Chapter Text
“Be careful out there,” Finn tells him as Poe smiles at him, holding his shoulders.
“I always am.”
“A month ago you almost crashed with a TIE fighter.”
Poe laughed at that and pulled Finn close for a hug. Finn squeezes him tight, as he always does. Poe is good, the best actually, but that doesn’t change the fact that being an X-wing pilot is dangerous.
“I promise I’ll come back. I’ve got something I want to talk to you about, I have to come back,” Poe whispered to him and let go. Finn gave him a nod, knowing he still looked unsure and scared. He waved at Poe as he ran to his ship, getting ready for lift-off.
Finn watched Poe and the rest of Black Squadron leave before jogging off to the command centre, where he is supposed to oversee the mission. The mission was nothing out of the regular, just a check-up on a planet with suspected First Order activity. They’d probably arrive at the location, blast some First Order ships and equipment and return back to the base. Finn really had no reason to worry, but he would feel a lot better if he was there with them. Unfortunately for him though, this mission didn’t require anything more than some X-wings and Finn knew that there were better pilots than him who could do the job.
When Black Squadron reached their destination, the situation seemed normal. The pilots saw nothing out of the ordinary and reported it’d be a short day of shooting today. Finn felt relieved and told the team to keep out of any added trouble. As Finn said that, the Squadron’s voice channel went wild. They were ambushed.
The Squadron saw many, way too many, TIE-fighters. They would have no chance of succeeding to fight them off. So they tried to escape.
Finn had to fight to keep quiet, knowing it would disrupt them. Finn wanted to tell them, tell Poe, to be careful and just try to get home. All he could do was listen to the panicked shouts of his friends. As he was supposed to see over the mission, he couldn’t even run away.
“Commander Finn, we found a chance to escape!” Wexley screamed on the channel. Finn replied with a quick approval and listened to the Squadron shout out warnings and orders at each other. As he listened, he understood that of course, Poe was making sure everyone else got away before securing his own escape. Poe had to, being a commanding officer alongside Wexley. Everyone knows Poe would’ve done it even if he wasn’t one. Poe would sacrifice himself for the others if he had to and Finn hated that, even if he felt selfish about it.
Poe’s x-wing takes a hit from one of the TIE-fighters. Poe tells everyone it’s okay, no big deal. But when he starts talking, it’s clear that Poe knows how hopeless the situation actually is.
“Finn, buddy, listen. I know I promised to be careful- hey, no goodbyes! This isn’t the end! I promised to come back, didn’t I? Listen, you’ve been my-”
Every second of Poe not being safe, Finn hated. Poe thought he was immortal and so did everyone else. Finn did not. He knows Poe is human, flesh and bone like Finn. But when Poe’s x-wing takes another hit and he stops replying, everyone else suddenly seems to remember that too. The line goes silent, with only some screams coming from some of the Squadron’s members.
Finn feels his arms and legs go completely cold and numb. Time slows down and he can’t hear how someone calls for Leia to come in, how the Squadron argues on whether he could have made it or not. He feels his heartbeat go up, his breathing becoming harder and his vision blurring. Someone catches him as he falls to the floor and his eyes fill up with tears.