Months before…

Unlike what humans thought, Gods were not impeccably perfect; they had their own defects, for better or worse. Some let power go to their heads, others were not that worshipped and had very low self-esteem which they attempted to hide with hateful attitudes, others loved humans so much they wouldn't want to carry out their duty to punish unworthy humans who sought their power.

But what all Gods had in common was that they needed a drink every now and then.

In Zipacna's case, he knew lots of places around the globe where he could go and have some time for himself. It was not he didn't like spending time with his family; it was just sometimes he needed to rest from everyone. Scotland was a good place to go if he had a bar in his mind, but the problem was that when he found a good beverage he just… couldn't stop. This was the main reason he only drank when he was out on a 'Zipacna's night'. He didn't want to imagine what things he could do while drunk if he was already quite reckless when sober.

Surprisingly, 'The Kelpie' was a good place. It had a great variation of beverages, and even better, you could find lots of pretty girls around, both human and mythical, though in the latter case he had to pay attention of any signs that his companion was harmless.

Zipacna took his twentieth pint of beer, and surprisingly with that he was off. Usually Gods didn't get drunk with mortal drinks, but the other reason The Kelpie was his favorite bar was that its owner and bartender was casually an Aos Sí, who disguised himself as a human to tend to his business. Whenever it was a camouflaged God that came to his bar, he'd serve them from the 'secret stash' where he kept beverages for Gods alone. Those were so strong they could kill a human with one drop; however, in the case of Godly beings, it sent them to the 'clouds'.

Zipacna's vision became blurry as he looked around for some form of entertainment, and caught a glimpse of a lovely lady in one of the tables that seemed to be by herself. She looked like a human, but he could tell she was more than that. Her guise was of a cinnamon-skin lady with dark, almost purplish hair, and her eyes were a curious shade of bluish purple that somehow drew him in like a siren's song. Before he knew it, he had walked closer to her table, stumbling in his human guise, but still managing to get to her table.

"Well, what's a lovely *hick* lady doing here all *hick* by herself?" he asked between hiccups.

The lady, who was apparently as drunk, or maybe more, than him, gave him a dizzy smile. "Waiting for my *hick* knight in shining *hick* armor to take me *hick* to his flamant castle…" she nearly fell of the chair, hadn't Zipacna caught her by the waist.

"Well… *hick* My castle is flamant… quite *hick* literally… How about we go *hick* have some fun…?"

The lady gave him a seductive but dizzy look. "W-Well… Show me *hick* what you got, tiger…"

Still stumbling, Zipacna picked his prize up and carried her to the back, stumbling along the way…

Present Day

The day started with a wailing coming from the nursery. If it hadn't been a hard night already, this time Juan Carlos could tell this time it was Clara who cried, and he could tell it was not hunger. He started to shift awake and made his way out of bed, making sure not to wake Marigold up, she already had a rough night already, then he made his way down the hall and into the nursery, casually running into his father-in-law. La Muerte and Marigold had decided the twins could share the nursery with Hugo, since they were about the same age, with only two and a half months of difference. Juan Carlos was happy to say he and Xibalba got better along… sort of.

"Buenos días, señor." Juan Carlos greeted him politely.

"Buenos días, b- Juan." Xibalba managed to call him by his name this time. He didn't want La Muerte to overheard him and give him a big scolding again, she had made him quite clear she wanted him to treat Juan Carlos with more respect since he was part of the family now. He could tell Juan Carlos was not used to him referring informally to him, though.

As they walked into the nursery, they found a shocking scene. The twins had somehow found the way to climb out of their cribs, and Clara was wailing while trying to crawl up the wall, soon they learned why; Juan Carlos looked up and found Kyroc sitting on the wall, looking down at his twin sister wondering why she couldn't follow.

"KYROC!" Juan Carlos flew up to the wall and quickly took Kyroc in his arms, though the baby soon started to protest, struggling to get free.

"How in tarnation does he do that?!" Xibalba wondered out loud while picking up Hugo from his crib, watching as Juan Carlos picked Clara, and she reached out to touch her brother.

"It's been the fifth time this month…" Juan Carlos said, rocking both twins in his arms. "It's becoming dangerous, the last time he was on the roof. Well, at least he didn't pick up the couch this time…"

"He what?!"

Juan Carlos froze when he realized Xibalba hadn't been present that time. "Oh, well… It's a funny story…"

"Juan?" Before he could finish the tale, Marigold peeked into the room, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "What happened?"

"Well… Kyroc kind of crawled up the wall again…"

"That kid has got more into him than he looks." Xibalba chuckled as he rubbed Kyroc's hair playfully. "How about we go have breakfast? There are little stomachs here who need to fill their bellies!" he tickled Clara's belly, earning a few giggles in return.

Marigold tried to contain a laugh. "Papá, speaking of which, I think tío Zipacna already beat us to it."

Xibalba's smile vanished. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he apparently arrived early in the morning to be the first to take the warm food. Papá?"

Before she could continue, Xibalba had already made his way out of the nursery, holding Hugo close while muttering under his breath. A few moments later after he entered the dining hall, he found both Zipacna already sitting on the table, and he had served himself a generous portion of food. He wasn't even halfway to the table when Zipacna lifted his gaze to look at him. "Good morning, hermanito!" he chirped, lifting his cup of coffee.

"Zipacna, I thought we had talked about this." Xibalba growled. "La Muerte and I said you could come every now and then, but you're starting to abuse it!"

"What? Can't I pay my little brother a visit every now and then!"

"Not at the expense of my wife's food!" Xibalba snapped, swatting his brother's hand away from some chilaquiles. "Besides, I thought you had work to do!"

"Camazok's dealing with it."

"Stop abusing that poor boy, would you?! You're the ruler of the Land of the Cursed, not him! You put too much responsibility on him!"

"Come on, he can handle it, it's not that bad."

Xibalba was about to protest further when La Muerte, Juan Carlos and Marigold joined them, Marigold was carrying the twins in her embrace, though Kyroc attempted to occupy most of his mother's embrace, much to Clara's chagrin. Realizing it was futile, Xibalba glared at his brother. "I'll have another talk with you later." He hissed.

With that, the dark god went to take his seat next to his wife. La Muerte was, not surprisingly, in a very good mood, even more than usual this time. She kept humming a little tune, her fingers touching her silver pendant. Marigold had placed her twins on their respective high chairs while Juan Carlos prepared their formula. Zipacna wondered why he didn't simply pop out the bottles with warm milk instead of doing it all by hand, but everytime he mentioned it Juan Carlos simply said his mother taught him it was better to give babies homemade food. Besides, considering he didn't master the 'popping-things-out-of-thin-air' spells as he called materialization, he didn't want to risk popping out a bottle with toxic waste. Marigold had to agree with him on the homemade food stuff if she hadn't materialized the bottles herself.

The maids served beautifully cooked fried eggs with crunchy gold bacon and orange juice, but much to the others' surprise, La Muerte had a different thing in mind for breakfast; she was served partly grilled vegetables coated in butter glaze, a cucumber sandwich and some cream tea.

"Muertita, are you sure you want to eat that?" Xibalba distracted himself momentarily from giving the bottle to Hugo and watched as his wife took a bite from her sandwich. La Muerte first made sure to swallow the mouthful in her mouth before speaking. "I just had a 'craving' for cucumber, mi amor." She smiled at him innocently.

Marigold had the feeling what her mother was going to say, but chose no to say anything yet. Apparently she wanted her father to figure it out by himself.

Xibalba hadn't caught on yet. "Are you sure you want to eat that much? You have been having nauseas this past month."

"It's okay, it's not like we haven't already gone through this before."

"What do you mean with gone through this before-?" Xibalba stopped in mid-sentence when he caught the signs. Cravings, morning sickness… could it be? His eyes started to moisten up as he glanced at his wife, his expression brightening. "D-Do you mean… What I think…?" It did make sense.

La Muerte smiled and placed her hands on her abdomen. "I'm pregnant!"

Almost immediately, Xibalba left Hugo momentarily floating in the air to leave his seat and pick his wife up by the waist, twirling her around before pulling her close and peppering her with kisses of joy. Marigold and Juan Carlos equally left their seats, picking up the twins and going to hug La Muerte, congratulating her of the good news. "I'm going to have a baby brother or sister!" Marigold chirped, hugging her mother.

Xibalba had to pick Hugo back up, but nevertheless he pulled La Muerte closer with his wing. "You couldn't have given me better news, mi amor!"

Juan Carlos couldn't believe it yet, and yet he felt happy for his wife. "Who would have thought I'd have a brother-in-law younger than me?"

Zipacna remained silent for a while, before he felt his brother's gaze unto him. He instantly knew Xibalba was expecting to see his reaction being a positive one, and wasn't taking it well that he wasn't jumping around in joy. "Well… Congratulations, La Muerte! Another little kid! Hehe…" He cursed himself for failing to hide his nervousness.

"Is something wrong, Zipacna?" La Muerte was equally surprised that his reaction was not like she had imagined.

"No! Nothing is wrong! In fact, everything is color pink!"

Marigold didn't buy it. "Tío, you're nervous."

"M-Me? W-Why would I b-be?"

Xibalba had enough. "Muertita, could you hold Hugo for a while? I'm going to accompany Zipacna for a walk." He handed over his son to his wife, then stomped towards Zipacna and grabbed him by the ear, ignoring his yelps of pain as he dragged him away. La Muerte pulled Hugo closer, staring at her husband and brother-in-law as they disappeared behind the large, colorful doors; she actually knew Xibalba was probably going to give him a good lashing. She usually would have tried to make her husband not be too harsh on Zipacna, but this time she was hurt by Zipacna not taking the news to her pregnancy like she would have liked. The goddess rocked little Hugo in her arms as he started to fidget with her pendant curiously.

"AYAYAY!" Zipacna yelped when his brother dragged him by the ear to someplace, until he was released and he could rub his ear. "What was that for?!"

"What in tarnation is wrong with you?!" Xibalba hissed with narrowed eyes. "La Muerte and I are going to have another baby and you act like it's nothing?! I thought you'd be happy for us!"

"It's not that I'm not happy for you! I am! But…!"

"But what?!"

"Come on, Xibalba! You already have three babies here! Your grandchildren and your son! You barely have time to tend to three at once, and now there's another coming! Couldn't you have waited a little longer?"

"Zipacna, babies just come when you least expect it! And besides, I don't mind looking after another baby if it means La Muerte will have another chance at motherhood!"
"I'm just saying the stress can drive people mad!"

"What do you know about stress, Zipacna?! All you do all day is come to my castle or La Muerte's and stuff yourself on the food! Or go around courting single, married or otherwise ladies!"

"Hey, courting pretty girls can be stressing too!"

Xibalba groaned in exasperation. "I can tell. Xochiquétzal is always sending me letters complaining about your behavior!"

"Why you?!"

"Considering I'm much more serious and responsible than you, people think I am responsible for your actions when it should be the other way around!"

Zipacna gulped at his brother's tone. "Come on, hermanito! We're all grown up now!"

"And precisely because of that, you should be responsible for your own actions! NOT ME!"

"Hey, Xibalba, I think we deviated from the original topic…"

Xibalba sighed, closing his eyes and taking his hand to his temple. "It's not about how many children we have, Zipacna. It's about responsibility. You think four is too many because you have never had any children."

"Why do you think is that? I'm not even married yet! You were married when you had Marigold!"

"And La Muerte went comatose. In other words, I was almost in your situation, and yet how come I could raise a child on my own for fifteen years when you couldn't look after your own niece for fifteen minutes?"

"Would you get over it already?! How many times I have to say I'm sorry!"

"I have not forgotten because Marigold could have gotten hurt! She was just eight months old, Zipacna! I just asked you ONE thing! To be responsible for at least three hours in your life, and you couldn't do that!"

Zipacna didn't defend himself that time. He had him there.

"I don't expect you to understand, Zipacna. When you become a father, everything has to change. You realize there's a little life that completely depends on you, and you do your best to make sure that little life is always happy and safe. You don't care to repeat it all over again when it happens, you just do it because you love your children and you want the best for them."

"Well…" Zipacna had the feeling Xibalba wouldn't want him around for a while. "Now that I remembered, there's some work I have to do back home, hermanito…"

Xibalba knew he was just looking for a excuse to leave this discussion pending, but he decided to let him slip this time. He had more important things to do than keep arguing with Zipacna. "Fine. The next time, try to be a little happier for La Muerte, would you? I want her to have a good pregnancy., and for that I need to make sure she is happy and calm as much as possible, okay?!"

"No offense, hermanito, but sometimes you make that a hard thing, in case you forgot…" Zipacna gulped when he received another glare. "Nos vemos luego!" With that, he teleported back to his fiery realm. Zipacna found himself in his main hall. The walls were a blood red with carvings of flames, and fiery red torches illuminated the halls despite the natural glow of the lava rivers surrounding the castle. Zipacna groaned in dismay and leaned against the wall, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Damn it, I don't understand why takes things so personally… I just gave him my opinion, it wasn't such a big deal…"

Just then, Camazok ran down the hall and towards him. There was a worried expression on his face, but surely it was just about the paperwork accumulated.

"Lord Zipacna, there's something I have to tell you-"

"Can it wait for later, Cam? I'm not really in the mood to hear problems with the Cursed Beasts." Zipacna headed over to his bedroom, but Camazok went after him.

"Err, no, My Lord. It's not that-"

"Then what is it that you're following me around?"

"Well, someone left something at the doorstep-"

"So what? Leave it at my study and I'll take a look at it later."

"It's not precisely mail of that kind, it's-"

"Camazok, really, whatever it is, I'll take a look at it later when I take a nap."

"But it's-!"

Zipacna opened the door to his bedroom, but froze when he spotted something on his bed. A small, tiny creature of a few days old apparently was sleeping on a basket. It had a reptilian head almost reminiscent of Zipacna's, with the smoky black scales and white markings, but it lacked any kind of feathers, and instead of ears it had a pair of fins with grayish light green membranes, and there was a small tuft of white hair on its head. Its tail snuck out of the blankets, revealing a white tip.

Zipacna just stood there, frozen as he saw the little creature in the basket. "Camazok…" he whispered, pointing at the basket. "W-What is… that?!"

"I was trying to tell you." Camazok sighed in dismay. "Someone left the baby in the doorstep, and I couldn't just leave it outside so I brought him here-"

He couldn't continue, before he knew it, Zipacna fell backwards, landing on his back as he lost consciousness.