Chapter Text
It was painful for Pedro, watching his loved ones suffer. His wife, his children, his grandchildren. Rhey were suffering greatly without their gifts and house. He could only do so much as talking to them, they would have to recover by themselves.
Noone should repress their issues, but they all did that in their own special way. Pedro needed to talk to one of the family members, who repressed his issues the worst.
Camilo.
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He was exhausted, and he was in pain. Building a house was difficult as it was, but Camilo couldn't do anything.
He couldn't move big pieces of rubble, he'd have to shift into Luisa. He couldn't reach small spaces, he'd have to shift into Antonio.
But no. Camilo was stuck in his own stupid body, not able to be useful.
He knew that at least one person cared about HIM him. So, he kissed his girlfriend Sofia goodnight, and went to sleep.
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Camilo woke up to the sound of splashing. The teenager found himself standing in a not deep river. The water reached up to his ankles.
Camilo was confused. Was he hallucinating? Was he dreaming? Why did he stand there, and where the heck was he?
"Hey Cami."
Camilo winced and yelped as he spun around. And he winced again as he saw who was standing in front of him.
"Abuelo?" he asked, confused.
Pedro nodded and smiled.
"You know, your Abuela thinks you look like me." he said.
"I-i do?" Camilo mumbled. He realized, his Abuela was somehow right. The boy recognized a few facial features of his Abuelo that he had as well.
Pedro nodded again, noticing that he still needed to explain this situation to his nieto.
"This is a dream. A little magic is still there, and it's allowing me to visit all of you in your dreams, to comfort you." he said.
Camilo crossed his arms.
"I don't need comfort, I'm feeling good." he complained, keeping his gaze averted. He didn't want Abuelo to see how right he was. How much comfort and reassurance he needed.
Pedro smiled sadly, and reached out to put a hand onto Camilo's shoulder.
"I know you aren't okay Cami. It's okay to need comfort."
"I'm fifteen." Camilo grumbled quietly, still not looking up.
Pedro squeezed his shoulder.
"It's okay Cami. All of you were forced to grow up quickly. And you can have comfort at any age. There's no rule saying you can't have comfort as a teenager." he promised.
Camilo finally looked up at his Abuelo. And Pedro's heart broke a little more.
His nieto was looking at him with a painful expression, tears glittering in his eyes.
"I'm not good." Camilo whispered, and Pedro wasted no time pulling him into a tight hug.
"It's alright. Tell me what's bothering you." Pedro said.
Camilo bit his lip anxiously. Would Abuelo think his struggles were worth the comfort? Or would he just leave him alone, like most other people did?
He decided to give it a try.
"I... I feel useless. I can't change my body into one belonging to a usefull person, and that is driving me crazy. I want to help rebuilding Casita, but I can't do anything while being my stupid self." be revealed and hesitated for a second.
But Pedro was waiting for him to talk about everything, so Camilo kept going.
"And if I'm being completely honest, not being able to shift is scary. I am forced to stay in my one body all the time, and I just keep discovering new things about my body."
"Like what?" Pedro asked.
Camilo cleared his throat.
"Uhm, I have a birth mark on my left leg. I know it's a small thing, but it's so strange. I... don't even know everything about myself. I know so much about other people, but not about myself." he finished.
"But the others certainly have worse problems. You should check on them." He added.
Pedro's sighed. This sounded very much like identity issues, and he hated it. He hated how he wasn't able to stop this all.
"I will talk to everyone, and I already spoke to several of our family members. But this is about you right now. I need you to understand Cami, you can't define yourself over being "useful". You all have to adjust to living without a gift, and that's scary. And it's okay to be scared. But you need to know, you will be alright." he explained.
"I'm not alright! I'm stuck as my stupid self." Camilo raised his voice a bit.
"Cami, yourself isn't stupid. You know, everyone else always stays in one body. And they found ways to put it to use. And they have to adjust to help without a gift. For you, sou need to learn that you aren't "useless". Noone is useless. You just need to adjust to staying yourself all the time. And let me tell you something. You're an amazing boy, gift or no gift." Pedro explained.
Camilo let out a wet laugh at the last sentence, tightening his hug.
"Thank you Abuelo." he whispered as a swarm of golden butterflies flew around them, and the dream ended.