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“I’m just gonna say it. This planet gives me the creeps.”
Finn nods, even though he knows Poe cannot see him. “Imagine how it feels in the Force.”
Poe’s voice crackles with static on the comm clutched tightly in Finn’s hand. “No, thank you.”
At Finn’s side, Rose laughs. “That’s why I’m down here with you, investigating a Sith hideout, and not Poe,” she whispers.
Finn grins at her. “Exactly.”
“Okay, you two,” Poe says as they step off the stone slab that passes for a turbolift on Exegol. “This is where we lose contact. If anything happens—”
“Press the emergency comm button that Rose linked to BB-8. We’ve got this, Poe.”
“I know you do, buddy. See you guys soon.”
The line dissolves into static. Finn powers down the comm and slips it into his pocket. “Ready?”
In the dim light of the Sith stronghold, he sees Rose nod. “Let’s find out what happened to Rey.”
It’s been five years since the Battle of Exegol, but Finn still feels Rey’s loss as if it were yesterday. He constantly misses his first real friend—and he wishes that she could’ve explained some of this Force stuff to him. It must have been really helpful, Finn muses dryly, to have Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa as mentors. At least he has the old Jedi texts that Rey kept on the Falcon. Otherwise, he’d be completely lost.
They come to a hall that forks in two different directions. Rose looks up at him. “Which way?”
Finn closes his eyes and trusts his feelings. “To the right.”
It leads them to a massive, crumbling cavern that still screams of the dark side even now. Finn can’t help but shiver when his eyes land on the remains of Palpatine’s throne. “This is it, Rose,” he whispers. “This is where Rey died.”
Rose silently reaches for his hand. Together, they walk to the center of the room.
“Here,” Finn says, and they come to a stop. Giving Rose’s hand a squeeze, Finn closes his eyes and lets the Force wash over him.
All the power of the Jedi humming in her veins, in her bones, making her invincible until—the thread of her life snapped. Too much power. Too much darkness to vanquish. But she’d been at peace with it. At least it was all over; at least the darkness was destroyed. She felt herself begin to drift, but then—
“Ben.”
Joy. Love. Light. Ben Solo was alive, and so was she, thanks to him. They’d never be apart again.
Then the cavern began to collapse, but they escaped hand-in-hand.
Finn opens his eyes, only to find that they’re full of tears.
“Finn?” Rose says. “What did you see?”
“The truth,” Finn replies. “And even though I don’t totally understand it…” He pauses, placing his free hand over his heart. “I know that it’s right.” He smiles, even as a tear rolls down his cheek. “She’s okay. They’re okay.”
He can see the gears turning in Rose’s mind as she processes each piece of this information. “She is okay? Like, present tense? Rey is alive?! Hang on.” She puts her hand on her hip. “They’re okay? Who’s they?”
Finn laughs, wiping his eyes. “If I told you, Rose, you wouldn’t believe me.”
Rose huffs. “Yes, I would.”
She’s right. Rose might be an engineer, but she understands love in a way that no one else does. “Yeah,” Finn agrees. “You would.”
So he tells her.