Hello! Long time no see. *laughs nervously* So The Force Awakens is still in control of my life, and once I checked back on this site (since I'm mainly on AO3 often now) I found a disturbing lack of Finnrey fics. So here's an AU I'm writing on AO3 to add to the small Finnrey community on here. Hopefully more Finnrey fics will be written soon! They're amazing and I'm surprised to not find more of them on here.
Disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing.
Chapter 1:
Under the cover of darkness, a small boat was lowered into the ocean next to the hulking pirate ship. Night was the only time they could even think about successfully getting away with plundering now. The First Order was far too easily recognized, with it's black painted wood and red sails.
They always did have a flare for dramatic, thought Finn as him and the others on the boat began to row towards their destination. The ship's captains, Brendol Hux and Kylo Ren, did have a thing for dramatic, especially the latter—or so he'd heard. He'd never met them, and planned on keeping it that way.
He was just staying a crewmate as long as it took for him to save a decent amount up to resume his search for his family. An orphan since birth, the man was finally deciding to see if he could track down any relatives. Thus how he found himself becoming one of pirates aboard the infamous First Order.
Tonight was his first time he'd been part of a raid party. Finn was both excited and apprehensive.
One of the other crewmembers held up a hand, signaling everyone to be quiet—they were closing on their target. Silently, quickly, another one stood up and tossed a hook attached to a rope on the ships deck. Giving it a tug, the fellow pirate nodded—it was stable.
Finn was the last one off their tiny boat, having been given the task of tying the rope to the boat so it wouldn't float away.
He'd just climbed aboard when all hell broke loose.
The calm night was suddenly pierced with a cacophony of shouts, screams, and fighting. Finn just stared at the sight before him. His fellow crewmates had their swords drawn, and were attacking the ship's passengers. Not just those that were armed—the ones that weren't as well.
He watched with horror as one of them viciously slashed at a young boy no older than fourteen whom was trying to flee. Luckily for him, the blow only grazed him. But it was enough to knock him off his feet.
Taking one look at the boy's terrified face, Finn made his decision. Drawing his own sword, he extended a hand towards the boy. For a few heartbeats, the boy just stared fearfully at him until comprehension dawned. "I'll get you out of here," he promised, pushing the boy behind him to shield him from view.
Unfortunately, one of his (now former, he'd decided) crewmates saw. "Traitor!" The man snarled, beginning to advance on the two.
"Quickly," Finn hissed at the boy, practically shoving the boy off the deck and onto the rope that would lead to the boat. To safety. "I'll be fine," he assured him when the child hesitated.
Finn had barely just turned around when he was blocking a blow from the man who'd called him "traitor". The two began fighting in earnest, with Finn on the defensive. His only thought was to give the boy enough time to escape.
Unfortunately, clouds had moved in earlier in the night and were now beginning to drop their rain, making the deck slippery. Something that the man wasted no time using against Finn.
Finn had only a heartbeat to realize what was happening before it did. His opponent had driven him back against an opening in the ship's railing—nothing to stop him from falling into the sea. And that's exactly what Finn found happening after a strong hit from the pirate.
Rey inspected the chest she'd found in the wreck, taking one item out after another. So far this was proving to be a prime scavenging site. The past few days, she'd found enough precious stones and jewelry for Unkar to extend her living here by a good couple moon cycles.
That was one of things about living in King Unkar's kingdom—you either brought him "gifts" you'd found or you moved on to find another kingdom somewhere. Rey had no choice but to bring the slimy octopus "gifts" if she wanted to avoid becoming shark-feed. All she'd ever known was life in Unkar's kingdom; for all she knew, Unkar was the only mer-people friendly king in the seas.
But things weren't quite so desperate. She knew her parents were coming back for her; one day. She just had to bare it until they did.
Loading up her bounty in the makeshift carrier she'd fastened out of seaweed on her waist, the mermaid began swimming out of the sunken ship and towards the cave Unkar resided in. It, of course, was the biggest cave in the kingdom, and of an ideal enough depth to avoid detection from anyone or anything that might seek him harm (though Rey doubted even sharks would want to get near the slimy bastard).
"Rey!" The octopus greeted, his voice conveying a tone that was meant to be friendly. But she knew it was deceiving. "I wondered if I would see you today."
"I've brought you some more jewels," she said, slinging off her bag and dumping the contents on the cave's floor. Unkar's eye lit up with greed, and all of his tentacles shot forward to grab the pieces and inspect them.
"Hmm…another decent bounty," he murmured. "Though not quite as impressive as your last one."
Rey was unable to stop her mouth from falling open. "There's three pearls in it this time!" She exclaimed, her tail lashing in agitation.
"Well, I'm not as in the mood for pearls as I was," Unkar told her. If octopuses could shrug, she knew he would have done just that. "Let's see…I think this is sufficient enough to grant you another quarter of a moon cycle of stay."
Resentment simmered inside her, but she knew arguing would do no good. So the mermaid merely turned and swum away, back to the small cave she called home.
There wasn't much in it—just things she'd salvaged that she hadn't turned over to Unkar. Human things, mainly—a small net she could hold to catch fish in, something that she could run though her hair if she didn't insist on keeping it in three knots above her head. To the average person, they would be nothing, but to her they were treasure of sorts.
She was about to set out to find dinner when she sensed a change in the sea. A storm was brewing. Excited, dinner disappeared from Rey's mind as she shot towards the surface as fast as her tail could carry her. Storms were her favorite, as she could safely go to the surface without worry of being seen.
Breaking the surface, Rey blinked to let her eyes adjust before she surveyed the scene before her. It didn't take her long to realize she was witnessing a pirate plundering. Anger burned deep inside her. Piracy was one of the less savory aspects of human-life. In fact, if it hadn't been for one particular human, Rey probably would have felt general disgust towards them in general for the sole act she was witnessing. But the human had managed to change her mind and give humans the benefit of doubt. Especially the woman and young ones.
"Traitor!" A voice yelled, loud enough for even Rey to hear. Curiosity got the best of the dark haired mermaid, and she found herself swimming slightly closer. She saw a man dressed like the rest of the pirates…only he wasn't taking part in the plundering and murder. No, he was practically shoving a young human down a rope into a boat. Saving him, she realized.
As she watched, a man advanced on the one who was trying to save the boy. The two were soon locked in combat. Caught up in the scene before her, Rey hardly noticed the waves getting rougher around her or the rain that began pelting her. But she did notice when the man fell from the ship's deck with a powerful thrust from his opponent.
The human hit the water with a splash, and Rey realized what the other pirates were doing. Even though it was just starting, she knew this storm would be a bad one—the kind humans usually don't survive. They were leaving him to drown, or be eaten by sharks.
Without really thinking, she ducked back under the waves, swimming towards the human. He was afloat, but the waves were getting steadily rougher. Soon he wouldn't be able to stay above water.
Suddenly, the man ducked under water for what seemed to be no reason. Rey glanced up, able to barely make out the form of men on the deck above. Looking for him.
She watched as the human stayed under water for as long as air would allow him. He was beginning to swim upwards when a rather giant wave rolled into him, forcing him back under water.
Rey took that as her cue to do something. The sea buffeted her a bit, but she still managed to grab a hold of the man and pull him back to the surface. The rain was coming down in earnest now, and lightning flickered on the horizon.
The human sputtered and coughed as he expelled the water from his lungs and sucked in air. The moment he became aware of Rey's arms around him, he began thrashing around in an attempt to get away.
"I'm trying to save your life!" She hissed at him as she did her best to swim away from the ship, the human in tow. The man's struggles stopped, and she found him trying to peer up at her. Thankfully, the lightning was still off in the distance—not enough to truly give much of her away to him.
"Who—?" The human began over the thunder, but she shushed him. She wasn't about to let the pirates find him and ruin her rescue attempt.
Half-dragging the human with her, Rey swam as fast as she could away from the ships.
A wave caught the two of them off guard and hit them with enough force to rip the human out of her arms. Diving, she quickly managed to spot him and once again dragged him to the surface. Only this time, he was motionless.
Rey may not know that much about humans, but she knew that was most certainly not a good thing. Not sure what else to do, she shook him, hoping to get a type of response. Eventually, she did. Once more he coughed water up—except he ended up sagging against her. Rey knew that was her cue to get him to the nearest shore or bit of land as fast as possible. She knew sagging was a sign of waning strength, something that usually ended up fatal in these conditions.
Now truly dragging the human with her, she ran over what she knew about the area in and around Unkar's kingdom. There was a shore a few miles north of here…she didn't know if it was an inhabited one but from its size there was a fair chance it was. The human would definitely be safe there, regardless. At least for a bit.
Making sure she had a tight grip on the human, Rey began swimming furiously in the direction of the shore.
Rey didn't remember much about the swim, other than at some point she became the only thing supporting the human's weight. By the sound of it he had…fallen asleep. Or passed out. She wasn't quite sure which.
The storm had faded into nothing more than a faint shower of rain, with the moon beginning to peek through the clouds in spots. Rey dragged the human onto shore as far as she dared.
She sat in the shallow water for a few moments just staring at the human. Normally she wasn't the one to go out of her way to save men (she'd seen enough unsavory acts from them to last many lifetimes)- but something in the man's actions made her feel like he could be another example for her of some goodness in men.
Shaking herself out of it, she silently wished the human well and began the fairly long swim back to her small cave in Unkar's kingdom. She would be bone tired scavenging tomorrow, but a part of her felt like it was worth it.
