(The relationships are up to interpretation, especially Tana/L'Arachel Lyon/Eirika. Ephraim/Innes is harder to ignore, but at least during the story, they aren't together. (Unless you want them to be ;) ))

"This is a bad idea..." Ephraim says, nervously fidgeting in the backseat of L'Arachel's van.

"That's the fifth time you've said that!" Innes growls back at him.

"Well I'm sorry, but it is-"

"Calm down, guys...why're you two always fighting?" Eirika calls from the passenger's seat.

"We'll be fine..." Tana whispers from the very back, though it sounds quite like she's convincing herself of the fact.

Lyon sits silently in between Innes and Ephraim, an excited and slightly nervous smile on his face.

"WE'RE HERE!" L'Arachel practically screams in delight, pulling in front of one of the sketchiest houses that exists on the planet.

"OhholybajeezIdon'tknowifIcandothis!" Ephraim whines.

"Are you really that afraid of ghosts? Pathetic. No one else here is scared. Well, except my sister."

Innes shoots back as everyone exits the van. Tana's "Hey!" is only slightly heard though the clangs of metal and machinery coming from the trunk, where L'Arachel is already pulling out headlamps, flashlights, and various other random objects that no one has the heart to ask for details on.

Except for Lyon, who goes and assists the woman as soon as he clambers out of the car.

"Well, at least Lyon's excited..." Eirika sighs, watching the usually timid and quiet man become talkative and jittery with excitement.

"That would make one of us..." Tana says.

"See? It's not just me." Ephraim tells Innes.

"It's you and Tana, the resident person-who-is-terrified-by-everything."

"Well...um..." Ephraim's brow furrows as he thinks of a comeback, "I'm not scared!"

"You are."

"Am not!"

"You are."

"Am n-"

"Please shut up!" Tana yells, throwing them off guard, "you two are like five year olds!"

Both men open their mouths to respond, but they're interrupted by L'Arachel and Lyon, who've finally assembled all the gear.

Lyon goes around to each person handing them a flashlight and headlamp, as L'Arachel speaks.

"Alright team!"

"Can you not call us 'team'?" Ephraim interrupts.

"Squad-"

"No."

"Group?"

"Oh hell no."

"What do you want me to call you then?!"

Ephraim thinks for a moment.

"Call us the Scooby Gang."

"Um, what?" Eirika looks at her brother quizzically.

"The Scooby Gang. From Scooby Doo? I know you've watched Scooby Doo, Eirika."

"That's an awful name." Innes announces.

"You're just trying to get in another fight with Ephraim..." Tana groans.

"Um." Lyon says, and everyone stops whatever they're saying to listen, "I like that name."

Ephraim's face lights up.

"See? Lyon's got my back! I knew he would-we always watched Scooby Doo together as kids, it was his favorite show..."

"OK! As much as I hate to interrupt...whatever the hell this is...we should probably listen to L'Arachel and get inside the house before someone gets suspicious and calls the cops." Eirika points out.

Everyone shuts up, because she has a fair point; if six high-schoolers stand in front of an abandoned house, one (L'Arachel) carrying two gigantic hunks of metal in the middle of the night, someone's gonna assume they're terrorists.

"Ok, Scooby Gang!" L'Arachel begins again, "Today, we're going to enter a haunted house, to investigate the ghosts that live inside! Lyon has handed each of you two different light sources; one to put on your head, and one to hold in your hand. Use both sparingly...cause I forgot to bring extra batteries. I've got two night vision cameras here, I'm gonna take one and Lyon's gonna take one, and we're gonna spot some ghosts!"

The party reluctantly follows L'Arachel and Lyon into the house, past the creaky door with a huge scratch in the middle and half the hinges gone.

"What in seven hells made that scratch?" Ephraim ponders to himself.

"Your worst nightmare." Innes deadpans.

"Shut up. I was just wondering."

The house is completely devoid of light on the inside, with only the slightest beam escaping through a hastily boarded up window or a crack in the wall.

Everyone turns on their flashlights, but L'Arachel turns on them immediately.

"No! Bad Scooby Gang! Turn them off! You'll scare all the ghosts with this much light!"

Everything turns black once more.

"We're going to split up." She announces.

"What kind of dumbass idea is that?" Ephraim says, "That never goes well in Scooby Doo!"

"Yet they do it every episode, and they always catch the monster..." Lyon pipes in.

"So it must be a good strategy!" L'Arachel declares.

"I dunno..." Ephraim hesitates.

"You were the one who wanted to name us the Scooby Gang, Ephraim." Tana points out.

"Fair point..."

"Are you getting scared again?" Innes whispers to Ephraim.

"Let's split up." He immediately responds, glaring at the other man.

"Ok! We'll make 3 groups of two!" L'Ararachel announces, "How about...Eirika, go with Lyon...Tana, you come with me...and that leaves Ephraim and Innes."

Everyone nods their heads, until Ephraim and Innes process the statement fully.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Innes yelps.

"Are you trying to make all eight hells break lose?" Ephraim joins in.

"I thought there were seven." Eirika prods.

"That's not the point!" Both men say simultaneously.

"Well, think of this as a...team building exercise! You two are always fussing at each other, and driving all of the rest of us crazy. This is an opportunity to work on that!" Tana explains, diplomatically.

"But-" Ephraim whines, though he's immediately interrupted by L'Arachel.

"Well, now that we're in agreement, we're going to go our separate ways...keep a close eye out for ghosts...and if you get scared, come right back outside and get into the van until we all reconvene out there. Go!!!"

And the Scooby Doo Gang splits up.

"So, where are we going, Lyon?" Eirika asks, following a mop of purple hair through winding dark hallways, full of cobwebs and creaks.

"I want to find a spot to put up the camera."

"Oh. Ok. Um, you seem to have an interest in all this ghost stuff. Why's that?"

"I like it."

"Uh, yeah. I guess you do."

Eirika's always felt a little awkward around Lyon, for the man is the exact opposite of talkative, and Eirika always likes to have a conversation going while with another person. She knows silence can be a good thing, but she, for one, is not a fan of it.

Lyon finds a suitable place to set up his camera, and Eirika sits on the floor nearby, feeling the slightest bit useless, as she doesn't really have any way to help him.

One thing about having Lyon around is that, even while surrounded by darkness and (possibly) ghosts, she doesn't feel much fear. Rather, Lyon's excitement has transferred over to her, and the prospect of finding a ghost is...a bit exciting.

Tana asks a lot of questions. L'Arachel answers them in long, detailed phrases, only occasionally stopping the conversation to listen to stray "mysterious" noises.

"So when did you get into all of this?"

"My uncle used to search for ghosts with some friends! In fact, one of his friends travelled around the world, searching and investigating haunted houses for paranormal activity! It sounded like a positively amazing thing to me, and so I had my uncle give me his old stuff, then bought some of my own!"

"Wow. I can see you're pretty passionate about this."

"Yeah! Super passionate! It's kinda what I want to do with my life when I grow up! I wanna go venture around the world and see all the spooky places it has to offer!"

"How do you make money doing that?"

L'Arachel's face grows solemn for a moment.

"I've been thinking about that and...I dunno. It's a great dream to have, but it might stay a dream."

Silence falls between them, and the eeriness of the house registers once again in Tana's mind. Fear sets in, and she finds herself restarting the conversation.

"I'm sure you can find some way to make money," she confides in the other woman, "you could start a ghost hunting business or something! That would be cool, right?"

"Yeah." A small smile (re)appears on L'Arachel's face, then her usual full-faced grin returns. "That would be awesome!"

Glad that the ghost hunter has her pep back, Tana resumes asking about everything.

"So how are we going to use that camera, exactly?"

"Well, I'm going to station it somewhere. Sadly, I don't have any motion capture tech, so I'll set it up in a good filming spot, then later on, I'll go through the footage and see what I find! So, we need a hallway, or a stairwell, or something."

"Hm. A stairwell. Got it."

"I don't wanna hold your hand." Ephraim announces...again. They gave up on searching for ghosts a long time ago, so they're just sitting on the floor in a creaky hallway, where there is at least some light coming through the boarded up windows.

"You've said that only a few hundred times now."

"...can I hold your hand?"

"No. You're practically plastered onto my side already. Why're you so afraid of all this paranormal bullshit anyway?"

"I wanna hold your hand..."

"Fine. Hold my motherfu-"

"OHMAHGAWD!!!" Ephraim practically jumps into Innes' arms.

"What the hell's wrong?" Innes yells.

"There was a bump!"

"So?"

"So we're gonna diiiiiieeeeeeee!"

"How dysfunctional does your brain have to be in order to make logical fallacies such as that?"

"How smart does your brain have to be to use crazy words like those?"

"You just complemented me, dimwit."

"Do you think I care?"

"...it would make sense if you did, Ephraim. Usually when arguing, people tend to avoid complementing their opponent."

"You sound like a lawyer. So, what in nine hells are we supposed to even see in this creepy-ass house anyway?"

"How am I supposed to know? L'Arachel and Lyon were a little too excited to explain everything to us peasants. And what's wrong with lawyers?"

"Stop talking. Hold my hand."

"Fine, dammit."

The silence settles over them. The whooshing of wind and creaking of old boards is all that can be heard.

"Hey Innes?"

"What." He groans.

"I'm really freaked out, keep talking please."

"...fine. What about."

"Um, so, which Scooby-Doo character would we all be? Y'know, how would the 6 of us correspond to the ones on the tv show?"

"Hm...you're definitely Daphne." Innes tells him.

"...did you just call me Daphne?" Ephraim asks.

"Yep."

"Huh. Cool."

There's a pause.

"What?"

"Hey man, ain't nothin' wrong with Daphne."

"If you're wondering, you're Scrappy Doo, cause you're so freaking annoying."

"...I hate you."

"Love you too, babe!"

"Stop."

Ephraim's grip on his hand tightens. In a sliver of light, Innes can make out a soft smile on his lips.

"L'Arachel's definitely Fred, she's the leader of this operation...and Lyon's the brains, which would be Velma..." He ponders, thumb tracing Innes' palm absentmindedly.

"So I guess that leaves our sisters as Scooby and Shaggy."

"Tana's Shaggy, Eirika's Scooby."

"Huh. Alright. You...doing ok?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm good." He laughs a little. "Sorry I worried you. I'm just not a fan of all this creepy shit."

"No problem." Innes is tired. He really is. So it's ONLY because he's tired that he lets his head flop down on Ephraim's shoulder.

"Um, you ok, man?"

"Yeah. Just tired."

"W-well, don't fall asleep on me, ok? I really, really don't wanna be alone." Ephraim tries to keep his tone light, but it's easy to hear the fear in his voice.

"I won't. And if I do, wake me up."

"Uhm, that's not much reassurance, dude."

A hand worms it's way into Innes' hair, playing with the strands.

"Would you stop that?" He asks after the fingers start to pull at individual strands.

"Stop what?" Ephraim asks, and he sounds so genuine that Innes actually falls for it for a second.

"Nice try. Your hand's in my hair. It's getting annoying, so quit it."

"Seriously, what are you talking about? My hand isn't in your hair." The beginnings of fear make their way into Ephraim's tone.

"It is. I can feel it."

"...no. Seriously, I swear, that is not my hand."

Ephraim wiggles the hand that is still entwined with Innes', then he holds the other one in the air.

The hand in Innes' hair is still there. It isn't Ephraim's.

"Shit."

:0

Screams resonate through the house. Eirika reaches out until she touches Lyon's shoulder.

"Hey, so...do you know what that was?"

"Hm? No. Probably a ghost."

"How long do we have to stay in here?" She grabs his arm and latches onto his side. The excitement from before is gone, she's scared. Hearing screams made it all too real.

"Long enough."

"Um, I kind of want to go home..."

"Why? We'll be fine." Lyon frowns, seemingly just realizing that Eirika's a little unsettled.

"I'm just...a little tired, I guess."

"Oh. Well, I suppose we can take a rest. We've been walking for a while."

They sit down in some hallway.

A beam of moonlight shines through a crack in the window, yet besides that, darkness.

"Can we turn on a flashlight or something?"

"No. We need to watch for ghosts."

"I really don't wanna be in here anymore, Lyon. I'm exhausted, and this is getting kind of creepy."

From what she can see, Lyon looks disappointed at that.

"Well, I suppose I can walk you to the door."

"Um, ok? Thanks..."

Lyon quietly stands up, then helps her to her feet. He looks fairly dissatisfied with having to leave his ghost observations, even if it is only for a short time.

When they get to the door, Lyon turns around.

"Well, here you are. I should be going, it would be disappointing for me to miss something..."

Eirika looks back at him to nod, yet he's already gone.

Such a creepy kid...not that he's that bad...

She opens the door, sighing in relief at the fresh outdoor air and the peaceful sounds of nature.

And her reverie is immediately interrupted by two voices, ones she knows well from the amount of time she listens to them bicker.

"So, were you guys the source of the screaming?"

:S

Tana's about to alert L'Arachel that there's a vase inexplicably shaking across the hall from them when she hears a chorus of screams.

"Um. What was that?" She asks, a little nervous all of a sudden.

L'Arachel looks up from her intense examination of a crack in the wall, tilting an eyebrow as she listens carefully.

"Eh, nothing to worry about. Definitely not a ghost. Probably someone got spooked." A devilish grin appears on her face, "Maybe whatever it was'll come for us next!"

"Maybe...?" Tana stutters. Somehow, L'Arachel's confidence is contagious, so she joins back in the ghost hunting.

:D

Lyon emerges from the house at around 2 in the morning, carrying his large camera and a pleased expression on his face. He notices the huddle made of the twins and Innes moments later.

"I assume the others have yet to emerge?" He asks, tilting his head.

Eirika shakes her head and gives a weak smile. Ephraim and Innes seem unable to function because of whatever trauma they experienced inside the house.

Lyon sits down with them, waiting for Tana and L'Arachel to exit the house.

It's almost 5 when the two women finally arrive on the front porch.

"Thank Jesus..." Ephraim mumbles, exhaustion long having overtaken his fear.

"We've been waiting for hours..." Innes groans, in the same state as the other.

Tana and L'Arachel look at each other, mystified with the attitudes of the group.

Eirika lets out a large yawn.

"Well, hope you guys saw something worthwhile...we really need to get home ASAP..."

All the half-asleep teenagers pile into the van, and within a few minutes, Innes and Ephraim are in a dead-asleep pile in the far back, Eirika is dozing off on Lyon's shoulder as he begins to sift through the camera footage. In the front, a still very animated L'Arachel and Tana discuss their adventures.

"All in all, the Scooby Doo Gang's first mission is a success!" L'Arachel proclaims.

(If some of the gang's members were awake, they might have some protests to make against that claim, but Lyon and Tana agree with her, so does it really matter?)

(Wrote this over the course of a year, so please let me know if there's any inoconsistancies.)