Hello. I'm in a good mood, so I wanted to write a little oneshot/drabble. I should be reading art history, but my tummy hurts and I don't feel like it. (stop your whining and write the story if you're going to already)

Well yes then, here you go. Disclaimer- Don't own FMA, not that I've ever heard of someone getting sued for something on fan fiction, but whatevez.

Warnings: Slight spoilers for chapter 108, very, very slight.

Young

When Al was young, he had his whole life planned out for himself. He was an organized child, and that stretched into his thinking for the future. Life was going to be organized, and as he planned it to be. He never considered something happening to completely uproot all his desires. It never dawned on the eight year old that the world might have much grander plans.

He knew early on that he was going to move out when he was eighteen or nineteen, although not very far. He didn't plan or even want to travel. He loved his little country home and wouldn't trade it for the world.

Either him or his brother would marry Winry one day, that was a given. Whoever didn't would probably end up with some other girl from town. There wasn't that many, but the ones who did live nearby were nice enough.

They would both be alchemist too, although not state alchemist, and not alchemist like their own father, who had to travel all the time and was never home. That was probably one of the reasons Al didn't want to travel so much, but he didn't like to dwell on it or anything. They would be alchemist though, because that was their passion.

He was still young the day all those plans were uprooted, they both were. It was so sudden and without any warning, neither boy could comprehend it. So they didn't try to. They'd fix everything and his plans would be back in order and everything would be good again.

They were so, so young.

Not only had they failed, but any attempt at normalcy was all for naught now. Al didn't ever want to travel, but that was all he did now. They'd be away from home for years on end, with no end in sight. They didn't even have a home anymore technically. He planned to move out at eighteen. He'd ended up leaving at eleven.

Ed was a state alchemist now, something neither of them ever desired to be. They hated the military for what it did to their friend's parents and their hometown. That didn't matter now though, they both knew that. Al would have become a dog of the military too if they didn't have a physical.

They were caught up in someone else's plans now. Some kind of dark mastermind who only had the good of himself in mind. Any new plans made had to be told in secret, sent through coded messages and sometimes he couldn't even tell Ed. That was how it had to be if they were going to live. Which was another thing Al had never planned for. Having to worry if they were just going to live.

Years of disorganization and death and unfinished plans finally ended, and Al could barely even remember his original desires. They were unreachable now, and he didn't mind all that much.

He didn't stop traveling, although he could have. He didn't want to anymore. It was a part of him now, a lifestyle. He'd most certainly gained an appreciation for it, and every new place he traveled to was a delight and a surprise in it's own way.

He was right about one thing, but it was still only halfway. His brother married Winry. After all these years that was possibly the one thing that didn't change. He didn't end up marring some faceless nice girl from the neighborhood though. If you had ask Al when he was eight if a Xing princess who'd use an ex-serial killer as a stand-in for her father at their wedding was in his plans, well, he wouldn't of laughed. No, he would of looked at you like you were insane, say no slowly, and then walk away with a very confused expression on his face.

When it all came down to it, not one of his plans had come true fully. Everything had been destroyed the day his mother passed on.

Looking out the window of his house, in Central, Al smiled, not upset in the least that things didn't go as he originally wanted.

The young didn't know a thing about the future anyway. Who were they to try and plan for it?


Well, I hope you liked it. Oh yay, I made it in time for Fullmetal alchemist day too. Oct. 3rd FTW! Heheh, please review.