Xibalba and La Muerte Short Stories

My little Nino

Xibalba impaitently paced La Muerte's dining room, occasionally plucking a fruit or piece of cake to munch on as he waited. She was taking forever, why wasn't she here and ready to spend the day with him!? Giving a huff of frustration he took another slice of cake, shovelling in his mouth. His wife, La Muerte, lady of remembered souls was no doubt tending to another fiesta or welcoming another batch of souls. Sometimes he just wanted her to tell him to his face, "Balby, you mean so much more to me than all the souls in my land." And spend a week with him instead of a day or two. Suddenly he heard a voice from behind.
  "Xibalba I am so glad you are here!" His wings fluffed in delight. He knew that lovely voice anywhere. She was here! Turning to her he grinned, only to notice his beautiful wife was not alone. In her arms was a dead little boy, wearing her sambrero and giggling. Ah, so it was one of her souls. But what was he doing here? This was his time with his dear mi amor!
"Mi amor," he inquired stiffly, "who is this chico?" The goddess smiled at her husband.
"This is Antonio, he is going to be under my care until he finds some amigos. Antonio this is my husband Xibalba. He's going to look after you while I tend to a few more things." Xibalba nearly choked on the grapes he was stuffing in his mouth, whipping back to his wife.
"But mi amor, you know how I feel about children, why are you giving me one?!" He whined. La Muerte raised an eyebrow.
"Are you saying you are incapable of taking care of a little boy for a few hours? I thought you could do anything." Xibalba crossed his bony arms arrogantly, complaints momentarily forgotten.
"Anything indeed. You were not mistaken my sweet sugar skull. I can do anything." La Muerte smirked, pulling her hat of the child and setting him down before Xibalba.
"Good. Then it is settled, I will be back in a few hours. Take good care of him Balby." Xibalba glowered at the little boy who sat there, staring up at him curiously.
"Curse my ego." He hissed before quickly following La Muerte as she began to leave.
"Mi amor please don't do this to me. I only frighten children, not care for them. We were supposed to be enjoying this day alone!" He complained loudly. La Muerte sighed, sometimes Xibalba could be absolutely immature. Turning to him she put her hands together.
"Please Xibalba I need you to do this for me! I can't drag him around. All you need to do is entertain him a little while. Then when I come back I will put him with his abuela. I just need to find her." He opened his mouth, ready to debate furiously when he noticed how tired she was. Obviously she'd been high on stress recently. All he could do was set aside his complaining and help for a change instead of wearing her down. Giving her cheek a ginger kiss he whispered against her raven hair,
"Fine. Only a few hours. Then you are mine. Agreed?" She kissed his cheek and giggled, but he could hear how tired she was. Immortals might be immensely powerful, but that didn't mean they could months without sleep. With that she disappeared and he turned his ruby gaze to the little soul. Face bone white he had dark curly hair and a gap in his smile. No older than four probably he was very young to be in the land of the remembered. Then again Xibalba had little care for mortal lifespans. Compared to his they were mere minutes. Mortals lived and they died. Age didn't matter to a god. The boy stood and walked towards the god, giggling. Xibalba merely dissapeared, reappearing a few feet away, only to be followed by the child. This went on for a while, Xibalba dissapearing and reappearing to dodge Antonio's outstretched hands. And the boy enjoyed it, laughing every time he vanished and came back. However, when Xibalba came back for the twentieth time, he found the child was...gone. Looking around wildly he began panicking. If La Muerte knew he'd lost the child, well, she certainly wouldn't be willing to spend the day with him at all. Or any other day for that matter. Suddenly he heard giggling around the corner causing him to dart down the hall, finding Antonio running through the hall. Giving a growl of irritation at the scare the child had given him Xibalba dissapeared, reappearing right in front of the boy. Naturally he fluffed his wings and grinned evilly,
"Boo." Antonio froze, making Xibalba fear he'd gone too far, had he possibly frightened the child too much? But to his surprise he didn't run or wail but instead Antonio cried out cheerfully,
"Boo!" before bursting into laughter. Xibalba smirked, pulling another scary face and Antonio mimicked him, laughing in delight. Xibalba chuckled slyly.
"Maybe my little amigo, we can put our skills to use."
  La Muerte returned to her kingdom, utterly exhausted. The parties had drained her but she had one more task, Antonio. Working to keep her eyes open she walked up the steps slowly, finding the dining room empty. She yawned, looking around sleepily only to see two figures pop into view, one tall and the other small. They roared loudly, making her shriek, jolted awake by the scare. With a whip of her hand she had smacked the larger figure. But when it gave a yelp of pain she realized it was just Xibalba. Giving a sigh of relief she looked down, finding the smaller figure to be Antonio with his face painted black. He gave a giggle and shrieked.
"Boo!" she crossed her arms.
"Were you two trying to scare me?" she demanded. Xibalba chuckled.
"Not you personally, just souls in general. We managed to scare five before you got here and..." La Muerte picked Antonio up, pulling out a cloth to clean his face.
"I leave you with a child for a few hours and you try to teach him to scare others. Now Antonio I have to take you to your abuela, she will take good care of you." she murmured sweetly. Antonio lay his head on her shoulder as she began to leave, waving happily to Xibalba who waved back, smiling to himself. At least the little nino had shared his delight of scaring others. Maybe all little children weren't so bad.
  La Muerte came back minutes later, smiling weakly at her husband. He chuckled, pulling her into his arms.
"Tired mi amor?" she sighed.
"Muy Xibalba, muy cansada." he kissed her forehead, scooping her into his arms and beginning to carry her to bed.
"I'm sorry I was so busy Xibalba." she yawned, arms wrapped around him lovingly. The god held her close to him, smiling at her.
"Do not fret mi amor, you have all of tomorrow to pay me back."