--
Betelgeuse led Lydia out of the house and the walked down the long driveway to the road. The rest of the world had the same haggard appearance as Lydia's room. The sky was dark and gloomy with angry looking clouds rumbling their displeasure above them.
"Beej, why is it so ugly here? I mean, you can pop things into existence, can't you pop the netherworld… er. Better. That way you wouldn't -have- to come to the living world, right?"
"You know what kinda power that would take, babe?"
"It's not like you have a problem changing things."
Betelgeuse snorted a laugh and swung around to face the dark girl. "I'm the ghost with the most, you think I just made that shit up? Nobody else has power like me, little girl, I pulled every string and found every loophole there is to get where I am today and I can't do that sort of thing." He leaned in closer and Lydia forced herself not to back away. "The only thing keeping me from that kind of power is you."
Lydia held herself up a little higher. She was a little surprised to find she wasn't much shorter than the intimidating poltergeist. "Why should I give you that kind of power, anyway? All you'd do is squander it harassing the living."
He quirked a brow, his expression suddenly dead serious and more than a little thoughtful as he drawled, "You're talkin' about an entire upheaval of the system, babes."
Her mouth twitched in what might have been a devilish smile. In any event, it gave him a bit of a start to hear her response. "Isn't that what you do best?"
It was like a damned challenge. This little slip of a girl was -challenging- him. Damnit. He forced himself to smile, creating a final product that was less than friendly. "Need the powers first, Lydia dear."
--
Betelgeuse was surprised to find that Lydia took quite well to flying. He soared over the tiny little town at a fairly leisurely pace, enjoying the dark girl's occasional outburst of appreciation for the view.
"Aright, hold on tight."
"What?"
Without answering Betelgeuse wrapped both arms around her protectively and sped to the breaking point.
"What the hell are you-!?"
With the sound of shattering glass Betelgeuse slowed to a halt in midair. It took a little coaxing to get Lydia to unbury her face from his shoulder, but it wasn't like he was trying all that hard.
When she finally looked up she gasped in awe at the sight before her. He had taken her to his favorite haunt. The dead tended to congregate where the living were not, so this particular farm house was even more decrepit than the rest of the netherworld.
Betelgeuse lead Lydia inside and they were both forced to duck almost immediately as someone's hand flew overhead.
"SHIT, sorry! Oh crap, did you see where that landed?"
Lydia bent down to pick up the severed limb and hand it over to the frantic woman before her. She was nearly a head taller than Lydia with waist length chocolate blonde hair, watery eyes and an unfortunately large gaping chest wound that here fairly skimpy top showed off.
"Thank you! Hey, I haven't seen you around here before. My name's Milly." She looked down at her hands and realized that one was full of the other, making it hard to shake. "Oh, sorry, heh. Now I have to go and get it mended, ugh. Well, you know how it is."
Lydia smiled, "My name's Lydia. You know, I bet Beej could fix that pretty quick."
Milly looked puzzled, "Who?"
Lydia looked around for Betelgeuse, who was easy enough to find because he was whistling and trying to look inconspicuous. "Him. Beej, you should fix Milly's hand."
Betelgeuse sent Lydia a look that would have curdled milk, if there was any such thing as fresh milk in the underworld while a look of miffed realization spread across Milly's features. "Are you kidding? Lydia, was it? You must not know "Beej" here very well. He doesn't do a damn thing for anyone but himself."
Lydia snorted a laugh and eyed Betelgeuse, her amusement melting away in the heat of his glower. "Well, you gunna fix her up or what?"
He responded by floating through the front door of the establishment, leaving her to stare at his departure. "Um… Oh, I'm sorry Millie, I thought…"
Millie shrugged and stashed her hand away in a pocket. She extended her now free and connected hand to the girl without rancor. "Don't worry about it, hey? But don't fool yourself, he's bad news."
Lydia shook her hand and tried not to start at its lack of heat. "I guess. How will you get your hand fixed, now?"
Millie shrugged. "Dunno, might find a seamstress or somethin'. Damn things gunna be a problem no matter what until I get outa this place."
Feeling decidedly uncomfortable with her living existence in the world of the dead, Lydia said "Oh, well, good luck with that, I've um… gotta get going." and slipped into the house before Millie could respond, trying desperately to find the only person powerful enough to get her back home.
--
