In the Whyte Wyrm, just a few blocks away from the trailer you shared with your dad, a string bean of a fourteen-year-old was standing in the middle of the bar. He seemed relaxed, at home, though under his skin there was an electric energy that coursed through his veins and felt as if it might shoot from his finger tips. He was surrounded by gang members - Serpents to be exact - but the boy showed no signs of hesitation.
He'd been waiting his whole life for this.
"What's rule number 1?" F.P. Jones was the first to speak, standing about a foot from Sweet Pea as he shouted over the raucous chattering of the other Serpents, his eyes trained on the latest recruit and a smile tugging at the corner of his lips in spite of his tough exterior.
"No Serpent stands alone!" Sweet Pea shouted back, his chest puffed outward with pride and the desire to impress the people he'd soon be calling his family. F.P. grinned wide as the other Serpents erupted into cheers, causing the boy to swell with confidence, any nervousness that he'd fail washed away by the shouts of approval and support coming from the crowd.
"Rule number 2!" An anonymous voice shouted out next, hidden somewhere in the sea of leather. Pea couldn't see him, but he answered none-the-less.
"If a Serpent is killed or imprisoned, his family will be taken care of!" He shouted back, the shouts and cheers of the Serpents around him erupting into a roar.
"RULE THREE!" Toni Topaz, one of his best friends in the entire world, yelled from beside him, blood crusted on her lip from her own trip through the gauntlet just hours earlier.
"A Serpent never sheds his skin!" Pea answered, a grin on his face as he pulled his friend into the crook of his elbow and gave her a brief hug.
"Rule number four!" Fangs chimed in now, his grin taking up his whole face as it always did – best friends since diapers, Pea had started the process of joining the Serpents just a week after his friend had been initiated.
"No Serpent is left for dead!" Pea shouted, the roar of the crowd only seeming to get louder with every right answer that he gave.
"Number five!" Another voice called out, barely audible over the chatter of the Serpents in the room. Sweet Pea tried to find who'd asked him but couldn't figure out exactly where the voice had come from.
"A Serpent never betrays his own!" He answered, the hype from everyone around him giving him a kind of buzz he'd never experienced before. He felt euphoric – unstoppable – and the words of the Serpent creed, his creed, felt more a part of him than ever before.
"What's rule number 6?" Tall Boy shouted finally, just inches from his face, but Sweet Pea didn't flinch or step away, instead locking eyes with the older Serpent with complete seriousness on his face.
"In unity, there is strength!" He shouted his final response, the room erupting in cheers louder than they'd let out before, hands coming from all directions to clap him on the shoulder and urge him on to the next task.
With the kind of bravado only he could muster, Sweet Pea sauntered up to a box that was opened before him, a snake laying in wait, coiled and already agitated. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he watched it, as if he was challenging the viper to spring from it's box and bite him where he stood.
He was barely able to contain himself while Tall Boy explained the task, his hand diving into the box to grab the knife as soon as he was given the okay to start. The viper struck, but despite the pain in his hand he wrapped his fingers around the smooth wooden handle of the knife and pulled it from the box, holding it up above his head with a triumphant whoop.
The last part — the gauntlet — would be the most challenging, but even as the Serpents around him lined up to create a corridor to walk through, the smile on his face refused to fade. One might hesitate if they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they'd be beat to hell if they took that step forward, but Pea practically jumped at the opportunity.
He'd been waiting for this. He'd been ready for this, and he wasn't going to leave without a skin on his back.
One punch landed on his side, another to his jaw. He powered through every lick they gave, never giving pause or faltering in his steps. He could feel the bruises forming under tanned skin, but he was propelled by determination to make it to the very end, determination to become a Serpent.
When he stepped past the last Serpent, stumbling slightly and blurry-eyed, F.P. was waiting with a wide grin painted across his face. Sliding the jacket onto Sweet Pea's shoulders, he clamped a hand down on his shoulders and gave him a genial shake.
"Well done, boy. Welcome to the Serpents."
—
Meanwhile, your best friend since middle school smoothed a blank leather jacket over your shoulders, giving them a quick squeeze before she let you go. "Are you ready for your trials?" Em's eyes darted up to meet yours and you let a shaky breath out through your nose before nodding.
In the South Side, there were two choices — find safety in a gang, or be killed. You, like every kid you knew, chose the former. The halls of South Side High were littered with kids in leather jackets and most chose which skin they'd wear before they even made it to Freshman year.
You'd made your choice to join your best friend, to fill the space that your sister had left empty, but the closer you came to beginning your trials the more hesitant you felt.
"Lia, are you sure you want to do this?" She pressed, looking you square in the eyes. "Your sister…"
You brushed the question off, giving a tilted smile and shrugging your shoulders. "What about her? She left years ago, it's not like she'll come back to try to steer me away."
It wasn't wrong — your sister had defected and left town long ago, abandoning her skin when she fell in love with Em's brother, a Serpent. She'd barely bothered to write, since, and she simply wasn't there to care what skin you chose.
"Besides, maybe if I join they'll take the bounty off of her head..." you said quietly, Em's brows furrowing slightly. You talked a lot of crap about your sister, but she knew that no matter how much you tried to pass off her leaving as no big deal, you just wanted Val to come home.
"And your father?" She pressed, going over the two reasons you shouldn't join the Ghoulies for the second time that week. She wasn't trying to dissuade you - not necessarily - but she did want you to be sure, and that meant going over all of the issues that made joining the Ghoulies less than ideal.
You let out a wry laugh at the idea of your father even noticing what skin you wore. "What about him? He only cares what I do when he needs me to make a run for him."
It wasn't wrong — your father had long since retired from gang life and had settled down to sell fizzle rocks and jingle jangle to any kid with a pulse, the only time he realized you weren't in the trailer at night was if he needed you to do his job for him because he was too high to move.
"Besides, once I'm in it's out of Sunnyside and into the Ghoul's Den, right?" Your father hadn't been a Serpent, but he'd lived among them for long enough to become a staple in the roughshod community they'd built. "His gang died out eons ago, it's not like I'm a Serpent legacy."
She nodded, tight-lipped, and you immediately felt bad for mentioning the "L" word. Em may have been a Ghoulie legacy on her mom's side, but her father — as absent as he'd been — was a Serpent. You knew that making the choice had been hard for her, though she often tried to hide it with humor or jabs at her dad.
"I'm sorry, Em," you started, but before you could open your mouth to speak again she was waving it off.
"I made my choice," she started, eyeing you carefully before she spoke again. "As long as this is what you want, then everything is fine."
You nodded again, straightening your jacket and glancing over yourself once more. The trials were the same for all Ghoulies, there was no safer alternative if you happened to be female… it was one of the reasons you chose the darker side of the gang life, aside from simply not wanting to strip as a teenager in front of dirty old men. You'd earn your place the same as anyone else.
Your first trial was tonight, and you got only one hint as to what it would be — a notecard that only said 'Survive'.
—
Back at the Whyte Wyrm, Sweet Pea was bloodied but smiling as he shrugged the leather jacket over his shoulders, Serpent emblem stark and bright against the black leather. He'd been loyal to the Serpents long before he'd made the decision to join, having grown up in a trailer just down the gravel path from Jughead and a row over from you.
You'd known him — or at least of him — your entire life, but over the years the two of you had barely spoken a word in passing, much less gotten any semblance of closeness. Even so, you knew where he was tonight. Where Fangs, and Toni, and at least half of your Middle School class were tonight.
The vast majority of the people you'd grown up around would become Serpents in the coming weeks, as was expected when you grew up in the infamous trailer park. It was a Serpent breeding ground, and besides yourself and Em you didn't know of any residents who were going to break that tradition. If there were others, they would be like you - keeping your initiation a secret until the skin was on your back and you had nowhere else to hide.
After a round of shots and congratulations, the boys climbed onto their bikes to return to Sunnyside and celebrate on their own - and you said your goodbyes to Em as she headed out to join the Ghouls and prepare for your first trial.
About an hour later, you stepped out of your trailer and started your walk through the broken down homes, ducking in between the Jones house and the McCann house to come out closer to the entrance of Sunnyside. Sweet Pea and Fangs were outside of his trailer with grins plastered over their faces and beers in their hands, but you ducked your blonde head and tried to slip past without being noticed, cursing Em in your head for leaving you to walk by yourself.
"Lia!" Fangs shouted, waving his arms over his head to get her attention almost cartoonishly. "Come celebrate with us!"
Fangs had always been friendly, the big dope always plastered with a smile through everything. He'd always treated you nicely and hearing him call your name made you want to crawl into a hole and never come out. Guilt, you guessed, because you knew that soon he'd find out that you'd chosen the other side though you'd grown up in Serpent territory.
"C'mon man," Sweet Pea chided, looking at you with that burning stare that seemed permanently etched onto his face. "Y'know Cross never comes to shit."
"I have plans, but I'll catch you next time," you said quietly, stung by Pea's comment. He wasn't completely wrong, when you weren't making runs for your dad you were usually holed up in the trailer, but you never felt like you fit in at Sunnyside. Even when Fangs or Em had managed to convince you to come out, you would sit at the bonfire with a beer in your hand, quiet and observing everyone around you. If you were being honest with yourself, you never felt like you fit in anywhere - and you doubted that the Ghoul's Den would be an exception.
Clearing your throat and giving a small wave when Fangs dropped his arms to his sides, you made your way out of the trailer park and curled your hands into the pockets of your blank leather, worn Doc Martens that you'd stolen from the local shoe store scuffing the pavement as you took the sidewalk away from town and the Whyte Wyrm.
Y'know Cross never comes to shit. The words stuck in your mind as you trailed down the sidewalk toward the Ghoul's Den, the cold night air stinging at your cheeks. Sweet Pea had barely ever said more than two words to you, but you were starting to wonder if he had a reason for that. If you'd been too unavailable and too closed off to ever become friends with more of the Serpents than just Fangs.
You shook the thought from your mind and pressed forward. There wasn't room to be doubting the choices you'd made, not now. You'd already agreed to do the trials. You'd met with Malachai. The only way out, now, was to fail them and failure could mean death.
Snow had fallen the night before and the sidewalks on the South Side were still full of snow and muddy footprints because no one bothered to clear them on this side of town. You turned your attention to watching for ice as you picked your way down back streets and alleyways, stopping in front of your destination with nerves radiating off of your body.
—
At the Ghoul's Den, your skin itched with anticipation and worry. After your short run-in with Fangs and Sweet Pea the idea of pledging your loyalty just made your gut roil more than it had been before yo made the trek. But, you were here, and there wasn't any backing down now.
Malachai clapped a hand down onto your shoulder and you almost jumped out of your skin, trying to contain the nervous energy that bubbled under the surface as he spoke. "Welcome to the Ghoul's Den, fresh meat," he cooed in your ear. "Are you ready for your first task?"
Though the answer to that question was a resounding no, you nodded firmly and turned your head to look him in the eye. "Yeah, I'm ready," you said with a tone that was more confident than how you felt by miles. "Lay it on me."
The words had barely left your lips when a burlap sap was thrown over your head, the fabric scratching at your cheeks as you were yanked away from the spot you'd been standing in. You didn't know what was happening or where you were being led, but soon you were lifted and unceremoniously dumped into what felt like the trunk of a car.
You weren't riding long. It was only a few minutes before you heard the trunk open and felt hands grabbing you and pulling you out of the smell of motor oil and rubber. Your hands and feet were bound, causing you to panic internally as you wondered what you'd be doing next.
Water.
You could hear rushing water.
It was the middle of December and the air was stinging cold, but Sweetwater River hadn't completely frozen over yet. You knew, then, that whatever you had to survive was going to be much more dire than you'd previously imagined. You were swept off of your feet and carried, the sound of the water getting closer and closer.
You wanted to scream but you kept quiet, taking deep breaths in case you were suddenly plunged into the icy river. You felt it in slow motion as you were released, your feet hitting the the water first and every part of you slowly sinking into the freezing, churning depths.
You immediately held your breath, cold and already numb fingers working anxiously at the knots that held them. Focus, Lia.You thought to yourself, letting loose the ropes as the water seeped into the burlap sack and you felt yourself completely submerging.
When you got the ties loose, you immediately removed the sack from your head and frantically worked at the ties on your ankles, finding some difficulty because your hands were so cold it hurt to so much touch the rope. You were going to drown if you didn't keep calm, your lungs were already burning and if you panicked you would breath in water.
Finally, the knot came loose. What had felt like hours was only just over a minute as you kicked upward and broke the surface of the cold water, gasping for air as the current took you down the river.
Taking a moment to gather the will to move your frozen limbs, you kicked hard toward the surface until you reached shallows that you could stand in, slogging through the cold water until you reached the bank – and Em holding out a large, fluffy blanket to wrap you up in.
"I was about to dive in after you, you fuckin' scared me…" She mumbled quietly, bundling you into the blanket with a sigh. "What took you so long?"
You gave her a pointed look, one that said are you fucking kidding,and trudged back up the bank to a beaming Malachai.
"You handled that better than I expected, Fresh Meat."