Lydia 2.0||A Beetlejuice: the Musical Fanfiction

Let's Make a Deal!

Lydia didn't want to do this. And looking around her bedroom, she could tell that her family had the same looks of sadness on their faces as they held onto each other and cried their hearts (beating and unbeating) out. It almost made her feel bad and upset that she was doing this. Leaving her family at such a young age, stripping her father of the only family he had left after losing Emily to Cancer, stripping the Maitlands of the loving daughter figure they had hoped for before their deaths, stripping her Life Coach, Delia, of a potential and future stepdaughter, stripping Betelgeuse of a second chance at friendship with her. It would be temporary, yes, and she didn't want to leave them behind just yet.

A thought popped into Lydia's head and tears started pouring down her face.

"Wait!" she called out, directing everyone else's attention onto her. "Maybe we should hold off on this process a little while longer. Read how the process works in the Handbook before Beej and I do go through with this. If he has a deal he wants to do, then that's fine. I don't mind. I can wait a little longer."

It seemed to brighten up her family's emotions, it seemed, as Charles and Delia now seemed a little happier at the thought of getting to spend a little bit more time with the teenager before her temporary death. The Maitlands were practically floating in midair and laughing excitedly, happy for the exact same reasons as their living adult housemates and friends. Betelgeuse smiled at Lydia, knowing the teenager meant what she did when she spoke those words. He wanted to go back to the Netherworld, yes, but he also wanted to stay here at the Maitland-Deetz house (but only if this whole thing didn't work out the way it was supposed to and Lydia was trapped in the Netherworld forever). He knew things wouldn't be the same if Lydia wasn't able to have a second chance at life, knew that the Maitlands and the Deetz couple would be devastated for the rest of time. Lydia had said something about him striking a deal with her, he had to come up with one and fast.

"I got a deal for you, Scarecrow!" he suddenly said after a few minutes of thinking to himself about all this. The rest of the family turned their heads in his direction and Betelgeuse could see clear tears in Lydia's eyes (though he couldn't tell if those were tears of joy or tears of sadness).

"What is it?" asked Lydia, curiously.

"You can give up your soul only if you and your family allows me to stay instead of going back to the Netherworld for good!" Betelgeuse smirked.

"Like that's ever gonna happen!" snapped Barbara. She stood up and stormed over towards Betelgeuse, looking angry and pointing a finger at him. Her teeth were grit and her eyes were narrowed. He backed up against a wall, his hands up in front of him. "Mister, you caused a heap of trouble for us, tricked Lydia into exorcising me, nearly forced her into a green card marriage, and tried to kill everyone to top it all off. And for all that, do you really expect us to let you stay here?"

"Uh... yes?"

"NO!!!" shouted the other three adults, proving Barbara's point.

"Deal accepted," said Lydia. "Though, you heard what my family said. You can't always stay here. You can come and go whenever you please when this is all done. How does that sound, bud?"

"Lydia, you can't be serious," said a calmer Barbara, rushing over towards and gripping the teenager's shoulders hard (even though Lydia couldn't feel that, she still flinched from the contact).

"What. Did you really want him to live with us forever or did you want him gone like you said earlier?" asked Lydia sarcastically. Barbara caught the sarcastic tone in the teenager's voice and groaned. When Barbara didn't say much of anything, Lydia continued, "it would be a lot easier for him to travel to and from the Netherworld. I can summon him here if there's an emergency or if it's a special occasion he's allowed to attend. Who knows when we're going to need him in the future."

Barbara turned to the other adults. "She has a point. What if you guys are out?" she asked Charles and Delia. "And something goes wrong like a burglar breaks into the house or a kidnapper shows up and kidnaps Lydia at a certain part during the day or the house catches on fire."

"Then you guys are powerful enough to deal with it on your own. We don't need Betelgeuse here for every little problem," spoke up Charles.

"Did you forget you're talking to newlydead ghosts?" asked Adam, looking a little confused and concerned. "We only just died and have little to no control of our own powers just quite yet. Mr. Betelgeuse, on the other hand, is a centuries old demon and has more experience using his powers than we do. He's the stronger deceased in these situations. He can handle them with a simple snap of his fingers."

"Thank you for the keen observation, Sexy," Betelgeuse spouted out from where he was standing.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" the male ghost shouted back.

"SORRY, SEXY!" shouted back Betelgeuse, sticking his tongue out at the flustered male ghost, who's face, although it couldn't be seen, was getting redder by the second. At least, that's what it felt like to him.

Adam growled softly as he threw his hands in the air before teleporting away in a flash of light.

"I'm going to make sure he's calming down," said Barbara, also teleporting away in a flash of light. She knew where he'd be at a time like this.

"We'll give them some space," sighed Delia. "Right now, we need to discuss more about the deal that Lydia and Betelgeuse just made with each other. For example, Betelgeuse, what made you come up with this deal in the first place?"

Betelgeuse shrugged and added, "Just came to me. I realized that I would just miss all of you had I actually gone back to the Netherworld so I guess that barrier is a sign that I'm supposed to stay here instead of going back. Now if you excuse me, I'd like to try and go back to the Netherworld. I'll be back for a visit in a few months time, just to let you guys all know."

Charles and Delia, knowing well, hugged Lydia for the last time in her first life, tears dripping down their faces. Lydia was also tearing up, clinging onto the both of them.

"Even though it's temporary and the end of your first life," Charles managed to say, although he was upset. "We'll miss the first you and can't wait for what's in store for us when you return in your second life. And that's only if the resurrection spell Adam and Barb are going to give us works."

"Dad! Old me's going to miss you too!" sniffled Lydia as she buried her face into her dad's chest. Delia began stroking the teenager's hair, a small sad smile on her face.

"I know, but you'll be back with us soon. You know it," said Charles, also smiling sadly.

Lydia smiled, nodded, and turned to Betelgeuse. "What's the first step to giving up my soul in the Handbook?"

"Hmm..." He sat down on the teenager's bed, picked up the Handbook, and scanned the page it was left open on. "It says the living person giving up their soul must hold hands with whoever's soul is trapped and speak a few Latin words to set them free and give up their soul."

Lydia grabbed a hold of Betelgeuse's hand and looked up at him. "Does it say what Latin words I have to say?"

"Ut animam suam liberos, non est meum dare sua," said Betelgeuse, reading from the Handbook.

"Ut animam suam liberos, non est meum dare sua," repeated Lydia, looking confused.

It all happened in a flash. At the exact same time, both Lydia and Betelgeuse's eyes glowed a bright white as Charles and Delia watched on with tears in their eyes. Adam and Barbara came up the stairs and phased through Lydia's bedroom door just as this happened, going over to stand next to Charles and Delia. An even brighter flash of light engulfed the both of them and when it disappeared, Lydia was laying on the ground still and unmoving and Betelgeuse lay on his back a few feet away from her. He groaned and sat up, watching as all four adults kneeled down next to the now temporarily deceased teenage girl and stroked her hair.

"Did it work?" he asked tiredly.

All four adults looked up at him with tear-stained faces and nodded in unison, leaving them to comfort each other and Betelgeuse to comfort them all.

A/N: The ending for this chapter was a little sad to write, and I felt a little sad just writing it. The rest of the chapters should get a little happier as the story goes on so be prepared for some more feels before then.