A Commander and a Princess

It's Why I-

Lexa's POV

"So?"

Clarke looked up from her watch over at Lexa and Raven, who were staring at her like they were waiting for something. "What?" Clarke asked, glancing past them at the trees.

"Are you going to tell us who it is?" Raven crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow at Clarke.

"I told you, you'll find out." Clarke said, turning away to look at the trees behind her. "They should be here any minute."

Lexa put her hand over her sword, sighing heavily. "This is pointless. They aren't coming."

"Shh." Clarke put a finger to her lips. A twig snapped off to the right, and the bushes shook as Murphy emerged. He walked over to them, hands in his pockets. He saw Lexa and Raven and paused, unsure what to make of this.

"What are they doing here?" He said. "I thought you said we were meeting alone?"

"Murphy?" Raven stepped forward, eyeing him suspiciously. "It's Murphy?"

"Yes." Clarke nodded over at her. She turned back to Murphy and motioned for him to join their little group. "Sorry I didn't tell you they were coming. I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it."

"It's fine." He said stiffly, not wanting to piss off the Commander by expressing his true anger at Clarke's white lie. "So why am I here?"

"We... need your help." Clarke said. "Bellamy's radio stopped working."

He scoffed, looking up. "What am I supposed to do about that?"

"We need someone to get inside the mountain, to help him." Clarke continued. "You were the first person I thought of."

"I was the first person you thought of to help Bellamy?" He laughed.

"Yeah, I mean..." She looked over at Raven. "When I left... You were like his partner in crime."

"Oh, right." Murphy nodded his head, remembering. "You've been gone the past two years."

"What happened while I was away?" Clarke looked between him and Raven. Lexa was standing off to the side, watching awkwardly as the three talked. She was ready to step in, if needed.

"He tried to hang me." Murphy said.

"What?" Clarke's eyes widened. "Why?"

"After you'd left, everything had gone crazy. People didn't know what to do." Lexa watched Clarke as Murphy continued to talk about how they'd all been fighting over who was to take Clarke's place, her expression hardening as he went on. She knew- even though Clarke's expression was unreadable -that Clarke was starting to get upset. All of this new information about her friend's lives while she'd been away would only bring her down, reminding her she hadn't been there for them when they'd needed her most.

"Anyway," Murphy said after he'd finished his story, "I just don't like him."

"Well from what I understand," Clarke finally spoke, crossing her arms. "You weren't good either. You caused trouble. So now, to make it up to everyone, not just Bellamy, you're going to do this. Got it?"

Lexa smirked, raising her chin as she watched the exchange. Murphy stared at her for a long time, clenching his jaw. He finally nodded, "Fine."

---

Later, they took Murphy to show him how to switch the channels on the radio, and how to find Bellamy. Lincoln was waiting outside, to take him in the same way he did Bellamy. Only this time, he wouldn't fall symptom to the "red" poison that those people used to make the reapers.