MOVIE BASED. That's because I can watch the movie as many times as I like to refresh the characters in my mind, whereas I can't with the cartoon.

Disclaimer: I promise that I own none of the characters that you like, and I will return them unharmed when I'm done with them. They'll be a little scuffed but that'll buff right out.

Note:This is for Llewlyn's Discombobulation Challenge.

I'm gonna repost the rules, just in case someone has done themselves the disservice of NOT reading her amazing Beetlejuice stories k?

Written for the Discombobulation Challenge devised by WitchyWanda and Llewlyn

1. Can be written in cartoon or movie Beetleverse

2. Must inconvenience BJ in some extreme way-- body switch him, strip him of his powers, send him to the Living, put him in a magic lamp-- be creative!

3. Any genre, any rating-- do something you are great at, or something you have never done before!.

Also. I'm undecided about how Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice should be spelled. So, though it's a horrid thing to do to you, until I decide I'll probably just flip-flop back and forth between the two spellings depending on my mood.

Monday, which is the 21st of August, my pen-name's gonna change...so thought I'd warn you all.

This is my first Beetlejuice fic, which should be obvious. But it's not my first fic, so you're welcome to go stalk me. Pleanty of people do. So hey to all the people who did stalk me and if you're going to review yelling at me for not updating I am sorry but most of you should be used to it by now. I really wanted to wait and build up a few chapters of this before I started posting but I was excited. It's a new fandom for me!

And I respond always to every review in the next chapter, so if you wonder about something or see a mistake feel free to tell me about it.

(Arg. What is up with Fanfiction? The line feature is STILL not working! So here is my vague attempt at a line.)

Bound.

Just the sound sent an excited thrill up her spine. She'd thought it was good enough when he was tied to his name and no one could raise him without saying it. Three times no less! Still people had managed to raise him and chaos had ensued, causing much worrying on her part as well as piles of paperwork.

And it wasn't like she could trust anyone else around here with the forms that needed filling out. So she inevitably got stuck cleaning up all his messes, every time. No matter that she warned these people. She told them, he's no good, he doesn't work well with others, and still they know better and go and let him free.

But now...

She nearly giggled.

He was Bound!

She didn't even care to find out what he was bound to, it didn't matter because it was being left in the hands of the Deetzes and the Maitlands. There were two families who knew all too well what that monster was capable of. They would see to it he was well protected.

When she had first heard the news from Mable—in accounting—she had run to her office, scattering papers everywhere and knocking over a couple from New Jersey who had just come in after a Gas Leak in their home.

She ripped out her manual and flipped to the section on Binding, making sure it still meant what she thought.

Leave it to Be—Him—to get them to change the meaning before he was bound.

No. It was the same as it had been for centuries. His power, and everything that he was would be locked into something small, usually a trinket or a bauble. He could not be released except under special circumstances—a certain incantation usually—and there he would languish--

here was the best part

for the remainder of his sentence! And Betelg—He—had been given an Eternal Sentence. There was supposedly some stipulation, there always was. That wasn't nearly as frightening as it could be there were stipulations and loopholes in every law, hence how He had gotten so powerful, so wild, but in that prison of his he couldn't access the papers, the exact specifications of his Binding and so there. That was the end. The Great and Mighty Betelgeuse was trapped forever in some knick-knack! She did cackle at that.

She could say his name until she was blue in the face—she fingered the gash in her neck and deemed that a bad turn of phrase—but he wouldn't be free. She was still happy about that, he was trapped forever in some pretty bauble.

And even if he got out he had to obey whatever mortal held the watch and she knew, knew that as bad as mortals could be, Betelgeuse was a thousand times worse. She was able to relax for the first time in over six hundred years.

(The line's still not working, this is really, really very annoying.)

It was actually sort of nondescript which was odd. She would have thought it should be dark, or menacing, or at least have a skull on it. It was none of those things. It was old, and heavy. The face was a little yellowed and the metal was tarnished to a dark color. There were four links at the end of the chain that looked newer, as though it had been lengthened some time ago.

It looked like something a Grandfather would have.

She shook it once, wondering if there was any outward sign of what power it held. Inside there was an erratic chime but that was all. She shook it with more force and all that happened was the chimes sounded louder.

It didn't tick.

When she attached the chain to the loop on her skirt, and tucked it into her pocket it was not on a whim. She was afraid that the people at her school would be too different and she would be an outsider, they would tease and taunt and god knows what they would do to her.

She had seen Deliverance. Sure the Maitlands were nice but these country people were insane, surely.

She kept the watch with her through that first week because it was a comfort. To know that she could release this monster into the world, and he would have to protect her, and he could save her from these awful people and whatever they did to her.

The people at school were nice though. Sure there were those who whispered and teased, but for the majority they were nice.

They made her smile and laugh and Grace even brought cookies she tried to cut into bat shapes. She wasn't very good though and they looked more potato shaped, but they tasted wonderfully and made her smile.

The power was unnecessary.

She tucked the watch into her jewelry box—a remnant of her mother—and it sat there gathering dust until she was going to college.

She took it with her because she didn't trust Delia with it, her father didn't need the stress...and she wanted to.

At this time in her life she had realized that there were scarier things out there than the ghosts she knew. Time and life had faded the memory of that night. She assured herself the snake wasn't so scary and that he had saved the Maitlands. He had done what she asked and it was her who had promised away something she didn't really want to give. She could have thought it out more but at the time she had been too scared, too worried, and too young most of all.

Her memory told her she just had to be clever with him and watch what she promised. And with him Bound to the watch there wasn't the previous worry.

Before he could stop you from saying his name, and that was horrifying because how did you get rid of him? Now though, the only way he could be released was to wind the watch. He would be released for as long as the watch ticked and if you wound it the whole way he was only free for 12 hours.

Or really, that was what they had told her when they dropped The Watch into the care of her and her family.

If she ever called on him there was certainly not going to be a need to wind the watch the whole way. He'd be free for only a few hours and that was nothing at all, especially since he could only use his power for what she wished.

She'd at least learned that from her reading. Wishes never ever worked out the way you wanted them too and it was better not to wish at all. The Monkey's Paw certainly came to mind.

It was just comforting to have the weight at her side. She had plans to go to Columbia, but there was a local college a few counties over that a lot of her friends were going to, and it really did have a wonderful lit program, a huge photography department...they even had a special library if you were a lit major that had first edition books. Shermer College wasn't anything she was settling for, it really was a surprise how much she liked it and it was close enough to home that she could visit whenever she liked. Sure Delia and her father could visit her on occasion, but if she wanted to see Barbra or Adam she had to go there.

They couldn't even use the phone or the Internet. If they tried the phone only produced static and strange—disconcerting—whispers. The Internet just provided a jumble of letters, numbers and symbols.

She and Grace pooled their money to buy a car and then when Grace had her accident, she lost the use of her right leg and driving was a little much for her. She didn't stop helping Lydia pay for the car though, she said it was only fair since Lydia now had to play chauffeur to her all the time.

The accident.

They hadn't even moved in yet, or become official students at Shermer. The two girls were walking down the streets in the town around the campus laughing and talking and pointing at the various sites.

There was construction going on but with the revitalization of the campus the town was coming to life as well.

Lydia and Grace paused at the window of a second-hand shop and peered inside. In the window was a shimmering pocket-watch, similar to the one that contained Betelgeuse. Grace had smiled at it and asked about Lydia's watch.

"I don't like to wear it." Was all Lydia had responded with, in truth it was locked away in her chest back at home and she hadn't thought of it in years.

"You should, it's kitsch!" Grace had laughed and then there was shouting. A rope above them had snapped and the load it carried started to fall. They were re-tarring the roof and it was suddenly raining rocks all around and bags and Grace pushed Lydia into the nearst shop door, but she didn't get in fast enough and received a heavy crack to her head.

She had crumpled like a rag doll.

That was almost two years ago now...

Grace had to accept her High School diploma in a wheelchair.

The next day Lydia had started wearing The Watch again, keeping it near her. Accidents happened so quickly and the repercussions lasted for years, lifetimes even. She had the power to help, and even if it doomed her she would rather see one person live who may not have before.

She felt a bit awful about taking money for a car Grace couldn't use but even if she didn't take the money Grace found a way to pay for the car, so after a few months Lydia just accepted the check with a small smile.

She did however refuse to let Grace cook and took that upon herself, which horrified Grace.

Grace may have been unable to make her cookies look like bats but she could cook all the same, Lydia was a different story. Still, the girl tried hard and Grace really didn't mind ordering out so much. Besides, Lydia was getting better, last night's meal had been palatable. The sauce was burnt and the noodles were too hard, but some people preferred noodles done that way. Lydia was improving and Grace really didn't mind.

Of course Freshmen dorms didn't normally have kitchens or any of the niceties that the two girls enjoyed. However the school was near to closing a few years ago and only the dorms normally reserved for older students were the only ones equipped with handicapped facilities

So Grace and her dear friend Lydia got to live in the utopia of dorm rooms—or that was what the two girls called it. Of course as nice as Grace was it just made Lydia feel worse that she couldn't tell her roommate why she went home every chance she got, or who it was that always sent the lovely letters and who it was making the model town Lydia received photos of so often.

Lydia was used to the lies, knew each one by heart even, but she grew tired of it sometimes. Sometimes she just wanted to burst and tell everyone about everything.

The feelings of guilt would eventually pass, and she would go about her days, trying to cook, and laughing with Grace.

And the watch remained silent at her hip during the day, and at night it sat on her bedside table, glinting as the occasional moonbeam struck the surface.

(If there were other sites that worked half as well as fanfiction I really would just leave but come on this place is the best, even if the lines don't work.)

So, there's the first chapter. Classes start Monday so I won't be as nice as everyone else in this section about updates but I do have a Livejournal that's going to start updating with minor comments fairly regularly, that's over in my profile and you can check there I'm going to try to keep a running tally of how complete all the chapters I'm working on are.

Oh yeah you all don't know me and my horrid habit...I have this nasty habit of having at least three stories going at once. Short attention span. Sorry. But yeah. I love you all if you've gotten this far and I hope I can do Llewlyn proud in trying my hand at her challenge. Those are some mighty big shoes to fill.