The Balance

An Unlikely End

The thunder of a thousand footfalls pounded in Rey's ears, surrounding her wholly. Her mind fuzzy, the danger of her situation never fully hit her. She waited. Waited to be trampled. Waited to die.

Trying to speak was impossible, but if she could she would have cried out The war is over. Stop. Please. My Ben is mine again. She couldn't though, so she forced her head between her knees, trying to ignore the ringing in her ears. She waited.

"Rey!" a voice called, clearer than the others.

She was in too much pain to look up, but she knew who he was.

"Finn," she muttered.

Then she heard another noise. She heard him scream in pain.

Her neck involuntarily snapped up, aching terribly.

She saw why she hadn't been trampled yet. There were three heavily armored soldiers positioned protectively around her. Ben, she thought. One of them held Finn up by the neck, he squirmed uncomfortably in the air. He was choking.

"NO!" she screamed in her mind, but in reality, it was only a whisper.

The soldier looked at her and dropped him, obediently. Finn pulled himself toward her, dragging his body through the desert sand.

"Rey," he held her close to his chest, "What is happening?"

"Ben is back," she coarsely whispered, "The war is o-"

A new voice cut her off.

The words were amplified over the entire landscape, his voice echoing off the nearby canyons.

"As your Supreme Leader, I warn you all. Fight or die. The First Order is only beginning. Say it! ALL HAIL SUPREME LEADER HUX!"

The clashes silenced, the last of those words echoing throughout the landscape. No-one moved a muscle.

Rey, startled, looked up. She then saw it. She saw the heap of dark clothing, mirroring her, on the opposite side of the desert. She saw him, she saw the blue glow slowly consuming him. Ben. Dying.

"NO!" she squeaked, feeling a pain tear through her insides, a fire consuming her like no other.

She had no voice, no mind, no breath. She wanted to lay down and die.

Finn did something then. Something brave. Something unexpected. Something inexplicably unwise.

He pushed himself up, grunting, the remainder of both armies staring him down.

All of The First Order's Walkers had been destroyed by the blast, and only a few troops remained.

He walked to them, his hope spreading through the resistance like a wildfire.

He stood before them, reaching out a bare hand.

"Hux has no power over you." he breathed.

The troopers looked at him, their faces unreadable. They were covered by a mask of lies.

"I am Finn. No, not FN2187. I am Finn, and if you want to be someone too, please, by all means. Leave him. Leave the lies. Be free." he continued, his voice crescendoing with passion, "If you leave Hux, he has no power anymore. Do it for yourself. DO it for me. DO IT FOR THE ENTIRE GALAXY."

He stood there, looking at his outstretched hand and up again.

He lengthened it out, reaching to the closest trooper, their mask streaked with blood and smoking. The trooper was smaller than the rest, almost helpless.

They reached for their gun in a second's notice, pushing it in Finn's chest, but they hesitated to pull the trigger.

Another soldier, taller and broader, reached for the gun, yanking it away from Finn's chest.

They rubbed the blood on the other trooper's helmet off, "That is not your decision alone, comrade."

The new soldier looked at Finn once again, "ALL IN FAVOR OF FREEDOM YELL AYE."

And in the overwhelming screams of agreement, an awestruck Hux had to stumble down the ramp of Kylo Ren's former ship, not believing the glass in the pilot's room to be conveying the truth. Before he could comprehend his immense mistake, the head trooper, still holding his comrade's gun, spun and shot him in the chest, dead.

He turned and clasped Finn's still outstretched hand firmly. With the other hand, he dropped the gun in the dust and stomped on it, splitting it in half. He tore off his helmet eagerly.

"Finn," he acknowledged, "I'm Grease, and it's a pleasure to meet you. We've been waiting for this day a long, long time."

The man had fair skin, freckles splattered across the bridge of his nose and a scar running through his lip. His scar almost tore he smiled so hard.

Finn grinned too, looking back at the resistance. He saw that a new figure had joined them, standing proudly next to Rose. He dropped Grease's hand in shock, running for the figure in joy.

"Poe!" he shouted as he landed on top of him, knocking him down, "Did you hear it?"

Poe smiled emotionally, his eyes slick with tears, "All of it. Why did you risk it?"

Finn looked over at a grinning Rose, "Someone once told me that it isn't about killing what you hate, it's about saving what you love."

Shaking his head, Poe grasped Finns face with his palms, pushing their lips together roughly. Finn felt the scratch of his unshaved chin, his rough lips, and his tousled hair, blowing in the breeze. He had saved who he loved. He had saved what he loved. Finn, an outcast, orphan, deserter, had become the hero of their story.

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Rey didn't know what was happening, but she knew that she had to reach him, Ben, before he died. She painstakingly inched her body toward him, crossing the massive distance slowly. No-one noticed, not even her guards. They were too awestruck by other events to notice her.

Every few seconds, she would grunt, "Ben.." Trying to tell him to hold on, that she was coming.

It took her many minutes, hours even, to reach him, the wind blowing against her, but she finally made it, collapsing on his blue tinged form.

He was crumpled, helpless beneath her, dying.

He moved his untouched face, the only part of him not tinged with blue light, up in order to stare into her eyes.

"Please, Ben, don't leave me. Not right now." she gasped, choking on tears.

Her throat clenched in pain and grief.

He weakly laughed, playing with a piece of her brown hair, moving it between his fingers, "Do you think that I would ever leave you?"

She shook her head, and he tucked her small form into him. Her head was pressed against his warm chest. The blue didn't make him feel any less alive. His body was dying, but his spirit was more alive than it had ever been.  The warmth of his soul involuntarily flushed their cheeks.

"I will be by your side, dear, every second until you become a trick of the light like me. Then, perhaps, we might move on together. You're not alone," he whispered into her hair.

His breath still felt warm against her skin.
    
  "Neither are you."

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Author's note: Don't be sad, there's an epilogue coming next upload!