What's Not to Love - a Beetlelands Soulmate AU

Seeing Things in Black and White

The moment a mysterious male figure, the one that the Maitlands had guessed was the one who made that noise they'd heard, popped up from behind the couch, it made the Maitlands even more wary than they previously were. They backed up a bit more, obviously feeling a bit threatened by this guy. Whoever he was.

"Hi!" was the first thing Betelgeuse said.

"W-who are you?" Adam sputtered out warily, holding Barbara close to him for comfort.

Betelgeuse stopped, a deafening silence seeming to briefly fall over the living room, then he spoke up. "Adam...." he paused again. "I am your father."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

Betelgeuse quietly said "right, right... I'll get to the point," to himself before his attention focused back over towards the Maitlands. "You two are dead, just like me."

Adam and Barbara looked at one another, confusion washing over them, then they turned their attention over towards the hole in the living room floor before looking back over towards Betelgeuse. Adam warily stepped over towards the hole, peering down into it and catching sight of his and Barbara's bodies just laying there. He reeled backwards in fright, Barbara holding onto him and and steadying him.

"So, we really are dead?" Barbara said, stating the obvious. To that, Betelgeuse nodded in response.

"Was it you that was causing all the problems that we had mentioned on our list?" Adam near-shouted at Betelgeuse who, in response to that, held up his right hand. At that, Adam stopped talking and fell silent.

"Adam, Adam, Adam...." Betelgeuse said, chastising him.

Adam repeated the same question he'd asked earlier, and all Betelgeuse seemed to do in response was pull out a card and hand it over to the male ghost who took it and looked down at it with a confused look on his face.

"It just says Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice."

"That's your name, isn't it?" Barbara asked.

"Bingo!"

Adam looked back up at Betelgeuse, eyebrows knit together in confusion when he noticed the oddly familiar colored marks on both of the latter's arms. He made a couple of pained gasping noises and Betelgeuse too glanced down at his arms before glancing over towards Adam's then at Barbara's and pointing a hand out towards the latter's black and white striped mark.

"Yeah, we don't exactly know what those marks are or why the black and white striped ones appeared on our arms..." Barbara said, also looking down at that particular mark.

She and Adam both moved closer to Betelgeuse. And it was then that they started to notice that the black and white striped marks on their arms were lit up. As were the marks that they guessed matched them on Betelgeuse's arms. Both ghosts made equal confused noises as their attention focused back up at Betelgeuse.

"What do those marks mean, anyways?"

In response, Betelgeuse snapped his fingers and a book appeared in a flash in thin air and fell flat into his hands. He opened it, flipping through it until he got to a particular section in said book. Adam and Barbara just stared at him in pure confusion, Betelgeuse mumbling nonsensically to himself.

"Uh... Betelgeuse?" Barbara spoke up out of confusion when it had gone on too long.

He stopped, his attention focusing on Adam and Barbara. "Those marks on your arms and on my arms? Those are soul marks. They are quite rare and only appear if couples or lovers die together."

"But that still doesn't explain why you have these marks..." Adam gestured his hand towards the marks obviously representing him and Barbara that were on their arms before pointing that same hand over towards the matching marks on Betelgeuse's arms. "On both of your arms..."

"It explains things perfectly. Means that you're meant to be together and I'm meant to be with both of you!" Betelgeuse exclaimed, a huge grin stretched across his face.

"I don't think that's how things work..." Adam muttered quietly to himself.

"Uh... excuse me? Mr Betelgeuse?" Barbara chose now to speak up in confusion. "This is all going so fast..."

Betelgeuse turned his attention back down towards the Handbook, reading through the rest of the page he was currently on. "Soul marks appear on a ghost's arms through a sort of light that appears to them. However, it is even rarer to have a third lover and a second soul mark to appear on your arm."

Adam and Barbara looked at one another in confusion before their attention refocused over towards Betelgeuse - who still seemed to be a little oblivious.

Adam knew that if he had to agree on one thing, it would be that Barbara was right. Things really were going by fast for them. Another moment of silence befell the living room before the male ghost spoke up again.

"Could you run all of that by us again?"