fierce ↠ sweet pea [1] [✔]

|| FIFTY-FIVE ||

"Joaquin's here?" Lauryn repeated as if the words had flown past her amongst the raising calamity outside of the sheriff station which was beginning to seep through the walls.

"My dad called him," Jughead replied as his voice shook, and he tried to catch his breath. "He's gonna get Fangs out of town for a while."

The thought of her brother leaving frightened her, but if it was the only option to keep him safe, she knew she'd have to live with it. She had no choice of objection, or time to protest. "Shit, man. Okay."

A deputy at his side, Fangs emerged from the hallway and was released out of the handcuffs he was in. His first thought was to throw his arms around his sister who let out a breath of relief in sync with his.

"I told you," she whispered, noticing his entire torso shaking. "You're okay."

"From this moment on, things could get ugly," Jughead warned as the siblings pulled away from each other, and Fangs retained his look of distress which he'd been sporting all day. "The Dark Circle have everyone riled up. They're out of control. They're not Archie's anymore."

Lauryn raised her brow. "Is this the apocalypse?"

Just then, Sweet Pea, Toni and Jared turned the corner, the three of them sharing the same wide-eyed expression. "You made it," Lauryn expressed as Sweet Pea handed Fangs his Serpent jacket before giving her a hug.

"It's crazy out there," Jared remarked. "I ain't ever seen anything like it. The town's lost it."

Fangs swallowed a sharp lump in his throat as his fear grew bigger than him, and he swung on his jacket. "This is all my fault."

His sister turned her head briskly. "What? Fangs, I already told you--"

"The town's going crazy, all because of me," he fretted, his eyes glossy. "And now you guys are at risk--"

"We're here because we're your family," Toni reminded him strictly, her friends nodding in agreement. "No Serpent stands alone."

Lauryn cupped her brother's cheeks, wiping away the tears which slipped out of his eyes when the panic intensified. "We got you, okay? This is all gonna be over. We're gonna go home, and everything's gonna go back to normal."

She squeezed him into a hug, the others joining in tightly all except Jughead who'd scurried off to check the state of the front entrance which was rammed with furious civilians, hurrying back to his friends to find Minetta standing before them smugly.

"We can't take Fangs out the front. We have to take the side entrance," Jughead told Sheriff Minetta who only cooked up a retort.

"Crowd's out there, too. So, pick your poison, Serpent."

Sweet Pea glanced at his family, his soul aching at the sight of the people he cared about most falling apart. "What do we do, man?"

"I don't wanna die!" Fangs cried helplessly, and Jared instinctively put an arm around him which he was too distracted to jolt away.

Turned away from them, Jughead took a second to gather himself as a strong leader, inhaling softly before turning on his heel. He clasped Fangs' cheeks. "Hey. You're not going to. Look at me, okay?"

Fangs could barely manage a nod, and the sight of him so petrified with no way of helping him shattered Lauryn to pieces. She shot a look at Sweet Pea who only kissed her temple hard, and she chewed on her lip anxiously.

Jughead's right hand clutched the collar of Sweet Pea's jacket, the other still resting against Sweet Pea's face. "We stand together, so none of us falls. In unity there is strength."