Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s well past midnight when Roy left Madame Christmas’ bar. It wasn’t a completely fruitless meeting, the girls had a few juicy tidbits of information that would help him with future encounters with the Brass, but now it was late and fog has rolled in from the nearby docks. The moisture in the air was catching the light from the streetlamps, making shapes loom ominously in the dull orange light.

Roy hated the wet season.

He shook himself out of the mood before pulling his long dark overcoat back just enough that he would be able to reach his gun holster. Fog may prevent his usual form of protection from being of any use, but Riza had drilled it into his mind by now to never go out without a backup weapon. Besides, Madame Christmas’ bar was in an unsavory part of Central for a reason.

Roy quickly made his way to his car, keeping his eyes on any drunken movement from doorsteps before slipping into the driver’s seat. He let out a sigh as soon as the door was closed. The headlights were all but useless this deep in the fog, but he turned them on anyways. Roy pulled away from the curb none to gently, eager to be further inland and away from the more humid air.

“Dammit,” he muttered as he squinted to see the road ahead of him. The fog really was thick tonight.

“Dammit!” He shouted as he slammed his foot on the break, the car coming to a screeching halt, but not before knocking over the figure that had appeared out of the mist moments before.

Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive. The mantra repeated itself inside his head as he flung the car door open. Shit. That was a child’s body outlined by the car’s headlights.

“Kid! Hey Kid! Are you alright?”

The child let out a squeaking noise before Roy kneeled next to him, pulling a single glove off to feel for injuries. With a jolt Roy realized his knees were soaked and he feared looking down to see a pool of blood only to be relieved that it was only water. In fact, the child was completely drenched, a very clear trail of water leading off into the fog in the direction the kid had come from. Roy wasn’t sure if the kid was a boy or girl, their long blond hair was filthy and tangled, and they appeared to be wearing a stolen shirt, one that belonged on a full-grown man which hung off their young body awkwardly along the shoulders and fell well below their knees.

“Come on kid.” Roy brushed hair away from the child’s neck, trying to find a pulse.

The kid jerked to life suddenly, shaking their head and spraying water everywhere, unusual golden eyes glancing around before focusing on where Roy was hovering above them. “Watch where you’re going, bastard!” The kid slurred out in the higher tones of a prepubescent boy.

Roy watched in shock as the boy pushed himself away from his grip with one arm and unsteadily got to his feet, swayed a few steps away before tipping over and falling on his face. “Ow.”

Roy blinked, completely taken back before blurting out the first questions that popped into his head. “Are you alright kid? Where are your parents?”

“Mmm fine, buzz off,” the kid grumbled into the ground before slumping bonelessly.

Roy gently reached over to flip the boy to his back. He glared back at him, wide mouth set into a firm grimace and his eyes simmering with an emotion that Roy took a moment to realize was determination. “Do you need some help, kid?”

His gaze narrowed slightly. “No. I need you to go away so I can get on my way.”

Based on the amount of slurred words and stumbled attempt at walking Roy was decently convinced the kid had a little brain trauma, “I think you need to go to a doctor.”

“I can’t go to a doctor! I don’t have time for that!”

“What’s so important that a little kid like you would be out in this part of town –”

“Who you callin’ so little that even a hungry shark would ignore them!”

“I… I didn’t call you that,” Roy said, more than a little bewildered.

The boy lets out a sound of frustration and drags his hand across his face. “I don’t have time for this!”

“I can’t in good consciousness leave a child to wander around on his own. Where is your family? I can take you to them.”

“In that thing?” He turns and points to Roy’s car, still on his back, “The one you hit me with?”

Roy winces. “Yes, sorry about that. I can drive you anywhere you need to go. Consider it equivalent exchange. I hurt you, so I’ll help you.”

The boy’s eyes glinted dangerously. “You’re right, bastard, you do owe me.” The boy scratched his neck, eyeing Roy with a disconcertingly calculating look. “I’m looking for someone, but I don’t know this city.”

Roy grins. “I happen to know this city very well. Perhaps I can send you in the right direction, after I get you all cleaned up and taken care of.”

“I don’t have time to waste getting cleaned up bastard!”

“Well, you’re not going anywhere as you are now, looking like you robbed a sailor’s laundry line.” It might be a low blow to bring the kid’s appearance into it, but if it helped convince him let Roy help him it would be worth it.

The boy grits his teeth before sitting up and growling out, “Fine. But tomorrow I need to get going. I’ve got to find him.”

Conscience slightly assuaged, Roy plasters his fake genuine smile on his face. “Let’s start over. I’m Roy Mustang,” he says, offering the boy his hand to shake.

The boy smacks his right hand away before grabbing Roy’s left with his own. “I’m Ed.” Ed smirks at Roy, and he feels his fake grin falter as he notices something he hadn’t before. The overlarge shirt is falling down Ed’s small frame, showing off a mass of scar tissue where his right arm should be. 

Chapter Text

Ed refuses to answer any of Roymustang’s questions for the duration of the ride in his danger-mobile. The man had wrapped him up in his overcoat and physically placed him in the backseat of the car, and despite Ed’s best attempts at making that difficult, he only came up to the middle of the taller man’s stomach. Ed had taken a moment to vindictively pull the coat aside to drip dirty street water all over the backseat before settling in to spend the rest of the ride glaring at the back of the human’s head. He had to give up on that almost immediately after Roymustang put the car into motion. It was becoming apparent that the car itself might not be the dangerous part of the equation.

After giving up on conversation, the man had driven silently, sparing glances backwards every once in a while. Ed never let his disgruntled expression slip. There was only so long he could hold the look though, and he finally released it as the car came to a stop. Blinking and glancing around, Ed could tell they were in a different part of town. The fog had faded behind them and there were no longer any dingy bars like those around the docks. Instead, taller buildings lined the road, their mostly dark windows reflecting the light off of streetlamps. Ed stared at them in wonder. It was odd to see such tall buildings. Ed had been under the impression that the surface world was flat, humans bound by gravity to living on a single plane, the sense of verticality provided by the ocean wasn’t available when there was no water to swim through. Not that he ever spent more time in open water than he had to. There was that one time he, Al, and Winry had dared each other to swim out furthest into the open Xingese trench. Ed had won that dare, but there was nothing quite like the sense of insignificance that came from being suspended with nothing visible in any direction you looked. Movement was practically unrestricted in water compared to air. Apparently, humans weren’t fond of that and had managed to compensate for their planar world by building their own layers.

Ed startled again as the door in front of him opened. Roymustang leaned into his space, reaching out as if to pick him up. Ed growled, “I can walk,” scrunching up his face to show his displeasure just in case the human hadn’t picked up on it in the first place.

Roymustang relented, hands lifting away from Ed with a fake innocent look plastered to his face.  Ed ducked under the tall human’s arms and contemplated the distance between the car seat and the ground before giving a mental shrug and letting himself slide into a standing position, dragging the coat with him. His first step away from the car turned into a stumble with a flailing arm as Ed tried to regain his balance. Roymustang caught him before he could faceplant. Again.

Well that was embarrassing. “I can do this myself!” He shook off Roymustang’s hand hesitantly gripping him around his arm before managing a few stuttering steps. There was a sort of rhythm to this whole walking deal. Stopping mid motion wouldn’t just let you hang in the air momentarily; it was no good to abort a step mid stride.

“If you’re sure,” Roymustang said, hand a hair’s breadth away from Ed’s back. “We’re a few blocks away still, and we’re going to have to go up two flights of stairs.”

Ed stared at the human incredulously. “You didn’t take us directly to where you’re taking me?”

“I can’t park near the apartment. It’s in that building over there,” he said gesturing down the road.

Ed contemplated the buildings around them. They seemed too big for an individual to live in one, not to mention there were other cars parked along the side of the road. Some of the windows had personal touches to them. Different curtains, decorations on the glass; some had plants growing from little boxes attached to them. Apartment sounded a lot like compartment. Perhaps each window was attached to a personal chamber, with an individual living in each one, like a polyp in a coral reef. Ed wrinkled his nose. “Why can’t you park next to the, the apartment you live in?” he said testing the new word.

Roymustang gave him an odd look. Perhaps he got the pronunciation wrong. It wasn’t like he got to regularly practice speaking Amestrian.

“I don’t live here, a close friend of mine does,” Roymustang said, nodding towards the building.

“So why exactly are we coming here?”

“Because I was expected to meet them here tonight, and I’m already late thanks to you.”

“I didn’t ask for you to help me, bastard!” Ed growled out.

“No, you didn’t. But I couldn’t in good conscience leave you back there by yourself.”

Roymustang lead a slightly swaying Ed down the road. It really was easier to keep moving once you got the basic movements into a rhythm. A block and a half later Roymustang lead him to what appeared to be a side door into one of the buildings. The door opened heavily directly into a stairwell. Ed is silently relieved to see that the dimly lit stairs are much nicer looking than the only other interior stairs he had ever seen. Winry had dared him to swim through a sunken pirate shipwreck once, and while the deteriorating wooden steps had been easy to swim over the though of having to navigate something like them had made Ed nervous. But these stairs were all evenly spaced, if a bit industrial. There was even a rail to hang onto, which Roymustang was polite enough to move out of Ed’s way so he could grip the rail freely.

With the rail’s help, Ed managed to make it to third floor without falling, and Roymustang led him into a hallway lined with numbered doors. The human stopped at a door that seemed no different than the rest and pulled a key out of his pocket. He glanced down at Ed as if considering something. “Try to be a bit quiet. I doubt she’s sleeping, but the neighbors likely are.”

“I’m not the one talking, bastard.” Ed says, managing to keep it just below his regular volume level.

Roymustang huffs and quietly unlocks the door, ushering Ed in before him.

A quick glance around reveals a short dark hallway with light spilling in from the first doorway on the left. The door closes gently behind him, the lock clicking back into place when a shadow falls through the doorway accompanied by a mechanical sound. The human froze next to him and slowly lifted his hands up.

“You should have called and told me you were going to be late, Roy.” The new voice came from the figure in the doorway, backlit with most of their features impossible to make out except for the halo of blonde hair hanging loose around their shoulders and light glinting off of something metallic in their hand, pointed towards Roymustang. Or apparently Roy. Roy Mustang? Ed felt slightly embarrassed. It made sense that humans also used first and last names. Roymustang was a dumb name anyways.

Either way the new figure was shorter and built different than the human man behind Ed, their voice softer, edges muscled but not sharp. Perhaps this was an adult human woman.

“I got sidetracked,” Roy, apparently, said, gesturing down to Ed’s annoyance.

“Who –” the woman started but before she could get anywhere something behind her let out a bark like a seal. A black and white blur slipped out from behind her and charged Ed. He barely had enough time to try and bring his arm up and between the creature before he’s been tackled and falls flat on his back with the air knocked out of his lungs.

“Black Hayate! Heel!” The woman calls out to the creature, a dog Ed thinks belatedly, which lets out a little whine, licks Ed’s face, and then retreats back to the woman’s side.

“I’m so sorry, he’s never done that before.” Ed wipes dog spit off on Roy’s overcoat sleeve before pushing himself into a sitting position and glares at the dog. It in turn cocks its head to stare back at him, tongue out, panting happily. The woman has moved forward out of the doorway and Ed can now make out that she is in a nightgown and robe, the metal thing, a gun he realizes belatedly, returned to a shoulder holster as her concerned brown eyes take in his appearance and hover over his exposed right shoulder.

Roy clears his throat. “As I was saying I got sidetracked. This is Ed. I bumped into him outside of the Madam’s bar.”

The woman was still considering Ed’s arm, or lack thereof. It took her a moment longer before she teared her rudely staring eyes away and back to the man behind him. “Bumped into him?”

“With his car,” Ed clarified, with almost unholy glee as he watched her expression shift from confused to outright anger directed at the other human.

“You what? Sir! Why didn’t you take him to the hospital?”

Ed couldn’t help his cackle at Roy’s attempted spluttering to save face. “It was more like a tap! Besides, he insisted he didn’t have enough time to go to the hospital. He’s looking for someone and I offered our help to make up for hitting him.”

Her eyes narrow. “I see. And you decided to bring him here instead of straight to someone who could better help because…?”

“I was already going to be late meeting you, and you have a first aid kit if we need it. Tomorrow I’ll hand him over to Hughes.”

Ed stared at the adults in distress. “Hey bastard! You said you’d help me, why’re you sending me off to other people?”

Roy had the decency to look at least slightly contrite. “Sorry Ed. I should have explained better. A close friend of mine works in investigations. If anyone can help track down your missing person, it will be him.”

“Why didn’t you take me to him then?” Ed growled out. This was getting to be frustrating, all this stalling at taking action while any number of horrors could be happening to Al. Outside help might be useful, but he couldn’t trust these humans with the full truth. He might be able to make more progress on finding his brother on his own.

Roy crossed his arms. “Because it’s one in the morning and he has a newborn baby that I’m not about to risk waking up and dealing with her parent’s wrath.”

“But you’ll take me to him tomorrow?” Ed frowned and corrected himself, “Later today?”

“Yes, as long as you let us get you cleaned up tonight,” Roy paused, and turned to the woman, “As long as it is okay that he uses your bathroom.” There was some sort of hidden message in the look he shared with her that Ed couldn’t quite decipher.

The woman eventually lets out a sigh, resigned to whatever Roy had asked of her silently. “Of course. You’re free to use anything you need in the house. Bathroom, phone, food, couch, whatever.”

Ed glanced down. He was pretty filthy, sitting in a puddle of dirty sea water in clothes that were not meant for someone his age. He resolutely did not think about it in terms of size. It might be nice to be clean. And dry. Even if he’s never been completely dry before. It couldn’t be that bad, right? Besides it was getting late and sleep was starting to sound nice. So was food. He wondered what humans considered to be food. Probably something other than just fish.

“Okay,” he agreed, “But in the morning you take me to this Hughes guy and get him to help me, no matter what.”

Chapter Text

Riza isn’t sure what to think. Roy was supposed to be in earlier to brief her on any new intel but instead he wanders in at one in the morning with his hands full of a brand-new problem. And Ed is a problem, in every sense of the word. A tiny, disgruntled, quite possibly traumatized child that Roy, despite what he might say, would not abandon if he felt even the slightest bit of responsibility for. And Roy has gotten them into and out of enough predicaments to last a lifetime, but this is a new one; Riza feels wrongfooted. It’s been a very long time since she had to deal with children (don’t think about the children of Ishval, just don’t), and Ed is as surly and cantankerous as the best of them.

Having abandoned Roy to clean up the hallway and mourn over his filthy overcoat, she escorts Ed into her small bathroom to draw a hot bath. Riza can’t help but notice the way Ed wobbles when walking, his single arm occasionally flying out to try and counterbalance every time he lists too far to one side. She wondered if Roy had somehow messed up his sense of balance when he hit the boy. He really should go see a doctor.

Riza gently closes the bathroom door behind them to prevent Black Hayate from sneaking in with them and Ed jumps to stare back at her before his eyes wander to take in the rest of the room. It’s not that big of a room, just enough room for a person to squeeze between the counterspace, toilet, and bath-shower combo, but Ed is taking it all in with fascination scrawled across his face. Riza gently moves past him and starts filling the tub. On a whim she added some bubble bath to the mix, filling the frothy water up to what she judged to be the proper fullness for a child of Ed’s stature. She turned to the boy, standing dripping by the door, arm wrapped around his stomach and looking very uncertain.

“Do you think you’ll need any help?” Riza is hoping Ed won’t take the offer as an insult. If she has read him correctly, he’s not the type of person to appreciate being pitied or treated differently due to his disability. All of Ed’s hesitancy is from being in a strange place surrounded by strangers he can’t possibly fully trust.

Ed’s eyes go switch from concentrating on the tub to Riza. “No, I … maybe? With my hair?” He looks incredibly young, the shirt he is wearing practically swallowing him whole. Riza watched as he tugged uncertainly at his tangled blond locks. Ed’s hair was long, almost as long as hers and Riza had to wonder how long ago it was since he had had a haircut.

Riza gives him her most reassuring smile. “Alright. You get in and I’ll bring you some clean clothes. Then I can help you with your hair.” Ed nodded and moved towards the tub.

Riza slipped out of the bathroom and back into the hallway. Roy glanced up from where he was mopping up the trail of dirty water.

“What have you gotten us into, Roy?”

At least he has the decency to look slightly chastised. “It’ll be just a minor diversion in the grand scheme of things,” Roy tried but Riza shook her head.

“I’ve never seen a child who wasn’t a war victim look so broken before. His arm is missing, Roy.”  

“Is that what you see? I see fire in those eyes. He’s a fighter. The hardest part will be getting him agree to be helped by outside forces.”

“I don’t think he expects anyone to offer him any genuine help that isn’t brought on by pity.”

Roy propped the mop up against the wall and drew Riza into an embrace, one hand on the back of her neck, the other on her waist. She returned it by running her fingers through his hair. Riza decides to throw him a bone by changing the topic. “Tell me about your date later?”

“Mmm. I wished it was you the entire time.” Roy brushed his forehead against hers, head bowed to meet hers.

Riza felt a warm smile slip onto her face, savoring the moment. By themselves they could be Riza and Roy, free of all expectations. But they weren’t alone right now, and Riza could feel that thought driving her smile from her face. Ed was an unknown factor. If they became too lax in the company of others, even just a single child, it would be the first step in the slippery slope of their downfall. Roy’s cause was bigger than her, bigger than him. Around others they were Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye, superior and subordinate. Stolen moments were just that; taken forcefully and bound to cause issues down the road.

“Maybe one day sir”, she said, breaking their embrace and reestablishing boundaries. “Let me go get something clean for Ed to wear and then check in on him.”

Roy straightened and slid almost all personal emotions behind a mask, leaving only a slightly amused smile behind. “If he didn’t drown from whatever got him soaked earlier this evening, I doubt he’ll drown in a bathtub.”

Riza resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Please finish cleaning up your mess sir.”

“Hey that’s not fair! It’s not only my mess.”

“You brought Ed here, he’s your responsibility. Please be more attentive to taking care of him than you are of your paperwork, or do you want me to call Lieutenant Colonel Hughes and tell him you need advice on how to care for a child?”

Just as she was ducking out of the hallway and into her bedroom, she heard Roy mumble, “That was a low blow Lieutenant,” and Riza let out a huff and a small smile. She turned her attention to looking for something suitable for Ed to wear.  Rummaging through her closet eventually yielded a worn shirt that would probably only go down to Ed’s knees. Further searching through both hers and Roy’s drawer and she emerged victoriously with a pair of drawstring shorts that they might be able to cinch up enough to not fall off of Ed’s hips, even if they would be more like pants for the child. They would be suitable to sleep in and nothing else. Riza decided then and there that she would have get clothes that would fit the boy properly before too long.

With a sigh, Riza emerged from her bedroom to find the hallway empty and shuffling sounds coming from the kitchen. Belatedly she wondered if Ed was hungry.

Riza knocked on the bathroom door. “Ed? I’m coming in.” She didn’t get a response, but she heard a lot of splashing sounds. When she pushed in Ed was looking particularly guilty in the tub, sudsy water rocking vigorously around him, but almost none of it on the floor.

“I have something dry for you to wear. Did you still need help with your hair?”

Ed looked down, knees drawn up and poking out of the water. “If you’re willing.”

“Of course.” Riza placed the dry clothes on the closed toilet seat lid and kneeled at the edge of the tub. Hesitating a moment, she reached around Ed and grabbed Roy’s shampoo. Riza squeezed out a generous amount into her hand and brought it up to Ed’s head to work up a lather. The boy relaxed as she ran her hands through his long hair, gently working through tangles and massaging the lather into his scalp before rinsing off the suds and revealing that what looked like dirty blond hair was actually a polished gold.

Ed let out a contented sigh and stretched his arm out as Riza finished rinsing off his hair. From this distance and now that his skin was clean Riza could make out a series of lighter scars crisscrossing his left arm that stood out against his tanned skin. It almost looked like a design, and Riza couldn’t help but wonder what trauma this kid had been through. His face may have some of its baby fat still, but his remaining arm was well muscled for someone who couldn’t be older than ten.

“There. All done.” Riza pushed herself back as Ed twisted around in the tub to look at her. He hesitantly ran his hand through his hair, seeming to enjoy being able to pull his fingers through it without snagging it on anything.

“Thank you…?” He trailed off.

Riza realized belatedly that Roy had never introduced her and she had never told the kid her name. “I’m Riza Hawkeye. I work under Roy.”

Ed’s nosed wrinkled. “He called you his friend. Aren’t friends equals?”

Riza laughed, genuinely surprised. “I like to think we are, no matter what Roy says. We grew up together.”

There was a look of recognition in Ed’s eyes with that, and he nodded in understanding. Still smiling, Riza asked, “Are you hungry Ed? I can get you a quick snack before bed.”

Ed paused as if to refuse, then reconsidered. “I guess some food would be nice.”

Riza smiled and stood up. Wrapping Ed up she made sure he had a grip on the towel before stepping back. “I’ll give you some privacy to change. When you’re ready come on out to the kitchen. Let’s get you fed and put to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a busy day.”

Ed nodded, a glint of determination in his burnished gold eyes. So, there was the fire Roy had mentioned.

Riza slipped out of the bathroom and into her kitchen. Roy was now sitting at the table, swirling a tumbler of what better not be her good whisky and definitely plotting something. Black Hayate had settled himself down next to him but sat up as she approached. Riza snatched the tumbler from Roy and tipped it back in one go despite his’s objections, narrowing her eyes as she noisily slammed the tumbler down. “Make Ed a sandwich.”

“Wha-?”

 “Ed is your responsibility for now. I can help you, but I’m not going to do everything for you. Now go make the kid you practically kidnapped a sandwich.”

Roy grumbled as he hauled himself out of his seat and went rummaging around Riza’s kitchen to gather sandwich ingredients and what looked like a glass of milk. Riza plopped herself down into Roy’s recently abandoned seat and found herself enjoying the domesticity of it all, until she heard the sound of a thump and a muffled curse from the bathroom, dragging herself back to the current situation.

“He needs a doctor, Roy. Or at least his parents.”

“I am aware. If we can get some information out of him tonight, I can set Hughes loose on finding his missing person and where he might belong.” Roy glanced at her with a slight smirk on his face. “You know Hughes’ paternal instinct won’t let him give up until Ed is exactly where he needs to be.” Roy frowned down at his ingredients and the partially assembled sandwich. “Do you think Ed likes pickles?”

“On a PB & J? I doubt it.”

“Huges mentioned Gracia wanting pickles on her PB & Js before,” Roy said defensively.

“Gracia was six months pregnant when she asked for that.”

“Oh.” Roy stared at the pickle jar. “I have no idea how to take care of a child.”

“You should have thought of that before bringing one home with you.” Roy looked back at her slightly panicked. Riza sighed. “Kids are like any other living thing. They need food, water, sleep, attention, and affection.” Riza emphasized that last bit by reaching down and scratching Black Hayate behind an ear. In return the dog nuzzled her leg.

Roy rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It’s easy for you to say. You have some experience keeping a dog alive and happy.”

“Children and dogs are nothing alike.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. Dogs can be trained to obey orders. Kids choose to either obey or disobey depending on how much they respect you.”

Roy was silent for a moment, mechanical motions taking him through cutting the sandwich in half. “Can we spend the night here lieutenant?”

It was clearly an attempt to change the topic, but Riza gave it to him. She gestured towards the empty tumbler still in front of her. “Since you’ve clearly been drinking, I can’t allow you take a child out on the road. I suppose I can let you crash on my couch.”

“What would I do without you?” Roy said as he turned to the table with the sandwich in hand.

Riza lifted the empty tumbler and gave a lazy salute. “You’d be dead of alcohol poisoning ages ago.”

Roy placed the plated sandwich and glass of milk down on the table before sliding into the seat next to Riza. He leaned over and wrapped an arm around her. “Let’s see if we can’t bribe some answers out of our young guest with some food.”

Chapter Text

Ed left the bathroom quietly. It was definitely odd to be this dry and he was quietly grateful that his hair was still a heavy comforting weight slightly dripping down his back. The urge to change back had been strong when he had been submerged, but the itch had faded now that he had left the water. It was good to know that he had enough control to maintain legs when needed. It would have been inconvenient if he had gone back to his true form in front of his temporary human allies. And it was his true form. Ed refused to think of it as anything else. He was born and raised Mer. This human body didn’t matter. Ed wasn’t above taking advantage of anything his bastard father left behind, but there was no way he was going to embrace it. It was just one of the many tools he was going to use to save his brother.

Perhaps Al had already escaped. He had legs too. And sure, it had taken Ed some trial and error and Winry’s encouragement before he could make the damn appendages appear, but Al would have plenty of incentive to find a way to grow them too. Nothing like desperation to kickstart secret inherited powers.

Ed had to wonder what the humans who had taken Al wanted. Money maybe? Weren’t humans supposed to be greedy? Roy didn’t seem overly greedy. Guilty maybe, but he did hit Ed with his car. Ed wasn’t above taking advantage of that either as long as he could get Roy to cooperate.

Riza on the other hand seemed nice enough, if exasperated at Roy’s antics. Ed could relate. Roy kept putting fake emotions and expressions on his face. Riza appeared to be good at reading the real feelings behind the masks and poking holes through them to get genuine reactions. Ed felt like he could trust her, and more importantly, her judgement. Not enough to reveal his true nature, but enough to use their assistance.

The new clothes he was wearing didn’t fit him much better than his original shirt, which he definitely did not steal from a sailor’s laundry line, but seeing as humans liked to cover up most of their skin he supposed it helped him blend in a bit more, even with the right sleeve hanging empty and the collar slipping far enough on that side to show scar tissue. He frowned and fiddled with the fabric of the sleeve. His missing arm was bound to draw more attention than he wanted. Maybe he should ask for something with full length sleeves.

With his good hand braced against the wall, Ed made his way towards the room where he could hear voices coming from, the one Riza had been in when they first came in. Poking his head into the room he was immediately spotted by Roy who sat up and lurched away from Riza.

“Come on in Ed,” Roy called out, mildly disingenuous smile on his lips, “There’s a sandwich waiting for you.”

Ed carefully maneuvered his way towards the seat opposite the two adults and tried not to feel like he was about to be scolded. It had been a long time since he’d had any adults try and scold him in any sort of meaningful way and Ed wasn’t all that happy to be reexperiencing that particular sensation here. But based off of the looks the two were shooting each other this was more likely to be an interrogation than a scolding. That was fine by Ed. There was a grey space between lying to them and telling them everything that he could maneuver within to give them enough information to go on.

The kitchen didn’t have much more than the table, but it opened into a living space where there was a comfy looking chair and couch, window curtains drawn closed to the outside world. There was a closed door at the back of the room, probably leading into the only other room in the apartment that Ed hadn’t been into yet. Maybe a sleeping quarter? Ed hadn’t seen anything that resembled a Mer’s nest in here yet but perhaps humans don’t nest in the same way.

Sitting down he almost jumped back up again when something cold and wet brushed his foot. Glancing under the table revealed that the dog, Black Hayate Ed thought, was settled under their feet. Settling down, Ed looked at the plate of food in front of him. A quick sniff didn’t reveal anything that smelled too unpleasant, and with a mental shrug he picked up a piece of what Roy had called a sandwich and took a bite. A little dry, but the biggest surprise was how sweet it was. He took a larger bite and chewed messily, staring at the two opposite him just in case he missed any social cues that he was eating it wrong. Riza smiled gently, but Roy had a hand pressed against his lips, contemplation written all over his face.

“There’s some milk too if you want it,” Riza nudged a glass full of a white liquid towards Ed. He shoved the rest of half of the sandwich into his mouth before grabbing the glass and pulling it closer. Feeling brave from how well the sandwich went Ed went ahead and took a sip from the glass only to immediately spit it out. Disgusted, he tried to wipe the inside of his mouth out with his hand.

“Are you trying to poison me?”

Riza was somewhat successful at hiding her laugh behind a cough, but Ed knew better. Roy didn’t even bother to try disguising his snort.  “It’s just milk. Drink it up, it’s good for you.”

“Like hell it is! It tastes like it came from a,” Ed struggled to think of something disgusting enough to convey his distaste before settling, “a sheep!” There. One of those had fallen into the sea before, dragged down into the depths by its own water-logged wool. The milk reminded Ed of the smell of it’s dirty fluff in the water.

Roy was smirking now. “A cow actually. If you drink it, it will help you grow up big and strong, instead of staying a little shrimp forever.”

Ed stood up onto his chair so fast his hair nearly gave him whiplash and slapped his hand on the table next to the glass. “Who you callin’ a shrimp so small you need a hand lens to see him?”

Roy’s hands shot up defensively. “I’m just saying if you don’t want to stay a little kid forever you should consider drinking some.”

Riza reached over and plucked the glass out of Ed’s reach which was probably a good call. Ed had been very tempted to chuck the whole thing at Roy, if only just to wipe the smug look off of his face. “How about some water instead?” She said, getting up and pouring the offending milk down the sink.

“Sure,” Ed said, slipping back down into his seat. “You can’t mess up water.”

Taking up the other half of his sandwich Ed proceeded to glare at the older man while he solemnly munched through it. Riza returned with a glass of water and placed it to his left before returning to her seat. Turning his gaze away from Roy, Ed looked to Riza and with as much sincerity as he could muster, he smiled. “Thank you.”

Riza blinked in surprise while Roy spluttered indignantly. “You’re welcome.”

Ed smirked. Putting the older man off balance might be his new favorite activity. He was far too full of false faces for Ed’s liking. Like just now, Roy was putting on a new, serious one.

“We wanted to ask you a few questions. Would you be willing to answer them?” Ah. Here was the interrogation Ed was expecting. Two could play at this game.

Outwardly, Ed gave a half shrug. “Equivalent exchange. You gave me food; I’ll answer some of your questions. If I feel like it.

“Alright then.” The two adults shared a look, the type of telepathic language Ed had sometimes seen adults use. Winry’s parents had been very good at it while they were still around. Roy continued, “Is Ed short for Edward?”

“I prefer Ed.” Ed feigned disinterest, picking bits of sandwich from between his teeth.   

“And your last name?”

“Elric. I’m Edward Elric, but I’d prefer if you only call me Ed.”

Roy nodded, “Alright then Ed,” he said leaning forward, “Where are you from?”

“The east.”

“I’m going to need more than that. East where? The Eastern Isles?”

“Yeah.”

“Which one?” Ed was enjoying Roy’s barely visible frustration. Riza just seemed resigned at this point.

“You probably haven’t heard of it. It’s pretty small.”

“Try me.”

Well, so much for being vague about where they lived. Ed searched his mind for the name of the Isle closest to their home. “Ever heard of Resembool?”

“It’s a small fishing and ranching community, yes? More sheep than people?”

“You’ve been there?” That wasn’t good. Resembool wasn’t a big place, and Ed was counting on these two not knowing anyone there to try and contact.

Roy shook his head. “No, but Havoc is from a neighboring Isle in the archipelago. I distinctly remember him mentioning going to a wool festival there.”

Ed wrinkled his nose. “Who is Havoc?”

“A member of my team,” Roy said, with just a hint of pride in his voice. Ed didn’t like this. A team meant more people he had to take into account, and potentially be forced to trust.

“What team?”

Riza raised an eyebrow and answered before Roy could. “We’re in the military, Ed. I work under Roy. He’s Colonel Mustang, I’m First Lieutenant Hawkeye. That’s how most people address us.”

“I didn’t think someone in the military would be so bad at driving.”

“Hey!”

“Relax sir. You know it’s true.”

“You didn’t have to take his side on it though,” Roy said with a pout.

Riza ignored him. “You said you were looking for someone.  Who are you looking for?”

Ed shifted in his seat. Here is where he needed to be careful about what he said. “My brother.”

“Older or younger?”

“My little brother. He was kidnaped.”

That got Roy’s attention. The pout disappeared and a look of genuine concentration creased his brow. “How old is he? How old are you?”

“I’m 9. Al is 8.”

There was a pause. Ed watched Roy and Riza glance at each other before Riza spoke. “You’re so young to be out here by yourself. Where are your parents? Why aren’t they here instead?”

Ed’s hand involuntarily clutched his side, just below the scar tissue. “Our mom’s dead. Dad left before she died.” He could leave it at that. They didn’t need to know about Winry or her parents’ death or how Granny had taken care of them until she too was gone. He really didn’t want them to be looking into where Winry was, she was vulnerable hanging around outside Central’s harbor. “It’s just us, and we take care of each other.”

“How do you know your brother was kidnapped?” Roy’s hand was back up curled in front of his lips. His calmness was starting to get to Ed.

“I saw it happen! Two days ago, we were exploring an old warship wreck, one that was partially submerged off the coast of Resembool on the sea stacks there.” He, Al, and Winry had swam into the submerged lower decks to see if there was anything interesting worth salvaging in there. Ed and Winry had been trying to open a rotting cargo box when Al had wandered off. The next thing Ed knew was that Al was screaming for help. “There were some men there who saw him and grabbed him. I saw them drag him onto their own ship and I followed it west to here. He’s somewhere in this city, I know it!”

Roy looked at Riza. “Military?” She asked softly.

Roy shook his head. “At worse they would have arrested him for trespassing and taken him back to the island. They would have no reason to drag a child to Central, unless he saw something he shouldn’t have.” Roy turned back to Ed. “Was there anything special about that wreck that you remember?”

Ed considered it for a moment. “It’s not that old. Hard to get to unless you’re on a dingy or can swim really well. I think it was deployed during the Ishvalan war.”

Ed watched as the blood drained from Roy’s face and Riza stiffen minutely next to him. Interesting. Ed remembered older Mers telling him of how the water was stained red from that particular human conflict, but Ed was too young to really understand what had been going on. “Were you involved in that?

“I – yes. We were both deployed right after joining the military.” There was something haunted in his eyes. Ed watched him blink it back for a moment before Roy looked back at him. “The war affected most of the Isles. Did it reach you in Resembool? Is it wat took your, well…” Roy trailed off but nodded towards Ed’s missing right arm. “You don’t have to tell us if it makes you uncomfortable, he amended.”

Ed shook his head before wiggling what was left of his shoulder. “Fishing accident.” The lie comes easily enough, especially since he never gives the truth about the arm. “I’ve more than adapted to life without it.” They didn’t have to know how Ed compensated for his missing original limb. Every secret he managed to keep to himself would only serve as an advantage later on.

 “You seem to like the concept of equivalent exchange.” Roy seemed eager to change the topic. Ed didn’t have to make it too easy for him.

“Is that a question or a statement?”

“A question I suppose. Do you know much about alchemy?”

“Do you?”

Roy sighs, then moves to pull something out of his pocket, placing it down on the table and sliding it towards Ed. It’s a circular metal object attached to a chain, a stylized sea serpent on the top of it. It takes a moment to recognize the object since the only other one he’s seen had been tarnished and barnacle encrusted, but he scrabbles to hit the little catch on the pocket watch and stares in fascination at the little hands as they move mechanically around the face of the watch. “I’m a State Alchemist Ed.”

Ed blinks at Roy for a second before looking back down at the watch. Perhaps a State Alchemist was supposed to be a big deal for humans, but it didn’t mean much to Ed other than sounding like a title of some sort.

Ed reluctantly closes the watch and scoots it back towards Roy. He’s half tempted to try and steal it for Winry. She would love to see a functioning watch. Ed would have to experiment with waterproofing one for her. Ed meets Roy’s gaze. There is a silent challenge there. Roy is asking him to prove something. Well. Ed’s not one to ever back down from a challenge.

Ed dips his finger in the still full glass of water and quickly traces out a very basic transmutation circle onto the wooden grain of the table, rewetting his finger every few seconds and careful leave a trail of liquid in his wake without dripping unnecessary droplets everywhere. Placing his hand on the edge of the circle he activates it and shapes the wood of the table, an Amestrian sea serpent rearing its head and rippling across the surface of the table before Ed pushes the energy back down, leaving the table flat again.

“I’ve never seen a transmutation circle drawn in water before.” Roy is leaning forward to examine the meticulously drawn out array, interest etched into every muscle of his face, and Riza is staring at Ed with an odd look.

“It’s not a good medium. Too impermanent, it makes whatever you’re transmuting fluid and it’s really easy to break the circle.” Ed emphasizes this by swiping his arm through the array, leaving only steaks of droplets behind. “Chalk, ink, drawing it into the sand, tattooing it onto your body, heck even blood are all better mediums.” Ed should know. It was hard to create working arrays underwater.  

Both adults look disturbed by Ed’s statements. Ed decided not to mention the scarred array on his remaining arm. No point in brining that up if they hadn’t noticed it yet.

Ed gives a one-sided shrug that turns into a yawn. He knew he’d been running on fumes before he ate, but now that he’s full Ed is starting to feel a little drowsy. In one afternoon and evening he’s made more progress towards finding Al than he had in days. There was only so much he and Winry could do from the water. Tomorrow he would talk to someone who could help find Al, and then find a way to sneak back to the sea and meet Winry at their prearranged spot. He just hoped she would forgive him for taking so much time before getting back to her.

“I think that’s enough questions for today.” Riza had placed a palm on Roy’s wrist before turning back to Ed. “I know it’s not much, but we can make up a spot for you to sleep on the couch.” The next bit was directed to Roy. “Do you mind getting some bedding from the closet?”

“Not at all.” Roy slipped out of his chair and into the hallway. Ed could hear him rummaging around for something out there.

Riza eased herself out of her seat. Ed watched as she grabbed his dishes along with an empty glass off the table and carried it over to a big basin built into her countertop. She turned and smiled at him. “Ready for bed?”

Ed was pretty tired. Perhaps if he slept now, time would move faster until he could make another move for finding Al. He nodded.

“Let’s get you set up for the night.” Riza dried off her hands and then moved towards the living quarters. Ed scooted of his seat and followed her over to the couch.

“Here we go,” said Roy from the doorway, his arms full of a soft-looking pillow and several blankets. He deposited the materials on the couch and quickly made up what Ed could only assume was a substandard human nest. It reminded Ed of his first attempt to make a nest with Al and Winry. It had been a pretty pathetic attempt looking back at it. The Rockbells had laughed but mom had just smiled and told him that if they weren’t ready, they didn’t have to move out of her nest just yet. Winry had bailed less than an hour into the night back to her parent’s nest but he and Al had resolutely stayed, spending the entire night huddled together trying to make their nest feel safe enough to sleep in. With a pang, Ed realized that this would be his first time sleeping alone. He wondered if Winry was thinking the same thing. He wondered if Al had thought the same thing that first night after being ripped away from them.

There was no point in dwelling on that thought any longer than necessary. Ed hopped into the middle of the human nest and started rearranging things to his preference when he noticed the two adults trying to slip away.

“Hey! If I’m sleeping here, where is he sleeping?” Ed pointed at Roy.

The two share a guilty look before Riza seems to take pity on Roy. “We thought you might like some privacy tonight. Roy and I were going to sleep in the other room.”

“So you’re sleeping together?” Ed asked faux innocently.

Roy spluttered. “Who taught you to say it like that?” He muttered under his breath while Riza seemed to flush a bit.

“There isn’t enough room for both of you on one couch, and I have a place for him to sleep in the other room. If you think you’ll get lonely Black Hayate can sleep with you.” The dog had followed them from the kitchen when they had all gotten up and now let out a little whine and cocked its head at Ed. Ed frowned back at it. He didn’t think a dog would be a good nest companion. Nestmates were supposed to be people you trusted, like your family or friends, or your mate if you were old enough, not creatures that tackled you when you first met them. Nestmates were the people you trusted most.

But if Al had to sleep alone for three nights now and Winry was sleeping alone tonight Ed had no reason to not be able to do the same. Ed slipped under the blanket and wrapped himself around the pillow. It was almost like curling around Al, and the blanket was almost like Winry’s tail tickling his ear. Almost.

The two adults watched him get comfortable for a moment. “Goodnight Ed,” Roy finally said, softly, before heading into the other room.

“Tomorrow we’ll see about reuniting you with your brother.” Riza started to follow Roy but stopped when she noticed her dog following her. “No Black Hayate, you stay here tonight,” she said pointing towards Ed. The dog sat down and cocked its head at Riza. She sighed, “Close enough,” before stepping into the bedroom and closing the door behind her.

Ed tried to sleep. He really did. He could feel his eyelids getting gritty, begging to stay closed, but no matter how he tossed and turned and rearranged his pillow and blankets nothing was brining him the comfort he needed to sleep. The quiet voices from the other room had died out a while ago, Roy and Riza must have fallen asleep. Ed shifted again and it must have been one time too many. Ed heard Black Hayate shake out his ears, collar jangling, and listened as the dog padded its way away from him. There was a scratching noise and a soft whine. Ed pried his eyes open to see the faint outline of the dog sitting outside Riza’s bedroom door. Perhaps he wanted in.

Ed slowly sat up before following the dog to the door. His bare feet made little noise on the wooden floor and when he reached the door he opened it silently. Black Hayate pushed past him but Ed paused to look around. It was too dark to make out every detail, and air made a very poor medium to feel the movement from other creature in. However, Ed could clearly see two lumps on the bed-nest against one wall of the room. So they were nestmates. Probably mate-mates too. Ed wrinkled his nose. They had a weird way of showing affection if they really were mates. Ed was about to turn around and go back to his pathetic nest when he noticed Black Hayate jump up and curl up next to one of the lumps. It did look like a comfy nest. And a safe one too.

It took Ed all of two seconds before he made a decision and moved towards the bed.

Chapter Text

Roy woke up slowly. He could feel the tight pinching from behind his eyes that comes from waking up after too little sleep. He wanted nothing more than to return to the comfort of dreamless sleep, but he knew he needed to get up and going before the streets became too busy and slipping out of Riza’s apartment became liable to get him noticed and reported to the Brass. Being stationed in East City under Lieutenant General Grumman had its perks; the man had given his silent, and sometimes vocal, approval of his granddaughter’s relationship with Roy and had provided quite a bit of shelter from scrutiny while they had been under his command. They had lost that protection when Roy’s team had been relocated to Central, and Roy couldn’t afford to forget that.

Prying his eyelids open he glanced right to the woman curled up next to him. Riza’s arm was a warm weight across his chest and her soft breaths stir the blonde hair fanning out around her. He reaches over to gently cup her cheek. A light smile flickers onto her face and he knows she is awake.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he says huskily, brushing a kiss to her forehead.

“Good morning yourself,” Riza says with a laugh, brown eyes opening up to him.

“Mornin’,” says a voice from around their feet, and Roy can feel at least five years coming off his lifespan as he jumps. Roy struggles to scoot away from the voice while scrabbling for his ignition gloves, carelessly thrown onto the bedside table the night before. By the time he’s pulled one on and has his fingers poised to snap while Riza has whipped a handgun out from who knows where, safety off but pointed at the ceiling.

Heart in his throat, Roy just barely manages to hold his forefinger back when he notices golden eyes blinking blearily at him from the foot of the bed.

Roy has never been so glad that he and Riza had gone directly to sleep last night instead of performing any more amorous activities. That said, Riza might be in her nightgown but Roy is only in his boxers and feels perfectly permissible when he swears.

“What the fuck, Ed?”

“Roy!”

“Why are you in our bed?”

Ed rolled over and stretched out on his back, smacking his lips. “Your dog wanted in so I let him. I didn’t want to sleep by myself.” Ed flipped back over and pressed his face into the covers. “‘sides. Your nest is comfier than mine was.”

Nest? Roy thinks but before he can comment on it Riza has already spoken up.

“You should have woken one of us up Ed. We’re both a little trigger-happy and I’d rather you not discover that the hard way.” Riza’s handgun had disappeared by now and she had pulled herself out from under the covers, arms crossed over her chest.

Ed pushed himself back up, eyes alight and hair in complete disarray. “It’s morning now. You’re taking me to this Hughes guy now.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. Ed was practically bouncing with the boundless energy of youth.

Roy massaged his brow, the rough texture of his ignition gloves scratching at his skin. “Why don’t you go out and wait in the other room, use the bathroom if you need to. I still need to get dressed.”

Ed shot up and to the edge of the bed. Tenderly, he lowered his feet to the ground and after a moment of finding his balance he turned back to Roy. “Don’t take to long old man, my brother is waiting.”

“I’m not that old–” Roy trails off as Ed tears out of the room. He looks at Riza for support, but his traitorous Lieutenant is laughing behind her hand.

“That little brat.”

Riza manages to choke back her laughter. “Don’t leave him waiting or he might destroy the rest of my apartment, and I’m going to have any renovation fees charged to you.”

Roy groaned. He may have bitten off more than he could chew with this one.

By the time Roy has dressed in clean clothes Ed was sitting on the couch, running his hand through his hair in an attempt to tame it. There was a little strand sticking straight up on top in defiance of gravity, and Roy watched bemusedly as Ed kept stopping to rub the golden strands between his fingers. He was still in the overlarge shirt and shorts from last night, feet swinging over the edge of the couch. Belatedly, Roy realized that Ed was barefoot, and had been the entire time he had known the kid.

Stepping fully out of the bedroom Riza was still in Roy called out, “Ready to go?”

Ed’s eyes locked into him, mischief written into every feature and Roy surreptitiously looked for what he had destroyed. “Are we gonna have to ride in your death-mobile again?”

“My car is perfectly safe.”

“It may be safe, but you driving it sure isn’t.”

Roy opened his mouth to let out an angry retort before shutting up. He could practically hear Riza laughing at him getting into an argument with a child. Instead, he calmly said, “It’s too far to let you walk.”

Ed glared and pushed himself off the couch, landing on far more steady feet than he had been before. “I can walk just fine, bastard.”

“Not outside without shoes. That’s just asking to get your feet cut up.”

Ed looked down and wiggled his toes. “Do I need shoes? I’ve been fine so far without them.”

Roy did not want to unpack that statement. What kind of country bumpkin had he brought into his life? “Eventually yes. We’ll get you some soon.”

“Whatever, can we go now?” Ed’s impatience was practically tangible with how he was bouncing on the balls of his feet and his hand kept clenching and unclenching.

“Just a sec,” Roy said before turning to knock quietly on Riza’s bedroom door, “We’re about to head out,” He called out to her.

The door opened and Riza popped her head out, dressed in her uniform’s underclothes. “Alright. Ed I’ll see you tonight?” She waited for Ed to nod back to her before turning back to Roy, “See you at work,” she said, brushing her hand against his shoulder before slipping back into the bedroom, door shutting behind her.

Roy wished he was brave enough to chance kissing her, but Ed staring a hole in the back of his head was decent incentive to do otherwise. He led the way towards the apartment door, sighing when he saw the state of his overcoat. He’d have to pay to get that cleaned.

Roy kept his eyes on Ed as they walked through the silent hall towards the stairwell, but whatever had been messing with the boy’s sense of balance seemed to have resolved itself as Ed’s steps were quick and steady. Once they reached the stairs Roy felt it was safe enough to bring up something he was dreading Ed’s response to.

“Now, I should probably warn you that we’re going to miss meeting Hughes at his house.”

Predictably, Ed’s voice rose to echo around the stairwell. “Then why the hell are we going there?”

Pushing on in an even tone, Roy tried to keep his voice down. “Because I need to go to work and I don’t have a good enough excuse to bring a child with me. However, I can meet with Hughes there and get him started on finding your brother. You gave us plenty of information to get started with and when he gets home tonight, he will be able to tell you if he’s found anything.”

Ed was shaking his head, looking ready to bolt. “I can’t just sit still! Alphonse is out there with people doing who knows what to him! I’ve got to be doing something to help find him!”

Roy gripped Ed by his good shoulder. “Listen to me Edward. You can’t expect to be able to track down your brother in a strange city by yourself. You’re a child, and as a child your responsibility is to get an adult to help you. Ideally it would have been your parents or guardians or whoever has been taking care of you all this time. But now that I’m involved, I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger more so than necessary. Hughes is a good man and is damned good at his job. Tracking down a missing person is something he can do and has a good track record with. Let us adults help you.”

Ed seemed to shrink into himself. “I don’t like feeling useless.”

“You’re not being useless. You’ve given us enough information to start. Tonight, we will reconvene with what we can find out today and see where we stand on finding your brother.”

Edward looked like he was about to interject again. Roy switched tactics.

“Do you think your brother would be happy to know how you got hurt looking for him? Do you think he’d appreciate you running away from people trying to help you?”

“You don’t know my brother,” Ed gritted out, but the way he ducked his head in shame let Roy know his point got across.

“No, I don’t. But I’m starting to know you, and I know that you won’t give up on him. So I’m asking you to put some trust into us that we can do our job to help you.”

Ed looked up defiantly. “If you don’t have anything new by tonight I’m going out on my own. Don’t think you can stop me.”

“Deal.” This time when shaking the boy’s hand he offered his left hand straight away, meeting Ed’s feral grin with a firm nod. Roy pushed past Ed and down the stairs until he reached the ground floor.

Pausing as he eased the door leading outside open, Roy glanced around the street. The sun was barely rising with the early morning light just starting to warm the air. The street was mostly deserted, and after a moment of observing this Roy led Ed back down the block to where he had left his car.

Ed hopped into the backseat with a grumbled thanks and Roy closed the door behind him before slipping into the driver’s seat. “It’s not that far from here,” He said as he watched Ed settle into his seat, and smirked as he watched him try to avoid the drying puddles of dirty water he had left there the night before.

Throughout the short drive Roy kept glancing at Ed. The boy was staring in fascination as the streets came to life. Roy had to wonder if Ed had ever been into a major city before. Resembool was a farming and fishing community; it was likely they didn’t have many buildings or even cars on the Isle. Hell, Roy wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t even have a paved street.

Now that he thought about it, Ed had never told them how he had traveled to Central. Perhaps he had stowed away on one of the ferries that traveled between the Isles. It wouldn’t surprise Roy if Ed had decided to hitch a ride west without a second thought the moment he knew his brother had been taken in that direction. Ed looked like he didn’t have a single cens to his name to pay for a ferry, and Roy had seen desperation drive people to do worse things than stow away.

Shaking his head to dismiss the thought, Roy concentrated on maneuvering the car through the minimal traffic and pulling up to the curb next to the building the Hughes’s lived in.

The Hughes’s flat was much larger than Riza’s apartment, and Roy tired to be patient while waiting for someone to answer the door. Ed was doing no such thing, and was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, the picture of an impatient child. Eventually there were footsteps from inside the flat and a moment later the door swung open to reveal the curious eyes of Gracia Hughes.

“Oh! Hello Roy!” She said, throwing the door all the way open, “If you were hoping to catch Maes you just missed him.”

Roy plastered a charming smile on his face. “Don’t worry about it. It would have been nice to have gotten to him before he left, but I have a favor to ask of you.” Roy shifted to the side, letting Gracia get an unimpeded view of his companion.

If Gracia had any shock at seeing Ed’s appearance she did an amazing job at hiding it. Her eyebrows barely hitched when she glanced to his missing arm, but her face filled with a warm smile. “Who is this, Roy?”

Roy put his hand behind Ed’s back and gently pushed him forward a few stumbling steps. “This is Ed. His brother has gone missing and I’m hoping to put your husband on the case, but I need a place for him to stay while I head into central command. It’s not exactly an easy place to bring a child into without a good reason. Ed, this is Mrs. Hughes.”

“Hello Ed. You can call me Gracia. Would you like to come in?”

Ed looked between Roy and Gracia. Roy shifted his hand to rest on Ed’s good shoulder. “I promise that I will get Hughes all the information you’ve given me so far. This evening we’ll have something to go off of.”

Ed gave him one more look before nodding. “You’ve got until this evening, then I’m searching on my own.”

The last thing Roy saw before rounding the corner was a very determined look on Ed as he headed into the Hughes’s flat.

…

After a quick stop at his own house to change into his uniform, Roy was on his way to central command. The moment he pulled the navy-blue jacket closed around his chest Roy allowed a mental switch to flip in his head. The gate guards gave him a salute as he passed through and by the time he made it to his team’s office he was just under an hour later than normal.

“At ease,” Roy called out to the handful of salutes from his team. Master Sergeant Fuery went back to fiddling with his radio whilst Warrant Officer Falman and Second Lieutenant Breda continued an argument his arrival had interrupted.

Without looking at him, Hawkeye said, “I already put your new paperwork on your desk. Please get through everything you neglected to finish last night first, sir.”

With a grimace Roy managed to grit out, “Thank you Lieutenant,” before making his way towards his office, only to be interrupted by Second Lieutenant Havoc before he could take two steps.

“Late night Colonel?’ Havoc called out as he relaxed back into his seat.

“As a matter of fact, I got caught up in some personal affairs that happen to be none of your business.”

There was a handful of snickers from the rest of the team. “If you insist, chief,” Havoc said with an easy grin.

Roy closed the door separating his office from his teams with a sigh before turning to face a dishearteningly large pile of paperwork listing dangerously on his desk. He should probably make some headway on it, especially if he was planning on spending his lunch out of the office tracking down Hughes. It wouldn’t be that hard, he only had to follow the sound of photographs being shoved into the faces of unsuspecting victims.

For the next few hours Roy managed to keep most of his attention on signing paperwork, despite his mental attempts to corral his thoughts on how best to engage Hughes in helping Ed’s hunt. By the time it was reasonable enough for him to take a lunch break Hawkeye had already brought him three more stacks of paperwork.

Roy strode quickly towards investigations, hoping to catch Hughes before he left for the cafeteria. It would be better to discuss things in his office, where Roy could be decently sure that a bug sweep had already taken place to keep private conversations private.

It seems like he was in luck. Rounding the corner, he caught the end of an overly exuberant sentence from the Lieutenant Colonel.

 “– and look at this one! My darling Elicia is waving in this one!” Hughes had an unwitting victim caught up against the wall and a handful of photos shoved in his face. The poor Sergeant looked close to tears of relief when he noticed Roy approaching.

“Hughes. Let the poor man go.”

“Roy!” Hughes jumped away from the Sergeant who took the opportunity to flee. “Just the man I wanted to see. I just got some new photos developed –”

“Your office. Now.” Roy left no room for debate when he grabbed Hughes by the shoulder and directed him towards his office.

“No need to shove, I’ve got plenty of photos to share. Elicia’s about to start talking soon, I just know it!”

Roy frog marched Hughes back into his office, ignoring the other’s complaints. He pushed Hughes back into his seat before slamming the door shut.

“No need to be so prickly Roy,” Hughes said with a grin, “What’s gotten into you today?”

Roy slid into the other empty seat across from Hughes. “Are we clear to talk freely?”

Hughes face took on a much more serious expression, carefree grin replaced by intense eyes. “We should be.”

Roy leaned forward. “I’ve got a favor to ask of you, off the records.”

Hughes held up a hand. “Now Roy, I’m a busy man.”

“It’s for a child.”

“I’m in.”

Roy pulled out a file he had filled out earlier that morning between signing paperwork and slid it over the desk to Hughes.

“Late last night I ran into a boy named Edward Elric. He’s looking for his brother, who he claims was kidnapped. Alphonse Elric has been missing for three days now. Here’s all the information I got out of Ed so far.”

Hughes flipped through the file quickly, drinking in the information. “There’s not that much to go off of.”

“I’ve seen you get results from worse leads than this.”

“True,” Hughes flipped the file shut and looked back at Roy, “But you’re not usually the type to stick your neck out for some random child off the street. What’d he do to get your attention?”

Roy sighed. “Remember how I said I ran into him last night? I literally ran into him.”

Hughes stared.

Roy sighed again. “With my car.”

“Roy!”

Chapter Text

Gracia Hughes, it turned out, was an incredibly nice human. No, that wasn’t fair to put her into a box just because she was human. Gracia Hughes was an incredibly nice person. It became apparent within the first ten minutes of Ed being there, when she had escorted him into the kitchen and then cooked some incredibly tasty human food that was far superior to the sandwich Roy had given him last night. And not only had she done that, but she’d done it with a baby on her hip.

Elicia Hughes was enthralling to Ed. Gracia introduced her by holding the baby to Ed’s eyelevel and saying, “Ed this is Elicia. Elicia, this is Ed. Can you say hi to Ed?” The baby had turned her wide green eyes to Ed and watched him. Her hair was the same brown as her mothers, and her tiny baby hand flailed in his direction as she poked him in the nose, making a delighted squealing noise and babbling at him.

“Hello Elicia,” Ed said shyly, unsure if the noises she was making were understood by her mother, a second human language like a Mer’s song versus their normal speech.

Gracia smiled at him, “She hasn’t started talking yet, but Maes and I think she will soon.” So not a second human language. Oh well.

Mer were never quite as dependent as baby humans seemed to be. Ed remembered that when Al had hatched from his mermaid purse he had been strong enough to swim on his own, at least for short distances. And sure, he had clung to their mother’s pelvic fins most of the time, but so had Ed. And so had Winry to her own mother and father. It was just what was done.

But humans developed less inside their mother’s womb, going through a major growth spurt after being born. Full mammals were weird. Looking down at himself Ed was more than aware that he was more mammal than he’d ever been before. He missed not being cold. Humans seemed to experience temperatures more acutely than Mer did.

Ed leaned in closer and Elicia reached out and gripped his hair with determined strength before tugging the strand she had grasped back and forward. Maybe she wasn’t so defenseless after all.

Gracia was watching Ed with a mother’s cautious gaze, but when she noticed him glancing to her she softened her gaze.

“She likes you.”

Ed glanced at the strand of hair that was still in Elicia’s possession. “Really? How can you tell?

“Mother’s intuition,” she said with a wink. Elicia gave a particularly hard tug and Ed yelped.

Gracia covered her laugh with her hand while Ed tried to extract his hair from Elicia’s grip.

Once free, Gracia considered Ed. “You know, our neighbor has a son who is just a little bit older than you. I can ask her if she has any of his old clothes, they might fit you better.” Ed tugged self-consciously at his sagging empty sleeve. “Why don’t you finish your breakfast and I’ll go see what she has?”

“I don’t want to cause you too much trouble.”

Gracia waved her hand at that. “It won’t be any trouble to ask. I’d rather you have something that actually fits you than whatever Roy managed to scrounge up for you. That man can barely take care of himself without help.”

Ed let out a snort at that. He could believe that Roy needed help. It was a good thing Riza was actually a functioning adult.

Gracia scooped Elicia up into her arms before leaving and Ed watched as the two quickly stepped out the front door. Ed wolfed down the rest of his food before jumping up. His host might be nice, but he wasn’t above snooping around a little. Human dwellings were very different than how Mers lived.

The Hughes’s flat was furnished nicer than Riza’s apartment had been. Sure, there were brightly colored toys that littered the living room floor, but the couch was soft and welcoming and the wall was littered with pictures. Most were of Elicia and Gracia, but there was a reoccurring man with dark hair and a blinding grin that must be Hughes himself. There were even a few pictures of Roy. Ed concentrated on one of them. Roy was sitting next to the man who was probably Hughes with their drinks held high as he smirked to the photographer.

Photographs and seawater did not mix. Ed was about to climb onto the couch to get a better look when he heard the front door open again.

“Ed? We’re back! Where are you – oh!” Gracia’s footsteps approached where Ed was standing. “Aren’t they lovely? Maes loves to take pictures of everything. If you stick around long enough, you’ll probably have your picture up on this wall too.”

Gracia held a bundle of clothes in the arm not carrying Elicia. She carefully maneuvered it to be offered out to Ed.

“I was even able to borrow a pair of shoes for you too! Let me know if they pinch too much, we can always get you your own pair later.”

Ed grabbed the bundle and gripped it to his chest. “Thank you,” he whispered, hearing Winry’s reproach  to ‘be polite, Ed!’ in his head.

Gracia just smiled. “You’re welcome. You can change in the bathroom if you want,” She said before leading him to the aforementioned room. “We’ll meet you in the living room when you’re done,” she called out as she closed the door on Ed.

Ed struggled to get into his new clothes, which finally fit him in a way that didn’t drown him in fabric. The t-shirt didn’t fall down on the side of his missing arm and the shorts ended just above his knees.

The shoes were much more difficult to get on, and after a little trial and error he managed to (hopefully) get them on the right feet. Stepping out of the bathroom, Ed shoved his hand into a pocket and found Gracia still holding Elicia and waiting for him in the living room.

Gracia bounced a slightly fussing Elicia on her hip. “That looks so much more comfortable, yes?”

Ed gave a nod and muttered another, “Thank you.”

“Your hair is so long and pretty. It’s such a shame that it is so tangled right now. Would you like for me to brush it out?”

Ed glanced up at Gracia. She had no way to know right? Human cultures were not the same as Mer. This was like Riza washing his hair last night, an act of kindness offered without repercussions. Mom and Al and Winry would comb the tangles out of his hair because they were family. Gracia and Riza washed and brushed hair because they saw it as a problem that Ed might not be able to solve himself.

And maybe Ed should feel offended every time someone tried to do something for him, but he didn’t. None of the humans he had met so far looked at him with pity in their eyes, their gazes never lingering on his missing arm for too long. Roy had dropped the subject right away, not pushing Ed for any details. Perhaps they were just too polite.

Ed stuck a hand in his hair and immediately got it caught in a snag. That more or less settled things for him. He met Gracia’s eyes. “Okay.”

Gracia directed Ed to sit next to the couch while she sat down behind him. “Would you like to hold Elicia?”

Ed looked up, surprised by the offer, but nodded.

Gracia Gently lowered Elicia into Ed’s lap. “Mind her head,” she said shifting Ed’s arm to support it. Elicia let out a delighted gurgle and reached her pudgy arms towards Ed’s face, and Ed couldn’t help but smile down at her. Even as a hatchling, Al had never been this dependent on others for help, but Ed found that he didn’t mind. There was something about the large eyes that kept staring at him that he couldn’t resist, just like Al’s pouting face.

Gracia was incredibly gentle with how she brushed his hair, starting at the end and gripping the strands just above it to prevent too much tugging on Ed’s skull.

Ed looked back into Elicia’s wide green eyes. The baby gave a gummy smile; only a few of her front teeth were in.

“How old is she?”

“Elicia is eight months old,” Ed could hear the smile in Gracia’s voice, “Maes and I have only been married for two years.”

Married? That must be the human equivalent of mated.

Fishing for more information, Ed asked, “How did you meet?”

“Believe it or not we met at a bar. Maes and Roy were there celebrating their graduation from the academy and Maes had gotten so drunk he spilled his drink all over me.” She huffed a laugh, “He was so apologetic he insisted on making it up to me the next day over coffee, and well, here we are seven years later.”

Ed frowned as Gracia worked through a particularly tough tangle. “I thought you’ve been married for two years.”

“Well, right after Maes graduated he got shipped off to fight in the Ishvalan Civil War.”

“Oh.” The last time Ed had seen any Mer’s outside of their pod had been during that human war, when the pods around Ishval had fled. They hadn’t stayed in the Eastern Isles for very long, the Mer’s there were more suited to more tropical waters compared to the colder temperatures’ further north. Ed could still remember some of the refugees’ warnings of bloodied water from their homeland before they moved on to warmer locals.

Gracia moved on to another stubborn tangle and Ed winced as his head was pulled back from the force of the brush.

“Sorry. It’s almost like you’ve never had your hair brushed before,” Gracia said in a joking tone.

Ed smiled down at a softly cooing Elicia. He hadn’t. Not with a human brush, and not with his hair dry before. He absently rubbed the back of Elicia’s head with his thumb as Gracia went on to tell him of how her mate proposed to her. At some point Ed realized Gracia had finished brushing his hair and was now plaiting his hair and weaving it together.

“There. Now it will stay out of your face for a while.”

Ed shook his head, feeling the weight of his braid flipping from shoulder to shoulder. He turned to smile at Gracia, and for the third time today he sincerely said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way we can get some work done.”

“What type of work?”

“Well,” Gracia said, easing herself to her feet, “if Maes is bringing Roy here tonight to see if we can’t find your missing brother, we’re going to need some more food to feed everyone. Which means I need to go to shopping for supplies.”

“Oh.” Shopping was a human thing. A Mer would just go on a hunt to feed an unexpected visitor.

“Why don’t you come with me? I’ll need any help I can get.”

Ed considered it for a moment. He had time to kill until this evening and getting to visit more of the city wouldn’t be bad for if he needed to strike off on his own. But he had never been around more than a handful of humans at a time. What if there was something about him that others could recognize him as being a Mer? It might be worth the risk though. If he saw someone wearing the same blue uniform that the men who had kidnapped his brother were wearing he might be able to follow them back to where Al was being kept. It would be a risk worth taking.

“Okay,” he found himself saying, “Where are we heading?”

“The market and the butcher. We just need some extra food. I think I’ll make stew.” Gracia picked Elicia back up and moved toward the front of the flat. Ed watched in interest as she used a long cloth to wrap Elicia up and then around her chest in a way that reminded him of how his mother had carried Al’s purse.

It was fully daytime by the time they left the flat and Gracia spent the walk to the market stopping to point out flowers and birds to Elicia and telling Ed anecdotes about the neighbors they passed. They even crossed over a canal, the sent of freshwater tickling Ed’s nose. Ed clambered up the side of the stone wall of the bridge to peer over at the slowly flowing water. The water was too murky to see the bottom, but Gracia pointed out some fish to him and a mostly indifferent Elicia. They were probably too far away for her to appreciate, but Ed enjoyed he novel site of seeing fish from outside of the water. They soon moved on.

Ed took the opportunity to people watch. In the course of one morning he had seen more humans than he had seen in the rest of his life. Back home humans were usually spotted from a distance, an encounter to be avoided at all costs. But here there were so many of them, way more compact and interacting together as if this density of life was normal. The Mer pods of the Amestris sea were few and far between whereas humans seemed to have filled every inch of land that Ed had visited so far.

The market was full of more people going about their daily lives. Ed was enraptured watching Gracia chat with a fruit vendor, the way she examined the wares and bartered with him before exchanging some coins for a bag of bright red apples.

She turned to Ed. “Would you like to help me carry these?” She asked, offering the bag to Ed.

Without hesitation Ed grabbed the handles of the bag and slid it up to rest on his shoulder. “I can hold more things if you need me to.”

Gracia just grinned and ran a hand over the lump that was Elicia’s back. “I might just take you up on that offer. You’re just as strong as you look.” Ed couldn’t tell if she was being sincere or patronizing him, but he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Ed knew his left arm was fairly well muscled from having to compensate for swimming with only one arm. The same with his tail, but Gracia would never see those muscles, and the muscle mass didn’t quite translate as well to his human legs like his arm did.

They stopped at a few other stalls in the market picking up other vegetables before heading back the way they came. Ed’s arm was laden with several bags of groceries now, and he tried to stay near to Gracia to avoid getting lost.

It wasn’t until they were passing the last stall that Ed saw something that made him freeze.

There were a pair of men talking to the vendor. Men who were wearing a familiar uniform. The short jacket and calvary skirts were trimmed with sliver hems with golden buttons. But it was the wrong color. The uniforms were black, not navy blue, and the hats the men were wearing were the wrong shape.

It took Gracia a moment to notice Ed had stopped following her, but when she did she stopped and turned back to him.

“Ed? What’s wrong?”

Ed couldn’t tear his eyes away from the two figures. “Those men. Who are they?”

“Hmm?” Gracia followed his gaze towards the men. “Oh, those are MPs. Police officers.”

“Police…?”

“Have you never seen a police officer before?”

Ed shook his head, gaze not leaving the two completely unaware men.

“You must be from a very small town to not have seen a police officer before.” Risking a glance towards her Ed realized Gracia was frowning at him.

He might have just said something that could not be considered normal for humans. “I’m from the Eastern Isles. A really small fishing village.”

That seemed to appease her somewhat as the crease between her brows smoothed out. “Well, it’s the MP’s job to keep citizens safe. In fact, we should probably ask them to help look for your broth–”

“NO!”

“Huh?” Gracia was now looking at him in surprise, and other people in the market were looking at him oddly too.

More quietly to avoid attention Ed met Gracia’s eyes. “I don’t trust them.” They may not be dressed the same as the men who took Al, but they were similar enough to be correlated. Ed couldn’t trust them, but they might be a lead to look into if Hughes couldn’t help.

Gracia still looked concerned but she relented. “If that’s what makes you more comfortable. Are you ready to move on?”

Ed nodded, but kept his eyes on the police officers as they passed. They did not notice him, and Ed only started to relax once they had turned the corner from the market and the two men were out of sight.

The butcher shop was very different than the outdoor market. the building it was in was noticeably cooler than outdoors and the smell of meat permeated the store. Ed was amazed at how dulled his sense of smell was as a human.

Standing on his tiptoes Ed was able to peer at the fresh meat on the counter. There was no fish that he could see, only the darker reds and pinks of raw land animals. Ed resisted wrinkling his nose. If he’s going to stay on land to find Al, he’s going to need to adapt to human food too.

Gracia didn’t barter with the butcher. Ed wondered what the rules were for deals between humans. Was okay to barter for fruit but beef had a set price? It didn’t make a lick of sense to Ed, but then again Mers didn’t have a monetary system.

The trip back to the Hughes flat was short, and at that point Gracia had Ed help put the groceries away while she made a late lunch. It was another sandwich, but this one was far superior to the one Roy had made for him last night, made with some kind of meat and cheese.

After lunch, Gracia set Elicia up with some block toys on her highchair and started to putter around the kitchen making something she called a pie. The only sound was Elicia’s soft babbling and a knife cutting apples.

Ed sat at the table brooding until Gracia’s voice pulled him out of it.

“Do you want to talk about what’s on your mind?”

“Not particularly.”

“Why don’t you tell me what your brother is like?”

That tripped Ed up. He stared at the back of Gracia’s head as she continued to chop apples. It hurt to be without Al, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to talk about him to someone who sincerely cared, as long as he left out the part about not being human.

Hesitantly, Ed started. “He’s Alphonse. He’s my little brother, we’ve done everything together. He’s smart. We taught ourselves to read together.” And they had, using the waterproofed books their worthless father had left behind.

“What does he look like?” Gracia’s voice was soft.

Ed tugged at the end of his braid. “His hair is slightly darker than mine, and long too. He’s,” Ed frowned, trying to think of something about his brother to describe that wasn’t a Mer only feature like his scales or fins, “He’s got golden eyes!” Ed settles on triumphantly.

“Just like you.”

“Huh?”

“His eyes are golden, just like yours?”

“Oh. Yeah.” It made sense. Al’s golden and Winry’s blue and even mom’s grey-green eyes more or less matched their scales, with different shades and hues glimmering every time they caught the light. Of course his golden scales matched his eyes. But it wouldn’t be overly believable if Ed revealed that he had never seen a clear reflection of himself. The sea’s surface was never still enough to get any detail.

Ed was snapped out of his musings when a wooden block bounced off his head. Elicia let out a squeal of delight from beside him, hands making a grabbing motion.

Gracia let out a laugh. “Be nice to Ed, Elicia! No throwing blocks at him!”

Ed picked the block up. “Do you want this back?”

Elicia let out a stream of consonants and smiled at Ed.

Reluctantly he brought the block back onto her highchair tray only to have his finger grabbed by a pudgy hand. Ed watches incredulously as Elicia brings his hand up to her face and starts tugging on his finger.

“Hey don’t do that! I’m missing enough of my body already; I don’t want to lose any more fingers!”

Ed heard Gracia splutter out some surprised laughter from over by the counter, but she had a straight face by the time she turned around. She had to rescue Ed’s fingers from Elicia’s unwavering grip; Ed was unwilling to do anything that might hurt the baby. As thanks for the rescue, Ed asked if he can help with whatever Gracia was cooking. After thoroughly washing his hand, Ed found himself up on a stool, stirring first what Gracia tells him is the filling for an apple pie, and then a pot of what she calls beef stew.

It’s definitely a good way to distract Ed and pass time, because between assembling a pie, starting dinner, and Gracia’s gentle voice directing him he almost manages to stop worrying about what information or leads Roy will have gotten from Hughes for that evening. Almost.

Which is why Ed nearly drops the spoon he was wielding when he hears the lock on the front door opening.

“I’m home!” Called out an exuberant voice, “And I brought guests!”

“Maes dear,” Gracia called back, “We’re in the kitchen!”

“Where’s my baby girl?”

Ed turned around to watch the doorway to the kitchen to catch his first glimpse of the man who was supposed to help him find his brother.

The man, Hughes, stepped through the doorway to Elicia’s delighted squeals, and Ed’s mind goes blank in shock. Hughes has dark hair and glasses and a blinding smile that matched the photographs, and it is all wrapped up in a blue uniform that has been haunting Ed for three days now.

Ed’s first thought might be shock, but his second, and much more potent thought is rage.

Chapter Text

The folder Roy had left him was certainly interesting. Maes flipped it open again as if he could glean any new information from the handwritten notes Roy had left in there, eyes immediately tracking to the underlined portions.

Alphonse Elric, 8 years old, from Resembool.

Missing for three days, kidnaped while exploring an old shipwreck, as witnessed by older brother Edward Elric.

Parents are out of the picture.

Ed is missing an arm, lying about how he lost it?

The last bit was also circled twice.

It really wasn’t much to go off of. Maes grinned. Nothing like a challenging case to break up a monotonous workday. He scooped up the folder and tucked it out of sight in his jacket’s inner pocket before making his way out of his office and into the investigations headquarters at large.

As his door slammed open Maes watched with barely bridled glee as every member of the office suddenly found themselves too busy to make eye contact with the Lieutenant Colonel. What a shame. He had some new pictures of Elicia he hadn’t shared with all of them yet.

Well, no time for that now. Maes stepped over to Major Armstrong’s desk where the overly large man was hunched over a typewriter, avoiding his gaze. The man truly looked ridiculous in an office setting, but at least he still had his shirt on currently.

“Major!” Maes called out, toning down his smile from gleeful to just friendly.

“Yes sir!” Alex had the slightest look of fear in his eyes as he snapped to attention and kept glancing to the pocket Maes kept his wallet in. Maes grinned harder.

“I’m heading to Archives if anyone comes asking after me. I’ve got a new lead to dig up.”

Relief flew across the Major’s face. “Of course, sir. Happy hunting.”

Maes left Investigations chortling to himself.

The journey to Archives was short, being just down the hall from Investigations. Maes made sure to enter noisily and grinned manically at the archivist manning the front desk. She paled at the sight and mumbled something about needing coffee before making herself scarce. Perfect. No interruptions. It was nice to be notorious for something other than his skills with throwing knives. Of course, he would have to track the archivist down later to make sure she got to see the preciousness that was his baby girl.

Maes pushed his way into the back room where the archives actually began. Eyeing the stacks upon stacks of written records Maes decided the best place to start would be to see if they had any records on an Elric family from Resembool. It might help figure out if this was a kidnapping for extortion if the family happened to be one of note. If the parents were really out of the picture it wouldn’t be likely, but it would still be good to cover all the bases.

Twenty minutes later found Maes more intrigued than before. East City’s Archives might be a better place to look for information on the citizens of an Isle, but there had been birth, marriage, and death records here for a part of the population of Resembool. However, there had been no mention of any Elrics of any sort. A quick skim through the few newspaper records that mentioned events on the isle revealed no new information either. Maes had at least expected a mention of a boy losing an arm to have made the local news if nothing else. It wasn’t every day someone suffered from dismemberment.

Maes steepled his forefingers and pressed the tips to his lips. Either Resembool was one of those hick islands where no one cared about keeping proper records for the military, or someone had made sure they didn’t exist on any records. Considering how well recorded Resembool’s wool exports were Maes was more inclined to think it was the latter.

Frowning, Maes pulled out Roy’s folder and went over the notes written in there. Kidnapped while exploring an old shipwreck. Maybe it was time to switch angles.

A little hunting later and Maes was set up with a map of the Eastern Isles and a box of records of known Amestrian shipwrecks. After consulting Resembool’s latitude and longitude Maes narrowed down his box of known shipwrecks in the vicinity of the Isle to five. Out of the five, only one looked promising.

The ASMS Stearman was a military cargo ship deployed in the Ishvalan War that had ran afoul of the jagged sea stacks on the northern side of Resembool towards the end of the war. The file even had a picture of the Stearman, wedged neatly between weathered stone with the prow and most of the front upper levels of the ship above the surface of the sea.

Maes rubbed his stubble. It looked exactly like the type of place an adventurous kid with no adult supervision would want to explore. He wondered how the hell two kids managed to get out to it. It wouldn’t exactly be an easy place to swim to.

The deployment records for the ASMS Stearman were easy enough to find, stowed away with all the other decommissioned military ships. Maes skimmed through its early history up until he got to its use in the war. It had been labeled as carrying ammunitions on its final journey. If there were any still left that had not been salvaged by the military already it might draw the attention of scavengers looking for weapons to sell on the black market.

But according to the ship logs there wasn’t any cargo being transported when it wrecked. It had already made its delivery to the frontlines and was on its return journey with an empty hold.

Maes frowned down at the paper before doubling back to the map. The Stearman wasn’t even supposed to be on the western side of Resembool; the recorded course the ship should have taken would have been to the east of the small island. There wasn’t any documentation as to how it had ended up so far of course.

Maes straightened. Things weren’t adding up. According to military records here, Alphonse Elric did not exist. That in and of itself wasn’t too concerning considering records for a small island in the East would have more complete records in East City. He could try sending a request for information on him to the East City archives, but that would raise too many questions for a task Roy wanted to keep on the down low.

What was more concerning was that official records for a military ship were inconsistent with the hard facts. If a ship ended up wrecked miles off from where it was supposed to be and wasn’t flagged as suspicious in the records it was most certainly some type of coverup.

Maes could practically smell a conspiracy.

Drumming his fingers over the map, Maes went over the information he had, or rather didn’t have.

Option one: Alphonse Elric was targeted because he was related to or was someone important enough to be in hiding. A definite possibility, but not overly likely. Eight-year-olds in and of themselves weren’t usually considered to be important enough to target, but it became more probable if one of his estranged parents were the real target and Alphonse was leverage. Perhaps Edward would be able to shed more light onto that being a possibility.

Option two: Alphonse Elric saw something he wasn’t supposed to have seen and was taken to keep from sharing what he had witnessed. Maes thought this theory held more water. Conspiracies needed to be covered up and a shipwreck that a pair of children could sneak onto wasn’t exactly waterproof. But if this was the case it was quite possibly Alphonse Elric would be dead at this point. There was no point in leaving lose ends untied, but Maes hated to think that it would be too late to save Alphonse. Either way, if there was anything that needed to be covered up on the ASMS Stearman Edward might have seen something that could lead to the truth.

Option three: Alphonse Elric was in the wrong place at the wrong time and this was a random act of violence. Humans could be horrible, as Maes was more than aware. It was up to people like him and Roy to try and make the world a better place for children like Alphonse and Edward and his own precious Elicia.

Maes shook his head and pushed himself away from the files. If he couldn’t get any more information supporting either of the first two options he would go back and rework option three.

A quick glance at the clock had Maes grinning. It was almost time to go home to his beautiful wife and incredible daughter. He hastened to clean up all the boxes and files he had left strewn about. No point in making it easy for anyone to piece together what he had been researching today.

With archives more or less sorted back to its previous state of chaos there was nothing to do but to head to Roy’s office and hang out there until he could convince them to finish up for the day. Pulling out a stack of photos and thumbing through them Maes smiled down at his baby girl. This wouldn’t take too long.

His entrance to the Colonel’s offices was met with five pairs of eyes snapping up to doorway as he barged in.

“Roy! Are you in?”

Faintly from the separated office in the back Maes could hear the distinct sound of someone ramming their knee against a desk and cursing to vent the pain.

Lieutenant Hawkeye coughed to draw his attention to her. “Colonel Mustang is currently in. Do you need to speak with him?”

“It can wait if he’s too busy,” Maes said, eyeing the wary members of Roy’s team, “I can occupy myself until he’s free.” The looks went from wary to downright concerned.

The cursing stopped from the other room. “Hughes! Get in here before you distract my subordinates!”

“You heard the Colonel,” Hawkeye said, getting up from her desk and gesturing Maes into Roy’s inner sanctum. After passing her he could swear he heard her whisper Run to the remaining members of the office.

“Hughes, I swear to god if this is a social visit –” Roy started before cutting himself short when Maes let his wide grin slip into something more serious.

“Your kid is a ghost.”

“Hold that thought. Hawkeye?”

The woman in question smoothly slid into the office, closing the door behind her. “Sir?”

“Continue Hughes,” Roy said indicating for the two of them to sit on his couch.

“I should have known you would have dragged the Lieutenant into this,” Maes said as both he and Hawkeye moved to sit. “As I was saying, your kid is a ghost. I couldn’t find a single record of an Alphonse Elric, an Edward Elric, or any Elrics in general from any records of Resembool.”

“Is that so surprising?” Roy said with a smirk. “It’s a tiny island, who’s to say anyone even cares to write and ship of records to Central from there.”

Maes shook his head. “There’s more. What I personally find more interesting than your ghost kid is the fact that the shipwreck he was kidnapped on is highly suspect on all accounts.

“How so?” Hawkeye’s gaze was intense on Maes. He tried to defuse it by casually leaning back on the couch and putting his boots up on Roy’s coffee table, much to his friend’s displeasure.

“The official records as to how it got to its final location are missing. And its plotted course shouldn’t have brought it anywhere near where it ended up.”

“That is suspicious.” Roy had an intense look in his eyes and was rubbing his thumb and forefinger together in a way that could easily prelude an explosion if he wasn’t careful.

Hawkeye seemed sense the incoming danger and spoke up to focus Roy back into the topic at hand. “Do you think Alphonse was taken in an attempt to silence him?”

“It’s possible,” Maes said with a shrug, “I’d like to speak to his brother to pick his brain. He might have valuable information he might not be aware of.”

Roy’s smirk returned. “Well you’re in luck. He’s waiting for you at your place.”

“You set him up with my darling Gracia? Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

Roy snorted. “Who else do I know who can watch a kid?”

“Your aunt is in town,” Maes said, mostly just to be facetious.

“The Madame could barely raise me, there is no way I was going to subject another living child to her brand of maternal care.”

Maes laughed at that. “Well if Edward is waiting for us at my home what are we still doing here?”

“Waiting for it to be a reasonable time to leave work.” Roy glanced at Hawkeye at that.

“Did you finish your paperwork for General Raven?”

“Yes,” he said sourly.

“Then you can leave,” Hawkeye said graciously.  

Maes hid his grin at how the two of them were acting. Honestly, they just needed to get locked together in a supply closet at this point. Instead of pointing that out he said, “Excellent! Now that’s all sorted we can head over to my place. I’m sure my darling Gracia won’t mind the extra company for dinner!”

“I’ll drive,” Roy offered casually.

Maes tried to hide his grimace. Hawkeye did no such thing.

…

One short and terrifying drive later they were pulling up outside of Maes’ building. After ensuring his stomach was still attached to the rest of his body and his knees were still functioning properly Maes wrenched himself out of the passenger seat and onto stable ground.

“It wasn’t that bad!” Roy said indignantly.

Maes shook his head to clear up the nausea. “Next time just let Hawkeye drive!”

Roy huffed as Maes lead the two others up to his flat. His keys jangled briefly in the lock before throwing the front door open. He called out, “I’m home! And I brought guests!” as he ushered Roy and Riza into the flat.

“Maes dear,” his darling Gracia’s voice called back, “We’re in the kitchen!”

“Where’s my baby girl?” Maes is through the kitchen doorway in a matter of moments with his two companions completely forgotten as he homed in on his daughter’s excited noises. He scooped Elicia into his arms and pressed a kiss to her forehead much to the baby’s delight. He would have kept on cooing to his precious daughter if it weren’t for the clatter of a wooden spoon hitting the floor that drew his attention to the other child in the room.

Edward Elric, for that’s who the short blond boy must be, was standing on a stool by the stove next to Gracia with his hair mostly pulled back into a braid. His eyes were wide when Maes first met them but quickly filled with anger, and then downright fury when they slipped past him to land on something behind him.

“You – but I thought – but – you tricked me!” Edward spluttered, his single hand clenching and unclenching as he shook with rage.

“Ed, what’s wrong?” Roy says alarmed, stepping forward with his hands up in a placating manner.

That triggered Edward, his tight bowstring of a body snapping as he lunged, not towards them but inexplicably towards the kitchen sink, arm outstretched towards the faucet. His hand made contact and there was a flash of familiar blue light. Alchemy, Maes thought before water arced out of the sink and defied gravity to settle with occasional flickers of alchemic discharge around Edward’s shoulders as he turned to face them.

“I should have known better than to trust humans!” he hissed, and wasn’t that an odd turn of phrase? Edward’s eyes were wild as he frantically switched between looking at Maes, Hawkeye, and Roy, completely ignoring Gracia as she backed away from him. On one side of him the water coalesced into a vague arm shape before freezing into a blade while the rest wrapped around his other arm and chest, acting almost as a brace.

“Edward calm down!” Roy had a hand up poised to snap now and Hawkeye was going for her side arm. Maes’ arms tightened around Elicia protectively and she let out a destressed cry.

Edward’s eyes widened as he looked back at Elicia. Before anyone else can move he shouted, “Stay away from me!” and dove towards the window.

“Ed!”

“Edward, wait!” Both Roy and Gracia had called out at the same time, but the boy ignored them completely.

The still flowing water covering Edwards left arm whipped out towards the glass and froze on contact, shattering into a million glistening pieces at the touch of his hand and a moment later he threw himself through the empty pane.

Maes could only stare at the other occupants of the room, all as equally shellshocked as him. The only sound was the still dripping faucet and a softly crying Elicia.

Chapter Text

Ed felt so stupid. So, so stupid. He had thought he had found some allies. Instead they wore the same uniforms as the men who took Al.

Ed felt sick to his stomach. Roy had said they were in the military. Which meant that the blue uniform must be the uniform of the Amestrian military. The people who kidnapped Al ran the entire country he had been abducted to, the one that Ed had been wandering around through for the past day.

Ed had wanted to lash out at the stupid lying man with water and ice, to stab him and make him feel physical pain in return for the emotional toll he was being forced to endure. He wanted to, but he couldn’t. Not after Elicia had cried out.

Whatever was going on Ed had to believe that Gracia and her baby had nothing to do with it, just two innocents being dragged into a greater fight. And he had made Elicia cry. That hurt too. But a different kind of pain than the sting of betrayal.

There was nothing he could do but run, and no place to go except past the humans or through the window. Maybe he should have risked the door, because now that he was tumbling out the window he remembered that air was, in fact, not thicker than water and he was falling alarmingly fast towards the unforgiving ground.

With a flick of his arm and the crackle of alchemic discharge the water surrounding him shot down, turning into a column of liquid stretching the final half-story of his fall. Hitting the surface feet first the water displaced out of his carefully constructed pillar and he slowed down enough to land not too painfully on his butt.

Ed shook his wet bangs out of his eyes, ignoring the shocked humans who were staring at him. They didn’t matter as long as they didn’t try and stop him.

Checking to make sure his legs were still functioning, Ed pushed himself back up to his feet. He reactivated the manipulation part of the array on his arm and the puddle spreading out around him surged back to coalesce protectively around his chest and remaining arm. He didn’t bother making a more articulate second limb and let the water flow out behind him almost like a whip as he took off running towards the canal he and Gracia had passed earlier. There was a good chance that the canal led to the sea and right now the sea meant safety.

Who knew the best way to get good at running was to fuel it with desperation?

Confused shouts followed him down the street but Ed was determined to not stop for anything and evasive enough to avoid anyone trying to stop him. Soon enough he reached the bridge that stretched over the canal. Without hesitation Ed placed his good hand on the brick barrier of the bridge and vaulted over the side.

The fall was shorter this time and he went in head first. The sensation of being submerged was euphoric after spending so long being dry, even if the sediment in the water made it too murky to see far in. He released the manipulation array and the water bound to him lost its consistency into the sluggish flow around him. The urge to shift was strong, almost as strong as the urge to inhale the water but Ed knew better than to do that before his gills had reopened.

After a moment of consideration Ed yanked his shoes and shorts off. They might come in use later for when he had to venture back on land for Al. It was just logical. This wasn’t him giving up, but simply a strategic retreat, no matter how much the thought stung.

The second the shorts were completely off Ed allowed the shift to take place. His legs fused from the hip down as golden scales and fins settled back into place. His gills fluttered open under his shirt with Ed’s first deep breath and after a minor struggle he got that off too. His senses opened up and the murkiness of the water no longer mattered for navigation.

Speaking of senses, Ed could just about make out a commotion happening above the surface. It must have looked odd for the humans to watch someone dive headfirst into a canal.

Gathering up his discarded and waterlogged clothing Ed let his tail do all the work at propelling his way back towards the sea. Every shift in current, every movement in the water, every vibration created by objects in his path reflected back to Ed’s sensitive fins that had replaced the human ears on either side of his head.

It wasn’t long before Ed could taste the water’s salinity rising. It looked like this canal was going to let out just south of Central City’s harbor. Ed let out a little snort. This wasn’t too far from the first place he had set foot on land to start the past day’s fiasco.

It was easy enough to stay hidden with how much sediment was being carried in the water, and Ed passed undetected through the deep mouth of the canal, over the rocky shoreline and out into the shallow open sea.

The water here was cleaner than the canal. Sure, it was still next to a dense human population, but the currents dragged in fresher water from the south.

Ed took a moment to revel in being back in the open sea. Now that he was here, the only thing Ed needed to do was to find Winry. Ed frowned. When they had first agreed to let Ed search the land, they hadn’t really agreed on a concrete location to meet back up.

But that shouldn’t really a problem. Ed stopped propelling himself forward and instead floated vertically facing out towards the open sea. Shifting his bundle of clothing and shoes into a tighter grip under his arm Ed took a deep, preparatory breath before starting to sing.

It was a short song, one long rising burst followed by three short even ones. The notes vibrated deeply in his chest and the force of the sound he emitted propelled him backwards slightly while all the fish in the direct path scattered. A simple, unmistakable message, ‘I’m here, where are you?’ Any Mer for miles around Central would have heard it, and Winry should be the only other Mer in the area. They should know. They had spent most of the journey to Central City calling out for help only to get no response. There just weren’t that many Mers living in the Amestrian sea anymore.

Ed waited. The painstaking minutes crawled by as he kept himself in position with tiny flicks of his tail and minor flaring of his fins. After ten minutes had passed, he sang out again, trying to not let desperation sour the notes.

There was no response. There should have been a response by now. Ed tried not to panic, but his breathing was already too fast, his gills flaring desperately with every pounding heartbeat.

Not Winry. Not her too.

Ed sang out one last time before spinning around and going back towards shore, towards Central. She wouldn’t have tried something as dumb as to try and follow a waterway into the city too, right?

Ed tried to think reasonably. Perhaps Winry had gone north past the breakwater into the main harbor where his song would have a hard time reaching her from here. Or perhaps there was a sea cave by the shoreline she had found her way into and he would need to sing towards the shore rather than away from it.

After a moment of sensing no unusual movements around him, Ed made a break for the surface and the world of light. Breaching the surface, Ed’s bangs fell into his eyes and Ed shook his head vigorously before looking around. The sun was still a few hours from setting completely and there was no way Ed was going to risk entering the harbor while there were still so many people actively working there.

That left the shoreline to explore.

Dipping back under, Ed dove until he reached the seafloor and followed it back to shore. He ignored the myriad of small fish and sea life ducking out of his way as he swam passed and tried to ignore the way the bundle of clothes he was carrying dragged and interrupted the smooth gliding motions he usually swam with.

The tide was out Ed noted absently. He carefully maneuvered over the submerged rocks that led up to the shoreline. Most of them were weathered smooth, but there were still plenty of sharp unpleasant things that could be clinging to the surface of the stone. The incoming waves were starting to tug on his body; he couldn’t go much further towards the shore without being at the mercy of the tide.

Ed carefully braced his tail against a algae and barnacle encrusted rock and let out an abbreviated song. ‘Hello?’

There was no way to be quiet with a song, and the sound erupted from him and rippled along the shoreline. Ed could sense things moving out of the way.

Ed listened. Just before he was about to call out again, he heard something. Something muffled. Like it was coming from above the surface.

Confused, Ed broke through the waves and spun around, staring uncertainly towards the rocky shore, his tail undulating to keep him in place.

“WINRY?” He called out as loud as he could in Amestrian.

“ED!” Came the immediate reply.

What the hell? “WHERE ARE YOU?” He shouted, trying to keep his head above water as a wave broke over him.

“OVER HERE! I’M STUCK!” That definitely came from beyond the rocky outcrop on shore. Why in the ocean was she up there?

Activating his array, Ed caught the next wave and let it lift him above the weathered stone to drop him off on top of it. Releasing both the wave and his bundle of clothes, Ed dragged himself to the lip of the rock and peered over the edge. There was a short drop into a deeper tidepool, and in the middle of the pool was a very distressed Winry.

The pool wasn’t quite deep enough for her to be vertical and it looked like her head had been out of the water for a long time, the blonde roots were drying while the rest of her long hair was clouding around her in the water. Her cerulean blue tail was flicking impatiently as she stared back up at Ed.

The look on her face melted from frustration to relief to anger. Ed gulped before rolling over the edge to land with a splash in the tidepool next to her. “Are you o-oomph!”

Winry tackled him and drowned out the rest of what he was saying by dragging him under.

“I was so worried about you,” she chirped, resorting to Mermish now that the high-pitched sounds would be muffled by the water.

“I wasn’t even gone for a whole day–” Ed started but was interrupted by Winry’s tail smacking his side.

“Don’t start that! Did you find anything useful?” Her eyes were wide and hopeful and Ed felt horrible.

“I thought I might have, but it turns out I trusted the wrong people.”

Winry pushed away from him. “What? You trusted a human? Multiple humans? Are you an idiot?”

“Not with everything! Sheesh Winry, give me some credit! I met some human and his mate not long after I went up there. They offered to help, so I told them that Al was kidnapped and what I knew about it. I didn’t mention anything about us or what we were.”

Winry still eyed him as though she thought he was crazy. “And did they? Help I mean?”

Ed reluctantly shook his head. “They said they were gonna go gather some information with a friend but when they came back, they were in those uniforms, the ones that the men who stole Al were wearing.”

Winry’s expression shifted to horrified.

“Yeah,” Ed brough his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose, “It turns out the people who took him are with the Amestrian Military.”

Winry gently wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close, both giving and receiving comfort in turn. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.” Ed buried his head under Winry’s chin. “We’ll have to come up with a new plan.”

Winry nodded, the motion felt rather than seen. “I’m not willing to give up. Not ever. Not on Al.”

“Me neither.”

There was a moment of silence where the two continued to take comfort in each other’s presence. This tidepool wasn’t a bad place Ed thought. A little warm sure, and not rocky enough. The bottom was bowl shaped and covered in trapped sand and hermit crabs  and snails with tiny shells. And since it was shaped like a crescent it meant they wouldn’t know about anyone coming from the north before they were on top of them and there was no direct access to the sea with the tide out like this.

That reminded Ed.

“How did you get trapped here?” He said, prying himself away from Winry’s embrace.

Winry frowned. “There was some commotion just off the shore, a boat that made odd sounds. It kept going back and forward along the coast like it was looking for something. It wasn’t a fishing vessel that’s for sure. I didn’t like it being so close to me so I came over here to hide in the rocks. But by the time it left the tide had gone out again and I was stuck here.”

Ed snorted, “So you were being a guppy. I’ve told you that you should have gotten the water manipulation array like mine!” He trilled, shaking his arm in her face. She pushed it aside.

“No way!” Winry squeaked with a pout. “I don’t need it to cheat at swimming like you do. I’m just naturally a better swimmer.”

Ed was feeling magnanimous so instead of snapping back at her he simply raised an eyebrow and waved his arm at the empty space on the right side of his body.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I was faster than you before too!”

Ed shook his head in denial, despite it being the truth. Winry was the fastest among the three of them. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here so we can come up with a new plan somewhere safe.”

…

The man stared down at his submerged specimen. There was a layer of glass between him and it, but the fluid was shallow enough that he had an unimpeded view of it. The fluid wasn’t pure water; the previous specimens they had housed here proved to be too difficult to contain in just water. The concoction of chemicals pumped into the containment pool was specifically designed to keep it passive, but it had been dosed for a mature specimen, and this one was clearly a juvenile. They might have to adjust that for long term storage.

The creature sitting in the shadows behind him moved slightly, alerting him to her presence.

“It’s such a shame it’s too young to breed. Just one isn’t enough for our plans.”

The man continued to examine it. “They’re a social creature. Have you tried combing the area it was found?”

“We have men scanning the sea from here to Resembool. If its pod is searching for it, we will find them. It’s only a matter of time.”

He turned away from the specimen and directly addressed the monster in the room with him. “I have found out something you might find interesting from the tests I’ve run on it so far.”

The creature leaned forward. “Oh?”

“It’s partly human. Maybe even up to half.”

From what he could tell she looked a bit taken back at that. “That is interesting. But even if it is possible for Mer and humans to interbreed it’s still too young to be any good for that.”

The man laughed. “But that’s where you’re mistaken Lust. You always think about reproduction in the carnal sense. There’s more than one way to get a new creature.” He grinned wide, the faint light of the undergrown laboratory glinting off of a golden tooth. “I’ll just need to take some more samples and run a few experiments.”

Behind him golden eyes fluttered open.

Chapter Text

“What the hell was that?” Roy breathed, realizing his hand was still up. He let it drop limply to his side, surveying the mess Ed’s flight had left the Hughes’ kitchen in. Riza, no Hawkeye, dammit, was already moving to the window whereas Gracia had rushed into Hughes arms the moment Ed had disappeared and the couple were making calming noises to their baby.

“I don’t understand,” Gracia said looking around, “Was that alchemy?”

Roy snorted. “Not any type I’ve ever seen before. The Freezing Alchemist could freeze and boil water, but never to that extent. Roy recalled Ed drawing a transmutation circle with water, calling it an impermanent medium. Apparently, he was the expert.

“He’s getting away,” Hawkeye said from the empty window, “Are we going after him?”

“Yes. Whatever’s going on, he’s still a kid who needs help.” Roy ignored the way Hawkeye’s eyebrow shot up at that.

“I’m not about to abandon anyone in need,” Hughes said, before pressing a kiss to Gracia’s cheek as he passed his daughter to her. “I guess that also confirms the military was involved in his brother’s kidnapping.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you see the way he stared at us? He wasn’t looking at our faces. Has he seen you in uniform yet?”

Roy blinked. He hadn’t been in uniform this morning when he dropped Ed off with Gracia, and Hawkeye hadn’t come out in hers either. “I – No. I don’t think so.”

“That would explain why Ed reacted so oddly when we ran into some MPs in the market today” Gracia hitched baby Elicia up a little higher on her hip. “He was practically trembling when he asked me who they were.”

“I hate to break up the speculation, but we need to leave now if we want to catch up to him,” Hawkeye said as she moved towards the front of the flat.

Roy shook himself, letting go of the last of his stupor, “Right. Let’s go. Sorry about the mess Gracia. I’ll fix your window for you later.”

“You’d better. We’ll be back soon,” Hughes said, pressing one last kiss to his wife and daughter’s heads before turning to follow Roy as he led the way out of the flat.

“Good luck!” Gracia called out to their retreating backs.

Back out on the street there were people loitering around the broken glass that littered the ground. The civilians parted ways as they ran past, some even helpfully calling out what direction Ed went in. Their uniforms were good for something, at least.

As Roy rushed to follow the trail of water leading away, he couldn’t help but think of what Ed had said just before he jumped out the window. He called them humans, like he wasn’t one himself. But that didn’t make sense. Ed was human, wasn’t he?

He put that thought on hold when a woman came running up to them. Breathless, she panted out, “Thank goodness you’re here. There was this boy, and, and, he just jumped! He hasn’t come back up yet, he’s going to drown!”

Hughes, bless him, was on it. “Don’t worry ma’am. We’re here to help. Show us where he jumped?”

The woman flailed an arm to the bridge over the Bayview Canal further up the street.

“Thanks,” Roy said brusquely before taking off again only to stop at the edge of the bridge. There were people gathered by the small barrier wall staring down into the sluggishly moving murky water below. He looked down the waterway at the undisturbed flow and frowned. “Damn. If he can control the water than he could have gone either way.”

“We need to cover more ground.” Hughes said with a frown.

Roy glanced towards the other side of the canal leading inland. “I’ll call for reinforcements. Hawkeye, go get the car. I’m going to call in the team and get the them to search with us. We’ll look for him as we head down to the coast; this canal lets out by the harbor. They can search inland to see if Ed hopped out anywhere along the way. Hughes, start heading along the canal, see if anyone has seen anything. We’ll meet you there.”

“Yes sir,” she said sharply as Roy dug out his keys and tossed them to her.

“On it,” said Hughes, giving him a lazy salute as he turned to run along the edge of the canal heading towards the sea.

Roy didn’t waste a second and headed across the bridge to the nearest payphone booth. Pulling out his pocket watch he checked the time and frowned. With him and Hawkeye out of the office, there was a good chance his men had decided to risk slacking off and going home early. Deciding to risk it, Roy fed some cens into the phone and punched in Central Command’s switchboard number.

“Central Command, how can I help you?” The cool voice of the operator asked.

“This is Colonel Mustang; I need you to connect me to my office.”

“Can I have your code?”

Roy grumbled as he rattled off the code. Connecting from an outside line was always a pain in the ass.

“On moment sir.”

A ring and a half later the other end of the line picked up. “Colonel Mustang’s office, Second Lieutenant Havoc speaking.”

Roy let out his breath in relief. “Havoc, it’s me. Is everyone still in the office?”

“Oh, hey Chief.” There was the sound of shuffling Havoc’s side. If Roy had to guess that his other subordinates were now all clustered around the phone to eavesdrop. “Uh, yeah we’re still all here.”

“Good. I need you to take a car from motor pool and bring the team to where Market Street intersects with the Bayview Canal.”

“Uh sure. Are we meeting you there?”

“No. You’re going to travel inland along the canal. You’re looking for a boy, an alchemist who can manipulate water.”

Havoc had the audacity to laugh. “Worried he can take you out, Chief?”

Roy gritted his teeth and made a mental note to dock Jean’s paycheck. “No. He’s pretty young and in distress. We’re trying to get to him before he gets hurt.”

“A young boy. Got a better description?”

“Blond, long hair in a braid. His name is Ed.” Roy sighed, switching ears with the phone, “He’s only got one arm.”

“Oh. That would be hard to miss.”

Roy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just go along the canal, ask if anyone has seen him. If you find him or any information on him call Hughes’s wife,” Roy said, giving him her number. “We’ll be heading the other way along the canal and calling her periodically to check in. Oh, and Havoc? Don’t abuse that number. Hughes will kill you.”

Havoc gulped on the other end. “Got it. We’re on our way, Chief.” The line went dead.

Roy hung up the phone to the sound of tires screeching to a halt outside of the booth. Riza nodded at him as he stepped up to the curb, throwing the door open.

“Get in,” She said, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

God, he loved her.

As soon as he had the passenger door closed Riza took off again, tearing around and taking off down the road running parallel to the canal. It didn’t take long to catch up to Hughes, and Riza, no, Hawkeye dammit, he can’t afford to slip up in front of anyone, Hawkeye slowed enough for Hughes to jump into the back seat.

Hughes shook his head as the car picked up speed. “Plenty of people saw him go in, but no one saw him get out, or even come up for air.”

“Keep going. If he got out anywhere along this part of the canal, he would have left a trail.”

Hawkeye kept driving, ignoring traffic laws with a grace Roy could only ever hope to imitate but going just slowly enough for the occupants of the car to look for any disturbances along the edges of the canal.

They only stopped once, to call Gracia. The rest of the team had started their search but hadn’t called in to report anything else. Roy could just barely hear her voice on the other end of the line Hughes was clutching.

“What are you going to do if you can’t find him Maes? He’s just a kid!”

“We’ll find him. I promise.”

But would they?

There was no sign of Ed anywhere. The canal was deeper here, the walls becoming steeper, too high for anyone to reasonably climb out, but if Ed could manipulate the water he would have no trouble escaping.

Eventually they ran out of road to follow, the sea stretching to cover the horizon. Hawkeye slid into a stop at the end of the road overlooking the sea from a cliff where the canal flowed into the sea. All three hopped out of the car and looked out at the crashing waves. The tide was out; the strip of rocky beach accessible for the time being by a steep and narrow trail on their left.

Hawkeye peered over the edge of the cliff down to the crashing waves below. “He wouldn’t have gone out to sea, would he?”

“Where would he have gone if he did?” Roy said, but was immediately overcome by the absurd image of Ed skimming through the water faster than any boat or ship in the Amestris Navy. There was no way he could have transported himself all the way from the Eastern Isles like that, right?

Roy was shaken from that thought by a faint sound. It was almost like –

“Do you hear someone shouting?” Hughes had joined Hawkeye standing too close to the edge for Roy’s liking and looking out at the sea.

Roy listened intently, trying to make out any unusual sounds beyond the crashing surf and crying seagulls. There it was again, a misplaced sound, perhaps someone talking but the words were unintelligible. High pitched too, like a child.

“Ed?” Roy barely whispered.

The three barely spared each other a glance before Roy was taking off towards the trail leading down to the beach, Hawkeye and Hughes directly behind him.

The trail was practically carved into the edge of the cliff face, the stone weathered and probably treacherous when wet. Roy gave a mental thank you to the good treads of military boots as he rounded a sharp switchback halfway down the trail. The rocks that made up the beach were heavily layered, weathered by the constant crashing waves, encrusted in shelly and slimy sea life, and ever so slightly damp.

“Watch your step,” Hawkeye said as she skirted around a carved-out pool of water filled with darting fish.

Roy rubbed his fingers together, the friction of the ignition cloth a comfort despite the fact that the humid sea air and crashing waves threatened to nullify his primary method of defense. They started spreading out, Roy pausing every few seconds to listen for any more unusual sounds.

“Look up there!” Hughes said from closer to the churning waves. He was pointing to something other than seaweed and kelp caught on the rocks. It took Roy a moment to realize it was a pile of soaked clothing. Hughes was already scrambling to the top of the rock while Roy and Hawkeye quickly made their way to him. Roy grimaced when he had to brace himself on the wet stone with his left hand, but rushed to get up when he heard Hughes mutter, “What the hell?”

Standing up fully, Roy followed Hughes’s gaze, not at the pile of clothes, not out to sea, but down into the hidden tide pool beneath them where his brain seemed to stop processing things correctly.

Shiny was his first thought. Those were definitely blue and golden scaled tails. And those were arms, at least one full pair of them, small, but humanoid. And hair. Lots of hair. Roy shook his head as if that would clear up the image into something that made more sense but had no such luck when he looked back down.

There was a pair of mermaids in that tide pool, curled around each other with their tails overlapping.

Which was insane because mermaids didn’t exist outside of the storybook his aunt had once tried to read him before declaring it improper reading material and replacing it with a corner store romance novel.

Except that these two mermaids had to exist because both Hawkeye and Hughes were also staring down at them, and all three of them couldn’t be hallucinating at the same time.

There was a sharp intake of air beside him. “Ed?” Hawkeye questioned loudly and Roy gaped.

The two mermaids practically jumped out of the water, the blonde one with the blue tail letting out a squeak. The other one, the one with a golden tail and golden braided hair and golden telling eyes and, most damningly, only one arm pushed it – him? – self in front of the other raising it – his – remaining arm with a telltale flash of alchemical discharge. Roy barely had time to concentrate and snap, his fireball colliding with ice spikes rapidly growing out of the water. Icy particles rained down on them as someone pulled Roy down into a crouch, a hand bracing his back.

Well. That was Ed’s alchemy. Coming from the mermaid. Merman? Merboy. The non-human child. Getting over the fact that mermaids do not exist, this could explain some of Ed’s weird mannerisms. The soaked, stolen clothes he had first shown up in, the inability to walk in a straight line, hell, even the way Ed referred to Riza’s bed as a nest. Things that Roy had dismissed as just being child nonsense that might not have been universal to all children.

Okay. So maybe mermaids were real. A glance to either side confirmed that his companions were also having just as hard of a time processing this; Hawkeye had look of amazement on her face while Hughes’s nose was crinkled in contemplation.

“Ed –” Roy started but was immediately cut off by a wave of sea water hitting him, drenching all three of them from head to toe and nearly toppling them off the rock.

Roy blinked the stinging water out of his eyes. The pool of water was nearly depleted, but Ed, the mermaid Ed, still had alchemical energy crackling down his arm.

“Ed!” Roy started again, “Calm down, we don’t want to hurt you!”

“No!” And that was Ed’s voice, panicked and shaky, but definitely him. Coming out of the mermaid. Merboy? “Stay away from us!”

Roy weighed his options Flame alchemy was out. There was no way to get a spark going from his soaked gloves. Riza and Maes were both armed of course, but there was no way either of them would risk pulling a gun or a knife unless it was a last resort. And mermaid or not, Ed and his companion were children, unless all the busty imagery of mermaids was wrong and they were all breastless shrimps.

But Roy still had one last trick up his sleeve. He may not be able to get a spark out of his glove, but the array wasn’t useless. Roy tried not to grimace too hard. This was a battle tactic for detaining criminals, not stopping angry child alchemists with tails and fins. Concentrating on the oxygen around Ed, Roy pulled it away from him.

For a moment nothing happened.

Ed gasped. There was movement around his chest, and Roy realized that Ed had gills. Three slits on either side of his ribs flared as he tried to get some oxygen into his system. The other mermaid was making loud shrill noises, propping Ed up slightly onto its chest and shaking him. Roy winced. Ed’s companion was ever so slightly bigger than Ed, but their inhuman features made it hard to tell if they were male or female. Either way, they were still panicking over Ed’s sudden suffocation.

The alchemical discharge around Ed died down, and Roy immediately released his control, allowing oxygen to rush back around the spluttering mermaid.

Without wasting a second Roy dropped down into what was left of the tide pool. The water barely came up past his mid-calf but his military boots were already soaked from Ed’s previous attack. Roy sensed more than saw Hughes drop down next to him as Hawkeye shifted to provide overwatch from above.

The other mermaid was still clutching Ed, a fierce protectiveness written all over their face and body language as they hunched over him but made no move to attack.

“Stay back!” Based on the tone of the shaky Amestrian, Roy would have to guess she was female.

“It’s all right. We don’t want to hurt you; we just want to talk,” Maes said, his hands up in a placating manner.  

Ed’s hand came up to clutch at his throat. Roy absently noticed that there was webbing between his fingers. His expression turned desperate.

“What did you do to my brother?” He rasped out, “I know you’re with the people who took him. Where is he?” The other mermaid turned to glare fully at Roy as Ed said that.

Roy shook his head, crouching down to be at eye level with the two distressed mermaids. “We’re not with the people who took your brother.”

“Bullshit. They were just like you. In the military. You’ve got the same uniforms,” Ed said, nodding towards the stripes and stars on Roy’s and Hughes’ shoulders.

Roy wondered when his life had gotten to this point. Arguing with a mermaid who was a boy not two hours before. “Edward, listen to me. There are a lot of bad people in the military, but we aren’t corrupt like them.”

“So why did you come after Ed?” The other mermaid was squinting at them suspiciously. They were both radiating so much protective energy Roy had to wonder if they were siblings too, both missing their brother. Their brother who was likely a mermaid as well. Which meant that the government was aware of mermaids and was purposefully capturing them. Roy could feel a headache forming from all of today’s crazy revelations.

He considered how best to answer now that both children had their eyes on him. “Because of our agreement Ed. Do you remember?”

Ed just frowned at him.

Roy sighed. “Equivalent exchange. I hurt you, so I’ll help you. I haven’t finished helping you yet.”

“I don’t want your help anymore, bastard!” Ed hissed out, and from the way he was raising his arm it looked like he was planning either an escape or another alchemical attack.

“I think you could use it still.” Ed hesitated as Roy looked him over and then at their surroundings. You’re out of your element, a literal fish out of water. The least I can do is give you a place to start from.” It may be the least he could do, but it was a far cry from what he wanted to do.

Ed looked to his companion, some unreadable look passing over their faces before he turned back to face Roy. “But you’re human. Humans are supposed to be selfish.”

A pang ran through Roy. He very determinedly did not turn to look at Hawkeye standing above and behind him. “We can’t afford to be selfish all the time. At least I can’t.”

Ed stared at him for a moment longer, judging Roy’s words before suddenly letting out a high-pitched squeak. Startled, Roy could only watch as Ed and the other mermaid let out a series of other squeaks and clicks. They were communicating in another language, Roy realized. After a final trill, it looked like the other mermaid won as Ed had started to pout, and she focused her sharp cerulean gaze on Roy.

“We’ve decided to let you help us,” she said, thumping her tail in the shallow water with a finality that caused Ed to stop pouting.

“For now. If you even think about betraying us, or revealing our existence to anyone else, well,” Ed paused, a feral grin spreading across his face, “We’ve got ways to stop you.”  

Chapter Text

There were a lot of thoughts going through Winry’s head right now. First and foremost was just how bad their situation was. Al had been taken three days ago and they had barely made any progress on finding him. Sure, tracking the ship to Central City was easy, but there was the ever-present problem that he had been taken into the city, where people without legs can’t easily follow.

The decision to let Ed go on land to look for him hadn’t been hard to sell, but that night alone off the coast where she had only been able to wait was miserable. Winry hated that she was so useless in this situation. And sure, Ed could look human, but at his core he wasn’t. How was he supposed to fit into human society when he barely had any social skills to begin with? Ed was her best friend, but he was crass and thick when it came to emotions. And right now, he was fueled mostly by anger. Winry worried he would stand out like a broken fin to any humans who saw him.

And the worry she felt for Ed fed into her own paranoia. What if Ed had gotten caught too? What if she had been left all alone? Alphonse had gone beyond her reach and Ed had followed where Winry could not. There had been nothing to do but wait beyond the breakwater of Central City’s harbor and hope that Ed would return with Al in tow.

Then even her lonely vigil had been interrupted. There was that boat trawling the coast, making eerie noises that almost sounded like a Mer singing, but distorted and fundamentally wrong. It had kept going back and forward and Winry had wanted nothing more than to get away from it, even if it pushed her closer to land than she was comfortable being by herself.

Yes, the unknown and tenuous situation she had been in last night and all of today had hurt, but letting Ed do all the work by himself hurt even more.

Which all led to now. Ed, her incredibly smart and incredibly idiotic best friend had in the span of one day on the surface had revealed the existence of Mers to at least three humans. If these humans didn’t kill them Winry might just have to strangle Ed herself.

And speaking of the humans they were an entirely different problem. A terrifying, completely unknown entity. And the worst part was that Ed was now their human expert. There were so many compelling reasons to call the day a wash and just escape out to sea and find another way to get Al back, one that didn’t involve humans. And Ed had argued vehemently for knocking the one called Roy Mustang out of the way making a break for the sea. But in their argument he had also stumbled upon the best reason against immediately leaving.

If they are working with the people who took Al, they might capture us and take us where he’s being kept.

It was kind of sad that Winry considered being captured by humans a reasonable idea if it got them to Al faster.

And with that point made their argument was over. They could use these humans. But never trust them. Winry curled her arms around her chest, her fins clamping as close to her body as possible. No, she would never bring herself to trust a human fully.

She glanced between the two darker haired humans to the blonde one above before focusing on the two that were in the pool with them. She nodded to them, “Are these two the human and his mate you were telling me about earlier?”

“What?” said the closer one with dark eyes.

Ed chuckled, “No that’s the bastard with stupid hair and the blonde one,” nodding towards the closer human and the one up top

“Hey!”

“Mates?” The green-eyed human with glasses looked at his companion with a bemused expression as dark eyed one’s skin turned slightly pink.

“It must mean something different for them,” he said defensively.

“Oh really?” The glasses one raised an eyebrow before turning back to Winry and Ed, “What does ‘mate’ mean for you guys?”

Winry glanced at Ed and saw that they had the exact same expression, wrinkled nose and all. “That’s adult stuff,” Ed answered.

It must have been funny to the humans because the one with glasses was falling over with laughter while the other one buried his face in his hands.

“Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell me?” Said the glasses human while the other one made a strangled noise into his hands. Maybe he was dying. He sounded a bit like a gull choking on human trash.

The blonde one let out a sigh and dropped down into the pool with the grace of a murre diving under the surface, which caused the other two humans to straighten up.

“Ed, I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now, but this is Maes Hughes, Gracia’s husband,” the blonde human said, gesturing to the human with glasses, “And who is your companion?”

“I’m Winry,” Winry offered, looking at the blonde human. She had an air of authority around her. She must be the one in charge.

“Hello, Winry, I’m Riza Hawkeye and this is Roy Mustang. It’s very nice to meet you,” Riza said, approaching and holding out her hand. Winry looked at it for a second before placing her hand delicately on top of it, waiting for the human to grab it and pull her away from Ed but she simply closed her fingers around it and lifted Winry’s hand up and down a few times before letting go. Winry tugged her arm back close as soon as Riza had stepped back.

“So,” the one with glasses – Maes – said, “are you two siblings?

“What? No!” Winry and Ed spoke over each other, “She’s a Rockbell –”

“And he’s an Elric –”

“We’re podmates,” Ed finished with a nod.

The one with the stupid hair, Roy, frowned, “Pods, like a group of whales?”

“No, like a group of Mer,” Ed said flatly.

The human’s frown grew. “Where’s the rest of your pod?”

“It’s just us,” Winry said softly, looking down.

“And Al,” Ed added determinedly, “Just the three of us.”

“No parents?” Winry risked glancing up at that. The human – Maes – had an expression on his face that Winry couldn’t place, but definitely pained. Ed however, just glowered.

“I’m sure he’s still alive out there somewhere, but he fucked off a long time ago.”

Winry smacked Ed lightly on the back of his head.

“Ow! What was that for!” He chirped to Winry.

“Language! Granny would kill you if she had ever heard you use human curses!”

“Well, it expresses how I feel about him better than any Mer words I know!” But with a glare towards the humans he said, “I already told you. They’re gone.”

The humans look rather taken back at their exclamations in their native language, but then again it was rather noisy without water to muffle the sounds.

“Well,” started Roy, looking around the tide pool hesitantly, “are you staying here for now? It doesn’t seem like a good hiding place if you’re trying to stay hidden. We found you after only a few hours of searching, and we were purposefully looking for Ed. How long before someone randomly stumbles upon you?”

Ed glanced at Winry and she could practically see the cogs whirring in his mind. “We were gonna go back to the sea and figure out what to do next.” It was vague enough that if they did have to escape fast these humans wouldn’t have a good place to start looking for them.

“I’m a little uncomfortable with the thought of letting children wander around, or swim around I guess, on their own.”

Both Winry and Ed bristled at that, their fins and gills flaring as Ed beat her to verbally retaliating.

“We’re not children bastard, we’ve been doing fine on our own so far!”

Winry caught Riza’s eyes sharpening as she lunged towards Roy to do something as he started to say “Clearly –”

Maes beat her to it by slapping a hand over Roy’s mouth and cleared his throat over Ed’s audible seething. “Well, Gracia and I have a spare bedroom. If you want to, you two can stay there while we work out where your brother is.

Winry frowned and saw an Ed’s anger melt into confusion. They thought – oh.

“I can’t go on land like Ed can,” Winry said quietly.

Maes glanced between them. “What do you mean? Ed was human looking earlier, legs and everything.”

“Well, yeah. But Winry can’t change like that. Only I can,” Ed said, avoiding looking at Winry and instead picking at his scales.

“So not all mermaids can turn into humans? What allows you to change then?” Roy said rubbing the wet material of his gloves against his chin.

“Mermaids?” Ed spluttered indigently, anger replacing the quiet tone he had been using before.

“Oh, I know this story!” Maes interrupted, “A mermaid fell in love with a human prince so she went to the sea witch and traded her voice for a pair of legs to be with her beloved! But the human prince fell in love with another woman and the mermaid turned into sea foam and died. You’re like the mermaid from the story, Ed! What did you trade the sea witch for legs?”

Ed propped himself up on his arm and skimmed his tail over the surface of the tide pool to shut Maes up.

“I am not a mermaid! We’re Mer got it? Mer!”

Winry shook her head and laughed. Sea witch? Who ever heard of such nonsense. She met Riza’s eyes and saw that she was silently laughing as well, which made Winry immediately shut down her laughter. There would be no colluding with humans against Ed, even if they were clearly the smart one here.

“Sorry, sorry,” Maes said meekly, rubbing water off of his glasses, “Got a bit carried away there.”

Roy cleared his throat, probably weary of Ed snapping at him again. “Is it some kind of alchemy? That seems like it would be some kind of human transmutation. Mer transmutation.”

“Soul transmutation is taboo,” Ed said with a surprisingly straight face. Winry pushed down the urge to glance at Ed’s missing arm, and instead kept her gaze focused on his face, watching minute expressions pass over it before Ed came to a decision. “I’m half human. My bastard father used some type of alchemy to turn into a Mer and be with my mother. Don’t ask me how. He didn’t leave any notes on it that we ever found. I can just sort of shift forms when I want to.”

That sparked Roy’s interest. “What kind of alchemical notes do mermai – ahem, Mer keep?”

“I dunno, normal alchemical notes? They were coded pretty well; it took me and Al ages to decipher them. Lots of surface alchemy stuff, most of it wasn’t useful under the sea. But the bastard had a ton of journals to work with, so we had lots of material to work with.

“Journals? How did they survive being underwater?”

“It’s not that hard to make something hydrophobic,” Ed said with a sniff.

“We’re getting off topic,” Riza intervened, “You two need a safe place to stay while we work on finding your brother, preferably someplace close enough that we can reach you easily if we have new information.

“You swam through Bayview Canal to get here Ed, right? Can you survive in freshwater for long periods of time?” Roy asked.

“Was that the waterway I escaped through? It was gross, lots of silt in the water, bad for the gills. Just because we can stay in freshwater doesn’t mean all water is equal quality.”

There was a moment of silence from the adults interrupted only by a sea gull screeching nearby. Then Maes spoke up.

“We have a pretty big bathtub in our guest bathroom.”

“Please be serious Hughes,” Roy said exasperatedly.

“It’s just an idea!”

“What’s a bathtub?” Winry whispered to Ed.

“It’s like a big basin of water that humans use to wash off and get clean. Just don’t inhale the bubbles. They taste awful.” He whispered back.  

“How big is big?”

“About the size of our nest back home,” Ed said warily, “You seriously can’t be considering this Winry. You’d be trapped. Completely at the human’s mercy,” he tacked on in a series of squeaks that interrupted the human’s argument and made them flinch.

“I don’t want to be left behind again!” She retorted, “It was awful waiting here. I couldn’t do anything but hope you would come back safely.”

“And if you’re stuck on land it’ll be worse! I can actually walk around and escape again if need be!”

“Do you want to be alone with these humans?”

“No! I just want everyone to be safe! I want Al back. He’s my little brother. I was supposed to protect him, and I failed.”

“You know it’s not just your job to protect him, right? We’re a pod. We protect each other.”

Ed sucked in something Winry was sure he would deny with his dying breath was a sob. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

And there wasn’t anything Winry could say to that. Without Mom or Dad or Auntie Trisha or Granny they were just a pod of three children despite what Ed might argue. Winry knew they shouldn’t be on their own but there was no one left to take care of them.

She glanced at the humans. They were scary, an unknown entity. But they were offering to help. Ed had already paid a steep price trying to keep their pod together. She could make sacrifices too.

Besides, Al was likely enduring worse.

Winry swallowed before switching back to Amestrian, “I can survive on land. Take me to this bathtub.”

“Survive? More like suffer. Your gills are gonna dry out,” Ed tried to point out.

“I have a set of perfectly functional lungs. Besides. It’ll be just like sunbathing. For a couple days.”

“Indoors.”

“Indoors.”

“Are you sure about this?” Riza said gently, “If you’d feel more comfortable in the sea, we can figure out some other meet up point –”

Winry shook her head. “We don’t want to be split up again, and if Al was taken by your military onto land, then that’s where we have to go.”

Riza kneeled down to Winry’s level. “Are you alright with me carrying you?” She had warm brown eyes, but she was standing far enough away to give Winry room to back away if necessary. Winry appreciated that.

Winry glanced at Ed. His expression read It’s up to you. “I suppose so,” She said turning back to the human.

Riza smiled at that and offered her hand to Winry again, which she took with more confidence this time around. Winry took the opportunity to look down at it this time and noted that human hands lacked the webbing between their fingers that Mer had. A moment later the hand left her grip only to suddenly be replaced with the blue jacket Riza had been wearing, covering Winry’s tail partially as she was scooped up into the human’s arms, one behind her back and the other under the bulk of her tail, mindful of the fin running along her back. Not knowing what to do with her arms, Winry looped them around the human’s neck.

“Is this alright?” Riza said as she lifted Winry out of the tide pool.

“Y-yes.” Winry tried to keep the tremble out of her voice but was sure everyone else had heard it anyways. Riza just smiled as Winry tightened her grip around her neck.

“What about you Ed?” Called out Roy, “Did you want me to carry you as well or did you want to walk yourself.”

“Listen here bastard,” Ed said, planting his hand on the ground and surging up, his tail melting into two legs as all the fins and scales along his body retreated into tanned flesh.

“Put some clothes on kid!” Roy shrieked, throwing up a hand as Maes turned away from them, “Unless you want us to get charged with public indecency!”

Winry giggled as Ed frowned down at himself. Maes grabbed Ed’s abandoned pile of clothes and held it out for him, eyes averted, as Ed started to put on the sopping garments.

“Mer don’t wear clothing; it just gets in the way while swimming,” Ed said matter-of-factly as he struggled to pull the shorts over his newly formed legs.

Roy, eyes still directed towards the sky cleared his throat. “What about Mer women’s, you know,” he said, cupping his chest.

Riza’s hands twitched where they were holding Winry, as if she wanted to physically retaliate against that statement, but Ed beat her to it. He threw one of his recently reclaimed shoes at Roy and it connected with his chest with a soggy little fwip before falling into the tide pool.

“We don’t even have nipples! Why would we have breasts?” Ed grumbled as he pulled the shirt over his head. It was true, the scales covering every Mer Winry had ever met went most of the way up their chest, only fading once it reached their collar bone. “Give me that shoe back.”

“As long as you don’t throw it at me again.”

“No guarantees,” Ed growled back.

Riza shook her head, carefully placing Winry on top of the lip of rock surrounding the tide pool. A moment later she had pulled herself up to be sitting next to Winry. Behind her, Winry could hear Ed arguing with the two male humans as they offered to help him out of the pool as well.

“Boys,” Riza muttered as she picked Winry back up and started to make her way towards the cliff face, ignoring the splashing sounds coming from behind them. Winry had to remind herself again not to feel any kinship to humans as Riza walked away with her.

Winry steadfastly kept her gaze focused on the land in front of her. Each step Riza was taking was the furthest she had ever been from the sea. It was also bringing her closer to Al, a fact that she shouldn’t forget.

“Are you alright? You’re trembling.” The moment Riza said it Winry realized it was true.

“I’m okay. Don’t tell Ed. I don’t need him worrying about me as well.”

Riza cautiously picked her way up a narrow path along the cliffside, only speaking when they were about halfway up.

“It seems like you’re both very protective of each other.”

“We’re podmates. Nestmates even, but it’s normal for the children of the pod to nest together.”

“Family then.”

“Yeah.”

Riza navigated a sharp turn before Winry spoke up again.

“Why would someone want to take Al?”

“I don’t know. Considering I didn’t even know that mermaids – Mer – were real this morning I’m no expert.”

Winry didn’t know what to say to that. She settled in for the rest of the journey up the cliff until they reached the top and a strange metal box. An automobile, she thought it was called.

Riza shifted her grip on Winry to open one of the doors and lower her to the seat inside of the vehicle. Winry pulled herself to the far side of the bench seat and propped herself up against the opposite door to look back out the window. From there she could just make out the other two humans coming up the last few steps of the cliffside trail. The shorter one, Roy, had a mildly struggling Ed slung over his shoulder, his new legs making halfhearted kicks while his arm clung to Roy like a lifeline, while Maes had his arms out as if to catch them should they go tumbling down.

Roy deposited a red-faced Ed into the seat next to her before grimacing and pulling off his dark overcoat, wringing out the sea water it was partially soaked with.

“That’s the second coat of mine you’ve ruined Ed.”

“A little water never hurt anything bastard.”

Roy huffed, “That wasn’t a little water, that was half the sea!”

Ed snorted before reaching out and planting his hand on the hem of the coat. His array lit up – and wasn’t it funny how alchemy sparked instead of glowed outside of the water – and the coat steamed as the water in it evaporated.

Roy looked surprised. Riza cleared her throat.

“Oh. Thank you.”

Ed sniffed and turned his face towards Winry. Winry looked at him meaningfully, but when Ed ignored it, she elbowed him.

“Ouch! Fine! You’re welcome! Happy now?” He groused towards her.

“Very,” she chirped back.

“Whatever,” Ed said, “Are we going now?”

“Yes,” Roy said, “Now scoot over.”

Ed looked alarmed. “What? Why?”

“Where do you think I’m sitting?” Winry glanced towards the front of the car only to see that Riza and Maes had already claimed the front two seats.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re not driving. We might survive the trip,” Ed said vindictively.

“Hey!”

“Settle down back there,” Riza called back.

“Yes ma’am!” Both Roy and Ed echoed. Winry smiled to herself. Maybe humans were like Mer in some ways.

All the doors to the car closed and it lurched to life. Winry startled and gripped Ed’s leg a little too tight and he yelped.

“I’m fine!” he reassured when Roy looked at him with concern.

Maes turned around in his seat to look back at them. “Hey Ed! Do you think you can do that drying trick again? My photos of my beautiful daughter and incredible wife got soaked.”

Ed’s eyes lit up. “Sure!” He said enthusiastically, grabbing the offered pictures and drying them in a flash of alchemic discharge. Instead of handing them back he handed the top one to Winry.

“This is Gracia’s baby, the one who’s home we’re going to.”

“Oh! Is that a human baby?” Winry looked at the toothy smiling blob.

“Yeah, she’s tiny.”

“She’s so cute!”

“Just wait until you see her in person. She’s almost as cute as Al was when he was a hatchling.”

Chapter Text

During the entire drive back to the Hughes’s apartment Riza hadn’t been able to stop herself from glancing into the back seat of the car. Winry, the real-life mermaid, spent the entire drive with her face glued to the window, just barely able to peak out of it while Edward, the real-life half-human half-merman, had stolen Roy’s overcoat and was struggling to keep it pulled up over the fins Winry had instead of ears. They were the only inhuman feature that would be visible from the outside of the car.

There were many things Riza had seen in her time with the military. This was one she was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around.

Glancing at Hughes and Roy revealed both men were deep in thought. Hughes was starring steadfastly forward, hands clasped together and pressed against his lips. Roy on the other hand kept glancing towards the two children next to him. His expressions were minute, but Riza knew him well enough to recognize the slight furrow to his brow as concern. Riza felt the same way. The implications of the Brass knowing about the existence of sentient beings in the ocean and actively capturing them was not surprising per se, but defiantly chilling. After the horror that had been the Ishvalan War of Extermination, it was hard to say that anything would be against their morals. For the children’s sake she hoped that Alphonse had been picked up as a research subject and was not currently in a wet specimen jar.

Riza shook the morbid thoughts from her mind as for the second time that day the car pulled up to the curb outside of Hughes’ building.

The engine stopping pulled the two men out of their thoughts, and Hughes cleared his throat as he sat up straighter in his seat, twisting to look back at the kids. “Perhaps I should go up first and prepare Gracia for your arrival?”

Ed snorted.

Riza watched faint amusement curl the corner of Roy’s mouth as he looked down Ed’s grumpy expression. “That might be for the best.”

“Right. Give me five minutes before you head up. See you shortly.”

Silence stretched in the car after Hughes left. Riza could see Winry shifting down in her seat as pedestrians walked by her window. Edward glared at the people passing by while Roy was thoughtfully observing the children.

He met her eyes through the rear-view mirror. Riza knew that look. It was the same look he wore when the team was badgering him about one of is faux dates phone calls and he would glance at her for just a single moment, just to share a moment with her. Are you sure you want to stay with me on this crazy ride?

Riza tilted her head in return. I’ll follow you no matter where you go.

Roy gave a solemn nod before turning to where the two Mer children were getting increasingly antsy. “It’s probably been long enough by now. Are you two ready to go in?

Ed glanced to Winry, deferring to her. Riza noted that they could hold silent conversations too, but whatever was communicated between them was lost on her. Winry nodded shakily pulling Roy’s overcoat tight around her neck. “I’m ready.”

Riza gave her a reassuring smile before she eased her way out of the car at the same time as Roy, both of them moving towards the Winry’s seat. Riza pulled the door open as Roy stepped up to block passerby’s views.  

“Will you let me carry you?” He asked gently. Winry nodded again, this time with more confidence.

Ed stuck his head out past Winry and glared, “If you drop her I will kill you, got it old man?”

Roy smirked, “I didn’t drop you earlier, and you were being purposefully difficult,” before carefully sweeping Winry into his arms, pausing for a second to ensure that his over coat and Riza’s military jacket covered every inch of tail and every hint of in human features, Ed watching his every movement like a hawk.

“That’s because I didn’t want you to fall off a cliff and take me with you,” Ed said as he pushed his way out of the back of the car and landed clumsily on his feet. Riza quickly reached out to stabilize him and half expected her hand to be smacked away but Ed merely nodded his thanks to her before putting his attention back on Roy. Riza kept her eye on Ed for his first few steps in case his newly formed legs gave out on him, but it seemed like he was able to quickly readjust to having them as his gait smoothed out after a few experimental steps.

Roy lead their little procession towards Hughes’ building, with Ed following close behind, shooting glares at unwary neighbors. Riza easily fell into the rear and felt no small amount of relief when they make their way into the building and away from any prying eyes. She doubted anyone seeing Roy carrying a child would make the right jump in logic that they were smuggling an actual mermaid or two into the building, but Riza would prefer to not have to come up with a compelling excuse, or, in the worst case scenario, shoot anyone.

As they approached Hughes’ flat the door opened and the man himself stuck his head out.

“There you are!” He said boisterously, his volume matching his blinding grin, “Come on in, dinner is ready!” and in a quieter voice with a more toned-down smile, “I’ve warned Gracia.”

Hughes quickly waved them into the flat and towards the living room. Riza heard the distinct sound of the lock being engaged and based on the way Ed and Winry both twitched they had heard it too.

“Well, let’s go greet our hostess,” Roy said softly to Winry who gave a determined nod.

Gracia was sitting on the edge couch in the living room with baby Elicia bouncing in her play-seat next to her. She met Riza’s gaze for a split second before shifting towards Winry in Roy’s hold, but before she could say anything Ed pushed his way past them.

Gracia’s smile was nervous, but her voice was steady. “Hello again Ed. You gave us quite a fright earlier.”

In a move that surprised everyone, Ed leaned forward into what almost looked like a partial bow.

“I’m very sorry for breaking your window,” he said to his shoes.

Gracia startled, nervousness melting off her face. “It’s alright Ed. I’m just glad to see you’re safe.”

“I can fix it for you if you would like,” he said, glancing up.

“Maybe later. Maes told me you came back with a friend? “

Roy cleared his throat and stepped forward. In his arms Winry shook her head until the coat covering her fell down revealing the fins that she had instead of ears.

“I’m Winry, Ed’s friend.”

Gracia’s eyes widened, but other than that she managed a smile. “Hello Winry, I’m Gracia, Maes’ wife.”

Winry glanced between the adults and Ed before whispering, “Like a mate?”

“Yeah like a mate.”

“Do your people not get married?” Gracia asked curiously.

“We bond,” Winry started hesitantly, “But familial ties are important too.” And now that they were mentioning it again, Riza could recall them mentioning mates multiple times, with emphasis on the word as if it was more important than just another term for friends. Riza wondered if the word was poorly translated, the meaning not carrying over between the Mer culture and theirs.

Maes loudly interrupted her train of thought, moving over to Gracia to put his hands on her shoulders. “Well here on land we get married. And my amazing and beautiful wife has made dinner for us, if you’d be interested in moving this conversation to the dining room?”

Gracia turned and smiled at her husband with an openness that made something ache in Riza’s chest. “I didn’t make it by myself, Ed helped me out when he was here earlier. Can I interest you in some stew?”

Winry’s eyes widened and she leaned precariously out of Roy’s arms to get closer to Ed. “What’s in it?”

Ed thought for a moment before listing the ingredients on his fingers by bringing them to meet his thumb. “Beef, carrots, potatoes, peas, milk,” he said the last one with a resentful growl before giving a one-sided shrug. “I’ve had some of their human food before. It’s not bad. Especially since Gracia is a better cook than Roy.”

“It’s true,” Hughes said with a sad nod, “Roy’s tried to poison me before with what he calls a homecooked meal.”

“I’m right here,” Roy grit out as Riza glanced down in an attempt to hide her grin.

“I’ll try your human food. Especially if Ed helped make it.”

“Excellent,” Hughes said, swinging his arms out and shepherding everyone towards the dining room, pausing only to scoop up baby Elicia who let out an excited giggle, “Let’s eat!”

Once everyone was settled down around the dinning room table, with Roy helping Winry balance herself into a chair in such a way that it didn’t disturb the fin running down her lower back and tail, Hughes and Gracia started placing bowls of stew in front of everyone. As Hughes settled Elicia down into her highchair next to Winry Gracia turned her attention to the two children. “What do you usually eat?”

“Fish. But we don’t cook it like you humans do,” Ed answered.

Winry was busy staring in amazement at the baby. “She’s so tiny! Hi Elicia!” She said, holding out a webbed finger to the baby who grabbed it and let out a squeal. Winry frowned. “She can’t talk?”

Ed’s nose wrinkled. “Apparently human babies don’t talk right away.”

“And Mer babies do?” Riza couldn’t help but ask.

Winry nodded. “Our language is easy to pick up. There’s lots of vocalizations to it.”

“That’s basically what Elicia is doing right now. She’s vocalizing a lot, getting ready to start saying words,” Hughes seemed to melt, “I’m hoping her first word will be dada.”

After that exchange Riza watched with some amusement as Ed and Winry figured out how to use a spoon, both of them casting furtive glances at the other members at the table and adjusting their grips as necessary. Riza had to restrain a laugh when Ed put his first spoonful in his mouth and his eyes bugged out.

“‘s good,” he practically moaned before shoveling another spoonful down his throat, disgusting slurping noises coming from his direction.

Seeing Ed’s reaction Winry tried hers as well. The ear-like fins on either side of her face perked up and her eyes shined. “I’ve never tasted anything like this! It’s so warm!”

Roy let out a bark of laughter. “If you like the stew just wait until you try Gracia’s pie.” After that the conversation quickly devolved into discussions of favorite foods.

Eventually, Hughes cleared his throat. “So, Ed, I tried to do some initial research today to see if I could dig up any leads to find your brother.”

That got both Ed’s and Winry’s attention, but it was Ed who spoke first. “What kind of research?” He said while pushing his now empty bowl away from him.

Hughes shrugged. “Just the basics. I tried to find yours or your brother’s birth records on Resembool. Obviously, that didn’t work out. I also looked into the shipwreck your brother was kidnapped from, however there was a lot of missing information as to how it got to its current location. The ASMS Stearman ended up on the wrong side of the island from its planned route. Was there anything you saw on it that might have made it a main target for our government’s observation?”

Winry and Ed looked at each other. “Not that I can think of,” Winry said hesitantly, “There wasn’t anything super useful in the cargo hold. All the boxes were empty. Did you see anything in the upper decks?”

“Nothing that caught my attention. I didn’t get out of the water to investigate any of the ship that wasn’t flooded though.”

“Damn. I was hoping to get a new lead from what you saw,” Hughes said with a frown. Glancing between the two kids he posed a new question. “Can you tell us exactly how your brother got caught?”

Ed traced the grain of the table somewhat aggressively. “I didn’t see it happen. Win and I were poking around in the hold for a while, but Al wanted to see if the captain’s quarters were submerged. We heard him call for help, but by the time we got further into the ship he was gone. When we got out of the wreck there was a boat sailing away. We followed it to the Island where it met up with a bigger ship outside the harbor where people in blue uniforms just like yours carried my unconscious little brother onto it and sailed away. We followed it to here.”

Hughes leaned forward, ignoring the venom that had seeped into Edward’s tone towards the end of his statement. “Is that ship still here? Did you happen to catch which ship it was?”

Ed paused in his movement for a moment, thinking. “It was the ASMS Liberator.”

Riza drew a sharp breath. Wasn’t that ironic?

“The Liberator is a troop transportation ship,” Roy said with a frown, “Since we’re not currently in any naval wars with Aerugo or Drachma it should be easy enough to check out its recent orders and travel logs.”

“No need. I happen to know that the Liberator has been transporting noncombative units between Central, East, and South City. Something about a joint research project between the labs there.”

Gracia spoke up. “The existence of Mer isn’t well known right? Could Alphonse have been spotted by a researcher and taken because they thought they were making a new discovery?”

“Just because Mer keep to themselves doesn’t mean humans can’t recognize us on sight. Hughes said he knew fictional stories about us.” Ed said jerking his thumb towards Hughes.

Roy steepled his hands and brought them to his lips. “Perhaps the Brass has been aware of Mer and have just been hiding their existence from the general population.”

“They would have had to have found out about us decades ago then. There just aren’t that many Mer in the Amestrian Sea anymore,” Ed said with a dejected flop of his hand against the tabletop.

“Really?”

Winry looked down. “We spent most of the trip here calling out for help, but no other Mer responded. The last time we saw someone outside of our pod was when all those southern Mer were fleeing Ishval. They were so colorful, remember Ed?”

Riza felt the breath catch in her throat. Unbidden, a faint memory of bright scales glinting in bloody water flashed through her mind. She did her best to dismiss it, but instead her attention was brought to the stiffness in Hughes’ shoulders; the dark look that passed over Roy’s face.

Ed didn’t seem to notice the tenseness surrounding all the adults in the room. “Yeah, I remember. They didn’t stay for very long. The water was too cold for them, they fled to someplace more tropical.”

“Well,” Hughes said tentatively, “you’ve given me a new lead to pursue tomorrow morning.

“The ship?”

“Yes, I can look up its records and ask the dockhands about anything being unloaded from it. Sailors can be chatty folk, especially with the right incentives.” Riza idly wondered which incentive Hughes would go with, the pictures or the knife?

“Why don’t we just break into it and see if Al is there? Or at least look for clues?” Ed said with just a hint of desperation leaking into his voice.

Hughes raised his eyebrows. “Because it’s a navy ship Ed. Roy, Riza and I are not authorized to board unless we have direct orders from our supervisors. We would be court-martialed at best, shot at worst.”

Ed frowned. “Then what the hell am I supposed to do then? I don’t want to just wait here for you to find any information!” he glanced at Winry, “No offense Win.”

“Plenty taken.”

Roy scratched his chin and glanced at Riza, a certain gleam in his eye. “Lieutenant, weren’t you just telling me how your sister got into an accident recently and couldn’t find a sitter in time to take care of your nephew?  I never did file that paperwork to clear you to take any time off of work, so you’ll just have to bring him into the office tomorrow.”

“What are you saying bastard?”

“I’m just saying that you’ll be in Central Command with your aunt tomorrow, getting underfoot and meeting all the people posted there. Perhaps you’ll see someone you recognize.”

Ed opened his mouth as if to argue. Then closed it and glanced to Winry. There were some unspoken words going between them before he turned back towards Roy “Winry will be safe here?”

“I’ll do everything I can to make her comfortable here, I won’t even leave the house” Gracia said with a smile.

“And Ed?” Winry asked, “He’ll be safe there?”

Roy nodded. “You have anonymity on your side. No one knows who either of you two are. And even if someone who’s seen Ed’s brother sees him, they might not realize that a Mer can become a human, and if they do, he’ll be with my team. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

The children considered Roy’s words for a minute, but Riza could tell that at least Winry had already made up her mind.

“I’m okay with this Ed. I’ll be close by if we get any news. I won’t be left alone in the dark.”

“Okay bastard,” Ed said turning back to Roy, eyes flashing, “you better do your best to get some new information, because otherwise I’m going to have to go out looking for it myself.”

“And God knows that Central City won’t survive if you do,” Roy said dryly, which only acted to further enrage Ed. He looked ready to spring out of his seat and attack Roy across the table when Hughes attempted to defuse the situation.

“Who’s ready for dessert?”

Riza thought she would treasure the image of the two Mer tasting pie for the first time for forever.

Chapter Text

After dinner Roy volunteered to wash up the dishes while Riza went to try and contact the team. They would probably be very put out after all the fruitless searching they had been doing so it would be safer to have Hawkeye be the one to break the news to them. After all, they wouldn’t dare to get petty office revenge on her.

Of course, being alone in the kitchen meant being vulnerable, and it was barely a few minutes after getting the sink filled up with water that Hughes snuck in and cornered him.

“So. You and the Lieutenant, huh? Since when?”

Roy almost choked on his tongue, and it was only years of practice schooling his expression that saved him from a stronger outward reaction. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” He said, carefully wiping down a spoon.

“Ed seems to think differently.”

“Ed is a child. A child from a different culture might I add.”

“Mmhmm.” Roy absolutely refused to look at Hughes, but he knew he was wearing a delighted smile. He could hear it in the tone of his voice. “And whatever gave him the impression that you and Hawkeye were ‘mates’?”

Roy took a deep breath. “I took Edward to the Lieutenant’s place last night and spent the night there.” Had that really all happened last night? So much had changed in the last hour.

“Spent the night there. On the couch?”  

There was no way Roy was going to get out of this conversation unscathed. He might as well resign himself to his fate. “Ed was supposed to be on the couch.”

“And you? where did you spend the night?”

“Drop it Hughes,” He tried, with little hope. He put the spoon down and grabbed a bowl.

“Not until we get to the bottom of this.” Hughes could be such a damn romantic, but maybe a healthy dose of reality would put him back in his lane.

Roy risked looking directly at Hughes, hoping the eye contact would make his next statement stick. “The military has strict anti-fraternization rules Hughes. The Lieutenant and I are not together.”

Hughes eyes narrowed a bit. “Bullshit Roy. You know as well as I do what goes on behind closed doors in central command. And I happen to know that you, unlike a good portion of the Brass, are not going to take advantage of one of your underlings. The two of you are good for each other. She keeps you grounded and gives you someone to fight the good fight for. She’s got your back and you’ve got hers.”

Roy froze. He could see the flash of flame over inked skin, the smell of burning flesh. She hadn’t cried out, and Roy was forever thankful for that. He probably wouldn’t have been able to keep his composure long enough to give her medical treatment if she had, but the image of trembling burnt flesh was forever seared into his memory.

To this very day Roy would always offer his back to her whenever they cuddled, unwilling to do anything that might trigger that particular memory.

Carefully, Roy put the bowl he had been wiping down. There was no wining with Hughes. He would always follow a lead until he reached a conclusion, it’s what made him such a good addition to investigations, and personally Roy would rather explain himself than let Maes Hughes come up with his own conclusions. He hoped Riza would forgive him.

Roy sighed, and kept his gaze focused on the sudsy water below him. “I’ve known the Lieutenant since long before I met you. I apprenticed under her father when I first decided to study alchemy.” Hughes made an interested noise, but Roy chose to ignore him. “Berthold Hawkeye was a brilliant alchemist, but not the best father. He didn’t want me to have anything to do with his daughter.” That was an understatement. Master Hawkeye went out of his way to make sure Roy and Riza had as little contact as possible, and Riza had hated every second of it. It wasn’t until she had snuck into his bedroom window the third week of his apprenticeship that they met properly, and every non supervised interaction had been just as clandestine as their first. “Riza and I just wanted to have each other’s company, two lonely kids in a small house.” Roy turns to face Hughes. “Let’s just say that we’ve had a lot of practice at hiding any relationship outside of our professional one.”

Hughes was reappraising him, his green eyes boring into Roy. Finally, he spoke, “And you didn’t marry her immediately after joining the military?”

Roy raised an eyebrow. “We were too young.” He would have had to get permission to marry her from Master Hawkeye, and Master Hawkeye would never had agreed. “Then Master Hawkeye died, and I,” he paused, thinking back to the many nights spend pouring over the detailed noted inked into skin, “I learned flame alchemy. I applied to the State Alchemist program –”

“And immediately got sent to Ishval.” A look of comprehension fell over Hughes face. “She followed you into the military.”

Roy snorted. “I joined the military under a naïve assumption that I would be helping people. She joined the military with the understanding that she could protect me.” In the end it had broken both of their ideals and reshaped them into something different.

“Fighting to protect the ones we love is all we can really do,” Hughes said with a smile, glancing towards the dining room where Roy could just about make out Gracia’s voice talking to Ed and Winry.

Roy picked up a different bowl and started scrubbing it. It seemed like Hughes finally picked up that Roy wanted this conversation over and mercifully decided to switch topics. “Well since the kids are spending the night here, would you and the Lieutenant like to stay as well? We have a guest bedroom still.” Forget mercy, Hughes could be straight up savage when he wanted to be.

Roy rubbed the bridge of his nose and immediately got soap in his eye. Blinking he grumbled, “If the Lieutenant wishes to spend the night, I can take the couch.”

“Geez Roy. You’re really staying in character.”

“It’s not worth the risk. So, what if I let loose around friends? How soon do you think it will take before I slip up out there, in the office, in front of the Brass?”

“I’d cover for you, and I know for a fact that your team would too.”

Roy shook his head. “Even if there were no anti-fraternization rules with my ambition Riza would become a target, someone my political opponents could go after to get at me. I’m not going to give anyone the chance to even try.”

Hughes sighed, “You’re really determined to live and die a miserable bastard, you know that right?”

“Careful Hughes, there’s now kids in the house who can understand what you’re saying. Don’t teach the mermaids any bad words.”

Hughes laughed. “Oh no! Edward and Winry are your kids, and it seems like they’re already corrupted. I wonder if they learned Amestrian from sailors, Ed certainly has the tongue of one.”

Roy snorted. “It wouldn’t surprise me. Although if Ed’s father is human, he could have taught them Amestrian.”

“Or maybe it’s a thing in Mer society to learn the local human language.”

Roy scratched his chin with a slightly damp hand. “Maybe I should bring him a book on alchemy, see what his reading comprehension is at.”

“Now who’s sounding like a parent?”

“I’m not the one going on and on about how advanced and special my child is for her age, I just want to learn more about their capabilities –” Roy stopped mid rant, coming to a horrifying conclusion. “Oh God I’m back to being a researcher.”

Hughes, the bastard, threw back his head and laughed. “Once a scientist always a scientist. You’ve had your cushy office job for so long that you’re craving something new and dangerous to learn everything about. You should ask Ed to teach you how to do water-based alchemy. Then no one will ever be able to tell you you’re useless when it’s raining or too humid ever again.”

The only thing that saves Hughes from death by suds is the sound of a commotion coming through the kitchen doorway. Looking over reveals Ed staring at them uncertainly. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No no, not at all!” Hughes said with a blinding grin that only served to make Ed squint suspiciously at him. “Did you need something Ed?”

“I told Gracia I would fix your window.”

“With alchemy?” Hughes asked.

“Yep,” Ed said, making his way over to the still slightly wet pile of glass shards that Gracia had swept up at some point while they had been chasing after Ed. He poked the pile cautiously with his foot. “There’s not enough silica left on this side to remake it as thick as it was before. Is that okay?”

Hughes nodded. “Do whatever you want Ed. You’re doing us a favor either way.”

Ed frowned. “But I broke it in the first place.”

Hughes toned down his smile to something slightly rueful. “It wasn’t entirely your fault. You were pretty spooked, and we were blocking the doorway.”

Roy cleared his throat. “Did you need something to draw your array with? I have some chalk in my coat pocket… if it’s still usable considering how many times it has been soaked today.”

“Nah. I can manage.” Ed approached Roy and it was only when he was next to him did he realize what he was doing. Ed went on tiptoe to put his hand into the sink basin. From this angle Roy could actually see what Ed did when he performed alchemy. Faint, nearly impossible to see lines lit up with alchemical energy from his wrist to his elbow. Roy frowned. Ed’s array wasn’t a tattoo like some alchemists preferred to get. It looked more like a scar, the lines ever so slightly raised on his skin, lighter than the healthy tissue around it.

Alchemical discharge ran down Ed’s arm into the sink where the water started to flow up onto Ed’s open palm, a perfect sphere the size of an apple cupped in his hand as he stepped back and away from the sink. Ed had a pinch of concentration on his brow and it was only because Roy was watching him but he caught the alchemical energy shift along Ed’s array as the water suddenly lost all its tension and collapsed, covering Ed’s hand and wrist in a thin sheath of water that almost looked like a glove.

Hughes let out a whistle. “That’s a fancy trick.”

Ed shrugged. “I’ve never tried something like it out of water before, it’s definitely easier on a smaller scale and without having to deal with the salinity of seawater.”

“Is your array not designed to deal with high salinity? Isn’t that a little counterproductive if you live in the ocean?”

Ed practically pouts at Hughes. “Of course it can deal with salinity and other impurities. Do you know how difficult it is to manipulate water? I’m messing with both the surface tension and the hydrophobicity on a large enough scale to disregard gravity. It’s not exactly easy.”

Hughes lifts his hands is surrender. “You and Roy should take some time to go complain about the intricate and finicky nature of your alchemy, God knows I’ve heard his rant enough times.”

“Excuse me if gaseous manipulation is beyond your limited understanding.” Roy growls, but without any real heat. Ed is on the move again, heading back towards the pile of glass. His array is no longer emitting alchemical electricity but the glow of an active array is still there. Roy can’t help but want to get a closer look at it. He can tell from here it’s complex, with multiple layers to it and something that looks akin to his own atmospheric manipulations in it.

Ed dropped down next to the pile of glass and with a quick motion he drew another array, the water flowing freely to make a nearly invisible circle. Once complete, Ed gently touches the outside of the circle and the whole thing lights back up with alchemical lightning. The remaining water coating Ed’s hand and that which is in the puddle flowed upward and lifted the glass shards back into the empty widow frame before solidifying back into a solid pane. The remaining water slid back down the newly made glass, half caught on the outside and dripping down the side of the building.

“Oops,” Ed said without a hint of remorse before pulling the remaining water back around his hand and taking it back towards Roy and to the sink he was still hovering by.

Hughes let out a laugh. “Well done Ed! That was better than having Mr. One-Trick-Pony do it.”

Ed was looking at him now, and Roy buried his exasperation at Hughes to put on a serene smile. Ed lifted a challenging eyebrow. Roy lifted his in return. “Alright, I’ll bite. What type of intricate and finicky alchemy can you do?”

Roy sighed and pulled the drain, before shaking the excess water off and drying his hands on a hand towel. “My official State Alchemist title is the Flame Alchemist.”

“So you make fire.”

“In a sense.”

Ed laughed. “What kind of useless alchemy is that?”

Roy sighed. It seemed like he was doing that a lot tonight. “It’s incredibly useful to the military when they need a weapon to destroy obstacles and escape routes.” Traditional Ishvalan ships were wooden with cloth sails and burned just like everything else.

Ed is eyeing him now, all traces amusement gone from his face. “Alchemy isn’t all about destroying things. That’s just one of the steps of transmutation.”

“‘Alchemist, be thou for the people’ really only applies for people who aren’t living weapons.” Roy said, choking back the bitter feeling in the back of his throat.  

Ed looks like he’s about to say something else but Hughes intervenes before he can get a word out. “So, Ed, do you want to see if Winry is ready to retire for the night?”

“To the bathtub?”

Hughes smiles again. “Unless she’d rather take the guestroom bed.”

Ed rubbed his side. “It’s not healthy to be out of water for too long. Winry’s stubborn, but her gills are gonna dry out eventually.”

“Alright then. Let’s get you set up.” Hughes took a few steps towards the dinning room before pausing. “How do you want your water? Hot? Cold? Something in between?”

Ed blinked. “We live in the sea.”

“So cold then?”

“Doesn’t really matter,” Ed said with a one-sided shrug, “We’re less sensitive to cold temperatures than you are, and hot water won’t stay hot all night.”

“Alright, I’ll go draw the bath.” Hughes said, heading out of the kitchen.

Roy glanced down at Ed who was flexing his fingers and starting to look a little twitchy. “Shall we go?”

Ed glanced up at Roy. “After you,” he said, gesturing towards the doorway.

Upon returning to the dining room Roy was amused to see that Gracia had given Winry a brush and the Mer was attempting to work through the tangles of her long hair.

She turned when they came back in. “Ed! Can you-?” She held out the brush towards Ed who nodded and skirted around Roy before going to her side and climbing up onto the chair next to her.

He tapped the brush against her scalp and said, “Hold here,” before working the brush down the tips of her hair.

“Your hair is just as long as Ed’s Winry. When was the last time you cut it?” Gracia asked as she started working on pulling Elicia out of her highchair.

Roy noted that Ed stopped mothing ant that noth children had an equally horrified expression on their faces. “Why would we cut our hair?” Winry said, wrapping her arms around the side of her head protectively.

Gracia stepped back to look at the children properly. “I’m sorry if I offended you. Humans cut their hair periodically because it can get in the way and cutting off the split ends lets it grow back stronger and faster than before.”

“Oh,” Winry slowly let go of her hair and Ed continued to brush it, “I guess that makes sense.”

“I take it Mer don’t ever cut their hair?”

“Not usually no,” Ed said, tugging through a particularly difficult tangle, “Granny’s hair was longer than she was; she had to tie it up in a massive bun so it wouldn’t get caught on anything. “

“Does having your hair up make it easier?” Gracia asked curiously. “Do you want me to put your hair up too? I did Ed’s braid this morning.”

Winry glanced back at Ed, the two of them communicating silently before Winry’s tail gave a solid thump and Ed rolled his eyes. “I’m okay, thank you for the offer.”

“Alright! The bathtub is all set up, are you two ready?” Hughes called out, strolling back into the dining room with his sleeves rolled up.

Ed put the brush down on the table and Winry sat up straighter in her chair. “I guess so,” she said evenly.

Hughes took a step towards her before pausing. “Do you mind if I carry you?”

Winry sighed dramatically. “If there’s no other way.” At Hughes’ wounded look a wide grin broke out across her face. “I’m kidding, go ahead.” Ed burst out laughing before hopping down from the chair and making way for a still frowning Hughes to pick her up.

“I’m sure it’s not as fancy as whatever underwater mansion you’re used to, but it is clean and safe.” Hughes lead the way towards the bathroom down the hall, with Ed doggedly on his heels.

The Hughes’ guest bathroom was decently big, with a bath-shower combo built into the wall with a floral-patterned curtain drawn open. The tub was partially full, and Hughes gently lowered Winry into the water. The Mer dunked herself underwater and Roy could see her gills flaring as she took deep breaths. A moment later and she emerged and flipped herself around so that her arms were resting on the edge of the tub with her tail half out of the water propped up against the wall. “Are you coming in Ed?” She asked expectantly.

“One sec, it’s not exactly easy to get out of this stuff. I don’t know how you humans do this every day.” Ed had somehow managed to get his shirt stuck on his head. In a moment of mercy, Roy reached over to help untangle him. Ed’s face re-emerged frowning. “I can do this myself.”

“And I can make it easier.” In response to that Ed threw his balled-up shirt at Roy, which he deftly caught, folded, and placed on the counter next to the bathroom sink. “I’ll just leave that there for you for tomorrow.”

Ed didn’t respond, just quickly finished stripping and climbed into the tub. His legs disappeared as scales erupted along his skin and the golden tail replaced them. A moment later he had joined Winry in the same position. Like this Roy could see the subtle differences between the two Mer other than the obvious coloration. Winry’s tail fin had a sharper fluke and the dorsal fin running along her back and tail was longer but smaller, where as Ed’s tail fin had a rounder shape and the dorsal fin rose up higher but was shorter.

The fins that replaced their ears twitched and both heads turned to the bathroom doorway and ducked down a second before Gracia entered with Elicia in her arms. “Are we all settled then?”

There was some splashing from the tub, a flailing arm and fin or two before both heads emerged again. “Yes ma’am,” chorused from the tub.

“I’m glad to hear! It’s almost Elicia’s bedtime so I’ll be putting her to sleep in a moment, but if you need anything just give us a holler. Can you say goodnight Elicia?” She said, hefting the baby so she could get a better view of the Mer in the tub.

Elicia looked down at Ed and Winry and let out a squeal, her eyes tracking the glimmering scales. She made a grabby hand towards them before squealing again. “Fishies!”

There was complete silence in the room. Then all pandemonium broke out.

“My darling Elicia just said her first word! Fishies! I couldn’t be prouder! Can you say it again darling?”

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE CALLING A FISH DAMN IT?”

Roy slipped out of the room to the sound of Hughes’ tears and Ed’s seething rage, closing the door behind him.

Moving down the hall he immediately bumped into Riza who blinked back at him. “Is everything alright over there?”

“Trust me you don’t want to know.”

“Hmm. I got a hold of the team; everything is alright on their end. Sergeant Fuery is swinging by my apartment to check on Black Hayate.”

“That’s good.” Roy looked at Riza, really looked. To anyone else she would seem the same, her normal unflappable self, but Roy could see the edge of exhaustion creeping up on her. “Lieutenant – Riza.” Off to an excellent start. She was looking at him expectantly now. “That is – Hughes offered to let us spend the night here if we wanted to. Would you be interested?” There. He got it out.

Riza considered him, reading between the lines. “Is that what you want?” She finally said.                             

“Is it something you would be willing to consider?”

“This isn’t exactly the safety of our own homes,” she said, gesturing to the ongoing noises coming from the guest bathroom.

Roy ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve talked to Hughes about us. Or rather, he talked to me until I told him something.”

“And you didn’t kill him for asking about your love life? I’m shocked.”

“Please, have a little faith in me.”

Riza sighed. “If you’re willing – ”

“I’m always willing.”

She smacked him lightly, and they both smiled. “I mean it. If you’re willing, then so am I.”

“On our own heads be it,” Roy whispered as Riza stepped closer to him. Roy let his hand come up to her chin, gently tilting her face up and pressing their lips together. It didn’t last long as they were forced to jump apart like guilty teenagers when the sounds of shouting got louder as Gracia stepped into the hallway, a giggling baby in her arms.

“I’ll never get Elicia to sleep at this rate,” she said with a sigh, before glancing over and spotting them. “Are you two spending the night?”

Roy glanced at Riza who quirked her lips at him. “I believe so, as long as it doesn’t put you out Gracia.”

“It’s no problem! You know where the guest bedroom is, but if you need to use the master bathroom it’s an en suite.”

“Thank you Gracia,” he says genuinely and smiles when he feels Riza put her hand on the small of his back. “You’ve done more than enough for us today.”

Chapter Text

When Ed finally drifted off to sleep, he was back in the place of his nightmares. The bright unending whiteness stretched out before him, an empty void in every direction except for the intricately carved stone doors he knew to be behind him.

“Welcome back, little fish,” the voices echoed oddly as if multiple people were in the empty space with him. The fuzzy humanoid figure was as ill-defined as the first time he had glimpsed them, their slight frown and cocked head the exact same as Ed remembered. The only differences is that this time Ed was standing on his human feet and the pure white being was no longer pure – they had an arm of flesh hanging from their right shoulder.

Ed sucked in a breath, shaking his head as he met the being’s eyeless gaze. “I’m not here, I can’t be here!” There had to be a mistake, he hadn’t done anything this time. Nothing to bring him back to this empty void. Not like last time.

The being’s frown quirked into a sly grin. “And yet here you are.”

“Why am I here?” Ed said hoarsely, trying to back away on his unsteady human feet, and oh how he hated how vulnerable it made him feel in this body he wasn’t used to being in.

“You tell me little fish,” Truth said, bringing their stolen arm up to scratch their chin. Ed’s eyes tracked the movement, and he felt a flash of anger at the unspoken taunting the being was subjecting him to. “Have you accepted the truth of your situation yet?”

Ed ignored the illuminant figure, taking another unsteady step away from it before his foot met nothing and he tumbled into empty space.

Ed sprung up gasping, water flying wildly as he broke the surface of the tub. He stayed upright for a few minutes, taking in deep breaths and shaking, his good arm gripping at empty space. It wasn’t until he felt movement around him that he unfroze just in time to meet Winry’s eyes as she sat up with a yawn.

“Ed?” She said blearily, “What’s wrong?”

Ed let out a shuddering breath, pressing his forehead into her shoulder. “Nightmare. Nothing new,” he managed to get out without too much tremble seeping back into his sleep.

“Oh,” Winry said, knowing all too well before pulling him into a tight hug. “Do you want to try to get back to sleep?”

Ed considered it for a moment. On the rare occasion he or Winry had a nightmare before, it would be the Al’s job to calm them back to sleep. But Al wasn’t here. And it hurt a lot, but Winry was looking at him with the exact same hurt in her eyes. Ed let out a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”

Winry nodded and gently pulled him back underwater and after a brief bit of struggling and maneuvering in the confined space they managed to curl up in such a way that was reminiscent of their nest back home. And if they had both subconsciously arranged themselves in such a way that a third Mer child would have fit between them neither of them mentioned it.

…

It was morning by the time the sound of gentle knocking woke Ed up. He pushed his head out of the water just enough that his eyes and the tips of his fins were above the surface and squinted at Riza as she poked her head in through the doorway.

“Good morning Ed,” she said as Ed brough this hand up to the edge of the tub. “Gracia has some breakfast ready, we’re going to have to leave soon if the Colonel is to make it to work at a reasonable time. You can let Winry sleep a bit longer if she want’s to.”

Ed stretched and yawned. The porcelain of the tub was unforgiving compared to the much more malleable sand that made up the floor of their nest back home, and he blinked groggily at Riza before responding, “Yeah okay. Let me get dressed.”

“We’ll meet you in the kitchen,” she said before closing the bathroom door again.

Ed felt Winry stirring besides him, and a moment later she joined him with her head out of the water.

Instead of saying anything, Ed let his tail shift into legs and carefully pushed himself into a standing position.

There was a sigh from behind him. ““Promise me you’ll be safe.”

I promise. They won’t even realize I’m poking around.” Ed alchemized the water off of himself and back into the tub. It was probably a good thing his hair was still pulled back in a braid; Ed didn’t want to have to deal with his hair loose and dry.

“I’m still allowed to worry.” Ed glanced back to see Winry tuck her tail under her chin. “Don’t hesitate to make the humans bring you back if something feels wrong. I know you have a decent sense of intuition. I just wish you’d use it more often.”

“I’m not leaving until I get a solid lead on where Al is.” Ed said, turning back away from Winry to pull on his clothes. When he finished pulling on the shirt, he paused to frown at the empty right sleeve. Gingerly, he reached over and touched the scarred tissue underneath the loose fabric. This scar was his burden to bear, a personal reminder, and yet he hated his disability so much right now. It didn’t matter when it was just Al and Winry and Granny who saw him at his weakest, but here on land every single human he came across would look at him and see him as he was at his lowest. Or even worse, they would look at him with pity.

“We could hide it,” Winry’s voice startled Ed out of his thoughts and he turned back towards her. She met his eyes with a firm look. “Don’t pretend it doesn’t bother you to have humans staring at it all the time. I know it does. We could get you one of their long-sleeved shirts, or a coat or something.”

“People will still notice the sleeve is empty, Win. Some humans are dumb, but most of them seem to be pretty observant about things that are different,” Ed said bitterly, hand gripping tightly at his side.

Winry slapped her tail against the water, spraying Ed. “You didn’t let me finish! I wasn’t about to suggest you go out there with a sleeve flopping around. You could freeze it in place, make it look like there was an arm in it. I know you have decent enough precision with your water manipulations when you want to.”

Ed blinked. That could work. He glanced around at the material available in the room. He was already wearing all the clothing that Gracia had provided for him yesterday, and he doubted that the humans would have on hand a jacket or gloves that would fit a completely average sized human-shaped Mer like him on them.

After a brief moment of consideration, Ed turned to the floral shower curtains hanging around the bathtub. There was a waterproof inner part, and a fabric outer part. Red flowers on a white background wasn’t ideal, but if he could just concentrate the dye to part of the fabric…

After wracking his brain for the proper array, one he had never had a reason to use before but remembered seeing in his bastard father’s journals, and a quick transmutation later Ed was holding up a long red jacket. He grinned triumphantly at Winry before dropping the jacket on the tub’s edge, allowing the right sleeve to slip into the water. After a moment he lit up his array and pulled the jacket onto his good arm and across his ruined shoulder.

It didn’t take much concentration to turn the wet fabric into a solid tube of ice that fell slightly more convincingly at his side. Emphasis on the slightly.

Winry frowned at him. “That’s not realistic enough. It’s still pretty obvious there’s not a real arm in there.”

“Well I could always just keep the array active the entire time.” With a thought the array on Ed’s left arm activated again and the frozen sleeve thawed into something much more malleable and he waved it around using the water in the fabric.

There was a snicker from Winry, “At this point you should just give yourself an arm of water and call it a day,” she said as she flopped back into the tub, water threatening to splash out on every side.

“Now that’s not a bad idea!”

Winry shot back up. “I was joking!”

“Well I wasn’t!” Grinning, Ed pulled some of the water out of the tub and into the empty sleeve, until a tendril of fluid hung at his side. He let the fake limb ripple a few times before partially freezing it into three sections, separated by a joint where an elbow and a wrist should be. The block of ice that was to be his hand took a lot more concentration to focus and shape, and Ed ended up holding up his left hand and making a mirror image of it, leaving out any joints in his frozen fingers. It would have to be covered up anyways, and it would be easier to just thaw and freeze them into new shapes should he have to move the hand that way. With a final crackle of alchemic energy, Ed flexed his frozen arm before showing off his handy work to Winry.

“It’s not too cold, right?” she asked, reaching out to prod the frozen limb.

“Of course not,” lied Ed. The ice on his scar felt fine for now, but he wasn’t currently a Mer. This would be a true test of his temperature tolerance in a human body as compared to his original shape. He might have to adjust the design and have a water bracer between his shoulder and the start of the fake limb, but that would require even more concentration to keep the array active. Something to think about later if he intended to use a fake limb often.

Glancing at what was left of the shower curtains Ed took a moment to draw out a second array in water on the white material and drew out a pair of white gloves. He could feel the still active array on his arm stutter a bit as he did the second transmutation but it held firm without breaking the form of his faked arm. Another thing to keep in mind if he ever had to do a more complex transmutation while wearing his ice arm.

It took some effort to get the newly formed glove over his stiff fingers, but when it was done, he held his arms up triumphantly and stuck his tongue out at Winry. “Perfectly human, see? No Mer here!”

Her lips curled into a smile. “You look ridiculous!”

“But do I look human?”

Still grinning she lifted her hand in the so-so gesture, “Ehh.”

Ed smirked back. “That’s all that matters.”

A more serious expression fell over Winry’s face. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Seriously Ed. Just let me know if you’ll need some help.” Winry held up her right hand meaningfully, wiggling her fingers and showing off the scarred array on her palm.

Ed’s smile turned rueful. “It’s nice to know no matter what dumb thing I end up doing, you’ll still be willing to patch me up.”

With a huff, Winry curled in on herself. “It’s not that I want to have to keep patching you up. I’d rather you’d stop hurting yourself in the first place, but I know that’s never gonna happen.”

Ed leaned back over the tub and pressed his forehead briefly to the top of Winry’s still wet hair. “I’ll see you soon enough, and we’ll be one step closer to finding Al then too.”

“I’m holding you to that,” she said, a small smile just barely lurking beneath her annoyed expression.

Grinning confidently, Ed exited the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen, where there was the sound of a quiet conversation going on. Conversation that came to a screeching halt as Ed walked in.

Roy, Riza, and Hughes were all wearing that outfit. The Uniform. The military blue jacket and calvary skirts that Ed felt like he was starting to have a visceral reaction towards. Ed tried to swallow his discomfort as best as he could; the day would be spent around people in these uniforms, he might as well get used to it now. It would help him when he would be trying to recognize faces later.

Steeling himself, he spoke up. “I’m ready. When are we leaving?”

“Edward?” Gracia asked while Hughes spluttered, “Wha – how?”

“You have two arms now? Ow! Hey!” Riza settled back down after smacking Roy in the back of the head. He rubbed the spot gingerly before looking back at Ed, his expression just as confused as the others. Ed barely tried to contain his smugness.

“Normal humans have two arms, and I am pretending to be a human.” Ed bent the stiff appendage before pulling up the edge of his coat to reveal the fake limb. “It’s alchemized ice,” he said, before pulling up the other sleeve to reveal the slightly glowing active array.

“That’s … something else,” Roy breathed, and unreadable expression on his face.

“Whatever,” Ed said, loosing patience with the human’s lack of focus on the truly important task at hand, “Let’s get going, we’ve got places to be and people for me to investigate.”

“Eat something first Edward, then we will leave,” Hughes said, finally getting over his shock.

Ed grumpily sat down at the table but used the opportunity to practice moving his alchemized limb. It wasn’t perfect, the whole thing kept trying to bend at the wrong angle and the movements were a little too slow and jerky to be mistaken as natural. Ed struggled to eat the offered toasted bread, wiping off the sticky sweet red jam that he accidently smeared all over his cheek and ignoring the four humans watching him to instead watch baby Elicia giggling in her highchair.

“Huh. It’s acting almost like automail,” Hughes said.

Ed took a careful sip of the provided glass of water. “What’s automail?”

“A steel prothesis that some humans use when they lose a limb,” Roy said smoothly, “You probably wouldn’t see any out by the Isles, it can seriously impede swimming and there are multiple records of people drowning because of it. It’s fairly common to see inland, however.”

Ed stares at them. “You put things on your body that can prevent you from swimming? What kind of monsters are you?”

“The kind without gills,” Roy said dryly, pushing himself to stand. “If you’re ready, we can get going now. Gracia, thank you as always for being such an incredible host.”

“You lot be careful today, alright? Bring Ed back safely,” Gracia said, standing up.

“Will do,” Hughes said, before swooping in and kissing his mate, no, wife. Ed made a sour face and turned away from the display. Adults were weird sometimes. A moment later Hughes came up for air and clapped his hands together. “Let’s get out of here! Plenty to do today!”

The human adults teamed up to corral Ed towards the front door, and Ed barely managed to turn around and call out to Gracia before being shunted out the door. “Take care of Winry for me!”

He barely could make out the “Will do!” before being ushered out the door and down the stairs.

Hughes cleared his throat. “Alright Ed. The only thing we want you to be doing today is observing. Don’t try to interact with anyone else, unless absolutely necessary.”

“What if I want to question someone?”

“Do you even know the meaning of the word subtly? Roy said snidely and Ed shot him a glare.

“You are wearing bright red,” Hughes pointed out, “Where did you even get that coat?”

Ed sniffed, “I repurposed your shower curtains,” and tried not to feel too victorious at the wrongfooted expression on Hughes’ face nor the laughter Riza was poorly attempting at hiding. If nothing else came from this trip, Ed would at least get to enjoy messing with his humans.

“You’re planning on putting it back, right?” Hughes finally managed.

“Probably,” Ed said with a shrug before they reached Roy’s car.

The drive to Central Command was only fairly harrowing. Roy was driving with Hughes in the front next to him. Riza was sitting in the back next to him. All three were attempting to give him advice on how to stand out less, but for the most part Ed was tuning them out. His attention was instead focused on paying attention to the route they were taking.

After shooting a look towards the front of the car Riza turned a much softer expression towards Ed. “If there’s something you see or have questions about, just ask one of us in a discreet way. That way no one will get suspicious if you lack knowledge on something that is common for humans but unknown to Mer.”

That seemed reasonable. Ed would hate to give himself away just because some stupid human tradition was lost to him. Before he could say anything though, the view out the front windshield distracted him. Ed peered forward at the imposing walls stretching in front of them

“What’s behind those walls?”

“That’s Central Command, the heart of the Amestrian government, and where we work,” Roy said evenly.

Ed wrinkled his nose. “It looks like a fortress.”

“It is. Amestris has been at war almost since its creation as a country. It’s been a while since an actual threat reached Central but civil wars happen here at least once a decade if not more often.” Hughes continued on, mentioning years and places that Ed had never heard of but presumably were the locations of past conflicts the military of Amestris had been involved in.  

Ed frowned as they passed an entrance that led up the walls. It was surrounded completely by a moat, and Ed wondered if it had any tunnels leading into or out of the compound. It might be a useful way to break in; after all, water wasn’t a problem when you had gills.

Roy turned the car away from the compound and into what appeared to be a large building to park cars. The human guarding the entrance smiled as Roy rolled his window down. “Good morning Colonel Mustang,” he said as he waved them through. Ed caught the guard doing a double take to frown at him through the back window. Ed turned away and sunk down in his seat.

Roy pulled the car into an empty spot and parked it. Roy turned around to face Ed. “Just remember, you’re trying to notice everything without being noticed. It shouldn’t be that hard, you’re bellow most people’s line of sight.”

“WHO YOU CALLIN’ SO SMALL THAT EVEN TRAINED GUARDS WON’T NOTICE HIM?” Ed bellowed out on instinct.

Roy looked taken aback before burying his hand in his hair and letting out an exasperated sigh. Through his anger, Ed could just make out Hughes laughing as he and Riza quickly got out of the car, leaving Roy to suffer Ed’s wrath alone. Good call on their part.

After a few calming breaths Roy said, “You are not small Edward; you are a child. There are very few children ever in Central Command. Use that to your advantage. Are you calmed down and ready to go in now?”

Ed sniffed, not really appeased, but willing to drop it for now. After all, if being unnoticed by people would help him get to Alphonse sooner Ed would just have to deal with being seen as small.

“Okay. Let’s go.”