{ " and I thought of us, back to the time, you were lying next to me " -- all of the stars, ed sheeran, 2014 }

Archie felt a sense of guilt he had never felt in his entire life. The Black Hood had taken Honeybee as a means of getting to him. He was the Black Hood's target, and now Evie was ...

He sat in the waiting room of the hospital between Jughead and Betty. He wanted to be in there, to know what was going on, but he wasn't family. Only Sweet Pea was allowed to know what was going on, and they hadn't seen or heard of him in over 2 hours.

"Archie, are you doing okay?" Betty asked, turning to set a hand on top of the boy's.

He kept his head down as he responded. "I just ... it feels like my fault."

"It's not your fault, Arch." Betty said, glancing over at Jughead, who quickly nodded his head in agreement.

"The Black Hood wanted me, and he used Honeybee to do so. She pushed me out of the way of the bullet, and now she's ..." The redhead sighed and rubbed his face. "What if she ..."

"Honeybee's strong. She's going to come out on top." Jughead said, though his heart wasn't 100% in it. He was scared to death that he was going to lose another one of his Serpents. The Serpents were his family, and Honeybee was one of them that he was especially close to. She had to make it out of the operating room.

"I hadn't realized the two of you were so close." Betty said, turning to look at Archie.

He glanced at her once before looking down at the floor, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "I'll never be able to forgive myself. It should be me in that hospital room, not her."

"There's nothing you can do to change the past, Archie." Jughead stated. "You can't hold onto that guilt forever."

Archie was about to reply, but he was cut off by a loud commotion coming from down the hallway.

"Let go of me! That's my sister in there! I need to be with her!"

The group turned to see Sweet Pea being dragged down the hallway by two security officers with a nurse following close behind.

"Sir, we need you to stay calm, for your sake and your sister's." The nurse calmly said as they hauled him into the waiting area.

"My sister is dying in there! I need to be in there with her." Sweet Pea yelled, his eyes threatening to drop tears.

"Sweet Pea, what's going on?" Archie asked as he stood and ran over to the Serpent. Jughead and Betty

As the security officers let go of the boy, he collapsed, causing Archie and Jughead to reach out and catch him.

"Sweet Pea?" Betty gently held onto the boy's hand. "What's going on?" She asked, repeating Archie's question.

The Serpent boy stood, shrugging off Jughead and Archie's arms. He ran a hand through his disheveled black hair, his face coated in tears.

"The machines started beeping and the doctors rushed in with this big machine and then they pushed me out..." He trailed off and shook his head. "She's gone."

--

Archie fixed his tie as he looked at himself in the mirror. He sighed and ran a hand through his red hair as he looked at his face, which looked exhausted.

Today was the day.

On top of everything that had happened, the Black Hood was still on the loose.

After that fateful day at the Sweetwater Bridge, the Serpents had taken off after the masked murderer, but it was too late. He'd disappeared into the forest and hadn't been heard from since.

Archie blamed himself completely, of course, for everything that had happened. Jughead, Betty, and even Sweet Pea assured him that nothing that happened was his fault, and all the blame rested on the shoulders of the Black Hood. He couldn't help feeling the guilt, though.

It was supposed to be him.

It should have been him.

He wanted to be out there, on the Black Hood's trail, tracking down the son of a bitch. He had been doing just that, until today, of course.

He couldn't miss today.

He slipped on his suit jacket and tied his shoes, then headed downstairs to say goodbye to his dad.

Fred gave his son a sad smile as the boy walked into the room. "You look nice." He said, handing him a cup of coffee. "Look like you need this, though."

"Thanks, Dad." He mumbled, downing the coffee.

"Do you want me to come with?" Fred asked, taking a seat next to his son.

"No. Jug will be there, and Betty, and ... Sweet Pea." Archie said.

Fred nodded. "Okay. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will." Archie gave his dad a smile, and Fred patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Fred said, holding a finger up. He got up and went into the other room, then returned with a bouquet of sunflowers. "I know it's not the way you expected to give her flowers, but ... here."

"Dad..." Archie took them, seeing how vibrant and full of life the yellow petals appeared. They were everything Honeybee ... Evie ... was when he'd first met her that day at school. They were even black and yellow, just like a honeybee.

"I knew she wasn't just your tutor, Arch." Fred said with an amused look on his face. He gave the boy a card to attach to the flowers. "Send my regards, too."

"Of course." He said with a nod. "Do you mind if I take your car?"

Fred shook his head. "Take all the time you need, pal."

Archie nodded and finished his cup of coffee. "Thanks, Dad. For everything." He gave his father a hug before grabbing the sunflowers and heading out to his dad's car. As he drove across Riverdale, he thought back to his past self, when his biggest challenges were whether to play football or music, or somehow manage to do both.

Things had changed so dramatically since the murder of Jason Blossom. It seemed like Riverdale had been in a downward spiral ever since.

He drove past the high school, past the cemetery, until he had finally reached the hospital. He straightened his tie once again and looked out his window, seeing that Jughead and Betty were waiting next to Mrs. Cooper's station wagon. Honeybee's brother was nowhere to be seen. He thought they were going to give him a ride.

"Where's Sweet Pea?" Archie asked as he got out of the car.

"Already inside. Had some things to do beforehand. Sign papers, collect belongings, et cetera." Jughead said. He nodded at the bouquet in Archie's hands. "Those for her?"

Archie nodded, his eyes trained on the door.

"She'll love them." Betty said with a smile as she pulled a pink "Get well soon!" balloon out of the back of her car.

"That ..." Archie said, pointing at the balloon. "She will hate."

"I know." Jughead said with a smirk. "It was my idea."

"Are you ready?" Betty asked the redhead. Archie had to admit, he was nervous. He hadn't seen her since the day in the forest, at the bridge, when the Black Hood had shot her.She'd been unconscious since shortly after they revived her, following the short moments her heart had stopped beating after the surgery. Sweet Pea had witnessed his sister's heart stop, causing his meltdown. As they dragged him into the waiting area, the doctors were able to successfully revive her.

She'd woken up two days prior, but they hadn't been allowing any visitors that were not family. Today, she was finally being released, although she was to be on strict bedrest for a while. It seemed that it would be Archie's turn to be her tutor.

"Let's go." He said, leading the group inside the hospital. Sweet Pea was finishing signing something on a clipboard, as he was the only family Honeybee had.

The Serpent boy looked up, eyeing the pink balloon held in Betty's hand. "She's going to hate that." He said with an amused look on his face.

"It was my idea." Jughead said, taking the balloon from his girlfriend.

"Flowers, Andrews?" Sweet Pea asked, nodding in the direction of the redhead.

"They're from my dad." Archie admitted, clearing his throat awkwardly. He was anxious to see her, to see how she was doing. Anything to get the picture of her lying wounded on the bank of Sweetwater River out of his head.

"They'll be bringing Genevieve out shortly, Mr. Morgan." A nurse from behind the desk said with a smile.

Archie chuckled. "She must hate being called that."

"Her name is Genevieve?" Betty asked, causing the three boys to look towards her with smirks.

Sweet Pea added, "Yes, but don't let her know you know that."

this chapter was really hard for me to write, because of fred being good old wholesome fred. it still makes me so sad to think that Luke Perry is gone ... but i'm sure he's in a better place.

also, so sorry if i gave you a little scare there ... i needed to spice things up a little. :)

xoxo

mads