Chapter 45: Scar's Return

Scar comes home to find that Yoki has taken in May Chang and her panda Shao May. May had pledged herself to Yoki, but Scar releases her from that debt, and before he can send her off she recognizes the tattoo on his arm as a version of the purification rites used in Xing's style of alchemy. At the hotel, Edward, Alphonse, and Winry weigh what may be happening between Al's body and Edward's, and Winry leaves to pack for her return to Resembool. The brothers agree they need more information about crossing the portal and resolve to pry it from one of the homunculi.

Returning from some scouting, the brothers are found by Denny Brosh, who warns that Scar is back and urges them to the safety of the hotel. The news reminds Edward to tell Alphonse that Scar most likely killed Winry's parents, the Rockbell doctors. Edward then lays out a scheme to lure the homunculi into the open: since they will not harm the brothers, who can open the portal, he means to draw out and confront Scar, which should force the homunculi to appear and protect him. As he finishes, Ling Yao and Lan Fan drop through the window, having overheard, and insist on joining to learn more about the homunculi themselves.

Edward spends the following days performing charitable alchemy around the city until the whole population is talking about him. While he and Al wait at a cafe, Roy Mustang and Riza pull up, and the group discusses the vanished Dr. Marcoh and the Philosopher's Stone until Scar arrives. The brothers insist on handling him alone, and the fight begins as Ling and Lan Fan watch from a rooftop while Roy and Riza feed false reports to keep the military police away. Bradley, secretly the homunculus Wrath, and Gluttony converge on Scar, and when Ling and Lan Fan ambush Gluttony, the undetected Wrath gravely wounds Lan Fan. Selim Bradley, hearing the little alchemist is in town, begs to be taken to see him.