Chapter Text
Camila had always wanted a big family, but this was getting ridiculous.
The Nocedas' first child (and third oldest) was the couple's only biological child (kind of), Luz. Their little light had a soul as bright as her name would suggest, and an even brighter smile. She had inherited her father's tendency to get himself into the craziest of situations, as well as his ability to get out of them, luckily. From her mother, she got her intense compassion for all living things (and probably some undiagnosed neurodivergencies).
Luz was their first child, but she was far from their last. Second was King. Him they found crawling around the old shack behind their house. They'd thought he was some sort of odd looking dog, until he'd responded to Camila's baby-voiced, "What's your name, little guy?" with a squeaky but clear, "King!" That had gotten the couples attention, as this was back when anything could surprise them.
Not knowing what to do, they eventually decided to bring him back to their house, though they kept him away from a then two years old Luz. The pair quickly found that King had the mind of a toddler, albeit a power hungry one. After some deliberation, they decided to keep him. It took some adjusting to, including a total shattering of everything they thought was possible, but they adapted to having a new, non-human child surprisingly quickly. When others were around, they pretended he was simply their dog (he would always get a treat after this, as they knew he hated doing it). Now, he's doing great. He still has some delusions of grandeur, though they've managed to calm them a bit. At the very least, he's started acknowledging himself as a child, instead of a fallen king of demons, which they're at least 60% sure he made up.
A few months after King showed up, they found yet another alien child in the old shack, or rather, children. This time, it was a pair of toddler-sized aliens, who they found hissing and glaring at them when they went inside, their pudgy little faces twisted up with fear and panic.
In front of the smaller child stood what looked like a five-year-old boy, who looked almost identical to a human. The only things giving him away were his large, pointed ears and his piercing magenta eyes, though even those could probably be dismissed as some sort of mutation by someone who didn't know any better. What drew the couple's eyes, however, was the large, still bleeding gash on his cheek.
Behind the blonde haired boy was what appeared at first glance to be a large snake. It only took a second, however, to see the clawed hands on scaley arms, the blue tuft of hair poking from their head, and the all too human fear in their eyes.
Camila and Manny were, of course, taken aback by the sight of the small creatures (though not as much as they would've been a year before). However, they immediately see the sheer terror in the children's eyes–and they are children; they may not know what exactly these two are, but they know that they're children, barely more than toddlers; call it parents' intuition.
Even once they convinced the two–Hunter and Number 5, apparently–to come with them, to get their wounds patched up and a hot meal if nothing else, it took much longer to convince them to trust the couple than it did with King. The pair don't remember anything other than intense fear, and it doesn't take long for the two to realize that these kids have been abused; the chain in 5's tail, the switch scars on Hunter's hands and back, the intense fear the two have for the Nocedas parents, the massive, still healing scar on Hunter's cheek. They may not know much about the subject, but they're not idiots. They know that someone hurt these literal children, and badly. It makes Camila so mad she could kill someone, and Manny so upset that he throws up when he realizes.
Eventually, though, the couple is able to get the kids to trust them, to let their guards down, and it is beautiful. The first time Hunter runs up to Camila without fear, excitedly showing her a book about wolves; the first time Vee calls Manny Papí, needing to be comforted after falling down; they are burned into the pairs memory in the best way, and they know, no matter what, that these are their kids now. It won't be easy; they're already far from rich with just two kids. However, they know that they'll make it work, because they have no other option; their kids need them.
About a year after this, things had largely settled down. Hunter and Vee had fully settled into the Nocedas household, and both Luz and King were ecstatic to have more siblings. Even better, Hunter and Vee could freely move about town; Hunter looked close enough to human that his stranger features didn't draw more than the occasional odd look.
Vee, meanwhile, had even less trouble; a few days after arriving at her new home, she met Luz for the first time. Luz had looked at the snake girl curiously, toddling over to her with no fear. Vee was visibly nervous, but let Luz get closer. When Luz held out a hand, Vee tentatively reached out her own. When they met, however, Vee's scales rippled away in a wave of brown flesh, quickly morphing into an exact copy of Luz (much to the shock of her new parents). They quickly discovered that, whatever Vee was, she could take on the appearance of any person or creature she saw. Doing so seemed to drain a lot of energy, which couldn't seem to be replenished by normal food. The parents had panicked a bit at this, worried they didn't have the right foods for Vee, but they quickly stumbled upon the solution: King. For whatever reason, just being around King reenergized Vee, as well as apparently making her feel extremely full. They still knew very little about Vee's abilities and origins, but it's lucky that they let her wander about freely disguised as Luz's identical twin (for the first time, Camila was glad her and Manny had no close friends or family, as it meant no one was too suspicious of Luz having a twin sister out of nowhere). Her and Hunter even started going to school!
It's at this point, when they were finally getting used to their bizarre lives, that the couple received their fifth child, and possibly their oddest: Lucia Noceda. She just dropped out of a hole in the sky one day into their backyard. As far as any of them can tell, Lucia seems to be an alternate version of Luz from another universe, and not a fun one. She rarely likes to talk about her life before arriving in this universe, but from what they can gather, she had found her way into another world, one of magic and macabre (maybe even an alternate version of whatever place King, Hunter, and Vee are from; they can't say for sure, though, as there are too many differences between their world and Lucia's to say for sure). She then proceeded to lose almost everyone she ever cared about one after the other. Eventually, she used an unstable, untested portal spell in an attempt to go back in time and change things. Instead, it sent her to this world's Camila and Manny.
She was perhaps the hardest child to raise, as she was both over a decade older than all of their other kids, thrusting them headfirst into raising a teenager; and deeply, deeply traumatized. Still, they made good progress; Lucia was beyond happy to be living with them, and they've gotten her a good therapist. She still struggles, but she's been getting better and better in the years since she came to them. She even graduated from college!
Now, a decade after first finding King, the family is doing well. Lucia still lives with her mother, not willing to leave after already losing so many people in her own world (despite technically knowing him the shortest time, Manny's death hit her harder than anyone, except possibly Camila), though she does help pay the bills with her job as a mechanic. Hunter is about to finish his senior year of highschool, having skipped a grade with his beautiful brain. Luz and Vee, meanwhile, are about to finish their freshman year. King still has to stay more hidden than the rest of them, but they all do their best to make sure he's happy despite that, and they mostly succeed.
Right now, Camila is driving down to Indiana to visit her mother. She's going alone, both because her mother is a bitch who she doesn't want around her kids, and because her mother still doesn't know that kids is plural now. Still, a sense of obligation compels her to visit at least once a year, especially now that her mother is in her old age, and could pass soon (as she regularly reminds her daughter).
While she's gone, the kids are being watched by Lucia and Marilyn. Marilyn is Camila's ex, and one of the only people on Earth to know the truth about her kids. They dated a couple years before she met Manny, before splitting up amicably. Marilyn had popped back into her life around the same time she and Manny had found King, which ended up being extremely fortunate for them. Once Hunter and Vee, and later Lucia, entered the picture, Marilyn was the one to forge their legal documents, with some help from her ex-husband. It was a lifesaver for the couple, as it was hard enough hiding just King. All she had asked for in return was to get to see the kids every once in a while; a more than fair trade in Camila's mind, as she was the reason three of them were able to live semi-normal lives. In the years since, Marilyn had taken on something of an Aunt role to the kids, coming by every few weeks to hang out and give the kids weird gifts. Honestly, Camila doesn't know if she would've been able to keep raising five kids if it weren't for her help; Marilyn had stepped up in a big way since Manny passed, almost becoming a second parent to the kids. Her visits became much more frequent, and she was always ready to help out if Camila needed anything. Honestly, Camila's felt some of the old attraction bubbling back up these last few years, but she's tried to ignore it, having so much going on that she doesn't feel ready to try another relationship.
The visit with her mother is, as always, frustrating and exhausting. It's an endless stream of passive-aggressive comments about how her hair is too short, how she should have already found a new husband by now, etcetera, etcetera. It's not until she starts making similar comments about Luz, and not for the first time, that she snaps, deciding to leave early. She finally tells her mother what she's wanted to for as long as she can remember; namely, to fuck off. She then leaves early, ignoring (and maybe enjoying) her mother's outraged spluttering.
As she stomps back to the retirement home's parking lot, still riding the high of cursing out her mother, she stubs her toe on something. After a bit more cursing, she looks down to see what tripped her, expecting to see a rock. Instead, she sees the round edge of a large piece of dark glass, mostly buried.
Camila hesitates; she has the weirdest feeling that if she messes with the thing, she's going to have to up the Christmas present budget again. Still, she hasn't gotten to the place she is now by ignoring weird things. She reaches down, yanking the circle from the ground.
As soon as she touches it, a shadow springs from within it, snaking up the side of a nearby tree before taking on a small, almost abstract humanoid form.
Camila sighs, redoing the budget in her head; it's been too long, she should've expected this.
"I'm not talking to you, Philip!" Another sigh at the childish voice. "I'm not giving me any more magic until you say sorry for putting me in that bag!.. You're not Philip."
"Ah, no, I'm not. My name is Camila Noceda. I just found this odd tablet buried in the ground here. When I pulled it up, you came out."
"Philip…got rid of me?" The child's voice is very small, and Camila is struck with both pity for them and anger towards this Philip. "That liar! He promised he was gonna let me out if I helped him! He-he pinky swore!" Camila gives the child a sympathetic look.
"I'm sorry that this Philip lied to you, little one. Do you have a name?"
"I'm the Collector," the child mutters sullenly.
"Well, Collector…I know we just met, but would you like to come with me? At least until you find a better option? I've made something of a habit of taking in odd children, and I'm sure you'd get along with my kids."
The Collector listens to her offer with clear suspicion (it's surprisingly easy to tell what they're thinking from their simple face), but perks up at the last part.
"Do you think your kids would wanna play with me?" Camila chuckles softly.
"I'm sure they will, Collector. So, what do you say?"
They narrow their eyes at her. "How do I know you're not tricking me like Philip?"
I...don't know if there's anything I can do to assure you other than promise I won't. I know that that might not be worth much, but all I'll ask for is a chance to prove you can trust me."
The Collector eyes her for another few seconds, before huffing and looking away.
"Fine, I guess, I've got nothing better to do. I can't leave the tablet anyway." Camila gives him a smile.
"Well, thank you for giving me a chance, sweety. Now, I'm going to take you to my car so we can get going, alright?"
They're quiet for a minute, before glancing at her and quietly asking, "What's a car?"
She smiles, shaking her head softly; she hasn't had to have one of these explanations since the day they found out microwaves in Lucia's universe could microwave metal safely.
"Well, it's a machine that humans use to get around. Mine is technically a van, which is like a big car that can carry a lot of people." The Collector nods as she starts to carry their tablet towards the van.
"Okay, I get it. Philip mentioned something like that in–wait, you're human?" He yelps, suddenly staring at the side of her head.
"Um, yes?"
"What–Philip said he was the only human on the Isles! That big liar…" Camila tilts her head in confusion.
"I know that this Philip seems quite bad, but…I'm not sure if he was lying about that. What Isles are you talking about?" The Collector pauses.
"Wait…are we in the Human Realm?!"
"Um, probably? This is Earth, and Humans are the main species here. In fact, other than my kids, I don't know of any sentient creatures here."
"What the–he sent me to the Human Realm?! He said he didn't have a portal, either! This stinks, there's no magic here!" Camila pauses as she enters the van.
"These Isles…they have magic?"
"Uh, yeah? Wait, you guys don't even know about magic? I thought you'd just take it from other places, how do you do anything?"
"Well, we may not have magic, but we have something called technology that allows us to do many things we can't do alone. For instance, this van allows me to move at a much higher speed than a regular human. I can go over fifty miles an hour for several hours."
"Pfft, fifty? That's nothing! If I wasn't in this stupid prison, I could go half the speed of light, easy!"
Camila goes quiet as she starts to drive slowly, tablet held close by her left hand while she drives with her right.
"...Alright, that's very impressive, sweetheart. But humans can't go anywhere close to that fast, or we'll die."
"So? Can't you just fix them?"
Camila realizes something: this kid doesn't know what death is. They're also implying themself to be incredibly powerful, though that could be a case of an overactive imagination. Still, if they are telling the truth…they could do a lot of damage without even meaning to.
She chooses her next words very carefully.
"Well, Mijo, I'm not sure how it works where you're from, but when a human…breaks, you usually can't fix them."
"What? I bet I could!"
That gives her pause, since…could he? I mean, there's so much more out there than anyone understands, she knows that better than anyone, so…could they really do it? Could they bring back the dead?
Could they bring back Manny?
"Well, have you ever brought back a living being before?"
"I guess not, but it can't be that much harder than fixing any other kind of toy, right?"
That's…worrying.
"Well, again, I don't know about your world, but in my experience, it's much harder to fix a living being than an object. Plus, if you can't fix a person in time…they're gone forever. My…my husband, Manny, got…sick a few years ago. We did everything we could, but…in the end, he died. They weren't able to save him, and now he's gone, and he's not coming back."
"Oh," the Collector says softly, squirming on the surface of the passenger seat. "That sounds…sad."
"It…it was. But I've…well, not moved on, but…I've learned to live without him."
"...Sorry Manny is gone. When I get out, I'll try to find him for you, okay?"
She…that didn't work, but it's fine. At the very least, she can tell the Collector isn't some sort of psychopath. They're showing concern for her just a few minutes after meeting her, even if they don't seem to fully understand why she's upset.
"I'm…not sure if that's possible, Mijo, but I appreciate the offer very much."
"You're welcome!" They say brightly.
"Now…would you like to hear about some more human inventions?"
"Okay!"
And so, Camila tells him about cars, and planes, and phones, and video games, and music, and a whole host of other things. By the time they reach her house, around 9:00 PM, she's running out of things to explain.
She stumbles towards the front door, very tired, before pausing and looking at the Collector.
"Okay, when we go in, I'm going to need you to be quiet, alright?"
"Ooh, are we playing hide and seek?"
"No, sweety, everyone is just sleeping."
"...What's sleeping?"
"Well, it's something humans have to do about eight hours every day. We basically just lie down in a bed, and our brains slow down, and we…recharge. If we don't get enough, it makes it harder to do things while you're not sleeping."
"Hmm…that sounds kinda boring."
"I suppose it is, but like I said, humans have to do it. Otherwise, it makes it hard to do anything, and if you don't do it for long enough, you can…die, like Manny." The Collector nods slowly, seeming to grasp what she's saying at least a little.
"Okay…it still sounds really boring, but I guess if you have to. But why do we need to be quiet?"
"Because loud noises can wake people up and stop them from sleeping, and it can be hard to get back to sleep. If we're quiet, then hopefully they'll stay asleep until morning, when they'll wake up and start their days."
"Okay, I'll be super quiet!" He yells.
"Gracias, Mijo. Er, thank you."
They slowly make their way into the house, past the living room (Camila snorting softly at Marilyn's awkward position on the couch), and up to Camila's room. The Collector, to their credit, does stay very quiet, only making little grunts as they hop across the walls like a little ninja, much to Camila's amusement.
Once they get to her room, Camila quietly shuts her door, before telling the Collector they can quietly speak now.
"Oh, that was pretty fun! I gotta say, so far you're way more fun than Philip. Nicer too!" Camila smiles.
"I'm glad to hear it, Mijo. Now, I have to go to sleep now too. In the morning, when I wake up, I'll introduce you to the rest of my kids. Do you think you can wait by yourself until then?" They pout a bit.
"I guess…do you have anything I can play while I wait?" Camila rubs her chin, before thinking of an idea.
"Well, it's not quite a game, but maybe you could try coming up with a story to tell me tomorrow?"
"Hmmm…I guess I can try it."
"Good luck, sweety. I'm sure you'll think of a great story. Good night."
"Have fun sleeping!"
Camila chuckles.
"I'll try."