#I'm editing to add that tag bc I've just realised I forgot to add it lmfao

[cuchufletapl]

seaweed

For Edling Week 2022. Day 5: Myth | Heartache | Summer

AO3

The shocking thing wasn’t that he had apparently been kidnapped (rescued?) by a creature that was half-human, half-fish.

Ed had met his fair share of human chimeras. Once you had seen a guy turn his head into a bull’s, there wasn’t much else left that could surprise you.

However, they had been the result of alchemy, of experiments that, while breaking every possible ethical boundary, used the rules of chemistry that Ed understood and utilised as well as he knew how to speak. Even though he would never replicate it, he understood the theory to do it.

As this—boy?—had noticed that he couldn’t breathe, instead of bringing him back up to the surface, he had just slotted his mouth against Ed’s and a burst of air had expanded into his lungs. His chest felt like a bubble. He hadn’t needed to breathe after that.

It defied everything he knew about physics—he should have been dead ten minutes ago. And yet here he was, tied to a rock on an undersea mountain, perfectly alive.

“What the hell kind of chimera are you,” he finally said, underwater, his voice sounding exactly the same as it did on the surface.

What the fuck, what the ever-loving fuck.

“Hey! That’s not very nice,” the fish-guy pouted.

He spoke in something. It wasn’t Amestrian, or Cretan, or any other language that he knew. It wasn’t Xingese, definitely, which would have made sense geographically given that Ed had fallen out of the ship when it was getting near the Xingese coast. He hadn’t ever heard whatever he spoke, and yet he understood it—and even though it was impossible, Ed’s intuition told him that it had something to do with the breathing transfusion.

“I don’t know what a chimera is,” fish-guy continued. “I’m a merman.”

Ed frowned. What? “A chimera is the result of the transmutation of two or more animals into the same creature using alchemy. Or alkahestry, I guess,” he explained. “Which, yes, you are a chimera, you’re literally half-fish. Call it a merman, call it a triton, it’s still what it is.”

Fish-guy’s eyes shone with interest now. He swam slightly away, putting more distance between them, as if to showcase his body better. They weren’t that deep into the sea, but it was dim enough that the little light filtered through water gleaned on his large, yellow tail and made it the brightest thing Ed could see.

“I was just born like this, like all my ancestors before me,” he said jovially, as if he wasn’t taking a wrecking ball to Ed’s worldview. “But I knew there was something powerful to human magic if you’re able to do that. And that,” he started as he swam closer again, leaning his torso forward, “is what I need you for, my dear friend.”

“I’m not your friend,” Ed spat. He tested the green, seaweed-like fibre pinning his hands to the rock and away from each other, but they did not budge. “And the only thing you need me for is to untie me so I can kick your ass and get back to my ship.”

The merman cocked his head. His black bangs floated around his dark, thinking eyes. “Hm, no, I don’t think I can do that. I’ve seen you fight those men on board of your vessel and your magic. I need to inherit my father’s throne for the good of my people, and right now, your help is my best bet at achieving that.”

Ed clenched his teeth. He needed to find a way to get out of this bullshit right now. And then he’d have the freak-out about discovering that a mythological creature was an actual intelligent and apparently magical species later.

“By the way, I’m Ling Yao!” the merman said, goofy smile back in place. “I promise I’ll let you go soon, and I’m really sorry about the inconvenience, but in the meantime, you’ll see that we’ll become good friends.”