mess it up, ˢᵃᵐ ᶜᵃʳᵖᵉⁿᵗᵉʳ

𝟎𝟏𝟎.

The lobby was thick with tension, the air almost too heavy to breathe. Everyone had gone silent, the implications settling in like a storm cloud.

"What do we do?" Chad asked, his voice low but urgent, his eyes flicking between Sam and Madison like they held all the answers.

Sam's gaze was distant, haunted, her voice cracked with exhaustion. "Maybe he gets to win this time."

Madison nodded beside her, solemn. There was no dramatic pause, no attempt to soften it. Just resignation.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ethan blurted out, eyebrows furrowed, the fear creeping into his voice.

"He wants to punish us. Us," Madison said, stepping forward until she stood shoulder to shoulder with Sam. "Maybe we let him."

There was no fear in her tone, just resolve. The kind that comes when you've run out of hope but still have people left to protect.

"We go out together," she continued, eyes locked on Sam's. "Bloody but poetic."

It was unthinkable, and yet somehow, it made a twisted kind of sense.

Ghostface wasn't here for Tara, Chad or Mindy. He wasn't here for Danny or even Ethan.

He was here for them—Sam and Madison.

The ones with blood on their hands. The ones who had survived the worst and were still breathing.

If they were going down, it would be together. But only if it meant keeping everyone else alive.

"No. Fuck that," Tara snapped, cutting through the heavy silence. "Sam, Madi, no."

The twins nodded in agreement behind her, their faces pale but determined.

"You came back to Woodsboro to protect me, Sam. And you've been protecting me ever since."

Sam's eyes welled with tears, her lips parting slightly as if to protest, but no words came. Only the guilt, and the love.

Chad looked at Madison, his voice softer now. "Madison, you've been protecting us since we were born. So maybe it's time you let us protect you both. We're a team, remember?"

Tara reached out and grabbed their hands, tight, grounding, real. Mindy stood next, her palm joining theirs with a quiet nod. No words needed.

"No," Mindy said after a beat, her voice unwavering. "We're a family."

A choked laugh escaped from both Sam and Madison as Chad jumped to his feet, reaching for everyone's hands with boyish energy that almost broke the tension.

"Hell yeah. Fantastic Five."

Madison looked around at them all, her people. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest, emotion swelling so strong it nearly crushed her.

Without them, she wouldn't have made it. Would've given up long ago. But these faces, these hands holding hers, made her want to live.

To fight. To finish this.

"Fantastic what?" Danny asked, genuinely confused.

"It's an us thing," Chad grinned, making Madison laugh again, small and weary, but real.

But then Sam brought them crashing back to reality. "He's going to keep coming for us."

"Can't we just hole up somewhere safe?" Ethan asked, his voice wavering as his gaze darted around the room.

"There is nowhere safe," Tara answered, arms folded tightly across her chest. "As Sam said... he'll find us."

And then something shifted in Tara's eyes, an idea sparking like a match. "Which we can use."