Worth The Shot

The Horror That Remains

Today's fanart is by @DivaSnowChickadee ! It's the scene from Ethereal Starlit Ballad where Y/n sings the flying song. I love the sparkly stars and her dress! The mountains in the back look so cool!

BACK TO THE STORY

"Under here!"

"We found them!"

Lumbering footsteps pounded closer, and hands hurled the massive slab of wood away. Early morning sunlight chilled against your face, dappling the cracked stones. Luisa's concerned, round face peered down at you, before scooping you against her bulky shoulder. Even without her magical gift, Luisa's physical muscle mass rippled with power.

She slid you and Camilo to the ground, safe from the crumbling decay of what remained of the Madrigal house. Camilo practically melted into the grass, his head resting unconscious against your knee.

"Camilo," you breathed, shaking his limp shoulder. Without his ruana, his white button-up shirt had accumulated dirt and felt like stiff bedsheets against your touch. "Wake up. We made it."

For a terrible moment, Camilo's soft, dusky eyelids rested shut.

"I thought we were gone," Camilo finally rasped, hoarse from the dust. He shakily laughed, smiling at you in relief.

Relief sang through you, and you almost kissed his chapped lips. You barely caught yourself as Pepa and Felix hugged onto Camilo from behind.

An uncomfortable thought jabbed you. Did he remember? Had he even heard your
desperate dying words, whispered in the moments you'd assumed to be your last?

I love you. What would he make of that? Coming from a stranger girl?

Lying, exhausted, on the ruins of the courtyard,  your tired eyes glossed over the haunted shell of Casita. The threadbare remains cracked, fracturing in a dilapidated cloud of bricks that lifelessly spilled apart.

Silence howled across the courtyard like the dust on the wind. Grief seeped over the  Madrigals, shivering in a huddle. They'd lost more than just their shelter. Their home. Their friend. Their promise of a miracle.

"Our home..." Alma whispered, numbly wandering into the wreckage. Her trembling hands lingered against splintered chairs and jutting planks, as if hoping to find the steady jump of a pulse.

"Don't cry, Tonito," Pepa pleaded, frantically stroking her son's curly, black hair. Whimpering, Antonio buried his red eyes into Pepa's dusty, orange skirt.

"Has- has anyone seen Mirabel?" Julieta faltered,  her blue dress rustling as she whirled in a halting circle. "Mirabel? Mirabel?"

Camilo blankly stared at his grieving family, rubbing his hands together as if cold.

"I'm gonna go look for Mirabel," Augustin declared, his fingers nervously fidgeting with his circular glasses.

"I can help-" Bruno began, but Isabella's frosty glare snapped off his words like an icicle.

"We don't need your help," she hissed, narrowing her eyes as she shoved past his shoulder. "Come on, Papa." Clearly, she hadn't appreciated the surprise climax of Bruno's play.

Bruno had not only exposed Alma's abusive character. He'd unveiled the dark reality hidden behind Casita's walls. He'd humiliated them all.

"Luisa!" A coarse-haired villager panted, clumsily tumbling into the Madrigal's broken half-circle. "Luisa, come quick! The prisoners!"

"I'm on it!" Luisa nodded, deftly jogging around to the red-brick prison. Despite her exhaustion, she held her shoulders alert, as if bracing to protect her family.

A sea of moans and gasps swelled from a gathered crowd. Dreading what you'd find, you trailed through the wreckage after Luisa.

Oh, no. Oh, no.

The red-brick prison had shattered, heavily crushing the immobilized men trapped inside. Scarlet bled from a tangle of limbs, oozing red on the green grass. The skeletal arms and legs seemed pale and inhuman, immortalized in their panicked attempt to claw themselves free.

Then you saw it. A bashed-in head, eyes rolled back in a frozen scream. Feeling sick, you tore away from the gory horror. You ran, stumbling into the dark canopy of the forest. Hand planted against a rough-barked tree for support, you forcefully vomited. You heaved until you gasped for breath and your throat burned.

No one deserves to die like that. Not even criminals. Not my Tio.

When you finished, your quivering legs buckled and you sunk into the leaf-covered ground. You wanted to cry, but your entire body drooped with exhaustion. Instead, you scooted through the crunchy leaves until your back rested against the tree and hollowly blurred your vision, staring into the thick lines of trees.

After Camilo had hit you, you'd fought to calm down in Dolores' room. Counting in your scattered head. Controlling your rugged breaths. Now, you regressed into that panicked state, struggling to count your breaths. In. Out. In. Out.

Floating between the trees like shadowy ghouls, the silhouettes of two men wafted into view. You stiffened, fingers digging into the damp forest dirt.

"You left me to die," Monsieur Gothel flatly stated, regarding Sebastian from a safe distance.

"Well, I'm not exactly in love with you," Sebastian retorted, crossing his arms. But guilt haunted his narrow green eyes.

"How many do you think got out alive?" Sebastian asked after a pause. How many. He's asking about the prisoners.

"Since when do you care about that?" Monsieur Gothel muttered, uncharacteristically quiet.

"Since a man died right on top of me," Sebastian angrily defended, but his voice hitched, betraying how shaken he was. You could see him fully now, feet planted stiffly apart. A flower of blood blossomed on his cheek and darkened his jacket. Stains from someone else. Someone dead.

"You've never seen anyone die?" Monsieur Gothel asked, genuinely curious about Sebastian's frayed nerve.

"Our father. Went like that," Sebastian burst out in jagged, broken sentences. Avoiding eye contact, he rolled over a silver-gray stone with his foot. "Crushed dead. In the tunnel of a diamond mine. I was in there with him. I got out. He didn't."

"Oh," Monsieur Gothel pressed his lips together, his tenor voice almost softening with sympathy. Then, as if remembering himself, Monsieur Gothel quickly adopted an aura of haughty indifference. "Do you want my pity?" He sneered.

"No," Sebastian snapped, his cold scowl returning. "Forget I told you that."

"You didn't tell me anything," Monsieur Gothel mockingly feigned confusion. Slam. Slam. He rammed his chained wrists against a tree, trying to break the moonstone off. "It's too strong. I need the key from the Madrigals."

"Why are you still talking to me?" Sebastian grunted, annoyed, before winding behind trees and disappearing.

Monsieur Gothel sighed in frustration, blinking in the direction Sebastian had vanished. His eyes suddenly lighted on you like an electric shock.

"Give me the key. Now."

"(Y/n)?" Luisa's tired voice called out. Leaves crunched and sticks snapped under her heavy gait. "Where are you?"

"Meet me by the river in three nights time," Monsieur Gothel hissed before slipping into the darkness of the woods. His syrupy voice sent a shuddering chill up your spine. "Bring the key."

"Why should I?"

"Because I'll tell you the secret of the miracle."