"Cool," Iggy leaned over to look at it. "So do you think we'll have any chance of actually beating her? She sounds pretty fucked up."

"Beat who?" Nina spoke up for the first time. "That demon woman you were talking about? No way, Ig, you can't. You'll all get killed!" Her inner mom was showing.

"We have to do something! We can't let him remain the way he is now, he's miserable!" Lydia exclaimed. "Beej has always stood up and protected me, now it's my turn."

Beetlejuice came floating out of the fort, coming to check out what all the commotion was about. His hair was still sad and purple, and he still had that defeated look to him.

"What happens if Iggy and Ash don't come back?" Nina insisted. "We have the right to worry about our family, too."

"Nina, we can't just let this demon get away with this," Iggy said, "What happens when messing with BJ isn't enough? What if she comes for Lydia? Or Ash? Or, hell, any of us?"

"Iggy's right, Nina. If that demon comes after us, we're all dead. We need to stop her before that happens." Malcom added.

"I'm in for kicking demon bitch ass." Max grinned, putting her hand in the middle of the group. Toph smirked before holding her hand out as well. "Count me in."

"Anything to help my darling." Ash said, adding their hand in as Lydia did the same.

Beetlejuice couldn't help but smile. He'd never had friends that were willing to risk their hides for him, aside from Lydia. It made him feel warm and fuzzy. His face fell, however, when his mouth unzipped.

"You're all a bunch of damn fools," he croaked, while trying desperately to cover his mouth with his hands. "Come and try me. My precious worms could use a snack."

When his mouth rezipped, Beetlejuice looked at the group with a yet another distraught expression.

Lydia stood up, glaring at Beetlejuice though it was meant for his mother. "You fucked with the wrong kid, bitch." She growled.

___

Lydia practiced harnessing her powers with Iggy and the others, staying away from Beej so his mother wouldn't know at all. She even got the tattoo she wanted, calling Riff Raff a champion since it did hurt. "I think I'm ready." She said at lunch one day.

Beetlejuice had slowly grown progressively more mopey by the day. Even spending time with Lydia or Ash couldn't pull him out of his sulking. He couldn't use his powers, he couldn't talk or make jokes, he was constantly clean, he wasn't him anymore. And even worse, as each day passed, he became more and more anxious over Lydia and the others facing his mom. They couldn't possibly win. It was impossible. But no matter how many times he tried to tell Lydia to call it off, she wouldn't listen.

All he could think about recently was their time spent on the human battlefields. How he'd begged, cursed, pleaded that Lydia, still small and fragile, didn't get sent out into a literal warzone. A lot of good it did. And now, she was going off to war with one of the most powerful demons that the Netherworld had to offer, on his behalf, without him.

His stomach dropped when he heard Lydia utter the words he'd been dreading. Beetlejuice shook his head violently. He got down on his knees in front of Lydia, signing rabidly.

"You can't, Lyds! I can't lose you!"

"You won't lose me, Beej. I've been practicing my powers with Iggy and I can fight now. You've defended me, now I have to defend you. I'm not a little girl anymore." She signed back. She was right, she was thirteen now and had thankfully gained some proper muscle and weight for a child her age. The fighting lessons he taught her had helped when she sparred with Riff Raff and Toph. She was stronger than before.

"Trust me. Please."

His shoulders drooped. He hugged her around the middle, tears staining her shirt. He didn't want her to go, but he understood why she was.

"I'll get the keys!" Riff Raff hollered from across the station.

"No way! Your license is suspended."

"Well, you don't even have a license!"

"Nina, can you please take the keys from Ricky!"

Iggy and Riff Raff bickered back and forth while getting ready for their road trip. Luckily, the gang had an old, beat up astrovan that could fit them all.

Lydia blinked before hugging him back, running a hand through his hair. "We're not letting her get away with this, Beej. Not without a fight." She whispered, looking over at the others. It was now or never, no going back now.

"Let's go." She said, a determined expression on her face.

Beetlejuice followed after the others with a certain lack of enthusiasm. He piled into the trunk with Ash, letting the living humans have the seats with actual seatbelts.

The whole ride back to Hawkins had his stomach twisting. He felt sick when, several hours later, that familiar building loomed over them. It was deserted. He guessed their fight in the basement had forced them to drop their project.

As he got out of the van, BJ kicked the gravel and followed the others in silence.

Lydia hesitated once she got out of the van, memories flooding back she didn't want. The missions, being placed into solitary, starved nearly to death. She shook her head to clear it before gently grabbing Beetlejuice's hand. "We're all doing this together." She said with a little nod before leading the way.

It was eery to be back in the building now abandoned, dust and cobwebs surrounding a few places. "Okay, I'm blind yet I can just feel the creep factor in here. I swear if Malcolm dies first, I'm getting the fuck out." Toph said.

"Oh, cause I'm the black guy, I die first. You know, sometimes it's the funny one first." Malcolm argued.

"Hey, don't pin the target on me!" Max exclaimed.

Beetlejuice drug behind the others as they fumbled their way down to the basement. The equipment to make the portal was still there. He could make one himself easy, usually. But with his powers turned off, he was useless. It would be on Ash to open a portal strong enough to get them all through. Hopefully, the machine would keep it open long enough to get them out, too.

While the others fussed with the machine and trying to get it going, BJ sat in the ruined basement. There were still massive cracks in the foundation from the fight, and a black stain on the concrete.

"Everything alright, darling?" Ash asked, gently placing a hand on his shoulder as they looked around the damaged room. "This is where you..." They trailed off, knowing it was a touchy subject. They sighed softly, gently hugging to comfort him.

"Got it running!" Max exclaimed proudly as she ran over to the others. "We just need to get this portal open."

Ash nodded in reply before looking at where the portal had been only weeks ago. Their eyes glowed with their inner flame before unleashing a strong blaze that turned green upon opening the portal. "Everyone through now!" They exclaimed.

Beetlejuice looked up at Ash, and nodded softly to their question. He stood when the portal was opened. Beetlejuice felt dread creeping up on him. She would know they were coming. Would she be waiting for them?

He was starting to shake as the others went through. Finally, he followed behind them.

The Netherworld looked the same as the day he left. It's nauseating colors and meandering design were all too familiar. BJ stuck close to Lydia as they walked up a floating pathway of stone, what looked like an infinite drop on either side of them.

"Huh. So this is what we have to look forward to when we die?" Iggy looked up at Ash. "Cool."

What happened next was decisively not cool. They suddenly disappeared and reappeared in a small, crowded waiting room. A woman sat at a secretary desk behind a window in front of them. Her skin was green, and she wore a sash that read "Miss Argentina." The woman raised her eyes boredly, then sat straight up.

"Lawrence?!"

Beetlejuice gave her a meek wave.

"What happened to you? What are you doing here? Ash?! Why are- are those living people?!" Tina looked between all of them for answers.

"Shh! Quiet dearie or you'll have everyone after them!" Ash hissed, looking around to make sure none of the newly deads overheard her exclamation. They let out a sigh before giving her the brief version of why they were there. "He's miserable, dear. We have to stop her."

Lydia couldn't help but glance at a few of the dead waiting around them. A man who was literally frozen stiff, someone with an arrow through their head, even someone who appeared to have been torn apart by some wild animal. A small part of her wondered if her mother was possibly here.

Tina looked between Ash, Beetlejuice, and the two breathers. "Well, I would help you, hun, but other than giving you a ticket number, I don't know how. I didn't bring you here."

Just then, an intercom on the desk crackled to life. "Send 'em to me," A familiar raspy voice said. Tina gulped. She looked regretfully at the group and pushed a button on her desk, swinging the door beside her open.

"Lawrence, you know where her office is," Tina said, giving him a sympathetic look. "Good luck, all of you!"

Beetlejuice nodded. He slowly shuffled to the front of the group and drug his feet through the familiar, bland halls, over the same, stained office carpet that had been there for as long as he could remember. His head was down, and he looked more defeated than ever when he finally reached a door with the namecard "Shoggoth" on the outside. He raised his hand to knock, but the door creaked open before he could.

"Come in, Lawrence. And bring those mongrels with you."

BJ pushed his way inside. The office was crampt, smelled heavily of cigarette smoke and booze, and housed a large desk. Behind said desk was none other than his mother, sat in an office chair, elbows leaned on the table top, a cigarette in one hand.

"Look at you: halfway presentable for once in your damn life," She flicked some ashes into the tray beside her. "Sit." Four chairs rolled up behind them, forcing them all to flop back into them. "Now. Care to tell me why you all thought it would be a good idea to start shit on my turf?"

"You're obviously too busy to come back to our turf, you fucking bitch." Lydia replied, full of anger, piss, and vinegar as she glared at the red clad woman before her. So, she was the one responsible for making her best friend an emotional reck and made his life miserable. How she wanted to snap her neck.

"Release the curse you put on him. Now. Or you'll fucking regret it." She growled, keeping her powers at bay. It wasn't time to put them into affect. Not yet.

The woman looked down her pointed nose at Lydia. "Cute," She said dismissively.

Iggy leaned in towards Ash. "His mom is a bureaucrat? Yeesh, no wonder he's so afraid of her," She muttered quietly.

"I didn't curse him. Look at him, he's cleaned up his act for once. Except for that purple hair. Lawrence, how many times do I have to tell you how much I hate it when you wear your hair purple. You look ridiculous."

Beetlejuice shrunk in his chair a little, eyes honed in on the ground.

"Now. Ashley, Lawrence. Need I remind you of the consequences of bringing breathers into the Netherworld?"

Beetlejuice's head shot up. His protests were muffles by the zipper on his mouth, but he shook his head frantically.

"Once a human enters the Netherworld, they don't leave. No matter what." His mother eyed the two humans coldly. "I hope you two like paperwork, because as far as I'm concerned, you can be filed under 'suicide'."

"Shove it up your ass and don't fucking lie to me. You've loathed him for centuries, abused, mocked, ridiculed, belittled him and for what? To make yourself feel better? Guess what, bitch, he doesn't need you. You're nothing but a pathetic fucking excuse for a mother." Lydia growled, her eyes flicked with gold as her anger bubbled inside her.

"Mrs. Shoggoth, please, there's really no need for-" Ash tried to argue.