Ender's War

Chapter 14 - Welcome Back to Battle School

Valentine looked around, her mind fully intrigued with her surroundings, and she couldn't help imagining what Battle School life was actually like. Clearly, she was about to get the basic rundown of it, at least in one way or another. She knew, that despite the re-recruitment of the students and some additional ones for more firepower, that this wasn't going to be the same experience as before.

It became painstakingly obvious when they arrived. She, along with Bean and Petra, followed Ender back up the ladder after the captain announced that they'd docked, leaving Colonel Graff alone to deal with the Launchies. They weren't exactly Ender's, or any of their, responsibilities after all. As far as Valentine could understand, they were there to help with training, not show them where they'd be sleeping.

After being cleared by some I.F. Soldiers, the four of them were ushered through a doorway where, low and behold, there was another ladder.

Just as Ender's hands grasped the cool metal of it, Valentine decided to speak up.

"You do know where you're going, don't you?" She arched an eyebrow at her younger brother as he turned slightly in her direction.

Petra and Bean stopped in their tracks as well.

"Well?" She asked when she was met with silence.

Valentine was about to say something condescending when she realized why Ender hadn't spoken up. The bloody fool was laughing...and so were Petra and Bean.

"What's so funny?!"

Ender could barely contain his laughter, and he burst out giggling just for a minute before finally controlling himself.

Petra and Bean on the other hand, didn't bother to try to stop themselves. At their continued laughter, she made a point of crossing her arms over her chest, and glaring daggers into Ender's head.

Her brother turned around as she continued to do so, and his smile faltered when meeting her gaze.

"Sorry." He apologized immediately, though his smile resurfaced a second later. "It's just.. you of all people should know that we know every inch of this place."

Valentine instantly realized the stupidity of her initial question. "Oh, shut up!" It was her only come back to his statement, and she internally wished for them to continue climbing.

"As you wish." Ender mocked as he continued to go up, boots clacking against the ladder with each step.

That was a little naive of me, Valentine couldn't stop the thought from entering her head. It was funny how one minute, she could have the knowledge and fluency of a sixty five year old scholar, and then the next, she acts as though she's an inexperienced little girl. She absolutely despised her occasional lapses in rational thought, and worst of all, she never saw Ender or Peter slip either. That little snippet of knowledge convinced Valentine that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't as advanced as her brothers were. Maybe she'd spent too much time actually going along with the easy lessons in public school, and hadn't actually taken the care to maximize her abilities. Though perhaps, she often thought, that by overthinking it, she was in fact being an intelligent individual. Therefore, her previous argument would be invalid.

"Earth to Valentine?"

A voice brought Valentine out of her rather odd train of thought, and she jumped. Where were they? Right. They had climbed onto a higher floor and were now standing in front of the ladder they'd previously used.

"What?!"

More laughs. This was absurd.

"What are you fools laughing at now? I'm tired okay. Not all of us are used to being soldiers."