Chapter Text
camilo watched with the rest of his family -well, most of the family, mirabel was explaining the gifts, again, as dolores's face became scrunched up in... he couldn't say. maybe an expression of worry or fear? maybe both? he wouldn't understand either way, with her super hearing and all.
"dolores," his abuela stares at the brunette, hints of concern on her face, "what is it?"
"someone's caused a commotion at the edge of the town, abuela," dolores comments, and then perks up again, "there are some towns folk coming up to our house, maybe they know,"
camilo strained his ears, listening as intently as he could. he was interested, no one ever causes that much of a disturbance, that they had to take it straight to casa madrigal.
he started to hear heavy footsteps, when mirabel burst through the door.
"mirabel? just what is going on?" tío augustín gets up from his seat, placing his miraculously not bee-stung hands on his daughter's shoulder.
the twelve-year-old just pants in response, before stating a sentence that shocked camilo to the core.
"the-the forest, just opened up, and... and -boom! two kids appear from it, blood on the eldest, who had passed out,"
that caused the entire family to rise from their seats. some out of curiosity, most being shell-shocked. camilo, however, felt afraid. an outsider, no, two outsiders, had gotten into the city.
what if they are deemed a threat? his family, his familia, all could end up harmed, everyone in encanto could end up hurt, for god's sake!
"let's go check it out, then. mirabel, you said there were two kids, what about the other one?" tía julieta asks mirabel, who had finally calmed enough to give a precise answer.
"he wouldn't leave the other's side, and refused to come with me," mirabel started jogging in place, signalling to the family to come with her.
nearly everyone followed, with the exception of his mama, who had to dispel a cloud from above her head, and take care of antonio.
shifting into one of the fast runners of the town, camilo passed by almost all of his family members, staying behind mirabel. she was the only one who knew where she was going.
"this way!" mirabel yelled as she turned right, heading towards the east side of town. they followed her there, and watched her slow down.
the rest of the family paused, as they looked upon the scene.
horror flashed onto the entire madrigal family's face at the sight of an obviously young girl on the ground, passed out. an even younger kid kneeled beside her, sobbing and begging her to wake up.
"n/n! wake up! wake up!" the toddler cries in frustration and sadness.
luisa was the first to act, walking over to the body. camilo watched, frozen, as she checked for a pulse. the people here were not threats as he was worried about.
the thing that caused them to find encanto, however, was.
he let out a sigh of relief when luisa concluded that the girl had a heart beat.
"luisa," tía julieta called to her middle child, "please bring her inside,"
"no!" the younger kid, his unruly ginger hair matted with dirt and dried blood, shouted at the family. "you-you're not aloud to... to take her! mama and papa are gone, you can't take n/n!"
camilo had already guessed it, but just hearing their parents being gone had made his heart drop.
his elder sister had teased him about being a mama's boy, but camilo was just protective over his family. well, he was a little bit of a mama's boy, but all he wanted was too help. he was a madrigal, he was born to help others, to keep the miracle going.
so, to see someone his age, thirteen, and with a brother close to his little brother's age, it made him feel for the girl.
she was now the eldest, and was in charge of the family. camilo would crack under the pressure.
so yeah, watching luisa sling the bloody girl pulled some strings in his heart.
"camilo- shapeshift into the girl," dolores nudged him, looking at the boy who was clawing at luisa, trying to get to his big sister.
"i can't! i've barely seen what she looks like, dolores," he hisses back at her, causing her to roll her eyes.
camilo's eyes wonder around the scene. 'is that a compass?' he thought, scooping it up.
he groaned at the heat coming off it. why was that so hot? it's a fucking compass.
shouldering through the pain, he quickly held it through his clothes, sheltering him from the blazing heat.
"hey, that's my sister's thing! papa gave it to her," the kid pointed his little finger at camilo, causing him to grimace.
"what's your name, kiddo?" he asks, wanting to know more about the two who had crashed into their -uhrm, relatively normal,- life.
the kid gestures to himself, and looked at him with suspicion. "who're you? i'm not supposed to talk to strangers,"
camilo bit the inside of his cheek in annoyance, but understood his wariness. "i'm camilo, camilo madrigal,"
"lucas!" the kid, 'lucas', all but yelled back at him, causing a smile to grace his face.
the kid probably doesn't understand what was really happening, or the gravity of the situation, but he smiled back at him.
camilo felt hope for the two outsiders.