The Heart of Camilo (A Camilo Madrigal x Reader Fem Y/N Story)

Choice

*Y/N*

The man who could turn into smoke appeared behind me as I dove out of the way, away from Camilo, and he began to pull me away as more rocks began flying around. Ducking, I jumped with him away from another rock crashing into the ground.

"This way!" he pulled me further, down towards the lake, behind a larger rock. I saw Diego there, his eyes wide with fear, and he yelled out when he saw me, running to me and hugging me.

"Where's Camilo and Damian?" he asked, looking over my shoulder.

"I don't know, we got separated," I said, trying to catch my breath. "Do you have any other weapons?" I asked the man. 

"We don't need weapons," he replied. "We just need to get to the catalyst and destroy it."

"How?" I asked. "Ramirez said that it can't be destroyed!" But as the words left my mouth, I realized that wasn't true. He said there was a way, but that he had dealt with it. 

"He told you how?" the man asked, seeing my face shift as I had remembered.

"He said he had dealt with it, but that there was one way - but he never said how."

"Forgive me for being blunt, but I know a great deal about you," the man said. "We all know about what happened two years ago. And if I'm not mistaken, your friend is exactly who we need to destroy it."

My friend? "Camilo?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"You died to save him, or at least thought you did?" the man asked. "You gave your life and received a gift?"

"Yes," I answered, not knowing where he was going with this.

"The only way to destroy the catalyst is by the hands of someone who was saved by the sacrifice of another," the man said. "For me, it would have been my wife, but she passed away. In the Madrigal family, it would have been Camilo's grandmother. And from what I understand, you died for him, and so he was saved by you."

Another huge crash came as more rocks crashed around us, and we all covered our heads as rubble fell around us. I thought about what Ramirez had said about nature always finding a balance when he asked what I had thought about when the catalyst had activated. Is that what he meant? That by thinking of Camilo, I somehow activated the catalyst without needing more blood, and ironically, Camilo was someone who could destroy it?

"But why?" I asked, frowning in confusion. "Why only those people?"

The man sighed. "There is still much the Faction doesn't understand, despite learning all about what Gabriella and Ramirez have researched over the decades. But people like Camilo are protected by very special magic."

"How? How does he destroy it?" I asked desperately.

"He needs to take it from him," the man replied. "He'll assume all the powers of the catalyst that have currently been absorbed into it. If someone who has been saved by a sacrifice holds the catalyst, but genuinely wants to destroy it more than they want the power it holds, it will be destroyed."

My mouth fell open in disbelief. Camilo just had to hold it, and this would all be over?

"Um, small problem," Diego said, interrupting. I looked over at him, confused.

"Ramirez just killed Camilo's mother," Diego explained, his voice shaking as the earth rumbled again. "What if Camilo chooses to actually use the powers instead of rejecting them? What if he uses them to kill Ramirez?"

"Then he would lose the ability to destroy it," the man said.

"No one wants this over more than Camilo!" I cried. "He won't want to kill Ramirez more than destroying the one thing that has allowed any of this to happen!"