A.N. - So that first chapter was a little bit cheery for me right? It's not that I was lulling you into a false sense of security or anything, but well without further ado, I present to you Chapter Two.
A couple of hours later, Velma had decided to join Daphne in taking a nap before the party, and Shaggy and Scooby had gone for a walk along the beach. Fred retired alone back to the room he and Shaggy were sharing, suddenly feeling quite tired himself after his and Daphne's exploits in trapping the Tiki Man.
He hurled the garland to the floor, discarded the hideous shirt and shucked his sandals off, gratefully flopping down onto the soft bed. He was intending to have nothing more than a short little power nap before getting ready. He was just about to close his eyes when he noticed out of the corner of his eye, that there was a light flashing on his laptop, indicating an incoming Skype call. He sighed, pulling himself upwards and hit answer, sitting on the edge of his bed.
After waiting a couple of seconds for the technology to connect, Daphne's half brother Ethan then appeared on Fred's screen, looking tanned, relaxed and happy, direct from Hong Kong where he now lived.
"Hey Ethan," Fred greeted him warmly.
"Fred! Got that Tiki weirdo taken care of yet?"
"Of course, it was the glass bottom boat guy, he had somehow managed to find this ancient sunken wreck with a ton of treasure still stashed on board."
"My god, how cliché! So, now that's out the way with, that means tonight is finally the night isn't it?" Ethan grinned in anticipation. "It's about freaking time Jones!"
"You know me Ethan," Fred replied, unable to hide his own excitement now despite his tiredness. "It's all in the planning for me, and everything HAS to be perfect. I finally found the absolute perfect spot today and I think now, I'm ready. Of course, I had to go through all the proper er, preparations first."
"I still can't believe you even thought you had to ask for my permission!" Ethan exclaimed loudly. "Let me just have a moment to think whether I approve of my sister marrying the man who, SINGLE HANDEDLY, let's not forget, saved my life before his own when my deranged uncle kidnapped us both..." He paused dramatically as if he was actually considering this, before shaking his head. "Like 'duh' Freddy!" Ethan teased him good naturedly.
Fred's cheeks tinted with crimson and he hoped Ethan didn't notice. He never liked to be thought of as a 'hero' about that night, he never liked to think about his memories of that particular ordeal at all any more. He knew Ethan would never let him forget his bravery however.
"Well, it is tradition," Fred murmured, feeling saddened for Daphne that there was no way he could have truly followed tradition and asked her father's permission.
"In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret," Ethan smiled mysteriously. "I told Daphne she should marry you, right on that very night at the hospital after you were all rescued."
Fred was swiftly dumbfounded. "Really? You don't think that would have been, well, a little too soon?"
"You two are golden, trust me. I knew it from the very night we met, from how you were looking at her. You and her, it's definitely meant to be."
Fred felt a pleasant warm glow burn his cheeks from Ethan's words. 'Soul mates' is exactly how he saw himself and Daphne, but it was nice that others saw it that way too.
"Well, I just hope she says yes," he replied a little shyly, a response which had Ethan rolling his eyes back dramatically.
"Jeez Fred, it's not even in question! She loves you. She's probably actually loved you longer than even she realises. OF COURSE she is going to say yes! Now...come on, you promised, show me the ring already dammit!"
Ethan bounced in his seat impatiently as Fred then stood up and glanced every which way around him, fearing Daphne could walk in at any moment even though he knew he was alone. Finally, he felt safe enough, and went to retrieve the box from where it was nestled deep inside his suitcase under a false flap.
He carried the tiny box back over to his laptop, handling it as gingerly and carefully as if he feared one slight stumble could actually destroy the precious jewel inside, despite the fact it was more than adequately protected on a little cushion of velvet.
He gently snapped back the lid, holding the contents directly in front of the camera for Ethan to see.
Whilst both Velma and Shaggy had, earlier on the trip, professed SOME enthusiasm and admiration for Fred's choice of ring, Ethan left him in no doubt of his own approval.
First, there was a little gathered intake of breath in anticipation before his eyes actually widened and his hands clapped together in obvious delight. There was an actual little squeal before he heard his words.
"Oh Freddy it's GORGEOUS!" he screamed at a volume that had Fred surreptitiously reaching for the volume control.
"You like?" Fred asked, but already knowing his response.
"I LOVE," Ethan gushed. "I know she will love it too. You did good Jones."
"Thanks Ethan. It means a lot to have your approval."
Ethan grinned back, looking like he wanted to say something further but then his eyes travelled away from the screen. Fred guessed he was looking at something on his cell phone, he looked temporarily annoyed, before he smiled into the camera again.
"Listen Fred, I gotta go now but I want to hear DE-TAILS later, you hear me? You need to tell me absolutely everything, okay? Good Luck!" Ethan sounded more like a gossipy teenage girl in that moment, rather than a man with a respected job approaching thirty.
"Sure thing Ethan, see you..." but Fred hadn't even completed his sentence before Ethan's face disappeared, having so abruptly disconnected the Skype call.
Fred stared at the black screen for a few more seconds, briefly worrying about what message Ethan could have received that would cause him to end the conversation in such a hurry, but soon reflected that as Ethan was so dedicated to his job, he figured it was likely to be that.
He shrugged to himself, closed the laptop, and set about getting ready, showering quickly and then changing into his favourite shirt. He applied aftershave and was stood in front of the mirror nervously styling his hair, when he almost jumped out of his skin at a loud rapping on the door. His eyes immediately darted to the ring, which he had yet to conceal again, lying open, sparkling in it's box on the bed.
He launched himself across the bed to grab it, hollering "just a minute!" the panic in his voice notable for anyone to hear.
"Relax man, it's just me!" Shaggy's voice came through loud and clear from the other side.
Fred exhaled in relief and went to let him in. Shaggy was dressed ready for the party in a casual red shirt and he nodded approvingly at Fred's outfit as he entered. "Hmm nice! Somebody scrubs up well!"
"You don't think it's too casual?" Fred asked, looking truly a little flustered.
"We're in Hawaii Fred, I don't think a dinner jacket and trousers are the required attire here," Shaggy dead-panned.
Fred was dressed in a crisp, navy blue buttoned shirt and dark, black chino shorts, he placed the ring box carefully into his side pocket and felt the conspicuous lump straight away on his hip.
"Oh god!" he fretted, "it's too obvious isn't it?!"
"It's fine Fred, you can't see it, trust me," Shaggy reassured him.
"Okay," Fred seemed satisfied before moving on to something else to stress about. "And you're sure you know the plan?"
Shaggy recited it perfectly. "We're going to the beach party. After a while, Velma will suddenly declare a need for a 'heart to heart chat' with Daphne and take her off for a long walk. As soon as she does, you and I will help set everything up at the cove. Velma will give me a text to say she's on her way. I go back, we send Scooby to you as a signal that's she coming to you. Sorted."
"Good," Fred nodded, giving him a weak smile and Shaggy reached forward and grasped his slightly shorter friend's shoulders.
"Freddy, relax!" He commanded, looking into his crystal blue eyes. "I've seen you go up against multiple crazies, hell-bent on killing us, and you haven't looked anywhere near as jittery as you do right now! Daphne loves you," Shaggy echoed Ethan's words gently. "What you have planned is special, She will love it. Stop being so freaking skittish man!"
Fred didn't look to be any calmer despite Shaggy's wise words so he continued to try and help him, remembering some relaxation techniques the girls had shown him once to try calm him before a particularly fraught conclusion to a mystery. "Just breathe Fred...slowly...in and out buddy...just breathe deeply."
Shaggy kept his hands on Fred's shoulders whilst instructing him and after doing it for a few minutes, Shaggy was taken aback when Fred suddenly pulled him in for a warm hug instead.
"Thank you Shaggy, thanks for always being there. I was lousy with what I said earlier, I know that you would never deliberately leave Daphne in danger, it was such a jerk thing to say."
"It's no sweat Freddy, I understand. Say, how did you enjoy being bait?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Fred pulled away from him and made a face. "Oh my god Shaggy! While I'm always open to switching the teams up, we are NOT doing that again. I pulled a stitch almost straight away! How the hell do you and Scooby run so fast?!"
"Years of practice," Shaggy grinned. "You know, doing the trap isn't as easy as I first thought either. I was sweating so much over the timings, I almost messed it up completely."
"Yeah. Let's put our skills to where they are most suited in the future, hey?"
"Deal."
The two friends smiled at each other and shook hands as their host Makani put his head around the door somewhat impatiently.
"Are you boys ready to party yet? The young ladies are already there!"
Fred gave him a cheesy thumbs up before turning to Shaggy for one final desperate seal of approval.
"How does my hair look? Honestly? Too much gel? Not enough?" He had that panicked look on his face again and Shaggy laughed, grabbing his arm to pull him outside.
"Honestly Fred, I bet Daphne got ready quicker than you tonight and we both know that's saying something. Let's go."
Fred nodded and followed him, "but it does look okay right?"
Shaggy ignored him.
…...
A short time after, after a lot of eating of delicious food and some dancing at the beach party Makani had assembled to thank them, the gang were winding down by regaling Makani, Akamu and their friends with tales from some of their previous adventures.
Their hosts listened with mostly rapt attention, astonished at some of the stories they were telling. They were all sat on logs around a roaring fire now, each member taking it in turns to recall a memory.
Velma was sounding particularly enthused as she spoke warmly of some of the outrageous things they had encountered so far.
"I think my favourite 'villain' has to be the guy who dressed as a skeleton space alien in an astronaut suit, dripping with phosphorous paint. I mean, his costume was pure art as far as I'm concerned. The effort he put in was nothing short of phenomenal. How did that laugh go again Shaggy?!"
Shaggy did a perfect impersonation of the freak's nightmare inducing laugh, causing Scooby's ears to prick up and wobble in alarm.
"If we're giving out an 'A' for effort, mine would have to go to the 'vampire' twins who wrecked a music video shoot," Daphne reflected. "I mean, not only had the guy convinced himself that dressing up as a vampire was a perfectly plausible way to stake a claim for this castle, he also convinced his twin brother to do exactly the same," she exclaimed. "What about you Freddy?"
Fred looked thoughtful, taking a long moment to think about some of the mysteries they had unravelled both abroad in the last two years and also the first year spent doing likewise in Coolsville. Did he go with a particularly perilous one to make them seem even more daring and heroic? Or, go for something so truly outlandish that if they weren't participants in it, would never have believed it themselves?
In the end he settled for, what was for him, one of their more memorable cases.
"My favourite investigation," he began with a grin, "are the ice cream ghosts."
"Ice cream ghosts?" Akamu said incredulously with a shake of his head. Spacemen? Vampires? It was only getting weirder it seemed.
"Sure," Shaggy nodded,counting them off on his fingers, "a vanilla one, a chocolate one and a strawberry one."
"Uh huh," Akamu nodded skeptically.
Fred continued the story. "The costumes weren't all that, just your standard issue phantom Scream esque mask, nothing too scary."
Rhmph! Reak Ror Rorself Reddy!" Scooby interrupted crossly.
Fred chuckled at Scooby's reaction. "Okay, sure I guess they were quite creepy. Anyway, we'd been hired by the owners of the ice cream factory to investigate this 'haunting'. I mean, no points for any scare story ingenuity here, no 'legend of the ice cream ghosts' but anyway, these spooks were clearly after something."
Despite the inconceivable ghostly elements of the story, their Hawaiian hosts were very much intrigued.
"Go on Fred, what was it?" Makani asked.
"Well," Fred said, getting straight to the punchline. "Turns out, the 'ghosts' were a bunch of bank robbers. Not unusual for us but this is pretty ingenuous actually. These robbers had actually jacked a couple of the security vans and hidden them in the ice cream factory. Goodness knows where they got the idea from, but then they dressed up as these ghosts whilst they repainted the security vans to look like the company ice cream trucks to then smuggle out innocently. They probably would have got away with it too..."
"If it wasn't for us meddling kids," Shaggy finished wryly as they all laughed. "Guess it's my turn hey?" he said as they all looked to him. Whilst Velma, Daphne and Fred seemed to be looking back on their adventures with a rosy retrospection, Shaggy's immediate thoughts when he thought about their adventures were not positive ones, he didn't remember the triumphant captures first. No, his immediate abiding memories were of the terror they faced.
Of dangling off a cliff face together, each member clinging onto the other with just their fingertips.
Of the time Daphne was actually kidnapped, by some terrifying gondolier thief in Venice, and how Fred had gone out of his mind as they ripped up Venice trying to find her.
Of the Chinese hoodlums who thought nothing of blowing himself and Scooby up.
Of the many times the combined intellect of Fred and Velma had nearly got them killed as they stopped some dastardly scheme.
It was difficult not to think of the moments like that. What they did as a group investigating these strange... situations. It was downright dangerous at times. But, Shaggy knew this wasn't a time to reflect on that so he forced himself to think of something that made him smile about their adventures.
"I guess the Werewolf smuggling operation was pretty cool," he revealed, thinking about one of their earliest cases while they were still in Coolsville. "Dude dressed as a werewolf, fake fur, dyed it green, ripped clothes. Very scary. He and his pals were smuggling sheep in little barrels down the river. Even had little tubes so they could breathe."
"Astonishing." Akamu commented. "Where do these people get their kooky ideas from?"
"More to the point," Makani interrupted, "I do not understand how do you keep finding all these strange people and why they do this?"
"Well, it's kind of become our 'thing' to solve these mysteries," Fred explained to him. "We make it our business to search out these strange goings on and investigate them, kind of like how we showed up in Hawaii. People in Coolsville also started to hire us when they heard what we do. As for what they want?" he shrugged, looking around at the others before continuing. "Like you've heard some of the reasons from us already, but it's all sorts of things. Scaring people away after finding something valuable is a big one...oh and real estate! The best way to convince someone to sell you land is clearly to haunt the area with whatever freak comes to mind, bonus points if there's a local legend to exploit."
"But isn't it dangerous?" Akamu asked the obvious question.
The gang again exchanged glances, perhaps all silently reflecting on the dangerous moments they had faced, especially the terrifying escapade that had started it all three years ago. They had all stared death in the face that night, especially the captive Fred. It was their first adventure together and still the scariest, and it was undoubtedly the first thing that came to mind when anyone spoke of danger.
Finally Fred spoke again, his expression serious now. "Sure it is. The people who we stop, well they're criminal and often desperate. As a result of our, ah, interfering, between us all we've been beaten..."
"Kidnapped..." chimed Daphne with a shudder.
"Nearly drowned..." gasped Shaggy.
"Broken plenty of bones..." added Velma.
"'Rown Rup!" exclaimed Scooby.
Makani and Akamu looked at them all like they were all stark raving crazy before Makani cleared his throat. "So, pardon me for being so frank friends, but...why the fuck are you still doing this?"
There was an immediate uncomfortable silence.
Fred had to admit it was a question he often asked himself after a particularly dangerous one. Why, especially after what happened in Coolsville, did they constantly put their lives on the line, time and time again? Did he secretly like the adrenaline rush that dicing so closely with death, frequently gave him?
Luckily, Velma had a more considered and reflective answer to hand. "For me, it's the togetherness, the sense of belonging," she started, almost wistfully. "Knowing that no matter how much crap we fall into, we're always there to bail each other out. The sense of accomplishment and pride of thwarting sometimes, quite wicked, life-threatening schemes is something hard to give up too."
The others nodded warmly in agreement and Makani smiled politely at them like he understood now, but in his mind he was wondering why they couldn't take up less dangerous group activities together.
Like extreme rock climbing for example.
The conversation naturally died out then and Fred stretched back, looking up to the stars and sighed contentedly, "wow this sure is a beautiful place."
Velma jolted sharply from her daydream reminiscing about the gang's adventures, recognising Fred's code phrase to get the plan in motion. She turned to Daphne who was sitting besides her on the log and asked her quietly. "Daphne, could we take a walk? I wanted to talk to you about something."
Daphne jumped up immediately, thrilled that Velma was finally going to open up to her.
"Sure Velma! Maybe we could head to that little peaceful cove I found."
Fred looked immediately panicked by her words but fortunately was sitting behind where Daphne now stood so she couldn't see his reaction.
"Uh...no!" Velma stumbled over her words nervously. "I mean, if it's okay with you, couldn't we just take a walk through the jungle? I find the trees really, ah, therapeutic."
It was the first time Daphne had heard her friend ever express a keenness for foliage, but she went with it gamely.
"Whatever you want Velma. You guys will be okay without us?" She asked, turning to look at Freddy, Shaggy, Scooby and their hosts who were looking totally chilled out, spilled across the logs.
"Of course, see you later," Fred gave a lazy wave, giving the impression he wasn't ready to move for a while.
He watched Velma deftly lead Daphne in the opposite direction to the cove and waited until he could see no hint of their shadows.
As soon as he was confident they were gone, he jumped up with nervous purpose, swinging his legs around off the log. "Okay guys, let's go!" he signalled and all the boys quickly retreated from the campfire to head to the cove.
Velma waited until they were a long way from the party before she spoke. It was something of a ruse to keep Daphne away first and foremost, but she did want to use the opportunity to have a heart to heart with Daphne. She tried to mentally rehearse in her head what she wanted to say to her best friend and failed miserably; she was absolutely hopeless at any of this kind of 'opening your emotions up' crap.
"So..." Velma started tentatively and Daphne waited patiently for more as they strolled leisurely. "I'm sure you noticed an, um tension, between Shaggy and I today..."
"Mmm hmm," Daphne nodded, trying to sound indifferent.
"And I'm sure you and Fred are wondering what the hell that's all about and well..." Velma decided to throw caution to the wind and just came straight out with it, loudly blurting, "we slept together again last night!"
Daphne stopped walking and gasped at Velma. "Oh!" She had not been expecting that. "But Velms," Daphne probed gently. "Isn't that a good thing? Did you want to sleep with him?"
"No, I mean yes, I did, I do..."
"So, what's the problem?" Her red headed friend asked, with genuine confusion on her face.
"The problem is how I handle it Daph! I just panic! Instead of just enjoying waking up with him, I was too busy shoving him out the door so he was back in his own room before Fred woke up. Which I know is ridiculous because you guys don't even care, I know we have nothing to hide."
"Velma, how do you feel about Shaggy?" Daphne asked quite bluntly, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
Velma visibly squirmed at Daphne's question, it was such a simple one but she didn't know if she could answer it honestly. She wasn't sure if she knew in her own heart, what her true feelings were because she pressed the 'emergency release button' every time there was a chance of them becoming something closer.
"I do really care for him," she eventually admitted. "I care a lot about him, we've always had a connection, a spark..."
"Buuuuut..." Daphne supplied, an eyebrow raised, sensing a monumental rebuttal coming here.
"But, I'm terrified of commitment. As soon as there's a sniff of developing into an actual relationship, I push him away so hard and so hatefully, it takes days to recover even our friendship again. I turn into the monsters that we hunt. I'm terrified of being hurt myself but I hurt him so much. We tried a relationship once remember? And it didn't work."
"And was that because you decided you weren't right for each other?" Daphne probed.
"No."
"Because he hurt you?"
"No! Absolutely not."
"Because there were three in your relationship?" Daphne asked, waggling her eyebrows with a slight smile, getting one in return from Velma momentarily.
"Aha no, I mean yes, there was, we all know that, but no, it certainly wasn't because of Scooby Doo either."
"Then what Velma?" Daphne asked gently. "Why did your relationship with Shaggy end so abruptly?"
Velma took a deep breath before replying, she bit her lip hard to prevent tears, she knew it was so stupid.
"Because he told me that he loved me. Shaggy told me that he loved me and so the next day, I broke up with him."
Daphne put her arm around her friend sympathetically. "Oh Velma..."
"I know right, as if that isn't the most fucked up reaction to hearing those three little words. God, I'm so damaged."
Damaged.
There it was thought Daphne.
That single word was so revealing, it hinted a little at the backstory Velma had vehemently kept to herself, secrets she had locked away. Even after all this time and with how deep their friendship as a group had flourished, Velma had revealed nothing of 'her story', her family, her background, nothing at all.
And that was fine.
While they all secretly wondered, nobody had probed further, it was private. Velma Dinkley was the biggest unsolved mystery of all, was she finally about to at least peel a layer back?
"Velma, I'm sure that's not true, and besides look at who you're talking to! Being damaged runs in my family, remember?" Daphne replied with a grimace.
"There was somebody else," Velma revealed bluntly. "Before Shaggy and Fred and the petty thieving. He hurt me, he hurt someone very dear to me actually and it's made me SO wary. I know that Shaggy is nothing like Patrick, he would never do anything as terrible as what he did to me, but it doesn't stop me panicking when things get serious. I end it because I can't let someone get that deep in my heart again but the problem is, he already is. I think I DO love him Daphne! But I can't let myself love him..."
Daphne hugged her tightly. "Velma, you can't keep letting bad memories of your past, shape your future. You don't have to tell me what happened with this Patrick...but I want to help you, you're my best friend and I hate to see you unhappy like this."
Velma knew Daphne was absolutely sincere and knew if she was going to tell anyone about her past, it would be her, but she had hidden it for so long, where could she even begin? She took a deep breath and sat down on the sandy ground, Daphne instantly sitting beside her and grabbed her hand supportively.
Before Velma could even begin, the leaves rustled loudly and both girls went on immediate alert, although they had neutralised the threat of the Tiki Man, that didn't mean they were now going to let their guard down. They both jumped to their feet, Daphne fumbled in her purse for some mace, Velma grabbed a hefty looking fallen branch and held it aloft, bracing herself.
A figure eventually emerged from the darkness and as the girls stood poised to attack, they realised at once it was friend not foe and dropped their weapons in relief.
"Makani! You scared us!" Velma told their host, recovering quickly from the intrusion, remembering this chat was only a pretense. Makani retrieving them wasn't part of Fred's original plan, she was quite confident about that. Had they really been that long that he had to send Makani to get them back?
Makani apologised profusely for scaring them but remained very serious looking which put the girls on edge.
"Miss Daphne, Miss Velma," he exclaimed, speaking quickly. "I must ask, what is the name of your village again?"
Makani had insisted on referring to everywhere as a 'village' because that's all he knew and they didn't correct him question however did nothing to quell the girls' building fear, it was obvious from Makani's expression that something was very, very wrong.
"Makani, what is it? Is everything okay?" Daphne asked anxiously.
"Your village," he pressed agitatedly, "the name, what was the name!"
Daphne and Velma looked at each other in fear, before Velma supplied the answer.
"Coolsville," she answered quietly. Makani looked grim at once.
"I thought so. Come, come, there is something you need to see." He waved them through the trees, indicating they should follow him. Without hesitation, the girls quickly followed Makani back to camp in an eerie silence. Only as they neared the village again, did he offer some kind of further explanation whilst still remaining vague on the details.
"Akamu, he was watching the TV news tonight, he recognised the name. You need to see this for yourselves."
Feeling incredibly uneasy, the girls raced into the bar with a handful of heavy TV screens dotted around it. Shaggy and Scooby were already sitting there, watching wordlessly. The TV report was playing out silently on every screen.
Daphne watched the pictures in disbelief, refusing to take in the breaking news banner that scrolled the horrendous details over and over in capital letters again and again. Even the normally professional news reporter looked truly shaken as she detailed the events.
Daphne looked around at her friend's reactions, Shaggy had his hand over his mouth, even Scooby looked troubled and worried, sensing Shaggy's fear. Velma had said nothing but tears stained her face and Shaggy slowly got up and put his arm around her when he saw her, and she buried herself in his embrace.
With a jolt, Daphne realised Freddy was nowhere to be seen. With a dry mouth she asked where he was and Shaggy looked even sadder.
"Oh man, Fred. He's uh, he uh took a walk," he said lamely, exchanging glances with Makani and Akamu. "He doesn't know. Look Scooby Doo," he instructed his dog, his own eyes now reddening from tears he never even realised had fallen.
"Scooby, you gotta go bring Fred back," he commanded sadly and the dog raced away obediently.
It had been almost half an hour since Shaggy, Scooby, Makani and Akamu had left Fred alone at the beach, after helping him to decorate the cove and with each minute gone, Fred's anxieties were building again.
They had hung lots of delicate little tea lights that lit up the cove just enough and had helped set up a beautiful, romantic picnic, just by the water's edge that she had so admired earlier today.
He sat there now, his toes sprinkled with water by the gentle, lapping waves, looking out at the still, starry skies.
It was a beautiful setting. But what if it was all too much? What if Daphne disagreed with the idea of marriage altogether? They were still young, what if she believed it was too soon? He didn't think his heart could go through the crushing disappointment of her saying no. He was just beginning to remove the stones he had spent ages painstakingly re-arranging into a message, having now decided it was definitely a tacky way to propose, when a blur of movement caught his eye. Scooby.
Screw it. It was too late now. Get a grip of yourself Jones! he silently admonished himself, sliding the stone back into place with his bare foot and hurrying to greet the dog, running a comb nervously through his hair once again as he did so.
Knowing Daphne was only seconds away now, it should have sent his over reactive heart into somersaults, but strangely, a serenity now settled over him; he was going to ask the love of his life to marry him. He had never wanted anything more in his young life so far. He felt his face naturally break out into a smile now, and all of his previous anxieties just seemed to melt away like the gently lapping waves of the ocean.
"Scooby! My old buddy!" he greeted him jovially, arms outstretched, anticipating the hound's leap into his arms, such is his customary greeting now.
But there was no leap of joy from the Great Dane.
Instead Scooby trotted towards him sorrowfully, and he felt his happiness dissipate rapidly. His thoughts at once landed on Daphne and he knew fear was already consuming him. He had never been so grateful for a dog that could 'talk' in all his life.
Desperately trying to remain calm, he bent down and laid a hand on the dog's collar who had sat down solemnly in front of him now.
"Scooby, what is it boy, is it Daph, the others?"
Scooby shook his head and Fred felt a fleeting moment of relief but the dog remained stoic.
"Then what is it Scoob?"
Scooby looked at his dear friend in front of him, the alarm now rapidly spreading across his handsome features. A few minutes ago, he knew the boy had excitedly been preparing for the most important moment of his life, a moment that was undoubtedly going to be the happiest of his life. Instead, Scooby knew he was now here to shatter his world.
He watched Freddy's face fall in despair as he took in the crushing news he delivered painfully.
"It's Roolsville Red, it's runder rattack."
A.N. And there it is...a lovely moment of happiness cruelly stolen away by the evil author, I'm so sorry, I did say ultimately this is a dark tale, but don't worry there will still be moments of light in the darkness to come. Some anyway. Please review.