The Spider and The Snake

Ch.7 The Neitherworld Assistance Building

  Walking up to the tall, crooked skyscraper, Lydia gulped slightly. She had been there several times before with Betelgeuse, but it was always to help him in a way. It was never for her personally.

They walked up to the serving window, passing newly dead and patiently waiting corpses and monsters. Miss Argentina was at the window when Betelgeuse knocked. She gasped when she saw him and gave him a glare.

"What do you want, Betelgeuse?" She asks, a tone of anger in her voice. He grins at her.

"Hi Miss Argentina. I need to see Juno." She gives a blunt and crosses her arms.

"You can't be serious. You know you have to make an appointment, wait and see if she is available. And she sure as hell doesn't want to your ugly mug around." She states bluntly. Betelgeuse glares and points to Lydia.

"Look, somethin's happened to Lydia. She's got ghost powers now and for some reason is narcoleptic. And, she's got a streak in her hair that sure wasn't there before." He states with a grunt. She looks to Lydia and then back to Betelgeuse. She sighs and stands.

"I'll go and see if she is free at the moment. Sit and wait." She demands. There was only one chair left in the room, and Bj sat on it while Lydia went to the restroom. She came back and sighed softly, leaning against the wall by Bj. She started to nod and Bj noticed. He pulled her into his lap, allowing her to rest on him. She sighs, leaning into him, closing her eyes.

"Bj...." she whispers. "What's wrong with me?" She asks, playing with the bottom of his tie. Bj glances down to her with a confused expression.
"Nothin babes. Why would you say that?" He asks. She shrugs.

"I just... I just feel different... More so than usual... I get most people don't like dead things like I do..." Betelgeuse chuckles.
"That's for sure, babes. What do you mean by more so than usual?" He asks.

She shrugs weakly. "Like... I feel I don't fit any... not like I didn't before but now I really don't feel that way... part of me just feels... off, y'a know?" She asks looking up at him. He looks at her and then looks away softly.
"Sorry babes, I can't say I've ever felt that before..."
Lydia sighs and looks away, her tiredness so overwhelming.

Miss Argentina finally came back and glares. "Betelgeuse, Lydia. Juno will see you now." Lydia shakily stands and walks back with Betelgeuse floating beside her. They go into a rather plain, dark office with an older woman looking over some papers. She was smoking, the smoke coming out of a cut in her throat. She looks up with a glare.

"Ok, Mister. What the hell have you gotten into this time." She says with full aggression in her voice. Lydia squeaked slightly as she yawns. Betelgeuse explains what happened to her, how the Sandworm attacked, how Lydia had gotten shocked, how an odd white light had appeared to Lydia's soul, and how she was now narcoleptic and had ghostly abilities.

Juno listened quietly, keeping an eye on Lydia the entire time. After BJ was finished explaining, he leaned back in his chair.
"So, Juno. Got an explanation or even an idea about what might have happened." Juno sighs and nods.

"Yes, I'm afraid so... and such a shame for her, she seems so nice..." Both Lydia and Betelgeuse's eyes widen.

"What? What's wrong with me?!" Lydia asks, now a little scared.

"Well... nothing too bad...." Juno replied. She pulls a really old journal out and blows some dust off of it. She opens it and begins thumbing through the pages, and finally stops at a page somewhere in the middle.

"Yup... Soul Fusion." She says, looking up at them. They both tilt their head and respond in unison. :"Huh?"

Juno reads further. "Soul fusion is what happens when one's will for another to live is much stronger than the others, at least at the given time.
Because he is so powerful, and dead, he subconsciously gave up a piece of his soul to you, this bringing you back to life. It's very rare, and has only ever happened twice before. Of course, when it has happened, the two involved were lovers...." she eyes them with great suspicion and takes a long drag on a cigarette.

"Now, it's rare for this to happen, and it's unheard of for ghostly powers to transfer from one to another. It only happens between ghosts, not living and dead. But, I suppose at the time you were dead when he gave part of himself to you." She says, flipping to another page.

"Your narcolepsy is a result of part of your own souls being replaced by another. It's weak, and coping with loss of itself, thus causing you to fall asleep to regain some energy. After a while, it should wear off when your soul is used to its new part." She shuts the book and puts it away.

Betelgeuse swallowed roughly. Part of his soul? Was there anything wrong with him? Probably. But hey, not like there wasn't before. He looks to Lydia to see her distant and shaken expression.

"Babes... you're ok, there ain't nothing wrong... yer just... part dead?" He says, a slight questioning tone in his voice as he looked to Juno for confirmation. She nods slightly, not looking up from her papers.

He looks back to Lydia who was looking at him now. "Well... I always felt dead but I guess now I kinda am." She says with a chuckle. Betelgeuse sighs a little with relief. At least she was flipping out... she stands up and dusts herself off. "Well, thank you Juno..." she says. Juno nods and they leave, going to BJ's roadhouse.

"Well... at least things are a bit more clear now..." Lydia says, looking out across the Neitherworld highway. BJ shrugs.

"Look babes, ghostly things are kinda hard to understand. And now that you got magic like me, I think you should learn to use it, and not y'know... go on a rampage without knowin' how ta stop. Ya feel?" He asks, floating beside her. Lydia seems to think for a moment and smiles.

"Sure BJ. I couldn't think of anyone better to teach me." She says with a chipper grin. She stands, and hugs him close. Betelgeuse's expression goes a little shocked for a moment before hugging back.

"Ey, no probs, babes. It'll be my pleasure." He says. She pulls back and gives him a soft look before turning and going out to the door to the Livingworld. "Call you tomorrow, BJ!" She says. She waves and steps through the doorway.

He lets a heavy sigh out and deflates down to his sofa, leaning on one hand.
"Man... why she gotta pull on my heart like that..." he asks himself. He sees a bug scuttling off and snatches it like a frog with his tongue. He chomps it and chuckles.

"Mmmm... lunch time!"