Notes: And here is the next installment in my 13 Ghosts Season 2 project! Apologies for the delay, and while I'm not sure as to what my update schedule will be for this fic, I'll try to make it as regular as I can.
The entrance gates of the Saronic Academy of the Magic Arts—colloquially known as Terror Tech amongst its students—were exactly as Vincent Van Ghoul remembered them: open and leading into the vast campus with its numerous marble buildings that had stood for thousands of years, and promised to stand for thousands more.
"Like, wow…" he heard Shaggy say. "I'm guessing these buildings have been magically maintained, right?"
"You would be correct," Vincent said.
"So, would all Ancient Greek buildings have looked like these?" Daphne queried.
"Public buildings, yes," Vincent replied. "…Perhaps sometime, I can use the Time Scepter to let you see Old Athens for yourselves."
"Wow, that sounds neato!" Scrappy exclaimed, excited at the thought. "Don't you think so, Uncle Scooby?"
"Rhuh… sure?" Scooby ventured. He was in no rush to time travel again, but he figured this would be safer than being on the run from Time Slime.
"Well, I'd be for visiting Old Athens, too," Flim-Flam piped up. "I'm sure the rest of Vince's gang will have stories to tell about it, too."
"I can't wait to see everyone together," Daphne grinned. "When we were sealing Chernabog on Halloween, they were too busy to really get a chance to reminisce—and then I dragged them to our Halloween party, so they were spending time with us rather than each other. This class reunion is a great idea for them to look back on old times. …And thanks for bringing us along, Mr. Van Ghoul."
"My pleasure," Vincent insisted. "With you as my heiress and in the midst of your training, I must admit that I'm eager to introduce you and the others to some of my old acquaintances."
"Who else is there for us to meet?" Shaggy wondered. "We've met all of your old gang—or are there others?"
"We didn't restrict ourselves to just socializing with the six of us," Vincent informed him. "As close as you and Daphne are with Fred and Velma, I assume it wasn't just the four of you and Scooby all the time? The six of us had friends in other classes—as I'm sure you did, as well."
"Yeah, we did," Shaggy nodded. "Huh. But you never really talked about anyone else to us."
"Shaggy, I've lived two thousand years—I couldn't possibly tell you all of my life details, now can I?"
Scooby giggled as Shaggy shrugged in agreement.
"Well, I'm looking forward to meeting everyone else, too," Daphne said, eagerly taking in all of the sights of the campus.
Vincent paused to word his thoughts.
"Do keep in mind that you are all mortals," he reminded them. "There are certain people on this campus that I would prefer you not to meet—and that goes double for you, Daphne; you are a mortal who I have chosen as my heiress. Eyebrows will have been raised in mage society, and some of the older members of our society will not appreciate what I've done."
"…Well, I appreciate you looking out for me, at any rate," Daphne sighed, with a smile. "I'll be careful, I promise."
Vincent smiled back.
"That's all I ask."
"Vincent!" a voice called from up ahead. "Kids!"
Miranda Muir was waving to them from outside one of the marble buildings.
Vincent paused for a moment, and Daphne distinctly saw him take a moment to give himself a once-over before waving back. She glanced at Shaggy and Flim-Flam, who had the same knowing smirks that she had.
"It's so good to see you all again. No trouble getting here, I hope?" Miranda asked, as they headed over.
"None at all," Vincent assured her. "Are the others here?"
"Yes—they're waiting inside," she said. Her expression darkened slightly. "The Corinthians are wandering around, too—Baz was looking for you."
Vincent rolled his eyes.
"Is he still sore about… well… everything?"
"So it would seem," Miranda sighed.
"Who's Baz?" Daphne asked.
"My old rival," Vincent sighed. "There were twelve of us in our Advanced Class of 36—the six of us from Athens, and Baz and his gang from Corinth."
"He resented Vincent for being the most skillful of us all—still does, by the sound of it," Miranda said. "But nevermind him; there's no reason for Baz to spoil the fun. The point of this reunion was meeting up with those we want to see again."
She took Vincent by the hand and eagerly led him inside. The youngsters, however, paused for a moment, exchanging glances with each other.
"Did you see Vince making sure his tux was perfect when he saw Miranda?" Flim-Flam grinned, speaking in an undertone.
"I sure did," Daphne grinned back. "It's just like I thought—he still has feelings for her. And I know she has feelings for him—she told me herself."
"So, like, is our master plan a go, then?" Shaggy asked. "We're really gonna try and get 'em back together?"
"You bet we are!" Flim-Flam exclaimed.
"Rhi don't get the fuss," Scooby said, shaking his head.
"Me neither," Scrappy agreed. "They're together right now, aren't they?"
"We mean together together," Shaggy said. "You know…?"
"No…?" Scrappy asked, tilting his head.
Scooby tapped Scrappy on the shoulder.
"Rhi think they mean mushy stuff," he translated.
"Oh. Meh," Scrappy said, uninterested. "Didn't we run around New Orleans trying to keep Mr. Van Ghoul single?"
"This is different," Flim-Flam said. "Nekara was just bad news all around, but Miranda is safe—she and Vince really were together once, so we know that it'll be a perfect match this time!"
"If it's so rherfect, rwhy aren't they 'together together' now?" Scooby asked, shaking his head.
"Because you know how Mr. V is, Scoob—he pushes people away for their own safety, and that's what happened between the two of them," Shaggy reminded him.
"That's right, but we've helped him move past that," Daphne added. "And Vincent has done so much for us—the least we can do is try to get them back together."
"Yeah," Flim-Flam agreed. "C'mon, let's catch up with Vince before he suspects what we're up to!"
"Right," Shaggy said, as he and Daphne led the way inside. "Trust us, Scoob—if this works out, Mr. V will be so happy, and that's something we all want, right?"
"Of rhourse."
"Sure we do!" Scrappy agreed.
"Then just leave everything to us," Daphne finished.
Scooby and Scrappy exchanged glances and shrugged; indeed, this was definitely not their area of knowledge at all, and they were more than willing to let the humans worry about it.
They caught up with Vincent now as he and Miranda were in deep conversation with the rest of their Athenian compatriots—Victor Voudini, Byron Befuddle, Boris Kreepoff, and Alisa Lancaster.
Daphne sighed in contentment as she watched them. Goodness knows that Vincent deserved to have some time for something enjoyable. They'd known the warlock for the last two years, first when he'd helped them capture 12 of 13 demon ghosts that Shaggy and Scooby had accidentally set loose, and then, after that, the gang had stayed to help once Vincent, Voudini, and Boris had been conscripted by the goddess Athena to carry out whatever tasks she assigned to them.
The youngsters had grown close to Vincent over the last two years; he treated them as he would have his own kids, and he'd even taken on Daphne as the heiress of his magical knowledge, despite her being a mortal—a rite of passage that was usually reserved for a mage's own children.
Daphne was jolted from her thoughts as the clamor of a crowd suddenly approached the hall where they were staying.
"Zoinks! Like, we've got company!" Shaggy yelped, seeing a crowd of students descending upon them.
"Ryikes!" Scooby yelped, jumping back towards Vincent.
Flim-Flam and Scrappy managed to stick close to Vincent, as well, but Daphne and Shaggy got jostled away in the crowd. Vincent called to them, but his voice was lost over the squeals and giddy shrieks of the students vying for his attention—as well as the attention of the other Athenians.
"Hey, Vince, I think you can make a clean getaway down that passage before this turns into the witch and warlock version of A Hard Day's Night!" Flim-Flam called.
"That won't be necessary," Vincent sighed. "As an alumnus of this hallowed institution, I would be expected to give the younger generations the benefit of my centuries of knowledge that I have acquired…"
He cast another glance over at Shaggy and Daphne to make sure they were fine, albeit still being jostled by the crowd—the two shrugged and pulled back, deciding to wait until the crowd grew thinner before trying to rejoin Vincent.
"Can't you teleport us back to Mr. V's side?" Shaggy asked.
"I would if I could, but Vincent hasn't taught me how to teleport yet," Daphne pointed out. "Mr. Voudini says it's tougher than it looks. And Mr. Befuddle and Mr. Kreepoff can't even do it; what chance have I got?"
"Yeah, guess so," Shaggy sighed. "Let's see if we can find a way that leads to that back hallway—we can rejoin everyone there."
"It's worth a try," Daphne agreed.
The drew further back from the crowd and turned around the nearest corridor—nearly bumping in to a short, dark-haired witch with a red headband around her head.
"Oh, pardon me, Dears," she said, and then she paused. "Forgive me—are you… mortals?"
"Uh…" the two chorused, not sure if this was someone they wanted to know that they were mortals.
"…You are!" the witch gushed. "This is a landmark for Terror Tech—mortals in these halls after millennia of a highly exclusive admittance restrictions!"
"Oh, we're not students!" Daphne corrected. "We're… guests of one of the alumni here for the reunion."
"Oh? What a pity…" the witch sighed. "Well, I'm glad to see you here, at the very least. I'm here for the reunion, as well." She extended a hand. "Helena Grimwood, of the Advanced Class of 38."
"Nice to meet you, Miss Grimwood," Daphne said, shaking her hand. "I'm Daphne Blake."
"And I'm Norville Rogers," Shaggy added, shaking her hand, too. "But, uh, most people call me Shaggy."
She nodded.
"So, you're guests of one of the alumni, you say?" she asked. "I wonder, which one of us was brave enough to invite mortals here?"
"Vincent Van Ghoul," Daphne informed her.
Miss Grimwood blinked, but then smiled.
"I might have known," she said, shaking her head in amusement. "He was two years ahead of me, but I knew him well. Yes, that's just like him—pushing the boundaries as far as he can. But, I suppose, if he's trying to revolutionize this institution's exclusivity, this is how to start."
"Like, I don't think that's what he's going for," Shaggy admitted. "Mr. V just wanted us to come along with him."
"Oh?" she asked, surprised. "You know him well, then?"
"He's like family to us," Daphne confirmed. "It was sort of a given that he was going to take us along to this reunion—we didn't really stop to wonder if we were allowed to be here. …Are we?"
"Well… the Academy has yet to allow any non-mage to enroll, but you aren't here to enroll," she mused. "…There is no rule that says non-mages aren't allowed on campus as visitors, which, I suspect, is what dear Vincent is taking advantage of—bless him. But if he can get mortals on campus, the next step would be enrollment—and that could lead to my students being able to enroll here, as well!"
"You're a teacher?" Daphne asked.
"I am, to a very special group of girls—and that reminds me…" Miss Grimwood looked to Shaggy for a moment. "Excuse me, Shaggy, but are you, perchance, an athlete?"
"Kinda. I was in high school, but that was a few years ago."
"But you would be able to coach a gym class?"
"Uhhhh…?" Shaggy responded with a noncommittal, confused sound as he shrugged.
"I know it's rather unorthodox, but you don't seem to realize that in giving Vincent's name, you've got the most powerful reference in mage society," she gushed. "I simply must try to ask you to coach my girls. Oh, and you as well, Miss Blake!"
"Oh, I don't know what I could teach them, honestly," Daphne said. "I'm a journalist, and I'm learning magic from Vincent, as well—but I'm certainly not at a level where I can teach that."
Miss Grimwood looked back at her, surprised.
"You're learning magic from Vincent?"
"With a staff," Daphne nodded. She paused. "He's taken me on as his heiress."
"Well!" Miss Grimwood exclaimed. "Good for you! Congratulations, my dear—that is quite the honor! Well, far be it from me to take you away from your studies!" She looked to Shaggy. "And are you learning from him, as well?"
"Just how to cast Protect—I'm not really into learning magic," Shaggy admitted. "I usually just stick around."
"Well, if it's alright with Vincent, I really would appreciate it if you would consider my offer to coach my girls," Miss Grimwood said.
"Uh, well, I'll think about it…" Shaggy said, slightly confused at how the conversation had turned to this.
They continued to discuss it, and Daphne sensed that her role in this conversation had ended; she politely excused herself and continued down the corridor, hoping that it would lead back to Vincent.
They'd barely been at Terror Tech for 15 minutes, and things had already gotten weird—and were likely to get weirder.