A/N: Quick weekend update and a shorter than usual chapter from me, enjoy!

"He's missing?" Velma felt an undeniable jolt of fear run through her at Daphne's revelation but tried not to let it show. With the attack on Coolsville as recently as last night, it was hardly likely to be a coincidence that something had now happened to Ethan too, but she didn't dare share this hypothesis with Daphne.

Daphne for her part was still remaining remarkably composed, even as she revealed the next chilling piece of information she had been given, to the gang.

"Yes, uh, I had told Freddy earlier that his friend had sent me a message to say he hadn't shown up for work that morning. Well, apparently because of the nature of Ethan's work, his disappearance was then immediately reported to the local police and subsequently, the Embassy."

She spoke calmly, Fred had wrapped his arm reassuringly around her shoulders, but like Velma, he too had a very foreboding feeling about this unfortunate double turn of events.

"And uh that's not all," Daphne continued, her voice not even faltering. "The American Embassy, they informed me that his uh, his motorcycle has already been located."

"Oh but like that's good news right? It means they'll have a better chance of finding him quickly?" Shaggy asked her hopefully but his face dropped when she sadly shook her head at him.

"Um no Shaggy, er not really, the thing is they found his motorcycle, or uh, what's left of it, at the bottom of a cliff face overlooking the sea." She declared as mundanely as if she was reading today's weather forecast, much to the absolute horror of everyone else.

"Oh my god Daphne, I'm so sorry," Velma breathed.

Fred immediately felt empty inside, he kept hold of Daphne, wrapping her into his arms now but tears pricked the back of his own eyes as he felt an instant overwhelming sense of grief in his heart, for Daphne's loss, and ultimately for a man who had become a very close friend of his.

When Fred released her from the hug however, Daphne did not cry, she did not even look shaken. Fred worried that she had gone into shock, unable to grieve properly but it was perhaps worse than that, he very quickly realised.

"It just means it will be harder for us to track him down," she continued to speak matter of factly, like they were just planning another mystery and Fred's insides twisted inside out as he realised with a feeling of abhorrence, that she was simply not even accepting the possibility that Ethan was dead.

"But Daphne..." Velma ventured, and he silently shook his head 'no' at her, and Velma wisely closed her mouth again.

"Of course, we still need to figure out what's going on in Coolsville," Daphne mused thoughtfully, while her friends were still reeling; Fred was actually doing his level best not to cry in front of her, when she completely startled him by giggling softly.

Usually he couldn't get enough of her adorable little laugh but it was completely out of place in an already sombre atmosphere and she looked to him with a girlish smile.

"Sorry Freddy but I am going to have to say it. I think we need to split up gang!"

The others continued to gape at her in consternation, not even sure what to say as she continued. "I mean this is probably going to be the biggest split we have ever undertaken. Velma, Shaggy, you take Scooby on our intended flight and head back to Coolsville. Fred and I will go to Hong Kong and find Ethan and then we can all join you there."

Daphne had just unveiled a plan as calmly and as casually as if they were once again stood in some 'haunted' mansion and they had just decided that herself and Fred would search upstairs, whilst Velma and the guys searched downstairs. In reality, she had just instructed them to split up onto two different sides of the world and Shaggy, Velma and Fred were left stunned by her cold pragmatism in the face of such distressing news.

Again, Velma desperately wanted to say something but she had to just bite her tongue and instead she just nodded weakly at Daphne. "Sure thing Daph."

Daphne smiled at her and then gently moved out of Fred's arms, "I'm just going to go see if we can grab a couple of tickets to Hong Kong."

Fred kissed her on the cheek absently, still struggling to process everything himself. He watched her walk over to the queue for the sales desk and then turned back to find Shaggy and Velma also watching her sadly.

He felt completely numb inside, the news about Coolsville had been bad enough but this had taken his breath away.

Not Ethan, please not Ethan

He realised he had released a tear, and he reached up to angrily swipe it from his cheek. He could deal with his own emotions later, Daphne was his concern right now and clearly his friends felt the same way.

"Oh god Fred, she's in denial, the poor thing, what are you going to do?" Velma asked, her face creasing with worry for her friend.

"Nothing," Fred replied to the obvious surprise of his friends.

"Nothing?" repeated Shaggy. "You're really going to let Daph travel all the way to Japan, thinking she's going to bring Ethan back?"

"What choice do I have?" Fred said quietly, still wrestling with his own feelings of grief about Ethan being gone. "Besides," he reasoned, knowing how ridiculous his next assertion would sound, "he's not definitely dead is he?"

Velma and Shaggy gaped at him with obvious alarm.

"Oh Fred, not you too," Velma sighed. "His motorcycle was found at the bottom of a steep cliff. People don't just walk away from those kind of accidents!"

"Perhaps not," Fred agreed. "But, until we know for sure, I have to continue to allow her to have some kind of hope." And allow myself some hope he silently thought in his head.

"Fred..." Velma cautioned but Fred shook his head to stop the tears that were threatening to leak from his eyes like a fast flowing river now.

"Look guys, I'm not delusional. I know it's likely that Ethan is probably dead but...I can't shatter Daphne, not now, not after what happened in Coolsville. Until we know otherwise, I have to let her hope he could still be alive.

Please don't say anything to her, I know it's not ideal but we've got to do this. She needs to be in Japan and I have to go with her."

Velma and Shaggy nodded their understanding but Velma especially felt unsettled and apprehensive. They already knew returning to Coolsville was going to be dangerous and fraught with difficulty but she had felt reasonably secure knowing they were all going together. The thought of Daphne and Fred now being absent from the trip, gave her monumental cause for concern. Not least because that now meant she would be alone with Shaggy. Secretly that morning, she had already asked Daphne if she could sit with her on the plane home as they had been given pairs of seats. Daphne had happily agreed, although they hadn't yet told the boys. Now, she was facing up to five hours alone with Shaggy in an enclosed space. Her social anxiety made the very thought a nauseous one but she couldn't let it show, instead she simply said resolutely.

"Of course, we understand Freddy."

"Thanks guys, I think as far as she's concerned, we're going to Japan to investigate a missing person..." He glanced over at the desk, frowning when he saw Daphne pause in the line instead of stepping forward, causing a few people to start angrily shouting at her. "Look, I'm going over to see if she's okay, but remember for Daph's sake, don't break her heart please? Let's just pretend that what we are doing is completely and totally normal. "

Shaggy and Velma exchanged looks as Fred jogged over to Daphne.

He caught up to her side quickly as still in a little daze, she finally slowly stepped forward uncertainly.

"Hey honey, can I help you?" the desk clerk asked kindly.

Fred gently steered Daphne by the elbow, edging her to the desk, snapping her out of her reverie, and they both now stood in front of the young sales girl.

"Yes you can," Fred said, giving her a kilowatt smile as he took charge. "I know this is very, very last minute but we need tickets on your next available flight to Hong Kong, direct or indirect."

"Oh wow, you don't ask for much do you handsome?" the young girl smiled widely at him. Fred sneaked a sideways glance to his left at Daphne, the innocent flirting that usually prompted something of a catty remark in return, didn't even cause her to as much as flinch right now.

He smiled politely as the clerk searched through booking information on her screen.

"Okay, so the only available seats I have are with a layover In Manila, the last minute fare is $685 dollars each and departs in five hours time, any good?"

"That's perfect," Fred sighed relieved, reaching into his wallet to hand over his card. "That was lucky to grab two seats together!"

"Ah," the girl smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry sir but these are the last available single two seats on the whole of the flight. One is at the front, the other is nearer the rear."

Fred's face fell. "Oh no, then that won't do, see we have to sit together."

The girl was less sympathetic now, sensing an awkward customer. "I'm sure you do sir, couples like you always do," she replied unnecessarily, narrowing her eyes at Daphne jealously.

"No, you don't understand," he remonstrated, his voice rising louder now. "She's just had some bad news and I need to be with her at all..."

Daphne laid a hand on his arm gently, finally finding her voice again. "It's fine Freddy, honestly, I'll be OK."

"No Daphne, it's a ten hour flight, that's too long for you to be by yourself!" Fred knew he sounded dangerously possessive but he didn't care, he didn't want Daphne alone with her thoughts for such a long time.

"Sir, I can assure you, your girlfriend will be perfectly safe at the rear of the plane. Look, you're holding the line up sir, do you want these tickets or not?" The girl asked nothing but impatience on her face and in her tone of voice now.

"We'll take them," Daphne confirmed serenely, holding Fred's hand and looking to him reassuringly. "Babe, I'll be fine, I'll just sleep, I promise. You know we could be waiting days for a flight seated together."

Fred knew he couldn't keep Daphne waiting and it was imperative that they got to Hong Kong as quickly as possible. He reluctantly handed over his card and their passports with a tight smile to purchase the seats, before making their way back to Shaggy and Velma.

"This isn't healthy," Shaggy warned as soon as Fred was out of earshot, he was not liking Fred's 'just let Daph pretend it's not happening' strategy one little bit. "It's going to hit her like a ton of bricks eventually, I hope Fred knows he's going to have to be the strongest he's ever been for her."

"He'll be there for her, he'll always be there for her," Velma murmured. "God, I can't believe Ethan's gone. How has everything gone so wrong in a matter of hours Shaggy?! We should be standing in the airport now preparing to fly home in celebration after our friends' engagement. Instead, we're flying home alone because Coolsville has been attacked, and our distinctly not engaged friends have to go to Hong Kong to find out if Ethan is really dead. I just knew our lives right now were too good to be true." she added almost wistfully, catching Shaggy off-guard with the sentiment.

"Too good to be true?" He scoffed scornfully, immediately causing a now withdrawn Scooby Doo to turn away forlornly. "You really thought our lives, punctuated by danger around every corner, were fucking too good to be true?"

Velma inwardly reeled at the venomous nature of Shaggy's words but remained calm.

"I just meant we were having fun, together as a group, no commitments. We were all happy..."

"We were?" Shaggy was incredulous now. "I swear you actually get off on the dangerous parts of what we do...do you actually ENJOY it?! You know what, don't answer that...putting aside the batshit crazy things we do for a living, you still thought we were happy...sure Fred and Daph are...but us?"

"Don't Shaggy," she said quietly, unable to look at him, she was watching Fred who looked look like he was arguing with the sales clerk now. "Now isn't the time..."

"It's never the time though is it Velma?" Shaggy grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him before continuing furiously. "I'm sick of you crawling into my bed, telling me that things will be different this time only for you to freak out the next day. And stupid me keeps falling for it every freaking time!"

"Shaggy, stop...it's co..."

"Complicated? Yeh I know, don't I fucking know it," he cut in resentfully, making Velma cringe.

She saw Fred walking back with Daphne purposefully now and tried to put aside her hurt feelings. "Shaggy," she begged, "this really isn't the time. We'll talk...I promise."

"When?" Shaggy hissed as they approached. "When is the right time?"

Velma swallowed nervously, making a commitment to discussing it later. "The plane," she whispered, "we'll talk about it on the plane OK?"

The answer seemed to satisfy Shaggy who nodded as Fred and Daphne returned.

"Okay, we got ourselves on a flight," Fred confirmed, "we fly in five hours time. Shall we walk Scooby now?"

Shaggy led the way awkwardly with Scooby on the lead as they headed back outside the terminal. Fred walked next to Shaggy and Daphne grabbed Velma's elbow urgently, the obvious animosity between Shaggy and Velma had not gone unnoticed by her, despite her distractedness.

"Vel," she said breathlessly, "are you going to be OK with Shaggy?On your own, I mean? It looked like there's still some tension between you."

" Oh and some," Velma smiled ruefully, "but you know what Daph? This is serious, we're going to need each other now no matter what. I think we're both going to have to swallow some pride. Coolsville needs Mystery Inc. and although they're not getting the full package, they need us, so I think we need to just get over ourselves."

Daphne smiled proudly at her friend and hugged her to her breast. "I love you Velma. So you'll talk?"

"On the plane, we've got five hours, I figure by the time we land we will have reached an understanding, I hope."

"Are you going to tell him...you know...everything?"

"I'm not sure, we'll see how it goes."

"Let me know."

"Of course, and Daphne?"

Daphne turned back to Velma with a smile on her face and Velma faltered, unable to say what she truly wanted. "I hope you find Ethan soon."

After the short walk, Shaggy took Scooby to be processed for boarding cargo, leaving Fred, Velma and Daphne alone. They knew they had just about an hour left all together before Shaggy and Velma would depart for Los Angeles. News of the attack in Coolsville was hard to avoid, discussions about it were taking place all around them, and it was still playing out on screens around Honolulu Airport. After their initial research last night and the horrifying discovery that Stella had lied about the truth of how things were going in Coolsville, they hadn't yet dug any deeper preferring to start it all afresh when they got home. With Fred and Daphne now taking on an entirely different pilgrimage to Hong Kong, their plans were going to have to change significantly.

As time ticked closer and closer to the Los Angeles flight boarding time, the atmosphere - once Shaggy returned - between the four of them remained tense, nobody knowing quite what to say.

Tension was very much still in the air between Shaggy and Velma which was far from ideal given they were about to pair off together. The fear that an attack specifically taking place at the factory once owned by Shaggy's parents, and Ethan 'disappearing' probably around the same time - albeit the other side of the world – were linked, was a fear that was being unvoiced but very much considered by most of them.

Daphne still said very little, spending most of the time staring outside the terminal window and Velma wondered how she was really feeling right now. In the space of a few hours she had been hit with a triple sledgehammer of blows; A shocking attack on the police back home, the likely re-emergence of her murderous uncle and an ominous and untimely disappearance of Ethan in Hong Kong. It was an awful lot to take in and she seemed guarded on her feelings, besides her bright and almost forced belief that Ethan would soon turn up fine. Velma knew that privately Daphne may well know how futile it was to hope Ethan was still alive but she was clearly trying to maintain an outward positivity. On top of all that they all also had to contend with the very real possibility that Detectives White and Barnum were also dead.

Velma sighed, and looking around the generally amiable airport bustle, soon found herself reflecting on the very good spirits with which they had arrived in Honolulu with just three short days ago.

After spending months in Europe chasing mysteries there, she had read online about some 'sightings' of Mano Tiki Tia and it hadn't taken long to persuade the rest of the gang to come and investigate.

Fred was excited by the prospect of going to Hawaii because he had been trying to pluck up the courage to propose to Daphne for months but didn't have the perfect setting, Hawaii certainly appealed on that front. Shaggy and Scooby had recently expressed a keenness to get back to the States, and Daphne was naturally enthused about any kind of stay in Hawaii.

Three days earlier, the five of them had walked through this very same airport, with Daphne and Fred as loved up as ever and herself and Shaggy, happy and joking, Scooby by their side. They looked like they didn't have a care in the world and although that wasn't quite strictly true, they were all in quite a relaxed head space on arrival. It had all disappeared in an instant.

The scene in the airport right now was in stark contrast.

Fred normally the most well adjusted, looked visibly drained. He was slumped over in his chair, Daphne was snuggled up onto his shoulder, and his arm was stroking her back up and down but he was doing it absently without his usual affection, clearly in a world of his own. As for Velma and Shaggy they were sitting quietly with a chair between them but it may as well have been an ocean. There was a huge repair job ahead of them.

Eventually, it was time for Velma and Shaggy to leave and the four of them rose as a group now for the saddest and biggest 'splitting up' they had ever had to do.

First there were the individual hugs as Velma and Shaggy said goodbye to Daphne and Fred and then as had become customary for them, a group hug. Fred pulled his friends in close before breaking apart reluctantly a few moments later.

There was such uncertainty hanging over them right now; who knew what terrible news and danger, Shaggy and Velma might find awaiting them in Coolsville, or what horrors Fred and Daphne could discover on arrival in Japan.

Shaggy didn't dare say it but he knew as he hugged them, that this might even be the last time they were all together as a foursome and he found himself desperately hoping that Scooby would also get to spend plenty of time with Freddy and Daphne yet. They would all be together again, they had to be.

Eyes brimming with tears she fiercely blinked back, Velma hugged Daphne a final time before she leaned into Fred. "Take care of her," she whispered sternly. "No matter what happens in Japan, she's going to need you Fred."

"You know I will, Velma," he replied quietly in her ear before speaking louder. "Let us know as soon as you get home guys, and if you find out anything about Stella or Will..." he said sadly. "We'll do the same."

"See you soon," said Velma firmly, refusing to believe their reunion would be anything but. She glanced at Shaggy who nodded at her and they walked away, close enough to each other to determine they were travelling together but without any warmth between them.

Fred and Daphne stood together silently watching them sadly as finally the tall, scrawny shoulders of Shaggy eventually disappeared from sight.

He pulled her in close to him, knowing he was all she had now. "I'll keep you safe," he whispered. "I'll always be here for you Daphne," he said sincerely, his arms wrapping around her waist. She placed her hands over his, feeling safe and secure, and his heart deflated again when he caught sight of her bare ring finger. He kissed her cheek, inhaling the scent of the fresh shampoo in her hair. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she replied instantly.

Some hours later, both planes were in the air carrying the two halves of Mystery Incorporated in opposite directions. They didn't know it yet but both halves were flying into untold danger.