Alright, a Yami chapter. Originally I thought that I'd just put snippets of Yami in various chapters along the way, however, considering what a jabbermouth I am I'm going to end up with entire chapters of Yami's doings at various points in the story.

I don't think this is a bad thing.

Chapter 7: First Contact

Yami finally made his way out of the non-magical city and into a patch of greenery. There was a Shade's territory nearby. He'd detected it last time he'd passed this way, but Yami didn't approach.

Instead Yami settled again in a clump of trees. It was evening and the sun was dipping lower in the sky, but there were still several humans wandering around in the miniature forest. He released his hold on his fear spells and relaxed against a tree in human form. Most people threw glances his way as they passed, probably wondering what he was doing. However the icy fear which threatened if they came closer drove them away.

Yami tapped a finger against his chin. He had a significant list of things to do; he needed to send a message to the elves, go and see the giants and start trying to coerce his own people into fighting together. That last was what was going to take the most time and be the most dangerous.

Voldemort had been the last person to try and get the Shades to fight together and look how that turned out. However Yami had no idea how long he had to complete this Herculean task, after all it could be that Harry found the remaining Horcrux's quickly and so would require an army within a month. Either that or it would take him years and Yami wouldn't see Harry or Yugi for a long time yet. Yami shuddered at that thought and pushed it aside.

Yami considered the problem of the Shade part of the required army. It would be best to go for the younger Shades first. If he had a few of his younger kin on his side then maybe the older ones would listen.

Yami was pondering this all when someone approached him. She was a broad motherly sort of a human female and she was shaking in terror. Yami watched her approach with amusement. What was she thinking? "Excuse me dear." She stuttered out, her face as pale as the moon which rose over her shoulder.

Yami arched an eyebrow at her in the dimming light. "Can I help you?" He asked.

She blinked in confusion and Yami realised why she had approached him. With Yugi's form layered over his shadows he was hardly taller than a human youth, she probably thought he was lost. However his voice told that he was considerably older than his short form suggested.

"Do you need a place to stay?" She asked, still stuttering in fear.

Yami didn't bother reeling in his spells. "No, I am waiting for someone." He told her wishing she would leave him alone. He was mentally composing the message he would send to Ryou and debating whether he should go and get a Shade on his side or pursue the giants first.

"Oh, well if you're sure." The woman didn't look convinced. Yami strengthened his emotive spells and watched the woman wobble weakly and finally back off and hurry back to the three children waiting on the path. Yami shook his head and got to his feet. He needed paper and writing implements. Trusting such a complicated message to a darking's memory would be too big of a risk and talking to Bakura via darking would just end in an argument.

After checking that the human woman and her brood were out of sight he dissolved back into shadows and made his way back into the city.

It took him some time but he managed to locate a store which he could permanently borrow some paper and a pen. He wrote the letter quickly, propped up against a wall.

Ryou,

Things are coming to a head here. I know Yugi has sent you a letter concerning what happened a few months ago and what he and Harry planned to do in the coming year. This has come off without much of a hitch. Though I cannot go with them, I have ensured that I will be able to keep an eye on them and Harry is now skilled enough to protect both himself and Yugi.

I am currently attempting to gather an army of sorts. The humans are going to be largely useless in the coming fight against the non-human and Harry will need help. As such I am going to contact both the giants and the Shades. I would also like to warn you to be ready and to tell Bakura as well. We will need your assistance. I do not yet know where the final battle ground is to be, but I will inform you when I know.

Yami.

Yami re-read the letter and folded it carefully. He didn't want to send away any of his darkings so he headed back for the magical part of the city to find a free darking to deliver the message for him. It didn't take long to find an eager darking and send the letter on its way.

Yami looked around. Now it was decision time. Should he go and hunt out the giants or did he head in the opposite direction and talk to those two Shades who lived very close together.

He figured that they were a good place to start when trying to organise a group of Shades to work together.

Yami huffed; he would head for the Shades first. At least that way if he encountered any more of his people on the way to speak with the giants he would be able to determine what wouldn't work and what might.

Yami paused to get his bearings and then headed for the other side of the city.

The sun was peaking over the horizon as he arrived back at the bordering territories. Both Shades had detected his approach and the two of them were hovering within their own territories focused on Yami.

Yami considered how he was going to go about this. It was a difficult situation and something that had never been tried or tested before.

Finally Yami settled into human form outside of their visual range and called a darking up. It was risky communicating with their darkings like this, but it would stop him from simply being attacked. "Call to the darkings of the Shades near here." He told the darking which now hovered around his face. For a moment nothing happened and Yami wondered if the darking hadn't understood.

Want know who are? The darking finally reported. The other darkings swirled around them, intrigued by the conversation and wanting to help. The darkings liked talking like this and Yami had done none of it in the last few years. "I am Yami." Yami told the Shades via the messenger. He waited. He was almost sure that the entire Shade population of England was now aware of exactly who he was. What want?

"To speak with them; unharmed." Yami tried, this was going to be interesting. The silence from the other end lasted for so long Yami was about to try again.

Confused. The darking finally reported. Yami sighed and walked towards the boundaries of the territories, the darkings following him eagerly. So that wasn't going to work, the darkings just couldn't understand enough to pass on what he was trying to say. Option two then.

Both Shades were waiting for him at the border between their territories. For a moment Yami watched them in amazement. Even the most placid of newborn Shades wouldn't come this close to another Shade even semi-peacefully. Even Yami, who was getting use to strange dealings with a variety of species wanted to dash across the distance and beat the two of them senseless for no reason other than they were nearby.

Yami concentrated on keeping his own desires under control. Without the Shade's help Harry was going to lose this battle and Yami was not going to let that happen.

The elder Shade stepped forward, his magic and darkings spreading into the space between them. Yami allowed the other darkings to examine him carefully before they reported to their Shade. The Shade listened to his darkings so Yami turned to the younger of the two. Like his older neighbour he was yet to take human form.

Yami didn't test him, even from this distance he could tell that the youngster was very young; it was the only reason Yami could come up with as to why they were not bothered by living so close together. Shades did tend to get more vicious as they got older.

"You have passed this way before." The older Shade said.

"Yes." Yami replied and then sitting himself comfortably against a tree he tilted his head. "Do you have names or are you so far removed from your own nature not to need one."

The resulting snarl and thrashing of magic from both Shades was certainly amusing. Yami didn't bother to defend himself. The whips of magic were not really directed at him, just a general temper tantrum.

"I am Darvo." The older Shade snarled at him, twining into human form. As soon as he did Yami knew that he was just trying to show off. As with most Shades he was taller than Yami. This Shade stood taller than Ron and had the dark mahogany eyes of a Shade nearing his thousandth year. The figure he had taken from a human was broad shouldered and dark haired. In fact Yami was sure he had at one point seen a Death Eater who had looked similar to Darvo.

The younger Shade gave his older kin a nervous look but also took human form. He had taken a slim form, though also considerably taller than Yami with his bright purple eyes confirming Yami's guess as to his age. "I am Sen." He said softly.

Yami shrugged and stretched. "I assume that you have heard what has been going on with the human wizards?" He asked.

Darvo nodded. "Rumours through the darkings, you say they are true?"

"Yes." Yami paused. This was going better than he thought; maybe warning Shades before he arrived was the way to go. "The non-human has discovered the Veil of Shadows. The humans in the magical Ministry have it hidden in their basement." He paused. "It hurt." He told them, shuddering.

Sen attacked without warning at that sign of weakness. These blows were intended to disable so Yami curled a shield around himself.

Darvo followed him immediately and their combined strength smashed into Yami's shield. It wasn't much effort to block them, but it was irritating. Maybe this wasn't working out the way he had hoped.

Yami stretched his shadows out and slammed a separate attack into each of the Shades sending them flying. He got to his feet and approached the older Shade, this time calling up the earth magic. The throb of the elemental power ached, but once in use the magic was detectable to Shades and they could tell that it was strong enough to crush them.

Darvo got to his feet backing off. "Now I do not expect you to recognise this magic." Yami told him, slowly pulling together a powerful blast with the magic. "None-the-less you will listen to me." Yami glanced at Sen who had crept towards the boundary between the two territories.

Yami now stood just outside the boundary and due to the earth magic currently running through his shadows all the darkings in the area were winding their way around him. "With this magic I could very easily crush you into nothing. Am I understood?" Being attacked always made Yami a little short.

"What is that magic?" Sen asked.

Yami glanced at him. "Nothing you need to know about at the moment. However I do wish to talk with you."

"Talk." Darvo sneered. "Since when do we talk? I think it is you have been too long removed from your kind."

Yami hissed at him, forcing himself to ignore the insult. "You remember the non-human, the one who calls himself Voldmort." At his name both Shades stopped. They were watching him with interest now.

"Yes." Darvo said. "Sen was created in the vacuum of terror following his betrayal." Sen tilted his head in agreement.

"The humans have a prophecy about him, that another human is the only one who will be able to destroy him. You know the strength of these prophecies." Yami said, glancing at Darvo and hoping he was old enough to understand. Thankfully Darvo nodded, though Sen looked confused.

"What about it, you want us to find this human?" Darvo asked.

Yami smirked and shook his head, the earth magic thrumming through him was starting to make his head ache, but he didn't dare release it. It was the only thing stopping the other two from attacking him. "I have found him. He is the parent of the elf-child that I am bound to. However to defeat the non-human he will require an army. I thought considering the injustice done to us, it would be appropriate for the Shades to be the ones to take part in his killing."

To Yami's utter delight both Darvo and Sen sparked an interest in this idea. "What would be required?" Darvo asked. Yami noticed that despite their common boundary, the two were careful not to approach their common bourder.

Yami realised that he was going to have to work out a way to get the Shades to be within a few feet of each other and not rip each other to shreds. First he had to get them to all abandon their territories to come and help. He'd put that on the backburner as a thing to think about when he was looking for the giants; that one was going to take a bit of figuring out.

"Fighting together." At the look on the other's faces Yami hurried on. "I realise this is not natural, but the non-human needs to be killed. His mastery of the magic from the Veil of Shadows makes him a danger to our entire race. Unfortunately it also means that our normal way of fighting dangers is useless. Banding together and utilising what skills the humans have and the magic of the prophecy is our only choice." Yami took two steps backwards and slowly allowed the earth magic to slide from his grasp.

The two Shades did nothing, which was encouraging.

"I will think on it." Darvo said.

Sen nodded hurriedly. "As will I."

Yami nodded. "I do not need a reply immediately. Tell the darkings if you make up your minds. I will call through them when the final battle approaches." With that Yami took his leave. Careful to keep an eye on the two should they decide on one last attack. That had gone better than he thought, but not as well as it could have.

Sen and Darvo were used to being near other Shades. The others would not be so comfortable. Yami turned and considered which way to go next. He had to find the giants, so the mountains would be best. He dissolved his shadows and remembered the maps of their island home.

Yami twisted his mental compass until he was facing the correct direction and set out. It was going to be a long journey and he would need to gather his strength before arriving. He couldn't imagine that Dwrng was going to be particularly happy to see him again.

So we have the introduction of our first OC's. I realise that having them here could get confusing; especially considering they probably won't make another appearance until towards the end of the story.

Unfortunately these OC's are important for the story and having each Shade as an actual character with a name and a background makes it easier to write than having a bunch of nameless faces.