Author's note:
Thank you so much for your kind feedback!
I want to thank my wonderful beta-readers who helped me so much with this chapter:
- hellostarlight (AO3)
- Megara09 (AO3)
- Everren (AO3) or Everren327 (Twitter)
- asongstress1422 (AO3)
- tsarinastorm (Tumblr)
Without further ado, enjoy this chapter :)
"He's escaping," Jannah shouts, pointing to the turbulent sky, "Ren's escaping!"
Now Finn can see it too. A TIE-fighter is soaring into the grey sky, the screaming of its engines almost drowned out by the roaring sea.
"No," he mutters, feeling a different vibration when he focuses on the ship as it disappears. "It's Rey."
"What did you say?" Jannah hollers against the storm, pushing her dark, curly hair away from her face as she approaches him.
"It's not Kylo Ren! It's Rey! She's in that ship!" Relief floods through him. She survived. His relieved smile morphs into a frown. If Rey was in the ship, then where is Kylo Ren? Something tells him he's still alive.
"How do you know?"
"Later!" he exclaims as a wave hits the structure where they stand, threatening to send them to the bottom of the ocean. "We have to get away from here, it's too dangerous!"
They find their fishing skimmer again, thankfully still intact, and return back to the shore. Poe is pacing when they arrive, hands on his hips and muttering something under his breath. When he sees them, the blatant worry on his face is wiped away instantly, and his eyes light up.
"You guys made it back." He jogs towards them and grabs Finn by the shoulders to look him up and down for injuries. When he doesn't find any, he looks behind them at the skimmer and blinks. "Where's Rey?"
"She jumped world on Ren's ship" Finn informs, shaking his head. "No idea where she's going but at least she's alive."
"He's dead?" Poe asks incredulously. He doesn't like the man, and honestly probably hates him, he captured and tortured him after all, but he is General Organa's son and he doesn't want to have to be the one to bring her the news of her son's death at her prodigy's hands.
The corners of Finn's mouth turn down in distaste. "I don't think so."
"Don't think so?" Poe repeats, looking his friend up and down again. Could he have hit his head? Finn isn't one for being vague.
He rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat. "I have just a feeling."
Poe throws him a long look and scoffs. "A feeling," he repeats with a flat voice.
"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about before?" Jannah interrupts. "How you knew it was Rey in that ship and not Ren?"
Poe sits back on his heel, crossing his arms. "You seem to have a lot of secrets, buddy."
Feeling two pairs of eyes focused on him now, Finn cringes. "Well, if it was Kylo Ren, don't you think he would have tried to kill us before leaving? That psychopath is capable of anything."
They both blink at him doubtfully, waiting for another explanation. Finn presses his lips together and stares back. They won't get any more answers from him today.
Poe heaves a long sigh and ruffles his dark locks. "I hope you're right," he murmurs. Turning around he motions them to follow. "Let's move out. The Falcon's almost fully repaired and we don't have much time. As long as Ren is stuck here, we should hurry up and leave this gods forsaken place."
The two former stormtroopers follow him without protest, the high grass brushing their tired legs. The ride across the ocean had been exhausting and the strong wind slows them down, making their journey back to the Falcon an ordeal.
Jannah falls into step with Finn. She observes him from the corner of her eyes, clearly wanting to say something.
After ignoring her for a while, Finn sighs and gives her a suffering look. "What?"
Jannah's eyes bore into him, head cocked ever so slightly to the right as if running calculations in her head. "Where do you think Kylo Ren is now? And why do you believe he is alive?"
Where is Kylo Ren? The million credit question. Finn purses his lips. The even more insightful question would be why hadn't Rey killed him? She'd told him about her vision, the one of her sitting on the Sith Throne with Ren beside her.
He shivers, and it's not only from the cold wind. What if he's turned her and they left together? No. Finn doffs that idea. They wouldn't have both fitted into a single TIE-fighter. He almost laughs when he pictures them crammed into that small space. No, that's definitely not possible.
But there was something more to that vision. He could see it in her eyes. There was something that she kept from him. He pinches his nose.
"If only I knew… When we see Rey, she'll have a lot of explaining to do."
"If we see her," Jannah corrects, a sympathetic look in her eyes.
Finn shakes his head. "Of course we'll see her again! Rey's strong; she'll survive and come save us all. I'm sure of it…" His voice trails off and they continue in silence. After a while he adds in a much less confident voice, "I'm sure she knows what she's doing. She must have had a good reason to not kill him."
He stares into the distance where the endless fields of high grass spread to the horizon, trying to concentrate on lifting his feet to step over rocks. But the thoughts come anyway.
Maybe Kylo Ren overpowered her, forcing her to flee. Or she'd already found the wayfinder and only needed to get close enough to his ship to escape...it may have been less dangerous than continuing the fight. Anyway, she hates Kylo Ren, right? Right.
But the nagging feeling just won't go away. There's something fishy about all of this. Ever since Rey returned from Ahch-To she's been behaving strangely. Like she's been hiding something from him. From all of them. At first, he thought it had something to do with the Force, that she changed so much because of her training with Skywalker.
She became less talkative, turned more and more into herself. Her smiles were rarer and often didn't even reach her eyes. She would bury herself in her studies, or disappear into the woods to train for hours, often not returning until night had fallen. He barely saw her. It irritated him at first but then he only felt sad.
She was one of the first friends he made after deserting from the First Order, she was the reason he stopped running, his reason to stay and face the enemy. She knew what it meant to have no parents, the feeling of not belonging, feeling lost in the grand scheme of the universe. It hurt to watch her distance herself more and more from him and the rest of her friends.
So he was happy to discover his own, albeit slight, force-sensitivity. He thought he could finally understand her, have something to connect with her. But he never got the chance to tell her. And there was something much bigger than merely 'Jedi stuff' that pulled a barrier between them.
'People keep telling me they know me. No one does.'
That hurt. But more than that, it raised the terrible suspicion that she was hiding something far worse than just her worries about the Force and the war. He can't quite put a finger on it, but she always gets a far-away look, something akin to sadness, in her eyes, whenever someone mentions Kylo Ren or anything related to him. She also tends to evade any questions about Ahch-To or how her lightsaber was broken. Something must have happened between her and that monster. But what?
Had she learned a devastating truth? Is she still grieving the deaths of Han and Luke?
Where is the anger, the passionate hate she holds for Kylo Ren, then? She called him a monster, after all. Disfigured him, even. But as much as Finn wants to ignore it, he can't shake the feeling that there must be more behind the hostility the two display to everyone else whenever they meet. Some kind of history.
A secret.
What is it? Did Kylo Ren whisper lies into her mind and finally manage to get through enough to manipulate her somehow? Maybe he put that vision into her head. Trying to convince her to join him, use her power and rule the galaxy. Or to lure her into a trap and kill her in her moment of weakness. After all, she shot lightning out of her fingers, destroying an entire transporter. Did Kylo Ren inject her with that rage? Finn shudders at the thought. That man must be destroyed before he destroys everyone else.
A warm hand on his shoulder pulls him away from his dark thoughts. He looks at Poe, who studies him with warm eyes. "It's okay, buddy. She'll be alright."
His touch is reassuring and Finn draws a deep breath, then smiles back at him, nodding. "Thanks, Poe."
The Falcon finally comes into sight and the rest of the former stormtroopers are already awaiting them, sitting on their orbaks. Jannah steps forward to her group.
"I'll travel with these two on their Millennium Falcon. Gather up all the healthy orbaks and any weapons you can find. Follow us to the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss. There, we'll work out a plan."
They all murmur their agreement and lead their animals towards their own transporters. Jannah turns to Poe. "Alright, let's go. I've always wanted to have a ride in the Millennium Falcon."
The Falcon heaves itself into the sky, and when they reach the blackness of space, everyone sighs in relief.
The jungle is buzzing with activity and the murmur of people's voices when they land. Resistance members are either hurrying to somewhere, repairing ships, or discussing figures on big glowing screens.
Finn, Poe, Chewbacca and Jannah walk down the Falcon's ramp, relieved to return after what feels like an eternity. After all the chaos and confusion, they can't wait to talk to General Organa again, listen to her calming wisdom and work out a plan. But it's Commander Larma D'acy who awaits them with a solemn look.
Poe nods at her. "Commander D'Acy, it's good to see you again. We have to see the General immediately." When she doesn't answer, he stops and turns around, frowning. "Commander?"
Her blue eyes begin to glisten and she swallows.
"She's gone. Leia is gone."
Note:
Poor Finn, so confused! What will he think once he finds out what all this is about?
In the next chapter, we will see what our girl Rey is up to.
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