Soldier Keep On Marching On

Unused Scenes/Bloopers

This chapter is, as the title says, full of things I didn't use in the story and/or decided to add in here for shits and giggles. Please note that these are not in order but I do tell you when they were supposed to have happened. Enjoy!

**********

17. We're All Idiots Here

Edward nodded and took the gun outstretched to him. Ling gave a look and asked them to look after Lan Fan. Aiden nodded and waved them off, they needed to go. Lan Fan cried out for Ling to wait but the trio were already headed into the woods. Aiden gently shushed the battle-worn teen and brushed sweaty hair from her face. She looked up at Riza and handed her a walkie-talkie before she jumped on her horse.

"Let's go," Roy commanded. When the car went nowhere he snapped out, "I said go!"

"Damn! What are they thinking?" Doctor Knox slammed his hand on the wheel and sped off. Aiden took up pace behind them. "Those three are gonna get themselves killed."

The radio crackled to life and Aiden's voice came over. Roy stared into the rearview mirror. "It's too dangerous to try getting back into Central at this time. If the Fuhrer really is a homunculus and he wants Gluttony back, he'll be looking for people sneaking around and he'll find us."

"Where do you suppose we go?" Riza asked.

Aiden's heart stopped at the thought but she knew the moment was drawing near. She kicked the horses side and sped up to go around them. The car slowed to allow the transition of leader. "I know a place. My own cabin will distance us and provide cover from Gluttony and the others."

"I hope you're right about that. Especially with your sense of direction," Roy added.

Roy stared ahead and Riza lifted her finger from the radio. She didn't want the rider in front of them to hear her. "Sir, are you sure we can trust her?"

"I don't think we have a choice Lieutenant."

"And if it's a trap?"

"We don't know if she told anyone else where she is or what she is doing, so we can't take her out without arousing suspicion. For now we'll have to wait for her to make the first move."

He ignored the clenching of his chest when he suggested killing Aiden. It hurt to even think of it and saying it aloud was no better. If the truth revealed her loyalty belonging to the homunculi then he'd have no choice but to get rid of her, regardless of how he felt about it.

Oblivious to the conversation behind her, Aiden ignored the jibe against her lack of direction sense - she only got them lost that one time four years ago - and instead focused on what her next words were going to be when she arrived at the cabin. Aside from the passphrase, Aiden didn't know what to do. These people, minus Lan Fan, were about to meet the one person they had thought was dead for the past few months. And after that then she was going to be questioned, not only about her involvement in protecting Maes, but her past in general.

There was no certainty Roy or any of them would take it well. Roy may stop trusting her altogether, if he hadn't already, and she couldn't blame the man for doing so. It would crush her nonetheless. Riza would defer to Roy's judgement until she could make her own conclusions which would sometimes take a while, so there went her one female friend left in the world. The more she thought about their possible reactions the more Aiden wanted to curl up into a ball. She remembered her nightmare in the East vividly; one couldn't easily forget something so traumatizing.

The cabin came into view and Aiden's emotions had shot past nervous to that moment when a person was so anxious they were calm. She slowly pulled the horse to a stop and dismounted. The animal immediately trotted to the stable to her left to feast on the grains waiting for him.