I'm really, really happy that you folks are enjoying the fic so far. I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has commented, followed, and favorited this fic!

I hope you enjoy this next chapter just as much!


After spending however many hours in that rec room, having his worldview effectively smashed into pieces, Shaggy crawled back into bed just before dawn. Laying on his side, with his back to Fred, he stared at the windowless wall in front of him as his mind still drowned in his newfound knowledge. He felt even more exhausted than he had before; and yet, sleep continued to cruelly elude him.

After the Scooby Doo block had ended, Shaggy wound up watching the cartoons that had followed it. It was a surreal experience, both oddly comforting and heartbreaking at the same time. Because one way or another, he was familiar with all of characters that graced the screen in front of him.

Back home, Shaggy and his friends were really close with a lot of the kids from Riverdale. Although, it was a surprise to him to learn that Sabrina was secretly a witch. The Pussycats were mostly known for their groovy music, but Mystery Inc had worked a case or two with the band before, which Shaggy had fond memories of. In the past few years, they had also teamed up with the Blue Falcon and the Dynamic Duo, who were famous heroes back in his world.

They had encountered Yogi Bear once during a visit to Jellystone National Park. After a particularly tough case during one summer vacation, Daphne had suggested that they stop there to relax for a couple of days on their way home. While the rest of the gang had been pretty amused by the bear's antics, after deducing he was the one stealing food from the other camp sites, neither Shaggy nor Scooby were thrilled with his repeated attempts to snatch up their own picnic baskets.

They had never actually met Jabberjaw, but his team was well known in the mystery-solving circles back home. While explorers like the Quests and the Ventures were widely-known celebrities for their treasure hunting adventures all over the world. Everyone else, like Top Cat or Penelope Pitstop, were fictional characters on popular shows.

"Like us, apparently…" Shaggy thought as he pulled the covers completely over his head. Even now, despite knowing for sure that it was true, it was still hard to fully accept. How could he be just some cartoon character, when he had an awareness of his life beyond the weekly adventures he saw repeated before his very eyes on that television screen?

He remembered meeting Velma, Daphne, and Fred. He remembered when he first got Scooby. He remembered his childhood.

…Didn't he?

Gripping the sides of his head and squeezing his eyes shut, Shaggy strained to summon up those particular memories. It was fuzzy now, almost like static from a poor antenna signal. Why couldn't he remember anything clearly beyond the mysteries he solved with his friends?

Scooby, sensing the teen's distress, whined a little from his spot at the base of the bed before he climbed off and trotted to Shaggy's side. The dog plopped himself down in front of Shaggy's head, and pawed lightly at the blankets that obscured his view of his face. Whimpering with confusion as well as concern as he did so.

Next to him, Shaggy felt Fred begin to stir.

"…hrm…Scooby? What's the matter, boy?" He sat up and gently shook Shaggy's shoulder. "Hey, Shag. Are you awake too?"

Choosing to ignore the inquiry, Shaggy remained perfectly still and tried to even out his breathing. Hoping that he could pass as still being asleep, and Fred would just leave him alone.

Scooby whined again. The dog's aura of concern was hard to ignore.

"He's out like a light," he heard Fred whisper to the dog as the other boy quietly threw back his covers and cautiously got out of the bed. There was a faint click as the lamp on that side of the room was turned on. "Let's leave him alone, Scooby. Shaggy probably didn't get much sleep last night." There was a shuffle of cloth as the teen quietly gathered up one of the towels they had been provided with and a set of fresh clothes. "It's a little bit past seven...I'm going to get washed up and see if the others are in the kitchen already. Do you want to come with me, or hang back with Shaggy until he wakes up?"

Scooby's worry didn't falter, and his whimper in response made it clear he didn't want to leave the room.

Shaggy smiled a little, even though he wanted to be alone.

"Okay then, I'll see you two in a little while!"

The brighter light from the hallway flooded the room for moment as Fred passed through the doorway. Then, as the door shut softly behind him, there was nothing but silence. Well, that and the cloud of worry emanating off of the dog.

Sighing, knowing he wasn't fooling Scooby one bit, Shaggy threw back the covers and sat up. Locking eyes with his best friend, and hoping they didn't reveal his inner turmoil to the dog. "I'm fine, Scoob."

Scooby huffed at that, clearly not buying it. His face wasn't as humanly expressive here as it was back in their world, but the dog still managed to give him a studious look.

"Like, seriously, Scoob. I'm just a little tired, that's all!" Shaggy's trademark nervous laugh bubbled out of him with ease as he reached out and ruffled the dog's head affectionately. "I just kept having nightmares like you were, that's all. I just need to, like, catch a few more Zs!"

Scooby tilted his head, and for a moment Shaggy worried that the dog saw right through his little white lie. That worry evaporated a second later when Scooby licked his face, encouraging a more genuine laugh from the distraught teenager.

Then, with a small woof and a happier aura replacing the worried one, Scooby trotted over to the door. Pawing at the knob a few times, until he finally succeeded in getting the door open. With one last look at Shaggy, Scooby squeezed through the gap and ventured out into the hallway with his nose to the ground to follow Fred's scent.

Shaggy got up and closed the door behind the dog. Lingering there for a moment, with his palm pressed up against the wood, he felt that happy and carefree feeling fade away. His own emotions flooded back in, and he felt tears begin to brim his eyes.

No matter how hard he struggled to, he still couldn't remember how he met Scooby or the others anymore.

First, he lost his connection to Scooby Doo. Then, he stumbled across the disturbing reality that he wasn't really a flesh and blood person. Now, this? Bit by bit, Shaggy felt like he was slowly being erased.

"The gang can't find out about this." Shaggy decided as a strong wave of protectiveness for his friends suddenly swept over him. He heard their carefree laughter from just a few hours ago, after their celebration, echo in his mind, and saw their smiling faces collectively staring back at him. He didn't want their understanding of the world to become tainted the way his had been. He wanted to protect their innocence.

"I won't let them die here too…"


It was uncomfortable, being in the same room with Daphne.

"She's practically jailbait, Sammy!" Dean whispered to his brother with a hint of revulsion in his voice as he flipped the pancakes he was making for everyone. Stealing a glance over his shoulder at the girl in question as she chatted away with Velma at the table, he shuddered as he remembered his relentless pursuit of her back in the cartoon universe. "Man, I feel sick just thinking about it. She's a freaking child!"

"Not much older than Claire from the looks of it." Sam replied with a judgmental grunt as he turned the sausage links over before adding the diced peppers and onions to the eggs. "Seriously, Dean, how did you not know they were just college students if you were such a big fan of their show?!"

Behind them, Castiel served the girls fresh mugs of coffee. Daphne's flirty giggle made the older hunter audibly cringe, and he shot his brother an annoyed glare. "For the record, I don't remember that ever being stated for sure on the show. Besides, in my defense she looked way more mature in her animated form!"

"The bag guys always refer to them as meddling kids, Dean."

"Well…they totally weren't kids in Zombie Island, or any of the movies that came after it! Or the live action movies! They were closer to our age in all of those!"

Sam scoffed as a smug little smirk flickered to his face. "Yeah, sure, but haven't they been reinvented as high schoolers in the last few shows and TV movies?"

Dean almost argued back, but then developed a smirk of his own to match his brother's. "For someone who likes to make fun of my love for the Scooby gang, you seem to know an awful lot about the franchise's history."

It was Sam's turn to feel defensive. "Shut up…I just got a little curious…"

"You've always loved them too, admit it!"

"Whatever, Dean."

"Hey gang," Fred's voice cried cheerfully from the kitchen door as he strode into the room with Scooby not far behind him. "How did everyone sleep last night?"

Daphne perked up at the sight of him, and pat at the empty spot beside her to encourage him to sit down. "I slept pretty well, considering how crazy last night was." She remarked with a smile. When he passed by her to accept a steaming mug from Castiel, only to take the seat beside Velma instead, she couldn't help but pout a little. "So, uh, how about you two?"

Velma shrugged, "I could have slept better. I mean, it's not like I didn't get any sleep at all, but I did wind up staying up pretty late thinking about everything." She gestured at Castiel as he bent down to study Scooby. Watching as he pressed two fingers against the dog's head again in another attempt to restore his speech. She sulked a little when she saw the disappointed looks on both of their faces. "…I mean, it's a lot to take in. Finding out that ghosts, and monsters, and…well, angels are all real!"

"Yeah, the angel thing was a bit of a shock to take in for me too when I first met him." Dean remarked, sharing a look with his old friend. He misread Castiel's dejected look, wondered what was up, shrugged when he couldn't figure it out, and then shifted his gaze over to his brother with a knowing smirk. "Sammy and I are experienced hunters, and even we get blindsided with surprises from time to time."

"Yeah," Sam agreed with a chuckle. "More times than I like to admit, to be honest."

The three teenagers and their dog all seemed to relax a little with that little confession. It was reassuring, knowing that even these guys didn't know everything all the time.

"So, you never actually told us what the plan was." Daphne piped up as she added more creamer to her coffee. "How are you going to get us back home?"

Dean and Sam shared a different look. Sam made a face as he realized what his brother had in mind. "Dude, come on! Really? Rowena?"

"Yeah, well, it's not like we've got our pal Gabe around to do it for us."

"But I thought that maybe…" Sam's eyes shifted over to Cas hopefully.

Castiel seemed to flinch under everyone's curious gaze. "If I could do it, I would do so in an instant. Believe me!…but, I can barely muster up the strength to teleport to the other side of the world, and even that takes a tremendous amount of time to build up. I can't transport people through the veil between worlds like that ghost did to all of us."

"He can't even fix Scooby…" Dean mumbled under his breath, earning an annoyed glare from his brother and an unreadable one from his friend. Embarrassed, realizing what a dick move it was for him to even bring that up again, he flashed an apologetic smile at the angel. Hoping Cas realized that he didn't mean to hurt his feelings. "Sorry, man, I know it hasn't been easy for you since the Fall. Sammy and I genuinely appreciate what you've done, and continue to do for us. I swear!"

"It's okay, Dean." It didn't sound like it was. "It…frustrates me just as much that I can't do anything else to help."

"Hey, it's okay!" Daphne reassured Castiel as she gestured at herself and her friends. "We appreciate that you tried to help Scooby, and that you're sticking around to help us anyway…I mean, we're just a bunch of lost kids, and you're spending time here when you've probably got way more important things to do."

Castiel smiled gratefully at her, then shook his head to dismiss her view on the misplaced group's worth in the grand scheme of things. "Getting the five of you home safely is just as important to me as it is to Sam and Dean."

With a blush blossoming on her face, Daphne smiled and looked away.

"So," Velma cut in, steering them back on topic. "Is this Rowena you mentioned another angel like Castiel?"

The three men exchanged a look, and then both Winchesters started laughing hard.

Baffled, Velma leaned over to Fred. "I, uh, take that as a no?"