Sponge: Wow. The day has arrived at last…the final installment of "Scooby Doo and the Mysterious Tape: The Redux!" Zoinks! Jinkies! Jeepers! Ruh-roh! …Dang it, Fred needs a catch phrase. Anyway…this chapter really doesn't even qualify as a chapter because it's so short. It's really just an epilogue. In any case, I hope you appreciate how I resolve things. Also: tomorrow, I am officially moving this story to the crossover section, so if anyone else wants to recommend this story to their friends (hint, hint) you need to look there. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of The Ring. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Enjoy chapter 13!

Chapter 13: Epilogue

The next day, the gang wore somber colors to a wake that Velma's parents hosted. They still lived in Coolsville, so they were willing to hold a wake for their oldest daughter. A bunch of Dottie's old friends from college came – including Rachel Keller, who had been released from the hospital the previous day. Velma wandered through the house she grew up in solemnly until she ran into her.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Rachel told her. "I know what it's like to lose someone to the curse."

"Who did you lose?" Velma asked, curiously.

"My ex-boyfriend, Noah. And my niece, Katie. She was sixteen."

Velma shuddered inwardly. She had lost her ex-boyfriend. And she'd almost lost her niece. She felt tears well up in her eyes.

"I should have figured it out sooner," she sighed. "I call myself a detective – I should have figured out how to break the curse sooner." Rachel looked at Velma sternly.

"Velma, you can't blame yourself," she said. "Blaming yourself accomplishes nothing. This is in no way your fault. I learned that a long time ago."

Velma sighed again. "Thanks, Rachel," she murmured. "But it certainly feels like it's my fault. If I hadn't been so caught up in this mystery, I wouldn't have figuratively orphaned my niece. She hasn't had a father for four years...and now she has no mother."

"Look," Rachel said, taking Velma firmly by the shoulders. "I went through the same emotions you're going through right now. And I suffered all the same horrors you did. But look at me – I'm okay now. Well, in a manner of speaking. But for the most part, Aidan and I live normal lives. You will too, after some time. You just have to let yourself get there." Rachel reached into her purse and dug out a business card. "I'm not a therapist or anything, but I do understand what you're going through. So if you need someone to talk to…"

"…Thank you," Velma said quietly as she took the business card and placed it in her own purse. Rachel smiled wanly at her.

"You'll be okay, Velma," Rachel promised. "And Lorelei will, too."

x.X.x

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the house, Lorelei was talking to Aidan, who had come along with his mother.

"Will you live with your dad?" he was asking. They were talking about Lorelei's future, which seemed rather bleak right now, considering she didn't know where she was going to live. She'd spent the night with the gang again, but she knew they were far to busy to be able to look after her all the time.

"I don't know," Lorelei sighed. "Probably not. My dad hasn't been around in four years. I'll probably live with Grandma and Grandpa." Lorelei liked her grandparents – she was hoping she would live with them. They were the best option next to living with Mystery Inc. Or with her own mother.

Rachel came up just then. "How are you doing, Lorelei?"

"Okay," Lorelei replied. It was a lie. She wasn't actually doing okay – she was worried and scared about what was going to happen to her. And of course, she was devastated about losing her mother. It hadn't quite hit her yet that her mother was actually gone.

"I knew your mother in college, you know," Rachel said. "You remind me of her. You have the same kind of spark that she did, even at your age. I promise you're going to bounce back from this. It'll take a while, but it'll happen." Lorelei stared at this lady she barely knew who had discovered the curse before anyone else she knew. She could still see the sadness and fear in her eyes. But Lorelei knew she was right.

"Thanks," she said quietly. Rachel smiled, then held out her hand for Aidan's.

"Come on sweetie. Time to go home." The two walked off and Lorelei watched them walk away. She sat on the couch glumly. She missed her mother so much.

x.X.x

Before Rachel and Aidan left, they ran into Shaggy and Scooby who (of course) were eating. "Hey," Rachel said to Shaggy. "Velma Dinkley is your girlfriend, right?"

"Like, yeah," Shaggy said as he swallowed. He was still getting used to the fact that they were actually 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' now. He'd never thought of himself having the former as a title – especially in regards to Velma. It was still so much to believe.

"You may want to go talk to her," Rachel said. "I spoke with her a few moments ago and it seems like she blames herself for what happened to her sister."

"Oh man," Shaggy sighed.

"Yeah." Rachel looked back. "Her niece isn't doing too well either." Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other.

"Rye'll ret Rorelei," Scooby offered, grabbing some food from the counter and strutting over to her. When he got there, he placed the food on her lap.

"What are you doing, Scooby?" she asked.

"Rey're realing roods!" Scooby told her.

"Healing foods?" Lorelei looked skeptical, but she ate a bite of one of the hors d'oeuvres that Scooby had brought over.

"Real retter?"

"A little," Lorelei confessed. "I'm just really sad."

"Rye roe," Scooby said as he nodded and licked Lorelei's hand affectionately. She grinned cheerlessly at the dog and patted his head.

"You're such a good friend, Scooby," she told him. "I think I'll miss you the most. I always wanted a dog." Scooby almost started crying, but instead he laid his head on her knee as she continued to pet him.

x.X.x

Shaggy, in the meantime, had gone over to where Velma was. He took her to a private corner to chat.

"Hey," he said softly. "You doing okay?" Ugh, why did he always have to ask such stupid questions?

"Not really," Velma admitted.

"Yeah, like, Rachel said you're blaming yourself for what happened." He looked at her sternly. "You can't do that, Velms. It wasn't your fault. It was like, nobody's fault. You know that, right?"

"I don't know," Velma said. "I don't know anything anymore." Her eyes began to well up but before the dam could break, Shaggy pulled her into an embrace and held her tightly. She cried silently into his chest.

"Shh," he comforted her. "Like, I know how bleak everything seems, but you can't blame yourself for this mess. None of it was your fault."

"I failed, Shaggy," she whimpered. "I didn't save Dottie or Patrick or Mary Jane…"

"But like, you saved Lorelei. And yourself," he whispered. "Rachel was right…there's like, no stopping her. There's nothing else you could have done. You did all you could do. You're like, a hero, Velms." Shaggy was uncomfortable saying Samara's name. He also wasn't sure he was helping all that much.

But apparently he was because after a few moments, Velma took a shuddering breath and looked up at him. He brushed the remnants of tears from her face.

"I love you," she told him softly.

"I love you, too," he replied, drawing him to her again.

x.X.x

While all this was going on, Fred and Daphne were having an interesting discussion with Velma's parents and a lawyer. They were all studying a document that the lawyer was holding in his hands.

"It seems as though she made a last minute change to her will," the lawyer was saying.

"…She had a will and she was only twenty-nine?" Daphne asked.

"Yes," the lawyer said. "Originally, she had wanted to place her daughter in the care of her husband if anything happened to her. But then a few years ago she changed the next guardian to her parents." The lawyer glanced at Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley. "I'm assuming you knew of this?"

"Yes," Marilyn – Velma's mother – nodded. "After Bill left her…"

"But then, two days ago," the lawyer continued, "she changed the guardian yet again to a Velma Dinkley. I'm assuming that's her sister?"

"Yes," Velma's father, Harold, told him. "I wonder why she would have changed it though…"

"Dottie realized that Lorelei was in good hands with us during the course of the mystery," Fred said. "Not saying that she wouldn't be in good hands with you, Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley, but…"

"I understand," Harold said with a small smile. "I'm sure Lorelei would have much more fun with you kids anyway." Harold knew, of course, that his daughter and her friends were no longer children, but he would always remember the curious monster-hunting teenagers they had been.

"Do you think that's possible?" Marilyn asked. "I know how incredibly busy you all are most of the time…"

"We spent this entire week trying to solve a mystery, Mrs. Dinkley," Daphne told her. "And Lorelei provided a lot of the help. She wouldn't be in the way at all."

"Well…if you need any help with anything…" Marilyn began.

"We'll call you right away," Fred finished her sentence for her. As they left to tell Velma of this new development, Fred started planning. "We'll enroll her in Coolsville Elementary School soon. It's too far to commute to Lyonsville. We'll have to move the rest of her stuff out of her old house, and-"

"Freddie, relax," Daphne interrupted him, smiling. "I'm sure everything will work out. In the meantime, do you think this news will cheer up Velma and Lorelei at all?"

"Well it sure as heck cheered me up a little," Fred told her. "Let's hope it does the same for the rest."

x.X.x

After Fred and Daphne had told Shaggy and Velma of the new addition of Dottie's will, they approached the couch where Lorelei and Scooby had sat, finishing the appetizers.

"Hey Lorelei, we have some exciting news," Velma told her, kneeling in front of her niece so they were eye-level. Shaggy set next to the girl on her left, Daphne on her right, and Fred next to Daphne. Scooby was curled up on the floor next to Shaggy's feet.

"What news?" Lorelei asked rather listlessly.

"Well…your mom had a will, you know," Velma told her. "And in it, she explains her wishes of where you would live should anything…" Velma gulped – she wasn't able to finish the sentence. "Anyway…your mother's will says that if anything should happen, you would come live with me."

Lorelei looked at her aunt for a few moments of disbelief. "Are you saying…?"

"Do you want to live with us?" Velma asked. For the first time all day, Lorelei smiled genuinely.

"Of course I want to live with you!" she squealed, jumping from the couch and throwing her arms around her aunt so hard that they both fell backwards. Everyone laughed. "Does this mean I get to help you out with more mysteries?"

"Of course it does," Velma said.

"You can be like, an honorary member of Mystery Inc," Shaggy told her.

"Why can't I be a regular member?" Lorelei asked.

"Wait till you're at least fifteen," Fred told her. Lorelei rolled her eyes, but then beamed.

"I'm so much happier than I was before!" she exclaimed.

x.X.x

As everyone was going home later that afternoon, Lorelei sat in the back seat of the van as she took everything in. Scooby's head was hanging out the window, enjoying the breeze, Fred drove down the road while Daphne held onto his arm, and Shaggy and her aunt talked to each other earnestly about…something. Lorelei grinned to herself. This is my new family, she realized. Her heart still ached for the loss of her mother, and she knew that ache would never completely go away. But she also knew that her mother would have wanted her to be happy. Lorelei was fairly certain that she would be happy living with her Aunt Velma and her friends.

"Like, you know what I keep thinking, guys?" Shaggy now spoke to the entire van and everyone listened. "Rachel said that…'she' would never stop. Like…does anyone think she'll ever come back?"

"Who are you talking about? Samara?" asked Lorelei. The others all glanced at each other.

"Well…like, yeah," Shaggy said.

"I think she pretty much gave up on us after she tried possessing me," Lorelei told them. "When I was talking to Aidan at the wake, he told me that he'd been possessed by her once, too. But he still has nightmares about her…and he saw her at the hospital when she had taken over my body. So…I don't think she'll come back, but there's really no way of knowing." The others all shifted silently.

"At least we know what to do now if she ever comes back," Fred said.

"True," Daphne replied. "But what will happen to the people we show the tape to?"

"We don't have to worry about that right now," Velma said firmly. "For now, let's focus on getting Lorelei moved in and feeling at home."

"Aunt Velma," Lorelei said, looking at her aunt with a small smile. "I already feel at home with you guys."

It wasn't much. And of course, they were all still sad and scared. But for the most part, everything was okay. And they were going to try to keep it that way for as long as they possibly could.

Sponge: It's over! YAAAAAAAAAY! By which I mean WAAAAAAAAAH! Oh well. Everything has a beginning and an end, my fans, and this fan fic was no different. So, 13 chapters, almost 60,000 words, and 700,000 emotions later, this fic is complete. I'd like to give MAJOR shout outs to everyone who reviewed, particularly XxLadyStrengthxX just because I can't get over how awesome she is. I don't know if I'll ever write another Scooby story (or The Ring story, for that matter), but if I do, I hope you all will read and review with the same passion and enthusiasm that you did with this one. In any case…don't forget to tune in to Cartoon Network at 7:00 pm EST on Monday, July 12, 2010 to watch the premiere of the new Scooby Doo series! I, sadly, will be unable to watch it considering I will be on vacation (but I am TiVo-ing it, which I'm kind of embarrassed about, but whatever). In any case, I hope you enjoyed this story. Review, just for old times sake! Peace out!