What If...

Chapter 14: About Time

I was woken up at three in the morning by an alarm going off in my room. For a minute, I thought it was BB-8, coming to get me up for training with Leia. He often woke me up like that those days.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

No, it was not BB-8. And it was not training time. And Leia was gone.

It was my daily report from the drone about the caves' movements.

I groaned, not wanting to leave the comfort of my bed, and trudged slowly over to the map. A new day, a new entrance. Day 9, as a matter of fact. The new dot had appeared on the map. I studied its red glow for about one second. And what I saw threw me off hard. "The top? What the Force?" I said out loud. This didn't make any sense at all. Why go to all those points and then completely throw it off by going to the very top? The roof, the ceiling, whatever. Why not go to, say a cardinal direction? That would make sense. But noooo!

I could almost hear the Force laughing at me.

There was a knock at my door, and I heard the hinges squeak as it opened, despite my silence. Do the Mosianans not know that privacy is a thing?

I heard the stomp stomp of someone not completely awake and thought Apparently not.

Syllia tromped in the room yawning hugely. I grinned in spite of the fact that I was supposed to be mad at her for not waiting for my permission to enter, but her stumbling gait was too much to ignore.

"How do y-y-youuuu," she started, drawing out the last word to yawn again, "wake up this early in the morning and still look how you do?"

I laughed. "What do you mean?"

She plopped down on my bed and bounced a few times. "I mean, you just woke up and you still look amazing."

I rolled my eyes. "Pffft. I don't care how I look just so long as we get this done soon."

She looked at me knowingly. "It doesn't matter if you care. But there are some males here in the city who, according to the rumors, have noticed you."

"Well, duh, they've noticed. I'm the only human female here."

"Not in that way, dummy."

I went silent and drifted my gaze to the door.

"You know, if Ben's cheating, you may as well find someone else."

That made me just a liiiiiittle bit mad. "Ben's not cheating on me. He wouldn't."

"Girl, wake up. You said it yourself and we've both seen plenty of evidence," she said, shaking my shoulders lightly. "You even chewed him out about it, and I'm proud of you for it. It's wrong, but you may need to move on."

It was those two words, move on, that really set me off. "I've heard those words way too often for the past few months. I am not ready to hear them again!"

"Whaddya mean, too often? What happened?" She had changed her tone, so she sounded concerned.

I shut down. "Don't worry about it. Let's just get this map done. I am soo ready to get in those caves."

...........

Day 18
Ben's POV

I was sleeping peacefully in my quarters, when I was shaken awake roughly.

"Ben, get up! Come on! Get up! Oh, for Force's sake."

My blanket and pillow were yanked away from me simultaneously, and I felt a huge, painful hit on my head.