Against All Odds
Chapter 7- Seduction
"Balby!"
La Muerte struggled to skip through the corridors of the castle, looking around for her husband, but finding no sign of him. She finally stopped in one of the courtyards, clutching her abdomen when her baby kicked harshly from within, feeling its mother's distress. Finally, when she could go no further, she collapsed unto the grass, sobbing upon remembering the hurt, heartbroken expression of his face when he saw Veneno kissing her. But he didn't know what had truly happened!
"La Muerte!" she didn't react when Xochiquétzal, the Candlemaker and even Zipacna ran to her side, bewildered and confused as to her breakdown, and to what had happened with Veneno. "What happened?!" Xochiquétzal asked, grabbing her friend's shoulders.
"Xochi…!" La Muerte sobbed and embraced her friend tightly. "Oh, Xochi…! Xibalba, he…! Veneno…!"
"What?!" the Candlemaker stated in confusion. "What are you talking about?!"
"Veneno kissed me, and Xibalba saw it! He left before I could explain him anything!"
"That-!" Zipacna growled. "Wait till I get my claws on that Veneno guy, flirting with my brother's wife is unpardonable!"
"Good luck with that, I think that guy just disappeared." The Candlemaker stated. "Would you mind leaving a me for me too?"
"The look in his eyes, I just…" La Muerte continued sobbing. "He was so hurt…"
"La Muerte, it wasn't your fault." Xochiquetzal assured her. "Veneno was the one who kissed you, you rejected him, just tell that to Xibalba. He'll understand."
"He'll never forgive me, I know it…"
"Don't say that!" Zipacna stated, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine! He'll come around when he calms down and then you'll be able to talk to him calmly, I'm certain he'll forgive you. Besides, it wasn't your fault, you just said Veneno was the one who tried to hook you up." When she didn't calm down, he tried another tactic. "Okay, cariño, if it makes you feel better I'll look for Xibalba and try to put some sense into him, then you'll be able to talk to him calmly."
La Muerte couldn't stop sobbing, but she gave her brother-in-law a small nod before allowing Xochiquétzal to help her up, a hand on her abdomen. She needed to rest for the baby and clear her mind. "Come on, amiga, I'll take you back to your room." Xochiquétzal cooed gently as she led her away.
Zipacna glanced at the Candlemaker. "Okay, let's split up to find Xibalba. Knowing him he must be in a lonely spot moping."
"I could check on Book for his whereabouts-OW!" the Candlemaker yelped when the Book of Life smacked him in the back of the head. "What? It was just a suggestion!"
"Forget about that and let's go! I don't want to imagine what he must be thinking right now!" Zipacna took off with a flap off his wings and disappeared into the night sky, while the Candlemaker disappeared in a flash of light.
He led her through the sumptuous gardens of Aztlan, taking her to a place he prepared especially for her. La Muerte couldn't help but giggle at his mysterious behavior. "Where are you taking me, Balby?"
"It's a surprise." Xibalba simply replied, before teleporting behind her an covering her eyed with his hands.
"Xibalba? What are you doing?" La Muerte inquired curiously, but nevertheless took her hands to the dark god's.
"Confía en mí, Muertita."
She would have usually grown annoyed, but she didn't want to ruin the surprise, so she decided to overlook it this time. Just this once. After blindly allowing Xibalba to lead her through the gardens, finally they came to a stop.
"Okay, you can look now." Xibalba whispered into her ear, as he removed his gloves from her eyes.
La Muerte gasped in wonder.
He had taken her to a beautiful clearing, where there was an oak tree similar to the one found in San Angel. Jars of beautiful and colorful flowers, such as white and red roses, marigolds, sunflowers, xochis, orchids and many other types she didn't know, with candles illuminating the way to the tree as well.
"Ay, Balby…" La Muerte couldn't help but smile as she advanced down the path of flowers and candles until she was under the shade of the tree. "You made all of this for me…?"
Xibalba teleported to her side, and gently took her hand. "I admit, I had a little help, but yes. I wanted to make something especial for you…"
"It's beautiful, mi vida." La Muerte cupped his cheeks, making him blush deeply and the feathers of his wings twitch in delight.
"I'm glad you like it, my dear, but that's only part of the surprise."
"Part? What do you mean?"
Xibalba smiled tenderly as he caressed one of his angel's cheeks with one hand, pulling her closer by the waist with the other. "La Muerte…" his voice was full of love and tenderness. "You've been the best friend I could ever ask for, ever since we met all those years ago. My life was a living Hell before you came into it, you brought light to the darkness of my existence when I was in the depths of my despair." He bent down on one knee.
"B-Balby?" La Muerte stuttered in wonder.
"All this time we've been together I realized that I want to spend the rest of eternity with you." Xibalba summoned a small black box with a snap of his fingers, and opened the lid with a finger, revealing a golden band with a tiny flower on top of it. "Would you be my light, mi amor? Will you marry me?"
La Muerte was at the verge of tears; not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy. Taking a hand to her lips, she nodded enthusiastically. "Sí!" she threw herself down into Xibalba's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Sí, I will marry you, mi vida!"
Xibalba had never been so happy in his entire life when those wonderful words escape from her lips. Soon she pulled back so they could share a kiss, full of passion and love. When they finally broke the kiss, La Muerte grinned happily as Xibalba plucked the ring from its box and slid it into her finger. "Ay, Balby, it's beautiful."
"Nothing compared to your beauty, mi corazón." Xibalba smiled at her, stroking her cheek with his thumb.
La Muerte took Xibalba's hands and started pulling him away. "Let's go tell everyone, Balby! I just can't wait to see their faces!"
He chuckled. "Me either."
Despite the pain in his broken heart, Xibalba couldn't help but smile a bit at the memory. He would never forget that night, the night she made him the happiest man in the whole universe. For now, however, he just wanted to be alone; he still had the image of La Muerte kissing Veneno fresh in his mind, and it pained him. So much he didn't even want to listen to his wife when she called out to him. While he usually wasn't the type to forgive, La Muerte had always been an exception (as in everything), he'd forgive everything that came from her. He could forgive her smacking him (especially if he deserved it), for ruining his pranks on humans (before their last wager, when he gave his word that he would never mess with mortals ever again), but this… this was too much.
Xibalba had sought refuge in the roof of the highest tower in the castle, overlooking the valley and the night sky, the moonlight bathing him in soft radiance, the starts making it company. The dark god hugged his knees and wrapped his wings around his body, his feathers twitching everytime a cool breeze blew against them. The atmosphere felt… relaxing, at least to some extent. Xibalba felt a presence, but he knew it was not La Muerte, she could not teleport in her condition.
"We've been looking for you." Zipacna said gently, sitting down next to his brother, his wings drooping.
"You know, when a person hides it's because he wants to be alone." Xibalba retorted coldly, but Zipacna could sense the pain and sorrow behind his coldness.
"Xibalba, you don't know what happened-"
Xibalba growled, his eyes glistening with tears of rage. "I saw her kissing with that… that… hijo de perra!"
"Have you thought if it wasn't the other way around? It was him who kissed her against her will!"
"You don't know that…"
"Wha-?!" Zipacna couldn't believe it. "You really think La Muerte would do that to you?! Especially now that she's expecting a child?! YOUR child?!"
"She could be getting back at me for what happened with her sister centuries ago- AY!" Xibalba cried out in pain when his older brother smacked the back of his head; then he glared at him. "What was that for?!"
"For being a complete idiota! You should know your wife better than anyone else! La Muerte would never do something like that, it's against her nature! Weren't you so desperate for her to forgive you?! Well, now it's time to return the favor!"
"But-!" before Xibalba could retort, he felt Zipacna's tail wrap around his mouth to prevent him from uttering another word.
"Now listen here, Xibalba! You can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge La Muerte without knowing what really happened there! Do you want to spend another ten centuries away from her?! And your baby?!" When Xibalba made no sounds of protest, Zipacna continued. "Don't let a misunderstanding ruin your marriage, again."
Xibalba looked down in thought, and didn't say anything after Zipacna removed his tail from around his mouth. As much as he hated to admit it, Zipacna was right in one thing, despite what he saw, he still loved La Muerte with all of his heart, and he wanted to be with her… but right now he saw still shaken by what he saw, he needed to be alone for a while. Sighing heavily, Xibalba finally spoke. "I understand what you're trying to say, but… Would you mind if I spend the night in your room? Just tonight."
Zipacna thought for a moment, before glancing back at his brother, his crest of feathers twitching. "I have one condition."
"What is it?"
"Next morning, you will go see La Muerte, and you will listen to her version of the story. You will forget about what you saw, because it's not what you thought it was. You will give her a chance to explain herself, and then you can decide what to do. But I won't let you judge my sister-in-law for something that was not her fault."
Xibalba looked down in thought, and nodded. "Fine. I'll do it."
"Good." Zipacna patted his brother's back. "Do you want the bed or the sofa?"
"Definitely, the sofa. I don't want to sleep on a bed you already occupied."
Zipacna laughed heartily. "Well, little bro, I'll go tell everyone you did not kill yourself." With this, he turned into a flock of ravens and flew down form the roof into the castle.
A few minutes after he left, Xibalba turned into a ball of tar and zoomed down the tower, into the halls of the castle through a window, and into the guest room assigned to Zipacna. In a way, he envied him, he had a whole room for himself (it wasn't that he didn't like sleeping with his wife, however). Once inside, he changed into his purple bathrobe with a snap of his fingers (his costume changed places with the robe, actually), and headed for the couch; it was very comfortable, though it would be a problem to find a position himself; for the first time, his wings would get in the way.
The door creaked open, calling his attention. Had Zipacna come back so soon? Xibalba turned around to inquire if he needed something, but was surprised to find La Noche in the doorway, wearing a red bathrobe of her own. For goodness sake, he was starting to think this woman was a stalker. He had an idea to what she wanted.
"What are you doing here?" he inquired. "Actually, how did you even know I was here?"
"I had a feeling you'd look for shelter with your only blood family." She simply said., untying the belt keeping the nightgown in place, allowing it to slid off her body and to the ground. "And… I also thought you'd need some comfort…"
Xibalba's eyes widened, but not in delight. She was completely nude, save for her brassiere and her panty; immediately, Xibalba used his wing to block the view.
"Por todos los cielos, mujer! What in the nine levels of Mictlan are you thinking?!"
"Please, Xibalba…" La Noche walked closer to him with a seductive grin. "You don't have to be all lonely tonight… I can comfort you-" she tried to touch him, but he grabbed her arms and pushed them away.
"I'd rather be alone, if you don't mind!"
"Don't you think it would be a good way to get back at your wife for kissing Veneno?"
"It doesn't matter, I'm still a married-!" Xibalba blinked in realization, and he narrowed his eyes at La Noche suspiciously. "How do you know that? Nobody knows what happened, and I doubt Veneno would tell anyone about it, even you."
La Noche froze in dismay and bewilderment, but she son regained her calm. "Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened."
Xibalba growled and glared at La Noche, his feathers ruffling. "I give you five seconds to get out of here before I yell and call everyone's attention. And believe me, you don't want to see Zipacna angry."
"I…" La Noche realized it was futile, he was still too faithful to La Muerte. She bent down and delicately picked the bathrobe from the floor, putting it back on. "I guess I shouldn't have made my feelings known so soon." Her voice was dripping with fake remorse. "My apologies."
"Save them, and leave."
Xibalba turned his back on the goddess with crossed arms, listening to her footsteps and the creaking of the door as it closed. Now that woman reminded him of… Xibalba shook his head and massaged his temples. It couldn't be, she was banished from Aztlan… Wasn't she?
But for now, he just had to clear his mind.