Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Forty Four|| Back to the Matter at Hand

"-and then Betelgeuse left for the Netherworld. And the rest of us were fine until he returned here not too long ago. Then a bunch of even crazier stuff started to happen," Lydia finished around twenty five minutes later, her attention focused solely on her mother.

Emily nodded afterwards, then looked around at the rest of the family before looking back over towards Lydia. "This, I want to hear about. What kind of crazy stuff?"

The rest of the family went into extreme detail, Emily once again nodding in response at each and every interval. From the prophecy to the barrier between the living world and the Netherworld getting closer and closer to weakening and fading away completely. From Lydia finding out that the prophecy didn't just have something to do with not only her but the rest of the family as well to everything that's been happening to Lydia after finding out about the prophecy (from the visions to the passing out). And saying that Emily was not stunned into silence once everyone else was finished with their tale would be an understatement.

Speaking of which, they still needed to do something about the barrier between the living world and the Netherworld before it was too late. But not one of the seven of them were sure what to do.

Lydia felt another episode coming on, turning to her mother and the Maitlands for help. Adam levitated Lydia on the couch, laying her across Barbara's and Emily's laps. Lydia relaxed as both female ghosts supported her, closing her eyes in hopes that she could see how much closer the barrier between the living world and the Netherworld was to weakening and fading away completely (god, she hoped it had a ways to go).

Five minutes passed, Lydia opening her eyes after a brief nap and looking up at her mother and at Barbara. Both ghosts levitated her off, standing her on the floor. Adam, arm resting around Barbara's shoulder, looked at Lydia with a concerned look that was also present on Barbara and Emily's faces.

"Lydia, you okay? Another vision?"

Lydia nodded, and the rest of the family immediately picked up on the panic in her voice as she spoke. "Yeah. It's not going to be too long before the barrier between this world and the Netherworld's going to weaken and fade away. We need to figure out how to stop it before then. And, if we can't, then wouldn't it be good for other living people to know that their long lost relatives are doing okay?"

No answer, but Lydia could tell that most of her family agreed with her.

Then the panic set on everyone else. And it wasn't long before most of them started talking over one another. After a while, that stopped and concern replacing the panic that previously was on their faces. Lydia sat herself upon one of the arms of the couch that the Maitlands and her mother were still sat together on, looking from them to her dad, stepmother, and Betelgeuse.

Betelgeuse summoned back the Handbook, opening it to the section on prophecies once again as Adam levitated Lydia's book on mediumship off of the shelf of which it had been left on. Betelgeuse stopped, staring at the page he was currently on - the exact same page that contained information on the prophecy that related to the barrier between their world and the Netherworld. And when he made an inaudible noise that directed the attention of the rest of the family onto him, they were sure that something was amiss.

They gathered around the demon, all of them looking down at the Handbook as Betelgeuse told them what was wrong. And to say that it was far from the least of their worries would be an understatement. Once he was done, the rest of the family looked at one another in panic then looked back down at him.

"What do you mean, 'one of the living members of our family has to give up their life in order to keep the barrier between this world and the Netherworld from weakening and fading away completely'? Surely there has to be another way to do just that without giving up life!" Adam distressed.

"If there was, it would have been mentioned," Betelgeuse responded. "And

"Well, if that's the only solution... then I guess I have to be the one who does that," Lydia spoke up, sounding determined but nervous at the same time.

Something in her was telling her not to, but she brushed that feeling off.

All five adults seemed to be against it though, Barbara and Adam kneeling down on the floor next to Lydia and Charles, Delia, and Emily standing around them. Barbara extended one of her hands out, placing it on Lydia's shoulder and directing the teen's attention over towards her.

"Lydia," Barbara stressed out, worried looks on her and on everyone else's faces. "You don't need to do that. We'll keep looking. And if we can find a way to stop all of this that isn't you or your dad or Delia being forced to give up life, then we're sticking with that way. Does that sound okay??"

Lydia looked down and thought to herself about that for a brief moment, then nodded glumly as she looked back up at Barbara. "I guess..."

Betelgeuse - who had been looking for another way to put a stop to this, finally found another way. He looked up from the Handbook and turned his attention over towards the rest of the family. "Wait! I think I found another way!"

The other six gathered around him again, waiting for him to tell them what it was.

"We're going to need some more help from the Netherworld if we're going to stop this before it's too late," the demon explained after a minute, the other six nodding. "I'll go right back to the Netherworld for who knows how long and see if a few of my friends and associates are willing enough to help."

The Maitlands nodded, Betelgeuse nodding in unison as he stepped towards the nearest wall and drew a door on it. As he stepped through the door and it closed behind him, the other six - mainly Lydia - felt the barrier between the living world and the Netherworld completely weaken and fade away.

As she and the rest of the family kneeled down next to a faint Lydia, Barbara could utter out the only thing she knew was on her and the other adults' minds,

"Hurry back, Betelgeuse."