Because I am a nice person who loves her readers very much and have a lot of school work ahead, I decided to publish my final two chapters today.
Yeah, I decided this entire scene was just too good to toss away.
So here we are!
True to his word, Hectors plan was indeed loco.
In order for the group to sneak into the Sunrise Spectacular, they had to disguise themselves.
Luckily, Hector knew the main designer for Ernesto's performers, Ceci Rodriguez who did have spare costumes so they could sneak into the arena with.
Unluckily, they were dresses for Frida Kahlo's' big opening. Colorful dresses completed with fake unibrows.
Hector was use to having to wear strange disguises to sneak into somewhere. So he took the lead in getting past the stage manager.
The disguises worked, they were all able to sneak past the guards to a hidden backstage corridor. Except for Pepita, who had to stay backstage.
After finally getting out of their costumes, the group gathered in a huddle.
"Everyone clear on the plan?" Hector said to everyone
"Find Miguel," Victoria said
"Get him home," Julio continued
"and don't get caught," Imelda finished
After that, the group ran down a corridor with Imelda leading the way, "Now we just have to find De La Cruz,"
"Yes?"
With a small scream, Imelda turned and saw De La Cruz right around the corner with a smile on his face. Hector and the rest of the group stayed out of sight.
Ernesto's smile then dropped, "Don't I know you?"
In the blink of an eye, Imelda pulled off her shoe and smacked Ernesto across the face with it
"That's for trying to kill the love of my life!" Imelda shouted with her heel in Ernesto's face
"Who the?" De La Cruz said, a little disoriented. That's when Hector leaped from around the corner.
"She's talking about me," His face softened as he turned towards Imelda, "I'm the love of your life?"
"I don't know," Imelda fumed "I'm still angry at you!"
"Hector? How did you-" Ernesto was cut off by another smack with Imeldas' shoe
"Where is Miguel?" Hector demanded. At the sound of the boys' name, Ernesto's eyes narrowed.
"My son, is somewhere where he will be safe from the likes of you,"
Just then, Dante came up and began to bark and scratch Ernestos dressing room door. Inside the room came the sound of a chain rattling and slight muffling.
Hector sprung for the door but Ernesto blocked and pushed him away, causing him to knock both him and Imelda to the ground.
Ernesto pulled out a key from his pocket and locked the door where Miguel was being contained.
Hector scowled as he picked himself and Imelda from the ground, "Get that key!"
The entire Rodriguez family jumped from around the corner.
Ernesto saw that he was outnumbered so he places the key in his jacket pocket before spinning on his heel and ran away.
"After Him!" Imelda shouted and they all flooded after De La Cruz
Ernesto ran faster and passed by a group of guards near a snack table, "Security! Ayúdenme!"
A few feet behind him, Hector jogged up next to Imelda, "You said love of your life!" he said with a wide hopeful smile.
"A little busy right now!" As she said this, a light blush appeared on Imelda's face.
Further ahead, a large group of security guards stood trying to block the group from going any further.
A brawl ensues, security vs. family.
Imelda managed to move past the fight and ran towards Ernesto. She grabbed his arm to prevent him from running any further and pulled the key from his pocket. A small scuffle occurred between the two, each one fighting for the key. Hector then came up and tackled Ernesto to the ground, causing him to lose his grip on the woman.
Imelda tumbled back with the key in her hand, "Mi Amor! I have it!" Realizing what she said, Imelda slapped her forehead.
Hector smiled at what she said before being tackled to the ground by a guard.
Imelda stood up to help him but suddenly the floor began to rise up towards a hole in the ceiling.
Ernesto saw Imelda on the rising platform and ran up a nearby pair of stairs that would lead to the stage wings.
Hector struggled to free himself from the guards hold but it was difficult. Until Dante charged and rammed the guard causing him to lose his grip on Hector.
"Good boy," Hector told Dante before racing to another pair of stairs, "Vámonos!"
Victoria and Rosita followed Hector up the stairs while Julio, Oscar, Felipe, and Dante blocked the guards from following.
On the stage, the announcer introduced Ernesto to the stage and the crowd burst into applause.
So you can imagine everyone's confusion when Imelda appeared on the screen instead of De La Cruz.
In the right stage wing, Ernesto ordered the security guards to get Imelda off the stage.
In the left wing, Hector called out to Imelda, "Sing!"
Imelda looked at Hector and her family then at the guards slowly advancing on her. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, grabbed the mic, and for the first time in so many years, she sang.
"Ay, de mí Llorona," Everyone in the wing of the stage froze at her voice, the guards, the Rodriguez's, and Hector, "Llorona de azul celeste,"
Hector saw a stack of spare guitars nearby. Victoria handed him a nearby microphone, and after grabbing one of the guitars, he played along with Imelda's singing.
"Ay de mi llorona, Llorona de azul celeste."
Imelda saw that the guards were slowly getting closer, so she grabbed the microphone and began to descend the stairs.
"Y aunque la vida de me cuesta Llorona, No dejaré de querete," Imelda and Hector eye each other as she passed by. With a new boost of confidence, Imelda sang with more power
"No dejaré de querete!"
Ernesto growled as Imelda danced across the stage.
The stage conductor, who had been confused since Hector began playing, decided to add more music. The audience began to clap along with the music.
"Me subi al pini más alto, Llorona, A ver so te divisaba," Imelda had to improvise with her dancing, trying to keep her distance the guards while trying to navigate herself towards Hector.
"Como el pino era tierno, Llorona. Al verme llorar, lloraba!"
"Ay, de mi Llorona, Llorona," Finally Imelda had a clear path towards Hector, "Llorona de azul celeste!"
Imelda was so close to Hector but a hand grasped her wrist and a voice began to harmonize along with her. Ernesto De La Cruz!
"Ay, de mi Llorona, llorona. Llorona de azul celeste!"
The crowd went crazy, unaware of the small fight that was occurring onstage.
"Y aunque la vida me cueste, Llorona. No dejaré de querete!"
Hector had to restrain himself from marching up and punching Ernesto across the face as the man danced with his amor and managed to snatch back the key.
"Y aunque la vida me cueste, Llorona. No dejaré de querete, no dejaré de querete, no dejaré de querete! Ay, Ay, Ay!"
With a growl, Imelda lifted her foot and stomped hard on Ernesto's foot. Causing the man to lose his grip on her and for his last note to come out higher like a grito.
Imelda snatched back the key and ran off stage while the crowd cheered, still oblivious to what actually just happened.
Still full of adrenaline, Imelda embraced Hector once she reached backstage. The man was surprised but hugged back. Imelda realized what she was doing and pulled back embarrassed.
"I forgot what that felt like," she said awkwardly
"You... you still got it," Hector responded just as embarrassed
A cough interrupted the tender moment, the Rodriguez family were staring at them.
"Oh, right," Imelda handed the key to Hector, "Go find the boy, we'll hold off security and De La Cruz,"
Hector nodded before taking the key and racing towards the downstairs corridors, Dante following in pursuit.
It didn't take long until they had reached the dressing room. Hector quickly unlocked the door and rushed inside.
Inside the room, Miguel sitting on the ground with his hands tied behind his back and a gag around his mouth. He didn't notice that Hector had walked in because he was staring at the ground.
"Chamaco!"
The boys' head shot up instantly and from beneath the gag, a smile was clearly seen on his face.
Hector and Dante rushed towards the boy, Dante jumped onto the boy and began licking his face. The affection made the gag fall from the boy's face
"Okay! Okay, Dante! I missed you too," Miguel laughed
Hector chucked before pushing Dante down, "Let's get you unchained first before we do any reunions,"
Hector walked around the room to try and find the key to unlock the chains. He found it in one of the drawers of a desk.
When Hector turned back to unlock the chains, he saw that Miguel had tear streaks running down his face.
"What's wrong?" he asked while unlocking the chains.
Miguel sniffed as he rubbed his wrists before looking up, "He.. he lied to me, my whole life he's been lying to me. He was never my Papa, I'm the-"
"The missing boy, I know mijo," Hector interrupted, glancing towards the open door, "I kinda already figured it out,"
Miguel was surprised before another thought came to mind, "So, does this mean that we're... family?"
Hector paused for a moment before nodding, "Si, we are,"
"Does this mean I call you Tio Hector now?"
"Let's talk about this when you're back with your real parents,"
Miguel smiled, both excitedly and nervously at the sound of that.
Hector peeked out the door for any sign of security or Ernesto. Luckily, neither were in sight.
"Vamanos," he whispered
The trio raced down the corridor and ran up the stairs towards the stage wing. As soon as they rounded the corner, Hector was slapped across the face by a woman holding a shoe.
"Whoa! Whoa, it's me!" Hector cried to the woman Miguel didn't know
"You took forever!" she said before helping the man to his feet, "I thought you were caught!"
"Who's this?" Miguel asked, confused on whether or not this woman could be trusted
She seemed to pick up his uneasiness, so the woman put her shoe back on so she could introduce herself, "I'm Imelda,"
Miguel looked at her for a moment before turning to Hector with a smug smile, "Is this your amor?"
Hector began to blush madly as he avoided Imeldas gaze and faked a laugh, "Uh, I think we better get out of here!"
"She's more beautiful than you described her!" Miguel continued, Hector was red as a tomato.
"Chamaco! We gotta g-"
"HECTOR!" Imelda cried out.
Ernesto had snuck up behind Hector and stabbed him in the gut with a dagger. When the blade was pulled out, Hector collapsed to the ground, clutching his wound.
Imelda quickly ran to his side, Miguel tried to follow but Ernesto was quicker and wrapped one arm around the boy's waist and lifting him up into the air, "You're not going anywhere!"
The Rodriguez tried to approach him but Ernesto aimed the dagger at them and began to back away, "Stay back, all of you! Stay back! Not one more step!" Everyone froze, fearing that Ernesto might hurt Miguel.
Miguel began kicking his legs wildly, struggling to break away.
Despite Imeldas protesting, Hector stood on shaky legs and staggered towards his former friend with one hand over his wound, "Ernesto, stop..." With a painful grunt, Hector fell to his knees again, "Let the boy go,"
"I've worked too hard, Hector. Too hard to have everything be taken from me!"
Further back, Rosita moved one of the cameras to be pointed at De La Cruz before nodding at Victoria, who moved up to a control booth so the scene would be projected for everyone to see.
"He's somebody else's child, Ernesto!" Hector begged
"He's my son! I've spent twelve years keeping him away from the world, I'm not about to let you take him away from me!"
Miguel grabbed De La Cruz's' arm and bit down as hard as possible. Ernesto loosened his grip just enough for Miguel to wiggle away. He lost his grip on the dagger as well.
"You're a Liar!" Miguel yelled, "All you've ever done is lie! You lied about Hector committing a crime so you could steal his songs and you lied to me! You stole me away from my true familia when I was only a baby!"
"I am the one who's willing to do what it take's to seize my moment," Ernesto then reached out and grabbed Miguel's hood, "Whatever it takes!"
The man then began to drag Miguel away but the boy kept trying to pull away and run towards Hector, who was just minutes away from death.
"Enough Miguel!" Ernesto yelled tugging harder. Miguel quickly unzipped his jacket and pulled away until he was free and landed hard on the ground.
"NO!" he yelled turning into his back to face Ernesto, "I'm never going to stop. For the rest of my life, I will never stop trying to get away from you!" Miguel panted before becoming more serious, "But... if you let me save him then I'll go with you,"
"No," Hector coughed trying to push himself up but he didn't have the strength, "No Miguel,"
"I'll never run or try to escape again. Just let me heal him and you and I will be together, forever just like before. Everything will be the way it was. I promise... Papa,"
Everyone, including the audience, was shocked that Miguel would make such a big sacrifice.
"Miguel, you don't know what you're saying!" Imelda shouted in protest but Miguel ignored her.
"Exactly like you want," the boy begged, "Just let me save him,"
Ernesto thought about it over before agreeing. A few seconds later, he was handing Miguel the magic white guitar.
Before the boy could grasp it, Ernesto pulled it back, "I expect you to still be here when I get back, understood?!"
Miguel nodded sadly and De La Cruz handed the guitar to the boy before walking back towards the stage.
As Miguel walked towards Hectors' fallen body, he couldn't bear to look at the faces of the family who had been so kind to him yesterday on his birthday.
Imelda stood in front of Miguel before he could reach Hector, "Miguel, I won't let you do this"
"I have to," Miguel insisted as he moved around her. He then turned to face them all, "It's okay, I'll be fine,"
Hector began to cough deeply and blood was starting to form a small puddle on the ground. Miguel kneeled next to him.
"Hector, you're gonna be fine, I promise" Miguel picked up the guitar and was about to strum but Hector grabbed the neck of the instrument.
"No," he coughed, trying to stop his nephew, "No mijo,"
"It's okay," Miguel repeated gently moving away Hectors hand, "I can help, please just trust me,"
"No," Hector grunted, he was getting weaker by the second, "I can't let you do this,"
"And I can't let you die," Tears began running down Miguel's cheek
"B.. but if you do this... if you go with him then you...will die,"
"Hey, I'll be alright. It's all gonna be okay," Miguel faked a small smile knowing that he wasn't only lying to Hector but he was lying to himself as well.
Miguel began to play a soft tune on the guitar, then he opened his mouth to begin singing...
But then, Hector used the last of his strength to grab the guitar, rip it out of Miguel's hands and smash it as hard as he could upon the ground.
The guitar immediately broke apart.
"No!" Miguel cried realizing what had just happened.
A sudden breeze blew by and the guitar slowly began to turn from wood to marigold petals and one by one, it blew away in the wind.
The magic was gone.
Miguel froze up, he didn't know what to do.
Suddenly the sound of yelling caught his attention.
Momentarily forgetting what just happened, the boy stood up and followed the noise.
On stage, the audience was booing at De La Cruz, some even throwing food.
"CHILD NAPPER!"
"GET OFF THE STAGE!"
On the far stage wing, Pepita, who had somehow managed to sneak past security, growled and the man and then kicked at a wooden lever.
A large golden bell, which was a forgotten old prop, came loose and fell towards the stage.
And it crushed Ernesto De La Cruz.
Miguel screamed before covering his mouth with his hands, his eyes were wide.
Sure, this man had kidnapped him, locked him in a tower, lied to him for twelve years and stabbed his uncle but that doesn't mean Miguel doesn't still slightly care for him.
The boy didn't realize he had been shaking until Rosita pulled him into an embrace.
There was barely any sound besides the audience cheering because of the death of the madman.
Until...
"Hector!" The Rodriguez's and Miguel turned to see Imelda holding a pale and deathly still Hector in her arms, trying to shake him awake, "No, no, no, no, no! Look at me, amor!"
Hector coughed and looked up at Imelda with drowsy eyes, "Imelda... I'm sorry I left,"
"Tio Hector!" Miguel quickly ran towards the two, sliding across the ground until he was next to the dying man,
"No, no, no! I promised you'd be fine! I promised!" Tears flooded in the boys' eyes for what seemed like the millionth time today, "Lavenders blue, dilly dilly. Lavenders green," Miguel knew that his powers were gone but he couldn't help it.
Soon his sobbing overcame his singing and he couldn't continue anymore.
Shaking pretty badly, Hector cupped Miguel's face with one hand and wiped away his tears, "Miguel,"
"What?"
"Go home, mijo," Hector smiled sadly before taking his last breath. His hand fell to the limp ground.
"Not again," Imelda said as she began to cry harder.
Memories of their times together flashed in Miguel's mind, "Remember me," Miguel sang, his sobs were heard in his voice, "Though I have to travel far, Remember me. Each time you hear a sad guitar, know that I'm with you, the only way that I can be. Until you're in my arms again, Remember me,"
All was silent, besides the sobs coming from Imelda and Miguel.
And then the sound of soft moaning.
Everyone stared shocked as Hector began to stir. The man was just as confused as anyone else.
Hector lifted his shirt to see that his stab wound was gone as if it never happened.
Miguel and Hector looked at each other with confusion.
"Did I..." Miguel began
"Heal me?" Hector finished for him
Miguel looked down at his hands, he still had his power?
Before anyone else could question what just happened, Imelda slapped Hector across the face.
"That's for scaring me!"
"I'm sorry! I... I-I-"
Hector was cut off when Imelda grabbed his collar and slammed their lips together. Hector was shocked at first before melting into the kiss and wrapping his arms around the woman he loved.
Miguel stuck his tongue out in disgust before covering his eyes with his hands.
The audience began to cheer once more as the kiss was displayed on the screen.
In the midst of the crowd, a man had just returned from the concession stand, he turned to the person sitting next to him
"What did I miss?"