Nightmare
Chapter 1
He was being ripped apart from the inside. The quick, pistoning movements of his captor's hips causing only pain as he was taken once again, violated one more time. He knew not to scream or cry, because making any sound that showed his pain would only earn more pain for it. Even when his jailer and tormenter was in a good mood, the sounds wouldn't go unnoticed, unremarked, or unpunished. Those whimpers and shouts would be means by which he could taunt the prisoner, and then justification for why he continued to hurt him.
When the man finally came, not inside, but withdrawing in order to cover and further degrade his victim, he chuckled as he put himself back in his pants.
"Well, Pet," the voice that could be so deceptively kind in the prisoner's previous live, said, "it seems a rat has entered Central and I have need to remove it. Don't worry, though. As soon as I dispatch with him," A hand roughly grabbed matted hair and jerked the younger man's head upward. "you and I can celebrate. Doesn't that make you happy?"
He didn't answer. Either answer meant pain. At least silence felt closer to the truth.
The hand pulled harder on the matted hair. "I said 'Doesn't that make you happy?'"
"Y-yes."
"What was that?"
"Yes, Fuhrer, Sir."
"Try again."
"Yes, M-master."
"Good pet."
0o0o0o0
Roy had knocked the guards unconscious and was now walking through the fuhrer's house. He would kill the bastard, but not before he found out if he knew anything about Fullmetal's disappearance.
"Good pet," he heard the fuhrer say, his voice far more condescending than it had been even when he'd obviously realized the new Brigadier General's loyalties did not lie with him.
When the fuhrer emerged from the dark basement, Roy was already waiting, hand poised to snap.
"Are you telling me I'm not your only guest?" he asked.
"Guest would imply I invited you, Mustang."
"And what does 'pet' imply?" Roy asked, hand itching to hurt the man before him. "Where is Fullmetal?"
"He is not your concern anymore. I've already marked him as AWOL and to be killed on sight."
"Then who's downstairs?"
In a move so quick, Roy nearly missed it coming altogether, Bradley drew his sword and was lunging at the younger man. Asking questions would get Roy nowhere, and he already knew there was a prisoner of some kind downstairs. So rather than delaying the inevitable, he snapped his poised fingers.
0o0o0o0
They were trying to mess with him again. It was probably Envy upstairs again staging another "rescue." Every few days, Envy would appear as Mustang or Al, even Havoc once, and "save" him. Punishments would only be worse for the attempt to escape. It didn't even matter to the fuhrer that Envy had been forced to drag the unwilling rescuee from the basement dungeon.
His master said that because he didn't fight not to go, it was his fault.
That was when the punishments got worse. Torture and pain worse than when he was used as a sex toy were the norm when the fuhrer was reprimanding him for disobedience. His master didn't like when he was willful, hopeful.
0o0o0o0
Roy watched in horror as the fuhrer was willing to kill his own son. As though the sight of such injustice and monstrosity gave him new strength, Roy pulled the sword lodged in his left shoulder out, and began to attack the homunculus. The thing in the bag, that was important. Thinking back to what Al had told him about these monsters, Roy had an inkling to know what to expect. The way that the fuhrer had reacted to the bag the little boy had carried in seemed to point to it being some form of remains of the human whose form he held.
Roy snapped his fingers, once again incinerating the fuhrer.
"Haven't you learned yet that your fire attacks are futile?" A flaming body stepped from the fire, but by then, Roy had ducked down, grabbing the bag and retrieving the skull. Again, he snapped his fingers, grabbed the skull without his glove.
"What are you doing?" the fuhrer said.
"You are a homunculus, a created human. You see, by taking Ed away, and I know it's what you did, you son of a bitch, Al latched onto me. He told me everything. Everything about you, everything about the homunculi. Taking away his brother, he trusted me with that information, and do you know what he's doing right now while you're fighting me?"
Roy snapped the still-gloved hand again. "Al and his father are fighting your precious master. Funny, really, you're calling someone your pet, when you're nothing more than Dante's own pet creation. Tell me, does a pet like you cry when your master dies?"
"You think a rotten old man and a child can defeat her?"
The Flame Alchemist snapped again. "I'm sure of it," Roy said, dabbing a hand into his own blood to draw a modified fire alchemy symbol on his right hand. "I have faith in the Elric brothers. Always have."
Then, he placed his left hand to the back of his right and incinerated the fuhrer through his skull. He did it repeatedly, probably more times than was necessary to destroy the homunculus. He looked to the son, wondering if he should try to carry the boy out of the house, but remembered that there was someone or something in the basement. A part of Roy feared who it might be, but tried not to dwell on it, not until he could see. In pain, he struggled to make his way to the basement door where he'd first confronted the fuhrer.
0o0o0o0
They were going to very elaborate lengths for this hoax, the prisoner thought. Normally, Envy just rushed in, looking like the hero to "save" the broken man. Never had there been this much commotion, or the distinct feeling of heat from intense flames. Dull eyes tried to find the door in the disorienting darkness, with no success. He could hardly tell where he was at the moment.
Pride, as Envy had called him, had perfect vision, could see in this pitch dark room. The once keen eyes of the captive could never have managed more than brief fumbling in the near absolute darkness.
It was growing warmer in his prison, and if this building really was on fire, it would have been a welcome relief. Death would have been greeted with arms wide open.
Just as long as no one ever came down to him again, not Envy to torture him, not Pride to rape him, not Sloth to mock him. He wanted never to be seen again, to be nothing. Rescue was impossible, and he knew it; death was all that was left.
Unfortunately, the door opened again, the building did appear to be on fire, if the blinding red and orange light was anything to go by. Creating a shadow on the flames was a figure, one Ed remembered, but didn't dare believe.
"Ed?" the figure said, sounding almost ill. Envy's acting was improving.
0o0o0o0
Roy Mustang had prepared himself for many things in his life, but never, never had he thought he would have to brace himself for the discovery that night. Never to find Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist lying bloody and broken in more ways than one in a basement turned torture chamber. Both his automail limbs were gone, he had cuts all over his naked, prone body, and the two limbs that remained were not exactly at the proper angle.
"Fullmetal?" he asked, voice hoarse and unsure.
Two dead gold eyes, one a bit swollen looked up at him, barely acknowledging him. "Just go," the words came out mere scratching whispers.
Roy struggled down the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing at his right. "Fullmetal." He repeated. "Ed."
"Bastard…" he gasped, "doesn't call… me Ed."
"Yes, I do, when I'm trying to get your attention, Shrimp," Roy said, trying to sound as much like himself as he could, not to show the enormous pity and heartache at finding Ed like this.
"I'm not… going. Not… getting punished."
"Yeah, well, fight all you want, but I'm taking you back. Al will be able to concentrate a whole hell of a lot better on fighting Dante if he's not worried about you."
Ed looked up at Roy, blinking in an almost painful way as he did.
"Come on," Roy said, kneeling, not exactly easily, beside the teen. "Now."
Despite the shape his body seemed to be in, Ed was fighting him, struggling as Roy tried to pick him up.
"No!" Ed yelled out, his voice rasping. "Envy, I won't go! I won't have the fuh-Master hurt me because you take me again!"
Roy grabbed the swollen face. "I'm not Envy, Fullmetal!" Roy looked in the teen's eyes. "I'm not him! And the fuhrer, he's dead. I fried him. Used a skull his kid brought, one he killed his son over. And at the moment, this house is still on fire, and we need to get out of here." Roy pulled Ed into his arms and began to carry him through the room, being as careful as humanly possible, trying to ignore all the places from which the teen was bleeding. Ed continued to struggle until the effort became too much for him and he lay limp in Roy's arms.
At some point, Ed finally passed out completely, leaving Roy to navigate his way through the burning house without the teen's continued fighting. He ducked as flaming beams fell, did his best to dodge debris with Ed still firmly in his arms. The teen wasn't much of a struggle to carry, as he couldn't have eaten much since his disappearance and he no longer possessed his automail.
"I wish I could kill the bastard again, Ed," Roy said to the limp body in his arms. "What he did to you…" He couldn't finish the thought, let alone say it aloud.
Finally, he reached the door, kicking at the lock a few times, his strength failing him with every blow. Thankfully, the door gave way before his own willpower did, and Roy found himself on the front steps of the fuhrer's mansion, only half noticing in his pained state as a red eye broke the way through the darkness.
0o0o0o0
"Fullmetal," a voice called to him. "Come on, we're getting you out of here!"
Ed opened his eyes to find Colonel Roy Mustang standing over him, arm outstretched. "Took you long enough, Bastard," Ed said, through his swollen eye.
"They took your automail?" Mustang asked.
"What's it look like?" Ed growled.
"Fine, they took it, now come on," Mustang said, holding out an arm to Ed. "Let's get out of here before it's too late."
Ed leaned on the colonel as he stood, gasping in pain. Together they made it a few steps before he began to laugh. Then, he pushed Ed to the ground, the laughing only getting louder and joined by yet another voice.
"What the hell was that for?" Ed asked, trying to hide in his fright. He suspected what this meant, but didn't want to dare imagine.
"Really, Brat?" Mustang said, his grin a little too broad, his voice no longer what Ed remembered, at least when it came to Mustang.
"You really thought you could escape from me, Pet?" the fuhrer said as he opened the door.
"I'm not a damned pet you son of a bitch!"
"Oh, but you will be. We just need to break you, and my friend will help with that."
As the person who had once been Mustang transformed into Envy, Ed narrowed the eye that wasn't swollen in place. Envy looked surprised at the fuhrer's comment.
"Pride, I may not be particular about appearances, but I'm not all that fond of men that way." Then he looked at Ed. "And I definitely don't do incest, no matter how fuzzy the line of relation is."
Ed began to try to pull himself away. He didn't understand why Envy had chosen the word incest, at the moment, his mind didn't want to contemplate the idea that a family relationship had to exist for incest. It was far too focused on the act itself, that the fuhrer was suggesting Ed be "broken."
"Well, then," the fuhrer said. "That leaves it to me, doesn't it Envy?"
"No!" Ed screamed. "Don't come near me you sick bastard! Stay the hell away!"
But Bradley approached, taking off his patch as he quickly walked over to Ed, nearly pouncing on him on the floor. The man's hands seemed to be everywhere, and if he was a homunculus as Al had said, then it was little wonder he was able to manage an otherwise inhuman feet. Ed's clothes were little more than rags at the moment, and it took nothing for the man to overpower the weakened alchemist.
"Really, I would have thought that in this basement with its array to prevent your alchemy would have done something about that nasty spirit of yours. Apparently, I was wrong." Ed tried to squirm away, but swiftly, the man managed to grab hold the remaining wrist to hold it above his head, pin the right leg with his left, and then grab Ed's face to look directly into his own. The teen gasped when he saw the orobouros for himself placed at the center of the larger man's eye. He hadn't doubted Al, but something about seeing it for himself made him fear more than when he'd had the lingering thought there might be some humanity to the man holding him captive.
"Call me Pride," the fuhrer said. "Or better yet, master."
"The hell I will!" Ed spat in the older man's face.
"Wrong answer," Pride said. He punched Ed's jaw hard enough it nearly cracked. Then that same hand moved to his belt, began unzipping the fly. Ed struggled beneath him. Never before had he expected to find a man who was so much stronger than he was, even in this state he was in. Flashes of Barry the Chopper came to mind, being so helpless at that moment to save Winry. And now, he was helpless to save himself as the man pulled his member from his pants.
"Stop!" Ed screamed "Help!"
"Help me!" Envy mocked. "No one's going to help you, Brat. Don't you get it?" He walked to the steps. "I'm heading out," he said. "Like I said, I don't go for this sort of thing. Torture him to your heart's content, but this isn't the type of voyeurism that does much for me."
Envy left them alone, and for the first time in his life, Ed was sad to see him go.
"No!" he screamed, but he could feel Pride picking him up, giving him no preparation as he lined himself up to Ed's opening and thrust inside hard and fast. Ed cried; he screamed. It did no good.
This man had taken his virginity in the cruelest way possible, and Ed just wanted to die. Never in his life had he wanted to die, but he did today. What good could he possibly be to Al now? How worthless must he be that he couldn't manage to fight off this man? Why had he thought he was worthy of the respect that people had given him as the "people's alchemist." He couldn't even manage to defend himself, let alone protect the people who needed it. And even that bastard who'd aligned himself with Ed for his own career. What good was a broken alchemist—and that's what he would be after much of this—when you're on your way to the top in order to change the world.
Ed was bleeding, his body was being ripped apart, and the man hovering over him was laughing, even as he held up the teen's broken body. He was enjoying it.
When the larger man finally came, that was the worst part, the sensation of the homunculus's seed in his bowls, and of course on his back. The fuhrer hadn't seen it humiliating enough just to come inside of Ed. He'd withdrawn halfway through to cover the tan skin with the white substance as well.
0o0o0o0
Ed was whimpering when Al came into the hospital room. The younger teen had just been given a clean bill of health for his new, nineteen-year-old body. There were so many things he wanted to explore, but his brother at the moment was more important. It wasn't fair to Ed for him to have to be like this. He needed someone with him, family by his side.
"Brother," he said, "Brother?"
The pair of gold eyes opened, but his older, strong brother recoiled as much as he could with the cast on his arm and brace on his leg. "Who are you?" he rasped out.
"Brother," Al said, eyes holding back tears. He'd hoped the moment he'd get his body back would be a happy one for he and his brother, but the homunculi and Dante had taken that from them. "It's me, Al. I was forced to use the philosopher's stone to keep Dante and the homunculi from getting it."
"No," Ed said, shaking his head. "No, my brother Al would never have used the stone without me. He cared about getting my body back! Get the hell out of here! You're not Al! You're not!"
"Ed, I'm so sorry." Al tried to put his hand on his brother's shoulder, but the smaller teen recoiled from him.
"Get away!" Ed yelled, his voice painfully scratchy.
"I wanted to restore your body, Ed," Al said. "I really did. I'm so sorry." Tears were streaming down both teens' cheeks, though Ed's entire demeanor was absolutely furious while everything about Al's actions said he was remourseful.
"You're not Al! You aren't! He would have done anything for me just like I would for him. He wouldn't have just given up. Stop fucking with me!"
At hearing Ed scream, nurses rushed into the room, past Al to the bed. They shoved him out of the room, and tried to get him under control. The younger brother stood outside, seeing his father's somber expression.
"He didn't recognize you, did he?" Hohenheim asked.
"No," Al said. "He didn't even believe I could use the philospher's stone without him. I guess... I guess it's because he never would have without me. He never... He'd have found another way. I know he would have."
"And maybe for him, there would have been another way, but Al, for you and I, that was the only option for us to keep the stone out of their hands and to defeat them." Hohenheim outstretched a hand to pat Al's shoulder, but pulled it back again as Al withdrew into himself.
Al looked back into the room. He had always felt he'd failed his brother, this only proved it. He'd used the philosopher's stone, when his own brother lay on a hospital bed, two limbs gone, mind nearly vanished along with them. Al was whole, Ed was not. Ed was even less whole than when Al had last seen him. Where was the equivalent exchange there?
0o0o0o0
Ed awoke again, at night this time, judging by the window. He looked over to the left of him, seeing another hospital bed there, this one containing what looked like Roy Mustang, bruised and battered. Ed made a few noises, whimpering without intending it.
There was a groan from the bed beside him, and the older man turned to look at him. "Good," he said, sounding like he was in pain. "I said I wanted to be in the room with you. Are you feeling better?" Mustang turned to Ed, who could only manage to scowl. "Look, Fullmetal, I know when we last saw one another it wasn't the best of circumstances."
"Yeah, like every time I see you, you leave me for Pride to rape me!" Ed hissed.
"You still think I'm Envy?" Mustang said. "You're sitting in a hospital receiving treatment. I'm in a hospital receiving treatment, and you think…" The brigadier general tried to move the bar at the side of his bed a few times, having no luck. He reached to grab the small pencil on the bedside table, and Ed saw for the first time the bandages that covered the raven-haired man's left eye.
"What happened to you?"
"Archer. He shot me." Mustang answered. "Went through quite a few surgeries while you were unconscious." Ed could also see the man's arm was in a sling.
"And your arm?"
"Your captor," he answered. "Took one of the swords and pinned me to the wall by my shoulder."
"He liked to use those swords," Ed said, quietly.
"I'm sure. But he won't do it anymore." Mustang's voice still held pain, but his words sounded truthful. He grunted as he grabbed for the pencil and began drawing on the bars on the bed.
"What are you doing?"
"I know you've been gone for quite a while, but I'd think you'd recognize alchemy." Of course, Ed recognized alchemy, but Envy couldn't perform it. What did he think he was trying to prove? Unless this really was Mustang, and the person earlier really had been Al and he'd said… He'd said awful things to him.
When Mustang's fingers made contact with the circle he'd drawn, Ed began to cry, watching the transmutation. After all this time, he could perform alchemy, Mustang could perform alchemy, and this really was Mustang.
Ed cried harder. He was home, finally.
He could barely make out Mustang's figure as he moved from the bed slowly, sliding bottles dangling from a metal rack on wheels that led down to an IV in his right hand. Ed could hear as Mustang moved the long way around Ed's bed to the right side, where the pencil scribbled again and eliminated the bars.
The bed dipped as the older man sat down. He moved his right hand to hover over Ed's face. "Ed," he said. "I am so sorry. We searched and searched for you for all that time. We couldn't find you, and when I finally did, I didn't want to believe what I saw." The hand made contact with Ed's skin, but the teen willed himself not to recoil, not to pull back from the cool but human touch. "I should have protected you more."
"I'm home?" Ed said, half asking, half stating. "I'm safe?"
The cool hand moved over Ed's face. "Yes."
And that one word, so simple meant more to Ed than any before. That confirmation that finally, finally his living nightmare had ended.
