Ender Returns to Earth *Currently Editing*

Chapter 6

"Admiral Wiggin", A fleet officer saluted Ender as he walked up to the vehicle, bag in hand. Ender returned the solute and smiled before getting in. His family followed behind him, and all took a seat in the black van Graff had provided.

"Are you sure Peter's coming?" Asked Val.

"We told him", said Theresa as she put on her buckle. It was her, Val and Ender on one side of the vehicle and John Paul on the other. There was vertical seating on each of the walls, which none of them except Ender were used to.

Before Ender could add anything more to the topic, there he was. He could see his older brother running up the street through the tinted windows. From what Ender could tell, he was much taller. At least 3 inches above himself, and was awfully fit. Not as well built as Ender, but enough. Also, his brown hair was quite short and curled behind his ears. It was styled in a completely different fashion from when Ender had last saw him. He was..grown up. Well he had to be. Being 17 and all. He must be considering moving out by now, Ender thought. Probably counting the ways he was going to take over the world as well.

Ender jumped as Valentine grabbed his hand, and Theresa turned to him. "Are you okay Andrew?"

"Yeah." He immediately said. "Valentine just scared me is all."

He could hear Valentine laugh beside him and she smiled. "Still don't like to be touched?"

"Never had." Ender gave her a slight smile, but his stomach turned inside out. He really thought he could handle Peter, but he was finally forced to admit to himself that he was nervous. The only memories he had of his older brother was that Peter hated him, and he was constantly getting tormented.

But just as Peter was getting close to the vehicle, the Driver turned around. Relief flooded through Ender like a tsunami.

"Mazer?" He acknowledged him and his entire family turned.

"Admiral Wiggin". Mazer grinned at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ender asked.

"Ah. Hyrum has a crude sense of humour as we both know. He didn't trust anybody else to get you to command. So I'm stuck doing his dirty work."

Ender laughed. "It appears so."

Mazer only nodded and turned back around as Peter entered the vehicle.

"Welcome home little brother", His voice was deeper as Ender had already expected. There was no sense of alarm that Peter usually gave off before Ender left, and he seemed genuinely serious. Valentine was right. He was putting on quite the performance. If there was even any..

Once Peter sat down beside John Paul, Ender responded."Thank you. It's good to finally see you're alive." It was a sad attempt at a joke but Peter actually laughed. Valentine rolled her eyes and Ender couldn't help but smile too.

"I would hope so. There's too many things to do in the world for me to be dead." This time Ender felt the need to roll his eyes. Though, he couldn't shake the feeling of warmth he got when finding out the first thing Peter did wasn't kill him.

"And when you're finished you can search the stars for more I'm sure."

"Precisely."

Peter pulled out what looked like an IPod and placed some headphones into his ears. He was obviously done talking and Ender was relieved. One thing he would hate, is to be forced into a meaningless conversation with his brother the entire 5 hour drive.

Though instead of checking his ansible, Ender decided to look at the view. There hadn't been one in space other than countless stars, and the scenery really fascinated Ender. It was beautiful, and there was still something inside him telling him he needed to enjoy it. Since, he knew that there was a chance he could be shoved back into space.