A Beach Trip With Elrics, part 3/6
Title: A Beach Trip With Elrics, part 3/6
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, crack, fluff
Pairing: Hei + Ed
Length: 1646 words
Author: kalikamaxwell
Artist: ketita
Summary: Edward is sent in search of a mad alchemist and encounters the mad alchemist's fishy victims.
Note: Entirely ketita's fault. The original picture was posted here.
Edward woke at a time stuck between very early and very late, just as morning light was tackling the fog and unraveling it. The fire had died overnight and the sand under him was cold and unfriendly, prompting him to sit up away from it and rub his bare arms to warm up. Alfons was awake and watching him, seemingly waiting for him to shake loose of sleep.
“Morning.”
Chirp.
Edward supposed this was a different chirp than the ‘yes’ chirp, but he couldn’t tell the difference. Alfons kindly offered him an unmoving fish: it must have been fished a little while ago.
“No thanks. Not for breakfast. I’d love fish for lunch though.” He looked around blearily: the sun seemed to be doing the same, just peering over the horizon. “I should make myself some sort of shelter for the next few nights and I should… uh… What’s that?”
Something shiny lay in the sand just above the waterline. He moved to pick it up, discovering it was a rusty fork; the most likely explanation was that it had come from the shipwreck forty years ago. The other thing that he needed to do came back to him.
“Hey, Alfons, are there other pieces of metal around?”
It turned out that there was an entire pile of them wedged between large rocks. Winry and Alfons must have made an effort to gather all pieces of wood, metal and other debris that washed up on shore and put them aside, probably to keep the beach safe. It wouldn’t be nice to crawl over a sharp piece of metal hidden in the sand, he thought.
Edward had his pick. He selected enough metal bits for his purpose and set them aside, then stood and went to pick some more of those fruits he’d found the previous day. He came back with three, two for himself and the third for his plan. Alfons was nowhere to be seen now, probably off doing fish people things.
Not long thereafter, he was able to transmute the assembled items into a simple one-way Morse code radio powered by a fruit. He probably could have done something better, but it would have taken more time and he did not feel it was required. He knew help would be sent in the approximate location where he had disappeared: he only meant to help them along by letting them know he was alive and in the vicinity.
He was heading back toward the forest when there was a long whistle behind him. He turned and witnessed an enormous spiraled shell being pushed up on the beach. Enormous was not enough to describe it: it was gigantic, colossal, gargantuan. What kind of creature made a shell bigger than a person? Edward boggled over the question while Alfons strained to get the thing on the beach.
“Uh, what’s that exactly?”
Alfons crawled inside the shell and mimed sleeping.
Edward resisted the urge to slap his palm in his face. “Okay, look, I know I said I wanted shelter, but that’s not what I had in mind…”
Chirp?
“It was very nice of you, really, but I’ll make my own.”
Chirp…
“Come on, don’t make that face.” ‘That face’ referred to a very expressive crestfallen look. Kicked puppies couldn’t even come close to this.
Alfons crawled back into the shell and remained there, very likely sulking.
Edward decided to let it be. Carrying his rudimentary radio, he went in search of a good spot to build a shelter. After some thoughts, he decided against building near the stream of fresh water like Miles had done: he didn’t mind walking and it was a better idea to stay where he would be visible to the rescue ship. In the end, his tiny wooden shelter was erected just above the beach line, where vegetation began to grow. Inside it, he put little: a bed with sand as mattress, a glass container for fresh water and a bench by the window so he could sit with his radio. An awning ensured it would be possible to sit outside during a rainy day.
After debating with himself for a time, Edward raided Miles’ cabin and took away not only the records, but also the man’s clothes. It turned out Miles had been of a size similar to his, longer limbs aside. Edward was able to pick out a set of clothing for himself and turn the rest into multi-colored blankets. It seemed safer than trying to keep a fire going inside a wooden structure. Cooking fires could be made on the beach.
Satisfied he could hold out until rescue came, Edward settled on the bench to study Miles’ records, a pleasant wind streaming in from the open window. He frequently had to look away from the records and gaze at the peaceful sea to allow his mind to clear and his heart to calm. He hadn’t been able to help Nina, but perhaps he could do something for Alfons and Winry. For that, he had to understand everything that had been done.
Splashes interrupted his reading some time later. Looking up, he caught the two chimeras playing in the water, jumping over some waves, ducking under others. They were making high-pitched sounds that couldn’t have been mistaken for anything but sheer delight. It was difficult to think of them as victims while watching them move in the water like they belonged there.
Edward was able to finish reading the documents with no further breaks, though he remained meditative a long time afterwards. His meditation was interrupted when a flying squid came in through the window and latched onto his face in its panic.
There were amused chirps from outside. When Edward was finally able to remove the thing from his face, he hurled it back at the chimeras. “That’s not funny!”
They seemed to think otherwise; Winry looked especially gleeful.
Beside the squid, the chimeras were in possession of a pile of fish that was certainly meant for lunch. Alfons made to throw him one of those too but he raised his hand hastily to stop him.
“I’ll come and get it!” Winry didn’t leave when he came, but neither did she acknowledge his presence, focusing on her own squirmy lunch.
Minutes later, Edward had a small fire going, enough to cook the three fish Alfons had kept for him. He was left to eat alone, the chimeras sliding back into the sea to resume their games. Once done with his meal, he decided he wanted to join them. He stripped to his boxers and threw himself in the cold water to swim over where the chimeras were having so much fun. It was frightening to head into dark waters after nearly drowning during the storm, but it wouldn’t be rational to let that event keep him away. He’d always liked swimming, though he’d never had the chance to swim in an ocean before. The sea was colder and saltier than a lake, and certainly much deeper, but otherwise not that much different.
When he reached the chimeras’ position, he found them both gaping at him. “What? You thought two-legs couldn’t swim? We can’t stay underwater as long as you can, but we swim just fine.”
Winry didn’t flee him this time. Perhaps she thought swimming the mark of civilized people, or perhaps it was curiosity keeping her close enough to observe this strange two-leg swimmer. Either way, she remained with them until he had to excuse himself, his muscles on fire. He was out of shape, certainly because of all the stupid paperwork he had to do.
He was glad he’d thought of keeping fresh water in the cabin; it was much closer than the stream and he was able to collapse on the beach after drinking his fill.
He spent some time trying to draw the island’s shape, wondering if he might later be able to find it on a map, and ended the afternoon fighting sleep on a sun-warmed rock. He smiled at the sky, his eyes closed against the brilliant sun, which today was shielded by no clouds. If he could only have told Alphonse he was safe and sound, he wouldn’t have had a care in the world, he thought distantly, finally falling asleep.
He was disoriented upon waking up; sunset was already painting the sky pink and purple. How long had he slept? No matter, he thought with contentment, stretching and yawning.
Winry was lying on the rock furthest from his; she turned sideways to look at him, a forlorn look on her face, and the next second dived in the water. Alfons wasn’t the only lonely one, it seemed.
His mood thus lowered, Edward told himself he had to find out what, if anything, he could do for the chimeras. He’d never heard of chimeras reproducing and therefore couldn’t be certain chimeras born as chimeras could be turned back to humans. Hell, even the recently turned ones had a very low survival rate when it came to undoing the damage. But he couldn’t leave them like that either, could he? Alfons and Winry were not related by blood but behaved as if they were and Alfons obviously yearned for companionship of another kind, which he would never find in his present state.
They were also in great danger. Here in the sea, they faced sharks and fishermen; in Amestris, they would be at the mercy of alchemists with dubious morals. Experimenting on humans might have been outlawed by parliament but that didn’t mean nobody was doing it in secret.
He fought to make himself forget the statistics and keep himself in an optimistic mood. He had a few days to consider the problem at the very least. The first step was to examine Miles’ records very carefully. He would proceed from there.
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, crack, fluff
Pairing: Hei + Ed
Length: 1646 words
Author: kalikamaxwell
Artist: ketita
Summary: Edward is sent in search of a mad alchemist and encounters the mad alchemist's fishy victims.
Note: Entirely ketita's fault. The original picture was posted here.
Edward woke at a time stuck between very early and very late, just as morning light was tackling the fog and unraveling it. The fire had died overnight and the sand under him was cold and unfriendly, prompting him to sit up away from it and rub his bare arms to warm up. Alfons was awake and watching him, seemingly waiting for him to shake loose of sleep.
“Morning.”
Chirp.
Edward supposed this was a different chirp than the ‘yes’ chirp, but he couldn’t tell the difference. Alfons kindly offered him an unmoving fish: it must have been fished a little while ago.
“No thanks. Not for breakfast. I’d love fish for lunch though.” He looked around blearily: the sun seemed to be doing the same, just peering over the horizon. “I should make myself some sort of shelter for the next few nights and I should… uh… What’s that?”
Something shiny lay in the sand just above the waterline. He moved to pick it up, discovering it was a rusty fork; the most likely explanation was that it had come from the shipwreck forty years ago. The other thing that he needed to do came back to him.
“Hey, Alfons, are there other pieces of metal around?”
It turned out that there was an entire pile of them wedged between large rocks. Winry and Alfons must have made an effort to gather all pieces of wood, metal and other debris that washed up on shore and put them aside, probably to keep the beach safe. It wouldn’t be nice to crawl over a sharp piece of metal hidden in the sand, he thought.
Edward had his pick. He selected enough metal bits for his purpose and set them aside, then stood and went to pick some more of those fruits he’d found the previous day. He came back with three, two for himself and the third for his plan. Alfons was nowhere to be seen now, probably off doing fish people things.
Not long thereafter, he was able to transmute the assembled items into a simple one-way Morse code radio powered by a fruit. He probably could have done something better, but it would have taken more time and he did not feel it was required. He knew help would be sent in the approximate location where he had disappeared: he only meant to help them along by letting them know he was alive and in the vicinity.
He was heading back toward the forest when there was a long whistle behind him. He turned and witnessed an enormous spiraled shell being pushed up on the beach. Enormous was not enough to describe it: it was gigantic, colossal, gargantuan. What kind of creature made a shell bigger than a person? Edward boggled over the question while Alfons strained to get the thing on the beach.
“Uh, what’s that exactly?”
Alfons crawled inside the shell and mimed sleeping.
Edward resisted the urge to slap his palm in his face. “Okay, look, I know I said I wanted shelter, but that’s not what I had in mind…”
Chirp?
“It was very nice of you, really, but I’ll make my own.”
Chirp…
“Come on, don’t make that face.” ‘That face’ referred to a very expressive crestfallen look. Kicked puppies couldn’t even come close to this.
Alfons crawled back into the shell and remained there, very likely sulking.
Edward decided to let it be. Carrying his rudimentary radio, he went in search of a good spot to build a shelter. After some thoughts, he decided against building near the stream of fresh water like Miles had done: he didn’t mind walking and it was a better idea to stay where he would be visible to the rescue ship. In the end, his tiny wooden shelter was erected just above the beach line, where vegetation began to grow. Inside it, he put little: a bed with sand as mattress, a glass container for fresh water and a bench by the window so he could sit with his radio. An awning ensured it would be possible to sit outside during a rainy day.
After debating with himself for a time, Edward raided Miles’ cabin and took away not only the records, but also the man’s clothes. It turned out Miles had been of a size similar to his, longer limbs aside. Edward was able to pick out a set of clothing for himself and turn the rest into multi-colored blankets. It seemed safer than trying to keep a fire going inside a wooden structure. Cooking fires could be made on the beach.
Satisfied he could hold out until rescue came, Edward settled on the bench to study Miles’ records, a pleasant wind streaming in from the open window. He frequently had to look away from the records and gaze at the peaceful sea to allow his mind to clear and his heart to calm. He hadn’t been able to help Nina, but perhaps he could do something for Alfons and Winry. For that, he had to understand everything that had been done.
Splashes interrupted his reading some time later. Looking up, he caught the two chimeras playing in the water, jumping over some waves, ducking under others. They were making high-pitched sounds that couldn’t have been mistaken for anything but sheer delight. It was difficult to think of them as victims while watching them move in the water like they belonged there.
Edward was able to finish reading the documents with no further breaks, though he remained meditative a long time afterwards. His meditation was interrupted when a flying squid came in through the window and latched onto his face in its panic.
There were amused chirps from outside. When Edward was finally able to remove the thing from his face, he hurled it back at the chimeras. “That’s not funny!”
They seemed to think otherwise; Winry looked especially gleeful.
Beside the squid, the chimeras were in possession of a pile of fish that was certainly meant for lunch. Alfons made to throw him one of those too but he raised his hand hastily to stop him.
“I’ll come and get it!” Winry didn’t leave when he came, but neither did she acknowledge his presence, focusing on her own squirmy lunch.
Minutes later, Edward had a small fire going, enough to cook the three fish Alfons had kept for him. He was left to eat alone, the chimeras sliding back into the sea to resume their games. Once done with his meal, he decided he wanted to join them. He stripped to his boxers and threw himself in the cold water to swim over where the chimeras were having so much fun. It was frightening to head into dark waters after nearly drowning during the storm, but it wouldn’t be rational to let that event keep him away. He’d always liked swimming, though he’d never had the chance to swim in an ocean before. The sea was colder and saltier than a lake, and certainly much deeper, but otherwise not that much different.
When he reached the chimeras’ position, he found them both gaping at him. “What? You thought two-legs couldn’t swim? We can’t stay underwater as long as you can, but we swim just fine.”
Winry didn’t flee him this time. Perhaps she thought swimming the mark of civilized people, or perhaps it was curiosity keeping her close enough to observe this strange two-leg swimmer. Either way, she remained with them until he had to excuse himself, his muscles on fire. He was out of shape, certainly because of all the stupid paperwork he had to do.
He was glad he’d thought of keeping fresh water in the cabin; it was much closer than the stream and he was able to collapse on the beach after drinking his fill.
He spent some time trying to draw the island’s shape, wondering if he might later be able to find it on a map, and ended the afternoon fighting sleep on a sun-warmed rock. He smiled at the sky, his eyes closed against the brilliant sun, which today was shielded by no clouds. If he could only have told Alphonse he was safe and sound, he wouldn’t have had a care in the world, he thought distantly, finally falling asleep.
He was disoriented upon waking up; sunset was already painting the sky pink and purple. How long had he slept? No matter, he thought with contentment, stretching and yawning.
Winry was lying on the rock furthest from his; she turned sideways to look at him, a forlorn look on her face, and the next second dived in the water. Alfons wasn’t the only lonely one, it seemed.
His mood thus lowered, Edward told himself he had to find out what, if anything, he could do for the chimeras. He’d never heard of chimeras reproducing and therefore couldn’t be certain chimeras born as chimeras could be turned back to humans. Hell, even the recently turned ones had a very low survival rate when it came to undoing the damage. But he couldn’t leave them like that either, could he? Alfons and Winry were not related by blood but behaved as if they were and Alfons obviously yearned for companionship of another kind, which he would never find in his present state.
They were also in great danger. Here in the sea, they faced sharks and fishermen; in Amestris, they would be at the mercy of alchemists with dubious morals. Experimenting on humans might have been outlawed by parliament but that didn’t mean nobody was doing it in secret.
He fought to make himself forget the statistics and keep himself in an optimistic mood. He had a few days to consider the problem at the very least. The first step was to examine Miles’ records very carefully. He would proceed from there.