At the End of the Day

You are on your hands and knees in the basement of your childhood home. Alchemy begins to crackle through the chalk circle on the ground, blue and black lighting up the pitch black of the room. Hundred of tiny black arms shoot from the ground on the edges of the circle, and in the darkness behind you, can hear a million indecipherable voices whispering. The sound fills your head, bouncing around in your skull; it sends a horrible shudder down your spine.

Red sparks begin to crack through the circle, and there's blood all over the floor, completely soaking your hands and staining the knees of your pants. Your thighs are soaked in blood, and it dribbles from the cuts on your legs like a leaky faucet. You look around wildly for Ed or Al, but you can't find them.

You're all alone in the darkness, and the metallic tang of your own blood fills your nostrils, and you can taste it on the back of your tongue.

Suddenly, a figure begins to rise from the center of the circle. It's a suit of armor, cut in half at the waist. The helmet clatters to the ground, rolling to a stop in between your hands, still glued to the circle on the ground. You see a ruined seal painted in blood on the inside of the helmet, and suddenly Slicer's voice rings out from the silence.

"Why did you kill me?!" he screams, and you can hear his brother wailing from the center of the circle, the armored legs flailing through air at unnatural angles. "Why did you kill me?!"

Frantically, you shake your head, blood pouring down your face, your neck, streaming from the hole where your right eye should be. "I didn't!" you scream, thrashing, fighting uselessly to stand. "It wasn't me!"

"WHY DID YOU KILL ME, ECHO?! WHY DID YOU KILL ME?!"

You screw your eye shut and scream into the darkness, and then for a moment, everything goes quiet.

Chest quivering with the broken sobs that rip through your body, you open your eye to find yourself standing upright in complete darkness. Reaching out a hand, you press your palm into a wall about a foot in front of you. Feeling around blindly, you find yourself in a tiny room. Your hand grasps the doorknob and you jiggle it desperately, but it's locked. You hear a woman screaming, men laughing, and glass breaking. Terror floods your chest, and you stagger backwards. The back of your knees hit something and your legs give out. You curl yourself into a ball in the box in the closet and clamp both hands tightly over your mouth.

You feel a pair of arms wrap around you, pulling you back to your feet. You open your eye and see Ed standing in front of you. He smiles at you, his beautiful golden eyes reflecting the dim light of your bedroom. "Oh, Echo," he sighs, shaking his head a little. "Did you really think that I wouldn't find out? That you could keep your dirty little secret forever?"

You try to recoil, but his hands squeeze your arms tightly. "W-what are you talking about?" you stutter. His grip tightens even more, and you try to step back, wincing. "Ed, that hurts! Let go!"

"And why should I?" his voice is cold and mocking, and you've never heard him speak like that before—not to you, anyway. "What are you going to do if I don't? Are you going to take that little blade and cut up your legs some more?" He lets out a biting laugh.

Your heart sinks into your stomach, and you look down at yourself. Your legs are bare, covered in bleeding cuts and scabs and scars, and you struggle to free yourself from his arms. "Stop it!" You beg. "Ed, let me GO!"

His lip curls in disgust. "Filthy freak. It's all your fault, you know. You're the reason that Al lost his body. You're the reason why I'm stuck with this stupid automail. Everything is all your fault! I hate you!"