Beautiful Bruises ~ Camilo Madrigal x Reader

Think Again

"You bet I do."

You gingerly brushed your nose with your fingers, secretly thankful for Carlos' medical pack he had attached to his horse. Your mind whirred as you desperately struggled to came up with an idea, your toe futilely kicking against the invisible force field.

"That's what I thought," your obnoxious companion announced with a snort, turning and walking back to his horse to feed the greedy* stallion a carrot. Sudden anger swept through you at his words, and your hands automatically shot forward, pulling him toward you through the air.

"Whoa!" he shouted, thrusting his arms out as though he could balance on the wind. You laughed at his bewildered face, but your amusement quickly turned to horror as you realized you had pulled him too far and he was going to crash into the barrier.

"Hey-" he started to yell, but he shockingly didn't slam against the invisible wall. This caught you off guard, and he fell to the ground with a grunt. 

You quickly stepped forward to help, assuming the magic barrier had fallen, but your outstretched hands brushed against it.

"What the..."

Carlos slowly got to his feet, ignoring your confusion in favor of examining the rip in his pants.

"Thanks a lot, magic girl. You're paying for new ones."

"How did you get through that?" you asked quickly, ignoring him.

He shrugged.

"Probably has something to do with your magic - it counters the spell on the mountains, I'm guessing."

"All right - go grab my papa, then. I'll be waiting here," you said, sitting on the rough rocks and leaning against the wall.

"What, you're not coming with?" Carlos snapped, annoyed. "This is your mission, twinkle toes."

You clenched your teeth and ignored his prods, wiping away more blood that dribbled onto your chapped lips.

"I can't levitate myself, idiot. I've tried, believe me."

When you looked back up, he was simply glaring at you.

"Give me my horse, then," he demanded, sticking out a hand.

"No! It'll only slow you down once you get there, and plus, it looks loud down there. The horses are used to peaceful environments."

Carlos grit his teeth, a muscle ticking in his jaw. You realized with a start that he had a tiny bit of stubble growing there - everyone had grown up without you, it seemed. As he turned and started the long walk down the mountain, you felt a twinge of regret at sending him into danger alone.

"Be careful, Carlos. Please."

He waved his hand at you dismissively, continuing on his way without so much as glancing behind him. You sighed, frustrated with yourself for being so fond of the snarky boy.

Well, man. All of your friends were men and women now.

You nearly dozed off, exhausted from your lack of sleep, before jerking awake when a loud commotion arose from the bottom of the mountain. You scrambled to your feet, pressing your hands against the glass to see Carlos being held to a man's chest, a sharp knife pressed against his neck. It was too far away to tell if he was bleeding, but it looked painful. You watched as a familiar man stepped forward, a pang ringing in your chest.

Papa.

He had a gun. And he fired it.

You watched, horror seeping into your brain, as the bullet sped towards Carlos' head. He shouted, fighting against the man's arm, while you stood helplessly observing.

Until you remembered something.

Just as the bullet reached his head, you shot your arms out, not caring that they accidentally struck the wall and bruised your knuckles. You focused all of your power onto that tiny bullet, sending it flying back into your papa's stomach.

For a moment, everyone was shocked - and then they turned on Carlos. You quickly pulled him back up the mountain along with your gasping papa, sweating with the strain of it.

Gasping for breath, you finally dropped them just inside the barrier.

Your papa was curled up on the ground, the light in his eyes slowly growing dimmer by the second. It was as though he was holding his breath, hands clamped over the bullet wound on his stomach. And then, suddenly, the man lying on the ground was no longer your papa.

"Camilo?" you breathed, heart racing as you hurriedly crouched down next to the curly haired boy. But you quickly recoiled when two brownish-red eyes rose to meet yours.

"Think again, Mariposa," the boy said, smiling with snow-white teeth even through the pain. "Think again."