Esteban couldn't believe his eyes, but there she was. Shuriki cackled as she walked into the dining room, the doors slamming shut behind her with a wave of her wand.
"Miss me?" the sorceress smirked as she looked around the room at the family's shocked expressions.
"How did you get in here?" Elena demanded, standing from her seat. Fire burned in her eyes. "Where are the guards?"
"You really think those incompetent buffoons were any match for me?" Shuriki said with a roll of her eyes. She grabbed Francisco's fork from his hand, finishing his bite for him. "I really miss a good home-cooked meal."
Isabel made a break for it while Shuriki was momentarily distracted, but the witch was too clever for that. She snapped her wand out, the young girl freezing in place.
"ISABEL!" Elena screamed, going to her sister.
"No no no, this can't be happening," Esteban fretted under his breath as Shuriki made her way around the table.
"You've caused enough trouble for our family, now get out!" Luisa shouted angrily, Francisco putting his hand over hers in fear.
"Is that any way to treat an invited guest?" Shuriki tsked, taking a seat beside Esteban.
"What are you doing?" the chancellor whispered to her. "You're supposed to be dead!"
"I didn't care too much for that outcome, so I decided to stay alive."
"Who invited you?!" asked Elena, still hugging her sister.
"Your cousin," Shuriki shrugged casually, taking Esteban's plate from him and finishing his breakfast for him.
"WHAT!" Esteban jumped up out of his seat, backing away from her. "I did nothing of the sort!"
"Cousin, what is she talking about?" Elena asked him, a hurt look in her eyes. "Did you really invite her?"
"No, of course not!"
"Yes, he did actually. Sure it was forty-one years ago, but I figured the invite was still good," the witch laughed.
"How could you do that to us?" Luisa asked him tearfully.
"No, you don't understand!" Esteban pleaded with them, backing away as his family surrounded him. "I didn't mean for her to hurt any of you!"
"You killed my parents!" Elena growled at him before shoving him in the chest. "You destroyed our family!"
Years of guilt weighed heavily on him, his heart physically aching. "No, no, please, I didn't-"
"You should die too!" their grandparents said in eerie unison.
"Please, no, you must believe me!" Esteban continued to beg, falling to his knees even as they all surrounded him. "I love all of you, I didn't want any of this to happen!"
"Cousin, I have no choice," Elena said darkly. "For your acts of treason, I sentence you to death!"
Her words cut him like a sharp knife, Esteban suddenly feeling himself getting dragged away from them. He stretched his arm out towards his family, screaming for them until everything went black.
When he could see again, Esteban found himself at the guillotine. Everyone in Avalor had seemingly showed up, cheering for his demise. Elena's friends took turns throwing rotten vegetables at him. The executioner shoved him into place, Esteban taking a weary look around. He thought he saw his aunt and uncle, Elena and Isabel's parents, in the crowd giving him a disappointed look before turning their backs on him.
"You brought this upon yourself, you know," Esteban heard the executioner say.
He struggled to turn his face to see the person that was going to be in charge of beheading him. He gasped when he saw his own face looking down on him. "You're your own worst enemy," Esteban's clone told him. "You're going to be the death of yourself with all this guilt eating you up."
"How is this-" Esteban got cut short when Shuriki appeared, waving her wand to magically seal his lips shut.
"Oh get on with it, I can't stand to hear his pathetic blabbing," she said with a yawn. The other Esteban nodded and released the guillotine blade. The audience erupted into cheering as Esteban struggled in vain to escape, the cool breeze of the blade gracing his neck right before-
"I think he's waking up."
Esteban's eyes cracked open, his head swimming as the view in front of him came into focus.
"Oh thank goodness," he heard his grandmother say, just barely registering that she was sitting beside him. "I was going to be really worried if this lasted another day."
The blurry figures straightened themselves out. His family was around him, looking at him with an uncomfortable amount of interest. Panic overwhelmed him and he let out a scream, scrambling to get away from them.
"Get away from me, get awa-AHHH!" Esteban's face greeted the cold floor of his bedroom, the rest of him tangled up in his own bedsheets.
"Whoa, I did not need, or want, to see that," he heard Isabel say before Elena commented on how this was unfortunately the second time she had seen her cousin in his boxers.
"Calm down, nieto," Francisco said as he helped drag the disoriented man back into bed, Luisa fluffing up his pillows for him.
"You must have been having some dream," his grandmother said as he patted a cool rag over Esteban's forehead.
"I'm not dead?" Esteban asked them right before he felt his stomach lurch. His grandfather handed him a bucket just in time for him to vomit.
"I told you I didn't think Gabe cooked that enchilada meat long enough at the picnic," Isabel said.
"Well I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose," Elena replied.
Enchiladas? Picnic? Ah yes, it was all coming back to him. They'd had a family cook-out and Lieutenant Nunez had put himself in charge of cooking, insisting that he knew a special family recipe.
"Are you telling me I have food poisoning?" Esteban asked in a very unamused voice, still keeping his arms wrapped around the bucket.
"I did try to warn you but you were too hungry to listen to me," Isabel told him.
"And you were the only one who ate them," Francisco added. "I have never seen anyone go down so fast after eating bad food before."
"Gabe said he's very sorry and promises to never cook again," Elena smiled nervously. "Also he said please not fire him when you get to feeling better."
Esteban felt too sick to even roll his eyes. At the same time, he was too relieved to discover that he had only been having a nightmare earlier to even be mad about this. "Why are you all in my room?"
"You've been out with a fever for well over a day, sweetheart," Luisa answered him, patting one of his hands. "We were all concerned for you."
He looked around at the four of them. "You...were?"
"Of course we were," Elena said softly. "You're family. We look out for each other."
"I'm glad you're not dead, Esteban," Isabel said, giving her older cousin a hug. She pulled back after a second and held her nose. "Ugh, even if you do smell like a dead rat."
"Isabel," their grandmother lightly scolded her while Elena held a laugh back behind her hand.
"It is all right, abuela, I feel like a dead rat," Esteban couldn't help but smile lightly himself. "I could, uh, use a hot bath actually."
"Well, there's our cue to leave," Francisco chuckled. "Glad you are feeling better."
"I'll send the servants up to draw the water and change the sheets," Luisa said, kissing Esteban's forehead despite his acting like he didn't want it. "Hoo, you do smell like a dead rat, sweetie."
"My finest hour," Esteban said dourly as everyone filed out of his bedchambers. He allowed himself to smile once he was alone. He didn't know why he ever doubted that his family loved him.
After having a much-needed a bath and getting the bed turned down, Esteban sighed as he relaxed back against his clean pillows. His eyes had only been shut for a few moments when he opened them again. He thought he felt something on his bed. Someone from the kitchen staff probably let a stray cat in that was now loose in the castle. It wouldn't be the first time.
He barely got a yawn out before a hand grabbed his throat, nails digging into the soft flesh there. A wrangled gasp made its way out of him, his hands trying to pry the attacker off of him. A soft glow of light illuminated the unwelcome visitor.
"Well look at you," Shuriki growled as she tightened her grip. "Warm and snug, not a care in the world, when you should be in the river alongside me."
Esteban was only able to let out a wordless croak in response.
"How long do you think this will last, my pet?" the evil sorceress asked him. She was on top of him, straddling his waist. "Keeping up this charade that you are but an innocent victim in your family's tragic past? They may love you now, but once they learn the truth, you'll be dead to them." Her lips curled into a cold smirk. "I'll save you the pain and heartache of seeing your family's faces when they learn of your betrayal by killing you right here, right now."
He was frozen, unable to move. No matter how hard he fought, it didn't seem to do any good. Perhaps he should die. Just give up.
"It's such a pity too. I rather enjoyed our time together. How about we have a round for old time's sake before I kill your family for good?" she winked. "You know you want to."
"NOOOO!" With renewed strength, Esteban flew up to a sitting position, his arms stretched outwards to shove her off.
Only there was no one there.
Esteban breathed heavily, shaking as he glanced around his room. There was just enough moonlight coming through his window to allow him to see that he was definitely alone. Esteban put a hand over his chest, his heart nearly bursting out of it. He was covered in a cold sweat, so he got up, using the wall as support to make his way over to his wash basin. Once he washed his face, he went back to bed, curling up on his side.
His family would hate him if they knew. He hated himself for it, so why would they feel any different about it? He couldn't cause them anymore pain, he wouldn't. There was no need in them knowing that the darkest time of their lives happened because of him. His secret was going to have to get buried with him, even if it wound up being responsible for putting him in an early grave from all the stress.
He was just as alone now as he had been the last forty-one years.