Chapter Text
Mermaid.
Mermen.
Sea Fairy.
Incubus.
Siren.
His kind went by many names throughout the centuries. Half human, half sea creature, all were said to have been cursed with some form of strange power. These powers varied depending on who you asked and where they came from. Stories from villages in the East told tales of ocean bound human-like beings whose tears could cure any illness imaginable. Travel towards the North and hear the whispers of worried mothers telling their children to stay away from the waters at night, otherwise they just might find themselves face to face with a horrible, ugly sea beast that feasts on the tender flesh of those unfortunate children who dare venture into their waters at nightfall.
Stories from the West and Central spoke of enchanting, otherworldly creatures. Beautiful, but just as sinister as their hideous counterparts to the East. They took the form of flawless men and women, but lacked the lower body of a mortal. Instead they were cursed (or maybe blessed?) with the tails of fish or other sea dwelling animals, living in the depths of the ocean, only coming ashore when they felt the need to cause chaos and mischief.
The elder fishermen knew better then to taunt the creatures by brazenly challenging the ocean or wandering alone along the shore lines during the humid summer nights. The same could not be said for the younger generation who started to cast aside the belief in such mythical beings (a sad mistake on their part).
These beautiful ocean bound monsters had the ability to seduce men and women with only a single glance or whisper of a sea-song from their wet lips. Lock eyes with one and you just might find yourself unable to ever look away as your own body betrays your thoughts and you hypnotically walk towards deeper waters. There you will venture out until you drown - if you're lucky. Others who are less fortunate may succumb to a gentle soul-sucking kiss.
A true kiss of death. That was their nature...
So why the fuck was he here spying on some human?
"I'm pathetic. I'm a disgrace. If that asshole of a father seen me here he would choke me with my own damn tail!" Ed mumbled, half to himself, half to the sharp-eyed raven perched on the large partially submerged rock he was currently hiding behind.
"Hey, you said it, not me. Now, you've seen enough of Mr. Prince Charming. Stop making goo-goo-eyes at him and let's get out of here before he sees you. This is reckless and definitely not how I wanted to spend a lovely summer night." The raven squawked as it scraped its sharp, clawed feet into the mossy buildup at the top of the rock.
Ed's golden eyes widened in horror, and he swiped a elegant muscled arm at the huge bird. "Ling! Would you shut up?! You're going to get me spotted. I didn't ask you to come here anyway, so buzz off!" He whispered ferociously at the bird.
Ling hopped around so he was able to look down at Ed from his perch on top of the rock.
"Well, of course you didn't ask me. That would make you rational." Ed glared and again tried to swipe at the bird.
"Someone has to look after you while you're up to your midnight shenanigans. Why are we even here? All this snooping around is really weird and creepy, even for me. What's the deal? You gonna eat him?"
Ed looked startled by Ling's question.
"N-no, of course I'm not going to eat him, you stupid bird." Ed stammered. He lowered his arms back into the water and sank a little deeper as he carefully peered around around the large rock currently shielding him from the eyes of the man sitting on the shore.
"He's the one," Ed's voice softened to a gentle whisper. " He's the one that made them let me go when I was caught the other day..."
"Ooooh, I see. Hmm, he is quite handsome for a human skin-bag I guess."
Ed rolled his eyes at Ling's response.
"So..." There was a long pause. " Are you going to eat him?"
The blonde made a look of disgust toward the raven as he grated his teeth in an effort not to strangle the annoying bird and blow his cover.
"Nobody is going to eat anyone, although now that you mention it, I am a little hungry. I didn't have lunch, I wonder what stupid crow would taste like?" Ling squawked and puffed up his glossy black feathers , clearly insulted by Ed's words.
"Excuse me! I am NOT a crow, that's so insulting, and stop changing the subject. Isn't that what you merfolk do? Eat people to maintain your powers? Steal their souls or whatever?"
Edward whipped his head back around to look at Ling, his high ponytail slapping the other side of his neck in the process with a wet "shaalick" sound.
"What? No! Well, I mean, yes - but most of us don't do that sort of thing anymore. We're not all like that." His lips turned slightly downward and his eyebrows furrowed.
"I'm not like that..."
It was true. In the recent years merfolk mostly kept their distance from humans. These days their ships were bigger, their nets stronger, their minds sharper. Humans now possessed guns - strange sticks that shot metal and flames, one shot with that and it was lights out for anyone. Permanently.
Besides, Ed was always fascinated by the land above the sea, and the people the occupied it. He had a starved mind that constantly needed nourishment in the form of knowledge, which he found in the washed up books from shipwrecks. It was surprising how well the ink still held to the paper when it was soaked in salty sea water). It was from these foraged works of literature Ed learned all he knew about humans, the land, and all their traditions and customs. He was mesmerized, hooked on knowing these humans were so different from his own people, yet in a lot of ways they were exactly the same. A prime example of a oxymoron. Maybe this was the reason for his human sympathy?
Maybe this was the reason two days ago he found himself recklessly climbing up the side of a half overboard net to peer into a empty (what he thought was empty) ship, only to be savagely grabbed by both arms, tossed onto the ship deck, and blindfolded. Ed shivered at the memory. He was utterly terrified at the time. Bound and blind, his instincts were screaming at him to find a way out the mess he'd gotten himself into.
When Ling looked at Edward he could tell that the blonde's mind was far off, most likely thinking about his run-in with the crew of scared fishermen. Ever since the incident Ling had noticed Ed was not acting like his normal self; he was more withdrawn, and often was found mumbling to himself or staring off into the distance, completely lost in thought.
"I could hear them you know, the other men on the ship. I heard every single word of what they wanted to do to me. Their voices were booming even over the sound of my own heart thumping in my ears." Ed subconsciously picked at the moss growing up the side of the rock as he recalled his traumatizing experience.
"It was suggested they hang me by my tail and gut me like a fish, bastards even took a vote on it, and by the sounds of the cheers the crew made, it was a pretty popular idea."
Ling twitched his head to the side at an awkward angle that only birds seemed to have the ability to accomplish. Ed took a quick glance at Ling, then focused his attention back on the moss that suddenly seemed to have take his interest.
"That's when I felt their grimy hands all over me. I felt violated! The crew bound me with more damn rope and started to haul me by my tail fin up toward the sails. It was terrifying..." He paused and his voiced changed to something resembling a quiet fondness as his lips turned upwards and he spoke again.
" And that's when I heard him. He was shouting at them to stop while they listed all the reasons letting me down was a horrible idea. According to them, I would have liked nothing more then to seduce and steal the soul of every old bastard on that ship. HA! Keep dreaming."
Edward sighed. "Anyway, apparently he's really important and whatever he says goes. Long story short - he forced the crew to take me down, and then removed my bindings and blindfold himself before he apologized and set me free. Ballsy, that one." Edward let out a little laugh as he quirked his head to the side and flashed Ling one of his trademark mischievous grins.
Ling looked towards the shore where the human sat in the moon's eerie glow. He was currently skipping rocks out into the calm water. As each flat rock skipped the surface, the ripples left behind broke the mirror image of the starry night sky above. "And after you were free from your binds you didn't even bother to retaliate?"
"Of course not. Roy just saved my life, I wasn't about to suck his damn soul!"
"Oh, so it's Roy now?"
Ed was quick to cut him off. " Besides, even if I wanted to, what would you suggest I do? Take on a crew of twenty or more men? I wouldn't have stood a chance."
Ling stared at Ed for a few long moments. What was going on in that stupid blond head of his anyway? He swore that sometimes Ed was more trouble then he was worth. If news of Ed's most recent "little adventure" ever got back to his brother, or his father Hohenheim for that matter...well, Ling didn't even want to think of the trouble that would cause. He tried not to think about the fact the Ed was currently having a one-sided, awe-struck staring contest with this "Roy" fellow. It was somewhat baffling to the raven - seeing Ed act like this.
Ed, who was usually so brash.
Ed, who made it his daily mission to seem tough and confident (Haha, yeah right)
Ed... who was now one step away from reverting into a goopy love struck jelly-fish. Ew.
"Wow." Ling sighed.
"What?"
"You've really got it bad, huh? Jeez."
The blonde looked at him for a moment, not quite sure what the hell he was talking about. After a brief pause Ed suddenly stopped breathing, his eyes grew comically wide, and a slight pink blush crept its way up his neck and settled on his high, wet cheek bones where it slowly started to darken.
"N-no it's not like that at all! What the hell gave you that dumb idea, you good-for-nothing crow!?"
"Well, the fact that you're turning red as a crab's ass is a good clue. Also - ouch - you're so defensive. Your words wound me Ed."
Ling replied smugly, hopping around and shaking his long dark tail feathers as if to mock Edward.
The blonde put his head down and brought both hands up to his long pony tail that was heavily resting on his right shoulder. Nervously brushing his strong fingers through the wet golden strands.
"I just feel like I have to thank him somehow. No - not have to. I WANT to . I've never been so scared in my entire life, if Roy hadn't been there, or if he had not stopped all those men..." Ed paused,
" I don't even want to think about it."
He huffed out a breath of air and gently pushed off the rock, now treading deeper water but still managing to stay hidden if Roy decided to look in their direction.
"So what do you plan on doing about it? You gonna just swim up there and shout 'HEY THANKS!' then expect him not to freak out? Edward, I'm not sure if you're aware of this but that attractive bag of bones just so happens to rule this whole kingdom. If you're not careful he could have every last human searching the seven seas to hunt you down!"
Ling was clearly getting a little frustrated by Ed's stupidity at this point, and everyone knows once you upset a raven enough to start a rant it's nearly impossible to get them to shut up before they say what's on their mind.
Ed seemed oddly upset by the accusation that Roy would ever do such a thing.
"What would you know anyway? You don't know shit about him! If he was such a horrible person then he wouldn't have saved me in the first place."
At this point Ling started to squawk loudly, Ed wasn't sure if he meant to do this or not.
"I don't know him? Of course I don't know him, he's a human! And neither do you! That's the way it should be!"
Ed opened his mouth to say something but then he quickly shut it again. His eyes blazing with pent-up rage, he was pissed.
"Oh yeah? Well, I'm getting real damn sick of everyone telling me what I can and can not do. It's bad enough I get this same bullshit at home from that bastard of a father and my own brother." He took another breath and the volume of his voice rose to a dangerous level. "But now I have you trailing my ass telling me what to do and what to think. Maybe I will just swim right up to him. In fact, maybe I'll get to know him right now!"
The angry blond flicked his tail fin and noisily made his way out from behind the cover of the moss covered rock. Not that the splashing really mattered because at this point Ling was making enough noise to wake the dead, what would a little splashing hurt?
"Fuck! You complete idiot, get the hell back here before he sees you! I swear I'll send someone to tell Al and then he will kill you himself for being so reckless!" Ling was flapping his wings so hard little black feathers were flying off and floating down into the dark water below him.
"I don't care, bird -" Whatever Ed was about to say next was cut off by a curious shout coming from the sandy shore.
"Hey! Who's out there? Are you alright?"
Well, shit.
In the heat of the moment (he seriously needed to sort out his anger issues) Edward didn't even realize he was actually going through with what he told Ling he was going to do. He now found himself far away from the safety of his big gray rock and was currently locking his golden eyes with Roy dark ones.
Roy was standing slightly bent forward with his large hands forming a sort of tunnel around his lips, amplifying the sound of his deep voice. He squinted at the figure out in the dark water. The moon and stars casting a head of golden hair in an ethereal glow. Roy then lowered his hands from his mouth as a quiet gasp left his lips. Eyes widening at the realization of who - and what - he was looking at.
"It's you...." He said.
Edward barely heard the words, but those two words were all it took to make Ed completely abandon all reason. The blonde look almost scared as he looked back at Ling and started to make his way towards the beach, almost as if he couldn't control his own actions. What the hell was he doing?
The bird shut up as Edward once again caught the gaze of the handsome man occupying the shore.
" I have to talk to him...just once."
And with that he continued to slowly make his way towards the shocked human. Towards Roy.