The Next Morning
Carmelita's POV

Just waking up makes me know something's wrong and makes me instantly on high alert for my surroundings, grabbing my shock-pistol even before I have so much as put on my slippers and keeping it locked and loaded as I leave my bedroom for the other sections of my house. Yet the letter I find is not what I expected.
To see the rose and the blue and white Raccoon-faced calling card on it had instantly made me reload my Shock-pistol and rush for the Raccoon's bedroom, yet to find it empty had both angered, hurt and confused me and I had realized that I could only find my answers to all these confusing matters in the letter the Ringtail had left behind.
This had not sit well with me and while I had grumbled about the cowardice of the Raccoon for only leaving me with a single letter and some pretty flower, had I still felt that there was more to the letter than just an apology and a goodbye and I had, with trepidation and low-boiling sense of anger returned to the letter left for me.
The handwriting is clearly my now ex-partner's and the stains that have dried up on several spots all over the letter make the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach grow all the more, making me let go of my Shock-pistol as I take the letter to my living room and sit down on my favorite couch, feeling I will need its comfort.

And this feeling gets proven right as I read the whole entire letter the Raccoon has send me, the sincerity of his words hitting me to the deepest parts of my heart and the way he describes what happened on Kaine Island from his point of view making me remember the worry I had felt when first meeting him there.
I feel shocked when reading how he only thought of me while being crushed like that and feel like cursing Bentley for allowing Sly out of bed when he was so obviously hurt, yet to hear that the Island held an ancestral vault to Cooper's line and that his cane was actually his father's had actually made me understand the Ringtail a little more.
To read how the amnesia was actually only temporary and how Cooper had wanted to counter my statement that he was my partner, were it not for the crumbling cave makes me feel several emotions at once. The first of these being anger as I can't believe I have let myself be tricked like this by the Raccoon for so long.
The second is an unwanted sense of gratitude at the fact that the Raccoon felt our safety more important than a petty lie from my side. The final had been a sense of defeat as I only now realize what it is that the Ringtail and I had fled from, making me feel horrible over the fact that I wanted to arrest him in his own family vault.

I then read the section where Sly admits the lie and where he describes himself as how he believes I see him and to see those harsh cruel words aimed at the Raccoon written by the Raccoon's own hand breaks my heart before I allow for some tears to fall out of my eyes when I read his assurance that he will leave my life for good.
To then read what he actually thinks of me makes me almost crush the paper in my hands as I can no longer fight the tears and let them fall, hating myself as I only now realize why it was that I lied to Sly Cooper that day; because I have fallen head over heels in love with the honorable, gentle, noble and ever kind Raccoon.
I crush the paper in my hand as I realize this and cry for several minutes, letting out all the pain that I feel now that the one man that stole my heart has left my life and when that thought crosses my mind, do I crush the paper in my hands for a different reason and hiss to myself: "No, I have never lost sight of Cooper and I won't stop now."

And with that do I fold the paper up, reread the section about Kaine Island and the community in order to memorize this for later and do I dress myself in my Interpol Uniform, but then without the necklace, badge and shock pistol holder, believing that this set will give off the right kind of message to those living at my target destination.
I then jump in my car and, while knowing that I am not really on an official case, do I put my sirens on the top of my front hood and turn it on, the other cars parting as they hear my sirens scream their loud noise and me feeling glad for one thing more than anything that occurred the last month; that Sly actually talks in his sleep.
It had happened 2 weeks ago and had actually made me hear where it was that the Cooper Raccoon had stationed his hideout. The fact that he spoke of this in his sleep had alarmed me as it made me believe that the Raccoon was recovering from his amnesia, but now I realize that it was the Raccoon's guilt that made him do this.
This fact does nothing to make me feel better and while I sincerely hope that either his friends have stopped him or that they can locate him before he moves to this mystery location that I have never heard of in all my years of searching for the Raccoon, do I speed up my car as much as possible, determined to get back with Sly.

The Same Morning
Bentley's POV

Waking up besides the love of your life is something I believe I only share with my dearest little brother, Sly, who has actually been blessed to have a chance of living with the girl of his own dreams, a woman I had never believed would even give my brother the time of day, but who has now been going steady with him for a month.
The fact that, when I crawl out of my shell and gasp for breath, I actually wake to having Penelope curled around me, her tail actually somehow wrapped around the section where my tail sticks out was something I had been shocked with at first, but that is now a welcome sight to wake up to every morning for the last 3 weeks.
I still miss Sly and Murray terribly, but Murray had been doing great on his training, Guru was constantly sending me small reports of his progress and I was keeping a constant eye on Dimitri, who was quickly rising to the top spot of Water Sport Stardom. I also kept in contact with Panda King, yet he had become reclusive yet again.

I then shake my head and get the last bits of sleep from my eyes before pressing a button on my bedside table that makes for two electrical arms to stick out of the wall besides my bed and pull me out of bed, Penelope curling further up on herself as she lets go off my shell and me getting settled back into my wheelchair.
I give a happy, loving smile at my beloved, who I know will sleep for another hour or so, before gently rolling my wheelchair out of the room and over to the kitchen, before suddenly a shocking sight makes me stop halfway there. I roll back and with eyes that are wider than saucers look at my little brother's room.
There are drawers pulled out and the cabinet with all of Sly's outfits is opened and empty, all of the drawers and closet doors blank of previously held products of clothing. I roll into the room with shock, wondering how this could have happened seeing my security system, which I constantly upgrade, and then spot it.

A single letter. A single letter that sticks out of one of the poles of Sly's bed, which is covered with his actual Calling Card and which is just high enough I don't need my robotic arms to reach it. I fear for what will be in the letter, yet roll over and take the letter out nonetheless, wishing Penelope to be awake as I feel like needing her right now.
Then, as if my rodent lover has heard my thoughts or sensed my feelings, does she herself pass the room, her head sticking past the doorframe in confusion as she asks: "Bentley?" But I don't answer her as I notice how the lettering of the note is shaky at best and how the whole paper is covered in tearstains, making me feel even worse.
My girlfriend walks in and asks: "What's wrong?" And then, in an act of cowardice, do I thrust the letter her way, turning my wheelchair around and fleeing from the room, which was obviously visited by my best friend and little brother without me even knowing it, simply because my security system recognized him as a home owner.

Penelope's POV

I don't know why, but for some reason did I feel myself waking up earlier than I usually do, yet not early enough that I wake before Bentley. Still, to find him in Sly's room only minutes after waking had not been a good sign in my book and the way that Bentley had given me the letter before wheeling off had worried me.
I had inspected the letter given to me and had recognized the handwriting as that of my old leader, the lettering itself showing to be very sloppy and shaky, making me wonder what could have gone through the Cooper Gang Leader's head when he wrote this and the tearstains that accompany this making me feel worried.

Still, I had not felt right to read this letter when the opening sentence was clearly describing Bentley and instead of that do I decide that Bentley and I should read this together, him doing the reading part and me being there for him when he finds out just what made Sly make the rash, painful decision he seems to have made.
I walk out of the room, the way it looks emptied and abandoned giving me a strong sense of foreboding and enter the living room, where I find Bentley gazing at one of the pictures that shows him, Sly and Murray. To see my boyfriend just sitting there with that hurtful expression on his face wounds me and I whisper:

"It's for you, Bentley." But Bentley pulls his head away and I walk over to him, lying the letter on the table part of Bentley's wheelchair before climbing onto the vehicle myself, Bentley wrapping his small arms around me in a tight manner proving his inner pain and I lovingly whisper: "Open it, I'm here for you."
Bentley smiles at me gratefully and then, with trembling hands, does he open the letter, me reading along with him and feeling deeply hurt by what I read. The first part of the letter describes the room and what Sly feels as he had seen it, along with a short start of the explanation as to why his room looks like it does now.
The next part opens with the question of why Sly didn't ask any of us to come along and to read how he had seen us making the best out of our lives without him in it had made me feel deeply pained as his earlier words actually prove that we should have worked harder to find him; that we should have supported him as he wounded himself.

Bentley then laughs softly and shortly when Sly comments on how they had actually both spied on each other and while the pain of how we had abandoned our leader when he needed us most still hurts me, can I not help but smile at all the evidence that Sly uses as he describes what the team has done over the last month.
My heart then breaks when I read how Sly – not the for the first time – has actually wondered if his family legacy could be hurtful to the future of his gang members and while hating how someone like him can think that, do I still feel pride in my heart grow for the amazing and noble person that is the Leader of my gang.
Bentley and I then read of how Sly says goodbye to us, how he apologizes for the pain, nervousness, anxiety and amounts of problematic situations with different factors in the world and with both old and new gang members he believes he caused my boyfriend and this alone makes my heart tear up even worse at how my leader must be feeling.
To then read how he felt sure that he would find happiness and how it won't be where he always dreamed of it being makes me just break down, making me push my face in Bentley's neck while the turtle seems to have trouble reading the final part of the letter before he throws it away and cradles me, crying as hard as I am.

For dozens of minutes do we stay like this and while I take comfort out of the presence of my partner in life and crime does this hideout now feel even emptier than before either Murray, Dimitri or Panda King left and I realize that, until now, the heartfelt presence of our leader had always been dwindling along these walls.
Then suddenly before I can fully phantom that, does a harsh knock break me out of my stupor, making Bentley almost jump out of his wheelchair and making us both look at the door of our hideout in shock, our shock greatening when we hear the voice of the one person we thought our leader was living a happy life with.
Carmelita Fox is standing at our door, fisting her hand against it and shouting: "Bentley! I know you're in there! Please! Let me in! Tell me Sly's still with you! Please, I have to see him! You have to let me see him! Please Bentley, let me in. Let me see my Ringtail." And just by the despair in her tone, do I feel my heart reach out to hers.

Bentley sighs and rolls over, opening the door slowly and painfully admitting: "Stop wasting your breath, Carmelita. Sly's not here. He left a letter and packed his things. I – I have no idea where he is. I only finished the letter he wrote me just a – an hour ago, really?" He then asks in shock, yet I can't blame the turtle.
And neither, apparently, can Carmelita as she shows us a letter of her own and says: "Yeah, I read mine a good two hours ago. I – I just – I want to hate that Ringtail for leaving me only a – a letter, but – but –." The fox ends softly and I whisper back: "But the pain he wrote about is still clearly felt within your own heart, right?"
The Fox nods, her eyes thanking me for my empathy and says: "Listen, this letter makes me realize something, something that was the actual reason I told Sly he was my partner and – and while I find it cowardice of Sly to just leave us with some letters do I know one thing." At this Bentley and I share a glance and then the turtle asks:

"He might give up on us, but we won't on him?" A smile actually returning to his face as he ends this question and the question itself making a confident smile appear on the Fox's face before she asks: "Bentley, have you ever seen me give up on that leader of yours?" Making Bentley's smile widen as I can't help but giggle.
Carmelita then hands Bentley the letter and says: "It probably won't say anything that you haven't read in your own letter, but Sly did mention some kind of community that lives close to that Kaine Island he was at a month ago; one where the community actually accepts his ways as a Master Thief and all that?"
This shocks and amazes me and Bentley says: "He only told us how he had found a place where the Coopers and their profession are welcome. I – I can't believe he would leave you such an obvious hint." But at this I can't help but think: "He certainly wouldn't leave it with Bentley seeing he knows my turtle's skills with tracking."

But then shake that thought of as Carmelita had proven herself just as talented and I say: "I'm guessing Sly was expecting for Carmelita to be so angry at the actual lie of amnesia still being a thing that she would overlook the actual hint of his new residence and just take the advice he gives her of moving on with her life."
At this Carmelita looks at me with hurt evident in her eyes and I quickly say: "I'm only saying this because your temper is much more violate. Sly must have been counting on that and knew Bentley wouldn't be that violate and might even use his tracking skills, which match with yours, to overcome his emotions and find Sly."
Carmelita nods and Bentley opens his laptop, typing in several things and muttering under his breath. Having seen my beloved do this a few times before now while we were building our laboratory, do I smile widely at my partner, feeling my hurt and pain settle for confidence and strength; strength to find Sly once again.

There we go!
Chapter two and the two teams have joined together in their effort to find their leader and beloved. I wasn't, at first, planning to put Penelope's POV in the chapter as I still have some troubles with her seeing Sly 4, but it just felt better that way and I didn't want to do two direct POV's reading almost similar looking letters.
Where did Sly base his assumptions on Carmelita's temper on? Sly 4! I know it hasn't happened yet, but Sly bases this on things I have already seen happen and the way Carmelita stayed angry with Sly all the way to the end of the Caveman Era was pretty much my inspiration to make Sly believe this.
Next chapter will gather the Cooper members back together and make Bentley find out where Sly has gone. I just want to warn you all that this island will have an OC name. You will not find it on any world map, it doesn't actually exist, I just thought the name was catchy and it stuck until I started writing this story.
Okay, enjoy,

Venquine1990