Night Fall | Sweet Pea (completed)

Chapter Fifty-Three.

"Looks like it's my turn." Betty spoke as we neared a tree stump surrounded by candles. 

I looked over at Archie to see him basically holding Veronica up, the poison kicking into her faster than it was Betty. I had my arms wrapped around myself in an attempt to stop shaking from what had just happened. A part of me was relieved that this was the final quest but I knew it was about to be the worst one yet. 

"Hey." Jughead grabbed Betty's arm softly, pulling her back as she walked towards the set up. "I love you." He said making me smile slightly at the two of them, the true Serpent king and queen. 

Betty grabbed Jughead's face slightly before replying to him.

"I love you too." They shared a short intimate kiss before she walked straight towards the tree stump. Jughead stepped towards me, his arms wrapping around my shoulders in an attempt to keep me warm as shock radiated through my body. The four of us anxiously watching on like we had each other's quests. 

There appeared to be a black box on the stump with a red ribbon tied around it, I heard Betty sigh as she prepared herself for whatever was inside of it. Moving slightly to the side I managed to see the contents of the box: a gun.

Perfectly timed we saw Hal walk towards her slowly. Confusion was written on Jughead's face, his arms tensed around my shoulders almost as if he was preparing himself to fight Hal if he stepped any closer to Betty. I watched as Betty picked up the gun, the same moment Hal removed his mask. 

"You know how this has to end." Hal spoke, for once it didn't seem to be in a vindictive or evil way, it was almost sympathetic. "You have to kill me, Betty. That's your heart. That's your truth. You can't deny your destiny." 

I couldn't help but shuffle in my spot as I watched the events unfold before me. I felt completely helpless, more than I did compared to everyone else's quests. Despite it all this was her father who she still loved and I could tell Hal still loved her. 

Before I could think anymore about how Hal loved his daughter he pulled out a gun himself, pointing it at Betty. My thoughts were immediately blown out the window as I stared on at a father and a daughter holding guns at each other, knowing only one of them would survive. It had become a true stand-off.

"Don't make me do this, please." Betty pleaded with her father, I saw her grip tighten around the gun, her arms beginning to shake at the unexpected weight she was holding. 

"Either kill me and get the antidote, or I will kill you and your friends. You have until the count of three." Hal ordered. I heard Betty take a deep breath in at the mention of him harming any of us and I really wondered whether or not she was going to be able to kill her own father or whether I should start saying my final goodbyes now. 

"Now either shoot me or I'll shoot you." Hal's warning was clear. We knew he wasn't messing around and if it weren't for the fact I would end up killing us all I wanted to grab the gun and shoot the man myself for what he did to Fred Andrews. 

Hal started counting down as the four of us slowly inched our way closer to Betty. We didn't know what to do or what to expect but we knew we had to be there to support her either way. On the count of two Betty had removed the safety from her gun, her finger was on the trigger. I wondered if she was really going to shoot him after all. 

Without another thought Betty had fired from her gun, shocked gasps escaped my mouth as I tried to fathom what had just happened. Betty had really just shot her own father to protect us. Jughead grabbed ahold of Betty as we heard Hal groan in pain. She had shot him in the hand that was holding the gun, blowing a couple of his fingers off in the process.

"I will never be like you, Dad." Betty spoke as she placed the gun back down on the tree stump. The look on Hal's face held mixed emotions: pain, confusion and somewhere in there was also pride. 

"Enough!" The voice of Penelope ran through our ears as she unfortunately stepped out of the trees and into the light once more. 

"Good god Hal, you can't be trusted to do anything. You were a terrible serial killer then, and you still are today. Useless." Penelope spat as she picked up a gun and shot Hal straight in the head. 

A blood curdling scream escaped Betty's lips as she watched her father die before her eyes. Jughead and Veronica ran to grab ahold of her as sobs started escaping her mouth. Archie and I followed close behind as we watched the two of them try to calm Betty down but to no avail. 

Archie rushed over towards the tree branch that held the antidote and grabbed it whilst Penelope was distracted.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Penelope snapped at him as he clutched the antidote in his hands.

"Claiming our prize. We won, didn't we?" Jughead yelled turning Penelope's attention back to him. "We survived the night. We proved we're better than this town."

I watched Penelope shrug as Archie came back over to us. 

"That may or may not be true. But kill them." She ordered her tiny army and in doing so they all prepared their weapons.

"You're kidding me right? You may be a psychopathic, jealous, old, spiteful bitch but you're not unloyal. You told us the whole point of this pathetic game of yours was to survive the night and guess what woman, we did. You can't handle the fact that you were outsmarted by a group of teenagers so you're going to have some ridiculous group of goons try to take us down instead of you doing the dirty work?" I spat back at Penelope as I stepped in front of the core four. 

"You could be right. But you'll never live to find out. Kill them all!" Penelope ordered once again, this time her small army began chasing us. The five of us rushing through the woods in fear of our lives for what felt like the millionth time that night. The chants and screams from the army of minions following us as we tried to outrun them all. The morning light began streaming through the trees as exhaustion tried to grab ahold of us. Our running was slowing down and yet the army was speeding up. I didn't know whether we had been running in circles or whether we had made any actual progress in getting out of here but I sure knew we couldn't keep running much more. 

Just as my thoughts of exhaustion overtook my mind I saw Archie fall right in front of me. Veronica yelling for him as we both stopped to help him up. 

Like the angels they truly were we saw two cars full of Serpents and Poisons pull up on the road in front of us. 

"Take cover!" Cheryl yelled at us as we all ran towards the cars. The two gangs shooting arrows at the army trying to kill us. We ran behind the van and crouched down as the gangs fought. Archie handed Veronica the antidote which she downed half of before handing the rest to Betty to finish off.

"Poisons, charge!" I heard Cheryl order as the army began to retreat. In a chorus of cheers coming from our side I saw a mix of Poisons and Serpents run into the woods after the remaining army. It was in that moment I felt a pair of strong arms grab ahold of my shoulders. I jumped in fear that one of them had gotten me before turning around and seeing Sweet Pea standing there.

"Oh my gosh." I sighed as I collapsed into his arms, tears had started falling down my face again and at this rate I didn't even care. I stood up slightly so I could grab his face and kiss him on the lips, despite everything we had been through this rushed kiss had managed to ground me completely.

"Are you okay? Oh my god why didn't you tell me where you were going? I was so worried Charlie and I woke up and you were just gone. Then Cheryl contacted me about Penelope hunting you lot and I thought I had lost you." Sweet Pea began rambling on as I leant up and kissed him on the lips again, it was more for me than for him and I think he realised that but he didn't seem to care one bit. 

"All clear!" Cheryl yelled as she announced our safety. I turned around to face the core four again, we all shared a relieved smile with one another before shuffling into a group hug. Nervous laughter escaped Betty as we tried to comprehend the night of horrors we had just experienced together. 

I felt Sweet Pea's reassuring hand on the small of my back as we all hugged like our lives depended on it. Because, let's be real, only a mere hour ago we didn't think we were going to escape those woods with our lives.