ONCE THEIR JOB AT MOUNT WEATHER WAS DONE AND THEY RETURNED HOME, THEY HAD A NEW SURPRISE. Jaha had returned, bloodied and beaten, delivering a message from the Commander.

Leave or die.

It washed a fear over the camp June could practically feel. They tried to keep it between the Chancellor and higher up guards, but it spread through like wildfire. She couldn't deny that she was equally scared, having been holding the threat of the grounders on her shoulders since her first day on Earth, but she didn't show it. She knew leaving wasn't an option. Everyone of June's friends were in Mount Weather, and they still didn't have a perfect plan to get them out yet. If they wasted any more time, there wouldn't be anyone left to save, according to Clarke, and she wasn't about to let that happen.

"They're not attacking yet," Clarke desperately told Jaha and her mother. "Which means we still have time."

"We have two hours until dawn," Abby countered, hands on her hips, using the time Jaha gave her.

"Let me talk with the Commander," Clarke pleaded. "She was Anya's second. Maybe she'll listen."

Although June wanted to stay just as much as Clarke, she shook her head, unsure. "You don't think the Commander is actually lenient, do you?" She asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Clarke replied. "It's worth a shot."

Wrinkles from Jaha's frustration formed on his forehead. "We don't even know if the Commander is here," he said. Besides the bruises and blood, he looks like what June remembered in The Ark. His beard which had been a stubble is longer now, but there's a much more tired look on his face, clear from the deep bags under his eyes.

"Yes, we do. Nyko told us," Finn interrupted from where he was pacing. "You have to at least let her try."

Ignoring him, Jaha turned to Abby. "Abby, we're wasting time," he said sharply. "Give me the authority now."

Abby held her hand up, silencing him. "Hold on. Clarke, you said that Lincoln is going through withdrawal."

"Withdrawal?" June repeated, knowing there was no real drug on Earth, or so she thought. "From what?"

"We aren't sure," Abby answered. "Which is why this is too dangerous. The detox alone could kill him."

"That's where you come in," Clarke said calmly to Abby.

Taken off guard, Abby's eyebrows raised. June could see how nervous she was by giving the pressure of saving the one man that would stop this coming war. "And if I can't save him?" She demands.

A determined look crossed Clarke's features. "That's not an option," she responded firmly.

"We are risking everything on a bluff?" Jaha asked, incredulous. "Abby, we have an out. We have a way to save the lives of our people."

Finn glared at him. "Not all of them."

Footsteps echoed as Jaha marched around the small table between them. "We will come back to save the kids inside Mount Weather!" He exclaimed.

Putting herself between Finn and Jaha, June gritted her teeth and scowled. "Spare me!" She snapped back. "We all know you don't give a damn about our friends!" She accused, remembering his face on the screen in the dropship, how Jaha didn't care whether or not the delinquents he was sending to Earth lived or died. And now, he was determined to leave them in Mount Weather to die.

Like June was right and he was ashamed but not willing to admit it, Jaha gazed to Abby. "Abby. This has gone on long enough. If you do not give the order to begin the exodus, you are killing us all," he warned her.

"I'm sorry," Abby apologized, holding her chin up, mind clearly made up. "I can't give that order."

"Abby," Jaha said lowly, approaching her closer, like a threat. "Give the order."

"No."

June smiled. "Give it up, Jaha."

The heat of anger almost radiated off of Jaha. "I am the elected Chancellor of The Ark, and I am not going to let you risk the lives of more people," he declared. "I'm going to ask you once again. Give the order to begin the exodus."

"No." Abby cocked her head. "Are you through yet?"

Seeing as Abby wasn't going to cave any time soon, Jaha shook his head in disbelief as he walked away from her to approach the two guards at the door. "Sergeant Miller, Major Byrne," he greeted. "I am relieving Doctor Griffin of her command." June was worried for a minute, wondering if he could really make an order like that, but one look at the guard's faces told her they were hardly listening as he continued. "Place these four into custody." Jaha gestured to the others. "But make sure they are ready to leave with the rest of us within the hour." Neither of them move. Jaha glares. "Right now, Major!" He barked. "Or the blood of everyone in this camp will be on your hands too!"

Still, the pair didn't react. June could see a coldness in Major Byrne's blue eyes and a more apologetic look on Sergeant Miller's face like he wanted to, but the idea of leaving his son Nate in Mount Weather wasn't an option for him. "Major Byrne, Sergeant Miller," Abby called, stepping towards them. "Put Chancellor Jaha in the stockade."

Finally, Major Byrne nodded "Yes, ma'am." She complied, pulling Jaha's arms towards her while yanking out a pair of handcuffs.

"Everything we did to survive..." Jaha mumbled, a pause following as he narrowed his dark eyes to Abby. "You're just throwing it all away. Why?"

"Because I have faith too," Abby answered him in a peaceful tone, and she gazed tenderly to her daughter. "In my daughter."

Even though Jaha is in distress from Abby refusing to listen to him, he's led out of the room without a fight. "Thank you," Clarke said softly to Abby once he was gone.

Abby nodded. "I'll send the guard detail with you," she offered.

"No." Clarke shook her head. "They'll see it as a threat. I have to do this on my own." She held her hand out to the other two delinquents in the office. "June and Finn will take you to Lincoln," she instructed.

With one look at them, Abby took a deep breath before speaking directly to Clarke. "If you're wrong... All of us are going to die."

"Then she isn't wrong." June touched Clarke's upper arm as a sign of comfort, trying to reassure her with a beaming smile, proud of her friend's braveness. "Right, Clarke?"

The smile that Clarke gives June is weak, but she still nods. June can tell she isn't sure, but for now, she just needs to believe she can do this. And maybe they can.

━━━━━━━━

The dropship should be a comforting sight for June to see. They've had some of the worst time here, beginning with Wells dying and ending with the war against the grounders, but she felt like this place was her home. She still made some good memories here, had cared for every delinquent and wanted them to return more than anything. But knowing there could be a grounder army just behind them, waiting to see if they could cure a reaper, June felt uneasy as she crawled up the ladder after Abby, her gun thumping on her back from the strap hung over her shoulder.

"Oh, thank God," Octavia greeted them breathlessly. She was on her knees besides what June thought was a body tied to the ground until he started struggling. It was Lincoln, but not like she'd seen him before. He had a beard, blood dripping from his mouth and a wild animal reaction to seeing them. June had never seen a drug do something like this to someone, and was shocked, but Octavia's concern snapped her out of it. "Where's Clarke?"

"Trying to stop a war," Finn told her.

June loosely shrugged. "Keyword on trying."

Lowering herself next to Lincoln, Abby pulled out her medical supplies from the bag she brought. She flicked on a light and lifted Lincoln's eyelid, making him struggle, but still enough for him to be observed. "Pupils are unresponsive." Abby shook her head, turning the light off. "Tie off his arm, tight as you can." Octavia reacted quickly. "Thanks to the supplies your brother found, Lincoln might have a chance." She pulled out a shot.

"What's that?" Octavia questioned worriedly.

"This will bring his fever down," Abby replied. As soon as she brought the needle down to Lincoln's arm, he snarled, muscles flexing as he started thrashing more violently. Her hands shot up, backing away. "Hold him down!"

June quickly joined her, holding down Lincoln's kicking legs with Finn so they wouldn't break out of the binds. The limb tensed under her hold, but Octavia had managed to keep his arm still enough for Abby to prick him with the needle and give him the treatment. Lincoln growled despite his mouth being shut, the sound a rumble from his throat. Once the medicine was through his system, it all suddenly stopped.

Lincoln stopped trying to fight back. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, before he fell slack, his chest no longer rising and falling heavily. June's clutch loosened, eyes wide in alarm. "What's happening?!" Octavia exclaimed, frantic. "Why isn't it working?!"

Stunned, Abby studied him for a second, processing what's happening. "His heart's stopped," she announced in a whisper. She snapped out of it, moving into a CPR position with her hands over his chest. Nyko, the grounder Finn mentioned watched in surprise. "You're their healer," Abby directed him. "Tilt his head back. Pull his chin down to open his airway." Nyko did so, his hand holding Lincoln's chin and pulling it down, adjusting him correctly.

Hands pressed over Lincoln's chest, Abby began pumping downward. She grew tired after the first few, starting to realize how useless doing this was. "Come on..." She urged, breathless. Nothing happened.

Abby surrendered. She stopped, pulling away. "Abby..." June whispered, knowing what this meant. Abby only shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Octavia demanded.

"I'm sorry," Abby said quietly, defeated. "He's gone."

"No!" Octavia cried, nudging her aside for herself. "It's not possible! You're wrong!" Tears swelled in June's eyes as she watched her break down, feeling pity and horror. Octavia continued where Abby stopped, pumping his chest, but the movements were less steady and more broken from her sobbing of grief.

June pressed a shaking hand to her forehead. No one knew what to do. Lincoln was gone, Octavia was shattered, a war was creeping on their trail, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Octavia's loud pitched cries bounced off the dropship walls as she cradled Lincoln's chest, fingers digging into his shirt, making it crumple. "Come back..." She pleaded in a cry, trembling.

The latch door flung open with a bang. Octavia didn't move, but everyone else looked over to the source of the sound, unsure how to react. Clarke crawled up the ladder first, blue eyes landing on Lincoln immediately. Behind her came a few grounders, the last one to arrive on scene being who June could only guess was the Commander. She was pretty, long brown hair in different braids and a black painted mask surrounding her eyes, drooping down her cheeks, below a circled dot on her forehead. Her cape flew back as she landed, seeing Lincoln. She held an authority stand that made June want to back away, her sculpted jaw clenched.

The Commander shared a look with a dark-skinned woman. They both nodded. She snarled, ripping out her sword from her sheath. "I'll kill them all."

June wasn't given a second to blink. She whirled her gun's strap around, finger on the trigger as she shot up and pointed the gun at the grounder behind her. As soon as she had, she felt the cold, sharp blade of a sword being pressed to her neck. She froze in position. Everyone else was in the same stand, each person holding their own weapon at someone threateningly, except for Clarke. "Please," she begged with the Commander. "You don't have to do this."

"You lied," the Commander sneered back darkly, her lower lip curled. "And you're out of time."

Nobody moved. June felt like everyone somehow knew this was only going to end with everyone in the dropship slaughtered. She stayed put, afraid if she moved even an inch, that the grounder holding a sword to her neck would slit it. All of a sudden, Abby flew into action. She snatched a shock baton off someone's belt and flicked it on. June felt the blade pressed further into her from the surprise of the grounder at the action, but it didn't move when the tip of the baton was pressed into Lincoln's chest.

Electricity shot through the stick, shocking Lincoln. His back arches, body twitching from the attack. Seeing Abby had the right idea, Clarke called out. "Hit him again!" Abby did so, bringing it down once more, but letting it linger longer.

This time, Lincoln reacted. The sword held at June pulled away before fully dropping, but she stayed focused on him, watching as he gasped in air like he hadn't breathed in years. June's breath hitched as his chest began to rise and fall once more, causing her breath to hitch. He was alive. Thankful, Octavia cupped his face, panting as their eyes met. "Lincoln," she whispered in a wavering voice.

The corners of Lincoln's mouth upturned into the smallest of smiles. He was alive, and the true animal from the withdrawal was gone for now. "Octavia," he gasped out.

June tore her gaze away from Lincoln to the Commander, who held a hand up. Every one of her people holding up their weapons lowered them, the signal meaning the world to June. She brought her firearm down, surrendering, knowing now with the grounders help, their friends can be saved from Mount Weather.