Finally. Here is the sixth chapter.

Previously in Every Bit of Mi Proud Corazón:

Nikki took her hand out of his grasp and began to walk away. But Héctor grabbed her hand again.

"Whoa, I'm sorry chiquita," Héctor said. "I said I'll help you, so I'll help you." He began dragging her away.

"Wh-where are we going?" Nikki asked.

"I happen to know where he and the entire team rehearse before the show." Nikki looked up at Héctor, as he was the only skeleton willing to help her, not counting Juana. So, She continued to let him drag her across the streets to wherever de la Cruz and his scout rehearses.

Chapter 6: Utter disappointment

Being followed by Dante, Héctor led Nikki to an alley, no longer holding her hand as they disappeared from the big crowd. He said that they were on their way to the seamstress, as he was good friends with her. What excited the thirteen-year-old was that Sofia Rodriquez, Cecelia's mother, was going to be there. However, Nikki couldn't see Sofia in case her cover was going to get blown. Because of this, though she didn't realize it, Nikki was actually beginning to like Héctor, but trust him little by little.

Héctor made sure Nikki wasn't wandering off. He wasn't going to let a living girl be alone. The skeleton took one of his arms and began to take his suspender and the arm to act as a slingshot. Before he could fire, Nikki needed to know if that hurt or not.

"Hey, Héctor, doesn't that hurt?" Nikki asked. Héctor looked down at the kid.

"Eh, not really," Héctor answered. "You know, being dead has its advantages."

He closed one eye and made a bullseye and smiled. The hand knocked at the upper window. The seamstress, Héctor's friend, Estrella was busy dressing costumes for the competitors for Diego's stupid talent show. When she heard a tapping at the window, Estrella turned and rolled her eyes. That man better have Sofia's dress or both Estrella and Sofia would kill him again.

She walked up to the window and snatched up Héctor's arm. Estrella noticed the girl but didn't say anything.

"Hola, 'Strella!" Héctor said. Estrella knew he only called her that because he was giving her bad news.

"You better have Sofia's dress Héctor, or I won't be the only one you have to worry about," Estrella yelled. She threw Héctor's arm back to him.

"Gracias, Estrella," Héctor added. Estrella rolled her eyes, throwing the arm back to Héctor as she let the ladder fall down to the ground. Héctor pulled Nikki away before she was hit by the latter. He held a hand for her to take. "Ladies first."

Nikki took his hand and stepped up on the ladder, followed by Dante and then by Héctor. "Um, hola, Señorita," Nikki said. The young woman looked at Nikki, then at Héctor as he and Dante entered the costume room. She groaned. Estrella knew why Héctor brought her there: because Estrella had a soft spot for children.

"Oh, Héctor, what did you do to this poor girl?" Estrella asked.

"What? NOTHING!" Héctor cried. "Com en Estrella, why do you always think it's bad news whenever I have niños with me?"

Estrella pointed out. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because of your history with bringing children into danger! Like my hermanito, Matias!"

"Oh come on, Estrella, Matt is fine!"

"You took him to a wrestling match and got him banned from the arena for the afterlife!" Estrella said. "And my prima, Olivia because she got a restraining order from half of the celebrities in the land of the Dead!"

"No, I promise you Senorita Estrella," Nikki said. "He's just helping me out. I'm Nicola, but I go by Nikki."

"You're a poor darling! How old were you when you died?" Estrella said.

"Oh I'm not..." Nikki began.

"She's thirteen!" Héctor said. Estrella glared at her friend before turning away to finish the costume she was on. Nikki was going to protest until he sent her a stern look. From the moments she knew Héctor, she never saw him give her that parenting look before.

"Now about the dress, Essie," Héctor said. "I...I lost it!"

"Ah I knew you had bad news!" Estrella cried. She turned to face Héctor, who gave her a cheesy smile. Nikki slipped away before any of them noticed. She slipped away because Dante ran away. She whistled for him to listen to her. She told him that they weren't even supposed to be in there in the first place. Hell, she was sure that Héctor was going to strap her to him so she wouldn't wander off again if he ever found her. ..

"No, no Nikki, not 'if'," Nikki said to herself. "Héctor will find us... I'm sure of it."

Nikki got out of her thoughts. She continued yelling at Dante to come back.. However, the dog still would not listen to her. He immediately ran into a colorful cat alebrije and began to chase it. Nikki shouted for him to stop, but the dog continued chasing the small cat. The cat made her safety by climbing into its owner's arms. Nikki was sure she had seen that woman before.

"YOU!" shouted the artist, pointing a finger at Nikki, who yelped back in worry. "How did you get in here?"

"Um, I just followed my dog," Nikki said.

The woman looked down at Dante and absolutely adored him. "Ooh, I love Xolo dogs!" She began petting the dog, and Dante liked it. He liked it very much. "My daughter's friend has one just like him, last I saw her before, well, you know, the fever I suffered from."

Then it hit Nikki. This woman was the famous painter and Ceci's mother, Sofia Rodriguez! She remembered Ceci mentioning something about her mother's cause of death. Sofia obviously didn't recognize Nikki. At least not yet, Nikki hoped Sofia couldn't tell it was her. Heck, she was wearing make-up. Or rather, shoe polish, there was no way this woman was going to recognize someone she hadn't met in two years since Sofia's death.

Qué talento Alebrije!" Sofia said. "Guiador de espíritus maravillosos! And you must be this Dog's owner, querida!"

"Um, Senora Rodriguez he's not a spirit guide," said Nikki.

"Ah, ah ah don't let your eyes deceive you, child. For the Alebrijes of this world can take many shapes and forms." Sofia pet her cat's neck.

"Of course, some people didn't even realize that until ..." Sofia stopped herself and looked more closely at the child in front of her. Then she gasped.

"Nikki?" Sofia said. The girl's fears came true: Sofia recognized her. "Nikki Rivera?" Then she looked at the Xolo dog. "Dante? I did not recognize you at first! Of course, you and your mother are the only ones in Santa Cecelia who wore purple!" Then horror came over her. Oh no, you didn't...you poor darling! How did this happen?"

"Senora Rodriguez I'm..."

"No,no, let's not talk about that!" Sofia began. She didn't like young children dying so she wasn't going to bring up the subject of how Nikki died. However, the living girl refrained herself from revealing she was alive.

"Actually, I'm looking for someone. Diego de la Cruz. He's the only one who can help me."

"Why, chiquita?" she asked Nikki.

"I just do," Nikki said.

"He left hours ago," said Sofia. She put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "He and the celebrities are hosting their party at his tower," she pointed out to where De la Cruz's house was, "before the sunset Spectacular Talent Show."

"Well, thanks anyways," Nikki said, keeping the disappointment. Sofia looked sadden. She didn't mean to upset one of her m'ija's mejor amiga

"I'm sorry, Nikki," Sofia said. "I can't help you any further."

"It...it's fine," Nikki said. Sofia nodded at her head sympathetically.

"Always remember, Nikki, you have the spirit of an artist and don't ever let it go!" She pat Nikki's cheek before walking out. Nikki looked up back to the tower. Nikki went to go back to the seamstress' costume design area, she saw Héctor came around the courner, out of breath. He grew very scared when Nikki went running off.

"Chamaca, you cannot run off on me like that!" Héctor said. his protective, fatherly instincts kicking in. "Come on we've got to find Diego!" he grabbed her hand but Nikki stopped.

"He's not here, Héctor!" Nikki complained. "He's all the way across town, him and his friends are throwing some big party."

Héctor stopped himself from yelling curse words at a thirteen-year-old. "Ooh that bum. Who has parties and doesn't show up at his own rehearsals!"

"Actually, he already did," Nikki said, remembering what Sofia told her about him leaving a few hours ago. "You know if you are such great friends, how come he didn't invite you?" Héctor looked down at her. Of course Diego invited Héctor for like the past five years. However, he wasn't going to be swayed by Diego's invitations as an attempt of reconciliation. It was his and his brother, Ernesto de la Cruz's fault

"Well, you're the daughter of one of his friends, how come he didn't invite you?" Héctor fired back. Nikki sagged a little. He had a point there. Héctor looked from her and at the musicians and noticed one of them.

"Hey Sebastián! You know anything about this party?" Héctor asked. The violinist looked at Héctor, a look of humor in his eyes.

"It's the hot ticket. But if you're not on the guest list you're never getting in, Chorizo..." Sebastián said with a smile. The rest of the group laughed with him. Héctor rolled his eyes.

"Oh yes, very funny, Sebastián, very funny," Héctor said sarcastically.

"Chorizo?" Nikki asked. She didn't like the sound they were making.

"Oh, chiquita, this guy is famous!" Sebastián said. He pointed to Héctor. "Go on. You gotta ask him how he died?"

"Oh no, here we go again," Héctor groaned. "I don't want to talk about it."

"He choked on some CHORIZO!" said Sebastián. However, Nikki did not laugh. She looked sympathetically at her friend (Yes, Nikki meant friend. She now realized that this skeleton was the only one willing to help her and that he was also looking out for her. That he was putting up with her, that...she stopped. Man, how skeptical was she of this guy?

"I didn't choke, okay - I got food poisoning, which is a big difference!"

The musicians continued laughing.

"You know, I don't think its funny!" Nikki said. Héctor and the musicians looked down at the girl in surprise. "How would you feel if people made fun of you about how you died? You wouldn't like it either! So leave him alone!"

The musicians knew that the girl was right. Sebastián wasn't laughing any more either.

Héctor looked down to her again.

"This is why I don't like musicians... bunch of self-important jerks!" Héctor snapped and turned with his arms crossed.

"I'm a musician!" Nikki said.

"You really are?" Héctor asked her. She nodded. Sebastián looked down at Nikki.

"Well, if you really want to get to Diego, there IS that music competition at the Plaza de laCruz. Winner gets to play at his party and they get to perform with Diego."

Nikki began contemplating her situation. Héctor noticed the look in her eyes, the same look his wifei had when she had an idea.

"Oh, no, Nikki!" Héctor egan shaking her. "You are loco if you think..."

Nikki wasn't paying attention to him. She was too worried about the fact that the curse had now reached to the palm of her hands, her skin transparent and her bones becoming more visible.

"Whoa, Nikki, you okay?" Héctor looked at her with concern.

"Ooh, I need to get to de la Cruz. The curse is getting worse!" Nikki cried. She looked up at Héctor. "Do you know where we can get a guitar?"

Héctor sighed. Well, he said he'd help her so he'll help her.

"I know someone," Héctor said and Nikki smiled, glad to have one good thing happen tonight.

Meanwhile, back with Juana, she desperately searched for Nikki. But everything ended up in disaster. No matter what angle Juana cried at, she always reached a dead end. How hard was finding one small, thirteen-year-old living girl? Juana couldn't let the curse affect Nikki, she just couldn't. Juana was going to help that girl get home, no matter what it took, she would help Nikki escape this terrible fate and get back home before anything got any worse. Juana continued her search, which led her to a tunnel.

"Oh, Nikki, please, I'm only trying to help you!" Juana said. No response came. Then Juana noticed something: black and white shoe polish. She lifted the abandoned can and looked at the lid. It had Nikki's last name, Rivera on top with a shoe on it and the can labeled shoe polish. Wherever Nikki was, Juana would be able to find Nikki now because she possessed something the kid already owned. She had called for her spirit guide, Maria after leaving the station in case they found something Nikki had dropped and luckily, now they had something: Nikki's shoe polish!

"Okay, Maria, help me find our girl!"

Juana showed the hippogriff alebrije (Half-eagle, half horse) the can and Maria sniffed the Rivera shoe polish and finally began her trail. Juana was feeling lucky now. She followed Maria to the trail of shoe boots that were in front of them. However, she noticed barefoot prints as well. Another skeleton was helping her Nikkita! Juana had to find that girl and fast before she got the skeleton and worse of all herself in terrible danger.

Uhh. this chapter was a monster too handle! Thanks for the patience for this chapter. It's got to be the longest chapter in the entire , to avoid confusion, here's more OCs that were introduced in this episode. I replaced several characters because they are either A: not even born yet or B: they haven't died yet and are still alive:

Sofia Rodriguez, (replacement for Frida Kahlo) famous painter

Sebastián (a musician) (replacement for Gustavo)

Estrella Santiago (replacement for Ceci)

Maria (substitute of Pepita, Juana's alebrije

Mentioned only:

Matias Santiago, Esterlla's brother

Olivia Santiago, Estrella's cousin

Anyways, thanks for reading.