Daphne was now driving the van up to Maldor's haunted forest after she stopped on the way earlier so that Shaggy & Scooby could get a pizza. She noticed Cheryl wasn't saying much, which was unusual because Cheryl was never really quiet. Jayden was the one who used to be very quiet when the 13 Ghosts Gang first met, but not her. However, she didn't bother to ask her about it.

Cheryl didn't say much the whole ride. In fact, she didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to explain to everyone else how when she was 9, her father started going out and drinking with friends every night instead of coming home after work. She didn't know how to explain that it felt like her father wasn't really present in her life after he started making excuses that he was working late, even though everyone knew he wasn't. And one day, he just packed up his things and moved out.

Cheryl was heartbroken by this. She couldn't believe it. Her own father was out drinking with friends every night instead of coming home to help raise her, help her mom, and be there for her brother. She was hurt by this, and when he left the house it didn't feel much different. It was as if he already left her and everyone else a long time ago.

Then on the afternoon of March 7th 2020, her dad came to their house for a visit. He wanted to apologize for what he did, and for not being there for his kids, especially for not being there for Cheryl, since she was the youngest. All of a sudden, after everyone ate lunch and he started to drive home, his car was unfortunately hit by another car. He was rushed to the hospital where he died at around 3:17 PM that day.

Cheryl was in tears for days after that. She didn't cry when he was fighting with her mom, or when her dad moved out of the house to live back in New Jersey, which was where Cheryl was originally born and lived in for the first 8 years of her life before her dad got a job in Staten Island and they had to move there. But now that her dad was really gone, and he'd never come back, it really hurt her.

Jayden saw that she was just staring out the window, then he put his hand in hers and she turned to him.

"Are you okay?" Jayden asked, since no one else noticed what was wrong.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cheryl sighed.

"Cheryl, if this is about what happened with-"

"I told you I'm fine, I just need to get through today, that's all."

Shaggy overheard their conversation and started to say something:

"What happened with what?"

"It's nothing Shaggy, don't worry about it," Cheryl promised.

"Oh, okay," he smiled.

Vincent could tell something was wrong. He decided he'd talk about it with Cheryl later, since he felt that now was not a good time to.

Then all of sudden, a flash of fire came up in the van, revealing Maldor. The others were frightened by his appearance, except Asamad, who was just annoyed by him.

"Come get me, foolish mortals. I dare you!" Maldor shouted.

"Why Maldor? So you can just get defeated once more by these 'foolish mortals' as you like to call them and then wait even longer to be set free so you can fail yet again at accomplishing your goal of getting the wonder wand and destroying all of humanity?" Asamad taunted.

"Well well well, if it isn't Asmodeus, the demon king. 2 little ghosts informed me that you betrayed me and all the other wicked ghosts so you could seek redemption and look after your worthless descendant Vincent Van Ghoul," Maldor shot back.

The 7 mortals that were in the van just gasped in shock immediately after they heard him say that. They felt so much rage, and Vincent noticed how mad they were.

Asamad was so vexed at what he was just told, his eyes went from yellow to a dark red and there was a raging fire all around him.

"How DARE you refer to my descendant as worthless?" He growled at him.

"Exactly! Say what you want, but once you start making fun of Vincent, you won't see the light of day ever again!" Daphne agreed.

Everyone else sided with her too, expressing how annoyed they were that anyone would even think of calling Vincent "worthless."

Vincent was satisfied to hear everyone defend him so quickly. He started to thank Daphne and the others for supporting him before Maldor interrupted him.

"Quiet! I can now see where he got his worthlessness from. I suppose the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree now, does it?" he snarled, looking back up at Asamad, "I will find the wonder wand and I will destroy all of humanity!"

"Whatever Maldor, "Asamad said as he shot a blast of his magic at Maldor, making him disappear from view, "Ugh, he's so irritating."

"How do you know him?'" Jayden wondered.

"We were best friends. In fact, I used to be friends with all the other demons from the chest as well. We were the most feared group of ghosts ever."

"You were best friends with him? How come you never told us?" Vincent repeated.

"Yes, we used to be. I guess I didn't tell you because we're both enemies now so I don't really want to remember the times we used to get along. I assume he already told the rest of the ghosts from our party about how I'm such a traitor to all of them. I really don't care that the other 12 ghosts probably despise me now. After all, I've got better things to worry about."

"Well everyone, we're here," Daphne said as she parked the van a few feet outside of Maldor's castle.

Everyone got out of the van and stayed close to Vincent as they were walking toward Maldor's castle, asking him if he was okay after what Maldor said back in the van.

"Don't listen to him Vincent, you're not worthless at all," Velma assured him, holding the chest in both of her hands.

"Ryeah, you're awesome!" Scooby complimented.

"Thank you all very much for standing up for me," Vincent smiled, "But I promise you I'm fine."

"No problem. That's what friends are for," Shaggy replied.

The gang entered the castle as Flim Flam pulled out the Specter-Detector from his pocket and looked at it.

"Looks like the ghost went that way," he said, pointing upstairs.

"Well then... why don't we just go upstairs and capture him?" Velma slowly suggested.

"Like oh no… Me and Scoob aren't just gonna walk right up there and fight the ghost!" Shaggy gulped, holding Scooby in his arms.

Scooby nodded his head in agreement, while also whimpering out of fear just thinking about what happened and what could've happened with some of these ghosts.

Daphne reached into her purse and pulled out 2 Scooby Snacks, one for Shaggy and one for Scooby.

"Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?" she asked Shaggy & Scooby.

"No way." Shaggy told her.

"Re're not doing it." Scooby said, agreeing with him.

Daphne then pulled out 2 more Scooby Snacks.

"Not even for 2 Scooby Snacks?"

"You know what? We'll do it!"

"Ryeah!"

Then she both gave them two Scooby Snacks each and they ate them.

Asamad whispered to Vincent, "What's a 'Scooby Snack'?"

"I have no idea. By the way I noticed Cheryl is being really quiet today so I'm going to ask her about it," Vincent responded.

"Yeah she's never that quiet. I wonder what's wrong?"

Jayden, who stood a few inches from them, joined the conversation.

"I'm the only one that knows what's wrong, since I'm her best friend. But I think she'd rather tell you her story than have you hear it from me," he informed them.

Vincent then walked over to Cheryl who found herself sitting on top of the stairs all alone.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" she answered.

"No you're not. Something's wrong. You're never silent like this."

"I'm just having a rough day," she admitted.

"Is it because we have to recapture the ghosts and you're too scared to do it?"

"No Vincent, it's not that."

"Then tell me what it is. You can tell me anything Cheryl, you know that," Vincent promised her, now sitting on the stairs with her.

"Today's the one year anniversary…"

"Of what?"

"My father's death."

Vincent was in shock. She never mentioned anything about her father or her family before to him. She definitely never talked about her father passing away.

"Cheryl, I'm so sorry."

"No, it's okay," she told him, standing up, ready to just walk away, "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters. Please don't ever think it doesn't."

She then sat back down next to him, then a few tears started rolling down her face.

Vincent couldn't believe this. He'd never seen her cry real tears before. He wasn't so sure how to make her feel better, but he knew how to not make her feel worse.

"Do you want to tell me what happened? It's fine if you don't," he assured her.

"I guess I'll tell you what happened. So, before he died.." Cheryl sighed, "he wasn't around much. Ever since I was 9, he used to go out drinking with friends all night and going out to dangerous and unknown places instead of coming home and being with me, my brother, and my sister."

"That's terrible. He shouldn't have done that," Vincent finally said after listening.

"I know. Him and my mom used to argue about it a lot too. All I'd hear is them screaming and yelling at each other. Sometimes they'd just break things out of anger. One day when I was 10, he just packed up his things and left the house. He left me, my mom, and my older brother to move to New Jersey. My dad said he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want to live in our house with my mom so he divorced her. I didn't see him at all again until I was a freshman in high school at age 15."

They were both silent for a minute. Vincent couldn't even imagine how it felt for her to not have her dad around for almost half of her life.

"I never saw my father again until he came to visit us exactly a year ago today to apologize for what he did. I never told anyone about this in our gang besides Jayden, but my dad died in a car accident as he was driving home that afternoon after he had lunch with us."

She then hugged Vincent and he hugged her back for a moment.

Asamad saw them hugging and thought it was heartwarming, giving a little thumbs up and a grin to Vincent as he looked at him.

"I offer my condolences to you. I know what it's like to lose someone that you loved so much."

"You do?"

"Yes, but I don't really want to talk about it right now."

Cheryl wiped away her tears and gave Vincent another hug, then she let go a few seconds later.

"I'm really sorry for your loss too."

"It's alright, besides you know I'm always here for you. You've got a whole family here, and we're not going anywhere," he replied, giving her a warm smile.

"You're right, thanks," she smiled back at him, feeling a little better now.

"My pleasure."

Velma and the others walked towards them now, wondering why they were sitting on the stairs together.

"Are you two coming with us?" she asked.

"Of course we are," Vincent responded.

Then both Cheryl and Vincent stood up.

"I suppose you told him about your father, didn't you?" Jayden speculated as he walked with Cheryl.

"I did. I told him everything," she answered.

"How did it go?"

"He made me feel better."

"Good."

Then the 2 teenagers both followed the others upstairs.

I guess I did need to talk about it with someone after all, Cheryl thought to herself.

Notes: The mention of Vincent losing someone he loved is from my fanfic "Forever Waiting, It Seemed" where it is explained that his sister, Valentina (another OC of mine) died decades ago. He'll tell the others all about it soon. I wanted to fully explain Cheryl's backstory since I touched upon it a little bit in the previous chapter.

Lastly, I always head cannoned that the ghosts from the chest were friends because they all were powerful, supernatural beings that had the same goal of ruling the world. And I head cannoned that Maldor and Asmodeus were friends at some point since they were both ancient evil sorcerers who turned into demons and got locked in the chest.