Star Wars: The Earthling Gamer

Chapter 28 - The Final Meeting

I'd guess it was around one in the morning when Phoebus found me. "Do you ever sleep?" He asked amusedly. "Not when I know I need to get stronger. Shouldn't you be sleeping?" I shot back at him. "I was told to check in on you. Kara's asleep, and Hazel told me it might be best you don't talk to herself or Mana currently, so some secret doesn't get out, so I was told. Azalea's fast asleep, too, so that left me." He admitted openly.

I sigh. "Mana knows something that I supposedly can't know, Hazel figured it out, and it's bugging me. I have a thirst for knowledge, and the fact that I don't know irritated me, especially knowing Hazel deduced what it was in seconds." I told him. "There. Satisfied with that?" I asked irritably.

He laughed. "When am I ever satisfied?" He asked. I snorted. "You have a point." We sat there for a few minutes, and I activated Force Sight so I could see a little better. "You really should try to sleep, though. They're going to want to get you on your missions soon, maybe even starting tomorrow. You need your rest." He told me, standing back up.

"I have nightmares. Very bad, very vivid ones." I admitted. "I usually try to avoid them, but even then, I still sleep every so often. But I've recently learned a friend of mine can see my dreams while they sleep. I've been... dissuaded, you could say, from sleeping when they're sleeping, though I'm sure there'll be future instances where I will." I finished. He frowned at my statement, but started walking towards the door back in.

Before he went back in, he turned to me to tell me one thing. "Have it your way. But you need rest eventually, Cyrus." He told me, sliding the door shut behind him.

I sigh, and I spend another hour before slipping back inside to find Azalea sleeping on the couch, Phoebus on the recliner, both fast asleep. I found Hazel and Mana sitting in the kitchen, talking quietly, not even noticing I came in, thankfully. I'll admit, I was a little bitter that they were keeping an important secret from me, but if they think it's safer to not share it, then so be it.

I quickly slid into my room, and into my bed, fading into a restless slumber, proving my hope that I'd have a good night's sleep for once was misplaced.

I woke up the following morning, equipping my armor, and silently stalking into the kitchen, before I felt a hand grip my wrist. "I told you before, you're not burning food if I can help it." I heard Hazel say. "I could always learn." I offered, still not quite looking her in the eye.

"You and I both know that would end in a fire." She laughed softly. "Right. I was only gonna have a granola bar anyways." I told her, slipping one out of the box, nibbling on it. "If you say so." She said, moving past me, and into the kitchen. I moved back into the dining room, where Phoebus was stretching as he lowered himself into a chair.

"Sleep well?" I asked him. "Hardly. That chair isn't meant to be slept in." He replied. I was about to shoot a response back at him, but I spotted Kara coming from the direction of her and Hazel's room. "I'm sorry." I thought to her. Her eyes flickered to me, but looked away without responding. Phoebus seemed to notice this, but ignored it, wisely changing the topic.

"Alec told me that you should only bring one of your allies to the meeting with you today. They'll be returning here, and you won't, for a while. They'll be attending meetings in your place as help for strategizing. You've got a lot of work to do. I've also got some bad news, but that can wait for when we get to the meeting." He told me. I frowned.

I looked between my two real options. As much as I hate to say it, Hazel wasn't wrong in that she couldn't contribute much to those meetings, and even then, she had much more training to do. I couldn't take up her time with meetings and strategizing. Kara's been with me the longest, understands me the most, and would be a good representative.