Ever so slightly late update. Read, review, enjoy, etc.

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Lost Art of Alchemy

"So… what do we do now?"

Maes sighed. "We've got no leads on the Elric brothers. We don't even know where to start- the road they took leads to three major cities, two international airports and at least a dozen small towns and villages. They could be anywhere."

"And there was nothing at the house..."

There was a long, despondent silence.

"You know, I thought we were finally getting somewhere with this bloody case." Roy muttered.

The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement. They'd hoped that the arrival of the Elric brothers would be a good thing- instead, it only complicated matters.

Finally, Riza had had enough.

"Let's look up alchemy."

"Hm?"

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? It's obviously an important part of this, but we know next to nothing about it. We've got no leads on the Elric brothers, we've spoken to everyone in the village a dozen times over... we can't just sit around waiting for clues to drop into our laps. The professor had a good library of alchemy books, so let's go read- and who knows, maybe we'll find something."

Nobody had any arguments, so yet again, they found themselves making their way up to the Elric mansion.

"Alchemy is a science akin to magic, an art centuries old that has been lost to the mists of time... talk about flowery language." Maes snickered.

"This book's a little less... florid. Alchemy is a science thought to have many uses, from day to day life to medicine. It was heavily used in a great deal of military campaigns, including the Ishbal massacre; a crime against humanity so great that it lead to huge public backlash against alchemy and its practitioners. The people rebelled, and eventually alchemy was made illegal. Alchemists were executed and all books burnt; a campaign so successful that to this day, alchemy remains a lost art. Although scientists and historians have done their best, nobody has ever found the vital missing piece of the puzzle that made alchemy a powerful force in our past, and sadly, it is beginning to look like nobody ever will." Roy snorted. "Apparently, the Elrics didn't think much of the Amestrian Encyclopaedia's predictions and went ahead and found the missing piece anyway."

"Wonder what it is?" Kain mused idly. "This one's a bit more sciency, I can't make head or tail of it. Vato, you're good at this sort of thing- what do you think?"

Vato skimmed the text briefly.

"It's comparing what we know of alchemy to chemistry. The two appear to be quite closely related, actually... apparently there's some old texts which describe something called equivalent exchange, which is curiously similar to the conservation of mass..."

Kain nodded thoughtfully. "Well, we know it must have involved some pretty advanced science- kind of weird to think that they were more advanced back then than we are today. According to this, it's been theorised that alchemists entered a 'higher plane' or alternate dimension while transmuting... of course, this book dismisses that theory as the ravings of demented drug addicts, so I suppose we ought to take it with a pinch of salt."

"Anybody else feel like this is getting us nowhere?" asked Roy, who had turned his book upside down as if it might make more sense that way.

"You never know what could be helpful... and I really don't think turning it sideways is going to help either, Roy." said Maes as Roy turned the book again.

"I'm just looking at this array... you'd have to have a steady hand, that's for sure."

"I can see why the Sins were after this," said Riza, "If the Elrics got this to work... just think what you could do with that knowledge and a complete lack of morals."

There was a collective shudder as the group contemplated that thought.

"Not good," mumbled Jean. "Really, really not good."

"Well, there was a reason they banned it," said Roy. "It's not called the Ishbal massacre for no reason. They destroyed an entire city in less than a day and killed thousands of people... it took decades for the people of Ishbal to even begin to recover."

"They thought that alchemy was a sin, so they were completely defenceless," added Maes."People did horrible things with alchemy."

"They did wonderful things, too," pointed out Kain. "They developed all kinds of new medicines, and automail wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for some of the alchemists' research... most scientific advances in the past thousand years have been thanks, in part, to alchemy. Architecture, medicine, travel, technology, heck, even the food we eat... it's all been influenced by alchemy at some point."

"Shall we save the debate for another time?" asked Roy. They grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. Got carried away."

Roy nodded. "Anybody found anything useful?"

"Nothing about the case in specific, but I think we've all got a lot to think about, and this information could definitely come in handy."

"Well- oh, hang on a second. Is that your phone, Maes?"

Maes didn't reply, already searching for the ringing phone. He held up a finger to silence everyone.

"Hi, this is Maes Hughes- oh? Oh!" he smiled widely. "Yes, that's fine- fantastic. Yup. Uh-huh. We'll be there tomorrow. This is excellent news, it's come at the perfect time- yes- okay- thanks, Olivia. See you tomorrow." He snapped the phone shut and grinned.

"Well? What is it?" asked Roy.

"That was Olivia Armstrong. We can meet the Sins tomorrow."