Well, well, well. Look who's come crawling back, huh? Yeah, I suck.

I'm sorry. There's not much else I can say, but.. I'm sorry. I should've had this out months ago, but I didn't. I must've written this chapter a hundred times over and scrapped it, because I couldn't seem to get it right... writer's block is a real pain.

Still, this story is now officially back on track, and you can expect frequent updates from now on. Thank you for sticking with me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, as always.

Chapter Eight: Hunting Sins

"Here we go," Maes dumped a stack of files on the table. "Police reports."

"Police reports?" asked Roy, raising an eyebrow. "You mean you've found something already?"

Maes grinned. "It wasn't that hard, really. I just mentioned 'The Sins' and I got a whole boxful of info. It seems they're a fairly infamous gang... or at least, they were. They're in Briggs High Security Prison at the moment, all eight of them."

"Eight?" Riza's brow furrowed. "So they aren't following a Seven Deadly Sins theme?"

"Oh, they are," said Maes. "The eighth is their leader, a woman named Dante Bolton."

"Right," said Roy, reaching for a folder and beginning to flip through. "Think they're connected then?"

"Of course I do," said Hughes, frowning momentarily. "Do you think I'd have brought it if I didn't think it was relevant? The Sins, before they got caught, were famous for making numerous attacks on places like laboratories and universities- especially places that researched alchemy." Maes grinned at them. "Anyone care to guess what Hoenheim was studying before his death?"

"Alchemy," breathed Roy. "Then... you said the Sins were in jail?"

Maes smirked. "I've already talked to the police about it. We've got permission to question them regarding the case. We can't be entirely sure it was them, of course... but I'm pretty sure I'm right."

"Maes, you genius," Roy grinned.

"I try," said Maes, affecting modesty- but he became serious again almost immediately. "There's something you should have a look at... look at their mug shots. The blue folder."

Roy reached for the indicated folder and flipped through to the photographs. "What about them? Dante Bolton, her son... Envy?"

Maes shrugged. "She's kind of loopy. She's trying to bring about a new age of alchemists- compared to that, naming her kid Envy is positively sane. That's not it, anyway- keep looking."

"Alright... King 'Pride' Bradley, Belle 'Lust' Marlowe, Jordan 'Gluttony' Richards, Jack 'Greed' Campbell... Maes, what's the big deal?"

"Just keep looking."

"Fine. Thomas 'Wrath' Curtis and..." he broke off.

There was a long moment of silence as he stared at the final Sin's photograph.

"Trisha?"

Maes shook his head. "No; Juliet. Trisha's sister."

Roy frowned as he processed this. "Her sister? But... if this is the gang that killed her..."

Maes nodded grimly. "Yeah. I'm not completely certain this is the right gang yet, but it's looking likely."

"But if this is the gang- why on earth would Juliet work with them, if they- why? Maes?"

He grimaced. "I asked the same question... I thought if anyone would know, their mother would, so I rang Mrs Douglas. It seems Juliet hated Trisha with a passion because of an incident in their teenage years."

"What could Trisha possibly have done?" asked Riza, a frown marring her features.

Maes frowned. "She had children."

He paused for a moment before explaining. "Mrs Douglas said... that when they were both seventeen, they were involved in an accident. Now, Trisha got away with only a few superficial injuries, but Juliet... was another story. She received a nasty wound to her abdomen, and the damage was permanent- she can't have kids."

Riza bit her lip. "Oh."

"Yeah." Maes sighed. "When Trisha got pregnant, Juliet was furious, and not long after, she disappeared for good. Mrs Douglas saw neither hide nor hair of hair until the police told her that her daughter was a gang member."

"Ouch." Havoc winced.

Maes nodded. "It's interesting, though..."

Roy looked up. "Hm?"

"Think about it."

Roy's brow furrowed for a moment- and then the penny dropped. "Trisha's mother knew about the Elric brothers!"

"That's one thing." said Maes. "Unfortunately, she won't be much help- she says that she didn't see much of them. But that's not what I was talking about..."

Roy frowned. "Juliet."

"Exactly." Maes nodded. "If this is the gang, then it would explain why they attacked the Elrics- their usual targets are universities or labs, not a professor and his family in their own home. If it was Juliet..." he trailed off meaningfully.

"Revenge?" asked Kain. "Do you think she'd go that far?"

"I don't know," sighed Maes. "But the way things are looking at the moment..." he sighed.

"It's not a pretty picture." Roy sighed. "What about the other gang members, though? Anything else of note?"

"From the police report..." Riza skimmed through a document for a moment. "It seems they were all in it for different reasons; Dante, Envy and Pride are the only ones who really believed the whole alchemy spiel. The police think the others were all in for some form of personal gain, with the possible exception of Thomas Curtis- Wrath- who was following in his adoptive mother's footsteps." she looked up, a frown on her face. "His adoptive mother is Juliet Douglas."

Jean raised his eyebrows. "Is she now?"

Breda leaned over Riza's shoulder, brow furrowed. "Huh... well I suppose it makes sense. She got so upset about not being able to have kids that she left her family, so she must've wanted to be a mother pretty badly..."

"How old is he?"

Riza's frown deepened. "He's sixteen." she muttered. "That means he'd have only been nine when the Elric murders... that's so young."

Roy was frowning too. "You don't think he was there that night, do you?"

Maes frowned. "I don't know," he said. "But we'll find out. I'll call Olivia- she runs Briggs- and see if she can't arrange for a meeting sooner. I have a lot of questions to be answered, and I've got a feeling that the Sins will be able to answer them."

"Olivia? Briggs?" Roy's brow furrowed. "Why does that sound..." he stopped mid-sentence, and paled. "Oh no."

"Oh yes," Maes grinned. "The Ice Queen herself. Of course, it'll be a while before we can see them- security and all- a couple of weeks at least. Ooh, I bet you're looking forward to it, Roy!"

He got nothing but a glare in response.