Next morning, Ender made his way down to the Simulator room with Dap. He walked in and was greeted with the faces of Petra, Dink, Bean, Bernard and Alai. Cayla was nowhere in sight.
"Sir," Bean spoke up, motioning to the window behind Ender. "We have an audience."
Ender turned to face the window to find a lot more people were standing with the two Colonels. All were different ranks of the I.F. Even the head of the I.F was there!
"Commander Wiggin, the members of the I.F are here today to witness your final simulation. If you are successful, he will endorse your promotion to battle Commander of the entire fleet," Graff explained.
"Yes, sir. I just have one question; where's Cayla, my second in Command. Surely she should be here," Ender exclaimed.
"Cadet Parker is in another room, set to take over if needed," Graff told him, looking slightly worried. Bean tutted at his words.
"Good luck, Commander," The head of the I.F said.
"Thank you, sir," Ender nodded and turned to his team once again. "Keep calm, shoot straight, here we go."
Everyone began cheering as the screen went black. Everyone except Bean.
"How about that?" Ender shouted at I.F members. "Game over."
Bean nodded at them, signaling to turn the screen back on.
The signal was quickly fixed by someone to show them the Formic home planet destroyed by flames. The flames covered every last bit of the planet. That shouldn't be on the program. Then the rest of the team realised.
It was not a game.
"Why are we watching this?" Ender asked, confused.
"Ender, thank you. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" Graff praised as he and Rackam both walked up to the boy.
"Sir, did she-" Bean began but was silenced by Graff shaking his head.
"Not now, Bean."
"Why are these images on the program?" the commander questioned, just to be sure.
"Ender, we won," Graff told him.
"What do you mean we won? I beat him," Ender said, pointing at Rackam. "He runs the simulations. He said it was a game."
"It was them or us, Ender. There was no other way," The ex-war hero explained.
"With this victory, you've won all future battles. You destroyed them, all for us. The soldiers that sacrificed themselves for us won't be forgotten. Cayla's sacrifice won't be forgotten."
The members of the I.F stood clapping for Ender while this happened but stopped when they heard his scream.
"CAYLA'S WHAT?" The boy screamed.
"She's dead, Ender. The squadron you let Bean sacrifice, she was Captain of that squadron. Controlling from within the battle."
"NO!"
"Ender-"
The commander ran from the two Colonels. He wouldn't listen. She's dead. He couldn't seem to process it.
Cayla.
DEAD.
CAYLA!
DEAD!
He had killed her! He had murdered her! He was a murderer!
Ender had let them die; let her die. Thousands of men and women had been sacrificed to win this war. No, this was not a war.
It was a Genocide.
"Ender-"
"STAY AWAY FROM ME! I've killed an entire species! Cayla's death was not worth it. No-ones was! You lied!"
"Son, I can understand that you cared for her. She was your best friend. It's normal for you to be feeling this way," Graff tried and failed to sooth.
"Nothing about this is 'normal!'" Ender spat.
"We were afraid that if we told you-"
"I would what? Not play your game? I've killed an entire species!"
"We were afraid that if we didn't attack them then they would have done the same to us."
"No they wouldn't have. They waited! What were they waiting for?"
"Who cares? We lost a thousand soldiers on the transporters you abandoned!"
"I abandoned them in order to win!"
"Yes and they died proudly for us. Just like Cayla did."
"If I had known it was real I-"
"You would have what? Call for a dialogue? They can't even speak!"
"-watched them. What were they thinking? Were they building an army for a second invasion or simply preparing to defend themselves-"
"Ender, stop-"
"-from us. They came to earth to establish a colony. We chased them away and in fifty years, they never returned."
"It makes no difference now."
"I will bare the shame of this genocide forever."
"No. You will be remembered as a hero."
"I will be remembered as a killer!" The boy snapped.
"It was us or them," Graff reminded.
It seemed like it was both to the commander.
"Are you sure we've killed every last one of them?"
"I saw their whole planet go up in flames. Of course they're all gone!" The Colonel shouted.
"How do you know that there wasn't another colony or another queen?" the teen questioned.
"That's enough Ender! We won! Cayla wouldn't want you to be like this!"
The boy stood so he was face-to-face with the Colonel, anger burning in his eyes.
"Don't you ever tell me what she would have done! You have NO right. Don't even say her name again!"
"I can see that you are mourning these deaths, her's especially. After all, you two have been best friends since the beginning but that is no way to talk to a Colonel."
"She wasn't just my best friend! I love her! I always have! And now she's- and now you think she's dead. I wish you had sent me out onto the field to take command when necessary. I wish you had trained her just like Rackam wanted. Then she'd be here. She'd be alive!" The boy collapsed to his knees, breaking down in sorrow, knowing he'd probably never see Cayla again.
Yep. I went there. I killed Cayla. Oops. By the way this isn't the end of the story. There is still one more chapter left.
If you want a sequel to this showing Ender two years later, still trying to cope with Cayla's death, leave a review.
Don't forget to favorite, follow and review.
See you next time,
Supernerdyfangirl
