Énouement

Chapter Twenty

Ender had been just as excited as I was when I had shown him my shoes. He knew how much dancing meant to me, how much I loved it. It was hard to explain to him why Major Anderson had given me the shoes. After all, we don't get gifts or kindness in battleschool.

I couldn't tell him how Anderson had taken pity on my circumstances of being here. After promising to dance for him later, he quickly forgot about the reason I was given the shoes in the first place.

The next morning we had a battle. Bonzo came in as we were dressing.
"Flash suits!" He called. This would be Ender and I's fourth battle.

The enemy was Leopard and Bonzo told me it should be an easy battle. Leopard was new and always in the bottom quarter. It had been organized just six months earlier, with Pol Slattery as the commander.

"Easiest battle yet." Bonzo called out to his toon leaders. But I understood what he was saying. Easy battle, should be our easiest yet, so we cannot under any circumstance loose, when it should be so easy.

Ender and I put on our new suits and got into line. Bonzo came and roughly pulled Ender from next to me, and shoved him in the back on the line. Stupid Bonzo, I thought silently. You didn't have to do that. You could have let him stay in line. I stood in the corridor with Ender for my allotted two minutes, observing Pol Slattery.

He was young, but sharp, and he had a lot of new ideas. He kept his soldiers moving, darting from star to star, wall sliding to get behind and above the stolid Salamanders. Bonzo was completely confused as were his men. The battle wasn't as lopsided as it seemed though. Leopard had lost a lot of men, their reckless tactics exposed them too much.

By the time I had even gotten into the battleroom though, Salamander was nearly defeated. My usual elusiveness in the battleroom seemed to be gone as well. This time there had been soldiers watching and waiting for me to slip inside. It seemed that stories of Bonzo's shadow had gotten around. I flipped and maneuvered my way out of much of the shots fired towards me.

"Bonita! Come on and play Bonita!" Apparently Bonzo's nickname for me had gotten around as well. I faltered in my aerial maneuvers for a split second. Just long enough for my feet to be frozen. I was only damaged however, and kept firing to get to Bonzo.

Unfortunately he had heard the boys as well and in his anger, directed at me for being hit or the boys for calling me Bonita I didn't know, he had been distracted long enough to be damaged. They swarmed me and I didn't make it to Bonzo before I was frozen completely.

The battle didn't last much longer. The soldiers, hopeless in this style of fighting and without Bonzo's command, huddled together like the last survivors of a massacre. As if they hoped the enemy would overlook them in the carnage. Idiots.

I saw Ender slip through the gate as I drifted. He quickly oriented himself the way we taught the Launchies, so that the enemy's gate was down. He drifted slowly to a corner where he wouldn't be noticed and fired at his own legs, to hold them in his standard kneeling position. He looked just like a frozen soldier.

Leopard quickly mopped up the other soldiers and in the end had nine boys left. They all formed up and got ready to open the Salamander gate.

I curiously watched as Ender took his pistol out of his holster. He wouldn't disobey his orders though, no matter how stupid. Apparently I didn't know Ender as well as I thought because before I knew it, he had shot the three soldiers who were about to press their helmets to the gate.

They didn't know what had happened and by the time they had shot at Ender, they only hit his already frozen legs. it gave him time to hit the last two men at the gate. By the time they had disabled Ender's arm, Leopard only had four perfect soldiers remaining, not enough to open the gate. The game was a draw, and they hadn't even hit Ender's body.

Pol Slattery was furious, but there had been nothing unfair about it. Everyone in Leopard assumed this had been the grand strategy of Bonzo's, leave a man till the last minute. It didn't occur to them that Ender had fired against orders. But Salamander knew, and I knew, and Bonzo knew. I didn't have to look at him to know that he hated Ender for saving him from this defeat. But I knew Ender didn't care, he was trying to be traded.

I didn't comment on anything to Ender as we undressed from our flash suits in the barracks. I was wary for him, and he was beyond the realm of caring about what Bonzo might do to him.

I had changed and was sitting in my bunk when I saw Bonzo stalk to a naked Ender who was about to climb into his own bunk. I made to jump down next to Ender, but the boy in the bunk next to me reached over, held my arm, and shook his head. I wouldn't help the situation. Still the anger in Bonzo's eyes looked like Peter's. And I was afraid.

"Wiggin, I finally traded you. I was able to persuade Rat army that your incredible place on the efficiency list is more than an accident. You go over there tomorrow."
"Thank you, sir."

Maybe Ender sounded too grateful. I saw something flash in his eyes as he swung and caught Ender's jaw with a vicious open-handed slap that knocked Ender sideways. I tried to jump down in between them but the boy still held my arm. Then Bonzo slugged him hard in the stomach and Ender dropped to his knees. I made a pained whimper at seeing Ender hurt and tried in vain to go to him. The boy behind me held my shoulders and made sure I stayed on my bunk.

"You disobeyed me. No good soldier ever disobeys." I fought harder against the boy, but he kept a firm hold on me. I knew Ender was crying from the pain.
Bonzo stared up at me, and for a second I feared for both the boy holding me down and myself.
"You will never, ever, be near him again."

I didn't know if he was trying to order me, or threaten me. I silently cried and stopped fighting the boy, but held Bonzo's gaze definitely. The boys around us mummered and soon the entire barrack was talking.

You fool Bonzo. You aren't enforcing discipline, you're destroying it. They know Ender saved your ass, and how much he means to me, and this is how you repay us. You've made yourself look stupid in front of everyone.

Bonzo soon stalked out, but the boys kept talking. Eventually the boy released me. "I won't apologize for trying to keep you safe." He didn't meet my gaze.

"I know. You knew it would make it worse, thank you." He nodded and I jumped down to Ender. He had crawled into his own bunk now, and I laid next to him. It didn't matter now if the soldiers talked or told Bonzo, he was trading Ender. I held his hand and kissed his cheek.

"I'm so sorry Ender." I mummered.
"Its okay."
"You're being traded." He smiled.
"Yeah." I frowned.

"You're leaving me." His eyes widened and he stared at me. I guess he was so glad to be out of here, it hadn't occurred to him. I started crying again at the thought of being separated from Ender, and he held me for the rest of the night.

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