Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Lucas, Abrams, Disney, etc. I own nothing but my own brain...
A/N: I'm super hyped for the upcoming Sequels, and have already fallen head-over-heels in love with the main leads (awww, they're so amazingly cute together!) This is pure AU fluff, a little moment I just had to write down.
EnJoy! and review if you feel inspired...
"I don't know your name."
"Finn."
"I'm Rey,"
He would always remember the way she smiled after giving him her name, a precious figment of her identity that he could betray her or love her with. But he was now far above what he had been, a clone with only a three-digit number to superate him from his brethren, and he was beginning to suspect that she was more than she appeared—or seemed to know—too.
Finn sat in the empty galley of the Millennium Falcon, his plate of food untouched and growing cold as he contemplated what had transpired over the course of the last few days. He was still utterly disgusted and humiliated with himself for believe a lie all his life; the lie about the war, the Empire, and his own ancestry and inheritance. He couldn't trust anyone outside this ship, and he had already begun to distrust himself and his newfound abilities. He still had hope, yes, but even that too was beginning to quickly fade into despair, as his dark eyes comprehended the truth.
"I thought I might find you here," a soft, sweet voice raised Finn from his thoughts, and he glanced up, blushing slightly at being found in such a comprising and unguarded position.
"Rey," his deep voice acknowledged the young woman, and her grey-green eyes softened, although the rest of her face remained mostly expressionless and stoic.
"What are you doing here?" Finn further asked, as he watched her gracefully move from the galley door to the table. S he was clothed in a spare tunic and pants borrowed from Leia, a woolen blanket wrapped snugly around her slim shoulders.
She slid into the seat beside him, and shrugged nonchalantly, replying, "I could ask the same."
"I couldn't sleep," that was one-half of the actuality Finn allowed himself to reveal. In all honesty, he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he discovered the complete truth—of everything. The Empire, the died Republic, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, the Force, and the Jedi, of which he was destined to become one.
"Do you ever feel like escaping?" Rey softly asked after a pause, her eyes shamelessly searching his dark face, looking for something even she didn't quite know what.
Finn lifted his eyes, meeting her steady gaze, and in the silence that had settled between them, his expression seemed to say, "what do you mean?"
"Do you..." Rey started again, "ever feel like escaping into the stars? Leaving this world, this war, behind. Flying into a freedom you've never had."
Finn leaned his elbow against the stained tabletop, resting his chin his palm, and nodded. "Sometimes," he admitted.
Rey looked down, at her hands resting in her lap, they were calloused and blustered from a mixture of fighting and training, wiring and toning the mechanics that had once been her sole livelihood.
"I never knew my parents," she finally explained.
Finn closed his eyes, but not to sleep; to hear what she may have more to say. He liked listening to her talk, he was good at it.
"I vaguely remember my father," Rey continued. "He was...different, yet the same as me. I wonder what happened to him, what made him leave me, what made him stop loving me." She finished in a broken whisper.
Finn felt his heart tighten at the anguish he felt flowing from her through the Force. "Maybe," he gently offered, "it was his love for you that made him leave. I left my family because I had no other choice, and they would be killed before my eyes, though in the end I couldn't save them anyway." He bitterly spat out, remember the day the Empire destroy his whole planet before his very eyes, his legs unmoving as he watched with rising horror and anger on the deck of a Star Destroyer as they fired the missals…
A strong hand placed itself on his shoulder, and Finn instinctively jerked back, surprised at the physical connection. Rey let her hand fall back to her lap, apologizing for her thoughtlessness.
"No, it's not you," Finn assured her. "I-I'm just not used to it, that's all."
Rey nodded. "H-how old were you?" she finally mustered up the courage to enquire.
Finn blinked puzzledly at her.
"When you left your family and joined the...Empire," Rey quickly finished, bracing herself for either no response or an angry retort.
Finn did neither reaction, but simply smiled, as if remembering something good and wholesome before he was faced with the truth of evil and terror. "I was seventeen," he said. "I was the youngest son, my mum and dad were farmers on a Core planet. My—older brothers served under Lord Vader before I was born, and I grew up wanting to be just like them, only..." He sighed, the memories coming back so crystal clear, like it had all happened yesterday. "Only, I knew I was different...somehow. And I could never fit in, no matter how hard I tried."
"I know the feeling," Rey agreed. "I was always asking the why and the how. People looked at me strangely, like I was a desert snake or something, and they treated me worse, cursing me, beating me. I soon realized that bagging on the streets got me nowhere, so I decided to leave, go someplace else and start anew."
"That was brave of you," Finn softly stated. "That takes courage and determination that not everyone has."
"Well, I have it in spades!" Rey laughed aloud, her bright eyes sparkling and her dipoles bursting out in merriment. Finn decided he liked to hear her laugh, and that her dipoles were the cutest thing he had ever seen. He decided to laugh right along with her.
After their fit of merriment receded, Finn sat back, tucking his arms behind his head, and asked, "Do you like to fly, Rey?"
He knew she was a mechanic, it was the place he had found her after-all, but he didn't know if she'd ever flow anything other than a landspeeder.
Rey shook her head, her curly brown hair bouncing off of her stumped shoulders. "No, I always wanted to. What's it like, out there among the stars?"
"It's amazing," Finn breathed. "You don't know how small you are and how big this universe is. If I ever get the chance, I want to visit every single planet and star system there is out there."
Rey smiled at his declaration, and said, "I think I'll like to go with you."
Finn smiled, his brown eyes sparkling as brightly as the racing stars outside, replying, "I think that'll be nice."