"Come on, Poe! You can do it!" Finn shouted to his friend as Poe raced to finish an entire jug of Kajiman Ale before Zorii could. The two were neck-and-neck in the race but Zorii was just a tad ahead.
"Zor-ii! Zor-ii! Zor-ii!" A few Resistance members chanted as the two of them neared the finishing stretch of their drinks. Suddenly, Poe coughed and spit out part of his drink over the table, dropping the jug. He coughed and coughed as a slight smirk came across Zorii's face as she downed the rest of her drink and slammed it on the table.
"Take that, Dameron!" She gloated as Poe was wiping his face clean of the excess ale. Finn gave his friend a pat on the back as Zorii turned and high-fived the Resistance members who had cheered her on.
"I don't know how you do that," Poe said weakly as he chuckled. "The nastiest drink I've ever had."
"You used to love that stuff," Zorii accused him.
"I most certainly did not," Poe countered.
"Guys!" Rose Tico said loudly as she ran up to Poe and Finn. "The bonfire's starting, come on!" Rose grabbed Finn's hand and pulled him towards the outside of the makeshift cafeteria they were currently in. It wasn't the nicest place, but it was all the Resistance had. Or, used to have at least. With the First Order gone, they could finally start to expand properly. Poe motioned for Zorii to follow him and the two joined the celebration outside.
The smell of smoke that permeated from the fires hit them as soon as they stepped out. The celebration had been going on since they returned from the Battle of Exegol, nearly six hours before, and Lando had decided to celebrate almost immediately with a proper Ewok celebration, with a bonfire and singing. None of the furry creatures were actually there though, so Lando had been drunkenly singing what little Ewok he spoke for most of the night.
Finn scanned the crowd quickly, he had spent so much time with Poe and Rose so far that he had neglected Rey. Alas, Rey was nowhere to be found. The hero of the Resistance deserved to be a part of the celebration, so Finn made it his mission to go and find her.
"Hey, Jannah!" Finn said spotting his fellow ex-Stormtroopers in a circle with the rest of her group.
"Finn, good to see you!" Jannah said happily turning to spot him. "We're sharing stories about the First Order to celebrate their end, care to join?" Jannah had to shout over the rest of the party, and even then Finn could barely hear here over all the noise.
"I'd love to, but not now. Have you seen Rey anywhere?" He asked.
"I think I saw her a couple of hours ago with Chewie," Jannah told him. "They were nearby the Falcon, I think. Maybe she's in there?"
"Okay, thanks. See ya," Finn said turning and pushing through the crowd of celebrating Resistance members to reach the Falcon. He had never seen the entire Resistance all gathered in one place. It's hard to believe just a year ago they were nothing but a single ship. Finn shook his head, now wasn't the time to be waxing nostalgia, he needed to find Rey.
Finn eventually managed to get through the crowd and reach the Falcon. No Lando or Chewie in sight, so Finn stepped up the entrance ramp and had a look inside. People had definitely been in there sometime tonight, all different kinds of drinks and food were strewn about in the main area. He checked the cockpit, empty, but did see something else outside.
There was a group of Resistance members playing a game. One person was given a stick and had to knock down some decorated piece of cardboard hanging from a tree. The stick was passed around until the cardboard fell. Finn didn't think much of it at first until he looked closer at how they decorated the cardboard. One was a crude drawing of a person with red hair and a shirt that said, "Give me hugs". Hux, obviously. Finn chuckled at it, no one else besides Chewie, Poe and him knew that Hux was the traitor, and he wasn't all that concerned with sharing that information.
The second one he saw was of an already dead person with what looked like either really long fingernails or lightning coming out of their hands. Palpatine, Finn never saw him in person but laughed at the idea of that being what he looked like. He stayed and watched for a few more, one looked like Phasma and Snoke and some other notable First Order generals, then Finn saw the next one they put up. Obviously one they had beaten up before given the damage already on it, but from the dark mask and lightsaber, Finn could tell it was supposed to be Kylo Ren.
After seeing that, it didn't take long for Finn to put the pieces together. Rey spent some time in the Falcon and saw the Resistance members beating up the Kylo cardboard, so she's probably off by herself in the jungle. Finn never really understood it but Rey had some special connection with Kylo and, from the little she spoke of her part in the Battle of Exegol, Finn knew Kylo had come to save her during it.
After half an hour of searching nearby the base, Finn found Rey sitting alone, meditating by the edge of a cliff. She looked calm sitting there, almost like she was asleep, but Finn could see her mouth moving ever so slightly. She was whispering to someone, but Finn couldn't decipher the words.
"I hope I'm not interrupting," Finn said making his presence known to the young Jedi. She turned to face him, slightly startled by his surprise appearance but quickly collected herself.
"Finn, hey, sorry, I didn't hear you come up," Rey told him as she moved aside so Finn could sit next to her, which he did.
"What are you doing all the way out here by yourself?" Finn inquired.
"You know, I think I'm just not a fan of parties," Rey joked. "Needed some peace and quiet." Finn could tell something was else was bothering her, something more than just the Kylo Ren cardboard, but he decided not to push it and went with her answer.
"Yeah, it is pretty nice to not have to shout to hear the person next to you," Finn countered chuckling. "Actually, Rey, I'm glad we're here alone, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."
"Oh yeah, you said so on Pasaana," Rey remembered. "With all the chaos since then, I never got to ask what you wanted to say."
"Well, uh, here goes. Try not to freak out, okay?" Finn asked cautiously. "I'm force-sensitive." Finn's confession hung in the air for a few moments, but to Finn it felt like a thousand. He had begun suspecting he was force sensitive a few months ago, but everything that happened on the Battle of Exegol confirmed it for him. Rey sat in stunned silence, leaving Finn to worry about how she'd react.
"Finn..." Rey began slowly. Suddenly, her lips turned into a wide smile and she laughed a little. "That's amazing!" Rey cheered as she reached over and hugged Finn. Finn chuckled slightly, finally letting out the breath he was holding. "Why did you wait so long to tell me? This is great news!"
"Well, I wasn't sure how'd you react, especially with all the First Order stuff," Finn admitted, though it started to dawn on him that she'd have no reason not to be happy for him.
"Are you kidding? My best friend is force-sensitive, this is incredible!" Rey said happily.
"Do you think you could...you know...show me a few things? About how to control and use it, like you do." Finn asked.
"Of course!" Rey told him. "We can be Jedi together." Finn pictured himself with his very own lightsaber, side by side with Rey, and smiled.
"Jedi Master Finn had a nice ring to it," He thought. Suddenly, the two heard a loud, collective yell of excitement come from the party.
"Sounds like we're missing all the fun," Finn joked. Rey nodded, standing up and dusting the dirt off of herself.
"You're right, we should get back to the party," Rey said as she helped Finn up as well. "And you have to tell everyone else about your secret."
One week later, the time for celebration had ended and the Resistance was now hard at work on rebuilding the New Republic. Rose and Poe, alongside many other prominent leaders in the Resistance left for Coruscant, where the New Republic would form its base in a new Galactic Senate. Zorii and Babu Frik left a few days prior, where they would go without Kajimi, no one knew. Next to leave was going to be Lando and Chewie alongside Jannah and her group.
"I'll miss you, Chewie," Rey said reaching up to wrap her arms around the Wookie's furry neck. Chewbacca leaned down and wrapped his arms around her as well, patting her on the back. He made a growling sound, which most didn't understand but Rey did. "I know, stay safe until then."
"It was good meeting you, General," Finn said extending his hand out to Lando for a handshake. Lando laughed slightly before putting both his hands around Finn's.
"The war's over, Finn. I'm not a General anymore. Just an old man getting these kids home," Lando said gesturing to Jannah and her group. "That could include you too." Lando reminded him.
"You should come," Jannah added. "You deserve to find your family too, Finn." Finn looked at Jannah and all the other ex-Stormtroopers, then back at Lando and the Falcon. Part of him desperately wanted to go with them, the war was over and he did want to know who his family was, but the other part of him knew he couldn't. Not now, at least.
"My family's right here," Finn told her glancing over at Rey. Jannah looked over in her direction as well, then chuckled lightly.
"Well, the offer is always open if you change your mind," Jannah said as she and the rest of the ex-Stormtroopers left to board the Falcon. Chewie came over and gave Finn one last hug, saying something in his language that Finn didn't understand, then took his leave as well.
Rey and Finn both watched sadly as the Falcon powered up and began to leave the atmosphere of Ajan Kloss. Besides the scant few Resistance members left still packing up all of the equipment to take over to Coruscant, Finn and Rey were all that was left.
"So, when's my first lesson?" Finn said, breaking the silence between them.
"As soon as I get back," Rey said nervously as she started to walk towards the X-Wing that formerly belonged to Luke Skywalker.
"You're leaving too?" Finn asked shocked.
"Sorry, there's just something I have to do," Rey told him. "Some preparation for your training, let's say."
"What kind of preparation?" Finn asked her. Rey pulled out a bag from the X-Wing and grabbed a small object from it. Upon close inspection, Finn could tell it was the handle of a lightsaber.
"I have to finish mine first," Rey answered as Finn handed her handle back. "I'll be back in a few days."
"Where you going to finish that?" Finn wondered.
"Secret," Rey said smiling. "You'll know when you earn one of your own." Finn tried to ask more questions, about when he'll get his or what Rey will do with Luke and Leia's sabers, but Rey cut him off. She climbed in her X-Wing and powered it up, causing Finn to take a few steps back. The last thing Finn saw of Rey was her giving him a quick salute before the X-Wing rose from the ground and left the planet.
Now alone, Finn sighed and went to help the Resistance finish packing up. Perhaps he could find Poe somewhere on Coruscant and hang out with him in the intervening days until Rey's return. But a nagging feeling wouldn't leave Finn, the Force. It called to him and his training was coming soon. Finn could hardly wait to see what the Force had in store for him.