Sweetpea had searched the entire Southside for Lexy but came out with nothing. Not even a trace of the drug ridden girl. He was now making his way to the west side of town, which was mostly made up of industrial estates. It was still worth a shot.
His head was always clearer on a motorcycle.
He needed to think logically. What would Lexy perceive as the path to hell in Riverdale? It had to be somewhere dangerous considering the card said that one misstep would lead to her doom.
Then it hit him like a ton of bricks when he came to a sign saying that Bartley Bridge was up ahead. A bridge. Of course! He sped up as the bridge started to come into view. And as he got closer, the silhouette of Lexy Andrews started to become clear.
She was balancing on the ledge of the bridge, which was about thirty metres above the river running beneath it.
He parked his bike and took out his phone, quickly sending a text to Reggie letting him know Lexy's whereabouts. He then ran onto the bridge being careful not to scare the girl in case she ended up losing her balance.
"Lexy..." He said softly once he was beside her.
She sighed but laughed all the same. "Should've known the cavalry would arrive soon enough. Didn't expect it to be you though, I thought you hated me."
"I don't hate you, Lexy."
"Too bad." She then pointed ahead of her in a whimsical fashion. "Over that tree line is a dump. Every month, the stuff there gets burnt in this huge bonfire. An inferno. Inferno loosely translates to hell. So this bridge leads to hell. And if I have one misstep I will literally be plunging to my doom."
She looked down at the strong, freezing water beneath her. Sweetpea stared at her in astonishment at her lack of fear. She gave him an amused look and then kicked out one of her legs pretending to fall. Sweetpea jumped slightly but instantly sighed in relief as she giggled and continued slowly walking forward.
"You figured all of that out while you were high?"
She put on a mock offended look for a second before grinning from ear to ear. "I had little bit of help."
"I don't care, Lexy this game is messing with your head."
"My head has never felt more clear and free."
"You know that's bull. Or maybe you don't because you're brainwashed but some part of you has to remember Ben and Dilton and Ethel and how this game ruined all of their lives."
"Because they weren't in control. I am. I respond to no one but myself because I am untouchable. Nothing can hurt me. I can stop whenever I want to."
"So stop!"
She looked at him pitifully. "Oh Sweetpea, you really believe that I want to?"
"What you're doing is not normal. It's not normal to look at that river down there and not feel the slightest bit of worry."
"That's just because you're soft!" She exclaimed, eerily happily. "And I'm not. I am one of the best players this town has ever seen. And I love that."
"That's not something to be proud of. Being good at a stupid, fantasy game that specifically targets damaged teens."
"Don't hate the game, hate the player." She shrugged.
Sweetpea furrowed his brows. "That's not even a saying."
"Sure it is just backwards-" She gasped suddenly and her eyes grew wide. "Backwards."
Lexy stopped walking and took in a deep breath before starting to place one foot behind the other. Each time she got further back, her feet came closer and closer to falling off the ledge.
"The king loves people who take risks. Who push the limit." Lexy said to herself as she held her arms out for balance.
"What the hell!?" Sweetpea shouted, taking hold of her legs and lifting her down from the ledge bridal style.
"Hey! Now I have to start all over again! You can't stop in between that's cheating!" Lexy pushed him away from her.
"Like I give a crap about the Gargoyle King's rules!"
"Like I give a crap what you think about the Gargoyle King!"
She marched back to the beginning of the bridge to start her quest over again. That's when she noticed headlights in front of her. Archie and Reggie.
They jumped out of the car with matching freaked out looks on their faces as soon as they saw Lexy finding her balance on the ledge again.
"Sorry Archiekins, you're plot to get rid of me didn't work. Because now, I'm just back stronger. And I'm on my last quest before I ascend!"
"Jesus, Lex, I never wanted to get rid of you, I just didn't know how to help you."
"Nothing any of you could do would help me. The only one who can help me is the one who understands me."
"The Gargoyle King?" Reggie asked skeptically.
Lexy laughed patronizingly. "No, not the Gargoyle King. Somebody else, but that's my private business."
"Lexy nothing you do is private anymore. All of your business became public when you publicly defaced all of those buildings and stole all those things." Reggie said.
Lexy suddenly spun around to face them causing all of the boys to flinch. "I would do every one of things all over again if it meant that I could get to this place again." She then started humming innocently and continued forward.
"What would the old you say to yourself right now? How would that Lexy feel about everything you've done?" Sweetpea asked, hoping to snap her out of this state.
"There is no old Lexy. She's still in here. She's just gotten stronger now."
Archie sighed sadly at that statement. If it was true, then that was a world he didn't want to live in. "Lexy, I understand what you've been through. Everyone in this town knows how many people you've lost and how brave you are-"
"Stop it! Don't try understand me, because you don't. Don't try and compare yourself to me, because we are not the same!" Lexy snapped, and for the first time, her face was completely hard.
She noticed the flashes of neon colours starting to pop up again, but ignored it and kept going.
"Nobody thinks you and Archie are the same, Lexy. Is that what this is about?" Sweetpea asked.
"This is not about Archie. Why would I do all of this for Archie when he couldn't even stay for me?" She didn't even know she felt that way, but it must have been hidden in some part of her subconscious and the drugs were bringing it out.
The colours kept popping up more and more frequently and she started shaking her head to try get them to stop.
"There is nothing that I would have loved more than to have stayed here with you all that time. But it was what's best for-"
Lexy let out a loud scream and dug her nails into her head. "I am so tired of that! Everyone knows what's best for me. Everyone does stupid, cruel things and I don't understand them because it's just what's best for me. My friends lied to me because they felt they knew what was best for me. You left because you knew what was best for me!"
Then she heard rubber burning harshly against the ground as the truck tried desperately to stop.
"Lexy, I think you should get down from that ledge." Reggie said as she started looking in directions where no sound was coming from.
But it was too late. The two vehicles collided.
"And there's another thing. Everyone trying to control me. Why do they want to control me? Do they not think I am capable?"
More flashes of colour. Pink, purple, orange.
"But-but look at me now! I am in more control than ever. I am the puppet master of this town. Everything I did, they wrote about in the register. They had to have fundraisers and they had to beef up on security because of me. I did all of that! And now all of you are jealous because you miss having me under your thumb! You're pissed off that for once you're the ones not in control!"
As Lexy started talking about control, it made Archie think back to something she said when they were kids and they were going through a rough time. A rough time he hadn't connected this whole situation with until now.
"Lexy, you've buried everything you've ever felt, every trauma, every bad situation, every unhappy emotion, you have shoved it down into a part of you that is now overflowing. And now everything that you have hidden is coming back out."
"Shut up." Lexy said quietly but darkly.
"Lexy, what happened? Did you see?" A voice called.
"And one of those things.... is Sydney."
She suddenly heard glass shattering but when she looked around her, nothing had crashed. She then desperately pulled her focus back to Archie.
"I told you to never say that name again!" She bellowed.
"That's how you ended up here, Lexy. Now I get it. I didn't understand where all this hurt and anger was coming from before but now I get it."
"Somebody help! We need an ambulance! Can anyone hear me?" She shrieked.
"You don't know me. Stop trying to get me!"
"You never confronted these things head on. You locked them away and kept going. And after years and years of suppressed emotions, me leaving finally pushed you over the edge and now everything is coming out all at once. And you have no idea how to handle it."
Reggie and Sweetpea watched as Lexy spiralled out of control. She kept twitching and shaking. She was getting these weird looks on her face as if she was hearing things. And every time Archie would say something that triggered her, it got ten times worse.
"I can handle everything!"
"And when you talked about control... Lexy you couldn't control what happened to Sydney."
"Shut up..."
"There was nothing that could've changed that whole situation."
"Shut up!" Lexy hunched over and dug her nails into her head as Archie talked about Sydney and the voices in her head got louder and the colours she was seeing got brighter.
How could he talk about her? How could he say her name, knowing what happened? Knowing how she felt about it all?
"This is a lot of blood. Listen to me, I need you to go inside and use your house phone to call 911"
"But Lexy, you don't have to carry that around on your own. The only person who blames you, is you. But Gryphons and Gargoyles, the Gargoyle King will never be able to take that away from you. It may distract you from the pain for a while but then it will be back and you won't know how to cope."
Blue. Green. Pink.
"No one wants to see you die. We all want to help you. We want to take you down off that ledge and take away everything you have been carrying on your shoulders for too long."
"I don't think she's going to make it."
"Get out of my head!" Lexy shook her head roughly.
The boys all looked at each other as Lexy screamed and shouted and pulled at her hair. Sweetpea walked closer to her.
"Listen, you just need to take my hand and come down from that ledge and-"
"No! Don't come near me. I can't move. Otherwise I loose it. I loose that feeling. I loose the thing to hold on to. The thing that keeps me going."
Sweetpea didn't know what she was talking about. But it did her no good having to explain it.
"Lexy, if you would just open up to us, even just a little, and let us know what's going on, we could help you. We can show you what to hold on to."
Reggie stepped forward. "People like us. People who care about you, more than anything. You may not realize it right now, but it is so special when you have friends who think this much of you. And you have so many of us, Little A."
Lexy continued to twitch and struggle with everything going on in her head.
"In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life you embrace them with-"
"He's right. You'll always have us. And although G&G might give you an energy burst every now and then, it's the people like us who will pick you up when you're down and brush you off. We'll take a weight off your load when this world is getting too much. And we will always, always, catch you... if you fall." Sweetpea said.
Lexy breathed in and out deeply like someone had told her to a while ago. She couldn't remember who. And it was after she got to breath number three that she and the boys realized...
She was crying.
After seven years of keeping it together, being the person that everyone needed and never the person who needed someone, Lexy Andrews' walls finally broke down. Tears trickled down her face leaving heavy stains behind them. She sobbed for what felt like forever but in reality was only a few minutes.
"I just... I don't want to hurt anymore." She whispered.
All the three of the boys hearts broke as Lexy broke down in front of them.
"You don't have to." Archie said softly.
"But I have for so long. And I want to be strong. Dad always said it was one of the most admirable qualities. But now I'm.... I'm just so tired."
"Being out here in the cold and on that ledge, isn't going to help that. So how about... we all take a step back... and you can just come back onto the ground." Reggie said slowly and calmly.
"And once you feel up for it, we'll take you home, we'll get you something to eat, and you can just... sleep, if you want. Or you can watch a movie. Or you can talk about the things you're feeling. And we will be right there with you the entire time." Sweetpea added.
"What about Chicago?" Lexy asked.
"Don't worry about that. You won't be leaving us any time soon."
She remained completely still for a few moments before nodding her head slightly. "Okay..."
"You ready to come home?" Archie asked.
After long last. It months for him to find his way back to Riverdale, and when he finally did, Lexy lost her way. It had been a long time but now, the Andrews siblings were finally coming home.
But just as Lexy prepared to take one step forward, her head jerked backwards. And then it did it again. And again. Her pupils rolled upwards and her eyelids drooped.
"Lexy?" Reggie said concerned.
Her breathing suddenly sounded like it was being cut off or something. And then her entire body started jerking violently.
"It's a seizure!" Sweetpea said.
Immediately upon realizing it, the three of them all jumped towards the ledge with their arms stretched out, ready to yank her onto the bridge.
But they were too slow.
Lexy lost complete control of herself and her small, fragile body soared down backwards into the river beneath.
"No!"
She landed with a splash, but it was clear to the boys that the seizure was not over yet. And as long as she was having a seizure she wasn't able to breathe. And any breaths that she could take in, she was breathing in water
They ran off the bridge and down the steep hill that led to a small pathway running alongside the river.
Archie, without thinking, dove into the below freezing water to save his sister. Swimming had never been his favourite sport but those lessons he got in elementary school when he was eight would have to do for now.
Reggie and Sweetpea stood at the river's edge, looking on helplessly. They weren't even sure where Lexy or Archie was anymore. Probably underneath the water, Lexy's breathing completely out of control. Already one of her worst fears. Even worse when it was her life on the line.
After a few minutes, Archie's head came back over the surface. He held his sister in a way so her head was tilted back and no longer in the water. Reggie and Sweetpea went forward to help him but he told them to stay back because too many people handling her while having a seizure was extremely dangerous.
Archie got out of the river, completely wet, but so distracted that he wasn't even shaking. He lay Lexy down on the ground in front of him.
"Okay, the jerking stopped. That means the seizure's over?" Sweetpea asked.
"Yeah, seizure's done." Archie responded half-heartedly.
"So... why are her eyes still closed?" Reggie asked.
He was right. Her eyes remained shut and her skin was almost blue. Archie didn't say anything. He immediately started looking for her pulse in her wrist and neck. When he couldn't find it, he leaned down and pressed his ear against her chest.
"She's not breathing..."