Against All Odds
Chapter 12- Nightmare
Hooves pounded against the muddy ground as Medianoche galloped through the canyon, the heavy downpour falling unto both horse and rider mercilessly, though none of the two minded. Xibalba couldn't help but shiver, the water was freezing cold, but it wouldn't stop him. Nothing would. Unfortunately, the rain had probably erased any tracks Víbora would have left, if he had left by foot, because the last thing he recalled before the poison had made him lose consciousness, was seeing him teleport with an unconscious La Muerte in his arms; it furthered his worry and preoccupation for his wife and child's wellbeing.
Xibalba felt a harsh pang of ache in his chest, and he quickly pulled Medianoche's reins to make him stop, though he tried not to pull too hard or he'd make his horse trip on the muddy, slippery ground. The dark god clenched his teeth and clutched at his chest, his heartbeat accelerating its pulse at the pain. Damn it, he still had a bit of venom in his system, Toci said the antidote would take a while in removing all the poison from him.
Medianoche bent his neck backwards and snorted, still worried for his master's health, but Xibalba patted his neck.
"I'm okay, chico, really…"
Medianoche stomped his hoof on the ground as he neighed.
"We're not going back until we've found La Muerte, understood?!"
Knowing his master wouldn't change his mind, Medianoche centered his attention back to the front. From the canyons in Aztlan, one could get to any of the realms belonging to the Gods. They were in the crossroad, leading to the Land of the Remembered on one side, and to the Land of the Forgotten on the other. He was still trying his best to think of any possible places Víbora could have taken La Muerte, but he had yet to think of somewhere. There were so many possibilities, and he hadn't much time. Where…?
Ponzoña hissed at his master from underneath his armor-the snake often hid in there when Xibalba didn't need him-, trying to comfort him.
"I'll be fine, Ponzoña, don't worry. I just don't know where to start looking!"
One of Ponzoña's heads peeked out from underneath his armor and whispered into his ear.
"My land? Why would he take her there?!"
Ponzoña hissed into his ear once more.
"The caves?" Xibalba repeated. "But those are very reclusive and hard to find…"
…And it was the perfect place to hide. Why not? He knew Víbora. The snake would have probably taken La Muerte where the other gods would least expect it, and what would be a better place that the Land of the Forgotten, his enemy's domain? It made sense.
Xibalba kicked his horse's stomach and headed leftwards at full speed, back to his domain, his wings tucked close to his body as he felt the cold raindrops fall unto him, going as fast as Medianoche could in this terrain. He was fearing the worst, for both his Muertita and their little boy or girl. He couldn't believe what he was about to do. As a child, he'd often wonder if Gods could pray to anyone, considering they were the ones who got prayers. He didn't know who to pray to; if the so-called Fates that held the lives of his family, if to his wife to be strong while he got there, or if he was just wasting words, but he needed some sort of comfort.
"Please…" he prayed with all his might. "Let them be both safe."
She was on top of a bed in those dark caves, her wrists tied to the frame, her nails digging unto the mattress with every contraction. Her ankles were equally tied to the other side of the bed frame, even though her baby was coming. Tears of pain streamed down her face, biting unto a rag in her mouth to ease her pain, but with little effect other than to lock her screams in her throat. The mattress was getting tainted with her blood and amniotic fluid, but there was little to do about it.
She kept pushing every time the stimulation was strong, but prayed with all her might her baby would be alright in this state. The pain flared and dulled, it was unbearable especially without her Balby to comfort her, but she had to be strong for her child. She gave one final push, with all the strength she could muster while digging her nails into the mattress and blankets.
Her vision became blurry, but her heart leapt with joy when she heard a tiny wailing.
Suddenly a shadow with orange eyes approached the bed and set his eyes on her baby, hissing and baring his fangs. The child cried even louder at the mysterious stranger, especially when he abruptly grabbed it with its tail. La Muerte grew alarmed when Víbora slithered away with her crying baby.
"Víbora!" she cried out for him. "Wait! Let me see my baby at least once!"
She tried to stand up, but she was tied up to the bed; in vain, she tried to release herself from the ropes, but they were too strong. She could only watch as Víbora took her child away.
"Víbora! I beg you! Let me see her!"
He looked back at her. "We had a deal, La Muerte. I will let your child live, but it will stay here."
"Víbora!"
The cries of her baby echoed in the dark as Víbora took her away…
La Muerte woke up with a start and a muffled scream, sweating. She instinctively took her hand sot her abdomen, and was relieved to find that her baby was still in there. She sobbed quietly as she managed to wrap her arms around her bump protectively. For the first time ever, she wisher her baby would not be born just yet, she wouldn't stand a life without her. The little one was no better, squirming inside the protective warmth of its mother's womb every now and then.
La Muerte trembled in fear when she heard a door being unlocked and a snake slithering closer to her.
"Good morning, mi amor." Víbora chirped, oblivious to the aversion the woman he loved felt for him. "How are you this morning?"
She didn't even bother to reply; she was gagged, anyway, and whatever curses left her tongue would be muffled by the rag.
"You know, I'm still trying to decide where we shall live once this is all over." He slithered close to her and curled up around her body. "I'm between choosing a nice place by the ocean or a warm cottage in a forest, what do you think?" HE tried caressing La Muerte's cheek with the tip of his tail, but she turned her face away from it. "Oh, well, anywhere will be okay, as long as we have each other it won't matter. I just can't wait for our wedding night…"
La Muerte trembled in horror at the thought, but Víbora mistook it for eagerness.
"But this time, Xibalba won't interrupt it…" the blood snake whispered seductively into the Goddess's ear. La Muerte closed her eyes shut when she felt Víbora's tail running town her shoulder, and tried in vain to shift away from him.
"Do you remember, mi amor…? That time we were almost together…"
La Muerte let out muffled screams as Víbora gagged her with a cloth muffler and pinioned her hands behind her back, then pushed her with his snout unto a bed, under the maddening effects of tequila.
Víbora licked La Muerte's neck with his tongue, tasting her skin of sugar; she let out muffled yells of protest and tried to nail at his face, but then his tail started stroking her legs, which instinctively made her try and kick it away.
"You will be mine, Muertita…" Víbora hissed through hisses of pleasure and frustration as he started licking La Muerte's neck, and the tip of his tail started ripped her red dress, ignoring her muffled pleas and cries.
"That night you were nearly mine… Remember?" the snake's viperish tongue licked its way into between La Muerte's breasts, making her scream in horror. As his tail ran through her dark hair, his tone darkened. "Until Xibalba ruined everything…"
Víbora was violently pulled away from La Muerte and thrown against the wall and then the dark figure quickly proceeded to free La Muerte's bindings.
"La Muerte! Are you okay?!"
She only hugged him in response, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
The air in the room darkened when Xibalba glared at Víbora with the fury of a demon, his teeth gone sharp, his pupils rotated forward.
"You…" he advanced unto the snake.
"If it hadn't been for him we would have been together, mi amor…" Víbora sighed sadly, tightening his hold on La Muerte. "But even then I could tell you had feelings for me, though you refused to see it… when you spared my life."
"BALBY, STOP!"
La Muerte grabbed her fiancé by the arm to stop him from doing any further harm to the broken, beaten, near-death snake in front of him before he could give a finishing blow.
"Why do you defend him?!" Xibalba growled in disbelief. "After what he was going to do to you, you want to let him live?!"
"Balby, don't be like him! Don't be a murderer!" La Muerte collapsed unto her knees, clutching at her beloved's cloak.
Xibalba was reluctant to let this bastard live after nearly defiling the love of his life, but seeing La Muerte cry like that… Blocking her form view with his wing, Xibalba snapped his fingers and made chains sprout from the ground and trap the snake.
"Víbora Colorada, for the crime you nearly committed on my future wife, I condemn you to be imprisoned in the Land of the Forgotten for all eternity." His voice was acidly hateful, as he bent down and embraced his beloved.
Víbora felt green fires surrounding him, but before he was dragged unto the dark realm he managed to catch the glimpse of La Muerte hiding her face into Xibalba's neck.
"I'll come back for you…"
"…and I kept my promise, didn't I?" Víbora was about to plant another kiss unto La Muerte's skin, until he heard a sound coming from her.
Sobbing.
Something within him stirred; he had never liked to see her cry. As soon as he heard her cries and sobs, he pulled back from her and gave her a confused look. "Why are you crying, my sweet? Are you not happy?"
La Muerte managed to take off the gag for a while. "You repulse me…" she sobbed. "What happened to the Víbora I knew?"
"He's gone. Because of you."
"Because of me? What did I ever do to you?!"
"And you still ask?!" Víbora uncurled from around La Muerte, his eyes glistening with hot tears of anger. "It was all because of you! If you had loved me from the beginning, you wouldn't have pushed me to do this! Your contempt changed me!"
"And you think you'll make me love you with this?" La Muerte shook her head in disappointment. "No, Víbora, love is sacrifice, not selfishness."
"I wouldn't have cared what it was you asked me to do. I love you, I am your most loyal friend, the most faithful spirit in the whole universe. I would have died for you had you asked me to. I told you that I would do anything to be by your side, so why couldn't you love me?"
"Because you are not the man I thought you were."
"But Xibalba, he is." Víbora demanded. "What makes him so much better than I am? I am as loving as he is, I am as charismatic as he is, more I think. I knew you long before you met him. He's more powerful than I am, but that shouldn't matter should it? What makes us different, and him better?"
La Muerte shifted away from Víbora, and took her hands to her pendant. "Unlike you, Xibalba was never possessive. He was gentle, he was kind, he never tried to rush things. He always put me before anything instead of just thinking about his own happiness. He was not selfish, like you."
"That's it?!" Víbora shouted. "Am I condemned for a fault not my own?!"
"You're condemned for faults of your own, Víbora." La Muerte said, her voice growing cold and stern. "As a child you were jealous, aggressive, disrespectful to your elders and disdainful of others. And now, as an adult you grew vicious and cruel. What you've done to Xibalba, what you did to my sister, whatever your motives, what you've done is unforgiveable. You disappointed me in ways I didn't even think possible, Víbora. As much as I regret in my failure to better help the friend that you were, what that friend has become disgusts me."
Víbora couldn't stand it anymore. He immediately put the gag back in her mouth and slithered out of the cave, locking the door once more, leaving her alone in the darkness.
"YOU LET HIM GO?!"
Zipacna had never been so terrified in his entire life, not even when his father was about to give him a beating; that was sugar compared to Xochiquetzal's ire, so naturally he couldn't do anything as the jaguar Goddess grabbed him by the collar of his cloak and shook him violently.
"Let him talk, would you?" Ehécatl said.
Reluctantly, Xochiquétzal released the caiman-headed god, though she wanted to smash him to pieces. Zipacna stepped away from his crush with a frightened expression.
"She is right in one thing, Zipacna! How could you let him go just like that?! Why didn't you stop him?!" Toci snarled.
"I tried to, but he's much more powerful than me!" Zipacna lied, hoping it would be enough to convince them.
"Curious, because Book says you left him go on your own accord." The Candlemaker had to blew it!
"I thought that thing didn't let you see those things!"
"Just tell us why you didn't stop him before I smash you to pieces!" Xochiquétzal hissed.
"You didn't see how determined he was! He was suffering very much, he didn't know if his family was alright! I just couldn't deny him that!"
"You do realize you could have helped him kill himself?" Quetzalcóatl said, never losing his mask of calm.
"He'll handle himself, he is a strong man."
"Did you forget about the poison in his system? It's going to weaken him considerably." Toci reminded him.
"That won't be enough to stop him, I know him better than any of you! He'll bring her back, you'll see!"
With those last words, Zipacna disappeared in a blur of crows.