Enderverse AUs

Bird

Ender kicked a rock, watching it fly into a pair of bushes. Ender liked to think he had a lot of patience, at least, more than the other children, but today he was feeling extremely impatient.

He looked at the tall wall to his right and then the ivy that danced its way up and through the cracks. It was the wall that kept them safe from neighboring cities. Or so they were told. Ender often wondered why water gushed over the top on rainy days if it was all plains and towns on the other side.

Ender went to retrieve the rock he had kicked. It was the only real big rock in the neighborhood and Ender was determined to keep it a secret. If not, it would be stolen and probably used to hurt someone.

He could crush it. Use the metal tools in daddy's shed to grind it into sand. But with everything else in the walls so flat and grassy, it would be a shame to lose this palm-sized, weirdly shaped rock.

When he picked it up, he noticed a bird just a few feet away. It was a baby bird, eyes large and skin void of any real feathers. It squawked obnoxiously when it heard Ender's foot steps. It was the largest baby he had ever seen. And it was ugly.

Ender knew it would be killed if it were ever found. The kids in this town were mean like that. Something as gross looking and defenseless as this baby... it would be dead within an hour.

Ender nestled the rock in some nearby bushes and then went back and scooped the bird into his arms. It was heavy, especially in its rear.

He was fairly sure the bird would be useless as an adult. It would merely fly away when it was old enough to get bored of Ender. Even so, Ender couldn't leave it like this. It would be in his conscience for the rest of his life if he did.

So he stuffed it under his shirt, careful about its head and wings, which seemed so fragile compared to its body, and he took it away from the tall trees. He brought it, in fact, to the family chicken coop. The Wiggin family were the ones who provided the neighborhood with eggs in exchange for whatever they had. So, their coops were large and full.

Ender knew, though, that they had several cages made specifically for hostile hens. They weren't too big, but they were tall and even with the baby's large stature, Ender was sure it would fit it into adulthood.

He picked up a cage from the pile just outside the coop and carried it behind the barn. The barn faced away from the wall, and will all of the noise from the horses, no one would notice the cries of a little baby bird.

Just as he thought this, the bird squawked again. It had been shivering when Ender first held it, but now it stilled. The only problem was that now it wasn't cold and since it's not cold, it was going to be louder. It was hungry.

The sun was already high in the sky, so Ender knew he didn't have long to find food.

Well, that shouldn't be hard. His family did raise birds, after all.

Ender scooped a generous amount of seed into a measuring cup, knowing the bird would probably need more. But when he put it in the cage with the bird, it didn't eat. It squawked louder, if anything.

Ender tried worms, ones that his brother had saved in a jar after rainy days. Ender was certain Peter was waiting to see if they would cannibalize each other. He tried fruited and vegetables, too, but nothing seemed to be appetizing.

Ender let out a sigh of frustration as he stood in front of the cage. Did it even eat?

The food that Ender had collected was attracting some unwanted attention, so he took it upon himself to clean it up. After he was done, the sun was close to setting. He'd have to go inside soon.

Ender took a closer look at the bird. It's talons we're sharp and sturdy, it's beak curved like that of a vulture.

A vulture...

The bird Ender had in custody was not a vulture, Ender knew that much, but he also knew that vultures ate meat. Raw meat.

Ender nearly cried out. No matter what he did he always ran into this problem. Why did everything require death? A sacrifice?

Well Ender wouldn't do it.

But he couldn't bring himself to let the bird go, as weak and defenseless as it was. So instead he covered the cage in an old, moth-eaten blanket and went inside. It was dark now, and mother would be calling for him.

That night they had chicken for dinner. And that night, Ender snuck out of his house long after his parents had fallen asleep. He took with him the leg of a raw chicken.

He would find a way around this. He just couldn't bring himself to kill an animal. Let father do that. And Peter. Ender would not.

When he went to check on the bird in the morning, the meat of the leg was gone and the bird was stilled.