welcome to the first chapter of my newest 'Elena of Avalor' fanfiction, 'Bad Advice for General Núñez AKA I Should've Just Been Myself'. in this fanfiction about a tale from the kingdom of Avalor, Gabe had always liked Elena for the longest time, which everyone in Avalor knew... except for the queen, herself, interestingly. even Elena's own kid sister, Isabel, knew about Gabe's crush on Elena. Gabe is Elena's general in this fanfiction, just like at the end of the series. I really hope they do a sequel of it one day. I'd love to find out who the queen wound up with in the end, but I'm getting off topic. this is also set just after the end of the series.
disclamation: I own nothing that has to do with the production of 'Elena of Avalor'. if I did, Elena would have wound up with someone at the end of the series. unfortunately for me, the series is owned solely by Craig Gerber.
It was just after the elderly Francisco Flores had got himself locked in the closet of the Avaloran Royal Palace. General Gabriel Núñez had finally gotten the poor guy out of the closet with a pocketknife he could easily substitute for the real key. Of course, the elderly gentleman was more than grateful to the general, as was the rest of the family, including the general's crush, Queen Elena Castillo Flores, for her maternal grandfather, Francisco's, rescue from the closet.
Francisco Flores: You have my complete gratitude, General Núñez.
Of course, the queen's maternal grandmother, Luisa, was all too grateful to the general's rescue of her husband, as well. So, she hugged the young general of the guard, although nearly squeezed the life out of him in the process.
Luisa Flores: Gracias, General Núñez. Gracias!
The soon-to-retire Chancellor Esteban, the queen's previously disowned maternal first cousin who was accepted back into the family upon finally having repented for his sins, was a little peeved by the general rescuing his grandfather but was just as grateful to it as every other member of the Flores Familia, nonetheless, even when he had wanted to be the one to rescue his own grandfather, having been trying to reopen the closet door.
Chancellor Esteban Flores: I suppose that I'm grateful to you, too, General Núñez, for rescuing mi abuelo from the closet. Of course, I had planned to do it, myself, but nevertheless, I thank you, too.
Then, after much hesitation to accept that he could not rescue his own grandfather, Esteban just walked away from the situation. Of course, Isabel did want to go after her maternal first cousin, but she also wanted to thank the general, too.
Princess Isabel Castillo Flores: Ignore Primo, General Núñez. Esteban's been a real downer ever since he was welcomed back into the family, even after being forgiven. I'm sure he really meant it, though, when he said he was grateful to you for freeing abuelo. Hey, Primo Esteban, wait up, will ya?
With that from her, Isabel ran after her cousin to scold him for being so bitter about not rescuing their shared grandfather, himself. Finally, the general was left alone with the queen of Avalor, herself. Of course, she was incredulously grateful to the general for rescuing her grandfather from the closet. The queen was so grateful to the general, in fact, that she actually managed to forget every last formality of her position as the queen and hugged the general right there on the spot.
Queen Elena Castillo Flores: You saved the day, General Núñez. You really did.
Of course, the general, having had a crush on the queen ever since the day he first started out on the royal guard as a mere lieutenant back on the same day she had first become crown princess, blushed so hard at finally receiving even just one display of affection from the love of his life that he almost found it much too hard to even speak. He still spoke back a little to the queen, though.
General Gabriel Núñez: Oh, it's uh, nothing, really, your highness. I just, you know, happened to have the right tools for the job, obviously.
The general held up his beloved pocketknife to show off his tool to the elderly gentleman's freedom from the closet to the queen.
Queen Elena Castillo Flores: That's quite a strange pocketknife you have there.
The general knew about the pocketknife the queen was talking about. It was a gift the general had received from his deceased grandfather for his twelfth birthday just before the man had died a few months after.
General Gabriel Núñez: Yeah! My abuelo gave it to me before he died.
Of course, the queen was all too curious about the general's grandfather by then.
Queen Elena Castillo Flores: I'm sorry about that. Did he give it to you in his final hours?
General Gabriel Núñez: No, no. He gave it to me for my twelfth birthday. My abuelo just happened to die a few months following my twelfth birthday.
It was not long before the general's strange pocketknife showed an even stranger object from within it than that of the pocketknife, itself.
Queen Elena Castillo Flores: What's that, Gabe?
The general finally looked away from the queen just long enough to notice the object his grandfather's pocketknife had shown to him and the girl of his dreams.
General Gabriel Núñez: Oh, it's nothing. Just a whistle of some kind, I guess.
The general was almost ready to blow the whistle when a mysterious presence suddenly showed up out of nowhere and tried to stop him. The queen immediately recognized the presence as her own spirit guide animal, a spirit fox by the name of Zuzo. The queen ultimately could not believe that she and her general apparently seemed to have the same spirit guide animal.
Zuzo: Oooh, bad idea right there, kiddo. I repeat; I would not do that if I were you, general.
Of course, General Núñez was only all too naturally confused about the voice he had heard by then.
General Gabriel Núñez: Who said that?
That was when Zuzo finally noticed the queen of Avalor looking right at him as he talked to her friend and the general of her royal guard of all people.
Zuzo: Oh hey, Elena. I can't believe that you and my most special case ever, whom I like to call 'Mr. Girl-Trouble', actually know each other.
Of course, the general could sense what Zuzo was telling the queen at the time even if Gabe could not see the spirit guide animal talking to Elena. He could not do anything about the voice that was in his head and talking to the queen all at once, nothing but blush upon hearing the voice in his head say that he had trouble with girls to her.
General Gabriel Núñez: Ignore that voice, your highness. I do not have trouble with any girls, because it's not like I even like any girls.
Of course, Zuzo was not going to take any of Gabe's panicked lies to Elena lying down.
Zuzo: It's better to be honest and to be yourself, sir. Trust your spirit guide, Mr. Girl-Trouble.
Of course, the general was not willing to be made into an idiot after just having finally succeeded at winning over his dream girl, the queen, and her family, least of all by a voice in his head that she also seemed to hear, herself.
General Gabriel Núñez: I do not have girl trouble, whoever you are. And for your information, I am gonna blow into this whistle.
That was when, following through on his word to the mysterious voice in his head, Gabe blew into his deceased grandfather's whistle. There was very little sound coming from the whistle, though. At least to humans, the whistle had very little sound emanating from it. The whistle from within Gabe's pocketknife did call out to every jaquin in the skies and in Vallestrella, though.
It was not long before Gabe finally stopped blowing into his grandfather's whistle and removed it from his lips, though.
General Gabriel Núñez (continued): Guess it doesn't work.
Zuzo, however, had his own ears covered to protect himself from the little sound that emanated from the whistle Gabe's deceased grandfather had given to him before the man died.
Zuzo: Oh, it works alright, kid. Boy, does it ever work.
Suddenly, the front door to the palace sounded as though it had suddenly been knocked on by someone on the outside. The chief of the castle staff, Armando, got up from his break by that point.
Castle staff chief Armando: Hold on a minute, Marlena. I'll get it!
As soon as Armando opened the door, every jaquin in the Ever Realm and Vallestrella suddenly came flying into the royal Avaloran palace in a flurry of both fur and feathers. They went everywhere in the castle, too. In the kitchen, on the windows, in the bedrooms, even on the people, residents and partygoers alike. The hundreds of jaquins went everywhere except the basement.
General Gabriel Núñez: Must've been the whistle?
When the last jaquin, Nico, finally flew the coop that was the Avaloran royal palace, Gabe had no choice left but to profusely apologize to Elena and her family for the whistle from his grandfather summoning all of the jaquins into their home.
General Gabriel Núñez: Well, your highness, you and your family definitely throw quite the party, don't ya?
Of course, by then, it just had to be the soon-to-retire Chancellor Esteban who came up to Gabe and Elena as the general and the queen talked with one another about the party having gone awry with all of the hundreds of jaquins showing up.
Chancellor Esteban Flores: Well, this party certainly could've gone better. It was definitely an odd one, to say the least.
Then, however, Francisco came to Gabe and Elena's rescue having been more than grateful for his rescue from being locked in the closet.
Francisco Flores: It was certainly nice seeing all of our friends back here at the party, old and new, especially you, General Núñez.
General Gabriel Núñez: Yeah! You, too.
Francisco Flores: Come along, Esteban. We really need to get back to la familia.
With that, Francisco escorted his aged grandson away from the royal guard and the two of them both went back to their family. It was finally the general's chance to ask the queen out on a date.
General Gabriel Núñez: So, um, I was thinking, maybe, uh, I don't know, maybe some time, I…
But then, Princess Valentina of the kingdom of Paraíso showed up and started talking to the queen of Avalor so suddenly.
Princess Valentina Montanez Torres: Your majesty! There you are. I have got to talk to you. Let's go!
With that, Valentina pulled Elena away from Gabe toward the hallway of the Avaloran royal palace, but not before the queen sent her friend, the general, a look of regret for their interruption.
General Gabriel Núñez: See ya.
A couple minutes later, Gabe headed back to his guard barracks in misery, feeling like everyone else got a girl but him at that point.