𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭︱raven reyes, book 2

xxi. 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣.

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chapter twenty-one.
heavy lies the crown
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The rain felt perfectly fitting that day. One day, they find out the worst news in the world of - well, the world ending, and within the next few, it's pouring. They've been working endlessly. June and Raven had put their heads together with as much spare time as they had while their friends returned home. They barely got a night's rest before gathering together. It's hard to sleep when radiation is coming to sweep over them all. The leaders, Bellamy and Clarke, and the ones hard at the work they do best, Raven, June, and Monty, that is. June's head was pounding, leaving an ache in her temples that she can't ignore even when she rubs at them.

Bellamy is equally exasperated. "We've been at this for two days. There must be something we're not thinking of." June wants to cry in mostly frustration because that's just it. They've covered every possible corner. "What if we could reach the nearest nuclear reactor?"

"I told you, the meltdown started months ago." Raven shakes her head. "There's no magic button to turn them off." She pushes herself into a more stable position from where she had been leaning bent over a chest to point at the window. "Today, this isn't black rain but it will be soon. That's why we have to focus on riding out the radiation, finding someplace safe and big enough to hold all five hundred of us."

Clarke has been a little quieter since June saw her. She guessed why but wondered if there was something more to it. However, this time, she speaks up. "This isn't just about saving us. I made a promise to Roan. It's about saving everyone."

There's nothing June wanted more than to save everyone. It was who she was. It was what her instincts always told her to do. But she also has to be realistic. They should have talked about it before Clarke made such an important promise to an entire nation of people. "Maybe we can't," she admitted quietly. June ignores the way Clarke's face fell as if she relied on her best friend's belief, but there was a weight crushing her shoulders. She can't hold onto that hope any longer if she wanted to breathe.

"But maybe we can," Raven argued. "That's why we need to tell everyone. Crowdsource it. If there's a Mount Weather out there, the grounders will know about it."

"You think they're just gonna tell us? Just like that?" Bellamy questioned. "If you tell everybody they're going to die, the Coalition is over, Roan falls, and the grounders will be at our gate."

"You could give them the benefit of the doubt, you know," June pointed out. There's a hint of anger in her tone instead of tiredness now. "You have to think about the consequences if we don't tell them."

Raven doesn't want to stand and listen to any of them buttheads. She knows they don't have time for it. "Then just tell our people. We need more minds on this problem," she declared. She can see how exhausted June is becoming, how tirelessly she has been working from the minute she found out. June's wearing herself out to put everyone first and she hates that Raven noticed. "On The Ark, people volunteered for the Culling because they were told the truth and given a choice." Her eyes narrow to Clarke with blame before her voice hardened. "A choice your dad died for."