Chapter 44: The Unnamed Grave

Once Pinako and Edward finish examining the remains, Edward resolves to give the body a proper burial so it no longer rests in an unmarked grave. That done, he calls Izumi to ask about her own attempt to revive her lost baby, wanting to know whether the life she brought forth had really been her child, but the question upsets her. Edward then visits his mother's grave a final time before returning to Central, and Pinako entrusts him with a message from Trisha meant for Van Hohenheim.

Back at the hotel, Edward finds Alphonse badly damaged and Ling Yao and Lan Fan feasting on his tab, so he restores Al's form and throws the pair out. The brothers then discuss the trip to Resembool, and Edward grows convinced that recovering Al's body is genuinely possible. Testing the idea, he probes for memories shared between Winry and Alphonse that he himself never witnessed, and when many surface, he becomes still more certain that Al's real body survives, trapped beyond the portal where Truth resides.

A front-desk call brings word from Izumi, who confirms that the baby she transmuted was likewise not truly her child. This tells Edward that the dead cannot be returned, yet because Al's soul was successfully anchored in the armor, his original body must still exist somewhere. The shared guilt that Edward, Alphonse, and Izumi each carried over reviving loved ones only to lose them lifts, and the brothers renew their resolve to restore Al's body without losing anyone else. At the hospital, a discharged and paralyzed Havoc sinks into gloom, and Roy challenges him to meet him at the top regardless. Scar, meanwhile, has returned, and King Bradley intends to stop him from disrupting his plans.