Vincent glared back at the amalgamation in silent fury. He had successfully gotten the others home and safely behind the protective barrier, and yet, their enemy was determined to ensure he would never know peace.

…Perhaps that was simply yet another curse to bear for being so powerful. But he would bear it.

He ignored the protests and pleas from the others as he stepped out from behind the barrier, much to the amusement of the shadow witch and to the bewilderment of Bogel and Weerd.

"I will face my fate, but I will not surrender to it so easily," he declared. "This place is my home, and I will defend it—just as I defend the ones under my care!"

The other warlock's eye glared at the gang for a moment before turning his attention back to Vincent.

"You endeavor to protect that which is worthless," he declared. "You could have, long ago, made yourself a god among these mortals. You could have chosen to rule multiple realms. And you cast it all aside—for what?"

"You could never hope to understand," Vincent replied. He suddenly aimed his right hand at the snow-and-skeleton creature. "Fira!"

The ice blade that had been pointed at him now melted away as Vincent lobbed a fireball at it, leading to a growl of frustration from the other warlock.

The shadow witch took that as her cue.

"DarkFira!"

She sent another handful of dark fire at Vincent.

"Rhook out!" Scooby yelped.

"Reflect!"

The dark fireball deflected—right into the snow-and-skeleton creature, melting the other ice sword.

"Veran, you fool!" the enemy warlock hissed.

The shadow witch looked slightly embarrassed.

"Hey, usually that's the kinda blunder we make," Bogel commented.

"Not now, Dummy!" Weerd hissed, dragging him into a snowbank.

The enemy warlock ignored them, realizing that he was limited with what he could do now.

"In his domain, he does, indeed, have the advantage. Heed me, Veran; use the gate and return to me—and bring me his emerald!" he ordered. "Let's see if he can keep singing his same tune once I've infected his emerald with my malice—if I cannot destroy him, then I will make him my servant!"

"NO!" Daphne shrieked.

"Diaga!" Vincent snapped, sending another flash of light magic at the shadow witch.

This one made contact, knocking the shadow witch off of her feet for a moment, but she was soon back up again, leering at Vincent as she held his emerald pendant in her hand, raising it to her lips to give it a taunting kiss.

"We can't let them do that to Mr. V!" Shaggy fretted. "Try and stall 'em—I've got an idea!"

As Shaggy ran back inside, Vincent aimed another Diaga spell, but the amalgamation took the hit again, roaring at Vincent. As he now tried to send more fireball spells at the beast, the shadow witch now collected her torch with the blue flame, opening the first gate again by setting it alight.

Stalling wasn't going to be an option, Daphne realized, as Vincent's attempts to get his emerald back ended with the amalgamation blocking his way, until, finally, it seized him with its skeletal hands, pinning his arms at his sides—leaving him unable to cast any spells.

Even as Daphne ran out from behind the barrier, the others did, as well; Scooby once again sunk his teeth into one of the arm bones of the creature, and Scrappy chewed on the other, while Flim-Flam followed Daphne, who was heading for the shadow witch.

As the amalgamation shrieked, trying to shake the two dogs off of its arms while still trying to hold Vincent, Daphne, out of desperation as the shadow witch approached the open gate, launched into a flying tackle, knocking the sorceress off of her feet—and away from the open gate.

Taken by surprise, the witch was too stunned to retaliate; and Daphne now grabbed the emerald pendant from her.

"Flim-Flam!" she called, tossing it to him.

"I got it!" the boy exclaimed, cleanly catching it in one hand.

"NO!" the enemy warlock roared, just before his eye vanished from the crystal ball.

"You!" the shadow witch hissed at Daphne, grasping her by the wrist as she tried to get away. "You miserable little…!"

For a moment, Daphne thought the witch had been at a loss for words as she trailed off, but her voice now erupted into a furious screech as, in front of Daphne's eyes, she transformed into a gigantic spider. The hand that had been holding Daphne's wrist now turned into one of eight arms, which lashed out, sending Daphne flying; she hit the ground hard, but was soon back on her feet.

"Whoa…!" Flim-Flam yelped. He'd been running back towards Vincent and the dogs, but now he froze, not sure if Daphne needed help more than Vincent, who was desperately trying to free himself from the beast's grip.

"Forget about me!" Daphne instructed, as she ran from the giant spider. "Help Vincent! Go!"

Flim-Flam hesitated a moment, but nodded, running over and helping Scrappy with his arm that he'd been trying to pull back. With a determined growl, Scooby pushed off against the beast with all four paws, moving the creature's arm just enough to loosen its grip, allowing Vincent to get one of his arms free…

"Temporal Chains!"

Even as the beast froze in place, Vincent had teleported out of its grasp, reappearing between Daphne and the shadow witch's giant spider form, and reached his right hand towards the sky.

"Thundara!"

The giant spider emitted a pained shriek as the lightning bolt struck her; Shaggy, who was now running out of the castle again—with the Chest of Demons in his hands—did a double-take as he saw the wayward arachnid.

"Zoinks! Well, there's plenty of room in the Chest for both of 'em, I guess…!"

Vincent used his left hand to release the Temporal Chains on the snow-and-skeleton beast as Shaggy opened the Chest, drawing the amalgamation into it.

Shaggy then turned to face the shadow witch's spider form, causing her to shriek in alarm now; in spite of the damage she'd sustained from Vincent's Thundara spell, she forced herself to retreat, desperate not to let herself get captured. Realizing that he had her on the run, Shaggy actually attempted to pursue her.

"Temporal Chains!" Vincent called, hoping to get her to stay in one place long enough for Shaggy to get close.

But the shadow witch had anticipated this; at the last moment, she changed from her spider form to that of the shadowy mass that she had first appeared as, slithering in between the chains and across the ground, into the open gate—her arm briefly emerged from the shadowy mass to grab the blue-flamed torch as she went through the gate, which, without the fire to fuel it, once again closed behind her.

Dizzy again from having spent additional mana, Vincent had to take a moment to steady himself as Shaggy sighed in disappointment.

"Like, I almost had her… Oh! Mr. V, are you alright!?"

"I'll… I'll be fine," he promised, as the others all gathered around him. "That was some very quick thinking—from all of you. Thank you."

…A simple "thank you" seemed so inadequate, really—not after they had endured so much along the way, including saving his life… and then saving him from what could have been, perhaps, an even worse fate—for as bad as death was, Vincent had found the idea of getting corrupted and joining this other warlock as simply unthinkable.

"…So, does that mean you're not mad that we stepped outside of the protective barrier?" Scrappy asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, I'm furious—but after having used up as much mana as I have, this is about as furious as I can get."

Scooby let out a nervous chuckle; it was one of those moments when they never could tell if Vincent was being serious or not.

"Well, uh…" Flim-Flam said, also suppressing a nervous laugh. "If it'll help, here's this back."

He held up the emerald pendant that Daphne had taken from the shadow witch. Vincent took it, managing a sigh of relief. He was free from that other warlock's intrusion into his mind now, thank goodness—to say nothing of being free from the crystal being hijacked or his teleportation being interfered with.

"That's that over and done with. Except, there's just one last thing…" He turned around, glancing at the nearby snowbank. "Shaggy, get the Chest ready."

Shaggy took a step forward, prompting Bogel and Weerd to pop out of the snowbank in a panic.

"Wait, wait!" Weerd protested. "We had nothin' to do with this!"

"It was all them!" Bogel agreed. "We were just gonna pick up the Chest after the barrier went down, is all!"

"Bogel…" Weerd fumed. He turned back to face Vincent and the others. "Look, we're going—we're gone!"

He vanished, prompting Bogel to yelp and follow suit.

"…And that will, hopefully, be the last we hear from them for a while," Vincent said, now allowing his dizziness to show now that all threats had been taken care of.

Will you be alright?" Daphne asked, concern evident in her voice. "I can contact Mr. Voudini and ask him to brew up another mana potion, like last time…"

"There's no need to bother Voudini about this; I just need to rest—and now, I can finally afford to rest," Vincent assured her. "We all can—the five of you look ready to drop right here and now, as well."

Once again, he found himself ushering his patchwork family along, in spite of his vertigo; it wasn't as bad as last time, thankfully. And, at last, they crossed the threshold and returned to the welcoming halls once more.

Everything was as they'd left it; the lights were on up in the study and in Daphne's room. It was warm. It was comfortable. It was safe.

It was home.

Epilogue

Daphne had only managed to get a little bit of sleep before her right arm woke her up. She'd landed right on it when the shadow witch had sent her flying after her transformation into the giant spider. Turning on the light, she frowned to see her elbow had swollen up, the area looking dark purple—and it hurt like the dickens.

Wincing, she pulled her robe over her nightgown and headed into the corridor of the turret. It was still very quiet—everyone must've still been asleep. Even as she crept down the stairwell, she paused to see if Vincent was awake in his study.

The study was empty.

He must've been more drained than he wanted to let on, she realized.

And now, a fresh wave of guilt washed over her as she continued her trek down to the castle's kitchen, poking around until she found what she was looking for—a hot water bottle. She filled it up with hot water from the sink, sat down at the kitchen table, rolled up her robe's sleeve, and rested her hurt elbow on the hot water bottle.

Alone with her thoughts, the guilt that surrounded her now crept in further into her mind. With no threats to focus on, all she could think of now was what had happened on their journey through that land—how Vincent had been ready to sacrifice himself to save them, more than once… and how he nearly had back in that village—that horrible, forsaken village…

He was dying, she reminded herself. He was dying right in front of our eyes when Shaggy and I found him. And it would've been my fault. The only reason Vincent was there at all in that place was because he went through the gate to find me. …Well, that's a new low for Old Danger-Prone Daphne—I nearly got the world's most powerful warlock killed!

She blinked back a few tears, but suddenly froze as she heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. She stood up, hastily pulling the sleeve of her robe back over her arm as the lights went on, revealing Shaggy and Scooby.

They clearly hadn't expected to see anyone there; they both yelped in alarm before realizing it was just her.

"What are you doing here in the dark!?" Shaggy exclaimed.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here!? What are you two doing here!?" she returned.

"Rhe're hungry!" Scooby said, stating the obvious.

"Scoob woke me up because of his hunger pangs," Shaggy said, grabbing a bag of trail mix from one of the larder shelves and pouring it into a serving bowl. "And that was when I realized I was hungry, too. We hadn't eaten since we left the last rest stop on that mountain back in that place—but I guess we were all too wiped out to realize how hungry we were when we finally made it back."

He and Scooby each took a handful of trail mix, sighing quietly in contentment as they took the edge off of their appetites.

"You didn't come down here for food?" Shaggy asked, through a full mouth.

"No, I… came here for some water," she replied. Well it wasn't a total lie… "But, now that you mention it, I think I am a little hungry, too."

She reached for a handful of trail mix with her left hand as Shaggy tried to stop her.

"Uh, Daphne, you should know that's the…" He winced as a wide-eyed look crossed her face as she ate the trail mix. "…Siracha blend."

Scooby now grabbed an apple from the nearest fruit bowl and handed it to Daphne; once again, she used her left hand to grab it and quickly took a few bites out of it to quell the fire in her mouth.

"Thanks. You know, Velma was right about you," she sighed, once she could talk again. "You really do have a stomach of scrap iron—both of you!"

Shaggy and Scooby glanced at each other and shrugged, and Daphne shook her head.

"I think I'll go back to bed before anything else happens," she said. She'd have to come back for the water bottle later…

"Rhoodnight," Scooby offered, through another mouthful.

"Goodnight," she returned.

"Um… Daphne?" Shaggy asked. "Is something wrong with your arm? You've been using your left hand all this time."

"Oh, gosh, I must've been so tired, I didn't even realize it," she bluffed.

"…Rhaphne…?" Scooby asked.

Shaggy had noticed the hot water bottle on the table now; he picked it up and glanced back at Daphne with a questioning look.

"…My arm has a little sprain, that's all," she insisted. She sighed at the disbelieving look on Shaggy's face. "…You're not buying this, huh?"

"Like, I'm not even renting it," Shaggy replied, flatly. "What happened?"

"I landed on my arm when that shadow witch decked me after she turned into that spider," Daphne admitted.

"Rhou should've told Mr. Van Ghoul!" Scooby said.

"No!" she exclaimed. "You saw how exhausted he was already; he'd have tried that Esuna spell again, and he needed to conserve whatever strength he had left! It's just a little sprain; I don't know why you're both making such a big fuss about it!"

"You're the one who tried to hide it," Shaggy pointed out. "And yet, you've completely switched to your left hand! That's what makes me think it's not so 'little' after all."

"Fine; if Mr. Van Ghoul is feeling better in the morning, I'll bring it up in the conversation," she said. "Happy?"

Shaggy paused for a moment before choosing his next words carefully.

"I know why you're acting like this, Daphne, but you don't have to. This is about the village, isn't it?"

She looked away for a moment.

"That and… other things. Everything, really." She looked back at Shaggy and Scooby. "Everything that happened was because of me. The shadow witch possessed me. I was the one who fell through the gate, and Vincent went in after me. Everything he went through—believing he was still a wanted man, nearly dying at the village, draining himself to get the gate open on the mountain—was because of me. And I know what you're going to say—that it was just bad luck I was the one the shadow witch chose, and that if she'd chosen either of you two, or Scrappy or Flim-Flam, nothing would've changed. I know that. But it was me, and so, he nearly died because of me!"

"You helped save him!" Shaggy reminded her.

"He wouldn't have needed saving if I hadn't…" She trailed off. "I guess you wouldn't understand."

"…Rhaggy and Rhi do understand," Scooby replied.

"Yeah," Shaggy sighed. "Maybe you forgot, but we nearly lost Mr. V twice before, and it was technically our fault—Scoob's and mine. Remember Nekara and Rankor?"

"Who could forget them?" Daphne stated.

"Rhe let them out of the Chest…" Scooby sighed, staring at the floor.

"Yeah, like, they never would've targeted Mr. V if we hadn't set them loose," Shaggy added. "We've been living with that guilt for a while."

"Oh, gosh…" Daphne sighed. "I didn't even think… I'm sorry, Guys." She looked down at the floor for a moment, as well. "…Vincent knew something like this would happen, didn't he? That was why he wanted to send us back to the States when Athena first wanted to recruit him."

"Rhe got him to change his mind," Scooby pointed out.

"We didn't give him much of a choice, did we?" Daphne said. "I hate to say it, but we acted pretty selfishly."

"How do you figure that?" Shaggy asked. "We wanted to help Mr. V on his missions."

"And we kept insisting that was what was best," she said. "We never stopped to consider something like this would happen—that something out there would use us against Vincent. Maybe he was right after all—maybe we should go back…"

"Whoa, like, wait a minute!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Now you're swinging way too much the opposite direction!"

"Rheah!" Scooby agreed. "Mr. Van Ghoul wanted us to stay rheventually!"

"That's right—Mr. Voudini said that sending us away was hurting him as much as it was hurting us," Shaggy added. "And there's something else you gotta consider here, too—how all six of us opened that gate on the mountain together."

"There's nothing surprising about that," Daphne said. "Vincent's been like family to us—that was enough for the gate to consider as 'family ties.'"

"That's just it!" Shaggy exclaimed. "It wouldn't have worked if Mr. V hadn't thought of us as family, too! If he wanted us out of it, we'd be back in the States right now with an amnesia spell to make us forget everything—we wouldn't even be talking about it! He may not say it, but he really wants us to stick around."

"…That's true," Daphne realized. "And he told us about what the witch hunters did to him—Mr. Voudini said that Vincent hadn't even told him about that."

"Rhou see?" Scooby said.

"…Yeah, I do," she said, managing a smile. "Thanks, Guys."

"Anytime, Daphne," Shaggy said, handing her the hot water bottle. "You're sure you'll mention your arm to Mr. V?"

"If he's feeling better, yes," she promised.

"Then I think Scoob and I will grab some more snacks and take them back to our rooms," Shaggy said, grabbing the fruit bowl and the trail mix. Scooby grabbed some shortbread, and the three of them headed towards the turret, pausing as they saw that there was now a light coming from Vincent's study as they headed back.

"…That's odd; he wasn't awake earlier," Daphne said.

"Yeah, the light was off when we went down for our snacks," Shaggy commented.

"Ruh-huh," Scooby agreed.

The took a peek from the hallway, watching in surprise as Vincent, looking much better and no longer dizzy, was pulling books from his shelf, paging through them as though desperately looking for something.

"…Mr. Van Ghoul…?" Daphne asked.

He glanced at them in surprise.

"What are you three doing up?" he chided. "You're supposed to be resting!"

"Rhou, too," Scooby reminded him.

"As you can see, I have sufficiently regained enough of my mana to pursue some research endeavors," Vincent replied, pulling yet another book off of the shelf. "What's your excuse?"

"Snack run," Shaggy grinned, holding up the serving bowl. "Siracha trail mix?"

"No thanks, but you're welcome to it," Vincent returned. He tossed the book in his hands aside and pulled another one from the shelf.

"Well, um… you seem really busy, so I guess we'll leave you alone," Daphne began, but she found herself sheepishly at a loss for words after Shaggy and Scooby cleared their throats, staring pointedly at her right arm.

Vincent glanced back at them, taking note of this.

"What's all this about?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It's nothing, really," Daphne insisted. "I think I sprained my arm during our struggle with the shadow witch. But I'm sure it's nothing—"

"Let me see," Vincent interrupted, tossing the current book aside, as well, extending a hand to them.

"Uh… I'm sure I'll be alright by morning, but if there's been no change, I'll let you know… Hey!"

She yelped as Shaggy and Scooby practically nudged her into the study, and, with a sigh, she walked over to Vincent and pulled the right sleeve up of her robe.

"Zoinks! You call that a 'little' sprain!?" Shaggy exclaimed.

Scooby whimpered in sympathy as he looked at her swollen elbow.

"Probably a hairline fracture, though I'm certainly not an expert," Vincent sighed. "Still, it's nothing I can't fix."

"But your mana—" Daphne protested.

"I have more than enough mana for this," Vincent assured her. "Esuna."

The swelling in her elbow shrank back down to normal size, and the pain vanished. Daphne let out a quiet sigh of relief before looking back at Vincent to thank him—only to be startled to see that he was frowning.

"You were going to let that go until morning?" he asked. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Daphne looked away for a moment.

"I… made a deal, back at the village," she said. "I promised I wouldn't ask you for anything ever again if you woke up."

"…A most noble declaration, but I don't recall ever agreeing to it," Vincent said, after a moment. His expression softened. "Daphne, please don't blame yourself for any of this."

"It's… It's really hard not to!" she exclaimed, after a moment.

"Listen to me—all of you," he added, glancing at Shaggy and Scooby, as well. "Everything that I did—every single decision that I made—was completely my choice. That goes for everything that we've been through so far—the Gorgons, the 13 Ghosts, everything. I had every chance to stay on the sidelines while you went after the Ghosts—I even tried that, at first, as you recall. And once Lady Pallas started giving me assignments, I even tried sending you home. Neither of those stuck, as you very well know."

The three nodded.

"Nothing has changed with this," Vincent continued. "I could use the Time Scepter now to rewind time, and the only thing I would try to change would be preventing the shadow witch from mesmerizing you, Daphne—not because of what it led to, but because of the suffering you endured during it." He glanced at Shaggy and Scooby now. "And all three of you—well, all five of you, really—need to know that there is nothing that I wouldn't do to ensure your safety, and that, whatever it might be, would be my choice. …And you have all proven that the sentiment is returned, and believe me, I am grateful for it, even if I am vexed at you putting yourselves in danger. I can promise you that nothing, from my end, will ever change, as long as my humanity remains intact."

"Well, we're grateful, too…" Daphne began, but she trailed off as Vincent's last sentence sunk in. "Wait, what?"

"Uh, Mr. V, what did you mean by that last one?" Shaggy asked.

"…You saw what became of that other warlock," Vincent said, after a moment. "I knew him when he was human—now, he is completely unrecognizable as that gigantic beast. The shadow witch, as well, transformed into that giant spider. It's something that I've seen and heard among powerful witches and warlocks—their power allows them to take on those monstrous forms and gain even more power. And my power ranks as high as theirs—and greater."

"Rhut, rhat doesn't mean that rhou're going to…" Scooby began, but he trailed off at the pained look on Vincent's face.

"My own ancestor did the same thing," he admitted. "And my power is said to surpass his. I've been searching through all of these books, trying to find out whether this is a voluntary transformation or not, but there is no clear answer. This same fate could be written in my blood, and I would have no way of knowing until it happens. It could be only a matter of time."

"…No," Daphne said. "No, I know it won't happen."

"We have no way of knowing for certain—"

"Yes, we do," she returned. "You said it yourself—as long as your humanity remains intact. Well, you chose emeralds for your power stone—they stand for compassion, and that's exactly how you treat us."

"Yeah, that's right," Shaggy agreed. "You're a big old softy, like Flim-Flam said. What can be more human than that?"

"Or dog!" Scooby added, prompting the others to give him a bemused look. He shrugged, and continued. "Rhe're here for rhou, Mr. Van Ghoul! Rhe know rhou could never be a monster!"

"They're both right," Daphne agreed. "That other warlock and the shadow witch only cared about power. And while I don't know anything about your ancestor, I'm pretty sure he didn't prioritize his family like you." She managed a smile. "I'm still sorry that this happened—but I'm not sorry that we got through it while realizing where we all stand. And I know I speak for all of us when I say that we'll most definitely stand by you."

"And that there'll be no transforming into a monster on our watch!" Shaggy added.

"Rheah!" Scooby barked.

They all proceeded to hug him again, prompting him to sigh in slight exasperation.

"You know, I'm almost beginning to get used to this," he said, eventually returning the group hug.

"Good," the others chorused.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until Scrappy and Flim-Flam came by.

"Uh, hey…" Flim-Flam said. "We were going to grab a snack from the kitchen…"

"…But I smelled siracha and saw the light on in here," Scrappy finished, his nose still twitching. "What's going on?"

"Something that I think we all could use," Daphne said, waving them over.

They didn't understand exactly what was going on, on account of the others not wanting their youngest companions to be burdened with any worry. But they joined the group hug all the same.

And Vincent, still slightly exasperated—but still very grateful to all five of them—decided that there was truth to what they said after all. Why would he ever seek out power, or even anything else, when he had something far more valuable right now?

They were, as he'd called them, "his kids." And they were, clearly, here to stay.

And that suited him just fine.

Notes: And that's the end of this fic! Thanks to everyone who supported it! I promise that the next installment of my 13 Ghosts "Season 2" will be much more lighthearted and in the spirit of the original series. I'm not entirely sure when I'll be starting it, as I want to tackle an original project in November for NaNoWriMo, but there's every chance in the world I might start part 3 of my 13 Ghosts series at some point in November if inspiration is persistent (and, at the current rate, it definitely is).

Also, if anyone wants to know the full list of all of the Legend of Zelda references I managed to fit in to this fic, just ask.