"Drink Up Me Hearties Yo Ho" from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Part 62: Epilogue

Luke Jones stuck the paperclip into the lock of the old trunk in his family's attic. It was a family talent, one that his mother would probably regret passing on if she caught him snooping around the trunk. By the stairs his sister Selina kept look out.

"Is it open?" Winnie Rogers asked.

"Yeah, and is it treasure?" Her brother Henry joined in.

Luke shot Trudy a look. "Quiet them before someone hears us." He whispered.

"You agreed to let them come" Trudy said laconically.

"Yeah, well they're your siblings so you keep them quiet."

Luke continued to work the lock. Down the hall he could hear footsteps. His breath caught in his throat. If that was his mom or dad, or Trudy's mom or dad, they were toast. His parents had forbidden them from coming to look up in the attic. They said it was dangerous. Luke had to agree, given that there was a large wall of weapons. Of course that just made it all the more tantalizing.

"Is it them?"

Selina turned to him. "Would asking have helped if it were?"

"Shut up Selina" Luke said, then breathed a sigh of relief as his and Selina's puppy Scrappy trotted up the stairs. "Scrappy, what's the good word?"

"Rey're rill talking" he barked. "Rast I recked."

"Good" Luke turned back to his work.

After another few minutes the lock made that clicking noise that he loved so much and Luke lifted the lid. He, Selina, Scrappy, Trudy, and the twins, looked inside. There were two large knives, odd that they would be locked away instead of on the weapons rack two yards away. There was also a golden watch and a photograph of their parents and Scooby when they were young, though still obviously older than the kids were now. On the back was written Mysteries Inc. Case # 1, the first of many.

"First case, your dad's first book." Trudy laughed. She loved the Mysteries Incorporated Series.

"Yeah, that was before they got weird and magicy" Selina said.

Under the picture was a small, golden key. Luke picked it up and examined it. It felt like real gold, it was certainly heavy. There was a symbol on the top, a V over and H and a wolf's head sculpted along the handle. Henry reached out for it and Luke held it up to him so he could get a look. That was when the attic door opened.

"Luke Jonathan Jones you put that back" His mother snapped, her voice going a bit Scottish as it often did when she yelled.

Luke dropped the key back into the chest as his dad, Aunt Velma, Uncle Shaggy, and Uncle Scooby came up the ladder. Luke's mom and Aunt Velma looked furious, but Luke's dad looked amused if anything.

"Yeah, told you that would happen if you told them not to come up here."

"Meddling Kids" Uncle Shaggy laughed. "Just like us."

The End

Well, it's been a hell of a ride folks. I know for a fact that I'm not going remember to say everything I want to say, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Firstly I' like to thank everyone single of of you that read this and indulged my mad ideas, and, not to play favorites, but special thanks to everyone who commented the whole way through, from my first readers to my last. You guys really deserve it too. You hear stories about the big bad internet but you all really make a guy feel welcome.

I've been writing this series, this Dracula Chronicles (spoilerific title, huh?) for about five years now. While it hasn't taken up my entire life, as the large pauses in between stories can attest, it has been a big part of it. You really have no idea how much extra background material for this universe I have saved on my computer (but just to give you an idea, you know that blog of Fred's mentioned way back in the fourth story, I have it written up).

I feel that I also owe thanks to everyone who has ever done official work on Scooby Doo, from the creators to the voice actors, and to the rights holders who have been kind enough not to kick down our digital doors and sue us all out of existence. This series never would have existed without them. I'd also like to thank the Academy, not because they had a damn thing to do with this, but because it's the done thing.

Much like this afterword there was a lot that never made it into the series due to pacing or other issues. Chrissie was meant to get a lot more screen time, as were the cops (love those guys). A few people who were meant to get more screen time but then had it deliberately taken from them were the Fletchers. Now make no mistake, I love them, but I think that was the problem. They became too important. I felt that the finale should be for Scooby characters not mine. So they, Warner, Luna, and Remus had to die. Sorry for going all Whedon on you like that, but it had to be done. I do love them though, because of all the characters in this series they're the only ones that I can call my own.

I know I promised a story after this, as you have probably figured out, it'll be about the kids. I'll write it I'm fairly sure, but I've gotta take a break for a little while. You can imagine how taxing it was to put this thing together, tying together plot threads that have evolved in my head for the past five years.

But once again, you've all been great. I hope you enjoyed it as I've enjoyed writing it for you. So for now, this is Green Platypus signing off, you stay classy Internet.