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The Force is weird. Finn remembers the stories he heard when he was a kid. His education lectures spoke of the evils of the Jedi and the importance of harnessing the Force to the First Order's ends. Supreme Leader Snoke commanded it. His acolytes Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren mastered it. Stormtrooopers who passed (or failed, depending on how you looked at things) a particular blood test were sent away to be trained in it, never to be seen again.
Finn doesn't know if they lost his blood test or if some overworked technician in the blood testing lab messed up his sample. Maybe the Force chose to protect him. Whatever the reason, and however involved the Force was, he was never plucked from his classes and sent away. Now he's here on Ajan Kloss, alive and surrounded by people who care about him.
The Force isn't so bad, really.
~~~
"I've always known things," Rey says. She's half-asleep beside him, one arm wrapped around Finn protectively. "Where the hand holds would be inside a ship right before I would have fallen. When the raiders were active and I needed to keep out of sight before I heard them or they saw me. I thought I was lucky."
"It's not like that for me." Finn has never just known things. He's always considered himself a little less lucky than the average, although as Rey shifts her arm and cuddles closer to him tonight, he might have to reassess that opinion.
"You knew when to run to get free of the First Order. You survived time and again when everyone else was killed. You even survived a lightsaber fight with Ben." He scowls when she uses that fond name instead of the accurate name of the creep who tried slicing him in half, but she kisses his bare shoulder and he forgives her instantly.
Yeah, okay. He's lucky.
~~~
Over lunch Poe says, "It's an energy. Some people can tap into it, most can't. Like that thing with curling your tongue," he adds with a half-smirk before he takes a sip of caf with a knowing glance. Finn likes the tongue curling thing and they both know it.
Poe can't access that energy, or so he says as they head towards the ships after breakfast. "I'm as psychic as a rock." But Poe is insanely lucky too, surviving impossible odds over and over, knowing how to bank his X-Wing in ways that seem almost impossible. Finn thinks most pilots who live longer than a few weeks have more than a little ability with the Force whether or not they acknowledge it.
"It's just practice," Poe insists. They're crammed in together inside the tiny cockpit of this little ship. Finn's been skin to skin with Poe but sitting practically in his lap here feels just as intimate when Poe's hands wrap around his and guide him on how to lift off.
Flying lessons are probably not supposed to go this way, not with Poe's erection pressing into Finn's leg through his trousers. "You fly like you know what's coming. Are you sure you don't have the Force?"
"Rock," Poe insists, and wiggles his hips. Finn stops worrying about mystical space energy.
~~~
"It's not that simple," says Kylo smugly, and if he was physical, Finn would deck him. Rey said the spirit following her steps was Ben Solo, with the Kylo Ren all burned out of him. She says the ghosts of the most powerful Jedi can linger, that she's spoken with Luke Skywalker and General Organa. She says as Finn learns to access his powers he'll be seeing more of the dead, too.
Finn thinks it's weird, and he's annoyed that the only ghost he sees is the spirit of his evil ex-boss.
An ethereal blue hand gestures at him. "The Force is in everything and everyone. Rocks, trees, sand, even Dameron. Some sentients can learn to control it. The most talented manipulate it for their own desires."
"That sounds Dark Side."
Kylo gives him a look that might be concerning if he wasn't already dead. "Fine. Bad choice of words. Access it? The blood thing can give you a leg up on accessing it, but the Force moves through everyone and if you're determined enough, and patient enough, you can learn to use it whether or not you've got the midichlorians." He appears to be walking beside Finn and his glowy blue boot kicks at a rock. "I won the pan-galactic genetic lottery for midichlorian count."
Finn is aware that he's getting some worried glances from the other Resistance members he's passing. They can't see his evil ex-boss's ghost and they think Finn's talking to himself.
In a lower voice he says, "Why are you talking to me instead of Rey?"
"Rey said I might make a good teacher for you. Also she wanted a shower and she doesn't like me standing there with the water running through me. She says it's creepy." He rolls his eyes and Finn can't imagine how he was ever afraid of this man even when he was alive.
The Force is VERY weird.
~~~
Some species have a natural affinity with The Force. Finn has browsed Rey's book collection, learning about Ysalamiri, who absorb it, and Mirialans, who all have the ability. Not all of them want it.
A gorgeous Mirialan woman came in with the cavalry, someone in Poe's large circle of friends. She's nice enough when talking about salvage opportunities with Rey but greets Finn's inquiries about the Force with a disgusted groan.
"It's useless," Synara says flatly. "Unless you have a lightsaber or can do that healing thing Rey does," Finn doesn't and can't, "it's pointless. Great, I have an extra sense telling me not to trust a particular jerk pirate. I already know that. If I concentrate I can bring a spanner into my hand from a meter away. By the time I get it right I could have walked over and picked it up."
She changes the subject and Finn doesn't push. The Force didn't keep him from being kidnapped by the First Order, didn't stop Synara from growing up on the streets. Synara occasionally glares at the glow next to Rey and clenching her fists.
Another of Poe's friends doesn't glare. He and Kylo are too busy bitching at each other, which has to look pretty weird for anyone who can't see or hear the ghost grumbling back about old school grudges.
Poe just shrugs. "Not the first time," he says, and grabs Finn's hand to drag him into a meeting about resource allocations. The Force can be weird on its own time; Generals have duties to deal with right now.
~~~
"I don't know if I believe in it," Rose says. They're having dinner together, grabbing bites off the same plate they carried out into this very nearly private glade a bit into the thick jungle. If it weren't for the heat and the bugs and the occasional noises from another couple screwing barely out of sight, it'd be pretty romantic.
"How can you not believe in the Force?" Finn asks, grabbing a small handful of the crispy fried veggie rounds and popping them into his mouth one by one. "You're met Jedi. We all got fried by Force lightning."
Rose shrugs. "Some people have psychic powers. That doesn't mean it's the Force. I can wiggle my ears." She demonstrates. "That doesn't mean I have the Force."
Finn can't wiggle his ears or curl his tongue the way Poe can. But he can see Rey's constant companion, and he can feel a strange light inside his gut that's been leading him even before he defected.
"Maybe," he says.
"You don't need the Force to be special, Finn. You're amazing whether or not you have magic powers."
"The powers are cool, though."
Rose takes a few fried crispies. "Rey's powers are cool. Rey is cool. You're," she pops crispies into her mouth and chews. "You're you."
"You just said I was amazing."
She laughs and kisses him, crispies and all. "That, too."
~~~
Jannah doesn't question. "I know it exists. You know it exists. Why are we talking about this?"
"We could talk about why we can't find this place."
She grumbles. "Look, we were both raised in the creche. We heard all the stories and we saw what Snoke could do. What Ren could do." One of the reasons he likes Jannah: she doesn't forget who Kylo was either. "There's no point in thinking the Force doesn't exist. We wouldn't be having this conversation if it didn't."
He can't explain that he's trying to understand, that he was raised with so little information that every word he hears now is important in building the person he's meant to become. Rey's a Jedi; Finn doesn't know who he is yet. Jannah isn't worried about questions like who she's supposed to be. She's busy with the here and now, and here and now they are looking through intel about an abandoned First Order weapons cache. If they find it before the remnants of the First Order do, that will be better for everyone in the entire galaxy.
"Here," she says, and points to a place on the map that looks like any other. He doesn't ask her how she knows.
~~~
He can't see General Organa or her brother. Watching Rey chat with them is deeply strange, and he doesn't have the words to ask why he can see Kylo.
"It's Ben now," says the ghost. They're trying to break into that weapons cache. Jannah's team is holding the perimeter. Finn's the most qualified to do this part and he doesn't need the extra supernatural help, thank you.
"Shouldn't you be haunting Rey?"
"Rey's busy."
"So am I."
"You're doing that wrong."
"Dead guys don't get a vote." He wonders if punching a ghost worked better if you were a Jedi. Might be worth training with a lightsaber after all.
He feels something weird then, weirder than usual. Kylo's hands move through his, sending electric sparks through his body. It's a little like when Poe takes his hands for flying lessons and a lot like a demonic possession. They moves their fingers and the lock opens.
"Like that," says Kylo. Ben. Whatever. Finn turns, angry, but that just puts his face next to the glowing blue face, and he feels the barest brush as Ben's mouth grazes against him. The same electric feel shudders through the same parts that light up when he's crammed into a tight space with Poe, or sprawled happily in a bunk with Rey, or catching the late evening breeze with Rose someplace private.
Several thoughts crowd into Finn's head at once. First, they're in and he needs to get inside the cache. Second, that was a seriously amazing kiss for not involving actual lips or tongues. Third, that's probably what Rey's been doing on the nights she's not sleeping in Finn's bunk. Fourth, Kylo Ren nearly killed him and in fact made his life hell so it's only fair that Ben try that same electrifying kiss on Finn's dick later.
This is going to make his evening plans even more complicated.
"I still hate you," he says out loud.
"I know," Ben says though the smirk on his lips says he heard all of Finn's other thoughts just fine.
The Force is weird. Finn can get used to that.
~~~
"What do you mean, 'back'?" Poe asks Rey, a hard tone in his voice that means Finn's going to have to soothe everyone's egos later. That should not be his job, he thinks, but it's not his primary concern.
"How did the Force bring him back?" he asks her instead.
Rey's been keeping to herself the last few weeks, since before the weapons cache. He thought she might be spending some quality time with Ben's ghost but Ben's ghost has been enjoying a large part of his afterlife with Finn. Whatever. They don't have to like each other to enjoy the sensations of the spirit and flesh worlds mingling at every point they can find that feels good.
Poe has already said that's weird, too, but he says it in a way that makes Finn think he's considering inviting himself over soon. Or would have.
Rey has that distracted look when she's dealing with Force things she can't really explain because she had approximately three point six minutes of lessons with Luke while Leia was more interested in using the Force to cut down their enemies. Rey has spent a lot of time reading. She found a reference in one of the old books, and went off on her own to try something.
And now Ben is in her tent, and he's solid and breathing, and she's out here explaining the inexplicable. This is going to be a mess. Half the people they know are going to try to shoot Ben as soon as they find out. The other half will start with shooting the three of them because if Rey has done something incredibly ill-advised and deeply stupid, they will (with some justification) assume Finn and Poe talked her into it.
Finn leans his head into the tent. Ben's still there. Still alive. They are going to have so many problems explaining this without someone dying again. He wonders if his own Force ghost will be able to hang out with his friends, either in cool blue glowy Jedi robes or naked.
He catches Finn's eye and gives him the same look he did yesterday before they did that very interesting thing with the body merge that Finn's still a little tingly from.
"Hi," Ben says, and Finn sighs inwardly.
The Force is fucking weird.