Rin scarfed down the plate of food as soon as it was brought out to him. To hell with manners. He was hungry and the guy serving him was a jerk! Also the food was amazing! Roy didn't really take him and his brother to really high-end, gourmet restaurants, and Shiro had never been able to afford that, but Rin imagined this was the kind of food they served.

Yoki gave a disgusted look before speaking. "It's such a great honor for me to be hosting genuine State Alchemists, such as yourselves, in my home," giving his biggest, fakest smile, "And since we are so blessed as to have such talented scientists in our midst, you should have them take a look at your alchemic attempts, Lyra."

"Yes," she said smiling, turning to the boys.

Rin stopped eating and gave her a mistrustful look. "No thanks," he bit out, "I saw enough of that at the inn."

"Yes we did," Ed gave him a look as he tried to keep the conversation polite, "She liquefied the air around her, reduced its volume and then vaporized it, producing a shockwave. The light came from the heat generated by the forced compression, needed to maintain entropy."

Yoki looked impressed. "You could deduce all that just by looking at it?" he responded in amazement.

Edward nodded and Rin continued to give the two unfriendly look. "Yeah…" he muttered to himself, "And I deduced from it that you both have no human decency."

"Actually, my ultimate goal is to become a State Alchemist," Lyra said happily, moving in between the boys, "to be just like the pair of you. I wish nothing more than to do all that I can do for the State."

Rin scooted himself away from her. "Don't get your hopes up," he said, "the test is extremely difficult." He hoped he could get her to give up on the idea. The last thing he wanted was to have to consider her a colleague.

"I do hope you two have enjoyed your meal," Yoki said as he commanded Lyra to get dessert.

"It was pretty nice, you know, considering the economic conditions around here," Edward politely jabbed, giving the man a hard stare. Rin smirked at this.

"Times are tough for all of us!" Yoki commented, not batting an eyelash, "I tell you, I've had plenty of trouble collecting taxes. And those miners can be so brutishly obstinate sometimes, as you saw."

Rin frowned again and glared at the man. He gripped the fork he had been playing with out of boredom. "And by obstinate, you mean asserting their rights and refusing to pay you more than they earn?" Ed continued, narrowing his eyes.

"See, you get it!" Yoki chirped, "I knew you were a man of great understanding!" Rin growled and the fork in his hand began to bend. The asshole wasn't even going to deny it!

Ed gave him a pointed look to keep calm. "To understand the world, we have only to follow one basic principle; Equivalent Exchange, the founding law of alchemy," he stated, "You can't get without giving. Right?" Edward bit out that last word.

"Absolutely. Eloquently put!" the lieutenant nodded, "I myself have long conducted business under a similar guiding principle." Rin raised an eyebrow. What could he possibly mean by that? "In the spirit of which," he said, motioning his servent forward with dessert,"uh, Lyra?"

The woman stepped forward holding a tray with some plates of cheese cake. But that wasn't the only thing on the plate. The fork snapped and Rin's eyes widened as she she placed a sack of gold next to both of them. Oh….no way. This was not happening. He was not trying to-

"Please accept this small token of my appreciation," the slimey man said with a sly smile.

He was.

Rin's rage was about to boil over. "Are you trying to bribe us, Sir?"Rin bit out, fists shaking.

"That is such an ugly word," the man said shaking his head "Why don't we just call it ''Equivalent Exchange?'' Now then, there is the matter of your inspection-"

Rin slammed his hands on the table and glowered at the man across from him. A loud crack had formed in the fine mahogany dining table as he did so. "No," he barked, "Don't you dare call it that. This is anything but equivalent!" The man was shocked as he spoke. "You know nothing about equivalent exchange! You've gotten to sit on your ass your whole life, kissing up to people while you leech off what little life these people have! You want to follow 'equivalent exchange?' You want to pass the inspection?" he snapped, "Then go back to the town and give them better wages! Go back and use all those taxes to actually take care of the town! You aren't getting anything from me through some petty bribe, you bastard!"

"Rin!" Edward snapped, grabbing him by the arm. "Excuse us for a moment," he said, pulling Rin into the hall. "What the heck are you doing?" he hissed.

"What the heck am I doing? What are you doing?!" Rin demanded, "Are you really just going to let this guy bribe you like this?! Look at how he's treating the people of the town! They only hate us because of him!"

"I know!" Ed growled, "But we can't afford to stir up trouble. We have to play by the rules. If we cause to many problems, be can lose our positions."

"Play by the rules?!" Rin snapped,"You mean let these people live on in agony while we walk away with some gold in our pockets? How can you agree to something like that?!"

"I don't!" Edward snapped, "I hate it as much as you, but we don't have a choice! This is how the military works: on bribes and lying. This is the game they play. And as dogs of the military, we're bound to follow. We aren't here to make a difference. We aren't here to get involved. We're here to do what they want." Rin wanted to shout at Edward, but he could see the pain and anger and frustration in his eyes.

"Fine," Rin said, "You do what you think you have to. But I'm not playing by those rules. I'll be quiet, I won't cause trouble, but I'm not going to let him bribe me into getting a good inspection. He's going to have to earn it. Through real 'equivalent exchange.'" Rin then turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ed asked.

"To get my stuff and find myself somewhere else to sleep," he said as he walked off, "I'm not going to let him be able to think I owe him anything." Edward sighed as he watched him go. Rin was being crazy and reckless, but he kind of wished he was doing as he was now.

….

Halling, the innkeeper was surprised to be woken up to find the black haired state alchemist standing at his door.

"You?!" he balked, "What do you want? I thought I told your friend we aren't giving rooms to the likes of you."

"I don't want a room," Rin stated, frown increasing.

The innkeeper's brow furrowed. "Then what are you doing here?" he questioned, "You didn't send you, did he?"

"Hell no," Rin spat, "I don't associate with men like him. All I want is to borrow a few blankets and pillows. I'm sure you have plenty of extra." The innkeeper looked surprised. "Look," Rin said, "I'm not going to stay at that asshole's place nor do I expect to be able to pay for a room let alone for you to give me a room. All I want is something to make sure I don't freeze tonight. I'll even pay for renting them. That way you're hurting yourself as much as me by saying no."

Halling narrowed his eyes at the boy before him. He was conflicted. The boy was apart of the military, a state alchemist no less. Those thugs had proven time and again that they couldn't be trusted. But this boy...he had protected his son when they had given him no reason to. Even after they had tossed out his buddy, he helped. Maybe he could be trusted. "2000 cenz," he finally said, "for two blankets and two pillows for a night."

Rin's mouth twitched in amusement. "So you're being reasonable with your prices now, huh?" he said.

"Take that deal before I change my mind," the man grunted. Rin nodded.

After getting his bedding he headed into the alley. He transmuted a stack of crates into an awning before lying down beneath it, wrapping himself up. He tossed and turned, though not because he was having difficulty getting comfortable. He could fall asleep anywhere if he really wanted to. What was keeping him awake was the question of if this really was how the military worked. Did the government really run on bribes and cheating? Were a majority of the higher ups more concerned with their positions then the people they were supposed to protect? Was he really just supposed to sit by and do nothing?...And what of his dad, Maes, and the rest of the team? Did they stand by the same principles?

Rin shook his head. Of course they didn't! They weren't like Basque Grand, Archer, or Yoki...And neither was he. He wasn't going to let Yoki get away with this. He was going to prove to these people that this man didn't reflect the entire military and that most importantly, Yoki didn't reflect him. With that, he curled up and tried to sleep.

A few hours later, he was awoken by a noise. It was some kind of whistling noise, as if the wind was swirling something around. Rin stood up and walked around the building….just in time to watch it explode.

….

They all stared at the heap of rubble that had been the inn. Rin's fists were shaking. Yoki had sent that Lyra woman to destroy the inn. Whether it was just to spite the townsfolk or to possibly get rid of him, he didn't know. Luckily, no one had been killed. That was only thanks to Al, however, as he had pulled the innkeeper's son to safty.

Ed ran up to the scene of the crime in the early morning light. He glared at the mess before him. "Yoki did this?" he said more than asked.

Al nodded. Everyone looked on sadly. The boy Kyle then turned to him. "Please, you're a super smart alchemist," he pleaded, "Can't you make my dad some gold to get Yoki off our backs?"

"No," Ed said looking away, clearly pained to do so, "I can't just go around making gold for people. Everything runs on equivalent exchange. Someone would have to pay the price."

Kyle looked furious and pained. "What? Are you going to make us bribe you too?" he shouted, tears in his eyes.

"This isn't about money. It's illegal. I could lose my license for that," Ed explained coldly, "Heck I could be put in jail for that. Not that it would matter. It would all go back to Yoki in taxes anyways…" Those last few words were bitter.

"But we are going to help," Rin stated. Ed turned to him in surprise and slight betrayal. He marched up to Ed. "I'm not going to stand by and watch this man ruin their lives anymore," he said, "We can't just walk away from this."

"We're just here to do our job and finish our inspection," Ed argued weakly, looking away, "our duty is to the state, not the people."

"But we are doing our job," Rin fought, "The state is the country so the people are the state. Alchemists: be thou for the people. That's supposed to be our stupid motto right? Well how about we start living it?" "And if you want to talk about equivalent exchange, well how about this," Rin continued, "Yoki has had a lot coming to him for all he's done, why not be the ones to dish it to him? There's gotta be something we can do! Prove he's been bribing people to give false reports? Get him arrested for destroying property? Uncover his treatment of these miners?"

Ed looked up again, a fire in his eyes. "I know what we can do," he announced, "Al, Rin, come with me. I've got a plan." His red coat billowed as he headed in the direction of the coal mines. The two shared a look before following him.

"Brother? What are we going to do?" Alphonse asked.

Edward turned and smiled at him, shaking the sack of gold Yoki had given him. "Making a little fools gold," he said.

….

Halling sat at the bar with the rest of his friends. He glared at his cup. He knew he shouldn't be wasting his money drinking, but he didn't know what else to do. His home and business were both gone and now the alchemists had disappeared. He had no idea what he was going to do next. He'd need a miracle.

Suddenly the doors opened to the bar. "Hey everyone! Turn those frowns upside down!" Al called as he, Ed, and Rin entered the room, all smiling smugly.

The men glared at them. "What do you three want?" Halling huffed.

Rin and Ed smirked. "Now, now," Rin said, "Is that anyway to talk to your new mayors?"

Ed pulled out the deed to the mine, showing it off to all of them. "As you can see, I hold in my hand the title deed to the mine, trade routes, and entire town of Youswell," he quipped, continuing to show it off.

"W-where did you get that?!" one man demanded.

"Oh, you know, we just bought it from Yoki with some gold we acquired…" Rin said, remembering how easily they swindled the man. The guy was an idiot. They even managed to get him to hand it over to them as a "gift" so he could keep the "gold" to himself. Greedy fool.

"However…" Ed said, "We have to be getting back to our busy lives in Central."

"Oh, shoot, you're right!" Rin said still smiling, "We'll have no time to look after this dingy old town."

"I'm not even sure this is worth carrying to the city with us!" Ed exclaimed, "It's so heavy!"

"So, you're gonna try and sell it to us for a profit?" Halling growled.

"Afraid so," Rin said, shaking his head.

"And it ain't gonna be cheap," Ed said, "You remember Equivalent Exchange, don't you? After all, not only is this deed written on high-grade parchment, it's got gold leaf trim on the edges. It comes in a box decorated with finely crushed jade in a nonchalant, yet, at the same time, luxurious design. Oh yeah, this is craftsmanship. And the key's sterling silver! Gee I'd say it's gotta be worth around two hundred K."

"I'd say more like three hundred K, brother," Al added.

The men looked baffled. "Only three hundred K?" Halling said.

"You know, now that I think about it," Ed said, tapping his chin, "a room at the inn costs three hundred thousand. We'll spend the night and let's call it even!"

"But wait!" one of the men said, "the inn was busted up!"

"Hmm. Really?" Rin said, "Then what's that over there?" Alphonse opened the door to reveal the inn to be good as new.

"It's new again!" Halling's wife cried, "Like magic."

"More like alchemy," Ed said crossing his arms smugly.

"So do we have a deal?" Rin asked.

Halling looked at him, eyes shining with glee. "You bet, kid," he responded, shaking Rin's hand. Rin smiled back. As they headed into the inn, Rin glanced around at all the warm, joyous faces.

Unfortunately, the joy and rapture was cut off by a sniveling voice cutting into the air." Elric! What's the meaning of this?" They turned to see Yoki standing with Lyra and a few other men, "All of a sudden the gold bars you gave me turned to stone! I want the deed back now!"

"Gold?" Rin said playing innocent, "We didn't give you any gold. You gave us the deed as a gift!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you handed it over to us free of charge, didn't you?" Ed said cheekily, pulling the paper off the table and holding it up, "At least, that's what it says in the letter."

The man growled. "Errrrrr….You little brats!" he hissed, "Lyra!" The woman stepped forward and held her hands to her pendent. The energy around it began to swirl. As iff by instinct, Edward clapped his hands and brought them to the ground, creating a wall to protect them. The energy hit it and resounded with a loud boom, but the wall remained. As Edward made the wall recede, Rin snapped his fingers, causing a burst of flames and sending the woman flying back into the side of a building.

Rin marched over to her and snatched the amulet from around her neck. "Attacking an officer? Really?" he tutted, "You're never going to make state alchemist that way."

She glared at him. "How can you do this?" She hissed, "How can you claim to be state alchemists and yet so blatantly betray the state?"

"We aren't," Edward said, "We serve the people as much as we do the government. We're supposed to anyways. It's people like you and Yoki that mess it up."

"You cursed boy!" he cried before turning to his other men, "Seize the deed from-" He stopped as he found that Alphonse had tied them up. Then, a few of the miners surrounded him and smiled at Yoki maliciously. They cracked their knuckles and the scrawny man audibly swallowed.

As they all headed into the inn and tucked into dinner, there was a mirth among the townsfolk that hadn't been seen in a long time. Rin glanced around at the warm in the room as the men and women raised a glass in a toast to their new found freedom. He had one thought on his mind: he officially loved his job.

Roy continued to pack up up his things. A cat carrier sat on the bed for Kuro. While he didn't plan on taking everything with him, there were definitely a few things that needed to come with him, and other things he didn't feel comfortable leaving out of his sight.

He'd admit, he wasn't entirely delighted with moving to East City. Packing was a pain, but not only that, the city was full of corrupted figures in its ranks. However, with Rin and Edward's little stunt in Youswell, that might be changing soon.

He sighed as remembered getting the call at his office. Rin had been so proud of himself and bragged about what they had done. He had congratulated them for their work, but that didn't stop him from frowning when Rin said he could get used to missions like this. Roy had promptly reminded him that not all missions would be so fun or easy, but that didn't seem to discourage him. Roy was unsurprised by this, but none the less disappointed.

Roy continued to clean out his closet, looking for a very specific item. He pulled out a large black case from the back of the storage area and smiled. Good. There wasn't a chance he was leaving this behind. He unlocked the three different combination locks before opening it and examining what was inside: the koma sword.

Roy didn't like to touch it. When he did he could feel shivers go down his spine, as if he could instinctively feel the demon energy inside. Simply being near it was fine however, but as the years passed he had noticed if he got too close, the thought would pop into his head to try and open it to see what would happen. He wasn't a fool, however, and never entertained the idea, but sometimes he wondered if it was his own human curiosity giving him the idea or that the nature hidden within sword itself was somehow reaching out to him, begging to be set free.

Roy removed his hand from the sword and shut the black case. He didn't like the idea that an object might have its own agenda, but according to Shiro and his notes, that was not uncommon for possessed items. It made him want to destroy it, but he knew that would only help it achieve its goal. All he could do was hide it and hope it collected dust, undisturbed for all eternity. No one knew about it except he and the boys and he intended for it to stay that way. After all, no one tries to steal what they don't know about.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring. Roy walked over to it and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey Dad," Yukio said, "How are you doing?"

"Good," he responded, "I'm just finishing packing up to transfer. I sent you the new phone number and mailing address in a letter. How are you doing settling in?

"I'm fine," he said, "I have a dorm to myself which is nice. How is Rin doing?"

"He's completed his first mission," Roy responded.

"Good for him,"

"Yukio…" Roy said, "You know I'm still upset about you hiding his application from me."

The boy on the other end sighed. "I know," he responded, "but do you really think either of us would have been able to stop him? If he hadn't succeeded with it this year, he would have just tried again the next."

"I won't deny you have a point," Roy said with a sigh.

There was a pause before either of them spoke again "Dad," Yukio spoke up, "There's something I wanted to ask you about…It's important."

Roy frowned and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" he asked. The boy paused again before speaking again. Roy frowned as he explained himself but continued listening anyways. He wasn't happy he had asked this, but he supposed it was inevitable.

God this was the worst chapter to do. I do not enjoy doing copy paste plots, but sometimes its a nessesity. I needed to write Rin's reaction to the town of Youswell. However, I'm cosidering just skipping over liore for similar reasons. Let me know if you guys are ok with that within the next day.

Also, this is tecnically the last chapter of this story, because I'm splitting it in two. I'll be posting a second title with the remader of the story but it won't be happening for a few days. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this so far. Let me know what you think.