Floating.It was warm, starting from his chest and flowing out onto the warm pool of dingy grey water. He groaned and went to rub his eyes. The liquid slipped from his pale fingers and palms, dripping and adding back to the pile of water underneath him.Yugi glanced around. Rain grew faster and faster, soon making him soaking wet. His shirt stuck to his skin. The cold ran up his body, overtaking the previous warmth and instead leaving him feeling suffocated and helpless.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

And woke up.

"Yugi, c'mon" Anzu smiled, she let go of his shoulder and laughed, "Good morning, sleepy."

Yugi gave a small, awkward smile and gave his good mornings to her back. He yawned and rubbed his eyes - being greeted with a sharp pain in his right eye. He winced, drawing in a shaky breath and stumbling up.

"You good?" Honda casually walked up to Yugi, hand in pocket. Yugi nodded, "I'm fine.."

Mana yelled from the front of the carriage, "Someon' wake 'temu up, please! "

Yami gave a nod from his space on the bench opposite to Yugi and gently shook his brother awake. The tired look on Atemu's face made Mana laugh, hopping down from where she was at the front of the carriage just to poke his cheeks playfully.

Atemu playfully pushed her back, taking care not to hurt her, and stretched.

"Did you get any sleep, Mana?"

"Hm? Nah." Mana shrugged. She pulled down her hood further and sighed.

"I'll manage! Sleep is for the weak!" Mana proudly puffed out her chest then skipped happily out of the carriage to check out the horses.

Yugi checked his bag, slipping it onto his back and checking over Miho's area. Honda and Miho were chatting about some strange dreams they had. In an ideal world, Yugi could go up to them and talk about his dream; but alas he couldn't do so.

"That's the so-called 'Village of black'." Atemu read off his notebook, "Never actually been there."

"It's a pre'y bad place." Mana commented,

Honda scoffed, "How come?"

"Their homes are all kindsa messed up." Mana looked to the area, "We won't be in any dang'r though. Apart from me and lil Yugi over there, that is."

Yugi gulped, a shiver up his spine.

"Huh?! Why Yugi?" Miho wondered, Atemu covered Mana's mouth and told them not to worry about it. Yugi let out another yawn.

Anzu gave him a small look of concern, deciding it'd be best to ignore it and hopping out of the carriage to see what Mana was doing. Soon, the group were ready to leave. Yugi held Anzu's hand and squeezed it tight - worry resting in his heart. Something about the dream he had made him nervous. Maybe it was best to avoid water? Yugi wasn't sure. He followed the group as they walked - crunching the leaves loudly under their feet as they found a rhythm.

The horses and the carriage were going to stay outside the gates of the village Yugi inspected the gates. Everything was dark, even under the bright lighting of the hot sun. The gates crumbling and chipping away, the houses leaning slightly and beginning to fall apart and the singular well in the middle - a torn rope slightly off centre inside - all of it stood out to him.

The people peeked out of their windows. Men ran outside to greet the travellers with a big, toothy grin.

"Hello! Hello! Dearest travellers! We haven't seen anyone in awhile!" the man gestured everyone further into the gate. Atemu rolled his eyes and flipped to a page in his notebook. He showed it to the stranger,

"I hear you sell this herb? I need it."

"Oh, yes, of course we do! However, we cannot sell that to anyone unlicensed.."

"I am the 5th associate of the King and Queen's guild." Atemu pulled out his badge from a wallet and showed the man, "I have a licence for many things, including the ownership of medicinal herbs."

The man nodded, telling the group to follow him.

Yugi noticed eyes peeking out of all the foggy windows. Different sizes, colours, shapes.. They watched their movements closely as they walked through the village streets and to a small, crusty stand made of old, choppy wood. An old, sagging lady sat there. The man explained to her what was going on and she immediately stood up and gleamed brightly.

"A travellers group! Oh my, oh my!" She bent down slowly and took a tiny box out. She lifted the lid and presented a small cluster of herbs - stems thick and the leaves dripping with thick moisture.

"This is it, no?"

Atemu nodded and casually took them. He slipped his hand into his pocket and handed the woman 6 coins.

The woman refused, at first, but Atemu had insisted.

"You got what ye wan'ed? ' Mana asked curiously,

" Yeah. " He abruptly stated, placing the herbs (and its box) into his bag.

Yugi was intrigued over the herbs, wondering what they were going to be used for and why. He didn't want to ask, however, as Atemu probably wouldn't tell him anyways.

"Is that all we came here for?" Anzu asked quietly, Atemu giving a silent nod in response.

"Wan'na head out 'en?" Mana smirked, pulling her hood further down her face in a casual yet conspicuous manner. The group were stopped by another man, tall and skinny, who begged,

"Oh! Please don't leave yet, fair travellers! You haven't even seen the main square!"

"Don't need to." Atemu groaned. The man took Atemu's hand and pleaded once more.

"Please!"

Miho took the man's wrist and pulled it away from Atemu's hands, "Miho doesn't mind, let's look!"

The group decided to just have a quick look - no harm could come ou of it anyway, right?

The paths were cracked and crumbled, like the gate at the entrance. Trees dead and flowers wiltered, a stone circle in the centre where a grand fountain once stood. One big block of stone with the community rules scrawled onto it.

'・No thievery, Vandalism or any basic crime

・Look after those around you

・Do not leave - unless for business

・Rule-breakers will be shot.

・Send passing souls off with a smile '

Yugi shivered. The rules seemed so basic yet eerie. The man chuckled,

"Not too shabby, eh?"

"Hm-hm!" Mana gleamed, "Looks way be'er than from where I'm from! Dang!"

The rest of the group - apart from Atemu, of course - gave her a blank look before getting the hint. She obviously didn't want them to feel bad about the crumbling walls and awful presentation of the place.

A little girl walked up to the group and greeted the travellers with a small smile.

"Hello. Its good to see some new friends."

Her hair were light toned and she seemed more well-kept than the rest of the villagers. Two thick, chunky bunches sat on the top of her head and she carried a small, torn Teddy in a gentle manner.

"Becca!! Get back here!" an old man whispered urgently, Tring to get her to go back to her spot inside, but she ignored.

"You know, I-"

Yugi felt a pain behind his eye, stinging, throbbing.

The roof was going to slide down and hit her, he had seen it. The tiled crumbling, falling, tumbling and crashing directly into her at full force.

He could hear Atemu quietly telling everyone to get back. He couldn't tell whether he was hearing things or whether that was real.

Yugi jumped and pushed the girl out of the way, a little yelp coming out of her mouth as he did so.

She complained "What did you do that for?!"

The roof dropped to the ground, tiles on the crusty dirt and broken stone, missing them by just an inch.

"Yugi! Are you okay?!" Yami yelled, shaken by the noise of tiles hitting the floor. Yugi gave a nod and silently headed back to the group.

Atemu bent down and whispered into Yugi's ear. " Be careful. There's guards everywhere here. Don't act on another prediction again, will you?"

Yugi gave another mod, sadly staring to the ground.

What was it, exactly, that the guards needed from Yugi? What was it, exactly, that was wrong or different about him? What, exactly, had Atemu thought was dangerous about him? What exactly were those predictions?

He exhaled and looked away to the broken trees.

Mana checked through the brittle pieces of tile - grains crumbling from her fingers as she held them.

"You need help fixin' this?" She asked the man, who was looking at the group and clearly shaken by the mini-event. He shook his head.

"No, no." He gave a smile, "We can fix this. We can, we can."

Casually and without hesitation, Mana dropped the tile she had in her hand and turned away.

"No!! We can't!!"

Mana looked back in the direction of the voice. The girl - the one who had almost been killed moments prior - cried, tears staining her pale cheeks.

"We can't fix this!! We're poor, have nothing.. Who'll fix this?! Huh?!"

The old man ( whom Yugi assumed to be her relative of sorts as he resembled her) held her back and tried to silence her, but she continued.

"It's because of people like you!!" She pointed at Atemu, "Because of those who are lucky to have stuff! You're gonna leave and we'll have to live with no roof over our head for days until someone takes pity!!"

"We offered." Atemu glared, "You said no."

"Did you read that rule board?" the girl (also known as Rebecca) yelled with sass in her tone, "If yes then-"

Rebecca's mouth was covered by the old man and she was slowly being dragged away. The man had apologised to the group many times before Yami had interrupted.

"Wait."

The old man stopped and released Rebecca for a moment.

"If you're not happy with how you're living right now… why not change it?"

Rebecca retaliated "Because we can't!!"

"Why can't you?" Anzu joined in, hands on her hips comfortably.

"Because.. Because.. Because of that damned queen!!"

The area went completely silent.

Yugi didn't think that the first place he had stopped at on his travels would be a place like this. He wondered whether everywhere else was like that too? Whether this 'Queen' was in control of everywhere?

" Well. "

Atemu walked closer, pushing past the man who had brought them to the square and placed his mouth close to her ear. He quietly said;

"Why not change that?"

And walked away, telling the travelling group that he was to head back to the carriage, giving a small and cheeky smirk.

Mana smirked too.

"Hey guys!" She turned to Yugi, Anzu, Honda, Yami and Miho with a grin, "Wan'na help me? I'm gon'na fix it up a lil for em."

"We can't fix a whole roof!!" Yami raised his voice, pointing dramatically to the gaping hole on the top of the home. She tutted, hands on her hips, and asked one of the nearby men whether they had a hammer or a tough rock, they handed her a bag with some bulky stones inside, claiming those to be their only supplies.

"It's easy!" She helped Anzu and Honda up onto the roof (the two had agreed to help). She called down to Yami and Yugi, asking them to go back to the carriage and get the repair gear; Yugi figured out that she chose them two as they were the smallest and weakest - so a simple job like that would be best.

They walked in silence down the grey path of cracked stone. The eyes on them had decreased in number, with only the occasional stare being prominent.

"You.. You've been quiet today.." Yugi mumbled to Yami, afraid that what he said would offend his friend. Yami chuckled,

"You too." He quickly added to the end, "Though you're always pretty quiet."

A long pause settled between the two of them, before Yami spoke up again

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Yugi's eyes glanced into Yami's for a moment, looking into the determined yet weak flare they carried.

Yami let out a quiet sigh, "He dragged you into travelling with him didn't he? Atemu can be pushy sometimes...I'm sure you'd be happy back at Domino right now."

Yugi thought long and hard about what he was going to reply with. Sure, he would be content curled up on the sofa and chatting to his grandfather while eating snacks but he felt happy also being outdoors and exploring.

"I'm fine with it!" he finally blurted out, "It's kinda exciting.."

"Really? I don't get why he has to go on some dramatic journey.."

They made it to the carriage, the pair silent as they hip in and go to ask Atemu for the Repair Gear.

He was lazily slouching on one of the benches, hood up and covering his closed eyes. Atemu opened one of them and casually pointed to the bench nearest to the exit.

"Open the lid for that bench, it's the brown box."

"It opens?" Yami walked over to the designated location and lifted the top section of the bench, "Oh!"

"Mana checked the whole carriage while you guys were sleepin'."

"Atemu?" Yami looked back to his brother. Yugi had decided to stand by the entrance instead of bothering the two.

"Hm?"

"There aren't any brown boxes in here."

Atemu gave a confused expression and flipped his hood off, standing next to his brother and pulling out a small box with a latch on the end.

Yami snickered, "That's green, not brown!"

".. Huh?" Atemu squinted at the box for a moment then gave a long, awkward laugh. "You guys should head back. I'm guessing she's being unreasonable again."

"She's fixing the roof."

"Yep. Unreasonable as always!"

Atemu said his goodbyes to his brother and a small nod of acknowledgement for Yugi. They both carried the box as it was rather heavy, making sure not to drop it as they stumbled and struggled to get it back to Mana.

How were they going to lift this onto a rooftop? Yugi had no clue.

The two boys dropped the box near the home that was being fixed. Yami, out of breath, gasped,

"We.. Hav..e.. The box.."

"Perfecto." Mana slid down the roof calmly and reached her hands out, using her feet as a stabiliser to keep her from falling. "I'm sure ye c'n lift it up - it'll be a team effort!"

Yugi and Yami exchanged glances. Somewhere in their minds they both knew this would be how it would all play out. With one big huff of air from Yami and a quiet groan from Yugi, they pulled the box up and managed to slide it into the girls hands.

Like it was weightless, she threw it upwards and caught it in her arms.

"Good work. Anzu, Honda! Lem'me teach yer the basics!"

"You sure do have a wide skill set for a young girl" Honda commented, before getting to work.

Yugi couldn't see much; however he could see a thick, goopy solution being scraped onto some beams and the tiles being placed on top. He wasn't interested in knowing the process and didn't understand why Anzu and Honda were. He turned to Yami, looking him up and down like a scanner. He didn't seem too focused on what was going on, staring at the ground and being lost in some deep thought. His eyes seemed to be somewhere else, not at all stationed in the real, current world. His skinny body were covered up by a thin jumper, only one-toned (being a middle shade of grey).

"Do you two wan'na come sit down here?" The old man who had stood behind Rebecca smile. He was tall and thin, sporting some partially broken glasses and a bizarre, pompadour-esque hairdo. Yami gave a small nod, gently taking Yugi's hand and walking inside the building.

It was just like the outside - cold, cracked and empty. A few torn chairs sat in a circle around a block of wood (which Yugi assumed to be a table). Yami and Yugi were offered some seats, where they sat near Miho. Yugi hadn't noticed until then where Miho had went (to be fair, he hadn't even known she was gone) She had a sketchbook on her lap and she was drawing Rebecca, who was sitting casually and drinking some liquid from a mug.

"Ah!" Rebecca jumped, putting her nmug down and walking towards Yugi. Miho let out a small whimper of disappointment - probably as her drawing subject moved from her pose.

"What's your name?" She looked directly into Yugi's eyes. They were the same height, making it difficult to avoid eye contact. Yugi mumbled,

"Yugi.."

"Thanks." She gleamed, "I'm Rebecca. I.."

She turned around and walked near what appeared to be an old fireplace that were behind the chair circle and pulled out a bucket from inside the gap. She returned to Yugi and handed him the bucket. Rusted in some areas, the bucket were made of a thin metal and had a small rope handle. Inside was a huge bunch of tiny flowers - obviously gathered from the outdoors. The flowers seemed bright and happy, the petals delicately overlapping with each other in a graceful fashion. Yugi didn't know what the flowers were called, but felt happy just seeing them.

"As a thanks for saving me.."

Rebecca looked away and placed the bucket in his lap. Yugi looked into the bucket happily and beamed,

"Thank you!!"

It seemed being 'Blighted' (as Atemu called it) had its good sides as well.

Yugi took one more glimpse of the girl. Her eyes were lit up, like they were a shining light bulb in the luminous darkness. After being told to leave, Yugi went outside and inspected the work that they had done. In what felt like mere minutes, the three had managed to perfectly fix up the hole in the roof, Yugi found that intriguing and strange as that would usually be humanly impossible.

He shrugged it off and started walking behind the 5 people all headed to the carriage. The eyes that had followed them as they walked disappeared, making the place feel like a ghost town with no occupants.

"Hey Mana."

The teen slipped out from his space in the carriage and took her hand, pulling Mana up carefully.

"It's finally begun." She grinned.

Atemu helped everyone onto the carriage and ordered her to begin riding; the horses raced down the crusted path and into the distance.

Anzu, after an excruciatingly long moment of social silence from everyone, inquired, "Atemu you.. You seem to warn Yugi of danger all the time.. Why? What can't you tell us?"

Eyes big and tired, Atemu looked up to the girl and sighed. He told everyone to get comfortable and said that this was highly confidential information. As instructed, the group found a comfortable space and listened. Yugi sat on his own, swinging his legs to occupy himself.

"Yugi has this thing called a Blight." Atemu started, "A big, purple mass behind his eye that slowly takes over."

The group looked intently at Yugi's eye, seeing nothing there and shrugging.

"It isn't a disease or a condition.. It's more of some unexplained phenomenon. The Blighted can predict certain things - fatal injuries, weather, conflict. No one knows why, but the predictions are always 100 percent correct."

"Like a psychic in those books?" Miho gleamed excitedly, a look of disappointment as Atemu shook his head.

"It's more analysis than magic. Each blighted tends to be linked to certain forces emitted by objects named 'Millennium items'. See that? Yami has one around his neck, for some reason. "

He pointed to the pyramid around his brother's neck - the one Yugi had given him.

"I was blighted too."

Atemu placed his fingers around his eye and slowly opened it up. Using his spare hand, he brushed his finger against his eye without flinching, the girls in the group winced at the sight.

"I had my eye taken out because of it. The person who did that wants to do the same to little ol' Yugi over there."

"I.. I'm sorry Ate'.." Yami mumbled, "I don't think I understand.."

"You don't have to." Atemu gently petted Yami and placed his arm around his shoulder supportively.

"I'd rather you guys didn't understand. All you need to know is, the woman who took my eye is the woman that this child wants to get rid of."

Atemu pointed to Mana, who complained jokingly about Atemu calling her a child. They both chuckled and continued as they were doing.

It seemed like the group was trying to process what was going on and what was being explained. Even Yugi wanted a moment to think - about the predictions, Blighting and that connection to the millennium pendant he had given to Yami.

Breaking the calm, Yami coughed loudly, covering his mouth and quietly gasping under his breath.

" Yami..! " Atemu jumped. He placed his hand against Yami's back and whimpered in worry.

"I.. I'm fi.." He caught his breath, "I.. It's normal.."

Atemu looked into his brother's cloudy eyes for a moment before tightly hugging him close to his chest. Once the coughing fit was over, Atemu called to Mana

"Oi! Quick! Get us to the closest decent town!!"

"Atemu.. It.."

Yami's mumbles of retaliation were interrupted by Mana who had read aloud the name of the place they would be headed next.

"Kin Ci'y. 5 miles away."

"Okay. Uh…" Atemu dug into his bag and took his notebook out, Yugi quietly asked in curiosity,

"Why're..you rushing so much?"

The teen flipped through the notebook, read something aloud in another language and dropped the book. He took the pendant away from Yami's neck, ordered Anzu to give it to Yugi and gently rested Yami's head against his bag.

"Is he alright?" Anzu dropped the pendant by Yugi's side, getting a small glimpse at the flower bucket while she was at it.

Atemu shook his head and showed Anzu Yami' s hand. Splatters of icky, thick, dark liquid staining his usually pale hand, carrying a strong coppery scent. The brother picked out a handkerchief of sorts and wiped it away (throwing it out the window quickly afterwards).

"He.."

"Probably too much exercise." Atemu lowered his voice and closed his eyes. Yami protested, trying his best to get up but something seemingly prevented him from actually doing so.

Yugi picked up the pendant and tied it around his neck - the buzzing feeling in his chest the second he put it on made him only the slightest bit worried. Yami gave a small, silent glance at Yugi, letting out a small sigh as his eyes slowly closed. Atemu gently stroked his hair in a similar fashion to what Mana was doing to him before. It was as if Yami were a small, timid kitten and Atemu the forgiving, caring owner.

Yami coughed once more, a small and raspy breath signalling the start of another fit of coughs.

"Is there anything we can do to help him.?" Miho asked quietly, concern draining her voice out. Atemu shook his head,

"There's nothing any of us can do.. We'll find some sorta Inn or Hotel as soon as possible. I'll treat him the best I can then.."

There seemed to be a hint of anger in Atemu's voice. It could've been frustration too, Yugi couldn't tell.

Yami's fit of coughs had stopped, silence in the carriage then ensued. It would've been completely quiet, if it wasn't for the loud noise of rickety wheels and horses racing (and for Mana's occasional yell to the horses, telling them to go).

Yugi felt his eyes close heavily. It felt like weights were shutting them closed with great force. He wanted to shake off the feeling, but soon gave into it and shut them with ease.

"Yugi?"

Someone said.

He didn't know who it was, and he wouldn't know.

For when he opened his eyes, he was floating in a pool of dingy grey water.