||Devil's Advocate||Betelgeuse x Adam x Barbara

(𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞) In Which The Maitlands Learn More About Themselves

Betelgeuse appearing in a flash startled Charles and Delia - who were both in the middle of putting stuff away - to no end. The sounds of the bags they were holding crashing to the floor reverberated around the first and second floors of the house and the two older living people seemed panicked. But eventually, they recomposed themselves and calmed down enough to finish with what they were doing.

Betelgeuse had now moved to stand in a doorway, watching the older Deetzes and waiting until they were focused on something else. This prank the demon had in his mind, was sure to be a good one. But first...

"Do you guys mind if I hang around you for a while?"

It was Charles who chose to answer, standing up and turning to look pointedly over at the demon. "As long as you don't cause any mischief or chaos around us, you can. That means no pranks, Betelgeuse. NO pranks!"

Betelgeuse's hair became a mix between purple and blue, but he nodded slowly in response anyway. "No pranks, got it! Sure thing, Chuck!"

Charles, sighing and shaking his head, turned back to what he was doing. But that wouldn't last that long. At the instance of a loud clanging noise, Charles turned to face Betelgeuse again - looking unhappy and crossing his arms. He looked down at the stuff that was all over the floor before looking back up at Betelgeuse.

"That wasn't me. That was the Maitlands," Betelgeuse said as he  tried not to sound like he was lying. But Charles didn't seem to buy it.

"The Maitlands wouldn't usually do stuff like that though," Delia replied, also turning around and looking at Betelgeuse.

Though she wasn't as angry as Charles was. She bent down in order to pick up one of the few things that was on the floor and put it back down where it had originally been. Then another... and another... until all of it was picked up.

"Not do stuff like what?" Barbara's confused tone of voice was heard from the stairs, causing Charles, Delia, and Betelgeuse to look up. They were surprised to find Barbara, Adam, and Lydia standing together on the stairs and looking down at them in confusion.

The six of them stayed like that for a little while longer, until the Maitlands and Lydia turned and continued on their way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

"Betelgeuse decided to blame something he did on you guys," Delia explained as she and Charles put the last of the stuff they'd gotten away. Turning towards the Maitlands as the sound of Charles' angered voice was heard behind her.

Not one of the three of them said a single word. At least for a little while, that was.

"What'd he do this time?" Barbara sounded stern, putting a hand on her hip as she turned and gazed at Betelgeuse.

"Threw various things at the floor just to mess with Charles and I," Delia replied, looking from one ghost to the other. "After Charles had told him not to cause chaos and mischief or pull any pranks."

"So, normal ghost stuff?" Adam asked. "Cause Barb and I certainly did experience a lot of similar stuff to that back when we were still alive."

"That was all me!" Betelgeuse's voice sounded from behind them.

They turned towards the area in which Betelgeuse's voice had come from but the demon wasn't behind them. Turning their attention back over towards the living room, the Maitlands and Delia found Betelgeuse floating in midair and grinning mischievously towards Adam and Barbara.

At that, he teleported out of the living room and back into the kitchen - leaving a stunned but still unhappy Charles just standing there as the living male turned towards the kitchen again as well. Lydia sat down on the couch, switching on the television and putting on whatever paranormal show was on at the moment. But after a while, she seemed to get up - leaving said show on and playing in the background.

Reentering the kitchen, Lydia climbed up onto the kitchen island and stood up on it. At the first indication of Lydia about to fall off the island, Barbara and Adam quickly acted - rushing over to the edge of the island and focusing some, if not all, of their energy onto making sure the teenager was safe. At the sounds of Charles and Delia gasping in shock in unison then falling silent, the Maitlands looked up to find that they were making Lydia levitate in midair with their energy. Not their powers this time. This felt different.

They focused a little more of their energy on setting Lydia safely back down on the kitchen floor and releasing it from themselves, and sat down at the kitchen island to regain some of the energy that they'd given up. They looked up as Betelgeuse teleported next to them and was looking down at them with a look on his face that indicated surprise. And the same exact thought ran through both ghosts' minds as they looked back up towards him.

"Can all ghosts do that?" Barbara asked, sitting upright with her attention still focused over towards Betelgeuse. "Or is that sort of thing rare?"

"It's not rare, but it's not something that all ghosts can do," Betelgeuse explained with the Maitlands nodding along - both of them equally as intrigued about this whole thing as the other one was. "It only happens when ghosts have a parental like connection with a living person."

"Like the connection Barbara and I share with Lydia?"

"Yeah," Betelgeuse confirmed with a few nods.

"Can you explain a little more about this?" Barbara asked, turning the attention of Betelgeuse from Adam to her. "The energy part, I mean. All of that is making me curious."

"Same here," Adam spoke up, sounding equally as curious as Barbara was.

As the sky became dark to indicate night and the sounds of the Deetz' voices faded upstairs as they retreated to their rooms, Betelgeuse looked from Adam to Barbara as he summoned the Handbook for the Recently Deceased. He opened it to the first page in the chapter/section on ghosts and slid it over towards Adam - who glanced down towards it with even more curiosity than before as he began to read.

"Ghosts are supernatural beings made of energy that-"

"Wait?!" Barbara spoke up, interrupting her husband mid sentence as she again looked over towards Betelgeuse. "Adam and I ... we're made of energy?"

"Keen observation, Babs," Betelgeuse responded. "But yes, you two are made of energy. I would've thought that you had learned this much earlier but... seriously, you guys, all of this information slipped by you for a few months?"

"It doesn't matter! Could you please just tell us more about this energy stuff?" Adam asked out of annoyance as he slid the Handbook for the Recently Deceased back over towards Betelgeuse. "Please?"

"Yeah, Adam's right." Barbara shifted a little. "What other things can we do with all of this energy? And why are we made of energy? What's with it?"

"I'm glad you asked," Betelgeuse said as he turned his attention onto the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and began to read. "Going off from where sexy left off last... ghosts are supernatural beings made of energy that can use said energy to do..."