Chapter 1

3x01

"Archie Andrews, I advise you to spend this weekend with your friends and family, make the most of it. Court dismissed!" The judge sighed, striking his gavel on his large stand, slowly getting up and exiting out a back entrance. Betty Cooper watched the Judge walk away, hearing the eruption of gossip wash over the courtroom only faintly, through a back exit beside his stand. She saw the ginger haired boy, Archie Andrews, her best friend for as long as she can remember, pull his father in for a hug, not letting go for a large amount of time. Betty didn't notice the calls of her name behind her, but just carried on watching the flame haired teen's loving relationship with his Dad.

"Betty, for God's sake, listen to me!" Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper's boyfriend, shook her, only slightly too vigorously- consequently sending sharp tears into Betty's fear stained eyes.

"Are you coming to see Archie or not?" He asked sharply, already walking away from her. Betty nodded, even though no one was there to see. Slowly she got up and headed for the ginger boy she had known forever.

"Betty!" He cried as Archie Andrews flung himself towards the approaching Betty. She backed away in fear, scared at the sudden movement.

"Arch, just please don't do that." Betty almost whispered. In fact it was the first thing the girl had said in weeks. After she found her father to be the serial killer known as the black hood, she had found herself alone, the new Betty was the girl who watched other people's conversation and nodded along not contributing or joining in at all, the girl who said she was alright even if she wasn't. The new Betty found every sudden movement petrifying and unusual circumstances, such as being told to do something, were enough to send her into a panic attack. Although many noticed one of Betty's more public panic attacks, when a teacher asked her to fetch a few books from a neibouring classroom, and all Betty could see was a black clothed man pointing a gun to her head and ordering her to bury her best friend alive. It launched her into tears and she ran out of the classroom in pure fear. Many of her fellow students forgot about the incident the next day, and those who questioned Betty were given the simple answer 'I'm fine' a trait of the new Betty's mentioned earlier. However that specific breakdown was one of many others, each sending Betty further into her darkness one by one.

The truth was Betty thought it would be easier to accept her fate than try to get better. It would be so much easier. In fact Betty was pushing her friends away, not wanting them to find her so broken. She constantly made excuses not to hang out with them or meet up with them. Espescially Jughead. Since investing more of his time into the Serpents, he had grown aggressive and overpowering. Betty had become one of the treasures he could show his gang members. And when he was drunk... she didn't like to think of the scars and bruises hidden under her clothes.

Archie apologised to Betty, but before he could take a good look at her Veronica pushed Betty out the way and enveloped Archie in a hug. Betty toppled over to one side, just in time regaining her balance.

Betty's physical appearance was in a terrible state too. She was frail and weak, underweight and bony. Although she had not eaten in days, Betty wasn't hungry. Everyday she piled on as many clothes she could find to make her appear larger. The only things she consumed were the pills she kept hidden in her purse, a mixture of anti depressants and drugs to numb her lingering pain. Even though Betty had changed so drastically, nobody had noticed her increasing absence at school or any voice she used to have.

The worst thing about her state was that not even her own mother had noticed her decreasing body weight or her saddened soul. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own business to worry about poor Betty's 'mood swing'. That was why Betty never said anything, everyone she knew was going through worse.

Archie was in a similar state. He was constantly on edge, for fear of someone getting hurt, his Dad, Jughead... Betty. His appearance had not changed, yet Archie had become different. Unlike Betty he still contributed to conversations, still pretended like he was ok.

He had grown unhappy and untrusting. This was partly due to his toxic relationship with his girlfriend's Dad, Hiram Lodge. Archie Andrews had been lied to more times than he could count, this particular man however had broken him, he was on trial for murder- of which he had been framed. He tried to look at Veronica over the summer, but the only thing he saw was the emotional pain he had been put through by her father. He had tried to overcome it, but with specific descisions the once amazing girl chose, the more like her father she was becoming.

Archie felt like he had lost his connection with his 3 friends. Veronica was becoming selfish and preened herself in her spare time. She had none to spare for Archie, excluding the physical aspects of their relationship. She was all for those.

Jughead had grown defensive as well, constantly putting up his walls. Worst of all however he had become rude. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jughead doing little things to Betty, such as pinching her or knocking her. Most heartbreaking of all however Archie had seen how the new Jughead treat Betty, how abusive he acted whilst drunk, how belittled he convinced her she was. He never said anything though, because it seemed Betty was constantly trying to get away from him. It wasn't his place.

Betty was a different story. Jug and Ronnie had become fierce and overpowering, yet Betty had become timid and anxious all the time. She barely ever went to school anymore, so her grades were sky-rocketing. Archie worried about Betty all the time, but didn't realise until that moment that Betty Cooper had not spoken in months, adleast to him anyway.

Archie reluctantly was pulled from his thoughts by a cold hand grabbing his arm. It started pulling him towards a door at the back of the court room.

"Archiekins! Come on Arch, I'll grab us some food, you two too if you want." Veronica turned to Jughead and Betty, and Jughead nodded in response. Soon enough the three were outside the courtroom awkwardly stood, waiting for the outspoken girl to return.

After about 10 minutes Archie walked towards a set of stars and sat down on the third step. Betty and Jughead followed him, Betty sat down beside Archie and Jug on the other side of Betty. Being sat so close to my best friend I heard her hold her breath a few moments later for some unknown reason. After inspecting the teenager not so subtlety Archie noticed Jughead had slipped a hand onto her thigh, creeping it's way further towards the inside of it.

Betty attempted to edge towards Archie in order to get Jughead's hand off her thigh. The truth was Jughead's lingering lust made Betty incredibly nervous. It seemed Jughead, after becoming the Serpents' leader had become prone to drinking and sleeping with Betty, even when she begged him not to. Betty couldn't leave Jughead as he told her that no one else would want her, after what her father did. That was probably why she flinched at the touch of another.

After deciding she couldn't take it anymore, Betty got up and without a word walked away, tears speckling her vision. The thought triggered her panic.

Seconds later she was in the park. The black hood had a gun to her head and was ordering Archie to get into the coffin, or he'd shoot Betty. Betty was screaming, helplessly but Archie ignored her and got in the coffin.

"Now bury him!" The black hooded figure handed the poor girl a shovel. Betty willed her body to move, except it just kept burying Archie. She couldn't control her body. Soon the entire ground was flat and Archie was underground. The floor suddenly started shaking and it moved. Now she was in a bar, Jughead was grabbing her fiercely and pushing her into a back room.

Even though Betty was screaming at him, telling him she didn't want to have sex with him, the drunken teenager's snake like hands were peeling her clothes off piece by piece.

Once the pain was over the terrifying boy stumbled out of the room, and Betty sunk to the floor in floods of tears. Jughead was the only one she had trusted with her new ugly, breakable state and he didn't care. All he wanted was her body. That was why she was untrusting of all male figures in her life since that dreadful. Jughead had abused her and her father had turned out to be a cold-blooded murderer. That was why she covered up her body with so many layers, she wanted to hide the bruises, the unhealthy weight, the idea of anything being wrong.

Archie watched Betty walk away without warning. Instantly he got up to see what was the matter. That was when an ear piercing scream caught the attention from those around Betty as she plummeted to the floor. The girl started shaking screaming and crying wriggling helplessly around of the floor, eyes glued shut. I sprinted to Betty and shook her lightly, causing her to shake even more.

"Betty! Betty! You're ok Betty!" I cried taking her shivering hand in mine.

"Archie no! Archie don't do it! Archie I love you!" She screeched grabbing hold of my hand tighter. By my side I felt the presence of another. Jughead sat and took Betty's head into his hands, "Betty wake up, for God's sake your fine!"

"I don't want to have sex with you Jughead, please not again! Please! Your hurting me!" The voice of Betty shouted as she banged her head on the floor out of Jughead's grip. Gasps erupted around the gathering audience as Jughead let go of Betty in embarrassment. I looked at him in fury. How dare he touch Betty without her permission. I hoped Betty was just confused, just shaken up. But I knew deep down that the likelyhood of Jughead doing those unspeakable things to Betty, raping her, was most likely true.

Betty did 1 more violent jerk before she stopped completely. Archie picked up the limp body and pushed aside some of the crowd, laying the girl down on the step he was sitting on minutes ago. Ignoring the clicks and flashes behind him, Archie clung to Betty and held her tight, whispering and begging her to wake up.

Eventually he felt a slight movement and looked up to see Betty's tear stained eyes fluttering open.

"Arch... your alive!" She muttered under her breath, pulling Archie into a weak hug.

Archie nodded, but he couldn't bring himself to ignore the words she had spoken about Jughead.

They were alone barely a minute before Betty's mum, sister, Veronica and my Dad were surrounding the helpless duo. Then the group left, battling through reporters, Archie holding Betty in his arms.

ooooooooooo

Betty woke up on top of her pink covers of her bed. She was adjusting to the light in the room when the familiar voice of her so called boyfriend sounded out around the room.

"Betty. You told. You told about me."

"I... what? I don't remember."

"They know what I did. Now you have to take it back, or I will make sure you get punished... again."

Jughead stepped towards Betty and pushed her back down onto the bed, pinning her down and horrifically peeling her clothes off once more. The overly underweight body of a 16 year old girl was no match for the lean, muscly body of Jughead Jones.

Archie sat at his desk, writing one of his songs. He was in a state of writers block, had been since the terrifying day he and Betty had experienced together yet never talked about, with anyone, not even each other. The day Archie Andrews had nightmares about.

He abstractly gazed up and looked out the window, his eyesight not focusing on anything in particular. And then it did. He could see Jughead Jones on top of Betty Cooper, punning the crying girl down and stopping off her shirt. Immediately Archie remembered the desperate words Betty had shouted earlier, how she feared Jughead and didn't want to have sex with him. Archie bolted out from his chair, out his house, burst into Betty's house and entered her bedroom.

Jughead pushed himself off the helpless girl, now shirtless and shaking in fear on her pink covers. Archie instantly lurched at Jughead punching him square in the nose. His anger was erupting from him like a volcano, no one should be put through rape, especially his best friend forever Betty Cooper.

He grabbed the serpent by his collar and dragged him downstairs and threw him outside in the cold.

"Jughead, don't you dare ever come near Betty or me ever again, or you won't live to tell the tale."

The snake ran down the road, pulling his beanie down over his face.

Rather than watching Jughead run away, Archie ran upstairs and straight into Betty's bedroom. For the first time he saw Betty's disastrous state.

Bones were sticking out of her whole body, which was littered with black and blue bruises, especially around her exposed breasts. He brought his eyes up to her's and saw the tears in her eyes as she crossed her hands over her body in embarrassment. Without a word he hugged Betty, the both of them crying into each other's shoulders.

oooooo

Archie woke up, Betty in his arms. Immediately he remembered the snapshot of the terrors Betty had been facing.

"Betty? Are you awake?" He asked stroking her hair softly. The tiny body in his arms turned over and looked him in the eyes, nodding gently.

"Betty I... I have nightmares, nightmares about that night. That you were going to die. That the black hood was going to kill you." Tears were falling down Archie's cheek as Betty reached a hand and wiped them away.

"I... I do too. That I killed you, that I buried you alive. I...I know, everyone else has more to worry about than a few nightmares so I always say I'm fine. I am fine physically, apart from the fact I don't really eat anymore... it's just my Dad... Jughead... Polly... my Mom... your trial... I have nothing to worry about, but I'm so scared all the time. Nightmares, panic attacks, seizures, they never stop Arch. I guess I just wanted to talk to you about that night, but we just shut each other down."

Archie knew exactly what Betty was talking about. He thought hiding it from those around him would suppress the memory, but it didn't. In fact, he hadn't told another soul about what he and Betty went through, apart from the fact they found the gun on the floor and followed the unsuspecting figure to the bridge. Every time Betty seemed to be nearing the topic he drastically changed the topic, too afraid that the nightmares would get worse than they were already. He had caused Betty this pain.

"Betty, I'm so sorry... If there is anything I can do," Archie hugged Betty tighter, "Can I please just ask, how long has Jughead been... raping you..."

Archie could feel Betty tighten in his arms. In response he moved his hands and lifted up her face to cup it in his hands. Betty ducked her head away in embarrassment, opening her mouth to speak, "since the start of summer..."

"Oh my God Betty! I'm gonna kill that snake!"

"Archie don't! He's going to come back. He's going to hurt me again." The girl once again started shaking and gripped onto Archie in fear.

"Betty, adleast promise me... if I go away tomorrow, will you come and visit me? I asked Ronnie not to, I don't think I could face her..."

"Of course Arch, I'll be there the first day I promise." Betty states smiling a little, "But, Arch, why don't you want Ronnie to visit you? You love her, don't you?"

"Betty, I don't know anymore, all I can see when I look at Ronnie is the face of her selfish father. I'm sure I could get over it if I loved her unconditionally, but I don't. Recently our relationship has been all physical, the spark is gone and so is our connection." Archie responded.

"Do you see my father when you look at me, for what he did to your Dad?" Betty asked Archie nervously, gripping onto him tighter.

"Of course not Betty, you're nothing like Hal. Ronnie's personality is just so similar to her Dad's. And remember, I said I could get over it if I loved the girl unconditionally." Archie answered launching the two into silence once again.

The two lay for another hour or two, waiting for sunrise, signaling to Archie his time to leave and prepare for his trial. After only 2 minutes Betty shut her eyes and drifted off again, although she was asleep, she did not have a nightmare for the first time in months wrapped up safely in Archie's arms.

Archie however didn't go back to sleep, feeling a duty to protect the sleeping girl. In his consciousness he couldn't help but notice how beautiful Betty looked, even though she had her now familiar many layers covering her practically non existent body. He did also feel ashamed, guilty for somehow causing Betty's undiagnosed anorexia and depression, from not being there for her to talk to during her saddest days.

ooooooooo

"In lue of another trial, the state is prepared to offer a lesser sentence, instead of prison Mr Andrews will do time served plus two years in juvenile detention."

"I'll take the deal!" Archie Andrews cries standing up to face the judge, ignoring the gasps echoing around the room. All he could think of was Betty, how if he took the deal, ended the anticipation, all the pressure weighing Betty down would lift. The judge decreed the sentence and two burly men came up behind Archie handcuffing him. They lead him out of the crowded building and into a police car outside.

It was only after he realised if he was in Juvy, he was unable to protect Betty from the horrors, like Jughead Jones, she had begged Archie not to share.

ooooooooo

Betty watched her protection being hauled out of the courtroom. She had slept for the first time in months the night before and then her safety had been taken once again. She knew now she was once again a target, to the man smiling subtly at the scene across the room from her, the man wearing the crown beanie and leather jacket.