What's Not to Love - a Beetlelands Soulmate AU

Strange and Unusual

Lydia looked from Adam to Barbara to Betelgeuse then she turned her attention back over towards Adam, a curious look flashing across her face. The four of them stood there quietly for what seemed like two hours to the deceased. Then the elongated silence between the four of them was broken when Lydia spoke.

"Excuse me... are you ghosts?"

They didn't have time to answer, though. Lydia whipped out her camera and photographed them. She looked down at her camera, examining the photograph that she'd taken carefully and frowning when it didn't show the Maitlands or Betelgeuse. Looking up again, she'd taken notice that Adam, Barbara, and Betelgeuse had since disappeared. And, at the same exact time, she heard a loud crash sounding from above her.

Without a second thought, she glanced briefly down towards the differently colored green marks on her arms which had since stopped glowing - the same colors as the clothes Adam and Barbara were wearing - then looked straight ahead again as she made a beeline for the attic.

"Wait!" she called out, frantic.

Upstairs, in the attic, Adam, Barbara, and Betelgeuse landed in a heap in the middle of the floor, a near good attempt at teleportation from Barbara. Betelgeuse, who was on the top of the pile, was the first of the three to stand up. Adam and Barbara both following suit not too long afterwards.

"Are you two okay?" Betelgeuse asked, looking from Adam to Barbara and back again.

"Yeah, we're fine," Adam affirmed, though he and Barbara were both unable to get Lydia out of their minds. There was a certain something about the living teenager that brightened up both of the ghosts. "But we can't stop thinking about that young girl. And the fact that she has a couple of soul marks that seem to match us. And here I thought that soul marks were rare and only appeared on couples that died together. Is there a reason why she has a couple of soul marks on her arms despite the facts that she's still technically alive?"

"None that I can think of, Sexy," Betelgeuse said. "But we can take another look through the Handbook later and see if it says anything about that."

Adam nodded, then he and Barbara turned and backed up when the familiarity of Lydia's voice sounded behind them. And the black soul marks on Adam and Barbara's arms started to glow again.

"Greetings ghosts, my name is Lydia Deetz. Do not be afraid."

"Well, my name's Barbara and this is Adam and Betelgeuse," Barbara replied warmly. "It's nice to meet you, Lydia."

Adam stepped forwards, confusion setting in. "Wait, can you see us? He," Adam gestured a hand over towards Betelgeuse, "told both of us that the living usually ignored the strange and unusual."

"But not you. You seemed like you could've been a normal girl to me," Barbara added on, a small smile of warmth appearing on her face.

"I, myself, am strange and unusual," Lydia responded, now leaning against the doorframe and looking solely at the Maitlands. She briefly looked down at the soul mark on her right arm that corresponded to Barbara, then held that same arm out towards the Maitlands and Betelgeuse. "Could any of you tell me what these are supposed to be? They appeared on my arms just as soon as I noticed you."

"Those." Betelgeuse, who'd been looking at the page on soul marks in the Handbook for the Recently Deceased again, held the said book out towards Lydia. "Are what're known as soul marks. They are technically only supposed to appear on the arms of a recently deceased couple. But reading about them further, it says here that they can also appear on those who're supposed to be in the afterlife of a recently deceased couple with soul marks. Be it meaning that they're supposed to be family of sorts or in a relationship."

All Lydia did was nod, but she still didn't understand this whole thing.

Deciding to change the subject, Barbara's attention refocused on Lydia. "What about your parents? Your family? They here too?"

"We're not a family." Lydia briefly glanced down at the attic floor then back up towards the Maitlands and Betelgeuse. We're just a father, a daughter, and... Delia..."

"Your mother?" Barbara spoke up again. "She-"

"She died," Lydia said glumly.

Barbara couldn't help herself but feel sorry for Lydia. She knew how much it hurt having to go through something like that. "Oh... honey, I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Me too." A sad, small smile crept across Lydia's face as her attention focused solely onto Barbara. "She would love all of this if she was still alive... I mean... real ghosts? A haunted house?"

Before any of them could say anything else, the sound of Lydia's dad calling up to her was heard from downstairs and Lydia turned to exit the attic and head back downstairs for the time being. "I gotta go. You guys don't mind if I come back up to the attic again sometime later, do you? I'd love to get to know you all more."

Barbara was the one who provided an answer. "Of course not. You can come up to the attic whenever you'd like, Lydia. We'd love to get to know you a little more too."

Lydia nodded, smiling, then left the attic. Leaving the Maitlands to think more about her. So much so that Betelgeuse tried his best to grab their attention when he wanted to tell them a little more regarding the subject of soul marks - seeming a little unhappy that the two ghosts were more focused on talking and thinking about Lydia. When they didn't seem to listen, he teleported out to the roof for a bit.

Hopefully the Maitlands wouldn't mind at all if he spent some time to himself.