fail by design

The Fall of Casita

The ruins of their only home brought upon dust clouds that made it hard to see or breathe, and while the others were trying to figure out what happened, Camilo was only focused on if his máma and little brother had made it out unharmed.

Pepa managed to find him in the settling dust, Antonio held tightly within her grasp. While Mirabel watched the last flame of the candle die out, every gifted individual felt a shock through their system. That was the final boost of power. The encanto was no more.

Panicking, Camilo glanced at his mother, "My powers..they-they're gone. I-I don't- What about Antonio? What is he going to do?!" He could give less of a damn about his own powers. It had only brought his family pain, and he couldn't care less.

But Antonio.

Antonio had his gift for so little time; connecting with animals was something that he'd dreamed of since he was able to talk. Camilo had watched his little brother's confidence soar as he learned to communicate with different creatures. It was his whole world. Maybe Camilo should feel more concerned about losing such a gift, or worried about the others, but Antonio was so young. His brother mattered more than anything that was going on.

"Mirabel?? Mirabel? Where is she?!" Tiá Julieta.

Of course Mirabel managed to run away. Where's the accountability in this family?

When his younger cousin didn't respond to their calls, their worry only increased. They all went searching, leaving Camilo to alone stay in the ruins with Antonio so they wouldn't get lost.

But with that, came silence.

And with silence, came thinking. A very dangerous activity, especially for someone who just lost the entire meaning for their existence.

And that it was. Immediately, Camilo's anxiety shot through the sky.

His ruana.

Papa.

Camilo shot up, barely hearing Antonio's desperate and confused pleas to stop as he tore his way across rubble, trying to find a hint of his room. He grasped loose stone, cuts embedding themselves deep into his skin. He couldn't feel anything. He could give a shit less about the house, the encanto.

Nothing would matter if he couldn't find his memories.

But there was nothing left. Not a hint of any chests Abuela hid, no roses, no sand. Camilo finally sat down, his heart sinking, before letting out a sob. Everything he had left was gone. Everything Bruno had represented was gone. And with that, Camilo let himself become numb.

The next few moments came in a haze, Camilo barely registering that the family returned piece by piece.

Then, Mirabel and Abuela entered. The prodigal family members return.

Camilo couldn't help the sarcasm when Tio Augustin mentioned that everything will be okay . It was stupid. They didn't have a house, they lost their entire purpose of life, and they were more broken than they'd ever been before.

And then of course Mirabel had to choose that moment to bring the family together. He snorted internally. There was no family without papa. How can you try to fix a family with a missing member? Deciding he really didn't have a choice, he played along, congregating with his sister to the doorway.

"I was just so afraid I'd lose you too." So that excused years of mistreatment? That excused the isolation he faced in his childhood, just for who his father was? That excused Isabella's psychotic need to be perfect, thus treating her own sister as less than? That excused his mamá's and Luisa's countless panic attacks of not being good enough? That excused-

What.

Camilo blinked. There was no way. He was hallucinating. There was no way. He dragged his arms underneath his ruana, hand squeezing his injured wrist trying to make sense of what was going on.

Bruno Madrigal. In the flesh.

His father was alive.