A/n: I do not own Coco or any of its characters


Chapter 1: La Llorona

There were two places that Miguel was told never to go to as a child. One was the Mariachi Plaza where music filled the air and at the time was forbidden due to his great-great abuelta's banishment of the glorious sound. The other was El Río de La Llorona, the river of the Weeping Woman. When música was welcomed back within the house, the river was not.

The river was said to be cursed by a spirit from years ago way before Mamá Imelda and Papá Héctor were even born. It was said that La Llorona was a woman named Maria who was born to a small poor family near the river. Even though she did not have the wealth, she was blessed with beauty instead. Her beauty caught the attention of both the wealthy and poor men of Santa Cecilia. During the day, she spent her time with the poor while in the evening she wore a long flowing white gown to thrill the men who deeply admire her at small gatherings in the plaza. Though one man did manage to capture her heart. He gave her his heart and spoiled her with lavish gifts. She fell in love and she married him that following summer still wearing that white gown.

As years went by, Maria fell more in love with the man. She bore him two sons who were able to carry on their proud name. She was living her fairy tale dream. But one day, Maria noticed that he had started to change. The lavish gifts had stopped and he was never home. He would go out chasing women and come home after months being away drunk, the smell of tequila radiating from his skin. His time away from home would grow longer and longer leaving Maria to grow depressed and lonely for the man did not seem to care for her anymore. She would walk in on him telling their sons that he was to leave her for a more wealthy woman and to stay away from the poor. It broke her heart and she then started to grow jealous of her sons.

One day, Maria took her sons on a walk along the river. She let the boys walk ahead of her as her lonely heart pushed them away from her. Her husband riding an extravagant carriage with a woman at his side pulled up to them. She expected that perhaps he would notice her but as it has been for years, he only talked to them. A burning rage pulled at her heart as the carriage pulled away. The boys stopped as they waited for their mother not knowing what was going to happen to them. Maria charged at them in a jealous rage and tossed them into the river. Once they both faded into the stream, Maria realized what she had done and climbed towards the bank only to find that it was too late. She had killed her sons. In a wave of grief, Maria ran from the river, screaming and wailing about her sons.

Maria, heartbroken and sick with grief from her actions stood by the river day and night, mourning for her sons and prayed that they would come back to her. Her white gown grown torn and stained as she knelt along the river praying for her sons. Maria refused to eat, growing thin as if she was a walking skeleton. On the day of her death, Maria was found walking near the water's edge, her wailing filled the nighttime air. Her body weak from exhaustion and grief, Maria fell into the river and died. When she woke up she was at the gates of the Land of the Dead, her heart weeping for joy because at last, she had a chance to see her sons. But the guards told her that her sons were not there out of fear of her rage towards them. Heartbroken, Maria turned her back away from the Land of the Dead and crossed the Marigold bridge to become a spirit of the land.

It was said that walks along the river still wailing about her sons at night. She began weeping and wailing filled the air and became the curse of the night. People began to refuse to go out at night and children had gone missing when they were seen walked along or near the river. Rumored to have been killed by La Llorona and their bodies were never found again.

Miguel shutters as his Abuelita tells them the story of La Llorona before they left the plazá. His skin crawled as he remembered when Mamá Imelda sang about the myth at the Sunlight concert on Dia de La Muertos . Cocorita giggled at the end with her naive childish sense of the world. She would never believe his story even if he tried. She would never believe what he had experienced almost two years ago with his familia. From bringing music and the memory of their great-great-grandfather back into their lives to the downfall of De La Cruz. She would be the first Rivera child to grow up never knowing what is like to not have music. Perhaps the Land of the Dead and Vitamins, the story La Llorona would be nothing more than a myth.

In a world where stories like vitamins and the Land of the Dead were real, Miguel really hoped that the story about La Llorona one was not.

"Now Cocoita, listen to me. Stay by my side, comprede?" Miguel looks down to his little sister holding her hand tightly as he adjusted the strap of the white ivory guitar on his back, "There are a lot of people out there and the last thing I need to for you to be lost."

"Si... si Miguel," Cocoita replied happily as he skips alongside him. She loved it when it was plazá de música day. A day where she could leave the comforts of the casa and spend time with her big brother and listen to him play their Papá Hèctor and his own music. It was her favorite time of the week and she even desired to be a músico like him one day. A silly childhood dream. "I'll be right next to you."

"Good." Miguel grins as he stops to hear the music filling the air of the plazá, colorful streamers hanging off of stands, flower petals littering the ground as Mariachi bands played their songs. Once there was a huge statue that stood in the center of the plazá- a statue of a man who used to be called the Hero of Santa Cecilia and the greatest músico of all time- Ernesto de La Cruz. Miguel had told Cocorita the story of De La Cruz and how he stole Papá Hèctor's music to become famous. He told her how he and Mamá Coco managed to bring down his fame and honor and hopefully caused him to be forgotten in the Land of the Dead. But there was no use to trying to bring memories of a man who killed your family and to think it all started once they tore down his statue.

Miguel smiles as he looks down at his little sister "Come on! We're almost there!" she laughs in response as he swoops her up into his arms and ran as fast as she could towards the plazá. It seemed so much bigger since they had removed the statue of De La Cruz, they replaced it with more flower beds making it more colorful and bright. The afternoon crowd was slowly starting to come in for their almuerzos, Miguel smiled as he sat Cocoita down on a bench near the gazebo "Perfect." He pulled the guitar from his back and sat down beside her, his hand reaching down for his pack at his side "Tamale?"

"Si! Si!"Cocorita responds happily clapping her hand as Miguel hands her a small tamale, "Muchas Gracias, hermano." she thanked as she stuffed her face quickly of the sweet tamale

Miguel shook his head laughing as he played a small cord on his guitar, " De Nada, Cocorita."

They both sat in silence as Miguel played a small cord on his guitar. He watched his fingers as they gently went from note to note down the neck of the ivory guitar. It felt right to him. He closed his eyes as he started with the first note of the song of his new song that he had written shortly after Mamá Coco had passed.

" Once there was a night without music,

Once there was a day without light.

I used to watch her go dancing but now she can't stand without fright.

For once there was a night without music

Like there was once there was a day without light

I used to watch her go dancing

but now she can't stand without fright

When she went dancing, the stars would glisten

Música filled the air, and dreams would come out to play

Dancing with beauty, her smile would brighten and her eyes would be just like the stars

But one night she stopped dancing

and she waited for him to return."

Cocorita swayed with the song taking small bites of the tamale she had left in her hand and watched as passerby dropped small coins and bills inside an empty can near his feet. It was like Miguel was in a trance. Nothing mattered to him but his music. She watched as he played each note with his eyes closed as if he was trying to visualize the song. His voice had gotten deeper in the past year but it made the raw emotion of the song ever so present. Just seeing his face and how concentrated he was at it made Cocorita happy that she could join along.

But a glowing hand stole her attention, her amber eyes growing wide as watched as it swayed with the music like Christmas lights. Her face formed a small 'o' as she reached out for the hand and took it allowing it to pull her from her seat and her tamale to fall from her hand.

Cocorita left silently with the man with the glowing hand, never once looking back towards her brother as they merged with the crowd of the plaza.

"She sat there and waited for him

but years went by, she never lost hope

The stars would slowly come home

For dancing was the root of her life

When she went dancing, the stars would glisten

Música filled the air, and dreams would come out to play

Dancing with beauty, her smile would brighten and her eyes would be just like the stars

But one night she stopped dancing

and she waited for him to return

The night she stopped dancing

Was the night the music stopped

and the days were filled with the dark

One day, she died and there was a sight

Her Papá waited out by the door

He greeted her softly and took her hand to point at the stars

She closed her eyes and felt in her heart

as Música swelled from inside

And just this once

She danced one last time"

Miguel finished out the song with one last cord and noticed the small can full of tips that he didn't even notice was there. He shrugs as he picks up the can and dumps the contents into his jacket its pocket, "See that, Cocorita? I didn't even have to-" He looked to where his sister had been sitting only to find the half-eaten tamale discarded on the ground, "Cocorita?! Coco?"

Miguel quickly grabbed the guitar without a second thought and ran deep into the crowd, "Coco? Coco?!" he pushed people aside, his heart pounding in his chest as he scanned for the little girl within the crowd. He started to panic as he rushed into the center of the plazá spinning slowly as he ran his hands through his hair, "Oh no... oh no... oh no... oh no..." he muttered to himself as he watched people coming and going from the plazá. Where could she be? Where could she had run of- Miguel froze as he watched a man with a blue glowing hand walk her sister out of the plazá with the El Río de La Llorona on the horizon, "No... Cocoita! Coco, stop!" he ran after the man and his sister yelling at her to let go of the man's hand. But she never responded, her eyes seemed empty of anything like she was a mindless zombie from those movies he used to watch all the time.

The Man itself did not seem right. His skin held a blue hue and his eyes seemed to white like a ghost. Miguel reached for his sister but the man hissed in response "Don't interfere. This is my child now."

"No! This is my sister! Let her go!" Miguel begged as the riverbed was starting to approach and the man's clothing slowly transformed into a long flowing ruined white gown, his face morphed into a beautiful female with an elongated and skeletal thin face, her long black hair kissed the bottom of her back and flew with a gentle breeze. Miguel starred in a wonder of the transformation before him. He had met the spirit of La Llorona. She was real. She was not a myth like vitamins and the Land of the Dead. La Llorona was real and she was about to kill his sister "Let my sister go!"

"Leave me be!" She hissed as she ripped his sister from his hands and tossed her into the river without any emotion.

"Coco!" Miguel cried as he tore his guitar and pack from his body and jumped into the river. The current was rough as he felt himself being pulled from the weight. He emerged to the surface coughing as he looked among the waves for his sister "Coco!" He gasps as the water took him under once more, his eyes widening as watch his sister kicking and screaming under the waves. Miguel fought against the current, his legs burning as he pushed against the waves. He could see her coming closer. Miguel wrapped her in his arms and swam towards the surface. "I got you..." he coughed as Cocoita clung to him for safety.

He swam towards the riverbed, his body growing more tired and weary from the rough waters. They both sighed loudly as they laid against the sand. Cocoita started coughing and crying while Miguel pulled her farther away from the water

"it's okay, Cocoita. No one is gonna hurt you aga-"

"FOOL!" La Llorona hissed as she raised up from the water, her long black hair dripping with water, her eyes red with rage. Her arm raised from the water's edge and grasps Miguel's ankle and pulled him back into the water "This child belonged to me!"

Before Miguel had a chance to scream out for help, his head was already under the raging waters.