─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

IT WAS AGONIZING TO BE IN A PEACEFUL SLUMBER FOR A FEW HOURS AFTER BEING UP ALL NIGHT TO PUT TOGETHER THE FLARES, ONLY TO BE WOKEN UP AGAIN. June could hear Clarke moving out of their shared tent, and it had her on guard immediately despite the dark bags under her eyes and the tiredness like a drape, begging for at least another hour. Instead of listening and complying, June forcibly dragged herself out of her tent, feeling her boots drag against the dirt with each stumbling step.

Bellamy was the first person to catch her eye, taking the leadership position as always, to the delinquents beginning to surround him. "Hey, everybody!" He announced, motioning to the supply of weapons made from scrap. "Gather round and grab a weapon. My sister's been out there alone for twelve hours. Arm up," he commanded. "We're not coming back without her." He was completely firm, and June didn't blame him. She's his sister and she's missing.

But Octavia was June's friend as well, and she wanted her back in camp where she was safe. She moved through the crowd and reached out, tightly grasping what looked like a long blade attached to a handle. It could have been a knife, but larger. It was heavy in her hand, but she hung it low, turning to face the crowd. June was surprised to see Jasper, knowing that he was still recovering from his chest injury and dealing with the fear of grounders.

"Hey, Jasper," Clarke greeted him cautiously. "You don't have to do this. You haven't left camp since we brought you back."

"Clarke, I need to do this," Jasper insisted. June frowned, a pitiful look for him crossing her face. She knew he cared for Octavia, as everyone else did, but he was clearly suffering and shouldn't force himself.

"We need all the people we can get," Bellamy cut in seriously.

June tilted her head, giving Bellamy a pointed look. She wasn't surprised that the statement came from him. "You need to consider the well-being of others. Jasper could get hurt out there again." Then again, just days ago he was threatening to end Jasper's life for annoying and scaring others just by being in pain.

"He said he can do this, he can do this," Bellamy argued, looking from June to Jasper, waiting for an input from him. "Right?" Jasper nodded. "Good. We need a tracker," he said, ignoring the way June sighed in incredulity. "Finn! Get out here!"

Turning, June glanced towards Finn's tent that was now occupied with two people; him and Raven. There was a glow in the tent, which meant they were both awake. She tried not to think about it, instead of shaking it off with a wave of her head as Finn joined them reluctantly, walking alongside Clarke and speaking quietly. It didn't take a genius to know what about, but June knew it was none of her business and didn't involve her. It was up to the three of them to work it out together.

It wasn't until nearly everyone was prepared, armed and brave when June heard a shouting. Confused, she quickly dashed towards the sound, joining the gathering of her friends who were yelling and pointing to the sky with amazement. Lost, wondering what was so important, June tilted her head back to stare above her. Her brown eyes met what looked like shooting stars, falling from the only spaceship in the sky.

Raven, who had joined them, was in the same saddened state. "They didn't work," she whispered, dumbfounded. "They didn't see the flares."

"A meteor shower tells you that?" Bellamy asked, holding a lit torch in his hand.

"It's not a meteor shower," Clarke stated, snapped out of her daze. "It's a funeral. Hundreds of bodies being returned to the Earth from The Ark. This is what it looks like from the other side." June shook her head in disbelief, feeling sick, as her head hung low. They tried to stop them but didn't do so in time, and now three hundred people had died for nothing all because Bellamy threw the radio away. June couldn't even be mad as of now, to overwhelmed with the wave of despair hitting her.

Hit with fury, Raven clenched her fists and marched towards Bellamy. "This is all because of you!" She shouted in accusation, struggling against the grip Finn had on her quickly.

"I helped you find the radio," Bellamy retorted, defending himself with a weak argument.

"Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it!" Raven exclaimed. Bellamy looked down, remorseful for a minute.

"He knows," Clarke cut in, putting her hand on Raven's shoulder. "Now he has to live with it."

June turned her head. "We all have to live with it," she corrected, suddenly angry as she narrowed her eyes at Bellamy. It was his fault they'd all have to carry the weight of the deaths, even if the blood was on his hands. June could only see the look of guilt flash in his face for a moment before it was gone and replaced with his hardened expression.

"All I know is that my sister is out there and I'm gonna find her," Bellamy declared without talking any further of the funeral. "You coming or what?" He asked Finn, frigid and cold.

Finn nodded reluctantly. "Yeah." June took one last look at the sky, tightening her grip on the handle of her weapon before forcing herself to look away. She tried to keep her breathing even, hiding the mixed emotions she was feeling. Her home sacrificed three-hundred people, and they couldn't signal them in time. Even though it wasn't, June felt as if it was all her fault. If they were maybe a bit quicker, that The Ark would have seen them and knew they were alive. Then, the people sacrificed, her people would still have been alive.

At Finn's confirmation, Bellamy motioned to the delinquents, directing them towards their gate. "What are we waiting for? Move out!" He ordered. They began to comply, marching towards the woods with weapons and frightened expressions, unknowing of what could be out there, of what could attack them.

However, June had gotten very good at ignoring Bellamy's orders and what he had wanted. She turned around instead, facing Clarke. "We need to get ahold of The Ark somehow," she informed them seriously. "They'll kill more people when the oxygen keeps dropping. Three hundred won't be enough. We need to start, tonight." While Octavia was a friend and June did want to find her, they had to think of their other people as well instead of sending everyone into the woods.

"Guys," Jasper spoke up in a mumble. "They're leaving. We gotta go."

"I gotta do this," Finn said to Raven, agreeing with Jasper. "And you should stay and fix the radio, okay?"

"Fix it?" Raven repeated, astonished. "The transmitter's smashed. Unless there's a parts depot down here, we're not talking to The Ark."

A parts depot. June's eyes became wide in realization. She remembered the bunker her, Clarke and Finn went to when hiding Charlotte. It was no depot, but there were different items inside that could be useful. "Clarke," she said. "That - that bunker," she stammered through her explanation, waving her hand to urge Clarke to understand.

Clarke caught on quickly. "Art supply store," she finished before looking to Raven. "We know a place you might be able to get a transmitter."

"Great," Raven responded. "It looks like one of you will be coming with me instead."

June could see the way Raven stared at Finn, almost longingly, and it made her uneasy. It was almost like she was catching on to his unfaithfulness. She wanted to tell her, to spare her the hurt but swallowed the admission instead. "Clarke can go and show you," she suggested, having Clarke nod. "I'll go with the others."

"Finn?" Jasper interrupted, still urging them to hurry. "We're not gonna find her without you."

Finn seemed reluctant, but he nodded slowly before speaking to Clarke and Raven. "Be careful." Was all he said before beginning to move.

Quick to stop him before he could get too far, Raven grasped his wrist, a hurt look on her face when noticing the hesitation and frigid reaction. "Hey," she said lowly. "I love you." Without giving Finn a chance to respond, she kissed him.

June bit her tongue at the sight, a feeling she couldn't understand stirring at the pit of her stomach as she turned to march with the other delinquents. She didn't even need to be there to know that Finn had once more hesitated in responding.

━━━━━━━━

After wandering through the woods, following Finn's description of the trail left, June was glad that someone else called out to them. She was tired from it not only being the middle of the night but from the time they were spending searching aimlessly. June wasn't even sure they were following the right direction to Octavia, she could be anywhere, and Finn's tracks could be lost at any time, especially in the dark. However, Mbege calling out to the group caught her attention quickly and snap her back to Earth. Bellamy was the first to run over, June following closely to see what was being pointed at.

"Right there," Mbege directed them. "You see it? Is that Octavia's?" June squinted her eyes, carefully leaning over the slope and making out the object as a light was shone on it. A red cloth stuck in what looked to be a thorny bush, but too far to reach.

Except for Bellamy. "Rope," he ordered, holding his hand out. A rope was placed in it, and he tied it to a tree, securing it before tying it around his hips.

"What are you doing?" Finn asked, eyeing him cautiously.

"We need the rope to get back up," Bellamy answered, grasping the flashlight once the rope was secure enough to carry him down the slope.

"Be careful," June cut in, knowing Bellamy's desperation to find Octavia was powerful, and he'd forget to keep himself alive.

Showing he heard her, Bellamy nodded, before carefully sliding down the slope while gripping the rope. Once he was close enough, he pulled the red cloth out and inspecting it. June held her breath, waiting before he finally called to the others over his shoulder. "It's hers! I'm going all the way down!"

"Must be expecting us to follow him," June mumbled quietly, but her words meant nothing, as she gripped the rope. Carefully, she slid down the muddy slope, keeping her grip until she reached the edge. She took a small jump, her boots landing besides Bellamy who was crouched over a new set of prints with his flashlight inspecting them. She knelt down as they were joined by Finn, her head tilting in curiosity. 

June wasn't a tracker, but it was clear there was more than one set this time. "There's two sets," she pointed out.

Bellamy nodded. "Someone else had to have been here," he added.

Finn stepped closer, looking over June's shoulder. The new set of prints were larger, deeper in the mud, as if whoever found Octavia was larger and heavier. "The prints are deeper going that way," the tracker said pointedly. "He was carrying her."

"He?" June repeated. The word bounced from a rattle in her head to there's. Grounders.