Chapter 4: We'll See Each Other Again

Finn had to give Starkiller Base this much: it wasn't Jakku.

Quite the opposite, in fact, as he followed Han and Chewie at a jog across the powdery plains. He would gladly trade snow for sand any day. So it was a shame, really, that he had to experience a wintry landscape while still under great emotional distress.

Although any way to get to Rey was fine with him, Finn wasn't sure he would have preferred to embark on a dangerous rescue mission - started by crash-landing the Falcon - with Han and Chewie. The old smuggler had actually waved him off when Finn had rushed towards him on Takodana in a blind panic, babbling how, "He took her! Did you see that? He took her!"

Making a stop at the Resistance base on D'Qar - in the Illeenium System, as BB8 had said - had not eased Finn's impatience, although meeting Leia Organa had been incredible. When a mission to destabilize the base's shields had come up, Finn had readily volunteered to go, claiming that as a Stormtrooper, he knew where the shields were and how to turn them off.

He didn't know how to turn them off. He barely knew where they were. Honesty - that had lasted about a parsec. Just like that, Lying Finn was back.

He only hoped that he and his comrades could bullshit their way through enough that Han didn't have to know his impotence. Oh, who was Finn kidding? He probably did. He'd figured Finn out quicker than a Sabaac player concealing his hand.

"The flooding tunnel's over that ridge. We'll get in that way," Finn reported as he and his buddies slowed to a stop behind an edifice on the base. He just hoped Han didn't ask how he knew that.

Han didn't ask that. He asked a question far worse. "What was your job when you were based here?"

Fuck it. "Sanitation."

All at once, Han had seized the youngster by the scruff of his collar and slammed him back into the wall.

"Sanitation?" Han was practically spitting. "Then how do you know how to disable the shields?"

"I don't," Finn admitted. "I'm just here to get Rey." He vaguely observed that he really should be more critical of his own chronic dishonesty, saying anything he had to in order to be back near Rey, make sure she was safe.

If Finn was expressing internal regret at being so deceitful, Han was livid. "People are counting on us! The galaxy is counting on us!"

"Solo: we'll figure it out. We'll use the Force!"

Han gaped at him. The old smuggler had been on high-stakes missions before, and here - on the biggest gamble of his illustrious career - his one ticket in had rendered an answer equivalent to saying My Crait ice dog ate my homework.

"That's not how the Force works!" Han hissed with exasperated rage. All that saved Finn from Han wringing his neck was Chewbacca, complaining about he was cold even with a fur coat.

A chance encounter with Finn's former commander luckily led them right to the shields and how to disable them. And it didn't take the trio long to find Rey after that, who by that time had somehow managed to break out of her containment area and was wandering about the base. Unfortunately, Finn and Han nearly got their heads blown off as, rounding a corner, Rey nearly shot them both with a confiscated blaster.

The girl gasped in amazement at their presence, and she was particularly moved to see Finn.

"What happened to you? Did he hurt you?"

"Finn, what are you doing here?"

"I came back for you." Chewie howled. "What did he say?"

She gazed at him. "That it was your idea." Rey could barely keep the overjoyed smile off her face. You came back for me, she thought. For the briefest flash, she had the sudden urge to pull Finn close and kiss him. Her cheeks coloring slightly at the thought, she merely tugged him into a long hug instead. "Thank you."

The pair held each other like that for a long moment. Rey came to find... she rather liked being nestled in Finn's arms. He was warm, lean and firm, yet he held her with the gentlest touch Rey had ever felt.

"How did you escape?" Finn murmured low in her ear. His soft voice sent content thrills through Rey's body.

"I can't explain it," she crooned. "And you wouldn't believe it."

They were still locked in a close embrace, not wanting it to end. And Han noticed. "Escape now. Hug later."

Rey broke away, flushing.

Rey didn't have much time to mourn the loss of Han, wiping the freezing tears from her cheeks as Finn piloted a stolen snow speeder frantically across Starkiller Base. The wind gusted against her skin, and she burrowed herself deeper into the jacket Finn had passed off to her, insisting in a fit of gallantry that she should be warm.

The stolen jacket that had first brought them together. Already, it smelled of Finn, and its warmth was like an extension of him, even as he was seated in the chair next to her.

Lasers pinged at them from Snowtroopers giving chase. Rey squealed in terror as one dodged past her head, and she turned around in her seat to fire back with a blaster.

"Switch places!" Finn bellowed over the roar of the engines. They scrambled about each other, keeping their heads ducked low, and Rey took the wheel. She had barely taken control when -

PING! A shot from behind exploded almost all of their back panel, and the speeder jolted. The pair looked at each other, cringing. Another hit like that, and they would run aground.

Finn twisted around in his seat. Balancing the long blaster in between the seats, he took careful aim... and fired.

A direct hit, and their pursuers' speeder flamed out.

They landed the speeder at the edge of a forest of trees, Rey glancing back from where they had fled, Finn's coat warm across her shoulders. Finn led the way into the woods, where he had informed her that the Falcon was parked on the other side.

"The Falcon's this way!" Through a grove of trees, a sudden crackle made them both halt. And there stood Kylo Ren, the red glow of his saber making him even more grotesque.

"We're not done yet," he snarled.

Rey sneered at him, unquantifiable rage directed at this man. No, not man... "You're a monster!" she spat with venom.

"It's just us now... Han Solo can't save you," Kylo taunted. He pounded his chest, and Rey noticed the flecks of blood staining the snow at his feet. Seeing a chance, Rey raised her blaster.

Kylo threw out his hand and Rey was suddenly lifted off her feet. She let out a high-pitched scream, just before...

There was a sickening CRACK as her body connected with a tree trunk. Finn's heart dropped into his stomach along with her falling body as she collapsed into a snowdrift and lay still.

"REY!" Finn dashed forward, sinking to his knees. Turning her over gingerly, he cuddled her in his arms, cradled her soft face in his hands, caressing her cheek. She looked almost like a princess, asleep. "Rey! No, no, Rey..." His words faded into breathy babbling as he tried to hold back the tears. She couldn't die - not like this! Not now!

At his back, Finn suddenly heard a scream.

"TRAITOR!"

Finn stiffened, his entire back locking up. Jumping to his feet and finding the saber in Rey's pack, he ignited its blue blade challengingly.

Kylo leveled his red laser sword at Finn threateningly. "That lightsaber... it belongs to me."

"Come get it," Finn goaded. And with a roar, he charged. Kylo parried him almost disinterestedly, but Finn held his own, pouring his rage into every slash even as he was expending most of his energy. Only his rage fueled him, bolstered by the deep, undying love for the beautiful young woman lying helpless in the snow.

This was the monster who had captured his Rey, this was the monster who had done Gods-know-what to her while she was imprisoned. Had he raped her? Finn shuddered to think of it, and the thought - although vile - seemed to egg him on even more, enough to even get a hit in on the Sith.

Kylo yelped like a dog. Swinging his blade in an arc, he backed Finn into a tree, their sabers locking. Finn watched as a cross-guard of the red saber inched down, and then started burning a hole in his shoulder. He roared in agony, not noticing how - yards away - Rey's body and heart stirred at his cry.

Kylo spun himself and Finn around, finally finding an opening to slice Finn open along his back without mercy. The ex-trooper collapsed in the snow.

Rey couldn't believe that she had done it. She had defeated Kylo Ren. Now on her knees at Finn's too motionless body, she nuzzled her face into his chest and wept.

The first thing she had done was check for a pulse and, thank the Maker, there was one! But it was weak, faint. Finn would need medical assistance quickly if he was to live.

And he had to live, Rey vowed. The first person who had ever cared to come back for her had opened her heart to such an extent that she cared for him, too - deeply and dearly.

Just then, lights bathed the pair sprawled in the snow, and Rey's tear-stained face glanced up to see the Falcon touching down nearby. Chewie helped her carry Finn onboard, Rey racing, stricken, after him, heart still in her mouth.

Back on D'Qar, Rey hovered worriedly as she watched the medics checking over Finn's body. They shone lights in his eyes, healed the bones in his jaw. He was still unconscious, which deeply unnerved her, and she silently pleaded with him to wake up.

It took me so long to find you... someone who cares... please, please don't leave me...

A passing medic took pity on her, clearly having seen the concern etched on Rey's face, and the doctor gently clapped her shoulder.

"Your friend's gonna be just fine." With the activity of the base and cacophony of other voices, Rey thought for a second that she had said boyfriend, and her cheeks flushed fuchsia. She didn't answer, couldn't speak for a moment as she grimaced weakly, and the medic moved on.

The map to Luke Skywalker was pieced together and Rey was tasked with going to the island of Ahch-To to find him. Although Rey was torn in two over having to leave her dear friend, she accepted the mission for the sake of the Resistance.

Just before she left, she sat over Finn's sickbed, gazing down at him with sad, deep affection.

"We'll see each other again. I believe that."

And there it was again, without warning - the sharp and inexplicable urge to kiss him, brush her lips against his. Like before on Starkiller Base, she batted it away, though weakly. But her heart swelled urgently, compelling her to display... her love.

Slowly, with tender care, Rey bent over Finn, dipped her head and pressed a firm, loving kiss into his forehead, her lips wet.

And although she very nearly was compelled to use a different adjective, she whispered, "Thank you... my friend."