Chapter Nine : No Guarantee

Ambulance alarms; the repetitive blaring as a van races down the road to save a dying patient. Jughead watched people looked to the ambulance as if wondering who had been next. Another murder? Another shooting? A year ago, these would sound far off and the most likely guess would be a broken leg after falling clumsily.

Yet a clumsy accident was far from what had happened.

Jughead cast a grief-stricken look at Betty, who lay almost motionless on the bed in the van. One doctor was performing CPR on her body to try and keep her brain from giving up before they even reached the hospital.

Betty was an array of yellow, blue, and purple bruises and scratches. Some blood had been washed off by the doctors but Jughead could still see dried- and wet- blood patterned along her skin like stripes. Her forearms were the worst of all if you could believe that. The skin was ripped and swollen red, one arm lay completely limp and Jughead was almost positive the bone was broken.

Pulling his gaze from her body, he swallowed in an attempt to remove the rock from his throat. His eyes burned slightly at his unshed tears but he ignored the burn. Wasn't it only fair that he felt pain since Betty had gone through so much? Thinking it through, Jughead knew that was stupid.

Chic may have managed to escape the cops, but Jughead was going to find him and make Chic pay.

Shortly after she had been delivered to the hospital, Jughead had been informed that Betty had fallen into a coma.

She had internal bleeding, broken bones, bruised lungs (and skin), cuts and subdural hematoma -a wound in the head from severe contact with something-.

Betty had been in surgery for a few hours, then she was allowed, visitors. Alice visited first, then Jughead -who stayed the longest-, then Veronica and Archie, followed shortly by a group of Serpents. Polly came the next day and was now staying in town with the twins.

"Betty… I know that you can hear my voice so listen.. So here I go." Leaning over he pressed his lips to her forehead and held her warm hand. He could feel her body rise and fall against his. "I love you, everything about you. Your smile when you see something you want but we both know you'll never ask for. The way the corner of your mouth twitches when I do something you hate but not enough to yell at me for it…" his voice trailed off as he felt a lump form in his throat.

In the movies, the storybooks of romance and life, this was where the dying book character would wake up.

Jughead stopped talking as tears burned in the corner of his eyes. Kissing her warm forehead he pulled away and sat back in the hospital chair. A look of grief glistened on his face and he pursed lips.

This wasn't a storybook. Happy endings had no guarantee.

There was a knock on the door and Jughead looked over to it, waiting for the person to enter. When Archie entered the room, Jughead nodded his greeting. He was too exhausted to do much else. Even though he had slept only a few hours ago, having had fallen asleep in the hospital chair and waking up with a sore neck.

"Hey, Jug." Archie murmured and Jughead was surprised when Archie entered without Veronica. Apparently, they had broken up then gotten back together when Jughead was busy trying to find Betty. Apparently, a lot of things had happened.

He almost felt bad that he had missed so much. But the last thing he wanted was to have faced even more drama.

When Jughead didn't answer, Archie sat down in a chair next to him. "She'll wake up."

"Or she'll die."

"No- she'll wake up. She will."

When Jughead went silent, looking at Betty's peaceful face, Archie scratched his eyebrow. "I brought your beanie over, and a pair of new clothes from your trailer," he added and placed a small bag on Jughead's lap.

"Thanks," Jughead said softly, looking at his beanie. His hand hovered over the hat before he picked it up and put it on. It felt like a blanket of safe, of warmth. He relished in it.

Archie nodded and they were both quiet for a moment. Watching Betty breathe softly with her eyes closed. When her eyes fluttered, Jughead sat up straighter. For a moment, it was as if she was waking up. Then her vital signs monitor slowed down, slower and slower, then it flatlined.

"Betty!" Jughead gasped and jumped up, Archie getting up as well put a hand over his shoulder to keep him away from Betty. Doctors rushed in and he felt hot wash over him, a sign he was about to pass out. A nurse grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him out of the room, Archie following behind quickly.

The sound of the low buzz, of Betty's heart flatlining, burned into his gaze. "Betty…" he whispered, hands shaking with horror. She was dying.

Dying.

Veronica brushed her hair down, her silky locks brushing easily. She looked at the mirror in her room, at her face that was pale with worry. Betty had been found two days ago and was in the hospital. She felt guilty, that she had only visited- seen her really- once.

It was shameful really, what had happened.

"Are you sure you are ready to see her?" Archie asked and Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Of course," Her voice was clear as if it was obvious. She was strong, seeing Betty would be hardly any different then waiting to see if Fred was going to be okay that one day.

She heard Archie sigh as he looked out at the road. "She's not going to be awake," he warned as he switched lanes. The car rumbled lightly as he got onto the faster road.

"I know," Veronica added with a slight growl. What did he think she was? A weakling? She had seen people hurt before, she had seen people in danger. Weren't her parents the crime lords while Archie's were what? Lawyers and construction workers?

"Sorry, it's just… I guess I'm worried. Like maybe if you don't want to go- I don't have to." his voice trailed off and the shame in his eyes was as clear as day.

"I understand," The Latina whispered and sighed softly. Reaching in her purse, she pulled out her lipstick and reapplied it to her lips. "But we have to do it. She'll be okay, I mean- she's Betty. She's like the Serena Williams of Riverdale."

"What if… she doesn't make it?"

"She will."

"Yeah but-"

"-She's going to make it!" Veronica snapped, making Archie flinch. She ducked her head, looking at the lipstick that had smeared at her sudden snap. "Sorry…" she breathed, grabbing a wipe and fixing the lipstick mess.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, before Archie pulled in the hospital driveway and they got out in silence. Veronica had her eyes downcast. She had thought that if maybe she had acted confident, she'd calm the raging fear inside her. It hadn't worked. Archie had voiced her own fears.

"We'd like to visit Betty Cooper," Archie murmured to the receptionist and she smiled kindly, whispering her room number and pointing into a hallway. "Thank you."

The walk to Betty's room was a thundering silence. Their footsteps sounding like sudden strikes of lightning in the storm of quiet. Pushing open the door, Veronica felt her breath catch at the sight.

Betty was on the bed, eyes closed and breathing slow but steady. Her face was pale and her body was bandaged all over. Her head was tilted back on the pillow as a wrap was around her head. Veronica remembered the surgery she had gone through and she took a shaky breath.

"I can't," she whispered, voice and hands shaking violently. Within a second, she raced away from the room and out of the hospital, the receptionist calling after her in concern.

Veronica put her head in her hands and placed the brush back on her table. That's what she had told Archie when he asked if she wanted to come with him to visit Betty today.

"I can't,"

He hadn't pushed it, just kissed her quickly and left, a bag of Jughead's clothes in hand.

When her phone buzzed she checked it with a blank face even though her eyes flipped at Betty's name in the message.

Lover-boy: betty is awake but its not good (Sent at 6:09 PM)

Veronica felt her heart sink even farther than it had been before. Betty could be dead. She could die. Even though this wasn't the first time it had hit her, it stung just as bad. If not worst. Tears trickled down her face, down her cheeks, ruining her makeup. Her best friend could die.

Could be dead.

Archie felt fear frost over him, and as he followed Jughead out of the room. He wanted to grab onto the doorframe and run over to her but he knew it would do no good. He also knew it wasn't the right time to splinter.

He had to be strong.

For Betty- but also for Jughead who seemed to be hurting just as bad.

"You have to be strong, for your friends. They aren't doing well." His father had told him the night before. They were sitting on the chair in the kitchen, talking quietly.

Veronica was coming over soon so Archie was waiting in the kitchen with Fred.

"I know, but what if I'm not strong?" Archie asked, looking down at the countertop with a shameful expression. He didn't like to admit it, but it was true and he couldn't lie to his own dad.

Fred sighed and looked over to the young man, putting an arm over Archie's shoulders. "You are." the way his father sounded- so sure and confident- made Archie nod. "Besides, Betty's strong."

Archie remembered Veronica saying that, and he knew it was true but even the strong ended up dying.

"I know." his voice was low, muffled by his concern for Betty.

His father pulled him closer, giving him a hug before letting go and standing up. "Riverdale is a horrible place- and without Betty, I don't know what would happen. So we have to hope she'll be okay. Just remember, she's had things happen to her before."

Archie blinked simply but shook his head. "Nothing as bad as this though," he muttered under his breath and Fred sighed softly.

"There is no way she'll allow herself to die that young," Fred added and Archie noted that he was talking in his confident and positive voice. It was like he knew she was going to be okay.

And Archie had actually believed him.

Had.

Now Betty was in the room with a bunch of doctors and her heart flatlining. There was no possible way that somebody could know another person would be alright. There wasn't a higher being to pray or beg to. There wasn't a penny you could throw in a pond. There was luck, and there were facts.

And all the facts were against Betty's hope for survival. They all pointed to one thing.

She wasn't going to make it.

Silence. Darkness. Warmth.

She felt herself move her hand, she felt the way her fingers curled and uncurled. She looked down- opened her eyes. It was still dark and warm but she could see herself clearly.

She was blond, and she wore a pink sweater. She tried to rememberer things about her. She was dating the kindest person she'd ever met, Jughead was his name. She had to see him again.

She knew her mother lived on a farm with her sister and her nieces. Alice, Polly, Dagwood, Juniper. She wanted to hug them again.

She knew she was a writer in the newspaper, she wore ponytails and she knew she was happy. Betty. That was her name. Betty's mouth curled up in a smile that she had remembered. When a person appeared in the endless black she narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Who? Who are you?" Betty asked, the words fumbling out of her mouths like a strange new thing that she somehow knew.

"Come over here." the voice was soothing but she couldn't place who it belonged to. She named the person Enigma. After what Jughead had called her that one day. That hot day with the cars. The voice was soothing, she did walk towards it.

Her stomach twisted at how her surroundings dimmed as she walked closer to Enigma. Betty didn't like it. Something was up. She didn't like how when she reached out to Enigma she went cross-eyed. That's when it hit her. Enigma wasn't the person's name. This was Death.

Betty backed away, but Death grabbed her arm, pulling her closer. Her vision went truly black as she fought to stay alive. "Please no! Not yet, I'm not ready!" she screamed, pulling away.

Jughead. Alice. Polly. Archie. Veronica.

Jughead. Veronica. Archie.

Jughead.

She yanked her hand away from Death and backed away, spitting on the floor in front of him. Then Betty relaxed, letting her eyes open. This time when she opened her eyes, she didn't see darkness- she saw light.

And doctors.

Love and death are two uninvited guests. Nobody knows when they come, but both do the same work. One takes the heart and the other takes its beat.

-Joseph Buluran

A/N: Sorry that took so long! I kept writing it again and again before erasing all of it because I just hated it. I really just wanted this to be an amazing chapter so I tried like forty different ideas out and only this one is good. Your reviews are so amazing! Thank you! Also- I said Betty and Jughead would be reunited in this episode but I didn't say they would both be awake.