Disclaimer: Don't own anything
Chapter One – Let the Game Begin
Natsu woke up.
His head hurt – a lot – and he couldn't get into a comfortable position. He tried to move his arms but they seemed to be tied up and-
Wait a minute!
He opened his eyes and looked up.
Yes, his hands were trapped inside black metal balls, each of his fingers was surrounded by a metallic cylinder and he wasn't able to do the least movement. When he tried to squirm away he noticed that there was a metallic bar around his waist. What the hell was going on in here?
He looked around and saw that he was in a large room, probably underground as there were no windows. He seemed to be tied up to what looked like a huge rock, in front of him there was a half-circle of – was it coal? Whatever it was, it was hot, incandescent even. There was a small path with something shiny. Natsu wasn't able to see what it was.
The whole room was tinted by a red color that was provided by the large bonfires that heated the room, smoke raising to the high ceiling.
On the far wall from where he was standing, there was a large door and, near it, two long tables – one on each side.
As he was alone in the room, Natsu allowed himself to remember the events that had lead to his current situation. There had to be some logical explanation for his predicament.
It had started with a pretty regular thing, nothing extraordinary, a simple mission that paid well. They were to go to the village of Castor to the abandoned Ops manor and retrieve the Statue of Plenty, by the acclaimed sculptor, Abas. Nothing much, there was only a slight rumor that it might be haunted but they decided to go anyway.
The group had gotten to Castor easily as it wasn't all that far from Magnolia and they walked to the place. They had found the place pretty easily as it was in the outskirts of the village, surrounded by tall vegetation and somber trees.
The group started walking towards it, Erza was in the front discussing a way of approach with Gray while Lucy was some steps behind with Natsu and Happy, looking a bit worried.
"What? Don't you tell me you're scared…" Natsu couldn't help but tease her.
"N-no… what makes you say that?" she asked while looking suspiciously around. She had this strange feeling…
"Maybe Lucy thinks she's in one of those books she trades with Levy, aye!" Happy was flying backwards so he could look at them.
As they got to the shadowed alley they fell silent and could notice how run down and abandoned this whole place seemed to be. It wasn't surprising but…
They were able to walk to the front door without trouble, at least. The door creaked loudly when Erza pushed it carefully open.
"Everything looks calm but we better watch out." She muttered. The rest of the group nodded and, without further ado, they entered.
Inside the air was stale, cobwebs fell from the ceiling and the large chandeliers and the furniture was completely covered in dust.
"This seems quiet enough." Natsu said, standing in the middle of the huge hall, right at the bottom of the stairwell.
Gray was the last one to enter and the door closed with a loud slam, making some of the dust fall over their heads. They started. At that moment a flurry of activity surrounded them as windows were covered and shut and a strange white powder was blown into the room.
"What the hell is this?" someone screeched (probably Lucy). The powder surrounded them, spiraling all around them, clogging their airways. There was something that made their limbs feel heavy and it didn't take long until the group was on the ground, unconscious.
And then Natsu only remembered waking here, not knowing where his friends were and knowing that he couldn't do anything to help them.
It was unnerving and there was something that was pissing him off. He tried to squirm and pull at his restraints once again but it was all in vain.
He was helpless.
"You shouldn't move so much." The male voice startled him from his musings – he had been alone in the room on far… Now there was a man in a dark brown cloak, standing in the outer side of the circle, his face covered by a mask. Strange... He hadn't heard anything…
The man carried on, unfased by his confusion. "You're going to need your strength." Natsu was able to hear a satisfied tone in the man's voice. What was going on in here?
"What do you mean? Let me go!" Natsu pulled at his restraints once again.
"Let you go and let the fun end? I don't think so." The man got closer but stood outside still. "And we're not going to let all our enjoyment go to waste. One of you is already doing his part…"
"One of us? What do you mean? What fun?" Natsu's confusion just grew. "Who are you?" he added in a low voice.
"We? We're Emalfiro, of course, and this is our game…"
Gray had woken up lying on sand. Uncomfortably warm sand. It was burning him.
That was not a good feeling to wake up to.
Slowly rising to stand on his knees, Gray looked around.
This was not the same place he last remembered.
Looking around, it seemed that he was in what looked like a desert. No walls were seen so he could only suppose that he was somewhere outside. But what had just happened? One minute was in a dark, dusty room and the other he was in a sea of sand!
Letting out a loud exhale he looked down at his knees. That was odd… he was only wearing his undergarments. Since when?
That was why he was feeling his legs burning up. Slowly rising, Gray looked around. There was nothing he could see except this sandy sea. How was he supposed to get out?
There was a sudden crackle sound behind him and when he turned back two men were standing there – both were wearing hooded cloaks. One was dark brown and the other a pale yellow.
"So this is the first one?" came the voice from the yellow cloak.
"That's right. And you can start playing with him." The other man answered.
"Finally. You've snatched all the fun lately. That was not fair." A hand came up to push down the hood, revealing a young man (in his early twenties, probably), his black hair had been cut really short and he had an outstanding characteristic – he was wearing a silver chain that connected the earring from his left ear to the ring he had on his lower lip. That was unexpected besides, that couldn't possibly be comfortable with this heat.
So, both men were discussing something – that Gray wasn't about to comprehend – and ignoring him. Until-
"None of that matters, for the moment. We need to start this activity. And you're going to do it, right?" without expecting an answer the guy, that remained with his hood on, walked until he was in front of Gray.
"You think this is confusing, right?" his arrogant voice showed no compassion. "You have to go to the end of the room, over there-" he pointed, "-and overcome all the hurdles that appear in your way. When you get there you'll find new orders. This guy here is going to give you trouble so, good luck." He turned and walked briskly toward where the other was. "Have fun but you won't need to go full-on. He's already pretty bad as it is." He said in a lower voice before walking away and disappearing.
As the remaining man stalked towards him, Gray could only have an ominous feeling.
This was not going to go well.
A/N: A small story that has been bugging me really bad these last few days. Damn you plot bunnies!
This is unbeta-ed and will have three or four chapters.
Review?