Vincent, Daphne, and Shaggy came awake now, as the cocoon of mana around Vincent dissipated in reality as they'd defeated it on the astral plane.

Scooby let out a sigh of relief and hugged Shaggy.

"Are you all okay!?" Fred exclaimed.

"We're fine, Freddie," Shaggy sighed. "But I'm glad we got the mana of the house to scatter."

"And that we helped Vincent," Daphne smiled. "Even if he probably could've handled it on his own."

"I could have told you that—but in the mood you two were in, you wouldn't likely have listened," Leonidas intoned.

"Regardless, I'm grateful," Vincent admitted. "It was highly satisfying—"

He was cut off by a rumbling sound.

"Jeepers—look at the house!" Daphne exclaimed.

The house, which hadn't looked its age at all when they'd first arrived here, now certainly did look as though it was thousands of years old—furthermore, it was starting to collapse.

"That is to be expected," Leonidas sighed. "The mana was sustaining the house until now—with it gone, there is nothing left to prevent the years from catching up to it."

"A loss of historical proportions, but one that, I fear, is a necessity," Vincent sighed. "Now, then, I need to send the four of you back so that the Associate Dean and I can turn Chandra over to the Witches' Council; I'll join you once I've finished all of the necessary paperwork."

"You guys have paperwork?" Fred asked, surprised.

"Before we even had paper," Leonidas replied, shaking his head. "Thank the Gods we no longer have to inscribe reports in clay…"

There was a loud cracking as a major support beam in the house began to give way.

"That's a discussion for another time, I think, Sir…" Vincent interrupted.

"Yes, by all means—send them home; we'd best be going…" Leonidas trailed off as he noticed something odd, visible through the open doors at the crumbling interior. He waited until Vincent had sent the youngsters back to the castle before silently indicating the network of cables that, with the illusions of the house gone, were now visible.

"What in the name of Olympus…?" Vincent asked, his eyes going wide.

"That is not the work of any mana," Leonidas frowned. "That is the work of a mortal."

Chandra paled as the two warlocks glared at her.

"It was Thaddeus Blimp—he set up the security camera footage!" she confessed

"What!?" Vincent fumed.

"I don't know of him," Leonidas said. "But it would appear you do."

"Only by reputation—the kids earned his ire numerous times during their investigations," Vincent said. "He may be a mortal, but he is incredibly dangerous—skilled with using magical items."

"Yes," Chandra admitted. "He wanted revenge on those kids, just like I did. It was he who used the Moonstone Medallion to turn me back to my true form—but then, once I was captured by the Archmage, Blimp stole the Medallion from me, which caused the house to turn on me. Blimp abandoned me and the professor…" Her eyes widened. "Professor Mikos—he is still in the house!"

"I don't know of him, either," Leonidas noted, looking to Vincent, who shook his head in equal confusion.

"Blimp forced him to work for him—to send the letter to lure those kids here; he was chained to a chair in the cellar," Chandra said. "Blimp would have left him to die, just as he left me—we are useless to him now."

Vincent growled in frustration, looking at the collapsing house.

"Sir…"

"I'll take Chandra to the Witches' Council myself," Leonidas assured him. "…Do what you must—but be careful."

"Yes, Sir," Vincent sighed, steeling himself. "…Lady Pallas, give me strength…"

He teleported to the cellar, as Chandra had said, and, sure enough, he found the panicking professor, sobbing on the floor with his chair prison toppled over in a desperate attempt at trying to get away as the house started collapsing.

He looked up as Vincent appeared, and practically screamed in terror.

"Spare me, I beg you!" he pleaded. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen—I swear it! Any of this—the Mask of Medusa, Chandra, this house… Anything! I was forced…!" He let out a sob. "Ελεος!"

He trailed off as Vincent used his emerald pendant to unlock the shackles on the chair that had been holding Mikos there, but before the professor could move, Vincent had seized him by the lapels of his jacket.

"I'm going to teleport you far away from here," Vincent growled. "If I find out that you are lying to me, or if you come near or even contact any of my kids again, I will find you, and you will have a reason to fear me."

Mikos couldn't even reply—he just sobbed and gave a nod of understanding.

Vincent, still disgusted, proceeded to teleport him to Athens—if Mikos was smart, he'd turn himself in to that Greek Intelligence agent, Anna. But, for now, Vincent would just be satisfied with never having to deal with him again.

The sound of applause drew Vincent's attention now; frowning, he turned to the now-cracked video screen. As he watched, the video feed changed from one-way to two-way, and Vincent found himself staring at Blimp and Wilmer, still applauding him.

"Well done, Wizard," Blimp chortled at him, raising a glass of champagne in mock salute. "It would appear that you have won the day, eh?"

"You…" Vincent fumed.

"Of course, this is just our first round—and you will note, I wasn't at all prepared for your interference," Blimp continued. "Our next round will be far more interesting, don't you worry—especially now that I've got this!" He held up Chandra's wand with the Moonstone Medallion. "I'll be sure to learn how to use it before the next time we match wits!"

"There will be no next time," Vincent snapped. "I will give you the same warning I gave that professor—if you try to harm any of my kids again, you will regret it."

"Oh, I think not," Blimp said, unconcerned. "I've come close so many times to having those young meddlers right where I want them; I would have captured them on their little jaunt to Honolulu they'd been planning a few years prior—my superior network had found out about their travel plans… But they must have changed those plans last-minute, for they never showed up!"

Vincent froze; the only reason they hadn't gone to Honolulu was because they had been waylaid by Bogel and Weerd and had to end up seeking Vincent—and then the Chest had opened…

"But it's no matter," Blimp continued, grinning wickedly. "After what I've seen here today, the sweetest revenge I will have on those young meddlers will be watching you be the one to destroy them!"

"Never!" Vincent snarled. "I made a vow to protect them!"

"You don't realize what I can be capable of with the proper equipment," Blimp said, holding up the medallion again. "And look around…" He angled the camera so that Vincent could see the latest of the priceless works of art he had stolen. "I have devoted my life to collecting the greatest treasures of the world—and, right now, the biggest treasure is you. If I have you, I have anything my heart desires—including the sweetest revenge of all. It's only a matter of time, trust me!"

"You have no idea what you are going to unleash if you so much as try!" Vincent fumed, his emerald-green aura flaring around him again. "This is my final warning—leave my family alone, or you will suffer the consequences!"

His aura flared so much that it surged through the camera feed; Vincent caught a glimpse of Blimp finally looking concerned as the champagne glass in his hand exploded from the mana's power radiating through the camera feed, moments before the surge shorted out all of the electronic equipment.

Vincent exhaled, and as the house began to shake even more violently, he managed to teleport out just before it collapsed.

Back at the castle, Daphne and Shaggy had been telling everyone else about their adventure in the astral plane and were still talking about it when Vincent teleported in. Everyone swarmed around him excitedly, wanting to know what happened to Chandra.

"Settle down, everyone—she hasn't been sentenced yet, but I imagine she will be before morning," he assured them. "Flim-Flam, Scrappy—what are the two of you still doing up at this hour?"

"They did rest for a while, Mr. Van Ghoul," Velma said. "But we were all worried about you, and then, after the others got back, I promised them they could stay up until you came back." She turned to Scrappy and Flim-Flam. "So, now that he's back, say goodnight and turn in before you make a liar out of me."

"Aww, alright," Scrappy sighed. "'Night, everyone!"

"Yeah, g'night!" Flim-Flam called, and the two of them headed for their rooms.

"Without any argument…" Vincent noted in surprise. "Well done, Velma."

"Thank you, Sir," she smiled, but then her smile faded. "I just wish I could've been more helpful."

"What do you mean? You were extremely helpful—you did exactly as I'd hoped," Vincent pointed out. "You got in touch with help when you realized we needed it, and you did as I instructed and made sure Flim-Flam and Scrappy were being cared for."

"Well… I meant, more helpful for the actual adventuring part of it," Velma explained. "I'm just so inexperienced with… real ghosts and magic and all that."

"Well, so am I," Fred pointed out. "You and I are still learning the ropes—but we'll get there."

"He's absolutely correct—your time will come," Vincent assured her.

"Yeah, like, did you think we knew what we were doing when this whole thing started?" Shaggy asked.

"Rhno way!" Scooby assured her.

"We're still learning," Daphne added.

"Thanks," Velma said, cheering up slightly. She struggled to cover a yawn.

"Yes, it is late for all of you, isn't it?" Vincent mused. "You'd best turn in. Daphne, Shaggy—will you two be alright after all of those visions?"

"Yeah, I think so," Shaggy said.

"Yeah, I'll be alright," Daphne promised. "I'll just think about being a Paladin again…" She paused as a realization struck her. "…Hey, that's why you did that for Shaggy and me, even though you could've handled it on your own—you wanted Shaggy and me to have some agency over our fears!"

"And did it work?" the warlock asked.

"Like, wow—it sure did!" Shaggy exclaimed. "I really think I'll be okay!"

"Me, too," Daphne grinned. "I have a feeling I'll be riding this rush for a long time!"

"Off you go, then," Vincent said, with a smile. "But be sure to let me know if you do need anything."

"We will," they promised, and the five of them left the study.

The boys wished them goodnight and headed for their rooms, leaving Daphne with Velma in the hall.

"Well, goodnight, Daphne," Velma offered.

"Velma, wait," Daphne said. "You know, I know how you feel. Back in high school, when we were stumbling into all of those cases… I felt like I wasn't much help, either. Freddie was the leader, you were the researcher, Shaggy and Scooby were the athletes… and that just left me, always getting into trouble. Honestly, I felt pretty useless sometimes-."

"Daphne, we never thought that you were useless!" Velma replied, stunned. "You were still one of us!"

"I know," Daphne smiled. "So why would you think that we'd ever feel that way about you now?"

Velma blinked, and smiled back.

"I get it," she said.

"And Vincent's right," Daphne continued. "You'll learn your way around this eventually, just like the rest of us did."

"I hope so," Velma said. "Daphne… thank you."

Daphne just grinned and hugged her, which she returned, though she did have to hide a yawn again.

"Okay, Velma, go get some sleep," she said. "I'll turn in soon, too; I'm just a little bit wired from the whole Paladin thing—that was absolutely incredible."

"I'll bet it was," Velma smiled. "Alright, I'll see you in the morning. 'Night!"

Daphne wished her goodnight, and started going back to that incredible feeling she'd had as a Paladin. She was only vaguely aware of Vincent's crystal ringing in the study, and him answering it.

"Thought you'd like to know, Vincent—Chandra has been sentenced; she will have her mana suppressed for the next 500 years, and will be forced to wear manacles that won't even allow her to use magical items," she heard Leonidas say. "After 500 years, she'll have to undergo a behavioral review to see if there'll be any easing of her punishment, but with the unrepentant attitude she's been displaying, I doubt that very much."

"Good riddance, then," Vincent said, unfeelingly.

"And the mortal, Vincent? The one she said wrote the letter?" Leonidas asked. "What did you do with him?"

Daphne paid attention now, for this was news to her—she hadn't known there was a mortal involved in this at all.

"…I let him go," Vincent said, bitterly. "He claimed and pleaded over and over that he'd been forced to write it, and begged me for mercy. And so, I granted it to him—only because I knew that's what the kids would have wanted."

"I see."

"Tell me something, Sir," Vincent sighed. "What kind of father am I, to let that pathetic thing go free after what he put my kids through?"

"'Like the gentle rain from Heaven,' Vincent," Leonidas quoted. "There's a fine line between protecting your kids in the moment, versus thirsting for revenge after the fact—as you said, your kids wouldn't have wanted you to lose that noble part of your soul to hatred and vengeance."

"…Of course, Sir. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Vincent. Take care."

"You too, Sir."

Vincent ended the call and sighed, which prompted Daphne to go back into the study and say her piece—

"He's right," she said.

Vincent glanced at her, not surprised to see her there as she walked over to him.

"Based on that description, and the fact that he knew enough Greek to send me that letter, I'm guessing the mortal was Professor Mikos?" Daphne asked. "If that's the case, then yes—he's hardly a criminal mastermind. I'm glad you didn't hurt him."

"He's the reason why you and Shaggy suffered so much…" Vincent fumed, bitterly. "When I think about what you two went through, and how I nearly lost you…"

She hugged him, and he returned it.

"That's what makes it even more noble," she said.

"I suppose," Vincent sighed. "Daphne, there's something else you and the others need to know—I was going to leave it 'til morning, but you may as well know now—Thaddeus Blimp was the mastermind behind this whole thing, and he now has the Moonstone Medallion. And he was very clear about his thirst for vengeance against you and the others, in spite of my warning him that I would strike back if he tried it."

Daphne sighed.

"Well, I won't deny I'm scared," she admitted. "But nowhere near as scared as I would be if you weren't here. I'm sure the others will agree when you tell them tomorrow."

"Yes, I suppose so," Vincent sighed. "Daphne, you asked me not to seek out vengeance after the fact, and I have honored your request thus far. But as far as Blimp is concerned, if I see him posing any danger to you or the others, I will not be as merciful as I was today—I will do whatever it takes to keep you all safe."

"That's fair," Daphne agreed. "You even told him where you stood—if he tries anything after that, it's on him. And, anyway… Thank you for caring so much, Vincent."

"I could say the same about you, Daphne. Now, go on to your room and get some rest."

"Okay, goodnight," she said, giving him one more hug, which he returned.

He sighed, gazing back at his crystal. He hadn't wanted to worry her about Blimp wanting him for his "collection," so he hadn't mentioned that part of it—nor the fact that the kids had narrowly escaped Blimp merely because they'd gotten caught up in the quest to recapture the 13 Ghosts.

Hopefully, Vincent's warning had gotten through to Blimp and he would just give up trying.

And if Blimp wasn't bluffing? Then he would learn the hard way that Vincent wasn't bluffing about his warning, either.

Regardless, Vincent would do his best to lead his little family forward, protecting them from whatever lay ahead.

The End

Notes: And it's done! Thanks to everyone who followed this! I have a couple more small projects for other fandoms to finish up, and then I'll get back to my 13 Ghosts/Monkees crossover that I paused in May in another week or so!