HAPPINESS IS A BUTTERFLY; ethan landry x fem!reader

CHAPTER SIXTEEN; the great war

"Hey, roomies." She greeted Sam and Tara in a sing-song voice. "You didn't see that one coming, did you?"

"Yeah, because you died!" Tara stated.

"Kind of didn't, though." Quinn made a face and Ethan chuckled again. "It was a good way to get off the suspect list. Stab Gale Weathers, stab Mindy on the train. That sort of thing."

Bailey put a hand on each of his children's shoulders. Ethan was still staring right at me.

"Yep, and I just made sure I was first on the scene so I could switch her body out with a fresh one." Bailey explained. "Little fake blood, a prosthetic. You'd be amazed at what a grieving father can get away with."

Ethan and Quinn walked around on opposite sides.

"I got Stu Macher's mask." I could hear Quinn's voice, but I was still watching Ethan. "He was my favourite."

Ethan placed his mask on the headless neck of the Nancy Loomis mannequin.

"Nice. That's number three." Bailey then pointed to Quinn. "That's two. Which leaves..." Bailey pulled a mask out of his jacket and held it in front of Sam. "Your father's. This is what we've been counting down to, Sam. I'm gonna need you to put it on."

He tried handing it to her, but Sam knocked it out of his hand with her brick.

"Fuck you!"

Ethan jumped forward and left a small slice on Sam's arm. Bailey laughed loudly.

"Ooh!" Ethan teased with a smile.

"You stay the fuck away from her!" Tara yelled at him.

"Come on." Bailey chuckled.

"What? What is this?" Sam asked. "You did this as a family?"

"Hell yeah, bitch. You should know better than anyone." Quinn spat.

"They're still not getting it." Ethan laughed in disbelief.

"Look, I don't know what you believe, but I didn't commit those murders in Woodsboro. It wasn't me!"

"Oh, we know that. Of course you didn't." Bailey scoffed. "What, you think this is based on some bullshit conspiracy theory? Come on. Who do you think started the rumors about you in the first place?"

Quinn raised her hand proudly and Bailey giggled.

"Do you know how easy it was to turn Sam from the hero of Woodsboro into the villain?" Quinn asked. "How easy it is to convince the world to believe the worst in people rather than the best?"

"Because it's not enough to just kill someone these days. You have to assassinate their character first." Ethan explained. "So when Dad here 'discovers' your horribly mutilated bodies..."

Quinn jumped at Tara before retracting.

"...Posed with Sam wearing her father's mask, he'll say some poor dumb bastard read on the Internet that you're the real Ghostface and took matters into their own deluded hands."

"Exactly! That's why it's the perfect alibi." Bailey was talking again, but I didn't turn back to look at him. I didn't take my eyes off of Ethan. "And all the best lies are based on the truth. And you're a killer. Just like your father."

"No, I'm not!" Sam yelled.

"Yeah, you are, you motherfucker! You killed our brother!" Quinn screamed at her and my eyebrows furrowed.

"What are you talking about?" Sam questioned.

"You said your brother died in a car accident. You told me that." I was looking at Quinn. "I remember."

"No, no, no, you sweet, dumb thing." Ethan's knife was still pointed as he now spoke to me. "He died in Woodsboro at the hands of that bitch right there."

His knife was directed at Sam.

I knew that Sam only killed one person. Richie Kirsch.

Sam looked around at the three killers and came to the same realization I did.

"You're Richie's family." She gasped.

"Yeah." Bailey nodded and Sam turned back to Ethan, who jumped forward and stabbed her in the shoulder.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! Now she's finally starting to get it!"

Sam and Tara started to run, and I was right behind them as they pushed Nancy Loomis's mannequin down to get past.

"Now! It wasn't until I saw that photograph of what you'd actually done to him that I knew." Bailey said, pointing accusingly at Sam.

Tara swiped her brick at Ethan, but he dodged it. I pulled her behind me and glared at Ethan.

"That I knew you had to fucking die! You had to be punished! Along with anyone else who stands in our way."

We had nowhere to go. Ethan was in front of me, Quinn on the other end in front of Sam, and Bailey was in the middle where we had stood before.

"There she is." Quinn was talking to Sam and I was keeping eye contact with Ethan. I held my hand out to Tara, and she handed me the brick that was in her hand. "There's the fucking killer."

"Real great parenting job, by the way." Tara sarcastically complimented Bailey.

"Shut your whore fucking mouth!" Quinn screamed, pushing Tara forward and into me, sending us both to the ground.

"Shit." Tara cursed.

"You okay?" Sam ran over to us to help us to our feet.

"Have I been a perfect Dad?No." Bailey said. "Have I maybe overindulged Richie's love of these little movies? Yeah, maybe. For me, they're just a little dark."

Ironic.

"But... Richie really loved them." Bailey seemed to be getting emotional. "He loved them. He even made a few of his own. Did you know? Did you know?"

On the large screen from the projector, a teenage Richie Kirsch appeared on the screen. It made me realize how similar he and Ethan looked.

I looked back at Ethan, who was staring up at the video of his brother.

"There's a very special bond between a father and his first son." Bailey stated. Ethan's frown grew and he looked away from the screen and at Sam with a glare. "Which is why I helped him build this collection."

"This was all his?" Sam asked.

"Yes, he's a very passionate collector. And he inspired others. We had to kill those two wannabe film students because, well, we had to kill you first, Sam. I put the theater in their name, then good old Detective Bailey would've just stumbled on it, but I didn't have to because, by golly, that Gale Weathers is one hell of a journalist. I built a tribute to my son. Which is why this is where you have to die, Sam, surrounded by all the things he loved the most."