Chapter 15: Finny Knows Best

The impact from the falling space object landing on the jungle world of Ajan Kloss caused an earthquake that shook the Resistance from their bunks early one morning. Rushing to the crash site, Poe Dameron, Finn and their comrades found a large crater, at the center of which was the wreckage of a smoking First Order escape pod. And emerging from that escape pod was Rey.

Reuniting with her friends was awkward, to say the least. The last time she had seen them, she had been their prisoner. Despite this glaringly obvious fact, Poe seemed unconcerned that the questioning of loyalties had happened at all. For the pilot, there appeared to be no deeper reflection over all that had ensued before and on Bonadan. No regret, no remorse, no revaluation of his actions whatsoever. As Zorri had been nothing more than a conscripted, innocent bystander, Rey was able to patch things up with her the easiest and quickest.

It was Finn, however, who seemed to be the one most eager to smooth things over. Leaving behind a burning Bonadan, he explained that they had tried to search for and pursue the Knife 9, but without a tracker already in place, trying to find one ship amidst all the stars was like trying to find a needle in a Dantooine haystack. Failing that, and with new warrants out for Han Solo's ship, the last of the Resistance had gone into hiding to regroup. Zorri had been the one to find this out-of-the-way jungle planet. The Falcon's water lines had been repaired and replenished, it had been refueled, restocked. Leia had sent out a beacon call to arms, and new recruits had already begun to arrive. Along with some familiar faces that had mercifully survived the bombing on Canto Bight and managed to book passage off-world: Kaydel Kol Connix. Maz Kanata.

For all of this, Rey took it in silently. And though her heart melted at how sweet Finn was trying to be, the memory of the violence he had wrought on her stung just as the scar he had left her with stung when under the barrel of Hux's blaster. She wanted to forgive him, he was certainly making more of an effort than Poe to seek it, but she just... couldn't. So as much as it pained her, she kept her distance and whenever possible remained quiet.

Needless to say, Rey's hesitance to let bygones be bygones ate away at Finn, to the point where it led him towards being angry with her all over again. He was especially irked by how Rey seemed to mope about for nearly all the hours of the day, like she was pining.

Finn knew for whom she was pining. She was pining for him. Kylo Ren. And he didn't like it one bit.

The last straw came when Rey, in one of the few instances where she appeared willing to speak more than one or two words to Finn, wasted away such a rare opportunity by confiding in Finn all her feelings about Ben.

"He's out there, trapped in the First Order and I can't get to him, Finny!" she bemoaned. "I need him here with me."

"Can't imagine why you would want that," Finn grunted, barely able to keep the envy out of his voice. "He's brought you nothing but trouble, Rey. You're better off without him."

"No," Rey shook her head. "He loves me!"

And that's when Finn snapped.

"Loves you? Oh, come on, Rey, that's demented! This is why you never should have left. Dear, this whole romance that you've invented just proves you're to naive to be here."

Part of him knew that was gaslighting her. Part of him knew that he was tunneling his hole deeper just as he had been trying to dig himself out. The majority part of Finn - the jealous and resentful part who felt like he had lost his best friend, and that there was blame to share in creating that casualty - didn't care.

"Why would he like you? Come on now, really! Look at you - you think that he's impressed? Don't be a ninny - come with Finny... Finny knows best -"

"NO!" Rey's voice rang out sharply, her eyes steely.

Finn blinked. "No? Oh... I see how it is..."

He was satisfied that the defiance faded from her eyes.

"Rey Solo knows best, Rey Solo's so mature now. Such a clever, grown-up miss. Rey Solo knows best - fine, if you're so sure, now, go ahead and give him this!" And he pulled the hilt from his rucksack.

"How did you...?" Rey gasped. She had almost forgotten that she had dropped her lightsaber when she was captured on Bonadan.

"This is what he wants!" Finn screamed at her. "Don't let him deceive you! Give it to him, watch, you'll see!"

"I will!" Rey snapped, glaring as she caught the tossed saber.

"Trust me, my dear - that's how fast he'll leave you. I won't say I told you so! No, but Rey, she knows best. So if he's such a dreamboat, go and put him... to the test!"

Watching him storm off, Rey looked panicked. "Finny, wait!"

"If he's lying, don't come crying... Finny knows best!" And he left her alone in an empty jungle clearing.


The more she analyzed Finn's latest outburst, the more Rey realized that - at least in one respect - he had been justified. He truly had tried to make up with her, and although his mockery of her and Ben's love had been out-of-line, it had come from a place of genuinely being concerned for his friend. Concerned that her love for Ben was making her blind. In some ways, it already had - she had kept her new romance from him...

So it was that she followed Finn around the base a few days later, trying to apologize as he now gave her the silent treatment.

"Finny... I apologize." No response. She tried again. "I'm sorry... I was wrong." She was not apologizing for loving Ben - she would never apologize for that. But she was apologizing for keeping secrets from him, her best friend.

"What can I say that will make you feel better?" Rey implored. "What can I say that will make you like me better?"

Finn suddenly whirled to her with a snap, so that she nearly walked into him. There was something wild and unfamiliar in his eyes. Desperate. "Would you like me better if I just grabbed you, threw you down, kissed you from head to toe?"

She stared at him, mouth agape. Oh, Force... How long had he...? How had she never known...?

Her heartbroken face must have said it all, for Finn deflated, defeated. "Go ahead," he mumbled. "You can tell... him we're just best friends." His eyes rose to meet hers again, distress in them as he asked, "We are still best friends, aren't we?"

"Ohhhh..." Letting out an exasperated sigh, Rey buried her face in his shoulder with a sentimental smile. Then, still beaming affectionately, she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him - first on his cheek, then another chaste one on his mouth. Moving past him and away, she was startled when she felt Finn grab her hand.

"Rey..." And she ached to see the tears in his eyes, streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry... for all of it..." Staring in shame, he brushed a tentative finger across the scar where he had struck her. "What did I do to you?"

Her own eyes misty, Rey smiled with love and mercy. "I forgive you," she murmured. And she meant it. "Now, forgive yourself."

Finn broke down weeping, pulling her into his arms. Rey felt herself fall limp against him, nestling with a loving smile into his warmth. He pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I love you."

Rey beamed, thrilled to have her best friend back. "I know."