Soldier Keep On Marching On

Hospital

When I went under the world was at war. When I woke up they said we won. They didn't say we lost.

**********

"I'm going back to Amestris," Aiden said with finality.

Katy wasn't surprised by the choice, she knew Aiden wouldn't leave the place, but she couldn't understand why. She had her son to look out for and it'd only be a simple trick to place her back at the crash and let her survive. The story was over in Amestris and she had no obligation to stay behind. Her confusion must've been evident on her face because Aiden smiled gently.

"If Tristan has people looking after him, then I know he'll be fine without me. I've been gone from his life for eight years and I don't want to come back from the dead, or a coma if that's where I happen to be. I'm sure by now, he and my parents have moved on."

"I could take you back to the crash and let you live!" Truth frowned at that but didn't comment otherwise. The goddess sighed and ran a hand over her face, shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't get you, you have family in the other world."

"And even if I did that, I'd know what I was leaving behind. I made a family here, in Amestris. Kain, Riza, Ed and Al, Maes and his family, and Roy..." 

"You're going back for love?"

Love. Companionship. Trust that could only be forged in hardships such as theirs. "Wouldn't you?"

Katy's thoughts ran back to the family she had waiting for her at home. Her fiance, brother, and friends she had her best moments with. What would she do if she had to pick only one? "I..." she hesitated for a moment. "I don't think I'd be able to choose between them."

Aiden sighed and her dark green eyes met Katy's Caribbean ones, a fierce fire hidden in the dark depths. "At one time, I may have taken you up on your offer, but I know I'll be fine here. This is where I truly belong."

"You're sure about this?"

Aiden reached out once more and pulled Katy into a hug. "If you really are the Jessica I knew, then you should know that once I set my mind to something, it's almost impossible to turn me away."

The goddess chuckled and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Even as your subordinate I figured that out."

The two pulled away and Aiden turned to Truth who had been watching the exchange in mild interest. Truth couldn't deny he felt the tiniest bit of respect for the woman. She chose the rules of Equivalent Exchange rather than the easy way out most people would take.

"I need you to send me back."

"You know the price of bringing a person back from the dead."

"Except I'm not dead, I'm still in the process of dying. I still have extra, use it now. I have to go back to them." 

To him.

"And you think that a bond created by force will last longer than one created by blood?"

Aiden laughed lightly and smiled as a questioning expression passed over her face. "Bonds created by force? I don't know what you mean. All bonds are created when one or people have something in common. I may have known future events and shifted them to allow survivors, but there are some things a person cannot change." She'd let Maes live and Nina die along with a good many others. "There's a saying that goes, 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.' It means that bonds formed by choice are stronger than those formed by birth. I know I'll miss my children like I always do, but those ties were cut the moment I set foot in this world. I belong here now, and it's where I will stay."