9-A Voice

Without hesitation, Yami quickly agreed. "Yes!" He yelled. Kaiba nodded and sat back down in his chair.

"Alright. Now, he's trapped in hell or Limbo. Whatever that weird grey place is." Kaiba looked down and began to search through some drawers in his desk. "I saw visions of him, several times. I know almost exactly where he is. Deep, deep below in Limbo, there's some kind of temple." He explained. Yami heard Kaiba mumble a few curses to himself. He was trying to find something, but what?

"A temple?" Yami said with a questionable tone. When he was in Limbo, he'd never seen any kind of temple. Perhaps this temple really was deeper inside than he thought.

"Yeah..." Kaiba said sitting up. Yami guessed he found what he was looking for. "The world of Limbo is warped, whimsical and twisted looking right? I've seen visions of you traveling there before."

Yami nodded. "Indeed." He had to admit, Kaiba was very skilled in his abilities. Yami was rather impressed by his knowledge of so many things that even he, who was thousands of years old, did not even know.

"Well this temple is different than anything in there. It completely stands out of place. It's..." Kaiba paused, trying to remember what it looked like. "White. Completely white, while everything else is either black or grey. And it has a pure aura around it, there's no evil inside of it at all. It's almost like a holy place." Kaiba looked up at Yami. "And I saw him. He was in a church looking room, like an alter. He was asleep or something and...he was stone."

Yami's eyes widened. "Stone!?" He loudly said in disbelief. Kaiba nodded.

"Yeah. Like a statue. When you go to get him you need to some how wake him up, but, I'm not sure how." Kaiba folded his hands on the desk, though Yami saw something shiny peaking out of one of his fingers. "But that's not the issue here. Now I need to tell you how." Kaiba clenched his fingers shut tight, not showing that shiny piece of whatever he was holding anymore. "First, of course, you need to open the gateway to Limbo first. First, you'll need a pure host."

Yami waved his hand, flagging that issue off. "That is already done. I have someone. But let's not go into details of that, yes?" He asked tilting his head a bit. He leaned the palm of his hand on his cheek, with his elbow resting on the arm of his chair. Kaiba shifted his fingers around a bit. He was hiding something under there, damn it. And it made Yami suspicious. Whatever he had in his hand, he sensed that it had the same aura as his lover.

"Before I explain any further of how you do this, you must promise me on Atem's life," Kaiba's hands tightened into a firm grip, clenching his fingers. "That you will keep your word." Kaiba's gaze was threatening and deadly serious. He said every word slowly and menacing. Yami stared right back at him with a less intimidating gaze.

"I swear on his life, I shall keep my promise. I do not break them." Yami said with a quiet reassuring tone. Kaiba sighed and closed his eyes.

"Good. Now..." Kaiba opened up his hands and held up something in his fingers. It seemed to be a gold chain. Yami traced the chain downwards, and saw a golden pyramid like pendant. It had the eye of Horus on it, and there were lines increased within it, like there were pieces you could pull out. Like a puzzle. What was Yami looking at here? "Do you remember this?" Kaiba asked, letting the pendant shift from side to side. The eye of Horus, a puzzle pendant...

Yami's eyes snapped open, his eyes turning purple.

"Yami, I want you to keep an eye on this for me." A familiar deep voice commanded. A hand holding a golden pyramid looking pendant. Yami scoffed.

"Oh please Atem, do not play dumb with me. I know that is your way of you telling me to keep it." Yami made a stern expression. "Well I cannot. It is your father's and it is far too sacred for me to hold! It is not my place to keep hold of the Millennium Puzzle!"

The voice chuckled. "Oh quit being so stubborn. You are responsible enough. Here, take it."

"But...Atem-"

"Take it, Yami. I promise, I want you to have it. It is my gift to you." The voice pleaded with a loving tone. "Please? For me~?" The voice asked in a more seductive way. Yami then became flustered, blushing. He scowled.

"Fine, just give me it!" Yami snatched the pendant away. He then took a look at it, and felt himself smile. "Thank...you...For trusting me to hold responsible for it."

Yami's eyes fluttered open, his vision felt fuzzy again. He groaned and held his head with his hand.

"You alright?" He heard Kaiba ask. Though, there was barely any concern or worry in his voice. Yami nodded in return.

"I remember...It was a gift to me." He gazed at the pendant again, remembering all those times he had with his lover. He used to wear that pendant all the time before his father died.

"This," Kaiba shook the pendant a little as a gesture. "Is half of the key you need to open the gate way. You need two more."

"I do not understand." Yami quickly responded, making Kaiba blink at him. "How is this going to help?"

Kaiba made a small chuckle. "Your memory must really suck. I'll explain..."

Yami nodded and listened attentively.

~Yugi~

Two Days Later

Two teens laughed and giggled as they walked out of an arcade with bags of prized in their hands.

"Damn Yug', you nearly took everything they had in stock!" The blonde haired teen laughed, patting his smaller friend on the back. Yugi smiled, making small giggles.

"I couldn't help it, I had so many tickets I didn't know what to do with them!" The smaller teen giggled. This morning, Jou suggested to make up for the other day of not hanging out because of Yami's incident, to take Yugi out to the arcade himself. Their other friends, Anzu and Honda, wasn't available. Or at least, when Jou called them, they seemed too scared or timid to. Yugi played every single arcade game in the place and won tickets every time. He beat little kids, some teens and even some adults older than him. He had won a lot of tickets, about up to more than ten thousand. He bought some prizes for himself, Jou, Honda, and Anzu. He even bought one for Yami. He had bought so many, the cashier had to give him and Jou some big bags to carry them all in. Now, they were walking back to the Kame Shop to drop them off. Now here they were, in the beginning of afternoon, walking back to the Kame Shop.

"Heh heh. Yeah..." Jou trailed his sentence as if he was going to say something else. He cleared his throat and continued to look forward as they crossed a street. When Yugi looked up at his friend, he saw concern written all over his face.

"Jou?"

"Eh? Oh." Jou looked down at his friend and made a small frown. He looked back down at the pavement and rubbed the back of his head slowly. "So you, ya know. Forgive us, for what happened the other day? With Yami?" Jou asked. Yugi made a smile and nodded.

"It's fine. That's in the past now and it was just a misunderstanding." Yugi gleefully responded. Jou made a sigh in relief and made another grin.

"Thank goodness! Now about Yami..." Jou trailed his sentence again. "What is he, Yug'?" His usual loud voice lowered to a very quiet tone. As if speaking of Yami was some kind of taboo. Yugi closed his eyes and sighed.

"Hey." Yugi pointed to their right of the sidewalk. Across was a park, with only few people in it. No children, and not even any dogs. Most benches were empty, and it was quiet and peaceful. "Let's talk over there."

Yugi and Jou were sitting on an empty wooden bench in the middle of the park with their bags sitting beside them. A big tree stood proudly above them, standing as if it was the park's masterpiece. Out of all the trees, this tree was the tallest, widest, and the most beautiful. It was a different species than any of the other trees. It was a williow tree. And it's leaves glowed a pretty green in the sun. And it made great shade for the two teens on this hot summer day.

"Yami isn't..." Yugi looked down at his legs, trying to find the best way possible to explain this to his friend. He could be blunt. After what they saw the other day, being blunt would be believable. But being blunt could also be a bit alarming. Yugi inhaled deeply. He had to tell him one way or another, and he had to now. "He's obviously not normal. You saw what he could do with those shadows."

Jou blew some bangs out of his face. "Is he like some kind of shadow monster or somethin'?" He asked curiously. Yugi shook his head in response.

"A shadow-walker. They control shadows at will, and they're shadow creatures that take on human forms. They have minds of their own, and apparently, they're all not too friendly." Yugi said with a stressed sigh.

"All? You met more than one or somethin?"

"Something like that." Yugi replied. "Akefia." Yugi whispered. Yugi felt as if he was wasn't too safe anymore with Akefia still around. Even though he had no grudges against Yugi, he still didn't like to take any chances. It was like, he didn't want Akefia to some how hear him speak of his name from afar. Like Jounouchi didn't want Yami hearing name being spoken of. Even though they both weren't there, it made both Yugi and Jou paranoid to the bone that they might be listening. That they might be watching...

"Akefia too!?" Jou made a loud whisper. Yugi nodded.

"That's why the fought. They were enemies apparently."

"Does Ryou know?" Jou asked. Yugi nodded.

"He's the one who gave me info about shadow-walkers during the fight. Though, even he himself doesn't really know about them. He probably kept that secret of Akefia being a shadow-walker all along. It's almost like Akefia's his guardian." He explained. Jou groaned in stress.

"The hell!? I thought he was his brother, not some damn monster!" He cursed. Yugi then felt something click in his mind. Ryou did explain that shadow-walkers could change into human forms. If they really were brothers, wouldn't Ryou be a shadow-walker too if it ran in the family? But no, that couldn't be true. If that was, Ryou would have helped alongside Akefia to fight back Yami. Did that mean that Akefia wasn't really his brother and that he just made himself look like he was? Ryou definitely wouldn't tell him, and he couldn't find him or confront him about it anyway.

First of all, that was looking for trouble. Akefia would probably be with him. Second, he never knew where Ryou lived anyway. He never told him, and never told why he didn't. Realizing this, Ryou was obviously hiding something, besides Akefia. Something deeper was going on, Yugi could feel it. Being lost in thought, he realized he completely stopped talking. He looked up and saw Jou stare at him with a puzzled expression. Yugi smiled a little.

"Sorry for spacing out. Just thinking. Let's go back to Yami." And speaking of Yami, he should ask him about what the deal was with Akefia and Ryou. Perhaps Yami knew something about it. Jou nodded in agreement and smiled back.

"Yeah. Matter of fact, where is he?" Jou asked. Yugi shrugged and made an angry pouty face. His lips slightly poking out and his eyes lowering dangerously. Jou chuckled a little.

"I dunno. He said he was going to see me yesterday. He promised we'd see each other again." Yugi grumbled, almost as if he was mumbling to himself. "He lied...Again.." Yugi made sure to say that last part as quiet as possible so Jou wouldn't hear it. He didn't want him asking him what he meant by, 'again'. Too long of a complex dramatic story.

"Ha!" Jou laughed, causing Yugi to snap out of his pouting sequence and look up.

"W-What!?" He stuttered, feeling his cheeks redden in embarrassment. He didn't want him to catch on that he was worrying about Yami so much. Unfortunately for him, he did.

"Don't play dumb! Why ya worryin' 'bout Yami so much, eh? Your pountin' like some desperate girl who got stood up on a date!" Jou then stopped laughing and made a small gasp. "Wait." He then smirked mischievously "You like him don't you?" He looked like he was trying not to laugh. Yugi clenched his teeth and quickly looked away, his face becomming even more red.

"N-No! I don't!" He yelled back in denial. Jou gave him a slap on the back, which made him whimper.

"What's wrong pal? I thought you had it hot for Anzu!" He poked Yugi in his ribs. Yugi's eyes widened in shock and playfully shoved Jou away.

"Jounouchi! I do not! I don't like anyone!" He pouted and looked away with his arms crossed. Jou just chuckled.

"Seriously though Yug'. I thought ya liked Anzu?" The blonde asked, still giggling a little. Yugi sighed and shrugged. He looked down at his bags that held the prizes of plushies and stuffed dolls. A stuffed doll that held an odd light blue and pink costume sat in the bag. In a popular game around town called Duel Monsters, that doll was the Dark Magician girl. Anzu loved the Dark Magician girl even though she wasn't much of a gamer herself. Most of the prizes he got were for Anzu considering the fact that neither Honda or Jou liked them that much. Yugi kinda liked them, not enough for him to have his room filled with them. But to the topic of liking her. Did Yugi like her? He had a crush on her since the beginning of high school and they knew each other since they were little.

He's always known Anzu as one of his close friends. She was always so beautiful, her personality, her body, her voice. He used to want that to be more but now, he could't help but feel a feeling of doubt. He was starting not to see Anzu as the girl he wanted. Searching deep in his mind, he realized, Anzu didn't really like him like that anyway. When Yugi did once have the courage to ask her out, he was rejected.

"A-Anzu?" He remembered like it was yesterday. It was two years into high school. They were both in tenth grade, and they were both just about to go to class.

"Yeah Yugi?" Her charming gorgeous smile appeared on her face.

"U-Um..." He was so surprised that he had the courage to ask her. But even in the end, it blew up in his face. "I was wondering if we could go out sometime? I really like you and-"

"Oh. Uhh, no thanks Yugi. N-No offense but, I just don't like you that way. Sorry."

He swore he felt his heart break that day. That was his first crush. He had never liked anyone else in the years he grew up. But now, he felt that had changed. Now the only image in his mind, was Yami. But, why Yami? Why when he asked himself, 'who do I like most' the first who comes to mind is him?

"Yug'? You spacin' out on me again!" Jou's voice snapped him out of his thinking process.

"Oh! Sorry sorry!" Yugi sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his spiky head. "Well, for Anzu, I guess-"

The horrific screams of people interrupted their conversation. Both Yugi and Jou snapped their heads up, and scanned the park. The few people that were here, were running away, frantically sprinting the fastest they could away from the area.

"The hell's going on!?" Jou yelled.

Yugi couldn't help but feel a sharp pain in his chest. He didn't know if it was fear, or just anxiety. Probably both. But if there was trouble, that must mean Yami must be near. Whenever something went down, it was always Yami who was the cause of it, or involved in it. A feeling of hope then blocked out that fearful anxious pain. Now what exactly was going on? Jou stood up quickly and grabbed the bags off of the bench.

"Come on Yugi! We gotta move!" The blonde grabbed his friends arm and began to pull him away. Yugi managed to grab the other bags on the bench before Jou ran off with him. They began to run away from the park like everyone else. As they were almost out of the park, Yugi heard an inhuman groan. He quickly looked back, and stopped moving his legs, making Jou do the same and look back as well. Behind them from a few good feet away, was another shadow-walker. You could tell it was one too. Black aura surrounded her, gooping around her on the ground like ink. But this one seemed just like the last one. Dim-witted and absolutely out of it's mind. It limped their way, slowly coming towards them. It appeared to be a female shadow-walker. Only her skin was a sickly grey color, with empty white eyes and tattered clothes. Her mouth hung open as she moaned and groaned. She looked like a zombie. "Another one!?" Jou darted his eyes back down to Yugi. Yugi shuddered.

"D-Don't look at me! I don't know what's going on!"

"RAAAUGGHH..." The creature began running towards them, not lagging or slowing down. Jou began to pull on Yugi's arm to make him turn around and run again, but something was different. This thing that was coming towards them, it didn't look like it was after Jounouchi. It looked like it was coming for Yugi! Her arms flailed out, like she was trying to reach out and grab them. But she was aiming at Yugi. Yugi thought fast. He snatched his arms away from Jou and gave him his other bag. Before Jou could yell as to why Yugi did that, Yugi didn't let him. That thing was coming even closer. Yugi pushed Jounouchi with all his might away from him towards the entrance to the park. To both his and Jou's surprise, Yugi managed to push him on the ground far away from him, only inches away from the front entrance.

"YUGI! What are you doing!?" Jou shouted. Yugi ignored him and looked back at the monster coming straight for him. She raised her arm, and lunged for Yugi. Yugi quickly raised his arms across his face to try to shield himself from the attack.

This was it, he was going to die. Yami, where was he!? "Yami! Where ever you are, come back! I need help! There's something after me, I don't know what to do!" No answer. "Yami please!" This was it. "YAMI!"

Everything was black.

"Do not be afraid."

"What..!?"

"Everything is alright. Awaken your power. You are not weak. Show no fear."

"Who..."

"Ahh...I see you are having trouble with that, little one. Let me help you awaken that power." A deep voice. "Yugi."

END 10

For me, this was a short chapter, and I apologize for that. And please excuse me for the long wait. I had a bit of a writer's block. Anyway, I think it's obvious who that voice was. But I'm the author, so of course I would think that. The question really is, do YOU all know? By the way, Venom will make his appearance very soon.