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chapter twenty-five.
my gravity's centered.
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   A sight this beautiful hasn't been in June's presence since The Ark. She was practically buzzing with excitement as she took in every inch of the room Becca left for them. Surrounded by technology, she actually felt useful. Sure, she was a smart leader, but she wasn't Clarke or Bellamy. She loved training with Abby, but she was no nurse. She was a great shot, but war had to wait for Praimfaya. And no offense to Monty, but June was glad to be the smartest person here. Well, she thinks while looking at Raven with a smile, the second smartest.

Raven was distracted herself so she didn't notice June looking her way, flipping through folders with the historical blueprints of space, and mumbling to the screen. "Computer, show me the radiation detection software available for the drone fleet in VHDL." The machine came to life with what she was looking for.

Abby and Jackson were chatting upstairs about Luna's blood cells, and it was hard for June to figure out where she was needed, but flipping through files that Becca made notes on and tried to block her assistants from seeing. The further that June delved into that woman's mind, the better. They were going to be here until the radiation was here, and she wanted to learn everything about her.

While June's brown eyes flickered over the words on the screen, typing away to keep up with them flying by, she almost would've missed the way Raven released a sudden grunt of pain. She probably would have if she didn't love her. June's head lifted to see the girl wincing, features twisted in pain. "Raven?" June spoke up, her voice laced in concern as she exited out of the window she was on and crossed the desk to reach her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Raven grunted. She tried to brush June away even with the faraway look in her dark eyes that were still squinted.

"You look like you have a migraine. You shouldn't stare at a screen for so long," June observed. She pressed the back of her hand over Raven's forehead, searching for heat, who flinched at the touch like it pained her further. "Are you hot? Do you have a fever?" She pressed. June didn't mean to come off overbearing, but she couldn't help it. Raven looked almost as pained as she did when ALIE was in her head.

"No, no. Nothing like that," Raven mumbled and batted June's hand away again. "Quit trying to diagnose me."

June weakly smiled. "You don't make it easy."

The smile was wiped clean when Raven stumbled back. Her eyes were fully shut this time as she fell into one of the white chairs, her head tilted back as she took a few deep breaths. June's lips parted to say her name again, but instead she screamed, "ABBY!" In a panic as Raven went rigid, flailing back and forth in what could only be a seizure.

The doctors came flying down the stairs. June had cradled herself over Raven's shoulders, too weak to support her as she thrashed. Jackson quickly took over, guiding her to support Raven's legs instead. Abby made sure her neck was straight with her hands on either side. They carefully lifted her out of the chair and laid her flat on the ground as Raven jerked around violently in their grips.

"On her side, on her side!" Abby demanded. They carefully worked together until Raven was resting on her side, June making sure her damaged leg was in a safe position.

"Isn't there foam during seizures?! She's bleeding!" June cried out as she spotted droplets of blood rolling down the corner of Raven's mouth, smearing across the once perfectly white floor.

"It's not a normal one, but we'll figure it out. I have a reaper stick in my bag, get it!" Abby ordered.

"Won't that do more harm than good?!" June questioned. She couldn't help it. But Jackson already took off to retrieve it, shoving it in Abby's hands, who quickly jabbed the needle into her neck.

June whispered her name softly as she glided her hand up Raven's side. Her rapid heartbeat had started to slow down as did Raven's motions before settling completely as her mind was lulled into a deep sleep. It did nothing to ease her worry - Raven had no history of seizures, what could have possibly caused this one?

It took Raven a while before waking up. Jackson had helped lift her onto a cot-like chair where she could be propped up safely. June didn't leave her side once, pulling up a stool so she could keep a close eye on her, tracing small circles on the girl's twitching wrist while she waited. Abby noticed June's worry and tried to give her a reassuring smile, gently rubbing her thumb over the back of her neck. It was such a motherly touch that she leaned back in it as it was something completely foreign to June, she never got the gesture from her mother before her passing, and her father, well, preferred cradling moonshine over her.

"She'll be just fine, June," Abby attempted to offer some comforting words. She had left things quiet, allowing June to stew in her emotions for a moment before breaking it.

June knew Abby wasn't her mother. She was Clarke's. Abby was just trying to be kind, knowing how worried she was for the one she loved. But it was nice to pretend for a moment that she was loved and cared for by one. Not that June ever did anything to deserve it, not like Raven, who Abby clearly admired like another child.

"Thank you, Abby," June said softly. She knew the two haven't been seeing eye to eye lately, since she tried to stop Abby from giving the Floukru child some of their radiation medicine, but it really was nice to pretend. Even for a moment. June trusted Abby would do everything she could to make sure Raven would be okay because even if Abby didn't love her like a daughter, she loved Raven like one.

Abby rested her hand over June's free one. "I haven't had a chance to speak to you yet about... Earlier." June didn't pick up her head because she couldn't handle Abby's disapproving mom stare. Plus, she was still a teenager, and was slightly bitter Abby had still taken her gun from her because she thought she was recklessly suicidal.

Then June sort of proved her point by jumping in front of one of ALIE's shooting drones and waving her hands, but that was besides the point. At least Abby gave her her gun back.

June shook her head dismissively. She just needed to get over herself and everything she's been through that seemed to be weighing on her. "It's fine," she decided to say. She shouldn't be so scorned over it anymore. None of June's feelings seemed as important when the world was ending.

Abby seemed to sense June didn't want to talk about it anymore. All of her focus has been on Raven recovering despite having come along with the group with a plan: to save them all from Praimfaya, but there would be no living without Raven. June hated how Abby seemed to read this about her like she was one of the cells the doctor was studying under a microscope. "All I wanted to say..." She treaded slowly, testing the grounds and then finishing, "Was that I'm here for you if you need to talk."

They were interrupted the second Raven's eyelids fluttered open, June squeezed Raven's hand in hers. She sat up straighter in worry. "Raven?" She uttered hopefully.

June felt the squeeze be returned as Raven slowly came to. The touch made her gasp in consolation. She met June's eyes before closing them and a tired smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "June," she sighed back in relief.

The hand Abby stroked through Raven's hair had the girl leaning into it. She opened her eyes again to see the doctor. "Oh... Something happened," she whispered. There was a dreamy look on Raven's face that did nothing to ease June's worry. It only made it skyrocket again. Who was so serene after a seizure?

"Raven, you had a seizure," Abby corrected her. She sounded just as worried as June. "We need to do a brain scan." She looked over her shoulder to where her assistant was back to observing Luna's cells. "Jackson? She's awake." He nodded and quickly stood to join them.

Raven still looked lost. "Seizure?" She repeated. Her attention was directed to June for confirmation as if she didn't believe Abby, but June only nodded. She couldn't get the way Raven flailed in pain out of her head when she was powerless to help her. "No," Raven whispered in denial. "No, no, that's..." She started to sit up, but Abby quickly lowered her hand to push on her shoulder gently.

"Whoa, whoa," the doctor panicked, but Raven shrugged her away. She moved too fast for someone who had just suffered from a seizure, and before anyone could stop them, she was jumping to her feet and crossing the room.

She circled their surroundings in awe. "It was like... My brain was operating with such - such intensity. It was so real, like I was space-walking again, zero-G with no suit." Jackson eyed Abby suspiciously at her words, but neither she nor June looked at him. Their stares were locked on Raven. June was trying to make sense of what she meant while her concern still burned inside her, but Raven read her expression the wrong way. Her shoulders fell in defeat. "I'm not crazy," she instantly defended, disappointed.

"I'm not thinking that," June firmly replied because she wasn't, not for a second. This was Raven. Her ideas may be out of this world sometimes, but never would June ever doubt her. Raven's mind... June admired it. It was incredible, not insane.

Abby nodded. "None of us think you are," she added.

Even though that hadn't seemed to satisfy Raven completely, her head turned away from them as if still in wonder, stuck inside her head. "Weightlessness..." She whispered. "Abby, what happened when you tried to get the Nightblood protein to bond with Luna's DNA?" She questioned gravely, almost as if she already knew the answer.

"The structure of the RNA fell apart... Why?" Abby responded.

"Abby, she just had a seizure," Jackson stressed, but the woman held up a hand to quiet him. It almost felt like this was deeper than that, but June didn't want to accept that answer. Raven's brain could be falling apart right now.

"We need to do a brain scan," June tried to urge, but was shot down by Raven shaking her head.

"It's okay. Really," she insisted. "Because I think I know why Becca couldn't make it work in this lab." Raven's voice was rising with excitement. "Computer, show me prototype nightblood RNA binding in a zero-G environment!" She called out.

The massive screen above them complied. A strand of DNA appeared, one built in space, and twirled, but it maintained its structure as if bonding with the radiation it was exposed to. Incredible, June thought in awe. Even Abby was stunned as she murmured, "It would work..." While the computer shut itself down.

"Your hallucination told you this?"

"Yes!" Raven nodded vigorously, excited the three finally understood her. "When I imagined I was weightless, my neurons must have been firing faster than my conscious mind could process."

"Communicating through your subconscious," he finished.

"Exactly."

June sighed. She didn't disagree. It was only sometimes Raven's ideas were quite literally out of this world. She didn't want to shut her down, but she desperately had to make a point. "Raven, we're in the middle of a laboratory and on a tight schedule. How could we simulate zero gravity here?" She asked. Maybe on The Ark, but not here on Earth.

"We can't. It's impossible," Jackson said dismissively.

There was a heavy pause as Raven thought about that. June could almost see the gears in her head turning and, if anything, it only made her admire her more. Raven obviously didn't like the word "impossible" and was already thinking of how to avoid it. Her eyes darted from every corner in the room, studying every inch, searching for a sign to put together a plan she was already starting. Finally, the mechanic grinned before speaking.

"It's impossible on earth. ALIE said that Becca went to space looking for a more secure environment to get away from her, but I don't think that was the reason at all."

Raven's joy and wit were almost contagious now. June could feel herself starting to perk up the tiniest bit at every word she hung onto. Raven's affect on her was incredible. "So, ALIE lied, what's new? Why do you think she went to space, then?" She questioned.

"I think she went to space to make Nightblood," Raven finished.

However, while June's excitement with Raven rose, Abby's declined. Her urgency was what increased since they were on a tight schedule. "Raven, how does that help us?" She asked her. "It's not as though we can go back into space," she pointed out. June would disagree. The only one they needed was Raven to figure out a way to blast off the way they came.

"Wanna bet?" Raven challenged their doubts, expressing the Raven Reyes confidence June was thinking of in the moment, the one that she fell in love with. Without turning around, she called to the system, "Computer. Open interior blast and launch doors."

Oh no, was June's final thought before the computer complied. A wall - or, what they thought was a wall because of the dark glass windows - released a loud clang before separating down the middle like a set of panels. The doors slid open with a hiss and the small group gasped in shock at what had been waiting on the other side for them this entire time as the lights flickered on, showcasing a massive spaceship. It was a blinding white, illuminated by the blue flares surrounding it that nearly took June's breath away. She pressed a hand to her chest to remind herself to keep breathing and took a few steps forward cautiously as if she was afraid even looking at the rocket would break it while Raven limped ahead, gasping in delight as she carefully climbed the stairs just to touch the door.

This was exactly where both girls belonged. Nature was beautiful and a view June was grateful for every single day. Her ancestors fought their way to touch the ground again. Many died for them to get as far as they had and she didn't want to take their sacrifices for granted. June was alive, sometimes with impossible choices, but breathing nonetheless. And now... It felt like they had a real chance.

And looking at Raven's grin as she asked them a grave question, June realized a part of her may want to live.

"Who wants to go for a ride?"

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author's note:

sobbing cause 1) haven't updated this in way too long and 2) i refuse to post a chapter under 2500 words and this made it by an extra 5 when i went back and edited a few scenes, like june's with abby (which i guess was well needed). to recap on that, in the last chapter, abby took june's gun from her because she was worried june's been expressing some suicidal tendencies (which... is accurate).

anyway sorry this chapter was so short after not updating for so long!! i couldn't fit everything i wanted without making it a mile long, but good stuff starts in the next chapter. i'm just glad i'm healing from my writers block a bit lmao. anyway!! will see you guys soon again (i hope) ❤️

- koda