Chapter Twenty-Three:
Finn flies across the crags of the mountainside. This island is not an easy one to manoeuvre through, with its cliffs and ragged landscape. He stumbles over some loose rocks, but the pounding pulse of adrenaline drives him on, keeps him moving forward, all the while crying out for Rey.
He sees the force ghost of Luke first, hovering before a large hole in the ground. As Finn approaches it, he can feel the wave of energy washing out of it. It causes him to falter for the first time since he took off running. Panting, he leans against a rock, peering down into the darkness. It almost feels like the raw power is settling within him, tendrils curling around him, looking for an entry point.
"Finn!"
Rey's voice echoes over the distance, pulling him back to the present.
She's hauling herself out of the hole, dripping wet. A bag at her hip bulges. Whatever they came for, she has it safe. One good thing. Now if only they make it out alive.
"They're here," he calls down to her, pointing out at the sky, to the three fighters growing ever bigger as they come for them. "We have to go!"
Rey is out of the hole, Ren pulling himself out behind her, when the first shots are fired.
#
"We're sitting ducks here." Rose cranes forward in the bridge as the fighters pass over them, coming back around. The first shot just missed them, breaking the land to the right of the Falcon. "We have to take off."
"And leave the others behind?" Poe stares at her like she's lost her mind.
"No. Just—"
The next shot rocks the Falcon harder than the first. It's a direct hit, their deflector shield alone protecting them from destruction.
"Just take off," Rose continues. She rises from her seat. "Chewie and I will man the guns. Just get us in the air. We can pick the others up."
"Right!" Poe yells after her, but she's already gone.
#
Rey gapes as the Falcon rises into the air and slips off, the three fighters at her back.
"What now?" Kylo asks in a hollow voice.
The comm link at Finn's hip buzzes to life with Poe's voice. "Finn? Buddy? Can you hear me?"
Finn wrenches it free, lifts it up to his mouth. "Yeah. We're here. I got Rey and... the other one."
Kylo rolls his eyes, mutters something under his breath. Rey faintly understands three words 'nonsense', 'fools', and 'carrion'.
"We're trying to shake these guys off. Can you gain some altitude? We might have to pick you up in flight."
"We'll do our best."
Rey flinches as a red jet of energy narrowly misses the Falcon. A few yellow blasts respond. One connects with a fighter and it blows up in midair.
"Rose has good aim." It's all Rey has time to appreciate before they take off running up that hill. Kylo and Finn are at her heel, darting along the narrow passageway weaving up the cliffs.
Above them, blast shots echo a concerning fare.
"Look out!" Kylo's sudden call draws her attention up in time to see a destroyed fighter crashing down over them. He knocks her aside as a fragment of shrapnel crashes into the place where she just stood.
He raises his hands and the falling debris slows and diverts their trajectory at his prompting, falling away.
Rey rises unsteadily. Finn is on the ground too, having taken cover.
"That was close," he says as he stands with her. He glances uncertainty at Kylo. "Thanks," he says after a long pause, as if the word causes him some great pain to speak.
"I didn't do it for you." Kylo glances pointedly at Rey.
She blinks once at him before the sound of fighting above forces her focus back to the moment. "We have to keep going," she insists, taking off at a run once more.
#
Poe leads the Falcon into a sharp dive, holding close to the island. He pulls up sharply, but the last fighter isn't easily diverted. It keeps on his tail, firing away. This last one is not going to be easy to shake, but he does his best, veering left and right, up and down, with such violent randomness that Rose shouts up at him, "Will you stop doing that!"
"I'm just trying to keep us alive," he shouts back at her.
"I can't aim with you performing your acrobatics."
"And that's my fault!"
"Just keep her steady, Poe!"
"Fine!" He pulls straightens the Falcon, flying low over the ocean, pulling further and further away from the island, from their friends.
The water ahead of them ripples with the falling blast from the fighter. Poe veers again...
#
... Rose takes aim, catching the Fighter in her sight. Three shots and it's down, spiralling out of the air, to crash down into the ocean.
She falls back in her seat, releasing a deep sigh of relief.
But there's a big smile on her lips. Exhilaration and triumph blending in one beautiful symphony as Poe gives a hooting holler from the bridge.
The victory is short lived. Rose presses closer to glass as three more fighters descend from the sky.
#
Rose, Finn, and Kylo press close together on the precipice of one craggy cliff as the Falcon flies on a straight course toward them. Three fighters break through the cloud cover, not too far behind.
"We're lowering the gangway," Poe's voice crackles out of the comms. "You'll have to make a jump for it."
"Great," Finn mutters.
They back away from the edge, to give them room to make the leap. "You go first," Rey tells him. "It'll be easier for Kylo and I to make it."
"Way to make a guy feel incompetent."
The Falcon slows as it approaches, curving towards them, so that the ramp is nearly level with them. Rose leans out, gripping a pole to hold her in place, one hand extended, ready to help them up.
"Go!" Rey shoves Finn forward.
He surges like a blast, legs straining, gathering momentum, before he pushes off the ground and leaps.
His hand meets Rose's in a firm clutch. She heaves him up, pulling him past her. He nearly trips, but keeps his balance as he makes it to the safety of the Falcon's interior.
Rey and Kylo exchange a glance. "Together?" she asks.
He nods.
They match pace as they race for the ship, the fighters drawing ever nearer. With the Force on their side, they make the landing and scramble up the ramp after Rose.
"Go!" Rose shouts to Poe.
The Falcon zips forward, throwing the four companions off kilter.
Rey and Kylo reach instinctively for each other to hold themselves up, Rose and Finn finding similar balance together.
For a brief second, their eyes meet. Rey pulls away first. "Stay here," she tells him sharply, heading for the bridge to share their destination with Poe safely away from Kylo's ears.
#
Aboard the Leviathan, Hux watches as the Falcon evades the waves of assault laid against them, bursting freely into hyperspace.
... they got away ...
"I can see that. What now?"
... we will follow them. search yourself and you will see ...
Hux shuts his eyes. He takes a deep breath, reaching out across the thread that now runs from him to Kylo, one laid out when they briefly connected in Kylo's weakness. It cannot be severed; it will lead him true.
"Then, I will send men after them."
... no. we will go after them this time. and they will not escape ...
AN: Hope that's a bit more action after lots of dialogue heavy chapters. I'd like to promise it'll continue, but the next one will feature lots of bantering ;P