Chapter Text
Finn fixates on the floating boulder above Rey’s head, just out of her reach. Her eyes are screwed shut tightly, and her nose is scrunched up in concentration. She waves her hand gently, and the boulder crashes into the ground, crumbling to pieces.
Finn jumps in surprise as the vibration travels through the ground and to his feet. He rubs at the back of his neck, trying to will away the strange feeling he has after watching Rey demonstrate her power. It’s been there for as long as he can remember, just lying dormant, but around Rey--he can’t even begin to describe it. It’s like a gravitational pull that urges him towards Rey; like every fiber of him screams when they’re close. He feels more like himself whenever she’s around, almost as if she awakens a part of him he’d never quite known before.
The uncertainty should scare him, he thinks, but mostly it brings him peace to feel so connected to another person like this. It makes the ever-present loneliness inside him subside.
Rey looks up when the dust clears. She sees Finn standing back, watching her. He shifts on his feet and looks down when he realizes he’s been caught.
Rey smiles at him.
“Finn, I didn’t see you there.” She reaches up, wiping the sweat from her forehead. “Sorry if I scared you. I thought I was alone.”
A small part of Finn is disappointed she couldn’t sense him there. Whatever he was feeling he had hoped she felt it too.
“You didn’t scare me,” Finn assures her. “Intimidated, maybe, but not scared.”
Rey lowers her head as she laughs quietly.
“What brings you here?”
Finn shrugs sheepishly. “I just missed you.”
Rey’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink that doesn’t go unnoticed by Finn. He scratches the back of his neck and trains his eyes on the ground.
Rey picks up a staff from the ground and tosses it at Finn. He catches it at the last second, slightly caught off guard. Rey picks up her staff and points it at Finn.
“What are you doing?” He asks with narrowed eyes.
“It gets boring having no one to train with,” Rey says.
“You’re a jedi and I’m an ex-stormtrooper, the odds aren’t exactly in my favor.”
Without warning, Rey swings at Finn. On instinct, he blocks the oncoming hit and pushes back, forcing Rey to take a few uncoordinated steps backwards. She grins, breathing heavily.
“Don’t underestimate yourself.”
Finn exhales and strikes again, his staff connecting with Rey’s. Rey grunts as she aims for Finn’s legs. Finn blocks her staff again and again, not quite sure how exactly he does it.
Rey backs up to catch her breath. She looks at Finn with wide, wondering eyes. Finn looks back at her, swallowing thickly.
“Finn,” Rey says, still breathless. “I think you...” She lets her staff fall to the ground with a quiet thud. “Did you know?”
Finn worries his bottom lip as he looks at Rey with trepidation. “I had a feeling. I thought maybe—I thought maybe there was something there, but I never—”
“You never had anyone to show you how,” Rey says, a small smiling pulling at her lips. “I can teach you, Finn. Let me show you how.”
Finn shakes his head. “Rey, no. Whatever this is, it’s just a fluke.”
Rey steps forward and grabs hold of Finn’s hands, looking at him with urgency. “The force is strong with you, Finn. I can feel it. Let me show you how to use it.”
“I—I don’t know, Rey. I’m not like you.”
Rey smiles and shakes her head softly. “You don’t need to be like me. You’ve already got everything you need inside you, you just need someone to teach you.”
“I’m a soldier, not a jedi.”
“You’re not just one thing, Finn. Don’t limit yourself because of fear. Embrace it.”
“I can’t, Rey. I can’t let that part of myself out.”
Rey gently cradles Finn’s face in her hands and shakes her head. “Why not?”
Finn removes her hand from his face and takes a step back. “I can’t risk letting the dark side in. If I open myself to the ways of the force, I’m vulnerable.”
Rey’s expression becomes pained. “Finn, you won’t. In order to be seduced by the dark side you have to have evil in you already.”
“I do,” Finn says pointedly. “I was raised to be a murderer.”
“Don’t you remember what you told me?” Rey asks, hope in her eyes. “You told me you never killed for the Order; that you couldn’t do it because you knew it was wrong.”
“This is different.”
“No, it’s not,” Rey insists. “You were raised for most of your life to kill, and when the moment came, you made the choice not to, even if it cost you your life.”
Finn looks at her for a moment, the intensity of her gaze swaying him to make a decision.
“You’d train me?” he asks.
“Yes!” Her smile widens as she throws her arms around his neck. “I can show you the power of the force, I promise.”
Finn can feel the pull in his chest become stronger as he wraps his arms around Rey. He closes his eyes, letting the peaceful feeling engulf him.