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Mystery could not say what had woken him, but it wasn’t until he felt the warm, breathing body next to him that he had an inkling. He had slept by himself on the couch or alone in the backseat of the van for so long that he barely remembered what it felt like to be so close to one of his humans.
In the time before the cave, he had slept at the foot of Vivi’s bed, or draped across Lewis’s lap, or curled up on Arthur’s bed when the boy had a nightmare (far too often in his opinion) or an anxiety attack. He had wound up in a dogpile with all of them when stakeouts or lack of hotels had forced them all to sleep in the van. He missed the contact even more than he missed the games of fetch and the long walks when the four of them would just ramble along through a park for hours.
He himself had not been sleeping well since the cave, though his were not night terrors, but the suffocating feeling of being left alone. Not that he had not been left alone before, in the hazy mists of his time before coming to the three he now considered his home. He did not have any land staked out as territory, he had people. They belonged to him as surely as he belonged to them. But recent events had left him feeling more alone than he could ever remember feeling, even in that long ago.
He had broken his disguise to save one of his people, though he had reacted too late to save the other from death. And with the breaking, had come the cracks in his relationship with those he called home. Lewis had been dead, evolving into a rage-filled revenant, Arthur had been left traumatized and with enough guilt for an army weighing down his soul. Vivi had been holding them together, but in struggling to comfort Arthur, trying to remember the past Lewis had wiped clean at the moment of his death and making the effort to get their investigations back on track, she had stopped seeing him as her dog, but as the wise mentor.
Well, he was that, but at heart, he was still Mystery, still craved the affection and fun of pretending to be no more than a simple dog. He was starved for that loving warmth, now a distant memory of what had been. He slept poorly and pretended that it did not matter when Arthur flinched away from his touch or Vivi absently treated him like a thesaurus of mystical happenings, or Lewis shyed away.
He had hurt them all, he supposed. Arthur, by tearing his arm away to save him from the malicious spirit possessing him. Lewis, by threatening him long enough to give Arthur and Vivi time to explain what had really happened, and that Arthur had not, in fact, killed him. Vivi... Vivi, by no longer being her beloved dog, but something older, wiser and more dangerous.
What he wouldn’t give to go back to that before-time, when affection and camaraderie had flowed freely.
The body next to him stirred and jolted him out of his introspection. While the body was that of the one-armed mechanic, the soul in it was not, a hopefully temporary condition that they would rectify soon.
The boy whose soul currently resided in Arthur’s body was not as prone to nightmares as Arthur, but he still suffered from the occasional one, and it looked like tonight’s was a doozy. Mystery nosed under the single arm, pressing close and planting a cold, wet nose on bare skin.
Shaggy flailed awake, a yell strangled in his throat. Panting, he blinked around the backseat of the van, hand clenched tight in Mystery’s fur.
“It’s alright, Shaggy,” Mystery soothed. “It was just a nightmare.”
Shaggy shuddered, a full body shiver racking his too-thin frame. “Not a nightmare,” he muttered under his breath. Shaking his head, he looked down at Mystery. “Sorry, man... didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t,” Mystery assured him.
Shaggy sat up, glancing around the empty interior of the van. “Why are we stopped? And, like, where are the others?”
Mystery shifted himself so his head was resting in Shaggy’s lap, Shaggy almost automatically scratching behind his ears. Mystery sighed and closed his eyes. Like this he could almost pretend it was Arthur petting him, like he had used to. “We had to stop for gas. There is a restaurant across the way so Vivi and Lewis went to order some dinner. They should be back soon.”
Shaggy stretched a little, lifting his single arm over his head. “Oh. Why didn’t they wake me? Then we could have all gone in.”
Mystery sighed, lifting his head now that Shaggy had stopped petting him. “Most restaurants aren’t keen on dogs, Shaggy. And I don’t have the energy to waste right now on making it look like I’m not there.”
Shaggy blinked. “So, like, why don’t they get you the training for a service dog? You could ace the course like,” he snapped. “—that.”
“Eh?” Mystery tilted his head.
“Scoob is, like a fully-licensed service dog. He took the training and all. It didn’t seem right, him not getting to go in places with us, so we talked and got him to take the training. You’re like as smart as he is, or even smarter, you could pass it easy.”
Mystery closed his eyes in a slow blink. An odd sensation bubbled up in his chest and emerged as a series of yipping laughs, loud and unrestrained.
Shaggy chuckled along with him, but Mystery could see the questions in his eyes.
It took a moment to bring his laughter under control. “Heh— Some wise creature I turned out to be when a teenager— hah— can see their way to a solution I had not even considered!”
Shaggy’s laugh this time was much happier. “Like, I didn’t think it was something you would have thought of, but you’re super-smart and could, like, probably teach the trainers a thing or two.” He patted Mystery’s head. “No prob getting you licensed.”
Mystery yipped another laugh and licked Shaggy’s cheek. “Brilliant! I told you that you were perceptive, seeing things the rest of us might miss! I would not have to spend my energy near constantly to go unnoticed.”
“Dude, I noticed you were getting a little tired when you held that illusion on Lewis all through the roadblock by that accident. This way you don’t have to pretend all the time.” Shaggy chuckled, digging his fingers into Mystery’s ruff in a scratch that had him twitching a hind leg instinctively. It was wonderful and had him wriggling like a pup.
The melancholy strains of ‘Silhouette’ coming from the empty front seat startled them both.
Mystery pricked his ears. “Vivi must have left her cellphone. But I don’t recognize the ringtone.”
Shaggy scrambled over the front seat searching for the forgotten phone. With his prosthetic off, he overbalanced and Mystery had to snag the back of his shirt in his teeth to keep him from a head-first landing on the floorboards.
“I do,” Shaggy replied, seemingly unbothered by his near-disaster. “Like, Daph got Arthur a prepaid cell so he wouldn’t feel bad about having to bum hers when he calls you guys every day. Said she all but had to shove it down his throat to get him to take it, but— got it!” Shaggy popped up with the cell in hand. “Hello?”
Mystery’s sharp ears picked up Arthur’s hesitant voice easily. “Shaggy? Where’s Vivi?”
“She and Lewis, like, went to grab some food while I was taking a nap. I can run and get her, though, if you want, man.”
“Sorry, did I wake you?”
“Nah, I was awake. Me and Mystery were just talking.”
“Heh...” Arthur’s chuckle didn’t have the strained quality Mystery had gotten all too used to. “First time my timings been this good in ages. Nah, actually goes along with what I had in mind. Put me on speaker, willya? I need to talk with Mystery for a sec.”
It took Shaggy a moment to figure out the speaker, but when he did, Mystery perked his ears. He couldn’t help staring at the phone as if he might see through it to the missing member of his family. “I’m here, Arthur.”
“Hey, Mystery. Look, I had a thought. Didya know Scooby here is licensed as a service dog? Betcha if we got you licensed like that, you could go into stores other than Uncle Lance’s shop and the bookstore instead of having to wait in the van all the time, or you know, wearing yourself out with illusions that you’re not there all the time. What do you think?”
Something welled in Mystery’s chest and this time it wasn’t laughter. He worked his mouth, trying to force words past the sudden lump in his throat. “I—” Tears prickled in his eyes, and he couldn’t catch his breath.
Arthur, who had every right to fear him, who could no longer bear to touch him or play with him, had had the same thought Shaggy had about letting him stay with them? He had come up with this, thought of Mystery, when by all rights he should be grateful for every second he didn’t have to spend in his presence?
Shaggy shifted and Mystery knew in one horrifying flash what would happen if Shaggy told Arthur that they had just thought of the same thing. Arthur, with his deeply rooted guilt and insecurities, would close himself off, and mutter something about of course they thought of it first, better minds and all that...
Swiftly, he shot out a paw and slapped it over Shaggy’s mouth, begging him with a shake of his head and a pleading look to say nothing.
Shaggy pushed his paw away and smiled, making the motion of zipping his lips shut.
Arthur must have taken his silence for something bad, because his next words dripped with that same strained, self-deprecating tone that had become all too familiar. “I’m sorry, dumb idea, I know... You’re like a master of illusions and I shoulda just kept my mouth—”
“No!” Mystery barked sharply. “No, no, Arthur, that— that is an excellent idea! It would be wonderful if I could be allowed inside places with the rest of you without having to pretend! Without having to wait until we are away from others to have you speak to me.”
“Oh...” It sounded like Arthur had exhaled the word, more a sigh of relief than an answer. “Y-you really think so?”
“Like, that is an awesome idea!” Shaggy enthused. “I know you can't see him, but Mystery’s tail is going a mile a minute! I think it would be really great for him to be able to go into places with you guys.”
Arthur’s laugh was weak and shaky, but real. “Um, cool. You guys can tell Vivi, and we can look into getting you tags when we get back in our proper bodies.”
“We’ll be sure to tell her,” Shaggy enthused. “I’m sure she’ll think it’s as great an idea as Mystery and I do!”
“Y-yeah,” Arthur replied. “Thanks, guys. We’ll see you soon. Glad you like the idea, Mystery.”
“I do, Arthur, very much,” Mystery filled his voice with every bit of warmth and happiness that he could cram into it, hoping Arthur would feel that. When Shaggy hung up the phone, Mystery breathed out, closing his eyes. “More than I have words to say.”
Shaggy’s arm dropped around his neck, pulling him into a one-armed hug. “Dude, I think that was a really good thing for the both of you.”
“Yes,” Mystery pulled himself back together. “Thank you for letting him believe that it was his idea.”
Shaggy chuckled. “I don’t mind letting him have the credit. Besides, he did think of it, and probably first, he just had to work up the courage to tell you guys about it.”
Knowing Arthur, that was indeed the truth. He had probably agonized over the idea for days before deciding to broach it.
Shaggy leaned back in the seat and Mystery stretched out in his lap again, enjoying the scratches even more than he had the first time. Because he had more hope now, with Vivi determined that they would all talk things out and Arthur’s tentative steps toward recovering a little, that they might eventually heal the rifts between them. And if some part of him was as happy as a puppy that one of his humans was trying to overcome his fears and reach out to him again, well, that was his own business.