Bellamy went to the council meeting as scheduled in the morning, nodding to Jasper and Monty before entering the room.

"Glad to have you joining us this fine morning." Jaha greeted him.

"Good to be here" he replied humbly taking his seat.

"I'm sorry I was unable to attend yesterday, I had to perform emergency surgery after one of the workers had an unfortunate accident" Abby explained to him.

An unfortunate accident that Jaha surely planned Bellamy thought to himself as he smiled back at her.

"No worries, it all worked out."

"Fortunately" Kane added with a knowing look to him.

"Yes," Jaha chimed in "very fortunate."

A heavy silence had weighed on them before Jaha redirected the conversation.

"Now, what are our plans for our pilgrimage to the City of Light?"

"We only have two that have injuries that will prohibit walking" Abby replied.

"We've gathered enough supplies to carry us through," Kane said.

"And the guard Bellamy, are they ready to defend our people?" Jaha questioned.

"They know the wildlife to watch out for from hunting trips. And I've taught them how the grounders scout, so we should be safe."

"Should be? That's not a strong voice of confidence that I expect when moving all of our people through grounder territory" Jaha said.

"It would be better if I took a small group ahead, to ensure a safe path. We can stay two days ahead and radio back with any sightings of grounders."

"That's a good idea" Kane agreed.

"We cannot spare the guards to journey with you. We leave our people at risk with every guard you take with you" Jaha replied.

"I won't take any trained guards then" Bellamy offered.

"Who then?" Jaha replied, testing him.

"Murphy, because he knows the way" Bellamy shrugged, "Max, the guard from the other station. He hasn't been trained to fight the grounders, or the wildlife so he won't be of much use to you."

"Anyone else?"

"Clarke, in case, any of us gets hurt. She can patch us up."

Abby's face expressed her disapproval with his last statement, but she kept quiet.

It didn't take much convincing for Jaha to agree to the scout group. Mostly because it would rid him of three thorns in his side….Clarke, Murphy, and Bellamy.

Bellamy informed one of the 100 of the plan, and to spread the word. He didn't like leaving before the others were safely away, but he knew the journey they had to make was in a different direction. They would need the extra time to get there and execute their plan before Jaha could execute his.

The four of them left camp and hiked throughout the day. They mostly kept quiet, unless necessary. They hiked until sunset then set up a small tent and fire.

"I still can't believe you lucked out like that" Max looked at Bellamy over the fire.

"What do you mean?" Clarke questioned.

"Nothing," Bellamy said sharply giving a hard look at Max.

"Nothing?" Max exclaimed, "You were half of a second away from a bullet through your brain."

"What?!" Clarke's head jerked to Bellamy

"It wasn't like that," Bellamy said, dismissing Clarke's reaction and pushing branches into the fire to make it grow.

"Man, I've never seen someone so close to an execution escape it." Max shook his head.

"What happened, you still haven't answered me?" Clarke demanded.

"Because it doesn't matter, everything worked out. We have bigger things to worry about" Bellamy glanced at her, before concentrating on the fire.

Clarke turned her attention to Max, "What happened?"

Bellamy lifted his gaze from the fire to give Max a pointed look. Unfortunately for Bellamy, Max was immune to his usually intimidating glare.

"The scrawny kid with the crazy hair stopped the execution while the guard had the trigger half-pulled. He admitted to lying to Bellamy about the murders. Then the rest of the people in the other groups with us, all stood up for him one by one. They all copped to lying to him. Dozens of them were standing there, and Councilman Kane talked Jaha out of the execution. I mean, logically, they couldn't execute all of them without backlash from the community. There were too many kids; the people would have turned against the Chancellor and the Council."

Clarke stared at him, then turned to Bellamy.

"You didn't tell me it was that close" she whispered, her voice retreating on her.

Bellamy's menacing glare left Max, melting into a softer gaze on Clarke.

"you didn't need to know," he said gently, "It wouldn't do you any good to know."

Clarke's glassy eyes stared back at him.

"Hey," he breathed, cupping her cheek in his hand. "I'm okay."

Clarke forced a smile, her body lightly trembling.

"Come here," he said as he pulled her over to him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her head to his shoulder.

"What scrawny kid?" She asked after a moment

"Jasper" Bellamy replied.

"Jasper?" she said with shock. "How did you convince him to do it?"

Bellamy gazed into her eyes briefly then blinked and swung his gaze back to the fire.

"He hasn't spoken to anyone in so long, its hard to believe he stood up to Jaha" she added.

"he wanted to help" Bellamy shrugged, "he's a good guy."

"I know he's a good guy" she shook her head, "he's just been so distant…..so heartbroken" Clarke watched the flames dance before her before.

"Not just because Maya died, but because we did it."

Bellamy fixed his eyes back on her. "What?" she asked after feeling his stare.

"That's the first time you acknowledged that we both are responsible for what happened."

Clarke turned her attention back to the blaze, "Monty was his best friend, they grew up together. I may have told him to do it, but Jasper knows Monty made it work." Her voice dropped low as she added, "he felt betrayed by the one person he could always count on."

"No one blames you for that Clarke" Bellamy comforted.

"I do" she whispered. After another moment, she stood and moved into their tent for the night.

The men sat around the campfire in silence for a while before Max's curiosity got the best of him.

"So how did you even come up with a plan like that?" he asked Bellamy.

"Yeah Bellamy" Murphy's snarky voice injected, "how did you come up with a plan like that?"

Bellamy shot his attention over to Murphy's knowing smirk, then narrowed his eyes and glowered at him.

"And why would Jasper wait until the very last second to speak up?" Murphy pressed, "I mean, you might want to have a word with him if you have any plans like that in the future. Sounds like he cut it pretty close" Murphy's cocky grin spread wider as Bellamy's glare hardened and his body tensed.

"drop it Murphy" he warned

Murphy held his knowing smirk.

"Now" Bellamy growled before kicking out the fire and heading to the tent.