Summary: He is a Traitor 'Denotes Stormtrooper language(Body movements assigned to words)'
Also sas2000as has decided to translate this fic into Russian if any of you prefer that, they were granted permission to do so. Thank you. It's at / readfic / 7369570 at ficbook.
(Just remove the spaces)
They whisper, they hush one another when they speak of him, the one that ran.
They call him Traitor, he has no name but that anymore. Once he was one of them, FN 2187, but now he is not, he abandoned them, ran like a coward and became what they fight against.
Stormtroopers stand side by side from the day they enter their ranks until the day the fall, FN 2187 broke their ranks, left a space, a hole, a weakness that the Rebels can exploit.
FN 2187 is not a Stormtrooper anymore, he is a traitor, worse that a rebel, and that is all they ever call him after his defection.
Among Stormtroopers he is only known as Traitor.
Finn knows what he is, what the Stormtroopers call him, he has not made it known to any one at the rebellion, not yet, Stormtroopers have their own language after all, a left over that remained from childhood, something that they kept secret from the higher ups.
Finn hears the whispers through the comms that Poe lets him listen in on with him. He hears the muttering from the nearby 'Troopers when he goes with Rey on a mission for Luke.
'Traitor was seen on a base.' The new 'Troopers whisper to their superiors, Finn can hear their fear.
'Traitor fought Kylo Ren and lived.' The superiors warn the young ones, 'Traitor is dangerous and should be killed as soon as you see him.'
Finn listens to the 'Trooper talk and mentions nothing about it, the Rebellion does not know it is a language, they just thing the 'Troopers are sighing and making normal movements.
Finn forgets that normal people are not regulated as they had been, Stormtroopers were not to make unnecessary movements, they must be still and efficient. Finn forgets sometimes and Poe has shaken him awake more than once because Poe sears that Finn stopped breathing.
Poe has taken to wrapping his hand around Finn's wrist, fingers pressed upon his pulse, it helps Poe sleep to know that Finn is fine even when he is so still in sleep and Finn, Finn has no problem with it after he got used to the pressure of Poe's grip on his body as he slept. Stormtroopers are not to have skin to skin contact.
It has been a year since Finn's battle with Ren, they have made little progress in the fight and Finn can see the weight of defeat beginning to dishearten his new friends.
He cannot stay here, not now, he packs a bag and knows where he needs to go, he knows what he must do.
He does not speak to Poe about where he must go. He leaves a message for Rey that he has to go someplace and he leaves in the dead of night in a stolen X-Wing and vanishes.
'I am Traitor.' He speaks in the silent language that every Stormtrooper learns in this place.
The children are you, not much older than four or five, there are other bases on this planet, but this one Finn remembers being the most lax on everything, four and five is the age where the First Order begins to crush the personality from the children they steal.
The adults have been stunned and hidden away in their rooms bottles of alcohol empty around them, Finn planted them.
'I am Traitor and you do not have to kill for these people.' Finn tells them and he goes on, he reminds them of mothers and fathers and families they were stolen from, some of them, the ones taken older remember vaguely where they came from, it is dangerous to wipe minds younger than twelve and until then the children taken at two or three keep their memories of home and love and safety.
Finn leaves them hours later, the seeds of doubt in their minds and he heads over to the Twelve year old sector, today, as best he remembers is a Thursday, the twelve year olds have their minds wiped every Friday until they are thirteen when they are assigned to their first ship.
Finn cannot stun the adults here, they are too attentive, children try to keep their memories for as long as they can however they can.
Finn walks through the front doors and stares around and kills the leaders without hesitation and faces the assembled children that now have no clue what to do.
'I am Traitor.' Finn whispers, movements slow, almost soft in a way.
'We should kill you.' An older boy says, in the Stormtrooper's silent way.
'But you have no way to.' Finn returns.
There was silence.
'And you do not wish to.' Finn continues, 'You do not have to kill for them, I chose not to, that is why they call me Traitor.'
The children looked from him to one another and Finn closed his eyes as they began to speak with one another.
And hand on his arm made him open his eyes and he looked into the blue eyes of a young girl.
'We will help you, Traitor, but we cannot all vanish, they would discover what you have done.' She told him, 'And then we will all be decommissioned.'
Finn nodded, 'They bring children in as they become twelve, some of you will move on in that time, turn thirteen, get your ship, some of you will still be here, you will tell them what I will tell you.'
She nodded, they all nodded, and Finn marked several of the children as failures, they would take on the dress and manors of the Officers for when they were checked in on but they would help the children learn better, to not follow blindly, to choose for themselves, to decide not to kill for the First Order.
And Finn sent thirteen year olds to their ships and sent the into the First Order and hoped that they would be able to plant the seeds of doubt.
Finn wondered as he watched them climb into their transports, if they would survive, if they would know how much they would be helping.
He had learned many names listening to the Rebels talk about their families, the ones they lost and were fighting for and to protect and he offered the names to the children and as he sent the seven thirteen year olds into the cruel clutches of the First Order Finn memorized their names they had chosen, Cara, Toren, Samuel, Cadence, Darra, Pina, Solvis, he repeated these names to himself and promised that one day they would be remembered for who they had chosen to be rather than the people that they had been forced to be.
'I have to leave now.' Finn told them, 'There are other training worlds.'
'Go, then, Traitor.' The new superior Officer said, her movements stiff and awkward in the shiny new and decorated armor she would be wearing from now on, 'Save as many as you can.'
Finn smiled and wondered if she smiled back, hidden behind her helmet.
Finn left, took flight, sent Poe a message, a list of thirty two names, the names each of the Twelve year olds had chosen, there was nothing else, no message about what it meant or why Finn sent it.
Every month Poe received another message with two to five names to be added to the list, the place it was sent from impossible to find.
And then there was another message from a different place with fifty two names sent from Finn, further names to follow.
And the Stormtroopers would sometimes catch sight of Rey or Poe and they would stare before turning away, those around them following suit and it confused them.
Eighteen months after Finn left the Resistance a Tie fighter appeared at the edges of the Resistance, they did not approach but stayed on the edges, making them all nervous until Leia finally sent a message to them.
They messaged back the comm connecting and showing a child, not older than seven before them.
She moved weirdly and seemed confused at them.
"Piote." Finn's voice spoke softly as he appeared in the screen, "They are not saying anything with meaning."
The girl turned to him and twitched her left eye and her fingers ruffled and she ran her right hand through her hair with her ring finger and pinky curled.
Finn only smiled and made his own minute movements and pulled her to perch on his thigh as he crouched to look at the screen.
"Hello, again."
"Well, we never expected to see you again." Leia admitted.
"I expected as much." Finn said, "I had something I had to do, and I was sure you would try to stop me, or help me, and I am not sure what would have been worse."
"Would you explain?" Leia asked.
"Can we land, Piote is the eldest and the others may need medical." Finn told her.
"Permission granted." Leia said, "See you on the ground."
She signed off and ignored the questions the others had as she swept towards the landing zone.
The Tie fighter landed and the doors opened, Poe tried to ignore how many weapons appeared as they opened.
Finn stepped off the Fighter carrying a basket in his arms, a line of nine children followed as he stopped in front of Leia.
"They were going to be decommissioned for one reason or another, most of the time the ones that I placed in charge can write out Failure reports and sneak them to the nearest rebel world but sometimes decommissions occur while they are being monitored." Finn explained.
"What?" Leia said horrified.
"The First Order steals children, I thought you were aware." Finn told her, "There are several worlds that they are sent to that trains them and removes their identity and any memories."
There were cries of anger an outrage.
"Is that where you went?" Poe asked, "To these worlds to save the children?"
Finn nodded, "But I could not just raid and be done, they would get more children, destroy more worlds for them so I planted the seeds of rebellion in them, I placed young ones in the place of the Officers and they send them out to ships to grow more doubt and questions in the ranks of the First Order."
Poe frowned, "The lists of names, are they the ones that are sent out?"
"No, not all of them, they are the names that the children pick when they are twelve, the names that they become instead of the number they are given." Finn explained.
The oldest girl, Piote, grabbed Finn's hand to get him to look down at her, she tilted the right side of her lips up into a half smile and pressed the tip of her right hand pointer finger to her forehead and then followed that with a series of micromovements that made Finn nod.
"They are hungry, is it okay if we eat?" Finn asked softly.
Leia forced a smile, nodded and gave charge of the children to Jessika, though they refused to leave Finn until he pressed he pointer fingers together and wiggled his right pinky.
Piote frowned at him but nodded and ushered the other children after the woman as Finn passed the basket over, and they discovered a baby inside it.
"What the heck?" Leia asked.
"What?" Finn asked as they walked to Leia's office.
"Were you speaking to her?" Leia asked.
"Yes." Finn said, "Stormtroopers have their own language."
"By the Force." Poe whispered as he fell into a seat, "What did you say to her?"
"I told her that she could trust Jessika." Finn said.
"And she said they were hungry?" Leia asked.
"No, she asked if they could eat." Finn told them, "And what they call me."
"Which one was your name?" Poe asked eagerly.
Finn tilted the right side of his lips up and pressed his right hand pointer finger to his forehead, "That is how 'Troopers call me."
"That means FN 2187?" Poe asked.
"No." Finn said.
They frowned.
"It means Traitor." Finn explained, "And it is how I am known, I am Finn 'Traitor'." Finn made the Stormtrooper sign for Traitor when he spoke the word.
Poe looked angry.
"And it is good, it is how I am known by any, and the rumors have spread what I did and they know that I am out here, The First Order has ordered me killed on sight but I never am, so many of my seeds have bloomed and they plant more and there are whispers of Traitor every where." Finn explained, "The Order took my name, they took the identity they gave me and made it Traitor and now I am using what they made me, what I became instead of killing for them and I have used it to grow a garden of weeds on their perfect bed of roses, there will eventually be more who follow Traitor than First Order and they are waiting for it, we all are."
Leia and Poe's eyes were wide, they had thought that Finn was frightened by their losses when he had been finding a way for them to win.
"We should check on your kids." Poe said.
"I would like that." Finn smiled wholly and let Poe lead him to the mess, leaving Leia alone to think on everything they had learned.
It took two years before Finn finally sent the word to his seeds, and they as one turned on those they knew followed all the Ideals of the First Order, Rey fought and felled Kylo Ren as Luke killed his master and Finn's face flashed in every stadium that the First Order used to address the Stormtroopers, his lips tilted up on the right side of his face his right hand pointer finger pressed to his forehead and when the First Order was fallen the remaining 'troopers as one copied his expression and movement before they stripped of their armor and looked at the faces of their comrades for the first time without fear and they copied their call to rebel for days after, for weeks and years.
And Finn Traitor eventually lead the former 'Troopers to a new planet where they made their home and spoke the language they had been taught, the silence of it their last hold over from their trauma, but some of them learned to overcome the instinct to speak silently with their bodies and would translate for those that came to the planet.
But Finn Traitor followed first Rey to Jakku to ask a single person about her parents, the man they had left her with as a baby, he spoke softly to her, told her that it had been for her safety that she'd been left.
Her mother, he said had been wanted by the empire, he said that her grandfather had been the designer of the DeathStar, that he had secreted a weakness and her mother had eventually be the one to send it out into the universe to be used and she had been one of it's first victims.
Finn and Poe had held a hand each of Rey's as she learned that her Mother's name had been Jyn Erso and her father's name had never been given to the old man, but he promised that Jyn had never wanted to leave her, that she had hoped that one day she'd live in a free world free of tyranny, that one day they would meet again.
Rey had cried, had screamed and shouted at the unfairness, but eventually they had left Jakku and followed Poe home, and sometimes Finn would lapse into stillness and silence, or he'd move his body in ways that Poe realized actually meant something to Finn and Rey demanded they learn 'Stormtrooper' and if sometimes Finn grinned at them both widely, showing as many of his teeth as possible they would answer the same, for Finn was calling them Love or saying Love you if he followed the grin with a left eye wink.
And the world settled into peace and Finn Traitor eventually became Finn Dameron with Rey and he would watch the two speak to each other silently before speaking aloud.
The remaining Stormtroopers, the Former 'Troopers still whisper, they still call him Traitor, the one that ran, the one that brought down the First Order.
They call former FN 2187 Traitor still, but they also call him Hope and Savior.
The First Order tried to make him their Villain but he made himself a Hero for them instead and he used their name for him to do it.
Finn was proud to be called a Traitor.
A/N: I may have a tiny head-canon that Jyn was Rey's Mother and Jakku's year is just longer so that makes Rey younger technically or she's half of an alien that ages slower, however but it would explain why her parents never came back for her and why she was left to begin with.