After such a long time, I'm finally ready to post this chapter. It took more effort to get through, because I think I have trouble with the in-between parts... but I'm happy with where things are going. I'm still on track with where I want it to head in general, so I'm gonna try hard to keep moving forward.

As usual, none of the characters belong to me.

Chapter 8: Exploring the Options

"You don't think there's a reason you're here," Ed asked pointedly.

"I don't think I worked on the drug that poisoned us so that I would be able to find a way to escape the Syndicate," she replied. On the surface, the words seemed to simply fall from her lips, but both Ed and Conan knew how much bitterness lingered beneath them. "But as you're well aware, I'm here now so that I can work on the antidote."

"How long have you guys been at this project, anyway?"

"A couple years… I don't really remember anymore. It's difficult to make any real progress. I've come up with temporary antidotes, but nothing that gets rid of the poison completely. It also doesn't help that there have been times we've changed back without taking an antidote, temporary or otherwise."

"The first time I ever changed back," Conan interrupted, "was also the first time I met Hattori. He had breezed into town to offer me a challenge, but I wasn't feeling well that day. He also didn't recognize me in this body, which was perfectly fine by me. He had a bottle of alcohol with him, with the intent to cause a little trouble, and claimed that drinking some would help cure my cold." He looked Ed straight in the eyes. "It didn't. What it did do was interact with the poison to disable it for a while, and we think that my being sick had something to do with it. I was really disappointed to find out that I wouldn't be staying normal for long – the 'fix' only lasted about an hour."

"But he obviously figured it out eventually, since he clearly treats you like an equal," the alchemist guessed, derailing the conversation topic.

"Yeah, that was the second time we met. I decided to use him to make my deduction in a case because I knew he'd catch me if I used someone else… but he woke up part way through, and caught me anyway." Ed laughed out loud as the detective recounted the aftermath of the "Holmes freak" murder case.

Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko came back from the ride they had gone on. Ayumi had a starry look in her eyes that worried Conan. "I had a great idea while we were on the teacups," she announced. "Conan, would you like to go on the Ferris Wheel?" She thought she was being clever, not saying the 'with me' out loud, but everyone else at the picnic table saw right through it.

There were a couple seconds of very pregnant silence before Ai saved Conan from either being stuck alone with the other girl, or having to turn her down, suggesting that they all go together and reminding them that the Ferris Wheel cars each had six seats.

When Ed and Ai got home that night, he followed her to her workspace in the laboratory. "Do you remember anything about the formula of the poison, or the process you used to make it?"

"Only bits and pieces," she answered. "It's an organic compound that's formed in a rather complex process. I remember the quantities of most of the atoms that are in it, but in all my testing I haven't been able to duplicate how they were arranged. The biggest road block has been availability of equipment. Dr Agasa is a scientist, but he mostly works on mechanical inventions and whatnot. I can't really use what he has, so in most cases I have to improvise. Sometimes the results of individual steps come out how I expect them to, but I'm still missing at least three or four things near the end, so I'm obviously not there yet… and I can't figure out a complete antidote without knowing everything about the original compound." She sighed. "I also don't know what exactly the Apotoxin does – whether it stays whole or breaks down, whether it binds with something else or floats around by itself."

Ed listened patiently. Having had the need to improvise at various points in his past, the wheels in his mind were already turning. Unfortunately, he didn't like the place where his options led him. "A key aspect of alchemy is the thorough understanding of the material you're working with. In that respect, I might be able to help. There was a guy I knew once who was able to stop his alchemy after the step of breaking the material down, and was able to kill a lot of people that way. It was horrible, but it showed me it's possible to use alchemy without actually transmuting something." He saw her eyes widen and start to shine with an involuntary hint of tears, and immediately regretted what he had to tell her next. "There's a problem, though. It's a bad idea to perform alchemy on humans - capital B, capital I. I could get around that with the help of the Philosopher's Stone, but the sacrifice required to obtain one is much greater than the benefit of having it. They're almost impossible to find, and I refuse to make one."

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's hard to be optimistic, but any day now I could have a breakthrough. We might not need to search for other methods of finding a cure." The tone she used to say the words betrayed what she really thought of the chances.

"Yeah…" He left, then, to go to bed. She sat at the computer until she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer.

In English class the next day, the students were learning how to read and write simple words and phrases. Ai situated her notebook in such a way that Conan could see what she was writing, and amongst the seemingly random letters was the sentence 'Ed might know a way to cure us with alchemy, but he's very reluctant to use it.'

The detective was hard pressed to keep his reaction to himself. He started thinking about everything associated with that prospect – a "reunion" with Ran, and a chance to take down the Organization and get his life back. He glanced over at the blonde boy and thought for a moment before placing his own notebook in line of sight of the girl sitting beside him. 'What makes him so scared of it?'

'No human alchemy without the Philosopher's Stone.'

He read her last line several times before looking back up at her. He remembered what the alchemist had said about the "grooming" process he'd gone through in the world he used to live in, and knew he couldn't put the other boy through that again. The detective didn't know whether such a gemstone already existed in this world, but any lead was worth a shot. He wrote one final line before turning his attention back to the teacher: 'I'll look into it.'

At lunch time, Conan took out his cell phone and made a very long distance call. The person who picked up at the other end greeted him excitedly, and then called out to the other person in the room: "Yusaku, guess who's on the phone! Come here, he probably wants to talk to you." She giggled as she handed the phone to her husband.

"Hi there, Shinichi."

"Hi dad. I was wondering if you could help me with something."

The writer's tone suddenly turned serious. "Is everything okay? This isn't an 'I'm in desperate trouble' call, is it?"

"No, no… nothing like that." He could feel his father's demeanor relax. "I can't tell you much, mostly because I don't quite understand it myself, but I was wondering if you know anything about a precious gem called the Philosopher's Stone."

Yusaku took a few seconds to think, before responding. "It's a mythical substance that has been said to grant immortality, and nobody knows whether it really exists or not. People have searched for it in every generation, with no success. How did you hear about it?"

The small detective was unsure how much he really felt comfortable saying. In the end, he decided that the bare minimum would be okay. "I met someone who's looking for it, even though he claims that he's not."

"No good fortune has come to those who search for the stone. I'll see what kind of information I can dig up, but I implore you to please be careful."

"Okay, thanks dad. I look forward to hearing about what you find."

"Would you like to speak with your mother?"

"Ah, no, that's okay. I'm at school, and I should be getting back to the other kids, so maybe another time."

"Okay, then, talk to you later."

Conan disconnected the call and went over to where the other four children were throwing around a baseball.

"Where'd you go," Genta asked.

"I was talking on the phone to Kudo ojii-san," he replied with his best kid-grin.

Mitsuhiko had to make sure he heard correctly. "Shinichi-niichan's dad?"

"Yeah. I wanted to ask him how Shinichi-niichan is doing."

Edward looked back and forth between the other kids, seeing that the three Detective Boys accepted this answer at face value. But Ai's face showed a different reaction - she'd known the young detective long enough to understand what a call to Kudo Yusaku really meant.

Ai pulled Conan aside on the way home from school that afternoon. "So that's your big plan?"

He shrugged in response. "What's wrong? It's hard for me to get enough time alone to do the proper research, and he has a better variety of contacts than I do. It seemed like a no-brainer."

"So what did he say?"

"He doesn't know much more about it than you and I do. He agreed to help, but warned me to be extra careful."

She gave him an incredulous glance. "I guess there's not much we can do now besides waiting."

"Yeah..."

End Chapter 8

They are now at the beginning of the path I have appointed for them /grin/. I hope to get back into some action soon, because that's a lot more interesting to write. I also found a place to watch streaming episodes of Conan, so I'm gradually figuring out how to distribute time among my job and all my for-fun projects.

I'm really happy that you guys are enjoying the story!

Next time: Shinichi hears back from his dad.