Xibalba and La Muerte Short Stories

A Treat and A Trim

"Xibalba! What have you done now?!" La Muerte walked into the kitchen where she would make her famous churros (since magic couldn't beat good baking to her) and stared at the mess her husband had made. He stood in a mess of sticky sugar paste, wings powdered with what looked like sugar and armor as well as face sticky with globs of sugar, eyes filled with embarrassment. He gestured sheepishly to the dollops of sugary paste with faint colors running sloppily in the white mess.

"Happy day of the dead, mi amor," he said hesitantly, glancing guiltily at the mess around him. La Muerte recovered from her shock and to her husband's surprise; began to laugh. A long, happy laugh that was filled with enjoyment. In fact her eyes began to tear up as she laughed until she stopped only to erupt in giggles. He couldn't help but love her laugh however he didn't like how it was at his expense, making his wings cover him instinctively as if to block the pure embarrassment emanating off him. "Mi amor, don't laugh like that, I never cook!" he whined faintly, causing La Muerte to cover her mouth and try to stifle her delightful giggles. Once she could speak she wiped her eyes and put her hands on her hips, looking her husband up and down before asking,

"Alright Balby, what were you doing in here?" Xibalba parted his wings and felt his face grow hot with irritation and bashfulness.

"Well, I was wandering the mortal realm, enjoying myself with a little scaring and such..." La Muerte rolled her eyes.

"Xibalba! What happened to our deal? Didn't we agree you couldn't scare mortals?" He smirked.

"No mi amor, we agreed I couldn't go and interfere with mortal affairs, scaring is completely different," His wife sighed at his loophole and gestured for him to go on. Xibalba fiddled with his fingers, not looking her in the eye. "Ah, well, I saw a man giving his wife a skull decorated and crafted from sugar. She looked so happy that I knew I had to find out how to make them and create some for...you. So I asked Candlemaker if he knew a recipe and he asked why I wasn't asking you but I told him it was a surprise and he agreed. So I knew you were out in your land and believed I could create some for you in time since I, well I don't have a kitchen in my land. So I gathered everything I would need like sugar and merengue powder and didn't think you would mind if I pinched it from your supplies here. So I started to make them and the recipe said if they don't meld well at first you should put a bit of water and I did. So everything was going fine but it all went wrong when I started to make the icing. It said to blend it using a blender for smoother material so I crafted one and began to use it. However since both were white, I..." La Muerte nodded.

"Go on my love, what happened next?" He felt his face flush with embarrassment so he looked down and muttered.

"Since both were white I accidently mixed up the icing with the sugar mixture for the skulls and put it in instead. It was too thick so I added more water and turned up the speed. However it seems I turned it up too much, causing it to spray everywhere. So I hastily tried to finish them after realizing what I'd done wrong and the paint didn't turn our very good either. The rest mi amor, you know," La Muerte felt a laugh bubbling in her chest but she merely smiled, knowing she would hurt her husband's pride if she laughed anymore. Instead of laughing she kissed her cheek, tasting sugar from his little "experiment".

"You start cleaning up and I'll get you something to clean yourself off with Balby," He nodded and began to wave his hand and clean with his magic while his wife went to find a rag and a small bowl of water, chuckling to herself all the way. Once she came back her kitchen was clean once again, however the ingredients were still out. As he scrubbed the sugar away she began to put everything in its correct place when he murmured hesitantly.

"Mi amor? Why won't the sugar come out from my beard?" She turned and found to her surprise the globs in his white beard wouldn't come out, they were still stuck there.