Her name was Cara Cooper, and she was her father's pride and joy. He was bound and determined to get her the best of everything in life. The best food, the best dresses, the best education, the best training...and the best marriage match to raise her even further in society. Even with what Henriette and Kyuubi had managed, the Cooper line was only considered minor nobility, even if they were considered part of the Royal Family by adoption as part of Kyuubi's reward for his service to the crown. That just meant they were secure, not respected or having that much political power.
Of course, the 'best match' meant there was no way her father could tolerate his daughter becoming attached to an owl and having 'half-breed' children, not that he'd dare put it that way. Instead, he tried to be careful, limiting the time they could be together based on how he arranged their training and education, all while practically throwing 'appropriate matches' at Cara whenever Klaw was somewhere else. Of course, anyone who's ever read a romance will know all that did was make the two that much more desperate to find time they could sneak to be together.
Then came the actual moment, when Klaw and Cara were both fifteen. Cara's father took Klaw aside and talked to him about the legacy of the Coopers, the importance of the line...and how important it was that Cara be matched with someone who proved worthy of siring the next generation, of raising the family to greater heights as opposed to possibly bringing it crashing down. Klaw, respecting his teacher and desperate for approval, asked how he might prove he was worthy, as he was only an orphan apprentice. His teacher had ordered him to go out into the world and create for himself a legacy to rival that of a Cooper, and if he returned bringing greatness to raise the Coopers higher, than he would be worthy of Cara...but only if he left immediately. This left Klaw no time to tell Cara goodbye...just as his teacher planned.
All of us watched as Klaw boarded a ship to sail off to make his name, fortune, and legacy...and Cara's father telling Cara that he'd gone chasing after 'some seabird', with some idle comment about how 'flighty' avians could be. We...did not take it well when we saw that...
Sly stared in disbelief as he watched one of his ancestors so cruelly drive the pair apart. "...why?" he gasped out in frustration. "Why would he do that? That...that can't really be a Cooper, can it?"
"I know it's hard seeing it be someone from your own family," Carmelita allowed softly, "but I've seen parents do far worse to ensure their children had 'what was best for them', whatever the kids thought. And...it fits the era, especially for social climbing nobility."
"I don't want to see where this part is going," Coco whimpered softly, clutching a Deik-Beck plushy she'd crafted for herself. "Can we see what happened with Klaw instead?"
"Actually, if history connected to itself, we don't really need to," Bentley pointed out thoughtfully. "This is where the first Klaww Gang came from. They were a legendary group of privateers in this time period, able to rob just about anyone blind and finding ways around even the tightest security. No one was ever able to figure out how they pulled off all their heists, and could only prove it was the same gang each time since each one had the mark of the claw slash in the wall behind the stolen item."
"I think I can answer that with what I'm seeing," Penelope spoke up thoughtfully. "Plainly, Klaw was talented and smart...and he teamed up with several other avians. He was raised around Coopers and the Cooper techniques...and saw enough to reverse engineer a few and adapt them to avian thieving techniques." She whistled appreciatively as the screen showed Klaw and a few of his 'seabird' compatriots swoop into a structure, fold themselves through tiny spaces, and then vanish into shadows with the goods leaving only their calling mark behind. "Impressive..."
"Well, I suppose-" Sly began, only to freeze as he saw something Klaw was working on on the screen. "Is...is that the Hate Chip?" he demanded intensely.
Bentley quickly checked the historic readout. "...not exactly, though it's probably what became the Hate Chip," Bentley allowed sorrowfully. "It's a combination of magic, alchemy, and technology that's years ahead of its time from inscriptions in the Thievius Raccoonus...to create a device that turns emotional energy into physical energy. The stronger something was felt, the stronger the effect. And..." His expression slowly fell. "Since Klaw wanted to prove worthy of caring for and protecting Cara...it's currently shaped to turn love into a shield. The more he loved whoever wore it, the more impenetrable the shield would be..."
"So less a Hate Chip and more a...Heart Chip?" Carmelita asked sadly. Bentley could only nod.
After that, it wasn't long before we saw what we'd all feared. Having become the most infamous gang of thieves, outlaws, and brigands the world over, the Klaww Gang returned to their home port, Klaw intending to present his reputation and the Heart Chip as proof that he was worthy of Cara, who he was certain had waited for him since their attachment was true and genuine...only to find the worst.
Having been convinced by her father that Klaw had abandoned her, Cara had finally allowed an arranged marriage to someone her father had picked out to be good both for her and the bloodline. She had not loved the raccoon, but accepted the union as something that was bound to happen given her station. She'd even had a son. This all would have been something Klaw could have accepted, even if he hated it, but he would have been there for her as a friend, part of the family...
But her husband had gotten it into his head to try and 'win her over' by proving himself as a Cooper thief. His reckless attempt...had gotten Cara killed. On learning this, Klaw had become enraged...and the rage had fed into the Heart Chip he'd hung around his neck to carry close to feed on his love for Cara, and then fed the hate back into him in an amplifying spiral...
The elder Cooper stared in horror at the bloody mess left on the floor of the family museum, what had been left of his - admittedly foolish - son-in-law. "What have you done?" he demanded aghast as he pulled his grandson close.
"What have I done?" Klaw shrieked out in mad rage as his eyes glowed golden. "I have avenged her! He was a fool who wasted the purest beauty to ever walk this world, and sent her to an undeserving grave!" He flicked his wings out, spraying the blood from his feather tips as he flicked a bit of offal from his beck. "As you were fool to force her to defile herself with him, and for what? For glory? For honor? There was neither in him!"
"You are a monster!" the elder Cooper gasped as he pulled his terrified grandson away. "I curse the day I took you in!" He didn't notice one of the cables holding the metal owl up over the scene snapping, the construct swaying. "I curse the day I let Cara befriend you!" Another cable snap. "And I curse you for this, that you should walk the Earth until you know the pain you have caused and repent!"
The second to last cable snapped, and the roof began to creak as there was only one cable holding too much weight to a single point. Klaw stalked forward. "And I curse you, fool! You and all your blood, that you waste the greatness you have in blind arrogance! There is no repentance in me, not if I walk the Earth a thousand thousand years! And if I shall walk that long...then I shall be the wings of death upon your blood, and you shall live as long as I and watch the flower of your blood you wasted endlessly struck down in their prime, only a single seed carrying it on until the legend of Cooper is no more!"
The last cable broke, and the metal owl swooped down, the beak open. Klaw looked up in shock...and roared in fury as the Heart Chip jammed into the slot that had been made for it, twisting from the rage to become the Hate Chip as Klaw was consumed by the metal specter that had once been feared, then loved...and now feared again.
"Thus says Clockwerk!" Clockwerk shrieked out as he exploded out of the museum, sending rubble flying everywhere as the elder Cooper was left crippled, barely escaping alive and with his grandson.
We could only watch after that as the next few centuries played out in an all too dreary manner. Clockwerk endlessly followed the Cooper line, waiting until each new child of the line was old enough to fend for themselves before striking down the parent in the field, ensuring the line could never achieve true greatness ever again. The cycle continued until the time he came after Grandpa...and saw the single father, the single son, and the late wife, echoing back to the almost forgotten memory of the loss of Cara. The rage and the Hate Chip ensured there was only one outcome there.
It wasn't long until we caught up to the present...and we were a somber group as we got there, but a surprise awaited us...
Everyone stared helplessly at the screen as it finally went dark after showing their final battle with Le Paradox over Paris, having seen their story play out from beginning to end to beginning again. No one said anything, unwilling to break the silence that hung like a pall over them as they saw how one person's blind ambition, one terrible accident, and bad timing had turned what had been meant to be an ultimate expression of love and a good bird into a terrible weapon and madness.
"Turn left here, and detour through Elysium Fields to Equestria," the computer spoke up calmly. "Screen locked onto Reunion Plaza on the corner of Dues Ex and Happy Endings."
The screen turned on again, and showed a rather scruffy looking owl staring in disbelief as a female raccoon stood waiting for him. "C...Cara?" Klaw gasped out in disbelief.
Cara smiled softly. "I couldn't wait in the world of the living...but I never stopped waiting for you, Klaw. I knew you'd come back to me...someday."
"I..." Klaw turned away. "I don't deserve this. I...I've done such horrible things. I...I don't belong in paradise..."
"Well you don't belong in purgatory either," Cara offered softly. "You have dedicated centuries to penance. And besides...maybe it's not just your own effort that brings you here, where I've waited so long."
"W...what do you mean?" Klaw asked in surprise, turning back to her as she approached.
"I've earned my paradise...but it won't be that without you," Cara said softly, gently slipping her fingers between his feathers, finding the part of the wing shaped almost like a hand but not quite, enough to hold. "So please...come with me now. I've missed you..."
Klaw managed a soft smile, tears pouring from his eyes. "I...I've missed you too...I'm so sorry..."
There wasn't a dry eye in the van as it moved silently past the plaza as the two star-crossed lovers walked into the mists of eternity.