Authour's Note: I am sorry this is short and I am sorry it is taking a while but here it is! Chapter 26. Yay. It is always easier to rip a character apart, it is harder to build them back up. Let this be a warning for anyone who wants to try doing this.

The Tales and Tails of Elric

Chapter 26

The Mind Game

Edward slowly opened his eyes. A headache hung over him like a rain cloud, dully putting pressure in his head. It was clearing but it still made him flinch at the light that was shining down into his eyes. He groaned slightly as his achy muscles pushed themselves up and he forced himself to sit up. He was back in a bed that wasn't his, starting from square one. Edward massaged his face tiredly as he realised he must have fallen asleep in the closet. He didn't know how long he was out, he still didn't know where he was, but he realised that he didn't want to remember anymore. The memories, those painful memories flashed back into his head like electricity, making his dulled headache throb as he remembered the pain from earlier. It hurt so bad, but what he saw was even worse. It was the stew that triggered his memory, it was the stew, the sweet sweet smell of stew. He saw his mother, he was little and she had made him and his brother stew for dinner. It nearly made Edward cry it was so perfect. It made him realise that he would never be able to do that again, eat with his family, be with his family. There were flashes of scenes where he, his brother, and another strange girl would just play in the grassy fields. But then it came back. That monster from his nightmares. It was there… it was real, and it terrified him beyond belief. He thought it was just of his imagination, but there it was, in his very real memories. It breathed down his neck and he found himself in a frozen panic. He was in pain. He knew it, he saw the blood, it was everywhere. Edward looked down at his mismatched hands. The one pale flesh one greatly contrasted the rusted metal of his automail. He flexed his fingers and the metal ones jammed up from how much rust there was built up in the joints. It couldn't be. He lost his arm and leg in the crash, it just couldn't. It had to be something else.

Edward massaged his automail to loosen his fingers back up and he looked about the room he was now trapped in. It was the same one as before but he was no longer in the closet. There didn't seem to be another person in the room with him and he didn't see whatever that armour was around, so he safely assumed he was alone. He looked over on the nightstand and he saw a glass of water and a bowl of cold bland scrambled eggs. Edward frowned at them. He didn't trust them. Edward pushed himself out of bed, his sore body whining at him with all its might, and he made his way over towards the door. He quietly grabbed the doorknob and tested it. Unlocked. Edward shook his head in absolute disbelief. Why would they just leave him alone? Silently, he opened the door. The hallway was cleared, no soldier or creepy armour in sight. Edward slipped out and headed down the hall towards the staircase. He didn't know how he already knew where everything was in the house, but there was an air of familiarity to the place that he couldn't quite touch. However, against the nagging sensation, as he turned onto the stairs he was already planning his dodge for the door. He needed to get out of there, and there were undoubtedly people waiting for him at the bottom. He took the stairs slowly, his ears twitching for any other sound of activity other than his own footsteps. They hurt and he felt the cuts on the back of them from where he had gripped them too hard. There were voices flooding the entire downstairs floor, there were a lot of them. Edward carefully inched his way down the staircase, wincing at every squeal his automail leg gave under the constant motion he was making it go through. He made it down safely and quietly without any alert with only four steps to go until it suddenly happened. A loud screech came out of his automail as he was in mid-stride. Edward, scared at the sudden noise, lost his balance and he tumbled down the last few stairs and landed with a crash on the hard marble floor. His headache went reeling again but he frantically tried to get up as he knew he only had a few seconds now to make it to the door. The chattering in suddenly stopped and he heard footsteps quickly rush their way towards the source of the noise. Edward tried to run forward but he just fell right back to the ground with another loud clatter of his metal arm to the stone. His leg was jammed. All of the rust accumulated on it jammed the kneecap stiff. Edward tried to roll it out, get it working again, but it was already too late. He felt them standing over him, their eyes staring down at him like he was a freak. Edward cautiously turned his head and saw Mustang and Alphonse, along with a few other people he recognised from the day before. Their eyes were bearing into him, filled with worry and shock.

"Edward, are you alright? What happened?" the blond man asked full of concern. He took step forward and knelt down beside him as if ready to look him over for any injuries. The smell of ash and smoke rose up through his nose and he yelped as a single image of fire flashed through his mind. He clutched his head in sudden pain and kicked himself back away from the man. He covered his nose as if that would prevent any more memories from arising.

"Do-don't. let me go," Edward growled stopping the advancing man in his place. He looked hurt but Edward could have cared less at that moment. He pulled his useless metal leg closer to himself and cradled it, shrinking back into the banister of the staircase.

"E-edward, you must believe us. We don't want to hurt you-"

"THEN LET ME GO!" Edward raged as he tried to stand up to size the man up but he was just sent to the ground again. He felt arms around him trying to lift him back up on his feet and he kicked out with his good foot and he nailed someone right in the stomach. They dropped him and he fell again as they staggered back towards everyone else. "Don't touch me!" he scolded them. Everyone seemed to stay back, thinking twice about coming forward. Edward struggled to get himself back up. He kneeled on his one good knee and balanced himself with his one arm. Everyone was silent, too afraid to say anything. Edward's eyes flickered to the door that was behind them. He was so close, so damn close to getting out of there. He could have been back with the General, in his room. Safe from these people, these living nightmares. A small man with glasses crouched down in front of him. He kept his distance and pulled his arms in close.

"Is i-it damaged? Your l-leg?" a short black haired kid asked him, daring himself to point to his obviously useless leg. Edward remembered him from the office. He was the one who tried to drop off some paperwork and ended up leading him to the dreaded east wing. He should have listened to the General's orders and never stepped into that part of the building. He should have just taken the file and left. He would have stayed safe. He wouldn't be there surrounded by so many people who probably wanted his head and now unable to even protect himself because his automail was in such bad condition. Edward pulled his automail closer as if trying to hide it from their view. Suspicious glances all stared down at him as he shook his head.

"N-no," he mumbled. His father stepped forward and Edward pulled back until his back was pressed deep into the banister of the staircase. The man looked annoyed ever so slightly.

"If your leg is fine then stand up, Fullmetal," the man retorted. Edward wanted to make some retort, he felt like he should, but he clamped his mouth shut and glared at the ground instead. The man, after not getting a satisfying answer, let out an hot huff and turned back to the crowd of people, towards one person in particular. "Alphonse, we are going to have to call your brother's mechanic." The armour who was standing behind the entire crowd looked in absolute shock or as close to it that metal could anyways.

"B-but Mr. Mustang, brother's ears. Winry would cry. She can't-"

"Well we can't leave your brother without a working leg-"

"Colonel by the looks of it, it is pretty rusted. He could get tetanus-"

"Yes, Sergeant, that too," the man agreed with the younger soldier. Edward looked between them and then back down at his leg. Why were they trying to fix him up? Why were they worried about him getting tetanus? The Colonel turned back towards him and knelt down beside him. Edward flinched and the man frowned slightly, hurt betraying in his eyes. "Edward, would you allow the Sergeant to look at your leg? We are going to call your mechanic but he might be able to get it working in the meantime-"

"M-my mechanic? N-no. I don't have a m-mechanic-"

"But brother, she's our friend. We used to play with her when we were little, in Resembool-"

"I AM NOT YOU BROTHER!" Edward yelled at the armour for the hundredth time. There was a harsh sudden sting on his cheek and Edward brought his hand up to gingerly touch his tender skin. The Colonel was glaring down at him having just slapped him for what he said. Edward growled back at him and opened his mouth to yell at the man but the man caught him first.

"Edward, he is you brother. I don't care what you might think you remember now but you should know. You should know your own flesh and blood. You should know your own brother for pete's sake, you gave your fucking arm for him. That isn't something you could forget," the man seethed.

"I lost my arm in a car accident a few months ago-"

"It takes three years rehabilitation to get automail, Edward. Do you think you could just wake up with proper working limbs that are already in the state they are in from only a few months?" the man asked stiffly. Edward's eyes widened as he looked back down at his leg and his hand. Something didn't make sense. He felt his mind spin endlessly as he tried to recall everything that he was told about his life by the doctors, by the general, but there was not much there. He learned more from just the few hours he stayed in this house than the days he was in the office. However, what he remembered terrified him. He remembered the horrifying face of that creature, the suit of armour that was now calling him brother standing over a mutilated chimera, a burning house on the green hill top that he really did remember as home. Was that his life? If they were really telling him the truth, were those desolated memories all he had to look forward to? No, it couldn't be true, it just couldn't, but the doctor's fact's didn't line up. There was physically no way he could use automail so flawlessly without having gone through years of therapy. He probably done it before. Edward felt his eyes welt up as he placed his head into his mismatched hands. He couldn't handle this right now.

"Please, just let me go," he mumbled pathetically as his mind was trying to shovel through the darkness it held. There was a long moment of silence where he felt nearly every eye bear into him like they were contemplating his fate. After a small minute he heard the Colonel huff under his breath as if a hard decision was finally made.

"Fine, it's not like you ever wanted to stay in a bastard's house anyway," the man mumbled to himself. Edward's ear twitched suddenly at the familiarity of the retort. He slowly glanced up at the Colonel curiously. He sniffled slightly as he couldn't comprehend what the man was trying to get across. The Colonel rolled his eyes and stood up from where he was kneeling on the floor next to him. He held out his hand to help him up. "You are free to go after we get your leg fixed up. I don't think you will get far without it." Edward looked up at his hand cautiously. His ears pinned down to his head protectively as he touched his tender cheek which still lightly stung from his beating. He didn't know if he trusted this man. He was the one who kept yelling at him, he slapped him, and he confused him even more, yet something was telling him to stay. Edward didn't want to listen to that subconscious instinct but he felt it more compelling by the moment. He looked up at all of the different faces. They all smiled softly down at him with some form of recognition in them. The only one he couldn't read was the metal armour's. He didn't have a body, he couldn't make faces, but Edward felt a spark light up in his stomach, a slight warmth in the back of his mind when he looked into the empty eyes. He stared at them for a long time but the inky blackness in his mind stood firm. He shook his head, snapping him out of those thoughts. These were his kidnappers, evil all alike. All he would do is get his automail fixed and then leave. It is the only option he really had.

….

The frying pan in the kitchen was sizzling and Edward had to pin his ears down to his head in order to try and block it out. The noise was terrible, he hated it, but his captors were making breakfast so he couldn't complain. He watched the middleaged brown haired man who was dressed in cargo shorts and bunny slippers hover over the frying pan, turning the bacon over. He didn't want him to do anything to the food. He still wouldn't put it twice past them all to poison his food and take his limp or possibly dead body to the next laboratory to study his freakish cat ears. However, for now, they were all seated around the kitchen tables doing whatever it was that came to mind. Most of the soldiers were staring at him or pretending not to be. Edward sat as far away as he could from the armour and everyone else yet he still felt the claustrophobia sinking in as their eyes bore into him every second of the day. Edward found himself subconsciously pulling his tail in close and holding it for security. He suddenly heard a pop come from his knee and a bolt fell out of his automail where Kain was tinkering with it.

"It's worse than I thought, Colonel," the young man announced, picking up the split bolt that was neon orange with rust. "It is absolutely rusted shut. I can't get the plate off without breaking all of the bolts. Ms. Rockbell is going to have to make him a whole new one."

"I already told her that might be the case. She will be here this evening. I bought her an express ticket over here so it won't take too long," the large red head he learned was Heymanns Breda, told them.

"What do you think caused all of this rust?" the kid asked him. Edward suddenly saw the Colonel stiffen with the question as he was carrying over a plate of scrambled eggs for everyone there. A shadow seemed to fall over him as he set the plate down and took his seat next to Edward. Edward tried to scoot away from the man but his leg was pinned by the Sergeant. He knew something. He knew something he didn't and Edward felt guilt radiating from the man like he was radioactive. A horror filled the man's eyes like a haunted memory and it terrified Edward. He didn't know where it came from.

"Water," the man muttered as he seemed to shake the darkness from his mind and grabbed some scrambled eggs from the plate and shovelled them onto another plate.

"But it wasn't-" Kain started but Maes quickly hit him over the head to shut him up. The kid's eyes started to widen as he suddenly realised something and his mouth spoke a silent 'oh' as it hit him. Edward looked between everyone and saw that they all fell silent. He was getting very irritated.

"What is going on? What aren't you telling me?" Edward accused them, a soft growl forming in his chest. Kain went back to try and tinker with his leg but Edward shoved him away and shakily stood up. With his leg busted, he leaned heavily on the table. "what aren't you telling me?" he repeated sternly. The Colonel looked back to the suit of armour as if wondering if he should tell him.

"Mr. Mustang," the armour mumbled quietly. "I hate to admit but our lives… weren't that nice to begin with-"

"Would he believe me?" the man questioned. Edward steamed that they were refusing to talk to him, but they had a point. They were his captors. He listened to them like they had cursed tongues. There was little reason for him to trust them. Yet, what the man had said about his automail…

"No matter what you say, I won't believe you," Edward mumbled as he stared down at his hand that braced him up on the table. The room silenced and Edward looked around to everyone as they stared equally back at him. "However, what you said about my automail… I am curious as to the other things you might have to tell me. It might be horrible, but I want to know."

"So do you admit that we were write about your automail?" Maes urged him.

"NO. I am not saying that! I just want to get them fixed and go back to Central Command!" Edward retorted. There was another long pause and the room stilled until the Colonel nodded his head acceptingly.

"Very well," he sighed. "Since we won't keep you here, I guess I could let you leave knowing, at least to the extent that I witnessed, what really went on in the laboratories."

"What laboratories?" Edward asked a sudden fear replacing his aggravation. He never heard anything of labs unless he was threatened to be taken back. He was never there, but then again, he felt his body quaking in fear with even the mention of them. What happened to him? He felt his ears flatten and Mustang motioned for him to take a seat. His good knee collapsed and he fell back into the wooden chair.

"Edward, you were abducted."