A last fire will rise behind those eyes
Black house will rock, blind boys don't lie
Immortal fear, that voice so clear
Through broken walls, that scream I hear…

A harsh wind blew up, and Beetlejuice, who was sitting on his roof, clutched at his lapels.

"What's that?" he asked of the gathering dark. Winds that cold and fast rarely ever blew in the Neitherworld. Only when something truly earth shattering was going on in the Real World did something so out of the ordinary happen in their Limbo.

He stood and was instantly being held by the neck. Someone was behind him, gripping his throat with an inhuman hold that could have crushed his windpipe if he weren't already dead.

"It's Lydia, isn't it? Isn't it, you bastard? Something's happening to her! Let me go!" Beetlejuice demanded of his other self. The manic laugh sounded in his ear.

"Oh, Beetlejuice. Don't be so foolish. I told you she'd come sooner or later. I told you to wait. But I never said I'd just let you go see her when it happened. Now, you're just going to have to wait a little longer. This is all for the best, remember. You do remember, don't you?"

The ghost-like image of the miniature woman floating over his alter-ego's hand shot through Beetlejuice's head. He sighed, defeated, and sat back down.

"Good little ghost. But just so you're not tempted…"

The man conjured up energy bonds that locked themselves around BJ's wrists and shackled him to the roof. When this happened, the ghost tried to release himself with furious yanks at the chains, but they didn't release.

"Why are you doing this?" he demanded over the roar of the wind. From the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of something pale and small drifting from the sky, down to the ground, completely unaffected by the tornado-like wind that whipped and lashed around the Roadhouse.

Cry, little sister - Thou shall not fall
Come to your brother - Thou shall not die
Unchain me, sister - Thou shall not fear
Love is with your brother - Thou shall not kill…

He focused on it, trying to keep it in his sight amongst the small debris hitting him. Somehow he felt it was important to see, to know. But his other self noticed it and smirked.

"So you see? I'm impressed; you shouldn't be able to see the newly dead. But hell, suicides are a lot easier to notice than the others. It's no great feat, really."

"Suicide?"

"Yes…the poor thing. Couldn't stand life…without her best friend," he returned, tauntingly.

"You mean…that's…Lydia?! You're…you're lying! Let me go! She's still alive, you…you…let me go!" He said the last word with an unholy yank at the chain, but it remained as strong as ever, even glowing a bit with a surge of energy as he pulled.

"Oh, Beetlejuice. I really do hate seeing you like this. Don't worry; soon she'll be out of your mind and safely put away. We'll never have to worry about the Lock; we'll never have to deal with another Opening. Just relax and wait. Be patient."

"Patient? Patient? While you do and…do whatever you're gonna do to Lydia? To Hell with that!"

"Precisely. To Hell with her. Or at least, to it's equal. She's going to go where Rachel should have gone. Last time."

"Rachel?"

"So soon to forget?" He brought the transparent girl to his palm again, and Beetlejuice fought back tears that he couldn't remember why he was crying.

Closing his hand over the figure, the man watched the little wisps of misty energy dissipate into the air before turning his back.

"I'll return. When my mission is done, you'll be released."

Blue masquerade, strangers look on
When will they learn this loneliness?
Temptation heat beats like a drum
Deep in your veins, I will not lie…

So softly did the ghost fall to earth, it lay down in a sleeping position on the brown leaf-strewn park ground. Its chest still rose and fell in the rhythmic habit of the living, but slowly the movement slowed and the eyes fluttered.

The spirit stood gracefully, its hair flowing and ebbing just below its shoulders. It floated a few inches off the ground; it's white dress whirling in an invisible breeze.

Slowly, some color came to it, but no substance. Its hair darkened to black, and its skin lightened to the palest of peach. The eyes sparkled with an unearthly light as it took in its surroundings with astound.

I know this place… it thought. So familiar…but so new…

Suddenly, it felt a presence. Someone was nearby. Someone it knew, but was still a stranger. It looked for the person and found it leaning against a dead tree not five yards away.

"Hello, Lydia."

The voice was so familiar!

Little sister - Thou shall not fall
Come to your brother - Thou shall not die
Unchain me, sister - Thou shall not fear
Love is with your brother - Thou shall not kill

"Lydia?" the ghost asked.

"Yes. That's your name. Now come with me." The person beckoned with their hand, and she took it. He led the way through the park. The ghost kept her eyes on his face, trying to place him.

Suddenly they were in the air, flying towards a twisted city. She let her gaze drift and look over the area, taking it in and feeling a sense of familiarity, like she belonged here more than she already did. But she couldn't be sure how.

They stopped at a huge, black gateway. Its whirling portal sucked slightly at the very air around them, and the spirit looked at the man who had led her here.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's the gateway to Purgatory. This is your afterlife."

"Purgatory?"

"There's nothing there. Nothing except your memories."

"But…I don't have any memories…"

"Right. So there's nothing but emptiness for you."

She was silent. "This is death?"

A pause. "Yes."

She shifted her gaze for a final look at the dead world around her, with its hues of black and white and brown and gray, and even though she wished she could stay there simply for its stimulation, she knew what she had to do.

This was death, after all, wasn't it? And she had to be punished for her sins in life. There must be some, right? Purgatory was for sinners who had to be purified.

So with a last breath – the final one of her living habits – she turned and stepped into the blackness.

50 Years Later

Are you still mourning, Beetlejuice?

Still lamenting your loss?

It's been half a century.

The voice floated around in Beetlejuice's head, the same as it always did whenever he thought of her. That mortal girl he had known so long ago. Something stopped his memories though, something that made him lose all record of her from a point in time and on.

My Shangri-Las
I can't forget
Why you were mine
I need you now

He shook his head. It didn't matter now; he was back in Juno's office and pushing papers. His days as a freelance bio-exorcist were long since over; it didn't pay nearly as well as Juno's filing and this new job took up a lot of time. He hated not having anything to do. It made him remember.

BJ eyed the envelope on the desk with his name on it and thought of the check inside. He thought of how it would help him revamp the Roadhouse, how it was the first step to the best Roach Hotel in the Neitherworld.

First thing I'm gonna buy, he thought as he shuffled papers, is a goddamned broom. I really have to sweep up all that broken glass in that one room and throw out that old oval frame.

He shook off his thoughts and finished up. Grabbing the envelope, he checked out at the receptionist's desk (flirting with the red headed prom beauty working at it), and left.

He stopped at the bank on the way home and cashed the check, using some of it to buy a broom on the way home and left the rest in his savings account.

Beetlejuice let himself in and took a big whiff of the house. It smelled like it always did; dirty, musty, and old. Just how he always loved it.

Unwrapping the broom, Beetlejuice went right to the room with all the glass in it and began to sweep contentedly. He didn't hear a scuffling noise in his hallway until something knocked against the open door.

He turned and was promptly speechless. In his doorway was the battered, beat-up, cut and bruised form of the black-haired girl from his memories!

She breathed heavily, staring at him with desperate eyes, then fell to the floor.

Cry, little sister - Thou shall not fall
Come to your brother - Thou shall not die
Unchain me, sister - Thou shall not fear
Love is with your brother - Thou shall not kill