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playing: [Centuries] - [Fall Out Boy]
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Trigger Warning: panic attack mention and description, mentions and referencing of bullying. If either of these things easily trigger you, skip over to the end of the chapter where I will write a small summary of what happened.
Usually, you'd like to call yourself someone very levelheaded, smart and cunning. Other times, when you weren't able to call your actions any of those things, you would simply call yourself human.
Today however, standing in the central plaza while waiting for a certain non-magical kid, you wouldn't call yourself either of those things. In fact, you'd consider yourself outright stupid for what you were about to do.
"Maybe she'll just... forget?" You thought to yourself while intertwining your fingers into your skirt.
In a panic, you had told Mirabel that you would tell her all about your secret abilities because you saw Camilo peeking through the window and were scared he'd see you. It was an impulsive move, cowardly even if you took into mind what you had done to him prior!
"I really, really, really shouldn't have used my power yesterday... What was I even thinking? Out of everyone, I just had to control a Madrigal!"
As you kept mentally berating yourself for doing what you did, having told nobody out of the fear of never being allowed to come back to Encanto for it, you hadn't noticed how a certain duo were making their way to you from behind. You hand dug deeper into your skirt, pulling tightly at the fabric as someone tapped you on the shoulder with gentle hands.
When you turned around, you were... too stunned to speak.
"Hey (Y/n)! How's your morning been?" Asked Mirabel with a caring smile, the boy behind her staring at you with a proud smirk and crossed arms. "I hope you don't mind that I brought Camilo with me. Abuela said that he had to help me with my chores today, so..."
You stared at your friend, and then at the boy behind her, and then towards her again. You did this a few times before your shoulders shrank slightly and you took a step back. Whatever answer you tried to mumble would come out in a stutter, and each time you fumbled with your words Camilo took a step closer, and closer, and closer, until he was standing a mere step from your figure.
"What's wrong bonita? It's almost as if you were scared of seeing me!" Camilo said with a laugh, but you saw right through his words. His eyes shone with a nefarious glint, getting the message across loud and clear that he knew something.
Mirabel gave out a nervous laugh to accompany her cousin, before taking your hand and pulling you away from the crowd.
"C'mon, I know a place around here that's more private than the main plaza," she said, Camilo following right behind you with a smirk. You were pretty clearly panicking.
As you were all walking along the streets of the small village, you were trying to ground yourself by pointing out different things that you saw. The red house, that apple stand, those kids running around. You were slowly slowing down the rapid beating of your heart, trying to stay as calm as possible.
Soon enough, you three arrived at a far smaller park closer to the Madrigal home than you would have liked. It was empty, seemingly abandoned for the way in which the kiddie games were rusty, their paint falling out in visible chunks. You turned towards the duo, standing a little defensively as Mirabel finally let go of your hand and stood next to Camilo.
All three of you were staring each other down, seemingly waiting for the other to make the first move before reacting. It was... tense, to say the least, and it was not how you would have liked this conversation to go at all. In fact, you would have liked to never tell Mirabel you would explain everything her, you should have just brainwashed her like you did to Camilo and be done with all of this-
"So... you said you had had a little issue with Camilo at the party. What was that about?" Mirabel started, cutting through the tension and adding infinite more layers.
"Yeah, would you remind me about that small issue (Y/n)? I can't seem to remember," Camilo added with a raised eyebrow, making your breath hitch. You stood there, looking at the duo in silence before letting your shoulders sink.
"You... you didn't bring him along because of your chores, did you Mirabel?" You said, staring at your "friend" as your brows furrowed and you took a step back. Camilo's smirk faded, reminding you of the way in which his nervous smile turned impatient the night before. His right arm went slightly in front of Mirabel, shielding her from your figure.
Meanwhile, Mirabel could only stare at you unbelievably. This confirmed that what Camilo said was true, right? So why did it make her heart sting to see you staring at her with so much distrust, as if you were strangers.
"I- "
"Yeah Torres, I'm not here out of coincidence," Camilo said, his gaze never leaving your body as his eyes shot daggers at you. "I know you did something yesterday night, Mirabel knows as well, so save yourself the trouble and time and just confess already before things get any worse."
You couldn't believe what you were hearing. Camilo was not only aware of you doing something to him – which made you feel ten times more guilty for having ever submitted him to such a thing – but he was also threatening you into telling the truth! Your chest rose and fell over and over again as your breaths quickened and your eyes darted to everything around you. It was only then that you noticed how your back was against the rusty kiddie games, while they stood near the closest escape to a crowd where you could hide.
This sudden change in demeanor did not go unnoticed by the duo, a silent agreement that told the other not let you get away. Mirabel stood slightly to her right, broadening her stance as she made sure to reach out her hand so as to cover more ground. Meanwhile, Camilo did the same but to the left, taking a careful step towards you in an attempt to corner you.
You took a defensive step back, putting a hand up to your chest as you tried to calm down. The boy didn't stop his attempt at coming closer, and Mirabel quickly caught on and followed his lead. You kept walking backwards, quickening your steps as they did as well. You were trapped, and you did not like being trapped.
Had you considered using your power? Of course you had! But the last time you ever controlled to people at once was when you were five! And it wasn't even on purpose! You were not about to try a new trick right now, when you being able to stay in Encanto was on the line.
As your back leg touched the rusty metal, the texture jolting you back to the reality in front of you, Camilo had already been at arm's reach. If he so wished, he would have you unable to move once again, and you wouldn't be able to get out of it as easily.
"(Y/n), this doesn't have to be so difficult! Just calm down and we can talk this out" Mirabel said with a shy smile, trying to urge you into stop moving and just admit to having done everything.
"Yeah, as soon as you both stop trying to push me into a corner! Do you really think someone is going to want to confess to something by threatening them and pushing their back against a wall?!" You yelled, visibly trying to get the towns attention. The Madrigals' had a reputation to uphold, so having two of their smallest family members' corner a poor, defenseless girl would not be a good image for the town.
"Well, if you didn't want to be cornered then you should have just admitted to everything from a start! Or what? You really want me to believe my memory loss has nothing to do with you when every single bone in my body is yelling at me that you are?!" Camilo exclaimed his left arm barely inches away from your own. He stared you down, clearly thinking his next move carefully.
"Yes! Just- back up!" You yelled again, raising your arms closer to your head.
Whenever you saw past your skin, you didn't see the two Madrigals who were trying to corner you in a park. You saw your bullies; the kids who would torment you endlessly back in the city. You saw yourself smaller than you were, shaking hands turning blurry as your eyes started watering. Your shoulders would tense, heaving up and down as you couldn't seem to get enough air into your lungs.
You were slowly choking out sobs, looking at the two "bullies" with a shaky breath. You tried taking a step back again, but, before you knew it, you fell backwards towards the ground, your legs flying as you tried to catch yourself as best you could. You whimpered as you scoot further away, closing your eyes and turning your head towards the ground. You tried to keep your sobs as silent as possible, because what if a teacher heard and then called your mother? How would she react if she kept on getting calls from the school that you were getting in trouble? About how the other kids were simply trying to keep themselves safe from a curse like you-
"(Y/n)!" A sudden voice yelled in front of you. They kept their hands firmly on your shoulders, shaking you slightly as their voice alerted you of your surroundings. "You need to breathe, come on. Deep breath in," The person exaggerated their breath, waiting until you did the same before letting it out in the same manner. "Deep breath out"
The both of you repeated breathing deeply with each other until, slowly but surely, your surroundings changed from the dimly lit back of the school to the abandoned park and endless green. Your eyes slowly focused on the dark green ones kneeling in front of you, staring back with worry.
"You with us señorita?" Camilo said with a small, worried frown. He took one hand from your shoulder and gently passed his thumb over your remaining tears.
"Y-yeah..." You said under your breath, barely loud enough for the boy in front of you to be able to nod and let out a relieved sigh. He let the hand that had wiped your tears fall, keeping the other steady hand on your shoulder for you to be able to fully calm down.
"(Y/n)... I..." Mirabel mumbled. She was only a few inches away from Camilo, sitting worriedly on the ground as she kept her hand outstretched. She wanted to pull you into a hug, apologize for reacting to harshly towards a friend and cuddle you until you were better; but she didn't know if you would be comfortable with such a bold move, so she just let her cousin do his thing.
"I-its fine, I... I'm sorry, a-and not for what just happened..." You answered, finally being able let your hands fall to your side and help you sit straight. Camilo took the hand on your shoulder and let it fall to his side, still staring at you worriedly.
"I... if you guys promise, and I mean seriously promise, not to tell a soul about this – even if it's something you hate! – Then I'll... I'll tell you both everything"
"..."
"..."
"G-guys?"
Suddenly, the two of them sat side by side each other and in front of you. They stared at you with determined eyes before each of them giving you two thumbs up.
"We're all ears!" They said in perfect synchronization, something that you would never admit gave you chills.
"I- ok...?" You eyed them carefully before looking at the street beyond the Madrigals. You could see the different townsfolk going about their everyday lives, innocent to the information you were about to give the duo.
You were just hoping Dolores was busy enough right now to not listen in...
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Summary of the chapter: You wait for Mirabel, nervous as to how to carry out the conversation without revealing your powers. However, you didn't expect her to come with Camilo, so you were now also panicking because he had made it known that he knew you had done something to him and his memory.
They took you to a small, abandoned park close to Casita Madrigal. There, you connect the dots that Camilo came because he knew, and so did Mirabel. Then, they started trying to corner you together, which made you slowly enter a panic attack.
After a bit of de-realization, Camilo helps you calm down in a similar way as he does for his mom in the movie. Once you're calm enough to talk, you told them that if they promised to keep quiet then you would tell them everything. They promised and you could only hope Dolores couldn't hear your conversation.
I hope that was useful <3 Also, don't forget to vote for motivation! Thank you all for all the reads, it really means a lot! <3<3