Status: Edited

"I don't like that she hasn't touched the mind game."

"What would you have me do? March in there and ask her to please play, we would like to study how your brain works?"

"You know better than I do, Anderson, that the game allows us to see inside the minds of these kids. We're trying to protect them."

"There are certainly other ways to tell, all though I don't deny that the mind game is the easiest. There frankly isn't much we can do about it."

"Ender also seems to be having trouble with his."

"No one has ever gotten past the Giant. Usually they give up."

"Ender won't. That's why he's the one."

"There's a reason they don't get past the Giant."

~~~

At last we were ordered into our flash suits. We'd only ever heard rumors of the battleroom, of the wars that were fought within it by opposing armies. Finally we would be able to see it for ourselves.

Freshly suited, we stood at the gate as the forcefield fell away, opening up the space of the battleroom beyond. The gate was level with the ground making it seems as thought we could step out onto the floor, though with what I knew about zero gravity, it was clear that wouldn't be the case.

I glanced around at the rest of my launch group, attempting to scope out the bravest. But in the end, of course it was Ender who stepped up to the portal.

He grabbed the hand holds surrounding the gate and in one fluid movement, swung himself into null gravity. I watched, fascinated, as his body floated before us. Without a moments hesitation, he pushed himself off the wall and out into the room.

He launched forward at a speed none of us had anticipated, flying uncontrollably through the space before crashing into the opposite wall and rebounding towards another. I winced and a couple Launchies snickered as he smashed into the next wall, unable to catch himself.

The group was beginning to follow Ender's lead, though expressing caution. A few let go of the handles and began to float away slowly, without any clear direction, into the center of the room. I followed behind Shen as he hopped into the space.

Ender had slowed down enough to reorient and use his feet to redirect his movement towards where we floated at the gate. Shen held out his hand and grabbed Ender before he could shoot past.

"What the hell was that?" Shen asked incredulously, though there was a look of awe on his face. "If you were trying kill yourself I'm sure there are easier ways!"

"Go on. You try it, Shen. The suit prevents you from getting hurt," Ender replied, ignoring his comment.

Shen shook his head, but surprisingly enough, it was Bernard who jumped in beside us next. Just as Ender had done, he swung himself outward, flying into the room. He bounced off the walls, but at the sight of him uninjured, the remaining boys around the gate began to follow.

I watched from where I still clung to the wall as Alai launched himself out after Bernard, headed in the opposite direction. He caught himself on the wall there and turned his gaze to watch the group adjust to the new environment.

I caught sight of Ender headed towards Alai, finding it strange that Ender had voluntarily chosen that line of of direction, especially when Alai was best friends with Bernard.

It's now or never, I thought ruefully, and with a rough shove off the handles, I propelled my body after Ender's. I realized too late that I was moving far too fast to be able to stop myself.

Just when I thought I would fly past the two, Ender thrust his arm out to catch me around the middle. My momentum alone would have wrenched his hand from the wall had Alai not been gripping his forearm as an anchor.

Ender's arm remained around my waist until I'd gripped the wall securely. "Thanks," I gasped, taking a breath to steady my furiously beating heart.

He nodded. "It looked like you needed a hand."

"They're flapping around like a bunch of headless chickens," came Alai's  voice from beside Ender as he observed the rest of our group.

Following his gaze and I couldn't help but grimace. He wasn't wrong. "It's like they're trying to swim, kicking their legs around like that."

Alai flicked the side of my head playfully with his free hand. "As if you were doing any better," he said, though there was no bite to his words.

I scoffed anyway. "At least I managed to keep myself from doing somersaults through the air," I replied, hinting at how Alai had in fact, not.

He rolled his eyes in response, though wisely choosing not to argue. He turned to Ender. "Hey, let's trying pushing off each other to see if that helps to change directions midair."

Ender thought for a moment. "Ok," he finally said. "Let's do it."

Alai turned back to me. "You coming?"

I shook my head. "Neh, I'll watch for now."

"Let's meet back here," Ender said to Alai before the two grabbed each others hands and pushed out towards the center of the battleroom. Ender looked back at me as they drifted and I flashed him a smile of encouragement. His gaze flicked away as Alai said something to him and I swore I saw his cheeks flush pink.

Once they'd made it far enough out they aligned the soles of their feet together, still gripping hands, before pushing off. I watched as their bodies moved in opposite directions at relatively high speeds, patiently waiting for them to maneuver their way back.

I took the moment alone to continue observing the rest of the launch group. Some were doing the same as me, clinging to the walls and observing, but most were flying about the room haphazardly, no doubt running their own tests and trials.

After a few more moments, Ender and Alai came gliding back.

"Definitely useful." Alai grinned, coming to a stop beside me.

Ender nodded in agreement, though his attention was elsewhere. His hand fell to the holster at his hip, eyes gleaming like steel. "Let's try the guns next."

We each pulled our own out of its holster taking a moment to observe the device. Two buttons were on the side for easy access, but the others could only be reached by using two hands.

"I figured out what these buttons do," Ender explained. Aiming at the floor, he held a red one on the side and a blue beam exploded from his gun. "Though Officer Dap says it won't do anything outside of this room."

"Well what happens when someone gets hit with it?" I asked, glancing between the two.

"Only one way to find out," Alai grinned, brandishing his own gun.

I saw the hesitation on Ender's face. "Relax, we'll shoot each other. That way we're the only ones at risk," I said, addressing his unvoiced concern.

"Yeah," agreed Alai. He added as an afterthought, "I'm not Bernard, you know."

Ender's shoulders visibly relaxed.

He's being genuine, I thought and was happy to find that the fact didn't really surprise me. Alai was turning out to be one of the good ones. "And anyway," I piped up. "They wouldn't be giving us these if they were actually dangerous."

That seemed to settle it. We aligned ourselves against the wall so that each of us could aim at another's foot. "On the count of three," said Ender.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

A flash of light exploded from the gun and instantly I felt my suit tighten around my boot, locking my foot in place.

"Woah!" Alai exclaimed, shaking his leg and attempting to wiggle his toes. "I can't move my foot!"

I laughed at his childlike grin, a plan forming in my mind. "I have an idea," I said slyly, watching as excitement gleamed in Alai's eyes. Even Ender's expression, with all its quiet foreboding, seemed lighter somehow. "Let's have a war. You know, like they do with the armies."

"Let's do it," Alai agreed immediately. "But first let's get Bernard and Shen."

With that the room was soon engaged in a mock battle. Beams were flashed in every direction and by the time Dap appeared at the gate, everyone had been frozen except for Bernard, Alai, Shen, Ender, and I.

Dap used something in his hand to unfreeze everyone and brought us closer to where he stood at the edge of gravity. As the officer talked about the battleroom and all the things we had already figured out for ourselves, I realized there had been yet another change amongst our group.

No longer was it Bernard against Ender. We had all joined a new group. Alai's group.

Pulled from my thoughts, I glanced over at Ender to see him grinning. Feeling my eyes on him, he caught my gaze for a moment. I couldn't help the smile that rose in return.

After Dap had finished his speech, everyone elected Alai to be the launch leader. We were truly and officially made new.

~~~

That night during our free time, Ender was laying on his bed beneath me with his desk propped on his knees. With my astrophysics homework completed, I jumped down from my bunk to join him, peering over the edge of his bed to watch. "What are you doing?" I asked, studying his screen.

His eyes remained glued to the animations that flickered and moved with his character. He was playing the mind game. He said as much in response, attention remaining focused on what was in front of him.

I had briefly tried out the mind game on my own desk when we had first arrived at battle school, but there was something about it that had always been off-putting to me. The computer didn't just adjust to the way your character interacted with the game. It was almost as though the computer knew you, sometimes even better than you knew yourself.

Where other might have been intrigued by the idea, I had been strangely horrified. You don't know me, I'd pretended to say to it after having once died at the hands of a bear disguised as an old childhood friend. I don't want you to know me.

But Ender, like many others, didn't seem bothered by the strangeness of the game. Or if he was, he showed no signs of letting that get in the way of playing it.

On the screen, Ender was a mouse. Before him stood a huge giant with two shot glasses set in front of him on a wooden table. The Gaint spoke and I drew closer in order to hear what it was saying.

"One is poison, one is not. Choose right and I'll take you to Fairyland."

Ender stared at the screen for a bit, his brow furrowed. "It doesn't matter which one I choose," he said after a moment, frustration evident in his tone. "I always end up dying. You can sit if you want, by the way."

He scooted over slightly and accepting the invitation, I settled down beside him. My arm brushed his slightly due to the tightness of the space, though he didn't pull away.

To prove his previous point, Ender's mouse stuck its head into one of the glasses. Immediately, the body of the mouse began to shrivel and it died as the Giants laughter seemed to boom from all around us.

When his avatar reappeared at the table, again Ender chose a glass. We watched, unable to look away, as the mouse once again died and the Giant shook with cruel laughter.

On the third try, Ender did something different. He sprung at the Gaint, knocking down the two glasses on his way to the Giant's face. I sat frozen, watching as it screamed and screamed "cheater!" at Ender's mouse. I quickly tore my eyes from the screen to look at Ender. His face was set in a harsh fixation as he focused on the game.

With a shaky breath I looked back at the screen. Ender had the mouse climbing up the Giant's face and digging its small paws into one of its eyes. It burrowed deeper and deeper as the Giant continued to scream in agony. I desperately wanted to look away, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen.

At last the Gaint crashed to the earth, toppling from its throne-like chair. But the scenery shifted as it hit the grass. Now the mouse was in a forested area. From somewhere above, a bat flew down to greet Ender's avatar. "Welcome to Fairyland!" it cried with an ominously.

Ender sat up and shut down his desk. I rose from my spot on the bed as he went to return it to his locker.

He didn't say anything as he climbed into bed. I watched him lay there, staring at the bottom of the bunk above, eyes glazed and unseeing. I knew if I tried to speak, no one would be home to answer.

As I climbed up the ladder into my own bunk, I felt the frame shake ever-so gently. His body shivered and his eyes were blown wide as he seemed to come back to himself, gaze meeting mine.

Fear.

Ender was afraid.