DD: Hey guys! This is not edited as a family member of my beta reader just died, but hopefully it's still got good quality and grammar. Also, thanks to the YGO-Magazine for putting a sneak peek of this in their Valentine's Issue! Hope you enjoy!

Yugi's eyes flashed open and he looked around. This wasn't right. Where am I?

Everything was glass but he couldn't see anything.

This wasn't making sense. Where am I? Where's Grandpa?

He was over-heating. He looked around, reaching blindly for water. It wasn't there.

Dammit, he needed water! He tried to kick off the heavy blanket covering him but only succeeded in getting more tangled in it.

He let out a loud yelp as he tumbled off the bed and crashed to the rug-covered tiles beneath him.

No, this wasn't right. His room had a wooden floor. He staggered to his feet.

He was wearing his starry, blue pyjamas. He could see his small, stuffed fox with wide purple eyes lying on the bed.

How were they there when he wasn't in his room?

He tried to remember where he was. There had to be an explanation. He was on holidays, or-or staying with his Grandma.

He closed his eyes. Deep breaths. Deep. Breaths. In, two three... Out, two, three. In, two, three... Out, two, three...

He needed some water. He tried to look around. The walls weren't made of glass. They couldn't be. Even stained glass wasn't black. He let out a breath of relief.

It was just a holiday. That's all. He was on holiday with his Grandpa, or maybe they were just staying overnight in a hotel on their way up to see his Grandma in the hospital.

It wouldn't have been the first time.

He stumbled away from the blanket, trying to avoid tripping over it. Kitchen. Tap. Glasses. He needed water. He turned around, trying to see something. But all he could see was his bed and his stuffed fox whenever he turned back to it.

Tears formed and began to fall in seconds. "Grandpa..." He whispered before letting out a wail. "Grandpa!" He fell and landed on the rug, the noise level of his sobs increasing. "Grandpa! Grandpa!" His calls grew to shrieks.

His throat felt constricted; like it was burning.

He still shrieked, but it wasn't as loud. It sounded more like he was talking at a normal level with a strained voice.

Finally, he stopped shrieking. Sobs wracked his small body. His tears began to form a wet patch on the knee of his pants as they fell from his cheeks.

He heard the click of a door opening and his head shot up. "G-Gr-Granpa?" He whimpered.

A light turned on. He blinked quickly, trying to stop his eyes from watering on top of his tears.

The brightness was too sudden for him after the darkness.

He looked around the room again. All he knew was that he had been right the first time.

It was glass.

A girl with long, dirty blonde hair, brown eyes and pale skin stood in the door. "Is everything okay?" She asked. Her smile was soft but her voice was cold.

"W-who are you?" Yugi sniffed.

"My name's Alexis." She made her way over to him and crouched down next to him. He whimpered and tried to edge away. "What about you?"

"I'm... I'm Yugi..." He whispered. "Where-where's my Grandpa?"

For a moment, Alexis frowned, confused. Then the frown cleared. "What age are you Yugi?"

"Eight." Yugi swallowed. "Where's-?"

"Would you like anything?"

"Maybe some water," Yugi admitted after a slight hesitance. "But-"

"I'll get you some then." She stood up and made her way into what seemed to be the kitchen area.

Yugi followed her. "Wait!" She turned to face him. "W-where am I?" He choked out.

She smiled. "Don't worry. You're at ICU."

Yugi tilted his head. "Ice?"

"No, ICU," Alexis corrected. "Isolation Containment Unit." She crouched down next to him. "Have you heard about Global Warming, Yugi?"

Yugi hesitantly nodded. "A bit..."

"What do you know?"

"That... That the world's getting hotter and hotter 'cause we're using fo- foc- fos-"

"Fossil fuels?" Alexis suggested. Yugi nodded. "Very good. How old are you again, Yugi?"

"Eight," he repeated.

"You're very smart for an eight year old." Yugi sniffed and a ghost of a smile crept onto his face. "The ICU is taking people in to protect them from Global Warming, which is devastating-"

"Devastating?"

"-Destroying the world," Alexis explained. "It's an experiment. We take in children from four to twelve and keep them here."

Yugi swallowed. His throat was dry. He needed water, but he needed his Grandpa first. "I... I don't wanna stay..."

Alexis put a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, kid. But you don't get much of a choice."

Fresh tears streamed down Yugi's face and his voice miraculously returned. "I want to see my Grandpa!" He shrieked.

"Yugi-"

"Where is he?"

"I need anaesthesia in here," Alexis muttered into a watch on her wrist.

"I don't want to see Anathesa; I want to see my Grandpa!" Yugi screamed. He ran at her, hitting her legs.

She grabbed his wrists. Her grip was too tight. "Yugi, stop that this instant." The door burst open and a man in a white coat ran in.

Yugi screamed when he saw the needle in his hand and tried to hide behind Alexis but she held him firmly. "Let me go!"

"Sorry, A01," the man said, grabbing Yugi's arm. Yugi wailed as the needle plunged into his skin. "It's for your own good."

When Yugi woke up, it was bright out. He wasn't sure how, but someone had managed to make the glass seem like windows.

Fake sunshine poured in and the room temperature was warm.

He looked around for water and found a glass on his bedside table, along with a piece of paper.

He drained half the glass before reading the note.

Once you're awake, turn on your TV, go to channel one and watch the whole of the introductory video.

Yugi frowned but stood up and made his way to the couch. The television wasn't big, but it certainly was bigger than the one he and Grandpa had in the game shop.

Grandpa...He swallowed. He was a big boy.

He could last until his Grandpa found a way to get him out. He picked up the remote control from the coffee table and turned on the television.

Something to do with golf came up, so he had no problems switching to channel one.

The screen changed to show a man in what looked like a red velvet suit with... silver hair? Lilac? Yugi couldn't tell. It was weird.

"Good morning, Yugi," the man said with a smile. "I trust you slept well."

Yugi's eyes widened. "How do you-?"

"I'm sure you're rather confused," the man continued. Yugi's shoulders slumped. Of course it was pre-recorded. "My name is Pegasus J. Crawford; head of ICU. ICU was set up because of the damage being done to the earth. By the time we tried to stop it, we were far too late. The aim of ICU is to take in as many children such as yourself as possible so as to secure the future of humanity by keeping you separated from the rest of the world; this way, you won't be affected by Global Warming."

Yugi frowned and downed the end of his water. This didn't make sense. If the earth died, then they would die as well. It didn't matter where they were.

"We are aware that the earth may grow uninhabitable," Pegasus continued, "which is why we're building an oxygen, gravity-lightening sphere on Mars."

Yugi's eyes widened. "What?" He breathed.

"You heard right." Pegasus smiled, looking right through him. "Mars. You'll be one of the first to reach it. If the experiment is a success of course."

Yugi shook his head. "No..."

"In five days, you will be introduced to the group of children your age that you will be staying with while you are in ICU."

"No..."

"You will then be transferred to your permanent compound and be given your new name."

"No!" Yugi ran up to the television and began shaking it. "No; I don't want to stay! I want to go home! I want my Grandpa!"

The television didn't flicker. Pegasus continued to smile through Yugi. "Have a fabulous day," he said before the introductory video ended and the screen went black.

Yugi's eyes flashed open and he looked around. This wasn't right. Where am I?

Everything was glass but he couldn't see anything.

This wasn't making sense. Where am I? Where's grandpa?

He was over-heating. He looked around, reaching blindly for water. It wasn't there.

He froze for a moment. This seemed familiar. He sighed and flopped back into his bed when he remembered.

Alexis. Pegasus. ICU.

He swallowed, despite his dry throat. He still needed water.

He stood up, careful not to get tangled in the blanket again. He had a bruise forming on his hip because of the previous night.

He stayed close to the wall, running his hand along it until he found a bump.

He grinned. The switch. He flicked it and light flooded the room. He looked around.

He still wasn't used to everything in his room.

There was the television area with the television, a beanbag, a couch and a coffee table near the door.

Then his bed was against the far wall with a bedside table next to it.

The bathroom was just behind his bed; leaving the kitchen between the left and back walls of the room.

He padded across the cold tile to the presses attached to the glass. He wasn't sure how they did it.

He wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

He reached up, succeeding in grabbing a glass from the lowest shelf. He could barely reach the sink to fill it with water, but he managed.

He turned towards the glass wall to look out. Night seemed to be the only time that they turned the holograms off.

His eyes widened when his gaze met that of another. He squinted, trying to see properly.

It was a... boy in another glass cube. Just like him. He was taller, and his hair had more blonde bits to it. He couldn't really tell if there were any more differences due to the distance and the dark, but he couldn't see any notable ones.

Yugi hesitated before raising a hand in a wave. The boy mimicked his actions.

Yugi smiled at him. Again, the boy mimicked him. Yugi moved closer to the glass and blew out some air close to it so that fog covered it. 'I'm Yugi,' he managed to write.

He saw the boy move closer to read it. Then he mimicked Yugi's actions again. 'I'm Yami.'

"Yugi?"

Yugi looked up from the picture he was colouring as Alexis walked into his room. He had wanted to get it done to show Yami that night.

It had been about a week since he had arrived. It was the same for Yami. They tried to stay up every night to talk, but it was only ever a couple of sentences.

It was hard to write on the glass and read it in the dark.

"Are you ready to go?" Alexis asked.

Yugi hesitated, setting down his crayon. "Go where?"

Alexis sighed. "Did you watch the introductory video?"

Yugi nodded. Alexis had to know he had; she had asked him questions about it the day after he watched it.

"Then you should know that today's the day of the Meet and Greet," she said.

Yugi tilted his head. "Meet and Greet?"

Alexis nodded. "It's your chance to meet the other people from this section of the ICU and a few others. We will be placing you in a specific sector with twenty five people that we believe you will get along with based on how you interact with people."

Yugi hesitated. "But what if we don't get to talk to everyone?"

"You won't," Alexis said. "But we'll be able to base it off how you and someone you haven't talked to react to the same person or situation."

Yugi slowly nodded. This Meet and Greet sounded far too confusing. He just wanted to talk to Yami.

Properly. Wait... did writing on foggy glass with his finger count as talking?

Yes? No? He decided to count it.

"Um... Miss Alexis?" He shuffled his feet. "Can I change first?"

He had only been given two pairs of clothes and they, along with the pair he had been wearing when he arrived, were filthy.

"Just call me Alexis," she said. "And of course." She picked up a bag that Yugi hadn't noticed her carry in and handed it to him. "Go into the bathroom and change into that. I'll wait out here for you."

Yugi slowly nodded. "O-okay..." He scurried into the bathroom and took the clothes out of the bag.

Leather pants, a black tank top, black shoes, a blue jacket. It was... different.

He had been expecting oversized jeans and a tie dyed t-shirt like the outfits he had been given. Not that he was complaining.

He quickly changed, succeeding in not falling into the shower for his first time in the week he had been in the room.

He glanced in the mirror as he closed the jacket. Then he decided it looked better open. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to make it look neater before making his way out to Alexis again.

Alexis grinned at him. "Ready to go?"

Yugi took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. I think so."

The Meet and Greet room was large and cold. That was the first impression that hit Yugi as Alexis led him inside.

It reminded him of the gym in his school. A bit anyway.

The gym in his school had yellow walls and basketball hoops. The floors were wooden with marks from trainers that turned to sharply, and markings for basketball games. Wooden benches lined the walls and there were four glass-door emergency exits that allowed sunshine in, along with windows on the ceiling.

The Meet and Greet room had icy blue walls with a stone, grey floor. There were two emergency exits, and both were firm wooden doors – one of which was the one Alexis led him through. It was filled with lines upon lines of tables and chairs; exactly ten desks and twenty chairs in every one of the twenty lines. The only similarity was the sheer size of it and the echo in the room.

Yugi looked up at Alexis. "How come there are so many chairs?" He whispered loudly. His whisper echoed off the walls.

Alexis smiled at him. "Because there are a lot of people."

Yugi looked behind him. Children his age, above, and below were being led in by people like Alexis.

Well... they might have been like Alexis. They were wearing the same style of uniform as she was, although the colours differed at times.

Yugi gulped and looked at the second exit. Even more people were streaming in.

He latched onto Alexis' hand. "I don't want to do this," he whimpered. "I wanna go home..."

Alexis sighed. "You have to do this Yugi. There's no home for you back in Domino." Yugi's eyes widened and he began tearing up. "Oh, don't cry. You'll make lots of friends here," Alexis said.

Yugi swallowed and looked down, trying to stop his tears. Stop. Stop. Be a big boy, Yugi. Be a big boy.

"Be a big boy, Yugi."

His eyes widened and the tears began to fall. No. No, that didn't happen. It was just a dream.

Grandpa had told him so. Just a bad dream. Just a horrible, traumatic dream that put him in the hospital and made him sick.

That was all.

Just a dream.

Alexis stopped when they reached a chair. Yugi saw the number two hundred and seventy two on it through blurred vision. "Here's your seat. You won't need to move; others will come to you." Yugi sniffed. Alexis frowned. "You're not crying again, are you?" Yugi shook his head. "Good. I'll come and collect you when it ends."

She walked away. Yugi slowly sat down. He kept his head down and his hands in his lap. His shoulders shook but he bit his lip, trying not to sob. Tears dripped from his cheeks onto his hands.

He heard a voice that sounded like Pegasus J. Crawford announcing something. Something to do with people with odd numbers moving every time a bell rang and people with even numbers staying where they were.

And something else.

He didn't really listen.

"Hi."

Yugi peeked up through his bangs. His vision was still blurry but he could make out a girl with brown hair. "H-hi," he whispered.

"Are you crying?" The girl asked, looking concerned.

Yugi shook his head, hurrying to wipe his tears on his sleeve. "N-no..."

She reached across the table and put a hand on his arm. He looked up at her. Tears still stained his cheeks. She smiled at him. "It's okay. I don't mind. I've been crying too."

"Y-you h-ha-have?"

She nodded. "Yeah... I want to go home. My dancing clothes aren't here and neither is the ballerina bear my dad got me for my birthday and I miss my mom," she mumbled.

Yugi swallowed. "I miss my Grandpa," he whimpered. "I don't like it here..."

"Me neither." The girl smiled softly. "I'm Anzu."

Yugi hesitated before tentatively holding out a hand. "I-I'm Yugi..."

Anzu took his hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you." A bell rang in the background and Anzu stood up.

Yugi's eyes widened. "Where are you going? I thought..." He trailed off.

Anzu smiled at him. "Don't worry; we just need to move whenever the bell rings." Yugi hesitated before standing up. "No, your row doesn't. Just ours. I'll try and talk to you again, okay?"

Yugi slowly nodded, watching as Anzu moved on to the next table.

"Hey."

He looked at the seat she had been sitting in to find a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes. "Um... Hi..." He sat down again. "I'm Yugi..." He got a grunt in response. "What... What's your name?"

"Katsuya," the boy replied. "You can call me Jounouchi though. Everyone does."

"C-Can I call you Jou?"

Jounouchi shrugged. "I don't really care."

Yugi smiled slightly. "Jou. It suits you."

He shrugged again. "So where're you from?"

"Domino," Yugi mumbled. "What about you?"

"Same. Well, I came from Brooklyn but I moved here three or four years ago."

"Oh..." Yugi dug the toe of his shoe into the ground. It squeaked. "Um... You don't seem upset to be here..."

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realise that I should be."

"I just..." Yugi swallowed. "Don't you miss your family?"

"My family? Sure." Jounouchi shrugged. "But my sister's my family. My dad's a dick." Yugi flinched at the swear. "My ma's a bitch." He flinched again. "So I don't count them. And I don't miss 'em."

"B-but... what about your sister?"

Jounouchi's eyes softened. "She's here," he mumbled. "I don't know how. But she is."

Yugi tilted his head. "Didn't she live with you?"

Jounouchi snorted. "Hell no. She lived in Brooklyn with my ma. They must have somehow linked us together. Either that or it was sheer luck."

Yugi smiled. "Maybe it was magic."

"I don't believe in magic, kid."

Yugi's face dropped. "Santa?"

"No."

"Tooth fairy?"

"Nope."

"Easter bunny?"

"Nada."

"Sandman?"

"Not a chance."

"Jack Frost?"

"Are you getting the message or not?" Jounouchi frowned.

Yugi flinched and looked down. "Sorry..."

Jounouchi sighed. "I'm not mad at you. I'm just... tired." Yugi nodded but he didn't look up again. The bell rang and Jounouchi stood up, hands in his pockets. "See ya," he called over his shoulder, raising two fingers in a lazy wave.

"Bye..." Yugi didn't look up. No one seemed to be sitting across from him again anyway. After a minute, he looked up. Someone should have arrived by now. Maybe there was one less person than Alexis had thought?

He yelped slightly when he saw a boy with pale skin and pure white hair sitting across from him. The boy's green-flecked hazel eyes widened.

"Sorry," Yugi said, putting a hand over his heart like he saw his Granpa do when he dressed up as the Grim Reaper on Halloween. "You... scared me..."

The boy smiled. He began writing something in a notepad Yugi noticed him carrying. When he was finished, he showed it to Yugi. It's okay, it read. I should have done something to show you I was here. I'm Ryou.

Yugi blinked and looked up at him. "You write things down?" Ryou nodded. "Why don't you talk instead?"

He noticed Ryou's shoulders hunch. The boy's gaze trailed down to his hands cupped in his lap.

"Sorry; I don't mind," Yugi quickly said. "I'm Yugi."

Ryou smiled softly and took the notepad back again. He wrote something and passed it back to Yugi. Under the first note read, Are you from Japan or somewhere else? I'm from England.

It took Yugi a little longer than usual to read it. Ryou wrote in English - which wasn't a problem. Yugi grew up with his Granpa switching between Japanese, Arabic, English, Spannish and French, so he was able to understand all five. But Ryou also wrote in joint handwriting which was hard to read.

When he managed it, he passed the notebook back. "I'm from here. How did you get here?"

Ryou looked down and shrugged. He wrote something again. His writing was smaller; feebler this time. I don't know. They grabbed me after school. I was on a boat for a few days with some others but not long enough to get here. We all went to sleep one night and then I woke up in the glass cube thing.

Yugi reached across and slowly took Ryou's hand when he finished reading. Ryou's head shot up. Yugi smiled and squeezed his hand. "It's okay. I'm sure we'll get out of here soon."

Ryou didn't look as though he believed him, but he nodded anyway. He took the notebook back and seemed like he was about to write something else but the bell rang.

An exasperated look crossed his face, causing Yugi to giggle. "It's okay. We can talk again sometime."

Ryou nodded and stood up. He bowed and waved goodbye with a soft smile before walking away.

Yugi turned back to the chair, expecting to already see someone there. The chair was empty.

"No, let me go!" His head whipped around to see a tanned blonde squirming to get away from Alexis and two boys.

"Marik, behave!" One of the boys snapped as they dragged him over to Yugi's table.

"No! Fuck off! I want to go home!"

Yugi flinched. What was with the older kids and swearing? He didn't understand it.

"There is no home for you to return to!" The boy hissed.

Marik's eyes widened and he went limp for a moment. Alexis took the chance to drop him in the seat while the second one attached the handcuff around Marik's left hand to the arm of the chair.

Marik snarled, trying to pull his arm free but the metal held. Alexis smiled at Yugi. "If he gives you any trouble, just let us know," she said.

Yugi hesitated before nodding. He looked back at Marik as the three left. Marik glared at him. "What're you looking at?" He growled in Arabic.

Yugi hesitated. "Um... nothing," he replied in the same language. "I just... I'm Yugi..."

Marik frowned. "Heba?"

"No; Yugi," Yugi repeated. "They mean the same thing."

"Oh." Marik slowly nodded. "You remind me of someone I knew. And you... speak Arabic. Are you from Egypt?" Yugi shook his head. "Japan?" Yugi nodded. "How did you learn it?"

"My Grandpa goes to Egypt a lot," Yugi mumbled, looking down. Every time he mentioned his Grandpa, it just seemed to make him more and more upset.

Marik scoffed. "Quit moping," he said. "It's not going to do you any good."

"I know..." Yugi looked up again, swinging his legs back and forth. "Um... Do you have family?"

"Yeah," Marik muttered. "A sister and step brother. Neither are here; they're over eighteen so they're too old."

"How old are you?" Yugi asked.

"Nine."

Yugi smiled. "I'm eight."

Marik's scowl returned. "Well whoopee for you," he said, clapping.

Yugi flinched. "I just-"

"I don't care." Marik tried to cross his arms. And failed. The bell rang. Yugi saw Alexis and the two boys approach out of the corner of his eye. "You might want to block your ears."

"Wh-?" Yugi didn't even get to finish the word before Marik began screaming and struggling again. Alexis and one boy grabbed him while the second unlocked his handcuff. He struggled, trying to get away as they pulled him to the next table. Once he was handcuffed to the chair, he grew calmer and mopey again.

Yugi shook his head and turned to the next person. And the next. And the next. He saw Yami at one end of the line. Not too far from him.

He grew steadily closer with each bell that rang. Yugi's heart sped up. Please get here, please get here, please please please get here!

He was five tables away. Then four. A boy threatened Yugi, grabbing him by the hem of his shirt. The boy was taken away. Then three tables. Then two.

One. One more table. One more ring and-

"Unfortunately, this concludes the Meet and Greet."

Yugi looked up. As he had thought, the announcer was indeed Pegasus J. Crawford. He looked just as odd then as he had on the introductory video. And Yugi didn't like him any better in person.

Pegasus smiled at the group. "I hope you all enjoyed meeting people today. I know you all only met half of the people here, if not less. But you can meet some of the ones you haven't met before later in your sector. Failing that, there will be mixed-sector group outings."

Yugi's eyes lit up. Yami left his mind. Maybe he could sneak away on an outing. Maybe he could find his Grandpa again. Or even his Grandma.

"For now, you will have to return to your cubes," Pegasus continued. "There will be a group assembly here in the morning and sector lists will be posted. There is no changing sectors once you are put in one unless the circumstances are extremely dire." He clapped his hands. "Off you go. Goodnight."

Yugi frowned. It's still afternoon. He looked up as Alexis neared him. "Is he a bit mad?"

Alexis hid a smirk. "A bit, yes. Now come on." Yugi stood up. He took her hand as she led him through the hoard of people. "Did you enjoy the Meet and Greet despite Ushio?"

"Ushio?" Yugi blinked.

"The boy that threatened you."

Yugi nodded. "Yeah. I met some nice people."

Alexis smiled. "It's not so bad here, is it?"

Yugi hesitated before shrugging. "I guess not..." But that doesn't mean I want to stay here...

The Meet and Greet room looked pretty similar when Yugi walked in behind Alexis the next day. It was still big, and cold, and grey, but the tables and chairs were gone.

Now he could see white lines on the floor leading from one end of the room to the other. At the end of each white line stood someone in a uniform similar to Alexis.

"Who are they?" Yugi whispered, pointing at them. His voice echoed even more today without the tables.

Alexis followed his finger. "They're the sector leaders," she explained. "When everyone is sorted, they'll be the ones leading you to your sector and showing you how everything works." She looked around. "Yugi, can I leave you here? I'm a leader myself and need to get to my point. You just need to go over to that corner." She pointed to where everyone seemed to be gathering.

Yugi hesitated before nodding. "Okay," he mumbled.

Alexis was gone before he even finished the word. Yugi turned and stared at the group for a moment before slowly making his way to the outskirts of it.

He could see Marik, but the blonde was handcuffed to the radiator. He could also see Joey, but he was talking to Ushio. Yugi didn't particularly want to approach either of them.

He couldn't see Anzu but a familiar shock of white hair appeared at the edge of his vision. He turned and smiled when he saw Ryou. "Hi."

Ryou returned the smile and gave him a small wave.

Yugi tilted his head. "You look nervous."

Ryou brought up a hand and tilted it from side to side. So-so.

"How come?"

He turned to a new page in his notebook and wrote his answer before showing it to Yugi. Some of the people here used to bully me at school. I don't want to be put in the same sector as them.

Yugi smiled. "I'm sure you won't," he assured him. "And if you are, you can talk to the man in the red suit."

Ryou shrugged, looking down. Yugi opened his mouth to reassure him some more but Pegasus J. Crawford's voice boomed over the speakers set up. "Welcome to your new sectors everyone! The way that this is going to work is this; the leaders are all going to call out names in alphabetical order. If your name is called, join them in the line. There are fifty sectors. We will start with Aknamkanon; the leader of sector one." A man with grey hair and a warm smile raised a hand. Yugi wasn't sure if it was a wave or to show that he was Aknamkanon.

Aknamkanon read through his list. Only first names were called out. In the case of someone having the same first name as someone else, the first letter of their second name was called. There were only twelve in sector one. Seth. Kisara. Mana. Karim. Ennos. Bakari. Amasis. Tsekani. Dakarai. Shada. Hasan. Mahad.

The twelve called lined up in front of Aknamkanon. One or two looked rather happy to be there.

The second sector was called out. Most people in it seemed to be from England. Ryou seemed tense but he relaxed when he wasn't one of the eighteen called.

Neither was Yugi.

The third passed without incident. And fourth. And fifth. And sixth through sixteenth.

"The seventeenth sector leader will now read out the people in his sector," Pegasus called. "Zorc, would you mind?"

Yugi's eyes flashed over to the man. No. It couldn't be.

Dark purple hair. Red eyes. Pale skin. Sharp teeth. Long nails.

Yugi squeezed his eyes shut. Just a dream. Just a coincidence.

"Marik."

Just a dream.

"Katsuya."

Just a coincidence.

"Hiroto."

It didn't happen.

"Atem."

It wasn't real.

"Akefia."

Grandpa said so.

"Shizuka."

He wouldn't lie.

"Heru."

He wouldn't lie.

"Heba."

He wouldn't lie!

"Malik."

I just fell downstairs.

"Bakura."

I had a fever and I fell.

"Mai."

Grandpa took me to hospital.

"Ryou."

That's all.

"Yugi."

It's just a coincidence.

"Yugi?"

It wasn't real.

"Yugi!"

Yugi jolted and looked up. His face flushed when he saw people trying to look around for him. He squeezed out of the group and darted up to the line of people.

Zorc glared at him but continued. Ryou gave him a reassuring smile.

"Seto. Bonz. Sid. Keith. Zygor. Mokuba. Otogi." He paused.

Yugi closed his eyes. Please...

"And Yami. That's all."

"Welcome to sector seventeen." Zorc turned to face the group of twenty one. Yugi looked around.

Sector seventeen looked similar to what he imagined a cave in the midst of sewers would look like, but clean and hygienic. The walls were white, and there was a pool of clear water. Twenty one glass cubes sat alongside the pool.

There were wooden doors that faced away from it and sliding doors with small fenced gardens of fake grass with small patios facing it.

"As you can see, it's not as bad as most of you were thinking," Zorc said, folding his arms. "The cubes can be opened by key cards only. Each door only gives access to two key cards. Yours, and mine. Mine is a master key card. That way, if there's an emergency, I can get inside to help you. The glass is bulletproof. It can be programmed to show any setting you want. The remote to do so is right next to your television remote with instructions. Your bathroom walls are the only part that isn't glass." Someone raised a hand. Zorc raised an eyebrow. "Yes Shizuka?"

"Why do the walls have to be made of glass?"

Yugi twisted his head to try and see the girl. He caught a glimpse of red hair and pale skin before he turned back to Zorc.

"It's so we can observe you and see how the experiment is going," Zorc replied. "Don't worry; you will be given a total of two hours where you can completely dim the glass. In these cases, we can't see in and you can't see out. You can use these times to change and sleep if you're uncomfortable falling asleep when people can see you. The two hours can be used at any time and instructions on how to do it are also in the instruction manual with the two remotes. Anything else?" No one said anything. "Alright, I'm handing out key cards." He passed an envelope to Marik. "Take one and pass it on."

Marik did so and passed it to Yugi. Yugi took a card and passed it to Ryou. It came in a small paper pouch. He opened it.

On one side, his card was sitting snugly in a pocket. On the other, there were three pieces of text.

Cube number: 1. Emergency Access Code: 1868. Residential Name: Calico.

"Um..." He hesitantly raised his hand.

Zorc glanced at him. A ghost of a smirk appeared before fading. "Yes?"

"What does it mean by Residential Name: Calico?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah; I got Giraffe," Marik agreed. "What's up with that?"

Zorc raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious? They're your new names?"

Yugi swallowed. "New names?" He whispered.

Zorc looked at him again. "Yugi, right?" Yugi nodded. "How old are you?"

"Eight," Yugi mumbled.

"You know what death is right?" Zorc asked. Yugi nodded. Of course he did. "Good. And you know the ICU brought you here to save you, right?" Yugi hesitated, but nodded again. "Excellent." A sneer appeared on Zorc's face. "Because you're now dead. Mutou Yugi no longer exists. All that's left is Calico. And the ICU? The ICU owns you now. And that goes for every single one of you.""

DD: Hope you guys enjoyed. This is the only chapter that Yugi will be eight in. In the next one, he'll be sixteen. Please vote and review! See you next time, Killer Queens!