Senor Adan gasped and ran to his daughter.
"June!" he exclaimed.
Mr. Valladares fell to his knees over June.
"June..." he repeated.
Despite my constant shapeshifting, I made my way towards Marcos, who was next to where June had fallen. Marcos' eyes were blown wide and he was staring at June. The light on his chest flickered for a moment. I walked up to him and reached my hands towards him. He handed me the flower carefully, not taking his eyes away from June.
I ran upstairs and opened the door to Mirabel's room. The house was still shaking and cracks were still forming on the wall and on the floor underneath me. I walked into Mirabel's room and made my way to the window.
I placed the flower on the window frame as carefully as I could even though it felt like the Earth was shaking underneath my feet. I looked out the window and saw that most of the cracks in the wall had closed up and it almost looked like Casita was healing itself. The shaking of the house lessened by a lot, it wasn't difficult to balance anymore.
But there were still cracks in the wall and in the floor. Our doors hadn't lit back up and there was still chaos on the ground floor due to my family's gifts malfunctioning. I couldn't understand why it would fix most things but not fix everything. I couldn't understand what could be missing.
Then I realised.
'The petal...' I thought.
I jumped out of the window and onto the roof of the second floor. I nearly lost my footing but Casita, who seemed to have regained control of itself once again, straightened the roof so I could balance better. I looked around, desperately searching for the flower that June had dropped. I groaned in frustration when I couldn't find it.
'Maybe it dropped to the second floor...' I thought.
Casita made the railings of the second floor turn vertically so I could use it as a ladder. I climbed down the ladder and started searching as soon as I stepped foot on the second floor.
"Where is it?" I muttered, under my breath.
I couldn't understand why I couldn't spot it. It should've been easy to see. It was a magical, golden, glowing petal after all. I squeezed my eyes shut to try and calm myself. I reopened my eyes and peered over the railings and looked at the ground floor. Maybe it was on the ground floor the whole time and I just couldn't see it among the panic and chaos.
Then I spotted June, standing up but clutching her ribs. She pulled the petal out of the pocket of her dark coat. My eyes widened when I saw the soothing glow.
"IS THIS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, Y/N?!" June yelled, holding the petal up for me to see.
"June, no!" Senor Adan exclaimed, trying to grab the petal from June's hands.
"Give it to me!" Marcos said, reaching his hands up at the petal.
I rushed downstairs and pushed through the crowd of people, some of the Madrigals included, that were surrounding Miguel, probably entranced by his gift. I was still shapeshifting into different people in town so it was difficult to move since I would need quick short steps in one form and then long strides in another. I made it through the sea of people, catching a glimpse of Adriana's portals sucking in a potted plant, she was still chanting nonsense.
I didn't even make it to June, Senor Adan and Marcos before Marcos jumped up and snatched the petal from in between June and her father.
"BRAT!" June screeched.
Marcos gasped when she tried to grab him. Mr. Valladares held June back by the shoulders, letting Marcos narrowly escape her clutches. Despite the house still shaking, Marcos made a run for it towards our miracle flower, tripping multiple times as he ran up the stairs.
He climbed the ladder that led to the roof of the second floor that Casita had left there after I used it and nearly slipped after a particularly intense tremble.
"Marcos!" I heard my mother call out.
Marcos kept climbing and eventually made it to the window. I saw as he carefully placed the petal close to the rest of the petals that were on the flower. Marcos held the petal where it was before June plucked it off and the flower seemed to heal itself. Once the petal was reconnected, the flower's glow shined brighter for a moment, so bright that Marcos had to shield his eyes.
When the flower's light died down to it's usual, soothing glow, our doors had regained their light and magic. The house had completely stopped shaking and the crack had disappeared.
The people surrounding Miguel had come back to their senses and left him alone, Luisa didn't need to shield him anymore. Adelita was panting as she sunk to the ground, she was finally able to make her wings disappear. My father waved his hand and all of the small illusions disappeared and then rubbed at his forehead to soothe the headache that I assumed he had. Tio Ario stopped clutching his head so furiously and instead sunk into Tia Justine's arms for comfort. Adriana had collapsed from overusing her portals.
I looked down at myself to see that I had settled on one form, Mrs. Pezmuerto's. I closed my eyes and felt that form melt away. When I opened my eyes, I was myself again. I watched as Marcos made his way back down the ladder, onto the second floor and then ran down the stairs. He immediately ran to Mama and Papa and hugged their legs.
In the corner of my eye, I saw June struggling to get away from her father. Mr. Valladares had created makeshift handcuffs out of some kind of rope. She was screaming and thrashing as she tried to get away. Mr. Valladares pulled June over towards me and gave me a sad smile.
"I've been needing to do this for a while but..." Senor Adan began "I'm going to take her somewhere where she can get the help she needs."
"FUCK- NO!" June said "DAD, I'M NOT FUCKING CRAZY. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, Y/N RUINED EVERYTHING I-"
"June, please..." Senor Adan said, wiping the tears from his eyes.
I felt bad for him. I can't even imagine how I would feel if my child tried to pull something like this.
"There aren't any places here in Encanto where she can get the help that she needs so..." Mr. Valladares added "This will be our last night here. My wife will run the shop and I will take June to the city."
"WHAT?! NO!" June exclaimed "THIS ISN'T HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO GO. Y/N AND THEIR STUPID FUCKING FAMILY SHOULD BE THE ONES LEAVING, NOT ME."
Senor Adan paid no attention to his daughter's delusions. Instead he gave me a sad expression.
"I'm sorry for everything, Y/n" Senor Adan said "Please send your family my deepest apologies."
Then I watched the two of them leave Casita.
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Sorry for not updating yesterday, I had to work on comissions lol.
Anyway, yeah I didn't kill June but I did get rid of her in a more peaceful way. Hopefully, June can get the help that she needs.
-Kolour