Confronting Fear

The End

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

Your Guardian Angel- The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

The four were silent as they carried the bodies into the smaller of the Millennium Falcon's two cabins, laying them out side-by-side. It still bothered Finn to see the two of them together, but despite his disapproval he knew Rey would want it this way.

Finn stared at the face of his best friend, now blurred by tears. This was not supposed to happen this way. They were all supposed to celebrate together. She wasn't supposed to die!

"We'd best get out of here before the lightning hits us," Lando spoke softly with none of his usual gusto.

Finn didn't even move to nod as the other three filed out of the room leaving Finn alone with his friend and his thoughts. Absent-mindedly he took Rey's cold hand in his own when he vaguely realized the significance that he could take her hand at all. Force wielders' bodies dissolve into the Force upon death, why hadn't she? Why didn't either of them? The Dyad bond?

We're either both dead or both alive.

Her words rang in his mind.

He'd never felt Ben die, only Rey.

With a hope and a prayer he took Ben's hand for the first time and there it was! The tiniest spark of Life Force, right in his very center! He was alive! Just barely but Finn could work with this. He could also feel that same Life Force connected to Rey, like a tether keeping her on this plane.

The healing crystals can bring someone back from even the brink of death, a voice he could almost hear whispered in his mind.

His face fell. He could use the crystals if only he knew how. With a shake of his head he dropped both hands, running into the lounge to grab his pack. That wasn't a detail he had time to worry about now. He emptied the contents onto the floor searching for the durasteel box that housed the crystal treasure.

He had to try, for Rey.

"Finn, what...." he heard Jannah ask distantly.

"He's alive. I think. I think I can save them!" Finn yelled, never looking back. He caught himself on the door as the ship dodged one of the fiery asteroids that made up the belt cutting Exegol off from the rest of the galaxy.

He settled himself on the floor between his friends, taking a hand from both into one of his own, the large chunk of crystal setting on his lap.

He could feel the crystals power moving through him like a conduit. Using the technique Eirny taught him he drew Life Force from the crystals into himself, feeling the orange fire burn in his veins. He pushed it through, out from his hands and into the bodies at his side. Eyes scrunched shut, he continued to draw from the crystal, and from himself, and from the three others in the cockpit.

He drew and drew until he felt the crystals shatter in his lap, but still he went, feeding them the fire from within his own center.

"FINN STOP!" he heard a distant voice shout as his cheek started to sting. Opening his eyes at last, he found himself hunched over, the crystal blown to shards around him. Chewy and Lando stared at him from eye level while Jannah was on her knees poised to slap him again.

"Finn," Lando was fighting back tears. "Finn, you did it!" He pointed to Ben, his nephew's chest now rising and falling evenly though his eyes remained shut. He felt someone squeeze his right hand, the hand that had been holding Rey's. He dared look down for the first time.