The Faces of the Lost (Encanto-Camilo Centric)

The Faces of the Lost

There was a face on the wall of Casita de Madrigal. Well, there were multiple faces on the wall, each of them hung perfectly and evenly, each of the people perfectly posed.

But there was always one face on that stick out to Camilo the most. The face hung on a portrait just above the entrance to one of the main stairwells on the first floor. The face was unfamiliar within his lifetime, but at the same time, it's a face Camilo would know by memory alone.

It was his grandfathers.

He never met the man, no. He had died shortly after his mother (and Tía and Tío) were born, giving up his own life as a sacrifice to keep his family, and the escaped townspeople safe.

But even still, he passed by his grandfathers portrait every day, watching his eyes carefully, inspecting each and every detail as he would walk by. This was the only photo of Abuelito Pedro that Abuela had, and it was to be cherished.

When Camilo got his gift, the first person he transformed into was his mother. She was always a role model in his life, and when the boy felt the magic of the family's miracle coursing through his veins, it was his mother who was the first to come into his line of sight.

So the change was just natural.

Camilo found ways to utilize his gifts, not just for the benefits of the town, but also for himself. Sure, he could transform into a mother in order to clam a crying child while the real woman got some well deserved rest. It was a popular request among the single parents of the town, and Camilo was glad to oblige. He loved kids, after all, and seeing the relief on the parents eyes as they had time to relax was worth all the baby throw up he had to clean up. Even so, he never really get like his gift was as useful as the gifts of his primos and hermana.

However, on the more fun side of things, Camilo could change into his family members in order to get seconds during mealtimes. It wasn't his fault he need extra food, after all. He was a growing boy!

(Despite how often he tried to argue his claim, his father would chide him still).

Camilo had shape-shifted into each member of his family after he had his gift for only a couple of hours. The second time he did, he turned into Mirabel, as a way to show off to his younger cousin on how cool his gift was. Soon after, it was his father, then, his Tío and Tía Agustín and Julieta.

The first time he changed into Isabela, he purposefully got some features wrong, just to make her mad. He made her hands and feet much bigger than normal (which and sit harder to maneuver around, yet still worth it) and also had spread apart her eyes to an abnormal amount (which ended up hurting, so he never pulled that trick again intentionally).

Changing into Luisa and Dolores wasn't nearly as fun as Isa, mainly because he didn't get as big of a reaction. Dolores simply smiled at him, and asked if he had enough to eat. Luisa, at the very least, laughed, lifting the replica of herself with one hand, and juggling Camilo around.

Safe to say, he got very dizzy.

Apparently, he also turned into his Tío Bruno, before he had left sometime after Mirabel's non-ceremony ceremony. Of course, he didn't remember in great detail what his Tío looked like three years later, so he had to base most of the visuals off family accounts if he ever wanted to do it again.

When he was twelve, Camilo wanted to try something new. He had already shape-shifted into everyone in town more than once, including the newborn babies if the village (which was pointless-they were babies, they couldn't do anything).

He tried experimenting with his gift, trying to mix and match the features of each individual to create the face of someone new. He would practice in the privacy of his room at late hours of the night, staring unto multiple mirrors as he stole the faces of people nonexistent.