CHAMELEONS | Encanto

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚡

Turns out it was just a false alarm, but even if she didn't want to believe it herself, Carla couldn't help but feel as if something was off.

For one, she knew that Mirabel didn't want to ruin Antonio's night by saying what she said like most people seem to believe, so there must be a reason to why she acted the way she did. She genuinely looked troubled to Carla.

But Carla had little time to think about that now when she saw the troubled look on her little brother's face. Dolores seemed to notice too as they both approached Antonio at the same time.

"Oh Antonio, you don't need to worry, I'm sure Casita isn't in danger." Dolores said as she crouched down in front of him while Carla comfortingly rubbed his back.

"Yeah, everything is fine. Why don't we go back inside your room and you can introduce us to all your new little animal friends." Carla piped in and started leading Antonio back inside with Dolores closely following behind.

Thankfully, the rest of the night went by smoothly, but Carla couldn't seem to get rid of the nagging thought at the back of her head.

What if Casita and their miracle was in danger? What would happen to her then?

-

"Dolores, hey. You know out of all my older cousins, you're like my favorite cousin, so I feel like I can talk to you about anything and you can talk to me about anything, like the problem with the magic last night, that no one seem to worry about, but you heard about, that maybe I should know about." Mirabel approached Dolores the next morning, who was piling heaps of food into her already full plate.

Dolores didn't say anything and just blinked at her.

"Camilo, stop pretending you're Dolores so you can have seconds." Felix suddenly came up behind Mirabel with the real Dolores, startling her.

Felix took another look down at the food that was on the table and saw that some of it were randomly disappearing, making him look at the open space beside Camilo.

"Carla, I know you're there too." He added.

Carla immediately turned visible again and gave her father a pout while Camilo —who was previously acting as Dolores — turned back into himself and shrugged. "Worth a shot."

And despite already having been caught, the two still walked away with their towering plates of food, leaving behind a partially annoyed Mirabel.

"Everyone, to the table! Let's go, let's go." Abuela Alma announced as she walked out with her cup of coffee.

Camilo and Carla waited until the chairs positioned themselves around the table before placing their piles of food on it and sitting down next to each other.

"Family, we are all thankful for Antonio's wonderful new — ah!" Abuela suddenly gasped as she was stopped from sitting down on her chair. She looked down, only to spot some of Antonio's animal friends popping up from behind the table. "..gift."

Abuela looked over at Antonio and saw him already looking up at her eagerly, "I told them to warm up your seat."

"Thank you, Tonito." Abuela smiled, before gently shooing away the animals and sitting herself down. "I'm sure today, we'll find a way to put your blessings to good use."

Carla frowned slightly at that, but no one seemed to have noticed.

As Abuela continued to speak, Carla and Camilo tried to listen as best as they could, but it was clear that the two were more invested in their food at the moment.

BANG!

"YOU DO!" Mirabel suddenly exclaimed after banging the table once, startling the twins.

"Mirabel." Abuela Alma reprimands, "If you can't pay attention, I will help you."

"Oh, actually I—" Mirabel was about say but was cut off when Abuela asked Casita to move Mirabel, and moved she was — to the seat directly next to Abuela's, no less.

"As I was saying..." Abuela continued now that she saw that there will be no more interruptions.

Seeing what happened to Mirabel when she wasn't listening, Camilo and Carla decided that they should at least lend Abuela more than half of their attention instead of the food before them. Although, after seeing Mirabel's eagerness and remembering how earlier, when they were trying to sneak more food into their plate, she was trying to ask 'Dolores' about the magic, food was the last thing — for once — on Carla's mind right now.

'Is she still on about last night?' Carla thought to herself. 'She really does seem genuinely worried. What if the magic really is in danger. What would that mean for me?'

With that, Carla decided that she was going to talk to Mirabel later and ask about what she really saw last night.

Carla turned her attention back to Abuela when she suddenly stood up. "First, an announcement."

Abuela walked around the table towards Isabela as she said, "I've spoken to the Guzmans about Mariano's proposal to Isabella."

"Dolores, do we have a date?" She then asked to which Dolores dutily complied.

"Tonight, he wants five babies."

Dolores glanced briefly at Isabella after her statement to see the oldest Madrigal grandchild with wide eyes and flowers popping up on her hair. As she was turning back to her food, her eyes briefly met her younger sister's which were filled with sympathy. She merely gave her a small shrug before she started eating again.

Dolores might've looked unbothered, but Carla knew her hermana mayor well enough to know that she was feeling the exact opposite. She couldn't even count the nights she's spent listening to Dolores gush about how Mariano was just the perfect guy, so she knew for a fact that Dolores was anything but unbothered at the moment.

Carla was brought back from her thoughts when she suddenly heard her twin let out a yelp from beside her.

She turned to her left just in time to see Camilo splutter out flowers from his mouth.

"What happened to you?" Carla raised an amused brow to which Camilo responded with a deadpan look as he gestured to the family princesa beside him.

Carla snorted before taking another bite of her food.

"Our community is counting on us. La familia Madrigal!" Abuela exclaimed.

"La familia Madrigal!" The rest of the family repeated.

Seeing that Abuela's announcements were done for today, Carla hurried to finish her food so she can catch Mirabel before she goes to do her chores.

"Hija, eat slower. You're going to choke." Pepa said.

"Later, mami. I'm in a hurry." Was Carla's choked out response as she spoke with her mouth full of food, her pace not slowing down whatsoever.

"You are?" Camilo asked, confused.

Since when was his twin ever in a hurry to do her chores?

"Yes, now, would you excuse me—" Carla said after finishing every last bit of her food and drinking her water, only to see that Mirabel's seat was already empty along with Luisa's.

"When did she...?"