Entry tags:

bug juice, fanfiction

Bug Juice, Chapter Six
Title: Bug Juice
Rating: Mature. Language really.
Summary: When someone is looking to take out some revenge on Lydia's ghost-friends, her world becomes more strange and unusual than it was before, and in a way Lydia isn't fond of. Movie-verse.

Other Parts
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four"
Chapter Five



Chapter Six

Her world was green. It was in her mouth, her nose, it erupted her sense. All she could hear was green.

And green was the sound of panting.

The girl fell and as she struggled to catch her breath she realized she had been running, but she could not remember why.

As she stood again, she attempted to shield her eyes from the fog around her, but the attempt was futile. Picking a direction at random, she decided it would be a good idea to run again.

Until she fell a second time and began to wonder what went wrong in her life that she could not go faster than a snail without falling on her face.

"Hello?" She called out, hoping she was not the only one trapped in the green fog. As she began to crawl - having decided it would be too dangerous to use her feet again - she could feel that the ground was smooth and cold, but she could not see it.

Her movements came to a halt when she heard a voice and she knew that was what the sound of green really was.

Where... do you.... come... from.... child?

The voice was old and even as time drifted on as he spoke she did not mind waiting.

"I dunno." She said with a shrug. "I think I'm lost, but I don't know to be honest."

You... speak... strangely... raven-haired... one....

"I thought my hair was green." She responded with a childish giggle and wondered how old she was.

Stand.

The voice commanded and the girl was quick to obey. She stood waiting patiently.

A hand wrapped around the back of her neck and as fear took a hold of her, green was the sound of panting once more. The creature behind her was sniffing her hair and she stood as still as she could with her eyes shut tight.

Then the creature had his mouth against her ear and she could not stop the shiver that went down her spine.

His voice was gravelly and harsh as he growled into her ear: "Run."

Without hesitation and without struggle, she was running, and the creature let her go. For now at least.

She cried out as something scratched her cheek and as she continued on, she realized she was battling her way through branches. Her world was still green, but a deeper green, a green that smelled of pine cones and Christmas time.

Her run came to a halt but not from falling this time. She had run into a clearing and was blinded momentarily by how brightly the sun shone. Shielding her eyes, she walked forward tentatively.

A loud, booming voice broke the silence and the light began to fade, "You're here!"

"Here I am!" She agreed, wondering who was there as her eyes had not yet adjusted.

"Well it's about time babes!" a second voice said and the sound of that voice made her freeze. It was gravelly... but not harsh. The one who owned that voice was teasing her, but for a moment she could have sworn it was the creature speaking to her again.

Though she did not know for sure it wasn't the creature and so she stayed where she was.

"Come on Lyds, we gotta get this show on the road. I don't know about you but I can't wait to get to the best part." The man with the gravelly voice said and she had a feeling he was wiggling his eyebrows at her, it almost made her giggle.

"What are we doing again? I've forgotten." She said, feeling sheepish. The two men before her were becoming clearer now, and the one grinning widely at her had some crazy blond hair.

"Aw don't kid around Lyds, you know I'm better at it..." The man with the crazy hair and gravelly voice pulled her gently to his side and grinned down at her. "Hey babes."

"Hey Beej." she said with a grin that matched his, but with definitely less beetles in hers. Turning to the pastor about to marry them, she told him with fake sternness, "You won't get away with calling me pet names mister. I'm Lydia."

Looking around at her surroundings, she felt more at home suddenly and smiled to herself.

"... I'm Lydia." She repeated with a sudden clarity of mind and looked up at Beetlejuice. When she met his gaze, something went through her, it was a feeling that made her forget the nightmarish morning she just had and she knew very well what that feeling was as she turned to the pastor again.

"And I'm ready to marry the love of my life... and afterlife." She added with a giggle.

---

B E F O R E

Jack sped out of the Deetz's driveway paying no mind to how much colder it was when you went shirtless or to all the rocks he sent flying against the side of their huge fucking house.

"God DAMN!" He yelled, banging his fist against the steering wheel. The horn went off, scaring a nearby dog into running home.

I can't believe it. It can't be... fucking BITCH!

There were no clear, coherent thoughts, there were no tears. There was rage and denial and it worsened when he passed his house and didn't notice until he realized he was heading back to Lydia's house as if out of habit.

"Great. Just fucking perfect." He muttered, though he still had the urge to scream. Making a U-turn, he turned down a nearby dirt road and concentrated on getting home as fast as possible.

But as he drove on he was not paying attention to road signs or speed limits that early morning as he felt the anger begin to form into something else. Some feeling that was making his throat close up, making it difficult to breathe.

When it became difficult to see, he pulled over to the side of the road and buried his head in his arms. His muffled sobs were contained in his vehicle at least for he felt ashamed to be feeling so heart broken over this - especially when he thought of how the only grief she would feel was that over losing her latest boy toy.

God I was such a fool. It makes me so angry.

I don't want to be angry right now.

Some time had passed before Jack leaned back in his seat, red faced and sniffling. He kept his eyes closed, not ready to face the world just yet.

But soon enough he took a deep breath, opened his eyes and he started his rusty old car. He wasn't ready, but he could pretend well enough that he had gotten it all out of his system.

Jack didn't get very far before the calmness he thought he had reached began to fade. It was not helping that he kept replaying what happened earlier through his head... That note, throwing the ring at her, the way she looked so... horrified...

It might have been better if she had seemed a little less shocked. If she had played the heartless bitch she pretended she wasn't.

Through a daze he was pulling into his driveway and for a moment he could not remember how he got there.

Going through the front door, he didn't worry about being loud because honestly he didn't care about much at the moment, but he also knew it would take more than banging around the house to wake up his parents after a Friday night.

Slamming through the cupboards, he put together what he was looking for. He couldn't stay at home and risk a run in with the family, he couldn't stay in town and risk a run in with any of the Deetz clan.

I gotta go.

First, he needed to load his luggage into the car - which consisted of a bottle of cheap vodka and a pack of smokes. The two things Lydia had wrinkled her nose at when their relationship was new.

Well he was going to love smoking in the memory of her. Princess Lydia.

As he sped out of his own driveway this time, he thought again of how her lip quivered at being caught. Poor Lydia, life must be so fucking hard for her.

He turned onto a back road and looked forward to getting lost as he took one hand off the steering wheel to break open his pack of cigs. A moment later he was cursing loudly as he realized he forgot his lighter.

He knew who's fault it was too.

"Well isn't that just perfect!" He shouted with a bitter smile on his face.

Throwing the cigs away from him, Jack reached for the vodka and opened that instead. He took a long swig from it, and as it burned the back of his throat, a shiver went through him and he saw it was a mistake to not grab his coat.

Fumbling with the heating, Jack went over a pot hole and the bottle of vodka slipped from his hands.

"Aw dammit! You stupid bag of dumb! Shit!" Jack shouted angrily and bent down, not thinking too much of the road as his anger continued to mount.

Reaching for the bottle, Jack looked up at the road in time to see the cliff for a split second before he went airborne.

As his body flew up against the roof of his car it became clear he had forgotten his seatbelt. His anger might have reached its limit had it not been replaced by a fear that shook him and tore a scream from him.

The car hit the side of the cliff and his head hit the dashboard and though Jack's world went black, his car rolled on.

---

In the vast amount of her lately acquired free time, Barbara had recalled a line she heard Lydia say what seemed like forever ago, before she became their little mortal girl. Now, as Barbara lay curled in some odd little box inside Betel Geuse's pocket, she thought how well the line applied to her afterlife now.

"My whole life is a dark room."

A giggle almost escaped at the memory of how morbid Lydia had been, but it was bittersweet happiness as it served only to remind her of Lydia and the danger she must be in now. It also reminded her how helpless they all were.

She had gotten used to the darkness, though, and she could see where Adam leaned against the wall of his own odd box. He was staring at her again.

When she met his gaze she tried to smile, but there were no smiles left. When they were out of there and Lydia was safe back with them, there would be smiles, but for now he would have to wait.

Possibly the worst thing to come from this was that they could not hear each other, which made her feel all the more helpless.

Having Juno with them would have been considered a blessing, but she seemed to be the first to give up and sat there with her head in her hands.

Adam stared at his wife while urging the pain in his head to go away. There was nothing left to try. He had worn himself out banging against the walls that remained unharmed.

I am powerless.

He was powerless to help himself or his wife, and he was powerless against the overwhelming guilt he held onto. Guilt over the fact that Barbara was stuck in the same mess he was and that now Lydia was stuck in a worse mess than any of them.

Through a gap in the pocket, he had watched what Betel Geuse did, the way he had grabbed Lydia when he had found her looking through his pockets and there was so much anger that went through him, rage he could not do anything with in the tiny little box he was prisoned in.

Adam stared at Barbara and felt guilty that she had also seemed to have given up.

Someone in the Neitherworld has to help us. It won't go unnoticed forever what Betel Geuse has done... it can't.

When will help come?

Why can't Juno do anything??

Juno, though, knew full well what exactly they had been captured in and because of that she knew how unlikely they ever were in getting help.

She felt bad for the Maitlands who, if they were anything like they used to be, had no idea what a Nox Box was or what they were used for. Or how impossible escape was.

She had to sit and think through all the handbooks on the subject of crime and punishment for the dead, all the meetings held by Carnage members, all the people she had met...

All the careful planning and secrets that had been a part of creating Nox Boxes, mostly to use on criminals as dangerous as Betel Geuse, just for transport...

They had been sculpted so perfectly that only a select few knew all their secrets.

And Juno was not one of them.

Juno had resigned herself to her fate and if they were ever freed, no matter how unlikely that seemed, she knew she would have to resign from the position she held as well.

As she had committed suicide, though, she would have to take on another civil duty but she had been taken advantage too easily in her position of high power. She knew her mistakes, and now the Maitlands and that little girl would have to pay for them.

And if she knew Betel Geuse, so would the rest of Neitherworld.

---

Jack woke with a groan and when he rubbed his eyes he was not surprised to see the blood on his hands. From what he could see, he was covered in glass, his body was at an odd angle and there was a long gash across his chest. Undoubtedly his face was probably not looking so hot either.

Thankfully he seemed to be in such a state of shock that he could not feel anything. Except for the cold and he was shivering violently.

Though he seemed to be feeling fine for the moment, Jack was afraid to move as he feared the pain that would inevitably come.

And of course I didn't bring my cellphone. He thought bitterly as he looked up at the sky through his now oddly shaped window. That figures.

A few more minutes passed as Jack laid there debating with himself.

Well, so far all it seems like is a few scratches. No broken bones, my brain is still in my head, all the limbs are attached. This is good, this is... manageable. He decided and nodded to himself.

Reaching his hands up, Jack grasped the edge of the window and began to pull himself out, but he cried out in pain and froze. He could feel the glass scraping his back. It must have shattered then he rolled on top of it, or something, he didn't care how it happened he just cared about making it not hurt dammit.

Grinding his teeth together, Jack pulled and groaned until he was finally hanging out the window from his waist.

Now everyone can see my inside face after this. I'm going to end up as ugly on the outside as I am on the inside. he thought darkly and smiled to himself, but it was a smile he was ashamed of.

His fingers slipped then he fell and laid on the cool grass looking up at his feet that still were in his car.

His beautiful, rusty, amazing car had been demolished. There were so many dents he was not sure it was even a car any more.

Dad is going to murder me. Jack let his head fall back onto the grass and looked up at the sky. I deserve it.

My car is ruined, and they'll find the vodka and then they'll assume I was drunk driving which I wasn't.... yet... and now look at it. It looks like something that would be... it looks like it would make a nice parting gift for Lydia left out on her front lawn.

Her mother would love that.

This time the smile was larger and lasted a little longer.

Letting his feet fall from the window, Jack closed his eyes and thought of how peaceful it was at the bottom of this cliff.

"I bet I can lay here forever." Now when he smiled it was a different sort of smile, it had less anger and bitterness behind it.

That would be nice. To just lay here forever.

I'm getting used to the cold even.

"Jack Harper?" A nasally voice broke the silence.

Jack looked up in surprise, wondering if someone had been in the car with him and he just could not remember from a concussion or something.

"Hello?" He asked and began to wonder if he was just hearing things when he did not see anyone around.

Then a tall, thin man made an appearance as he stepped out from behind his car wearing a white suit and a bright blue tie. He took off his matching hat to reveal a full head of blonde hair.

"Patch Binkley at your service, I'm here to help you." He had a thick southern accent Jack had not noticed before, but then he had been a little distracted by the man who showed up and was not calling for help or offering a ride home at the very least.

"At my - what? Are you selling something? Like cars? Because that's a little low if you ask me." Jack told him, suddenly feeling confused as he struggled to stand up, his right leg was not exactly cooperating at the moment and he didn't know why not. It felt fine.

"Selling? No. Helping, I help. It's what I do - help people. You'll find that I won't lie Jack. Not about this anyway." Patch replied with a smile that he may have intended on looking friendly but it was just giving Jack the creeps.

"Helping, right. Sorry I didn't pick up on that right away." Jack nodded and took a step away from Patch Binkley. Running a hand through his hair, he cursed as he was met with a handful of tiny shards of glass.

A look over at Patch gave him a view of that creepy smile again and Jack was having a hard time remaining calm. Which kind of irritated him since he had finally just got to his calm place before this freak of nature showed up.

"Listen, could you just tell me how you know my name and why you aren't calling for some help, I just crashed my car, the least you could be doing is driving me to the hospital for a... few stitches or whatever." Jack finally said feeling a bit uptight and still believing this guy may be just a vision after hitting his head a bit too hard.

Patch extended his arms in what he hoped was a reassuring manner and took a few cautious steps towards Jack. "I'm your caseworker, Jack, I gotta know your name. Otherwise I would look unprepared and unprofessional."

"Well that would be a shame, did anyone ever tell you to not to aim for looking like a creepy stalker?" Jack asked, not appreciating that the man was putting less distance between them. "Look, I don't know if you noticed but I just crashed my car and I am kind of having a bad day. Could you just tell me what you're doing here if you aren't here to drive me to the hospital."

Even though it is a very fat chance that I would ever get in a car with you.

Patch sighed and stopped where he was. Letting his arms fall back to his sides, he shook his head as if he was disappointed Jack was not getting something that would be obvious to everyone else.

"Look Jack, first you need to calm down - "

Jack laughed under his breath and rolled his eyes. "Un-fucking-believable." He muttered.

Ignoring the interruption, Patch went on. "I am here to help you and you should consider yourself lucky because for ages people in your situation have never been exactly helped in this manner, but the Board of Carnage have noticed that lately less people are reading their handbooks, less people want to help themselves in their situation because the afterlife is just so hard...

"What I am here to propose to you is a trip to the Neitherworld, let me as your caseworker show you what you have come to and I will personally put your new handbook into your hands and make regular stops to ensure you have been reading it."

Jack stared at the man who called him Patch Binkley and was sure he was some sort of circus freak using long bouts of speech to hypnotize him into doing something disturbing. "Neither.... wha?" Was all he managed to say in response.

"Don't get me wrong, you are more than welcome to stay in this world... but you don't exactly have your own house to haunt and it would not be very nice to haunt your own family I would say... so people in your case are more than welcome to spend your days in the Neitherworld or I suppose you could... haunt the bottom of this cliff... if you really wanted to." Patch ended lamely, obviously not believing it would be very fun to haunt the bottom of a cliff.

Jack remained staring at him while he tried to decide which one of them were insane. Clearing his throat, he said, "Is there someone else I could talk to for some help? Do you have like a business card?" He asked, wondering what kind of prank this was. "Because really all I want is a ride into town."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Jack." Patch said sternly, obviously having enough with talking and wanting to get this show on the road. "I think you should just come with me."

"Nuh uh!" Jack shook his head and began to back up. "You don't hypnotize so well, I'm not going anywhere with you pervert!"

"Jack, let's just calm down." Patch said calmly, holding his hands up to try and calm the poor kid.

"No! I'm not going to be calm until you disappear as fast as you appeared!" Bending down, Jack picked up a rock and whipped it at Patch McCreeps Binkley.

The rock went through him as Patch had made himself to appear like fog before he became solid again. Looking at Jack with a smirk he shrugged modestly.

Jack's eyes widened before he squeezed them shut tight. "You're not real, go away. You're just an image from a concussion, you can't hurt me."

"I can hurt you Jack, but it would be pointless seeing as how you're already dead. Plus I would lose my job." Patch told him honestly.

"What are you talking about? I feel fine." Jack snapped at him, struggling with his leg to get farther away from Patch.

"Do you Jack? You feel... fine... Is that why you went for a drive with a bottle of vodka?" Patch's voice was gentle as he effortlessly followed Jack who kept stumbling away from him.

"Shut up." Jack growled. "You don't know me." Not about to let the man get any closer to him, Jack decided to run away but as he ran his right leg would not cooperate and he ended up falling on his face.

Patch walked over to Jack who was slowly pushing himself up. He spoke in a voice he tried to make gentle, "You broke your leg in the car accident, why doesn't it hurt Jack?"

"Leave me alone, it's fine." Jack muttered, rolling onto his back. He looked down at his leg and saw that his foot still pointed at an odd angle.

"I think you should come with me, just let me explain a few things with a bit more depth - please Jack." Patch said, reducing himself to begging. He could not let the Board of Carnage find out he was putting another one into hysterics.

Jack shook his head as he stood up, "No, Just...Get away you freak!" Then he was limping away as fast as he could, determined to get up this cliff and if Patch Binkley still followed, he would push him off and not feel a damn bit of guilt.

But there was a large stone in the way he hadn't planned on meeting and Jack fell on his face again.

"Son of a bitch." He muttered, spitting out sand. Pushing himself onto his knees, Jack sighed and rubbed away the dirt from his eyes. He was still rubbing when there was a roar in front of him and he felt the ground rumble.

Jack froze and wondered what the freak was doing now - but he also was getting a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. That was a loud roar, it sounded like something from a night mare. Opening his eyes slowly, Jack gasped when he saw the new landscape before him. Rolling hills of sand stretched out before him and in certain places there were odd shaped rocks jutting from the ground.

And there, not fifty feet away was the ugliest creature he had ever seen and with a shuddering breath he knew that creature was what possessed the roar.

Just to make his craptastic that much shittier, the worm like thing spotted him and let out another of its blood curdling roars. Covering his ears with his hands, Jack screamed as if to block out the noise and his fear.

He struggled to get to his feet but he knew that with his limp he was a goner. A hand had a grip of his shoulder and Jack screamed again The monster has hands! but he looked over his shoulder and saw it was only Patch Binkley, and had circumstances been different he would still be screaming to see it was him touching his shoulder.

Patch pulled Jack with seemingly no effort and Jack was thrown through the air, shouting the whole way until he landed with an "Oof" on the grassy ground.

Sitting up so quick as to make himself light headed, Jack looked around at his surroundings expecting to see another worm creature shoot out of the ground and come for him.

Before he could find the words to ask Patch what the hell just happened, Patch spoke first.

"You're stuck with me for now boy, it can't be helped. New regulations and all." Patch had his hands on his knees as he spoke, he too having been spooked by the sight of the sand worm, still he had work to do and no sand worm would stand in his way.

Jack was getting a sick feeling in his stomach and thought he might have to puke.

Dead? No, I can't be.

He thought of Lydia and his eyes began to burn.

I want this to be a dream. Let me wake up with her in my arms again. Just one more time. Let me do it right this time.

"So." Patch said suddenly, his loud bark of a voice interrupting his thoughts and when Jack looked up at him, the man had a wide smile on his face that seemed too large for it. It freaked him the hell out to be looked at like that, but then everything about Patch freaked him out.

"Let me show you my place." Patch was holding a piece of chalk and Jack was more confused than he had ever been, but after a moment of thinking over the past few days and just that very moment he decided it might be best to just go with it. For now anyway.

But he was ditching this freak as soon as possible.

---

"Do you Beetle - "

"Sh! Shhhshhh." Beetlejuice held a finger out to stop the pastor. "You'll have to use a pet name with me, bud."

Looking between the happy couple, he went on with an expression that suggested he would rather not. "Very well, then do you... uh... Beej... take Lydia to be your wife?"

"Hmmm..." Beetlejuice looked down at Lydia with a thoughtful look on his face. "I don't know... it's kind of a big decision."

Lydia narrowed her eyes at him but could not help but smirk at him even now. Still, there was a teasing threat in her smirk and Beej was starting to grin back at her.

"Well, I always said if I did it I was only going to do it once... so... yeah... yes, I do." He said decidedly and smiled wickedly at Lyds.

"And do you... Lydia... Do you take this man?"

For a moment Lydia had this overwhelming urge to say something more than yes, but looking at Beej out of the corner of her eye made her remember that she too a wanted to get to the best part.

That's so naughty.

"Yes. I do, yes."

"Then I now pronounce you... man... and..."

But he never finished, for at that moment a foul looking creature came out of the forest and Lydia's piercing shriek interrupted him.

Turning to see what the bride and groom were gaping at proved to be a deadly mistake - or maybe not as he was already dead but Lydia had no time to ponder, she was too busy screaming as the creature gobbled their pastor up.

Before she could even begin to think rationally of what to do in a situation like this, Beetlejuice had grasped her hand and had the clever idea to "Run!"

Lydia ran with him and concentrated her hardest on not falling on her face.

It's back. "It came for me!" She shouted over the sudden wind that was howling.

Then the world around her shook and she feared it might shatter. There was a sound like cloth being ripped and Lydia saw the ground beneath her feet crack.

Looking over her shoulder, she knew it was the enormous beast who was responsible for this and when Lydia laid eyes on the monster and saw how hideous it was she could not make herself look away. It was not until she felt Beetlejuice let go of her hand that she turned back.

But what she saw was nothing.

Her world was black but she was not going to let herself have this night mare again. "Beej!" she screamed for her supposed-to-be husband, but the wind took her voice away. The wind was warm and moist as if she were walking blind through a light summer rain.

With her arms held out in front of her, she tried to walk but the wind changed direction knocking her off balance as it caught her by surprise.

"Help me! Beej, where are you?" Lydia shouted, the wind had died down so did not carry her voice away this time. Standing up, she listened carefully hoping someone was nearby.

"Help you?" A voice asked. The voice was harsh and gravelly, but it surrounded her as if the darkness was there because of that voice.

She stood still, knowing that the creature was very close. Shaking, she hugged herself and willed everything to go away.

"Please. all I want is to go home." She whispered. No, that's not right. All I want is to be with Beetlejuice... yes, home with Beetlejuice.

"Oh you're so fake. Such a fake little sssspider." The voice echoed in the blackness.

"Wh-what?" She stammered, trying to blink away the blackness. She felt she might suffocate from all the fear in her. If only I could see where the creature is.

"Mhmm, a fake little spider. The way you crawl into everyone's bed." The voice was in her ear and Lydia shook her head, as if trying to bat away a persistent fly.

"Leave me alone." She muttered and ran blindly.

"Oh don't run little spider. I meant no harm." The voice was still near her, as if the creature was just at her shoulder, and so Lydia changed directions trying not to cry.

"Let me go." Lydia said, swatting at the air near her head, hoping to land a good smack to the creature's head, but it was to no use.

"It is not my fault you crawl into bed with someone else everyone night just to feel a little more alive. Why, your dead husband is more alive than you, isn't he? Tell me, does he like little spiders as much as I do?" A wet tongue was licking her cheek and Lyida screamed. Though she struggled, the creature held her where she was tightly. Its voice growled into her ear. "I like to eat them."

She screamed again when its tongue was replaced by sharp teeth that pierced her skin and she did all she could think of. "Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!"

Lydia was leaving the darkness and in the distance she could hear a roar of anger and she dreaded the day she may hear that roar again, but for now she was running away.

"Wait! Hey, wait a minute babe!" Someone shouted behind her and Lydia stopped running, and with a grin on her face she knew the one person who had ever called her babe. Turning, she ran to see her fiance - but she was very disappointed.

"Who are you?" She asked, none too amused considering the day she was having.

The man before her was only wearing a pair of jeans and had a gash across his chest and another across his cheek. There were pieces of glass in his unruly brown hair and his foot stuck out at an odd angle. He was also looking at her intently and it made her feel uncomfortable.

"No one. I'm nobody." The man said distractedly.

"Well... nice to meet you Nobody. Have you seen my husband around?"

Nobody shrugged. "I just got here. Unless he's a creepy dude in a white suit and a blue tie, I've never seen him."

Lydia looked thoughtful. "No, I don't think blue is really his color."

"Sorry then. Sorry I couldn't... help..." Nobody said and looked around. "Is it just me, or is it kind of... green here?"

"Green? Yeah, you get used to it." Lydia said thoughtfully. Nobody and Lydia stood in silence for a moment before Nobody broke it.

"Do I know you from somewhere? From before I... crashed or... I'm feeling very confused and I saw you running a-and for a second I thought - I thought I wasn't confused anymore. I saw you running and I could have sworn I must have survived the... crash... I think it was. Have we ever met? I mean before."

Lydia could see how hopeful Nobody looked, and for a moment she wanted nothing more than to lie to him and tell him she had met him before but she knew lying was wrong and lying hurt people.

"No, I don't believe I have ever seen you before." Lydia told him softly.

"Oh... well... well okay. I was just - "

"Jack!" A man in a white suit and a blue tie came through the fog holding a piece of chalk. "You almost gave me a heart attack. In fact if I was still alive I'm sure I would have had one. Look, don't run off like that. It's unsettling when you go through the door on your very first day, we gotta take it easy, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah okay Patch." Jack said softly.

"Who were you talking to anyway?" Patch asked curiously, looking around at the empty fog.

Jack looked too with a confused expression on his face. "Who was I talking to?" He repeated, wondering what Patch was talking about.

Patch just shook his head. "Forget about it. C'mon, let me buy you a drink. I think you deserve a few."

Lydia was running, she knew she had heard him. She felt bad for leavin Nobody in the middle of his sentence like that, but she had heard him. She had heard Beetlejuice.

"Lydia, dammit where are you? This is all your fault Kise. Fucking shit and BALLS. Great, a mortal is lost in the Neitherworld. Just great Kise! LYDIA! C'Mon! It will be... funner with us!"

Lydia was having a hard time not giggling when she heard him and when she saw him through the fog his back was to her but she knew it was him. That crazy blonde hair, his melodramatic shouting. It made her want to get to him that much faster and when she was close enough she jumped onto his back with a happy shout.

"I found you!"

"AUGH! What the HELL!" Betel Geuse shouted, when he had noticed it was only Lydia he tried to cover up the fact that he had screamed like something was attacking him but he was really confused as to why she was being so weird.

"Get off me you weirdo!" He growled, trying to get her off. He would be damned if she was using him for a piggy back ride, but he soon realized his error. "No wait, scratch that. You can get on me as much as you like. But not in front of Kise - he likes it too much!"

Lydia giggled and slid down from his back even though she really enjoyed seeing Beetlejuice so frantic.

As soon as he had turned to face her, she was hugging him, having missed him so very much.

"I'm sorry I made you worry, but I had this horrible nightmare!" She told him, hanging onto him tightly.

"You were sleeping? It's barely been five minutes since we came through the door." Betel Geuse said, deciding to just go with her weird attitude than to comment on it. After all, she was touching him without doing the whole slapping his face, kneeing him in the balls, or throwing remote controls thing.

"Never mind that! There was a monster Beej and it was dark and it interrupted our wedding and I lost you and then this person named Nobody was being weird and no help at all but oh and the creature was so mean to me and I tried to call you but you couldn't hear me and oooh don't ever leave me!" Lydia moaned into the coat of the very startled Betel Geuse. Over the very confused Lydia's shoulder, Kise gave him a big thumbs up and after a second of taking everything into consideration, he gave Kise a big thumbs up back.

He hadn't exactly caught everything Lydia had said as she was talking so quickly, but he was sure she must have been speaking a different language. Whatever she was doing, he was confused.

Suddenly he was about not to care because he felt her lips brush along his neck and he wished Kise would leave.

"Don't you ever leave me again Beej." She whispered into his ear.

Betel Geuse was about to close his eyes and let this happen but he would curse himself for what he thought was so damn important to ask, "...What the hell did you just call me?"

Lydia pulled away and looked up at him, her world slowly focusing as she squinted against the light. Her breathing was slowly coming back under her control and she couldn't help but notice the black circles around his eyes were gone. It made him look younger.

"I always call you Beej... or BJ... or..." Holding onto his jacket tightly at his shoulders, Lydia shivered and looked around, trying to figure out where she had end up. It was getting harder to remember how she had gotten there and why she had been looking for Beetlejuice so desperately.

Why is there still this fear in me?

When her gaze settled back on her fiance, she noticed as well that his hair seemed different. Almost thicker. She reached up with a trembling hand and touched it tentatively, and though Betel watched her fingers with curiosity, once they brushed against his forehead he jumped away from her.

"You're freezing." He said and frowned. "Why didn't you wear a fucking coat. You're still a mortal."

"Don't talk to me like that jerk off." Lydia said, and wondered why she was so angry at him and wondering why they were using those kind of words with each other. Looking sheepish, she muttered, "Sorry for snapping at you. Can I borrow your coat?" She asked.

"Are you sure?" He asked, not sure if he wanted to give her his precious coat that had already been through so much. "It's... dirty..."

She might do something to it! He thought but he was already taking it off.

"If I minded a little dirt I wouldn't be marrying you, would I?" She said with a smirk and gave him a kiss on the cheek before putting on his coat.

Now both Betel Geuse and Kise were looking at her as if she was insane - that is, more than they were.

"I guess it does something to your brain to go through a drawn door if you're still mortal..." Kise said thoughtfully.

"Yeah... well... welcome to the Neitherwold babes." Betel Geuse told Lydia with a large grin and was quick to take advantage of her disoriented state by sliding an arm around her waist.

Things are looking up. He thought with a devilish little smile and led the crew to his humble abode.