What Could Have Been
To all readers; Due to everyone's suggestions and reviews telling me they'd like to see La Muerte helping Xibalba raise Marigold, and so I'd decided to make a quick another one-shots story. However, this is only a 'what could habe been' type of story and is not to be considered cannon with Tears of Despair and Joy.
Well, enjoy! :)
Xibalba winced as his wife nearly crushed his hand when another contraction came. While gentle, loving and tender, La Muerte had the hidden strength of a thousand raging bulls when angry. This time, however, it was not anger that brought it out. It was their baby, their first and probably only child, who was ready to come into the world after nine months in her mother's womb.
"I'm here, mi amor, I'm right here with you…"Xibalba whispered softly to his wife, wincing when she nearly crushed his hand once more. "Keep breathing…"
La Muerte was covered in sugary sweat, tears of pain forming in the corners of her eyes, her grip on her husband's hand unwillingly squeezed every time a contraction came. "Balby… Please…" she managed to speak between pants. "Stay with me…"
"Leave it all to me!" the Candlemaker popped into the room, cheerful as ever.
La Muerte was far in too much pain to even care, but Xibalba wasn't.
"Pero que demo-?! How did you know her water broke?! Do you even know what you're doing?!" he snapped.
"Uh…" The Candlemaker thought for a moment, trying to find the words to answer both questions. "…Well, you two appeared in the Book of Life like this a few seconds ago, and… Well, I'm not happy to say I've more or less seen how mortals bring babies to the world."
"I'm not going to kill him, I'm not going to kill him. I'M SO GOING TO KILL HIM!" Xibalba mentally grit his teeth, glaring daggers at the Candlemaker as the latter approached the bed.
"Okay, you're supposed to breath slooowly, when you push, don't stop breathing, and you should only push when the stimulation is strong." When La Muerte let out another scream of pain at another contraction, the Candlemaker clapped his hands. "Yeah, just like that!
La Muerte screamed in pain yet again. Xibalba used his free hand to stroke his wife's head in comfort. "Hold on, mi amor!"
"Yeah, I'll be rooting up for you!" the Candlemaker made a foam finger appear on his hand.
Before Xibalba could attack the Candlemaker, the doors of La Muerte's chambers opened and Carmen ran in, followed by the Adelita twins, and other female Remembered carrying towels and clean sheets.
"Now what?!" Xibalba cried out in frustration as he glanced at the Remembered.
"This is not something that concerns you men!" Carmen snapped. "You're just getting her nervous! Go out and leave this to us!"
"Come on, we're only helping!" the Candlemaker replied.
That's when La Muerte had enough. "Balby… Candlemaker…" she spoke as softly as she could.
Both men turned around to see her. "Yes?"
Then she yelled at the top of her lungs. "GET OUT!"
Xibalba and the Candlemaker had embraced each other in fright. "O-ok…" Both blurted out simultaneously and sped out of the chambers before she had another outburst.
2 hours later
"Hey, Balby, how are you?"
Xibalba stiffened when the Candlemaker used the childhood nickname he only let his wife use on him, but he was far too nervous and worried to care right now. They were kicked out of the room, and all they could hear were La Muerte's screams.
"How do you think?!" the dark god snapped with sharp teeth. "My own wife kicked me out and I don't know what's going on in there!"
"Calm down, it's not that bad!"
"How can I stay calm?! La Muerte is giving birth!"
The screams made him jump, and then the whimpers, caused him to become still and pale. Wherever any of the Remembered came out of the room to go and fetch more clean sheets or water, the twins would close the doors before he could get a peek inside, much to his frustration.
Can I… Go in?
Is La Muerte alright?
Are they alright?
Boy or girl?
Can I go in?
What color is the baby's eyes? The hair?
Are there any complications?
Can I go in?
What's going on in there?
Why won't you let me in?
CAN I PLEASE GO IN?!
Those questions were tearing Xibalba apart ever since Carmen and La Muerte kicked them out. After what seemed an eternity of pacing in front of the doors, Xibalba froze when he heard a baby cry echoing from within the room. Before he could dash in, however, someone opened the door and walked out. It was Carmen. She looked up at the dark god with a smile.
"Congratulations. You have a healthy, beautiful girl."
"A g-girl?" Xibalba was trembling, but not out of dread. Before he was even told he could, he flew into the room. The bed was a mess, and the Remembered were cleaning up, but his eyes were set on his wife. Even with her hair a mess, her face sweaty and her eyes teary, she was still beautiful.
However, the center of his attention was the small pink bundle on her arms. He approached his wife warily, the least thing he wanted was to make her angry. But when she looked up at him, she was smiling.
"Balby…" she whispered with a warmth and tenderness he hadn't heard before (not this much, at least). "There's someone who wants to meet you."
Xibalba glided to the side of the bed and sat on his knees, leaning forward to take a look at his newborn child. Her skin was made of sugar, just like her mother, with a few golden swirls on her chubby cheeks. Her hair was an elegant raven black, also inherited from her mother. The little one was tightly wrapped in a pink blanket, suckling from her mother's chest, clearly enjoying her first meal.
Xibalba found himself smiling. He felt something wet in the corners of his eyes, but he didn't mind it. La Muerte giggled when she noticed what was going on.
"Balby, are you crying?" she asked between giggles. This was the first time she saw him like this.
"No, there's something in my eyes…" Xibalba simply said. Tears of joy streamed down his cheeks as he kissed his wife's forehead; he reached out to stroke the little one's cheek lovingly. "She's beautiful, just like you." The baby stopped nursing and snuggled into her mother's arms. "I'm glad she looks more like you, mi amor."
"She's got trains from you too, you know." La Muerte replied softly.
"Up to now, I've only seen your hair and your fair skin on her, my dear."
Rolling her eyes, but smiling nonetheless, she removed a bit of the blanket and exposed a small, feathered wing of a charcoal color with golden tips.
"She has your wings silly." La Muerte laughed at her husband's stunned face.
"I can' wait to teach her how to fly" Xibalba chuckled, before starting to play with his daughter's fingers.
La Muerte noticed the look on Xibalba's eyes. "Would you like to hold her, Balby?"
"M-me?" he gulped. "I don't know…"
She smiled. "Here."
"W-Wait!"
The baby was in his arms before he knew it. It was not that he didn't want to, he was just afraid to drop her or something. La Muerte pushed his arms up.
"There, hold her close to you, that way she feels safe."
She let out a big sneeze, before opening her eyes slightly to see who was holding her. There was not a sign of fright on her face as her vision cleared momentarily and she glimpsed at her father for the first time. Xibalba just couldn't get his skull pupils of his baby's eyes –which turned out to be red pupils with green sclera, the same color as his- as he stared talking to her. "Hola, bebita. Soy papi. Me recuerdas?" The baby looked up at her father; she knew that voice. She had vague memories of it, when she was back inside her mother's body. The baby gave her father a small, toothless smile and reached out her arms to touch his cheeks.
"You do remember me, don't you, mijita?" Xibalba smiled tenderly at her as he planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he returned her to her mother. "La Muerte, look, she has my eyes."
La Muerte managed to catch a glimpse of the baby's eyes before she buried her face into her chest. "Told ya." She smirked teasingly at her husband.
Xibalba didn't mind. He got on top of the bed and wrapped his arms around his wife's body, pulling both her and his newborn baby close to him, before embracing them with his wings. La Muerte snuggled into Xibalba's embrace and rested her head against his chest; the both of them were looking down at their child lovingly as she shifted in her covers, closing and opening her little mouth.
Xibalba kissed La Muerte's cheek and ran his hand through her hair. "Thanks for giving me this gift, mi amor." He whispered into her ear.
"You're welcome, mi vida." La Muerte replied gently.
Their newborn, still nameless daughter was looking up at her parents with wide and curious eyes.
"Hola, pequeña." La Muerte smiled down at her little one. "I'm your mami, and this is your papi."
The baby reached out her hand and held unto her father's beard, curiously trying to figure out what it was made of. Xibalba smiled tenderly as he stroked his daughter's cheek with his gloved hand.
"She likes you, Balby." La Muerte giggled, stroking her husband's cheek. Xibalba blushed, and planted a kiss on his wife's forehead before both looked down at their child once more. The baby left her father's beard alone and now targeted one of her mother's many locks of black hair, gurgling and cooing.
"How should we name her, mi amor?" Xibalba inquired, snuggling his wife deeply into his embrace.
"How about…" La Muerte rested her head against Xibalba's chest and stroked her baby's head gently. "Marigold?"
"Marigold…" Xibalba repeated. Like the flower. "It's perfect." He looked down at the baby lovingly. "Our little Marigold…"
The newly-named Marigold yawned and snuggled deeply into her mother's embrace, calmed by her heartbeat. La Muerte suddenly felt her eyelids heavy when watching her child sleep; she was exhausted over childbirth and labor pains, she wanted to take a little nap.
"You should take a little nap, mi amor." Xibalba told her gently, accommodating her pillows to make her more comfortable.
"But Balby, what about Marigold-?" La Muerte was interrupted when he placed a finger over her lips.
"You need to rest, mi corazón. Don't worry about Marigold, I'll look after her."
Despite her protests, La Muerte handed over her precious baby to her husband, and lay back on her pillows. As soon as she felt the softness of the cushions on her back, La Muerte fell asleep with a smile of joy and satisfaction. Xibalba returned the smile as he pulled her sheet over her with one hand, while holding Marigold in the other carefully; the dark god then bent down and kissed his wife's cheek softly. "Que duermas bien, mi corazón."
When he was certain she was asleep, he cradled Marigold in his arms and looked down at her wriggling little body as he went and sat down on La Muerte's rocking chair (she bought it for when the baby was born). Suddenly, Marigold started to sob and her little face distorted into a frown.
"Sh-sh-sh-sh." Xibalba cooed, carefully bouncing Marigold in his hands. Just then, he noticed she was very small; in fact, so much he swore he could hold her whole body in one hand. "Ya, ya, ya, princesa. Papi's here, papi's got you." Thankfully, Marigold calmed down at the sound of his voice, and snuggled into his warm, protective arms. Xibalba sighed in relief as he leaned against the back of the rocking chair and swayed it with his wings.
"Well, I guess it's just you and me for a while, mi florecita."