DA: Jeez, this has been one helluva week, so I apologize immensely for the late update. I've been working on autopilot all day today and concentration has been a thing of nonexistence. But I hauled myself off my ass to update because I don't want to disappoint anyone! I love you guys that much!

Disclaimer: Nope, nada, nothing, zilch... Need I go on?

DA: Anyways, onto the chapter. The usual warnings apply. This chapter is pretty vicious so be warned now. ENJOY!

Darkness to Dawn

Chapter 6

When the Brigadier General walked into the room, Ed, chained to the wall, had several people surrounding him. One soldier was holding him down, hands tightening rather painfully around the shackles on boy's wrists. The others had prepared and eager fists, taking turns digging their knuckles into the teen's abdomen. Another had his palms wrapped securely around the blond's throat, squeezing tightly as if to actually kill him. His golden gaze was dazed, pupils dilated in a way that wasn't exactly healthy. His forehead was scraped as if it had been dragged across the floor, blood trickling down the bridge of his nose and into the corners of his eyes. Under the scrape was a rather dark bruise that could be mistaken as a clump of dirt smudged around the injury. The entirety of his face was accented by more contusions, blood crusting the edges of several of them. His lips were starting to turn blue, an interesting choking sound gurgling from his mouth.

Brigadier General Hubert cleared his throat and the men released the small boy, standing at attention to their superior. The Brigadier General merely grinned, letting them scatter off in various directions, and inspected his prisoner. Ed, now that he was no longer being held back, curled unconsciously inward, his free hand protectively cradling his abused torso. Definitely bruised ribs, if they weren't broken. Ed coughed weakly, moaning quietly as he turned to face his new company. "Oh, shit," he mumbled, spitting out some blood that had caught in his mouth. "Thought I was rid of you when they moved me. Must be unlucky." He grinned snidely at the Brigadier General, not realizing the effect was somewhat ruined by the scarlet smeared over his white teeth. The Brigadier General rolled his eyes, already getting used to the alchemist's rudeness.

"I was wondering whether you'd changed your mind Elric," he said, his brown eyes glittering with triumph. "All this would end if you just agreed to our terms. Wouldn't that make everything easier?" It was Ed's turn to roll his eyes, lips closing over his teeth.

"What's right isn't always easy. But you wouldn't know that would you General Shithead?" The older man's cheeks colored at the nickname, his temper rising steadily. Ed had a talent for pressing a person's buttons and he knew it and used it to his advantage. After all, it was far easier to manipulate an enemy if he was too angry to control himself.

"You know the drill, boy," the Brigadier General hissed, his back tensed. "I'm going to offer one more time and then things get ugly." The blond remained silent, goading him with those golden eyes that shone in the dim lighting of the cell. It never mattered how much of his blood coated the floor; those eyes never lost their luster. The Cretan General sighed, glaring at the alchemist. "Just remember, you asked for this." He pulled a key from his pocket and released the boy from the chains, each cuff falling to the tile in individual clanks. Ed's eyebrows furrowed, confused at this development. He wasn't sure whether this was good or bad yet.

The greying man dug the tip of his polished boot into his stomach, forcing the boy onto his back. Ed shut his eyes briefly against the resulting pain that sprang up from the collision. "Are you sure you don't want to reconsider your answer?" The Brigadier General's foot rested comfortably on the young man's chest, his grinning face peering down at him. Ed's own eyes just narrowed, annoyed with the constant questions. His answer was always going to be the same dammit! "Suit yourself." The foot lifted and dropped, slamming down hard on his flesh knee.

The agony started instantly, the pressure too much on the joint. Ed felt the scream building up in his throat, but he didn't dare let it out. The Brigadier General shifted forward, forcing his whole weight on the already straining appendage. Something popped, tendons and ligaments shearing and tearing. Pain shot up his leg with each snap, tears rushing to his eyes. Black dots speckled his vision as the kneecap finally cracked, shattering underneath the full weight of the older man on the bone. Ed swallowed back the rough cry of pain that tried to rush from his mouth. Well, this stopped any chance of him escaping on his own.

It took him a few moments to realize that the foot had been removed, the older man stepping away from him. He shifted experimentally, only to find that anything that jostled his knee sent sharp agony burning up each one of his nerves. The color drained from his face at the bent form filling his pant-leg and he averted his gaze back to the bastard who caused this damage. If he had a limp for the rest of his life because of this, this asshole was going to pay. "Is that all you got asswipe?" he still managed to snarl despite the throbbing pain that interrupted anything he tried to say with a steady voice. "I've seen rocks do a better job than you. More intelligent too." The Brigadier General's face glowed with that brilliant shade of red that Ed was so proud of inspiring in the man. He was gasping, the pain unreal.

The Cretan's foot raised again, a malicious grin lighting the alarmingly colored face. A blur of polished black was all Ed got for a warning, a mere split second to brace himself. With only a deep breath as preparation, the foot slammed into the teen's forearm, pressing harder and harder until an audible crack echoed through the empty room. The blond choked on a scream, his vision dimming. Hubert's foot twisted on the broken limb, the torn edges of the bone grinding against one another. Tears streamed down his face, pained sobs emerging strangled from his throat. With one final stomp, the pressure eased, the now separated bone rubbing unnaturally against the inside of his skin.

He took deep, frantic breaths through his nose, releasing them slowly out his mouth. His heart fluttered excitedly in his chest, thudding painfully against his bruised ribs. Vaguely, he could hear the Brigadier General chuckling, but he lacked the strength to snip at him. It would take a while to gather the energy to do so, so he remained silent, making attempts to regulate his breathing. Sharp agony flared red hot at any movement, even the subtle shifting of his chest as it rose to accommodate air. Any color that had gathered in his face after the last injury was long gone by now, his skin greyish in color. Heavy bangs fell into his eyes, his eyelids trying to force themselves closed. He couldn't give in. To do so would let the asshole General know that he was winning. Nope. Not happening. Death would come before unconsciousness.

Metal scraped against metal, the sound of some sort of blade being drawn from a sheath. Ed's eyes flew open, adrenaline snaking through his veins to wake him from his pained stupor. Swallowing harshly, he forced himself upright to lean against the wall, keeping his golden gaze trained carefully on the soldier advancing slowly, a curved knife clutched in his grasp. Hadn't enough of his blood been spilled already? He could still taste it on his tongue, feel it soaking his ripped clothing. Brigadier General Hubert sighed, lifting the knife to his face. He pressed a finger lightly against the edge, smiling when it took a bit more than a touch to slit the skin. "Why do you have to be so difficult?" he questioned, sounding disappointed. The boy's responding smirk took far more effort than he would admit to, fatigue weighing him down.

"Because, unlike you assholes, I have morals. Not surprising really, seeing as your torture techniques seem to be lacking refinement. What? Am I your first prisoner?" Even his voice sounded exhausted, slurring slightly with flecks of pain. But the effect was not lost with the weakness of his tone, the Brigadier General's face twisting into an ugly scowl, brown eyes smoldering in dark anger.

"I have destroyed many a man through these techniques, boy. You will soon fall. Just like they did." Ed could feel the beginnings of fear brush against his insides, the dim lighting reflecting off the silver of the polished blade. Shit, not good. He couldn't even transmute properly. With broken limbs, the amount of concentration necessary for alchemy just couldn't happen. Not without a sizable amount of time. And even if he could find it in him to transmute, his automail hadn't been working properly since that engineer had been fucking around with their insides. Maybe this really was going to be the end of him...

The knife raised and the alchemist flung his metal arm up to protect his already aching head. Metal clanged and a line of fire traced from the bottom of his shoulder port to his hip, warmth spilling over the injury. Muscles severed, the skin splitting neatly in two to allow for the movement of the knife down his side. Broken or not, his flesh hand clamped over the injury the moment the Brigadier General retreated, feeling blood slip neatly between his fingers. Heavy drops ran down his fingers and onto the floor, joining the small pool created by the excess dripping from the knife. Hubert eyed the film over his weapon, pleasure flickering in his brown eyes. The pain almost didn't register, the pain of shattered bones well overtaking that of a simple cut, but it did, adding to the overall throbbing throughout his body.

"Is...that all you...got?" he muttered between gasps, sweat running in stinging streams down his face. Something told him he should probably shut the hell up about now, but seeing as he'd never listened to that voice before, he ignored it, falling back on battle-honed instincts. The Brigadier General's eyebrow rose, lips curling into a cruel smirk.

"You want more boy?" Ed's throat closed up, his mind solely concentrating on regulating the flow of oxygen in and out of his body. The bloodstained blade flashed as it swung down again, sinking deeply into the calf just below his injured knee. He gasped, head thrown back against the pain as it jostled the already injured knee, sending sharp spikes of pure agony traveling up his spine. A pitiful moan reached his ears as the soldier brutally twisted the blade, scarlet life spurting up slightly into the man's face. Appearing disgusted, Hubert backed off once more, dragging the knife from the wound. He rubbed at his face with gloved hands, the blood smearing across his skin and staining the white cloth. "I can't believe you don't realize how incredibly stupid you're being. I'm offering you your life and what do you do, ignore it and accepting the pain with open arms. Your ignorance never ceases to amaze me." Throwing the knife to the ground, excess blood spattering across the tile from the edge of the blade, he knelt down and picked up something at his feet, measuring the weight of it in his hands.

Ed, more than a little dizzy from blood loss, stared at the new makeshift weapon, not truly recognizing the threat for what it was. His hand had moved from its place around his side to grasp at his calf, pain etched on his paling face. His golden eyes were wide and blank, the pupils expanding by the second. His body trembled against his will, cold leeching up from his fingertips. Of his surroundings however, he was hyper-aware. The wall pressed against his back was rough and cold to the touch, the individual roughness of each brick more annoying than painful; the floor was freezing, the tile sapping any warmth he had left to share, and slowly growing more and more slick with his own blood. Shock. He was definitely going into shock.

A dark blur swung in front of him and the blond flinched belatedly, the metal rod already slamming hard into his chest. Ribs crunched beneath the unyielding metal, the force of the blow sending his mostly limp body skidding away from the wall that he'd been using as support to keep sitting upright. Sounds faded and crackled, someone yelling something in anger, but he was too far gone to feel the pain, nor distinguish words from the noise. The Brigadier General appeared above him, anger twisting his expression into something fierce. The bar swished downward again, an unsettling cracking sound filtering through the mess of his own beating heart. Intense pain pulled him from his fog and he came rushing back into himself in a burst, a raw scream pouncing from his lips. His arm, oh God, his arm! The scream tapered off into gasping sobs, his body curling around the severely injured limb.

His automail arm couldn't feel the blood rushing between the plates and into the wiring, nor could he see the cut that the rod had torn into his forearm, his artificial limb blocking all site of the injury. A hand grasped at his collar, yanking him to meet a pair of furious eyes. "You don't pass out until I'm done with you, got it?" Ed remembered just enough to be pissed at the man, spitting bloody saliva directly into the older man's face. With a displeased grunt, the boy was thrown to the floor once more, head colliding harshly against the unforgiving stone. "You will regret your decision, Elric."

Ed wasn't sure where he found the strength to form intelligible words, but he was proud of himself. "Like...hell...I will..." Even if they were half moaned and spat furiously through his clenched teeth before he lost his cognition completely. The Brigadier General, who himself was looking rather ragged, blood dripping from his face and staining his clothing, snarled, bringing his weapon up once more. Had he done that? He just wasn't sure of anything right now.

Before the blond could even move, the pole had been thrust into his leg, just above the automail port on his left thigh. An anguished scream left his bloodied lips as it dug deeper and deeper,digging through countless muscles and tendons, skin tearing with each inch. When he thought it could go no further, it slammed into the bone, bringing another rush of agony up to accompany the injury.

And it kept going.

Ed tried to weakly withdraw his leg, but every movement was fruitless, the rod jammed far enough in where it couldn't be moved. The Brigadier General had even yanked at it for good measure, but nothing. Pain was overwhelming him, dragging him under a sea of black. The older man twisted the pole, dragging a weaker yell from the boy.

Ed was losing his battle with consciousness. Right before his coherency left him, a muttered sentence brushed against ears that were losing their sensitivity. "Great. I think I overdid it... Looks like plan B has become our only option..." And then the world faded to a peaceful and painless black around the teenaged alchemist.

DA: You know, sometimes I feel really bad about what I'm doing to Ed, but then I shake my head and admit to myself that I enjoy it. Haha. I hope this chapter was as thrilling as the last torture scene, perhaps more so!

I think I'm going to extend my post time to include 8:00PM EST. Half the time, I'm so tired after school that I can't manage to muster the energy to get to my computer till later in the day. But I will still post on Friday's until this fic is done!

I'm gonna leave you with this for today! As always tell me what you think about today's chapter and see you all next Friday!

May your hearts stay strong,

DarkAngel555