Blind Love

Racing to Jughead

The first thing Veronica did when she got off the plane was to run as fast as she could to the Serpents' base to find Jughead and Cheryl. She encountered a stray Barbarian on the way but she simply shoved him away and told him to move from blocking her path. It would actually be pretty funny if this was not a life or death situation. A five foot girl shoving an armed, six foot man, who was too stunned to realise she was the enemy. Fortunately for Veronica, the man either did not recognise her or did not care, as he did not pursue her. She made it to the Serpents' tower safely, racing to the top to the telescope.

"Cheryl! Where's Jughead?" Upon reaching the top, she found Cheryl and an unknown female Serpent on sniper duty.

Cheryl opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no words came out. She flung her bow and arrow away dramatically before finally exclamming, "What the hell? You are NOT supposed to be here!"

"This is Riverdale, it's my home, I belong here," Veronica insisted. "Now where's Jughead?"

Knowing Jughead, he would probably be in the midst of the chaos that was going on in the battlefield, and Veronica prayed he was safe. Not waiting for a response, Veronica shoved past Cheryl to the telescope and anxiously twisted the telescope at different angles to find Jughead.

Veronica's heart dropped. She nearly tripped over her feet as she ran the fastest she could, racing to Jughead.

What she had seen had made her heart drop to her stomach. Jughead was in the middle of a circle of men, which he was handling pretty well, but had failed to see an enemy appear at the corners of the battlefield, holding a large knife and heading straight to Jughead's back in a beeline. She had to outrun the man! She had to warn him!

Veronica struggled to breathe. Her lungs and legs were on fire, and her emotions were suffocating her. All she knew was she had to save Jughead, she could not bear losing him after all that they have been through.

"Ronnie! What are you—" Archie Andrews had spotted her on the battlefield and had grabbed her waist from behind to drag her to safety.

A year ago, perhaps she would have been content in his arms, and let him lead her to safety, but not now. She flung his arms away and continued running for her life towards the raven haired boy, who had not seen her. Precious time was wasted due to the redhead's interception. The man was one step, two steps, three steps ahead of her and...

"JUGHEAD!" Veronica cried with the little air that remained in her lungs.

It was like slow motion. Jughead's gorgeous black locks whipped in her direction before she could see his entire face. His bright green eyes blinked in confusion before focusing on Veronica, who was leaping in mid-air to stop the man from hurting Jughead.

Alas, the slowing of time was followed by what seemed to be a fast forward. The man plunged his knife straight into Jughead's heart and Veronica collapsed at the man's feet.

"This is the FBI! Surrender now! Your leader is already under our custody. You are all under arrest!"

The Barbarians were taken down by the FBI pretty quickly. The sirens of the police cars rang loudly in Veronica's ears.

"Jughead," Veronica whimpered, cradling his head in her shaking hands.

His chest was rising and falling rapidly, and beads of sweat was forming on his forehead. Veronica's tears joined the waterfall flow of blood on Jughead's chest. Despite his severely injured state, Jughead looked like the most beautiful angel Veronica had ever seen.

"Help is coming miss, our ambulances are driving in just a minute," a concerned police officer informed her.

"Well tell them to drive faster!" Veronica snapped desperately through her tears.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here," Jughead weakly lifted a hand and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"And you're not supposed to be hurt," she sobbed, placing her head in her lap.

Jughead smiled sadly at Veronica and interlocked his fingers with her gently. "Veronica, if...I don't make it...know that I love you, okay?"

"Miss, please let us handle him, he is in critical condition!" The doctors gently but firmly separated the two and started to take care of Jughead and gradually lifted him into the ambulance to be driven to the hospital urgently.

"Hell no, Jughead! You can't not make it! I can't date you if you're not alive!" Veronica yelled after him, even running after the ambulance as it drove off at high speed.

"Ronnie, Ronnie, stop!" a familiar strong pair of arms stopped her from doing anything crazy by picking her up.

"No, let go!" Veronica tried to squirm out of Archie's arms, but was too out of breath and debilitated to do so, therefore resorted to pummeling his chest weakly.

She sank to the floor in tears. Every ounce of her strength was gone. She was left physically and emotionally exhausted. The boy she had just realised she could not lose, she realised she could lose any second.

"Veronica, he loves you too much to die," Archie stroked her hair melancholically to comfort the sobbing mess.

"Elio will pay for his sins," Veronica growled vengefully. "I should have known he was trouble from the moment he attempted to deceive me in the casinos in La Bonne Nuit. If Jughead lives or God forbidden dies, Elio's still a goner. Now take me to the hospital, Archie."

Archie drove FP, Veronica, Betty and the core Serpents to the hospital as fast as his truck could go. Veronica was sitting shotgun, strangely still, but if you looked closely, her fists were clenched tightly and her jaw was quivering.

The moment the truck started to screech to a halt, Veronica jumped out the truck, fell and skinned her knees, but still ran inside, racing to Jughead. She did not stop until she arrived outside Jughead's operation room, and sank to the floor in a heap of tears, anxiety and anger.