Beautiful Bruises ~ Camilo Madrigal x Reader

You're Walking

"Because I killed him."

As soon as the words left his lips, the world fell upside down. Hazy memories flooded your mind as Carlos #1 paced furiously, tearing his hands through his hair.

Your Papa, lighting your birthday candles when you turned six. A year before your Mama left.

Your Papa, spinning you in the air while Jude laughed beside you.

Your Papa, giving you horrible bruises. But he was under your Mama's control.

"I'm going to murder you." You almost didn't realize the words had left your lips, but the insane rage building inside of you wasn't going to go anywhere. Your arms shot out almost of their own accord, pulling him closer to you. He grit his teeth, still clutching his stomach, as you drew nose-to-nose with him. "You made a mistake."

You sent him flying towards the rocky ground, slamming his already injured body into the mountain. He groaned in pain but quickly disguised it with a chuckle, sitting up and wiping the trickle of blood off his lower lip, leaving a red smear down his chin.

"Actually, you made a mistake. See, you let me through the barrier, and well..." He shrugged, and you quickly attempted to snatch him with your power again, but he transformed into a long-legged man and advanced on you quickly, pinning you to the ground.

"Get off of her!" your friend shouted, rushing to your aid.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Madrigal said snidely, keeping your wrists pinned firmly to the ground. "Take one more step and I knock her out."

Your friend froze, his face contorted in anger as Camilo's twin began speaking once more.

"You'll need me. I know what you need and where to find it. Kill me or leave me behind, and your quest is pointless." He smirked when you rolled your eyes, disbelieving. "I know where your mother's people live."

Now he had your attention. He stood up, allowing you to do the same. The other Carlos raced to your side, scowling at your scraped wrists.

"You can come, but I have some conditions," you said after a long pause.

"Shoot," he responded with an easy smirk, the scab on his lips stretching.

"One, you can't hurt anyone unless we say you can. Otherwise I'll kill you."

"I highly doubt that," he said, and you ignored him, maybe because you couldn't deny it. You never wanted to kill anyone again, especially after what happened with your mama. "Two, you have to do everything we say. That's non-negotiable." He shrugged, like it didn't matter that much. You doubted he would follow the rules anyway. "And three - we're not calling you Carlos. That's his name," you said, pointing to your glowering sidekick. 

"Well then. I personally vote that my new name be King of the Mountain, but I don't think that would be very popular." He smirked at his own joke, but when neither of you smiled, he sighed. "All right. Well, there is the tiny issue of the bullet in my stomach, that you happened to put there..."

"You were going to shoot Carlos," you fired back angrily. "And we're calling you... what's your middle name?" you asked hesitantly as you grabbed the medical kit Carlos had brought along.

"Jorge," he said after a moment, crinkling his nose distastefully. "It's most unpleasant."

"Then we're calling you CJ," you announced, ignoring him and pulling out some gauze and a large band-aid.

"Why not just call him Mistake?" Carlos snarled, still lurking behind you by the horses. "Or better yet, Ugly Mistake."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," CJ said, defensively holding his hands in front of him. "I'm a man of many things, but ugly is not one of them."

You tuned the two boys out.

"Take off your shirt," you ordered. You certainly weren't a nurse, but you knew you wouldn't be able to get the bullet out if he was fully clothed.

CJ smirked, gripping the bottom of his shirt and smoothly sliding it over his head, ruffling his familiar hair.

"Anytime, Mariposa."

"Do you want me to help?" you spit, glaring at him. "Because if you want to dig this bullet out yourself, I won't hesitate to let you."

CJ scowled, and you ordered him to lay down on the rocky ground, ignoring his protest as the mountain earth dug painfully into his back.

"I see the bullet," you told Carlos as you dug your gloved fingers further into the bloody hole. "He's lucky it didn't go deeper." You grimaced, stomach churning as you pulled to piece of metal out roughly, causing CJ to groan and his hands flew to his stomach. "Move," you grumbled, shoving his hand away. You felt next to no pity for the awful boy.

Finally, you managed to wipe away the blood and bandage the wound.

"Finished," you said, standing up and trying not to sway. Blood didn't exactly make you comfortable.

"Jeez," CJ grumbled as he stood as well, tugging on his still torn and bloody shirt. "That hurt more than it should've. Anyway, we should probably get moving. Who am I riding with?"

You and Carlos glanced at each other before bursting into laughter, the two of you heaving yourselves onto your respective horses.

"You can shapeshift," Carlos told him with a sneer. "You're walking."