Maz Kanata's second castle did not differ much from the first one. While not in Takodana, the structure was pretty much the same, maybe taller, with more towers. The inside; loud, poorly lighted and with enough wanted men to make a bounty hunter drool. A very nice place, truly.

The old pirate queen had gotten back on her feet quite easily, the business going better than ever with the war raging in the galaxy. Whether it was by serving refugees, mercenaries or passing smugglers. Or in this case, a Resistance's young fighter.

Finn was sitting on a chair by the corner of the room, close enough to the exit, in case they had to make a run for it. He had been waiting for Poe for a while, the General had sent them on a mission; to talk with new Stormtroopers deserters that wanted to join them. The Resistance was now had a large amount of people with them, the time after the Battle of Crait almost forgotten. The fall of Imperator, Supreme Leader Hux's ship had been quite a feat and it had raised the hope of people all around the galaxy. It was well needed after the sudden disappearance of the Light of the Resistance.

Finn closed his eyes, trying to stop that line of thought.

The wound had never healed, much like the one in his back, the one he could swear to feel when the wheatear got to cold or to warm. But this one was a different thing, it was not a physical hurt that he could not escape. It ached, not knowing where she was.

Rose tried to understand, giving him space, realizing that she'd probably never feel it as bad as he did.

Five years.

Five years since Rey had vanished in thin air. It had been early in the morning when Rose had gone to wake her up and found an empty room and a missing Jedi instead. The hangar had been missing a certain corellian ship and a very angry Wookie had complained to no end.

Finn had never lost hope, his resolve was firm and his defense of Rey fervent. It had to be one of those Jedi things that nobody but Rey could get. He had seen her the months after Crait, always looking at nothing with an intense glare, as if she could see things that they could not. The pilots claimed that they would hear her have heated conversations in the dead of the night, thought they did not hear a second voice.

Still, Finn's resolve did not waver. Rey was no deserter she'd be back before they knew.

Yet as the weeks became months and no signs of the last Jedi appeared, that conviction was shaken.

Things had taken a turn for the worse when word got out of Kylo Ren's defection of the First Order. Supreme Leader Hux had risen, and had deemed him a traitor and a murderer. That he and the last Jedi had plotted together to take down the former leader and seize the power for themselves, and had been discovered by Hux himself.

While Finn had not believed a word that came from that snake's mouth, but others had drawn their conclusions. It was all too suspicious, to have them both disappear at the same time.

Finn remembered how silent the General had been when the Council discussed their next course of action, her lips drawn into a thin line. The young, hot blooded, had asked for a price to be put over their heads. The elders, forged by years of war, new better than to waste their resources-growing, as they were-.

He remembered following false clues that ended nowhere. A bounty hunter swore to have seen a man with a red lightsaber threaten a med-droid in a medical station on the outer rim, a Resistance spy claimed to have seen them walking side by side on the streets of Batuu.

Or the weirdest one of them all; a caretaker of an apartment complex of Chandrilla reported that he had recognized Kylo Ren as the person to break into General Organa's old house. The woman had gone white as a sheet at said news and Poe's temper had flamed.

Sightings or not, they still were never found.

Finn shook his head, trying to focus on the bar crowd, anything to distract him from the past. While his eyes searched for his friend, he was met with a pair of soft, somehow familiar hazel eyes.

It was a kid. A little girl.

What was someone doing with a child in Maz's castle?

It could not be six years old, he guessed, with pale skin and black thick hair twisted on a long braid. She was huggin a little porg plushie. Finn had been ignorant when it came to children, having only seen a bunch of them before joining the Resistance. Rose was painfully fond of them, and always made faces to those who crossed her way. She was also keen on teaching them all kind of things, and Finn had seen the longing stares she gave some of the orphans that wondered around them.

Poe had told him, joking, that maybe Finn and she should have one of their own. Finn had been grateful for his dark skin then, or else the Commander might have seen how red he was.

The thought of having a baby with Rose made him feel funny things. He knew she wanted them, and he didn't dislike the idea either, but they had agreed that in the current state of things it was probably better to wait some years. There would be time for that when the war was over.

He suddenly desperately hoped for the end of the war, with more fervor than usually.

The little girl was wondering around, apparently by her own, looking at everything with big eyes full childish admiration. Finn feared that slavers might be on the bar, and decided that it was probably better not to let her out of his sight.

She looked at him, again, and she gave him a small, shy, smile. Finn returned it, hoping he didn't look threatening with a blaster by his side. Thought any child in Maz's castle should have been used to them.

''Anni!''

The girl turned her back at him when a young woman yelled what he guessed was her name, the place was loud so he couldn't be sure.

Then he saw the woman.

Their eyes connected and Finn felt his throat tighten, the young woman returning his stare was no extranger; she had long brown hair, a slender figure with a swollen belly. His stomach churned. Recognition burned in her eyes.

Five years had changed very little.

Rey