CHAPTER 16

KAYLA'S NEW FATHER

Shadow punched the hard brick wall with his fist in frustration. "Damn! Damn it all!"

Rouge placed her hands on the hedgehog's shoulders, "Calm down, Shadow. We'll get her back. I promise."

He turned to her with anger still in his eyes, "You're right."

"How are we going to find them?" Tonya asked. "Dark probably took her to the other side of the world by now."

Shadow glared over at the pink hedgehog about to slowly walk out the door. "Leave that to me." He quickly jumped in front of Rose and stopped her from leaving. "Where do you think you're going?"

She was about to run away in a different direction, but Shadow had grabbed her arm and made her face him, "Where's Dark?" He asked in a cold voice.

Rose hesitated to ask him.

He shook her, "Well! Answer me!"

Rose looked away from his face and looked down at the floor. "He took her to huge cliff."

"A what?"

She faced him again, "I'll even take and show you there."

Shadow sighed and let go of her.

"Okay, follow me."

Later when they got to the top of the cliff , they saw a black demon talking to a child.

The group approached from behind.

"Dark!" Shadow shouted.

The demon turned and faced him, "Shadow, you came. I guess that shouldn't surprise me. I knew you'd betray me, Rose." He glared over at the pink hedgehog.

Espio stood in front of her, "Leave her alone, Dark!"

Shadow focused on the scared squirrel that was near Dark. "Don't worry, Kayla. I'll save you."

Even though she was mad at him, she smiled and was glad that he was there to save her.

Dark smirked, "What could you possibly do with a useless girl? I mean well, she's not completely useless, but to you. She has demon powers and she will try to kill you."

Shadow clenched his fists, "I'll train her and teach her how to control herself a little better."

"Then I should be the one to do it."

"You're evil, you're nothing but pure darkness. Your dark essence will probably end up killing her."

He smiled evilly, "I just might do that."

"No you won't because I won't let you."

Before Dark could continue, he was suddenly pushed off the cliff.

Everyone gasped in surprise and looked down the cliff to find him, but they didn't see anything but darkness.

"Is he dead?" Charmy asked while he was still looking.

Vector shrugged, "I don't know."

"He's still alive", Shadow answered. "But he won't come back for a while."

Espio laughed a bit, "Okay, who pushed Dark off the cliff?"

Kayla looked down at her white shoes, "I-I did."

Espio started to laugh hard, "Dark got pushed off the freakin' cliff by a three year old! Some demon he is!"

Shadow kneeled down to her and hugged her tightly, "Kayla, thank you."

Kayla just stood there confused by his actions, "But, I thought you didn't like me."

"Kayla, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I'm sorry I said those things."

"I'm sorry too."

Vector admired the way Shadow and Kayla were hugging each other and was happy for them.

Rose was about to leave them until Espio grabbed her arm. She turned to face him.

"Where are you going?" The chameleon asked.

"Away from here. I did too much damage. I gotta go."

His grip around her arm got tighter, "But..."

She turned to him again, "I almost killed you. Do you want me to stay here and put everyone in danger?"

Espio sighed and let go of her wrist. He watched as she left.

"Oh", Kayla then broke away from Shadow and gave him a yellow Chaos Emerald. "I got it from Dark."

Shadow looked up at Kayla with panic, "Kayla, what are you doing? You know you can't touch a Chaos Emerald!"

She shrugged, "But it didn't hurt me this time."

"It didn't?" Shadow began to think for a moment. 'I guess Kailyah got use to the Chaos Emerald's power.' He sighed with relief, 'Thank god.'

Kayla tugged on his coat, "Shadow, what's wrong?"

He turned to her and shook his head, "Nothing, come on lets go home."

Kayla smiled widely. They were finally going home.

The next day, Kayla was walking past Shadow's room, but had heard him talking on the phone with someone, and he sounded really happy for once. Kayla peeked her head into the room and saw Shadow hang up the phone. She walked into the room with curiosity. "What is it, Shadow?"

Shadow turned to her happily, "Kayla, start calling me Detective Hedgehog again. I got my job back."

Kayla cheered in happiness and tackled Shadow on his bed. "That's great, Detective Hedgehog!"

Shadow picked her body off him and placed her beside him. "Kayla, there's something I need to ask you."

She nodded, "Okay."

"I was wondering if you wanted a new father."

She began to think for a short time. After when she was done thinking she focused on Shadow again, "Of course I would."

"Well, would it be okay if I became your new father?"

Kayla gasped, "You can do that?"

He nodded, "Yeah, but only if you really want me to."

She then pulled Shadow into a hug, "I want you to be my new daddy."

Shadow hugged her back, "You got it." He pulled away from her, "Before we can confirm this, you want to go visit your father?"

"I...can see him?" Kayla asked with disbelief.

Shadow made a nod.

Later, Shadow had taken Kayla to a graveyard and took her to her old father's grave. He watched as Kayla sat there and prayed for him. He was getting worried that she hadn't said anything since they got there. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Kayla, are you all right?"

She turned to him with a smile, "Of course I'm all right. I have two daddy's now. One watching over me in heaven and one watching over me here." She hugged Shadow again, "I love you, daddy."

Shadow hugged her as well, "I love you too, daughter."

N/A: WHOOT! I'm finally finished this fic! It only took two centuries! R&R!