Fanfic / The Heaven and Earth Series

There was a time when they truly could have moved Heaven, Earth, and everything inbetween.

The Heaven and Earth Series by PengyChan is an ongoing series of fanfics based on Pixar's Coco. This series follows the adventures of Héctor Rivera and Ernesto de la Cruz from childhood through their teenage years.

• The Moment: 8-year-old Héctor and 12-year-old Ernesto sneak into a tavern to listen to music, as they think about why they love music and performance so much.
• Presagio: In order to become famous musicians in the future, Héctor and Ernesto sneak into a cave to practice. However, there's a heavy rain in the sky...
• Revolution: 16-year-old Ernesto is captured by government soldiers during the time of The Mexican Revolution. 12-year-old Héctor decides to leave Santa Cecilia to save his friend, but he has a fated meeting with a certain girl.
• Halfway: Shortly after the events of Revolution, Héctor is ashamed that Imelda might see him as just a child, so he drinks a mouthful of tequila.
• Fireworks: Héctor and Ernesto's first meeting as toddlers, after Ernesto hides in the Riveras's delivery cart to see fireworks at the neighbor city.
• Niño: Héctor wishes that Imelda and Ernesto would stop treating him like a kid. Meanwhile, Imelda's quinceañera is coming soon.
• Coyote: Héctor, Ernesto and Imelda's encounter with a dying soldier, later revealed to be Chicharron.
• Ashes: After the Mexican Revolution is over, Héctor has to deal with the trauma of losing his parents in a fire.

Has a sequel on the same universe, named Down to Dust. And a sequel based on an alternate continuity named The Bedside Ghost.

The fanfiction is built heavily on spoilers from the movie. Thus, all spoilers will be unmarked.

The Heaven And Earth Series provides example of the following tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Ernesto's father, Esteban de la Cruz.
• Affectionate Nickname: 2-year-old Héctor calls Ernesto "Neto", since he can't pronounce his name correctly. He grows out of it when he's older, though.
• All Take and No Give: Imelda accuses Héctor and Ernesto's relationship of being this in Revolution. Héctor doesn't deny it, but concludes he doesn't want to stand up to him because he doesn't want Ernesto to hate him. Harsher in Hindsight considering how he dies in the movie...
• Big Eater: When Héctor and Ernesto first met in the Riveras's delivery cart (long story) they bond on stealing from the bag of candy. When Héctor's mother finds out, turns out they ate half of the bag!
• Bratty Half-Pint / Cloudcuckoolander: Ernesto is this when he isn't acting like a sociopathic Creepy Child.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Played for Laughs in "Halfway" when a 13-year-old Héctor tries to drink a mouthful of tequila to impress Imelda.
• Childhood Friends: Ernesto and Héctor have known each other since they were toddlers. Similarly, they meet Imelda in their pre-teen years.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: Héctor, towards Ernesto.
• Cooldown Hug / Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Héctor gives one to Ernesto to make him snap from his trauma-induced-dream. See Dreaming of Things to Come below.
• Comically Missing the Point: At the end of Fireworks it's revealed the whole story was told by Ernesto to Óscar and Felipe about how he wanted to became a musician. They proceed to remind him that he was supposed to tell them about the dangers of leaving Santa Cecilia during the revolution.
  Ernesto: ... And that is how I knew I was going to be a musician.
  Felipe: That's...great? But I don’t think that’s what Imelda wanted you to tell us.
  Ernesto: No?
• Dreaming of Things to Come: After being saved from a flood and a tree falling on him, Ernesto dreams about how he's crushed to death by a bell. And he tries to apologize to Héctor for something horrible he did but can't remember....as in Ernesto poisoning Héctor in the future.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Ernesto hates it when you call him "Ernestito" or "Tito".
• Extreme Doormat: Héctor seems to border on this- he's sweet, humble, obedient, and pretty happy considering how much he gets bossed around by Ernesto. This comes to bite at him in the ass later, as the only time he decides to stand up on his own (by leaving Ernesto and returning to Coco and Imelda) it gets him killed.
• Family of Choice: Ernesto seems to spend more time hanging around Héctor's house than at his own, which Imelda initially calls him out on. It's stated that Ernesto wants to avoid his abusive father at home.
• Free-Range Children: Since they were 2 and 6 (and a half!) respectively, Héctor and Ernesto run around Santa Cecilia and the outskirts of the city with no supervision. It foretells that Ernesto is a bad influence for Héctor, since they get into trouble and sometimes even on the verge of death thanks to Ernesto's antics.
• Freudian Excuse: Ernesto is beaten by his father at home and is thus convinced that becoming a musician is the only way out of his house and hometown. That said, this doesn't make him redeemable.
• Foreshadowing: To what happens in Coco years later.
  • Ernesto calls Héctor "chamaco", just like how Héctor calls Miguel in the movie.
  • After Ernesto and Héctor escape from the flooded cave, a tree collapses on Ernesto and he almost dies....just like Ernesto eventually died years later after a bell falls on him.
  • Héctor suffers a Freak Out after the incident mentioned above....The shock upon seeing his best friend almost die on his watch was so great that he has a vision of the Land of the Dead for a few seconds. He even gets to see the bridge and the marigolds!
  • Ernesto's prophetic nightmare. He's killed by a bell falling on him. He tries to call Héctor for help, but has a feeling that he can't because Héctor has been gone for years....
  • In order to wake up the comatose Ernesto (still unconscious after the tree fell on him) Héctor plays some music on his guitar and succeeds. Just like Miguel makes Mama Coco remember Héctor at the end of the movie.
  • After the tree incident, Ernesto's father finds out that the kids were trapped in the cave because they were practicing with a guitar. He tells Héctor that music will be the death of him one day.
  Estaban: It will be your ruin. It is an obsession and I know how those work. It sucks the life out of you. Mark my words, it will bring you both to an early grave...
  • Ernesto shows hints that he's sociopathic since childhood. Héctor is selectively oblivious about this, but Imelda quickly notices and develops a disliking of Ernesto.
  • What Ernesto says to Héctor after the latter gets drunk on tequila to impress Imelda.
  Ernesto: If you get yourself alcohol poisoning I will not be the one to drag your body back home and break the news to your family, chamaco.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Averted with Chicharron, who has excellent judgement for Imelda and Ernesto.
• I Should Write a Book About This: After each chapter, Héctor decides to write a song based on his adventures of the day.
• Insistent Terminology: Hilariously in Fireworks.
  Ernesto's mother: Oh, dear! You’re still too young to go on your on, Tito.
  Ernesto: I'm not!
  Ernesto's mother: You're six.
  Ernesto: And a half!
• Meet Cute: How Imelda and Ernesto meet Héctor respectively.
  • When 6-year-old (and a half!) Ernesto sneaks into the Rivera's delivery cart as a stowaway to see the fireworks at San Luz, he's found accidentally by 2-year-old Héctor, who had sneaked into the cart to eat some of the delivery candy.
  • After Ernesto is taken by the government soldiers, Héctor believes he's lost his friend forever and goes to the river to cry. He meets Imelda, who consoles him and helps him to go save Ernesto together.
• The Mexican Revolution: The story happens during that era, after all. It's a plot point during "Revolution".
• Near-Death Experience: Happens to both Héctor and Ernesto during "Presagio". After a tree falls on Ernesto, he falls into a 3 days coma, where he has a vision of his death years later when a bell falls on him during a performance. Meanwhile, the fear and guilt upon Ernesto's accident makes Héctor hysterical, culminating in his first direct experience of the land of the dead, even if for a few seconds.
• Odd Friendship: Héctor is friendly, gentle, serious-minded and very caring and loyal towards Ernesto. In comparison, Ernesto is bratty, carefree, self-centered and almost sociopathic. They get along surprisingly well.
• Origins Episode
• Parents as People: Despite being seen as a horrible and abusive father who doesn't let him have fun or enjoy music, Ernesto's father really does seem to care about what is best for him but just doesn't know how to handle him. Ernesto being bratty and rebellious didn't make it easy for him. He's also shown to suffer PTSD and chronic pain from a mining cave-in that he barely survived, which he self-medicates with alcohol.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Imelda absolutely hates Ernesto because of his sociopathic tendencies and the way he treats Héctor, but she doesn't have any choice but to save him from the government soldiers because his father protected her mother from said soldiers and got a bullet for his trouble.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Héctor is constantly worrying about Ernesto's antics and being his Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder. The only moment he acts childish is when he drinks a mouthful of tequila to impress Imelda and prove her he isn't a child. This is also some foreshadowing on Héctor's death by poisoning in Coco.
• The Sociopath: Ernesto carries all the traits of a classic, narcissistic sociopath, even as a small child. He's always painting himself as the victim (blaming his abusive father for all his problems) and guilt-tripping Héctor into obedience. In his Establishing Character Moment, he runs off to San Luz in order to see the fireworks (since his parents forbid him so) and doesn't care what happens to them. He even says his father can die, for all he cares. Imelda is understandably creeped out by this.