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There were no such thing as soulmates, of course, that was ridiculous.
But every time you fell in love with someone, the last words you'd ever hear from them would appear in your body, whether or not your love was corresponded.
Poe had one of these, from when he was younger, when he fell in love with the Solo boy, Ben. He was two years younger than him and they were friends during childhood, Ben was Poe's first crush, first love. And then one day, Ben ceased to be, becoming Kylo Ren instead, and every time Poe read the words, back when he was seventeen, he convinced himself that since the words didn't match their last conversation it meant Ben would come back one day.
He stopped thinking that, however, that he would ever see Ben again, Kylo Ren was still sorta Ben, even if not completely. And he was too far into the Dark Side to come back.
After that, Poe told himself he would never fall in love again, that he wouldn't ever look at words somewhere in his body again and suffer because of it.
And then, as he looked over Finn as he went through physical therapy following his coma one day, his arm burned and he saw it, engraved forever in his body, I love you.
His eyes widened and he gasped, looking at Finn and wincing, what would happen in the future? Would it hurt? Which of them?
He and Finn started dating some time later, and Poe knew Finn also got words, because Finn asked one day what it meant, but only the person could read what was written, and people rarely spoke what it said.
The worst part of having such common words as the last his love would ever say was that - the day Finn told him he loved him the first time, Poe panicked. And he kept panicking every time afterwards.
He just couldn't help it.
But it was never the last time, and eventually Poe relaxed, maybe it wouldn't be recently, maybe they would grow old together.
And then they had a mission to make the final strike against the First Order.
They were separated for the mission, obviously, since Poe was a pilot while Finn was Special Forces.
And then Poe's ship crashed and he ended up joining the Spec team inside the base, including Finn.
The mission was going well, Rey and Luke were supposed to strike against Snoke and Kylo Ren - both of whom were there - and if it worked, they'd win.
The Spec team went their separate ways, attacking every corner of the base, while Rey and Luke tracked Snoke and Kylo through the Force (or whatever).
And when Rey and Luke went to confront them, Finn followed. And so did Poe.
Kylo was alone when they got there and Poe was taken by surprise for seeing Ben - no, he wasn't Ben anymore - without his mask for the first time since they were teenagers.
"I was waiting for you, Uncle. Not so much the rest, though I would think that makes sense," Kylo said, his voice quiet.
"This has gone too far, Ben," Luke said, just as quietly, and approached Kylo, keeping his green lightsaber ignited and his guard up, while still looking like he thought that maybe it could work, and Kylo would turn back.
"I killed my father. It was supposed to make the light stop screaming, but it didn't, Uncle, what am I supposed to do?" Kylo asked, looking seriously confused and Rey ignited her lightsaber, her eyes narrowing.
The conversation matched the one between Kylo and Han Solo, Poe supposed from what he knew of it, so it made sense Rey would be cautious.
"Come back to the Light. You know it is the right thing to do, Ben," Luke said, still approaching Kylo.
Kylo didn't say anything for a few minutes, then put his lightsaber on his hand and Rey went to interfere. And then.
Then Kylo threw his lightsaber to the side. "I can't fight anymore, Uncle. On either side."
"Alright," Luke said, hugging Kylo as Rey took Kylo's lightsaber from the floor. "Do what you think is best."
They hugged for a while, and when Kylo opened his eyes and stepped off the hug, Poe saw Ben on his eyes. He was back.
"I will," Ben said, his voice stronger than during the entire conversation and then...
Then Poe's eyes widened, because those were the words on his chest, the last words he would ever hear from Ben.
And then Snoke showed up and before anyone could do anything, killed Ben. "You are now useless for me, boy. Let's see if your cousin will be more useful after I kill her father."
"I will never join the Dark Side," Rey screamed as she activated the other side of her lightsaber, Poe hadn't realized it was double bladed.
Rey and Luke attacked Snoke and the battle could have gone on for a while, as Snoke used the Force without a lightsaber and the two deflected his attacks, especially the lightning he seemed to enjoy.
And then, before even knowing what he was doing, Poe jumped in between Luke and Snoke when Snoke was about to get lightning directly into Luke, and felt the strongest pain of his entire life.
He saw from the little he could keep his eyes open as Luke did the final attack, Snoke died and the lightning stopped, but Poe could feel it was too late.
He was shivering and every bone of his body screamed.
"Poe, you will be fine," Finn whispered, since when was Finn there. "I love you," He said, desperately, and Poe accepted it. It was over.
"I know," Poe forced himself to answer and he made sure to look directly into Finn's eyes one more time and saw his eyes widen, his hand flying to his arm.
Poe tried to put his hand on Finn's one more time, but he was too weak.
He couldn't move.
