A/N: Okay I have a lot to explain. I have deleted my first version of this story. Why? Well I had an original outline and I had a fan give me suggestions. I listened and got lost so I decided to start over. This story is scripted with an outline already, so I'm sticking to it. I'm also heavily checking for grammar issues, story plot holes, etc. If I make a mistake I do apologize. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I promise it is complete, I'm just uploading chapters a bit at a time.
Quiet nights in Paris are quite rare, especially recently with new restaurants and bars popping up all over town. This particular night, however, was a chilly Christmas Eve night. Snow covered the quiet streets and everyone was snuggled in their beds waiting for Christmas morning…well almost everyone.
"Goodnight, Tony." A large tiger handed a large panther a set of keys in front of a local museum.
"I appreciate you taking the overnight shift tonight. I've been having so many issues trying to get someone to watch this good-for-nothing building all month.
Tony smiled to the tiger, who happened to be his boss. "No problem, Sarah. I'll take the extra pay. I think it's probably going to be a quiet night anyway."
Sarah crossed her arms. "Well, it's just you tonight, Tony. Just be careful."
Tony shook her paw. "I got this covered, Sarah. You have a Merry Christmas."
Sarah smiled. "You too." She turned around and walked away from the building as Tony entered the large double doors.
This particular museum wasn't the most famous in town, but it held some very precious artifacts. The building was a quite small, circle shape. It was topped with an older looking black roof covered sparsely with skylights.
Just in the distance, a racoon figure stood in the distance, waiting to strike. It was dressed in complete black head to toe. It's ski mask had a cutout for it's big green eyes and small mouth. "I'm approaching the museum now, Silver." A somewhat high pitched female voice admitted from the racoon as it talked into its radio.
"Be careful, Sky." A young man answered through the radio. "It's one guard tonight, and as far as I can see from here, he's already asleep."
Sky smiled but didn't respond. Sky quickly began to run across the power line reaching the museum roof. "I'm here."
Sky forced open the skylight and looked down. There was a tall bookshelf, perfect to break a fall. Sky jumped onto the bookshelf. Quickly looking around, the target was quickly spotted.
"I found it, Silver." Silver didn't respond, but Sky didn't mind. Quickly leaning over, Sky snatched the target; The Thevious Racconus.
Sky smiled and held the book. But just before an almost successful mission could be celebrated, alarms rang throughout the building. Sky's stomach dropped, trying to radio Silver for help.
It seemed like the whole situation lasted just milliseconds. "SKY!" Silver panicked. "The police are on their way. I didn't know that their office…"
Before Silver could finish, the police were already swarming Sky around the post the book was sitting on. "Hands up, Thief!" A very large elephant held a shock pistol towards Sky's head. "Drop the book and put your hands up. It's over."
Sky did as told. In the distance, a fox could be seen charging over towards Sky, yelling. "You're going to jail!" The fox screamed in a thick Spanish accent.
Sky's stomach dropped. Surely that's not…
"Inspector Fox. I'm glad you made it. We caught this thief right in their tracks." The large elephant smiled at Carmelita.
"Show yourself, and we won't shoot." Shouted the clearly angry and charged fox.
Sky sighed. It was over. As Sky was unmasking, Carmelita began increasingly angry. Her blue curly hair was standing straight up and her eyes turned blood shot. "SKYLAR FOX!" She barked.
Skylar knew what happened. It was over. Carmelita pulled off the rest of the mask, revealing Skylar's terrified and ashamed face. Her thick, black curly hair all dropped at once, as if she just jumbled it into her hoodie without attempting to pin it. Her small, skinny figure shook as she realized her worst nightmare was happening.
"I cannot believe my own DAUGHTER was caught doing this." Carmelita continued to bark. "Oh wait, I'm not surprised. I had a feeling it was you the moment I heard that book was taken. I told you a million times to STAY AWAY from that book, young lady. I should've not left you alone."
Skylar remained silent. Shuffling her feet on the marbled floor. "Where is your brother? Is he at home?" Carmelita demanded.
Skylar sighed. "Yes."
Skylar's radio went off, as she just realized she forgot to silence it. "Sky, respond. Are you okay? I saw the cops started swarming in."
Carmelita snatched Skylar's radio that was attached to her black belt full of thriving supplies. "Silvester Fox." She growled. "You're grounded."
"What? Mom?" Silvester asked worryingly over the radio. "Mom, I'm sorry. Skylar…"
"Save it." Carmelita interrupted. Both of you are in a huge amount of trouble."
Skylar sweated. "Am I going to jail?"
Carmelita turned to her daughter who was clearly terrified. "I should…" she barked. "You're my child though, and you're only 10 years old."
"Inspector Fox…" the elephant that caught Skylar approached the disappointed and very angry fox. "Look, she didn't really steal anything. She attempted. Not to mention she's a 10-year-old girl. I apologize Inspector, but I really don't think I should arrest her."
Carmelita started to calm down a little bit. "Officer Grey, I'm not going to arrest Skylar. I appreciate you handling this. You're free to go. I'll take care of it from here."
Officer Grey nodded and left. Skylar's racoon bushy tail and her fox-like pointy ears dropped. She looked almost exactly like a racoon, color and all, however she had a little fox mixed as well. Her ears and nose were shaped like a fox, and her teeth had two little canines, similar to her mother's.
Carmelita handcuffed Skylar and marched her outside. She escorted the scared young racoon to her patrol car and sat her in the back. "I thought I wasn't getting arrested." Skylar nervously stated.
Carmelita adjusted her mirror. "You're not. We're going home. I didn't want to risk you getting away, plus I want you to feel what it's like being a criminal."
"Mom…"
"Save it." Carmelita interrupted. "I don't want to hear a word out of you until we get home."
Carmelita's parked her car in her parking garage near her apartment complex. The complex wasn't big, but the rent was cheap and it was very close to the station. The building stood at only 5 stories high, looking like it was very old. The building was made out of brick, with every window being surrounded with a balcony. Carmelita removed the cuffs from Skylar's wrists and marched her to a staircase, forcing her to climb to their apartment on the third floor. Skylar didn't dare mutter a word as Carmelita fished for her keys from her big handbag. She unlocked the door and Skylar entered, quickly walking in and sitting on the clearly worn out green cloth couch.
"Silvester!" Carmelita called. "Come out, now."
A young boy emerged from the short hallway, clearly very scared. He was dressed in a soccer jersey, basketball shorts, and white ankle long socks. He was very clearly Carmelita's son, except his hair was cut very short and it was black. His tail resembled a racoon's tail, just like his sister's. His coat color was a sunset orange and his eyes were very large blue color. He was often told he was one of the best looking kids in town. He nervously walked into the living room, taking a seat from his very ashamed looking sister.
Carmelita took a deep breath. She was very angry still, but she remembered these are her children, and they were only 10 years old. She wasn't sure how to really approach this, as she never really expected to handle something like this ever in her life. Skylar had issues at school with playing tricks on other students and stealing back her toys her teachers revoke from her, but Silvester never had any sort of history. Silvester was a straight A student and was a frequent favorite among all the teachers. He always obeyed the rules and was usually a very reliable and honest child. He was completely opposite from his sister, who made Cs if she even bothered to care.
Carmelita felt a single tear flow from her eye, but she quickly wiped it away. "Kids…" she said in a very disappointed tone. "I just want to know why. I thought I've raised you two better." She turned to Skylar. "I know you have a history with taking things that do not belong to you, but I never thought you would do something like this." She looked down at her boots. "You two are 10 years old. You are my twin babies. You don't want to head down a criminal path. It's not a world you want to be in. I thought you two would see that through me. You two have no idea what jail is."
Skylar started to cry a bit. "Mom, I'm sorry. Can I please explain?"
Carmelita looked over at her. She was so upset she didn't really want to hear her daughter speak, but at the same time she just wanted to know why. Why would her children be this way. "Go ahead."
"Mom, we're sorry. We felt…"
"Sky and I felt we had something connecting us to that book." Silvester interrupted. He turned over to his annoyed sister and nodded, silently telling her he can fix this. "That book had a power to it, mom. Sky and I felt it."
Carmelita looked down, ashamed. "I wouldn't know why." Carmelita was clearly lying, but she felt she couldn't just tell her kids what is really going on. She could see her daughter was just like her father; she even looked like him. She knew in her heart she had to tell her kids the truth, but she just couldn't. The truth hurt her, and she knew the truth was going to kill them. Skylar and Silvester knew their dad wasn't around, but that's all they knew. Every time they tried to ask, Carmelita just would shut down. The kids figured whatever happened just hurt her too much. They did want to know, they figured they deserved to know.
"You are both grounded. I don't want to hear anymore about that…book." Carmelita pointed at the twins' bedroom. "Go to bed. It's Christmas tomorrow anyway. Despite this, we will celebrate tomorrow. After that, you two are grounded. No PlayStation. No tv."
Skylar and Silvester looked at each other and nodded.
"I really oughta take you two to jail after this, but I get it." She wiped another tear from her face. "I can't send two 10-year-olds to jail over this." She turned to both of them with her eyes starting to water. "I do understand that book. I know you two don't think I do but trust me, I do. I understand more than you think."
The twins just stared emotionless as a response. Carmelita went to both of them and kissed each of them on their foreheads. "I love both of you. More than you two could ever understand. Just please don't do this again."
"What's in that book, mom?" Skylar looked at her mom with pleading eyes.
"Stuff you aren't supposed to know about." Carmelita wasn't shocked that Skylar would ask about this. "That book is a criminal book." She stood in silent thinking very carefully about what she was going to say next. "I have no idea why you two would feel 'connected' to that book, but that scares me. It's not a book either of you need to be reading." She pointed over to the dark small hallway and pointed at the only door that wasn't hers or the bathroom. "You two need to go to bed now. It's late and it's supposed to be Christmas tomorrow.
Skylar and Silvester looked at their mom for a bit before getting up. They slowly walked over to the door leading up to their small room, giving their mom one last look. Silvester disappeared into their room, leaving Skylar to disappear, closing the door behind them.
Carmelita stared at her kids' closed door for a while, trying to hold back her tears but failing. What have I done? She thought.
10 years ago…
"Positive?"
Carmelita held up a pregnancy test, sitting on the toilet still in disbelief. "This can't be true. No. I'm dreaming." She quickly slapped herself in the face, realizing it's not a dream. "What am I gonna do?"