Al's pov

Timeskip: 1 year:

Alphonse Elric sighed as he walked down his school's hallway. Everything that had happened a year ago seemed like a distant dream. Then when his brother was finally okay they had kicked him out.

It had stung, knowing that it'd be years if he ever saw his brother again. He was sure that Ed knew the same but his eyes were cold when he left.

"Al!" A cheery voice called. The dark haired blonde turned to see Winry running towards him, "What college do you want to go to?"

They were seniors and school would be ending in a month. He'd applied to some college's that specialized in animal care or creative writing, even one with both, yet he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He wanted to tell the world his brother's story yet at the same time he wanted to move past all of that. He could easily focus on the dream he had prior a year ago: a vet.

"I'm not sure Winry, I'll probably go to Amestris University." Al responded neutrally.

"Well I kinda figured that." Winry said, walking down the hall with her close friend, "I didn't think you wanted to leave the country and Amestris University is the only one here! I want to go there too, major in engineering or something like that."

Al managed a smile as a wrench appeared in Winry's hands, "I think I want to become a vet with creative writing as a minor."

Curious blue eyes turned towards Al, "Creative writing? You've never said something like that before."

"Well, I kinda have this book idea based on a dream I had a year ago..." Al responded. He knew Winry wouldn't ask more, especially since she absolutely hated fiction books. And as much as Al wanted to there was no way that any publisher would let him put down the events that happened a year ago as nonfiction.

"Okay!" Winry cheered, "As long as I don't have to leave you for college... Hey Al I've been thinking..."

Al raised an eyebrow as Winry seemed to shrink in on herself and become more nervous, "Um... Would you like to live with me?" Seeing Al's now wide eyes she explained, "I was just thinking that for AU (Amestris University) we could find an apartment in the city and live there together!"

"Sure," Al smiled at his childhood friend, "We need to start looking."

...

A year ago when Al had returned to school it was almost as if Ed and Roy never existed. He never heard any one talking about them, no one asked anything about them and they hadn't even searched for them. Al had known that Winry was releaved though, to her Al had been acting weird and with Ed gone he'd have nothing to make him act that way.

He had started wandering through their forest and to his surprise he found a lake and a small cabin. He had tried everything he could think of to get into the cabin but nothing had worked. Thus he made that place a spot where he could think.

And so the same day Winry had made her proposal Al had went to the cabin again. He sat by the lake, lazily throwing stones into the water when he heard a slight rustling. He turned but saw nothing so he shrugged it off, there were plenty of small animals that lived in the forest and nothing dangerous lived there.

A smile was brought to his face as a distant memory popped up in his mind.

Flashback:

Al stood next to Ed who had a small smile on his face as they listened to their mom, "Okay you two. Today we're going to go in the forest and catch some rabbits."

"Wabit?" Al asked.

Ed shook his head, "It's rabbit." He said, every bit the prodigy everyone claimed him to be, "Get it right."

"Oh hush," Their mother insisted before continuing, "There are lots of rabbits in the forest, too many, so were gonna catch some."

"Atll e do wit em?"

"What'll we do with them," Ed corrected. Trisha gave him a look.

"That doesn't matter now does it," Trisha said with a smile, "But if you catch enough then I'll give you a nice big dinner of rabbit stew!"

Al squealed in glee, he loved rabbit stew. He looked towards his brother who had a slightly evil grin on his face and Al felt something bubble within him.

"Al'll cat de moss!"

"No, Al will not catch the most," Ed corrected, "Al's too small to."

"M not!"

"Boys, stop fighting and catch some rabbits," Trisha instructed. And the two ran off.

When the sun had finally set the boy's were at the house with bags full of rabbits. Trisha grabbed Al's bag and opened it in a cage, "Alphonse how many did you catch?"

"Dred!" Al yelled.

Ed rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "You didn't catch a hundred," He said, peering in the cage, "You didn't catch any."

Al's eyes teared up but he pushed the tears away, being a man.

"Now Ed, don't talk to your brother that way." Trisha scolded, grabbing the golden blonde's bag. She opened it in the cage again.

"E got no!" Al yelled.

"I caught ten," Ed said.

Trisha applauded, "God job you two! Now Al go upstairs and clean yourself up. Ed come help me with dinner.

Fashback End

Al smiled, thinking back on it the rabbit stew had obviously been made from the rabbits Ed had caught and everyone had known that but him.

"Alphonse," A deep voice said, "Are you ill?"

Al then realized what a sight he must have been, dazed and smiling. But then he realized there was someone else, someone he knew, in the forest.

His head turned at neck breaking speeds only to see Roy, "What are you doing here?" Al asked while his eyes checked him 's black hair had grown out past his ears and he was wearing a loose white shirt with black pants. There wwas a black backpack thrown over his shoulder as well and it seemed to be empty.

Roy guestured to the cabin, "I'm here to get some stuff."

"It's your cabin?!" Al asked, shocked.

"No, it's... Ed's."

Al sharply sucked in a breath, "Is he here too? Can I-"

"No," Roy stated simply, "He's not here and you can't visit him. You are a human while he is not, there are certain boundaries that must be upheld."

Al deflated, "You were never this mean before," He pouted before blushing slightly, he sounded like a little kid.

Roy raised an eyebrow, "It's indifference," he said, "If I'm indifferent to you then I can't get attatched to you." And with that Roy went into the cabin.

Al followed closely behind, hoping for a chance to peak in, but he still couldn't even get close. He moved so that he'd be able to see into the doorway but it was all just a blur. He could slightly make out Roy's form but that was about it.

He watched as Roy left the cabin and closed the door, the backpack on his shoulder seemed to have grown in size.

Roy stared at Al for a minute with an odd look on his face, "Do you want to forget?"

"What?"

"Do you want to forget about me and your brother? Make it seem like a dream that you can't remember. That way you can get on with your life and not think of what may have been if some things had been different."

Al's eyes widened, did he want to forget? He was tired of all the weird looks he got when he mentioned his brother and it seemed to be slowly gaining control of his conciousness. He practically ate, dreamed and constantly thought about what happened a year ago. And now, now he was getting a chance for him to forget it all.

Part of him didn't want to forget, it wanted to cling to what was left of the memory of his brother. Yet another part wanted to live normally. To become a vet and maybe someday he could marry Winry and have a few kids of his own...

"I-I don't know..."

Roy sighed and pulled a small vile out of the backpack, whatever was inside of it was an amber color, "Alphonse this potion is extremely potent. It will erase all memories that you have of Ed. The stronger memories will be like a dream though, it feels real yet you don't know it. It will also erase memories of me and I'm hoping that you don't have any strong ones because that's pretty creepy."

Al managed a smile at the attempt of a joke, "I..."

Roy pressed the potion into Al's hand and wrapped the boy's fingers around it, "Just take it. You can decide later if you want to use it or not. But be careful, it'll work immediately."

Al nodded and with that Roy dissapeared.

...

Later that night Al sat on his bed, staring at the small vile. It was hard to believe that it could create a large change in his life. Then his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Al!" Winry said from the other line, "I was wondering... Tomorrow do you want to go to dinner with me? Not as a date or anything! ...Unless you want it to be a date..."

A smile broke out on Al's face, "Sure, I'll pick you up at six... It's a date."

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow!" And with that Winry hung up.

The phone was still in Al's hand as he lifted the potion to his lips, "Bye," he whispered, unsure if he was talking to Winry or someone else.

The vile dissapeared into smoke and his cell fell out of his hand as he fell backwards onto his bed. A small smile was on his face as he hunted rabbits with his mom and an unknown little boy...