SilverGryphin: I have a confession to make. Due to obsession with Ender's Shadow and, having nothing to do in my spare time outside of cross country (why do they start it BEFORE school starts?) and work, I have...errrr...kinda sort of almost finished the story. So I'm not the best updater in the world. I'm just the scariest compulsive fanficker in the world. Lol. Fanficker. That's so fun to say! And as for the "grew some brains" part--it was a major epiphany to put that in the fic after tripping on a tree root during a trail run and saying to one of the other girls, "I need to grow some brains and watch the ground!" YAY for tripping! Maybe if I flump over again, I'll come up with more! TALLY HO! Lol. I might scare the new freshies (freshman). Me being a big, scary, (cough cough) intimidating sophomore of great status. Lol. Not that I can lie, being on fanfic...I'M A NERD...a cool nerd? Hmmm. Nah. Nerds are already cool--it's like, built into the word. Says me. And as for the edit, you were right: I was gonna say the only he would acknowledge. Thanks for catching that for me! And I'll use your page break :D. I was gonna do a combo of yours and The 42's suggestions, but the asterisks are scared of me. They don't stay.
The 42: Crap! You knew I was evil? What did I do wrong? I mean really, a little friendly criticism here. I need to make it so nobody can tell. HELP ME! Lol. Hey, are you suffering the heat wave, too? I live on the east coast and I'm about ready to bash my head into a wall. Oh, wait a second, I probably couldn't get that far because I'd be BLINDED by the HUMIDITY! (takes a deep -evil- breath). Thanks for the heads up about the refusal of med care. I'm sort of making him be like that because subconsciously he wants to suffer for Poke's death and blah-dee-blah (I'm really scared that one day I might become a therapist and have nightmares about these fics, ya know?). I'll mention it in some of the later chapters. Bean doesn't have a POV in this chapter. The asterisk for the page break was really cute, but how do you get it to stay? Like, every time I save the document, the asterisk disappears. Did I scare it? DOES IT KNOW I'M EVIL, TOO? QUIT TELLING EVERYONE! Lol.
Ember Nickel: Yeah, I guess it is sorta AU. I'm going to make it so everything can get back on track in the end. I mean, killin' all the buggers and what not. Ender will still be commander. I won't tamper that much with the ending. I just want Ender and Bean to be friends (SOBS) because they weren't really good buddies in the book, if I recall. Something along the lines of, "Why would any soldier want to follow a little pinprick like you?" and then some mild shoving and guilt afterwards. Not that Ender could've known that Bean was a supergenius. MWAHAH.
-- (that's SilverGryphin's pagebreak...I don't want to plagiarize :D)
Chapter Seven
Found
Nikolai forked at the eggs and stuck a bit in his mouth, forcing himself to chew. But there was too much on his mind. He thought of his own experiences with the fantasy game. Yes, some of them had been unusual. Sometimes he saw his father working, but he was always still at the desk, never acknowledging his presence. Other times he was in a warm beach, the waves rippling serenely in the distance—he supposed that was what he missed most about leaving his home, the island of Crete. There was no greenery, nature or natural water here in Battle School. It was all metallic and gray.
The fantasy game either made him melancholy or happy or both at the same time, but never put him in any danger. Like he'd been told in the beginning, it adapted to his interests. Never threatened him.
But Bean…he was beaten pretty bad. A sickening weight dropped in his stomach. He shouldn't have let Bean go off to the bunks alone, but he wasn't thinking straight, the win still fresh in his mind. What if something happened to him? What if a Salamander cornered him?
They'd be more respectful than that, wouldn't they?
Except Bean had just cost them a battle. An important battle, at that. They wouldn't forgive him easily for that.
"Damn it," Nikolai muttered. He quickly finished off his breakfast so the nutritionists wouldn't bug him and headed towards the exit.
A hand touched his shoulder. Nikolai halted, immediately knowing who it was without asking.
"Where was Bean?" asked Ender.
Nikolai turned around to face him, unable to discern the emotion Ender was asking with. Anger? Concern? Curiosity? Or gratitude, since Bean's unexpected arrival saved them? More importantly, why didn't Ender know? Hadn't Bean been in his room last night?
"Got up and played the fantasy game last night," Nikolai informed him, sounding more accusatory than he meant to. "Sorry," he muttered immediately. "I just…it was worse this time. He looks like someone tried to kill him and almost succeeded."
"He left the room? How did he even find his way in the dark?"
"Bean's pretty stubborn when he wants to be," Nikolai said, recalling the numerous times they'd argued different positions on matters from political to nutritional (Nikolai liked the puddings, Bean liked the ice cream). He could imagine Bean sneaking up and finding his way.
"I'm worried. I think the teachers are testing him. He's getting in over his head, and we need him," Ender said seriously.
"Is that why you needed to see him?"
Ender nodded. "Yes. I have him doing a few maneuvers on the side. I guess we'll know more about it when he gets a group together—even I'm not exactly sure what he's going to do. I just know it'll be better than what we're doing right now." His face hardened. "I think I'm going to go see Graff about this. I bet he has something to do with it."
"It was Bean's first time playing the fantasy game yesterday," Nikolai told him, in case the information was useful to him. He didn't try to stop Ender from going to the colonel; he had Bean's best interests in mind, too.
"Thought so. This isn't fair anymore, what they're doing. Breaking down our army. Bean's only the first to crack, being the youngest—I'm sure that more will—"
"Bean hasn't cracked," Nikolai defended. "He's the smartest person I know. If anything, they're messing with the game because he hasn't cracked."
"I know that." Ender sighed. "This has gone too far."
"I'll go check on Bean," said Nikolai, heading towards the bunks.
"Where is he now? I couldn't catch up with him after the game. He looked pretty bad."
"In the bunks."
"Thank him for me, would you?" Ender requested, giving him a small, strained smile. "He really did save us there." Then he gestured towards the door. "Go find him, I'll see Graff."
"Thanks."
Nikolai didn't need the silly lights anymore to find his way to the bunks. He could run through these halls without even thinking about where he was going now. He ran until he felt that his lungs would tear from the effort and slammed his palm on the door for admittance.
His eyes quickly scanned the room. "Bean?" he called out in a half-gasp. The top bunk was empty. His gaze trailed to the floor, where he saw his friend's limp form crumpled by the ladder.
"Bean…" Nikolai huddled down to Bean's level, prodding him. "Bean, wake up," he said.
Nothing. Bean didn't so much as flinch at his touch.
Nikolai felt a bolt of panic flash through him. "Bean?" he asked again, more frantic than before. "Wake up, Bean!" He shook the boy by the shoulders. There was a small pool of blood underneath him; Nikolai looked away impulsively. The only hint that Bean was still alive was the sound of his shallow, uneven breathing; Nikolai sighed in relief. Bean was okay for now.
He dragged Bean into a sitting position and hoisted him onto someone's bunk, sure that the blood wouldn't matter under the circumstances. "I'll be right back," he promised, "just don't do anything stupid, okay?" As if Bean could hear him. Maybe he could.
With one last glance at Bean, he tore off back into the hall. The teachers weren't going to get away with this. He'd go to Ender—he'd know what to do.
--
Ender knocked on what he knew to be Graff's office during the day. At first nobody answered, so he knocked again, louder this time.
"Come in."
Graff only looked mildly surprised to see him standing there, but he knew as well as Ender that the confrontation was bound to happen sometime soon.
"Ender," he greeted the boy with a slight nod.
"Sir," he replied curtly. "I want to know what you're trying to do."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't treat me like some stupid kid, sir," Ender snarled, "we both know that anyone in my army is way beyond that now. What are you trying to do, kill us all? One of my soldiers was attacked by the fantasy game last night! What kind of explanation do you have for that, sir? You're behind all of this, aren't you?"
Graff leaned back on his chair. "I understand that you're angry, but you have to understand that we're testing you—"
"Unfairly, sir."
"—and your army, to see what you're capable of."
"Oh, so the fantasy game was just a little sideshow? Use a soldier as a pawn to almost lose a battle because of his absence?"
"I wasn't aware that you placed high value on Bean's presence," Graff commented.
Ender scowled. "So you do have something to do with this."
Graff shook his head. "No. I'm looking into it. In the meantime, though, let him play. I'd like to see what comes out of this."
"What will you do if you kill him? Replace him with another soldier?" Ender demanded. "We can't do that this late in the game, sir. The buggers are coming. I know it, you know it—hell, Bean knows it, and he's five. You're making it a bit obvious. We can't replace anybody."
"Bean is…an exception to that. And we aren't going to kill him." His eyes flashed. "I see you're not playing the fantasy game anymore. Why don't you try it if you think it's so rigged?"
"Because I won," Ender explained resignedly. "I told you that."
Haphazard footsteps scurried down the hall, coming closer. Ender and Graff stood their ground, stares locked on the other, until the footsteps came to a halt.
"Ender," gasped Nikolai, looking relieved, "it's—" He saw Graff and stopped.
"Go on," Graff prompted him. "Whatever you say to your commander you can say in front of me."
Nikolai jutted out his chin, trying to be defiant. It looked a little weird coming from a mild-mannered sort of boy, but he got the point across. "It's Bean. He's unconscious in the bunks and I can't wake him up." His forehead creased with worry and he bit his lip, message delivered.
Ender shot a look over at Graff.
"Better go deal with that. It's your soldier," said Graff, raising his eyebrows.
The boy scoffed with disgust at his elder. "We need him for the buggers, sir," he said loudly, making sure that Nikolai heard it in his daze.
"I know."
--
Okay. Now that you've read the chapter and all that crazy business, answer me this: who else has been hearing rumors about an Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow movie combo? I looked it up online but it looks like Card dropped it months ago. I'm, like, resorting to asking shallow and petty celebrity magazines with entertainment sections (alright, I'll admit it...I want to know what Nicole did as much as the next girl...) if they can dig up the dirt 'bout what's going on! Orson Scott Card was quoted saying he wanted Dakota Fanning to play Petra. Errrr...isn't she s'posed to be Armenian? I can't imagine Bean making out and having babies with Dakota Fanning, either. ACK! SOMEONE KILL ME! Somewhere in the world right now, Orson Scott Card is cringing. Even his website, (you also get redirected to it if you type in funnily enough), doesn't mention much about it. I NEED THAT MOVIE. I NEEEEED IT. He'd better do Bean justice, too. Lol. I think Card might be writing the script himself. It should be amazing. Like, better than Superman Returns! w00t. Don't ask. At some point Jake Lloyd (ya know, that lil kid from the Phantom Menace that couldn't act but had the cute smile? the one no one ever saw in a movie ever again? ah, child stardom...) was considered for the role of Ender, but he's obviously too old now. WHO WILL PLAY BEAN? And at some point, thirty-five pages of a potential script leaked out onto the web, but all the links have been since disabled. I am slightly furious about that. Lol.
Okay...I ranted again, didn't I? It was worth it. Hey, dudes, wake up, it wasn't THAT boring...errrr, wake UP...aw, man. Next city, here I come.