Ai Hod Yu In
Chapter 36
A/N: It's certainly been a while. But I'm back. And I've got motivation again, so there's that. It's been so long since I could watch the 100, but I feel it's time to come back to it. I've got two chapters done, and I'm hoping to write a few more. So with that, enjoy.
Clarke did her best to brush off her worry as she slipped down to Titus's chamber, entering without so much as a knock. Perhaps before he'd killed Lexa, she'd have shown the man a little more respect. Now, though, no amount of guilt from the man could save him from her wrath.
"You do not belong here," he said, getting up and whirling around on her. She strode further in anyway. This man had held Murphy captive in this room. He'd probably plotted to kill her in this very room. He could answer any commands in this room as well, "There is nothing left for you in Polis. Why have you not gone?"
"We need to talk about Ontari. She wasn't trained here. Why would you let her into the Conclave?" It was the question weighing on Clarke the most. The girl herself was clearly unstable, so why let her join?
"Ontari has the blood of the commanders. She was born on this Earth. It is her birthright to compete for the flame," he went back to fiddling with the chip that had been housed in Lexa's brain, a chip she was doing her best to ignore. He picked it up and put it in the palm of his hands, and she could hold it back no longer. This was their culture, not hers. She didn't know what she was doing when it came to it. All she knew was that this desperation she felt, this longing for an inanimate object, was uncalled for. Still, she so wanted to believe that some part of Lexa lived on.
"Is she really in there?" she asked, moving closer to get a better look. The chip didn't really look like anything special, but she'd also seen it housed in her girlfriend's neck, so she supposed appearances were deceiving sometimes. Titus turned to her, looking her straight in the eyes.
"Of course she is." The way he said it had no doubt. He was convinced. He turned away from her, putting the chip into an old metal container and then folding an old cloth around it. After a moment, she saw the word commander stitched onto it, and she couldn't help but notice how old and worn it was.
"How does it work, then?" she wondered idly, lost in thought as she stared at the cloth that housed something both precious and terrifying at the same time, "Are all the commanders just one consciousness, and whoever comes next will simply bend to their will? Is the next commander simply going to be Lexa again, just in a different body? Was that even still Lexa at that point?"
"That's not how it works," she must have been imagining the pity she heard in his voice. This was, after all, the man who had just tried to kill her. He had loved Lexa, of that there was no doubt, but she knew that he only now tried to protect her to honor that love for Lexa, "I've served four commanders as Flamekeeper. None of them half as wise or strong as Lexa kom Trikru. But the truth is, she was all those things before Ascension. Her ascension didn't change who she was as a person. It didn't turn her into anyone else. The flame deepens what's already there."
"So if Ontari becomes commander…" Clarke trailed off, a feeling of dread overtaking her.
"If the spirit of the commander should choose Ontari, the ice nation will control everything, and Skaikru will face her wrath."
"So how do we ensure Aiden wins. He was Lexa's choice, you know that." Clarke pushed away the nagging feeling of guilt she felt at the fact that she was rooting for so many children to die. No matter how she looked at it, all of them were but children.
"And she will choose him."
Clarke wasn't even close to done with this conversation, though she didn't quite know what her next question would be anyway. Nonetheless, a horn blowing interrupted them.
"What's that?" she asked, dread filling her. Titus looked worried, and she had no doubt that that horn was not, in fact, good.
"The victory horn."
Titus did not hesitate, almost running to the throne room. Clarke simply followed behind him, attempting to stay close as he pushed people aside.
"Chon teik wimplei tromon laud?!" she heard Titus call, and she spotted Roan in the crowd.
"What's going on?" she demanded, though the only response she got was a shushing motion. She did her best to see around the people, and she noticed Ontari perched on the commander's throne, covered in nightblood. Titus approached the girl cautiously.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, and Clarke herself could barely hear him. Ontari bent down, and picked up Aiden's severed head. She started to go forward, the boys name on her lips
"If she sees you, she'll have your head too," Roan told her, holding her in place, "I think it might be best if you go."
"I win," the girl called matter-of-factly. And in that moment, Clarke knew that Roan was right. She had to get out of here now.