Chapter 34: The Footsteps of a War Comrade

After Alphonse rebuilds the mask he shattered, the Elrics board a train from Rush Valley to Central with Winry and Ling along, to Ed's irritation. Ling apologizes for his guards and explains that both the girl, Lan Fan, and the old man, Fu, come from a clan that has served his family for generations, prompting the brothers to guess he hails from wealthy Xingese stock. In Central, Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc delivers a food basket concealing a sidearm and ammunition to Warrant Officer Vato Falman, who is holed up guarding Barry the Chopper and longs to return to normal duty. Havoc reports that he has barely seen the Colonel lately, suspecting the mountain of paperwork masks something covert, and shares the good news that he has found a new girlfriend in the city.

At Central Command, Sheska flusters when a clerk asks for a storage room key and stalls him, then finds Colonel Mustang asleep amid documents in the vault. He wakes, needing to reach a Military Council meeting, and leaves. Captain Focker asks why the Colonel was there unauthorized, and Sheska mentions Mustang had been combing records on executed prisoners, State Alchemist activity, Laboratory 5, and the Hughes murder, adding that the bullet in Hughes matched military-issue sidearms. Focker consoles her, but as he walks off he spots a second Focker down the hall and hastily changes shape into another officer, revealing himself as Envy in disguise. In the washroom, Roy meets Armstrong, who recalls his own horror at the slaughter in the Ishval Civil War and hints that a level-headed leader who understands war's agony should aim for the top. Roy admits he has uncovered the Philosopher's Stone's true main ingredient, the facility making them, and that Hughes was killed for probing the Elric case.

In their underground lair, Envy tells Lust of Mustang's snooping and hits upon a plan to make the Colonel stop. The next day Second Lieutenant Maria Ross is publicly arrested as the prime suspect in Hughes' murder, while an oblivious Havoc arrives for a date with his girlfriend Solaris, unaware she is the homunculus Lust. Edward, Alphonse, and Winry reach Central at last. The chapter reveals Ling is fifteen and Edward is nearing sixteen, the minimum age for battlefield service, and that Falman has watched Barry for ten days. From this point Envy adopts the blonde-soldier form it improvised after nearly being caught wearing Focker's face.