Author's Note: There's like four or five chapters left :'D it's nearly over...
I had a lot of fun writing this. It was interesting to make all of the twists.
Updating this early again because I'm not sure if I'll be on the road tomorrow or not. Hopefully I will be :)
In the heat of the moment, you end up doing stupid things. Guilty as charged, but not as guilty as Veronica.
No, she isn't the villain of the story of my life, but she's quite the nuisance. The nemesis, if you will. The one who I believe was put on this earth solely to torment me until the day of my inevitable demise. In my father's words: she sucks.
When the Whyte Wyrm burnt down, I expected her to be caught up in it. Archie had been naïve enough to leave her in the bar alone with the Serpents, but ultimately, I knew the blame would find its way towards her somehow.
I examined the outside of the burning building, and ended up finding a note in the parking lot. I managed to keep my cool and wits about me whilst Archie was panicking.
"What'sit say?" Archie asked, running towards me with the speed of a cheetah.
I cleared my throat. "'To Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III or whomever it may concern otherwise,
We at the Blossom Mansion formally invite you to our dinner party tonight. Drinks and gourmet food will be served despite the lack of living personnel. Be here by sun-up or you may expect Veronica to be sleeping in Sweetwater River.
Sincerely, Cheryl.'"
I crumbled the paper and pitched it into the flames. Even though my blood pressure was at its peak with Veronica, I realized that this wasn't her fault. It was the redheaded devil, Cheryl's. It had her fiery branding all over it and I needed answers on the how, why, when, and where of all of it.
"Well, we're going after her, aren't we?" Archie inquired anxiously. He looked between me and the fire nervously. "We can't just leave her there."
"I can, but I have to know why Cheryl did this. Or, at least how it started." I explained.
Archie was silent, thinking deeply. I could tell he was actually sparing some brain cells by the way he rubbed his chin and looked up into the night sky. "Do you think the offer of dinner is genuine?"
"I'm certainly famished, but no, Archie. Who do you take them for? I've seen it a million times in the movies. We'll get there, and it'll probably be a trap." I replied.
"Then why do you want to go if we could get killed? Or worse?" Archie's eyes widened.
"Answers, Archie, answers." I groaned. "Anyway, what's worse than being killed?" I crossed my arms.
"Losing the one you love," Archie said.
I looked into the fire and bit my lip, reminiscing in the flames my good times with Betty. She was gone just too soon. I appreciated her, but not enough.
"I'm sorry, Jug, I didn't mean to bring that up." Archie held my shoulders. I looked up into his eyes dejectedly.
"It's okay, I should've expected you to answer that way." I pulled away from his grasp and turned my back on him. "Let's just go, Veronica's waiting."
We began walking, I triumphantly, and Archie a little more unsteady. Occasionally I stole a glance at the boy who seemed to be falling behind somewhat.
"Jughead can we talk about Betty?" Archie raised a brow. I gaped at him and squinted down at the ground, a frown carved into my lips.
"No, she was a victim of Veronica and that's all there is to it. I've moved on." I waved him away.
"I don't think you have. I saw the way you looked when I brought her up the first time. You still love her." Archie noted.
"Of course I do." I stopped, sighing. "She was everything to me. I miss her so much. I couldn't believe that I had her, and then just lost her like that." my voice cracked.
"Honestly, I didn't think you liked anybody like that," Archie said. "But, you and Betty were a great couple."
"I know." I clutched my shirt. "I hated the idea of dating anyone, but she opened my eyes. I was never into the sexual stuff, but she was nice to be around. I always told myself that if I was going to date anyone, it'd be her. Since I first saw her, I thought she was the one. She was just so nice and sweet. I never thought she'd even be remotely interested in me, being the little punk I was. Then, I realized you were probably going to get her heart in the end. I had no shot..."
We stopped, silent. I grabbed at the air. It felt like a hand slipping through my fingers. I dug my nails into my palms, trying to hold back tears.
"...but when I did, it felt like seven minutes in heaven because she just slipped away from me... so fast." I let go, unclenching my fist.
"At least it wasn't your fault." Archie tried to soothe me. I whipped around on him with questioning eyes.
"But what if it was? What if I didn't go after the Serpents? What if I stayed at home? We might've gotten out of Riverdale! What if I had went to the graveyard with you guys? Maybe then, she wouldn't have been so mad at me, and she might've went with me instead of Veronica. What if I had been a better boyfriend? Maybe then, she wouldn't have..." my voice trailed off, tears ready to form in my eyes.
Archie wrapped his arms around me. I tensed at his touch, but found myself relaxing as he wasn't quitting anytime soon. I buried my head in his chest, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"I don't know, Arch, maybe things just had to work out this way." I said, meekly removing myself from his comforting grasp.
"Jug, take your own advice. You can't just live on maybe's and what-if's. You have to focus on the here's and now's," Archie said.
I nodded somberly. He took my hand and we continued on our path to the Blossom Mansion.
Curiously enough, everyone thought it had burnt down. I suppose they got the firefighters there in the nick of time. What possessed Cheryl to burn it down, I have no idea. I would take a right estimate and say it had something to do with wanting to remove the horrible past from her home. It was a very silly way to do it, and honestly reminded me of something people only did in fiction for the metaphor. She had the right amount of insanity to do it.
On our way there, though we took the back alley paths, we couldn't help but notice hundreds of hordes of zombies moving down the same streets. It was as if they were being marched by a band leader. We had seen it before, but we never imagined they'd be going in our direction. The dead were all going to the Blossom Mansion.
Judging by the way the front yard appeared from a distance, it seemed they were already there. I wondered what could attract them so. All I knew was that they liked bright lights and human flesh. Must have been a lot of that up there.
It didn't change our minds, however, and we kept going. I needed answers, and Archie needed Veronica. The sun was nowhere near its time to shine, so we basically had all the time in the world to think of how to avoid all the zombies.
We couldn't just walk right up to the front door. Or could we? My mind ran through all the possible solutions to our problem and it always came back to the same one.
As we approached the gate, I took Archie aside and relayed to him my plan. I was going to enter the mansion by myself and open the back gate for him. He understood and set off towards the back of the house which was completely deserted. I walked up to the front.
Somehow, I was able to walk past zombies undetected, and had just come to accept it. I believe it was because I had become one of them unknowingly. So, I used this to my advantage and slipped by a good lot of them. It was only slightly unnerving to see the faces of people I previously knew. One standing right by the door caught my off-guard.
"Hey, Ethel." I greeted the dead woman clawing at the wall next to the door. She turned around with a grunt. I could see where my knife had struck her neck. "I thought I tossed you into the river. Did you see Jason down there? No, of course not." I mused, chuckling to myself.
She gave no reply, so I rung the doorbell of the mansion and awaited an answer.
Veronica appeared at the door. We were both surprised to see each other. She was sort of happy in a way to see me.
"You got the letter, I take it?" she asked, inviting me in before the zombies could follow after.
"Of course. Otherwise, this would be the last place I'd be looking for you. Archie's at the backdoor, by the way." I informed her.
"I know. We got him in as soon as we saw him," Veronica said. She began leading me to what I assumed was the dining area.
"Listen, you have to tell me what happened at the Whyte Wyrm. How did it get burnt down and how'd you get here? Why did they want me specifically?" I questioned her.
She hesitated before answering, "I don't know."
I was taken aback. "What do you mean, you don't know? How could you not know?"
"Amnesia." Veronica shrugged.
We arrived at the dining room. It was elegant, and nothing I didn't expect from the Blossom's. It connected to the kitchen, foyer, and living area. Paintings hung on every wall, decorative statues in every corner. A massive chandelier which looked as if it could crash down at any second, the way it was swinging, hung from the ceiling—I wished it would. The dining table in the center sat eight and was draped in a crimson cloth. It was already set.
Veronica seated me in the chair at the opposite end of the head of the table. Archie was already sitting diagonally from me. He seemed extremely anxious, but also silent. I took notice that none of the Blossom's had arrived yet. I stared at Veronica until she disappeared into the kitchen. When the door opened, I heard whisperings, but it felt as if they were only for me. They asked, "Is he here?" It almost made me wonder what they were hiding in there.
As soon as she left, I pounced at the chance to relay my suspicions to Archie.
"Dude, something's seriously fucked up about this whole situation." I whispered harshly. "I feel like they're going to serve us a human person."
"Calm down, Jug. Maybe you're just overreacting. They might be trying to be genuine." Archie whispered back out of the corner of his mouth. He eyed the kitchen door, cautiously awaiting Veronica's return. "Did you think Veronica was being a little odd?"
"Little is an understatement. She said she didn't know anything about anything that just happened." I replied.
"We'll make it out alive, at least," Archie said.
I leaned back in my chair and gazed up at the chandelier. Hopefully it would just come down and end it all.
The hairs on the back of my neck pricked when I heard a familiar voice. It was sweet and lovely, almost like... no, it couldn't have been, could it?
"Archie! Jughead! So nice to see you both!"
I looked behind my shoulder to see Betty's older sister, Polly walk in from the foyer. She was dressed nicely and her hair was up in a bun. I questioned where her children were as she didn't appear to be carrying in the slightest.
"How come you're here? I thought you were staying with the Cooper's again?" Archie asked what I didn't want to question aloud.
"Oh, I thought this was just safer for my children than somewhere you know nothing about." Polly answered with an asmmetrical smile. She sat two seats away from me.
The way she spoke made it seem as if she was still pregnant. I studied her figure and immediately came to the opposite conclusion. I looked up at eyes with a furrowed brow, telling her without speaking that I was questioning her. Her face brought up some inquiries as well, like why she had a cut lip and bruises under her eyes. Notably, she was wearing a long-sleeved floor-length dress.
"I know you're dating my sister, but you don't have to look at me like that." Polly turned away.
"We're not dating anymore." I looked down at my clasped hands.
"You didn't break her heart?" Polly asked with what felt to me like false concern.
I pondered over whether or not to tell her a lie, half of, or the full truth. I opted for the second choice, and simply told her, "Betty's dead."
Polly gasped and looked down, seemingly not knowing how to take the message. She sat in silence for the rest of the time we waited for the Blossom's to come out.
Veronica came back from the kitchen—once again, I heard the whisperings—and sat next to Archie. Her expression was distraught and somewhat disgusted. Not by any of us, as she had come out of the kitchen door looking that way. When Archie tried to question her, she just shook her head. I found it suspicious, and I wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn't, for fear of losing my life or theirs.
Finally, Cheryl, donning a knee-length, low cut scarlet cocktail dress, came out of the kitchen(the whisperings, again), carrying a large bottle of red wine. She poured some in each glass out upon the table, but I didn't think we'd be having more than five people there. She placed the bottle down on the table and disappeared behind the kitchen door before I could get a chance to speak with her.
I brought the glass to my lips and allowed it to sit there whilst I thought. Knowing them, it might have been blood instead of wine. Then again, perhaps they weren't that evil. I took a hesitant sip, and was pleasantly surprised that it was indeed wine.
Still, I didn't trust them, and that was the last sip I took. For all I knew, it could've been drugged, poisoned, or all a ploy to get us drunk. Not that Archie or Veronica cared much. In fact, Archie downed his glass in one drink. I could already see his cheeks becoming rosy.
"So, Veronica. How has Cheryl been treating you?" I asked, trying to make small talk.
"Very nicely. She's so sweet." Veronica bragged on her. I nodded, squinting. Of course someone who kidnapped and threatened to kill you would be totally sweet.
I grabbed Archie's hand with a death grip. He was shocked by my forwardness. "Listen, Arch, the second we get the chance, let's take Veronica and Polly, and get out of here," I whispered.
"Of course." Archie agreed.
I removed my hand from his and brought it around the stem of my glass. I wanted to appear compliant.
Cheryl returned with platters of food in hand. She laid them in the middle of the table, and disappeared to get more. When she finally returned and took a seat at the table between me and Polly, I began questioning her without any hesitation.
"What's going on, Cheryl, why did you invite us here?" I asked.
"I didn't." Cheryl replied.
"It was signed your name, but that wasn't you?"
"No, I had nothing to do with anything here. I'm not even sure myself what's happening anymore," she said, staring down at her lap.
"You should. I'm assuming your mother has something to do with this?" I asked.
Cheryl shook her head. "She's gone."
Veronica glared at me and moved her finger across her neck, meaning for me to be quiet. When Polly and Cheryl glanced her way, Veronica sat back in her chair with a blank expression.
I stared at the kitchen door. The whisperings were getting louder, angrier, yet still they sounded like a hush. Nothing else seemed to be coming out, so I looked back at the center of the table. Archie was already grabbing for a piece of of the turkey in the middle of the all the dishes. Even I had some self control.
But, eventually, everyone else noticed that I, the self-proclaimed food lover, had an empty plate. I took a patch of salad and kept it at that.
"I didn't know you became a vegetarian." Archie joked, his mouth full.
I couldn't just outright say I didn't trust the Blossom's to serve non-toxic food, but thankfully I didn't have to.
Distracting all of us from the train of conversation was the real host of the party coming out of the kitchen: Jason Blossom.
Author's Note: well, i blame sabrina, but now is no time to be pointing fingers :(