─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
THE COMMANDER IS INITIALLY SURPRISED TO SEE JUNE INSTEAD OF RAVEN, but with a few words of their language spoken between her and Indra, June is being tied with her arms above her head to a tall tree. She's terrified, trembling violently with small pants. The grounders are surrounding her, Lexa just a few feet away as she glares. June knows why. She did think that she tried to kill her to avenge Finn and everyone else lost at the hands of her people. But despite this terror shooting through her veins like frozen ice, June can find herself able to bear it. As long as Raven gets to live, for however long that may be.
Indra was clear. Once June died, the alliance would be broken. June can see her people watching if she lifts her chin up, but doesn't, keeping her gaze off Raven. "I take no joy in this, June kom Skaikru," Lexa spoke up coldly, taking June from her thoughts. "But this time, justice will be done."
For a second, June shuts her eyes, forcing herself to calm down. She opened them again, her brown eyes meeting Lexa's green ones. "Get it over with," she challenged, lower lip tugging back into a sneer, refusing to show any further signs of weakness.
Lexa is surprised, but it's wiped away quickly as she draws her sword from her sheath. June tenses as she brings the blade to her arm that had been exposed when her jacket was ripped off, leaving her only in a maroon tank top. Lexa drags the sword down, leaving a deep cut in June's arm that causes her to let out a painful scream as her skin splits. Tears spring into her eyes, her new cut stinging like a sharp burn as she feels warm blood cascade down her arm. June swallows back sobs as Lexa steps back and Indra moves into her place.
There's a much more frosty look plastered in Indra's features as she yanks out a knife. June thinks she's enjoying this as she uselessly tugs at her bounds, trying to squirm away when the hem of her top is lifted and Indra presses the blade to her chest. She cries out in agony as it's pressed deeper and trailed across her skin, a new fresh cut being formed. June does sob this time, unable to hold it back any longer as she feels blood drip down at the new injury.
Tears stream, blurring June's vision as someone new stepped up. She doesn't bother looking at their face, bracing herself as they pull out their dagger and bring it to her other arm. Another scream tears through her throat. June would do anything to make this torture stops, she thinks, as one knife is brought to her hip. But the image of Raven in her place makes able to bear it. She gasps desperately for air, her throat scratching as she wailed again once another cut was formed.
Just as another blade is pressed to June's skin and she winces, preparing herself to bear it once more, she hears someone running through the mud and a deep voice shouting after her. "Clarke, stop, what are you doing? You'll get yourself killed."
June lets out a soft cry, tied high up enough on the tree to see past the grounders taking turns to kill her to see Clarke shoving her way to her with Bellamy on her trail.
"I need that bottle," Clarke ordered. "Stop!"
The dagger pressed against June wasn't given a chance to cut at Lexa's signal stopped them before she nodded to her guards. "Let her pass."
"What the hell are you doing, Clarke?" June demanded through gritted teeth. She wanted to scream, wanting to know why they weren't running and preparing for war because someone poisoned Lexa to break their alliance, but June struggled to spit out any other words from the agony she was in.
"Saving you," Clarke stated simply before directing her attention to the Commander. "One of your people tried to kill you, Lexa. Not one of mine."
"You should have run," Indra sneered.
"I can prove it!" Clarke exclaimed. Nyko, who had fetched the bottle given by Kane, handed it to her. June watched, seeing the cork be yanked out and the rim brought to her lips. She takes a few gulps before bringing it back down. Everyone is stunned when nothing happens.
Lexa stared down Clarke angrily, but just as astonished that Clarke didn't fall over choking. "Explain," she commanded sharply.
"The poison wasn't in the bottle," Clarke answered. "It was in the cup."
Leaning forward, Gustus spoke in a low mumble to Lexa something in their language inaudible to June from where she was. But Lexa nodded, gesturing to June with one hand. "She confessed," she reminded them but there was a confusion in her tone.
Squinting, Bellamy's gaze landed on Gustus and a looked washed over his features that June had seen one too many times. He put the pieces together and solved the puzzle. "It was you," he accused. "He tested the cup. He searched Raven. June was just trying to save her."
Almost offended by the accusation, Lexa replied darkly. "Gustus would never harm me."
"You weren't the target," Bellamy declared boldly. "The alliance was." June was shocked but was too tired from the pain she endured to react or say anything. She knew there would be issues with the alliance, but June couldn't imagine one of Lexa's people going against her orders to break it.
"June didn't do this," Clarke added in hopes to convince Lexa further, who clenched her jaw, thinking it over deeply. "And you know it."
With a sharp inhale, Lexa turned to face Gustus, her head tilting back. Despite her smaller figure compared to his burly and muscular one, June could see just how intimidated he was just by the one stare. "Yu don ge finga au, Gustus. Ron ai ridiyo op," Lexa said in a demanding voice. (You've been accused, Gustus. Speak true.)
The quietness is heavy before Gustus finally answers. "This alliance would cost you your life, Heda. I could not let that happen," he admitted, though June was sure she could sense the regret.
An even dark, colder look is brought to Lexa's expression. "This treachery will cost you yours," she whispers before calling out. "Taik em set raun ona tri!" (Put him on the tree!)
The two grounders that had taken June barely have Gustus in their clutches before her friends are racing to her. She feels like she could sleep for years as Bellamy and Clarke rush to untie her bounds, her blood smearing their hands. June's arms drop as soon as her wrists are free, draping over their shoulders, letting out a soft groan as Bellamy weaves an arm around her hip to steady her. "It's okay," Clarke said, soft and reassuring. "You're safe."
Even for a second, June believed her.
Raven can't meet June's eyes while Gustus endured her earlier suffering, and she can't understand why. She continues to take small looks at the mechanic when Abby patches up her deep cuts with medical supplies, only to see Raven is staring straight ahead, at Gustus. June tries to understand why, especially after she just offered her life for her. But she stays quiet, observing in stillness as each villager takes their turn in leaving a cut on Gustus until the injuries aren't visible due to all the blood.
Once the last person had their turn, Lexa steps forward, back straight. Gustus is trembling, blood dripping from his lower lip. "Ste yuj," he breathed out through deep gasps of pain. (Stay strong.)
Lexa doesn't respond. She holds her chin up higher, unsheathing her long sword. She bends her arm over her other and tilts her head, positioning the tip of her sword right in front of Gustus' chest. "Yu gonplei ste odon." (Your fight is over.) With that final good-bye, Lexa delivers her sword forward, and it pierces his skin, driven into his heart. Gustus gave one last, shuddering gasp before his head falls forward.
"We're not so different, are we?" Abby mumbled from behind the group.
A cold chill crawls of June's spine as she lifts a hand, touching one of the few bandages on her chest. She knew this would have been a fate Finn suffered, if not much worse by Lincoln's gruesome description, but she can only picture herself tied to the tree again, imagining dying so that Raven wouldn't have to.
━━━━━━━━
The losses they held bear down heavily the night June and her people began their trip back to camp. June still remembers the shock she feels when Clarke had given Finn mercy and the distress as she watched Gustus die his own Commander's hand. It's difficult sitting hunched over on a log, but she tries, hands clasped in front of her with her stare locked in the flames flickering. June is silent, lost in her own mind as her thoughts wander from Finn to Raven. She still hasn't looked at her, much less spoke at all. Instead, the mechanic had resided in a tent with the radio Clarke ordered she brought.
"How did you know it was Gustus?" Lincoln's question breaks their silence, speaking directly to Bellamy from his spot beside Octavia.
"He'd do anything to protect her," Bellamy replied. "It just makes sense." June looks up to see his dark eyes are trained on her and feels her heart sink when she catches on to what he means, referencing how June jumped in to offer her life for Raven's. She doesn't comment on it, instead letting it go.
"And look at the thanks he got," Octavia muttered bitterly.
Their discussion was cut short when Raven called out from her tent. "Guys!" June was on edge immediately, rising to her feet with a wince when her wounds stung in protest at moving. Raven is rushing out of the tent, radio in hand, rushing to join them. "Listen to this."
"Forty-seven of us are trapped inside Mount Weather." June recognized the voice quickly despite the static, pin pointing it as Jasper.
"Talk to him. Say something," Clarke urged her.
Raven shakes her head. "It's repeating."
"We don't know how much time we have left. Please hurry."
"It's a cry for help," June breathed out. They're alive, but there was no telling for how much longer.
"We need to do this now," Bellamy stated seriously as Raven flicked the radio off. "We've got the alliance, now is the time to use it."
Hit with determination, June nods. She glances up to see Clarke in the same state, but with much more hard features etched in. "We need inside men." Her blue eyes dart from Bellamy to June. "You were both right. Without someone on the inside to lower their defenses, turn off the acid fog, and hack into their system, the army's useless."
Surprised at the sudden change of heart, June takes a moment to process that before questioning her. "Wait, you're saying we should go?" Clarke simply nods.
"Thought you hated that plan," Bellamy points out. "That we could get ourselves killed."
"I was being weak," Clarke says, a coldness that hits June hard like Clarke had just punched her. "It's worth the risk." June frowns deeply, unable to help but show how much that stung. Clarke didn't care now. Her life was worth the risk to her best friend. Clarke yanks out a folded sheet of paper from her hanging bag and thrusts it into Bellamy's hands forcefully. "My map to Mount Weather. Find a way to get on that radio and talk to us," she instructed. "Good luck."
And that was it. Clarke walks away without as so much as a hug or even a good-bye. June feels her lungs tighten painfully, feeling like she can't breathe. Hot tears spring in her eyes and she blinks, swallowing the lump in her throat so she doesn't cry. June knew that going to Mount Weather was a death mission, but there was so much more Clarke could have said. Was caring about people a weakness to her now?
"I can get you through the tunnels," Lincoln is offering when June tunes back into her harsh reality on Earth.
Octavia gently touches his arm in concern. "You can't go back there," she says. "Not yet."
But Lincoln shakes his head, too sure and committed to righting his wrongs. "Are you sure, Lincoln?" June finally speaks up, her tone wavering.
"I am," Lincoln confirmed firmly. June knows there's not much room left for argument.
Raven tugs at Bellamy's sleeve, giving June a curt nod, the most interaction they've had since she was tied to a tree. "Let me show you what to look for," she said, guiding them to the tent.
The long talk doesn't take nearly as long as June expected. They don't know much about the technology in Mount Weather, yet, but Raven explained the possibilities of where the acid fog could be connected to so it could be shut off for the army to get through. June is listening the entire time, but quiet, taking in each word as it may very well be her last talk with Raven.
Or, so she thought, as when Bellamy leaves and June makes a move to follow, but Raven grabs her arm tightly and pulls her back. June almost stumbled, grimacing as her fingers dug into her bandaged wound. "That was stupid," Raven hissed out. She had been calm earlier, only teaching as quick as she could, but June could almost feel the heat radiating off of her now. "That was so stupid, June! You could have been killed!"
A bit stunned, June cleared her throat before mumbling. "But I... I wasn't..."
"But what if you were?!" Raven raised her voice, making June wonder if the others could hear her just outside. "What if I - " Her voice breaks as she drops June's arm, hand raising to slap on her forehead in despair. "What if I lost you?"
"Raven..." June trailed off softly, slowing understanding. Raven was mad at her, but not for what exactly she thought. "Don't you get it? It was for you. I was going to die, for you." She tilted her head, studying the way Raven became more timid like she was frightened. "What is it that scares you so much?"
"You didn't hesitate." June blinks a few times, not able to understand, making Raven sigh. "When Indra said the Commander only wanted one, you didn't hesitate." Her brown eyes become glossy with wetness as her shaking hands cup at June's face. "Don't make me lose you too and make another stupid choice like that. I can't lose anyone else..." June watches, full of sorrow, as a tear rolls down Raven's cheek. "Please be careful in Mount Weather. Please."
The space between them closes. June remembers the first time Raven kissed her, had grabbed her forcefully and mashed their lips together tightly because she was so broken and angry, and had to cool off. The moment that June feels Raven kiss her, she knows it's different. The kiss is much more gentle, and although she's so terrified she's sure she's trembling, she returns it. June starts wondering if she can feel how hard her heart is pounding from how close they are.
It takes every bit of strength in June to find the will to slowly pull away. Her forehead presses against Raven's, eyes fluttering shut as she pants to regain the breath she lost. But June still had final words to say. "I will," she promised softly. "I'll come back to you."
And as Raven hugged June tightly, hooking her chin over her shoulder, June vouched to herself that the only force strong enough to separate her and Raven was death itself. All while knowing full well her suicide mission to Mount Weather may be the time it comes.