Fragments of a Broken Timeline [Book 3]

Ch.18 Clan of the Cave Raccoon

~Things weren't going very well... We landed somewhere, from the looks of it, prehistoric... I was slightly concerned when Bentley broke out the dinosaur repellant, but that was the least of my worries. The crash landing had damaged the van, so the time machine wasn't working properly. Not only was travelling back to Paris impossible, but we couldn't even reach Dimitri on the transceiver. Also, we still had no idea how Le Paradox managed to develop his own time machine, and that was a scary thought. Carmelita was still pretty hot about things, but it was nothing compared to Rae... I just wanted a chance to explain, to tell them how sorry I was for getting them both stuck in this mess in the first place, but Carmelita basically blew me off. As for Rae, well...~

"Rae!" Sly called, chasing after her as the fox was storming off in the snow. "Hey, Rae, wait!" He called again, catching up to the fox. "Rae, come on! Can't we just--"

The moment Sly had grabbed onto Rae's wrist, she suddenly smacked it away, glaring daggers at the raccoon. "Don't touch me." She hissed. "Leave me alone."

"Come on, Rae, you can't stay mad at me forever!"

"You clearly don't know me then, because I really know how to hold a grudge..." Rae replied. "I said to leave me alone, Sly. I don't wanna talk, so leave me be." She said, turning to walk off again.

Sly frowned, getting really tired of Rae constantly avoiding him and giving him the cold shoulder. This time, Sly practically stomped over to the fox, forcefully grabbing her wrist this time. "If you keep avoiding the issue, we're never going to solve the problem, Rae!" Sly raised his voice.

Rae clenched her fist. "Let go of me right now, Sly, I'm warning you..."

"I get it, okay?! I know I fucked up, but you won't even give me the time of day to apologize!"

"Because your apologies are nothing but empty lies!" Rae shot back at him. "All you do is lie and play me like some cheap fiddle!"

"That's not true and you know it! You're just saying that because you're angry! You know I've proven to you countless times before how much I actually care for you, Rae! It's just you who has the trust issues here!" Sly countered.

"And if I hadn't met you, I wouldn't be in this situation! As it stands, we were never even supposed to be together!!" Rae suddenly blurted out.

In that moment, Sly paused. He felt his heart drop into his stomach, slowly releasing Rae's wrist. "W...wait... What...did you say?"

Slowly, Rae turned to face Sly, but when she lifted her gaze, Sly gasped when he could see the tears burning in her enraged blue eyes. "We were never supposed to be together, Sly! The Vixen and Cooper lines strictly state that..." Rae clenched her fist, squeezing her eyes shut. "...that we are to never end up together, no matter the circumstances!" She finally forced out. "Is that what you wanted to hear, huh?! That you and I were never supposed to end up as a couple?!"

"B-but...that can't be true!" Sly shook his head. "Now you're just trying to push me away with lies!"

"I wouldn't have told you if it weren't true, Sly!" Rae shouted, her voice beginning to break. "I...I wouldn't be like this had I not found that damn note!"

"When did you even find this out? And why didn't you tell me?!" Sly began to raise his voice again.

Rae lifted her gaze, glaring as her tears were beginning to slide down her face. "Because I didn't want to believe it! I didn't want to believe what I already knew was true! You and I were never supposed to be together, Sly, and that's the sad truth of it!"