ੈ✩‧₊˚  —

The next morning, Ana stormed through the Jones trailer unannounced, finding Jughead sitting on the couch while Betty treated his wounds. ''Jug, you good?''

Ana had been awoken that morning by Toni, who had told her that her cousin had been jumped by the ghoulies. She intended to skip school that day, as she spent the night tossing and turning, but now she was ready to storm into school and show the ghoulies that they'd messed with the wrong people.

Jughead nodded in response. ''Don't blame me, all right? Blame the pothole.'' Betty stood up. ''I thought you were gonna say that you got jumped by those Creepies-'' Ana let out a laugh. "Ghoulies. But, no, the Serpents won't allow that. I wouldn't allow that.''

Toni moved to stand next to her friend, placing a hand on her shoulder. ''Ani's right. The serpents won't let him get hurt. They got Jughead's back.'' Betty nodded, walking to the door before turning to face the girls.

"Great, well... I've gotta go to school, try and fix this mess with Kevin. Toni, Anastasiya, will you keep an eye on him?'' The two nodded, watching her leave before turning to Jughead.

''Don't tell Betty. She doesn't need to know.'' Toni rolled her eyes, whilst Ana scoffed. "I warned you." Jughead lowered his head. "You act like you don't need help and then look where you end up.'' Ana walked out of the trailer, slamming the door behind her.

She wasn't angry at Jughead, she was angry at the fact that he was just as stubborn as she is. It must be in the Jones' blood. Jughead refused help from her or the serpents, and then he ended up being beaten.

She could sense a gang war coming, and it settled a bad feeling in her chest. Would Jughead joining the serpents be the best thing or the worst?

ੈ✩‧₊˚  —

Ana found herself next to Sweetpea, her legs on his lap as everyone laughed at the ridiculous video the Northsiders had made. Harper snorted loudly as they came onto the screen whilst Katie wheezed from beside her, the two girls leaning on each other as they laughed hysterically. 

''Guess we're not watching funny cat videos.'' Jughead walked up to them. ''Check this out. Some sick-in-the-head Northsider posted a video, and we were just talking.'' Sweetpea replied, a chuckle leaving his lips.

Jughead looked at his cousin, his eyebrow-raising at the smirk on her face. ''About what?'' Ana nudged Fangs, a laugh leaving her lips as she did so. ''Fogarty wants to earn his Serpent stripes. I say, bring me Red's head, and you're in.'' The serpents surrounding them laughed as Fangs agreed with Ana. ''I'm down with that.''

Jughead began to stutter, his eyes widening. "No, guys. No-'' Sweetpea scoffed. ''What, Jones?'' Jughead looked at Ana again, shocked at the fact that she had been the one to suggest that Fangs hurt his best friend.

"I know this guy. He's a milquetoast. He's a football player. Ana, you know him.'' Ana stood up from her spot, swinging her legs off Sweetpea's lap. ''Jughead, the most I know about him is that he used to pick flowers for your girlfriend when we were in preschool. He means nothing to me." She said.

Jughead held back an eye roll, Ana wasn't helping at all.

''It's a lame target is all I'm saying. You wanna prove something? Why don't you go after the Black Hood?'' Ana barked out a laugh, looking at her cousin in disbelief.

"And why would we do that?" Sweetpea asked, grabbing Ana by her waist and making her sit back down beside him. 

"The black hoods targeting Northsiders who do nothing but blame the Southside for everything wrong with this shitty town," Ana told him, getting a look of disbelief from her cousin.

"We're sick of it. The black hood's doing our work for us. He's a hero." Sweetpea finished for Ana.

"Okay, I'm done with this conversation." Ana stood again, grabbing her bag on the floor before turning to everyone. "Make sure you're all on time for your shifts tonight, you know I hate waiting." She told everyone, getting nods in return.

"Yes, Ma'am." Sweetpea teased with a smile on his face. "See you," Ana smirked, sending a wink in his direction.

ੈ✩‧₊˚  —

Ana found herself sitting in Jughead's trailer, a takeout box in her lap as she read over a book about a cypher. Jughead had invited her, Toni, and the girls over to help him Betty and Kevin figure out the black hoods cypher.

Harper had point-blank refused to be anywhere near the Northsiders, and Katie was babysitting a few of the younger serpents so she couldn't.

Ana would rather be anywhere else, but she was helping her cousin, and she'd never say no to him. She had to leave in a few hours for her shift anyway, so she had an excuse not to stay long.

"These symbols look so familiar to me. It's like I've seen them before and It's driving me crazy. I can't figure out where." Betty stressed, running a hand over her face.

"Maybe if you loosed that ponytail of yours," Ana said bitterly.

Everyone in the room went quiet, all looking at Ana with wide eyes, apart from Toni who snickered to herself. "What? Take a joke." Ana laughed. "Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach." Ana pulled a face, Toni doing the same. Ana looked over to her cousin, who was hiding his laughter behind his hand, making her smirk.

"Kev, it's fine. At this point, I'm willing to try anything." Betty took out her ponytail, letting her blonde hair fall. "Honestly, I think you look hotter with your hair down," Ana said, nobody noticing the snarky tone in her voice apart from Betty.

Betty sent a tight-lipped smile in her direction, before turning her focus to the cypher once again.

The two blondes had their shared problems, problems that ran years deep. They had a history, a history that made Ana want to scream in her face. But they put it aside for Jughead. As much as they didn't want to.

"Per Mrs Paroo's books, I've been looking for common-letter associations like T-H, A-N, I-N-G." Jughead shifted the conversation. "I'm looking for double letters," Toni said.

"I'm looking for four-letter words, like kill." Ana looked through the book in her hands. "That's morbid," Kevin muttered, but Ana gave him a look, making his attention shift back to the papers he was holding.

"So, we don't even know if it's in English. Guys, this could be an anagram." Jughead sat up. "Like, it's literally sitting on the top of my brain." Betty groaned.

"Let's go back to the basics. What do we know about this guy? Who is he?" Jughead leaned forward to steal some of Ana's food, getting a smack on the back of his head. "He's a white male, in his 40s," Toni replied. "Like almost every serial killer ever," Ana grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"No, I mean, like, why...? Why is he killing people? Or at least, why now?" Jughead rambled. "I don't know, Jug. Would you like me to call and ask him?" Ana asked sarcastically. Jughead flicked a noodle in her direction, getting a middle finger in response.

"We know the hood's obsessed with cleansing the town of sinners and hypocrites, right? And he seems to be attacking anyone with ties to the Northside." Betty waved her hands around.

Ana and Toni shared an annoyed look, immediately catching onto what Betty was assuming. "Here we go with the fake news again. You Northsiders and your privilege." Toni snapped, taking a breath to calm herself down. "All you do is demonize the Southside, so of course you think the black hood's from there." Ana finished for her friend, her patience wearing thin.

"It's not demonizing. It's stating facts. There's way more drugs and gangs and-" Ana cut Betty off. "The drugs which are sold to the crackheads of the Northside? And what about the Northside Neo-Nazis, the Red Circle? The red psychos, you mean." Jughead gave her a look, but she ignored him.

"Hell, Betty, I'm surprised you haven't come out and said it yet," Toni spoke again. "Said what?" She asked. "That you think the black hood's a serpent. We all know how much you hate us." Toni looked over at Jughead. "Okay, guys." He said. "That's not true."

"I don't hate the serpents." Betty defended. "Yeah? Then why is it that your boyfriend here lies about the fact that he sits with us at lunch?" Betty raised her eyebrows at Ana's statement, turning to face her boyfriend.

"I'm gonna go," Kevin said, getting agreements out of the girls. "Okay, I can walk you guys home." They immediately sent him a look which had him backing away. "Or you can walk me home."

"Call me when you get your head out of your ass, Jug," Ana said before shutting the door behind her.

ੈ✩‧₊˚  —

Ana, Sweetpea and Fangs had just finished their shifts at the wyrm. They'd headed to the local store to pick up some snacks for movie night.

It was tradition, Harper and Katie were already waiting at Ana's trailer for them. Tonight they were watching the Hunger Games movies, as they were Harper's favourite.

"No. They suck, get the M&M's." Ana snatched the Skittles from the basket, throwing a few bags of M&M's into the basket instead, despite Fangs' protests. "Cmon! I love Skittles." He whined. "Then get one bag. Not four." Sweetpea deadpanned, holding the basket in his hand. "Fine." He grumbled.

"You big baby, go and get the popcorn," Ana told him, laughing at his pouty face. "The sweet ones! Not the salty!" Sweetpea called after him.

Fangs soon came back, and after they'd paid, they stumbled out of the store, bags in their arms as they laughed at Fangs nearly tripping over.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Sweetpea called out to someone who was spray painting on a wall. "Back off. I'm not here for you. "Oh yeah, then who's this message for, huh?" Ana demanded as Sweetpea pushed the guy. "Oh, hell. Archie?" She spat, a laugh bubbling from her throat.

"Don't tell me it's for the black hood? You believe this guy?" Sweetpea and Fangs laughed. "People say we're the troublemakers." Archie went to walk away, but Sweetpea blocked his path, pushing him back once again.

Ana stood back, her arms crossed as she watched in boredom. "Woah. Southside Serpent Country. You can't come here and tag our turf." Sweetpea spoke low and threateningly. "Archie, get back to the Northside before someone gets hurt," Ana told him.

"Get out of my way." Archie stepped up to Sweetpea. "Or someone will get hurt." Ana had to hold back a laugh. "You just made a big mistake." Sweetpea flashed his knife, pointing it below Archie's chin.

Archie pulled a gun out of his jacket, making the three of them back up immediately. Sweetpea held out his arm, blocking Ana from Archie's view, but she pushed past him, standing in front of the boys with no fear on her face.

"What the hell!" She yelled, pushing Archie back, her eyes on his, not paying attention to the gun. "Who made a mistake." He yelled to the boys, not looking at the girl in front of him.

Sweetpea went to push Ana back, but she turned to him, giving him a look which said 'I can handle this.' Ana punched the gun out of Archie's hand, it falling on the floor. He scrambled to pick it up, but she was quicker.

"You didn't even have the safety off." She clicked her tongue, shoving the gun into his chest.

She then grabbed him by the ear. Archie let out a groan, but he didn't make any effort to stop her. There was no point. For a small girl, she was strong.

Ana walked Archie to the judge that separated town, not saying anything until they got to the edge.

"Does your Dad or Veronica know you're here?" She pushed him, getting a shake of his head in response. "You better sort your bullshit out. You tell them, or I will." His jaw ticked, but he didn't say anything.

"Stay safe out there, red." She mocked. "You're at the top of my list."

LUCE SPEAKS //

boring chap but we move

enjoyyyyy