The Stars We Could Reach -- Ed + Al (gen)
Title: The Stars We Could Reach
Author: freaky_zero
Rating: PG (for mild swearing)
Pairing: Ed + Al (gen)
WARNINGS: This fic is a prologue (of sorts) to the AU!FMA!RP thread, "Sea and Sky", on Transgressing God's Realm. It contains vocabulary specific to the Alternate Universe that the storyline is set in, most can be found here. This particular fic takes place before the RP thread began, and is Ed and Al centric. Eventually the RP will turn out to be Havoc/Roy/Ed (or applicable variations thereof). If you have any questions, please DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK. Also, unbeta'd.
Together we’ve climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and ABCs
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees
We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the stars we could reach
Were just starfish on the beach
--Seasons in the Sun, Terry Jacks
“Brother! Wait for me!”
Edward muttered under his breath in irritation, and swam through the current a bit more forcefully.
“If you can’t keep up by now, Al, you deserve to be left behind!” He called back, not slowing as he dived deeper, keeping a sharp eye out in the murky depths for jellyfish and eels; for anything, really, that could possibly harm him or his younger sibling.
“Ed!”
His brother sounded exasperated, now, and the older Merkinder couldn’t bring himself to care very much; it was Alphonse’s fault they were even out here to begin with. Spotting a rather large crab drifting along the seabed -half caught in the water’s current-Ed turned to catch it, but was pulled up by a sudden, sharp tug to his tail fin.
Yelping in annoyance and a bit of pain, Edward rounded clumsily on his brother, striking out to punch the younger (and rather bigger) boy in the shoulder.
“Ow! Brother! What was that for?” Al asked, rubbing his arm and turning a wounded gaze to his brother as he maneuvered himself out of arm’s reach.
Ed scowled in response, glancing down to relocate the crab and growling when he spotted nothing but sand below them.
“Like that really hurt,” Ed snorted in disbelief. “And what do you think, Al?! You’re the whole reason that we’re out here! I haven’t had to miss market day in years. And Mom’s really upset with me, because you’re not the one who usually picks fights; you’re just here because she wants us to make up!”
The annoyed Mer turned his back on his brother, swimming down to drift over the sandbar, picking through large patches of kelp to see if his quarry had gotten trapped by the roots somehow. Huffing when he still couldn’t find it, he flicked his tail against the seabed, sending an irritated flurry of sand towards his brother.
“And you made me lose the damn crab! Do you know how long it’s going to take us to find six of them? Especially any nearing that size?” he growled questioningly, pushing away from the ocean shelf to face his brother.
Al winced a bit at the sand, waving it down before it touched him and frowned at his brother. “I didn’t realize you’d spotted a crab, I’m sorry, Ed.”
Edward crossed his arms across his chest, flicking his tail at a continuous pace to keep him bobbing at a slightly higher point than his brother.
“It’s not about the stupid crab and you know it, Al,” he grumbled, scowl deepening. “You know I needed to go to market today. I was going to see what knives and flutes I could sell; maybe a few other things. Now, I have to wait and hope that the bastard doesn’t come back between now and next market day.”
Huffing irritably, Ed shook his head and turned away from his brother again, swimming further out into the ocean, glancing around here and there for the things their mother had told them to bring back for dinner. It would be sunset before they got back to the pod and unless they caught some good currents, Ed would have to make up half of the requested items with fish; a few of the things their mother wanted were scarce this time of the year.
“I need that money to leave, Al. What if he comes back before I can get it?” He glanced over his shoulder towards his younger sibling.
The younger Merkinder looked down, watching the loose sand of the drift through the current closer to the sea floor.
“I just don’t understand why you have to leave, brother,” Alphonse said at length, worrying the bracelet of braided kelp around his wrist.
“We’ve been through this, Al. I can’t stay and wait around until our father decides to come back so he can take and make me into one of the mindless little soldier fish that follow him around,” Ed muttered, flipping over a rather large rock next to another kelp bed and unearthing a crab roughly the same size as the one he’d seen before.
“What’s so wrong with going with Dad, Ed? He just wants to teach you; spend some time with you. At least you’d get to stay with the pod…,” Al said softly, swimming closer with the bag they’d been given to haul their catch home in.
Ed cursed as the crab began to scramble away at Al’s words, shooting forward quickly to snatch the crustacean up-getting his fingers pinched for his efforts-and shoving it into his brother’s bag.
“Maybe, but at what cost? And why is he so set on me, huh? You’re his son too,” Ed growled softly, tying the bag loosely closed. “Look, Al, it’s not like I’m going to be gone forever, just a few years. Long enough to get the old man to open his eyes and realize you want his attention.
“I don’t want whatever life he wants for me, Al,” the Merkinder sighed softly, patting his brother’s shoulder for a second. “The way he looks at me sometimes…it’s like he expects me to be the next savior of the world. And I have to tell you, I don’t want anything to do with that cursed war of his.”
“It’s our war, Ed. The Neri-Na’s, and yours.”
“No,” Ed said, drifting away a bit to pull at a piece of coral. “It’s the Avianite’s war. We just got dragged into it when they decided they wanted to dominate the world.”
“And you think they won’t attack you if they find you? If they find any of us? Do you think they wouldn’t kill any of us without any provocation?”
“I know they would… will, but you can’t say you want to be a part of this stupid war any more than I do, Al,” growled the older sibling, breaking off the piece of coral he’d been toying with and flicking it at his brother.
“Of course not…,” Al sighed. “I want it over just as much as anyone, but you can’t just shirk your duty to the Neri-Nas.”
“My duty is to you and Mom, Al, and Winry and Granny if they need it; Teacher if she couldn’t take care of herself for some reason-no one else.”
“Ed…”
The Merkinder forced a grin at his younger brother.
“C’mon, Al, cut it out. It’s not like I’m never gonna come back. And I’ll always be your big brother,” his grin stretched, genuinely as he paused to swim forward and ruffle his sibling’s hair teasingly. “It’ll work out. The bastard’ll start paying you more attention and so will Winry-admit it, you’ll be thrilled to not have me tagging along any more.”
“Brother! We like having you around!” Al yelped, flushing brightly in the dim ocean depths.
“Of course you do, everyone does!” Ed grinned again, nudging Alphonse in the side with his elbow. “But I know you’ll enjoy getting to spend time with Winry without me hanging around.”
“And…what will you do, Ed?” His brother’s question was soft, his expression serious.
“I’ll…explore. Sell what I need to, when I need food or supplies; to humans, pirates. I’ll see the farthest reaches of Merè’s waters and the strangest creatures found in her depths. I’ll learn. And when all’s said and done, I’ll come back and tell you tales of everything. I’ll carve you replicas of the odd animals or weird things I see and then, as the years pass I’ll do the same for your children.” Ed smiled at his brother. “You can’t say that doesn’t sound like an amazing experience.”
“Pirates?” The younger Mer wrinkled his nose at his brother’s choice of trade partners. “Mom says pirates are just as bad as the Avianites, preying on war crippled settlements…,” he sighed and shook his head, but couldn’t help a small smile. “It does sound like you’d enjoy it. Maybe too much.”
“Never enough to not come back for my baby brother.”
Alphonse gave a real smile then.
“Your baby brother who’s bigger than you are?”
“WHO’RE YOU CALLIN’ SO SMALL HE COULD GET CONFUSED WITH A SARDINE?!” Ed shrieked, pouncing his brother in retaliation, but not without a slight smile.
“I didn’t say that!” the younger sibling laughed, warding off his brother fairly easily, given their respective sizes.
Huffing in mock annoyance, Edward drifted away from his brother after a few minutes, reaching into a cloth pocket strapped to his arm.
“Here,” he said, pulling out a plaited twine necklace attached to a small carved shark and offering it to his brother. “I found a shark’s tooth big enough to work with a few weeks ago. I was just waiting for the right time to give it to you.”
Al took the necklace gingerly, examining the rather detailed charm with a bit of awe.
“You just keep getting better at making things, brother,” he said softly, rubbing the little shark with his thumb and then tying it around his neck. “I’ll always wear it-to remind me of you.”
“Consider it a promise,” Ed offered. “That I’ll come back.”
The younger Mer smiled a bit wistfully. “I’m sorry I kept you away from market day.”
Edward smiled and shrugged.
“It’s all right, Al. I understand. And there’ll be at least one more before he comes. I’ll make it ok. Everything will work out fine. For now we should worry about catching the rest of dinner, so Mom isn’t even more upset with us tonight.”
Ed smirked deviously at his brother and then spun suddenly around, shooting further past him into darker waters.
“Last one to catch a Calliope for dinner has to take barnacle duty for a week!” he shouted back over his shoulder.
Alphonse stared after him for a moment, surprised by his sudden burst of movement, before the taunting spurred him into motion.
“Brother! You cheater! Wait for me!!”
Author: freaky_zero
Rating: PG (for mild swearing)
Pairing: Ed + Al (gen)
WARNINGS: This fic is a prologue (of sorts) to the AU!FMA!RP thread, "Sea and Sky", on Transgressing God's Realm. It contains vocabulary specific to the Alternate Universe that the storyline is set in, most can be found here. This particular fic takes place before the RP thread began, and is Ed and Al centric. Eventually the RP will turn out to be Havoc/Roy/Ed (or applicable variations thereof). If you have any questions, please DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK. Also, unbeta'd.
Together we’ve climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and ABCs
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees
We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the stars we could reach
Were just starfish on the beach
--Seasons in the Sun, Terry Jacks
“Brother! Wait for me!”
Edward muttered under his breath in irritation, and swam through the current a bit more forcefully.
“If you can’t keep up by now, Al, you deserve to be left behind!” He called back, not slowing as he dived deeper, keeping a sharp eye out in the murky depths for jellyfish and eels; for anything, really, that could possibly harm him or his younger sibling.
“Ed!”
His brother sounded exasperated, now, and the older Merkinder couldn’t bring himself to care very much; it was Alphonse’s fault they were even out here to begin with. Spotting a rather large crab drifting along the seabed -half caught in the water’s current-Ed turned to catch it, but was pulled up by a sudden, sharp tug to his tail fin.
Yelping in annoyance and a bit of pain, Edward rounded clumsily on his brother, striking out to punch the younger (and rather bigger) boy in the shoulder.
“Ow! Brother! What was that for?” Al asked, rubbing his arm and turning a wounded gaze to his brother as he maneuvered himself out of arm’s reach.
Ed scowled in response, glancing down to relocate the crab and growling when he spotted nothing but sand below them.
“Like that really hurt,” Ed snorted in disbelief. “And what do you think, Al?! You’re the whole reason that we’re out here! I haven’t had to miss market day in years. And Mom’s really upset with me, because you’re not the one who usually picks fights; you’re just here because she wants us to make up!”
The annoyed Mer turned his back on his brother, swimming down to drift over the sandbar, picking through large patches of kelp to see if his quarry had gotten trapped by the roots somehow. Huffing when he still couldn’t find it, he flicked his tail against the seabed, sending an irritated flurry of sand towards his brother.
“And you made me lose the damn crab! Do you know how long it’s going to take us to find six of them? Especially any nearing that size?” he growled questioningly, pushing away from the ocean shelf to face his brother.
Al winced a bit at the sand, waving it down before it touched him and frowned at his brother. “I didn’t realize you’d spotted a crab, I’m sorry, Ed.”
Edward crossed his arms across his chest, flicking his tail at a continuous pace to keep him bobbing at a slightly higher point than his brother.
“It’s not about the stupid crab and you know it, Al,” he grumbled, scowl deepening. “You know I needed to go to market today. I was going to see what knives and flutes I could sell; maybe a few other things. Now, I have to wait and hope that the bastard doesn’t come back between now and next market day.”
Huffing irritably, Ed shook his head and turned away from his brother again, swimming further out into the ocean, glancing around here and there for the things their mother had told them to bring back for dinner. It would be sunset before they got back to the pod and unless they caught some good currents, Ed would have to make up half of the requested items with fish; a few of the things their mother wanted were scarce this time of the year.
“I need that money to leave, Al. What if he comes back before I can get it?” He glanced over his shoulder towards his younger sibling.
The younger Merkinder looked down, watching the loose sand of the drift through the current closer to the sea floor.
“I just don’t understand why you have to leave, brother,” Alphonse said at length, worrying the bracelet of braided kelp around his wrist.
“We’ve been through this, Al. I can’t stay and wait around until our father decides to come back so he can take and make me into one of the mindless little soldier fish that follow him around,” Ed muttered, flipping over a rather large rock next to another kelp bed and unearthing a crab roughly the same size as the one he’d seen before.
“What’s so wrong with going with Dad, Ed? He just wants to teach you; spend some time with you. At least you’d get to stay with the pod…,” Al said softly, swimming closer with the bag they’d been given to haul their catch home in.
Ed cursed as the crab began to scramble away at Al’s words, shooting forward quickly to snatch the crustacean up-getting his fingers pinched for his efforts-and shoving it into his brother’s bag.
“Maybe, but at what cost? And why is he so set on me, huh? You’re his son too,” Ed growled softly, tying the bag loosely closed. “Look, Al, it’s not like I’m going to be gone forever, just a few years. Long enough to get the old man to open his eyes and realize you want his attention.
“I don’t want whatever life he wants for me, Al,” the Merkinder sighed softly, patting his brother’s shoulder for a second. “The way he looks at me sometimes…it’s like he expects me to be the next savior of the world. And I have to tell you, I don’t want anything to do with that cursed war of his.”
“It’s our war, Ed. The Neri-Na’s, and yours.”
“No,” Ed said, drifting away a bit to pull at a piece of coral. “It’s the Avianite’s war. We just got dragged into it when they decided they wanted to dominate the world.”
“And you think they won’t attack you if they find you? If they find any of us? Do you think they wouldn’t kill any of us without any provocation?”
“I know they would… will, but you can’t say you want to be a part of this stupid war any more than I do, Al,” growled the older sibling, breaking off the piece of coral he’d been toying with and flicking it at his brother.
“Of course not…,” Al sighed. “I want it over just as much as anyone, but you can’t just shirk your duty to the Neri-Nas.”
“My duty is to you and Mom, Al, and Winry and Granny if they need it; Teacher if she couldn’t take care of herself for some reason-no one else.”
“Ed…”
The Merkinder forced a grin at his younger brother.
“C’mon, Al, cut it out. It’s not like I’m never gonna come back. And I’ll always be your big brother,” his grin stretched, genuinely as he paused to swim forward and ruffle his sibling’s hair teasingly. “It’ll work out. The bastard’ll start paying you more attention and so will Winry-admit it, you’ll be thrilled to not have me tagging along any more.”
“Brother! We like having you around!” Al yelped, flushing brightly in the dim ocean depths.
“Of course you do, everyone does!” Ed grinned again, nudging Alphonse in the side with his elbow. “But I know you’ll enjoy getting to spend time with Winry without me hanging around.”
“And…what will you do, Ed?” His brother’s question was soft, his expression serious.
“I’ll…explore. Sell what I need to, when I need food or supplies; to humans, pirates. I’ll see the farthest reaches of Merè’s waters and the strangest creatures found in her depths. I’ll learn. And when all’s said and done, I’ll come back and tell you tales of everything. I’ll carve you replicas of the odd animals or weird things I see and then, as the years pass I’ll do the same for your children.” Ed smiled at his brother. “You can’t say that doesn’t sound like an amazing experience.”
“Pirates?” The younger Mer wrinkled his nose at his brother’s choice of trade partners. “Mom says pirates are just as bad as the Avianites, preying on war crippled settlements…,” he sighed and shook his head, but couldn’t help a small smile. “It does sound like you’d enjoy it. Maybe too much.”
“Never enough to not come back for my baby brother.”
Alphonse gave a real smile then.
“Your baby brother who’s bigger than you are?”
“WHO’RE YOU CALLIN’ SO SMALL HE COULD GET CONFUSED WITH A SARDINE?!” Ed shrieked, pouncing his brother in retaliation, but not without a slight smile.
“I didn’t say that!” the younger sibling laughed, warding off his brother fairly easily, given their respective sizes.
Huffing in mock annoyance, Edward drifted away from his brother after a few minutes, reaching into a cloth pocket strapped to his arm.
“Here,” he said, pulling out a plaited twine necklace attached to a small carved shark and offering it to his brother. “I found a shark’s tooth big enough to work with a few weeks ago. I was just waiting for the right time to give it to you.”
Al took the necklace gingerly, examining the rather detailed charm with a bit of awe.
“You just keep getting better at making things, brother,” he said softly, rubbing the little shark with his thumb and then tying it around his neck. “I’ll always wear it-to remind me of you.”
“Consider it a promise,” Ed offered. “That I’ll come back.”
The younger Mer smiled a bit wistfully. “I’m sorry I kept you away from market day.”
Edward smiled and shrugged.
“It’s all right, Al. I understand. And there’ll be at least one more before he comes. I’ll make it ok. Everything will work out fine. For now we should worry about catching the rest of dinner, so Mom isn’t even more upset with us tonight.”
Ed smirked deviously at his brother and then spun suddenly around, shooting further past him into darker waters.
“Last one to catch a Calliope for dinner has to take barnacle duty for a week!” he shouted back over his shoulder.
Alphonse stared after him for a moment, surprised by his sudden burst of movement, before the taunting spurred him into motion.
“Brother! You cheater! Wait for me!!”