Author's note: So in this chapter there are going to be a couple time jumps. Hopefully it'll all read well but we'll see! Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I own NONE of Beetlejuice and am gaining no profit from it.

Chapter 3: The Dead Live On

Sinking. That's what it felt like. Darkness on every side. Endless darkness. There was the occasional sound, a siren here, people's hushed mumbling there, but she was floating in darkness. Her eyes fluttered open for the first time in…when were they last open? What was she even doing? She remembered the car, her parents, a party maybe? In the distance she saw red and blue lights come and then fade. Slowly she turned in the infinite void, looking around. Lydia grabbed her head and closed her eyes again.

Think…. what was happening… where….

She opened her eyes again hoping she was somewhere else, or remembered anything. She heard a heartbeat. Was it hers? She grabbed her chest, a sharp pain coursed through it and she winced, collapsing to her knees. Gasping, she looked up to see a woman clad in white. She was standing just in front of Lydia, just out of reach.

"Hello Lydia, we finally get to meet."

Standing, Lydia took a much needed breath. "Who are you?"

"I cannot say. Fate has dealt you a terrible hand it seems. You got too close again." The woman had a sad edge to her words. Lydia tried to step towards her, but she floated just out of reach.

"Fate…where am i? What happened?" Her eyes roamed the dark expanse, catching small noises here and there. Yelling? Bells? Something about blue?

"Yes. Your fate is complicated, though you can change it in time. Your fate is not just a string, but a web, that splinters in many directions that only you can weave to your liking." Lydia blinked hard, the pain in her head was growing and struggling to see the spectors clouded face was not helping.

"Please, stop talking in riddles! What happened to me!? I need to get back to….to…." Her words trailed off. The pain in her chest reared its head again and she once more dropped to her knees, not even daring to get up again.

"I know who your heart yearns to be near. Unfortunately, you two will be ripped apart for some time. Please, try to remember these words. You can only help yourself and him when you remember who you are." At the wisps words Lydia's eyes shot open and up to the woman.

"You...You're the one who's been in my dreams… You've been warning me…" Lydia forced herself to stand on shaky legs, hands still tangled in the front of her shirt. "I know who I am! My name is Lydia Deetz! My best friend is a ghost, THE ghost with the most actually! I don't need you to tell me who I am!"

The woman smiled, she couldn't see it, but she could feel the warmth coming off of her, like the feeling of a hug.

"Lydia….it is not your time. You need to go and weave your web." The woman finally floated close enough to touch. Both Lydia and the woman reached their hands out. Lydia touched the woman's face and gasped when the cloud lifted. The woman put her hand over where Lydia's pain had been.

"Live Lydia"

The woman's energy surged into Lydia's chest causing her breath to stop. As she went to grab her chest she started to fall, but this time she was falling towards light.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Lydia's eyes snapped open as she took in as much air as she possibly could. Her vision was blurred, but she could see where she was. She was looking straight up into many faces. They were doctors, or surgeons? With Nurses. She felt cold, her chest was cold, but her body suddenly contracted in pain.

"We've got her! Take her into O.R. 2 now!" Lydia looked around one more time as the bed she was on started to move.

One nurse replaced a pair of paddles.

'I…died'

She looked up as she once more twitched in pain. A man wearing Maroon scrubs looked down at her, while injecting something from a needle into a tube.

"Don't worry hun, we're going to save you, no matter what it takes"

Suddenly Lydia's eyes closed again, but this time, there was no void, just sleep.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Beetlejuice's rage went on for days it seemed. At first he waited, then he resorted to playing tricks on his friends. When that got tiring, he started to get mean and that's when he let everything go. Everyone in the roadhouse had left out of fear or necessity. He had trashed his living room. Couch was torn asunder, t.v. was thrown into the wall and obliterated, even his bedroom was chaos! His energy was uncontrolled and destroying everything, the only thing not touched was a small desk with a large mirror in the corner. Beetlejuice stumbled out of his room, holding his head with one hand. His entire being was on fire, consumed in rage. Lydia had been gone a month! No one would tell him anything! He tried going to the higher ups, but that just made his fury worse. He had already been arrested twice and threatened to be kicked from the roadhouse, but it didn't matter. The only person that he cared for, really cared for was gone.

"Lyyydiiiaaaaa!" The lights exploded in a shatter of old glass as his powers were unleashed in a violent wave. Short shallow breaths came and went as Beej stood in the dark, the only thing illuminated were his green, smoking demonic eyes. As he turned to go check the mirror, for what felt like the millionth time, a small knock came to the front door. He stopped and grew rigid before turning around and stalking to the door. A old woman stood there, with a small swat team of Neitherworlds army. The woman was wrinkly, like a dried up grape turned into a raisin. The slit in her neck spewed smoke as she puffed on a cigarette held between two fingers.

"Hello Beetlejuice…My name is Juno. I think we need to talk"

"Heh, absolutely fucking not… you can take your wrinkly old ass and shove it". Beetlejuice's tongue slithered through his teeth as his words came out in a hiss. Juno just sighed and stepped backwards.

"I had hoped that you would be more willing to accept help. Go get him" As Juno turned, the police charged into his apartment with glowing shackles and chains. They tackled and fought with Beetlejuice, wrestling him to the ground.

As they tousled the ground shook and split open, green fire ignited in the remains of the t.v. and couch and somewhere something screeched. He kicked, let loose inhuman noises from the depths of his soul and tried to let his powers run uncontrolled until they got him in shackles. They even had a plate for his mouth so he couldn't summon something ungodly. The Neitherworld police stood him up and carried him out the door into a specialized truck. As they got in and lifted him in, he saw them. His friends. Ginger had tears running down her face, Jaques was holding his hands in front of his chest. Even the Monster from across the street was standing there, hat held in his hands, his ugly dog laying there whining. He glared at them all. At first, he felt sorry, but then that turned into pure hatred. He hated them. They had told him, ACTED like they were his friends and not only his friends! Lydia's too! Even doomie was behind them all, beeping sadly like he was actually remorseful. They weren't. None of them helped him find Lydia, nobody was there for him when he needed them! Lydia would've stayed the storm and calmed him no matter how life threatening it was. That's just who she was. But not them, they ran and hid in their cowardice. His eyes glowed once more before the doors shut and the truck sped off and disappeared.

"I…is Monsieur Beetlejuice going to be okay?" Jaques finally questioned as he took the smallest of steps towards Juno who, in return, just sighed and turned towards the crowd.

"Unfortunately if he can't control himself then he will be held on our side of the neitherworld. This side is for the ghouls who had no real evil in their souls. It seems the human was the only one keeping that at bay. He's been here for more than 600 years…you only got to know his rehabilitated side. Now that i'm his caseworker I get to assess if Beetlejuice is a risk to you and others." The smoke clouded Juno's face for a minute before dispersing into the air.

"But with the damage he's done here, he won't be able to come back here for a good twenty years at best.

Everyone looked at each other before casting their gazes to the razed roadhouse. Juno let out one final puff of smoke.

"I'm a very busy woman, so any questions you have will have to be filled out in paperwork. Oh and if you see that human, don't tell her anything. She'll want to get involved and we DON'T trust the living!" The smoke started to pour out of her neck until it enveloped her form and she was gone.

"What's going to happen to us?" Ginger cried looking at the roadhouse.

Jaques shrugged "ze' better question iz…" he sighed. The monster picked up Jaques dropped though and replied

"What in tarnation happened to Lydia?" Doomie and the dog made sad noises simultaneously.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Lydia's eyes parted and then closed as the fluorescent lights bounced off the sterile white walls of the hospital, making the room seem brighter than it really was. Her sight came, blurry at first, but then the smell of chemicals, plastic and something familiar triggered her smell. Then her throat contracted as she tried to swallow. She started to choke, something had been inserted in there and was taking up her whole airway. Charles jumped up from somewhere beside her and ran out of the room.

Her sound came flooding back next. The beeping of monitors and the talking of nurses and patients filled her ears. Then Delia's uncontrollable sobbing deafened almost everything else. Charles came running back in with a doctor and a trail of nurses behind him. They surrounded Lydia in her bed and started talking and trying to calm her growing fear.

"It's all right Ms Deetz! It's just a breathing tube! We're going to turn off the machine and remove the tube now. But your throat is going to be very sore and you might not have much of a voice." The doctor smiled down as she gagged and choked on the tube the nurse was the one to grab and pull the tube out.

Lydia felt like she was going to vomit. She coughed and spluttered as the tube was wrenched from her throat. The excess of nurses left on doctors orders and only the head nurse was left with him. She looked at everyone around her with tear filled eyes. Her chest was on fire, her throat felt worse, and she could barely remember anything.

"Ms Deetz, can you tell me what color my pen is?" The man held up a green pen and held it just far enough from Lydias face that she could focus on it.

"...G…green?" She barely managed to croak out. Delia whimpered in excitement and Charles held back a sob with a large sniff. The doctor nodded, pulled her parents and the nurse to the front of the door before telling all of them they would be back in a couple minutes for some more tests.

Delia ran back over to Lydia's limp form, connected to tubes, wires and seemingly everything else.

"Oh my angel! We thought we lost you!" She sobbed as she grabbed her hand. Lydia winced as she tried to sit up, but her body gave out. Charles put his hand gently on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't move hun…do you remember what happened? Do you remember anything?" Charles sat down and scooted his chair closer.

Lydia blinked, the pooling tears in her eyes finally falling down her cheeks.

"I….i remember…m-m-my….birthday" She whispered. Delia and Charles nodded. "B-but…who a-a-are….you?" She asked, looking at both of them.

Delia and Charles dropped their shoulders, tears cascading down their faces. They shared a look before Delia blubbered out a small

"...What?..."