he pulled her away from the crowd and explained everything. how fangs was shot, the ghoulies were back, and how he trashed riverdale high.

she stood there in shock.

"is he gonna be okay?" she asked.

"doesn't look like it," he said, clenching his fists.

"hey, calm down i'm sure-" she started.

"calm down!?" he yelled at her, causing a handful of serpents to look at them. "i don't even know why you're here, delilah! you don't care about this shit! you don't get it, you're just getting in the way! just like you and your family always do."

he was mad about fangs and the whole situation, but mainly he was still mad about what she sad said a few night ago. the word 'friend' was stuck in his mind and he felt like screaming, crying, and punching someone all at once every time he thought about it.

she put her head down, realizing it was a mistake to come. she nodded her head and started walking out.

he yelled at her to wait and tried to grab her before she left but she pushed him away.

"just don't," she whispered.

"i'm sorry," he tried to get her to stay. she pushed the doors open and the cold air bit her skin. she walked around aimlessly, not wanting to go home yet. she knew it wasn't safe but she didn't care at that moment.

she didn't care until she was being grabbed from behind, her wrists and ankles being tied together and her mouth gagged with a bandana. she was thrown into a van and she tried her best to scream but she wasn't making much noise.

"god, do you ever shut up?" a lady said when the doors opened.

delilah's throat hurt from trying to scream, her wrists and ankles were tender from trying to get out of the ropes binding her, and her eyes were red from crying.

"penny peabody," she grabbed delilah from the van and threw her on the ground. two more hands grabbed her arms and she was lifted into a chair and tied to it.

the bandana was finally removed from her mouth.

"why are you doing this?" she asked.

"you're just leverage sweetie," she said flatly. "i've heard you've got a serpent boyfriend, i want something from the serpents."

delilah's heart ran cold. there was no way sweet pea would do anything this woman asked to keep her safe.

"why don't i call him up?" penny said, picking up her phone.

"hello loverboy, it's your old gal pal," she said.

"penny," jughead said on the other line.

"i've got something you might want. something a few of you serpents might want actually. get what's his face on the phone, sweet tea or sweet potato i don't know," she joked. jughead got up and ran over to sweet pea.

"okay, he's here, what do you want?" jughead said.

"no, no, no. it's what you want. little girl, cute as a button, your best pals sister," penny smiled.

sweet peas heart stopped. if he hadn't yelled at her, delilah would still be safe. but now she was being held captive.

"come quick before i start carving up her face," penny said. "maybe her tongue, the little bitch won't stop screaming."

"where the hell are you?" sweet pea grabbed the phone from jughead.

"your old hangout, down by the docks, come now, and alone," she finally hung up the phone.

sweet pea immediately headed for the door, and jughead quickly followed after him.

"sweet pea! i don't think she meant you," jughead yelled as sweet pea mounted his bike.

"i don't fucking care jughead. it's my fault penny has her, i'm going to get her," he huffed.

"she'll kill her if you show up!" he yelled. "i have a plan, you just need to trust me."

he pulled his phone back out and dialed a number. after the call, he got on his bike and riding off.

despite what jughead said, he still got on his bike and made his way to the docks.

"'lilah, are you okay?" jughead asked once he got there.

"jug, she's not alone," delilah said.

"surprise," malachai said, holding a baseball bat with nails sticking out of it.

"you said it was just gonna be the two of us," jughead said, taking out his switchblade.

"i never go anywhere without back-up anymore. not after what you did to me," penny explained. "besides, we need to talk, all of us."

"there's nothing to talk about. i'm taking delilah and we're leaving," jughead said.

"not so fast," malachai stepped in front of her. "i've been waiting to see you again for a long time." he flashed his taser in jugheads face.

"get back you hobgoblin," cheryl said, pointing her bow at penny. sweet pea following right behind her.

"I brought back up too," jughead said. "like I said I'm taking Delilah and we're leaving."

penny shrugged and gestured for malachai to untie delilah.

"but remember when all your friends are dead I tried giving you a chance," penny said. delilah got up and went straight to sweet pea. he pulled her into a tight hug, lifting her off the ground.

"you came?" delilah said.

"of course I did," sweet pea said. "did you think I wouldn't?"

"sorta," she said, his face turning from relief to sadness in an instant.

"it's my fault this happened, I wasn't gonna leave you with her," he explained. she looked up at him and his eyes looked red. he looked like he had been crying. it couldn't have been over her though.

"thank you," she whispered. "archie's never gonna forgive you for this by the way."

"i'm so sorry delilah."

she sat in the corner with cheryl while jughead argued with sweet pea and toni about whether the serpents should go to war with the ghoulies when FP walked in.

"that's enough!" he yelled. "I just got a call from the sheriffs office. fangs, uh... He didn't make it. He's gone."

"fangs is dead?" jughead asked.

"we will mourn him, hell yeah we will but first we will honor him. from what I heard it sounds like we need to put it to a vote. All those against going to war with ghoulies," he said and waited for someone to raise their hand. "and all those for giving them hell on the battlefield tomorrow."

the entire room raised their hands to make a snake.

everyone started getting out all sorts of weapons and set them on a pool table.

sweet pea made his way back over to delilah and grabbed her.

"stay here, okay. i don't want you getting hurt. not again, not because of me," he said, his nose inches from hers.

she nodded and almost went to kiss him when her phone rang. archie was calling.

"delilah?!" he said frantically.

"archie," she said, covering her other ear to hear him better.

"where are you? are you okay?" he questioned.

"i'm, yeah, im fine, im at the white wyrm with-" she started.

"okay, okay, i just needed to make sure you were safe. we need to talk, in person, soon," he said.

"why? what happened?" she asked.

"i'll tell you when i see you okay it won't be long. are you with FP?"

"yeah, yeah. why? archie what is going on?" she begged him for answers.

"get him on the phone, tell him it's betty," he instructed. she went to find FP, handing him the phone and explaining.

delilah watched the color drain from his face as he talked to betty. he hung up the phone abruptly and handed it back to delilah.

"lily, where was penny hiding out?" he asked.

"by the docks... why?" she asked, even more confused.

he ran out of the bar and got onto his bike, racing away from the group of people who had followed him.

sweet pea went to get on his bike and delilah tried to go with him.

"stay here," he said firmly.

"alone?" she said, gesturing to everyone else. they were all leaving to follow FP.

he handed her the helmet without another word and she got on the bike. they sat waiting by the docks, wondering where jughead was, when betty and archie arrived.

"where is he? where's jug?" betty said looking around.

archie saw his sister, leaning against sweet pea. he didn't really care what sweet pea had done only a few hours earlier. he was just happy his sister was safe. he went up to her and pulled her into a hug.

"you have no idea what you missed," he said. "thanks," he said, nodding at sweet pea. "for keeping her safe."

"any time," he replied. choosing to omit the fact that she had been kidnapped.

"oh my god," betty gasped. archie turned around to see FP holding jughead in his arms. he looked dead. he was covered in blood and he wasn't moving.

"go home," sweet pea whispered to delilah. "please." he held her face and kissed her. "i'll see you later, 'lilah, i promise."

delilah choked down her tears and nodded. she was not about to let him see her cry over him.

archie took her home while betty and FP took jughead to the hospital. he explained everything on the way home.

betty's dad was the black hood, but it was someone else who shot at their dad at the town hall, and at their house while she was away.

delilah didn't have much to say, she sat there in shock. her neighbor, her best friends dad, was a serial killer, and had tried to kill her dad.

she didn't hear from sweet pea the entire next day. she waiting impatiently by her phone, not wanting to miss his call or text. but he didn't call. the next day however, he did text.

can you come over?

that was it. she ran downstairs, grabbing her keys and made her way to sunnyside trailer park. it was barely there, several trailers had burned down or been trashed. she parked and looked for his trailer. she didn't bother knocking, she just went in.

he was leaning over the sink, bruises littered his face and there was still blood on his hands.

"sweet pea," she said, her voice full of panic.

"it looks a lot worse than it feels," he said as she reached up to touch his face. he winced at her touch. "okay maybe i lied."

she didn't know what to say.

"i'm sorry, i don't know why i called you. you should be with you dad, i heard what happened," he waved her off.

"do you really want me to go?" she asked.

"no," he admitted, grabbing her hand.

"i was really worried about you, i heard what happened and i didn't hear from you and i wasn't sure if you were okay and-" she started.

"hey, i'm okay," he said. "i got lucky."

he saw a tear fall from her eye and it made him weirdly happy.

"crying over me sweetheart?" he teased.

"shut up before i give you another bruise," she wiped it off her face. "can i help? at all? with anything?"

"you know, i haven't been able to shower. could really use some help with that," he smirked.

"okay," she agreed.

"i was kidding, but it's nice to know you want to see me naked," he leaned in closer.

"i'm never offering my help again," she glared at him and he tucked her hair behind her ears.

"i do need your help, though. you took your car right?"

she helped him take some of his clothes out of his trailer and into her car. she wondered what he was doing but she didn't want to ask.

she drove him to the wyrm and helped take the boxes out of her car into the bar. there were dozens of serpents in there, with mattresses and blankets lining the ground.

"a lot of serpents couldn't afford to leave town, so they came here," he explained.

"god, this is horrible," she said.

"they're sending me to seaside," sweet pea said, rubbing chalk on the pool stick.

"what? that's like 2 hours away isn't it?" she said, confused.

"yep, riverdale high is 'overcrowded' according to weatherbee," he scoffed.

"that's crazy, how can he do that," she shook her head.

before he could say anything else, toni ran up to them.

"cheryl just called me, the police are gonna raid this place tonight," she said, grabbing the attention of most of the bar.

"take only what you absolutely need, and what you can carry with you," jughead addressed the crowd. "we need to move quickly and quietly. sheriff minettas forces are all over the south side and they're looking for our blood. If we want our skulls to remain uncracked we have to go undetected."

"go where?" sweet pea asked. "there's nowhere safe."

"we've been offered asylum on the northside," he explained. archie nodded his head at him. delilah gave archie a look, confused.

he pulled her off sweet peas lap and explained that they were all going to their house.

everyone started scattering to grab their belongings and they carefully made their way to the northside, hiding from the police.

archie and sweet pea walked together most of the way, talking. it was weird to her. not only did archie get over his hatred for the southside, but also her boyfriend.

she wondered what it meant for sweet pea and her.

when they got to their house, archie, delilah, and their dad helped everyone get comfortable. there wasn't much space in their house, so most people had to sleep on the floor somewhere.

when she woke up, her dad had already started making breakfast for everyone. she made her way outside and spotted sweet pea, sitting on a lawn chair.

"hey doll," he smiled at her and pulled her onto his lap. she smiled at him and got comfortable.

the next day, archie was going through the halls, passing out leather jackets to everyone he could see. everyone lined up outside the office when principal weatherbee came out.

"what's the meaning of this?" he asked.

"its a show of support sir," archie explained. "for the Southsiders who are being wrongly transferred out of our school. Everyone's ready to walk out."

"any student who walks out... better keep walking 'cause they'll be expelled," he yelled.

"you're a good man, you're not the kind of person who discriminates," archie pushed. "and if you are then expel me. because I don't wanna be a part of that."

"everyone," he paused. "get to class."

delilah couldn't help but feel proud of her brother. he had finally started to be the brother she used to know. he even got reggie to wear a jacket.

"i think i like you in leather," sweet pea whispered in her ear. she giggled and smacked him.

"can you come over after school?" she asked. he nodded with a smile and she walked away.

she heard the knock and quickly went to get the door.

"so why am i here?" he asked, laying on her bed.

"we need to talk," she said, sitting down next to him.

"okay, speak," he said.

"what happens now?" she said, not looking at him. he sat up and got next to her.

"what do you mean?" he asked, worried about what she was going to say next.

"i mean, archie doesn't hate you anymore," she stood up. "and he seems to be okay with me having a boyfriend."

"what are you getting at?"

"this," she gestured between the two of them, "doesn't make sense anymore. we got what we wanted, it's over isn't it?"

"yeah," he got up. "sure, i'll see you around andrews."

he started to head for the door when she stopped him.

"do you think we could still be friends?" she asked.

there was that word again.