A/N: This chapter may be a little rough for the weak of heart and stomach. It may be a little rough for anyone who has personally gone through this situation and, for those of you who have and survived, I'm sorry if it strikes any personal nerves. Please, remember that this is just a fictional character and while she's on the brink, I don't kill Canon characters for good. They're not mine to kill, ya know? Chapter 27 is already half finished and will be posted soon. Also, I have a question for everyone and I want an answer!

If Carmelita pulls through this, who should she track down first? Slick or Karla? And why? LET ME KNOW!

Chapter -26-
The Sickness

The Binoc-u-com was lowered back to Sly's pocket. His eyes cut from left to right, remembering Bentley's warning. He was usually good to heed his friend's advice but part of him wanted his friends to stay out of this; they were killed in the future and he didn't want that to happen again. His eyes bounced from left to right, watching Slick Cooper perform complex acrobatic maneuvers in order to ascend the side of a hotel wall.

Sly had a different idea, this time around. He decided to walk right in the front door and play it Bogart. No cane, no shock pistol; all he had was his cunning and his grace. He picked the lock then kicked the doors wide open. There was an empty chair in the night window office, leaving Sly to grow curious. He continued forward, into the hallway, his eyes darting from left to right. Almost every door was wide open, to every room in the entire hotel. They were all darkened, making it difficult to see into them.

"What in the heck?" Cooper muttered under his breath. Finally, he lifted his voice, calling, "Come on out, there is no use sneaking passed everyone! Let's go!" He really wanted his cane back; he could crack way more skulls with it than using his bare paws. Several armed guards stepped out of the darkened rooms, filling the hallway. "That's more like it," Sly said. "I have a lot of frustration to work out, now that my girl is in the hospital. Let's rumble."

Five men rushed him, heading down the hallway in his direction. Sly was ready; it was time to clear this building out then flatten the Bank, across the street. Without warning, Sly burst into a sprint, heading up the hallway towards the armed guards. He strafed to the left once the first gun opened fire and used his inertia and light body weight to walk right up the side of the wall. Sly placed his left foot on the ceiling then arched his back, coming back downwards.

His feet came together, stomping the rifle out of the first guard's paws. The assortment of guards were a bit more racially differentiated than Sire's bunch. The first man was a broad shouldered panda. The graceful raccoon used his feet to turn the weapon around on the floor. He then kicked the rifle upwards so that the gun butt caught the panda in the face. Sly snatched it by the barrel, pivoted hard on his right foot and twirled around, then used the momentum to smash the butt of the rifle into the panda's snout a second time.

The powerful strike rendered the man unconscious, leaving the next four guards. Two alligators, a hulking buzzard and a Czech wolf-dog all raised their weapons, baring their sights on Sly Cooper. He reached to the left wall, where a glass case was set into the bulkhead. A fireman's axe was resting on two hooks and a metal wheel was home to a neatly wound fire hose. His paws shattered the thin glass and wrapped around the head of the fire hose.

One of the guns fired off a shot, striking the cast iron nozzle and sounding like a cracked bell. The bullet's impact crushed the hose nozzle, rendering the metallic equipment inoperable. Sly threw the heavy metal end at the first guard, letting the gray hose slide through his right paw. As soon as it struck the alligator in the face, he clinched his paws around the house and twirled, swinging it like a baseball bat in some respects.

The nozzle hit the wall from the wide arc, then caught the side of the gator's face again. With a powerful yank, he pulled on the fire hose, causing a great deal of slack to be freed from the wheel in the wall. He then coiled it around the first guard's gun and kicked the nozzle up, between the guard's legs, so it hit the next alligator in the face. Sly gracefully somersaulted over the first and second guard, dropping to the floor to sweep the buzzard off his feet.

Within seconds, the incredibly quick raccoon snatched up the bent nozzle and coiled it around the avian's neck, under his right arm then gave another tug. Finally, he looked up at the last guard, a half-bred wolf-dog and the thief gave a quick smile. He lifted the nozzle and charged the guard the way a basketball player would charge a hoop at the other end of the court. Sly leapt into the air then slam-dunked the nozzle down the front of the Czech Soldier's shirt. The wolf-dog looked confused, trying to stab Sly with a bayonet on the front of his rifle.

Sly was quick, however, and evaded the blade that was thrust at him. The hose was dangling between the guard's knees, coming out at the bottom of his shirt. Sly kicked it upwards so that it hit the man in the face simultaneous to his own foot hitting the soldier in the crotch. There was a plastic protective cup positioned there but the solid metal nozzle hit the canine directly in the center of his nose, breaking it. Cooper then snatched the nozzle and began to run back down the hallway with it, causing the slack to slide through the guards' clothes and between their legs and around their necks.

Once Sly made it back to where the hose originated in the wall, he dropped the damaged metal nozzle, placed his paws on the large metallic wheel and gave it a huge spin. The hose roared to life with water and because water couldn't escape the nozzle, the force of the water caused the hose to become excessively tight. It threw all four remaining guards into the wall; one by the neck, one by the front of his shirt, another by the waste and the last one by his arms and legs. The hallway was now clear directly down the center, leaving Sly to strut down the aisle, heading for the stairs at the end.

He made it all the way upstairs then stopped in front of the only closed door in the entire hallway. He backed up two paces then launched his body forward, kicking the door directly adjacent to the knob. The door flew open, cracking the jam built into the frame. Karla and Slick were sitting on the sofa, watching him in the doorway. Sly gave them wry grin and, in turn, they smiled back much the same way.

"I'm here to kick both of your tails," Sly announced, "So I have no idea what you morons are grinning about."

"Do you really want to know?" Karla asked, lifting one paw and placing it along the backrest of the sofa, resting her head on Slick's shoulder.

"By all means," Sly said. "Enlighten me."

"You heard the man," She said. "Enlighten our guest." Before Sly could turn around to see who she was talking to, a sharp pain registered at the backside of his head. The raccoon crumbled to his knees and glanced up at the menacing, hulking form of a badger known as The Reaper. Sly then collapsed forward, landing on his chest in silence. Shallow breathing could be heard from his snout which was facedown on the floor. "Show him the water pantry, lock the gate," Karla said…

…Four hours later… A weathered hotel across from the Bank in Wenceslas Square at an unknown hour in the late evening…

The bubbly tone of a voluptuous Karla Chintzy could be heard, ringing throughout the area. She turned her gaze back to her spindly mate, having just consecrated their lusty affections only half an hour prior; she then patted his cheek, sitting on the furniture across from the bed. "We have to go back to the original plan; I know you weren't here for it," She told him, sliding off of the edge of a dresser, to her feet. A silk toga-like sheet clung from her shoulder, partially supported by her bust, keeping it clad to her body. "It won't be long before Carmelita gets out of the hospital and starts trouble again. Sly won't tell us where to get the pendent until he has a reason, so I propose we set up a mock lynching of Inspector Fox so that he has every reason to tell us where the pendant is located."

"Leave it to me," Slick said. "We've crossed paths already; I'd like the chance to show her that she's in for trouble. If she's not at the hospital, I'll lure her to me but I certainly don't want to make it easy."

"Surly Donovan limped off to tell her that I'm not dead… Take a few of the guards with you," Karla instructed. "They're at our disposal by order of Sire. He's a little angry at me right now over something he thinks I've done but I have Sly imprisoned so he's toning down. Reaper will take care of that treacherous little snot, Donovan Loupe should the shadow child wish to interfere. Carmelita is all yours."

"Excellent," Slick said, reaching to pat her cheek in return. They shared a kiss and then he somersaulted through the nearest window with grace. Karla went to close it behind him to keep the oncoming storm and frigid temperatures outside. She watched him from the window for a moment as he walked with ease across the top of the structure that held up a neon sign reading, 'hotel' in massive lettering. Once he was gone, she went back to Sly's new holding cell, which had jail-style bars over the window that faced the bank across the square.

She knelt down in front of the specially arranged cell and took a bowl of beef stew from the counter which had been sitting to cool. Karla began to ease it under the bars, holding the spoon in her paw. "He's handsome," She said, referring to Slick, "But he's just… not you. Know what I mean? You're the genuine article. I don't like to settle for second best," She explained with a shrug. "You can still change your mind and come be with me," She told the raccoon.

"Your invitation doesn't interest me," Sly replied. "It didn't tempt me when you were in future-Carmelita's body, it doesn't tempt me now and when I get out of here I'll drag you by your hair to Carmelita and then… I'll let her have her way with you." He gave her a smile but still took the stew. "Going to give me that spoon?"

"Are you going to beg for it?" She asked, her grin widening just slightly. She really wanted to hear him say 'please', even if he didn't mean it.

"I'm not your slave," Sly replied flatly. His eyes panned over to the stock of bottled spring water that lined the wall of his 'cell'. Most likely, these guys had been stocking it for some reason or another, until this small room came into use as a holding cell.

"Call me your mistress, tell me you want the spoon and say please," Karla returned with a bright grin. "Then strip and kneel on the floor. That would be simply scrumptious."

Sly's rebuttal was concise and delivered with a defiant smirk. "Kiss my fuzzy three-ringed tail," He told her, chucking one of the plastic water bottles at her. It bounced off the metallic bars, skittering across the floor until it rolled back besides him. Karla scrunched up her feline-esqe nose in distaste and disgust. Finally, she flung the spoon into the cell, right onto the floor. Sly happily retrieved it, shined it up on his shirt then proceeded to eat with it, just to spite her. "Mmm, delicious! Did you cook this yourself? It tastes like Dinty Moore brand."

Karla narrowed her eyes and simply said, "It is, you idiot." She rolled her eyes, giving him a casual look of disinterest then said, "Aren't you lucky I didn't poison that spoon before you shoveled it into your muzzle? You know, I think you'll tell me where that pendant is when Slick returns. He'll have Carmelita and we plan to place a rope around her neck and haul her up by way of the hotel room's chandelier. I want you to watch it happen; of course you'll be able to stop her from dying at any time by simply telling us where the pendent of fertility is located and how we can retrieve it. Or maybe we'll do something even worse, it's at his discretion."

Sly rolled his eyes, turning back towards the window he'd faced, earlier, when Karla and Slick were being nauseatingly intimate in the living room. "Just like you made me sit here while you two yiffed (A/N: Furry term for sex or sexy) your tails off, earlier?"

"I'm sure you looked," Karla said with a shrug. "Yes, we'll force you to watch Carmelita's demise if you do not cooperate."

"Good luck catching her, you cradle-robbing freak," Sly replied, amusing himself by reminding her that the only person she could seduce was less than a week old. "Sneaking past Inspector Fox and stealing a document from her office is one thing. Taking her down and out is completely different and next to impossible if you ask me."

"We shall see, won't we?" Karla asked with a smile. "More is at stake here than you realize," She told the raccoon. "You'll understand it all, soon enough. I hope you were hungry; it's your last meal for the next twelve hours. There's an old blanket in the corner, for you; don't drink all the water, Sly." She then stood up and walked away from the bars, headed into the suite's bedroom and shut the door behind herself.

"…Weirdo," Sly muttered under his breath. His eyes returned to the metal-shrouded window and sighed with a frown. He didn't have his cane and he didn't have a way to reach Carmelita or his team. The binoc-u-com was on the coffee table in front of a sofa which was now sullied by Karla and her day-old mate.

Donovan Loupe knelt upon the rooftop of a building that overlooked the hospital. In a window on the fourth floor, he could see Carmelita Fox lying in her bed. An IV was in one paw and a painkiller was fed by way of a tube and a needle into her other arm. While pain medications were usually fed through the IV itself, the doctors had chosen to do it this way to regulate the flow of chemicals in a balance bag above her bed. She didn't look sedated anymore, leaving him to wonder if she was recovering quickly.

The lupine was incredibly injured. His normally regal garments were tattered and patches of his fur appeared to be singed from fire. His right fist closed tightly in memory of the attack which happened earlier, during the time he had been preoccupied with stifling the breath from Karla's body. 'The Reaper' had been called in by Sire and it was obvious that the assassin knew Donovan's weakness. The badger had used fire to attack the tenebrous tar of shade and then Slick Cooper joined the fray. Donovan Loupe barely escaped with his head attached to his shoulders.

Had he not summoned the last of his inner willpower to seep into the cracks of the mortar and, literally, walk through the nearest wall, he would have been dead. A purple swell was shining beneath his left eye and a puffy spot from a claw cut was overly-obvious beneath his right eye. His thoughts then turned on the version of Carmelita who had successfully traveled backwards through time. She'd sought out Donovan with the little turtle in the wheelchair; that one was now dead, too.

Before their deaths, they had explained everything to Donovan and made him realize that he was being manipulated by the other super naturals. Helping to take down Karla should have bought Cooper's gang a great deal more time but the wolf was unable to tackle her on his own. Currently, he was debating his decision to come here in the first place; he knew he had to talk to Carmelita but this wasn't the same woman that approached him yesterday, claiming to be from the future… No, that woman was dead and this version of Carmelita Fox was all he had; he wondered if the woman had much of a clue just yet.

Something caught Donovan's gaze and he craned his neck. He squinted through the weather to see someone moving in the darkness across the street. A lithe being craftily made their way up the side of the hospital with ease. The enigmatic man put his feet on the window and somehow, the person managed to get it unlocked. They quickly slipped in with the dexterity of a professional, reaching a metal cane over their shoulder to push the windows shut, behind himself. It wasn't Sly Cooper but it looked just like him; the fur patterns were practically in reverse: A black-furred fiend with a gray mask and markings. Could it have been the man who joined The Reaper in protecting Karla Chintzy, perhaps? From this distance, it was hard to tell. Now that the man had made it inside of Carmelita's room, his coloration was easier to tell but from the distance, Donovan could quite make out his facial structure.

…

Inside the hospital, Carmelita craned her head towards the window that opened from the outside. Slick oozed back in through the window he'd used as an exit earlier then closed it with ease, by way of the cane that was slung over his right shoulder. "Hello, beautiful," The cloned raccoon bellowed, half-suppressing a cackle. He was something out of a nightmare; a twisted version of Sly Cooper that fit the physical description of everything that a criminal of Sly's caliber should have been. "Did you miss me?"

"I don't miss," She simply said, letting him take the statement however he wished to take it.

"We have your boyfriend, Inspector Fox," Replied the clone, giving the metallic rod a twirl off of his shoulder, taping it back up with his foot then snatching it from the air above his head. He had twice the dexterity and natural skill of even the most practiced baton twirler.

"I…" Carmelita paused, trying to keep her game face on but she was loaded with pain killers. "…I'm not dating him. You only have a criminal and that culprit belongs to me."

"Ah but I hear you've been suspended," Slick retorted in his definition of snappy patter. It annoyed her; his tone and his demeanor, his smile and his eerie Cooper looks. "Therefore, it's a citizen's arrest. He belongs to us and you can't have him back… however, I'll make a deal with you."

"I don't deal with criminals," Carmelita spat back.

Slick folded his arms, dropping the cane to the floor in a way that it was leaning upright against his hip. "I've not even been alive long enough to break the law. You're stereotyping someone who is innocent."

"Kidnapping is a felony offence," Carmelita said, sitting up wearily in her hospital bed. "You're an accomplice to kidnapping, assault and battery – assuming you've helped to render Sly unable to escape – and I've got you red-handed on breaking and entering through the fourth story window of a hospital after visiting hours, a misdemeanor that, by itself, carries a maximum penalty of forty-eight hours in jail."

Slick smirked. "I bet you dressed up as a textbook last Halloween." Carmelita was immediately surprised, wondering how he even knew what that holiday was. He saw her stupefied look and simply said, "Correct me if I'm wrong but you wear costumes on Halloween; and …now you're ruining my comeback so, where do we go from here? Do I break the law by kidnapping you?"

"First of all," Carmelita said, reaching down to the IV that was buried in the backside of her paw. A small square section of fur had been shaved from the back of her paw where the catheter had been inserted. Her eyes twitched in response to pulling it out, biting her tongue so as not to wince. The raccoon tilted his head, watching her. She continued, saying, "I'm not impressed by your complete lack of wit. You're tacky lines and cheesy attempts at a pickup are annoying. Second of all, I may be doped up on pain medication but that only makes me more dangerous because I won't hold back my temper very well… lastly, I may be 'by the book' when it comes to being an officer of the law… but," She paused, just for effect.

"But?" Slick folded his arms, standing on the heels of his feet. She smiled inwardly, seeing that he was standing in a position that would make it easy to put him off balance. He may have been a master thief with fancy technology used to give him memories and an education but he didn't have a lifetime worth of everyday experience and so now she could plainly see that his stance put him at a disadvantage. It was a rookie's mistake he was making but how could he be anything except novice after only a few days among the living…?

"But due to my suspension," She said, licking her lips trying her best to appear apprehensive at first before adding, "I'm not held accountable by the same loopholes and policies of an officer…!" She then dashed forward with the IV needle, holding it like a dagger. The pain medication needle that was still in her other arm caught against the machine, pulling taut. She winced but the momentum carried her forward and she toppled into Slick. The two rolled to the floor, coming to stop with her pinning him to the ground, the IV Catheter inches from his eye with her knees against his shoulders. "…I meant to do that," She replied casually, keeping the needle directly above his eye in a threatening manner.

"Meant to straddle me?" He said in a flirtatious comportment, stealthily reaching the cane up towards the machine behind her back. With a surreptitious quick flick of his wrist, the hook caught against the button, delivering the debilitating drugs into her blood. The powerful pain medication didn't take but a few seconds to affect her, coursing and mingling within the vitae of her body. She raised the needle as if to use it to stab him but by the time her paw lifted a few inches into the air, her eyes began to flutter shut.

"You…" She couldn't even finish the sentence. She struggled to fight the pain medication that was making her body limp. Slick tapped the cane against the machine to give her a second dose.

"Be careful, officer," Slick said in a whisper. "I hear even narcotics cops can sometimes turn into junkies after a good double hit like that. My, look at your eyes," he continued, his voice beginning to drown out in her mind, "You look as though you're high as a kite, Inspector!" She heard words on the outside of her tiny box of a mind but they were mottled and incoherent. "What do they have you on today? Oxycodone? Morphine? Drug abuse is a serious thing for a law officer to have to face, Inspector!" He reached up and carefully eased the IV needle from her paw, adding, "Let's just take that before we hurt someone, hmm?" It was ruddy from her blood, a sanguine droplet hanging from the very tip.

"…Kill you," She mumbled softly, trying hard to make the words form with her numb, pale lips. Her pupils were practically pinholes and she gave a little sniff. A dreamy, jaded look sparkled in her glazed gaze. The analgesic effects were mind numbing. Slick was growing zealous, on the verge of tasting his first kill. "One more treatment should easily be an overdose." To his faint surprise, Carmelita struggled, lifting her paw. An amused look came over his face, watching her just to see what she could manage to do in this state. The IV needle was no longer in her fingertips and so she wrapped those padded digits around the medical tape that held the other needle in her arm. She gripped the tape between her claws then let gravity carry her paw downward, peeling the tape away from the lightly-shaved patch of missing fur. The adhesive brought the needle with it, ripping the metal spike from her arm, inadvertently tearing a bit of the flesh. The painkiller was so good that she didn't even wince or twitch when it happened. It was her last action before slipping into the depths of unconsciousness. Her body teetered forth, dropping the tape-covered needle on the floor. She slumped to the right, slinking off of Slick's chest, her knees releasing his pinned shoulders. The cane in his left paw moved away from the pain medicine machine and he sat up slowly, watching her. Slick shook his head slowly with a frustrated sigh. "Karla would be angry if I killed you where Sly Cooper couldn't watch and she'd be equally upset if you died from a drug overdose or in a way that didn't bring you any pain," He muttered in disgust. His head lowered, so that his nose was practically brushing against her dry, black button-like nose. He inhaled deeply, trailing his muzzle down over her neck, shivering slightly. Her lower lip quivered and a whimper was heard at the base of her throat. It was almost like a soft pouting sound, a dissonant mutter pushed out with each exhale. The closeness to her body was exhilarating; he nuzzled his face against her neck, licking his lips contentedly. "But now you belong to me, don't you? As far as I'm concerned, that is so very much better, my dear." His paws roamed over her arms, exploring the curvature of her body.

"I suppose it would be harmless to inject you with a stimulant to rush the painkillers from your blood," the raccoon said, shrugging slightly. "You're quite the cunning little vixen, aren't you? Well, not so much now but I'm really impressed that you were able to pull out that second needle." Rolling her onto her side, he reached his paw down her back, running his fingertips through the fur of her bushy tail, shaking his head slowly. "It's a shame I can't do this when you're sober; you don't feel violated do you?" he added, ending the statement with an inquiry he knew she couldn't possibly answer. "What an annoying rhetorical question, right? We'd better leave before the nurse comes to check on you, dear. You're going to need more saline Intravenous fluids to help you flush this stuff out; maybe a little caffeine, hmm? Oh you poor thing, you're a mess right now." Having part of Steven's mental facilities helped him to know how to treat her. The clone came to his feet and went for the door, barricading it with the room's tacky furnishing.

It didn't take long to set up her IV line again. He was in a hurry, regardless.

…

Out on the rooftop, Donovan clinched both his paws into fists, knowing that this was quickly falling apart. He had to act soon or there would be nothing left. Donovan transmuted into the tenebrous form of abyss which slinked down the wall of one building, across the alley then extended back up the wall of the Hospital. To his pleasure, an ambulance passed with flashing lights, causing shadows to be strewn across the brick wall, rapidly projecting Donovan up to the correct window and into the room itself. His form was splayed across the ceiling, thanks in part to the passing ambulance lights, where he oozed straight down, from above.

Slick Cooper turned about from the IV drip rack, face to face with the ghostly being. Caught off guard, Slick found himself thrown up against the wall with an excessive amount of force. Arms of abysmal obsidian crept out from beneath the bed and wrapped around the raccoon's arms and legs, swinging him up against the ceiling with incredible thrust. Slick's upper body slammed into the dull-yellowish ceiling, leaving a dent in the surface from the contact with his head.

He was then released, dropping straight into the mattress, face first. Loupe began to melt back into the shadowy form, enshrouding Carmelita's body. Slick struggled to sit up, looking over at her vanishing body. "NO!" He shouted, reaching for the cane that was now sitting on the floor. He took a swipe at the darkness but it landed no physical blow, cutting a swath through the shade with harmless abandon.

"Damn it, no!" Slick shouted, only to grow that much more frustrated when a series of knocks were heard on the door. The door handle began to rattle and he knew that he'd lost his target. Carmelita's body was now completely missing and the door was being shouldered by hospital security. "This isn't over, Loupe!" He then made a dash for the window, crashing through it with a dive, his paws and cane crossed over one another, above his head. His body sailed through the window, keeping his feet together until passing all the way through.

Broken shards of glass twinkled in the dim lighting of passing street cars as he began to fall in the open air above the alley. Too clever for words, Slick forced the cane into his muzzle then reached his paws outwards, snatching a rainspout across the alley. Almost immediately, he began to ascend the drainage, heading up to the rooftop of the building across from the hospital. Within seconds, he was gone; long before hospital security could race to the window to see if they determine what had just happened.

Donovan Loupe, on the other hand, whisked Carmelita's body away from the hospital in a shade form. It was the first time he'd ever attempted such a feat and yet he was managing it instinctively, with incredible success. For now, he knew only of what this woman was capable; he could trust no others at the moment. Sly Cooper was missing from action and Carmelita needed emergency treatment, paralyzed by euphoric bliss.

It didn't take long to arrive at a dilapidated apartment complex. She was laid out in a dusty bathtub that lay in the middle of a hallway between the bathroom and living room area. Crumbling plaster walls made it possible to see from one room into another, due to the state of deterioration and abuse from local slum and drug addicts. He reached his paw to her face and eased an eyelid open. Her pupils were now completely dilated and drool trailed down from the corner of her mouth, matting down the fur on her jaw and neck.

"Did that fool touch you?" Donovan whispered softly, using his thumb to wipe away the foamy slime at the corner of her maw. "He's a dirty creation; it's become incredibly evident that everything your future self had said was absolutely true. Steven and Sire must be stopped. But Karla is the key and you have the power to destroy her; without her offspring, an immortal master thief cannot be birthed which renders Sire's plans obsolete. I couldn't believe it when I heard him speak of it to Steven; I was completely shocked."

Carmelita's jaw parted and the word "Karla" spilled over her tongue in a lazy, distorted way, lacking enunciation or definition beyond what was necessary to make the word understandable. It was said with what sounded like distaste.

"Yes," Donovan replied. "She's a reincarnated demon; I understand that your future self has already experienced this, first hand. Sire wishes to use her offspring to unquestioningly steal rare artifacts from historical museums throughout the planet until every piece is acquired; he wishes to use these artifacts to draw out the spirit of Evil itself, then place it into the finished body of Clockwerk. She must be destroyed. Karla must be destroyed and her spirit must be released. They placed it into the cloned body using necromancy and Steven's technical prowess. He's a genius whose mind is literally centuries before its time."

"…help… me," Carmelita replied over a lazy tongue that lolled out the side of her muzzle. Her whiskers drooped and her right ear fluttered in minor convulsion to the incredible amount of painkiller in her bloodstream. Slick had held in the administering button far longer than normal, poisoning her two full times with a massive dump of Oxycodone or some similar pain medication. The crumbling world swirled around before her empty gaze and yet she'd never felt so relaxed in her entire life.

"I don't know how; I'm not a doctor!" Donovan cried, throwing his paws out helplessly. "I'll go back to the hospital and see what I can find; but I don't know what I'm doing… This is Steven's department, or the field of a trained medical doctor! I am neither and telling a doctor what has happened to you will attract unwanted attention to the matter!"

"…So sick." Carmelita's eyes rolled back up into her head once more and she passed out again. Small bubbles accompanied the foamy substance that rested on her lips, like a crab out of water for a long amount of time. Donovan frowned; he knew that Sly Cooper would be in tears if he saw her like this. The raccoon would probably blame himself over their past, a year or so back. He would probably feel that this entire mess was his fault for having had a relationship with her in the first place, thereby drawing her into this entire situation against his better judgment. Donovan simply shook his head, watching the wasted woman in the dusty tub, there in the dimly illuminated hallway.

She was one 'hit' away from respiratory arrest. If she had the willpower to survive the remainder of the night, the potent drugs would leave a stain on her soul that would never come off. The swirling vortex of reality warped everything in her mind, planting the seeds of an emotionally traumatic experience that would plague her with nightmares in the nights to come. Disorientation and confusion swallowed her back into the depths of unconsciousness and the real world crawled to a halt as black tendrils of temporary insanity claimed her mind once more.

On the outside, Donovan looked up, narrowing his eyes as he realized he wasn't alone. The Reaper stood in a dark corner, arms folded with his back against the wall; a cigarette dangled from his lips so that the only visible part of him was his feet and the cherry embers that glowed with every inhale. "I've come for Carmelita. If you resist, you will die. Fire and lightning are not your best friend."

Inside of her mind…

…She felt as though she was standing in a field at night. The cool air brushed her cheeks, blowing through her headfur and rustling through her tail. She normally didn't pay attention to every little detail like this and yet, for some reason, she couldn't ignore these little details, right now. The hole in her torso didn't hurt; nothing hurt, right now. Her aching feet felt fine, her legs felt fine, her injury was without pain as well. Carmelita felt incredible and yet she struggled with the strange sensations of being stoned.

Already, due to the strange nature of the dream, she disliked what was happening. All around her, in the dark evening field, were chalkboards but she couldn't understand what was written on them. Strange words and markings that resembled letters; it was a familiar design to her eyes but she couldn't read any of it. "Distortion," said someone. She glanced around but she appeared to be alone.

"I don't understand," She replied.

"YOU ARE THAT WHICH IS," The voice announced angrily. Her confused mind struggled to make heads or tails of what it was seeing and hearing; the dreams displayed by her brain were tragically twisted and beyond simple comprehension, leaving her to question the reality of the situation and the plausibility of what she saw and heard. She didn't even trust her own dreams, demanding that the madness cease to exist.

"No, I can't comprehend…! STOP!" She shouted, nearly pleading. The world felt the exact opposite of claustrophobic. She felt as though she could reach in every direction and never touch another piece of the world and it was lonely and sad here, in this part of her mind. She struggled to grip this reality but her confused eyes lowered to those empty paws, looking at her palms with a furrowed brow.

"If you love me," Said a voice, "You'll pull through this." It was the voice of Sly but how could that be? Was he here? Was she with him? She couldn't be sure of anything right now. Part of her felt that he couldn't possible be anywhere near her. Was his voice just a relic from the past; a memory from something that most likely happened in the real world a long time ago? "Don't let go, you're tougher than this. You can handle this, Carmelita." Was it all ancient history or was he really whispering these words into her ear? Whether he was with her or not, his voice was the only thing left to accompany her in this land of Nod, far from reality or logic or reasoning.

"I dislike my dreams anymore," She muttered with contempt in her voice. "You always die in them."

"This isn't a dream, you're wallowing in confusion; you can't distinguish what is real and what is not," Came an explanation. She couldn't even be sure if it was Sly's voice or someone else telling her this. She had trouble distinguishing it from Sly's voice, even though this new voice was vastly different. "They're delusions without visions. You're not seeing insanity but you are swimming in it. You're mind is mush right now."

She couldn't comprehend the statement. It was broken English, French and Spanish; the worlds could have been a nursery rhyme as far as she was concerned. Her logic reasoning abilities were stifled by waves of euphoria mixed with intense confusion. The disorientation was incredibly powerful, giving her a headache from the sensations of spinning, even though she was lying still somewhere out in the real world.

"I am Alice," She muttered, referring to Alice in Wonderland.

"No," Said the voice. "She drank and consumed hallucinogenic alcohol, such as Absinthe, and Mushrooms which caused her to slip into a delusional coma. Mixed with several hours of smoking opium, Alice spent the afternoon in wonderland alone. She's lucky to have survived it but, then again, she is nothing more than a story character in a fictional book." The voice continued to speak without pause but the tonal quality changed from the stranger's voice to that of Sly Cooper again, saying, "You're not alone, but I need for you to hang on; don't let go."

The words made as little sense as the chalkboards of squiggles that had surrounded her just a few moments prior. "Eat me, Drink me," Carmelita quoted from the story. It was the best she'd gathered from the entire explanation. "Donovan? Sly?" The words sounded far more enunciated in her mind than they did when they came out in the real world, on the other side of this damned mental box.

"What do you want, Carmelita?" It was a far different voice, this time.

"Who else is there?" She quipped. Her words sounded drunken and slurred in the echo that rang out in her ears after speaking each time. "Am I Alice?" She asked the question a second time after not getting an immediate answer… or did she? She couldn't remember if that had already been addressed or not.

"No, Carmelita," the male voice replied from somewhere, out in the world of reality.

"Where am I?" She whimpered in frustration; it was unlike her characteristic mannerism. Something was strange about all of this. "I feel so alone."

"I'm the only one here," He said in a slow, calm voice. "You're not alone; we'll pull through this. Please, try to rest for now." The strange delusional dream world began to dissolve but it wasn't over by any means. At least not yet. She would be plagued by nightmares for the next several hours… she had a very long way to go before sobering up. She was too confused and far too high to feel vulnerable just yet but with her natural mental inhibitions muddled by the powerful painkillers, her replies made absolutely no sense. Within minutes, she sank into the depths of unconsciousness once more, growing quiet again.

A/N: So who should be first on Carmelita's list, if she pulls through this? SLICK or KARLA? Or someone else all together? If YOU were Carmelita, who would YOU hunt down first?