Chapter One: The Death of Her Loved One
Maria screamed as she was roughly pushed out of the way by Manolo. Her heartbeat quickened its pace when she saw the snake bite him. His eyes widened, and he quickly lost his strength and fell down. Quickly catching him, she suddenly felt tears in her eyes. He struggled to breathe; but the venom had immediately affected him, and he felt as though he was starting to lose consciousness.
"Manolo, stay with me! Don't you dare die on me!" Maria's shriek echoed throughout the place but it did nothing; her lover was still close to dying. "Maria… it's okay… you'll be okay without me…" he smiled weakly. The young girl held him close, he couldn't die. He just couldn't, not when she just came back home from Spain. Tears streamed down her face. Oh, please no… this can't be happening…
"Maria… mi amor, don't cry… I'll always be here in your heart. And besides, you have Joaquin; everything will be alright… you're a strong girl and I know that you'll get through." "But what about YOU?!"
Manolo smiled, and before his eyes closed for the final time, he uttered one last sentence…
"I love you."
Her eyes widened and her cheeks became even more tear-stained than they already were. She shook him back-and-forth, hoping that this was all just a bad dream and that in the real world he was still alive. But nothing changed. "Manolo?! MANOLO?!" She hugged him tightly and checked his pulse.
Gone. Manolo Sanchez was dead.
Her scream could be heard throughout all of San Angel. "HELP! ANYONE, PLEASE! HELP!"
General Posada, Carlos, and Joaquin, alerted, came running to her aid. "Maria, what happened?"
It seemed to rain even harder, they were soaking wet but they didn't care. Maria came rushing out holding Manolo's corpse. Sniffling and still shedding a few tears, she struggled to speak. "There… there was a snake; he pushed me out of the way…"
Joaquin's eyes turned into dinner plates and tears threatened to spill out of them. Oh, not you, Manny… it should have been me…
He spotted his best friend's guitar and hugged it close to his chest. He wanted to hold it one last time…
General Posada hugged Maria tightly. While he may have not liked the Sanchez bullfighter at first, he had to admit that he had sort of grown on him over time. He had thought that he was not worthy of marrying his daughter, but after what he did for her…
He was crying, Carlos was crying, Joaquin was crying, and Maria was crying.
Everybody missed him.
Finally, Carlos found his voice. "Manolo…" he croaked. That was all he could say.
Joaquin finally let go of the guitar and offered it. Though he wasn't sure to whom, the heartbroken girl who had lost her love or the devastated father who lost his son.
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Maria sat quietly at the proposal tree, hugging Manolo's guitar to her chest. He wasn't supposed to die this way…
She stared at the message she had carved into it when they were still kids.
Always play from the heart. (Heart shape) Maria.
Heart. Her heart was broken. She didn't think she would ever be the same again, at least not without him.
"I miss him." She said aloud to no one in particular.
"Do you wish to see him again?"
She jumped at the voice, it sounded old and raspy.
She spun around… and came face-to-face with an old man.
She sniffled a bit. "Yes…"
"Think about what you say, girl." The old man was no more; she was staring at Xibalba himself.
She gritted her teeth. She was old enough to make her own decisions, wasn't she? She had been controlled too many times in her life. By her father and then the people at Spain…
"With all my heart."
Xibalba chuckled. "Very well."
With a snap of his fingers, a two-headed snake appeared out of nowhere and bit her.
Maria gasped, but closed her eyes as she fainted. Manolo…
She had a ghost of a grin on her face.
Xibalba spread out his wings and flew, cackling.
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MEANWHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY
Joaquin had tears in his eyes as they placed Manolo in the coffin. He insisted on burying his best friend himself, since he wanted to see him one last time.
He talked to his best friend's dead body sadly. "Well, I guess this is it… you know, I always thought that I would be the first one to die, like in a fight against Chakal or something, like Dad… I didn't want you to die like this. It should have been me who that snake bit. I'm sorry about everything. All our little fights and arguments… it was all useless. Maria should have married you…" he hated to say that he had won even when he didn't. "No, I should have died. I wish that I could do something to save you.."
Manolo said nothing.
Joaquin sighed. "Goodbye, old friend." As he started to leave the room, a wild idea popped into his head.
He grabbed the Medal of Everlasting Life and latched it onto Manolo's shirt. Nothing happened. A minute passed. Two, three, four.
Then suddenly; Manolo's eyes opened and he gasped, sitting up. He looked at himself in amazement. "I'm… I'm…"
"Alive!" Joaquin finished happily. "You're alive!"
Manolo grinned slightly before he remembered something. Something important.
"Maria! Where is she? Is she okay?"
Joaquin smiled, still in a daze. "I'll go find her and tell her the good news!"
However, she wasn't alive to hear the good news…
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Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be up soon.