Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bruno wiped the sweat from his brow and took a few deep breaths. Walking his way uphill through the jungle was exhausting. He wasn’t quite sure where he was. All he would really need to do to fix that was climb a tree so it didn’t matter all that much. Well….he knew where he was he just wasn’t certain of it’s directional relationship with Casita. He looked around and squinted his eyes, looking around for something only he knew to look for. Whatever it was he saw it and turned left before continuing his way onto more level ground.

Bruno didn’t often begin his day chasing after a prophecy. Generally he tried to avoid being in the general vicinity of one of his prophecies when it came true. Mostly because he was worried about getting blamed. Bruno often stayed well away from the goings on outside of Casita. It wasn’t so nerve wracking anymore but he still didn’t like it. That seemed to do it for everyone. He was perfectly capable of leaving Casita but generally didn’t if he didn’t need to get something, or do something. His old place in the walls was slowly shrinking away and he found that he really wasn’t as upset about that as he thought he might be. Many of the secret passages stayed. Bruno guessed that Casita thought it was funny.

Bruno thought it was funny too. He loved to disappear into oblivion when a person’s back was turned. He loved it for two reasons. One, it was absolutely hilarious. Two, it’ll get him out of stuff he doesn’t want to do and it’s still absolutely hilarious. For instance, just the other day Félix had come to harass Bruno while he did the laundry. Bruno had been having one of those moments where the world got a little fuzzy and hard to understand. He was distant. Stretched thin. He couldn’t understand a word that Félix was saying. Not that he didn’t hear the words, they just lost meaning somehow. His voice did have an echo to it. Bruno wasn’t sure if he could even remember how to talk and he knew that if Félix found out what was happening then he would lose his mind and make a huge deal of it.

So, instead of venturing down that way he took the path of least resistance, which he was prone to do. He pried open a trapdoor beneath him with his toes and settled it atop his heel. When Félix turned his head Bruno kicked up the door and jumped down. He spread his legs out and caught himself on each side of the wall in order to catch the stone door and slide it closed silently. He knew the moment that Félix turned back around. He suddenly stopped talking before grumbling something that Bruno didn’t understand. There was the sound of a rather childish stomp and Bruno hung around in the passages until he felt better.

So, yes, he was thankful that Casita left him the passages even if his small room became smaller and smaller.

He’d almost gotten himself into some real trouble once. Did he get little lectures about disappearing like that at times? Yes, he did. The moment the idea popped into his head he couldn’t get it out. How funny would it be to use his secret passages to get out of lecture about using his secret passages? Too funny to resist. The moment his mamá had her back turned, along with anyone else in eyesight, he ducked into a nearby closet and quietly slid the ceiling away and hauled himself up.

It had not been his mamá who’d noticed that he’d disappeared but boy was she angry. It had been worth it and Bruno doesn’t do anything that’ll get him in trouble unless it’s worth it. Even then sometimes the outcome is a lot better than he thought it would be. This….this did nothing to encourage him to stop doing the things he was doing. Quite the opposite in fact. He was stealthy and he made it everybody else’s problem.

There was one flaw in this talent of his, the crack in his otherwise perfect mirror, and she had a name. Chaunta didn’t know about the passages so that kept them on equal ground. The moment he was out of the walls it was anyone’s game. She was good at finding him. Annoyingly so. No, more than annoying but not quite angry. A kind of in between state. He didn’t necessarily feel this would constitute grounds for an argument and it seemed that she felt the same way. No, not an argument. More of an…..aggressive...mediation.

The two of them really got on each other’s nerves a lot and, by this point, it had become almost fun. Bruno was absolutely certain that no one else on god’s green earth planned out future arguments. So much of what he said was pre-scripted material! He wasn’t even using his future sight. Doing that felt like cheating. Now, this behavior would normally make him feel like he was being a huge jerk, the exception being that she did it too! He could look into her eyes and see the satisfaction of finally being able to say whatever it was she’d come up with however long ago.

Now, in no way shape or form could Bruno consider this “witty”. The word witty kind of implies a certain grace that their interactions would never have. “Witty” was swans in still water while whatever it was Bruno and Chaunta did could more be likened to the mad geese behind the swans.

Why, she was following him right now. He hadn’t made it far. It had just been a right place, right time scenario. He’d jumped off the roof and landed right in front of her. He contemplated running but that seemed childish. They just stared at each other, expressions flat. Like neither of them knew what to do because the game ended so soon.

“Best two out of three?” Had been all Bruno had been able to think of.

At first he just kind of grumbled a bit but went on his way. It was early. He figured that she’d be asleep. This is what he got for being sloppy. They didn’t argue all of the time mind you. Bruno and Chaunta actually had a lot of pleasant interactions through varying forms of mischief. Her sense of humor matched his sense of humor and that was a very bad, bad thing. Just a few days ago Agustín had lost his glasses and Bruno rushed to stop her from helping the man.

“Please don’t.” He whispered as he pulled her into the next room. “I love it when he loses his glasses.”

She gave him a flat look.

“Okay, bad wording. I love it when people lose their glasses. I’m not targeting him specifically and no I did not hide his glasses either.”

He leaned around the corner to watch his cuñado’s, thus far, fruitless venture. Chaunta did the same, if a little confusedly.

“I mean just look at that.” Bruno whispered excitedly. “I love it. People lose their glasses and they walk around looking at everything like its’ suspicious.”

The two watched Agustín for a short moment before Bruno spoke with a breathy laugh.

“What about you dresser? You sketchy piece of shit, did you take it?” He giggled as Agustín squinted at the top of a dresser and moved a few things around in his continued search.

Agustín took a step back and let out a frustrated huff before looking around lifting his arms in irritation.

“You’re telling me everyone in this room is innocent?” Agustín looked at the couch. “Ah, maybe separate interrogations would be best.”

Bruno grinned as Agustín lifted the couch cushions one at a time to search beneath.

“Oh my god.” Chaunta whispered in his ear. “I found his glasses.” She reached an arm out to point and sure as can be Agustín’s glasses were currently perched on the top of his head.

“D-don’t laugh.” Bruno hissed as he struggled not to do so himself. “You’re gonna give us away.”

It ended far sooner than Bruno would have liked as Julieta swept in to the room and helped her poor husband find his glasses. The two had a quiet laugh over it before leaning in and holding onto each other for a little while. With the show over Bruno stood and casually walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Despite his obvious entrance the pair didn’t notice him. Bruno came back and leaned against the door frame and took a long drink of his water. Of course, because Bruno’s luck was the way it was, Agustín got handsy and Bruno’s face screwed up into one of disgust.

“I guess he got his powers of deduction mixed up with his powers of seduction.”

Bruno had spit water a good few feet into the courtyard and clapped a hand over his mouth in an attempt to keep the rest of the water in his mouth. Laughter was winning out though and water spurted out from between his fingers as his shoulders shook with the effort.

“Don’t do that! You almost killed me!” Bruno had yelled once he was done coughing and laughing. “Why would you wait until I had water in my mouth?! Why would you do that to me?!”

Julieta could see, from the tiny bit of guilt she saw in his eyes, that a, probably, filthy joke had just been told and probably at their expense. She debated asking but was pretty sure that she didn’t actually want to know. Bruno had always poked fun of Agustín in his head. He had a plethora of jokes centered around his cuñado and none of them were child appropriate. He still needed to keep his mouth shut though. It felt like if he opened his mouth and one of two things would happen. Someone would laugh or someone would get upset.

All that being said, let’s look back at that mad goose comparison.

“I am not a part of your damn job!” Bruno yelled as he smacked a plant away from his face.

“My job is keeping prophets safe so yes, technically you are.”

At least her motives were simple. The only problem with that is that it’s difficult to form an argument against something so simple.

“Well, I’m not a prophet so there!” He turned and waved a hand over her. “You’re absolved!” He spun back around and kept walking.

“I mean,” He spread his arms out. “what exactly is out here that’s such a danger?!And don’t say cats!” He turned back to point a finger at her.

“Don’t-” He growled. “Don’t you say it.”

“Cats.” She said as she leaned down to stare into his eyes.

“You motherf-!” He let out a snarl and spun back around to stomp his way through the jungle while muttering to himself. “I’m an adult I don’t need a damn babysitter and yet here I am with a literal goddamn babysitter.”

He spun around and glared at her.

“And don’t you dare get upset at that. I dare you to define babysitting and what you’re doing differently. “Bodyguards” are just babysitters for adults you just changed the words to make it feel less humiliating.”

He whipped back around and kept walking.

“It’s not my fault that you get into more trouble than literal children.” She said in reference to his many misadventures that one would not expect from a grown man.

“I can get myself out of that trouble!” Bruno insisted. “Even so this is still harassment! This is legally considered harassment. That’s a crime you know!”

“What are you going to do?” She snarked and he heard her fiddle with one of her guns. “Arrest me?”

“Are you seriously playing with your guns again?!”

“I don’t play with guns. I use them.”

“Give me a reason why you just pulled your gun out?”

“Checking ammo.”

“Bullshit!” Bruno spun around. “That is bullshit! You told me five days ago that you could tell how much ammo was in your gun by feeling the weight of it! You didn’t even have to pull it out of your holster!” Oh, he’d been waiting to use that one.

He narrowed his eyes. “You were being dr-”

“I was being dramatic yes.”

“That’s playing! Stop playing with your guns!” He threw his arms out as he turned back around. “Playing with guns is unsafe you know. If you’re going to do that I would be much safer if you left.” He waggled a finger by his shoulder.

“…..That second bit was weak.”

“Yes,” Bruno huffed, leaning forward and pressing his hands to his knees. “yes, I know it was. I-I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I’m tired.”

He rubbed at his eyes before standing straight.

“I-uh I didn’t get very good sleep last night.”

“That’s been happening a lot lately.”

“My insomnia comes in waves.” He shrugged. “W-what’s that thing?” He muttered to himself. “Th-the thing.” He waved his hand in the air. “Ah! I have two modes. Sleep is for the weak or sleep for a week. There is no in-between.”

“So Agustín still thinks-”

“Please don’t ruin that for me. All this kinda messes with my gift in some weird way. I know I need to sleep and I know there’s probably methods of dealing with it but I just…...don’t. I-It makes me uncomfortable to have that sudden unfamiliarity with my own gift. It’s unsettling. Agustín….He won’t-he won’t understand that.”

He picked at the collar of his ruana.

“He won’t understand how it feels. Feels like getting thrown into a different country, a different world, and I never remember it or, even if I do, I can’t necessarily understand it. It’s just….there….filling the empty spaces and pulling me away. Softly. Like a whisper in an abyss.”

She snapped a finger by his ear as his voice grew distant and he shook his head for a quick moment before clearing his throat and continuing to walk.

“So, I had that general, overall, hard time getting to sleep, but there was also a lot more for me to do than I had plans for so I was up late anyway and then there was this prophecy….”He let out a tired groan.

“Prophecy?”

“Damn it.”

“You’re coming out here because of a prophecy?”

“Yes.” Bruno sighed. “It’s not a big deal or anything and I don’t think it’s a big deal if I go deal with it by myself.”

“There have been a lot of times where a prophecy that you decided wasn’t a big deal turns out to be a big deal.”

“It wasn’t that I decided they weren’t important it was all just something that I hid away entirely because the prophecies that I did give always turned into a disaster so I shudder to think what telling everyone about those would have done.”

He took a few quiet steps.

“I knew they were important I just….didn’t know what to do. I was scared and I knew that no one would listen and if they got angry about the small stuff then what w-would th-”

“Bruno.” She settled a hand on his shoulder and they stood in silence for a moment.

“B-but it’s not like that anymore.” He let out a cough. “I can tell people the big stuff now. So, when I say this isn’t a big deal I mean that it’s really not a big deal.”

He looked around for a moment before picking a direction and continuing to walk.

“Well?” He heard her ask.

“Well what?”

“What is it?”

He paused.

“Are you really not going to tell me what it is?”

“I just- I really would like…..alone. You know?”

Her jaw dropped and she sucked in a breath.

“It’s something adorable isn’t it?”

“Wh-what? N-no!”

“Oh my god how adorable is it?”

“I d-don’t know what you’re talking about. Y-you can’t know what a prophecy is without having seen it and you haven’t seen it.”

“Bullshit.” Her voice hardened. “You absolutely hate it when people refer to you as being “cute” or any other synonyms thereof. But! Neither can you help it. You’re too nice a guy. So, here you are on an obvious attempt at a secret adventure in regards to a prophecy that you feel is something that needs to be taken care of but by no one other than you. You’re trying very hard to make sure no one finds out about this.”

She moved forward and stepped around him.

“It’s something absolutely adorable isn’t it?” She grinned down at him.

She spun around to stand in front of him.

“True or false?”

“’M not cute.” He grumbled as he looked around.

She took another step toward him when Bruno suddenly stiffened.

“Don’t move!” He yelled, throwing his arms out. “We’re here.”

Chaunta froze and watched him look around. His intense gaze dragged along the jungle floor and underbrush.

“Very, carefully.” He said as he slid to his knees and started to sort through the brush. “Ah!” He popped back up with a small smile.

When he stood back up he had a very unhappy baby bird in his hands. He looked from the bird to Chaunta and the smile faded from his face.

“D-don’t-” He shook his head.

“Don’t say it.”

“You.”

“Don’t you do it.”

“Are.”

“Do not-”

“So.”

“Oh we’re really burning bridges today aren’t we?”

“Adorable.”

“O-once I put this bird back in the tree I am going to kill you.”

“Yes, of course. Go. Finish being adorable.”

“I hate you.” Bruno snarled as he tucked the bird into one of the pockets beneath his ruana. “You know if Antonio did this people wouldn’t make a deal of it.”

“It’s part of his literal job. Speaking of which, why didn’t you just tell him?”

“I-it’s pretty early and he’s a kid.”

“This bird could have waited.”

“It’s really far in the jungle.”

“With that kid’s magic? Jungle might be the safest place for him to be.”

“I-I uhm….”

“You just wanted to-”

“Hold a baby bird, yes.” He gave in.

“Aha!” She yelled alongside a gesture similar to both a clap and fist bump before pointing dramatically at him.

“Fine. It’s cute.” Bruno’s shoulders slumped.

He knew when he’d been beaten. He rolled his eyes and made the short climb up the tree to settle the fallen chick back into its’ nest.

“Do a flip.” Chaunta called out jokingly beneath him.

“Screw it.” Bruno thought to himself as he looked down at her and looked at the branches around them.

He did.

Chapter Text

Bruno felt like he was being a bit mean but he didn’t know what else to do right now. Bruno didn’t think he’d been hiding long enough that the family, especially Agustín, would be getting worried, but they were. Even Chaunta was a little nervous because no one had seen any of his rats. His rats, all of them, had been with him the whole time. They knew he needed them. He thanked Casita again. Casita had always helped him hide when he felt like this. Distant. Fuzzy. It felt like the world was buzzing while he was floating. He just didn’t want to be around people when this happened. Now, more so than ever because he understood a little bit more about what this was.

He was drifting out of his timeline. Ever so slightly but he was slipping away. It really wasn’t that big of a deal but, because of the way they found out about these kinds of episodes, he knew his family would overreact and panic over how to deal with it. It wasn’t just that that made him want to avoid people when he was in this state though. He was worried about coming off as an idiot, or insane. He’d never tried to talk before and he wasn’t sure if he could or if he even should. He didn’t know how he’d react to people touching him. It already got his heart racing just having someone trying to talk to him.

He desperately needed to be alone when he didn’t understand what was going on around him. He was too worried about it, too scared. He once took a bite of one of his cardboard movie sets because wherever his mind had been that cardboard had been a sandwich. That had been a bad day. He didn’t feel like doing something like that in front of other people. It was embarrassing enough as is.

It wasn’t too bad this time. Everything still seemed solid. As solid as can be when you feel like you’re floating. It all buzzed under his touch and words had lost their meaning. Or maybe too much was being said? Oh, he should try to stop thinking right now. He’s really not good at thinking in this present moment.

His red chair was still there but he remembered that people knew where that was and knew how to get there. So, he paced the passages and peeked out every now and again to watch his family. They were talking a lot but they didn’t seem to be looking for him. He had to remember that. People looked for him now. So, he had to be extra careful.

It had come on so suddenly. Thank the stars that no one had been there. Thank the stars he hadn’t been in the middle of a conversation. Thank the stars that no one had been in the kitchen. He’d spotted a loose board on one of his rat’s hutches. He’d pulled those into his room as well because the rats liked them so much. He’d gone and gotten a couple of nails and a hammer. It shouldn’t take much. He really hadn’t noticed how fuzzy he felt. The moment the hammer hit the nail everything snapped back. There was no loose board and Bruno had just driven the nail through his thumb into the wood. His mind didn’t quite register the pain he felt as actually being pain. He just pried the nail out of the wood and pulled it out of his thumb. He looked from his bloody hand to the nail to the hammer and back again.

He ran to his door but paused as he opened it. He couldn’t hear any voices so he decided it was safe to make a run for it. No one had been in there so Bruno just snatched up an arepa that tasted like Julieta’s roast plantains. He popped off the back of the cupboard, slipped through, and slid the panel back into place. He hadn’t left the passages since. He didn’t usually wind up hurting himself. It was rare for that to happen but his family didn’t know that. Once he realized how he was feeling he generally just went somewhere quiet and stayed there. He never did much. He just got comfortable and waited it out.

That was one of the reasons the rats had started entertaining him and that had turned into his various telenovelas. It might have gone a little farther than Bruno intended but all parties involved, Dolores included, were having fun. Speaking of Dolores, he jumped when he heard a set of knocks set to very particular rhythm. It was Dolores’s “are you okay?” knock. He’d gotten tired from being on his feet for so long so he found a good place away from his red chair to sit down and rest a bit. Of course Dolores would know where he was but could it be a trick of some kind? No, if so then she would have just told everyone where he was.

Were the knocks in his timeline though? If he knocked would he give himself away? They sounded clear enough even if they had a tinge of an echo. He took the risk and knocked back. The house grew quieter after that. Bruno knew that Pepa’s rain would help but that would require an attempt to communicate which was something that Bruno was, currently, incapable of doing. It also meant getting wet and, while he loved the rain, he did not want to get wet today.

Also, Chaunta had never been here for this. How would she react? What would she think? She wasn’t like his family. He couldn’t predict her actions so well. She was an enigma to him. An enigma that he did not want to deal with right now. So, here he was. Huddled away in a place where he was certain she wouldn’t find him. His passages had always been something that Chaunta couldn’t find.

Thank you Casita.

He was just having a bad day, that’s all. Oh, he hoped this didn’t last all day. It had already been a few hours. He doubted he’d get away with a full day of doing this. They might start looking for him around dinner. He hoped he felt better by that time. This was so embarrassing. He had a limited amount of time to come up with some kind of lie to tell that would explain all of this and it needed to be one that wouldn’t get him in trouble. Even if he did get in trouble he felt like it would be better than this. Bruno never did anything unless he was certain that the end consequences would be worth it.

This would very much be worth it.

He walked the passages and ran his fingers along the stone and wood that formed the barriers of Casita. He sighed and closed his eyes as he felt the surface buzz and ripple beneath his touch. He swayed a little bit in time with the ripples and he sighed again. It almost felt like he was dreaming. Wrapped up in silk and cotton and he couldn’t even understand his own worries anymore. He wanted to hum a little tune but remembered that he was supposed to be hiding until he felt better. Hide away until reality became real again. He was good at hiding. He might even be the best at hiding because he hid for so long once and no one found him.

He opened his eyes and pulled his hand away from the wall. He pulled himself out of the silken threads that had wrapped around his mind and sucked in a startled breath. That had not helped. Everything still looked clear enough. It really didn’t seem like too much to worry about. He just had to keep himself from slipping like that. This did not seem like an episode that was going to be a short one. He really needed to figure out a plan on this one. People looked for him now. People had been looking for him only a few hours ago. They’d just stopped because Dolores told them to. That wasn’t going to keep them from looking if he was gone too long. He didn’t know what to do. If they found out they’d either follow him everywhere being all worried or Pepa would get him all wet. He wanted to deal with neither. The idea of either of those things happening made him a little grumpy.

Seriously he would figure out a way to give them a piece of his mind.

He was hungry. It was past lunch.

Well, in order for him to not be hungry again-

He shook his head.

In order for him to get any food he was going to have to leave the passages. He had at least one in each room, but it was still daylight and he knew that his sneaking was going to be sloppy right now. He could probably make it through the cupboard in the kitchen but he was going to be slower about it. He wasn’t sure if he’d wind up being noisier or not. He also had to make sure that no one was nearby but his senses could trick him when he was like this. The problem was that he had no way of really knowing. He’d really be taking chances. He chewed on his lip as he pondered this.

If he was going to get some food then he needed to just go get some food.

He shuffled his way through the walls. He took his time. He really wasn’t in too much of a hurry, but he needed to slip through the crack where there could be an empty kitchen. Could, being the risk. Last time he been hiding he got caught snatching up food. He’d been hungry and he hadn’t been careful. Like now. He was hungry and he probably wasn’t going to be as careful when his mind was mush. He didn’t have to take long. He just needed to find something and get out as fast as he could. Still, he hovered behind the cabinet and chewed on his lip until it was puffy and raw.

He really didn’t want anyone seeing him like this.

He was scared.

He was hungry.

Hunger usually won out and win out it did. He took a breath and pushed the panel away with shaking hands. He carefully pulled out and re-situated the pots and pans inside that would allow him to actually be able to climb out, let alone do it silently. He licked his lips and opened the door with a quiet click. He peered through the crack and listened carefully. He needed to do his best to make sure no one was nearby. Either way he’d need to be fast but timing was everything. He couldn’t wait too long but neither could he rush it. He had an opportunity so he needed to take it. Sure, people had stopped actively looking for him but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t still be keeping an eye out for him. He needed to be quiet and he needed to be quick. He was a shadow. Unheard and unseen.

When he decided the risk was low enough he carefully opened the cabinet door the rest of the way and crept out. Using his fingers as a cushion he placed his weight on the tips of his fingers and slid them out to press his palm against the floor. He did the same with the other. Ears tuned in for any sound he could make out that might mean someone was on their way to the kitchen. He crawled forward until his feet were on solid stone before standing slowly, keeping his head ducked, and peering over the kitchen island trying to catch sight of anyone who might be nearby.

He breathed as deeply and as quietly as he could. His head snapped toward any sound that reached his ears and he remained still as a rock. He waited a few moments longer before deciding it was safe enough. He was tense, his heart was racing, but his movements were slow and sure. He’d done this plenty of times. The difference is that people looked for him now so there was an extra level of difficulty to this. As he placed a few arepas into his pockets He shoved one arepa into his mouth. It tasted like cholao and, while he loved Julieta’s cholao, the texture of an arepa was an odd combination. He shrugged. It was fine. He wondered if the others would taste like cholao too or if they might taste like something else or they could just taste like arepas.

“Why is my life like this?” He thought to himself as he stared thoughtfully down at the food in his hand that did not taste like what was in his hand.

He tilted his head in confusion before shrieking at a voice behind him. He spun around and found Isabela standing there with an empty platter that, he assumed, she was using to transport more food to her mother. He could use the excuse of having food in his mouth to avoid talking but that would only hold out for so long. He was panicking.

“Tío Bruno?” She asked and by the stars he heard and understood her.

He still didn’t feel alright but he heard her right? Understood her? He still shouldn’t try and he knew that but seeing as how he was in a state of complete and utter panic this time he opened up his mouth to respond.

He…..really shouldn’t have done that.

yͪeͤˡsˡᵒhͥˢiͣᵇᵉˡˡᵃᵍiͦmͦ ͩfiͩnͣʸemͥoᵏtᶰhͦʷeʸrͦ ͧnͮeͤeᵇdͤ ͤᶰmʷoͦrͬeͬ ͥfͤoͩodbͥeͫ ˢqͦuͬiͬʸetͥ ˢpͨlͣeͬaͤsͩeʸᵒᵘ iͥ ʲnͧˢeͭeʷdͣᶰᵗᵉᵈ-”

His jaw dropped and he slapped a hand over his mouth while creeping cereus slid down the wall with a crown of betonies adorning it.

Oh dear christ. He swore he meant to say one thing. One word. He was certain that his own mouth formed only one word but so many others came out at the same time and all without his permission.

Isabela dropped the metal platter and Bruno bolted forward to catch it before it hit the ground.

“pͩlͦᶰeͭasͭeͤˡ ˡbeͣᶰ ʸqͦᶰuͤiet!” He held his hands out in a gesture for her to stop but the cereus only grew longer and the betonies bloomed faster.

He needed to stop talking. He just lifted a shaking finger over his lips and gave her a pleading look. He’d been absolutely right. He would not be able to communicate like this and it sounded both unnatural and terrifying even to him. When she talked again he couldn’t understand her but she sure looked mad. Bruno just blinked, unsure of what to do and she seemed to understand very quickly that nothing she said was making sense to him and he winced at that. He was just having a moment and he needed to let her know that he was okay. He wracked his brain until he saw the flowers. He gestured to the creeping cereus and shook his head. Trying to tell her that she didn’t need to be afraid right now. He chewed on his lip for a moment before holding up his hands to try and get her to stay there.

He ran out into the garden to grab what he needed and ran back inside. Thankfully she was still there and he held out the item with an awkward grin and a pleading look. He would have laughed a little bit if the situation had been different seeing as how he was literally holding out an olive branch. She looked at it and back to him. She squinted suspiciously and Bruno was certain that he was toast. The whole family was about to lose their minds over this.

The longer she stood there the more certain he was that he was doomed because she was about to call everyone and Bruno knew for a fact that Agustín was in the house right now. Now that in particular was going to be a miserable experience. He just set both the branch and his head on the kitchen island and pressed his forehead into it. His bad day was about to turn into a nightmare. He wanted to cry but he also didn’t want to cry in front of his sobrina….or anyone really. He hated crying in front of people. He stayed that way until he felt something slap the side of his head.

He looked to see a fully bloomed rose growing atop two buds. He set his head back on the table with a relieved sigh and his shoulders drooped. He turned his head and took another bite of the cholao arepa. He looked up again when she tapped on the counter.

There was a single american starwort on the counter. He gave her a flat look as she snickered and motioned for him to follow her to the garden. Well, this was not what he’d been expecting would happen if someone ever came across him like this. Once she came to a stop amidst what may as well have been a very, very small second jungle filled with mismatched plants from all across the world. A branch of thorns appeared in her hands and Bruno creased his brows as he looked around.

He plucked a bloom from a buckbean plant, before holding out his hand and tipping it side to side in a kind of so-so expression and tilting his head.

She squinted, both suspicious and questioning, and she didn’t even need to grow a plant for Bruno to understand her. Either way a fly trap grew from her palm. He didn’t need to do much more than shake his head and a small collection of champignon grew on his shoulder. He brushed it off and looked around again before settling on the nightshade and holding up a flower while giving an awkward grin and biting his lip. There was a small amount of time that passed before Bruno began to desperately look around for something, anything, that might help with this.

He found it in a bundle of white poplar, ox eye, and heath. He handed them to her and pantomimed her giving them back to him. She tilted her head in askance and he chewed on his lip before giving a long sigh and searching through the various plants and flowers until he found what he was looking for. He turned and gave her a single clove flower and looked at her with desperate hope as she seemed to mull it over.

Bruno was about to throw caution to the wind and just run when she responded with a small sprig of water willow and Bruno nearly cried in relief. Before anything else could be done Bruno heard voices and, from the way her head turned, the voices were in his timeline. He quickly snatched up a small white bellflower and threw it at her before diving headfirst through the nearest window and ran to the nearest of his passage entrances. He slipped through and back into the walls.

He let out a long sigh of relief before calming himself and eating what he’d gone and grabbed. Most of the arepas tasted like something else but he didn’t mind that. He did notice that Isabela’s garden tripled in size nearly overnight.

Chapter Text

Camilo should be in bed right now and he knew that. It wasn’t all that late, but late enough that the adults had all gone to bed. Were they all asleep by now? Probably not. Again, it was late but not too late. He wasn’t quite sure why he couldn’t sleep, he just couldn’t. No, he knew exactly why he couldn’t sleep. He just wasn’t sure how to deal with it which is another reason why he was still awake.

Something was wrong with his mami and he didn’t know what it was. She never was good at hiding her emotions even without the weather giving it all away. No offense to her but, aside from tío Bruno, she was the most anxious person in Casita. He didn’t know what it was exactly but something was wrong. He could see it in her eyes, her clouds, everything. He and tío Bruno were very much alike in a few ways but the biggest by far being that they were both momma’s boys and they knew it. Levels varied sure but that was still a rather core part of who they both were. Camilo actually kind of enjoyed helping his mami out when his papi wasn’t there or was busy and Bruno just wanted to make his own mamá happy. Somehow their lives wound up centering around their mothers. A major difference in this aspect was that Camilo had always had a good relationship with his mami while Bruno was working toward having a good relationship with Abuela.

It was really sad when Camilo really got down to thinking about it. He really didn’t remember much about Bruno before he left. He had been five after all. He’d only ever gone off of what everyone else had said and oh how wrong everyone had been. He’d never hated his tío but he certainly hadn’t liked him or saw him as a good person. He’d been more than confused about how welcoming everyone had been to Bruno, but the more he watched the timid man and saw how….how scared he was of everything all of those things he thought were facts became exactly what they had been all along.

Rumors and nothing more. Cruel rumors, but rumors none the less.

The man that everyone had told Camilo that Bruno was just didn’t exist. No really. How could the man that everyone described, despised, hide away from his family and live in the most miserable conditions all to protect one small child? How could the man that everyone had described be so skittish and prone to hiding at the first opportunity? Camilo was smarter than people thought. A lot like Isabela he could understand a person which, apparently, was something that Bruno was very good at as well. The point was that Camilo saw an abused man, a victim, not a monster.

Camilo didn’t know everything that had happened to his tío over his life and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Bruno was doing far better now than Camilo thought he would in only a couple of years. Maybe it was the intensity and lengths in which the family went to protect him. Maybe it was the effort put in by everyone to try and get to know him, the real him, better. Everyone had put so much work into rebuilding bridges that Bruno thought they had all burned. That had been and continues to be the hardest thing. Just convincing Bruno that they meant it. That they were telling the truth and that no one was trying to trick him. The more the man gained the more afraid he was to lose it and so that made him afraid to gain things in life. Bruno just wasn’t sure if he could handle it if everything went sour and Camilo could understand that. Everyone in the Encanto had a bad reputation with Bruno and not in the way that Camilo had been taught.

He was a man with a gift that brought down a harsh reality on the people of the Encanto who had settled here to avoid that kind of harsh reality. No one wanted to accept that things like what Bruno saw were inevitable no matter where you lived. It was just the way of life. No place is perfectly peaceful and there isn’t a place on this earth that could possibly achieve that. The best, the easiest way to deal with the fact that bad things will continue to happen no matter where they are was to reject Bruno and everything he did.

So, that’s exactly what everyone had gone and done. Even his own family.

It all had really gotten Camilo thinking over the past couple of years as he watched his tío adjust to having something he’d convinced himself that he would never have. Bruno’s gift was just so different from the others. He was so different from the others. It got Camilo wondering. Why? Why was his gift so different? Why did his gift behave the way it did? According to Chaunta he wasn’t even a prophet and that was a good explanation but it didn’t feel like the whole one. Bruno had always talked about how the magic had a mind of it’s own so their gifts all had to mean something. It all matched up with who they were and, despite all of the bad prophecies and bad things he saw, Bruno was not a bad man.

So, why did his gift seem to behave like he was? Why did his gift give him such bad things? He remembered hearing an argument, one of many, between his tío and Chaunta. Honestly? Camilo loved watching them argue. He could tell that it wasn’t a real argument, at least most of the time it wasn’t. They seemed to be having fun with it and Camilo liked to use his gift to follow them around. They were just so entertaining. It was a game between them and Camilo also thought it was hilarious that his papi didn’t seem to notice that. Hell, Bruno and Chaunta didn’t quite seem to recognize that either.

Really Camilo was getting impatient about the subject. He was half tempted to just do something about it himself.

The argument he’d “overheard”, you can’t really overhear someone when they’re screaming so loudly, had been one of their few real ones. Camilo could tell because there were no insults, no quips, no “aha but you”s. It was real anger between the two. Something had happened and it made Bruno upset about his gift again. This happened often but Chaunta had a very different reaction to it than the family. While the family was sympathetic and soft Chaunta was angry and harsh. Bruno had been going on about how much he hated his gift. Gone on about how he wished he had something, anything, else that he felt could actually help the family. Help everyone around him. In fact that is exactly what he’d gone and said and no one in the family would ever forget Chaunta’s response that had brought a swift end to the argument.

“Bruno did you ever think that you were never meant to help your family?!” She’d screamed and the house grew eerily silent and still as that comment sank in with everyone.

Bruno, himself, looked heartbroken. No, more so than that. He looked devastated, betrayed, and Luisa had been about to launch Chaunta out a window when she continued.

“Did you ever think, for one second, that you were meant to protect it!?”

No one had quite known what to do about that. Bruno had stormed off and she had gone after him. That was another way of telling whether or not an argument was a real one. If only one of them turned and walked away and the other would go after then it had been real. If they both stormed off then it hadn’t been serious and seemed to be in good fun. Who would have figured that his tío liked to argue? He was good at it though. Camilo kind of thought it was sweet. The fact that they could recall something the other said or did weeks, even months, after it had happened showed they listened to each other. Payed attention to each other.

You didn’t find that very often. Again, Camilo was getting frustrated with them. Another way that Camilo and Bruno were alike was in the way that they could spot a good love story a mile away and Camilo was getting seriously pissed off that the man who, without needing a vision, could tell when a relationship was going to work out or not seemed completely blind to this. He wasn’t about to talk to his papi about it though. He was pretty sure he’d start a fight with the woman. It was a fight he wouldn’t win but he’d try none the less. Camilo didn’t feel like watching his papi get his ass kicked.

He was brought out of his musings by the faint sound of someone muttering and mumbling to themselves. The most likely culprit was Bruno. He still often talked to himself, or his rats, and very much had a hard time sleeping. Sometimes that was on purpose and other times it was not. He was supposed to be on medication for that but Camilo once watched him pull the pill out from under his bottom lip with his tongue and flick it in Agustín’s direction with a glare as the man left the room. He also heard the faint laughter of his hermana from somewhere inside Casita.

Well, Camilo could use some late night human interaction instead of stewing in his own thoughts and he was pretty sure the same could be said about Bruno. He walked out into the courtyard and looked around. Casita waved a stone at him from the sitting room and Camilo gave a nod before making his way over and listening to the muttering get louder. He couldn’t quite tell what it was Bruno was saying but he did stop for a moment in the doorway to try and catch something.

“Wh-where is she….is she okay?” Was the only thing he could make out and he creased his brows.

Was his tío having a vision?

He looked deeper into the shadows of the room and could just barely make out a human shape standing in the corner with his back turned to the room. His shoulders rose and fell in desperate, stuttering breaths like it hurt to breathe and his forehead pressed into the wood in front of him. He swayed on his feet and something glinted in the moonlight.

“T-tío Bruno?” Camilo immediately felt guilty for the fear in his voice.

Bruno stopped talking and stood there still as a statue in the darkness of the night. In the silence Camilo could hear liquid drip, drip, dripping onto the stone floor. Camilo was ready to go and get his papi, who was good at dealing with Bruno, when his tío moved. It was a violent spasm of his shoulders that caused him to throw his head back. His head then fell forward and hit the wood with a solid thunk before he looked over his shoulder at his sobrino and by god his eyes.

They glowed bright emerald in the deep dark and every now and again that bright green gave way to a flicker of gold. When he did turn around his movements were jerky or sluggish or overly clumsy. It was like he was trying too hard to move. Something glinted in the moonlight with his movements and that liquid continued to drip, drip, drip onto the floor.

“C-casita?” Camilo whispered, afraid to directly ask Casita to turn on the lights.

There was something so very wrong with Bruno.

Casita understood and switched on the lights. What Camilo saw would echo in his memory, in his nightmares, for all time. At the far end of the room stood Bruno. He looked younger. The grey was nearly gone from his hair and the wrinkles were nearly imperceptible. He was soaking wet and trembling. His hair clung to his face in messy strands that covered nearly all but his eyes. Camilo could barely see Bruno’s mouth as it dropped open and closed as he breathed. The water dripped off of him in a steady flow but that wasn’t the only thing dripping down. His tío looked down at this hands as they shook and tilted his head at the redness, the blood, that coated them. It was splattered across his face and soaked heavily into his ruana. He was covered in blood, soaked to the bone despite the clear skies, and looked to be in shock.

That might have something to do with the sword sticking out of his chest. It was buried to the hilt just beneath Bruno’s ribs and angled up like someone had given an underhand swing to plunge the blade into his tío’s flesh. Bruno stumbled as he tried to take a step forward and Camilo saw the other half of the blade protruding out from beneath Bruno’s right shoulder blade. He opened his mouth and blood spilled from his blue lips, dripped from his chin, and ran down his neck like a fountain.

This was not the most terrifying part of what Camilo saw that night. No. The scariest thing by far was the sight of his tío, perfectly fine, healthy, and clean of blood, sleeping on the couch and snoring lightly. Every now and again he’d jerk and so would the….the other Bruno. He couldn’t see his tío’s face, pressed into the couch as it was, but he wondered if their expressions might mirror each other. He looked back to the Bruno that stood there dripping water and blood and gasping for breath through a waterfall of red. He set a steadying hand on the wood behind him and when he stepped toward Camilo it left a red smear behind.

“I’m so cold.” He said and his voice was clear as day despite the bubbles forming on his blue lips.

Camilo screamed and Bruno let out a loud shout of his own as he jerked awake and rolled off of the couch and onto the floor with a loud thud. The other Bruno vanished the moment his tío had woken up. Bruno recovered quickly and leaped to his feet to stare at Camilo. His startled look quickly turned into one of concern as he took in the sight of his sobrino who was obviously terrified.

“Wh-” He started but stopped when Camilo darted forward to stare at a large pinkish puddle of water in the corner of the room and a smear of red on the wood.

The boy reached out to poke at the puddle with his toe and watch it ripple beneath his touch. He quickly reached out a hand to the wood and his jaw dropped when the blood smeared across his fingers.

“It was real?” He whispered.

“C-Camilo?” Bruno took a hesitant step forward.

“How could it have been real?”

“Camilo?” Bruno’s voice was a hesitant whisper as he reached out a hand to lay it on Camilo’s shoulder.

The boy spun around with a gasp and took a few startled steps back as he stared at Bruno with wide terrified eyes. He couldn’t help but be afraid. Bruno didn’t understand that and Camilo saw the heartbreak flash in his eyes as he pulled his hand back.

“C-C-”

“What were you dreaming about?” Camilo demanded and Bruno’s brows creased in confusion.

“Camilo.” Bruno whispered. “Wh-what’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I should be asking you that.” Camilo responded.

“What?”

“What were you dreaming about tío?” He asked hollowly.

He was afraid to hear the answer even though he already knew what it was. He also knew that his tío dreamed the future too and Camilo refused refused to believe that that’s what it could have been. There was no way. Never. That still didn’t mean that he wasn’t scared.

He didn’t even realize he was crying until Bruno reached out to wipe the tears away. He opened his mouth to say something comforting but Camilo was too startled by what he had just seen. He jerked back form the touch and both he and Bruno took a few startled steps back. He could see the tears forming in Bruno’s eyes and could only think of one thing to do. He needed to get someone, anyone, to help. Camilo didn’t know what to do. He didn’t understand what just happened and how could he explain to Bruno what he had seen if he, himself, didn’t understand it?

Thinking back on it Camilo should have told Bruno that, but he’d just been so scared. He’d taken a few more steps back as she shook his head and breathed heavily before running away as fast as he could and up the stairs to his parents’ room. They would know what to do. They had to know what to do because Camilo didn’t and someone needed to know, needed to tell him what to do. He ran because he was afraid but not because he was afraid of Bruno. He was afraid for Bruno.

His tío needed help. For what he didn’t exactly know but Camilo knew he needed help. Help that he couldn’t give. He was just a kid! He’d just wanted to go talk to his tío. That was all. What could that have meant? How was that possible? How had that been real?! It couldn’t have been real! Maybe he’d just had a nightmare? He looked down at the blood on his fingertips having grown tacky already. It couldn’t have been a dream. Maybe he was still dreaming?

He didn’t hear Bruno call after him and he hadn’t turned back to see how heartbroken and horrified Bruno had been at Camilo’s reaction to him.

It would be okay though. He could explain it to his tío once he got someone who knew how to help, who knew what to do. For the first time in a long time Camilo burst into his parents’ room in the middle of the night terrified and in tears.

Chapter Text

“It’s about Bruno isn’t it?” Félix asked as he traced feather light circles along Pepa’s back.

Camilo hadn’t been the only one who’d noticed that Pepa had been….off. Something had happened. He didn’t know what but he knew that something had happened. It reminded him a bit of the way that he had behaved when he’d been keeping Bruno’s secrets from her. She’d certainly noticed it but Félix had made a promise and it seemed like she had too. He wasn’t going to fault her for it of course. That would be hypocritical and mean. How could he get upset at her for something that he, himself, had done in the past?

Short answer, he couldn’t.

“You don’t have to say anything.” He whispered as he pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder. “I get it.”

His arm dipped down to wrap around her waist so he could bury his face in her hair with a sigh. Neither of them had managed to fall asleep yet. There was too much on their minds. The bed, the sheets, felt like a welcoming cocoon that chased away the rest of the world and left only the two of them behind. Despite the obviousness of secrets being kept, it was nice.

Was, being the key word.

The last thing that Félix had expected was for Camilo to burst into their room in obvious fear and being unable to explain through the tears. The only word that caught Félix’s ear was “Bruno” and that had him throwing back the sheets and running from the room while Pepa dealt with their hijo. He used a tight grip on the doorway to swing himself around the corner without losing speed and spotted Bruno standing at the bottom of the stairs. He looked about as upset as Camilo was. Tears and all. His eyes widened upon sight of Félix and he took a cautious step back.

“What happened?”

Félix must have sounded accusatory because Bruno bolted.

“Wait!” Félix called after him and Casita’s stairs click, click, clacked as they laid down a ramp for Félix to slide down. “Bruno wait!”

He heard a loud thunk and a quiet groan from around the corner. He ran around the corner and found Bruno sitting in front of a closed door and holding his face as he gave a pained whine. Casita must have closed the door on him. Ouch.

“Bruno?”

Bruno shot to his feet and spun around to look at Félix with wide eyes filled with tears.

“I-I swear,” He held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. “I have no idea what’s g-going on. I-I think,” He gasped. “I think I fell asleep. I sw-swear I d-don’t know what happened.”

“Bruno I’m not accusing you of anything.” Félix said as he held up his hands and took a step back to give Bruno a bit more space.

“I-I don’t” He sucked in deep fast breaths. “I d-don’t know wh-what happened. I just-I just woke up and h-he was-” He ducked his head and grabbed two tight fistfuls of his hair.

“I don’t know what I did.” He whimpered.

“Bruno,” Félix said quietly, comfortingly. “I’m not sure you did anything. I think something happened to you.”

“I don’t know what I did.”

“Bruno I need you to calm down. Breathe slowly. Remember? Slowly.”

The man continued to pull at his hair and shake his head as he backed away. He whimpered and whined and spoke in too quiet a voice for Félix to understand.

“Bruno?” He called but the man didn’t seem to notice he just kept backing away and shaking his head. “Bruno I need you to calm down okay? You’re alright. I don’t think you did anything.”

“H-he was so scared.” Félix barely heard what Bruno had said. “I scared him and I don’t know what I did.”

He lifted his head to look at Félix.

“I-if I don’t know what I did. H-how-” He stopped talking as his back hit the wall and as he realized he cornered himself his eyes began to glow.

Félix took a few more steps back until the two stood on opposite sides of the room.

“Bruno, please listen to me.” Félix said as calmly as he could.

“What did I do to him?” Bruno said shakily. “I did something.” He shook his head. “I had to have done something.” He whined.

“What did I do!?” He screamed as he looked back up at Félix and the mirror beside him cracked.

Bruno didn’t seem to notice, but Félix did.

“Bruno.” He called out, trying to get the man’s attention as he stared at the broken mirror and the shattered reflections of Bruno that echoed in the glass.

Bruno gasped and heaved while his eyes glowed brighter and brighter.

“Bruno.” Félix’s voice was becoming more urgent.

One of the reflections moved and Félix realized that not every reflection of Bruno looked the same. It shifted, turned, and stared into the mirror. It tilted it’s head in confusion and crept closer. It seemed hesitant to approach. Afraid of what it was seeing. Another reflection turned and it was all neat plaited hair and sharp black lines of a finely trimmed beard. It seemed just as confused. Casita was not reflected behind the neat one. Its’ face quickly turned from one of confusion to one of calculation. The neat one came closer and his shard grew bigger.

Another of the reflections whirled around and grinned upon sight. It was a manic kind of grin that Félix had seen on Bruno only one other time.

“I could take it all you know. All of your time in this world could be mine.”

“B-Bruno.” Félix took a step forward and tried to coax Bruno away from the mirror and away from that grinning mad thing that stared at him through wild golden eyes. “Bruno I need you to calm down. Bruno, listen to me.”

The mad one’s shard grew and grew as it approached and the neat one’s head turned to look at him. The third shrank away as tears began to fall.

“Bruno.” He said shakily as the mad creature in the mirror crept ever closer. “B-Bruno I need you to come over here.”

“I’m sorry.” He whimpered. “I’m sorry. I swear I don’t know what I did.”

Félix could hear the mirror grind as other pieces, reflections, were consumed by the grinning golden one until only he and the neat one remained. Félix trembled and his hands shook. Words died in his throat as he stared at it all.

The mad golden monster reached out with a crazed and greedy grin and Félix saw the mirror bow out and the grin stretched wider across gleaming white teeth while the neat one’s eyes grew wide in shock. It cracked and shattered into tiny shards that stretched and crackled. It behaved more like a crackling thin rubber sheet than a mirror as it continued to reach and Félix could see the outline of a human hand pressing out from the mirror. It looked so excited and energetic while the neat one looked studious instead.

Bruno didn’t see it. Was it really happening? Was he dreaming? This-this wasn’t possible. Then again a lot of things in the Encanto shouldn’t be possible. What his own wife could do shouldn’t be possible.

Either way, Félix knew danger when he saw it. He sucked in a breath and ran forward. He grabbed Bruno tightly by the arm and pulled him roughly away from the reaching thing in the mirror. It glared at him with pure hatred as he tucked Bruno against his chest. Bruno shouted and screamed and managed to spin around and fell silent at what he saw. The golden thing grit its’ teeth in effort and its’ eyes almost seemed to bulge out from its’ skull. There was want in its’ eyes. Greed. Madness.

There was a loud sound that rattled through Casita like thunder and the mirror shattered taking those reflections, phantoms, with it. Félix turned and saw Chaunta standing behind them wearing little more than her underwear and pointing her smoking pistol at the mirror.

“And that is what I meant when I talked about Weavers.” She said intensely, back straight and gaze dark.

There was a long moment of silence before Bruno broke it with a scream.

“What the fuck just happened?!” He wailed as the tears began to fall once more and would have pulled on big fistfuls of his hair again had Félix not grabbed his wrists. “What did I do?!”

He pulled against Félix’s hands, trying to get away but the man’s grip only tightened.

“What did I do?!” He shrieked and flailed. “What did I do?!”

Félix was terrified and Chaunta looked completely calm. For some reason that made him angry at her. How could she be so calm?! No. Félix needed to get a hold of himself. If he panicked too then this was quickly going to turn into a nightmare. Well….it already kind of was. He continued to try and get Bruno’s attention but Bruno couldn’t even seem to hear him. The screaming, and the gunshot, had other doors flying open and both Pepa and Camilo bolted down the stairs. The more upset Bruno got the more the shards of the mirror began to move. They jingled against the stone floor and Casita shuddered. He sucked in desperate breath after desperate breath and the shards rattled and bounced.

“Bruno!” Chaunta bellowed as she landed a harsh slap to his face.

The shards became still and quiet and so did everything else. She didn’t give anyone else any time to react to what she had just done. She knew she’d just brought the wrath of this whole family down onto her.

“Look at me.” She said urgently as she grabbed his chin. “You are a Chronomancer. You can bend the laws of space-time. There is more than one of you and they seem to be getting closer. This is a defense mechanism. You need to calm down.”

Oh, Félix really wanted to return the favor but he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to let go of Bruno. Chaunta took advantage of the family’s shock for as long as she could.

“Bruno.” He finally met her gaze. “As above,”

“So below.” He whispered with a nod. “As I perceive the world to be,”

“So it is.” They both said.

“How do you perceive the world Bruno?”

“How I want to.” He let out a slow breath as he closed his eyes.

“And how do you want to?” She let go of his chin but stayed kneeling down.

“Like this.” He wrapped his fingers tightly around Félix’s wrists as if to anchor himself. “Like this.” He said after a deep breath.

“Keep. Breathing.”

It was around this time that everyone else snapped out of their shock and Chaunta’s quick reflexes came in handy because people were angry. The first person to make a lunge at her was Félix and she used his own momentum to flip him over her shoulder. He landed flat on his back with a loud thump. She rolled to the side as a lightning bolt struck the ground with a loud crack as Pepa screamed at her and a heavy rain tumbled from the sky like stones. Julieta ran to the kitchen and Chaunta fought her way out of the thorny vines Isabela had strung up. Agustín yelled at his daughter to stop. Parce made a leap at Chaunta and Chhaya slammed into him with an audible thud. The animal let out a roar as Parce yowled and hissed beneath her.

It was chaos.

Luisa leaped over the railing of the second floor and the tiles cracked as she landed. She leaped forward toward Chaunta but was met with a wall of solid stone as Casita’s floor lifted up with a sharp jerk and a loud crack. The house shook and groaned. Pepa’s rain glowed green and pulled together into a solid stream that broke apart into four separate bands. One flew through the air and froze Luisa’s ankles to the floor. Another did the same to Chaunta. A third twisted and turned toward Isabela and knocked her off her feet. The final flowed to Félix and froze his hands in place, effectively trapping him on the floor.

Silence fell and all eyes turned to Bruno who stood there, hands outstretched with fingers pointing forward palm to wrist and tilted up ever so slightly. He didn’t look angry, He didn’t look scared. No, he was looking at them like they were a bunch of rowdy children who needed to be corralled.

“Enough.” He growled and his glowing eyes flickered gold and only then did anyone notice that any plants around him had withered to dust. “Does anyone really think that this is going to solve anyone’s problems?”

No one answered. All of them were far too stunned to do so.

“Good.” He closed his eyes and let out a steadying breath.

The stone floor sank back down, smooth as can be, and the ice melted away almost instantly. Bruno tucked his hair behind his ears as neatly as he could and cracked his neck. He straightened his back and continued to look at them like they were all children. He walked forward and both Antonio’s door and the door to the nursery clicked as they locked, ensuring that the youngest of the group stayed well out of this.

“You too.” He said smoothly as he ran a steady hand along Chhaya’s flank.

The tigress let out a snarl but seemed to understand and backed off of Parce.

“Yeah,” Bruno said with a light smile as he stroked her between the ears. “that’s it old girl.”

When he turned back around to look at him they saw a stranger in his eyes. They saw Bruno, but it wasn’t the one that they knew.

“Now.” He said, head held high. “If we’re all done acting like children you guys can get down to it.”

He took a step forward to glare at them all.

“There are more important things happening than this petty little squabble and yes it is petty.”

Félix opened his mouth to respond and Bruno’s gaze flashed to him.

“Oh dear Félix.” He put his hand to his chest dramatically. “Did someone lay a hand on poor, sweet, little Bruno?” He gave a small pout.

He pulled off his ruana and tossed it to Chaunta.

“While I do very much so appreciate your quick reflexes and protective nature perhaps you should put some pants on next time.” He winked.

“Next time?” She squinted at him and Bruno suddenly looked trapped.

He held up a finger and opened his mouth but nothing came out. He deflated with a wince.

“Figuratively speaking.”

“Or not so figuratively.” She glared as she slipped on his ruana.

“I guess you’ll just have to find out.”

“Why find out when you can just tell me?”

Bruno tutted in response and waggled a finger at her.

“Spoilers.”

“You son of a-”

“Bruno.” Agustín snarled, face red as he stomped his way down the stairs and Bruno grinned.

“Sorry Gus.” He shrugged. “Go easy on him.” He scratched his chin. “Me?” He shrugged again. “Never have been able to figure that one out. Go easy on him. He’s had a rough go of it.”

He smiled wider.

“Don’t be mean to Bruno.” He chuckled. “Bruno’s having a hard time.”

Agustín moved to tower over him and he looked angrier than anyone had ever seen.

“I was gonna faint anyway.” Bruno rolled his eyes. “Do I look like I need help?”

Several mouths opened at once.

“Okay, nope.” Bruno held up a hand. “I-I see what I did there.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do I look like I need medical intervention?”

He held up his hands as people started talking.

“Look, I’m just here to get the ball rolling okay? If you guys drag this out in a big dramatic fight it’s gonna take for-ev-er to really get down to things and that’s actually a lot more boring than it sounds so stop it.”

He looked around.

“Like, now.” His gaze continued to flicker from person to person. “Right now. This ends here. It’s really sweet that you’re all ready to throw down for me but really.”

He sighed.

“Bruno what are you doing?” Agustín glared.

“Putting a stop to this before it starts, of course.” He shrugged and looked up at Agustín like he was asking the stupidest question that Bruno had ever heard.

“No.” Agustín held up a finger and jabbed it in Bruno’s face, nearly touching his nose and Bruno’s eyes crossed as he watched. “Not what are you doing here. What are you doing?”

“Is it really so hard to believe that I’m just stopping a fight between the family?”

“Yes.” Everyone said and Bruno winced before looking up at the second floor.

“Hi mamá.” He waved with a sheepish grin.

“What are you doing?” Agustín asked again, voice stern.

“Okay fine.” Bruno groaned. “I’m not telling.” He shook his head and crossed his arms.

His gaze snapped to Félix.

“Every time you look into the future, the future changes because you looked at it. Things are fragile enough as is. You’re going to have to deal with this on your own. Besides,” He shrugged. “I still don’t know how all of this is going to end anyway.”

He clapped and rubbed his hands together.

“Well, now that this is all settled and you are united in a common enemy, which is currently me, I’m gonna go lay down and go home if you don’t mind.” He paused before looking up at Agustín. “Unless you wanna catch him? He...me...I?” He waved a hand in the air. “Screw it. He is completely unconscious and I am taking advantage of a blank space. No, this has nothing to do with my sleepwalking. That’s genuine don’t get upset about that now. There’s a tiny difference between being unconscious and being asleep, but it’s enough of a difference.”

Everyone continued to stare at him, jaws slack.

“Y’all gonna catch flies.” Bruno muttered as he turned back to the sitting room.

He cracked his back before sitting down on the couch.

“You need each other a lot more than you think.” His gaze landed on Chaunta. “All of you.”

He laid back on the couch and sagged as the glow faded from his eyes. There was a long stretch of silence before Julieta spoke.

“Did that really just happen?”

“I believe it.” Mirabel said from the second floor.

Agustín rushed to Bruno’s side and laid a hand on his forehead before feeling his pulse. It was all perfectly fine. Like Bruno was asleep and nothing more.

Chapter Text

“I’m going to kill him.” Agustín said after a long and very tired sounding sigh.

“Agustín,” Félix took a step forward. “you didn’t see what I saw. Let it slide. I honestly don’t know if he could handle it right now.”

“What. Happened?” Alma demanded an answer as she walked down the stairs.

Félix’s mouth fell open and closed as he tried desperately to describe what it was he had seen. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he saw what he saw. His gaze flickered to Camilo who was staring at Bruno, wide eyed and trembling. He didn’t know what his son saw but if it was anything like what he had seen then it must have been bad. It might have been worse. It had probably been worse. Okay, looking at Camilo, Félix was confident enough to say that what he must have seen was worse than the mirror and whatever it was that had been on the other side. Félix refused to equate that….that thing, that grinning, inhuman, creature with his cuñado.

Is…..is that what would have happened if Bruno hadn’t stopped that night? If Félix hadn’t done anything would Bruno have become…..? He didn’t want to think about that because it had been close. He’d barely managed to pull himself out of his shock and do something, say something. Barely. Bruno really had walked a knife’s edge that night hadn’t he? One way or the other he could have fallen all because of a single choice from a single person. Félix understood a bit more now when Bruno talked about how the future was shaped by choices.

A single choice had shaped the core of Bruno and, somewhere out there, was a place where Félix had failed to do anything. A place where he’d made a different choice and oh how that choice mattered. Is this what Bruno felt all the time? Is this why he was so careful, so anxious, about what he did and the choices he made? If so, Félix didn’t know how the man could handle it. Félix would break under that kind of pressure. He knew it.

How was he supposed to explain that revelation to the family? How was he supposed to explain how close it had come? How was he supposed to explain that Bruno’s sanity really had been hanging by a thread?

“H-he….it...I don’t know.” Félix shook his head, voice trembling.

“What did you see?” Chaunta asked Camilo.

Her voice was, surprisingly, soft. Pepa stood beside her son and placed her arms on his shoulders before giving an encouraging nod. They all needed to know, regardless of who was asking and how she felt about her at the time. Pepa also knew that she needed to trust her hermano when he said a fight wasn’t worth it. He’d taken a risk coming back like that and the only reason he’d done so was to stop the fight. The Bruno they had just spoken to knew things that they didn’t. They’d spent a lot of time not listening to Bruno and it hadn’t turned out well.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t still pissed at him for taking that risk.

“H-he was asleep or I think he was.” Camilo started. “He was on the couch. He looked asleep but…..there was another him in the room.”

Chaunta nodded.

“Th-that one….that one looked...dead.”

“Dead?” Isabela’s eyes grew wide.

“It was standing right there.” He pointed at the puddle of water in the corner of the room as he walked down the stairs. “Soaking wet, pale, blue lips. There was so much blood. I….it couldn’t have been real but the water is there. The blood it left on the wall is there.”

He held up his own hand, fingertips red.

“Th-there was a sword right through his chest.”

Pepa shot a frightened glance to Julieta and it was not something that Félix missed.

“He said he was cold.” Camilo sucked in a deep breath. “I screamed and when Bruno woke up it was just gone. It couldn’t have been real but….”

“It was.” Félix finished as he looked at the shards of glass on the floor before turning his gaze to Chaunta. “How was it real? You know. I know you know.”

“I’m not quite sure. It could have been a lot of things. You said it vanished the moment he woke up?”

Camilo nodded and she chewed on her lip.

“Either way you look at it, it comes down to one single ability.” She took in a deep breath and let it out as a harsh huff of air. “Reality Warping. The ability of a Weaver. I did say that Chronomancers could do it all and they’re more powerful by far. He didn’t even know he was doing it.”

She hung her head and Félix could see the way her hands shook despite the steadiness of her voice.

“I’m not going to lie.” She said quietly. “If it was anyone else,” She shook her head. “I would have shot him not the mirror.”

She dropped the gun to the floor with a loud clatter.

“And not because he’s some big important person.” She spat. “For some reason I actually like that dumb fuck.” She gestured to Bruno’s unconscious body on the couch. “I’m sorry I hit him. He made some kind of connection and something else was trying to push its’ way through.” She looked at Félix. “There’s no telling what might have happened if it had gotten through and no telling whether or not he could have stopped in time.”

She brought a hand to her mouth.

“It takes a lot of power to do that. To punch a hole like that. Whatever version that was is not one to be taken lightly. Whatever happened to that one,” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “that’s not Bruno anymore. In order to do that though…..it has to be close. Which means that, from this point on, it might be watching.”

“And the other one?” Félix tilted his head in question.

“With the way he reacted? He’s definitely watching now. It’s obvious that both of those versions understand more about what they can do then he does.” She pointed back to Bruno. “This is bad. We don’t know what they want or what their intentions might be. We don’t know those Brunos but they seem to be, currently, more powerful.” She bit her lip. “And certainly bolder.”

Bruno, the Bruno on the couch, shifted and let out a quiet sigh. Alma kneeled down next to him and ran a hand through his hair. He took another deep breath and his eyelids flickered open. There was no glow. No stranger reflected back at them. It was Bruno. Their Bruno. They needed to make that distinction now. He was their Bruno. He was the one who belonged here with them in this time and this place.

“I fainted didn’t I?” He asked with a wince and an embarrassed flush as he sat up.

“Technically.” Agustín narrowed his eyes.

They could see when it clicked in Bruno’s head because he bit his lip and scooted his way to the farthest end of the couch and away from Agustín.

“I-I feel fine though.” He said dazedly as he looked down at his hands.

“It was different.” Julieta said as she stepped into the room. “He knew more. Could do more.” She gave a glance at the dead plants around them. “A lot more.”

Bruno squinted at her before he, himself, noticed the withered plants nearby and he chewed on his lip in thought.

“I never considered that.” He said quietly.

“Considered what?” Alma ducked down to catch her son’s gaze.

“Well, all this time I’ve been using my own energy. That’s why it effects me the way it does. I never really thought about using outside energy quite like that. I do have a lot of magic stored in those crystals.” He said as he thought back to his disaster of an entrance into the Angles.

“What did I-….he do?”

They all fell silent and looked at each other almost guiltily. Bruno squinted.

“What did you do?”

“They were trying to beat the shit out of me because I slapped you.”

“You have no tact!” Félix glared at her.

“Nope. I see it as a waste of time.”

“And….he did what?” Bruno said after taking a few moments to process that.

“He just kinda….stopped it.” Mirabel said as she wiggled her way into the room.

“Stopped it?”

“Said it was petty and wasting time.” Luisa added.

“Wait.” He held up a hand and his face scrunched up in confusion. “Did-...did I just go back in time so I could hit the fast forward button on my own life?”

He gave a long and thoughtful pause before looking around at everyone.

“Wait. Why are you wearing my ruana?”

“Because you told me to.”

“Why did I- take it off I want it back.”

“Okay.” She shrugged and started to slide it off only for Bruno’s eyes to go wide before he ducked his head and shielded his eyes.

“Oh my god. Okay no. Keep it on. On, on, on.” He sighed. “What is wrong with you?”

“Bruno, what were you dreaming about?” Pepa asked.

“Camilo asked me the same thing. I-what is-”

“What were you dreaming about?” Agustín asked urgently.

“Wh-why is everyone asking me this?”

“Just answer the question.” Chaunta crossed her arms before continuing. “Please?”

“I-I don’t really remember.” He said as he rubbed his chest, just below the ribs on his left side.

It was not a movement that Camilo missed.

“You’re lying.” He said as he stepped forward.

“N-no I’m not I really don’t remember the dreams. I always forget when I wake up. I’ve told you this. I-I never really remember anything.”

“What do you remember?” Félix said as he took a step closer.

He held up a hand.

“You said you don’t really remember. That implies that there is something about them that you do. So, what is it?”

“It doesn’t make any sense Félix. I mostly remember a colour. That’s it. Some sensations, sounds. None of it makes sense.”

“So tell us.” He said urgently.

“Red.” He said with a sigh. “I remember red. Cold red. Warm red. There was a campfire. I-It doesn’t make sense. I’ve heard your voice,” He pointed at Chaunta. “but I have no idea what you’re saying. Well….screaming really.” He ducked his head and chewed on his lip.

Chaunta pressed a hand against her head.

“Vali’s magic is red. Like how yours is green.”

“It feels like it’s more than that. There was a green flame I think. L-like a torch almost. There was a lot of screams. There’s a light. One that pulses like its’ own heartbeat.” He said as he stared down at his lap. “It all makes such perfect sense when I’m dreaming.”

“Like you feel omniscient. That’s what you said. That’s how you described it right?”

Bruno nodded and her shoulders sagged.

“You’re dreaming it all.” She ran a hand over her head. “You’ve seen it all. Every which way this could go or end. It’s too much. That’s why you don’t remember.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.” She nodded. “That has to be it. You brought the dream out. Or...a part of it anyway.”

“What?”

“That had to have been what you saw.” She gestured to Camilo.

“What?” His gaze flickered to his sobrino. “What did you see?”

He caught his sisters’ gazes and deflated as it all clicked and he understood.

“Oh.” He gave a long sigh and a pained expression formed on his face.

“Your subconscious is more...aware, in tune, with your power. You’ve been using it in your sleep this whole time. As your power grows your subconscious expands on it further. You projected a part of your dream. Made it real.”

She approached and kneeled down to look at him.

“Bruno, you’re warping reality in your sleep. Bringing your dreams to life basically.”

“H-how-”

“The manipulation of both space and time all at once.” She ran her hands down her face.

“Just another reason to not.” He mumbled as he did the same.

“Wait.” Camilo stiffened. “Th-that was the future? Tío….”

Bruno looked away and chewed on his tongue as he tried to think of what to say.

“The dreams are the only way you can see everything.” Chaunta said, more to herself than anyone else but Bruno’s expression hardened none the less as he stood and pushed his way out of the room.

“Well they’re about to not be.” He growled.

“Bruno wait!”

“No!” He spun around. “No! I’m sick of this! If what you say is true and I have all of the information already then I need to find a way to access it!”

He turned back around and slid passed Dolores on the second floor who had, thus far, been silent.

“I’m going to figure this out.” His voice was like steel. “Even if it’s going to be in the vaguest way possible.”

“Bruno I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Félix said as he ran up the stairs. “I really don’t.”

“And I don’t care.”

The last time he’d behaved like this was the day he’d accidentally slipped into the Angles. Not that they knew that. It had worked though right? He couldn’t do it like that at the moment because that place was too complicated a maze for him right now. A labyrinth of time and space. He needed something simpler. Far simpler. The simplest method by far. Was it a good idea? Probably not. Was he going to do it anyway? Yes, yes he was.

“Can’t believe I never thought of this before.” He shook his head.

Stars he felt so angry right now.

“Bruno wait! There’s more!” Chaunta followed Félix up the stairs and after Bruno.

“I don’t care about that right now!”

“You can’t do this!”

“Do you think you can stop me?” He stopped as he wrapped a hand around his doorknob and looked back over his shoulder. “Stay or go. I’m doing this. This is going too far too fast and I don’t understand enough to keep up with it.”

With that he opened the door and walked into his room. There was little else to do but follow. Perhaps they could convince him, or perhaps Chaunta could give him a good knock upside the head and bring some sense back to him.

“You need to think of another way!” Julieta yelled as she ran after him too.

“There isn’t time!” He spun back around and leveled her with an intense emerald gaze. “Things are advancing too quickly! We need- I need to know more.”

“Isamen aur bhee bahut kuchh hai, aur bhee bahut kuchh hai aur aap nahin samajhate hain.” Chaunta hissed and shook her head while she pushed her way passed Félix and into Bruno’s room.

Agustín and Dolores stopped walking and looked at each other with wide eyes. They had memorized what Bruno had been muttering that day but had never figured out what it meant.

“Bruno!” She planted herself in front of him before he could make that leap down into the sand.

“Get out of my way.” His voice was deep, commanding, and angry.

“What if it’s too much Bruno?”

“Well we’ll just have to see about that.”

“Bruno-”

“No. I just traveled back in time to hurry things along and that version already knew what the next step was.”

“What if, by trying to hurry things along, he made a mistake? You know that it did nothing to change his world. He went back and life kept on for him. It only changed for us.”

“He created an Alternate. I know.”

“So, he didn’t know how this was going to effect things. Not really.”

“And if this is the next step? How long do you think you all would have spent fighting and arguing before things worked out on their own? What happens during that nice little waiting period? What do we sacrifice by going through that? We might sacrifice something important. In fact, how do you know that wasn’t a way to prevent me from doing this entirely by myself because you all were too caught up in each other to think about the future and how it effects the events we’re living through right now?”

He met her gaze with a glare.

“You said it yourself. I don’t have a choice anymore. The more I look at it and the more time goes by the more I’m starting to agree with that and the more I’m beginning to think that this guy is going to show up. Do you think I’m a match for him right now?”

She bit her lip.

“Do you?”

She shook her head.

“Exactly. What do we get out of wasting time if that’s what we’re looking at?”

“If.”

“This conversation is feeling heavily reversed.” He said flatly.

There was a moment of silence before Bruno shook his head.

“No, you don’t get to do this.” He said as he looked back at her. “You don’t get to change your mind like this.”

“I didn’t change my mind.”

“So you do think this needs to happen?” He said accusingly.

“I never said otherwise.”

“Then wh-…” He stopped and his glare deepened. “I’m going to say this one last time.” He growled. “I am not a part of your damn job.”

She grabbed his arm, just below the shoulder, as he went to pass by.

“I haven’t had a change of mind Bruno.” She said quietly, intensely, as she looked down at him. “I’ve had a change of heart.”

“Well,” Bruno nodded. “good to know you have one.”

There was a collective wince from the rest of the family who stood behind him. Yeah, he knew he’d be apologizing for that one later. It got her to let go of his arm though. It was a rather savage way of doing so, but it kept the near requirement of violence at bay. He’d much rather just do this and get it over with as quickly as possible.

“What was it you said?” He leaned in and narrowed his eyes. “Something like “there’s more on the line than your precious feelings”?”

He turned his gaze back to the falling sand in front of him.

“Your “change of heart” doesn’t change anything outside of you.” He sighed. “Stay or go. I’m doing this.”

With that he made the small leap through the falling sand and onto the sand below. It was a big space, his room. So, empty. At least, that’s how in tended to feel. Not empty in the sense that it was missing something but more like it was waiting for something. The more he worked with things the more he could feel that something coming together. There was a kind of thrum, a pulse he could barely feel within this space. It was where he felt most powerful. Either way, just beyond his door lay a big empty space.

A very big, very empty, and very open space.

“Perfect.” He said to himself.

Chapter Text

“If you’re going to be here I need you to be quiet.” Bruno said as Félix dropped down next to him.

“Maybe you, we, should just take a moment to calm down. A lot just happened. Think about it with a clearer head.”

“If I don’t do this now then I never will.” Bruno shook his head as he walked forward.

“That’s my point.” Félix said as he followed. “The fact that you even said that shows that you know this is a bad idea.”

“Yes, yes it is a bad idea.” Bruno’s hands curled into fists. “A lot of things that have needed to happen were definitely bad decisions. Sometimes a bad idea is exactly what you need. Something that people aren’t going to anticipate.”

“You sound like we’re in a war.”

“I think we might be.” Bruno whispered. “Or are about to be.”

He gave a sigh as he reached the center of his room.

“Whatever this is, it’s going to be big. It’s going to be bigger than I ever imagined.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do.” Bruno nodded. “I can’t say exactly how I know. I just do.”

He took a breath and tried to calm down.

If there was one thing Bruno knew about going into this, it was that he needed to calm down. When it came to his visions they flowed easier and clearer the less emotion he brought into the circle. He often wondered if he should take that steady level of emotionless outside of the ritual. It would be easier to deal with problems if his emotions were quiet enough for him to be able to think straight. It felt wrong for him to do that though, but here and now everything outside the circle needed to fall away from both his heart and mind. He needed to only focus on his workings and his goal. Nothing else existed but the single question.

A dangerous question to ask of the sands. Well, it was more of a command than a question. He didn’t need to say it aloud. The magic bent to his will, not his words.

“Show me the dreams.” He thought as both his mind and heart stilled their whirrings and left peace behind. “Show me everything.”

The sands obeyed and his eyes flared with magic.

What followed was a display of raw power that hadn’t been seen for a megaannum and so very rare to this world. It was old magic. The first of its’ kind and from where, no one knows. A mother strand from whatever the source of magic may be that gave birth to many, many others so great was its’ power. Power that echoed within the thrum of eternity.

For those who were gifted magic, and not born with it, held in in their hands a piece of old magic. Once old magic is unchained within the user there is no stopping. There is almost a consciousness to it. It behaves with its’ own will and presses against the boundaries that contain it. It wants to be free, to be seen, to be unleashed and unleashed it was.

It was no sandstorm that arose around them but a great spinning hurricane who’s wind roared in their ears. The sands stung and scraped along their skin and Bruno grit his teeth with the effort of pulling the sands into order. They twisted this way and that as if not knowing what to show. The spinning gale around them rippled and pulsed. It pulled in and pushed out like the tides. A river, no, an ocean was contained within the sands and beneath it lurked depths beyond reality. Images flashed and faded in the blink of an eye as the storm spun violently around them. It happened within seconds and the only thing that stopped the family from grabbing Bruno and putting a stop to this was the scream.

It tore through the winds of the hurricane. It was scream that belonged to no one in the room but it echoed in their ears all the same. The sands began to run red. Little red grains of sand that pulled and coalesced into strands that grew thicker and thicker like long undulating ribbons. They twisted and twined until all the sands that surrounded the family were a deep and vibrant red. There were flickering stories being told. Here and gone before a single breath could be taken. Shapes of men, of women and horses. There were shapes of places that cradled a truth only realized beyond the grasp of absoluteness.

Voices and words drifted through the cyclone.

“Where some see insanity, others see purpose.”

“That…..could’ve ended differently.”

“I am no longer amused.”

“Do you want to know why you weren’t given a gift?”

“You’re trying to learn it all.”

“That’s not a jaguar!”

“Forty-two.”

“It’s been you all this time.” “No Bruno, it’s been us.”

“Ven aquí pajarito.”

“It was always meant to be this way.”

“Things really were different here, weren’t they?”

“You’re late.”

“I would say that it’s time for a different twist in this story.”

“I’ve always been the planner.”

“Broono bhaago! Bas bhaado!”

“I’ve done enough trusting in you. It’s time for you to trust in me.”

“This is going to get fun.”

“It’s all about balance.”

“I could take it all you know. All of your time in this world could be mine.”

It was so much. Too much. Bruno had known that it would be too much but he never thought…..It wasn’t just the storm that had begun to spin. He could feel the way the sands tugged and pulled. Like every long, reaching ribbon had twined around him and tightened. It did not twist and pull at his flesh but instead at something within. Something he could feel but not see. A thing that he suddenly became acutely aware of. Something that stood strong and still despite the spinning. He wanted to scream. He wanted to open his mouth and scream above the sound of the raging storm. It hurt. He couldn’t do that though. Not with his family standing there. Not after everything that had just happened.

He had to keep it together.

He took a deep breath and let that strong and still core within him break apart and follow the reaching. It shattered his awareness of the here and now and he was thrown into the broken off streams. He knew things now. Suddenly, sharply. He knew it wouldn’t stay. He knew he’d forget but by the stars this was how he felt in the dreams. Like he knew it all. A story he’d already heard. A book he’d already read. A library suddenly laid before his eyes whose pages had flown apart but, regardless of that, he knew what they held. They spun too fast for him to read the words. Despite the chaos he felt a level of peace over it. A level of peace he’d never felt before. He needed to speak. To say something that they would hear, remember, and then he would have something to keep even after this knowing passed him by.

It was like seeing the sun after years spent in the dark. It was clarity, it was understanding, it was the epitome of enlightenment that was almost tangible enough to wrap their fingers around. Their? Yes, yes their fingers. Their hands. He had become we again and when standing together they were not afraid.

It was beautiful.

Outside of Bruno’s suddenly expanded perception it did not look beautiful. Grains of sand ground against each other and turned to dust.It scratched and grated at their skin. No one had been able to move forward. The family could barely see anything around them. Bruno’s eyes glowed like green torches as he fell to his knees but in the same instant also stayed on his feet. He grabbed at his hair and yet didn’t all at once. He both laughed and screamed despite the stillness of his lips. Pepa swore that, for a few short seconds, Bruno’s hair had been neatly braided.

They just needed to move forward enough that the winds dulled but that was much harder than it sounds. They did not speak, or even yell. The family knew that the roaring of the wind would devour any sound that left their lips. Not all of them had decided to follow Bruno into his roomand Luisa was the one person who the wind didn’t truly effect. The sand bit at her skin and blew into her eyes all the same but even the winds gave way to her strength. She pushed her way through and stopped upon seeing her tío. He was broken apart like the way her papa had described. Not nearly as badly. She saw him kneeling, head bowed and head lifted, as same as he stood and stared almost hypnotically into the sands and their whirling images. A piece of him grabbed fistfuls of his hair while another held onto his ruana in anxiety, and another simply laid his arms at his sides. For just a moment, barely a moment at all, his hair had been cut short like how she’d remembered it before he left.

Before he disappeared. Before he’d sacrificed ten years for her hermanita. Before he’d sat in those walls, listening to every bad thing they ever said about him and doing nothing. He could have been more assertive in his life. He could have fought back. He could have left the Encanto entirely but he didn’t. He could have stayed and shown Abuela the prophecy. There were a lot of other choices he could have made. Perhaps those choices meant more than anyone had thought. Perhaps those choices, the choices that could have been, can still affect someone like Bruno.

The only consistent thing was the serene and almost reverent expression on his face and the soft, gentle smile that accompanied it. Whatever he was seeing was nothing like what was happening around them. Luisa wasn’t sure what to do now that she had reached him. Should she touch him? Was that a good idea right now? Which one of him should she grab. This needed to stop. It was too much and it seemed that everyone but Bruno could see that. She needed to get his attention and decided to take the risk. She reached out and laid a hand on the version of her tío that was standing.

“Tío Bruno!” She called out.

Every single version stood or turned to meet her gaze. They fit perfectly together and something around them rippled.

“Tío Bruno what is happening?! What do you see?!”

Bruno’s eyes widened. Yes, they were supposed to be saying something. No tablet had grown and Bruno knew that no tablet would. They knew that this vision was too big for a single small tablet. It would take all of the sand to show this story. There was something inside. Something that was cracking apart. They needed to say something now before this ended and they forgot. Bruno needed to tell their family why all of this is happening, but they had so little time. They needed to tell everyone what to do. So, they looked at their sobrina, opened their mouths, and the words that tumbled from their lips echoed passed the boundaries of eternity.

̷̢̨̨̭̻̰͖͔̥̹̜̠͍̼̄̽͂̏̀͠͝͝ͅT̴̢̪̖̺̙͓̥͚̩̱̊͜h̸̭̙͍͎̗͛ͅe̸̬͙͚͔̙̥̫̓̀͆̓̓̈́͛̊́͛̽͂̚͘͠ ̴͎̯̯͒͒̀͂̈̑̿̐̊͑̇̇̎h̵̖͉̬͍͍̮͖̻̑͌́̓ͅő̴̡̧̞̝͉̺̙̆͆̅̐̇̈̅̚͠ŗ̶̺͔̼̲͈̜̙̖͆̄͆ͅͅi̸̫͆̓̌̊̌̅͂̉̿̀̕z̴̧̧̛͙̲̫̩̩͍̟̬̓̆͋̔̈́̿͊̿̎ǫ̴̡̯̥̞̖͉͔̰̹̭͚̀͋̇̈́̑́͐͆͑̓̆̆͒̚ͅn̷̮̥̲̥̟̺̙̩̞̖͐̽̓͌͗̉̕̕͝͝ ̸̢̛̻̖̥̠̪͖̯̰̎̄̀̅̈͌̅͊̈́̉̊́ͅị̸̾̈́̀͐̃̂̒̔s̴̡̢̢͓̪̦̳̝͋̽̂̒͊̓͊͝ ̷̨̮̹̖̞͉̺̪̜̈́̌̈̑̂̕s̶̪͈̞̐̔͑̈́͜h̸̨̢͈̗̺͎͈̥̙̳͖͉̑͆͐̿̀ͅa̶̧̳͎͈̺̰̺̾̄͒͛͒̿̇͋̀͗͘t̸̛̯̥̎̒̐̆̎̒̔̈̅͌͝͝͝t̶̛͓̝͓͙̰̏͌͆̓̓̄̃͛̌̎͑͝e̷̡̡̥͚̟̻̰̗̫͖̞̅ŗ̵̯̰̥̞̟͑́͌̒͂̋̀͗̋̿̓͘̚͝è̴̛̘͙̃̅̀̌̃͝d̵̪̾̀͋̔̎́̀̆̉́̉̀͛͆

̶̧̨̧͉͉̳̪̥͉̣̠̝͋̽̒̑̒̃̿͂̐͐͘

̸̴̡̢̢̢̨̨̡̝͓̗̝̹̮̦̼̦͕̘͚̲̝̩̙̼͔̣̃̋̌̒́̂͊̃̀͘̚ͅT̵̨̢̲͇͇͚̅̅̽̎͂̆͒̚h̵̾̀͑͜e̴̢̛͍͍̝̫͔̪̙͉̬̒̍͊͝ͅ ̵̢͕̭̻̭̹͓̠͍̼͐̔͊̓̍̀͑̂͂̽̅ͅẁ̷̢͈̤͓̥͎̲͓̝̘̤̎̆̌̍̐̎o̶̙̞͈̲̪̖̽͆͐̊̿͒̉̂́̓̈́͝͝ǔ̸͉̃̅̅́̎͌̍̍̕̚n̶͙̠̟̮͖̘̳͉̗̭̆͌́͜ḓ̴͑̏͌̈́̇͂̅͂̅̽̽̎ ̶͎̞̮͛͂̅̔̍̐̄͐͝͝w̴̩͍̬͎̠̙̽͆̈́̓͑̉͒͂́͛̐͜͠͝ͅī̴͓͙̦̝̰̼̘̞̦̰̰̬ͅl̷̛̙̯̳̥̗͎̠͖̮̬͌̌̍̈͛̈́͗̈́́͘͠͠͝ĺ̵̢̟̰̣̱̻̟̱̣͓̓̍̾̿̈́̄͆̑̚ ̵͕̦͛͌̓o̵̡̡͓̳̭͕̖͎̭̲̺̣̹̳̒̽͆̔̾̎́̅̒̋̄̔̇̊̕p̴̱͚̝͖̰͔̯̙̦̱̳̎͊̏̆̐̉e̸͎̻̙̖͌̓̈́̾͑͘͘͝͝͠n̴̫̦̟̰̿͗̏͑́̀͂̿͆̑̿͂̎͘̚ͅ

̸̞̠̝̝͓̓̌̓̾̏͐̀̔̎̅͝

̶̴̨̠̗̬͉̫͍̺̦͓̜̥͙̹͕̄̅͒̇̈́̑̿̊̌͝Ģ̵̨̛̛̤̫̘̜̮̺̹̭̀͑͌͝ŕ̵̨̛̥̮͍̫̼̹͚̳̞̦͕̜̟̙̃͗̽̾́̆͒̊͘͝͝ą̷̙̮̮͎̺͈̫̩͚͇̔̑͐̏̾̈͒̃͗̈́̍̄̈ͅs̸̭͚̲͖̥̩͗͛̆̉̋͌͑̈͑̓̇̓̐͝p̵͓̄͂͒̎̎̚͝ ̸̰̫͔͉͉͐͛̇͊͗̍͜t̷͉͖͐͊h̴̬͇͕̩̮̹͎̖͉̣̖̎̎̈͐̈́̉̃̊͐͂̈́́͘̚͜ͅė̶̢̞͎̈́͋̎̈́̈́͘̕͝ ̵̢͚́̾̋̌̃̀̾̓̎͘̚͝L̷͍̗͋̉̐̑͒͘ͅi̷̡̮̭̲̳̻̥̞̳͚̤̮͖̭͙̓͊͛́͂̎̀́̆ṋ̷̜̑̍̿̐͊͗͗̈́̃̏̆̈͘͝͠k̷͇̗͉͕̳̳͚̮̪͍͉̟͓̉͝

̶̵̢̨̡̺̙̬̼͇̭̬̜̜̹̟̤͚̗̝̰̝̻̖͇̩̆̈́͊̌͗͑̀̿̍̓̕͜͝͝A̷͓̱͍͓͂͊́̅̈́̌̎̄̔̒̓̇̕͘͝n̶̙̻̬͚̱̟͇̈́͝d̴̨͚̥̞̮̺̰͓̠̝̥̆̔͜ͅ ̸̖̼̗̼̱̯̠͍͂͌͑̀̓̾́̈́͛̍̚b̶̤̩̦̫̐̔̋̓̉̾̊͌̏͌̕͝i̴̛̦̰̮̺͗̈́̒̀̽͑͑͌̓̃̋̚͝͝ͅn̶̨̘̤̞̈̏͒̊̈́̕͠d̶̢͚̭̦͎͙̏͊͘͝ ̵͚̎è̶̛̟̙̠͇̓̽̋̉̍͛́̀͊͗̿̇̚͜t̷̢̛͈̪̣̟̬̦͔̲̯͊̔͂̄̑̍̓̔̋̽̀̕͝ę̶̤̙͉͔͙̭͎͈͔̪̒͒̔r̵̺̪͓͈̬͍̩̫̗̭̪̎͆̍̾̊̆͌ņ̷̪̼̭͉͎̰͋̽̄͒̄̀̂̓̍̕͝ͅį̶̡̱̹̰̩̦̠͕̭͖̞͍̠́̍͗͑̀͘̕͜͠t̶̹̺̭̳̲͔̮͉̤̪͎̫̥̥͙̐̆̐̒̆͐͋͋̏̓́͘͘͝͠ý̷̦̟̅̏̌́͌̉̇̀̽̚̚͝͠

Luisa couldn’t help but pull back in shock. Bruno, himself, didn’t seem shocked by it at all. In fact he looked at her in confusion when she took a surprised step back. He tilted his head and began to break apart again. He both reached out and pulled back. Her shock only lasted a moment before she was reaching back out to meet a handthat turned out to be nothing more than a phantom that slipped right through her fingers. It was only then did she notice the long nails painted black andBruno’s hand, the one that wasn’t really there, reacted like she had grabbed his hand. His head tilted to the side, hair cut short like the glimpse she saw earlier, and he closed his eyes like someone had laid a hand on his cheek instead and one, one stayed where he was to stare at her. She reached out farther to lay her hand on a solid shoulder and he looked down at her hand when she did so.

When he looked back at her the other Brunos pulled apart in harsh snap that even she could feel. Although it seemed to effect her tío more intensely. He suddenly looked like he’d lost the most important thing in his life but it was also the look of a man who already knew what he was going to lose. Like he had resigned himself to this existence. He had looked so happy but Luisa, and Bruno, knew that where he had been was not a place that he could live in, no matter how much it may have felt like home. Like completeness.

Alongside the sharpness of the snap came the stillness of the winds and the almost haunting silence that followed. The sand did not fall but hung in the air, frozen in place, but it did not last long. In a brilliant and blinding flash of red the sands coalesced and a sound, a great thrumming thing that wasn’t truly a sound at all, resounded through the space around them all. Like standing in the epicenter of a god’s heartbeat. Once they’d blinked away the brief sightlessness there was a collective gasp from them all. All of the sand that had been picked up by Bruno’s gift had come together to form, not a tablet, but a massive red dome that surrounded them.

The Madrigals stood within a great glass cathedral of the past, the present, and the future. Some of the images in the glass were images and nothing more but a few ran through loops of movement. There was a man. He was well dressed and his shoulder length hair was pulled back neatly. He was leaning over the table in front of him, palms laid flat on polished wood as he stared intently at whoever was standing behind what the vision showed. He didn’t look angry. He looked the same as someone caught in a game of chess who had realized that the game was no longer just his to play.

Another began as the back of someone’s head. This person too had long hair but while the other man’s was straight this one’s hair was wavy and neatly plaited. Long braids stretched from their temples and had been weaved into a larger braid in the back. It was only the top center layer that had been braided in this way. The rest of their hair flowed by their shoulders. When the figure turned to look behind him and beyond the glass Félix grew stiff. This person he saw was the same neat and trim version of Bruno he’d seen in the mirror. The confident smirk that adorned that Bruno’s face just didn’t fit what he knew of Bruno.

There was yet another Bruno who stood in the light of a flame that reflected in his eyes. There was nothing behind him. No trees, no grass, and no sight of anything inside of Casita. His hair was trimmed short and his head was turned to the side as if avoiding looking at someone as he hunched and fiddled with the frayed ends of his ruana. He looked both frightened and guilty all at once. Like he knew what he was supposed to do, or what he should do, but it scared him.

There was a third Bruno tangled within the images in glass. It was that horrid, gold eyed, and manic thing that had tried to push its’ way through the mirror. This one was something to be afraid of and he had Agustín pinned to wall by a tight grip on his throat. He was leaning forward to say something in Agustín’s ear and his lips had curled into an angry snarl.

There was a tall armored woman standing in the middle of the river. In her hands she held a sword. Not just a sword. The sword. The same one Bruno’s hermanas and Camilo had seen protruding from his chest.

Directly above them was a massive swirling vortex outlined by incandescent bands of what felt like pure starlight. Diamond ribbons stretched out in both thick and thin loops before being pulled back to the whirling mass. It was almost hypnotic the way it spun and glowed and seemed to reach out through the glass.

This moment didn’t last long either and just before the family had thought to speak again a loud crack echoed within the glass. A long fracture stretched out from the whirling mass above them and shattered the images into endless reflections of one another. Like holding two mirrors up and seeing the endless tunnel they created. Everything cracked and shattered and no one could think of anything else to do aside from run to the center where Bruno and Luisa were.

There was no time to talk. There was barely even a chance to breath before the pieces began to fall. Luisa had prepare to knock away any of the thick shards that would fall but the need did not arise. Just as the shards had begun to fall they fell apart. Dissolved away into dust and in a few moments time even the dust had vanished. It left behind no evidence that anything at all had taken place inside this room. It only existed in the memories of those who had witnessed the display. It was calm and quiet. Peaceful when it had no right to be. Bruno’s room had always felt like an empty space and that feeling was most jarring right now. Most likely it was meant to feel that way. Meant to feel empty and that emptiness fueled his visions and gave him everything he needed to expand and to create. It was not a place for people, but a place for magic. For Bruno’s magic.

Pepa was the first to break the silence and, let’s face it, she said what they were all thinking.

“What the f-”

Chapter Text

I'm so sorry folks. A lot has been going on and I'm going to need a break from this. Writing these does take a lot out of my time. I plan to finish this, yes. The year started off with several surgeries for family members, two of which went a little sideways. I've had no time to sit down at the computer. I'm writing this from my phone. With the addition of a pet death I'm calling it.

I'm going on hiatus. I'll see you when I get back.