Sleeping Beetle
A Beetlejuice fan fiction by Lady Norbert
A/N: And now you learn the mythology that developed in my mind one night while I was sleeping. I just hope it makes sense. I couldn't have done this without Bookworm Gal helping me with mythology research!
Chapter Four: Some Mysterious Being
To Lydia's chagrin, she soon discovered that she had, in fact, been in the Fairy Godfather's library on her previous visit. It was the room in which she had been strapped to an operating table, her mouth taped shut, forced to stare in terror as a midget gangster menaced her with an electric saw. Beetlejuice wasn't the only one still occasionally plagued by nightmares of the incident, though for his sake she tried to keep hers to herself.
On the present occasion, however, all was calm and orderly, without a trace of evidence pertaining to the events of more than four years prior. The neatness of the glass-fronted bookcases and the studious quiet of the room put her at ease. "You sure have a lot of books, Godfather," she commented.
"That I do, Princess. Time sometimes feels like it stands still for me," he admitted, "but a good book is like a good friend. It helps the hours slip past almost without notice."
"So I guess, since we're here," said Beetlejuice, "you've got something you wanna show us in one of these books."
"Indeed." He took out his keys and unlocked one of the bookcases; its contents, Lydia noticed, seemed to be older and more fragile than most. "Have either of you any familiarity with a document known as the Voynich manuscript?"
"Eh... no."
"The name rings a bell," said Lydia, "but I can't quite remember why."
"It dates from the 15th century, as the Outerworld measures time, but its contents are much older," he explained. "It's named for the Polish book dealer who purchased it early in the 20th century, though he has nothing to do with its contents. The original author was a magnet, as Lady Delphine describes her Hugo, who made the acquaintance of a fairly benign spirit. The document known as the Voynich manuscript resulted from their interactions. Scholars and linguists in the Outerworld have struggled to translate it ever since."
"But they can't?"
"No. The script used in the book is unlike any your world has ever known. Even among Neitherworld denizens, there are few who understand it."
"Talk about your dead languages," Beetlejuice muttered.
The Fairy Godfather actually cracked a smile. "That is one way to put it, yes." He took a volume from the shelf and brought it to a lectern. "As you can see, it's written in this unusual script, and illustrated too. The original author was what I believe might nowadays be described as a hedge witch - a common practitioner of simple practices. Not really magic, but close enough that religious persecution deemed them dangerous. So her friend the spirit taught her this way of writing so she could record all her knowledge without anyone being the wiser. Of course, the difficulty arose in that the woman was the only one who could understand what she had written... and when she died, so did any chance of translation."
"You have a copy?" Lydia stared in fascination at the page, with its peculiar loopy symbols.
"Oh, no. These are the lost pages - it's well understood by cryptography scholars in your world that several pages are missing from the Voynich manuscript. They're in my possession. That was the price the spirit extracted for sharing the language," he explained. "In exchange for the means by which to record her forbidden knowledge, the human woman had to document a few extra pages for the spirit, and give them up. They've come to be part of my collection."
"How did you get them?" she asked, feeling like she was missing something.
"That's a story for another time. What's of importance is what's contained in them - the knowledge of a long-lost prophecy." He turned a few pages, and scrutinzed the weird writing. "Perhaps I shouldn't say it's lost," he said after a moment. "The prophecy, such as it is, has appeared in many instances of human civilization since it was written. It's very old; even I'm uncertain as to just how old it really is."
"And it... keeps appearing?" A twinge of worry was starting to build in Lydia's stomach. Something about all this wasn't sitting quite right.
"It keeps appearing, but never gets completely fulfilled," said the Godfather. "Almost like humanity is trying to bring it to bear, but hasn't quite gotten all the details right."
Beetlejuice's expression was becoming more and more baffled. "And what's all this to do with us?"
"Well, let me read you the contents of the prophecy itself," said the Godfather, "and then you can see what you think."
She is the embodiment of Life - of warmth and healing, of new growth and gentle compassion. And from almost the hour of her birth she has longed for Death. She surrounds herself with gloom and sorrow, rejoicing in them.
He is the embodiment of Death - of cold and darkness, of withered limbs and austere silence. And even without knowing it himself, he has spent centuries searching for Life. He seeks the warmth like a sapling reaches for the sun.
The union of Life and Death has been sought through countless ages. It is a love beyond love, an interweaving of eternity. The offspring of this union will either save our world or destroy it.
The three of them stood in complete silence for a few minutes. Lydia, for her part, was running the words through her mind.
"I imagine you have questions," said the Godfather.
"That's putting it mildly," Beetlejuice grumbled. "So where else does this crop up, besides in this book that - ever so conveniently - nobody but you knows how to read?"
"Well, probably the best known example is the ancient Greek myth of Hades and Persephone," he began, finding a chair. Apparently he'd been standing for about as long as he could tolerate. "The god of death fell deeply in love with and married the goddess of spring. Arguably the happiest marriage in the entire Greek pantheon, in fact. It's also worth noting that the circumstances of their union meant that they could never be permanently separated - Persephone had to return to her mother for six months of the year, but she was with her husband the other six." He looked at them expectantly, as though that settled everything.
"There's more?" Lydia guessed.
"Perhaps you'd care to cross the Mediterranean? For the ancient Egyptians it was Isis and Osiris. She was the living goddess of health and wisdom, known as the protector of the dead. He was the 'Lord of Love,' who was brutally murdered by Set, and Isis had to find all of his body parts which were scattered across Egypt - and if memory serves, the two of you had a similar adventure once upon a time," he added. "There's also the fact that she was called 'She Who Knows All Names,' because as I have stated before, knowing someone's true name gives you power over them."
"All right, this is starting to get creepy," she murmured.
"And you think this is us?" Beetlejuice looked both skeptical and uneasy. "We're these... whatever they are?"
"No, and yes. I don't mean to suggest that you yourselves keep appearing in world mythologies," the Godfather clarified. "Rather, I think that you are the two about whom the original prophecy was written. From the original prophecy came the later beliefs. All stories are, at the end of the day, just part of the same story." He nodded at Lydia. "You wear the yang pendant, do you not?"
"The gift from Lady Delphine?" She reached into her collar and pulled it into view. "How do you know - oh, never mind, that's probably a pointless question. Yes, I have the yang. Beej has the yin."
"Precisely. Delphine didn't give those to you arbitrarily - she gave them to you because she suspected the same thing I have been describing. You said earlier that you're not a goddess, Lydia, and you're right." He smiled, perhaps a bit tiredly. "Each of you is, instead, an avatar."
"...a character from a lousy James Cameron film?" Beetlejuice guessed.
"No."
"A kid with an arrow on his head and elemental powers?"
"No!"
Lydia rolled her eyes. Her husband looked entirely too pleased at having irritated the Fairy Godfather, although given the incredibly cryptic nature of the whole meeting, she almost couldn't blame him. Certainly it was all very confusing. "Godfather," she said, "maybe you could just spell this out for us? I know I'm starting to get a headache."
"You are the Avatars of Life and Death - I think I need not clarify which is which," he added.
"But why?"
"Why... what?"
"Why us? Why this? Why any of it?"
"Did you think it was some kind of cosmic accident that you two stumbled upon each other?" he inquired.
"Most of what I do is by accident," Beetlejuice interjected, "except when it's not."
"You're not helping," Lydia told him.
"Yes, dear."
"The chief of the importance lies in the final part of the prophecy," said the Godfather. "The offspring of the union will save or destroy the world. All the previous examples of the marriage of Life and Death in the various world mythologies either had no children at all or had no children who fit this aspect of the prophecy."
"Uh..." Beetlejuice looked at Lydia. "Does he know something I don't?"
"Probably several things, although in this particular case, no."
"Just checking."
"You think I wouldn't keep you informed on that point?"
"It remains," said the Godfather, raising his voice a bit to interrupt them, "to be seen whether you'll fulfill the last part yourselves. It's worth noting that the prophecy says 'our world,' but that doesn't exactly clarify which world. It could be the Outerworld, or it could be the Neitherworld, or it could mean something else entirely. We simply don't know at this point."
"But what if we don't have kids either?" Lydia paused. "Is it even possible for us to have kids? I mean, neither one of us is entirely alive or entirely dead, and I don't know how that affects the situation."
"Time will tell," he replied serenely. "Indeed, that may be exactly the factor which is missing from the previous instances of the prophecy. You aren't gods, and you aren't one thing or the other but rather both at once. And if the worst should come to pass, and there are no children and I've been wrong the whole time..." He spread his hands. "At worst, it's done no harm. You're still bound to one another through eternity, regardless, and I don't hear either of you complaining about that."
"So does any of this make sense to you?" Beetlejuice asked later.
They were back at Prince Vince's castle, having concluded the visit and returned in time for dinner. He was lounging on the balcony of the little suite of rooms belonging to the Princess of Beetles, and Lydia was sitting at her dressing table, combing her hair.
"Not really," she said finally, having mulled it over extensively. "I mean, why would the Fairy Godfather have so much interest in this prophecy in the first place? And why is he so convinced that it's about us? And if it is about us, what does that mean? And -"
"Enough," he pleaded, his head spinning briefly. "I dunno, Lyds. It's all pretty weird. Sounds like Delphine's in on it, too, since she gave us these things." He gestured to his yin pendant; it was concealed under his clothing, but she knew it was there. "The heck do they talk about when they're playing Monopoly, I wonder?"
"Besides not putting the tax money on Free Parking? The fate of the cosmos, apparently." She looked at her reflection. "I don't know if I like being the Avatar of Life. I mean, do I have responsibilities I don't know about?"
"Better question would be, do you have powers you don't know about?"
They looked at each other for a long minute, neither one knowing the right answer.