This Spells Trouble - A Riverdale Fanfiction

Broke His Crown

Betty sunk down onto the park bench, the wood groaning underneath her. Her head fell into her hands, a tired sigh escaping her. She had looked everywhere she could think of. Sabrina and Archie had looked everywhere else, before Betty had finally ordered the latter to go home and rest when he had almost fainted during a phone call. Hours searching, and Jughead was nowhere to be found, the afternoon sun telling her that the day was half over, and that she would eventually run out of daylight. With a murderer on the loose, it wasn't safe for Jughead to someplace where no one was aware of his whereabouts.

Betty let out a sob, unable to contain her sadness anymore, the irritation that accompanied it causing her to throw her hand down hard against the rotting wood of the bench. Everything was so screwed up. Betty wished she could go back to before summer, when everything had been perfect, when Jason Blossom was alive and Jughead was just...well, Jughead; bitter, cynical, pretentious, lovable, geeky Jughead.

Her Jughead.

Betty felt her salty tears sting at her frustrated eyes, along with the pain her nails were inflicting upon her palms. She was hoping maybe the pain would suffocate her sadness, but it wasn't making her feel any better. All it was doing was making her skin bleed whilst her eyes wept. She was breaking at the seams.

Her phone broke her from her painful reverie, the uplifting tune ringing out mockingly. She pulled it out, and froze when she read the caller I.D.

Jughead❤

She fumbled the phone in her fingers as she rushed to answer it, her breath quickening. She'd tried calling him many times since she began looking, but he'd never answered. The fact that he was calling was amazing. She tapped sharply at the 'Accept' button and pressed the phone against her ear.

"Jughead, are you okay?" she immediately asked when she heard the call connect. She couldn't stop worry from influencing her tone.

Jughead didn't answer, but by the ragged breath she could hear on the other end, the answer wasn't good. Betty sprung up from the bench, somehow even more worried than she was before Jughead called.

"Please, talk to me. Tell me where you are."

She heard Jughead groan sadly. His voice sounded so quiet, and childlike in its utterance.
"My head...it hurts."

Betty swallowed the thickening lump in my throat.
"Juggie, I need you to tell me where you are. Then I can help you."

"I'm.....I'm at a....river," he murmured hesitantly.

Betty nodded, her lip trembling as she did. There was only one river that ran through Riverdale, and that was Sweetwater River, a place that seemed to attract momentous things. She began running towards it, keeping the phone against her ear, her grip on it tight.
"Yes, yes, just listen to my voice. What do you see? Anything specific?"

"Trees.....a trail....um, water?"

Betty managed to not voice her frustration with his vague descriptions, instead pouting in annoyance. She had to be patient, and thankfully it was rewarded.

"There's....Archie, and..your name....it's on a tree."

Betty blinked at Jughead's words. A foggy memory of her and Archie digging coins into a tree, inscribing their names appeared in her mind. It was all very cliche, as they had carved a heart around their names. God, they had been so innocent. She couldn't recall where the tree was exactly, but she had a general idea. She frowned when she realised it was only a small distance downstream from where Jason had been found. She shook her head, ignoring the growing pit in her stomach. She quickened her pace, and corrected her direction.