Hi all you lovely people. Okay this is my very first fan fiction I am comfortable enough about to actually upload it to somewhere. As you probably guessed by my strange choose of words, english is not my native tongue. So don't expect this thing here to be perfect.
I really want to thank my beta reader here, who was a sweetie and jumped out of the nowhere to help me. He was awesome!
So this story is something between cartoon and movie. All characters you know from both, cartoon and movie, are in here, or at least will be. Thank you for reading and have fun!
Disclaimer: I don't own nothing. Neither Beej nor Lyds or any of the other characters, not even the Netherworld. And I am sad about it.
chapter one
The sudden feeling of endless coldness around him started to dig through his chest, his lungs and his stomach when he fell. Somewhere he heard laughter, cruel and rough. His own? No. No, he didn't laugh, why should he when he was in such a pain. When he was the one feeling the fear in every inch of his body.
"What did you do?" screamed a familiar voice. A female, sweet voice which made his heart bounce in his dead chest. This voice. If it would tell him to die he would. He would do.
But she did not ask him to die. No, this was not his work.
"Let him be! Leave him alone! Please, oh god. BEETLEJUICE!" her words cut through the thin air of the netherworld.
"No. This is what we have decided for him. This is punishment." A rough, somewhat old voice thundered from all over the room.
Of course, the castle. He was in the fucking castle. But why? Oh yes. The prince brought them here. Yet again he couldn't remember why. But that came probably with the sharp pain in his head, his heart and the rest of his body.
And then he could feel it. The spark in him dying. But not.
Blood circulating. Lungs starting to work again like an old forgotten machine. Not used for so long and yet forced to. How in the world would this even be possible. Nobody could have this power. Not even Beetlejuice himself held the secret to lifting a dead spirit in the living realm again. And yet, he felt his heart starting to beat again.
All he heard was Lydia yelling his name again when he found himself surrounded by darkness, knocked out cold.
Lydia stared at the man in front of her. He just laid there, breathing slowly. She stumbled towards him, lifting a hand as to touch him but not daring to. She stopped suddenly as the king laughed once again, staring at him with fear in her eyes, the only one person even more insane than the one so important to her.
"Why...?" she whispered, still in disbelief, wondering if it was just a cruel joke and Beetlejuice would jump up all of a sudden, laughing at her for falling for it. But no. This was not a joke. This was as real as herself and she knew. Oh, she knew very well.
The king remained silent, watching her with a grin on his barely visible visage. She just stared back, kneeling next to her friend, no, her love, praying to god he was alright.
"And now... he shall be gone to where he belongs now," the king muttered and with a brief wave of his hand Beetlejuice was gone.
Letting out a whimper, Lydia's eye widened. "Where did you send him?" she demanded to know, not so afraid anymore since she worried more about Beetlejuice than herself. "Where is he now?" Startled, she tried to get on her feet, still weak from what happened earlier.
To her surprise, the king really did answer this time. "To your world, girl. Where breathing things belong. Just as you," he stated, pointing an old finger at her. "Go forth to your world as well, child, watch him die again. It will be even more hell for him than hell itself." He chuckled again, the noise growing louder as time passed, making her head dizzy and she fell into nothing.
Beetlejuice found himself in some place wet and cold, when he woke. He gritted his teeth as he felt pain in every part of his body. "Fuck," he mumbled, looking around to see where he was, but not recognizing anything. The first thing he saw was the ground he sat on. Dark pavement under him, a stone wall behind his back. Leaning against it he let his head fall back at it, leading him to stare at the grey sky.
This was the living world. He just knew it. The sky never looked like this in the Netherworld. And the Netherworld never actually felt like this either.
Then he started to hear the voices around him. "He looks hurt." "Should we ask him, if everything is alright?" "No... a lot of homeless people look like this."
When he searched for the ones he just had heard, he found two boys across the street, obviously arguing about him. But when they noticed he was looking, both of them hurried away.
When he opened his mouth to speak he found himself catching breath. He had forgotten to inhale before speaking. Leading his words to die in his throat. Oh yeah right... you needed air to speak. Wait.
Wait.
You needed air to speak. Air. Speak...
His eyes grew wider. And all of a sudden, fear flooded through his mind. Rolling over everything.
He was alive now. He was alive, again. No, this wasn't possible. This was against anything he ever learned about the rules. He was alive. Alive. Ohgodohgodohgodohfuck...
His head began to spin again. Lydia... He needed to find her. Was she alright? What did that damn royal asshole do to her. Oh god. What did he do to him?
His powers. All juice gone with the coldness in his bones. Now just the beat of his heart was there inside him. Again, just waiting for the moment to stop.
Beetlejuice shivered. He tried hard to stand up, barely managing a crouch. But no. No, he needed to find her. Find his girl. Somehow. Somewhere.
Finally getting on his feet, he walked forward. So dizzy and sick to his stomach, he could swear he could taste the burning vomit in his mouth already.
It was no use. How could he find her, stuck in this human body. It was weak. He could feel how weak it was. And he could feel his cheeks getting wet, when he trembled forward, supporting himself on the wall on his right. "Lydia..." he rasped as his foot caught something on the ground as he fell forward. He managed to catch himself, leaning at the wall, breathing hard and rattling. "Babes..." he only managed to whisper with a bit of whimper at the end of the word. He felt like a lonely dog, searching for his master just to be sure for her to be safe.
He almost wanted to stumble forward again as a hesitant touch approached his cheeks. A soft hand gliding over his dirty skin.
When Lydia woke up in her bed, she seriously considered letting everything just slip as a dream. But that wouldn't explain her ripped clothes that she was still wearing, especially the blood-red poncho she never would wear when she was sleeping.
Instantly she fumbled herself out of bed, almost falling when her comforter was wrapped around her foot. She growled at it. This was not the time to think about such things.
Grabbing some better shoes and getting into them as she hurried out of her room, she cried towards the attic that she would be out late. There was no answer and she hoped Adam and Barbara would be somewhere else, maybe in the Netherworld waiting room or some shit. Everything was better than having them here when she brought a back-to-life-poltergeist with her. Her parents were not here either, she remembered and she was glad about that. So it was just him and her. If she would find him, that is. And she hoped she would, or else...
No. No time to think about that. Maybe he was somewhere near and not in god damn Africa.
Beetlejuice stared at the girl in front of him. It was not Lydia. It was a blonde girl, maybe around 6 years old. The little one smiled.
"Are you lost?" she asked with a thin voice, almost as if she feared to scare him away.
All he could do was shake his head, baffled that someone really dared to talk to him. He was sure his appearance did not change much; judging by the fact that he still wore his striped suit, even if it was wet and dirty now. Finally he broke down to his knees, the girl still watching him.
"JOANNA!" someone screamed. "Get away from him!" And then the girl got yanked backwards by a much bigger hand. "I told you not to talk to strangers!"
Beetlejuice looked up and stared in the dark eyes of a very angry-looking man. "And you! Don't touch her ever again!" he exclaimed. Beetlejuice sneered at him. He got better things to do. But then, maybe this man knew his Lydia.
"I just look for some broad I know, okay?" he whispered roughly, cursing himself for forgetting to breath again. "Maybe yah know her. Dark hair, death look in her eyes, name's Lydia and I-"
All of the sudden he got grabbed at the collar and lifted on his feet. "Lydia? Lydia Deetz?" the man asked and looked like he just stepped in a pile of shit. "What'cha want from her?"
Beetlejuice grumbled and tried to regain the ability to stand on his feet. Damn body wouldn't do shit when he wanted it to. But he managed to open his mouth to mutter, "Just searchin' for her. Gonna find her soon... need her-"
The first hit landed on his chin and Beetlejuice felt like all his teeth got shattered into small pieces. His vision got blurry once more that day and he seriously wondered: When was the last time he had known exactly what was going on? Something metallic made its way to his tongue and he groaned at the realization that it was blood he tasted. And even worse, this blood tasted alive.
"I know Lydia very well and I also know that she should not have anything to do with guys like you!" the guy growled under his breath. With a last move he smashed Beetlejuice's head into the wall next to him. "Stay away from her. She can't handle old creeps like you are one. She told me she is busy today. Again. And I ain't happy with her seeing old creeps rather than me. So fuck off."
He picked up the girl, which had watched in fear the whole time and walked past Beetlejuice, who gritted his teeth at the pain, squinting one eye shut. Beetlejuice felt blood running down his face. First he cursed the wall, then the guy and then himself.
"Fuck," he moaned, the second time in a short while he realized. Oh, this started out great. So. Fucking. Great.
Once again he tried to get onto his feet, this time even more stumbling than only his heart would shut up again, maybe then he could think straight. He was not used to the loud pounding in his ears anymore, not the rattling sound his lungs made nor the ringing in his ears coming from the pain in his head.
When he finally got back up, he tried to pull himself forward along the wall. Slowly making his way forward. From time to time a sound of pain made its way out of his mouth and once more he felt something wet running down his cheeks as he started to wonder if he would ever find his girl in this city. At least that guy did know her, so she couldn't be far away. But it seemed so hopeless nonetheless.
Lydia almost ran out of the driveway. She had to hurry. If Beetlejuice woke up at a bad place she didn't even dare to think about the possible consequences.
Still hoping he was in the same city as her - and not somewhere where she could never find him - she hurried down the street. People were staring at her when she made her way through the center of the city. She looked horrible and she knew it, but couldn't care less about her torn up clothes now.
As she walked around a corner she almost ran into a little, blond girl. "Joanna?" she asked. "What are you doing here all alone?" Her mission was important, but she knew this girl. She couldn't just leave her alone.
"I am with Mari." the girl stated. Mari, a cute nickname for a not so cute guy. Lydia knew him. Marius was the brother of the girl and the biggest asshole she ever met. He asked her out almost everyday, but Lydia had better stuff in mind than wasting her time on him.
"Where is he?" she asked the girl now, wondering if she really should just leave, knowing that Joanna was not alone.
The girl pointed to her right. There was a comfort station. "He washes up, he said," the girl said simply. "His hands got all dirty when he saved me from that old creepy guy."
"Old creepy guy?" Lydia lifted an eyebrow. Wait. Could it be? "What did he look like?"
"Adorable," Joanna whispered. "Like a panda! But don't tell Mari, he did not like him."
Okay, now that was a statement. Lydia only barely managed not to laugh out loud.
Wait did she say Marius 'saved' her from him? Huh? Lydia didn't even want to know. "Where is the man now?" she asked Joanna and the girl pointed down the street.
"There..."
"Thanks and pssshh... don't tell Mari you saw me!" Lydia huffed as she saw the door to the public restroom swing open. She fled as fast as she could and really hoped Joanna wouldn't babble about her being here. She couldn't deal with Marius right now. Thank god she knew the girl well enough to trust her with this.
Beetlejuice lost his breath after a few more steps. He coughed, only to see more blood on the ground. God what was the deal with all this blood. His blood. Clinging to the wall he paused for a moment to catch himself. Damnit. He would never be able to find Lydia in this condition.
"Beetlejuice!"
He yanked his head, eyes wide. There she stood. He almost cried out in relief. Almost. If he just could have found the strength to do so, he would have. Reaching out he tried to call her name, but only air left his mouth, no sound.
"Shit!" the girl yelled and if it would have been any other time he would have laughed about how much she had learned from him.
One moment later she was by his side and tried to support him. "Beej! Oh god. No, just... don't try to move so fast. Calm now. Oh god, ohgod!" she sputtered as she lifted his left arm around her shoulder. "Come... try to walk slowly. This way..."
He nodded and obeyed as she stepped forward, almost dragging him with her. She looked strained as she did so, but she really was a lot stronger than he had thought she could be.
Now that she knew where he had been, she took a different route back home than she had come from. Firstly to avoid Marius and secondly choosing an easier way for Beetlejuice to walk.
They slowly made their way towards her house and she wished she had a driver's licence, so she could just get him in the car and drive home, but that was one thing she needed to get yet.
When they finally got to her driveyard she leaned him carefully against the wall next to the door and fumbled for the keys in her pocket. As she unlocked the entrance she kept her eyes glued on him. The last thing she wanted was him to fall over and hurt himself even worse.
After much hassle to get him up the stairs, she led him into the living room and let him fall onto the couch. He dropped down and sat there and looked really miserable. His breathing was fast and short and his eyes somewhat feverish.
Lydia pressed her lips together, pondering about what to do now. Water! He needed water. As she was rushing to the kitchen to get some, she swallowed hard and tried not to break out in tears. She had to be strong now. This time she would help him and not the other way around!
With the glass in her hands she walked back and sat down next to him. With a brief look she began to examined him. He looked tired. Very tired. And she began to realize how hard this must be for him. Since she had found him he hadn't even managed to say one word. A bit hesitant, she led the glass towards his lips. "Drink carefully..." she muttered. He nodded exhausted and swallowed in small sips.
She could only wonder about how he felt now.
Beetlejuice was thankful Lydia did not ask questions or expected him to say something. He felt terrible. Everywhere was pain. Everywhere was stuff going on. It was so much. He had forgotten how it was to be alive. Forgotten the constant nagging on his nerves.
Everything was so full of motion now. His heart, his chest, his blood rushing through his veins. Sometimes he simply forgot to breath, not used to it anymore. And the weight of his body was so strange now. He knew gravity, even as ghost there was some. But it was his choice how much of it would drag him down. Now everything seemed so much more heavy.
Before Lydia gave him some water he didn't even realize how much thirst he had. His body screaming for liquid and... something else he couldn't remember. When did he actually have to drink something? Probably more than 600 years ago, he realized.
He felt so tired, exhausted and simply fucked up. His head hurt and he still tasted his own blood in his mouth, even after drinking a bit of the water Lydia had offered.
"Maybe you should lay down a bit..." Lydia proposed with soft voice. He just nodded. Sure, yeah. He would do fucking anything she said.
She stood up and helped him to lay down by holding his shoulders for support. She lifted his legs up, not caring about his dirty boots. The last thing he caught was her telling him to try to rest and he wasn't even able to nod again before he fell into darkness. Sleeping for real for the first time in 600 years. It was a weird, but a very welcome, soothing experience.
end of chapter one