Clover Fields

As the sun set tonight over the small town of Resembul, two teenage boys, one with mischievous golden eyes and long braided blonde hair, the other slightly younger with deep gray orbs and messy brown locks, and a blonde girl with large blue eyes, snuck themselves around the old automail shop and over a large hill that lead to a secret garden filled with a beautiful field of Clovers. This garden had been a place of refuge for three, after the girl's parents were brutally murdered in a nearby civil war and the boy's mother, their only parent, passed away from a plague soon afterwards. It was there secret, their pact of freedom and promise to be forever friends, no matter what happened. They journeyed to it when they were lonely, frightened and did not know what to do, and even if it they were alone, that garden made it seem as if the three were still together somehow.

"Nii-san, you're going to fast!" yelled the sliver eyed boy, as his elder brother trudged forward at a speeding pace, dragging along the small wagon he was currently sitting in. "And you left Winry down there! She can't carry the basket on her own! It's heavy!" The golden eyed boy frowned and turned to glare down the large hill. He couldn't see the girl down there, but he knew from experience that she would be fine. She was a mechanic, after all, and had to carry much heavier things than a silly picnic basket filled to the brim with food. He sighed and moved to tug the wagon up further. "I wouldn't worry about her, Al; she's probably just down there sulking because she can't keep up." Al rolled his eyes at his brothers' lopsided grin, a retort barely out of his lips before a loud voice screamed from below them. "EDWARD! ALPHONSE! What's the big idea leaving me to carry something this heavy all on my own! Get your ass down here and help me!"

Edward groaned heavily, scratching an ear in annoyance. "Damnit, Winry, What do you want to do, wake all of Resembul up?" Winry glared and the boy sighed, muttering an irritated 'I'm coming…I'm coming…' under his breath. Before he could move though a small, shaking hand grasped his wrist and he turned to see his little brother pointing out into the distance, down towards the wild garden. "Nii-san! Nii-san! Look, I want to go over there! Will you take me?" Alphonse smiled up at him earnestly and Edward returned the gesture, unable to deny him anything. "Well, it can't be helped; no way will this old crude get down there in one peace. I'll have to carry you." He turned to the wagon and moved to lift the younger boy out only to be stopped again. "Ah, No that's not what I meant…" Al muttered, cheeks coloring slightly, and his elder brother merely stared questioningly. "I…I want to walk on my own two feet, will you help me, Nii-san?"

The boys' sliver eyes gleamed and Edward released a long, heartfelt sigh before nodding. Six years ago, a few years after their mother had died and they came to live with Winry and her grandmother, a young soldier by the name of Colonel Roy Mustang came to Resembul in search of talented Alchemists to draft for the recent war in Drachma. He came to find none, which wasn't surprising since the only alchemist to ever reside in the small, country village had been the boy's father, Van Hoenheim. But that man had left his family when Edward and Alphonse were still young children and no one has heard from him since. The brothers had once known alchemy, practiced it to a skill that no child should have had, but that had all been to please their mother. After she passed on, they gave up the art for good; there was no need to continue when all it brought was the memory of pain. Nevertheless, the boys had been intrigued, especially Edward, at the opportunities becoming a state alchemist seemed to have, but not enough to actually pursue the career.

That was until the following year, when a horrid accident left Alphonse paralyzed from the waist down. There had been a flood by the river and the boys went to help as usual, but Alphonse had been ill and his brother had told him to stay by the dam as he and the other villagers' worked to repair it. The whole dam collapsed unexpectedly and Alphonse had been caught beneath it. It had been all Edward's fault; after all he was responsible for his baby brother, and the thought of the gentle, loving boy, who had everything to offer the world, being disabled in such a way, tore his very soul apart. That was why he swore he would find a way to fix it, so he spent the following year studying and in the fall he rode a train to Central City, waltzed into Colonel Mustang's office and demanded that the man sponsor his state alchemist exam. The man did, with a cocky, knowing smirk, it took Edward another year to prepare, and when he passed the exam, he gained the titled of Restoration Alchemist, because of his ability to repair organic and non- organic material. Even if the thought of being a slave to the state repulsed him, he had to do it. Regular medicine had failed in helping his brother recover, but perhaps with alchemy….the practice of medical alchemy was highly experimental in Amestris, but with the access to restricted materials and information a state certification provided, it could be enough. It would be enough for him.

He would see his brother walk again on his own two feet.

Winry smiled as she watched the brothers stumble their way down the unpaved hill. Edward had Alphonse's arm draped over his shoulders, with his own wrapped tightly around the younger boy's waist. It was so wonderful to see them like that, with Edward's quiet words of encourament to his brother and Al's shrilled giggles as the grass tickled his bare feet. She could feel her chest fill with joy and peace. After all, they were her best friends, like her brothers, and for so long part of the only family she had left… the three were so close that it seemed their very souls were linked together. They shared their joys, fears, and sorrow. The girl moved her gaze from the two boys and out over the horizon, with the almost invisible sun shedding its last light of the day over the garden of Clover. She had come to cry here, in the mist of all this beauty so many times before. With the death of her parents she wept until no more tears could be shed, the week after Alphonse's accident she cried until the boy begged his brother to be taken to comfort her, and then she came to cry again when Edward made a rare phone call from Central to tell them that even though he was only a medical alchemist, the draft said he was going to war.

But this time there was no reason to cry.

"Right over here, Al?"

"Ah…No, Nii-san...I want to go a little further first."

Al was getting better now, thanks to the alchemical treatment he was receiving from Dr. Marcoh, a friend of Colonel Mustang, He was now able to move better and the doctor says that he should be able to walk on his own within the year.

"You're sweating…you shouldn't try to force yourself all at once!"

"I know Nii-san…but it feels good."

Edward was home. Through some [probably illegal] meddling by Colonel Mustang and his crew, the boy had been released from his military contract, before he even had a chance to enter the battle feild. She would have to remember to send those wonderful people some pie or something, as thanks.

"What the—Winry, you brought the picnic basket all the way here yourself? I thought you said it was heavy?"

There was nothing to cry about, then why could, she feel her eyes water and tears stream down her face. She was so happy…so why?

"Winry, what's wrong?" Asked Alphonse, as he moved to crawled beside her and his brother, who were both kneeling on the ground now. The girl was openingly weeping, her hands covering her face, as she leaned into Edwards shoulder. "N-nothing…" She sobbed, pulling her hands away to reveal a dazzling smile beneath all the tears. "I'm just so happy… we're all home, together. Welcome home…Welcome home…" The brothers glanced at each other with mirrored grins, and then looked back at their friend. "You've always been such a crybaby Win." Ed spoke, and then as one, both boys tackled the girl onto the ground, beginning a fierce tickle war, that ended [as always] with Edward as the major loser, collapsed on his side, breathless. The three lay back in the grass, staring up at the star filled sky, as they had when they were children. Alphonse watched as his brother and Winry argued about constellations pointlessly and sighed. Everything was almost too perfect, he was so happy to be here in this moment, but… there was always something nagging at the back of his mind, something important. It was as if it this perfection was incomplete, almost as if there was something more to be done, out there in the world, beyond these clover fields. A destiny that was theirs and theirs alone, but still it escaped his grasp.

"Hey, hurry up you idiots, dinners going to get cold!" Winry yelled, as she set up the picnic by the only tree in the garden. Alphonse started when his brother turned towards him and in one fell swoop, lifted him from the ground into his arms, bridled style. "By your leave, Princess!" Edward bellowed and the younger boy found that even with the rising blush on his cheeks he could not help but laugh at his silly older brothers' antics. Winry was giggling to herself as she passed the plates, scolding Ed for his gluttony, and Alphonse knew then that whatever truth fate had written no longer mattered. The world could wait, let them have their wars, hypocrisy, and heroes.

Even if the world ended tomorrow, they were content with the same old everyday bliss.

Hey there, this is an Au story by request of Ren of Amestris [really cool name by the way]. The request was "a world where the events of FMA never happened," I thought about it, because I've never really wrote a story like this before, and came up with this. This is what happened if the thought of human transmutation never passed through the Elrics mind; they lived through their lives still with hardships, but not as extreme and tied to the rest of the world as before. The war with the homunculi still goes on, even after Edward comes home. What happens next, the end of the world or some miracle salvation is for you to decide, while Winry and the Elrics live the rest of their lives, in ignorant bliss. Hmm…so what do you think , Master Ren? Was it too your liking?