; Summary:
The next day, Edward sits on the train next to Major Alex Louis Armstrong and laments the presence of his new companion. With his automail hand destroyed and his brother immobilized, it is decided that Edward cannot be allowed to travel to his hometown of Resembool unaccompanied while Scar is still on the run, but no one else is free or willing to accompany them. The Major unreservedly agrees to accompany the Elric brothers on their journey. After Lt. Col. Hughes comes to see them off and the train begins to move, Edward explains to Major Armstrong that Resembool is a small eastern town whose growth has been stunted by the damage caused by the Ishval Civil War, and that the automatic mail specialist there is a surgeon with experience in weapons manufacturing, as well as a close family friend. But while the two are talking, unbeknownst to them, Lust is sitting a few rows away, keeping an eye on Fullmetal.The train has a scheduled stop in a small town where Major Armstrong recognizes a passerby as Dr. Tim Marcoh, a former state alchemist who researched alchemy for medicinal purposes before going AWOL with his research materials at the end of the Civil War. However, when Armstrong calls out to him, Marcoh panics and runs away. Edward, hoping that the doctor’s expertise can shed some light on biological transmutation, states that they will disembark here and take the train to Resembool later. Armstrong, Edward and Alphonse wander the town asking for Dr. Marcoh, but it soon becomes clear that the former state alchemist lives in this town under a false name and mysteriously cures people with alchemy. They manage to track down Marcoh, but are met with hostility as the good doctor fears that Armstrong has been sent to either arrest or assassinate him. After Edward and Alex manage to calm Marcoh down, he explains to them that he ran away from Ishval out of guilt over his research being used to massacre innocent people during the war, and is trying to atone for his sins by using his life and . his research to heal others. But it’s the revelation of Marcoh’s research object that truly shocks the Elrics, as Marcoh claims that his experiments were meant to create the legendary Philosopher’s Stone.Marcoh produces a vial filled with a gel-like red substance and explains that it is an experimental prototype stone with the supposed properties of a stone, but with less power. An excited Edward asks to see Marco’s research notes, but the doctor refuses, claiming the information in them is wrong, and asks his guests to leave. At the station, Edward answers Armstrong’s question as to why he didn’t simply steal Marcoh’s stone, replying that his conscience would not allow him to take the object that had healed so many of the townspeople while Armstrong keeps it on himself. he does not plan to report Marcoh’s whereabouts to his superiors. However, before their train can leave, Marcoh himself appears and gives Edward a small message. After changing his mind regarding Ed’s situation, he explains that what he wrote on the note is where his Philosopher’s Stone research notes are hidden, and that he believes Edward has the willpower to look at the terrible truth. face and talent to discover “the truth behind the truth”.>Marcoh returns to his house where Lust is waiting for him in the dark. As he stares in horror, she assures him that she didn’t come to take him back and that the research continues just fine without him and his notes. However, she goes on to say that the notes stolen by Marcoh, while indecipherable to a normal alchemist, could be dangerous to her organization’s plans if discovered by a state alchemist of Fullmetal’s caliber; he wants to know if the doctor told Ed their location. While claiming that Edward will be able to figure out what Lust and her friends are up to from the notes, Marcoh attacks Lust with alchemy, but watches in horror as the woman shrugs off the attack and her grievous wound heals almost miraculously. Lust takes a little neighbor girl hostage and demands that Marcoh tell her where his hidden data is. Meanwhile, on the train to Resembool, Edward opens the note Marcoh gave him and it reads “National Central Library, First Branch”. Vowing to wipe the village off the face of the map if Marcoh tries anything weird, Lust plans to head to Central to destroy Marcoh’s data before Fullmetal can get to it.