Somebody Else
By Laura Schiller
Based on: Elena of Avalor
Copyright: Disney
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"Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're
Acting like you're somebody else, gets me frustrated
Life's like this, you
You fall and you crawl and you break and you take
What you get, and you turn it into
Honesty and promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it"
Avril Lavigne, "Complicated"
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The Turners liked to say their daughter Naomi was better than a compass for finding north. Whether it came from traveling so much and meeting people from all walks of life, or simply from her own nature, she had a solid instinct for the truth. This instinct had been warning her that something was off about Gabriel Nuñez ever since he'd passed the first stage of the captain's trial. As soon as her council duties permitted, she hurried off to the barracks with the intent of finding out what it was.
Are you sure it's instinct? A nasty little voice whispered in the back of her mind. Sure you're not just jealous?
She thought of how blatantly Gabe had flirted with Elena earlier, throwing a rose into her hair in front of the entire court. She'd be lying if she claimed it didn't bother her, but there had to be more to the story.
She found Gabe at the training yard, practicing with that fancy new sword of his. He didn't even move the way he normally did. The Gabe she knew took his exercise very seriously, running through the same drills multiple times exactly as Captain Sandoval had taught him. Today, he leaped and twirled like a carnival dancer, paying more attention to how his sword flashed in the sunlight than to the correctness of his form. She had to admit it was impressive, seeing his strength and speed on full display like this, but it was still disturbing … especially when he chopped one of the training dummies to pieces and let out a whoop of triumph.
"Hey!" Naomi marched across the yard. "Your teammates need those too, you know!"
"Teammates?" Gabe scoffed. "Subordinates, you mean, once the Princess appoints me Captain. The honor of serving under me should count for more than a bit of wood and straw."
Even his voice was different. Since Shuriki had done her best to impose her northern culture on Avalor, its youngest generation had a noticeably different way of speaking, almost like Naomi's own Norbergian accent, or the Enchancian one Elena had picked up while inside the Amulet. Right now, Gabe sounded as old-fashioned as Don Francisco. It would have been cute if he weren't spouting such nonsense.
"Gabe, what's wrong with you?" She folded her arms and gave him her best glare, the same one her Mom used on unruly midshipmen. "You haven't been acting like yourself all day."
"Only because I'm so much improved." Gabe slung his sword over one shoulder, and looked at her with half-lidded brown eyes. "I am deeply touched by your concern, my lovely Councilor, but I assure you, there is no need to worry."
"Wh-wh-what did you just call me?"
"You sound surprised." Gabe leaned forward, capturing one of Naomi's hands in a maneuver so smooth, she didn't even see it coming. "Has no one ever told you how beautiful you are, with your hair like sunflowers and your eyes brighter than the sky?"
She blushed. She couldn't help it. She knew she was pretty enough, but it was hard not to feel insecure next to Elena, which was one of the reasons her quinceañera had gotten so out of hand last year. Gabe had never once called her beautiful until now, and she had to admit that part of her was thrilled to hear it …
Until she looked up and saw the self-satisfied smirk on his face.
"Save it for the mirror, Lieutenant." She yanked her hand away from his sweaty grip and wiped it on her skirt. "Not interested."
"Fine!" Gabe sneered. She'd never thought such a handsome face could look so ugly. "You are nothing compared to Princess Elena anyway."
He whirled around, brandished his sword, and began attacking the next training dummy.
Naomi's breath hitched. His words had hit her like an olaball straight to the gut. Not even Esteban at his most obnoxious had ever hurt her quite this much. She turned away, tears stinging her eyes, wanting nothing more than to go home and curl up in her hammock with a pillow over her head.
It was thinking of home and family that made her pause.
Gabe had been as relieved as all her other friends when the Turners had decided to make their home in Avalor. They were dance partners, olaball teammates, and when Elena's and Mateo's magic got a little too weird, it was always a relief to have someone else who was grounded in the real world. Naomi knew she must be far behind Elena in Gabe's estimation, but she wasn't nothing either.
She wiped her eyes, lifted her chin, and turned back.
"Okay, that's it!" she yelled over the sound of steel against wood. "Who the hell are you and what did you do with Gabriel Nuñez?"
The sword went down. Gabe's body language changed completely. His shoulders sank, his head lowered, he trembled as if from exhaustion or worse, and the brown eyes that had been so seductive earlier were now filled with desperation.
"It's me again, at least for now," he gasped, finally sounding like himself. "Quick, run, before he comes back!"
"Before who comes back?"
"El Guapo. The ghost in this sword. Professor Mendoza asked me to take it to the museum, but it fell out of the package, and she told me not to touch it, but I thought she was just worried about fingerprints, so I … "
"You took it for the competition, didn't you?"
He nodded miserably.
"Oh, Gabe." Naomi shook her head. "Seriously? The last archeologist you met got turned into a gecko after touching something he shouldn't have."
"Stupid of me, I know … " His spine straightened up as if pulled by a puppeteer, a smirk distorted his face, and the next time he spoke, it was in the booming, archaic voice of El Guapo: "Which is why I deserve to inhabit this body, not the fool who was born with it!"
"Nobody asked you, dead guy," said Naomi. "Stay with me, Gabe, c'mon. Is there any way to break this curse?"
"Mateo's working on a reversal potion, but it's gonna take hours. There's nothing I can do," said Gabe. "You are not getting rid of me so easily!" added El Guapo.
His expression shifted eerily back and forth as he spoke. El Guapo was preying on Gabe's insecurities; Naomi saw it clearly. The ghost took control every time the living man doubted himself. Her friend wouldn't have ignored the Professor's warning if he hadn't been painfully anxious about making Captain. Elena and Mateo might worry about having legacies of power to live up to, but Naomi and Gabe were still building theirs. She knew exactly how he felt.
If shoring up his confidence would help, Councilor Turner was on the job.
"Just hold on until that potion's done, okay?" she said fiercely. "You're gonna drink it, stick that sword in the museum where it belongs, and then you're gonna make Captain, because no one deserves it more than you."
"You really think so?" Gabe asked, hope lighting up his face, but El Guapo took control with a toss of his head and a contemptuous flick of his sword. "Not on your life. He is too weak. He is useless to the princess he swore to serve, and he has no authority even among his fellow soldiers. They taunt him for being a bakers' son. He needs me to win."
Naomi began to think a glass case in a museum was too good for this ghost. Would Charoca be offended if they dropped the sword into his volcano?
"Gabe," she said, stubbornly speaking to him instead of the ghost, "You don't need him. You've done so much on your own. You helped Elena win the fencing championship and avenge her mother. You won the olaball tournament for us last year. You even saved Isabel's and her friend's lives, remember? As for being a bakers' son, your parents are good people and they love you. You should be proud."
The face of the man in front of her twisted as if from a furious internal battle. He raised his sword, brandished it in the air, sliced it back and forth as if to cut up an invisible opponent, and finally stuck it tip-first into the hard-packed sand. Gabe – she could recognize him now, just by his body language – leaned on the hilt, exhausted but determined. Anyone who would call him weak had no idea of what true strength was.
"You're right, Naomi. Thanks for reminding me."
"Why wouldn't I?" she said. "You're … you're my friend."
"You should know I'd never have said to you what he said. That was totally uncalled for, and it's not even true."
"Which part?" she couldn't help asking. "The part where I'm beautiful, or where I'm nothing compared to Elena?"
"The second one, of course." Gabe winced, as if in pain. "You'd better go now, before he comes back and says something worse."
Naomi was a brave girl, but even she knew when discretion was the better part of valor. She saluted him as she would a captain, turned around and ran through the nearest palace door.