𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖗.

a self-para by luna; based on the destruction of the whyte wyrm.

tw; violence, destruction, shards of glass

things had been looking up for the pinkette; the vixen’s were finally treating her as more than just some southside serpent, she had grown closer to CHERYL, someone she never say herself getting close to.

but she was a fool. she was a fool to believe that this would last. a north and south side truce would never stick. there would always be that war going on, the fighting, but now? the bulldogs had gone too far.

for her entire life, this bar was toni’s second home as it was for many other serpents. she grew up in these walls, the serpents had taught her everything she knows about life; fp fucking RAISED her here. this was her HOME. to see everything ruined, torn up and destroyed right before her eyes set a fire in her heart that she knew wouldn’t be quenched by taking the high road.

no. if the bulldogs were going to stoop that low, so was she.

“ they’re not getting away with this shit, are you fucking kidding? ”

she retorted, hearing jughead’s speech and wanting nothing more than to go up there herself. to command every last serpent to storm the northside and destroy cars and homes. hell, if it weren’t for the other serpents retaliating, she would have, but when jughead told her and fangs to get the gasoline she KNEW they weren’t taking the high road anymore.

she nodded and turned to walk around the wyrm to survey the damage, and as if her blood wasn’t already boiling at this whole situation, it surely was as she came across a bow on the ground.

a VIXEN’S bow.

that was it. that was the final straw for her, she grabbed that damned bow and stormed out of the wyrm leaving fangs, sweet pea, jughead, hanna . . . leaving ALL OF THEM in the dust. she was not going to wait for jughead’s direction to take revenge. this had cut her far too deep; she thought for once that she was actually connecting with the team, that she was one of them, but now she knew where they stood.

on foot it usually took toni about an hour to reach the highschool. today, it took her fifteen minutes. she sprinted to that blue and gold prison and picked her way into the vixen’s locker room where she would sit for a moment.

her locker brandished a brand new bow, one she had made herself in honor of peaches and joaquin, that was the one thing toni pocketed. she couldn’t destroy that. everything else was free game. but she didn’t start yet. she flicked the lights on and walked around, fingers tapping along every locker, ripping down posters as she came across them and throwing them to the floor until she came to one locker - cheryl’s locker.

“ i fucking trusted you. ”

she muttered, tracing over the numbers gently, glaring at them. despite her murderous look, her eyes actually began to tear up. she did trust cheryl, cheryl went all the way to the southside after that god-forsaken game just to make sure she was okay, toni thought she was WORTH something to her.

she was even so foolish to think the two might have had a chance in the future, if only just to kiss once again.

what a FOOL.

in that moment, she decided she would leave every locker unscathed. every locker EXCEPT for cheryl’s. pulling another pin from her hair and snapping it, toni turned the padlock over so she could pick the lock to the best of her ability, throwing it behind her carelessly.

then . . . that picture stared her dead in the eyes. cheryl and jason. she knew in that moment that she couldn’t destroy her locker; cheryl had been through enough as of recently and though toni was pissed, she wasn’t heartless.

she slammed the locker shut quickly and grabbed the lock to lock it just the way it had been earlier.

she wasn’t satisfied though. she needed to do SOMETHING to get her point across. something that would let every northsider including the vixens that the serpents - toni especially - were not to be messed with.

the trophy case.

the pinkette let herself out into the hallway after pulling the fire extinguisher off the wall, walking towards the precious case in the commons area and not hesitating to take the extinguisher to the glass, shattering it, sending glass shards across the floor. she still wasn’t satisfied, she needed to do more. she grabbed trophies and snapped them off their pedestals, she carelessly threw them into the nearest garbage, and when she was finally satisfied with the carnage, she left.

riley rubs at her eyes slightly as she nods at the other’s words- she gets a better vision of her; her eyes not as blurry as before as she points to the chair before her.

‘please, toni. take a seat!’ she offers the other with yet another smile. ‘ i am always down to hang out with a fellow vixen, you never have to ask.’

“ you look absolutely exhausted. are you okay? ”

over the past week, all toni heard was people asking if SHE was okay, she was tired of it, other people’s emotions mattered just as much as her own, and god DAMN was she tired of the pity party now. she gestured her laptop, scoffing.

“ school’s still shoving homework down your throat? ”

Archie pursed his lips forward and nodded. “Tragedy is inspiring in some weird way…” He sighed. “So… It felt therapeutic to write a response to everything that’s gone on these last few months. I’m glad it resonated with everyone.” 

After they pulled away from their hug, Archie made his way over to the chair he was previously sitting in and picked his guitar back up. He nodded along with Toni, chuckling lightly. “Yeah, no one is ever excited to come back to school, but hey, I’m glad you’re somewhat thrilled to be back.” 

“ you could say that again. i haven’t given anything but serpent tats in so long, it was refreshing and therapeutic to do this, ”

she lifted her leg, showing off the fresh ink on her thigh, quickly setting her leg back down and taking a seat in another chair.

“ the trailer got awfully lonely, that’s the thing about living on the south side, it’s QUIET. quieter than most northies would think. i hate the quiet. ”

“yeah, but they’re also the kind of people assuming that I’m going to grow up to steal their class B jobs.” he scoffed, shaking his head. “I think you’d make a great villain, fighting for the good in a bad way. like robin hood.”

he watched as she took a drink, matching his own. he nodded in approval, setting his own drink on a coaster off to the side to make sure that it’s not too close to his tablet. couldn’t replace that, either. 

“will I ever get so lucky to have you help make my dreams come true?” he teased.

“ gotta love the ignorant swine of riverwood high. ”

she scoffed as well, then thought over the idea of stavo modelling a vigilante character after her. she immediately thought back to archie’s nickname for her. it was subtle enough that not many would know it’s actually HER, yet still had that topaz twist.

“ name her gemstone, or something vague like that. and, for the record, if you weren’t so OBVIOUS, i might decide to let you stay after hours. ”

“Why not? Villains are hot.” 

he nodded a thank you, glancing around before taking a drink. beer wasn’t always the best, but it was something he could get in public, and as of right now, he was getting it for free. he couldn’t exactly complain. besides.. it meant getting to hang around longer, technically. and hanging around longer meant talking to toni longer. 

“how’d you know you show up there?”

“ i’m already villainized enough by your neighbors. ”

the best thing about tending the bar was the free drinks. especially now that fp wasn’t the sheriff anymore. toni never got DRUNK on the job, but occasionally she’d share a drink or two with her patrons. she grabbed a bottle for herself, opening it and taking a drink before setting it aside.

“ just a gut feeling. good to know i was right. ”

“once I start getting paid, that’s when you’ll get yours,”

his voice was light; playful. he started sketching out the next part of the panel, doing rough line work. he was still working out the characters, but.. he certainly wouldn’t mind having toni as a muse for one.  “you and I both know I don’t have either. but… I do have something better you might be interested in.” He smirked, wagging an eyebrow. 

“ i better not be the villain. ”

she tsked, now kneeling down and grabbing a bottle of the cheapest beer they had; it was the one thing she could give out without being scolded, and the last thing she needed was an angry, jobless, midlife-crisis fp on her ass. she loosened the cap before hitting the bottle against the edge of the bar, popping the cap off and setting it in front of him.

“ in your dreams, pretty boy. ”

he shrugged, tapping the end of his stylus against the table gently. he didn’t want to break it; it was a $100 stylus. couldn’t just replace it like that. he wasn’t shocked to have toni talking to him like that; he was an outsider here. it wasn’t like school (even though, ironically, he was an outsider there, too), where they could talk openly. 

“I suppose you could say that,” he paused a moment, clicking on his iPad and going to his drawing app. various boxes of comic panels appeared on screen; he scrolled down to the first open one. “I needed a change of scenery.”

“ if you’re thinking about putting me in that comic of yours, i better get paid. ”

she joked, looking at the rather expensive tablet and turning around to set the empty glass on the shelf behind her. she turned back around, crossing her arms before taking a deep breath.

“ i’m gonna need to see an id, or some cash. your choice. ”

When Archie finally looked up and saw that it was Toni, he set his guitar to the side and gave her a small smile. “You’re welcome.” He said with a nod. “I’m really glad you liked it.” He padded across the room to give her a hug. “I noticed you haven’t been around school. How are you feeling?” 

“ it was really nice of you to write that for them, for us. ”

toni wasn’t much of a hugger, but she made an exception for archie, solely because his hugs were nice, and recently he had shown her nothing but kindness. she accepted the hug and sighed softly, shrugging her shoulders and pulling away after a brief moment.

“ about as good as one would expect. i needed a break, but i do feel better. can you believe i’m actually EXCITED to come back to school? ”

Archie pursed his lips forward when Toni said she wasn’t going home. He honestly didn’t know what he would do if he was in her position either, he probably wouldn’t have returned home. 

He padded his way up to the bleachers and took a seat next to Toni. Archie had always been semi-cautious around Toni, but she was all alone and he wanted to show her that he was someone she could lean on through this. “I wish it were a prank too.” Archie sighed. “I’m so sorry Toni.” He whispered.

everything was fine, when everyone left she finally found the strength to hold it together enough to STOP CRYING, but when those words left his lips, she lost it again.

“ this isn’t fucking fair! ”

she raked her fingers through her braids again and stared through the bleachers, down at the ground underneath. this truly wasn’t fair for ANYONE, but for her especially - at least, she felt like it. she knew the tradition the serpents went through when they lost one of their own, and she wasn’t ready to start it again - not when it involved her best friend.

“Of course I did.”  maybe it was giving out too much, but when Cheryl cared she cared. “I’ve never been there before and I literally had my pepper spray ready but I did it. I just remember how I was when….when I found JJ and I know they mattered to you a lot. I’ve been nothing but horrible to you all and I am so sorry for everything I did. I could never have thought….this would happen and I can’t help feel I’m somewhat responsible for it.”

She wasn’t meaning to make it about her, she didn’t want to make it about her but she had this guilt inside her eating her up knowing that she had celebrated and even pushed for their arrest. “You’ve been put through the wringer and I’m so sorry this happened. It’s not fair and it’s wretched.” she placed down her hot chocolate and placed her hand on Toni’s arm. “I know I can’t do anything to….take it back but I will do whatever I can to make it right.” 

this kinder, more caring side of cheryl was more than welcome. and hell, toni was pretty damn honored to be one of the few who get to see this side of her. funny, it was almost like that kiss had . . . changed her.

“ cheryl, ” toni sighed softly, usually she would be one of the first to go after anyone who had some part in the serpents’ arrest, and maybe she was foolish for thinking so, but she felt like this was genuine, “ it’s not your fault. ”

then, feeling her hand on her arm, the comfort and warmth of someone being that close to her brought tears to her eyes again. she wouldn’t cry in front of cheryl, she couldn’t. not when she had kept up such a strong image for so long.

“ none of this is your fault . . . i’m sure if i thought they caught whoever did this, i would be happy too, i don’t blame you for being happy after the raid. maybe i would have been mad, but now i know what it’s like . . . i know how it feels to have something so near and dear to your heart just TAKEN from you. right before your fucking eyes. ”

She didn’t understand why Toni was asking if she were okay. It had nothing to do with how she felt, Toni was the one who needed comforting at the present. “I just wanted…..to check on you.” she admitted, still feeling guilty about how she had acted at the party also. But now this? If anyone could understand, it was Cheryl. She had been in this position. 

“I couldn’t stand being back home and I just kept thinking about you and I was worried and I even went to the southside- please don’t make me do that again- but you weren’t there and I didn’t want you to be alone.” it all came out rather fast, almost a nervous babble because if she didn’t say it quickly, she most likely wouldn’t. 

“I won’t ask if you’re okay- because you’re not. and I know that. But I’m here, no ulterior motive, alright?” 

toni had this thing where when it came to people she liked, or people she wanted to get closer to, she would always prioritize their feelings over hers. most of the time, it worked out like that, but to see that it wasn’t going to be the same with cheryl was . . . oddly comforting.

had you asked toni how she felt about cheryl two weeks ago, she would have told you that she hated the redhead’s guts, but that night of the party she saw something that proved cheryl was more than the hbic of riverwood high. she was HUMAN, someone who needed caring for and affection just as much as anyone else.

“ you went to the southside for me? ”

she sounded astonished, and she was. why would cheryl go that far just to make sure toni was alright?

“ it’s fucked, you know? this entire week -  it’s like the week from hell. first, i get arrested for a crime i didn’t commit, then i get released and ridiculed at school, and now . . . now they’re gone. ”

Cheryl hadn’t lasted long at home. She couldn’t, questions upon questions filled her and the way her parents were acting- the words they spat like poison “deserved” “another statistic” “good riddance.” so unlike her, she had shimmied out her window and down the drainpipe and ran to her car. She didn’t know where she was going, or what she’d do but she had been in this position and she couldn’t get the sound of the cries out of her head- one in particular. Would she be back at that Worm place or? She never went to the southside, but if she needed to start somewhere she would. 

It had been pointless, after finding the Worm, she had been stopped at the door- rightly so, she thought it wasn’t her place. But Sweet Pea had seen her, upon her question he had claimed she wasn’t here but maybe at the school still. She didn’t linger. So driving the distance back, she eventually reached the school. Not before stopping off for hot drinks. Police were still crawling all over, reminiscent of her party. It brought back the memories in a hurdle. But she pressed through, simply rolling her eyes when the cops tried to stop her entering. It didn’t take long to see her, alone on the bleachers and she approached slowly.

“Toni?” she questioned, tone gentle as she took the seat next to her. Someone had given her a blanket, which she was glad of but she passed across one of the hot chocolates. It was overly sweet but that was better when someone was in shock. 

toni had yet to hear all of the negativity from those who despised the southside, which was good considering her unstable state of mind. right now, all it would take is one off-hand comment for toni to lose it; for her to show riverwood what serpents were truly capable of. luckily, it seemed as if everyone around her was holding their tongue.

she understood why cheryl had left the scene to begin with, and toni didn’t resent her for it; if toni hadn’t known either of them and she wasn’t a serpent, she probably would have scattered to. god, she WISHED she had that ignorance right now; the ability to go home without this heavy weight on her shoulders and chest, but she wasn’t that fortunate.

but for cheryl to come back? it baffled her. she blinked a few times, wondering if she was hallucinating from dehydration or if she had fallen asleep on the cold bleachers, but when she reached out to take the hot chocolate and she felt the warmth radiating through the paper cup, she knew she wasn’t just dreaming. her brows furrowed a bit in confusion.

“ cheryl - are you okay? ”

he had given her his jacket as soon as he saw her just standing there with no actual intention of moving; he hummed to himself slightly as he looked around to see if anyone will come and talk to her– but, nobody really cared about the shocking students all around.

or was it because of what they were?

he leans down to her level and he looks up at her with a sigh.’ hey, toni, it’s jason.’ he starts slowly, his eyes took in the form of the pictures and he was sad for her- she looked devastated. ‘ do you want some water? or for me to get you home?’

the only person to speak to her in the midst of all of this - that she could remember - was fp, who told her to go home. obviously she had not heeded his advice, as she stayed sat on the bleachers long after the police started to scatter.

“ i don’t want to go home yet. ”

going home meant she’d be alone. and while she thought she was alone here, being alone at home was different. at least here people could stop her from fucking the entire building up.

“ but a water would be nice. i think i’ve cried out every ounce of water in my body, tonight. ”

After the game, Archie needed to blow some steam off. He changed out of his pads, pants and cleats and kept his shirt off. He was angry now. Archie didn’t know what the point of all of this was, either way, he just wanted to be alone. He was lucky that his mom was away on a business trip and that his dad hadn’t come to the school to pick him up yet. The redhead knew his parents would make him come home, but he wasn’t ready yet. He wasn’t ready to talk, he wasn’t ready to do anything yet. 

Archie made his way back out to the field. Instead of going to it he decided to run around the track. After his second lap around, he noticed someone up on the bleachers. “Just great. Just when I thought that I could be alone someone else comes out here.” He mumbled under his breath while he was still on the other side of the track. 

As Archie rounded the corner and approached the bleachers, he noticed that it was Toni Topaz, and he felt a bit more gracious then. After all, it was her friends that were just killed. Instead of raging, Archie calmed down and stopped in front of the bleachers, somewhat out of breath. “What are you still doing out here?” He asked the girl curiously.

she swore she was alone. she swore she was the last person on this damn campus, that she could mourn freely in her lonesome - but she seemed to be very wrong. at least it wasn’t someone who outwardly hated the southside; it was just archie.

they weren’t necessarily friends, but they weren’t enemies either. toni actually liked the bulldog, despite him hanging around a bunch of prejudiced northies. unfortunately she couldn’t say she was exactly happy to see him, nothing about this situation was happy, she couldn’t even force a smile if she WANTED to.

“ i’m not going home, “ she answered simply, shrugging and locking her phone to put it in her jacket, “ i keep looking over there, hoping that this was some sick, twisted prank they had been planning since the raid, but it’s not. ”

the spirited serpent clenched her jaw, teeth grinding as she looked out at the scoreboard.