Camilo x Reader -Broken Reflection

Chapter 39 (I Still Care)

Y/N's POV

Without much thought, I ran after Camilo and Mirabel. What else could I do? I couldn't leave them to save everyone on their own. I knew how attached they were to their town. They grew up with it. They couldn't bear to lose it again or the people along with it.

As I caught up to Camilo, I could see the panic on his face. I could feel it. He glanced at me and did a double-take, forcing his legs to an abrupt stop.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said and grabbed onto my shoulder. I flinched away and I could see the apologetic expression in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said. And then, "you can't follow us."

My breath came short. I could feel my body giving out again. Still, I asked him why.

"Look at you!" He said and shook his head. "I can see how much of a toll it's taking on you," he said. He gestures to a townsperson that ran past us, screaming as if they'd seen the devil.

"You feel it all," he said to me. And I couldn't deny it. I'd be a fool to lie to him because he was right. I could feel their sheer terror within my bones. It made me dizzy. It made my heart beat wildly. My fingers shook so much that I didn't dare to touch Camilo with them.

"But I have to help," I said. "I have to be useful to you guys."

"No," Camilo said to me. "No, Amor."

I shivered at the name he called me. I knew that it was wrong and that I shouldn't have felt the way I did when he said it. I forced down the fluttering sensation in my stomach. His eyes met mine and even if I wanted to look away, there was no way that I could.

"You almost died today. Do you know how much that scared me?" His voice caught in his throat and his eyes fell to the ground. He chewed on his bottom lip in an effort to force down whatever emotions he was feeling. Over the chaos in the town, I couldn't detect how he felt. It was just a massive hectic rainbow of emotions.

"I can't lose you. We can't even risk it." With those words, I was left speechless. There was nothing I could say to assure him or myself. Why did it matter so much to him? Why was I willing to leave just because he was concerned for my well-being?

Slowly, I nodded. Camilo was holding onto my hands gently, but I could see the desperation and self-restraint in his eyes. Why was he acting like it was a life-and-death moment? For Saint's sake, his village was burning down! He needed all of the help he could get!

His eyes were pleading. I nodded slightly.

"Okay," I agreed. His hold on my hands loosened more until my hands fell to my sides. "Camilo," I said when he turned to find Mirabel again. His eyes met mine for the last time for many painful hours. "Be safe," I said. He offered me a small smile.

"Right back at cha, Princesa," he said with a lighthearted wink. I pulled away with pursed lips.

"Stop," I said to him and he let out a breathless chuckle. Even though a major part of his family had died, he still managed to make me smile.

Camilo was special, and even though I didn't tell him, I wanted to do the same for him too.

+++

Bruno's POV

I'd seen it all, but unlike how I usually saw the future, the vision came in my dream. It had all happened so vividly, but as I knew, telling people the future never ended well. Even if I told my siblings or Abuela that the house would burn, they could not do anything to change it.

If it weren't for the stove that was left on, the sun would have found a way to reflect on glass and make a curtain catch fire. Either way, our fate would be the same. The only thing was, I thought we had more time. I least expected the house to catch fire after the fight I'd had with my mother. It was the worst possible timing, especially after my family had rebuilt our house less than a year before.

I saw the Empath race back towards my family and I, and I couldn't help but feel a wave of deja vu paired with nausea. I'd seen this scene before. I'd seen it so often in my dreams while I lived inside the walls of the Casita that it nearly drew me to madness. The worst part was that I knew that we weren't out of the woods yet. The worst hadn't even occurred for her.

"The candle!" the Empath shouted. She was pointing to the Casita's ruins. It was still alight in some sections and I could hear the Casita groan and sigh in pain. At least Pepa had managed to conjure up a raincloud that smothered the fires.

"Where is it?" She shouted. She ran past me, her long dress flying back behind her and dirt kicking up as she sprinted. What was she so desperate to find the candle for? For all I knew, it was probably a melted puddle hear where Abuela's window used to be.

Still, she ran into the Casita's ruins despite the smoke that remained. My eyes still stung from the atmosphere but the Empath had adopted a fearless behavior. Maybe she wasn't fearless and her fear to lose the village was what drove her.

Without much thought, my legs carried me over to the Casita. I followed her silently as she turned over bricks and sifted through the dirt. I knew exactly what she was looking for her but I had no idea how to find it- my visions were never that clear.

Before long, she emerged through the rubble. I never saw it rebuilt, but she held the candle in her hands again. The fire was weak but it was there. How had it not melted in the flames? That was when I realized that the Casita had done everything within its power to protect the candle. At least it was successful.

The Empath's hair framed her face in a messy frizz. Her face was smeared with soot and her clothes were ratty. But she never had such a determined expression on her face. She held the candle with a purpose. She was able to emerge strongly from this mess unlike the rest of us who continued to weep at the loss of our home.

The Casita had grown to become her home as much as it was ours and she still managed to stay strong. In some ways, she was stronger than us all, even Luisa. Without a word, she turned and raced back into the village.

+++

"Edward?" I called. My voice sounded different. Had it changed as our village burned to the ground? Did it no longer have the same throaty echo due to it not having buildings to bounce off?

I found him sitting outside of what used to be his store. It had not suffered like the majority of the village, but it would take much more effort to rebuild than it took for the Casita. It was worth it, I knew, but I could tell that my friend did not feel the same.

Edward scrubbed at the tears that ran down his cheeks. His eyes wouldn't find mine.

"It's all gone," he said between sobs. His voice cracked and broke and all I could do was bring him close and hold him to my chest. His arms wrapped tightly around mine.

"I know," I said. I could still remember the way I felt when the Casita burned to the ground. My heart still ached because I knew that life would never be the same. Even after it was rebuilt, what I had with my family could never be restored. No matter how much they said they loved me, I knew that a part of them would never forgive me for leaving them for so long. I would never forgive myself, I knew, for leaving them.

Edward gripped the back of my poncho. A part of it was unwoven and burnt but I couldn't bring myself to part with it. It had become a part of me.

"What will we do?" He asked me. He pulled away and finally looked me in the eyes. His tie was lost. His shirt was filthy. The prim and well-put-together man I knew looked different from how I'd seen him before, but I could tell that he was still him. He was forever changed, but he was still the Edward Muñoz I'd so easily grown to fall in love with more than once.

No words could express the amount of relief I felt when I saw him on the steps of his store. His life may very well have been ruined, but at least he was okay.

"I don't know," I confessed to him. "I didn't foresee a catastrophe like this happening. I thought we'd be okay. I thought our problems would never touch you," I said to him. Suddenly, the waves of sadness that had crashed over him had come for me too. I held my love closer because that was all that we could do.

Even after the mass destruction, at least we had each other. Before I knew it, his lips found mine.