Her head was throbbing when she started to regain consciousness, she felt her father's arms holding her in a protective embrace, and she saw the shapes of Aimé and Quetzalcóatl looking down at her in worry and anguish. La Muerte blinked a few times before managing to sit up, her mind dizzy. "What…? What happened…?"
King Sol looked at her with sadness. He didn't want to repeat those horrible news to her, but she needed to know. Hopefully, he had silently cast a protective spell on the unborn baby, knowing she wouldn't take it well, and if the baby was affected by any potential outbursts (which he was certain would come to pass) it could have a negative effect on her health. "La Muerte… Xibalba is…"
"What?" the memories started to return, and her heart skipped a beat. "… He's what?"
"We have decided to declare him dead." Quetzalcóatl repeated slowly, stepping back warily. He too knew of La Muerte's temper.
D-Dead… La Muerte stared at Quetzalcóatl in shock once again, releasing her self from her father's hold and stepping back. "N-No… He's not dead…" she whispered.
"La Muerte…" Aimé tried to approach, but Quetzalcóatl placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
"La Muerte, I know it's hard, but the evidence is clear." Sol tried again. "It's evident he lost too much blood, and we have found no trace of him."
"That doesn't mean anything." La Muerte said, her eyes still wide. She didn't want to face it, surely there was another explanation. "He could be… somewhere resting."
"La Muerte, please… Try to calm down.
"Oh, I'm calm!" she snapped. "I'm very calm!
"La Muerte, think about the baby!"
"You think about me and the baby! Why do you just come and tell me those horrible things!" but the tears were already rolling down her cheeks, and whatever fire was lit in there started to burn brighter.
"La Muerte-!"
She didn't want to accept it, she didn't want to face it. She didn't want to think about the possibility, but the evidence was there… It was too much for her; she closed her eyes shut and covered her ears, she didn't realize her aura was starting to swirl around the room, sending the papers flying and making the candles flare up with large red flames, marigold petals were scattered around in the air. "HE'S NOT GONE! HE'S NOT GONE!"
"La Muerte!" Quetzalcóatl called out for her, but it went on deaf ears.
"Muertita!" Aimé barely managed to dodge a book in the last moment.
"LA MUERTE!" King Sol yelled, managing to get close to his daughter and pull her close in an embrace.
"LET GO OF ME!" La Muerte yelled, trying to pull back, but her father only pulled her closer.
"CALM YOURSELF, LA MUERTE! REMEMBER YOU COULD HAVE DIFFICULTIES IN YOUR PREGNANCY IF YOU STRESS TOO MUCH!"
La Muerte continued to pound her closed fists on her father's chest in anger, but soon her strength started to fade, and she was overwhelmed by the grief and sadness. The atmosphere calmed down as she finally broke down, falling unto her knees and crying her heart out, taking her hands to he mouth as she assimilated the news. Sol kneeled down next to her, holding her close and kissing her head, shushing her and telling her it was going to be alright, while Aimé approached and joined them, hugging her sister with her own tears rolling down her cheeks. Quetzalcóatl stared at the scene with a sorrowful expression, worried about La Muerte's child and the goddess herself.
He wondered if Tezcatlipoca was having it easier delivering the news to Zipacna.
The only sound was that of a glass falling to the ground and shattering into pieces, spilling its contents on the floor.
Epona gasped in utter shock and took her hands to her lips, her eyes swelling up with tears. "What…?"
Tezcatlipoca nodded his head, his expression sympathetic and apologetic. "We have decided to officially declare Xibalba dead. I am sorry, but it's the best thing to do."
He glanced at Zipacna just as Epona started to weep, but the caiman-head god hadn't said anything, he was frozen, his expression that of shock, his pupils half-shrunk, and his hand still position as if he were holding the now-broken glass of wine. He did not blink, nor did he say anything. "Zipacna?"
No reply.
Epona glanced at him, and realized he was in shock. As she grew closer, she noticed his legs were trembling. "Z-Zipacna?" When she touched him, she felt his body shivering, and he collapsed on his legs, his ears drooping. "Zipacna, are you okay?" Again, she received no reply. His breathing was slow, and his pupils were shrunken. Tezcatlipoca realized what was going on, and only took one step closer. "Zipacna, we will be holding the proper funerary rites tomorrow at dusk, and since we never found his… body, we shall burn the feathers we found in the forest, since they are what remains for him."
Seeing Zipacna would not speak, Epona had to answer for him. "W-We will be t-there…" she said with tears in her eyes. When Tezcatlipoca teleported away, she turned to Zipacna once again. "Zipacna, say something!"
His ear twitched, which meant he had heard her, but he was still unresponsive. She realized he wouldn't snap out of it that easily, he was in too much deep shock. The goddess of horses started to sob uncontrollably, recalling the reason that had put him in this state in the first place. Dead? Her Xibalba? One of her oldest friends was just… gone just like that? And just when he was about to be a father….
She didn't want to imagine how La Muerte had taken the news.
She was a mess
She hadn't wanted to go, she still refused to accept it, but in the end her father insisted it was for the best. What would it look like if she didn't go to say goodbye to the man she loved? Another reason La Muerte hadn't wanted to go was because the lizards were devastated, though they all manifested it in different ways. Emilio was in a denial and tried to avoid the situation by cleaning up things thoroughly, Juarez stayed with Medianoche all the time to keep the horse from going into another potentially mortal depression, Lorenzo would just… sigh with a visibly hurt expression which showed as much pain as those who shed tears, and Roberto said he was fine, though he wept when he thought he was out of earshot. Regina was especially affected, to say she was upset was an understatement, she had been hysteric, like a mother who had lost her child. To her, Xibalba had been like the child she probably never had in life.
Because of this, she insisted on bringing the lizards along, they deserved to be there, they were Xibalba's family too, despite the looks of distaste some gods gave the reptilian skeletons. But they didn't care, their attention was set on the pyre of wood where the black feathers they had found had been accommodated.
Out of respect, all the gods wore black, but such a color didn't fit such a lovely goddess as La Muerte. She was wearing a black dress with a matching mat, her eyes were bloodshot, and her eye shadows were smeared on her cheeks from all the crying, and her hands were on top of her abdomen in a protective way, stroking it, trying to assure her unborn child everything would be okay, but she wasn't certain herself.
Then Zipacna arrived accompanied by Epona. The Celtic goddess ignored the looks from the other Gods and just continued to lead Zipacna towards the pyre; the sight of his brother's feathers, all that was left of him, was enough to snap him out of his shock. Zipacna feel to his knees, the tears started trickling down his cheeks and he let out a piercing roar of pain, before he fell on his hands and clawed at the grass, barely managing to speak through sobs and quick breaths, his ears pressing against his skull.
La Muerte felt compassion for her brother-in-law and went to kneel next to him along with Epona, but he didn't react momentarily.
"X-Xibalba…!" Zipacna sobbed. "H-Hermanito…! Why?! Why d-did you l-leave me alone…?!"
"It's okay…" Epona said, the tears trickling down her cheeks again. "We're here… We're here…!"
Tezcatlipoca stared at the scene with a rather neutral expression, one might have thought he wasn't sympathetic at all, but truth was he felt very sorry for her. He hoped his brother was having better luck at his… task. "La Muerte, Lord Zipacna… We shall begin with the proper rites soon."
La Muerte was the first to react; she slowly made her way back to her feet and walked over to the pyre, where her trembling hand reached out to touch one of the black feathers, recalling all the times his wings had blanketed over her, all the times she had stroked those soft limbs, before realization came over that she would never feel those wings wrapping around her protectively ever again… The goddess broke down into tears and sobs once again, clutching the feather in her hands, bringing it close to her face and kissing it in anguish.
"Balby…"
Zipacna didn't react. He continued to sob uncontrollably despite Epona's attempts to make get on his feet. Roberto and Lorenzo approached Zipacna, and with a bit of difficulty, they wrapped their skeletal arms around his much larger frame, closing their eyes shut as the tears trickled down their cheeks. Regina continued to bawl as Emilio pulled her close into a comforting embrace, and Juarez had hidden his face into his hat, where he sobbed silently.
A familiar aura made La Muerte go stiff. She didn't turn around as she heard the other gods parting to let the newcomer pass. Zipacna had a similar reaction, and his feathers bristled as he turned to look at the fire god with acid in his gaze.
"What do you want?" Zipacna hissed, his pupils narrowing in anger.
"I only wish to pay my respects, Lord Zipacna." Itzlacol said calmly, though he didn't bother to even try and get an apologetic expression. His dislike of Xibalba was evident in the whole pantheon, and he didn't want to look like a hypocrite.
"Save it, desgraciado. I bet you're actually jumping in joy inside that head of yours, aren't you? "
"I believe now is not the moment to bring my… unpleasant interactions with Xibalba."
"He's right, Zipacna." Epona whispered into his ear, though she hated to admit it. "Don't bother to deal with him right now, what matters is to…" she sobbed again. "…Pay our respects."
Reluctantly, Zipacna turned away from Itzlacol, stiffening as he passed by. Unfortunately, as he got closer to La Muerte, he failed to notice her stiffening posture.
"La Muerte…" Itzlacol said sympathetically, and when he was a few inches away, stretched out his arm towards her shoulder. "I'm very sorry for your loss-"
But as soon as his hand had touched her, she exploded in a fit of sorrowful rage, and her palm came into contact with the fire god's cheek, sending him to the ground, much to the shock of the other gods. La Muerte glared down at him with hate, the tears rolling down her cheeks once more.
"Como te atreves?!" she spat, growling. "How dare you show your face here after all you did?!"
Itzlacol turned to her in shock, and one might have even said, fright. "L-La Muerte, I…!"
"You tried to kill him and you have the nerve to come her?! How do I know you are not responsible for this…?!" she stopped momentarily, before her eyes started to burn in a cold ire. "…You are, aren't you?"
"Excuse me?" Itzlacol inquired as he got back on his feet, looking confused. He didn't have time to react as suddenly La Muerte punched him this time, though he managed to stay on his feet.
"MALDITO ASESINO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, continuing to hit the fire god in a fit of anger. "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!" As she continued to attack Itzlacol both physical and verbally, some of the other gods gasped when she started accusing him of murder, though most of them dismissed those claims as outbursts of pain at the situation.
"La Muerte, please calm down!" King Sol tried approaching, but La Muerte angrily pushed her father away.
"This is all your fault!" she snapped with tears in her eyes. "You were always insisting that I gave his bastard a chance, and look what he did! He killed my husband, he killed him! He killed…!" before she could say anything else, suddenly she lost consciousness. Sol and Ehécatl barely had time to catch her as she fell back.
"La Muerte!" Itzlacol tried to check on her, but a pair of clawed hands grabbed his shoulders and threw him away. As he regained his balance he caught a glimpse of Zipacna, whose eyes were glowing green in anger.
"Don't you dare!" he growled, baring his teeth. "Don't you dare put a hand on my brother's wife!"
"Lord Zipacna, this is not a good moment-!" Tezcatlipoca tried to intervene, but a glare and a growl from Zipacna was enough to make him stop in place. He usually wouldn't tolerate those kind of aggresssions, but given the current situation, decided to let it slip this time, but this didn't mean he didn't show his discomfort and annoyance. "Control yourself at once!"
"Zipacna!" Epona ran over to him and placed her hands on the caiman head's chest. "He's right. Calm down." She wanted to tell Zipacna if Xibalba were here he would have given him a good smack, but she guessed that would only make things worse for the time being.
Zipacna continued to glare at Itzlacol with clenched fists, but managed to calm down after taking a deep breath. "Do everyone here a favor and leave." He told the fire god with a cold voice, but there was ire and darkness in his tone. "You have no right to be here."
Itzlacol nodded solemnly. "I understand your feelings, Zipacna."
"No, you don't. Save your fake sympathy for someone who actually believes that act, Itzlacol. You never liked my brother and you have no reason to be here."
"We might not have been on good terms, but it doesn't mean I'm heartless not to feel sorry for certain others who did know him. I'll do as you ask out of respect for La Muerte, I do not wish to upset her any further." Itzlacol finished and turned around, walking away with his hands behind his back. The other gods gathered around Sol and Ehécatl to see if La Muerte was alright, but soon Itzamna was pushing his way through the crowd, snapping at them to clear the area so she could get more air.
They were so distracted with La Muerte's status they didn't notice the dark look on Itzlacol's face as he walked away.
I know this chap was rather short, but I promise the next one will be much more longer (and more intentse!). We'll soon be nearing the end of this story, that makes me feel a bit sad.
