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When was Finn innocent?
When he was a child, taken from his family? He was so young, and seeing bloodshed. Fighting. His mother’s hands were fragile when they ripped her from him; his mom’s skin was slashed in a way he still remembers. There were bruises and blood, and Finn sees it in his dreams at night.
Was he innocent when he was first put in the program? When he didn’t know better than to follow along and march. He was so small; the suits all fit slightly oddly, and none of them smelled normal. There was a feeling of iron in the air wherever he went.
Or perhaps Finn was innocent later, when he was put in his first simulation: when he felt the shock of the gun against his shoulder, that burned-bright feeling in his ribs as he watched the people fall down. He realized then that this was what he was meant to be. A fighter. Someone who killed.
Was he still innocent when he landed on Jakku? When his feet touched the ground and he swam in the chaos; when Slip was shot and Finn was ripped in half with pain. As though he himself was dying.
Was he innocent when Rey came after him? When he lied, and kept secrets, and they looked at each other and he saw something new in her eyes? Was there a kind of purity there, was there something different? Did he earn his innocence back, did he feel something again after all that fighting? Was he innocent when he went back to the First Order to save her?
When was Finn innocent?