The smell of dust lingered in the air of the B conference room, as Ender, whom was the only one currently occupying the space; faced the wall opposite the long boardroom table that took up almost the entire room.

Before Ender had been back on Earth, the Generals, or the squadron captains as Ender preferred to call them, had developed a meeting schedule. These meetings were obviously led by Peter of all people. Yet, Ender decided that today was as good as any to make himself known to the rest of the Command Base. Especially since this meeting is the first scheduled one happening post his arrival.

Silence followed, as Ender sat. The cold, cement wall becoming his only companion. If this is going to work, he thought to himself. These so called experts will have to do things entirely my way. And if it is even remotely possible, without any of Peter's ridiculous input. Ender laughed at that last part. Since, he knew very well that there was no way Peter would be silent about this. It was not in his nature after all. Nor, was it in any of the Wiggins.

Footsteps clacked against the floor of the hall, signalling to Ender that the meeting was approaching. Yet, only one person pushed open the heavy metal door, its hinges scratching against the doorframe.

A light laugh followed as the individual had a seat. Ender did not even bother to turn around. He knew exactly who it was.

"Somehow I knew you would have taken my seat already." Peter's voice was more anti-climactic than anything, and Ender only grinned despite his attempt at trying to remain professional.

The truth was, he was still 16 and even he sometimes forgot that. But now that he had finally been able to take something away from Peter, he was happy to say the least.

"Going to talk dear brother? Or are you just going to continue sitting there with your back faced towards me?"

Ender huffed, swivelled himself around from his position, and saw that his hearing had proved him right. Peter was the only one there, and he just so happened to be seated directly at the other end of the table. Peter smiled as Ender came to face him, and it seemed genuine. However, the familiar glare of his emerald eyes burned into Ender's skull. They seemed almost playful, daring him to make a move. But Ender was not willing to take a chance by saying anything rash in the middle of a room bombarded with cameras. Cameras that sadly, Hyrum Graff would not be watching.

"I hope you are ready to get a new assignment." Ender smiled just the same. "I think you'll find this one rather satisfying to your violent soul."

Peter only rolled his eyes, and did not get the chance to reply before everyone else started to file in.

Almost all of the Generals immediately noticed that Peter was no longer in charge, and it looked as though some were taken aback by Ender's appearance all together. They had been told that the 'child murderer' had been sent to govern an uninhabited Bugger world after all. Not that he was going to be their commander.

Ender could of sworn that a couple of them looked starstruck, and almost did not believe it. Though, seeing Peter's face contort into looks of disgust was all the proof he needed.

That was not the thing that surprised him however. Sure, Ender was definitely used to being fawned all over by now. So that was beginning to be everyday behaviour.

Yet, just as he thought that the last General had made their way inside the door, another, very familiar face, stepped into the room. Ender had to take a double take, and involuntarily rose from his seat causing the eyes that were not already watching him, to do so.

"Han tzu?", Ender said his name for the first time since he had been in Command School. Though, he sounded a bit unsure, as if the young man who had just come in was not real.

"Ho, Ender!" Han tzu took it upon himself to greet his former Jeesh commander with the familiar BattleSchool slang.

"Ho, Han tzu", Ender replied before approaching his longtime friend, and wrapping him into a quick embrace.

His presence was shocking to say the least. Nonetheless, Ender was relieved to have one familiar face amongst the group of army captains. At least one of them would be on board with his risky, and somewhat dangerous plan.

"I look forward to being part of your new Jeesh." Han tzu commented as he broke their hug.

Ender only smiled, and gestured for his friend to take a seat. This is good, Ender thought to himself. Han tzu had been one of his most trusted in his fight against the Buggers, and had trained under Ender himself. But despite Ender's relief, he could not help but wonder. Why was he here of all places? Should he not be in China where his family was? If anything, Ender expected him to be a part of their military, not the United States'. Either way, he pushed the thought into the back of his mind, and continued with his meeting.

"Attention!" Ender hollered just loud enough to startle everyone in the room.

Han tzu was the only one who stood with ease, and very easily held his hands behind his back. Ender had to hold in a smile at this, since he missed his very compliant original Jeesh very much. With them, Ender had earned their respect. It was not easy, and it took a while but he did. And now most of them were still undyingly respectful in his presence. Han tzu included.

For a moment, the young Chinese man was the only one who stood, as Ender waited. So he decided to say it again. This time, with more force to his voice.

"Attention!"

The rest soon followed, some with looks of confusion. Others, like Peter, were only smirking, as if challenging him. Though, like everyone else, Peter eventually obliged.

"Now listen up!" Ender shouted just as equally loud. "As you know, I have taken over as your new Commander."

Ender started to pace around the room, his eyes still on his soldiers.

"And you will follow me without any questions asked."

He emphasized that sentence directly toward Peter, who in turn, grinned at his little brother.

He then continued. "So far, under my brother's orders you have not advanced, and are no where close to even winning this war!" He paused, thinking about their losses. "And, you even managed to lose two very young, and capable former BattleSchool students who fought the Formics along side me. Those people were very important assets! But you just dumped them in a war zone without any rational thought?!"

The Generals stood in silence, as Ender ranted. He knew, just by seeing the expressions on their faces that they were no longer used to being put into their place. It was strange, considering Peter of all people was leading them before. Anyway, Ender needed to make sure that they understood that they were not in charge. Hopefully that would prevent any sort of rebellion happening.

"I expect all of you to use your brain, starting now to end this war for us! No more mistakes, and petty little assaults! This is war, and we are going to hit them with everything we have got!"

Ender let his last words hang in the air for quite some time before taking a seat himself. "At ease." He said calmly. "Let's begin."

* * * * * * * *

Tap....Tap...Tap. Tap.

That was the only sound Valentine could hear illuminating from Ender's quarters, as she reached the doorframe.

"Please come in", Ender's voice was low and Valentine could tell just by his tone that he was in the middle of something. What that was, she had no idea. But somehow, he had heard her coming down the hall.

Carefully, not wanting to disturb his train of thought, she pushed open the door, stepped inside, and re-closed it behind her. Her efforts were pointless; however, as she came face to face with her brother who was sitting at his desk, tapping his foot against the floor.

"I am sorry if I disturbed you", she apologized, eyeing the active ansible sitting in front of him.

"It is no trouble", Valentine could tell that Ender did not know how to react in her presence.

They had not seen each other since their little spat a while ago, and neither one of them had given any thought about it. Until now that is. Truth be told, Valentine, as individually driven as she was, could not let things between her and Ender turn into the relationship that she had with Peter. She didn't even want to imagine it, so she made herself, even though she was not sure she wanted to, march down the dank hall to her little brother's room. Now that she was there though, it was awkward to say the least.

"I heard you finally made it known to the rest of the base that you're here", she attempted small talk which Ender happily latched on to.

"Yeah", he shrugged. "Surprisingly, they didn't totally object my extreme tactics."

"Huh", Valentine took it upon herself to sit on the foot of Ender's bed. "Is there any chance you would tell me what you are up to? I am Demosthenes after all."

Ended smiled, and Valentine could see from his eyes that it was genuine. "I cannot."

Valentine shrugged, already having known the answer before she even asked the question. It was just another way to avoid their current predicament. At least, for another minute or two.

"Does it involve you going out into the field?" She continued with her questions.

Ender frowned. "I wish. According to Admiral Rackham, I am too valuable to be put under such risk."

"You are the only hope", Valentine emphasized her past point. It was the same statement that caused their initial fight, but this time Ender didn't object.

"I really am sorry about before", he spoke up after a long silence had long separated Valentine's words.

She looked up at him, kind of surprised that he would be the one to apologize first. She did think he had been the one who was being arrogant before, but after thinking it over she knew that she had crossed a line.

"Me too", was all she said.

"Can we just put this behind us?" Ender raised an eyebrow. "Because I miss having someone who can help me stay rational where Peter is concerned."

Valentine laughed. "What? You cannot handle our big brother? And I thought you were supposed to be the guy who could get anyone to follow your command."

They were back to joking, thankfully.

"Do not believe everything you read Val", Ender got up from his desk and made a point of giving her a small side hug.

Valentine knew that that was somehow meant to be the mending of their past argument, considering his lack of pleasure at having any physical contact whatsoever. So, she gladly accepted the gesture.

"Evolving to welcome human contact?" She questioned teasingly.

"What world are you living in?" Ender replied with.

Valentine was about to say something else, but a small beeping started to come from Ender's ansible, the screen redirecting itself to his emails.

Without another acknowledgment to Valentine, Ender was back in his chair in a split second.

"What is that?" Valentine asked. She had followed Ender back to his desk, and was now looking closely at his high tech communication system.

"Is this a joke?" Ender said into the open air.

Valentine had no idea what was even happening. Multiple stations were open on the screen at once, and Ender was doing activities so fast that she did not even try to keep up. That is, until all of Ender's documents closed except one. And this, Valentine saw, was definitely very important.

* * * * * * * *

Ender could not believe his eyes. After weeks of waiting, and thinking that hope was a lost cause, here was his proof. This, right in front of him, was all the proof he needed to see to know that Petra and Bean were still alive.

"Oh my god. Is that..." Valentine murmured from over his shoulder, and Ender turned around to meet his sister's gaze.

"Can you get Graff for me?"

She nodded without another word, and was out the door.

Ended turned back to the ansible letter that had caused his initial disbelief. He took time to read over it, and then did it again, and again, and again, until finally, he was met with the unmistakable sound of Graff entering his room.

"What was so urgent?" He asked. Valentine was no longer accompanying him.

"We need to change the plan", Ender swivelled around in his chair for the last time, turned off his ansible, and picked it up as well.

"Now listen here, Boy." Graff started. "We spent days coming up with that, and you agreed that it is entirely fool proof. But now you just want to change it! That is preposterous. First we have to—"

Ender did not want to listen to whatever bull the Minister of Colonization was spouting, and cut him off.

"We do not have time for amendments!" He shouted. "What I mean to say is that the plan shall remain, but a new leader will be in control of the charge.

Graff looked a little taken aback by this. "Do I need to remind you soldier that it is you who is capable to defeating our enemy? Not anybody else."

"Yeah. I know." Ender waved him off. "And I will, but we have bigger concerns."

"Which are what exactly?" Graff looked down at his former student.

"Ms. Arkanian is alive." Ender said sternly. "She has reached out by ansible, and is requesting help right away. Which is why I must be the one to go. I do not trust anyone else to return with them safely."

Graff took a minute to think this through, and then spoke. "That is a terrible idea."

* * * * * * * *

"What is the harm in letting Andrew do what he wants to do, hmm? I mean, he is supposedly the greatest war strategist in the world. I am sure that if he runs into a problem, he will be able to solve it."

Peter, smirk and all, made his pitch in front of the rest of the 'important' people in the A conference room.

The lettering system is a little weird, Peter had thought when he first came to live in the base. But soon, he realized that the higher up in the alphabet you were, the more important you are. So, he generally liked it when he got to spend time in 'A'. Especially when it was to help downgrade Ender's control over the current assault.

"I do see Mr. Wiggin's point", a man wearing a crisp navy blue tux said. He ruffled through his golden brown locks after his statement, and turned to his colleagues for any arguments.

"But," a blonde haired woman wearing a brown pantsuit spoke up. "Ender Wiggin is the International Fleet's only chance at winning this war against the Warsaw Pact! What if he loses his life on this mission? Where will we be then? Other successors have already proven to be incomparable to his effectiveness."

Peter felt a hint of rage at the woman's perspective, but refrained from getting ugly. They would not end up putting him in charge if he strangled one of them.

"That is true", Peter looked around at where the agreement came from and found that Valentine, his beautiful younger sister, had spoken.

She had been sitting silently at the other end of the table, and had just now made her appearance known. Her strawberry red hair, sat eloquently on her shoulders and was obviously curled for the important occasion.

"I am going to have to disagree with that though."

This peaked everyone's interest, including Peter's. He was always a little curious where Valentine was concerned. Since, he never knew what she was going to do lately. And that made him a little more than nervous.

"Nobody said anything about Ender taking this entire responsibility by himself. Sure, if he goes by himself he could potentially be killed. We would probably never see him again once he is dropped down. Heck, two of the best trained BattleSchoolees did not make it out alive. Surely, Ender could not."

Peter eyed her suspiciously. He did not quite understand what in the world his sister was doing. So far, she had only strengthened their case in not permitting him to leave.

"But!" Valentine snapped Peter out of his thoughts. "If he did not go alone, he would definitely have a chance."

Chatter broke out amongst the room, and the officials spoke amongst themselves for a few moments. That is, until Ender used his military supremacy to shut them up.

"Please, lets continue." Peter's little brother said. "We are on a schedule."

Peter saw Ender meet his gaze from across the room, and he made a point of smiling at his younger sibling. He knew that every time he did so, it infuriated Ender. But he did it anyway, because of the fear that his venomous grin would spark in him. Despite his status, and his military experience, Peter could still see the scared little Third that was underneath. And that boy, that was who he was trying to manipulate.

"But who would even volunteer?" The woman in the pantsuit asked. "We cannot afford to have any of our soldiers sit out of the Battle." She was looking at Ender this time instead of Valentine, who was sitting beside him.

"Which is why", Valentine spoke up once again. "Nobody will have to."

This caused the woman, along with quite a few others to raise their eyebrows.

"What my sister means," Ender started to clarify. "Is that we do not need any volunteers because nobody will know that I am gone. Think of the unrest that would cause between the squadrons."

"And", Valentine cut in. "My brother will not be alone. While everyone on this base still believes he is leading the war effort, I will be accompanying him on his mission."

"Nobody except the people in this very building know of my return, anyway", Ender said. "So there is no harm with a few disillusioned soldiers. And they will be in more than capable hands."

My hands, Peter could not stop the thought from entering his head. After all, this was a perfect plan. Both of his annoyingly responsible siblings would be out of his way in one foul swoop. How did he get so lucky?

Ender was not done speaking; however, and said one last thing. "I do propose that the reigns be handed to Admiral Rackham. He is the only one with equally matched credential to mine."

The rest of the officials approved of this, while Peter fumed. How dare you little brother, he hollered in his head.

"Let us take a vote", the golden brown haired mad stated, and within a matter of a minute; Ender and Valentine's plan had been accepted.

Not that Peter had voted in their favour out of the goodness of his heart. No, he rose his hand solely because of appearances. And he did not want to be the odd one out who disagreed. That would paint him in a bad light, and a bad image was not something he wanted.

Across the table, Ender felt relieved. Finally, he thought secretly to himself. I will find you both. And I will fix things with Petra. That was all he had wanted to do since he came back down for the second, and hopefully final, time. And now, it looked as though it would be his chance.

"Are you ready to do this?" Valentine turned towards him.

Ender nodded. "As ready as I will ever be."

-AN

Merry Christmas!! As a gift from me to you, have another chapter! Hope you guys have a great holiday, hopefully filled with lots of friends and family! And Happy New Year!

Anyway, I hope you're as excited for the next one as I am. I always loved the relationship Ender and Valentine had. Despite the fact that it wasn't really portrayed in the movie. So why not put them on an expedition together?

Please Vote, follow etc. It means a lot.

Thanks again,
Jess xx🎅🏼🎄🎄☃️