Hi, I just discovered this section and decided to post this. I hope you like it. I'm not sure if it's going to be a two-shot or not, it depends. Enjoy reading.

I don't own this cartoon, the characters in it or anything else-only the plot.

Changing directions

"Daphne, we decided to split up." Said Fred. Daphne Blake stared at the phone blankly, as if she didn't understand a thing.

"You mean…" she started

"Yes. Mystery Inc. is now officially dissolved." Daphne wanted to say something, but all she could do was to reflect on how distant and official Fred's voice was. "You can pick your things up from the office tomorrow or I'll send them to you." That phrase woke her up and she mumbled.

"No, I'll pick them up right now. You can leave the keys at the door-keeper's. I won't be long."

There was silence and then he answered.

"Very well." He paused, as if he couldn't find the right words "I…"

"Goodbye, Fred." Daphne hung up. She put down the phone carefully, reflecting on that message he gave her. Then she went to the office to pick her things up. She put on her coat and shoes, and took an umbrella, since it was raining. No use catching a cold. No use praying for miracles either.

She was slightly surprised to see the office still open, the doors unlocked. For a nano-second she thought she was dreaming. She thought that maybe things were different. She thought that this whole year had been nothing but a nightmare. The thoughts faded away as she saw Fred, putting Velma's things in a box. Her desk was already wiped clean. Shaggy and Scooby would probably come in the morning. What, was he too disgusted to try and clean their corner of the room? Daphne frowned as she realized what she was thinking. She was acting like and angry child.

"You're here." She said "I thought you were gone."

"I don't trust the people here." He answered. His face was pale and tired. "And I wanted to…"

"I see." Daphne walked up to her desk and checked the box. She suppressed her smile-he had forgotten indeed.

"I decided to spare you the trouble of cleaning." Fred explained himself, as Daphne ran through the drawers. "It's everything."

"Indeed, it is." Daphne laughed out as she walked up to him. She held her belongings in one hand, and in the other she had something. As she passed Fred, she reached out and put a cotton napkin in his hand. "Just enough to fit in one box, huh?"

Daphne Blake walked the streets of the city, her head down. In her hands, there was a box filled with notebooks and pens and little thank you cards she got from people whom Mystery Inc. had helped in the past. Still, those were just objects. Real life didn't fit in a box.

A daddy, a mommy, a brother, a sister and a dog. Perfect family. A leader, a genius, a good luck charm, a bad omen and luck. The perfect harmony. So what happened?

Nothing, decided Daphne as her feet were taking her away from the building. She stopped and looked up last time-Fred was at the window, looking down at her. He seemed upset for some reason, even sorry. He was trying to make out her face, to see her eyes. He wanted to talk to her, to ask her, seeing that he had just understood. Daphne returned his stare and a sad smile crept across her lips. Then she turned her back on him.

Like and angry child indeed. She thought and acted like one. But then again, the rest of the gang had become like an unhappy family. Fred and Velma acted like the parents and fought like ones, and Shaggy and Daphne, like the kids, could only look on and suffer. How pathetic-the once powerful Mystery Inc. was now looking like a bunch of actors from a cheap soap opera. Every day they spent together seemed like an episode of a cheesy drama. Fred and Velma spat insults at each other for reason and for no reason, their fights made Scooby hide under the table and even got Shaggy out of his skin. In time, they completely forgot themselves…and Daphne.

The decision to dissolve Mystery Inc. was theirs and only theirs. They didn't even ask for her opinion. They had excluded her, and why not? She was the bad omen. Their bad luck. Danger prone Daphne who always got caught by the villains. Clumsy Daphne who caught herself in the most childish traps. Daphne who ruined everything. Why should she have a say? She was probably the reason for their quarrels.

"I should be the one gone. I should have left and they wouldn't fight." Daphne thought and sighed. Suddenly she looked up and saw the ice rink in front of her. Lately she had begun spending as much time as she could there instead with her friends. She even had her own locker. It wasn't too late, so she went in the dressing room and changed.

As she was putting her skates on she looked around the rink and smiled-there was nobody there. The old guardsman who was looking after the place kept it open until very late. A few months back Daphne would've felt afraid to stay inside until late. But not now. Now she knew she could gladly stay until morning with nobody to bother her.

She skated on the ice, waving to the guard. He smiled at her and put some quiet classical music on before going out and leaving her on her own. Daphne was grateful to him-for many months now he was her only friend.

Daphne stopped in the middle of the rink and bowed to the invisible crowd in front of her. Then she started skating, gracefully and slowly, listening to the music carefully. She needed to start off slowly so she could pick up the rhythm. She spun, then threw a triple Lutz. Not bad, maybe that was something she could do for a living.

Oh, she shouldn't have thought about that. Now it got worse. She stopped and took a deep breath. Soon, the cold air drained all the blood from her face and she was calm enough to continue. But now she was doing everything mechanically, without any emotion. Her thoughts went back to their empty office-so this was it, huh? Their history was wrapped up in boxes, and would probably rot away in some attic. Thus there would be nothing left of them.

It was sad indeed. All these years working together, all those times they had to pull through their problems, were for nothing.

Daphne felt separated. At one hand, she felt really sorry because she thought it was her fault. If she just made some effort to become a better detective, if she took courses in self defence or tried harder not to fall into various traps….maybe Velma and Fred would have taken less pressure on themselves.

On the other hand, she felt really angry. Angry with a capital "A". When the troubles started all they did was argue. Taking it on each other, saying things they didn't mean. They thought they were the only ones who had problems. They fought and spat insults at each other, but they had their faults as well. Fred, being all patronizing, looking after the helpless women and the image of the group-a pretty boy that flirted with almost every beautiful girl in sight. And Velma…complaining about the little attention she got but always hiding in the shadows.

Daphne stopped, realizing what idiotic things she was saying. She looked around, the ice was furrowed because of her scates. Her image in it was cut into thousands of pieces, and all of them were crying. She fell on her knees and covered her face with her hands. She was acting like a child! Even Scooby was more mature than her! She blamed the others, but she was the one to blame!

She looked down and saw a thousand images of crying girls. A child of 5, crying for her mother. A girl of 12, crying for her father. A teenager of 18 crying because of her date. A woman of 20 crying because there was no difference in any of those images. She was the same, hurt child.

Suddenly, she felt something warm press against her hand. She looked up and saw Scooby Doo, their Great Dane standing on the ice next to her. A few meters away Shaggy was trying to maintain balance on a pair of skates and was waving at her. The next moment he slipped and fell.

"Shaggy!" Daphne exclaimed and got up, with Scooby in toe "Shaggy, you're making things worse. Careful!" she helped him sit down without getting himself hurt and knelt next to him "What are you two doing here?"

"Fred called." Said Shaggy "He told us you seemed upset tonight and asked me to call Velma and see if you were with her."

"Oh…" Daphne began feeling bad again "What did you tell him?"

"That you were with me and Velma in the Malt Shop and that you had gone into the bathroom. Since he and Velma don't talk anymore he hung up without waiting."

Daphne looked at him. Her surprise was beyond limitations. That was something really new. Shaggy never lied-it was maybe some sort of a side effect of his friendship with Scooby. They both shared a naïve, childish look at the world. They were open and sincere. It was…really unusual, even scary to hear that from him. Seeing the look on her face Shaggy explained.

"If I told him the truth he'd get worried and so would Velma. Besides….when you really want to hide, you can't be found."

"But…"

"You've been spending a lot of time here."

Daphne smiled. Shaggy and Scooby knew her too well.

"It's eating me up." Daphne said "They…they've decided it…and they're destroying it." Shaggy's eyebrow twitched, but he figured it out soon. It wasn't so hard to understand who "they" was.

"Like, I can't tell you, Daph. I feel sorry too. But…like…life goes on."

"But Mystery Inc wasn't just some hobby or a teenager's caprice. It had a life of it's own. And now I feel like we've killed it."

"True…." Shaggy said "But like…what can we do about it?"

In that very second his cell phone rang and he picked it up.

"It was Fred." He said "Velma has been hospitalized."

Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby dashed in the hospital. Daphne still wore the sweat suit, with nothing more to protect her from the cold than Shaggy's jacket. She didn't change, she just slipped into a pair of trainers as they were dashing off to see how Velma was.

Fred was there.

"Respiratory failure. Her asthma returned." He said in an answer to their questions.

"Will she be OK?" Shaggy asked

"She ought to. But wasn't she with you guys? They called me because I was still on her emergency calls list. Jeez, she should've removed it ages ago." Fred didn't look so well-his hair was messy and there were dark circles under his eyes. Right now his voice was loud from worry and frustration, but Daphne quickly picked up another thing.

"What's the matter, Fred?" Daphne asked "Worried they might interrupt something important? Maybe if she gets hit by a car and dies you'll be burdened with the funeral?"

"Daphne?" Fred looked at the danger-prone girl in surprise. He had NEVER heard her talk like that. "Are you OK?"

"No, I'm not!" Daphne said "I'm sick, really sick, Fred. Sick of all this crap. A member of your team's in danger and you don't even care. You're bound to us because of obligation and you are sick of it. Look at you. Look at both of you and Velma. You fight, you argue, you hate. Look at the things you're saying-you always thought it was a falure, you always hated each other. It's pathetic, Fred. Mystery Inc will never be the same, but let me tell you-you are making the biggest mistake of all."

She turned on her heel, walked to the room Velma was staying and stood in front of the steel window. Her friend lay there, unconscious. She was doing bad-she didn't move and a machine had to breathe for her. Daphne touched the window and whispered.

"Goodbye, Velma. I'm sorry I couldn't say it properly. And I'm sorry it all had to end like that."

Then she walked out of the hospital, nodding to Shaggy and Scooby who motioned her to get going-at least somebody understood her. As Daphne walked out of the hospital, the sun rose in a veil of mist, painting the sky into a royal yellow. The beautiful woman looked up and around her, taking a deep breath. The fresh air filled her lungs and made her feel revived. Wind blew her hair away from her sweaty face. It was time to change directions.

A/N-so, how did you like it? Personally, I'll do better with the next chapter. See you soon.