Ed released Alice as she shook like a leaf, ready to drop. Zhang immediately led her to the couches. He tried not to listen to their conversation as Alice whispered frantically to Zhang.

"I'm a hacker, not a fighter. If they put me out there, I'll die. Zhang, I don't want to die. I really don't want to die."

"Al, you're not going to die. You're going to be fine, okay? Come on, just sit down a minute, and you'll feel better..."

"But that... that guy just fried-"

"Just sit down, Al."

Edward paced, his mood darkened by the ensuing battle. They'd treated it like some child's game. It didn't matter to them that someone living, or someone who had been living about five seconds ago, was just fried to death. It was all just entertainment. He wondered if any of the spectators out there realized that this was real, not just some paltry theater show.

The wall screen came on again, and Kade's face reappeared, the same plastic countenance.

"Wasn't that fun? Give Clorick a round of applause!" There was a smattering of appraisal from the people around Kade who were off screen, and Kade continued to grin with those white, fake looking teeth.

"He's always been a favorite from the Cloverleaf company. You remember them, right? They always manage to have such nice slaves to pick from for their games. Too bad I can't give you back to them, but for a fighter like you, Blondie, I'd have to search through about a thousand more applicants, and that's no fun. Now, now, one more game, one more. I think you'll especially like this one, Nirvana. The Homunculi love watching this one fight." The wall screen turned back into a blank, colorless piece of glass, and Ed frowned. He looked out into the crowds, searching for the Homunculi. He could see special boxes that hung around the edges of the arena, but they were tinted. Those had to be the Homunculi seats - they looked too expensive for the average spectator, and they were too pricy even for the richest of the district.

The cool announcer again stated, "The games will soon commence. Arena to be changed. All contestants off the field." Clorick looked up, and he dropped the body in his hand. he stiffly began to walk away from the arena, passing through the miniscule door. The field was transformed by a massive array of poles that shot out of the ground, creating a sort of jungle gym. Ed found the analogy unsettling, seeing as a child's toy was about to be used as an environment of death. The panels were moved as well. They were now on the bars of the jungle gym, which happened to be about a meter thick all the way around.

The announcer called, "The games begin. This round will be a standoff in an electric cage match with an anti-grav environ between The Grace Stroke and Phantasm."

"Great. They even have stage names," Ed muttered. Nirvana grunted in agreement to his sentiments as the entire process from the first round was again executed. The two contenders walked out, were named, and took their stances. The first one, The Grace Stroke, was tall and willowy. She was a woman with long, flowing hair and a pleasant face. She didn't look much like a fighter, but appearances could be deceiving (as Crater had shown them, despite his failure). The other was short, probably a good head shorter than Ed himself. She looked nearly child-like, and Ed wondered, for a moment, if in fact she was a child. There wasn't much he could see of her, seeing as her face was covered by a long, probably see-through hood. In her gray cape, she did look like a phantasm.

300,000 cc's per unit (GRAC): 1,000,000 cc's per unit (PHAN)

All was still...

There was a blur, and the two contestants seemed to disappear. Ed realized after a moment that they had merely moved. He wondered if anti-gravity had changed the nature of the physics around them. No doubt, there was a colossal circle inscribed underneath the arena that gave it its abnormalities. Finally, the two contestants came into view again, and they began to fight hand to hand, bouncing off of the meter-thick poles like pinballs in a machine.

"Sheesh, the alphysics needed to do all of this..." Nirvana breathed as she watched. The fight between Clorick and Crater hadn't highlighted the effects of the anti-grav like the current one with Phantasm and Grace Stroke. This one was faster paced. It was like watching birds attack each other in a maze of branches. Despite her size, Phantasm had landed several good sized blows on the larger, taller Grace Stroke. Already there was a bruise forming on the larger girl's cheek where a fist had made contact with her face. This fight looked more evenly matched than the last one.

Grace Stroke reached for a panel above her, pulling it down. A knife fell out of the cavity down to the ground below, nearly twenty feet. Grace Stroke glanced between the knife and Phantasm, who was standing on a thick pole nearly fifty feet away. It was suddenly a race to reach the knife, the two flashing past.

The announcer suddenly blared, "PARADIGM SHIFT."

Ed frowned as he watched the two contestants and their quarry fly up as if sucked in by some massive force. The two fighters scrabbled for the knife that was sliding along the underside of the dome they were now standing on, and Grace managed to win the weapon. As he watched, Ed came to realize that they had been sucked in by a massive force - gravity. Someone had managed to actually change gravity completely.

As if to compound this new-fangled idea, it stated, "The anti-grav properties are now a reverse-gravity polarity." The crowd went absolutely wild at the change, and Ed wondered if that was the intended effect. It took Ed yet another moment to realize he could now see the contestants better, albeit flipped upside down. It was an odd effect, seeing as Ed had expected both their hair to be hanging in the air, yet it was perfectly stationary as if they were standing on the ground. The fighting grew more intense, with Phantasm blocking everything that Grace could throw at her. The knife managed to nick her several times, though, from the rips in her clothes, and Ed could tell she was growing tired.

He glanced over at the others, and he was surprised to find Nirvana stiff and white. Her lips were pressed together in a hard line, and her nostrils were flared. He could practically see the little hamster wheel in her brain turning. Something about this feat had her riled, but he wasn't sure what it was. Was it the alphysics they were using? Was it the fight itself? She hadn't seemed this perturbed even when Crater had been fried alive, but now she looked like she'd seen a ghost.

The thought struck Ed, and he glanced back at the fighter. She was small... but just large enough to pass for a teenage girl. What would a girl be doing in a fight like this? He was beginning to put together the pieces, but the pieces weren't making anything that resembled a coherent thought...

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Ed asked, unable to hold in his curiosity. Nirvana stared at him with a perplexed and annoyed glare, and Ed realized she had no idea what the phrase meant. It had fallen into disuse.

"You're quiet."

"I could say the same of you. You're no Silent Bob either." Eye for an eye, he guessed. He had no idea what a Silent Bob was, but he could guess. Nirvana was fidgeting by now, though, bouncing from foot to foot.

"She just... she just reminds me of someone I know. That's it. I could swear she's dead by now. I hate to think of the alternatives." Ed studied Nirvana's face. This really did bother her. Perhaps she had a heart after all, because if her friend was back from the dead, it meant she was either a homunculus, or possibly something worse. This city could turn out some really weird things, and he figured that bringing things back from the dead by unnatural, disgusting means was within their abilities.

Suddenly, in the interim, Phantasm gained the upper hand. Grace's eyes grew wide as her opponent attacked with stronger vigor, and she had to fight to keep from being completely overwhelmed. By some happenstance, Phantasm managed to steal the knife from her attacker. At this point, Ed had decided to sit, and he watched with unabashed anticipation. The tide had turned, it seemed. They fought much in the same manner as before, bouncing off the thick poles and launching themselves at one another. Minutes after losing her knife, Grace acquired a long staff with a laser blade on the end from another panel, though she nearly had her head sliced off for her troubles.

He heard Zhang whistle appreciatively.

"Sick," the Xing emissary muttered under his breath, and Ed wondered at the conflict in tone and word. What was so sick about the blade? She hadn't done anything with it yet.

Now it was almost a stalemate between the two women, or, rather, the girl and the woman. It was fairly matched, and it was clear that Grace was flagging. However, Ed felt as if the world had slowed as he watched Phantasm go in for an upward strike, leaving her entire right side open for attack. Ed had watched her fight, and he'd gotten a feel for how she operated. This was a terribly risky move, one he found hard to believe. What was her game?

Grace took the opportunity to slam the blade up the front of the girl's chest, carving a deep rut. There was nary a word spoken, but Ed noted that there was something off about this. Something was missing, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was essential, needed, and yet it was no where in sight. Why was that? What was it that he was -

Blood.

There was no blood.

Where was the blood?

The crowd was roared as they watched Phantasm fall back. Perhaps the lack of blood was due to the nature of the blade. There might be a cauterizing effect, or maybe the wound had been cut with so sharp a blade that it wouldn't immediately spray blood.

Still, they stood there for several minutes, and there was no blood at all. Grace watched with confusion as Phantasm straightened up as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. The hood was eerie over her face, and Ed was beginning to understand why they called her Phantasm. The lack of blood from the rut in her chest was eerie and made Ed feel uneasy. In fact, none of her wounds were bleeding. The spectators didn't have the luxury of a close-up screen of the fight, but Ed did. He noted that there were no blood stains on her robe.

The robe fell away as Phantasm charged forwards. She moved so fast, Grace didn't have time to lift her staff in retaliation. The woman was caught unaware as a knife was jammed across the side of her throat.

And this time, there was blood.

The crowd cheered in a cacophony as Grace fell to the top of the cage made of metal pipes. They were baying for more blood, but Phantasm at least had the honor to leave Grace's body alone. She merely stood, finally revealing herself. The robe she had worn fluttered at her feet, drifting towards the top of the cage. She wore a loose white tunic in the style of a slave with dark blue pants. Across her chest, the mark still stood clear as day, but Ed could clearly see that on the inside she held a collection of wires and electronics. Ed's eyes widened.

This fight had been rigged. The girl wasn't truly a girl. She was an automaton. That was the only explanation for the lack of blood and the seemingly endless reserves of energy despite her 'tiring' during the first half. He felt horror rise within him as he began to put the pieces together.

The winner walked away quietly, ignoring the crowd. The group, Nirvana included, watched in awe and slight disgust. They'd used a robot to kill a person for the sake of entertainment. They'd really thought she was real. She'd moved like a human, fought like a human, even tired like a human, and yet...

"I've never seen a robot that complex. We have nothing that close in our own labs. The prototypes are still in their infant stages," Alice breathed. Her face was a mix of abjection and, perhaps, amazement. It slowly dawned on the rest of them.

"Why haven't the Homunculi crushed us yet? They could weed us out like rats if they wanted. Especially with that sort of tech," Nirvana muttered. Her hands clenched.

"Who was she, Nirvana?" Ed asked quietly. Nirvana remained staring out at the field. Kade had yet to say anything more, and the wall screen stayed blank.

"Ed - "

"Nirvana, you knew who she was."

Color rose in her face, and she suddenly shouted, "What does it matter? It's a thing, Ed! Who it looks like isn't important!"

The blond alphysicist was quiet for quite a while, breathing hard as she stared at the stolid alchemist, before she whispered, "She fights the same way my best friend does. Respectful, fair, but brutal. There's no other fighting style like hers. I don't know how they managed to program it, seeing she's probably been dead for nearly a year. Disappeared on an assignment -"

Before she could elaborate, a wall panel slid back behind them. They turned around, those sitting down hastily standing up in order to do so. The man who'd been on the wall screen no more than fifteen minutes before walked into the room with several attendants and stiff guards behind. In the soft lighting of the plush glass box, he looked even more fake. His hair seemed plastic, his teeth looked ceramic, his skin looked like nylon, and his eyes looked like glass. All together, it made him incredibly unsettling. There was little resemblance between Kade and Don, though they may have had the same nose or perhaps the same squint to their eyes. Ed couldn't tell, seeing as this man looked like he'd been manufactured rather than born.

"Did you enjoy the show? Yes? Good. I thought you would. Now sit down, all of you. Yes, come on, sit, sit. It's all right, go ahead. I know you're all anxious to know why you're here, am I right? Of course I'm right. Should I send for something to eat, drink? Yes, no, maybe? Ah, a tough crowd. All right, all right, I'll cut to the quick." The man talked fast, hardly waiting for any sort of reply or indication of an answer before beginning again to the next question. At his behest, the others sat down with trepidation, as if the couches would swallow them whole.

"Nirvana, I should really, really thank you. No, no, truly, I want to thank you so much. I mean, without you, I would still be under that incompetent relation of mine, and then where would I be? I'd still be at the bottom of the ring ladder, always hoping to get a little higher on the next mission. Without him, though, I managed... all of this." He made a grand sweeping motion to the arena outside.

"Nice, isn't it? It took me six weeks to build, a whole helluva lot of time. It was worth it, though. The family would've never let me have this thing until I'd proposed it to the Homunculi boards, and they said, 'eh, what the hell, why not?' They thought it'd be a good business practice, a way of exercising the slave companies and forcing competition. Handy, huh? I get money, they get a stable mini-economy going, and we all win," Kade stated with that false smile, and Ed bitterly thought back in retaliation, "Yeah, everybody wins. Except the poor guys who end up in the arena."

"So I decided, 'eh, why not reward some people, huh? Reward people who got you here.' Of course, you know, Nirvana helped me, and so did Uncle Don, but he ain't here at the moment, thanks to Nirvana over there. And I have dear old Dad up there in his high chair, y'know, and of course all those slaves who contribute," Kade said, and there was just a touch of mockery in his voice. Ed wanted nothing more than to smash his metal fist into that cardboard face. It'd make him feel better to see it crumple underneath his knuckles. There was a knock on the door, and Kade motioned it open. It whooshed with a clean, slick sound, and Phantasm walked into the room.

"Ah, there you are, Ingra, nice of you to finally join us. Aren't you a little late?" Kade asked. Though he asked in all politeness, there was a touch of annoyance in his voice. Ingra or Phantasm or whatever her name was looked conflicted for a moment as the robot caught sight of Nirvana. As she stood stock still in what seemed like shock, Ed could clearly see her insides. They were definitely wiring and electronic panels. It looked like this thing was basically made up of the same stuff automail was comprised of.

"I'm sure you two have met, haven't you?" Kade asked, not even bothering with waiting for an answer. Ingra looked at Nirvana, and Ed was worried for a moment that her head would start smoking. From here, he could see the fine details in the face. It wasn't quite right - there were muscles in this face that weren't present, so the right facial cues were missing, especially ones dealing with the eyes, like blinking, but it was a close approximation, close enough not to bother the humans in attendance.

"No. We haven't. I don't know her," Nirvana stated, staring into the construct's face. For a moment, the construct approximated a look of hurt, but it was gone so quickly, Ed almost thought he'd imagined it. Could automatons feel hurt?

"I am not sure that I have met this person either. You do know about my memory, sir," Ingra said, her voice electronically separating her words carefully and forming each vowel and consonant sound meticulously with the lips and tongue as well as a voice box inside of the throat. The result was a well-formed imitation of human speech, despite the strange, deliberate diction. The two studied each other, one with electric eyes and the other behind veiled glares.

"Hmmm, you sure? I remember talking to Ingra here, and she remembers you quite well, from our... chats. I took her off the streets, you know. Another friend of mine, uh, 'referred' me to her, after all. Decided I couldn't let a thing like that pass me up. Stripped her body down, implanted a few good multi-input jacks, uploaded some software into a mainframe, and here we are," Kade said, gesturing to Ingra. Nirvana frowned, her eyes asking questions her mouth refused to utter.

"She's still alive?" Zhang asked, spitting out the question that Nirvana didn't have the guts to say.

"Oh, yes, very alive. Of course, she's on bodily retirement at the moment, and she has been for a while, but hey, you know, with a body like that, why wouldn't you want to be, right?" Kade asked, smiling that salesman smile and gesticulating towards Ingra again. The woman-robot merely stood there, clearly uncomfortable, in body language if not in face. "Here, Ingra, go ahead and show them, why don't you? They're probably interested on what the rest of you looks like anyways, huh? I love to show off something of mine, after all. It's a failing."

This clearly took Ingra off guard. Her head snapped towards Kade, and she stared in question for a few moments before slowly raising a hand to point at herself. Kade stomped his foot angrily, though his face stayed the same, insanely happy countenance. Ingra immediately took off her tunic, leaving only her blue pants and undergarments. Kade's smile wavered slightly as she stood there in her bra and pants, but he seemed to let this slide. Ed felt embarrassed that he was in the same room as a half-dressed woman, and he wished he could hide his blush. Ingra seemed to notice, and for a moment he imagined he saw the same red rising to her cheeks, but of course this must've been an illusion. She was a robot. She didn't have blood to blush with.

Her body was pristine and cut well. She wasn't overly muscular, but she wasn't overly skinny either. She was a good proportion, and her skin was flawlessly smooth, other than the cuts she'd sustained from the fight. The rips and tears showed the metal beneath, most of those showing just scratches to the outer sheathing. However, the massive rent in her front had sliced open her bra, only hanging on by a wire through the bottom, and laid open her inner workings. Ed could see a bar code on her hip, and he unconsciously rubbed his forearm over his own bar code.

Her eyes suddenly swung over like search lights, catching his own gold eyes in her tractor beam stare. He felt as if he were being sucked into those immitation eyes. They were made of metal and glass, but for whatever reason they seemed to look so real. In that moment, he felt something pass through him. He wasn't sure what it was, and he knew that he probably wouldn't have a chance to find out.

"See? Look at that there! New tech, completely custom built for her specifics. She's going to change the way we fight, y'know. Why go out into battle yourself when you can just send out a robot with your specifics? I'm thinking about using her test different sized robots, see if I can use something that's not to her specific shape," Kade said, but Ed had tuned the man out. He was still staring at Ingra. It was as if she were trying to tell him something. He'd seen this look before, from another pair of inhuman yet compassionate set of eyes... Ingra began to put her shirt back on.

"And, I think I may use the rest of you, too, for some testing on that. Imagine that. I could have an entire line of warriors, all indestructible and easy to maintain! Of course, it'd be expensive, but wouldn't it be worth it? I could finance everything on that, along with the games. I'd be one of the most powerful men in Patron City!"

Ed reached the realization of why Kade had captured so many of them wholesale. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Why not go ahead and kill fifty birds with one stone? That was better, if not just as good. Suddenly Ed turned to run, smashing his fist into a guard's face, but he was brought down by a massive pain in his head, right at the temple. He stared up at Ingra, who'd moved at a lightning fast pace to knock him down. He stared at her as he was hauled back to where he'd been standing mere minutes before. He could see that the others had tried to run after coming to his same conclusion. They were going to be new test subjects, pawns to be used in a deadly game. The abomination that was Ingra would soon be their fate. They were a band of fighters - they'd make good entertainment, especially if pitted against each other.

"Hey, hey, trust me, this is better than the alternative. I know who you are, and I'm a lot more merciful than those down there. I'll keep your secret, don't worry," Kade chuckled as they were handcuffed and shackled. Nirvana fought loud and hard, screaming profanities before someone tagged her with a sedative. She sagged to her knees, her eyes disconcertingly still open and unconscious as they stared at the ground. Hohenheim had attempted to try alchemy, but before he could even bring his hands together, he found himself with an electric dart beeping in his chest. It released a massive shock, electricity nearly arching through his body. He dropped like a fly hit with a zapper. Thaddeus probably got the farthest, but Ingra took him down with a crushing knock to the chest. He lay wheezing quite a while.

Soon, they were all trussed up like animals to a slaughter. Kade surveyed his new assets with a critical eye. They would make good contenders for the games, especially that old man. He'd watched that old man fight off the sedative he'd used in the metro station, and he was tenacious. He'd make for a good, long fight. He stopped in front of Ed, the young man's face streaming with blood where he'd been hit. Kade tilted his head as he inspected the young, ornery man, and he took his chin in his hand, turning it from side to side as he surveyed him like meat at a market.

"I knew I picked well for this batch. Ingra, you'll take Edward to his chambers. Make sure he's fed. The one with the purple hair needs to have the dye denatured and she'll be a welfare gift to one of the Homunculi. You know any of them interested in a new slave?" Kade asked his assistants, and they were jolted for a moment by the sudden request.

"Uh, well, Greed is, uh, always looking for a new girl, as you know," a slim, dark-haired woman said. She folded her hands demurely in front of her and looked down. Kade nodded.

"Good, good." Ed locked eyes with Nirvana as Kade continued to prattle about his plans.

"The old man can be a contender for the games. And Nirvana... ohohoho, I have plans for her. I have lots of plans. She'll be mine, personally. I'm going to need her for a few things. She's our little secret, 'kay?" Kade said, looking at his assistants with a smile. They smiled back nervously, nodding. The guards hauled her to her feet.

Ed could see she wasn't completely gone in the eyes. She lifted her head up, and the look on her face was one of brittle rebellion and tired, scared frustration. The street rat had been caught. He could see her working at the shackles around her wrists, rubbing the skin raw on her flesh arm as she fought against her phobia of restraint. He'd reduce her to an animal in mere hours if he learned her weakness. She was smart enough to be subtle, and Ed handed her that. He stared at his own feet, realizing the hopelessness of their situation. Their transport left in only a few days. They had no idea how long they'd been out of it. For all they knew, the transport had left already, and they were stuck in the city with no help and no hope. They were behind enemy lines. Ed felt fear spike in his stomach, but practiced stubbornness pushed it down to a dull nub.

"The Xing one can go into the factory works underneath the game arena. He's small enough to be a tunnel worker," Kade stated. He eyed Thaddeus, the dark-haired man looking sick under the soft lighting. Kade tilted his head again, a gesture which Ed construed as contemplation.

"This one could go as a gift to the Homunculi as well, but he's a little too scrawny. They like them a little bit thicker than this," Kade wondered, and Ed scoffed. Thaddeus... he hoped that the man would be staying here. He was invaluable as a comrade. Medics were always in short supply, though there wasn't much he could do without any of his equipment.

"I'm a doctor, sir. You'd be better off with me here," Thaddeus said, looking over Kade's head. Kade contemplated it. Ed felt a pang of worry. Would he even take him, now that he'd spoken?

"Hmmm, big man to speak out loud. I think I'll keep him. I like 'em feisty... sometimes," Kade said, his ever present smile growing.

Ed suppressed the urge to exhale with relief. Though he knew that Nirvana would still be in the general vicinity, Ed took great comfort knowing Thaddeus would also be close by as well, probably close enough that they'd be allowed to either work together or see one another regularly. Zhang would be here, too, but Ed had a feeling he wasn't going to be seeing much of the emissary. Alice... He felt a deep rooted pain begin pushing a shoot of worry through him. Alice was going to a Homunculus, perhaps Greed. Luckily, Ed knew Greed, and he knew that if Alice was smart enough to get on his good side, which Ed believed she would, he would treat her well. He sincerely hoped that Greed was still the same homunculus Ed knew during the Battle for the Underground. Ed might end up fighting his own father, but his dad was tougher than rawhide and more stubborn than an old mule-nag. He'd survive, like he always did.

As Ed thought of each of his comrades in turn, he eyed every one of them, memorizing their faces for later reference. He wanted to know what they looked like, to be able to remember, if they... He cut off the thought. He felt a tension rise in him as he found faces he knew within these new faces he'd come to an acquaintance with. He could see a little of Ling in Zhang, and he could see some of Hawkeye's tenacity in Nirvana, and... His eyes passed over Ingra for a minute as his thoughts continued on that train at a lightning fast speed, and that's when he knew whose eyes hers had reminded him of.

They were Al's. Not literally - Al's eyes had been little more than spots behind his helmet, but these held that same look. It was one he'd seen plenty of times. It was the look of emptiness and soft, quiet despair. Their eyes suddenly locked. They stared at each other for quite a while, and Kade motioned for the entourage of prisoners to be moved. Ingra slowly blinked, probably the first time Ed had seen her do so, and the movement made her seem more human for some reason. Ed looked away, his eyes hard as he stared straight ahead. He could hear Alice crying softly to herself. Nirvana was muttering under her breath, either praying or cursing. Hohenheim was stalwart as Ed himself, and Thaddeus made no sound. They all knew they were going to fates that could possibly be worse than death. Still, they had to have hope.

Ingra stationed herself behind Ed, her hands soft, yet rigid, around the slim, electronic shackles that encircled his wrists. She waited for the entire group to move before urging Edward forwards. Ed noticed that they were lagging behind the rest of the group. He knew he was supposed to be separated from the rest of them, but was it that soon...?

"You are Edward Elric, yes?" Her words, despite being electronic and unnatural, held an organic lilt to them. Ed's eyes widened slightly. He attempted not to show his surprise. He didn't answer, only shrugged his shoulders forward and stared ahead.

"Fullmetal Alchemist? Alchemist of the People?" she dug, and Ed felt nostalgia wash over him. How long had it been since someone had called him Fullmetal? Unconsciously, he'd dipped his head to one side to better hear her, and she'd taken note of it. Ed cursed himself. That was a stupid move. He could've revealed himself to her with a move like that. He had to be more careful.

"We are rats stuck in the same maze, Edward Elric. We are the birds in the same, gilded cage. There is a difference between you and me, though," Ingra stated, her tone incredibly quiet and low in his ear. She was shorter than he was, and he had to strain to hear her. Ed refused to answer, not willing to incriminate himself or be in the league with someone who could be a hostile.

"You haven't had your wings clipped. And that is useful. You can help me." Ingra's tone suddenly changed. His gold eyes peered over his shoulder. Was this a ploy for sympathy? Was this a trick? Everything in this world was suspicious. He couldn't come away from anything without skepticism.

But staring into her eyes, he knew this was not a trick. "You are the only one who could understand this hurt. You are the only one who knows what it might be like to feel empty. Edward Elric, please think on -"

"Ingra! You're getting a little slow there! I know how you like shock on a timely schedule, so hup hup!" Kade's voice rang with its usual, very false cheeriness, and Ed felt Ingra flinch. Ed wondered what could make a girl who was essentially indestructible completely docile to a man's whims and flights of fancy. Somehow, he had a leash on her...

"And I think... I know your problem. And perhaps... if we have Nirvana... perhaps how to get you back home," she said, and Ed felt as if he'd been doused with ice water. She'd known who he was and... she knew his problem, but... how...? He turned to look at her, and her face was a mask. She could just as well be lying, but at the same time, she had figured out his secret in literally minutes.

Ed squeezes his eyes shut. His better judgment was screaming at him that he was an idiot, but there was some kernel of truth to her words. She may fight in sadistic games that pit two humans against each other, most of the time in the most unfair of ways, but he figured that she literally had no choice in the matter.

"We'll see what we can do," Ed muttered under his breath as they began to catch up to the others. As they caught each other's eye, they nodded infinitesimally. Ed felt something glow within him that he hadn't realized was dormant. It was approaching a warm sensation within his core, something he now knew had been dead.

He had hope.

He played with a toothpick, rubbing it between two fingers. He watched it roll, sighing. These games could get tedious sometimes. He could only watch so many fights before he got bored, after all. He was no stranger to human strife. He didn't understand the fixation the other Homunculi had on this activity. It was a waste of time, but he felt obligated to stay here and make sure his 'siblings' behaved.

Across a walkway at the bottom of the arena, there was activity. An elevator was being opened at the very top of the arena, and Greed looked up in bored fascination. Anything was better than watching the two monkeys down there tear out each other's throats. Greed leaned forward in his seat as he stared. He muttered something under his breath, and the Widget implant in his eye zoomed closer to the elevator. He could see an entourage of sorts going into the glass hallway that separated the rich quarter of the stadium from the riffraff. It was a speed corridor of sorts, meant to get the owner of the stadium up to his pentbox as fast as possible.

"Who're they?" Greed asked himself.

"Probably new slaves that Kade's just acquired. He likes to show off his toys before putting them away. Thinks it makes him feel big," one of his assistants answered without even bothering to look up from his touch-tablet. Even he was bored with the shenanigans going on below, and he was a human himself. Greed wasn't sure if that was supposed to be bothersome or not.

Greed zoomed in on them again, the Widget eye piece spinning frantically to accommodate the action. He frowned as he spied a rather... familiar head of blond hair. For freak's sake, his hair is covering his face! The way he walked and sort of impudently shrugged off his guards put Greed in mind of someone he'd known a long time ago, but... he couldn't put his finger on it. It was like trying to catch a sewer slug using bacon grease and a set of plastic gloves. Greed leaned back into his plush seat, sighing. He frowned as he watched them continue down the corridor -

There! He turned! Greed's eyes widened behind his trademark, round glasses. He felt like someone had sucked the air out of his mouth. He knew that face, but he couldn't figure out where he'd seen him. It was familiar, but at the same time it was like he'd never seen him before. He was getting bad dejavu, and it was making his head spin.

"Could you schedule an appointment with Kade? I want to talk to him about something," Greed muttered slowly to his assistant. The bored human popped his bubblegum before tapping a few things out on his touch-tablet.

"Done and done. Man, this is boring. They've done anti-grav tons of times. Can't they think of anything new to put in? Get some weather controls or something," the assistant grumbled as he leaned against a wall and played a fingergame.

Greed nodded absent-mindedly as he ran a hand through his hair.

A/N: Sadly enough, I had this chapter done a while ago. I've just been too lazy to publish it. Go ahead, draw and quarter me for my negligence, I won't mind. Sort of... Seeing as I'd be stretched out in four ways and then cut in half twice. Anywho.

For those on the reviewing page, a big thanks to Hikari Hellion, TailsMoon, Dashita Tichou, rainstripe, and SaphireWhiteWolf. Thanks for the input, especially with answering the discussion questions. I enjoy seeing what you guys put down as an answer. It helps me figure out what you like and what you don't without all the hassle of shooting in the dark.

On the submitting side of things, we have two new members to join our ranks! Welcome, Charox Jarkai and DuzellVisalia. What interesting names you both have. The meanings behind them are a subject for contemplation...

And finally, my pack of favoriteers. We have three new people on that list (Ha! Take that, Team Submit! This is totally not a ploy to start a membership war), those being Zaphod Prefect, Daninuyasha, and, once again, Charox Jarkai. So does the Zaphod in Zaphod Prefect refer to Hitchhiker's Guide? And does the Inuyasha in the second name actually relate to the character Inuyasha? And I have no idea what to make of the third.

Ah, discussion. Well, you guys did say you'd like to see canon character incorporated, so I decided 'hey, why not? I'm smart - I can figure out a time paradox.' The big kicker is, I have to keep these characters, well, in character. This is a catch-all discussion question for any of the chapters, and that's if I've been keeping the characters in line with their personalities or if I've derailed them off into the land of the OOCs. Another question: how long do you think this story is going to be? Also: what do you think is a good chapter length? I end up exceeding 5,000 words pretty much every chapter. I want to know 'how long is too long'. And then, finally, what, so far in, has been your favorite part of the entire series?

Well, ciao! I have some other stories to write!

God bless, and good reading!