CHAMELEONS | Encanto

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

The dust cleared and to their relief, Mirabel was in the middle of all the rubble, alive and seemingly unhurt.

Carla let out a sigh of relief although it may take her heart some time before it would completely calm down.

She wanted to check on her prima — even though she was still quite hesitant on talking to her ever since she blew up in front of her — but decided against it when she saw her Tia rush over to her daughter. She probably needs the assurance more than she does.

So instead, she went to help her mami calm down her little brother when he saw that he was crying. In the meantime, Dolores tended to the shaken Alma while Camilo and the rest of the family looked around their fallen home.

Everything was a mess and everyone was lost. What were they going to do now? The family had never felt as vulnerable as they are in that moment.

That question was answered though when Julieta came back from getting medication for her daughter only to find that she had gone and left.

And that's when the search for Mirabel had recommenced. They had already lost their home, they weren't going to lose a family member for the second time.

Everyone split up in pairs and Carla and Camilo, of course, stayed together.

On contrary to how they usually were when together, they were quiet as they looked for their prima — except for the occasional "Mirabel!"s here and there.

Eventually though, having enough with the unusual atmosphere looming over them — especially her brother — she sighed out, "Camilo..."

He seemed to be more affected by the events than she was, and it wasn't exactly hard to find out why.

Camilo sighed too, before looking up to meet her sister's eyes. "My powers are gone... I don't— I don't know what to do anymore, Carla. I— I don't know..."

It was already quite dark, and Carla might've not seen his face, but she knew just by the tone of his voice that Camilo was trying so hard not cry. She almost let out a sob of her own at how helpless her twin sounded.

"Oh Camilo..." Carla pulled her brother in a hug, just like how he did when it was her who had just lost her powers.

She started rubbing his back when he squeezed her tight and pulled her closer to him. "I now understand why you and the others were so concerned about me using my powers too much. Who— who even am I without it...?" He whispered the last sentence.

Carla didn't have time to reply before Camilo spoke once again, spewing out more of his concerns.

"And what about Antonio? What's he going to do? He just got his gift and it hadn't even been a week before it was taken from him. He was so excited about it too. And what about our house? Where are we supposed to live now? I'm not even sure if I could sleep anywhere but in Casita."

Carla waited a few more seconds to see if Camilo had anything more to say before she pulled back slightly to hold his face as she spoke.

"Who are you? You're a reliable friend, a fun cousin, an annoying but sweet brother, an amazing son, and you're my twin. You're Camilo. With, or without your powers. You don't exist because of your powers. Your powers exist because of you. You're amazing just the way you are, Camilo — and before you say anything, I'm not only saying this because I'm your sister."

Camilo cracked a smile at this. Carla returned it.

"I know it's going to be hard for you to finally realize and accept this truth, but just like how you've always been there for me, I'll be there for you too. Every single baby step of the way."

This time, she elicited a snort from him, making her grin.

"As for Antonio, he's going to be okay. Just like everyone else in the family. And unlike us, Antonio only had his powers for a short while so he isn't as dependent on it as the rest of us are, so really, if anyone's going to be okay, it's him. Even if he was excited to have finally gotten it. And we could always just rebuild Casita and live somewhere else in the meantime."

Camilo couldn't hold back his grin, before he hugged his twin once again. "Thanks, Carla."

"No problem, Cami." Carla replied, returning the hug.

"You know, this feels kinda weird. It's usually you who needs the comforting." Camilo teased before he let out a laugh after Carla hit him in the back. "But I guess getting comforted for a change isn't that bad. Maybe I'll even fake about needing one just to get you to do this again."

This time, Carla hit him behind the head, eliciting another laugh from him. Carla pulled away, shaking her head but anyone with eyes could see the fond smile as she did so.

"Come on, you idiot. We still need to find Mirabel."

-

The two continued to look for their prima but in higher spirits than they were when they first started.

Their search, though, was quite fruitless and it wasn't until the next day that they found Mirabel. And she wasn't exactly even found, she kind of just showed up herself. And just like the twins, she looked like she was in higher spirits now too.

She shared a moment with her parents that Carla honestly thought — no matter how amusing/pitiful Agustin looked — was so sweet and heartwarming, but of course Camilo just had to ruin it.

"Uh, not if we don't have a house." This earned a nudge to the ribs by their father of course, but he only continued, this time, defending himself. "What? We don't have a house. I can't say we don't have a house? What is that? Not a house." He gestured to the pile of rubble in front of him.

Carla shook her head, disapprovingly, but she decided to let it go considering they hadn't slept last night.

'He must've lost his tact as he lost his sleep last night.' Carla thought to herself.

edit: wait I just realized that I just hit 30k reads and 1k likes! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I never would've thought this book would go that far. I was just kind of dabbling with ideas for encanto fics and I decided to publish this one, so you don't know how thrilled I am that so many people like this.