A/N: So I always feel like there was not even explanation given to Urumasa especially given its apparent importance, so this is my take :)

Chapter 30

Later that night after dinner the group was all sat together on the couch for the latest episode of Game of Thrones.
"This show is so twisted," says Antonio.
"Which is why it's fun, intrigue, murder, betrayal, love. What more can you want for in a TV show?" smiles Evie popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.
Jayden chuckles kisses the top of Evie's head, "What indeed," he agrees.

As the second ad break hits a little while later Evie gets up to grab more popcorn, she walks back through from the kitchen when she gets the feeling again, her gaze landing on the table once more. Without consciously realising it she starts to walk forwards towards it.
Until she walks into Jayden who'd come out to see what was keeping her.
"Hey Evie, you, okay?" he asks steadying her.
Evie shakes her head blinking, "Yeah, sorry, spaced."
"Happens to us all," assures Jayden as they walk back into the living room.

An hour and a half later they were all heading to bed.
Jayden looked up as Evie walked out of the bathroom, flipping off the light and shutting the door before sliding in next to him and curling up against his side.
"You, okay?" he asks.
"Yeah, just wondering."
"About?"
"The baby."
"What about it?"
"Do you have a preference?" says Evie looking up at him.
"No, just you and the baby, healthy and safe. Boy or girl, mini me, mini you or a mix of both of us."
Evie smiles, "If it's a boy and he looks like you, he'll have all the girls after him."
"And if it's a girl who looks like you, then I will be keeping my sword handy when she reaches dating age. Because she will have all the boys after her."
Evie's smile grows at the picture in her mind, "Either way, our baby is going to be good looking."
"I'm sure it will be," agrees Jayden kissing the top of her head with a chuckle.
Pulling the covers up comfortably it doesn't take long for the two of them to fall asleep, unaware of what had crept into Evie's mind and began to take root as her conscious mind lowered its barriers in sleep.

Evie woke from her nightmare with a gasp, her heart rate thumping in her chest and her breathing laboured.
Forcing herself to calm down she rubs her eyes, taking deep breaths.
She turns to wake Jayden when a soft whisper stops her.
Looking towards the door her face creases in confusion.
"Evie," it whispers, a soft call in her mind.
Sliding out of bed her feet move of their own accord.
"Evie," it repeats as she opens the door and walks down the corridor towards the main room.
"Evie," the voice like a strange caress.
She walks over to table that held the map and reaching underneath it she hits the catch and it slides open, revealing a long black box inside.
"Open it," urges the voice.
Taking the box out Evie sets it on the stool before pulling out her samuraiser and drawing the unlock symbol.
The symbol disappears into the box and a soft clicks is heard.
"That's it, open it, free me," it coaxes.
Evie opens the box barely even aware of what she's doing, her gaze landing on the other half of Urumasa they'd taken from the cliffside.
"Join with me, and I can make the pain go away, erase any fear."
Evie reaches for the broken blade when a hand closes around her wrist, an arm wrapping around her as she pulled backwards sharply.

"Evie!" yells Mike shaking her, Evie only continuing to reach for the sword.
"Evie snap out of it!" orders Mike as he tries to hold her back, the two of them landing in a heap on the floor and Evie's elbow slams into the floor and she hisses in pain, her mind clearing as she blinks in confusion.
"E, you with me?" asks Mike as he sits up, still keeping hold of Evie just in case.
"What, what's going on?" she asks looking around in confusion.
The light is suddenly flicked on and both blink at the brightness.
"What the hell is going on?" asks Kevin.
"Who was shouting?" asks Mia.
"Evie where did you…." Jayden trails off when he sees the two sat on the floor.
"What on Earth is going on here?" demands Ji as he walks into the room as well, Antonio appearing behind Jayden.
"I woke up and I was hungry so I came to get a snack, I saw Evie in here. I tried to get her attention but she didn't seem to hear me. Then I realised what she was getting out and I figured whatever was going on, might not be best to touch Deker's crazy ass sword."
"Evie what were you doing?" asks Ji.
"I, I don't know. I woke up, I was having a nightmare, I went to wake Jayden when there was this voice in my head. Calling me, telling me to open the box, to free it," says Evie in confusion her gaze landing on Urumasa.
"Wait are you saying, you heard Urumasa?" asks Kevin.
"What else would the creepy voice whispering to her about being free be?" retorts Mike.
"I didn't even realise I was doing it" realises Evie. "Why can I hear it?" she asks.

"Deker said Urumasa spoke to him, and he always acted like it was its own entity. Deker isn't using Urumasa anymore, not even the broken part, maybe, maybe it's looking for someone else. Or a way to reunite it with the other half?" suggests Mia.
"Okay this is so Lord of the Rings level shit right now," says Antonio.
"Why Evie though, she didn't touch it. None of us did?" asks Kevin.
"Maybe it recognises another warped and twisted soul as Deker put it," sighs Evie rubbing her eyes as she slumped back against Mike, she could feel a headache coming on.

Emily gasps, "No it's not that, you are the most suspectable to connect it with on the most basic level."
"What do you mean?" asks Jayden.
"Evie's the metal samurai, she has an affinity for all things metal. And Urumasa might be a magical sword, but like all katanas its metal. And even if the old saying does include all our elements, the main part is always metal, born in earth and air, forged in fire, hardening by water and imbued with the power of the forest. The same principle the transference symbol is based on. Evie is a metal samurai, so she can feel it's call."
"But if it can exert that kind of power-" starts Kevin.
"No, it only managed to slip into her mind because she was sleeping and if she was having a nightmare she'd already be in distress. Her mind doesn't have any barriers up," suggests Mia.
"And if it got you while you were still half asleep, caught between your conscious and your unconscious mind. Just on the cusp before your mind was able to snap back in to control. That is a sound theory girls," nods Ji.
"Evie do you still hear it?" asks Jayden.
Evie shuts her eyes for a moment and listens, she can hear a faint pull, but it was like an itch rather anything more.
"Barely, and only when I focus."
Ji walks over and slides the lid back onto the box, re-sealing it before putting it away again.

"Great, anymore shit the universe wants to heap on me, first a baby now I get creepy swords too?" asks Evie with a sigh as Jayden helps her and Mike up and she rubs her elbow absently.
"We'll figure this out," assures Jayden wrapping his arm around her.
"Thanks for stopping me," says Evie looking at Mike.
"No worries," smiles Mike.
"Wait earlier, you spaced out, you were staring at the table," says Mia.
"But why is it only affected her now? We've had the sword for weeks" reminds Antonio.

"Deker," realises Jayden.
"What?" asks Ji.
"He said we'd give him back the other half, that there would come a time when we would give him back Urumasa. Somehow, he or Serrator must've done something, activated it somehow," suggests Jayden.
"And it latched onto Evie because it calls to her element," finishes Mia.
Evie sighs and shivers, "Great, so what do we do? We can't give it back to Deker, with a fully reformed Urumasa who knows what he can do."
"I'll seal the box again, and this time put it somewhere you don't know about it. Perhaps with some distance and some stronger protections, we can dull the call," answers Ji.
"And if it doesn't?"
"We'll figure something out," soothes Jayden kissing the top of her head.
Evie just leans against him with another sigh.
"Go back to bed, I'll deal with this," assures Ji resting his hand on Evie's shoulder.
"But what if-" starts Evie.
"No buts, go, it's not just you that you're taking care of."
Evie nods and Jayden leads her back to their room, the others going as well, save Antonio who stays back to help Ji seal the box.

Evie shivers as she gets back into bed and Jayden pulls her into his arms, "We'll figure this out."
Evie doesn't answer, a new kind of fear churning in her mind.
Sensing she wasn't anywhere near sleep Jayden runs his hand through her hair gently, knowing it had always soothed her.
This was a whole new problem and on top of everything else, they could really, really do without it. But Jayden was not about to let some crazy sword try and take hold of his girlfriend, for her sake and for the baby. His other arm wrapping around her more securely, no one was touching his family.

Ji slides the box into a different secret compartment that neither Evie nor Jayden knew about. And with Antonio's help he had sealed it again.
"Do you really think this will work?" asks Antonio.
"I hope so, if not, I don't know what to do."
"Is there anything we can look up or read to figure this out?" .
"Nothing I can think of, sentient swords is not something any of the previous samurai have had to deal with."
"We'll figure this out though, we have too."
"We will. But not tonight, try and get some sleep, we'll figure things out tomorrow."
Antonio nods and sets the light zord down, it was now under orders to guard Urumasa without being obvious.

The next morning Evie walks into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. Her sleep had not been restful.
"You too?" asks Mia as she sees her.
"I kept waking up worried I'd wandered off again," sighs Evie pouring herself a cup of coffee and sitting down.
"We'll figure it out," soothes Mia rubbing her arm.
"I hope so," says Evie, "Every time I woke up, Jayden woke up too. If he even went back to sleep."
"Can you still hear it?" asks Emily.
Evie shuts her eyes quieting her mind and she feels the tug in the corner of her mind.
"I can," she nods opening her eyes again, "Maybe it'll be easier to be distracted while I'm doing other things, so come on, I need training partners," says Evie as she finishes her coffee and stands up.
Mia grabs her hand, "Full breakfast first, baby needs food."
"I'll make it," says Emily quickly leaping up and rushing over to the fridge to grab eggs, not wanting Mia's food going anywhere near Evie or the baby.
"Poached eggs on toast good?"
"Sure," replies Evie sitting back down.
"So have you got any ideas on names yet?" asks Mia.
"Jayden and I haven't gotten that far," answers Evie.
"Surely you had some idea? I mean I've already named my kids," says Mia.
"You have? What if you have more boys than boy names you've made up?" asks Emily as she starts boiling the water.
"Oh no I want four kids, boys or girls I don't mind which, I have four boy names and four girls name already picked out," explains Mia.
"Which are?" asks Evie.
"Madison, Laura, Hailey and Delilah. And for boys I have Jason, Lucas, Ryan and Adam."
"Wow, and does the dad get a say?" asks Emily.
"Of course, that's why there's a list he gets to pick from the list."
"You should come with a warning label," says Evie.
"Oh come on, you must have some ideas for names, maybe after your dad if it's a boy, or Jayden's?"
"Nathan or Markus, possible," muses Evie.
"What about girls, any names that you've always liked?"
"Not Nia."
"Well that was obvious" agrees Emily. "What about your middle name?"
"Sabrina? No, I do not want to saddle a child with that."
"What about Jayden's mom?" asks Mia.
"Alison, could work, but that depends on Jayden," answers Evie.

"What about you Em? Any ideas?" queries Mia as Emily.
"I always liked Elizabeth and Alexis."
"Bet if it's a boy Mike will expect it to be Mike Jr," snorts Evie.
"Highly likely," laughs Mia.
"Not happening."

"What's not happening?" asks Jayden as he and Kevin walk into the kitchen.
"I'm not naming mine and Mike's child Mike Jr if it's a boy."
Both Jayden and Kevin stop dead their eyes wide, "Wait what?" asks Jayden.
"Hypothetical child, as in, in the future," assures Evie quickly.
Both guys sigh in relief, "Oh thank god," says Kevin.
"I think that would've given Ji a heart attack," nods Jayden.
Emily starts buttering the toast then before sliding the eggs onto it and setting it down in front of Evie.
"Thank you," she smiles as she starts eating.

The others grab their breakfast as well and soon enough are outside for training.
Jayden pairing off with Antonio while Kevin and Mike square off, leaving Evie with Mia and Emily.
The three girls square off, Mia and Emily launching their attacks at Evie who counters both and launches her own.
They continue trading and blocking blows, though both Emily and Mia were mindful of keeping any hits away from Evie's stomach.
As Evie continues to counter them she doesn't initially notice the small voice in her mind start to creep forwards, stirring her blood as the anger slowly began to fill her. Images of her mother flashing across her mind.

And without even realising it Evie's attacks start to increase in force and ferocity, both Mia and Emily beginning to feel it, and begin trying to counter it.
But Evie was slowly releasing the control they all kept when training so as to never seriously hurt each other. As Emily is sent sprawling to the floor after a particularly vicious hit the boys attention is grabbed. Jayden realising something is wrong when Evie doesn't even stop to check on Emily. And instead launches a new series of attacks against Mia.
Mia tries to fight back, but she didn't want to risk hurting Evie or the baby, and Evie was not holding back in the slightest. Her superior skills coming through and with a hit Mia has no way to counter Evie kicks her clear across the training area.

"Mia!" yells Kevin as he rushes over to her, Mike going to Emily.
Jayden ran towards Evie, but as he got closer, she spun bringing her sword up, and only years of experience allows him to counter it.
"Evie!" he snaps as well as mentally almost tugging on their bond.
Evie looks at him and for a moment Jayden genuinely thinks she's going to attack him again as he sees the anger burning in her eyes.
But then she blinks and takes a step back dropping her sword, her face becoming a picture of horror, "Oh god," she gasps her hands flying to her mouth as she looks at Mia and Emily.
"I'm okay," assures Mia as Kevin helps her up.
"I'm good too, bruised but good," nods Emily as Mike helps her sit up.

Jayden takes her arms pulling her back around to face him, "Look at me Evie, what just happened?"
"I don't know, I didn't even realise it was happening. I didn't mean to; I wasn't even thinking about it."
"What were you thinking about?" asks Jayden.
"My mom," she realises, "I just, I felt angry, I didn't even realise what I was doing. Oh god just like last night," she says her eyes wide.
"Deker said Urumasa feeds on his anger, that his nature compels him to fight. It's trying to do the same to you."

Ji walks out then having heard the commotion, "What happened?" he asks when he sees Mia and Emily.
"Evie definitely packs more of a punch than I gave her credit for" replies Mia.
"Seconded" nods Emily, "I almost pity the Nighloks."
"Evie did that?" he asks in surprise looking at her, it had been a long time since Evie lost control during training.
"No, Urumasa did it" corrects Jayden, "Whatever hold it's got, I think it's increasing."
"I didn't even feel it," says Evie, "It wasn't even a conscious thought, I just felt angry."
"There is always natural aggression when we train, even if it isn't malicious its normal. It's needed for an attack to be effective enough to do anything. Maybe it tapped into that, and increased it?" suggests Kevin.
"It snuck in, taking what was naturally there and increasing it," guesses Antonio.
"But why show me my mom?" asks Evie.
"Last night, was your nightmare the usual?" queries Ji.
Evie nods.

"That must be why, Deker always acts like Urumasa is sentient, as if it holds an influence. It taps into his Nighlok nature to fuel it, when he duels someone, it feeds it. And it's trying to do the same to you. But unlike Deker you don't have a natural pool in a Nighlok half to feed from. So, it's trying to find a source in you," realises Jayden looking at Evie.
"But it stopped when Jayden countered you."
"What love stopped it?" asks Mia unable to keep the smile off her face at the thought.
"No, the bond did, you pulled on it and it was like I was me again, I had clarity," answers Evie looking at Jayden.
"An overriding influence, your bond is stronger than the hold Urumasa has," says Kevin.
Evie sighs and rubs her temple as she leans against Jayden.
"I don't think you should let me near training again."
"I need to check Mia and Emily over, let's all cease for now," advises Ji.
Mike and Kevin helps Emily and Mia inside.

Jayden steers Evie inside as well and she looks at Mia and Emily guiltily.
"I'm so sorry."
"It wasn't you," assures Mia.
"Yeah, if anything it shows pregnancy has definitely not slowed you down," smiles Emily.
"Can you still feel it?" asks Antonio looking at Evie.
Evie closes her eyes for a moment and then nods and opens them. "It's there, but its faint, just as it was before."

"But you no longer have the urge to beat the shit out of anyone?" clarifies Mike.
"No more than usual" replies Evie.
"Maybe that's another reason it could sneak in?" notes Kevin.
"What?" asks Antonio.
"No offence intended at all, but Evie's not exactly the…" he trails off searching for the right word.
"Most zen person?" offers Mia.
"Calmest?" suggests Emily.
"You're very in touch with your emotions, you always have been" inserts Ji.
"Yeah, you don't hold back when you're annoyed. Maybe it's tapping into that?" nods Kevin carefully.
Evie mulls it over, "Maybe, I'm not exactly as Mia put it the most zen person."
"You've become much better at it over the years, but just because you have better control, it doesn't erase what is there," says Ji.

"Great, so now its tapping into my personality, what does that say about me," snorts Evie.
"No its tapping into base emotions and you've got plenty of reasons to have repressed anger," soothes Jayden, "You might have a forceful personality, but it has been a long time since I'd have said you were an angry person," he adds wrapping his arm around her as he sits down behind her.
"Well Deker called it, he said I was warped, and he's right. I'm dark and twisty."
Jayden just tightens his hold kissing her temple, "You're nothing like him."
"Jayden-"
"No Evie, you're not, you don't hurt people for no good reason. And you would never intentionally try and seriously injure anyone who was innocent. You're nothing like him."
Evie just sighs and rubs her temple again.

"The pregnancy might not be helping either," notes Mia.
"What do you mean?" asks Mike.
"Well Evie's hormones are all over the place right, mood swings and pregnancy brain are normal in a pregnant woman. Maybe it's causing just enough chaos that Evie isn't used to inside to leave her more vulnerable."
"A likely explanation."

"Great, so what I'm a time bomb?" asks Evie.
"We need to figure out how to separate Urumasa from Evie, break this connection its managed to form," says Jayden.
"Yeah but how? This is totally new territory," reminds Mike.
"Maybe we can destroy the other half?" asks Antonio.
"I doubt we'd be able to" replies Ji, "Its old and its magic."

"So what can we do?" asks Emily.
"Research, and maybe try and break Evie's connection," answers Ji.
"So a whole lot of hope with zero concrete plan, yay for hope, trust and pixie dust" mutters Evie.
"Not helping," reminds Jayden gently.
"Yeah well you're not the one with a time bomb in your head," snaps Evie pulling away and standing up.

Everyone looks at her sharply and she turns kicking the wall, "I don't know what is pregnancy, what is Urumasa and what is me right now," she sighs rubbing her eyes.
Jayden walks over and takes her hands, "We'll figure this out."
"Before or after Urumasa takes control of me and makes me do god knows what to god knows who?" asks Evie pointedly.
"We will not let it come to that," assures Jayden, "And I refuse to believe this sword can make you do anything, you truly would never usually do."
"He's right, Deker doesn't mindlessly go around killing and beating people up. It cannot take full control of you and make you do things you wouldn't normally. I doubt it could make you seriously injure anyone, never mind anything more." assures Kevin.
"And you're stronger than Urumasa, now you know you can be on your guard," nods Mia.
"Yeah don't tell me the badass in black is going to let a sword take control of her" smiles Mike.
"We can handle this," promises Jayden.
Evie takes a deep breath and nods, "Okay."
"Good, then lets get brain storming and hopefully we can come up with a way to severe your connection" smiles Emily.
Evie smiles as she looks at them all.

"Just try and contain any annoyance or overtly aggressive thoughts for now if that's where Urumasa is trying to take control. You need a nonviolent distraction," says Antonio.
"Video games?" offers Mike.
"Non-violent Mike, in any form, and ideally not a competition, Evie has a very competitive side," interrupts Ji.
"You could try reading one of my romance novels?" offers Mia brightly.
"Thanks for the thought, but I'm afraid romance novels have never been my thing. I got annoyed with them."
"Let's not do that then" says Kevin.
"Then we'll go with an old favourite," decides Evie.
Ji smiles knowingly, "It was why I suggested them in the first place."
"I know," nods Evie, "Can I use the training area?"
"Of course" says Ji.
Evie smiles and walks off.

"What's she going to do?" asks Kevin.
"Dance," replies Jayden.
"We meanwhile can get to work on trying to break the connection," says Ji.
Evie walks back through a few minutes later, now dressed in a dance leotard with an attached skirt, her hair pulled back in a bun and a speaker in her hand.
Ignoring the others she heads outside and attached her iPod to the speaker before setting it to her dance playlist.
As the music began to play, she closed her eyes and began to dance. It wasn't any choregraphed piece just going with how she felt. It had been her outlet for years, and she settled back into as if she'd never stopped as muscle memory kicked in.