Chapter 43: River of Mud

Synopsis
Winry, Alphonse, Lin Yao, and Lan Fan are all back at the hotel discussing how Al and Ed plan to move forward since no one really knows how long Al can stay tied to the suit of armor. Lin makes a callous comment that Winry takes offense to and she runs off to her room with Al following. The discussion gets to the point where Winry is pleading with Al for him to get his body back.

This leads into a dream sequence where Ed is back through the portal and is confronting Truth trying to get his brother back. When Ed wakes he sees his father, Hohenheim, leaving. After getting up he goes downstairs and asks Pinako for her help with a task. She agrees and they head over to where the Elrics' house used to be and begin digging around an old tree. Eventually, they find the correct spot and unearth the body that Pinako buried on the night that Ed and Al tried unsuccessfully to bring their mother back to life. Ed finds a clump of hair, but finds that it is black, not chestnut brown like Trisha's. After Pinako closely examines the bones and whatever else is left of the body she determines that this body is in fact not the body of the boys' mother which is a relief to Ed.

In town, Yoki comes upon May Chang and Xiao-Mei lying face down in the street. When he attempts to rifle through May's belongings Xiao-Mei comes to life and attacks Yoki in defense of her friend May. After Yoki gives her some food she pledges her life to Yoki for saving her from starvation and tells him that she is looking for Edward Elric. He tells her that his servant will know where to find Ed.

Meanwhile, along a dark, empty stretch of oceanfront, a lone man is confronted by Scar. It turns out the lone man is a state alchemist, the Silver Alchemist. Scar challenges the man and they fight to the death with Scar the victor.

Chapter Notes

 * In his search for the secret to immortality, Ling Yao believes that Alphonse may have found it in his current form.