Chapter Text
Edward tried to close his eyes, but his common sense and maybe fear got the better of him. He didn’t really want to listen to common sense. He wanted to sit in the dark and forget that he was trapped.
It wouldn't be hard. He was already so numb and fuzzy. He could forget if he wanted to.
But he sighed, knowing that for his better safety; he had to keep his eyes open. Don’t slip back into the grey blur of your mind.
He shouldn’t have felt that way.
He pressed his head further into the cool metal bars, hoping that might give his brain a stir. He needed to push out the fog in his head. He needed to get it out. He had to be able to think again.
It wasn’t the easiest thing to do. His brain would have much preferred to shut off and relax. He felt better like that. Maybe if he fell back into the numbness, he could sort out his thoughts in peace. It won’t work. You’ll fade again, some part of his mind murmured to him, trying to ruin his chances of rest.
Open your eyes...
Take in your surroundings.
Where are you?
Don’t fade.
Focus...
His brain was a bastard, but it was also convincing enough apparently.
Edward peeled open his bleary eyes, only now realising they had fallen shut again. When did that happen? It doesn’t matter.
He scanned the area around him. He was still trapped... Wow, what a surprise... his very unhelpful brain supplied.
It wasn’t like he could escape. His automail was gone. Both his arm and leg. He was just screwed and he had no problem admitting it.
His eyes focused a bit, distracting him from his train of thought.
It was dark— very dark. There was very little light to illuminate any possible approaching attacker.
That’s why you have to focus!
He wished he could just shut his eyes and pretend to listen for footsteps approaching, to appease his frantic mind. But even if he could, it was too loud to even pretend that that was possible. The building his cage was located in was creaking in the wind, walls shifting with ever gust that blew past. It was sure to drown out any other sound, so that was a definite no.
There was apparently another thing to add to the growing list of unpleasant things he was starting to notice as he pushed back the fuzziness.
A nearly collapsing building, missing automail, fuzzy— not to mention unhelpful— brain, being stuck in a metal cage in the middle of the nearly collapsing building, and of course he couldn’t forget the way his flesh arm was restrained in three places along one of the bars, successfully keeping it from moving even a bit.
Damn it! Ed thought to himself as he realised he was probably drugged. It would explain how he managed to get in this situation and why his head felt like it was nestled up among cotton.
That certainly made things so much worse, but at least his brain was aware enough to pick up on it. Maybe he was improving.
The air filled with more creaking and clicking. Metal screeched against metal— a not very comforting sound from his position— as the building swayed on its foundation. The walls shifted about around him, almost visibly moving.
The fog was returning to his brain a moment later, reversing all of the improvement he had been feeling.
Edward blinked hard, trying and failing to shake the fuzziness from his head. He didn’t need to backtrack like that again.
Again the walls creaked.
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Edward but his lip to fight the headache he was getting and to ward off the still settling fog.
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
It didn’t really help the headache, but the fuzziness was getting easier to bear... a very little bit easier.
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Ed leaned back against the bars behind his head. It was anything but comfortable and did nothing good for his headache. He groaned, head resting between two bars.
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Something was wrong... Edward couldn’t place it, though. It wasn’t a sense of wrongness from the overall wrongness of the situation. It was something else. It was something new.
But thinking about it was only making his brain ache more.
What the hell is it? What could it be?
Click...
Creak...
Click...
Creak...
Click...
Click...
Click...
Click... Click... Click...
The damn clicking wasn’t helping him think any. It was so damn distracting.
Why wouldn’t it stop? The wind had stopped; the clicking should have stopped with it as well.
Edward’s body tensed as something started to work itself out inside his head.
Why was there a clicking sound? Why was it echoing through his ears even when the wind was still?
It was like heels on concrete.
Ed’s eyes widened and he spun, not caring that his arm was yanked on by the sudden movement. He didn’t have time to even process what was happening before a hand shot out through the bars, latching onto his throat.
Dark green eyes met Edward’s own golden ones. They looked hungry and purely evil, like the owner was enjoying torturing Edward, making his pulse race.
He didn’t even think about the fact that she was cutting off his air supply.
“Hello, Edward,” a woman’s voice greeted him.
He was only now processing that the person clutching his throat was even a woman. She was unnaturally strong, or maybe he was just weak from the drugs.
He choked and tried to gulp in precious oxygen, but nothing happened. His lungs remained empty and the hand around his vulnerable throat tightened.
He wanted to struggle but there was nothing he could even do. His only remaining arm was pinned.
“I see the drug is wearing off... Good.” He could almost imagine her internally licking her cherry-red painted lips. She smirked as if reading his thoughts through his eyes alone.
“Oh, you’re scared... That’s good. Channel that fear for Mustang when he comes calling.”
Edward’s vision was growing dimmer about the edges.
It wasn’t until the moment he was sure he would pass out that the hand left his throat.
He crumpled to the bottom of his cage, struggling for air.
The clicking began again.
He watched and heard the heels click against concrete as the woman strode into the now even darker shadows, once again accompanied by the creaking of old walls.