Hopelessly Devoted ➳ a.a ♡ b.c.

seven

"Archie, what do I do? I can't give him someone to murder, but I can't just sit back and let him kill you." Betty began freaking out as the phone call ended.

"It-it's okay, we'll figure it out. It'll be alright." Betty pulled her hand away from his.

"No, we won't figure anything out, I will."

"No, Betty. That's not happening, I'm not letting you go through this alone." He demanded.

"No, Archie. This isn't your battle, and I can't have you getting hurt because of me."

"Well, that isn't your decision to make. If I want to help you, I'm going to help you."

"Archie, please. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. You just have to let me deal with this." Betty pleaded with the boy as she ushered him towards her window.

"Betty, stop," Archie said as he turned around to face her, "You need to stop carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. You can let me help you."

"But I can't, Arch. You need to leave, and you need to pretend none of this ever happened." Archie shook his head.

"I'm not going to do that. You can't stop me from helping you." Betty let a tear fall down her cheek.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't deal with this." A sob escaped her, and her facade fell.

Tears began to fall uncontrollably down her face as Archie pulled her into a hug. He didn't do much more than that, he was just there to hold her together, and that's all she needed at the moment.

Her legs gave out from under her as she sunk to the floor. Archie still held her in his strong arms, he was her armor against the whole world.

"Archie, what do I do?" Betty asked through sobs.

"I don't know yet Betts, but we'll figure it out. We'll get through it together." Archie waited for her to acknowledge him, but she didn't, and he took that as an agreement.

"Well, who the hell are we supposed to let him kill?" Betty croaked out through a hoarse voice.

"How about we figure all of that out in the morning." He suggested as he helped Betty back up to her feet.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Betty said as she sat on her bed.

"I'll see you in the morning, okay?" He propped open her window. Before he could leave, Betty wrapped him in a hug.

"Thank you," She said into his jacket, "For everything."

"Anytime, Betts."
                             ***
Archie jolted up as a loud shriek sounded out. He looked at his alarm clock, 3:26 am. He stumbled out of bed as the scream stopped.

Did no one else hear that? Was he imagining things? Was he going insane? It must've been a nightmare, considering the whole town was still asleep.

Archie's train of thought was interrupted as another loud scream shattered the silence. It took him a couple seconds to figure out where the loud noise was coming from, but when he did he wasted no time scrambling out of his house.

Archie bolted down the stairs, and threw open his front door, not bothering to put a shirt on his bare torso. He grabbed the house key on the Cooper's porch, as another terrified scream pierced through the night air.

He sprinted up the stairs past a groggy but hurried Alice, and flung Betty's bedroom door open to see her thrashing around violently in her bed.

"Betty, wake up! Wake up!" He yelled. He ran over to her bed and shook her slightly. She woke with a final shriek, and thrashed up in her bed.

Short, raspy breaths escaped her throat as she dug her nails into Archie's arms trying to latch onto the fact he really was here. It hurt, bad, but he wasn't going to say anything. He cupped her face in both hands, as he tried to calm her down.

"Ar-Arch? You-you were, you were dead. You were-" She looked him in the eyes as she stumbled over her words and attempted to catch her breath.

"It's okay, it's okay. It was just a nightmare. I'm here, right here, I'm not going anywhere. I'm alive, and breathing, and well, see," Archie held her hand over his heart as he coaxed Betty.

"It was so real, so real." She murmured as he pulled her back into him.

Archie looked at the doorframe, a frightened looking Alice looming in the open space. She raised her eyebrows in question, but Archie assured her that he had it handled with a strong nod. After a few moments he saw her figure retreat from the room.

When Betty was somewhat calmer he wrapped his arms around her from behind, and she laid her head back on his shoulder as she collected herself. Her sobs lessened, and her breath slowed down to a normal pace.

As Betty reached the brink of sleep she felt strong arms laying her back on the bed. Archie pulled the covers over her.

"You going to be okay if I go, Betts?" He whispered as he crouched at the side of the bed, by her face.

"Um, yeah I'll be fine." She had uncertainty in her voice.

Betty opened her eyes. Archie was staring right back at her.

"You sure?"

Betty smiled at him sweetly.

"Of course, stop worrying about me. I'll be fine." She answered.

"Okay, just try to sleep." Archie kissed her forehead lightly. He turned to leave the room, but a small hand on his arm stopped him.

"Wait," she bit her lip nervously, "um, could you stay." She whispered into the dark, remembering his words: people need people, and Betty needed Archie.

"Of course." Archie responded.

He climbed onto the bed, keeping his distance from the blond next to him. They both laid in silence, their backs turned to one another.

Betty felt alone, she felt scared, she didn't know how much longer she could go on living like this. She didn't want to go on living like this.

She felt as if Archie could read her mind when he grabbed her hand, and intertwined their fingers. This had always calmed her down, no matter what.

"Archie?" She whispered.

"Yes."

"I'm scared." Betty confessed.

"It'll be okay, Betts." He said as he pulled her into his chest, "I swear as long as I'm here, nothing will happen to you."

"I feel so...so," She struggled to find the right words, "I don't know, lost. Maybe alone. I don't want to keep dealing with the black hood."

"Don't think about anything like that right now. None of that matters. It's just you and me, Betts. Just think of us, right here, right now." Betty snuggled further into Archie.

"How am I just supposed forget about everything, Archie? I have to let the black hood kill someone. How am I supposed to be okay with that?" Her heart started pounding, and her breathing quickened.

"Just focus on me, okay? Just listen to my voice, and think of when we were little. Remember in second grade, I was having trouble reading so Ms. Gribrock said I should get held back. You were so against us not being is the same grade that you took the time to tutor me everyday, and when you weren't selflessly tutoring me, we were laying on the ground right over there hand in hand listening to books on tape." Betty let out a small giggle as she recalled the fond memories.

"Anyways, when I passed thanks to you, I kissed you and asked you to marry me. You were like, oh Archie we're to young, ask me when we're eighteen, and I'll say yes." Betty sighed contently, she never forgot about that. It was one of her favorite memories

"Still sounds like a plan to me." Betty mumbled into his chest.

Archie felt his stomach flip, "Me too, Betts."