Disclaimer: I don't own Coco

So ever since I saw the movie, I've always been fascinated by Ernesto and his motivations for doing what he did. Also, just because I gave him a sad backstory, does not mean I'm excusing him for what he did. A sad backstory is a reason not an excuse.

The bell is all he knows now, he's been stuck there since Dia de Muertos. No one will bother letting him out, maybe this is some twisted karmic retribution. He looked up, when he heard footsteps, are they finally coming to let him out or is someone coming here to yell at him again? That happens too, people will come here and admonish him, calling him names like 'murderer' or words that were more...colorful than anything. Others saying they were praying for him, but more than any it was just people asking why? Why had he done this? What was he thinking? Did he really not care about his friend? About ripping a family apart? Did he have no heart? He never answered them of course, because he was Ernesto de la Cruz, and he didn't owe anyone an explanation.

" You are very lucky to be trapped in there." Says a female voice. " Mama Imelda is just waiting for you to come out, so that she can take another swing at you with her shoe."

" Is she out there?" He asked incredulously, because actually it was a bit humorous and a little bit frightening to think she was out there with her boot ready to smack him again.

"No, mama has tried to convince both her and Papa Hector, that there is no point in being angry anymore. She has been alive for over 100 years now. Plenty of time to come to terms with what happened, and what you did." Said the woman, making Ernesto scoff slightly. Coco was always a very sweet natured child, he remembered from the few times he visited she used to always call him 'Tio Nesto' and would smile up at him with those big innocent brown eyes. Of course she would forgive him, even so he heard the woman sit down outside the bell.

"Is this the part where you ask me why I hurt your family?" He asked.

"Frankly, I know why you did. Because somewhere in your heart of hearts, you decided that your music was more important than the life of your best friend and the man who believed you were like a brother to him. "She said simply, " Somewhere deep inside of you, you believed that killing a child was the right thing to do."

"You know nothing! I did what I had to do to seize my moment no matter what!" He yelled, even banging on the bell once which...considering it clanged and made a sound that echoed loudly was a bad idea.

" Throwing berrinches is not going to help anything. " She said sternly, and calmly.

"Tell me are all you Riveras so infuriating, or is it just Hector's lineage?" He asked, once the sound was gone.

" Are all de la Cruz's agoistos or is it just you?" She retorted back, taking him aback because no one has ever dared to speak back to him in such a manner.

" Who are you anyway?" Asked Ernesto, as he rolled his eyes.

" Victoria Rivera, Hector's granddaughter." She introduced herself, Ernesto raised an eyebrow and looked at the spot he assumed she was standing. He knew of course that Hector had descendants. 'Miguel had to have come from somewhere after all', he thought. Except he recalled the members of the Riveras that were there during their assault on him at the Sunrise Spectacular. It had been Imelda, Hector, Miguel, two men he had assumed had been her brothers, he hadn't seen them in years at Imelda and Hector's wedding so his memory is fuzzy there. A shorter man, and two women, a woman wearing pink and another woman in blue and yellow.

" Are you the one in pink or blue and yellow?" He asked, at least then he'd envision what she looked like.

" Blue and yellow." Said Victoria.

" Hm, pardon the question senora but when did you die?" He asked, because the two female skeletons with Imelda, had looked a bit too young to have died later.

" That is none of your business, in any case we're not talking about me. We're talking about you." She responded, in a voice that seemed not angry but rather like she wanted to immediately change the subject. " Mi mama for some reason, wants to talk to you. I just came to make sure you weren't going to say or do anything to upset her, and again you are very lucky it's me here and not Mama Imelda or even Papa Hector. Neither would have even thought of allowing this."

" And you do?" Now he was more than curious.

" Mi mama is a good woman, and while I do not agree with some of the things she says or does...she is still mi mama. I don't know if you'd understand, but there it is." Said Victoria. "She will be here tomorrow, so please don't say anything that could upset her."

Ernesto sat down, and leaned against the bell. He isn't particularly sure about seeing her again, especially since there's only so much he can really say to her. What does one say to the daughter of the man you killed? Or even to his granddaughter? Still, that quip about doing things for mothers, that makes him chuckle slightly. Because he remembers his mother, and she died a long, long time ago when he was ten years old. Before, he would play his guitar for food for the two of them or even money. He knows what it means to want to do something for his mother. Even so, he never was one to just lay down and make things easy for people.

" I will, but you have to do something first." He replied.

" Depends, what is it you want?" She asked.

" Sing for me." He replied, it's been so long, since he's heard music. Outside, Victoria paused, she had grown up without music...had lived and died under the music ban, and while Mama Imelda had taken it away, it was still strange and foreign to sing at all. Still, if it meant that Ernesto would be civil and not hurt her mother? She would do it for her.

" Any requests?"

" Nothing matters to me at this point." He replied with a shrug. Victoria looked back at the bell, when she remembered the song her Mama once sang to her, when she was in the hospital. Elena had gone with Mama Imelda and their papa, and it was just the two of them alone. Her mama had taken her hand, and sang to her before kissing her forehead. Softly, she sang " A la nanita nana nanita ella, nanita ella, Mi niña tiene sueño bendito sea, bendito sea"

Ernesto slowly began to sit up straighter, he'd heard this lullaby once before. It had been relatively new, having come out only two years before his mother died. Even so, it's a tune he remembers well. Just before she died, she'd held his hand and sang it softly...and without, even thinking he began to sing.

"A la nanita nana, nanita ea, nanita ea, mi niño tiene sueño bendito sea, bendito sea." He sang softly, along with her. The two of them sitting there, harmonizing as they sung the lullaby together.

"- A la nanita nana, nanita ea, nanita ea, mi niña/o tiene sueño, bendito sea, bendito sea." They finished softly, Ernesto sighed softly.

" Thank you." He replied softly. Victoria nodded, before standing up. " I will uphold my end of the deal."

" Gracias," Said Victoria softly before turning and walking away. Ernesto heard her footsteps walk away, when he heard other footsteps coming and he wondered if maybe it was Hector, or maybe even Imelda.

"Ernesto?" Came a voice he hadn't heard in years. Immediately, he crossed over to the other side of the bell, where his mother's voice could be heard. Immediately, his hands were pressed against the metal, and brown eyes looked at the dark space. Wishing to God that he could see her somehow, except there was nothing but darkness. " I heard everything."

" Mama, I-"

"No mijo, listen...I was so proud of you, and what you'd become. Mi hijo, Ernesto de la Cruz, the greatest musician of all time. I was remembered as the mother of a great man...but now, I am remembered as the mother of a murderer. Now I am filled with nothing but shame." She said, in a soft heartbroken voice, that sounded like she was almost in tears. Ernesto shook his head and immediately tried to lift the bell so he could get to her...but he couldn't. " Mijo, why? What led you to this?"

"Mama, please entiende me por favor. I did what I had to do so...to seize my moment,"

"So mastastes a alguien?" She retorted incredulously. "Hector was someone's son, he was a father, and Miguel...he had a mother too, a family. Did you not care about any of that? Ay mijo, do you know how I would have felt if it had been the other way around? If someone had poisoned you, and left you to die somewhere? I would have felt my soul break. So imagine how Hector's family felt, how Miguel's family would have felt. Why would you cause such heartache?"

" Because I needed Hector's songs mama! I couldn't continue without them. I couldn't write anything, and he could...I...I wanted to play for the world, and he wanted to go home. Back to what it was like before, but mama...it was easy for him. He had Imelda and Coco, I had no one. No one would have wanted me. You and papa were dead, all I had was music to fall back on. I...couldn't go back. I would not go back. " Said Ernesto, before shaking his head and clenching his hands into fists. " Mama...I had to."

" What you did, was unforgivable." Said his mother, and if he still had a heart he would feel a knife go through it. He shook his head and sunk to his knees. "Now, I have no son."

" No,no mama por favor perdoname, por favor." Said Ernesto as he began to cry.

" No, Ernesto...ya estoy cansada, and I don't want to hear anymore." Said his mother, when he heard her footsteps.

"Mama, dejame explicarme, mama! I did what I had to, please don't leave me! Not again! Why...why does everyone want to leave me? Mama?! Mama!"

"Senor De la Cruz!"

Ernesto woke up, and gasped as he'd been asleep this whole time. He wiped the tears from his eyes, when he heard a scraping noise. Then, there was a small source of light, as some of the dirt had been cleared away. A thin bony hand slipped through, and gently held his comfortingly/ He sighed and with his other slicked his hair back before wiping his face.

" I don't suppose you heard all that?" He asked softly.

" I'd decided to stay a little longer, and was ready to go when I heard you." Said Victoria, her voice soft and gentle almost like a mother. " Do you always have nightmares?"

" No." He said removing his hand from hers, and hugging his knees close to his chest, as he sat there. He would not show weakness to a Rivera, not to Hector's family hell not to his granddaughter of all people. Not to the woman who was Miguel's grandmother, he shook his head and sighed softly. " Just go home to your family, I'm sure they are waiting for you."

Victoria glanced at the bell, she'd heard him crying out for his mother...had even heard his whole reason for poisoning her grandfather and causing her grandmother and mother immeasurable pain and anguish. None of which excused what he did. It didn't excuse him from almost killing Miguel, it didn't excuse him for stealing Hector's songs, it didn't excuse him for killing Hector, none of that was excused. Except it made her understand him a little more, behind his anger...behind the selfish greed, behind the tough exterior he was a sad and lonely man. She sat down and leaned against the bell looking up at the sky with big brown eyes.

" Do you want to know how I died?" She asked, though she received no answer, even so she continued. " My mama and papa only had me and my sister, we grew up not hearing music but mama used to tell us beautiful stories. We worked at the zapateria, and loved every minute of it, my sister idolized Mama Imelda meanwhile I idolized my mama. She loved both of us but...sometimes I like to think I was her secret favorite. Then one day, we were much older. She found a man named Franco and I found a man named Armando. Franco and Elena, had three children, Berto, Enrique, and Gloria...and I had none despite trying and trying. But then...we found out I would never have children. Armando left and...I was left with such sorrow. I remember being so jealous of my sister, for having the family I always wanted...we even had a fight...that night, I suffered a stroke, and died...I never got to tell her I was sorry. "

" And do you think she has forgiven you?" Asked Ernesto softly, as he'd heard the tale.

" I know she has, after all family always forgives each other." Said Victoria with a smile, " Even if it takes death to do it. Your mama, wherever she may be will never stop being your mother. She only has one you, and no matter what you do, she will never leave you. Death cannot stop el amor, it can only delay it for a little bit. I know I will see my sister again, and when I see her I will apologize. Where is your mother?"

" Gone. " Said Ernesto, his voice soft and defeated. " I was born in Santa Cecilia in 1897, times were very hard for our family, my fater loved the drink you see...and it came first before everything...even his family. He even lost his job because of it. Then one day, he lost his life. I was only five years old, when my father was taken from me...he'd been fighting at a bar and someone had pulled a knife on him. My mother...she was sickly, always sick, but she still tried hard every single day she worked to give me what I needed. She sold tortillas and other foods on the street, while I played the guitar. Then one day, I met Hector and...we became best friends. When I was ten years old my mother died, and I lived with Hector's family from then on...I never put up an ofrenda for my mother...tried to forget her..to me forgetting was better than remembering."

Victoria turned away sadly, then that meant that Ernesto's mother had long since passed on to the final death. The same that almost took her grandfather. She can hear Ernesto crying now.

" I didn't mean to kill Hector I...he was leaving me! I needed his songs, I needed his talent...and he wanted to go home...but I had nothing to go home too. Performing for others, the admiration was my life...it was all I had." He said, before looking over his shoulder. " You understand don't you? He left me, and I didn't want to have to go back to the life I had before...at least when I was rich and famous I was happy."

"Yes, I do understand, but Sr. De-"

"Ernesto"

"Ernesto, I understand where you're coming from...I felt the same way when Elena had children, how dare someone else have what you want...but that wasn't right. you could have gone back with Hector. You could have had a new family, maybe even become famous another way...but that is the past and we cannot change it no matter how hard we try or how much we want to. But we can try to make amends." Said Victoria, Ernesto buried his face in his hands as her words rang loud and clear in her mind. An idea formed in Victoria's mind as she stood. Ernesto wasn't a bad man, it was just selfish greed that had gotten him to where he was, mixed with abandonment issues and jealousy..well...he could start at the beginning.

" And I will give you a chance."

"What?" He asked.

"Mama wants to talk to you anyway, this way she doesn't have to go too far. Besides, think of this as the living say 'community service'. It's not as if you're doing anything or anyone any good under that bell. You will come work for us at the zapateria." Said Victoria, Ernesto immediately scoffed and looked practically offended.

" Just because we had one conversation, does not mean we are friends." Said Ernesto, making Victoria lift an eyebrow.

" Who said anything about being friends? I am doing this because I believe you have potential, to do better and because I understand you a little more now. Maybe, since making shoes helped Mama Imelda when Hector left, it can help you too. Unless you want to be stuck under the bell for the rest of your existance." Said Victoria, Ernesto thought about it. He still didn't like her or her family, even if he did feel some sympathy for how she died. Still she has a pint, it's better than being trapped in here for the rest of his days. " Well?"

" Fine." He says, when the bell is removed and his eyes widened when he saw the big cat alebrije that put him in here in the first place. He cried out, before hiding behind Victoria as the bell drops down. "Uh n-nice kitty."

" Her name is Pepita." Said Victoria, as Pepita stood. She went over, and got on her back, slowly Ernesto climbed behind her even as the alebrije growled at him. Victoria turned Ernesto with a straight face. " Now, I have not told anyone else about this, so...I will have to explain this to them first."

" Que?!" Exclaimed Ernesto, before screaming and clinging onto Victoria for dear life, as Pepita took off with a roar before they were at the Zapateria, which was also functioning as the Rivera Family home. Once they landed, Victoria unlatched Ernesto's arms from her waist before gracefully getting off of Pepita, whilst Ernesto toppled over with his calavera a slight tinge of green. Victoria shook her head, well they'd have to get him used to that. She motioned to Pepita to watch over him, before going inside...now came the hardest part.