Chain Reaction

Chapter 9 - Friends

Paige

"Sorry about that." She heard someone say from behind her, she turned and saw the girl.

"We had to get off the planet or we'd be dead by now. I'm Rey."

"Paige." She introduced.

The pair shook hands. Paige noticed the girl's eyes looked as though she had been crying. Which brought her to become curious as to who it was Kylo had killed. She wanted to ask, but she noticed the faces of the group in front of her, except the unconscious Finn. They were sad and solemn, even the droid.

"Where are we going?" Paige inquired.

"Back to the Resistance."

Paige pursed her lips, nodding.

"Sorry, Chewie, could you handle things here for a while? I need to take Finn to a bed. And I... I need a moment."

The Wookiee nodded and waved off the girl. Rey placed Finn's arm around her shoulders and stood up slowly, but her knees wobbled and she fell back to the floor. Paige assisted, wrapping an arm on Finn's waist and letting his other arm sling on her shoulders. Together, she and Rey carried Finn out the cockpit and towards a room in the ship. Inside there was a bed and they gently laid him down. Rey took a towel and a jug of water from a cabinet. She wet the towel and proceeded to clean Finn's wounds.

"Help yourself." Rey said, handing her the water jug.

Paige mumbled a 'thank you' and washed her hands, rubbing the water up her arms too. She heard the beeping sounds of a droid and found the orange one from earlier peeping through the doorway.

"BB8 what are you doing here? Chewie needs company out there." Rey sniffled.

"He said you and the girl might need help finding the towels."

"No, thank you. We're alright." Paige responded, gesturing towards Rey's hand that was holding the towel.

Rey looked dumbfounded as she saw Paige reply to the droid.

"You can understand him?" She asked.

"I-- yeah. Yeah, I can, I guess." Paige shrugged, sheepishly.

Rey nodded and finished cleaning Finn's wounds. The droid rolled closer towards Rey and touched her leg, comfortingly.

"Rey, it's going to be okay."

Paige stayed silent as the droid comforted Rey. For a moment, Rey stayed silent, the occasional sniffle coming out. She laid her hands on the bed Finn was on, hovering over him. She closed her eyes and started to cry. Slowly, she stood properly, walked away from the bed and leaned her back on the wall. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stop the sobs from escaping. But, as minutes passed, they still came and she slid down the wall into a sitting position, now covering her whole face with both her hands. The droid, BB8, as Rey called it, rolled over to Rey and bumped her folded knees gently. Paige silently walked towards Rey and sat down beside her. Tentatively, she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't even have the time to get to know him more." Rey said in between sobs.

"I'm sorry, Rey." Paige said.

Rey turned her now puffy and red eyes towards Paige and wiped furiously at her cheeks. She laughed in a hollow manner.

"I'm sorry we met like this." She said, coughing.

Paige gave a small smile and wrapped her arm around Paige's shoulder.

"If you don't mind my asking, who was he? The man that Kylo..."