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What had started out as a standoff between the First Order and Poe’s squadron had quickly become a situation of the Resistance fighters caught in the crossfire between Stormtroopers and a very violent and well-armed local population. The mission had begun easily enough, the aim to retrieve data from an abandoned Empire outpost. Whether they had been sold out by the locals or ambushed by First Order troopers lying in wait was a moot point now, the pertinent fact being that they were completely unprepared and outgunned.
Poe pushed Wexley under a fallen log and saw Kun half-leading, half-dragging Arana out of the way. Pava alternately ducked behind trees and fired her blaster at whatever she could see, whether it was white armor or brightly dyed bamboo cloth. Finn crouched beside Poe, his blaster aim impeccable but still not enough. They faced opposite directions as if they had never left the TIE fighter, but Poe knew they’d have to retreat soon or their luck would run out. When he heard a groan and a thud next to him, he realized that it already had.
* * * * * * * * *
His eyes were constellations, swirling and glittering and bright despite the cold of glimmering tears that dripped slowly down his face to fall on Finn’s chest. Finn thought he’d seen enough of space in his life, enough to be good and sick of it, but Poe’s eyes contained a million places he’d never been, a billion people he’d never met, all just as kind and warm as the man himself.
Finn reached a hand out to smooth over the soft wrinkles at the corner of Poe’s extraordinary eyes and made to touch his eyelids, only to find that his hand had fallen back to the ground. The sound of gunfire was distant, like they had been transported away from it. Without the incessant noise pressing in against him, a word like serene almost came to mind.
“Buddy….” Poe’s tears were coming more quickly now, like the faucet in their quarters that never quite shut off all the way. The salt in his tears should have stung where it landed, but Finn could hardly feel any of it now. The edges of his vision seemed oddly fuzzy, fading to a black that crept inward. He looked back into Poe’s eyes, now directly above him and much closer. The glimmering galaxies within them called him forward, challenging him to explore the unknown as they faded. So he followed.