[ i am once again posting and going to bed to wake up to varying reactions. i didn't want to keep it on a cliffhanger for too long. but i did make a nice, sad edit over on tiktok to go with this hehe ]

☽︎

I DON'T REGRET IT. I DON'T REGRET AGREEING TO THAT DATE.

☆︎ APRIL, 1998 ☆︎

Dread didn't even have time to settle inside of either girl as the sun with Derek and Melanie's bodies tied to it suddenly rose, disappearing upward with the rest of the set pieces tied up there. Mickey grinned, and Indiana and Sidney both flinched back, not expecting the sudden scenery change that was obviously being orchestrated by someone.

"Now, who's doing that? Could that be the mystery guest waiting in the wings?" he asked them as Sidney rushed around him to Indiana's side. "Told ya I had a partner. Surprise cameo just for you."

They heard the hinges on the prop door squeak, so they turned and saw Gale coming through it, a patch of blood staining her white shirt. Both Indiana and Sidney looked at her in complete disbelief.

"Gale," Sidney breathed out, taking a step back. She couldn't possibly be working with Mickey.

But Gale just shook her head before another figure entered behind her with a gun trained at her back. Indiana hadn't known the woman well before she abandoned her family, but she'd still recognize her despite the weight loss and what appeared to be a nose job and cheek fillers.

"Mrs. Loomis?" Sidney said, believing it even less than when she momentarily thought Gale was Mickey's partner.

Gale looked at the girls in surprise — she'd thought the woman was an annoying reporter named Debbie Salt. They must have not seen her frequently around campus like she had. "What?"

"Billy's mother!" Mickey shouted, far too excited for his own good. "Nice twist, huh? Didn't see it coming, did ya?"

"Jesus," Sidney muttered, looking between the two.

"It can't be," Gale denied. "I've seen pictures of you."

Sidney raised an eyebrow and gestured to the older woman. "This is sixty pounds and a lot of work later," she said in a judgemental tone.

"Burn," Indy managed to mumble. She couldn't really feel much of anything knowing Mickey was just behind her and to her left, helping the woman.

"It's called a make-over. You should try it," Nancy said, managing to take off her coat while still keeping the gun trained on them. "Look a little tired yourself there, Gale."

"Double burn," Indiana added under her breath halfheartedly. Seeing how Nancy's gun was trained mainly on her, she took hesitant steps backward, not caring how close it put her to Mickey. Admittedly, it was probably for the killing her son thing, not the burn comment.

"So," Gale said, looking back at Mickey, "you two are in this together?"

He was busy rubbing his scratched eye, which was beginning to hurt. "Yeah, well. Had to have financing. Tuition's expensive. Deb, there — my backer. We met on the Internet. Psycho Web site. Classifieds."

"There's only an estimated ninety-seven active serial killers in the country. So Mickey, here, was quite a find," Nancy said while stepping closer. "Definitely one on the way up. All he needed was a little guidance and nurturing."

"As only a mother can do," Sidney muttered bitterly.

Indiana looked at Mickey, even more hurt washing over her. "Tuition? You... you've been planning this from the start?" she asked, more tears flowing. Mickey looked to the side rather than at her. "You just strung me along for what? Fucking fun?"

Mickey's gaze snapped back to her right away, prepared to tell her how wrong she was, how he really did love her, but Nancy talked over him. "It may not have been so necessary for Mickey to become so close with you all, but I say it paid off."

"Told you it was going to work," Mickey said, managing to look away from Indiana, unable to stomach her tears. "Just wait till the trial, Indy. You'll be there with me every step of the way. It's gonna rock."

"Oh, Mickey," Nancy said with a tilt of her head. "There's not going to be a trial."

Indiana saw Nancy move the gun away from her and to the left toward Mickey, and she screamed. "No!"

But there was nothing she could do but turn and watch as Nancy shot Mickey in the torso three times in a row, the force sending him stumbling back into a column. And as his body reacted, he pulled the trigger on the gun in his own hand, the bullet flying off and hitting Gale, who was knocked down into the pit where the orchestra sat during performances, knocking the set of stairs bridging the gap between the stage and audience down with her.

"Gale!" Sidney shouted, worried about the woman.

And Indiana couldn't help but cry out for Mickey, rushing to his side. His eyes met hers as his body slid down the pillar before he fell over, the gun slipping from his hand. It didn't matter that she hated him for what he'd done — seeing Mickey dead was the last thing she wanted.

"No, no," Indiana whimpered, kneeling next to his body. Her hands hovered helplessly over his body, watching the blood seep into his shirt.

"Two birds, one stone," Nancy muttered, not even shaken over killing the boy she'd been working with for nearly a year. She just glared at Indiana, her tear-filled eyes filling her with more hatred. She didn't cry like that for her Billy.

"Wh - why would you do that?" Indiana asked, looking up at the woman.

"Oh, Mickey was a good boy, but, my god, that whole blame-the-movies motive," Nancy said while coming closer. Sidney quickly backed away, going past Indiana and Mickey. "Did you buy that for one second? Poor boy was completely out of his mind."

As Nancy kicked Mickey's side, making sure he wasn't moving, Sidney glared at her. "And you're not?"

"No. I'm very sane," Nancy said while carefully grabbing the gun in Mickey's hand that Indiana hadn't even thought to take for herself. "My motive isn't as '90s as Mickey's. Mine is just good, old-fashioned revenge."

"You killed my son," she went on in a dark tone, her gun fixed at Indiana's head, who didn't even flinch. "You didn't cry over his body like you are now. No, you butchered him, and now I kill you. And I can't think of anything more rational."

"Yeah, I killed him," Indiana said, slowly rising to her feet. "And it felt so fucking good!"

Nancy stepped toward her angrily, threateningly, but Sidney quickly grabbed Indiana and yanked her back. "You're never going to get away with this," Sidney told her, shaking her head.

"Of course, I will," Nancy told them while digging a handkerchief out of her pocket to wipe down the extra gun with. "Everything's traceable back to Mickey. Including the cop gun he used to kill everybody, Sidney included."

"But let's just suppose that Indiana had gotten hold of the other cop's gun, and you chased Mickey, and there was a big shoot-out and a big scuffle, and you shot Mickey — killed Mickey dead," she said, tossing the spare gun to the side. "But not before he got off one shot at you."

Indians swallowed thickly and shook her head. She'd moved to stand in front of Sidney as soon as Nancy mentioned killing her. "Mickey wouldn't kill me," she declared in a shaky tone.

"God, you're almost as delusional as him if you think the police will care with no witnesses to correct their theory," Nancy said, scoffing. Seeing Indiana still feel for Mickey increased her fury. "But you're right. He wouldn't. Well, he tried to back out of it all completely back in October, but he knew far too much, and I'd have to kill him if he did. So I fed him a little lie about letting you live as if this whole plan wasn't to see you six feet under."

Indiana didn't know if learning that he tried to stop this made her feel better or worse but she knew it made her heart ache as she looked down at his blood-covered body.

"Okay. So, have I covered everything? Are there any questions, any comments?" Nancy asked her in a motherly tone before shrugging. "You know what, though? Who gives a flying fuck anyway?"

As she started forward, Indiana tried to run but froze again when Nancy's gun trained on Sidney. Neither girl could make a move without her going after the other.

"Let them try and track down the second possible killer. Debbie Salt doesn't exist," she said, saying the fake name she'd been giving Gale.

"You're as crazy as your son was," Sidney spat.

"What did you just say?" Nancy asked, tilting her head with a new dangerous glint in her eyes. Both Indiana and Sidney began backing away, keeping a tight grip on each other's hands. "Was that a negative, disparaging remark about my son? About my Billy?"

"No, Billy was a good boy," Sidney muttered sarcastically. "Billy was perfect. You did a bang-up job, Mrs. Loomis."

"A real model citizen," Indy added, scoffing. "Definitely not deranged or mentally unstable at all."

"It's not wise to patronize a woman with a gun, girls," Nancy said, glaring at them as she backed them into the corner of the set, her gun aimed at Sidney's chest. "Randy spoke poorly of Billy, and I got a little knife-happy."

"And your old, decrepit ass couldn't even kill him properly," Indiana snapped, more so to get her attention back off of Sidney.

And it worked, because a moment later, the barrel of the gun was pressed painfully against her jaw, the metal digging into her skin. "I was a good mother. You know what makes me sick? I'm sick to death of people saying that it's all the parents' fault. That it all starts with the family. You wanna blame someone?"

Nancy turned her head to Sidney but kept her weapon on Indiana. "Why don't you blame your mother? She's the one who stole my husband and broke up my family."

"Why not blame your slut husband?" Indiana asked her, raising a challenging eyebrow.

"Oh, I do. And then you took my son," she said, her focus back on Indiana as she backed up just a few steps, seething. "You don't know what it is to be a mother. To raise a child, and teach him, and guide him—"

"And abandon him!" Sidney reminded her angrily. Then she glanced behind Nancy's shoulder. "Isn't Mickey supposed to be dead?"

A part of Indiana fell for it — the part that knew she couldn't just stop being in love despite his painful betrayal. Both she and Nancy looked over at his unmoving body, and Sidney took the opening to grab one of the abandoned beer bottles left from the party that ended with Derek and Melanie dead. She smashed it against the back of Nancy's head before dragging Indiana to the door.

Once they were through, Indiana slammed down the wooden slat, keeping it locked so that Nancy couldn't follow. Nancy banged on it from the other side once before choosing to instead shoot at it with the gun.

Indiana ignored the sudden flash of burning pain in her thigh as she and Sidney ran out of the way. One of the other stray bullets shot right through the thick rope holding up some of the stage equipment, splitting the material and giving Sidney an idea. She rushed to the ax hanging next to the fire extinguisher and ripped it from the wall.

While Sidney began chopping away at the ropes, Indiana moved to the control board for all the effects and sounds. Just hoping to disorient Nancy, she began flipping every switch.

Chaos ensued on the stage. Nancy could hardly keep both feet on the ground as she dodged falling lights and unsupported pillars that toppled over. All the while, blinding lights flashed and fog took over her vision, making it difficult to see each shaky step.

Sidney cut the last rope, and a long line of spotlights swung down, crashing through the set wall. The momentum caused a pile of fake boulders to topple off, all crushing Nancy.

As Indiana turned all the sounds and lights and effects back off, Sidney eyed the wooden door warily, just waiting for Nancy to make a sound. But the only thing she heard was Indiana wince as she put weight on her left leg, trying to take a step.

"Shit," Sidney cursed, seeing the growing red stain on Indy's jeans, just above her knee and to the side. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah," she said, gritting her teeth as she took another shaky step. "Let's kill her."

"No," she said, putting an arm around Indiana's waist so she could lean on her. Then she nodded to the path behind the stage that led to the emergency exit. "Let's run."

"I can't really run right now," Indiana muttered as they moved as quickly as they could for the door.

But they weren't even halfway there before Nancy jumped through the stage curtain and grabbed onto Sidney. Without her support, Indiana fell to the ground as the other two women struggled against each other. Nancy was wielding a knife rather than a gun, which Sidney managed to dodge each time she swung it at her. Then she punched Nancy in the face and ran out onto the stage once more, the older woman following behind.

Indiana scrambled to her feet just as Nancy pinned Sidney to the floor, holding the knife over her head. She put as much strength into her legs as she could as she jumped forward and tackled Nancy off of Sidney. They rolled across the stage, and Indy was the one to come out on top.

However, Nancy swung her arm, and the knife swiped at Indiana's cheek. As she turned away, Nancy then dug the knife into her thigh, right into the bullet wound. What was previously just a graze now made it feel like her leg was on fire, making it easy for the older woman to throw Indiana off of her.

In the seconds it took Indiana to recover and roll onto her back, Nancy got Sidney trapped once more, her knife far too close to her head for comfort. Unfortunately, Nancy's lost gun was a little too far, but the knife Mickey was using wasn't too far off. But before Indiana could get any ideas about trying to reach it, a loud gunshot sounded, startling them all.

All three of the survivors looked out at the seats and saw Cotton Weary with Mickey's discarded gun in his hand. And just a few steps behind him was Virginia, who was a second too late to get the weapon for herself.

"Don't you fuckin' move!" Cotton shouted, trying to assess the situation. And then, of course, Nancy moved. She got to her feet and pulled Sidney with her, keeping her knife to her neck so that she couldn't run.

"Goddamn it," Cotton shouted in frustration before jumping the large gap to the stage since Gale took the stairs with her.

"Cotton," Sidney said desperately.

"Virginia!" Indiana whined, seeing her sister there. She didn't know if she was worried or relieved to see her sister — she didn't want her getting hurt.

"Indy, I'm coming," she said, struggling a little more than Cotton did to jump on the stage.

"No, I don't think you are," Nancy said, sighing the knife further into Sidney's neck, making her wince. Virginia froze at the edge of the stage, not wanting Sidney to get killed in the process of trying to help Indiana.

"Okay, okay, okay," Cotton said uneasily, keeping his gun trained on Nancy. "Everybody slow down. I have had a very, very bad day, and I would like to know exactly what the fuck is going on here."

"Cotton," Virginia said, looking at her ex-neighbor with wide, surprised eyes. "Meet Billy Loomis' mother."

"She's the killer," Sidney added.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. He'd spoken to her countless times under the guise that she was a reporter. He and Nancy were moving in a predatory circle, and as he took another step, he hit Mickey's feet, drawing his attention. "Then who's that?"

"That's Mickey," Indiana whispered, her words hoarse in her throat.

"The other killer," Sidney informed him, not sounding nearly as sad as her friend did.

Cotton couldn't help but scoff in shock over the development. "Okay."

"Look, Cotton—"

"Shut up!" he cut Sidney off. Then he looked at Nancy with a wary smile. "So. Hi. You're not Debbie Salt, are you? You're not with the Post Telegraph."

As he moved, he stumbled over a pillar but regained his footing, keeping the gun fixed on Nancy.

"No, but I can still help you, Cotton," she said, taking an eager step forward.

"Ah-ah-ah!" he said sharply, stopping her in her place.

"You don't need her. Let me kill her," Nancy pleaded, a deranged look in her eyes. "As long as she and Indiana are alive, you're never going to be the lead story. That's what you really want, isn't it, Cotton?"

As Nancy's back was now to her due to their circling, Virginia began slowly moving toward Indiana. But the problem was that Indiana was crawling — or more like dragging herself — further from her sister and toward Mickey's knife. Nancy was clueless as she kept trying to sway Cotton, desperate now that she was so outnumbered.

"If you really wanna be in the spotlight, just let me kill her right now," she said. "And Indiana and Virginia. Then you're the only survivor. You're the star."

Cotton seemed to hesitate, so Nancy began shouting, trying to make him as angry as she was. "She sent you to prison for a year! Personally, I think it's rather poetic."

Slowly, Cotton's gun traveled an inch to the left, now aimed at Sidney's head rather than Nancy's. That made Virginia halt in her tracks, trying to find a way to keep him from truly swapping sides.

"No. No, Cotton, don't you listen to her," Sidney pleaded.

"Oh. Well, it's quite a predicament you're in, Sid," Cotton replied, actually managing to chuckle as if this was a funny situation.

"Cotton," Virginia said sharply, catching his attention. And all the while, no one paid any kind to Indiana, who wrapped her hand around the knife and slowly started to get her feet back underneath her. "Think this through."

"I am," he said, laughing. Cotton looked back at Sidney, glaring slighting, remembering how she treated him in the library. "I mean, she makes a good point. Let me think about this. Maybe you should too. Betcha that Diane Sawyer interview's looking real good right about now. Huh?"

Sidney stared Cotton down for several seconds, the tension building. Finally, she set her jaw before speaking up. "Consider it—"

Nancy Loomis cried out suddenly, the knife at Sidney's throat dropping to the ground. None of them noticed Indiana creep up behind them until she already had the knife in Nancy's back. Sidney was able to rip herself free and run over to Virginia as Indiana pulled out the knife and pushed Nancy to the ground.

It wasn't over though. No, she knelt over her, rolling her onto her back so that Nancy was looking up at her. Then she brought the knife down into her gut, twisting it and making her scream.

"I didn't cry over your son because he died underneath me like a pathetic, whining bitch who refused to take responsibility for his actions," Indiana spat, slowly dragging the knife upward inside of Nancy. Her scream died inside of her, unable to get the breath to do so as blood pooled out of her mouth and began to fill her lungs. "Kind of like you are now."

Indiana watched as the life left Nancy's eyes, making sure her face was the last thing she saw. She didn't move for a moment, just glaring at Nancy with the same hatred she felt when she learned Billy and Stu were behind the Woodsboro murders. It was all Nancy's fault — everything that'd happened in the last three years.

"Wow," Cotton breathed out, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. "That was intense." Then he looked at Sidney apologetically, getting quite nervous once again as she looked at the gun in his hand. "Hey, Sidney, look, I want you to know that I would never, ever do anything to hurt you."

"Cotton, give me the gun," Sidney ordered, standing in front of him and holding out her hand.

He paused for a moment, looking at the weapon before relaxing. "Yeah. Okay. Sure. Take it," he said while handing it off.

"C'mon," Virginia said, moving to Indiana's side. She put her arms around her shoulder and gently helped her stand, getting her off of Nancy's body and away from the growing pool of blood underneath her.

"Hey, Sid, Indiana, we should talk about exactly what happened here," Cotton spoke up again. "You know, I mean, get our stories straight for the press statement—"

A hand rose from the pit, startling all of them, especially Virginia and Cotton who didn't know about the additional person in the auditorium.

"Oh, shit!" Cotton cursed, leaning over and seeing Gale trying to climb out of the pit.

"Cotton," she groaned, holding a hand over her ribs. "Could somebody get me out of here?"

"Gale. Are you all right?" Sidney asked her.

"I've been shot. Of course not," she muttered. And at hearing she'd been shot, Virginia rushed to aid Cotton in pulling her up. "Help."

While Cotton began to pull her up, Sidney wandered to Nancy's dropped gun to retrieve it.

"Jesus, you scared the crap out of us," Cotton told her.

"Not anybody else down there, is there?" Virginia asked, leaning over the side.

"No."

"So much for reporting from the trenches, huh?" Cotton joked.

Both Virginia and Gale cut their eyes to him in annoyance before speaking in sync. "Shut up, Cotton."

"Let me get a look at it," Virginia said once Gale was on her feet. She lifted the fabric of Gale's shirt to peek at the gunshot wound which didn't look all that terrible.

"How bad is it?" Cotton asked, wincing at the sight.

"Just bounced off her ribs," Virginia informed them. "It'll still need stitches and an x-ray to make sure none of your bones splintered."

"Geez, Gale, you got more lives than a cat," Cotton told her, knowing how lucky she is.

"How'd you two get here together?" Gale then asked, glancing between the unlikely pair.

"I figured out Mickey was one of the killers and ran into Cotton in the film building while trying to figure out what happened with Indy," Virginia explained. The theater was just next door, so they could hear the commotion happening inside.

"How did you know?" Gale asked, tilting her head. Nancy was the one that attacked them in the film building.

Virginia glanced warily at Mickey's body, knowing she'd take that tape to her grave. "Don't worry about it."

Sidney returned to their sides with the new gun in hand, which Gale nodded to while Virginia poked and prodded her abdomen. "Give me one of those," she said, taking the weapon. "Is she dead?"

"They always come back."

The others nearly flinched as Indiana spoke up for the first time since killing Nancy. She wasn't beside them, though. No, she was in the same spot Virginia left her, staring at Mickey's body rather than Nancy like the rest of them.

"You're right," Sidney said, nodding. Then she raised her gun and shot Nancy in the forehead, making Cotton duck and cover his head as he startled.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed.

Sidney stared blankly at Nancy and shrugged. "Just in case."

"His turn," Gale said, nodding her head to Mickey's body.

"No!" Indiana said sharply, snapping her head around to glare at Gale. "Stay away from him."

All four of them eyed Indiana cautiously, taking in her vacant expression and hollow eyes, blood soaking through her jeans and dripping from her cheek, mixing with the tears.

"Cotton, take Sidney and Gale outside. Find some help," Virginia told him in a gentle but firm tone.

Gale went to protest, but Sidney nudged her in the side to both keep her quiet and make her move. The older woman hissed and rubbed her wound before begrudgingly leaving the theater with Cotton, all of them glancing back at the stage occasionally until they were completely gone.

Indiana moved carefully to Mickey's side, looking at his chest that was slowly moving as he took in shallow breaths — he was alive. She could hear Virginia walk up behind her but didn't turn.

"Is there anything you can do to save him?" Indiana whispered, not really sure what she wanted Virginia's answer to be.

"There's a chance," Virginia said, looking at the areas he was shot in. "If I start now, and an ambulance gets here fast. He could live. Have a trial, go to prison, always have a pane of bulletproof glass between you if you decide you want to see him again."

But Virginia didn't move. She didn't start applying pressure to stop the blood flow. She just looked at the side of her sister's face.

"Is that what you want, though?" she questioned quietly.

Indiana swallowed thickly, the backs of her eyes stinging as she fought off the urge to cry again. Her throat burned as she shook her head. Then she swallowed thickly.

"Can you go?" she asked in a small voice.

"Indy, you need your leg treat—"

"Just for a few minutes," Indiana pleaded, her voice cracking. "I know he doesn't deserve it, but please just let me be alone with him. Please."

After a moment, and against her better judgment, Virginia gave in. "I'll be close by."

As soon as she was gone, Indiana's knees gave out as she dropped beside Mickey. The tears flowed freely now that no one was there to see her cry over someone she knew she had no business crying over. When she leaned her forehead on his chest, she felt him shift underneath her and let out a pained groan.

"Open your eyes, you stupid, selfish, asshole," Indiana ordered angrily while leaning back up. She didn't sound very commanding though, given how her voice was shaking and she was sniffling. "You're not gonna die before I tell you how much I fucking hate you!"

She almost didn't hear him as he asked, "Do you?" Slowly, Mickey opened his eyes and looked up at her, having lost all of his energy. "Do you hate me?"

Indiana's bottom lip quivered as she leaned against a pillar. "No," she said, the single syllable choked and broken. "No, I hate that I can't just stop loving you after this. But I'll never forgive you."

Mickey nodded sadly and took in a shallow breath, glancing around the empty stage, figuring why she was the only one left. "The killer always comes back. That's why you're here."

Indiana shook her head and looked at his chest, seeing his wounds through the holes in his shirt. "You're not coming back from this," she whispered. The time for Virginia to save him had passed. "I'd just be speeding up the process."

"And are you?" he asked, sounding almost scared. Slowly, and without her assistance because he didn't deserve it, Mickey sat up, leaning weakly against the pillar beside her. "Gonna speed it up?"

She stared into his eyes, the ones she loved so much now nearly lifeless, the right one with a cut running across it. Eyes she dreamed about, dedicated poems to, eyes that she loved so much and would never see again.

A sick part, a dark part inside of Indiana — the part that had taken three lives and relished in it — knew that things would be different if she were the only one. If Sidney and Gale and Cotton didn't know the truth. Maybe Indiana would've begged Virginia to save Mickey's life, begged her to lie to the police and name Nancy as the only killer, talked him out of his stupid trial fantasy. Or she'd let him run and get away, never to be seen again.

But there were witnesses, and Sidney would never be safe if Mickey was alive.

"No," she told him quietly. She clenched her jaw and glared at him to the best of her ability through her tears. "You killed Cici, Hallie, Derek. Nancy was right — you don't deserve me crying over you."

"You never cry," he murmured, reaching up to brush the tears off her uninjured cheek.

And Indiana fucking hated herself for leaning into his touch. Then she turned away from him and clenched her eyes shut. "I hate you," she whispered, both knowing it was a weak lie. "I hate you so goddamn much, Altieri."

"And I love you, Sweetheart," Mickey told her.

"But I wasn't enough, was I?" she asked, looking back up at him harshly. "You were all I've ever wanted, you know? I meant what I said before we got in the car to leave. But you were already saying goodbye when you kissed me, weren't you?"

He let out a sound that might've been a breathy laugh if he wasn't slowly dying. "I should've kissed you more — longer. Should've spent more time holding you."

Then Mickey let out a violent cough, blood falling past his lips as he fell forward from the momentum. Despite knowing he didn't deserve it, Indiana reached for him and drew him closer, letting him lean against her chest weakly as she held him — it was more for her comfort than his, anyway.

Slowly, Mickey wound his arms around her waist, hugging her, knowing it would be the last time. She held the back of his head with her right hand, tangling her fingers in his hair, ignoring the feeling of the blood caking it.

Indiana stared ahead at the empty auditorium, not letting herself look at Mickey again. To keep herself from saying something to him that she'd regret, she began to softly hum, feeling, for just a moment, like all the mornings they woke up tangled in each other's limbs, and he'd ask her to sing something quietly to him.

The nonsensical notes soon morphed into a familiar song — he'd told her before that it was the first time he knew he was falling in love with her. Indiana knew she'd never be able to sing it again now.

"Dear little buttercup, won't you stay awhile," she sang, her words choppy and full of pain, her voice cracking every other word. "Come with me where moonbeams paint the sky. And you and I might linger in the sweet by and by."

Indiana knew the moment that he died, feeling how his grip on her slackened and his shallow, raspy breathing faded out. She let out a choked, pained cry, shutting her eyes as her head fell back against the pillar, silently asking the universe why it had to hurt so much — why this couldn't be as it was with Billy.

Because he didn't make her laugh and smile and feel every good emotion under the sun even a fraction as much as Mickey did. Because she didn't dream about a future with him.

Because Indiana never loved Billy.

She probably held him longer than he deserved before finally deciding it was enough. Indiana cupped his head and leaned him back against the pillar, looking at his face, not sure she even recognized him anymore.

"I don't regret it," she whispered so quietly that she almost couldn't hear it — it didn't matter, anyway. "I don't regret agreeing to that date."

Then Indiana swallowed back another sob and struggled to her feet, the pain in her thigh nothing in comparison to the gaping space missing in her heart.

"Virginia!" Indiana called. "Can you help me walk?"

Her sister was there in a second, proof that she hadn't gone far at all. If she could hear anything said between Indy and Mickey, she kept it to herself as she wrapped an arm around Indiana so she could lean on her.

But Indiana didn't walk at first. No, she all but collapsed in Virginia's arms, burying her head in her chest as she sobbed.

"I'm sorry," Indiana whispered, her words muffled. "I'm so sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Gremlin," Virginia told her, running her hand through Indy's tangled hair. 

"I love him."

Virginia gently coaxed Indiana out and looked up at the taller girl. "And there's not a damn thing wrong with that," she told her. "You loved the side of Mickey that you knew, and it was beautiful."

"I just want to go home," she cried, hugging her sister once more. "I don't ever want to come back here."

"Let's start with a hospital," Virginia said, kissing the side of Indiana's head. "But Woodsboro can be the next stop."