Dead Shadow: Beetlejuice Fanfiction Story

Chapter 15: Lydia's Only Chance

Lydia was surprised to find herself in an office. The desk in it had a sign for Miss Second Chance.

"Lydia Deetz." Miss Second Chance, she definitely recognized her after the contract thing with Ginger the Spider. "Do you have any idea how much the Neitherworld wants Beetlejuice to pass onto his eternity?"

Huh?

"Enough to sacrifice a perfectly fine recently dead person." She gestured to her. "Enough not to care where he ends up." She looked disturbed as she scooted closer. "Do you know why Lex Talionis was banned?"

The revenge. "It was bad?"

"It can make a good person become evil with its influence," she said to her. "Even the affect it's had on you, have you noticed? You never once said that he shouldn't pursue it, though it would open him up to becoming evil and going to hell."

Lydia pulled back. "He's got a lot of juice, and he knows what's at stake."

"You."

"Yes."

"And hell."

" . . . yes."

"Just because he knows, doesn't mean he can win against it."

Lydia closed her eyes. She didn't want to hear it, but to ignore what she had seen? "He's been . . . changing."

"Yes."

"But he's also fine?" she reasoned.

"You make him better. You help pull him back toward his own self," Miss Second Chance stated. "It should be expected, with an impossible connection that shouldn't exist between eternity. It only goes so far though. It only lasts so long."

"Is he . . .?" She didn't know what to say.

"He needs to kill two more people," Miss Second Chance informed her. "He needs to kill one, but he could kill another one. Someone who wasn't there, but planned it. If he kills both, there is no chance of anything saving him. He will leave the Neitherworld."

No! Lydia covered up her face in shame. "I thought he was strong enough, and I wanted to leave the dead shadow eternity so bad, that I . . ." No. "Save him? I don't care what happens, just save him."

"It doesn't work like that. No one can stop him but himself, and you know that he won't stop and let you suffer."

"I don't care!" Lydia slammed her hands on her desk. "Miss Second Chance, I'm lost either way! It's either me, or it's me and him." She grabbed her head. "Beetlejuice."

"Lydia Deetz? Did you understand why I set up dates inside of that contract with Ginger the Spiders permission?"

Lydia shook her head. "It gave me more chances to get away."

"I wouldn't care about that. I explained before that becoming an official couple would bring you back to the Neitherworld."

"But Beetlejuice said we couldn't cheat," she added. "It takes more than dates."

"Yes, it does." Miss Second Chance stood up and went over to Lydia. "It takes much more." She showed her a ring in her hand. "Standard issue, standard cost, not expensive nor cheap. I will hold onto it since you can't ever take anything with you to your eternity."

A ring? That was . . . "Wait. Is that?" No way. "I don't have to marry Beetlejuice to make it count, do I?"

"Oh, it's not just that simple," Miss Second Chance told her, "but it is the start. You also have to consummate the marriage."

Lydia's eyes went wide. Yeah, she could see why Beetlejuice wouldn't risk using the trick at all. "We're just friends. He . . . doesn't like me in that way, but it's okay."

"What makes you think that?"

Well? "He didn't get jealous, I guess?"

"That doesn't sound confident."

"Okay, he was sort of? But I'm like his best friend. He doesn't like to share, especially his best friend," she said. "It doesn't mean that he loves me. We're so close because we've just always been real close. He's like? I don't know. Like a soulmate. Platonic soulmate."

Miss Second Chance smacked her lips. "If you are a hundred percent sure that is the case, then this is all a waste of time. No one will win, you will suffer in agony in your eternity, and Beetlejuice will go straight to hell. I say no more than three days, if you are lucky to get that." She spun the ring on her finger. "If there is even the slightest chance you think there could be something, you should take it." She stopped spinning the ring and held it tightly. "Is there a chance?"

A chance? "A chance to be Mrs. Beetlejuice Juice? Uh, Beetle Juice. Mrs. Beetle Juice." It was hopeless if he didn't have the same kind of feelings. "It's tough to say."

"This is not the time to be coy and flirtatious with it," Miss Second Chance warned her. "You and he will suffer for an eternity if you don't straighten up and ask for real. Now? He will probably assume since I stole the rest of your date time that the Neitherworld is messing with him again. He will probably go to kill, thinking that will finally give him to you."

What?! "Then send me back!"

"The higher ups of the Neitherworld want Beetlejuice to pass onto his own eternity, I had to do this to speak with you. Beetlejuice will reach point 1 when he kills next time. I have convinced the higher ups to have one last conversation with you before he kills the last time and reaches point 2."

A conversation? "Point 1 and point 2."

"Point 1 he has a chance of turning back, if he has the same kind of feelings as you. By point 2, there would be no stopping it," she told her. "Not . . . many around here appreciate Beetlejuice. Less would ever see any potential for love in him. I am using that to create a scenario. They think that I have put you up to telling him that he was never anything to you. His heart will be crushed, and any redemption would be gone."

"Put up to . . .?" Huh?

"Yes. You are supposed to crush his heart. Instead, you will save it," she told her. "You need to propose to him as well, to make sure the Neitherworld cannot split you apart. You will be bound to each other until you are both ready to move onto your eternities."

"But?" She touched her hair. "Did you just make that up, like you wanted to convince them that he liked me and I could be used that way? Or do you, do you know . . .?" If he did like her.

"The first," she said to her. "You need to figure out the second."

Oh. "Thanks." She looked toward Miss Second Chance. "Everyone wants Beetlejuice to move on except you. You barely knew him. Why put yourself on the line so much?"

"It's not him I care about," she told her as she pushed her glasses up. "I took on your case. It is you I am interested in. I help the recently deceased because the afterlife is difficult to navigate. Yours is much harder. If you don't make it through this, I won't be fired. If you do make it through this? There are many advancements for someone who was the first to pull someone back from their eternity."

Hm. Career advancement. "Whatever the reason, than-?!."

Time up.