Rated Mature for extremely graphic content including but not limited to:
-Gore
-Language
-Minor sexual content
-Violence
-Drugs
You have been warned
Games
Prologue
"Today, five people will become one, with the goal of surviving."
Nngh…
Thuh-thump.
Thuh-thump.
My… head…
Thuh-thump.
"He's waking up."
"You sure about that? He's been out for a while now…"
Thuh-thump.
"He's a heavy sleeper. But he's awake. I know it."
Thuh-thump.
"He's not much use with only one arm and leg."
Thuh-thump.
"Well, in our situation, it's better than nothing."
Thuh-thump.
A shrill ringing tore into Edward's head as his eyes fluttered open. He sucked in his breath in a painful gasp, gagging once as bile rose from his throat and spilled a little over his lips. He coughed several times, his face mere inches from the cement floor. He could practically feel the iciness from the stone rise in a cloud towards his face. If anything, this only made his horrible nausea worse.
"Ed?" A frightened female voice asked, "Are you alright?"
Ed slowly lifted his trembling head and squinted forward to see a familiar blond-haired teen, Winry, looking worriedly at him. She repeated her question, but her voice was warped and incoherent to Edward's ears. He looked over her shoulder, seeing a dark-haired man seemingly pouting in a corner. There were others, but he was far too out-of-mind to pay any more attention to them. Wait, was one of them calling his name? There was a bitter smell of smoke-
THUH-THUMP.
Ed curled forward and vomited a terrible mixture of blood and acid. This throat wailed in agony as it was shredded from the inside, and after his stomach was empty, he folded over and collapsed helplessly onto his side. His gaze dulled and he allowed it to remain on the far wall. It was covered in an off-white paint, which was noticeably peeling and smeared with a faint crimson.
"Ed!" Winry cried, hesitantly reaching out a hand. However, she remained in place. Ed squeezed his eyes shut, biting back the lingering sickness and forcing his mind to spin; forcing it to remember… where was he? And why the hell were they there with him?
He quickly pulled a blank. There was nothing. He could hardly remember anything he was doing for the past week, nonetheless that moment… something about… finishing a task in the desert? Al kept running off… Al…
Alphonse.
Ed forced his eyes open and pushed himself up, ignoring the sharp screams of pain that tore through his muscles. Once again, and with much more clarity than previously, he scanned the room.
His brother, a very obvious suit of armor, was no where to be found.
"Where is he?!" Ed demanded, and then froze up in shock at the pathetic, broken sound of his voice. It hardly fit him at all.
A distinct, hurt expression crossed Winry's face, and she looked down at the floor while her fingers wrapped around her arms, her fingernails digging hard into her flesh.
"I don't know. When I woke up he wasn't here," she said softly. From behind her, Mustang looked up, interest gleaming in his eyes for the briefest second before he lowered his head and closed his eyes once more. He wanted nothing to do with what was going on, and was primarily focused on ways he could somehow escape without alchemy…
A strangely intimidating silence swallowed the room, the single and only noise being Edward's agitated and sickening pants as he desperately tried to remain calm.
Something akin to a soft buzzing from a radio emanated from somewhere in the ceiling, then…
"Hello Edward, and everyone else" a gruff, male voice spoke in eerie politeness. Ed gasped and looked over his shoulder, and then at every corner to find the source of the voice. The other occupants of the room did as well. "Ah, Edward Elric. You don't know me, but I know everything about you. It must be nice being so powerful, isn't it? You're merely sixteen and already you've got so much experience and pain under your belt. So much pain… it still hurts, doesn't it?"
Ed gritted his teeth. "What the…" he mumbled in a low growl to himself, his eyes narrowing.
"You're famous and infamous. Loved by some, and hated by many. Everything you do is for selfish reasons and yet somehow it ends up in the favor of the people. You hardly care about others who need help. It's you, it's your precious military, and it's your lover."
Edward snarled at the last statement, but was cut off before he could speak by the man's voice.
"And it's about your brother. You and your brother. Side to side. Well, how will you cope without him, Edward? And how far are you willing to go to reach him?"
"Alphonse… what did you do to him? Where the fuck is he?!" Ed had finally snapped, and resorted to angry screaming towards the walls. He attempted to stand, but instantly fell back onto his side as he remembered the lack of his left leg. He groaned, and drug himself back up using the support of a wall.
"How much pain are you willing to cause for your own benefit?"
His left fist slammed against the wall, his pale fingers raking it like a claw.
"How much pain are you willing to inflict on others to reach your goal?"
"Who are you?! Where is he… what the hell do you want?!" Ed screamed, slumping tiredly against the floor, his shoulders trembling as he bit back a flare of panic boiling in his chest.
Silence.
"I want to play a game."