"Finn, come in!" Rey barks.
Cannons screech and bombs thunder, but her friend's voice doesn't come.
"I can't get him either!" Poe exclaims as Rey and Ben stagger up a ridge to see the downed X-wing and the orange-clad pilot leaning near it. The matching droid immediately notices and speeds across the snow towards them.
"We see you!" Ben bellows, waving at Poe. "Come to us!"
Poe struggles towards them, limping. As he gets closer, Rey sees that his face is bruised and his lip cracked, but he doesn't so much as grimace. "We can't leave without him." The panic invading Poe's voice chills Rey even more than the icy wind.
"Of course we can't," she agrees. Which way to the archives?
If we go back in there, there's no guarantee we won't all be blown apart.
But she feels his heart despite the cold words, and Rey sees Ben's memory galloping ahead.
"This way," Ben directs. "I've got a bad feeling about this…"
"If you're doing what I think you're doing—" Leia starts.
"Did your son ever listen to you?" Poe yells.
"I thought this one was supposed to be Force sensitive," scoffs General Hux. "Where's your lightsaber, Jedi?"
"Haven't built one yet," Finn snaps, eyes stinging from Phasma's blow.
"Clever," remarks Captain Phasma.
"You don't learn the first time, do you?" Finn demands. "You're about to lose your second Starkiller Base."
"And you're going to be lost along with it," Hux says, regarding Finn with far more hatred than Finn's ever seen.
"You two first," Finn says, even though he has no weapon anymore and it's hopeless, but he won't let them see that he's afraid. Never again.
Hux cocks the blaster.
"Stop!" Phasma grabs the weapon.
"What are you doing?" Hux shrieks. "We're about to lose everything because of this traitor, Phasma, again! Again! And again! I'm going to lose the weapon I've worked on since my father died, and I'm going to lose the archives—"
Finn never pictured General Hux spluttering and screeching like this. "What do you need the archives for?"
"None of your concern, traitor!"
"Watch who you're calling traitor!" shouts Poe.
Poe.
Finn spins around to see his friend stumbling towards him, an angry orange droid spinning towards Hux and shocking the General, who aims the weapon at BB-8.
"Oh, no you don't!" Rey screams, slicing the blaster with her lightsaber.
And Hux's rage finds a new target. "Traitor!" he screams at Ben, face flushing until it is roughly the same shade as his hair.
Ben points his lightsaber at the general's face.
"Did they hurt you?" Poe asks, gripping Finn's shoulder.
Finn shakes his head. "You're hurt!"
"Me?" Poe grins. Blood trickles from his lip. "Nah, I'm fine."
"We're getting out of here," Ben informs Hux and Phasma. "R2?"
R2 chirps and plugs into the system. BB-8 stings Hux again, and the General kicks frantically at it.
"Touch BB-8 again and I'll shoot you!" Poe threatens.
"I presume you're just going to leave us to die, like you left me in that trash compactor," states Phasma. "Despite all I've done for you, Finn."
"All you've done for me?" Finn laughs wildly. "Taking me away from my family, whom I'll never know, brainwashing me, trying to turn me into a living weapon, a killer—which of those wasn't also for you, Phasma?" Her words echo. "Wait, did you call me Finn?"
"You aren't worthy of a trooper's designation," Hux says.
"Hey!" Ben glowers. "Don't talk to him like that!"
"Yeah, of course I'm not worthy," Finn sneers. "I have a conscience. What, are you just devastated to find out your methods aren't foolproof?"
Ben laughs. "That's precisely it, isn't it, Hux?"
"My methods are fine!" Hux growls. "It's just you—you stupid Force users—the galaxy would be better off without—"
"Oh, shut up," Rey snaps.
"I remember you," Hux pants. "The little scavenger girl from Jakku, right? What, Ren—"
"Don't call him that!" Rey shouts.
"Kylo Ren, then," Hux amends. "Did you decide that if you couldn't beat her, you might as well join her?"
"He's in love with her," Phasma scoffs.
"Shut up, Phasma!" shouts Finn.
"I don't take orders from you, despite your claims to be in charge! I don't see your Wookiee henchman here to enforce anything this time!" Phasma rages.
"Don't talk to Finn like that!" Poe yells.
"I'll talk to him however I want; I'm the one he betrayed!"
"You whiny little bastard!" Hux screams at Ben.
Rey grabs Hux by the throat, and Finn can't hear anything but Rey and Ben and Hux and Poe and Phasma and himself all screaming at each other.
"What in the hell is going on?" screams General Leia.
Everyone freezes. Rey's hand is still on Hux's throat, and Hux's fist is inches from Ben's face. Phasma's hands are out as if to shove Finn, and Poe's reaching to stop her. BB-8's stingers are aimed at Hux, and R2 moans as it detaches from the plug.
Luke and Leia both gape at the scene.
Luke clears his throat. "Are you finished, R2?"
The droid chirps. Another blast rattles the room. The walls tremble and Finn's eardrums ring.
"You can't leave us here!" rages Hux.
"Watch us!" Ben snarls, using the Force to keep Hux firmly planted.
"We can stop Snoke!" Phasma shouts.
Every head in the room swivels to look at the chrome-cloaked captain.
"What?" Finn squeaks.
"We're trying to bring Snoke down," Phasma states.
What? Finn glances at Luke, as if the Force can somehow magically answer how this could be, how Phasma can even be claiming this.
Ben scoffs. "That's impossible. You're not with the Resistance—"
"Of course we're not with that treacherous brand of rebels," Hux says. "We're with the First Order."
"The First Order as it should be," Phasma puts in. "Which does not include Snoke."
"Oh, for pity's sake, he's the one who founded it!" Ben retorts.
"He's too obsessed with the Force!" Hux insists. "Much like you."
"He is nothing like Snoke!" Rey interjects.
"Got your little slut here defending you, Ren?" Hux jeers.
That's it. Finn jumps for the lithe man, but Ben's closer and slams his fist into Hux's smug face. Rey knees him in the groin.
"We all need to get out of here right now or we're going to die!" shouts Leia.
"Take us with you," Phasma urges.
"That's not going to work out for me!" Hux wheezes, still clutching his crotch in agony.
"Would you rather die?" Phasma shoots back. "Trust me, Hux."
The general's face slackens. He glowers at the ground as Poe snaps manacles on his hands, on Phasma's.
"Would you like the honors?" Poe asks Finn, and Finn nods, grabbing Phasma's arm and steering her out the door.
"Is that your mother, Ren? The rebel who styles herself a general?" Hux spits at her, and Ben's fist curls again, but Rey shakes her head.
The ground rumbles beneath them, and Finn's heart picks up pace as he shoves Phasma ahead of him. He glances at Poe, who smiles for literally no reason. The world is caving in around them, and he's still smiling.
"And I sometimes feared I'd disappointed my parents," Hux snipes.
"Yeah, I'm sure they're real proud of you right now." Poe shakes his head as Phasma sighs under her helmet.
Finn twists around to see Ben blanch, but Rey's murmuring, and he doesn't lash out.
"I take it you worked with these two?" Luke inquires.
"You might say that," Ben mutters.
Another sound rips through the air, like thunder coming from the floor. Finn's heart pounds.
"More like, he worked with us when it was convenient for him," Hux sniggers. "Otherwise he was off pursuing his own interests, like wiping out the Jedi. His incompetence—"
"Whose interests are you pursuing if you're trying to kill Snoke?" Finn returns as they step out onto a familiar bridge. There are no railings to catch them, and Finn measures every step. He can't look back at Ben, Rey, or Hux now. He knows his face will give away the memories stewing inside.
Will you help me?
Anything.
The strange sensation that had coursed through Finn in that moment, the desperate longing for a father who would walk out on a bridge for his son—it made Kylo Ren even seem forgivable. Until the blade pierced Han, and Finn's hopes dashed and disintegrated into dust.
"The First Order's," Hux answers as the bridge trembles beneath them.
"Bullshit," Finn says, keeping his voice steady. The droids reach the end of the bridge and cross over, then Luke.
"Careful, traitor."
"Don't call him that," Ben reprimands. Leia steps off the bridge.
"Wasn't it on a bridge like this where you slaughtered your own father?" Hux says. "Familiar, isn't it? A replica?"
Finn hears Leia gasp, and suddenly the bridge twists, and Finn lunges for the end, throwing Phasma ahead of him. Poe grabs him by his jacket, hauling him onto the other end.
He turns around on his knees, seeing the bridge bucking and trembling as the pilots have clearly found their target. "Rey!"
Ben flings his arms out, using the Force to shove Hux off the bridge and into Luke's arms. Rey jumps and Finn's hands close around her wrist, pulling her up. Ben's eyes are wide and terrified as he hesitates.
"Don't wait! Jump!" Poe howls.
He jumps, but the bridge starts to collapse, and even with the Force, even with Finn and Rey and Luke pulling him, Finn's not sure they can do it.
Until Leia lunges, and, teetering on the edge, manages to catch her son.
"Leia!" Luke directs all his energy into pulling his sister back from the brink, and they all help, her dragging her son with her.
Finn can't see Phasma's face, but he hears her gasps, and he can see Hux's—he sees the way the general's jaw hovers, his shining eyes, and the look of absolute astonishment, like he's seen a miracle, before another blast.
"Let's go!" Finn hauls Phasma to her feet, and they flee.
"So here's your Wookiee henchman," Phasma says with disdain.
"Watch it," Ben warns as he secures Hux to the hologame table with restraints. The general scowls at him.
Leia's hand rests on Ben's shoulder, and he can scarcely look at her. Yes, Mother, I shoved him into an abyss. I let him fall into a dark hole after I stabbed him.
But she saved his life, knowing that.
Why?
For the same reason I love you, Rey answers. Because you're Ben, and to us, you're worth saving.
We're worth saving.
"Before you ask the droid for its files," sniffs Phasma. "There's something you should all know about Supreme Leader Snoke."
"What's that?" Ben inquires, sitting back, Mother on one side and Rey on the other.
"You should tell them," Phasma says to Hux. "Since you are the one who figured it out."
"Hold on!" Poe hollers from the cockpit. The Millennium Falcon shifts into light speed, and Ben struggles not to tumble over even though he's seated against a bunk.
Hux's ears tinge pink. "It's just a theory. A theory filled with mumbo-jumbo about the Force."
"What theory?" Luke presses.
The ship jerks again, and Ben instantly realizes the Starkiller Base has been destroyed. Again.
This time, he's safe with his family, with the destroyers, instead of being rescued by a hateful Hux, bleeding and humiliated and shivering in the snow. Ben remembers wondering if he were to die then and there, would he reunite with Han? What would he say then, or do?
Living hadn't seemed important, and most of all, he couldn't fathom why she'd let him live, except he could and didn't want to acknowledge the Light that led her to restrain herself.
You would kill me. Knowing nothing about me.
She had had more reason than ever to kill him, and she chose not to.
Rey watches him, listening to his thoughts. Even then, you regretted it?
Ben nods. Even in the snow, bleeding, he'd wanted his father to appear over him, carry him back.
Instead, Hux came and dragged him off, alive and not certain he wanted to be or deserved to be.
I'm still not certain.
"Does the name Darth Plagueis mean anything to you?" Hux asks.
"He's the Dark Lord the Emperor was apprentice to," Ben says instantly. "Why?"
His uncle's face starts to drain of color.
"Snoke is Darth Plagueis."