A/N: Ack! Sorry, guys, I meant to publish when I woke up like I normally do, but, you know, first day of school after Winter Break. Here it is!

Thank you to Dark Cat Food Lover, Alheli, MusiclyInclined, loveantauri, Abi the Authoress, ShadowPillow, and TheHaloFreak for reviewing!

Title: For the Sake of Science

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Angst/Family

Warnings: Child abuse, human experimentation

Summary: A very different Hohenheim stays in Resembool, and Roy Mustang finds the effects of his experiments too late. With his help, Ed and Al set out to discover what he was trying to do, and along the way, find much, much more. Brotherhood AU.

Disclaimer: If I owned Fullmetal Alchemist, would I really be here right now?


It hurt. Oh, God, did it hurt. Burning, pulsing, throbbing all over, and Ed just wanted to stop hurting.

He thrashed back and forth, tears streaming down his face, bruising his fragile, six-year-old wrists. Sobs wracked his chest, and he screamed, not for the first time that night.

Hohenheim looked harried and strained, sweat beading on his forehead and expression pinched as he loaded another vial, a soft, frantic stream of reassurances falling from his lips.

"It's okay, Edward, you'll be okay, it'll be over soon, just three more vials, you've done five already, you're almost done, my brave little boy, just hold on a little longer, Ed, please…"

Al was crying, curled up in a corner of the lab, half hidden under a table, mumbling, "Stop it…" and "Please, Daddy" over and over.

Hohenheim's hand shook as he lined up the sixth injection and administered it, as quickly as he could. He barely had the time to withdraw it before Ed arched up, letting out a gut-wrenching scream.

"STOP IT!" Ed screamed finally, crying, pulling back and forth madly. Hohenheim jerked back, eyes wide and startled. "Stop it, please, Dad, it hurts, I can't take it, Dad please… I can't… Dad, please… please…"

Hohenheim dropped the syringe like boiled glass, releasing the bonds with a thought and pulling Edward into his lap, close to his chest, expression pained. "Okay, Edward, we're finished," he promised. "It's done, I won't do anything more to you tonight, we're finished…"

Ed cried into his chest, one hand fisted in his coat, shaking violently as ripples of pain jerked through his six-year-old body.

Hohenheim held him tightly and reached for the syringe, loaded with the second-to-last vial. "Alphonse," he called quietly.

Ed's eyes shot open, a scream catching in his chest. "No, Al!"

It was dark, no candlelight in the room, just a hint of dawn on the horizon out the window. There were no arrays in the room, no vial-lined tables, no needles.

Ed sighed and pushed himself up, shoulders shaking slightly, a mild ache permeating his flesh. He must have gone into a fit while he was asleep; that would explain the dream, at least. They usually didn't hurt like that. Well… not physically.

"Brother?"

Al was awake. Of course he was; one of the experiments had given him insomnia, and he hadn't slept for a full night in years.

Ed got up without looking at his little brother, crossing the room with his eyes on the floor. When he looked at Al, whose bronze eyes gleamed concernedly in the dim light, it was to raise his left hand and touch it gently to Al's melted cheek, the back of his hand brushing scarred flesh.

"I'm sorry, Al," he whispered.

Al's eyes softened in comprehension and he reached out, nerveless flesh brushing nerveless metal. "It's not your fault, brother."

"But it is!" Ed whispered, furious at himself, angry tears pricking at his eyes. "If I hadn't said-"

"Everyone has a threshold, brother," Al interrupted, not giving him time to finish. "Dad gave you more than you could take. You held on as long as you could, brother. It's okay." When Ed refused to reply, fists clenched and brow furrowed, he continued gently, "Let's go get you some breakfast; you probably won't be getting back to sleep."

Ed held his gaze a moment longer, and then blew out a long breath, nodded, and moved to change.

"Take your medicine," he muttered, pulling on a white glove.

Al nodded and grabbed his medicine bottle on the way out, rolling it reluctantly between his fingers.

The sun was rising by the time they made it out, but not much. Ed and Al quickly found the kitchen, and Al cracked some eggs into a pan, while Ed found some orange juice and two glasses, and then, upon further searching, two plates.

Within minutes, Al dumped most of the eggs on Ed's plate, and then the rest on his. Both of them sat at the counter, and without prompting, Ed took a bite and starting quietly describing them to Al.

They'd only just cleaned up when Alexander's barking told them that Nina was awake, and sure enough, within minutes, she appeared, eyes bright, hair down, and still in her blue pajamas.

"Big brothers!" she greeted cheerfully, hand on Alexander's flank, as usual. "G'morning!"

Al smiled at her. "Good morning, Nina. Did you sleep well?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh! I had a pretty dream where I was a fish and made pretty bubbles in the sky!"

Ed grinned and held back a laugh, shooting a look at Al. Al rolled his eyes at him and smiled at Nina. "That sounds like a fun dream, Nina."

She nodded happily. "Yeah!"

"Hey," Ed said suddenly. Both Al and Nina looked at him questioningly and he grinned. "I promised you we'd play, right?"

Nina beamed at him.

An hour later, a tired Tucker found Nina hiding behind a couch, eyes screwed up tightly shut, arms around her knees.

"Nina?" he questioned, frowning.

Nina peeked at him, giggled, and pressed a finger to her lips. "Sh!" she whispered.

Too late; Ed's head popped over the sofa, and he grinned down at Nina. "Found you!"

"Aw!" she pouted.

Al popped up beside Ed, smiling. "Don't worry, Nina, he found me first." She smiled and laughed.

Tucker chuckled, sat on the couch, and held out a hand. "Come Nina, let me braid your hair."

She sighed, but hopped obediently over to plop down in his lap. He picked up a hairbrush from where it was stored on the corner table and started to pull it through her hair. She made faces at every tangle and Tucker made sure to be careful, brushing in small sections as she wriggled.

"Thank you boys for watching her," Tucker told then as he worked. He set aside the brush and split her brown hair into two sections, beginning to braid one neatly, practice making his fingers deft. "I was surprised when I woke up and it was already nine." He chuckled, pausing to smile at them wryly. "Usually Nina's woken me up by now." He tied off one braid and started on the other.

"We liked playing with Nina," Al smiled, sitting on the couch, a way away from Tucker – between him and Ed, Tucker noted with a brief frown.

He covered it with a chuckle. "Even so, Nina can be quite a handful."

Ed hadn't thought she was at all, but then, he'd known her for less than a day. He shrugged, keeping an eye on Tucker, tense with his brother so close to him.

Tucker smiled and continued, "If you boys don't mind, could you help me find some books in the library later?" As both their eyes lit up at the mention of a library, he added, "I've got quite a large collection, so I'm sure you could find something for yourselves as well."

"Sure," Al said eagerly, then paused and shot Ed a guilty look.

Ed rolled his eyes at him and directed his words at Tucker. "Yeah, we both will." Al smiled.

Tucker finished tying off Nina's second braid and leaned forward, smiling as she looked at him disconsolately. "Okay, Nina, let's go get you dressed, and then Daddy has to work, okay?"

"Okay," she murmured softly, deflated. Tucker ruffled her bangs and then scooped her to himself, holding her close and standing up to take her to her room.

A half hour later had them in the library, searching the shelves for obscure books.

"Atomic Biology should be on the next shelf over," Tucker told Ed, brow furrowed as he searched the shelf in front of him for The Avi-Mammalian Chimera.

"Right." Ed eyed him for a moment before grabbing Al by the arm and pulling him over. "C'mon, Al, let's look."

Al went along easily, and the two of them vanished around the shelf, leaving Tucker alone to sigh ruefully.

When they reappeared, Ed with Atomic Biology tucked under his right arm, Tucker chuckled wryly. "You boys really don't trust me, do you?"

Al started, then smiled sheepishly and shuffled. Ed grunted and redirected pointedly, "You seem like you're going back to basics. How come?" At Tucker's startled look, he held up Atomic Biology. "Dad has this book at home. I've read it."

Tucker gave him a surprised look, and then another rueful smile. "My research really isn't going well," he explained, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I thought that reviewing the basics might help, but honestly, I'm getting desperate." He finally located the book and, pulling it off, continued, "I haven't had a chance to say it yet, but what your father did really is a shame. There are so few minds gifted in alchemy, and now I'm sure he's tainted your view of it forever."

Ed eyed him strangely for his choice of words, but shrugged it off; he had similar difficulties himself sometimes, and things didn't always come out right. "Not really. Sure, there were a few years when we wanted nothing to do with it, and I still want to stay far away from bioalchemy… but Teacher showed us you could do a lot of good with it, too."

"The first day we met her, she stopped the river from flooding our town," Al added in.

Tucker 'hm'ed with interest. "It's a shame you're not interested," he told Ed.

"Yeah, well…" Ed shrugged, and then his eyes gained an unfocused tint, and Tucker smiled ruefully at a point unintentionally well-made. Moments later, much quicker than before, Ed continued, "It's not that I think it's bad, I just don't want anything to do with it personally. Too many bad memories."

Tucker sighed. "Still, we only rarely get new minds in our field, and I'm sure the sons of Van Hohenheim himself…" He cut himself off with a hasty, fervent glance at them, but none of the expected anger was there; both boys just looked sad.

"You know," Ed said softly, not moving. "You know… what you don't get, you and the Second Lieutenant and the Lieutenant Colonel don't get… Dad was nice. He did a lot of stuff to us, and we hated that, but we loved him."

Looking up, Al added, trembling voice sloshing with feeling, "He was our Dad."

Tucker paused, giving both of them a startled look. Neither noticed, turned back to their work, as thoughtful interest began to bloom in his eyes.


I am very sad that none of you commented about Hohenheim telling the boys Xerxesian legends about himself. Very, very sad. For this, Ed gets a nightmare. Perhaps I will add a nightmare every time I am displeased. (OK, not really.) Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!