Fanfic / To Extinguish The Sun

Cover art done by the author, HeartToHaato.

Today will be good. I will be good. Everything’s good.

— Camilo's internal dialogue, Chapter 5

Something unspeakable happens to Camilo Madrigal. The other Madrigals can tell something is off, and that their ball of sunshine has dimmed to a worryingly flickering ember.

Camilo thinks if he can pretend it never happened, then things will go back to normal. But danger lurks nearby, haunting him, infecting him like a parasite, and eventually it will tire of playing cat-and-mouse.

His family seeks to protect him before their sun is extinguished for good.

To Extinguish the Sun is an Encanto fanfic by HeartToHaato that can be read on Archive of Our Own here. Do be warned that the fic delves into some pretty heavy territory.

Has an even darker spinoff in the works called As the Embers Dim and Die, which details the Big Bad essentially winning from the start and the subsequent efforts to find and save Camilo.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Abduction Is Love: Mateo believes this will be the case with Camilo, and quite violently kidnaps him from his home to make it happen. Amplified in AtEDaD, wherein Camilo is kidnapped and held captive in Mateo’s underground prison, while Mateo tries to convince him that he’s “where he needs to be.”
• Ambiguously Bi: Mateo doesn’t seem to have a preference one way or the other regarding his attraction, with Word of God confirming he’s had experience with both men and women. Word of God also says that Camilo being male has nothing to do with Mateo’s reasons for desiring him - he could have been any age or gender, so long as he fulfilled Mateo’s desire for “completion.”
• Angry Collar Grab: Camilo pulls this against Dolores when she threatens to get their mother involved after the events of Chapter 11, and he is immediately horrified at himself for doing so.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Mateo’s fond of these. In the barns he delivers both “Then why didn’t you fight it?” and “It’s so tiring pretending to be someone you aren’t. Don’t you think so?” to Camilo, stunning him both times.
• Asshole Victim: Mateo is a molester and would-be rapist who eventually dies thanks to Camilo stabbing him in the neck with Felix’s switchblade to save Dolores from him and then Mateo falling off of a cliff. Even his own father might not mourn him much, given that Camilo was recognized as Mateo’s victim.
• The Atoner: Señor Herrera is completely devastated by his son’s betrayal and subsequent death. But he recognizes that Camilo was Mateo’s victim, and pledges to bear the weight of Mateo’s sins on his own shoulders in his place, offering to leave the Encanto if it would ease Camilo’s suffering.
• Attempted Rape: Happens in the climactic scene of Chapter 22, with Mateo almost succeeding had it not been for Dolores’s interference via knife to the back.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: In chapter 16, it’s discovered that Parce has been attacked and is near-death when Pepa and Dolores find him. Mateo is responsible, as part of his ploy to kidnap Antonio (in the bigger scheme of kidnapping Camilo).
• Badass Family: The Madrigals jump into action when danger strikes, fighting tooth and nail to protect each other.
• Big Bad: Mateo Herrera, a 25-year-old villager whose obsession with Camilo Madrigal leads him to do unspeakable things.
• Big Brother Bully: Mateo is this to his brother Tomás, who recounts to Camilo that Mateo would often mistreat if not outright physically abuse him. He dons a scar beneath his hair that Mateo gave him after slamming his head into a coffee table in their youth.
• Big Sister Instinct: Dolores is the first to recognize that Camilo isn’t acting like himself, and she spends the rest of the fic trying to get to the bottom of his situation. It culminates in her being the one to save him from Mateo’s Attempted Rape of him in chapter 22. Isabela and Luisa count as well, as they both have their moments of wanting to help Camilo in his plight.
• Blood Lust: During the assault in chapter 22, Mateo bites Camilo’s neck hard enough to draw blood. He then licks it off.
• Bound and Gagged: Mateo makes ample use of this against every character he abducts or restrains.
• Break Them by Talking: Mateo is very good at using his words to crack a person’s defenses.
• Broken Pedestal: Camilo once admired and looked up to Mateo, but comes to regard the man with a mix of terror and hatred after what had been done to him in chapter 2.
• Broken Tears/Tears of Fear: Often overlaps, especially in instances where Camilo is terrorized by Mateo.
• Catapult Nightmare: Happens to Camilo after his first nightmare after the mill.
• Close-Knit Community: As was the case in canon, the residents of the Encanto know and care a lot about each other. Mateo being as nefarious and cruel as he is comes as a shock to everyone.
• Clothing Damage: Mateo tears Camilo’s clothes open during his attack in chapter 22.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Mateo against Bruno in chapter 18, wherein Bruno is absolutely brutalized and left on Death’s door.
• Dark Fic: It’s a fanfiction dealing with sexual violence and the trauma that comes with it, as well as including themes of kidnapping, abuse, and physical violence, based on a Disney movie with a PG rating. Its spinoff As the Embers Dim and Die is even more grim, with the villain successfully kidnapping Camilo and keeping him as a trophy beneath his floorboards.
• Defiant Captive: Though Camilo is terrified in Mateo’s clutches, he resists and rejects Mateo as much as he physically can. The first chance he gets after Mateo abducts him and takes him out of the Encanto, he shifts himself out of his restraints and flees, leading to the climactic scene at the cliffside.
• Despair Event Horizon: Pepa nearly hits this when her pursuit of Camilo and his abductor reaches a dead end, and she believes she’s lost him. She’s pulled out of it by the sight of a golden butterfly, which points her in the right direction to go to find where he is.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Mirabel sings Dos Oruguitas to Camilo to soothe him when she spends the night in his room. It’s so effective that Camilo breaks down in front of another person for the first time, and even ends up dreaming of butterflies.
• Distressed Dude: Happens to four different male characters, all at Mateo’s hands.
  • He captures and imprisons his father and brother in his makeshift dungeon, who are rescued three days later by Luisa and Alma (leading Tomás to develop feelings for Luisa).
  • Antonio is kidnapped and left dangling on a cliffside as a means to distract the Madrigals, and he’s eventually found and rescued by Dolores.
  • As the family looks for Antonio, Mateo storms the house and abducts Camilo, managing to get a good ways out of the Encanto before Camilo frees himself and runs.
• Downer Beginning: In Chapter 1 Camilo is lured to the abandoned water mill by Mateo, wherein he is molested during Chapter 2.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Camilo and the rest of the Madrigal family endure quite the horrific ordeal, but in the end Mateo has a Disney Villain Death, never to be a danger to them again; Camilo is on his way towards recovery; the Madrigals’ bond is stronger than ever; and Camilo even has his image on the door return to normal.
• Effortless Amazonian Lift: When Luisa rescues Tomás and his father from Mateo's basement, she picks up and carries Tomás in one arm. It has... quite the effect on him.
• Ephebophile: Mateo has an inappropriate attraction to Camilo, who is fifteen. Everyone recognizes how weird this is.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Mateo has an… interesting relationship with his late mother. He becomes very irate when Camilo shapeshifts into her to plead for mercy during the climax.
• False Friend: Mateo earns Camilo’s trust and admiration over a period of a few months after having watched him from the sidelines for a decade. He exploits this admiration to lure Camilo to a secluded area and assault him.
• Fan Disservice/Squick: Every scene depicting or regarding sexual assault emphasizes how horrific and traumatizing it is, and the author’s notes additionally assert that none of these scenes are meant to be read as erotic.
• Fell Asleep Crying: Camilo does this twice, first against Casita after realizing his image on the front door has changed, then later on when he breaks down in Mirabel’s arms while in his room.
• Forced Orgasm: Camilo experiences this at Mateo’s hands during the water mill event in Chapter 2, thus kicking off his trauma.
• Forceful Kiss: Mateo “convinces” Camilo to kiss him in the stables during chapter 11, wherein this is the end result.
• Group Hug: A massive one between all twelve Madrigals happens at the end, after the warm-colored family returns home victorious.
• Harmful to Minors: Camilo, naturally, experiences a lot he shouldn’t have physically and emotionally. Antonio isn’t safe either, as he not only sees his jaguar friend Parce slashed to ribbons, but he’s also kidnapped and left bound and blindfolded on a cliffside. Mirabel gets a small taste of this when she and Pepa return home in chapter 20 to discover Bruno bleeding out in Casita’s courtyard.
• Heroic Safe Mode: After the events in the donkey stables, Camilo goes home in bad shape. He delivers an Angry Collar Grab to Dolores, and when she and the other cousins enter his room, his decor has all but vanished to reflect his hollow state of mind. Thankfully, they’re able to snap him out of it.
• Hurt/Comfort Fic: Plenty of hurt, with plenty of verbal and physical comfort to balance it out.
• I Did What I Had to Do: During the resolution, Camilo is disturbed by the fact that he played a part in taking a man’s life. Dolores, equally involved in Mateo’s death, grounds him by reminding him that Mateo was violent and unstable, and that his death is the only way to guarantee that he can’t hurt anyone anymore.
  Dolores: You were protecting yourself. Yourself, and me. This isn’t the same as killing somebody for the fun of it. You saw yourself the lengths he was willing to go to get what he wanted. He wasn’t going to stop any other way, manito. [...] And in getting rid of that monster for good, making sure he can’t hurt anyone else like he hurt you, well… we did the world a favor, I think.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: A significant portion of chapter 21 is Mateo simply relishing in having Camilo in his clutches, holding him Bound and Gagged in his lap while talking to and touching him like some kind of doll.
• I Want My Mommy!: In Camilo’s most dire moments, he either mentally or verbally cries out for his mother Pepa to save him. Comes to a head when Mateo nearly rapes him in Chapter 22.
  Covering his eyes and throwing his head back, Camilo wailed with all his might into the cold open air.
  “¡¡ MAMI-I-I !! ¡¡ MAMI, AYÚDAME !!”
• If I Can't Have You…: Attempted but ultimately failed by Mateo, when he makes a grab for Camilo at the cliff’s edge while on the brink of death.
• In-Universe Catharsis: Camilo gets this when he and Luisa destroy the abandoned water mill his assault took place in.
• Lecherous Licking: Mateo licks tears off Camilo’s face during the assault in chapter 22.
• Mama Bear: Pepa, naturally. She worries for Camilo and is desperate to keep him safe, and this extends to the rest of her children after Bruno foresees them all falling in harm’s way. When Camilo reveals he’d been assaulted, Pepa’s the first one out the door to tear Mateo to shreds, and when Antonio and Camilo are both abducted she runs herself ragged all over the Encanto to find them.
• Neck Lift: Mateo does this to Dolores after she stabs him during chapter 22.
• "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: A part of Camilo’s reluctance to talk about his experience comes down to this, as Mateo puts it in his head that his own body had cooperated with what Mateo had done to it. He tries to pull it again in chapter 11, but by that point Camilo has wisened up and won’t fall for it.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Mateo uses this to explain to Camilo how they were meant to be together, and how Camilo is Mateo’s missing piece to his puzzle that will help him achieve his goal of personal realization.
  Mateo: It’s so tiring pretending to be someone you aren’t. Don’t you think so? Every day is just a new performance piece. You wake up and put on a mask, going out pretending to be a totally different person than who you are, because the person you really are is someone nobody wants to be around. But it’s all an act.
• Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Mateo's method of transporting Camilo while abducting him in Chapter 18. Understandably Camilo fights it with all he has.
• Original Character: The story introduces the Herrera family, consisting of a retired mason and his two sons, Mateo and Tomás. Mateo serves as the Big Bad and kicks off the plot by assaulting Camilo, while Tomás is a mild-mannered friend of Camilo’s whose birthday party allows Mateo the opportunity to do so.
• Out Living Ones Offspring: Seńor Herrera outlives Mateo, who dies in the climax of the story.
• Pædo Hunt: The Madrigal family, as well as the other villagers, do not take kindly to the news that Mateo molested Camilo.
• Papa Wolf: Félix, who was right there with Pepa beating Mateo’s face in when Camilo admitted what had happened to him. He's deeply affected by his son's plight and spends the climax caring for and protecting Antonio after his rescue.
• Post-Rape Taunt: Right after Alma orders Mateo’s banishment from the Encanto, Mateo has the final word when he gets Pepa’s attention.
  Mateo: Your baby moans like a whore.
• The Quiet One: Tomás Herrera, Mateo’s younger brother whose party Camilo attended that kicked off the plot. It’s implied he’s this way because of Mateo’s abuse of him during their childhood.
• Rape as Drama: The story involves Camilo experiencing a sexual assault, and it’s treated with utmost seriousness.
• Scarpia Ultimatum: In chapter 11, Mateo implies he’ll commit atrocities against Camilo’s family if he doesn’t allow Mateo to continue pursuing him, including threatening his five-year-old brother, Antonio.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: This is the dynamic between both Mateo and Camilo and Mateo and his brother, Tomás. Mateo is a well-built, broad-chested, athletic construction worker. Camilo is a thin, willowy teenage boy who is emotionally vulnerable for much of the story, and Tomás is a leaner and more reserved young man who holds a candle for Luisa.
• Sleep Cute: Non-romantic variant, Pepa finds Mirabel and Camilo cuddled up together in Camilo’s room after Camilo has a rough day.
• Smug Snake: For as calculating and ruthless as Mateo is, his fatal flaw is his utter arrogance and his underestimating the intelligence, competence and determination of those around him.
• Stalker with a Crush: Mateo has had eyes on Camilo since his Gift Ceremony, or since Camilo was five years old. It wasn’t until Camilo hit puberty that the ‘crush’ aspect of it came into play.
• Take Me Instead: At the climax, as Mateo is dangling Dolores in a Neck Lift over the edge of a cliff, Camilo offers himself in exchange for her life. It’s all a ploy; he proceeds to engage Mateo in a Kiss of Distraction to buy enough time for him to stab Mateo in the neck with his father’s switchblade.
• Tap on the Head: Mateo uses a mallet to knock his father and brother unconscious, with enough time to bind and gag them and leave them locked in his basement. They end up relatively fine, if not weakened from their three-day stay underground.
• Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Crosses over with Revenge by Proxy when Mateo abducts Antonio. It’s both a practical move to disperse the family and gain easier access to Camilo, and it’s also a means to hurt the Madrigals after his exposure and banishment.
• Terms of Endangerment: “Chiquito,” or ‘little boy,’ is Mateo’s nickname of choice for Camilo. He uses nicknames and diminutives for just about everyone, including “Tomasito” for his brother Tomás and “Lola” for Dolores.
• Thicker Than Water: The strong familial bond between the Madrigals is a major focus in the story, and all members play some part in helping Camilo in his plight.
  • For all of Camilo’s efforts to shut her out and how nasty he gets towards her in some parts, Dolores never gives up on him and puts her all into finding out what’s troubling him.
• Thwarted Escape: Camilo is caught twice by Mateo, first when he attempts to trap him in a Hall of Mirrors inside his room during Mateo's storming of Casita, and the second after Mateo has already captured him and taken him outside the Encanto.
• Villainous Crush: Mateo is convinced that Camilo is his missing piece, and will do anything to keep him in his possession.
• Wham Line: “His image was no longer smiling.”^* Camilo refuses to open up about what Mateo did to him, and discovers that the emotional toll has caused the magic to change his carving on Casita's front door.
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: In Mateo's mind, he never hurts anyone on his own accord. He’s always driven to violence by others asking for it by not cooperating, especially Camilo when he resists Mateo’s advances.
  Mateo: It’s a shame you make me do this to you, Camilo. This would all be so much less hassle if you just played nice.
• Would Harm a Senior: Mateo takes a mallet to his own elderly father and knocks him out, tying him up and leaving him in his underground cell.
• Would Hurt a Child: Not even counting the violence he imparts on Camilo, he also yanks Antonio’s hair and holds a knife to his throat after kidnapping him.
• Yandere: Mateo is utterly obsessed with Camilo to a violent and almost self-destructive degree.
• You Are Not Alone: The other Madrigal grandchildren get Camilo to open up to them by asserting this, promising him that he doesn’t have to face his troubles by himself because they’ll be there for him.