* THE SPARK !

      you come from nothing. you are nothing. it’s hard to not believe him —- especially when that’s how she’s felt her entire life. orphaned at the age of nine and left behind on jakku, struggling to survive until she came across bb-8 and finn. she’s always felt like nothing, even after realizing that she may be one of the last jedi. “  i don’t know. he sounds like he believes it.  “ it’s true. though, she’s not sure he can be a reliable source. rey chews on the inside of her lower lip, hazel eyes moving to meet his gaze. “  he … back on the ship. when we were separated. he told me i was palpatine’s granddaughter. that i should join him in destroying him.  “

“you’re not the only ones.” the universe is at peace these days, but it doesn’t stop the worry in the back of finn’s head. it’ll be a little easier to breathe when she’s back with them. it’s hard to stop the worry the past few years have fermented. in the past, when one of them have been gone, he’s had to wonder whether or not they were going to come back. that’s the realities of war for you. 

it just doesn’t feel right without rey and bb-8 around. 

finn feels his heart drop to his stomach, or his feet: he loses track of it somewhere as it plummets. she did. he clears his throat, pushes off the doorway he’s leaning on. for a moment, the look in his eyes is bright despite the mismatched, somewhat tentative expression on the rest of his face. “a whole company, poe! a whole company defected. lived out there.” 

he’d thought he was the only one. not because he thought he thought he was the only person to have doubts, to put down the blaster, but how many stormtroopers would have had the chance to follow through? how many avoided being reconditioned, actually escaped? how many stormtroopers had a resistance pilot with them the same moment they’d decided to defect? 

he finds an extra crate not too far from poe and sits down on it. it takes him a moment to meet poe’s eyes, and by the time he has, the electricity has dropped from his own. 

“you think i should?” 

poe hadn’t trusted jannah at first, in the initial few moments --- after all, kef bir wasn’t exactly a welcoming moon and they weren’t there for reasons he wanted to share. they’d had so many false starts, already; so many near-alliances that crumbled in the face of the first order’s might. it felt like a miracle when jannah and the rest of company 77 just up and helped them, no questions asked. 

and then again, all over, finding out where they came from, that finn wasn’t the only one who got away--- not the only one who made it out long after childhood, after a ship could’ve been intercepted carrying kids. not the only trooper to see the wrong in what they’d been forced into. poe grins, bright and wide --- finn’s excitement is contagious, layers on top of poe’s own joy at finding someone else, anyone, some proof that the first order wasn’t winning every single battle they fought. 

it has poe leaning forward as finn sits down near him, reaching for finn’s hand and covering it with his own. poe’d never be so arrogant as to tell finn what he should do --- when they met, finn had nothing put his convictions and plan to escape, and that was more than enough for poe. finn’s always been enough, more than enough, just as he is. 

but the thought of him having family out there, missing a child, a sibling--- the thought that he might find his homeworld, that it might be good for him... poe could never deny finn that. where the energy has fallen a little from finn’s eyes, poe picks it up, squeezes finn’s hand. “if you want to --- finn, you deserve to know where you came from, if that’s what you want.”