It hadn't taken long for Vincent—the present-day Vincent—to accept his fate as he waited on that isolated land, somewhere back in time. He had fought the Time Worm once it had brought him here, and once it had fled, but with the wormhole sealed to him, Vincent knew that there was no escape.

He'd appreciated Daphne's attempt at trying to get him out; for a moment, it had appeared that she was going to succeed, but he hadn't counted on the presence of his younger self complicating things—first by proving to be the wrong target in Daphne's search, and then by being just too stubborn to go back to 41.

Once his memories began to change, he knew it was over—his younger self, stubborn as ever, had no intentions of missing out on a life in, what was to him, the distant future. And it pained him to remember how, in these new memories, Daphne had been so distressed, for she had known what her failure would mean.

And, indeed, as he "remembered" Asmodeus disappearing, that, he knew, was the beginning of the end. Sure enough, the gut-wrenching pain of his timeline getting rewritten struck him not too long afterwards; he doubled over, trying to focus on keeping his thoughts coherent.

Ah, so this is how it ends? he thought, wistfully. Well… an ending in one respect, but it is, in truth, a new beginning. I didn't want it to change, but, perhaps, it is best that the Chest of Demons never be opened. I shall regret not knowing Mortifer, but, at least, he will live a natural life and not suffer that horrific fate… And perhaps I will have a happier life in my new future, alongside Miranda and the rest of my old comrades, and the kids, too… …I'll have to relearn English, but I'm sure the kids can help with that. And I'll have no worries about angering a desert warlock into taking his revenge centuries later… No worries about Nekara or any of the others… No worries about being tracked down by witch hunters…

A bolt of fear suddenly shot through him as he remembered the events of that horrible night, and how he'd only been captured because he'd stopped to save a child—Daphne's ancestor.

No…!

Hurting more than the agonizing pain of fading from existence was the knowledge that his new beginning would come at the cost of Daphne's existence—the one he had chosen to learn his magical legacy. There would be no way to contact her once she disappeared—Asmodeus would be back in the Chest, and Vincent himself would eventually age in a new timeline, but Daphne would have no other place to go, for she would vanish, body and spirit, in a timeline where the Blake family line ended centuries too soon…

Lady Pallas, I beg you, if there is any way to save her…!

…But there wouldn't be, and he knew it. This was beyond even Athena's power. The only way to save Daphne would be for his younger self to do that which he had determined not to do—live out his life in his original time and timeline.

…And his younger self had dared to call Daphne selfish!?

Another spasm of pain coursed through him, but he barely reacted; all he could think about was how, by his past self's actions, he was going to lose Daphne, his protégé and daughter-by-choice—lose her in such a way, with such finality, that it would be impossible to make amends.

And as he fell into despair, a tear slipped from his eye as he mourned the inevitable loss that lay ahead.

Velma had gotten back to the base fairly quickly, practically dragging Daphne back to Dr. Midori and his friends; they were still observing the rocket's progress. Daphne was trying very hard not to look as depressed as she felt—on their way back to the base, Vincent's cape, pendant, and crystal had fully vanished, and she knew that it meant, without any doubt, that the Vincent she knew was gone.

"Velma!" Dr. Midori exclaimed. "Everything alright?"

"Uh… maybe," she replied, unconvincingly. "I was wondering if Daphne and I could talk to Dr. Kuryakin for a moment? It's a quantum question."

"If I can be of assistance, I shall certainly endeavor to help," Dr. Kuryakin said, exchanging glances with Mr. Solo and Dr. Midori.

"So, this is a question about time-travel," Daphne began.

"Then I'm afraid I can only give you theoretical answers, as the concept seems to be beyond our reach," he replied. "But do continue."

Daphne exchanged a glance with Velma, who nodded for her to ask.

"So… let's say—hypothetically speaking, of course—due to a change in the timeline that was unplanned, someone who survived an accident as a child… didn't make it after all. What would happen to that person's descendants?"

Dr. Kuryakin pondered over this.

"…There was a paper that was very recently published that theorized what would happen in this case—it was written by a Dr. Brown, I believe… He called it 'the Ripple Effect.' Here, let me illustrate it…" Dr. Kuryakin drew a line on a nearby whiteboard with a green marker. "So, let's say this line represents the original timeline. Now, you say something happened that changed the timeline, and a person who went on to continue his family line instead found his life cut short…" He drew a red line that, at first, branched off from the green line, and then ran parallel to it. "A new timeline would occur, parallel to the original timeline. However, this would create a paradox—and the space-time continuum is primed to remove paradoxes in order to stabilize itself."

"How would it stabilize itself in this case?" Velma asked, her eyes wide.

"The original timeline would be erased—from the moment of the change, and then towards the present—like a ripple, hence the name." Dr. Kuryakin erased the green line from the left to the right. "Only the rewritten timeline would eventually remain. In most cases, the resulting Ripple Effect would be small or localized—for example, an ancient scribe writing something slightly different would cause minor changes, mostly in how future generations looked back on whatever event the scribe had written about. If someone has had a greater influence on the timeline, a change with them would be more noticeable, for example… an international enforcement agent who has saved the world multiple times from a criminal organization…" He exchanged a glance with Mr. Solo, who smirked into his coffee. "Changes to his timeline would have a stronger Ripple Effect that would be noticed by many."

Vincent lived a long time and must've done so many things, Daphne realized. Saving my ancestor was only just one thing that got changed. How many other people all over the world are being rewritten or even erased because of Young Vincent changing his mind? But I don't think he even realizes it, that's the thing…

"Now, in the example you gave—one person who died before he could continue his family line…" Dr. Kuryakin continued. "As for the unfortunate person's descendants, as the Ripple Effect caught up to their point in the timeline, they would simply vanish from existence—first the individual's children, then his grandchildren, and so on and so forth."

"…And… how could you prevent or fix that from happening?" Daphne asked, her nervousness growing.

"The only way would be to restore the original timeline," Dr. Kuryakin sighed. "If the dead man was saved, the changed timeline would be erased as the original timeline was restored."

Daphne nodded, that feeling of impending doom only growing in her heart.

"Thank you for your time," she said.

Velma thanked him, as well, and took her leave once more as she and Daphne now headed back towards the beach.

"What are you going to do!?" Velma exclaimed, once they were out of earshot.

"…What can I do…?" she asked, glumly reaching into her purse. She fished out an old photograph, and exhaled in despair.

"What is it?" Velma asked, quietly.

Wordlessly, Daphne handed the picture to Velma.

"That was from when I was 7 years old; my father took me to see my grandfather and Uncle Matt when Uncle Matt started up his new ranch in Texas. Dad wanted me to go so that we could have a picture with three generations of Blakes."

"I remember that; you were so upset because you were going to miss out on our investigating the old Rookwood House," Velma recalled, but her expression turned serious as she looked at the photograph. "…Daphne…"

"I know," she said, softly.

She knew the picture well—her grandfather was standing with his two sons in front of him, an arm around each one, with Daphne herself in front of all them, looking slightly put out at being there while her friends were back home investigating a supposedly-haunted house. Only now, her grandfather was fading from the photograph—and George and Matt were starting to look a little blurry.

"I'm living on borrowed time," Daphne realized aloud. "Once the Ripple Effect catches up with me, that's it. And Flim-Flam is the youngest, so he'll probably disappear after I'm gone. But he'll probably reappear having stayed at that orphanage—he only ran away from them to find Vincent, but if Vincent isn't in Tibet, then he won't run. He'll be okay, but…"

"…But you won't be," Velma finished, going pale. "Daphne, there has to be—"

A pair of pained howls now drew the girls' attention; following the sound, Daphne and Velma found Bogel and Weerd, collapsed on the sand, also in extreme pain—and fading away in front of their eyes.

"…Them, too?" Velma asked.

"They're tied to the Chest—sworn to serve the 13 Ghosts," Daphne explained. "I guess, since the Chest was never opened in the new timeline, the Ripple Effect caught up with them, too."

"Please, Miss…" Bogel pleaded.

"Help us…" Weerd added.

"And why would I help you after everything you've done?" she replied, coldly. "It isn't enough that you've put us through everything so far—nearly letting Vincent get turned to stone, and then nearly sending Freddie into orbit?" She scowled. "Anyway, there's nothing I can do. The Vincent I knew is gone. And soon I will be, too—but while the rest of you will show up again in another place, I don't have that luxury."

"What do you mean, there's nothing you can do!?" Weerd exclaimed.

"Where will we end up!?" Bogel asked. He cast a terrified glance at Weerd. "Will we even be together in the new timeline…?"

Despite herself, Daphne found her expression softening. As much as she detested those ghosts, they did seem to care about each other—albeit way deep down.

"I don't know," she said, sincerely.

She had nothing else to say to them and continued on her way back to the beach.

"Daphne, I don't care about what happens to those ghosts," Velma said, as she followed behind her. "But I care about you. Are you sure there's no way…?"

Daphne shook her head.

"The Time Scepter is gone. Without any way to travel to 1692 and save my ancestor, Vincent is the only one who can save me by going back to 41 and living out his life. And he's made his decision quite clear."

"Then we'll keep working on him," Velma vowed. "We've got to."

Daphne nodded, hoping that they'd be able to convince the headstrong, young warlock before it was too late.

Notes: Matt Blake was a one-time character from The Scooby-Doo Show, introduced as Daphne's uncle; given that his last name is Blake in the episode, he's obviously her father's brother and would, therefore, be affected by the timeline change, too. Daphne's Aunt Olivia, from the same series, has the last name of Dervy, suggesting that she is a maternal aunt and would not be affected by the timeline change as a result (and neither would Scrappy, as I explained in one of my oneshots that the reason he started traveling with the gang was because his mother Ruby started working for Olivia as a service dog).