First chapter of my and disneybrony new fic, the bride, from Finn's POV, hope you guys like it.
Chapter 1: Back to Jakku
He would have to go back to Jakku, Finn realized.
He hated that planet. The endless desert, the unbearably dry air, the cynical unfriendly inhabitants. It was a far cry from his own home, almost exactly the opposite actually now that he gave it some thought. Where as Jakku was an infinite Sea of sand, Aguar 12 was simply an infinite sea. He loved the planet he called home, the lush green and vibrant plant life bursting with color, the crystal clear water, the long days where the sun whose heat, unlike Jakku's, was warm and inviting. He still enjoyed the occasional trip to nearby planets with his parents, but his mind always drifted back towards home.
"Finn!" He heard someone call, he turned to face the voice recognizing it immediately as Poe Dameron along with his rotund droid known as BB-8,"There you are, buddy." His personal pilot stated with a sigh of relief as he ran up to him, "Your folks have been looking everywhere for you."
The small droid chirped in agreement with Poe's statement.
"Yeah, Yeah, I hear you," Finn said, he had no intention of being dismissive, there was just something about having to go back to Jakku that soured his mood. "I Just wanted to look around a bit..."
Poe gave Finn a good-natured pat on the shoulder, "Well buddy you kind of live here, you can look around for the rest of your life."
Finn nodded and smiled appreciatively at his Pilot. He could always count on Poe to make him feel better, The man had been assigned as his pilot ever since he was young and had been taking care of him since. Though he always treated Finn more like a friend than anything else. Where as interactions with anyone else consisted of respectable bows, and barely concealed awe. Poe addressed him as if he were anyone else, and not the future leader of an entire planet.
"Yeah, I supposed so. It's just-"
"Jakku?" Poe interrupted sympathetically.
Finn sighed, "Yup. Jakku."
BB-8 bumped him softly and hummed lowly, Finn smiled appreciatively recognizing the droids comforting gesture.
"Parents pressuring you to settle down again huh?" It wasn't even a question, It happened every year without question since his 18th birthday, his parents were royalty, the king and queen of Aguar 12, a planet he would one day rule with a queen by his side.
The only problem was that he had no queen.
And he had yet to find one in nearly five years. Granted he hadn't looked very hard, he had rejected countless arranged marriage offers, daughters of nobles and politicians desperate to attach themselves to the name of someone influential. If he were anyone else he might have chosen one of the girls offered to him a long time ago, some of them...some of them were down right beautiful, gorgeous even, but it was their eyes that always made him say no.
The look of apprehension and sadness at the fact that such an important thing like their future had been decided for them, A lot of the girls he had met had determined looks in their eyes. Determined to be the best wife, and queen for him, but under that layer of determination he could always feel their hopelessness. And that's not what he wanted, not for them and certainly not for himself.
After getting the message that he was not about to agree to any sort of arranged marriage his parents had backed off. Except when his birthday rolled around, and the topic slowly started to bleed into their conversations more and more frequently. So to appease them Poe had helped come up with the brilliant idea of Jakku.
The idea of visiting Jakku's Wife auction.
The mere idea of a wife auction had sickened him but Poe had told him.
'Make it look you're trying and they'll leave you alone.'
It had been good advice, and had generally worked for the last few years. A quick visit to the auction every year which mostly consisted of Finn hanging out by himself at some dirt cheap bar trying to make himself look as inconspicuous as possible, while Poe went off to do something that usually ended up pissing somebody off, and causing them to have to rush to their ship to escape with their lives.
That part was always fun at least.
After all was said and done, Finn Poe, and BB-8 would fly back to Aquar, Finn playing the disappointed prince who had yet again failed to find someone suitable for him. His parents were always disheartened at the outcome but they respected his decision and never pried any further.
At least till the next year rolled around.
He wondered if he would have to visit jakku for the rest of his life. He shuddered at the thought.
"You okay?" Poe asked, noticing his reaction.
Finn shook his head "I'm fine, any word on our...traveling companion?"
"He's arriving right now, even brought the whole crew with him,"
Finn would never understand why that slime ball of a man insisted on traveling with dozens of Armed guards around everywhere he went, even to such a secure place like his home planet, it always incited a sense of hostility from him anytime he came to visit.
Luckily he didn't do it very often, visit that is. Usually his presence just indicated his parents needed to discuss something that went way over his head. There was an air about the man that unsettled Finn, he could never quite make out what it was. Maybe it was the beady eyes, the long gangly limbs and greasy silver hair? Whatever it was, Finn had immediately disliked him, even his gestures of good faith always seemed disingenuous to him.
All his worst fears about this man had been confirmed several days ago however when a routine visit form him had resulted in their current situation.
He was coming with them on his annual trip to Jakku.
And Finn for the life of him could not fathom why.
Did his parent catch on to what he was really doing there on that planet?
Was the slime-ball?
Even if the slime-ball was aware of what he was doing, what possible reason could he have to interfere.
Finn sighed, this entire situation was too confusing to dwell on, he turned to his pilot "Let's go, the sooner we get this over with the better,"
"Alright, buddy, don't worry about old slick back so much. We'll get to Jakku and be back in all your wifeless glory before you know it."
Finn rolled his eyes and lead the way to the main hall of the palace where a crowd was already gathering for his arrival.
The large extravagant ship roared loudly as it descended from the sky, the citizens of Aguar 12 gathering like always to see the spectacle, making sure to bow to their prince respectfully as he walked by to greet the visitor.
The ship landed with surprising softness despite its size. A few minutes later Finn watched as the ramp in the rear slowly descended.
There he was.
Senator Sylvia
The sight of the man made him sick.
He walked at a brisk pace, a regal air practically pouring from his skin. A dozen armed guards clad in standardized storm-trooper armor following closely. Their feet marching to a practiced rhythm behind their master.
"Prince Finn, a pleasure as always." He drawled, the man extended his hand to him.
Finn forced a smile, hoping that the man wouldn't notice his uneasiness,
He always did have trouble hiding what he was feeling from his face.
Poe never missed the opportunity to tell him so.
'If you want to be a good leader, you gotta have a good poker face, buddy!'
"Likewise...Senator Sylvia" Finn returned the handshake, an involuntary shudder coursed through his body as their skin made contact.
"Chilly, prince Finn?"
"Yeah, A little,"
The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky.
Sylvia hummed in thought before moving past Finn, "Now, won't you be a good host and escort me to the palace, I want to greet your parents before we depart."
He shared a look with Poe, BB-8 beeped a few choice words that he wouldn't dare repeat as the silver haired man took the lead towards the palace.
"Ill go prep the ship for take-off," He nudged the droid near his feet, "Lets go BB," Before he left he wrapped an arm around Finn's shoulders to bring him closer "Hang in there, buddy." he whispered.
He watched Poe go towards the hangars where the ships were docked and took a deep calming breath.
"Calm down..." He whispered to himself, urging his steps forward, "Calm down..."
"Prince Finn?" Sylvia Inquired at his strange mutterings.
Finn smiled disarmingly "Just talking to myself..."
It was a a strange sort of blur after that point, His parents Martha and Thomas had greeted Sylvia with great enthusiasm as they always did, he could never fathom why they seemed to like him so much, they thought the world of this man.
"Oh Martha, Thomas, It's so good to see the both of you,"
The group embraced.
"You're looking positively radiant Martha, I swear you age backwards." He complimented smoothly, his mother soaking in the compliment.
His mother laughed, his father laughed, The slime-ball laughed.
They all laughed, and Finn felt like puking.
"Thomas, your boy is as charming as always."
To Finn it was an obvious insult but his parents usually interpreted it differently. "Of course, he got it from his father, I only wished he would use it to find a nice woman to settle down with and put his old man's heart at ease about the future of Aguar."
The group once again shared a laugh and Finn groaned audibly.
"Well that's why we're here aren't we."
His parents and Sylvia started an animated conversation, getting into the topic of some of the more important events in the galaxy, he heard a brief mention of some kind of order that caused the three adults to speak in low, worried tones, but he dismissed it.
Nothing ever happens on Aguar 12.
Whatever it was, it wouldn't affect him either way.
After taking a few minutes to properly catch up, Sylvia was preparing himself and his men to be on their way to Jakku.
"Please take care of him, Sylvia. He's such a smart boy, so wise for his age, but this is something he is going to need a little guidance with." His father said.
"Don't worry, Thomas, love is something young men eventually get acquainted with in due time,"
Finn decided to cut this conversation short while he could, the sooner he got to Jakku the sooner he could leave "Well, we should probably be heading out now," He stepped closer and embraced his parents lovingly.
His father grasped him by the shoulder softly and looked into his eyes "Son, give it your best shot okay."
It was at that moment that Finn knew for sure that his parent's knew what he had been doing for the last few years.
He swallowed "Okay, Dad, I will." He meant it, he truly did. He would try to open his heart a little more. It didn't mean that he would buy a wife on Jakku or he would find love on Aguar anytime soon, but he owed his parents the effort at least.
His father clapped him on the shoulder and Finn turned and kissed his mother on the cheek "Take care, sweety."
He nodded and turned around to follow Sylvia out of the palace gates and towards the hangar. They separated wordlessly, each men choosing to get to their destination on separate ships.
BB-8 noticed him first when he arrived, beeping excitedly to grab his attention. Poe waved him over towards the ship, It wasn't one of the best or most extravagant one. It was medium sized, capable of light speed travel and mounted with only the simplest weapons for protection. It was only for precautionary measures, usually any would be thieves or bandits backed off as soon as they saw his family crest plastered on the side of the ship.
"Hey, buddy." Poe said, grabbing his attention, "How do I look?" He gestured to the dark tailored suit he wore. "Pretty nice huh."
BB-8 beeped something that made Poe look genuinely offended and to Finn it almost looked like the little droid had rolled his eyes at his master.
"Come on you two, we got to make sure we head out first, Sylvia doesn't really know the way to Jakku so we have to take the lead."
The ramps of the ship protruded out and Finn and Poe stepped inside while BB-8 rolled in soon after.
The droid strapped himself to the nearest seat while Poe and Finn took the Pilot and co-pilot chair respectively.
Poe started to flip the switches of the vessel and the ship hummed with life.
"You ready for this, Finn?"
Finn gripped the seats of his chair hard, "Hell no..."
With a great roar, they were off, tearing through Aguar's atmosphere towards their destination.
Towards Jakku.
so thoughts? concerns? likes and dislikes? always Appreciate feedback.