A/N: Jesus Christ, Lord Above. *scowl* Yeah, no, I got nothing. *shrug* I've moved off of FMA temporarily, and I can't really speak for when I'll go back in. Already, this is a day and a half after I meant to publish this, and this would have been a troublesome chapter at the best of times. Sorry. Even more sorry for making you wait so long for such a half-assed chapter.

Thank you to Mantacat, Yami- The Lord of Darkness, Secret Companion, LadyOfBirds, TheHaloFreak, and guest 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?

"And the array won't destabilize?" Al asked with interest, peering at the circle Keldeen was sketching for them, explaining as he went.

"Not at all," Keldeen assured him. He glanced at Ed, who was nodding thoughtfully. Al followed his gaze and gave his brother an inquisitive look. In response, Ed grinned at him and tapped one glyph, and Al 'oh'ed excitedly.

"So the energy flow won't be disrupted when you shift your attention," Al translated happily, looking at the complicated array.

"And you can heal multiple cuts with one array," Keldeen confirmed. He smiled at them. "You boys are quite intelligent. There are men three times your age who stare at me blankly when I explain arrays half this complicated."

Ed snorted and rolled his eyes, then disregarded the remark entirely in favor of grabbing a sheet of paper and sketching another glyph. "What about burns? If you added this, wouldn't it do burns too?"

"It would," Keldeen told him. "But that would make it harder to use on a regular basis; most people have enough difficulty with this one as it is."

Ed 'hm'ed and shrugged. "It's a good array," he said finally.

Keldeen chuckled. "Thank you. I normally work with medicine, of course, so physiology isn't quite my specialty, but this is an array I'm rather proud of."

"Are you having fun?" Mustang asked dryly; he'd been following, certainly, but this entire experience was looking like it would do unpleasant things to his pride.

Al looked at him and gave him a shy, but pleased smile in response.

A knock came on the door then and Mustang got up to open it. Ed half-listened as Keldeen continued to explain some of the finer points of the array to them.

"Ah, hello, Colonel. Here already?"

"Yes, Sanders. You're late." Then, in an undertone, "As is everyone else."

Sanders laughed. "You're so picky! Well, let me in, come on now."

"I suppose I have to give you points for getting here before everyone else." With a roll of his eyes that Ed could hear, Mustang stepped aside, and Ed glanced up gingerly to find a tall man with red hair and a cocky grin that didn't for a moment hide the calculation in his eyes, maybe five years older than Mustang.

The man gave them a friendly smile. Ed frowned back, and Al gave a nervous smile and a wave.

"Killian Sanders, the Neuro Alchemist," the man introduced himself, sweeping his gaze over both of them. Then, to Ed, "You look just like your father, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," Ed answered, not taking his eyes off the man. "Hey."

Sanders chuckled and moved to sit beside Keldeen, feigning casualness, and then immersed himself in the conversation, not missing the wariness of both children.

Two more showed up in the next half hour: a middle-aged man with greying black hair called Westly Braunsohn, the Animal Alchemist, who claimed that human alchemy made him squeamish but had useful applications in non-human bioalchemy, and a younger man called Albert Weston with blond hair and blue eyes.

That led into dinner, and that led them into where they were now, huddled over the bone-healing circle while Ed and Al took turns explaining, not even glancing at each other as they did.

"I don't recognize this symbol here," Weston noted, tapping one sigil in particular. "Nor several others." He glanced up questioningly at the older alchemists, silently asking if any of them did.

Without waiting for their confirmation, Ed said dismissively, "Of course not, Al and I made them up." He shrugged. "There are probably versions of it, but we don't know 'em."

Sanders' eyes focused on him, and Mustang raised an eyebrow; so it hadn't been simply because of his inexperience with bioalchemy.

"How was that?" Keldeen asked with interest, frowning slightly.

"They're Amestrian for certain," Braunsohn added in, also frowning. "Or else they would not work."

"They're Amestrian versions of some alkahestry sigils," Al explained helpfully, smiling slightly. "Alkahestry has always been better for healing, and that's at least partially because they spend a lot more time on it, so they have more symbols." At their startled looks, he ducked his head. "Dad taught us a little alkahestry when we were little, but we always liked alchemy better." Ed grunted in agreement, scowling at the thought of the spiritual practice.

There was silence for a moment, and Ed squirmed slightly, flushing, as they all stared at him and Al.

"It wasn't that hard," he mumbled, sitting back to scowl at his half-finished plate. Al nodded, smiling nervously, cheeks only a few shades lighter.

Mustang chuckled and sat back as well, dark eyes warm with something surprisingly fond. "Of course not," he murmured, shaking his head at it all. After a few moments, he took pity on them and removed the circle from the middle, tucking it back into his pocket, and looked up at the other adults, who had not yet recovered from their first experience of the Elric Phenomenon. "Actually, we had another motive in asking you here today."

Sanders raised one eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Hohenheim, by my understanding, was not very forthcoming with his sons over some of his larger projects. Now that he's passed, they have been trying to investigate into them, but it has been rather difficult." Mustang tried very hard not to scowl. "I had Alphonse bring over one of the circles their father made relevant to a certain set of projects."

Braunsohn nodded thoughtfully. "It should be interesting," he allowed.

"A good challenge," Weston agreed with a smile. "Shall we?"

"Alphonse?" Mustang looked at the boy expectantly. Reprieve over.

"R-right." Alphonse took the paper with the carefully drawn circle out of his pocket and placed it in the center, where the bone-healing array had rested minutes before, and the group of scientists fell upon it once again, lapsing into discussion, with both boys taking an equal part in - sometimes to explain an Amestrian-Alkahestric hybrid symbol (something that seemed to lie exclusively with the Elric family), sometimes to explain a theory of their fathers, and sometimes to ask a question.

"An array to enhance memory," Ed muttered, summarizing what their theories had been leading toward. "Yeah, that's pretty much what we thought. It lines up."

"What you thought?" Weston glanced at them, slightly surprised. "Did you already know what it was?"

"We were pretty sure," he admitted. "But we only knew what it did, not how."

Weston studied him for a long moment, frowning slightly, but Sanders interrupted with a warning look to Weston.

"It's very interesting. How old is this array? One of your father's last?"

Ed and Al both shook their heads.

"He finished this one when I was about six, probably," Al offered, one bronze eye thoughtful on the circle. "But maybe some time before that."

"Do you have others?" Braunsohn asked, reluctant to leave this alone. "Of which you are less certain? Perhaps some of the later ones?"

Keldeen chuckled. "Don't sound too eager, Westly. You'll ruin your image."

Braunsohn frowned at him. "I may not like human alchemy, but I will not pass up any opportunity to view Hohenheim's work," he said firmly and with great dignity. "That is all."

"No one is doubting your morals, Lieutenant Colonel," Mustang soothed, amusement coloring his tone. "Edward? Alphonse?"

They glanced at each other. Not a word passed between them, but after a moment, Ed nodded, and then Al nodded back, and Al reached for the paper and a stray pencil that sat in the middle. He flipped it over, to the back, and for a moment, he sat quietly, drawing.

Weston wasn't the only one with a bad feeling.

Finally, Alphonse finished, and placed it in the middle without another word. That was Edward's job, voice quieter than it had been that whole night, a scowl on his mouth and his father's golden eyes focused on nothing they could see. He didn't have to look to know which array Alphonse had chosen.

"We don't know what this one does," Edward told the air, not looking at any of them. "But it was the culmination of a project he'd been working on since before we were born, and probably his biggest one ever. This was the last array he ever activated." He met Mustang's eyes and added silently, only to him, If you don't trust them, stop us now.

Mustang met his gaze evenly, and gave an almost imperceptible nod. Ed looked away, not quite satisfied, but desperate enough to go with it.

Because he was tired of flailing around in the dark, and whatever that array was - they'd need to know sooner rather than later. The sooner, the better.

The atmosphere as this last array was studied was much more somber than those previous, because none of these men were dumb, nowhere near, and though Ed and Al might be able to fool themselves into thinking otherwise, Mustang knew that most, if not all, of them were growing suspicious. He just also knew that none of them would breathe a word to anyone.

They wouldn't be here otherwise.

Finally, almost an hour later, when the sun was just done setting, Keldeen shook his head and sat back in his seat, face slightly grim.

"There's no way of knowing," he said, to nods of agreement. "There's too much we don't know, and too many symbols derived from alkahestry - too many abstract concepts involved."

"That's alright," Al said softly, unable to hide his disappointment. "We'll figure it out on our own, eventually."

"Whatever it is, though…" Weston, the only adult not a state alchemist in the room, looked uneasy. "Well, be careful. I'm sorry, but… This is something that your father probably shouldn't have messed with."

Ed's gaze was steady on the array, dark. There was no scowl on his face, but the frown might have been worse. "Yeah. I know."

IMPORTANT

At least half of you probably saw this coming. Yes, I am putting this on a TEMPORARY hiatus, which should end in three to six months, depending on where my mind wanders. No longer than that. I'm going to mark it in the summary as ending by December 16th, 2015. Okay? Not okay. Okay. See you then.