{1} Tempest {Sweet Pea}

XXXIII

"I can't just sit here." Sweet Pea snapped at Jughead from inside the Wyrm.

"None of us have a choice in this anymore, Sweet Pea. You're staying put!" Jughead shouts and Sweet Pea shoved him away.

"Has anyone seen Tempest?" Jughead asked after he was shoved, and Sweet Pea lowers his head only slightly.

"Sweet Pea, what the hell, did you do?" Jughead snapped at him and a cough came from the entrance to the Wyrm.

"Said what he needed to get off his chest Jughead, before he hurt anyone else." Everyone looked up at once, to see Storm walking into the bar.

Looking exhausted, but completely unharmed, other then a single cut on her face, and she got a warm welcome from the other Serpents, and Jughead hugged her.

"You said it yourself. The Ghoulies are back." Sweet Pea says interrupting the celebration of having the Mediator, in the Wyrm again.

"We will deal with them. As soon as my dad gets back --" Jughead began as suddenly Sweet Pea cut him off again.

"Oh, so now you're not our leader all of a sudden? Oh no that's right. You're just the guy that got Fangs shot."

Sweet Pea said and Storm shakes her head quickly, but he ignored her look of warning.

"And now Fangs might die. And the Ghoulies are going out for our blood, because of a drag race, you started."

He snaps, and Storm had finally gotten in between the two boys, and having finally had enough.

"Stop it!" She snapped, causing everyone to look at her immediately and even the two boys stopped.

"I don't care, who started what. But the only thing that I know for sure is that I'm supposed to be the mediator, I am supposed to be the first defense. I know that some of you guys think of me as just a girl from the Northside as maybe you should. Some of you have made it clear, where you stand on it."

She says and Sweet Pea flinched at her words, but she shakes her head at everyone who didn't move.

"What I know for sure, is all of that rioting out there, that huge riot that started at the Sheriff's station tonight on our watch? On my watch? That, that is what I am supposed to stop. I am supposed to defuse the war before it starts." She said and everyone stops, and the mumbling did as well.

She knew now that she had the attention of the full room, the full bar, the full Serpent gang, and she had got a start, and she needed to finish it.

"No one is perfect. Jughead, he can't be expected to get Fangs out of angry mobs on his own even if he was alone without any of us, he still would have done his best. He definitely without a doubt, did his best out there tonight. It didn't have the results that we wanted but you can't deny that he did." She looks at Jughead, who shakes his head, having obviously sensed where this was headed.

"The only one here, who arguably could have done better... was me."

She let that hang in the air for a minute as she looked at the Serpent tattoo on her wrist, and the other one on her collarbone.

"I am the one who has always be counted on to stop a war, before it begins. I am the one, who tries to keep the peace."

"If you guys are beyond angry at me for all of this tonight. If you guys want my jacket, and to carve out my tattoos for my failure to keep this from, well, all of this, I understand." She said and they looked at her.

"We don't blame you for this, Tempest." Hog Eye says and he looks at the other Serpents, who shake their heads at her as well.

"None of us do. We were angry, that's why we did what we did. We were all furious, hanging onto hope that Fangs is still okay." Sweet Pea says quietly as she looked at him.

"We were all hoping that Sweet Pea, it doesn't change anything." She says.

A couple hours later, after Toni had been rescued from Penny, and now it was surprisingly Cheryl who was with them, and now Sweet Pea was ready a fighting again.

FP shouted and finally everything stopped. "Fangs is gone... he uh... he didn't make it." FP says, and Storm's eyes dropped to the floor.

"And we will mourn him. Hell yeah, we will. But first, we will honor him and from what I just heard, we need to put it to a vote. All those against going to war with the Ghoulies?" FP asked and Jughead put up his hand and Storm didn't move.

"And all those for giving them hell on the battlefield tomorrow?" FP asks, as everyone had put up their fingers into the position, of snake fangs, including Storm, who lowered her head in grief.

Jughead looked at Storm, as they both walked towards the Ghoulies and they saw Penny waiting as she held a knife in her hand.

"Did you say your goodbyes?" Jughead asked and she shakes her head at him.

"The only one who might actually miss me, knows that I'm too upset to talk to him right now." She murmurs and he looked at her.

"You mean Sweet Pea." It was a statement, not a question, just like it had been the day that she had been a coach of sorts to help him, on his first day at Southside High, oh so long ago.

"Yeah, I mean Sweet Pea. Now, let's go and hope, that your dad finally comes to his senses." She said, and they walk right into the fight.

Jughead went down first, while Storm did her best to keep them safe, but she was overwhelmed by sheer number, a lot who had weapons as well.

"We want our pounds of flesh with you guys." Penny says and suddenly all of them were attacking him.

After Penny was long gone, Storm was curled up around herself and then she heard the revving of familiar bikes.

She was somehow still conscious of what was happening. "Sweet Pea." She heard Toni say, and then, Storm heard and felt the ground shaking, as people ran over to her.

"Tempest." She curled up tightly and he looked at her, unsure where even to begin to stop the bleeding and she shut her eyes.

"Storm!" She dimly heard Archie shout, before she felt herself being lifted up as she passed out.