A.N – I conceived Behind the Mask as a stand alone story this summer, indulging an itch I've always wanted to scratch, a story told entirely from the villain's point of view. (Go read that now if you haven't already!) But after creating such a dark story with such a young and innocent version of the gang, I felt it would be a missed opportunity if we didn't see what the impact of this was on the gang going forward. This story picks up what happened immediately after 'Behind the Mask' from the gang's perspective this time.

Everything would very soon change for the gang after that night of absolute horrors they had all suffered at the manor. No more could they investigate a mere sighting of a 'monster' with their hearts filled with nothing more than a sense of adventure and a healthy dose of cynicism.

No more could they ride around in the van excitedly discussing their theories, and where Shaggy and Scooby would loudly protest but still get swept along in the excitement anyway (and secretly enjoy it)

No more could Fred jovially announce "let's split up gang!" or plan and make a trap with absolute precision.

No more could Velma giddily collect clues and piece together the mystery, getting that quiet thrill of satisfaction that came with a correctly identified unmasking.

No more could Daphne innocently fall into trouble quite literally, in a completely adorable but ultimately risk free way. There would be no more playful calls of 'Danger prone Daphne' by her friends.

Because everything had changed that night. The 'rulebook' for solving mysteries as they had known it up until that point was ripped up and set alight. It was the night that their innocence had been truly lost. The night that proved that what they were doing wasn't a fun little game. That actually it came with unimaginable danger. That 'meddling' could in fact come with a very heavy price.

Despite Aiden deciding not to reveal the gory details of the plan to Fred and Daphne when they visited him in jail, the stalker filled contents of the trunk, and therefore the true full intentions of the psychopathic David Warner, were eventually leaked to the press to catastrophic effect.

And didn't the press just love that. They had given the whole sorry case a ludicrous name already; 'Return of the Mummy'. This was was of course ridiculous because not only did it downplay and make a mockery of the seriousness of the situation, but it didn't even make any sense! Although it had been his original costume at the museum, David didn't actually 'return' as the Mummy at all.

But, ridiculous tag line or not, make no mistake, the Coolsville press were all over this from the very start.

Mystery Inc had previously started to gain a fair few column inches for their exploits already and they had become somewhat 'known' around the town as familiar figures to the local media. But none of their cases had captured anywhere near this level of attention before; David's darkest of quests for revenge against innocent teenagers was a jaw dropping story and the subsequent media frenzy had never been seen on this scale before, and the kids soon unwittingly became the hottest property in town.

This could not be illustrated more starkly than through the consequences of Fred and Daphne's so-called secret prison visit to see Aiden. One loose-lipped prison guard was it all took, and before Aiden was even locked back in his cell, Coolsville's bloodthirstiest reporters had descended on the small town jail like a pack of ravenous wolves, forcing Fred and Daphne to run a vicious gauntlet just to get back to their oh so conspicuous van.

Daphne was still feeling desperately upset for Aiden's fate as they walked towards the exit. Normally well presented she just hadn't made much of an effort with her appearance for days now. Her skin was dull and completely make up free, and instead of wearing her favourite bright outfits, she was dressed down in a hoodie, jeans and trainers. Even her usually immaculately styled hair was carelessly pulled back in a messy ponytail.

Fred reached for her hand, squeezing it gently as they prepared to leave. He was similarly dressed down in sweats and he reached into his jacket for the baseball cap he had brought with him to keep him partially shielded as they approached outside again. Although he also felt desperately sorry for Aiden, his mind wasn't on his impending fate but rather contemplating his final words:

'Promise me you will take care of yourselves properly.'

Fred hadn't really thought about it until that moment but he realised with a sudden jolt of sadness that maybe this would all have to end. How could they possibly continue? How could he in good faith ever lead his friends into something so potentially dangerous again? These thoughts were still churning in his mind, and he had been paying little attention to much else when he suddenly heard Daphne gasp sharply.

He snapped back to attention to see what had caused her such obvious dismay and when he saw the unruly mob of paparazzi outside, he automatically bit back his own growl of annoyance. Couldn't they just catch a break? They walked uncertainly forward and as soon as he opened the door and they set foot onto the wet concrete outside, flash bulbs began to pop off brightly, dazzling them as they hurried down the steps.

Fred pulled his cap down over his face and Daphne turned away as they began to politely try and push their way through the crowd.

"Keep your head down Daph," Fred murmured, tightly clutching onto her hand as the reporters let rip with a series of uncomfortable questions.

"Fred! Fred! Is it true that you visited Aiden Pearson?"

"Do you both want Aiden Pearson to face the death penalty?"

Fred kept his mouth firmly closed, trying to give the reporters little to no eye contact as he tried to lead Daphne through the throng, whilst the press eagerly trailed after them.

"Miss Blake, how did it feel to be targeted by a psychopath?"

Fred turned sharply at that one, feeling Daphne's grip on his hand tense, and immediately breaking his own silence. "Are you kidding? She isn't going to answer that!" he berated the insensitive hack eagerly holding out a microphone. He brushed past him angrily, relieved to see the Mystery Machine in sight now, just a few feet more and they would be safe. Fred quickened his pace, seeing how uncomfortable the reporter's question had made Daphne, and he squeezed her hand again in reassurance, offering her an encouraging smile. "It's okay babe, we're almost there."

He reached the door of the van, just as a particularly unscrupulous female reporter managed to get a camera right in his face.

His natural instinct was to rip the thing straight from her hand, but instead he just shot her a filthy look of sheer and utter contempt as he unlocked the van. Unperturbed, she pouted at him, trying one final time to get the scoop she was clearly desperate for.

"Sorry Fred, I just have one more question. With everything that happened to you in the manor last week, I just have one thing that I think all of Coolsville will want to know – Will you be continuing with Mystery Inc?"

He blinked, his mouth set in a firm line and Daphne too glanced up at him curiously, he saw the anticipation on the reporter's face. "No comment," he said curtly before helping Daphne into the van and driving off.

The question of whether 'Mystery Inc' could actually continue was certainly a hot topic of conversation after their very public ordeal. Not just with the press, but also within the gang themselves, and there was one more interested and influential party that actually carried the most sway in the aftermath of the sorry affair. Their parents.

Aiden Pearson had not been wrong in his original assessment of the youth of the gang. Fred and Shaggy were 17. The girls were 16 (Velma having only just hit sweet sixteen one month previous) and of course this meant they were all living at home still.

Now when the gang had first embarked on their mystery solving 'ventures', it was fair to say that the various parental reactions were 'mixed' to say the very least.

Norville 'Shaggy' Rogers had recently arrived back in Coolsville for the first time since he was a toddler, having originally moved to New York for his father's work. Craving a quieter life again, Shaggy, his parents, his younger sister and his dog Scooby had returned to their home town last year. Shaggy had struggled to make friends again at first, and his parents fretted too much uprooting had been damaging for their son. As a result of his slow to develop peer interactions again, when Shaggy told his parents he was joining a 'mystery club' after school, they were nothing but thrilled for him.

"Oh Norville that's wonderful!" His mother had said, clearly only taking note of the word 'club' and paying little attention to the 'mystery' part. "That sounds like such a lovely way to make new friends, I hope you'll have lots of fun!"

And it did actually start off as a mere innocent 'club'. Shy Velma Dinkley had advertised the club for lovers of mysteries, intending it to be something more akin to a mystery book club. It became clear very quickly that Shaggy and Velma and the only other two members, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake, craved something more from it. When they went on a class field trip to the museum and heard that mysterious thefts were seriously being attributed to a cursed mummy exhibit, Fred convinced them all to return after dark to see if they could actually solve the mystery themselves. They did, and the rest as they say, is history.

Whilst Norville's parents naturally expressed some concerns about the dangerous 'mission' their son had undertaken, they didn't actually try and stop him. It was a little unconventional of course but he was making solid friendships at last. Neither Andrew nor Gina Rogers were willing to curtail another attempt for their son to find his 'place' in the 'dog eat dog' high school environment. There had been too much upheaval already, now was the time for him to settle and the 'mystery club' was fine with them.

Some of the other parents in the exclusive circle however were far less enthused in the first place.

"I don't understand why you would actively want to put yourself in such danger, darling! Not to mention how dirty your clothes must get from creeping around in the dark like that," was how Daphne Blake's mother Elizabeth had responded after finding out her daughter was involved in 'mystery solving'.

Her far more protective father was a little more blunt.

"Absolutely not Daphne! I will not have you becoming some little Nancy Drew, and put yourself at risk in this way, I absolutely FORBID it."

Well, this 'ban' had exactly the effect you might expect it to have on a young, stubborn Daphne. It just made her even more determined to flout it. She ended up sneaking out on so many occasions that her parents eventually had to give up and instead merely urged her "to be careful at all times!"

As Mystery Inc's reputation grew, Mr Blake seemed to fully come around from his earlier disapproval and enjoyed the media attention that came with his daughter's increasing notoriety. After all, it all seemed pretty harmless to him; some petty criminals were deciding to run around in Halloween costumes and the kids wanted to 'unmask' them? Knock yourselves out he thought, tired of trying to fight his wilful and strong minded daughter. Of course Daphne never told dearest daddy about the (many) kidnappings.

Velma Dinkley is the daughter of even more cautious parents but they were actually the proudest of the early crime fighting accomplishments of the gang.

They already knew they had a very gifted daughter, so this was only further enhanced by the successful and publicised exploits of their adventures. They weren't completely reckless parents, they recognised how Velma could be vulnerable, particularly as she was the youngest, but they knew their daughter was a sensible girl. Apart from an unfortunate habit of losing her glasses, they knew they could trust her to take care of herself, and so long as there was never 'any real danger', Mystery Inc had the Dinkleys' continued blessing.

As for Fred Jones, the single son of a now single parent, he had never actually been entirely honest with what he was getting up to. It wasn't that he had outright lied to his father, he just hadn't told the truth. And it wasn't like his super busy businessman father was even around much to ask those pertinent questions. Constantly at a conference here and a 'very important' meeting there, his father simply just wasn't around much. Since his mom had died suddenly, Fred's father had coped by throwing himself into his business. He still cared deeply about Fred, of course he did, but he knew how grown up his son was. He knew Fred could easily take care of himself so conversely when he got the call to leave for sometimes days at a time in various far flung parts of America, he never had any qualms about leaving Freddy.

And Fred had taken full advantage of these frequent absences and lack of guidance. He was able to devote himself to Mystery Inc in a way the others were unable to without significant parental interference. He had bought a van to get them around and made perfect use of an often empty house by using it as their unofficial base.

As he pulled up outside his house now, he breathed a huge sigh of relief that there were no press camped outside his front door at least. Since they had left the prison, Daphne had been silent but she spoke now.

"It's not fair what's going to happen to him," she said suddenly. "There's got to be something more we can do Freddy? He saved our lives."

"I know, it hurt me to hear him say that too," Fred reflected but he still harboured conflicting emotions about the young man.

Aiden Pearson had caused him so much pain and fury when he had trapped him in that room and kidnapped Daphne. At that point none of them had any idea of the danger they truly were in but for Fred something felt different immediately. This did not just seem like an opportunist 'let's just kidnap the pretty girl for fun!' attitude they had unfortunately encountered too many times in the past, this seemed calculated, pre-meditated.

When the wall had swung around and trapped him inside the tiny room, he had almost gone out of his mind instantly, clawing at the walls rabidly. When he had heard her scream and then cut off immediately, he completely lost it. Luckily, he regained control of his senses in time and realised exactly what action had caused the 'switcheroo' in the first place. He tugged frantially on the same book again, swinging back around into the library to find his worst nightmare. She wasn't just gone, she had been targeted deliberately, of that he was absolutely sure. He could never have believed even in his worst nightmares exactly how badly she had been targeted. Aiden was responsible for that, responsible for that fear and pain and it was hard not to feel loathing for it.

But Aiden was also responsible for their survival. He could have just ran but he didn't, he came back to help them. Fred knew without Aiden, Daphne and himself would almost certainly be dead. That was a level of gratitude he could never repay. It did hurt to find out that Aiden was going to be punished enormously.

"I still can't believe it," she said desolately and they both sat in silent reflection until her phone rang, jolting them both. Fred winced.

"Is that..."

"My dad, yes, curfew time, the sun is setting," she said reproachfully, looking out of the window with a sigh.

To say that Daphne's parents had reacted badly to the events at the manor was an understatement. It was a miracle they had allowed her out with Fred at all. (An activity that was only permitted in the daylight for the considerable future.) Of course, she hadn't told them she was visiting her 'kidnapper', that just wouldn't go down well at all.

When Fred had driven them back to the Blake house in the early hours of that fateful morning, they had only been there a matter of seconds before the police drew up too.

Tearful, Daphne had immediately collapsed into her parents' arms whilst the police sombrely explained to them what had happened to her in the manor, both from what they had learnt from Aiden and also from initial witness statements from the gang.

"Somebody tried to murder my baby?!" Mr Blake had automatically exploded in rage when told by the officers what had happened, and after Daphne had been bundled into bed by her mother.

Her shocked mother re-entered the room just as she heard the Detective say that it was believed her daughter had also been kept prisoner for some time in the house, by a second man who had been arrested and had killed the perpetrator. To say it was a lot to take in was an understatement and Elizabeth Blake quickly went to make herself a very strong drink.

The Blakes kept a reasonably calm and polite exterior until the police eventually left, and that's when they turned furiously on each other.

"I TOLD you not to let her do this! I always said it was too dangerous!" Elizabeth Blake criticised her husband immediately to his outrage.

"You said no such thing! In fact, I believe you barely said anything apart from 'oh don't you dare wrinkle your dress dear!'

Elizabeth looked furiously indignant. "You're her father Ned, it's up to you to impose the rules in this house."

"Let's not pretend I didn't try! We tried keeping her locked up, it didn't work! What else was I supposed to do?! You know as well as I do how sheer bloody minded the girl is!"

"Well maybe not virtually giving her your fucking blessing, that might have been a good start." Elizabeth snorted. "Once the media attention started, you folded like a pack of cards. As always."

"Don't you dare blame this on me!" Ned retorted angrily. "How was I supposed to know that someone would eventually turn psycho on them?! Personally, I blame the Jones boy! He must have known how dangerous going into that manor was. What was he THINKING putting my baby in danger like that?!"

"Stop it! Both of you!" Daphne demanded suddenly, appearing on the staircase wrapped in her dressing gown, a bandage on her throat a stark reminder of the danger she had been in. "And don't even think about trying to blame Freddy dad! How could he possibly have known, how could any of us have known?"

Mr Blake knew this wasn't the right time to berate her but his fear for his youngest daughter consumed him now.

"Daphne, your mother and I are just incredibly concerned. It has rocked us to the core to hear what happened to you tonight. I was never a fan of the 'mystery solving' I have to admit, but I never envisaged anything like this happening!"

"Neither did I," Daphne admitted quietly. "It's never gotten as bad as that before."

"As bad?" Ned questioned, catching on immediately. "You never truly let on to your mother and I how dangerous your 'cases' really were did you? Is there anything else you're not telling us?"

"It's happened before," Daphne admitted to her parents' obvious horror.

"Someone trying to kill you?! How could you possibly keep that a secret?!" Her mum squeaked, her face aghast at the very notion.

"No, not that, but...I've been held prisoner before. Just for a little while. That first time in the museum in fact. By him." She looked embarrassed. Her parents looked appalled.

"DAPHNE! How could you keep that from us?! See Elizabeth, I knew I was right! It's always been dangerous! How could that boy let you carry on with this nonsense after that happened to you?! I always knew he was a reckless irresponsible yahoo, especially since his mother..."

"Dad!" Daphne cried, immediately disgusted. "Don't you dare use that against him! I know you don't like him but that is below the belt! What happened to his mother was a tragedy."

"You're right, I'm sorry, that was completely uncalled for," he reflected seeing the disgust at the cheap shot from both his daughter and his wife. He sighed loudly. "I know if I tell you that you can't see him, and the other two for that matter, you'll just find a way anyway, you always do." He smiled tightly. "So a compromise for now, you can continue to see them, against my better judgement I might add, but only in the daytime. You must be home before dark every day from now on. "No ifs or buts Daphne."

She had accepted this without question, it was far better than she had assumed. Her worst case scenario was they would immediately pack up and take her away from Coolsville and she would never see Freddy, Shaggy, Velma and Scooby ever again. The thought caused her heart too much pain to bear.

Fred dutifully drove her home before full darkness hit and he kissed her chastely goodbye in the van before she walked inside. Like every day since it had happened, her parents hovered anxiously the second she got in the door.

"Hello dear," her mum called pleasantly, walking from the kitchen, untying her apron. "You're just in time for dinner. I made your favourite."

Daphne sat pleasantly with her mum, dad and two siblings as they ate dinner together before retiring early to her room and grabbing her cell immediately as she lay down on her bed.

'Hey' she sent to Fred.

'Hey' he replied back almost immediately. 'U ok?'

I'm fine :)

Gud :) Did ur parents ask where u went 2day?

No but I know they're curious.

Yeh, u can't tell them though.

I know. Is ur dad comin home soon?

He's trying to get a flight. I spoke to him. He's ok. Worried I guess but OK.

Yeh must be hard to hear being away.

Yeh.

D'ya think we shud tell V and S what we did?

I don't think thats a gud idea Daph, they wudn't understand.

Yeh. Ur right.

Whats going to happen to us Freddy? Mystery Inc?

**LONG PAUSE**

IDK :(

:(

We'll be ok :) :)

Promise?

Promise xxx

:) gud night Freddy xxxxxx

gud night Daph xxxxxxxxxx

The next day two very unfortunate stories hit the press.

BLAKE AND JONES VISIT MANOR ACCOMPLICE IN PRISON!

And

BURIAL PLOT! MYSTERY INC MENACER CONFIRMED AS STALKER AND DUG GRAVES FOR TEEN SUPER SLEUTHS

And that is when the shit well and truly hit the fan.

A/N - With a young iteration of the gang, there needs to be a stronger focus on the parents. I've used a combination of AU original parent characters and a couple of established versions. I'm not sure how many parts this will have yet but I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!