Title: The Game
Author: Mat (matkashi)
Chapter(s): 1/??
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I make no cash.
Rating: R
Genre: Dark/Suspense/Action/Romance/AU
Warnings: Excessive violence and gore, disturbing images, character death
Bands: the gazette, Alice Nine, Miyavi, Hyde
Pairings: Aoi/Ruki

Summary: You are here to play a game. In this game you will experience fear, panic, and the sheer horror felt only by a man facing death in the eye. And, to top it all off in a beautiful bow:

You will die.

-

Prologue

The room was dark, cold, and dank with mold and cement. Flickering florescent lights buzzed on the ceiling and eyes fluttered as the occupants stirred. The lights of the room shuddered and suddenly a television on the floor clicked to life.

"Time to wake up, boys." A voice filtered into the room, colder than the cement walls themselves.

Eyes shot open and people looked around groggily.

"What the fuck?" one muttered, smacking his lips as though his mouth had a foul taste. "Someone chloroformed me! Shit!" He glanced down at his wrist to see a red metal band clasped around it. One search around the room showed the others wearing identical bands.

The five looked around the room silently before resting their eyes on the television. The man on the screen smiled.

"Now that I have your attention," he said. "My name is Kai. I will be the one who keeps tabs on you over the next few hours."

"Where the fuck are we?" one of the men growled, standing and looking over at the closed door on the opposite side of the room.

"You are in a high tech underground facility created for scum just like you," Kai replied calmly. "Now, if you'd like, I'll explain why you're here."

Another man shifted and frowned. "We're listening."

Kai smiled. "You are deep below the ground in a specialized facility along with one other group of five, who are also watched me right this moment. I figured it would be easier to talk to both groups at once, so please hold your questions until I am done with my explanation."

Kai adjusted his tie and smiled again. "You are all various criminals from around the country, all sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty. You will notice that you have bands on your wrists. These bands are the color of your team, the red team and the blue team. Now, please listen very carefully."

Another tie adjustment. "Your wristbands contain enough poison to kill an elephant. If you try to take the band off, it will inject the poison into your blood stream and you will die in under a minute."

There were shouts of fury and indignation, but Kai merely chuckled. "I think you might want to hear the rest of what I have to say, so sit down and shut up."

Kai waited for silence and finally continued. "Now, let me introduce the teams, shall I? I've given you all nicknames so that it's easier to keep track of one another. I'll begin with the red team. First on our fantastic little group of cons is Yuu Shiroyama. Murderer. We will call you Aoi."

Aoi scowled.

"Next on the red team is Takashi Sakamoto. This lovely little devil is our very own rapist. We will call him Saga." Kai giggled and Saga crossed his arms over his chest. "Then we have Hiroto Ogata, an agreeably skilled arsonist. I think we'll simply call you Hiro."

Hiroto looked around the room and paled when he saw everyone staring at him.

"Next on the red team is Takanori Matsumoto, a thief. We will call him Ruki."

Ruki leaned back against the wall and glared at the television.

"Lastly for our red is Takamasa Ishihara, yet another thief. This one I've decided to name Miyavi."

Miyavi shrugged.

Not far away in another room, five sets of eyes watched a similar television screen.

Kai grinned on the screen. "Then we have our blue team. First off is Kazamasa Kohara. This fantastic specimen is a serial killer, so be nice to him, boys." There was a chuckle. "We will call him Shou."

Shou smirked.

"Then comes Kouyou Takashima, yet another murderer to our group. His name is now Uruha."

Uruha rolled his eyes and looked away from the TV.

Kai sniffed. "Next on the blue is Akira Suzuki, the gangster of this episode. He is now Reita."

Reita pulled a strap of cloth off his face and shoved it into his pocket. "This is stupid," he grunted. The others nodded.

"Shinji Amano is after that. Grand theft auto on his bill. He will from here on be called Tora."

Tora sighed and remained silent.

"Lastly on the blue team is Naoyuki Murai. Kidnapper. This fellow shall simply be known as Nao." Kai smiled for an irritating millionth time. "Now that you all know each other, why don't I tell you why you're here?"

"Yeah that might be fucking good!" Reita shouted at the screen.

Kai simply chuckled. "You are here to take part in a game that I have devised just for the lowly kind of people you are. Your prisons supplied you to me and now we get to play. The goal of the game is to get to the surface and into the house above the facility. If you make it to the house, you win and I let you live." Kai's eyes suddenly narrowed. "But believe me, it will not be easy to make it to the surface. Both of your rooms are linked to a series of rooms that are made of various traps designed to kill you."

Eyes widened.

"These rooms should be easy enough to get through if you keep level heads and are precise in your movements, but one wrong step and you'll find yourself dead faster than you can blink."

"You can do this!" Aoi yelled, standing up.

"I most certainly can do this," Kai replied with a smirk. "But here's the catch. Your wristbands have a time limit set on them. If you don't make it through the facility by twelve o'clock tomorrow, the wristbands will automatically set off and poison you regardless of your location in the complex, so I suggest you hurry once your doors open."

"This can't be legal," Nao snapped.

Kai ignored him entirely. "In some rooms you will find a note explaining the mechanics or rules of the room. I suggest you read those notes before proceeding further, unless you wish to meet your untimely end. Also, there are cameras in all rooms. I'll be watching your every move." Kai adjusted his collar and then looked back up into the camera. "When someone dies, and trust me, you will die, I will announce the death over the intercom so that both teams can know each other's progress. Isn't that sweet of me?"

"You're a fuckin' nut!" Ruki screamed, throwing his hands into the air.

Kai laughed. "There are clocks on your wristbands that will let you know the time. You have twenty four hours to make it to the surface of the facility. Starting now."

The doors to the rooms swung open.

Saga shoved through the door. "This is fucking bullshit. I don't believe a word of it. Let's get out of this shithole."

Hiro looked out the door nervously. "I don't know. Maybe we should be more careful…"

Saga turned around and pointed behind him. "Look at the room, fucktard. There's nothing in it. It's just another empty room like the one we were just in."

The other four walked just into the room and looked around cautiously. Aoi glanced towards the floor next to the door and saw a piece of paper there. "Hold on," he said, holding his hand out to Saga. "There's a note here."

"Fuck the fucking note!" Saga shouted. "I'm done with this shit." Without another word, he swung around and started running to the other side of the room towards the door.

The was a sound of scraping metal and a small flash of light and suddenly Saga came to a stop, standing stock still as the others watched him in confusion.

And then there was a thump as a head fell to the floor.

Saga's body followed soon after.

"Holy fuck! Holy fuck!" Hiro chanted, holding his stomach as he stared at Saga's decapitated body. "Holy fuck!"

Aoi picked up the paper next to the door and stared at the writing. With a glance at Saga's body, he read the words aloud. "I suggest you crawl here, boys, unless you'd like to meet my newest stock of razor wire."

"That's what it says?" Ruki asked.

"Yep. That's it."

They all looked at Saga's body and Miyavi sighed. "Idiot."

"Hey, it means one less asshole we have to deal with to get out of here," Ruki said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"So this is real," Hiro muttered. "I was hoping Saga was right and this was all fake."

"Apparently it is real, so we need to keep our shit together," Aoi said, tossing the paper to the floor. "Anyone else planning on playing the cocky rebel?"

They all shook their heads and Aoi nodded. "Good. Let's go, then. The sooner we get through this, the sooner I can get something to eat. I'm hungry."