Steady Breaths

R u n

Veronica's POV
And then it all clicked. Everything. Suddenly I was sane. I felt like myself. If there were ever a moment in time that I could freeze, it would be right now. I wish I could just stay in this moment for ever and ever.

Dead, I thought he was dead...but he wasn't.
"Archie?!" I couldn't stop myself from running into his arms and hugging him with all my energy. Seeing Kevin and Jughead had me over the moon...but this sent me into a whole other galaxy.
He stumbled back a little bit at the impact of the hug, but I could hear him chuckle, my god I loved that laugh. I thought I would never hear it again.

"Hey Ronnie" I can hear the smile on his voice.
I pull back from the hug and I can barely make out my words.
"You...you're alive! I thought...didn't they kill you?"
"Beat me up pretty badly, but nope, I'm not dead" he let out a light chuckle, my god I can't believe he's alive. I cup his face with my hands, lifting my heels off the ground to get a bit of height. And we kiss, as though for the very first time. It's like the world disappears and all those other cliches that are in fairytales, though this is one incredibly fucked up fairytale, it feels just perfect right now.

I hear Jughead let out a cough, reminding me that everyone else was here too. I smile apologetically and let the others say hi to Archie.

"Oh Arch we all thought we'd never see you again!" Betty let out an excited squeal as she hugged Archie, with a huge smile on her face.
"It's good to see you Betts" Archie hugged her back. Betty then stepped aside.
"I can't imagine being the only red head left" Cheryl hugged Archie warmly, which was a surprise as she hadn't been very affectionate lately. I guess the treatment we've gotten here has changed us all.

"I can't believe this" my attention was drawn away from Archie as Betty stepped by my side.
"I know right! Lila how long have you known that he's been alive?" I couldn't help but ask, wondering if she'd been keeping this from me.
"Only a week, and I hadn't seen you in the time after I found out. I would've told you of corse, but Auggie and I quickly arranged this meet up, so surprise!" Lila giggled. I'm amazed that she's able to put a smile on her face after being here for 4 years, I didn't stay sane for 8 months, let alone that long.

"Well thank you, for everything. For letting us see him" I grab her hand for a moment as a way of saying thanks.
"How long do we have to talk?" Betty asked as Jughead wrapped an arm around her waist.
"A whole 2 hours until lunch!" Auggie came up to us.
"So you've been taking care of the boys" Toni asked, also coming up to join the convocation.
"Well I've been trying too. Admittedly they're all in a pretty depressed state, everyone here is, but like Lila, I try to make their lives a bit easier." Auggie's smiled and shook away some brown curls that had fallen over his lightly freckled face.

"You've done a pretty good job" Archie comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me, pulling me in. I've missed this so much, god so much. I haven't been able to think straight for the past 8 months, all that's been on my mind is of Archie was alive or not.

For a moment I felt like a normal teen again, I mean the room we were in had the set up of an old fashioned classroom, which reminded me of Riverdale High. We all dove right into convocation, chatting about these past few months, gossiping about different doctors. We try to keep it light hearted, though it's hard. I've always found that these people, my friends, have always been able to see the light in a situation, no matter how dark it may get. I admire them all for that.

"So were your lives like pre abduction" Kevin asked, leaning back against a table.
"Well, we were just finishing middle school when we were abducted. We were living in Greendale at the time. I was your typical popular girl, though I studied hard, and tried to be nice to as many people as I could." Lila began.
"And I was your basic jock" August added with a smile.
"No way, what sports did you play?" Archie asked, his arms still wrapped around me.
"Football of corse, you look like you play" he replied.
"Well yeah...I did" Archie sighed, I know that he was thinking about how he was once a normal kid, I mean we all were, we would of normal things like sports and studying and going to Pops...I miss it.