wasn't being communicated with. He wasn't really able to have a true conversation that he wanted to, in truth he just felt like he was responding to an eavesdropper in his head.

"I would really appreciate it, if you would stop answering my every thought. Honestly, it's starting to creep me out a little bit. But yes, I would like to know where my friend is." Shaun answered. The doctor nodded.

"I can certainly do both of those things. I shall return in a moment." He replied. Shaun listened as the doctor got up and called Beatrice over to him. The teen heard their footsteps as they headed towards the door. A moment later the door opened and shut. As he waited, Shaun just stared at the ceiling and vaguely wondered if this was going to be his new normal. Would he ever talk on his own or move again for that matter? Besides, the numbness was a new sensation and it worried him. It was obvious the stroke had caused a lot of nerve damage. It was going to take forever to get back into physical shape. That is if he ever got enough feeling and strength to move at all. With that disturbing thought, Shaun turned his attention back to the room around him. The doctors had finally removed the neck brace the day before so Shaun could finally move his neck and look about. Though he did not move his neck as much as the doctors would like. The painful popping in his stiff neck usually kept him from moving too far. But for the sake of making sure that his body did not lock up, they regularly had physical therapists come in and move his body about. He felt like a marionette during those times and he hated it, not only that, but it freaking hurt.

As he continued to glare at the ceiling, someone else came into the room. Shaun figured it was just another nurse, and tuned out the murmuring of the two mammals in the hall. Then suddenly a scent drifted into his nose. The scent of snow leopard once again. When he had first smelled it when he woke up a few days ago, he thought it had been a trick of his illness addled mind. But now, there was no mistaking it. It was a snow leopardess. And not just any one, either. The scent had brought back memories of hugs, stories, lullabies, and even a few well deserved scoldings. Tears began pooling in the corners of his eyes. Shaun bit back a sob. How was she even here? Why was she here now? There were so many questions going through his mind, but the main want and thought going through Shaun's mind was how much he wanted to be hugged right then.

It been a long time since he had seen his mother, let alone been hugged by her and right then that was all he wanted. But his final tipping point came when she placed her hand on his forehead. The last of his self-restraint gave way and he began to sob. Shaun tried to get a hold of himself but he had no strength to fight his sobs. His mother's gentle touch and even gentler words did not help in the slightest either. For several moments, nothing existed for Shaun save his own grief and his mother. For first time in very long time, Shaun did not feel alone. Eventually, the sound of the door opening pulled Shaun out of the emotional maelstrom that he had been trapped in. He finally managed to pull himself together. He could only stare at doorway. He was too tired to do much else. He became instantly aware of who had entered the room as Bea's suspicious tone suddenly invaded the mournful silence that had permeated the room.

"What are you doing?! Why is he so upset?!" she demanded...

Ok, I give. Next chapter! This was not my best piece but it was a clunky necessity. This is the first step in Shaun's recovery. He is no longer dreaming but will now have to face the consequences of his reality. The next few chapters will deal with the consequences that other characters are facing as a result of all these things! Please review if you would!