Chapter Five – Saida, The Bringer of the End
AN: Hi! Here is the next chapter, as promised! Please review!
Disclaimer:
Peter: DS7 you idiot!
DragonSiren7 (DS7): Huh? What?! What did I do?!
Saida: You forgot about the Disclaimers.
Ender: You better hope they don't take off your story.
Me: Whaaatttt?! Say it, then
Peter: What's in it for me?
Saida: I'm an OC - it wouldn't be right.
Ender: I don't wanna.
Onyx: *randomly appears* I'm also an Oc, buuuutttt - I brought Valentine!
Valentine: What?! How did I get here?!
All: JUST SAY THE DISCLAIMER!
Valentine: Errr... ok...? DragonSiren7, a.k.a. Joelle, is obviously not named Orson Scott Card, and thus cannot be the owner of Ender's Game. Happy?
DS7: Very.
Peter: *eating popcorn* Just strat the story already.
DS7: Meanie.
SAIDA_DRAHKON_
Graff was late. How typical. Saida leaned against the wall of her and Onyx's cabin, watching the sun rise on the horizon. It was strange, Saida decided, that something so beautiful could appear day after day, for billions and billions of years… unless you went to space, that is. Then you could never witness it again.
Everything has some sort of end, it is always just a matter of time.
A black speck appeared on the horizon, looming larger and larger until it blocked out the sun's fiery rays of color. Saida frowned. How annoying – like a bug, dark and buzzing, distracting you from what matters. Graff's car slowed to a stop on the gravel driveway, tinted windows rolling down to reveal the Colonel.
"Get in," he said gruffly. Saida shrugged and did as she was told, sending one more glance at the radiant sunrise before climbing onto the leather upholstery. "I expect you to behave while we check Ender," stated Graff.
"Of course you do, sir," replied Saida easily, staring out the window as the world rushed by. A feeling of dread welled up inside of her. Why was she leaving, why? She wanted to escape, yes, but surely there was a better way? She sighed as the car hit a bump in the road. It was too late now, of course.
They rode in silence for several more hours, with Graff driving and Saida staring out the window, her hand and forehead leaning against the cool pane of glass. The black car stopped at a nondescript house, and the two got out. "Behave," barked Graff one last time, before they pressed the buzzer to request entrance.
The door was opened by a fairly average appearing woman, followed by a man with frown lines and cold eyes. Voice did not like them – Saida did not think she liked them, either. Graff stepped in, and began to blabber about the other candidate – apparently he put some boy named Stilson in the hospital when the other tried to attack him. Good for him, Saida mused silently. Voice gave the equivalent to an exasperated sigh in the back of her head. Saida smirked, ducked around Graff, and strolled into the kitchen, where three children were talking – arguing, more like it.
Saida's eyes widened – a Third! The other candidate was a Third! How splendid! "Well, that's something you don't see every day," she commented softly. The tallest boy and girl turned to her, but before any of them could say anything, Ender was called into the other room. Saida didn't think he even noticed her. How disappointing.
"Who are you?" snarled the boy, before his eyes widened and a pleasant smile adorned his face. "I'm sorry, that was rather rude of me; you just caught me by surprise. I'm Peter, and this is my sister, Valentine. That was my brother, Ender."
"I'm Saida Drahkon, variable x," she said. Really, Saida had no idea why she said that last part, but Voice told her to, and she obeyed. Saida was Voice's soldier, after all.
"Interesting," blinked Peter. Suddenly, the pieces all fell in place. Peter – this was Peter! Onyx's new "friend" with a Third brother! It all made sense!
"Tell Onyx I said hi, will you?"
"How did you…?" he gaped. Saida smirked.
"Know? Now why would I tell you that? Besides, I know lots of things." Think, Saida, think. Her tongue was moving faster than her brain, and she wanted to bang her head against a wall. What a fool she was! What was she thinking – she was revealing all of her cards too fast! This was not a battle, this was a war!
Saida took a deep breath, let it out, closed her eyes, and rolled them into the back of her head before opening her eyes and letting them fall back into their natural position. She always felt calmer when she did that – Voice said it was because it was easier to magnify emotions within her, when her eyes faced their link. Saida wasn't really sure what to think about that. Were eyes the window to the soul, after all? And if they were, then what happened when others looked through their eyes using the monitors? She inwardly shuddered.
The three sat in silence after that, watching each other warily. Once both Peter and Valentine took their eyes off her, Saida's hand darted out and snatched an apple from the center of the table before she bit into it, savoring the sweet flavor. Did they have apples in space? Voice didn't think so, and, like usual, Saida agreed. When Peter and Valentine returned their gazes to the chaos-eyed girl, they blinked once, twice, before positively gaping.
"This is good," she said, smiling innocently and lifting up the apple. Peter snorted, and Valentine sighed before grinning exasperatedly. Saida smiled, also – they weren't too bad, really. For once, Voice didn't agree. Saida mentally shrugged – Voice didn't like people planning world domination, for some reason. Speaking of which…
"I know what you're planning," she said to Peter.
Peter blinked. "I'm not planning anything."
Saida rolled her eyes, mischief sparkling on the surface while something colder – darker – glinted in their depths. "What you are thinking about planning, then."
Peter stood up and walked over to her, his eyes cold and hard. "Listen, you little bugger," Voice laughed – was that seriously his worst insult? "I don't know what you think you know, but I know that you don't really know a thing, you got that?"
Saida blinked, once, twice, and said, "It really says something about my mental capacity that I was able to follow such a poorly worded sentence, does it not?"
Peter growled, Valentine chuckled, and Saida smirked.
"Alright Peter, let us just ignore everything you said a minute ago, and try again, shall we?" Before Peter could even open his mouth, though, Saida had hopped off the stool and was standing in front of the older boy, hands in the pockets of her pants and eyes hard.
"I might be younger than you, but I made it into the program, and you did not even last as long as Onyx, because you could not control your own childish urges for retribution and violence. I suggest you stop this battle and surrender in this war, because you will not win. I know who you are, Peter Wiggin, I know better than you do. And I can change that. I can turn your emotions – you're very self - inside out and upside down before you can even blink."
Tendrils of Voice's power reached out, connecting with the mind in front of her as Saida and Peter stared at each other. First, she placed a dampener on all negative emotions – anger, hate, sorrow, fear, and exemplified joy, love, and confidence as much as possible. Peter slowly relaxed, his eyelids dropping and a cheery, charming smile resting lazily on his face. Valentine stared in shock.
"Keep him like that – please, leave him like that," begged the other girl suddenly. Saida turned to her, eyes narrowed.
"He is evil, yes. He is cruel, also yes. But he is your brother, and in his own, messed up way, he cares about you – the both of you. Leaving Peter like this – he won't be Peter anymore. Do you understand? Your brother will be gone. In his place you will have someone who looks like him, has all of his memories – yet he will not be your brother, not anymore. Is that really what you want?"
Valentine swallowed, and whispered, in a soft, rasping voice, "Yes."
Saida sneered, disgust in her eyes. "You are more of a monster than you, or anyone else, knows," she whispered before turning back to Peter. Voice worked in perfect tandem with her, as usual – their thoughts moving as one, blending into a seamless mix – and ripped off all the blocks at once.
The recoil was astounding.
The black haired boy's head snapped back as if from whiplash, his eyes wide and breathing harsh. His hands rose to his head and Saida could practically see himself reordering his thoughts, his emotions, putting them away in nice little drawers. Voice smirked, and whispered a secret. Saida smirked, too. Blocks on minds were not meant to be ripped off all at once. It was damaging, rough on the mind. To rip them away as Saida and Voice had done to Peter – it was scarring, traumatizing. Every morning Peter would wake up, his mind in disarray once more. And eventually, eventually, Peter would slip up, would stop being so careful, and he would change, from Peter into something else – something better, for him, his family, and the world. Valentine watched from the side, eyes wide and holding back a mix of disappointment and joy.
Once the eldest Wiggin's mind was organized and emotions locked away again, Peter looked her hard in the eyes, glaring coldly. Saida replied with an even stare. Before anyone could say anything, Graff returned with a black haired boy in tow. The other child had pale blue eyes, and short, spiky hair. He looked older than six. Saida figured he felt older than six, too.
Saida turned back to Peter, deciding to give him what he needed to begin his plan. "You can do it. The three of you – yes, Valentine too – you can do it. You can change everything. The only thing left is to decide whether or not you really want to." With that, the young girl turned to Ender and held out her hand, callused from writing and training to fight with Onyx in the dead of night. Voice told her what to say next. "I'm Saida, Saida Drahkon. Do you mind if we're rivals, not enemies?"
Ender's glance flicked to her eyes, then to Graff, and a strange look passed over his face – almost as if he were calmly furious. Saida could have jumped for joy – finally, another with anger of ice! "I'm Andrew Wiggin, though I go by Ender. I'd rather be your rival than enemy." He was blunt – straight to business. Saida approved, even though it as a vast difference to her silver-tongued ways. It was a refreshing change. She glanced at Graff in the corner of her eye, and saw the rage in his eyes. Saida smiled, and she knew it was all sharp edges. Ender looked curious, intrigued – Voice liked him, yes, she liked him quite a lot.
Saida was almost jealous.
She watched as the boy was embraced by his family, and sneered inwardly. What liars his parents were – liars to themselves, and liars to Ender. She didn't mind liars on a whole, but those who lied about love – well, she couldn't stand them, and Voice only made it worse. The three climbed into the car, and her heart constricted in pity as she heard what must be Valentine's voice cry out as if in pain, "Come back to me! I love you forever!"
SAIDA_DRAHKON_AND_ANDREW_"ENDER"_WIGGIN_
The three were mostly silent as they drove, Ender focused on his hands, Graff on the road, and Saida on the world outside the window. The silence was disturbed by a slight whirring nose as she rolled the window down and stuck out her hand, letting it ride on the wind currents. Her mind raced as she drank in as much as she could, knowing it may be the last time she would enjoy something as simple as wind in her hair and the green wilderness around her. Who know what Graff had planned for them at Battle School. She was so focused on her own thoughts that she almost missed Ender rolling down his window, as well, and letting his head rest as close to the open window as possible.
Suddenly, a stab of pain hit her head, and she barely concealed a grimace as the ache built until Saida felt as though her head was about to explode. This was the consequence for manipulating Peter. Her mind – unlike Voice's – was not meant to handle a connection with another human. It was not developed enough to twist and break someone's soul – it was only through Voice's aid that she was not unconscious, or even dead. The pain in her head reminded Saida once more that this was Voice's power – not hers – and that without Voice, she would truly be lost. As a result of the roaring in her ears, she almost missed Graff finally speaking up.
"Roll up the window," ordered Graff. Saida scoffed inwardly as Ender did so, and instead went back to the world outside of their tiny little car. "That's an order, cadet."
Saida filled with rage, feeling it inflate inside her like a balloon, and then multiply in an instant, as Voice's emotions added to hers. "We're not in Battle School yet, Colonel. We are about to be shipped off to space for x amount of years - maybe even forever. Forgive me for wanting to enjoy my last moments on earth."
"So you dare to defy a direct order?" growled Graff. Saida knew it was stupid - Graff was the one in charge, the one pulling the strings of her life, and she was purposefully angering him. Even so, she decided that these fleeting moments of satisfaction were more important, and stuck her head out the window, ignoring Ender's shocked face and wide eyes. Besides, her loyalty was to Voice and Voice alone.
"I'm not your soldier, Colonel, not yet," not ever, she amended silently. "Until such a time as I am, I'll do as I damn well please." With that, she stuck her hand out the window and went back to ignoring everyone.
Saida knew, suddenly and surely, that if this continued, she would be eliminated. Voice was urgent, raging against her mind, demanding to be let free, to do something. So Saida took a deep breath, and stepped back within her own mind, allowing Voice to come forward. Immediately, tendrils of power reached out to Ender, wrapping around his mind and coaxing feelings of rebellion and suspicion to the surface.
Voice smiled in a rather dark and self-praising way as Ender rolled down his window, and stuck out his hand as well, copying Saida as he rode the wind as it rushed by.
Voice absently mused that Graff had a rather dark aura around him, filled with rage and hate. She doubted it was healthy for the rather overweight, highly stressed Colonel.
Voice laughed.
It was good to be a Queen.
Saida laughed, too, in the back of their shared minds. She did not know how long they would survive this game, but that was alright. Everything has an end, after all - and she would rather it end on her terms, and no one else's. If that means she must be the one to bring the end - well, so be it. Death was inevitable, anyway.
AN: By this point, if you are not 75% sure who Voice is, PM me and I will tell you, because I basically just spelled it out.
Aaaanyyywaaaayyyyy…. Did you guys like the confrontation between Peter and Saida? I must have re-wrote it a thousand times! Let me know what you think! Do you think Saida is becoming too strong? We did see more of her weaknesses, though, such as her headache and dependence on Voice. Her dependence will actually be EXTREMELY important later on. Do you think Saida knows who Voice is? If she doesn't, how do you think she will react when she finds out? Will the Bugger's planet still be destroyed? Let me know what you think is going to happen!
By the way... do you think this story should have pairings? If so, let me know which ones you like:
EnderxSaida - Sader
EnderxPetra - Etra? Pender?
SaidaxBonzo - (Ewwwww...) Saido
SaidaxBean - Baida
SaidaxDean - Sean (let's say it is pronounced as "seen," shall we?)
SaidaxPeter - (O.o) Saiter (rhymes with hater...)
SaidaxOther... (no same gender couples/underage couples - and please don't call me a hater.)
PetraxPeter - (O.e) Pet
PetraxOnyx - Pyx
PetraxDean - Detra
PetraxBonzo - (Ewwwww again) Penzo
PetraxBean - Betra
PetraxOther (no same gender couples/underage couples - and please don't call me a hater.)
Va
ValentinexOnyx - Vyx
ValentinexOther - (no same gender couples/underage couples - and please don't call me a hater.)