[IC] Stranger Beetles

[Metronome]

When the Beetleclone informed them that the portal had been found and teleported them there, neither boy expected what they'd witness. Nate was stuck to the spot in horror as what looked like two massive, hideous monsters from his DnD manual duked it out right in front of them. He finally got his senses back when he saw Lydia, and helped Zach get her up.

They dragged her to the basement stairs, the furthest they could get from the monsters without dragging Lydia up the steps. "Lydia, what's going on?!" Nate cried over the sound of the monsters tearing each other apart. "Where's Beetlejuice?! Have him come help us!"

[Beetlejuice96]

"B...Beej is...one of them..." Lydia croaked, purple bruises starting to appear on her throat. She let out a few coughs before looking up at them. "He's finally standing up to his mom."

"What?! One of those things is his mom?!" Zach exclaimed, eyes bulging in shock.

Lydia nodded weakly in reply as the Maitlands appeared with their clone. They couldn't see the battle; she couldn't let them see the horror Beetlejuice had become. "You...You need to get them out of here. I can't leave him; he'll die if I leave."

[Metronome]

"I thought he was already dead," Nate said, confused. Also, the idea that the hilarious and rascally demon he'd met earlier was now one of those things was terrifying. Nate jumped when the Maitlands appeared. Adam covered his ears as a blood curdling shriek shook the building.

"What on earth is going on?!" He hollered over the noise.

"Don't ask," Nate said, showing them the door at the top of the stairs. "You guys go, we're gonna' stay with Lydia."

"Absolutely not!" Barbara stepped up. "We aren't leaving you with...whatever that is." She was referring to the awful sounding monsters.

Their arguing came to a stop when it suddenly grew quiet. Beetlejuice had managed to push his demon mom back through the portal, after putting up the fight of his life, and sealed the damn thing. The black abomination collapsed into a pile on the floor, then slowly shifted back into the familiar, striped demon. Only Beetlejuice was now soaked in black demon blood. He was missing chunks out of his body, was bitten and clawed all to hell, and his suit was torn to shreds.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Beej!" Lydia's croaked cry rang out as she stumbled back to where she had left him. She slipped on a puddle of the black blood, crying out as her knees and palms of her hands hit the torn floor. She soon made it to his side, carefully lifting his head into her lap. "No, no, no, no. Come on, Beej, look at me. Look at me, please. Open your eyes, keep them open. I'm here...I'm right here..." She choked back tears.

"We promised each other we wouldn't leave...we promised..." She whispered, a few tears streaming down her cheeks and landing on his.

[Metronome]

Beetlejuice groaned softly as he felt a tear hit his face. His yellow eyes cracked open, looking up at Lydia. He forced a smile, despite the pain he was in. "Had 'er on the rope the whole time," He mumbled weakly.

"Oh my god!" Adam came running. While he wasn't particularly fond of the demon who had harassed and made lewd comments about him every chance he got, Adam didn't want Beetlejuice to die, either. Barbara was right behind him.

"He have to get him back to the car," She said.

[Beetlejuice96]

"I don't think so." A voice said from the darkness, causing Lydia to tense protectively over Beetlejuice. The figure stepped out, smoke curling slowly out of their mouth from the cigarette they were smoking, pale eyes looking at Beetlejuice. "Nice to meet you again, Lawrence, darling." Ash smirked.

[Metronome]

"Hmm?" Beetlejuice grunted weakly. He could just barely lift his head, his face beat up, one eye so swollen that he could barely see out of it. "Ash?" Was he hallucinating? His head dropped back into Lydia's lap, and he moaned pitifully. He was in no shape to defend them. He could barely move.

[Beetlejuice96]

Ash chuckled darkly, walking over to them, flicking their hand dismissively towards the Maitlands and the boys, sending them flying harmlessly away. Lydia couldn't move, not without hurting Beej. She watched as Ash finally stopped before them, grinning before snapping their fingers, the trio quickly disappearing.

Lydia gasped softly as they were surrounded by trees in the middle of nowhere, trembling softly as the cold air bit her. "B...Beej...come on...we have to go home...you can do it." She coaxed.

[Metronome]

But he couldn't. Beetlejuice felt the sensation of being teleported, but after that, nothing. The pain and the stress of Lydia's voice slipped away. His body went limp. It was impossible to tell if he was still "alive", if one could call what he was before "alive". He didn't breath, he didn't have a pulse, but he also didn't de-materialize like some sort of video game character, either. Did that mean he was just unconscious? Only time would tell.

[Beetlejuice96]

"No, Beej, come on, wake up." Lydia begged, gently shaking him. She couldn't lose him, not like this. She meant what she said about him being her family and she didn't want to face losing him. "Come on, buddy. I got you." Lydia said before trying to place his arm over her shoulders and carry him away. It wasn't easy with the height difference and him being literal deadweight.

[Metronome]

Charles had called off his search team. They weren't going to find that maniac in the dark like this. He was heading through the woods, back towards his car, when he heard what sounded like a girl talking. He paused, then headed towards the voice. He came over the top of a soft hill, and looked down into the forest below him to see two shapes silhouetted in the dusk.

His flashlight clicked on, and he shined it on the girl. It was the Maitlands' foster kid, the one was somehow really familiar and made him uncomfortable. What was her name? Darla? Debra? "Delia?" Charles called to her. "What're you-Oh my god!" His light drifted to the body that the girl was seemingly trying to drag.

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia froze upon light shining on her, probably making it look like she was attempting to get rid of a dead body. Hearing the voice, she realized who it was that spotted her. "Shit." She muttered before looking over at him. How on earth was she going to explain this to him?

"Help me!" She finally said, unsure if he would. "My friend's wounded and needs a safe haven."

[Metronome]

Charles approached the girl cautiously. He shined his light on Delia's "friend", which was very clearly a dead body, and not a fresh one, either. It looked like it had been scavenged by bears. Charles felt his stomach turn. Was this girl having some sort of break down?

"Let me take you back home," he said. "I need to call some people to pick your...friend up."

Of course this would have to be investigated.

[Beetlejuice96]

"No, he comes with me. I'm not leaving him, not after what we just went through. He's kept me safe for years, now it's my turn to protect him." Lydia said, looking at him with a fierce expression. She knew she probably looked insane; feet and hands covered with demon blood with more of it staining her clothes from trying to carry him.

[Metronome]

She did, in fact, look insane. "Delia..." Charles spoke softly, "He's gone, hun, okay? The best thing we can do for your friend is to put him to rest. Let me call my people to come get the body, and I can take you home and we can talk about this."

[Beetlejuice96]

"No! He's not gone! He's not dead! He promised he wouldn't leave me! He promised!" Lydia screamed as angry, hot tears fell. He was wrong; Beetlejuice couldn't be dead since he was never alive to begin with. He couldn't double die, could he?

"Wake up, Beej, please just wake up!" She begged, clinging to his limp form. "Please...don't leave me alone..."

[Metronome]

Charles cringed as the girl held the corpse. Thirty years of police work hadn't prepared him for this. "Delia, come on," He took the girl's hand and tried to pull her away.

Just as he'd towed the girl away from the body, it's eyes fluttered open. Glowing yellow pierced the dark, and a low growl rumbling from it's torn throat. Charles just about had a heart attack.

"Don't...touch...my....kid," The man croaked, each word a major effort to get out. Charles couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was this man coming back from the dead? But those eyes...he couldn't be human.

"Delia, run!" That was all he could think: to get the kid to safety while undead monster came back to life. He'd seen enough Walking Dead to know where this was going!

[Beetlejuice96]

"Beej!" Lydia exclaimed, wiggling her hand away from Charles and heading back to the now undead corpse to help him up. "I knew you weren't dead." She smiled before seeing the gun raised towards Beetlejuice. Her heart sank a little at the sight. He was still weak and would probably take a while to heal if he got shot.

"Don't!" She yelled, standing between the two men as her eyes seemed to glow as well. "Don't you fucking hurt him. He just barely won against his own bitch of a mother, closed a portal to the Netherworld that would have let demons run amok in the living world if he didn't, and I will not hesitate to kick your ass if you so much as think about shooting him!"

[Metronome]

This kid was delusional. Then again, they were also in the woods with a living dead man. So who was he to judge?

Beetlejuice was too weak to stand, but he wrapped his arms around Lydia and pulled her down before she also got shot. "Lyds...stop."

Charles lowered his weapon. This...thing, whatever it was, clearly didn't intend on harming the girl. Did it need medical attention? Could he take it to the hospital?

God, he didn't get paid enough for this.

"My truck isn't far from here," he stepped closer, and hauled the demon up into a fireman carry. Those workouts were paying off. "We can go to my place, and we can talk about this."

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia looked back at Beetlejuice as he spoke, sighing softly before giving him a little nod. Her gaze turned back to Charles as he moved closer, tensing up for a fight before realizing he was actually helping them. She stared at him before slowly nodding in reply. "No hospital. You tell no one about this, understood?" She said before heading with him to his truck.