He runs out the door without a tank of oxygen.
My heart speeds up, "Ender!" I scream. I grab two bags and sprint after him. He slows down in front of me and stops. He hunches over and is breathing heavy. I finally reach him and put the mask over his mouth and then fix my own.
I remove my mask and say, "What are you thinking? You can't just do that!" I yell at him.
He looks at me and removes his mask now that his breathing is even. "I have to fix it, they were trying to communicate with me. I have to fix it," he says looking at me almost pleading.
"You can't do it alone," I state. I move my hand to his shoulder and say, "I'm coming with you."
"You can't Petra," he says placing his hand on mine, my stomach flips and I feel almost giddy from the contact but I have to ignore it this time, I don't know what comes over me when I'm around him and when we touch it's like explosions. "I have to do it alone," he squeezes my hand and removes it from his shoulder but stays holding it tightly. I feel a lump form and my throat tighten. He pulls me closer into a hug. I feel a tear fall and I nestle my face into the crook between his neck and shoulder. He lets me go.
"Go back," he says and turns around to walk into the fallen castle. I stand there for a second after he disappears before I wipe my eyes. I turn and walk back inside the ship.
I walk straight past everyone and to his room. He has given me the code enough times so my fingers numbly click 96042. I walk in and sit on his bed, after a while my back and neck start aching so I lay down. I smile slightly because the bed smells so strongly of him, like earth and mint, surprisingly a good combination. My eyes start to get heavy and I try to stay awake but the eventually stay closed.
I awaken to the sound of the door opening so I quickly sit up. Ender walks in and looks at me. "What are you doing here?" He asks a bit loudly sounding slightly annoyed but relieved at the same time.
"Waiting for you to get back, I knew you couldn't do anything stupid without coming here first," I snapped, there is silence for a minute, "Did you find what you were looking for?" I asked a bit gentler.
He nods, "I'm leaving out in an hour to fix everything." He still stands in the same spot right in front of the now closed door.
I get up and go over to him, "I'm coming with you," I say seriously.
"You can't Petra, you have to stay here," his voice is soft and almost breaks when he says my name.
"You need a crew. It's not up for discussion, I'm coming with you." I say softly but sternly while looking into his bright blue eyes that are so easy to get distracted by.
"Petra," he says but I stop him from saying anything else by taking another step, placing a hand on each of his shoulders, and tugging him so that we are only a few inches apart. I leave my hands there but now he's close enough that I can smell the earthyness and mint radiating off of him.
"I said not up for discussion, you're not going to be a super hero on you're own this time" I whisper in his ear.
"Please don't make me bring you," he whispered back almost begging, "I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt." My stomach flips and I can't resist the urge to pull him the rest of the way into a hug, so I just do it.
"With me and you, I don't think either of us can get hurt. We'll protect each other," I say little louder but still in a whisper. We stay in the embrace for a few more moments before he pulls away enough to see me, but not enough so we aren't still holding each other.
"We better get packing, meet me back here as soon as you're done," he says still sounding a bit worried. I hug him tightly again and when I let go I walk out and over to my room.
~time skip~
We both step into the small craft that we would be living in.
"When I requested it I didn't expect to have you so it's small," he pauses, "and there is only one tube," he says almost sounding slightly embarrassed.
I laughed, looking away slightly so he wouldn't see my small blush than looking back, "We can manage," I say slightly laughing still.
He smiled back at me and said, "I'm sure we can, we might be here a while."
"Works with me, so what exactly are we doing?" I asked.
"I found an egg, so we are finding a planet. There's still hope for them," he says with his beautiful blue eyes sparkling. He goes over to the control center and types some things in I follow him, "Looks like it will take a little over a month to get to the stopping point,"
"Start it up then," I say as the engine starts to roar.
"How are we going to do the whole tube thing? I mean it's kinda time to figure that out," he says sheepishly.
"We share it, I thought that was obvious," I state with a slight head shake.
"Oh okay," he says and we both crawl in. It's a bit smaller than usual, but it's still comfortable. He flips the switch on so we will both be asleep soon, "Hey, Petra?"
"Yeah Ender?" I ask looking at him.
"Why did you insist on coming with me?" He says.
"Ummmm," I come up blank maybe because I don't quite know or maybe I don't want to admit it, so I say the first thing that comes to my mind, "The same reason you didn't want me to come, I didn't want you to get hurt." I say maybe a bit to fast.
"But why?" He asks, he grabs my hand and intertwines my fingers with his still looking up, "You can tell me. You can tell me anything Petra," He yawns.
"I...I," I can't tell him, it won't come out right. He gives my hand a squeeze, "I'm not good with words," I trail off he looks over and gives me a curious look. All my senses are overwhelmed with him. His eyes and lips are all my eyes can focus on, he is all I can smell and truthfully I can't get enough, his breathing is all I can hear besides the purring of the engine in the background, all I can feel is how we are pressed up against each other and our hands intertwined, all I can think about is him, from when we met to now and all the memories and the quirks about him I have noticed, and there is a heat about the whole thing as the explosions are going off in between them. All I can do is lean in and place my lips against his.
That's when we both fell asleep and I think that was the longest kiss there ever has been and the most awkward waking up I have ever had, but it was worth it.