CHAPTER 14

KER'S TAINTED HEART

Ker had continued to run through the forest to try to find Kiya. 'Damn it. How could I have let her out of my sight?' He gritted his fangs, 'Damn my brothers and sisters for them trying to stop me. They should be lucky that I only killed Reign.' Suddenly he had fell to the ground, holding his sides in pain. 'Damn. I can't do this anymore. Half of my power is used up from that battle but I don't understand. I should be able to at least stand since I took Reign's blood.' He had then started to cough up some blood. He stared at the blood on the grass. "What the fuck is wrong with me!" He shouted in agony.

"Your heart..."

Ker took his eyes from the ground and looked in front of him. There he saw Deminse, Shadow, and Espio giving him a cold glare. "Great as if I weren't having hell already."

Shadow walked in front of him, "You have no idea why you're in so much pain are you?"

He remained silent.

"Your heart is wounded, Ker."

His eyes widened, 'My...heart? What is he talking about?'

"All of this pain and suffering you've been causing is finally taking effect in the most important place in your body."

"But why?" He asked in a low tone.

"After all these years, your heart can't take anymore. It's finally losing grip. So in other words...you're dying. Your heart is dying."

Hate and anger had started to build up within him. He quickly got off the ground with his eyes glowing. "That's a lie!"

Shadow, Espio, and Deminse had quickly got out of the way so Ker's white beam wouldn't hit them.

Afterwards, Ker had feel to his knees holding his chest moaning in pain. "What's wrong with me? What! Damn it! What!"

Deminse looked over to Shadow, "Hey Hedgehog, what's really wrong with Ker?"

The hedgehog sighed, "I already told you. It's his heart. As long as he continues to act this way, there's a strong possibility that he'll meet his fate."

The dark blue haired demon's eyes widened with shock, "What?" He whispered. 'Do I really want to lose him?'

"But can't we just talk to him?" Espio asked.

Shadow shook his head, "We've all tried and failed. Face it, he just won't listen. His dark side is way too powerful to get through." He sighed, "At this rate, I don't think he's...going to make it."

Deminse clenched his fists, "So this is it?" He said in a low tone. "He's done for?"

Shadow closed his eyes hoping for something good to happen. 'We don't want to lose you, Ker. We know you have a good heart and soul. You have to find it. You just have to.'

"Daddy!" A little girl shouted.

Shadow immediately opened his eyes and saw Kayla and the rest of the gang approaching them. "What the?"

Espio smiled, "The rest of the guys came to help." He then saw Tonya standing there with a damaged stuffed panda bear in her hands. He rose an eyebrow, 'What's she doing with that old thing?'

Deminse pointed to the purple cat approaching Ker, "Hey Chameleon, what's your wife doing with Ker's old bear?"

Espio's eyes widened, "Wha? That thing was Ker's?" He then watched what she was about to do. He had hoped that she knew what she was doing.

As Ker was kneeling there on the ground full of pain, Tonya had approached him slowly with the bear in her hands. He slowly looked up at her with eyes full of pain in sorrow. It looked like he couldn't do much of anything since he was in so much agony. "What do you want?" He asked coldly.

She kneeled down in front of him showing the bear to him. "Do you remember this, Ker?" She asked softly.

He stared at the bear and recognized it almost immediately. The anger in his eyes had practically disappeared. "Yeah", he said in a calm voice. "That used to be my old bear."

She made a nod, "So you remember. Do you remember what you used to do with this bear?"

It took him a while to answer but it all came back to him eventually, "Of course. I used to do everything with it. It was the first toy I had gotten when I was born." He made a small smile as tears came to his eyes, "That bear meant so much to me. Every time I had looked at it, it brought back all of the good memories I used to have."

"What happened to those memories, Ker?"

He looked down to the ground staring at the blood he had coughed up, "I don't know. All of a sudden my happiness just...disappeared. Right after I lost mother and all. I had forgotten all about my bear when I was turned into this...this thing. All I could feel was hate and darkness. All I cared about was to make others miserable. To make them feel the pain that I've felt."

"Are you happy about what you've done? To your family and friends?" She then saw tears dripping onto the ground.

"No", he said in a broken voice. "I'm not."

"Tell me, Ker. Do you feel loved right now?"

He sniffed and continued to sob, "I...I think I am but...how? How could anyone love a monster like me? Just look what I've done. I don't think I deserve to live. Just look what I did to mother. She went from the nicest woman on the planet to evil and demented."

"If you did cause all of this to happen to her, you know you have to fix all of this right?"

He made a nod, "But look at me. Do I even have the strength to do that?"

She placed her hand on his chin and forced him to look at her. "The love of your heart is all the strength you need."

Tears ran down his cheeks as he looked into her crystal blue eyes, "Really?"

She made a small smile and nodded. "I know you can do it, Ker. It may not seem like it but your family loves you Ker...so much. We believe in you,"

As his throat became sore, the anger in his eyes had disappeared, and the suffering of his heart had started to heal. He then pulled Tonya close to him, placed his head on her chest, and started crying. "Tonya", he sobbed. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

As he sobbed, Tonya placed her hand on his head and stroked her fingers through his hair. "It's all right, Ker. We're all here for you."

He slowly took his wet face from her chest and looked up at her with sorrow. "I...I have to stop her don't I?"

She nodded, "If you want to make things right."

He had stood from the ground and wiped his tears away. "Okay then. No more feeling sorry for myself. I'm going to end this madness once and for all." He looked back at Tonya and made a small smile. "I'll come back, Tonya. I promise."

She smiled as she watched Ker run off to find Kiya.

A/N: Woot! Ker's sane again! XD