Reluctantly, Xibalba started opening his eyes, and the sensation of calm disappeared, instead replaced by soreness and exhaustion. The adrenaline that kept the pain away so he could focus on his survival had long disappeared, so naturally he felt the pain return tenfold. Thankfully none of his wings were in a cast again, but he couldn't say the same for his left arm, and he had bandages wrapped around his chest and waist.

Wonderful, he'd be bedridden again.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he found the person he last expected to see in the room with him. "Sol…?"

King Sol was sitting on a chair right against the wall, staring at Xibalba with a serious expression. A few more minutes later, he spoke. "Xibalba."

"Where's La Muerte?"

"She broke out of here and wanted to go help you, but thankfully Aimé spoke some sense unto her. She isn't happy that you put her in a sleeping trance, by the way."

Great, she was going to kill him. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"A few days."

"Days?!" Xibalba winced at the pain of his sudden jerk upwards, and had to lie down again. "Ayayay!"

"Don't move, your doctor said you have a few broken bones, and he purged the venom from your system completely, but it took a lot of effort."

"No offense, Sol, but if you're going to sermon me or anything right now I'm not in quite the mood for that."

"Quite the opposite, actually. I came to thank you for saving my daughter's life, and protecting her despite your state."

Xibalba was surprised, and decided to take a little advantage of it. "Excuse me? I didn't quite hear." He said, even putting a hand to his ear. "Could you say that again?"

Sol frowned. "Don't exaggerate."

"Geeze, where's your sense of humor?" Xibalba turned serious again. "I would have never let anything happen to La Muerte, she means the world to me."

"I can see it clearly now."

"How did you escape, by the way?"

"Zipacna and Lady Epona gathered some of your acquaintances from other Pantheons, and they saved us from Itzlacol's dungeon in the Land of the Living. I must say, I never thought you had so many friends."

"We aren't exactly close friends, but yes."

"Anyway, I also want to talk with you about something… important."

"What is it?"

"I know we haven't been on exactly good terms ever since you married my daughter, and I tried to separate her from you on various occasions, but I had a reason for that, and its name is Akrinok."

Xibalba blinked in surprise. "My… father? What does he have to do with…?"

"I knew your father, Xibalba. I knew how cruel he was to Selena, and how he treated cruelly whoever he thought weak." Sol sighed. "I even… I knew you from way back, even from before you remember."

"What?"

"When you and La Muerte met as children, that wasn't the actual first time you saw each other," Sol looked away reluctantly. "The first time you two were too young to remember."

Xibalba was confused. "How?"

"You don't know this, but your mother Selena new my wife Esperanza, the mother of my daughters. They were close friends and your mother would often come to the Land of the Remembered, bringing you and your brother along sometimes." Sol turned to see him again. "That was the first time I saw you." When Xibalba didn't say anything, he continued. "Selena was a good woman, gentle and kind, but she was too afraid of your father to even think of leaving him."

"Tell me something I don't already know." Xibalba muttered.

"Esperanza encouraged her to do what was best for you and Zipacna," Sol stated as he looked through the window, remembering the events that transpired so long ago. "When La Muerte was born, the day of her first birthday my Queen and I threw a party for her. Selena was invited, and she brought you and Zipacna with her." Sol let out a sigh. "That was the first time you and La Muerte met."

"You were only three years old at that time. La Muerte took a liking to you and she spent most of the celebration in your embrace," Sol closed his eyes. This part of the story always bothered him. "But then your father arrived and forcefully took you, your mother and brother back to the Land of the Forgotten."

Xibalba stared at Sol agape. Then he and La Muerte had met even sooner… At the beginning or their lives, practically. He didn't need to wonder why he couldn't remember it, though, both were too young, but yet… He did have a few memories of colors, music and holding a little sugar baby in his embrace, but he had always dismissed them as mere dreams to escape his reality.

"We barely saw Selena after that," Sol continued. "One day we heard she had died, but we never learned how. Esperanza was devastated."

Xibalba knew how she had died now. He didn't like to talk about it at all, but he felt Sol deserved an answer if he was opening up like this. After a few seconds of pondering, Xibalba spoke up. "She was killed."

It was Sol's turn to look at the dark god in surprise. "What?"

"So that you know, my family was even worse than you ever imagined," Xibalba whispered. "My father not only tortured us… He killed mother, and…" he closed his eyes shut and dug his claws unto the sheets. "My unborn sister."

Sol went pale. "S-Selena was…?"

Xibalba merely nodded. "She had finally gathered the courage to leave him, the four of us…"

There was silence for a few seconds, before Sol spoke gently and with remorse. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"There are many things you don't know, Sol," Xibalba retorted "You don't know what truly happened the night before La Muerte left and returned to you to weep in your arms."

"She slept with you."

"It wasn't only that," Xibalba felt compelled to stop right there. He didn't want to remember that night, the horrible things he told to the woman he loved, the look of betrayal and pain on her face, but he forced himself to continue. "I… I drove her away because I love her, and I always will," he crossed his arms and huffed embarrassed. "Me and my insecurities," he continued when Sol didn't snap at him yet. "I thought she would be better off without me… But you have no idea of how I wept and mourned when she left, only to realize I couldn't live without her…" he turned to Sol again. "Even if I had to face you."

"You didn't let me finish tell you my reasons, Xibalba," Sol said, though now he understood better. "A few years layer, when La Muerte was a child, she told me she had made a new friend in the woods in Aztlan; she mentioned he didn't talk, so she referred to him as Balby."

"That moment I knew it was you. Your mother would call you that; La Muerte heard it as a baby, and when she saw you again, she must have remembered you unconsciously."

"Sol… Would you mind searching in that drawer?" Xibalba asked, motioning to his bedside table. "You'll find something that might interest you. It's something that used to belong to La Muerte."

Curious, Sol did as told and went to open the drawer; his eyes widened, and his hand gently lifted a red silk ribbon. "This is…" he whispered, recognizing it almost instantly. "La Muerte said she had lost it."

Xibalba shook his head. "She gave it to me as a gift. After that, I lost touch with her…" he winced when he felt another wave of pain running through his body. "Ayay… You know, this reminds me of that time I had to stay in bed when I saved La Muerte for the first time… That day I saved her from the Forgotten Beasts."

"How did you…?" Sol decided not to go into details with that. "Anyway, you must be thinking this doesn't explain why I didn't want you near my daughter."

Xibalba crossed his arms, frowning. "As a matter of fact, it doesn't. Though partly I understand; I mean, a wonderful woman like La Muerte with… well… me."

"It's not about your appearance."

"I never said that, I'm talking about myself as a person."

"No. When I formally met you for the first time, you had already been crowned as the ruler of this realm if you recall. I saw much of your father in you when I noticed your interest in my daughter."

Xibalba looked thoughtful. "I did hear some rumors about your opinion of me, but I had learned to not care about what other people said or thought. But deep down…" he looked away sadly. "I was hurt… I'm not made of stone, you know, even if I gave that impression."

Sol continued. "I was terrified you'd harm and torture my daughter like Akrinok did to your mother."

Offended, Xibalba tried to sit up, but winced at the pain and had to lay back down again, but he did frown at Sol. "How did you think I would do that?"

"He made you like him. You were cruel, merciless, sadistic… I saw him in you."

"Exactly. You saw him, not me. You didn't want to see through him. You put a wall, or mask, mental note that I was like him."

"I did. Until now."

Xibalba blinked in surprise. "Until now?" he inquired curiously. He knew, but he wanted to hear it from Sol's lips. What could he say? If life gave you lemons, make lemonade. "Why until now?" The fact that La Muerte is pregnant and the baby will need a father now that Itzy is gone, or…?"

Sol realized Xibalba was savoring this, but he did his best not to look annoyed. "I was wrong about you," he admitted rather reluctantly. "You are nothing like your father."

This time, Xibalba did smile teasingly. "Took you a while to say it, Sol. You never believed me, that I can understand it since I wasn't very trustworthy because of my past actions, but…" his expression turned serious again. "Why didn't you believe La Muerte? She tried to tell you were wrong about me, and Itzlacol, so why didn't you believe your own daughter?"

"Perhaps I didn't want to see it," Sol said with a heavy sigh. "La Muerte has always been my little girl. I guess I didn't want to give her up."

"Yet you did the same as me. You hurt her, even when she tried to change your mind in certain topics and you didn't listen. That woman's truly special, I love her way too much to let anything or anyone come between us."

"I can see that now, and I apologize for wronging you."

Xibalba whispered. "Yes, you were wrong," to Sol's surprise, he smiled at him. "But nobody's perfect."

"I know."

"Not me, not you… not even La Muerte herself is perfect," Xibalba couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Heck, I never imagined that woman would be so much trouble. Do you have any idea of how many times I was this close to die for her?" He held up his unscathed hand and held out his thumb and index finger a few inches from one another as emphasis.

"Many times?"

"Many! 5 times to be more precise, on one of those occasions it was almost at the hands of my own subjects, but…" Xibalba smiled. "It was worth it." Speaking of which, he recalled there was something he had wanted to tell Sol for a while. "One more thing. Think you could handle a few rules? Just on minor things."

"What?" Sol couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"First, you'll stop being so overprotective of La Muerte. You will take all of her ideas, beliefs or suggestions into consideration, and you will continue to love her like crazy… not more than I do, but you know what I mean," Xibalba chuckled. "Can you do these things? Oh, and before I forget, trust me. I won't take it well if you don't."

Sol returned the polite smile. "I will do my best."

"And about holidays and special occasions…"

"Yes, I understand…"

"No, you don't yet. You must be present at every birthday, Christmas, easter, day of the dead and Halloween in our family. I want you to love your grandchildren, be there for them, and most of all give La Muerte and me some tips and lend us a hand when he are… unavailable."

"You can be certain I will."

"Good, otherwise I'll drag you all the way here!"

Sol chuckled humorlessly. "I can actually imagine you doing that."

"I would enjoy it… you know I would." Xibalba sighed and relaxed in bed once more. "I'm glad we made up."

"Me too," Sol commented. "I wouldn't like to be arguing with you every time we see each other. At least for La Muerte's sake.

"Are you still mad about… well, you know… Me being the father of La Muerte's baby."

"It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that my daughter is the mother."

"My baby's mother…" the dark god smiled dearly. "I don't think we'll have any other fights, we only argued because of La Muerte, if you notice she was the center and main motive of all those fights."

"She was," Sol said with a nod. "What matters is that she is happy. That is all that matters, especially now after all she's been through. Her mother would be so proud."

"I bet…" Xibalba looked down sadly as he recalled Selena, and the vision he had of her, but it was cut short when his chest ached again. "Hey, sol… I don't mean to be rude, but do you mind giving me some time to rest?"

Sol shrugged as he headed towards the door. "I don't. Your doctor said you needed your rest, after all."

Xibalba called after him before he left. "Oh, and Sol!"

"What is it?" the god inquired, glancing back at him.

"Well, thank you for finally accepting me even though it took a while and we nearly had to die for it."

Sol winced. "I get it… I think…" With that, he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Xibalba found himself for a few minutes before another person finally came in: his dear wife. "If it isn't the most beautiful goddess of them all," he chirped, looking pretty happy.

"I just saw father walk out," La Muerte pointed out, sounding oddly… indifferent. "What did you two talk about?"

"Well, nothing really, just the fact that he now and finally has agreed to our marriage," Xibalba pointed out. "And we kind of… apologized, mostly him."

"I'm glad you two will be able to see each other without pointing out knives at your throats."

"At least, that's what I hope," HE couldn't bear it anymore, he had to taste those sweet sugary lips! "Muertita, can I have a kiss? I'd take the initiative, but I'm stuck in bed."

La Muerte seemed to snap out of it and smiled at him as she sat down next to him. "Certainly, Balby…" she whispered sweetly. "But before that…"

SMACK

Before he could process what had happened, a flurry of marigold petals had struck his cheek painfully.

"Ouch!" he whined, rubbing his face with his arm painfully. "What was that?" he asked his wife in confusion.

"That's for locking me in here." La Muerte said seriously with a small fire in her tone.

"Come on, you would have only gotten in danger for nothing!"

"For nothing? I wanted to save your ungrateful ass!"

There was that temper he had not seen in a while, but which he found so attractive in her. "I was wondering when I'd see that fire again."

La Muerte huffed indignantly and looked away with her arms crossed, though Xibalba thought he saw the corner of her mouth with a small smile.

There was a knock in the door, and Emilio peeked his head in. "My Lord, first of all, are you okay?"

Xibalba rolled his eyes, but smiled nevertheless. "I'm fine, Emilio, just stuck in bed, but other than that I'm fine. Is that all?"

"No, My Lord. Actually, Lords Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca wish to have a word with you."

"Right now?" Xibalba inquired, his face going red.

"Can't it wait until later?" La Muerte asked dryly. "Xibalba is not in condition to receive them."

"They insist it's a matter of great importance, milady." Emilio said.

"It'll be okay, Muertita," Xibalba insisted. "I don't think they'll scold me, anyway."

She was still reluctant, but he insisted so much in the end she had to nod in approval. Emilio left the room, and a few seconds later Quetzalcóatl and Tezcatlipoca came in. They seemed to feel awkward at seeing the dark god in bed, without his armor and sick.

"This better be good." La Muerte said, crossing her arms.

"First of all, are you alright?" Quetzalcóatl inquired. "You were in a near-comatose state for days."

"I'm okay, Majesty," Xibalba responded with a chuckle. "Just stiff and near starvation, but other than that I'm fine."

"What is it you need, gentlemen?" La Muerte asked again, going straight to the point.

"Most of all, we'd like to discuss the recent… events." Tezcatlipoca said.

"You mean Itzlacol's death?"

"In part, yes. There's also the fact that you used a Forbidden Spell from the Book of Death again, the same one you used months ago."

"Are you serious?!" La Muerte suddenly snapped at them, her temper flaring. "If you came here to reprimand him-!"

"However," Quetzalcóatl interrupted her. "We decided to let it slip this once due to the circumstances."

Xibalba couldn't help but feel relieved that he wouldn't be punished again. Besides, what else could they take from him in this state, anyway?

"There's one more thing. As you know, Itzlacol died without an heir," Quetzalcóatl paused when he saw La Muerte stiffening, probably remembering all the awful things he had told her about that topic. "So his realm and all his belongings have no owner. But since he caused you both lots of strife, we were considering in granting you rights over all of his properties."

Xibalba blinked in surprise. "Wait… All of them-?"

"NO, thank you," La Muerte said firmly before her husband could process it. "We do not have any need for whatever possessions he earned through oppression and threats. You may do as you wish with them."

"Couldn't we at least keep one of his villas? You have to admit they're very big…" Xibalba winced when his wife glared at him. "Never mind."

"One more thing," Tezcatlipoca said. "If you remember your trial from a few months ago, we decreed that Lord Zipacna would rule your realm until you earned the right to bear the crown again," a subtle smirk formed on his face. "Well, Quetzalcóatl and I discussed it, and we've decided that you have earned it."

La Muerte barely contained a gasp of surprise. She carefully but tightly embraced her husband, though there was a certain look of dismay on his face. "Will it hurt again?" he asked. "If it will, mind waiting until I get better to make it official? Besides, Zipacna is in no better condition than me, so I guess he'll want to wait until he's better too."

"Certainly." Quetzalcóatl agreed with a nod. "We tried to inform him of this, but he's still a bit… well, delirious from so many sleeping-inducing spells."

Xibalba couldn't help but chuckle. "If he didn't start that 'victory dance' of his, then I guess he must be."

"Well, your majesties, if you don't mind, Xibalba still needs to rest." La Muerte said. "If you don't mind…"

"That's okay, we understand," Quetzalcóatl said politely. "When you both are ready for the official transfer, send us a message."

With that, the two gods left the room. When he was certain they were out of earshot, Xibalba sighed in dismay.

"Great, it means I won't have as much free time as before."

"What are you saying?" La Muerte chided him. "It's wonderful news! It means you'll have your rightful role back again!"

"I just hope they'll take that stupid book away and put in a safe with a hundred locks. The last thing we need is the baby learning anything from there."

"Come on, Xibalba, only you can open the door."

"The child will have both of our auras, which means she might be able to trick the door into thinking she's me."

La Muerte raised an eyebrow. "She?"

"What? You said she might be a girl, and that's good enough for me. Who can argue against maternal instinct?"

Despite the former tension, this time she smiled and pulled him into a tender kiss. When she pulled back, he was red and there was a gawking smile on his face.

"I think I should get hurt more often."