A/N: Hello all! (Those few of you who read this at least!) I can't believe how fast I finished writing this. Once I got my inspiration back halfway through chapter two I've just been unstoppable with this. I hope it lasts a while!

I have a pic of Mer-Ed (when he's older though...) and you can see it in case you have trouble following my descriptions, though a friend assured me they were easy to follow... Here's the link; just remove the brackets: http(:/)/fantomodrako(.)deviantART(.)com(/)gallery(/)?offset=24#/d2r01jj

To anon reviewer S – That's okay, I don't blame you for keeping your email a secret. I used to do it before I got an account. Why was he there? Yes, he got bad directions. Let's just say he was running (swimming?) an errand. Why is a secret! ;) (Well, not really...you'll probably find out why sooner or later.) This isn't really based on any specific FMA-verse. I own the first anime, two discs of Brotherhood (one of which I haven't watched yet) and have read up to chapter 106 of the manga. There won't be anything in here that's really specific to one or the other, so don't worry about that.

This still isn't beta'd, so the offer is out there if anyone wants to... Although the fact that you could find no mistakes was heartening, S. :3 I'm glad you're enjoying it and I hope you like this chapter just as much!

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, but I own my version of Mer-Ed. Please don't steal, okay? If you wanna use my version of Mer-Ed then please ask. Same with any merfolk in this, original or otherwise.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Chapter Three: Down Where it's Wetter

Tall spires of carved rock, festooned with luminous coral and lichen, decorated the city at the ocean floor, giving light to a place the sun did not reach. To Edward, the glow paled in comparison to the blazing orb he had seen in the sky above the surface. The splendour would never be the same to him anymore and he found himself already missing the lighter water and the gentle breeze of fresh air ruffling his blond bangs.

He had only been back for a couple of minutes.

Ed sighed heavily, absently scratched at his bandage and slowly swam for the healer's dwelling. While he truly appreciated Al's efforts and the bandage was doing a fine job, the seaweed bandages all merfolk used made injuries heal quicker than normal. Ed wasn't quite sure how it worked, though the seaweed's accelerated healing power was only effective with merfolk. He needed to get the cut seen to anyway as he had torn it on coral.

Ed laid the fins on his arms, shoulders and sides flat. He had no need of them anymore and they would only get in the way inside the healer's place. He lightly pulled on a woven seaweed rope that hung down from a small hole in the front wall near the doorway. A light tinkling reached his ears, which Edward knew was made by a chime of coloured crystals attached to the end of the rope. The door itself was a hanging screen of seaweed and fronds, just thick enough that you couldn't see inside.

"Coming!" a female voice said brightly. A few moments later the screen was pulled aside to reveal a mermaid of around thirty years.

She had short, boyish, light brown hair that stuck out at odd angles and fell forward over her blue eyes. Her tail was pastel green with one light blue stripe that ran the whole length down both sides; her fin membranes were the same shade of blue. Her fin spines were half pastel green, half forest green and she wore a tube top of the same forest green shade.

"Oh, hello Edward," she said cheerfully with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Hi Millie. This brings me here," he said sheepishly, giving her a small wave with his bandaged left hand.

Millie peered suspiciously at the white cloth and held the screen open, gesturing for Ed to go inside. He did so quickly, suddenly anxious about what she would say and ask. He had no desire to reveal the fact that he had been at the surface – especially near land. By doing so, he had broken the merfolk's golden rule.

He sat down on a specially carved shelf of rock reserved for Millie's patients and tried very hard not to look guilty. He must have succeeded, at least partially, for she didn't look angry or reproachful as she grabbed a glass bottle from her carved stone cupboard and swam over to him.

Millie carefully took out the cork stopper and held her hand over the top of the bottle. She pulled her hand across it and immediately balled it into a fist and stuck the cork back in. She put the bottle down and held out her hand.

"You need to uncover your hand," Millie said with a meaningful nod at the bandage.

"Oh, right, sorry," Edward said, quickly unwrapping Al's handiwork. He held the bandage in his other hand, not willing to let it go for a reason he didn't understand.

Millie gently took his hand in her own free one and examined it closely. "This wound is jagged and slightly swollen. Did you cut this on a rock or coral?" she asked, her voice sounding professional but concerned.

"Coral," Edward admitted. "I cleaned it shortly after so it shouldn't be too bad...right?" His golden eyes flicked upwards to meet hers.

"How long has it been since you were injured?"

Ed frowned, wondering exactly how much he could tell her without giving anything away. "A few hours I guess. I accidentally ran into a current I didn't know was there. The guy I asked directions from didn't warn me of it either," he said somewhat sourly. "I made my way back as soon as I could."

Millie clucked her tongue. "And how many hours is a few to you, young Edward?"

"I don't know...a few? Less than ten," he said quickly, quailing a little under her reprimanding gaze.

"Hmm..."

To Ed, Millie didn't look angry, but didn't she look happy either. She wiped her clenched hand over his outstretched one, smearing the contents over the cut. It stung badly, making Ed hiss. It felt like Al was disinfecting the gash again, though using something three times as strong.

She gently forced his fingers to curl over the wound, keeping the salve from dissipating into the water completely. With one deft movement she grabbed a seaweed bandage from a nearby shelf and neatly covered his hand, tying it off with enough care that Ed hardly felt it.

Millie suddenly smiled at him. "There. I want you to come and see me after you get a good night's sleep. But if your hand starts hurting at all, I want you to come and see me straight away, no matter what time it is. Do you understand?"

Ed nodded. "Thanks," he said gratefully.

"You're free to go. Stay out of trouble now, you hear me?" Millie said with a stern glare that held no real fire. She swam over to the door and held the screen open for him.

"Yes ma'am!" Ed said with a grin, giving her a merfolk salute. His left hand was just underneath his chin and the middle finger was curled into his palm, though his other fingers were straight, resting under his right cheek. His thumb was pointing at his left cheek and the four spines along his arm were unfolded, the fin on complete display over his chest.

Millie's smile widened and she playfully shooed him out, watching until his tailfin whipped out of sight.

Once he could no longer see the healer's place, Ed slowed down as much as he could without actually stopping. It was incredibly hard to swim so slowly but Ed was dreading going home. He could see his mother yelling herself hoarse; hear her voice deafening his sensitive ears. He would be lucky if she simply grounded him and set him to work on a bunch of chores. Ed knew that he would never get off so lightly. She would wallop him and Ed could only hope that she didn't break anything in her anger. She usually didn't, but the bruises...

Edward wondered, not for the first time, what his real parents were like. Ed was an orphan, found drifting along, caught in a gentle current that wound its way near and around the large underwater city. He hadn't even been a year old – barely six months – when a woman named Izumi Curtis had found him drifting along, crying quietly while the current dragged him onwards in its grip.

She had easily plucked his tiny body from the sluggish current. Izumi had lost her own child after birth a few years before and decided to take this second chance fate had granted her. She had raised Edward as if he were her own, her husband just as delighted and mystified by his appearance as she was.

Last year, however, Edward had asked her a question that had been plaguing him for a while. All the other children had inherited their parent's colours, but Ed, whose colours were unusually vivid, looked nothing like the mainly dull colours of either Curtis. Izumi had then told him the truth, at least as far as her knowledge went. No one had any idea of Ed's past before he was found or who his parents might be.

Despite the revelation, Ed still loved Izumi and her husband like they were his real parents. He had never known anything else. Izumi was also his alchemy teacher, though she taught him hand-to-hand combat as well. Ed was quite adept at both and his adoptive mother was very proud.

When she hit, it hurt. A lot. No matter how well he progressed in his training, he was never able to dodge her without swimming away unscathed. While his mind was preoccupied, his body had still been moving toward his house. He was jerked abruptly out of his thoughts when he realised he was floating in front of his door.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath, balling the bandage up at tight as he could inside his fist to hide it.

"EDWARD CURTIS!" a female voice thundered from inside.

Ed flinched, bracing himself as he ducked to one side. He wasn't quick enough. A fist, moving impossibly fast, seemed to materialize in front of Ed's face. He only had enough time to close his eyes before the fist connected with his right cheek, the strength of the punch hurling him backwards almost ten feet. He flailed to a stop, sending bubbles everywhere, and held a hand to his now throbbing cheek, discretely checking if anything was broken.

Izumi swam up to the cringing merboy and loomed over him. He couldn't meet her stern glare and the grim line her mouth had become, choosing instead to observe the rocky floor below his tailfin.

"And just where have you been?" she asked in a low, dangerous tone.

"I...got lost," Ed mumbled, just managing to make it sound like a statement and not a question.

"Lost," she parroted, sounding unconvinced.

"Yeah, I even stopped to ask for directions and everything! But the guy I asked never warned me about the stupid current and it...took me a while...to break free of it," Ed said loudly, becoming a little hesitant near the end of his explanation. He hoped his mother would interpret his hesitance as reluctance to admit that he wasn't strong enough to break free of the current right away.

Izumi hummed under her breath. "Alright, but tell me when you're going next time. You got that, brat?"

"Got it," Ed said. She moved out of his way and he swam to his room as swiftly as he dared without seeming rude. Sig, Edward's adoptive father, wasn't home. The young merboy figured Sig must be at work and wished he wasn't. His dad was often a buffer between his mother's temper and Ed's body.

He let the screen of fronds that served as his door fall into place behind him. He perched lightly on the side of his bed. Edward couldn't believe his luck – his mother hadn't noticed the bandage still clutched in his right hand. If she had, she had given no indication. Ed gazed at it for several seconds before gently stuffing the slightly bloody gauze and bandage into a hidden crevice at the foot of his bed.

The bed itself was nothing more than a large slab of rock covered with all manner of soft, springy plants, with a woven screen, much like his door only thicker, laying folded to use when it got cold.

With a powerful flick of his tail Ed flipped himself over and let himself float down until he was lying face down on his bed. He crossed his arms, forming a sort of pillow, and laid his head down, releasing a sigh. Ed let his mind wander back to the beach he had washed up on.

He knew the way back to the beach. The question was would he be allowed to go the same direction again? His mother had said to tell her if he was going somewhere. Of course, whether or not she tried to follow him was a different matter entirely... Ed wouldn't put it past her to see if he was up to something. How far would she follow him? Would she follow him? He was sure she would try at least.

'Perhaps I should wait a while before I try to go back?' he pondered silently. He stared ahead at the wall, not really seeing it. 'Will Alphonse still be there when I do make it back? Will he still be the same?'

Ed frowned at that thought. There was no way that nice, friendly little human would turn evil like the stories painted his kind. Was there?

The next day started off a lot differently than Ed was used to. The routine was the same, but the sense of normalcy seemed to drag at him. Now that he had seen another world, life underwater had lost some of its charm. Ed tried not to let it get to him.

Just after lunch the young merboy went back to see Millie. The cut was almost half healed already. She changed his bandage and told him to keep it on for two more days, just to be safe.

The rest of the day passed slowly, the boredom clawing at him until it was time for his alchemy lesson. Alchemy always cheered him up.

A few days later, having yet to successfully 'sneak' away, Ed was becoming slightly stir-crazy.

Al was faring little better. He had told Winry Rockbell, his best friend, and she had laughed at him, calling him more of a girl than she was. Al had showed her the beautiful ruby-like scale Ed had given him. Winry believed he got it from a fish. She had never seen a fish with such scales, true, but what else could it be?

Al had sulked for a couple days after that.

By unspoken consent, neither spoke of it anymore. Still, a week after Al had waved goodbye to Ed, he had managed to drag her down to the beach with him.

"What are we here for again?" Winry asked, slightly exasperated.

Al resisted the urge to roll his eyes and patiently told her the same false reason for being here that he had half an hour ago. "I want to get one of those big shells you can hear the ocean in for Mother."

Winry's annoyed gaze softened as she stared at Al's back. "Okay, I'll help you find the biggest one on the beach!" she said cheerfully.

Al nodded at her in thanks and the two set about combing the beach for the perfect shell. Every now and then, when he was sure Winry wasn't looking, Al glanced out at the expanse of water that stretched as far as the eye could see. His eyes scanned the horizon for a waving hand or a flash of a fin.

He turned his attention back to the sand and saw a reasonably sized shell. He picked it up, just in case they never found anything larger. Despite the fact that searching for a shell was an excuse, Alphonse really did want to get his mother one. He knew she missed strolling along the beach with him and wanted to take a piece of the beach back for her to keep until she was well enough to come here with him again.

Al knew his encounter with Ed wasn't a dream. The red scale was safely inside a wrapped up matchbox sitting in one of his pockets. He sighed, going back to his search.

SPLAT!

A wadded up piece of seaweed suddenly smacked Al in the head, just behind his ear. He whirled around to face Winry, angry and confused. The accusation died on his lips when he noticed that she was staring at him in confusion mixed with a tinge of fear. Another ball of seaweed hit its mark, smacking into the dry side of his head.

The two bewildered humans heard laughing and turned as one.

There, floating about fifty feet from shore, was Edward, another seaweed missile already in hand.

A/N: I know, I'm evil, aren't I? Cliff-hangers are fun to write! I honestly don't believe how fast I wrote this... (Wrote, not posted!) The chapters are kind of short though...maybe that's why. I usually average at least 3,000-7,000 words a chapter on most of my other stories. Do you think I should make these chapters longer? They are around 2,500-2,800 words at the moment... Hmm.

No Esperanto translations for this chapter. It's easier (for me and any readers) to just write Ed and any other merfolk speaking normally (as in English) while conversing with themselves and each other.

PICTURES! Just remove the brackets.

I have a pic of Millie: http(:/)/fantomodrako(.)deviantART(.)com/art(/)Millie-276996841

And another of Ed, this time as he appears now – a child: http(:/)/fantomodrako(.)deviantART(.)com/art(/)Little-Mer-Ed-276997642

I hope you liked this chapter and the glimpse into Ed's world below the surface! Let me know what you think and if there's anything I can improve upon. Honest constructive feedback is always much appreciated!