This is my VERY FIRST one-shot! Also my first third person story so sorry if it's not as good as PenguinofProse,but maybe one day I'll get there! I've always loved the idea of a Murphy, Clarke friendship (maybe even more than just a friendship). If this gets lots of love I might make it into a whole series but let's just try this out!

I Believe in Second Chances:

"What the hell do you want from me, Murphy?" At this point he found it hard to answer that question himself. "I'm sorry, ok? For all of it. I never meant for you to get hurt." Murphy realized, as Clarkes chains rattled in her fury, that his smirk had worn off. Something about her apologizing to him made it hard to think of something snarky to say. He honestly couldn't believe it but here she was.. The princess.. Wanheda.. Natblida.. Apologizing to him, the cockroach. Clarke continued,

"But, no matter what I do, someone always does." Okay, well now that's just a true statement but he can't really hold that against her- "Is that what you want to hear? That I'm the bad guy?" Now this, he thought, is usually the part where he smirks at the fact that he had struck a nerve. That's what he always seems to want to accomplish right? So why does he feel.. What's the word.. Guilty? Maybe the toxins in the air are getting to him already. He broke away from his thoughts to listen. "When I'm in charge, people die." She turned her gaze to Bellamy now. "Isn't that what you said?" His only response was a sorrowful look in her direction. She turned back to Murphy, her eye's looking less like the color of a pretty ocean and more like a freezing glacier. "Satisfied?" He was. But he couldn't let her know that. Seeing her snap and knowing that she understands what she has done was all that he needed. So why does he still feel guilty for hearing her say it out loud? He won.. Didn't he? He didn't know how to respond so he just stiffened his lips and settled for,

"It's a start." As if on cue the screams of Nathan Miller filled the room. As much as he really does care about the guy, Murphy couldn't help but feel relief that he and Clarke's conversation was thankfully interrupted.

"It's Miller." Clarke stated the obvious as she stood up. Bellamy followed, jumping to his feet.

"Miller, what's wrong!?" Bellamy shouted up to the man in distress. "Clarke, I gotta get up there, now." Isn't Bellamy supposed to be the sensible one? Murphy thought. Why would he not understand that it's just the toxins? That is why Emori attacked him.. right? "Hand me my key." Clarke looked as if she was going to actually say no to her knight. "Now!" Bellamy shouted and she did as she was told and tossed him the key to his shackles.

"I'm coming with you." She stated as Bellamy unlocked his restraints and threw them on the floor. "Bellamy, give me my keys."

"I won't be long. I can't risk you getting hurt again." He said as he ran out the door.

"Bellamy!" She shouted after him, pulling hard on her shackles as if that would break the chains.

"Relax, Clarke." Murphy stated, still sitting up against the wall he was locked up by.

"Don't tell me to relax." She snapped

"Look, I don't know what the hell is going on, kay, that's kinda been the theme of our whole experience on this planet so far. But I know Blakes not an idiot. I learned that in the six years we spent on the rin-"

"Please, don't talk about those six years." She stated, sliding back down the wall to the floor. There's that guilty feeling Murphy's growing to hate more and more.

"Sorry. I know that must have been hard for you." He thinks he said that in a tone of genuine sorrow but the look on her face when her gaze shifted from her knees and up to him tells a different story..

"You have no idea."

...

Clarke has been trying to ignore Murphy's slight glances towards her every now and then within the thirty minutes Bellamy has been gone, but it's getting harder and harder to block him out. She has instead been studying the table that Bellamy was sitting at. Besides all of the jars and figurines she noticed a book. She thought about what she would draw first if she could ever get her hands on another sketchbook and pencil. Maybe she would make a sketch of Bellamy teaching Madi shooting strategies, or Miller and Jackson laughing together, or maybe even Murphy giving off a real smile and not a stupid smirk. She'd had enough. She felt his grey eyes beem at her again.

"What!?" She asked, throwing her hands up in the air causing her chains to slam against the wall behind her.

"I'm.." There was a long pause. If she didn't know any better he was about to apologise.. Then again this is John Murphy she's talking about. "I'm sorry." Well, now that's a hell of a turn. She positioned herself so her whole body was facing him. She was willing to hear him out.

"Go on."

"Jeez you really don't make things easy, do you? Fine. I'm sorry for calling you out like that. I mean, I realize we're all in this for the long haul.. And that we've all done some pretty crappy things." She scoffed at that. "Yeah, yeah.. Myself included."

"Hell yeah, yourself included. You seem to forget who you were when we first landed on earth."

"Yeah I know." He turned his gaze to his boots. She knows she shouldn't make this as tough as she is making it. That maybe she should forgive him and then, with a lot of work, they can start over. As good friends. "It's just that.." He met her eyes now, and she saw a look on him she never thought was possible on Murphy. Anxiousness. He looked away from her and cleared his throat. "Nevermind." Was he about to open up to her? Her? The man who just listed all of her wrongdoings towards him?

"Murphy, if there's something you need to talk about. Now's the time to do it." He looked at anything in the room that wasn't her. "We're going to be here for a while so.." That was supposed to be his cue to either actually let her help him, or yell at her for even thinking he would be counseled by her. She decided to start, at the risk of him using everything she says against her. "You were right. I've hurt you a lot- I've hurt all of you a lot. And yeah, maybe I used the phrase it's for our people one too many times. I'd like to think that it really was, I mean.. Who else would I have done all of those horrible things for?" He looked at her now. But it was her turn to look away from him. "I still remember everyone I've killed." Her fists were clenched hard as she continued. "I still remember watching all of the grounders at the drop ship running at us knowing what I had to do. I remember looking at the camera feed of the cafeteria at Mount Weather before radiating the place. A little girl with red hair and a blue dress was the last person I looked at before I turned away." She decided to look back up at Murphy across from her, his face void of any emotion. "I remember the look on Bellamy's face when I locked him up in the bunker so that he couldn't save his sister. I bet you do too." Clarke knows Murphy probably doesn't care but it was someone who could listen. Even if he had to be chained up to do it. "I'm a monster, that much is true. The things I've had to do.." Her voice broke. "I wish I could know for sure that they really were the right things to do." A tear escaped her eye and dropped down to her chains.

"I guess that's the difference between me and you, Clarke." Murphy finally spoke. She quickly whipped away her tears, almost like she had forgotten he was there, and looked over to him. "I know everything I do isn't the right thing." He let his head drop to the wall behind him as he continued. "At least for anyone else but myself."

"That's not true. You do things for Emori too." She answered and he let out a scoff through his nose, as if he knew she would say that.

"Yeah." He shook his head and looked down. "I shouldn't have let her care." He added quietly and Clarkes heart broke a little at that. She needed to know more. Murphy was one of the first people she knew. Whether he likes it or not he is a part of the hundred, he's a part of their group, their family. She wanted to help him with his demons. And maybe, in turn, he might just help her with hers.

"Why not?" She asked, and he went back to doing that thing where he refuses to look at her.

"For as long as I can remember, I haven't had anyone. But that's because I don't want anyone. I don't need anyone to help me. Because if there's one thing I've learned it's that when people try to help you.." He swallowed hard. "You lose them." Clarke couldn't believe what she was hearing. John Murphy was hurting. He was scared and alone. And she thinks she finally knows why. She listened, carefully, as he struggled to continue. "I act like a complete ass so that I won't be liked. So that no one will have to go out of their way for someone who doesn't need them.. So that I won't care about anyone and have to lose them." He frowned and then went quiet for a long time. Clarke worried that maybe that's all she will be able to hear from him.

"Murphy. That's what people are for. And I've seen you help before. You practically saved Monty back when we were setting up to escape from Praimfaya."

"Yeah and he returned the favour when we left Earth the second time. Almost getting him killed in the process.. It doesn't matter that he made it because now he's gone anyway."

"Yes. Yes he is. Because he and Harper cared about us enough to send us here. That's what people do." She said silently thanking the two heroes for the three hundredth time. "They help others."

"I know." He swallowed hard. "I guess I never understood that until we made it to this planet. Hell, even on The Ring I was pushing them all away. I made it my mission to get Emori to stop caring so much about me."

"Why is someone caring about you so hard for you to accept?" She knew why. Now that she thinks about it, she's always known why. But she needed to hear him say it. It might just help him.

"My father. He and my mom are constantly at war in my head, Clarke. The thief and sarcastic ways are my father. The way I hate myself is my mother. The reason I only show my father is because he was good.. People didn't see it that way but he was." Clarke felt a small smile starting to form on her lips at the fact he was finally letting someone hear him. The smile disappeared when he finally turned his eyes to look at her. "The care he had for me and the way he risked his life is the reason I'm here. That's why people can't understand why I only care about myself. It's because I'm all I've ever had. I'm all that needs to care about me. No one wanted to be with the 'thief's son'. No, he couldn't be trusted. I learned that a long time ago."

"Emori wants to be with the thief's son." She said, looking him in the eyes as she did.

"Yeah? Well if these toxins bring out our true feelings.. I'm not so sure about that anymore." Her heart broke a little more with the utter sadness she heard in his voice.

"Alright well.. I wouldn't mind being friends with the thief's son." She said with a warm smile. She saw him smile, then. It wasn't long because he looked straight down in order to hide it. But she saw it. He actually has a nice smile.

"Be careful what you're getting yourself into, Princess." That nickname. She hasn't heard that nickname in years. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes tight as to not let any tears escape at all the memories flooding through her mind. She quickly straightened herself out and looked back at him to answer.

"When have I ever been careful with anything?" There it is. The smirk she always seemed to hate. But in the right context she could swear it was almost a comforting sight. She returned it with a smile and wondered if she ever thought she'd be smiling at Murphy after all he has done.

But here she is…

Smiling at John Murphy's smirk.

...

Murphy was never good at sitting still for long periods of time. He remembers being back on the Ark in the Skybox and all of the clever things he came up with in his cell to pass the time. For example, he managed to steal a playing card from the rec room, where prisoners were allowed to play boardgames and chess for an hour a day, and bring it back to his cell where he taught himself to throw it a certain way to where it would fly back to him like a boomerang. He got pretty good at it before they were sent to the ground.

"God I wish Bellamy took me with him. Where is he?" Clarke asked about an hour into them being chained up. Murphy couldn't wrap his head around why Clarke, of all people, was the one he decided to open up to and tell everything. It was pathetic, he mused, how he could just throw away the years of hiding his true self away from everyone just because Clarke Griffin opened up to him first. He had to admit, though, that it felt good to know Clarke would still have him as a friend after all of his misconduct. At this point it felt like she was all he had.

"No idea. But I'm tired of sitting here. It's been an hour and neither of us have been affected." He looked at her now, it seems she was already looking at him before he did but he didn't think much of it. "Wanna get outta here?" He asked.

"If only. Bellamy has all the keys, remember?" He gave her a sly smile and pulled out the scalpel he took from Jackson just a few hours prior to them being locked up. He expected her to be angry with him for not taking the lock up seriously and having a way out of it but he was sorely wrong, he found, when she instead shook her head with a smile and chuckled. "I should've known."

"Always gotta be one step ahead, Clarke." He stated as he got to work on picking the lock, which didn't take long since it was much like the lock he had to pick to get into his fathers arresting officers quarters. The shackles fell from his wrist with a thump and he hurried over to unchain Clarke.

"Amazing. Where'd you learn to do that?" She asked, because it seems she always has to ask, once her shackles fell to the ground.

"You don't want to know." He simply stated. There has to be some things he keeps from her. He can't just tell her everything now just because they shared their hardships with each other. She nodded and they got on with walking over to the rifles Bellamy placed on the floor and picking them up.

"Know how to use one of these things, Princess?" He doesn't know why but calling her that again seemed so right to do now.

"I think I can figure it out." She stated, taking the magazine out and making sure there were bullets in it then popping it back in when she saw that there were.

"Alright, alright. You just always seemed like more of a pistol girl."

"And that means what exactly?"

"We should uh.. Go check on the others now." He said, not because he thinks she could beat his ass, of course.. But because their people might be in trouble.. Yeah..

"Mmhm." She took the lead by opening the door and exiting the building.

They made their way up the stairs to where Jackson and Miller were locked up. Once they made it to the door they realized something strange.. It was quiet. They realized, now, that they must have been so caught up in their conversation that they didn't notice when Miller's screams had ceased. Clarke put her rifles strap around her shoulder so the weapon was on her back then put her hand on the door knob and looked at Murphy. He wasn't sure when confirming with each other before opening doors was a thing they started doing but he gave her a firm nod anyway and she opened the door slowly. He made sure the safety was on his rifle as to not shoot one of his friends if they really did, in fact, turn batshit crazy. Once he stepped into the room, after Clarke, he realized it was quite the contrary. The three men were on their opposite sides of the room and passed out.

"They must have tranquilized themselves." Clarke stated, checking Bellamy for wounds.

"Ah, good. Now we don't have to hear Bellamy give a speech on how obviously wack this all is." She rolled her eyes at him and picked up Bellamy's hand, revealing that he was shackled to the wall.

"Jackson must have convinced him to lock himself up before he got affected." She declared before walking over to Miller and checking him for injuries. "Huh."

"What?" Murphy asked as he leaned up against the wall by the door, lazily holding his weapon.

"Miller has a huge cut across the length of his bicep."

"I mean, maybe he cut it while he was freaking out?" Murphy theorized.

"No. This was definitely the work of a scalpel. Pretty precise too. I'd say Jackson did it."

"Kay, why the hell would Jackson make a deep cut in his boyfriend's arm?" Murphy asked, getting fed up. Not with Clarke, just with the unknown situation they were in.

"I don't know, Murphy. I got here the same time you did." She said, standing up and walking over to Jackson. It wasn't long before she found the bloody scalpel in question and held it up so Murphy could see it. "There's our answer."

"Man. This stuff's almost worse than Jobi Nuts." Murphy stated. She laughed at that. He's not so sure he's ever heard her actually laugh. She should do it more, he thinks, and maybe with his help she will. After making sure there was no way for the three men to get unshackled they made their way to check on Echo and Emori. Once at the door to the building where the two girls were locked up Clarke and Murphy looked through the window. They couldn't see much but what they did see were the two ladies seemingly standing off with each other. That, Murphy thought, would be one hell of a fight to watch. But, alas, he had to make sure their friends wouldn't kill each other. Clarke knocked on the door,

"Echo open up, it's me and Murphy."

"Clarke?" The tall grounder asked from behind the door.

"Echo open up." She requested again.

"Don't you open that door!" He heard Emori yell followed by chains rattling.

"Calm down. It's just the toxins." Echo said, Murphy couldn't tell if she was talking to Emori or herself. Maybe both. "What are you guys doing here? We're supposed to be inside."

"Oh you know, as much as I love sitting in a hot room chained up, the toixins weren't affecting us." Murphy answered.

"So we're just going around to check on you guys." Clarke finished for him.

"Yeah that's right Clarke." Emori spoke with a voice of hatred. "Try to act like you're sooo thoughtful and selfless. Pretty hard to do when you've killed over nine hundred people isn't it?" Murphy watched Clarkes face fall and he concluded that it wasn't something he actually wanted to see anymore. She took a deep breath and put on a brave face.

"Echo open the door." She asked for the third time.

"Tell me why. What's happening?" Echo asked, seeming distracted.

"We just want to come in and check on you guys. That's all." Clarke answered.

"John - Is John out there?" Emori asked, seeming actually concerned.

"Yeah, Emori, I'm right here." Murphy answered coming right up to the door so he was closer.

"I'm surprised. You're actually helping? Not just being in the way? Just an extra problem for us to deal with? Well, I mean you're always a problem. We just don't deal with you." Murphy almost broke at that. Hearing the woman he loves and the woman who, maybe once, loved him speak out about the things he is ashamed of was hard. It seems Clarke saw this affected him.

"She doesn't mean that, Murphy. It's just the toxins." He just gave a nod and backed away from the door. He didn't want to show weakness because that's not who John Murphy is. Clarke got closer to Murphy, put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Are you okay if we tranque Emori?" He just nodded. He never cared what anyone thought. Not Raven, not Bellamy, not Kane, hell not even Monty. But he definitely cared what Emori thought.. And, frankly, he didn't want to hear what she thought anymore. "Echo please open the door." She asked one more time and this time they heard shuffling.

"Yeah. That's right. Do what you're told." Emori goaded. "That's all you ever do.. The good little spy."

"Shut up." He heard Echo say.

"Always following her masters orders.."

"I said shut up! SHUT UP!" Echo exploded. Clarke and Murphy heard the two girls' chains rattle loudly.

"What do we do?" Clarke asked him frantically

"We break the rules." Murphy answered then used the butt of his rifle to smash the window on the door. He reached down and unlocked the doorknob and the two of them entered the room. Echo and Emori looked like two chained dogs trying to break free and fight each other.. But instead they were two grounders trying to break free and rip each other apart. Clarke grabbed the tranquilizer that was for Emori and stuck it in the grounders neck leaving her instantly limp. Murphy caught her before she hit the ground and looked at her, now peaceful, face. He couldn't help but hope this was all just a dream and she didn't really think that way but it was hard. Once Emori was tranquilized Echo calmed down. She was holding her own tranquilizer and breathing heavily.

"How do you feel right now, Echo?" Clarke asked as Echo grasped the tranquilizer she was holding.

"I'm definitely feeling.. Something. Is Bellamy okay?" Murphy decided to answer her this time,

"Oh yeah he's great.. Well, as great as you can be while tranquilized and chained up on a deadly plane-"

"He's fine. I made sure to look him over." Clarke said, cutting Murphy off and giving him a death glare to which he just shrugged at.

"Good. T-thank you." Echo started shaking her head like there was something in her hair. "You two stay safe." And with that she stuck the tranquilizer in her neck and fell to the ground with a thump.

...

Clarke never thought of herself as someone who got confused easily. It was safe to say that, in this situation, she was completely and utterly lost as to what the hell was going on. How come these toxins aren't affecting her and Murphy? She thought as she watched Murphy place a pillow under Emori's head. He stood up and looked at her. She could tell he was just as confused as her.. With maybe a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"What do we do now?" He asked, picking up his rifle.

"Well, they'll all be out for at least two hours, and that's not counting the residual effects that will last another three hours."

"What kind of residual effects are we talking about here?" He inquired with concerned eyes darting back and forth between Echo and Emori. Clarke picked up the tranquilizer from where it sat next to Echo's hand and inspected the small writing on the back.

"Considering these were pretty small doses I'd say the after effects will probably just be a floating sensation, slower heartbeat, excessive sleepiness, mental confusion.. Quite harmless, honestly." Murphy scoffed and then let out a small chuckle at that

"Great. The first thing on this planet so far that's harmless is something webrought." He walked over to her, now. "That's a hell of a switch. I mean, on Earth we ended up being the biggest problem there." At this point, after all she's done, she couldn't agree with him more. So she nodded.

"C'mon." Clarke decided she was done with being in these small rooms while a whole new world, although dangerous so far, awaits for them outside. "Let's go explore this area, shall we?" Murphy didn't say anything, just gave her a slow smirk that ended up turning into a smile and a nod. Clarke started to realize that John Murphy smiling was like a breath of fresh air. She knows she's going to remember it once she gets her hands on a pencil and paper.

"After you, Princess." Murphy urged, with a hand gestured toward the open door they had come through. Now it was Clarke's turn to smirk as she took the lead and they left the room.

Once outside, Clarke noticed that their surroundings had changed since before they entered Echo and Emori's building. Now that the sun, or suns, had set, the sanctuary that they were in was lit up in a bloom of different colored lights. Peaceful colors like blue, pink, green, white and more were scattered on and around the buildings, stairs and the pond that was situated in the middle of the.. Town? Village? Clarke couldn't decide what to call it so she just stuck with sanctuary for now.

"It's so beautiful." Was all that she could come up with as she stared at her surroundings.

"Yeah. Is that all it takes to get a girl's attention? Some shiny lights?" Murphy asked with an amused expression.

"Nooo it also takes brains, good posture and manners." Clarke answered then continued walking. She chuckled to herself when she turned back to see him checking his posture in a window's reflection. He noticed her and gave her an unimpressed frown. "Let's try getting into that castle again. I'm curious about what's inside."

"Hey, no way, Clarke. Last time we tried getting in there Emori almost killed me with a knife."

"It's been an hour and a half. Neither of us have gone crazy so I don't think we're going to turn on eachother."

"I hope not." He said with a voice that, Clarke could only hope, was genuine.

They made their way up the long stairs that lead to the castle-like structure. The knife that Emori attacked Murphy with was still laying on the ground next to a small splash of his blood. Clarke quickly picked it up, put it in her jacket pocket and stepped on the blood before Murphy was reminded all so quickly of the event. Murphy made it up the stairs very shortly after and the two proceeded over to inspect the door. The handle was some sort of pearl white crystal with a ninja star shaped hole in it that, they could only assume, was where an oddly shaped key would fit. Murphy moved closer to look into the keyhole.

"Do you think you can pick the lock like you did with our shackles?" Clarke asked.

"Depends. Do you wanna give me that knife?" He asked, holding his hand out. She stood there realizing she was probably less than graceful when she picked it up frantically.

"Uh.. yeah. Here." She handed it to him and he looked down at it, his blood still painting the tip of it, then looked back into her eyes.

"Thank you." Murphy said in a voice that made Clarke wonder if he was thanking her for handing it to him or trying to hide it from him, or maybe even for the talk they had while they were chained up. They stood there for a second just staring at each other until she nodded. Murphy turned around and got to work where Emori left off. After about fifteen minutes of him sticking the knife in the keyhole and twisting it around he grunted in frustration, gave up and looked down. "I don't think we're getting in there." Clarke noted he looked utterly defeated and it was a sad sight. "I can't do it." She walked closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder as she spoke in a genuine tone,

"I know you can do this, Murphy. I believe in you." It looked like something clicked in his mind, after she said that, as she could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"I got it!" He said as he stuffed his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out the scalpel he used to set them free. He put the knife and the scalpel in the keyhole and started turning the scalpel while digging the knife deeper into the door. After a few moments Clarke heard a click and the door popped open.

"Yes!" Murphy yelled, sounding almost like Monty.

"Nice job!" Clarke exclaimed and before she knew it she had her arms wrapped around him. She didn't plan it but it happened anyway. It took him a moment but Murphy returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head in her neck.

Clarke may never know everything there is to know about John Murphy. But she knows one thing for sure.. That he's hurting, just like her. That he needs someone to share with, just like her. That he's been through hell and back, just like her.

That he needs real love,

Just like her.

Hope you guys like that! Like I said if this gets a lot of love I might make a chapter 2 but for now it's just a one-shot. Don't worry I'm still writing my Alone But Together series! Just needed to take a little break from that one but I'm going back to it! Thanks for reading and make sure to wash your hands!