Running Away- finnpoe

Chapter 4

Finn followed Poe down the alleyway, after leaving his house for the last time. He had a bag around his shoulders, packed with some clothes, but the majority was things that would remind him of home. A few pictures, some sweets, a few bracelets and other things that Rose had left behind when staying over. He knew it was a bit miserable, but it was all he had left of her.

They jogged through the churchyard, into the woods, and towards where the starship had last been seen. With the soldiers in sight, Poe stopped running and turned to Finn, catching his breath.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" He asked. "You won't come back."

Finn nodded. "I'm sure." Anything to take his mind away from Rose.

Poe gazed into his eyes, somewhat a plea. "There's a war out there, you know." He added. "It's dangerous up there."

"It's dangerous down here." Finn said flatly. That was all Poe needed to hear. He nodded, and led Finn into a clearing where the soldiers from earlier were standing. At the sight of Poe, they straightened up and saluted, glancing awkwardly at Finn.

"This is him?" One of them asked. Poe nodded.

"We don't have much time. We need to go. Lead the way."

Finn, Poe, and the three soldiers grouped together, walking further and further into the woods. Finn shot an awkward glance behind him, the last time he would ever set foot in his hometown. He thought of his job at the sketchy fast food place, he thought of his apartment where he had lived for the past few years, and he thought of Rose.

And now he was leaving it all in the past.

"Finn?" Poe tapped him on the shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Are we almost there?"

"Almost." Poe pointed forwards. "You see that?"

Finn squinted his eyes. "See what?" The more he looked, the more he could see the faint outline of something in the distance. "What is that?"

"That's our transport. The starship was drawing too much attention, so they brought that down." Poe continued walking, and Finn followed. He looked at the soldiers. They were wearing jackets and trousers, not like the standard military uniform he was so used to seeing.

"Poe?" Finn asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't your soldiers wear uniforms?"

Poe smiled sadly at Finn. "Most of us do." He explained. "We thought it would be better to blend in. But, you know. Lots of people in the Resistance are just.. regular people. People who have lost their loved ones to the war and want to fight back. So we give them the right training to do so." He seemed a little sad.

"What about you?" Finn asked. "You said you're the best pilot in the galaxy. You must've been flying for some time then."

"I have." Poe said. "I've been flying since I was 6 years old. My mother was a pilot, and both my parents were rebels. But.. they aren't with us anymore." Poe's face fell, and Finn felt bad. "But that was a long time ago." Poe said quickly.

"I'm sorry-" Finn began, but Poe cut him off.

"We have more important things to be doing right now." He said firmly. "And I don't wanna talk about it."

Finn tried to put a hand on Poe's shoulder, but the pilot shrugged him off. "I'm sure they'd be proud of you." He said softly, but again Poe didn't let him finish.

"I said I don't wanna talk about it. So let's not talk about it. Okay? You get that? You need me to explain what 'not talk about it' means?" He raised his voice, causing the soldiers to look back at them.

Finn shook his head. "No. Sorry." He didn't know how to react to the sudden outburst.

"Good. So shut up and keep walk-" He was cut off by an explosion that came out of nowhere, throwing all five of them off their feet. Finn was the first to get back up.

"Poe?" He called, dropping to his friend. He tried to help, but Poe got back to his feet by himself.

"Is everyone okay?" Poe asked. He turned to Finn. "The hell was that?"

A fighter jet shot over the forest, engines screeching. "That's our military," Finn said gravely.

Poe turned to his soldiers. "We need to hurry." All five of them jogged to the transport. It was not particularly big, and after hurrying up the landing ramp, Finn soon found it to be slightly cramped. Poe sat himself in the pilot's seat, flicking the switches. Lights turned on and the engines whirred to life as the ramp closed, sealing them all inside.

A young woman with dark hair sat in the co-pilot's seat, next to Poe.

"Poe." She said nervously, looking up in dismay. "We have company."

Poe looked up, to see yet another jet speed past. "They're going for our starcruiser." He muttered. "Jess, engage the guns. Snap, send a message to General Organa. Tell her to send out Red and Blue squadrons. Tell her to be ready to leave as soon as we get there."

The woman sitting next to Poe hit another control, and a targeting system appeared on a screen in front of her. Finn assumed she was Jess. A man pressed a finger to his earpiece and spoke, as the two pilots brought the transport off the ground.

"General?" The man called. "Hello? Can you hear me?" He paused. "Hello? Oh, you can hear me. General, it's Snap. Poe got your guy. Yeah, he's with us now. Okay, so the military down here has sent.." He looked at Jess, who spread out her fingers. "Five. They've sent five jets to the starcruiser. Poe said you should send Blue and Red squadrons to meet them. We'll be there soon."

"As soon as we get there, be ready to jump to lightspeed." Poe yelled from the pilot's seat.

"Yeah." Snap agreed. He waited, as whoever was on the other end of the call spoke. "Roger that, General. Snap out."