Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Velma stared out the window as the Mystery Machine trundled along a somewhat neglected road. She mostly tuned out the excited conversations of Shaggy and Scooby beside her, and didn’t pay much mind to Fred in the driver’s seat and Daphne in the passenger seat holding a map, the two lovebirds constantly stealing glances at one another.

Velma would usually be more attentive, soaking up the company of her friends. As much as she loved her job and her friends, recently she couldn’t help but feel… lost.

Every mystery ended up the same. The town’s local insecure rich man takes out his issues on the poor unsuspecting town by dressing up as a monster and terrorising the people around him. She used to feel satisfied every time Fred pulled off the mask, confident in the affirmation that monsters aren’t real. But now she felt nothing, like she was just going through the motions.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the scenery changed, the dark forests giving way to the small town the gang had been called to.

“Alright gang,” Fred raised his voice, and Shaggy and Scooby halted their rousing conversation about mac and cheese to listen. “Here we are. Let’s go figure out this ghost problem.”

Shaggy gulped audibly. “G-g-ghost? Like, Freddy, you didn’t say anything about ghosts?”

Velma rolled her eyes.

“It’ll be fine, Shaggy. Like always,” Velma said bluntly.

“Exactly,” Fred nodded. “As long as we stick together, everything will be fine.”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Velma mumbled, and stepped out of the van.

From the steps of a nearby building, a man with thinning blond hair and a moustache, wearing a brown suit waved at them, and stepped down to greet them.

“You must be the mayor?” Fred asked as the man approached.

The mayor nodded, and shook Fred’s outstretched hand. “You must be Mystery Incorporated! Thank you so much for coming.”

“Of course, Mr. Mayor,” Daphne stepped forward and shook the mayor’s hand also. “Why don’t you tell us what’s been happening?”

“Why, of course,” the mayor replied, suddenly subdued. “Recently, folks have been seeing strange things in the nearby woods.”

“What kind of strange things?” Velma asked.

The mayor fidgeted with his cufflinks. “All sorts of strange things. Odd flickering lights, voices coming from the trees, a few people have even seen red eyes staring at them from the lake. But a lot of folks have seen ghostly figures appearing and disappearing.”

Shaggy and Scooby audibly gulped in sync. “Ghost?”

“I don’t know any more specifics than that. I haven’t personally seen it. You might want to ask around, see what folks are willing to tell you.”

“I promise we’ll get to the bottom of this Mr. Mayor,” Fred announced proudly with his hands on his hips. “C’mon gang, looks like we’ve got a mystery to solve.”

That got a small smile out of Velma. Even if this was getting predictable, Fred and his theatrics were always a highlight.

The mayor had paid for their hotel rooms, and said that he would cover any and all expenses while they were in town. It was about lunchtime by the time the gang was all situated, so they decided to go into the hotel’s diner and ask around for any helpful information.

Fred and Daphne took the lead as they made their way through the diner. Shaggy and Scooby immediately sidled up by the counter asking the waitress about the menu. Velma trailed behind Fred and Daphne, content with observing for the time being.

Fred stepped up to the first occupied table. “Good afternoon, sir. I’m Fred, this is Daphne and Velma. We’re hoping you could answer a few questions about the ghost–”

“–No more questions,” the man groaned. “That lady already asked me a bunch. I’m not saying it again.”

He jerked his thumb behind him toward the rest of the dining room. Velma looked over to the other end of the bar, where two people who were clearly not locals sat. One was a dark haired woman in a red leather jacket who exuded confidence as she spoke to the bartender. The other was a timid and mildly twitchy man with salt and pepper hair wearing a dark grey outdoor jacket over a black button up shirt.

Fred began to move in their direction. Daphne and Velma quickly followed. As they approached, they overheard some of the conversation.

“And the thing about the red eyes?” the man said in a clear Mexican accent. “I mean, it has to be–”

“Hi there!” Fred greeted. The man flinched at the sudden interruption. The woman seemed unperturbed as she turned around.

“Can we help you?” she said bluntly, her accent a crisp and distinct English.

“We’re looking into the ghost sightings in town. Seems like you two are doing the same,” Fred explained.

“Are you now?” the woman’s lip twitched into a smile. “Maybe we could work together.”

“Elsa…” the man mumbled. It wasn’t quite a warning, but it wasn’t not a warning.

Elsa gently rested a hand on his and gave him a pointed look. He met her gaze in a silent conversation.

“Yes, yes, alright,” he sighed, moving his hand away. “We can work together.”

Fred beamed. “Great! My name’s Fred, this is Daphne and Velma, and over there is Shaggy and Scooby.”

Daphne gave a small curtsey. Velma waved awkwardly.

“Elsa Bloodstone,” she held out a hand for Fred to shake.

The man scratched behind his ear. “Jack. Just call me Jack.”

Shaggy and Scooby made their way over. Jack’s gaze immediately zeroed in on Scooby with an expression somewhere between interest and bewilderment.

“Did you find something?” Shaggy asked as he licked sauce off his fingers. “This place has, like, the best buffalo wings.”

Scooby loudly licked his lips. “Rah, the best!”

Jack’s confused expression only deepened. Elsa gave an amused smirk, although it was unclear if it was in response to Scooby or to her companion’s growing distress.

“Shaggy, Scooby, this is Elsa and Jack. They’re also investigating the ghost problem,” Fred explained.

“Sweet! Now we have more time to eat our way through the menu Scoob!” Shaggy exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around Scooby. Scooby howled excitedly.

“Are you alright?” Daphne asked, finally noticing Jack’s expression.

Jack gestured toward Scooby. “One of your friends is a talking dog.”

“Yeah,” Daphne replied.

“...And you’ve never questioned that?” Jack asked.

“Why would we?” Fred joined in.

“Like, he’s just Scoob, man,” Shaggy scratched Scooby’s neck.

Jack stared directly at Scooby. “Have you ever thought about it?”

Scooby shrugged. “Not really.”

Jack sat back with the posture of a man too out of his depth to push any further.

Elsa cleared her throat. “So, what brings all of you here?”

Fred immediately launched into a detailed explanation of Mystery Incorporated. At some point they had all shimmied into a booth where Velma found herself next to Jack and across from Elsa. She tuned out most of what her friends said, instead finding herself drawn to these two strangers.

Jack was even more tense up close, constantly fidgeting with the cuffs of his jacket or the buttons of his shirt. He scratched behind his ear a lot, in what Velma assumed was a nervous tic rather than a dandruff problem. He was also constantly looking at Elsa, relaxing every time his gaze fell on her.

She met his gaze quite a lot as well, and every time they did Velma felt like she was missing some silent understanding between the two of them. Elsa had none of her companion’s shyness, instead confidently making conversation with the gang. She asked all the right questions, and directed conversations with the smoothness of an experienced businesswoman.

After roughly the fifth story from the gang about their adventures, Elsa met Velma’s eyes.

“What about you?” she asked. “Any stories you want to tell?”

Velma opened her mouth in stunned silence. She had hardly been listening to the conversation, and was completely unprepared to contribute, especially not after being asked by a woman who, as Velma was now very quickly realising, was incredibly attractive.

“I, uh, I don’t know,” she stammered.

“Oh! Tell her about the haunted suits of armour in that dingy mansion!” Shaggy volunteered.

“Haunted suits of armour, really? Well that’s certainly something,” Elsa leaned back.

“Not really,” Velma shook her head. “It was mostly magnets, remote controlled motors, and smoke machines. It wasn’t nearly as scary as Shaggy thinks it was.”

“Have you ever been scared during one of your investigations?” Elsa asked, less condescending and more curious.

“No,” Velma said simply.

“Why?” Elsa continued. Velma suddenly had the creeping feeling that this had just turned from a friendly conversation into an interrogation.

“Because there’s nothing to be afraid of. Monsters aren’t real.”

Elsa quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. Meanwhile, Jack snorted so hard he choked on his drink.

“Sorry,” Jack said between coughs. “It’s just an interesting thing to say. In our line of work.”

‘Our’, meaning him and Elsa, or ‘our’ meaning all of theirs, Velma included? Velma had assumed they did the same thing as the mystery gang, but now she wasn’t entirely sure. Come to think of it, the two of them hadn’t shared any stories this whole time.

“Do you think monsters are real?” Velma asked, her tone more accusing than she meant for it to be.

Jack’s jaw twinged, and he looked at Elsa deferentially. Once again, Velma felt like there was a whole conversation happening between them that she had no way of being privy to.

Elsa shrugged. “Who’s to say? But we should probably talk about why we’re actually here and discuss our ghost problem.”

Velma fell back into silence, stunned by Elsa’s finesse in directing the conversation away from what just happened. Velma replied those words in her head. Why had Jack reacted like that, like Velma had just said the greatest, most surprising joke he had ever heard? What did Elsa mean by ‘who’s to say’?

Eventually, Velma’s gaze drifted to Jack, who listened intently to the conversation happening around him, only speaking to agree with something Elsa said. When he noticed Velma looking at him, he gave a sympathetic, if still nervous, smile.

This was certainly going to be an interesting partnership.

Chapter Text

Eventually the group decided that the first thing they needed to do was get more information. Which meant heading into the woods at night to see this ghost for themselves.

The temperature began to drop as the setting sun turned the sky to orange and pink, the waxing gibbous moon creeping over the horizon. Velma stood on the boundary between the town and the woods. Even if there was no supposed ghost, the forest gave her the creeps. Tall, dark trees with gnarled branches and thick canopies that obscured what little light remained in the sky. Unruly roots protruded from the ground, creating impossibly dark hollows beneath some of the trees. She tugged on her orange sweater as if the familiar knit would keep her safe from the darkness of untouched nature.

Soon enough, she was joined by her friends and her new companions. Elsa had switched her red leather jacket for one similar to Jack’s. Jack had one strap of a backpack over his shoulder. He stared past all of them, past the trees, and at the rising moon. It’s light seemed to strangely reflect in his eyes, revealing an underlying hint of yellow beneath the green.

“Is everyone ready?” Elsa asked, looking at everyone in turn. Velma nodded.

Beside her, Shaggy shivered. Looking over to him, he was in his usual t-shirt, unlike everyone else who was in long sleeves or a jacket.

“Don’t you have a jacket?” Velma asked.

He shook his head. “I didn’t think it would be cold. Like, it’s not even winter yet.”

“Allow me,” Jack said, and handed Shaggy his jacket.

“Thanks, man,” Shaggy replied gratefully, and pulled it on.

Jack threw the backpack over his shoulder once again, and began rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. His now bare forearms were littered with faded scars; most of them cuts, a few punctures, and even one of two burns. Velma did her best not to stare.

Fred stepped up to the front of the group.

“Alright gang,” he began. “Let’s split up so we can cover more ground.”

The gang nodded. They’d done this more times than Velma cared to count (although she had in fact counted).

“Great. Daphne and I will go together. Shaggy and Scooby will be a pair. Jack and Elsa will be a pair. And Velma—”

“Can come with us,” Elsa interjected.

Velma stared at her. Jack’s expression was unusually neutral.

“If she wants,” Elsa added with a casual shrug.

Velma hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Part of her wanted to go with Shaggy and Scooby to make sure they stayed on task and didn’t get lost. But another part of her, the part of her that craved something new, the part of her that had wanted to prove the existence of monsters for so long, was drawn to Jack and Elsa. She was drawn to these two strangers and their unreadable glances, Elsa’s overt confidence and competence, Jack’s timid exterior which hid secrets Velma couldn’t even begin to imagine.

The conversation from earlier in the day rang in her mind.

It’s just an interesting thing to say. In our line of work.

Do you think monsters are real?

Who’s to say?

People often say “curiosity killed the cat.” When they do, they usually leave out the second half of that saying. “But satisfaction brought it back.”

Velma felt very much like the cat, curiosity getting the better of her as she chased the elusive mouse.

As long as she steered clear of wolves.

Jack took the lead as the trio trudged through the treeline. He seemed oddly at ease here, dexterously avoiding the roots and fallen branches with an almost single-minded focus. He was exaggerating his movements slightly to show the other two where to be careful.

“Are you sure you haven’t been to this place before? You seem to know where you’re going,” Velma asked around 5 minutes in.

Jack gave a low chuckle. “I’ve spent a lot of time in forests. Eventually you learn the patterns.”

“How long?” Velma asked.

Jack got quiet for a moment, and his pace slowed slightly. “Longer than I care to admit.” He answered. Velma picked up the hint of sadness in his voice.

Elsa placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. The look in her eyes wasn’t one of pity. Admiration, maybe?

“He isn’t alone, though.”

Jack returned her smile. “Not anymore.”

Elsa scoffed in mock-offence. “What about Ted?”

Jack shook his head fondly. “I think maybe you give him too much credit.”

“I think maybe you don’t give him enough,” Elsa retorted.

Velma really wanted to ask for context, but decided to let the two have their moment.

Jack stopped, his face going still. He listened intently with his head cocked to one side.

“Do you hear that?” he whispered.

Velma opened her mouth to say no. Before she could, she heard a low, drawn out whine from somewhere else in the woods. It sounded like it was getting louder. Or closer.

A small green light appeared in one of the trees closest to them. It flickered for a moment, then disappeared. Another one appeared maybe an inch from where the first was. This one flickered, then a third appeared. The whine continued to grow.

Velma wanted to say something. She wanted to move her head and look at Jack and Elsa to make sure they were seeing the same thing. But she couldn’t move. She just stood there, unable to look away from the lights as they moved out of the tree and toward her.

A hand locked around her wrist.

“Move!” Jack hissed, and yanked her away.

She half-stumbled half-ran as he pulled her into a clearing. He stopped, dropping her hand as she bent over and breathed heavily. Beside her, Elsa did the same.

“Are you alright?” Jack asked, his voice low and deadly serious.

Velma nodded. “I’m starting to think I should’ve brought my inhaler. But I’ll be okay.”

“A little out of breath but otherwise fine,” Elsa replied. “Thanks for pulling us out of that.”

“What else was I going to do? Leave you to get hypnotised?” Jack shook his head. “No.”

“Hypnotised?” Velma blurted out.

Jack scratched behind his ear. “About that–”

He was interrupted by something crashing through the trees behind them. Jack whirled around and pulled Velma behind him.

“Jeepers!” Daphne’s voice rang out through the clearing. “What was that Freddy?”

Fred coughed. “I… don’t know, Daphne.”

“Are you two alright?” Jack walked over to them.

“Oh hey!” Fred greeted. “Did you guys hear the freaky voices too?”

“Voices?” Elsa asked.

“There was whispering coming from the trees. Laughing too,” Daphne explained. “I couldn’t tell what they were saying.”

“Didn’t the mayor describe things like that?” Velma reasoned. “He said that people had been seeing flickering lights — what we saw — and hearing voices coming from the trees.”

“So we’ve come face-to-face with our ghost problem then?” Fred asked.

“So it would seem,” Elsa replied.

“If we’ve all experienced things, then where are Shaggy and Scooby?” Daphne asked.

Right on cue…

“ZOINKS!”

…a scream pierced through the eerie forest atmosphere. Moments later, Shaggy and Scooby crashed into the clearing and fell on their faces.

Fred and Daphne rushed over to help them up. Before anyone could say anything, a small green light appeared where Shaggy and Scooby had run from. Then another. The low whine returned. Two more lights appeared. The whine grew, accompanied by faint whispers and giggles. Velma could’ve sworn it said ‘join us’.

More lights appeared, flickering in and out of visibility but never disappearing fully. They coalesced together like slime and formed the outline of a person. Velma wanted to shout. She wanted to do anything but she couldn’t. She was a prisoner in her own body, powerless to watch as the thing in front of her reached out.

Her fear drowned out a new noise growing closer, rumbling and stomping. Jack surged forward, seemingly the only one unaffected by the hypnosis. He was about to attack when a hulking creature emerged from the treeline. It was covered in moss and vines, with massive red eyes above tendrils that covered its mouth. It swung at the coalesced lights with an enraged shriek.

A loud crack shot through the air as a gun went off, breaking Velma free from the hypnosis. The bullet connected to the hulking figure. It roared in pain, and the lights dissipated in an instant. For a moment, it looked like it was going to retaliate, before it dove back into the trees and ran.

While everyone shook with relief and fear, Jack stood frozen. He looked distraught as he stared at the path the hulking figure took out, eyes wide and hands trembling.

“Yeah, that’s right!” a new voice shouted. A farmer, based on his clothes, holding a hunting rifle walked into the clearing. “Clear off! Don’t bother us again!”

Elsa marched up to him and slapped him across the face.

“What the bloody hell were you thinking?”

The two exploded into a heated argument, the rest of the gang gathering around to back Elsa up and lecture the farmer on gun safety. Velma was about to join them when she glanced back to where Jack was. Or rather, had been. She decided that the others would be just fine without her adding facts about hunting accidents, and followed Jack.

Without Jack actively guiding her and without a torch, she had assumed that navigating the forest floor would be much harder. But the roots and fallen branches on this path had mostly been trampled or kicked aside. Physically, she followed Jack with relative ease. Mentally, she was terrified. Disregarding whatever the hell had just happened (which she wasn’t sure she could do), the woods were eerily silent, save for the slight whistle of the wind as it buffeted against her face and the surrounding foliage.

He also stopped constantly, leaving Velma to play the least fun game of Red Light Green Light of her life, as she had to stop every time he did so that he wouldn’t hear her footsteps. When he did stop, he would sniff the air intently, sometimes taking long breaths, but mostly short, sharp inhales like a bloodhound.

Eventually, he stopped and started to look around. Velma ducked behind a tree, for now not minding the thorns that just got caught in her sweater.

“Ted?” Jack stage-whispered. “Ted!”

“Mrr?” a deep rumble sounded from nearby, followed by the shuffling of heavy feet against leaves and dirt.

“Oh, cariño,” Jack muttered, relief practically dripping from his voice. “How badly are you hurt? I mean, I know you were shot but I didn’t see where it hit you.”

Velma dared to peak around the tree, and had to stifle her noise of surprise. Jack stood before the hulking figure from before, gazing up into its red eyes, one hand holding its massive one and the other hand gently caressing its face. The figure – Ted, apparently – spoke in incomprehensible grunts and grumbles. But perhaps stranger than Ted, was the fact that Velma had never seen Jack this talkative. He beckoned Ted to sit down, then opened the backpack and pulled out a first aid kit, muttering words of assurance in English and Spanish as he methodically worked on patching up the wound.

Near the end, Velma strained to get a better look, and accidentally snapped a few branches as she did. She froze, suddenly aware that Jack and Ted could now see her.

Jack sighed. “It’s okay, Ted. I know her.”

Velma kicked the dirt awkwardly. “Sorry…”

Jack smiled wearily. “It’s fine. You might as well come over here.”

Ted waved, and grumbled something that Velma thought sounded like ‘hello’.

Hesitantly, Velma waved back. “H-hello.”

Jack grinned. “Ted, this is Velma. Velma, this is Ted.”

Ted grumbled something, longer this time, but she couldn’t make it out.

“He says nice to meet you,” Jack translated.

“You too… I don’t want to be rude, but…” Velma really wasn’t sure how to ask what she wanted to ask, but Jack and Ted both looked at her expectantly. “What are you?”

Ted blinked and turned his head toward Jack.

“He’s just Ted.”

That answer seemed to satisfy Ted, so Velma just nodded.

With a groan, Ted stood, put an arm around Jack, and pulled him close. Jack smiled at the embrace.

“I missed you too,” Jack mumbled as he patted Ted’s arm.

Ted grumbled again, the rising inflection at the end telling Velma that it was a question.

“No, no, you need to rest. We’ll be fine getting back to town,” Jack tried to argue.

Not taking no for an answer and without letting go of Jack, Ted started walking with purpose, and beckoned Velma to follow beside him.

The trees began to thin out and the dim yellow lights of town became visible. Ted gestured for them to go forward, but remained in the shadows himself.

“Thank you, Ted,” Velma said.

The corners of Ted’s eyes wrinkled in a smile, and he gave a shallow bow.

“You go on ahead Velma. Please tell Elsa I won’t be long,” Jack said. Velma nodded, and began walking toward the inn. She had barely taken five steps before Jack started talking again, the lightness in his voice having faded slightly.

“Will you be here for… for the moon?... Thank you.”

Ted grumbled something that, even though Velma couldn’t understand the words, was incredibly sappy.

Jack chuckled. “I love you too, cariño.”