Ulterior Motives 2/2

When Evan awoke he blinked once, twice as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. The ceiling and walls were all painted with unique artistic sense. Instantly, he recognized that this was his home. He was laying horizontally on the couch, completely topples. Sadako was resting squatted down on the floor, her head laid on his stomach.

This was a rare chance, Evan smirked as he played with Sadako's horns. From a distance, you would think they were symmetrical but that actually isn't the case. They were ridged, one was slightly sharper than the other and extended out just a bit farther. The bone was dry, but still Evan was fascinated with them. If she was awake she would never let him play with her horns, so he had to take this chance and enjoy it.

"Hey buddy, you're awake!" Avery disrupted the mood.

Sadako woke to the sound of his voice, raining on Evan's parade. He smiled bitterly while trying not to think about a rematch with Avery right then and there.

Sadako said nothing, she just looked at Evan with her puppy dog eyes. As it turns out, during peaceful times like this Sadako's eyes weren't red. Instead they turned to a captivating shade of gray mixed with black. Her eyes turned red when she was angry, as is the trait of all demons.

Evan couldn't help the feelings welling up in his heart at this moment, he knew what she was wordlessly trying to convey to him. His only logical response was to reach out and tenderly kiss his wife. They had only just gotten married, and by many cultures standards their marriage wasn't exactly legitimate. However, without a shadow of doubt Sadako was the mother of his child as well as his wife. He loved her. In the last two years he spent with her he had never felt closer to anyone else in his entire life or his afterlife.

Their child was only just born one month ago. A healthy baby girl named Saika Shadows. Half demon, half human. Unfortunately, Goliath had his guards posted throughout the city due to certain events and they had taken baby Saika. That was one month ago. Evan and Sadako were heart broken, the two of them could barely think clearly as their greatest treasure was stolen away from them. Thankfully Shirone the demon of dawn came to report two weeks later that Saika was alive and well, that she was being nursed in a certain room in the royal castle.

That was when they began working on their plan. Yes, the royal castle was impenetrable by all standards when you think about it. Even if all of the strongest warriors from Neodeka gathered together they would never make it out alive if they charged in with guns a blaze. But, if by some chance a certain special variable was added to the equation then that was a different story.

It was one day out of the blue that Sadako remembered something important. It was while the two of them were recollecting on the past that she recalled that Blair had entered the gateway to the phantom realm. The gateway looked like a haunted mansion, it was where all of the souls that were essentially ghosts lived. Sadako had gained control over this realm during her stay in Neodeka, she was there for over 300 years after all. The only problem was that from the time she left Neodeka she hadn't been able to use that power. It was due to the fact that Neodeka was a world that resided within the black void, it was similar to the phantom realm to that end.

Sadako knew that if she were to ever return to Neodeka, that with some effort she could find Blair's soul and from there it would be nothing to return her back to her soul form. That was important, because that was the valuable leverage she would need in order to have Avery's cooperation. Sadako had great intuition in these matters, she knew something about Avery that no one else knew.

From the moment Sadako and her sister were cast into the world of Neodeka it was ruled by Atsuko. She was basically god there. Before that, however Sadako was just a slave. As a child she grew up in the streets working hard just to stay alive. Her father may have been the newly appointed lord of demons, but that didn't change the fact that she was viewed as a waste of life. She had no talent at that point in time, no power to speak of what so ever. She was unloved, it was only thanks to Shirone that she was even alive. He was the only thing she could respect.

That all changed when Sadako was 15, she began to exhibit strange Psychokinesis abilities as she entered her 'goblin' stage. Her family was strange to the ends that they progressed into several forms as they grew due to their personal power. Sadako was born without any horns or scales, she basically looked like a human plus she had no powers back then to boot. A human would never be accepted as part of royalty in Jigoku, so Goliath ordered his top guard to execute this young child. That guard was Shirone, he offered the option of selling Sadako to be a servant instead which after consideration Goliath accepted. The nobles of the castle were pressuring for something to be done, and it was more profitable to just strip Sadako of her status as a royal princess and sell her into servitude with the other peasants. He didn't expect much from her anyways, she was weak and all she did was study dusty old books in the castle library.

Goblin < Demon < Gargoyle < Dragon

That is the only forms royal blood will take in Jigoku. Atsuko, who was born before Sadako, was born as a goblin. She was naturally gifted in ability. When Sadako was discovered to have become talented with power, and to have entered her 'goblin' form she was brought to the royal castle for examination. When she displayed her psychokinetic ability, Goliath became interested for some reason.

For about one year Sadako lived there, she tried her hardest to be accepted. At that point in time she wanted nothing more that a personal relationship with her father and her sister. That was impossible however, Atsuko hated Sadako and Goliath seemed to hate her even more. It came to light that what Goliath wanted more than anything else was a male heir. Sadako, being ignorant to those type things at that time swore in front of the king, in front of the guards and in front of Atsuko that she would be Goliath's 'heir'. She wanted to get closer to them somehow, she didn't know that Goliath was specifically talking about a male heir. His only children were Atsuko and Sadako as far as she knew. Saying that she would be his 'heir' caused a stir of murmurs from the nobles and it caused Goliath to get angry and leave the dining hall.

She was laughed at and ridiculed for this and wouldn't understand until a much later time why this was foolish, why she was rejected, why she was unloved by her only family. As a joke, Atsuko always called Sadako her 'brother' instead of her sister. It was meant to be ridicule, Atsuko was only making fun of Sadako. However, Sadako was thankful for this. Being acknowledged by her sister even in this way was something she wished for at this point in time.

After several decades, possibly even the first century in Neodeka Sadako thought about her situation. Atsuko seemed to be drunk on her power after reaching 'gargoyle' form. Neodeka was a strange world where time moved much more slowly, every year on Jigoku was 10 years in Neodeka.

Food wasn't a necessity, and those living in Neodeka never got older physically. It was a world designed for the mind to age, for the body to only become stronger. It was designed to train soldiers, Sadako slowly came to understand this fact.

Sadako had become much stronger in her time spent in that world, she even reached her 'demon' form. However, Atsuko had maxed out her power. Atsuko had reached her 'dragon' form, and it was clear that the source of her power was aided by the other souls in Neodeka. Sadako had begun to give up hope, now that her sister had become so strong she would be ready to come for Sadako's life.

They had fought numerous times over the years and ended in a stalemate despite the fact that Sadako was still only in her demon form. Sadako had gained full control over her telekinesis, as well as learned of a way to use fear phantoms against Atsuko.

Avery Volk had a special aura about him. From the moment he arrived in Neodeka, he became stronger and stronger meanwhile Atsuko was clearly losing her power. It wasn't until Sadako had spent some time with him that she came to suspect that Avery might be the key to some sort of advantage over Atsuko.

She wasn't sure, until she examined his soul. One night she lured him into the gateway of the phantom realm, it was there that she confirmed her suspicions. That was also the time that Blair would enter that gateway and in doing so form a contract to enter the phantom realm upon her death. It was entirely coincidental, though, it worked out in Sadako's favor later in life.

That was when she decided that going back to earth to convince Avery was a necessary step in her plan to get back her baby Saika before it was too late. See, Sadako knew something secret about Avery. That Avery would be the one and only person who could distract the demon king Goliath, keeping his fullest attention.

Unfortunately, Sadako had just given birth at that point. Her body was still frail from the experience. She was ready to go, but Evan refused. He told her to rest in their home and wait. She thought he was a stubborn boy, but regardless followed his request. Saika was still just a baby. Even now Sadako's powers were much weaker than they used to be, she suspected that it wouldn't be long before she was back to full strength however.

They would go to the ends of the world to get Saika back in their arms. So now that the plan was formed, it was time to put it into action.

The next morning, Evan and Avery had set back out on what you would think to be a suicide mission. Two boys headed to the demon Lord's castle to take back the ones they love. But this time Sadako would be there as well.