Chapter Text
Alma and Kate both watched as Bruno slumbered peacefully for the first time in days. Even if it is just one of his short naps. Kate couldn't help smiling as Alma continued carding her hand through his curls even with all the rats snuggling up against him. The rats showed up shortly after Camilo left the kitchen with his face and arms covered in bandages. She was petting Gordito who took up a sleepy residence on her lap. Kate felt proud of Alma's quick acceptance of Bruno's rats and Alma felt ashamed for not trying sooner.
Those little creatures have protected and taken care of her son more than she ever had. Bruno seems to consider them his family and that's good enough for Alma... With some boundaries set in place, of course. Can't have them running around like they own the place and eating them out of house and home. She decided to speak of boundaries and compromises when she gets the chance.
Alma looked over her son as she continued to stroke his hair which she felt was much too long. The same went for that beard that seemed to swallow his neck. She could barely make out his face with all that hair. His hair and beard had so many knots that any attempt to comb through them would likely result in tears and broken brushes. She wondered how her son could let his hair get that way.
The same way he let the rest of himself go, she supposed.
The bruises and bags under his eyes have gotten far worse. He's always had shadows under his eyes even as a child. But, this is the worst she's ever seen it get.
He still struggles to sleep... That Gift of his... If only he can get control over it... If only he Saw something good... If only he—
No...
"Brujo! He killed my fish!"
"He's a maladición! Look at my hair!"
"That hijo of yours is nothing but bad luck!"
If only those... Those ungrateful villagers had listened to him... If only they stopped seeing—
"Bruno left because you only saw the worst in him!"
If only... I stopped seeing the worst in him...
He looked like a corpse with how grey his skin had gotten. Alma could barely recall a time when she saw his skin at a healthy shade.
He always hides away... Why must he hide? Are the villagers really so cruel?
Her eyes wandered to all the scars she saw marring her son's skin before her mind flooded with memories she thought she'd suppressed long ago.
The roar of a raging fire...
The sound of his tortured screams...
The bloodthirsty cheers for him to burn...
"Hijo!"
"Bruno!"
"Let my hermanito go, ¡tú monstruos!"
The crash of lightning...
Several screams that suddenly cut off...
The smell of charred flesh...
The sound of a downpour and the death of the fire...
The smell of her hijo's burnt flesh, clothing, and blood...
So much blood...
Burnt beyond recognition...
He seemed so... Small...
She never saw him shake so much...
And that... That dead look in his eye...
The way he used to stand tall and proud...
The steadiness he always carried...
The spark that often spoke of mischief...
Everything that reminded her of her Pedro...
All of it... Was gone...
So slow to heal...
Some of it didn't heal...
It won't heal!
Why won't he heal?!
What went wrong?!
Why did they do this to him?!
Why... Why... Why?!
She got her answer in the form of the things she's heard the villagers whisper.
"He's killed several people with his so-called Gift."
"He can see your dreams and turn them into nightmares."
"Don't look at him or he'll curse you with bad luck."
"He'll kidnap our children and feed them to his rats."
Of course, they were cruel to him. In the end, it didn't matter how much good his Gift did. All it took was one bad decision for everyone to turn on him. They feared him when Señora García's home burned and he did nothing to prevent it. Fear always turns into hatred. Hatred always leads to violence and violence... Led to those scars.
Why didn't you do anything?! Why didn't you try to understand why he did nothing?! Why didn't you stop them?! Were you so blinded by that candle that you couldn't see your own hijo being hurt?!
He was so thin... So terribly thin that it was a wonder he was still alive. He had always been slender especially since he had turned 12. But, now he was practically skeletal.
He's still not eating enough... He never eats enough... But... Why? Why won't he eat?
He feels he doesn't deserve it... He doesn't deserve you... You don't deserve him!
The most alarming thing about her son is how he breathes. That wheezing he makes every time he lets out a breath and how long it takes for all the air to leave his lungs. Not to mention that attack he had that led to his exhaustion.
Because you drove him to hide in the walls... You did this... Katherine's right... All you do is—
"You feeling alright?" Kate asked concerned, "You seem upset."
How'd—
Right... Her empathy.
"I..." Alma sighed, "It seems I have a lot to think about."
"You're blaming yourself for Bruno's condition." Kate deadpanned.
"Am I that obvious?"
"Painfully so." Kate chuckled a bit before turning serious, "I know everything seems horrible and a lot of it was caused by you. But, he wouldn't want you to beat yourself up for this."
"I know..." Alma nodded, "But, it is... Difficult."
Kate floundered to think of something to say to make her feel better.
God, I'm so bad at this! Just say something helpful!
"Uh... Yeah..." she fumbled, "It's hard to not feel guilty... Especially when it's justified... Ahem... But, instead of just sitting there beating yourself up... Maybe you should just... Do something about it?"
"You mean try to do better." Alma assumed.
"Well... Yeah..." she nodded, "It's never too late to mend fences... Even if those fences haven't been mended in over 30 years."
Kate hadn't cringed this hard since she learned that having a distended abdomen doesn't necessarily mean you're pregnant.
Did I seriously just say that?! Stupid! Stupid, Kate! Way to make everything so much—
Alma sighed, "You are right."
What?!
"I need to repair my relationship with this family." she looked down at Bruno, "Starting with the one I hurt the most."
She tried to stroke his face but Bruno flinched away and Kate could practically feel the heartbreak emanating from Alma.
"Just... Give him time." Kate tried to comfort her, "He's only been back for a little over a week."
Alma nodded sadly and was just about to move her hand away when Bruno quickly leans back into her touch. Hope returns to Alma's expression as she gently ran her hand along his face. A small smile slowly crept up into Bruno's features and he let out a sigh of contentment. He eventually murmured something that caught Kate by surprise and nearly made Alma burst into tears.
"Mami..."
"He knows it's you?"
"He remembers my touch." Alma smiled with tears threatening to form.
Bruno leaned even more into her touch which made Alma's heart soar even further. He was subconsciously trying to break the association that this hand is gonna hurt him. This hand regrets everything it did and wants to make up for it. This was the hand of a contrite mother that wants his forgiveness. He's more than willing to forgive for it's the divine thing to do. He wants the hurt to end and for both of them to begin healing. But, he will never forget everything that happened to him. Well, not that he has much of a choice regarding his memory. The person attached to this hand had hurt him in so many ways that the only thing she hasn't done was physically abuse him. It'll take time for him to even begin to trust that person again. It seems like his first step is letting this hand show affection without assuming it'll hurt him.
The hand stroking his face actually felt really nice to him. He couldn't help leaning into the gentle caresses, not unlike an affectionate cat. It brought him back to when his age was in the single digits and he didn't quite have control of his Gift. Back when he saw his mother as someone to protect him rather than something to fear. Part of him had always wished to go back to those days when the hand was gentle and nice. Not harsh and constantly gripping his shoulder to lead him away. It seems that part of him is getting that wish.
"You mean you used to do this to him?" Kate asked.
"Yes, when he was young and struggled with his Gift." Alma answered.
"What makes you think he isn't struggling with it now?" Kate pointed out, "Did you see how he reacted to Camilo's questions? You'd think he was gonna hurt him with how Bruno reacted. It kinda makes me wonder what the villagers did to him to make him fear his own Gift like this."
"I often wonder the same thing." Alma admitted.
"Y-you mean..." Kate stammered in shock, "Y-you... You didn't know?"
"He never told me." Alma let out a sigh, "Of course, I never bothered to ask. I was so busy running the Encanto and taking care of mi hijas... I cannot recall the last time I asked how he was feeling."
"Maybe you should start asking." Kate shrugged.
As if on cue, Bruno began to stir from his impromptu cat nap and started to panic the moment he sees Alma.
"Mamá!" Bruno flinched, "I'm... I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to... To doze off like that. I was... I-I was just so tired and—"
Alma raised a hand to silence him before using that same hand to caress his face. It took a conscious effort for Bruno to not flinch away from her touch. He was aware of how the reaction breaks her heart and doesn't want to cause her further pain. Besides, a small part of him that's growing larger with every touch finds the feeling comforting and balming to several old wounds.
"You should not have to apologize for feeling tired." Alma spoke softly, "If you need to sleep then sleep. Lord knows you can use it."
Bruno snorted a bit at the comment before asking, "How long was I out?"
"You were asleep for nearly ten minutes." Alma answered as she pulled her hand away.
Bruno hummed before muttering, "The dream I had felt a lot longer than that."
"Dream?" Alma questioned, "Was it... One of your green dreams?"
Kate felt the need to remind her the Gifts were gone before recalling that they weren't gone. They were just very weak and had always been there even before their Gift ceremonies. She was gonna have to get used to that fact.
"No." Bruno shook his head, "It... It wasn't rimmed in green. But, it felt so real..."
"Do you wish to talk about it?" Alma offered.
"Y-yeah..." Bruno nodded, "It was so weird. I dreamt that I was having one of my... Fits in my forest before I met this... Outsider. She was so nice and insanely protective. She actually yelled at you for making me feel bad and... And even my rats got in on it. Even I... Even I e-exploded at all of you at some point. It was a lot of yelling, crying, and enough heavy talks to strain Luisa's Gift. I-I introduced everyone to my first dozen rats at one point. What else..." he snapped his fingers which got his rats' attention, "Oh, yeah! The outsider turned out to be a nurse and examined me. Let's just say there's... Well, a lot wrong with me and she came up with a really good plan to help me out. It also turned out that she was from the future... And a different dimension at the same time. I know, me and my crazy dreams, right?! She was a little strange but... I kinda wish she was real. You probably would've liked her."
"Wish granted." Kate grinned.
Bruno nearly jumped off the couch with an undignified shriek that made Kate giggle a bit.
"That brought back some memories from Ice Age." Kate chuckled.
"From what?" Alma asked.
"Well... Keep in mind you guys are fictional characters where I'm from and all of this looks animated to me." she fumbled to explain, "Uh... Everything doesn't look real to me."
Alma nodded patiently.
"Bruno... Uh... He shares the same voice actor as a character from a movie called Ice Age." Kate explained, "That shriek of his reminded me of that character... A bit." A lot.
"I see." Alma nodded.
Bruno was just barely listening and gaped at the dream turned real. It was the outsider he met alright. Curvy frame clothed in the strangest, fluffiest, most flowery outfit he's ever seen that was torn in some areas. With all those scuffs and bruises, she looked as though she tumbled down a hill several... Dozen times. Although her injuries were concerning, he was more shocked seeing her wearing what looked like pants. He can't even recall a time ever seeing a woman wearing pants outside of his prophetic dreams. She has the fairest skin he's seen covered in hundreds of freckles with some speckled on her face. Her fair-sized nose that curves up just a bit was also dusted with freckles. She's clearly not meant to be in direct sunlight for any length of time without protection. Her hair looked exactly like Pepa's if she tried to straighten it and grow it out. Her large hazel eyes looked so much like his own that it was uncanny. He wouldn't fault anyone in the least for thinking she was his kid. If he wasn't certain that he was still very much a virgin, he'd think he discovered he had a lost child or something along those lines. Dios, it sounds like something straight out of his telenovelas.
"You okay, Bruno?" Kate waved her hand in front of his blank face before turning to Alma, "Did I break him?"
"No, he's just surprised to see you." Alma chuckled good-naturedly, "Just give him a minute."
Bruno finally blinked and fumbled with his words a bit before he could get anything out.
"Y-You're real..." Bruno gasped.
"Last time I checked." Kate shrugged.
"Then... Then everything in that dream..." He stumbled, "All of it... It really...?"
"Yep." Kate nodded before word-vomiting, "I met you and had to calm you down which was a special kind of hell for me. Then you had to calm me down and your family showed up. You tried to cover up the fact I'm not from here and I blew it after you started beating yourself up when your family asked why the Miracle sent me and not them. You calmed me back down again and went on about how the family shouldn't slave away for the villagers because of some Miracle that was already earned to begin with. I noticed you left yourself out and pointed it out which led to you blowing up in front of the whole family. But, I managed to cheer you up and get you to see that your family wants you back. All that led to a group hug that I couldn't help joining in. After that, I managed to convince you guys to start setting boundaries and taking care of yourselves for once. That led to Alma asking how I knew all this and that was a whole big mess right there. I eventually screamed out that I was from a dimension where you guys are characters in a movie I happen to love. That also led to you trying to defend me and me yelling at Alma for making you doubt your memory. My rant absolutely destroyed her and led to more hugs and apologies. As well as her making you promise to tell her when she's speaking out of turn. Yeah, that's not gonna bite her later down the line."
Bruno just stared as Kate rambled on.
"I told them the story of how Mirabel found you in the walls which led to me channeling you. Doing that was exhausting for me and difficult to control. How you manage to handle all those emotions I'll never know. My exhaustion led to me having a little introspection about Alma which is why I'm trying to be nicer to her. I could hear you all trying to talk to me when I was practically a zombie. Thanks for burning those herbs next to me. It really helped me out."
"Y-You're welcome." Bruno mumbled while rubbing his arm.
"You meditated with me and I noticed you were really tense and I sensed your fear, confusion, and anger." Kate continued, "Julieta spoke with me before I could investigate further and asked about any possible injuries you suffered. We accidentally interrupted your meditation and you shouted about someone's cat being in a tree."
"Y-Yeah..." Bruno nodded, "Señora López's grey tabby cat. Pata was it?"
Alma nodded.
"I-I Saw her up that mango tree." he explained hesitantly, "It... It wasn't very clear a-and all the noise didn't help. But, I could tell it was her on a... On a branch and I Saw all the mangos around her."
"Well, you were right about the cat." Alma shook her head, "But, your tonto of a sobrino did not heed your warning that she was starved and nearly wild."
"Of course, he didn't." Bruno sighed.
"So, yeah." Kate continued on, "You freaked out because of all the questions Camilo asked and Alma was the one to stop him and calm you down. Once that was done, you told everyone about your theory regarding the magic amplifying traits which I agree with. Then the family told me about some of the things you can do which led to a bunch of family hijinks and Camilo running away for a bit because of his over-affectionate parents."
Bruno snorted at the memory of Camilo running like his pants were on fire all because Félix was about to kiss Pepa. Even Alma covered her mouth in a poor attempt at hiding her amused smirk.
"Julieta managed to get you to let her examine you which led to me examining you and coming up with a treatment plan. Which I hope you'll follow." Kate hissed.
"I will!" Bruno held his hands up in surrender, "¡Lo prometo! Uh... I promise!"
"I'll hold you to it!" Kate snarled before continuing, "Luisa asked about exercises which led to a bit of drama from your nieces and nephews. Not to mention two back-breaking hugs from Luisa. Also, Camilo blew up about how the family did you dirty and how he got you wrong which somehow led to you introducing your rats."
Over half a dozen rats came out of Bruno's ruana at their mention.
"The introductions were a bit choppy due to things interrupting you. Things like your PTSD triggering, your rat stealing my... Tragic keepsake, the plastic that revealed I'm also from the future, family hijinks, all of us having to walk, my stupid leg giving out on me, and your rats chewing Alma out which was amazing. Then those women showed up and started fussing over you which led to my survivor's guilt being revealed. Thanks for talking with me about it. I really needed to hear that."
Bruno smiled a bit, "Anytime."
"You had that COPD flare that I helped you overcome. I had Manas massage you to get you to relax and taught you pursed lip breathing. You got your breathing under control and I tried to get you to stand. But, you couldn't do it which led to Luisa having to carry you. You ended up falling asleep in her arms. I had some trouble with the hill but your sisters were able to help. I also had some trouble with the villagers but Alma was able to get them to back off. The rest of the family made sure we got to the Guzmán's house and Luisa put you on the couch. Camilo came in covered in scratches from that cat you Saw."
"Of course..." Bruno murmured annoyed.
"Isabella and Mirabel came in covered in mud. There was a bit of a fight but Julieta sorted it out and sent them upstairs to wash off." Kate recalled before shyly asking, "Do you guys really have to share the bathroom?"
"Yep." Bruno answered as if it were obvious, "The Guzmán's only have one bathroom and there are elev—"
He remembered to count himself, "Twel—"
He remembered to count Kate, "Th-thirteen of us."
Bruno's hands twitched a bit before he began his knocking ritual on the coffee table.
"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock on wood." he nervously rapped his knuckles five times on the table and one on his head which earned him concerned glances from Alma and Kate.
He smiled awkwardly before continuing, "Casita only had one bathroom too."
"What?!" Kate shouted in disbelief, "Why?!"
"I have no idea but everyone else thinks she just likes the chaos." Bruno shrugged, "We ended up having to share a lot of things because of that. Brushes, towels, soap, shampoo, and even the tub when more than one of us needs a bath."
"You share the tub?!" Kate gaped.
"Yeah." Bruno shuddered a bit, "I've seen my sisters and their esposos—"
He caught and translated himself, "Husbands. I've... I've seen them in their birthday suits more times than I-I care to admit."
Kate couldn't help wincing at the claustrophobic image of the husbands and their wives all sharing a tub with Bruno. It led to her wondering if she's gonna have to share the tub with them too. She quickly tried to turn her mind back to the original topic to avoid thinking of naked Madrigals pressed up against her in a bathtub. Just the thought of that made her almost visibly shudder.
Oh, God! Stop thinking about that, Kate!
"Uh, Alma tried to touch your face but you flinched away and made her pretty upset." she quickly continued, "But, to her surprise and delight, you leaned back in and let her show you some long-overdue affection until you woke up. I think that covers everything."
"You... You skimmed the details a bit." Bruno pointed out before shrugging, "But, yeah... That pretty much covers everything."
"Good." Kate nodded, "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm in desperate need of a shower. Uh... You do have showers, right?"
"Of course." Alma looked almost offended, "We may live in a secluded village in the mountains but we are not savages."
"Okay." Kate raised her hands, "Just making sure."
Kate took a few steps up the stairs before realizing something and turned around, "Do you guys have any spare clothes?"
"The village has donated plenty of dress—" Alma began before Kate cut in angrily.
"That aren't dresses!"
"Why?" Alma wondered, "Women are meant to wear dresses."
"Um... Mamá—" Bruno tried to explain before Kate interrupted him.
"It'll be a cold day in hell before you catch me in an awkward, frilly, girly dress!" Kate snarled.
"That's why..." Bruno sighed before turning to Kate, "Go into the attic. The ladder is at the end of the hall to the left. Check the trunk at the foot of the bed. I might have an outfit or two that's too big for me."
"Most of your outfits are too big for you." Alma pointed out which made Kate chuckle.
"I meant the ones that won't fit no matter how much I tighten my belt or how many pins I use." Bruno added a bit testily.
"So... Most of your outfits." Alma smirked.
"Mamá." Bruno whined as Kate went up the stairs barely keeping from laughing too loud.
Alma chuckled at her son's expense before recalling why he needed to be awake before seven.
"Are you well enough to cook dinner?" Alma asked.
Bruno stood up a bit shakily and stretched himself.
"Yeah," Bruno groaned a bit as his joints creaked into place, "I think I can manage dinner... With a little help."
His first 12 rats all crawled onto him with a few clicks from their owner. Even Gordito somehow managed to crawl onto him despite his massive girth. He may be lazy at the best of times but he's the strongest rat of the mischief. That rat could actually lift Bruno's head and one of his limbs without much strain. It never fails to amaze the seer to see that his mischief manages to move him whenever he passes out.
"I... See..." Alma spoke hesitantly, "Just... Be sure they wash up before handling any food."
"Of course!" Bruno nodded while rapping his knuckles on the coffee table, "I don't wanna get anyone sick."