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After Alphonse & Edward burn down their house, they are seen inside a train. Ed asks Al whether or not he regrets leaving their village or not. Al denies it, and asks whether if Ed is sad instead. Ed retorts by saying that he is in fact exited, because he was going to become a National Alchemist. Al then states that he’s going to help fix Ed’s body. Ed tells him to not worry about it. Starting a new topic, Al asks Ed about what he needs to do in order to become a State Alchemist. A flashback of Episode 3 appears, showing Roy’s interest in Ed. When it fades, Ed answers Al by saying that he needs to see Roy, and to stop worrying. Ed then asks Al if he’s worried about Winry, after seeing his solemn expression.

Winry & her grandma are then seen looking at the debris left from the Elric’s now-destroyed home. Grandma reassures the crying Winry that they’ll come back when they’ve matured. Following that, Al explains the main principle of equivalent exchange in alchemy, while a picture of Ed, Al & their parents changes, first removing their father out of the picture, followed by their mother, leaving the pictures of the two boys by themselves. A fire slowly appears, engulfing the picture along with it.

Alphonse and Edward are seen at a train station, sitting on a bench. Al asks Ed about which train they needed to transfer on. Ed answers by saying that the train would arrive in the morning, at 9 o’clock. Suddenly, a scream can be heard. The Elric brothers’ attention diverts to a man who just stole a woman’s purse, attempting to flee the scene. The thief pulls out a gun to get rid of them, but Al easily traps him inside a cage, using alchemy. A policeman comes by and congratulates them for their actions. After questioning the brothers about alchemy, he mentions something about a man named Mahjal. He explains further that Majhal helps people with his alchemy, and is often praised. When Ed asks about his whereabouts, the policeman tells Ed that he lives in a nearby village, but tells him not to go, because of a rumour regarding the dead coming back to life and attacking the villagers. The brothers decide to go anyways.

Ed & Al decide to go via horse & buggy. When Al asks Ed about Majhal, Ed tells him that that name was once seen in one of their dad’s letters, which talked about human transmutation. Al also talks about how they used alchemy to help someone and how they were complimented, when Ed comments on his rather happy mood.

Ed & Al are later seen walking down a path. Ed complains about the hard seats and constant rocking of the buggy, while Al seems fine. They eventually arrive at the outskirts of the village, which has torches all over the place. Suddenly, fireworks erupt behind them. A group of kids run up from behind and approach them. One of them, who is wearing a cap, tells them that the area is restricted and asks why they’re in their village. When asked by Ed (who is still in shock), the kid tells him that the fireworks are for a festival. The kid suddenly realizes that they are not from the village, and another kid starts to poke Al with a stick. The kid with the cap tells the other kids to continue. Ed starts to approach them, but trips on a rock and falls. Al loses his balance and tries to grab onto a pole, but simply breaks it, and falls onto Ed. The kids poke fun at them, when a mysterious older man appears. The man uses alchemy to fix the pole, using his bracelet as an amplifier. As it turns out, this man is Mahjal.

Back at Mahjal’s house, the man comments on how well Al’s soul is affixed onto the armour. He also says that Ed has probably inherited his dad’s talent. Ed then asks Mahjal about human transmutation. Mahjal simply says that it is forbidden, but Ed retorts by saying that he only wants to return Al’s body to him. Mahjal then says that only God can perform such a thing. Ed once again questions the old man, this time regarding his conversations within the letters. Mahjal simply answers that it was due to his youthful indiscretion. A knock is then heard at the door. Mahjal opens it to find Lebi, an older woman who wants to give him some excess jam. Mahjal thanks her for her kindness, and leaves. She is seen looking rather sad as she leaves the house.

Next, Ed is seen pigging out. While he’s eating, Al asks Mahjal about the festival. The man says that the festival is held to honour the dead. Ed then comments about the village’s rumour. Chuckling, Mahjal simply states that it’s just a rumour. With another knock at the door, Mahjal opens it, to find Clause, the kid with the cap from earlier, along with the kid’s father. The father came to apologize on Clause’s behalf, but Clause refuses, and says that the Elric brothers are weak. While Al restrains Ed from attacking the kid, Mahjal talks about Clause’s dead sister. Clause then retorts that her death wasn’t an accident, and that she came back to life! Frustrated, the girl (yes, she’s a girl) runs off into the night, with Ed & Al chasing after her. She trips and falls down towards a river, but Ed saves her by using alchemy to turn the river into ice.

Realizing that the brothers are indeed alchemists, Clause talks about her sister’s death and an incident at her funeral, where they saw a woman named Karin, who was already dead. Clause believes that it’s Karin’s fault for the disappearances, and asks Ed & Al to avenge them by getting rid of her. Ed tells her that he doesn’t believe her, and says that he won’t do it for revenge. Mad, Clause insults the brothers. Ed retorts by asking her why she doesn’t dress like a girl. Clause says that it’s none of his business, and runs away.

The next morning, Mahjal told Ed & Al all about Karin, such as her being a florist, how she’s been gone for 20 years, how she succeeded in cultivating blue roses, and how she died. When Ed asks about Karin possibly being the one who is attacking the villagers, Mahjal, the man denies it. Afterwards, when Ed & Al are alone, Ed is contemplating the fact that if human transmutation was used, Mahjal would be the only person capable of doing it. Suddenly, they heard a weird sound. Ed checks the nearby corridor, but finds nothing.

Later in the day, Clause tells her friends that they should go catch Karin. Clause then tries to motivate them, when the boys sighed. The conversation is interrupted by a dish breaking, which was accidentally dropped by Lebi. Continuing with her talk, Clause convinces the boys to go out at night.

Later that night, Al & Ed go to the cemetery to investigate. Al seemed scared, so Ed reassured him that there wouldn’t be any zombies, unless it was done through human transmutation. Suddenly, the brothers fall into a hole, which was set up by Clause & the boys. When the kids run up to the hole, one of they boys points his hand out in fear. It was a zombie! Scared, the boys run away, but Clause stays, and charges straight towards it! She is stopped by Mahjal, who uses alchemy to get rid of it. As it was being consumed by fire, Al notices it was making a strange sound. In the distance, Lust mumbles to herself that Mahjal was only a second-rate alchemist.

While the villagers were congratulating Mahjal on his success on defeating the zombie back at the village, Ed & Al were at Mahjal’s house, investigating. Ed concludes that it made the same sound that he heard earlier in the day, and what they saw was not a zombie, nor human transmutation. Suddenly, Lebi appears, and somehow weakens Ed, who stumbles into a hidden room. To his astonishment, the room contained dolls, all looking like Karin! Ed then faints. Mahjal suddenly appears, and knocks out Al with his alchemy.

When Ed came to, he found himself chained against his brother, with Mahjal and Lebi nearby. Mahjal explains that he tried to fixate the souls of a female villager into a doll that resembles Karin, but it was somewhat difficult, since souls do not easily fix themselves to another container, or doesn’t function properly if it does. When Ed asks why he’s doing this, Mahjal tells him that it is because of his love for Karin, thus trying to create something that resembled her. Mahjal then tells Ed to help him fix a soul, but Ed refuses. As Mahjal talks about Ed’s stubbornness, he is interrupted by a creaking door. He turns around to find Clause, who was listening to their conversation the entire time! Mahjal knocks her out, and decides to use her soul. Lebi tries to stop him, but he throws her onto the floor and enters a different room. Al breaks the chains, and Ed rushes to help Lebi. He then notices a blue flower petal in her hair….

In another room, Mahjal starts the soul fixating process. Clause struggles, but to no avail. Ed suddenly enters, and tells her that Karin was with him the entire time. Seeing the perplexed look on Mahjal’s face, Ed explains that Karin didn’t really die, but she lost her memory and lived elsewhere. He further explains that she finally regained her memory after 20 years and went to see him right away. Ed pulls off Lebi’s cloak, to reveal a blue rose in her hair. Lebi is in fact, really Karin!

Mahjal doesn’t believe him, since the Karin he remembered was beautiful. Ed explains to him that Karin has obviously aged in the last 20 years, yet her feelings didn’t wither away, like her appearance. Refusing to believe Ed, Mahjal takes a screwdriver, and uses alchemy to turn it into a sword, and attacks! Al easily deflects the attack. Mahjal attacks again, but Ed, using alchemy, turns Karin’s rose into a whip, and flings the sword out of his hands. Spinning into the air, the sword pierces through Mahjal. As Karin rushes to his side, Mahjal tells her that she couldn’t possibly be Karin. Karin screams in frustration, as he dies.

The next morning, Al and Ed are seen outside, waiting for their carriage to arrive. When Ed asks about Al’s sad face, Al talks about how alchemy can delude a person. Ed agrees. The carriage then arrives, and as the brothers started to step into it, they are stopped by a cute girl in a dress who apologizes to them, and saying that they were amazing alchemists. Ed doesn’t notice who she is, but Al asks her if she was Clause. As she nods, the boys make exaggerated shocked expressions, in which Clause gets angry at. As the carriage starts to leave, Ed comments on how cute she looks, and bids her farewell. Clause happily waves back.
 

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