Hey everybody! I'm back with a new chapter!

In this, Luchia starts her first day on land and she sees how exhausting it can be. But it's all worth it in the end when she remembers her first meeting with the boy she had grown to love all those years ago.

All this and more, on text for you all to read! So let's get this started!

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing!

The First Meeting

"I see it! It's coming to me!"

Madame Taki waved her hands around the shining crystal ball in front of her, her eyes closed in deep concentration. She was dressed in her usual fortune teller garb, which was also her regular dress. She wore a floor length dress with a red cloak wrapped around her shoulders. She wore a black bandana with see through material on the back atop her light brown hair.

"The crystal ball speaks to me as clear as day!" She proclaimed, as the woman next to her leaned in closer to take a look.

"Really? Are you sure?" Nikora Nanami was dressed in her usual outfit for the hotel she ran. She wore a yellow polo shirt, a red skirt with an apron tied around her waist and red flat heeled shoes. Her dark purple hair was done in a messy bun leaving two bangs hanging on the side of her head. "And what about the pearl she lost?" She asked, her brown eyes glistened in the light of the ball.

"Hm." Taki hummed as the ball shined before showing them Hippo talking to a seagull on a wall. "It's Hippo. He seems to be gathering information about the pearl with all his might!" She proclaimed, inciting a sweat drop for Nikora.

"Not that!" She said, irritated by the women's prediction. "I meant useful information about it! Not a one-sided conversation with a seagull!" She groaned as she massaged her head with one hand. She stopped when she heard Taki gasp. "What is it?"

"This is…!" She said as the ball now showed Luchia, seemingly staring right into Taki's eyes. "Mermaid Princess Luchia from the North Pacific Ocean! She is now inside the ball." She proclaimed again, ignoring that the woman beside her was slowly losing her patience.

"Madame Taki, Luchia is right out here!" Nikora stated as she opened the door behind her, letting light into the dark room, revealing Luchia looking up at something before she noticed Nikora and the fortune teller right next to her. "What's up with your fortunes lately? If I didn't know any better, I'd say-." She stopped herself and turned to Luchia. "Luchia, what exactly are you looking at?" She asked slowly.

"A camera. It's moving about as well. And it's like the one looking at you." She said innocently and she pointed at something above Nikora's head. Nikora turned her head and she saw a security camera in plain sight, revealed by the light from the hallway.

"Oh don't tell me." She muttered before walked over to the table, missing Taki's nervous smile and lifted up the huge crystal ball to reveal a TV that showed her face.

Even though she had been found out, Taki decided to continue her 'prediction.' "It appears Lady Nikora has appeared." She said with a nervous smile, as she watched Nikora's shoulders shake in growing annoyance. "Her fortune says that she'll get angry right about now!"

"Of course! Why am I not surprised!?" Nikora yelled into the camera, letting Taki get a full view of her enraged face. "That's not a crystal ball at all! It's a security monitor!"

Luchia continued to stare innocently at the scene, as Nikora yelled at Taki, who let out a nervous chuckle.

It was just another average day at The Pearl Piari.

One Minute Later…

"Geez. That was a waste of time." Nikora sighed as she closed the door to the Fortune Teller's room. "I could have gotten some work done instead of that." She said before she turned to Luchia, who had her hands behind her back. "You as well Luchia. You should stop spacing out and help me with the rest of it." She scolded the girl.

Luchia put a finger to her chin and gave an innocent look. "With what Nikora?" She asked.

Nikora sighed. "Oh boy. Remember to call me big sister when we're in human company. We decided this cover when we're in the human world, remember?" She scolded once more while wagging a finger to the girl.

Luchia's eyes brightened. "Oh yeah. That's right, we did." She mumbled.

"Don't forget the rest of it: Hippo is your pet penguin." She reminded before she opened the door to see Taki placing the crystal ball back on the TV. "Pearl Oyster Fairy, Madame Taki is the hotel's fortune telling specialist." She continued, letting the woman notice them and she gave a 'peace sign' with her hand before Nikora closed the door. "Whose fortunes are always wrong." She muttered.

Luchia nodded, remembering everything. "Yeah. Now that you mention it, we did agree to that." She said. She blushed in embarrassment and rubbed the side of her head with one finger. "I guess I sort of forgot about that. I mean, you being my sister is kind of hard to wrap my head around. But I guess you do kind of look the part!" She said with a laugh, not noticing the angry vein on Nikora's head. "Wait, what did you want my help with?" She asked again.

Nikora snapped.

"You slacker! How could you forget about something that important!?" She growled. "You were the one who wanted help out by working at The Pearl Piari while you're searching for your pearl! You got that?"

"Yep! I do!" She nodded with a smile.

"Good. Now… GET TO WORK!" The older mermaid yelled, scaring the poor princess.

"AH! Okay! Okay! I'm going!" The scared girl reassured as she ran away from her angry 'sister'.

Thus, Luchia began her first day of work.

MONTAGE TIME!

And it was a disaster!

Luchia tried her first job of doing the laundry. But when she took a five minute break, she left one of the hotel bedsheets in for too long and when she took it out, it was full of holes and tears!

She then brought out the vacuum cleaner and decided to clean the place. However, she was so caught up in doing so, the lead was coiled around the tables and chairs, dragging them along the floor!

Finally, she was carrying the old bedsheets she had replaced with the new ones and was going to take them down to the laundry room. But she was once again caught up with her current task, she didn't notice a bump on the carpet and she unfortunately took a tumble down the stairs, the old bedsheets unfolding in a huge mess!

It was a horrible first day, and more were right around the corner!

MONTAGE END!

It was soon nightfall and Luchia couldn't be happier that the day was coming to an end.

"Whew! What a day." She sighed as her shoulders dropped in exhaustion. "I'm completely bushed."

"Good job! I have to say, you did alright on your first day, for the most part." Luchia turned to see Nikora smiling at her, only this time, she was dressed in a chef's uniform. "You can rest for today."

"Really?!" Luchia smiled with hope in her eyes.

Nikora smiled and winked. "Hey, your big sister can be nice too you know!" She joked. "Now go on. I'll take care of the rest."

"Yay!" Luchia cheered as she ran up the stairs, towards her room. Nikora smiled and she went back to work.

Luchia's room…

"Yes! Bath time! Bath time!" Luchia cheered as she entered the bathroom. She filled up the bathtub, got herself undressed and stepped into it. As she did, she concentrated and transformed into her mermaid form, her hair changing back to its bright blonde colour with two pigtails, her eyes light blue, her pink seashell bra covering her chest and her pink tailfin sticking out of the end.

She then grabbed a container, turned the handle and soon, bubbles started pouring into the water, while some of them floated in the air. "Ah! Nothing beats a bubble bath!" She said with smile as she finished with the rest of the bubbles and placed the container on the side of the bath.

She leaned back, let out a relaxed sigh and her shoulders dropped. "Ahhhh. This feels so good. I never want to get out of this tub!" She said to herself as she flapped her tail. She always felt more relaxed as a mermaid in water. Whether it be the ocean, a pool or a nice warm bath, she loved to transform into her mermaid form.

"Such a great way to end a stressful day!" She commented as she flapped her tail again.

That's when her relaxation was interrupted.

"Luchia! We have trouble!" Hippo shouted as he opened the door slightly and he hopped in the bathroom. (Seriously, even when there's trouble, you should always respect other people's privacy.)

"PERVERT!" Luchia screamed and she splashed a load of water at him, completely drenching him.

Hippo shook his head, letting drops of water fly off his feathers. "What are you doing!?" He shouted at the angry girl. "I finally got a pure pearl reaction on the radar and came here to report about it right away!" He explained.

"Is that true?" She asked, before she placed her hands together. "Forgive me! So, Hippo, a song for you?" She said, with a little mischief in her voice.

Hippo's eyes widened in fear before he waved his flippers. "NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

But it was too late.

"Listen, my heart will burst open and splash about!"

Now, as you would expect of a mermaid, they would have beautiful singing voices. Ones that are so beautiful, you would want to listen to them sing for hours on end. And don't get the wrong idea, Luchia had a magnificent voice.

But the downside is that if a mermaid doesn't have her pearl, their voice would be so off-key and terrible, that you would want to cover your ears.

And Luchia didn't have her pearl.

So you can guess how bad it sounded when she sang.

In fact, when she sang, she sang so loudly and terribly, that the entire building started to shake due to her loud vocal chords!

Nikora was trying to balance a huge stack of plates she was carrying as she stumbled from Luchia's loud voice.

Madame Taki was trying to get a hold of her real crystal ball as it juggled in her hands. "Good grief, that girl! She can create a sonic wave to deafen her audience!" She said to herself.

Due to the loss of her pearl, Luchia was out of touch with her singing and how to control her volume. But she already knew that.

She just wanted to make Hippo lose his hearing for an hour.

"What were you thinking!?" He scolded the girl, who had just stopped singing. "Mermaids without their pearl have completely NO taste in music!"

"I know!" Luchia smiled. "Maybe that will teach you what happens when you barge in on girl when she's in the bathroom!" She said with a touch of anger in her voice.

"You can be cruel when you want to be, Luchia." He muttered bitterly. "But need I remind you that we came up here to find YOUR pearl?" He asked.

"No, you don't. I heard it from you for about seven times already since we got here." She muttered with a bored look. "You don't have to nag me about it." She then leaned forward, looking down at him. "Besides, can we really trust your Pearl Radar? You've had trouble with it before."

"EXCUSE ME!?" Hippo roared in anger as he held out the radar, to show a blinking dot. "There is nothing wrong with it! This is the first time we've had such a strong reaction! Pearls are the pure elements for mermaids! They are VERY important!" He ranted. "You're lacking the self-awareness that a princess requires!"

'Oh, here he goes again.' Luchia sighed as the penguin lectured her. This was a repeating cycle with Hippo. He would rant and rave about the things she would already know about and he wouldn't shut up. She leaned back and let herself sink into the bath, trying to hide herself and ignore the penguin as much as she could.

But sadly, Hippo had a strong pair of lungs on him.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME LUCHIA!?" He screamed. "DON'T SLEEP IN THE BATHTUB WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

"SHUT UP!" Luchia shouted back. She leaned forward, picked him up by the back of his neck and threw him out of the room. "Nikora! Hippo barged in when I was taking a bath!" She called out to her 'sister'. She quickly closed the door.

"What!?" Nikora roared as her footsteps could be heard, marching up the stairs. She opened the door to Luchia's room and a thump could be heard. "You little peep! How many times have I told you not to enter a woman's bathroom!?"

"OW! I'm sorry!" Hippo cried as he ran away from the angry mermaid, who gave chase.

Meanwhile, Luchia let out a small laugh as she leaned back into the tub. She relaxed again, happy to have peace and quiet once again.

A Few Hours Later… Nikora's room…

Nikora stood beside Hippo as the two looked out to the bedroom window, watching the full moon. This would be a relaxing pastime.

That is, it would be if they were not discussing about some very important matters concerning the Princess of the North Pacific.

"Are sure it's okay?" Hippo asked with concern, looking up at Nikora. "To not tell Luchia the truth of why we're really here, I mean?"

Nikora sighed. "Hippo, you know as well as I do that it's the right thing to do. The sea-world has been having strange occurrences, one after another. This is why her pearl is absolutely necessary." She explained. "I'll tell her when she is ready. I don't want to give her too many things to worry about. She needs to find her Pearl as soon as possible." She closed her eyes and frowned. "Our lives, more importantly hers, are at stake."

Meanwhile… Luchia's room…

Luchia was completely oblivious to the conversation that was taking place. She was tucked safely in her bed, listening to her little windup music box as it played a soft melody. She smiled as the tune reminded her of that night.

That night when she met him.

"My Pearl… I wonder if he still has it." She asked herself before she drifted off into a memory.

Seven Years Ago…

Luchia's curiosity as a seven year old was justified she had always thought to herself. She had never seen the world above like all the other mermaids from her kingdom, so you could understand her wonder and excitement.

Then, one night, she saw her chance and swam to the surface.

She popped her head out from the water and blinked when she noticed huge coloured lights in the night sky. "Wow! What are those? They're so pretty!" She said to herself as more appeared, sounding off with a couple of booms. Below them, and close to Luchia, was a pier and next to it was what appeared to be a festival.

Luchia smiled. "They must be watching the rest of the flowers bloom in the sky!" She assumed.

Since she didn't know what they truly were, she thought they were flowers, when in fact they were fireworks.

Luchia smiled once again before she closed her eyes. This beautiful scene was so enchanting, she felt the strong urge to sing her favourite song.

'Blown by a wind of seven colours'

'I was aiming for the faraway peak of the plateau'

'The melody I heard before the dawn was a nostalgic song'

"Nice song."

Luchia stopped singing as soon as she heard a young voice speaking to her. She turned to see a young, blonde haired boy with gold amber eyes, possibly a year older than her, standing on the edge of the pier. He was looking at her with a smile and with wonder in his eyes.

"You have a really pretty voice." He complimented with a grin.

Luchia blushed and looked down slightly. 'He thought it was pretty!' She thought to herself.

Another firework exploded in the sky, shining at the two and revealing their shadows. The two looked at each other, both mesmerized by one-another.

The boy looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Hey. How come you're in the ocean? Are you a swimming athlete?" He asked the girl, who blushed again.

"Um, I don't know what that is." She mumbled in embarrassment. "And I've kind of always… lived in it." She whispered.

The boy raised both eyebrows this time. "Lived?" He questioned before his eyes widened. "Wait… you don't mean… you're actually?!" He let the sentence hang in the air, hoping the girl would answer him.

Luchia blushed before she decided to stop trying to hide it. She looked back at him with a nervous smile and she showed him her pink tailfin, making his eyes widen.

"Whoa! You're a mermaid!?" He gasped before he grinned again. "That's awesome! I didn't know you guys existed! Or… you girls?" He stopped himself and he scratched his head.

Luchia giggled and let her tail dip back into the water. "Thanks. I've… never actually seen a human before." She admitted with a smile, making the boy blush himself.

"I guess, that makes me the first 8 year old boy to see a mermaid." He said with a grin before the two of them laughed, as the fireworks continued to light the night sky. The boy smiled again. "My names Ed. Edward Elric." He introduced.

Luchia blushed. "I like it." She complimented before smiling herself. "My name is Luchia. Luchia Nanami." She introduced with a small bow of her head.

"That's a pretty name. Just like your voice." He complimented again with a blush, inciting one from Luchia as well. The stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.

That's when it happened.

Screams could be heard from the festival, though they were not screams of joy.

They were screams of terror.

And Luchia soon found out why. Her eyes widened and she pointed at something behind Edward. "Look out!" She screamed to in a fearful voice.

Ed turned around and his eyes widened in fear.

There, right in front of him, closing in on the pier, was a tsunami sized wave!

Ed only had two words to sum up his situation.

"Crap baskets." He squeaked.

'CRASH!' 'SPLASH!'

The wave hit the pier and swept up most of the attractions and Ed along with them. Luckily, no one else was swept away.

But right now, Luchia was more concerned with the boy she had just met who was currently in the midst of drowning! She managed to dive underwater when the wave hit and avoided most of the impact. She looked around and gasped when she spotted Ed, floating down to the sea-floor, completely unconscious. She swam as fast as she could after him, her arms outstretched to catch him.

She finally managed to grab his right arm and she held onto him tightly. She quickly looked up and swam upwards to the surface, hoping to find a safe spot for him to be healed and for her to stay hidden.

A Few Hours Later… Beachfront…

The sun started to rise from the other side of the ocean, making the skies turn from dark blue to a light pinkish/purple colour. Luchia was beside Ed's side, pressing her hands on his chest trying to get him to breath.

"Wake up! Come on, wake up! Please don't die!" She pleaded to the unconscious boy. He wasn't breathing and his eyes were closed shut. Luchia felt her heart clench tightly in her chest. She had just met this boy and he was going to die!

"This is bad! What should I do?" She asked herself, her eyes starting to well up with tears. She suddenly looked down to her necklace that held a seashell locket and she took it off her neck. She held it in her hand and opened it, revealing a small pink pearl inside it. She carefully took it out and slowly placed it on his chest. "Please work." She placed her hands together in a praying motion.

Then, as if to answer her prayers, her pearl shined, a bright aura surrounding it. Then, as quickly as it came, it disappeared. Then, much to Lucia's delight, a miracle happened.

Ed soon let out a grunt before he opened his eyes and sighed. "Worst, swim, of, my life." He moaned in pain before he looked up to see the smiling face of his saviour. "Hi." He greeted lamely.

Luchia smiled and a blush appeared on her face. "Hi." She greeted back, softly.

It was as if time slowed down between the two. The sun finally revealed itself fully, lighting up the beach and the two young children. They both looked at each other, smiles still on their faces.

'That was the first time I fell in love.'

Present Day…

"Brother. Wake up."

Ed grunted when he felt someone nudge him gently. "Huh? Wha?" He mumbled and he looked up to his little brother's armoured face.

"We're here now brother. See?" He pointed out of the train window, prompting Ed to look out.

He smiled at what he saw. He saw the city, large as life as usual, and the crystal clear waters of the ocean. The sun coming up added to the view was a bonus.

"Finally. It's exactly how I remember it." He commented as the train pulled into the station.

Ed grinned. 'We're here Luchia... I'll see you real soon.' He vowed in his mind. The two got up from their seats, grabbed their suitcases and they stepped out of the train. The two handed in their tickets and left the station.

The two looked around, taking in the view of the city, both thinking of their previous visit here. And they had every intention of making this one just as more memorable than the last one.

The Elric brother's vacation had begun.

…

…

I hope you all enjoyed that one!

I know this was a short chapter. I promise to make the next one longer. This was just to show everyone Luchia's meeting with Ed. Pretty much like the anime of the first episode of Mermaid Melody.

Next Time: Ed and Al decide to check out the beach they used to play at when they were kids, where they end up reuniting a girl who is both a stranger and an old friend to them.

Please read and review!

This is Wielder of the Blue Flames, signing off!