Hopelessly Devoted ➳ a.a ♡ b.c.

twelve

"help! somebody help me please!" betty yelled into the darkness. it was playing tricks on her mind, making her see shadowy figures that weren't really there. however one figure lurking in the shadows was very much real, and terrifying.

"nobody can hear you," the lights flipped on, "sound proofing." the masked figure said as he gestured to the walls covered in black foam.

from the humid, damp atmosphere betty could tell they were in some kind of underground room, a basement, or maybe a bunker. she also knew they were still in riverdale, because of the duration of the drive.

"why did you take me? i followed all your rules. i did everything you asked." she asked as she struggled against the chair she was tied to.

"exactly you followed all my rules. you gave me a name, a name to kill, so that's what i'm doing." the sadist walked closer to her.

"no, no you need me. you need me for your little game, you can't kill me." betty said as she pulled against her restraints with all her strength.

"oh betty, when will you learn, everyone is replaceable. just know when i'm done with you, i'm going to move on to our favorite redhead."

"no, leave archie out of it. this is between me and you." betty said sternly.

"it was between us, until you decided to break the rules, and tell archie andrews about our little talks."

"i'm sorry, okay? i can get you a new name, i swear. just leave archie alone, and let me go. i'll get you a name. please." she was becoming hysterical as tears streamed continuously down her face.

"your time is almost up, betty cooper. i thought you would excel at this, but you crumbled under the pressure." the black hood said.

"if you're going to kill me just get it over with, please." she said from her spot in the middle of the room.

"oh betty, i'm not going to kill you... yet. we have so many things to do to archie andrews first, so many nightmares to cause, and dreams to crush." his tone was sadistic and manipulative, "i need you alive for the next phase of my plan, after that i'll kill you." betty had to stop a sob from escaping her throat.

"please, please just leave archie alone. he didn't do anything wrong. he doesn't deserve this."

"yes, he does betty. when will you get it through your mind that not everyone is good, people are flawed. riverdale needs to be cleansed of all it's sinners, and i need to be the one to do it." he got in her face, causing her to lean back, away from his hot breath.

"no one in this town needs you, or your 'cleansing'. we've been doing just fine without you. all you've done is cause fear, and death." he spat back at him.

"and since my reign of terror started, how many people have become sinners." betty clenched her jaw trying not to feed into his delusions.

"my point is made." he said as he backed up, and walked to the door.

"archie will find you in the next 12 hours. after you do what i need done, i'll kill you, and make sure he takes the fall," he chuckled, "jealous teen kills best friend over boyfriend, i can see it now at the top of the riverdale register." betty twisted her face in repulsion.

"you'll never break us, we-"

"i know, i know 'you're going to be okay, because you always are when you're together'. i hate to break it to you betty, but you won't be so lucky this time and newsflash you're not together." he said before flicking off the light, and exiting the room. leaving betty in the dark with her demons.
                     ***
archie stared numbly into betty's empty, pink room through his window. it had been a sleepless night for him, and now at 2am, he felt like crying. he wasn't the only one. the sky also wept for betty cooper. it's tears drummed a dull beat against his window. he felt like he wasn't truly there as he stared at the window she once admired the rain from.

betty cooper had always loved the rain. wether it was a light sun-shower, or a lightning-filled thunderstorm she enjoyed every second of it. archie remembered once of the first times he saw her in the rain. they were 6, and on their way home from school when it began to rain. instead of running home like all the other kids, betty set her backpack under a tree, and stood on the sidewalk letting the rain soak her to her core.

he remembered her enthusiastic smile as the water trickled down her face, he remembered how her blond curls looked after being soaked, and he remembered having to pull her home when lightning began to light up the black sky. even though she loved everything about the rain she knew exactly what she would pick if she someone asked what her favorite part was.

betty would pick the rainy afternoons, and nights she and archie spent together when it was raining too hard to go outside. they would cuddle on her couch and watch movies, or pile blankets on her bed, hide under all of them, and listen to music. the days were full of laughter, and the occasional tears.

the serenity of those days felt surreal compared to how they lived now, and they would never be able to explain the things they felt for each other, during those nights; under those blankets, to other people. they didn't want to. rainy days were archie and betty's magnificently pure secret, and no one, not the black hood, not jughead, veronica, alice, or anyone could take those feelings and memories away from them.

so this particular deluge of rain made archie long for the calmness that used to come with being best friends with betty cooper. he wanted to go back to simpler times, before everything went wrong. before he rejected betty the night her innocent beauty was corrupted by salty tears as they fell down her face, before he realized he had feeling for her that were never going to disappear, before the black hood took the love of his life away.

what was he supposed to do now? stare at her window until she turned up dead. how was he supposed to get her back?

his thoughts were cut off as his phone began to buzz on the window sill. his eyes widened as he checked the caller id.

"where is she? is she okay? just-just tell me how to find her, and i'll-i'll take her spot." archie stuttered over his words as he spit them out at the speed of light.

"i don't need you to take her place, but we are going to play a little game. you have a single hour to find betty, or she dies." archie's heart dropped.

"how am i supposed to find her? please just tell me where she is." he begged.

"i won't tell you where she is, but i might be willing to give you a hint."

A/N - okay so i know i already have this story, but i had a new idea for a different story. i would work on it after finishing this obviously, but i have a few ideas for a story that i'm excited abt