Lost (in Your Emerald Eyes)

F O R T Y - T H R E E

Archie lay on the ground when the police ran into the building, the blonde girl that they had been looking for sitting by his side, sobbing the way they had never heard anyone do before. She was choking on her breaths and screaming at the same time, her hands cupping either side of the redhead's face.

The cops managed to get all the Ghoulies to lie on the ground on their stomachs while Jughead took off his flannel and quickly pressed it into a wrinkly ball in his hands before pressing it on Archie's chest.

Archie choked on his words, his brown eyes staring at both Betty and Jughead, wide and honest. "I..." they heard him saying.

"You're gonna be okay," Jughead cried, even as he noticed his shirt was already soaked in blood. He was losing too much blood. "You're gonna be okay. Just hold on, man. We're gonna get you to a hospital. Hold on."

"Dad," Archie choked. "My dad."

Jughead exhaled deeply, staring at the boy in panic and sorrow. He knew he wasn't going to make it. He knew it.

"We're gonna take care of your dad," Jug promised.

"No!" Betty screamed as Archie's breathing started to disappear. "Hold on! You're gonna be okay!" she sobbed in a raspy voice.

The ambulance could already be heard outside in the long driveway, and Jughead knew it would take at least five minutes before Archie could be given any medical help. And about twenty more before getting to the hospital.

He wasn't going to make it.

"Be..." the second half of her name faded on the redhead's lips.

"No," the blonde cried. "Stay. Please. I need you with me. Stay!"

His gaze stopped on her face, and mouth opened again to finish whatever he was going to tell her, but suddenly the brown eyes of his were glassed over with no emotions, and Jughead's breathing stopped when Betty managed a horrifying screech.

"No!" she kept repeating the word, sometimes dragging it longer, others just crying it in a barely audible way. "No," she brokenly whispered when she leaned down to kiss his pale forehead.

Her best friend had died. Her brother. She grew up with him. He was never going to come back. And she didn't know how to live without him.

Betty winced in pain when a few medical doctors managed to lift her and put her onto a stretcher. She cried out even louder when they started carrying her away. She saw Jughead saying something to one of the ambulance workers and pointing his finger down the hall before running after her.

"It's okay," Jughead told her, and even though he couldn't touch her, not wanting to interrupt the ambulance work, he stayed by her side.

Once the girl had been carried into the ambulance, the car took off with Jughead sitting next to her. "We're gonna get you home soon," he promised when her hands gripped his.

"Archie," she brokenly whispered to him.

The boy stared at her for a moment, tears pricking up in his eyes again, before he nodded. "I know, baby."

They didn't speak of the matter anymore and Jughead kept watching her even as she stared at the ceiling. Her hands gripped one of his and the boy used the free one to touch her forehead and caress the bruises on her face.

"I love you," he quietly said right as the car came to a stop and he stood up, the paramedics quickly transporting Betty into the hospital.

Jughead turned at the sound of another ambulance approaching. He didn't have the time to stay and see who had been transported with it, but he hoped that maybe Archie's heart was still beating somehow. And hopefully, the paramedics would be able to save the man Sweet Pea had stabbed, even though he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't kill him himself after.