What's Not to Love - a Beetlelands Soulmate AU

On Our Soul Marks

Adam and Barbara, though still hesitant, were now both curious about this whole thing. The soul marks they now had on their arms and everything that had to do with them. They had their eyes focused on their soul marks - all of them now glowing. Of which they both had a feeling had to do with the fact that they were all now sat together on the couch and close together.

Perhaps it only happened when they were either close together or near each other or near or around Betelgeuse. But Adam and Barbara had it in their minds to do a little experimenting with it later. They just weren't sure when and how though.

For something that was all new to them, the both of them most certainly weren't picking up on it that fast like they thought they were, that was for sure.

Maybe what Betelgeuse had said earlier was true. Maybe they were meant, despite the whole 'til death do we part' deal, to be together even after death and Betelgeuse was meant to be with the both of them. It was now considered strange to think that they both had a third partner - another soulmate - that was waiting for them this whole time. Even if they couldn't see him until now.

Barbara wasn't thinking straight when she felt her left hand unintentionally brush against Betelgeuse's, an action that made the demon's hair blush pink, the black and white striped mark on her arm and the mark on Betelgeuse's arm that matched her dress glow in perfect unison. She quickly gave Betelgeuse a soft, apologetic look as she retracted her hand and placed it in her lap.

"Sorry 'bout that," she had said. "Guess I'm not that used to all of this. After all, Adam and I were not aware of something like this until now."

With that last thing said, Barbara suppressed a quiet laugh.

"This whole 'soul mark' thing will take you guys some time to get used to. This is actually the first case of it that I've seen in the living world since a few centuries ago," Betelgeuse said, looking from Barbara to Adam then back to Barbara. "And I'm a demon, so those who are deceased don't usually expect my kind to even have soul marks. The fact that I got these two when we first met is actually quite surprising to me."

Ignoring most of what Betelgeuse had just said, a confused look crossed Adam's face as he cocked his head to the side. "You're a... demon?"

"Yep." Popping the p, Betelgeuse set the Handbook for the Recently Deceased in Adam's lap before leaning backwards on the couch and resting his hands behind his head. He had his eyes closed, seeming to be a little unbothered.

Glancing at Barbara, Adam sported a confused but curious look on his face. Then he turned his attention back up to Betelgeuse - just one particular thought running throughout the male ghost's mind. "You're a demon? In the living world? How on earth did you even end up here to begin with? Is there an alternate world where everyone goes when they die-???"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Betelgeuse held a hand up immediately, cutting Adam off before he could even finish. "One question at a time, sexy."

"Right." Adam briefly rested his hand against his forehead then retracted it as his attention focused back up towards Betelgeuse - a curious look on the former's face. "You're a demon in the living world?"

Betelgeuse nodded. "Yeah. It's kinda embarrassing, if you think about it. Spending centuries in the living world. Having to just sit there and watch as days, or months, or years, or even decades, pass you by. Being invisible to the living world and unable to interact with it in any given way. I can't imagine you guys in my position. Having to go through everything that I went through."

Barbara shared a glance with Adam, then a soft look of sympathy crossed her face as she placed her hand on his back. "Oh... you poor thing."

He sniffed softly in response, resting his head against Barbara's shoulder as his hair turned a mixed shade of light sea green and light blush pink with a little hint of purple peeking its way through.

The hesitation that she - and Adam, who was also looking over towards Betelgeuse with a sympathetic smile on his face and his hand outstretched and rubbing comforting circles into his back - had previously experienced was now fully gone, with feelings of sorrow for the now upset demon now surfacing. Barbara found her hand moving from Betelgeuse's back to the latter's hair and she immediately began to run it through. Eventually, though, Betelgeuse calmed down enough and stopped sniffing, now able to answer any more questions that the two ghosts had.

"You better now?" Barbara soothed.

Betelgeuse nodded, sitting upright. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah. How on earth did you end up here in the first place?" It was Barbara who had asked that, going off the set of questions that Adam had asked.

"I-..." Betelgeuse bit his lip, trying to think of how to respond. But his mind was telling him not to answer that question. There was nothing stopping him from doing so though. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Adam and Barbara nodded in understanding, with Adam speaking up again. "Is there an alternate world where everyone goes when they die?"

"Yes actually. There is. It's called the Netherworld," Betelgeuse immediately found himself responding , not even bothering to flip to the front of the Handbook once Adam had handed it back to green. "I'd rather you guys not go there though."

Adam and Barbara shared a confused look with one another, then turned to look up towards Betelgeuse. "Why not?"

"Because-." Betelgeuse chose to close the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, setting it down. "Because, it's dangerous. That's why."

"Oh. C'mon. It can't be that dangerous." Adam picked up the Handbook.

Before he could open it though, Betelgeuse grabbed it and teleported it away. "Unless you want to spend the rest of eternity working and away from one another with no way of finding each other again, I wouldn't read up on it."

But Adam, who didn't seem to be listening, just summoned it back and opened it up to the first page, reading through it. After a brief while, he shut it again and teleported it away much like Betelgeuse, glancing up at the aforementioned demon with a curious look. "But it says that all ghosts have to proceed directly to the Netherworld after they die. If that's supposed to happen, then why didn't we?"

Betelgeuse chose not to answer, instead ignoring it as he again leaned back and rested his hands behind his head.