The story begins with the Crichton family being chased from their homeland and into Creta, where Julia is orphaned when her parents are brutally murdered.

Back in Amestris, an alchemic prison break by Melvin Voyager, who was a few months shy of his parole, has the Amestrian military confused until they discover a newspaper that has had something removed. The removed piece is actually a photograph of an older Julia Crichton being arrested by military police.