"I Might Know a Way"
One shot focusing on Miguel and the dead Riveras meeting up with Frida Kahlo so she can sneak them into the concert.
All rights belong to Pixar.
The dead Riveras and Miguel climbed onto Pepita's back, taking off into the skies. No one spoke a word as they all had two things in mind: save Héctor and get Miguel home before he turned into a skeleton. For the moment, Miguel remained tight-lipped on the plan, not even telling Mama Imelda. Imelda took her place at Pepita's head, mulling over what was happening.
"Mama Imelda, are you ok?" asked Rosita.
"I'm fine, why?" Imelda answered, her voice dripping with ice.
"You're shaking," Victoria responded.
Imelda scooted closer to the front, gripping Pepita's wings with all her might. Rosita and Victoria shared a look of concern. Imelda never behaved like this before. Nor had Imelda kept secrets from anyone before.
"Okay, better let me go first," said Héctor when they landed at Frida's apartment.
Hector removed his hand, sending it up to the window and tapping on the glass.
"Hola, Ceci! I'm back!" yelled Héctor.
"Héctor, this better be good! I've got to get these dresses over to Frida!" she yelled at him.
"Trust me, it is!" he yelled back. "I need your help with something though! Can I come in?
Sighing in annoyance, Ceci nodded before setting the ladder down.
"Now, Héctor, what in the name of Santa Maria is going on?" said Ceci as she turned and startled at the sight of all the Riveras in the room. "And who are all these people?" she said, gesturing to each skeleton.
"Tías Victoria, Rosita, Papa Julio, Tíos Felipe, Oscar, and Dante!" Miguel responded, pointing out his family one by one. Ceci stood back in shock, looking at Miguel before collapsing into a nearby chair.
"Buenas tardes, Imelda," Ceci said as she nodded to Imelda. Turning to Miguel, Ceci quickly addressed with professional courtesy. "You must be that living boy I heard about. What are you doing here? In the Land of the Dead?"
"Por favor, Senora Ceci, I want to go home." Said Miguel "But I need your help. Do you know where Frida is?"
Taking a sharp breath, Ceci pointed to the backroom. "She's getting ready to leave for the Sunrise Spectacular. If you hurry, you might catch her." Nodding, Miguel and the others took off running towards the backroom, Hector being the last one.
"Gracias Ceci! Te debo!" shouted Héctor as he raced backstage with the others.
"You still owe me a missing dress, Héctor!" she shouted after him.
Miguel ran fast backstage, hoping that he could catch Frida in time before she left for the show.
"Miguel, what is this? What are we doing?" asked Victoria.
"Trust me, if anyone can get us to de la Cruz, it's Frida." Replied Miguel as he knocked on a dressing room door labeled F. Kahlo. "Frida, are you there? It's Miguel! The boy you met earlier."
Frida answered the door, her face lighting up at the sight of seeing Miguel again. Without any hesitation, she invited the family in.
"Muchacho, what are you doing here? I thought you were looking for your abuelo." Frida asked.
"I was Frida, but I need your help." Said, Miguel, as he began telling the true story of de la Cruz and what had happened with Héctor. Frida listened before letting out a shocked gasp. She shot a glance towards Héctor, who had started shimmering again.
"Dios mío," Frida muttered. "I can't believe it. Ernesto and I worked together for decades. If I had known..."
"We need to sneak into the Spectacular without getting caught by de la Cruz's security guards. Can you help us?"
Eyeing the group, Frida nodded. "Sí, I can do that. Come with me, I can dress you all as me and sneak you in as dancers."
Gesturing to a pile of extra dresses, the Riveras grabbed a few out of the pile and starting putting them on. But soon, it became too much for Héctor as he started shimmering again, almost collapsing on top of Miguel.
"Héctor, siéntate," ordered Imelda as she struggled to get her Frida wig on. "And no you're not helping me."
The other members of the family readied their costumes and makeup on. Frida went around to double check to make sure each family member up to standard.
"Muy bien," Frida said as she readjusted Rosita's wig. "Now, we can sneak you into the papaya so you can emerge with the dancers. Don't worry, they're aware of what's happening and won't be ratas."
"Muchos gracias, Frida." Said Miguel.
"De nada, muchacho," replied Frida. "Now let's get you into that papaya and get you ready."
With the help of Héctor and Frida, everyone climbed into the papaya, stopping only to thank Frida. As Imelda prepared to climb into the papaya, Frida grabbed Imelda's wrist.
"Don't be too hard on him, Señora," she whispered. "Deja pasar lo posado.
If the ride to Ceci's had been awkward, the ride to the Sunrise Spectacular was even worse. Crammed into a papaya, the Riveras had been contemplating the whole evening. Meeting a relative from the living world, having him disappear and later reappear in a cenote. It had been one crazy evening with one mishap after another.
Héctor had noticed that Imelda had been silent, not saying a word. Whatever Frida had said earlier to Imelda, it had struck a nerve.
"You alright, mi amor?" Héctor whispered.
"Si," Imelda replied with venom.
"Do you want to talk-?"
"No," Imelda said as she crawled over to another place in the papaya.
Miguel watched the interaction with sadness. What had happened between them before he arrived in the Land of the Dead must have been an ongoing issue for decades. Hopefully, once he got Héctor's photo on the offrenda, things could be all right again, Miguel thought.
Looking back towards her, Miguel saw Mama Imelda wiping her eyes in an attempt to stop tears from falling. It didn't work. Miguel crawled over and hugged her, feeling her fall apart, shaking with silent tears. For the members of the dead Rivera family, this was quite a shock, as they had never seen Imelda fall apart like this. Not since Victoria had died suddenly years ago or when Imelda's parents had disowned her. Nodding in agreement, Rosita and Victoria crawled over to the crying matriarch.
Rosita grabbed her mother-in-law's shaking hands and squeezed them. Victoria had taken to placing herself behind her grandmother, stroking her hair. The others watched, shocked at what they were witnessing. At one point, Héctor made to get up to sit near his estranged wife, but one sharp look from Julio and the twins had him sitting back down in defeat. After a few tense minutes, Imelda's tears began to slow down as Rosita helped clean her tear-stained face. With a shaky breath, Imelda wiped her eyes and made her way over to the hole in the front of the papaya. Sending everyone a stern look, Imelda began talking in a hoarse whisper.
"We're almost there," Imelda said. "I want everyone to be silent so we don't run the risk of descubrimiento by de la Cruz's security. Entendido?"
Nodding, the family agreed as the bus drove towards the backstage entrance. Soon after the bus stopped and the papaya was lifted and put down on the ground.
"You sure this is everything, Señora Kahlo?" asked a muffled voice.
"Sí now let's move and get this onstage. We open in 30 minutes and it's not the Sunrise Spectacular without mi!"