I don't own Ender's Game.

Alright, you guys knew it was coming sooner or later. Hailee Steinfeld is hot so you knew my radar would pick her up. Ender's Game is beautiful. So, you knew I was going to tap into the only two young enough female characters to do this with. The name says it all, by the way. Enjoy and tell me what you think of the chapter.

Valentine sighed as she stared up at the sky. It was nearing her twenty-eighth birthday and there was still no sign of Ender coming back. Maybe he left me forever. She sniffed inwardly. It really doesn't seem like he's coming back.

Lifting herself from the ground, she made her way back into the house. She and Peter were both still staying with their parents because her mother was afraid of never seeing them again like she believed she wouldn't see Ender. Valentine had kept her room and Peter had simply moved all of Ender's old things into the shed. Valentine had swiped a few of the things before her brother could box them and kept them hidden at the back of her closet, pulling them out whenever she wanted to remember her little brother without Peter interrupting her.

It was to her closet that she went now, but she decided against pulling anything out just yet. The day was still not over yet and Peter hadn't come in to 'play' with her yet so she wanted to wait for him to get his 'fun' over with. Without warning a shadow fell across the entire room, the sun hiding behind some clouds as Peter appeared in the doorway.

"Hey Val." Peter murmured, walking forward. Valentine instantly froze up, understanding the swaggering pose he was using. That pose was the same Ender had learned to recognize, the one she had taught him how to recognize. It meant pain was in the very near future.

"You wanna play a game?" he inquired, eyeing the pieces of her that were covered by clothing.

He would never hurt her where anyone could see. That would be too easy and would raise too many questions. No, he had to hurt her the same way he had Ender when they were younger. Valentine backed away from him, analyzing the room to try finding a way out that wouldn't result in her instant death.

"I don't want to play any of your games, Peter." Valentine told him. "We're not children anymore. I shouldn't have to play any games with you."

"Well, I want to play whether you want to join in or not." Peter leaped forward and grabbed her wrist so that she couldn't dodge.

"Peter!" Valentine shrieked, silenced by a sudden blow to the side of her head. Lights popped in front of her eyes as Peter tossed her onto the bed. Valentine attempted to roll off, but his knee came down on her diaphragm seconds before she could, knocking the breath out of her. Gasping for air, she watched the sneer play across her brother's lips and knew he was contemplating killing her. Instead, he pulled himself off of her and tossed her into the wall.

"Peter, please!" Valentine gasped, backing into a corner.

"You're pathetic, Val!" Peter snarled. "You're almost twenty-eight and you still cry and snivel like a child. You wouldn't know how to fight back even if Ender did come home. No wonder he left you behind."

This snapped a chord inside of Valentine and she rushed at her brother, slamming him into the wall with her hands around his neck. "You're wrong!" she shrieked, tears rushing down her face as she tried to convince herself that he was lying and that Ender wouldn't leave her behind unless he had a good reason. "You're wrong!"

Peter grasped at his throat, eyes popping in shock at what his sister was doing. Valentine let him go and pushed him away from her, sinking to her knees and sobbing. Not wanting to say something else to provoke her into strangling him, Peter simply watched her cry impassively, rubbing his neck and thinking through ways he could avoid a repeat of that event.

Finally, getting bored with watching Valentine cry, he left her alone in the room, moving into the rest of the house to find something else to entertain himself. Valentine continued to cry alone in her room, unable to keep the message Ender sent her from her mind. He can't have left forever. Was it because of me? Did I drive him off?

At dinner that evening, Peter wore a long-necked shirt to avoid his mother seeing the bruises he had received from Valentine because he knew his sister wouldn't hesitate in telling, if asked, why she had nearly strangled him to death. Dinner was a quiet affair as it always was. None of the three Beta members of the family cared to speak, so Mr. Wiggin took up the job of starting conversation.

Picking at her dinner, Valentine sighed quietly as her father went on about something to do with the government. She really didn't care about the government. It was because of the government that Ender had left her here to deal with Peter and his delusions of being the best or being a killer. Just as she was about to simply excuse herself from dinner altogether because she was unable to deal with her father's rants any longer, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Valentine stood and made her way from the table, scraping her plate before wiping her hands and moving out into the living room.

Heading to the door, Valentine brightened her expression a bit so that she didn't scare whoever was on the other end, Then she opened the door and felt her face drop at who was on the other side. Two people smiled at her from the doorstep. One was a woman, tall and lean with an obvious muscular figure and light brown hair that nearly reached the back of her knees. She stood with a straight posture, her bright brown eyes maintaining a calm collected look and a small smile graced her lips that widened when she caught sight of Valentine. The other person was male with the same straight posture as the woman, but with a few inches of height on her and at least half a foot on Valentine herself. He had longer hair than she remembered, but still in the same style too. Beautiful blue eyes shined at her as a wide grin broke his lips.

"Hey Val."

Tada! Review for me.