Archie and Jughead were both exhausted. The journey to get to Ohio to be with Gladys and Jellybean had tired them out and they were both ready to crash for the night.

Jughead sat on his bed across from Archie and stared down at his hands. He wanted to be there helping his friend stay safe from Hiram, but Jughead secretly longed to be back in Riverdale on the front lines with Betty and the Serpents, fighting back against the tyranny of Hiram and the Ghoulies.

He picked up his phone and checked it for what felt like the thousandth time, hoping Betty had finally sent him a message. Jug had left her a number for a prepaid phone to reach him at before he had left but had yet to get any response.

Archie watched as his friend waited for any indication that his girlfriend was okay. This was hard on both of them, but leaving had been Archie's best option. Jughead was a good friend for coming along, but Archie understood how he felt. He missed Veronica and their old life together, the life that all of them had together, before everything started to go to Hell.

"Heard anything from Betty? I'd love to know how things are going back home" Archie said, from where he was sprawled on his bed, pretending internally that he was someone else, only trapped in this insane life where he had been driven out of his home town by a power hungry mobster.

"I'm starting to get worried. I know things were a bit crazy when we left but it isn't like Betty to go radio silent like this. Especially now" Jughead replied, placing the phone back down next to him, a blank and defeated expression on his face.

"I don't know Jug, she's probably just been busy. You know how Betty gets, she's tough and she doesn't quit. I wouldn't worry" Archie said.

"You are probably right Archie but this is Betty we are talking about. Something about it just still isn't sitting right with me. I can't shake the feeling that things have gone wrong somehow, well even more wrong, since we left. It's not like her to leave me out of the loop like this during an investigation. I just want to know that she is okay."

"Jug, it's only been a few days. How much really could have gone wrong in that amount of time? I'm sure Betty is just busy investigating like you said she was doing while you were busy playing G & G."

Jughead buried his head in his hands, knotting his fingers through his hair. "I wish I hadn't gotten so caught up with that stupid game. This is probably because I was so focused on ascension that I didn't help her investigate. How could I possibly have though that ascension was the answer to this? What a joke. Maybe Betty would bother to tell me what's going on now if I hadn't been so stupid."

"Stop, Betty loves you, I'm sure she's just busy" Archie replied, hoping to soothe his friend's worries even though his own were growing exponentially.

"I hope so. Riverdale has become a place of darkness at the hands of Hiram Loge, I don't think anyone there is safe. Especially not Betty, she's too close to all of this."

Archie shook his head, "look Jug if you need to go back I get it. I can't sit here and watch you suffer just like everyone back home. I'm the one that needed to leave, not you. And besides, I will be perfectly safe here with your mom and Jellybean."

Jughead looked around the small backroom of the garage where he and Archie were staying. He was torn, seeing his mom and sister had been strange but also great. He had missed them, but there were more important things he had to take care of back home. Thinking about Betty left alone in that town with her brainwashed mother on top of what Hiram Lodge might do without him there worried him. The longer he was away, the more Jughead feared that the home he left would not be the same as the place he returned to.

"Look, I know you are worried about Betty and the Serpents. You need to be there Jughead. You are the Serpent King now, and your crew needs a leader, someone who knows exactly what Hiram is capable of. You were the one who knew all along that he wasn't a good man even when I was stupid enough to believe him over you and my dad. Let's hope the Serpents are smarter than I was, and can help finally put an end to his reign of terror over Riverdale. This is my fight Jug. Running away from Riverdale was my decision and I need to see this through, but you don't. Having you with me, as great as it is Jug, I just feel like I'm keeping you away from where you need to be right now."

"First the Black Hood and now Hiram Lodge. Where do you think this will end Archie? With all of us dead? Will we ever get to be normal teenagers again?" Jughead asked, standing to pace across the room.

"I don't know how this is going to end, but I do know that neither of us will ever get a good night of sleep knowing that we didn't do what we had to, to stop Hiram. Jug, I think you already know this, but I really think you need to get back to Riverdale. Talk to Betty, find out what she knows, and get any evidence you can against Mr. Lodge. You are just as much of a thorn in his side as I am Jughead. You have been working against him from the beginning, and honestly, I don't think we can stop him without you."

What his friend was saying made sense, but he still felt weird about leaving his pal Archie behind on the run from a criminal. There was no denying, however, that his worry for Betty was getting the better of him, and Archie was right. The Serpents need their leader, especially now.

Jughead's anxious pacing continued. "You're right Arch, Riverdale, Betty, and the Serpents need me. But will you be okay alone? I can't just abandon you in Ohio. Veronica would kill me the second I got back to town without you."

"You are absolutely right sugar," Gladys said from the doorway where she had quietly been listening in on the boy's conversation. "Let me keep red safe here. He's right Jughead. It seems to me like you have to get back to Riverdale. There's work to be done boy." She said before walking further into the room to sit down near Archie.

"There's something I need to tell you boys, come sit down Jug you need to hear this, it's about that Cooper girl you are so smitten with." Gladys said with a somber look on her face as she waited for Jughead to sit down with her and Archie.

Jughead's face twisted into a deep frown, the lines on his forehead creasing with worry about what his mother was going to say.

"What is it mom? Did something happen back home?" He asked sitting down and praying that her news was that Betty was safe, even if she did end up at that awful farm with her mom and sister, at least she would be safer there.

"Archie, I just got off the phone with your father. I wanted to let old Freddie Andrews know that his boy was alright and safe with us here. He's fine, but he told me some pretty disturbing things about what's happening back in Riverdale." Gladys said.

"What do you mean? Did something happen to Betty?" Jughead asked his voice full of fear and near panic as he stared wide eyed at his mother, waiting for answers.

Gladys looked at them sternly and said, "I don't want either of you boys getting any rash ideas into your head, especially not you Jughead. There is a lot at stake here and you both need to keep your wits about you at all times, you hear me?"

"Yes, mam" Archie and Jughead replied.

"Freddy was saying that no one has been home at the Cooper residence for nearly a week. He said that he saw Alice and Polly leave with their bags packed but he said for sure that Betty wasn't with him."

"Well that makes sense, Betty would never have agreed to go to the farm with them. She's probably hiding out at Dilton's bunker or something." Archie said.

"That's what your dad thought too Red. That is until Miss Veronica knocked on his door. She has been looking for Betty too, calling and texting her, apparently nobody has heard anything. Freddy tried to call Mrs. Cooper, but her number wasn't in service. It's probably one of those weird cult anti-technology things where you can't have a phone. Those people are out of their minds, poor Alice must have been desperate after Hal got locked up to end up in with them."

"Mom, what are you saying? What happened to Betty?" Jughead asked, trying to keep from exploding with fear and anger at himself for leaving, and at Hiram for causing all of this in the first place.

"Nobody knows Jughead. It's as if she just disappeared." Gladys said.

"Well I guess I am heading home in the morning". Jughead said. "There's work to be done back in Riverdale."