It wasn't long for the chant to start up in the impressionable crowds of Delinquents. As they ruthlessly yelled for Murphy to be floated, Avery couldn't help but notice how easily they could be swayed by anyone.

Murphy's face flashed with fear and the realisation that he would soon be swarmed by people. In an instant, he darted forwards in an attempt to escape, and he was sent flying to the ground by someone's outstretched foot.

Immediately, Murphy was surged by Delinquents kicking at him in fury. Avery wasn't entirely sure why they were so upset. She could remember that only a week ago, many of them were against the boy who had wound up dead.

"Hey! Get off him!"

As Clarke began yelling out, Avery was struggling to push through the crowds to reach her friend. Octavia was also trying to intervene, being stopped by Bellamy as quickly as she tried to move.

Avery, in all of the chaos, felt two hands roughly shove her shoulders backwards, away from Murphy and all the mess. Who knows if it was meant for her, but at that second, she couldn't bring herself to get angry at whoever it was.

Two different hands stopped her from falling, and Avery could distantly hear Monty asking her if she was alright. She'd be ashamed to admit it, but she was too preoccupied to answer.

Murphy was still trying to wrestle against everyone as they tied a gag around his mouth and bound his wrists behind his back. He was defenceless when four boys lifted him up and began to move him across the camp.

"Get off him!"

Aver couldn't keep track of it all; her attention firstly on the noose being strung up on a tree, and then on Murphy being pressed into mud by yelling Delinquents. Before she could even try to get to him again, an iron grip on her arm prevented her.

She turned to meet the cold, warning eyes of Bellamy. Glaring directly back at him, she was silently trying to get him to back down. It didn't work.

"I know you don't want them to do this Bellamy. Do something!"

Bellamy's lips formed in a tight line, unforgiving and unrelenting. He wasn't moving, wasn't talking, wasn't doing anything.

The girl was practically in tears as she watched the noose being fixed around Murphy's neck. The boy was shunned onto a box, with the Delinquents preparing to kick it away and send the boy to a slow and painful death.

"Bellamy, they listen to you." Clarke berated him, almost feeling as awful whilst watching it all as Avery felt.

"Bellamy!" Connor suddenly called out to him, eyes lighting up with an idea. "You should do it!"

It took a second for Avery to realise that he was referring to kicking the box out from under Murphy's feet. A wave of nausea passed over her, and she came back to her senses to pull herself away from Bellamy.

Bellamy's eyes had locked with Murphy's. Murphy looked like he was about to cry, covered in blood and dirt, pleading Bellamy with his wide eyed expression.

"Don't you fucking dare, Blake."

Avery's voice was low and threatening, and for a split second, Bellamy considered backing down. But that flame of an idea was put out only a second after it sparked.

Bellamy approached Murphy, who was struggling against his restraints out of fear. In the back of his mind, he could only think about the doubt he had that Bellamy would do anything to stop it all. Murphy knew how badly Bellamy wanted people to follow him, but he wasn't sure if it was so badly that he'd sacrifice a friend.

And then, he found out that it was.

Bellamy kicked the box from under Murphy's feet. Avery held back a sob, forcing away her emotional side and replacing it with anger. In that moment she swore she could've murdered Bellamy, although she did think that Octavia might try murdering her if she did.

Besides, Connor had reached her before she could get to Bellamy, and she was forced to fight against him, still shouting for someone to let Murphy free. Her voice was drowned out by the Delinquents cheering on Murphy's punishment, somehow all taking delight in Murphy's struggle for breath.

Only a few people were staying quiet in all of the chaos. Monty, Jasper, Octavia, and a few select others were all wordless in watching the scenes unfold; which Avery couldn't entirely understand, but she certainly admired them all for keeping so cool. That was something she couldn't exactly relate to.

Once again, she could distantly hear Monty talking to her, and then talking to Connor, arguing for him to let go of her. Her arms were released before she was ready for it, and she stumbled forwards a little with the unexpected momentum.

Clarke had pushed Bellamy, and now the boy had whirled around to yell at her. Avery saw red, and if shouting at Bellamy meant that she'd be backing up Clarke, then so be it.

"This is on you, princess!" Bellamy roared at Clarke. "You should've kept your mouth shut."

"No, Bellamy, this isn't on Clarke." Bellamy's face briefly flooded with confusion that she was taking Clarke's side, but he hurried to hide it as she continued to shout at him over all the noise. "You know they listen to you, you could stop this whole thing!" 

A strangled yelp came from Murphy then, as if he was trying to call for help from someone he considered to be a friend. He knew that Avery was fighting for him to be cut down from the noose, he saw it before he was strung up, but - not that he'd ever admit it - he was distraught that Bellamy wasn't doing the same.

He had stuck by Bellamy's side for the entire time they had been on Earth, only to get treated like shit in return.

Finn appeared out of nowhere at that moment, adding fuel to the fire by calling for Murphy to be cut down and for Charlotte to leave. Avery noticed the small girl then; who looked mortified by what was going on around her.

Connor held a knife to Finn's neck, threatening him with a string of curse words that Avery couldn't make out over all of the other violence. No one was now paying attention to the tiny girl, freaking out over the mess that she had created. Suddenly her shrill voice rippled through the air.

"Stop! Murphy didn't kill Wells!"

Everyone quietened down to look at Charlotte, but Avery couldn't rip her eyes away from where Murphy was slowly losing the ability to breathe. There was a feeling of dread piling up in her stomach; the truth buried deep down in her mind as a concocted theory, surely too farfetched to be reality.

"I did."

What the fuck?

Avery couldn't feel her stomach dropping over the sound of her heart still beating out of her chest. She couldn't bear thinking about it properly for the second, not when her priorities were still with Murphy.

"Can someone please cut Murphy down!"

Clarke immediately slung Bellamy's knife from his belt and cut the noose from where it was tied up on the tree, causing Murphy to crumple onto the ground coughing and gasping for breath. Avery got to him before anyone else could, taking advantage of the fact everyone was shell shocked by Charlotte's confession.

She loosened the gag from Murphy's mouth, checking his injuries with heightened concern and swelling fury. And then, without caring about Murphy's coldness or any of the people watching, she pulled him into a hug.

Murphy went stiff under her tight grasp, not really knowing what to do with himself. He cared about everyone watching him, what they'd think about his tough act now if he went around hugging people.

But Avery didn't pull away for a few long moments. And so, Murphy found himself caring less about those things. And eventually, his arms came to settle back around her too; grateful for his friend.

John Murphy was incredibly angry about the whole situation. Avery had to step away, get some space from the constant feeling she was about to lose all her oxygen; which was ironic considering Murphy was the one who actually experienced it. Murphy was busy yelling at the tent Charlotte was being sheltered inside of with Bellamy, Clarke and Finn.

Avery had trailed away from the bustling side of camp and found a spot on what she liked to call the doorstep of the Dropship. It was the ramp leading up to the ship, and the girl had perched on the very part of metal that separated the ship from the ground.

Monty had followed after her, concerned upon seeing her drained expression after fighting for Murphy not to get murdered. He could understand it, why she'd want to save Murphy - he was a dick but he was her friend.

He knew they were friends before they landed on Earth. Somehow, they had crossed paths and Avery was good friends with the rude, arrogant, selfish boy that Monty suddenly felt jealous of. Somehow they were close enough to be comfortable with hugging.

Murphy comfortable hugging someone! Murphy actually hugging someone! It seemed impossible. And yet, it wasn't.

Monty wasn't quite sure when he became aware of his slightly gigantic crush on Avery. He supposed it had always been in the back of his head, from the very moment she had called him a smart ass on the way down to Earth. Somehow, she had charmed him with her irritable yet endearing energy.

"Are you okay?"

Avery looked up to meet his gaze, her own expression softening upon seeing him. She patted the spot beside her for him to sit, sighing at the question.

"I'm fine. They didn't try and hang me."

Monty settled down next to her, wincing at the reminder of what they just witnessed. "Murphy will be alright." He attempted to reassure her. It wasn't likely to work.

"He's angry." She said simply, as if it explained her own downcast mood.

"It's Murphy. He's always angry."

Avery supposed he was right. Murphy did always seem angry, and if he wasn't, he was busy making other people angry. Mainly Bellamy.

"I haven't told you how Murphy and I are friends, have I?"

Monty shook his head, but Avery already knew the answer. She found it so difficult to even think about the events leading up to meeting Murphy that it would be impossible for her to forget telling it. Because it involved her telling why she was arrested; a story that was heart breaking in itself.

But it was Monty. If anyone was to make her feel comfortable to tell it, it was him.

"I got arrested cause I was stealing medicine for my dad. He was sick. Like, really sick."

Avery blinked away the tears that threatened her eyes. It had been so long since she thought about her dad, let alone cried about him. It never really made sense to her why she spent so many nights crying herself to sleep about the fact he was gone. She supposed it was because he was the only person she had.

"So, I did what I could to try and help him. I stole medicine and Abby caught me. She didn't stop me because she knew I wanted to help him so badly. But then a Guard found me, and he asked me what was in my pockets, and I freaked."

She almost laughed upon remembering her altercation with the Guard. As damning as it was for her to get arrested, it was also pretty hilarious. And the result of it led to her meeting Monty, so how angry could she be?

"I punched him and made a run for it. I got caught two minutes later by a bunch of Guards. None of them knew why I took the pills, I know they didn't. They just thought I was another careless kid."

Avery laughed coldly, and felt a violent shiver run down her spine. The moon was glaring down on them, and although it was providing enough light for them to see each other, it wasn't giving off any heat.

"Most people in this place think I'm careless. They all just know I assaulted a Guard and that's it."

"I don't think you're careless." Monty said with a frown.

"Of course you don't. You're you."

Monty adverted his glance so she wouldn't notice the blush dusting across his cheeks. He then looked back at her when he realised that she hadn't actually told him how she befriended Murphy.

"So, how did you meet Murphy?"

She sensed the smallest smile come onto her lips at his interest, wrongly assuming he'd be too shy to question it. She was shivering now, the cold having finally hit her skin properly, and punishing her with goose bumps and uncontrollable shaking.

"His room was next to mine in the Sky Box. There was a tiny air vent that made it possible for us to talk to each other. It took him a few weeks to get a response from me, but eventually we'd talk for a short while every few days." She shrugged simply. "He was my first friend."

"I understand why you'd want to protect him."

And that was all Avery needed to make her feel better.

Someone to simply understand. It was so easy for Monty to understand that. He had Jasper. He had known Jasper almost his entire life. He'd protect him with his life.

And although that was all Avery needed, Monty always went beyond that.

After a few silent moments, Monty began shuffling around, taking his arms out of his jacket. He draped it over Avery's shoulders, engulfing her in warmth and the soft scent of Monty.

The girl, admittedly confused, couldn't help but let a giddy sensation overwhelm her. Monty's kindness, the sweet action of giving her his jacket like the cheesy rom-com's she heard about from the past, the way he was still smiling at her now.

"But this is your jacket." She said, dumbly. "You always wear it."

"And now you're wearing it." He replied, taking a hold of the front of it at each side of the zipper and pulling it gently so it covered more of Avery's shaking figure.

She thanked him shyly, sliding her arms into the sleeves and letting the warmth overtake her senses. Then, she stuffed her hands into her pockets, jokily doing an impression of him.

Monty scoffed and rolled his eyes, a fond smile poking at the corner of his lips as he watched the girl's face light up in amusement. Her hand surfaced from one of the pockets again, her fingers gently holding a very much crumpled - and dead looking - purple flower.

The flower she gave him on that first day.

"How the hell is this still alive?" She questioned, holding it up and twirling it in her hand so the purple tones of the petals caught in the light.

"I mean," Monty shrugged. "It's special."

Avery flattened it out in her hand again, choosing not to dampen the mood by commenting about how crumpled and dead it looked. Instead, she told Monty that he should probably keep it inside his tent somewhere, and then put it away in his jacket pocket again.

Leaning towards Monty, she let her fingertips linger on his cheek and tilted him ever so slightly towards her. Laying her heart on the line, she pressed a soft kiss to his other cheek, letting her lips linger for just a moment on his skin.

It was a thank you. One for the flower, and the jacket, and for the reassurance he shared with her. She knew words couldn't describe just how grateful she was for him.

When she pulled away, his cheeks were burning bright red and he was tugging his bottom lip between his teeth as though he wanted to respond to the action. He briefly thought about kissing her then, but decided against it. His overthinking was leading him to believe she'd think it was too soon for how short they had known one another, or simply just weird.

Besides, Monty had never kissed anyone before. He never had time to kiss anyone. He was sure Avery would have kissed someone before - she hadn't - and so he told himself she'd have too high of a standard for him to fulfil.

This, of course, was not the case for Avery.

She did have high standards, but Monty easily exceeded those. Her words had escaped her upon looking at him. He was shivering; his teeth chattering and his nose and cheeks splattered with a rosy red blush. She felt guilty for taking his source of warmth, but less guilty considering he looked so cute whilst cold.

If there was ever an excuse to be affectionate with Monty, it was now.

She scooted towards him, linking her arm in his before he could say anything to question why she was doing it. He leaned in towards her, welcoming her in the space directly beside him as she rested her head carefully on Monty's shoulder.

Monty swore that his heart stopped then. It had been beating so quickly as she moved closer and closer, but now that she was resting on his shoulder, hands grasping onto his arm, he was sure he'd have a heart attack.

Although Avery seemed calm in return, she was badly freaking out on the inside. The problem with liking someone as shy (and adorable) as Monty, was that he'd never make a move as bold as that. Which meant that all of the boldness was left to Avery. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did scare her half to death.

"Charlotte!"

And just like that the spell was broken.

Avery's head shot up from Monty's shoulder, and her entire body went rigid. It was Murphy's voice calling Charlotte's name again, but his tone had changed.

He was no longer just agitated and irritated, and edging on frustration due to his impatience. That shout held a hell of a lot of pent up anger, and Avery knew at that very second that Charlotte had escaped.