Lydia 2.0||A Beetlejuice: the Musical Fanfiction

Soul Stuck

Betelgeuse wasn't supposed to be trapped in the walls of that house forever, his soul bound there for eternity. He was supposed to go back to the Netherworld to go on a vision quest after bidding farewell to the Maitland-Deetzes.

But, instead of going through the chalk outlined door with a green glow like he originally thought was going to happen when he was lifted up by his clones and set down in front of it, he hit what felt like a barrier, whilst his clones went through with no problem, and fell backwards onto the floor with a soundless thud, promptly blacking out.

The Maitland-Deetzes stopped what they were doing to stare at the shocking scene in front of them, the cleaning supplies they had been holding clattering to the floor as their eyes widened and their jaws were slack. The grown ups were all angry but showed the same level of concern as the teenager Lydia as she kneeled down to make sure the demon who had once been her best friend was okay.

With one hand extended out in front of her and brushing some strands of hair out of the demon's eyes, Lydia quietly whispered, "Beej, are you okay?"

All the adults - both dead and alive - made concerned noises as they moved towards the two of them as Betelgeuse let out a pained noise in response to the teenager's question, that meant he'd come to. While their minds were telling them to stay away from Betelgeuse as a result of all the trouble he had just caused them, that wasn't going to stop them from making sure he was okay like Lydia was currently doing.

"We need to get him somewhere," Barbara said as Lydia stood and helped their enemy demon up and moved him over towards the couch. Could he even be considered an enemy of theirs at this point? Sure he had done some bad things but his current situation was concerning.

"But he caused trouble for us! Is it right to let him stay?" pointed out Adam. Barbara thought for a moment. Lydia covered Betelgeuse with a blanket and moved to rejoin her family.

"But you saw what happened to him when he tried to go back to the Netherworld. It was like some sort of protective barrier was barring him entry into the Netherworld. We could look through the Handbook for answers but that thing's dangerous. I don't ever want to touch that thing again."

"The Handbook might be helpful though. It won't hurt to actually take a look through it this time. We can just skip the part where it says 'All ghosts must proceed directly to the Netherworld' and the part where it says to 'Draw a door and knock three times'."

"Adam-." Barbara was cut off by Adam covering her mouth with his hand. She stopped talking and smiled at him when he removed it. She turned to Lydia. "Lyds, can you take him up to your room? The rest of us need to discuss what to do about this situation."

"Already doing it!" Lydia shouted as she helped Betelgeuse, still wrapped in the blanket, up and practically dragged him up the stairs with a huge grin on her face.

Once upstairs, she sat him down onto her bed and pulled up a wheely chair to sit across from him. Originally, she wasn't expecting anything bad to happen but now...?

He didn't want to talk or strike up any conversation with the teenager, his gaze off to the side as most of the strands of his hair turned a bright Blue. Lydia was getting worried for her "best friend", moving to sit next to him and resting a hand on his back.

"Beej?" she started and he shifted a little, his attention still focused away from her. "Bj, I just want to talk. Are you okay? What happened?"

He bit his lip as he thought up a response, at the same time thinking about why he could not go back to the Netherworld. Had his mother cursed him? No! He made sure to get rid of her via Sandworm before anything could happen. Unless... His gaze flickered to Lydia, who was gazing up at him with concern, her arms now wrapped around his neck, and sighed.

"I don't know what happened," he admitted, making Lydia smile. "I should have gone back to the Netherworld like I said but something must have happened and even I don't know what it is. If I'm stuck here, that's a problem. I hope that's not the case."

Lydia glanced down then looked back up at Betelgeuse. "It would be a problem if you are stuck here. But you've got us to help you out."

"But everyone else in this house is angry at me for everything I did." A single tear escaped Betelgeuse's eye as he wrapped a multitude of arms around Lydia's body. "I don't know if my actions can be forgiven."

"They'll forgive you no matter what." Lydia took Betelgeuse's hands in her own and his hair changed to a light shade of Blue (she hadn't even realized his hair had gone from a bright Blue to a Violet/Plum shade, she must have not been paying attention to it). "Give them time. I know they will."

Betelgeuse didn't know what to say, instead opting to nod in response to the teenager's statement.

"We'll help you figure out everything that's happened," Lydia continued, "from figuring out why you were denied entry to the Netherworld by that invisible barrier to whether or not this whole thing is a curse from your mom before you unleashed that Sandworm of yours onto her."

"No!" he shouted suddenly, startling Lydia. He realized what he'd done and quieted his voice to a whisper. "What I mean to say is, I don't think this whole being denied entry into the Netherworld being a curse by my mom is the truth, Scarecrow. Do you have any other ideas or explanations?"

"No. I'm afraid that's all I have."

"Lyds!" he teased, beginning to playfully chase the teen around her bedroom with a pillow in his hands. She chuckled, diving under some pillows that had somehow appeared in the middle of her bedroom for some unknown reason (she'd ask him later).

"Oh! You want to start a pillow fight, do you?" She popped an arm out the top of the pillow pile and chucked a pillow she'd grabbed at him.

He ducked and smirked, summoning pillows and throwing them at the pile of pillows that Lydia was hiding in and causing her to giggle as she burst from the pile.

They were having so much fun and acting as if their friendship wasn't ever broken in the first place that they forgot all about the situation at hand.