Bonus Chapter: Babysitting Blues

Okay, everyone, listen up. This is not an epilogue, but a bonus chapter. The last chapter was the previous one. Summary: Emilio, Juarez, and Roberto are charged by Xibalba to babysit ten-month old Marigold while he goes out for a while. It can't be that bad can it?

Enjoy!

Emilio and the other lizards trembled under their master's questioning, severe glare, fearing that any wrong word might turn them into ash and dust just like the souls that wandered outside. Even Garra and Colmillo sensed the threatening air of their master, and tried to hide behind the lizards. Behind Xibalba, Zipacna and the Candlemaker were staring at the lizards with nervous and anxious eyes. Around them, the dining hall was a complete mess. Plates broken, food stains nearly everywhere, marks of fire and scattered, lone rose petals everywhere. Even the lizards were all stained and dirty with food.

"I asked you three a question." Xibalba narrowed his eyes at his servants, one hand clenching Ponzoña, the other behind his back. "Where's my daughter?"

The three lizards looked at each other with resignation. Emilio gulped, the fins at the sides of his head drooping.

Dios me ayude.

Ten hours earlier

"Come on, hermanito! It'll be fun!"

"No."

"You need to entertain yourself! When was the last time you went to a party?"

"I don't know, and I don't care."

"It'll be good for the both of you!"

"Good?" Xibalba temporally drove his attention away from his ten month-old daughter, gently placing her in her high chair, then turning to glare at his older brother. "How can abandoning my daughter be good?!"

"You're not abandoning her, man!" the Candlemaker retorted. "You're just taking a little break for yourself. What you're doing it's not healthy, just look at how Tláloc turned out for not having time for himself!"

"Don't remind me." Zipacna grumbled, crossing his arms.

"I can't just leave her like that! It could affect her psychologically!" Xibalba continued with his ranting.

"You are exaggerating, hermanito! It'll only be for a few hours, then you come back and everyone's happy! Nothing bad will happen to her!"

"Oh, claro! Easy for you to say! Since you've never been a single father before, you don't know how stressing it can be to be away from your child without knowing she's okay! Marigold needs me!"

Zipacna squinted his eyes and crossed his arms. "It looks like the other way around."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"No offense, Balby, but Book says that you need her more than she actually needs you." The Candlemaker commented, before cowering behind the Book of Life when the dark god growled at him.

"How dare you-! For your information, I can stay away from her when I want to! I could go out and have fun in the Land of the Living wherever I want!" as he rambled about it, he made his way to the doors of the dining hall, and walked out slamming the doors shut. But as soon as she lost sight of her father, Marigold sobbed and soon started to cry, reaching out her arms towards the doors.

In a fraction of second Xibalba burst through the doors and flew to his daughter's side. "No, no, no, mi florecita! Papi está aquí." He took her in his arms, and held her against his chest. Marigold buried her face into his neck, still letting out sobs, her little wings trying to wrap around her father despite the difference in size. Xibalba then noticed the amused looks on Zipacna and the Candlemaker's faces. "What?"

"See?" Zipacna lifted up his arms. "It's okay that you love her very much and you worry about her, but you can't let that affect your life all the time! You must have at least a bit of time for yourself!"

Xibalba let out a growl of dismay and frustration, before looking over at his brother. "Even if I wanted to who would look after my Marigold? I can't just leave her with some stranger, she'll get scared!"

"It doesn't have to be a stranger." The Candlemaker replied. "How about you leave your servants in charge of her?"

"Them? You think I'm going to entrust my only daughter to them?"

"Well, who looked after Marigold the first days of her life when you were…" the Candlemaker didn't know how to put it without making Xibalba angry. "Sore."

"Yeah, yeah, I got the point." Xibalba sighed. "Fine. I'll do it, but I don't have to like it."

"It's good enough that you come out for me." Zipacna nodded with a grin.

Xibalba looked down at Marigold as she started to fidget with his beard, and couldn't contain a small smile as she gurgled and cooed. He had to think in who of his servants were the most responsible for this; Emilio was the first he thought of, of course, but who else?

Twenty minutes later, Emilio, Juarez and Roberto were standing in their master's chambers, nervous under Xibalba's cold, hard stare. Marigold was in her crib, playing with Rattles and giggling every time the plus snake rattled when she shook it. They had an idea on what their master wanted from them.

"I called you three because I am in the need of a babysitter for a few hours, and unfortunately, there wasn't anyone else available. You should be honored that I consider you to be the most responsible out of everyone here." Xibalba finally spoke, his hands behind his back. "I'm trusting you with my daughter's safety, so I hope you won't disappoint me."

"Don't worry, My Lord! We'll handle this like a piece of cake!" Roberto saluted at his master with a puffed up chest and crest.

"You better, you three." Xibalba's tone became dark. "If I find one single scratch on my daughter when I return…" he bent down a bit to narrow his eyes down a his servants. "…I'll personally make sure that you spend the rest of eternity as miserably as the souls in the Pit, even worse. Am I clear?" his teeth turned into fangs.

"Y-Yes, My Lord…" Emilio gulped.

"Good."

Marigold temporally drove her attention away from Rattles, and peeked over the wooden bars of her crib. Her little eyes fixed on her father as she extended out her arms for him.

"Pa,pa…" she mumbled.

His daughter's voice immediately softened the dark god. Xibalba flew to the side of the crib and picked Marigold up, looking into her eyes with a tenderness and love he never showed to anyone else. "Oh, don't worry, mi florecita. Papi's going out for a while, but you'll be okay." He laughed softly when she responded by grasping unto his moustache. "Be a good baby while I'm gone, sí?" he planted a kiss on her forehead before setting her down on her crib yet again. He became a little sad and guilty when Marigold whimpered and reached out her little hands for him. "See you later, mi pequeña."

"Hey, hermanito! Are you done yet?!" Zipacna called out from the outside. "Let's go before they run out of snacks!"

Sighing sadly, Xibalba glided away from the crib, past his servants and out of his chambers, closing the door behind him; in a flash of light, the three gods outside the chambers were gone.

"Well, what do we do now?" Juarez inquired shrugging.

Marigold's eyes welled up with tears when she lost sight of her father, and it didn't take long before she started to cry openly, calling out for her father. "PA-PAAAHH!" She even rattled the bars of her little crib violently, her wings flapping wildly. The skeleton lizards instantly panicked and rushed to the crib, Roberto picking Marigold up from her crib with one hand, and Rattles with the other. He shook the stuffed snake over her to try and calm her down, but for once it was not working.

"What do we do?!" Juarez panicked.

"Lord Xibalba left a list on what to do, maybe there's something there that can help!" Emilio pointed out, rushing to the bedside table and taking a long parchment of scroll from a top of it and unrolled it; it was ridiculously long, it reached the floor and dripped along the floor. Emilio searched through the scroll and found something that could help.

'If for any reason Marigold cries, entertain her with Rattles or with any of her favorite toys. But make sure she doesn't nibble on them'.

"Give her the plush!" Emilio stated.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Juarez retorted, shaking Rattles over Marigold's head to no avail.

"PA-PAAAH!"

"Oh, great, any other ideas?!" Roberto raised his voice.

Emilio and Juarez glanced at each other, and they sped up towards the box where Xibalba kept his daughter's toys. One minute later they were trying to soothe Marigold down with her snake rattle, a noisy-rubber ball and a crow doll; Marigold's attention shifted to the crow doll, overall to its dark feathers that reminded her of her father's wings. The three lizards sighed in relief when she reached out for the crow doll… but panicked when she took it into her mouth.

"Nonono! No nibbling, jovencita!" Emilio tried to take the doll out of Marigold's mouth, but trembled when she sobbed as he did so. "Sorry, but your father said 'no nibbling on toys."

"Come on, Emilio! I don't think it'll do her any harm to nibble on a simple plush!" Roberto stated.

"Actually, there have been cases of children who choked to death because they took toys to their mouths." Juarez retorted.

"Exactly!" Emilio stated. "Then it's decided! No nibbling, princesa!" with this, the lizard took the crow doll out of Marigold's mouth. Roberto, however, panicked when she started to cry and wiggle in his hold again, and tried to take the crow doll from Emilio. "Nothing's going to happen to her! We'll make sure the doll doesn't choke her!" Soon the two were fighting over the doll, while Marigold's pupils followed it.

"It's too risky!"

"Don't exaggerate!"

"Exxagerate?! Did you forget what Lord Xibalba said?! If something happens to her it'll be our necks!"

"Guys!" Juarez snapped. "Stop pulling the doll like that! You're going to-!"

Cloth ripped and cotton bled out of the doll as the crow's wing in Roberto's hold tore from the main body. The two lizards watched at the now-separate pieces of the doll in their hold, horrified, just as Marigold started to cry hysterically.

Juarez finished the sentence in bewilderment. "…tear it."

They'd have to fix it later.

11:00 A.M

Feeding Time

Marigold flapped her little wings and pounded unto her high chair in the Dining Hall, demanding to be fed, before she took her whole hand to her mouth. "What does she eat?" Juarez inquired. He knew little about Marigold's likes and dislikes, since he barely interacted with her; he looked after Medianoche, actually. He knew more about horses than he knew of babies.

"Let me see." Emilio took a peek at the list. While he and Roberto had looked after Marigold the first days of her life, when Xibalba started looking after his daughter himself they gave him his space so that he could bond with her (that and he wouldn't let anyone else touch his baby). Besides, when they took care of her she was a newborn, now she was ten months old. Emilio saw the instructions on the list.

'Give her apple puree and orange juice for snack time. If she refuses to eat, offer her biscuits as a reward if she eats without making a fuss about it. Just be careful, she tends to play with her food and make a mess.'

"A good thing Lord Xibalba already has apple puree stocked up." Roberto pointed out, holding a small bowl of apple puree in one hand and a baby cup filled with orange juice in the other. "We just leave it to her so she can eat, or do we hand-feed her?"

"Doesn't say." Juarez replied.

"She's a baby, for goodness sake! I think it's pretty obvious we have to hand-feed her!" Emilio rolled his eyes, taking the bowl from Roberto and taking a spoonful of it, before showing the spoonful to Marigold. "Look, baby, here's some tasty puree!" However, Marigold moved her head away form the spoon. Emilio tried again, but she turned her head away yet again.

"I think she's not hungry." Juarez commented.

"That can't be, Lord Xibalba feeds her at this hour." Roberto stated. "That list said we should offer her biscuits if she doesn't want to eat."

"But what kind of biscuits? The list doesn't say which ones she likes."

"Come on! How many kinds of biscuits can we have down here?! It's no the Land of the Remembered!"

"Maybe she'll take any kind of biscuits." Emilio said, trying and failing to get Marigold to eat the spoonful of puree.

"Look, princesa, here's a chocolate biscuit for you!" Juarez waved a biscuit in front of Marigold. Immediately her eyes lit up and she reached out for the biscuit, but Juarez moved it away. "No, no, princesa. If you want a biscuit, you have to eat your puree."

Marigold let out pleading whimpers and a few annoyed grunts, reaching out for the biscuit, flapping her wings anxiously.

"Puree." Roberto took the spoonful form Emilio, then the biscuit from Juarez. "Then we'll give you biscuits."

Thankfully, Marigold understood the message. This time, she gladly opened her mouth and allowed Roberto to give her the spoonful of apple puree. When the squashed fruit started leaking out of her lips, Emilio quickly snatched the spoon from Roberto and tried to bring it back into her mouth, making Marigold giggle in amusement.

"Okay, now swallow it whole."

She gulped the puree and licked her lips; then she reached out for the biscuit. However, as Roberto was about to give it to her, Emilio swatted his hand again, making him drop the biscuit to the ground; Marigold started to cry as she reached down for the now crumbled biscuit.

"Oh, great, you made her cry!" Juarez snapped.

"What was that for?!" Roberto continued with a growl, rubbing his hand.

"You can't give her a biscuit just yet! She has to finish the whole puree!" Emilio stated.

"Well, after what you just did she won't want to eat anymore! Besides, the list didn't say she had to finish the whole puree first before we rewarded her with biscuits!"

"It didn't say to alternate between the puree and the biscuits either!"

Emilio placed the bowl of puree in the high chair, but she cried out and pounded on it, sending the bowl of puree right into Emilio's face. Juarez and Roberto were trying not to burst out laughing, but Marigold had no qualms about it and she started to laugh, clapping her little hands.

"That's what you get for crumbling her cookie, she says!" Roberto finally burst out in laughter at Emilio's unamused and frustrated expression. Finally, Juarez joined into the fit of hysterical laughter, supporting himself unto the table to avoid falling to the ground. Emilio simply wiped the puree off his face with an annoyed look.

"I despise you all."

12:00 P.M

Bath Time

'Marigold is not fond of baths, so you might find resistance on her part. Use only warm water, and be careful with her wings, they're very sensitive to touch. When you managed to get her into the bathtub you'd better be wearing raincoats, she is going to splash. A lot.'

"Oh, it's not that bad, is it?" Roberto commented after taking a look at the list.

"Princesa, get back here!"

Juarez and Emilio were too busy trying to catch Marigold; while she still crawled (and she wasn't very fast at it), her godly powers had started to manifest, though they wouldn't be fully developed until she became older (her father's powers finished developing when he turned three hundred years old, while her mother's when she was two hundred fifty years old). For now, however, she just turned into rose petals to escape her pursuers and zoomed to the opposite side of the room. She didn't actually control when she did it, her powers simply acted on instinct. However, Juarez finally managed to catch her in his hands before she could teleport away again.

"Gotcha!" he cried triumphantly, and set Marigold down unto the berry-colored bathtub filled with warm soapy water. However, as soon as he did so, Marigold started to cry, splashing the water with her hands and wings.

"Oh, no!" Emilio barely managed to dodge the splashes of water, but Juarez wasn't so lucky and he was soon soaked to the bone (literally). "What now?!"

"How about we try to entertain her with something?" Roberto said.

"With what? A rubber duck?" Juarez stated.

"I don't know! Anything!"

Emilio thought quickly, and started making bubbles in the water. "Look, princesa! Look at all these pretty bubbles!"

Marigold looked down at the bubbles in the water, and tried to touch one. She giggled when they popped, and tried to make more bubbles by herself, but when the bubble she managed to make popped out of sudden, she started to wail yet again.

"Nonono!" Roberto looked around for anything to entertain the baby, and he found a rubber duck. He quickly placed it in the water. "Like the rubber ducky?"

Marigold stared at it curiously.

"She likes it!" Juarez cried out in relief, before running off to find more toys. Ten seconds later he was back with various types of bath toys, such as boats, sponges, and even an inflatable raft. However, this only made her cry yet again in fright.

"What do we do?!" Emilio cried out in dismay. Roberto thought quickly, and had another, not so useless idea. He rushed out of the bathroom, and a minute later he was back with an apple pie.

"Princesa, look!" Roberto exclaimed as he smashed the pie into Emilio's face before the latter could do anything about it. Marigold giggled wildly yet again at Emilio's misery.

Emilio wiped the merengue, apple slice and cake bread off his face and glared at Roberto. "What was that for?!"

"Aww, don't be like that, Emilio." Juarez stated. "Look, Marigold is happy."

Emilio looked down at the giggling infant as she clapped her hands and flapped her wings, splashing even more than before. He had to admit, it was quire rewarding to see her happy and giggling. Shrugging, Emilio took what was left of the pie from Roberto and smashed it against his head like a hat. "Look, princesa, I'm the pie-man!" he chimed, making Marigold laugh further.

1:20 P.M.

Nap Time

Roberto placed Marigold in her crib, and tucked her in carefully. Marigold shifted drowsily, and let out a big yawn. "So, what does the list say about naptime?"

Juarez read that point in the list.

'For naptime, give her the pacifier and Rattles, and sing a lullaby for her. That always makes the trick. Just make sure the sides of the crib are secured otherwise when she wakes up she is certainly going to get out of the crib by herself.'

"That's all?" Roberto inquired. "That's not going to be so hard! And while she naps we might be able to have a little time for ourselves."

Emilio took the pacifier, Rattles and approached the crib. Marigold recognized her stuffed snake and immediately reached out for it. The lizard touched Marigold's lips with the tip of the pacifier, and she immediately latched on it; then he accommodated Rattles next to her, and watched as she snuggled into it, closing her little eyes.

"Guys, I think she's already tired. She's falling asleep on her own accord."

"Looks like it." Juarez said, looking down through the bars of the crib at the drowsing baby. "I think we should let her sleep."

"We can't just leave her alone! We must make sure she has fallen completely asleep! What if she starts to cry?" Emilio retorted.

"We come and soothe her down. Besides, she can't go far from inside there. It'll be fine." Roberto said. "You should stop worrying about everything."

Juarez and Roberto walked towards the door, but Emilio was still hesitant of leaving the baby alone. He stared at Marigold for a while as she suckled on her pacifier and shifted in her sleep, letting out coos and gurgles. Emilio couldn't help but smile a bit; maybe it wouldn't hurt to let her sleep for a few hours, besides, he still had to wash off the leftovers of the apple pie from his face. The lizard tip-toed to the doors of his master's chambers and walked out, not without giving Marigold one last glance to make sure she was alright. Roberto was the last lizard to walk out, and he gently closed the door with his tail.

About half an hour later, Marigold's sleep was disturbed by a ticklish sensation on her nose. Shifting in her sleep and releasing her hold on Rattles, Marigold cracked her eyes open and opened them wide upon finding a funny-looking little critter had landed on her nose. It was a black butterfly, curiously 'licking' Marigold's sugary skin. Wild animals were extremely rare in the Land of the Forgotten unless Xibalba himself bred them for his own use (like Garra, Colmillo and the rest of his hounds), or they suffered a violent death (Medianoche's case). But these butterflies had always been present in this dark realm, though not even Xibalba himself understood how they survived if there were no flowers they could collect pollen from.

Marigold giggled and reached out to catch the butterfly, but she only frightened it and it flew away from her nose, though it continued to circle above her. When the butterfly started to fly away, Marigold rolled unto her belly and crawled towards the bars of the crib, managing to climb over the edge, and she flapped her little wings as she fell unto her buttocks unto the hard floor. Normally she would have cried, but she was on a mission. She crawled after the butterfly, even after it flew out of the room (Roberto had left the door half-open unknowingly), all her thoughts were focused on the butterfly fluttering above her.

5:30 P.M.

"PRINCESA!"

Emilio, Juarez and Roberto were desperately looking for the missing Marigold throughout the castle, under every crevice and rock (figuratively), but she was nowhere to be seen. They could still not believe she actually managed to climb out of her crib by herself.

"Lord Xibalba will have our heads when he finds out we lost his daughter!" Roberto cried out in dismay.

"Roberto, tell me something…" Emilio growled, glancing at the lizard as he looked beneath the table. "Did you close the door of the chambers when you went out?"

"I… Well, I… How was I supposed to know she would climb out of her crib?!" Roberto retorted, mortified.

"We might as well start digging our graves! When Lord Xibalba returns and realizes his only daughter is missing he'll tear us to pieces!"

Roberto gulped. "I don't think he'll be that merciful…"

"GUYS!" Juarez snapped. "Now's really not the moment!"

"Okay, don't panic! Don't panic!" Emilio was trembling in fear. "She couldn't have gone too far! She can't walk…!" a thought crossed his mind. "…Can she?"

"She's only ten months old! Of course she can't walk yet!"

"We're doomed." Roberto cried out. "How far do you think we can get before Lord Xibalba comes back?"

"We're not going anywhere!" Juarez snapped yet again. "We're going to find the baby, and Lord Xibalba will never know!"

"Do you have any ideas of where could she have gone to?!"

"I don't know…!"

The lizards froze when they heard giggling echoing through the halls. It was coming from the Dining Hall; Marigold was there! Immediately they dashed towards the hall, praying to anyone that she would be fine. When they crossed the doors into the dining hall, they saw no signs of the princess. Roberto looked under the table (finding Garra and Colmillo snacking on some turkey they had stolen from the table), Juarez opted to do so between the food on top of it, while Emilio looked around it. Marigold's giggles resounded through the air again; they still couldn't understand where she could be hiding. Just then, Emilio noticed that the giggles were coming from above them; gulping, Emilio lifted his gaze towards the ceiling…

Marigold was crawling on the ceiling, using her little wings, giggling as she chased after the black butterfly.

If Emilio was alive, he would have died of a heart attack. "PRINCESA!"

Roberto and Juarez were startled by the outburst; the former jumped and hit his head with the table, while the latter knocked over a whole turkey from the table. They were about to snap at Emilio for startling them, until they realized what had made him scream.

"Que demonios?! How did she get up there?!" Roberto yelled.

"Forget about that?! How are we going to get her down?!" Emilio retorted, completely terrified.

"Princesa, don't worry!" Juarez called out at her. "We'll save you!"

Marigold was oblivious to the danger she was in, the black butterfly the only thing in her mind, her little wings flapping rapidly, keeping her up there. Her attention was temporally driven from the small butterfly when she heard hustling beneath (or, in her perspective, above) her, and noticed the lizards had piled the chairs over so they could reach the ceiling, At the top of the 'tower' of chairs, Garra was on top of Colmillo, Roberto on top of Colmillo, Juarez on top of Roberto, and Emilio on top of Juarez.

"Here, princesa!" Emilio extended out his arms to try and reach for her.

Marigold just stared at him curiously, trying to understand what was going on.

"Just don't look down, Emilio!" Roberto stated. "That's the trick! Don't look down!"

Emilio started to sweat nervously upon remembering he was not fond of heights, and gulped the lump in his throat. Finally, the anxiety, stress and terror was too much for him to handle, and looked down; immediately, his stomach flipped and his heartbeat became faster and faster. Marigold watched amusingly as Emilio yelped in horror and lost his balance, in turn causing his two fellow lizards, the two hounds, and the tower of chairs, to lose their balance as well. She giggled and clapped her hands when they all fell to the ground, especially when they all fell on top of the banquet table, completely turning it over and making a disaster of the Dining Hall.

Pies and cakes were sent flying against walls, plates of food clashed against the ground and broke into pieces, spilling their contents unto the ground. The chairs and the food half-cushioned Emilio and the other's fall; they saw stars before everything faded to black. Marigold hiccupped, and she disappeared in a blur of rose petals, which floated down to the floor like the rain of confetti in the Land of the Remembered.

7:58 P.M.- Present

"It wasn't so bad, was it, hermanito?" Zipacna laughed once the three gods appeared back in the castle.

"It wasn't so bad?!" Xibalba snapped. "You didn't tell me it was a triple date!"

"You have to admit that nymph was lovely, man!" the Candlemaker stated. "Besides, you practically ruined it with all your worrying."

"How wasn't I supposed to worry?! I don't know if my daughter is okay!"

"Please, Xibalba! She's perfectly fine! I bet they have everything under control." Zipacna stated.

"If you are wrong, I'll have your head."

The Candlemaker felt his stomach growling. "Hey, man, would you mind if I go take a snack from your table? I'm starving!"

Xibalba would have rolled his eyes if he weren't too worried about Marigold; he simply nodded and led the other two gods towards the Dining Hall. As soon as he opened the doors, however, the three nearly had a heart attack at the complete mess before them. "Que pasó aquí?!" the Candlemaker cried out in bewilderment. "It looks like the World War occurred!"

Xibalba grew angry at the sight of his Dining Hall, and clenched his hand around Ponzoña's staff form. Those lizards better have an acceptable explanation for this. "EMILIO!"

Said Lizard snapped his eyes open when he heard his master's angry voice; he was all covered in merengue and frijol, but he nevertheless jumped to his feet. "M-My Lord!"

Xibalba was not amused by the state he was in. "What are you doing slacking around while my castle falls apart?!"

Just then, Juarez stood up from underneath various plates of tacos and empanadas and realized what was going on, but Roberto was still seeing stars and he did not realize what was going on around him. "Chicos…? I thought I heard Lord Xibalba's voice…" He felt a chill run down his spine when he felt Xibalba's familiar glare unto him. Roberto scrambled to his feet and joined Emilio and Juarez in cowering under Xibalba's hard eyes.

"Well, M-My Lord… W-We were j-just…" Emilio couldn't even get himself to speak.

Xibalba took notice of something. "Where's Marigold?"

Emilio and the other lizards trembled under their master's questioning, severe glare, fearing that any wrong word might turn them into ash and dust just like the souls that wandered outside. Even Garra and Colmillo sensed the threatening air of their master, and tried to hide behind the lizards. Behind Xibalba, Zipacna and the Candlemaker were staring at the lizards with nervous and anxious eyes. Around them, the dining hall was a complete mess. Plates broken, food stains nearly everywhere, marks of fire and scattered, lone rose petals everywhere. Even the lizards were all stained and dirty with food.

"I asked you three a question." Xibalba narrowed his eyes at his servants, one hand clenching Ponzoña, the other behind his back. "Where's my daughter?"

The three lizards looked at each other with resignation. Emilio gulped, the fins at the sides of his head drooping.

Dios me ayude.

"She's… Huh…" Emilio couldn't speak.

Juarez couldn't take it anymore and he collapsed at his master's feet, bringing his hands together. "We're so sorry, master!" he ignored Roberto and Emilio's motions for him to stop. "We tried to catch her, but she kept disappearing and now we don't know where she is! Please don't kill us!"

Silence.

Zipacna felt a shiver run down his spine; he felt a dark aura coming from his brother, so dark even the Candlemaker's light seemed to become a bit extinguished by just being in the same room as Xibalba. The Candlemaker gulped and hid behind the caiman-headed god, peeking at his friend. Xibalba, meanwhile, couldn't believe what he just heard; his… daughter… missing. She could as well be hurt, or even dead, all because these three failed to look after her properly. His feathers bristled, his teeth turned into fangs, and his fists clenched in cold anger and anguish. If glares could kill...

"Papa!"

The little voice eased the tension and dark aura coming from Xibalba, and it lifted a great weight off the lizard's shoulders.

"Papa!"

Everyone glanced around the room to see where Marigold's voice was coming from as she called out for her father, until Xibalba caught something wiggling under the stained and dirty tablecloth. Despite having been murderously furious seconds ago, the dark god walked over to the tablecloth, bent down and lifted it with one hand; Marigold was stained with berry pie, but other than that she was apparently perfectly fine. She looked up at her father and crawled towards him with a beaming smile.

"Aww, there you are, mi florecita." He chuckled as he bent down and picked her up. "Looks like you've been having fun without me, haven't you?"

Marigold buried her face into her father's neck and cuddled into his embrace, letting out squeals of delight. Xibalba didn't mind her staining his body with berry sauce and merengue, in fact, he took a pinch with his finger and licked it. He couldn't help but smile.

"Berry pie. It's one of my favorites." He glanced down at his daughter. "However did you know, Marigold?"

Marigold giggled happily as she touched her father's cheeks with her merengue-stained hands; Xibalba returned the smile as he took yet another pinch of merengue with his finger, and stained it unto his daughter's nose as 'revenge', making her giggle even further.

The three lizards were staring at the scene agape, not actually believing she had been there the whole time eating berry pie. Zipacna and the Candlemaker were trying their best not to laugh, the former even clutching unto his cloak and ripping a few bits. After a while, Xibalba turned to his servants for an explanation, the humor gone from his face, although inwardly he chuckled at how Marigold was staining his beard with red berry sauce.

"Well, My Lord, what Juarez meant is that…" Emilio gulped.

"We were playing hide-and-seek!" Roberto blurted out. "Yes, that's it! We were playing hide and seek, and that's why we couldn't find her! But things got a little out of control and we started playing food wars!"

"Well, I…" Juarez felt like a complete idiot. "Yes, that's what I mean! We were playing hide-and-seek and food wars!"

"So there's nothing to worry about!" Emilio finished with a nervous, forced grin, but he couldn't stop trembling.

Xibalba said nothing for a while. He glanced around the 'mess' hall, then at his servants, then at his daughter. It was a while before he gave his verdict. "I guess I could pretend this didn't happen this once. All that matters is that Marigold is not hurt."

The lizards let out a collective sigh of relief.

"But…" Xibalba continued. "Someone has to clean up."

Marigold clapped her hands and gurgled when she saw the expressions they had on their faces.

Everyone, to clear some doubts, I am doing a sequel to this story, but it may take a while. However, I already have much of the plot planned, so you won't have to wait long.

Thanks for reading! See you in the sequel!