Shifting Allegiances (Camilo x OC)

~thirteen~

Camilo decided to use their default male form for the evening, they may be pissed and upset but they could deal with it so it wouldn't mess with Isabela's proposal.

They did get to sing a piece of the play he was writing, "The Tragedy of Bruno," for Mirabel. That was funny, especially since they were literally three months older than her. All Camilo remembered was 'tall green rat man' and whatever pictures they could find. Hard to build a play based on that, but their Mama had complained enough about her wedding that that, at least, was a scene they could put in. It was a funny play if they did say so themself.

But right now they had to sit through dinner. And Dolores was having a staring contest with Mirabel. Someone passed something in front of their cousin's face, and then Dolores muttered into Camilo's ear, "Mirabel went to the tower and found Bruno's vision!"

What?! Camilo was startled into changing into Bruno, then Mirabel, then their female form a bit messed up.

"Camilo. Fix your face," their Papa said out of the corner of his mouth. Camilo shook their head, reverting back to their default form. The second Mirabel wasn't looking they whispered the same thing to their Papa, who spit out his water in a huge spray. He then told Camilo's Mama, who accidentally created a bit of a storm. Mirabel looked horrified. Then their Mama told Tia Julieta, who looked kinda crestfallen. Mirabel averted her eyes and stared into her orange juice.

She saw something under the table, but then banged her head as she came up to respond to Mariano, who asked if she was okay. She rushed along the actual proposal, but Mariano wanted to start with a song, and Luisa couldn't bring over the piano, and Mirabel was being awkward, and there was thunder and a bird flew away and everything was a disaster. Sounds about right.

Dolores broke and blurted out, "Mirabel found Bruno's vision and she's in it and she's gonna destroy the magic and then we're all DOOOOOMED!"

Well, shit.

An emerald slab of glass slid along the table to Abuela, showing Mirabel in the middle of the cracking Casita, as the actual Casita began to crack. Camilo's head shifted into that of a baby, then promptly grew a mustache. Fucking fantastic. A plant sprang up and hit Mariano's nose. Mirabel looked around in dismay, then ran off. Camilo managed to shift back to themself as everyone exited the house, before Dolores grabbed them and pulled them to the side.

"Hey, I know shit is kinda falling apart but I wanted you to know I support you, okay? I heard you talking to Elian and Verónica and I wanted to tell you."

"Is this my fault?" Camilo murmured back. "The cracks and stuff. Maybe this wouldn't be happening if I hadn't..."

"No," Dolores said vehemently. "It's not. It's Abuela's for trying to control you. But we'll be okay." She suddenly stiffened.

Camilo looked worriedly at her. "What?"

"Hold on," she said, cocking her ear. She looked sad. Then shocked, and angry.

"Dolores, what's happening?!"

"Hold ON, Camilo." It was definitely anger on her face, even though she wasn't one for it. Dolores never got mad. Camilo frowned, concerned. Dolores drew in a sharp breath, but let it out. "Okay. It's fine."

"Dolores!" Abuela said, walking up to the two..

"Si, Abuela?"

"See if you can hear Mirabel, I have to talk to her!"

Dolores closed her eyes. and listened. She seemed to jolt a bit, but that was all. "Not really, I think my gift may be fading."

"Let me know if you do, please."

"Of course, Abuela."

Camilo watched her walk away. "Is it really fading?"

"No, I just don't wanna give Mirabel away."

"Okay, now why'd you get angry?"

Dolores hesitated. "Okay. Elian's abuelo found out he's been talking to you."

Camilo winced, their heart skipping a beat. "What happened?"

"They both said some depressing stuff, and Elian defended us. He was talking shit-- not that I'm not used to hearing that from him. He... he did hit Elian."

Camilo's face screwed up in anger. "What the FUCK." They looked around. "I'm gonna--"

"NO, wait. Camilo, we're having some problems of our own right now," Dolores said, gesturing around at their family and cracking Casita. "And--" she cocked her head again. "--Elian's at Verónica's house."

Camilo calmed down some. "They left?"

"Yeah. His Abuelo tried to lock him in his room, but I think Elian kicked down the door or something. And I heard something shatter as he left."

Camilo scowled. "FUCK him. I swear. But Elian's okay?"

"Yeah. He'll be fine. You and I should try to fix... this."

"Yeah." Camilo sighed. They didn't know how to cheer people up now, but it was their job, right? Time to go to work.

They walked up to Antonio and transformed into their Papa. "Oh no!" they cried. "Our house is breaking!" He shifted into Mama. "Why? This is awful!" Papa again-- "Maybe it's Bruno's fault..." Mama again, saying "WE DON'T TALK ABOUT BRUNO." They put on a depressed look.

Antonio laughed. "Do your Bruno impression!" he cried. Camilo gave him a small smile and transformed into the tall figure.

"Seven-foot frame, rats along his back..." Antonio sent some rats to actually go onto Camilo's back, and they laughed. "When he calls your name, it all fades to black." They shifted into Antonio himself and danced around the kid. "He sees your dreams," they changed back to Bruno, "and FEASTS on your screams... We don't talk about Bruno, no, no..."

Antonio clapped at the performance, as did Felix. Camilo's Mama sighed but smiled some, amused at how wildly inaccurate Camilo's portrayal of her brother was.

People successfully cheered up. Camilo hoisted Antonio onto his shoulders and started running around. "I have a jaguar for this now!" Antonio said, but he was having fun.

"You replaced me!? I can't believe this!" Camilo skidded to a stop. "Well, then, maybe you should go have fun with your jaguar..."

"NO! You can keep going!"

"If you say so!" Camilo changed to be taller and stronger as he ran around. People generally got into better moods when Antonio was happy, and besides, Camilo did love their little brother.

"You can go in!" Luisa called from inside la casita. Isabela immediately ran inside, her perfect face red and puffy.

Camilo ran at the doorway. "Stop, I'm gonna hit the top!" Antonio yelled at them, ducking his head.

"Don't worry," Camilo called back gleefully, shifting back into themself a second before Antonio would have hit the doorframe. Only then did they slow down and put their little brother down.

Antonio glared at his older sibling, but it only took a minute for him to run off to do something, probably in his room. The rats who had been called in for his Bruno performance scurried next to him. Camilo smiled at him. They wished they were that carefree.

But no. Camilo frowned as they glitched into Mirabel. It took them a moment to go back to their default form, only to flicker into Luisa for a second. They reverted to their basic form quicker that time, but it was still worrying.

This was not ideal.

Camilo hoped Elian was okay.

A/N

Heyo! I wanted to develop Camilo and Antonio a bit. I have all this stuff with Dolores but not Camilo's little brother... so here we are. A bit of a transitional chapter, but I hope you all like it.
351 reads :') it was 210 two days ago I published this 8 days ago I'm so happy people actually like my work :D