"May her spirit choose wisely," Titus said, his voice cracking at the pain, guilt and shame he felt over what he has done as he carried the body of his fallen Commander out of the room she died in because of his own actions. As he heard the door close and the guards following behind him to make sure no one interferes with the rituals he will soon have to perform, he thought about the people inside that room, especially Wanheda.

Yes, he has promised Lexa in her dying moment that he would not try to hurt the sky girl again and for the harm he has already done to her today, he would fulfill his last promise to her if it was the last thing he would do and the best way to do it was to keep both Wanheda and the boy locked inside the room. It would keep them from running away and getting caught by the rest of the people that want to hurt them. Especially now the blockade around the Sky People's camp was in place since the sun has gone down already and any Skaikru caught outside of it was ordered to be killed on the spot.

He had believed that Clarke was using his Commander and her feelings for the blonde to sway Lexa to do her binding in order to protect her own people. He had believed that removing the girl from near Lexa was the right thing to do to protect her as well as her legacy and her rule. She shouldn't be influenced by someone who didn't know anything about them, a simple intruder, an invader from a people who kept murdering theirs. From all the girls Lexa had ever brought to grace her bed, Clarke was the most dangerous one. She was a leader herself and the first one since Costia to have Lexa's heart in her hands to do with it as she pleases.

He looked down at the young girl in his arms, a girl that at times felt much older and bigger than she truly was, that made him believe that a new dawn was coming for their people, a girl that made the impossible possible more times than anyone could count, a girl who defied the odds and came out victorious time after time, no matter how many times her enemies tried to break her down, she would always come right back up on top, victorious against them. Titus had no doubt whatsoever that given the chance that she could have been the best Commander their people had ever seen, even greater than Becca Pramheda herself.

Yet because of him, because of his actions, by his own hand, her spirit was released from her body before she had the chance to accomplish all the dreams she had dreamed and envisioned for her people, dreams he believed her capable of achieving, dreams they had planned to accomplish together. He knows now that he should have trusted her and because he didn't, she is now nothing but a lifeless corpse. A shell that used to hold one of the strongest spirits he had ever met, or ever will meet again. Now, all there was left to do was for him to prepare her body for the ritual and start the preparations for the Conclave.

He took her to the chamber that was used by every Fleimkepa before him to prepare the bodies of the fallen Commanders, a ritual he has done three times before and had hoped that he wouldn't be forced to do it any time soon, especially with her but will have to thanks to the same hands that will prepare her now. His own. He had killed her and would forever hold himself in shame and guilt for it, even if he never let anyone else see it. Even if he serves the next Commander with the dedication that is required of him to, he will still wish that it had been her to forever sit in that throne and lead their people.

As much as it pained him to do this to his protégée, the one novitiate he had believed in, the one he had always been sure it was meant to receive the Flame, to take on the mantle and the responsibility, it was his duty as Flamekeeper and he could not fail, not like he did on in his other duty which was to serve and protect the Commander. He would do her justice in death, even if he didn't do it in life. He proceeded to deposite her body on the table and as he looked down at her young face, he caressed her cheek, letting the fatherly feeling he always had for her to shine through in the loneliness and privacy that these cold chambers allowed him to do.

"Forgive me, Lexa. I have never wanted for you to get hurt. I thought I was doing the right thing for your protection. When you found Costia and fell in love with her, I told you it was a bad idea, that love was weakness. I said that because I knew that your enemies would always see her as the perfect target to get to you and that you would be destroyed if that happened, as in fact you were when you found her head on your bed. If only you could have seen the emptiness that fell on your eyes, it was alarming to me that you would lose yourself in the pain. I feared that Nia had finally done it, she had finally broken you, that she had won," He sighed as he continued speaking to her.

"But you proved everyone wrong and against all the odds, you came back from that darkness and that pain, stronger than ever, and got her on her knees as you swore her into your Coalition. You had won, against what she had expected and I couldn't be more proud of you but I always feared that should you give your heart again to someone, that it would be even worse and you would not come back from it victorious as you did before. So I tried harder for you to abide by my teachings and once you agreed with me, I thought I could finally breathe relieved that you were back on track and would continue the great rule of our people that you had been doing since you took command."

"Which is why I panicked when I saw you and Wanheda together for the first time as Roan brought her to you. Why did I panic? Because I saw your face, your eyes as you looked at her. The level of devotion and the amount of love I saw in them was more than alarming. I had never seen you look at someone like that before, not even Costia. And all I could think was that the sooner she was gone from your life, the less time she would have to infect you with her presence, with her love, with her ideas. But when you pronounced Blood must not have blood even after what her people had done to yours, I knew that there was little to nothing that you wouldn't do for her if she asked you to,"

"You had already made so many conceptions for her, allowing her access to the nightbloods, to your room, giving ears to her opinions, listening to her advices, you changed our tradition for her, because she asked of you to protect her people from paying the price for their cruel actions against us. What else would you do for her? What else could she ask of you that you would comply? How much more power would she have over you if she continued in your life? I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let you be blinded by your feelings for the girl, when she might not even feel the same for you and was simply using you for her own gain,"

"So I tried to fix it by my own methods but instead I was the one that destroyed you and for that I will never forgive myself and I will not ask you to because you should never forgive me either. You trusted me more than anyone else and I betrayed that trust, making you pay the price for my mistake. I don't deserve forgiveness. But I promise that I will make sure the next Commander follows in your legacy. I swear, my child. Your sacrifices won't be in vain or forgotten. You will not be forgotten," With that said, he bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead for a few seconds when a sound startled him and he pulled back. The sounds was a lot similar to the sound of a ...

No, it can't be.

It is not possible.

It shouldn't be possible.

Yet as he looked at her belly, he saw the small rise and fall of her chest. He was right in his assumption. The sound he had heard was the sound of a breath. She was breathing. Shallow and fought for as the true warrior that she was, is but it was there, nonetheless. He put his head on her chest and listened to the weak but at the same time strong heartbeat and he pulled back his head to look at her with an unfiltered level of hope in his eyes and in his heart that maybe he hadn't destroyed her life yet. Maybe there was a chance that she could come back from this and as he watched her, he had the confirmation he needed.

She was alive.

His Commander was still alive and fighting for her life and he could not, would not fail his duties to protect her once again. He wasn't a healer. He needed help to save her life and as he thought had about it, there is only one healer that had the ability and that he trusted enough that could save her. He had to save his Commander even if it meant he would have to beg for help from them. He quickly put a dagger on the candle to heat up and as it did, he put the burning blade on the wound that started to bleed again as her heart started to pump again so that she would not bleed to death during their trip.

He covered her face and his, picked her up in his arms and walked them through a secret passage only he knew about it and quickly came to the stables, got them both on the horse and started on his way. It took him about an hour and a half to get to the village and luckily it was late enough that no one was out to see him. He quickly got off the horse with Lexa in his arms and made his ways to the house of the only person he knew that could save her. He knocked on the door and after a few minutes, the door swung open and the person behind it was shocked to see who was standing in front of her house.

"Fleimkepa. What are you doing here? Who is that?" The woman said surprised as she looked at the limp body he was carrying especially when he lifted the good of her face and the person realized who it was, "Lexa," She whispered in surprise to see her like that. It has been such a long time since she last saw the Commander.

"She needs your help, Cara. You are her only chance at survival. She is alive but barely. Only you can save her. I wouldn't be here if I had any other choice. I know we had our differences in the past. But I'm begging you. Please save her." He said and looked at her with the most sincere and desperate look he could muster and she seemed to have understood as she made way for him to get inside, once she did she stepped out and looked around before closing the door behind her.