"I can't believe you'd do something so stupid!"
It wasn't every day that Finn got to hear Rey yell, it was even less frequent that she yelled at him, but today, both of those things were occurring.
"Rey, look, I did-" Finn began,
"You didn't think." Rey's face contorted into different shapes, and phases. From enraged, to scared, to bitter all over again. "You almost died. You almost got yourself killed, and for what? To settle some grudge?"
Finn averted his eyes. The two of them were sitting in the hull of their ship, sheltered from the sandstorm outside. It had been a long day. First the crash, and now some scuffle from a band of space pirates that almost took Finn's life. Pirates who Finn had a history with. Pirates who murdered one of Finn's friends, a dear friend, from a long time ago. Pirates who left a scar in the man's heart so deep that not even time could heal it.
How do you heal the inability to keep your best friend from dying? How do you wash away petrified guilt? How do you stop your dreams from attacking you when all you wanted to do was help him…but you, and the rest of your squadron couldn't do shit?
"You don't get it Rey, those guys…" Finn took a deep breath, trying to settle himself. "They murdered my friend. A long time ago…"
When Finn gained wind of those same pirates looting some cantina on Jakku, he knew what he had to do. He grabbed his rifle, and headed out. Not a word to Rey, or Poe, or BB8. Just him and his ghosts, out into a world that he ran away from.
"And you think running off, and trying to fight them will bring him back?"
When Finn did not return, Rey and Poe tracked him down to that cantina, and dragged his bruised and bloodied body back to the ship just as the sandstorm grew worse. Rey sat him down in the hull. Grabbed a medpack, and ice, and caff to keep him awake. He needed to be awake for this. She needed to know he was still with her.
"Never again," she said.
Finn was covered in bandages. Bloodied bandages that dragged against the floor, and left a bitter taste in the ship's tongue. The taste of a rotting carcass.
"This team can't do its job if you're out there getting yourself hurt for Force knows what."
"And what am I supposed to do, Rey?" Finn asked. He shrugged his shoulders, the past was not so easily shaken.
Rey took a deep breath, sat down next to him, and placed her chest to her knees.
"You talk to us. You let us help." She placed her hand on Finn's shoulder. The one thing about him that wasn't covered in blood. "You're a soldier, and you know better than anyone that wars can't be fought alone."
She wrapped her hands around his, and squeezed. "Whatever battle you have, whatever problem arises, we're here. Okay?"
Finn took a deep breath, and leaned his head against hers. She was so beautiful. Graceful and strong, and for once, he didn't feel as if the world were on his shoulders. At least, not when he was near her. She was magical that way.
"Okay."