Chapter Text
FN-2187 lived in a tower.
It wasn’t a particularly nice tower. It only really had two rooms- one of them, the one up the staircase was FN-2187’s bedroom. His bedroom had a bunk, a bookshelf, with a few books in it, a desk, a closet and a mirror, and a refresher attached to the room. The hall down the staircase was a little more interesting- it was large and had a lot more stuff in it. A punching bag, a wooden dummy, weights and other workout equipment- even a sectioned off area for him to practice his sword fighting and hand to hand combat.
Everything in the tower, from the furniture to the walls and ceilings- even his clothes- all of it was in shades of black and white.
The only thing in color, it seemed, was FN-2187.
And the view from outside the single window in FN-2187’s bedroom. Through the window FN-2187 could look out into the meadow that surrounded his tower. Stretches of brilliant green grass, flashes of pinks, yellows, reds and purples of the flowers in the bushes. The sturdy brown trunk of trees and the magnificence of the different shades of blue that the sky took.
FN-2187 loved all those colors- his favorite however, was the shining, blazing orange of The Lights . Once every year, on the same night, ever since FN-2187 could remember- the sky would come alive with these beautiful small dots of orange lights. They would float up into the night sky and FN-2187 would spend the whole night, every year, just looking at them.
He couldn’t help but think like they belonged to him.
They didn’t though. Just like the tower wasn’t his, nor was the bedroom or even his beloved window.
The loud footsteps of someone climbing up the staircase brought FN-2187 out of his daydreams and he quickly jumped off the window ledge, drawing the curtains close around the window. If anyone found out how much FN-2187 loved the window, it would surely be taken away from him- just like everything else was.
Someone knocked on his bedroom door- though he knew it was just an empty gesture. FN-2187 quickly opened the door, a guard was waiting for him outside, like always. The two walked down the stairs and into the hall- Master Snoke was waiting for him there.
He was sat atop the huge throne built on one side of the room- no one but Master Snoke ever touched that throne. The man looked sickly, wrinkled. A week had passed since FN-2187 had last seen Master Snoke and the week had oldened the man.
FN-2187 kneeled down beside his Master’s throne, reaching out his hand, resting it on top of the other man’s.
The tower had no doors, no other windows. FN-2187 had no idea how the guards or Master Snoke or the people that were brought up to train with FN-2187- how any of them got inside the tower. The first time he’d ask, he’d receive a warning to not wonder about such things- it wasn’t his place to wonder about such things. They’d told him of all the awful people that lived outside the Tower, outside First Order territory. The people that wanted to steal FN-2187 away and use him for his power.
All FN-2187 wanted to do- all he’d ever wanted to do was go out and see The Lights in person. Find out what they meant, if they really were the one thing that belonged to him.
FN-2187 wanted to leave the tower, but he couldn’t ever leave the tower. Even if he built up his courage and left- jumped out the window in the bedroom and ran as far away from the tower as possible- where would he go?
He knew all that laid outside of the little meadow was more First Order territory. The only way to escape the Order was through a sea, FN-2187 would never make it. If he tried they’d take the window away and thereby his only way to see The Lights.
FN-2187 wasn’t naive enough to risk everything he had on such odds.
And so FN-2187 sat there on his knees on the cold white stoned floor, his left hand on top of Master Snoke’s. He reached out with the Force, felt his Master’s darker demented presence and let his powers flow through, draining his energy a little- just enough to make him sleep for a few hours after this- and healed Master Snoke’s wrinkles and sickness, replenishing his youth. Just like he’d done every week, for as long as he could remember.
Poe Dameron, was either the most brilliant bastard or the dumbest bitch to ever walk the earth.
Possibly, both- he realized running deeper into the forest inside enemy territory. If he ever made it out of here alive, Leia was going to eat him alive.
Poe Dameron, the Commander of The Resistance’s fleet, was currently running through the outskirts of First Order- two FO agents on his trail and an invaluable item stuffed inside his orange satchel.
Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber.
The Palace in D’Qar was infiltrated a few days ago by two First Order agents- Hux and Phasma, they’d stolen Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and ran away. The Queen of D’Qar, Leia Organa had assigned Poe to follow them out and try to retrieve her brother’s saber back. However, she had given him strict orders that he was to turn his ship around the moment they crossed borders.
The war was already taking a toll on D'Qar’s army, The Resistance , and there was no way they could manage a rescue mission if Poe was to get caught and taken prisoner.
“Luke’s saber is not worth risking The Resistance’s Commander.” Leia had told him.
Poe, respectfully disagreed.
The Lightsaber was the last remnant of the old Jedi, it was the only thing the people of D’Qar had to remember him by, now that he’d abandoned them. It was more than just a weapon, it was a beacon of hope. Poe was not going to let the Order take that away from his people.
And so he kept running further into the heart of his enemy’s land. He was a few days' journey away from the shore and his ship. He’d followed Hux and Phasma’s ship all across the sea that separated D’Qar from the First Order and then followed their trail into the woods. Four days later, he’d finally caught up to them- managed to catch Hux off guard when his companion was gone somewhere else.
He’d fought him off, knocked him out cold and taken back the saber. It didn’t take Phasma long to come back, drawn by the noises of Poe’s little fight. He’d bolted off, away from her and consequently deeper into the woods.
He’d been running for almost half an hour now, his legs were about ready to fall off, but the armored woman wasn’t letting up, he’d managed to get a few minutes between them but he had no idea how he was going to shake her off and make his way back to the shore.
He was still running, his breaths starting to come out in pants. He had to stop for a while, take a breath and drink some water from the bottle inside his satchel. He couldn’t keep this up forever. Just when his pursuers' footsteps and rustlings started getting too close for comfort, he saw some low hanging vines and ivy cutting off a part of the woods.
Deciding to take a chance he walked through the vines, hoping to find a nook he could hide in for a while. What he found instead was a big beautiful meadow and a tower built right in the center of it.
He stood there hidden behind the ivy, considering his options- when he heard Phasma barking out after someone to hurry up- Hux must’ve woken up and decided to join them. Poe couldn't run any longer and he sure as shit couldn't fight off both Phasma and Hux alone.
He took off towards the tower.
There were no doors, no stairs, just one lone window at the very top of the tower. Poe felt drawn to that window. His gut had never led him wrong before and he decided to trust his gut this time as well. He took out two daggers from his bag and started climbing the tower.
The brick the tower was made off made it easier for Poe to climb, adrenaline helping him through it.
He finally made it up to the window and pulled himself inside through the ledge.
He found himself in a small room, white walls black furniture. He was almost expecting the tower to hold something magical, something precious. And it did.
The man standing in front of him, with a dazed expression on his face was easily the most beautiful person Poe had ever seen. He had been sitting on the bed, when Poe’s rather graceless entrance in the room, his tumble through the window- had made the other man stand up with a jerk- his stance defensive.
There was something about the man though- something in his eyes that made Poe forget that he was in a tower inside his enemies kingdom, where he was a wanted man.
Just as he opened his mouth to say something, the handsome stranger brought his fist up- and knocked Poe out.
Notes:
I wanted Finn to use the infamous pan but I just couldn't think of a logical reason why he would have one so I decided to just make him deck Poe lmao
Thank you so much for reading! If you have any prompts or ideas you would like me to write please send them to me either here or on my tumblr or you can just come over there and say hi
Also please leave a kudos or comment if you liked the chapter I would really appreciate it <3
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Notes:
Hey guys!! Just wanted to say thank you so much for reading this fic- it's already doing so much better than anything else I've written on here I'm so happy to see you guys liked the first chapter so much! Hopefully you'll like this one too! <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
FN-2187 stared at the unconscious man sitting in front of him, on his desk chair. He had tied the stranger’s hands with some curtain tassels and then proceeded to tie him up to the chair with some “rope” he’d made with the bedsheets- and now he was just standing in front of him trying to figure out what his next move should be.
No one has ever climbed through his window. In fact no one except for Master Snoke, his padawan and his knights, or a few stormtroopers, ever came to FN-2187’s tower. The man looked about the same age as FN-2187- maybe a few years older. He had tanned olive skin and black curly hair. He also had bloodied temples and a tear in his strikingly red lips.
He’d clearly been in a fight.
The man didn’t look like any stormtrooper FN-2187 had ever seen, for one thing he wasn’t in the standard black and white armour. He was wearing dark brown pants, a saturated beige shirt and a brown leather jacket with a red stripe on it.
The thing that caught FN-2187’s attention however was the bright orange satchel the man had on him. Bright orange- like The Lights.
The strange man’s outfit, though not black and white, was still drab enough to go out of notice. The satchel though- it made him seem out of place. FN-2187 had never seen another person with something that colorful on them. Master Snoke’s red robes were really the only color FN-2187 has ever seen on a person- even Snoke’s padawan only ever wore black.
The bright orange of the stranger’s satchel, his clothes and the cuts and bruises on him made FN-2187 wonder if the man was even from the First Order.
The thought made FN-2187 take a cautious step back. Who was he? Was he someone from the outside kingdoms? What if-
FN-2187 eyed the man wearily- his satchel clutched in FN-2187’s hand.
What if he was here to steal FN-2187 away? Maybe he knew of his powers and had come to take advantage of them?
FN-2187 looked down at the satchel. He carefully opened up the bag rummaging around it, trying to find something to identify the man by. He knew what he really should do was call the guards and let them take care of it- it’s what Master Snoke would want him to do- and yet.
FN-2187 was curious, he wanted to know who the strange man that jumped through his window was. He doubted he’d ever hear about it again if he just handed him over to his Master.
The satchel had a few things inside- food, a bottle of water, some square pieces of paper that FN-2187 couldn’t identify, a few bacta patches and-
FN-2187 froze as he pulled it out of the satchel- letting the bag drop down on the floor as he stared in fascination at the thing in his hand.
A Lightsaber.
FN-2187 had seen one before, a few times. Master Snoke’s padawan had one. FN-2187 looked at the small thing in his hand, there was a latch on it. FN-2187 gulped and pushed the latch down. A bright blue blade instantly shot out, making the Lightsaber heavier.
FN-2187 stared at the blue laser. Snoke’s Padawan’s Lightsaber was red.
FN-2187 just held on to the weapon for a little while, testing out the weight of it in his hands. His eyes ran up the blade when- he caught his eye in the mirror that was leaned against the wall right in front of him. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from his reflection for a moment.
Stood here, with the blue lightsaber in his hand- FN-2187 had the same feeling in his chest that he did when he looked out in the night sky and saw The Lights.
He quickly shook his head, trying to shake away his thoughts that didn’t make any sense.
He switched the saber off and hid it away underneath his bunk. He stood back in front of the curly-haired man.
The stranger was definitely not from the First Order- that much was clear now. If the man had been from the First Order and was someone important enough to own a Lightsaber then FN-2187 would have met him already,
This man was not First Order and was probably here to kidnap FN-2187. He should go down and call for the stormtroopers so his Master can deal with the man himself.
And yet.
FN-2187 sighed and reached his hand out to the stranger.
There was something about him. FN-2187 felt reluctant to just hand him over to Snoke. He knew nothing pleasant would be in store for the man’s future if Snoke got his hands on him.
FN-2187 knew he shouldn’t care…..
But there was something about the man.
FN-2187 rested his left hand on top of the other man’s, closed his eyes and reached out to him with the Force. He was almost startled to find the absence of the dark and deranged power that he had gotten used to. The man’s energy didn’t feel disagreeable and dreadful like Snoke or his padawan’s. The man felt bright- like the sun or the yellow flowers outside FN-2187’s window.
The stranger woke up with a start, FN-2187 quickly took his hand away from him.
“What?” The stranger asked, looking around and thrashing in his bindings frantically. “Are these bedsheets? Do you seriously have me tied up with kriffing bedsheets?” He continued thrashing.
FN-2187 stood up straighter in front of him and folded his hands to his chest. “Who are you and how did you find me?” He asked in the most intimidating voice he could muster up.
The look the stranger gave him told FN-2187 it wasn’t that intimidating of a voice. “Is this your first time doing this?” The stranger had the audacity to look amused.
FN-2187 narrowed his eyes at him and leaned down, moving his face closer to the stranger’s so he could know he wasn’t someone to be messed with. FN-2187 may not have mastered his intimidating voice but he could still kick this man’s ass without breaking much of a sweat.
“Answer my questions or I’m handing you over to the stormtroopers faster than you can make another smartass comment.”
The other man took in a sharp breath which meant either FN-2187’s intimidation thing was working or- well either that or this guy just really didn’t like people getting in his personal space.
“Right, sorry. Your tower, I’m the one who broke in- and you have me tied up.” The man said kind of blabbering now. “Ask away and please don’t call the stormtroopers.”
FN-2187 leaned away from him hesitantly in case he was actually making the other man really uncomfortable.
“Who else knows about my location?” FN-2187 asked him.
The other man pulled a confused look. “What do you mean?”
He seemed genuinely confused. FN-2187 faltered only for a bit- the man could be playing dumb.
“I know why you’re here.” FN-2187 insisted.
“ Why I’m here ? Buddy, I was just being chased by some people and I saw this tower and decided to hide out here for a while!”
It was FN-2187’s turn to pull a confused face now. The man sounded genuine enough- he reached out to him with The Force. “Who else knows about my location?” He asked again.
“ No one .” The man replied. “I’m all alone, I swear.”
It didn’t seem like he was lying.
FN-2187 relaxed, dropping down on his bed- right in front of the other man. “So….you’re just trying to hide away from whoever’s following you?” He asked, uncertain and unconvinced.
“That would be correct.”
“Well, who’s following you then?”
“Why haven’t you turned me in yet?” The stranger shot back.
FN-2187 gave him a look. “I thought this was my tower so I got to ask the questions?”
“Can’t blame a guy for being curious.”
The stranger’s smile was just starting to grow on FN-2187, when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone climbing up the stairs. His eyes widened in alarm and the guy raised his eyebrows at him. “What-” FN-2187 slapped his hand onto the other man’s mouth.
“Keep quiet.” He hissed at him and started undoing the bedsheets around him.
He freed the man from his bindings- save for the ones around his hands, and quickly pulled him over to his closet, opening the door and shoving the guy inside. “Don’t make any noise and don’t come out unless I say so, okay? We’re both going to be in big trouble if you do.”
The guy frantically nodded at him.
FN-2187 pushed the door to his closet leaving it open just a peak so the stranger wouldn’t end up suffocating.
He had barely managed to shove the bedsheets under his bunk when the knock finally came. He opened the door to a guard waiting outside his door as usual.
FN-2187 left his room, shutting the door behind him.
The trooper had come to collect him a few hours before he was supposed to- usually FN-2187’s training started a little later- but he knew he wouldn’t be getting an answer if he asked. He also knew it wasn’t his place to ask- so he didn’t.
Downstairs, however, instead of some random trooper waiting to spar with him, FN-2187 found Master Snoke.
FN-2187 started getting worried. Had his Master found out about the intruder somehow? How much trouble exactly would FN-2187 be in if he had?
He didn’t let any of his apprehension or fear show in his expressions though, he had more than enough practice in the art of pulling a blank face.
“Master Snoke.” FN-2187 greeted him with a small bow.
Snoke barely paid attention to him when he spoke, “FN-2187, you are to be sent on your first mission the day after tomorrow.”
FN-2187’s heart stopped for a moment. His mouth felt dry.
“You are to join my padawan & his knights in his strike on a nearby colony. You’ll be excused from your mandatory training for today and tomorrow, so that you can better prepare yourself for your first in-field mission. The mission shouldn’t last longer than a week, you’ll return to the tower once it’s done.”
FN-2187 just looked at the man with a blank expression.
“Is that clear?” Snoke asked him, clearly uninterested.
“Yes, sir.” FN-2187 said calmly, even if he was screaming on the inside.
Snoke spared him a single glance before saying, “Dismissed.”
The stormtrooper led FN-2187 back up the stairs, all the while the only thing FN-2187 kept thinking about was the fact that The Lights will be appearing in the sky in less than a week. FN-2187 would be sent away by then, presumably on his way to the colony- further away from The Lights.
He probably won’t even be able to see them.
FN-2187 walked inside his room and waited until he heard the footsteps of the trooper fade away before he went up to the closet. He opened it carefully and saw the man waiting inside patiently.
“It’s safe to talk now.” FN-2187 told him as the stranger pulled himself out of the closet.
“That's a relief, I’m not very good at being quiet.” The stranger replied and then kept talking, “I can’t believe I let you shove me inside a closet- 13 year old me would be so disappointed, he was so sure he’d never be going back in there.”
FN-2187 levelled him with a look, “Do you always talk this much?” He asked.
“I did just say that I’m not very good at being quiet.”
FN-2187 rolled his eyes at the man. He was a strange man for sure- what kind of a person sees a tower in the middle of a meadow- without any doors and just one orphan window and thinks, yeah that’s a nice place to hide.
“I have some more questions.” FN-2187 said. He had more important things to worry about than the stranger and his motivations.
More important things like The Lights. He wasn’t going to let Master Snoke take the one thing he had away from him, not when FN-2187 could do something about it.
“I’m sure you do, buddy.” The man replied before strutting back towards the chair and taking a seat.
FN-2187 gave him a suspicious look but sat down in front of him on the edge of his bed.
“But I’m afraid before I answer any,” The man continued, “I’m going to need you to give me my satchel back and untie me.” He pushed his bound wrists up towards FN-2187.
FN-2187 just gave him an unimpressed look. “I have you tied up inside my tower- what makes you think you’re in any place to be negotiating?”
“The cute ones do always turn out to be dumb don’t they?” The stranger remarked, making FN-2187 scowl at him. “You already showed me your cards buddy. Don’t make any noise or we’re both going to be in big trouble. ” The man quoted FN-2187 from before.
“I’m guessing you don’t want anyone finding out about me, which means you’re not going to turn me in any time soon.” The man had an insufferable smirk on his face and FN-2187 glared at him. “How’s that for a smartass comment?”
He quirked his eyebrows up at him and FN-2187 scoffed at him, “Stars, I hate you.” He mumbled under his breath before leaning down and retrieving the satchel from under the bunk. He stood up from the bed, untied the ropes from around the stranger’s hands and dropped the satchel on his lap.
The stranger gave him a grin, “Thank you,” He said, sounding far from thankful.
“I’m not above punching you again.” FN-2187 told him.
“Right, sorry- still your tower, I’ll keep quiet now.” The stranger said and started rifling through the bag getting more and more frantic when he couldn't find what he was looking for. He looked up at FN-2187, his brows furrowed.
“Where’s the Lightsaber?”
“I hid it away.”
The man instantly got up to his feet, probably ready to fight his way to the saber if he must. “Where’s the saber? I’m not asking again.”
FN-2187 moved closer to him before shoving at his chest just enough to make him drop back down on the chair. He leaned down and the stranger had a similar reaction as before, when FN-2187’s face got close enough to his.
“I hid it away and I’m not telling you where it is until you answer my questions.” FN-2187 said in a low voice- he was starting to get good at being intimidating. “You’ll never find it on your own.”
The other man held FN-2187’s gaze, his eyes wandering around the room just once. “It’s under your bed, isn't it?” He deadpanned.
FN-2187 shoved him back inside the closet again.
Notes:
I hope you liked this chapter, thank you so much for reading! I'll be back on Friday with the third one<3
If you have any prompts or ideas you would like me to write please send them to me either here or on my tumblr or you can just come over there and say hi
Also please leave a kudos or comment if you liked the chapter I would really appreciate it <3
Chapter Text
“Okay, now it’s hidden somewhere you definitely can’t find it.” The dark- skinned man said, letting Poe out of the closet for the second time in the last 10 minutes.
“You can’t just shove people inside closets like that!” Poe huffed resolutely. “You didn’t even leave a crack open this time- what if I was claustrophobic?”
“Are you claustrophobic?”
“I could be!”
The man rolled his eyes at Poe. Realistically Poe knew he should be a little more on guard about being stranded on First Order land, inside a huge tower, the only way out of which was through a window.
He knew that, but he also knew he was more or less safe here with this other man- as safe as a Resistance Commander can be inside FO territory, that is.
Poe had lost Phasma and Hux, the Lightsaber presumably was somewhere safe with the stranger- Poe could figure out how to get it from him eventually. All the other man seemed to want out of Poe was some answers- maybe if he complied he’d let Poe go, without much fuss.
Maybe Poe would make it out of here alive after all.
“Alright, buddy so what’s your deal- why are you stuck here in a tower in the middle of nowhere?” Poe asked, deciding to play nice.
The stranger’s face faltered a bit, but he recovered quickly pulling his poker face back on. “Do you know anything about the lights in the sky?” He asked, ignoring Poe’s question.
“The lights?” Poe repeated, confused as to what the other man was talking about. “You mean the stars?”
“No- not the stars. The Lights. ” The stranger said, his voice developing a wistful edge. “Every year, on the same night- these bright orange lights appear in the night sky.”
“Oh!” Poe exclaimed in understanding, “You mean the Lantern thing they do for the lost Prince?”
“Lantern?”
“Yeah, it’s like these things with fire and-”
“I know what a lantern is, smartass.” The stranger snapped, rolling his eyes at him.
Poe couldn’t help the small smile that made its way to his face. The stranger may have punched Poe once and locked him inside his closet twice- but well, Poe had to admit he was cute. Definitely Poe’s type, broad shoulders, nice smile, kind eyes-
“You said something about a lost prince?” The stranger asked him, bringing him out of his ill-timed thoughts.
“Yeah, the lost Prince of D’Qar.” Poe told him and the stranger’s eyes widened.
“The Lanterns are from D’Qar ?”
Poe nodded.
The stranger gave him a measuring look.
“Are you from D’Qar?”
Poe nodded again.
“What are you doing here in First Order then?”
“The Lightsaber.”
“The Lightsaber?”
“Yeah, some FO lackeys stole it from the palace, the Queen sent me to retrieve it back.”
“So you’re headed back to D’Qar?”
“I am.” Poe replied. He didn’t really know where the conversation was going or why the other man was so curious about Poe’s plans. However, it didn’t seem like he was much for First Order loyalty, what with the fact that Poe was still unharmed and even unshackled.
“How are you going to make it back there?” The man asked, continuing with his interrogation. “Do you have a ship?”
Poe narrowed his eyes at the other man, choosing his next words a little more carefully- so he wouldn’t give away too much about his little companion, who should be waiting for him by the shore. “I just need to make it back to the shore- I’ll figure it out from there.”
“I’ve never been outside the tower but I know it’s at least a two day journey from here to the shore.” The stranger pointed out.
“I know.”
The stranger considered that for a moment before asking, “Didn’t you say something about people being after you?”
“People are after me, and by now they’ve probably put up wanted posters for me too.” Poe said, his voice becoming a little annoyed now. As much as he enjoyed looking at the other man’s face, he really had better places to be right now.
“I’ve answered your questions, give me the saber back so I can leave.” He demanded folding his hands to his chest, perhaps a little petulantly.
The stranger just ignored Poe. He looked like he was scheming something- and Poe thought, logically, he should probably be worried about that.
The stranger nodded to himself, as if he’d made up his mind about something. “Alright, I’ll make you an offer.”
“What kind of an offer?”
“I’ll help you make it back to the shore and you take me back to D’Qar to see the Lanterns.”
“What?”
“You help me, I help you.” The stranger simply said, with a shrug.
“Who says I need your help?” Poe retorted.
“Fine then, you help me or you don’t get your precious lightsaber back.” The stranger said, giving Poe a sarcastic smile.
Poe cocked an eyebrow at him, “You think you’re that good at hiding stuff that I can’t just find it?”
“No, I think you’ll find it if you try to really look for it.” The other man said, the smile still on his face. “But I’ll just take it back from you. Of course then, you’ll try to fight me for it- but I’ll easily win that fight.”
He gave Poe a look, “And then I’ll keep you tied up inside my closet forever and the Lightsaber would sadly never be returned back to D’Qar.”
Poe glared at the other man, who just continued to look at Poe with the same smug grin plastered on his face. “You’re a little shit you know that?” Poe said, squinting his eyes to get his point across.
“You bring it out in me.” The man simply replied before getting up from the bed and standing in front of Poe, leaning down a little. Poe’s breathing stuttered only for a moment- the stranger was unfairly attractive and he kept being mean and getting close to Poe.
“So?” The stranger asked, making Poe blink back at him.
“You’ll give me back the lightsaber once I get you to D’Qar?” Poe managed to ask.
“Once you take me to see the Lanterns.” The other man corrected. “I’ll keep it on me until then- as collateral.”
“Where’s my collateral?”
“If you betray me, I won't be able to see The Lanterns- that’s all I’ve ever wanted, it’s all I have.” He said it carelessly but Poe could hear the lump in the back of his throat.
He eyed the stranger, trying to size him up. It couldn't hurt to have someone like him along for the ride. The guy looked considerably stronger than Poe- which Poe was noticing from a tactical standpoint and a tactical standpoint only .
And the only thing he wanted in return was for Poe to take him to see the Lanterns. Poe could do that- he was headed back to D’Qar anyways, he’d just drop the guy off at some port.
“You do realize that I’m an enemy of the First Order right?” Poe asked him. “So if you help me that’ll make you their enemy as well.”
The stranger just shrugged. “I just want to see The Lights.”
Poe bit his lip, making up his mind. “Well alright then, we have a deal-” He said before stopping short. “Wait what’s your name?” He couldn’t go on a days-long trip with a guy without even knowing his name.
Poe waited for a response and the stranger just gave him a confused look- as if he wasn’t used to people asking for his name.
“FN-2187.”
“FN- what?” Poe asked incredulously. That wasn’t a name that was- realization slowly dawned on Poe. It wasn’t a name, it was a kriffing serial number. Maybe the guy didn’t live in the tower- maybe he was trapped here.
Suddenly trusting the other man didn't seem like such a bad idea.
“That’s the only name they ever gave me.” He replied back with a noncommittal shrug, as if the fact that he had numbers for a name didn’t bother him.
It bothered Poe.
“Well, I ain’t calling you that.” Poe told him at once. “FN huh? How about Finn? Can I call you Finn?”
The other man gave him a look, and a smile- a real one, bright and happy appeared on his face. “Finn.” He said, testing the name out. He nodded enthusiastically at Poe. “Finn, yeah I like that.”
“I’m Poe- Poe Dameron.” He said, offering the other man- Finn- his hand.
Finn took it, shaking it, the smile still present on his face. Poe liked his smile.
“Good to meet you Poe.”
“Good to meet you too Finn.”
Finn asked Poe to stay in his room while he went downstairs to make sure they were alone in the tower. He came back a few minutes later and told Poe it was safe to go down in the hall. He took Poe’s hand in his and led him out of the room.
Poe couldn’t help but stumble a little not expecting the handholding, but it seemed Finn barely even registered the fact that he was holding on to Poe's hand and so Poe decided not to say anything about it.
The color palette downstairs wasn’t much different than the bedroom’s- all blacks and whites and shades of greys. The room was filled with just about every weapon and training equipment that Poe could think of, and then some.
“Do you know how to fight with all of these?” Poe marveled, staring up at a wall mounted with all kinds of weaponry. Swords, katanas, crossbows, spears, arrows, lances, axes.
Finn looked up from where he was filling a black bag with some things and nodded distractedly, “Uh, yeah I guess so.”
“You guess so?” Poe asked amusedly watching the other man pack bread and beans and bandages all inside the same bag.
“Yeah they made me train with all of them.” Finn replied. “I’m not very good with maces though.”
“Scandalous.” Poe commented, making Finn roll his eyes at him. It also made Finn smile a little though, so Poe was counting that as a win.
“Are you good with any of those?” Finn asked him.
“I’m pretty handy with a sword.”
“Great, you should pick one out to take with you then. We might run into some stormtroopers on our way to the shore.”
Poe nodded and took down a longsword and Finn told him where he could find a sheath for it. The sheath much like everything else was made of dark black leather. Finn then asked Poe to take a sword down for him as well- a double edged straight sword.
Finn was fixing a scabbard on his hip, the bag already crossed around his shoulder- when Poe handed the blade to him. Finn was dressed in all black, of course- keeping in theme with the whole tower. Black tunic, black pants, black boots. He looked good in black, Poe couldn’t help but notice.
Finn collected some more things from around the hall and then the two made their way upstairs.
“So, are you ever going to tell me what your whole deal is?” Poe asked him as the two walked up the stairs.
“My whole deal?”
“You don’t seem to have any love for the Order and they keep you hidden away inside a tower. You say the only thing you’ve ever wanted in life is to see the Lanterns- which like, weird life goal, by the way,” Finn glared at him for that and Poe just returned back a lopsided smile, “So yes, what’s your whole deal?”
Finn didn’t respond, choosing to instead wordlessly walk in the bedroom. Poe of course decided to press him further about it. “Why do they make you train with all that stuff, if they’re just gonna keep you locked inside here?”
“They were planning on sending me on my first mission in a day.” Finn answered and made his way to the fresher presumably to put some more stuff inside his little bag. He left the door open behind him and Poe heard Finn turn on the tap.
“Is that why you’re finally running away now?” Poe asked before adding with a playful smirk. “Or is it just because you can’t bear to say goodbye to me yet on account of my incredibly good looks.”
Finn came out of the fresher with an unimpressed look on his face. “The first one.” He said and threw a wet towel at Poe- which he managed to catch.
“For all the dried blood on your incredibly good looking face.” Finn said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
“Yeah, yeah- alright.” Poe conceded wiping his face down with the towel. “What mission were they sending you on anyways?” Poe asked.
Finn let out an exasperated sigh, his hands dropping down to his hips. “Can we do this later? Like, I don’t know- after we’re out of this tower.”
“Fine. I’m obviously very eager to get out of this tower, it’s not like there are people outside the tower waiting to kill me or anything.” Poe said, leaning down to pick up the orange satchel and his pair of daggers from where he had previously dropped them on the floor.
“If we don’t hurry up, there will be people inside the tower as well that are looking to kill you.”
“What are you doing?” He asked, eyeing Finn bent down in front of the bed, one of his hands shoved underneath it, looking for something.
“The Lightsaber.” Finn simply replied.
“You hid it back under your bed ?”
“I figured that’s the last place you’d think it’d be.”
“No one likes a smartass, Finn”
“ You’re a smartass.”
“Why do you think so many people are trying to kill me?”
Notes:
I'm going to be honest writing from Poe's pov is so fucking hard for me. I love Poe and I always feel like I can relate to him- so I thought writing from his perspective would be a piece of cake but nope. he's so dumb how do you even explain his thought process- you can't because there is no thought process, he's never had a thought in his entire life lmao
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter- I know there wasn't a lot of plot but I wanted to kind of focus on setting up the dynamic between Finn and Poe with this one. the next chapter will have some plot and even some backstory! I'll see you guys next Tuesday, thank you so much for reading!
Also please leave a kudos or comment if you liked the chapter I would really appreciate it <3
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Notes:
I'm a little nervous about posting this chapter because of the backstory- I have given it a lot of thought and I am willing to commit to all the details but idk once I post it I can't edit it you know? lol I don't have commitment issues what are you talking about i'm not indecisive at all. In all seriousness though I do like how this chapter turned out and I hope you do too!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
As far as FN-2187 could remember he was never given a proper name. Maybe his parents gave him one; but it's not like he could ever find out what it was. Sometimes he would be referred to as Eight-Seven but that was just for convenience's sake.
FN-2187 simply has always been FN-2187 and nothing more.
And now, Poe Dameron had offered him an actual real name.
“How about Finn? Can I call you Finn?” He had said.
Finn was a nice name. FN-2187 liked the name Finn. He wanted to be called Finn.
After FN-21- no, not FN-2187, Finn - after Finn had safely clipped the lightsaber on his hip behind his sword, the two men started on climbing their way down the tower. Dameron went out the window first.
Finn climbed up the window ledge, taking one last look out onto the meadow. He knew leaving meant he could never come back, he knew that once he was outside he would have to run as far away from the Order as possible. He’d travel to D’Qar with Dameron, finally see the Lights in person and then leave it all behind.
“You coming, Finny?” Poe called out, already halfway down the tower.
Finn shook away his thoughts, clearing his head- and hooked one of his own daggers in a crack between the tower’s bricks.
“As much as I appreciate you giving me a name I think we can stop at just the one.” He called out to Dameron as he tried to get his footing correct and tried not to look down at how high up above the ground he was.
“Oh come on don’t be like that, Finnster .”
“Please stop.”
It took Poe only a few minutes to get down, he didn’t seem as fazed by the height as Finn himself was. Finn kept checking his daggers everytime he lodged them into a new crevice, making sure the bricks won’t give under his weight. He managed to scale his way down eventually, taking significantly longer than Poe.
The other man had just waited on the ground for him. Finn was basically done now, he could just hop off and his feet would easily touch solid ground. Solid ground and the stretch of green grass that Finn had longingly stared at for years now.
“You alright, buddy?” Poe’s voice asked him, making him glance up from where he was looking at the grass.
“Yeah I just,” Finn replied- his voice a little shaky. He looked up at the other man. “I just can’t believe I’m out of the tower.” He said with a breathless laugh.
Dameron laughed as well- a bright yellow laugh. Finn liked his laugh. “Yeah, well believe it.” He said and offered Finn a hand.
Finn took it, jumping down from the tower brick, where he had lodged his foot- and landing on the soft tufts of grass. The ground was a little squashy under his feet,- way different than the marble floors of the tower he was used to.
He looked around the meadow, with the giddiest smile of his life. The small flower bushes next to a tree caught Finn’s eyes and he immediately made his way up to them.
Up close the meadow was even prettier. The leaves in the bushes were misty- something Finn had never been able to notice from his window before, and the bark of the trees were scratched and roughened. He stretched a hand towards one, his fingers were shaking a little but he didn’t really care.
His hands curled around the stiff, rough tree trunk and he let out another laugh. He was touching the tree. He was in the meadow- a part of it. If someone were to look out the window now- they would be able to see Finn , just like Finn had been able to see the flowers.
He kneeled down in front of the bushes- tugging Poe down with him, only just now realizing he was still holding the other man’s hand. He should probably let go of Poe’s hand, he thought, but it was warm and heavy against his own, and he didn’t want to let go. Poe was holding his hand back though, so presumably he didn’t mind.
Finn reached out, with his other hand, to the flowers- the purple ones. The flower petals were soft- he plucked one off the bush, and brought it up to his nose to smell it. It smelled sweet. He dropped the flower and touched the grass underneath him. The grass was a little damp- it felt nice between Finn’s fingers.
“This is the best day of my life.” he found himself confessing.
“Yeah?” Poe said from beside him, and Finn turned his head to look up at him.
Dameron had a fond look on his face, his lower lip caught between his teeth as he looked Finn over- and Finn felt himself flush under the other man’s gaze. He was looking at Finn softly- maybe too softly.
“Yeah.” Finn managed to breath out- because he didn’t know what else to say.
“Hmm.” Poe hummed, a crooked smile hanging from his lips, and brought a hand up- a small purple flower between his fingers. He tucked it behind Finn’s ear, his touch lingering a little at Finn’s temples. “That’s nice.” Poe said.
Finn ducked his head down- perhaps a little embarrassed.
He awkwardly plucked another flower from the bush- a matching purple one and tucked it behind Poe’s ear just like Poe had done. Poe let out an intoxicating laugh- the corner of his eyes crinkling, and Finn was glad he was sitting here in the meadow right now, instead of watching it from his window.
The two men didn’t dawdle around the meadow for long. The sun was high up in the afternoon sky and the journey ahead of them was long and likely full of some unpleasant encounters.
Poe Dameron liked to talk a lot.
Finn wasn’t used to people making conversation with him- sure he’d talked to people before- troopers he’d trained with for the most part- but talking to Poe Dameron wasn’t quite like talking to Slip or Zee-nineteen. For one thing Poe talked very animatedly- not just with his body but his face as well. All smiles and grimaces and lip bites.
For another, his stories were nothing like what the troopers had for Finn. The troopers usually talked about the barracks and their training bases, non-violent missions they had gone on- because Finn didn’t like hearing about the violent ones- and other aspects of their lives in the First Order.
Poe of course talked about his life outside of the Order. A life where everyone had a name and not a number, where things weren’t all black and white and where Poe had a lot of friends whom he’d do stupid stuff with.
It didn’t take Finn long to figure out Poe was with the Resistance. He worked for Leia Organa and was on a mission right now- of course he worked for the kriffing Resistance. Therefore, though Finn laughed at Dameron’s jokes and expressed genuine enthusiasm in his stories- he always remembered to keep his guard on.
Finn knew he was useful, valuable- that his connection to the Force, his ability to heal was a desirable quality especially to people at war. He didn’t leave one tower only to be locked away in another. Dameron didn’t seem to have any idea about his powers, so it was safe to assume The Resistance didn’t either- Finn wanted to keep it that way.
And so when Dameron finally gave into his curiosity and asked Finn about himself- Finn’s posture became a little more stiff and his strides a little longer.
“I’ve been talking about myself for hours though, buddy.” Poe said- knocking his shoulders with Finn’s. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
“About myself?” Finn asked not un-cautiously.
“Yeah, why were you with the Order? What’s with the whole tall tower with no entrance?” Poe didn’t sound like he was trying to pry, or like he was demanding answers- he just sounded curious. Finn didn't know what to make of that.
“You said you’d tell me after we got out of the tower- and well we’re out.” Poe said, and Finn wanted to point out that he never said he’d tell Poe anything, only that Poe could continue to pester him about it once they got out of the tower.
Instead he just shrugged and replied, “They found me when I was a child- I was kept inside the tower my whole life.”
“Why the tower though?” Poe asked. “Why didn’t they just make you a trooper or something?”
“I dont’ know.” Finn lied, though he had no idea if he sounded convincing or not. Finn didn’t have much experience with lying.
“Hmm.” Poe replied, eyeing him skeptically.
Finn quickly decided to change the subject.
“You mentioned something about a prince when you told me about the Lanterns?” Finn asked, “Can you tell me more about them?”
Poe still looked uncertain but he must’ve decided to drop it for now- something Finn was only all too glad about. “Yeah, sure. What do you wanna know?”
“Everything.” Finn answered instantly. “What happened to the Prince of D’Qar?”
“Did they not keep you updated with other kingdoms' histories?”
“Take a guess, Dameron.”
“Yeah fair enough.” Poe agreed with a small smile. “So there were two Princes of D’Qar.”
“The Lanterns are for two people?” Finn asked and Poe shot him an annoyed look, and poked Finn’s side playfully.
“Don’t interrupt.”
“Right, sorry.”
“So the Princes of D’Qar. The older one- first in line to the throne was Leia Organa’s son, and the younger prince was Luke Skywalker’s son. Do you know who that is?”
Finn nodded. They’d told him about Organa and Skywalker of course- the twins who had brought down the Old Empire and Darth Vader. Skywalker had abdicated from the throne shortly after the war, and then ran away when the second war started. He didn’t know much about Skywalker other than that- though he had been told a lot about Organa- the Huttslayer some called her.
A fierce warrior, who was rumored to be strong with the Force, though she rarely ever used it. She was the First Order’s biggest and most feared enemy. Finn never wanted to cross paths with her.
“I know who they are.” Finn told Poe.
“Right, so the Lanterns are for the younger Prince.”
“What happened to him?”
“It was before Skywalker’s exile- he was a Resistance General, the Queen’s right hand. He was always busy fighting the war-”
“Skywalker fought against the First Order?” Finn asked, confusedly.
“Yeah, of course he did!”
“They told me he ran away before the war started.”
“He didn’t run away!” Poe snapped, getting defensive. “Or well-” he faltered. “It’s complicated.”
Finn was sure it was.
“Anyways,” Poe continued, “His husband took their kid to Tatooine to meet his parents and Skywalker couldn’t go with him. They had guards and everything with them but on the journey back to the Palace, Wedge- Skywalker’s husband was murdered and their son was kidnapped. The Queen and Skywalker searched for him everywhere for a long time but they couldn’t find him. A few years later Skywalker finally lost hope and- well, he disappeared. No one knows where he is, not even his own sister.”
Finn guessed he shouldn't be too surprised at the version of the story the Order had chosen to tell him. It was much easier and favorable to tell the story of a legend like Skywalker and make him out to be a coward who ran away, than a man crushed by grief.
“Skywalker was the one who started the Lantern thing- he thought that maybe his son would see them in the night sky and know that his father was out there looking for him. After he went away, Leia kept up with it- she’s too swamped with the war, it’s taking a toll on her but she’s still holding out hope that her nephew would someday return back home.”
“Huh.” was all Finn said.
Poe gave him a crooked sad half-smile. “Yeah.”
“What about the other Prince?” Finn asked. “You talked about him in past tense.”
“Well, that one’s not a nice story either I’m afraid.” Poe said, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck.
“Will you tell me?”
“Sure, buddy.” Poe said with a shrug, before pulling a face. “Wait, you know what the Force is, right?”
Finn rolled his eyes at the other man. “Yes, Poe, I know what the Force is.”
“Just making sure.” He replied with a little grin. “So Leia’s son was strong with the Force. Skywalker had a school for Force- sensitive children, the prince was one of his students. He was seduced by the dark side of the Force, Skywalker tried to help him but the prince had too much anger in him, too much resentment. Skywalker couldn’t bring himself to kill his own student- his own nephew, he couldn’t stop him. The Prince burned down Skywalker’s school- took half the students with him- the ones willing to join him in the darkness, and killed the other half.”
Finn’s eyes widened.
“They say it was the last straw- the final push that crushed Skywalker’s spirit.”
Poe looked over and finally noticed Finn’s startlement- he’d stopped walking. “What?” Poe asked him, his brows furrowing.
“I- it’s just-” Finn stumbled around a little, before finally finding his words. “The Prince of D’Qar is Snoke’s padawan?” He exclaimed in surprise.
“You know Snoke’s Padawan?”
“I- um I may have met him a couple of times. I don’t know, I’ve seen his face? I’ve talked to him? I knew he destroyed Skywalker’s school- but I didn’t know that he was his student or that his mother was Leia Organa.”
Poe gave him an exasperated look. “ Buddy. ” He said emphatically. “What the fuck were you doing in that tower.”
“I- um, they- they were……” Finn floundered about sheepishly. “They were just training me- I don’t know for what. They never told me too much about stuff.” It wasn't technically a lie, just an…..omission of certain truths.
Poe looked unconvinced but he didn’t push. “I’ll accept that for now, but one of these days I’m figuring out whatever it is you’re not telling me, okay?” He said wagging an accusatory finger at Finn- his tone still light-hearted enough to not be concerning.
Finn just nodded sheepishly at him, and Poe shook his head with a small smile on his face, before he continued walking. Finn followed him.
Notes:
ooooo who could the elusive prince of D'Qar possibly be????
I hope you guys liked this chapter! Please leave a kudos or a comment if you did, I would really appreciate it! <3
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Notes:
Hey!!! A bunch of you commented on the last chapter and were really nice about the backstory so thank you so much for that it made me feel a lot more confident in the decisions I'd made!
I also wanted to tell you guys that I'm kinda running through chapters faster than I'm writing them??? It's not ideal I'm gonna give it a week and see if I can work it out if not I think I might have to change the uploading schedule from twice a week to just once a week for a bit- just until I can catch up again! I hope that's okay.
For now I hope you enjoy this chapter thank you so much for reading <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The sky had turned dark, and the moon was hanging in the star-speckled night sky.
The two men had decided to camp out in a dubiously ‘secluded’ part of the woods. There were a lot of trees here and Poe thought they provided suitable cover- but it was still out in the open and therefore a terrifyingly vulnerable spot. They couldn’t keep moving though, they needed some rest.
They had agreed they’d sleep in shifts- one of them could sleep while the other would be on watch. From Poe’s estimation daybreak was maybe six hours away, they could both have three hours of sleep each, before they’d need to be back on the move again.
Poe was on watch duty first, Finn was asleep just a little farther away from where Poe was sat against a boulder-like thing.
Finn still had the purple flower tucked behind his ear.
Finn was a very……..fascinating person. He’d been brought up in the First Order and yet he had an infectiously bright smile. He’d said he knew how to fight with basically every weapon Poe’s ever known that exists, and……..well, and yet he had a flower tucked behind his ear. And Poe was almost a hundred percent sure that Finn didn’t even remember it was there.
Poe’s own flower, that the other man had so awkwardly and endearingly tucked behind Poe’s own ear, had gotten lost somewhere along the line. Poe had a habit of running his hands through his hair.
But Finn’s flower remained sat atop his ear all throughout their hours-long journey across the woods.
They had taken small breaks every once in a while- or well, Finn had made them take breaks. He’d also made Poe eat the, quite honestly, disgusting and unpalatable beans and breads that were only made a little edible by the small block of cheese Poe had in his satchel.
Poe had a terrible habit of forgetting to eat- it wasn’t like he did it on purpose, he was just bad at keeping track of his meals. He couldn’t really blame himself for it right now anyways, he was already on edge as was. To say, he was in a hurry to get to the shore would be a gross understatement.
However, Finn insisted that they took breaks every once in a while- either to just rest or eat something. He had said they’d tire themselves out otherwise.
Poe would be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate it.
Finn was also very enjoyable company. Though he didn't have many stories of his own to share- what with the, having lived his whole life in a tower thing- he still listened to Poe’s stories attentively and asked so many questions. His curiosity added with the flower- well it was all unfairly adorable.
Poe had asked Finn what his whole attachment to the Lanterns was about- though he had put it in better words, of course. Finn had told him about how he’d stay up every year the night the Lanterns came out just to watch them float into the sky- how it was his favorite thing to look at from out his window. The Lanterns made him happy, made him feel calm- it was the one thing that felt like his and not the Order’s.
“It was part of what made me trust you, you know.” He had said when they were still walking.
“Yeah?” Poe had asked.
“Uh-huh. Your satchel’s orange- like The Lights.”
Even though Finn remained nice and the conversation between them was friendly and even teasing at times- Poe could still tell Finn was being guarded.
Poe knew Finn was keeping some things from him- that he was hiding the whole truth behind what he was doing in the tower. He also understood Finn probably didn’t trust him with it just yet. He’d only just met Poe a couple of hours ago anyways. Poe hadn’t given Finn a reason to trust him yet.
But Finn hadn’t given Poe a reason to not trust him yet either, and so Poe decided to respect his wishes and not to press the other man about it.
From what he had told Poe, Finn wasn’t planning on sticking around anyways. He’d most likely go away to some Outer kingdom in the east, where the First Order didn’t have as much presence. Poe couldn’t exactly blame the guy for wanting to do so.
Finn had told him a bit about his life at the tower- though there didn’t seem to be much to tell about. He didn’t exactly have what you’d call a childhood - they’d been training the guy ever since he was a little kid, for kriff’s sake. He didn’t seem bothered by it though, just shrugged it off when Poe expressed his distress at the prospect of growing up like that- of having a life like that. All alone inside a tower, with only an occasional trooper for company.
“I had the window at least- could’ve been worse, they could’ve taken it away.” Finn had said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t be nearly as sane as I am right now, if that had happened.” he’d said jokingly.
But Poe actually saw the window for what it was. It wasn’t a thing Finn had managed to hide away from Snoke, like he believed it was. It was there to taunt Finn, give him a glimpse of what he was missing and tell him he couldn’t have it.
But of course Finn didn’t see it like that. Finn- the guy that had a smile brighter than the sun when he had smelled a flower he’d been looking at for years. Finn- who’s dream in life is to see some stupid Lanterns in person. Of course Finn would think the window was a blessing and fail to see past that disguise.
So yeah, Poe thought as he watched Finn’s now sound asleep form breathing rhythmically in front of him- Finn was a very fascinating person.
However, he’d most likely part ways with Poe after their deal was done with. Poe shouldn’t get attached, he thought, as Finn turned on his side in sleep and the flower finally fell down on the ground.
The night went by without any trouble. It was almost midday now.
Finn and Poe were running through the woods- because starsforbid Poe has more than a few hours of peace.
“How did they even catch up with us?” Finn yelled out in frustration as he made a sharp left turn. “Are you sure it’s them?”
“No, Finn, maybe it’s some other tall blonde and slimy ginger duo!” Poe retorted back. “Wanna go back and check?”
“If only your legs were as quick as your mouth is.”
“Fuck off.”
Poe was never a good runner. He was fast but he had terrible endurance- and it felt like he had been running ever since he entered this blasted kingdom.
“Why are we even running, can’t we just fight them? There's two of them and two of us, we could take them!” Finn, unlike Poe, it turns out had incredible endurance. He’d barely even broken a sweat while Poe was about ready to start panting out his breaths.
“Buddy, I’m minutes away from toppling over, all it’s gonna take is one punch- it doesn’t even have to be a good punch.”
“Well then, I can take them.” Finn insisted and Poe wanted to smack him.
“No you can’t. That’s Phasma- she’s the Captain of the Stormtroopers-”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You know?” Poe gave him an incredulous look.
“She taught me how to fight up until I was like 17.”
“Finn, buddy what the actual fuck.”
Finn ignored Poe’s rightful exasperation. “I can take them.”
“I’d still rather not take a chance.” The other man looked annoyed and Poe could swear he saw Finn pick up his pace just to annoy Poe.
“Really mature, Finn.”
“Not my fault you can’t keep up, old man.”
“I’m not that older than you.” Poe took a pause. “Wait, how old are you?”
“Twenty two. How old are you?”
“Thirty.”
“A literal fossil.”
The two had swerved off the deeper part of woods they had until now stuck to. The ground beneath their feets was no longer wild and grassy- but rather an actual smooth, well trodden-over forest path. Poe knew this wasn’t ideal because the chances of running into stormtroopers this way couldn't possibly be higher- but it was difficult for him to keep track of where they were going when they were also trying to shake off Phasma and Hux.
However through the forest path, a little shack in the distance caught Poe’s eye and he was struck with a truly stupid idea. Stupid ideas, however had worked in Poe’s favor so far.
“You see that little shack, Finny?” Poe asked and saw Finn rolling his eyes at the nickname. “We’re going there.”
“ What? ”
“I can’t run anymore, buddy.” Poe said and he sounded like he was dying. “I feel like my lungs are on fire.”
Finn gave him a calculating look, his pace faltering down to match Poe’s half hearted spriniting. “You look like your lungs are on fire.” He said and Poe laughed despite himself, or the lack of oxygen left in his body.
“For the record I don’t like this idea.” Finn said as the two ran on over to the shack- which on closer inspection looked less like a shack and more like a tavern.
“Duly noted.”
After some more running and some half-dying panting from Poe- which he’d deny in the future, they finally reached the tavern. Finn eyed the joint skeptically, “I have a bad feeling about this.” He said as he followed Poe in through the doors.
The inside of the tavern was dingy and had a weird smell to it. There were also far too many people in there for Finn’s comfort.
Poe didn’t seem as bothered by it, and just turned to him and said, “Okay, you go and take a seat at a table in the back and I’ll get us some drinks.” Finn however couldn’t pay much attention to what the other man was saying on account of his face.
Poe’s tanned skin had turned red all over, the color high on his cheeks up to the tips of his ears and trailing down his throat. His hair was absurdly mussed up, curls falling on his face and sticking out at places. He looked weirdly….pretty?
“We’ll hide out here for a while, and then-” Poe stopped himself and pulled a face. “What?”
“What?”
“ What ?” Poe repeated giving him an expectant look. “I don’t think you heard a word of what I just said- is something wrong?” He asked and Finn watched his eyes frantically jump around the room, as he pulled his already obscenely red bottom lip between his teeth and worried at it.
“Nothing.” Finn said, biting back a smile. “It’s just- your face is like ridiculously red right now.”
Poe rolled his eyes at him, “Yeah, yeah 30 year old fossil with awful stamina. Hardy har-har.”
Finn just grinned at him, and then- because he was unable to help it, tucked a curl away from Poe’s face. Poe’s face possibly got redder.
“Right,” Poe said and his dying voice from before had returned slightly. “You go take a seat- I’ll be there in a minute.”
Finn did as Poe said, and walked up to an empty table in the back. He wasn’t used to being around so many people at once, and couldn’t shake off the feeling that everyone was directly looking at him. He stared at the tabletop in front of him, waiting for Poe to come back and crack a joke or something to help calm Finn’s nerves down.
Several minutes passed. The table was wooden and old and terribly scratched and stained. One of the legs was just the littlest bit shorter than the others, making the table wobble just enough for Finn to notice.
Finn took out the bottle of water from his satchel and took a large gulp. And then he basically downed the whole thing- man he was thirsty, all that running must’ve tired him out a little. His eyes roamed around the room and-
He almost choked on his water rather ungracefully as he looked at the familiar face he’d found in the crowd. Finn’s eyes bounced around the room in a panicked haze and sure enough half the patrons in the tavern had some part of their white armor still on.
He frantically searched the room for Poe.
The other man was leaning against the bar- two drinks in front of him, talking to a man in full stormtrooper armor- minus the helmet. It looked more like the trooper was interrogating Poe.
Finn quickly got up from his seat and made his way over to Poe- around all these black and white Poe was sticking out like a sore thumb with his jacket and the ridiculous orange satchel.
Of course the damned tavern was a trooper restoration station what else could it have possibly been!
“Is everything alright?” Finn asked once he’d reached Poe’s side. He tried to keep the panic out of his voice, maybe if they played it right they could make it out of here without any….unpleasant altercations.
Poe just gave him a charming smile. “Oh no nothing, this fine gentleman was just asking me about my day.”
Finn wanted to smack Dameron.
“Where did you say you’re from again?” The stormtrooper asked in his gruff voice, before Finn could make an excuse and drag Poe back to their seat and then preferably as far away from this tavern as possible.
“The inner city.” Poe answered at once with a casual smile.
“What are you doing shoreside then?”
“None of your business.” Finn replied before Poe could.
Finn may have been stuck in a tower for most- if not all of his life, but he still knew more about First Order culture than Poe seemed to. People simply don’t smile nearly as much or as bright around here as Poe did. Higher-officers, which Finn assumed was what Poe was trying to pretend to be, also didn’t interact much with the troopers. Poe should’ve never acknowledged the trooper in the first place.
“We should get back to our table now.” Finn told Poe and took his hand, trying to steer them back to the rear end of the tavern from where they could more easily sneak out.
The trooper however blocked them. Finn found himself absentmindedly shielding Poe behind him.
“You know you seem kind of familiar?” The trooper said to Poe.
“And you seem out of line, TX-4000” Finn said, glancing down to read the trooper’s number. He tried to imitate Phasma or Snoke’s tone from when they would call out his own older number, but he knew his voice was far too soft for that.
The trooper pulled a malicious grin and nodded his head to the side a little and before Finn knew it someone was yanking back his arms, pulling his fingers away from where they’d wrapped around Poe’s- his wrists were crossed behind his back in someone’s stiff hold and a knife was pulled up to his throat.
Poe was much in the same situation as himself, Finn noted with distress.
The trooper pulled out a piece of paper. Poe’s face was smack in the middle of it with WANTED printed out underneath.
“Right! That’s where I know you from!” The trooper sneered.
“That’s not him.” Finn said, firmly, and at the same time Poe blurted out, “They got my nose all wrong!”
Finn closed his eyes- imagining all the ways he was going to yell at the other man once they made it out of this place.
It wasn’t an ideal situation, Finn knew that. A tavern full of troopers- and they’d just walked in. A part of Finn had been relieved when Poe refused to stop running and fight off Phasma and Hux- Finn really hadn’t wanted to face the woman, preferably ever again in his life. But now, fish in the barrel as they were- well, facing Phasma seemed like the easier alternative.
Finn was still trying to come up with a plan- he could get out of the somewhat lousy hold he was in and maybe even get Poe out, but then what? They were surrounded by at least thirty, well armed troopers.
“Let him go!” A commanding voice called out from Finn’s right, and he saw that familiar face from before- aiming an arrow at TX-4000.
“Zee-nineteen,” Finn exhaled unbelievably. He knew the other woman was in the tavern but he never thought she’d so blatantly stand up for him like this.
“Tell your friends there to let that one go or you’ll have an arrow sticking out of your neck in the next ten seconds.” Zee-nineteen firmly gritted out through her teeth and the hands around Finn’s wrists instantly let go- the knife retreating.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” TX-4000 growled out, but his hands were still up in the air in surrender.
Finn was a decent aim, but Zee-nineteen? She was the best, he’d trained with her before and she never missed her target, especially not when she had that look on her face.
“They’re an enemy to the Order-” The trooper continued, clearly pissed off.
“Dameron is. He’s not.”
“He’s clearly helping Dame-”
“Shut up.” Another trooper from beside Zee-nineteen, a man with short blonde hair snapped. His hands were hovering over the hilt of the sword at his hip.
“What are you doing outside your tower, Eight-Seven?” Zee-nineteen asked Finn, she sounded worried and exasperated.
“It’s a long story.” Finn answered back lamely, half of his attention still on the knife they had leveled at Poe’s throat.
“Yeah, well I’m rather spectacularly sticking my neck out for you here, I think you can give me a quick sum-up.” She replied back clearly annoyed.
Finn knew what she was doing, what this meant. If- no when- when her commanding officer finds out about what she’d done- Finn couldn’t even imagine what they’d do. She knew about Finn, was even brought in to help him train sometimes- if they found out her immediate response to seeing Finn outside of the tower wasn’t to drag him back in but rather talk ?
“I’m- uh, I’m running away.” Finn found himself telling her, because really what else was he supposed to do. The other woman’s brows furrowed.
“He’s helping me escape.” He added, with a nod towards Poe.
Zee gave Finn a calculating look. “Let the other one go as well.” She said and she sounded like she couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth, herself.
“ What? ” TX-4000 said in a low voice.
“Let. Him. Go.” Zee said, her words more firm this time, as she strung her bow further in warning.
Just then, the woman holding the knife up to Poe let out a frustrated sound, “This is ridiculous! He’s the Resistance Commander- Ren wants him. You wanna jam that arrow in Triple Zero’s throat. Fucking go ahead- I don’t care!”
And with that she slammed Poe’s face right down on the bar.
Finn barely could register what happened after that.
Zee shot her arrow.
TX-4000 fell down on the ground.
Finn unsheathed his sword and attacked the trooper before she could hurt Poe any more.
The whole place erupted into a fight- Zee and the blonde guy were fighting the troopers directly near Finn and Poe. Half the troopers were fighting each other. The sound of swords and shields clanging against one other filled the room.
Finn had never heard of something like this before. Troopers fighting each other.
Maybe they were Zee-nineteen’s Company and were just looking out for her. Maybe these troopers already had a civil war brewing among them- Finn didn’t know. He couldn’t bring himself to care much about it either- all he cared about right now was making sure Poe and Zee remained more or less unharmed.
He fought the trooper off of Poe, managing to slice her shoulder up and wipe her down to the ground without sustaining any real injuries himself. Poe quickly gathered himself, getting back up on his feet and getting his own sword out. His temples were bleeding and he had a nasty bruise on his cheekbones, but he easily blocked an attack from a nearby trooper.
Poe was pretty handy with a sword, Finn couldn’t help but think with a grin as he watched the other man fight.
Finn himself was working on pure adrenaline, blocking and slashing on muscle memory. His mind and thoughts much too jumbled and baffled for anything else.
He ducked some attacks, took the brunt of some others. The troopers had the advantage of armor on Poe and himself, even though most of them only had some bits and pieces of their armor on. Finn and Poe however had absolutely none.
Sword hilts and sword blades alike left wounds on Finn’s body, but he wasn’t paying attention to that right now. He was fighting on the defense, he didn’t know which of the troopers were with Zee and which weren’t, all he could do was defend himself, Poe and anyone he may have recognized to be on Zee’s side- like that blonde guy.
“Finn, do we have an exit strategy?” Poe asked, fending off his own trooper.
“You’re the one who came up with the damned entrance strategy you’re responsible for getting us out of here!” Finn shot back pettily.
Suddenly, Poe let out a yelp and gripped onto Finn’s hand- the next thing he knew he’s being dragged up and around the other side of the bar.
Zee-nineteen was crouched down in front of him against the black wood, and Poe was down on the ground beside him. “Explain yourself.” She hissed out as the fight between the troopers went on on the other side of the bar.
“Snoke was going to send me on a mission, I couldn’t stay there.” Finn said, his words rushed. “Poe climbed up my window- he was running away from some people. He’s gonna get me across the sea to D’Qar.”
Zee’s eyes widened at that, “You’re gonna join the Resistance? ”
“What? No!” Finn replied, his tone incredulous. “I just need to get to D’Qar- I’ll leave for an Outer Kingdom after that.”
Finn took a pause, thought for a moment, “You should come with us.” He said taking Zee’s hands in his. He didn’t wanna leave her behind- not after everything she'd done for him. “I know you don’t like being in the Order any more than I do, come with us- come with me .”
“I can’t just leave my friends behind, Eight-Seven.” She said with a sad smile. “Besides- we’ve got a plan.”
“A plan?” Finn asked, slightly taken aback.
“ Yes, a plan. My whole kriffing Company didn’t just start fighting the other troopers without any plan- we’re not that stupid.”
Finn laughed and pulled the other woman into a hug. “Never thought you were.” He mumbled into her curly hair.
“Okay, I’ve got a plan for you guys too- here.” She said pulling out the hug and reaching behind her to pull down a lever Finn hadn’t noticed yet.
Behind him the floor opened up into a small tunnel. “It’s not a secret passage, it’s an emergency exit- all the troopers know about it, and there are other entryways to it” Zee clarified as Finn and Poe looked at the little exit. “But it’ll get you out of here.”
Poe gave Zee a warm smile and held out his hand for her- which she took. “Thank you,” He said, “Seriously, we’d be screwed without your help. If you and your friend’s plans ever make it so you find yourselves in D’Qar and in need of the Resistance’s favor, please ask for a Poe Dameron.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Zee told him, with a small smile of her own.
“Take care of yourself, Eight-Seven.” She said.
“It’s actually Finn now.”
Zee-nineteen grinned.
“Well then, take care of yourself, Finn . I’ll see you around.” She gave him one last hug before Finn went down the tunnel- Poe right behind him.
Notes:
What'd you think??? Was the fighting stuff alright?? Was it fun to read?? I hope it was. I'll see you guys next Tuesday- the next chapter is like gigantic (maybe gigantic is an exaggeration but it's like really really long) it took me days to write lmao
I hope you guys liked this one! Please leave a kudos or a comment if you did, I would really appreciate it! <3
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Notes:
this chapter took me daysss to write- not even edit, but just write I had never been more relieved to finally be done with writing a chapter. Part of this is of course because this is entirely Poe's pov but also a lot of things happen in this chapter and I wanted to make sure I hit all the beats correctly. I hope I somewhat managed to do that and that you enjoy reading it!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Poe’s head was still aching from where the trooper had slammed it down on the kriffing bar. The cut on his temples that he’d acquired a day or so ago from Phasma had opened back up and had bleeded down the side of his face. He could feel a bruise forming as well. Other than that he was pretty much fine- no major injuries received.
Poe guessed the same could be said for Finn as well.
He knew Finn would have a bunch of bruises on his body from all the various hits, and his lip was torn and bleeding as well. The last one was thanks to a sword hilt that Poe had watched a trooper smack onto the other man’s face. But that was about it.
Not that Finn seemed to be acknowledging any of it however- he just kept on walking in front of Poe through the torchlit tunnel. Quietly. It wasn’t as if Finn had been an overly talkative person so far anyways, but he hadn’t said a word since they got in the tunnel.
And well Poe wasn’t any good with silence.
“So, you’re awfully quiet.” He said, trying to break the aforementioned silence that had fallen over the two men. “Am I about to get chewed out for the less than ideal consequences of my horribly thought out idea?”
Finn turned to the side a little so that he could look at Poe, “Horribly thought out implies there was at least some thinking that went into the idea.” He said calmly.
“Right, sorry, my impulsive-”
“And stupid.”
“My impulsive and stupid idea.” Poe corrected, fighting back a smile. Finn’s voice was plenty sarcastic, but not really angry.
“Mhm,” was all Finn said in terms of acknowledgement.
“So?” Poe prompted, “Where are we on the whole chewing out front?”
“I was planning on yelling at you a ton, of course-”
“Of course.”
“But believe it or not, it’s a little difficult for me to yell at you with all that blood on your face.” Finn replied, with a small playful smile. “So, I guess I changed my mind- you’re off the hook for now.”
It was a half-assed excuse, not that Finn was trying to make it sound like anything else.
Poe grinned, “Awwww, am I growing on you Finny?”
“I can change my mind again.” Finn threatened, again half assedly.
Poe, of course, took this as an invitation to further push his luck. “So, Zee-nineteen huh?” He spoke up after a pause.
Finn narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Poe. “What about Zee-nineteen?” he asked.
“Nothing- just how do you know her?” Poe asked and kept his voice fairly neutral. Impassive, as if he was just trying to make conversation. Because he was just trying to make conversation and he was definitely not trying to figure out if Finn and the woman were…….- a thing ?
“She- um, well she used to train with me a few years back.” Finn answered.
“Train with you?”
“Yeah they would assign her to train with me sometimes- sparring mostly, sometimes long distance weaponry. But then she got relocated to a base on the other side of the kingdom.”
“What was she doing back here then?”
Finn shrugged, “I don’t know, this was the first time I’ve seen her in years.”
“So, she’s a friend then, huh?” Poe asked, with just the barest teasing lilt to his voice.
Finn rolled his eyes at him, but smiled still. “Yes, Poe- I guess, she’s a friend.”
Poe nodded and stayed silent for a beat before asking, “ Just a friend?”
Finn shook his head at Poe, “You’re such an idiot.” and wasn’t that just a lovely vague answer.
It wasn’t as if Poe was trying to fish for anything, because that would be stupid. Crushing on a guy you just met who was going to leave for an Outer Kingdom in a week and therefore probably never cross paths with you again- would be stupid.
Poe was just curious- that was it.
The way Finn and Zee-nineteen had interacted, the handholding and the hugging and the ‘come with me’- it all was just simply…..- well it made Poe wonder was all.
Granted, Finn had held Poe’s own hand a couple of times by now. Maybe Finn was just a handholding kinda guy- maybe he gave all his friends hugs! Maybe he’ll give Poe a hug too eventu-
A faint thumping sound distracted Poe from his annoying little thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” Finn asked him when he noticed Poe had suddenly stopped walking.
The thumping sound increased and the other man finally noticed it too, his brows furrowing in realization. “Oh fuc-”
Poe instantly grabbed Finn’s hand in his and took off in a sprint.
The pair raced through the tunnel’s rocky terrain- the sound of the stormtroopers catching up with them getting louder and louder. Poe could feel his muscles burning, his body long since over-exerted but it wasn’t like he could stop.
“Poe- what are we gonna do?” He heard Finn’s distressed voice ask him as they turned a corner.
“Just run!” Poe yelled back.
They kept running through the dimly lit tunnel- Finn stumbled on a rock and Poe’s hold on his hand tightened, helping the other man find balance and preventing him from tripping. They ran for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes- Poe could more or less hear his heartbeat.
They finally reached the tunnel’s opening- bright sunlight shined through, and Poe hoped the tunnel led out to a thick forest or something- anything that could, if not help them shake off the troopers than at least help them remain out of sight of any other new ones.
And so, of course the tunnel led out to a fucking empty, desert canyon.
Finn and Poe could only run up a few feet away from the tunnel exit before the ground cut off into a small cliff.
Poe turned around, frantically trying to assess the situation.
There was a big dam above the tunnel which they’d come through, and a bridge connecting the hilltop they were on, to another. Underneath them was blank empty space surrounded by water transit structures and several other tunnels.
About half a dozen well-armored stormtroopers were standing right in front of them- longswords in hand.
Finn was breathing heavily beside him and he squeezed Poe’s hand once, before dropping it and unsheathing the sword at his hip, “We can take them.” he said with much more confidence than he really should be allowed to have.
Poe wordlessly nodded, wishing he had the same faith in himself that Finn seemed to have- he pulled out his sword, and blocked a direct attack from a trooper.
Eight vs two was not a fair fight by any means, and Poe felt it with every cut and bruise that his body collected. It was harder to do any proper damage to the troopers through their armor, Poe had to go for the weak spots, the literal chinks in their armor.
He managed to fight off two of the troopers that were currently on him and made a run for the bridge. He looked over his shoulder to Finn- he was faring much better than Poe had been, even though he had to deal with three more troopers than Poe.
One of the two troopers he had shrugged off were back on their feet and advancing on Poe. Finn wasn’t anywhere near the bridge- Poe should go back and help the other man. But before he could make a decision, Finn caught his eye.
“Go! I’ve got this, I’m right behind you!” Finn shouted, just as he ran his sword through a trooper- kicking her off to the side and snatching her weapon out of her hand and using it to block an attack. “Go, Dameron!”
Poe hesitantly ran off across the bridge- hobbling a little due to the fresh cut on his thigh. He barely made it halfway through when the bridge gave in under him- the troopers having cut off the rope from the other side.
The lanky bridge hurled off towards the flat end of the opposite hilltop, and Poe gripped onto the rope, swinging with the bridge.
The bridge collapsed against the rocky hill wall- as did Poe, but he had managed to hold his feet out so he wouldn’t bodily wipe out against the rock. The impact still rendered him unbalanced and his hold on the bridge loosened and he dropped down on the ground. It wasn’t a big enough drop to break anything, but it still knocked Poe’s breath out of his lungs.
He coughed, and rolled onto his back, trying to will himself to get back up on his feet- when someone suddenly hurled him up by the front of his tunic and slammed his back onto a jagged hillside.
Poe groaned out in pain- his legs dangling up above the ground.
“Fancy meeting you here, rebel scum.” An accented voice snarled at him.
“Don’t try to be witty Hux, it’s not a good look on you.”
“Oh, I’m going to have so much fun killing you Dameron,” He said, punctuating his words with a harsh jab of his knees to Poe’s stomach.
“Ren wants him alive, General.” Phasma’s voice said from behind him and Hux’s expressions instantly turned annoyed.
“He’s breathing, isn’t it?” He said and a sneer made its way to his face.
He threw Poe across the ground and Poe groaned out again, as the unpleasant ground slid right onto the cut on his thigh.
“I think he can keep breathing for a few more.” Hux said, amusement lacing his voice.
Poe somehow, groggily got back up on his feet. Holding up his sword in front of him- he can do this, or well he can try to do this.
“Would you like to do the honors, Captain?” Hux said and Phasma just let out a sound of exasperation before charging at Poe- her tall, scary sword in hand.
If fighting the troopers before had been a challenge- well then fighting Phasma was a fucking nightmare.
Phasma’s attacks were quick and aggressive making it so that Poe had to resort to backstepping to be able to even block them properly.
Poe was a good enough swordsman- he could hold his own, but he was already wobbly on his feet due to the wound on his leg, and the new cuts Phasma’s blades left on his arms and torso weren't helping. She landed a particularly nasty one on his collarbone and Poe staggered back from the pain.
If Phasma was one for theatrics, Poe thinks cynically, she would have probably delivered some one liner- but because she was Phasma, she simply twirled her sword away and kicked Poe square in the chest, sending him flying back and slamming against the side of a nearby hill.
Poe let out another grunt, disgustingly sore all over- the several cuts on his body starting to make their presence known even more. He pushed his hand back against the hill to try and regain some of his balance when a rope hit the palm of his hand.
He looked up and saw a pulley hanging on top of him and- oh stars yes .
“Now, was that really necessary?” Poe coughed out- because he definitely was one for the theatrics- and curled his hands around the rope before kicking the lever near his feet.
The pulley zoomed the rope up at once, and with it Poe. His palms were getting burned from the friction but his hold on the rope remained. He landed right on the same hilltop he’d started on- the same one Finn was still fighting off troopers on.
A couple of them were lying on the side but a pair was still standing upright. Finn’s movements were a little sluggish and tired but he was still on his feet and swinging his weapon with precision.
“Finn!” Poe called out to him, from the cliff- the rope still twined around his hands.
Finn looked up at him from over his shoulder, and pushed a trooper to the side making a run for Poe.
“What’s the plan?” He asked- his breaths coming out in pants.
“Hold on tight.” He replied and Finn instantly wrapped an arm around Poe’s neck and the other around his middle.
Poe let himself have a single moment to collect himself, moving back to gain some momentum- before running up to the cliff and flinging off of it, hangin by the rope, Finn’s body wrapped tightly around his own- the palm of his hands damn near developing gashes.
The two men swung in the air by the rope- a long length of it hanging beneath them in the air. Finn’s hold somehow tightened around Poe, “Fuck, what the fuck- what, this is insane, Poe! Poe-” Finn kept repeating his name in an anxious chant.
They barely reached the wooden transit structure Poe had been aiming for- and in a rather spectacular burst of adrenaline Poe let go of the rope and reached for the edge of the irrigation channel-
And somehow managed to grab onto it with both hands.
Poe let out an unbelievable chuckle- one that Finn echoed from where he was still dangling by his hold on Poe’s body. “I can’t believe that worked!”
“I knew it was going to work.” Poe replied. He did not in fact know it would work- would have probably been willing to bet it wouldn’t.
But it worked.
Finn would just have to climb up Poe’s body ( shut up you’re literally hanging for your lives right now- now’s not the time for dirty jokes .) and then pull Poe up. And then they could make their way down the narrow chann-
The wood creaked beneath Poe’s fingers.
Oh no .
“Poe?” Finn asked, his voice low and breathy.
It happened all at once.
Someone from down at the ground- maybe Phasma, probably that idiot Hux- one of them, threw an axe at the two men that were hanging down the channel. The axe missed them by a lot and instead landed square on one of the nearby joineries.
The wood of the channel gave out under Finn and Poe’s weight- which added to the damage the axe made, had the whole structure breaking in half.
Suddenly, Poe was no longer hanging down a channel, but rather falling down one.
He felt Finn pulling him closer to himself, burying Poe entirely into the front of his body- one of his hands cradling the back of Poe’s head- and the next thing he knew they slammed down on the ground, with Finn taking the full brunt of the fall.
Poe could feel a faint burn on his kneecaps- he’d probably scraped them to hell. Poe was exhausted and he was hurt and he was tired of running and fighting and he just wanted to get to the kriffing shore so he could-
Finn groaned out from beneath him.
Poe hastily pushed his head off of where it was nestled against Finn’s shoulders, so he could look at the other man.
“Fuck, oh shit- Finn?” Poe asked, one of his hands going up to the side of Finn’s neck- the other beside Finn’s head helping Poe push himself up. “Are you okay? Is your head okay- did you hit your head, that was a stupid plan- kriff please tell me you-”
“Poe,” Finn managed to say, wincing a little. “I’m okay.” He sounded winded.
Poe tried to get off of the other man, but Finn’s tight hold around Poe’s waist remained, preventing him from moving.
He looked up at Poe, his big brown eyes jumping around Poe’s face as if checking it for any injuries. Poe could feel the erratic heaving of Finn’s chest against his own. He could hear the blood pumping in his ears, and he could taste blood in his mouth- and he could feel how snug Finn’s hips felt bracketed between Poe’s thighs.
He could feel the warmth of Finn’s hand on the back of his neck, and the warmth of Finn’s jaw beneath his own fingers.
He brought a tentative thumb up to Finn’s split bottom lip, and swiped at the blood there, and watched as Finn’s eyes glanced down to Poe’s lips.
He blamed the adrenaline rush for what he did next.
He leaned down .
“Poe.” Finn breathed out and Poe could feel his jaw go slack against Poe’s touch.
“Finn.” Poe whispered back, tilting his head to the side a little.
“POE!” Finn said, shaking at his arm and pointing at something behind him- his eyes wide.
Poe looked up and over his shoulder and- oh .
The dam fucking broke.
“Fuck,” of course the fucking dam fucking broke- “fuck, fuck fuck-”
“Poe, come on!” Finn tugged at his arm, and got up to his feet pulling Poe along with him.
“It fucking broke.” Poe said and Finn’s hand was in his and he was dragging Poe with him.
“There! Come on, we have to be fast!” Finn said, pointing at the nearest tunnel entrance- the water was flooding with full force, it was only a matter of time before it’ll catch up to them.
One of the poles fell down knocking a boulder near the entrance- Poe’s legs couldn’t hold him up any longer- had stopped being capable of doing that twenty minutes ago.
He still ran, trying to match Finn’s pace- ignoring the fact that his knees were bleeding and that it felt like someone had run a sword across his thigh- because someone had .
They barely made it to the tunnel- the boulder missing them by an inch.
They ran further into the tunnel- Poe had no idea where it led out to but it couldn’t possibly be worse than what they’d left beh-
“It’s blocked.”
“What?” Poe asked in disbelief, pushing past Finn and- kriff .
The tunnel didn’t lead out to anywhere- it was blocked- hadn’t been finished, a wall of giant rocks was all there was.
Poe frantically turned around to back where they’d come from- there must have been a little gap between that big boulder and the ground, and water was steadily seeping through that crack.
They needed to get out of here and they needed to get out of here fast .
The rocks in the back were too big but some of the ones in the side were small and in a cluster.
Poe instantly went for those rocks- trying to move even just one, but they were too tightly held together there was barely enough space between them for Poe’s fingers to find purchase.
He used his sword- jamming the blade in between.
It was no use, the rocks wouldn’t budge.
The water had risen up to Poe’s thighs now- effectively swallowing up most of the small rocks. Maybe the water would help- Poe thought, trying not to panic just yet. He can make it out of here alive, he could still-
The sword slipped under the water. The rocks remained.
He let out a choked sound, desperately clawing at the upper rocks that were still above the rapidly rising water level.
He felt a hand on his shoulder- trying to pull him back, “Poe, stop.”
He couldn’t stop. Not now, not ever. He needed to get out of here.
His hands started punching the rocks out of nothing but pure desperation. There had to be something. Some way he could get out of this. He just needed to think. Think .
“Poe!” Finn harshly pulled him away. Poe tried to fight out of his hold but Finn’s hands around his shoulders weren’t letting up.
“Finn- we need to get out of here.”
“It’s no use-”
“There has to be some-”
“Punching rocks is not going to wo-”
“I can’t die here!” He yelled out- his voice broken.
Finn’s eyes softened and one of his hands moved up to the back of Poe’s neck. “I know, Poe.” He said gently, and moved closer. His hand slipped around Poe’s waist and Poe realized he was trying to get Poe to stop shaking.
“I don’t wanna die here eithe-”
“You don’t get it Finn.” Poe said in a whisper. He couldn’t bring himself to speak any louder and he couldn’t bring himself to kriffing stop shaking. “I can’t die here. I- BB’s waiting for me at the shore- I can’t just leave her alone.”
“BB?” Finn asked.
“Yeah,” Poe could feel the tears pooling at the corner of his eyes. He was so damned stupid and now he was stuck in a cave and he was going to drown and-
“Poe,” Finn said, making Poe look back up at him. “Who’s BB?”
“Beatrice-Bey Dameron.” Poe answered. His hand came up to Finn’s- the one on his neck. He tangled their fingers together- he needed the warmth of Finn’s hand in his own. He didn’t know why. “She’s my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“Well, half-sister technically. Different moms.” Poe explained, his eyes cast downwards- like he was afraid he'd break if he looked at Finn- if he looked at anything but the water rising up around him.
“My mom died when I was eight. It took dad ages to start dating again- BB’s mother was his first and only girlfriend after mom. I was maybe 18 at the time.” Poe didn’t know why he was telling this to Finn- the other man hadn’t asked. But he couldn’t stop talking. “They dated for a few months and then found out they were pregnant but BB’s mother didn’t want anything to do with the kid. They broke up shortly after she was born and dad got full custody of her.”
His hands tightened around Finn’s. Finn’s fingers were probably stained by the blood trickling out of Poe’s knuckles.
“Dad died a few years later. Bea was like 5 at the time.”
“Poe,”
“I became her legal guardian after that and- she’s a wonderful kid, Finn!” Poe could hear his voice break- hot tears spilling down his cheeks. “She’s so smart and amazing at sailing. She loves math! I mean what kinda kid loves math, right? But she’s obsessed with it- carries around books full of complex worksheets like they’re her coloring books.”
“She sounds lovely.”
“She is!” He said with a wet laugh- or maybe it was a sob. “I- she…...she sneaked onto my ship, when I left D’Qar to follow Phasma and Hux. I didn’t even find out about it until a whole day had passed. She said she couldn’t let me go into first order territory alone- she’s a genius but a reckless, dumb little shit too.”
“Must be a Dameron thing, huh?” Finn said, and squeezed Poe’s hand a little.
“Definitely a Dameron thing.” Poe said and the sound he made couldn’t possibly be mistaken for anything other than a sob this time. Finn instantly pulled him into a hug, Poe’s body flush against his.
Poe sagged against Finn helplessly, his head dropping down to Finn’s shoulder.
“She’s all alone on the shore, Finn. I- I’m supposed to go back to her, get her home safe. I- I can’t die here and leave her alone.”
“Poe,”
Poe just sobbed against Finn’s shoulder after that. The water had gotten up to their hips now- they were floating in it. And there was no way out of here. The water would fill up all the way and swallow them down and there was nothing Poe could do about it.
“Poe?” Finn spoke up after a while and what do you know his voice sounded wet with tears too now.
“Yeah?”
“I- the…….”
Poe pulled him closer- trying to provide whatever little comfort he could right now.
Finn let out a sigh, his own head dropping down to Poe’s shoulder as well. “I can use the Force to heal people.”
Poe looked up at him, his brows furrowed in question. “What?”
“It’s- it’s why I was in that tower. Some people found out about my powers when I was a kid and they tried to kidnap me and killed my family. The Order found me and took me in. They kept me hidden away in the tower so no one else could get to me.”
Finn looked nervous, “They- they made me heal anyone they needed me to heal and- and Snoke too. They used my powers to keep him young and strong.”
“Finn.” Poe said because he didn't know what else to say.
“I didn’t wanna do it-” Finn rushed to explain but Poe just pulled Finn’s head back down to his shoulder. “I know, I know buddy- it’s okay.”
Finn buried his face in the crook of Poe’s neck.
“It’s just- we’re gonna die and- and before, back in the forest- you said you wanted to know……” Finn mumbled.
“I did.” Poe said, “I would've never guessed that was the reason for it too.”
Finn laughed into his shoulder- a small, half hearted laugh.
The water was coming up to Poe’s waist now.
“The Force, huh?” Poe asked, because he didn’t like the quiet and he wanted to hear Finn's voice.
“The Force.”
“Wait.” Poe said, pulling back from the hug. Finn made a confused little noise.
“You can use the Force!” Poe exclaimed.
“I-....yes?”
“You can use the Force, Finn!”
“Poe I know that, but what does that-”
“The Force , Finn! Use it to move the rocks!” Poe said with a laugh. “We can get out of here! Just move a rock, any rock!” He was shaking again, but this time because of excitement.
Finn’s face fell, “Poe, I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?” Poe asked, Finn’s hand dropping out of his own.
“I mean-” Finn said, he sounded hurt. “It doesn’t work that way. Not for me, they tried to teach me how to move stuff with the Force- but I could never do it. I- I’m sorry.”
“Finn,” Poe said, his hands going up to cup the other man’s face. “‘Just give it a try, buddy.”
“Poe-”
“Please? For me? Just try.” Poe said, desperation clear in his voice.
Finn nodded.
He closed his eyes- his brows furrowed.
A minute passed, then another.
Nothing happened.
Finn opened his eyes back up with a gasp. “It’s- it’s not- not working- I’m so sorry, I can’t-” his breathing was laboured and his voice was wrecked.
“It’s okay- it’s fine, buddy. You tried-”
“There’s just so many rocks- I can’t- I don’t know how- it’s too much, and I can’t-”
“Hey, hey it’s okay.” Poe said, trying to soothe Finn down. “Just- just look at me okay?”
Finn’s head tilted up, his brown eyes running over Poe’s face. Poe offered him a small smile.
The water had almost reached their shoulders now.
“Focus on me.” Poe told him. “Not the rocks- not the water- just me, okay? Can you do that?” Poe asked, his thumbs caressing the sides of Finn’s face.
Finn nodded. He closed his eyes.
“That’s great, just do that.” Poe didn’t know shit about the Force. He didn’t have it- none of his friends ever had it. Leia never used it. He had a Force Tree in his backyard growing up- but that was just a tree.
“Just pay attention to my voice and try to channel the Force through you, okay?” He kept whispering nonsense to Finn. “Let it flow through you.” Phrases he’d read in fictional books about the old Jedi Order. “You’re one with the Force and the Force is with you.”
Finn’s jaw was clenched in concentration. His breathing, steady. He somehow looked peaceful and conflicted all at once.
Poe could feel the water lapping up near his neck. Finn had yet to open his eyes. Poe kept whispering things to him- Finn’s face cradled in Poe’s hands.
Something happened.
A rumble echoed through the small cave.
Finn went plaint against Poe falling into his arms, and the wall to their side gave out.
Notes:
Was the fall scientifically sound and does Finn not breaking anything makes sense from a scientific standpoint? Probably not. Do I have an explanation? Absolutely, yes I do- the Force works in mysterious ways.
Also as you can probably already tell, I am a firm believer in the idea that mostly everyone’s first instinct to almost getting killed is “GOTTA KISS FINN” lmaooo
I hope you guys like this chapter! The current one i'm writing is absolutely kicking my butt because it's from Rey's pov and I've never written from her pov before, so i'm very excited to see you guys' reaction to this chapter!
Hopefully you liked it, please leave a kudos or a comment if you did, I would really appreciate it! <3
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Notes:
hey guys sorry but I come bearing bad news. I'm kinda sick right I have a really bad stomachache like can't get out of bed bad and yeah I feel like shit and I most likely won't be able to get any writing done until I get better. So I've decided to take a small break from uploading, I'm taking a week off- the next chapter will be uploaded either on the 23rd or the 27th . Thank you so much for following the story I hope you'll still be interested in it after a week!
Til then I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
FN-2187 was sat on a cold marble floor, his legs folded underneath him. There was a smooth black rock in front of him- his hand stretched out towards it.
“Concentrate on the rock- feel it in the Force.” A stiff voice instructed.
FN-2187 took a deep breath. He reached out to The Force with a practised ease, he was familiar with it by now. Regardless of any familiarity however, he was always dazed by the enormity of it, every time. The Force was vast and cold and sympathetic and all-encompassing.
He could feel the harsh, docile mauve of the stormtrooper standing guard nearby; the cold dead black of his Master near him, and the rainbow of colors the Force carried with it. The marble beneath him, the steady air around him- and of course, every other single thing in the tower.
The weapons, the stairs, his room and his bed and his window- which, in the last few years FN-2187 had managed to leave an imprint of himself upon. Beyond it- the meadow, so full of life in a way that his tower had never been capable of being. The trees, the flowers, things he couldn’t recognize- whispers oldened by time and screams he’d never heard. The blistering hot white light of the Force and the millenniums that it carried with it.
He ignored it all.
The rock- he had to focus on the rock. It was so tiny compared to the cluster that was everything else. A tiny, tiny speck in The Force just like everything else was. How ever was FN-2187 supposed to detect it amongst everything else?
“Can you sense it?” The same harsh voice of his Master asked.
I think so, FN-2187 wanted to say but he knew that wasn’t an acceptable answer. “Yes.” He said instead.
“Now move it.”
FN-2187 didn’t know how.
He tried to focus on the rock- just the rock.
“Reach out inside yourself.” His master told him, “Find your emotions, good or bad- anything you can latch onto. Pour them into the Force.”
FN-2187 had many emotions- sadness, anger, longing, fear- he didn’t know how to untangle them from each other. They flowed around him and The Force already held them- as it held everything else.
“Bend it to your will.”
How could he even dare to bend something as beautiful and peaceful as The Force, to something as juvenile and volatile as his will?
“ Move the rock. ”
FN-2187 couldn’t do it. It was too much- the rock was too small, he was too small, the rock was too big, the Force-
He gasped out falling forward, the palm of his hands pressed against the marble- weak and brittle- trying to hold himself up.
A sharp jab sent him flying back towards the wall, moving him through the air like he should’ve moved the rock. He grunted out in pain as his back slammed against the hard bricked wall.
“You’re useless.” The cold voice had said.
Finn was 11 at the time.
“Focus on me.” Poe’s quiet, hushed voice said. “Not the rocks- not the water- just me, okay?” Poe was holding his face so gently, Finn could almost forget about the water he was a few minutes away from drowning in. Almost.
“Can you do that?” Poe asked, and he sounded scared.
Finn was scared too.
Poe’s fingers were stroking the sides of Finn’s face- Finn decided to try and focus on that. Poe’s fingers on him, the way they curled around his cheeks and into the sides of his neck.
He could focus on Poe.
Focusing on people was always easier than focusing on things- and Poe was a bright light in the Force. A burning yellow- warm and inviting. Finn focused on the low cadence of Poe’s voice that refused to rise in panic even as the water around them continued to.
He kept saying things to him, but Finn wasn’t listening to the words- he just concentrated on Poe. His presence in the Force was troubled and frantic but it was also hopeful. His light wasn’t as bright as it was when he laughed, but the intensity with which he shined wasn’t dimmed in any way.
Finn could feel Poe’s heartbeat and the rhythm of his breathing. The warmth of his body, so close to Finn’s own.
“Try to channel the Force through you, okay?”
Finn had always been told the Force was something to use, and not something to give in to. He knew how to give in to it though- of course he did, it’s the only way he could ever use the Force to heal. But how could he move a rock by giving into the will of the Force?
“Let it flow through you.”
Finn did.
He opened himself up to the Force. He could feel everything around him- the cave and the water and every single rock- big and small- the rough hills outside, the broken wooden poles. But Poe was in the center of it all- grounding Finn, anchoring him so he didn’t lose himself into the vastness of the Force.
He succumbed to it all and in it he realized once he gave himself over, once he let the Force in- the Force did the same for him as well.
“You’re one with the Force and the Force is with you.”
He could feel every individual rock- their shape and weight and placement in the vulnerable wall. A single rock moving from its place would send the whole thing falling down. Which one, though?
The answer came to him in a quiet whisper.
There was nothing special about that rock- it was medium sized, surrounded by large ones at the top. The wall was compact and the rocks had valuable pressure between them.
He nudged the Force towards it, that rock- I need to move that rock .
His bones were tired like they’d never been before, his mind hazy- he pulled at the rock with all his might and none of his muscle- and it gave in.
He felt the water move around him as it rushed to flood out of the now broken down wall- and the last thing he remembered were a pair of gentle arms around him, as he collapsed into a warm firm body.
Finn was still surrounded by the same gentle arms- he realized, once he had regained enough consciousness to be able to realize things.
His head wasn’t feeling as muddled as before, his body wasn’t as sore and overall he felt relaxed and well rested. The ground beneath him- at least the part of it that was pressing against his body- was mossy and hard. Part of him was nestled on a lap- and careful, gentle fingers were caressing his temples.
He stirred around a little, a grunt escaping him.
“Finn?” a scared little voice asked him.
Finn gingerly managed to open up his eyes. The sky had gone dark with nightfall and was framed by the canopy of the forest trees.
Poe was looking down at him, with a concerned look on his face- his eyebrows knitted together in worry. He had tear stains on his cheeks, his eyes still a little misty.
“Hi.” Finn croaked back lamely- trying to sit up and not let his close proximity to the other man fluster him.
Poe however, had no such concerns and instantly pulled Finn into a hug. “Thank the stars- you’re finally up!” His voice was muffled from where his face was more or less pressed against Finn’s body.
Finn’s face flushed up.
“Man, I was so worried about you- you just……..you just passed out! I had no idea what to-”
“It’s fine, Poe.” Finn found himself trying to reassure the other man. He brought a hand up to give Poe’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’m fine.”
Poe just buried his head deeper into the crook of Finn’s shoulder. “I was so worried.”
Finn could feel Poe’s breath against his skin- and oh stars and sunsets and all the green forests in the world .
Poe said something else, Finn was sure he did- Finn simply forgot to hear it. “It’s alright.” Finn said anyway. Even though he hadn’t heard Poe’s words, he had heard his relieved-but-still-shaken-up tone. Surely he couldn’t have said anything important. Finn would pay attention now.
He tried running his hands over Poe’s arms in a soothing motion- that’s what people do right? He didn’t have a lot of experience with getting hugged- not like this at least.
Poe’s hands were tightly wrapped around Finn- one on his lower back, the other on the base of his neck. Half of Finn’s body was laying on the grassy, forest floor- the other half was being cradled by Poe- his legs awkwardly twisted below him- leaving Finn to basically cling to the other man.
Where was he supposed to put his arms? They were just awkwardly gripping Poe’s shoulders right now. Should he move? Was he breathing too weird? It felt like he was breathing too weird. His pants around the ankles were also a bit damped.
“Um,” Finn said, “Poe?”
“Yeah buddy?”
“I don’t mean to complain- this is…...this is nice, but uh,” Finn’s mouth was too dry- when was the last time he had water? “I’m kinda twisted up here- and, you know…..this isn’t the most comfortable position to be-”
“Oh yeah, shit sorry sorry.” Poe said with a rushed laugh, withdrawing his arms away from Finn and letting him sit up.
Finn was instantly reminded of the cold night chill and he found himself missing Poe’s nice, warm arms- strong to lean against. Finn shook away his stupid thoughts and sat up beside Poe.
“I’m sorry it’s just- you were out for a long time.” Poe said, his hands fiddling with the bark of the log they were sitting on.
“How long?” Finn asked. There was a fire a few feet away from them- Poe must’ve started it hours ago, it was getting a little dimmer.
“I don’t know- seven hours maybe? Maybe eight?”
“What happened?”
“You- you saved us.” Poe said, “You moved the rock and the cave collapsed- there was a river on the other side of it. You were unconscious, I tried to get you to wake up but it was no good, so I just dragged the two of us out of there. I didn’t really know what to do after that.”
“You could’ve taken the saber and left me.” Finn said and Poe’s head instantly snapped up to look at him.
“I wasn’t going to kriffing leave you, Finn!” Poe sounded incredulous and exhausted. His hand was shaking a little, where it was lying between them and Finn reached out for it.
Poe let out a pained hiss as soon Finn’s hand covered his- and Finn belatedly realized his knuckles were all torn and scratched.
“Your hands,” Finn said, taking hold of Poe’s hands- both of them, making sure not to touch any of the injured skin.
“Yeah I should probably put something on it,” Poe said, sheepishly staring down at their joined hands. “I kinda got caught up in- well sitting around worrying and waiting for you to wake up.” He said with a small chuckle.
“At least you bandaged up the big one.” Finn said and nodded towards the hastily applied bacta patch around Poe’s collarbones.
“It hurts like a bitch- hard to ignore.”
Finn looked him over, there were several cuts running up his arms- the big one on his collarbone, another one on his thigh. There was a bruise on his face that Finn could see, and the everpresent wounded temples.
“I can heal you.” Finn said, refusing to look at Poe’s face, his gaze travelling back down to his arms. “If you want.” he quickly added.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.” Finn said with a firm nod. “Can I?”
Poe nodded.
He moved up a little on the log, shifting closer to Poe. “You’re probably going to feel something. I don’t think it’ll be painful- but just something, okay?”
“Okay.” Poe replied softly and Finn could tell he was looking at his face. Finn moved closer to Poe, using his left hand to hold both of Poe’s now. “It only works with the left one,” He explained.
“The left one?”
“The left hand.” Finn said. “It only works if I’m touching the person I’m healing- with my left. Touching them with my left hand.”
He didn’t really know why he was being so awkward. It felt like something between them had changed- now that Poe knew about the thing . Now that Poe had spent hours cradling Finn’s unconscious body in his lap. Now that Poe hadn’t left when he so easily could’ve.
“Is hand-holding enough?” Poe asked, and his teasing voice that he loved to use on Finn so much had returned. “Or would it help if you were- I don’t know- holding my face or something. Or should we be-”
“Hand-holding’s fine.” Finn said, interrupting whatever the end of his sentence was going to be.
“Okay.” Poe said and Finn didn’t need to be looking at his face to know he was grinning.
Finn focused back to the task at hand. Closing his eyes, his hold on Poe’s hands tightened as he relaxed back into his mind. Finn reached out with the Force- Poe’s presence was so easy to find. Once he let the Force flow through him and into Poe- he realized Poe’s energy wasn’t a bit as dreadful and disagreeable as anyone else that Finn has ever healed before.
Most of Poe’s injuries were just flesh wounds- nothing damaging enough to require much of Finn’s effort. He simply healed over the scraped skin, soothed down the several bruises littered all across Poe’s body. Weaved the skin of his thigh back together- then did the same with his collarbone- thankfully the blade hadn’t cut deep enough to hit actual bone.
Finn opened his eyes back up, once he was sure he’d taken care of all the wounds.
Poe was looking at him. His mouth hanging open a little, in a gape and his eyes intent on Finn’s face.
“There,” Finn said, squeezing his hands, “All better now.”
“Th-thanks.” Poe stuttered out.
“Don’t mention it.” Finn replied back with a small smile.
The fire near them flickered- attracting both their attention. The little campfire was starting to flame out- there wasn’t enough wood left in it.
“I should- uh,” Poe said from beside Finn. “I should go and get some wood for that.”
“I can go-”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go, I know where to find some branches- I’m feeling better now too. You should rest.” Poe said before eyeing Finn uncertainly, “You……..you’re not gonna pass out again, right?”
Poe’s wounds that Finn had healed had been fairly minor compared to what Finn had worked with before. He had also just woken up from a deep sleep- the whole thing hadn’t been particularly taxing on Finn. He wasn’t feeling as energetic as before, sure, but he wasn’t tired either.
“I’ll be fine.” He said, “This is….different than…..back at the cave.” He tried to explain. “That was the first I’d ever been able to use the Force like that- healing is…...easier- I’ve had practice and…..I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” Poe said, his eyes soft. “Great, that’s- that’s nice.” He said and dropped Finn’s hand, getting up from the log. “I should-”
“Yeah.” Finn said, nodding.
“Yeah.” Poe said and he turned around to leave.
He hesitated for a moment.
“Poe, are you sure you don’t want to me to- oh!”
Poe’s arms were back around Finn, his head buried back inside the crook of his shoulder. Finn sheepishly brought up his hands, wrapping one around Poe and using the other to pat at his shoulder. Is that a thing people do when someone hugs them- Finn thought to himself.
“Just- um, thanks.” Poe said, “For everything- the cave, and the tavern and before that too. You’re- you’re really…..nice- and yeah, just- thanks.”
Finn just nodded, not really knowing what to do or say.
Poe pulled away from the hug, and Finn felt a shiver run down his spine- definitely because of the night chill and not because of the lost warmth of Poe’s body against his.
“Are you cold?” Poe asked, looking Finn over.
“It’s fine.”
“Wait- here.” He said, and then shrugged off his jacket.
“No it’s fine, Poe I’m not that-”
“You’re shivering-”
“Am not -”
“It’s fine- my shirt’s thicker than yours anyways.” Poe said with a tone of finality and draped the jacket over Finn’s shoulders.
“Uh- thanks.”
“No problem.” He said and his eyes raked down Finn’s body- and Finn felt his face flush up.
Poe gave him a look. Finn didn’t really know what the look meant and for a minute he was reminded of the moment back at the canyon before the dam bro-
But then Poe gave him a small smile and walked away into the trees.
Finn was left to sit by himself in Poe’s jacket, on a jagged log, in front of a half-dying campfire, in somewhat soggy pants with a startling thought in his mind.
Did he want Poe Dameron to kiss him?
Back at the canyon- Finn could picture it so clearly, when they’d fallen off the wooden structure. Finn’s back had ached at the impact, but when he had opened his eyes and looked at Poe staring down at him- his hair windswept and that look in his eyes. When Poe had leaned down so close to Finn- would Finn have let Poe kiss him, if the dam hadn’t broken?
Would he have kissed him back?
Did…...did it matter ?
Poe was with the Resistance- Finn would leave for an Outer Kingdom in a few days. Finn didn’t even know Poe that well. They’d never see each other again after this.
It didn’t matter- Finn decided, it didn’t matter what he wanted . He can’t have everything he wants- he was already indulging himself with the Lights- he didn’t need to complicate things with Poe now too.
It didn’t matter, Finn told himself. Poe hadn’t kissed him and he wasn’t going to kiss him. Finn wouldn’t let him. He was being stupid and naive and none of it mattered. Poe would be gone as soon as Finn would give him the lightsaber. And Finn would be gone as soon as Poe takes him to the Lights.
Notes:
Finn’s so nice he’s an angel I can always write from his pov so easily without any problem. Most of his chapters are written in a day. He's a sweetheart, a darling, the light of my life. Poe and Rey are bastards they kick me in the shins and routinely tell me to fuck off everytime i try to write their povs.
Also much like Poe- I too don't know shit about the Force. I went through wookipedia to try and understand it as best as I could so I hope you like my interpretation of how the Force works for Finn.
I hope you guys liked this one! Please leave a kudos or a comment if you did, I would really appreciate it! <3
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Notes:
Hey guys!! I'm feeling a lot better now and I'm back to writing which is nice. I've been writing some stuff for Finn week that's happening on tumblr this september- i'm very excited for that, hopefully I'll have something done for all the prompts by the time it comes around idk we'll see.
This chapter took me a loooonggg time to write- it's Rey's pov and there's a fair amount of plot happening here. I hope you like it!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
When Rey found out about Luke’s lightsaber getting stolen- the one at the palace, in the kingdom of D’Qar- she didn’t think much of it at first. Luke had just mentioned it in passing over breakfast at dawn. She had asked him how he found out about it, considering how remote the island of Ach-Too was, with just the two of them on it (and a couple of porgs)- but she wasn’t much curious about it knowing very well Luke wasn’t about to give her a straight answer.
“I have my ways.” He had just said, unsurprisingly.
Rey, on her part, had just shrugged it off, quickly finished the meal, and left for her morning run through the deeper parts of the island’s forest. Luke had built an obstacle course of sorts in the woods for her- he used to accompany her to oversee the training at first, but after the first month she’d started going off on her own.
She enjoyed this part of her training with the old Jedi Master the most. Rey had always been quick on her feet and the endorphins from the run certainly helped. It was also the only part of her training that allowed her to shut her mind off.
So much of training with the Force required thinking and feeling- it was absurd. But in the woods she could just tune everything else out, move on instinct and muscle memory. Climbing up trees, doging logs and jumping over cliffs- it was fun!
Only this time, she kept getting distracted by thoughts of the lightsaber. She knew of it of course- she’d heard the stories back from the time of the Old Empire- none from Luke, the man never talked much about his past much to Rey’s disappointment.
But even then, she’d heard enough tales back in her Scavenger days. She knew Queen Organa of D’Qar had kept the lightsaber in the palace after Luke’s abandonment of the kingdom. It was supposed to be a symbol of hope- the weapon the old Jedi had once wielded against Vader.
The more she thought about it the worse the idea of the Order possessing that saber became.
She went through her day as usual- going by the beach in the afternoon and working on her sailboat, reading over the sacred Jedi texts in the evening. And all throughout something kept tugging at the back of her mind- a feeling, a persistence- telling her she needed to get the saber back. Get it back to the people of D’Qar, bring it back here- anything, just away from the hands of the Order.
It wasn’t until later in the evening, near nightfall after dinner, that she tried to broach the subject with Luke.
The two of them were sitting on the flat boulders near Luke’s cottage. It was on the island’s biggest hill- overlooking the ocean, the sun had already set and the moon was high in the sky. Rey’s legs were folded underneath her, her hands resting on her knees- imitating the Jedi Master’s stance.
She was supposed to be meditating. Connecting with the Force, understanding it.
“You know you’ve always been bad at this part of the training but you’re doing particularly horrible today.” Luke said and Rey’s eyes instantly fluttered open- only further exhibiting her lack of concentration.
“What’s got you so distracted?” He asked, his posture way better than Rey’s and his eyes still closed. He looked peaceful- well as peaceful as he ever did. There was a sadness permanently etched in the lines of his face.
“The Lightsaber.” Rey answered at once knowing it would do her no good to avoid the subject.
“I knew I should’ve never told you about it.” Luke replied, his tone still light and unconcerned.
“But you did.”
“But I did.”
Rey nodded, untangling her legs from beneath herself and letting them drop down the side of the boulder. She wouldn’t be getting any meditation done today. “So?” Rey asked, “Are you going to go out there and get it back from the Order.”
Luke’s brows furrowed just slightly. “Ah yes the one thing strong enough to make me break my exile- my father’s old lightsaber.”
“It’s your legacy.” Rey argued.
“I have many legacies.” Luke said, finally opening his eyes and looking over at her. There was something grave about his expression. “Some are more important than others.”
And Rey understood, of course she did. She understood the old Jedi was talking of his failures, she understood that he held them higher in his estimation of himself than he did his achievements. She understood- has known since day one- that his exile was as much a decision made for his own good as for the rest of the world.
“I can go.” She said and Luke just shook his head at her.
“It’s just a saber- it doesn’t mean anything to me. You’re wearing the one I care about,” He said nodding towards the saber hanging off her belt- she’d forgotten to take it off before meditation today.
“But-” she tried protesting and was quickly interrupted.
“Let it go.” Luke said, turning his face back away from her and closing his eyes. “Your training isn't finished yet. If you truly meant it when you said you wanted to be a Jedi- then you’ll forget about it and focus on your training. It wouldn’t do you well to dwell on unimportant things.”
Rey wanted to argue, but she knew it was futile- it was an argument she’d only lose. It doesn’t mean anything to me . But Rey knew what it meant to her - back when she was nothing but a helpless orphan child on Jakku- she knew what the saber meant to the people of D’Qar, the people of Tatooine, Hoth, Yavin- and every other kingdom in the world.
“You should go on a run,” Luke said to her. “Or take a swim- anything to help you clear your head. You can meditate tomorrow morning.”
Rey nodded and hopped off the boulder- walking off down the hill.
Let it go , Luke had said. Rey was never particularly good at letting things go. She assumed she’d get better at it once she became a Jedi- but well she wasn’t a Jedi yet, was she?
Plenty of time to eventually become a Jedi . She mused as her feet carried her down to the beach towards her sailboat.
Rey had only ever been to two places in her entire life. Jakku and Ach-Too- and she’d only really been on the latter for barely four months. She was well aware of the fact that there were many things about the world that she didn’t know about.
However she had a bagful of food and bacta, as well as her staff and her lightsaber- so she figured whatever waited for her at FO couldn’t possibly be entirely unmanageable.
It took her a good 5 days and a half to sail from Ach-Too out to a little island near the First Order Kingdom. The island- Takodana, was known for being a home to scoundrels and smugglers and wasn’t under the sovereign jurisdiction of either the New Republic or First Order- it was neutral ground.
She rented out a smaller, inconspicuous boat from there and rowed out to the outskirts of FO.
Rey had done her research, she knew that the peninsular kingdom had tall snowy mountains up top and a chain of well-guarded ports all across its shoreline. There was however one single break in the chain.
One shoreside, near the island of Takodana, was prone to dangerously high tides every full moon. It would be futile to build any port within that area, and so the Order just kept it as was.
“It’s not like anyone’s stupid enough to enter the kingdom anyways.” One of the patrons at a bar in Takodana had said to Rey. And well- thank goodness for everyone else’s prudence because it left an easy in into the kingdom for Rey.
It was barely 10 minutes into her reaching the FO shore that she ran into two stormtroopers in their black and white armor. The troopers were probably not expecting to find anyone and Rey had managed to take them by surprise. Either that or they were just really bad at fighting.
Rey didn’t even have to reach for the saber at her hip and instead just unslung her trusted staff from over her shoulder- longsword blades clanging against the metal ends of her staff.
Soon she had both the troopers knocked out- staff to the base of the skull for the first one and, after some grappling with the other, she managed to swipe at the taller one’s legs with her staff, pinning them down to the ground.
“Did you kill them?” a voice asked from behind her.
Rey turned around towards the woods where the voice had come from- her hand reflexively holding out her weapon in front of her. She had expected another trooper but all she found was a little girl in burnt orange overalls, thick goggles perched on top of her bright ginger hair.
She squinted her eyes at the kid in confusion but retrieved her weapon back. “Who are you?” She asked, her startlement evident in her voice. A kid was about the last thing Rey would have thought she’d encounter here, but alas.
“I’m BB,” the kid replied before her attention was back at the unconscious stormtroopers lying on the ground. “Are they dead?” she asked, curiously.
“Uh- no?” Rey answered, still confused. “I just knocked them out.”
“That’s good,” The kid said with a serious nod. “I mean we’d have been in the same amount of trouble either way- but at least they’re not dead.”
“Trouble? What trouble?”
“They were on patrolling duty.” The kid answered as if that explained everything.
“And?”
“If they don’t wake up soon, I’m sure that’s going to tick off some officers and they’ll send some more troopers to investigate and soon they’ll send out a whole scouting party to look for the intruder that knocked these troopers out.”
Rey just continued to stare at the kid in confused silence.
“ You’re the intruder.” The kid said pointedly.
“Yeah I got that thanks.” Rey said, slinging her staff back over her shoulder. She turned back around towards her rowboat walking up to it and dragging it out of the water.
“That’s no good,” The little kid spoke up again, moving closer to Rey, “You should just leave it here, we need to move into the forest.”
“We?” Rey asked exasperatedly- exactly how did she manage to get in this situation? Whose kid was this anyways? Are there just wild childs running around all over First Order?
“Yeah, we! Didn’t you hear what I said? The shore’s not safe any longer! I can’t hide in the trees anymore.”
“How long have you been hiding in the trees for?”
The kid took a pause, pulling a face as if thinking things over, “Five days- I think.” She finally replied. “Yeah, five days.” She repeated with a firmer nod.
“What have you been doing here for five days?” Rey asked with a grunt, sitting down on the sand once the boat was fully out of the water.
“Recon.” The kid simply replied, sitting down beside Rey. “Is that a lightsaber?” She asked, pointing towards the belt around Rey’s waist.
“Uh- yeah. It’s a lightsaber.”
“Cool! Did you make it yourself? I read in a book once, that the Jedi had to make their own lightsabers. Are you a Jedi? How did you-”
“Hey, woah slow down!” Rey said and the kid just pulled a sheepish face and mumbled out a ‘sorry’.
“You said you were doing recon?” Rey asked and the kid nodded eagerly. “Well, who’re you doing recon for?”
The kid just narrowed her eyes at Rey. She continued to stare her down for a minute.
“What’s happening- what’s this?” Rey asked, gesturing at the kid’s face.
“I’m trying to figure out if I can trust you.”
“Little late for that, don’t you think? If I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve hurt you by now.”
“That’s fair, I guess.” The kid said and then nodded to herself as if making her mind about something. “I’m with the Resistance.”
Rey just gave her an unimpressed look. “You’re 10.” she deadpanned.
“I’m 12 and three quarters, you ass.”
Rey rolled her eyes at the kid, much to the kid’s indignation. “Since when does the Resistance recruit 12 year olds as soldiers?”
“Well- I’m not a resistance soldier .” The kid said, her chin jutted out, unfaltering. “I’m a close associate to a Resistance member- I’m an honorary Resistance member by association.”
“Of course you are”
“And what are you doing here?” The kid asked- her hands folded to her chest. BB, Rey thinks she said her name was
“I’m looking for something.” Rey answered simply.
BB looked at her for a minute- giving Rey a contemplative stare. “Are you looking for Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber?” She asked.
“Wait- what’s-” Rey sputtered- taken aback a little, “How do you know that!”
BB just waved a dismissive hand at her, moving to stand up. “They stole a saber from the palace a week ago, now you show up with another saber. It’s not that hard to put together.”
The kid dusted the sand off her overalls before offering Rey a hand, “Now, come on. We need to move- more stormtroopers will be here soon.”
“So we’re still going together, are we?” Rey asked skeptically, but still accepted BB’s hand and stood up.
“Yes, because as mentioned earlier I can’t hide in the trees any longer, thanks to you .” She said and started to walk up towards the thick of the woods. Rey just followed behind.
“And then we realized we had to make the costume ourselves - so we had to stay up all night! Testor and Iolo helped- it’s really hard, making a sarlacc costume from scratch in just 12 hours, but Iolo’s great at painting! I helped a ton but I fell asleep somewhere around midnight. And yeah, that was the last time I participated in a school play.”
Rey just nodded along, as BB continued on her rambling. She didn’t really know how the kid had gotten to this particular story but after having spent basically an entire day with her, Rey had realized that that’s just how BB talked.
The pair had walked deeper into the woods and only stopped once they’d gotten a good couple of hours away from the shore. They had found a nice big tree stump for Rey to sit on- where she could meditate and try to find out the location of the saber. Turns out BB was here for the same reason- her brother was a Resistance Commander and was following the people that had snagged the saber from the palace.
“You should just try and track him instead of the saber- I’m sure he has it by now.” BB had said once Rey had shuffled down on the tree stump with her legs folded underneath herself. “You know he’s the-”
“The best , yes you’ve mentioned.” Rey had just interrupted her- trying to focus and remember Luke’s energy and track it down. There must’ve been a trace of it left on the saber, maybe not one as strong as there was on the saber Rey was carrying, but certainly Luke had to have left some imprint on the other one.
“You should just look for Poe.” BB had said, slumping against a nearby tree.
“I don’t know Poe so I can’t trace him down in the Force.” Rey had said, even though by then she’d already explained it all to BB before.
“Have you ever seen the lightsaber?”
“No.”
“Then how can you trace it down in the Force?”
“I have my ways.” Rey had replied back- she’d always wanted to use that line. “Now shut up and go keep watch. I can’t concentrate with you hovering over me.”
BB had groaned out in disdain but gave Rey some distance and stopped interrupting her meditation.
It had taken Rey hours to get even the smallest hint of what she was looking for- The Force was placid, flowing around her in tandem- as it always did. But eventually she was able to pick it out- a feeling, nothing more than an instinct- a shadow of Luke’s presence, something that only develops with time and strong emotions.
Once she had it, all she had to do was follow it.
And she had been doing just that for hours- night had long since fallen, but Rey could tell she was getting closer.
BB was walking beside her, having moved past her story about the school play and instead was now giving Rey an in-depth zoological file about Sarlaacs.
“and they have paralyzing neurotoxins that they inject their prey with and then feed on them for a thousand years.”
“Why a thousand years?” Rey asked as she hopped up and over a huge fallen over tree trunk lying down in the middle of the forest floor.
“Weak stomach acid.” BB replied as Rey turned around to lift her over the trunk. “Are we close?” She asked.
“We’re close.” Rey replied.
“That’s what you said an hour ago.” BB pointed out with a huff, kicking a rock to the side brattily as she continued walking beside Rey.
“We’re an hour closer to it now than before.” Rey replied and the kid gave her a look. “What’s with the goggles, anyways?” Rey asked, trying to change the subject.
BB, apparently, was very easy to distract. “Oh these things?” She asked, tugging the big goggles down to her eyes. “They’re binoculars- Poe and I made them.” She said and started fiddling with the dials around the lenses.
“That’s cool- hey careful!” Rey hissed as she steadied the kid when she stumbled down on a rock in the path- clearly not paying attention to the ground she was walking on.
“Thanks!” BB said, still not taking the goggles off. “Hey, do you wanna try th-” she cut herself short, pulling her arm away from where Rey had a hold on it.
“Wha-”
“Poe!” The kid yelled out in excitement and took off in a sprint. Rey barely had time to register what had happened before she ran after the kid. Damn, BB was fast .
“BB- wait up!” Rey yelled out after her but the girl was obviously far too eager to have the ability to slow down. Rey ran down the forest path- following after BB. They were running towards a clearing and Rey could make out the silhouette of a man sitting in front of an almost dead campfire. Rey guessed he was BB’s brother.
Better yet, the small tug of Luke’s energy that Rey had managed to parse out of the Force seemed to be coming from him as well- he must have the saber with him.
“Poe!” BB called out making the guy turn around- he had smooth dark skin, and short black hair. He was wearing a brown leather jacket, and a very confused look on his face.
“Poe?” He asked, his voice rich and a little deep. “Who are y-” before he could finish his question however, BB pounced on him tackling him down to the ground.
“BB!” Rey exclaimed in horror as she watched the little girl climb on top of the man and hold him down.
“You’re not Poe! Why do you have his jacket?”
“BB get off him!”
“Who even are you- oof”
“Where’s Poe!”
Just as Rey was about to physically pull the kid off of the guy another guy came running out from the other direction- a bunch of branches in his hands. Branches that were instantly dropped once he took in the scene in front of him.
The new guy’s eyes were widened- also in horror, and he rushed towards the kid. “Stars and space, Beatrice-Bey, get off of him!”
“Poe! There you are!” The kid exclaimed happily once she realized her brother was there. She climbed off the other guy and ran up to Poe, jumping at him- and the guy, bless his instincts, managed to catch her.
“I don’t understand what are you doing here, Bea?”
“Oh it was a whole thing I couldn’t stay at the shore any longer.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m just fine, Poe- no stop it- stop mother henning me!”
Rey just laughed to herself and left the siblings to catch up- she turned to the other guy, who had managed to sit himself up on the ground.
She offered him a hand.
The guy looked up at her with his big brown eyes. The moonlight shined against his face nicely and Rey found herself offering him a small smile as well. He took Rey’s hand letting her help him back up on his feet.
“Sorry about that.” Rey found herself saying, even though technically she didn’t have anything to apologize for- she hadn’t tackled him down.
“Uh-huh.” The guy just said brushing the grass off his pants.
“I’m Rey.” She tried offering.
The guy gave her a small smile. “Finn.” He said- before BB and Poe walked up to the two of them. The kid at least had the decency to have a sheepish look on her face.
“Sorry for tackling you, Mr. Finn.” She said and Poe gave her a pointed look.
“ And? ”
“And for kneeing you in the side.”
Soon after, everyone managed to settle down. The fire was tended to and brought back to full life, and the four of them sat down around it- with BB attached to Poe’s side eagerly talking to him in hushed voices and Rey choosing to sit beside Finn.
Rey wasn’t particularly comfortable around strangers- it had been easy with BB- but actual adult strangers weren’t really Rey’s thing. But there was something about Finn that drew Rey to him. She knew, obviously- that he was strong with the Force, had sensed his presence in it soon after meeting him. It wasn’t just that- there was something else about him, something almost…..familiar?
Whatever it was Rey was far too tired both from her walk through the woods, and tracking the saber through the Force earlier, to be able to properly ponder over it right now- she’ll figure it out later.
“Rey?” Someone called out her name- distracting her from her thoughts.
She looked up from where she had spaced out while staring at the fire and saw the guy with the curly hair- BB’s brother, Poe Dameron looking at her with an easy smile on his face.
Rey tried to reciprocate that smile. “Yeah?”
“Bea tells me you took care of her today, kept her safe. Thank you for that, it means a lot to me.”
“Oh, it was no problem.” Rey said with a shrug. “She’s a good kid.” She added after a pause.
“And excellent company!” BB piped up from beside Poe.
“Yes, yes and she’s excellent company.” Rey agreed with a laugh.
Poe had a big smile on his face- and even Finn looked amused though the other man still remained quiet.
“She also tells me you’re a Jedi?” Poe asked.
Rey took a pause.
She hadn’t exactly planned on bumping into any people let alone socializing with them. And a Resistance Commander on top of that? What was she supposed to tell him? That she was training with Luke Skywalker? The Luke Skywalker?
The silence stretched out for a moment too long.
“Uh, something like that.” Rey finally managed to answer.
Poe quirked his eyebrow at her in question. “Is that your lightsaber?” He asked with a nod towards her belt.
“Uh- I’m borrowing it from a friend?” Rey replied and then almost face-palmed herself because why did you have to say it like that, you could've just told him it’s yours it wouldn’t have mattered you idiot.
Poe had a weary expression on his face, rightfully so- but he still kept up his friendly demeanour. “Can you show us?”
Rey knew what he actually meant- that he was more so interested in finding out the color of her saber than anything else. Smart guy.
Rey slipped the saber out her belt, holding it out in front of her. She pushed down the latch on the side- and the bright green laser, that she was so used to, shot out of the handle. She twirled it around her hand. “Pretty cool, huh?”
BB’s eyes got impossibly wide, “That is amazing ! Can I hold it? Please?”
“You’re not holding a lightsaber.” Poe told her at once, and the kid just huffed at him, shoving at his side. “It’s dangerous!” Poe said defensively.
“Sneaking on your ship was dangerous too, but I did that and I’m fine.” BB murmured and Poe turned to give her an incredulous look.
“You shouldn’t have done that either!”
“Yeah, yeah whatever-”
“You know what, no I’m not having this conversation right now.”
Rey shared an amused glance with Finn.
“Rey,” Poe said, diverting his attention back to her. “Now, when you say you borrowed it from a friend what exactly does-”
Before he could finish his question however, Finn cut him off, scooting closer towards him. “It’s fine, Poe. She’s good- you don’t have to worry about her.”
Poe gave him a skeptical look, the whole of his attention at the other man now. “You sure, buddy?”
“I’m sure.”
Poe just looked at the other man for another moment, his lower lip caught between his teeth. “If you say so.”
Just then, BB whined out from beside Poe- shifting everyone’s attention back to her. “Dear Force, can we talk later? I’m starving! How about dinner- let’s do dinner.”
And so they did dinner.
The boys had some bread and beans on them, and Rey fished out the fruits from her bag that she had brought with her from Ach-Too. The Dameron siblings did most of the talking- telling stories and making lighthearted jokes. Rey would occasionally share a look or a smile with Finn- and the other man would ask Poe a question about something every once in a while, but didn’t tell any stories of his own.
Eventually BB started telling them about the past day and how she met Rey- the kid talked fast, Rey knew that- but somehow around her brother she got even more energetic and- well bouncy.
“And then I was like, ‘well obviously you’re looking for Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber- you have a lightsaber of your own, why else would you be here!’ and I was right of course.” She said her hands moving around wildly like they did.
“Wait-” Poe said interrupting his sister, his brows pinched in question and he looked up at Rey. “Why were you looking for the lightsaber?”
“I didn’t want the Order to have it.” She replied back simply.
“Fair enough.” Poe said, “Are you going to be tagging along with us now? We’re taking the saber back to D’Qar.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that- if that’s okay.”
Poe gave her a smile, “Not the worst idea ever to have a Jedi help us get out of this kingdom, is it?”
“How are we going to get out of this kingdom, anyways?” Finn asked, a little wearily.
“We’ll need a ship.” Poe replied, running a hand through his hair, and messing it up even more.
“I had a rowboat.” Rey told them, “BB made me get rid of it.”
“That’s because your rowboat couldn’t have fit more than one person on it.” BB shot back indignantly. “Besides, I know where we can get a ship!”
“You do?” Finn asked, a little skeptically, and BB fixed him with an unimpressed glare.
“Yes I do! I have been doing recon for the past five days- like Poe asked me to-”
“I never asked you to do recon.” Poe interrupted, giving his little sister a quizzical look.
“Yes you did!” BB insisted, “You said ‘keep a lookout, until I get back’- I remember you saying it.”
“Yeah lookout as in keep yourself safe- not spy on the kriffing Order! ” Poe exclaimed, starting to get increasingly exasperated.
“How was I supposed to know the difference?”
“Why would I ask you to do recon- you’re 12 .”
“12 and three quarters asshole.”
“Stars, I’m going to kill you- I’m actually going to kill you once we get ba-”
“Where can we find a ship, BB?” Finn asked, pointedly interrupting the siblings. Poe gave him a look and he just shot an identical one back.
“Well, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by someone .” BB said, making Poe shove at her shoulders. She stuck her tongue out at him.
“The ship, BB.” Rey said, trying to get the kid back on track.
“Right, the ship.” BB continued, “There’s a base on the port a few miles away from the shore we came in through.”
“The Finalizer.” Finn said, and added when Rey and Poe gave him questioning looks. “It’s where they handle some of the trades and shipments from.”
“Right that one.” BB said, nodding at him. “It’s got a shit ton of-”
“You already used your one curse word for the day, you can’t curse anymore.” Poe told her, and received a glare from her in return.
“Fine, they have a hecking lot of TIE’s.”
“You want us to steal a TIE ship?” Rey asked.
“Well there aren’t any other ships lying around here, are they?” BB replied back.
“You should’ve just let me drag around my rowboat, kid.” Rey said, thinking for the first time since she’d left Ach-Too that maybe running into First Order territory with just a staff and a lightsaber, and barely three months of Jedi training- was perhaps not her sharpest idea.
Eventually BB got tired out and decided to turn in for the night. Finn told Poe that he should get some sleep as well and the other man agreed without much protest. Finn also asked Rey if she’d like to get some rest as well, while he would keep watch but Rey just declined politely. She wasn’t very keen on sleeping around strangers.
The two stayed up for hours, at first in silence but soon swapped it out for tentative conversation.
Rey wasn’t the best at doing small talk and soon found out that neither was Finn. They didn’t talk about anything in particular, but Rey still liked talking to Finn. She’d never had a friend before- not really, she had people who could possibly be called acquaintances back in Jakku- in that there were some of them who knew her name and weren’t actively trying to harm her. And then, she was mostly all alone in Ach-Too with just Luke for company and calling him a friend would be a stretch.
But well talking to Finn- it felt like maybe what friendship could feel like.
“So, Finn,” Rey asked, once there had grown a lull in their conversation. Finn was adding branches to the campfire that had started to get dim again.
“Yeah?” He said, his attention still on the fire.
“Are you a Resistance fighter too like your boyfriend?”
Finn’s reaction was instant, his brows furrowing together and face flushing up in embarrassment. “He’s not- we aren’t- Poe’s not my boyfriend .”
“He’s not?” Rey asked, confused and maybe a little embarrassed herself for assuming- it had just seemed obvious to her what with how they had acted around each other. With the touching and sitting close together and Poe feeding Finn the fruit earlier.
“He’s not.” Finn confirmed, “We’re friends- I just met him like two days ago.”
“Really?” Rey asked, completely taken aback.
“Yeah,” He said with an awkward laugh.
“Well, how’d you meet him?”
“Uh- well, it’s kind of a weird story.”
Rey just shrugged at him not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable but still curious to hear more.
“Yeah, I guess sure why not.” Finn said, and he looked a little fiddly but he continued anyway. “I- uh I was with the Order.”
“What do you mean?” Rey asked.
“They- uh they took me in when I was a child and kept me locked in a tower.” Finn said, his voice unusually small.
Rey gnawed at her lower lip, feeling a little bad for bringing it up. “Was it because you’re strong with the Force?” Rey asked him.
Finn just nodded, “Yeah- uh I can heal people with the Force so-”
“You can Force Heal?” Rey asked in a gasp. Luke had told her about it, once- had even tried to get her to do it, but nothing had happened. Luke had told her not to get down about it because Force Healing was a rare ability only some people possessed. She’d still spent the whole day moping about it- she didn’t take to failure very well.
Finn was rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly, “Yeah I can do that.” He said, “So, Poe was running away from some people and he saw my tower and climbed up my bedroom window.”
“Right,” Rey said, having momentarily forgotten that this was about how Finn had met the Resistance Commander. “He just climbed up a random tower.”
“I mean it worked out great for me, so.” Finn joked.
Rey smiled, moving to sit a little closer by him. “So then what happened?”
“I punched him in the face and tied him to a chair.”
“Good, it’s what I would’ve done if someone just broke into my room.”
Finn laughed- it was a nice laugh and Rey almost wanted to pat herself on the back for doing that. Who would’ve thought the orphan, scavenger turned Jedi-in-training, recluse would be good at socializing?
“So now what? You’re gonna go with him to D’Qar and live out a normal life?” Rey asked, hoping she didn’t sound too eager. If Finn had the Force maybe he’d like to come back with her to Ach-Too where Luke Skywalker could train him like he was training her.
Rey just knew Luke would love him, possibly think he was a better student than Rey but, well then again anyone would be a better student than Rey. If she brought him back with her maybe Luke wouldn’t be too mad at her for taking off without telling him either.
“Uh- well you got half of that right,” Finn said, bringing Rey out of her musings. “Do you know about the Lantern thing they do at D’Qar?” he asked.
“I’ve heard of it,” Rey answered. “I’ve never seen it though, you couldn’t see them all the way from Jakku.”
“I could see them from my tower- I’d stay up all night and watch them when they came out every year.” Finn had a soft smile on his face.
“You want to see them in person.” Rey said a statement more than a question.
“Uh-huh. Poe’s taking me.”
“That’s nice.” Rey said and Finn nodded.
“Yeah, so I am gonna go with him to D’Qar- but I’ll leave after that.”
“Leave?”
“Hitch a ride to an Outer Kingdom- D'Qar is too dangerous. I can hide away from the Order better in an Outer Kingdom.”
Rey wanted to ask him if that’s really what he wanted- to live his life hiding away from the Order. Then she wanted to give him some big speech about taking control of his life and doing the right thing- and ask him to come with her to Ach-Too so they could be friends for more than a few days and have more conversations after dinner.
But she was tired, and her eyes had started getting heavy long ago- and a small yawn escaped her, making Finn laugh.
“Seriously, when was the last time you slept?” He asked and Rey gave him a tired look.
“I don’t know- two days ago?”
“Go to sleep.” Finn told her not unkindly.
“I’m okay.”
He rolled his eyes at her and shuffled closer to her, “Just sleep for a few hours- I’ll keep watch, you can trust me.” He said, and for whatever reason- Rey did trust him.
“Just a few hours?” She asked because she really was tired.
“I’ll wake you up in a few, I promise.”
“Okay.” Rey said, moving off the log Finn and her had been sharing.
She laid down a good few steps further away from where the Dameron siblings were sleeping- but still close enough by the campfire. She looked at the stars for a moment, bringing her hands back to rest her head on- she’d given her bag to BB, who couldn’t use her own as a pillow because hers was too clunky.
“Hey, Rey?” Finn asked, and Rey turned to look at him. “D’you want my jacket to sleep on? Well, it’s not mine- it’s Poe’s, but I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“Yeah sure- it has to be better than the ground.”
Finn tossed the jacket at her, “It’s very nice and soft.”
“Thanks.” Rey said, as she folded the thing into a lump and shoved it under her head. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.
Notes:
yes the "luke wouldn't give her a straight answer" was an intentional gay joke you should just know to expect it from me by now <3
This was my first time writing from Rey's pov so it was a little hard at first but I think I got her character down pretty okay?? idk let me know what you thought! Also I know there wasn't a lot of FinnPoe stuff in this chapter- but I really wanted to establish Rey's character and her dynamic with Finn- their friendship is one of my favorite things ever!
anyways I hope you guys liked this one! Please leave a kudos or a comment if you did, I would really appreciate it! <3
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Notes:
heyyyy guyss.........
i'm sorry i missed the upload last Friday, please don't hate me lol <3
also i'm starting to realize that i can't really keep up with the current uploading schedule so i'm changing it from twice weekly to once a week- sorry about that as well.Anyways here's the new chapter I hope you all like it!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
According to BB, there were half a dozen or so TIE’s in the Finalizer. They were kept on the far side of the harbor along with a few cargo vessels. A little ways off the shore, out towards the woods they also had a couple of warehouses and a lodging facility for the troopers.
Rey suggested they start traveling out to the port right away so they could reach it by nightfall. They still didn’t have any ideas for how they were actually going to steal a TIE but according to Poe, they would burn that bridge down when they came to it.
Finn wasn’t sure how he felt about the whole plan. Well- that was a lie, he knew how he felt about the plan- he thought it was ridiculous and that there wasn’t enough of it for it to even be allowed to classify as a plan .
He told Rey the same, under the late afternoon sun, as they were walking through the woods.
“Have a little faith, Finn.” Rey just replied back. “I’m sure everything will work out just fine.”
Finn rolled his eyes at her, and playfully bumped his shoulder with hers. “Yeah, according to who? The Force?”
“Much to learn you have, young padawan.” Rey chastised even as she tried to hold back a smile.
The two had easily fallen into a tentative friendship of sorts since their meeting last night. Rey was nice, a little standoffish sometimes, but overall she seemed to like Finn- as far as Finn could tell.
What Finn couldn’t tell was why she liked him- if she genuinely liked him or if it was just because of the Force and how Finn could use it. This wasn’t exactly something he’d had to consider with Poe, because the other man hadn’t known about Finn’s Force-sensitivity right away.
Regardless it was nice having someone to talk to other than Poe- especially since Finn was trying to give Poe some space and privacy to catch up with his sister. It was weird not walking beside Poe, Finn had gotten used to taking his hand and listening to him talk in the short time they had spent together. But he didn’t want to be a bother- and maybe it was just as well for him to not get too attached to Poe seeing as he’d have to eventually leave.
Besides, Rey was great company anyways.
She was just telling Finn about her sailboat and how she had fixed it back up- when BB ran up to them, from where she had been walking with her brother just a few steps behind Finn and Rey. She nudged herself between the two of them and looked up at Finn with her big bright eyes.
“You’re also a Jedi?” She asked in amazement and Finn just gave the kid a confused look.
“I- uh- no?”
“But you can use the Force!”
Suddenly Poe appeared on Finn’s other side as well and Finn found himself subconsciously smiling at the older man’s presence- but Poe wasn’t paying much attention to him to notice. “Bea, not everyone who can use the Force is a Jedi- you know that.”
“So what- are you Sith?” BB joked, and Poe leaned over a little to flick his sister on the head. “He’s not a Sith either, you miscreant.”
BB swatted his hand away, “Fuck off, Poe- I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to Mr. Finn .”
“You can just call me Finn.” Finn told her- still a little weary of the kid and her exuberant energy. He hadn’t been around kids much since- well since he was a kid himself.
“Alright then, Finn.” BB said, patting him on the arm with the back of her hand. “So you’re not a Jedi or a Sith, but you can use the Force?”
“Uh- well, yeah. I’m not a Jedi or a Sith, I’m just-” Finn answered and paused trying to look for a word that might fit. He waved his hand noncommittally, “I’m just some guy who has the Force.”
Rey snorted at that from where she was walking beside Finn, “Yeah right, just some guy with the Force.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Finn asked looking up at her, she just rolled her eyes at him- a smile on her face.
“Finn, you can heal people with the Force- not everyone can do that, you nerfherder.” She said and bumped her shoulder with Finn’s like he had done before, “You’re special.”
Finn just ducked his head down to hide the flush on his face. Finn’s been called many things in his life because of his connection to the Force- useful, valuable, beneficial- he’d never been called special .
“You know uh- you should,” Rey said a little hesitantly, like she had been gearing up to this conversation for a bit. “You should uh- you should come with me.” Finn blinked back at her, confused.
She just continued, not really meeting Finn’s eye, “Once we get the Lightsaber back to the palace and after you’ve seen the Lanterns? You can come with me if you want.”
Finn was still a little lost as to what was happening, but before he could say anything Poe spoke up from beside him, “Come with you where ?”
Rey squinted her eyes at Poe, and Finn realized she hadn’t spent much time with him alone. Not that she’d spent a lot of time with Finn either for that matter- why the kriff would she even ask him to go anywhere with her?
“I can take him to my Master’s island. He can learn to use the Force there- become a Jedi.”
Finn blanched at her words, his pace slowing down a little.
“You want to take him to your Master’s island?” Poe asked her, skeptically.
“That’s what I said.” Rey replied back, her tone even.
“And who is this Master of yours?”
Rey fixed him with a look. “Luke Skywalker.”
The group halted to a stop almost immediately.
BB gaped up at Rey, “ Luke Skywalker’s your Master?” she exclaimed at the same time that Poe asked, “You know where Luke Skywalker is?”
“He’s been training me with the Force for the last three months.”
“Motherfucker,” BB swore in an exhale but her brother didn’t even bat an eye this time. “This is simply too much information for me to be getting in one day.” she said, dramatically bringing a hand up to her head.
Poe was just looking at Rey with a befuddled expression on his face but Rey turned back to Finn. “He can train you with the Force too- not just healing but other things too. You can become a Jedi.”
Finn could do little else but look back at her. Of course - of fucking course she wanted him to be a Jedi. Why else would she be so nice to Finn? She wanted to take him away to some stupid Jedi temple and keep him there and use him for his powers- just like Finn had been told everyone would try to do.
“No, wait a minute.” Poe spoke up, and the back of his hand brushed against Finn's, a little too steadfast to be on accident. Finn thought Poe might take his hand, but he didn’t.
“If you know where Luke Skywalker is- you need to tell us.” Poe said, calm but still firm.
“I’m not going to do that.” Rey replied back her tone matching Poe’s.
“Rey- we’ve been looking for him for years-”
“Master Skywalker doesn’t wish to be found.” She said and continued swiftly as soon as Poe tried to protest. “He’s still grieving.” Rey’s voice was level but gentle. “He lost his husband, and his child was taken from him. His students killed and turned to the dark by his own nephew- he blames it all on himself.”
Poe’s demeanor changed a little shifting from defensive to earnest. “We need him, Rey. The Resistance needs him, his sister needs him- he needs to come back.”
“He’s not going to fight in the war Poe- believe me I’ve tried to talk to him about it.” There seemed to have developed an understanding between the two now. “He cut himself off from the Force- he doesn’t trust himself to use it yet.”
And Finn thought- if he could cut himself off from the Force he would too. Finn didn’t know Skywalker, he hadn’t even heard about him much- but he knew what it felt like to be scared of your own abilities- to not want them.
He could especially see why Skywalker might be afraid of the Force. “He’s scared he’ll end up like his father?” Finn asked, but it wasn’t really a question.
Poe looked up at him with something in his eyes that Finn couldn’t place- nor did he want to. He had too much going on inside his own head to be in any mood to decipher what was going on in anyone else’s.
“Not that he’ll ever admit it.” Rey replied with a roll of her eyes. “But it doesn’t matter- he’s not the only one with Force- I have it, you have it. He can train us- both of us. We can fight the Order together .”
“I-um, I’m good actually.” Finn said, with a nod.
Rey raised an eyebrow at him, “You’re good ?”
“I- uh, I don’t wanna fight any wars. I’m just gonna stick to my old plan.”
“You’re gonna run away to an Outer Kingdom and hope the Order doesn’t find you?”
“That plan.”
Rey looked pissed, her hand on her hip and brows drawn together. “Fine, suit yourself. Do whatever you want, I don’t care!” She said and turned away from them, walking back up ahead, her pace much quicker than was necessary.
Finn just stared after her- not really knowing what to make of her reaction. He had expected her to be displeased, sure, but she seemed offended- disappointed almost. He turned to Poe, “What was that about?” the back of his hand brushed against Poe’s again but the other man just moved his hand away from his.
“Why are you asking me? I’m not the one who stayed up all night talking to her- I barely even know her.” Poe sounded unusually cold, his jaw was clenched and Finn got the idea that he was pissed at Finn as well.
“You know what- I should probably remedy that.” Poe said, before calling out for Rey to wait up as he jogged up to her, leaving Finn alone with only BB for company.
Finn had no idea what he could have possibly done to piss Poe off- the two had barely even talked the whole day.
He looked down at the kid, “What was that about?” He asked again, this time with feeling.
The kid blinked back at him. “Don't look at me, I’m only 12. What do I know?”
Finn was going to leave once this whole thing was over- Poe knew that. And Poe was fine with it too. He really was.
But then he fell down a water channel, almost died in a cave, and watched Finn heal him with nothing more than his hand and the Force. And now? Well now, Poe kinda wanted to take Finn back home and ask him to stay there with him.
So when the next morning Finn started completely ignoring him in favor of Rey- well maybe that made Poe a little…...well he wouldn’t call it jealous- it just made him a little annoyed.
But then Rey had dropped the Luke Skywalker bomb and that made Poe forcefully push the romantic crisis he was having to the side, so he could actually do his job- you know as a Resistance Commander.
“I’m not telling you where he is.” Rey said as soon as Poe caught up to her.
“Yeah, I figured.” Poe replied back, falling into step beside her. He looked up and over his shoulder to see Finn and BB walking together, animatedly talking to each other- BB was mostly doing the talking part with Finn just nodding along.
The kid stumbled over a rock and Finn easily caught her, steadying her back on her feet- all the while BB continued with whatever random information she was probably dumping on Finn.
Poe turned back to Rey. “That’s not what I wanted to talk about.”
Rey gave him a doubtful look. “.........Go on.”
“Back there you said you wanted to fight the Order?”
“Once my training with Master Luke is done, yes- that’s what I plan on doing.”
“Well, the Resistance can really use help from someone like you.”
Rey gave him a look, the corner of lips quirked up in slight amusement. “Are you trying to recruit me, Commander Dameron?”
Poe shrugged, “I figured if we can’t have Skywalker, I might as well try and get us the next best thing.”
Rey laughed at that, shaking her head slightly. “I’m not the next best thing- believe me.” She said and continued before Poe could try and counter that. “But I think I’d like that- once I’m done with my training.”
The two shared a smile. “So how did you find him anyways?” Poe asked, trying to make conversation.
Rey raised her eyebrows at him, unimpressed. “I’m not telling you where he is.” she repeated, much more pointedly, this time.
“And I’m not asking you to!” Poe protested, raising his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “I’m just curious, we’ve been trying to find him for ages and we’ve never even gotten anywhere close.”
“It’s easier to find something when you’re not looking for it.” Rey answered back, in true cryptic Jedi fashion.
“What, you just stumbled across him one day?” Poe asked with a laugh.
“Something like that.” Rey replied back with a shrug and Poe raised his eyebrows at her in question.
“I was fleeing from Jakku, there was a storm and my sailboat got wrecked and ended up getting washed up by his shore.”
“You’re from Jakku?” Poe asked and Rey just nodded back in reply. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He said softly. Jakku was seized by First Order just a few months ago- it had never been a part of the New Republic in any way so the Republic had done nothing about it.
Rey shrugged back in response, “Whatever, I got out- didn’t I?”
“Sure did,” Poe said and realized she probably didn’t wanna talk about that right now. Which was fine- but also Poe was running out of things to talk to her about what with both Skywalker and her past, presumably off the table.
The two walked in silence for a while before Poe spoke up, “So, do you like sailing then?”
“I mean I’m pretty good at it.” Rey said with a considerate nod. “Yeah, I guess I like it just fine.”
From then on the two continued to talk about their shared interest in sailing. Rey seemed to know about a lot of ship models and was, by her own admission, pretty good at fixing vessels up- and taking them apart.
Poe checked back on BB every once in a while- and she seemed pretty engrossed in her everflowing one sided conversation with Finn (i.e. infodumping) but it didn’t look like Finn minded- plus Poe was still maybe a little annoyed at the other man so he just let the two be.
They stopped along the way once, for a lunch break- at BB and Finn’s insistence but kept up with their trek up to the First Order Port otherwise. Luckily enough they managed not to run into any trouble and by nightfall they had reached the edges of the woods, and the treeline that BB had camped out by in order to spy at the Port before.
“Okay so, we’ve got ten fully armed troopers patrolling the harbour perimeter on the west side of the Port,” Poe said once he had climbed down the tree he was up in to scout out the place. He turned to hand BB her binoculars back and continued on, “Two watchtowers on both sides, so our chances of sneaking in look a little slim.”
“Wait,” BB said from beside him, once she had fixed her goggles back up over her head. “Only ten stormtroopers?”
“Well, there are more throughout the Port but I only counted ten around the harbour.”
“Are you sure?” BB said and at once started climbing up the tree Poe had just climbed off of.
“Yes, I’m sure- hey be, careful. ”
BB just continued climbing back up the tree, without a reply. Poe rolled his eyes at his sister’s antics, knowing she’ll continue on with whatever she was saying once she came back down- he turned back to Finn and Rey.
Poe gave them a look when neither of them spoke up and instead just continued to stare at him, “Any ideas?” He asked.
The two shared a look, Rey raised her brows up at Finn and the man just shrugged back in return.
“I think,” Rey started, her tone uncertain which didn’t do much to build up any confidence in Poe. “I think we should just attack the harbor and take out the ten troopers.”
“We’ll have the element of surprise.” Finn pointed out.
“It’s also dark.” Rey reasoned.
Poe just squinted at the pair, an incredulous look on his face. “What the fuck are you two talking about?”
“Hey, I thought there were no bad ideas!” Rey said defensively.
“I never said that- there are bad ideas, that is a bad idea.” Poe sputtered out, “They’ll see us coming from the watchtowers and signal the alarm- and even if we get past that, how are the three of us gonna take out ten troopers without getting noticed? I don’t even have a weapon!”
“I can take care of the troopers.” Rey and Finn both said in unison. Poe rolled his eyes at the pair, even if he knew very well that they could probably take care of ten troopers each. However, he doubted they could do so without getting noticed by the watchtowers- not to mention even if they did and then manage to steal and slip a TIE away, they’d still have to worry about getting chased down by the other dozen TIE’s.
Before he could make any of those excellent points however, BB jumped down beside him with a loud thud, “Huh, that’s weird.” She said, picking at a thorny leaf that had gotten stuck on her shirt sleeve.
“What is?” Finn asked, helping pick it out and then plucking another one out from her hair.
“They’ve got less troopers stationed everywhere than what they normally used to have.”
“Are you sure?” Rey asked her.
BB nodded, “I counted an even 16 around the harbour- just like two days ago.”
“Why would they suddenly reduce the security?”
“Maybe some of them got stationed on the other shore after Rey attacked those two troopers there?” Finn offered.
“Maybe they had to make some budget cuts.” BB quipped- and wait, budget cuts .
“Maybe it’s Zee-nineteen.” Poe spoke up- the gears of his brain starting to turn.
“Finn’s friend that helped you get out of the stormtrooper bar?” BB asked, with a tilt of her head.
“What about her?” Finn asked.
“She had to be stationed somewhere right?” Poe said, “Maybe she was stationed here- and if she defected and took off with her other trooper friends-”
“Then they’re probably short-staffed at the port right now.” Finn said, finishing Poe’s train of thought for him.
“I don’t understand how any of this is going to help us steal the TIE.” Rey commented.
“Bea, you said something about a warehouse nearby, right?” Poe asked, the beginning of a plan- an actual plan - starting to form in his mind.
Notes:
please note, that i know nothing about harbors or military ports i'm doing minimal research and making shit up as I go- the only proper way to write self-indulgent fantasy if you ask me. Also group dynamics are so fucking difficult???? It's so hard to write dialogues there are so many tags to keep track of???? I hope I did a somewhat okay job at that lmao
Thank you so much for reading I hope you guys liked it! Please leave a kudos or a comment if you liked the chapter I would really appreciate it!
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Notes:
So i was hanging out with my family just minding my own business and my brother- unprompted- said to me “you know with the personality you have- I think if you were to ever become a parent you’d be the neglecting, emotionally unavailable father” so naturally I went, “that’s completely bullshit and unbased- I’d be the absent father” and I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mom look more disappointed in me. Anyways here’s the chapter- hope you enjoy reading it <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Why do you just have all this stuff in your bag?” Finn asked, narrowing his eyes at the kid.
“Why don’t you have all this stuff in yours?” BB shot back, completely serious.
Finn just rolled his eyes, even as he took the small bottle of kerosene BB handed him and stuffed it inside his own satchel. The kid definitely was resourceful, he thought as he kneeled down in front of her to help her put back all the things she had taken out of her overstuffed bag.
“There’s so much stuff in here- how do you even carry this thing around all day?” Finn asked, once they had tied the backpack up. He helped BB shrug it back on her shoulders- mildly concerned for the kid’s spine.
“You know what they say, Finn.” She said, turning around. “Heavy are the shoulders that carry the burden of having a reckless hotshot brother.”
Finn laughed, and pulled the kid closer to him so he could help tighten the straps of her bag. “From what I heard, you’re a reckless hotshot too BB.” He countered and the kid pouted petulantly at him.
“Touché, Force-guy.”
Just then Poe came up to them- and Finn had to look up to see his face, from where he was still kneeling in front of the kid. Poe had a look on his face- Finn didn’t know what that look meant, but he was chewing on his lower lip which was probably a nervous tick.
“Hey Bea, can you give us a minute? I need to talk to Finn.” He said and though he was talking to his sister he kept his gaze on Finn. Finn clumsily got back up to his feet.
“Sure thing.” The kid replied before looking back up at him, “Remember, find a place with a lot of paper and wood- preferably not on the ground level, and run the fuck away as fast as you can.”
“Would I actually get an answer if I asked you why you know so much about starting fires?” Finn asked, with an exasperated sigh.
BB just shot him an unimpressed look and gestured down at herself, “Come on, Finn look at me- of course, I know a lot about starting fires.”
Finn laughed, and BB beamed up at him and bumped her fist against his arm, before going away to hover over where Rey was meditating nearby.
Finn looked back up over Poe once she was gone- the other man still had the nervous expression on his face. Finn found himself mirroring it. “So I guess you’re done being mad at me then?”
Poe gave him a sheepish look. “I wasn’t……….I wasn’t mad at you, I just-” He said but trailed off in the end.
“Just?”
Poe sighed, and brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck before mumbling out, “I don’t know- I guess I just- I……..felt like you were ignoring me for Rey, and……. maybe that made me a little annoyed.”
A surprised look took over Finn’s features, though it was quickly replaced by an amused one. “I’m sorry, what was that?” and even he himself could hear the smirk in his voice.
Poe threw his head back in a groan, running a hand over his face. “Oh stars you’re gonna give me such a hard time for this, aren’t you?”
Finn ignored his words and stepped closer to him, the grin wide on his face. “You know, it sounded like you said you were acting pissy because you were jealous.”
Poe gave him a perfectly scandalized look, which did nothing to tone down Finn’s amusement. “That’s not what I-.... I wasn’t jealous .” Finn laughed, unable to help it and Poe just huffed at him. “ Shut up. ”
Finn grinned back at him- maybe a little relieved that the reason behind whatever it was that had happened between the two of them- was something as stupid as that. Poe shot him an unamused look but still swayed a little closer to Finn and when Finn drifted his hand near Poe’s- Poe reached out and took it.
Finn liked holding Poe’s hand.
“You know I was only just trying to give you some space to talk with BB.” Finn told him and Poe looked up at him.
“ Oh, ” he said, and Finn shook his head at him with a small laugh.
“I didn’t mean to ignore you because I like Rey better or anything like that.”
Poe was staring down at their hands- a small smile on his face, “Yeah, I’m sorry- I guess I just…….” he looked up at Finn, and bit his lip- which Finn did not care for at all actually . “I just got used to it being the two of us.”
Finn’s face flushed up- and he remembered thinking something about not wanting to get attached to Poe earlier, but he couldn't really remember the specifics of it right now. “Yeah- um……..uh m-me too.” he stuttered out.
Poe let out a small laugh, his hand squeezing Finn’s briefly- and……..well, and Finn liked holding Poe’s hand.
He shook his head, trying to shake away his ill-timed thoughts as well.
Right , there was an actual reason he shouldn’t get attached. Outer Kingdom. Resistance Commander.
Finn cleared his throat, pulling his hand away, albeit a little reluctantly. “But- uh,” he said, looking down at the ground. “But, Rey’s great right?”
Poe took a pause, and when Finn looked back up at him he was looking at Finn- a confused look on his face- his lip still caught between his teeth.
“A terrible strategist,” Poe finally said, and Finn’s laugh at that was maybe a bit too breathy. “But yeah she’s actually really cool.”
“BB too,” Finn said with a nod. “I like her.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, she’s a great kid.” A smile made its way to Finn’s face. “She told me all about Hoth- it’s ecosystem, political and historical significance- the whole thing.”
Poe laughed. “She’s never even been there- I have no idea why she knows so much about it!”
“She’s smart.”
“Yeah- she really is.”
“Much smarter than her idiot jealous brother for sure.” Finn said with a grin.
Poe rolled his eyes at Finn. “I hate you.”
The two shared a small smile, and Finn could tell that whatever awkwardness had fallen between them was gone now. Finn was only all too glad about that.
“I know I-uh……...,” Poe spoke up after a moment passed, “I know I’m the one who came up with this plan but- uh….I can’t say I’m much thrilled about this part.”
“I can take care of myself, Poe.”
“I know that I just-.....” Poe said with a shrug. “I wish I could come with- make sure someone’s got your back.”
Finn gave him a fond smile. “Someone does,” he told him and then bumped their shoulders together. “Even if it’s all the way from the port.”
Poe cracked a smile- similar to Finn’s and bumped their shoulders back together. “Be careful, okay Finny?”
Finn rolled his eyes at the nickname, “Seeing as you have a monopoly on the stupid- I’ll have no other choice.”
“Smartass.”
The warehouse was less than an hour away from the Port. It was a little ways off the woods, in a clearing- narrow and three stories tall. It had big windows and a handful of troopers standing guard by the front entrance.
Finn had Rey’s staff with him- they’d re-distributed the weapons before Finn had left. Rey had her saber and Finn gave his sword to Poe. He still had Skywalker’s blue lightsaber hanging off his hip but he wasn’t a big fan of the idea of fighting with it- so Rey had given him her staff.
It was a little lighter and more imbalanced than what Finn had trained with before, but it worked alright- he thought as he swiped it down across a trooper’s legs and backtracked swiftly on his feet, twirling around to dodge an attack from a second trooper behind him- and jabbing the other end of the staff square on the trooper’s chest.
He fought off the numerous troopers in an almost choreographed mechanism of his limbs- more than familiar with Order’s fighting style, his own moves infused with the same. Conscious of his steps, he steered the fight away from the warehouse and out towards the edge of the treeline- making sure to make as much of a ruckus as possible to draw out any other troopers that might be in the building.
One of them- after Finn had knocked the blade out of their hand- managed to catch Finn’s face with a particularly awful punch, one that would definitely leave a bruise. Finn did always get a little too cocky after disarming his opponents- especially so many of them.
He blocked another punch from the same trooper with the staff, quickly flicking it to block their next punch then moving around and raming the side of his weapon to the trooper’s torso and grabbing hold of one of their arms- twisting it behind their back and slamming them down on the ground. He kneeled down on top of the trooper, butting the end of the staff on the base of their head as they flopped down- just as quickly jerking the staff back up to catch another trooper right in the face
Getting up to his feet, he noted the last trooper standing- sword still in hand. They met in a clash of metal, blocking and attacking in an increasingly frustrating pattern. The trooper used their armor to their advantage, managing to block some of Finn’s attacks with their arm. He knocked the trooper’s sword out of their hand- but the trooper had kicked him down to his knees.
The trooper ruthlessly elbowed Finn’s shoulder making him drop the staff on the ground with a loud clang. A punch was sent his way- but he caught it, and then pressing his other hand down on the ground, he flung himself up in a handstand. He caught the trooper’s head up in between his legs and, using the momentum, twirled them around slamming the trooper down on the ground with Finn straddling their shoulders and pressing down on their hips with the front of his body.
Okay yeah maybe he was just plain showing off now, he thought as he got hold his staff back and thwacked the trooper on the head with it.
With the troopers all dealt with Finn moved back out to the warehouse. He searched around a little, but like BB had said the inside of the building was empty with zero security. Most of the first floor seemed to just be the armory so he made his way up the stairs onto the next floor.
After checking a few doors, he found one that was labeled “Records”. The room was lined with shelves with barely much walking space in between. Some of the shelves had some books and notepads on them but most were just stacked with boxes that were filled with bundles of paper.
Finn pulled the boxes down, littering the floor with the paper- making sure to cover as much of the ground as possible.
On a whim, he picked up one of the notebooks off a shelf- it was titled 07, 35 ABY - and didn’t have an end date on it. He flipped through the thing, and decided to stash it in his satchel- Poe could probably use all the information it had about trade records.
He then took out the bottle of kerosene BB had given him and spilled the oil out around the room- not that it would need much anyway, what with the wood panelling and shelves, and the paper covered floor. He poured out a tail running out the room and into the hallway outside.
He got a bit further away from the line of kerosene, pulling out the matchbox (again, courtesy of BB, the 12 year old arson enthusiast) and just stared down at the ground- distractedly wondering if he should be concerned that Poe’s immediate go-to plan to solving a problem was to blow something up. Then, deciding he didn’t really care about it- Poe knew what he was doing- Finn lit the match on fire, flicked it at the kerosene and ran the fuck away as fast as he could.
The fire from the Records Room had quickly spread out onto the entire building and was burning high enough to catch the attention of the Watchtowers before Finn had even gotten 5 minutes away from the warehouse. He ran back to the Port- going the same way he had come- through the forest.
Poe and Rey should be well on their way to breaking into the harbor- the second part of their plan underway. Now all Finn had to do was get back to them, and if everything went according to plan, they would have stolen a TIE by then. He could only just hope everything was in fact, going according to plan.
As he was running through the dark forest- with just the moonlight and the stars to illuminate his way- he felt a slow chill run up his spine. He tried not to let it bother him, it was just a feeling- nothing more.
A feeling of pure, unfiltered dread tugging at his senses, almost as if in warning.
He looked up and over his shoulder, slowing down to a jog- feeling the leaves and the branches rustle around him. But there was nothing, no one behind him- no footsteps- just a feeling.
He turned back around, blaming it on his paranoia but-
There in front him was a dark hooded figure leaning against a tree trunk.
“Hey, FN-2187.” the figure- a woman said in a drawl. Finn, of course, knew the woman.
“Vinna.”
The Knight of Ren came out of the shadow, letting the hood fall down, revealing a cruel sadistic smirk on her face. “Going somewhere?” she asked, and Finn tried not to shiver at the timber of her voice- at the feeling she elicited in him.
He was quick, slinging the staff off from around his shoulders and holding it out in front of himself- ready for an attack.
“Aw, cute.” she commented in the same sultry voice of hers that she only ever used on Finn. She pulled her own weapon out- something Finn was very much familiar with. The hilt was long and stubby and could be used as a weapon by itself- but when Vinna flicked it out in a very precise and practiced motion- a huge blade protruded from that hilt, long- almost half as long as she was, and broad, and sharp as you could ever want a blade to be.
“Mine’s bigger than yours, though.”
Finn didn’t wait any longer, advancing on her, going for her legs- but she was as experienced in fighting Finn as Finn was in fighting her. Jumping up and out of the way, she brought the blade down on him and Finn instinctively brought the staff up to block it.
The blade clashed against it violently- strong enough to maybe dent the reinforced end of it, but not enough to cut through it in a clean swipe. Finn would thank his luck but he knew he didn’t have much of it to begin with, and that instead all his thanks should be going to Rey and her blessed craftsmanship.
“Come on, Eight-Seven- let’s talk first, before we get into the fun stuff, yeah?” She said, pushing his staff up and away and kicking him off.
Finn stumbled back but managed to stay up on his feet- the staff still held out in front of him- Vinna mirroring his stance perfectly, as she always did.
“I’m not going back, Vinna.” Finn told her, as the two circled each other.
“Oh, but you are,” She replied back, an amused glint in her eyes. “Whether it’s with a big scar on your pretty face or not- that’s up to you.”
“I’ll die before I go back there.”
“You’ll be of better use to the Order alive even if scarred.” She was enjoying this, Finn knew that. Finn also knew he didn’t stand much of a chance against her- not without a proper weapon at least.
“However, I think I’d like you better unscarred and perfect like you are now.” She continued on, “Although who knows maybe you’ll pull it off- the whole unscrupulous, rugged look.”
“I thought you were supposed to be on that mission to Jakku with Ren?” Finn asked, perhaps trying to buy some time- or maybe distract her. He hadn’t expected Vinna to show up- if the Knights of Ren were on their tail now, then this wasn’t just about Poe and the Lightsaber anymore, this was about Finn .
“Snoke pulled the mission.” Vinna told him, with an annoyed huff. “He was pretty mad when he found out Kylo’s latest tantrum had cost him his precious Healer-Boy- he’s assigned him with bringing you back, and so obviously I’m the one stuck doing it now.”
“The assignment’s too beneath him?”
“You know it.” She winked at him. “But don’t worry- you’re not at all beneath me, Eight-Seven.” She paused and pulled a face, “Well except when you are.”
“ Were .”
She rolled her eyes at him, twirling the weapon around in her hand effortlessly. “Yeah, yeah I know- we’ve had the conversation.”
And then, in an instant she was swinging the blade at him- Finn was barely able to dodge the attack, his shoulder getting caught by her blade and he let out a pained hiss. Vinna just smiled wickedly back at him- before attacking again.
“Come on, Eight-Seven do you really think you’d be better off without the Order?” Vinna asked in challenge, as her weapon clashed back against his. It was a half-hearted clash, she was pulling her attacks. “You belong with us, with The First Order.”
“I don’t.” Finn said, through gritted teeth as their weapons continued to move against the other’s. Nothing substantial- a means to an end, an excuse for her to keep talking to him.
“No?” She asked in a jibe. “You think you belong with that Resistance Commander, Eight-Seven? That he won’t just use you like everyone else does- at least we have the decency to say it to your face. He’s just playing with you- what's even his name? Poe Dameron, is it?”
Finn’s breath stuttered at the sound Poe’s name out of her mouth. He ducked and flung the staff’s end violently at her, having no concern, himself about holding back.
Vinna just laughed, a loud guffaw- and blocked the attack. “Sensitive topic?” her blade met the metal of his staff in another heartbreaking dent- and Finn wondered how long he’d be able to keep this up.
Notes:
Disclaimer: I, the author, do not for the most part condone the act of committing arson as a way of solving your problems- that is- until and unless Poe Dameron specifically tells you to do it- in that case you should do it. But otherwise? Don’t start fires, folks.
also yes I gave Finn an evil hot ex-fling I have no idea how it happened my hand slipped-
Anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter- I personally don't think the end counts as a cliffhanger but like if any of you think so, then I apologize for leaving you at a cliffhanger.......my bad
If you liked this chapter please leave a kudos or comment- I'd really appreciate it! I'll see you next week <3
Chapter 11: Chapter 11
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Rey was still meditating just like she had been since before Finn left. BB was laying down, with her head on Poe’s lap bouncing a ball off a tree. She’d throw the ball, bounce it against the forest floor once, then it would hit the tree trunk and get thrown back at them. Poe would catch the ball and throw it the same way so BB could catch it next. And they kept doing that over and over.
It was a repetitive, mindless activity to keep BB from jumping out of her skin until they got their signal to move. It did much the same for Poe as well. The throwing and catching gave his hands something to do- but his mind was still running all over the place.
Poe wasn’t as hyperactive anymore as he used to be when he was a kid- or well, he’d gotten better at dealing with it now- but there was still a lot to be worried about right now. Poe wasn’t great at waiting, he was calmer, more clear-headed in the moment. Better at thinking on his feet.
So right now sitting on the forest floor, while Finn was out there all alone? Well it wasn't the most ideal place for Poe to be. He couldn’t help but worry, so many things could go wrong- there might be too many troopers than they had anticipated, too many even for Finn. He could get caught- and Poe wouldn't even know until it was too late. And this was Poe’s plan- if anything went wrong it’d be his fault and-
“What’s wrong?” BB asked him, bringing him back out of his head.
He blinked back and caught the ball, throwing it to the tree on muscle memory. “Huh?”
“Your leg’s tapping against the ground.” BB said, her focus still more or less on the ball. “Whatcha thinking about?”
“Nothing. I don’t know.” Poe shrugged, “Guess I’m just worried.”
“About Finn?”
“Yeah, Bea- about Finn.”
“Hmm.” BB said thoughtfully, and Poe looked down at her to see her brows furrowed together- her eyes still on the ball. Poe caught it. He threw it back at the ground towards the tree.
“You care about him.” BB told him, leaving no room for an argument. Not that Poe would attempt one in any case- BB knew him too well for him to try that.
“Yeah, I do,” he said with a small chuckle, leaning his head back on the tree he was propped up against, “I really do.”
“Yeah, makes sense.” She said, having to raise her hand up a little to catch the ball this time. “I mean look at those big brown eyes- your gay ass never stood a chance.”
“BB!” Poe scolded her, his face flushing a little. His sister just laughed maniacally from his lap, and Poe slapped her lightly on the forehead with the back of his hand.
“You need to stop hanging out with Testor so much- she’s a bad influence on you.” Poe mumbled.
“Oh please, if I stop hanging out with everyone who’s a bad influence on me, I’d never get to talk to you.” BB retorted, hitting him back on the stomach.
Poe just rolled his eyes at the kid, but it seemed she wasn’t done with this conversation quite yet.
“So,” she started, and looked up at him. Poe raised his brows at her- telling her to go on. “Do I need to give him the talk?”
“You’re not giving anyone the talk!” Poe told her at once.
“But-”
“The last guy you gave the talk to ran away!”
“I’m weeding out the weak ones, Poe!” She protested, sitting up and facing him fully- the ball held still in her hands. “That last guy was an ass, he did not deserve you!”
“You don’t think anyone deserves me, you little brat.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say anyone .” She said in that voice of hers she used when she was admitting to something, but wasn’t very pleased about it.
“Oh yeah?” Poe grinned.
“I’m just saying!”
“Bea, do you like Finn?”
BB rolled her eyes at Poe’s teasing tone, and cocked an eyebrow at him in exasperation. Her look of exasperation was the same one she’d had since she was 6 and so it was a little hard for Poe to take it seriously.
“You said he saved your life. And I talked to him a lot today- he’s nice.”
Poe’s grin widened and he bit his smile, “He is, isn’t he?”
“See you’ve got that dopey look on your face- you totally like him!” BB said excitedly, nudging him on the arm. “And I mean like-.... like like him.”
“Mhmm,” Poe hummed back, maybe a little amused, “I got that.” He never talked much with BB about boys. Mostly because she was insufferable when he did. She never liked anyone Poe did.
BB nodded resolutely at him. “I think I should give Finn the talk.” she said, and before Poe could counter that-
A loud bell rang through the forest, scaring away whatever birds were perched on top of the trees. Then another bell rang- and then another, this one more high-pitched. The two kept ringing in intervals- clearly coded intervals, and Poe just hoped the code they were using was one that said ‘fire at the warehouse’.
Poe looked to his right and saw Rey getting up off the ground, the bells having broken her meditation. She was walking up to Poe and Bea.
He looked back at his sister, who was looking up at the sky where the birds were flying up and away from the forest. He took the ball from her and pointed one stern finger at her. “Don’t give him the talk.” he said and then tossed the ball back at her before getting up to his feet.
Breaking into the Port was an easy enough ordeal- mostly because Poe didn’t really have to do anything.
Rey easily fought through the handful of troopers that were still standing guard at the port- her green saber shining in the darkness of the night as she took down trooper after trooper in single swift movements.
Poe had never seen a Jedi fight but he just knew- Rey fought like a Jedi . Her attacks were never messy like Poe’s, nor were they mechanical like Finn’s. They were flowy and harmonized- like she already knew how she was going to take down the last trooper when she was still on the first, like- ………...like she was a vessel for the Force to flow through.
They soon reached the harbor, Poe was holding Bea’s hand- the sword that Finn had given him drawn out in his other one, though he doubted he’d have much use for it anyway.
“You know you could’ve at least let me have one of them.” Poe complained from behind Rey once they turned a corner. Rey turned around with a smug grin on her face, walking backwards and switching the saber off. She deposited it back in it’s holster with a twirl.
“You provide your expertise, Commander and I’ll provide mine.” She said, turning back around on her feet when-
Two armed troopers suddenly appeared right in front of them, ridiculously big spears in hand, pointed right at them- and when did troopers start carrying those .
“Drop your weapons.” One of the troopers said in their helmet filtered voice.
Poe glanced at Rey- she made no motion to take her saber back out, and instead just brought her hand up waving it out in front of the troopers. “It’s okay that we’re here.” She said in a calm voice. “Lower the spears.”
The spears went down at once and- and Poe remembered reading something about this once in an old book. He looked down at Bea, who was gaping up at Rey- her eyes might as well have been shining with glee.
So, not only could Rey fight like a Jedi, she could also do mind tricks like one. Good to know.
“You’re both going to run out into the forest now.” Rey said, still maintaining her even tone.
The troopers shared a look. “We should go out to the forest.” One of them said and the other nodded and the two went away.
Poe leaned down to BB’s level. “You think she did that to us too?”
“I was just wondering the same myself actually.”
Rey turned around and rolled her eyes at the siblings. “I hate you both.” She said- the two just grinned back at her, and then they were back to running out towards the TIE’s.
“Okay, Bea and I will take the left side and you take the right.” Poe instructed, looking up to the TIE closest to him. There was a small chance that Poe was perhaps a little excited at the prospect of getting to sail a TIE- it was a TIE, okay? The fastest ship to date, and the Resistance had never managed to get their hands on one before.
“You sure you can figure out how to break a TIE, Rey?” BB asked her.
“I was a Scavenger. I’m sure I can figure out how to cut a bunch of ropes, BB.”
The kid gave her a disapproving look. “I’m coming with you.”
“We’ll meet back at that one, how does that sound?” Poe said, pointing at the ship to the farthest side on the right.
The girls nodded at him before taking off to one of the ships. Poe did the same.
He jumped from one TIE to the other, cutting off all the essential ropes, disabling the rudder chain, and then doing some extra damage just to be safe- and by the time he was working on his third ship he was very much drenched in sweat, his hair starting to stick to his forehead.
Poe had fixed plenty of ships before- he never thought wrecking them would require so much effort as well.
The three of them met back up in the ship they had agreed on, twenty minutes or so later. BB was panting and Rey’s pale skin was flushed even more so than Poe’s.
“You got ‘em all?” BB asked, when she had finally paused from chugging down water from her bottle. She was slumped back on the floor against the mast of the ship.
“Obviously.” Poe told her, before leaning down and patting her on the head. “Come on we don’t have much time, we need to figure out how to get this thing running before Finn gets back.”
BB groaned out but still got back on her feet. Poe glanced at Rey, and she was staring out to the forest, her hands drumming against the side of the ship.
“You alright?” He asked, and Rey looked at him from over her shoulder- her brows pinched in worry.
“Something’s wrong.” She said, and Poe’s face instantly fell.
“He should be back by now.” She continued, and pulled her bag off her shoulder, dropping it down on the ship floor. “I should go after him, see if he’s alright.”
“I’ll come with-”
“ No .”
“Rey-”
“I’ve got it okay? I don’t want you to worry about it.” she said firmly. “You stay here and get the ship ready- I’ll go get Finn. He’s probably fine- I just have a feeling nothing more.”
“A Force feeling?” Poe asked her pointedly.
She gave him a look, before bumping her shoulder with his. “Get the ship ready.”
Rey’s senses, her connection to the Force- it was already heightened from the meditation and the fighting- and so when a small fleeting feeling of panic passed through her aboard the TIE, she couldn’t shake it off.
And now that she was running through the forest, along the same path Finn would have taken- that fleeting feeling became more and more cemented. She knew now that something was wrong .
Even though she had told Poe not to worry- she couldn’t help but do so herself. She knew Finn could probably take care of himself just fine, and so if something was stalling him from returning back then it had to be something big.
She would like to hope it was all just her paranoia and that she would find Finn well and unharmed just trudging along the forest path- but she knew better than to think like that.
A strong feeling of dread suddenly surrounded her, and she knew somehow that it wasn’t coming from herself- nor was it a warning from the Force. Finn was near somewhere, she thought as she picked up her pace- taking her saber out, leaving it turned off for now.
The sound of metal clanging against the cold forest floor echoed in the night air and Rey found herself standing a few feet away from Finn.
He was on the ground on his back- a menacing dark figure standing over him, a terrifying blade in hand-
Seconds before the blade could get close enough to hurt Finn badly - Rey somehow managed to bring her hand up, channeling the Force that surrounded her and the dark figure was sent flying back away from Finn and into a tree trunk.
“Finn!” Rey called for him, alarm and worry clear in her voice as she ran up to him.
“Who’s this, Eight Seven?” The dark figure- a woman, Rey could tell now- said, her voice cold and menacing like her presence. The woman had gotten back up on her feet.
“And who’s Finn ? Is that what you’re calling yourself no-” before she could finish however, Rey was already holding her hand back out at her, pushing her further away again with a growl. The woman flew through the tree this time, taking it down with her- crashing away a little ways off.
That one might have been a little draining on Rey, and she could feel her muscles starting to sore up a little.
She didn’t pay that any mind, and turned to look at Finn, who was still laying down on the ground- clutching his side. “Are you okay? Who was that? Finn are you-” She fretted over him, eyes darting around his face, down at his body- his jacket was torn at the shoulder, she could see blood darkening the sides of it.
The man winced a little, trying to sit up.
“ Oh Finn ,” Rey said, worrying over him, his face in her hands. Finn looked up at her with his big eyes, a little confused a lot relieved, but then-
Rey was pushed away from him, in a sharp shove- nothing but thick, heavy air against her, and she rolled down the ground with a pained huff, as a rock pressed against her side.
“You know it’s not nice to interrupt.” The woman said, having gotten back up to her feet, walking up and away from the destroyed tree. “FN-2187 and I, here, were having a moment.”
“You talk too much, Vinna.” Rey heard Finn say, and she turned her head to the side to see him getting back up on his feet.
“You don’t communicate enough, Vinna. You communicate too much, Vinna.” The woman- Vinna, said in a mocking voice, as she strutted up closer to Finn- twirling the weapon in her hand. Rey clenched the saber tighter in hers getting on her knees- trying to get back on her feet.
“Be two things at once, Vinna! Try and make up your mind, you ass.” She said and the next thing Rey knew, she’s charging at Finn with that scary blade. And Finn held up the feeble staff- the saber still hanging off his hips, why wasn’t he using the saber?
And Vinna’s blade was crashing down near him, and Rey barely managed to make it in time. Standing in front of Finn, she brought up the saber pushing down the latch.
Bright green laser shot out, clashing against Vinna’s blade- and whatever that thing was made of, it sure wasn’t durasteel. The woman grunted, as Rey pushed back hard against her weapon, the lightsaber starting to finally cut into the blade a little.
“Shiny,” Vinna gritted out through her teeth, just before kicking Rey’s leg down, throwing her off balance- their blades disconnecting.
But then Finn was attacking Vinna, clashing the staff’s foot against her blade and- huh Rey’s staff was holding up pretty well against that blade. Finn and the woman continued to attack and block each other in synchronized moves.
Rey attacked her from the other side, catching Vinna off guard, her saber meeting with her arm in a loud sizzle and the woman flinched in pain giving Finn the opening to smack her across the jaw with the butt of the staff.
Vinna growled and grabbed hold of it, her hand against Finn’s chest shoving at him with force- no actually, with the Force .
Finn skidded along the forest floor weaponless and Vinna turned back to Rey. “You know, two versus one isn’t exactly a fair fight.” She said in a sneer and-
The trees rustled around them, and Rey was looking over at Finn making sure he’s okay, but then two other dark figures, just like Vinna, were coming out of the shadows. One had his face covered in a mask, the other had a hood.
Finn got back on his feet just barely, but Rey couldn’t pay any more attention to that when Vinna attacked her again, going for her legs- and Rey realized that the feeling of dread- it was coming from Vinna herself.
She barely just managed to jump up and out of the way landing firmly on her feet behind Vinna but the other Knight- because Rey was sure now that these were the Knights of Ren- sent his chain sickle, an actually kriffing chain sickle her way. It caught her ankle cutting into the skin there and pulling and she went down to the ground on her front.
She turned around with a pained groan, lighting the saber up and getting back on her feet.
Two knights- Vinna and the sickle-chain maniac- were on her. Fighting the Knights of Ren was not the same as fighting off a bunch of stormtroopers.
They were quick on their feet just like Rey, and the Force was swirling around them dark and deranged and much more powerful than what Rey could manage with her meager 3 months worth of training.
Finn wasn’t doing any better, and even more infuriating- he still hadn’t pulled out the damned saber. It was agitating and worrying, and everytime a blade would get too close to him for Rey's comfort she would end up getting distracted by it, and instead get nicked by a different blade or a fist or something else herself.
She didn’t know how long they had been fighting for, her limbs didn’t wanna cooperate anymore and she felt like toppling over any minute now. She sent a half-hearted weak shove at the Knights with the Force, at the same time that Vinna sent her flying across the forest path, down into the rocky terrain and Rey’s body helplessly flopped down on the ground.
She laid there for a minute, trying to will her body into moving again. Someone came up beside her, and she instantly sat up with a groan, the green saber held up on instinct- but it was just Finn.
Rey looked up over his shoulder and saw the Knights lying down on the ground, not knocked out, just knocked off their feet like Rey herself. Apparently the ‘weak’ shove of the Force she’d used hadn’t been all that weak.
She dropped her head back on the ground, and closed her eyes just for a moment- her breaths coming out in pants.
“Rey, we need to run- we can’t fight them.”
“We could, if you actually fought .” She couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice. “Why aren’t you using the saber?”
Finn just looked down at her, and Rey thought maybe he’d at least have the decency to look guilty but nothing. His brows were drawn together in worry, bottom lip caught between his teeth nervously- but no guilt.
“We need to run, come on.” He said taking hold of her arm and getting her back up on her feet. He himself was a little shaky on his.
She got up, pulling the staff back in her hand from where it was lying discarded on the grassy floor- using the Force to do so.
She shoved it into Finn’s hands.
“Are you alright?” Rey asked him as they started jogging down the forest, swerving off towards where the trees were fuller and provided better cover.
“I think they dislocated my shoulder.” Finn mumbled out, one of his arms nursing the other. His cheek also had a big gash on it. Rey tried not to let that bother her much.
It wasn’t long before the sound of footsteps following them started echoing through the forest. The Knights were following them close behind- of course they were. Finn’s hand came down to hers, his fingers curling around hers- and Rey sharply took her hand back.
“I know how to run without you taking my hand.” She shot at him angrily.
Finn looked at her with a confused and sad look but Rey was far too angry at him to care right now. He tried to fight a Knight of Ren, weaponless. Weaponless!
She needed to reel her emotions back in- like Master Luke taught her. Steady breathing, keep your heartbeat in control, feel the Force around you. The Force- feel the Force.
Well that was a pretty fucking difficult checklist to follow when all she could hear was heavy footsteps of people running after her- people hellbent on killing her and taking away the first person she had ever had a decent conversation with.
“Poe’s waiting for us in a TIE- we just need to make it there.” Rey told Finn, and he nodded back at her. Something tugged at Rey’s senses and she turned her head around just in time to see one of the Knights, the one with the hood sending another kriffing chain-sickle at Finn.
She froze the weapon mid air making it drop down fruitlessly with a clang. Her head was very well throbbing like something was banging against her skull now.
They soon reached the Port, and the TIE that Poe was supposed to be on came into Rey's view. The sails were drawn and the ship was out of the harbor, and as she got closer she could make out the silhouette of him on the helm.
Rey looked back over at Finn, he didn’t look too good on his feet. The Knights were almost on their heels now.
She grabbed hold of Finn’s waist, the man barely got enough time to shoot her a questioning look- before she jumped off in the air- channeling the Force and feeling it beneath her feet- as she soared up in the air- flipping around for the extra momentum, and the two of them landed down on the TIE floor with a loud thump- their landing utterly graceless.
A loud crack echoed through the air as soon as they slammed against the floorboards- with Rey on top of Finn.
“Stars and space, that was so cool!” She heard BB say from somewhere near them and Finn just groaned out,
“Rey, I don’t think my shoulder’s dislocated anymore.”
Rey slumped her head down against Finn’s chest and let out a long, heavy sigh of relief- having finally left First Order behind.
Notes:
They're finally out of the Order yay!!!! I can finally stop it with the fucking fight scenes every other chapter!!!! They were such a pain in the ass to write, I really hope you guys liked them and didn't get tired of them or anything. I think there isn't going to be another fight scene for a few chapter now- if you remember the movie Tangled, then you know we're moving out towards the cute "showing Finn around the town" montage with food and dancing!
I also really liked writing the Poe and BB scene I thought it provided a nice break from the constant plot and I personally thought it was cute
So yeah, I hope you guys liked the chapter, if you did please leave a kudos or a comment I'd really appreciate it <3
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Notes:
Listen, I know this chapter is one week too late but here’s the thing okay- here’s the fucking thing. I had an idea in my head. It was a pretty good idea, I was very excited about writing it- I thought it was cool. But then- then I actually sat down to write it and remembered i suck at writing dramatic argument scenes. To put it simply I came up with an idea that I did not have the skill set to execute.
I couldn’t just abandon that idea because I had been building up to it for like the last two chapters so I’ve been trying to write the first half of this chapter for literally 2 weeks now. I did eventually slap together something resembling a lousy excuse for a chapter this sunday and I almost gave up on writing a decent chapter and uploaded it because i started freaking out about letting you guys down and disappointing you with the late update (which like yes it sounds like I have some issues let's not talk about that) but i’m so glad I ended up not uploading that version of this chapter because I worked on it a bit and it got a lot better! like a LOT BETTER lmao
So i hope you guys like this chapter and don’t hold the late update against me I’ll try and make sure it doesn’t happen again but I can’t exactly make any promises. <3Anyways here's the chapter!
TRIGGER WARNING FOR BLOOD AND INJURY!!!
it's nothing too explicit but one of the characters stiches up another one's wounds. it's nothing too graphic and the scene isn't much detailed at all but I thought i should still mention it
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The Old Jedi, back before the time of The Empire- they had rules against attachments. Pursuing relationships of any kind- familial, platonic, romantic; it was all forbidden. Attachment was considered selfish, something that led to fear and greed and jealousy- a path to the Dark side.
Once over dinner and lousy conversation, Luke had admitted to Rey that he thought it was all banthashit. Nothing more than a way to ensure absolute loyalty to the Jedi Order above all else. Attachments, Luke had said, were sacred and necessary.
It wasn’t the attachment themselves that were a path to the Dark side, but rather attachment to the attachment.
Rey hadn’t known what that meant then- she still didn’t.
“Hold still.” Rey told Finn irately, as she tried to position his outstretched left arm properly.
“I am holding still.” Finn said, looking up over his shoulder.
“No you’re not.” Rey stated in exasperation, and pulled at him from the other side to get him to sit straighter.
“Ow!”
“Stop whining!”
“Rey,” Poe spoke up from the deck above them, his voice concerned. “Are you sure you know how to do this?” He asked, and Rey turned to give him an exhausted look. Shouldn’t he be focusing on handling the helm instead of micromanaging Rey?
“Yes, Poe.” She replied back with a particularly haughty roll of her eyes. “For the third time Finn will be fine. I’ve done this before.”
“Successfully?” BB asked and Rey fixed the little brat with a glare. The kid just went back to fiddling with the sail ropes.
“Answer her question.” Finn said.
Rey ignored him and firmly pushed her hand in between his shoulder blades and tugged at his injured arm without any warning. And yeah, she was mad at Finn but she still tried to do it as gently as possible. As gently as you can relocate a shoulder that is.
Because regardless of what Finn may have said earlier, dislocated shoulders don’t just fix themselves if you flung yourself onto a ship with another person on top of you.
If anything, it messes them up even more.
Finn grunted out in pain, as Rey guided the bone back in the socket- the shoulder finally popping back in place with a loud crack.
“Finn?” Poe called out in worry, and Rey rolled her eyes at the man yet again- starting to get a little tired of his concerned boyfriend voice.
“He’s alright.” Rey grumbled out in answer, perhaps a little too callously.
BB peeked over from the upper deck and gave her a weird look, but Rey chose to ignore it- instead turning back to Finn.
“Are you alright?” Finn asked her, his brows furrowed. He brought a hand up to Rey’s arm but decided against it, letting it drop back to his side.
Which was a smart decision on his part, Rey decided.
Flashes of Finn ducking and dodging away from the Knight’s attacks empty-handed raced through Rey’s mind and she felt her teeth grinding together in anger.
Rey had fought people before- not in just her training with Luke in Ach-Too, but back in Jakku as well. She’d spent her whole life fighting off people and even running away from them when needed. To say fighting the Knights of Ren was different than any of her past experiences, would be an understatement.
The sweat on her forehead hadn’t dried yet even in the cool night air- and her heart was still beating erratically in her chest. She knew bruises were littering her back from all the throwing around Vinna had done- but that was nothing compared to the splitting pain in her head. A side effect of excessive Force usage.
“Rey?” Finn called out to her- his voice wary.
Rey blinked back, not having realized she had spaced out there for a minute. Finn was looking at her with raised brows, a frown on his face.
“Are you alright?” He repeated.
“Why don’t you tell me that?” Rey shot back, obviously pissed off. “Am I alright, Finn? Do I look kriffing alright to you?”
Finn didn’t say anything back. Rey didn’t really need him to- too worked up to have a proper conversation right now anyway.
“Weaponless! You tried to fight them off weaponless- which was really just a smidge worse than trying to fight them with my forcedamned staff! Why didn’t you use the saber?”
“What does it matter anyway! We’re fine, we got away-”
“We could’ve fought them off!”
“You can’t fight the Knights of Ren-”
“Of course you can- if you actually try to fight them!”
“Hey!” Poe yelled out, making both Finn and Rey turn to look at him. He was making his way downstairs- he’d passed the helm to BB. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong!” Rey said, none to kindly. “Finn was attacked by the Knights of Ren!”
Poe turned to look at Finn- his eyes roving over the other man, finally noticing the gash on Finn’s face, and his bloodied arm. “The Kni- are you okay?”
He moved closer to Finn, but the other man took a step back- one of his arms cradled in the other, his expression unreadable to Rey.
“Finn?” Poe asked in a hurt little voice.
“’M fine.” Finn mumbled back and Rey scoffed and crossed her arms to her chest.
“No, he’s not fine,” she said, “Of course, he’s not fine! He tried to fight them with my stupid staff and when he lost that he went up against them empty-handed.”
She turned to fix Finn with a pointed stare- her emotions getting the better of her. “Why didn’t you use the saber?” She asked again.
“I- it- it doesn’t matter okay?” Finn replied back in the same stubborn tone. “I didn’t need to use the saber-”
Rey was quick to interrupt him. “No, you needed to use the saber, you just refused to.”
“I’m fine.”
“What if I hadn’t’ come looking for you!” Rey shouted out in frustration. “They could’ve taken you back! They could’ve- they could’ve……..” Her voice trailed off, and her eyes darted around Finn’s face- the cut on his cheek, his bloodied arm cradling the other one that Rey had just fixed.
“Finn you could’ve died.” She didn’t yell this part out- how could she have? It would have been cruel not only to Finn but to herself as well.
“So what if I had!” Finn’s own voice was starting to waver a little. “What do you care about what happens to me anyways?”
“Of course I care about what happens to you!” Rey replied back, incredulously. Wasn’t that the whole point? That Rey cared about him a little too much?
“Oh, right yeah, if I’m dead then you can’t take me back to your Master Skywalker and make me into a Jedi, can you?”
Rey’s jaw dropped then. How could he even say that!
“Finn-” Poe interjected, clearly trying to simmer down the rapidly escalating situation. But it was too late now.
“You think that’s what this is about?” Rey exclaimed very well screaming at the other man now.
“What else could this possibly be about, Rey!” Finn yelled back.
“You could’ve died!”
“I’m fine! I don’t need some Jedi weapon to take care of myself.”
Rey stared back at him, starting to put the pieces together. Jedi weapon. Just some guy who has the Force.
“You’re scared of the Force.” Rey said, a statement more than anything. Finn’s jaw clenched at her words- only serving to confirm them.
“I don’t care for the Force.” He replied- the air between them thick.
“You’re scared of it- and you’re willing to die before you use it!”
“The Force is the reason my life has been as miserable as it’s been- I don’t need any favors from it!”
“You can heal people with the Force-”
“It’s the reason they took me away-”
“It flows through you bright and gentle and you’re willing to just throw all of that away-”
“The reason I’ve never belonged anywhere in my life-”
The two were just shouting at each other now.
“You can do so much good with it!”
“Why I don’t have a family-”
“But all you want to do is run away-”
“The reason the only thing I’ve ever had in my life are some stupid kriffing dots in the sky!” The desperation in Finn’s voice made Rey take a pause.
The two just stared at each other for a moment. Rey gulped back the knot that had formed in the back of her throat. She knew she had unspilled, angry tears in the corner of her eyes now, and it would have been more humiliating if Finn wasn’t in the same predicament himself.
“I didn’t ask for this.” He said. His voice was lower now but he still sounded as frustrated and angry as he did a moment ago. “I don’t want it- any of it.”
“But you have it.” Rey replied back, trying to mimic his tone so as to not start another screaming match. “Finn, you’re special.” She said and took a step towards him, and he took a step back.
“Special, useful, exploitable- they all mean the same thing to me Rey.”
“You have a gift, Finn. Do something good with it.” She said it like it was an accusation- and maybe it was. “Do you have any idea how rare it is for someone to have the ability to heal? The Force is kind to you and you just wan-”
“The Force is kind to me?” Finn repeated clearly pissed off at Rey’s choice of words. “I grew up locked in a tower Rey, they never even gave me a kriffing name- you…..you have no idea of the things I’ve been through! If I could rid myself of it- I would do it in a heartbeat.”
“You’re being a coward.” Rey found herself saying before she even realized it.
“As opposed to you?” Finn asked in a scoff. “The useless Jedi Knight? Who only comes out of her island when her master’s toy gets stolen?”
“I’m training-”
“And I was trained for my entire life.” Finn said, starting to move away from her- pushing past Poe, “I don’t want to be a pawn anymore- I don’t care for which side.” He said, and then he was climbing down the stairs to the cabin below deck- clearly done with both this conversation and probably Rey too.
It took a moment for Rey to be able to see through her anger and actually realize what had happened. What she’d done and said.
She hadn’t meant for this to happen- she hadn’t meant to say those things- not in the way she had said them at least.
She only- she only just wanted Finn to stay.
For him to not run away, for him to stay in Rey’s life a little longer- for…….for him to come with her to Ach-Too so Luke could make him into a Jedi, so Rey wouldn’t have to do all of it alone.
Stars, what a mess.
“You shouldn’t’ve talked to him like that.” Poe said, and Rey had almost forgotten he was even there.
Rey looked up at him, having to bite at her lower lip to stop it from quivering. “I- I didn’t……..I didn’t mean all of that- I just,”
Poe gave her an expectant look, raising his brows at her.
“They would’ve taken him back if I hadn’t gotten there in time, Poe! All because he’s too scared to fight. I- I didn’t mean it- I just-”
“I know that, okay?” Poe said gently, moving closer to her and resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I get it- but he doesn’t.”
“Should I go talk to him?” Rey asked unsure and uncertain- not really knowing why she was looking to Poe for advice, but realizing she- for some reason- trusted him enough to do so.
“I think it’s better if I go.” Poe told her. “You’ll just end up fighting with him again- you’re still angry.” She’d been angry from the start, she should’ve never tried to talk to him in the first place.
“Try and walk it off.” Master Luke would suggest some meditation. The old Rey, back in her Scavenger days would have tried screaming- better yet, she never would have had problems like this to begin with.
“But you have to fix this, alright?” Poe continued and Rey just nodded back at him.
He looked her over once, “What about you, are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere from the fight?”
“I’m fine.”
He gave her a look and she gave him one back, and then he just patted her on the shoulder once, before going off down below deck.
Rey slumped back on the floor, against the side of the ship.
Attachments were sacred and necessary.
Back in Jakku, Rey had heard all the tales about the great Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Han Solo. People would tell stories about them in the Nima Outpost, and Rey would eavesdrop. She had heard about how Luke had defeated the Death Star with the help of the Rebellion- she’d heard about Hoth, and Cloud City and every other war story she could get her hands on.
She had also heard about how, in the end, when Luke had to face Vader and the Emperor- he’d gone alone.
All she wanted was someone by her side- for her to not be alone. She couldn’t help but feel like Finn could be that someone.
Attachments were sacred and necessary- but in the end they were still the reason Luke had cut himself off from the Force, weren’t they?
That same night- over the same dinner and lousy conversation- Luke had confessed something else to Rey as well. “I used to think I’d be the first one,” he had said, “The first Jedi to have both- attachments and the Light.”
He thought time had proven him wrong. He had managed to let go of Wedge, but he couldn’t let of his kid.
Rey had wanted to protest, had wanted to tell him that his husband and his kid were not the same. That his kid could still be out there somewhere. How could he just let that go?
But in the end, she hadn’t said anything. Couldn’t bring herself to rob Luke of the ability to lament over his imperfections.
Attachment to the attachment, he had said.
Sometimes it felt like, Rey was at once both made of attachments and devoid of them.
Why else had she stayed in Jakku for as long as she did, hoping and longing for her parents to come back for her- wishing they were out there somewhere, mourning over her loss like Luke mourned over his child’s.
Rey had stayed in that damned place for as long as she could- until she was quite literally ran out of it.
Why else had she been so eager to join the Dameron siblings and Finn on their journey back to D’Qar? Why else had she so prematurely imagined her days training to be a Jedi with Finn by her side?
Attachment simply had never been a part of Rey’s life and so now she was starving for it, always.
But it didn’t matter because she wasn’t any good at them.
Most people usually assumed that Poe was, if not exceptionally good at romance and relationships- then at least decent at it.
And Poe understood where they were coming from too. He knew he was pretty handsome, and he naturally had a flirty personality. But really between raising BB and his job- first in the New Republic army and then D’Qar- Poe’s never really had a lot of time for romance.
He’s had his fair share of experiences, he’s been in a handful of relationships- but he’s only ever had two serious boyfriends and one of them was from when he was a teenager so he’s not so sure if that one even counts.
Because you see, Poe was exceptionally shit at feelings- especially romantic ones. He dealt with liking someone the same way one would if they were going through the kriffing five stages of grief.
All of this is to say when Poe made his way down to the cabin below deck, he didn’t really know what he was going to do. He’s done the denial, the anger came out more as annoyance than anything else- and well now, he didn’t really know what to bargain for.
He still knew that developing any sort of feelings for Finn was a notoriously stupid thing to do- but well, Poe has been, from time to time- known for being stupid. And it wasn’t as if he was planning on confessing these stupid feelings to Finn or anything like that.
He was especially not planning on trying to convince him to stay- because let’s be honest, if the opportunity to become a Jedi wasn’t good enough incentive to get him to stay then Poe most certainly was not going to be either.
So, when Poe followed Finn down below deck he really only just did so because he was worried about that wound on Finn’s face, and wanted to find out if he had sustained any more from his fight with the Knights.
The cabin below deck was-……well it was small for one thing. There was a cot on one side and a hammock on the other- and Poe knew there weren’t any other cabins in the TIE, which meant the sleeping arrangement on the ship was going to be……..unpleasant to figure out.
The cabin was also dark with just a single burning lantern near the stairs, that must’ve been lit up by Finn- it was the only source of light save for the moonlight streaming down from above, through the squared holes in the roof.
The back of the cabin was lined with shelves. Finn was looking through those shelves, when Poe reached the end of the stairs. “Are you also here to try and convince me that I should become a Jedi and fight the Order?” He asked, without even turning around.
“You know I’m not.” Poe replied back plainly, walking up to him.
Finn turned to glance at him, and Poe’s eyes caught the violent gash sitting on top of his cheek. Sinister crimson red against Finn’s smooth, dark skin.
Poe’s hand- almost off its own accord- came up to Finn’s face, fingers tentatively caressing his jaw just below the wound.
Finn’s eyes fluttered a little. He didn’t move away this time like he had done back on deck, and instead leaned just the slightest bit into Poe’s touch.
Poe bit his lip. “Why haven’t you healed it yet?” he asked.
“It doesn’t work like that.” Finn told him, and turned his head back towards the shelves and away from Poe. “Can’t heal myself.”
Poe didn’t really know how the Force worked- heck before Finn he hadn’t even known the Force could be used for healing. He didn’t ask any follow up questions however- he had a feeling Finn would rather not give him a lesson about the Force right now anyways.
Finn pulled out a small wooden box from the shelf. Poe nodded at it. “Is that the first aid kit?”
“I think so.”
He took the box from Finn, opening the thing up to inspect its contents. Gauze, some medical looking jars, a few pills. Poe wasn’t a medic but he has had some basic first aid training- not to mention having Bea for a sister meant he’s had some practice in first aid as well.
“Alright, sit down on that cot- I’ll patch you up.” Poe told him- and he expected Finn to protest, for him to tell Poe that he can take care of himself on his own. But Finn just nodded back and complied, accepting Poe’s help.
The cut on Finn’s face wasn’t particularly deep- however some of the blood had dried on his skin. Poe used a clean rag that he’d dampened with some water from his bottle to clean the wound. He was kneeling down on the floor in front of Finn between his legs.
Poe was maybe leaning in a little closer than was strictly necessary, but it was dark and he needed to look at Finn’s face better. So he could patch up the gash. Also he liked being close to Finn.
“You know for the record,” Poe found himself saying- because he really could not do this in silence. “I don’t think Rey was saying all that just to get you to become a Jedi.”
“It sure sounded like that.” Finn replied back, and Poe could feel his eyes on him.
Poe leaned back on the floor to get a jar of bacta out of the box. “I think she was just worried about you.”
“She barely even knows me.” Finn shot back and Poe looked up at him- his lip caught between his teeth out of habit.
From personal experience, Poe knew it didn’t take a lot of time for someone to start caring about Finn. Heck, he’d only met Finn -what two days before Rey? And he was already soft on the guy. If he had to guess, all it took was a smile from Finn for Rey to start caring about him as well.
“She knows you enough.” He said and moved closer to Finn again, so he could apply the bacta on the cut.
Now admittedly, Finn could’ve just done this himself but- but well Finn didn’t complain and in fact turned his head himself to give Poe better access. And Poe was certainly not complaining about it either.
“There.” He said in a murmur once he had secured the bacta coated cut with some medical tape and gauze. He pointed at Finn’s arm next. “I have a feeling that one is going to be a bit harder to take care of.”
Finn cracked him a small smile and started taking off his jacket. The right sleeve of his tunic was visibly drenched in his blood- wet with it. Poe cringed at the sight of it- that has to hurt.
“Sorry I got it damaged- it’s a nice jacket.” Finn said, making Poe look back up at him. He was looking down at the jacket- Poe’s jacket- with a slight frown on his face.
Poe took the jacket from him, and tossed it to the other side of the cot. “Let’s take care of your arm first, okay buddy? Don’t worry about the jacket.”
“Yeah, I don’t think this is going to be very pleasant.” Finn said and looked down at his injured arm, pulling the shirt back- but the soaked cloth was sticking to his skin.
“Uhhhh,” Poe said unintelligibly, trying to figure out how they were going to make this work.
The cut was high up on Finn’s arm so they couldn’t just roll the sleeve back- they’d probably have to cut the whole shirt sleeve off.
“Here, I’ll just-” Finn said with a sigh, and brought his hand up to his chest starting to undo the drawstrings at the top of his tunic- suddenly giving himself a perfectly indecent neckline.
And if that wasn’t enough to make Poe’s brain take a pause- Finn then proceeded to slip the shirt over his right arm wincing just a little when the fabric slid over the wound. And then the right side of his tunic was off and he was sitting in front of Poe in a state of undress that Poe was in no way equipped to handle.
“Poe.” He heard Finn say- and his name really sounded so nice coming from Finn’s mouth didn’t it? It wasn’t a particularly nice name- just one syllable, Finn said it in a nice way. Especially when he was sitting so close to Poe, almost shirtless.
“Poe.” Finn repeated this time pointedly, and Poe managed to peel his eyes away from Finn’s well-muscled chest that he was not at all not staring at- and looked up at Finn’s face.
Which wasn’t any more helpful to be completely honest. The silver dappled moonlight was shining down Finn’s face- and Poe wasn’t usually this sappy, he wasn’t- but that mixed with the way the golden light of the lantern was catching Finn’s deep brown eyes-
“My arm’s still very much hurt you know?” Finn teased, making Poe snap out of his entirely unnecessary and ill-timed thoughts. Finn was wearing just the tiniest little grin on his face- and it would have been so very annoying if it weren’t so attractive.
Right, Poe needed to calm the fuck down.
“Your arm.” Poe said and then shook his head. “Right yeah your arm- your right arm…….the injured one- the right one.”
He mentally groaned at himself- stars he was even more pathetic than he thought- and picked up the now bloodstained rag back up.
He held Finn’s arm in his hand, and cleaned all the blood off of it. There was a lot of blood- the gash on Finn’s arm- unlike the one on his face- was deep.
“You’re gonna need some stitches, buddy.” Poe told him- his stomach churning just a little at the sight of the actual wound.
“Do you know how to do that?” Finn asked and Poe nodded back in reply.
Poe’s only ever really stitched up his own wounds once or twice- every single experience just as horrid as the one before. It wasn’t like Poe had a weak stomach or anything- but something about seeing a gaping cut on Finn’s arm made Poe want to cry.
“Yeah, I’ve got it.” He said.
The first aid kit had a bottle of antiseptic- which he used to clean the wound. Finn just hissed out a little in pain- which was as much of an under-reaction to getting alcohol spilled on a bleeding wound as Poe had ever seen.
“So, fighting a Knight of Ren without a weapon huh?” He asked once he had started on the stitches- either to take Finn’s mind off of the horrible pain, or his own.
“Not you too.” Finn replied back in a whine.
“I’m just saying- that was pretty reckless of you.”
“It wasn’t reckless, I’m fine-”
Poe gave him a pointed look, and Finn just rolled his eyes at him.
“It’s just a scratch.”
“I’m literally stitching you up!” Poe said in exasperation, carefully tying the first stich in a knot.
“Look it doesn’t matter okay? It was the Knights of Ren, we were lucky to even get away from them alive.”
“Rey said you could’ve fought them off if you had used the lightsaber.”
“Rey’s delusional.” Finn shot back plainly. “She’s trying to live out some fantasy- but she needs to understand that the First Order isn’t The Empire and she’s not Luke Skywalker- and neither am I.”
“You know I’m fighting the same war she’s trying to fight.” Poe told him not rudely, but well it wasn’t easy not to take offense at his words.
Finn’s eyes softened a little, and he looked down at Poe. “I-” he said but then stopped himself. Poe turned his eyes back on the wound.
Finn winced a little, at the next suture and his other hand- the uninjured one- came up to Poe’s waist, holding onto him. Poe’s face instantly heated up, but he didn’t say anything about it and neither did Finn.
His hold on Poe remained, when he spoke up next. “I’m not saying no one should fight back against the First Order- or that you guys don’t have a chance-”
“No, you just think we’re being delusional.” Poe interrupted.
“I just don’t want to give my life away to a war I don’t think I can win.”
Poe took a pause, and looked up at the other man. “Finn, you can’t keep running away forever.” He told him, shifting a little closer to him, and Finn’s legs almost closed around a little closer to Poe’s hips as well.
“I’m not saying you should fight a war if you don’t want to, I’m just asking you to fight for yourself.”
Finn’s gaze on Poe’s face was soft- his brows were furrowed a little and his lips were tugged down in a frown but his dark eyes were soft as they looked down at Poe. He sighed. “You’re right.” He said looking away from Poe- and Poe reminded himself that he’s supposed to be doing something right now.
He moved his attention back towards the wound- working on the next stitch.
“It’s just-” Finn started but then stopped himself again. He did that a lot.
“Just what?” Poe tried prompting him on.
Finn’s left hand had started fiddling with Poe’s tunic- Poe didn’t know if Finn knew he was doing it, he didn’t even know if Finn even remembered he was still holding on to Poe.
“I’m capable enough on my own too, you know. It’s not like I didn’t even try to fight them- I just didn’t use the saber, I don’t need the Force to look out for myself.”
“Just because you use the Force or the Lightsaber it doesn’t mean there’s this other thing or being or whatever helping you out. You’re still the one looking out for yourself. The Force is a part of you just as your hand or your eyes are.”
Finn remained quiet.
Poe tied off the last stitch with a sigh. He picked the rag back up and started working on cleaning any of the blood he had missed earlier. “Back at the cave- when you saved us. That was all you buddy- it wasn’t some cosmic power making sure we don’t die, it was you. You just happen to have the cosmic power accessible to you.” He said and dropped the rag down on the floor- a small smile on his lips.
Finn’s hands tightened around him a little and Poe looked up at him. Finn was gnawing on his lower lip. “I shouldn’t have yelled at Rey.”
“Rey shouldn’t have yelled at you either.”
“I think-” Finn said, and took a pause. His eyes came back to look at Poe’s. “Vinna- uh, one of the Knights- she, uh she said some stuff about how you just wanted to use me for my powers like everyone else does.”
Poe’s brows furrowed together, and he brought his hand up to Finn’s face at once- his fingers brushing against his cheek before they finally curled around it, cupping his face. “You know that’s not true, right?”
“I know you don’t- but uh……” Finn’s voice had gotten smaller now and he wasn’t meeting Poe’s eyes anymore. “She still got in my head.”
“You think Rey just wants to use you for your powers?” Poe asked.
“I didn’t at first- but then she brought up all that Jedi stuff, and she’s been mad at me all day after I told her I don’t want to become a Jedi.”
“You should talk to her, Finn.” Poe told him. “Maybe there’s just something you’re not seeing. Like before, when you thought I was mad at you but it wasn’t that.”
A grin made its way to Finn’s face and he looked back up at Poe with a playful glint in his eyes. Poe felt his heart do a backflip. “No, you were just jealous.”
“I wasn’t-” Poe protested instantly before holding a finger up at Finn. “You know what I’m not doing this again.” He said and moved back away from Finn to grab the first aid kit off the ground.
“Your arm.” Poe told him, as he pulled out the gauze and a bacta patch from the box.
“Oh yeah, my arm.” Finn repeated and turned to look at his now stitched up bicep. “Huh,” he said and Poe raised an eyebrow at him. “You did a pretty good job at that.”
Poe rolled his eyes at the other man, and placed the bacta patch around his arm. “Flattery will get you nowhere, Finny.”
After the patch was secured, Poe wrapped some gauze around Finn’s arm- which, due to its previously bloodied condition, Poe hadn’t been able to appreciate properly at all.
He finished bandaging Finn up and tied the gauze securely on the front before lightly patting at his arm. “There.” He said. “All good now.” And then, for whatever reason- probably something to do with Finn’s playful flirting, and his hand still holding on to Poe’s waist- Poe leaned down and placed a soft kiss on top of Finn’s bandaged arm.
Finn gave him a questioning look, tilting his head a little to the side. “Why d’you to that?” He asked, sounding more curious than anything.
Poe was probably blushing a violent pink now. “It’s, uh-….it’s just something you do when someone gets hurt. You kiss it okay.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Poe said and then started putting everything back in the first aid kit- blushing furiously as ever.
“Hey, Poe?” Finn called, and Poe looked up at him. Finn’s eyes met his- a little uncertain, and his teeth grazed along his lower lip anxiously- and kriff, Poe should probably not be staring at his lips right now.
But then when he looked up at Finn’s eyes they were glancing down at Poe’s lips and then Finn’s hand was on his face, holding it delicately and- oh, is he going to-
Finn leaned in and Poe’s breath got caught in his throat, and his eyes fluttered shut and then- and then
Finn’s lips pressed a soft, kiss against Poe’s cheek.
“For back when I healed you in the forest.” Finn mumbled out as he pulled away from Poe.
“Uh-huh.” Poe squeaked back in response- his voice high-pitched- and if he was blushing before, then it was nothing compared to what was currently happening on his face- because Poe was dying.
“Hey Poe! I showed Rey how to work the ship- she said she’ll take the first shift tonight,” BB’s voice said, accompanied by loud footsteps as she ran down the stairs.
Both of Finn’s hands instantly flew away from Poe’s body, and Poe hurried to put at least some distance between himself and Finn- but only managed to fall down on his ass.
“She said to tell you to get some sleep, she’ll wake you up in a-” BB paused as soon as she was inside the cabin, obviously realizing what was happening- both the men looked back at her with embarrassed, flushed faces.
She gave Poe a perfectly mortified look. “I- um, uh.”
“I’m gonna go talk to Rey.” Finn said his voice rushed as he slipped his ruined shirt back over his arm- and oh fuck Bea’s never going to let him live this down, and nothing even happened!
Finn was out of the cabin before Poe could even properly sit himself back on the cot.
BB had the biggest grin on her face when she turned back to look at Poe.
“Nothing happened.” Poe blurted out.
“He’s so getting the talk.”
“Bea, nothing happened!”
Notes:
what can i say I like my Rey to be a little stupid, an angry little goblin who doesn't know how to express her feelings, absolute shit at communication and socializing. I'm a feminist.
also I think the second half of the chapter from Poe's pov was cute as hell and I had a lot of fun writing it but also I know nothing about treating injuries so like it's probably inaccurate??? I googled it but most of the top sites were just telling me NOT to do stiches or shoulder relocations myself and instead go to a hospital and like obviously i know that I just wanna know how one would do it without a hospital so i can write about the little people in my head????
I could've probably put a bit more effort on the research but I took whatever I remembered out of supernatural (yes I used to watch supernatural do not bully me for it) and just RAN with itI also don't know anything about ships I used Pirates of the Caribbean and that one episode from The Dragon Prince (and as little Wikipedia as I could have) for reference <3
Anyways I hope you guys liked this chapter! It's been giving me a headache for days so if you did like it please leave a kudos or comment I would really appreciate it!
Chapter 13: Chapter 13
Notes:
i'm trying my best guys okay y'all are just going to have to put up with inconsistent uploads for a bit i'm so sorry pls don't hate me <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Finn rushed back up the stairs as fast as he could, managing not to trip on his way out of the cabin.
For back when I healed you in the forest? For back when I healed you in the forest?! Kriffing seriously?
What was he thinking?
No wait, he wasn’t thinking because how can someone think when they’re sitting that close to Poe Dameron, with the moonlight shining down on him like the only reason it bothered travelling all the way from the sky was just so it could highlight him and his stupid eyes and his stupid hair.
How could Finn be expected to do something as exhaustive as thinking when Poe Dameron had just taken care of his wounds. No one’s ever done that before for Finn.
Finn was used to acquiring bruises, and scratches, and cuts-but he’d never had someone tend to those wounds before. Poe had held his arm so carefully, obviously bothered by the fact that Finn had gotten hurt. And not just that- but also the things he’d said, the way he’d tried to help Finn out- the Force is a part of you just as your hand or your eyes are- the way his fingers had lingered just a little across Finn’s jawline.
And yes fine- also the way he was sitting so close to Finn settled in between his legs, biting his lip in concentration every once in a while, eyebrows drawn together in concern. Finn could still feel his lips tingling from when he’d pressed them against Poe’s slightly stubbled cheek. He remembered the way Poe had gasped just little- like he had stopped breathing for a second.
He couldn’t stop thinking about what it would have been like if he’d just given in- if he’d just leaned down a little further and captured Poe’s lips in an actual kiss. Would Poe have been surprised? Or would he have seen it coming and grinned against Finn’s lips? He’d probably have made some sound- a whimper, or a- stars would he have moaned?
Finn remembered the way Poe’s voice had gotten high after Finn had left him a simple, arguably innocent kiss on the cheek. Finn was willing to bet he could make Poe’s voice go higher.
He slumped against the side of the ship with a groan running his hands over his face. So much for not letting Poe Dameron kiss him. Finn knew if Poe Dameron wanted to kiss him- if he’d ask? Finn would say yes in a heartbeat- and he probably wouldn’t even regret it all that much.
“Finn?” He heard Rey call out to him and- oh yeah right, Rey.
He looked up to the upper deck and saw Rey sitting down on the floor, her back against the side of the helm.
He walked up to her, “Shouldn’t you be steering the wheel or something?” he asked, making sure to keep his voice warm and open. He smiled at her- a peace offering.
Rey seemed to hesitate a little but returned back a feeble smile. “The winds are sharp and our route is straight ahead- not much steering’s required.” She answered, anxiously watching Finn as he moved to sit by the bench build against the side of the ship.
He leaned back a little to look down at the vessel where it was leisurely cutting through the sea. He’d never seen the sea before, and he’d never been on a ship. There was a wet smell in the air- like water. Before now, Finn hadn’t known water had a smell- maybe it was the smell of the sea. It was a comforting scent.
“I don’t know a lot about ships.” He told Rey- and maybe they could just get back to how they were, without having to acknowledge their stupid fight.
He looked back at Rey, and she was chewing on her lower lip. “Listen Finn, I shouldn’t have-”
Finn cut her off, scared that bringing the argument back up will only result in more arguments. “No, it’s alright, you weren’t wrong I should’ve-”
“No, I was wrong! I had no right to speak to you that way-”
“It’s fine, it happens.”
Rey gave him an incredulous look. “No, it doesn’t just happen!”
“Rey really it’s fine-”
“Oh, my stars, will you just shut up and let me apologise to you!” Rey exclaimed at last. Finn blinked back at her, a little amused by the fact that this was her way of trying to apologize. Then again Finn had been interrupting her quite a bit.
“Go on.” He told her.
“I was a dick and I shouldn’t have talked to you that way- it wasn’t fair to you.” Rey said and her tone made it clear that she wasn’t to be contradicted or otherwise opposed. “I’m sorry and I hope you can forgive me.”
Finn rolled his eyes at her. “I forgive you Rey. I’m not- I’m not mad at you. Nothing you said was wrong-”
“It was wrong of me to say those things in the first place.” Rey said and Finn wondered if they were doomed to interrupt each other always.
He realized he didn’t mind it all that much- it was nice having someone be on the same frequency as him. Even if that someone barely lets him finish his sentences.
Finn gave Rey a contemplative stare before deciding that if they were going to talk about it they might as well talk about it all. “I’m- I just have some issues with the Force and the- and the fact that I-….”
“And the fact that you have it?” Rey offered. Finn looked up from where he was staring at his hands- and gave Rey a small smile. Yeah, it was nice to have someone be on the same frequency as him.
“Yeah that.”
Rey gave him a hesitant look before moving away from the helm and coming to sit nearby Finn. Her back against the side of the bench plank- she was no longer looking at Finn but she was closer to him now, the back of her arm brushing against Finn’s knee.
“I- I can understand that. I had a hard time dealing with it myself when I found out about it.”
Finn moved and folded his legs underneath him, his hands resting on his lap. He looked up at the stars in the sky- small and shiny.
“When did you find out about it?
Rey shrugged from below him, “A few months ago, 4 and a half- 5 maybe. I was really freaked out by it at first.”
“I’ve known that I have the Force my whole life. I’m still not okay with it.”
“That’s fine- everyone moves at their own pace.”
“Yeah? How many people do you know that have the Force?” He asked and looked down at her, an amused smile on his face.
Rey rolled her eyes at Finn, leaning her head back against his lap. “Just the one- but it’s what he would’ve said so I said it too.”
“Hmm,” Finn hummed back, the smile still on his face.
The two didn’t say anything for a minute, just sitting together as the night breeze brushed over them. Finn rubbed his eyes, stretching his neck a little to the side. He was tired- but the moon was full in the sky and he liked Rey’s company.
Rey spoke up after a while, her voice quiet. “I really am sorry for yelling at you.”
“It’s fine, Rey- don’t worry about it.” He said and gave her shoulder a soft squeeze before moving his hand back away. “I’m sorry for yelling at you too.”
Rey fiddled with her fingers some before looking up at Finn. “I don’t think you’re a coward.” She whispered out.
“And I don’t think you’re useless.” Finn simply replied.
“It’s just-” Rey started, but stopped herself, took a moment- dropping her head back down on Finn’s lap, turned to the side so she could keep looking at him. “Back in the forest with the Knights and everything- I was overwhelmed. I didn’t mean to snap at you I just did it because I was- because I was….” She trailed off in the end.
“Angry?” Finn asked.
“Scared.” She said at the same time. “And- and yeah I guess a little angry too- actually a lot angry,” and she laughed at that, shaking her head a little, “but- uh, mostly scared.”
Finn nodded. “I get that. The Knights of Ren can be scary- especially Vinna, it’s like her thing.”
“I wasn’t scared of the Knights, you dickhead!” Rey shot back, obviously offended at the prospect of her being scared of the Knights. She smacked Finn on the leg.
“Hey!” He protested but Rey just ignored it.
“I was scared that something would happen to you.” She said simply.
Finn looked down at her, his brows raised in realization. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Finn stayed silent not really knowing what to say.
Rey pointed at his arm- the one with the torn, bloodied sleeve and bandaged bicep. “That looks a bit better than before.”
“Yeah- um Poe had to stitch it up but it should be back to normal in a day or two.”
“And the one on your face?”
He touched the gauze on his cheek. “That should heal quicker than the arm.”
“Hmmm,” Rey said in terms of acknowledgement.
“So, Vinna huh?” She asked.
Finn gave her a quizzical look. “What about her?”
Rey shrugged, going for nonchalant but just managing to miss it. “Nothing, just- you two seemed to be…..acquainted.”
“Yeah I mean, she was around the tower sometimes growing up. I used to train with her, and…..and heal her.” He replied back- a little hesitant, not really liking where this was going.
“Was she your friend?”
Finn paused and narrowed his eyes at Rey. “Not really.” He answered back, still not knowing why Rey had the sudden interest in the topic. “But- uh I don’t know, she knew me and I knew her.”
“Hmmm.”
He squinted at her, but she still kept playing nonchalant and failing.
“Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering I guess.”
“Wondering about what?”
Rey gave him a look, a grin plastered on her face. “Stars lay off of me, will ya? I’m just curious is all.”
“Yeah right, curious.”
Rey nodded, the smile still on her face before turning back to look up at the stars. Finn stared at her another moment before doing the same himself.
A silent beat passed- Finn almost thought that was the end of that conversation.
“So, is she like an ex or something?”
“Now, why would you even ask that?” He said, looking back down at her, and she was already looking at him the stupid grin still on her face, one of her hands folded behind her head, also on Finn’s lap.
She shrugged. “I don’t know you guys had a vibe.”
“A vibe?” Finn repeated, unimpressed.
“A vibe,” Rey confirmed. “And you still haven’t answered my question.”
Finn rolled his eyes at her, jerking his leg to bounce Rey’s head against his knee purposefully. “No, she’s not my ex- for that she would have to ever have been my girlfriend and that’s not allowed in the Order.”
“No girlfriends?” She asked.
“No relationships.” He told her. “All your loyalty and devotion belong to the First Order.” He added, obviously quoting the words from when he’d had them said to him more times than he cared to keep track of.
“Huh,” Rey said, though the slight quirk of her lips told Finn that she wasn’t done with the topic just yet.
Predictably she looked back up at Finn and said, “But you guys still had a vibe, right?”
Finn didn’t really know if he would call what Vinna and him had, a vibe. Mostly because he didn’t think anything should be called a vibe, but also because what he and Vinna had was complicated. Relationships weren’t allowed in the Order- and they never had a relationship. Finn never wanted a relationship with Vinna. They were simply just a cure for each other’s loneliness- nothing more, nothing less. That’s what Vinna used to say anyway.
Finn gave Rey a look, mirroring her smile. “What about you? You had a vibe with someone back in Jakku or your Jedi island?” He asked, very obviously changing the subject.
“The Jedi Island is no place to meet attractive youths, Finn.” Rey scoffed back in reply. “The population consists of me and one very old, cryptic hermit.”
“Jakku then? Any cute boyfriends?” Finn asked.
“No.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Cute girlfriend?”
Rey sighed, leaning back even more against the wooden plank. “None of those either I’m afraid.”
She didn’t look at him when she said the next part, her voice obviously nervous. “I didn’t- I didn’t really have a lot of friends back in Jakku, I wasn’t really- I didn’t exactly know anyone or talked to anyone outside of like selling them stuff and………yeah- I’d been alone ever since I was a kid you know? I just kinda……stayed alone.”
Finn thought about that. He really thought about that.
He’d grown up in a tower and he’d always felt alone his whole life- alone and like no one understood him, like he was an outsider looking in. But was he truly ever alone in the tower? He’d managed to find moments of company, even in that tower, hadn’t he? With Vinna and Zee-nineteen- and Slip. He thought about what it would have been like if he’d actually never had anyone to talk to.
“That sounds……lonely.” He said and then immediately felt like an absolute ass. Yeah, no shit it would be lonely to be alone.
But Rey just laughed and nodded at him. “It was very lonely.”
“And uh-,” She continued. “Luke’s great and everything but- he’s my master you know, he’s not my friend. Poe and BB are great too but-……..”
“But?” Finn prompted.
Rey looked up at him, vulnerable. “But they’re not you. I like talking to you, Finn and I like being your friend.”
Friendship. That’s probably what being on that same frequency was called.
“I like being your friend too.” He told her.
“Then why are you so insistent upon leaving for an Outer Kingdom?”
Finn sighed, leaning back against the side of the ship himself. “It’s the farthest place from the First Order that I can think of.”
“You know if the Order’s as hellbent on chasing you down as they seem to be- then you’ll have to fight them eventually.”
It’s the same thing Poe had said.
“You can’t keep running away forever.” She said, not unkindly- just stating a fact.
“I can try.” He replied back, because he’s never really had much of a choice in what happened to him.
He didn’t choose to have the ability to heal, he didn’t choose to have his family killed and he didn’t choose to be taken by the Order. He never chose to help the Order- to heal the people he’d healed.
He can’t help but think about him- about Slip. About how everytime he would stand guard outside Finn’s room- it would be with his body littered with bruises. Bruises Finn could never heal- because he wasn’t allowed to, because in the end, if he did it would only bring worse things for Slip. So, Finn never healed Slip, even as he would sometimes press frantic kisses to the bruises on his chest and arms and stomach.
Slip and him had a- a vibe. A very unofficial, no strings attached, fumbling quietly in the dark- when they were alone in the tower just the two of them- vibe. Because no one cared what Finn and Vinna did as long as it wasn’t a relationship- but Slip was a stormtrooper.
Finn never wanted a relationship with Vinna- he didn’t know if he could say the same thing about Slip. Maybe they could’ve been something more, if things were different. If Slip wasn’t a trooper and if Finn wasn’t kept locked away in a tower.
He thought about how nice it felt to heal Poe- the first person he had ever healed because he had wanted to.
He looked at Rey and saw the little bruise on the top of her cheek- achingly purple against her pale skin. He knew she must have a dozen more bruises on her back from when she was slammed around on the ground. He knew she hadn’t properly taken care of the wound on her ankle- he had seen the simple bandage she had tied around it.
He’s never really had a choice before. And now he had to choose between running away or fighting. He didn’t want his first ever real choice to be choosing to fight.
“Hey, Rey?” He said after a long stretch of contemplative silence had passed between them.
“Yeah?”
“Gimme your hand.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
And she did. She placed her hand on top of Finn’s outstretched left one. Finn closed his hand around her matching cold one.
Rey was a gentle blue in the Force, and a little green too. But not teal- it was like she was both blue and green somehow. She was powerful, but Finn already knew that- had known it since the day he met her.
Rey’s wounds and bruises weren’t all that bad- but Finn was already tired as it was. He had to push himself a little, concentrating more- but healing Rey was also easier than healing anyone else had ever been. Her energy, her presence whatever you would like to call it- it flowed easily with Finn’s, accepted his help more willingly, combining with him almost.
He felt Rey’s hand tighten around his.
Her wounds were healed, and Finn was exhausted- more so by the tiring day then the healing.
“I think I’m gonna sleep now.” He murmured, eyes still closed and dropped his hold on Rey’s hand but her fingers remained curled around his.
Notes:
i wish i was one of those cool authors that write like funny shit in the notes the kind that get posted on dear-ao3 on tumblr or something but alas
anyways finn and rey are platonic soulmates and should've had more interactions in canon
i hope you guys like this chapter, please leave a kudos or a comment if you did I'd really appreciate it!
Chapter 14: Chapter 14
Notes:
me being on time and posting on a tuesday? more likely than you think.
i'm trying to fix my fucked up uploading schedule and dare i say i'm starting to make progressAnyways here's the new chapter- I call these few chapters the 'conversation at sea' chapters because that's all that's going to happen for like at least another half of a chapter. The fun out-on-the-town montage is coming but these conversations are important to have and D'Qar is two whole days away sorry
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Finn and Rey were sitting on the ship floor- lower deck, the late afternoon sun hanging low in the sky, peeking out from behind the clouds every once in a while.
“This is stupid.” Finn said with a pointed exhale, and Rey’s eyes fluttered open- her concentration easily broken as always.
Finn’s eyes were still closed, his hands folded on his lap, back straight- but there was a line between his brows.
A big, overly ripe Jogun fruit was sitting in front of them- yet to be moved.
They were supposed to be meditating, trying to get Finn to tune in enough with the Force so that he could float the fruit up in the air. It had been Finn’s idea- something that surprised Rey, but she had eagerly agreed to help him out.
“You’re the one who wanted to give it a try.” Rey reminded him- only a little annoyed that Finn’s posture was better than hers.
“Give what a try?” Poe asked from behind them, his hand clasping Finn’s shoulder- and Finn yelped out in surprise, startling a little, having not expected Poe to show up out of nowhere and-
And the Jogan fruit rolled down the deck just a smidge. Rey somehow managed to catch the small movement, her eyebrows jumping up in surprise and she looked up from the fruit at the two men.
Poe was sitting down beside Finn now, his arm thrown around the other man’s shoulder heavily leaning against him. Finn’s eyes- now open- were looking at Poe, a fond smile on his face.
Rey tilted her head to the side glancing back and forth between them and the fruit.
“What are you guys doing?” Poe asked, his trademark grin on his face as he tucked himself to Finn’s side.
“Rey’s helping me figure out the Force.” Finn told him.
Poe gave him a surprised look. “You’re trying to figure out the Force?”
Their faces were terribly close to one another, but neither of them seemed to mind. Rey quirked an eyebrow, looking down to where Poe’s hand was touching Finn.
“I- uh gave it a bit of thought, after- uh after our conversation last night.” Finn said, unusually shy. “Figured it might be useful you know? If I could work out how to move things with my mind.”
A bright smile made its way to Poe’s face- his eyes still on Finn, hand still touching his shoulder.
Poe had touched Finn when the fruit had moved. Rey thought back to the cave- Finn had told her about it- he hadn’t been much specific but knowing the two men and the easy affection between them, it wouldn’t be completely off-base to assume they were probably touching back then as well.
Finn had to be touching people with his left hand to heal them- touch was an important element of how Finn interacted with the Force, so maybe-
“What conversation?” BB asked, abruptly plopping herself down between Poe and Rey- light on her feet just like her brother. “The one you guys had last night? In the cabin? That conversation?”
Poe turned to glare at the kid, and she just wiggled her eyebrows cheekily at him. Rey distinctly felt like she was on the outside of a joke.
“I thought I left you at the helm to look over the wheel?” Poe asked, swiftly ignoring her previous question.
“Oh yes because there are so many things to steer away from in this big empty sea on this beautiful day with clear skies.” BB retorted back with a roll of her eyes. She slumped back, folding her legs underneath herself. “This looks like more fun. What are you guys doing?”
“Finn’s trying to learn how to move stuff using the Force.” Rey said, and BB nodded sagely.
“How’s that working out for you, Force-guy?”
“I don’t think it could be going any worse so.”
“Don’t say that, you’re doing good.” Rey assured him and Finn just gave her an unimpressed look.
“The whole point is to make the stupid fruit move and it’s still very much unmoved, Rey.”
On the contrary, Rey thought to herself.
“Are we interrupting, should BB and I go-” Poe started saying.
“No!” Rey said cutting in sharply and Poe gave her a weird look. “I mean uh- we’ll try a different approach.” She said, trying to sound like she actually knew what she was talking about.
“No more meditating?” Finn asked.
“We’ll still meditate,” Rey said, and Finn made a face- Poe looked at him with amusement. “We’ll hold hands this time.”
“Romantic.” Poe commented and Rey rolled her eyes at him.
“Shut up and hold Finn’s hand.”
“Wait, I have to meditate too?”
“Yes, you do,” she said before turning to look at BB, “you wanna join us, kid?”
“Hells yeah!” She said and eagerly took her brother’s hand.
Poe audibly made a disgruntled sound but sat up straighter as well, retreating his hand from around Finn’s shoulder and holding it out for him. Finn took Poe’s hand before holding his other one out to Rey.
Rey looked down at Finn’s hand- his left one. “Er,” she said. “Poe, switch places with me.”
“You’re being weird, Rey.” Finn told her.
“I’m the Jedi here, my young padawan, what I say goes.” She replied back, getting up from the floor and motioning for Poe to do the same.
“Do I need to switch places with someone too?” BB asked, once they had settled back down- Finn’s left hand in Poe’s.
“No, BB you’re perfect.”
“What if I wanna hold Finn’s hand?” She asked.
“Hold mine instead- I’m cooler than him, he’s not even a Jedi.” Rey told her, taking the kid’s hand in hers.
“You make a compelling argument.” BB replied back, reaching her other hand out for her brother.
“Rude.” Finn said.
“Alright, hush now- everyone close your eyes.” Rey said trying to imitate Luke best as she could.
Finn’s hand tightened around hers. “Take a deep breath.” She instructed. “Try and clear your mind- concentrate.”
“What are we concentrating on?” Poe asked, and Rey opened her eyes to give him a look- but of course his were still closed so he couldn’t see it.
“Whatever you want to concentrate on.” Rey answered back, deciding to opt out of the meditation herself. She was already bad at it as it was without trying to guide three people through it as well. She could do her meditation some other time.
Besides she needed to watch the Jogan Fruit to see if it moves.
It didn’t.
She glanced back at Finn’s hand- the one holding Poe’s.
“Finn what are you thinking about?” She asked, looking up at his face. The line between his brows was back.
“Uh- nothing?” Finn said, before taking a pause. “The- uh the Jogan Fruit on the floor. And uh- and you. And Poe.” He added, and took another pause. “BB. The ship. And the sea. The wind and how it’s hitting the sails.” He kept listing off.
“That’s a whole lotta nothing dude.” BB commented.
“Now I’m thinking about dropping BB down the ship and into the water.”
“Fuck you.”
“Play nice, guys.” Poe told them.
“Urgh, it’s no use, Rey- it’s not working!” Finn said in a frustrated groan, opening his eyes back up and dropping Rey’s hand.
Poe and BB decided to open their eyes back up as well- the meditation circle very well broken.
“Patience, Finn- these things take time.” Rey told him and Poe let out a snort from the other side.
“You sound just like a cryptic Jedi.”
“You’re not helping, Poe.”
“And how exactly am I supposed to be helping right now, Rey?” Poe shot back.
Rey gave him a contemplative look and wondered how she could ask Poe to sit on Finn’s lap to test out her theory without making it sound weird.
“Do you think maybe it has something to do with your hand?” BB piped up, before Rey could say something stupid.
“My hand?” Finn asked.
“Yeah like how you can only heal people with your left hand? Maybe you can only use the Force with your left hand?”
“That’s not how the Force works.” Rey said.
“So why can he only do it with his left hand?” BB asked, folding her arms to her chest. She turned to address Finn. “Did the Order ever tell you why?”
Finn pulled a face obviously not looking forward to talking about the Order. Poe must have noticed the look on his face as well because he spoke up before Finn could. “You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s fine I um-” Finn said, slouching back a little, relaxing his shoulders. “Snoke didn’t really care about how my whole healing thing worked as long as it was working. He just thought the left-hand thing was a defect, you know?”
“It’s not a defect.” Rey told him at once.
“No?” Finn asked. “Do you have any guesses?”
“Well it’s- it’s probably a coping mechanism.”
Finn pulled a confused face at her. Rey hesitated a little- she didn’t really want to say the wrong thing but she also didn’t want Finn to think that the way he used the Force was in any way defective.
“I mean, you had a traumatic upbringing, right?”
“That’s one word for it.” Finn said with a laugh- which was comforting, because it meant he probably wasn’t much uncomfortable talking about this.
Rey continued. “Yes, well and your relationship with the Force isn’t exactly the most- er…..”
“Healthiest?” Finn offered and Rey nodded at him.
“So you’re saying because of Finn’s issues with the Force- he’s what- learned to alienate it?” Poe asked.
“Yes that- but he also suppressed it.” She said before turning to look back at Finn. “You only really had to heal people to survive in there right? That’s what they needed you to do- it was absolutely crucial to your survival.”
“Yeah- I…I guess so.” Finn replied back, his voice a little frail.
“So maybe you isolated yourself from the Force as much as you could, and therefore it only manifested in the way you would let it. Force Healing- through your hand.”
“How’d you do it the first time around?” BB asked. “Moved something- it happened at that cave right? With Poe?”
Rey turned to look at the kid. That- that was a good question actually. Retracing Finn’s steps could help them figure out how exactly the Force worked for him.
“Yeah, how’d you do it in the cave?” Rey asked, repeating BB’s question.
“I- uh I don’t know.” Finn shrugged. “I basically did the same thing- eyes closed trying to concentrate.”
“What if it’s a life-threatening situation only thing?” BB asked, and Finn raised his brows at her.
“What do you mean?”
“You know like hysterical strength, but with the Force.”
“So I can only use it to move stuff when I’m about to die?” Finn deadpanned.
“I don’t think that’s it.” Rey said, resting a reassuring hand over Finn’s. “The Force is not a muscle that comes and goes- if it were then everyone could use it.”
“I thought only people with the Force can use it?” Poe asked.
“The Force resides in everyone, Poe.”
“It does?” BB asked.
Rey nodded back in reply.
“Then how come only some people are Force-sensitive?”
Rey rubbed at the back of her neck in a nervous tic at the kid’s question. This was all very difficult to explain- she barely understood it herself- and she had Luke to explain it all to her who was much, much more eloquent and wiser than her.
BB, Poe and even Finn continued to look at her with expectant expressions on their faces.
“It’s like-” She started, and cringed at the childish tone of her voice. “Do you guys know about Kyber Crystals?”
“They’re power sources, right?” Finn asked. “It’s what’s inside Lightsabers?”
“Right.” Rey said, nodding at him. “So, the Force is in every living being- but not every living being can do what a Kyber can.”
“So you guys are like Kyber?” BB asked, confused.
“In a way.” Rey said, before backtracking. “I mean, kind of.” She really wasn’t the best person to be doing this. “The Kyber crystals are attuned to the Force- they have a connection with it. That’s really all being Force-sensitive means. Having a connection with the Force, having the ability to channel it through you.”
“And for you to channel through it.” Finn said, his voice laced with hesitancy but Rey nodded eagerly at him.
“Yes, exactly!”
“I don’t know guys- I’m stumped none of this makes any sense to me.” BB said from beside Rey, leaning back on her arms.
“Maybe that’s because we don’t have the Force, Bea.” Poe pointed out.
“But she just said everyone has the Fo-”
“We’re getting side-tracked.” Rey said, interrupting the kid- who pouted at her in return. “We need to figure out how Finn’s connection to the Force works.”
“How do you do it?” Finn asked, his head turned to look at her better. “Move stuff with the Force- how does it work for you?”
Rey shrugged, looking back down at the Jogan Fruit, returning some of the attention back at it. She nudged it around on the floor with the Force before lifting it up and letting it levitate in the air for a bit.
“Cool.” BB sighed, eyes wide.
“I don’t know- I just, I just do it?” Rey said, letting the fruit drop back down on the floor.
“Excellent advice, Rey.” Poe said with a roll of his eyes and Rey fixed him with a stare.
“Bite me.”
Poe pointedly returned back her stare for a second or two, before turning to look at Finn. “At the cave when I first asked you to move a rock,” he started, and it almost sounded like he had some real advice. Rey listened in curiously.
Finn turned to look at Poe as well, and even though all four of them were sitting close in a circle- theirs were the only shoulders that were touching.
“You said there were too many rocks- that it was too much.” Poe said, his voice soft and clear- not teasing like it was when he talked to Rey. “And now when Rey asked you what you were thinking about- you basically said you were thinking about almost every single think you could think about.”
“I was thinking about the sun too and how the clouds were nice because they blocked some of the sun out.” Finn said and Poe cracked a small, private smile.
Huh.
“Exactly.” Poe said. “You’re always thinking too much and….and if the Force lets you feel things- then you’re always feeling too much as well.” His voice had gotten smaller now. “In the cave I- uh, I asked you to focus on just one thing.” His eyes flitted to Rey for just a second, and he gave her a look- one that said he was onto her.
Whatever could that mean? Rey thought to herself with a smile.
“Do that again, okay?” Poe said, his attention back at Finn, and Rey watched Poe take Finn’s left hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Just focus on the one thing.” He said and the implication of what that one thing was remained hanging in the air.
“O-okay.” Finn managed to reply back, his voice small.
He took hold of Rey’s hand with his other, and Poe reached out for BB as well. They closed their eyes- Rey kept hers on the fruit.
A few minutes passed in silence, nothing was happening.
Rey saw Poe discreetly move closer to Finn- pressing into his side.
Another moment passed- then another.
Finn’s brows were pinched now. Rey felt a swift change in the air- and the Jogan fruit stirred. It rolled onto the side, more than it had before, coming all the way to hit Rey on the calf.
“Finn you did it!” Rey exclaimed with an unbelievable laugh looking back up at him and-
Blood was rushing down his nose, and he almost collapsed onto Rey.
“Finn!” Poe called out, his hands going around to hold the other man up.
“What’s happening-” BB asked, opening her eyes up as well. “Oh, what the actual fuck.” She said, taking a single look at Finn’s bloodied face and then promptly fainted down on the ship floor.
“BB!”
“She’ll be fine- she’ll wake up in a minute.” Poe told Rey, looking up over his shoulder at his sister- most of his attention still at Finn. He was trying to tip Finn’s head back to stop the nosebleed.
“Head hur’ss.” Finn slurred out.
“Why didn’t someone tell me that she’s scared of blood?” Rey asked, her voice high pitched as she tried to get the kid to wake up.
“She’s fine with blood- just doesn’t like seeing it on people she cares about.” Poe told her, still much too nonchalant about his sister fainting.
“Tha’s so cute.” Finn said, in his half-delusional voice- obviously on his way to fainting as well.
Notes:
was this chapter setting up something???? something that will be happening in the future chapters??? idk dude you tell me
I hope you guys liked this chapter i had a lot of fun writing it because i usually don't let myself write chapters focusing around so much dialogue but it seemed fitting here and i think it worked pretty well too! Let me know what you thought about it!!! And please leave a kudos or a comment if you feel like it, I would really appreciate that <3
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