After waking to find herself naked and alone, Clarke got dressed and exited the meeting hall. Dax was already patiently waiting outside at the door for her. He raised a single eyebrow at her.

"I know, I don't usually sleep so late. The last few days must have caught up with me." She replied to his unasked question. She knew it was also because she had never let her guard down so much before, Lexa had made her feel so at ease so effortlessly. The question is, why did she wake up alone?

After Dax gave a simple shrug in acknowledgement they made their way to the cooking fires. As they ate some kind of bread glazed with honey she noticed there was a lot of activity.

'They must be getting ready for the March to the Mountain.'

After eating, they eventually found Octavia. She was straddling a log near a cooking fire with Ontari seated behind her doing her hair into intricate braids that matched her own. Lincoln was seated behind Ontari doing the same for her. It was an uncharacteristically domestic sight for Octavia. She would have to remember to tease the girl later, preferably away from anything sharp.

"Have a good night Octavia?~" Clarke asked, wagging her eyebrows.

Ontari gave her a smirk that seemed both friendly and a threat at once.

Lincoln pointedly kept his focus on Ontari's braids.

"Did you?~" Octavia teased back without missing a beat.

"How-? Clarke began to ask but was cut off.

"Half the village saw you two dancing together, everyone's talking about it." Octavia said with a wave of her hand.

"Ah, I didn't think about that." She sat in front of Octavia on the log. "Can you straighten up my hair for me?"

"Sure, just take your circlet off." Octavia said as she began undoing any knots she could find.

Octavia handed Clarke a wet cloth. "And wipe yourself down, you stink."

Clarke begrudgingly accepted the cloth with a grumble.

After several relaxing minutes Anya approached the group.

"The formation is ready to move, all of you are to be in the center." Anya announced while gesturing to the formation where Clarke could see Lexa talking to Luna.

Once they were on their way, Clarke approached Lexa.

"Are you avoiding me?" She asked the stoic woman.

Lexa's face remained impassive but Clarke could see the surprise in her eyes at being asked so directly. "It was a night of comfort, nothing more. To be Commander is to be alone."

Clarke scowled at the girl. "Perhaps, but I feel drawn to you in a way that I haven't with anyone else and if you think I'm going to give up on that then you aren't as smart as I thought you were. Besides, we're both Commanders, and according to your prophecy you aren't alone anymore."

Lexa's step faltered only momentarily in surprise. "Getting the people and Clan leaders to accept a second Heda will not be easy, then there is the issue of your people becoming the thirteenth clan and where they will live." She said, trying to avoid the prospect of being 'drawn' to each other.

Clarke sighed at the woman's avoidance. "I have no issue with my people becoming the thirteenth clan. We number five thousand and fifteen, we will live in the Mountain and the lands within the fog border" Clarke said with certainty.

Lexa narrowed her eyes. "The Mountain must be buried and those are Trikru and Azgeda lands, you cannot simply claim them."

Clarke narrowed her eyes right back. "I can, by rights of conquest the Mountain and its lands belong to my people. Triku and Azgeda have not been able to settle those lands due to the fog, let alone conquer the Mountain. Many of my people will be more at home within the walls of the Mountain and it will serve as a receptacle for much of our technology."

"This is a matter to be discussed with the Clan leaders. Azgeda will never accept this even if Trikru does. Azgeda would retaliate." Lexa said, dismissing the matter for now.

"Then they are fools. I never claimed to have disabled the fog or missiles." Lexa's eyes shot wide and her fingers twitched for her swords but Clarke raised a hand and continued. "My people would never use such blasphemous weapons but they would have no way of knowing that. My point is, we are an unknown force with unknown capabilities, if Azgeda or any of the other clans would foolishly throw themselves at such a force then they deserve the death I would give them."

"You walk a dangerous path Wanheda." Lexa said in warning.

"I walk the only path." Clarke said resolutely.

They walked in silence for several minutes but there was still something bothering Clarke about an earlier conversation they had. "Can I ask you a theoretical question?"

Lexa's eyebrows scrunched together. "Go ahead."

"What would you do if you had a very small population of very dangerous animals living within your forest that had the capability to grow in population very rapidly?" Clarke asked, already knowing how she would answer.

"I would either hunt them down to the last or ensure their population remains small and controlled." Lexa answered with a raised eyebrow at the strange question.

Clarke looked around to make sure nobody was listening in. "Exactly, I believe that is the purpose of 'To be Heda is to be alone' and the Conclave. If neither existed the clans would all be Natblida by now and would have spread much further."

Lexa's mask cracked with the possibility of that being true. "Both have been tradition since the first Hedas…it would mean corruption among the Fleimkepas…speak of this theory to no one."

Clarke nodded. "I won't. There is something else. Inside the Mountain we discovered a previously inaccessible level. Becca's lab, I have not been to it yet, I wished for you to join me."

Lexa's eyes widened again. "Becca's? What is a la-" she began to ask but was drowned out by a roar that shook the leaves from the trees.

"PAUNA!" Several warriors screamed in alarm as the sound of trees snapping echoed over the landscape.

A wet crunching sound could be heard before Clarke and Lexa saw half a dozen warriors go sailing over their heads in lifeless, broken forms.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS A PAUNA!?" Clarke yelled.

Lexa grabbed her hand and began dragging her through the forest. "RUN!"

Well anything that could inspire that response from a nightblood warrior was enough of an answer for her. Clarke raced through the trees with Lexa guiding her as the sounds of men dying very violent deaths sounded from behind them closer and closer, the thing was trying to get to them. Clarke chanced a look over her shoulder and immediately regretted it.

This 'Pauna' was at some point a silverback gorilla but calling it anything resembling an animal was insulting to the monster it was. The thing had to be sixteen feet tall while hunched over, it had patchy black fur dripping with gore, a black leathery hide that was crisscrossed with old scars, and had bloody talons and sharp teeth the size of daggers. The thing had not only survived the radiation but had become something else entirely because of it…and it was looking right at her with its gore strewn snarl.

Clarke ran faster than she thought was possible, trees moving past her in a blur.

'Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.' Clarke repeated her panicked mantra in her head.

They reached a metal door set into an overgrown concrete wall, Lexa ushered Clarke through the opening before slamming it closed, they descended down a dark passageway that had light at the end. They made it to the other side and closed another metal door.

Clarke turned from the door to see a massive enclosure of some kind, it had vine covered walls thirty feet high in a circle. At the center was a massive pile of the bones and rotting flesh of hundreds of animals and humans.

"This is its lair." Clarke whispered in horrored realization.

"We can't go back the way we came, stay quiet." Lexa whispered as she began leading them across the enclosure in search of another exit

They reached the other side and saw a narrow concrete passageway leading to another metal door. The mouth of the tunnel had cracks and deep gouges in the concrete as if the Pauna had attempted to enter but couldn't due to its size. The tunnel itself was dark, covered in moss, and smelled of mildew.

A crash sounded behind them and they both looked to see the Pauna had just jumped into the enclosure and was sniffing at the air, tasting it. It locked eyes with them, it bellowed a roar that echoed off the concrete walls and rattled their very bones as it charged, claws digging deep furrows into the floor.

Lexa and Clarke dashed down the tunnel, slammed open the metal door before closing it once more. The crashing sound of thousands of pounds of flesh colliding with concrete echoed down the hall. The beast roared again but this time in fury at prey managing to evade it. Clarke turned to survey the room and saw that Lexa was already doing so with a horrified look on her face. There were several skeletons huddled in a corner of the barely lit room, the room almost looked lived in at one point…the thing had trapped these people here until they starved to death.

Clarke tried her radio but only got static, the concrete was too thick and there were no nearby Warsuits to relay the signal.

"What now?" Clarke asked.

Lexa turned to her with a grim expression. "We wait until we have no other option but to fight our way out."

They got as comfortable as they could and began to wait. After nearly an hour of listening to the Pauna trying to claw its way to them, Clarke broke the silence.

"Why are you so against there being something between us? I know we have duties to our people but don't we deserve to live too?"

Lexa gave a small sigh. "I had a lover once, when the Coalition was new. Her name was Costia, she disappeared the day we were meant to be bonded. Azgeda sent me her head two weeks later."

Clarke's face filled with sympathy and she scooted closer until their shoulders were touching. "You're afraid I would meet a similar end."

Emotion filled Lexa's eyes as she nodded. "Love is weakness and I cannot be weak again."

Instead of arguing that ridiculous notion Clarked asked, "Tell me about her?"

Lexa gave a small, almost imperceptible smile as she looked to the ceiling. "She had curly hair the color of a forest fire and green eyes that seemed to always glow with mischief. Her skin was fair and covered in more freckles than there are stars in the night sky. She was the best archer the twelve clans had ever seen and Trikru's best scout. She was stubborn to a fault and quick to anger, you would have gotten along I think." She finished, her eyes now pricked with tears as she stared unseeing at the ceiling, her smile grown into a full uninhibited one.

Clarke felt like she was seeing the real Lexa for the first time. She leaned her head onto Lexa's shoulder and closed her eyes. "She sounds amazing, I would have loved to meet her."

Lexa only gave a strangled 'Mmm' in agreement and lowered her head onto Clarke's in what Clarke was sure was a show of trust and vulnerability not shown to many. They sat like that in a comfortable silence for what felt like hours, content in each other's presence.

Their peaceful atmosphere was eventually ruined by the renewed roaring of the Pauna, but it sounded different. It sounded as if it were roaring away from the tunnel this time.

Clarke's radio crackled to life and Raven's voice yelled over the radio, "THE CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED!"

They glanced at each other with wide eyes before rushing to the door and opening it. At the end of the tunnel they could see the backs of warriors, Sardaukar warriors. Help had come.

They ran down the tunnel to see a spectacle they would not soon forget. At the center of the enclosure was the Pauna standing on the pile of its victims, dozens of arrows sticking out of its thick hide, some much, much larger than the others. Sardaukar had it surrounded with shields braced and spears stabbing anytime the monster's attention was elsewhere. In front of the shields was Ontari, Luna, Octavia, and Dax. They were staying out of the Pauna's reach when it focused on them and delivering brutal blows as it focused its attention away from them. Along the high walls of the enclosure were dozens of Lexa's warriors wielding bows, a dozen Sardaukar scouts, and both Warsuits wielding compound bows six feet in length. The Warsuits fired their ballistae sized arrows. They slammed into the monster with such force that it stumbled but managed to remain standing nonetheless.

Clarke and Lexa glanced at each other then ran past the loose shield formation to join their guards. As the monster turned its attention away from them and towards the Warsuits, preparing to jump, they struck.

Lexa bared her teeth and roared as she lunged forwards with both swords in a crossing slash, severing the Pauna's left Achilles tendon.

As the monster dropped to a knee in a howl of pain Clarke ran to the side of the massive uninjured foot that was still supporting its bulk.

Still mid run, she let loose a primal roar as she brought both axe blades close together and swung horizontally like she was trying to chop down a tree in a single swing. With a sickening snap the tendon gave, and the monster collapsed onto its face.

Before the Pauna could push itself back up Dax was there standing in front of its face looking it in the eyes as he held his massive war hammer high above his head. With barely a grunt the giant of a man brought down his weapon onto the Pauna's skull, collapsing it inward with a crunch and squelch, bathing him in gray matter.

Silence filled the impromptu arena for several seconds, then the silence was replaced with the deafening roar of cheers. Clarke cheered as loud as she could with a massive smile on her face, golden hair whipping around. She turned to Lexa and saw that she was watching her quietly with unmistakable affection lighting up her evergreen eyes. In response, Clarke smiled a full, fang filled smile that reached all the way to her eyes causing them to close partially.

After harvesting what they could from the Pauna and burning their dead they began the march to the Mountain again.

Raven, in her Warsuit, caught up to where Clarke and Lexa were with their guards.

"We meet again Cheekbones~" Raven said in a lilting voice to Anya.

Before Anya had the chance to say anything Luna to her side spoke up. "You dare to flirt with my houmon…wife in front of me?"

The smirk Raven gave Luna was filled with mischief. "Oh don't worry Red, I was getting to you~"

Luna returned the smirk and gave Raven an appraising look before turning Anya and having a rushed, whispered conversation in Trigedasleng.

Luna returned her attention to Raven. "Can you exit that armor or are you trapped in it?"

Raven laughed before responding, "I can exit it," and the back of the Warsuit opened with a hiss. Raven stepped out of the Warsuit and limped around the side of the machine. "Ta-Da!"

Luna and Anya gave a quick inhale of breath at seeing the prosthetic leg before Anya stepped forward. "Are you injured?" She asked in worry.

Raven's face soured slightly. "No, I've had this thing for a while now, my real leg is floating among the stars." She finished dramatically as she tapped the carbon fiber prosthetic leg.

Luna stepped forward, "and yet you are a warrior my people will tell stories of for a long time to come."

Raven puffed up her chest in pride. "I'm not just a warrior, I'm an Engineer. My people couldn't have survived without people like me."

"I doubt there is anybody quite like you." Anya said, smiling at how proud the woman was.

Anya and Luna locked eyes and seemed to have a silent conversation before Luna nodded. They both moved closer to Raven and pulled her closer by her hips. The shorter girl now pressed against them looking up in surprise. As Raven began to mouth a question Anya leaned down and silenced her with a kiss, quickly followed by Luna. The now very red faced Raven was looking at them like she had never expected her flirting to ever work, she broke out into a wide smile filled with the joy of having found not one but two people that returned her affections.

Clarke rolled her eyes affectionately at the display. She bumped shoulders with Lexa and they continued the trek towards the mountain side by side, Raven would catch up.

Upon reaching the now open door to the Mountain, Klark led Lexa and her guards through hallway after hallway until they reached a room Lexa saw was labeled 'Harvest Chamber'.

Before the doors even opened Lexa could hear the familiar sound of desperate, broken screams of someone undergoing torture they could not survive. Lexa, Ontari, and Luna tensed as the doors opened and with a gesture Klark waved them in.

"Look upon my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Klark called out with grandeur as she spread her arms wide.

At the center of the massive circular room lined with cages was three metal tables. On those tables were three screaming, naked forms, they wailed and thrashed desperately against their restraints as their skin bubbled and bled as if being burned by unseen fire, the skin seemed to heal itself as quickly as it burned, leaving the three in perpetual agony. That's when she noticed the tubes connected to them. A red tube connected to some kind of device on their exposed chests while a clear tube connected to their necks.

"What did you do to them?" Lexa asked, stunned.

"I gave them what they wanted. They drained the blood from your people for a hundred years because it treats the wounds they get from being exposed to outside air." She gestured to the far side of the room where a hole in the floor was. "The air coming up from the tunnels is enough to make them burn, I hooked them up to their reserves of blood and gave them a slow drip of adrenaline so they don't pass out or die from shock." She turned to face Lexa fully. "The very blood of their victims delivers vengeance upon them. Jus drein jus daun." She finished poetically.

"A fitting end. How long have they been this way, and how long will they stay this way?" Lexa asked.

"They've been here for two days now. They were taking much more blood than they needed, so there is enough left to continue this for days if not weeks yet to come." Klark said with a cruel smile.

"Good, the dead will have their vengeance." Lexa said, nodding her head in approval.

"Come, your people will want to see you." Klark said as she began leading them out of the room.

One elevator ride later they were on the level labeled 'medical'. The doors opened and Lexa could see the emaciated forms of her people milling about the hallway as the Fisas she had brought tended to all they could under the guidance of two Sardaukar wearing white armor.

One of the white armored Sardaukar rushed forward and jumped onto Dax wrapping her legs around his waist as she held his head between her hands and kissed him fiercely.

"Roma said you fought some kind of giant monster!" The woman screeched in worry after coming up for air.

Lexa almost missed the barely audible 'Sorry Fox' the giant whispered to his irate lover.

'Fox' pecked him on the nose with a quick kiss. "Don't worry me like that again," she admonished before hopping down and returning to her duties.

She began to hear the hushed whispers of 'Heda' and 'She came for us' all around as she moved through the halls examining the state of her people. "My people and I owe you a great debt Wanheda."

"Promise to help me convince the other clans to accept my claim on the Mountain and its lands and consider the debt paid." Klark said simply.

"I promise." Lexa nodded in agreement. The lands were not massive and were previously uninhabitable anyways.

A small child with wild brown hair began running down the hall towards them yelling 'Nomon!'

Klark's face lit up. "Madi!"

'Klark had a child!? And why was she speaking in Trigedasleng!?' Lexa screamed inside her head.

The little girl tripped over her feet and landed hard on her knees, Klark rushed forward and scooped the child up whispering 'You're ok, it's alright' as she kissed at the girl's temple. Lexa looked at the child's scraped knee and froze at the sight of her blood, it was black the little girl was a Natblida. Klark seemed to be just as surprised judging by her face.

"She is your daughter?" Lexa asked her burning question.

"She is now, I found her with your people." Klark scowled at the memory. "They rejected her, calling her a 'Frikdreina' because of her skin and eyes."

"She is a Natblida and therefore cannot be a Frikdreina. She must go to Polis and join the other novitiates." Lexa all but ordered.

Klark's eyes narrowed. "I took her in when your people rejected her. I promised I would not abandon her so I will not. She is both my daughter and one of my people. She stays with me, that is final." Klark seethed.

Madi was looking between the two with curious eyes as a tense silence began to fill the hall.

"You are being stubborn and leaving me with little options." Lexa ground out.

"Good, either accept it or not, but you will never take her from me." Klark said, voice dangerously low.

Lexa sighed before relaxing her posture slightly. "Fine, you and Costia would have gotten along too well I think."

Klark relaxed and smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

They continued their tour of checking on Lexa's people as Klark held Madi on her hip, occasionally cooing at the small child and trying to get her to laugh despite the language barrier.

After about an hour of making their rounds and speaking with the recovering people, Klark set Madi down and turned to Lexa.

"We should investigate the 'Lab' before the day is over. Could you tell Madi that we'll be right back please?"

Lexa nodded in understanding. She kneeled down to Madi's level. "Your mother and I will be right back, little one."

Madi's eyes widened slightly, and her lips quivered. "Y-You're the C-Commander! W-Why did you kill my p-parents!? D-Don't h-hurt my new M-Mother!" Madi cried out as she attempted to shield Klark from her.

Lexa was taken aback, the girl's birth parents must have hidden her away and when she was eventually discovered they must have been killed for harboring a Frikdreina.

Lexa shook her head. "What happened to your parents should not have happened. I will not harm your new mother, I promise on the Flame."

Klark picked Madi back up and began hushing the now crying child. "What did you say!?"

"She thought I was going to hurt you because her parents were killed for hiding her…" Lexa finished weakly.

After several minutes of hushed reassurances they made their way to the elevator once more and Klark pressed the button that read 'level 8'.

On their way down to level 8 Lexa turned to Clarke. "What is a lab?"

"Oh, right. We got attacked by the Pauna before I could explain. A lab is a place where someone creates technology." Clarke explained.

"And Becca Pramheda had one inside Mount Weather?" Lexa asked, not understanding why.

"I know as much as you do. She was meant to bring survivors here but was betrayed by the Mountain, I don't know what her connection was to this place." Clarke responded with a shrug.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The room was pitch black, until a blue light on the other side of the room flickered on, but still leaving most of the room dark. The light began to move and ungulate until it was in the shape of a human, a woman.

"Greetings Inheritors, My name is Spark. I am a virtual intelligence modeled after Doctor Becca Franco." The hologram greeted with no inflection.

"What the hell is this.." Clarke whispered to herself.

"Dr. Franco saw the signs of worldwide collapse and took steps to ensure humanity's continued survival. I am here to aid the inheritors of the Flames in the creation of new Nightbloods." Spark said while gesturing to the side.

Lights flicked on where she had gestured revealing thousands of syringes with black and red liquid inside. A machine began wirring as it came to life and started producing more, equal parts red and black.

"Make more Natblida? That is not possible." Lexa said in disbelief.

"Is that red liquid the same stuff they injected Charlotte with?" Clarke mostly asked herself.

"Query not recognized. 'Red' is the name of the failed super soldier serum created by the US government. Red became perfected when combined with the serum Dr. Franco created for Eligius mining crews for deep space mining. The combination became known as Nightblood serum." Spark tried to answer.

Clarke glanced at Lexa, this changed everything. This answered why Nightbloods were so much stronger than red bloods. If they had a way of making more nightbloods, then those loyal to the Flames and their bearers would become unstoppable.

Lexa was looking at the syringes with an unreadable look. "If Natblida are created then what of the Flame?

"The Flames were created by Dr. Franco to aid the leaders of the future, they boost what is inherent in their wielders. A good leader would become a great one."

Lexa had a far away look in her eyes. "What of the Spirit?"

"Query not recognized."

At Lexa's lost look Clarke held her hand, lacing their fingers together. "My people have many beliefs about Becca. Some believe her to be a god, some a prophet, and others simply a brilliant Engineer. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter much, Becca created the opportunities that allowed humanity to survive the bombs. All that matters is that we don't waste the future she gave us."

"But that would mean that the Conclave serves no purpose, that I killed my brothers and sisters for no reason..." Lexa said, looking down at her free, open hand.

"You did what you had to do to survive and we can put an end to the Conclave once and for all." Clarke said, gripping Lexa's hand for emphasis.

"Thank you Klark." Lexa said with clear relief on her face.

Clarke heard a mechanical whirring sound above them but she could look up something jabbed into her neck with a sharp pain. She looked to Lexa who was also holding a spot on her neck. There was an empty syringe connected to a mechanical arm retreating back up to the ceiling. Lexa and Clarke both fell to their knees clutching their heads in pain as blood trickled from their noses.

"In the event that Dr. Franco was not the first inheritor to reach here, I was to administer Project All Father without consent."

The searing headache began to fade, Clarke wiped at the black blood running from her nose. "What the hell is 'Project All Father'?!"

"Project All Father is to help ensure the inheritors continued survival through the aid of familiars. Your Flame is now linked to the nanites injected into you and your familiars. Your brain and that of your familiars are now linked."

Lexa drew her swords in a flash. "Do you hear that?" She whispered.

Clarke drew her axes and strained her ears, she could make out the sounds of ruffling feathers and padding feet coming from the darkest part of the room. Out of the dark stalked two horse sized wolves with pitch black fur and eyes that glowed in the low light. One had sapphire blue eyes while the other had emerald green. Riding on each of their backs was a single normal sized raven with matching eyes. The monstrous wolves sat on their haunches once they were five feet away.

"They are completely loyal to their respective Inheritors, it is a symbiotic relationship. Think of them as extensions of yourselves. You will be able to see through their eyes, even issue commands mentally. The blue eyed pair is linked to Inheritor 'Lexa' while the green eyed pair is linked to Inheritor 'Clarke'."

Clarke holstered her axes and cautiously reached out a hand towards the emerald eyed wolf, the wolf sniffed at her open hand then pressed its forehead into her open palm as its tail thrashed behind it. Clarke smiled her wolfish grin and turned to Lexa who was rubbing at her wolf's ears as it pressed its massive head into her chest. Clarke felt a weight land on her shoulder, she turned to see the emerald eyed raven staring at her from her shoulder with uncanny intelligence.

"Where did they come from though?" Clarke asked. They were underground for Becca's sake!

"They are bioengineered, when you were granted access to this level their creation began. They are made to be fully grown, the wolves larger, the ravens smarter, they also possess Nightblood."

"This..is a lot to take in." Lexa said with exhaustion evident in her voice.

"Agreed." Clarke said, exasperated.

"Do they have names?" Clarke asked Spark.

"Clarke's wolf is Geri, and the raven is Huginn. Lexa's wolf is Freki, and the raven is Muninn. Dr. Franco did not want to 'mess with the classics' as she put it."

"Well. I think I need a drink and proper bath, preferably at the same time." Clarke said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Hopefully they fit into the elevator." Lexa mused aloud.

Clarke laughed, "That and hopefully nobody has a heart attack when they see them step out of it."