The Ishbal Massacre

Armstrong presses his fight with Scar, whose evasions dislodge his sunglasses and expose him as an Ishvalan. Armstrong realizes Scar refuses to perform the reconstruction phase of alchemy so as not to sin under his people's beliefs, and Scar retreats by collapsing the tunnel. Fleeing through the rain with Marcoh, the Elrics question why the doctor now welcomes death at Scar's hands. Marcoh corrects their assumption that the conflict was a defeat: it was a slaughter. He recalls how religious friction escalated after a soldier shot an Ishvalan child, and how, after seven years, the State Alchemists were deployed. Over his objections, Grand had the refined red water distributed to boost their power, letting alchemists like Grand, Mustang, Armstrong, and an unnamed man wipe out the Ishvalan population.

Marcoh reveals the breaking point that drove him to desert: Grand ordered Mustang to execute two Amestrian doctors who had been healing the wounded on both sides. Marcoh talked a suicidal Mustang down by shouldering part of the guilt and persuaded him to help him flee, though the massacre was already nearly complete. When Ed proposes hiding in Resembool, Marcoh flees in fear. Meanwhile Mustang confronts Scar but cannot use flame alchemy in the rain, and Hawkeye pulls him back. Scar catches up to the Elrics, now aware of the truth about their bodies, tearing open Al's side and obliterating Ed's automail arm. Frozen, Ed asks whether Scar lost a brother to the war, and offers his own life if Al is spared, since Al is no State Alchemist. As Scar prepares the final blow, Marcoh recognizes the inscriptions on Scar's arm and unleashes his incomplete stone against it, forcing him to absorb it in agony. Cornered again by the Mustang Unit, Scar escapes into the sewers. Marcoh agrees to enter the Führer's custody and confirms the executed doctors were the Rockbells, Winry's parents.

The episode adapts Chapter 7 of the manga. An unidentified alchemist appears with a few lines here and is not properly introduced until six episodes later as the Crimson Alchemist, Zolf J. Kimblee.