"And that pretty much sums it up," Xibalba concluded the tale with a long sigh. "Both mommy and I made mistakes, but in the end what mattered was what love conquers all, don't you think?"
Much to his confusion, La Muerte was laughing gently. "What's so funny?"
La Muerte motioned to Marigold, who by then had fallen asleep, holding her plush snake Rattles close. "She fell asleep a while ago."
Xibalba blinked, and let out a sigh. "One of these days I'll tell that story to someone who can actually stay awake through all of it."
"You can't blame her completely, Balby. It was a long story and it's late."
"I guess, but you could have told me she had fallen asleep ad saved me the embarrassment."
"Indeed, I could have, but it's been a while since we thought about that tale… Besides, I wanted to hear your version."
Xibalba's cheeks went red. "Oh, well…" he looked down at Marigold. "It's too bad she fell asleep, though. We didn't get to tell her the news."
La Muerte smiled as she rubbed her abdomen lovingly. "Oh, well, we can tell her tomorrow." She puled the duver further up to cover Marigold's body, and then bent down to kiss her cheek. "Sweet dreams, mi niña…"
Xibalba followed suit, stroking Marigold's hair as he kissed her forehead. "Que descanses, mi florecita."
They left the room, putting down the chimney fire without fully extinguishing it to make sure she would be properly warm, and then closed the door behind them.
"Think we'll have a boy this time?" Xibalba asked innocently. "I mean, what does your motherly instinct tell you?"
La Muerte thought for a moment and then smirked. "I think it's a bit too soon to know."
"Oh, come on! Can't you give me a hint?"
La Muerte laughed. "If you can catch me, I'll consider it."
It was his turn to laugh. "Oh, you're on!"
With that, both gods started a playful chase around the castle halls-silently, of course, to avoid awakening Marigold-that concluded in their bedroom, where Xibalba picked up his wife bridal style as he took her to bed. He stroked his wife's cheek tenderly.
"I love you, mi amor."
"I love you more, Balby." La Muerte whispered as she felt the wings of his dark angel embracing her.
They shared one final kiss for the day before blissfully slumbering in each other's arms.
Okay, everyone, this is it! The Final chapter of this wonderful love story!
Before anything else, I want to thank every single one of my readers for following this fic. I can now say this is my first Masterpiece in fanfiction, not to mention one of the longest an the one I've developed the most.
Thank you to my friend neagoieolivia for all her support, her help in developing certain ideas and in helping me make some parts look more realistic, particularly the medical parts.
Before I get petitioned for a sequel, I'd like to let you know that I'm the type of person who thinks some stories are SO wonderful they DON'T need them. This is one of them, I worked so hard on this one I don't think any sequel will hold any candle to it. I wouldn't like to make Disney's mistake.
BUT I think one-shots and spin-offs can do if I think of a mini-story worth making.
In fact, currently I'm planning a spin-off that will feature Zipacna and Epona's relationship, and I won't say anything further than that. It might take a while, though, since I'd like to take a break from TBOL for the time being and focus on other stories I'm working on too and I want to finish.
See you next time!
-Signing off, Ladyanaconda.
