The Human Within

The good news is, Daphne went to the sewers with her friends.

The bad news is, she's in her werewolf form and growling at her friends.

"Jeez, Daphne, you sure are in a lousy mood!" Scrappy exclaimed in a scolding tone.

"Then, why not try some Lots of Luck Joy Juice?" Flim-Flam said as he shook the bottle, but before he could open it, Daphne pounced on Shaggy. At least he defended himself with a stick to be put in her muzzle while she's pining him down to the ground.

"Shaggy!" Scrappy and Flim-Flam exclaimed.

"Rhaggy!" Scooby exclaimed as well.

The only thing Shaggy should worry about was that if the stick could last longer.

"I'll open the bottle to turn her back!" Flim-Flam suggested.

"No, Flim-Flam! I'll try this method instead. Trying to reach out to her from within. Like, I know there's no reasoning with monsters such as werewolves in movies, but I won't know if something like this could work in real life," Shaggy said during the struggle.

"Shaggy..."

Scooby had decided to give this a try, and with some urging from him, Scrappy agreed with the idea. Flim-Flam puts away the bottle, hoping Shaggy got through to Daphne.

"Daphne, I know you're in there somewhere! Hang in there! Don't give in to the monster that you turned into!" Shaggy pleaded to the point where tears suddenly appeared from his eyes as if he hoped that crying could also help awaken Daphne's human side from within the werewolf that she turned into. "Stay strong! Don't become a monster! I know you're in there, Daphne! Give me a sign, please!"

Just then, two drops of water fell on to Shaggy's face.

Those were tears coming from Daphne, who stopped attacking and started crying as her eyes went from feral to docile. She had regained her human side while her body was still a werewolf. Guilt and remorse, she felt as she came to her senses to realize that she almost attacked Shaggy, her own friend. She really didn't want to hurt her friend, but her newfound animal instinct and impulses almost drove her to do something horrible.

"Shaggy did it. Daphne got her mind back while she's a werewolf. Fascinating," Flim-Flam said in astonishment.

"Ri rew rou rould ro rit, Rhaggy," Scooby said proudly of the achievement.

"Never once I doubted your intention," Scrappy admitted in the same tone.

Daphne lets her muzzle go from the stick, and Shaggy was free. She looked at her clawed and furry hands with guilt on her face.

"Daphne, it's going to be okay," Shaggy attempted to console her.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," the werewolf spoke an apology before she ran away from her friends out of guilt for her actions that she had no control over.

"Daphne, wait!"

Scooby, Scrappy, Shaggy, and Flim-Flam managed to catch up to Daphne where they saw her sitting by the water and staring at her wolfy reflection in a sad manner. She then put her clawed hands in front of her furry face as more tears run down her muzzle.

"Daphne..." Shaggy approached her, and she looked at him.

"Shaggy..."

"May I please sit with you?"

Daphne nodded, and Shaggy sat beside her. This sure was an awkward scene, a human and a werewolf sitting next each other.

"It's all my fault," she broke the silence.

"What?" Shaggy asked, blinking.

"It's all my fault," Daphne repeatedly. "I should have believed Vincent about the werewolves, as well as Scrappy about the Wolfsbane. Because I didn't, look what happened. We always investigate cases where a human would dress up as a monster for ulterior motives, but I didn't expect that we ended up running into real monsters this time. I always thought they were just myths and legends, and I didn't think we would encounter them in the flesh," she sobbed more.

Shaggy didn't like to see his friend being upset like this. Feeling safe with her human mind being in control of her werewolf form, he took a deep breath and let her cry on to his shoulder.

"It's going to be okay, Daphne. I don't blame you for going out of control like that after you turned into a werewolf. I also don't blame you if you don't believe in monsters like how Scooby and I should. All it mattered now is that you're in control of yourself as a werewolf. It doesn't matter what you are on the outside, but who you are in the inside is," he started saying comforting words.

"Oh, Shaggy, I'm so sorry for attacking you," Daphne apologized again as she pulled him into a hug.

"It's okay, Daphne. It's okay," Shaggy returned the hug.

Scooby, Scrappy, and Flim-Flam approached them as they let go of the hug.

"Rhaggy's right, Raphne. Rall rit rattered row ris rat rou're rou ras ra rerewolf," Scooby spoke first.

"I don't blame you for not believing me about what the Wolfsbane could do, Daphne. Seeing is believing, I guess," Scrappy spoke next.

"To be honest, this is my first time in seeing a human in control of oneself as a werewolf, and I'm glad you're the one who made it possible, Daphne. This proved that the town might not be cursed after all, if there were any good humans who never wanted to do horrible things when they were out of control as werewolves," Flim-Flam spoke last.

"Thank you, guys. Thank you for still wanting to be friends with me, in spite of what I turned into," Daphne cried happy tears from their acceptance, and the three went into a group hug with her in order to make her feel better. Shaggy just smiled at this.

They let go of the hug.

"Are you feeling okay now, Daphne?" Shaggy asked the obvious as he and his werewolf friend stand up.

"I think I am," Daphne replied with her fangs shining a faint smile while wiping her tears away. "I think I'm ready to change back."

"Would you do the honors?" Flim-Flam gave her the Lots of Luck Joy Juice.

With the bottle on her hands, Daphne opened the bottle, and it's magic flew on to her.

Poof!

She's back to being human.

"Hey, that stuff really works, Flim-Flam!" Scrappy exclaimed with a smile.

"You heard him, folks! Another satisfied customer!" Flim-Flam said as if he and Scrappy were in a TV commercial.

"Now that things were cleared up, let's get out of town. Like, let's split already," Shaggy said the obvious next move.

"No, Shaggy, not until we get into the temple and recover our plane," Daphne said the next thing to do, and she's right about that.

"Face it, Scoob. We're doomed," Shaggy whimpered, and Scooby did the same.

Author's Note: Good thing I watched that scene from the first episode of Demon Slayer to make this fanfic.

In loving memory of Casey Kasem (Shaggy) and Heather North (Daphne). May they rest in peace.