Against all Odds

Chapter 5- Pain

"That bruja!" Xibalba growled and paced around the room, fuming in indignation. "You should have let me strangle her!"

La Muerte lifted her eyes from her book to give her husband an annoyed look. "That's what you get for not going to see your outfit. She simply did what she thought would look good on you."

"I'm definitively not going to wear that…. That…. Abomination!"

"If you don't, you'll hurt Xochiquétzal's feelings."

"What about me?! What about my feelings?! If I go to the masquerade with that thing on, I'll look like Zipacna…" Xibalba thought for a moment. "Worse. I'll even smell like Zipacna!"

"I thought you didn't like talking about your older brother."

"I don't." the dark god's voice grew sad with a pinch of bitterness. Zipacna was surely to attend, he'd never miss a masquerade if he had something to say about the matter. Xibalba decided to change the topic. "By the way, mi corazón, I noticed that you and that Veneno guy were very friendly today."

"Xibalba, don't tell me you're jealous." La Muerte placed her book aside and sat up on bed, frowning slightly at him.

"Me? Jealous of him? I'm not that desperate, my dear." Xibalba tried to sound sure of himself, but failed to do so. "I'm more handsome."

"Ay, Balby." La Muerte shook her head, but smiled at him. "You know I only have eyes for you, mi vida."

Seeing her smiling, her wonderful smile that always sent his soul soaring up high to the highest heavens, Xibalba returned with a tender smile of his own as he went to bed and lay down next to his beloved wife. "Me too, mi corazón. I'd never set my eyes on another, my heart and my soul will always belong to you." He lifted up La Muerte's chin with his finger to look into her eyes. "I know you, mi amor. You'd never do something like that to me, or to anyone, for the matter."

La Muerte was still smiling as she twirled Xibalba's moustache with her finger. "I'm glad you trust me, mi cielo. I trust you, too, you'd never break my heart ever." She leaned in to Xibalba's face until they were inches close to one another. "Te amo, Balby."

Xibalba stroked La Muerte's cheek with his thumb as he touched her forehead with his. "Yo también te amo, mi corazón." As soon as their lips joined together to express their love, the baby squirmed and started kicking. La Muerte looked down at her bump excitedly and placed a hand on it.

"She kicks everytime we kiss, it seems." Xibalba smiled.

"I just can't wait until she's born…" La Muerte stroked her belly tenderly, with a gaze full of love and tenderness. However, soon her joy and eagerness started turning into dread upon remembering about the conversation she had with Veneno, where she recalled one of the most painful moments in her life.

It was raining.

They took the 'long' path to Aztlan. Medianoche's hooves clip-clopped unto muddy terrain as he advanced on slow pace, feeling the sorrow and pain of his riders almost like it was his own. Xibalba was holding his wife as close to him as possible with one arm, using his wings to protect both her and her charge from the rain, leading his steed with his other hand. La Muerte was unusually grim and she gave an air of sorrow that contrasted her usually warm personality. Instead of her red dress, she was wearing a long, black one with not a single decoration, almost making her sugar skin look paler than usual. In her arms, she was holding an unmoving bundle of blue blankets, and she held it close to her chest like it was the most precious thing in the world. It had been, for her. Her sobs were almost inaudible, her crystal tears falling unto the little blanket as she looked down at her dead baby, her heart breaking every second she stared at his little face. The little one's face was calm and his eyes were closed, as if he were asleep, but his motionless chest and body made his mother know that he did not breath. It couldn't be.

They were silent the whole way to Aztlan. None of the two had the heart to speak. Xibalba's eyes were glued on the roads ahead, but they were glistening with tears of sorrow and pain as much as his wife's. He just couldn't bear to look at his baby, it was too painful for him. He wanted to tell La Muerte to try and focus her attention on something else, but he didn't have the heart to, he was afraid he would make her cry more.

When they finally arrived at Aztlan, the rain hadn't ceased and it showed no signs that it would stop. Maybe Tláloc made it so this day in respect for the occasion. When they were in the entrance courtyard, Xibalba was the first to dismount; La Muerte remained silent as she felt Xibalba's hands taking a hold on her waist and lifting her from the saddle, then placing her on the ground just as on of the servants came and led Medianoche into the warm, dry stables. Her grip on her child didn't soften up a bit, she didn't want to let go.

Finally, it was Xibalba who broke the silence. "Let's go inside, mi amor." His voice was broken with pain and sorrow, lifting his wing over his wife to protect her from the rain. They went inside, and all the while La Muerte stared down at her child with teary, puffy eyes. The other Gods were in the Great Hall, waiting for the married couple to arrive. No one spoke, and the air of sorrow seemed to reflect on the hall; even the walls looked duller and gray. As soon as they entered, the Xochiquétzal, Toci, and many of the other Goddesses approached La Muerte and offered her words and hugs of comfort, but none of them could soothe a mother's pain for losing her child.

Xibalba was doing his best not to cry, but the other Gods could see much more hurt and grief in his eyes than if he had shed tears. His eyes were set on his stillborn son, wishing that this was all a nightmare, but this was the cruel reality. They still didn't understand what had gone wrong. La Muerte had had a good pregnancy, she had no complications during childbirth, and yet here they were, about to make the funerary rites for their baby.

Quetzalcoatl watched with great sorrow as the other deities tried in vain to comfort La Muerte and Xibalba, until he decided it was time. "Let us begin with the proper rites."

"No!"

Suddenly, La Muerte's arms tightened around her baby and she stepped back, holding her child protectively against her chest as she looked up at Quetzalcóatl pleadingly.

"Don't take my baby away…!"

"La Muerte, dearie, it'll be alright." Toci tried to place her hands on the younger Goddess's shoulders, but La Muerte flinched away.

"Please, no!" she cried.

No matter what they did, she didn't want to give up her baby. It broke Xibalba's heart seeing his wife like this, adding more salt to the wound of having lost his son so soon, but this had to be done. "La Muerte…" he spoke softly as he took his wife's shoulders.

"Balby, don't take my baby away…" she cried, trying to step away, but he tightened his hold on her shoulders.

"Mi amor, don't make it harder than it already is." Xibalba lay a hand on La Muerte's cheek gingerly and wiped a tear rolling down her cheek. "We must allow out son to rest in peace."

"Balby… Balby…"

Xibalba pulled La Muerte closer into an embrace and kissed her head, shushing her and telling her it was going to be alright. La Muerte couldn't help but look down at her little baby, his calm, emotionless expression. Finally, with all the pain of the world in her heart, she allowed Xibalba to take the stillborn from her, and broke down in tears as he glided towards Quetzalcóatl. Xibalba felt his heard cracking in grief when he held his dead son in his arms, and understood how his wife was feeling; at least to some extent. The death of a child had not the same impact on a father than it had on a mother.

The father may have planted the seed, but the mother nourished it within her, inside her body. She carried the little one in her womb, felt it move, kick, squirm, she suffered the pain of childbirth, all to bring the fruit of the seed into the world

As Quetzalcóatl was about to take the bundled stillborn from Xibalba, it took the dark god all of his might to loosen his hold on the baby's body and allow the feathered serpent to take him towards the small funerary pyre. He went back to his wife just as Quetzalcóatl placed their baby atop the wood, and chanted the corresponding spells and incantations in their native tongue.

"May the Chichihualcuauhco tree receive you in its shade, pequeño." A small fireball that Quetzalcóatl summoned in his hand lit up the pyre. "May its branches nourish you with their maternal milk."

Neither La Muerte or Xibalba could stand watching their baby being burned away in the orange flames; they embraced each other in despair and sorrow, bursting out in tears. La Muerte snuggled into her husband's comforting, protective wings and arms, burying her face into his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. Xibalba closed his eyes shut and grit his teeth, pulling his wife close to his chest; he caressed her head to comfort her, running his long fingers through her hair.

They even thought they heard a baby cry from the flames.

"La Muerte?" Xibalba panicked when his wife started to cry and embraced him tightly. "La Muerte, what's wrong?!"

"What if something happens to our baby…?" La Muerte sobbed. "What if she's born dead again…?"

Xibalba knew what this was about, and he returned the embrace. "Shhh, don't be afraid, mi amor. Everything will be okay. Our baby will be okay."

"But what if-?"

He shushed her by placing a finger on her lips. "There's no need to worry, my love. I promise you, our baby will be healthy and normal."

La Muerte looked down at her abdomen with tears in her eyes and stroked it once again; her baby started kicking at where here hand was, as if to assure her that he was alive. The Goddess calmed down a bit and accepted her husband's embrace as both looked down at their unborn baby.

She would be okay. She had to.

"La Muerte, please don't do this!"

"What are you talking about, Víbora?"

Víbora approached the Goddess and grabbed her by the shoulders with his tail. "Don't marry Xibalba! I beg you!"

"B-But Víbora…" La Muerte released herself from his grasp and stepped away from him with confused eyes. "I thought you'd be happy for me."

"Happy?!" Víbora snapped. "How do you expect me to be happy when you're about to tie yourself to a damn-!"

Now it was La Muerte's turn to snap. "Don't you dare refer to Balby with a degrading word, Víbora!"

"How can you defend him, La Muerte?! Have you not seen how cruel he is?! Mortals fear him, and even our fellow Gods fear him! What if he lays a hand on you?" Víbora stroked her cheek with his tail. "I don't want him to hurt you."

"Xibalba would never hurt me! And everyone fears him because they don't know him like I do!" La Muerte couldn't help but smile when she spoke about him. "He may look heartless and he might appear like a monster sometimes, but he's actually very tender, sweet and loving. He has tons of love in his heart to give."

"I doubt it." Víbora looked away.

La Muerte shook her head in disappointment, her eyes full of sorrow. "I can't believe it, Víbora. You're supposed to be one of my closest friends, and yet you're not happy for my wedding. Does my happiness not matter to you?"

"It does!" Víbora cried out in desperation. "But I can't just can't stand there seeing the woman I love ruining her life!"

Silence. La Muerte's eyes widened in shock, and she took a hand to her chest in disbelief.

"W-What did you just say?" she whispered, still not believing it.

"Yes, I've said! I love you, Muertita!" Víbora desperately wrapped his tail around her waist and pulled her closer, not caring if she smacked him for calling her like that. "I love you with all my heart! That's why I am asking you, don't marry Xibalba! Run off with me!"

La Muerte didn't say anything for a while; Víbora hoped that she was thinking things over, and would realize she had feelings for him as well. However, La Muerte released herself from his grasp and stepped away from him; she gave him both an apologetic and disappointed look, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Víbora, but I can't return your feelings. My heart belongs to another. It belongs to Xibalba."

The last sentence severely broke Víbora's heart, and the blood serpent swore he could feel his eyes swelling up with tears. "B-But… M-Muertita…"

"Please, I ask of you in the kindest way possible." La Muerte braced herself as she turned her back on him, looking down. "Do not seek me again. Forget about me. I'm sure there are other Goddesses who would gladly take you as a husband."

"I don't want another by my side that is not you!" Víbora pleaded, slithering towards her, but she stepped away from him again.

"Víbora, don't make this harder for the both of us-"

"Muertita, if you would just give me a chance I could show you that I can make you happy!"

"Víbora-"

"I could make you happier than Xibalba could ever do! Just let me show you-!"

"STOP!"

The serpent instinctively slithered backwards when La Muerte yelled at him, the candles on her sombrero flaring up with ferocity. It made his heart break even more when she glared at him. La Muerte frowned and looked away from him once again.

"Do not seek me ever again." She said, hardly this time. "Get on with your life, Víbora. I'm marrying Xibalba whether you like it or not, because I love him. If you can't understand nor accept it, then I'm sorry for you."

With those hard, cruel, parting words, she was gone in a blur of flower petals…

Leaving Víbora with the pieces of his torn and broken heart.

Víbora would have punched the walls if he had arms, but he had temporally abandoned his disguise so he could relief himself from the anxiety and stress that watching La Muerte waste her time with Xibalba caused him. He never understood what La Muerte had seen in that demon, what good she could see in him when all could only see bitterness, hatred and cruelty. Xibalba was cruel, he'd enjoy himself by tormenting mortals psychologically, dragging them into deals they'd regret. He was bitter, years of growing under his father's abusive nature turned him equally abusive, as if to make others feel what he felt during those years of torment and pain.

And yet, she loved him, or so she claimed.

Víbora didn't understand why Aimé was so bent of stealing Xibalba's heart from her older sister, if she actually loved him or she was simply bent on getting revenge on La Muerte and Xibalba (the former for stealing her 'man', the latter for scorning her) and would discard the dark god when all this business was complete. He was starting to think it was the latter. He the part in her plan where she got to conquer Xibalba while he was condemned to be scorned by the woman he loved, again. Perhaps… it was time that he start making a plan of his own.