Worth The Shot

No cracks, no breaks, no mistakes

This fanart is by @ewok_asmr ! It's the scene from Trust is a Paper. I love the way they drew Camilo's hand; hands are always SO HARD to get right!!

Side note: If you sent fanart over a month ago and I still haven't posted it, if you're still an active reader please leave a comment here and let me know! If you've been waiting, thank you so much for being patient!! :)

BACK TO THE STORY

His eyes glinted hungrily, locked on Julieta.

Julieta. The candle isn't stable. This could kill her. If your father hadn't been performing a delicate surgery on Camilo, you would have screamed. But for who? The Madrigals were chained, just like you.

Chink. Clank. Stone chains scraped down the cavern wall, rattling to the floor.

Luisa thumped to the ground, muscles rippling as she charged toward the cloaked man.

She crushed your chains with her bare hand as she passed, sending a crumble of gravelly sand down the front of your dress. I'm free.

Felix, Augustin, and Mariano rumbled into the cave opening, their exaggerated shadows painted on the wall. Protective resolve smoldered in Felix's eyes as they lingered on his son, out cold. Sprinting harder than you'd imagined he could, Felix ripped the Candella miracle candle into his hand.

"Don't touch the candle!" Your father bellowed, still gripping Camilo's head. "You'll disrupt the cycle! It could break him!"

But Felix hadn't heard Sebastian's muttered warning. He didn't hesitate, pursing his lips and blowing like it was a birthday cake. With a sizzling crack, sparks exploded outward from Camilo's drooping head.

"Look what you did!" Your father scolded, bothered. Bothered. Not devastated that Camilo might never wake up.

Panic surged through you, and you skidded onto your knees, crouching by Camilo where he pooled on the ground, limbs splayed in a pile. The bloody scrape burned, but you barely noticed.

"Come on, please, wake up," you begged, shakily cradling Camilo's curls. His features were relaxed and still, a porcelain doll. I don't care if you don't remember me. Wake up. Please. He was as cold as glass.

Chunks of stone splattered around you, cutting your face. You vaguely registered Luisa battling the cloaked man, smashing his projectiles.

"Don't do this," you whispered, stroking his dark hair and forehead. The sun shone for Camilo's theatrical gestures. The stars were romantic because of his flirtatious winks. Camilo belonged, feet in the grass, beaming in the free, clean air. Not dying in the dust, buried in a cave. You sobbed, drawing him closer to your chest. "I haven't told you I love you yet."

Wake up. I just told you I love you. Make fun of me for it. Please, laugh at me.

"(Y/n)," Felix kneeled next to you, gently rubbing Camilo's limp hand. "Look, he's still breathing. He's still breathing. He's alive."

"What if he never wakes up?" You breathed, but your terror ebbed slightly. You relaxed your head against his chest. Camilo's heartbeat thrummed strong. There was hope.

Luisa cracked through boulders, fierce determination fueling her steady movements. As she fought to protect her family, her small, soft-brown eyes gleamed as if she had discovered her true purpose.

Luisa's dauntless strength overshadowed the rocks hurled toward her. She definitely would have won. She would have won, if not for the thorny vines that burst from the ground, flowered with tiny, white blossoms.

Isabela? Her sudden surge of vitality struck you as odd. She still dangled from moonstone chains, sick. What was the vines' source? The thorns attacked Luisa, digging into her bare arms with sharp claws.

Luisa unflinchingly tore away the plants, but they scored deep gashes across her hands, scraping them raw. Gradually, pained exhaustion slowed her jabs. A flyaway rock bashed into her cheek, knocking her back.

When the cloaked man stole Isabela's gift... he possessed it. For an uneasy moment, you wondered about the rock manipulation gift's original, conquered owner. What happened to them?

Luisa struggled, weakly batting at the rocks that pelted her. She needed help. Before the man possessed her strength, too. Mariano and Augustin lunged for the man, but uppercut rocks bashed them from the floor.

Wrapped inside his cloak, the old man concealed the moonstone necklace. It was unreachable. But that's not the only moonstone in this cave.

In a swift movement, you snatched a shard of Luisa's smashed chains from the corner. The gritty pebble fit perfectly in the palm of your hand. You leaped for the man, your legs latching around him from the back. You dug the stone into his neck, grasping at his shoulders as he wildly flung his weight around, trying to shake you off like a bug.

Panting heavily, Luisa advanced on the powerless cloaked man as he stumbled underneath your weight. He purposefully toppled backwards, slamming you underneath him to the ground.

The metallic taste of blood salted your mouth, but you tenaciously clung to the cloaked man's back. Your dislocated arm shrieked with a fresh wave of sharp pain. You gasped, mouth wide open, the breath knocked out of you.

Lopsided, black spots bumped through your vision. Reeling dizzily, a dark green sea enveloped you, and you drifted away in its depths. You felt yourself losing conscious.

Mercifully, the crushing pressure lifted. Sebastian eyed you with an annoyed glare, as if burdened by saving you.

"You have morals now, Sebastian?" The cloaked man sneered, writhing as Sebastian's wiry muscles clamped the moonstone to his skin. "You think this redeems your past?"

"No," Sebastian shrugged with a nonchalant, catlike blink. "I'd just rather play for the winning team." With a quick, neat jab to the temple, Sebastian knocked the cloaked man unconscious.

"Let's get out of here," Felix swallowed, his broad hands carrying his son like a sack of wheat.

Camilo. Through the sleepy ocean mist, his name was your pillar, your one coherent thought. The memory of clumps of rainwater on his dark eyelashes danced through your blurry mind. Twirling, laughing, hanging off his shoulders.

Luisa scooped you up like a watermelon, and the dizzying pain overpowered you. Her deep-voiced words eased you away, like torches sending off a barge as it drifts away in the night waters.

"Let's go home."