fh_adventures | In Jareth's Castle, Saturday Afternooon

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, you have fought your way to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the students that he had stolen. The only problem? They don't seem to want to go. It's going to be up to you to convince them to come home.

Helen? Wasn't leaving. She was sorry everyone had gone through all of that touble and danger, but she wasn't going anywhere. She was happy here and wanted. Didn't anyone understand that?

Battered, bruised, and after making an askance glance at Jonothon having gotten to Emma before he could, Peter noticed Helen. While they weren't close friends, he did know her from class.

So, he limped his way over and gave her a winning smile.

"So, you really want to resign yourself to a life where your overlord spends untold thousands on hair products?" he greeted.

She blinked at him. "I don't understand. Why would his use of hair products make me want to leave a place where I am happy and wanted?"

"Because anyone with hair that good doesn't actually care about anyone but their own self," Peter pointed out. "Is that it, you feel welcome here? Why, exactly?"

Ender Wiggin	Ender had no intent of going anywhere, no, but he also didn't see the need to advertise the fact. He felt safe, and at home, and utterly certain that he wouldn't be made to leave again. Despite all the fighting, despite all the noise and everything it implied, he still had a little smile on his face.
Ben Skywalker	Ben was both mentally and physically exhausted when he finally arrived, and seeing Ender smiling was so completely at odds with the days he'd had that for a moment his equilibrium shifted. "Ender?" he checked. Maybe this was a clone?
Ender Wiggin	"Ben," Ender replied, and something slid over his face, sad and a little bit rueful. "I'm sorry you had to come all this way for nothing. Though I'm not really surprised."
Ben Skywalker	"What do you mean 'for nothing'?" Ben asked, frowning and stepping closer, looking for trip lines or signs of a bomb--something that would explain why Ender would choose to stay here. And wear that.
Ender Wiggin	Was there something wrong with what Ender was wearing? He certainly didn't think so. "Because I know you came here to bust me out," he said, lightly. "It's a nice thought, but it's completely unnecessary. I don't want to go back."
Ben Skywalker	Ben's jaw dropped. "Huh?" He was eloquent as always.
Ender Wiggin	"Pick your jaw up from the floor, you look like a monkey," Ender advised.
Ben Skywalker	"I do not," Ben retorted. "You're being insane. Why the kriff would you want to stay here?"
Ender Wiggin	Ender sighed. Of course Ben wouldn't get it - that, too, wasn't exactly a surprise. Feelings were hard to put into words, though; at least, feelings of safety, shelter, affection. "Because it's home," he said, simply. "And home is where everyone stays, isn't it?"
Ben Skywalker	"How can this be home?" Ben asked, moving closer. I'm not here. He shoved that thought away instantly. "Valentine's not here." Ben wasn't without his own set of weapons in this fight.

Ender Wiggin	And a very potent weapon it was, too. Ender blinked rapidly, once-twice-thrice. Val. Val, who had always loved him, who had been beautiful before he'd lost his sense of what that was, who'd sold him out to the IF twice out of necessity. He didn't say anything, blinking again, conflicted emotions snapping at his ankles.
Ben Skywalker	Ben reached out for Ender's shoulders, sensing the conflict. "Come on, kreetle," he murmured. "Come back with me."
Ender Wiggin	Ender stared back at him; then he shook his head, fringe flopping forward haphazardly so it nearly covered his eyes. "Valentine isn't home, either," he said, quietly. "Much as she'd like to aspire to be, by hook or by crook." He just loved her more than anyone else, but that wasn't the same.
Ben Skywalker	Ben moved Ender's hair out of his eyes again. "But this isn't home," he insisted. "This is a topsy-turvy trap that tried pretty hard to kill me. Would your home ever do that?"
Ender Wiggin	"I wouldn't know," Ender said, with a wry twist of his lips and his head still just a little bent. "My material for comparison falls a little short; I've never had one before."
Ben Skywalker	Ben's heart cracked a little. "This isn't it," he repeated, squeezing Ender's shoulders. "No one here loves you like they should."
Ender Wiggin	"And how should they love me, Ben?" Ender said. Exhaustion seeped into his bones and with them, his vocal chords, all a-tremble with sudden fatigue. "I've been up to my ears in people who love me, but it doesn't solve the underlying equation. Love is something human beings can't help but do, like breath and digestion, a tie that binds because of their evolutionary imperative to stick together, to survive. A brick at the foundation of the human eco-system."
Ben Skywalker	"So how does staying here solve that?" Ben asked, moving one hand up to stroke Ender's hair.

Ender Wiggin	"It doesn't," Ender said, and reached up to pluck Ben's hand away from his hair. "You're right about that. I'm not a part of that, but I'm not a part of this, either." It had been nice, for an all too brief spell of time, but now Ender could determine what the fatigue was: familiar old guilt, settling into all his creaks and joints. He felt really old, for all of a second; then that sense was chased away by another, at the foolishness of thinking of himself like that at age sixteen standing in the middle of a magical castle.
Ben Skywalker	Ben's hand tightened on Ender's and an all-too-familiar stubborn look settled onto his face. He wasn't about to let go. "So come back with me," he coaxed. "We can figure out a new definition of home."
Ender Wiggin	"No, I'm coming already," Ender said. His smile had vanished, leaving not his usual pensive expression, but naked exhaustion, resigned guilt. "I don't want to, but I will." That was how every part of his life inevitably crashed, wasn't it?
Ben Skywalker	"Oh, Ender," Ben breathed, giving into his impulse to lean in and knock his forehead gently against his friend's. "It's the right choice, I promise."
Ender Wiggin	"It always is," Ender murmured, shutting his eyes for an all too brief moment. A few breaths. Time slowing or speeding up or whatever it was. "Unlike these pants," he muttered, and the moment broke into a hundred pieces. His own were back together now, glued meticulously and duct-taped where they wouldn't hold for more than a few hours.
Ben Skywalker	"They certainly are...something," Ben agreed with his first genuine laugh of the week. He moved to wrap his arm around Ender's waist to steer him towards the exit. Half of it was because he'd recognized the exhaustion in Ender's eyes. The other half was purely selfish--he was still trying to assure himself Ender was here.

The Final Test

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