Things have reached a boiling point. The only thing left is to release the steam.
Spencers13 – March 2003–March 2004
R – Drama – Angst
Chapter Sixteen – Condition Critical
Wild cackles drifted over piles of debris and unconscious bodies. A swirling ball of blue energy flew by, blowing another hole into a nearby building. Smoke poured from the cracked concrete, and the structure groaned with the strain to remain standing. The cackling that never ceased increased for a moment.
Hidari turned and fired into another random building. Fire, smoke, and debris flew past him, billowing his coat and playing with his hair, giving it a windswept look and a smoky smell. And he loved it. He loved all of it. The smell of burning anything always made him feel so good, and now was no exception. He reveled in the power he wielded and loved forcing his dominance over everything in his path. To him, he was the ultimate being. No one was more powerful nor prideful nor perfect. If no one would bow to him and acknowledge his greatness and do his will, then he would leave nothing standing.
Turning, he fired into another building, letting the smoke and chunks of brick fly by before he would aim at something else and blast that to pieces. But before it could happen, a piece of mortar zipped past a little too close and grazed Hidari's cheek. Instead of being angry, he grinned, swiping away the little bit of blood that escaped the scrape. His tongue removed the blood from his hand, then another grin exposed white teeth with sharp canines.
Two different eyes scanned around the unconscious bodies lying nearby. He stepped over to walk slowly among them and finally stooped to pick up the most humanoid-looking one of the bunch. His lavender tongue raked along the cheek, taking up a huge amount of blood already there, but spat it to the ground a second later. He growled disgustedly and threw the body back down, disturbed dirt spilling out from around the form.
How revolting that the blood wasn't that of a human. It was stale and bitter where human blood was sweet and intoxicating. Such a vile creature shouldn't be allowed to exist any longer. A glimmering ball of energy readied itself in Hidari's hand as he pointed it at the ghost at his feet.
From behind, a voice shouted, "Hidari!"
He whirled and growled, angry that he had been interrupted from his task.
Kenri slowly walked toward him, power and authority in his steps, dust spilling out from under his feet in small, powdery clouds. "Stop this madness, Hidari. You and I both know you're above this."
The hiss of a wild animal escaped from Hidari's throat as he took an attacking stance, ready to pounce on the new intruder. But with Kenri's appearance, his sanity wasn't as far from reach anymore, and the speech returned to his lips.
"Get away from me, weakling! I don't need your presence to taint me any longer."
"Without me, you are nothing," Kenri said flatly with strength his copy didn't think he had.
His eyes widened in incredulity. "You dare speak that way to me!"
"I'm telling you how it is. You need put into place, Hidari."
"You piece of sh—!"
"Silence!"
Hidari started in shock of Kenri's assertiveness never before displayed.
"I have had enough of you, Hidari. You've been allowed to grow and fester for far too long. No one should have as much hatred in them as you." He stared into his doppelganger's face marred with a snarl. "It's time to go back."
"I'll never join with you again!" Hidari spat.
"That isn't what I'm talking about."
He frowned. "I hate riddles. And I hate you!"
"You hate yourself?"
Rage made the insane blonde shake, his body tensed beyond reason. "Yes. I hate myselfeveryone!" His hand came up to wipe some saliva from the side of his mouth, then went back to growling each breath immediately after.
"Even Papa? Miss Lydia? Kyle?"
Hidari glowered. "Everyone," he confirmed with a dark growl.
Kenri sighed and hung his head a little. His eyes closed, and he nodded once. "I see. Well, thenit seems I'll have to wipe you out completely instead of saving a small part of you."
Absolute astonishment made the black-clad blonde's mouth hang open dumbly. But slowly, his lips twitched up into a smirk, and seconds later, he was laughing all out, tears budding at the corners of his eyes. "You! Wipe me out! AH-ha-ha! Don't make me laugh! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Frowning, Kenri slowly slid into an attacking posture, fists poised, feet apart, knees bent slightly, body tensed to strike. "Fight me."
Hidari calmed to a chuckle. "Please. You can't be serious. You wouldn't last ten seconds against me."
"I saidshut up and fight me. Now." The eye containing the red Mania rings twitched. It was starting to become harder to control the rage and insanity that had been leaking into him at a steady pace since he arrived in the city. At least it would aid in his ability to fight.
Calming, Hidari sent a glare to his counterpart. "You are serious, aren't you. Hn. Well, thentime to say goodbye, huh?"
"I have already said my goodbyesnow it's your turn."
"Finegoodbye, Kenri. Let me know how oblivion feels sometime."
A cloud of dust was the only signal that Hidari had dashed forward before fists and feet connected repeatedly to Kenri's body. He was systematically pounded into the dirt in seconds. Laughter rang through the air, drifting over to where he lay, embedded in a pile of rubble a few feet from where Hidari's heavy boots stood.
"I thought you were going to destroy me? The Mania must have given you a false ego. Ha-ha-ha!" The sound of rocks tumbling grabbed his attention, and he witnessed his copy standing up. No damage showed on him at all save for his now dirty clothes and mussed hair.
"You'll have to do better than that, Hidari."
The ghost growled in hatred, shouting, "Fine! I won't be gentle anymore!" He roared and leapt forward to punch, but Kenri blocked it with his forearm. His other hand tried to punch, but the placid side of Endri grabbed his fist. Hidari tried to kick next, but his counterpart blocked that with his knee. Roaring again, Hidari pulled away to power up blasts in both hands.
"You're finiiiiiiished!" he screamed in a deep voice, releasing the energy.
An explosion rocked the ground from up ahead again just as Doomie skidded to a halt along one of the city streets now covered with rubble. Broken buildings barely stood on either side of the road, and power poles and street lights were fallen, shooting dangerous sparks of electricity on occasion.
Beetlejuice stood on the front seat to see better, the smoke, fire, and debris near the ground a little hard to look through. Lydia sat in the passenger seat still, coughing from a little smoke inhalation.
"Endri! Endri!" Beetlejuice shouted into the murky distance.
Lydia coughed a few more times before being able to utter, "Is he back together yet?"
Another explosion and shouts rang out. Ahead, Hidari burst through a thick cloud of grey from between two buildings. It was a few hundred feet away and up, but Beetlejuice and Lydia could easily see he was flying backwards and throwing blasts wildly. Kenri emerged, chasing him, throwing blasts of his own.
"Son" the ghoul uttered.
A moan from the back seat drew their attention, and they both felt just a little guilty that they had forgotten about Kyle. Lydia climbed into the backseat and knelt over him, feeling over his forehead.
"Kyle? Are you all right?"
He only groaned and reached up with a heavy hand to hold his head.
While Lydia tended to their friend, Beetlejuice looked back at the two halves of Endri engaging in battle. Hidari had Kenri embedded into the side of a building at that point and was pounding his stomach and face without mercy. The sounds of his roaring laughter made its way through the streets and alleys of the abandoned city, echoing hauntingly.
The ghoul held his breath as he whispered to himself, "They're gonna destroy each other." He turned away from the scene to observe Lydia looking over Kyle who was still out of it. "What'd Kenri do to you?"
The human just held his head, moaning. The tears continued pouring, their end nowhere in sight. A scratchy voice eked out from between dry lips, "Thethe memories."
Beetlejuice frowned. "Huh?"
Lydia just looked up at him, shrugging.
Laughter pulled the ghoul's attention away. Ahead, Hidari was powering up a firey blast as he backed away from beating Kenri. He fired it straight at his twin, enveloping him in the burning blue energy and blowing even the building away behind him. But when the smoke cleared, Kenri still floated there, his arms up across his face and his knees bent up a little to block.
Hidari roared in anger. "Dammit, will you ever just go away!"
Kenri chuckled, finding it hard to not for some reason. His other half fumed at the sound.
"This isn't funny, you lousy little—!"
"AH-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"You will not laugh at meee!" Hidari shrieked in a throaty scream.
Bearing his teeth, Kenri grinned, then parted his lips to say, "Time for you to go away!" He pulled both arms back and to the side, twisting his torso until both of his cupped hands were no longer visible. With a determined grunt, he spun forward and released a ball of white energy that grew to man-size in the millisecond it took to reach Hidari. The ball covered him completely, masking him out of visibility, but vanished into glittery swirls a moment later, leaving the cruel ghost suspended motionless as if nothing had happened.
Beetlejuice and Lydia watched in amazement. And the ghoul had to wonder to himself, "What are you up to, Kenri?"
Lydia turned back to Kyle who was slowly coming to and calming down. His limbs twitched involuntarily, and the tears that had been pouring were slowing to a stop. She held his hand that squeezed with each twitch of his limbs, but the grip was comparable to a child's.
"It's okay, Kyle," she cooed to him soothingly.
The man only whimpered in reply, squeezing his eyes and facing to the side as if trying to look away from some horrible sight.
A few hundred feet away and about thirty feet straight up, Kenri floated over to his other half. He moved gradually, arms crossed and smiling. Hidari, on the other hand, shouted and screamed and struggled against the empty air around him. His body seemed immobile, frozen in one spot with his arms down near his sides and legs bent a little apart but still as a statue. Obscenities flew from his mouth along with building froth as he tried desperately to move.
Kenri came to a halt directly before his dark twin, watching him squirm and foam at the mouth for a minute. All he did was smile.
Hidari growled something, but it was totally incoherent.
"You're like an animal, Hidari. Wild, untamable, meant to be free but needing to be caged so you can't harm anyone," the light blonde said with understanding. He reached up his thumb and wiped the froth from his counterpart's mouth, pulling the wet digit away just before the ghost's teeth could snap down upon it. He dried his thumb, then reached back up and stroked the backs of his fingers down the side of Hidari's face softly. "Poor thing."
A snarl growled at Kenri through clenched teeth, but he only smiled in return.
"We both never got the love and nurturing we needed while we were still young and maturing. It's not really our fault or anyone else's—"
"All their fault!"
"—that we turned out the way we did. We were a decent person most of the timebut too many dark thoughts resided in us."
"They must pay!"
"Which is why we must halt things here and now. We must remove all the pain, hatred, and suffering we've endured throughout the centuries—wipe the slate clean—start afresh."
"You mean eliminate our memory! Fuck you! Eliminate your own fuckin' memory, you weakling! I will not be reduced to a mindless zombie just to make myself 'feel' better," Hidari spat.
Kenri frowned at that. "You don't seem to get the picture, Hidari. You have no choice in the matter."
One sensitive ear on the conversation since it began, Beetlejuice stared up, eyes brightening. "So that's it." He turned around and reached down with Lydia to help Kyle sit up.
"En" the human murmured, not feeling the hands and arms around him.
"Arrrgh! Bastard! I'll get out of this and destroy you before you can even blink! You will not erase my memory! You will not take away who I am!" Hidari's eyes glossed over. "You will nottake away my identity. I-I ammy own being." A tear slipped down his cheek. Where was that strange feeling coming from! "I will not be reduced to nothing!" he cried, closing his wet eyes.
Kenri floated even closer, putting less than a foot between them. He cupped his opposite's cheek, wiping the tear away with the ball of his thumb. "My Hidariyou're overrun. You're tired. Let us both take a nice, peaceful sleep."
Kyle blinked his eyes open finally and looked up past Lydia's concerned face and the back of Beetlejuice's head at two blurry figures suspended in mid air. He lifted a shaking hand out between his friends as if trying to reach out and touch the floating figures so far away. "En"
Beetlejuice bit his lip at the pitiful sight and forced himself to look away and watch his rent son high in the sky. No matter how much he wanted to make them stop, he realized he shouldn't. Kenri had been right in the car. Existing like that was no way to spend eternity, and the ghoul didn't wish such pain upon his son any longer. Whatever happened, he would let happenbut he would hope for the best.
Hidari fought for a steady breath, his arms and shoulders twitching just slightly. "S-SleepyKenri," he grunted softly. His lids drooped like they had ten pound weights hanging from them, the irises loosing their sparkle. "Are yousleepy, Kenri?"
Nodding, the other ghost encased his twin in his arms, holding him in a gentle hug. "I am so very tired, Hidari," he answered, caressing hair identical to his own. He pulled back to look into his own face, cupping his cheek.
Hidari blinked slowly at Kenri, almost trance-like. "Kenriwhy can I sayI-I'm sorry?" he asked with untold innocence.
"We are becoming one again. You feel what I feel, and I you."
He could feel the sweetness of Kenri's emotions filling his heart, but for once in his existence, he didn't mind so much. In fact, it felt good—calming. But sadness pulled his features taut. "Are you really going to destroy me? W-Will I never see you again?" He didn't want that. He wanted to always know the kind, loving part of himself. He was just so wonderful to be around—so positiveeven though he hated him with a passion. Such was the way he had always been torn.
Kenri smiled at him. "Hidari" he cooed gently, with so much love. "We will always be together. Just look into a mirrorand I will be there."
"I will stillmiss you, Kenri."
He smiled more broadly. "And I you, Hidari." Holding his doppelganger close, he leaned in, softly kissing his cheek.
A bright, white glow rose and surrounded them both, and Hidari's two different eyes scanned around. His body was still frozen, cradled against his sweet side. "KI'm scared," he admitted softly, shrinking as best as he could into the ghost holding him.
Kenri pulled his lips away from pale flesh and closed his eyes, cupping Hidari's head to his shoulder. "Don't be. I'm right here."
Squirming to stand, Kyle stumbled out of Doomie, Beetlejuice and Lydia right behind him.
"Nono, Endri! Don't—" He stumbled and fell, dust clouding out from beneath his body.
The ghoul ran up and knelt to help him, Lydia taking the opposite side. "Kyle, take it easy—"
"No! Don't let him, Beetle," the human begged, eyes glued to the white orb of light surrounding his best friend.
"I'm sorry" Beetlejuice told him and his love, not to mention to remind himself, "but I think this has to happen. I can't stop 'em."
"You don't understand!" he cried, looking from one of his friends that helped support him on his knees to the other, "You don't understand what he's trying to do!" He grabbed the ghoul's lapels. "You have to stop him! Please!"
Beetlejuice shook his head, tears in his eyes.
A bright flash caught everyone's attention, and all three looked up to the figures in the sky.
Kenri and Hidari held each other, the latter's body able to move again, now that he was combined enough with his opposite to not want to run. White pops of light sparked around them, and the constant glow that encased them looked like it had been sprinkled with iridescent glitter. To the rest of the world, their figures were almost so bright, they were hard to look upon.
Hidari shivered in Kenri's arms, and his lips moved against his shoulder, sending his muffled voice up to the other half ghost's ear. "D-Don't leave me, Kenri. Please."
The light blonde gripped tighter. "We will never part again." A quick glance below, and he took in his family looking up at them in shock and awe. "Goodbye." Two different eyes closed, and one single tear fell, sparkling.
The light intensified to the point where Beetlejuice, Lydia, and Kyle had to look away. Loud, roaring wind rushed past their bodies, making their ears pop with the sudden pressure change, and all three huddled to the ground next to Doomie. With the deep sound of an implosion, everything went quiet. The lighting faded and returned to dusk. All was silent and still.
Beetlejuice was the first to uncover his ears and look up. A quick scan of the area showed that Kenri and Hidari were nowhere in sight.
Lydia and Kyle looked up at that point, seeing the same thing.
"E" Lydia whispered, somehow knowing. The tears welled in her eyes, readying to fall.
"No." Kyle stood wobbly, holding a supporting hand on Doomie. "He's He's gone! He said he wouldn't leave!" He panicked, turning to his ghoulish friend. "How could you let him! Why didn't you stop him!"
Beetlejuice looked down sadly, feeling his lover's arms wrapping around him from the side in need of comfort. "I couldn't. I'm sorry." He ran a hand over his face and hair.
"Sorry! You just let my best friend wipe himself out!" Kyle cried in hurting anger.
The ghoul snapped his head up. "You think I don't know that! He's my son!"
"Stop it, stop!" Lydia shouted, cowering into Beetlejuice's chest and hiding her face. "Please stop fighting. We all lost him. There wasn't anything anyone could have done. He was gone from the very beginning; he told us so himself. No one is to blame." She turned a little and looked out of the corner of her eye. "I know he was closer to you than anyone, Kyle, and I'm sorry" her face scrunched in sorrow, "he's gone." Tears fell. "But please don't take it out on BJ. He's not to blame for this. And n-neither are you." The sobs escaped at that point, and she buried her face in her lover's jacket, clinging to him tightly.
Beetlejuice held her to him, slumping his entire frame. "Maybemaybe it's better this way," he said to anyone who was listening, especially himself. "He wasn't happy being insane. His Mania was just too strong." He teared up, his jaw trembling. "M-Myb—"
"Beep! Beep beep! Beeeep!" Doomie honked for attention.
The ghoul looked up along with Kyle and Lydia. "Huh?" He looked out over the destroyed area to where Doomie had indicated, seeing some of the rubble shifting just slightly a few hundred feet ahead. He wiped his eyes and took a few cautious steps, not wanting to get any hopes up whatsoever. He had found the hard way that dreams could so easily be dashed.
With a wavering voice, Kyle called after him. "What the hell're you doing?" He leaned his backside against the car and looked away from the departing ghoul who hadn't answered, gazing at Lydia who watched her lover, seeming to not be as upset anymore. The only thing he could think of was that they were being insensitive about Endri's permanent death. Just the thought of it made his throat constrict, and he reached a shaking hand up to cover his eyes. Was nothing ever fair?
Across the way, Beetlejuice knelt to the dusty earth suddenly. "Lydia! Kyle! Get over here!" he almost screamed, reaching down to move slabs of concrete away and pick something up.
Kyle blinked in thought at Lydia who wasn't waiting to be told twice. His blue eyes followed her running form as she joined the ghoul, kneeling and shouting something in shock. Before the human knew it, his feet were propelling him forward as well, and even though he was unsteady on them, he made it over rather quickly. He came to a stop beside Beetlejuice and Lydia, looking down at what they were marveling over.
Beetlejuice's arms cradled a small, nude boy. Short but shaggy blonde hair crowned his little head. Small pointed ears escaped the masses of sunlight, and dark lavender rings circled his closed eyes and stained their lids.
Recognition made Kyle almost fall over from shock. The little boy looked almost exactly like Endri would have if he was younger! The human unconsciously guessed he was about five years old.
Beetlejuice looked over to Lydia then up at Kyle with a mixture of hope and relief. "It's himisn't it? Endri." His green eyes fell back to the boy.
The little one moaned and blinked green eyes open. There were no red rings circling the irises, and they sparkled brightly, full of energy, like a newly dawned day in springtime. He looked up at the ghoul that held him for a minute, studying his features. A tired smile pulled at his youthful mouth, and a small, high voice spoke softly.
"Papa."
That was all it took for Beetlejuice to burst into tears and almost smother his son in kisses and hugs. "My little boy! You're okay! Aren't you? You're okay, right?"
The boy giggled, slowly waking up. "Yep. I'm okay, Papa. Butwhy you cryin'?" Little fingers reached up to brush at the dripping tears on his father's cheeks.
Beetlejuice sniffed and swallowed. "I'm justglad you're okay, kid. Really glad." He ruffled Endri's hair and cradled and rocked him.
The little boy hugged his father and looked over to the side, seeing Lydia kneeling next to them and smiling like there was no tomorrow. "Who's that, Papa?"
The ghoul looked over. "That's Lydia, Endri. She'smy girlfriend," he tried to explain.
"You're pretty," little Endri told her, reaching a small hand out.
Lydia giggled and took it, reaching out also to brush at his fluffy hair and cup his little cheek. "And you're very handsome. I think you get that from your papa," she said with a wink.
"Aww shucks." Beetlejuice blushed.
Endri giggled and sat up in his father's lap, but as soon as he did, someone else came into his view, and he gasped, curling into his father's chest and hiding. Everyone was still as they watched him peep out over the ghoul's shoulder at Kyle who stared down at him, mouth open.
"Papawho's that?"
Kyle felt his heart seize and sagged a bit, the lump from before forming in his throat again.
Beetlejuice just smiled. "That's Kyle, Endri."
Warily, the little ghost boy looked the human over for a minute, almost as if he were judging him. But just as before when he studied his father, a smile pulled on his lips, and he reached out with both arms for Kyle to pick him up. Happily, Beetlejuice handed his son up to the human, and Kyle held him supported on his hip, staring into his little face in disbelief.
Endri giggled. "I like you!" he exclaimed happily, reaching up to finger through white hair. "Neat! I never seen it white before." He stared around Kyle's face, scanning with his pure green eyes, touching the human's ears and nose. Leaning in, he hugged the man, little arms wrapping around his neck. "You're warm, Mr. Kyle," he sighed almost tiredly, nuzzling the warm neck.
Kyle swallowed that damn lump, but it came right back. Saline water flooded his eyes and spilled over, and audible cries escaped his throat as he held his pintsized best friend tight. Beetlejuice and Lydia stood with him, wiping their own eyes and sniffing. The ghoul ran a hand over the little boy's hair as he hugged the weeping human just as fiercely.
Shaking his head suddenly, Kyle handed Endri back to his father, saying, "I-I can't do this. I'm sorry." He turned and took wobbly steps, attempting to leave the scene. The small family watched him go for a moment, but then followed him over until they came to Doomie. Beetlejuice handed little Endri over to Lydia with instructions to stay put in the car while he talked to Kyle, then ran over to where he had been walking.
"Where're you goin'?"
"Away from here."
"What? Why?"
"I can't take this anymore!" Kyle yelled, stopping when they were far enough away that Endri and Lydia couldn't hear them. "I've been able to handle everything up until this point, even all the memories Endri stuffed into my head before he left, but this," he indicated the small boy bouncing in Doomie's front seat and giggling with Lydia, "this is just too much."
"Memories?" the ghoul asked, confused.
The human sighed, sagging just a little. "He shoved every single one of his memories into my head so I couldkeep 'em for him, I guess. I think he didn't want to lose who he was and what he had with everyone, so he gave it all to me. I think he was planning turning back into a kid the whole timeso he could start over." He sighed again, tearing up. "Well, I can't start again, dammit! This is too much for me!"
Beetlejuice frowned. "You can't run away now. If what you say's true, I'll need your help with him. I—" he looked a little sad, "I have no idea how to raise a kid."
Kyle shook his head determinedly. "I will not help to raise my best friend to adulthood. That isn't for me to do. He's your son; you have to raise him. Lydia will help, and I'm sure Jacques and Ginger and everyone else will too. But I am not going to be a part of this anymore. II've suffered long enough through this. This is where I get off."
"So you're just gonna abandon him?" the ghoul asked with sarcasm.
"That boy," he pointed, "has no idea who I am. He has no idea of the friendship we used to have. And it is far too painful to look into his innocent eyes and realize the man I knewthe ghost I knew is gone forever." His lips trembled, and Kyle wiped his eyes with a shaking hand. "I'm so sorry, Beetle. But I can't stay and face him and that feeling every day until I die or he grows up. But even if he grows up, he still won't be the person I met all those years ago. He won't be the ghost I came to know and love, and I—can't—handle—that," he growled through gritted teeth, tears glittering in his summer sky eyes. A tired sigh shuddered through his lips, and he cupped his head in a hand.
Beetlejuice remained quiet for a minute, occasionally glancing back to his son with Lydia. He allowed Kyle's words to work through him, doing his best to comprehend what he must have been feeling right then. After a short time, he dropped his green eyes to the ground between them.
"I understand. Where will you go?"
Kyle shook his head, shrugging. "I don't knowthe Real World, I guess. I still have my house in Montana. It'll be nice to," he took an unsteady breath, "go back."
Beetlejuice nodded, continuing to look down and not into the human's face. "Guess I can't change your mind. Take care then. I really appreciate all you did for me and Endri." He looked up finally, a smile on his face. "Will you ever visit?" His hand extended for Kyle to shake.
Swallowing, the human took up the hand. "No. I'm sorry. And please, don't come to see me either. II couldn't take it." He released the ghoul's hand and wiped his eyes again, sniffing. "Take care, Beetle. Raise h-him well." Kyle turned and took a few steps, but stopped and turned back. "One thing?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell him about me?"
Beetlejuice smirked. "I was planning on it."
Smiling sadly, Kyle waved. Before he turned, he took one last look back at Endri, then, tears in his eyes, he headed away slowly.
The ghoul watched him retreat with sadness in his heart, but the thought that his son was now well again and could start everything afresh wouldn't allow him to become depressed. And the thought that he could finally raise his son like he was meant to to begin with made a smile cross his pale lips. Quickly, he turned and jogged back to Doomie.
Endri was sitting in the driver's seat, twisting the wheel back and forth and pushing buttons making "vroom vrooom!" noises. Lydia sat beside him giggling at his cuteness, asking for him to drive her to different places, and praising him when he declared that they had arrived.
When the small boy looked up to see Beetlejuice approaching, he jumped up to stand on the seat and yelled, "Papa!" reaching his arms out to be picked up. "I was drivin', Papa! I tooked Miss Lydia all over town! It was fun!"
Beetlejuice laughed, lifting his son into his arms and hugging him. "That sounds like fun! Why don't we take a drive and go home?"
Endri nodded his head exaggeratedly, but halted and looked around until he saw Kyle's retreating form in the distance. "Where's Mr. Kyle goin'? Ain't he comin' wif us?"
Smiling sadly, the ghoul told him, "He's goin' home, kid."
"Where's his home?"
"Far, far away."
"Will he come back?"
Beetlejuice shook his head. "No, Endri. Not for a long time."
Endri suddenly felt sadness weighing him down, and he slumped in his father's arms, eyes staring at Kyle until he disappeared and little fingers lazily picking at black and white striped material. "He was really nice," his small voice said softly.
His father smiled and tried to cheer him up before the water works could start. "Let's go home, and I'll tell you all about him."
Endri perked up and hugged his father as hard as he could. "Yay! I'm hungry too!"
"I'll get ya somethin'."
The ghoul sat his son in the center of the front seat beside Lydia and gave him his striped jacket to cover his nakedness. He chuckled at how cute the little boy looked in the oversized coat while he helped Lydia buckle him in. When everyone was properly secured, he started up the car and took off back to the Roadhouse.
Cleanup for the town's destruction wasn't in Beetlejuice's job description. That was what Neitherworld cleanup crews were for.
Japanese / pronunciation / English Translation:
None
Next...Finality...