Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Fifty|| Why You Should Never Anger a Demon

Although everyone had a clear idea on how to make a new barrier, Betelgeuse was quick to push that down. But him explaining how unlikely that was to work still didn't seem to get the hopes of everyone else in the room up and they began talking over one another about how to go about it. And, as that was happening, not one of them seemed to notice Betelgeuse getting more and more annoyed as time went on.

Well, that was until a bright flash of light crossed the room from where Betelgeuse was now standing. It happened so suddenly, it caused everyone else to stop mid-argument.

Although stunned into silence, Betelgeuse was the first to speak up. "Uh, Betelgeuse? What was that?"

There seemed to be no answer from the demon, though. In confusion, the other ten turned at once to find him unlike himself. He looked more like what they assumed a demon looked like in terms of features. His teeth were fanged, he now had wings, and his hands were both now clawed. But what seemed unusual to the lot of them was the fact that, despite that, he still looked a little like himself. Only more demonic. Angered even.

Barbara, worried, both slowly and cautiously made her way over towards him and waved a hand in front of his face in an attempt to calm him down and return him back to his normal state. "Uh, Betelgeuse? Bud? You there?"

"Mija, mija. Be careful." Miss Argentina stepped forward, leading Barbara away from the still angered Betelgeuse. "Don't try to calm him down when he's in that state. Let him calm down on his own accord. It'll happen eventually. Just give it time."

"But why?" Barbara glanced over at her, looking equally confused, concerned, and curious at once. "What's going on? Has this happened before or?"

"Sí. A veces, aunque."

Barbara nodded, turning back to Betelgeuse and noticing that he, although it looked like a slow process, as Leslie had explained, was calming down. Barbara, although she wanted to help the still demonic looking Betelgeuse with his calming down even more so, decided to keep her distance instead. Watching, like everyone else, as he calmed down even more and his demonic features disappeared.

He fell to the floor without as much as a sound and Barbara, Adam, and Argentina all rushed over towards him at once. Adam and Barbara each gripped one of Betelgeuse's arms and hauled him up.

Miss Argentina put a hand on his shoulder, looking him gently in the eyes. "Estás bien?"

"Yeah." Betelgeuse rubbed at his head, looking in Miss Argentina's direction. "It happened again didn't it, Les?"

She nodded sadly. "Sí. You really need to control your anger, mijo. Who knows when you're going to get out of control. Remember the last time something like this happened? It took me a week to reorganize my entire office."

"Please don't remind me of that, Les," Betelgeuse said softly. He looked down briefly then up towards her again, noticing her doing a slight eye roll. Which he did as well.

Letting go of Betelgeuse, Barbara turned towards Miss Argentina as a thought popped into her head. "Is this something that can happen to ghosts and demons? Cause I've certainly had my fair share of violent outbursts and anger issues before."

"Sí, mija. It does. I know because I'm right there with you," Miss Argentina replied, her hand moving from Betelgeuse's shoulder to Barbara's. "I've certainly gotten angered at Betelgeuse before so I know where you're coming from."

A confused look crossed Barbara's face. "How'd you know that those violent outbursts and anger issues I mentioned were directed towards Betelgeuse?"

"He looks nervous. Scared. Like he doesn't want anything like that to happen again."

"Like what his mother did to him over all those centuries?"

In response, Miss Argentina nodded. "Basically, yeah. But let's not bring any of that stuff up with him. I think it's best that we change the subject or get straight back to what's going on as we speak."

Barbara nodded, her and Adam leading Betelgeuse out of Lydia's bedroom and upstairs to the attic. Most likely to help him get his mind off of things. The others seemed to be fine with it, deciding to wait until they came back down so they could continue with trying to figure out a way to get things back to normal. Cause the longer they were without a barrier between the living world and the Netherworld, the more worried they were becoming.

Upstairs, the Maitlands and Betelgeuse phased through the attic door. First, Betelgeuse slowly made his way over towards the nearest couch and sat down. Then the Maitlands came to join him a little while later - plopping themselves down on either side of him with Barbara putting a hand on the demon's back.

"You okay?" she asked gently and softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, sounding so unlike himself - which further served to concern the Maitlands as they glanced over towards one another. "Thanks for asking, B-Town."

"That was something, alright," Adam commented, unaware that Betelgeuse became even more nervous. "I mean, that was something I expected could possibly happen but I never expected to actually see it happen."

"Adam! You're making things worse!" reprimanded Barbara, causing him to look over in her direction again.

"What? No I'm not!" he replied, sounding confused.

When Barbara gestured a hand out towards Betelgeuse, Adam took notice of what his wife meant by that. He noticed Betelgeuse's more demonic features start to show again, and he, like Barbara, knew now they needed to calm him down all over again.

Before the worst could happen.

Before Betelgeuse lost control of not only himself, but his powers as well.