Sly Cooper 5: Promises Made By Thieves

Chapter 92: Carmelita

Gracefully, despite all the noise we know is going on in the other parts of the prison, with which Thornel has kept his guard disguise on and has been turning away visitors, this part is relatively quiet, away from it all.

"For what it's worth, Carmelita..." Sly begins, "I'm sorry the ones behind it all turned out to be the Barkley's. James was the one who first took you on as an apprentice."

"It definitely feels odd," I admit. "But...I've been betrayed before. By Constable Neyla. By...you."

"Yeah..."

"And...every time that has happened, my emotional responses I just try to keep away. I've thought about my grandmama and the break-in, and when I saw you that day at the museum, stealing that Japanese samurai dagger, your cover purposefully blown, I swallowed my heartbreak and thought about how you deserved to be locked up for good."

"I can...understand that kind of kneejerk reaction. I really can."

Against some odds, I begin giggling. "When's the last time I called you 'ringtail'?"

Sly's eyes shoot open. "I...have no idea."

"Me neither!" We begin laughing at this absurdity. I swear I've called him that more times than his actual name. When the laughter subsides, I forget we're not still dating, that our time travel adventure ever happened, that we officially broke up after we got him back from Egypt and saved Branwell. I forgot all of that. And yet we're looking at each other's eyes, and neither of us want this to end.

Sly's smile ends up drooping. I don't know why, and I actually get a little scared about what he's going to say next. "...I'm not perfect," Sly tells me.

"...Neither am I."

"But that's okay, right?"

"I don't think anyone's...truly perfect, Sly." I smirk. "Ringtail."

"Yeah, but...I may be, well, a thief...but you somehow still found a way to not get hypnotized by James' words towards me."

"...Because I knew he didn't know the real you."

"And...what is the real me?"

"...Why don't you let me know?"

Sly looks awkwardly down at his shoes. He doesn't usually do that. I'm not sure it's a good look on him. "I...I've stolen from people. I've tried hard to be an honorable thief, and I've stolen almost always only from thieves who took pride in hurting people...and I'm prideful about what I've managed to accomplish. What my ancestors have been able to do. But...I then thought for a little while that my ancestors may actually have not been good people after all."

"Why? Have they done some bad things?"

"Some, yeah..." He doesn't share with me what or who. "But...when I got stuck in Egypt, and I got captured in prison, when the months went by and I began rotting...I realized something. I forgot about it, but I did."

"And what's that?"

Sly offers his hand to me. I accept it. He grips my hand a little harder when I do so. "That kind of life isn't worth anything, if I'm not able to be with you."

My heart feels like it just got a jolt from my pistol. I abandon the voice inside me telling me not to succumb. "And I think...I wouldn't really want to keep living...if I didn't have you by my side either."

Sly looks me in the eye, clearly suppressing tears. "I love you, Carmelita," he whispers, and starts shaking when the words escape him. "I love you."

Now I have to start suppressing tears. "Don't..." I begin to laugh, with a real happiness and relief greased with it. "Don't break down into pieces, ringtail. I was always supposed to be the thing that would do that to you. Let me be the one to cause you to cripple. I've always wanted to have the last laugh. And it's something I'm going to get. Because I love you too."

We shut up and kiss. We have kissed before. But every one, every one, has had something in the back saying there's a catch to our relationship. Not this time.