Yay! Update! No Faye/Sly, Faye/Murray, or Bentley/Faye. Sorry if this chapter doesn't match up to the others. More confusion than you can shake a Cooper at. Seriously, the plot is going to get confusing if you don't stay on the ball. I won't bore you about why it took me so long to get this up. A reviewer asked me some time ago why Faye was having visions. Rest assure that the reason will be eventually revealed later on.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sly Cooper. Drat it! … Excuse while I sulk.

Chapter 9: Waterfalling Into Realization

After leaving her dress at the safehouse along with Sly's tux and putting on her black attire, Faye followed Sly closely as they came around the back of the ballroom to the boardroom. They snuck past the veranda they had visited earlier to get the recon photos and came to a broken wooden bridge. It looked as if a heavy guard crossed it, jumped up and down on the weak wood until it broke, and fell into the river with pieces of bridge. Sly went first and pressed his body against the wall. He sidled across the narrow beam and made it to the other side with no problem. Faye, on the other hand, was still on the opposite side, staring at the wooden plank she'd have to cross.

"Faye?" Sly called to her. Faye looked up, gave a weak smile, and edged slowly to the lath. She pressed her body to the wall's surface as much as possible and slowly, slower than Murray, made her way across. As she edged her way across the beam, a piece of it broke off under her right foot. Faye gasped and didn't move. She closed her eyes shut and moved again across the broken bridge. Every creak and noise made Faye tense her muscles. Halfway there, something touched her right hand. Faye shot her eyes open to see,

"Sly!"

"Don't worry about it," he said. He held Faye's hand gently but firmly and led her across. Faye started to calm down as they sidled to safety. She smiled a bit…but it didn't last for long. The wood beneath them suddenly splintered and worst of all during this incident, it was mainly underneath Faye where it split. Sly's eyes widened as he lost his grip on Faye's hand while jumping away from the broken beam. He could only watch as she screamed and plummeted into the canal. She landed in the water and didn't come up. Sly bent down and scanned the water for any sign of Faye. She resurfaced further down the way near the waterfall.

"Sly!" she shouted as her head bobbed up and down in the water.

"Faye!" he shouted back. Sly ran and hooked his cane on a nearby pipe while outstretching his hand in less than a split-second. The current was pulling her away from the thief and she was almost over the falls. Sly's eyes were wide as he continued climbing the pipe.

"Sly? What happened?" radioed Bentley. "Sly? … Sly?" Sly quickly climbed over to the first low balcony and peered over the falls as Faye plummeted possibly hundreds of feet and screamed in fear, mist and foliage blocking his view of her. Her shrieks echoed into nothingness and a silence befell Sly and, what seemed to be, India. Sly closed his eyes, took off his cap, and held it to his chest.

"Sly?" Bentley radioed again. Sly took out his binocucom and said with a shaky voice,

"She's gone Bentley. She…she went over the falls." Back at the safehouse, Bentley hung his head and closed his eyes behind his glasses. Murray stared at the ground and, without a sound, softly sobbed. The only sounds that could be heard were the rushing of the falls and the stomping of some elephants' feet.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Faye's heart beat wildly as she drifted towards the falls. She reached her hand up to Sly as fear shot through her body. Half of her body was already over the falls and she wasn't planning on going all the way. Just as they were about to come into contact, the current carried Faye away from him. As Sly's attempt to grab her hand failed, she knew that she was going to die. Wind filled her ears as her descending speed increased. Faye did not listen to, nor could she hardly hear, the screams that escaped her lungs. In fact, it was as if someone else was screaming. Faye caught a glimpse of Sly before a thick sheet of haze blocked her view. It was going to end this way. Sly's kind words of reassurance. Bentley's incredible knowledge of practically everything. Murray's loud and disturbing snoring at night. Carmelita's demanding voice of stopping and coming to jail. She would never see them again. Faye held onto her cane as she looked below in her level position. A small tarn with rocks and surrounded by trees was closing in on her back. It would have seemed lovely if the impact wasn't going to kill her. Faye shut her eyes and tightly held her cane, hook end up. Death awaited her. What was supposed to be a dream-come-true event of being sucked into a game had turned into a nightmare of demise. A picture came into view on her eyelids as she quavered. Sly was on a catwalk, bleeding scantily from various wounds. His shirt was torn and four vertical tears on his front and one on either arm were noticeable. He got up and grabbed his cane that laid to his right. A bird-like figure swooped down upon the thief as he ran along the walkway. The image quickly faded out before anything else happened. Suddenly, a great trembling came through Faye's body from what seemed her staff. The rushing wind in her ears ceased and less water was coming over her every few moments. Faye shivered and coughed violently, trying to get some water out of her lungs. When the trembling finally stopped and death did not come, she carefully opened her left eye. Her right soon joined as she gazed at the pond she hovered about five feet above. Her first words were,

"What the…?" Faye looked up to see that her cane had been caught on a sturdy and slightly bowed branch from a tree on the bank. There were a few leaves on it and it looked as if some had been shaved off when she slid down near the bough's end.

"I'm…alive… I'm alive. I'm alive!" those words sputtered from her mouth like a stream, "I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm ali… Wait a minute. Shouldn't this branch have sna…" The branch creaked. "Oh no. Don't…" Snap! "…Snaaap! Oof!" Faye landed on the ground on her rear. She bent over, hands on the ground, coughing until water came up and out of her lungs. The branch came soon after and had a soft landing…on her head.

"Ouch!" Faye rubbed her head in pain. The strap from the mask was not there.

"My mask is gone…" She looked around and saw something besides her mask missing. "My staff!" Faye got up and lifted the branch in front of her. Her eyes befell only grass and a flattened tulip. Faye let go of the branch and turned behind her to the water. The staff stood vertically at a slightly off angle in the mud beneath the water. She waded through the water to her cane. Faye grasped her cane and lifted it out of the quaking water. She smiled briefly and peered into the water. The water was still shaking when it appeared.

"No way…" Faye whispered. An image of Sly and Carmelita appeared. Sly wasn't running and Carmelita wasn't chasing. They were talking, as if working out a deal. As the water calmed, the picture faded. "What is up with these things? He was just hurt a moment ago." Faye shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Something wet and hot came from them. "Was I…crying before…up there?" She looked back up the waterfall. "I'm not getting back up that way." She gazed around at her surroundings for a way back up. The lake was about a hundred feet in diameter from what she could tell with crystal clear water. A few koi fish, obviously imported, swam by Faye's feet as she backed out of the water. A few willows, teaks, and large rocks splotched with moss surrounded the lake and waterfall. Faye peered up the tree with the broken branch. It was a teak."That's definitely noticeable." The branch had left a badly splintered end on the tree. A grooved dirt wall almost fully encircled the trees and waterfall. It stopped just past the lake and broke off in separate directions. Faye's eyes followed the river from the lake. It stretched and curved for miles and melded with the setting sun in the west. It was as if the sun and river were one.

"Breathtaking…" Faye muttered, fore it was the only word that could describe such beauty. India in all its glory lay before her. "If only…I could stay…" Faye departed her eyes from the entrancing landscape. It was beautifully serene but Faye needed a way back up. She looked past the broken branch on the ground and her eyes widened in disbelief. "Why didn't I see that sooner?" On the right side of the waterfall, in the dirt wall, lay an opening complete with stone steps like that throughout the palace above. They were low, flat, and curved left as they went up. The archway to the steps was decorated with rubies, blue paint and moss. Faye shook herself off as much as possible and entered the stairwell.

Torches aligned the walls inside the stairwell. Faye silently walked up the stone steps, leaving drops of water behind her. The stairs stopped curving left almost immediately and went up to a room. Faye came up the flight of stairs and caught more of the room with each step she took. It was a brown stone room with a marble table in the middle surrounded by eight chairs with cushions on the back and seat, each one was a different size to, obvious, fit a different person. A gold sink was on the left side of the room and many china cups were nearby on a cherry wood shelf. Faye barely caught a glimpse of the marble floor and light fixtures before the double brown stone doors on the right side of the room slowly opened. Faye darted to a cranny of the stairwell not visible to anyone sitting on a chair in the room. Faye kept her breathing silent, as her position was only a short wall away with the room on the other side. Heavy footsteps entered the room with many other footsteps, all of various sounds and shuffling. Scraping of chairs softly filled the chamber. Faye barely made out something short and black in the room. Then a female spoke up.

"So how are we going to handle this mishap?"

'It isn't Neyla so who…'

"This wasn't supposed to happen," grunted a man with a gruff northern accent.

'Jean Bison? Then that means…'

"Indeed. The girl managed to keep her memories somehow," said another male with a refined voice.

'I'm trapped with the Klaww Gang! And that black thing is the Contessa's leg!' Faye pressed her body against the wall with the torches and kept her ears open.

"Yes, the Dimension Disrupter failed but only partly," said a second feminine voice.

'Neyla!'

"You told us that she would lose all of her memory except for her name, the Cooper Gang's weaknesses, and our plan," said the Contessa. Faye stayed silent and kept listening. Neyla got up from her chair and crossed the room to the sink.

"We were supposed to make her join us and kill that infuriating Cooper, hippopotamus, and turtle," said Arpeggio. Faye's mouth opened agape. Neyla took a cup and turned a handle on the sink.

"But something went wrong. How did she keep her memories, eh?" spoke Jean Bison. The traitor filled her cup with water and turned off the faucet. She took a sip and her right eye darted in Faye's direction. Faye backed against the corner of both walls.

"We're not sure Jean. And here we had everything ready for her," said the Contessa. Neyla approached the table and put her cup down.

"That may be so, but I have been keeping an eye on her. She trusts anyone over the net that seems friendly. So I've been keeping her around my finger at this instachat place she visits over the Internet. I know everything that's going on with her. She's like an open book; I can read her every move," declared Neyla.

"Really? Then we might be able to get her yet!" announced Arpeggio. "If only Dimitri's idea of a contest had done any real work and captured that girl."

"It wasn't a complete waste," stated Neyla.

"What's that?" said Bison.

"She entered part of her real name into Dimitri's computer. We can use that and information already collected to track her down her location." Neyla crossed her arms a bit and looked at each Klaww member's face.

"That girl is more trouble than she's worth," Bison muttered.

"Yes… We should probably come up with a plan to exterminate her if she resists us," spoke the Contessa.

"We should just kill her on the spot," Bison snarled.

"I say we 'persuade' her by force and if not then we will go with Bison's idea," stated Arpeggio.

"A little disorganized don't you think?" Neyla asked the group. The Contessa spoke up,

"Until we come up with a different idea, that will do. What about you Rexus?"

'Please no.'

"I agree with you, Madame," answered a male voice. Faye gritted her teeth and water welled in her eyes.

"Our pawn will show herself sooner or later. Right now we must get back to the party. It would seem too suspicious if four guests left without reason even if Rajan is keeping guard," said the Contessa. The chairs were moved again and the sound of two doors closing signaled Faye's temporary safety. Faye stepped out of the stairwell with tears in her eyes.

"Rexus… Are you really a Klaww Gang member? Am I really just a…a pawn?" Faye trembled and crossed her arms. She squeezed her elbows as droplets of water and tears mixed on the floor.

'I can cry later. I have to meet up with Sly in the boardroom.' Faye uncrossed her arms and wiped away her tears. Stepping forward she noticed something was on the table. Faye approached the table and examined it. It was a piece of blue paper with all sorts of lines and measurements. The only things clear were the words "Dimension Disrupter" at the top. Faye grabbed the parchment, rolled it up, and put it in her pack. "Good thing it's water resistant," she whispered lowly. Faye moved toward to the doors and put her ear to them. There were no sounds on the other side. Faye waited a moment before pulling the right door open. Faye peaked her head into the hallway. Another set of stairs led upwards to a stone door. This hallway was lit by electric lights on both sides. They resembled torches but weren't. Faye treaded softly up the steps. There were multiple vents along the sides as Faye walked. Faye was about to open the door when she thought of the consequences.

'If I open the door in the state I'm in, the Klaww Gang will recognize me and…I'm taking the air vent.' Faye took the grate off of a vent and crawled in backwards with it and her cane. 'This thing is…yuck! When do they clean these things?' She replaced the grate and continued moving backwards. She came to an intersection of vents and took the opportunity to turn and move forward. 'How long do these things go on?' Faye stopped moving when she heard some voices. She followed their echoes, unknowing to where they would lead her.

"…She was right there."

"Even 'The Murray' could do nothing." Faye smiled and crawled faster through the vent.

"The feeling's mutual…but we need to get down to brass tacks." Faye came to a grated opening in the bottom of the vent. She looked down to see Sly, Murray, and Bentley. Sly had an orange mask in his hands while Bentley continued, "I need to hack both of the vault room computers to get control of the electronic winch above the ballroom."

"So what are me and Sly here for?" asked Murray. Sly put the mask away in his red pack and listened up. Faye leaned on the grate.

"The second I enter their servers they'll be onto…"

"Wahhhhhh!" Faye accidentally pushed out the grate and fell to the ground. She swung her cane and caught onto a nearby pipe. Faye swung off the pipe just as it broke and landed before the Cooper Gang. She dusted herself off, rested her cane's bottom on the floor, and said,

"So, what'd I miss?"

The waterfall scene was supposed to be different. I forgot which waterfall it was and changed it. For those of you who don't know, a teak tree is a strong type of tree with durable timber that grows in Southeast Asia that's prized for making furniture, etc. Just thought you all should know. And about the waterfall, I know that if you look off the edge of the waterfall you see where the falls end. But it looks like its all part of a never-ending sky, huh? I wasn't satisfied with that and thus enter the waterfall scene (with some other reasons I will not say). Wouldn't it be awful if this were all just a dream inside a dream inside a dream? But no, I won't do that to you all. I'll have a good ending, or as good as I can get it. On a different note: Mwahahaha! I have something up my sleeve. I shouldn't say now. It will come though. Can't think of anything else so… Hey Bentley!

Bentley: Does this have to do with why Murray is pink?

No…

Bentley: Why you can't hack Neyla's head off in the game?

It would be nice to do but that's not it.

Bentley: Then what?

Why is Sly a raccoon?

Bentley: Twitches. Bangs head on desk repeatedly.

:D I finally got to him. Review if you want. I'll be back when I can. Sorry if anyone was out of character. Except for the Klaww Gang for certain reasons.