Hi again! So, this is the prequel fic that I promised. As I explained on my profile I realized that the Strangers timeline was pretty bad towards the beginning. In my quest to fix this, I quickly realized that a prequel was needed to make things go a little smoother. So, this prequel will introduce some familiar characters such as Des, Shaun, Beatrice, Ann, Nautica, Carmelita, Joseph and others as well as some new but necessary characters and concepts. Some plot points of Strangers have changed and will change as you will see. But it should be an interesting ride.

Also, one more note. This story as you may have noticed, has an M rating. This is simply because this story deals with mature themes such as thoughts of suicide, torture, and murder. I realize that some of my readers maybe disgusted by morbid descriptions and graphic violence. I also know that there are some readers who might even be "triggered" by mentions of violence or abuse. Therefore, any extreme or moderately extreme descriptions of violence will be headed by an underlined declaration. A second underlined declaration will denote that the scene has ended. If you fall into any of the previously mentioned categories, please use these headings to bypass any unpleasantness. Thank you. Also, most of the original Sly Cooper characters will be out of character for a healthy portion of this story but I assure you that their original personas will make a reappearance before the story's end.

PS A huge THANK YOU to Dragon and Sword Master for betaing this for me and to my sister for working with me in crafting this story and supporting me in my madness!

Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and other related characters are formerly the property of Sucker Punch, inc. and currently the property of Sanzaru, Inc. except for Beatrice Montreal, Bryan Moliere, Desiree Mallery, Desiree Monroe, Nautica Macavity, Aubrey Lancaster, Ann Monret, Armand Jaeger, Phillip Dumont, and Claire Bennet which all belong to me. Carmen Fox, Carlos Diego Fox, Kitty Petro, and Ling Chu belong to Kitty Petro.

Loving Strangers

Episode 0 (Pilot):

A Wounded Soul

To the average person, Paris is known as the "City of Love" but on December 21st, people could mistake it for the North Pole. The snow danced a soft pirouette to the tune of Silver Bells, played by a pianist in the middle of the center square as the snowflakes glistened like stars as they descended to the ground, the many lights acting as their personal spotlights. While the soft calls of horse-drawn carriage bells echoed through the streets, adding a realistic background rhythm to the familiar tune. Trilling voices of store-front bells sang out at regular intervals, while the voices of holiday revelers and shoppers alike orchestrated an upbeat chorus. Sadly, not all of the citizens out and about on this night were moving along with the joyous melodies of the holiday season. A lone figure made his way across the rooftops far removed from the buoyant and busy downtown square, making his own melancholy in counterpoint to the celebratory canopy below. Whispered half notes in the form of strangled gasps punctuated the night's hushed, but lithe, tone. The huffs of effort coupled with the sharper, and whining, whole notes of wind whipped past the fleeing figure's face, creating a strained harmony beneath the percussive melody of staccato eighth notes played by footsteps meeting concrete. As the figure kept up their relentless stride, the rustling of his azure clothing added an interesting counter melody of tied eighth notes with the composition finally rounded out by the periodic long quarter note sobs that managed to escape the runner's raw-tuned throat. The sounds would start low and crescendo as they finally crawled out the person's mouth, piercing the air with a keying wail before being choked off.

Sly Cooper, the world's Master Thief, was currently running for his life. Actually, he was running from his life to be more accurate. It had only been about a month and a half since that disastrous Parts caper. He had more power than he knew what to do with at times, however, no matter how hard he tried; he could not outrun himself. The specters and skeletons from his past moaned and rattled their bones in the back of his mind. The thief shook his head violently shoving the monsters' complaints into the deep ravines of his mind, sending the few tears that had escaped the wells of his eyes flying. His throat was screaming for relief and his knees were threatening buckle underneath him. He was exhausted, but he had to get away. It felt as if the cold had shredded his throat to ribbons. His left knee burned, pulled, and throbbed. Sly did not have to look at his knee to know it was swollen and that the sallow scars were standing out vividly against his fur. Strips of badly burned skin that looked stretched around his knee like taunt rubber bands. The marks were from a hot set of six pronged spider claws that the Contessa had ordered to be used to gain information from him. She had switched to using torture instead of spice-aided hypnosis on her more stubborn inmates and saved her precious stores for her more mentally malleable subjects. The slight muscle damage had been permanent but with time the wounds had healed, only leaving behind scars. Sly was quickly learning to work around the newly gained disability. As he continued to push himself, he noted that a few other burn and torture scars were pulling as well. He would deal with them later; right now he just wanted some peace.

As he leaped a gap, he was so focused on tuning out his problems that he miss-timed his landing. He landed on his left leg hard. He could only gasp in agony as his left knee was jarred and he toppled to the concrete. The raccoon could make no other sound as he was too busy trying to swallow down the bile that had rose up in his throat from the pain in his joint. For a moment, he laid on the hard surface and struggled to catch his breath. The pain radiated from his knee to his hip and down to his toes. Finally, he finished collecting his wits and went to stand up. However, he could not put any weight on his left knee. He slowly lowered himself back to the rooftop. He grabbed his cane and placed the end on the rooftop and pushed himself onto his feet. He then leaned on the cane and continued to work his way across the rooftop. He fell on the rooftop once again when a coughing fit seized him, and forced him to the concrete. Once the fit was over he continued to work his way to the other side of the building.

When he reached the edge, he realized that the building was not far from the Seine. He could make it to the tree covered west bank using his para-glider and then make his way back to the hideout from there. Sly readied the quick-release on the para-glider's compartment of his back pack. He then climbed onto the roof's edge, grimacing as he did so. He then balanced on his right leg and fell forward off of the ledge. Then a second later, he pulled the quick release cord. His para-glider seemed to roar as it unfurled from its compartment. Sly grabbed the ropes before feeling the customary jerk of the para-glider getting caught and pulled up by the wind. He then gently drifted down towards the earth.

Sly finally landed with a soft thud in a small section of secluded grass on the bank of the Seine. He slowly began folding up the para-glider he had been using. The soft whispering of the fabric sliding across the grass as he worked was the only sound save for the quiet babbling of the river. Finally, the thief's nightly ritual was ending. But, unfortunately, tonight it had not brought him any comfort or solace. Even as he placed the folded glider in his bag, Sly could feel the emotions he had been trying to suppress frothing and bubbling beneath the surface. The main emotion plaguing the young man was the gnawing guilt that had been constantly devouring him for the last month and a half. Despite the time that had passed, the Master Thief still blamed himself for everything that happened to his friends. Murray lost his van, which was practically his life and Bentley lost his ability to walk. The pain in Sly's chest became overwhelming as he thought of Bentley. He sighed heavily, before preparing to start the long trek home. He looked at the Eiffel Tower in the distance as he trudged along the bank of the mighty river. The water sparkled as the lights of Paris danced in the ripples on the river's ebony surface. As his thoughts continued to grow as black as the water's seemingly unctuous surface, Sly turned on his communicator. Calling ahead to let the others know he was on his way back helped to drive back the notion of disappearing beneath the river and never returning.

"Hey, Murray…Murray!" Sly called softly into the microphone.

"Yeah Sly?" said a soft voice.

"I am heading back," said Sly.

"Where are you?" asked the hippo, his voice thick with sleep. Sly winced; he had not realized how late it was. His friend must have been sleep.

"Sorry, I did not mean to wake you; it must be later than I thought." Sly said apologetically.

"No problem. I had just gotten into bed. Now, where are you?" replied the hippo.

"On the west bank of Seine, about 10 miles south of the Eiffel Tower," Sly answered.

"10-4. You should reach the downtown area in an hour. I'm on my to meet you." said Murray, signing off before Sly could protest. Sly gritted his teeth; his friends had been behaving in a truly stifling and confusing manner lately. They were constantly trying to keep him in sight. However, they had been acting in a rather distant, if not hostile, manner when he was around; at least Bentley was. But, as quickly as the annoyance came, it fled; leaving behind even more guilt along with self-loathing. Here he was getting mad at them for worrying about him, when he should been back at the hideout helping out them out. Especially, Bentley, the friend he had practically kidnapped from the hospital. The one place he probably needed to be. Sly continued limping towards home using his cane, while scowling blackly.

"Why the long face, Cooper?" called a voice in the trees.

"Huh?" said Sly, snapping out of his daze, settling into a fight stance, and trying to locate the assailant that had managed to follow him. Had he really been so lost in his problems that he had been followed without noticing? As he looked around in the darkness, he spotted a white shape in the tree above him. "Oh. Hi Beatrice," muttered the thief, relaxing. Hanging from one of the tree's branches was an ivory fruit bat with blond hair. She was an accomplice, aid, and unofficial big sister to the Cooper Gang, having grew up with them in the same orphanage. She was a techno genius like Bentley and just as slick as Sly at times. Sly watched the bat warily as she was pretty astute and he did not feel like having another "heart to heart" with anyone.

"Hi, yourself." she said as she uncrossed her gossamer wings and glided down to the ground, looking like an angel descending from the heavens. She landed next to Sly and eyed him with searching grey eyes. Sly met her stare with a steely glare before looking away and continuing down the bank. "Where are you headed this late?"

"Nowhere, just heading home," He grumped. The female bat fell into step with the young man and continued to interrogate him.

"So, finally decided to drag yourself back to the hideout since you finally hurt yourself, hm?" she scolded. Sly huffed in annoyance, before he attempted to refute her claim.

"No! I did not hurt myself on purpose! I had a bad landing!" he explained. The bat gave him a skeptical glare.

"Liar! I know you. You are a thief, but you're a terrible liar! At least, to me you are. Now, tell me the truth." She said firmly. Sly couldn't help but frown at being caught out. He felt his ears flatten against his head in consternation and slight embarrassment. How did she always make him feel like a child being scolded by his mother? Sure, his answer had been a vague truth. But, he really did not feel like talking. Sadly, Beatrice could out do him easily in the stubborn department and she wanted him to talk. Sly was resigned to having to talk to the bat as he would not be able to outrun her, not with a bad knee. Sly remained doggedly silent as he contemplated exactly what he would say to the bat so that she would get off his case. After moment he bit out,

"Ok, I went for a run and wrenched my knee. Happy?" The bat's eyes narrowed in disapproval.

"Happy? No, I am not happy, Shaun Monroe!" hissed the blonde. Sly winced at the sharpness of her tone and the use of his birth name. Shame made his cheeks practically glow red. He looked at the bat using his peripheral vision and felt two feet tall. The blonde's face was screwed up in an angry sneer and her eyes were merely slits in her pointed face. Sly winced. "Great going, Cooper... now you have pissed her off! She's never going to leave you alone!" he mentally grumbled to himself. He tried to explain himself , but was unable to do so when a coughing fit made talking impossible.

"I just wanted to get out for a bit. I was getting tired of being cooped up in the cabin." he finally explained between lingering coughs, hoping that it would cool her anger some.

"Then why not take a walk around the field outside the cabin? There was plenty of space to roam around." she pointed out mercilessly, although her gray eyes had been softened by concern.

The fruit bat could only watch as the teenager continued to cough and brood. Beatrice was not really angry, she was more concerned than anything else. Since she was six years older than Sly, she had a tendency to treat him like a little brother. She had watched Sly Cooper grow from a scared, but determined little boy to this sullen, but still very determined young man. It truly broke her heart to see him suffering. She had been keeping up with the Clockwerk Parts deal as closely as she and Bryan could. They had, unfortunately, gotten new jobs at the time and were getting ready to move into a new home. They were currently was in Paris proper to check on the gang after hearing from a panicked Ann that the boys had barely made it back to Paris alive. Now, that she had seen Sly's condition with her own eyes, she could understand Ann's worry. Sly looked worn and drawn. The honey brown eyes that used to glow with intelligence and mischief, now were lifeless. She also thought she had seen the remnants of tear stains on the teenager's face, but she knew he would drop dead before admitting it.

Beatrice kept an eye out for anything suspicious, while Sly continued to limp his way home. She spotted another white shape moving through the trees. Her fiancé. He wasn't too sure about this idea of her's, though. She was convinced if they did not talk to Sly now, he would disappear into thin air once the gang got their bearings back. She sighed. Her future husband was convinced that confronting Sly now would just make the raccoon stand-offish. While she was forced to agree that this might happened, she believed that things would get worse if they didn't. Therefore, waiting may not yield the results they were looking for. She looked back at Sly once more and sighed. His shoulders were hunched and his ears were flat against his head. He was clearly stressed by the conversation.

"How long have you had that cough?" she asked, deciding to change the subject for now. He waved away her question.

"It's an old lingering cough that stayed from an infection I had a week ago . It will go away soon." he assured her. He did not look at the bat because, he knew she was wearing a skeptical look on her face. But he was willing to deal with her hen-pecking over his physical health than trying to dance around her on the issue of the Clockwerk Parts and how he was really feeling. But, man, he wished this nagging cough would leave.

"Come on, Sly. Talk to me. What's wrong?" she asked, practically begging her friend to talk. She watched Sly gnaw on his bottom lip, before finally blurting out,

"Finally got rid of Clockwerk, but Bentley and Murray had to pay some high prices for my problem!"

"Did they? How high a price?" she asked.

"You know... I know you know. After all, you wouldn't be here, if Ann had not said anything! But if you must know... Murray lost his van and Bentley…lost his ability to walk. Me on the other hand? I come out scott-free!" Sly bitterly snarled.

"Did you? Tell me, who is currently suffering from scars, still healing burns, and pulled muscles? Who was physically and mentally tortured?" she asked pointedly. She watched Sly falter a moment, but he caught himself and continued to walk away.

"That's irrelevant." said Sly dismissively over his shoulder. Beatrice hissed in frustration, why was he being so damned stubborn?

"Irrelevant how, Shaun?! How is the Contessa torturing you irrelevant?!" she shrieked. Sly winced at the shrillness of her voice.

"It was the price I needed to pay. I paid it, so it is irrelevant." he stated. Beatrice was no fool... she knew what happened had affected Shaun deeply, his nonchalance was just a mask to hide his true feelings on the matter. She continued to push hoping that he would finally crack and be honest.

"Price to pay for what?" she asked sarcastically.

"Getting- rid of Clockwerk. That is all." he answered back hastily. Sly was reeling, he couldn't keep up his facade of indifference much longer. Every emotion that he possessed was screaming to be acknowledged. He was struggling to keep them at bay. Why couldn't she just let it go? He deserved to hurt, he had messed around with the wrong person and gotten caught. What made it even worse was that his friends paid for his mistake. That was why he never complained, bearing his torment in silence would be his repentance. "Can you just drop it, now?"

"No, not until I understand why you are forcing yourself to suffer!" she rasped, as she finally felt tears of frustration and sadness flowing down her face.

Sly noticed the change in her voice. He looked at the bat and felt even worse. The bat was wiping futilely at her eyes. Sly swallowed hard. He didn't realize that she was genuinely concerned and not just being pushy or nosy. He quickly looked away, but it was too late. He already felt one tear making its way down his face. Another was quickly following down the other side of his face. Before he could think to stop them, tears were coming in torrents. He bit his lip as he held his breath. He was trying to will the tears away, but he just couldn't. His lungs started to burn, but Sly refused to breathe. He knew that as soon as he opened his mouth, he would start bawling. The teen was terrified that he would not be able to stop. No, he had to stay strong, the gang couldn't afford for him to have a break down. Bentley and Murray needed him. But it was just too much: his head was pounding, his back was throbbing, his knee was stiff and in agony, and he was truly heartsick. And his family's magic was churning beneath his skin like a storm. Sly felt the wind start to pick up. The raccoon gasped. "No... not again." he thought. He abandoned his fight with his tears and began to battle his magic.

He had been fighting this particular battle since he was kid. He had discovered from the Thievius Raccoonus that his ancestor Slytankhamen, had not only been a high priest of the God known as Heka, but a magus. A being that could use and harness magic. It was the reason his family could use all those strange abilities in the Thievius Raccoonus like becoming invisible and walking on air. The magic had continued to serve the Coopers well in their endeavors long after Slytankhamen had passed on. However, it also continued to grow and change. Sly, whether he liked it or not, was an extremely powerful magus. It became a huge problem when he lost control of his emotions, as his magic would react to them. Even now as he fought to subdue the power, the wind continued to increase in force and volume and the snowflakes had changed into full blown flecks of snow. The simple snow flurry had turned into a full blown blizzard. Sly had sunk to his knees, unable to hold himself up and fight his magic. By now the teen was openly sobbing. He hated not being in control of himself, he was always terrified of losing himself to the power and madness. All the raccoon could do was ride it out and pray that he would be ok in the end. It was so cold, and lonely. The wind was roaring and blocked out any other sounds... the temperature had dropped even lower. Beatrice had probably been scared off by the sudden change in the weather, his mother had always been afraid of him whenever he had out bursts as a child. As he became resigned to weathering the magical storm alone once more, he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around him.

Beatrice had noticed the instant that Shaun's magic had broken free, the temperature had dropped considerably and the wind had turned wild. She watched as Shaun's body stiffened as he tried to rein in the errant energy. She knew how much Shaun feared losing control of his magic. She wasn't completely sure but she guessed that the fear stemmed not only from the loss of control, but also something from his childhood before the orphanage. Often times, Sly had been just as paralyzed by fear as the other children had been whenever he happened to lose it. There had only been 2 major incidents that Beatrice could recall. There had been lots of other minor incidents as well. Things like toys flying at bullies, lights flickering on occasion, small breakables shattering if they were close to the raccoon while he was in a temper, amongst other things. Shaun did his best to keep a tight lid on it, but he was still just a kid.

As the wind had continued to get louder and the snowflakes get larger, Beatrice had to shield her eyes from the harsh elements. She called a warning to her fiancé and breathed a sigh of relief when Bryan landed behind a nearby tree and took cover. She then pulled her wings as close to her body as she could and began to fight her way through the blizzard-like conditions, ignoring Bryan's entreaties to take cover. She grunted and gasped as she struggled forward, using her arms to shield her face. She was small compared to most people as she was a bat after all, they were naturally small. The winds seemed to bully the bat as they shoved her in one direction than another, but she remained determined to find her little sibling in the mess. She wished that she could use her echolocation ability; unfortunately the raging winds would just disrupt it. Finally, she had spotted a hint of blue in front of her. She continued to push forward until suddenly the wind seemed to die around her. She could still hear the wind as clear as day, but it had just stopped. She cautiously lowered her arms and she gasped in amazement. She was literally standing in the "eye" of the storm, there was no wind and very little snow, but the wind and snow continued to churn violently around the two. She always figured that Shaun's magic protected him from his own power, now she knew for certain. About a foot from where she stood, Shaun was on his knees sobbing. She did not hesitate in running over to the teen's side and kneeling beside him. She then wrapped her arms around the trembling youth.

"It's ok, Shaun, it's ok." Beatrice cooed, trying to soothe her distraught friend, despite the frigid storm going on around them. She felt the trembling start to ease while Shaun continued to weep. As the raccoon started to calm down, the winds began to die down. The brave bat still continued speaking words of comfort to the miserable magus. He now had his arms wrapped around her middle, huddling like a frightened mouse in her embrace. Beatrice felt pity well up within her heart for the kid. How long had he been the comforter without ever being comforted? She held him and watched in no small amount of amazement as the wind finally ceased and the snow changed back into small, delicate snowflakes. She absentmindedly ran her hand through his silver locks, as Shaun finally found his voice.

"No, it's not. I messed up, Bea! I messed up and I can't fix any of it!" he moaned. Beatrice mused to herself, "So, that is what's bothering him." Beatrice knew the thief put a lot of pressure on himself to do well. Sadly, one could not go through life without making mistakes. She heard a noise beside her, she turned and gave her fiancé a melancholy glance. He knelt beside the two of them, whispering,

"You all most gave me a heart attack!" Beatrice did not show any reaction to his comment, except to whisper back,

"I am sorry, but I had to do something!" Bryan just shook his head. He knew that Beatrice cared for the boys, he did as well. But, Beatrice was a woman driven by her heart. She did what she felt was right. He just really wished she wouldn't kill him while doing so. He looked at the raccoon cocooned in her arms and felt sympathy for him. He understood the pressure that he was under, always having to appear as though he was always calm and collected even when things were going to hell around them. He knew that both Bentley and Murray depended on Sly substantially for physical and emotional support. He was sure that he that Sly gave every ounce of himself he could to them, but spared nothing for himself. Sly Cooper was a better person than most folks knew.

"I know, dear. But, even if things can't be fixed, I know that life will continue on regardless." she said to the magus. She watched as Bryan picked up Sly's dropped cane and hat.

"We need to start making our way home. We have a four and half-hour drive ahead of us, and it's only getting colder." Bryan said as he made his way back to her side. Beatrice nodded softly before gesturing to the teen in her arms. "We'll just take him with us."

"Okay Sly, we have to leave now." said Beatrice softly. The thief looked at her in surprise. The bat reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here, use this to wipe your face." The teen blushed scarlet, but took the offered cloth and began to clean his face. Once he was finished, she took the handkerchief back without a word. Then she slipped her arm underneath his shoulders, and hauled him to his feet. She then turned and started following her fiancé back to their car. When Shaun started to protest, the couple quickly reassured him that they were just going to their car. The thief tried to weasel out of going with them by saying that Murray was coming to pick him up. However, the bats would hear nothing of it. Bryan quickly pulled out his mobile, and called the hippo. He reassured Murray that Shaun was leaving with them and that they would see him in a few days. After that Shaun just gave up, allowing Beatrice to guide him to their waiting four door Peugeot. Beatrice slowly made her way towards the car while Bryan went ahead to open the door. After the hobbling pair reached the car, Bryan then worked the backpack off of Shaun's shoulders before letting the two climb into the back seat. Bryan got in and started the car...

After riding for an hour, Sly began to feel nervous. His face showed no such torment, but his traitorous hands did. They pulled and fretted with the seat belt he was wearing, as if trying to remove it. He finally noticed his fingers frantic movements and stopped, placing his hands in lap. He had seen them get onto the A6* a while back. Just where were they taking him? He only knew the two bats fairly well. They had been the only other children besides Annie, Bentley, and Murray that ever bothered to interact with him at the orphanage. But they had only been around Sly for two years, before they left the orphanage at the age of 18. They also helped them with a few jobs here and there. But Sly was still weary of their motives, after all, trusting Neyla almost got them all killed. As the car continued down the concrete ribbon, Sly just stared out the window wishing someone would turn off the heat. The turtle neck, gloves, and pants he wore had kept him warm while he was out in the cold; but now they were slowly roasting him alive. Finally, as the last of Paris's lights disappeared and the last of his frayed nerves snapped, he spoke.

"Can someone please turn off the heat? And where are you taking me?" he said. He had meant for the statements to sound angry and demanding, but they came out almost pleading. He was exhausted and, loathed as he was to admit it, scared. He heard Bryan reach over and turn off the heat. Sly choked on a few more coughs before Bryan could answer his question.

"We are taking you to our home near Lyon." Beatrice said a moment later. Lyon? That was at least 4 hours, longer if one avoided the toll road, from Paris! Sly felt his heart sink. "Oh boy... what have you landed yourself in this time, Cooper?" he thought. He continued staring morosely out the window; his eyes tracking the signs as they flew by the car. He internally groaned. It was going hell trying to get back to Paris. He sighed.

"Sit back and relax, Shaun. We are not going to hurt you." said Bryan from the front seat. Sly looked over and saw Bryan eyeing him from the rear-view mirror. Sly finally decided to sit back after his back began its protest once more. The seat was soft, fabric instead of the usual vinyl. Shaun finally felt the fatigue from his run and his sobbing fit earlier crash down on him. His eyes were throbbing, his limbs felt heavy, and even his heart beat in a weary rhythm. Sly's head seemed to gravitate towards the headrest behind him, as if being pulled by a magnet. He laid his head against the seat, no longer having the will to keep his head up. He stared at the car's ceiling through half-lidded eyes as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He knew it was an uphill battle, though. His eyes were constantly sliding open and shut again. Eventually, Sly lost the war with sleep and slipped into dreamland somewhere between Evry and Lyon...

*The A6 in France is like a toll interstate highway here in the US or anywhere else for that matter. At least it is the same concept.

Okay... I feel like I need to explain myself. I freely admit that I was writing the original "Strangers Like Us" on the fly... not all the details had been ironed out. So as I grew as an author, what I wanted to do with the story and characters grew and changed... So, Strangers has grown into a series with sequels in the works. But as I finished the story, the characters that I wanted to work with were slowly starting to come into focus and solidifying... including their backgrounds. So, the prequel was born out of the need for me to introduce the characterizations that I am planning on using in the Strangers Like Us rewrite and in the rest of the series. Also there were a lot of filler characters that I shoe-horned in but did not use, like Beatrice and Bryan. But now thanks to this prequel, I will have the space, plot, and time to utilize them. Also, major characters like Desiree, Carmelita, Bentley, Murray, Joseph Macavity, and Nautica Macavity will have more screen time.

So, I hope I haven't confused you all too much with this new beginning... but most of the mentioned background stuff, the concept of a magus, and Sly's magic will be explained and expounded on as the story progresses.

Also, I know Sly's character was angst-y, but I just felt the character development for Sly between games 2 and 3, were really lacking. I mean for all intents and purposes Bentley and Murray went through some tough things following the parts and Sly. Just to see that the only time Sly seems to show any sense of guilt about the events in Sly 2 is when Murray is whining about the van of all things! Two, his dad was murdered in front of him at the age of 8 according to the game, 10 in my story. That is bound to leave a mark of some kind. So, Shaun's character in this will be a bit dark and angst, but not all of the time and definitely not forever. But, please note that he will be behaving a little out of character for a bit. Because according to my story and the game plot, he has suffered a few traumatic incidences within the last few months, so he will need some time to pull himself together.

Thanks! And please leave a review... I really want to know how you all feel about this prequel.