Worth The Shot

Frostbitten Sacrifice

Today's fanart is by @chansol_o ! The rain scene! What I love so much about this drawing is that it really makes the rain look magical and beautiful and yet still like gray, stormy rain. The confused shopkeeper is also hilarious. Thank you so much for drawing this! 

BACK TO THE STORY

Sebastian's green eyes narrowed unreadably.

You anxiously widened yours, too scared to even blink. If you broke Sebastian's suspicious glare, would he abandon all sympathy and turn you in? Felix and Mariano heaved nervous, deep breaths beside you. 

"H-hey, Sebastian? Are you coming?" A guard tentatively called from further up the tunnel. His eerie candlelight emanated onto the wall. 

"No," Sebastian distractedly muttered, still piercing you with a torn, uncertain stare. Behind him, his distorted silhouette curled across the grimy, black dirt. 

Panic seeped into your chest. Stronger candlelight. The guards were coming back. They'd see you. 

"Hurry up. We don't have time for jokes," another guard gruffly barked, but his voice reeked of uneasy mistrust. What reputation had Sebastian earned himself in the mountain Encanto? Did the villagers fear him? 

Should we fear him? You hazily wondered through a daze of adrenaline. You tensed your muscles, preparing to run. 

Painful understanding dawned in Sebastian's frown. His gaze flickered to the floor, then returned with clear resolve. His lips seriously mouthed something. 

You won't have to be here with me? You don't have the immunity? That wasn't it. You'd worry about it later, secure behind Casita's shutters and far from your fathers' muscular goons. 

"What are you doing, anyway?" A guard warily hurled from across the tunnel. "Why aren't you right behind us, Sebastian?"

"I'm talking with the ghosts. They want to know about you," Sebastian hissed, annoyance crawling into his voice. "All about you." 

A terrified pause. "Really?"

"No, of course not," Sebastian snapped, striding away with the guards. "Don't be stupid." He grimly nodded back at you as he gave the soft warning. 

"Let's go," you whispered in relief to the Madrigals after drawing a few shuddering breaths. The guards were gone. You welcomed the cool flood of darkness that soaked the empty tunnel. Safety. 

"Did you know him?" Felix curiously offered the question after a few minutes of shuffling silence. 

"He's my tio," you explained, surprising yourself with your quick response. I guess he is, isn't he? Tio Sebastian. 

The words felt jarring and wrong together, like two incompatible cardboard puzzle pieces. "Tio" implied a warm, fuzzy, familial feeling. Like how Mirabel felt about shy, sweet Tio Bruno or affectionate, supportive Tio Felix. Sebastian was about as affectionate, warm, and fuzzy as Antonio's diseased crocodile. 

Pepa hated that thing. She'd insisted that Antonio remove the scaly monster from his jungle room until Antonio had cried and pleaded. After days of gentle persuasion from Felix, Pepa had begrudgingly retracted the crocodile's eviction order. It helped that Julieta had sympathetically slipped the crocodile a golden arepa to clear his warty skin disease. Still, the animal wasn't very attractive. 

After a half-hour of uneasy wandering, Felix significantly inclined his head at a miniscule hole. Disappointment wallowed in your stomach like Antonio's crocodile. Bright light beamed from the hole by Luisa's head, but it was barely the size of two, loose fists. How could Augustin reach Luisa's chains without drawing attention?

Dolores squeezed her tinted eyelids shut, concentration tightening her lips. She extended her hearing, listening for a solution.

"What do you hear?" Mariano gently whispered, concern shadowing his soft, brown eyes as he leaned over Dolores. His hair flopped perfectly around the sides of his face. 

"Stop. I need to focus."

"Oh, you can't focus when I'm talking?" Mariano apologetically said, entirely innocent. He obligingly silenced himself. 

"Yes. Whenever you talk. Or breath. It's hard to focus around you at all," Dolores angrily murmured to Mariano, with that forbidden flash of desperation. Startled, Mariano's breathing hitched and froze. He stared down at Dolores. Dense as he was, even Mariano couldn't misinterpret her confession.  

"Sorry," Dolores painfully mumbled, brushing off the cream, gold-lined ruffle of her dress as she backed away from Mariano. Embarrassed, you swung your head around. No one else had heard Dolores' condemning words but you and Mariano. 

"No, it's fine," Mariano awkwardly chuckled. Horrified by her slip-up, Dolores' fingers insecurely curled around her elbow. Then Mariano drew in a great, exaggerated breath, holding it with puffed cheeks. 

"What are you doing?" Dolores slowly questioned, her nerves melting into confusion. Holding his breath, Mariano smiled by crinkling his eyes. He raised his eyebrows and tapped his ear with his finger. He wasn't going to talk or breath while Dolores needed to focus. 

Dolores blinked in surprise, then released an uncharacteristic, breathy giggle. She reclosed her eyes, trying to focus. 

"Alright," she finally breathed to the entire party, shooting a grateful glance at Mariano. "There are two guards in there. We can't dig, or they'll hear us. Unless-" She hesitated. "Nevermind."

"Unless what?" Augustin prodded with an encouraging smile. "It's okay. No idea is a bad idea." 

"Unless we had a distraction." 

Oh. Everyone avoided eye contact, too nervous to volunteer or be drafted. The Distraction would be captured. Maybe hurt. Maybe killed. 

"I'll do it," Felix numbly announced. "They have Pepa and Camilo. Dying for my love and son would be worth it." 

"No," you reluctantly but firmly refused. With a pained breath, you held Felix's determined gaze. "It has to be me. I'm not a Madrigal. I- I don't think my father would hurt me." That badly. 

"Are you sure?" Augustin frowned, but his question carried no force. Everyone knew it should be you. You were risking the least. You unconvincingly nodded to Augustin. 

"Dolores, you'll tell him when to start digging?" 

"Yes," Dolores murmured. "Be careful." 

"I will," you promised, apprehensively smiling at the Madrigals before vanishing into the tunnel. Alone. Just like your terrified escape the first time, when you'd left Camilo behind. When the guards had shouted and clomped closer and closer. 

Was that a footstep? You stiffened into the dirt wall, salty sweat stinging your skin. Two men gracefully slunk past, ignoring your unassuming shadow. 

"He's not cooperating! We need to get him talking. And I know how," a calm, cold voice spoke. They're talking about Camilo. With an icy shiver, your role as the Distractor became vitally important. I won't let them hurt him again. I need to buy time. 

"Marcos, we've done everything," a new voice, too crisp and strong to be the old man's, sighed. "The boy's only 15. Enough is enough." 

"I know, he can handle pain," your father irritably agreed. You winced, clenching your jaw and fiercely willing yourself to not imagine what they'd done to hurt him. "But what about his mother's pain?" 

No. Pepa. 

"Hmm," the new voice paused, intrigued. "Alright. She'll be next. For the procedure." Inexplicable, horrified terror crackled across your skin like frostbite. The... procedure?