F I V E

"Justice isn't revenge."

XX
xx
XX

HARLAI RAN UP JUST AS CLARKE pushed Murphy, her hands flying into his chest and sending him back a couple of steps. "You son of a bitch!" She screamed at him, a torn look on her face.

"Woah, what's your problem?" He asked her with a teasing laugh, his eyes flickering momentarily to Harlai who came to a stop beside the angry blonde before going back to Clarke as she raised the knife.

"Recognize this?"

"It's my knife, where'd you find it?" He asked as he tried to grab it from her hands, but she yanked the chunk of metal behind her back.

"Where you dropped it after you killed Wells." This statement from Clarke drew the eyes of the campers to the scene and caused Murphy to look at her with a confused expression.

"Where I what?" He recomposed himself as he took a step closer to her, his eyes nervously flickering around at the forming crowd. "The grounders killed Wells, not me."

Harlai narrowed her eyes at Murphy as she thought about his situation. The proof was there, but she didn't think that if he did it, he would leave the knife behind. Murphy seemed like he would be smart enough to not do that. Her eyes trailed among the crowd, stopping momentarily on a young girl who seemed nervous because of what was happening.

The brunette knew her from the ship. It was Charlotte. But Harlai thought against her being a culprit because she was so young, so innocent. But were any of them innocent? They were sent to the ground because of being not-so-innocent.

"I know what you did." Clarke was practically hissing at Murphy, but her face was a mixture of emotions. Anger and sadness. She had lost a friend who she hadn't been treating very well lately because of what he did to her. They were still friends though, and Clarke would have forgiven him eventually. "And you're gonna pay for it."

"Really?" Murphy asked as his eyes flickered behind Clarke again. Not at Harlai, but at their 'leader,' Bellamy Blake. "Bellamy, you really believe this crap?"

Bellamy didn't say a thing. Harlai turned to look at him over her shoulder and they briefly made eye contact. How could he not say anything? She just shook her head and looked back over to the two, Clarke getting angrier by the second.

"Clarke, what if he really didn't do it?" Harlai quietly asked as she looked at Murphy. He looked utterly confused by the accusation, but an appreciative look appeared on his face when Harlai suggested this.

Clarke just looked at Harlai with the complete opposite look: betrayal. She trusted Harlai and she trusted her to stay on her side, even if she was doing the wrong thing, but she thought it was right. "He- You threatened to kill him. We all heard you." Clarke's icy blue gaze shot over to Murphy again as she spoke. "You hated Wells."

"Plenty of people hated Wells." Murphy argued, but Harlai could tell people were beginning to believe Clarke. Harlai hated to say it, but he did try to fight him a good few times and that was on the first day. "His father was the Chancellor that locked us up!"

"Yeah, but you're the only one who got in a knife fight with him!"

"I didn't kill him then either."

"You tried to kill Harlai, too!" Octavia called out from beside Bellamy.

Murphy's eyes shot to Harlai as her own widened. "Is that true?" Her voice broke a little. She had defended him, but he was willing to do the opposite, just like Bellamy. Harlai's green eyes began to well up with tears and she blinked them away quickly. She couldn't let anyone there see her weak.

It was silent for a moment as Murphy began to look around again. If anyone didn't believe that he killed Wells then, they believed it now. "Come on. This is ridiculous. I don't have to answer to you. I don't have to answer to anyone!"

"Come again?" Bellamy asked with his arms folded over his chest. He actually believed Clarke and this shocked Murphy and, well, the rest of the large group.

"Bellamy, look, I'm telling you, man. I didn't do this." Murphy's voice had lowered as he walked up to Bellamy with a shake of his head. Harlai wanted to believe him, but she didn't know if she could forgive him for what he almost did to her. He tried to kill her when she was defenseless and weak, just like that time he tried to fight Wells who had a hurt ankle.

"They found his fingers on the ground with your knife." Bellamy told Murphy with a shake of his own head. The evidence was coming together to all of the others and even Murphy. He knew that if someone else was in that position, he'd believe it, too.

"Is this the kind of society that we want?" Clarke asked, Murphy turning to face her. Harlai was shocked as she turned around as well, seeing that everyone was closing in on them, on Murphy. "You say there should be no rules. Does that mean that we can kill each other without-without punishment?"

"I already told you. I didn't kill anyone!" Murphy yelled at her as he began to walk back over to her. He was like a caged puppy, trying to find his way out of the entrapment of his supposed lies.

"I say we float him!" A guy behind Clarke and Harlai said, gaining a few yeah's of agreement from the crowd.

"That's not what I'm saying." Clarke said as she looked at the kid who had spoken up.

"Why not? He deserves to float."

"That's how they did it on The Ark." Harlai told him with a shake of her head. "Remember how horrible it was? I'm sure we can find something less inhuman."

"It's justice." Someone else said, gaining another chorus of agreements.

"Revenge isn't justice!" Clarke yelled at them, but the crowd was already getting riled up.

"It's justice. Float him!" With that, people began to chant the last words.

Harlai's eyes widened as Murphy began to run and someone tripped him, sending him to land on the ground with a thud. They began to rush him, kicking at his body.

"No! Get off him!" Harlai tried to run over to Murphy, but she felt someone wrap their arms around her waist to hold her back. Her eyes began to fill up with tears as she heard Murphy yelling for them to get off, Clarke trying to get to him as well. Even Octavia tried to run over and help Murphy, but Bellamy yanked her back by her arm.

It took a moment for Harlai to realize what they were doing. One guy yanked the red cloth off of Murphy's arm and tied it around his face so it covered his mouth, his yelling coming out muffled.

"Let him go!" Clarke yelled as she tried to push to the front of the crowd so she could help Murphy.

Harlai began to freak out, having the perfect view of Murphy as they tied him up like a hog. She also began to panic from being handled by whoever it was that wanted Murphy to be killed. Images of the grounder that drug her along the forest floor flashed through her mind and she could feel herself beginning to have a panic attack like the ones she had in her cell.

Harlai grabbed the man's wrist and she yanked it off of her, leaving one arm still wrapped around her waist, but it loosened his grip. She then whirled around, her dark locks spreading out around her, and she sent her knee into his groin. He fell to the ground as his hands clutched himself and he groaned out.

Harlai was too late though. By the time she got out of the man's grip, a group of boys picked Murphy up and began to haul him out of camp, other criminals following behind them as they whooped and hollered in excitement. Harlai ran after them only to watch as they threw him to the ground again, rolling down the hill in result and into some mud.

"You can't do this!" Clarke yelled as they threw a rope over a tree limb.

Both Harlai and Clarke were held back by the guy who started this whole thing as they strung Murphy up by the rope being tied around his neck. "Get off of me!" Harlai yelled, pushing the guy back, but he kept his ground.

As Harlai tried to get to Murphy who was now standing up, Clarke ran over to Bellamy. "You can stop this! They'll listen to you!"

"Please, stop!!" Harlai yelled at the guy, but he only smirked in response, blocking her from getting by.

"Bellamy, you should do it!" The guy started to chant Bellamy's name and the crowd followed.

Harlai looked up at Murphy and then to Bellamy. Their eyes met and for a split second, she could see him hesitate. She walked up to him beside Clarke. All she could hear in her mind were those words, "She's a lost cause."

"Bellamy, if you want me to forgive you, please don't do this." She placed a hand on his arm, her eyes filled with panic. Harlai could see that he was considering this.

"I saw you in the woods with Atom. I know you're not a killer." Clarke said to him, his eyes switching to look down at the blonde.

Without saying anything, Bellamy gave into the crowd and began to walk over to Murphy. Harlai's eyes began to fill with tears and she followed after him, trying to stop him. "Bellamy, don't!" He only pushed her back with enough force to send her falling onto her ass on the muddy ground.

Clarke continued to plead with Bellamy as Murphy pleaded through the cloth, but Bellamy was only listening to the crowd who continued to chant his name. Without another thought, he kicked the table that was holding Murphy up, making the rope his only support.

"No, Bellamy, no!" Clarke yelled, but Bellamy whirled around.

"This is on you, princess! You should've kept your mouth shut!"

Finn ran up as Harlai pushed herself up. "What are you doing? Cut him down!" Finn yelled, but the dark skinned guy pulled out something sharp, keeping him back.

Harlai tried to get to the rope so she could untie it and let him down, but there were too many people. Tears began to stream down her face as she watched Murphy. This was wrong. This was so wrong.

"Just stop, okay?" Harlai heard a girl's voice who she immediately recognized as Charlotte. "Murphy didn't kill Wells!"

The brunette turned around to look at the small girl with a bewildered look. Everyone began to murmur things, their faces matching Harlai's.

"I did!"

"Oh my god." Harlai gasped out as she grabbed a knife from the ground and pushed past the people to the rope. Immediately cutting it, Murphy fell to the ground, Clarke running to his side and Harlai doing the same immediately after.

XX
xx
XX

WORD COUNT: 1885

This is a lil shorty, but it's action packed! Will Harlai ever forgive Bellamy now? Has she forgiven Murphy? Who knows- Oh wait, I do *wink*