Beautiful Bruises ~ Camilo Madrigal x Reader

River of Blood

And he was going to kill you.

"Shit," CJ and Carlos whispered at the same time, glaring at each other briefly before tugging you behind the nearest building. 

"I'm assuming you did something to make him mad?" Carlos asked tentatively.

You bit your lip, shuffling awkwardly as CJ laughed.

"Aww, looks like you two aren't the perfect couple after all!"

"Shut up!" you snapped, nerves fraying. "Everyone fights - and plus, this was for his own good. I didn't want him to get hurt by my papa. All I did was keep him here!"

"Oh, I thought I saw you!" You reflexively flinched backwards as someone came careening around the corner, stopping them in their tracks with your powers. Lucía froze, eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

"Carlos...? What's going on? Where were you?! You worried me sick, I thought you were dead -! And with all the Madrigals acting crazy..."

Carlos swooped her up in his arms, interrupting his girlfriend's rant. CJ rolled his eyes, and then Lucía caught sight of him.

Her perfect, oval green eyes narrowed.

"YOU!" she cried, flinging herself at him. He dodged her, oddly serious. "You almost killed my family! You got us all to trust you, made me think you were my friend... and then you tried to kill us!"

But there was no time for CJ to retaliate, because suddenly Camilo was reeling around the edge of the building as well. Everyone stared at each other for a heated second before pandemonium ensued. Lucía launched herself at CJ while Carlos was distracted, and you struggled to fight back the infuriated Camilo with your powers. His eyes had turned dark and hateful, not seeming to recognize you as he fought against the invisible hands holding him in place.

"Lucía!" you shouted, catching her off guard and causing everyone to pause for a moment. Except Camilo, of course. "I need you to forget what he did for a second - there's a bigger problem at hand. Carlos and CJ will tell you what you need to do, but please hurry. I don't think I can hold him back much longer."

The three glanced at each other, and Carlos nodded in response to Lucía's questioning glance. They all backed up slowly, eyes trained fearfully on the battle Camilo was still quite literally raging against you.

"Now, please!" They listened, hurrying away as Carlos explained hastily to Lucía. They stayed noticeably far away from CJ, who simply rolled his eyes.

"Camilo?" you managed to whisper, your voice feeling hoarse from the strain and the shouting. "I know you're probably having trouble understanding me right now, but... I need you to stop."

Camilo laughed heartlessly, his perfect lips curling into a merciless smile.

"Stop what? This is completely justified, Cariño. You weren't supposed to leave me to die at Casita while you ran off with Carlos and my twin. What were you doing with them, hmm? Pity that I couldn't be involved. I wonder why."

"It's not like that!" you cried, horrified. You began to argue before realizing that he wouldn't listen to reason - it was no longer Camilo, it was wrath. And it was your family's fault that this was happening to him, as well as his family, so you were going to fix it. 

Just as soon as you figured out how to survive him.

"Stop," you pleaded as you inched out of the shadows, still struggling as you held him back. The sun suddenly seemed impossibly bright, scorching your exposed skin and sending beads of sweat trickling down your neck. You slowly made your way closer to Casita, nearly losing your grip on Camilo when you saw what was happening.

Luisa was standing on the rooftop of Casita, Julieta and Lucía desperately trying to convince her to step away from the edge. Even from afar, you could see her tear stained face and altered clothes. But far more disturbing was the skeleton-like Isabela, lying in the yard as Jude tearfully tried to force-feed her arepas. Pepa was rocking little Antonio in her arms, singing a wobbly lullaby as he shook uncontrollably, large round eyes rimmed with dark circles and bloodshot.

Felix was fending off a raving Dolores, who glared hatefully at Isabela. From inside, you could hear Agustine's loud voice calling Mirabel's name. Even as you watched, Carlos approached Isabela and CJ grabbed Dolores' wrist, gripping a pocket knife.

"Dang it," you breathed, realizing you would have to somehow collect some blood from Camilo. You eyed a sharp rock only a few feet away, desperately making a grab for it with your telekinesis. Your control wobbled, but you managed to bring it to Camilo's exposed arm.

"I'm so sorry," you breathed, unable to watch as it sliced his skin, leaving a pool of blood in a diver on the rock's surface.

His breath hitched, and suddenly his rage was all the more powerful. It knocked you back, and you pleaded internally that your friends had somehow managed to contain blood from everyone.

Finally, almost ten agonizing minutes later, the three returned to you - CJ had a pocket knife, Carlos had a dagger, and Lucía had a butter knife. If the materials hadn't been soaked in blood, you might have laughed.

"Quick," you whimpered, arms shaking as you struggled to hold them up. You were crouched down, leaning against a brick building. People had gathered around, fearful but curious, to watch the fiasco. Many looked like they hadn't been outside their homes in days.

They hurriedly brought the weapons together, adding your rock to the mix as they poured the blood in a small indent Carlos had hastily created in the dirt.

You waited for something to happen, but nothing did. 

For almost a minute, everyone stood completely still, save for Camilo, and watched the blood swirl.

"Wait," you whispered, heart pounding as you remembered something. "The final deadly sin - Myra said she sensed the disease on me..."

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You opened your eyes to see your arms held out in front of you - two long, stick-like appendages. Many people stood in front of you, all staring at you like they expected something. What did they want? Who were they? Why were you sitting like this?

You struggled to stand up, but found that your legs were too shaky and weak. Confused, you dropped your arms, discovering that it took a great weight off of your chest. Well, for a moment, anyway - because, moments later, an attractive curly-haired boy had shoved you to the ground, glaring hatefully down at you with two murky hazel eyes.

"Who are you?"

The odd boy didn't even stop to answer your question - he drew a knife out of his pocket and aimed it at your chest.

People were shouting, scrambling, running - but you still managed to roll out of the way. It caught on your shin, tearing the skin and sending a river of blood trickling through the dirt. You were pulled to your feet by a kind-looking girl with striking green eyes and black hair, who hugged you to her chest and sniffled and two boys suppressed the other one.

But you simply looked on in confusion, observing your stream of blood as it slowly made its way toward a puddle of mud-like red water...

_____________________________

"Fuck, fuck, fuck..." Camilo groaned, gripping his head. "Agh..."

Your hands gripped Lucía's tighter, confusion clouding your memories. What had just happened?

But before you could worry about it, Julieta's gentle, ringing voice sounded from across the village.

"It's Luisa! She's dead!"