Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or Gravity Falls. They belong to Hiromu Arakawa and Alex Hirsch respectively. I only own the OC characters.

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A loud clanging sound woke Katelyn from her light doze. She took in the scenery of the dark stone room around her and was immediately reminded of her situation. She scrambled back up to her knees, the skin still raw and aching. But she ignored it. She was greeted by their captor striding into their prison, still holding that indifferent air about her.

"Good morning," she said, pointedly ignoring Katelyn's piercing glare. "I hope you've rested well. With that being said, there's no point in waiting any longer. Let's get started, shall we?" Katelyn was disturbingly baffled at the woman's attempt at making small talk while implying terrible things to come.

Their captor moved towards the wall opposite Katelyn, where most of the area was shrouded in darkness, her vision unable to pierce that veil any further. Soon after, she heard what sounded like wood or metal scraping against stone. The woman finally emerged from the shadows, grunting as she pulled some strange device from the inky blackness. Katelyn's eyes widened in horror at the sight of it. With one final tug, the woman positioned the diabolical contraption in the center of the room.

Katelyn was vaguely aware of sweat pouring down her face. "Wh-what is that? What're you gonna do?" She didn't even try to hide the shakiness in her voice, betraying how terrified she truly felt. The woman simply smirked at her, the first emotion she's ever shown thus far. "Edward will be the one experiencing it. Why don't you describe it to him?" She looked up at the manacled boy dangling high above her, who had not moved in the slightest since she entered.

Katelyn wrenched her gaze away from the horrific sight before her and looked up at Ed. She couldn't tell at all if he was awake. He just hung there, silent and still. The woman stared back at Katelyn, noticing the girl's hesitation. "It would be cruel to leave it up to his imagination. He should at least know what to expect."

Katelyn grit her teeth, trying not to show how much the woman's words got to her. She was right, however, which was truly the most infuriating thing about all this. Swallowing, she steeled herself before speaking. "Ed? Are you awake?" A few seconds passed before the bag around the boy's head shifted, a slight bob of the head. An equivalent to a nod in his awkward position. Katelyn didn't know whether to feel scared or relieved. She pressed on regardless. "Have...have you been listening?" Another bob of the head.

Her heart sped up. This was going to make things much more difficult for her. With an expression of barely concealed panic, she forced out the words she was so apprehensive to say. "I-It looks like a chair," she started, gulping. "Like a chair in one of those d-doctor's offices." She cursed at how much she was stuttering. Pushing down the humiliation that threatened to rise in her, she continued. "It h-has these...poles? With screws at the end."

The woman seemed satisfied with her description, walking towards the crank near the door. She started lowering Edward to the ground, the chains grinding together. Katelyn wasn't paying attention to this, however. She was still staring at what was clearly a torture device, situated for all to see. The chair itself looked to be crudely made; it was hard to tell if it was made of wood or steel. There were, indeed, rusty metal poles sticking up from the base of the chair's frame, large metal screws fastened on each end. The poles were bent at certain angles to direct the point of the screws towards whoever was unlucky enough to be subjected to this torment. The thought that Ed was going to be the unlucky one made fear curl inside Katelyn's gut.

Once Ed was settled on the ground, the woman walked back and unhooked the chain from his leg irons. He was still lethargic and sluggish, making small movements and groaning. He was most likely disoriented from being hung upside down for so long. Nevertheless, it made it easier for their captor to hoist him up by his shoulders and deposit him in the rickety-looking chair. She made some small movement that Katelyn couldn't see to remove the boy's manacles, setting them aside. He was still too out of it to properly react, and before he knew it, his arms and legs were secured in the manacles the contraption was equipped with. He even felt thick straps wrapping around his waist and chest before he even began pulling at the restraints.

Katelyn could do nothing but stare in horror as their captor locked a child into a medieval-style torture device. The woman moved to stand next to Edward's head, pulling one of the poles to position a screw over his left shoulder, just underneath his collarbone. "This right here is an interesting one," she said flatly, as if she wasn't cruelly tormenting a young boy. "As for similar methods of torture, this was used for interrogations. However, it did more than just simply inflict flesh wounds." She set the tip of the screw on Ed's bare skin and gripped the head of it with her free hand.

Katelyn struggled against the chains holding her, her expression wild. "No, don't!" she pleaded. "Don't hurt him! Do it to me, please! You can do whatever you want to me, but please leave him alone!" The shackles bit at her skin with how hard she was pulling on them. But they wouldn't give. Edward, still shackled to the chair, was taking huge and fast breaths, as if he were trying to prevent himself from hyperventilating and failing miserably. He felt the sharp point of the screw against his skin, and he couldn't help but quiver underneath it. Their captor ignored Katelyn's cries, and, slowly, began twisting the screw into Ed's flesh.

Edward cried out in pain, body straining against the bonds holding him secure. With each twist, another stab of agony flared in his shoulder. He felt warm blood dripping down his arm. After a few more turns, which felt like an eternity, the woman let go of the screw. He was left panting from the exertion, his hands clenched into fists. He tried to stay as still as possible so as not to jostle the piece of metal in his flesh. However, his short reprieve did not last long as their captor twisted three more screws into his body, one in the center of his chest right below his sternum, one in his hip, and one just above his kneecap. Among his cries, he could vaguely make out Katelyn's voice, begging for the woman to stop. But the pain continued.

The woman moved back to the screw lodged in his shoulder, gripping it once again. "This device was specifically designed to inflict insurmountable agony," she said, Katelyn terrified of what she was implying. "It was effective on the victims, usually forcing them to talk after a few minutes." With that, she wiggled the screw back and forth in his flesh, deliberately scraping the metal against bone. Edward screamed, excruciating pain radiating from the puncture point. Katelyn wished her hands weren't bound so she could cover her ears. Hell, she wished she was free so she could stop Ed's agony. A sound like that should never come out of a sixteen-year-old boy.

Yet she was forced to watch Ed's suffering as the woman went to each screw, repeating the action again and again. His pain-filled shrieking pierced her ears, echoing inside her brain. She yanked at her binds, unphased by the pain of the metal cutting into her flesh. It was nothing compared to what Ed was feeling. Her throat eventually became sore from screaming. Yet she still begged their captor to spare him.

This went on for hours.

Finally, after she thought that she couldn't take any more of Ed's torment, the woman stopped. "I think that's enough for today," she stated. With a hard tug, she yanked the screws out of the boy's flesh, blood spurting out of the wounds. Ed cried out every time their captor viciously pulled out each piece of metal, hearing the tender meat of his muscles being ripped apart. The woman retrieved the manacles and quickly slapped them back on as soon as she released him. She pulled him up out of the chair, where he promptly fell over onto his side, panting heavily, blood from his wounds congealing in a pool around him. Their captor dragged the hellish device back where she had gotten it from, moving it out of sight.

Katelyn was speechless. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the large mass of blood that stained the floor. She felt utterly helpless. She was the one that had gotten Ed in this situation. This was all her fault. Anger and despair fought for dominance within her, and she curled her hands into fists. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice that the woman had left the room and come back. She only caught sight of her when she looked up and saw her approaching, holding a steaming bowl of stew and a water bottle.

Katelyn frowned, realizing what the woman intended. "Him first," she croaked, throat still raw. The woman paused, raising an eyebrow at her. Katelyn stared her down, letting her know that she was serious. "He needs it more than me. Give it to him first."

The woman stared at her, expression unreadable, before shrugging. "Suit yourself," she said, turning on her heel to approach the trembling boy huddled in the center of the room. She pulled Edward's head onto her lap, loosening the mouth of the bag enough to uncover his mouth. She pulled out the gag, letting it hang loose around his neck. She used the spoon in the bowl to shovel the meal past his lips, the horribly injured boy taking it greedily. Katelyn tried not to shiver at the sight. Once the woman had given Ed half the contents of each item, which was enough just to keep him alive, she replaced the gag and secured the bag over his head once again. She stood up, letting the starving boy drop to the floor.

Katelyn was next. She managed to swallow her pride as she was spoon-fed like an infant, trying not to seem as demeaned as she clearly was. Once she was finished consuming the rest of the meal, the woman set the empty bowl and water bottle by the door before walking over to grab the hook again. She hooked it to Ed's leg irons again and lifted him back into the air, hanging in an uncomfortable position. Katelyn realized, with another pang of dread, that this was part of his suffering that she was supposed to "learn" from. The thought sent rage bubbling up inside her.

The woman picked up the bowl and water bottle after locking the crank into place and made her way to the door. "Now you see what I am trying to show you. The hopelessness of your struggle." She turned back to glance at them. "Get comfortable," she said before exiting, shutting them away in darkness once more, Ed's blood dripping to the floor the only sound echoing in the vast chamber.

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Author's Note: Yay, I'm not dead! Yet. Decided to give you guys another chapter cause I'm still on that whump train. The whole collection I have has surpassed 100,000 words on Word.

Ugh. I'm 20 but this looks like it was written by a horny fourteen-year-old.

Praise is appreciated and constructive criticism is encouraged.

See you next time!

-The_Mayflower