The low hum of the engine engulfed the small aircraft, and the descending darkness was making it increasingly difficult to navigate. Ender had been flying for twelve hours straight, and they were getting close to the ocean. Some of the plane's lights that were to be used during night travel had been fried from the hot sun of Germany, and as Ender slowly descended from the sky; he knew that they had to wait until morning to take on the large body of water.
He managed to land as gently as possible on the edge of an overhanging hill, and tried to cause the least amount of disturbance as possible. The last thing he needed was the European police coming to investigate the plane, and if that happened, his cover would be blown as soon as one of them came close enough to see his face. Nobody except the select few at the command base in the U.S.A were to know of Ender's reappearance, and he wanted to keep it that way. Otherwise, the plan he had spent so many hours coming up with, with the help of Graff and Rackham, would have to be forfeited. And without that, Ender would cease to have anything else to fall back on. He would be forced to improvise, and as skilled as he is, he did not like the idea of winging it when the lives of everyone on Earth were once again in his hands.
The inside of the aircraft was pitch black aside from the lights that lit up the controls, and a few wall lamps that kept the pilot's area, and the sitting area lit a dim orange. Ender rubbed the bridge of his nose with a couple of his fingers as he shut down the plane, and leaned back in his seat. He continued to run his hands over his eyes, and momentarily closed them while sighing. After a few minutes of silence, he forced himself to unfasten his seat belt and got up from the chair.
His head was spinning with questions and plans for the war. Ender was thrilled that he and Valentine had succeeded in finding Petra and Bean, but his distance from the war plans were making him anxious. He didn't like the fact that the longer he was away, the more he was out of the loop. And the more uninformed he was, the greater opportunity Peter would have to mess things up. And if that happened, all hell would break loose. U I don't need to worry, he said silently to himself. Mazer Rackham is handling it. He is more than capable of managing my brother, and making sure things go according to plan. I have nothing to worry about.
Ender continued to reassure himself as he walked across the main compartment of the aircraft. Everyone else had gone to sleep hours ago, and were now tucked up tight in the fold up beds lined up against the west wall of the plane. As far as he was concerned, all but one was occupied. The one where he would sleep, yet as tired as he was, Ender couldn't bring himself to lie down. He felt as if there was too much to do, to ponder, and to figure out. For some reason, a nagging feeling in his gut told him that he needed to strategize. It urged him to come up with a plan B, even a plan C, and to be prepared for the worst.
He didn't like that feeling, though as much as he wanted to get rid of it, he couldn't. It latched onto his being and invaded his conscious thought. Almost to the point where, after a while, Ender thought that it was beginning to make him crazy. Heck, for all he knew, he was already crazy. Perhaps it just took him a little longer to figure it out.
"Ender?" A faint whisper could be heard, and Ender quickly whipped his head around from where he was now seated on one of the couches.
His field of vision was immediately filled with a view of sparkling hazel green eyes. They were mere centimetres from his own brown ones, and Ender could feel her warm breath against his cheeks.
His company immediately pulled herself back a little once she realized the closeness of the situation, and blushed ever so slightly.
Ender blinked in surprise, as it had caught him off guard as well, yet he hadn't even thought of moving back himself. The closeness was all too welcoming.
"What are you doing, Petra?" He asked in an equally quiet voice.
"I couldn't sleep", she replied, "and I needed to think."
"About what?"
A soft sigh could be heard, and Petra continued to look directly at Ender. The almost complete darkness enveloped them both, and the silence made the situation ever so increasingly compelling.
"I'm sorry", she soon spoke up.
"For what?"
"Don't play dumb with me", she looked slightly annoyed. "I know I upset you earlier. I saw it when we were sitting here with Bean."
Ender's mind was sent spinning. Had he actually portrayed his emotions that obviously? Was upset even what he had felt? At the time, he had not even known what it was that panged inside his chest. Though Petra seemed to know it before he did himself.
She also seemed to follow his train of thought now, and added another thing.
"You do not have to pretend to be invincible, Ender. We're all human. Even you, who hides behind your many walls."
Ender was confused. For once, his own emotions were the ones that were confusing him. And Petra was adding to that confusion with her comments.
"I'm sorry. I...", he stopped to try to wrap his head around his own words, "I don't... it's hard for me to comprehend what my own reaction was."
At this, Petra raised her eyebrows. She looked just as confused as he was for a moment, but then her expression turned into a slight smile.
"You know, I understand that you were isolated by Graff and Rackham the most out of all of us at BattleSchool and Command School. I'm sure you're still being isolated from everything but duty by them now. But am I wrong to insinuate that you were hurt by me accusing you of not trusting us?"
"No."
"Then you only cease to understand yourself, Ender." She continued to whisper.
"That is not entirely true", he countered, "because before that everything has been familiar. But with you.."
Petra smiled sheepishly before leaning slightly toward him. "I know."
Silence once again wrapped around the pair, and Ender was at a loss for words. Their conversation had been oddly revealing to him. Maybe he did need to stop and analyze himself a little more, rather than always being completely focused on his enemies.
"When I was in space I thought of nothing else but getting back to you."
Ender spoke after spending what felt like forever of being occupied with his thoughts. "All I wanted was to know that you were okay, and that my putrid brother hadn't killed you in an attempt to hurt me."
Petra smiled weakly. "Is that why you came back?"
"To Earth? No. The war was why my second return was so important, but if there was no one I had to fight, yes. I would have made it my mission to come back for you. Even if it took decades."
At that, Petra reached out and grasped Ender's right hand in hers, and despite the fact that he usually repelled at physical contact, Ender entwined his fingers with hers.
"I never found my parents", she said plainly and Ender gave her a look.
"Are you sure they're not out there?"
"Positive", she sighed once again. "I was never close with them, you know, but I wanted to change that. And when Bean and I eventually made it to my home town in Armenia, it was... destroyed."
"I'm so sorry", Ender said sympathetically.
Petra started to get emotional, and let a couple of tears slide down her cheeks. "What I would give to see their faces again, and to hold my little brother in my arms once more."
"Did you have more than one brother?"
Ender had heard Petra talk about her siblings in BattleSchool years ago, but he never pressed her about them. At the time, family was weakness, and weakness would have prevented them from defeating the Formics.
"Two", she smiled while wiping her eyes with her free hand. "My older brother was three years ahead of me, and my younger brother was just a baby when I left for BattleSchool."
Ender couldn't help but smile.
"What?" She asked, noticing his change of expression.
"I just thought I was the only Third."
She smiled slightly at that too. "No. I'm sorry to disappoint you. You were not."
"Am not." He corrected her. "They may be gone, but because of you, they will not be forgotten."
Petra felt her heart warm at Ender's declaration.
"And you know what?" He asked. She urged him to continue. "I am going to win this war for people like your family. I don't want any more innocent people to die because of the Warsaw Pact's incessant desire to overpower the I.F."
Petra grasped his free hand with hers, and moved now so that they were sitting directly face to face with each other. They were both sitting with one leg hanging off the side of the couch, while the other was folded on the soft cushions.
"You cannot save everyone, Ender." She held his hands tightly. "I will always be by your side, but I do not want to watch you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders once again. It almost destroyed you last time."
Ender only smiled. "If it isn't me, who else will?"
Silence broke out for the last time, and all Ender felt was admiration for the young woman sitting in front of him. He would never be able to live without her, and in the two years that he had spent in space waiting to come back to Earth, he realized that. When he wasn't thinking about war planes, or strategy, or saving the world once again, he thought about her. He worried endlessly. And it was then that he had the biggest revelation of all.
"I love you", Ender smiled at her. The dim orange of the light illuminating Petra's delicate features.
In that moment, Ender realized that he would never have eyes for anyone else. In reality, he didn't ever consider finding love one of his top priorities. It just sort of snuck up on him, and it was here and now that he decided to be emotionally vulnerable for a chance to have a future with Petra.
Petra; the strong, knowledgable girl who he had met when he first transferred to Salamander Army in BattleSchool, had managed to capture his heart. Not intentionally, yet it just happened. And Ender found himself falling for her every time he had been with her. She was so kind, so gentle, so caring despite everything that she had been through. Not only did Ender admire her for being both tough and caring, but he loved her for it. In his eyes, she was too good to be alive in a world constantly filled with war.
Without thinking about anything else, Ender immediately leaned in and captured her lips with his own. At first, Perra's lips felt stiff and cold. He had caught her off guard, but within a couple of seconds she let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around Ender's neck. This pulled them closer as she began to kiss him back. The kiss was passionate, and Ender did not want it to end.
In the back of his mind, he wanted this moment to last forever. Yet, he was just thrilled that after all of this time she still had feelings for him. She had deepened the kiss, and that was really all that mattered.
When they finally separated due to lack of air, Petra smiled, panting slightly only inches away from his face.
"I love you too, Ender."
* * * * * * * *
The sound of rushing water coming from the metallic sink, echoed the room, and splashed as it came in contact with the pair of bloody hands that were placed underneath the stream. The dark red was slowly stripped away from them, and disappeared down the drain.
Peter hoped that as the blood disappeared, any remaining evidence would cease to exist of the deed that he had committed. He had not intended his 'meeting' with Rackham to escalate to the point where... he had to..
Anyway, Peter didn't want to kill the old geezer. It just happened to be his only option. Truly he would have done the right thing if the opportunity arose, but as Peter stood in front of the metal sink in one of the many rooms within the base, he did not see how the encounter could have ended any other way.
That resolution helped ease his conscience, as well as gave him a clearly justifiable reason for doing what he did. I mean, who would be stupid enough to let an Admiral of the International Fleet live, after you had just shown him most of your cards? No, Peter could not risk the chance of Ender finding out. That would ruin everything. And the eldest Wiggin was not about to let his younger brother outshine him once again. He was done being in Ender's shadow.
Peter raised his head high with a new sense of determination, as he hastily dried his hands on a towel. In the end, most of the blood was gone. Good enough, he thought to himself as he shoved the towel in his jacket pocket. He would just make up some simple lie to explain what was left on his hands. After all, as long as nobody found where he had temporarily hid the body, he had nothing to worry about.
"Admiral Rackham. Please report to meeting room B immediately. Admiral Rackham, please report to meeting room B." Peter had walked over to the wall of the barracks he was in, and sent his voice through the intercom. That way, everybody would hear his summoning.
"Any remaining BattleSchool students on the premises, please meet in meeting room B", he announced a few seconds later.
He then placed the microphone back in its place on the wall, and made his way into the hallway. The sound of his military boots clacking on the floor echoed the empty walkway, and Peter was sure that he could be heard from the other end of the base. He kept walking until he reached the room with a bolded letter B engraved on the door.
This is going to be too easy, he thought to himself as he passed the threshold.
As he entered, the room looked as though it hadn't been touched since the last time he had been in it a couple of weeks ago. Of course, it was entirely likely that nobody had even used it since then. Especially since most of the soldiers and officials were deployed on the battlefield now, so the massive board room table, with chairs surrounding it, along with the many white boards hanging on the walls, were still all that remained.
He was immediately greeted with the sight of the BattleSchool students. Three to be exact: Bernard, Alai, and Han Tzu, but numbers did not matter. All Peter cared about was his plan, and all else escaped his mind. That was what was important to him after all, and in order for it to work, he would need to give it his full undivided attention.
"You're probably wondering why I called you all here", Peter started as he took a seat at the head of the table.
The three BattleSchoolees watched him as he pulled his chair in, and Bernard spoke up.
"Yeah, but shouldn't we wait until Admiral Rackham arrives before we start?"
The other two nodded, fully expecting the older man to walk into the room within a couple of minutes.
"Oh course," Peter said, sounding as though he truly believed that Mazer would be coming, "we can wait a few more minutes."
While they waited, Peter sat silently as Alai and Han Tzu exchanged small talk, and Bernard went about tapping his foot underneath the table. Finally, after giving the others time to wrap their heads around the idea that Mazer was not coming, Peter fake sighed.
"Maybe the admiral had somewhere more important to be", he looked at the others for their take on his absence, even though he knew exactly why he was not there.
"He could be communicating with Ender." Alai suggested and shrugged his shoulders.
This was news to Peter. "What do you mean?"
"Before he left, Admiral Wiggin told me that he would be radioing Admiral Rackham everyday to keep up on things around here." Han Tzu added to Alai's thought, and saw that Peter's face completely changed.
Instead of the same smug expression that they were always met with, both Alai and Han Tzu saw a look of fear curl up onto Peter's face.
Neither of them would have been able to guess the thoughts swirling around in his brain at the news.
No, no, no! To say that Peter's mind was spinning would be an understatement, as he felt his entire coverup would now be ruined. Ender will notice something is wrong, and he'll find out the truth! What am I going to do? How can I prevent that?
While Peter became occupied with his own concerns, Alai and Han Tzu developed worried expressions, and were not sure if they should speak up or not. They did not know if Peter would react well to their interference, or if he would just yell and tell them to mind their own business. They silently agreed to keep their mouths shut, yet did not refrain from watching the rest of Peter's reaction.
At first, after he had killed Mazer in cold blood, Peter believed that convincing everyone that the old General had just went home would be easy. He had forgotten one major factor in his scheme, however, and at Alai's declaration, he was immediately reminded of the relationship Ender had with him.
He was his bloody mentor! The voice inside Peter's head screamed, and once again, his mind was sent spinning. Before, he had been able to strategize things so clearly; Peter would have always remained calm in any situation. Too bad he did not know beforehand, the repercussions to his conscience that would happen from committing murder.
And now, unless he came up with a better plan quickly, this board room meeting would be absolutely pointless.
* * * * * * * *
The sun shone brightly through the front windows of the airplane, and a few rays aligned perfectly onto Ender's face.
He opened his eyes, annoyed, and sat up from where he had fallen asleep. He had had the best intentions to stay awake all night to keep watch, but in the end, not long after Petra had gone back to sleep in her own bed, he had dozed off on the couch.
"Rise and shine, little brother", Valentine greeted from the other couch across from him.
Ender noticed her at once, and stretched. "What time is it?"
"It's early afternoon." She replied nonchalantly, and smiled.
"What?! We have to get moving! We need to get back before they start the attack!" Ender practically jumped up from the couch and was about to make his way to the controls before Valentine stopped him.
"Easy!" She grabbed his arm and sat back down, this time on the same couch as Ender. "We're already in the air. Bean got up early and we have been making good time, Ender."
Ender looked at the controls, and Bean was indeed flying the aircraft. "Why didn't you guys wake me? Val, Bean has been through hell, and does not need to do this for us."
Valentine only smiled. "Oh relax. He said he was fine and that he wanted to. We all know you're exhausted, and I think it would do you good to have something to eat as well."
Ender sighed. "I am fine."
"Bull shit. You are trying to do everything yourself, and I can see that. I am far from stupid Ender, and I'm stopping you before you crash."
At that, Ender rolled his eyes. "People are counting on me for their survival, Val, and I'm not about to let them down. Not like I let down others."
"You are not going to fail them by taking a break", she nudged him. "If anything, you'll do better because of that."
Ender now realized that Valentine had seen right through him. Ever since they had left to rescue Petra and Bean, he had not let himself take a break, let alone a breath of fresh air. He had felt extremely drained but the thought of Peter undermining him, and the idea that if he did not give it his all, they could lose, was not something that he wanted to become a reality.
He laughed slightly. "Are you trying to be the mother I never had?"
Valentine furrowed her eyebrows. "Just stop being a smart ass, and take care of yourself. I may not have grown up with you, but I know that you've always consumed yourself with your mission. And this time, maybe if you take a step back, things will go entirely your way."
Ender sighed. "Wouldn't that be a dream?"
"If anybody can do it, I believe that it is you. Regardless of what the world thinks of you because of the fake verdict from Court Martial, you are our best bet."
"If only I was as confident as you."
"Don't worry about our brother either. I am a hundred percent sure that Mazer has Peter wrapped around his finger by now." Valentine added.
Ender smiled at the thought, but then frowned just as quickly. "I hope so, but it is unlike Mazer not to radio in. It's been two days. He assured me before we left that he would communicate every night."
"Maybe he is just busy", Valentine shrugged and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
She felt him flinch as per usual, but kept her hand there. After all, even though Ender gave her a look for doing it, she knew that he needed to know that she was with him, and that she was going to keep him grounded.
"You are probably right." He finally spoke after a long silence. "Maybe the war is just getting to me, and I am overreacting. I'm sure the man is taking care of things better than I have been."
Val laughed. "You are not going crazy for God's sake. Just take today to regain your focus, and eat something already." She playfully hit him on the arm, and Ender faked an "ouch" as she rose and walked to the controls.
She became occupied with Bean and helping him with the controls, while Ender listened intently despite what she had just said to him.
"Here", Petra came over from across the room, and placed a sandwich on Ender's lap before sitting down across from him.
Ender immediately turned his attention away from his sister's planning to Petra, and smiled slightly.
"Thanks", he said politely before picking it up and taking a bite. He was hungry, but just did not have the will to take himself away from what deemed more important, to actually eat.
"Your sister is right you know. You should listen to her." Petra's voice was soft and concerned, and she placed a hand on Ender's knee.
He took a moment to look up at her from his sandwich. "And when have you had anything to do with my sister?" He teased her.
"You know that we have never really spoken", Petra replied more seriously than he had asked. "And when you guys found us, there were not really time for introductions."
"I know, I was just joking", Ender replied a little lighter. "I will introduce you to her once she is done helping Bean. But for now, I am just glad to have both of you here... safe."
She smiled. "You know better than anyone that I can take care of myself."
He nodded. "Fine. I will never try to rescue you again, Miss Arkanian."
She laughed. "That's because next time, I will be the one rescuing you."
"Perhaps."
They continued exchanging small talk for quite a while as Ender ate, and after, though not without a glare from Valentine, he decided to check his ansible for any emails. He was hoping that he might have gotten one from
Mazer. And surprisingly enough, there was one, but not from who he was expecting.
AN– I have updated! It's a miracle! Okay, not really, but finally! I cannot tell you guys who read this after all this time how thankful I am! I appreciate it so so much!
On a side note, so how was the chapter?! Ender and Petra are together! Or are they? Do you have any guesses for what Peter is doing now? Who has sent Ender an email? How do you think Mazer's death will affect Ender once or if he finds out?
And finally, since I have not updated since May I believe, I will shortly rant about what I have been doing. So, I graduated High-School!! Firstly, it was insane, and amazing! No joke, unforgettable! But I am SO glad it's over! There was too much planning and it was unorganized! I also did a speech at my grad. I was initially nervous, but in the end I got up and nailed it!
Additionally, I have obviously finished all of my schooling. NO homework! I also just got back home from a trip to the city with my family. Hence, the delayed update once more. I saw War For the Planet of The Apes on Saturday! It was sooo good! But sad!
So now I'm home and I'm working. I'm also going camping in the bush on the weekend, so I may or may not be able to write during that time due to service.
Good god this AN is huge! I'm sorry. But lastly, updating schedule! I will be updating every 2.5–3 weeks now. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Is she actually going to go back to normal updating? I will, but the chapters will be a little smaller. Good things come in small doses, right?
Thanks for reading again! Please Vote, share with your friends, maybe give me a follow, etc.
Until next time,
–Jess xx