When the transmission comes through, the relief is so sharp Rey doubles over.
We're on our way, Ben, she promises.
"We're ready," Poe says. "Rey?"
She turns to him, and he wraps his arms around her, hugging her as if he knows this might be the last time they see each other alive, and he wants her to know how much he cares.
"Can I get in on this?" Finn interjects, throwing his arms around both of them. There's a roar, and a massive pair of furry Wookiee arms encircles them all. BB-8 bleeps and rolls against Rey's leg.
"Okay, kids," Lando interrupts. "Let's do this."
Poe kisses Finn before climbing into his X-wing. He and Jess lead a team of pilots preparing to bomb the hell out of Snoke's planet as a distraction, while Luke, Rey, and Finn will find Ben and Leia, and then go for Snoke.
"You can't leave without me!" 3PO calls, tottering after them. "R2—don't—"
"Sorry, 3PO, but we really don't need another droid. We've already got R2," Luke apologizes.
The golden droid lowers its head. "I just don't want to be away from it all if something happens to any of you."
"Of course you're welcome to come, 3PO!" Finn calls as he boards the Millennium Falcon. Chewie groans.
Luke looks back at the droid with a soft smile.
On board, Rey sits by the hologame table, letting Lando and Chewie pilot while she, Finn, and Luke work out the minutia of their plan—with the details Ben tells her.
She nods to the grate in the floor. "Remember when we first got on this ship?" she asks Finn with a smile. The garbage will do!
"Just think what would have happened if the First Order hadn't blown that one up," Finn jokes. He snickers. "You were so pissed when I couldn't find the correct what-do-you-call-it to fix the motivator."
Rey giggles as she remembers. "Well, I was trying to save our lives!"
"Yeah, yeah." Finn winks at her, and his face grows slack.
"Worrying about Poe?" Rey asks.
"Worrying about Ben?"
She nods. "We're trying to do the impossible, you know? Bring down a Sith that's never been taken down before." She snorts. "It's almost like, I'm okay if something happens to me. But I don't know if I'll be okay if something happens to him."
"I feel the same way about Poe."
I feel that way about you, comes Ben's voice.
Rey thinks back to Jakku, the place where, in spite of everything, at night when insomnia plagued her, she imagined happy endings. "Is it too much to hope for a happy ending?" she asks, because she wants one for herself, for Ben. She wants to raise children who won't have to deal with a Sith lord playing them like a puppet, who won't be abandoned. She wants to see Leia at peace. She wants Luke to fulfill what he started and train another generation of Jedi.
Fin shrugs. "We have to hope. And at the very least, between you and me…" He lowers his voice. "I think we're going to take down this Plagueis."
"In we go!" Poe's voice crackles in Rey's ears as the starfighters plunge towards the surface of a deep red planet. Rey breathes in so deeply it hurts.
"Let's do this," Lando declares. Chewie roars.
"Oh, goodness gracious me," murmurs C-3PO as the Falcon swoops downwards at an incline so steeps Rey has to grab the back of Chewie's seat to keep from flying forwards. Finn grabs onto her, and R2 bleeps.
They more crash into the surface than land. Rey sprints off the ramp, lightsaber sizzling as she aims for the bunker entrance. This place reminds her of the Starkiller, if the Starkiller had been built on Jakku. The red sands whip against her ankles, stinging.
"Took you long enough," says a sharp voice as she enters, flanked by Finn, Luke, Lando, and Chewie with his bowcaster.
"Hux!" she gasps.
"Here. Your husband might need this," Hux says, shoving a lightsaber hilt at her. "Your husband is three floors down, to the left. Don't let me down."
"Don't get blown up," she calls after him. He doesn't acknowledge her.
"Let's go," Luke grunts, charging down the staircase Hux indicated. The walls shudder and echo with explosions ripping through the planet.
"Oh good, you're here." Phasma punches in a code to a cell and immediately turns down another corridor, marching off as Rey and the rest rush into the cell.
"Leia!" Luke shouts.
"Ben!" Rey flies into his arms, taking note of his bruised face, determined not to kiss him, not when she might hurt him—but he kisses her anyways.
I knew you'd come.
The kiss is long and deep, as if he's packing a lifetime of passion into one last kiss. Rey digs her fingers through his scalp, tears stinging her eyes. When they finally break apart, she notices Finn watching them. R2 cheers.
"So where's Snoke?" Lando asks.
"This way." Ben ducks out the door. "Chewie, Lando, take Mother and—"
"I brought you an extra blaster, Princess," Lando says, shoving one into Leia's hand. "Sorry, Ben, but you didn't really expect us to stand back, did you?"
"Actually, yes."
"It's hopeless," Luke informs his nephew.
"They don't stand a chance!"
"We'll hang back," Leia interrupts, but Rey can tell she's lying and Ben can too.
"Okay, while you're all debating, please remember we don't have all that much time to waste here, okay?" Poe shouts from the radio.
"Let's go." Finn nods at Ben.
He hesitates. Trust us, Ben, Rey pleads. It's her decision.
He nods. "We need to get to the center—the throne room. It's above ground." They run down the halls towards Snoke's throne room, lightsabers, blasters, and one bowcaster ready.
When they burst in, Rey is shocked to see the Supreme Leader standing calmly, as if waiting for them. When he sees them standing there, four lightsabers in four different colors blazing, he laughs.
"Go ahead," Snoke invites. "Try to kill me."
"We know you're afraid," Ben snarls. "We know who you are, Darth Plagueis."
"We know you're weak," Finn cuts in. "Because your energy is all going towards keeping yourself alive."
"Don't underestimate my strength, Finn Windu." Snoke sighs and Chewie fires his bowcaster, only for Snoke to hold it in the air. "Ah," Snoke says, studying the shot. "I believe you're one of the few to experience this and live to tell about it, aren't you, Kylo Ren? Do you think your wife will be as lucky?"
Ben's hand flies up quicker than Rey imagines, halting the deflected blast inches from Rey's face.
"Impressive," Snoke muses. "Let's see what you'll do to protect your husband, Rey Kenobi." But instead of aiming a blast from Lando at Ben, he aims it at Leia.
Rey doesn't stand a chance at halting it midair, but she leaps at it, slashing the blast with her lightsaber. Her grandfather's lightsaber. Luke's old saber, and his father's before him, as Maz once told her.
Maz.
Thinking of the orange creature opens the dam. A torrent of fury, anguish and despair rages through her, sweeping away the calm exterior, sweeping away Ben's voice.
"That's it," Snoke encourages. "Feel it. Feel the Dark Side."
Rey! Ben's voice screams through for an instant before the Dark tackles it, dragging it under its ferocious current, but it still rings out, and it's enough to force Rey to scramble for air. She backs up, gasping.
"No." Snoke surges forward, but Luke jumps in front of her. "Stay—"
"What, is she your last hope?" Snoke taunts before holding his hand out and yanking Leia's blaster away from her. He fires at Luke, and this time Ben isn't quick enough to keep the weapon from striking Luke in the shoulder. R2 squeals.
"I have no time for your games," Snoke says dismissively, and with one gesture of his hand, he freezes each and every one of them. Rey can't move. Neither can Ben, or anyone.
This can't be happening.
"Do you need backup?" Poe yells through a transceiver.
Finn screams, and Rey realizes Snoke's lunged at him, burning a darksaber into Finn's shoulder. "Don't you remember when Kylo Ren did this to you?" he snarls. "Doesn't it make you feel the anger, the—"
He's desperate, Rey realizes as hope begins to surge. She can breathe. She can talk, she can think—
Together, Ben encourages her.
"Don't you hate him?" Snoke sneers. "Think about what he's done to you—taken the girl you loved, burned you, killed his own father in front of you, slashed your spine and tortured you, tortured countless others—"
Rey closes her eyes, Finn's screams still surging through her ears. She falls back to another place, a blue sleepless night, where Ben talks to her, and it's working—she can twitch her hands, her elbow jerks, and Snoke's hold breaks.
"You forgot about forgiveness, bastard!" Finn shouts, his purple saber surging up to meet with Snoke's darksaber. Snoke gapes.
"That's right," Finn snarls. "Kylo Ren is dead. Ben Solo is alive, and I've forgiven him all of that, and guess what, Snoke? I fell in love with another man!" He slashes at Snoke, who blocks his blow and whirls around to block a blow from Ben. Rey charges at him, grazing Snoke's thigh. He howls and Rey barely dodges a swipe from the darksaber—now another—shit, it burns her, it strings and throbs and she screams.
Chewie roars and fires the bowcaster, which slams into Snoke's shoulder. Snoke gapes at the Wookiee as if he can't believe such a lowly creature could actually wound him.
From her place on the floor, through the haze of tears, Rey sees Leia crawling, her hand outstretched, and watches as her discarded blaster starts to wobble.
"No!" Luke jumps up, thrusting his blaster to block a blow aimed at Chewie. He succeeds, but Snoke waves his arms and freezes them all again.
Rey's weakened, but she can still do this. She has to. Grimacing, she calls to Ben, and she lets their first moments on contact on Ahch-To call to her, lets the memories of so many moments flow through her: the moment she realized she cared too much about him to let him die and willingly took the blaster shot, even though she didn't know yet what he would become, but only had hopes for him, and those hopes were powerful themselves, the moment she heard him calling to her through gray, dreamless unconsciousness, time he taught her own, the moment he kissed her. Swimming, the moment she bared her body to him and realized he wanted her, the moment she married him…
"Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" Snoke's voice trickles in. "And now I'll finally wipe out the last of the Jedi. Your followers will fall to the Dark Side after you're gone—"
"If you strike me down," Luke croaks. "I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
"Because we are the Jedi!" Rey shouts as the hold breaks. "We've made our choices, Snoke!"
The blaster zooms in to Leia's hands, and she fires at Snoke, hitting him precisely where Chewie's bowcaster him earlier, and suddenly Snoke might as well be dancing as he avoids blaster after shot after lightsaber. It's the desperate, hideous dance of a creature trying to avoid death, and Rey feels sick.
And then Snoke's foot snakes out, sending Luke sprawling on the ground.
"Stop it!" Lando rushes towards Snoke, and Snoke laughs as he raises the darksaber.
"And to think you thought you had a chance," Snoke sneers, before swiping at Lando's head instead of Luke's.
But the blow doesn't land. There's a huge crash, and Ben grabs Rey by the waist, diving out of the way as an X-Wing smashes through the ceiling, sending black slabs scattering and light flooding the throne room.
"Thought you needed some help," Poe groans as he slips out of the crashed X-Wing, BB-8 dropping out behind him and rolling as if in a daze.
'Thanks, buddy," Finn stammers. The Supreme Leader lies on the ground, feebly stirring next to a dark fissure that's opened. The black slabs have fallen back to reveal red earth, and below that, nothing but rough rocks and darkness. Luke scrambles to his feet, lightsaber carefully trained on Snoke. Ben and Rey inch closer, the blue and red of their lightsabers sizzling together.
Luke kicks the darksaber into the deep void.
"Did we do it?" Poe wonders.
Like a cat, Snoke springs back to his feet as if provoked by Poe's words. He swings out and grabs hold of Ben's lightsaber, but his hands don't even fall off.
He's channeling all the energy he possesses, Finn realizes. The full power of the Dark Side.
Ben cries out, and Rey swings at Snoke, but he shrugs her and her blue saber off. She falls back and Leia manages to grab her and keep her from falling into the hole.
Snoke wrenches the lightsaber away from Ben as a bomb strikes nearby. Finn screams as more debris rumbles around them, and Poe grabs him, protecting Finn's head as they wait for the rumbling to stop.
Panicked, Finn scrambles upwards. The room is in ruins, but Luke and R2 stand on the other side of the room with Lando and Chewie. BB-8, Leia, and Rey are on the same side of the room as Finn and Poe, and Ben—
Finn gulps. Ben's staggering to his feet on an incline directly below Finn and Poe. But so, too, is Snoke, holding Ben's lightsaber. It sparks a hateful red, and Snoke freezes Ben.
Rey closes her eyes, but there isn't enough time. Finn knows.
"What do we do?" Poe gasps.
Finn grips his lightsaber, focusing on the brave violet glow. "I know what I need to do." He's never felt this much fear in his entire life, not when he escape the First Order, not when Kylo Ren took Rey on Takodana, not in the Cave of Evil.
"You do?"
"But I don't know if I have the strength to do it," Finn admits and turns to the man he loves so, so much. "Will you help me?"
Poe nods, eyes alight with hope. "Anything."
"Would you like to see how your husband died, Princess?" Snoke howls. "Stuck through, gutted like an animal and tossed into a pit? I'll show you." He laughs. "But I'll unfreeze him first, so you can see him scream and squirm."
"Then forgive me." Finn wishes he could kiss Poe, touch him, anything, but instead he jumps, soaring through the air and slamming into Snoke's back, toppling the creature.
The blade cuts through him, and hope overtakes him before the pain can even touch him.
"Finn!"
Every one of them screams his name. Snoke staggers, his hand to his throat, the burn from Finn's lightsaber still smoking. Ben's lightsaber tumbles into the pit.
And then Snoke's gone, he's running past all of them, barely alive but still alive by some Dark Power Ben doesn't even want to consider, and Ben's crawling towards his friend.
"Hold on, Finn," Ben begs, watching Finn struggle, his eyes searching for someone behind him, someone who lands with a thunk behind him.
"Buddy!" Poe drops to his knees. "Finn—what do we do?" he shouts, turning to Ben, to Mother, to Rey. "What do we do?"
Finn reaches out, grasping Poe by the wrist. "I love you," he rasps.
Poe's jaw bobbles as he tries to find words. "I know."
Finn's breathing shallows, and he drops his head back, eyes roving back and forth. "Make sure you…"
He doesn't finish, but Ben knows what he means.
"No," Poe whispers, fists tightening as he screams and screams, a wordless cry of agony, and Ben knows he's verbalizing what they're all feeling, what his mother must have felt when Father died.
"My friend," Rey sobs, dropping down and pressing her lips against Finn's forehead.
Chewie screams, and Mother sobs.
"We have to finish this," Ben chokes out.
"How?" demands Luke. "Snoke's weakened, but—"
"Finn," cries Poe, clutching his lover's face. B-8 lets out a shrill wail. "You're a hero, you know that? You're our hero."
"Poe, a Star Destroyer's powering up!" Jessika's voice filters through a radio. "Do we take it out?"
"No!" Rey shouts. "No, let it go! Snoke's got to be trying to escape on it."
"Are you crazy?" demands Lando.
She looks at Ben, her eyes streaming and face torn apart with wracking sobs. "I know what—I know how—we can end this. But we've got to move now."
I'm so sorry, everyone! A friend of mine specifically requested me to write a story with a sacrificial death for Finn, so I have delivered. Finn is actually the character I relate to most out of all the new TFA characters, so it was painful to write.