Bang.

The bullet hit Betty in the chest.

Blood spurted out.

Even after everything she had done to him, Charles still felt a little sorry for her, and he definitely felt sick. Watching over the video camera, the group had been delighted at how well it had been going.

Now they were horrified.

Charles heard his mothers scream and tried not to think to hard about what was going on.

Jellybean was watching the screen with a look of horror on her face.

Charles stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

"Are you alright?" he asks quietly, wishing above all else that he had made sure Jellybean was somewhere else when they had started this. God, she had even heard their confessions. Charles mentally winces, realizing that today he totally failed at protecting his youngest sister.

He looks over his head to Jughead, who looks worse than Jellybean. His skin is clammy and he is pale and shaking. When Charles meets his eyes he is met with a dark haunted look. God, he really failed at being a decent brother today.

Over the recording equipment, Alice is still crying.

"You killed my daughter! You killed my baby! You killed my only child!" she weeps.

No one in the room has the heart to correct her, and no one outside of the room has the ability to remind her that has has two other children. After all, blood doesn't make a family. Alice screams and weeps, her pain visible to everyone.

"What do we do?" Hermione whispers, unwilling to break the painful quiet.

"Turn it off. We have the confessions, we don't need to frighten them any more. Shut it all off." Charles says, his voice firm with command but shaking with a sense of failure.

They unlocked the doors using the far reaching technology. The group walked together back to where the others were.

"Your going to need a good lawyer, Mum." Veronica said quietly.

"I'm sure Archie's mother will do me well." Hermione responded.

The FBI agents and the police swarmed over to the building, arresting the adults within as they attempted to leave.

Charles wishes he could bring himself to feel something. Success or victory, at finally having gotten revenge on those who had hurt him. Pain and grief, at having lost the half sister he once loved. Anger over what had happened.

Anything would be better than the complete and utter lack of emotions. The numbness consumed him, wrapping itself around his heart like ice, building up a stone wall against the world. The numbness seemed to affect everything, his emotions, his senses, his knowledge. Everything seemed shrouded.

He walks through the crowd, the other agents there congratulating him, patting him on the back, telling him he did such a great job. He doesn't feel as though he did a good job. If he had done a good job, he would have saved Betty before she went crazy. He would have seen the warning signs in Chic and not indulged them, and prevented the reawakening of the gargoyle king. If he had done a good job, he would not have killed Brett and Joan.

If he had done a good job, he would have fought against Alice, FP and Betty harder. He wouldn't have let them have their way with him. He would have been strong enough to fight back. He wouldn't have submitted like a coward.

"Nice plan, it worked really well." one of the agents says. Charles numbly stares at him, unable to remember his name, unable to form words to speak, unable to act like a normal human.

"Jughead." he mutters numbly. "It was Jughead's idea."

He pushes away from the crowd, away from where he can still see Alice and FP. He can't stomach the sight of them. He knows that its weak, but he can't find the energy to be strong. He can't keep up a mask of being okay any longer.

"Charles?" An uncertain voice asks, breaking through his mental walls.

"Jellybean." he acknowledges, glad that he can at least remember her name.

"What they confessed to… what they said they did… was it the truth? What Dad and Mrs Cooper said they did?" she asks in a small voice, unsure if she should even be asking, and terrified for the answer, but also needing to know if her father truly was a monster.

"Yes, it was. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you be there, you shouldn't have had to hear that."

"I would rather know the truth than live a lie." Jellybean says.

"Perhaps. I am sorry, truthfully, JB. I should have protected you better."

"And I'm sorry you suffered so much."