Chapter Text
Finn hoists himself onto BeeBee’s back and the horse seems to sense the urgency. He’s cantering on the spot, almost raring to go. Finn’s scars pulls but they don’t hurt as much, not like he worried they would. The one on his leg is barely noticeable and the one on his stomach only mildly twinges. He adjusts his axes on his back, tucks Poe’s ring under his shirt on its new black cord. Poe shoulders his shield, straps his sword tight. Kes shifts on the spot and it’s probably the first sign of uneasiness Finn’s seen on the man. He squeezes Poe’s arm before yanking him into a hard hug.
“You boys be safe,” he says, gruff in a way that belies his actions.
“We will,” Poe promises, muffled in his father’s shoulder.
Kes pats Poe’s cheek and with that, he lets him go. He hops into Dio’s saddle, nods at Finn in a way that’s so much like Poe it makes Finn’s stomach clench.
“Thank you,” he’s compelled to say, “for everything.”
It sounds like a goodbye to his ear, maybe more permanent than he intended. Kes scowls good-naturedly.
“Don’t think you’re getting rid of me. I’ll see you when this is all over.”
It’s a promise and it fans that spark of hope in Finn’s heart to a flame. He grins, taps BeeBee’s sides, and they’re off. With a leap, Poe takes his falcon form and flaps ahead until Finn nearly loses sight of him. He pushes BeeBee to a gallop, riding as hard as he dares toward the mountains in the West.
Time feels like it’s slipping away. It takes all Finn’s focus to not lose focus. He manages to keep his mind from wandering as he rides, keeping one eye on Poe’s silhouette and the other on the road. Rey’s strong, he reminds himself, and Black Squadron is nothing to sneeze at. They’re all experienced fighters, powerful in their own right. But there’s a little niggling of dread, similar to what he felt on the road with Poe. If the First Order has managed to corner them, if Rey’s sending her messenger for help, it must be dire. With a click, he urges BeeBee on and the mountains draw near.
Finally, after an hour’s hard ride, they reach the ridge. When they near the base, Poe circles back.
“Start up the trail,” he calls from the air, “I’m gonna check it out.”
Finn nods, slowing BeeBee to a trot. He’s worried, yes, but he doesn’t doubt Poe’s ability. “I’m right behind you!”
Poe soars away, and it takes him so long to get back that if Finn couldn’t feel him through the spell, he’d be worried. He’s nearly to the top of the trail when he spies Poe’s silhouette against the sky. When he circles down, Finn hears him shout, “Probably more than a hundred of them! They’re trapped at the mouth of the mine, behind a wall. Follow me, I’ll lead you down!”
He waves in response and urges BeeBee higher. They crest the ridge, only for Finn’s stomach to fall: First Order berserkers, painted deathly white. No, bad bad bad. Berserkers are First Order soldiers of the worst kind. Volunteers. Creatures and humans alike that joined the First Order by choice, who fight with a frenzy all their own, not by binding spells and dark magic. But they’re funneled to a bottleneck, leaving Black Squadron no exit. Rey’s power as an earth sorcerer has never been more evident and Finn’s never been more thankful for their training. A high, thick wall of salt is built up around the entrance to the mine. Rey’s holding it for all she’s worth, tentacles of wet earth whipping back and forth, tossing First Order troops from where they’re scrambling up the wall. Black Squadron seems to be holding their own. He can see them positioned along the wall’s lip, knocking back berserkers, trying to gain a foothold in the onslaught. But they’re struggling. They won’t last much longer in that spot. He reins BeeBee in, falling behind Poe as the battle fast approaches.
Finn thinks fast. “Go low!” he shouts. “Clear ‘em out!”
If Poe were human, he’d be grinning. Finn can feel it.
“I was just thinkin’ that!”
Poe spirals up. His primaries spark, orange fire flickering on the mantle of his shoulders in the ascent. He’s so far into the sky that Finn nearly loses him, desperately trying to keep track of him above the fray. He sees him, he’s falling. He’s plummeting back down to the ground, wings tucked and fire streaking behind him. Finn sucks in a breath. Just a dozen feet from the salt wall, Poe’s wings open and he soars. There’s a flash, a tornado of wind larger than Poe should be able to make brutally buffeting the Order troops flat. Behind the gust is a wave of fire, sparking and crackling with magic, tearing through dozens of First Order soldier ahead of him.
The berserkers scatter. Here’s their shot.
He shouts, exhilarated, ecstatic as Poe circles his shoulders in a blinding pass before taking to the sky. Arrows dot the air after him, but none are fast enough to catch him. As fast as BeeBee can manage, Finn charges down the side of the mountain to the mouth of the mine. There’s no way in, but Rey’s seen him and she opens the wall to where Black Squadron waits.
They’re still searching the sky for Poe; Rey is the first to spot him as he darts inside. “Finn!”
“Rey, push the wall higher, you’ve got a chance!”
She grits her teeth, her conjured tentacles of earth pulling Snap, Karé, Jess, and Suralinda from the wall. They land easily, and with a fierce shout, Rey pushes the wall of salt up dozens of feet, solidifying it with a spell. It’s bought them some time, but not much. Finn can hear the rattle of metal and the berserkers guttural cries over the wall. It won’t hold them for long, they’ll find a way over or through it. But it’s long enough.
Finn jumps from BeeBee’s back, letting him canter to a halt as he vaults to Rey. She’s sweating, breathing hard from the exertion, but he crushes her into a hug.
“You got my messenger,” Rey pants. “Thank the stars.”
“We came as fast as we could,” he says, dropping his arms as Black Squadron draws in.
“Where’s everyone else?” Suralinda asks as she shoulders her bow. “Did you bring anyone with you?”
“We weren’t at the castle,” he explains, “we were with Poe’s dad. Kes is riding there for help as we speak.”
“Great.” Suralinda rolls her eyes. “So, it’s just the seven of us?”
“Seven against a hundred? I like those odds,” Poe calls, striding to the group.
His appearance seems to bolster their strength and it makes Finn’s heart swell with pride. There’s a reason he’s their leader; their admiration is clear. Snap shoulders his war hammer and claps a hand on Poe’s shoulder.
“Glad you’re back in one piece,” Snap says.
Poe smirks but Jess pipes up, “You may like seven against a hundred, but I don’t, Dameron. You got a plan?”
All eyes turn to him and Poe straightens his spine. “Is there any way out of here? How did you guys get stuck down here in the first place?”
Snap rubs the back of his head, looking chagrinned, and says, “We made it to the Jakku desert, but there were more soldiers than we expected. Thousands of them, Poe, you wouldn’t believe your eyes. So we…took Leia’s advice, raised a little hell.”
Finn raises an eyebrow at Rey but she smiles faintly and shrugs.
“We uh…we were made, so we hightailed it back to the castle. But these Order soldiers intercepted us, drove us west. I’m guessing they were on their way to join the others and we just ran out of luck, lost our provisions, our horses. I thought there was a way through the mountain—”
“Key word thought,” Karé supplies.
“And there was,” Snap glares. “But the mine’s collapsed. This was the only way in. By the time we realized it, the First Order caught up. Rey raised the wall as soon as we caught wind of them, and that worked for a while, while we looked for a way out. She sent the messenger this morning, when the Order got smart and got ladders.”
Poe purses his lips and frowns. “Could you get through it, Rey? If we bought you some time?”
“No,” she sighs, like she’s disappointed in herself. “There’s too much rubble and nowhere for it to go. I don’t have the power to transmute all of it, and I can’t spell it away, I don’t have anywhere for it to go.”
“And Jess?”
She shakes her head at him. “I may be the boom expert, but I have about a dozen bombs left. Not enough to get through. Even if I did, it might make the collapse worse. It could crush us.”
Poe puts his hands on his hips, the furrow in his brow growing deeper. “So you really were stuck, huh?”
“That’s why I sent the messenger,” Rey says, voice dry. “I was hoping for more than two knights in shining armor.”
Finn snorts and the rest of the squadron smirks. The circumstances sound dire. In fact, this is the worst scenario he’s heard of. His mind starts spinning as he thinks about it. Even if Kes manages to return with help, there’s no way to reach them inside the mine. They can’t go back, and the only way out is through a hundred First Order berserkers, give or take the ones already down. But, a semblance of a plan is forming in his mind.
“So…there’s no way back,” he says slowly. “Only forward. So, we go through them.”
Six sets of eyes blink at him, Jess and Suralinda exchange a look that plainly says they think he’s gone round the bend.
“Here me out, I think we could make this work.”
“What’re you thinkin’, buddy?” Poe asks.
“The First Order is regrouping as we speak, but we have the element of surprise and some powerful magic. So, here’s what I’m thinking. We knock down the wall. It’s at least fifty feet high, a good number of them will be stuck in the bottleneck. Rey, you conjure the biggest golem you can, Poe takes point and leads with his wind sweep. I’ll go behind him and distract until you guys can get past the rubble. Once there’s an opening, we hold the line. Poe keeps to the sky, using what magic he can, Rey center, leading with the golem, Suralinda, you’re with her to watch her back up high. The rest of us along the side. They can’t get behind us from where they are and if we keep them funneled in, we’ll have a shot.”
“Why don’t we just stay put?” Suralinda asks. “Wait for backup.”
Finn shakes his head, a terrible realization sinking in. “They won’t make it in time. We don’t have the supplies to wait them out. If I know the First Order, they’ll be through that wall by nightfall. And we’ll be toast.”
“This could work,” Rey says slowly. “It’s risky, but it might work.”
Finn looks to Poe, feel his own anxiety and Poe’s through their link. Rey’s right, it is risky. But Finn knows he’s right, too. The First Order has the upper hand here, so, “What d’you think?”
He half-expects Poe to side with Suralinda, but he meets Finn’s eyes unflinching and says, “Sounds like a plan. You guys up for a little rumble?”
Black Squadron look to each other, then to Poe.
“We’re with you, Black Leader,” Karé smirks.
One by one, they turn to the wall. Rey takes a deep breath as Poe takes flight. Finn centers his axes. They can do this. Poe’s magic rises in his, sizzles in his veins. His new scars pull tight but hold. Despite his nerves, he’s primed for the fight. He couldn’t ask for any better to battle by his side.
He shouts from his chest, “Ready!”
Black Squadron bellows back, inarticulate, energy keyed as high as it’ll go. Rey raises her hands and the wall begins to crack.
They can do this.
He jumps back onto BeeBee’s back and the wall topples with a thunderous crash. First Order soldiers shriek as it falls, Poe speeding it along with a gust from his wings. It’s down, the dust settling, and Poe soars out, another wave of fire ripping through those fleeing the wall. Finn’s blood sparks, he urges BeeBee forward, tramples Order soldiers underfoot. The spell weave appears in his second-sight, crackling, ready. He slices down, catching the neck of the Order solider staggering up to him, slashing the face of another as BeeBee rears back. He steadies himself. With a shout, he slices through the weave with both axes, watching the devastation rolls out from him. Fire and lightning expand from his axe blades, burning through ten, twenty First Order berserkers, injuring another ten. He hears Black Squadron’s war cries from behind, dropping into the fray and Finn drops the berserkers left sizzling in the dirt.
More charge for him. There’s two from behind, BeeBee wheeling to crush them as they ride back to the others. Three from the sides, three from the front. He feels through his magic, bends the weave into a cutting spell that radiates out and they fall. Their focus has shifted; the way is clear.
He rounds, dismounts. Bares his teeth, wordlessly shouting to meet them.
He feints, dives and rolls, twisting the weave on his way up so it deafens those near him. One down, two. Three. He pulls his axe out of a berserker’s neck to see Rey vault ahead of him in the fray. She’s atop the largest golem he’s ever seen and he almost stops dead. It towers nearly thirty feet in the air, her hands and feet buried in its salted exterior, controlling the thing with every ounce of effort she’s got. Suralinda is perched on one of its shoulders, blue skin blurring against the sky. She picks off berserkers below with her bow, covering Rey’s back as she cuts a swath of destruction through the Order. Above the noise and the dust, he hears her screaming. It’s not in pain, it’s a war cry and the First Order are scrambling to get out of her way.
He grins. If he were the Order, he’d run for it, too.
It’s working. In just minutes, the Order forces are cut in half.
They can do this.
Poe dives again, this time from behind. Finn feels the gust and the heat but it doesn’t burn. It energizes him, making his blood catch fire and the berserkers fall. The fire bubbles out of him, he cheers, shouting after Poe as he zips past. Finally, Snap and Karé make it to his left and right, together forming a loose line.
“Looks like you were right!” Karé shouts to him, cutting two berserkers down at the knees.
“It’s been known to happen!”
“You do know there’s still like fifty of ‘em left, right?” Snap calls, aptly snapping bones with his hammer.
“Sounds like good odds to me!” he shouts, twisting another spell out with his axes. “Cover!” This one sizzles out, sweeping the feet out from under the enemy. It’s enough to clear the way to Rey. “Hold the line!”
In his periphery, he sees Jess on BeeBee’s back, charging toward them. She tosses a bomb high, then a second, flattening at least ten more berserkers for them to pick off. He takes three, grounded near him. Snap and Karé take the rest. Finn can’t help but grin at her through the mess, even though his energy’s starting to flag. Healed or not, his injuries are starting to take their toll. Together, they push to the golem’s feet, darting forward and back to keep the bottleneck, swords and axes and hammers weaving in tandem. Another slice, a slide, a new spell bursts out of his plait, knocking the berserkers back another few feet and melting their armor as they shriek.
He pants. Blinks. Whoa. They’re actually holding.
But something tingles in his mind. Not good. He looks up. Poe dives one more time. Fire rolls out of his wings but from the ground, an archer missed by the flames. The soldier shoots and Finn shouts. He throws out his hand, the arrow flies off course, but not far enough. Poe falls out of the sky, Finn vaults forward before he registers the motion. It’s the joining spell, he’s sure. It propels him past the shouts of Black Squadron, lets him tear through berserkers, axes literally ablaze, like he’s a spell himself.
He comes to Poe’s side fifty feet into the fray. Poe’s sprawled on his side, human, bleeding where the arrow tore through his shirt and opened his bicep. Even so, he’s scrabbling for his sword with his good arm as the berserkers close in. Finn blocks an incoming thrust, then another, uses the fire now in his axe heads to set several alight. Poe’s got his sword in his right hand, shield barely held in his left, and they’re fighting back to back.
“Don’t know how we’re gonna get outta this one, buddy,” he hears Poe grind out.
A sword comes in from the right, glances off Poe’s shield as he reaches to cover him. Finn follows his motion, drops two more of the Order, turning just in time to hook his axe around the neck of a berserker that came too close to Poe.
“Hey, quit that shit,” he pants. “I don’t know if you’re watching, but we’re winning here.”
“Not from where I’m standin’, pal.”
Ok, it’s not quite true. But, he throws the berserker into the mess and finally there’s enough space. He brings the weave into focus and splits it, sending fire and lightning out again even as it makes his knees tremble with effort. Poe steadies him, a hand on his shoulder, and they pull to a stop.
There’s an instant of stillness, the eye in the storm of battle. Finn turns to Poe. He looks so tired, Finn can feel it as much as his own exhaustion. Poe’s bloody, lip split, determined, and Finn’s resolve hardens to stone. No matter what, they go together. This might be it, but what can he say? Their eyes lock. Poe grits his teeth in a grin and Finn grins back. There’s that spark of hope. No giving up. He knows what to say, doesn’t have to say it, Poe’s already thinking it—
Together, they turn, weapons raised. Another wave of berserkers is rising to meet them, spilling over their dead comrades into the fray.
They can do this.
The first few meet the head of his axes and it’s on. They’re in the thick of it now. Rey’s golem surges forward, Snap, Karé, and Jess intercept berserkers from the side. He can see them just out of reach, fighting their way in. Finn grits his teeth, eyes darting left and right, trying desperately to keep up with the enemies surrounding them. One sword gets past, nicks his arm. Another comes from the side, thankfully glancing off his cuirass. There’s maybe thirty left, and they’ve faced worse odds. But there’s something. Finn takes a breath.
He feels the joining spell humming in his chest, in his blood. There’s something there, just beneath the surface, all he has to do is call on it.
“Poe?”
“I feel it.”
“You ready?”
Poe grunts, blocking another berserker, then two. “Do it.”
Finn reaches deep, pulling on the bond between them. He can feel Poe’s magic siphon to him, building in the space around him. The air begins to whirl, gently at first, growing in strength as it does from Poe’s wings. The berserkers closest to them waver, unsettled by this new magic. Focus, focus, feel through it. His spell weave appears in front of him, fiery around the edges like he’s never seen it before. Poe pants behind him, his ring burns on Finn’s chest, the winds whirl faster, buffeting the soldiers around them until they can barely hold their ground. The air whips, streaked with fire now, he focuses on the weave and wills the right shape to appear.
Wind shrieks in his ears, he pauses. There. He sees it, the spell shape appears. He lunges for it, a twist, overhand strike, a cut—
“Cover!!”
Black Squadron somehow hear him and drop, Rey throws up a shield spell. Then, their magic merges; the storm tears out. The winds cut through everything in its path, the berserkers flattened and torn to shreds. There’s a horrible scream, from the wind, from the Order soldiers, but he knows. His friends are safe; he can feel Rey’s charm.
A few seconds of chaos, and it’s over.
They’ve won.
Finn falls to his knees, shaking to his core. Poe slumps beside him, panting, but his grip is firm on Finn’s shoulder.
“Didn’t…didn’t know you could do that.”
Finn huffs a laugh, leans into Poe’s side. “I didn’t either.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Rey’s golem dissolving. She’s swaying on her feet, but Jess and Suralinda are there to hold her up. Snap and Karé whoop and shout, running flat out toward them. Fuck, he’s exhausted. Every muscle aches, he’s pretty sure the scar on his side has ripped and there’s new wounds all over his body he hadn’t noticed.
But, they did it.
Finn sneaks his hand around Poe’s and squeezes, hoping that conveys the relief flooding him. When Poe squeezes back, he knows it has. For an instant, their joining spell is all he can feel and it warms him the way only Poe can. He leans in, kisses Poe’s split lip as gently as he can, just to reassure himself Poe’s ok. Poe cups the back of his neck, pressing their foreheads together, and murmurs, “Guess we made it through the night.”
Finn snorts, “You’re ridiculous,” and kisses Poe’s cheek.
“You started it,” Poe teases, but before Finn can say anything else, the others are crashing into them, shouting and screaming, joyous, astonished. There’s so many questions raining down on him, Finn can’t think straight. But, there’ll be time. They won this fight, they did it together, like he said they would, even if his plan did sound ridiculous. There will be more battles to come, more to work through in their bond. The fight is far from over. But they’re here. They’re alive. And that’s enough for now.
Epilogue—
Six Months Later
“We’ve received word that the First Order is regrouping at the Exegol Wastes,” Leia says to her war table. “Thanks to Rey and Commander Dameron.”
Half the table’s eyes slide to Poe, the other half to Finn, and he can’t help but grin.
“No,” Leia lets out a long-suffering sigh. “The other one.”
That doesn’t help clear anything up, the eyes just switch sides, and Finn can hear Leia muttering under her breath, “Swear to all the gods, they do this to me on purpose.”
“That said,” she continues, “we’ll need a team to lead the assault.”
“Didn’t the intel say there were war balloons now?” someone down the table asks. Beaumont, he thinks. “How exactly are we going to contend with that?”
Finn turns at the same time Poe does. “I have an idea for that.”
“We go in hot,” Poe says, pointing to the map on the table, “come from the north and the west. If we can flank ‘em before they take cover in that mess, we can stop their war balloons from taking off.”
Leia arches an eyebrow. “Are you volunteering to lead?”
Poe smirks at her, “As if you need to ask?” and she rolls her eyes.
“How long do you need?” Rose asks. “It’ll take some time to mobilize what we’ve got left.”
“She has a point, Commander. We won’t have the guardian army summoned for several days.”
“That should be enough time for us to draw them out,” Finn says. “We just need to get them out in the open. Rey can send back a safe trail through the wastes with her messenger. Then, you follow in. Chewie, Kes, and Lando lead the way, they’re the best navigators you have. If you can get the army to us, we can put a stop to this once and for all.”
Kes and Lando are nodding, Chewie roars from down the table, and Finn’s pretty sure that means they’re in. He glances at Poe and sees a familiar look in his eye that matches the hot, primed feeling plucking the string of their bond.
“Ok,” Leia says, spreading her hands in a decisive move. “You’ve got it. Let’s get to it.”
Poe grins at him, and together they leap from the table. Finn watches Poe’s back all the way down to the armory, where Black Squadron has already been waiting.
“So, what’s the news?” Rey asks.
“We’re on it.”
The gathered knights grin viciously at each other. Since their last battle at D’Qar, they’ve been spoiling for a fight, eager to strike back. They shoulder their weapons, armor up, gather supplies to start loading their horses. In no time at all, Finn’s on BeeBee’s back. The others ride out to the gates ahead of him and Finn feels familiar battle nerves jangling in his gut. Poe pulls up short of the others, lays his hand on Finn’s thigh and looks up at him.
“You alright?”
“Yeah,” Finn smiles. “Just the usual.” He can feel Poe’s concern mix through their bond and it eases him some. “Just gonna worry the whole time.”
Poe smirks up at him, fits a boot in BeeBee’s stirrup and pulls himself up to Finn’s level.
“So, what else is new?” he asks. “We’ll be alright. We always are.”
He plants a firm kiss on Finn’s lips, grins roguishly as he jumps from the saddle, transforming mid-leap like the show-off he is. Finn shakes his head, heart swelling as Poe takes to the sky. This may be the biggest fight of their life and all he can think about is how much he loves that idiot. Sap, his brain supplies in a familiar refrain. Yeah, that’s true. But, Poe’s worse. Finn repeats to himself Poe’s favorite phrase, the one he gently whispers into his skin, a mantra for every day they fight: As long as we’re together, we’ll make it through the night.