23-Invasion

He looked left-

No one there. He looked right-

No one there either.

Yami sighed in relief and gently rubbed his fingers against the crumbled up concrete. No doubt part of his doing. Forgetting that terrible memory, he concluded that this was a good spot to do it. No one was around the area, so it was safe for now. The dark one took a glance at the younger, who was dressed in all white. He made the clothes out of his own light, which impressed Yami. Yugi gave a simple nod, signaling he was ready. He knelt beside his partner and watched him proceed.

Yami took the boy's hand and raised it to his mouth. He took a small bite of his finger, to which Yugi flinched. Yami then bit his own thumb and conjoined their blood together. The shadow-walker blinked, something wasn't right...

Why was Yugi's blood grey?

Yami blinked several times. Yugi looked over and blinked as well in confusion. "When did that start to happen...?" Was the boy's humanity truly gone?

Yami swallowed hard. "I-I do not know. But forget that for now, we must hurry." He wasted no time in drawing a very large circle, and two dots in it. Mixed of both their blood combined. He glanced at Yugi, who knew what to do next. The boy let his magic flow through his fingers, and touched the middle of the array. The magic flowed within the array, and it started to glow and form into a symbol.

Ying and Yang.

The ground began to shake. They both panicked as they heard the sound of humans running towards them.

"There they are! Fire!"

Shit! Yami cursed. He grabbed Yugi and quickly picked him up into one of his arms. A slit opened within the circle. The ground began to deteriorate into thin air. The gates were opening, but not fast enough. Yugi narrowed his eyes at the SWAT team and pointed his finger at them, shooting three small shots of light-magic bullets at them. They yelped and backed away. Yami looked down at the gates, they were almost completely open. They were going to fall in!

More authorities came, but from the other side! They raised their guns. They were going to shoot. They began to close them in and surround them.

"FIRE!"

Yami lost balance, and felt himself falling, holding Yugi as tight as possible.

The gates have been opened once again.

All for Atem.

"Oomf-!" The shadow-walker grunted. He fell hard against the ground. He tried getting up-Oh no, that wasn't possible. He immediately felt weak once doing so. He groaned and slowly looked to see if the 'important merchandise' was still in his arms.

The boy's eyes were closed. A small cough. Yami sighed in relief. The boy was still okay. He moved within his arms and slowly got himself out of the tangle of limbs. Yugi stood up and looked around, but immediately regretted doing so. He wobbled a bit, almost falling down. Luckily, he grabbed onto the bark of a tree. Once he was able to stand, he took another look. So this was Limbo...

A sky that was grey and had little sunlight, yet there was no sun, like in Atem's world. Dim and dull. That described the setting perfectly. Nothing had color, everything was dead. Trees were bare. No grass, just hard solid grey concrete. There was only one path that lead to one direction. But behind them, there were several other paths to go. It seemed that the more you were to go down a path, only more darkness came. Like walking into a hopeless void. The only thing that seemed alive were the countless small white orbs floating around.

"Yami...what are those?" Yugi asked.

"Souls. Souls trying to find their empty bodies. Some of them may look forever, as some bodies that have been littered here has either rotted away, or became a twilight-beast." His voice was weak, and Yugi caught onto that. "Most of them have light magic. They are the shells of evil people who have been damned here. When you are damned here, you leave your body and your soul lingers, but your soul will be the opposite essence of how you lived your life. As you can see, there are more bad than there is good since there are so many light ones. And the worst part, most of these souls are human."

Mostly humans? That said a lot.

Yugi knelt to Yami's side and helped him up. Yami wondered, yes Yugi was also affected by the world's negative energy, but not as bad as he was. The shadow-walker couldn't even move from the ground, yet the boy was able to move and even stand on his feet. Yugi raised his hand towards the sky, his hand slightly glowing. Soon, they were covered by a light shield-Or was it...? Yugi created a shield around them to protect them, and already, Yami felt better. He stood up and quickly thanked Yugi, yet he didn't use any of his own magic to help create the shield like they were supposed to. It was like Yugi didn't need the help of dark magic.

...Maybe that was because he already had some inside of him.

"You okay now?" The younger asked. Yami nodded quickly, shrugging off his own thoughts.

"Let us run for now. If we grow tired, we shall take a break." The elder instructed as he took off running. The boy nodded and followed shortly after.

Sprinting deeper into the forest of bare trees and lost souls, the duo kept checking their surroundings cautiously. They both thought of Atem's warning about the creatures that lurked in the twilight.

"The gates have been opened again..." Akefia almost spoke like a robot. He stopped everything he was doing and just stared blankly. Pegasus on the other hand had a different expression, one of shock and worry. Akefia shook his head, snapping himself out of his odd state, his devilish grin returning. "Not to worry, they'll be a while. And we'll be ready once Noxious is out." He beckoned for his new mate to follow him and to Pegasus as well.

Venom jumped out of bed, eager to follow his master while hopping up and down to put his pants back on.

What those two did in that bedroom, Pegasus would never want to know.

Dear Ra, have they truly ran forever through this forest?

It's literally been four hours, and they still haven't found Atem's temple. Yami was sure they were going the right way. The keys kept channeling their energy in a certain direction, the path they were taking. The two stopped to take a break and sat by a large dead sakura tree. Even its dead petals weren't even pink anymore. They both looked at each other at the same time again. Yugi guessed this was a familiar thing they would do from now on. He didn't mind it. Besides, he loved watching Yami and staring into his bright red eyes.

The shadow-walker panted as he took off his leather jacket, revealing the muscles on his arms. The way sweat lightly rolled down his adam's apple and his arms and chest. Yugi couldn't stop staring.

"Yugi, what do you like about Atem?"

Well gee, that question came out of no where. That threw him off a little. Yugi stopped staring at Yami's body, and more towards his face. "I like his personality. He's playful, really wise, and intelligent like you. He's very proper and so polite-"

Yami 'hmphed' at that.

"-He seems really fun too. But most of all, I like his skin color. It's so exotic."

This time, Yami laughed. "Don't we all..." He cleared his throat, all giggles gone from his voice. "Yugi, after this, Akefia is going to be on our asses." Yugi noticed, Yami was staring at him with a serious expression. His ruby eyes glimmered with worry for the future. "We might die." His voice was low, yet so calm. "So, I have a question for you. Two, actually."

"Yeah?"

The dark one hesitated in his words. "After everything that has happened, why do you still want to help me and be with Atem?"

The boy averted his eyes from Yami to the ground. Not sure what to say. "I..." He started. He then looked up, gazing at the hidden sun that wanted to so desperately come out of the envious clouds. "I was scared at first. I didn't want to get into anything. But I think...I saw how lonely and angry you were. You seemed like you were always like that before I met you. I really wanted to help you after realizing that you did have some hidden pain. You needed a friend. But then, when I realized I could actually be useful and strong, that boosted my motivation in helping you." An innocent smile. "I felt that I needed to help you both. Now as far as the lovey dovey stuff,"

He blushed.

"I think that maybe, we were...You know, meant to be together. I think this was all fate."

The dark one could only stare as he continued.

"So I am willing to lose and risk my life, because, I've grown to really care about you. The both of you. You're all I have left, Yami."

Yami smiled back. He joined their hands together and pulled Yugi closer. "My other question, will you give me a goodbye kiss?" The boy's smile faltered into a frown.

"Goodbye?"

"Not like that, just in case things turn for the worst." He caressed the younger's face, who sighed. But he complied and pressed his lips against Yami's first. Deeply.

After a good five minutes of making out, they finally broke the kiss. Strings of saliva detached from their lips as they separated. Yugi was so flustered, but he was still very happy, giggling from their make out session in one of the worst places possible. Yami was blushing too, chuckling himself.

The duo were walking again down the same path. It's been thirty more minutes. Yami had tied his jacket sleeves around his waist, too hot to have it on. Yes, hot. For some reason, in Limbo, even if your a creature of the dead, or a shadow-walker, you will still feel ungodly temperatures. Human or not. Yugi internally groaned. How much longer?

Until Yami smirked, excitement on his face. He stopped and grabbed Yugi's hand. "I see it! We are almost there!"

Yugi beamed. "Really!?"

"Yes." Yami pointed north, right in front of them. "Look." In the distance, he saw a tall and ancient looking building. It looked run down and at the verge of collapsing. Vines and moss grew out from the bricks that held the building together. That had to be it.

"Let's go! Come on!" Yugi exclaimed. Before Yami could respond, the little one was taking off like a rocket, leaving dust behind him as he pulled Yami towards the temple. Now if Yami was a lazy man, he'd let Yugi do all the running and literally just let him drag him to Atem. But, that's not how he rolled. So he picked up the pace and ran along side with his partner.

Yami's ear twitched as he heard loud screeching. He scoffed. The hell was that? Apparently, Yugi heard it too, because he looked around quickly, searching for the noise.

In practically no time at all, they were at the front doors. They were made of stone, and they looked worn out. Beat up and cracked stone steps led to them. They felt that inside, the negative energy didn't seem to affect this place. Yami wasted no time in knocking them open by kicking it and letting the shield down. And once he did, he saw nothing but those creatures Atem described. They were everywhere, littered like trash. Yami's never seen creatures like this before. They were creepy like artificial shadow-walkers, moving around like zombies, only they weren't as dimwitted. They were enraged, wanting to kill anything in sight. Yami gritted his teeth.

"Yugi, fall back and stay outside! It is way too dangerous in here, I will handle it!"

The boy hesitated, wanting to fight as well. However, he didn't question Yami, and ran back outside down the stairs. He covered himself with a shield once more.

He sat down on them, worried about Yami. There was a lot. How could he take them all on his own? All he could do was wait and listen, resting the palm of his hand on his chin, and his elbow on his knee. He heard creatures being slaughtered, however, he didn't sense that Yami was hurt. Bone crunching, blood splattering. It's only been a few minutes since he told him to sit outside, and it got quiet.

Why did it get quiet suddenly?

Not caring about disobeying Yami, Yugi bolted inside and yelled out Yami's name, letting the shield down. He smelled the disgusting scent of blood. Black was splattered everywhere, and he heard laughter. He then saw his beloved laughing to himself as he ripped the flesh off of a corpse. He ran to Yami and shook him.

"What's wrong with you!?"

Yami was not right. His eyes were blood shot, shrunk, grinning like some patient that just escaped the asylum. Between laughs, the dark one replied-

"M-My apologies..." Giggling. "But this vile creature," Giggle giggle. "Its blood excited me, violently so."

This was a blood rage.

Yugi didn't know what to do. No matter what he did, be it shaking, yelling or asking Yami to 'please stop', he just couldn't snap him out of it. Not even through mind-link. In this state, not only could he not get Yami to calm down, but he couldn't get him to listen. Yugi gave up and backed away as his partner began eating the corpses. Ignoring the grotesque act, he thought about what he should do. Think Yugi, think. Think about what you did when Atem attacked you, when Yami became a shadow beast.

There was only one option.

As Yami licked his fingers of blood, he then grunted in pain. He slowly paused and looked down at his stomach. There were five swords of light that were stabbing through his torso right now. Almost automatically, he went down, groaning Yugi's name.

Yugi sighed heavily. "I didn't want to do that..." The swords disappeared into the air as Yugi helped Yami up. His hand glowed white has he put his hand on Yami's abdomen, healing his wounds. "I'll do that every time you go on a blood rage. Understand?" His voice was stern, he meant that. Yami coughed and nodded slowly.

"I am sorry. I do not like it when you see me that way."

"Its fine."

Walking deeper within the temple, they found a set of stairs going down. Descending them, they both noticed that each floor of the palace was only one huge room with nothing inside of it. Abandoned and empty. Once they made it down, the room seemed smaller this time. There was a hallway leading at the end of it. Yami wondered if this was supposed to be a basement of some sort. It looked and smelled musty. Once they took only a few steps however, more 'friends' arrived to greet them.

And it was a much, much more larger amount than what Yami fought on the upper floor. This was bad. The two both began to step back as they slowly crawled towards them like maggots. They were like an army. Too many to fight on their own, even with their power, they were sure to get badly hurt from this.

"Yami, put a shield around yourself."

What? Yami thought. "Alright." What was his little one planning to do, they needed to run, but if Yugi had an idea, he'd let him do what he needed to do. Doing as he was told, he put a shield around himself, with is own dark magic.

Yugi made an X across his chest with his arms, slowly inhaling and exhaling. Yami recognized this move. Shoving his feet into the ground to secure his position, Yugi threw his hands in the air, and an explosion of true light and purity raged throughout the room-No, throughout the entire building. Light shined from the empty holes for windows, and through the cracks of the stones. Yami covered his face with his arms, kneeling as he protected himself from the intense power.

Just like that, every single creature, hidden or in front of them perished into nothing but smoky ash. All dead in one swoop.

Yami was blown away. No pun intended.

"I-I didn't think that would actually-" A kiss on the cheek cut him off.

"As always, I am very proud of you." Yami made a small smile before frowning again. "We must hurry. Come on. The heart of the temple is near."

They ran down so many stairs. Once they ran through the hallway, they were met with a huge long staircase that led to the heart of the temple. They was so close to Atem. So close. The millennium items were going off like crazy. When the seemingly endless staircase began to stop, the duo looked at what was ahead of them. Not more stairs, but two large golden doors with no door knobs. Oh yeah. This was definitely the room.

They both jumped down the last few stairs and stared. Yugi walked over towards it and gently touched it with his finger. He screamed and held his hand, pain violently surging through it. Yami ran over and touched it for himself, hissing like a cat from the magic on the door. It was to guard it from anyone with bad intentions, dark or light, or even twilight users. However, you could fight fire with fire in this instance.

Yami smirked.

"Atem's work, but, I could open it. Dark magic is all that is needed. Since there is no door knob, brute force will only open it. Even your strong magic will not work, Yugi." The boy watched as the elder rubbed his hands together, dark magic that looked like black-like ink covered his hands like black metallic gauntlets.

This was so gonna hurt afterwards, but it was worth it. With a grunt, Yami shoved his fists into the doors over and over, rapidly like a punching bag. He was only denting it. That ticked him off. He put more power into his hand and arms, practically using his full power.

Yugi watched in awe as Yami swung his foot into the doors, finally knocking them down onto the ground with a loud, heavy thud. The shadow-walker hissed as the dark magic faded off of his hands. "It was not the doors that hurt, it was Atem's magic that hurt." He wrung out his hands, trying to get rid of the pain. Yugi gently grasped his hands and healed them.

"Come on. We're so close, I know it!" Yugi pulled Yami into the big room.

Their destination, the heart of the temple.

And there it was, the statue of the final member of their little trio.

Yugi whispered..."Atem."

END 24