Betelgeuse stood in front of Lydia's closet, mouth agape. In front of him, unimaginably, was something he never expected to see again.
It was the red wedding dress that he'd juiced for her that evening five years ago.
It was complete with the veil, and hung with a plastic cover so that it wouldn't fade. The thing was immaculate- practically untouched! It was something unbelievable. It was amazing. It was perfect. This was the chink in Lyds' armor, he thought. The grin that had been on his face before he'd been astounded returned ten-fold. This was the key to his plan, and he didn't even have to do anything over-the-top to accomplish it.
"Lydia, Lydia, Lydia…" He purred, pulling it out of the closet. "What have you gone and done to yourself?"
BETELGEUSEBETELGEUSEBETELGEUSE
Lydia, Anya and Nadia had made their way steadily through Anya's ice cream, two and a half bottles of schnapps and a bottle of redbreast, which Nadia had retrieved from her own room. Needless to say, the three were pleasantly buzzed. Nadia had put on some trance music, and Anya was content to lie back against the couch and stare at her fan, laughing every now and again. Lydia felt restless. The redbreast had endowed her with some reckless courage, and the ice cream's sugar had hit her system. Her foot tapped incessantly against the bass of the trance techno, and she continually glanced at the door.
"Jesus! Just go out and talk to him, fuck!" Her raver-friend barked, taking another swig from the bottle in her hand.
The goth girl grinned stupidly. "Nahh…Axel doesn't want me, I'm married!" She giggled, and bit the dark band on her finger.
"You don't have to do what that a- ass munch wants! You're your own person!" With these words the candy-kid reeled over, plopping down on the couch next to her and spilling booze on the cushions.
"You know, you're right! Why should I be forced to give up my youth? Fuck him, I can do what I think is right for me! Thanks, guys!" Lydia went to give them both sloppy hugs, but found that both of them had passed out. Darned drunks. She stood up, giggled and left the dorm, forgetting to shut the door behind her. Axel would probably be around campus somewhere by now, it was getting late. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and the pale waxing moon was rising. The grounds outside were only cold enough to need a sweater, nothing she couldn't handle with her jacket. The dim lamination disoriented the drunken girl, and Lydia had some trouble walking over the rough grass. The coffee shop was open, so she headed in its general direction.
When she (finally) arrived, the coffee shop workers were closing down for the night, but when asked, one of them said he'd seen Axel (or someone fitting Axel's description) had headed off in the direction of a small wooded area that surrounded the campus with a girl. Some pretty girl, he'd said, with red hair and a great rack.
After hearing about the Axel-look alike and his red-haired lady friend, Lydia was hurt, but not enraged. It wasn't him, she told herself. Just someone who looked like him. She tried to walk quickly, but found that her inebriated body wasn't agile enough, and had to plod along steadily to get to the few acres or forest. It wasn't long until she reached it, but her anxiety increased every moment, and the darkness was starting to become suffocating.
Then, from twenty yards in, she heard a woman's laugh and the obvious sounds of pleasure. The pale woman crept forward, doing her best to stay silent through her alcohol-induced stumbles. In a small clearing bathed in streaming moonlight was an erotic tableaux, a slow motion exchange between a curvaceous woman and…
Axel.
Lydia's heart seemed to stop, and for an instant, she was afraid she might cry. Axel, who she had felt a connection with. Axel, who had invited her to a party. She felt her eyes well up, and covered her mouth to avoid letting out a sob. Here he was, his hands kneading the redhead's ample breasts while his mouth traveled lower. The pale glow from the heavens created contrasting shadows, and the lines of his face seemed harder than she remembered them being.
And all at once, the sadness dissolved and Lydia filled with inebriated rage. How dare he? Just one day after their date and here he was with his face between another woman's legs! Without thinking, she flung herself into the midst of the scene, hollering.
"You asshole! How could you!?" Lydia's breath came short, and her drunken mind was murderous.
The redhead screamed, and tried to cover herself up. "Who the fuck is this? Axel what the hell?" She scooted back and tried to don her clothing, getting as far as panties and a shirt before the gothic girl rounded on her, slapping her squarely across the face.
"You fffucking tramp!" Her mind reeled, and she was jerked away from the other woman by two rough hands.
"Get the hell off of her? What's wrong with you?" Axel barked, shoving the pale woman bodily away from himself and the other woman.
"Shit, baby! I didn't expect this to happen!" He held his hands out to the redhead, but she slapped them away.
"You fucking asshole! I never want to see you again!" With that final outburst, the busty lady stormed off into the darkness, leaving Lydia and Axel alone in the forested area.
"You fucking bitch! What the hell is wrong with you?" He screamed, rounding on Lydia. "I was fucking busy!"
It was then that Lydia became hyper aware of her situation. He was much stronger than her, and much faster as she was inebriated. They were alone, at night, in a secluded area and suddenly the chill that she had felt earlier intensified drastically. She was terrified, and he towered over her, enraged.
"You fucking whore!" The raven-haired man shoved her, so that the goth girl could not remain on her unsteady feet and fell.
"Get the hell away from me!" Lydia's voice sounded small and afraid, and her vision swam.
"You know what you fucking did, bitch? That was my fucking fiancé! Look at what you've done!" He spat, following her to the ground and straddling her. It was at that point that the pale girl realized that Axel was also drunk, but considerably more so than she. His eyes were unfocused, and as he pinned her down she could feel his grip on her shoulders bruising her skin. He leant in close, growling against her ear.
"You're gonna fucking PAY for that."
BETELGEUSEBETELGEUSEBETELGEUSE
Beej had taken the dress out of its protective coating and laid it out on Lydia's bed. He'd smoothed out the wrinkles, and was in the process of arranging the veil when he felt a chill. It was odd for him to feel chills, as (because he was a corpse) he was constantly cold, and didn't tend to feel cold. Still, it was a definite chill that sent shivers running down his spine. Unwittingly he glanced at the alarm clock on Lyds' bedside table and noticed it was getting rather late. Midnight wasn't exactly what he'd consider a curfew for himself, but it was different with Lydia- she didn't have immortality, magic, and an exterior that could make babies cry. He frowned, but continued to lay out the veil.
Three minutes later he got another chill.
"What the hell…?" He went to the window, intending to slam it when he heard something that froze him.
On the breeze, barely audible, was a woman's scream.
Betelgeuse had never jumped out of a window faster.
BETELGEUSEBETELGEUSEBETELGEUSE
Lydia let out a piercing scream when she felt him bite into her clavicle, drawing blood. The bruises on her stomach and arms were black in the moonlight, and as Axel tore her shirt in a frenzy to remove it she felt hot tears slide down her temples. Above her in the night sky was the moon, still and silent. A cold voyeur to her humiliation and pain. His hand was under her bra flicking her nipple, which betrayed her by hardening.
"You love this, don't you, you fucking whore?" He teased, holding her hands above her head with one hand and roughly squeezing her breast with the other, eliciting sharp cries of pain from the helpless girl beneath him. He chuckled, letting his hand roam lower until it began to undo the clasp of her skirt.
"Noo…!" Lydia moaned, twisting away from his hand, which he brought up in a swift slap.
"Fuck you! You fucking screwed me over and now I'm gonna do the same to you!" Axel continued to fumble with her clasp, and as she heard it click open Lydia's horror and desperation peaked.
"BETELGEUSE!!" Her terrified scream reverberated across the grounds, but at the late hour there were few people outside.
It was luck, she supposed, that he was one of them.
BETELGEUSEBETELGEUSEBETELGEUSE
When he heard Lydia's anguished cry, what little warmth there was in Betelgeuse's stagnant blood ran icy. With a speed he hadn't reached in over three hundred years, he arrived only to find what he had feared the most. The horrific scene took his sentience, his consciousness, and his judgment and locked them away is a small compartment of his brain. His vision was lined with red, and as he descended into the clearing it took every ounce of what shredded control he had left not to rip the kid in half. He stepped towards them slowly, afraid that any sudden movements would trigger something dire.
"You…" He growled, just loud enough for the punk to hear him. The kid jumped up from her, whirling around to face the more horrific thing he'd ever seen. To most, or an innocent bystander, it was just a ragged, creepy guy. But in the darkness, with his mind filled with irrepressible rage, Betelgeuse emitted an aura that made the leaves on the trees around them die.
"You…" Betelgeuse picked the asshole up by his denim lapels, the moonlight throwing his eyes into complete shadows as his other hand tightened around the kid's throat. Lydia, he could see out of the corner of his eye, had curled into the fetal position, whimpering.
She would get in trouble if he died, the poltergeist was sure. He couldn't kill him.
Supporting the punk by his throat now, he unclenched the hand that had taken hold oh his lapels and thrust it into the boy's stomach, repeating the motion until he saw flecks of blood fly from his lips. The boy gave a strangled scream, but the ghost only squeezed his throat until no sound could get through.
"Never." He thrust his fist a little bit higher this time, nearer to the other man's solar plexus. "Ever. Touch. Her. AGAIN." With each word he punched a little bit higher, and on the final syllable he jabbed his knuckles under Axel's sternum, and forced the air in his lungs to expel painfully. Then he dropped him bodily on the ground, and gave him a solid shot to the ribs with his boot. "Fucker." Betelgeuse spat on the cowering form, his aggression relieved. He stepped over the bastard and made his way over to Lydia, crouching beside her.
"Babes…?" He didn't know how to rouse her, as she seemed traumatized. The pale girl's eyes were terrified as she lay huddled on the rough ground.
"Babes! Babes? Shit." He tried waving his hand in front of her, but nothing more. He was afraid that a jolt to her system could do some damage to her heart. Useless things, always getting in the way!
Beej scooped her up and floated her tenderly back to the window of her dorm room, then shut it behind them. He placed her on the couch, and in the light took a look at her. Lydia's face was bruised at the chin and on her temple. Her throat and shoulders were bloody from a bite mark on her collarbone. She seemed to have gone unconscious somewhere between the room and the clearing. Her shirt was torn, and the bra (which, he remembered with a pang, he had made her wear by stealing her other one) was a crumpled mess. Her left breast was exposed and badly bruised. Betelgeuse cursed under his breath, seething at the fucking asshole who'd done this. He'd make him pay. Let the fucker heal, then he'd pay.
In her sleep, Lydia whimpered, and Beej felt his chest tighten. This wasn't supposed to happen, he thought. It wasn't supposed to be like this.
The dead man carried his injured bride to her room, and laid her on her bed, folding the blanket over her instead of putting her under it, even though it meant she was lying on the dress. Fuck the dress. He removed her shoes, and took off her bra because it was restricting her, twisted and broken as it was. Then he left the room, turning off the light and fixed himself a stiff drink.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
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A/N: Man, I am not sticking to this damn reviews thing, am I? Oh well. I really want to try to get Beej into his movie persona, because I think I've been writing him slightly cartoon. The movie version is a lot more crass and adult…("Nice fuckin' model!" honk honk!) so I'm trying to bear that in mind. I kind of wanted to write the fight scene better, but decided to leave it as is because this chapter is negative enough without it. Anyways, hope you review, and I'll probably have ch. 8 up soon!
