For an AU theme post on Tumblr: Mermaid AU

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RoyAi Collection

Chapter 26

Mermaid AU

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Roy looked up from his notes at the setting sun and reached for his pocket watch to verify the time. He had spent another day sitting on the decrepit old dock studying for his certification and it was time to go back to the barracks. He slapped his notebook shut and took in the serene scene before he went back to prepare for another week of mundane military life. The sun was slipping down over the horizon and the reflection on the still waters mocked him; flame danced on the waters, so casually and yet so elusive. It was beautiful to the eye, but in his mind he was trying to understand that power the sun held and harness it for mankind. Maybe then he could master the element he needed to make himself stand out from the other cadets vying for the prestigious title of State Alchemist. Maybe then he could make something of himself.

He heard splashing and wondered if it was the chimera one of his classmates had created to get himself transferred out of the academy and into a lab. It was hardly a chimera, just an unlucky carp and sea bird who Johnson managed to transmute into something that wiggled around long enough to wow a government official. It however, went missing and cadets were spooked by the idea that there was a 'mermaid' loose in the lake. It worked in his favor, he needed somewhere that was quiet to study and now nobody wanted to be anywhere near this lake but him.

The splashing continued and he leaned over the edge of the dock to see if he could perhaps catch a glimpse of this 'chimera' and see how ludicrous it was. It occurred to him that he was probably working too hard to impress these government people, he didn't need a finished product to get into the esteemed alchemy program. He just needed to impress someone enough to make them think he had talent worth developing. Just good enough for the government, that was all it took.

He looked at his reflection in the water and really hoped he would be out of here before winter this year. There was an annual plunge into the almost frozen lake that was mandatory of all cadets for their physical training and he could do without that ever again. He didn't do well with cold and he would be happy to be locked up in a warm lab with nothing but books and reports to write all day. So he had to make progress or freeze his ass off again. There was incentive.

It was at that point he noticed something change in the water below, almost like there was a different set of eyes looking back to him. He reached out to touch the water, curious if it was some kind of optical illusion because of some refraction of light. He reached out and placed his fingers on the water surface and watched the ripples roll away, but something touched him back and his eyes grew as wide as the ones looking back at him.

He scrambled back and knocked his notebook and pencil into the water. Suddenly the horror of what happened was no longer as urgent as the panic from losing two years of work into the lake. He lunged for the notes before they could sink below the surface and came face to face with a startled young blond girl. "What...who are you?!"

She held out his book and waited for him to take it back. "I..."

"I haven't seen you before." Roy said and took his notebook back. "You can't be swimming here if you're not a cadet. This is a private military facility."

"I live here." She replied and swam just far enough away to keep her out of arms reach but still close enough to study the cute young man.

"Oh." Roy said and tried to dry off his notes with his uniform jacket. He really didn't get to interact with many of the families of officers that lived at the base. "I'm Roy."

"Riza." She said and he gave her a smile as he showed her his book.

"Thanks for saving this. I owe you."

"What is so important you spend your weekends working on this here instead of leaving like the other cadets?" She asked and he continued to dry off the pages.

"I'm studying to become a State Alchemist." Roy replied and noticed that sour look on her face. "Not a big fan of alchemists?"

"No." Riza admitted and swam a little closer to him. "My father is one."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Really? I didn't realize there were any practicing alchemists here, only aspiring."

"His research didn't go as planned so he doesn't really come out of hiding anymore." She explained and realized she was getting too personal too quickly. "It's getting late, I should go."

Roy watched her begin to slip below the surface again, clearly intending to swim back home instead of walk back to with him. "Wait. You asked why I spend my weekends here. So, you've been here with me before?"

Riza sank into the water up to her chin and knew she shouldn't tell him much more, but she really wanted someone to talk to. "Yes. I guess you can say I'm shy."

"Maybe next weekend you'll come over before I have to show up for roll call?" Roy asked with a smile.

"You should study. I thought that's why you were here."

"I could use a break." He countered. "Someone to share my lunch with too."

"Roy, you're nice but..." She looked away and he leaned over the dock to get closer to her.

"What are you afraid of? If you're afraid of your Dad finding out, who is going to tell him? This entire camp is afraid of this lake because they think mermaids are real." Roy gave her a smile. "We already have something in common."

"You're a mermaid?" Riza asked curiously.

"No." He grinned. Finally he was going to be able to tell Hughes, 'Yes, you dick. I did spend some time with a girl this weekend.' "We're not afraid of some ridiculous rumors."

Riza sighed. Then lifted her fin out of the water in front of his face and said, "They're not rumors."

"Roy!" Maes Hughes threw his bag on his cot and sat down on his friend's bed. He nudged him and said, "You would not believe the girl I met this weekend!"

Roy was laying on his cot and just staring at his book without reading a word. He doubted Hughes found a woman more unbelievable than Riza. "Oh?"

"She's just so cute." Maes squealed. "I took her to that carnival and we got our picture taken in that photo booth thing..."

Roy glanced up and looked at the picture. He had no choice as it was flopping against his nose as Maes shoved it in his face. He leaned back and looked at the girl and grunted. "She's one of my Mom's girls. You pretty much just got the basic escort package, she probably just wanted a free meal."

"Again?" Maes pulled the picture back and looked at her again. "This wouldn't happen so much if you would come with me on weekends. You're never going to meet a girl."

"I met one this weekend."

"Here?" Hughes asked and then leaned over his friend and whispered, "A cadet?"

Roy shook his head. "No, a chimera. Apparently I met the mermaid everyone is afraid of."

Hughes frowned. "God Roy, tell me you didn't make some weird sex doll with alchemy. I mean..those blow up ones are ridiculous and I'm sure with some basic knowledge of anatomy you can make something more lifelike...but fish? You have to watch for small bones..."

Roy finally sat up and shoved Hughes away from him. "No, she's real. Her Dad turned her into a mermaid. Apparently the reason I could never find the Flame Alchemist was because he turned himself into a fish chimera after teaching the wrong apprentice Flame Alchemy. Something about mistakes and it no longer being safe on land because of his work..."

"Alchemists." Maes shook his head. They were a odd breed. "You're all so paranoid and dramatic."

"This isn't a joke. Berthold Hawkeye is an incredible alchemist if he can master Flame alchemy and also create a chimera. It's no wonder he's hiding in the lake. Even without being paranoid and fatalistic about his work, the military would have never let him just leave. However his daughter doesn't deserve to live her life there and I'm going to help her get out."

"Oh? You going to make her an aquarium?"

"Stop it Maes, I'm serious." Roy snapped.

"Oh, it's serious." Maes dropped the mocking tone for a split second before smirking and adding. "So...when you guys have kids does that mean you're going to be the one pregnant? Like a seahorse?"

Roy slapped his notebook down and crossed his arms. How in the hell did this guy become his best friend?

"Get it?" Maes poked him. "Mustang...sea horse?"

"I got it. It just wasn't funny."

Maes slapped his leg. "You could get a catfish as a pet!"

"This isn't funny. This girl's father turned her into a damned fish and she's spent the last few years living in that lake with nobody but him." Roy kicked Maes to try and get him off his bed and picked up his notebook again. "I'm going to help her."

"Ok!" Maes held up his hands in a universal signal of surrender. "What can I do to help?"

"I...don't know." Roy flopped back onto the bed and ran his hand through his hair. "I can't even fathom how Hawkeye did it."

"That is pretty fucked up, turning your daughter into a fish." Maes nodded in agreement and realized Roy was talking about not understanding the alchemy.

"Even if I could figure out how he did it...I would never take the risk with her life to try and turn her back into full human." He rubbed his eyes and finally voiced the doubt that was lingering in his head the past year. His alchemy studies weren't enough to get the slightest bit of attention from his superiors. He was outclassed and just ordinary as far as the military was concerned. He just wasn't good enough and maybe it was time to just invest fully in being an officer. It was what he was here for. "I'm not even a real alchemist. I can't do more than simple parlor tricks and recite basic chemical jargon. It would take years before I could even comprehend what he did and I may never be good enough to perform a transmutation of that scale."

"Do you want to be the Mermaid Alchemist?" Maes asked and watched his buddy's sad little puppy dog eyes open up and look at him. He was really struggling with this and it was the first he had heard Roy even hint that he was thinking of giving up.

"No." Roy frowned. God, that really could be a thing.

"Then make her Dad fix her." Maes said simply. "He clearly knows how to make mermaids already."

Roy sat up and mulled that over. He had a point. "He's trying to hide her away from the world, I doubt he's going to change her back into a girl just because I demand it."

"Well, then go back to the Lady of the Lake and ask her what it would take to make her father change his mind." Maes winked. "Wield Excalibur and become King, make Merlin bow before you and serve you."

Roy cocked an eyebrow. "What did you do with your 'date' this weekend? Did she con you into taking her to a play?"

Maes pouted. "It was a great date. I really thought we had something."

"You had money." Roy patted his shoulder. "You also have a really damned good idea."

Riza was skeptical about Roy's promise to help her and she spent the week regretting telling him as much as she did. She didn't even hesitate to tell him her secrets and she wondered if she was really that miserable that she would prefer confiding in the wrong person. Someone, like her father's last apprentice, who used his knowledge to create a horrible weapon. If she was wrong about him, there was a possibility she'd end up in some lab. That was, if anyone believed him. She was desperate and could say that any change would be better than this life.

It was a long week, he could only get away from the barracks when he had a weekend and she spent most of that week worrying about everything. Did she have the right to make a decision for her father as well? Did he deserve that when he never gave her a choice? She tried to talk with him but he was still so unapproachable, spending his time in his underwater study scratching out notes in the cliff side with rocks like he used to with pen and ink in his study in their house. She never thought she'd miss their house. She never thought she'd miss her life. She was always shy and never had many friends and she hated that she was responsible for their household when she should have had a carefree childhood. Whatever that life was, it still was better than this existence as some hybrid monster in a tiny lake. This wasn't living.

Finally Riza heard slapping on the water and someone calling her name. She was as cautious as she could be, making sure there weren't cadets on the shoreline with nets or harpoons, and she wanted to mock herself for the thought. She really didn't even how what kind of threat she should worry about in her current form. She swam back to the pier and emerged from the waters to look at the boy she had trusted and asked to save her. His smile made her worries fade away.

"Riza!" Roy laid on the worn wood of the pier to get closer to her. "I have a plan."

"So soon?" She asked. She just wanted to find out that he hadn't betrayed her, but this was even better news.

"Well, I can't change you back." Roy watched her expression change and immediately reached out to her to try to reassure her. "Don't worry, I know someone who can."

Riza watched him caress her hand to try to comfort her. "Roy, I took a huge chance even telling you."

"Your father." He said and her eyes darted up to him and he saw then how scared she must be of the man. It gave him the confidence in his plan that he needed. "Your father changed you into this, so he knows how to change you back."

"He will never..." Riza felt the reassuring squeeze and couldn't pry her eyes from his face.

"You said that he did this to take you away from a world where Flame Alchemy was a weapon. You said he was terrified of the destruction his work could create, right?"

"Yes." She replied.

"Well then I'm going to show him that he's not safe in the water either." Roy grinned.

"So explain to me again why I agreed to go buy you a car that doesn't run?" Maes looked at the amount of combustible material Roy was jamming into the car he bought. "Because it really looks like you're planning to set it on fire...on a restricted area on a military base. I know you hate the cold water plunge, but getting court-martialed is a bit extreme..."

Roy bit his lip. "Well, if we're lucky nobody will be looking this way when it actually starts burning. However once it does, I plan on sending it to the bottom of the cove so I doubt anyone is going to investigate. I mean...there is weird stuff going on here all the time."

"Like my best friend dating a mermaid?" Maes asked.

"Don't judge me when you're dating a hooker." Roy countered. "And this is going to be spectatcular. One of those things you can wow a real woman with when you figure out how to date one."

"Doubtful." Maes mumbled. He lifted up his neat steam punk goggles and put them on. "At least you bought me something cool."

"I don't want to blind you." Roy finished up his work. "Ok. Here is what is going to happen. The engine block is magnesium and it burns hot, very bright and reacts to water. The hard part is getting the magnesium to burn as it requires its entire surface area heated in order to ignite. I think I fixed that by borrowing a few things from the arsenal..."

"Oh my god, we're going to prison." Maes mumbled.

"No, we're not. The evidence will be burned up." Roy said and showed him the transmutation circle on the ground. Once we get this fire started, I'll use this transmutation circle to lift the ground up and allow the car to roll into the..."

"Roll? Won't the tires and rims burn?" Maes asked.

"Shit." Roy shrugged. "Never mind, I'll just dump it in there if need be. The circle will allow me to move the earth however I want. Once the engine block hits the water, the magnesium will react to the oxygen in the water and burn hotter."

"So you're going to scare her father into changing themselves back into humans because you have underwater fire." Maes shrugged. "This is really elaborate, you might want to consider just paying for your dates. I have a girls number..."

"Maes. This is going to be more violent and awful than anything that man thinks he made with simple flame on land. The reaction is intense. Hell, even the hydrogen in the water becomes explosive gas and contributes to the process. It's amazing." Roy said cheerfully and saw Maes's look of concern. "We won't get caught."

"You're setting the lake on fire." Maes said and shrugged. "I guess that's one way to impress the alchemy program recruiters. I hope it impresses the girl."

"And it indeed impressed the girl." Maes said and dabbed at the tears streaming from his eyes. "And I am so happy that the new Mrs. Mustang is not a fish because...Roy swims like a panicked dog and there is no way he would have made it upstream to spawn. That is how this beautiful couple came together four years ago and I..am so happy for them. So happy that we finally graduated and Roy got himself a wife."

Riza leaned over to whisper in her new husband's ear. "So, he's working for military intelligence now?"

Roy was leaning on the banquet table, holding his hand over his eyes as Maes gave his best man's speech. "Yes."

"Where they entrust him with secrets." Riza said playfully as she watched some of the guests whisper amongst each other.

"Yes." Roy mumbled.

Riza ran her hand over his and took it away from his gorgeous face. Four year ago he managed to scare her father out of that lake and back to civilization. Her father was impressed with his skill and even more impressed with his motives, so he agreed to accept him as his new apprentice. Roy was reluctant, he didn't want to see her back in her father's care but she really was a long way from being able to feel comfortable in society again. He agreed to become her father's student but he also demanded to be her teacher. He wanted to show her the life she had missed out on and show her what advances she had missed. He showed her what it was like to live and eventually love. "Did he really make that sea horse joke?"

Roy cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her. "I'm surprised he didn't try and stuff my pillow under my shirt and tell me to practice carrying my offspring."

She smiled and leaned her forehead against his. "It is quite the story."

"You're quite a woman." He replied and placed a tender kiss on her lips. "Thanks for believing in me."

She looked into his warm eyes and realized that maybe they had somehow managed to save each other. The alchemist who was ready to give up on himself and the girl who was trapped in a cold lonely world without escape. "Let's dance. I'm tired of hearing about the past, let's leave it behind us and enjoy our future."