Beetlejuice:
Back In The Game

(A/N: This is the last chapter of the story, so I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, especially WitchyWanda and wild-lotus for being constant readers. And wild-lotus, the explanation was no trouble at all.)

'Stay away!!' Betelgeuse screamed, backing away from the demonic figure that stood before him.

'What's the matter Betelgeuse?? Not pleased to see me after all this time??' He asked, his voice deep, sounding like there were three different voices speaking at the same time. Lydia stared at Betelgeuse, surprised that he was afraid of something, and that something just so happened to be a threat to both of them right now. The ghoul whimpered and continued backing away, he tripped on the kerb and fell backwards, landing on his backside. "Max" laughed cruelly and turned to Lydia, who screamed and tried to run away, but the shadowy demon disappeared and reappeared in front of her. He grabbed Lydia and cackled, lifting her up.

'Betelgeuse! Help!!' She shrieked.

'Watch, Betelgeuse, as I do to your friend what I did to you!' The spirit bellowed. A dark, sickly aura covered both him and Lydia as he proceeded to suck the life from her.

'S-stop!' Betelgeuse stammered, summoning all of his courage and standing up. "Max" laughed and glanced at Betelgeuse, but he didn't stop draining Lydia of her life force.

'Or what, what will you do, little man?' He taunted, dangling Lydia by one arm in front of himself. He continued to laugh as he felt Lydia's spirit inside him, reviving him, giving him strength. Suddenly, he dropped Lydia and roared in pain. Taking advantage of the situation, Betelgeuse ran over and picked Lydia up.

'Are you ok, Lyds??' He asked her as he took her back to the kerb. Lydia, now paler than usual, slowly opened her eyes and smiled a little.

'Yeah…thanks…' She replied in not much more than a whisper. Betelgeuse looked back up at "Max", who was wincing in pain.

'It's not me you need to thank, babes…' He said as Poopsie was flung from "Max's" rear end. He landed not far from Betelgeuse and Lydia, got back up and snarled at the demon that launched him through the air.

'Accursed dog!!' He bellowed, advancing on Poopsie. Betelgeuse set Lydia down and looked around, he noticed a manhole cover right in front of "Max".

'Come on…just a little further…' He mumbled to himself, waiting for the demon to take a few more steps forward.

'I'll kill you all!!' "Max" boomed, still advancing. Suddenly, he felt a shot of pain in his face and was sent reeling backwards. He fell to the ground and stared at the manhole cover that was falling back down towards him. He rolled to the side and growled as the cover embedded itself sideways into the ground where his head had been.

'Ah say, that was some mighty fine shootin'!' The Monster exclaimed as he ran up behind them.

'Thanks.' Betelgeuse replied. Poopsie leapt into his master's arms, still growling at "Max".

'It's futile to fight! You're only delaying the inevitable!' He paused, thinking of another tactic. 'Hand the girl to me and I'll leave the rest of you alone.' Betelgeuse stood between Lydia and "Max", he still felt fear in his heart and he was still trembling, but he remained defiant.

'I'd rather be exorcised!!' He yelled. "Max" growled loudly and took a step towards them, Betelgeuse almost took a step back, but stopped himself.

'You can't stop me, Betelgeuse! You're nothing! You hear me?? NOTHING!! You were nothing when I first saw you and you're nothing now!' He roared. Betelgeuse clenched his hands into fists and glared at him. He tried not to let what he said get to him, but no matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he ignored the demons words, he couldn't stop it. He knew that he meant nothing to nobody, that he was nothing. No one cared for him, he had no family, he had nothing in life. He sighed and turned to look at Lydia, but before he could, "Max" batted him aside, sending the ghoul slamming straight into the concrete path. 'Pathetic…' He muttered, before turning his attention to Lydia. 'Now to finish the job.'

Lydia shrieked as "Max" picked her up again, she struggled as hard as she could, but she was weakened considerably due to the shadow that held her draining her energy the last time. Betelgeuse groggily sat up and held his head, suffering from shellshock. Lydia continued to scream and fight the demon.

'Betelgeuse! Help!!' He looked at her, getting his sight and hearing back slowly. 'Please!' He wanted to help, but what could he do? He was nothing. She even said so herself. Betelgeuse stood up and stared at Lydia, her screams were now hoarse and tears flowed down her cheeks. "Max" laughed sadistically and toyed with her, swinging her from side to side, relishing the poor girls suffering. 'Betelgeuse! Please…help me! You're not nothing!!' The last part got the ghouls attention. 'I am your friend! You're not nothing! You're…'

'That's enough out of you!' "Max" growled, clamping a shadowy hand around her mouth. He looked at Betelgeuse and smirked. 'You don't believe her, do you? Why would you? She lied about being your friend before.'

'No…'

'What?'

'No…she didn't lie!' Betelgeuse yelled.

'It makes no difference, you can't do anything to stop me.' "Max" replied. The sickly black aura covered them both once more, Lydia felt the energy leaving her body, her struggling got weaker and weaker as a result. 'Huh…?' "Max" looked around; the ground was quaking violently. He looked at Betelgeuse, who was glaring at him. The ground shook more and more with each passing second, causing large fissures to appear around him.

'I can stop you, and I will!' Betelgeuse bellowed. 'You just made the biggest mistake of your afterlife, pal!!' Suddenly, as "Max" did a few minutes previously, Betelgeuse shed his skin; it spiralled into the infinite blackness that lay beneath. Like a reservoir breaking through a dam, his power burst through whatever was holding it back. Betelgeuse grew in size, his legs formed to become stem, anchoring him to the ground. He towered over "Max", his arms grew spindlier, like his nemeses, and his hair flowed backwards, joining with his back. Two dark-red pools shone like jewels where his eyes once were. "Max's" eyes widened as he stared up at the ghouls sudden transformation.

'Th-this isn't possible!' "Max" cried out, dropping Lydia. Betelgeuse hissed and flicked a forked tongue past his lips. 'You…you're n…' He was cut short once Betelgeuse picked him up by the head and slammed him into the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Third time's a charm.

Betelgeuse let "Max" go and stared at him.

'I know you can take more than that!' He yelled. 'Get up!!' "Max" stood up slowly, trembling.

'You can't do this…you can't do this to me!!' He cried. Betelgeuse cackled and picked him up. A smirk crept over his face as he tightened his grip on the smaller demon.

'Scared?' "Max" shrieked in terror as he was plunged into Betelgeuse's mouth. He fell.

And fell.

And fell.

And fell.

Suddenly, he hit what felt like solid ground. "Max" looked around nervously, afraid of what was to come. He could see nothing but blackness.

'You deserve this…' Betelgeuse's voice rang through the air. 'You deserve nothing less…' "Max" spun around to see Betelgeuse standing in front of him; he was back to normal now.

'You…you're…' Betelgeuse growled at Max's constant attempt to put him down.

'I AM power incarnate!' He roared. 'I AM the stuff of nightmare that would make even you afraid of the dark! And it seems it worked.' The ghoul advanced towards the shadow-demon, hatred in his eyes. 'But most of all…I.am.Betelgeuse.'

Lydia sat up, dazed and very weak. She looked up at Betelgeuse; he was still in his shadow-form, the ghoul stood there as if in a daze.

'B-Betelgeuse…?' She tried to call up to him, but all she could manage was a hoarse whisper. The ground shook once more, growing more and more violent, the fissures closed up and then it happened. A gigantic flash of light followed by a deafening clap of thunder. Lydia fell backwards, as did The Monster and Poopsie. By the time she managed to get back up, Betelgeuse was lying on the floor, back in his normal state. Lydia slowly crawled over to him. 'Betelgeuse…' She shook him, his eyes were closed and he wasn't moving at all. '…Betelgeuse…' Her eyes began to water and, burying her face into his jacket, she cried heavily. The Monster walked up behind her, his hat placed against his chest in respect. Poopsie whimpered and sat next to his master. Lydia sobbed and sobbed, he had given his afterlife for her, despite all they had said to each other. The smell of cigarette smoke filled the air and Lydia looked up to see Juno standing over Betelgeuse's body. 'What's happened to him…?'

'He said his name, effectively exorcising himself. It was the only way he could beat that other ghost, because he was inside Betelgeuse when he said his name, he was exorcised too.' Lydia wiped her eyes, still sobbing.

'So…th-there's no c-coming back for h-him…?' Juno took a drag of her cigarette and let out a puff of smoke through her neck.

'I shouldn't do this…but there is one way.' Lydia stared up at the deceased caseworker.

'How?? I'll do anything!' She cried out. Juno sighed and took another drag of her cigarette.

'Are you familiar with the different forces within the human body?' Lydia shook her head quickly, wanting to get Betelgeuse back as quick as possible. 'There are two forces, life force and spirit force. When your life force expires, you die and your spirit force takes over. Well, since Betelgeuse lost his spirit force by saying his name, he was exorcised.' Lydia nodded in understanding, wiping her cheeks of all tears. 'If you were to donate some of your spirit force, you could bring him back to life…so to speak.'

'I'll do it!' Lydia replied instantly.

'Are you sure? You know that you'll be linked with him forever, right?'

'I don't care, just bring him back.' Juno nodded and snapped her fingers. They were instantly transported to the hospital and Lydia found herself in a bed next to Betelgeuse, who was in a bed of his own.

'Ok people, we've got a transfusion here!' Juno yelled. Several doctors and nurses rushed to them and wheeled the two beds out into the surgery. Lydia looked up at a doctor and smiled lightly.

'Um…how many times has this been done successfully?' The doctor looked back down at her, a glint of insanity in his eye.

'Success? None! It's never been attempted before either! Isn't this great??' Lydia shrank back under her covers and muttered.

'Yeah…great…'

Juno, The Monster, Jacques and Ginger were sitting in the waiting room. They'd been waiting there for a few hours after Lydia and Betelgeuse had been taken into surgery. The wait was excruciating, it had never been done before so it was possible that the both of them have been lost. A doctor walked into the waiting room and over to the four who had been waiting. He gave them the news.

'Ugh…my head…' Lydia murmured, holding her hand against her forehead. She sat up, only to be pushed back down again.

'Don't move, you need to rest.' Juno said. Lydia smiled and tried to open her eyes. The light stung, it felt like she was opening them for the first time ever. After getting used to the light she looked up to see her Neitherworldian friends standing over her. Though she could hardly move and her head was pounding, she had only one thing on her mind.

'Where's…' Before she could finish, Juno and The Monster stepped aside to reveal Betelgeuse lying in the bed next to hers. He was already awake.

'Hey babes…' He whispered with a smile on his face. Lydia smiled and couldn't help but to start crying.

'Hey…' She replied, tears flowing down her cheeks.

'You ok?' He asked, his face paler than usual, if that was possible. Lydia softly bit her bottom lip and nodded. She held her hand out, as did Betelgeuse. She held his hand in hers and squeezed, he squeezed back. 'Thanks…'

'Sure thing, pal.' Lydia replied. Betelgeuse's smile widened. For the first time in hundreds of years he felt something he'd almost forgotten about. Each passing second, he could feel a thud in his chest, his heart was as dead as the rest of him, but he could feel Lydia's heartbeat. If he didn't know before, he knew now that he and Lydia were friends, and that they'd be friends for a very, very long time.

(A/N: Well that's it! Hope you enjoyed! I've really, really enjoyed writing this fic. But never fear! This isn't the end! If I think of more adventures for Lydia and Betelgeuse, you can rest assured that I'll make a story from it. Again, thanks to WitchyWanda and wild-lotus for being constant readers and reviewers!)