Red Lighter ✧ John Murphy

XLIV - Deepens

Roan and Venus are brotp

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Chapter Fourty-Four

Clarke opened the door, and once we entered, Titus turned and shouted at us.

"You do not belong here!" he yelled.

"Really? Why is my blood decorating your floor?" Murphy mumbled, putting his hands in his pockets.

"There is nothing left for you in Polis," Titus said, turning back to the table he was sitting at before we came in. "Why have you not gone?"

"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know," Murphy muttered, walking around the room.

This room was strange. It was more like a shrine. In the middle of it was an old escape pod with the two doors on either side propped up. Behind it was a tarp with the infinity symbol on it, the same symbol that was on the flame as well as the pills that Jaha gave us. Candles lingered everywhere, and Titus stood at a table. He had his kit with him, the items he used to perform the ascension ritual.

"We need to talk about Ontari," I said to him, while Clarke and I walked closer.

"She wasn't trained here. Why would you let her into the conclave?" Clarke asked.

"Ontari has the blood of the commanders," he said regretfully. "It is her birthright to compete for the flame."

We both moved to either side of him, and I saw him holding the flame.

"Is she really in there?" Clarke asked.

"Of course she is," Titus said, nodding. He seemed saddened when he touched the flame.

He put the flame back into the box, and then moved the kit. He put it into the escape pod, and Murphy walked up behind Clarke.

"Then why does it matter who wins?" he asked Clarke, his tone showing just how eager he was to leave. "I mean listen to me, if your girlfriend really is in that thing, then we have nothing to worry about, right?" he said, then began to whisper. "Clarke, let's just get out of here while we can."

"It matters," Titus stated, coming back around to look at us while keeping his hand on the pod. "I've served four commanders as Fleimkepa. None of them half as wise or strong as Lexa kom Trikru. The truth is, she was all those things before Ascension. The Flame deepens what's already there."

"So if Ontari wins..." I said, swallowing.

"The Ice Nation will control everything, and Skaikru will face her wrath."

Murphy leaned over to whisper in my ear. "Not really a silver-lining type of guy, is he?"

"So how do we make sure Aden wins? He was Lexa's choice, you know that," Clarke said.

It was clear that she was desperate to have Aden as Commander, if only for the safety of our people. We all knew that if Ontari won, we would die. A lot of the Grounders already held resentment for the people of the Ark, they would not be opposed if Ontari suggested taking us all out.

"And she will choose him," Titus said.

He was wrong, and that was made especially clear when the sound of a horn was heard. Somehow, I knew what it meant.

"What's that?" Murphy said, panicked.

Titus confirmed my suspicions when he replied. "The victory horn."

Titus ran out of the room, and we followed after him. He went up the elevator with us right behind, and when he reached the throne room, I had a dark feeling in me. Ontari had done something. She was covered in blood from head to toe, black blood. Nightblood.

I felt someone suddenly move beside me, and it wasn't Murphy. It was Roan. I looked up at him, my brow now furrowed.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

"Shh..." he whispered, looking back up at Ontari.

"What is the meaning of this?" Titus asked her, his voice shaking. He was frightened of what was about to happen.

She was completely relaxed. She was calm and collected. She didn't seem to grasp that she had just murdered people that could still be considered children. She made that rather obvious when she reached down to the sack, and pulled a large round thing out of it. It took my mind a few moments to realize that it was a severed head, specifically that of Aden.

"Aden!" I said, darting forwards.

I felt a large and calloused hand grip my arm and pull me back. Surprisingly, he didn't pull me roughly, like I would expect from a man such as Roan.

"If she sees you, she'll have your head too," he said calmly, but I could hear the concern in her voice. He didn't want the three of us to die.

"Guys, I think we should get out of here..." Murphy said, absentmindedly. He was too surprised by what Ontari had done to truly concentrate.

Ontari suddenly kicked the sack, and from through the crowd of people in front of me, I could see more heads spill out of it. I had been correct in thinking that she had killed them all, not just Aden.

Ontari was now the only nightblood standing.

"I win," Ontari said blankly.

Roan made sure that we got out of the room safely, and took us to the elevator. Clarke was arguing the entire way, but Roan kindly told her to shut the hell up and go with him. Surprisingly, she actually listened.

"Slow down Roan!" Clarke said, while he led us through Polis to the tunnel that apparently would take us out of the city. "We need to talk to Titus."

"Trust me, right now, your friend Titus is on his knees in front of Ontari."

"No," Clarke hissed. "There's no way he'll support someone who hacked the heads off children while they slept."

"Yeah, those children were marked for death anyway."

He wasn't wrong, they were raised into believing that they would either become commander or die... But it was still wrong. It wasn't a proper fight. She played dirty.

"You'll support her too?" Clarke asked, appalled.

"She's Ice Nation," he stated blankly.

"Whatever's best for your people, is that it?" Clarke asked.

She really wasn't the one to be talking... Not after what she did in Mount Weather.

It seemed that Roan thought the same. "Kinda like how killing every man, woman, and child in Mount Weather was best for yours."

"That's not a bad point," Murphy said from behind Clarke and I.

"Shut up, Murphy," Clarke hissed.

Can I kill her yet?

Roan stopped and put his hand out to make sure we didn't move. He checked to make sure that there wasn't anyone around and that it was clear, then turned to face us. "Tunnel's through here," Roan said, looking at me as he spoke.

I nodded. "Thank you, Roan."

He gave me a nod in acknowledgement, then moved past us to leave while Murphy went over to the tunnel.

"I saved your life again. My debt to Lexa for sparing mine is paid. Next time you see me, Clarke kom Skaikru," he said, shaking his head at her. "We won't be friends."

Clarke seemed stunned by what he said, but didn't say anything as Roan walked away. But even so, she turned to watch him leave, and then look up at Polis.

Murphy sighed. "We're not leaving, are we?"

Clarke shook her head. "Not without the flame."

She walked back the way we came, and I couldn't help but sigh. "This isn't going to be good, is it?"

Murphy shook his head. "Hell no."