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“NO!”The door to the Netherworld slammed shut behind Lydia and Chuck. The Brigadoons tried to push against it but there was no use. What was a door was no longer a door, merely an empty space of wall. Just… gone.Like his plan to come alive. His last chance to not be alone.Lydia had jumped into Hell to get away from him. She would rather be dead than with him. And that fucking hurt.“Why does everyone keep leaving me?!” Beetlejuice screamed. Then, in a millisecond, his explosive fury turned tranquil as he removed a knife from his sleeve. “OK, new plan. You’re all gonna die.”He didn’t get the chance to single out his first victim before Mr. Soul Box, cowering in a corner, holding his book up as a shield to protect his face (like a stupid book could do that), stuttered, “Why don’t you just go and get her? Leave the rest of us alone!”Beetlejuice spun on him, pointing his knife in the self-serving prick’s direction. “I can’t! I ran away from that place, and fun fact! When you run away from home, your parents don’t exactly welcome you back with open arms! And Mom reacted by sticking me with this fucking curse and being all like If you ever come back here again, Lawrence, I’ll exorcise your ass into oblivion and feed what’s left to a sandworm! No thank you, I’ll pass. Lydia made her fucking choice. If she’d rather be in that hellhole than be my friend, then so fucking be it. She can sleep in that dirty fucking bed she made!”The demon kept his voice hard, trying not to choke on the sobs that threatened.“Can you not make this about you for one second?!” Barbara suddenly yelled and holy crap, if he wasn’t so fucking angry it would be damn hot. “She didn’t jump in there to get away from you, though lord knows I don’t blame her for that! She’s obviously trying to get her mother back!”Beetlejuice clenched his fist. He was sick and fucking tired of hearing about Lydia’s precious mother like she was some saintly angel sent from on high, constantly reminding him of how much his own mother sucked ass. (But not, like, literally because gross.)“Well,” the demon said through gritted teeth, “she’ll be happily resting in peace with her stupid mommy soon enough, along with Chucky. The Netherworld is death.”The bombshell life coach – Darla? Deborah? Della? – slapped a hand over her mouth and started wailing.Meanwhile the Brigadoons stared at him with wide eyes until, hesitantly, Adam said, “Did they die the moment they crossed over?”“No, it’s not an insta-death thing,” Beetlejuice replied, as he tucked away his knife for the time being. “Anyone smart enough to turn right around and come back is still alive. No, it’s death because it’s the land of the dead. Everyone’s dead in there. A breather-free zone. Because there’s no fucking air in there to breathe.”He was about to add that there was probably some air in there from all the doorways being opened, but he didn’t get the chance. The Maitlands immediately turned their backs on him and thumped their hands against the wall.“We’ve gotta get her out of there!” Adam yelled.“Where’s the chalk?!” Barbara’s gaze darted around the room. “Who’s got chalk?!”“If you two go in there, neither of you are coming back out,” Beetlejuice informed them. “Breathers can come back but ghosts can’t. Actually,” He produced a stick of chalk from his pocket, “let me help you out. Goodbye, good riddance, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”Barbara spun on her heel and nailed him with a glare. And fine, it was damn hot. “That girl is going to die and it’s all your fault! How could you do this to her?! She said you were her friend! She stood up for you when we were going to-”“FRIEND?!” The red from his hair swarmed his vision as the demon surged forwards, inches away from Barbara’s face. The hurt and the devastation consumed him once more, like he was watching Lydia abandon him all over again. “When the fuck did she say we were friends?! She told me we weren’t!”Adam barged between them, shielding his wife from the demon’s wrath. “She called you her monster, which if you ask me is basically the same thing.”Beetlejuice stepped back, eyes snapping back and forth between the couple. He looked for any sign that they were lying and found none.Lydia had called him her monster.Hers.“She… she said that?” he asked, hating how small his voice sounded. “When?”“When she came to show us that book you gave her,” said Adam. He jabbed his finger in the demon’s direction. “Which you should never have given to her, by the way. It’s very dangerous!”“No…” Beetlejuice hurriedly shook his head. She’d said that after coming up the stairs, after… “That’s a lie! Before that, she told me we weren’t friends! I was begging her not to leave me and I said But I thought we were pals? But then she was all like What are you talking about? I want my mom!”Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. “How did you think she was saying you weren’t her friend? She clearly meant something along the lines of What? Of course we’re pals, that doesn’t have anything to do with getting my mom back.”Beetlejuice stared at the man without really seeing him. Darla’s wailing and Mr. Soal Box’s cowering faded away, replaced by white noise and Lydia’s words, repeating over and over in his head.And with every repeat, it became ever clearer that Adam was right.He’d misunderstood her. He’d driven away his only friend for no reason. Lydia was in the Netherworld because of him. Because he was a fucking screw-up, just like his mother always said.He felt his hair changing and a quick look at his whitening tie confirmed its colour. He wasn’t surprised. Lydia was in the Netherworld, she was going to die and it was his fault, all his fault, God/Satan what had he done-“Why are we just standing around here talking?” Barbara’s voice cut through the white noise as the demon’s senses returned. “Lydia’s still in there and- Hey!”Beetlejuice shoved her aside and charged at the wall. The hand that still held the stick of chalk trembled as he redrew the door. “How long can breathers survive without oxygen?”“Three minutes on average, longer with training,” Adam replied automatically. “But… they’ve been in there longer than that…”The words Beetlejuice had been meaning to say before passed his lips, like he was assuring himself as much as them. “There’s some oxygen in there, from all the doors being opened. But not a lot.”He knocked on the door three times.“We have to hurry,” said Barbara. She and Adam came up behind him.Beetlejuice spun and pushed them back with a telekinetic shove. “Sorry, you two are gonna be useless in there. And you can’t come back. Stay the fuck here.”He leapt through the door before they could argue and slammed it shut behind him.The Netherworld was usually so quiet. But the second he got his bearings, he registered the blaring alarms accompanied by red flashing lights. It meant that Lydia had gone through the gate into the abyss, giving him a good idea of her location, but it also meant that his mom was going to be after her, because Juno was all about rules and regulations and the biggie was you go to the Netherworld, you don’t come back…If Lydia didn’t die of oxygen deprivation, then Juno was going to kill her.He’d thought that watching her run up the stairs, abandoning him, had hurt. But that was nothing compared to the utter torment that wrecked his very being, threatening to send him to his knees. God/Satan, he’d never cared about breathers dying before, everyone died eventually, but the very thought of Lydia dying was the equivalent of having his heart ripped out of his fucking chest.Beetlejuice screwed his eyes shut and took deep breaths, breaths that he didn’t need. He had to find her. He had to. Either he found her or he stopped existing. There was no other option.After taking a moment to focus, he teleported himself past the gate to save time. But the real task lay ahead of him: trying to find one little breather in an endless abyss of nothing. The equivalent of trying to find a needle in the fucking universe.He didn’t care.“LYDIA!” His voice echoed around the empty hallways. He was probably drawing attention to himself and it wouldn’t be long before Juno realised he was there. Good. Better for her to be focused on him instead of Lydia.The demon stumbled around for what felt like eons but was probably only minutes before he came upon a heap on the floor. A heap that breathed. He rushed forwards, but his relief was short lived. “You.”Chuck struggled to push himself up again, not helped by his uncoordinated limbs. He wheezed with every strain, his breathing short and rapid. His lips were starting to turn blue. And when he looked up at the demon, it seemed to take a good few seconds for recognition to break through his obvious disorientation. “You…”Beetlejuice grabbed the man by his shirt and hauled him to his knees. “Where’s Lydia?” he growled.“Why should I…” His words slurred, but the icy tone in his voice was unmistakable. “It’s your fault she’s here…”He was right, which made his words hurt all the more. Even so, Beetlejuice let his rage bubble over as he threw the man back down. “Oh, you’re not entirely blameless here, Chucky Boy! Lydia was alone and invisible. You made her feel that way! You made her believe that death was the only way out! This isn’t the first time she’s tried to kill herself! When I first met her, she was about to throw herself off the roof!”The man froze, staring at the demon in horror. “No… You lie…”“Not this time,” Beetlejuice snarled. “Is that news to you, Chuck? Not surprised. You were too busy doing fuck all to pay attention to her. Too busy fucking the life coach to replace your dead wife, too busy planning out that fucking gated community like those are even a thing anymore – which they’re not, get with the times – and too busy sucking up to that sexual predator you call a friend and not caring that he was eyeing up your underage daughter like a fat kid eyeing up cake!”“Says the demon who tried to marry her!” Chuck pushed himself off the floor and tried to take a swing at the demon.Beetlejuice stepped out of the way with barely any effort, letting the man fall forwards. He had to hand it to the guy. It was an admirable effort. “For the last time, it was a green card thing! I was never going to consummate it in a million years. I have standards. Can’t say the same for Max Molester. Seriously, Wife Five looked barely legal.”Chuck’s wheezing grew louder. He tried to crawl past the demon on his hands and knees, limbs shaking with the effort. “You’re not… going to touch her…”“Hate to break this to ya, Chuck, but you’re not gonna be of any help to her like this,” Beetlejuice pointed out. “I’m her only hope of getting out of here and you’re wasting my fucking time!”He grabbed the man by the back of his jacket and dragged him across the floor. Chuck was so exhausted and oxygen deprived, he could barely fight back. Beetlejuice reached the closest wall, retrieved his stick of chalk and drew a door, which he knocked on three times. He barely checked that it led to the Old Victorian before he tossed Chuck through. He then slammed the door shut before the man had a chance to react.Beetlejuice scanned every inch of the surrounding area. If Chuck had been in this passage, then Lydia couldn’t be far away.“LYDIA!”No response. That didn’t mean anything. Maybe she was too far away to hear him, maybe she could hear him but was ignoring him…He hid around a corner when some dead football players passed by, no doubt new flunkies of Juno’s. If they were still on the hunt, then it meant that Lydia was still out there, meant that Juno hadn’t caught her and it wasn’t too late…“LYDIA!”The demon raced around a corner and almost tripped over a dark heap on the floor, a dark heap that was breathing and thank fuck it was Lydia, he’d found her-Oh god.For a moment Beetlejuice could only stand there staring down at her. She was on her side, curled in a ball. Just like her dad, her breaths were short and rapid but they were accompanied by heart-wrenching sobs, each one like a dagger straight to the demon’s heart. Her face was wet with tears and would’ve been blotchy and red if it wasn’t turning worryingly blue.He was suddenly, frighteningly aware of just how young she was. How small she was. Small and fragile, so unlike the girl he’d come to know and love (he loved her, fuck, he loved her, he loved her so much). She looked so… broken.The moment passed and the demon fell to his knees, the noise passing his lips a hybrid of a relieved cry and a choked sob. He attempted to gather the girl into his arms. “Lydia! Oh thank God/Satan, you’re alive. It’s OK. I’m here. I’m gonna get you home…”“NO!” Lydia twisted out of his gasp, practically throwing herself to the floor. Beetlejuice was too surprised to stop her. She tried to haul herself up on her hands and knees, tried to crawl away, but was too weak. “No… I can’t… find home…”“Lyds, I can take you home!” The demon tried to grab her again.She shoved him away. “NO! MAMA!”In all of his existence, Beetlejuice had never heard such a raw, heartbroken scream. A scream that dissolved into the ugly kind of sobbing that made it difficult to breath, in this case made worse by the lack of oxygen. The teen once again fell on her side and trembled violently.“My home…” Her quiet words slurred as she struggled to force them past the lump in her throat. “My world… She left… She’s gone…”Beetlejuice almost reinforced those words. He chose not to. He had a feeling the girl was making that realisation herself. Her mother was gone. She left.Like Lydia had left him.It hit him like an atom bomb. The horrible, unbearable pain he’d felt when Lydia had charged through that doorway was the exact same pain Lydia was feeling right now. The same pain she’d been feeling since her mother died; had been feeling throughout the whole time he’d known her.Pain he’d mocked her for. And fuck, did that make him feel awful.“Oh Lyds…” He gently, carefully pulled her upright and held her against him. This time she let him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”The demon rubbed her back. Stroked her hair. He’d seen parents do the same to their children. He hoped it was enough.Lydia went still, and at first he thought she was calming down. Then he realised that her breathing was getting weaker.He lifted her easily into a bridal carry (no, not a bride, she wasn’t his bride) and sprinted over to the nearest wall. The demon manifested a third arm, which retrieved the stick of chalk from his pocket and shakily drew a door before knocking three times.The light of the living world was like a godsend. Beetlejuice launched himself through.Momentum sent him hurtling into the living room before he collapsed to his knees, Lydia still in his arms. He barely registered the people around him as he focused all of his attention on Lydia, waiting for her to start breathing properly and open her eyes and affectionately insult him…Nothing changed. Her skin remained tinted blue, her breathing still weak.Was he too late? The demon shook his head. No, he couldn’t be too late, Lydia had to be OK, she had to…“Lyds? Come on, kid, talk to me.” He gave her a gentle shake. No reaction. “Come on, you’re stronger than this. Where’s that twisted little psycho who blue-balled me thrice over? Who pushed me off the roof? Who scared the living daylights out of everyone who came to the door? You gave me a run for my money! Me! The Ghost with the Most!”Still no response.“Lydia?” Beetlejuice’s vision began to blur with tears. “Oh god, please. Please wake up. You’ve gotta wake up! Look, if you’re worried about the wedding, don’t be! The wedding’s off! I’m a fucking screw-up and I hurt the only friend I’ve ever had over a fucking misunderstanding! I’m sorry! Just… just wake up! I’ll do anything! I’ll… I’ll leave! You’ll never have to see me again! Just wake up!”She laid in his arms, unresponsive.Then Beetlejuice felt hands on his shoulders, on his arms, trying to pull him away, then there were hands on Lydia trying to pull her away from him and no, they couldn’t take her from him-The demon clutched her to his chest. He had to protect Lydia. He had to protect her at all costs.He snarled and growled and roared, lashing out with extra arms and the tail that suddenly sprouted. He felt his nails become claws, his canine teeth grow longer. The part of his brain that wasn’t a feral mess registered that he was shifting and he had to stop because if he shifted then he could hurt Lydia-Two hands cupped his cheek. Lips smashed into his.It took a moment for Beetlejuice to realise that he was being kissed by Adam Maitland.He couldn’t kiss back, stunned as he was. But when the shock wore off and the carnal part of his brain suggested that he probably should kiss this sexy man back, the lack of shock also made him aware of the lack of Lydia in his arms.“Lydia!” Beetlejuice tore himself away from Adam and tried to scramble to his feet. He saw Chuck carrying her away, the life coach by his side, running to the door, taking Lydia away, he was losing her-A slap across the face stopped him in his tracks and then Barbara was there, holding his shoulders and shouting, “Lydia needs a hospital or she’ll die!”The words broke through his scattered mind. Remaining on his knees, Beetlejuice stared after the departing Deetz family.If he let them go, he’d never see Lydia again. But if Lydia stayed, she was going to die.He did nothing as Chuck raced out the front door. It slammed shut behind them.And Beetlejuice dissolved into wailing, messy, ugly tears. He barely registered Barbara pulling him into an embrace, soothing him like a mother would sooth her child.Lydia was gone.But at least she was alive.
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Lydia drifted in and out of consciousness, barely aware of her surroundings and its fleeting sensations.Cold arms holding her. A voice in her ear, begging, crying.Then warm arms holding her, carrying her. Telling her to hold on, she had to hold on.Her breaths came easier, deeper. It was all she could do. She couldn’t get enough, she was hungry for it, starving, she breathed quicker, sucking in as much as she could.Something over her face. So much air, clean and fresh. Unlike before, when it had been stale and thick, heavy enough to weigh her down. Why had the air been so wrong? Why had she been there? She’d been looking for…Mama.Mama left, Mama was gone, she couldn’t find her, Mama was never coming back-Her limbs thrashed. Someone was crying. Someone was screaming. She was.Voices around her. Someone held her down. A voice in her ear, deep, reassuring, familiar.Daddy?No, it couldn’t be. Daddy never said anything, never saw her, never understood-A sharp pain in her arm. Then… nothing.---Lydia first became aware of a bright light above her. Heaven? Was her mama coming to get her?She tried to reach for it but her whole body ached in a way it never had before. Like she’d run a marathon, up a mountain, while being battered by falling rocks. She blinked until her eyes adjusted and recognised the hauntingly familiar hospital light. Not the exact same light, but all hospital lights were the same, she found. All the same as the one in……in her mom’s room.The teen wanted to cry and let her tears loose, but her eyes didn’t cooperate. They’d run dry. This forced Lydia to focus on her surroundings. A mask sat secured to her face, supplying supplemental oxygen, helping her to breathe. She was lying in a bed, the headrest at an angle that allowed her to sort of sit up but not quite, keeping her head elevated. She still wore her black dress instead of one of those itchy hospital gowns, though her combat boots had been removed.A heavy sigh drew her attention to her right.Slouched in an uncomfortable hospital chair, head in his hands, was her father. To say he was dishevelled would’ve been an understatement; his usually impeccable suit was riddled with creases and the hair he never failed to comb was an absolute mess. A damp handkerchief hung from the hand closest to her.Lydia hadn’t seen him like this since the day her mom died. He had let himself cry for that one day before he locked his emotions away, turning into some kind of automation that never spoke to her (at least in a way that meant something), never felt anything, just kept moving forwards, dragging her behind him but never looking back, never noticing how much she was hurting.But this show of emotion…“Daddy?”Her voice startled him upright. His wide eyes beheld her before he fell to his knees beside her bed, cradling her hand and bringing it up to his lips. His now visible face was red and blotchy, his eyes wet and weighed down by dark rings.“Lydia…” His voice trembled, like he was on the verge of crying all over again. “Thank god. You’re going to be OK. Please, don’t you ever do that again.”She wanted to yank her hand back but he held it too tightly. “I didn’t have a choice. Mama didn’t exist in that house. You made sure of that. You never talk about her. You never let me talk about her. You never say a fucking word and it’s like I’m losing her all over again. She was my whole world, Dad. I lost my whole world. She would want us to talk about her. You know she would. But you act like she never even existed. You won’t even say her name.”There were the tears. She hadn’t run dry, after all. They blurred her vision, turning her dad into a featureless blob. She once again tried to yank her hand back but her dad held firm, his other hand joining the first as he kissed hers.“Oh god, he was right,” her dad said, and before Lydia could ask who “he” was, the sobbing man before her continued. “Lydia, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to erase her. I didn’t mean to make you feel alone and invisible. I… I couldn’t talk about her because… because it hurt too much.”That… hadn’t been what she’d expected to hear. She’d thought his heart had hardened; that he’d done his grieving on day one and moved on, just like that. She’d never considered… this.“Dad?”Her vision cleared enough to see him again; to see the tears rolling down his cheeks. “She was my world too, Lydia. We both lost our whole world. I… I was only trying to build us a new one.”“But there’s no one living in it,” said Lydia. “You moved on and you left me behind. Actually, no. You dragged me along and tried to build a new life around me, but I didn’t fit in it. And be real, Dad. You never fit in it, either. You couldn’t see that and you weren’t listening to me. That’s why I wanted her back. That’s why I jumped into that place. It’s why I…” She swallowed. “The night I found out about you and Delia, I went up to the roof and… I was gonna jump.”She expected shock. Horror. More tears.She didn’t expect sad acknowledgement. “I know. That demon told me.”“What?” Lydia blinked. Beetlejuice told him?Her brain became flooded with memories. Of the three days she spent with the demon, scaring anyone who came to the house, throwing parties, hanging out. For the first time since her mom died, she hadn’t been alone. She had a friend. A best friend.Until he turned on her. Betrayed her. She still couldn’t understand why.Fighting past the hurt, she went to ask her dad when Beetlejuice had told him this, but her dad spoke before she could. “I suspect he may have been the one to talk you out of it, which means he’s saved your life twice now.”
What?
Again, her dad continued before she could get a word in. “And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m grateful to him. If anything had happened to you, I would never have forgiven myself. I can’t believe how foolish I’ve been, to not see how much pain you were in. But the worst part is… your mother knew this was going to happen. A few nights before she… before… Emily…”He forced the word past his lips like it physically pained him. Lydia squeezed his hand in appreciation.“She took my hand, just like this,” He gestured to his hand holding Lydia’s, “and she said… she said I know you want to fix this, but we just have to hold onto each other and live through it. I thought she was talking about us…” His hand gesture made it clear that the “us” he was referring to was himself and her mom, “but I think she was talking about us.” He squeezed Lydia’s hand. “Please, Lydia. Tell me how to make this right.”If he had asked her a few days ago, she would’ve made a whole list. Going back to New York and getting rid of Delia being at the very top. But after seeing the Netherworld for herself, seeing how empty it was, seeing what awaited her after death… It gave her an appreciation for the life before her.Hold onto each other and live through it. That was what her mama wanted her to do. And that was exactly what she was going to do.“I’ve been so scared that I’m gonna forget her,” Lydia said as her tears returned. “I don’t wanna forget her. Please… just promise me that we can still talk about her?”Her father nodded, smiling. “Anytime you want.”Finding her strength, Lydia leaned forwards and wrapped her arms around him. He did the same, squeezing her tight. Lydia didn’t know how long they stayed like that before the sound of the door opening pulled them apart.Delia stood on the threshold, staring. Lydia stared back, noticing two things about the woman. One: her eyes were red-rimmed and there were still traces of mascara-soaked tears on her cheeks. Two: her arms were full of candy.Lydia couldn’t help but remark, “Did you rob the vending machine?”“No, I didn’t know what you’d want, so I, uh…” She gave a little shrug. “I panicked.”“I didn’t ask for anything,” said Lydia.“I know, but…” After a moment of hesitation, Delia surged forwards, dropped all the candy on the bed and fell to her knees beside Charles. “Lydia, I’m so sorry! I was only trying to help you but instead I nearly drove you off a building!” Her last words were absorbed by overdramatic wails.Even so, Lydia knew enough about the woman to know they were sincere. “Delia-”“I kept force-feeding you all of that stupid advice and it didn’t even come from a real guru!” the woman continued. “I begged him to get you both out of that place and he ran away! His real name isn’t even Otho! It’s Kevin! And he was from New Jersey!”More wailing. Lydia tried her hardest not to roll her eyes. “Delia-”“I really wanted to help you! And I tried so hard to keep things professional, but then things happened between me and your father and I wanted to tell you sooner, but we were worried that you wouldn’t take it well and you didn’t! I don’t even blame you, but Lydia, I swear I’m not trying to replace your mother! That’s the last thing I want to do-”“Delia!” When the woman finally stopped talking, Lydia said, “Do you really love my Dad? And Dad, do you really love Delia?”They both appeared startled by the question, which given how Lydia had reacted when she first learnt of the relationship, was understandable.Delia responded first. “It all happened so fast and it was really unexpected, but yes. I love your father dearly.”“And despite what I said that night, I wasn’t looking to replace your mother, Lydia,” said her dad. “Those were a poor choice of words. I never told you this, but… when it became clear that… that Emily wasn’t going to survive, she encouraged me to find love again. She didn’t want me to be alone when you left home. She actually tried to set me up on that weird phone app.”“Tinder?” Lydia giggled. “Mom tried to set you up on Tinder? That’s so her.”Her dad chuckled. “It really was. At the time, I couldn’t even bear the thought of looking at another woman again. I really did hire Delia to be your life coach, and things just… happened. I didn’t expect it. But yes. I love her.”Lydia nodded. She was still upset that they kept this from her, but she understood why they’d been reluctant to tell her. And while it would probably take a while for her to fully warm up to Delia, a good starting place would be to make peace with her. To let her dad find love again, especially if it was what her mom wanted.Spurred by a vague memory, she said, “Don’t leave, Delia. If you guys really love each other, then I can’t stand in the way of that. I’m sorry I was an asshole to you.”“You’re not an asshole,” Delia assured her. “You’re a teenager. A girl who was still grieving for her mother and thought this strange lady was trying to replace her. And don’t worry. I never planned on leaving.”“But…” Lydia frowned. “I remember someone saying they’ll leave if I woke up.”
I’ll leave! You’ll never have to see me again! Just wake up!
“Ah, yes, the doctor said you could have memory issues,” said her dad. “That wasn’t Delia. The demon said that.”“Beetlejuice?” Lydia frowned. “He said he’d leave? But… he’s the loneliest guy I’ve ever met. He wouldn’t leave for anything. And wait, you said he saved my life twice. He stopped me from jumping when I was on the roof-”“He was the one who pulled us out of the Netherworld,” her dad interrupted.Memories leaked through. Lydia recalled cold hands trying to pull her up. A gravelly voice talking to her, desperate to get her out.“Probably to retrieve his runaway bride,” said Lydia, voice hard.“You’re not his bride anymore,” said Delia. “He said the wedding’s off.”More words came back to her. Look, if you’re worried about the wedding, don’t be! The wedding’s off!“He said…” Lydia shook her head, trying to jog a few more memories loose. “I don’t understand. Why did he pull all of that shit before?”“It was a misunderstanding,” Delia said. “After you and your father disappeared, it all came out. He thought you’d abandoned him and that you weren’t his friend anymore.”I’m a fucking screw-up and I hurt the only friend I’ve ever had over a fucking misunderstanding! More words. And she vaguely recalled running up the stairs while he yelled after her, sounding panicked.Had she made him feel like she was abandoning him? Like they weren’t friends anymore? “That’s not an excuse to start murdering people.”“No, it’s very much not,” Delia agreed. “But I think there may have been a mitigating factor involved. I’m starting to suspect that Beetlejuice has a serious case of Borderline Personality Disorder. He displays a lot of the symptoms, like extreme mood swings, intense anger and difficulties controlling it, poor judgement and impulse control, and a severe fear of abandonment, which leads to extreme behaviours to avoid it.”“That… sounds exactly like Beetlejuice,” said Lydia. “And I wasn’t abandoning him. I didn’t mean to. I just went upstairs to show Adam and Barbara the book.”“Even small instances like that can trigger an extreme emotional response,” Delia explained. Lydia began to wonder where this Delia was when the woman had been trying to life coach her. This Delia was actually smart. “But once the Maitlands explained that it was clearly a misunderstanding and that you were still his friend, Beetlejuice charged straight into that awful place to get you back. Even though he’d already said that his mother would kill him for real if he ever returned.”“His mom?” Lydia recalled what the demon had said about his mother. Both times she’d been distracted by other things so hadn’t really been paying attention, but that woman (demon) sounded awful.And Beetlejuice had risked her wrath to get Lydia out.Oh god, please. Please wake up. You’ve gotta wake up! Just wake up! The words kept coming, along with the heartbroken devastation behind them. Lydia recalled being held in his arms, pulled against his chest as he begged for her to wake up. Remembered the vague sensation of something dripping on her face…“Was he crying?”“He was… beside himself,” said her dad, like he had trouble believing it himself and probably wouldn’t if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. “We had a hard time separating you from him. It was like he was terrified you’d die if he let you go.”Lydia looked away, thinking. On the one hand, Beetlejuice was the best friend she’d ever had besides her mother. But on the other hand, he’d almost gotten Barbara exorcised (and ticked her into being the one to do it), tried to murder everyone else and tried to marry her.But on the other, other hand, he’d saved her life. And if he had some kind of mental health issues going on…“I have to go back,” she said. “I need to talk to him.”Her father nodded. “I’ll find the doctor and ask when you’re ready to go home.”Home. Lydia realised, for the first time since moving… that place really was home.
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As it turned out, it was still the middle of the night and the doctors wanted to keep Lydia until morning for observation. They were apparently baffled by her case, insisting that considering her young age (as opposed to her dad, who was able to handle it better) and how long she was deprived of enough oxygen (Lydia didn’t know what her dad had told them, since he couldn’t have explained she’d been in the Netherworld), she should’ve been displaying worse symptoms than some memory issues and a mild headache.Brain damage and organ failure had been very real possibilities. They were surprised that she’d even woken up so soon instead of falling into coma. There’d even been a risk of brain death, something Lydia wouldn’t have cared about a few days ago – hell, a few hours ago. Now the thought terrified her. How close she’d been to losing her life.She wondered if the lack of serious effects on her well-being had something to do with the nature of the Netherworld. Or maybe Beetlejuice had done something, intentionally or not. Perhaps they’d never know. All she knew was that she was extremely lucky and that barring any further complications, she could go home in the morning.In that time, Lydia could barely sleep (unlike her dad, who finally drifted off in his chair from sheer exhaustion, now that he knew for sure that his daughter was going to be alright). She kept thinking about Beetlejuice; about how he’d gone from her best friend to her worst enemy and then to the man who had saved her life. She imagined most people with working brains would see how volatile a friendship with him could be and get the hell out of there.Maybe she had some brain damage, after all, because she didn’t want to run from him. She felt bad for him. Wanted to help him.When it became apparent that she wasn’t going to be getting anymore sleep, she asked Delia to go into more detail about what Beetlejuice’s issues potentially meant in terms of his actions.“Mental illness alone doesn’t make an insanity plea valid,” the woman explained. “It all depends of whether or not they’re capable of understanding the severity of their actions. In most cases, while it shouldn’t be used as an excuse, the effects of mental health can help to explain someone’s actions and a degree of responsibility can be diminished depending on specific situations and the severity of their symptoms. In the case of BPD, impulsive behaviour driven by an intense emotional response could limit their capacity to fully control their actions. It shouldn’t absolve them of responsibility, as someone with BPD is still capable of making their own choices. So they should still be held accountable for their actions, at least to a certain extent.”And though Delia sounded like she was directly quoting something she’d read, it didn’t make the words any less helpful. They continued to roll around Lydia’s head, even while her dad signed her discharge forms, and then some more on the drive home.Beetlejuice had definitely understood that what he was doing was wrong. He’d been way too mean about it. But at the same time, no sane person would react to the rejection of a friend by tricking said friend into marriage while trying to murder everyone else. If he really did have BPD (and it was looking like there was a 99.9% chance that he did; she looked up more symptoms on Delia’s phone and the demon ticked a lot of the boxes), then its effects had caused him to react in such an extreme manner.So, yeah. He should be held accountable for what he did. But not to the extent of kicking him to the curb and banishing him forever. From what she could remember, he had said he was sorry. Not to mention that he’d saved her life. Twice, if she counted his interference with her suicide attempt, which she probably should even if his reasons for doing so had been selfishly motivated.Her mom always used to say that above all else, she should try to see the humanity in others and help them whenever she could. Beetlejuice’s humanity was plain to see. And he desperately, desperately needed her help.They pulled up outside the house. Her dad hurried to open her door and help her out, and Lydia wanted to assure him that she didn’t need him to coddle her. That she was fine, even if she still had a headache. But before she could, a flash of light from inside the house drew her attention.A flash of light that was visible through a very broken window.She climbed out the car and slammed the door shut, her eyes never leaving the front window. “That can’t be good.”Her dad inched in front of her. “Perhaps this was unwise. What if he…?”He didn’t finish, but what he was trying to convey was clear. What if Beetlejuice’s mood had changed since they’d been gone? What if he tried to murder them when they walked through the door? What if he wanted to marry her again?Lydia didn’t believe that. She shook her head. “It could be anything.”“Maybe we should look through the window?” Delia suggested. “Just in case?”It was as good a compromise as any. Lydia hurried over to the front window.And gasped.The living room looked as though a bomb had hit it. The remaining furniture was either destroyed or burnt, and any distinct interior design had been wiped away. Dust from crumbling wall plaster covered the floor and random planks of wood lay discarded.Adam and Barbara appeared to be pinned against the far wall next to the fireplace, though there wasn’t anything visibly holding them in place. It had to be the work of the familiar demoness standing in the centre of the room. Juno.And lying face down by her feet was Beetlejuice. The demon was already a mess at the best of times, but now he looked like he’d been dragged through a bed of nails while simultaneously being set on fire. The stripes of his suit were barely visible from where it had been torn and scorched. His hair was completely white.But worst of all, it was clear that he was in agony.Lydia pushed herself away from the window and attempted to make a run for the front door, determined to save her friend. Her dad grabbed her before she could, one arm wrapping around her middle while he slapped his other hand across her mouth. Lydia struggled against him, but stopped when Juno started speaking.The demoness’s voice was crystal clear through the shattered window. “I’ll keep asking until I get my answer, Lawrence. Where. Is. She?”Beetlejuice coughed up some weird black gunk (his blood?) before raising his head to respond. “Gonna have ta be specific. There’s a lot of breathers here.”Juno telekinetically slammed the demon’s head back into the floor. “You know what breather I’m talking about, you waste of demonic power! The one who broke the rules and ran amok in the Netherworld! Tell me, and the pain stops! Why have you got to make this difficult for yourself? She’s a pathetic little mortal! Here one day, gone the next! Why are you protecting her?!”Fighting against the force holding him down, Beetlejuice raised his head again. “Because she’s my friend! She’s my friend and you’re gonna kill her! I can’t let you kill her!”His head was slammed back down again, harder this time. Beetlejuice yelped and Lydia made a muffled noise of distress against her father’s hand. The demoness was after her, Beetlejuice was getting hurt because of her, she had to stop this…The demoness waddled around Beetlejuice’s prone form like a little old lady, her deceptive appearance revealing no trace of the power she truly held. “Look at you! God, do I wish you’d never been born! You’re pathetic! An embarrassment! Always desperate for someone to love you! Do you honestly think this brat will love you if you die for her? It’s almost adorable. She may be a worthless breather, but you’re still nothing more than dirt under her shoe!”To demonstrate, she raised her foot and stomped it down on his back, hard. Her sharp stiletto pierced his skin, drawing out more of that black ooze. Beetlejuice clenched his teeth, visibly trying to hold back a pained scream.Lydia struggled against her father’s grasp, but he held firm. She had to make the pain stop, make the demoness pay-“Hey!” Barbara struggled equally as hard against the force pinning her against the wall. Adam did the same beside her. “How dare you treat your child that way!”“Wait, child?” Delia hissed. “That’s his mother?”So this was the mother he mentioned before, Lydia realised. It was no wonder that Beetlejuice was so desperate for love and to not be alone if this was how he’d been raised. Her sympathy towards him increased. She had to help him…Juno removed her foot before she reached down and grabbed Beetlejuice by the collar of his suit jacket. She held him up with ease, her face inches from his. “I’m going to give you one last chance. Tell me where she is.”Beetlejuice panted unnecessarily. He looked his mother in the eye. “Go…”Lydia felt her dad’s arms tighten around her, ready to flee. The teen looked over Beetlejuice one last time – examining his broken and bruised body – and didn’t even blame him for giving in. He looked like he’d been dragged through hell and back several times over-“Fuck yourself.”Her heart leapt into her throat.“I’ll exorcise you for this disobedience, Lawrence!” Juno snarled. “But first…” A blue flame appeared in her free hand, which she proceeded to press against her son’s face.Beetlejuice screamed.Lydia couldn’t bear it any longer. She bit down hard on her dad’s hand. He loosened his grip in response, enough for her to wriggle away from him. She ignored his cry as she sprinted to the front door and burst through it.“Stop! Leave him alone!” she yelled. “I’m the one you want!”Juno’s head snapped to her. She extinguished her flame and dropped her son. Beetlejuice slammed against the hard floor with a pained grunt.“Lydia, no!” Barbara cried. “You have to go!”“Get out of here!” Adam yelled.Beetlejuice struggled to haul himself up. Half of his face was red raw and some of his hair looked a little singed. He stared at Lydia in disbelief, as if she was a mirage. “Lydia?”“Finally.” Juno stalked towards her. “I don’t think you understand how the Netherworld works, missy. Those who go there don’t come back.”Lydia barely registered the footsteps behind her before her dad grabbed her. He tried to pull her back towards the front door, but Juno flicked her wrist and the sound of the door slamming shut echoed around the room.Not knowing where else to go, her dad pulled her towards the stairs. “She’s not going anywhere with you!”“Yeah, back off, skank!” Delia planted herself in front of the pair, arms held up in some kind of weird martial arts pose.Lydia flickered her gaze towards Beetlejuice. He was being helped to his feet by the Maitlands, who had somehow managed to break free from Juno’s telekinetic hold. Or the demoness had unintentionally released them, distracted as she was by Lydia’s arrival.Juno cackled, snarling and sinister. “Cute. You think you can actually stop me? Fine. Turn yourself over, you stupid girl. And if you don’t, I’ll kill this bitch, I’ll kill that slab of muscle, and then I’ll ply you from his cold dead hands. You can kick and scream all you want, but I’ll drag you back to the Netherworld by your hair if I have to!”An ungodly snarl filled the room as Beetlejuice launched himself at his mother.But he was changing. Shifting into something inhuman. Sinister-looking claws grew from his fingers and massive canine teeth sprouted from his mouth. A tail appeared, long and whip-like, with a sharp point at the end. The demon grew in size, extra hair sprouting from the holes in his suit.He grabbed his mother’s neck in his jaws and bit down hard. His claws shredded her suit dress as he wrestled her to the floor. In response, Juno began to shift into a similar form. Bright red and monstrous, she fought her son with calculated ferocity. Insults dissolved into animalistic roars and snarls.Delia screeched and hurried deeper into the living room. Lydia struggled against her dad’s grasp as he tried to drag her upstairs until she broke free, hurrying over to Adam and Barbara. She didn’t want to hide away. She had to stay. She had to help Beetlejuice in any way she could.It wasn’t long before Juno slammed Beetlejuice against the floor. He lay there, spawled in a daze as he shifted back into his regular form.“NO!” Lydia tried to go to him. Delia held her back.Juno shrunk back down as she, too, returned to her regular form. She stared Lydia down. “Now that’s been taken care of…”Beetlejuice suddenly sprung to his feet again with a determined cry. He wrapped his arms around his mother, then sprouted another pair to do the same. One hand held a massive dagger, which he plunged into Juno’s chest. Black ooze squirted everywhere.“I’m not gonna let you take her!” he growled, low and dangerous.Juno screeched and attempted to wriggle away, but the wound seemed to have thrown her. She couldn’t do anything as Beetlejuice dragged her to the front door. He sprouted a fifth arm, which clicked its fingers.The door swung open, revealing a roaring sandworm on the other side. Beetlejuice staggered towards it, dragging Juno with him.And Lydia realised he wasn’t going to stop.He was going to throw himself down the sandworm’s throat and drag his mother with him. All to keep her safe.No, no, no, no, no, no-“NO! Beetlejuice!” she screamed. She tried to break away from Delia. Somehow, the woman held her back.At the sound of his name, Beetlejuice turned to her. Kept his gaze on her. Like he wanted her to be the last thing he saw before he died.There was movement in the corner of her eye and suddenly her dad was there, grabbing Beetlejuice’s suit jacket and yanking him back with one hand while his other hand balled into a fist, which he drove into Juno’s face. The movement caught the demon off guard, enough that he didn’t fight it as he let go of his mother.And then Adam and Barbara were there, grabbing Juno’s arms and shoving her down the sandworm’s throat. The demoness screeched, but her attempts to fight back came too late. The sandworm snapped its jaws around her. One of her legs sliced off and splattered on the floor. Its stomach full, the sandworm retreated, allowing Adam to hurriedly shut the door behind it.Silence settled.Lydia wriggled out of Delia’s grasp and stepped closer.Beetlejuice’s extra arms vanished. His gaze flickered between them all before he stared at the floor, evidentially in shock. Lydia suspected that he’d wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, terrified of facing the painful possibility of rejection. Wanting to do something dramatic to make up for his earlier mistake. And not only had that not happened, but he’d been saved by the people he’d hurt, and the demon clearly had no idea how to handle that.After what had to be a solid minute of silence, Beetlejuice finally reacted the only way he knew how: by making an inappropriate joke.He grabbed his mother’s severed leg, held it up and said with a shaky voice, “Check it out, Lydia! Now we’ve both got dead moms!”Inappropriate? Yes.Absolutely hilarious? Definitely.Lydia dissolved into a giggling fit. And that seemed to break the ice, because suddenly Beetlejuice was tossing the leg over his shoulder and rushing forwards, arms outstretched, his hair returning to its usual shade of green.“There’s that beautiful sound!” he said as he pulled her into his embrace. Lydia hugged him back, letting him happily rock her from side to side. He squeezed her tighter and stroked her hair, trembling as her presence seemed to fully sink in. “You came back…”“Did you think I wasn’t going to?” Lydia asked.“I mean…” he said, his voice still a little shaky, “I did try to marry you and murder everyone else.”“And then you saved my life.” Lydia squeezed him back. “I came back to talk to my friend. So long as you don’t try to throw yourself down anymore sandworm throats.”He pulled back, glancing down at her. “Hey, that would’ve made for an awesome exit!”“No it would not!” Barbara spoke up, crossing her arms and nailing the demon with her best Disappointed Mom look. “That wasn’t what we discussed!”“I know that,” he whined, “but then my mom showed up and I had to do something-”“I know,” she interrupted. “And you were so brave to stand up to her like that. But ending yourself isn’t how you make up for your mistakes.”“Uh, yes it is,” said Beetlejuice. “Ever heard of the Redemption Equals Death trope? It’s a cheap way to reform the villain without having to put in the work of reintegrating him into society afterwards.”“Sounds to me like the easy way out.” Barbara sighed. “Look, I know it’s going to be hard, but we said we’d help you and we meant that.”“Mmm.” Beetlejuice continued to cling to Lydia, pressing his cheek against her temple.Lydia looked between them, frowning. Out of all of them, Beetlejuice had probably hurt Barbara the most, seeing as she was the one who ended up getting almost exorcised. But now… there appeared to be no hard feelings between them. Which was weird. She thought she would have to put in a lot of work to convince Adam and Barbara to let the demon stay. “Am I missing something?”“We gave him a stern talking to after you left,” said Adam. “And he apologised. A lot.”“And taking accountability for one’s own actions goes a long way,” said Barbara. “Life’s too short to hold a grudge, and I suppose the afterlife is the same. Choose kindness, not hatred. I don’t want to kick him out for making a mistake.”“Even if that mistake was, you know, attempted murder.” Adam awkwardly shrugged.“Speaking of apologies…” Beetlejuice finally pulled back, hands on her shoulders. “Lydia, I’m so sorry. I ruined everything over a stupid misunderstanding! I don’t even have a fucking good excuse for it-”Lydia quickly hugged him again, cutting him off. “Actually, you do. I mean, not an excuse. But we’ve figured out something that’s helped us understand your behaviour. We think you have BPD.”“What’s that?” the demon asked. “Some kind of STD? ‘Cause I’ve got a bunch of those.”“It stands for Borderline Personality Disorder,” said Delia. “It’s a mental disorder that affects your moods and your relationships with others. Among other things, it can cause unstable emotions and impulsive behaviour. I’m only a life coach and not a licenced therapist, so I can’t give you an official diagnosis, but I’m fairly certain that’s what you have. If you want me to, I can help you manage it.”“Help me?” Beetlejuice cast wary glances at them all, his hair turning purple. “Is this a trick? Am I gonna get stabbed in the back? I mean, it wouldn’t work, since I’m dead, but it’d be rude.”God, he didn’t even believe them. Didn’t believe that they would want to help him after he screwed up. Lydia figured that Juno probably punished him for even the smallest of mistakes and that thought made her want to reach down the sandworm’s throat and haul her back out just so she could push her back in with prejudice.She hugged her friend tighter. “Just accept it, dummy. You’re stuck with us.”His breath hitched, almost like a sob. “But… I hurt you… Why would you…?”“If I may,” her dad spoke up for the first time. “Yes. You did hurt us. But when you realised your mistake, you returned to what one might call an abusive home, risking the wrath of your abusive mother, in order to save Lydia’s life. But you didn’t stop there. You then put yourself between Lydia and certain death without a second thought, refusing to give her up under torture. And then, you almost ended your own existence in order to ensure that your mother never touches Lydia again. I almost lost my only daughter in more ways than I ever want to contemplate, and she is alive and breathing because of you. I feel it is safe to say that you have more than made up for your mistakes, and what sort of people would we be if we didn’t try and help you after that?”Beetlejuice could only stare at him. For once, speechless.Then he squeezed Lydia again, tears forming in his eyes. “I thought you were gonna make me leave.”“Fat chance.” Wanting to lighten the mood, she added, “Unless you refuse to show me that awesome monster form of yours. Like, seriously, you could turn into a literal monster and you never told me?”Her words had the desired effect. He grinned down at her, his hair turning green. “Oh Lyds, that wasn’t even the whole thing! I didn’t even show off the horns and the wings!”“Horns?! Wings?!” Lydia leapt back. “Show me! Right now!”The demon chuckled. “I can’t, not unless you want me to turn into an out-of-control feral beast that’ll tear this place to shit! Though this house could use some redecorating-”“Absolutely not!” her dad, Barbara and Adam said together.“Ugh. Lame.” Beetlejuice tugged her into a one-armed embrace. “Hey, now I can leave the house, since my mom’s dead and the curse she put on me is broken for good. We could find an abandoned warehouse where I can let loose. Whaddya say?”“Sounds awesome.” Lydia hugged him back, smiling. For the first time since her mom died, her heart didn’t feel constricted. She felt lighter, like a massive weight wasn’t holding her down. She could finally breathe.“…You smell terrible.”Beetlejuice chuckled again. “I know.”